Month: December 2008

Cairo, Egypt, 2 pm.

Copyranter thinks they may be the future of advertising.

Hilzoy disagrees with the new "health worker protections" implemented by Bush:

The rule (pdf) covers not just employees who refuse to perform a medical procedure they find objectionable, but to those who refuse to refer people to others who do provide such services. It would, for instance, protect people who not only refuse to perform abortions themselves, but who refuse to tell their patients who else might provide one, where to get the morning-after pill, etc. (See p. 106.) And as the Post notes, it would prevent organizations whose mission is to provide a small set of services from "discriminating against" people who refuse to perform those very services. (E.g., Planned Parenthood can not "discriminate against" people who object to providing contraception, even though providing contraception is 38% of their services delivered.)

This is a wonderful rule for slackers, since it provides a legally protected way to get paid while doing no work at all.

My final take on the Rick Warren affair.

Carl Cannon outdoes himself in Kennedy goo, lamenting the premature death of John F Kennedy Jr:

“Reckless is he,” says Yoda. “Now, matters are worse.”
“That boy is our last hope,” says Obi-Wan.
“No,” replies Yoda. “There is another.”

McCain speaks out against the bailout:

I regret the president’s decision to give away over $17 billion to the domestic automakers. Just last week, the Senate rejected a bailout plan because it failed to provide assurances that the domestic manufacturers would fundamentally change the way they do business to ensure their long-term viability. I find it unacceptable that we would leave the American taxpayer with a tab of tens of billions of dollars while failing to receive any serious concessions from the industry.

The NYT Op-Ed page stumbles across the blogosphere.

Hugh Hewitt approves of Bush bailing out the big three:

This is cautious, responsible governance by a responsible president seeking to make his successor’s transition as smooth as possible.

I’m sorry to say I don’t find any of the assurances that the car companies will ever start making money persuasive. And the Bush gambit is of a piece with the rest of his legacy: a carefully wrapped ticking bomb that will explode over us slowly over the next decade. From Iraq to Afghanistan to Gitmo to the doubling of the national debt: it is a legacy of reckless, stupid governance by an irresponsible president trying to cover his ass on the way out.

(Hat tip: Cole)