Reason Morning Links: Obama Donors Get Posts, Moderates' Public Option Looks Likely, Politicizing Business Decisions at GM

• House health bill to include a public option favored by conservative Democrats.
• Bailed-out GM being micromanaged by politicians seeking favored treatment for their constituents.
• Swiss cracking down on "suicide tourism."
• Brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzei may have been on CIA payroll.
• Forty percent of Obama's top-level donors given high-profile posts in his administration.

Comments

[DJF]

"""Brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzei may have been on the CIA payroll"""

Since Afghanistan is a economic basket case it can be argued that much of the country is being paid for by the US and a few other foreign countries taxpayers. Except for the drug dealers and a few carpet weavers they are all on welfare to some extent

[Nick]

We better hurry and send our elected officials to Switzerland before it's too late!

[Nipplemancer]

I don't think the Swiss will take them. would you?

[Nick]

The Swiss would be ending their lives, and getting paid for it. I see no issue here.

[hmm]

Bailed-out GM being micromanaged by politicians seeking favored treatment for their constituents.

Filed under no shit, sub-file law of obvious unintended consequences, sub-subfile reasons for not getting in bed with government.

[TrickyVic]

I'm not sure it's unintended.

[John Tagliaferro]

I sense a trick. This is not the usual Radley kick-in-the-nuts morning post. Something truly awful is yet to come.

[hmm]

Drug Raid Goes Right Ninety Year Old Grandma in Custody at Hospital for Peddling Advil and Resisting Arrest. (Bonus: They cooked and ate her Labrador puppy)

Better?

[John Tagliaferro]

Was looking forward to his being upset about that terrorist Imam in Detroit getting shot by the FBI or something.

[hmm]

It was Detroit. The only reason anyone cared is the word terrorist was in involved. Otherwise it was a common event in Detroit.

Personally my favorite most recent is the French Pride push. The social backlash has hit Europe, wonder if it will cross the pond or spread to Asia.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....alism.html'

[Zeb]

And in the report I heard, the only use of the word "terrorist" was when they mentioned that it was not terrorism related.

[John Tagliaferro]

Ah, you must read Reason and The Village Voice.

Other outlets were big on the terrorist connection.

[John Tagliaferro]

Abdullah spoke of attacking Super Bowl XL

If true, I think this counts.

[John Tagliaferro]

But they don't shoot preachers every day, even in Detroit. Especially religon of peace preachers named Christopher Thomas.

[Citizen Nothing]

I find it hard taking the guy pictured in the Freep photo seriously.

[hmm]

That is one wicked tea towel.

[John Tagliaferro]

The FBI may have been intentionally trying to get into Reason and Radley isn't falling for it:

"Agents were trying to chase some people," Hamad said Arena told him, referring to the raid. "They were giving instructions to lay down. He resisted. He pulled a gun. They exchanged fire, he was shot down, killed. A dog ... was dead as well."

FBI shoots dog is usually a guarantee to get a Radley mention. Especially when not-formally-accused-yet dead terrorists are involved.

[hmm]

I think shooting fluffy the family pet in his own home on a botched drug raid and shooting a guy pointing a gun at you and then the mention of a shot dog are two different things.

That isn't to say that the actions were all correct and shouldn't be reviewed. There just seems to be a clear delineation.

[John Tagliaferro]

But this is REASON! Any terrorist shot before trial is onnocent and so is his dog. Are you new here? (drink)

[Citizen Nothing]

It was an F.B.I. dog that was offed.

[John Tagliaferro]

Ah, thank you CN. Now I can understand the silence.

[Citizen Nothing]

Which means the remaining suspects will probably charged with killing a cop.

[Nipplemancer]

natch, just like Half Baked.

[Qualis Artifex Pereo]

Haha, seriously.

[Beer Keg Abs]

'Desecrated flag' video is DNC finalist

One of the 20 finalists in health care video contest run by Barack Obama's campaign arm features a mural of an America flag splattered with health care graffiti until it's covered completely by black paint.

In the video ? which is accompanied by the sound of a heart monitor pumping and then flat-lining ? words such as "pre-existing conditions," "homeless" and "death panel" ultimately obliterate the flag, which reappears on screen seconds later with the words "Health Will Bring Our Country Back to Life" on the blue field where the 50 stars usually are.

