Code Red Rally March 20th Washington, D.C. - Kill the ObamaCare Monstrosity!

From Bosch Fawstin, "DEMON PASS":

Also, at American Grassroots Coalition, "Press Release ~ CODE RED Rally March 20th Washington, D.C.":

WASHINGTON, DC (March 18, 2010) – The past two weeks has seen the “Take The Town Halls To Washington” initiative get nearly 1,000 people to DC to meet with approximately 30 Congressman. The event culminated in the rally at Taft Park near the Capitol which was sponsored by Tea Party Express. Over 1,500 people assembled to rally against the healthcare bill and then meet with their representatives. While the Capitol Police diverted the stage and sound for the park rally, grass roots activists innovated and used a park bench and bull horn to get their message to the attendees!

With the critical nature of a looming Congressional decision, a broad coalition of Tea Party organizations and leadership is launching the final push before a possible vote by the House. These events are being coordinated across the US and are aimed at communicating the frustration of the people while demanding the termination of this health bill legislation. While the DNC and the administration continue to obfuscate and confuse, this coalition is focused on getting activists involved prior to Pelosi’s maneuvering.

RTWT at the link, c/o Nice Deb.

More Desperation: Leftists Exploit Parkinson's Patients for ObamaCare!

Digby props up the Parkinson's plant from last weekend's duel protests at Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy's office. See, "More Sickening Behavior" (via Memeorandum).

For added effect, Digby posts the new video from "Bob," our Parkinson's plant covered earlier. The man's full name is Robert A. Letcher, and he's got a write-up at Columbus Dispatch, "Parkinson's Patient Gains National Attention from Health-Care Rally Confrontation." There's some inconvenient truth here for the leftists, since Letcher's healthcare is funded:

Letcher, a Steubenville native, said he has helped design nuclear-power plants, worked as a community organizer and taught at the college level. He has been politically active most of his adult life, usually on the "progressive-leftist" side.

He went on disability five years ago. Letcher is insured through the tax-funded Medicaid program but wants others to have health insurance, too.

It's too bad that Professor Letcher's ill-informed on health policy. His home state of Ohio has one of the most extensive system of health clinics in the country (now helping fund his coverage) and the state has a universal health initiative that will provide insurance for all citizens by 2011. Folks aren't being denied coverage in Ohio. In fact, folks like Bob will be better off under their existing state and federal programs, for once ObamaCare kicks in he'll be a prime candidate for the death panels. No matter. Leftists don't care about patients. They care about totalitarian power.

Bob's a "progressive," of course, like Digby and her socialist allies, which means he can't think for himself. He's got to line up behind the crypto-Marxists now taking over the country. Indeed, even Representative Kilroy's exploiting old Bob to help ram down this unpopular monstrosity. And it's no wonder: She'll need all the sob stories she can get, considering this kind of opposition in her district:

BONUS: From Right Ohio, "OH-15: Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Also, Mary Jo Kilroy Defended an IRA Domestic Terrorist."

November is Coming

Via Instapundit:

Also, a The Corner, "It's Now or Never":

If you want to make your voice heard on the health-care bill before the House votes on Sunday, you’d better do so quickly. To make things easier for you, here, organized in alphabetical order by state, are the 40 key Democratic members of Congress whom Jeff Anderson and Andy Wickersham identified in a Critical Condition post last week, together with their direct Capitol Hill office phone numbers. (I haven’t kept track of all the developments since then, but it would be useful to congratulate or berate your member, as you see fit, if he or she has firmly adopted a position.) ...

Go to the post for the list of names and numbers.

See also, Charlie Martin, "Members of Congress Pressured from All Sides in Final Hours Before Health Care Vote."

BONUS: Via Daley Gator, at ResistNet, "Saturday DC Protest Rally....ObamaCare."

RELATED: At Big Government, "The Heat is On: Congressman's Office Says Constituent Calls Are ‘Harassment’" (via Memeorandum).

Obama's War on Israel

From Caroline Glick, "Obama's War on Israel":

Why has President Barak Obama decided to foment a crisis in US relations with Israel?

Some commentators have claimed that it is Israel’s fault. As they tell it, the news that Israel has not banned Jewish construction in Jerusalem – after repeatedly refusing to ban such construction – drove Obama into a fit of uncontrolled rage from which he has yet to recover.

