Mick Wright.net

My latest Main Street Journal article is now online, a look at science, ethics and the new administration’s policy on human embryonic stem cells.

The President has obtained a hound. Seems like a good time to post my essay from the March edition of the Main Street Journal:

In Dog We Trust

Our leaders in Washington recently passed a $700 billion bill that none of them read, addressing a situation apparently none of them understood.

They deserve our gratitude for discovering the crucial link between our economy’s strength and supplemental appropriations for projects like the “Weatherization Assistance Program” ($5 billion), clean-up at “former weapon production and energy research sites” ($6 billion) and climate change research at NASA ($400 million).

Who better to guide the nation’s economy than the political experts who’ve so deftly amassed a $455 billion fiscal year deficit, a $10.6 trillion national debt, and $65.5 trillion in total federal obligations – a debt that now exceeds the entire world’s gross domestic product?

But the decline of the housing market, the crash of the stock market, and the failure of banking institutions brought about at least one positive development. Members of the mainstream media finally found something to distract them from what TIME magazine in August called “the most important decision facing Barack Obama,” namely, finding a dog.

We probably shouldn’t be too hard on our fickle and shallow journalists and their lazy obsessions. Even though they’re eager to behave like Presidential lapdogs and seem to have lost interest in their role as government watchdogs, there’s a certain significance in chronicling the puppy search.

Perhaps ironically, K9s tend to bring out the humanity in all of us. President Truman once remarked, “You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.” So Richard Nixon had Checkers, Bill Clinton had Buddy, and George W. Bush had Tony Blair (or so they told us).

After a thorough vetting, probably one exceeding that of Tom Daschle, Bill Richardson, Nancy Killefer and Judd Gregg combined, the First Family seized upon two breeds deemed safe enough for the allergic First Daughters: the Portuguese Water Dog and the Labradoodle.

The hitch is, they also vowed to adopt a “mutt” from the pound. But since Portuguese Water Dogs are a closely-monitored, purebred, AKC registered breed and Labradoodles are designer hybrids, neither of these expensive breeds are likely to be found at a shelter.

The President shouldn’t have painted himself into a corner. New York Post columnist (and mutt advocate) Julia Szabo says there’s technically no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog, and she suggests a number of measures to combat the source of allergies – dander. Pet owners can receive allergy shots, perform regular housecleaning, supplement their pet’s diet with fish or olive oil, groom regularly, use special shampoo and give special attention to air filters and vacuum cleaners.

Even new dog owners without allergies will find themselves paying for all sorts of products and services they may not have anticipated, including vet visits, special food and treats, toys and chews, grooming products and services, cleaning materials, training devices, bedding, and the list goes on. The pet industry is big business.

This is obvious to veteran pet owners or those who’ve followed companies like PetSmart (PETM), which saw its stock rise 26.6% between November and March, even as The Dow dropped 7.86%.

In retrospect, perhaps the media should have been even more obsessed with the First Dog, given the proven ability of pets to stimulate the economy and create jobs. That’s far more than we can say for most of the legislation coming out of Washington.

Jonah Goldberg has a great article in the most recent National Review. It’s a humorous piece, but his point at the end is so striking that it’s worth sharing even without the hilarious parts. So here’s Goldberg with the funny edited out:

Barack Obama often laments the deficit he “inherited” from George W. Bush, suggesting that if only someone like Barack Obama had been at the helm these last eight years, things would be better.

Spending under George W. Bush went through the roof: education (up 58 percent), Social Security (17 percent), Medicare (51 percent), health research and regulation (55 percent), highways and mass transit (22 percent), and veterans’ benefits (59 percent). Spending grew twice as fast under Bush as it did under Clinton. But Obama thinks that amounts to laissez-faire.

To recap: Obama says Bush ignored necessary spending, which is why our new president needs to borrow $7 trillion just to spend enough money to catch up to where we should be. But he goes on to suggest that if he had been running the show, we wouldn’t have this Republican-fueled deficit that he inherited, because Democrats would have spent two, three, or ten times as much money as Republicans. Something doesn’t compute there.

This deserves to be mashed up with the Washington Post’s budget deficit graph (as posted on the Heritage blog):

Hope 0, Change 0

Red states, that is, in the traditional sense.

The Original Mud Puppy says, “I don’t respect commentary from anyone that refers to Barack Obama as Barry, BO, or BRCK BM.”

Since his apostles continue to have difficulty with my designation, please allow me to explain.

I started referring to the Junior Senator from Illinois exclusively as BRCK BM on February 28th, giving him the same honor the Hebrews reserved for YHWH.

Such reverence was necessary because his religious followers objected to BRCK BM’s full name being spoken or written, since using his given name was “an obvious attempt to associate him with The Great Muslim Menace.”

Hoping to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, the Democratic Presidential Candidate’s name had to be handled with extreme care and reverence. Unfortunately, it appears even this considered, controlled measure has been judged inadequate. But next to Chimpy McBu$Hitler — the commonly-accepted Leftist term for our current President — BRCK BM stands up pretty well.

Still, I fully suspect the Left will continue to preemptively reject conservative commentary no matter how we refer to BRCK BM — named, unnamed, nicknamed, This One, That One or simply The One. It’s just another excuse to ignore and/or prosecute those who disagree… until that blessed Red Dawn when The Fairness Doctrine silences us permanently.

There have been rumors that gaffe machine Joe Biden would be dropped as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, and we can now confirm that these rumors are TRUE. The only surprise is that Biden is not being replaced by Hillary Clinton; instead, BRCK BM has chosen his faithful apostle, Rep. Steve Cohen:

Rep. Cohen, as you’ll recall, recently compared BRCK BM to Jesus Christ, and the Republican VP candidate to Pontius Pilate.

Rep. Cohen has apparently been rewarded with a slot on the presidential ticket. That is, unless this is just a silly sign produced by Cohen, who faces no Republican challenger, and who recently said “it’s just me and Obama,” when asked which other candidates he would be helping this election season.

Also: this sign was spotted well inside the 7th District; Cohen represents the 9th District.