MUST READS: Energy
Bill Ritter’s energy insecurity – John Harpole, ALineOfSight.com
I was not trying to embarrass the Governor. It was not meant to be a trick question. Rather, it was a simple question that most politicians would shrug off with a predetermined in-the-can answer.
MUST READS: The Obama File
Obama’s flaws multiply – John Fund, Wall Street Journal
Barack Obama’s San Francisco-Democrat comment about how working class voters "cling to guns or religion" is already famous. But his aides tell reporters that he is bewildered that anybody took offense.
Hey, Barack, it’s about freedom – Investors Business Daily
You wouldn’t know it from listening to Barach Obama disparage "people in small towns," but they "cling" to their guns and their faith because of a document called the Declaration of Independence, signed in Philadelphia, where church bells rang out on July 4, 1776. read more…
MUST READS: Global warming
The real costs of ‘cap and trade’ – Don Nickles and Charles Stenholm, Investors Business Daily
If you think energy prices are high now, wait until Congress slaps a ‘cap and trade’ carbon tax on top of existing costs — and without any assurance that other all of this ‘sacrifice’ will make a difference. read more…
Health care psychosis
Samuel Johnson called second marriages "the triumph of hope over experience." The same might be said for the latest health care reform bill at the State Capitol.
For more than 20 years, crusading politicians have promised to deliver better health care to more people for less money simply by saying "make it so." With rare exceptions, the resulting legislation exacerbates economic distortions, makes insurance impractically expensive, drives insurers out of the state, and creates worse problems than originally existed.
Senate Bill 217 seems to be a desperate attempt to "do something" while buying time to figure out what to do. What it does best is to create case studies in irony, hubris and cognitive dissonance. read more…
MUST READS: Health care
Mandating health insurance is big mistake – Paul Hsieh, MD, Denver Post
Sen. Bob Hagedorn would force all Coloradans to purchase mandatory health insurance because it would be "immoral" to "sit on our hands and do nothing." Massachusetts also requires all residents to purchase health insurance, but rather than creating high-quality affordable health care, the result has been skyrocketing costs, worsened access, and lower quality health care. read more…
MUST READS: The McCain File
McCain and Mo Udall – Michael Lewis, Slate.com
An old anecdote about Mo Udall in the hospital reveals something noteworthy about John McCain’s character. read more…
Moralizing with other people’s money
It’s an article of faith among Democrats that the state budget is a "moral document." However, if the state budget reflects the morality of Democrats then it’s all too obvious that they still worship at the altar of big government.
The fiscal shenanigans at the root of the Colorado state budget should cause anyone who’s paying attention to ask if the Democrats’ morality is still inspired by Bill Clinton.
The latest estimate from the legislature’s nonpartisan economists forecasts a decrease in expected revenues of $693 million over five years, echoing spreading worries of an economic slowdown. But this year’s proposed budget calls for no slowdown in spending. read more…
MUST READS: Iraq
Pentagon study links Saddam, al Qaeda – Stephen Hays, The Weekly Standard
This ought to be big news. Throughout the early and mid-1990s, Saddam Hussein actively supported an influential terrorist group headed by the man who is now al Qaeda’s second-in-command, according to an exhaustive study issued last week by the Pentagon. read more…
Obama not so different rationalizing Wright
"If you really believe black people are ‘fellow Americans,’ then treat them as such." — John McWhorter, Losing The Race.
If Barack Obama truly wants to transcend race, he would do well to apply the words of John McWhorter to his "explanation" of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Obama is supposed to be different: a messenger of hope and change, not just another beltway politician; an agent of reconciliation not grievances and reparations; a unifier who transcends partisan and racial divides.
That’s why many gave him the benefit of the doubt when he explained that he didn’t wear a U.S. flag lapel pin because he viewed it as a "substitute for … true patriotism." read more…
The cult of instant gratification
We are Americans, and we want the best. Now!
Instant gratification has become the American ethos.
In roughly three generations, American society has been transformed from a nation of penny-pinchers, scrimpers and savers to a nation of consumption-addicted spendthrifts oblivious to tomorrow. read more…