TGIF: Congress Declares Independence

What a difference a year can make. On July 6, 1775, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, issued the Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms. Significantly, the document declared, “We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great Britain establishing independent states.”

The rest of TGIF is here.

Walmart Unmasked

From the perceptive Megan McArdle at The Atlantic:

I find it hard to believe that none of the liberal commentators breathlessly celebrating Wal-Mart’s “capitulation” on national health care have even entertained the most parsimonious explanation: that Wal-Mart is in favor of this because it raises the barriers to entry in the retail market, and hammers Wal-Mart’s competition. Yet somehow, this appears nowhere in any of the analysis.

She wraps up: “All of which is to say, Bootleggers and Baptists should be required reading in all schools.  When you find strange bedfellows in politics, don’t look for a surprising outbreak of spontaneous virtue: looking [sic] for the hidden conspiracy.”

More here.

Happy Independence Day!

On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress passed a resolution of independence, submitted by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, declaring that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and Independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

Two days later, July 4, the Congress approved a document, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, intended to explain why independence was proper and necessary. We call that document the Declaration of Independence.

The Energy Bill: Read It and Get Angry

Here are some excerpts from the energy bill that passed the House of Misrepresentatives and is being considered by the Senate. Sorry for the tediousness, but you know how these bills are written. Heck, the politicians don’t read them, so what do they care?

The bottom line: The Department of Energy would write a national residential building energy code and impose it on the states and localities — and us.  The operative word is code. This will not be a list of suggestions.

However, I have not found language yet that would prohibit us from selling our homes until we submitted to and passed a government energy-efficiency inspection. Rumors abound that the bill would do this, but I have not found such a provision. In fact, a House staffer tells me the bill does not contain such explicit language, but that the language could be interpreted that way by a secretary of energy.   Here are the relevant provisions.

There shall be established national energy efficiency building codes under this subsection, for residential and commercial buildings, sufficient to meet each of the national building code energy efficiency targets established under subsection (a), not later than the date that is 1 year after the deadline for establishment of each such target, except that the national energy efficiency building code established to meet the target described in subsection (a)(1)(A) shall be established by not later than 15 months after the effective date of that target….

Read more

TGIF: The Misrepresentation of Healthcare Reform

Why should the people get something through government–that is, at the point of a gun–simply because they want it?

The rest of TGIF is here.

More Fun with Fannie and Freddie

From today’s Wall Street Journal editorial page:

Back when the housing mania was taking off, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank famously said he wanted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to “roll the dice” in the name of affordable housing. That didn’t turn out so well, but Mr. Frank has since only accumulated more power. And now he is returning to the scene of the calamity — with your money. He and New York Representative Anthony Weiner have sent a letter to the heads of Fannie and Freddie exhorting them to lower lending standards for condo buyers.

Take a hike

From the Wall Street Journal: 

After sparking a four-day mystery about his whereabouts, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s spokesman said the governor had been hiking along the Appalachian Trail.

Until late Monday night, Mr. Sanford’s whereabouts hadn’t been revealed since Thursday, when he took off in a sport-utility vehicle normally driven by a bodyguard, turned off his mobile phone and stopped communicating with his office, family and close political allies. Mr. Sanford has been viewed as a likely contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

I’m thinking the taxpayers would benefit from Congress joining Mark Sanford on this little retreat. At least for a couple weeks …

TGIF: Obama’s Impossible Healthcare Reform Promises

In his drive to “reform” health care — that is, redesign 18 percent of the U.S. economy — Barack Obama is clearly terrified that his mission will crash and burn if people think it will cost them their freedom of choice in doctors and insurance. He is surely convinced that this is what scuttled the Clinton plan in 1993 (he’s right), and he is determined not to let it happen again.

So he must persuade us that this freedom will be safe under his plan.

But can he make a truly persuasive case?

Read the rest of TGIF, “Obama’s Impossible Healthcare Reform Promises.”

Also, make sure to read Elizabeth McCaughey’s Wall Street Journal expose on the Kennedy bill that is emerging as the leading “reform” legislation.

The Freeman, July-August 2009

The Foxes Are Watching the Hen House

In unveiling his “sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system” yesterday, President Obama said, “These proposals reflect intensive consultation with leaders in Congress, including those who are here today: Chairman Dodd and Chairman Frank….”

So the latest government scheme to manage the financial markets in response to the recent debacle are two of the chief architects of that debacle.

Your government at work.

P.S. In case you were wondering, Obama said, “I’ve always been a strong believer in the power of the free market.” Perfectly Orwellian.

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  • Speedmaster: Indeed! I posted about this last night as well. Bootleggers and Baptists: Wal-Mart and Forced Coverage
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• Recent Posts

  • TGIF: Congress Declares Independence
  • Walmart Unmasked
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  • The Energy Bill: Read It and Get Angry
  • TGIF: The Misrepresentation of Healthcare Reform