Reminder That The Wrong Bush Boy Became President

Jeb Bush's Foundation for Excellence in Education has asked District of Columbia schools chancellor Michelle Rhee to be keynote speaker at its second annual national summit on education reform.

Rhee, an appointee of DC Mayor, Adrian Fenty, will join summit host Bush and policymakers from around the nation at the October summit in DC.

"From pay raises to pink slips, Chancellor Rhee is shaking up the status quo to turnaround a school system that has failed students for too long," Bush said. "We are tremendously pleased Chancellor Rhee will join Excellence in Action attendees to share her bold reform strategies for raising student achievement and improving the quality of education."

Source: http://www.bestmiaminews.com/jeb-turns-to-a-dem-appointee-to-tout-excellence-in-education/

The Defeat of NIMBYism?

Nearly all energy experts agree that more nuclear power is necessary to lower energy costs in this nation. However, the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) problem that humans always struggle with has led to political uncertainty, and thus the market hasn't produced a fresh plant in a long, long time. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll gives hope:

"To address the country's energy needs, would you support or oppose action by the federal government to [see below]?" Half sample
						.
		Support	Oppose	Unsure
		%	%	%
						.
	"Build more nuclear power plants"
	8/13-17/09	52	46	2

Asked of those who support building more nuclear power plants: "Would you favor or oppose building a nuclear power plant within 50 miles of your home?"
						.
		Favor	Oppose
		%	%
	8/13-17/09	66	33

It's time that President Obama and Congress ask people to do what is right for their country and accept the construction of new nuclear plants (and windmills and hydroplants...etc. al.) in their neighborhoods.

Student Loan Debt Forgiveness for Stimulus?

An interesting idea making the rounds in recent weeks has been to have the government pay off all currently outstanding student loan debt as a means of stimulating the still-in-recession economy.

It is an intriguing concept. The theory goes that this measure would inject money into the economy (the purpose of all stimulus) by freeing up additional spending cash each month for the hundreds of thousands of citizens currently dedicating a portion of their income, not to mention setting aside money in their savings accounts, for debt repayment. Additionally, this would avoid moral hazard, as their was no expectation on the part of these people that they'd be bailed out and there would not be future expectation of bail outs. And, even if there were, since this would reward higher education, the additional people paying for more learning would increase the human capital of the nation.

Of course, Republican Punk doesn't support any additional stimulus. The country is in the process of a slow recovery and we cannot afford any further deficit spending or bubble-creating. Would this have been a good idea if it had been thought of before the pork-basket that was the $700 million plus "stimulus" package. Very possibly. But keep in mind, higher education costs are rising much faster than inflation, primarily due to government intervention that promotes lower-and-middle class people going to college regardless of their ability to pay or whether it is actually in their best interest. So, there are a lot of unintentional consequences that must be considered with any plan.

Diane Watson (D-CA) Praises Fidel Castro, Che Guevera, Militant Communism, Calls Republicans Racist

Also, interesting note on Council of Consevative Citizens concerning how Che Guevera felt about black people:

“The Negro is indolent and lazy, and spends his money on frivolities, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized and intelligent.”- Che Guevara

Jay Rockefeller Wants To Give Obama Power To Take Over The Internet

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

The new version would allow the president to "declare a cybersecurity emergency" relating to "non-governmental" computer networks and do what's necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for "cybersecurity professionals," and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

This is very scary. Besides creating further barriers to market entry through another unnecessary licensure program (folks, it's not really capitalism when the government decides who can and can't do things, its corporatism that just protects the big dogs), the ability to declare a cyber-emergency (with no clear, congressionally-set guidelines to what that means) gives the Executive the power to declares martial law on information and free speech.

What if Bush had tried this?

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html

DJ AM Dead At 36

Please pray for the family and friends of the man who had been, along with blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, one of the two survivers of a South Carolina plane crash last October.

For Those Who Think The Crisis In Darfur Will End Because We Let Omar Al-Bashir Go

Two international staffers supporting the peacekeeping mission in the volatile Sudanese region of Darfur were kidnapped Saturday morning.

Read More:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/08/29/sudan.peacekeeping.workers.kidnap/index.html

Heavens - Patent Pending

Stay Away From My Blob, Rob Zombie!

News is that Rob Zombie wants to make a remake of the sci-fi/horror classic, The Blob (which has actually already been remade in 1988). Now, after initial convulsions, it is important to remember that before the awful Halloween re-dos, Mr. Zombie did write and direct a pair of good, if disturbing, flicks in House of 1000 Corpses and the Devil's Rejects.

Unfortunately, once one reads his statements on the project, all hope is thrown out the window:

"My intention is not to have a big red blobby thing -- that's the first thing I want to change," Zombie said. "That gigantic Jello-looking thing might have been scary to audiences in the 1950s, but people would laugh now."

Um...Mr. Zombie, that's the whole point of the movie. It's even in the title...THE BLOB!

Hold me, please.....

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118007857.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1

Glad to See the Supreme Court Was Never Politicized

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, who worked as Ted Kennedy's counsel in the mid-1970s -- rushed from his vacation to Boston for tonight's memorial at the JFK library.

When I asked Breyer what it was like to work for Kennedy, he stopped and smiled broadly.

“For me, who was on the staff and I loved being in the staff, it was the most wonderful job of I’ve ever had.”

“Better than being on the Supreme Court?’ he was asked.

“Better than this, yes, in many respects,” he added.

Source: Glenn Thrush

Obama Sets A Bad Example

It is a let down to see our high-moral President not showing children the necessary precautions, but come on media! Is this really news?

Republican Punk Is Back!

After a refreshing vacation and break from the real world, the blog has returned!

Unfortunately, things didn't stop while we were offline, so here's a quick recap:

The Holder justice department decided looking back instead of forward was a good idea after all, and is investigating a small group of CIA interregators. To quote Peter King: "It's Bulls***! Makes you wonder whos side they're on."

