URLs du Jour

2009-10-08

  • The National Journal reports that eight "moderate Democratic senators" are demanding that the legislative text of the "health care" bill be posted on the Internet, as well as CBO's cost estimates of the same, 72 hours before the Senate votes.

    That's not an unreasonable request. You'd expect a lot more than eight senators to demand it. Missing from the list of "moderate Democratic senators" is New Hampshire's own Jeanne Shaheen; she's apparently itching to vote for any dog turd legislation before anyone gets a chance to find out what's really in it and how much it really costs. (Via AmSpecBlog.)

  • Apologies for the terminology above: as William Jacobsen ably points out: despite what you might read out there about the "Baucus bill", THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL.
    The actual legislation will be drafted in secret by Harry Reid and a few other people, including staffers whose names and political connections you never will know, and the resulting legislation will be rammed through the Senate and House before anyone gets to read and analyze it.

    Months of debate mean nothing. It's all smoke and mirrors by people who think you are too stupid to realize what is going on.

    So "dog turd legislation" seems apt. Maybe it will catch on.

  • The Tax Foundation has issued its latest State Business Tax Climate Index. Granite Staters can relax: we're number 7 overall. (Which may simply reflect on the poor climates in other states; it's all relative.)

    It's interesting to compare the business climate with the latest state unemployment rates. You'd expect a favorable business tax climate to correlate well with low unemployment. But there are plenty of exceptions to that expectation, like Vermont: horrible tax climate, relatively low unemployment.

  • If you read the David Brooks Bentham/Hume column, recommended here yesterday, you might also be interested in Mario Rizzo's reaction to (what he considers to be) Brooks' mischaracterization of Hume. (Via Cafe Hayek.)

  • The great Virginia Postrel posts her FTC notice/warning/disclaimer. Her websites (DeepGlamour and Dynamist) are Amazon affiliates (as is this one), so:
    The Federal Trade Commission demands that we tell you this--they think you're idiots and are violating the First Amendment with their regulation of what bloggers publish--but it's also a friendly reminder to Support DeepGlamour by starting all your Amazon shopping here.
    Good point. (Note: Deep Glamour's Amazon link in the quoted material.)

    [UPDATE 2024: While fixing my no-longer-working Amazon image links, I noticed that VP's shopping links may no longer be working.]

  • Dan Tuohy notes a local outbreak of bucolic plague.


Last Modified 2024-01-31 5:46 AM EDT