Category: politics
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Knowing is Half the Battle
I was cruising TechDirt and saw a neat post on “Is The Federal Government The Most Interesting Tech Startup For 2009?” The idea is that the recent data.gov initiative has led to an outpouring of with-it and effective apps allowing anyone to get a handle on the vast trove of information compiled by the federal…
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Media Idiocy
{Edited to spell Mr. Fineman’s name correctly.} Here’s one reason why political discourse in this country is so messed up. I watched the Presidential press conference on MSNBC. (Normally, I would not, but the remote wasn’t working and I hit MSNBC before any of the other news channels.) I found it to be above average,…
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“We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it.”
In general, I’m not overly impressed with the Presidential Saturday radio address (now of course really a YouTube address). But I liked today‘s, probably because it resonates with something I’ve said before (twice, even). Happy Birthday, America.
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Lunacon 2009 (1): Friday
Well, Lunacon is officially underway. So far I’ve tried out a new card game (Fluxx) and attended one session (“Those Terrible Middle Ages”). I’ve also discovered that I can walk out my room (418), down two corridors, around a bend, and directly onto the 7th floor. It’s no accident they call the Hilton Rye Town…
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A Picture Worth 800 Billion Dollars
In case somehow you think all the talk of “an economy in free fall” is somehow just hyperbole: This graphic, printed at Swampland, makes clear: We are already in deep trouble. The current stimulus bill is, in anything, too small. Under circumstances like these, rapid and massive spending by the government is the only thing…
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Burning Down the House
Listening to the Republican leadership on how to fix the economy is like listening to the arsonist on how to put out the fire. Somehow the debate on the stimulus package has shifted to the Republicans and their criticisms. Legitimate analyses are always welcome, of course, and when grown-ups want to help make a bill…
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Health of the Republic: Reset to 50%
It’s been a while since I’ve updated this ticker. And it remains completely arbitrary, of course. But with a new administration taking hold of the reins, it’s time for some (cautious) optimism about the restoration of the Republic. I have genuine high hopes for Barack Obama and his people. I think this is a smart,…
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Worst. President. EVER.
I know it’s early to ring in with the verdict of history and I know there’s room for reasonable debate. But I feel pretty sure that this will indeed be the epitaph of George Walker Bush, 43rd President of the United States (to our everlasting chagrin and shame). Hopefully the crimes committed by he and…
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Really interesting MLK clip
Apparently, someone at the BBC unearthed this snippet of an interview with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he is asked about RFK’s 1964 prediction of a Negro President within 40 years. King says he wouldn’t be amazed if it came sooner. (Interesting that RFK was right within 4 years… not a bad piece…
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America the Beautiful
A stirring rendition, courtesy of Beyoncé at HBO’s “We Are One” Inauguration Concert.