Rapid punches

More political shorts combined into one post:

A couple of recent columns, by Jonah Goldberg and Jeff Jacoby, build on my post on Ginsberg’s comment and its implications and are well worth a read.

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Nice to see Obama blame Medicare and Medicaid for driving up the costs of healthcare in his televised prime time presser. Admitting that government is the problem is step one…

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Tom Maguire on Henrylouisgate: “So - do feminists and domestic violence experts agree that if the man of the house shouts at the cops that everything is cool so get out, the cops should simply leave?”

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That 378-0 resolution that, in part, confirmed Obama having been born in Hawaii? 88.8% of the Republicans voted for it, but only 86.3% of the Democrats did.

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Obama said in a Business Week interview “I haven't signed a bill that's raised taxes yet.”

That’s a lie that takes some serious chutzpah, given that it took him only until his 16th day in office to do so: "President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday to more than double the federal cigarette [tax] to pay for an expansion of health insurance for poor children."

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Ann Althouse: “If studies show that divorce damages health, then horning into our marriages will become the government’s business too. Obviously another blue pill. You expect us to pay for the red pill, when there’s a blue pill?”

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Education 101: “I worried that a homeless person had wandered onto the school grounds. When I pointed him out to a fellow parent, she giggled and explained that he was a new teacher.

That can’t be true, I thought, and went off to see the principal, who briefed me about the seniority transfer clause in the teachers’ contract. Among all the applicants for a posted vacancy at P.S. 87, our obviously impaired new teacher had the most years in the system, so he automatically got the job.”

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Who took the most money from HMO’s in 2008, by more than a 2-1 margin? Barack Obama! No wonder he wants the whole country run like an HMO.

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For all of the propaganda painting Republicans as obstructionist on health care reform, it should be noted that Jim DeMint led an effort to allow Americans to purchase individual health insurance across state lines, only to see it defeated 62-37 including no votes by Senators Reid and Obama. The same pair also rejected an effort (as part of a 55-32 vote) to allow for the expansion of health care access and reduced costs through the creation of small business health plans.

It would be more accurate to say that Democrats have blocked health care reform, Republicans have blocked a government takeover of health care.