While popular, this claim makes no sense. Obama didn’t come to be called “No drama Obama” for nothing. It is not credible to argue that Jerusalem’s local planning board’s decision to approve the construction of 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo drove cool Obama into a fit of wild rage at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Obama himself claims that he has launched a political war against Israel in the interest of promoting peace. But this claim, too, does not stand up to scrutiny.

On Friday, Obama ordered Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to present Netanyahu with a four-part ultimatum.

First, Israel must cancel the approval of the housing units in Ramat Shlomo.

Second, Israel must prohibit all construction for Jews in Jerusalem neighborhoods built since 1967.

Third, Israel must make a gesture to the Palestinians to show them we want peace. The US suggests releasing hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons.

Fourth, Israel must agree to negotiate all substantive issues, including the partition of Jerusalem (including the Jewish neighborhoods constructed since 1967 that are now home to more than a half million Israelis) and the immigration of millions of hostile foreign Arabs to Israel under the rubric of the so-called “right of return,” in the course of indirect, Obama administration-mediated negotiations with the Palestinians. To date, Israel has maintained that substantive discussions can only be conducted in direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian officials.

If Israel does not accept all four US demands, then the Obama administration will boycott Netanyahu and his senior ministers. In the first instance, this means that if Netanyahu comes to Washington next week for the AIPAC conference, no senior administration official will meet with him.

Obama’s ultimatum makes clear that mediating peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not a goal he is interested in achieving.

Obama’s new demands follow the months of American pressure that eventually coerced Netanyahu into announcing both his support for a Palestinian state and a 10-month ban on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria. No previous Israeli government had ever been asked to make the latter concession.

Netanyahu was led to believe that in return for these concessions Obama would begin behaving like the credible mediator his predecessors were. But instead of acting like his predecessors, Obama has behaved like the Palestinians. Rather than reward Netanyahu for taking a risk for peace, Obama has, in the model of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, pocketed Netanyahu’s concessions and escalated his demands. This is not the behavior of a mediator. This is the behavior of an adversary.

With the US president treating Israel like an enemy, the Palestinians have no reason to agree to sit down and negotiate. Indeed, they have no choice but to declare war.

More at the link.

RELATED: At NYT, "Gaza Rocket Attack Into Israel Kills a Thai Worker."

GRAPHIC VIDEO (at 2:00 minutes): Islamization Watch.

The Deem-o-Crats

From Michelle, "The Deem-o-crats’ Towering Deception":

If you cannot trust government’s numbers, you cannot trust government’s words. This is the lesson of the House Democrats’ desperate promotion of a phony-baloney, Congressional Budget Office analysis of their latest health care takeover package.

Democrat leaders leaked a solid-seeming price tag figure — $940 billion over 10 years – before the CBO released any official comment or report. Liberal blogs and mainstream news wires started parroting Democrat claims that their plan “would cut the deficit by $130 billion over the next decade, and $1.2 trillion in the second decade of the plan’s implementation” – again, before the CBO had released an iota of information. And hours before the House Rules Committee posted the long-awaited reconciliation bill.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn pronounced himself “giddy” over the supposed CBO scoring. Math-lover House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proclaimed: “I love numbers. They’re so precise.”

But “precise” does not mean “accurate.” And the most “precise” numbers can be utterly worthless. Which is basically what the CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf pointed out in his summary of the unofficial, preliminary analysis of Demcare ....

Mathematical corruption is ideological corruption. The health care battle – and the battle over truth in government accounting – is not just about health care. It’s about the lies and damned lies that will be used to ram through cap-and-trade, illegal alien amnesty, and endless more bailouts. As Pelosi vowed last week, “Kick open that door, and there will be other legislation to follow. We’ll take the country in a new direction.” Yep: Straight to a red-ink-stained hell in a handbasket.

Cartoon Credit: William Warren, at Get Liberty (c/o Don Surber).

