9-16-2009

TigerHawk: Schadenfreude is an ugly emotion, but I’ve been feeling a lot of it lately.

Just like taxes are for the little people, antidiscrimination laws are only for client groups. The Holder Justice Department may be chagrined to learn that most Americans take exception, strongly so, to the idea that the civil rights laws are there only to protect historically discriminated minorities. But we are certainly going to have that national conversation about race which Holder has been pining for.

James Taranto: That false charges of racism lack the power to influence public opinion is itself an excellent sign for race relations. If this tactic is proved ineffective in such a high-profile, high-stakes debate, people will become far less likely to use it, which will be even better for race relations. The current squabbles over race are stupid, but that is their virtue. They illustrate the pointlessness of dwelling on race.

Alarm Bell On Health Reform: The Democratic senator from Oregon has been the Energizer Bunny of health reform for the past five years. This week he lobbed a big rhetorical stink bomb. Wyden warned publicly that the package being crafted by the Senate Finance Committee would cost lower-income Americans too much and give many people too little choice of insurance plans.

No Tax increases on 95% of Americans: The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year, the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.

Filed under: Chip by Chip