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...
Continue reading...United States
Why Muslims
Mark Silk knocks it out of the park: In recent years, the wise guys in the Republican Party have cottoned to the fact that the U.S. of A. has become a good deal more Latino than it used to be, and that it might not be such a good idea for the future of the GOP if it embraced (at least publicly) such anti-Latino-immigrant laws as Arizona passed a few months ago. Why not find a less politically potent body of Americans on which to vent one’s nativist animosity? I give you: The Muslims. Unlike the Latinos,...
Continue reading...Happy Anniversary, Women's Suffrage!
On this day 90 years ago, Tennessee became the final state to ratify the 19th amendment, finally giving women the right to vote. If you haven’t yet, go read Gail Collins’ excellent column last week describing the circumstances leading up to that historic vote: My Favorite August. I was thinking about how to best celebrate this occasion, and I think it’s in the spirit of gratefulness. Granted, that’s not my usual mood, particularly when it comes to women’s issues. As you know from my repeated rants, being a pro-choice feminist can be frustrating. When it comes to...
Continue reading...Welcome to the Terrordome
Sometimes, it’s a little hard to like Majority Leader Harry Reid. Okay, not sometimes: Often. Sure, once in a while he’ll accomplish the historic passage of a Republican health care bill, but, generally, he’s blasé at best and offensively useless at worst. Or maybe just offensive. Offensive it is, again. Yesterday, in addressing the recent (cynical) outrage over the planning of an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center site, his spokesman, Jim Manley said, “The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built someplace else.”...
Continue reading...Candidate for Congress Ben Qualye thinks Obama is the worst president ever
Ben Quayle, the 33-year-old son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, is running for a House seat from Arizona, released the above ad last week calling President Obama “the worst president in history.” You’d think he would have read this week’s conservative talking points. I’m referring, of course to a a list compiled by conservative bloggers of the worst 25 figures in American history—a list which President Jimmy Carter topped. Jimmy Carter: The worst figure in American history? The lowest of “all the gangsters, serial killers, mass murderers, incompetent & crooked politicians, spies, traitors, and ultra left-wing...
Continue reading...Great Moments in Campaign Advertising: "Read My Lips"
This is the ad that, perhaps as much or more than anything else, most likely sank President George H. W. Bush’s chances for re-election. Of course, it was those tax increases that made way for years of balanced budgets under Clinton, but don’t tell anybody. And, of course, that raising the gas tax was maybe just a little before its time, not to mention a policy many progressives want to further. But, it was a really, really effective ad. This is exactly the script I bet the Republican nominee will use in 2012.
Continue reading...Same-sex marriages in California possible on August 18
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, the judge who ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional, lifted the stay on his decision as of Wednesday, August 18, at 5pm PST. The evidence presented at trial and the position of the representatives of the State of California show that an injunction against enforcement of Proposition 8 is in the public’s interest. Accordingly, the court concludes that the public interest counsels against entry of the stay proponents seek. Of course, that’s assuming that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stays out of it. That’s not likely. Proponents...
Continue reading...Are all choices equal? Does it matter?
There’s a fascinating article in Elle from July, in which Bettina Paige recounts her decision to undergo a “selective reduction” when she found out she was carrying twins after going through fertility treatment. She already had a toddler, felt the family couldn’t afford to take care of two new babies, and her husband was strongly opposed to twins. So she chose to have one of the fetuses terminated, and then she chose to tell her story publicly– a brave choice, I think, considering the judgment she would inevitably encounter. On DoubleX yesterday, KJ Dell’Antonia described her own...
Continue reading...Rand Paul is just afraid of imaginary beer
The Fancy Farm Picnic, a picnic held by the St. Jerome parish, is the traditional beginning of the campaign season in Kentucky. It’s a huge affair: so huge, in fact, that in 1985, it was recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “World’s Largest Picnic” for the consumption of 15,000 pounds of mutton, pork, and chicken at the 1982 picnic. Since it’s such an important event, you’d of course expect that Senate candidates Jack Conway and Rand Paul would have to make appearances. Democratic candidate Jack Conway made some news this weekend when he...
Continue reading...House Representative Mike Pence loves teachers
Earlier today, the House of Representatives passed a bill—by a vote of 247-161—providing states $16B in emergency funding to shore up their Medicaid budgets and $10B in an effort to stave off teacher layoffs. The bill is slated to be signed by the president this evening. According to Democratic estimates, the bill is expected to save 290,000 jobs, including 140,000 teachers’ positions. Republican House Representative Mike Pence of Indiana wasn’t a fan of the bill. When asked by ABC’s Top Line what the Republican strategy would be for teachers who have lost their jobs, his response is,...
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