Good morning, folks. Lindsay\’s in jail but getting special treatment. Now, your morning constitutional: President Obama will sign into law today the Improper Payment Elimination Act, a bill designed to cut fraudulent spending and wasteful programs. The International Court of Justice will issue its verdict today on whether Kosovo\’s declaration of independence from Serbia was legal. Budget cuts in Newark force mayor Cory Booker to order the city to stop buying toilet paper. The president yesterday signed the financial reform bill into law. What\’s in it, and how does it work? William Saletan: The Lynching of Shirley...
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In defense of an admittedly terrible argument
As you probably already heard from this post, Lady Blaga and I have a little wager going on concerning how many votes Elena Kagan’s nomination manages to wrangle in the Senate. Based on some pretty terrible and Friday-night-related maths, I predicted she’d be confirmed, and that it would be by the slimmest of margins: 60 votes. No more, no less. Of course, I didn’t quite expect Lindsey Graham to pull a…Lindsey Graham and not be a hypocrite. So, I’m changing my prediction to 63-64 (Lady Blaga predicts 65), but I do hold to my word and will...
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. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Tom \”Tommy Boy\” Friedman, who in his column...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Good morning, folks. Sarah\’s not going to Bristol\’s wedding. Now, your morning constitutional: USDA employee Shirley Sherrod resigned yesterday after it was revealed that she gave a racist speech to the NAACP. Oh, wait: turns out it was a speech about overcoming racism. This morning, President Obama will sign the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law. The U.S. has announced new sanctions against North Korea targeting the sale and purchase of arms and import of luxury goods. The Senate broke a Republican filibuster yesterday on a bill that would extend unemployment benefits to those...
Continue reading...Super racist New Hampshire State House candidate Ryan Murdough is super racist
Holy crap, here’s a special specimen. In a letter to the Concord Monitor, Republican (probably in name only, since “they sold white people out”) Ryan Murdough writes: For far too long white Americans have been told that diversity is something beneficial to their existence. Statistics prove that the opposite is true. New Hampshire residents must seek to preserve their racial identity if we want future generations to have to possibility to live in such a great state. Affirmative action, illegal and legal non-white immigration, anti-white public school systems, and an anti-white media have done much damage to...
Continue reading...Alaska candidate for Senate Joe Miller thinks unemployment benefits are not "constitutionally authorized"
Joe Miller, a tea party-backed candidate running in the Republican primary against Lisa Murkowski is has some interesting things to say about Constitutional law. Not only does he not support extending unemployment benefits for those still unemployed after their benefits run out, he doesn’t think doing so is constitutional: Tea Party-backed Senate candidate Joe Miller today added his voice to those who are critical of Democrats’ efforts to expand unemployment insurance, and went even further than most candidates in saying that federally backed compensation to the unemployed isn’t “constitutionally authorized.” “The unemployment compensation benefits have gotten —...
Continue reading...Time for another Gathering of the Juggalos already? Sweet!
Calling all Juggalos! It’s just about time for another Gathering of the Juggalos! The eleventh one!? Can you believe it’s been that many years? Neither can I. Feels like just yesterday we discovered chugging Faygo and hating conformists. Well, time get ready; it’s coming right up: This is what you have been waiting for, Juggalos! Here is the super huge mega commercial that will fill you in on what you can expect from the 2010 Gathering of the Juggalos going down at The Hatchet Landings in Cave-in-Rock, Illinois August 12th — 15th! CHECK IT OUT! I hope everybody brings...
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. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Ross \”Do That Thing\” Douthat, who in his...
Continue reading...Morning Constitional – Monday, 19 July 2010
Good morning, everybody. Mel Gibson might be moving back to Australia. Now, your morning constitutional: In a report called \”Top Secret America,\” the Washington Post reveals the results of a two-year investigation into the security buildup after 9/11, finding that intelligence gathering has grown so much that nobody knows is exact costs, how many programs exist, or how many people are involved. The U.S will allow BP to continue its pressure test of the containment dome over the busted oil well in the Gulf, despite possible seepage problems. President Obama finds an unlikely ally on immigration reform:...
Continue reading...How long until we're employed again?
The economy seems to be leveling out, but how long will it take to get employment back to where it was before the Great Recession? Brookings has this frightening chart with some explanation: In recent months, on this blog, we described the job gap — the number of jobs it would take to return to employment levels from before the Great Recession, while also accounting for the 125,000 people who enter the labor force in a typical month. After today’s employment numbers, the job gap stands at almost 11.3 million jobs. How long will it take to...
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