Virginia first state to nullify federal health insurance mandate

Congress hasn’t even passed Obamacare yet, but if and when it does, Virginia’s General Assembly has already fired the first round in what could be a major legal showdown with Washington over the limits of federal power.

On Thursday, the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere became the first state to enact legislation that prohibits the federal government from forcing its citizens to purchase government-approved health insurance.

Dr. Zero - Every Dollar Is Sacred

It’s long past time we reject the pretense that every new penny of deficit spending is an emergency, every dollar of the ridiculous federal budget is sacred, and each attempt at reform will have to begin with shutting down vital services. As long as the government persists in its worst excesses, there’s no reason to tolerate boasting about its best features. When it’s wasting trillions, there’s no way it should be allowed to claim it needs a loan for billions. A Congress that knocks aside inconvenient laws, in its lust for power and money, has no business talking about new laws it plans to enforce upon us. A band of thieves mired in corruption scandals has nothing to say to us about responsibilities.

Thursday stuff

Bad, Twisted & Bizarre Toys.

 

World's strongest boy nearly doubles the current world air pushup record.

 

Underwater Archeology: Diving 800 Feet Below the Hagia Sophia.

 

Headline of the day: Naked Woman Tied To Tree In Tacoma Park Not A Problem.

5,000 Australians pose completely naked in front of the Sydney Opera House.  NSFW.

Retro Cereals, part 1, part 2 and part 3.

 

The middle finger and the law.

Chickens attack and kill fox.

 

French phone line offers Catholic confessions for 0.34 euros per minute.

Gorgeous Photography of Carnivorous Plants.

"Stairway to Heaven", by the Beatles (sort of).

 

Scientific American: A bushel of facts about the uniqueness of human pubic hair.

 

Amazing bird photography - click the symbol for full screen in the top left corner.

 

Swiss prostitutes trained to use defibrillators in brothels to prevent clients dying.

 

How Monopoly helped free POWs in WWII.  Sort of related: Gallery of motorcycles used in WWII.

 

Retro futuristic space art.  Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

A Brazilian girl does the Thriller dance with her fingers.

 

History video of the day: A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything.

 

Titanic vs. Lusitania: Who Survived and Why?

Condoms in 'extra small' for boys age 12 set for Britain's shelves soon

Because "not enough 12 to 14-year-old boys were having protected sex."

Dr. Zero - To Keep and Bear Arms

Starting with how a crackhead "put the gun in my forehead and pulled the trigger."

"The notion that citizens have no good reason to be armed, because the State can protect them from violent crime, is one of the most dangerous lies Big Government has fed its subjects."

The Weird Al Yankovic sex tape

Probably safe for work, actually.

Fuel Taxes Must Rise to $7/gallon as Result of EPA targets

To meet the Obama administration’s targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, some researchers say, Americans may have to experience a sobering reality: gas at $7 a gallon.

5 Ugly Truths Americans Will Have to Face

Inevitable consequences of overspending.

Pain Killers Accelerate Hearing Loss With Age?

FuturePundit has links to and comments on a study linking aspirin, acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to an increase in hearing loss.

Dr. Zero - A prayer from the living world

He used the sad news of Andrew Koenig’s suicide to write one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read.

Baby survives parents' global warming suicide pact

Via Climategate.com. 

A seven-month-old girl survived for three days alone with a bullet in her chest after being shot by her parents as part of a suicide pact over their fears about global warming.

IPCC “science” on hurricanes no longer settled, either

As Captain Ed says at Hot Air, as least they got the page numbers right.

Steyn - When Responsibility Doesn’t Pay

"Think of Greece as California: Every year an irresponsible and corrupt bureaucracy awards itself higher pay and better benefits paid for by an ever-shrinking wealth-generating class. And think of Germany as one of the less profligate, still-just-about-functioning corners of America such as my own state of New Hampshire: Responsibility doesn’t pay. You’ll wind up bailing out anyway. The problem is there are never enough of “the rich” to fund the entitlement state, because in the end it disincentivizes everything from wealth creation to self-reliance to the basic survival instinct, as represented by the fertility rate. In Greece, they’ve run out Greeks, so they’ll stick it to the Germans, like French farmers do. In Germany, the Germans have only been able to afford to subsidize French farming because they stick their defense tab to the Americans. And in America, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are saying we need to paddle faster to catch up with the Greeks and Germans. What could go wrong?"