Cheap Blogging Crutch 10.19

In health debate, those numbers are just numbers
The Washington Post takes a look the organization that has had a large hand in shaping the health debate: the Congressional Budget Office. The office that can sent our elected betters scurrying for their ratholes or puffing their chests out in glee if he deems their legislation to cost more or less than the arbitrary dollar threshold that they themselves selected. Their methodology: a complex series of equations, surveys, projections, and math that they admit will almost always be wrong. An interesting look at how they figure out how much things will cost.

Missed Kicks Make Brain See Smaller Goal Post
Wired Science looks at a recent Purdue study on how perception changes for athletes based on how well or poorly they're doing, more specifically: football placekickers. When they're making kicks they see the goalposts as bigger, when they miss the kicks they see the goalposts as smaller. Is this why we lost the Chicago game, Jeff Reed? Have another drink. Sadly this study doesn't show what the hell it is that Jamarcus Russell and Derek Anderson see when they're out on a field throwing worm burners and missing guys by ten yards to the tune of a 35% completion percentage. It must be some hellish nightmare of swooping bats and laughing demons.

The Banks Are Not Alright
Paul Krugman, after headfaking positivity by accusing President Obama of getting stuff done, is back to the woesome dirge that is pointing out how bad our economy actually is. This time it's the banks who are in trouble. They're weak, following policies that will keep them weak, which in turn will keep the economy weak. Plus they're opposing effective regulatory laws. The good news is that the mattress where you'll have to keep all your money under in the future will always be fiscally solvent.

New Medical Marijuana Policy: Obama Administration Will Not Seek Arrests For People Following State Laws
So what's the Justice Department going to do if it can't set up bullshit sting operations to imprison Tommy Chong? What's the FBI and DEA going to do if it can't raid growers with legal permits from the states? Bust real criminals? I think we need to rethink this logical policy and perhaps set up another sting on Chong. While we're at it, let's keep on busting legally operating porn companies as well. Anything we can do to keep all our law enforcement resources from going to worthwhile operations.

Downturn has hit banking lobbyists
Awwwww. You keep hearing all these tragic stories from the global financial apocalypse and they just don't touch you. Then you finally hear a story like this and you know the true meaning of pain and hardship. I mean banking lobbyists not being able to work on getting the banking industry deregulated just because their work on getting the banking industry deregulated happened to melt down the economy and put banks out of business? Life just isn't fair sometimes.