Why we need a lot more Mike Pences in Congress:
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow warned lawmakers on Thursday that a legally set limit on the government's ability to borrow will be hit in mid-February and urged Congress to raise it quickly.
Failure to do so potentially risks throwing the country into its first default in history, Snow warned in what has become virtually an annual rite as U.S. borrowing needs spiral.
The Indianapolis Star looks back at the high and low points for Indiana's congressional delegation. This is the take on 3rd District Republican Rep. Mark Souder:
Highlight: His Fort Wayne-based district was a winner in the military base-closing process, gaining new Air Guard planes and more than 200 jobs.
Why did anybody expect No Child Left Behind to be any different from any other federal program in just throwing money at a problem and pretending that it will make a difference? NCLB, among other things, mandates tutoring for low-income, low-performing students. So the money gets tossed around, consulting firms make a mint, and nobody even knows if it's helping the kids:
I really hate to spend a lot of time thinking about Hillary Clinton, but since she's likely to be the Democratic candidate for president, it has to be done. This guy has her pegged, I think. When a politician we think of as candid and forthright suddenly turns nakedly opportunistic, it disappoints us. When Ms. Clinton does it, we just think, oh, well, that's Hillary being Hillary. And it's not even interesting to watch, as it at least was occasionally with Bill:
You think you're getting gouged at the gas pump? Nobody can fix prices and cost you more than the federal government:
There are hundreds of statutory minimum prices, including gasoline in some states. There are numerous agricultural import restrictions and production quotas. All of these government-sanction market manipulations represent seller collusions against consumers.
If you can't wait for next year's congressional races, Masson's Blog does a little early handicapping. Like Masson, I don't know a lot about the races outside my area of the state, but I'd say his "reasonable chance" for a swing from 7-2 Republican to 5-4 Republican and maybe even 5-4 Democratic is a bit of wishful thinking. That's nothing but a gut instinct based on the proven power of incumbency.
Though I am a journalist who operates under the umbrella of the First Amendment, might I gently suggest that "free speech" does not trump everything? It is one value that, as important as it is, must compete with other values in a democratic society. Those who always treat it as an absolute risk ignoring dangers that simple common sense should alert them to.
President Bush is touting his Medicare prescription drug plan, exhibit No. 1 in the "Bush is no conservative" argument. My sister went online and followed the instructions to choose a plan for our mother. The plan is impossible to understand, but exceedingly simple to operate, sort of like a TV that people don't know the workings of but know how to turn on or a car they don't understand but can drive.
Amen to Thomas Mitchell's "melancholy celebration" of the anniversay of the Bill of Rights (coming Friday):
Sadly, most of those rights have been gradually eroded over the years by well-meaning elected officials, bureaucrats and even by the voters themselves.
Eminent domain is totally out of control:
"We are going to rescue and relocate individuals and we will put them in a better position than they're living in now."
That's what they call it these days when they steal people's land and give it to developers. "We're just helping you."
