Byron York, in today’s Examiner:

First Lady Michelle Obama visited the headquarters of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington Tuesday. She devoted much of her talk to “the growing threat of obesity, particularly childhood obesity” in the United States, and she touted HHS’s recently-announced plan to spend $373 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on plans to, among other things, improve the healthfulness of foods in vending machines.

The first lady did not discuss how such work might stimulate the economy or speed economic recovery. But she had glowing praise for the stimulus’ role in fighting obesity. “Congress and the president included $1 billion for prevention and wellness programs in the Recovery Act,” she told the crowd of cheering DHS workers, “and that includes funding for initiatives that will give communities the resources they need to address the obesity epidemic in their communities. This includes $373 million announced last month that would be available for communities that put together comprehensive plans to reduce obesity –- $373 million — and that would include everything from incentivizing grocery stores to locate in underserved areas; it could include improving meals at school; to getting more healthy, affordable foods into vending machines; to creating more safe, accessible places for people to exercise and play; and a whole lot more.”

 Read the whole thing here. File this away as further evidence, if possibly needed, that the ’stimulus’ bill mostly just funded a grab-bag of long-wished-for lefty government programs.

As the Senate Finance Committee completed its work on a bill that would greatly expand the government’s role in health care – requiring nearly everyone to buy insurance, and designing that insurance through subsidies and mandates – President Obama is trying to rally doctors to his side. At an event last week at the Rose Garden, phalanxed by doctors wearing their white coats (as well as some that White House staffers had handed out), Obama declared, “nobody has more credibility with the American people on this issue than you do.”

Dr. Benjamin Carson receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Yet one of the nation’s top surgeons, with credibility and acclaim the world over for the pioneering surgeries he has and his personal story of overcoming hardship, recently ripped the dominant health care legislation before Congress in a critique similar to that of conservatives and libertarians. Benjamin Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Md., and recipient of numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, criticized in a recent interview the approach of the current bills for their mandate, creation of a “public option,” and lack of malpractice liability reform. 

“My biggest problem is I feel it’s going in the wrong direction,” Carson told reporters at TV station WLOS in Asheville, N.C. (Video here.)“It’s giving us more government and less autonomy. And I think we should be going in exactly the opposite direction. We should be having more autonomy and less government. And that is the kind of thing that brings the prices down.”  (more…)

Trendiness of baby names being studied by the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Science Foundation

Federal government spends millions of dollars on a floating canal museum, a Corvette museum, the National Packard Museum, and other museums of questionable merit

Costly AIDS vaccine study touted as a breakthrough may actually be a bust or boondoggle

Streetcar to nowhere: Stimulus funds may pay to construct an Atlanta streetcar but city may not even have the funds to operate it once it is built

$181 million stimulus project wasn’t shovel ready after all and local residents applaud decision to withdraw it from the state’s list of stimulus projects

Funding to assist rebuilding projects after Hurricane Katrina spent on sod for a stadium

Earlier today Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty explained to BigGovernment.com readers how the Baucus health care plan is a prescription for higher taxes and higher premiums.

In keeping with the theme that good perspectives and ideas often come from the states, 33 state-based think tanks came together this morning to announce a health care reform alternative to ObamaCare.

“President Obama and other supporters of government-run health care like to proclaim that there’s no alternative to their plans,” said John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute. “Our patient-centered reform package offers a clear alternative that puts patients, not bureaucrats, first.  It protects the doctor-patient relationship, offers viable solutions for the uninsured, and keeps medical care affordable for all Americans.”

Patient-centered health care reform:

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PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has been known to employ attention-getting methods with everything from nude models protesting fur to activists throwing vegan custard pies in the face of Ronald McDonald in front of children. PETA describes its mission as ending the suffering of animals on “factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry.”  To that end, the group has used everything from engaging in agitprop to aiding the terrorist tactics of animal rights groups, as investigative reporters have charged.

Of late, the group that claims to be the “largest animal rights organization in the world” focuses efforts on behind-the-scenes strategies to fill coffers.  Their more recent endeavors exploit the pressure companies feel to display their “social responsibility.” 

At the same time, the non-profit engages in clever partnerships with companies whose competitors are targeted by PETA.  And often those who “partner” with PETA treat animals in a manner similar or identical to that which PETA claims is abusive when done by targeted companies.

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ABC News:

“What a pro-active way to be able to help the economy and change the culture in this country around animals,” Robert Davi, a veteran actor (”The Goonies,” “Die Hard,” “License to Kill”) who was a main force behind the bill’s introduction, told ABCNews.com in a telephone interview.

