"I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler." – Jon Stewart
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 31st, 2009
Attaurk was not amused by Dick Cheney’s, Liz Cheney’s and John McCain’s weekend appearance on the usual weekend echo chambers: It was quite a juxtaposition this weekend. If Saturday was for remembering the Kennedys, Sunday was for dealing with the Cheneys. Camelot vs. Torture-a-lot. Dick was mumbling up a storm about how awesome torture was, [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 29th, 2009
I’m re-posting this bit from Andrew Sullivan and David Frum because it is the single best piece I’ve seen on how to push back against conservative counter arguments against health reform. At this point health reform is the conservative position. I find myself again in agreement with David Frum. It was one thing to oppose [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 28th, 2009
I agree with Scarecrow’s point on the public option here. Why in God’s name would we give $1.39 trillion in new revenue to insurance companies as the price of not abusing the public? It’s like some kind deal to pay a murderer to stop killing your neighbors. Expand Medicare and Medicaid, with some reforms (killing [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 28th, 2009
As Gleckman says it’s as much an ethical choice as an economic one. It says a lot about us as a country and what are values are. So, what do you think Jesus would do? It is interesting, and perhaps worth noting, that while political opposition seems to be hardening against the $1 trillion, ten-year [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 28th, 2009
Steve Inskeep tears into the inconsistencies in the GOP position on Medicare vis-á-vis health insurance reform. The GOP is trying to walk a fine line between praising and protecting the very poopular Medicare program, which is the quintessential government run health care and knocking down plans to reform health care. This is after a long [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 28th, 2009
So why are politicians so afraid of this? When people are asked: to what degree they support or oppose “[s]tarting a new federal health insurance plan that individuals could purchase if they can’t afford private plans offered to them” — a public option, in other words. The results are interesting, though not necessarily surprising to [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 28th, 2009
FCC formally launches inquiry into wireless competition. Will the FCC stop letting wireless carriers rape their customers? Who knows? It might happen…
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 27th, 2009
In the ongoing debate over who ought (or ought not) be prosecuted for the abuse and torture of detainees in U.S. custody, American Civil Liberties Union national security lawyer Alex Abdo, made an important point yesterday that’s been largely overlooked. “At the end of investigating is the time when you decide who to prosecute. You [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 27th, 2009
“This is the cause of my life,” Ted Kennedy wrote. “For four decades I have carried this cause — from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society.” Kennedy [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 25th, 2009
Nate Silver had a post about the poor (and perhaps intentionally bad) wording of survey questions about the public option. He find two that meet his criteria for properly worded unambiguous questions. The first is from Quinnipiac: There is still strong support for critical elements of the Obama/Democratic plan: 62 – 32 percent in favor [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 25th, 2009
The wackiness never ends over at Free Republic. The latest demand from the fever swamps of conservatism: “Obama, show us your penis”: The fine Real Americans at the Free Republic have found Obama’s achilles heel: his Long Dark Staff of White Insecurity. hoosiermama: The only other thing that hit me was that Sinclair said BO [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 25th, 2009
This exercise in snarkiness comes from DougJ at Balloon Juice: I like reading David Frum’s blog posts. A lot of the time, he makes more sense to me than the “Obama is selling us out” wing of the left blogosphere. There’s probably some underlying craziness with him, but at the very least, he seems to [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 24th, 2009
This is a national disgrace. There were population groups with much higher infant mortality than the national average of 6.78 per 1000 births. CDC Releases New Infant Mortality Data. The United States ranked 29th in the world in infant mortality in 2004, compared to 27th in 2000, 23rd in 1990 and 12th in 1960, according [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 24th, 2009
Krugman pulls no punches when reacting to Sen. Grassley’s pandering to the ever crazier GOP with things he knew to be false. We talk a lot about ideology, we talk a lot about the influence of moneyed interests, and all that is relevant. But we should not ignore the sheer personal cowardice of many politicians. [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 23rd, 2009
Not so much… A Central Intelligence Agency inspector general’s report set to be released Monday provides new details about abuses that took place inside the agency’s secret prisons, including details of how C.I.A. officers carried out mock executions and threatened at least one prisoner with a gun and a power drill. via Report Provides New [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 23rd, 2009
Some call it recovery – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com. Paul says while it might be a “recovery” in terms of conventional definition, but job creation still lags. The question seems to be why isn’t job creation part of the definition of recovery.
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 23rd, 2009
Bear in mind that by the time the terror alert controversy arose in 2004, we had already seen two tax cuts sold on massively, easily documented false pretenses; a war launched with constant innuendo about a Saddam-Osama link that was clearly false, and with claims about WMDs that were clearly shaky from the beginning and [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 22nd, 2009
More than three out of every four Americans feel it is important to have a “choice” between a government-run health care insurance option and private coverage, according to a public opinion poll released on Thursday. A new study by SurveyUSA puts support for a public option at a robust 77 percent, one percentage point higher [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 22nd, 2009
Piss off your base and this is what you get. A major factor in President Obama’s slide in today’s big Washington Post/ABC News poll, which is preoccupying the political classes today, is his surprisingly sharp drops among Democrats and even liberals, according to crosstabs that were sent my way. Much talk today has focused on [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Aug 22nd, 2009
Jon Stewart Grills ‘Death Panel’ Originator, Part 1 | TPMTV Jon punks out Betsy McCaughey, high priestess of priestess “Death Panels”. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Date: 07/01/2007