Headlines and Highlights (030711, Morning)

Ann Althouse has continued to be on the scene in Madison:

• She’s not impressed with yesterday’s Tea Party “Take Out the Trash” effort.
• Jesse Jackson — “We’ve gone from Wallace to Walker.” Are we sure Walker and the evil Kochs aren’t paying Jesse to be there?
• Protesters need “Guides for Talking on the Telephone“?

As they say, “Keep scrolling.”

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Even if you’re a fan of the coal-powered Chevy Volt, which by the way sold a non-electrifying 281 units in February, this video will make your head hurt.

And yes, it is an officially sanctioned production of Government/General Motors, whose stock by the way closed on Friday below its initial public offering price.

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At the New York Times, David Carr claims (“The Fading Power of Beck’s Alarms”) that “Fox and Glenn Beck Stare into a Dark Future” (that’s the search engine-optimizing window title). Artificial ratings peak-picking rules the day; of course he’s going to be down from last summer’s national rally time period, but to say that indicates weakness is absurd, especially given the pathetic competition.

Based on Thursday’s cable ratings, I’d say that Carr engages in wishful thinking. It’s like saying late-1990s dynasty New York Yankees were facing a “dark future” because they were only in first place by 10 games instead of 15.

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Obamacare waivers have passed the 1,000 mark. So much for equal protection.

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Michelle Bachmann stands by “her” characterization of the Obama administration as a “Gangster Government.“ Well of course she should. It has been a Gangster Government since before the even-keeled Michael Barone first coined the term in May 2009 in the wake of the government’s rip-off of secured non-TARP lenders during Chrysler’s bankruptcy proceedings.

A year ago Barone called Gangster Government “a long-running series — because it has been. In the wake of Florida judge Vinson’s ruling voiding Obamacare in its entirety, the administration’s continued granting of waivers as if nothing has happened is a more current Gangster Government example.

Update: This is what gangsters and tyrants do —

Despite openness pledge, President Obama pursues leakers

In just over two years since President Barack Obama took office, prosecutors have filed criminal charges in five separate cases involving unauthorized distribution of classified national security information to the media.

… legal experts and good-government advocates say the hard-line approach to leaks has a chilling effect on whistleblowers, who fear harsh legal reprisals if they dare to speak up.

Not only that, these advocates say, it runs counter to Obama’s pledges of openness by making it a crime to shine a light on the inner workings of government – especially when there are measures that could protect the nation’s interests without hauling journalists into court and government officials off to jail.

… leak prosecutions brought under Obama amount to “almost twice as many as all previous presidents put together,” noted Daniel Ellsberg, who changed history and helped set a legal precedent when he handed the Pentagon’s top-secret assessment of the Vietnam War to New York Times reporters four decades ago. “The campaign here against whistleblowers is actually unprecedented in legal terms.”

Gangsters aren’t fond of snitches.

If you’re a Democrat, you have to be going way over the top to be getting a call-out from Daniel Ellsberg.