Health-Care Debacle in the House

At WSJ, "March Madness: Scenes From a Devolution as Democrats Writhe Toward 216 Votes":

Has there ever been a political spectacle like the final throes of ObamaCare? We can't recall one outside of a banana republic, or, more accurately, Woody Allen's 1971 classic "Bananas." Capitol Hill resembles nothing so much as that movie's farcical coup d'etat in San Marcos as Democrats try to assemble the partisan minimum of 216 House votes—if only for an hour or so at some point on Sunday—and no bribe is too costly, no deal too cynical, no last-minute rewrite too blatant ....

***
Even the political panic over the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program, amid an incipient financial collapse and a Presidential election, looks like regular order compared to this ObamaCare mayhem. That the White House and Mrs. Pelosi are still running into such resistance after a year of pleading reveals what an historic blunder ObamaCare really is.

This is what happens when a willful President and his party try to govern America from the ideological left, imposing a reckless expansion of the entitlement state that most Americans, and even dozens of Democrats in Congress, clearly despise.

See also, Janice Shaw Crouse, "ObamaCare is Tyranny, Not Legislation."

Image Credit: Americans for Prosperity, "Democracy Denied: The Obama Chart," c/o The Other McCain, "The Bigger Picture" and Washington Rebel, "Commissariat of the Elite."

House Dems Announce $940 Billion Health-Care Bill

At the Washington Post, "House Leaders Announce $940 Billion Health-Care Compromise Bill":

Pushing toward a Sunday vote that could transform the nation's health-insurance system, House leaders announced a $940 billion compromise Thursday that would extend coverage to the vast majority of Americans, cut billions of dollars from Medicare, and impose new taxes on the wealthy and the well-insured.

The proposal, a rewrite of a slightly narrower health-care bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve, would also significantly expand the federal student loan program, offering President Obama the prospect of victory on two of his most important domestic initiatives after a year of legislative stalemate. The stakes are so high and the outcome so uncertain that Obama canceled a trip to Indonesia and Australia to continue lobbying undecided lawmakers with phone calls and invitations to White House meetings.

"Our international alliances are critical to America's security and economic progress," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "But passage of health-insurance reform is of paramount importance, and the president is determined to see this battle through."

House Democratic leaders hope to approve the Senate bill along with a separate 153-page package of revisions to that bill that House members are demanding. The compromise would extend coverage to an additional 32 million Americans over the next decade by expanding Medicaid eligibility and creating state-run insurance exchanges and federal subsidies for lower-income families who lack access to employer-provided coverage.

Tonight's "Talking Points Memo" predicts passage of the legislation this Sunday, and mentiond at the clip are the latest healthcare findings from Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, "Fox News Poll: 55% Oppose Health Care Reform" (via Memeorandum):

As Americans wait for Congress to act on health care, a Fox News poll released Thursday finds 55 percent oppose the reforms being considered, while 35 percent favor them.

In addition, just over half of voters think House Democrats are “changing the rules” to get their bill passed.

About a third of voters (31 percent) think House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are “playing by the rules” to get health care through, while 53 percent think they are “changing the rules.” Looking at the results by political party, 53 percent of Democrats think their party is playing by the rules, about one in four think they are changing the rules (27 percent) and the rest are unsure (19 percent). Varying majorities of Republicans (78 percent) and independents (57 percent) think House Democrats are changing the rules to pass the bill.

The level of public support for the health care overhaul has remained fairly steady since last July -- 35 percent favor it now and 36 percent favored it last summer. The number opposed -- 55 percent -- is up from 51 percent in January, and from 47 percent last July. Opposition hit a high of 57 percent in December.

Among partisans, the president’s party faithful are alone in supporting the proposed reforms. Sixty-six percent of Democrats favor them, while 53 percent of independents and 88 percent of Republicans oppose them.

Catholics Split on ObamaCare

At Fox News, "Holy War Erupts Among Catholics Over Abortion Language in Health Care Bill":

The abortion language in President Obama's health care reform bill has ignited something of a holy war among Catholics, who are sharply divided on whether the legislation would allow the government to subsidize the termination of pregnancies.

While groups representing Catholic hospitals and liberal nuns have come out in support of the bill in recent days, other groups representing Catholic bishops and other nuns have denounced it, saying the bill contains restrictions on abortion funding that don't go far enough.

