Get Those Cameras Rolling, Carrie

Since the moral standards and behavioral choices of public officials are of paramount importance, even long before they become public officials, I want to call this revelation to the attention of Alliance for a Better Minnesota, buried over 25 paragraphs deep in a Pioneer Press article in an "oh, by the way" manner:

Also Friday, MNsure spokesman Joe Campbell disclosed that Leitz was arrested in Minneapolis in August on a charge of driving while intoxicated. The incident happened before he took over MNsure.

In a statement, Leitz said: "I consider this one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made. It is humiliating and, as with any mistake, I will learn from it and will not repeat it."

In a separate statement, MNsure board chairman Brian Beutner and vice chairman Peter Benner said "we want to voice our strong support" of Leitz.

As we learned in 2010, traffic arrests for DWI, even those that happened 30 years ago, are an intolerable outrage, I eagerly await a denunciation of Leitz similar to this one:

We'll be sure to watch for it.

And oh by the way, you might have missed this story:

Minnesota state lawmakers would no longer have immunity from drunk-driving arrests under a bill that's passed a House committee.

The Civil Law Committee passed the measure Friday. But its future is in doubt because a Senate panel tabled its version of the bill on Thursday.

A Better Minnesota requires better. Get after 'em, Carrie Lucking!

That's Why They Call Him Dope

I'm not sure if we've elected Cheech or Chong, but it's apparently one of them in the Governor's mansion:

These parents had picketed outside the governor’s residence two weeks ago, and were unexpectedly invited inside. There, they told the governor their stories. They say they were shocked when the governor suggested they can buy pot illegally on the street, or in another state, to treat their children.

“That’s absurd,” said Jessica Hauser of Woodbury, whose her 2-year-old son has intractable epilepsy. “And to have the top official in Minnesota suggest that to my face when I am looking for compassion and a thoughtful solution. It’s just completely offensive.”

There's your Better Minnesota, folks.

Eagle Scout Benster

While most readers of this feature know the Benster best for his always entertaining football picks, he's now accomplished something greater than making fun of Jim Tressel; the Benster is now an Eagle Scout.

The Boy Scouts have been a controversial organization in recent years. Scouting is, among many other things, a repository of some old-fashioned values. It's also weathered some scandals involving scoutmasters and other adult leaders who have preyed on individual scouts, which led to a ban on gays in the Scouts. As mores have changed over the years, this has put the Scouts on the wrong side of the ongoing culture wars, at least for some people, and has caused a lot of problems for the larger Scouting organization.

Still, while the culture wars rage on, individual scout troops do great work, often quietly. The Benster's troop is small, with only 10-15 scouts in the troop during the seven years the Benster was involved. It's been an ongoing struggle to find new scouts, especially in an era where young men spend more time watching video games than going on camping trips. Having said that, the boys in Benster's troop have been able to learn and grow in many ways and have done a lot of quality service within the community.

The biggest challenge for most boys who pursue the rank of Eagle is finding and executing the service project. Benster's project turned out to be a doozy -- he built dugout enclosures for the softball field at a church in Isanti County. The site is about 40 miles north of here; the pastor there was once the assistant scoutmaster of Benster's troop and his sons both are Eagle Scouts. All told, Benster's project involved over 700 hours of work and over 30 volunteers assisted in the construction. The finished product turned out well, as you can see:

If you build it, they will play

He learned many things in executing this project -- how to plan and design, how to manage people, how to adjust to unforeseen circumstances, and most importantly, why you need to persevere. You can learn these lessons in other ways, but Scouting does a great job in providing opportunities for young men to learn and grow. While I am obviously proud of his accomplishments, I'm also grateful that he had the opportunity to participate in Scouting. While some of the values of scouting might seem quaint to the modern mind, the benefits are obvious to anyone who participates. Benster is more prepared for the world he'll encounter because of the experiences he's had. There's no gainsaying the value of that.

Whenever

Deadlines, schmeadlines:

The Obama administration has decided to give extra time to Americans who say that they are unable to enroll in health plans through the federal insurance marketplace by the March 31 deadline.

Federal officials confirmed Tuesday evening that all consumers who have begun to apply for coverage on HealthCare.gov, but who do not finish by Monday, will have until about mid-April to ask for an extension.

