apple juice

I have a new favorite blog…

The failure of Drill Baby, Drill

“U.S. oil production is on track to hit its highest level since 1993. What has that done to gas prices for consumers? Virtually nothing. Yet again, analysts are pointing out the obvious: even with massive increases in domestic oil drilling, the impact on gasoline prices is minimal. That’s because oil is a global market and U.S. supplies — even with historic increases — still don’t make a major dent.”

I blogged about this earlier in the year in a short note encouraging an increase in the gas tax. I still think it is a good idea.

WWJD?

Seeing a Homosexual Agenda, Christian Group Protests an Anti-Bullying Program – NYTimes.com

“But this year, the American Family Association, a conservative evangelical group, has called the project ‘a nationwide push to promote the homosexual lifestyle in public schools’ and is urging parents to keep their children home from school on Oct. 30, the day most of the schools plan to participate this year.”

The Lifestyles Of The Poor And Uninsured:

“But what stuck in my craw is that Romney insists on housing these sickly, imagined uninsured people in apartments. I think it’s safe to say Romney isn’t much of an apartment guy. But though it’s probably accurate that homeowners are less likely to be uninsured than renters, it sounds to me like Romney’s caricatured lower class people in his mind and let it color the way he talks about their problems. If you’re uninsured, you can’t possibly have it together enough to own property, and, hey, probably you live in squalor too.”

(Via Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall.)

Exactly what I thought when I heard this quote the first time: Apartments.

If you live in a house, you obviously have health insurance, right?

This should blow your mind…

What really happened in Libya?

On Libya, Biden Let Ryan Get Away with Murder (Smith):

“Even more stunning were the events of September 22. In a pre-planned protest, the citizens of Benghazi marched 30,000 strong, calling for Islamist militias to be disbanded and incorporated into the national army. Some of the protesters carried banners memorializing Chris Stevens and chanted pro-American slogans. At the end of their march, the protesters ransacked the headquarters of the militias responsible for the consulate attack and drove them out of town. In a parallel action, the Libyan government redoubled its ongoing drive to clear militias from Tripoli. The Libya Herald attributed this action in part to the death of Ambassador Stevens, who was beloved by Libyans and has become something of a martyr for law and order. Clearly Stevens did not die in vain. His sacrifice may have accomplished more for the future of Libya than Romney’s proposed two trillion-dollar increase in military spending ever could.”

(Via Informed Comment.)

PolitiFact | Fact-checking the vice presidential debate:

“Ryan, in his closing statement, said Obama ‘made his choices,’ including ‘a government takeover of health care.’ The phrase is simply not true. ‘Government takeover’ conjures a European approach where the government owns the hospitals and the doctors are public employees. But Obama’s health care law relies largely on the free market.  We voted ‘a government takeover of health care’ our Lie of the Year for 2010.”

The 6 Studies Paul Ryan Cited Prove Mitt Romney’s Tax Plan Is Impossible – Matthew O’Brien – The Atlantic:

“In other words, Romney’s plan only works if you assume he has a different plan or use a magic growth asterisk. And that means we have no idea what he would do if he wins. Does he care more about his tax rate cuts, about not hiking taxes on the middle class, or not increasing the deficit? His adviser Kevin Hassett suggested they would back off the high-end tax rate cuts if it would increase the deficit, but Romney quickly denied that. He’s also denied reality, by relying on studies that only prove his critics’ point.”