The White House has touted the support of a group of liberal Catholic nuns in an effort to win over conservative House Democrats who believe the final health care bill they will vote on contains restrictions on abortion funding that they and Catholic bishops say don't go far enough.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who has led the charge to include in the final bill the tougher anti-abortion language passed last November by the House, derided the White House for touting the nuns' support.

"When I'm drafting right-to-life language, I don't call up nuns," he said. Instead, he said he confers with other groups, including "leading bishops, Focus on the Family, and The National Right to Life Committee."

See also LAT, "Nuns in U.S. Back Healthcare Bill despite Catholic Bishops' Opposition":

Their numbers and influence may be declining, but American nuns demonstrated Wednesday what generations of schoolchildren already knew: They are a force to be reckoned with.

By sending a letter to Congress in support of the Senate healthcare bill, a wide coalition of nuns took sides against not only the Republican minority but against their own church hierarchy, as represented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which opposes the bill. The nuns' letter contributed to the momentum in favor of the legislation, despite opposition that is partially rooted in a disagreement over abortion funding.

"We agree that there shouldn't be any federal funding of abortion," said Sister Simone Campbell, the executive director of Network, a national Catholic social justice advocacy organization that spearheaded the effort. "From our reading of the bill, there isn't any federal funding of abortion."

Moreover, she said, the reverence for life that underpins Catholic opposition to abortion also argues for passage of healthcare reform.

"For us, first of all, tens of thousands of people are dying each year because they don't have access to healthcare, so that is a life issue," said Campbell, who is affiliated with an Encino-based order, the Sisters of Social Service.

She said Network, which has long supported healthcare reform, drafted the letter within hours of hearing that the Catholic Health Assn., which represents about 600 hospitals, had come out in favor of the bill last week. The letter was signed by the leaders of more than 50 Catholic women's orders and organizations, including the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which says it represents more than 90% of the 59,000 American Catholic nuns.

More news at Memeorandum.

Regime Change Cuba!

Via Fausta, from Val Prieto, "PUT YOUR FREEDOM TO WORK"

I’m not going to sugarcoat or editorialize or plead or try to tug at your heartstrings today. Enough has been said and written about the the Black Spring Crackdown of 2003 and there is plenty of evidence out there to serve as absolute proof of what I am about to shove down your throat:

THERE ARE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN CUBA.
THERE ARE NO CIVIL LIBERTIES IN CUBA.
THERE ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA.
THERE ARE PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN CUBA.
THESE PRISONERS, AND THOSE WHO SUPPORT THEIR CAUSE, ARE SUBJECTED TO UNIMAGINABLE BRUTALITY AND INHUMANITY AND REPRESSION.

And you know what? You are an accomplice to the above. Yeah, that’s right. I said you are complicit in the violations of human rights and the torture of human beings.

Because you are.

More here.

Also, Marc Masferrer, "March 18, 2010 — 7 Years After the Cuban 'Black Spring'."

See also, "The Plight of Cuba's Hunger Strikers":

Today marks the seventh anniversary of a vicious crackdown on opponents of the Castro regime in Cuba. In the spring of 2003, the news agenda was dominated by the preparations for the US-led invasion of Iraq. In Havana, 90 so-called "agents of the American enemy" were arrested. Among those incarcerated were teachers, doctors, union organisers, journalists, human rights activists and dissidents. Seventy-five of those arrested were tried in circumstances which fell short of international standards. They were given jail sentences ranging from six to 28 years. As bombs fell on Baghdad, few voices were raised in protest at events in Cuba.

The anniversary this year is likely to receive more attention. One of those arrested in 2003, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died last month following an 80-day hunger strike. Another dissident, Guillermo "Coco" Farinas, who began a hunger strike on February 24, is perilously close to death. A third political prisoner, Ariel Sigler Amaya, who has been in prison for 20 years, is in extremely poor health in a Havana hospital and, according to his family, is receiving inadequate treatment ...

More here.

RELATED: Henry Gonzales, at Pajamas Media, "Cuba’s Unknown Dissidents."

When the Whip Comes Down: GOP Plays Hardball on House Dems' ObamaCare Deals

At Fox News, "Coburn: GOP on High Alert for Sweetheart Deals in Health Bill":

Republicans have a message for Democrats considering switching to "yes" on health care reform: We'll be watching you.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., warned Thursday that he and the staff of several other GOP senators will be monitoring with a microscope any potential payoffs to Democrats that materialize down the road in exchange for their vote on the health bill.

