Sunday, June 29, 2014

"We Found 9 Howlers in the President’s Weekly Address. See How Many You Can Find."


 
"Of course, you know that the President usually releases a weekly address each Saturday morning. This week’s was rivetingly-titled “Focusing on the Economic Priorities for the Middle Class Nationwide.” We can only assume that the unpublished subtitle, per our inside source, is “Republicans are Nasty Nasty Nasty S---- of B------ and are Wrecking Everything.”

"We identified 9 asinine statements in this brief talk, so grab a pad of paper and see if you can find more of your own." ...  Read more...
Michael Hausam             

Shifting Sands

Clarice Feldman   "If you paid close attention this week, you could see the sand shifting under Obama’s feet. From public opinion to the federal courts to the president’s former putative allies, it was not a good week to be Obama, and it’s likely to get worse for him. Walkabouts in D.C., travels to distant fundraisers, preposterous flailing on the international scene, and more shots with his cute kids are not going to change the situation as far as I can tell. Yet he lacks other options.
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There is much detailed content in MS, Feldman's column and this last paragraph sums it all up nicely:

"However this turns out, the president’s petulance, disrespect for the coequal branches of government, and boundless view of his powers continues to add to the kinds of uncertainty and stasis that is so harmful to our economic and political life. His shortcomings deny him firm footing …they are a kind of quicksand into which he is rapidly sinking beyond rescue."

 

"The number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed in Wisconsin fell to 140 last year, a drop of more than 50% since 1999."

Althouse   "At the same time, a state-run malpractice insurance fund — created because of fears that medical malpractice insurance premiums would skyrocket without it — has grown to more than $1.15 billion, a total larger than all the money it has paid out during its entire 39-year history."

From 2010: Doctors Apologizing for Medical Malpractice Won’t Alone Stop Lawsuits   
 
 
"A recent Bloomberg Business Week article caught my eye.  The headline read “When Doctors Admit Mistakes, Fewer Malpractice Suits Result, Study Says.”  It was an eye-catching title because it seemed to indicate that basic human decency was an effective way to reduce unnecessary patient lawsuits.  Some would say that I have a naïve outlook toward human nature, but I believe that most disputes, especially those that can lead to lawsuits, can be resolved by the harming party simply admitting fault and sincerely apologizing for it.  So opening up the article, I expected to have my beliefs vindicated.  Unfortunately, they were not."   More...