According to the Organizing for American Web site, the 20 finalists in the "Health Reform Video Challenge" were chosen by a panel of "qualified" Democratic National Committee "employee judges."

http://www.politico.com/news/s.....28848.html

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Food columnist kills baboon, lefties flip.

[John Tagliaferro]

This guy writes some serious funny!

If the Jews and the Arabs wore each other's yarmulkes and tea towels, it probably wouldn't lead to peace in the Middle East, but it would be bloody funny.

Thanks for the link!

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah. Good stuff.

[Citizen Nothing]

I don't think I'd be willing to kill a baboon, though, especially if I didn't intend to eat it.

[John Tagliaferro]

Baboon, it's what's for dinner.

You just have to say the chant. Maybe intend to serve it to guests and you are covered.

Good thing it was a body shot so he can have the head mounted as a candle holder or ashtray.

[Nipplemancer]

seriously, he manages to offend animal nutters but epileptics as well in the first paragraph

[Cabeza de Vaca]

That was a great column & I loved reading the comment section.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

The best thing about it is that the account of the baboon assassination appears in a restaurant review. Its as gratuitous as the Chipotlaway subplot in the Dead Celebrities episode of Southpark. That restaurant will now forevermore be associated with recreational primaticide through no fault of their own. Its awesome.

[John Tagliaferro]

That story, combined with the Detroit terrorist combined nicely here.

[Semm]

USA TOday is worthless. They give that juicy 40% number, but without any bases for historical comparison. Not that past selling of those positions is any better, but at leats it gives one less reason for being depressed about this particular administration. The closest they come is by saying that historiclaly 30% of 'top diplomatic jobs' go to political appointees, but that does not even come close to giving us some idea of whether in the past that 30% was comprised of top campaign donors.

[Hugh Akston]

But critics have accused Dignitas of widening its criteria. Some patients are not terminally ill and at least a few would-be suicides are suffering from clinical depression.

So...?

[Qualis Artifex Pereo]

Why is it newsworthy that high-level donors get good positions in the administration of the campaign for which they raised money? I don't really see anything wrong with that.

[T]

I'm not saying it's the ideal way to run a government, but it's been the accepted practice my entire life. Isn't that the whole payoff for rounding up a couple of million for the winning candidate? You get to be the Ambassador to Monaco or something like that.

[Marc]

Really?

[Qualis Artifex Pereo]

Yeah, especially with campaign finance laws as they are - you've got to spend every waking hour chasing $2,400 and $4,800 checks. The candidate can't spend all his time doing that, it would take forever. If you want to unseat an encumbent like, say, Chuck Schumer or Arlen Specter, forget about it. Those guys have six years to build war chests. So, if someone comes through by raising a million bucks (in $2,400 and $4,800 increments) for you, that guy is clearly well-connected and probably qualified enough to do at least a halfway decent job as ambassador. The hot spots get CIA and State Department people, anyway. Who gives a shit who the ambassador to Monaco is? Let it be the rich, well-connected guys that don't have an axe to drind. Those are ideal people to have in government, frankly.

[Qualis Artifex Pereo]

grind*

[Tulpa]

It wouldn't be surprising except for the fact Obama said he was ushering in a new age of politics where such things didn't happen.

[Urkobold?]

AMBASSADOR TO KELLY MONACO? INTRIGUING.

[healthscarequotes]

Forty percent of Obama's top-level donors given high-profile posts in his administration.

In unrelated news, 60% of Obama's top-level donors found to be racist.

[J sub D]

Bailed-out GM being micromanaged by politicians seeking favored treatment for their constituents.

Gosh, golly gee, shucks and dagnabit! Nobody saw this unfortunate turn of events coming.

[J sub D]

John Tagliaferro, do you take stupid pills in the morning? The garden variety punk thief streetfront mosque Iman poseur got killed resisteing arrest for a variety of property crime charges. His co-conspiarators surrendered.

Now go chamge your underwear.

[John Tagliaferro]

J sub D, did you bother to read the Detroit Free Press article?

Now fuck off dickface.

[Hazel Meade]

Awww. The sound of Reason family love in the morning ...

[troy]

"The simple fact is, when GM took federal dollars, they lost some of their autonomy," Mr. Rehberg says.

I expect my colon to be congressman's Rehberg's business if health "reform" is passed.