"If you think you can cut a deal now and it not come out until after the election, I want to tell you that isn't going to happen," Coburn said at a news conference. "And be prepared to defend selling your vote in the House."

Republicans are playing hardball after several "sweetheart" deals emerged in the Senate-passed health care bill, including the so-called "Cornhusker kickback" -- which would spare Nebraska certain Medicaid costs.

That provision was stripped in a package of changes introduced Thursday, but Coburn suggested Democrats might try to avoid the appearance of a quid pro quo -- giving something in return for votes -- by arranging for juicy payoffs down the road, like a federal appointment or local project.

Video c/o Pundit & Pundette.

Plus, at Michelle's, "The House Vote on the Slaughter Solution" (via Memeorandum). And, Jim Geraghty, "Punish These Fools."

Anarchist-Vegan World in a Cream Over Pie Attack!

At Zombie's, "Anarcho-Left Meltdown as Radical Infighting Turns Violent":

Like starving wolverines in a canvas sack, they tear at each other until there’s nothing left but shredded fur.

That’s essentially what’s happening on the West Coast anarchist scene, as far-far-far-far-left radicals have taken to assaulting the merely far-far-far-left radicals for being insufficiently revolutionary, opening up a huge rift in a political milieu that is now hemorrhaging adherents as we speak.

It all came to a head at this weekend’s Anarchist Bookfair in San Francisco, an annual convention of left-leaning anarchists and anti-civilization activists (which I covered extensively in previous years). One of the invited speakers was Lierre Kieth, a 45-year-old anarchist who spent decades on the cutting edge of environmental extremism, but who recently wrote a book explaining why she abandoned her once strict vegan diet after realizing that it probably wasn’t going to save the Earth after all. She’s still a committed anarchist, mind you, who “believes in militant action, even property destruction, if it can lead to change,” and who wants an end to all mass-production of food (i.e. agribusiness and factory farming), with the goal of restoring the Earth to its pristine pre-civilizational state if possible. Oh, but you see, that’s not radical enough for many of the deranged San Francisco Black Bloc anarchists, who somehow got it into their heads that she was a traitor to the cause and a puppet of the meat industry because she abandoned her vegan diet ...

More at the link.

Those were chili-pepper pies, so not too sweet actually. More at SF Gate:

Many people defended Keith - or at least her right not to be attacked. Others said she was dishonest and abusive to vegans and should not have been invited by the event organizer, San Francisco's Bound Together bookstore.

I've covered some infighting on the left recently, with the dissent among the anarcho-communist "Occupy" cadres (recall the debate over the "White Student Movement," which is a pretty common repudiation heard on the far, far left ...).

Today's Democrats

From Mike Lester, at the Rome News-Tribune:

More cartoons at Reaganite Republican, Theo Spark's, and Wordsmith.

And keep up with today's political news with Sir Smitty.

Planned Parenthood Pamphlet, 1952 - Abortion 'Kills the Life of a Baby'

The abortion industry's "inconvenient truth," at Live Action, "Planned Parenthood in 1952: Abortion 'Kills the Life of a Baby'":

Hat Tip: Kathy Shaidle.

Desperate: Leftists Use Alleged Parkinson's 'Victim' to Smear Tea Partiers

Notice that headline at the video, from AlterNet, "Tea Partiers Mock and Scorn Apparent Parkinson's Victim."

The full clip was originally posted at Columbus Dispatch, The full story is here, "Supporters, Opponents of Health-Care Bill Square Off Outside Kilroy's Office."

Safe bet says this "Parkinson's Victim" is a well-placed plant, plopped down into the center of the protest to stoke outrage on the left, precisely as the ObamaCare monstrosity's going down. Look at the guy: Are those tremors? How about cognitive dysfunction? Can't really discern physical or cognitive impairment from the clip, so perhaps he's got mild symptoms. No matter. I seriously doubt a genuinely debilitated Parkinson's sufferer would subject himself to such indignity. The dude's a punk prankster. And for what? Shovel-ready ObamaCare. God, that's just awful. I mean, seriously, there's nothing more disgusting than putting someone up for such utter desperation. You've got SEIU thugs at the event (see the full viddy), so it's no surprise. They'd beat your grandmother to establish death panels:

Fortunately a few tea partiers gave this planted "victim" a few dollars. He can sock the cash away for when his medical premiums go up under ObamaCare.

