Taxing Success
No fuel saver will go unpunished. Some states want to tax hybrid cars because their success in reducing fuel consumption also reduces gasoline tax revenue.
Data Mine
Ever get creeped out when you’re researching patio chair slings and the next time you log on to your favorite site there is an ad for patio chair slings? We’re used to having our minds mined by the likes of Google and Facebook. So I guess we shouldn’t mind when the government does it to keep an eye on terrorists. The NSA would never abuse its power like the IRS or the DOJ, right? Trust us.
Red Line
Mostly liberal columnist Richard Cohen is fed up with Obama’s dithering on Syria. Mostly conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer is fed up with Obama’s dithering on Syria too. Common ground.
Cohen wants to intervene on humanitarian grounds. As for Krauthammer : “A superpower’s role in a regional conflict is deterrence.” He feels Putin has taken Obama’s measure and our president comes up short – to put it kindly.
President Obama has said Bashar Assad will have crossed a red line if he gasses his own people. France says that gas would be Sarin.
Seems we’ve been down this line before.
Transparent
If your in-box had an email from Richard Windsor it wasn’t necessarily junk mail. It was from former EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. That was her account for communicating with insiders (which is why you didn’t have mail from Richard Windsor). It turns out lots of people in the administration use secret email accounts.
President Obama has proclaimed his administration the most transparent in history. And it is – if you can afford a million dollars to find out a bureaucrat’s email addresses. That’s what the Labor Department tried to charge AP ($1.03 million).
Kevin O’Brien of the Plain Dealer spills Richard Windsor’s guts here.