Scott Kazmir was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for a pair of high potential, low minors prospects and a player to be named later. Kazmir was having a very bad season and is signed for over $30 million over the next two years (more if his 2012 option was picked up), so while first instinct is advantage Angels, it could turn out to be a win for both teams (if the prospects work out quickly and Kazmir rebounds) or possibly even another coup for the Rays, such as when they got Kazmir and another prospect for Victor Zambrano.

Jim Doyle announced he wasn't running for re-election as Governor of Vermont, likely costing the Republican party a critical seat in a dark blue state.

Matt Skiba has plans to record a solo album. Here's to hoping that the Alkaline Trio frontman can make something as good as his short-lived post-punk side project, Heavens.

And of course: Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009. It's the end of an era.

Great Description of T-Paw

This is when it's handy to be vanilla. You think it's the vodka that's going to land a blow to your head, or the decadent chocolate a blow to your heart.

But since Pawlenty is so Pawlenty, he can point fingers without anyone noticing the middle one's also extended.

Source: GOP 12

Lipona - Shooty Hoops

Full EP available for free on their Myspace!

Ridge Confirms That Terror Alerts Were Politicized

A sad revelation in the autobiography of Tom Ridge, the inaugural Homeland Security Chief:

Tom Ridge confirms a long-held suspicion among Bush critics, writing in his new autobiography that he "was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush's re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over."

While it is good on Mr. Ridge, someone long respected for his political honesty, to have resigned, as well as to follow one of the unwritten rules of politics by not revealing this until after the Bush administration ended, it is a sad day for Republicans that we find ourselves seeing that some liberal conspiracies were true.

It is also unfortunate, because this blog now finds itself complimenting President Obama for keeping the Terror Alert level out of the news and downplaying it (while not taking away the transparency.)

Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0809/Politicizing_the_terror_alerts.html?showall

Deficit $262 Billion Less Than Expected

Now clocking in at only $1.58 trillion, with a national debt of $11.6 trillion! Praise the lord!!!

Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0809/Budget_outlook_brightens__slightly.html

Majority Believe War In Afghanistan Wasn't Worth It

Scary numbers from ABC News/Washington Post Poll. For the first time ever, a majority of Americans believe the War in Afghanistan was not worth fighting. Not only that, but a 45% plurality believe we should begin reducing troop levels immediately (the opposite of what is needed according to virtually every foreign policy/military expert)!

We've said this before and we'll say it again: Mr. President, this is where you need to be spending political capital. You have always been a strong supporter of this very necessary war, and with all the domestic problems, you are risking the possibility that there will be no support from the left remaining to do what needs to be done in Southwest Asia.

Why Single Payer Wouldn't Work For The U.S.

Dany Mercado, a leukemia patient from Kitchener, Ontario, is cancer-free after getting a bone marrow transplant at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.

Told by Canadian doctors in 2007 he couldn't have the procedure there, Mercado's family and doctor appealed to Ontario health officials, who agreed to let him have the transplant in Detroit in January 2008.

The Karmanos Institute is one of several Detroit health facilities that care for Canadians needing services not widely available in Canada.

Canada, for example, has waiting times for bariatric procedures to combat obesity that can stretch to more than five years, according to a June report in the Canadian Journal of Surgery.

As a result, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in April designated 13 U.S. hospitals, including five in Michigan and one more with a tentative designation, to perform bariatric surgery for Canadians.

If we had the Weiner plan, where would we go? Mexico?

Read More: http://freep.com/article/20090820/BUSINESS06/908200420/1319/

Obama Uses Religion To Promote Health Care

"We are God's partners in matters of life and death"

The President said this during a call with Rabbis concerning his health care plan. The obvious question, "Isn't this what liberals got angry with Bush and Huckabee over?"

This blog had a problem with the undue self-confidence that Bush had when he was sure he was doing God's work and with Huckabee for saying that his surge was supported by God, and we certainly have a problem with this bull. Who do you think you are, Mr. President?

Also, interesting note on the rationing front: Ben Smith points out that this is from the Rosh Hashanah prayer that also says it is decided "who shall live and who shall die." Obviously not intentional, but that just walks into the hands of the Right.

Avatar Trailer!!!!

Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy crap.

This trailer...wow...

Speechless

http://avatar.substance001.info/

Mayday Parade - Jamie All Over

T-Paw on Health Care

Add health care to the issues that Republican Punk loves Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota, on for the 2012 election. Politico has a new article on the way the good governor has thrown himself into the health care debate as the middle ground between the Massachusetts model of Mitt Romney and the harsh rhetoric of Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich:

Pawlenty said he has three major objections to Democratic plans: the public option, possible tax increases on small and medium-sized businesses and the “massive spending disaster” that would result if health care were added to a federal budget.

The Minnesota governor also supports the right to pool insurance risk across state lines, opening up private insurance markets to allow consumers to buy a policy from nearly anywhere, creating an electronic billing and prescription system, the prohibition of coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions, portability guarantees and incentivizing hospitals and patients to reduce the cost of individual visits.

His approach doesn’t always land him in the headlines, but it’s winning him notice as a serious voice in the debate without damaging his Minnesota Nice brand.

This approach is almost identical to what this blog would like to see done, and is almost certainly a middle ground that could pass through the Senate (though probably not the current House, which has too many liberals to accept giving up the public option while allowing people to buy across state lines.) The article is highly recommended reading for those who haven't already jumped on the Pawlenty band wagon.

P.S.
There is also a great one sentence description of the man I've come to adore:

“That’s Tim’s nature. He’s a quieter sort, he’s more about policy. I just don’t think it’s in his nature to use heavy rhetorical flourishes,” said Donatelli. “I think if he becomes a candidate, his message will be that he has been a successful conservative, pro-free market governor in a very blue state. That would be the one-sentence description of his political career.”

World Cooled Over The Last Decade; Debate Concerning What It Means

Republican Punk is not a site to debate complex science (or pseudoscience, for that matter), so this post is not meant to argue over whether the significant fall in temperature since 1997, which was an El Nino year and thus naturally hotter, means that global warming is a hoax. Instead, we would like to point out a couple of significant lines from the article concerning this fall in temperature and attempts to rebuff the ensuing sceptics:

A decade of level or slightly lower temperatures is only a temporary dip to be expected as a result of natural, short-term variations in the enormously complex climate system, they say.

