Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

What Obligations Do Mainstream Media Editors (e.g., The Washington Post’s) Have to Bar Their Regular Political Columnists (e.g., Michael Gerson) From Stating Bald Misrepresentations of Fact?

Compare: When people realize that their most personal, sensitive, intimate, private health-care information is in the hands of the IRS that’s been willing to use people’s tax information against political opponents of this administration, then people have pause and they pull back in horror. — Michele Bachmann, on ABC News/Yahoo, May 20 (H/T Glenn Kessler, […]

The Internal Blue Cross/Blue Shield Revenue Service. Awesome!

“Since the I.R.S. also is the chief enforcer of Obamacare requirements, [Michele Bachmann] asked whether the I.R.S.’s admission means it ‘will deny or delay access to health care’ for conservatives. At this point, she said, that ‘is a reasonable question to ask.’ ” — Bob Unruh, Why Obama Released Embarrassing IRS Bombshell, WND Exclusive, May […]

In the Short Run, We Are All Dead. At Least According to That New Oregon Medicaid Study.

Well, we AB types–readers and writers, alike–are familiar with John Maynard Keynes’s famous line that “In the long run, we are all dead.”  By which he either meant that economists, if they are to be useful, must try to predict and recommend short-term government policies that avoid or help end current, severe economic downturns, rather than […]

John Roberts’ Curious Voting-Statistics Sophism Misconstrues The Census Report’s Statistics by Failing to Consider Key Statistical Deviation Facts and Fails To Consider WHY Massachusetts Blacks Might Be Voting In Lower Percentages Than Mississippi Blacks Are, Even IF They Are. [UPDATED]

In a blog post titled “In Voting Rights Arguments, Chief Justice Misconstrued Census Data” on NPR’s website, veteran NPR Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg deconstructs a sophism offered by John Roberts at the oral argument on Wednesday on the continued constitutionality of a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Congress has […]

Hobby Lobby’s Religion Lobby – [Appended]

About two weeks ago, Dan emailed me with a link to a New York Times article titled “A Flood of Suits Fights Coverage of Birth Control,” by Times reporter Ethan Bronner, published that day. The article began: In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health […]

Whole Foods, Half-Wit

What a spot-on article Run 75441’s piece, “Healthcare Reform; Socialism or Fascism?” is. And what an informative Comments thread.  (Wow, Cynthia, who knew? I sure didn’t.) And, folks, don’t miss this takedown of Mackey, called “Dear Whole Foods CEO, This Is What a Fascist Looks Like,” by Thom Hartmann and Sam Sacks, via ReaderSupportedNews.   […]

Raising the Price of Pizza 10 to 14 cents. . .

by Bill aka run75441 Raising the Price of Pizza 10 to 14 cents. . . Will pizza and food prices really have to increase to cover healthcare costs for the mostly young employees of the Olive Garden’s, Denny’s, and Papa John’s restaurants? A 10 to 14 cents increase per pizza is being proposed by Papa […]

The Binders That Bind

The most revealing moment last night came as Ann Romney walked toward her husband onstage at the end.  That expression on her face.  I thought she looked like a woman in a binder. It is, I suppose, poetic justice for Romney that an obviously misspoken phrase of that sort is the catch phrase from last […]

Conservative roots of Obamacare

by Kenneth Thomas  Conservative roots of Obamacare The pile-on continues. As I discussed in February, Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation wrote a breath-taking op-ed in USA Today (via Don Taylor) denying that he fathered the individual mandate. In fact, his revised 140-page research paper was published January 2, 1989, before President George HW Bush […]

Why Doesn’t Rachel Zubay Know That Most Provisions of Obamacare Won’t Start Until 2014?

Rachel Zubay, 32, works as a waitress at Abdalla’s Steak House, in the shadow of a recently idled coal-fired power plant. She’s got two kids, is in the middle of a divorce, has no medical insurance and is paying $50 a month on a $15,000 surgical bill after she injured her ankle and foot in […]