Under the new rules, people will be able to qualify for an extension by checking a blue box on HealthCare.gov to indicate that they tried to enroll before the deadline. This method will rely on an honor system; the government will not try to determine whether the person is telling the truth.

Thus is 18 U.S. Code § 1001 rendered a dead letter. Maybe Scooter Libby will get a pardon after all.

The rules, which will apply to the federal exchanges operating in three dozen states, will essentially create a large loophole even as White House officials have repeatedly said that the March 31 deadline was firm. The extra time will not technically alter the deadline but will create a broad new category of people eligible for what’s known as a special enrollment period.

It's somewhat like those "very special" episodes of television shows we used to see back in the day.

Of course, there's no reason to believe that 18 U.S. Code § 1001 is really a dead letter -- lying to a federal official will still be a felony, if the gubmint wants it to be. You'll just have to guess when the law applies. Have fun with that.

Wait Til Next Year

Not ready, yet:

Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday that proposals this year to ban the indoor use of electronic cigarettes may go too far.

In an interview with the Star Tribune, Dayton said that while he would sign a bill to restrict children’s ability to buy e-cigarettes, he is likely to oppose proposed restrictions on their use indoors.

“After we came down pretty hard on smokers last session, that’s probably enough for this biennium,” Dayton said. The state raised taxes on cigarettes last year. “We did enough to smokers last session.”

There's always another session. That's why we talk about eternal vigilance.

Ralph Wilson, RIP

The last of the original AFL owners. He was 95.

Home Truth

Kevin D. Williamson, in National Review:

The Hobby Lobby case is in part about private property and whether we are to have it. If we hold capital only at the sufferance of the politico-sexual whims of those who hold power, then we do not really hold capital at all — we only rent property from our rulers, serfs in the world’s most sophisticated fiefdom. The property right is the fundamental right upon which all other political rights have their foundation. But there is a separate question — the right of conscience, which is, at minimum, the right not to be implicated, to at least stand apart from that which is no longer forbidden but is not yet, as of Tuesday morning, compulsory.

That's his conclusion. How he gets there is just as good. Hit the link.

Getting the vapors

Back in the 19th Century, the term "getting the vapors" meant becoming emotionally overcome by something. Not surprisingly, the legislature is getting the vapors:

The growing popularity of electronic cigarettes could be curbed by state regulations that would treat them the same as tobacco cigarettes, under a proposal headed for a vote by the Senate.

A sweeping set of restrictions would prohibit what users call “vaping” indoors and in public spaces and would ban the sale of e-cigarettes and smokeless devices to those under age 18. Backers of the restrictions, which passed a final Senate committee on Monday, say the concerns over secondhand vapors from the devices are enough to include them in Minnesota’s statewide indoor smoking ban.

Anything that must be growing in popularity has to be regulated of course, and the point man on the effort is a guy who is more often known for gun-grabbing:

“If you work in a hotel, restaurant, bar or VFW, I’m not sure you want to be forced to choose between keeping your job and being exposed to some unknown array of chemicals being released into the atmosphere,” said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park.

Latz needs to control your life, because, as Mitch Berg reminds us, Latz went to Harvard and most likely you didn't, so Latz's judgment on such matters is probative.

Meanwhile, we're now told that people are apparently cracking open the e-cigs and drinking the liquid nicotine or something, which apparently could cause the demise of toddlers. As always, Jacob Sullum at Reason puts the danger in perspective:

This dangerous new drug, [New York Times reporter Matt Richtel] explains, is the nicotine contained in e-cigarette fluid, which already has killed...well, so far just one guy who committed suicide by injecting the stuff. But "reports of accidental poisonings, notably among children, are soaring." They increased "300 percent" from 2012 to 2013!

Another way of putting that: The number of accidental poisoning reports related to e-cigarette fluid increased from about 338 in 2012 to 1,351 in 2013. None of these poisonings was fatal, and most (73 percent) were not serious enough to require hospital treatment. In 2012, by comparison, 311,347 poisoning reports involved analgesics, 221,314 involved cosmetics, 193,802 involved cleaning substances, 96,997 involved anthistamines, 88,694 involved pesticides, 68,168 involved vitamins, and 49,374 involved plants. So if "e-liquids pose a significant risk to public health," as Richtel says, the risk posed by common products such as aspirin, window cleaner, and bug spray is gargantuan.

