On the Low From the Jake in the Taurus

Tryin' to get my hands on some Grants like Horace:

  • I'm ashamed to say I was previously unaware of Richard Fabrizio, managing editor of news for the Portsmouth Herald and Seacoast Sunday. He's a pretty good writer, and shows disturbing libertarian tendencies. Check out his recent musings on his correspondence with Alan Schreiber, director of the Washington Asparagus Commission.
    Schreiber offered further disturbing insight into the mismanagement of our federal government, which is simply too big, too unfocused, tries to solve every problem with little regard for creating others and has no apparent view of the big picture. Schreiber informed me that cocaine and snorting Americans are to blame for twofold American subsidies of asparagus.
    I did not know that. (Via NH Watchdog.)

  • Can the government print money properly? Find out the exciting answer in an article entitled "Government can't print money properly."
    Because of a problem with the presses, the federal government has shut down production of its flashy new $100 bills, and has quarantined more than 1 billion of them -- more than 10 percent of all existing U.S. cash -- in a vault in Fort Worth, Texas, reports CNBC.
    This is supposed to be what we call a core competency. It's right there in Article I, Section 8.

    But I'm sure they'll handle taking over health care just fine.

  • Jim Geraghty observed the Barackrobatics at yesterday's hastily-called news conference. And it wasn't a pretty picture, Emily:
    In his opening statement, Obama talked about how much he wanted to fight on this issue, but then he says he's going to sign it because it's the best possible option under the circumstances. One moment he's insisting that the country can't afford to extend the high-end tax cuts, the next he's dismissing continued opposition on the part of Democrats as "fighting a political fight." He's trying to simultaneously assure Democrats that he didn't sell them out and opposes tax cuts for the wealthy as much as they do, while at the same time, persuade them to vote for a deal that he just said he opposes so much.
    Clive Crook has a similar point.
    Good Lord. One minute, he's reassuring progressives. We are good and they are evil. It's victims and hostage-takers, no less. Just be patient, our time will come, and accounts with the enemy will be settled. Next minute, he's rebuking the same progressives. Spare me your sanctimonious purism. It's un-American. We have good-faith differences of opinion. "This country was founded on compromise."
    It used to be that President Obama would wait a few days before contradicting his previous statements. Now it seems he can't even let a few minutes pass. Where do we go from here?

  • Radley Balko interviews Marshall Chapman. You want to read anything that contains the line "Hugging Dolly Parton is like getting hit by a soft Buick."