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9.15.10
This
sounds
about right:
"Ever
since 9/11, according to opinion polls, Republicans have worried more
about terrorism than have Democrats. Initially, this fear translated
into overwhelming support for military action abroad. But as
Republicans (like everyone else) have grown tired and embittered by
America’s wars, they...
have TURNED THEIR ANXIETY
INWARD, lured by the same
idea that attracted Palmer and the McCarthyites: that America could
guarantee its safety on the cheap by ferreting out the real threat,
which resides within." -- Peter Beinart
12.8.09
WHAT DO I THINK OF BARACK NOW?
He's doing situationally well. Maybe that's a way to answer the
question without going into a long exursus about criteria for
evaluation.
11.16.09
The tea partiers and their enablers may not have come
up with many persuasive arguments, but they have succeeded in putting
defenders of health care reform on the defensive: "Prove you're
not a socialist!"
Maybe it's time for a full-throated
DEFENSE OF GOVERNMENT.
Let them explain why they don't want paved roads, safe streets, a safe
food supply, public education, a social safety net, and so forth.
E.J. Dionne
makes the case.
10.10.09
How is it that Barack
wins the
NOBEL PRIZE
in the same week that the "Obama hasn't accomplished anything" meme
catches on?
9.11.09
The House will pass a bill with a
PUBLIC OPTION; the Senate will pass a
bill without one. They will then go to reconciliation and end up
with something like the compromise the President articulated in his
address to Congress--most likely a "trigger," whereby a public option
kicks in if the insurance companies fail to meet certain benchmarks.
Obama's healthcare address: The middle
man returns
8.13.09
For those of you who are interested, I will be giving a
lecture on CITIZENSHIP
in La Fetra Hall from 11:00 to noon on
September 12. I will begin with a broad introduction to some of
the big questions and then move to a discussion of my own work on the
subject.
8.11.09
This point is important. We don't want to talk about
what it would actually mean to
CONTROL
HEALTH CARE COSTS.
8.10.09
So, according to
this
argument, since Hawking has done so well, I guess
SINGLE PAYER
is good? Or is it that he would have done even better in a free market
system?
AJC columnist Jay Bookman noticed that in the
latest Investors Business Daily editorial about how the 'death
panel' will condemn all handicapped or disabled people to death on
some horrid wind-swept mountain, the editors note that ...
People such as scientist Stephen Hawking
wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health
Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his
physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.
Needless to say, Hawking, who is recognized as
one of the great theoretical physicists of the 20th and 21st
century, was born in the UK and has lived his entire life there.
As we will discuss in PLSC 301, arguments that are
successful politically aren't always good.
8.9.09
SAUSAGE MAKING OR SOMETHING WORSE?
Much like many of their products, the President's deal with the
pharmaceutical companies is tough to swallow. Check out the
reporting in the New York Times.
8.7.09
The more the
HEALTH CARE STORY
is about how extremists are disrupting meetings, the
better. On the other hand, if they succeed in painting themselves as
the voice of the silenced majority, health care reform is in trouble.
8.6.09
This
interview
is useful for understanding the
FINANCIAL CRISIS.
8.1.09
I wonder whether liberal indignation is the fuel for
much of the right-wing nuttiness we're seeing.
The
BIRTHER MOVEMENT
is a good example. What is the best response to
this?
Does outing them/publicizing it/attacking it drive
people into the movement or out of it? Maybe it leaves people where
they are but causes them to dig in more firmly.
Earlier journal entries can be found
here.
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