“This money goes back into the economy, and it encourages people to understand the social responsibilities we have toward animals,” Davi said. …

***

A bill making the rounds on Capitol Hill marries two feel-good propositions — tax cuts and pet ownership — to generate a novel idea: A tax break of up to $3,500 per person for pet care expenses. (more…)

A previous post, Turning Tea Party Patriots into Political Petitioners, examined opportunities for new activists to affect change in their home states.  A natural next step is to discuss other options for getting involved.

It remains to be seen if the political activity that this summer generated hundreds of Tea Party protests and capacity crowd town hall meetings turns into a lasting political force.  Many will participate in one event and go back to the daily grind.  A few will remain active, and some may even use their outrage to invest their time and treasure into political campaigns.

For those who seek to become active, there are plenty of resources.  Citizens In Charge and Ballotpedia.org are both aimed at informing citizens of ballot initiatives and expanding the rights of citizens to petition government directly.

There are also organizations that will train candidates and campaign staff.  Since 1979, Morton Blackwell’s Leadership Institute has worked to train candidates and activists to run effective campaigns for office, mostly on the statewide and federal level.   But traveling across a state or a large congressional district for weeks and months at a time can be too great a sacrifice for most.

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In the summer of 2008, I noticed something I’d never seen before. All around midtown Manhattan, on various sidewalks, people were selling cheap plastic trinkets out of open briefcases propped atop folding tray tables.

To anyone who’s spent any time in New York City–where makeshift sidewalk vendors are more plentiful than Starbucks–that probably doesn’t sound so strange. But as someone who’s lived here since before the Reagan/Carter election, these vendors were different. Rather, the nature of what they sold was different.

Months before Barack Obama formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, the name “Obama” was already being stamped on or sewn into objects of every type, and these objects could be purchased just about anywhere you happened to be standing. Keychains, buttons, hats, t-shirts were all readily available. I saw Obama skateboards and heard rumors of Obama bongs. Eventually, companies usually seen selling things like pewter gnomes and porcelain kittens got into the game, hawking commemorative coins and Obama dinner plates on late-night cable shows.

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Like any halfway sentient member of the human race I reacted to the news of Obama’s Nobel win last week with disbelief, soon giving way to scorn and ridicule, before experiencing a nasty sinking feeling.

Just a week after the naughty boys and girls at the IOC had delivered a blow to the president’s majestic ego, some idiots in Norway had decided to puff that balloon right back up again. And lo, there was Mr. Obama on TV, floating about in front of a podium, chin held aloft, doing the old mock humility routine as he wittered on about his daughter and his dog: just a regular guy, doing my best to save the world. Aw, shucks.

Since that moment of world-historical absurdity a great deal of commentary has been produced. As even Mr. Obama admits he does not deserve to stand in the company of earlier laureates such as Mandela or Mother Theresa, the focus has thus been on the ulterior motives of the Nobel Committee. Was this a late snub to Bush? Condescending encouragement to America for electing someone all right-thinking Norwegians approve of? Victor Davis Hanson offered this elegant piece, anatomizing social democratic Norway and its pathologies. However the one factor which nobody has discussed, and yet which I think is central is-

SATAN.

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Why force the private Internet to be as inefficient as the old public post office? For the first time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to regulate how private companies can deliver the quadrillions of broadband Internet packets that are sent over the Internet every day.

Americans know from experience that private companies competing for customers deliver better service than Government. Who thinks the Government can do a better job than private companies in designing, building, and managing broadband Internet networks? Who thinks the Government can run the Internet better, faster, cheaper, and more innovatively than private networks do now?

The pretext for this new government micromanagement is — that without new Federal regulation — private companies might not treat all broadband Internet packet deliveries equally and might even discriminate against certain Internet packets by delivering them slightly slower than others or not even deliver them at all. The proposed FCC regulations would force all different types of Internet packets to be delivered the same, would empower the FCC to monitor all Internet packet delivery for “neutrality,” and put the Federal Government in charge of how private companies design and manage their broadband Internet networks.

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Over at Examiner, Byron York asks the fairly obvious question:

What does a hate crimes bill have to do with money for U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq?

Nothing, except that the National Defense Authorization Act, which will win final passage in Congress and be sent to the president’s desk this week, also contains the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which Democrats placed inside the defense measure over Republican objections.

The crime bill — which would broaden the protected classes for hate crimes to include sexual orientation and “gender identity,” which the bill defines as a victim’s “actual or perceived gender-related characteristics” — passed the House earlier this year as a stand-alone measure. But it’s never had the votes to succeed by itself in the Senate. So over the summer Democrats, with the power of their 60-vote majority, attached it to the defense bill.

