Paul Shaffer can't read music - That was the astonishing conclusion to this interview I heard on NPR's Morning Edition. David Letterman's bandleader has a new autobiography coming out and he revealed his rise from piano player at a topless bar in Canada to late-night troubadour. What was hilarious about the interview was that Shaffer threw it out, almost as an afterthought. The guy learned to play by ear and he's managed to make to the top.

Let us now pause to praise great engineers

The Nobel Prize in Physics was handed out in Stockholm and the winners were three "masters of light" who advanced technology to bring us high-speed internet and digital cameras. Since I'm a fiber optics engineer, I obviously have a spot in my heart for new Nobelist Charles Kao who some consider the "father of optical fiber":

Since the 1930s, researchers had been using short optical fibers-solid, slender bits of glass that trap light inside, allowing it to be transmitted.
But the available fibers didn't work over long distances, Nordgren said. "After 20 meters [66 feet], most of the light was gone."
In research published in 1966, Kao discovered that, even though the glass being used for the fiber-optic cables seemed clear, it actually carried many impurities, which were disrupting the light transmission.
Kao's discoveries pushed companies to devise new ways of making ultrapure glass—eventually leading to today's fiber-optic cables, which can carry signals hundreds of miles with very little light loss.
"More than a billion kilometers of fibers around the world that connect us all, almost instantly," the Nobel Committee's Nordgren said.
"And this is due to the work by Kao, that inspired and started the evolution of optical communication that we have today."

Kao's discovery about glass defects led to new technologies to create pure glass from scratch instead of melting it from raw materials like the glass in your window. The result was super-clear glass that could transmit light over long distances without losing the light signal. To put this in perspective, the glass was so clear it was like seeing the bottom of the ocean. The result: a vast network of communication links carrying massive amounts of data on beams of light.

In 1988, the first optical-fiber cable was laid under the Atlantic Ocean, capable of carrying tens of thousands of times more information than the metal cables it replaced. Today, more than 600 million miles of optical fiber have been laid, enough to circle the globe 25,000 times. High-efficiency optical amplifiers placed at strategic intervals renew the signals so they can travel such long distances.

Fiber-optic communication "is essential for high-speed Internet and forms the optical backbone of 21st century commerce," said H. Frederick Dylla, director of the American Institute of Physics. "The CCD sensor has revolutionized technical, professional and consumer photography in the last few decades. Taken together, these inventions may have had a greater impact on humanity than any others in the last half-century."

Congratulations, gentlemen, and thank you!

E85 in Canada - TTAC has a story about our neighbors to the North pushing 85% ethanol flex-fuel cars. There are only four E85 stations in all of Canada, the fuel is more expensive than regular gasoline, and returns worse fuel efficiency. Citing a memo from the natural resources minister, one activist noted that "promoting E85 has no environmental benefits." The Truth about Cars sardonically sums up: "When your subsidies won't work without their own subsidies, you know you're in trouble."

Related - Opinion Journal says Cash for Clunkers was "one of Washington's all-time dumb ideas."

Too much for Louisiana - You know you've made the big leagues in corruption when even Louisiana can't sit by anymore: "Louisiana attorney general: Rathke embezzled $5 million from ACORN."

Speaking in public

Although I'm an engineer by education, over the past couple years or so it seems my career has turned into one of a professional presenter. I'm a PowerPoint impresario and I'm pretty good, if I do say so myself. The keys to every presentation are essentially the same: know your audience, stick to one central theme, convey information (or entertainment), and prepare for questions and discussion. I have one essay taped up over my desk: Jay Lehr's criticism of boring speakers titled "Let there be stoning!" (PDF)

They are not sophisticated, erudite scientists speaking above our intellectual capacity; they are arrogant, thoughtless individuals who insult our very presence by their lack of concern for our desire to benefit from a meeting which we chose to attend.

To that point, let's face it: both Michelle and Barack Obama gave awful speeches to the IOC. Ann Althouse has a long post about both presentations which were at turns illogical, mawkish, self-centered and manipulative. Michelle Obama's argument for Chicago appeared to center around the fact that her father had multiple sclerosis but really loved sports. Oh, and he was from Chicago, so there's the connection.

Then she introduced her spouse in a weighty tone cleaved by dramatic pauses:

My husband

The President of the United States

Barack Obama

Look FLOTUS, everybody knows who your husband is. You don't need to stretch it out as if the IOC committee will swoon at his mere introduction.

President Obama's speech was terrible for the simple fact that he didn't seem interested in making Chicago's case for the Olympics. Instead, with enormous self-love he tried to draw some zig-zag line from the U.S. Presidential election through Chicago and - hey - give us the Olympics. People wearing the same sports jersey at a sporting event become fast friends? Why I've never heard about this phenomenon occurring anywhere outside Chicago! Certainly not in the soccer stadiums around Rio or Madrid. In the end, it was a meandering pastiche that failed in its fundamental goal of persuading the IOC to vote for Obama's hometown.

So, in sum, Obama was arrogant, thoughtless, and insulted the people he was there to convince with his half-assed presentation. He did more harm than good and diminished the prestige of his office; the criticism he's receiving from all sides is well-deserved.

Extra - Bizarre Q&A responses, too.

More - Legal Insurrection on O's presentation: "It is a speech that could have been delivered at almost any corporate diversity training session, but as a reason to award the Olympics to Chicago and not Rio, it was delusional." Yup.

