Month: May 2011

The WSJ launched another attack on Romneycare today. David Frum thinks it misses the mark. As does Jonathan Cohn:

To be clear, Romneycare has plenty of flaws, just like the Affordable Care Act does. But it's been successful at its primary goal of making health care more accessible. That Journal opinion writers and like-minded conservatives find that inconsequential tells you more about their values than it does about Romney.

Peter Suderman sides with the WSJ:

[F]ocusing on expanding health insurance coverage continues our national emphasis on trying to help people's lives by giving them greater and greater amounts of medical treatment. But as economist Robin Hanson has noted over and over again, the relationship between health and medicine is surprisingly weak. A large amount of medical care is probably what Hanson calls "heroic medicine": doing more primarily to be seen to do more.

Pomplamoose does Angry Birds:

A reader adds:

I don't think you've covered the important news that Angry Birds is now playable on the Web.

It may get a vote as soon as tomorrow. Jim Burroway, who has been following the Ugandan legislation closely, has difficulty gauging the bill's chances of passing. Michelle Goldberg partially blames social conservatives in the US:

The point is not that American Christians urged their Ugandan counterparts to try to institute the death penalty for homosexuality—they didn’t. … Yet the ideology underlying the bill comes from American conservatives.

It is Americans who have elaborated a vision of homosexuality as a satanic global conspiracy bent on destroying society’s foundations, akin to the Jewish octopus in classic anti-Semitic narratives. According to Warren Throckmorton, an evangelical psychology professor once associated with the ex-gay movement, when Uganda’s anti-gay activists speak about homosexuality, they cite materials by Scott Lively and Paul Cameron, two of the fiercest American opponents of the so-called homosexual agenda.

There is truth in this but keep in mind that Uganda has its own sources of homophobia. American biotry simply fed the Ugandan population's intolerance.

David White won't be joining Breitbart any time soon:

[F]undamentally, I doubt if [Republicans] even think Common's that bad. He's a convenient target for a bit of demagoguing, which is even more repugnant. At least when Lee Atwater used the "Let's dredge up the 'dangerous black man' feelings for a cheap political hit" ploy, he'd choose an actually dangerous black man.

I mean, look, politically, I'm pretty liberal, so it's not like I'd ever be a regular Republican voter anyway. But shit like this is what prevents me from even getting to the point where I'd give their policies a fair hearing. And I know there are some Republicans and conservatives here, and I say that you have no chance of getting any kind of support from black voters as long as the leaders of your party are pulling these kinds of stunts.

TNC expands on White's point. Jon Stewart is spot on as usual. A reader asks, "Are conservatives really attacking the guy who made this commercial for The Gap?" Yes, sadly, they are. And like the lie that torture gave us bin Laden, so the meme that Obama hates white people and is really a street thug just needs constant small misleading headlines to create an enduring impression. It's called propaganda. And it's what Ailes does best. It's just that he keeps confusing it with journalism.

James Joyner says I'm simply wrong to claim the Libyan War is now illegal:

[W]hat sanctions exist if the president fails to comply [with the War Powers Act]? Well . . . nothing at all. This isn’t a criminal statute. The remedy remains what it was before the War Powers Act was passed: Impeachment.

Technically, he's right that there's no binding authority to settle this matter. And he's right that the War Powers Act was a constitutionally contested resolution, not a law. But the clear spirit of it is to get the Congress's blessing if a war launched unilaterally by the president is still dragging on after two months. I guess "illegal" is too blanket a term. And the Congress has to initiate action, which neither Republicans nor Democrats want to do, for various cowardly reasons. But that we live in a country where warfare is entirely the prerogative of one man – even in such a marginal case as Libya – remains disturbing. It's about as classic a symptom of an imperial system – over a republican one – that one can find.

In order to diminish "torture got bin Laden" speculation, Ackerman proposes that "after the actionable intelligence is drained from the bin Laden documents, it would be useful to reconvene the 9/11 Commission and have them review the ten-year hunt for bin Laden":

The tale of the bin Laden hunt — and the lessons to learn from it — is the logical final chapter of the commission's  2004 report. And the gravitas of the 9/11 Commission, delivered through a public report, would create the closest thing possible to a narrative that can stand proudly before history.

Marcy Wheeler enthusiastically agrees. Me too. The best way to counter lies is by a thorough independent investigation. Same goes for the alleged Gitmo suicides.

"Cool" just isn't the right descriptor:

Copyranter claps:

The Irish kid deserves an Oscar. The idea, the script, the direction, Jesus, try not to be moved. Here's the ISPCC website.

"I'm not anti-rap. In fact, like Bret Baier, I know the lyrics to 'Rapper's Delight,' too," – Sarah Palin, on Common's appearance at the White House.

Obamacare doesn't cover abortions.