THE FIRST SIGN OF CORRUPTION in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means. – Georges Bernanos

I have always wondered how intellectually serious liberals can reconcile this with their desire to increase the power of the State.

I suspect the answer lies in the belief that this new crop of statists will be honest, unlike all the generations before them. This is a dangerous delusion.

Read it all.

ADVICE TO THE MEDIA: “[G]ive up your jobs and go into prostitution. It’s definitely a more honorable profession than yours.”

JIM GERAGHTY at NRO takes note of the obvious: ”[A]dministration officials are arguing that the nation's 15.4 million unemployed need an extension of jobless benefits.”

“Actually, what they really need are jobs.”

SNOW JOBS: Thomas Sowell explains economics to the Obama administration.

[Update] Jon Stewart has another suggestion.

SENATOR BARBARA BOXER: “The Stupak Amendment [to ObamaCare] discriminates against women by taking away health coverage they already have — and tells women who participate in the new health insurance exchange that they can’t even use their own funds to buy a policy that includes abortion coverage.”

Um, Barbara, by that argument, if I were a single male, wouldn’t my current health insurance discriminate against me by mandating, for example, coverage for mammograms? And childbirth?

[Update] Boxer tries again: If ObamaCare covers Viagra, why shouldn’t it cover abortion? Um, well, because Viagra helps create life while abortion destroys it?

And to be perfectly clear, I don’t think health insurance ought to cover Viagra either, along with a plethora of other medical procedures.

MORE CANADIAN HEALTHCARE from Reason TV.




Via Instapundit.

AND PALIN HATRED is in full bloom.

Link via Hot Air.

SARAH PALIN is coming to town. Stanley Fish reviews Going Rogue.

FROM THE RADIO: men who drink 5 or more cups of coffee daily have a significantly reduced likelihood of prostate cancer.

If this is true, I'll be okay until at least the age of 127.

[Update] Now it's beer.

HUMANS will be marrying robots within 50 years ....

Frankly, in 50 years I doubt robots will be that stupid.

HEALTH CARE and gun control. Gun lobbyists are concerned that Obamacare will raise health care insurance premiums for gun owners. Other organizations that lobby for potentially “risky” activities (such as sport parachuting, scuba diving, motorcycling, etc.) are split as to whether or not they think Obamacare could affect them.

Silly ... or serious? I lean toward the latter, simply because the multi-thousand page behemoth before Congress is long on control and short on freedom.

THE PROBLEM IS PRODUCTIVITY: Americans are too damned productive.

Read it and weep.

STEVEN DEN BESTE describes the world of Obama: Government by Wishful Thinking.

An excerpt:

It explains his economic policy. Teleologists [wishful thinkers] inherently don’t believe in unintended side effects when it comes to implementing their idealistic policies. Obviously it should be possible to provide free health care to everyone without wrecking the economy; it’s just how things really should be, so that’s how it will be. Where will the money come from? That’s the kind of question that materialists ask; teleologists don’t concern themselves with such (sic) trivial. It’ll happen somehow, because it’s obviously how it should turn out. To say we shouldn’t do it is to be heartless, uncaring — and those things are more important than mundane claims that it won’t work. If you just believe, it will work.

Read it all.

NOTE: Den Beste is a former engineer who posted at his website USS Clueless. What a loss when he quit posting regularly.