"Natural variability can account for the slowing of the global mean temperature rise we have seen."

"These short term fluctuations are statistically insignificant (and) entirely due to natural internal variability," Easterling said in an essay published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in April. "It's easy to 'cherry pick' a period to reinforce a point of view."

The climate system is enormously complex, and while man is very likely affecting the temperature in some way, it is very unlikely that any measure we take as humans could unravel these effects. To believe otherwise is incredible hubris. Thus, while Republican Punk supports a carbon tax to fix the market failure created by the lack of a carbon price, it needs to be done in such a way that it doesn't destroy the economy, because we aren't stopping global warming, whether it was man-made or not. It is sad, but true, and there is no reason to mitigate the problems we fact by ignoring cost-benefit.

Also, liberals need to follow their own advice when it comes to not cherry-picking science. Accept that there is a debate. There is a majority viewpoint and a minority viewpoint, but it only takes one scientist to be right and these people aren't insane. There are arguments to be made on both sides, and policy makers are right to pay attention to both. While men like James Inhofe are wrong to ignore climate science showing carbon-caused warming, people like Barbara Boxer and Henry Waxman are just as wrong to ignore contrarian science and refuse to consider cost-benefit analysis when writing bills.

Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/74019.html

Afghanis Take To The Polls

Keep the Afghani people in your prayers as they prove those in America who think that they can never be a working democracy wrong by turning out in the midst of violence to cast their votes in a hotly contested presidential electon.

Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/08/20/afghanistan.election/index.html

Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, Lockerbie Bomber, To Be Released

The man behind the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie that killed 270 is being allowed to return home to Libya as he is dying from Pancreatic cancer. Scottish authorities defend the decision by stating:

"Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion available...Our beliefs dictate that justice be served but mercy be shown."

The White House has rightfully disagreed with the decision:

"As we have expressed repeatedly to officials of the government of the United Kingdom and to Scottish authorities, we continue to believe that al Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland," it said.

What mercy was shown to the innocent people flying back to New York from London on that fateful day in 1988? Should we show compassion? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean that rule of law can be set aside for anyone, especially someone this dispicable.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/08/19/scotland.lockerbie.bomber/index.html

Williams Sisters to Buy Minority Stakes in Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins, who already sport Gloria Estefan and Marc Anthony as part-owners, are set to add to the tabloid buzz at Land Shark Stadium with the addition of the Tennis dominating sisters.

Hopefully, they'll bring some of that winning culture to a Miami team that is being vastly overlooked despite having won the AFC East over the Patriots last season.

Read More: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4410487

Antlers - Two

Beautiful New Video

Joe Scarborough Gets Anthony Weiner (D-NY) To Admit He Doesn't Believe in Private Health Insurance

Why does anyone want Medicare, which will go bankrupt in 10 years, to be the basis for everyone's health care?

And Scarborough catches Weiner, who tries to use the populist line that the health care industry doesn't deserve its profits, by askying why any corporation deserve profits.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Max Baucus Has Cahones, Wants Bipartisanship

Despite Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the rest of the left being ready to force a Dem-only health reform plan on the country, Finance Committee Max Baucus continues to fly in the face of moronic liberal bloggers who want his head and will attempt to complete his negotiations:

“Bipartisan progress continues," the Montana Democrat said in a statement. "The Finance Committee is on track to reach a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive health care reform that can pass the Senate. Our group will be meeting tomorrow and our staffs continue to meet as well. I am confident we will continue our steady progress toward health care reform that will lower costs and provide quality, affordable coverage to all Americans.”

Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican, is still down as well, despite White House and media reports that make it out that the Republicans forced the Dems to back away from the table (despite the fact that with their 40 members, they never had leverage):

“I’ve said all year that something as big and important as health care legislation should have broad-based support," Grassley said in a statement. "So far, no one has developed that kind of support, either in Congress or at the White House. That doesn’t mean we should quit. It means we should keep working until we can put something together that gets that widespread support.”

Here's to hoping they work something out.

Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0809/Baucus_Bipartisan_bill_on_track.html#comments

Don Hewitt Dead At 86

Mr. Hewitt, the creator of 60 minutes and producer of the pivital 1960 TV debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, fell to pancreatic cancer. Please pray for his family, friends, and colleagues.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26264.html

Gwen Ifill Doesn't Know History Quite As Well As She Thought

Classic Robert Novak

“Always love your country — but never trust your government!"

NHS Employees Take More Sick Days Than Private Sector

Annual NHS sickness levels are 10.7 days a year per employee - higher than the public sector average of 9.7 days and 50 per cent higher than the private sector average of 6.4 days.

And before you try to blame it on infections from patients:

The review found that while NHS workers were more likely to pick up illness and infections through their work, this could not explain all of the higher rates of absence.

The infections probably represent the 1 day difference between NHS and other public sector employees, but just look at the difference between the public sector as a whole and the private sector!

These aren't bad people. They just have no incentive to NOT call in sick.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6049107/Over-45000-NHS-staff-call-in-sick-each-day.html

Another Tax-Payer Funded Witch Hunt

House Democrats are probing the nation’s largest insurance companies for lavish spending, demanding reams of compensation data and schedules of retreats and conferences.

Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents for an examination of ‘extensive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry.” The letters set a deadline of Sept. 14 for the documents.

By Sept. 4, the firms are supposed to supply detailed compensation data for board members and top executives, as well as a “table listing all conferences, retreats, or other events held outside company facilities from January 1, 2007, to the present that were paid for, reimbursed, or subsidized in whole or in part by your company.”

For employees or officers making $500,000 or more, the committee wants information on salary, bonus, options and pension.

An industry source interviewed for the article got it correct:

“This is nothing more than a taxpayer-funded fishing expedition designed to silence health plans."

Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26251.html#ixzz0Oe0Hz9fn

Dems Prepared To Stuff Health Care Down Our Throats

They've got 60; they're now ready to try to use it, according to Politico and Mercury News, among others.

