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Fri, 31 Oct 2008
Here's a funny endorsement:
As anyone in academia will know, a thoughtful and professorial air is not in itself a recommendation for executive power. But a commitment to seeking good advice and taking seriously the findings of disinterested enquiry seems an attractive attribute for a chief executive. It certainly matters more than any specific pledge to fund some particular agency or initiative at a certain level — pledges of a sort now largely rendered moot by the unpredictable flux of the economy.This journal does not have a vote, and does not claim any particular standing from which to instruct those who do. But if it did, it would cast its vote for Barack Obama.
Well, not that funny an endorsement, but a funny source: Nature, one of the two most prestigious journals of science in the world.
10:20 - 31 Oct 2008 [/y8/oc] link
Tue, 28 Oct 2008
Heartwarming examples of civic engagement...
... or rancid acts by democracy-hating extremists. You decide.
07:23 - 28 Oct 2008 [/y8/oc] link
Fri, 24 Oct 2008
Is out after an inexcusable delay, my apologies.
- What is the real source of the financial crisis? It's not mortgages, and it's not derivatives either, really. Too much capital?
- Graph of the month! Profits v. wages, Republicans v. Democrats.
- Word games with Medicaid, by David Rochefort and Kevin Donnelly. Does how it's said affect what you hear?
22:42 - 24 Oct 2008 [/y8/oc] link
Wed, 22 Oct 2008
RIPR Award for absurd campaign literature
These are the candidates (with working web sites) mentioned in this week's column:
- Christine Spaziano, Republican candidate for Senate District 4 (Providence)
- Larry Signore, Democratic candidate for Senate District 32 (Barrington/Bristol)
- Tim Lee, Republican candidate for House district 21 (Warwick)
- Steven Hart, Republican candidate for House district 28 (Coventry)
- Chris Ottiano, Republican candidate for Senate district 11 (Portsmouth)
- Robert Paquin, Republican candidate for House district 19 (Warwick and Cranston)
- Dan Reilly, Republican candidate for House district 72 (Portsmouth and Middletown)
- John Pagliarini, Republican candidate for Senate district 35
- Bill Connelly, Republican candidate for Senate district 36 (North Kingstown/Narragansett)
10:57 - 22 Oct 2008 [/y8/oc] link
Tue, 21 Oct 2008
Maya McGuineas, of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, on the possible stimulus bill the next Congress might pass: "I just hope they don't pork it all up... just so it's not spend spend spend"
I used to aspire to do satire, but why bother?
20:59 - 21 Oct 2008 [/y8/oc] link
Mon, 06 Oct 2008
Well, not so big, but the big picture when you consider that each of us has choices to make in our lives, and are forced to live with the consequences. In dealing with the personal (and mental) consequences of staring into the uncertain future, Judith Warner nails it, for some of us.
09:23 - 06 Oct 2008 [/y8/oc] link
Wed, 01 Oct 2008
Why did the bailout plan fail? Was it principled opposition or failed gamesmanship? from here:
The House conservatives who sank the bailout didn't do so because they were listening to loud and angry voices. They sank the plan by accident. They were trying to double-cross the Democrats. First, they wrung lots of concessions out of Democrats at the negotiating table as the price for delivering 80 votes. Then, by not delivering 80 votes and forcing Pelosi to pass the bill as a partisan Democratic bill, they were going to wage a demagogic anti-bailout campaign. But Pelosi refused to be played for a sucker and so the conservative inadvertently sank a bill that, all evidence suggests, they actually wanted to pass. They just wanted to vote "no" on it for short-term political gain.
As evidence for this view, it appears that the RNC prepared — in advance of Monday's vote — attack ads to be run against Democrats who voted for the plan.
As a philosophical point, there are two competing views of what politics is. Or at least there are two with which I am familiar. One view has it that politics is the process by which we rule our polity. This conception of politics is all about finding solutions to the problems we face. Another conception of politics is that it is war. In this conception, all the entities involved in politics are engaged in an all-out struggle for primacy and power. Which do you think serves our nation better?
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