Crony Botox Capitalism?

More than three-dozen businesses with locations in Pelosi's district were granted temporary exemptions from the law in April, according to information released by the Department of Health and Human Services. The businesses -- mostly restaurants and cafes, with a few upscale hotels and clubs mixed in -- accounted for about 20 percent of all waivers granted last month.

Pelosi's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was unclear why so many of the affected businesses were in her district though the Department of Health and Human Services says it determines its waiver policy based on whether businesses can prove they need them to avoid "a large increase in premiums or a significant decrease in access to coverage."

Pelosi was among the most vocal champions of the health care law as she and other Democrats helped shepherd it through Congress in 2009 and 2010.

On the list of San Francisco businesses with a reprieve on the law were The Stinking Rose, an Italian restaurant; TRU Spa, a day spa in the city; and the upscale Hotel Nikko. Daily Caller first reported on the exemptions in Pelosi's district.

Michelle Malkin has more on the staggering number of waivers being granted.

This is a different kind of "death panel". What happens to the competitors of these businesses who aren't granted executive indulgences? They will now be at a competitive disadvantage to these government favored businesses. Want to be at least a few of them will either see reduced profits or possibly even go out of business?

And just wait until unelected bureaucrats are fully in charge of deciding who gets 'waivers' from limits on certain types of procedures.

Repealing this freedom sapping piece of crap better be Job One in 2013.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:55 AM | Comments (204)
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Good, he's far more valuable as a leader in the House than a junior member of the Senate.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is staying in the House, and won't run for the U.S. Senate, two well-placed GOP sources tell National Journal.

Ryan began informing close friends of his decision Tuesday and is expected to announce later in the day.

Good, now he can run for President.

Meanwhile, are you ready for a Tommy Thompson run?

Thompson would give Republicans a popular former four-term governor to seriously challenge for this toss-up seat, which could prove the difference as Senate Democrats struggle to defend their majority with now eight retirements.

ThompsonÂ’s entry would even further intensify a race that already seems destined to be one of the most watched in the nation: Wisconsin has been at the center of the national political discussion since Gov. Scott WalkerÂ’s showdown with unions over collective bargaining in February that prompted weeks of protests at the state capitol in Madison. In the months since, even what would have almost certainly otherwise been a sleepy race for a state supreme court seat turned into a pitched battle, now in its third week of the recount.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:12 AM | Comments (113)
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Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:56 AM | Comments (283)
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So What Sci-Fi Universe Would You Like To Live In?

Recently Retrospace ran a poll recently asking this very question with the following choices:

1. Blade Runner
2. Star Trek
3. Star Wars
4. Logan's Run
5. Firefly
6. Dune
7. UFO
8. Battlestar Galactica, Lost in Space and Space:1999
9. A Clockwork Orange
10. Buck Rogers

All of them have their pros and cons. And what makes a movie/TV series exciting is often quite different from what you'd like to have going on in your own parsec i.e. space battles and vengeful kickbots are always way more fun in someone else's universe.

My Choice:
Okay even though it's a socialist empire the Star Trek universe is overall probably a pretty comfortable place to live if your not too ambitious or anything. And the world of Star Wars seems like an fun place to visit but it's no place to run a business or try and raise a family (sort of like San Francisco).

But in terms of overall quality of life - high levels of technology and Erin Gray and low risk of being killed at 30 or having your planet blown up - my pick would be Buck Rogers. But I might put UFO in second place just on account of this:

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:26 PM | Comments (614)
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What happens in Vegas...gets spent in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and.....

LAS VEGAS — Mitt Romney hauled in $10.25 million through a call-a-thon today, sending a message to potential rivals that he's going to stockpile an intimidating pile of cash heading into next year's GOP primary.

Romney convened over 700 of his friends, donors and bundlers to spend much of the day raising cash from their own Rolodoxes in a cavernous convention center here as part of what he described on a phone call with supporters as the unofficial kick-off to his campaign. The fundraisers arrived as early as 5:30 in the morning to begin calling their friends on the East Coast.

Ron Paul is the candidate most identified with one day money bombs but not like this. Of course, Mitt doesn't have a blimp. Yet.

Of course this is mostly political theater. Like a telethon, they probably had a good bit of this set up in prior commitments. He also did something like this in '07 and that wasn't enough to get the nomination. Still it's a a pretty clear message...you want to mess with Mitt, bring your wallet and the wallets of a couple of thousand of your closest friends.

I'll admit this, if he had taken the money and thrown in down on black (always bet on black), I would vote for him without hesitation.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:20 PM | Comments (239)
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I learned that the reason why I am the way I am and why I prefer to chase felines is, well, just the dog in me.

I learned that boy needs therapy.

I learned that intentionally naming your son a feminine name will make him tougher and a better person, and that he will probably try to kill you for it.

I learned wearing one's tinted-lenses after sundown allows you to keep track of the visions in your eyes.

Lastly, I learned that one should check oneself before one wrecks themselves, because getting shot, sodomized, and hanging with loose women are bad for ones heath.

Now snark till your Rinos hearts are content.