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Today, the Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on Senator Max Baucus’ health care overhaul.  Like most Americans, I believe that our health care system needs to be reformed.  However, this bill is a tax and spending bill masquerading as a health reform bill.  It gives government bureaucrats far too much power and encroaches on freedom more than any legislation since LBJ’s Great Society experiment.  It is bad for the country and bad for the economy.

 Senate Democrats are pushing a vote on the 1,000-page bill now because the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that the bill cost “only” $829 billion over the next 10 years. In truth, the bill raises taxes immediately, but the benefits do not kick in for another four years, so the 10-year numbers are distorted. This is an expensive experiment that cuts Medicare, and exacerbates state government budget problems by dramatically expanding Medicaid without providing additional funding.

How do the Democrats propose to pay for the rest of the new spending? There are a massive amount of tax increases in the bill, including over $200 billion in tax increases on insurance premiums, new taxes on individuals and employers, and over $120 billion in new taxes on medical device makers and other health care businesses.  All of these tax increases concern me, but the latter category does so especially: My state is the home of Medtronic, Boston Scientific, 3M, St. Jude Medical and other medical technology makers that employ 60,000 Minnesotans and save and improve countless lives. Increasing taxes on these businesses would not only be an unwise burden on these employers, but would siphon money otherwise spent on research and development.  It would also risk the cost of increased taxes being passed on, directly or indirectly, to those who rely on such devices or who cover their cost.

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Happy Birthday to Margaret Thatcher!

Anyone in the market for a creepy former funeral home whose major claim to fame is miraculously housing over 200 organizations?  Word is, you’re out of luck.

Apparently an offer has been accepted for ACORN’s long-time headquarters on Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans, on the edge of the 9th Ward.  SEIU 100, which Rathke founded, was also headquartered in that building.

I visited that location in late July to see it for myself, as a colleague and I were in town to attend a Wade Rathke book signing that evening.  Because of our straight-forward questions and unedited answers, Wade Rathke called us “Infiltrators.”

Upon seeing the building for sale (which he had seen in b-roll video footage before), we check out the listing on the website of French Quarter Realty.  Other information can be found at Realtor.com, which basically a massive nation-wide Multiple Listing Service.

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SEIU Local 880, based in Chicago, is one of the largest SEIU union locals. It was founded and has been long controlled by ACORN and Wade Rathke. This recently uncovered video shows presidential candidate Barack Obama discussing his long and close ties to SEIU. This is not your typical political pandering. This is someone who feels at home, talking to close friends and family.

As soon as news broke that Rush Limbaugh was mentioned as part of one of the groups interested in purchasing the St. Louis Rams I knew it was only a matter of time before someone in a position of influence lost their tongue and came out against it on grounds unrelated to NFL ownership. The grounds upon which ownership of a pro-sports franchise should be determined is whether or not they can pay the bills the team already owes and whether or not the owners can and will make the investments necessary to improve the team’s financial situation and nothing more.  But that’s not good enough for the man whose tongue could no longer remain calm, NFL Players executive director DeMaurice Smith.

On Saturday, Smith sent an email to the union’s executive committee attacking Limbaugh on the grounds that he doesn’t bring people together enough to successfully join the NFL family.  Smith wrote:

I understand that this ownership consideration is in the early stages. But sport in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred.

In reading Smith’s email you would think NFL some random island of harmony and peace.  If you’ve read a sports section in the last few decades you’d know Utopia on the gridiron is as elusive as anywhere else, except perhaps Hollywood’s fictional Cuba.

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Over the weekend I received an email that, on its face, might appear to be rather strange. It read: “planet warming is a serious issue that must be substantiated immediately!”

What’s facially odd is that this insistence on the truth of the author’s belief, and clarion call for comrades to somehow back said dogma up, came on a list-serve for the “World Environmental Journalists”. To be honest, I have no idea how I got on this list, but I do read the missives regularly and the message was fairly typical in its tone and content.

The entirety actually read “[J]ust to restate the obvious (I’ve personally experienced the effects while researching my global islands project): planet warming is a serious issue that must be substantiated immediately!”

Although a quick search revealed the author boasting of personal experience with planet warming to be more an activist than a professional journalist, his activism is common among the profession. I mention this in the context of noting how the media are treating – rather, refusing to treat – that about which they would be in hysterics if it were warming rather than cooling.

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Chris Horner has blogged here about the “planned recession” strategy of fighting global warming — to reduce our economic activity so drastically that we can’t produce enough emissions to even dream of affecting the climate.

Here’s a look at what your world would look like:

At least we’ll get to feel good about going Green.