Jesse Eisenberg, the man who portrayed Mark Zuckerberg in the fantastic film The Social Network, hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend. In his monologue, he is confronted by the man who plays Mark Zuckerberg on SNL…and Mark Zuckerberg. Funny stuff but, kind of ‘awk-berg’ eh?

Enjoy.

http://widget.nbc.com/videos/nbcshort_at.swf?CXNID=1000004.10045NXC&widID=4727a250e66f9723&clipID=1279517&showID=61

John Stossel makes some great arguments as to what spending should be cut. This reminded me a lot of President Ford’s address in 1975.

We’re in deep trouble.

You know why. Our debt has passed $14 trillion, and yet our current spending plans will make that worse. The U.S. debt will reach Greek levels in just 10 years.

But do not despair. If we make reasonable cuts to what government spends, our economy can grow us out of our debt. Cutting doesn’t just make economic sense, it is also the moral thing to do. Henry David Thoreau had it right when he “accepted(ed) the motto … that government is best which governs least.”

So what should we get rid of?

We start by closing the Department of Education, which saves $100 billion a year. Education ought to be in the free market. It’s insane to take money from states only to launder it through Washington and then return it to states.

Next, we should close the Department of Housing and Urban Development: $41 billion. We had plenty of housing in America before a department was created. Let’s get government out of that business.

Then we eliminate the Commerce Department: $9 billion. A government that can’t count the votes accurately should not try to negotiate trade. Trade should be free. Free trade creates prosperity. And since trade should be free, we should eliminate all corporate welfare and all subsidies. That means: agriculture subsidies, green energy subsidies, ethanol subsidies and subsidies for public broadcasting. None of these is needed.

I propose selling Amtrak. Taxpayers will save money, and riders will get better service. Why is government in the transportation business? Let’s have private companies compete to run the trains.

And we must finally stop one of the biggest assaults on freedom and our pocketbook, the war on drugs. The drug war is really a war on our own people. The ends do not justify the means.

Read the rest of this brilliant piece at this link.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as the 35th President of the United States. Sadly though, the current Democratic party is not the party of John F. Kennedy anymore. You see, Kennedy believed in tax cuts which has always spurred economic growth. Here he is speaking about his tax cuts which he was presenting to the next Congress.

One of the hidden elements of the new ObamaCare health reform law was a new federal regulation listed in the law mandating all restaurant chains of 20 or more locations to place calorie counts on its menus.

Ed Morrissey, commenting on this video at Hot Air, notes the unintended consequences of the mandate:

The mandate will creates a huge cost burden for restaurants not just in testing and printing costs for initial compliance, but every time the restaurant wants to add a new item to its repertoire. The extra cost will be worth it, say many, because it will change American eating habits once the benighted consumers realize the high amount of calories they consume when eating outside the home.

The study quoted on CNN at the video below, found out that putting calorie counts on menus does NOT change people’s eating habits. So, the menu mandate, which costs restaurants and fast food places money each time they add or delete something from the menu thereby costing jobs, is a big waste of taxpayer dollars.

Exit question: I guess this goes to show it’s true what Ronald Reagan once said:

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.”

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=bestoftv/2011/01/19/exp.am.cohen.calorie.menus.cnn