[John Tagliaferro]

Same thing I was thinking. Added bonus: if you have any public utilities connected to yout house the 4th Amendment no longer applies to your residence.

[Judge Haller]

any public utilities connected to yout house

What is a yout?

[Hmm]

It's the two things in question.

Let's see who gets
that one.

[John Tagliaferro]

Loved you in The Munsters too!

[Colin]

House health bill to include a public option favored by conservative Democrats.

Don't see how a conservative anything can favor a public option.

[Death Panelist]

I just read that and wondered if it's a typo. I thought it was the far lefties in the House who have the hard on for the public option.

[bookworm]

Apparently, the conservatives favor a public option but at a lower cost from the one the liberals favor.

[Tulpa]

I prefer a pubic option.

[J sub D]

J sub D, did you bother to read the Detroit Free Press article?

Yep. I actully understood it. Of course, I actually know a tiny bit about Detroit, Dearborn, and the Islamic and criminal communities in both cities.

Now fuck off dickface.

Alas, I am wounded to the quick. I fear I am no match for your witty repartee.

[Spanky]

Hey, you started it.

[J sub D]

True, I've no patience with fools.

Alas, I am wounded to the quick

Is that anywhere near the taint?

[Warty]

Shut the fuck up, Suki.

[Bergholt Stuttley Johnson]

Dude, Suki only appears from about 7pm to about 9am Eastern. John T appears the rest of the day. I suspect he was bitten by a Suki and is now some kind of were-Suki (or possibly she is some sort of were-Tagliaferro)

[John Tagliaferro]

What are you children babbling about?

[Marc]

I, for one, have suspected for some time that you and Suki are in fact the same person.

[Suki]

Warty's home video is not safe for work.

[Barack Obama, D-IL]

What part of Pay To Play do you not understand?

[prolefeed]

The House legislation aims to provide health insurance of one form or another to almost all Americans at an expected cost just below $900 billion over 10 years, without increasing the federal budget deficit for at least 20 years, House Democrats said.

You have to be mighty contemptuous of the intelligence of your constituents to peddle such obvious bullshit and expect to get away with it.

[Mike M.]

There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that this Senate is going to ever agree to a health care plan that costs that much.

"Bela" Pelosi is out of her freaking San Francisco mind.

[Citizen Nothing]

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

It's the one bit of Mencken our leaders have taken to heart.

[J sub D]

Forty percent of Obama's top-level donors given high-profile posts in his administration.

Hey, nobody wants a Guiteau waiting in the reception line.

[Hugh Akston]

Has anyone ever seen Suki and John T in the same place at the same time?

[Ted Stevens]

Anyone seen Guy Montag latley?

[Steve Martin & Lily Tomlin]

Yes.

[John Tagliaferro]

Server squirrel could verify. I think we used the same computer to comment here one time when she was visiting me. Otherwise, the server should be getting hits from us from different cities pretty far apart.

[Mike M.]

By the way, crazy Nancy's bill weighs in at 1,990 pages. Did the radical far-left group Apollo Alliance write this bill too, like they did the stimulus bill?

The bill contains the word "shall" 3,425 times...

This year, New Jersey's registered voters can request a mail-in ballot for any reason. Before 2005, voters needed to provide a reason for why they needed an absentee ballot. The state received about 150,000 absentee ballot applications this year.

On about 2,300 of those applications so far, the signature on the request form did not match the signature on the voter's registration forms with the state.

In a development that is depressingly predictable, the New Jersey Democratic Party is asking the state to provide provisional ballots for all these voters. Those ballots, could, presumably, be used to overcome any narrow lead by Republican Chris Christie over Democrat Jon Corzine on Election Day.

A mass distribution of provisional ballots, at the request of a political party, would represent a significant change from established law.

[YYY?]

Clunkers: Taxpayers paid $24,000 per car: Auto sales analysts at Edmunds.com say the pricey program resulted in relatively few additional car sales.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A total of 690,000 new vehicles were sold under the Cash for Clunkers program last summer, but only 125,000 of those were vehicles that would not have been sold anyway, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the automotive Web site Edmunds.com.

Still, auto sales contributed heavily to the economy's expansion in the third quarter, adding 1.7 percentage points to the nation's gross domestic product growth.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/2...../index.htm

[Meta4]

Strip out Cash for Clunkers and economy would have grown by only 1.9 percent