Category Archives: Government
Campaign Slogan Tryouts
Robert Gibbs said Republicans could win the House. Pelosi slammed Gibbs. Joe Biden claimed, “we’re going to win the House and the Senate”. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D., N.J.) felt compelled to announce “…an end to a growing rumor that the president doesn’t want the House, only the Senate, and feels he can get more done with a split Congress…” . Jonathan Weisman and Naftali Bendavid have the story in the WSJ.
Death and Taxes
Some guys have all the luck. Last year the estate tax was 45%. Next year it will be 55%. This year? Nil. Zero. The empty set. Businesses say this sort of thing makes it tough to plan for the future. One business isn’t complaining. Since he died in 2010, George Steinbrenner’s heirs won’t have to sell the Yankees to pay the taxes.
You Know The Drill
The Law-Enforcer-In-Chief responded to two court rulings overturning his deep water drilling ban by ordering a new deep water drilling ban.
Calling Dr. Berwick
The president used a recess appointment to slip Donald Berwick by the senate in order to run the health care program Obama rammed through congress. David Axelrod insisted the president was simply trying to avoid a “circus in the senate“. Axe has a point. Dr. Berwick would have been performing without a net while explaining why he’s “romantic about the NHS (British National Health Service),” what he means by “the darkness of private enterprise,” and why excellent health care is “by definition redistributional “.
And physicians would have thrilled to his doctor defying comment, ” I would place a commitment to excellence – standardization to the best known method – above clinician autonomy as a rule for care.” You can read about this and other sayings of Dr. Beriwick in Daniel Henninger’s WSJ column.
Mission: Moon, Mars, Muslims
Thought this was a parody when I first saw it. NASA chief, Charles Bolden, says Obama’s foremost charge to him is to help Muslim nations feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering. Here’s the whole interview on Al Jazeera. And here’s Charles Lane in the Washington Post with more links.
Variation on the theme 
