With some caveats but...this just got interesting.

America is facing a crushing debt crisis the likes of which we've never seen before. We need to cut spending, and we need to cut it big time. The hard truth is that there are no longer any sacred programs.

The truth about federal energy subsidies, including federal subsidies for ethanol, is that they have to be phased out. We need to do it gradually. We need to do it fairly. But we need to do it.

It's a marker. Other candidates either need to at least match this call or be seen as not serious on the budget and simply pandering to caucus voters.

This is the kind of stuff we say we want from candidates. Are we going to stay hung up on AGW stuff, poorly sourced hit quotes and his lack of charisma? Or will we at least give the guy a look now?

I honestly started as very skeptical on the guy. I was looking for a reason to get interested in him. This is a good start.

Narrative Change [ace]: First of all, it's the right thing to do.

Second of all, I mentioned that T-Paw's "El Guapo" is his perceived lack of fight and brass. This is a brass move. I don't think it will overcome the impression people have formed of him, but it's a step in that direction.

It does take brass to go to Iowa and say "ethanol subsidies must be ended." Not to knock Russ, but you can see that from his post. The dirty little secret is that any conservative getting some form of government subsidy/special break/check wants to keep that.

And T-Paw just told a hard truth.

Now, this might be strategic, because Michelle Bachmann is going to run, and will do well in Iowa, as she was born there. So T-Paw might have decided that he's going to lose Iowa anyway, so he might as well lose it for a good reason. And change the narrative on it.

If so, that's smart.

So he's either made a tough, gutsy call, or he's made a clever one. Either way.

The Truth

When nothing else is working-- Why not?

Rush: "Wait a Minute. You -- In Iowa -- Called for an End to Ethanol Subsidies?" Adds, "That's politically gutsy."
more...

Posted by: DrewM at 09:52 AM | Comments (408)
Post contains 415 words, total size 3 kb.

Technically it's the Punjabi word "Chalaque," which, it is explained, is...

‘is sometimes used when we want to denigrate someone who we think is too clever for their own good’.

Another Punjabi speaker told the paper the word Chalaque is ‘not considered rude’, but could be ‘mildly offensive’.

What's the Punjabi word for "dumbass unearned smugness poseur"?

Thanks to momma.

Posted by: Ace at 09:26 AM | Comments (130)
Post contains 74 words, total size 1 kb.

Presented without comment.

Story here.

My question is, what the hell was the Secret Service agent driving the limo doing drinking a Slurpee while on duty?

Posted by: DrewM at 08:45 AM | Comments (244)
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

Ahem. Not to take away from the inevitable RINO squishiness of Scott Brown, but here is an Open Thread for y'all for the afternoon if you start seeing too much red in the other threads.

Yeah, a few weeks late, but I think we can revisit the weirdness that was Ensign one last time, especially since you morons figured out what fundamentally drove the whole thing. Correct me if I am wrong on any single part of this, but since I am never, ever, ever wrong, thats doubtful:

more...

Posted by: CAC at 07:56 AM | Comments (105)
Post contains 107 words, total size 4 kb.

But that's an improvement over anything else we're going to see coming out of Massachusetts, so we'll live with it.

Today's heresy is an op-ed Brown has in Politico announcing he'll vote against the Ryan plan.

First, I fear that as health inflation rises, the cost of private plans will outgrow the government premium support— and the elderly will be forced to pay ever higher deductibles and co-pays. Protecting those who have been counting on the current system their entire adult lives should be the key principle of reform.

Second, Medicare has already taken significant cuts to help pay for Obama’s health care plan. The president and Congress cut a half trillion dollars to the private side of Medicare — meaning seniors are at risk of losing their Medicare Advantage coverage.

Another key principle is that seniors should not have to bear a disproportionate burden. But that doesn’t mean we do nothing. If Medicare is to survive for current beneficiaries and future generations, we must act. The sooner Congress addresses this, the less painful it is likely to be — but more difficult adjustments will be required if we delay.

...I plan on continuing to work with people of goodwill - in either party - to solve the very real problems we face. Our country is on an unsustainable fiscal path.

But I do not think it requires us to change Medicare as we know it. We can work inside of Medicare to make it more solvent.

He then goes on to propose "solutions" that will postpone tough choices thus creating more difficult adjustments later.

It's not that Brown is a RINO that bothers me, that's a given, it's the cowardice. Brown proposes saving money through reducing fraud and abuse. Great, fine. It's something that people have been talking about for 30 years and yet..it's still there and with a program this large, it always will be. Besides, even if you take Brown's number of $47-60 billion a year in fraud, you're still screwed.

At least Brown didn't take a cheap shot at Ryan like Newt did (before he laughably claimed he didn't).

One possible mitigating factor in Brown's favor is that this is a free vote leading into 2012 (when Brown is up for a full term). The Ryan plan isn't going anywhere anytime soon. It's DoA in the Senate and everyone knows it. Yes, the more Republicans that come out against it hurt the reformers case in the public debate but it's not like anyone really expects it to pass this year. The real challenge for a guy like Brown will be what happens in 2013 if the GOP gets the Senate and/or the White House. What would Brown do if this were the policy of the majority caucus? Hopefully we'll have the chance to find out. The pressure will be greater to toe the line for the majority than it will be this year.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:38 AM | Comments (140)
Post contains 499 words, total size 3 kb.

Technically, it's a Pawlenty thread but really, what's the difference?

Ahead of his official announcement today, Pawlenty released a video promising to be honest with Americans. Today he follows up with some specifics on who will be hearing some harsh truths.

