January 2011
“The White House is prepared to step up its criticism of Egyptian President Hosni...”
– Obama Poised to Intensify U.S. Criticism of Egypt’s Mubarak - Businessweek (via squashed)
Other comments from the administration official:
If Iran doesn’t stop developing nuclear weapons, the President is prepared to issue an audible, disapproving hum.
If China doesn’t improve...
Explaining Where I Stand
squashed:
I’m a bit confused.
You don’t like the healthcare bill—but you really don’t like the idea that a temporary waiver might be granted to minimize problems in the transition.
You surely don’t like the idea of a blanket lobbyist ban—but you really don’t like the idea that there might be an occasional exception based on an established procedure to allow the guy who ran the Tobbacco Free...
My FoolProof Weight Loss Plan Part II
Earlier I posted a description of my fool proof weight loss plan. Squashed had some comments on the plan. To be honest, I didn’t understand most of what he said, but this part made sense: ”I’d suggest that you spend that first six months eating more of things that are good for you rather than more of everything.” Based upon this recommendation, I changed my weight loss plan...
“Emanuel’s ad-hocracy, meanwhile, didn’t faze Obama. The president’s friend and...”
– Where the Obama Administration Intends to Take the Country and How It Plans to Do So — New York Magazine
My Foolproof Weight Loss Plan
I’ve got a great six-month plan for losing weight. For five months, I’m going to eat more than I’m eating now—more pizza, more pie, more ice cream, more everything. Then, in the sixth month I’m not going to eat any food at all. Based upon these assumptions, I’ve projected that I’ll lose significant weight at the end of the six months.
My friends have...
Capitalism and its Discontented Squashed
squashed:
hilker:
Capitalism doesn’t exist.
hipsterlibertarian:
It’s not capitalism when the system is plagued with incomprehensible rules regarding mergers, acquisitions, and stock sales, along with wage controls, price controls, protectionism, corporate subsidies, international management of trade, complex and punishing corporate taxes, privileged government contracts to the ...
The Monopoly Libel
squashed:
Monopoly is a good game for libertarians. Everybody starts out in the same spot. The rules are clear and understandable. There’s a lot of luck—but enough skill that you can feel good about winning. And it’s just a game. We don’t need to shed any tears for the losers.
To succinctly demonstrate my problems with the libertarian view, let’s change one rule. The player with the wealthiest...
Jury Finds Phil Mocek Not Guilty of All Charges... →
Awesome news. Watch both videos at the link. Thank goodness there are people willing to challenge authority like this.
technipol asked: I think you missed the point of Klein's article. The point is that the CBO is non-partisan and the GOP doesn't want the American people to think that. Simple, see?
“I have nothing but the highest respect and admiration for the quality of the...”
– Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former head of the CBO
Ezra Klein
shortformblog:
Ezra Klein: The Republican war on the CBO
technipol:
“It’s the age of civility in American politics, but there’s one institution that’s been civil all along: the Congressional Budget Office (sorry, but sometimes civility is boring). The nonpartisan agency, which calculates the official cost of legislation for Congress, speaks in the polite language of actuarial tables,...
Houston permit rule stops couple's effort to feed... →
This story is getting a lot of attention because it’s featured on Drudge right now, but it’s the kind of thing that happens all the time. When regulations are put into place, there is rarely any real effort to understand their costs. We make it harder to help people, just like we make it harder to hire people. This makes hard economic times feel even harder.
“Speaking of his “red hot smoking wife,” Pawlenty has joked that she even goes to...”
– Tim Pawlenty on His Book, Sarah Palin, and the 2012 Campaign - The Daily Beast
Is America ready for a President that quotes Talledega Nights?
Arizona Shooting: Was Jared Loughner an... →
There’s been a lot of great journalism in the wake of the Arizona tragedy. This, however, is just awful. It is complete and wild speculation; it makes no sense; it ignores all facts. It’s so bad that I’m not even upset about it … I’m just embarrassed for the author.
The author is Eric Alterman, who is “a Distinguished Professor of English and journalism at...
We didn't start the fire
Look at the years here and here. It’s not the current political culture. It’s not Rush, or Beck, or Palin.
The Political Culture
There’s so much talk of the today’s polarized political culture, and how it might have had something to do with the Tucson tragedy yesterday. I’m trying to think of a time when we didn’t have such strong feelings by those out of power.
Was it during the Bush years, when the president was accused of stealing the election in 2000, and then again in 2004?
Was it in the...
Here, Dan Bern sings his amazing song, Kids’...
The Things Inside
The other day I read about Bill Zeller’s suicide note on Julian Sanchez’s blog. Sanchez wrote, in part:
Earlier this week, I learned that the roommate of an old friend of mine—a highly regarded technologist named Bill Zeller—had taken his own life. I didn’t know Bill, but the lengthy and unnervingly lucid and reflective suicide note he posted online may be the most heartbreaking...
“David Koch masks his role as one of the top financiers of the Tea Party movement...”
– ThinkProgress » Theater Audience Boos Tea Party Billionaire David Koch
What a ridiculous load of rubbish. Are the writers at ThinkProgress so committed to the vilification of the other side that they can’t acknowledge that its adversaries are capable of doing something decent? Is it...
Grand Openings, Pt 1 by Matt Zoller Seitz and... →
Great series analyzing David Fincher’s opening credit sequences.
sexartandpolitics asked: Wasn't the federal employee increase due to temporary census jobs?
sexartandpolitics asked: Wasn't the federal employee increase due to temporary census jobs?
Measuring Obama
squashed:
Has he done anything to cut deficits? Obama has cut the size of Federal government. He’s restored the estate tax—though not at a level some people would like. He’s put together a bipartisan budget commision whose plan should be seriously considered this year. He’s reinstituted pay-as-you-go (with exceptions for emergencies). And, as anybody whose read the news in the past year has...