Gary Crooks

Large scale HC reform is dead

Corporate speech protected

Before getting into today’s topic, please head over to YouTube, enter “Test Your Awareness: Do The Test” and watch. I’ll wait here. Finished? OK. Did you notice the moonwalking gorilla the first time? Me either.

Awareness test

Tuesday's Loose Thread

Labor unions have been excused from the tax on “Cadillac” health care plans until 2018, which has drawn strong rebukes. “This latest back-room maneuver is another example of how administration officials and their enablers in Congress will cut deals with their special-interest allies to impose a government takeover of health care,” said U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the senior Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee.

Wednesday's Loose Thread

Washington state’s medicinal marijuana law is dopey. It is legal to have a certain amount of pot with a doctor’s prescription, but the police might bust you for obtaining or dispensing it. Voters approved the law in 1998, but the state Legislature has done very little to make it workable. It isn’t hard, but if lawmakers are truly flummoxed, they could look to their New Jersey counterparts, who on Monday passed a medical marijuana law that includes a framework for implementation.

Tuesday's Loose Thread

Best presidents, according to Libertarians

Monday's Loose Thread

A group of scientists has come to the conclusion that lopping off the tops of mountains to gain better access to coal is bad for the environment. Never saw that one coming. The predictable damage to streams, rivers and wildlife has been known for a long time. The grotesque appearance of these denuded landscapes speaks for itself. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agrees, but it continues to grant permits. It’s like French Revolution-era doctors declaring that decapitation is bad for one’s health while handing out guillotines.

Photo red

Ask the senator

Perhaps one good outcome of tight budgets will be the death of the death penalty. Fifteen states have rescinded capital punishment since the U.S. Supreme Court revived it in a 1976 ruling, with the latest being New Mexico. The Connecticut Legislature passed a similar bill last year, but the governor vetoed it. Washington was one of 11 states where legislatures considered abolishing the death penalty last year but didn’t. However, as lawmakers in Olympia get ready to kick people out of vital safety-net programs to close a huge budget gap, they ought to revisit the issue.

Tuesday's Loose Thread

Monday's Loose Thread

It was really thoughtful of former Vice President Dick Cheney to step forward and offer constructive criticism about the speed with which President Barack Obama publicly responded to the failed airliner attack. “As I’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war,” Cheney said on Tuesday, four days after the incident.

Wednesday's Loose Thread

So as 2009 winds down, you assess the damage and say good riddance. Then you sneak a peek at your investment returns. Say, not bad. Maybe your 401(k) and other investments have grown by 20 percent to 30 percent. You start feeling optimistic, but then you come across an article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal that is as welcome as another layoff announcement. What? They don’t adjust for inflation? They do it for just about everything else, so why not investments?

Headlines for 2010

Monday's Loose Thread

’Twas the fight before Christmas On Capitol Hill.

Friday's Loose Thread