One Levin comb-over, not two?

The jokesters over at Buzzfeed have come up with a list of the most outrageous comb-overs on Capitol Hill. To no one’s surprise, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin is No. 2 on the list.

After all, the senator has been combing his thinning hair sideways, from ear to ear, for many years. What is quite surprising is that Carl’s brother, Congressman Sandy Levin, didn’t make the list at all.

Under the snarky headline, “The 23 most important comb-overs in Congress,” the Buzzfeed crew provides plenty of photos of some of Washington’s most unusual hairstyles, as sported by the likes of Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Sen. Ron Weyden of Oregon.

But where is Sandy Levin? Surely he deserved a spot on this list.

Obama to pick former Bush official, to Lead FBI

Breaking News: According to the New York Times, President Obama plans to nominate James Comey, a hedge fund executive and a former senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush, to replace Robert Mueller as the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Citing sources with knowledge of the selection process, he Times reported that Comey, 52, was chosen for the top FBI post over the other finalist for the job, Lisa Monaco, who has served as the White House’s top counterterrorism adviser since January. By choosing Comey, a Republican, the Times asserts that Obama made a strong statement about bipartisanship at a time when he faces constant criticism from Republicans in Congress and has had difficulty confirming some important nominees. Congressman Mike Rogers of Michigan, a former FBI man and the Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee, had also thought to be in the running, due to backing by numerous rank-and-file FBI agents.

As deputy attorney general in the Bush administration, Comey was a critical player in the infamous 2004 hospital room incident in which White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Bush’s Chief of Staff Andrew Card tried to persuade then-Attorney General John Ashcroft — who was ill and disoriented — to reauthorize a warrantless eavesdropping program.

Snyder names Hackel as point man on luring defense contractors to Mich.

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel has been named as the point man by Gov. Rick Snyder's administration on solidifying a Michigan label as the "Defense Capital of the Midwest." Here is the press release issued by Hackel's office earlier today. The Macomb County Department of Planning & Economic Development has been awarded a grant by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) to launch a statewide strategy for support of existing defense companies and to also attract new defense business to the state. Planned activities include a new website, promotional video, participation in targeted national defense events and development of a robotics cluster. The County will also organize three statewide events to encourage employers to hire veterans. The defense industry is important to Michigan’s economy. In the last decade, more than 1,600 companies throughout the state have fulfilled U.S. Department of Defense contracts valued at more than $4.6 billion. These contractors are found in 71 of our state’s 83 counties and employ some 45,000 people. “Macomb County companies receive nearly two-thirds of all of Michigan’s defense work,” said Macomb County Executive Mark A. Hackel. “It makes sense for us to use our assets to attract new investment to the state.” The $231,000 grant is part of the MEDC Collaborative Development Council’s Regional Projects program. The department will work closely with the Michigan Defense Center to develop a strategy for attracting key global defense and homeland security companies to the state. Specific activities will include  developing a 60-second video aligned with the Pure Michigan campaign that showcases the state’s defense and homeland security industry as a tool for attracting new investment and jobs. building a new website to highlight the strength of Michigan’s defense industry. targeting and coordinating business attraction efforts through participation in selected trade shows. facilitating activities centered on creating a robotics cluster. coordinating three statewide events that will educate and motivate employers about the benefits associated with hiring veterans. “The first priority of the MEDC Michigan Defense Center is to retain and grow jobs in the defense industry," said MEDC Director Sean Carlson. “Macomb County is an important regional partner and we look forward to furthering our relationship through this project."

Obamacare critic apologizes to readers

Heritage.org, which laid the groundwork for Obamacare two decades ago, now claims it will cause premiums to skyrocket.

“If you are among the many Americans who have bought into the fear and loathing that has been the campaign against Obamacare, you just might wish to reconsider. With every passing day, the various myths, legends and lies put forward by those with a political axe to grind, TV or radio rating to be raised, or vote to be purchased, are falling victim to the facts.”

--Rick Ungar, Forbes magazine columnist

The above quote was part of Ungar’s recent apology to his readersfor being so wrong in predicting a rapid rise in health insurance premiums under Obamacare. The health care rates announced in California by the 13 insurance companies that will be participating in the state’s online exchange proved to be far lower than Obamacare critics had expected.

“Setting aside the never-ending nonsense peddled by the opponents of healthcare reform, everyone from the Congressional Budget Office to numerous private actuaries have warned that premium shock could be expected to set in once the public began to see the reality of what Obamacare would mean to their pocketbooks,” Ungar wrote. “And yet, the only real jolt to the system being felt by these public and private prognosticators today is utter amazement over just how reasonable the California prices have turned out to be.”

The reason the rates on the California Covered exchange are so low is that the market forces at work drove down prices as insurers jockey for bigger market share in a state where Obamacare may add 2 million customers for the companies.

In a big, diverse state where some commentators thought the exchange would never work properly, it is instead working exactly as the architects of Obamacare intended. Similar results have been found in Oregon and Washington State.

Liberals are eager to point this out, and they note that in states without Republican obstructionists, the Affordable Care Act seems like it will be a success. Among the lefties who predict a Red/Blue State divide over Obamacare implementation that will damage the GOP is New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.

Krugman wrote that the Republican “sabotage” also extends to states (such as Michigan) where state lawmakers have blocked Medicaid expansion. Regardless of the subsidized rates offered on the exchange, some of the uninsured population cannot afford even the cheapest health care policy. Without a federally financed expansion of Medicaid eligibility, Krugman wrote, those people will be left out in the cold.

Krugman concluded: “Still, here’s what it seems is about to happen: millions of Americans will suddenly gain health coverage, and millions more will feel much more secure knowing that such coverage is available if they lose their jobs or suffer other misfortunes. Only a relative handful of people will be hurt at all. And as contrasts emerge between the experience of states like California that are making the most of the new policy and that of states like Texas whose politicians are doing their best to undermine it, the sheer mean-spiritedness of the Obamacare opponents will become ever more obvious.

Ten types of camouflage military uniforms reflects Washington's wasteful ways

 While millions of civilian military personnel prepare to endure unpaid furlough days under the sequester cuts allowed by Congress, The Washington Post recently reported that the Pentagon has spent millions of dollars to develop new types of camouflage uniforms that represent a classic Washington example of duplication and waste.
David Fahrenthold of the Post reported that in 2002, the military had just two kinds of camouflage uniforms. One was green, for the woods. The other was brown, for the desert. Today, there are 10.

One is a camouflage pattern just for Marines in the desert. There is another just for Navy personnel in the desert. The Army has its own “universal” camouflage pattern, which is designed to work anywhere. It also has another one just for Afghanistan, where the first one doesn’t work, according to Fahrenthold.

Unbelievably, even the Air Force has its own unique camouflage. But it apparently has flaws. So in Afghanistan, airmen are told not to wear it in battle.
Here is Fahrenthold’s assessment:

“Duplication is one of Washington’s most expensive traditions: Multiple agencies do the same job at the same time, and taxpayers pay billions for the government to repeat itself.

"The habit remains stubbornly hard to break, even in an era of austerity. There are, for instance, at least 209 federal programs to improve science and math skills. There are 16 programs that teach personal finance.

"At the Pentagon, the story of the multiplying uniforms has provided a step-by-step illustration of how duplication blooms in government — and why it’s usually not good.”