Of course, they blame this on the Republicans, because in the Democrats world, only reform that involves government expansion is true reform, and thus Republicans, who are holding out to only support something they believe in, don't support reform.

It is still unlikely that they will be able to get a public option out of the Senate, as it no longer has popular support (44 for, 47 against, according to the new CBS News poll that continues to show a steady downward trend for the idea) and moderate-to-conservative Dems (Landreiu, Nelson, Warner, Begich, Lincoln, Bayh, etc.) probably wouldn't be able to bring themselves to support it.

The scariest possibility is that the Dems may attempt to use Budget Reconciliation rules, which would only require 50 votes and would allow them to ignore up to 10 moderates, even though those rules are meant only for direct budget-related measures (Robert Byrd, a diehard liberal, has said he would oppose this bill, if they attempted to pass it in this fashion, out of precedent). It would be a decleration of war on Republicans and could be very costly in 2010, but might get the job done. As Republican Punk has said in the past, once a public option is in, there is no getting rid of it. It is an entitlement and people don't vote away entitlements (Welfare being the one exception, and that required a perfect storm even though it only affected a small minority of the population).

We'll keep you updated as news leaks on what a Republican-less reform package out of the Senate would look like.

"Wild Packs of Family Dogs" Really Exist

Authorities said it appeared Sherry Schweder was attacked by the pack of dogs during a Friday evening walk near her home. Authorities believe her husband later went looking for her in the family car.

Investigators found Sherry Schweder's bloody shirt underneath the car, which was about six to eight feet from her body, said Madison County Coroner James Mathews.

Lothar Schweder was then attacked and apparently struggled with the dogs, Mathews said. His body was found on the other side of the dirt road, about 16 to 18 feet from his wife's body.

Evidence indicates Lothar Schweder put up a fight and may have tried to pull out a cell phone before he was overtaken, Mathews said.

Makes the Modest Mouse song a little darker...

Still a dog person though.

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9A5GDIG1&show_article=1

Thrice - The Artist in the Ambulance

Bomb the Music Industry! - Sort Of Like Being Pumped

How awesome would it have been to be at this show in some dudes garage?



Don't forget...every Bomb the Music Industry album, free online! GET THEM ALL!!!!

Weezer's New Album Has An (Awful) Title

Raditude

Hat Tip: Stereogum

The Dear Hunter - Mustard Gas (Acoustic)

Lagwagon - Know It All

Robert Novak Dead at 78

The great conservative columnist and "prince of darkness" to anyone from either side of the aisle with something to hide, succumbed to a brain tumor. Please pray for his friends, family, and colleagues.

Axelrod's Media Company (Which Still Pays Him) Hired By Drug Lobby

From Ben Smith:

The House Republican Conference digs in today to a fact reported recently by Bloomberg's Tim Burger: That the pharmaceutical lobby, PhRMA, has hired David Axelrod's AKPD Media — a fact that raises eyebrows because Axelrod sold the firm under an agreement that left it owing him $2 million, a lot of money for a political media company.

It's hard to imagine a situation in which, say, Karl Rove was still getting checks from a firm that was, in turn, employed by the drug lobby not drawing fire from the left, and Axelrod's arrangement is, a bit belatedly, getting that attention.

ACLU Wants WWI-Cross Memorial in Mojave Desert Torn Down

Watch this video (the whole thing please).



E-mail it to your friends.

This is the most egregious attempt to use the establishment clause of the Constitution (meant to keep the government from establishing a state religion) to scrape all remnants of anything that smells of Judeo-Christianity from the nation, at penalty to all believers, not to mention the veterans involved in this case.

Look up more information on Salazar v. Buono here.

Favre To Join Vikings

Good to know that Favre is still in the same condition as he's always been:

A flip-flopper who puts himself before the team.

DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated

The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.

“You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper, which has been published online by the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

Scary.

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/science/18dna.html?_r=2

New Poll Confirms America As Center-Right Country

Self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals in all 50 states of the union, according to the Gallup Poll.

At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year that they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years.

In 2009, 40% percent of respondents in Gallup surveys that have interviewed more than 160,000 Americans have said that they are either “conservative” (31%) or “very conservative” (9%). That is the highest percentage in any year since 2004.

Only 21% have told Gallup they are liberal, including 16% who say they are “liberal” and 5% who say they are “very liberal.”

Thirty-five percent of Americans say they are moderate.

Don't get us wrong. Democrats hold a significant party-affiliation edge. However, America is still center-right and a Democratic majority relies on a number of moderate-to-conservative members, as that party has a much wider base at the ground level thanks to alliances that date back to the New Deal (blue collar workers, big business, etc.).

Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/52602

Fundamental Building Block of Life Found on Comet

"The discovery of glycine in a comet supports the idea that the fundamental building blocks of life are prevalent in space, and strengthens the argument that life in the universe may be common rather than rare," said Carl Pilcher, the director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute in California, which co-funded the research.

Cue X-Files Theme

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE57H02I20090818

Best Headline Of The Day

Exploding iPhones 'isolated incidents', say Apple

Read Article Here (too amazed to post highlights): http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.81e791dce22810f6f96f2361d934f866.6e1&show_article=1

Woman In Britain Refused Ambulance, Gives Birth On Sidewalk, Because She Had "9 Months To Sort Out A Lift"

This is the Government-run hospital's sensitive response:

"We are disappointed that Ms Blake was not happy with the advice and care she received and will of course investigate any complaint."

We're not just talking about long waits for surgery here, folks. Stuff like this happens when everything is standardized and needs to be figured out well in advance.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1207151/Woman-gives-birth-pavement-refused-ambulance.html#ixzz0OY6dJrND

Warning: Speed Limit Enforced by Angry Neighbors with Paintball Guns

Source: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5814998/

Texas Judge Refused To Hear Appeal After 5 On Execution Day, Now Faces Trial

The State Judicial Commission has charged Judge Sharon Keller with failing to follow the court's execution-day procedures in the case of death-row inmate Michael Wayne Richard, and denying Richard access to open courts and the right to be heard.

