Pennsylvania split - Can the Democrats win the White House without the Keystone State? I was surprised to see that, based on the current polls, Hillary would win there against McCain but Obama would not. Hmmm...maybe Howard Wolfson has a point on electability in "big" states or maybe he's just lowing expectations for Hill's less-than-double-digit win.

Extra - Same deal in New York? New York?

Because Berkeley was all booked up - Without getting into Sino-Tibet politics, if you're going to have the torch relay for the Beijing Olympics, why would you make your only U.S. stop San Francisco? That's just asking for trouble.

You don't have to be a kleptocracy to join OPEC, but it helps

Can you name the country? From the Boston Globe:

Palacios, the nation's largest public maternity hospital and once the nation's beacon of neonatal care, has fallen on hard times. Half of the anesthesiologists and pediatricians on staff two years ago have quit. Basic equipment such as respirators, ultrasound monitors, and incubators are either broken or scarce. Six of 12 birth rooms have been shut.

If only this poor, poor country had some steady source of income.

Problems in Venezuela's healthcare system did not materialize when Chávez took office. The system has been riven with corruption, mismanagement, and disorganization for decades. Tropical conditions have made the country ripe for a host of epidemics difficult for any government to control. An encephalitis outbreak in 1996 sickened 20,000 people.

But the system's current crisis comes as the country is awash in oil wealth, a windfall that critics say could be used to ease the problem. Instead, Chávez is building a parallel health program called "Barrio Adentro," which features 11,000 neighborhood clinics staffed mainly by Cuban doctors.

This, assuredly, is the fault of Estados Unidos for propping up Chavez with record oil prices. Damn you, Satan Bush!

Mugabe falls back on old habits

From the Boston Globe: "Reports of violence spread in Zimbabwe"

Ten days after Zimbabwe voted and by most accounts rejected its long-serving, autocratic president, Robert Mugabe, the mood of the country grew more ominous yesterday. The opposition reported widespread attacks on its supporters, black youths drove white farmers off their, and elections officials were arrested on charges of vote tampering.

As Mugabe sought to cling to power beyond his 28th year in office, Zimbabwe's High Court began to weigh the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's demand for the immediate release of the presidential election results. They have still not been announced, but the opposition believes they will give it victory.

This is the African version of "L'etat c'est moi." Mugabe is 84 years old and must now view Zimbabwe as his and his alone, no matter how the people vote.

Here come the Baby Boomers - PBS has a special tonight, hosted by Paula Zhan, titled "Retirement Revolution." It looks like a portrait of American retirement through the lens of a handful of Boomers.

Beer drinkers ordered to pour Sam Adams down the drain

This is a disturbing turn of events: "Glass particles force Sam Adams beer recall"

Boston Beer Co., the Boston brewer of Samuel Adams craft beers, said it is recallingan undetermined amount of beer because of defective bottles that may contain glass particles.

The problem bottles are embossed with the code N35 followed by OI on the base of the bottle. I just checked all of my Sam Adams. Yep: N35 OI. The Boston Beer Company has set up a consumer recall site and they're urging customers to pour out the beer and dispose of the bottles. Norm and Cliff are happy with their draft beer.

Take your stinking paws off of me you damned Grim Reaper! - Fox News: "Charlton Heston dies at Beverly Hills home" More on the Hollywood legend at IMDB.

Uncanny - When celebrities become Muppets. (Click on pics to the right).

Car of Tomorrow + SAFER barrier + HANS device = Michael McDowell walks away from this incredible wreck during NASCAR qualifying.

In Massachusetts, everybody has health coverage

Now if they could just find a doctor. From the NY Times "In Massachusetts, Universal Coverage Strains Care":

Now in Massachusetts, in an unintended consequence of universal coverage, the imbalance is being exacerbated by the state’s new law requiring residents to have health insurance.

Since last year, when the landmark law took effect, about 340,000 of Massachusetts’ estimated 600,000 uninsured have gained coverage. Many are now searching for doctors and scheduling appointments for long-deferred care.

The article is notable for two reasons: one is the juxtaposition of the phrases "unintended consequence" and "recipe for disaster" while the other is the spotlight on Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson who used to be my sons' primary doctor before she moved to Amherst. She already has 3,000 patients and she won't take any new ones until May 2009.

Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette

Jacob Sullum notes that, with new legislation, New York will now have the highest cigarette tax in the country:

So a pack of cigarettes that would cost, say, $4 without taxes will cost New Yorkers more than $9, most of which will go into city, state, and federal coffers. In other words, the government will be taxing a product disproportionately consumed by poor people at an effective rate of more than 100 percent, reaping bigger profits than anyone else from a business it simultaneously condemns as the foremost threat to public health. It can get away with this punitive levy because the people it's bleeding are an unpopular minority with little political influence. And what do we call this policy? Progressive.