The moral compass - There's a really interesting book review in the Wall Street Journal on "Souls in Transition" by the aptly named Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith. The upshot appears to be that kids with a strong religious foundation have a better sense of morality and critical thinking; meanwhile, all those godless kids put their belief in "karma."

No freakin' way - UK Telegraph: "Mahmoud Ahmaadinejad revealed to have Jewish past."

Chicag-NO

The Boston Globe had an editorial this morning panning Obama's trip to Copenhagen:

Obama gained support during the presidential campaign by staying cool amid an economic meltdown, while John McCain marched into Washington in an attempt to show a spirit of action. Instead, McCain showed his futility. Americans don’t like to see their leaders appearing rash or weak. If the Olympic committee rejects the president, Obama becomes just another failed salesman. It’s a mistake for him to sink so much into a cause that may not even need his help. He should have stayed home.

We know that now.

Extra - Contentions: "The limits of egomania."

Update - Two separate planes for Barack & Michelle + security detail = 18 votes

The Massachusetts miracle? Not so much

I've posted a dozen posts on the Massachusetts health care reform. Here's one other things to remember from the Christian Science Monitor: the costs of the program are artificially propped up with federal funds

Despite raising state taxes, the Massachusetts plan is kept afloat only by hundreds of millions of dollars of financial waivers and assistance from the federal government – i.e., by the taxpayers of the other 49 states. If the Massachusetts plan were adopted at the national level, it's unlikely that China or Russia would bail out the United States.

This and much more from Dr. Paul Hsieh.

My government spent a trillion dollars on stimulus and all I got was this lousy T-shirt

From the "no kidding, Sherlock" WashPost: "New Economic Reports Show We're Still Hurting"

The fragile economic recovery has relied heavily on government stimulus spending, but new data show that as the money runs out, a sustained rebound may be elusive.

The dramatic decline in sales reported Thursday by the Big Three automakers suggested the extent to which the stimulus act has propped up the economy. The government's wildly popular "Cash for Clunkers" program drove consumer spending to its highest level in eight years in August. But after it ended, so did the growth in auto sales.

General Motors' sales plunged 36 percent in September compared with August. Ford plummeted 37 percent. Chrysler dove 33 percent.

Cash for Clunkers "was a one-time boost of sales followed by a crater," said Ben Herzon, an economist at Macroeconomic Advisers. The firm forecast that the program was likely to have no effect as a stimulant for national economic output.

And in case you missed it: "Stimulus spending doesn't work." Stand by for unemployment numbers tomorrow; Joe Biden will be out later to explain all the jobs "saved."

Take the lead...but not too far - Jennifer Rubin looks at the Virginia race for governor and asks "Is McDonnell pulling away?" The Republican candidate should settle into a small single-digit lead because any higher and Democrats are apt to "pull a Torricelli" just like Obama tried with New York governor David Paterson.

Celebrities vs. non-celebrities on health care reform - Via Hot Air. Both sides make compelling points: the non-celebrities cite sources and the CBO while the MoveOn side has Olivia Wilde.

Fun with definitions

Here's a word for today's news: saturnine - "slow to act or change; of a gloomy or surly disposition"

And here's the context: "Penske pulls out of Saturn deal" and "GM to close Saturn."

Clunk.

We're broke again

Boston Globe: "State may see $200m shortfall". But wait, it gets worse:

The state’s budget problems are compounded by the fact that Patrick and top lawmakers have relied in large part on one-time revenues to plug the previous budget gaps, using federal stimulus money that will dry up next year and a state reserve fund that is dwindling. Additionally, economists have warned that the state is in a multiyear cycle that will continue to strain budgets until at least 2014.

"Oh, Lordy," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, when told of the estimates. "Numbers like this for September suggest [the state’s revenue estimates] could be $500 million or more too high for the year."

Revenue dropped despite a controversial decision by Patrick and the Legislature to increase taxes by more than $1 billion, including boosting the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent. Retailers warned that the state would not raise nearly as much as estimated, predicting that customers would go to New Hampshire or the Internet to avoid additional taxes.

Going to the Granite State to escape taxes? You mean like this guy?

Message received - Rasmussen Polls: "Support for health care plan hits new low." And could it be that some in the media have a new opinion on the emperor's clothes? To Copenhagen!

Boston Globe's meaningless health care poll

I honestly don't understand the relevance of this poll in the Globe indicating "State's health system popular." For the vast majority of people in the Bay State, the Massachusetts health insurance mandate had no effect since most people already had health care through employers. It's like polling everybody in America how they feel about in-ground pools. Love 'em!

President Obama tells us, again and again, that the reason health care reform is necessary is because of spiraling costs. These costs have not been contained in Massachusetts:

Double-digit increases in premiums have become almost routine in Massachusetts, with the state’s major insurers saying they will raise rates about 10 percent next year. This trend began well before the overhaul passed, however, and when asked whether the law was having an impact on the cost of their own care, only about one-quarter of those surveyed said the law was “hurting’’ their own costs.

In fact, Beacon Hill politicians were so keen to pass the insurance mandate, they didn't even think about the cost; that was for later:

Blendon said the survey’s findings on cost control suggest that perhaps leaders in Washington should consider following the Massachusetts formula: Aim for universal coverage first, and then tackle costs.

"The fact that Massachusetts is still going along with a still relatively popular law, by doing it in pieces, may be the best piece of advice Massachusetts can give the nation," he said."This was politically doable here because all of the difficult choices of slowing costs weren’t on the table."

