{"id":4575,"date":"2012-02-29T22:49:25","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T03:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=4575"},"modified":"2012-02-29T22:49:25","modified_gmt":"2012-03-01T03:49:25","slug":"the-daily-gouge-thursday-march-1st-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/?p=4575","title":{"rendered":"The Daily Gouge, Thursday, March 1st, 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>It&#8217;s Thursday, March 1st, 2012&#8230;.but before we begin, we pause a moment to recognize the passing of pop legend:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 id=\"article-title\" style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\">The Monkees singer Davy Jones dead at 66<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lens2021133_1237667893The_Monkees_Theme_Song_Lyrics.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4596\" title=\"lens2021133_1237667893The_Monkees_Theme_Song_Lyrics\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lens2021133_1237667893The_Monkees_Theme_Song_Lyrics.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"226\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Forget John Lennon, THIS guy we&#8217;ll miss.\u00a0 He gave TLJ and us many happy memories (we&#8217;re listening to <em>Daydream Believer<\/em> as we write); as Neil Diamond wrote, done too soon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Now, here&#8217;s The Gouge!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We lead off the first edition of March 2012 with a headline that might well have been written today&#8230;.except it wasn&#8217;t:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Energy Secretary Chu Embraces High Gas Prices, Again<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/By9pIyl8v8Q\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>It was featured almost a year ago, March 21, 2011 to be exact, in <em>Heritage.org<\/em>&#8216;s <em>The Foundry<\/em>.\u00a0 The &#8220;Again&#8221; referenced was the occasion of Energy Secretary Steven Chu defending a 2009 statement advocating $8\/gallon gasoline prices to force the public off of oil.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Not satisfied with twice having voiced Team Tick-Tock&#8217;s intention to beggar average Americans, Chu used his appearance Wednesday before a House committee to restate what should be a ready-made campaign ad for the GOP:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cBut is the overall goal to get our price\u201d of gasoline down, asked [Mississippi Congressman] Nunnelee .<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>\u201cNo, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>the overall goal is to decrease our dependency on oil, to build and strengthen our economy<\/em><\/span>,\u201d Chu replied. <span style=\"color: #333399;\">\u201c<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>We think that if you consider all these energy policies, including energy efficiency, we think that we can go a long way to becoming less dependent on oil and [diversifying] our supply and we\u2019ll help the American economy and the American consumers<\/em><\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Chu obviously didn&#8217;t win his Nobel Prize in Economics (though having done so hasn&#8217;t stopped Paul Krugman from displaying an abysmal ignorance of the subject), but one would think a guy brilliant enough to win one in Physics would understand $8+\/gallon gasoline and helping the economy are mutually exclusive goals.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>As Hank Murphy noted, the major difference between genius and stupidity is genius has its limitations.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Consider the federal government; the Department of Agriculture is proud to distribute the greatest number of food stamps ever, while at the same time the National Park Service pleads Americans to not feed the animals, as it makes them dependent and unable to fend for themselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The energy debacle represents Team Tick-Tock at its core; Republicans need to be hammering this point home from now until the election.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Since we&#8217;re on the subject of the message the GOP needs to convey to America, the <em>WSJ<\/em>&#8216;s Dan Henninger offers his thoughts on&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Obama&#8217;s Mythical America<\/span><\/h1>\n<h2 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\">The president will win if his Depression-era picture of America goes unanswered.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">It of course was no coincidence that on the day Michiganders voted to give Mitt Romney a three-point win in his primary shootout with Rick Santorum, Barack Obama delivered a high-powered defense of the Detroit auto bailout to the United Auto Workers Convention. No, he wasn&#8217;t in Detroit. That&#8217;s the UAW&#8217;s second favorite city. He and the UAW were in home sweet home\u2014Washington, D.C. That&#8217;s where the money is.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>A pattern is emerging. <span style=\"color: #333399;\">Like some World Wrestling troupe on tour, the Republican rasslers travel through their primary states slamming each other into the turnbuckles.<\/span> By contrast\u2014and &#8220;contrast&#8221; is the most important word in election politics\u2014the incumbent president continues to deliver the same speech, which defines him as saving America from them.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #333399;\">To be sure, the Obama re-election speech, as delivered to the auto union this week, isn&#8217;t very presidential.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">It sounds like something one might have heard around South America in the 1950s: &#8220;They&#8217;re saying that the problem is that you, the workers, made out like bandits. . . .<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Even by the standards of this town [Washington] that&#8217;s a load of you-know-what.