Overall pretty nice. I liked that Obama was nervous enough to stop in the middle of his oath and wait for Roberts to help him out. It was kind of a sweet moment of humanity. And it’s the last time that the Chief Justice will lift a finger to help out Obama. Update: Ok, so […]
Archive | Politics
Liberals and Libertarians
I just listened to a podcast that brought together several libertarian and liberal thinkers to discuss their common beliefs. Some speakers talked seriously about working together practically, voting and campaigning for the same candidates. Of course, Libertarians have been supporters of the Republican party for a long time. Without agreeing with the whole Republican platform, […]
McCain at Thirty-Seven
I’m reading John McCain’s account of his time as a POW in Vietnam. I happened to be flipping through a book I own about reporting Vietnam, and there it was. He was just out of the POW prison. Not a politician and not worried about his words or appearing perfect. For example, he used the […]
Baby Talk
My daughter, one and a half years old, is learning a lot of words. When we all go to the store and we say we’re going to buy something, she says: “Buy!” Followed very quickly by: “Pay!” And it struck me that a lot of people only say the first thing without thinking about the […]
Is Government Doing It Right?
In my little post about This American Life’s show about the economy, I didn’t mention any particulars. But one thing that seemed clear by the end of the show was that buying up the debt wasn’t as good an idea as buying shares in the troubled banks. The show’s participants were skeptical about whether the […]
Bailout
Politics is a wonderful thing. The bailout died (for now. They’ll bring it back, though). I haven’t heard the Dems react yet, but some Republicans reacted in an interesting way. 1. Blaming the Democrats in general because 95 Democrats voted against the thing (140 or so voted for it). 2. Blaming Pelosi for a partisan […]
Nucular
Palin says it the same way Bush does. I love it. Anyway, two quick videos that maybe I’m the last to see. Palin said that US soldiers are going to Iraq on a task from God. Asked about that, she tried her best to backtrack, hem and haw, and pretend that it’s similar to Lincoln’s […]
Drowning
Christopher Hitchens is always deeply thoughtful even when he’s wrong (like agreeing with Bush on the Iraq war). I can’t find it online, but he’s been accused of regarding waterboarding as a sort of not-that-bad thing that Americans do. He was challenged to try it for himself, and he recently agreed. There’s video of it, […]
Nudge
I’ve written before (and before that) about the idea of “libertarian paternalism.” aldaily.com points to an article explaining it while talking about the new book on the subject: Nudge.
Poor
According to the article I’m about to link to: “… the poor are disproportionately likely to drop out of school, to have children while in their teens, to abuse drugs, to commit crimes, to not save when extra money comes their way, to not work.” In other words, they seem to be likely to behave […]