Kathleen Parker has the precisely correct reaction to the Michael Phelps flap. Marijuana should be legalized and taxed. It’s costing the society way too much in terms of law enforcement and hypocrisy. Update: Some interesting reactions from early commenters. Sacredh notes that the combination of marijuana and power tools is not advisable, to which I [...]
I figure I should keep offering a suggestion a day until the Obama White House figures this out for themselves. So here’s my Wednesday idea: Divide the two jobs that Tom Daschle was going to have. For HHS Secretary, pick Safeway CEO Steve Burd, who has been one of the boldest advocates for health care [...]
Now that the former Senate Majority Leader has withdrawn his nomination to become Health and Human Services Secretary, speculation in Washington turns to who might take the job–two jobs, actually, if you count the newly created White House post for health care reform. What we know of Barack Obama in situations such as these is [...]
John McCain may be the first American to see money from the stimulus. He sent out to supporters today the below email which asks them to sign a petition against the stimulus on a website hosted by his PAC (conveniently linked to at the bottom of the petition page). Dear Jay, Yesterday, the Senate [...]
Here we go again. A modest proposal: The majority of people really do their best to pay their taxes, though you might not think so if you have been following the news lately. I’d like to suggest something the Obama Administration could do to make it easier for those of us who have household employees. [...]
ABC News uncovers this old campaign spot by Tom Daschle. It’s a great one–considering. Update: I credit ABC above. But I am now informed that it was NBC News who first wrote about this ad in the context of the current controversy. The posting on YouTube done by a mysterious anonymous poster named, wait for [...]
Nancy Killefer, who was nominated as the government’s first chief performance officer, has withdrawn her candidacy for the job. When her selection was announced by President Barack Obama on Jan. 7, The Associated Press disclosed that in 2005 the District of Columbia government had filed a more than $900 tax lien on her home for [...]
Under the current law, you can be hired to advise corporations on how to win favors from Washington without ever registering as a lobbyists. In other words, you can be involved in “lobbying activities” that do not involve “lobbying contacts” and never wear a scarlet “L” on your Brooks Brothers suit. Lots of people have [...]
On Saturday, I wrote a Swampland post about the difference between the Congressional Budget Office score of the House stimulus bill and the original goals for the plan proposed by President Obama’s team. (While Obama had proposed $300 billion in tax cuts, the CBO said the House plan only contained $182 billion in tax cuts.) [...]
On a morning when the New York Times is editorializing that Tom Daschle should step aside, Politico’s Ben Smith and Eamon Javers are reporting yet another potential problem for the HHS nominee: Tom Daschle backed the patron who paid him a million-dollar salary and supplied him with a free car and driver for a job [...]
