Butting factoids on unemployment today: The outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas says planned layoffs as of the end of August were the lowest they have been since June 2000. Here’s the company’s report [ pdf ].
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OK, How About “Jobs Saved But Uncreated”
Just to prove that Internet rumors don’t have to involve Barack Obama, Snopes.com describes the best tale to attach itself to a corporate trademark since Proctor & Gamble had to scrub a Satanic moon man off its products: Claim: A pact with the Devil to save a cancer-stricken child resulted in the creation of the Hello Kitty brand…. The rumor gained its start from a 2008 e-mail rendered in Spanish, which asserted that the frantic parents of a 12-year-old girl stricken with cancer of the mouth made a pact with the Devil to bring to worldwide fame a character alluring to children in exchange for their daughter’s return to health
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The Devil Went Down to Tokyo
Did you hear about the Oregon health inspector who shut down a seven-year-old girl’s lemonade stand? How about the California mayor who put the kibosh on a three-year-old’s vegetable stand?
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Reason.tv: Nanny of the Month for August 2010 – Police Chief Busts Guy Who Keeps Drunks Off the Street
No, I’m not making this up: In an interview with ABC News yesterday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that “there still is a great deal of confusion about what is in [the reform law] and what isn’t.” The remedy for the poor, bewildered public? “We have a lot of reeducation to do.” As Glenn Reynolds quipped , “Maybe there are camps for that?” Still, if it’s reeducation that’s needed, maybe we ought to start with Sebelius, who seems to be somewhat confused herself.
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HHS Secretary Sebelius on ObamaCare: “We have a lot of reeducation to do.”
Mark Hemingway : Rather than a political broadside directed at the White House, Beck took another page from King’s book: He gave an upbeat speech, focusing on religion as a positive force for change. “Go to your churches, synagogues, and mosques!” Beck proclaimed. He also suggested “teach[ing] in our churches the principles” to fix our politics.
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Mellow Gold: Glenn Beck Fiesta Roundup
In his January State of the Union speech, President Obama woefully declared that “each time lobbyists game the system or politicians tear each other down instead of lifting this country up, we lose faith.” But by the following month, The Hill was reporting that “despite his push to rein in special interests, President Barack Obama sparked a boom on K Street.” Lobbyists for the health care industry in particular were given an enormous boost in Washington as the health care bill rolled slowly through Congress and then moved on to the regulatory phase. These days, though, much of the action on the health care front is moving to the states, which, thanks to the PPACA’s network of state-based health insurance exchanges, are responsible for managing a significant amount of the law’s implementation
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For Health Care Lobbyists, ObamaCare Is the Gift That Keeps On Giving
The New York Times ‘ former theater critic gives a hi-five to Jane Mayer’s flawed New Yorker hit piece on ObamaNation’s enemy numero uno: The libertarian brothers Koch. Excerpt: The New Yorker article stirred up the right, too
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That’s Rich, Frank
Once again, the Congressional Budget Office reruns the same models that it used to estimate that the stimulus would create jobs and finds that, to the surprise of no one, that the model still says that the stimulus creates jobs. Hooray for the stimulus! Nevermind that the CBO’s director has confirmed that these reports do not serve as independent checks on the real-world effects of the spending, it’s news !
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Oh Look, Another CBO Report on the Effects of the Stimulus!
At the Irvine Housing Blog, Irvine Renter kicks it old school with a straight-outta-2003 Fisking of a New York Times article on the Obama Administration’s $3 billion flush down the black hole of unemployed, deep-underwater mortgage borrowers.
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Return of the Angry Renter
Florida Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum unveils immigration bill to top Arizona’s. Blagojevich jury appears to be deadlocked .
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Reason Morning Links: Florida May Out-Arizona Arizona, Blagojevich Jury Stalled, Gay Marriages Could Resume in California Today
