And Now For The Legal Challenges.

If ObamaCare passes today there will be numerous legal challenges to come. The Attorneys General of South Carolina and Florida have already weighed in:

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster says he and Florida Attorney
General Bill McCollum are ready to file a federal lawsuit if health care reform
legislation passes.

The U.S. House plans to vote on the plan Sunday.

McMaster said Friday that he expects attorneys general to join the
lawsuit. He and other GOP counterparts have denounced the legislation.

McMaster says he wants to challenge an exemption that would keep
Nebraska from paying for Medicaid costs.

He says even if that provision is dropped, he will sue over the
requirement for everyone to buy health insurance. McMaster says both provisions
violate state sovereignty.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/19/attorneys-general-south-carolina-florida-set-sue-health-care-reform/

Hard Hitting Ads On The Hill.

The Conservative 501(c)4 American Future Fund has launched a series of ads directed at members of Congress. The ads appeared today in the print version of Politico (a Capitol Hill Newspaper) and directly warn on-the-fence Democrats about the cost to their electoral future of voting for ObamaCare.

Several of them are shown below (click the image for a larger view):

And This Is News?

This gem came out yesterday:

Survey: Readers don't want to pay for news online.

The fact that there are still people creating business plans based upon the concept of pay-for-content web pages is truly amazing. A large cause of the early 2000's tech bubble was the misinformed notion that users of a free web page could be transformed into paying users. They couldn't then and they can't now.

Ex-McCain Aide Goes Wild In Defense of Sean Penn.

As reported by the Washington Examiner:

"A Yeas & Nays reporter was publicly berated and threatened to be escorted out by police on Thursday night when the reporter asked actor Sean Penn a controversial question about his humanitarian work in Haiti.

Penn, who recently has been criticized for his motivations in helping to rebuilding Haiti, recently told CBS News he hopes his critics "die screaming of rectal cancer."

Members of the media were invited to a gala hosted at the Washington Hebrew Congregation and were allowed to ask one question each of the actor in a closed-door news briefing.

When the Yeas & Nays reporter asked, "How have you seen your critics change since you mentioned that they should die of rectal cancer?" publicity coordinator C.J. Jordan interrupted to say the reporter was only allowed to talk about the Haitian benefit...

...Jordan ended the interview, and publicly scolded the reporter outside of the media room. Jordan told the reporter that to keep her job, she needed to write a letter of apology to the Haitian ambassador. The publicity coordinator then threatened to have the reporter escorted out of the building by the police."

"You desecrated this sacred place," Jordan said.

"Publicity coordinator” C.J. Jordan really went out of her way to appear ridiculous in her defense of Sean Penn. Desecration of a sacred place? Threats that the reporter will lose her job?

It comes as little surprise that Ms. Jordan was last heard from as a part of Senator John McCain’s failed 2008 campaign. You can tell a lot about someone by the people they surround themselves with. Apparently, Penn and McCain have similar taste.

This Day In New York Times History.

Atop an article published on March 10, 1994 (though it is datelined March 9) the New York Times printed a headline proudly proclaiming "U.S. Tightens Rules To Help Investors In Municipal Bonds" and continued:

"In an effort to help the millions of Americans who own municipal bonds, the Federal Government issued new rules today intended to make it easier for them to keep track of the value of their bonds, which are often a major part of their life savings. "

The NYT had the same unquestioning faith in top down, government rules and planning then as they do today. Anyways, we have to wonder how all of those new rules worked out for muni-bond investors?

A Comparison.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham (who may be the biggest RINO in Congress when constituencies are taken into account) is apparently trying to launch a "gang of 14" effort to compromise on health care. Of course the biggest obstacle is that Democrats do not really want to work with Republicans on this issue. Which raises an even bigger question: Why do ANY Republicans want to work with Democrats? After all, this is the issue that the White House has gone truly "Chicago style" on. The right, on the other hand, has seen the public rally to their side. There is absolutely no reason for anyone on the right to be compromising.

It is truly sad that the same folks who elected this man, this one and even this one are still being represented by this one.

Voting With Their Feet.

Reuters recently ran an article on young American Jews finding work and internships in Israel to avoid the American recession. The article also noted that many other young Americans were headed to Europe and Asia to find opportunities. New Zealand has seen a similar wave.

President Reagan had a story he used in several speeches, including his farewell address, about Vietnamese “boat people” fleeing to the United States. The story was used by the President to illustrate that it was America that people were struggling and fighting to get to… and not vice versa. Essentially, the story was about people voting with their feet.

By the numbers, the economic situation in America today is not that much worse (and by some metrics better) than the early 1990’s, the 1970’s or the Depression. What is different is our government’s response. The American economy is increasingly being controlled in a top down manner. Regardless of the effects that this will have on numerical indicators (which most free market scholars would argue will be negative), it will have a very bad effect on American moral. Israel, New Zealand and even most of Western Europe are not more affluent than America is today. But some of these foreign lands have increasingly more economic freedom, less of a rigid regulatory structure, less of an oppressive tax structure (especially for business) and an environment where people see the chance to make it big.