Posted at 1:49am on Jun. 13, 2008 Ramesh Ponnuru Reads Thomas Frank So That The Rest Of Us Don't Have To
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
And he delivers one heck of a smackdown. Frank, of course, is yet another soul who wouldn't have dared to debate Milton Friedman while the great man was still alive.
Posted at 1:45am on Jun. 13, 2008 The School Choice Revolution In Louisiana
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Here's a good account of what is going on in the Bayou State. It is most heartening; while there remains a lot that needs to be accomplished, Governor Jindal and his allies in the Louisiana State Legislature are light years ahead of many of their contemporaries in working to bring genuine school choice to their constituents. They should be applauded for that and we should look forward to the day when such accomplishments are no longer considered as unbelievably extraordinary as they are these days.
Posted at 5:31pm on Jun. 12, 2008 Sooo... it's June 12th. Where are the Democrats' fundraising numbers for May?
By Moe Lane
With regard to the Congressional and Senatorial ones, I already know that they (and their GOP counterparts) won't be revealing them until sometime around the end of next week. But the RNC and the McCain campaign have already announced their May numbers; so what about the DNC and the Obama campaign?
I mean: this is starting to get a little awkward-looking, guys.
Posted at 9:11am on Jun. 12, 2008 Welcome to the Fishbowl, Ms. Obama.
By Moe Lane
Nice little post here by Constant Reader PhxG. Anyway, Ms. Obama: you've signed up for the Magic Political Carnival, so do what everybody else does: suffer it with good grace. If you can't hack it, you can always sign off and go back to your regular job, where you make more in one year than did my wife and I have since we got married.
Which, by the way, I don't begrudge you. It's the whining about class inequity that I begrudge you.
Posted at 1:43am on Jun. 12, 2008 Primary Reflections
By absentee
There are few people in the world worse than Keith Olbermann. Every once in a while, though, his excuse for a show accidentally produces something worth watching. Usually that something is a conservative making his "worst people in the world" list, as our own Flagstaff did last year. This time, they inadvertently created a video worth watching. It is, of course, unfortunately littered with Matthews and Olbermann, but still ... interesting.
Hat Tip to Tommy Christopher at AOL.
Posted at 10:30pm on Jun. 11, 2008 "How to beat the Taliban"
By Jeff Emanuel
J.D. Johannes, a veteran of the USMC and a combat documentarian (and good friend), has been updating his site regularly with "Art of COIN" (Counterinsurgency operations) principles and examples. In the latest installment, he seeks to apply one of the major lessons of executing COIN in Iraq to the situation in Afghanistan.
A lengthy excerpt, and my thoughts on his analysis, can be found here.
Posted at 11:29am on Jun. 11, 2008 Play NICE with the MoRons! They're all lifelong RePUBlicans! [comments open]
By Jeff Emanuel
There are folks -- even among the RS Contributor cast -- who believe that a significant percentage of the MoRon population is reconcilable, and can (with the right outreach and enough goodwill) be brought back into the GOP fold, where they will ostensibly put their invaluable talent for spamming and annoying to good work for The Cause.
Paul himself has been mentioned as a possible Convention speaker, someone who can be convinced to become a Team Player, leading his merry band of anti-bathing and anti-civility Lemmings to the GOP convention and to the polls this fall, where they will follow their Great Leader in voting for John McCain and the rest of the GOP candidates on the November ballot.
Yeah. Okay.
Instead of fulfilling this extreme-minority-held pipe dream, RONPAUL! is continuing his assault on the Republican party (while he and his minions continue their spurious claim to having been "lifelong Republicans," and still being "true" representatives of the party), now announcing that he will be holding his own RONPAUL! convention at the same time as -- and in competition with -- the GOP convention this fall.
According to the AP:
The Texas congressman with a devoted following has tentatively reserved the Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 2, the second day of the GOP convention."We plan on having a large rally," said Paul spokesman Jesse Benton. "We want it to be a celebration of Republican values and what the Republican Party has traditionally stood for."
Benton also said Paul wants to send a message to the GOP "that we need to return to our roots" of limited government and personal responsibility.
The Republican Party will be gathering at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul for its four-day event that will end with McCain accepting his party's nomination.
University of Minnesota spokesman Dan Wolter confirmed in an e-mail that the Paul campaign has a hold on Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minn.
Supporters of Paul have been pushing for him to have a speaking role at the Republican convention. In the latest Associated Press tally, Paul had 24 delegates.
24 delegates. Now that's a power broker.
But seriously. We're turning away a new generation of Repubican voters by not coronating this guy.
And by continuing to advocate for bathing.
