The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Here's my take on the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to national news this week.

The Good: President Obama announced yesterday that he will nominate geneticist Francis Collins to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health. Collins led the government's Human Genome Project while serving as director of the NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute and is well-respected for his work -- in most circles.

But as I wrote in a previous blog, there are some scientists who take issue with Collins because he is an evangelical Christian. These people don't think anyone who believes in God is fit to run a government agency that deals with science.

The Bad: Our economy is still spiraling downward. Despite the billions of dollars we have borrowed and spent on "stimulus" projects, the national unemployment rate is now expected to hit 10 percent. The latest employment figures show 467,000 jobs were lost in June, and the jobless rate hit a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, according to the Associated Press.

To sell the stimulus package, the administration and Congress talked a lot about all the new jobs it would create across the country. Those promises have changed. Now all the talk is about the jobs the stimulus is "saving."

The Ugly: When it comes to efforts to change the nation's healthcare, things are getting pretty ugly. At first, it was just the Democrats fighting the Republicans. But now the Dems are fighting each other, according to an AP report. A group of Blue Dog Democrats are threatening the due date the president and congressional leaders had set for a "reform" package, making the case that more time is needed to craft legislation that tackles the real problems.

One of the concerns is paying for the massive changes many Dems have proposed. A solution bandied about this week is a "surtax on the wealthy." The suggestion is to levy a new tax on individuals who make $200,000 or more and couples who make $250,000 or more. But that would create a $150,000 "marriage penalty" that could throw the whole thing to the courts. (That reminds me of a "sale" I once saw in a clothing store. The item cost $2.50, but the sale let you buy three for $10.)