Too busy for my own thoughts

So here are some other people's thoughts:

1) Pat Tiberi gets hometown paid media for voting to keep environmentally beneficial language in a bill, then turns around and votes against the bill itself, and holds it up as an example of irresponsible spending. I'm sure Deborah Pryce and Dave Hobson must be getting sick of Tiberi calling them names by now. Gray at LICOPAC has the write-up.

2) The ODP, breaking character a bit, is hosting an all-night candlelight vigil at Senator Voinovich's Columbus office. In case you didn't know, Senate Republicans have threatened filibusters on any bill that seeks to influence Iraq strategy, and the Dems have finally decided to make Republicans carry out their threat and have an all-night debate if necessary. There's some nervous talk flitting about regarding quorum calls, so George might have the opportunity to make a somewhat more courageous break with the GOP tonight.

3) Okay, this one's my thought: Many of the arguments in favor of Free Trade are sound arguments. But simplistic arguments like this one in the Dispatch really annoy me:

...they (free trade opponents) fail to mention that erecting barriers to trade, an approach favored by many Democrats and some Republicans in Congress, won't halt the loss of jobs or help workers in other countries. Nor would the higher prices American consumers would pay for just about everything help the U.S. standard of living.

Of course that's true, and if we just got rid of our own minimum wage, environmental protection, and workplace safety regulations here, we'd have more jobs and lower prices. Everyone would get low prices, and only several thousand would be sickened, maimed, or killed through exploitation. If we simply became a third world country once again, we'd be in much better position to compete with other third world nations.

That's not really out of the conservative mainstream, but I would be surprised if the CD Editorial Board would write that up as an editorial.

Happy Tuesday.