Wow, that's leadership: candy first and cavities later. So far the cost of government health care in Massachusetts have only risen but, we swear, we're going to tackle the cost issue soon.

Amazing Race update – What? It's on tonight?

Honest to heaven, I didn't know the 15th season of the Emmy-winning (every time) Amazing Race started tonight until I got the Sunday paper. Why does CBS do this?

Well, here's the super-quick update: twelve teams started out in Los Angeles but – right at the starting line – they had to complete a task before moving on. One team failed and then there were eleven. Didn't even get to leave the city: somebody has a rendezvous with Fail Blog.

Teams went to Tokyo to appear on a Japanese game show. Essentially, they had to eat a "wasabi bomb" which is very hot and spicy. Teams left in sequence to go to a Shinto shrine. The next day, they flew to Vietnam where they had to put mud around a tree and then herd up some ducks. The forgettable team finished last, and I forgot them already.

Some interesting teams this season:
One guy who has Asperger syndrome and his buddy.
A really good-looking Christian couple who have not given in to their impulses yet.
Two female professional poker players.
Harlem Globetrotters "Flight Time" and "Big Easy."
Montana father/son farmers Gary & Matt who won the first leg thanks to their duck-herding skills.

Extra - Pat has a longer update with "We're racing again!"

Garry Trudeau's selective outrage - Today's Doonesbury cartoon criticizes the overheated rhetoric that compares President Obama with Hitler. It's ignorant and outrageous, I'll agree. But Trudeau had eight years to raise the same objection and, somehow, this idea never came to ink.

Didn't see that coming - Government intervention raises the cost of credit. Scrivener: "Price controls produce the same results as always." I'm sure the results will be completely different with the health insurance companies, though.

Because we're broke - Maggie's Farm: "Why the skepticism about government health care?"

Secret assurances

As Senate Finance chair Max Baucus searches the national couch for spare change to pay for health care reform, one idea that has gained attention is taxing "Cadillac" health care plans. But now that the unions are balking, it looks like that plan will be set aside:

But labor’s main complaint is Mr. Baucus’s proposal to tax insurance companies for their most generous policies, as a way to raise revenue and to discourage wasteful health care spending. Labor says insurers would pass on their tax costs in higher premiums, not just for corporate executives but also for unionized workers with rich health benefits.

Under Mr. Baucus’s plan, the tax would apply to family policies worth more than $21,000 a year. The typical employer-provided family plan costs roughly $13,000, but packages for some unionized workers can run much higher. Democrats are discussing raising the threshold, and the White House has privately assured labor that union benefits will not be affected.

To be fair, some union jobs are dangerous (think: coal miner) and thus the insurance policies are more costly. But if I'm not mistaken, my armchair legal knowledge tells me that taxing one group of people (non-union workers) and not another under the same criteria constitutes a bill of attainder which is unconstitutional. So there will be no Cadillac taxing and Obama will have to make up new ways to scrounge the trillion dollars he needs for health care reform.

VAT tax, anyone?

Flashback – WashPost in May 2009: "Once considered unthinkable, U.S. sales tax gets a fresh look." I'll bet.

Kinda funny - National Journal: "If air travel worked like health care."

Now in Newark - WiFi was free in Texas but now I only have a 20 minute complimentary window in Newark, since they're on the ripoff Boingo network. But I like their $9.95 "unlimited" access. Who sits around an airport more than two hours?

Empty Garden state - Speaking of odd-year elections, Chris Christie is looking strong against incumbent governor Jon Corzine in New Jersey. It seems possible that Corzine is unpopular because it has one of the highest tax burdens in the country and the Tax Foundation rated NJ the worst state in the country for businesses.

Why the rush? - Democrats on the Senate finance committee won't post the health care reform legislation online or allow for 72 hours to review, calling them "delaying tactics" and provoking bickering after marathon sessions. What's the big hurry to rewire one-sixth of the U.S. economy? Off-year elections are a'comin.

Because a Senate seat appointed by a Democrat can't wait - Well, the Massachusetts legislature reversed their "Mitt Romney" rule and allowed unpopular governor Deval Patrick to name Kennedy aide Paul Kirk to serve in the U.S. Senate. He won't run for re-election and his sole job will be to vote "aye" on the health care reform bill. I didn't get to see Patrick's statement to the press but it would have been nice if he had admitted the original legislation from Beacon Hill was wrong because it denied Massachusetts full representation in the Senate, regardless of political party.

Killing time in San Antonio airport - A long day of traveling ahead, but at least I have free WiFi!

Presentation completed - Time for a nice steak dinner.

So it's come to this - Via the Corner, the FDIC is looking to borrow money from large banks instead of the Treasury to insure funds in shaky banks, in part to sidestep the popular outrage that would follow another taxpayer-paid bailout.

Can we deal with this problem first? - As Obama tries to create a whole new entitlement for America, he's yet to deal with the old one. From Hot Air: "CBO predicts Social Security cash deficits in 2010-2011."

Extra - Ace: "What a perfect time to expand goverment spending to levels hitherto undreamed by man."

San Antonio update

Taking a break in a Texas Starbucks with WiFi connection. Hooray! Yesterday I walked the half-mile from the hotel to the Alamo which is described as a shrine to Texas independence. On my way back, I got disorientated and - as heaven as my witness - a local guide appeared from nowhere to send me in the right direction. People here are really very friendly and polite. Maybe it has something to do with concealed weapons. (Right, Bram?)