You don't need to practice any risk management in your life, because Latz and his friends in the lege will manage and regulate risk out of your life. How do they do that? They know better than you. They just do. So you'd better get with their program. And watch out, Big Windex -- you're next.

Nuanced links and whatnot

Youth culture killed my dog
And I don't think it's fair (I don't think it's fair)
And his suicide can be justified
By the tastemakers, how they cried and cried and so

-- They Might Be Giants

Actually, I don't think youth culture killed anyone's dog. It should be clear now that global warming (apparently the term is back) did it:

If you think of climate change as a hazard for some far-off polar bears years from now, you're mistaken. That's the message from top climate scientists gathering in Japan this week to assess the impact of global warming.

In fact, they will say, the dangers of a warming Earth are immediate and very human.

"The polar bear is us," says Patricia Romero Lankao of the federally financed National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., referring to the first species to be listed as threatened by global warming due to melting sea ice.

When someone's work is federally funded, they are automatically telling the truth, as anyone who has studied the career of Richard Nixon knows. And impressive work it is:

Global food prices will rise between 3 and 84 percent by 2050 because of warmer temperatures and changes in rain patterns. Hotspots of hunger may emerge in cities.

Heck, I'd take a 3 percent rise if it were available. I'd even take 84 percent, considering that the rate of inflation over time is significantly higher than that. 2050 is 36 years away. If we go back 36 years, we would be looking at 1978. Check out the rate of inflation since then:

Only 84% by 2050? Bring on the warming!

Or maybe they mean inflation would be 84% than it would be otherwise? Who knows? You see, it's a nuanced link. Kinda like this one:

VIOLENCE: For the first time, the panel is emphasizing the nuanced link between conflict and warming temperatures. Participating scientists say warming won't cause wars, but it will add a destabilizing factor that will make existing threats worse.

Nuanced, in this instance, means, "something we'd like to assert for a headline, but can't really prove."

The main reason this global warming/climate change train never leaves the station is that it relies on assertions that can't really be proven and on models that predict things that don't come to pass. I don't think anyone disputes that climate changes over time; it should be evident since we are pretty certain that Minnesota was covered by a glacier not that long ago. The climate changes for a lot of reasons, most of which are beyond the control of human beings.

They didn't get the headline they wanted

Hey la, hey la, Mark Dayton's back. To his old tricks again, that is:

Earlier in the week, Dayton chastised Senate DFLers for not passing the measure swiftly enough. On Thursday, Dayton and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, joined together to direct their wrath at Republicans.

“There is no good reason for Senate Republicans to block the bill’s passage,” Dayton said. If Republican legislators force any further delays, “they will be solely responsible for denying income tax cuts to thousands of Minnesotans.”

The measure is nearly certain to pass Friday because Republicans are out of options to block it.

The measure is tax relief, of course, much of it from new taxes that the DFL lege and the governor passed into law last year. Let's be clear on a few things:

• The legislature has been in session for a month, so if passing this bill was a top priority, it could have been addressed rather a long time ago.
• The primary reason that the tax bill was held up is because Bakk and the rest of his DFL colleagues in the Senate want a brand new office building with a $90 million price tag.
• A lot of the taxes that got jammed down last year came about because the lege rushed to finish their work and there wasn't much time for debate.
• The Republicans aren't looking to block tax relief.

Bakk was pretty amusing yesterday:

Bakk called the Senate’s refusal to speed the process “shenanigans.”

“I think it’s a bit disingenuous for people to say they can’t do it today because they haven’t read it. It’s 62 pages and they had it yesterday,” Bakk said. “I don’t believe that that’s the reason.”

Actually, it is the reason. And delaying things is a tactic that every minority party, everywhere, uses. He knows that. But he and Dayton wanted a headline -- GOP Stops Tax Cut Bill, or somesuch.

Instead, the Star Tribune website shows the following this morning:

C'mon, that was supposed to say "obstructionist"

We'll have to see if the headline changes to suit Dayton's needs later on, but let's give credit where due to the Strib and to reporter Baird Helgeson, especially for these two utterly accurate observations:

Passing a tax relief measure would be a significant political coup for Dayton and House DFLers, who are up for re-election in November. The measure also contains the first significant tax breaks in years, paid for out of the state’s $1.2 billion projected budget surplus.

and

The measure includes the repeal of several new business sales taxes, including one on warehousing services that takes effect in less than two weeks.

