Rep John Dingell: Cap and Trade is a tax.

Thanks.
For nothing.

Rep John Dingell today admitted that cap-and-trade really is an energy tax. Unfortunately, he did so in the context of telling a lie:

Contrary to Representative Dingell’s comments, quite a few people realized that cap-and-trade is a tax. And then so did quite a few people more. And then some more. And more. And more. And more. In fact, this realization is quite common among those individuals who do not have a vested emotional or, frankly, moral need to believe the absurd and contemptuous lie made by the current administration about how it wasn’t going to raise taxes on either the poor or middle class. Continue reading Rep John Dingell: Cap and Trade is a tax.

30/45/25 for Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano.

Those numbers above represent Favorable/Unfavorable/Don’t Know in the latest Rasmussen poll, and while Rasmussen itself notes that:

At the time President Obama nominated her for the Homeland Security post in early December, 43% had no opinion of her. Since that time, her favorable ratings have remained constant, but her negatives have increased. That’s fairly typical for politicians as they get better known.

…it’s still not what you would call ‘good’ news – at least, if you’re the sort of person who worries about whether people are still liking Secretary* Napolitano enough. For added amusement, check out this Hill article (“Napolitano splits the GOP“) and try to figure out, precisely, how the GOP has been ‘split’ on the Napolitano controversy…

Moe Lane

PS: President Obama tapping Napolitano for Homeland Security probably ensured that the GOP kept the Arizona Senate seat in 2010 – but I never really thought that it might wreck her career, too…

*Have we come up with a way to easily distinguish between the Departments of Homeland Security and Health & Human Services? Are we calling the latter DHSS or HSS DHHS or HHS now? I should know this; really, I should.

Of *course* ‘Leaders balk at setting up truth panel.’

‘Truth’ is precisely what the Democrats don’t want right now.

Senate Democratic leaders oppose the immediate establishment of a “Truth Commission” to probe harsh interrogation tactics as they face pressure to reveal what they knew of practices the Obama administration has since labeled “torture.”

While nearly all Democrats this week backed the creation of a special commission to probe the causes of the financial crisis, and while the party previously supported the independent 9/11 Commission, its leaders on Thursday balked at the idea of taking a similar approach to unearthing answers about the controversial interrogation methods approved by the Bush administration.

There’s actually a fairly significant difference between investigating ‘the causes of the financial crisis’ and investigating ‘controversial interrogation methods’: no, not the fact that Democrats were only up to their eyeballs in one or the other. They were, of course, heavily involved in both. No, the difference is that in the case of the financial crisis there is actually a national consensus that the end result was bad. The same consensus does not agree on the interrogation methods*. Continue reading Of *course* ‘Leaders balk at setting up truth panel.’

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Hold Your Breath.

It’s dead during the term of this administration, and never mind what TPMDC thinks. I’d give credit for the Obama administration for at least not duplicating the public relations fiasco that the Clinton administration got itself into sixteen years ago, but do we really want to reward a lack of intestinal fortitude?

Frank: Democrats Punting on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Until 2010

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Thursday that Democratic leaders won’t push to repeal the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy governing gay service in the military until 2010.

“I believe we should and will do ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ next year,” said Frank, a co-chairman of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Equality Caucus. “We haven’t done the preliminary work, the preparatory work. It would be a mistake to bring it up without a lot of lobbying and a lot of conversation.”

Continue reading Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Hold Your Breath.

Want a job with the White House? Try Monster.com!

…well, not quite yet, but give them time:

Obama administration works with headhunters to fill out key positions

The Obama administration has been working with some of the nation’s top headhunters to recruit candidates to join the executive branch.

Administration officials have privately expressed frustration that they are struggling to hire talented personnel for key slots across the federal government, noting President Obama’s tough restrictions on lobbyists working for him.

Over the last several months, Obama’s transition team and administration have had informal communications with major recruiters, including Korn/Ferry International, Russell Reynolds Associates and Heidrick & Struggles.

I suppose that I could really be mocking about this, but I shan’t. This is actually excellent news: after all, I presume that the companies listed above do credit checks of potential hires. It’ll be delightful to get some executive branch appointees who actually pay their taxes.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

I can’t actually answer FrankJ’s question…

…(“Did We Elect Borat President?“) as I’ve never actually watched Borat.

Because it looked stupid, that’s why. And not Death Race 2000 stupid, either.  I begrudge spending money on watching something stupid.

Moe Lane

But hey, if you want me to correct my error by having me rent it, or something…

To use Ace’s line, you see what I did, just now?  That’s some quality shilling for money right there.  Old-school, even.


Crossposted to RedState.