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Daily Reads

Bredesen Floated for HHS, Sparks Left Backlash

Politics
February 7, 2009 – 12:14 am

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is a fairly moderate policy-minded replacement for the lightning rod Tom Daschle. But groups already lash out from the left, criticizing his 2005 decision to cut about 170k from TN’s Medicaid program and the fact that health insurers donated $150k+ to the renovation of his mansion.

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NRDC: Do As We Say, Not As We Sue

Edge
February 7, 2009 – 12:12 am

If you’ve been following the lead/phthalate testing mess, Congress mandated that all products for children be lead and phthalate free. Then they forgot to make it remotely financially possible for everyone from ma-and-pa shops to small businesses to megacorps to comply. Catching the NRDC in the middle of this? Priceless.

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Experts on StimPack: Worth its Weight in Confetti

Market
February 7, 2009 – 12:10 am

It’s not the spending, it’s not the tax cuts - it’s the spending AND the tax cuts. Following on his controversial WSJ piece, Harvard Professor Robert Barro sits down for an interview and describes how the Stimulus Package won’t solve our problems.

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Swiss Re, World’s Largest Reinsurer, Takes Record Hit, Bottom Not in Sight

Market
February 6, 2009 – 10:37 am

“Reinsurance” is an arcane concept, though it supports almost every financial transaction in the world. You see where this is going. After a $2.6bn injection of Buffet money, the company’s stock dropped 28%. Why this should scare you: This means even insurers and others thought immune to the downturn are in a world of hurt.

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Surprise: Stimulus Stuffed with Pork, Kickbacks

Politics
February 6, 2009 – 12:52 am

ProPublica drills down the ridiculousness of stimulating the economy through billions in transit money and millions for people who don’t even live in the United States. But don’t worry, no earmarks in this one.

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The Moral Hazard of Michael Phelps

Edge
February 6, 2009 – 12:37 am

Phelps, now suspended for three months by USA Swimming, is a poster child for the problems of celebrity in the modern age, and an example of how some antics are more than just entertainment, but a lesson for those who look up to him.

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Wilkinson: Americans Captive in Their Homes

Market
February 6, 2009 – 12:34 am

The law of unanticipated consequences: By pushing home-ownership to historic highs among those who by all rights could not afford them, federal housing policy now forces many jobless Americans to stay put, when they otherwise would move to find new work.

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Behold the Power of a Fully Operational Press Secretary

Politics
February 6, 2009 – 12:27 am

It’s hard to get the full flavor of this without the video (don’t worry, it’s on YouTube), but check this out to see how Jake Tapper abuses the Poor Man’s Scott McClellan, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

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And the Sun Rises in the West: UN Admits It Was Wrong on Gaza Shelling

News
February 6, 2009 – 12:26 am

Sure, it took a month, and didn’t get quite the front-page treatment that the original allegation did, but the UN has finally conceded that Israel did not, in fact, shell the UNRWA school in Gaza. So, to recap: Israel unjustly accused of war crimes, the world shrugs.

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Federal Judge Releases Evidence List in Bonds Perjury Trial

February 6, 2009 – 12:25 am

Cue the baseball beat writers lamenting the damage done to the sport. Failed drug test results, witness lists, and transcripts of doping trainers are among the highlights of the government’s case. With a pending motion to suppress, some of it might never see a trial, but is there anything in this we didn’t already know?

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- November 21, 2009 -

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