Daily Read - 3/3/10

For 15 years, a California hardware store put out coffee and doughnuts for their morning customers.  Not any more - due to an "anonymous customer complaint", the state has decided the store does not meet food-handling regulations.  (Ventura County Star, h/t Overlawyered)

A two-year-old boy in the UK spent four months in foster care because his parents refused doctor's orders to feed him junk food.

Yesterday, President Obama proposed "rebates of up to $3,000 for energy-saving home renovations," "saying the measure would boost employment and save energy."  "House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) pointed to a recent inspector general's report that said that such a program included in the economic stimulus package, at a cost of nearly $5 billion, is falling far short of expectations."  The problems with the last program were highlighted by blogger Mickey Kaus - the program has been bogged down by regulations requiring a "prevailing wage" for stimulus projects.  Instead of getting shovel-ready work done right away to stimulate the economy, as Obama intended, "The Department of Labor spent most of the past year trying to determine the prevailing wage for weatherization work, a determination that had to be made for each of the more than 3,000 counties in the United States," according to this ABC report.  The government can't get out of its own way.

The Senate was able to extend unemployment benefits and delay Medicare pay cuts for doctors after Jim Bunning proposed a tax measure to cover the cost of the bill.  Although agreeing with the contents of the bill, Bunning had been demanding that the bill be paid for, and not funded through the deficit -- in accordance with PayGo principles.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) is not stepping down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, in spite of the House ethics committee's findings and increasingly bipartisan pressure to resign.  Pelosi's vow to run "the most ethical Congress in history" is sounding very hollow.  [Update: Rangel resigned this morning at a last-minute press conference "in order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections"  Democratic Rep. Artur Davis said Rangel needed to step down "to restore the public trust."  Doesn't Rangel's admission that he's stepping down to help his party win elections in November undermine the "public trust"?  Admitting his obvious ethical lapses would be a start, but his statement today just underlines how clueless he is (and Pelosi too).  (AP via Yahoo)]

Yesterday's WSJ reported that "Lawmakers Keep the Change."  Members of Congress are allowed up to $250 per day for expenses while travelling overseas, and are required to return whatever is left over.  However, most "use the excess cash for shopping or to defray spouses' travel expenses. Sometimes they give it away; sometimes they pocket it."  "Congress has no system for tracking how the cash payments, called per diems, are being spent. Lawmakers aren't required to keep receipts and there are no public records." If you know anyone who works for a company that would allow this, let me know.