Listen to Bob Hall’s befuddlement

I posted yesterday about Democracy NC’s Bob Hall acting as if he’d never heard of left-wing political-giving millionaire Jim Goodmon. You can listen to it here. I think it confirms I described it pretty accurately from memory yesterday.

Go to the 14:00 mark. That’s where the fun begins. I’ll repeat my point of yesterday: It’s hard to be a “nonpartisan” watchdog when you profess to be unfamiliar with the biggest Democratic/liberal players.

P.J. O’Rourke on Progressive Elites: They Hate Poor People

P.J. O’Rourke is brilliant as he skewers progressive elites and their view of the poor — in this case, as it relates to banning smoking in public housing.  As usual, his writing is on target and laugh-out-loud funny. Read the whole thing. Twice.

Progressive elites may be confused about the existence of right and wrong when it comes to wars against genocidal fanatics, market freedom, and the death penalty for mass murderers. But not when it comes to smoking.

Smoking kills smokers, which is about what they deserve for engaging in such lowbrow, wrong-headed, retarded, vulgarian activity, except they get sick first and that drives up the cost of a single-payer national health care system, plus their second-hand smoke is worse yet because it is a, yuck, inhalation hand-me-down from uncouth people who probably haven’t flossed, and it kills progressive elites who don’t even know anyone who smokes while also releasing greenhouse gases and stinking up the cheery curtains that elites hang in public housing group activity areas to brighten the lives of the underprivileged who are confined to concrete tower blocks with six-by-eight-foot living rooms, seven-foot ceilings, plexiglass windows, and sheet-metal doors with a dozen locks on them. Smoking is wrong.

Classic Example of a Law That Stifles Competition

Today’s Friday interview is my Carolina Journal Radio interview with JLF Vice President for Research Roy Cordato about North Carolina’s dinosaur of a law known as “certificate of need.” This law, which has been repealed by many states, puts the state in charge of deciding who can and can’t build or expand medical facilities and/or purchase new medical equipment. I encourage you to read the full Q&A, but here’s a sample:

Martinez: Why does the state of North Carolina have any interest beyond just general interest, like all of us would have, as to what medical facilities are available and operating in the state?

Cordato: Well, they claim that unless they do that, people will apparently purchase all kinds of unnecessary equipment, build all kinds of unnecessary hospital space, and drive costs up. But, of course, when you think about it, it’s really silly. We don’t do that in any other industry. Imagine if in your local community, a new Chinese restaurant wanted to open up, but before they [could] do it, they had to go to the state government, and the state government had to come in and count how many Chinese restaurants there were in the area to see if there was a “need” for an additional Chinese restaurant in the area. 

And not only that, they’d have to see the menu — even the services provided, even within a facility, are under scrutiny — and is it a buffet restaurant or is it an order-from-the-menu restaurant? And then, if the government says, “Oh, OK, well, we need another Chinese restaurant in this town,” then you can get permission from the state to open it. 

Well, first of all, what’s that going to do? It restricts competition. It should be the consumers that decide whether a new Chinese restaurant or a new MRI machine is needed, not the state. And of course, with the politics, the interest is always to protect the entrenched interests — the existing Chinese restaurants — from competition. I mean, wouldn’t we all love to be in an industry where every time a competitor wanted to compete with us, they had to go to the government and get permission to do that and someone had to come in and decide whether their service was needed or not? Well, of course, the whole idea of competition is antithesis to that. It’s really a total central planning model, and it governs our health care services in this state.

Sen. Kinnaird on Perdue:”I don’t see anyone on the horizon who could replace her.”

The state senator many consider to be the most liberal – Orange County’s Sen. Ellie Kinnaird – says she’s stunned by Gov. Perdue’s decision not to run for a second term. But beyond that, Sen. Kinnaird offers this assessment of the Democratic gubernatorial field to the Herald-Sun:

Still, the news Thursday stunned State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D- Orange, who simply did not want to believe Perdue would not seek a second term.

“I can’t believe that,” Kinnaird gasped when told about Perdue’s decision. “Who is going to take her place? I don’t see anyone on the horizon who could replace her.”

She described Perdue as “bold” and someone who has fought “courageously” for her beliefs.

“I can’t believe she would give up the vision she has fought for so courageously,” Kinnaird said.