&#8221; <span style=\"color: #008000;\">(It certainly <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>IS<\/em><\/span>!)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/OB-RZ984_wl0301_DV_20120229172139.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4593\" title=\"OB-RZ984_wl0301_DV_20120229172139\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/OB-RZ984_wl0301_DV_20120229172139.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"262\" height=\"262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/OB-RZ984_wl0301_DV_20120229172139.jpg 262w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/OB-RZ984_wl0301_DV_20120229172139-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 262px) 100vw, 262px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\">But make no mistake: Barack Obama is defining his opposition, clearly and relentlessly.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Meanwhile, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are ensuring that their own base will end up with no idea who its nominee really is or what he stands for.<\/span><\/span><\/strong> That&#8217;s not quite right. One thing is proven: Both have traduced &#8220;conservative principles.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The Obama campaign knows it has to compete in big, &#8220;working-class&#8221; states laden with electoral votes\u2014Ohio (18 electoral votes), Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (16) and Wisconsin (10). <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #333399;\">To this end, the Obama narrative, his mythic America the Unfair, is now set.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">As defined in speeches from the State of the Union through the UAW barnburner, it goes like this:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>Working men and women are the true American patriots:<\/strong><\/span> &#8220;It&#8217;s unions like yours that helped build an arsenal of democracy that defeated fascism.&#8221; (A nice Gingrichian touch there.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">You were in trouble:<\/span><\/strong> &#8220;The heartbeat of American manufacturing was flatlining.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>They were going to sell you out:<\/strong><\/span> &#8220;Some even said we should &#8216;let Detroit go bankrupt.'&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">I saved you:<\/span><\/strong> &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t just because of anything management did. It was because I believed in you. I placed my bet [the $80 billion bailout] on American workers.&#8221; <\/em><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>(Sorry, was that YOUR money, B. Hussein Douche Breath?!?)<\/strong><\/span><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>They resent you:<\/strong><\/span> &#8220;They&#8217;re still talking about you as if you were some greedy special interest that needs to be beaten.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>The deck is stacked:<\/strong><\/span> &#8220;We will not settle for a country where a few people do really well, and everyone else struggles to get by.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>The answer, as always, is America&#8217;s abandoned values:<\/strong><\/span> &#8220;Hard work. Fair play. The opportunity to make it if you try.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Only one place to go\u2014to the ramparts:<\/strong><\/span> &#8220;So I&#8217;ll promise you this: As long as you&#8217;ve got an ounce of fight left in you, I&#8217;ll have a ton of fight left in me. . . . God bless the work you do, and God bless America.&#8221; <\/em><strong><span style=\"color: #008000;\">(So much for the politics of unity and healing.)<\/span><\/strong><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #333399;\">This is a caricature of a $15 trillion American economy functioning amid the complexities of the world circa 2012.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Even Upton Sinclair, who wrote this sort of thing in &#8220;The Jungle&#8221; in 1906, would be embarrassed to pump out such a vision today. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">(Which is par for the course for this Administration.)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong>Embarrassment is not in the Obama vocabulary.<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Mr. Obama&#8217;s stock &#8220;working man&#8221; speech has been designed to paint the affluent businessman Mitt Romney as a cartoon Monopoly figure. <span style=\"color: #333399;\">Who would buy it?<\/span> The same sort of people who bought Mitt Romney&#8217;s caricature of Newt Gingrich in Florida. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">(With all due respect to Dan Henninger, which is quite significant, we&#8217;re not sure we agree with that.)<\/span> <span style=\"color: #333399;\">In politics, simple works, if simple is repeated and goes unanswered.<\/span> And of course the Obama working-man myth is intended as a marker against Rick Santorum&#8217;s variation of the myth pulled from the Pennsylvania coalfields.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Excepting the unlikely event that Mr. Romney sweeps Super Tuesday next week, it looks as though the Republican candidates could run until the June 5 primary with California&#8217;s 172 delegates and New Jersey&#8217;s 50 at stake. If what&#8217;s to come the next three months is more of the same, then the winner, whether Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum, will emerge as pulp. Neither man is likely to let up on the other. So be it. That&#8217;s how this game is played.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #333399;\">Inexcusable, though, would be if the GOP bruisers let Barack Obama&#8217;s Depression-era portrait of America to go unchallenged.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">On current course, enough American voters really will believe that Barack Obama saved them from the 1930s. