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Jens 'n' Frens
Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.
"A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures."
-- Daniel Webster
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Saturday, August 20, 2011 :::
A few of my favorite recent findings:- On his recent bus tour, President Obama was faced with a farmer who was concerned about rumors about new USDA regulations.
Obama’s advice was simple: “Contact USDA.”
“Talk to them directly. Find out what it is that you’re concerned about,” Obama told the man. “My suspicion is, a lot of times, they’re going to be able to answer your questions and it will turn out that some of your fears are unfounded.” A reporter from Politico tried to take his advice and didn't get anywhere.
Note also that the USDA is not generally regarded as the most understaffed of federal agencies. John Hinderaker has a joke on this subject from his childhood in South Dakota.
A few years ago, I was on a Greek island and asked my guide what a particular building was. That building, it turned out, housed a government agency devoted to assisting the residents of the island in navigating the various government agencies. I hope we're not yet to the point of needing such a thing, but I'm pretty sure we are. - Charles Krauthammer scolds the president for decrying partisanship while practicing it. That's quite a simplification, actually - a reading of the full Krauthammer is advised.
- There has been much talk of Rick Perry's job creation record lately, and whether it's all it's cracked up to be. Megan McArdle explains why the Texas job numbers are robust but Perry can't claim much credit.
Perry is, of course, not the first politician to claim that good job numbers are his doing. Nor is Obama the first to claim that bad job numbers are less his doing than "bad luck". The Obamas of the world have the better case realistically and the weaker case politically, though I suspect some of Obama's policies have somewhat exacerbated his bad luck. In particular, I think some of his policies have encouraged the growth of the federal bureaucracy - not the Department of Agriculture, as far as I've noticed, but since I'm trying to tie everything here together so I can go to bed, I'll go with it.
::: posted by Steven at 12:42 AM
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