The conference right now is working through some microwave-type technology so it's not really my cup of tea. My presentation is tomorrow afternoon so we'll see how it goes. At the Alamo gift shop, I picked up a Texas flag-style tie; maybe the crowd will go easy on me at question time.

Strange definitions

"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean" - Humpty Dumpty

Opinion Journal: "Obama denies that individual mandate is a tax increase."

On the road again

Time for another business trip to Texas, this time to San Antonio. I think my potential internet access will be much better than my last trip, since I'll be staying much closer to the central part of the city. They have Starbucks down there, right? See you soon.

Watching the Emmys - Ken Howard had the line of the night: "I'll make my speech short in case I'm interrupted by a congressman or a rapper."

It was nice to think it was true - Remember those microloans, the ones that earned Mohammad Yunus the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize? Well, they may not be the panacea to poverty that everybody hoped. From the Boston Globe "Small change - Billions of dollars and a Nobel Prize later, it looks like 'microlending' doesn't actually do much to fight poverty." Bummer.

Racist! - I just read on the New York Times web site that this guy asked New York governor David Paterson (who is black) to withdraw from the gubernatorial race.

No wonder Obama's snubbing Fox News - The President won't shut up but he refuses to appear on the highest-rated cable news network. Hmmm...I wonder why. Anyway, Chris Wallace calls the Obama White House "the biggest bunch of crybabies."

Karl Rove - He's a liar "half truther."

Marlboros, Pepsi, and gas - So much for the pursuit of happiness. Melissa C: "Taxing the poor and middle class." (H/T Maggie's Farm)

Matchbox cars for all - Economist "Small isn't beautiful": "Carmakers have escaped calamity. Now they face a big, long-term problem: people are moving to smaller vehicles." Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take my Pontiac Vibe to run some errands.

Crunch time for the talking heads

The word on the street is that Obama is going to appear on maybe five Sunday talk shows this weekend. This is the time, finally, for the mainstream media to show that they're serious about getting answers from this White House instead of recirculating the same tired points. I suggest the Sunday talk show hosts start with this Charles Krauthammer column as a baseline.

Let's start with three simple questions that still have not been answered:

1. How can you possibly pay for this?

2. In what way is the public option a fair player in the "insurance marketplace" if it's subsidized by taxpayers?

3. Is the individual insurance mandate even constitutional?

Update - Big surprise. The networks, CNN and Univision (not Fox) lined up for interviews and asked about race. I guarantee there won't be a sliver of difference between all these interviews.

Massachusetts health care, continued - Critical Condition: "Is Massachusetts really the model?"

Tragically unhip

A couple days ago, I got my early-teen son a cell phone, mostly so he can be in touch during extracurricular activities. Tonight I went to his school's open house and discovered that I was quite likely the last parent in junior high to get his kid a cell phone.

The "Crackberry Kids" start young.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts

How's the great Bay State health care plan going? Today's Boston Globe has the latest: "Health costs to rise again – Insurers to boost rates about 10% - Shift of expenses to workers likely"

(That's good stuff: "likely.")

The higher insurance costs undermine a key tenet of the state’s landmark health care law passed two years ago, as well as President Obama’s effort to overhaul health care. In addition to mandating insurance for most residents, the Massachusetts bill sought to rein in health care costs. With Washington looking to the Massachusetts experience, fears about higher costs have become a stumbling block to passing a national health care bill.

Whew, bad timing for this opinion piece from Governor Deval Patrick: "Massachusetts is a health-reform model." But if you read it, you'll discover that the Bay State is poised to address the rising cost of health care...soon. Some had argued that this minor detail should have been addressed before passing legislation, but you'll see it will all work out.

Bipartisanship on health care reform - Contentions "Consensus at last!": "Senator Max Baucus announced his health-care proposal and achieved what few expected - a broad coalition of Right, Left, and Center." They all hate it.

More - Great headline from FiveThirtyEight: "Baucus compromise bill draws enthusiastic support of Senator Max Baucus." A compromiser of one, as it were.

And this - From Investor's Business Daily: "Is health care reform constitutional?" Check your 10th Amendment, citizens.

Scooped like a tub of Moose Tracks after the kid's soccer game

I apologize for that simile. Any-hoo, everybody but everybody is blogging about the ACORN scandal as the mainstream media sniffs. Even Jon Stewart is appalled that the "big" news outfits were lapped by a couple of kids from the cast of "High School Musical." Then it should be no surprise that a new low of only 18% of Americans believe the press is fair with all sides. Good times.

Extra - Meet the scoopers on Scrivener. James O'Keefe borrowed his "pimp coat" from Grandma and Hannah Giles is a minister's daughter.

Barack "Joe Isuzu" Obama

Tom Bevan meditates on a Bob Herbert column and wonders if our president is knowingly lying or engaging in wishful thinking:

So Obama's assertion that he can expand coverage and care without adding a dime to the deficit over the next ten years is, by the admission of even one of his most ardent supporters, a claim that virtually no one believes. Generally speaking, when someone makes a claim that no one believes it's characterized as a lie.

(H/T Contentions) The unavoidable paradox I see here is that Obama claims Medicare is a program so full of waste and abuse, that we can magically find a half-trillion dollars to fund a brand-new government-run health care program that will be super-efficient, we pinky-swear.

