Ryan’s healthcare plan
Calls for a tax credit for purchasing health insurance. Obviously, you suffer a tax penalty for not buying it. As Ezra points out, not very different from the individual mandate!
Archive | It’s OK If You’re A Republican
Mittens has a secret
God love that wacky little corporate raider! Mittens says he can’t tell us what he’d do when elected, mostly because it might lose him the election. Jonathan Chait’s piece is pretty funny, mostly because the Republicans are so capable of then turning on a dime – and accusing Obama of having secret plans he’ll carry out after the election.
So much cognitive dissonance, so little time!
Mitt Romney has embraced a budget plan that would entail cutting federal programs other than defense and Social Security by more than half. It does raise the question of how he plans to carry out such a sweeping goal. In an interview with the Weekly Standard, Romney says he’d eliminate a bunch of departments. But he won’t say which ones:
One of the things I found in a short campaign against Ted Kennedy was that when I said, for instance, that I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education, that was used to suggest I don’t care about education,” Romney recalled. “So I think it’s important for me to point out that I anticipate that there will be departments and agencies that will either be eliminated or combined with other agencies. So for instance, I anticipate that housing vouchers will be turned over to the states rather than be administered at the federal level, and so at this point I think of the programs to be eliminated or to be returned to the states, and we’ll see what consolidation opportunities exist as a result of those program eliminations. So will there be some that get eliminated or combined? The answer is yes, but I’m not going to give you a list right now.
One of the things I have found in previous elections is that announcing my plans makes people want to vote against me! This seems to be another case of Romney displaying his endearing but counterproductive habit of being a little too open about how the political game is played. Americans tend to oppose government in the abstract, but favor it in the specifics.
Medical malpractice
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A new law in PA requires physicians to keep their mouths shut about the health effects of fracking liquids. Thanks, Tom Corbett!
Hmm
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of wingnuts:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the IRS on Wednesday alleging that Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform violated federal tax law.
“It appears ATR and Mr. Norquist declared less than half of the political activity it conducted in 2010 on its tax return,” the complaint said. “Therefore, the IRS should investigate ATR and Mr. Norquist and, should it find they violated federal law, take appropriate action, including but not limited to referring this matter to the Department of Justice for prosecution.”
CREW found that ATR spent more than $4.2 million on ads in 2010, which urged people to vote against a number of Democratic representatives. The independent expenditures were reported to the Federal Election Commission. But on its tax return, ATR claimed it spent only $1.85 million on political activities.
[...]
You win some, you lose some
A Wisconsin county judge has issued a permanent injunction against the state’s new photo ID law:
Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess has issued a permanent injunction against Wisconsin’s new photo ID law. In doing so, Niess became the second judge in less than a week to strike the new law, but the first one did so on a temporary basis.
Four lawsuits have been filed against the law requiring people to present a valid government-issued photo identification card in order to receive a ballot. Monday’s ruling was in response to the suit the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin filed. It contends the provision violates Wisconsin’s constitutional protections for voters.
[...] Voters had to follow the law during February’s primary and no major problems were reported. Election officials were making preparations for Wisconsin’s April 3 presidential primary when a much bigger turnout is expected.
The Supreme Court turned away a challenge to the Indiana voter ID law:
The 65 page PDF file, Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, the main opinion said ” Valid neutral justifications for a nondiscriminatory law, such as SEA 483, should not be disregarded simply because partisan interests may have provided one motivation for the votes of individual legislators.”
JUSTICE SCALIA, joined by JUSTICE THOMAS and JUSTICE ALITO, was of the view that petitioners’ premise that the voter-identification law might have imposed a special burden on some voters is irrelevant. The law should be upheld because its overall burden is minimal and justified.
Penalty box
By Susie
Barney Frank forbidden to speak on the floor of the House for telling the truth.
Another day
Another story about corruption in the Philadelphia charter schools gold rush.
Piggie of the Week: PA State Rep. Kathy Rapp Moves into your Uterus
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PA state representative Kathy Rape -er, RAPP- is your garden variety Republican. She claim to love children while supporting anti-child policies. She stands for family values, like poverty and hunger. And like all republicans, she wants the government small enough to fit in your uterus. Enjoy our latest Piggie of the Week:
Scrapple TV News: Republican Raucus Caucus! Stu Bykofsky’s Love Tips! Why the Catholic Church hates birth control! And a Philly Fire Sale!
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It’s all here, at the only news source you can really trust!
With the most Trusted Name in Fake Internet News… your friend and mine… the man with the plan, the flower of the hour of power in a sexy shower…
AP TICKER! [makes fake applause noises]
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