A steaming pile of crap

That's what Megan has left for me to deal with today.
Dear Megan, please flush when you're done, next time. We don't need to find your remains.

Quote of the day:

I hate to see people get all caught up in national elections. The Presidential election is, as CNN puts it so well, a Ballot Bowl, analogous to the Super Bowl. It is a marketing extravanganza for centralized government.

(Not Megan's words, of course, just endorsed by her.)
Does this mean Megan is now going to fault Obama for bringing people back into the process? How dare he make government seem potentially relevant to making people's lives better? Megan and Obama's relationship is bordering on abusive.

How can I say I love you if you won't shut up?: And then she crosses the border, giving Obama a subtle warning that she's about ready to hit him. You see, Obama is concerned about the welfare of the American worker, and that's socialism. Obama is, horrifyingly, not entirely in favor of free trade.

As Daniel Drezner remarked to me yesterday, the sad fact is that a lot of swing states are in the rust belt, which means that you can expect to see protectionism on the agenda over and over again through November.

It's such a sad fact that the well-being of Americans will figure into our election, isn't it? Megan can't bring herself to believe this is so, which means Obama must be pandering.

Of course, "I support my candidate because I'm sure he's lying" is hardly a stirring rallying cry. And there remains the disturbing possibility that he's serious about all this.

Fuck you, Megan. Naomi Klein should have your job.

Why be against bankruptcy reform?: Megan had her broken clock moment of the day in this post, and argued against the recent bankruptcy "reforms". The bad part is in a footnote.

Contrary to popular belief, illness often brings on bankruptcy not through high medical bills, but loss of income to pay other bills.

Daaaaaahgahwooty. What? Contrary to popular belief, the money spent on high medical bills couldn't be otherwise spent on normal bills, so STOP BLAMING THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE REFORMED CAN I HAS MY CHECK NOW MR INSURANCE LOBBYIST?

Mayor's climate aide gets $160,000 a year:

The city of San Francisco has just created a highly paid job called the "director of climate protection initiatives". I am hard put to imagine what the city of San Francisco imagines it can do, all by its lonesome, to halt global warming--the nature of international oil supplies, and fixed infrastructure investment, mean that any energy not used in San Francisco will simply be purchased by someone else at a very modestly lower price. The San Francisco Chronicle's commenters are apparently as flummoxed as I am--only they're also mad, because it's their money being spent.

Y'know what's irrelevant to deciding whether this is a rational choice? Knowing what this official does, and whether the particular person chosen for the spot has unique skills in such demand that such a salary is justified. It's better to just presume that your own biases are better informed than the government of a large city. And, if, say, this person finds a way to improve traffic flow and reduce smog, that smog will just move to some other city. If too many cities follow San Fran's model the nation will soon be menaced by roving masses of smog who beat up old ladies and threaten children. Is that what you want, you dirty hippies?

Guest blogging:

I'm guesting at Instapundit this week; I'll be cross-posting all my Instapundit content here, however, as well as the wonky stuff that only appeals to my more . . . exclusive . . . readership.

And thus ends any and all pretense by Megan of having any left leanings, whatsoever. Heh, indeed. *more to come on this in a separate post*

Things that make you go hmmmm:

Kriston Capps:

More people have personally seen or felt the presence of a ghost than approve President Bush's job performance. Which is in the basement. Where the ghosts live.

Typical liberal garbage. George Bush's approval ratings, however abysmal, are still higher than the number of people who have actually seen a ghost.

I'm going to be generous and assume Megan was trying to be funny here. She isn't funny, because she doesn't understand humor, but, unless she's pandering to Instaputz's audience (a very real possibility), that was a joke. Problem is, our jokes are unintentionally revealing. People who make lots of racial jokes, for example, tend to have unresolved racial issues. Megan has tons of lefty friends and went out with more than one lefty, so there. She's, like, infected with our stain, and there's nothing in her attitude that would make you wonder whether she thinks it's funny cuz it's true. At all.

Making it: Forget the point of this post, let's just savor this

Journalism is a career that is highly, highly dependent on networking and self-promotion, yet in the book she comes across as someone who has never mastered the rudiments of personal contact, like not gratuitously insulting people with whom you are trying to secure employment.

Fluffers make great journalists, dontchaknow. Mencken was a noted ass-kiss. Heh, indeed.

Information wants to be free, but medical care doesn't.: Y'know what's awesome? The fact that tv ads for prescription medicine have made patients try to determine what treatments they should get, instead of relying on the opinions of trained experts who base their assessment of your individual health on direct observation. Health care should be trendy, not based on good science. Doctors are notorious for holding out on the good meds. You have to earn their respect by questioning their competency compared to tv ads, first.

Browbeating the pharmas will not generate enough savings to finesse this trend.

.... What?

Next up, a look at what Megan's doing over at Instapundit. She said all her posts would be crossposted, but seems that's not the case. Heh, kill me.