Lucid Links (031109, Morning)
Noteworthy Net-Worthies:
The head of the British civil service, Sir Gus O’Donnell, is frustrated (HT Legal Insurrection via Instapundit) that “no-one in the U.S. Treasury department was answering telephone calls.” Maybe Tax Cheat Tim Geithner’s folks are ignoring the ringing phones out of concern that their now-underlings at the IRS have found something else on Geithner’s prior-year returns.
Michelle Malkin, as would be expected, is on top of the “Going Galt” phenomenon.
Speaking of which, tea party protests will take place in Ohio on Saturday the 14th in Columbus and Sunday the 15th in Cincinnati. Established media alert: The crowd sizes promise to be noteworthy.
Camille Paglia at Salon — “President Obama’s clumsy, smirky staff is sinking him — and resurrecting a deflated GOP!”
Nancy Pelosi “treats the Air Force like her personal airline.” Judicial Watch has the details. Fox News reports JW saying that “Pelosi was notorious for making special demands for high-end aircraft, lodging last-minute cancellations and racking up additional expenses for the military.” If Gingrich or Hastert had done this stuff, it would have been the first item on the networks’ evening newscasts.
Roger Kimball at Pajamas Media — “The Idiot’s Guide to Destroying the Economy: a 12-Step Program.” Roger emphasizes that it’s not exhaustive, which is good because there are at least these two missing steps: “During a presidential campaign, nonchalantly threaten to starve the economy of energy in the name of the global-warming hoax,” and “During a presidential campaign, threaten to raise taxes to dizzying heights in a downturn.” Those were just two of the steps taken at the inception of The POR Economy last June.
Al Gore is confronted by Bjorn Lomborg (”would you be willing to have a debate with me on that point?”), and predictably stonewalls.
China is now the world’s largest automaker. It extended its lead in February “after the government cut taxes on some models.” Imagine that.
From the International Herald Tribune — ” U.S. banks may pay dearly for government aid.” Reportedly, “Some bankers say the conditions have become so onerous that they want to give the bailout money back.” I wouldn’t bet against the government preventing that from happening. The article claims that regulators haven’t “set up a process to accept the repayments.” Do you think they’re in any hurry?
In the Boston Globe (HT Hot Air), from the “How to Hand Obama a Second Term” Dept. — “Mitt Romney may be in a stronger position for a presidential run than many would have imagined just six months ago.” Ask yourself why an establishment media outlet is trying to position Romney as presumptive leader. It isn’t because the Globe wants a Republican president.
