1. The Politics of Dopes

2. How John Boehner Might Keep Obamacare Around Forever

3. White House and Congressional Leaders Resort to Fearmongering

4. There Are No Spending Cuts Without Downsizing Government

5. The obvious response to this would be to outlaw the American flag

1. The Politics of Dopes

Here is the way things work in Washington.One group in Congress comes up with a bold plan to save the country. Let’s call it Cut, Cap, and Balance.Everyone else sets out to undermine their plan. Heck, most of the rest of Congress doesn’t have a plan at all — they just want to dump on the group that comes up with the plan.Then, when the group with the plan gets close to a vote and it looks like it is going to pass, the naysayers come out with their own plan. Everyone, leadership included, says nice things about it and they all hope the group with the plan to save the country sees its momentum sucked away.But on occasion the group with the plan succeeds in getting not just a vote, but passage.So the plan goes to the Senate, it doesn’t make it past a filibuster, and all the people who’d been piling on and trying to undermine the group says, “Well, see, you failed. Let’s do our idea now.”Friends, that is how Washington works. That is how Washington has gotten us $14 trillion in debt.See, the fault ultimately lies with the first group. “What?” you say. “But they came up with the plan. How can it be their fault?”Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. How John Boehner Might Keep Obamacare Around Forever

If the New York Times reports tonight are true, John Boehner may just be destroying any chance the Supreme Court would get rid of Obamacare and making it even more likely Obamacare will never be repealed.Talk about negotiating with yourself. If Boehner gets what he wants — and Obama might just give it to him with enough rope to hang himself — the nation really is screwed.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. White House and Congressional Leaders Resort to Fearmongering

If you’ve seen the recent Harry Potter or watched any of a host of exorcism movies, you know that right before the demon dies, he lashes out most brutally and fearfully to try to get you to give up.We’re seeing the demon of out of control government lashing out in spectacular fashion now before House Republicans kill it.In one last spectacular bout, the White House and Congressional leaders are summoning Standards & Poor to Congress to scare the beejezus out of House Republican Freshman. They are bringing in the Grim Reaper to proclaim death if a deal is not reached.House Republicans should first note that S&P did not see the financial crisis come and also note that the White House and Congressional leaders did the exact same thing on TARP.Then House Republicans need to open their eyes, laugh at death, and finish the exorcism.Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. There Are No Spending Cuts Without Downsizing Government

Republicans and conservatives have correctly asserted that the federal government doesn’t have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem. However, a more trenchant summation of our public policy vices would go something like this: we don’t have a spending problem, per se; we have a big government problem.While such a characterization might sound redundant, the Orwellian language used to describe spending cuts throughout the debt ceiling debate exposes a huge bifurcation between “spending cuts” and government reduction. The very same politicians who increased the debt $3.7 trillion in just two and a half years, and have condemned us to a future trajectory of $10 trillion more over the next ten years, are now tossing out spending cut bids to the tune of trillions, as if we were sitting at a Barney Frank foreclosure auction. Obama and the Democrats promote numbers like $4 trillion in cuts; no, $6 trillion; the Gangters of Six are staking their claim on $3.7 trillion. Finally, we are all told that, at the very least, there is consensus around $1.5 trillion in cuts from the Biden bunch.So how can the very people who increased spending by trillions just last year suddenly exhibit such gaiety in cutting spending?Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. The obvious response to this would be to outlaw the American flag

Or at least that would be the response I would expect from the Left.Yesterday the journal Psychological Science published a paper (abstract here, original here*) that demonstrates:”the mere sight of the American flag can subtly shift their political views… towards Republicanism. It’s an effect that holds in both Democrats and Republicans, it affects actual votes, and it lasts for at least 8 months.”This is a fascinating finding in and of itself, but even more so considering the other recent study that showed”that July 4th parades energize only Republicans, turn kids into Republicans, and help to boost the GOP turnout of adults on Election Day.”So apparently, patriotism is a Republican thing. (Go ahead now, lefties, get all frothed up).Please click here for the rest of the post.