Paul Krugman Hypocrite, Calls For End Of Filibuster: Defended It During Bush Years

Posted by John Romano in Politics on February 8, 2010

New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman effectively displays today what has become known as the liberal double standard.   In 2005 Mr. Krugman said the following in a New York Times editorial:

But the big step by extremists will be an attempt to eliminate the filibuster, so that the courts can be packed with judges less committed to upholding the law than Mr. Greer.

Hypocrite Paul Krugman of the New York Times

Back then Mr. Krugman’s preferred party was in the minority.  Yesterday, now that his party is in the majority and they are being blocked on unpopular legislation, Mr. Krugman said the following:

Senators themselves should recognize this fact and push through changes in those rules, including eliminating or at least limiting the filibuster. This is something they could and should do, by majority vote, on the first day of the next Senate session.

If the New York Times and even the Democrat party as a whole want to understand why their popularity is on the wane, look no further than the above four paragraphs. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

The Who Super Bowl Performance Falls Flat (Set List Included)

Posted by John Romano in Reviews, Sports and Entertainment on February 7, 2010

MIAMI (YBH.ME) – The Who, or at least the living members, performed at Super Bowl XLIV today.   The much-hyped performance fell flat.   Both Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are pushing 70, and it showed today.  Musically the band played great, however the performance was extremely stiff. The duo used a younger backing band reminding the viewing audience of just how aged Mr. Daltrey and Mr. Townshend are.  Watching a 65 year-old Pete Townshend screaming “It’s only teenage wasteland” was a very odd moment.

The band chose to do shortened versions of their biggest hits, which distracted from the overall performance.  The opening number, a very short version of “Pinball Wizard” was good but lacked energy.  The last tune, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” would have been a show stopper had they not chose to shorten the tune’s signature parts.  The band also played shortened versions of “Baba O’Reilly” and “Who Are You.”

Read the rest of this entry »

27 Comments

Government-Owned Car Companies Pose Potential Conflict Of Interest

Posted by Laura Glendinning in News and Analysis, Opinion on February 5, 2010

LOS ANGELES (YBH.ME) -  The news about Toyota’s safety problems has been inescapable for the past few days.   US Transportation Secretary Roy Lahood even went so far, in a House hearing, to go nuclear and warn Toyota owners to stop driving their cars and take them straight  to the dealership.  He had to retract that alarmist advice giving the tiny percentage of cars which actually had the defect, but the damage was done if you own and run Toyota, or sell their cars.  Panicked owners swamped dealerships.   The mega-popular Camry and Prius lines’ sales are being heavily impacted by the accelerator and brake pedal recalls.

Katsuaki Watanabe, President of Toyota

Not to mount a knee-jerk defense of  car companies, but it’s fair to question motive when the government which investigates and publicizes car defects is now in the car business itself with General Motors.    The Democrat-controlled Congress has various consumer oversight committees which may be taking a harder-than-normal look at independent companies like Toyota.   House Democrats Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak, for example,  requested a document from the head of Toyota which would  show that problems which have already led to a massive recall of Toyota vehicles had nothing to do with the computer systems on board the cars, bringing up a new potential area of concern for owners.  Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

Dana Milbank Off Point On Scott Brown

Posted by Tony Katz in Opinion, Politics on February 5, 2010

Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank just doesn’t get it.

Wouldn’t that be the kind thing to say? I mean, one would have to believe that Dana is no fool. A long time reporter, he went to Yale (just another member of Skull and Bones hanging near the White House.) And, he was smart enough to get away from Keith Olbermann before it was too late, and his brain completely turned to raspberry Jell-o.

Scott Brown campaigns in Massachusetts.

In today’s Washington Post, Milbank sets his sights on Senator Scott Brown (R-MA). You know, THE Scott Brown. The Scott Brown who was 30 points behind senatorial candidate Martha Coakley (D-MA), only to have the force of the Tea Party movement, the awakening of the electorate in Massachusetts, as well as his own perfectly timed statements of universal truths, push him to a convincing nee crushing defeat of Coakley. Independents in Mass had spoken…..loudly.

The article written by Milbank is a child-like, snarky attack on Sen. Brown for how he handled being sworn into office. It starts as a gigantic whine about how Brown listened to those evil, wicked conservative radio hosts – as if, somehow, Brown is a puppet? – and after accepting that he would be seated on Feb. 11th, he, “…requested — no, demanded! — that he be seated promptly — no, immediately!” The Senate Democrats seated him on Thursday, February 4th. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments

Blogger’s Interesting Health Care Prescription

Posted by John Romano in Opinion, Politics on February 5, 2010

Below is a health care reform framework, found in the comments section of a lefty blog, that lays out a decent basis for real health care reform.  I suspect that, if the Democrats’ real goal in regard to health care reform wasn’t more government control over the lives of American citizens, the following would be a great starting point with Republicans and the American people alike.

Blog poster Guitanguran’s comment:

There are a lot of posters here asking for solutions since it’s pretty evident government is not gonna fix things.

1.) Take companies out of the health insurance buying biz. Have them to add the $s they ordinarily pay to insurance companies to individual salaries. No net increase in employee cost to the company.

2.) Make buying health insurance a tax break for individuals as an incentive to use the extra $s the company is paying them.

3.) The most effective way to lower per person cost of insurance is to widen the pool of participants. So, allow companies to go for more customers across state lines.

4.) With interstate competition for customers, prices will go down. Read the rest of this entry »

No Comments