Category Archives: Politics

Humor, Law and Order, Politics

Thursday Linkorama

Yes, more linkos. I’m in one of my more bloggy phases today.

  • The good and bad of Ted Kennedy. Balko as well. He could be a great man or he could be a petty power-hungry idealogue. And I have a known distaste for the entire Kennedy aristocracy. But I’m sorry for his family and friends.
  • I’m with Megan. Comparing just about any political philosophy that doesn’t involve killing people to fascism is just stupid.
  • Ha ha. The weird thing is that I remember these sort of “thing called the internet” piecs. But to today’s kids, they probably see like a joke.
  • I heavily blogged Richard Dawkins God Delusion as I read it (click the Religion tab on your right). I’m glad to see he has another book coming out. I think his take on religion is clumsy and needlessly aggressive. But his defense of evolutionary theory and science is outstanding. Granted, I may have a soft spot for anyone married to Romana.
  • What a great idea. While we’re at it, let’s burn down people’s houses so they can learn about the danger of arson (and stimulate the economy, if Cash for Clunkers is our guide).
    • Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Wednesday Morning Linkorama

  • Yet another decorated soldier is run out of the military for the heinous crime of being gay.
  • Another debunking of the Peak Oil Theory. I think Peak Oil is partially wrong, but I still think investment in alternative energy is a good way to hedge the bets here. We’re going to run out of oil some day. Eventually the Peak Oilers will be right (and, of course, happily ignore the century or so that they were wrong).
  • My understanding is that Obama doesn’t control the Social Security COLAs, which are set to go to zero this year. COLAs need to change if Social Security is to be viable in the long term. This will be a good test of the political feasibility.
  • My take on the wealth gap? I think we are all moving up, true. But it seems that there is a class of people who are simply stuck at the bottom.
  • Cash for Fridges. Is there any payout that our government isn’t going to do?
  • It turns out that education costs are rising faster than healthcare. This is almost certainly aided by the open-ended commitment of our government to pay for higher ed, no matter what the cost. However, if another industry were experiencing such rising costs — and paying, on average, half a million to its presidents, you can bet we’d be hearing some noise about it.
  • Typical. The ban on pseudoephedrine, designed to combat meth, is just forcing the dealers to use more dangerous methods. A similar thing happened in the 80’s, when an ether ban forced coke makers to use cancer-causing benzene. The only way this make sense is if you think the only good drug user is a dead drug users.
  • Another scathing indictment of the teachers’ union. Note the salaries being paid. What strikes me most is how bad I feel for the teachers caught up in this nightmare of a system. Wasting five years in a rubber room is a terrible way to live.
    • Law and Order, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Weekend Linkorama

  • Cool. My mind is bent.
  • Good luck with trying to privatize the post office. The idea is right; the will is non-existent.
  • Mints sent a guy to jail? Seriously? Yet another triumph in our stupid War on Drugs.
  • You stay classy, MSNBC. Show guns at an Obama rally, imply racist murderous intent, neglect to mention that the man carrying the weapon was black. Nicely done.
  • I know how he feels.
  • Yes another study concludes that high-speed rail is a boondoggle. But noting’s a boondoggle when it enriches powerful interests.
  • Le Illusion. As I said before, my patience with people who believe in “free” healthcare is limited.
  • Yes, elements of the Right have gotten ridiculously silly about healthcare (death panels? Really?) But let it not be said that the Left is also very very silly. I propose that we lock all these people up in a small room and let them fight it out while the rest of us run the country.
    • Politics

    Bartlett on Bush

    Bruce Bartlett has a fantastic article taking on the so-called “conservatives” who are criticizing Obama for Bush’s mistakes. No matter how you slice it, Bush was a terrible “conservative”.

    Read the whole thing.

    In other news, more is coming out about the tension between Bush and Cheney during their term in the White House. While I’m sympathetic to Bush, he was still “the Decider”. He could have stood up to Cheney a lot earlier and more effectively than he did. Indeed, one of Bush’s weaknesses was his unwillingness to cut off people he liked who were hurting the country — Don Rumsfeld, for example.

    Healthcare, Politics

    Vacation Linkorama

  • Glad to see that whole culture of corruption think has been handled. There are a few R’s on that list.
  • More healthcare commentary from Krauthammer and Samuelson and the WSJ and the the owner of Whole Foods (who, in a shock, says we should shop at his stores to save the country). It would be nice if the GOP and the healthcare protesters would offer up some ideas.
  • Welch on the people trying to link healthcare opposition to racism. One of the interesting things about the Obama machine is that they have resisted playing the race card. The reason, I think, is that they understand that the race card, if played, will effectively end Obama’s presidency. We will spend the rest of it arguing race instead of policy. The race card has become the Godwin’s Law of our time. Once invoked, it immediately discredits the invoker — and that would apply even if the opposition were a bunch of racist lunatics.
  • An absolute must read from Alternet about the wave of NYC pot arrests. This is an incredible waste of time, money and young men’s lives.
  • Will the Feds taking over student loans save money? Nope. But you knew that already.
    • Immigration, Politics, Science and Edumacation, Taxes and Spending

    Wednesday Linkorama

    With commentary!