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">(Which is why Newt needs to recognize the inevitable and start serving the country instead of himself and his wide-eyed third wife by dropping his hopeless candidacy and start acting as the party&#8217;s hatchet man.)<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #333399;\">But this rewrite of reality is precisely where Mr. Obama is most vulnerable.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>The economic and social world Barack Obama inhabits, and has always inhabited, is totally static<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Your lot in life\u2014income, status, mobility\u2014is largely set, with little prospect of escaping upward<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>He spoke in the UAW speech of &#8220;sons and daughters&#8221; aspiring to assembly-line jobs held by their grandparents<\/em><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">(So much for his stated goal of 99% of American kids attending college&#8230;.unless of course the entire 1% who don&#8217;t belong to the UAW.) <\/span><span style=\"color: #333399;\">Even they don&#8217;t believe life is that static.<\/span><\/strong><\/span> He promises to solve their economic problems by expropriating money from the wealthy. (France&#8217;s Socialist presidential candidate called for a 75% top tax rate this week.) <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Boeing will be forced to make planes in Washington state\u2014forever. <span style=\"color: #333399;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Naturally this president&#8217;s biggest believers live in Hollywood<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #333399;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Most Americans are not so credulous.<\/span> But unless the GOP candidates start spending more time dismantling Obama&#8217;s mythical America instead of each other, this grim fairy tale could win.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sorta like a Republican candidate canvassing Democrats for support in his opponents home-state primary?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Speaking of The Gang That Still Can&#8217;t Hit Anything But Their Feet, the <em>Morning Examiner<\/em>&#8216;s Conn Carroll offers his observations on the Tuesday primary results:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Santorum\u2019s blue surge fizzles<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><\/strong>Almost 10 percent of those who voted in yesterday\u2019s Michigan primary were Democrats, but those liberal votes were not enough to push Rick Santorum over Mitt Romney last night. <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>You can easily see the influence of Santorum\u2019s liberal voters in the exit polls. <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Santorum won among those who oppose the Tea Party, 39 percent to 35 percent, and union households, 45 percent to 30 percent.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Santorum also won among some regularly more social conservative demographics. Those who believe abortion should always be illegal went for Santorum 60 percent to 25 percent. And Santorum dominated among voters who picked abortion as the most important issue in 2012, 77 percent to 13 percent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">While Romney did have a good night, he beat Santorum 41 percent to 38 percent in Michigan and 47 percent to 26 percent in Arizona, he still showed some weaknesses among key groups. He lost 18-29-year-olds to Ron Paul, 37 percent to 26 percent. He lost those who never attended college, 42 percent to 36 percent. And he lost those making less than $50,000 a year, 41 percent to 36 percent.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Romney does not have a lot of time to savor these wins. Super Tuesday is next Tuesday. He is behind by double digits in Georgia, Ohio, and Oklahoma. <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>A normal candidate would expect a big bounce out of two huge wins in different regions of the country. <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">But Romney has proven completely incapable of sustaining any political momentum.<\/span> Remember his \u201cI\u2019m not concerned about the very poor,\u201d line after he won Florida?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Santorum suffered two big losses last night, but nothing big enough to knock him out of the race. Unless Romney suddenly becomes a much better campaigner, this\u00a0 campaign could go all the way to the convention.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Earth to Senator Sweater Vest; &#8220;Reagan Democrats&#8221; are extinct, the term an absolute oxymoron in the current culture&#8230;.and you know it.\u00a0 Santorum&#8217;s plea to Michigan Democrats was a tactic born of desperation; and it doesn&#8217;t reflect well upon either the candidate or his suitability for office.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>In a related item, the <em>WSJ<\/em> describes&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Romney&#8217;s Rebound<\/span><\/h1>\n<h2 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">He won in Michigan on the economy.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>For all of his struggles as a campaigner, Mitt Romney doesn&#8217;t lack for resilience. <span style=\"color: #800080;\">That character trait is essential in a President, and Mr. Romney proved again Tuesday that he has it by winning primaries in Arizona and in an especially rough contest against Rick Santorum in Michigan.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Mr. Romney never makes it look easy, but as Hillary Clinton knows from 2008, victory beats the alternative<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">While narrow, Mr. Romney&#8217;s triumph in Michigan was important in showing he could win his native state and in the Midwest. <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>He won in part by hammering away at Mr. Santorum&#8217;s voting record on spending and union issues as a two-term Senator.