NOW RANGEL BITES THE DUST. It looks like the most ethical Congress ever is stepping down before it can get kicked out.

CLEVERNESS VERSUS WISDOM. A clever man can handle “a seven-hour gabfest on a complex policy matter.” A wise man avoids them.

Obama is clever; Bush was wise.

CANCELING CONSTELLATION: Walter Schirra speaks out. "In the place of the canceled Ares and Orion hardware, we now have increased support for education, increased spending on the discredited global warming hypocrisy and subsidies to several new commercial rocket companies. And, oh yes, don't forget a new outreach program to Muslim countries without established space programs."

Read it all.

“IT’S RUMORED that during the Olympics, when a curling match carried over into Keith Olbermann's time slot, ratings plunged when the curling ended and Olbermann came on. Well, that makes sense. I'd rather watch curling than Olbermann. But then, I'd rather get a root canal than watch Olbermann, too.”

A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED FISKING: Ann Althouse takes Al Gore apart paragraph by paragraph.

Via Instapundit.

IS CATASTROPHIC HEALTH INSURANCE MAKING A COMEBACK? Here’s your better health insurance plan, Mr. President.

This is the first time I've seen catastrophic coverage proposed in any major media source. I believe it was also brought up in the president's health care summit by Rep. Paul Ryan and immediately poo-poo'd by the President, arguing essentially that Americans were too dumb to understand the concept of catastrophic coverage.

He may be right, since in his rebuttal by analogy, he seems to indicate that he himself doesn’t understand the difference between collision coverage and liability coverage.

The American people are smarter.

THE WORST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS. The White House shows it has no interest in compromise. "'The President's Proposal,' as the 11-page White House document is headlined, is in one sense a notable achievement: It manages to take the worst of both the House and Senate bills and combine them into something more destructive."

The coercive flavor that animates [the President's proposal] is best captured in the section that purports to accept the Senate's ‘grandfather clause’ allowing people who like their current health plan to keep it. Except that "The President's Proposal" adds certain consumer protections to these 'grandfathered' plans.

Within months of legislation being enacted, it requires plans ... prohibits ... mandates ... requires ...
[T]he President's Proposal adds new protections that prohibit ... ban ... and prohibit ...
The President's Proposal requires ...

After all of these dictates, no ‘grandfathered’ plan will exist.

I’ve read the proposal in its entirety as well ... the Wall Street Journal's assessment is correct. The proposal is long on control and short on everything else.

Read it all.

OBAMA TO PROPOSE NEW READING AND MATH STANDARDS: The proposal ... would require states to adopt “college- and career-ready standards” in reading and mathematics.

It sounds okay - uniform nationwide standards - until you realize who's setting the standards. Then you realize it's a $14 billion dollar boondoggle.

DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL. “Yes, let’s study the possible effects of repeal, but don’t go tinkering with military effectiveness in the middle of two wars without first knowing what you’re getting yourself into.”

The Washington Post’s Kathleen Parker: “[R]epeatedly, we hear the argument that disallowing gay men and lesbians to be ‘openly gay’ in the military is a denial of their civil rights. This argument isn't only mistaken, it is misplaced.... Repealing ‘Don't ask, don't tell’ may be the right thing to do, but there's only one reason to do it: military effectiveness.... The military may be a microcosm of society in some ways, but it most definitely is not a democracy. Individuals don't have the usual rights that we honor in civilian society and, in fact, forfeit their freedoms when they wear the uniform.”

It may be that repealing “Don’t ask, don’t tell” is in fact the right thing to do, but it’s wise to be sure first.

BRITIAN’S WEATHER OFFICE proposes Climate-Gate do-over: “At a meeting Monday of 150 climate scientists, representatives of Britain's weather office proposed that the world's climatologists start all over again and produce a new trove of global temperature data that is open to public scrutiny and ‘rigorous’ peer review.”

In the US? ** crickets chirping **

THE NEW YORK TIMES recommends Plan B – Ram it through.

[I]t is up to the Democrats to fix the country’s dysfunctional and hugely costly health care system.

Yet survey after survey, poll after poll, tells us that most Americans are satisfied with their health care coverage.

[L]letting people buy insurance in other states that might allow skimpier — and thus cheaper — coverage ... a formula for helping healthy people cut costs while driving up premiums for sick people unable to get similar coverage.

Can’t let those proles get what they want, can we?

Republican speakers made clear that the only thing they would accept is starting over from scratch. That would be the end of sweeping reform.

True. And also true that starting over is what most Americans want.

Mr. Obama needs to keep explaining to Americans that this health care reform is critical — to give them security, to hold down costs and ease the strain on federal budgets. His main challenge, and his best chance, for passing it is to get his own party in line.

He has to “ram it through” specifically because most Americans don’t believe him when he explains that healthcare reform will “give them security, to hold down costs and ease the strain on federal budgets.”

LOVIN' IT. Self-congratulation comeuppance.

CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE PAUL RYAN: Obama 'very insincere'.

"When the [Washington] Times' Deborah Solomon notes that Obama seems 'genuinely pained' by the 'just-say-no obstructionism' of Republicans, Ryan [R, WI, 1st District] answers simply: 'You know, casting the other side as somehow nefarious and evil and poorly intended is the oldest trick in the book.'”

ONE PROBLEM, ONE BILL: “I understand the temptation to draft one bill to solve all the problems in the [healthcare] system.... So I have a simple solution: “One Problem, One Bill.”

Dr. Peter Weiss proposes to address the healthcare “crisis” one problem at a time. Here is a synopsis of his problems/his solutions:

Problem: cost of insurance.
Solution: allow insurance policies to be sold across state lines to increase competitiveness and drive down costs.

Problem: mandated coverage, forcing insurance companies to cover everything from chiropractors to acupuncturists to massage therapists.
Solution: reduce the number of mandates and provide consumer choice.

Problem: pre-existing condition denial.
Solution: allow groups such as AAA, CostCo, and even church or community groups to pool their money and purchase [group] health insurance plans for their members.

Problem: drug costs.
Solution: federally subsidized research; drug importation.

Problem: Malpractice lawsuits.
Solution: eliminate contingency cases in malpractice suits.

While I don’t agree with all the good doctor’s prescriptions, I do agree with the approach: one problem, one solution. As an engineer, I can say with complete assurance that in system design, you never, ever, ever start with a clean sheet of paper unless you’re planning for a catastrophe.

Which is what the Democrats did.

A CAUTION ON IRAQ: "For good or ill, this is likely the year we will begin to see the broad outlines of post-occupation Iraq. The early signs are not good ...."

Read it all.

SARAH PALIN: keep it simple, stupid.



Linked from Hot Air.

The Democrat alternative: keep it stupid, simple.

NANNY OF THE MONTH from Reason TV.

Good grief – it’s not even the real thing. More proof that our legislators have way too much time on their hands.

GRABBING MY 401K: a matter of “social justice?”

Dream on. Your “need” is not an automatic moral claim on my wealth.

As Instapundit noted, this would mean tar and pitchforks for real.