HOUSE GOP considers privatizing Medicare.

The idea of a Medicare voucher recently received bipartisan support from a debt reduction panel led by former Republican Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico and prominent Democratic economist Alice Rivlin, a former Federal Reserve vice chairman. Obama's own debt commission said the idea should be considered as an option if other strategies fail to get health care costs under control.

Under [Rep. Paul] Ryan's plan, current Medicare recipients would get to stay in the program. People within 10 years of eligibility - ages 55 to 64 - would also go into Medicare. But those now 54 and under would get a fixed payment from the government when they become eligible at age 65. They would be able to use the voucher to buy a Medicare-approved private plan from a menu of coverage levels and options.

Too good to be true, unfortunately. If only I were young enough to take advantage of such a plan.

'REIN' in the regulators. It's about time.

SO NOW I’LL HAVE TO HAVE MY CARDIOLOGIST’S PERMISSION to watch the Super Bowl? Who wants to bet the study was not funded by a government-sponsored health nanny?

SURPRISE, SURPRISE: Maryland can’t live within its budget. So why should I be expected to live within mine?

THE CASE FOR MERCENARIES: ”It may not be politically correct to suggest letting mercenaries deal with nightmares like Somalia and Darfur. But political correctness doesn't save lives. Sending in mercenaries would.”

I WONDERED why Obama’s poll numbers were rising. Now I know.

TIME magazine compares President Obama favorably with former President Ronald Reagan. Here’s another view.

BOEING UNVEILS the Phantom Eye High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aircraft.

BUH-BYE: Judge Strikes Down ObamaCare. “Florida judge rules that health care law is unconstitutional and says the entire act must be declared void, a decision that will likely rest with the U.S. Supreme Court.”

EGYPT IS a freedom fight.

A UNIQUELY VICIOUS FORM OF CORRUPTION at the heart of Obamacare: pass terrible legislation, and then collect a toll by exempting your friends--those who pay you lots of money--from that legislation, while your enemies have to live with it.” More here.

A NEW YEAR; new legislative stupidity.

JUST IN TIME FOR SPRING BREAK: the water-powered jetpack.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE AN AGENDA TO BE INSANE -- but it helps.

"TECHNOLOGY-FORCING" green regulations are job creators. Uh, no. Or as Hugh Hewitt put it, "a dead economy is apparently also a 'green economy'."

FRANCES FOX PIVEN wouldn't even harm a fly. Of course not; flies aren't human.

AN EMAIL from the office of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli:

Dear Friends,

On January 17th, Ken was speaking at a political rally about a number of the EPA's job killing regulations.

In that speech, Ken said:

"[Tailpipe emissions rules], if fully implemented with all the regulations that go with it, they will keep the temperature from rising nearly five one-hundredths of a degree Fahrenheit. By 2050."

As many of you know - the media has taken issue with Ken's statements about the EPA (including this one!), and claimed that they are false and attempted to discredit Ken's work to educate Virginians about the regulatory abuses being committed by the EPA.

PolitiFact Virginia, a non-partisan fact check source run by the Richmond Times-Dispatch analyzed that statement and found it to be true.

PolitiFact said:

"The EPA said the reductions would be between 0.011 degrees Fahrenheit and 0.027 degrees Fahrenheit and would occur by 2100. The agency's claim is even more modest than Cuccinelli suggested."

What's the big deal with this?

According to PolitiFact: "The agency says these new rules would add about $950 to the price of each new car but that the higher price would be offset by lower fuel costs over three to five years."

Let's recap:

The EPA wants to impose $950 per car in regulatory costs - to affect a change of, at most, .027 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100.

WITH HIS STATE OF THE UNION, Obama lost the Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan: “It is a strange and confounding thing about this White House that the moment you finally think they have their act together ... they take the very next opportunity to prove anew that they do not....”

JIM GERAGHTY: A Short History of the Tea Parties.