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>But Mr. Romney also improved his case for his own candidacy, stressing a reform agenda as much as his business biography.<\/strong><\/span> In the final days in particular, he pressed his new plan for a 20% across-the-board income tax cut, as well as Medicare reform. <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>He stressed his ability to revive the economy, which remains the dominant issue even among conservatives, despite the prominence of social issues in the last week.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Mr. Romney still lost among tea partiers and the most conservative voters, and he&#8217;s never going to look like a natural populist.<\/span> He&#8217;s lousy at faking sincerity.<\/strong><\/span> But in Mr. Santorum he is facing his most formidable conservative rival, a candidate with genuine populist skills and resonance. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Mr. Romney&#8217;s comeback in Michigan speaks well of his determination, as well as his appeal across a large swath of Republican and independent voters. <span style=\"color: #800080;\">He also won despite some strategic Democratic voting for Mr. Santorum.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>As for the former Pennsylvania Senator, one lesson is to do less swinging from the lip.<\/strong><\/span> We don&#8217;t hold with those, on the left and right, who say Mr. Santorum isn&#8217;t &#8220;electable&#8221; in November because of his views on social issues. His views are no different than Mr. Romney&#8217;s on those issues, and in opposing gay marriage he&#8217;s no different than President Obama.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>The problem is tone and, well, political maturity.<\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">It simply isn&#8217;t Presidential to say that reading John F. Kennedy&#8217;s speech on the separation of church and state made him &#8220;throw up.&#8221;<\/span> Many listeners won&#8217;t get past the crudeness to hear his argument, which is overstated in any case.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">JFK in 1960 wasn&#8217;t saying that religious values shouldn&#8217;t ever inform government. He said that his own faith and the institutions of the Catholic Church would not dictate his decisions as President. This was important to say in a country that was Protestant-dominated with large pockets of anti-Catholic sentiment and had never elected a Catholic President.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Religion is now far more under siege than it was then in American public life, and millions would welcome a President who will speak up for religious values and freedom. <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>The key is to defend those values against government attack, not to sound as if he wants to impose his values on other Americans<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Mr. Santorum should consider a serious speech of his own on the subject, of the sort Kennedy delivered, rather than always speaking off the cuff in TV interviews or at town halls. It&#8217;s nice to hear an unscripted candidate, but a serious subject like the role of religion in modern public life deserves more thoughtful treatment. Mr. Obama showed how such treatment can help politically when he delivered his speech on race in the 2008 primaries. To get elected, Mr. Santorum needs to reassure non-religious voters as much as he needs to speak on behalf of the faithful.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The race moves on to Super Tuesday next week, and if past is prologue it is far from over. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>The media are already predicting that no Republican can defeat Mr. Obama, despite his low approval rating and 8.3% unemployment, and many GOP hand-wringers seem to agree. <span style=\"color: #008000;\">(Gee, whose side are <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>THEY<\/em><\/span> on?!?)<\/span> <span style=\"color: #800080;\">But most of the American public hasn&#8217;t begun to pay close attention, much less decided to re-elect this President.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The candidates can help themselves if they stop playing the game of who-is-the-real-conservative? They are all conservatives of one stripe or another.<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong> GOP voters want to hear a critique of Mr. Obama, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>but above all they want to hear an agenda and vision for a better future that can rally a majority to defeat him<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Which brings us to a rather lengthy but pertinent piece by Peter Suderman writing at <em>Reason.com<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Is RomneyCare Working?<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Here\u2019s the latest good news about RomneyCare, the 2006 Massachusetts health care overhaul that served as the model for President Obama\u2019s 2010 reform: <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>It might not wreck the state\u2019s budget quite as fast as previously thought<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">As Ezra Klein noted yesterday, a new analysis of the 2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data by Fred Bauer indicates that health premiums in Massachusetts are not rising as fast as they were. <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>The most favorable statistic? <span style=\"color: #008080;\">After several years of family health insurance premiums rising faster than the national average, average family premiums in the Bay State actually dropped slightly in 2010.<\/span> As <em>The Boston<\/em> <em>Globe<\/em> noted last December, instead of boasting the most expensive employer-sponsored family health insurance premiums in the U.S., as it did in 2008 and 2009, the state&#8217;s 2010 premiums are merely in the top quintile, coming in at number nine. <span style=\"color: #008080;\">By other measures, Massachusetts&#8217; premiums are still rising, though the rate of growth slowed in 2010.