With Congressional power comes Congressional responsibility.
The part of the Constitution that enumerates the powers of Congress -- beloved of conservatives who wish to claim that any law they don't like exceeds the Constitutional writ -- is Article 1, Section...
View ArticleMcConnell's "Fallback" is a 100% victory for Republicans.
This seems to have gotten lost in the whirlwind, but remember what the key elements here are.In exchange for not defaulting on the United States' word of honor, which in any other year would have...
View ArticleThe Debt Ceiling as the Ultimatum Game
The article below the fold advances the thesis that in future debt ceiling negotiations Democrats must consider the debt ceiling as expendable, and default as a possibility, in order to prevent worse...
View ArticleGov. Perry lies to 9-year-old about science, Texas education
From the Caucus blog on nytimes.com:As Mr. Perry, wearing a white shirt and no jacket, shook hands with a mix of well-wishers and naysayers on the cafe’s patio, Kristin Bunce, 43, helped ease her...
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Grade inflation in education departments: AEI study
Originally brought to my attention via Pharyngula, I thought this study from the AEI was worth reposting. I work in academia and will be looking at this issue in my own university through the channels...
View ArticlePre-negotiating the jobs speech.
Everything is speculation and off-the-record musings until we actually hear the speech and see the proposals shipped off to Congress, of course, but early indications (I'm working off of the NYT here...
View ArticleDid Obama win the timing fight?
I'm always leery of 11-dimensional chess arguments, but I just noticed:* Obama risks looking hamfisted asking to speak over the debate, but ends up looking like the adult in the argument.* He gives his...
View ArticleAnother Burqa Ban -- Netherlands
Geert Wilders' PVV has managed to get a ban on face coverings in the Netherlands sent to Parliament -- as usual, religiously neutral in language but in actuality aimed at wearers of the burqa and...
View ArticleFinancial Porn
I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know...
View ArticleBook Report: The Occupy Handbook
This diary is a sampling and response to The Occupy Handbook, a collection of essays on Occupy Wall Street -- its history, current state, and possible futures -- from some of America's best...
View ArticleConstitutionality matches ruling; trust shored up
Just adding a small comment to the millions of comments this ruling will get in the next few days (and years):Legal experts prior to the ruling had largely expected that the ACA was constitutional, but...
View ArticleThe Gun Smog
It's a popular argument among gun supporters that "guns don't kill people, people do." In the trivially reductive sense, of course, it's true, but that sense is irrelevant to gun laws. In the same...
View ArticleInsurance industry says it with bucks: guns in schools make students less safe.
Insurers are an industry built on risk assessment. If two insurance-purchasing schools are exactly the same except that School X has Additional Circumstance Y, and Y makes the risk of injury or death...
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Cognitive Bias: do both sides do it? Yes. Does one side do it more?...
Along with the prayer ruling today from the Supreme Court, the New York times reports on a study from USC on the justices' biases in voting to defend free speech rights.Surprising no one, the headline...
View ArticleGOP Legislator and Detroit News take a trip to the Memory Hole
Silly GOPcritter. Don't you know the Internet plugged up the memory hole ages ago?Below the cut (where I've posted some screen grabs) are two versions of an anti-Obamacare rant by one of our state...
View ArticleMI Progressives: Please Vote Yes on Prop 1 Tomorrow
This diary is pretty straightforward: I'm asking DKos Michiganians to make their way to the polls tomorrow and vote yes in our special election to alter various tax rates in Michigan and increase road...
View ArticleI don't think I've ever lost an election 22% to 78%.
I was a supporter of Proposal 1 here in Michigan, and it just went down in flames. A little perspective -- I moved to Michigan two years ago and if Prop 1 had never been an issue I probably wouldn't...
View ArticleWho won the debate? America.
Last night I saw a group of people on a stage that I could see as President of the United States. I thought my preferred candidate did best, as probably did quite a lot of people who preferred a...
View ArticleClock kid's family leaves country
Congratulations, racists. You chased out a bright young tech-loving kid and his middle-class, working, taxpaying family, because as soon as you hear the name "Ahmed Mohammed" you can't help but think...
View ArticleMass sword attack in Sweden
A man armed with a sword or a large knife entered a school in western Sweden on Thursday morning and injured five people before he was shot by the police, the authorities said. No fatalities reported...
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