IF THE STYLE ARTICLE had said that the recent Burger King commercial was stupid, I would agree. But to say it is “blatently offensive” to the mentally ill is, well, insane.

These hypersensitive “advocates” have way too much time on their hands. One could hope that these organizations would suffer from the recession, but of course, they’re government-funded.

SIDE NOTE: A Post search for the article using the phrase “Burger King madness” brought up WaPo columnist Colbert I. King as the top result. Heh.

EXCESSIVE OUTRAGE ON RETIREE SUBSIDY ACCOUNTING. Post-ObamaCare, companies are taking charges against future earnings as required by federal law and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is incensed.

Megan McArdle explains:

Here's the thing: health care benefits are tax deductible. Deducting the cost of the benefits is standard practice. And subsidies usually aren't taxable, because there's no point, really. This wasn't a loophole. It was the natural result of the current tax code. And there's no evidence so far that the "loophole" was unintentional; legislators may have decided this was the optimal bribe to get companies to keep their seniors on the drug program rolls. It would hardly be the first time that tax subsidies were thrown in as a sweetener.
Now we've changed it, we have made retiree health benefits more costly for the companies. That means that some of them will probably drop their benefits. Fine, if you think that's good policy, but let's not pretend this is some righteous campaign against dastardly companies. We were paying them to take expensive seniors off our hands. Now we want to reduce the payments.

Waxman is offended tha the companies involved are refusing to hide his -- and Congress’s -- incompetence.

OH GREAT, Kay Bailey Hutchison isn’t retiring. Washington Post opinion writer Johnathon Capehart is “happy” Hutchison is remaining in the Senate:

I know I urged her to do this, but as far as breaking a promise goes, this was pretty lame. Why can't pols just say, "I really don't want to spend more time with my family" or "I changed my mind" or "Look, I need the job" and leave it at that?

Nevertheless, it's good Hutchison is sticking around. Had she left she would have given Gov. Rick Perry, the guy who trounced her in the Republican gubernatorial primary, the opportunity to pick her replacement. It also would have meant that 26.6 percent of the American people would have been represented in the Senate by people they didn't actually vote for.

Um, a couple of teeny, tiny facts seem to escape Johathon. First, Texas has only about 7.5% of the U.S. population of 300 million, not 26.6%. So who are the “unelected” Senators who represent that remaining 19.1%? Well, lookie here. There are 6 “unelected” senators currently serving in the U.S. Senate. They are:

Roland W. Burris (D-IL)
Edward E. Kauffman (D-DE)
Michael F. Bennet (D-CO)
Kirsten E. Gillerand (D-NY)
Paul G. Kirk (D-MA)
George E. LeMieux (R-FL)

Five of the six are Democrats. Do they necessarily not represent the citizens who were unable to vote for them? Well, maybe, as Scott P. Brown (R-MA) was elected to replace appointed Democrat Paul G. Kirk.

As an “edjumaketed” man, Capehart may be unaware of this tidbit of “faux history.” Each state has two (that’s right, two) senators, elected by state-wide vote. Since none of the 57 50 states has two appointees, that means that 100% percent of the American electorate has at least one duly elected senator.

THE MOST PAROCHIAL PRESIDENCY OF MODERN TIMES: “The Obama administration came into office promising to press the “reset” button with the rest of the world after eight years of the so-called arrogant, swaggering Texan cowboy blundering his way around the planet offending peoples from many lands. Instead, Obama pressed the ejector-seat button: Brits, Czechs, Israelis, Indians found themselves given the brush.”

Linked from Hot Air.

THE PUBLIC SECTOR is killing the private sector.



Link from Hot Air.

CLEARLY THOSE IGNORANT HICKS can’t be allowed to educate themselves [A history redo in Texas will hurt children, Saturday, April 3, 2010]. Washington Post reader Robert Tiller appears to agree:

Residents of Madisonville, Tex. -- and of other communities throughout that state -- are fighting for the right to teach their version of history in their public schools ["On schools, town has a message: Don't mess with Texas," news story, April 1]. I wonder if those folks have considered how their efforts will harm their children.

Young people who believe and spout faux history will have a difficult time in college and graduate school [true, see below], and they will lose out on job opportunities, research grants and more. Filling children's heads with phony "facts" that are based on wishful thinking is a surefire way to stunt the mental growth of those children and limit their ability to enjoy the American dream.

There is some truth to reader Tiller’s claim. “Faux history” has been taught in America’s colleges and universities for on the close order of 20 years – and look at the state of the country today: political correctness run amuck; a recession that seems clear to be second only to the Great Depression; and government-imposed solutions that have been shown repeatedly throughout history to be failures.

No, the people of Madisonville, TX, are more closely attuned to the real world than are self-styled members of the so-called “reality-based” community. They should be applauded.

THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION is protesting health care reform’ Medicare cuts.

The AMA is wrong on two particulars. One, it isn’t just Medicare, it’s ObamaCare; and two, ObamaCare isn’t a band-aid; it’s a tourniquet.

DOCTOR TELLS ObamaCare supporters to find another urologist. An earlier post is here, and his interview with Neal Cavuto is here (but you’ll have to sit through an annoying commercial).

Now idiot Florida Congressman Alan Grayson (Cavuto link above) has decided to get in the act and file a complaint against the doctor ...

Read the comments in both the Hot Air links above. The general consensus seems to be support for Dr. Cassell from the Right (tempered by concern for emergency care) and from the Left, an attitude that doctors, even in private practice, are (or should be) public servants, akin to police and firefighters.

My take? I tend to agree with the Right that the doctor is in private practice; he should be able to select whom he wishes to take as patients. The strongest arguments I can see against his position are with respect to caring for patients who are publicly-funded (Medicare and Medicaid) and the anti-discrimination laws, but both are weak in my mind.

SIDE NOTE: I’m currently a patient with four doctors: a general practicioner, a cardiologist, an opthamologist, and a cornea specialist. Without exception, all have expressed an unease about Obamacare.

Not very reassuring.

ALL THAT’S MISSING from the Tea Party are the robes and hoods.



Linked from Hot Air. Go there and follow their links.