Is the Massachusetts legislature ready to beat swords into ploughshares over gay marriage? As I've said before, this really is a time for the proponents of equal marriage rights to de-escalate, and try to lower the political costs for those … [Read more...]
Against BU’s new biolab
OK, let me see if I have this straight. Boston University researchers were working on an unusual but serious and potentially lethal disease called tularemia. Two of them came down with symptoms of -- you guessed it -- … [Read more...]
By Bush’s logic, he’s nearly broke!
Folks who support the destruction of Social Security are fond of saying that the Social Security Trust Fund has no real assets; it's broke; it's just a bunch of worthless IOUs. For example:"The trust fund is bankrupt; it is IOUs … [Read more...]
“Framing”? Or just telling the truth?
George Lakoff has advanced our discussion of political discourse quite a bit. The blogs are abuzz with talk of "frames", and "fixing broken political discourse." That's good. The Dems need a good dose of clarity, brevity … [Read more...]
One-stop shopping for Social Insecurity
Here's a repository of articles and so forth on the Social Insecurity non-crisis, in blog format: www.thereisnocrisis.com.Knowledge is power. Let's use it.And let's quote Roger Lowenstein of the NY Times Magazine, just for kicks and … [Read more...]
Spending less on environment?
What's up with this?According to the report, some of the programs hurt by the cuts includemonitoring of water quality, maintenance of nature trails, oversight ofhazardous waste clean-up and access to skating rinks.(Skating rinks count as … [Read more...]
Mass. GOP overpaid for Reilly websites
As has been widely reported, the Massachusetts Republican party picked up four possible internet domain names that Attorney General Tom Reilly might have wanted to use for his undeclared campaign for Governor. But according to today's … [Read more...]
I wanna rock! I WANT… A… ROCK!
Ohhh, Lordy. Here come the musical guests for the inaugumuration (from Tbogg via Atrios via Kevin Bacon, etc):Artist, Description-- JoJo, Pop/Top 40-- Hillary Duff, Pop/Top 40-- Ruben Studdard, Soul-- 3 Doors Down, Rock-- Boxkar, Rock-- … [Read more...]
Well, NOW we’re talking!
Today's Boston Globe reports that Deval Patrick, former head of civil rights enforcement in the Clinton Justice Department, is considering a run for Governor of Massachusetts.This is very, very good news for lots of reasons. First, … [Read more...]
Another reason why Bush will never name Richard Posner to the Supreme Court
Poor Richard Posner. He's generally conservative, and he's one of the smartest and most well-respected federal judges in the country (he sits on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago). Which would seem to make him a good … [Read more...]