Republicans have ripped Dayton for suggesting he was not fully aware of the new sales taxes when he signed them into law last year, and is now trying to do away with them after enduring blistering criticism.

Emphasis mine. Yes, a number of the taxes being repealed are new. In some respects, the DFL game here is a variation on the "broken window" fallacy, as Frederic Bastiat explained:

Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James B., when his careless son happened to break a square of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation - "It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?"

Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.

Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier's trade - that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs - I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.

But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented.

Let us take a view of industry in general, as affected by this circumstance. The window being broken, the glazier's trade is encouraged to the amount of six francs; this is that which is seen. If the window had not been broken, the shoemaker's trade (or some other) would have been encouraged to the amount of six francs; this is that which is not seen.

And if that which is not seen is taken into consideration, because it is a negative fact, as well as that which is seen, because it is a positive fact, it will be understood that neither industry in general, nor the sum total of national labour, is affected, whether windows are broken or not.

This legislature and this governor have been breaking a lot of windows. Piggy banks, too.

Happy days are here again

Altogether shout it now 
There's no one who can doubt it now 
So let's tell the world about it now 
Happy days are here again

John Hayward, on the problem that doesn't exist:

The horror stories keep piling up, faster than Democrats can scream they’re all a bunch of liars.  A Nevada man lamed Larry Basich fought his way into the bug storm on ObamaCare launch day, kept plugging away at the garbage ObamaCare computer systems until November, finally managed to buy a plan and pay his first premium, then suffered a heart attack, requiring triple bypass surgery… at which point he discovered the “confused” state ObamaCare exchange never actually assigned him to an insurance provider.

Four months later, Basich is sitting on $407,000 in unpaid hospital bills.  He “blames his back-and-forth with the exchange in December at least in part for the stress that caused his heart attack,” according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.  Everyone involved in the system claims they’re working super-hard to get his bills taken care of, but thus far most of that work has involved the exchange contractor and two different insurance providers pointing fingers of blame at each other.  The contractor actually took a stab at blaming Mr. Basich for the whole mess because, like many other Americans who made honest and persistent efforts to use the disastrous computer systems ObamaCare foisted on us, he ended up generating multiple online applications.

And of course, Basich’s senator is the sinister Harry Reid, famous for loudly declaring that all ObamaCare horror stories are untrue.  Reid hasn’t been much help, although his staff made a big production of calling Basich every day to work on a problem their boss claimed was pure fantasy from the floor of the Senate.  Punchline: Basich’s insurance broker estimates at least 20 other customers have problems of similar magnitude, while only about 5 percent of Nevada Health Link enrollments went through problem-free.

Your cares and troubles are gone 
They're be no more from now on 
Happy days are here again, 
The skies above are clear again

And yes, the storm clouds are gathering:

Perhaps most important, insurers have been disappointed that young people only make up about one-quarter of the enrollees in plans through the insurance exchanges, according to public figures that were released earlier this year. That ratio might change in the weeks ahead because the administration anticipates many more people in their 20s and 30s will sign up close to the March 31 enrollment deadline. Many insurers, however, don’t share that optimism.

These factors will have the unintended consequence of raising rates, sources said.

“We’re exasperated,” said the senior insurance official. “All of these major delays on very significant portions of the law are going to change what it’s going to cost.”

“My gut tells me that, for some people, these increases will be significant,” said Bill Hoagland, a former executive at Cigna and current senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

 How much?

In Iowa, which hosts the first presidential caucus in the nation and has a competitive Senate race this year, rates are expected to rise 100 percent on the exchange and by double digits on the larger, employer-based market, according to a recent article in the Business Record.

Wondering why Tom Harkin is getting out of Dodge? Now you know.

For the record

My Final Four:

Florida, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Louisville

National championship: Florida 78, Louisville 71

Benster says:

Florida, Virginia, Wisconsin, Duke

National championship: Virginia 65, Duke 59

Make your picks in the comments. And yes, we probably are overrating the Badgers.

