The American Guesser

The photo is kind of symbolic. The Big Two parties have been playing footsie and putting on an act for decades. I mean, there are obvious difference between Obama and Sarah Palin. She’s nuts and he’s just wrong half the time.

Via American Journalism Review:

Speaking of dead, the death panels canard is another one that refuses to disappear, helped along by the antics of cynically manipulative politicians. Somehow, the notion of having Medicare pay for voluntary end-of-life counseling sessions has morphed in the minds of opponents of health care legislation into evil cabals killing the elderly. It is, as Jackson says, a “complete misrepresentation.” He adds, “Hip replacements are covered by Medicare, but they aren’t mandatory.”

Of course, it’s not as if the right has a monopoly on misinformation. While Obama has said repeatedly that health care reform will pay for itself, that isn’t the case with versions of the bill drafted thus far. And Congress hasn’t helped with what Jackson calls the “untransparent” approach it has taken to putting the legislation together.

In communist China and Cuba, they are allowing more and more free enterprise. They ought to try it in New York City:

To 10-year-old Clementine Lee, setting up a lemonade stand at Riverside Park on a hot Saturday afternoon seemed like a fun way to make money.

Instead, she and her dad got slapped with a $50 fine.

“I was kind of nervous, and I also really felt bad because I didn’t know I was doing something against the law,” Clementine said.

Lousy bullies.

No, this isn’t a post about legalized prostitution. It’s about ballot access and the lack thereof.

Via Ballot Access News:

On August 18, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court again upheld the unique Pennsylvania practice of charging candidates for the costs of removing them from the ballot. The Court issued a one-sentence order in the 2006 Green Party case, affirming that the Court’s prior opinion stands, and that the Green Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate in 2006 and his attorney must pay approximately $80,000 to the people who challenged their petition.

If petition challenges work in Pennsylvania like they do here in Illinois, the extremely political. Sometimes, state workers are dispatched to make sure those nasty greens and libertarians are kept out of the process.