Asked whether she would allow the court clerk's office to stay open past 5 p.m., as Richard's attorneys were having computer problems and might be late filing emergency paperwork, Keller refused to do so, according to the complaint filed against her by the judicial commission. Richard was executed that night.

In the case of the taking of a human life, something incredibly precious, even if it belongs to a criminal, there should be every measure taken to make sure it is the right thing. As one of the trial protestors signs stated "Justice Doesn't Close At 5"

Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/17/texas.judge.misconduct/index.html

Principal and Athletic Director Face Up To 6 Months in Jail For Saying Prayer At Luncheon

Frank Lay, principal of Pace High School, and Athletic Director Robert Freeman are accused of violating a consent decree banning employees of Santa Rosa County schools from endorsing religion.

On January 28, "Lay asked Freeman to offer a prayer of blessing during a school-day luncheon for the dedication of a new fieldhouse at Pace High School," according to court documents. "Freeman complied with the request and offered the prayer at the event. It appears this was a school-sponsored event attended by students, faculty and community members."

Attorneys from Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal group helping defend Lay and Freeman, said in a written statement that attendees included booster club members and other adults who helped the field house project, all "consenting adults."

In a February 4 letter to district Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick in which Lay acknowledged the incident, he said that although past football booster club members "and other adults associated with the school system" were at the luncheon, culinary class students were in charge of food preparation and serving.

Ridiculous.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/17/Florida.school.prayer/index.html

CNN Makes Big Deal Out Of Man LEGALLY Carrying A Weapon

A group of citizens protesting their right to bear arms outside of President Obama's rally, including one man openly caryring a legal assault weapon, made the front page of CNN this morning. Look at this headline:

Man carries assault rifle to Obama protest -- and it's legal

Like it is some sort of unfortunate. surprise. God forbid that carrying a weapon that everyone can see, unloaded, isn't a crime. Additionally, the men were never within close proximity of the President.

In both instances, the men carrying weapons were outside the venues where Obama was speaking.

The Secret Service understood the unimportance of the incident:

Asked whether the individuals carrying weapons jeopardized the safety of the president, Donovan said, "Of course not."

It is unfortunate that, rather than punish the people who commit crimes with guns and keep them out of the hands of felons and mentally disabled, we freak out anytime we see a citizen legally carrying one. The best point is made by the man in question:

"I come from another state where 'open carry' is legal, but no one does it, so the police don't really know about it and they harass people, arrest people falsely," the man, who wasn't identified, said in an interview aired by CNN affiliate KNVX. "I think that people need to get out and do it more so that they get kind of conditioned to it."

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/17/obama.protest.rifle/index.html

Jawbox - Savory

A Good New Weezer Track? ((If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To)

Luckily, this is the only Weezer single actually confirmed for the new album due out in October, so hopefully we won't have to worry about I'm Your Daddy popping up on our ipod shuffle.

Awful title though.



Hat Tip: HitFix

Say Anything - Hate Everyone

It's here...the lead single from the new album:

We Now Live in Octavia

Source: The Most Reliable Newspaper In The Nation

Democrats Threaten To Ruin Capitalistic Renewable Energy

Renewable energy is possible the most important new field to emerge through capitalism, and trust us, it will emerge, especially once some form of carbon pricing is created.

However, Democrat policies are creating a green corporatist state:

As this alternative energy industry expands, it is evolving along a very different path than the fossil fuel giants followed. Most of the clean-energy industry's leading voices think that their prosperity depends upon government involvement on four fronts: regulating carbon emissions so that coal, oil, and other fossil fuels bear the cost of their contribution to climate change; mandating that utilities use more renewable power; setting stiff energy-efficiency standards; and increasing federal research into new technologies.

It is important that people, not the government, decide which energy form to use, and beyond the necessity of creating a pricing mechanism, the rest of these threaten to turn the alternative energy industry into a dependent of the growing liberal nanny state.

Source: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20090814_5569.php

Obama Administration Shifts Funding Away From Civil Society

The Project on Middle East Democracy has done an in-depth study of the Obama State Department Budget, and has an interesting, albeit disturbing, find:

The report calculates that civil society groups received $31.75 million in 2008 but will receive only $7 million this year, and that Obama seeks to eliminate $10 million that had been slated for local Egyptian organizations and NGOs such as Freedom House and arms of the National Endowment for Democracy.

In general, Republican Punk praises the (relative) return to the realism of the Nixon/Reagan/Bush 41 administrations. However, part of that realism was uniquely American, including supporting NGOs and local civil society that would eventually lead to liberalism, if not democracy, in areas such as Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

Read the full report here.

Please, Mr. President, don't give up on Hope and Change abroad.

Vogue Interviews Jenny Sanford

Vogue has a great interview with Jenny Sanford, the estranged wife of disgraced South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, that is must read material for anyone interested not only in politics, but the real human side of one of the strangest political affairs in recent history, played out in front of everyone thanks to Mark's selfish need to reveal all.

This woman deserves to be commended for standing up by not standing up next to Mr. Sanford as he went through all of this and admitting that, while she'll try, this might not be a struggle they'll survive.

Best Line:

“Everybody would like to escape sometimes. I’d like somebody 5,000 miles away I could E-mail. It’s not exclusive to men, but I know that isn’t realistic.”

A Win For Capitalism

President Barack Obama and his top aides are signaling that they’re prepared to drop a government insurance option from a final health-reform deal if that’s what’s needed to strike a compromise on Obama’s top legislative priority.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Sunday that the public option was “not the essential element” of the overhaul. A day earlier, Obama downplayed the public option during a Colorado town hall meeting, saying it was “just one sliver” of the debate.

He even chided Democratic supporters and Republican critics for becoming “so fixated on this that they forget everything else” — a dig at some liberals in his own party who have made the public option the main rallying cry of the health reform debate.

At the same time, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of six senators involved in bipartisan Finance Committee negotiations, all but declared the public option dead in the Senate.

“Look, the fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option,” said Conrad, who has pushed an alternative proposal to create a network of consumer cooperatives, on Fox News Sunday. “There never have been. So to continue to chase that rabbit, I think, is just a wasted effort.”