Don't smoke kids, until you're an adult and then smoke...for the kids.

Congress to moral hazard: drop dead!

Opinion Journal: "Uncle Subprime"

A new study from the Boston Federal Reserve destroys the myth of the victimized subprime borrower. Boston Fed economists examined 1.5 million homeownerships over nearly 20 years and found that the overwhelming reason for subprime foreclosures is not unsustainable debt foisted on ignorant borrowers or even financial setbacks. People walk out on subprime mortgages when the value of their home declines.

Homeowners who've suffered a 20% decline in home prices are 14 times as likely to default as those who have enjoyed a 20% gain. . . . In other words, even if the government moves these borrowers into FHA-guaranteed mortgages with fixed rates, but home prices keep falling, lots of borrowers will stiff the taxpayers like they've been stiffing private lenders.

What's with all the "do-overs"? Bear Stearns and subprime lenders & borrowers all took risks in this crazy game called capitalism and lost. Government intervention only invites more irresponsible behavior down the road.

More - Maggie's Farm on the toxic incentives of the subprime game.

No brakes for you! - What happens when Jerry Seinfeld rolls his Fiat? Hilarious comments. This one is best: "I understand this car used to be owned by Jon Voight."

Quote of the Day

Fox News: "Air America host suspended for calling Clinton & Ferraro" names:

"Air America encourages strong opinions about public affairs but does not condone such abusive, ad hominem language by our Hosts," reads the statement by [AA chairman] Kireker, issued on Thursday.

Unless they're bastard Republicans, then it's anything goes!

Extra - As you might expect, everything you want to know from Radio Equalizer.

The sliding scale between "rich" and "poor" - I guess it depends on whether you're being taxed or receiving benefits.

Mugabe's grip slips - AP: "Mugabe's party loses grip on Parliament." Much more from Gateway Pundit: "Zimbabwean opposition claims victory."

Anarchy in the U.S.A. - Via Politico it looks like the DNC pulled a fast one "DNC convention stance surprises campaign": "The Democratic National Committee said Tuesday that Florida and Michigan members will be seated on the three standing committees - including the critical Credentials Committee - at the party's 2008 national convention, a position that could affect the selection of the Democratic nominee."

It appears that the renegade states will have positions on the organizing committees but it's unclear if their full delegations will be seated. One Florida Democrat on the Rules committee said the decision "strikes me as odd."

Dog on a pool slide

All of the United States wouldn't cover Medicare expenses

From Smart Money (HT: RCP) "Entitlement mentality is wrecking economy"

From welfare to food stamps to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, our country now marshals a massive network of trillion-dollar entitlement programs colloquially known as the "social safety net." Many Americans, including a few of those running for president, see these bureaucracies as defining achievements of a nation where "nobody is left behind."
Forget the fact that the entitlements, many of which began with the goal of providing "basic minimum benefits" have grown into a gargantuan burden costing over $1.5 trillion a year and careening toward total collapse. For example, payouts will begin to exceed the revenues into Social Security in just nine years and current estimates have the entire system going belly up in 2041.

Author Jonathan Hoenig notes that the shift to an all-entitlement government invites further taxation and regulation of the economy which flips American fiscal history on its head:

As I've written before, it is America's historical commitment to capitalism and individual rights that has differentiated our prosperous economy from the socialist basket cases of North Korea, China and communist Cuba. When economic freedom is protected, societies see vast increases in productivity that result in higher-quality, lower-cost products.

And here's a factoid I hadn't heard before:

Moral bankruptcy eventually leads to financial collapse as well, and the evidence is growing more obvious with each passing day. As noted in Barron's over the weekend, the future obligations of Medicare are now so staggering that liquidating all the residential real estate in the country - a sum of almost $12 trillion dollars - wouldn't even cover the costs.

I should have marked this one "too good to excerpt." Read the whole thing.

A new dawn in Zimbabwe - This is the most up-to-date report I could find: "Endgame in Zimbabwe as Robert Mugabe nears exit" He's probably busy ripping out the copper wire from the presidential palace, but as long as he goes, Zimbabwe has a chance.

Today's Boston Globe reveals how the usual vote-rigging was thwarted:

One simple reform made it clear that a majority rejected Mugabe after 28 years of his disastrous misrule: This weekend, each of the country's 9,000 polling stations posted its own tally. Opposition poll observers and the general public were able to see and add up the separate vote totals. So the Mugabe-controlled electoral commission could not receive all the unannounced local results, perform an unmonitored count, and proclaim that the 84-year-old despoiler of the nation had been reelected.

"Despoiler of the nation" - not exactly the thing you want to see on your gravestone.