One for you, nineteen for me

Mark Dayton's back and there's gonna be trouble/hey la, hey la, Mark Dayton's back
You'd better give the money back or else it's gonna double/hey la, hey la, Mark Dayton's back

The defender of the taxpayer came back to the Capitol, hot to repeal those taxes he raised last year:

Dayton had set a Wednesday deadline to pass more than $500 million in tax relief — a deadline that will not be met. The proposal includes about $57 million in retroactive tax relief for consumers with student loan debt, Minnesotans who adopted children and those who lost their homes to foreclosure. The tax package also wipes out new business sales taxes on telecommunications equipment and a tax on warehousing services, which was due to kick in April 1.

What's the holdup, you ask?

Dayton said senators do need a new office building and parking structure as the State Capitol undergoes a massive, multimillion-dollar renovation, but he thinks the $90 million price tag is high.

He called the glassy design “lavish” and out of sync with the capital campus, where buildings are generally grayish and brownish. “Does there need to be building? Yes,” Dayton said. “We need a functional building.”

Funny thing about that -- there's rather a lot of empty office space available down the hill in downtown St. Paul, complete with parking ramps and whatnot. But no, in Xanadu did Kubla Bakk a stately pleasure dome decree, so the money needs to stay right where it is, there, fella.

Meanwhile, across the St. Croix, it's a different story:

Senate Republicans Tuesday narrowly passed Gov. Scott Walker's $541 million tax cut proposal in a vote that guaranteed the cuts will become law.

The tax decreases — the third round of cuts by Republicans in less than a year — passed 17-15 with GOP Sen. Dale Schultz of Richland Center joining all Democrats in voting against the proposal. The proposal now goes to the Assembly, which passed a different version of the tax cuts last month with two Democrats joining all Republicans in supporting it.

With growing tax collections now expected to give the state a $1 billion budget surplus in June 2015, Walker's bill will cut property and income taxes for families and businesses, and zero out all income taxes for manufacturers in the state.

Okay, so let's review -- manufacturers in Wisconsin will have their income taxes zeroed out. Meanwhile,  in Minnesota a round of new taxes on business take effect this year and there's a pretty good chance they'll stay in effect because the grandees want their new building. Where did you want to do business again?

The always astute Brad Carlson sees some kabuki going on:

There are a couple of ways to look at this. First, lay the responsibility at the feet of the Senate and the haggling over their Taj Mahal new office building (which Dayton appears to have done). The Senate is not up for reelection this year, so make it appear the DFL governor and the Dem controlled House are the ones trying to save the day but are being obstructed by Bakk & Co. Their hope is it'll strengthen their reelection chops. Secondly, the GOP candidates for governor have a ready made sound bite. Did you see the bit where Dayton was essentially asked if he bears any responsibility for this conundrum of trying to cut taxes that he signed into law last session? The first word out of his mouth was "Sure." That's pretty much all you need.

Indeed.

Guess he's gonna find out what God *actually* thinks

Fred Phelps prepares to meet his Maker:

Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps Sr. has been admitted to a hospice facility and is “on the edge of death,” his estranged son revealed.

The 84-year-old preacher established the small Kansas church in 1955 and made it a household name by picketing funerals, public events and businesses with hateful signs attacking gay people, Jews and others.

I don't know the condition of his soul. I do know that God is merciful, certainly more than Phelps was in his time on earth.

Not the desired effect

I'm guessing this reaction isn't what the Leader of the Free World had in mind:

Russia’s deputy prime minister laughed off President Obama’s sanction against him today  asking “Comrade @BarackObama” if “some prankster” came up with the list
.
The Obama administration hit 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials with sanctions today as punishment for Russia’s support of Crimea’s referendum. Among them: aides to President Vladimir Putin, a top government official, senior lawmakers, Crimean officials, the ousted president of Ukraine, and a Ukrainian politician and businessman allegedly tied to violence against protesters in Kiev.

It remains to be seen whether the sanctions will dissuade Russia from annexing Crimea, but one an early clue that they will not be effective came just hours later when President Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea as an independent state, perhaps an early step towards annexation.

Actually, it doesn't really remain to be seen. It's gonna happen. Meanwhile, at least one sanction target seems as amused:

Another Russian on the sanctions list, Vladislav Surkov, also seemed unconcerned.