It's good that reality is finally being embraced.

Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26158.html

Great Article About How Football Players Are Heavily Conservative

"The values that Republicans espouse in terms of capitalism, free enterprise, responsibility, working hard, sacrifice and commitment — that message probably resonates with the majority of athletes a lot more,” said Watts, who retired in 2003 after eight years in Congress.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26151.html#ixzz0OSwzRrWp

China, Maine Small Businesses Understand That "Big" Business Isn't Evil

It's always nice to see some businesses that actually believe in competing within the market, rather than shame campaigns and lobbying political leaders to keep the market diluted:

Barber thinks he'll be able to do that -- not by competing directly with Hannaford, but by differentiating Tobey's Grocery and the two other, smaller markets he owns along Route 3.

"I'm not just a supermarket," he said. "I have five or six different businesses inside each one of mine."

At Tobey's Grocery, for example, customers can fill up their gas tanks outside, walk inside and order a pizza from "Pizza Heaven," and then go about their grocery shopping.

When it comes to more specialized products such as custom-cut meats, Barber said customers will likely stick with him.

"I think there's plenty of room here as long as I do the things I do well," Barber said. "What I am good at is, I complement the bigger supermarkets. Most of my customers work in Augusta, Waterville, Belfast and already shop at Hannaford's anyway."

Overall, she said, China will benefit from having Hannaford in town.

"It's going to be good because there's going to be competition," she said. "That keeps everybody honest, and it gives everybody variety."

Source: http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/6723099.html

More T-Paw Goodness

Tim Pawlenty has always counted on dry humor while still addressing the issues as a prime advantage as (likely) seeks the White House in 2012. (See him knocking the Obamacare here.) Well, at his speech to GOPAC this weekend, he has added some new strong statements to his reportoire:

“It appears that President Obama is making great progress on climate change, he is changing the political climate in the country back to Republican,” Pawlenty said during a speech to the second annual GOPAC conference in Chicago.

“He went around the country last fall promising ‘change we can believe in,’ but now we see it’s about changing what we believe in,” said Pawlenty, an anticipated 2012 Republican presidential contender. “We need to be calling out the flaws and misguided decisions of the Democrats in Congress and the Obama administration.”

“Medicaid is essentially bankrupt, Medicare is essentially bankrupt, why the heck would we give the federal government another entitlement program to manage?” asked Pawlenty.

“We had people, leaders in the Republican Party and conservative movement, saying we couldn’t talk about [health care],” the Republican governor said. “Are you kidding me? There is no other pocket book issue that directly affects people as much as this.”

“We need to be more than critics of the Obama administration,” he said. “We can’t just be critics in chiefs.”

“We have an educational system in the United States that isn’t cash for clunkers, it’s clash for flunkers,” he said. “This idea in this country that anyone is forced to go to a bad school is disgraceful.”

“This is the civil rights issue of our time,” he said, describing the plight of inner city schools and urging the state lawmakers in the crowd to address the lower performances of schools in some of their states more depressed areas. “It is a disgrace and it is a moral imperative…we need to rise up and fix this.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26138.html#ixzz0OSI6rsaw

Canada Also Needs Health Care Reform

Dr. Anne Doig says patients are getting less than optimal care and she adds that physicians from across the country - who will gather in Saskatoon on Sunday for their annual meeting - recognize that changes must be made.

"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize," Doing said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

His thoughts on the issue are already clear. Ouellet has been saying since his return that "a health-care revolution has passed us by," that it's possible to make wait lists disappear while maintaining universal coverage and "that competition should be welcomed, not feared."

In other words, Ouellet believes there could be a role for private health-care delivery within the public system.

Doig says there are some "very good things" about Canada's health-care system, but she points out that many people have stories about times when things didn't go well for them or their family.

"(Canadians) have to understand that the system that we have right now - if it keeps on going without change - is not sustainable," said Doig.

Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jbjzPEY0Y3bvRD335rGu_Z3KXoQw

Saturday Mail Likely To Be Done Away With

Sad, but necessary.

CNN Headline Makes Pro-Taliban Militant Seem Like Friend

CNN has a headline that reads: "Maverick pro-Taliban militant offers to help U.S. forces"

Of course, it doesn't mention the fine print:

An Afghan militant group is willing to "help" U.S. and coalition forces, if they prepare to leave Afghanistan, the group's leader said in a statement given to CNN on Monday.

Hekmatyar did not define what he meant by "help," but is typically understood to mean that the group would stop attacks against coalition forces, stop recruiting members and stop the intimidation of local citizens.

The whole article is written to make it sound as if we should accept his offer or be doomed to the fate of the Soviets in the 80s.

Read the whole article here.

100 meters in 9.58 seconds

Usain Bolt isn't human.

More

Lit Drummer Allen Shellenberger Dead At 39

Brain cancer claims another...please pray for his friends, family, and bandmates.

More info: http://www.alternativepress.com/news/allenshellenbergerdies.htm

Obama Justice Department Thinks $1.92 Million File-Sharing Suit Is Constitutional

The Obama administration is asking a judge to reject a Minnesota woman's argument that a jury verdict ordering her to pay $1.92 million for sharing 24 tracks is unconstitutional.

"Defendant's suggestion that the actual harm can be measured to the 'tune of $1.29 for each of the 24 songs' ... ignores the potential multiplying effect of peer-to-peer file-sharing," the Department of Justice argues in papers filed today with a federal district court in Minnesota.

In June, a jury found that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully infringed on the record labels' copyright by sharing tracks on Kazza and ordered her to pay $80,000 per track. The copyright statute provides for damages between $750 and $150,000 per infringement.

Speechless.

Read More: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=111705

Antony & The Johnsons - Crazy in Love

Yes, that Crazy in Love. So beautiful.

Patrick Wolf Is A Little Boy Throwing A Hissy Fit

Two notes on this video:

1) Who would want to see this man live anyways? He is not David effin Bowie.

2) Is he actually a man? Or is this just like an elaborate hoax?



