Archive for 2010
October 7, 2010
A WEBSITE THAT TRACKS THE ObamaCare lawsuits.
YOU KNOW WHOSE BLOG NEEDS A “SENIOR EDITOR?” Brad DeLong’s. Because the current “editing” just doesn’t do the job.
SHOCKER: Senate Shockingly Passes Bill That Could Bail The Banks Out Of Foreclosure-Gate. “Even the bill’s own House sponsor is stunned by the speed with which this bill went through. So now it’s on the President’s desk to sign.”
So will Obama sign a bill bailing big banks out — when there’s every sign of rampant fraud on their part — just weeks before a major election?
UPDATE: Mike Castle is a sponsor? Nice. (Bumped).
SO MUCH FOR THAT WHOLE SWAMP-DRAINING THING: Patty Murray No. 2 in political contributions from lobbyists. “Lobbyists have given $666,000 to Sen. Patty Murray’s reelection efforts since 2009, making her the second-highest recipient of the industry’s political contributions among all members of Congress, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics. Only Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took in more money from lobbyists during the current election cycle, the analysis found. As we reported previously, lobbyists are the biggest donors to Murray’s campaign and to M-PAC, her leadership political-action committee. Lawyers are a close second, with $664,000 in contributions.” $666K, huh? Hmm. . . .
DEMOCRATIC COMEBACK MOSTLY A MEDIA CREATION? That’s what Stuart Rothenberg says. “2010 isn’t 2008 or 2006 or even 2004. Democratic candidates need to go into the elections at or above the 50 percent mark in most districts. ‘Surging’ to 45 percent of the vote simply isn’t enough.” Well, we’ll know soon.
Related: Hotline: The Surprising Democratic Firewall. “Actions speak louder than words. That’s why Democratic control of the House is looking more tenuous by the day. As the party begins to build its firewall to prevent a GOP takeover, top strategists are working to salvage seats that few considered Republican pickup opportunities just a few months ago. . . . This week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began running ads in seats held by Reps. Bill Delahunt (Mass.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Phil Hare (Ill.), Bill Foster (Ill.), Leonard Boswell (Iowa), Sanford Bishop (Ga.), and John Salazar (Colo.). In each district, Democrats won re-election by significant, if not overwhelming, margins in 2008. Now, Democrats view every one of those seats as endangered.”
CONGRESSIONAL “PRIORITIES” HIT HOME: Delays to Tax Tables May Dent Paychecks. “Lack of congressional action on 2011 income taxes may force the Treasury Department to make unprecedented moves to prevent U.S. workers from seeing large tax increases in their January paychecks. . . . Congressional leaders recently postponed voting on taxes until after the election and lawmakers don’t reconvene until Nov. 15. The Senate is scheduled to take up several nontax issues when it returns and is expected to leave for Thanksgiving soon after, possibly pushing a vote on taxes into December.”
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE: What you get for the low, low price of $42,258 per year!
LOGISTICS AND PAKISTAN: “After a recent incident where U.S. helicopter gunships crossed into Pakistan, in hot pursuit of Islamic terrorists, and killed three Pakistani soldiers (and a lot more terrorists), Pakistan cut one of the two NATO supply routes that pass through Pakistan. Aside from the fact that the Pakistani soldiers fired on the NATO helicopters (which they often do, even when the choppers are on the Afghan side of the border), the U.S. didn’t have to remind the Pakistanis that such a gesture was self-defeating. The Pakistani government is heavily dependent on American economic and military aid, and more and more of the supplies for foreign troops in Pakistan is coming from non-Pakistani sources. This hurts Pakistani businesses that move, and often provide, the supplies.”
JAMES LILEKS: How to stop 50% of West-hating terrorist attacks.
L.A. TIMES: Obama disapproves of the Supreme Court, but a majority of Americans disagrees with him. “A significantly larger percentage of Americans approve of the job performance of the Supreme Court justices than the guy knocking their decisions.”
CAMPAIGN SIGN of the year. Heh.
WHY PEOPLE IN WESTERN NATIONS don’t save enough.
KEEPING BARACK OBAMA away from Democratic candidates. “Obama is avoiding big campaign events and swing-state districts for fear of burying those in his party who still have a fighting chance. The candidate who filled a football stadium at his Greek revival convention now has to be squirreled away in backyard mini-gatherings and ‘indoors … [at] a $1 million fundraising dinner in suburban New Jersey on Wednesday night.’ . . . It will be nearly impossible for Obama to claim credit for any Democratic survivors. But he certainly will take the lion’s share of the blame by those who’ve come to appreciate just how politically radioactive he is.”
MARIO VARGAS LLOSA wins the Nobel Prize in literature.
CAREY ROBERTS: Stacy Bannerman’s Domestic Violence Hoax. “The article in the Daily Beast about skyrocketing incidents of domestic violence against the wives of returning war veterans is chock full of ‘factoids from nowhere.'”
TAKING MULTICULTURAL CUISINE A STEP FARTHER: Spaghetti Tacos.
DECIPHERING THE MEANING OF The Gap’s New Logo. “A a prototypical brand panic move?”
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Federal subpoenas issued in John Edwards investigation. Note that the press covered for him when it looked like a scandal might hurt the Democrats. Keep rockin’!
TWO WORDS ON WHY MAYOR DALEY DIDN’T RUN FOR RE-ELECTION: “FORENSIC AUDIT.”
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Castrodaemmerung: The Twilight of the Bros. “As an old Cuba hand, I have no desire to defend the island’s communist government or make excuses for its dismal failures in the area of human rights and economic development, but with the news that Cuba is considering the release of yet another tranche of political prisoners, it’s increasingly clear something important is happening down there. . . . The Castro brothers may be doing something bigger than trying to fire up the fifty year old American policy debate on Cuba. Just possibly, they are signaling their intentions for the next stage of what they hope will be a stage-managed, controlled transition to the post-Castro era in Cuban politics.”
Maybe Obama’s troubles have convinced them that socialism can’t work. . . .
ROGER SIMON: “Forget Barack Obama. Forget Sarah Palin. Forget even Lindsay Lohan. They may just be blips on the screen of history when compared to Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. These are the figures that are truly influencing our times.”
PICTURES FROM THE HOUSING BUST.
BEDBUGS at the Internal Revenue Service.