The best Wolverine

Dang, the big C takes Patrick Swayze at only 57. Here's to you, high kicker:

Americans respond to Obama's big speech

With a giant "meh."

The WashPost has a tepid "Reform opposition is high but easing."
George Stephanapoulous states: "Bottom line: right now, voters are almost exactly where they were before the speech."
The Boston Globe declares: "Public insurer support fading - Moderates move away from option"
USA Today: "Speech doesn't boost Obama"

What's the White House response to this lack of response? More cowbell!

NY Times blog: "Obama May Do Back-to-Back TV Interviews Sunday"

That's leadership, baby.

Hero - Let us now pause to praise Norman Borlaug, the man who saved millions through agricultural productivity.

Entitlement nation - Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe: "What 'right' to health care?"

On this day

New York Times: "September 11th steel forms heart of far-flung memorials."

More Pablo Neruda, less "Casey at the Bat"

Well, I missed all the health care debate, so let's go with this story I heard this on NPR this afternoon:

Fernando Perez, the 26-year-old outfielder for the Tampa Bay Rays, has written an essay in the September issue of Poetry Magazine about the firm place poetry holds in his life. Perez says poetry and baseball occupy different realms of his life.

Perez says that around the time Mark McGwire was spotted with andro in his locker, he was caught with a volume of poetry. Interesting story.

Not fun - My DSL was out all this evening because the only moving part - the power switch - became disabled. I popped it open and jury-rigged a jumper but I think I'll need a new box. Does anybody know if I can just replace the equipment (a Westell Model 327W) and go? Or do I have to re-install software or something? Thanks.

An insult to the national intelligence

I can't give Obama's speech a proper review because I had class tonight so I only heard part of it on the car radio. But of what I did hear it was 1) nothing new and 2) ridiculous.

I have to ask: is Obama illiterate? Has he read any newspapers besides the New York Times? Glanced at a blog? Has he even heard of the Congressional Budget Office?

A couple days ago, I predicted the speech would be a harangue with no details. He harangued and provided no details...by his own admission! His characterization of those evil insurance companies was cartoonish, full of moustache-twisting profiteers. The public option was misrepresented and his explanation of how this trillion-dollar plan would be paid for was risible. It would take me all night to go through the transcript and correct all the contradictions, truth-shading, and outright lies.

Extra - Cato liveblogged the speech with many links.

More - Reason: "Obama has a plan but not much of one."

Even more - GOP rep Joe Wilson apologizes for yelling "You lie!" to Obama. Which is appropriate because it's disrespectful to the President. Plus, Obama didn't lie because he corrected the number of uninsured in the country to leave out the illegal immigrants he counted before, just in time for this speech.

And this - A review from Power Line: "This was not, to put it kindly, a speech that was directed at thinking people."

Bottom-of-the-ninth speech preview - Jay Cost on Obama's latest game-changing oration: "Obama to give historic speech...again."

Simply red - From the American: "Debt be not proud: The sorry tale of America's out-of-control spending."

Senate health care plan to tax insurance companies you – The latest health care plan out of the Senate Finance Committee will cost "only" $900 billion to be partially paid for by the insurance companies that wouldn't dream of passing the cost on to consumers. Heavens, no.

Extra - Opinion Journal: "Obamacare's crippling deficits"

Obama takes to the campaign trail

Someday this bright, energetic man with flawless judgment might make it to the White House:

President Obama delivered a rousing campaign-style pitch on Monday for his proposed health care overhaul, telling thousands of cheering union workers at a Labor Day picnic here that Congress should stop debating because "it’s time to act and get this done."

As he tries to resurrect his health proposal, Mr. Obama has been under intense pressure from Congressional leaders to lay out specifically what he wants. Aides said he will do so in the speech on Wednesday.
Mr. Obama did not offer details on Monday – "I want you all to tune in," he told the crowd - but he did give a few hints of what is to come.

Those few hints were telling a handpicked crowd of union workers that he'd like to see the public option, but he won't push for it, since he's merely a candidate for the Presidency.

I strongly suspect that Wednesday's address to Congress will be an hour-long harangue. There will be no new details as Obama casts himself as the avenging advocate for the little guy, fighting the bureaucracy of Congress. He doesn't want to get his hands dirty by taking a position on anything and Congress isn't about to stick its collective neck out, especially when the polls show dwindling support for federal health-care reform. This whole thing's going down in a heap and Obama's going to disappointed with all of us.

Takin' a break - Have a great weekend, everybody.

The Massachusetts model - Cato: "Massachusetts' Obama-like reforms increase health costs, wait times."

Stimulus, hurrah!

Just like Joe Biden said, that $787 billion was money well spent:

Smart guy declares himself smart - Mises Economics blog on Krugman's latest - "The whole thing reads like a big fairy tale and the author is the hero in the end."

Joe Cool fires up the teleprompter again

Here's the WashPost's resident Obamacare cheerleader Ezra Klein on Obama's big speech next week:

This is health-care reform's endgame, or close to it. Next Wednesday, Barack Obama will give a prime-time address before both houses of Congress. But that's not all he's giving Congress. The administration is going to put a plan down on paper. The question is what it will say.
Conversations with a number of White House officials make it clear that, at this point, even they don't know.

