Category: Points of Information

Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.

The death panels of Obamacare

11:05 am

Repeal the damn bill! The death panel that is part of Obamacare.

The board would cap the total amount of money Medicare recipients could get for care. Roe, a practicing doctor before he entered politics, said that means health care decisions will end up being based solely on cost, instead of what the best possible option is for Medicare patients. . . . Congress can recommend different spending amounts, but has to offset any increase in one area with a decrease in another. If Congress doesn’t change anything in the board’s “recommendations” for how much money should be spent per Medicare recipient, their recommendations become law – even without congressional approval or the president’s signature.

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Lockheed Martin unveils Orion spacecraft and test center

10:42 am

The program-formerly-called-Constellation moves forward: Lockheed Martin yesterday unveiled the Orion spacecraft and the test center to be used to prepare it for space.

Though this press announcement was actually intended to encourage Congress to continue funding, it also illustrated how this portion at least of Constellation had made significant progress before it was undercut by both Obama and Congress.

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Lockstep Liberalism

10:19 pm

Lockstep liberalism. Key quote:

First was the hostility. People were really tearing into me and one common accusation was that I was a conservative troll. In fact, many suggested that I’d pretended to be liberal – like I was in a sleeper cell. These sort of accusations are a common argument.

The other shock was a really antipathy to facts. I mean, actual facts – like John Edwards was caught by reporters who saw him firsthand. My critics did all sorts of backflips to get around this; the reporters were lying, the Enquirer can’t be trusted, they are going after Edwards because of his stance on poverty and so on. I pointed out that while the Enquirer will stretch the truth, it seemed highly unlikely they would outright lie about seeing Edwards firsthand – especially since he was a successful attorney – and that tellingly, Edwards hadn’t denied the facts. I made phone calls to the Beverly Hills police to confirm facts…and still the mob on DailyKos went ballistic.

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The situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant continues to stabilize

3:18 pm

Here’s some good news: The situation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant continues to stabilize.

The article has a lot to say about the panicky overreaction of much of the press and political class over this incident. For example:

In summary it appears more and more that health consequences from reactor damage will be extremely minimal even for workers at the site. It will now be a surprise if anyone who has not been inside the plant gates this week is affected by the situation at at all – apart from all the people worldwide who have been taking iodide pills or eating salt unnecessarily. There may also be measurable psychological health effects from the global media-driven hysteria surrounding the situation, of course.

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A profile of the man who threatened the Altmans

1:39 pm

A look at the “progressive” who threatened the Altmans for doing such a thorough job of covering the events in Wisconsin. Key quote:

Apart from his nasty rant, if Shankman, a self-defined “radical progressive” reminded me of anyone, it was Peggy Joseph, who, after hearing Obama speak in October of 2008 said, “I won’t have to work, I’ll put gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage.”

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