Hat Tip: Stereogum

Bob Dylan Mistaken For Crazy Homeless Person

Really just a crazy person.

"OK Bob, why don't you get in the car and we'll drive to the hotel and go verify this?' " she said she told him. "I put him in the back of the car. To be honest with you, I didn't really believe this was Bob Dylan. It never crossed my mind that this could really be him."

Buble made small talk on the ride to the hotel, asking her detainee where he was playing, she said, but never really believing a word he said.

"I got out of my car and said, "Sarg, this guy says he's Bob Dylan,'" Buble said. "He opened the car door, looked in, and said, 'That's not Bob Dylan.'"

Read the rest: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=8331830&page=2

Haley Barbour's Got A Great Campaign Line

It took Obama six months to pick out a family dog.

Cramming health care reform down the country's throat in a fraction of that time scares people who have been told, accurately, the various bills contain a billion-dollar combination of tax increases and Medicare spending cuts.

Hat Tip: GOP 12

Jim Clyburn Compares Protestors To Racists

"I have seen this kind of hate before. I have seen this discussion before," he said. "I have seen snarling dogs going after people who were trying to peacefully assemble. I have seen the eyes of people who were being spat upon.

"This is all about activity trying to deny the establishment of a civil right. And I do believe that health care for all is — a civil right," the House Majority Whip argued. "And I think that is why you see this kind of activity. This is an attempt on the part of some to deny the establishment of a civil right."

NRCC spokesman Ken Spain has jumped on Clyburn's comments, saying they "smack of bigotry and elitism."

"When anti-war activists were assembling and comparing the president of the United States to Hitler, it was ‘patriotic,’ but now that middle class Americans are standing up to a government takeover of health care, it is somehow steeped in racism and reminiscent of those who denied civil rights to African-Americans," Spain added.

Disgusting.

Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0809/Clyburn_likens_town_hall_behavior_to_civil_rights_era.html

Whole Foods Customers To Boycott Because CEO Opposes Obamacare

The op-ed piece, which begins with a Margaret Thatcher quote, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money," has left some Whole Foods loyalists enraged. Many say Mackey was out of line to opine against the liberal base that has made his fortune possible.

Christine Taylor, a 34-year-old New Jersey shopper, vowed never to step foot in another Whole Foods again.

"I will no longer be shopping at Whole Foods," Taylor told ABCNews.com. "I think a CEO should take care that if he speaks about politics, that his beliefs reflect at least the majority of his clients."

While Mackey reduced his annual salary to one dollar in 2007, after explaining to employees he was "no longer interested in working for money," Mackey is still the head of the 10th largest food and drug store in the U.S.

In his op-ed, "The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare," published Tuesday, Mackey criticized President Barack Obama's health care plan.

Mackey provided eight "reforms" he argued the U.S. can do to improve health care without increasing the deficit. He suggested that tax forms be revised to "make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance."
In the op-ed, Mackey outlines Whole Foods' employee health insurance policy. According to Mackey, Whole Foods pays 100 percent of the premiums for all employees who work 30 hours or more per week -- about 89 percent of his workforce.

Additionally, the company gives each employee $1,800 per year in "health-care dollars," says Mackey, that they can use at their own discretion for health and wellness expenses. This money can be put toward the $2,500 annual deductible that must be covered before Mackey says the company's "insurance plan kicks in."

It's absolutely their right to boycott, cause that's how the market works and Mackey should have thought that one out...but god forbid somebody has opinions of their own.

It also offends me how these (likely upper-class) "progressives" probably didn't even read the op-ed and see that Mackey, a man who is well-known for coining the term "conscious capitalism" for his progressive views about corporate governance and altruism, has huge plans to fix the health care system.

Baaaaa Baaaaa....

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=8322658&page=1

Ronald Reagan Speaking Out Against Socialized Health Care

"The socialists said that America would never vote for socialism, but under the name of liberalism, they would vote for every plank of it."

"They say that once this is passed, this nation will be provided with a mechanism for socialized medicine, capable of expansion in every direction until everything is taken in...we can't say they didn't warn us"

Pelosi: Protestors and Disrupters are "Very American" In '06

Wow...I really hope we use this in an ad, and soon.

Fortune Lays Out The Ideal Health Care System

http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/14/news/economy/health_care_solution.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009081410

They even explain why people are scared of it.

Matt and Kim - Daylight

They are hitchhiking to Maine tomorrow...and I'll be seeing them.

Michael Vick Signs With Eagles

This blog was waiting until it had something interesting to add to the good move/bad move debate, but...nothing.

Makes you wonder how much faith Andy Reid has in Kevin Kolb, the presumed QB of the future.

Otherwise, Vick is just a high risk, high reward wildcat QB.

The Onion - Mark Warner Homeless?

Citing a marked decline in his appearance and personal hygiene, as well as growing piles of personal items under and around his desk, members of Congress have begun to voice concerns that Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) may be homeless.

Worries first arose after Sen. Warner was seen picking up old cigarettes around Capitol Hill during a congressional recess.
"At first, I thought he was just burning the candle at both ends," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who noted that the unshaven Warner is always the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave the Capitol at night. "But then on Sunday, I dropped by to pick up a few things and found Mark asleep under a blanket of Washington Posts on the Senate floor."

Full Article: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/congress_beginning_to_suspect?utm_source=a-section

Scarlett Johansson & Pete Yorn - Relator

Obama Word Study

Politico has a very interesting study of the words used by President Obama since he's been inaugurated. Highly recommended reading it here, but the most interesting tidbit:

He has spoken the words "health" and "economy" each more often than the words “Iraq,” “Iran,” “Afghanistan” and “terrorism” combined, the analysis shows.

Arrogant Sons of Bitches - Nowhere and People Pops and Fudgesicles for the Hit Factory

Michael Steele Sums Up The Reaction To Specter

Not Specter's Week

According to the August 11 automated survey of 1,000 likely Pennsylvania voters, Toomey leads Specter by 48-36 percent, with 12 percent undecided. That's a pretty notable flip from Rasmussen's June survey, which found Specter with a 50-39 percent advantage.

Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0809/Specters_week.html

Claire McCaskill Continues To Stand Up To Those Who Want To Denegrate The Protesters

Liberal/Media Slanders Against Health Care Protestors Not Working

A new USA Today/Gallup poll reaffirms this blog's continued faith in the American public to see through the Pelosi/Obama/MSNBC attacks on health care protesters as unamerican.

"From what you know or have read, have these town hall meeting protests against the proposed bills made you more sympathetic to the protestors' views, do the protests not make any difference to you either way, or have the protests made you less sympathetic to the protestors' views?" Options rotated

More Sympathetic No Difference Less Sympathetic Unsure
% % % % 8/11/09
34 36 21 10

"From what you know and have read, do you think each of the following is a major factor, a minor factor, or not a factor in why the protests against health care bills are taking place at these town hall meetings? How about [see below]?"

Major Factor Minor Factor Not a Factor Unsure
% % % %
"Concern about the health care bills that average citizens had well before the meetings took place"
8/11/09
57 24 13 6

"Recent efforts by political activists to create organized opposition to the health care bills"
8/11/09
48 27 18 8

As you can see, of the people who are taking these protests into account, significantly more are growing MORE sympathetic rather than less to the protestors. In addition, people recognize that genuine anger plays a bigger role than political groups in getting these groups out, despite the media's best attempts to paint it otherwise.

There is room for improvement though, as this poll also reaffirm's Republican Punk's views on how these could be properly run:

"Generally speaking, do you consider each of the following actions at town hall meetings to be an example of democracy in action or an example of abuse of democracy? How about [see below]?" Options rotated

Democracy In Action Abuse of Democracy Unsure
% % %

"Individuals making angry attacks against a health care bill and what it might do"
8/11/09
51 41 8

"Booing when members of Congress make statements that the opponents disagree with"
8/11/09
44 47 9

"Shouting down supporters when they speak in favor of a health care bill"
8/11/09
33 59 8

Basically, being angry at the bill and the congressperson if they support it...yes! But be respectful. We kind of wish that was common sense, but what can you do. Let's let the poll numbers reaffirm it.

Source: Polling Report

Dutch Prefer Porcelain Lover To A Real One

Sex might be fun, but the Dutch don't find it as fun as a pleasant trip to the bathroom, if survey results reported Thursday by the ANP news agency are to be believed. According to the poll of 1,000 adults, 88 per cent listed a visit to the bathroom as something "they enjoy the most," making it the most popular activity chosen, reported ANP. Only 21 per cent did the same for sex.

ANP described the survey as "representative." It was conducted by the Intomart GfK institute for the popular scientific magazine Quest.

Another reason to be proud to be an American.

Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/281273,sex-lags-behind-bathroom-visits-in-popularity-dutch-survey.html

Debbie Stabenow Feels Global Warming When She's Flying

"Climate change is very real," she confessed as she embraced cap and trade's massive tax increase on Michigan industry - at the same time claiming, against all the evidence, that it would not lead to an increase in manufacturing costs or energy prices. "Global warming creates volatility. I feel it when I'm flying. The storms are more volatile. We are paying the price in more hurricanes and tornadoes."

And best response award goes to the Henry Payne with...

And there are sea monsters in Lake Michigan. I can feel them when I'm boating.

Source: http://community.detnews.com/apps/blogs/henrypayneblog/index.php?blogid=2041

Sarah Palin - Concerning The Death Panels

Not going to defend what she said (it legitimizes the Left and Media's claims of ignorance by the right), she does a decent job defending herself on her facebook, at the very least, showing she does understand the legislation, even if she does give into the temptation to use shock tactics to express it.

Obama At Negative Approval In Rasmussen Poll

Overall, 47% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s the lowest level of total approval yet recorded. The President’s ratings first fell below 50% just a few weeks ago on July 25. Fifty-two percent (52%) now disapprove.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 29% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8.

(Republican Punk Note: Presidential Approval is difference between those strongly approving and those strongly disapproving, just in case you didn't notice!)

Source: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

The Weakerthans - Relative Surplus Value

Great Band...Great Song...

Fortune Debunks Three Health Care Myths

Seeing that headline scared this blog for a moment as it stunk of Obama-partisan reporting from the mainstream media that calls anything the Right says about health care a myth because of a few well-intentioned, if untrue, fears that are being spread. However, Fortune instead takes on three bigger myths that both sides are guilty of, including this blog (#1 and #2), unintentionally.

Highlights:

Myth no. 1: Rising health-care costs are a problem in themselves.

We've all seen the graph that shows health-care costs increasing much faster than GDP; it's usually presented as evidence of the crisis we're in.

Take a graph with that same trajectory and label it "Sales of hybrid vehicles" or "Downloads from the iTunes Music Store," and nobody proposes government intervention to stop it. Yet health-care costs, too, are in fact revenues, and fast-rising revenues are generally seen as exciting and laudable in every industry except one. How come?

It's because we all sense that in health care we aren't getting our money's worth -- that tons of dollars are wasted. So the problem isn't that we're spending so much, but why.

That distinction is crucial because partisans on all sides will soon be telling us how their plan would slow the rate of spending growth. But slowing spending is easy -- just give people less care.

Instead, make advocates tell how their plan would address the "why" by cutting waste and boosting efficiency. When they do, make sure they don't invoke ...

Myth no. 2: The fee-for-service system is a major part of the problem.

The trouble with this reasoning is that we avoid that problem when buying other complex services, from consulting to car repair, on a fee-for-service basis.

The reason we buy loads of unnecessary health-care services is not the fee-for-service system, which we use to buy almost all services. It's that we aren't paying with our own money. Only 12% of U.S. health-care spending is out-of-pocket, a proportion that has been falling for decades.

Myth no. 3: A well-designed government plan can avoid rationing.

The Obama administration has stated flatly that "health care will not be rationed" under its plan. So let's be clear on this: Health care will be rationed. It must be. To say otherwise is to say the government can supply it in unlimited quantities to everyone.

Read the whole article here.