Monday Quick Hits

Some random things to note on this Monday:

• I've frequently wondered aloud whether any "unbiased" doctors (i.e., those not serving in Congress or associated with a lobbying group like the AMA or PhRMA or with a corporation invested in the bill's passage) vocally supported ObamaCare because it sure seemed like the only real doctors speaking up were opposed to the Democrat plan.  Today, I thought the President finally rebutted my argument by trotting out about 150 supportive doctors for a Rose Garden photo op.  Well, according to the NYT, "the group that supplied many of the doctors for the Rose Garden event, Doctors for America, is a nonprofit organization that grew out of Doctors for Obama, which worked to help elect the president. But it also appears to be working closely with Organizing for America, Mr. Obama’s political organization."  Hmmmmm.  I'm pretty sure this revelation means that my original public challenge still stands.
  

• The Wall Street Journal does a great job today summarizing the debacle that is Cash for Clunkers. The money quote: "The basic fallacy of cash for clunkers is that you can somehow create wealth by destroying existing assets that are still productive, in this case cars that still work. Under the program, auto dealers were required to destroy the car engines of trade-ins with a sodium silicate solution, then smash them and send them to the junk yard. As the journalist Henry Hazlitt wrote in his classic, "Economics in One Lesson," you can't raise living standards by breaking windows so some people can get jobs repairing them."  Sounds familiar, huh?
  

• Great review by the WSJ's Mary Kissel of Paul Blustein's new book on the WTO, "Misadventures of the Most Favored Nations."  Looks like a fun read, although it's probably not going to make my wish-list.
  

• Regardless of your views on the President's Olympic mistake, you gottta admit: this is hilarious.
  

• Will SNL's open mockery of the President's non-achievements mean that it's finally open season on Obama among comedians?  I'm not so sure, but regardless, it's a pretty funny skit:

Monday Night Trivia: Term Limits, Corruption, Budget Nonsense

Some random tidbits on this Monday night:

• According to CQ, only about 10% of all House seats are truly up for grabs in 2010. Considering the bipartisan nincompoopery of the last few years, how is this even possible? And why don't term limits have more support?

• Speaking of term limits, the AP reports that Sens. Dodd & Conrad, despite their denials, knew full well that they were getting sweetheart deals from everybody's favorite subprime lender, Countrywide. I, for one, am shocked to the core. Oh, wait, no I'm not. (Dodd, by the way, is just barely trailing the main GOP challenger for his Senate seat in 2010 and is comfortably leading in the Dem primary polls. That's insane.)
  

• A week late, the OMB delivers that massive $100m in spending cuts (.003% of the budget) demanded by the President back in April. Key "cuts" include - I kid you not - not repainting Ag Department vehicles and using online travel services instead of travel agents. With these types of systemic reforms, the Obama administration will have America on the path to fiscal solvency by, well, never.