Posted by: CAC at 04:10 PM | Comments (424)
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It's kinda funny, watching Obama attempt to stumble into a "middle" position against his nature.

Be sure to click on the video.

First order of business. Root out the fraud, and kick those speculators in the nards.

Second order of business. Free up some leases in Alaska and the gulf and other places that, hell, if this actually ever happened I would truly be confused. But it won't, so, on to numero three-O.

Third order of business! Goddamn gas company subsidies.

Also, green, blah blah blah.

It has to be frustrating to Captain Bullshit, to have to actually forward this sort of thing in a weekly address. "Hey, these gas prices, what the hell? We'd better put those speculators on a short leash, and cut those doggone subsidies and also maybe let em have a lease or two that I will never let them actually produce from."

Well hell. He would have preferred a gradual adjustment.

Darn speculators. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:10 PM | Comments (62)
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I predict she won't, and you can take that to the bank. 2 for 2 so far!

"Senior insiders" say this, and I guess that means... her campaign director? Her spokesman?

Here's more evidence:

She unveiled a new website design Monday that highlights Team Bachmann rather than Congresswoman Bachmann.

That's not proof or anything, but now she's not running for Congress, she's running for ???.

Posted by: Ace at 02:15 PM | Comments (448)
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I'm not a fan of heckling, so I say this without endorsing it: That's an effective heckle. If you want to hurt someone, hit them where they hurt.

Apparently the guy didn't even plan a big heckling incident. He just did it.

Gingrich, visibly stunned, quickly moved forward to talk with other guests.

Fuhrman told The Register afterward that he just happened to be at the hotel. He said heÂ’s upset with GingrichÂ’s disagreements with parts of the House Republican Medicare reform plan.

Fuhrman said he’s a solid Republican but that Ginrich “is a jerk.”

“I’m a strong Republican but he’s an embarrassment to our party,” Fuhrman said.

Thanks to DrewM. DrewM.'s doing his own heckling of Gingrich.

I don't know what it is about Gingrich. I have to admit, there is something about him, currently, that is really rubbing me the wrong way, and I don't think it's entirely rational. Yes, he's up to his old tricks again with his carefully-crafted call-them-extreme language (he used to give seminars on doing just this to Republican hopefuls), and this time deploying it against the Ryan plan; but seriously? I sort of get that. Sort of. I doubt any candidate will embrace the Ryan plan, and I wouldn't advise anyone too.

Still... he didn't have to call it radical.

Anyway, for whatever reason, he's just really annoying me. I used to like him, but thought he was a little too slick and false. Now everything about him seems calculated and contrived.

I don't know if that's fair. I'm just saying, right now, I'd like to see some of the same authenticity and realness in Gingrich that I see in Mitt Romney.

Posted by: Ace at 01:58 PM | Comments (170)
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36 fresh smart-grenade launchers are being hand-built for ASAP delivery. They're all hand-built now, as there is no production line -- but that's on the way.

Meanwhile, mass production has been ordered, and this will result in over 12,000 of the weapons being delivered, starting in 2014.

It was obvious that the XM-25 was a success after only 55 of the 25mm rounds were fired in combat. The users protested having to give them up after the few months of field testing. All this because the XM-25s work as advertised, firing "smart rounds" that explode over the heads of Taliban hiding behind rocks or walls, or hiding in a cave or room. Enemy machine-guns have been quickly knocked out of action and ambushes quickly disrupted with a few 25mm shells. Encounters that might go on for 15 minutes or longer, as U.S. troops exchange fire with hidden Taliban, end in minutes after a few 25mm, computer controlled, rounds were fired.

...

The word has gotten around in Afghanistan, and every combat unit there is asking for XM-25s. Although warned to keep operational details off public Internet forums, XM-25 users are telling stories to other combat troops of a wonder-weapon that actually works.

The article provides further details I don't think we knew yet. (At least I didn't. And if you don't know what the XM-25 is, all the details are there, about two thirds of the way into the article.)

It has four detonation modes -- airburst, burst on contact, burst on contact but after a timed delay, and "window," which means it bursts just as after it passes its programmed range. That seems to be the main advantage, the window setting.

The 25mm round lacks the punch of the 40mm round it would be replacing, but maybe the added accuracy overcomes all that. And there are variants:

The 25mm shells weigh over half a pound each (270 grams). On the plus side, there is already a 25mm armor piercing round (using a shaped charge capable of penetrating over 50mm of armor) available. This makes the XM-25 capable of knocking out light armored vehicles. Then there are the new versions of 25mm round, like fuel-air explosive (or "thermobaric"). Such a shell would cause greater blast effect in an enclosed space, and actually suck most of the oxygen out of a cave or closed room long enough to make surviving troops at least a bit groggy. This gives the attacking troops an opportunity to rush in and kill the enemy, or take prisoners. In combat, every little advantage helps.

South Korea is also apparently producing its own version of the weapon. I don't know if we're really going to enjoy much of a window of technological advantage here -- unfortunately our troops are going to be facing this fairly shortly.

Posted by: Ace at 01:55 PM | Comments (49)
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