Sunlit Uplands

Lemon Drop
The legendary test drivers at Consumer Reports this week got their hands on a $107,000 dream machine — the Fisker Karma, an electric sports car that goes zero-to-60 in the blink of an eye.

Sort of.

Trouble is, the car conked out faster than you can say “lemon.”

“We buy about 80 cars a year and this is the first time in memory that we have had a car that is undriveable before it has finished our check-in process,” noted CR, which had to call a flatbed truck to tow the brickmobile away.

It wouldn’t be much of a tale, except for one thing: The clunker was created by a company that’s been feasting on your tax dollars — specifically, a $529 million green-energy loan guarantee from Team Obama. (NY Post, 3/10/2012)


How many more green energy sinkholes do we need? These are YOUR tax dollars!


Switcheroo
And in what appears to be an abrupt shift, some Republican-leaning women like Ms. Russell said they might switch sides and vote for Mr. Obama — if they turn out to vote at all. (NYT, 3/10/2012)


President Obama’s re-election campaign is beginning an intensified effort this week to build support among women, using the debate over the new health care law to amplify an appeal that already appears to be benefiting from partisan clashes over birth control and abortion. (NYT, 3/10/2012)


The fragile gains Republicans had been making among female voters have been erased, a shift that has coincided with what has become a national shouting match over reproductive issues, potentially handing President Obama and the Democrats an enormous advantage this fall. (Washington Post, 3/9/2012)


The Obama reelection campaign directive to the media this week quite obviously focuses on the need to win back the women's vote. And so, dutifully, the New York Times and Washington Post give us numerous stories about how the evil Republicans are waging a "War on Women." And Liberals scoffed with Bush's "War on Terror!"


Toxicity
Even as there are glimmers of a national economic recovery, cities and counties increasingly find themselves in the middle of a financial crisis. The problems are spreading as municipalities face a toxic mix of stresses that has been brewing for years, including soaring pension, Medicaid and retiree health care costs. And many have exhausted creative accounting maneuvers and one-time spending cuts or revenue-raisers to bail themselves out. (NYT, 3/10/2012)


The logical outcome of both the entitlement society and the benefits-for-votes trade brought to you by the Democrat party.