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Archive for October, 2009

How A Health Insurance Mandate Will Hurt The People Who Can Least Afford It

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, October 25th, 2009. Filed under Economics, Health Care Reform, Politics

Tyler Cowen talks about the likely impact of a health insurance mandate in today’s New York Times:
The proposals now before Congress would require just about everyone to buy health insurance or to get it through their employers — which would generally result in lower wages. In other words, millions of people would be compelled to [...]

Irony Alert: “Public Option” Will Likely Be Administered By Private Insurance Company

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, October 25th, 2009. Filed under Business, Economics, Health Care Reform, Politics

This is ironic to say the least:
A little-noticed tidbit in Saturday’s Washington Post is sure to raise eyebrows among liberal supporters of a gorvernment-run healthcare plan: the plan is likely to be administered by a private insurance company, the very companies that progressive activists are trying to unseat.
The public-option debate is frustrating some Democrats, who [...]

Obama Declares National Emergency Over H1N1 Virus

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, October 25th, 2009. Filed under Barack Obama, Health, In The News, Politics, Swine Flu

We were greeted this morning by the news that President Obama had declared a national emergency in connection with the H1N1 virus:
President Obama has declared H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, clearing the way for his health chief to give hospitals wider leeway in how they handle a possible surge of new patients, administration officials [...]

Our “Saudi Friends” Sentence Journalist To 60 Lashes

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, October 25th, 2009. Filed under Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia

For talking about sex:
(CNN) — A Saudi court sentenced a female journalist Saturday to 60 lashes for her work on a controversial Arabic-language TV show that aired an episode in which a man bragged about his sex life, two sources told CNN.
The court in Jeddah also imposed a two-year travel ban on Rosanna Al-Yami, according [...]

Fox News Exaggerates White House War On Fox News

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, October 25th, 2009. Filed under Barack Obama, Media, Politics

On Thursday, I noted, based on a Fox News report and several blog posts, a report that the White House/Treasury Department had sought to exclude the Fox News correspondent from a press poll event with “Pay Czar” Kenneth Feinberg.
Well, it turns out that wasn’t really what happened:

Feinberg did a pen and pad with reporters to [...]

The October Classic Is Slowly Becoming The November Classic

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, October 25th, 2009. Filed under Baseball, Sports

Thanks to an expanded playoff schedule, the World Series will end in November for only the second time in history:
Not long after the conclusion of Game 3, or even during its late innings, Major League Baseball and the World Series will go somewhere they have never intentionally gone before: the month of November.
For only the [...]

Jeb Bush: GOP Can’t Just Be The Party Of No

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, October 25th, 2009. Filed under Jeb Bush, Political Parties, Politicos & Pundits, Politics, Republicans

The former Governor of Florida has some advice for the Republican Party:
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush pushed for the Republican Party to transform itself into a party of “21st century reformers” in a speech to students last night at George Washington University.
Bush criticized Republicans for giving the impression that the GOP is the “party of [...]

Balloon Boy’s Mom Admitted The Hoax

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, October 24th, 2009. Filed under Dumbasses, In The News

According to a copy of the application for a search warrant executed last week:
After talking only a few hours with sheriff’s deputies who had separated her from her husband, Mayumi Heene reportedly confessed that the couple staged “balloon boy’s” disappearance from their Fort Collins home.
That confession, outlined in a court filing released Friday afternoon, appears [...]

Apparently, Now Obama Thinks He’s Loan-Officer-In-Chief

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, October 24th, 2009. Filed under Barack Obama, Credit Crisis, Economics, Politics

Or, at least that a few terms in the Illinois Senate, half a term in the U.S. Senate, and nine months in the White House make him qualified to tell banks how to do business:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Banks should return the favor they received in their recent taxpayer-financed bailout by lending more money to small [...]

Gallup: American’s Don’t Think Obama Deserved Nobel, Not Impressed He Won

by Doug Mataconis @ Saturday, October 24th, 2009. Filed under Barack Obama, Politics

A new Gallup poll seems to indicate that President Obama won’t be getting much of a domestic political boost from his recent Nobel Peace Prize victory:
PRINCETON, NJ — The majority of Americans do not believe President Barack Obama deserved to win the Nobel Peace Prize (61%), but the public is split in its personal reaction [...]

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