Author: Dave

Now only 36% believe the Earth is being warmed by manmade sources. It’s really not surprising at all, though. AGW rests on some very shaky evidence, which has only recently come to light because the “scientists” involved have been assiduously avoiding requests to share their data (which is crazy when you think about it: “I…

No sarcasm this time: WASHINGTON — Pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for federal prosecution in states that allow medical marijuana, prosecutors were told Monday in a new policy memo issued by the Justice Department. Credit where it’s due: this is by far the most sensible administration we’ve seen on this…

His tirade against Fox News would some have some semblance of coherence if it at least made a pretense toward intellectual honesty. What’s most distinctive about the American press is not its freedom but its century-old tradition of independence–that it serves the public interest rather than those of parties, persuasions, or pressure groups. What’s most…

So… the government forces the sale of the company to the unions, and the unions squeeze the competition. This is not what a free market looks like. No doubt our Nobel Laureate-In-Chief will explain this is just good healthy “competition,” a la the public option. As Nola Dog suggests in Megan’s comments, it’s probably not…

The world’s tallest female econoblogger takes on cost-shifting at hospitals. When asking whether hospitals engage in cost-shifting–subsidizing inadequate public reimbursement with private insurer fees–the question is partly one of framing. One way to look at it is that the private insurers pick up the slack for the public programs. Another way to look at it…

Breaking news: the Iraq war is still over — and won. I think this makes it official: the liberal Brookings Institution is apparently no longer bothering to update their Iraq Index, with the last update having been done on September 1st. Final score: 8500-11000 MW of power (vs. 4000 prewar), vastly improved access to potable…

Smart power. We scrap the Eastern European missile defense program that Russia hates, and Russia responds by… changing their policy to start using nukes in just about every conceivable military situation: In an interview published today in Izvestia, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Kremlin’s security council, said the new doctrine offers “different options to…

The Chinese are finding out it’s difficult to have one without the other: The future of China’s most independent and outspoken publication is in doubt following a mass walkout of its commercial staff and rumours that many members of its editorial team are planning to follow them out of the door. Under Ms Hu’s leadership,…

Matt Welch asks why we aren’t celebrating it. It’s a question that needs to be asked: why don’t we celebrate the greatest victory in American history? After all, we celebrate V-E day, even though our WW II “victory” in Europe left more of that continent under totalitarian rule than before the war, and failed to…

The Media Threat Level (MTL) has been raised from Fawning Lapdogs to Praetorian Guard. WHAT THIS ALERT LEVEL MEANS: Danger of dissent is extremely high. Any criticisms of Barack Obama should be made with the understanding the media will portray them as racist or dangerous. Exercise free speech at your own risk. ABOUT THE MTL:…

Yikes… That’s the biggest fall in employment ever. The good news is, once the trend bottoms out history suggests employment should bounce back strongly. The bad news is no one really knows when it will bottom out. And with the huge expansion of FHA, continued loss of employment could mean another massive financial crisis looming…

mOST OF THE TIMES YOU HIT IT YOU WERE ACTUALLY AIMING FOR “A”, AND WHEN YOU SEE EVERYTHING YOU TYPED IN CAPS IT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE SOME IDIOT WHO IS YELLING FOR NO APPARENT REASON. Fortunately, someone has come up with a handy, easy-to-inplement fix, which I searched out the other day in…

What did he know and when did he know it? When Democrat Andrew Romanoff made noises about mounting a primary challenge to Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), the White House contacted Romanoff and made an interesting — and arguably corrupt — counteroffer: Jim Messina, President Barack Obama’s deputy chief of staff and a storied fixer in…

The ever-didactic newly-Mrs. McArdle, taking what we all hope is only a brief break from breeding a new race of libertarian superhumans (Suderhumans?), notes a disturbing trend: On the other end, requiring LTVs of 80-90% would have made the markets much less vulnerable to a correction. … Meanwhile, what’s actually happening? The percentage of FHA…

A thoughtful piece from BIll Ardolino over at Long War Journal, with an in-depth look at Iranian influence in Iraq — and its limits. I’m not trying to sugarcoat the fact that Iran is exerting significant influence of armed, economic, political, and religious varieties in a post-Saddam Iraq. And there is little doubt that as…

Over at Powerline, Paul Mirengoff notes that the Finance Committee version of the health care bill has a nasty surprise for seniors: their doctors are going to be penalized for their relatively expensive care. And via Drudge: go without health insurance, go to jail.

From the Department of WTF comes news of plans expand the Community Reinvestment Act. Apparently the mortgage crisis wasn’t big enough. We can do more! In other news, the “life expectancy as health care barometer” meme so loved by the progressives has been demolished. (h/t Glenn) And Ace reports seventy percent in swing districts oppose…

The conventional wisdom on the left for going on five years has been that Iraq was a mistake, that it diverted resources from the “real fight” in Afghanistan. But as Victor Hanson points out, that cuts both ways, and our difficult victory was Al Qaeda’s crushing defeat. 2) We were far more able to inflict…

How do you know Obama is lying about health care reform? His teleprompter is moving. Apparently under the theory that if you lie often enough the lies start to sound true, the Magical Mendacity Tour kicked into high gear this weekend, with even more facepalming dishonesty: President Barack Obama says requiring people to get health…

The ugly truth of government rationing: In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death. Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have…