Little Hoover
50 state layoffs is a drop in the bucket, but it's a leaky bucket.
Corrupt Ponzo Scheme
The only mystery is why Dick Armey isn't
on the catfood commission.
We're All Terrorists Now
Completely unsurprising but
worth knowing.
The FBI improperly opened and extended investigations of some U.S. activist groups and put members of an environmental advocacy organization on a terrorist watch list, even though they were planning nonviolent civil disobedience, the Justice Department said Monday.
Stop Your Whining
So the recession was
over in June '09. Huzzah!
I know I'm a broken record on this, but there is no great mystery why the Dems are looking at potentially major problems in November. The economy is truly atrocious
and has been for a long time. I remember just before the '08 election - almost two years ago - betting a friend that unemployment would rise above 7.6%. At the time to many people 7.6% seemed to be a pretty crazy number, even in the middle of the unfolding crisis. Soon after the administration projected that unemployment would peak at 9% from Q1-Q3 2010, and then start declining
without any stimulus. It's now been above
9% since May 2009, including 3 months where it was 10%+. If I had traveled back in time to warn them of this state of affairs, they would have been more likely to believe the
time travel part.
There are areas of this country that are completed devastated, some due mostly to the collapse of the housing bubble and, increasingly, places which are being demolished by the recession even though they were largely untouched by the bubble.
Maybe an "I feel your pain" or "Message: I care" speech isn't going to do it, but jokes about the petulant base at $30,000 fundraisers aren't going to help either. Though, in truth, the petulant base - the assholes who don't cheerlead sufficiently on their blogs - are going to go out and vote. We vote. It's what we do. It's the people who are unemployed, union members wondering what happened to EFCA, immigrants and their families who know that we got a bunch of money to militarize the border and stepped up deportation but no progress on immigration reform, and women who might question the administration commitment to reproductive rights for
good reasons.
Now I hope all of these people go out and vote. I certainly think keeping Team Blue in power is important and not just because the Republicans are stupid and crazy, but if they don't vote it isn't my fault.
...also this, too. And such.
The Servant Problem
Krugman jokes (maybe), but really that's why it isn't nearly as much fun having money in a prosperous country. True servants - not just people who cut your lawn or clean your house, but people who are live in or come daily - are unaffordable for all but the super rich. Sad state affairs, really.
If The Existing Tunnels Shut Down
And they are 100 years old, then traffic in and out of New York City will be a complete nightmare no matter how many highways Christie builds. A major reason to build the new Hudson rail tunnel is redundancy.
...I should add the project is currently
budgeted at 1.5 Mias.
Really Dumb Ideas That Won't Ever Go Away
Yes they might have some use at airports or large disney-style amusement park complexes, places which aren't too large but for which distances are too long to walk in part because of all of the parking lots, but, no,
PRT is not practical for large scale urban transport...
Forever Running Against Themselves
Democrats should have noticed that runnng against Nancy Pelosi hasn't worked very well for Republicans so it is unlikely to do
much for them.
Evening Thread
Earlier on On the Media I heard the
guy who wrote this apology trying to deny that it said what it plainly said.
What a wanker.
Random Thought
Exactly why is anything Newt Gingrich says newsworthy?
Sunday Bobbleheads
It's Clinton week.
This week has Ahmadinejad and Secretary Clinton.
This Week has President Clinton and Colin Powell.
Face the Nation has President Clinton.
Document the atrocities!
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