THEY STILL DON'T GET IT DEPT:
CNN's Gloria Borger complains about all the "shouting" at health care forums attended by members of Congress recently:
"What about those folks who are actually interested in debating and discussing a very complex issue they're trying to digest? There are some who may actually want to figure out the best way to solve the health care problem."
Sigh. So typical. She's talking of course about a health care forum attended by Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter not long ago. You can get a link to a video of that meeting in Borger's piece. And yes, indeed, people got a bit angry and shouted at Sen. Specter during that forum.
Ms. Borger of course doesn't tell you why they shouted.
They shouted because Specter said we had to go real "fast" in doing health care reform.
And that's ridiculous. This is too big, too important, too crucial to our economy to rush. It's outrageous that persons like Specter and President Obama still want to push the idea that this must be rushed through. It deserves scorn. And maybe a little shouting, just to get the point across. (remember the Vietnam War era? Many of the liberals around now pleading for quiet were the antiwar advocates doing plenty of shouting back then...)
CASH FOR CLUNKERS IS ACTUALLY A CLUNKER OF A PROGRAM:
So National Review's editors show today. For example, the program is supposed to help us get rid of gas guzzlers on favor of more fuel-efficient cars. But...:
"Driving cars consumes energy, it is true, and producing that energy leads to pollution, as energy production always does. Cash for Clunkers subsidizes the switch from relatively fuel-inefficient cars to relatively fuel-efficient ones, but driving is not the only energy-consuming activity related to automobiles. Producing new cars takes a lot of energy, too. Manufacturing a new Toyota Prius, to take one example dear to the hearts of Obama-voting conspicuous green consumers from Seattle to Madison, uses the equivalent of burning about 1,000 gallons of gasoline. If Washington really wanted to encourage energy savings, it would subsidize the purchase of fuel-efficient used cars — as Wired magazine pointed out in a 2008 article (“Go Green: Buy a Used Car, It’s Better Than a Hybrid”), a 1994 Geo Metro gets mileage as good as the Prius’s without incurring the 13 million BTUs of energy necessary to build a new one. So it is far from clear that Cash for Clunkers will produce net environmental benefits."
As is so often the case, government intervention creates more problems than it solves...
IS THE GOP/CONSERVATISM DEAD? DEPT:
Hah! Don't think so.
The latest polls show Republican gubernatorial candidates up big in BOTH Virginia AND New Jersey.
BASEBALL DIARY: big win for the Tigers last night, a 6-5 come-from-behind win over Baltimore. The Tigers rallied from a 5-0 deficit; the youngster Clete Thomas should gain confidence, as his walk-off homer won it in the bottom of the 9th; and Justin Verlander showed good toughness, giving up 5 runs in the first but then slowing down his pace and shutting Baltimore out for the next 8 innings. Maybe a win like this can get the Tigers on a roll. They're a thome for a few games, and Jarrod Washburn goes tonight.
And the Cubs are back in first place by a percentage point, thanks to Randy Wells and a 4-2 win over Cincinnati. Where indeed would the Cubs be without Wells--few had really heard of him before this year, he was kind of an emergency callup back in May, and now he's won 8 games.
But for one of the few times this year, the Texas Rangers' bullpen coughed up a lead, as C.J. Wilson gave up 3 in the 9th inning and the Rangers lost 3-2 to Oakland. Tough loss given whom the Rangers are chasing these days...
NFL NOTES:
The New England Patriots no longer have Matt Cassel, and so must be absolutely desperate to find somebody, anybody, to be their backup quarterback. How do I know they're desperate? They just signed for Oakland Raider stiff Andrew Walter, who always struck me as better-suited to playing mannequin than QB.