All kinds of outrage at Memeorandum.

'Fix the Schools' @ Reason.tv

Nick Gillespie and Co. are putting on some really good programs. Note the comments of Lyman Millard of the Citizens' Academy, at about 7:05 minutes: "We're trying to save children's lives here."

I've been thinking so much about this, as I see more and more kids with deep, even crushing, educational needs at my college. Things have not been getting better, and I've been teaching at LBCC for ten years. Robert Stacy McCain, in response to my recent piece on school reform, wrote an essay at Hot Air: "The Failure of School Reform." It's powerful. The happy medium for me is somewhere (somehow) between the kind of caring and autonomy at the charter schools and the fundamental attention to students (that only parents can give) discussed at Stacy's essay. Not all families can homeschool their kids. But we as a society have to find a way to break the organized labor/ big union indifference to the needs of today's youth. Remember my entry on Providence St. Mel as well, "'The Providence Effect': Astonishing Educational Achievement, 'The Way It Should Be Done'.'

President Obama's Interview with Bret Baier

I watched it. President Obama refused to discuss process, which by now has infuriated the American public.

The video's at Mediaite, "Bret Baier Keeps Pres. Obama On Track In Combative Fox News Exclusive Interview."

The transcript is here.

Plus, at Fox, "Obama: 'Procedural' Spat Over Health Bill Vote Doesn't Worry Me." And, lots of commentary at Memeorandum, but see NewsReal, "Obama Dodges Every Single Question During FOX Interview with Bret Baier," and especially Doug Ross, "Where's TOTUS when you need him? Baier shreds President Obama on Government-run Health Care and the Shady Deals Used to Buy Off Democrats":

President Obama did some of his best fibbing ever, which is really saying something. Bill Clinton and Dick Nixon look like rank amateurs compared to #44.

Paul Krugman, Neocon?

Not exactly a blog headline I ever expected to see, from Daniel Drezner, "Paul Krugman, Neoconservative":

So I see Paul Krugman has thrown his lot in with the neoconservatives who disdain multilateral institutions and prefer bellicose unilateralism when they confront a frustrating international situation.

His op-ed today is about China's currency manipulation. ... again. After explaining that China has less leverage than is commonly understood on the foreign economic policy front (gee, where have I heard that before), he closes with the following:

In 1971 the United States dealt with a similar but much less severe problem of foreign undervaluation by imposing a temporary 10 percent surcharge on imports, which was removed a few months later after Germany, Japan and other nations raised the dollar value of their currencies. At this point, it’s hard to see China changing its policies unless faced with the threat of similar action — except that this time the surcharge would have to be much larger, say 25 percent.

Whoa there, big fella!! That's a nice but very selective reading of international economic history you have there.

It's certainly true that the dollar was overvalued back in 1971. What Krugman forgets to mention -- and see if this sounds familiar -- is that the Johnson and Nixon administrations contributed to this problem via a guns-and-butter fiscal policy. They pursued the Vietnam War, approved massive increases in social spending, and refused to raise taxes to pay for it. This macroeconomic policy created inflationary expectations and a "dollar glut." Foreign exchange markets to expect the dollar to depreciate over time. Other countries intervened to maintain the dollar's value -- not because they wanted to, but because they were complying with the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates. Nixon only went off the dollar after the British Treasury came to the U.S. and wanted to convert all their dollar holdings into gold.

In other words, the United States was the rogue economic actor in 1971 -- not Japan or Germany.

So, how about acting multilaterally first before engaging in unilateral action that alienates America's friends and allies alike? ...

There's more ... a wonkish post, but interesting.

If you follow Drezne's links to Krugman's NYT essay, it turns out they both agree that it's China that has the most to lose in a currency war with the U.S. (Compare to Drezner's academic article, which I wrote about here when it was published, "Bad Debts: Assessing China’s Financial Infuence in Great Power Politics.") Other than that, actually, I'm more with Krugman on the unilateral/multilateral divide thing, but I doubt we have anything else in common, LOL!

