Dear Mr. Broder,Via Instapundit.
Very nice article today on the upcoming Copenhagen meeting. I've heard about the cutbacks at the NYT and I guess it's gotten so bad that they no longer allow internet access to reporters. So my news tip is that apparently, there's some kind of development regarding the scientists behind the global warming data, involving emails or something like that. Some of the papers in the UK are reporting on it and even a few here. If you are not permitted to go online to find them, I could email you a few examples in pdf format. Even better, I could download the file containing the emails and other documents themselves, burn them onto a CD, mail the CD to you, and then once you had access to the primary source material you and your colleagues would be able to do your own reporting and investigating. None of this is to imply in any way that this stuff I've heard about could have any possible relevance to a meeting aimed at a global warming agreement based on conclusions based on data that may have been — let's call them ambiguous. Just thought you might be curious is all, and I'm always happy to help out when I can.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
BLOGGER ASSISTS NEW YORK TIMES
Mark Steyn reports on a reader's offer to help the New York Times with it's ClimateGate reporting.
AWASH IN FOSSIL FUELS
According to George Will, the world is awash in fossil fuel.
Such good news horrifies people who relish scarcity because it requires -- or so they say -- government to ration what is scarce and to generally boss people to mend their behavior: “This is the police! Put down that incandescent bulb and step away from the lamp!” ...[T]here is a name for the political doctrine that rejoices in scarcity of everything except government. The name is environmentalism.I’ve posted on the ecological insanity of environmentalism, and Will is right. The exact quantity of fossil energy notwithstanding, the world needs to generate and use more energy, not less. The choice is stark: America’s standard of living -- or Somalia’s.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Or intended?
Obamacare May Target Gun Owners.
I don’t really think so, but the text referred to is disturbing.
The Vookh Conspiracy has more:
What’s left?
From that, I infer the bill would in fact make it easy for a HHS Secretary to write “wellness” program regulations which penalize almost everyone.
And this is an intended consequence: the discount is not based on risk, but on the requirement that the insuree engage in ‘politically correct’ behavior. If that’s not coercion, I don’t know what is.
The text of the bill is here.
Obamacare May Target Gun Owners.
I don’t really think so, but the text referred to is disturbing.
The Vookh Conspiracy has more:
The rules for a “Wellness Program” begin on page 87. In brief, if you participate in a Wellness Program, you can get a health insurance premium discount of up to 30%. Stated another way, if you don’t participate in a Wellness Program, you will pay a substantial insurance rate penalty for not doing so. The definition of a “Wellness Program” begins in paragraph (B) on page 88:Such as (1) Smoking cessation, (2) Weight management, (3) Stress management, (4) Physical fitness, (5) Nutrition, (6) Heart disease prevention, (7) Healthy lifestyle support, and (8) Diabetes prevention.(B) The wellness program shall be reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease. A program complies with the preceding sentence if the program has a reasonable chance of improving the health of, or preventing disease in, participating individuals ....Pages 29–30 of the Reid bill mention some of items that “Wellness and Prevention Programs” “may include.”
What’s left?
The phrasing does not appear to exclude other items.
From that, I infer the bill would in fact make it easy for a HHS Secretary to write “wellness” program regulations which penalize almost everyone.
And this is an intended consequence: the discount is not based on risk, but on the requirement that the insuree engage in ‘politically correct’ behavior. If that’s not coercion, I don’t know what is.
The text of the bill is here.
CALLING ACORN
A South Dakota couple is accused of using their home as a base for an underage sex trafficking operationThey should have contacted ACORN for assistance.
STUNNING
When one considers that public sector employment has ranged since the 1950s at between 15% and 19% of the population, the makeup of the current cabinet — over 90% of its prior experience was in the public sector — is remarkable. The Obama administration approached terrifying - over 90% of his Cabinet have no private sector experience at all.
Democrat administrations are in blue; Republican administrations in red. The dashed lines indicate the average over all administrations of each party.
Jeff Jacoby shares my concern in another context.
The original post is here.
Via Instapundit.
Democrat administrations are in blue; Republican administrations in red. The dashed lines indicate the average over all administrations of each party.
Jeff Jacoby shares my concern in another context.
The original post is here.
Via Instapundit.
ELITE SNOBBERY
Elliot Gerson of the Rhodes Trust is greatly disappointed that a few Rhodes Scholars have gone into business.
How ... gauche.
On the other hand, it’s not obvious that the business world needs Rhodes Scholars. Perhaps it’s best to keep them in positions where they can’t do much harm.
Read it all.
Via Instapundit.
How ... gauche.
On the other hand, it’s not obvious that the business world needs Rhodes Scholars. Perhaps it’s best to keep them in positions where they can’t do much harm.
Read it all.
Via Instapundit.
HEY BIG SPENDER
My wallet is suddenly lighter. Obama has spent three-and-a-half trillion dollars in his first year alone, more that Bush and Clinton combined in their first years.
Oh, my.
Oh, my.
TRUTH TO POWER
Lou Dobbs on WTOP radio Monday when asked what he would do following his departure from CNN: “I want to speak ‘truth to power’.” Just what the hell does that mean?
Jonah Goldberg calls it a phrase of Quaker origins adopted by campus radicals, Hollywood gadflies and establishment journalists, as something of an abracadabra slogan to justify criticizing government or big corporations.
He’s right. Every time I hear the phrase, I think of some pompous airhead declaring that he/she has an exclusive contract for the truth.
Jonah Goldberg calls it a phrase of Quaker origins adopted by campus radicals, Hollywood gadflies and establishment journalists, as something of an abracadabra slogan to justify criticizing government or big corporations.
He’s right. Every time I hear the phrase, I think of some pompous airhead declaring that he/she has an exclusive contract for the truth.
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