Dana Milbank – Sweeteners for the South

And so it came to pass that Landrieu walked onto the Senate floor midafternoon Saturday to announce her aye vote — and to trumpet the financial “fix” she had arranged for Louisiana. “I am not going to be defensive,” she declared. “And it’s not a $100 million fix. It’s a $300 million fix.”…

Landrieu and Lincoln got the attention because they were the last to decide, but the Senate really has 100 Blanche DuBoises, a full house of characters inclined toward the narcissistic.

more fun in the Washington Post.

David S. Broder – David Broder: Fears of health-reform cost are justifiable

David Broder: deficit hawk? When you’ve lost DB, you’ve lost the right of left of center of the mainstream media.

Bret Stephens: Two Ground Zeroes – WSJ.com

I’ve often admired Bret Stephens clarity of thought, but this takes it to 11:

I have long thought it would be a good idea to bring 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his accomplices to lower Manhattan. In my concept, the men would be taken by helicopter to a height of about 1,000 feet over Ground Zero and pushed out the door, so that they, too, could experience what so many of their victims did in the awful final flickering seconds of their lives.

Read the whole thing

Ding Dong…

Republican Scozzafava Drops Out of New York Congressional Race – FOXNews.com.  More on this later, but I’m pleased to hear that the voice of the people is being heard.  If a conservative can run as a conservative and be competitive in New York, then why not elsewhere?  Why do conservatives have to settle for second, third, or worse from the GOP?  I’m going to break out the big stick on a certain local radio host who has been very critical of the Hoffman campaign and those who have chosen to support him, but for now I’m just going to be happy for a little while.

Another Home Run for Mr. Card

The term ‘Card check’ is beginning to take on an entirely new meaning.  Money quote:

Whether you’re a serf to management or to union leaders makes little difference to the serf.

WorldWatch – September 27, 2009 – Why Union Leaders Are Trying to Destroy Themselves – The Ornery American.

Welcome Back, Orson

A man who knows how to call a spade a shovel:

You’ll notice that I have no qualms about insulting the extremists of the Left, but that’s because there is no way to win them over anyway. They are incapable of learning or even listening; they are contemptuous of logic or evidence; having learned all the things that “smart people” say, they just go on saying them without any sign that they are actually aware of the utter vapidity of their own dogmas.

This comes from a man who identifies himself as a Democrat.  He’s a generation ahead of me, so I can only assume that this meant something different in the past than it does now.  I don’t identify with the Republican party, but I can never in a million years imagine myself as a Democrat given their current state and those they sleep with.

WorldWatch – September 20, 2009 – I’m Back – The Ornery American.

From The Atlantic on Health Care Reform

I don’t remember if I had linked this previously or not, but it’s worth linking again at any rate.  If you are at all interested in the health care reform debate and its consequences, then you should take a few moments to read this article written by a man whose father’s death after a long hospital stay has approached the health care industry from a business perspective.

I’m a businessman, and in no sense a health-care expert. But the persistence of bad industry practices—from long lines at the doctor’s office to ever-rising prices to astonishing numbers of preventable deaths—seems beyond all normal logic, and must have an underlying cause. There needs to be a business reason why an industry, year in and year out, would be able to get away with poor customer service, unaffordable prices, and uneven results—a reason my father and so many others are unnecessarily killed.

I will add that every doctor that I know of who has gone to a cash practice has had a lower rate of increase for treatment costs over time and does the same quality of work or better with fewer staff members.

via How American Health Care Killed My Father – The Atlantic (September 2009).

The Maoist and the Battered Wives – Lisa Schiffren – The Corner on National Review Online

I won’t spoil the fun, but choosing between B and C was pretty tough.  Enjoy

Daily Pundit » On S**t Sandwiches, Buttered Newt and the GOP

What he said…via Daily Pundit.

All of this springs from a basic misperception: the GOP establishment believes that conservative principles are not a winning platform.

Just Because You’re Paranoid…

A congressional investigation worth having.