  • Let it not be said that the Democrats oppose tax cuts. They just prefer that tax cuts be reserved for their guys. What?
  • Matt Welch takes apart Andrew Sullivan on the “cash for clunkers” program. As I commented on the other site, I was sympathetic to this program initially, but the commentary from Edmunds (hardly a right-wing thinktank) and the notation that this will mainly keep poor people from buying old cars has turned me against it. Remember when government programs vomiting out tons of unaccountable cash was a bad thing? Sigh. I miss 1987.
  • So much for Obama lightening up on immigration. Wait! It must be a secret communist conspiracy to establish Republica del Norte!
  • I never thought I’d praise Pat Leahy. But there you go.
  • Yet another triumph of our “education system”. At some point, the Democrats are going to pay and pay big for mindlessly backing the unions. It’s a genuflection that makes the Bush Administration’s cow-towing to Big Oil look almost principled.
    • Civil Liberties, Healthcare, Law and Order, Politics

    Weekend Linkorama

  • I can’t pretend to be surprised that stimulus money is not going to repair the most critical bridges but is going to pork projects. This is what happens when you throw out tons of unaccountable cash out there. I’ve moved past it. Now I’m waiting for the huge scandals connected to the “cash for clunkers” program.
  • Another story from our wonderful drug war. Asset forfeiture laws are probably the most vile laws on our books. If only we had a leadership that cared about criminal justice and civil liberties.
  • 70% of Southern Whites aren’t sure if Obama was born in this country. That sound you heard was the facepalm of this southerner.
  • More indicators that our healthcare system isn’t the disaster we’re told.
  • No, Virginia. You can’t pay for everything with taxes on the rich.
  • Adventures in tasing. I used to like the idea of tasers as a non-lethal force. But it seems they’re (mostly) non-lethality has only encourage ridiculously prolific use.
  • I can’t help but think that the new food safety requirements are going to end up like CPSIA — crippling small farmers in favor of agribusiness.
  • Americans can’t afford healthcare — but apparently they can afford $34 billion of bullshit every year.
  • Pensions? Doomed. This is why I have my money in 403b’s. As bad as they might be, relying on the state is worse.
    • Healthcare, Politics

    Wednesday Linkorama

  • Trillions of dollars in debt. But the Obama cabinet has come through with … $200 million in spending cuts. Woo-hoo.
  • Congress wants to ban drug ads. I can understand it, but this reeks of unintended consequences. As the NYT notes, many people seek out needed drugs because of these ads.
  • What qualifies as a job? A lot less than you’d think.
  • Good for Jeff Flake. As the GOP falls apart, a few lights remain.
  • Hitch has a great take on the Gates business.
  • Post of the day — does health insurance make you fat?
  • A great interview about the War on Fat. I don’t happen to agree with everything Campos says about the issue of weight. But I do agree that the focus on weight (and BMI in particular) has drawn emphasis away from where it should be — healthy living.
    • Politics

    More Than Gates

    I blogged about the Henry Louis Gates business at the other site. But there’s something worth noting:

    Isn’t it notable that six months into his presidency, the most prominent advocacy President Obama has done on behalf of minorities mistreated by police is to stand up for his Ivy League buddy? Somehow I imagine that Professor Gates would’ve fared just fine absent help from Harvard’s most prominent alumnus.

    Whereas if President Obama spoke up at a press conference on behalf of people wrongly imprisoned due to “testimony” by police dogs, or advocated for those sexually assaulted by an officer, or spoke against prosecutors who block access to DNA testing, or called out the officer who choked a paramedic, or objected to the practice of police killing family pets, or asked the Innocence Project for a clear cut case of injustice to publicize…

    I understand, of course, that Pres. Obama was asked about Henry Louis Gates, which is also part of the problem. Wrongly arrest a black men who happens to be a Harvard professor, release him without filing charges, and the national press corps asks the president to comment. Wrongly imprison for years on end a black man who happens to be working class and without celebrity, and the national press corps continues to utterly ignore a criminal justice system that routinely convicts innocent people. Apportioning blame for this sorry state of affairs isn’t as important as recognizing that the news we get on these matters reflects a value system that is seriously flawed, and that news consumers bear blame for too.

    Radley Balko’s blog has become a one-stop shop for cataloging law enforcement abuses, including the recent rash of exonerations in Dallas for men who have been in prison for decades. Combined, these guys aren’t getting a fraction of the ink Gates — who was, at worst, humiliated — has been getting. Compare and contrast: Henry Louis Gates and Shem Walker.

    Law and Order, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Wednesday Linkorama

  • Yet more data showing that immigration is not a problem for the US and appears to making the place better. As someone married to an immigrant, I’d probably have to agree.
  • Parents in NYC are putting up their own money to hire teachers’ aides for classrooms. This informal program is working very well. So naturally, the union wants it killed. Can’t have non-union employees mucking things up. Why, they come without a whole slew of administrators! Worthless “independent” Mike Bloomberg instantly caved.
  • We’re sending the DEA to Afghanistan. Yeah, that’s going to go well.
  • Remember how much Obama hated Bush’s signing statements? Well, that’s OK. Neither does he.
  • Experts are puzzled that crime is plunging during a recession. Maybe … just maybe … that’s because crime isn’t caused by poverty.