Grand Bargain?

There is no grand bargain worth having that Obama would ever offer.  Closed door grand bargain negotiations are a mechanism to shift the blame for failure to Republicans.  The House should continue to pass bills and let the Senate Democrats choke on them.  In immigration as well as budgets, the key is to pass bills in the House that seem reasonable and let Harry Reid explain why they don't pass the Senate.  For example, a guest worker program is a natural for Republicans.  However, once such a bill gets to the Senate it will die because the SEIU and the union farm workers don't want a guest worker program to pass.  The Senate would be unlikely to even consider the bill.  How would Senate failure to pass a guest worker bill play with Hispanic voters?  An expansion of H1B visas is another Republican natural that the Democrat's organized labor allies hate.  How would the Senate failure to pass a House expanded H1B visas bill look to Asian voters? 

Corporate Dystopia Unlikely

Kevin Williamson has a great column today about science fiction dystopias that are run by corporations.  As he observes, this is a very unlikely outcome. 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/342621/hey-where-s-my-corporate-dystopia-kevin-d-williamson?pg=2

Fact is that corporations have only been oppressive when they get government help, particularly state guaranteed monopoly power.  The classic examples of this are the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, both of whom became de facto colonial governments with their home county governments’ assistance. 

  

Thankfully, there are a lot of competing science fiction visions that take a much more libertarian bent.  For example, "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson and the LaNague/KYFHO series of stories by F. Paul Wilson are both anti government and fun to boot.  Try them as an antidote to corporate villains. 

NIH Head Can't be a Nanny

It has come to my attention that the National Institutes of Health has funded research to show that the tea party is under the influence of the tobacco lobby.  When asked about this in a Congressional hearing, the head of the NIH gave a really strange response.  Dr. Francis Collins said that the NIH can’t be a “nanny” monitoring the contents of every research paper it funds. 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/342622/tea-tobacco-and-science-brendan-p-foht

Given the intrusiveness of today's government, Dr. Collins' contention that the NIH can't be a nanny to every research topic it funds is ludicrous.  As always, the rules are constantly changing to suit liberal outcomes.  For an example of how much of a nanny government can be when it wants to be, check out George Will's story today on the expulsion of a 7 year old for biting his pop tart into the shape of a gun.  Clearly, liberals have absolutely no shame.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-schools-protecting-us-from-the-pop-tart-terrorist/2013/03/08/6a636fdc-8752-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html

John Kerry Will Never Get My Respect

Every liberal in creation wants me to respect John Kerry for his service in Viet Nam  It ain’t going to happen.  John Kerry is the reason I got spit at during the Viet Nam War for wearing the uniform. His testimony before Congress was that everybody in the military was to blame for the war. He also said that most every US soldier in Viet Nam was a war criminal. Civilian hostility to the military was so bad then, I developed a routine to handle it. Keep in mind I was an Air Force ROTC cadet and then a computer programmer in an air defense unit. Neither was very threatening.  People on campus used to call me a "trained killer." I would respond, "Do you really believe I'm a trained killer?" They would say yes. Then I would ask, "Then why are you pissing me off?" All I can say is thank you, John Kerry. I will never forgive or forget.