Thursday, April 15, 2010

Thursday's throwdowns

BASEBALL DIARY:
Royals 7, Tigers 3: the Tigers lose two of three to KC and really don't play well the entire series. Yesterday, the keys were failures to get big hits with runners in scoring position, and mediocre-to-worse pitching. The Tigers give up 22 runs in 3games to...the Royals. Not good. As a fan, one is glad Detroit remains 6-3 on the season, but they can play much better.
Meanwhile--Rangers 6, Indians 2: the Rangers are playing better. Josh Hamilton, Chris Davis, and Elvis Andrus are hitting well. Colby Lewis, who spent some major time in Japan and hadn't won a major league game since 2004, had an excellent start--he struck out 10. Ranger pitching is looking all right.

POLITICS/LEGISLATION UPDATE DEPT:
So where does ObamaCare stand? Is it striking a chord with the American people, as liberals promised? As we've been documenting, nooooooo:
"Obamacare has not won the people’s hearts and minds. Despite wildly positive media coverage and the triumphant White House signing ceremony, surveys find public support for the new law dropping like a stone. Support in the most recent CBS poll has fallen to a dismal 32 percent, with opposition up to a new high of 53 percent. The same trend was apparent in polls conducted by Fox News and Rasmussen. Nearly six of every ten voters now support outright repeal, according to the most recent Rasmussen survey. The polls reveal that frustration is particularly acute among political independents. Over half of the independents in the CBS poll, for example, thought the new law would increase their health-care costs; only 13 percent thought their costs would come down. Similarly, 42 percent expect Obamacare to deliver lower-quality care; only 13 percent expect it to deliver better care. By six to one (67–11 percent) they dismiss outright the claims by the president and Hill leaders that the new law will cut federal deficits."

That the bill's popularity has sunk to 32% surprises even me.

And then there's all the tax increases coming from the Obama administration. Did you know:
"House Ways and Means Committee Republicans have issued a summary of the 25 tax increases signed into law by Mr. Obama so far. They total $670 billion over the next 10 years, including 14 tax hikes (including an annual tax on every insurance policy and an annual tax on brand-name drugs) that break Mr. Obama's solemn 2008 campaign pledge never to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year. Many of these taxes are part of the ObamaCare monstrosity. New levies on investment, drugs, medical devices and insurance policies eventually will hit ordinary Americans, and the public knows it. A late March Fox News poll asked, "If major health care reform legislation is passed, do you think your taxes will increase, decrease or stay about the same?" Seventy-five percent think their taxes will increase."

The tax issue always helps Republicans.