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Klein argues that this means that \u201cRomneyCare is working. Across the board.\u201d <span style=\"color: #008080;\">But at minimum, I think it\u2019s too early to tell.<\/span> Bauer notes\u2014and Klein quotes\u2014that between 2006 and 2010, \u201cemployer-sponsored health-care premiums for a family rose about 19% in Massachusetts, while they rose about 22% in the US as a whole.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/RomneyFudge.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4588\" title=\"RomneyFudge\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/RomneyFudge-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/RomneyFudge-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/RomneyFudge.jpg 395w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><strong><em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">This is almost as funny as the Dukakis tank photo<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">This suggests a four-year shift starting in the year that RomneyCare passed. <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>But in fact, between 2006 and 2009 family premiums in Massachusetts rose faster than in the rest of the nation: Bay State premiums were 108 percent higher than the U.S. average in 2006, 112.1 percent higher in 2008, and 113 percent higher in 2009 (no data is available for 2007).<\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">The favorable comparison to the U.S. growth rate is accomplished by the change in the final year.<\/span>\u00a0 So far, at least, this isn\u2019t a trend\u2014it\u2019s a blip.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">With individual premiums, the story is similar, though the difference is even less dramatic. Bauer notes that although \u201chealth-insurance premium growth did not slow as much for individuals as it did for family plans\u2026 it still did slow in absolute terms and relative to the nation as a whole.\u201d He continues:<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>By the 2008-2010 period, the individual premium in Massachusetts grew about 5% slower than it did for the US (Bay State premiums grew 11.9% while US premiums grew 12.6%), so the gap between the two premium growth rates did narrow over the period.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\">As with family premiums, however, the change that makes the story is in 2010.<\/span> From 2006 through 2009, Massachusetts average individual premiums rose steadily faster than the national rates, going from 108 percent of the national average in 2006 to 112.8 percent in 2009. <span style=\"color: #008080;\">But in 2010, the growth rate dropped: Bay State premiums came in at 109.6 percent of the national average.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Once again, the work is done by a single year<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>And what happened during that single year?<\/strong><\/span> For one thing, the economy was in the midst of a miserable recession: The crash at the end of 2008 led to layoffs and thrift throughout 2009. Given the lag in premium-setting cycles, the corresponding changes in premiums would\u2019ve shown up most prominently in 2010.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">What else happened in 2010?<\/span><\/strong> <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\">As Bauer notes, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and his insurance commissioner underwent a very public fight over rate increases in the small group health insurance market, rejecting nearly 90 percent of proposed increases under emergency legislation.<\/span> The insurers eventually settled and limited their rate hikes, despite a judgment by an appeals panel overturning the administration\u2019s rate caps for one of the state\u2019s insurers.<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>Bauer argues that the rate hike fight does not \u201cfully explain\u201d the drop in family premiums. <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Surely, however, it explains some of it; in the short term, political pressure and price controls can reduce prices, even if such controls are not sustainable long-term cost-control measures<\/em><\/span>.<\/span> <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>And for a time, they can also exert more subtle pressure throughout a system, acting as an implicit threat<\/em><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>And price controls typically reveal themselves in other ways, which is why it\u2019s worth asking what those premiums were actually buying.<\/strong><\/span> Part of the explanation for the dip in 2010 prices may simply be that insurers and employers were scaling back in terms of what they were buying. In April of 2010, amidst both the specific fight over rate hikes and a broader climate of worry about the state\u2019s rising health care costs, <em>The Boston Globe<\/em> reported that health insurers in the state were beginning to limit access to popular but expensive hospitals; one way to cut back on premiums is to cut back on services.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Meanwhile, in a presentation on premium trends in private health insurance sponsored by the state\u2019s Division of Health Care Finance and Policy last June, Dianna Welch noted that premiums in the state weren\u2019t merely increasing: consumers, in response, were also buying substantially less insurance. That can disguise the growth of premium prices\u2014what she calls \u201cbuy down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>Think about it this way (these numbers are hypothetical): In 2010, you buy a plan for $100. In 2011, you have the option to either buy the same plan for $106 or pay $103 for a less comprehensive plan than in 2010 sold for $90. <span style=\"color: #800080;\">If you take the latter option, you\u2019re actually paying a lot more, on a unit basis, despite the smaller dollar increase.