HERE WE GO AGAIN

Does the Obama administration vetting process require them to be crooks?

President Obama's choice for the government's No. 2 housing job is embroiled in the largest fine in U.S. history for "blatant violations" of open records laws ... [T]he Washington State Supreme Court found the actions of Mr. [Ronald] Sims' office to be so "egregious" that they scrapped a lower court's order of a $123,780 fine - the largest ever assessed in a public records case - and recommended that the penalty be increased to as much as $825,000.

I’d almost rather it be so; the only other explanation is a frightful degree of arrogance and/or incompetence.

How many tax cheats and crooks has Obama nominated so far?

ALL THE NEWS ... (AGAIN)

On Tuesday, the D.C. City Council voted overwhelmingly (12-1) to approve a bill to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The lone dissenter, Council Member Marion Berry was accused by a fellow council member of bigotry for his vote. It was worthy of a 17-paragraph above-the-fold front-page placement in the Washington Post.

On Wednesday, there was a school choice rally (reported by Instapundit; follow his links) on Pennsylvania Avenue across the street from the D.C. City Council. The rally had an attendance estimated at over 1000.

Of course, there was no news story ... nothing! ... in the Washington Post this morning. In a separate Metro-section story on President Obama's D.C Voucher compromise proposal, there was one sentence referring to the protest in a 17-paragraph story.

Gay rights and bigotry – newsworthy. School choice – not newsworthy.

All the news that’s fit to print. Right.
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Post Script: I was hopeful the Washington Times, D.C.'s conservative newspaper, would do better. Sadly, I was wrong.

QUESTIONING THE VALUE OF REGULATION

ObamaCare in a nutshell:

“Fundamentally, the regulatory approach is focused on the lowest common denominator: the person who needs a warning sign to ensure that he doesn’t spill hot coffee on himself or who shuns any responsibility for his own decisions. Acting in his name, regulators restrict everyone’s choices and freedoms.”

Yes.

HEARD ON THE RADIO

The World Health Organization is afraid that “even more people will be susceptible to the next flu pandemic” because the current swine flu pandemic turned out to be a dud.

Well, yeah. Has anyone at WHO ever read about the little boy who cried wolf? After weeks of yelling “The swine flu is coming! Panic! You’re gonna die! News at 11 ... and at 10 ... and at 9 ... and at 8:45 ... and at 8:40 ... and at ...,” of course people are going to ignore you.

So what’s the typical reaction of the Nanny Statists? “Next time we have to yell louder.”

[Update] Don Surber comments, with more links.

WHY GOVERN WHEN YOU CAN BULLY?

Amity Shlaes: "In the past, politicians and policy thinkers tended to be magnanimous in victory. They and their friends focused, post-victory, on policy and strategy -- not on trashing individuals."

But now ... according to posts on three left-leaning blogs:

"Michele Bachmann’s version of history is 'from another planet.' Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana, is 'chronically stupid.' And Eric Cantor of Virginia, the second-ranking Republican in the House, is 'busy lying constantly.'

[T]he magnanimity isn’t there. Indeed, the closer the Democrats get to total power, the nastier the commentators friendly to them have become.

Shlaes attributes the nastiness to a combination of the internet, historical ignorance, and Democrat discomfort with power.

I’m not as generous. To me it’s arrogance born of certainty and a firm belief that anyone who dares dissent must, of necessity, be evil. Secular extremism, if you will.

CASH FOR CLUNKERS

[The] Obama administration says it will stand behind deal struck by House Democrats to push forward legislation to stimulate car sales.

The Obama administration has signaled its support for a congressional effort that aims to boost the troubled car industry by subsidizing new cars sales for consumers who scrap old ones.

Under the so-called cash-for-clunkers legislation, consumers with old, gas guzzlers could get $3,500 or $4,500 in government vouchers to use toward the purchase of new cars that get gas mileage that exceeds [that of] the old cars.

This is really a matter of getting the camel’s nose into the tent. The goal is to get Americans into “green” transportation by the simple expedient of offering only “green” vehicles for sale and removing "non-green" vehicles from the resale market.

I suspect the only effect of this legislation will be to increase the resale value of used cars.