Hero/Hack
Pete DuPont is my hero this week. Not only was he waiting to greet Bush when he came down the ramp (with Castle and Carper), but his WSJ column this week is excellent, detailing bad 'paygo' practices:
But a new Congress supportive of increased spending cannot be supportive of increased deficits, so the Democratic House majority reinstated a clever and deceptive wrinkle, something called pay-as-you-go, or "paygo." It specifies that any revenue lost as the result of tax cuts, or any newly enacted entitlement or other spending increase, must be paid for by other spending reductions or tax increases. (House rules require a three-fifths vote for tax increases, but Democrats made sure that requirement can be waived by a simple majority vote.)My hack this week is China, who seems to be caving to the Muslims. This is just plain weird:
SHANGHAI -- Next month, China will ring in the Year of the Pig. Nestlé SA planned to celebrate with TV ads featuring a smiling cartoon pig. "Happy new pig year," the ads said.It's about the pork, not the pigs. Sheesh.This week, China Central Television, the national state-run TV network, banned Nestlé's ad -- and all images and spoken references to the animal in commercials, including those tied to the Lunar New Year, China's biggest holiday.
The intent: to avoid offending Muslims, who consider pigs unclean. "China is a multiethnic country," the network's ad department said in a notice sent to ad agencies late Tuesday. "To show respect to Islam, and upon guidance from higher levels of the government, CCTV will keep any 'pig' images off the TV screen."
Labels: Hero/Hack
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