What the hey? If there's one thing I've learned from years of giving presentations it's this: 1) tell 'em what you're going to say, 2) say it, 3) tell 'em what you just said. After months of debate, nobody has any idea what the White House wants from health care reform other than the ambiguous and contradictory goals of "universal coverage" and "deficit neutral." Charles Krauthammer describes the options for Obama:

But he has to say x, y, and z. He has to make a pronouncement on the public option, and he also has to make a critical strategic decision. Is this about cutting costs, which will destroy him in popular opinion, or does he ignore that now and make it all about expansion of coverage and guaranteeing of coverage?

The Atlantic gives the same advice:

He also needs to clarify what he wants, what he would not tolerate and what his plan really stands for.

Details? Yeah, he's not going to do that:

But the officials said Mr. Obama was unlikely to unveil a detailed legislative plan of his own.

So what's the point of this speech other than more of the same? Well, as I like to say: when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. This is what happens, America, when you elect a guy with no executive experience, limited legislative experience, and whose sole claim to fame is that he can give a good speech. You get more speeches.

What you don't get is leadership.

Extra - Jennifer Rubin: "Looking for a way out."

More - Mickey Kaus on the possibilities: "It's possible that White House aides are deluded about Obama's persuasive powers. It's possible that they're deluded about the impact of invoking Senator Kennedy's legacy two weeks after his death."

Gouge them job makers

Jeff Jacoby makes a lot of sense and provides a heap of background in "Obama's soak-the-rich mentality"

Governments delude themselves when they imagine they can easily raise all the money they want by soaking the rich. The rich always have other options. When taxes grow too onerous, high earners can adjust their economic behavior. Some move to Spain to play soccer for La Liga. Others, less glamorously, cut back on their investments, forgo new business opportunities, seek out tax havens, or work fewer hours. The impact is felt not only in lower-than-expected tax revenues, but in lower rates of growth and productivity and job creation. Jobs are disproportionately created by those who have money to invest. "You can’t have employment and despise employers," Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas used to say. "No goose, no golden eggs."

Sound reasoning, I'd say. How about you guys?

Senate Democrats are revisiting proposals to raise taxes on high-income people to help pay for an overhaul of the health-care system.

Feh.

Car crash - Business Week: "After the clunker party, an auto sales hangover." Car sales soared in August by borrowing from sales for the rest of 2009. Also, can you guess which motor company most benefitted from the C4C program? It was good ol' Mom and apple pie Hyundai.

Do as I say

And I'll do it too:

Leaders should practice what they preach. It sounds obvious, says Alan Deutschman, but too few ­leaders-in business or politics-actually do it. In "Walk the Walk," Mr. Deutschman, a consultant and ­former ­Fortune magazine writer, argues that ­leaders are most effective when they rely on the power of their ­example.

As the ­expansion of McDonald's was getting ­under way in the 1950s, for instance, Ray Kroc, the company's empire builder, listed ­cleanliness among the chain's three key values (along with service and quality). But he didn't just talk cleanliness; an earlyemployee of a ­Chicago-area ­McDonald's ­remembered him personally picking up trash around the ­restaurant and scraping up gum with a putty knife. ­Message: Cleanliness counts. And: If cleaning isn't beneath me, it isn't ­beneath you.

Not as I do:

A Westport lawmaker who voted to hike the state sales and alcohol taxes was spotted brazenly piling booze in his car - adorned with his State House license plate - in the parking lot of a tax-free New Hampshire liquor store, the Herald has learned.

Michael J. Rodrigues’ blue Ford Crown Victoria, emblazoned with his “House 29” Massachusetts license plate, was parked outside a Granite State liquor store on Interstate-95 South over the weekend, according to a witness who provided pictures to the Herald.

Extra fun – Say Anything blog: "If government-run health care is such a great idea, why won’t members of Congress enroll their own families?"

Whatever - The New York Times decides (now) that "Cash for Clunkers" was inefficient when it came to reducing greenhouse gases - so let's try a gas tax! (H/T TTAC)

The ways of the world - Old Jarhead: "Twenty economic facts of life." #1 might be good enough: "People do more of what they're rewarded for doing and avoid what they're punished for doing." (H/T Maggie)

A nation of laws, until we have to follow them - Remember that law the Democrats in Massachusetts passed for a special election in case a Senate seat needed to be replaced? As Emily Litella would say "never mind": "Gears move on possibly naming Kennedy replacement." Because the "voice in the Senate" is critical when it's not appointed by a Republican governor.

Crimson tide

Robert Samuelson surveys the ocean of debt:

In 1946, after World War II, the ratio of publicly held federal debt to GDP was 108.6 percent. Since then, the economy (our income) has generally grown faster than the debt. In 1974, the debt-to-GDP ratio reached a post-World War II low of 23.9 percent, and even in 2007, it was only 36.9 percent. That was manageable.

By contrast, today's prospective colossal borrowings dwarf likely economic growth. The Obama administration's latest projections, released last week, show nearly $11 trillion of borrowing from 2009 to 2019. In 2019, the debt-to-GDP ratio would be 76.5 percent. This could be too optimistic, because it assumes some spending restraint and tax increases. A projection by the Concord Coalition, a watchdog group, adds about $5 trillion in borrowing in that period. In 2019, the debt-to-GDP ratio could be roughly 100 percent.

Uncharacteristically, Samuelson doesn't even mention the unfunded liabilities of entitlement programs and government pensions which have swollen full of promise without the means to pay. La-dee-da, let's spend another trillion dollars:

Easy come, easy go - August 2009 was one of those rare five-weekend months and it's been a looong time since payday. Many bills were paid tonight, but I do like electricity.

