Good morning, everybody. Is Lauren Hill back? Now, your morning constitutional: Seventeen days after they were trapped in a cave-in, rescuers discovered 33 miners still alive in a small gold and copper mine in northern Chile. The rescue. however, could take months. There is still no official result of this weekend\’s election in Australia, and it\’s expected to end with a hung parliament. How Australia would navigate a hung parliament. Many economists believe that home ownership will never be as generous an investment tool as it was during the second half of the 20th century. Protesters for...
Continue reading...August 2010
Why didn't the stimulus work as expected?
With 500,000 new people applying for unemployment last week, the most number since November, it appears that the economy, propped up by temporary census workers and last year’s stimulus package, is falling again. The Right is saying that the stimulus was a waste of money, the Left is saying it wasn’t big enough. The truth is, even if it helped a little, it’s not doing enough. Eric Martin at Obsidian Wings does a great job of pointing out one of the most important reasons: Further weakening the effort, a self-styled group of “moderates” in the Senate pared...
Continue reading...Mea Culpas
There were two interesting confessions yesterday. First, Jon Stewart admitted that he was wrong in criticizing the National Rifle Association for keeping to their plans to have a conference in Denver immediately following the Columbine massacre in 1999. Additionally, Matt Yglesias wrote an admirable post admitting he was wrong in 2003 when he supported the invasion of Iraq and explaining how his thinking has changed since then. Yglesias does worry that by admitting error and explaining why he could sound like he’s making excuses: “I’m not a huge fan of this kind of exercise because I think...
Continue reading...The kid who sold crack to the president
(Apologies for the terrible video, but it\’s all I could find.) There\’s a great post on MetaFilter right now about the story behind President George H. W. Bush’s “This is crack cocaine” address to the nation. \”This is crack cocaine,\” Bush solemnly announced, holding up a plastic bag filled with a white chunky substance in his Sept. 5 speech on drug policy. It was “seized a few days ago in a park across the street from the White House . . . . It could easily have been heroin or PCP.” In 1989 the White House came...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnst Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Paul \”The Little Professor\” Krugman, who in his column \”Appeasing the Bond Gods,\” writes:...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Friday, 20 August 2010
Good morning, everybody. Steven Tyler will be a judge on American Idol. Now, your morning constitutional: Israelis and Palestinians are expected to resume direct negotiations for the first time in 20 months. More donors are pledging money for Pakistan, which has suffered devastating flooding, after an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly. The election season in Australia comes to an end today with the two rivals in a virtual tie. Conservative leader Tony Abbott is challenging Labor\’s Julia Gillard, the first female prime minister. Labor lost its very close lead in polls in recent days. Now...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Gail \”The Colander\” Collins who, in her column \”Rich Man, Bad Yacht,\” writes: Once...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Thursday, 19 August 2010
Good morning, folks. Conan O\’Brien is releasing two albums on vinyl featuring Frankenstein\’s monster and rockabilly. Now, your morning constitutional: The last combat brigade has left Iraq, two weeks ahead of schedule. Around 50,000 troops will remain in advisory roles. At least four million are homeless due to the extreme flooding in Pakistan. New applications for unemployment reached 500,000 last week, the highest number since November. The bulk of job losses are coming from small businesses. A growing number of Americans think that President Obama is a Muslim, according to a new poll by the Pew Research...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
On Saturday, I\’m leaving for vacation! On the beach! I\’m rather excited. In this week\’s poem, Ogden Nash celebrates the joys of doing nothing. On the beach. Thanks to my friend K., who introduced me to this very pleasant piece. Pretty Halcyon Days by Ogden Nash How pleasant to sit on the beach, On the beach, on the sand, in the sun, With ocean galore within reach, And nothing at all to be done! No letters to answer, No bills to be burned, No work to be shirked, No cash to be earned, It is pleasant to...
Continue reading...Private buses and the government as a business
Yglesias suggests that the future maybe should involve privately-owned intracity bus lines: Bus lines don’t have the power to transform neighborhoods that rail construction possesses. But buses are by far the cheapest and simplest way of adding mass transit, and municipal leaders should always have their eyes on potential ways to improve things. One possibility that naturally suggests itself is to let entrepreneurs start private intracity bus lines just as we have inter-city buses running from New York to DC, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. Unlike the barbering field I would want to see regulation of this kind of activity...
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