Melodrama Obama

Obama should put a stop to this type of pitch, and I say that as an Obama supporter. With all due respect to Vice-President Biden and Bill Clinton, writing President Obama into Profiles in Courage because he gave a green light to killing Osama Bin Laden just won't do, especially after he was known as "no-drama Obama" during the campaign. Yes, he took a chance that the mission could have failed; it would have been a bad metaphor for his re-election campaign, like the abortive hostage rescue attempt under President Carter. But the guys who carried out the mission risked their lives, which is their job. Making tough decisions is the job Barack Obama applied for when he ran for president. You asked for it, pal! 

Striking Mount Rushmore-like poses about killing Osama Bin Laden for campaign videos---though that was a good job well-done---just makes him look like a ham and, well, a drama queen.   

The progressive love affair with trains

Cartoon John Pritchett, Hawaii Reporter

I've written before about the love liberals have for trains. Actually, everybody likes trains, but train systems are more expensive to build and operate than bus systems and are thus not a solution to urban traffic congestion for cash-strapped cities and states. Hawaii is the latest state to flirt with a ruinously expensive rail system.

Randal O'Toole's recent presentation on that proposal. [Later: his follow-up post on the subject]

Wendell Cox on Hawaii's rail proposal.

O'Toole's deconstruction of Portland's ongoing planning fiasco.