Surkov, a top Putin ideologue often called the Kremlin’s grey cardinal, reportedly told a Russian newspaper, “It’s a big honor for me. I don’t have accounts abroad. The only things that interest me in the U.S. are Tupac Shakur, Allen Ginsberg, and Jackson Pollock. I don’t need a visa to access their work. I lose nothing.”

I’m with you in Rockland
   where there are twentyfive thousand mad comrades all together singing the final stanzas of the Internationale
I’m with you in Rockland
   where we hug and kiss the United States under our bedsheets the United States that coughs all night and won’t let us sleep

-- Ginsberg, "Howl"

I think I'm a natural-born leader. I know how to bow down to authority if it's authority that I respect.

-- Tupac Shakur

What the kvell?

I like to throw around the occasional Yiddish term because the terms sound more interesting, or are more useful, than their English equivalent. The word "schlep," which means to carry something heavy or awkward, is a good example. But you have to be careful in how you use the words.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd may not be the clearest thinker or the nicest person around, but she's an able stylist and has a good command of the vernacular, so it was surprising to see that she picked out the wrong Yiddish term in her column yesterday. Ann Althouse was one of many who noticed:

Yeah, it's Maureen Dowd, but the NYT has editors. How embarrassing to go cutesy with the Yiddish but use completely the wrong word!

The misused word was "kvell," which is a Yiddish term that means "to burst with pride." See if what Dowd wrote would make sense in that context:

It’s not just congressional Democrats who are kvelling. Mark Zuckerberg called the president to vent about government incursions on privacy. And the New Yorker editor, David Remnick, talked to The New Republic about Obama’s “locutions,” his habit of going, “On the one hand. On the other hand. That is to say.”

You generally don't burst with pride over something that is causing consternation. The word that Dowd wanted was "kvetch," which in its noun form means a person who complains a lot, and in its verb form simply means to complain. One would think that if anyone understands the topic of kvetching, it would be Times.

Mistakes happen, but what's irritating is that the Times hasn't noted that they've corrected the error, even though they have.

What's perhaps more interesting is the conclusion that Dowd draws:

Due to the inability of the president and congressional Democrats to move their agenda through Congress, the president is having to govern through executive order and revising federal regulations.

Republicans have latched on to this to make the case around the country that Obama is a dictator and an imperial president. But governing through executive order isn’t a sign of strength. It’s a sign of weakness.

And it’s that weakness that has Democrats scared to death.

I think it's a safe bet to assume that the Democratic attack machine will be running overtime in this cycle. It will be interesting to see if that's enough. If the Republicans retake the Senate, you might have the all-time lamest duck in the White House. And given the parlous state of things right now, I don't think that's anything to kvell about.

Just a reminder

Ukraine isn't the only place where things are happening:

“The hawks [in Japan] love nuclear weapons, so they like the nuclear power program as the best they can do,” a nonproliferation expert told NBC. “They don’t want to give up the idea they have, to use it as a deterrent.” But beyond deterring China, the stockpile also spurs South Korean interest in developing its own nuclear capabilities. According to a poll last year, 66 percent of South Koreans support the development of a nuclear weapons program. Mostly this is a reaction to North Korean belligerence, but relations with Japan are deteriorating quickly.

This is an area where US leadership and mediation is needed. South Korea and Japan are barely on speaking terms at the moment. That’s a situation that could get worse, especially if the Obama administration fails to work out the kinks in the Pivot.

I've always assumed that Japan could have the Bomb in about 15 minutes if they really needed it. More at the link.

Home Truth

The invaluable John Hayward, on the "Enforce the Law" bill that is currently making its way through Congress:

Politically speaking, Republicans have already accomplished an important objective by getting President Obama to go on the record opposing a law that would require him to obey the law.  But there are serious principles at stake here.  It’s not just a gotcha game to remind everyone that Senator Barack Obama claimed to be an implacable opponent of far less serious abuses of power than President Barack Obama has committed.  The new law would give the House and Senate legal standing to sue the Administration if they believe he is failing to execute a duly ratified law, and pass a resolution to that effect.

