Obamacare revisited: Sir Donald’s Medicare czar nomination fight.

Sounds like a fun way to spend the summer, doesn’t it?

President Barack Obama spent the last year insisting he doesn’t want to turn the American health care system into a carbon copy of the government-run British system.

But Obama’s pick to run Medicaid and Medicare — Donald Berwick — is a pediatrician and Harvard University professor with a self-professed “love” of the British system.

Berwick has called Britain’s National Health Service “one of the greatest health care institutions in human history” and “a global treasure.” He once said it sets an “example” for the United States to follow. And his decadelong efforts to improve the NHS were so well-regarded that Queen Elizabeth granted him an honorary knighthood in 2005.

Continue reading Obamacare revisited: Sir Donald’s Medicare czar nomination fight.

Because the FBI has no *real* demands on its time, of course.

You know, I’ve met Little Miss Attila.  I’m not saying that she’s not Death Incarnate, but I am saying that she mostly uses her powers for good.  So this entire being-reported-to-the-FBI thing of her by this weird church is truly bizarre.

Besides, hell, she’s probably already got a file by now.  Right next to mine*.

Moe Lane

*And to any government cyber-snoops that may or may not be monitoring me: buy something from Amazon.com, you cheapskates. Last month’s take was freaking awful, and it’s frankly the fault of your ultimate boss; so pony up.

The Breakdown of Montgomery County.

The Washington Post can be amusing, sometimes.  In this article (via Instapundit) they provide a comparison of two counties – Montgomery County in Maryland, and Fairfax County in Virginia – to the former’s distinct disadvantage.  The short version: Montgomery County is stuck with an elected Democratic leadership that is beholden to public sector unions*, spends in a fashion that insults drunken sailors, and… actually, those two statements sum it up neatly.  Although Montgomery County having a maxed-out local income tax can’t be helping, either.  The end result: with comparable budgets and populations, Montgomery County had to reconcile an almost 1 billion dollar budget deficit and is facing worse, while Fairfax County had to work out deficits one quarter that and is pretty much no worse off than most of the rest of the country.  Continue reading The Breakdown of Montgomery County.

Soccer Hero.

I refuse to call it ‘football,’ since I am a cultural chauvinist. And I am a little skeptical of encouraging such goings-on among Americans, given that I firmly believe that world geopolitical security is enhanced by there being at least one sport out there where quite tiny nations can beat the USA like a drum*. Still: this is an impressive enough stunt:

Well done, guys.

Moe Lane

*There is no contradiction between the two statements.
THERE IS NO CONTRADICTION! I AM NOT LISTENING! LALALA… Continue reading Soccer Hero.

I sort of agree with Eleanor Clift.

(H/T: Hot Air Headlines) On at least one passage, at least. She wrote an article for Newsweek (yeah, it’s still publishing! Good show, that) where she assured her readers that of course they don’t need to worry about the 2010 election shellacking that the Democrats will be getting in the Senate, because a lot of those elections will be one-offs:

This is an off-year election, and there’s no popular politician with coattails to ride, but the voters are restive, and that’s always dangerous for the party in power.

‘Off-year election.’  Hey!  You mean, like 2006’s was?  And like 2014’s is going to be*?

Moe Lane

*You have to think of these things in the long-term, that’s all that I’m saying.  Just about everything that’s true about the 2010/2016 dynamic is going to be equally true for the 2006/2012 one.

Crossposted to RedState.

Obama’s America.

(Via @thebcast) Personally, I get a Not-My-Kind-Of-People vibe off of the British Petroleum protesters, and I’m pretty sure that most of them would look at me and cordially hate my guts. Doesn’t mean I like seeing ’em get kicked by the LAPD. Or seeing somebody filming the kicking go get tackled and arrested by the LAPD.

Hey! Was this the change that you were waiting for?

Moe Lane Continue reading Obama’s America.