Langewiesche - I was following a link on Instapundit to the Top 10 books that don't get enough respect and suddenly I was face-to-face with "The Outlaw Sea." That book is on my shelf after reading Mr. L's articles in Atlantic magazine and it's a good'un, mostly for its portrayal of modern-day pirates, long before Navy Seals got involved.

It's a wonder(wall) he's lasted this long - Noel Gallagher (the talented one) quits Oasis, claiming he just can't work with his brother Liam anymore.

I'm a Marxist - Go over to Maggie's Farm to see Chico Marx play the piano with an apple. He makes it look so effortless.

Whip Embrace inflation now - We can't possibly raise taxes enough to pay for all the new federal spending. How are we going to get out of the debt hole? Ace of Spades HQ has the solution: "Inflation is like bacon. There's nothing it can't do."

Problem solved! (claps hands)

The adults in the room

I love the first two grafs of this WashPost story: "Tax pledge is a target as deficits, debt grow – Obama advisers will not rule out broad-based tax hike"

During last year's campaign, President Obama vowed to enact a bold agenda without raising taxes for the middle class, a pledge budget experts viewed with skepticism. Since then, a severe recession, massive deficits and a national debt that is swelling toward a 50-year high have only made his promise harder to keep.

The Obama administration has insisted that the pledge will stand. But the president's top economic advisers have refused to rule out broad-based tax increases to close the yawning gap between federal revenue and government spending and are warning of tough choices ahead.

In other words, junior senator Barack Obama is stamping his feet and screaming "no!" while the big men are insisting: "We're going to have to eat that spinach."

Lots of zeros - Greg Mankiw notes the economic hole we're facing over the next decade is closer to $14 trillion than the White House estimate of $9 trillion. Hey, what's an extra $5 trillion among friends?

I see you Katy, Texas - Welcome to the right-wing ramblings of a true Conservative! I'm also a top-notch fiber optics engineer. So I got that goin' for me.

Stand back, ma'am, I'm an economist - Political Math strikes back at Paul Krugman's deficit calculations in "How big is $9 trillion." It's really big and intractable problem when mandatory spending (i.e. entitlements) is growing faster than our ability to raise revenues.

Blogging from 30,000 feet

I got a promotional card to access WiFi on the plane so I'm typing this from high above Georgia, or maybe South Carolina. Technology! Everybody needs access to the Net all the time. By the way, after a couple days at the SPE conference and a couple hours wandering through airports, I can see why the smartphones are called "Crackberry." Geez, give it a rest already.

Here's my first sky-high link: Ted Kennedy's death just like 9/11.

Enhanced interrogations - Nancy Pelosi knew and lied about it.

If you want to ask a question in a public forum, apparently you need ID.

For government-run health care, not so much.

Access in Austin

I refused to pay the $10/day fee to access the Internet at my hotel so I've been out of the loop since Monday. But now I'm in the Austin/Bergstrom airport and they have free access.

I can't possibly add anything about Ted Kennedy. Rest in peace, and all that. What I'm waiting to see now is if the Massachusetts State House circumvents their own law of Senatorial succession, the one they passed when they feared that Republican governor Mitt Romney might appoint a replacement for John Kerry. Special election? Nah, never mind.

I managed to catch Austin's famous live music scene and it was a treat to hear bands playing all styles of music from rooftops and alleyways and concert halls.

My presentation to the Society of Petroleum Engineers went well. Those Texans are really down-to-earth (get it?) Everybody but everybody has a Blackberry/smartphone nowadays. I think my phone has a calculator.

Heading into Austin city limits

I'm going away on another business trip this week so updates may be spotty depending on access. I couldn't find a decent Austin City Limits clip on YouTube so here are The Shins with "Phantom Limb." See you soon.

Out, out, darn Ted - Jeff Jacoby in the Globe: "Kennedy should resign."

"High Fidelity" for the tween set

This weekend, I took the kids to see "Bandslam" which is a "battle of the bands" movie set in New Jersey. On the surface, it's one big movie cliche: there's the unpopular music-genius kid, the blonde cheerleader, and the bookish, brooding but pretty girl who comes to life at the big competition.

Her name, by the way is Sa5m (the 5 is silent), Vanessa Hudgens up there.

Somehow it all comes together in an upbeat ska rendition of Bread's cheesy classic "Everything I own." Check it out.

Too good to excerpt - Mark Steyn: "Why the stimulus flopped."

The Constitution says "no"

Many moons ago (don't ask me to find the exact post) I wondered on this blog whether it was Constitutional for the Massachusetts health insurance mandate to force people to buy health insurance. In other words, it doesn't feel right that a government compels its citizens to buy something. Yes, you can force people to buy auto insurance to drive a car but - it you're dead-set against this expense - you don't have to drive a car. On the other hand, everybody in the Bay State must obtain health insurance if they don't already have it through an employer.

As the public option fades from the national debate, it's looking more like the Administration may try to duplicate the Massachusetts model. But then I read this in today's WashPost: "Illegal health reform"

But can Congress require every American to buy health insurance?

In short, no.

Say what now? The lawyers writing the article stipulate that the government can raise taxes to pay for a health care system although not to "penalize conduct" and "the federal government doesn't have the power to regulate Americans simply because they are there." Since we'll get no guidance from the Obama Justice Department, I think I'm going to have to check in with some of the law blogs.

