The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Category: politics

  • Sometimes the worst thing is saying, “I’m sorry”.

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    mongreldogs
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    So, last Saturday (Sep 11), a paper in Maine ran a story about the local celebrations at the end of Ramadan the day before.  It was a pretty innocuous piece, a typical fluff article about local culture. Then the Internet happened.

  • Nice metaphor

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    mongreldogs
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    Neil Irwin explains the current dilemma faced by the Fed by extending a metaphor promoted by guest host Christopher Hayes on Monday’s episode of The Rachel Maddow Show: The Fed is in charge of watering the fields but has exhausted its usual reservoir system.  Anything new will be risky and the Fed leaders tend to…

  • Political snark of the day

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    mongreldogs
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    Regarding the fact that Fox News will now have a front-row seat at the White House briefing room: Fox News is a propaganda outlet, a detail everyone seems to know, but which is apparently impolite to say out loud. The network’s proponents will likely argue a front-row seat is warranted because Fox News has a…

  • Political snark of the day

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    mongreldogs
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    I stole the tagline from a commenter at Political Animal and the picture from a public domain image at Flickr, and put it together using the motivational poster generator at Big Huge Labs.

  • Quote of the Day

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    mongreldogs
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    Why did the stimulus go wrong? In the end, we took a soapbox racer to a go-kart track and then realized we were competing against actual cars. Great analogy — and better analysis — by Ezra Klein.

  • Quote of the Day

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    mongreldogs
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    From a post by Steve Benen over at Political Animal: In human history, it’s never been easier to get — and stay — well informed. Folks just have to take some responsibility. If they don’t, the result can be a dysfunctional democracy. It’s impolitic to say this but not all pastimes and passions are equal.…

  • Wow. Just… wow.

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    mongreldogs
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    http://www.marktalk.com/blog/?p=10387 (Also hosted at Political Correction, in case the original gets “disappeared”, and reproduced below the fold here — although apparently it’s already been edited.) I don’t really know really even to begin to comment on this “letter” from Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams.  It takes something really, um, special to answer charges of…

  • The Political Asymmetry of Weather

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    mongreldogs
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    So, the East Coast is in the middle of a record heat wave.  How come we haven’t heard any hyperventilating media types announce that this “proves” global warming is true?  After all, when we had a little snow in February, it was declared “snowmageddon” and offered as the final nail in the coffin of the…

  • The Perils of Positive Thinking

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    mongreldogs
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo I think the major point — that a unquestioning devotion to “positive thinking” is both dangerous and immoral — is a good one. We definitely allow suffering because we think everyone has a shot, so if they’re suffering, it must be their fault. It’s pretty easy to see how comforting this is, to people…

  • Classic no-win situation for the President

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    mongreldogs
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    Apparently, the Pentagon has recommended that a Medal of Honor be given to a living soldier, for the first time since Viet Nam.  The Washington Post article speculates that The presentation of a Medal of Honor to a living soldier would be an important moment for President Obama, whose relationship with the military has been…