Month: October 2009

The Onion reports:

According to sources at the Pentagon, American quagmire-building efforts continued apace in Afghanistan this week, as the geographically rugged, politically unstable region remained ungovernable, death tolls continued to rise, and the grim military campaign persisted as hopelessly as ever.

In fact, many government officials now believe that the United States and its allies could be as little as six months away from their ultimate goal: the total quagmirification of Afghanistan.

Reihan argues against the cap and trade bill, but a study on the costs of conventional pollution makes him advocate for a carbon tax:

I'm struck by the idea, advanced by Randall Parker among others, that a modest carbon tax could make nuclear power far more competitive with coal electric — so much so that, Parker suggests, we'd immediately stop building coal electric plants. Again, I believe that climate change is a serious problem, a stance that not all conservatives accept. But if burning coal is also causing serious health problems, that strikes me as a decent argument for slapping the equivalent of a sin tax on its use.

Agreed on all counts. A small but gradually increasing carbon tax along with serious investment in nuclear and non-carbon energy strikes me as more fruitful and less costly than cap-and-trade.

Gerald Seib thinks that unemployment could be the political story of 2010:

IHS forecasts that a third of the nation’s metropolitan areas will have jobless rates in double digits in the fourth quarter of next year, and that 16 metro areas will have jobless rates exceeding 15%. The pain figures to be worst in California, which will have nine metro areas with jobless rates exceeding 15%. Michigan will have three, and Arizona, Florida, Illinois and Indiana one each.

Things figure to be better by time President Barack Obama runs for re-election, but far from perfect: “By the end of 2012, the jobless rate will still be above historic norms, but it will finally slip below 8% in more than half of metro areas,” IHS says.

Bruce Bartlett's criticism of health insurance reform:

I thought its proposals were ill thought-through and that it would have been better to take the time to develop something more coherent, rather than making things up on the fly, which appears to be the case.

I also believe the administration has done a poor job of addressing what I think is the biggest problem with the American health care system: It costs too much for what we get. We spend in total twice as much of our gross domestic product on health as most other major countries without getting much in return for the extra spending.

Finally, I think the goal of universal coverage is a good one, but the Obama proposal is not properly financed. I think a broad-based new government benefit should be financed with a broad-based tax that is to a large extent paid by the beneficiaries, as is the case with Social Security.

Jimmy Kimmel outsasses Melissa Joan Hart.

Today on the Dish, Andrew delivered a keen analysis on the differing activism of the right and the left. He also tackled news of Karzai’s CIA-funded brother and parsed the newest polling on Obama and his policies.

In equality coverage, Schumer and Specter spoke out for marriage, Zack Rosen dug deeper into the DC drag race, another heartwarming tale emerged from Maine, and polling analysis showed hope on the horizon. In lesser developments, the hate crimes bill was quietly signed, and Holder joined his boss in relative silence. Many liberals touted the new law in absurd terms. Meanwhile, with NOM on the ropes, here’s how you can help in Maine. Oh, and a gay fish said something stupid.

Today was also a bustling day of Palin-blogging. In response to Levi’s latest warning, she continued to throw fuel on her pyre. Andrew, Ambers, and Weigel parsed her last polling, while Mudflats picked apart her latest financial report.

— C.B.

A female reader writes:

Levi is absolutely smoking hot to a wide range of us out here: MILFs, gay youth, grade school girls – and that's just the groups I'm aware of. At 45, I think I might just buy my first Playgirl this year.

You can't buy Playgirl any more. It's just a website. But I do wonder if Oprah can ask Palin herself what Levi could possibly mean when he says he knows something about her that is huge. Well: I don't wonder, actually. Oprah will ask no such question. Because that would not be deferent enough.

An Afghan policeman carries a wounded man near the Bekhtar guesthouse after an attack by Taliban militants on October 28, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. According to the UN six of its staff are reported to have been killed and nine were wounded in the attack on the Bekhtar guesthouse. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack which took place as Afghanistan prepares for the upcoming second round run-off in the presidential elections. By Majid Saeedi/Getty.

Robert Shiller is perplexed. Justin Fox frets:

As with much of the economic semi-recovery of recent months, the housing revival has been a combination of (1) bounceback from those scary moments last fall and winter when it seemed to many that the financial world might be about to end and (2) rational response to government subsidies. I'm betting that tax credit will be renewed, but the Federal Reserve has already announced that it plans to wind up its $1.25 trillion mortgage-buying binge—which has helped keep rates way, way down and thus spur home sales—in the first quarter of next year. If mortgage rates start rising next spring and unemployment is still rising, watch out in housing.

Weigel mulls over today's poll:

It’s far too early in the game to make much of this, but consider: Four years ago, when Republicans knew they’d be facing a tough election, their early presidential frontrunners were Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Romney. The first two were unacceptable to social conservatives, and the third was somewhat more acceptable, but still had huge problems with that part of the GOP coalition. Now the early frontrunners are two social conservatives, one of whom (Huckabee) is despised by the party’s economic conservatives and libertarians, and one of whom (Palin) is seen by many as unelectable — indeed, only 29 percent of Americans in this poll consider Palin qualified for the presidency. And that’s why, despite lagging in surveys like this, most wags still see Romney as the frontrunner.