Patterico's Pontifications

3/13/2010

Under the Bus, Vol. XXXII

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 11:15 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Former Social Secretary Desirée Rogers is astounded the Obama Administration threw her under the bus:

“For Ms. Rogers, associates said the episode proved a searing experience that has soured her on Washington. She believes she was left largely undefended by the White House, by her colleagues, including Mr. Axelrod, Robert Gibbs and even her close friend, Valerie Jarrett. And while she is unwilling to discuss her story publicly, several associates shared her account in the belief that her side has been lost in the swirl of hearings, backbiting and paparazzilike coverage.

“As she put it, ‘They never lifted a finger to help me set the record straight,’ ” said one of the associates, who insisted on not being identified to avoid alienating the White House. “She didn’t get any help from Gibbs, no help from Axelrod, no help from Valerie Jarrett. Nobody came to her defense.”

White House officials who asked not to be named rejected that, pointing to instances where Mr. Gibbs and the others publicly defended her, even if it was not as vigorously as she may have wanted.”

Among Ms. Rogers’ few non-anonymous public defenders were former Bush and Clinton Administration social secretaries and a Republican Congressman, but not the Obamas:

“In interviews afterward, both the president and first lady praised the State Dinner, with Mrs. Obama calling it “an outstanding success” and dismissing the gate crashers as “a footnote.” But she and Mr. Obama bypassed opportunities to defend Ms. Rogers. “I was unhappy with everybody who was involved in the process,” the president said. “It was a screw-up.”

She forgot Obama’s First Rule: Don’t ever make the boss look bad.

— DRJ

How Quaint

Filed under: Politics — DRJ @ 10:58 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Moe Lane explains the difference between the Tea Party and the Coffee Party.

— DRJ

Spring Forward 2010

Filed under: General — DRJ @ 9:58 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

It’s Daylight Savings Time again. Don’t forget to spring forward at 2:00 A.M. Sunday, except for those in Hawaii, most of Arizona, and a few others. Still confused? The U.S. Naval Observatory has the official time.

— DRJ

Fossil Fuels vs Future Fuels

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 9:44 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The Obama Administration doesn’t like fossil fuels:

“Our secretary of energy pushes bio-refineries and windmills to oil executives at an energy conference as the administration announces a three-year offshore drilling ban. This is a policy for economic suicide.

They don’t qualify as an official group of victims, but carbon-Americans, as they have been called, did not have much to cheer about last week, when Energy Secretary Steven Chu addressed CERAWeek 2010, a premier industry conference hosted by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

With an economy struggling to regain sound footing, Chu advocated a starvation diet devoid of additional fossil fuels that are to remain under the ground and seabed. Instead, he supports 53% more funding for wind research and a 22% jump for solar research.

Subsidizing alternative energy fits the classic definition of insanity. Despite huge subsidies, it has proved to be neither cost-effective nor a reliable, significant contributor to our national power grid. Yet we keep subsidizing it, expecting a different result.”

The Obama Administration and its Energy Department want to halt domestic offshore drilling even though the Energy Secretary acknowledges oil’s value:

“Oil is an ideal transportation fuel, so it will be with us for decades,” Chu conceded, even as the administration forbids us from getting more of it here, creating energy jobs, lowering energy costs and cutting our trade deficit. Instead we’ll rely increasingly on foreign and often unfriendly suppliers.”

First Obama pledged to bankrupt coal plants and now he wants to end the age of oil. I hope America has as much hot air from its wind and solar farms as we have in Washington.

— DRJ

Democrats “Soften” Transparency Pledge

Filed under: Health Care — DRJ @ 7:50 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The media has a new word for when Democrats break a promise — they’re just “softening their pledge:”

House Democrats appear to be softening their pledge to allow the public 72 hours to review the health care reform package online before a House vote. “We will certainly give as much notice as possible, but I’m not going to say that 72 hours is going to be the litmus test,” said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer on Friday.

“The House bill or Senate bill, as proposed, has been online for some two-and-a-half months, otherwise known about 75 days,” Hoyer added, referring to the November and December dates each chamber passed its version of health care legislation.

But Democrats could vote as soon as next week on a series of changes to the health care package – called a reconciliation bill – and the number two House Republican criticized Hoyer directly on House floor.

“I’m a little bit taken aback that now that 72-hour rule has been completely cast aside, since nobody in the House has seen what’s in the reconciliation bill,” said Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised earlier this year Democrats would make the final health care bill public at least three days before voting.”

I guess Speaker Pelosi meant it when she said: “But we have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what is in it.”

— DRJ

The Pros and Cons of Salt

Filed under: Government — DRJ @ 7:29 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

New York leaders are becoming increasingly consumed by salt:

“Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled the National Salt Reduction Initiative, a set of “voluntary” guidelines to cut the amount of sodium in processed and restaurant foods by 20 percent over the next five years. At a press conference, Bloomberg said, “We’re trying to extend the lives and improve the lives of people who live in this city.”
***
Though the guidelines are officially voluntary, they may not stay that way. “If there’s not progress in a few years, we’ll have to consider other options, like legislation,” the city’s former health commissioner, Thomas R. Frieden, said.

Some lawmakers already are. On March 5, New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, D-Brooklyn, introduced legislation that would “prohibit restaurants from using salt when preparing customers’ meals.” A restaurant would be fined $1,000 each time a chef cooked with salt.

This is the latest case of salt hysteria. In 1976, the president of Tufts University said salt was “the most dangerous food additive of all.” According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), salt is “perhaps the deadliest ingredient in the food supply.” Bloomberg recently compared salt to asbestos.”

There’s just one little problem:

“That’s the problem with this non-problem: There’s no conclusive proof that salt is bad for you, or that eating less of it is good for you. In 1988, a massive intrapopulation study involving 7,300 Scottish men showed that sodium had no effect on blood pressure. A 10-year follow-up to the Scottish Heart Health Survey found no connection between salt intake and health outcomes, suggesting that salt is irrelevant to the Grim Reaper.

Scots, despite 13th-century English accusations to the contrary, are no different than other humans. Italians consume almost 11 grams of salt per day, and yet they rank among the world’s best in cardiovascular health. In 1999, an analysis of the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial database, 14 years in the making, revealed there to be “no relationship observed between dietary sodium and mortality.”

There is, however, evidence that salt acts as an antidepressant, which would explain why couch potatoes are so happy sitting around and eating Doritos.”

One American study found similar results but other studies note salt can be dangerous for some high-risk individuals.

— DRJ

Obama’s Priorities

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 6:27 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

How many issues has Barack Obama called his top, highest, or first priority? A lot:

(more…)


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