<\/span><\/strong><\/span> It\u2019s not clear how much buy down accounted for the 2010 figures, but we know it was already happening in the years prior: \u00a0Welch notes seeing \u201csignificant\u201d buy down in 2008 and 2009.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>Finally, it\u2019s worth noting that during the same series of presentations, which reviewed data through all of 2009 and preliminary data from 2010, Massachusetts officials and influencers did not view the state\u2019s health spending trends as successful.<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Over the course of three days last summer, various policy bigwigs in the state heard from a who\u2019s who of Massachusetts\u2019 health policy hotshots. <span style=\"color: #008080;\">Here&#8217;s a sampling of what they said about the state&#8217;s health system.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Jeffrey Sanchez, Chairman of Massachusetts Joint Committee on Public Health:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><em>There\u2019s one graph that I enjoy bringing out to groups throughout my district, and even throughout the Commonwealth. It\u2019s that Mass taxpayer foundation pie chart that shows how much our health care costs were in 2000 as opposed to how much we\u2019re spending now. In 2000, we were spending about 20% of our costs. \u00a0Now, we\u2019re up to, what, 34, 35%? It\u2019s just unsustainable.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u00a0<strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\">JudyAnn Bigby, the state\u2019s Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><em>Just in case people don\u2019t know, we spend nearly $37 billion annually on health care in Massachusetts. Given that number, it\u2019s no surprise that it\u2019s the number one player in Massachusetts. Between 2007 and 2008, spending overall increased by nearly 5%. That growth was highest in the private market, at about 6%&#8230;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Jay Gonzalez, from the Executive Office for Administration and Finance:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><em>Health care costs are eating up a bigger and bigger share of the state budget. In 1998, fiscal \u201998, it was about 21% of all state spending. Next year, it will be about 40% of all state spending. \u00a0\u00a0Based on our analysis, if things just continue to go the way they have been going, by 2020, just eight years beyond next year, it will be 50% of the state budget. It is crowding out everything else state government needs to do. &#8230;We\u2019re on a path that if we continue, we will end up being &#8212; government will end up doing nothing more than providing health insurance, which obviously is not an acceptable result.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><em><strong>&#8230;<\/strong>I just want to end by making clear, in case I haven\u2019t already, health care costs, and the growth trend in health care costs, threaten the very viability of government. Everything government does is threatened if we do not address this challenge.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\">This is not a picture of a system that is working\u2014or even on the verge of working.<\/span><\/strong> <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>It is not a system that\u2019s on an obvious track to success, or that has shown mostly positive signals.<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><strong>As recently as last summer, armed with data running through all of 2009 and the early part of 2010, these officials\u2014most of whom have voiced some generalized support for Romney\u2019s health overhaul and its insurance expansion\u2014did not perceive a state health system that was in any way fiscally sound.<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>Which suggests that the 2010 data does not tell us that the Massachusetts health system is firmly headed in the right direction; at very best, it suggests that the system may have taken a single step towards somewhat slower cost growth.<\/strong> <strong><span style=\"color: #008080;\">If so, this would be welcome news. But nationally, premium growth declined in 2010, dropping to about three percent after several years running at five.<\/span> In 2011, however, they shot way up, rising by nine percent. <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Which suggests that this brief slowing of the Bay State\u2019s premium growth may well be just a temporary stopover on the too familiar road to fiscal ruin<\/em><\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>In other words, Taxachusetts is jogging, not sprinting towards fiscal ruin.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Turning to News of the Absolutely Meaningless&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">North Korea <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Agrees<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">to Nuclear Moratorium,<\/span> Says U.S.<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/article-2088854-0F8647F600000578-460_634x359.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4585\" title=\"article-2088854-0F8647F600000578-460_634x359\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/article-2088854-0F8647F600000578-460_634x359-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/article-2088854-0F8647F600000578-460_634x359-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/article-2088854-0F8647F600000578-460_634x359.jpg 634w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><strong><em><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">&#8220;Can you believe those dopes keep falling for the same bullsh*t?!?<\/span><\/em><\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The U.S. said North Korea had agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and to a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also said Wednesday that the North had agreed to allow International Atomic Energy Inspectors to verify and monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment and to confirm disablement of its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Her statement said the U.S. will meet with North Korea to finalize details for a proposed package of 240,000 metric tons of food aid.