Cross-posted at Daily Kos.
But the situation will not improve until our interests correlate. I think the Democratic Congress will see to that. The Iraqi government must understand that if the situation does not improve the Congress will take the funding situation out of the president's hands. So it’s now or never. If they don’t get their act together by the next continuing resolution, the party will be over.Nancy Pelosi: Bad Cop.
The troop surge had been advertised. But disrupting infiltration across the Iranian and Syrian borders, loosening the rules of engagement, going after al Qaeda in Anbar Province, and flooding absolutely every part of Baghdad with troops went beyond where the rumor mills had him and again, to me, sounded right.Indeed. And all with about the average attendance for an MLS game.
[P]rivate companies must balance their customers’ demands for both lower prices and access to a broad array of drugs, while the pharmaceutical producers seek prices sufficient to recover their average $1 billion investment in each new drug while preserving the markets for their products.Setting aside the fact that Zycher is wrong, what's interesting here is how he once again bares the soul of the libertarian philosophy: that, somehow, we are more empowered as consumers than as citizens.
The federal government, on the other hand, does not have “customers.” Instead, it has interest groups engaged in a tug-of-war over shares of the federal budget. Accordingly, if the feds were to take over price negotiations, political incentives to achieve budget savings by driving prices down would be powerful. At the same time incentives to satisfy patient preferences for broader access to drugs would be weakened, as the dissatisfaction of patients would be offset by the support of other constituencies enjoying increases in their favored programs.
"wealthy commies," "very minor demon queen," "limousine liberals," "execrable architecture," "decor," "puzzled by the clothing," "'sportswear,'" "glaringly faux string [of pearls]," "tacky," "red-veined-face-thing that suggests a little too much hootch," "smooth, buffed radiance," "Botoxed?" "hair-smoothing product," "prom queen," "first-rate colorist," "full face done," "eyebrows were pulled up a little too high," "table was filled with Jews from the Upper West Side," "babbled on," "you wouldn't guess that he was particularly bright," "so little substance," "the mediocrity of this woman," "a little more humility and a little less strutting."I mean, she really didn't enjoy it.
Some people see things as they are and say 'why?' I dream things that never were and say 'why not?'"See what I mean?
As with the Bush-haters of today, those who despised Lincoln for actually daring to make his dream of union and freedom for blacks a reality were relentless in their attacks. With the death toll of American soldiers in Iraq hovering north of 3,000, it is worth recalling the absolute furor whirling around the sixteenth president as he devoted himself to making his vision a reality of American life, a vision that finally cost over 600,000 dead in four years.Memo to Bush haters: call me when 597,000 more soldiers have died! Till then, STFU, you slavery-defenders. As Lord was saying, Bush can be compared with great historical figures:
The recent trials and tribulations of the suddenly-famous Miss USA, Tara Conner...Uhh...
Stop acting like a bunch of babies and just accept the fact that you brought it on yourselves because of the way you treated Democrats for more than a decade.Hunter's advice: accept that the Dems have the majority, and see if you can't stop some of the legislation the old fashioned way: by filibustering. Also, James Bowman salutes the sexual double standard (and seems oddly nostalgic for the "corporal punishment, fagging, [and] excessive chapel attendance" of his English schoolboy youth) - a stance no doubt appreciated by Jacob Laksin, who praises the resigning Harriet Miers, who might not have been very qualified, but at least had the ladylike grace not to make a big deal of herself.
A period in the political wilderness may benefit the Republican Party. Republicans are more likely to remember their commitment to fiscal responsibility when Democrats propose most of the spending. And social conservatives are more likely to focus their political activities on state legislatures when they don’t have the option to achieve their preferred policies through federal legislation.So now you know where to look for the socio-cons this season.
A Santa Fe Chicken Special from Malibu Wraps, Carolina Brisket from Austin Blues. And the drinks! Starbucks coffee and Melon Smoothies! Endless cups of Diet Sprite--with ice! Freshets of Mr. Pibb!And then was the day pop culture came to party with the GOP:
It is fashionable these days, especially among disaffected conservatives, to say that the Gingrich Revolution amounted to next to nothing and ended in failure. Let those doubters come here. Let them come to the Longworth Food Court.
It was meant to confirm a cherished belief of the Gingrich Revolutionaries: that the popular culture, from which conservatives had so long been ostracized, and with which they were supposedly so out of touch, was at last turning in a rightward direction. "Hollywood is moving like crazy," the activist David Horowitz announced in the New York Times. "The liberals are all fed up with Clinton. Clinton is over. It's happening." To demonstrate the point, Horowitz said he was soon going to stage a Hollywood extravaganza starring Delta Burke and Gerald McRaney.I can only begin to express my regret for missing this. But wait, there's more:
![I]n a sudden burst of music and fire, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers appeared! Across a makeshift stage they kicked and leaped and angled their arms in semaphores of their miraculous power. Popular culture was ours.ALSO AT THE STANDARD, Whitney Blake praises the work of the O.G. of Cabinet Members, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, while the Standard's own gangstas, Kristol & Kagan, urge the Republican hunted to become the hunters in the upcoming Congressional hearings.
Labels: American Spectator, conservatism, conservatives, National review, Reason, TWICO, Weekly Standard