Bob's Political Digest July 1, 2009

Today's collection of interesting stuff:

The Troop Drawdown Could Be Costly for Iraq
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124631741892070801.html

Medical Liability Reform
http://www.protectpatientsnow.org/site/c.8oIDJLNnHlE/b.5282693/k.247E/Newsletter.htm
Estimates vary, but it’s clear that a large chunk of the burgeoning health care costs come from not only the soaring cost of malpractice insurance, but even more so from defensive medicine—tests and procedures doctors order that are needed only to protect themselves from lawsuits in the one in ten thousand chance. But with the League of Leftwing Lawyers occupying all leadership spots in both branches of Congress and the White House, reform has about the chances of a topless beach opening in Iran.

Alice in Medical Care by Thomas Sowell
http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2009/06/30/alice_in_medical_care
There goes Sowell again, confusing politics with economic facts.

A 'Fix' We'll Likely Regret by George Will
http://townhall.com/columnists/GeorgeWill/2009/06/30/a_fix_well_likely_regret?page=2
More good sense on Health Care

The Economic Impact of the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Bill
http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=18149
Democrats stomp poor, ship jobs overseas. Change you can believe in.

EPA May Have Suppressed Report Skeptical Of Global Warming
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/26/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5117890.shtml
Excerpt: Less than two weeks before the agency formally submitted its pro-regulation recommendation to the White House, an EPA center director quashed a 98-page report that warned against making hasty "decisions based on a scientific hypothesis that does not appear to explain most of the available data." Obama lied and the economy died.

Deregulation can help solve education budget crisis
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/109060.php
What? And throw Democrat bureaucrats out of work just to help kids?

Quote
To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.--Thomas Jefferson (considered the founder of the Democratic Party!)

No Country for Burly Men
How feminist groups skewed the Obama stimulus plan towards women's jobs
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/659dkrod.asp?pg=1
by Christina Hoff Sommers—excerpt:
“It is now four months since the bill was signed into law. A recent Associated Press story reports: "Stimulus Funds Go to Social Programs Over 'Shovel-ready' Projects." A team of six AP reporters who have been tracking the funds find that the $300 billion sent to the states is being used mainly for health care, education, unemployment benefits, food stamps, and other social services. According to Chris Whately, director of the Council of State Governments, "We all talked about 'shovel-ready' since September and assumed it was a whole lot of paving and building when, in fact, that's not the case." At the same time, the Labor Department's latest (June 5) employment report shows unemployment rates of 8 percent for women and 10.5 percent for men. "Unprecedented" is what Harvard economist Greg Mankiw called the new 2.5 percentage-point gender gap. "It's the highest male-female jobless rate gap in the history of BLS [Labor Department] data back to 1948," said Mark Perry.”

“There is great room for debate over the effectiveness of government stimulus programs, and over how much impact a focused "shovel-ready" spending program would have achieved by now. What is not debatable is that changes in the American economy and workforce are favoring service sectors where women are abundant and that the current severe contraction is centered on sectors where men, especially working-class men, predominate. That an emergency economic recovery program should be designed with gender in mind is itself remarkable. That, in current circumstances, it should be designed to "skew" employment further towards women is disturbing and ominous.”

Bangladesh: Widow whipped 202 times, man whipped 101 following cleric's fatwa against them for "anti-social activity"
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/026776.php
More of the Common Values BO thinks we share with Islam.

Minn. court rules for Franken in Senate fight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/30/AR2009063002200.html?hpid=topnews
Just what the Senate needs, another clown.

Obama's political play should shock no one
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-21-jun21,0,1177440.column
This was in the Chicago Trib while I was away.