That said, I wonder of my neocon protege GSGF will enter the fray?

And in related neocon news, see Robert Kaplan, "Allies Everywhere Feeling Snubbed by President Obama" (via Memeorandum).

Yes! - Walmart Fires Workplace Stoner for Medical Marijuana on the Job!

Hooray for Walmart, sticking up for principle.

From ABC News, "Walmart Fires Cancer Patient with Prescription for Medical Marijuana: Man Who Earned Associate of the Year Honors Fired by Employer Even Though Medical Marijuana Legal":

Even though Michigan resident Joseph Casias had a prescription from his doctor for medical marijuana, he was fired after a positive test for the substance by his employer, Walmart.

The news last November he'd been terminated was devastating for Casias, 29, who took great pride in his job, once earning the honor of Associate of the Year.

"It hurts. It hurts because I care. I care a lot about the store. I always wanted to make sure I do well," he told ABC News.

Casias started taking the medicine last June to cope with pain from sinus cancer and a brain tumor. He says the rare form of cancer causes him pain constantly and he almost died when he was first diagnosed.

Casias sprained his knee at work last November and underwent the routine drug test that follows all workplace injuries. Questioned about his positive test, Casias told management about his condition and presented a state card authorizing his marijuana use for medical purposes, but he was fired anyway. Casias says management told him Walmart does not honor medical marijuana cards.

"I just can't believe that it has to be this way. I don't see why they have to fire me," he said.

Michigan is one of 14 states where medical marijuana is legal, but employers in the Wolverine state can and do terminate employees who fail drug tests. Walmart policy, like the policy of other companies, indicates that in states such as Michigan which allow marijuana use for medical purposes, the store can still terminate an employee following a positive drug test. The law in Michigan says employers do not have to accommodate the ingestion of marijuana in the workplace or employees working while under the influence.

Walmart is right.

The issue is workers who are on the job under the influence. But I'm impressed that Walmart's bucking the larger trend toward cultural breakdown and the permissiveness of abuse. Here's hoping we see like outcomes in additional cases like this one.

The House Health-Care Vote and the Constitution

Megyn Kelley's great interview with Judge Michaell McConnell of Stanford Law School:

McConnell's earlier, WSJ commentary piece is here: "The House Health-Care Vote and the Constitution." The bottom line:

According to Article I, Section 7, in order for a "Bill" to "become a Law," it "shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate" and be "presented to the President of the United States" for signature or veto. Unless a bill actually has "passed" both Houses, it cannot be presented to the president and cannot become a law.

Also, we could see a legal challenge. See Mark Tapscott, "Landmark Legal Foundation Readies Constitutional Suit if Obamacare Passes With Slaughter Solution."

RELATED: At ABC News, "House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: 'We're Going to Have a Clean Up or Down Vote': Steny Hoyer, Eric Cantor Spar Over Health Care Vote Count, Parliamentary Tactics" (via Memeorandum).

Christiane Amanpour Would Be Disaster for ABC's 'This Week'

I don't know what's gotten into the execs at ABC News, but they should step back from their expected decision to name Christiane Amanpour as the host of the Sunday flagship broadcast, "This Week."

NYT reports, "ABC and Amanpour Close to Deal for ‘This Week’":

Ms. Amanpour has been discussing the possible move with news colleagues — including some prospective ones from ABC — over the last month. One concern raised by at least one of these contacts has been that she is not primarily known for reporting on Washington or American politics. But one ABC News staff member said that Ms. Amanpour had been convinced that she could make the switch from international to political reporting.

I'm not convinced, and the timing for this would be inauspicious, since the network has been doing well with the move of Diane Sawyer to "World News Tonight" and with George Stephanopoulos to "GMA."

I've been watching the network a lot more lately, and I've been pleasantly surprised, frankly. But I don't trust Amanpour. A leftist and critic of the Iraq war, she's married to Jamie Rubin, who was Assistant Secretary of State in Democrat Bill Clinton's administration.

See, "CNN's Christiane Amanpour: Iraq war 'a disaster': Personal opinion from chief international reporter: 'It just gets worse and worse'."