Uh oh, the violent teabaggers are at it again, hyperbolizing about totalitarianism and advocating open revolt : The mounting anger and hatred, coursing through the bloodstream of the body politic, make violence and counter-violence inevitable. Brace yourself.
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Heyyyyy! Think the Time Is Right for a Palace Revolution
On February 19, 2010, Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie made a special apperance via webcam on PBS’s Two-Way Street to ask the panel of experts on whether America should look to Portugal’s drug policies for its future. Approximately 1.13 minutes.
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Reason Staffers on The Tube: Nick Gillespie Talking Portugese Drug Decrim on PBS’ Two-Way Street
Like a Tupperware container full of smelly mystery meat, Nancy Pelosi says that the only way we can find out exactly what’s in the health care bill is to try it : You’ve heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don’t know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention—it’s about diet, not diabetes. It’s going to be very, very exciting. But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. [emphasis added] The slightly better version of this argument, which is that voters will like ObamaCare better once it’s passed and they get used to it, isn’t very convincing either
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Nancy Pelosi on Health Care: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
Writing in The Sacramento Bee , Ward Connerly, president of the American Civil Rights Institute, likens early releases aimed at shrinking California’s prison population to slightly opening the drain of an overflowing bathtub without turning off the spigot. Connerly blames “laws requiring lengthy prison sentences for nonviolent offenders” and “mindless minimum sentences imposed under the state’s ‘two-strikes’ and ‘three-strikes’ laws” for flooding California’s prisons with people who don’t belong there. Regarding a new law that will permit the release of some 6,500 prisoners (out of more than 150,000) during the next year, he observes: California’s secretary of corrections called the law a “win-win situation” because it will cut down on recidivism and allow parole agents to focus attention on more-dangerous former convicts
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Better Than Releasing People Who Don’t Belong in Prison: Not Putting Them There to Begin With
The Southern Poverty Law Center , which would paint a box of Wheaties as an extremist threat if it thought that would help it raise funds, has issued a new ” inteligence report ” announcing that “an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared in 2009, with the totals going from 149 groups (including 42 militias) to 512 (127 of them militias) — a 244% jump.” To illustrate how dangerous these groups are, the Center cites some recent arrests of right-wing figures for planning or carrying out violent attacks.
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Fearmongering at the SPLC
On Newsweek ’s website, Associate Editor Peter Suderman looks at how Congressman Paul Ryan’s plan to cut spending and kill the deficit might cause trouble for the GOP : Ask most Republican politicians what they stand for, and they’ll quickly pledge allegiance to the principles of limited government, restrained federal spending, and fiscal responsibility.
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Reason Writers Around Town: Peter Suderman in Newsweek on Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future
Check out this glorious exchange between Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke during today’s testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services: Rep.
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America, These Are Your Leaders: Maxine Waters Edition
When the Argentine army, under the command of the rancid military dictator General Leopoldo Galtieri, invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982, British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher’s popularity was in free fall, unemployment was at its highest point since the 1930s, and the Iron Lady looked to go down in ignominy as the most unpopular leader in modern British history. And despite the criticism surrounding the sinking of the Belgrano , the electoral boost received by Thatcher government after her military’s decisive victory rescued her tenure as Prime Minister (this would later be dubbed the “Falklands Effect”). Now, almost thirty years later, the Argentinians are making noise about regaining sovereignty over the islands, cheered on by allies in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Cuba. And both British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose poll numbers are consistently dire, and Argentinian President Christina Kirchner, also struggling with sagging popularity, could use a Falklands Effect of their own
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Obama’s Falklands Neutrality: Positively Reaganite
Next week, the Travel Promotion Act will likely come up for a vote in the Senate. The idea is to promote tourism in America
In today’s New York Times , Supercapitalism author Robert Reich declares “we’ve got to make sure health insurers compete for every one of our dollars.” Competition can be a good thing, but it’s not at all clear that his preferred solution would actually result in a more competitive insurance market. What Reich wants to do is get rid of McCarran-Ferguson, the “limited” antitrust exemption that insurance companies currently enjoy
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Promoting Competition Through Policies Unlikely to Promote Competition