Posted at 10:54pm on Jun. 10, 2008 LA-04 Primary Poll
By Adam C
Soren has an exclusive poll on LA-04's GOP primary. This is a safe seat and I don't know the candidates well. Gorman's campaign has released a poll showing Gorman ahead 25-14-10 in the three way race. It's important to get good, solid "not business as usual" Rs in safe seats like LA-04. If anyone knows these three candidates and can tell us more, consider writing a diary on the race.
Posted at 10:52pm on Jun. 10, 2008 Gorman ahead in LA-04
By Soren Dayton
An exclusive from The Next Right. Gorman is ahead in the polls and money.
Posted at 10:49pm on Jun. 10, 2008 Courting Cantor for VP?
By Bluey
Following an interview with Politico's Mike Allen, Hugh Hewitt reports four people supposedly on John McCain's short list for VP: Mitt Romney, Rob Portman, Eric Cantor and Tom Ridge.
I'm most excited to see Cantor's name on the list, but I can't say I'm thrilled by the prospect of him leaving Congress. After all, I expect him the lead the GOP back to the majority.
Ultimately, I come back to Megan McArdle's logic: "No one should run for office this year as a Republican who doesn't have to." If Cantor is truly being considered, he should politely decline and focus on fixing the House GOP.
Posted at 10:03am on Jun. 10, 2008 "Don't Ask Don't Tell" Survives Constitutional Challenge [Comments Open]
By Dan McLaughlin
Posted at 11:14pm on Jun. 9, 2008 Quote of the Day (Infamous Obama Whitey Tape Edition)
By Moe Lane
"The problem for Hillary is that it's believable her followers would spread a bogus rumor. The problem for Obama is that the bogus rumor itself was believable."
Pretty much, yeah.
Posted at 8:24pm on Jun. 9, 2008 Alex Kowalski Can Help You Out
By Erick
Folks, I wanted to put in a plug for Alex Kowalski and his printing business. I think we probably ought to promote our own and their businesses, particularly in tough economic times. I know a number of you need quality printers/vendors on occasion. You should consider Alex and his dad.
They have a printing business in Massachusetts, but they do work nationwide. They do the works: printing, mailing, NCOA, etc. Absentee has used the business and said his business was quite pleased with the quality.
The company's name is Sturbridge Direct. You can see a prospective client letter with the contact information here.
I highly recommend Sturbridge and would encourage you to use them.
Posted at 1:49pm on Jun. 9, 2008 Where The Hell WAS This Man In'05 When We Needed Him?
By haystack
"Bush orders contractors to check legal status of employees". Head exploding.
So, on his way out, the President finally gets ink in his veto pen, and finally acts like he might CARE about the illegal part of "illegal Immigration" when, had he been like this 3 years ago, we might not have had our butts handed to us in the mid-terms.
Posted at 9:41am on Jun. 9, 2008 Looking to Singapore for health care help?
By Jeff Emanuel
Rather than looking to the inefficient, government-dominated British and Canadian health care systems as policy models, Rowan Callick writes in The American that a better role model could be the tiny state of Singapore, which "has eschewed the European government-payer-model of health care with a great deal of success."
Compared to the American system, Singapore keeps it citizens healthier for much less cost per person. According to the article:
- •Singapore residents are considerably healthier than Americans, yet pay, per person, about one-fifth of what Americans pay for their healthcare.
- •In Singapore, the government funds only about one-fourth of total health care costs, while individuals and their employers pay for the rest.
Further, "according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) report on global health statistics":
- •The United States spends 15.4 percent of its GDP on healthcare, while Singapore spends just 3.7 percent.
- •Singapore's government spends only $381 per capita on health- or one-seventh of what the U.S. government spends.
- •Life expectancy at birth in the United States is 78 years; in Singapore, it is 82 years.
- •The U.S. infant mortality rate is 6.4 deaths per 1,000 live births; in Singapore, is it just 2.3 deaths per 1,000 births.
Callick concludes:
Singapore's system requires individuals to take responsibility for their own health and for much of their own spending on medical care. The system works so well because it puts decisions in the hands of patients and doctors rather than of government bureaucrats and insurers.
Just something to think about.
Posted at 4:16pm on Jun. 7, 2008 Al Franken, pottymouth.
By Moe Lane
I heard that Andrew Dice Clay wasn't available.
Yes, yes, I am aware that I have just dated myself. OTOH, at least I'm not having to reference Richard Pryor, let alone Lenny Bruce.
Posted at 8:05am on Jun. 7, 2008 Colbert meets his match: George Will
By Feddie
Posted at 2:40am on Jun. 7, 2008 Jay Rockefeller Issued A Senate Report Refuting Jay Rockefeller
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
No, that title is not a typo. He really did it.