Spamming for Obama - Fox News is reporting that the White House used taxpayer money to hire a third-party spammer to send unsolicited emails, drumming up support for health care reform. I don't know how the executive branch gets access to taxpayer money, which is normally a power held by Congress. Developing hard, as they say.

For the record, I was a Jason Mraz fan before you

I just heard this little bit of music trivia today:

Singer-songwriter Mraz's "I'm Yours" notched its 70th week on the Hot 100. Thanks to 4.4 million total downloads and airplay on top 40, adult top 40, adult contemporary and triple-A (adult alternative album) radio, "I'm Yours" beat LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live" for the song with the longest life on the singles chart.

Mraz is a lyrical wonder who blends sublime melodies around his words. Here he is wearing his silly hat (as usual) playing to an enthusiastic Dutch crowd that know all the words:



This is my favorite song from "We sing we dance we steal things"

Break out the shovels

Remember that stimulus package we had to pass double-quick, Arlen Specter? Opinion Journal: "There's no evidence for the theory that state spending has shortened this or any other slowdown"

Even those who think government borrowing is a free lunch can't possibly believe the government has already done enough "stimulus spending" to explain the difference between depression and recovery.
CNNMoney recently calculated that the stimulus plan has spent just $120 billion—less than 1% of GDP—mostly on temporary tax cuts ($53 billion) and additional Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment benefits. Less than $1 billion has been spent on highway and energy projects. Commitments for the future are much larger, but households and firms can't spend commitments.

We're going to need some economic stimulus because soon we're going to need new tax revenues to pay for the stimulus.

Extra - Megan McArdle has good news/bad news on the budget. We're putting slightly less than expected on the national credit card.

And that's that

Senator Kent Conrad says: "There are not the votes in the United States Senate for the public option. There never has been."

House speaker Nancy Pelosi says she "can't pass bill without the public option."

What we have here is a failure to legislate.

Anybody can sell a dollar for eighty cents - Business Week: "Cash for Clunkers chugs to a halt."

Medicare is great, except when it's terrible, and I'm not being indecisive

Opinion Journal: "Obamacare's contradictions"

"The only thing I would point is, is that Medicare is a government program that works really well for our seniors," he noted in Colorado. After all, as he said in New Hampshire, "If we're able to get something right like Medicare, then there should be a little more confidence that maybe the government can have a role-not the dominant role, but a role-in making sure the people are treated fairly when it comes to insurance."

The government didn't get Medicare right, though: Just ask the President. The entitlement is "going broke" (Colorado) and "unsustainable" and "running out of money" (New Hampshire). And it's "in deep trouble if we don't do something, because as you said, money doesn't grow on trees" (Montana).

So the health-care status quo needs top-to-bottom reform, except for the parts that "you" happen to like. Government won't interfere with patients and their physicians, considering that the new panel of experts who will make decisions intended to reduce tests and treatments doesn't count as government. But Medicare shows that government involvement isn't so bad, aside from the fact that spending is out of control-and that program needs top-to-bottom reform too.

Voters aren't stupid. The true reason ObamaCare is in trouble isn't because "folks aren't listening," but because they are.

What the heck is Obama's teleprompter smoking?

PDQ MBA - Slate: "How to become a management guru in five easy steps."

Get in line, Grandma - Here's Harvard economist Martin Feldstein with "Obamacare is all about rationing": "The Obama strategy is to reduce health costs by rationing the services that we and future generations of patients will receive." Wow, limited services and an extra trillion dollars in debt? What's not to love?

The big bluff - How appropriate that I'm watching the World Series of Poker on ESPN: Drudge is reporting that the "Dems will go it alone" on health care legislation. Oh, that's rich. The Senate can't pass public option and the House won't pass a bill without it. Meanwhile, the polls continue to show that the longer this show goes on, the less Americans like it. Go for it, Dems!

More - From Gateway Pundit and Hot Air.

And now something different - Megan McArdle: "So now, after long debate, it seems like the solution may be health care co-ops. Perhaps I'm missing something, but it seems like we've undergone a lot of stress to invent . . . Blue Cross/Blue Shield."

Coldplay's "Okkey rules"

OKKEY RULES

1. ALBUMS MUST BE NO LONGER THAN 42 MINUTES, OR 9 TRACKS.
2. PRODUCTION MUST BE AMAZING, RICH, BUT WITH SPACE, NOT OVERLAYERED. LESS TRACKS, MORE QUALITY, GROOVE AND SWING. Drums/rhythm are the most crucial thing to concentrate on; diff. between bittersweet and science of silence.
3. COMPUTERS ARE INSTRUMENTS, NOT RECORDING AIDS.
4. IMAGERY MUST BE CLASSIC, COLOURFUL AND DIFFERENT. COME BACK IN GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOUR.
5. MAKE SURE VIDEOS AND PICTURES ARE GREAT BEFORE SETTING RELEASE DATE. And highly original.
6. ALWAYS KEEP MYSTERY. Not many interviews.
7. GROOVE AND SWING. RHYTHMS AND SOUNDS MUST ALWAYS BE ORIGINAL AS POSSIBLE. Once jon has melody, twist it and weird it some.
8. Promo/review copies to be on VINYL. Stops copying problem, sounds are better.
9. Jaqueline sabriado, ns p c c, face forward.
10. Think about what to do with charity account. Set up something small but really enabling and constructive. Ref; j olivier fifteen