I can’t pretend to be surprised that stimulus money is not going to repair the most critical bridges but is going to pork projects. This is what happens when you throw out tons of unaccountable cash out there. I’ve moved past it. Now I’m waiting for the huge scandals connected to the “cash for clunkers” program.
Another story from our wonderful drug war. Asset forfeiture laws are probably the most vile laws on our books. If only we had a leadership that cared about criminal justice and civil liberties.
70% of Southern Whites aren’t sure if Obama was born in this country. That sound you heard was the facepalm of this southerner.
More indicators that our healthcare system isn’t the disaster we’re told.
No, Virginia. You can’t pay for everything with taxes on the rich.
Adventures in tasing. I used to like the idea of tasers as a non-lethal force. But it seems they’re (mostly) non-lethality has only encourage ridiculously prolific use.
I can’t help but think that the new food safety requirements are going to end up like CPSIA — crippling small farmers in favor of agribusiness.
Americans can’t afford healthcare — but apparently they can afford $34 billion of bullshit every year.
Pensions? Doomed. This is why I have my money in 403b’s. As bad as they might be, relying on the state is worse.
Yet more data showing that immigration is not a problem for the US and appears to making the place better. As someone married to an immigrant, I’d probably have to agree.
Parents in NYC are putting up their own money to hire teachers’ aides for classrooms. This informal program is working very well. So naturally, the union wants it killed. Can’t have non-union employees mucking things up. Why, they come without a whole slew of administrators! Worthless “independent” Mike Bloomberg instantly caved.
We’re sending the DEA to Afghanistan. Yeah, that’s going to go well.
Remember how much Obama hated Bush’s signing statements? Well, that’s OK. Neither does he.
Experts are puzzled that crime is plunging during a recession. Maybe … just maybe … that’s because crime isn’t caused by poverty.
The stimulus package is starting to look worse and worse. This big story of the second half of this year will be the media slowly awakening to how big a cesspool of corruption it was. If only we had a party to take advantage of that that wasn’t filled with religious pinheads.
At the risk of being labelled a pinko communist liberal, I have to agree that Juvenile Life Without Parole should only be reserved for the most heinous of crimes. A rape at age 13 crosses me as a good reason to lock someone up for a long time — but for the rest of their life?
If find this post from Ezra Klein (and the comments) to be hilarious. Our system of government is designed to slow change, to avoid radical action. Apparently, that’s a good thing when conservatives are in charge, bad when liberals are in charge. And it’s especially bad if the slowness of the system allows legitimate criticism and public concern to derail bad legislation.
Prediction: in the end, the Iranian regime will turn Neda into a martyr … for their side. The similarities between the old Communists and the Islamists continue to grow.
A chilling recollection of the Khmer Rouge. I recently watched a documentary on S-21 that was horrifying.
How “empathic” is Sonia Sotomayor? Not empathic enough. She let a innocent man rot in prison because of a procedural error. Biden was right — she’s definitely got the cops back.
Something to remember. That claim that 100,000 people a year die of medical errors? Garbage.
San Francisco is forcing its residents to compost.You just know this is something — like food miles — that’s going to turn out be a net negative for the environement.
Let’s promote US tourism by charging every immigrant $10. Do our politicians ever think about the laws they pass? Like … ever?!.
The WSJ on empathy. The reason we have laws and a Constitution is precisely so that people don’t make decisions based on emotion — which is an unreliable guide at best.
Obama and the Democrats are contemplating an outrageous expansion of federal discretionary power. Kudo to Greenwald for not selling out to the Hope and Change Express.
Why does Bill Kristol still get media appearances? He’s a disgrace. He’s just wrong about everything. If a blogger were as wildly ignorant as Kristol is, his traffic would crater.
Sweeeet. Taxpayers are auditing school districts — and finding millions in waste. That’s change we can believe in.
Isn’t this sort of thing how we got an economic crisis in the first place?
Lithwick defends Clarence Thomas. The meme in liberal circles that Thomas is an idiot puppet of Scalia is one of the most ignorant — and quietly racist — of the movement. The thinking seems to be that since he’s black and not liberal, he must be a moron.