<\/strong><\/span><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This literally defies comprehension; not only do the NoKo&#8217;s receive the food, almost none of which will ever reach the starving civilian population, absent any verification, but the agreement doesn&#8217;t apply to their plutonium program, which is the key to their current weapons program.\u00a0 Also, the regime included in their acceptance of the agreement the ability to abrogate all of its terms if they, in their sole and absolute discretion, determined future talks weren&#8217;t making progress.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.\u00a0 Anything beyond that requires a career diplomat&#8230;.or a Progressive President desperate to divert attention from his record.\u00a0 Any way you slice it, this more than meets Einstein&#8217;s definition of insanity&#8230;.or&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lucy-football1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4598\" title=\"lucy-football1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lucy-football1-300x230.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lucy-football1-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lucy-football1.jpg 626w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Next up, it was only a matter of time:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Killing babies no different from abortion, experts say<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/new-born-baby-1a.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4597\" title=\"new-born-baby-1a\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/new-born-baby-1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/new-born-baby-1a.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/new-born-baby-1a-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><em>Coming soon to a town, city, county, state and country near you&#8230;.make NO mistake about it!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;Parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed because they are &#8216;morally irrelevant&#8217; and ending their lives is no different to abortion, a group of medical ethicists linked to Oxford University has argued,&#8221; London&#8217;s Daily Telegraph reports:<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The article, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, says newborn babies are not &#8220;actual persons&#8221; and do not have a &#8220;moral right to life<\/span>.&#8221; <span style=\"color: #800080;\">The academics also argue that parents should be able to have their baby killed if it turns out to be disabled when it is born.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong><em><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">The journal&#8217;s editor, Prof Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, said the article&#8217;s authors had received death threats since publishing the article.<\/span> He said those who made abusive and threatening posts about the study were &#8220;fanatics opposed to the very values of a liberal society.&#8221;<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Here&#8217;s a longer excerpt of Savulescu&#8217;s note on the subject:<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong><em>What the response to this article reveals, through the microscope of the web, is the deep disorder of the modern world. <span style=\"color: #800080;\">Not that people would give arguments in favour of infanticide, but the deep opposition that exists now to liberal values and fanatical opposition to any kind of reasoned engagement.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">He&#8217;s half right. People who issue death threats in response to an academic article are indeed &#8220;fanatics opposed to the very values of a liberal society.&#8221; But so are people who write or publish academic articles arguing in favor of the murder of children.<\/p>\n<p><strong>No&#8230;.he&#8217;s all wrong!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>On the Lighter Side&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mrz022912dAPR20120229014641.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4576\" title=\"mrz022912dAPR20120229014641\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mrz022912dAPR20120229014641.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mrz022912dAPR20120229014641.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/mrz022912dAPR20120229014641-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lb0229cd20120228092612.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4577\" title=\"lb0229cd20120228092612\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lb0229cd20120228092612.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lb0229cd20120228092612.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/lb0229cd20120228092612-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/kn022912dAPR20120229124616.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4578\" title=\"kn022912dAPR20120229124616\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/kn022912dAPR20120229124616.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/kn022912dAPR20120229124616.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/kn022912dAPR20120229124616-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/aria_c9683920120229120100.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4579\" title=\"aria_c9683920120229120100\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/aria_c9683920120229120100.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/aria_c9683920120229120100.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/aria_c9683920120229120100-300x177.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/payn_c9683020120229120100.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4580\" title=\"payn_c9683020120229120100\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/payn_c9683020120229120100.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/payn_c9683020120229120100.