Archive for 2014

NOAH ROTHMAN: ‘Phony scandals’ and an election year ‘demon’: Lois Lerner’s unconvincing defenders.

In fact, an objective assessment of the Republicans conduct over more the course of the 14 months since this scandal broke has been relatively apolitical, especially considering that the IRS is charged with executing a partisan vendetta against conservatives. By and large, members have avoided bombast and overreach in pursuit of the facts surrounding the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. The Republicans’ prudence in concert with the IRS’s improbable self-defense has resulted in a great majority of the country backing the GOP in this matter.

Republicans and Democrats, women and men, blacks and whites, the rich and the poor, the old and the young; according to a recent poll, the vast majority of the public across the political spectrum believe this matter deserves a thorough investigation – one which results in accountability.

Then you have President Barack Obama who joined Taylor in denouncing the “phony scandals” which plague his presidency. “It’s all geared towards the next election or ginning up a base,” he insisted. He and Taylor are speaking to the minority of the minority who are just partisan enough to convince themselves that it is the IRS who are the real victims here.

It sounds to me like it is the president and his allies who are in need an election year demon.

They seem to need a “demon” — an Emmanuel Goldstein — all the time, not just in election years.

LOOKING AT THE FRENCH INTIFADA. “And then there is anti-Semitism. Hussey was obviously stunned by its robustness among many French Muslims.” Interesting that the New York Times is reporting this so plainly, though of course the concluding paragraph tells us that the real danger comes from the “far right.”

SPENGLER: Is The Breakup Of Iraq Good Or Bad For America? “The intrusion of reality benefits the likes of Putin, because Putin is a realist. It hurts us, because we refuse to accept reality. Our leaders live in ideological bubbles; they are incapable of considering the consequence of their errors.”

STEP ONE: REMOVE DONOR ANONYMITY. Step Two: Wonder Why Donations Drop Off. “The UK is facing a major sperm shortage that may be tempting fertility clinics to accept poorer quality sperm, the British Fertility Society (BFS) warns. . . . Dr Pacey warned this was limiting patient choice and increasing waiting times, which led to potential risky practices, including DIY insemination with a friend’s sperm or seeking treatment in a country with less fertility regulation.”

Who would have thought that men respond to incentives?

GOOD: Oral Vaccine for Cholera Found Effective in Africa. “Shanchol, which costs less than $2, comes in a vial smaller than an energy shot. It was developed with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and its maker, Shantha Biotechnics, has said that large orders could push the price below $1 a dose. It took until 2010 for the W.H.O. to accept the idea of fighting cholera with vaccines, ‘but now that seems mostly from the school of the overwhelmingly obvious,’ said Rebecca F. Grais, Epicentre’s epidemiology director and an author of the study.”

VITAMIN D UPDATE: Supplements Found to Ease Gestational Diabetes. “Calcium and vitamin D supplementation can reduce blood sugar levels in women with gestational diabetes and improve other measures of metabolic health, a small randomized trial has found.” Interesting, if this pans out in larger studies.

DON’T MISS: Supreme Court to consider ‘kill shot’ on public sector unions. Interestingly, if the unions survive it’ll probably be Scalia who is their savior:

Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia could prove to be the swing vote, experts say.

In a 1991 Supreme Court case, Scalia argued it is reasonable for unions to collect fees from non-union members to cover their negotiating costs. Then, during oral arguments for Harris vs. Quinn in January, Scalia’s questions led some believe he is leaning in this direction once again.

Eisenbrey called Scalia “the hope.”

I hope he disappoints them.