Apprentice in Chief
Presidential campaigns help indentify unelectable kooks like the screaming Howard Dean. They even help spotlight unprepared candidates like Rick Perry. They also have low job performance predictive validity. Read more
Obama’s Faith in Government Force
By David Harsanyi
With midterm elections approaching, President Barack Obama has gone on the charm offensive, claiming Republicans are demonstrating a “lack of faith in the American people.”
“Faith” often is defined as “having confidence or trust in a person or thing.” In this case, though, faith means adding another $35 billion in unemployment benefits to the infinite intergenerational tab — sometimes referred to as the budget — and mailing out as many checks as possible before Election Day.
Yet the jab is revealing in other ways. To begin with, what mysterious brand of public policy has Obama employed that exemplifies this sacred trust between public officials and the common citizen?
Is Obama Showing Enough Emotion?
President Obama has recently been criticized by those on the right and on the left for not showing enough passion in his efforts to combat the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Oh, boy! Give me a break! I don’t give a flying flip about how much emotion he shows.
I’m concerned about competence. I want Obama, BP officials, and all the others involved in the situation to find a solution as soon as possible and then get the darn thing cleaned up. What difference does emotion make in situations like this, anyway? Actually, I would rather have someone remain cold and calculating when trying to resolve a difficult problem. Read more
Oil Spill in Gulf Could be Positive after All
Eleven dead. Hundreds out of work. Thousands of wildlife coated with oil and likely will not survive the night. The pessimists continually talk about the leak size from the Deepwater Horizon. Nature is guaranteed to hurt for months—much more so for the gulf residents dependent on wildlife for a living.
The ‘forgotten’ part is 3 separate leaks from Deepwater piping are overcoming a mile of seawater pressure (2250psi) from the Gulf without any pumping, pushing, or prodding. That’s not including the pressure it takes to overcome 18,000 ft of rock and sand before traversing the 5000 ft depth of the gulf waters.
Our Caudillo President
By Ben Stein
As I write this on Monday night, there are rumors around that BP will agree to President Barack Obama’s demand that the oil giant “voluntarily” put about $30 billion into a fund to be administered by the government to compensate victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
Now, no one disputes that this is a real disaster and that BP acted irresponsibly in commissioning Trans-Ocean and Halliburton to drill for oil in waters so deep that if a failure occurred there would be no way to fix it — at least until major damage had been done. BP, Trans-Ocean, and Halliburton, as well as the individuals involved, have much to answer for.
But the action of the President in demanding this immense transfer of the stockholders’ wealth without any legislation or court decision is extremely worrisome. Read more
Dems’ energy policy: If you can’t beat ‘em, force it on ‘em
By Brian Johnson
With the “cash-for-caulkers” bill, the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act (HR 5019), passing the House and making its way through the Senate, there have been substantiated rumors that Senate Democrats will try to expand the scope and incorporate additional “job creating” measures. They claim a federally mandated Renewable Energy Standard (RES) will do the trick.
The Hill reports that Senate Leader Harry Reid has said he would support a “smaller” bill similar to the legislation the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved last June with four GOP votes. The key component of the Committee passed bill was a RES that mandates all states get 25 percent of their energy from “renewable” sources, defined by the government, by 2025. Read more
