Daily Dose

Aimless
“You don’t need an AR-15—it’s harder to aim,” he added, “it’s harder to use, and in fact you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun! Buy a shotgun!”  (Vice President Joe Biden)

Our Vice-President and - fingers crossed - the Democrat nominee for President in 2016. 

What - we wonder - would have been the lead story on MSNBC for the month had Dick Cheney said it?


Perfection
Democrats have nearly perfected the following exercise in cynical electioneering: 1) introduce legislation; 2) title it something that appeals to the vast majority of Americans who have no interest in learning what is actually in the bill, e.g., the “Violence Against Women Act”; 3) make sure it is sufficiently noxious to the GOP that few Republicans will support it; 4) vote, and await headlines such as “[GOP Lawmaker] Votes No On Violence Against Women Act”; 5) clip and use headline in 30-second campaign ad; and 6) repeat.

The strategy is abetted by a compliant press. (Andrew Stiles, Hotair.com, 2/21/2013)

Very very well put!

Repubs should adopt the strategy. We propose the following: the Saving America From Absolute Financial Ruin Act.


Necessary AND Fair
To reduce the deficit in a weak economy, new taxes on high-income Americans are a matter of necessity and fairness; they are also a necessary precondition to what in time will have to be tax increases on the middle class.  (New York Times editorial, 2/21/2013)

A shining example of why Liberals can NEVER EVER be trusted on taxes. The Times call for yet more taxes on the wealthy as a precursor to tax hikes on the middle class. 


Doomsday
Agencies will have 120 days to implement changes. While those agencies are currently predicting doom, they will in reality face pressure to impose cuts in ways that minimize harm. Government unions won't let agency heads cut employees instead of fancy conference budgets. Moreover, this is a 2.5% cut in spending, not a government shutdown. Americans will continue to get their passports, cash their Social Security checks, and visit national parks.

What has to make the White House a tad nervous are the questions it is beginning to get from the savvier members of the press. Didn't you folks in the White House also agree to $1.2 trillion in sequester cuts? Why are you now changing the goal posts, asking for taxes? Are you really saying you can't find $85 billion in sensible cuts from a $3.8 trillion budget? Why not just ask the GOP for the flexibility to impose the cuts more wisely? (Kimberley A. Strassel, WSJ, 2/21/2013)

From Day One it has been said, President Obama has been focused on (obsessed with?) his legacy. And yet what we remember most to date are two things: his endless calls for more taxes on the rich and repeated bouts of financial brinkmanship with Republicans over spending. This is not the stuff of which legacies are made. 

When he was not diddling the White House interns, Bill Clinton co-opted Republican ideas on trade and welfare reform. Newt Gingrich whined about who should get credit, but who cares if good ideas were adopted? Obama is no Clinton.


Even Steven
Even one-third of Democrats back letting the cuts take effect; Republicans and independents are evenly split on the issue. (NYT, 2/21/2013)

One of those little factoids that slips through, but will only be whispered.  (Thirty-three percent of Dems favor sequester....)


Liabilities
Lawmakers in at least half a dozen states, including California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, have proposed legislation this year that would require gun owners to buy liability insurance — much as car owners are required to buy auto insurance....“I believe that if we get the private sector and insurance companies involved in gun safety, we can help prevent a number of gun tragedies every year,” said David P. Linsky, a Democratic state representative in Massachusetts who wants to require gun owners to buy insurance. He believes it will encourage more responsible behavior and therefore reduce accidental shootings. “Insurance companies are very good at evaluating risk factors and setting their premiums appropriately,” he added. (NYT, 2/21/2013)

A bit of irony here as the same government that wants to squeeze the insurance industry out of health care now wants to foster gun liability insurance. Why not have the government run that too? Single payer gun insurance...we may be on to something here!

And who knew that insurers were so good at measuring risk and charging correctly?