Things I’d Like to Post About ….. (052308, Morning)

….. But I Don’t Have Time For:

• From Captain Ed at Hot Air — “Did Democrats argue that Congress can hide legislation from the President?” Apparently, they failed “to include a large section of the farm bill Congress sent to the White House. They (then) argued that the omission did not make the bill invalid, and that Congress can choose to send only portions of bills for a presidential signature or veto.” It should be obvious, as Captain Ed asserts, that “Any hidden provisions not submitted to the executive should render the entire legislation invalid.”
• Mickey Kaus, (mostly) liberal, picked up on some creative writing at Bloomberg, whose reporting on the economy has gotten every bit as bad as AP’s — “Fewer Americans than forecast applied for unemployment benefits last week, indicating companies are reluctant to fire more workers even as the economy slows.” Kaus’s retort (scroll down a little): “Next consumers will be unexpectedly reluctant to cut back on purchases even as the economy slows. And manufacturers will be unexpectedly reluctant to cut production even as the economy slows. … Slowly, the realization may dawn that the economy is not slowing anymore! … But reporters will be not-unexpectedly reluctant to stop reporting that it is.”
• 20 days later, “Myanmar Says It Will Accept Aid.” Will anyone try to estimate how many have died or will die because of the unconscionable delay?
• Better late than never, I guess — this WSJ link, which I believe is public-accessible, has the breakdown on monthly and year-to-date vehicle sales. GM was down 16%, Ford down 12%, Chrysler down 23.5%, Toyota up 3%, Honda up 6%, Nissan up 7%. Chrysler’s result is more evidence beyond what was known two months ago, that the company, under Bob Nardelli, who is fresh off his years of plundering The Home Depot and getting paid outrageously when he went away, is playing a game of chicken, hoping that it can sell itself to somebody else while it still looks presentable — which may not be for long.
• RomneyCare is “the new Big Dig (HT to an e-mailer).” That John McCain is even considering Objectively Unfit Mitt for VP is scary. That talkers and other supposed conservatives are mostly ignoring the ongoing disaster in Massachusetts is in its own way even scarier.
• Misleading Headline of the Week: Sorry, TaxProf, this IS misleading — “IRS Clears Rev. Wright’s Church of Improperly Assisting Obama’s Campaign.” It wasn’t “Wright’s Church” (Trinity United Church of Christ), it was the United Church of Christ denomination, and the dispute was over one appearance at a denomination event. As far as I know, the legitimacy of TUCC’s tax-exempt status is still under investigation. The TaxProf headline makes it appear as if the TUCC is off the hook. Even the AP did a less deceptive, though still way short of acceptable, headline.