Category: Politics & World Affairs
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To someone who’s broadly liberal, but doesn’t think so ill of corporations as these people, and on the whole rather approves of free trade and globalization, this Reason article by Kerry Howley should feel like a friendly handshake from across the divide. She sounds libertarian, but in a nice, sensible sort of way: I call…
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That would be, rumor has it, illegal. The government does, however, engage in this (see also here). But, you know, a secret C.I.A. Predator drone program in which C.I.A. operatives in Virginia are remotely terminating people who rank highly on our "they're terrorists, kill 'em" list (or else on Pakistan's "people we want the U.S.…
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Florida Congressman Alan Grayson is my kind of Democrat. He knows how to turn the tables on the Republican death squad in the health care debate. See here and here. Update: Nick Anderson illustrates Grayson's point.
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Right wingers have always been very good at vilifying any organization whose politics don't match theirs, especially if those groups are advocates of the poor, minorities, women, immigrants or homosexuals. At one time or the other, groups like the NEA, ACLU, Planned Parenthood and even government welfare programs like Medicaid and Food Stamps have been objects of anger and derision. A favorite (and effective) tactic is to pick a…
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More US troops have died this year in Afghanistan than in Iraq, the first year starting 2003 that's been true. Obviously that fact reflects both that the US Iraq toll has been coming down since 2007 (for reasons of surge or Anbar Awakening or whatever) and that Afghanistan seems to get more horrible each year.…
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One of the top scientists handling India’s 1998 nuclear tests has acknowledged that the tests weren’t quite the unqualified successes they were officially hailed as. Specifically, it seems the thermonuclear (fusion) test was a dud. People outside India have said such things before, as have Indians off the public record, but it is potentially quite…
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To steal a phrase from some blogger named Joe: "this, this is sad news." RIP, Senator. You will be missed. (Cicero? Was I supposed to say something Camelot-themed? In my defense, despite some serious background in the Arthurian tradition, it's not immediately apparent to me where Ted fits in. Also, Rome is kind of great.)…
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A few quick thoughts: 1. Calling it "ObamaCare" is demeaning and stupid. There's no possible universe in which that's even decently descriptive, if accuracy is any (not even the) goal. (This is similar to my objection to referring to George Tiller as an "abortion doctor.") I'm not sure if this is a smart political description:…
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Certainly seems that way. More than half a century after Britannia ceased to rule the waves, the hot spots of sectarian conflicts it left behind continue to smolder and flare up around the world. Here is a list of some of the major political powder kegs in erstwhile British colonies. SRI LANKADuring their 150-year rule, the British favored Tamils and other minority ethnic groups over the…
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The Wall Street Journal reports that there is some discussion among Senate Democrats of making health-care reform a two-part bill. Through "budget reconciliation," certain legislation can get passed with 51 votes instead of the 60 that are ordinarily required because of the filibuster. Reconciliation is a bizarre exception to the norm of the filibuster, but…
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A couple of months ago, an otherwise cheerful neighborhood block party on our quiet street caused some agitation among the attendees when one of the neighbors began to describe President Obama as un-American, a socialist and a terrorist. He was angry with Obama's economic stimulus and distrustful of his health care plan. Even though there were only three people at that gathering who…
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Paul Krugman sums it up.
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