"I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler." – Jon Stewart
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 25th, 2010
Are there no limits of civilized behavior that’s not subject to be waived away by legal sophistry? At the core of the legal arguments were the views of Yoo, strongly backed by David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney’s legal counsel, that the president’s wartime powers were essentially unlimited and included the authority to override laws [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 23rd, 2010
Krugman, on the shear incoherence and cowardice of the GOP’s so-called small government activists: …ever since Reagan, the G.O.P. has been run by people who want a much smaller government. In the famous words of the activist Grover Norquist, conservatives want to get the government “down to the size where we can drown it in [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 22nd, 2010
Anyone with an interest in what’s wrong with the Senate should read the whole thing. Here’s what’s wrong in one paragraph. most strident partisans must learn to occasionally sacrifice short-term tactical political advantage for the sake of the nation. Otherwise, Congress will remain stuck in an endless cycle of recrimination and revenge. The minority seeks [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 21st, 2010
The GOP preaches small government when out of power, while massively expanding it when actually in power. Their policy of don’t tax and spend is directly related to the looming fiscal crisis that threatens to push the federal government down the same road as California and Greece. What they actually do while in power is [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 21st, 2010
John Birch Society at CPAC | Talking Points Memo. CPAC welcomes everyone’s favorite old time racists. They’re faithful followers of Brother John Birch… (Apologies to Charlie Daniels for paraphrasing “Uneasy Rider“)
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 21st, 2010
Seth MacFarlane, on last nights Real Time with Bill Maher, says: “If Ronald Regan was President, he’d try Dick Cheney for war crimes.” This was in response to Bill asking if anyone has seen Dick Cheney brag about personally ordering water boarding on the Sunday talk shows. The assertion is, I assume, based on Reagan [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 21st, 2010
As a long time supporter of systemic health reform I find this heartening: Democrats will finish their health reform efforts within the next two months by using a majority-vote maneuver in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said. Reid said that congressional Democrats would likely opt for a procedural tactic in the Senate allowing [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 20th, 2010
The New Poor – Despite Signs of Recovery, Long-Term Unemployment Rises – Series – NYTimes.com. Brother can you spare a dime? – Tom Waits version. No one can give voice to the pain of a working man without a job like Tom. I guess the song is making a come back…
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 20th, 2010
That’s quite a defense, but it’s hard to disagree with that headline. If you haven’t been following this, it’s regarding the investigation of DOJ lawyers who provided the White House and DOD legal cover to torture detainees as long as it didn’t result in death or permanent injury: Justice Department Will Not Punish Yoo and [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 19th, 2010
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 18th, 2010
I find it extremely unlikely that the Democrats in Congress would rediscover the contents of their metaphorical nutsacks and actually do something. Sen. Michael Bennet’s effort to revive the public option in the reconciliation process is gaining steam, with almost 20 senators signing on to the idea. Among them are Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 18th, 2010
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 18th, 2010
I’m really not informed enough about secondary education to say if this is a good idea for school systems, teachers and students or not. But I can say that increasing the number of young people in the worst job market in memory probably isn’t a very good idea. Dozens of public high schools in eight [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 18th, 2010
U.S. Economy Grinds To Halt As Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source. You gotta love the Onion…
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 18th, 2010
Here’s a very cogent observation from the comments at Tyler Cowen’s Marginal Revolution econoblog: It seems to me that the American political system is simply broken. Canada could reduce the size of government and keep health care spending in check because in a parliamentary system with strong party loyalty, individual politicans are given “cover” by [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 17th, 2010
Foreigners cut Treasury stakes; rates could rise – washingtonpost.com. The Wapo notes that the Japanese have overtaken the Chinese as the number one purchasers of American government debt. Apparently we’ve gotten to 88 mph in the Delorean and the flux capacitor has taken us back to 1985… Fear the Japanese Overlords! h/t Ezra Klein The [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 17th, 2010
The problem with the stimulus bill was that it was too small. Republicans were allowed to substitute tax cuts, which most reputable economists deem least effective for stimulating the economy in the name of bipartisanship. Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked. Let’s say this bill had started [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 16th, 2010
Editorial: Engadget on Windows Phone 7 Series — Engadget. The phone geek at Engadget are really excited about MS getting up on their hind legs and actually releasing what looks like an interesting mobile OS. They rewrote the whole thing from the ground up. It’s about time. My last taste of a MS mobile OS [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 15th, 2010
I thought the statement which essentially blamed Kumaritashvili for his own death was callous and suspect. If their were no defects why did he slam in to a bare metal support at 90 MPH? How that even possible if the track was as safe as they say below? I thought the whole thing stank of [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Feb 14th, 2010
The New Yorker as an intersting bit on the internal incoherence of the recent wave of American populism: The electorate, we hear, wants Barack Obama to be more of an economic populist but less of an ambitious reformer. He has to aggressively create jobs but also be less spendthrift. This advice may be contradictory, but [...]
Date: 07/01/2007