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Orange Punch is a blog of political opinion from a libertarian perspective by Orange County Register editorial writers. The main bloggers are editorial writers Steven Greenhut, mostly but not exclusively on public policy issues in Orange County, and
Recent Posts Tagged With 'obama administration'
Obama’s Copenhagen flop, global warming style
Not only is the global warming shakedown falling apart in Copenhagen, so too, it seems is the image of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Barack H. Obama. Vanity Fair, not exactly a nest of right-wing whackos, put it this way: “He came, he saw, he disap...
Government job math. Ya gotta love it.
Some incredible things have come out of the mouth of Joe Biden, but we never cease to be amazed nonetheless. The latest is his report on his boss’ so-called clean-energy initiative, and how many jobs it will create. Hold on to your hat. Joe say...
Democrat congos keep retiring
If three is a trend, what is four? Bart Gordon of TN has announced that he will not seek a 14th term but plans to retire from the House. He joins Dennis Moore (KS), John Tanner (TN) and Brian Baird (WA) as Democrats in swing districts who have announ...
Obama’s (possible) calculation
What everybody who has studied the matter even a little knew going into Obama’s speech last night was that he simply had no good options — even stopping military action and beginning troop withdrawal immediately, which I have advocated, w...
Another Gitmo official quits
Even though Phillip Carter is a former WaPo staffer, this story on him resigning as asst. SecDef for detainee affairs doesn’t even pretend to try to dig for possible deeper reasons for the resignation, contenting itself with the official boiler...
Need a reason (or several) not to socialize health care?
If this pending socialized health care bill becomes law, or some other version of ObamaCare, what will it mean? The CATO Institute lists just a few of the remifications: 1. Eight of 10 of the most recent major medical innovations (like MRIs and hip r...
Really rethinking Asian policy
Responding to Obama’s Asian trip Doug Bandow did a piece consistent with what he’s been saying a long time (he did a book advocating military withdrawal from Korea in 1996) on what kinds of policy changes might ensue if we really rethough...
Phantom jobs in phantom congressional districts
A watchdog site led by former GOP staffers called the Frankin Center for Government and Public Integrity has been having great fun with reports on the White House’s recovery.gov site, which purports to track all the jobs “saved or created...
Obamacare is off just a teeny bit. Oops.
The Heritage Foundation reminds us of President Barack Obama’s grand promise back in the Rose Garden on Nov. 7: “The Affordable Health Care for America Act is a piece of legislation that will provide stability and security for Americans who ...
Obama slow on judicial nominations
Law professor Jonathan Adler over at the Volokh Conspiracy, notes that the Obama administration has been much slower nominating federal judges than the Bush administration was at a comparable point in time. As the NYT has also noted, by this point Bu...
Greg Craig out as White House counsel
White House counsel Gregory Craig has resigned and he will be replaced by — are you ready? — Bob Bauer who is President Obama’s personal lawyer. The general impression you get from most of the news stories is that nobody was satisfi...
Government invents “rights,” forces you to engage in them
Here’s a radical concept: government’s only legitimate excuse for existence is to protect the G0d-given rights of its people. Notice anything about that universal truth today? Yeah, government not only exists today to create rights for it...
Nothing to fear but health care reform itself
The Affordable Health Care for America Act, perhaps the most inappropriately named legislation since California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, should frighten anyone who ever expects to need a doctor, or a dollar. An old buddy, Bob Knight, sum...
Health care reform will save money?
One of the loudest fictions in the so-called health care debate is that these massive government mandates and regulations will some how make things less expensive. Gee, that’s probably true if you don’t consider the added taxes, regulator...
Opt out of a federal government program? Right
What gracious folks we have in Washington, who while threatening to shove down America’s throat a “public option” for health insurance coverage, in their big-hearted way may allow states to “opt out.” Admittedly, I haven...
Aren’t those government job numbers (too) amazing?
We’re old enough to recall the first time a widely acknowledged “credibility gap” developed thanks to an incredible (or is it uncredible) president. Now come these marvelous job numbers from the White House. Or perhaps not so marvel...
Iraq bombings seem aimed at Maliki
The horrific car bombs that rocked Baghdad Sunday and killed at least 132 people seemed to be aimed at the Maliki government, a devastating reminder that the government in power can’t protect even people in its key ministries. Taken with a bomb...
Did they mention transparency in government?
We are shocked, shocked to find that the inspector general says there’s a lack of transparency in government in the nation’s capital. Oh, my, is that a change we can believe in? “In a scathing report” by a government watchdog,...