As things stand, it is very difficult for Congress to demonstrate the sort of direct “injury” that would give them legal standing to bring a court case.  And as we’ve seen over the past few years, there isn’t much of anything else keeping executive power in check.  Of course, Democrats decry this bill as an insult to their man in the White House, but they really should be thinking ahead to the day it’s not their man in the White House.  Obama’s incredibly dangerous precedent makes the legislative branch largely superfluous.  It’s hard to imagine a worse offense against the Constitutional order than a desperate President rewriting legislation on the fly to save his party’s bacon in the next election.

What Hayward is referring to is the Leader of the Free World's penchant for delaying, changing, or simply ignoring provisions of his signature achievement, the Affordable Healthcare Act, a/k/a Obamacare. The larger point matters a lot -- an unchecked executive branch is a problem no matter which party is in charge; it would be a problem if a libertarian were in charge. If laws can be changed at whim, we no longer are governed by the rule of law. It never ends well.

Now he tells us

So lemme get this straight -- Mark Zuckerberg, the guy who runs freaking Facebook is concerned about gubmint spying and privacy? Well, yeah:

Facebook has said that in response the NSA’s practices it’s expedited plans to better encrypt communications between its data centers and to implement perfect forward secrecy, an cryptographic technique that greatly limits the data an eavesdropper can access even if he or she manages to break a service’s encryption.

“We work together to create this secure environment and make our shared space even better for the world,” Zuckerberg’s statement reads. “This is why I’ve been so confused and frustrated by the repeated reports of the behavior of the US government. When our engineers work tirelessly to improve security, we imagine we’re protecting you against criminals, not our own government.”

Two observations:

• Frog, meet scorpion; and
• Increasingly, the distinction between criminals and government is a distinction without a difference.

The first rule of holes

The old saying goes -- if you're in a hole, stop digging. Of course, if you're the Met Council, digging is the next option:

Planners of the embattled Southwest Corridor light-rail line unveiled a new strategy Wednesday for digging a tunnel under a water channel to win over Minneapolis critics and end an impasse that threatens to scuttle the largest transit project in the Twin Cities.

The latest option could keep light-rail trains out of sight in the popular Kenilworth recreation corridor but add as much as $85 million to the cost of the project and bring it to over $1.6 billion.

The Metropolitan Council, the agency overseeing the light-rail project, disclosed the new tunnel option Wednesday to a group of metro leaders without endorsing it. Met Council Chairwoman Susan Haigh issued a statement saying her agency considered the option last year but rejected it as “a less desirable alternative” than other plans.

So we're up to $1.6 billion for this thing now. Great. And of course, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges isn't sure she likes it, either:

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, who wasn’t at the meeting, issued a statement calling the latest option “a brand new, and therefore, unstudied idea that is being put on the table three weeks before I’m supposed to vote” on the light-rail project. She questioned whether the tunnel would harm the channel, Lake of the Isles or Cedar Lake.

Or her political prospects. Onward:

Tunneling under the channel was proposed last summer at a rally of about 100 people on the shore of Cedar Lake in Kenilworth corridor, an affluent area that includes influential DFLers. Some of the leaders have back yards facing the Kenilworth corridor bike and pedestrian trails.

At the time homeowners embraced a channel option that would have contributed $330 million to the cost of the project. When metro leaders shot it down as too expensive, some residents asked the Met Council staff to investigate a cheaper way to tunnel under the channel. The agency said at the time that it considered but wasn’t pursuing the idea.

After all, spending $330 million to avoid the ire of "influential DFLers" is money well spent. And of course we'll all benefit when we can take the Southwest Rail line to places like Roseville and Woodbury. Wait, you mean we can't do that?

Time for another poll:

What should the Met Council do about the Southwest LRT Line? (Multiple answers allowed)
	Build it where it makes sense and screw the "influential DFLers"
	Not build it and disband immediately
	Get back to building sewers in New Market, or something
	Build it so there's a stop in Betsy Hodges's breakfast nook
	Use rapidly emerging Star Trek technology so that trains magically appear in St. Louis Park
	Screw it and get started on the boffo Bottineau Line!
	Fund it all with e-pulltabs
	Pound sand
	Reallocate the money so that every suburb has its own convention center
	Spend the money on something more productive, like hookers and blow
	Dig tunnels in all proposed locations and turn the unused tunnels into a "Hogan's Heroes" theme park
pollcode.com free polls

Operators are standing by.