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/payn_c9683020120229120100-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/sk022912dAPR20120229014619.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4581\" title=\"sk022912dAPR20120229014619\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/sk022912dAPR20120229014619.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/sk022912dAPR20120229014619.jpg 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/sk022912dAPR20120229014619-300x227.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/demotivational-posters-is-he-going.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4582\" title=\"demotivational-posters-is-he-going\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/demotivational-posters-is-he-going.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"492\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/demotivational-posters-is-he-going.jpg 492w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/demotivational-posters-is-he-going-300x231.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 492px) 100vw, 492px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/demotivational-posters-teachers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4583\" title=\"demotivational-posters-teachers\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/demotivational-posters-teachers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"548\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/demotivational-posters-teachers.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/demotivational-posters-teachers-246x300.jpg 246w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Then there&#8217;s this touch of Texas from Mark Foster&#8230;.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/onlyintexas.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4594\" title=\"onlyintexas\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/onlyintexas.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"460\" height=\"345\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/onlyintexas.png 460w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/onlyintexas-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8230;.and this forward from Carl Polizzi demonstrating the effectiveness of B. Hussein&#8217;s Surrender to Islam initiatives:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/obamaforeignpolicy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4584\" title=\"obamaforeignpolicy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/obamaforeignpolicy.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"462\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/obamaforeignpolicy.png 462w, https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/obamaforeignpolicy-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The world hasn&#8217;t witnessed such success since Neville Chamberlain kowtowed to Herr Hitler.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Finally, we&#8217;ll call it a wrap with <span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\">News of The Bizarre<\/span>, courtesy of James Taranto, who provides yet another reason you can never really say you&#8217;ve heard it all:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\">Dogged Pursuit<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/00093411.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4590\" title=\"0009341\" src=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/00093411.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"121\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8220;Maricopa County Sheriff&#8217;s Office deputies arrested three people Monday on suspicion of using Craigslist to find a dog for one of them to have sex with,&#8221; reports the Arizona Republic:<\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><em>Deputies arrested San Tan Valley residents Sarah Dae Walker, 33, and Shane Walker, 38, on charges of conspiring to commit an act of bestiality. Officers also arrested 29-year-old Robert Aucker of Gilbert.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\"><strong><em>Aucker told detectives he had a sexual relationship with Sarah Walker for about a month. <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #008080; text-decoration: underline;\">She reportedly told him that she had dreams about having sex with a dog, the Sheriff&#8217;s Office said<\/span><span style=\"color: #008080; text-decoration: underline;\">.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\"><em>&#8220;People who do this for enjoyment are a different breed, that&#8217;s for certain,&#8221; Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Come to think of it, the same can probably be said of dogs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some thirty-five years ago the APA (American Psychological Association) deemed homosexuality normal; it was only several years ago they advocated accepting pedophiles.\u00a0 Can it really be that long until Ms. Walkers perverted proclivities are pronounced permissible?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><strong>On the other hand, we&#8217;re tempted to ask, &#8220;What did Sarah Dae Walker say when she sat on the sandpaper?\u00a0 &#8220;I like it &#8216;ruff&#8217;!&#8221;<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Magoo<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Thursday, March 1st, 2012&#8230;.but before we begin, we pause a moment to recognize the passing of pop legend: The Monkees singer Davy Jones dead at 66 &nbsp; Forget John Lennon, THIS guy we&#8217;ll miss.\u00a0 He gave TLJ and us many happy memories (we&#8217;re listening to Daydream Believer as we write); as Neil Diamond wrote, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1988,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1988"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4575"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4606,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4575\/revisions\/4606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thedailygouge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}