It's long past time for America's president — and anyone who wants to be president — to be straight with the American people.

So here it is: Government money isn't "free." Either you and I pay for it in taxes, or our children pay for it in debt. The reforms we need are not in the billions, but in the trillions of dollars. And the cuts we must make cannot just be in other people's favorite programs.

That's why later this week I'm going to New York City to tell Wall Street that if I'm elected, the era of bailouts and handouts for big banks is over. I'm going to Florida to tell both young people and seniors that our entitlement programs are on an unsustainable path and have to be changed. And, today, I'm in Iowa to speak truthfully about farm subsidies.

Farm subsidies in Iowa? Ok, I'm interested. Yesterday I noted that it was unlikely that Pawlenty's tough truth talk wasn't likely to include Ethanol Subsidies or mandates. Now? Let's see.

If he follows through and starts laying out some harsh realities to groups not accustomed to this...Fresh Look at Pawlenty?

And yes, I know the guy that spams every thread with a dubiously sourced quote will show up and so will the folks who say, "He's an AGW believer!". The AGW stuff is a fair point but on the upside, it's not like even if he still supported it there's a chance in hell of it coming out of Congress.

Any candidate we put up is going to be flawed because every candidate is flawed. Some have long records with a few blemishes here and there, while others don't have much of a record and occasionally struggle with some basic facts. Either way it's still very early to be ruling people in or out. Let's keep our eyes on the prize...giving Barack Obama the chance to become a terrible ex-President as soon as possible.

Via Ben Domenech, who you might want to consider following on Twitter.

BTW- I'm not on Team Pawlenty, he's just the guy making news over the last day or two.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:24 AM | Comments (302)
Post contains 408 words, total size 2 kb.

Before I dive in to the DOOM!, say a few prayers for the poor folks in Joplin, MO and North Minneapolis, MN. Both towns were hit by severe weather over the weekend. Vast swaths of Joplin have been completely destroyed. I'm sure that the usual agencies (the Red Cross, local churches, etc.) are accepting donations -- and I'd just as soon my money go to help out these folks than get eaten by the government.

Having said that....

This is one of those articles that don't quite match the headline: "Get Ready for Social Security, Medicare Meltdowns". The article is much less apocalyptic than the title -- the author of the piece is at pains to reassure everyone of the steadfastness of Social Security, though even he admits that Medicare is doomed. (And I aver that SS is just as doomed, because keeping it solvent is going to require doing things that no one wants to do.)

The calls for Europe to relinquish the leadership of the IMF are growing. I think it's past time, myself. (Though it would probably go to China, and I'm not sure I want China leading the IMF either.)

Yet another guy who thinks we have all the time in the world to tie off the spouting arteries of the welfare state. I think he's wrong, but we'll see. "Necessary" trumps "politically palatable", as we will find out if we wait too long.

Wall Street is having the vapors over concerns about the chronic sovereign-debt crises in the Eurozone.

...and I felt a great tremor in The Force, and millions of Apple fanboys cried out in despair.

How do the federal-employee unions feel about the plan to use federal pension funds as a backstop to avoid balance the budget? They're agin' it.
more...

Posted by: Monty at 05:15 AM | Comments (122)
Post contains 328 words, total size 3 kb.

Orbits, vectors, and intersections. When you understand them rightly, all becomes clear.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:01 AM | Comments (129)
Post contains 20 words, total size 1 kb.

Update/bump (6:00 AM Central time) I just added a video below the fold that was posted on YouTube by a chopper pilot who flew along the damage path in Joplin shortly after the tornado struck. It's a little shakey and in an oddly vertical format, but the amount of damage it shows is incredible.

Watching the video, you keep thinking that there can't be more, but it seems to go on and on forever. Last night there was a CNN piece with the following quote:

"I would say 75% of the town is virtually gone," said Kathy Dennis of the American Red Cross."

Which sounded a little hyperbolic to me since she might have been reporting that from the scene and didn't have the perspective the rest of us have from a distance. After all, Joplin isn't a tiny rural town but rather a medium-sized regional city of 50k with a metro population of 174k. One tornado can't do all that damage, can it?

After watching the vid I'm not so sure she was off the mark by much.

Added: Video below the fold

Update: The Weather Channel has stopped the on-site livestream for the evening. Too dark to really show anything.

Original Post:

There's been another tornado outbreak like the big one in Alabama last month. But just a short time ago Joplin, MO got creamed by what looks to be a mile-wide tornado. Entire neighborhoods are flattened and a hospital was damaged so badly that the patients had to be evacuated to another hospital.

Many deaths occurred with this storm and many victims are likely still burried in the rubble. But it just got dark there making search and rescue much more difficult. To make matters worse there are numerous gas leaks in the area and fires have begun popping up in the mounds of rubble.

The Weather Channel has wall to wall coverage plus are livestreaming from near the hospital that got hit. Here's the link to that

Japser County enforcement (Where Joplin is located) have an online streaming scanner. It's absolute chaos there but they're doing the best they can with what resources are available.

I know other areas got hit today, including Minneapolis and tornadoes are threatening numerous areas even now. So I'll add more to this as I find links.

more...

Posted by: Genghis at 02:54 AM | Comments (52)
Post contains 450 words, total size 3 kb.

This is all the buzz today. Since I'm watching it, I might as well link it.

The two big flubs here are, apparently, a walkback of his previous vow to not raise the debt limit, admitting that plan will not work (at least not without a full default), and sounding very much like someone who doesn't know what the "Right of Return" is. more...

Posted by: Ace at 07:07 PM | Comments (520)
Post contains 145 words, total size 1 kb.