United Liberty

There’s often alot of talk about energy independence. Obama’s most recent move is what energy independence looks like in the real world, and not the theoretical land of environmental science classes:

(CNN) — President Obama unveiled plans Wednesday to open large swaths of U.S. coastal waters in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas drilling — a move likely to please the energy industry but upset the administration’s environmentalist supporters.

The administration plan includes lifting a 20-year ban on drilling off the Virginia coastline, while putting the clamps on sites that had been approved off the southwest coast of Alaska.

The plan authorizes the Interior Department to conduct seismic surveys off the south- and mid-Atlantic coasts to “determine the quantity and location of potential oil and gas resources to support energy planning,” according to a statement from a White House official.

Three people were killed and six wounded after a drive-by shooting occured in Southeast Washington DC this week .

The tragedy unfolded in a town where it is ridiculously difficult to legally purchase a gun. DC has some of the strictest anti-gun ownership laws in the nation. For many District residents who want to own a gun, the burdens aren’t worth the time and cost. So they get them illegally. (Such are the consequences many draconian laws. If you’re willing to  break the law, you can have a gun.)

So you can imagine why one might find today’s Washington Post editorial cartoon troubling and perplexing:

In a city in which the Second Amendment is barely recognized as a right, it is difficult to blame the Second Amendment for gun-related deaths. It is dissapointing (but not surprising) to see that Tom Toles is unable to grasp that.

The media conveniently forgot that distrust in with the government isn’t new. While they are now slamming tea party protesters and others speaking out against President Barack Obama and his policies, they disregard the protests during George W. Bush’s presidency.

It was once your right to speak out against the government. Now you can’t do it without being called a “hater” or “unpatriotic” or “racist.” My how things change once the other side is in power.

There was a lot to protest, so I’m not taking up for Bush. I’m just pointing out that protesters were just as vitriolic then as they are now, as you can see in this video.

H/T: QandO (and just about every friend on Facebook)

I lifted this from Brett Bittner’s Twitter feed. Sadly, this cartoon is a reality for most Americans.

Do natural disasters, earthquakes or wars stimulate an economy and create growth? Did World War II get the United States out of the Great Depression? In this video, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation’s Bastiat Legacy Project, using Frédéric Bastiat’s parable of the broken window, explains the fallacy of the argument.

Rand Paul is hitting back at his opponent, Trey Grayson, for running a misleading ad that leaves you with the impression that Paul believes 9/11 was our fault.

Here is Rand Paul’s response:

Young Americans will feel the bite of ObamaCare through increased premiums and the individual mandate, according to the Associated Press:

Under the health care overhaul, young adults who buy their own insurance will carry a heavier burden of the medical costs of older Americans — a shift expected to raise insurance premiums for young people when the plan takes full effect.

Beginning in 2014, most Americans will be required to buy insurance or pay a tax penalty. That’s when premiums for young adults seeking coverage on the individual market would likely climb by 17 percent on average, or roughly $42 a month, according to an analysis of the plan conducted for The Associated Press. The analysis did not factor in tax credits to help offset the increase.

The higher costs will pinch many people in their 20s and early 30s who are struggling to start or advance their careers with the highest unemployment rate in 26 years.

Yes, there will be subsidies, which the AP calls “tax credits,” but as we’ve seen in Massachusetts (**sigh** damn you, Mitt Romney) they haven’t helped keep down the cost of insurance.

As I noted on Monday, ObamaCare is going to hit businesses hard, and yesterday we saw another business, Medtronic, note the cost of compliance with the new regulations and taxes.

Paul Krugman confirms it:

PAUL KRUGMAN, NEW YORK TIMES: Think about people on the right. They’re simultaneously screaming, they’re going to send all of the old people to death panels and it’s not going to save any money. That’s a contradictory point of view.

TAPPER: Death panels would save money, theoretically.

KRUGMAN: The advisory path has the ability to make more or less binding judgments on saying this particular expensive treatment actually doesn’t do any good medically and so we’re not going to pay for it. That is actually going to save quite a lot of money. We don’t know how much yet. The CBO gives it very little credit. But most of the health care economists I talk to think it’s going to be a really major cost saving. I have to say, I’m wearing an FDR tie in honor of the fact that we have gone from the New Deal to the Big Biden Deal, I guess we’re allowed to say.

TAPPER: Big bleeping deal?

KRUGMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: Peggy?

Anyone as uncomfortable as I am with the idea of a government panel deciding if you’ll be able to get that life-saving operation ?