I don’t know the background to the story of fed employees getting pay rises while everyone else is told to tighten their belts. I’m assuming this isn’t as simple as people would like to believe.
I have to agree with Reason. It does seem like Obama talks out of both sides of his mouth sometimes. That doesn’t make him bad; that just makes him a normal politician.
Apparently, Monster Cable, when they aren’t harassing people who claim their product is overpriced, are busy suing the crap out of any other business that calls itself Monster. I don’t know that a loser pays legal system would prevent this; but it couldn’t hurt. The thing is that I can think of few people who, hearing the word “Monster”, automatically envision the electronics firm.
I have to agree with Hot Air. Why is it so amazing that Obama extended the olive branch to the muslim world? Bush did that for years. Why do people react so obsequiously when Obama says things they vilified Bush for?
I stopped trusting Consumer Reports back in the 90’s when they endorsed a single payer healthcare system. That and that every product they recommended turned out to be a steaming piece of crap. Their report on the anti-CPSIA rally today is typical of lazy shilling they’ve been doing lately (read the comments for a response — I can’t top them). Memo to CR: big business loves CPSIA. It’s driving the competition out of business.
Nice, The Obama Administration already has a report indicating that their green car plan for Detroit won’t work.
Our ridiculous legal system doesn’t just hamstring doctors and cripple legitimate businesses. It lets genuine bad actors get away with murder. Exxon is still fighting the lawsuit over their oil spill of twenty years ago. Why not? It’s reduced their burden from $5 to $2 billion.
More from Greenpeace: they tried to pretend there was a meltdown at a nuclear plant.
Just in case we thought that DNA evidence was perfect:
Police in Germany have admitted that a woman they have been hunting for more than 15 years never in fact existed.
Dubbed the “phantom of Heilbronn”, the woman was described by police as the country’s most dangerous woman.
Investigators had connected her to six murders and an unsolved death based on DNA traces found at the scene.
Police now acknowledge swabs used to collect DNA samples were contaminated by an innocent woman working in a factory in Bavaria
I like this bit:
One company making swabs said they were not intended for analytical, but only medical use, while another said that there had been no requirement for the swabs to be free of DNA.
I’ve blogged before about the idea of releasing the Manson killers, who are supposedly reformed model prisoners. CNN has a front-page article on it. My feelings remain unchanged — the murderers weren’t executed. That’s about as merciful as I’m willing to get, considering what they did and why.
I find their stories unmoving. Personally, if I recovered from some delusion and discovered that I’d murdered six people, I wouldn’t think myself deserving of freedom.
This may be the only time I have something nice to say about Mitt Romney. He points out one of the more insidious aspects of the card check bill — unionizing charter schools.
You know, I’m pretty conservative. But drug-testing for welfare benefits seems like a dumb idea. This is mainly, I would suspect, going to damage people’s lives further and make them less likely to become productive members of society.
I have to agree with Balko. These arrests for “sexting” are just absurd. I’ve never understood the logic that you can teach people a lesson by ruining their lives. It’s making an example of someone — which is fine … if you’re not the example.
Does anyone take Olberman seriously? We need to put him in a small room with O’Reilly and let them shout each other to death.
Thanks goodness we don’t privatize schools. They’d be selling out to advertisers to make ends meet. Oh, wait…
As I predicted, Obama’s tax cut is dying the same quiet death as Clinton’s did. Although, bizarrely, he’s got the DNC campaigning against his own party members to get them to support his budget.
The WSJ launches another salvo against Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare “reform”. Spending is out of control and the state is going to have to do what they always do in universal healthcare situation: rationing and control.
Just when I begin to think Matthew Yglesias is reasonable, he suggests a 95 percent marginal rate.
Youtube strips the audio from any video that might have copyright violations. This is getting ridiculous. I would hope that Obama would revise the laws regarding fair use. But given that he recently appointed the RIAA’s hand-picked lawyer to the Justice Department, I’m not optimistic.
Update: As pointed out at Reason, this essentially bans rick-rolling.
I’m exhausted from the move, but thought I’d highlight two stories close to my heart. Jim Webb is seeking prison reform while Craig Watkins delivers justice in Texas. Being a law and order type, as I am, means you want the right people punished.