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Category Archives: Politics

A new argument against gerrymandering

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

This is interesting:   .. [I]n Illinois, the bipartisan League of Women Voters is challenging gerrymandered districts based on a new legal claim: that it violates free speech. While a district court already dismissed its claim, the League of Women Voters can—and has—appealed to the Supreme Court. Because it’s a redistricting case, the court will […]

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Random thoughts on the SOTU

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

 A few days ago I expressed the hope that Obama would go for the votes, and not the money, by rejecting a proposed sweetheart deal in the bank fraud settlement talks. It looks like he’s done that, and that, at least rhetorically, he’s turned up the heat and given his talk some credibility by appointing […]

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Warren’s bomb a success

Friday, January 20, 2012

 Some of my money is in here (from an Elizabeth Warren email): Together, we declared that the Massachusetts Senate seat will once again be the People’s Seat, not the seat of Wall Street and the powerful interests. And together, we raised nearly $1.2 million yesterday in our grassroots fundraising “money bomb” to prove we could […]

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Warren raises far more money than Brown

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

 Yesterday I read in the Globe that Scott brown had a great fundraising quarter.  Today, we hear that Elizabeth Warren almost doubled his total. I’ll say it again, at a certain point you reach a point of diminishing return. Ten million dollars in negative ads are not twice as effective as five million dollars worth […]

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Krugman has it wrong this time

Monday, January 9, 2012

He asks what Romney has ever done, or proposed to do, to create the level playing field he advocates in his speeches. No need to do anything, this blissful state of affairs already exists, for Romney would surely agree with Anatole France that “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and the poor […]

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No need to count the votes

Saturday, January 7, 2012

A little comfort food for Democrats sent to me by a friend today. The election is in the bag for Obama.   American University professor Allan Lichtman has issued his “sure fire” prediction for the outcome of the November 2012 election.   Lichtman is no crystal ball gazer. His predictions are based on a formula […]

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Republicans may have obliterated the enthusiasm gap

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A few days ago I noted that the big question in the election was which side was the most dispirited. I said I thought it would be the Republicans, and it looks like it may turn out that way. As Steve Benen notes total turnout for Republicans only slightly exceeded turnout in 2008, when they […]

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Wyden steps up to help the Republicans

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Ron Wyden (D? Oregon) has teamed up with Paul Ryan on a plan to destroy Medicare and deprive people my age of affordable heatlh care as we enter our “golden” years. But we can count ourselves lucky, as the plan is clearly the opening salvo toward returning those in the generation after us to the […]

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Apparently, the people have risen up and demanded an end to privacy

Sunday, December 11, 2011

If any proof were needed that we live in an oligarchy, where sometimes the rest of us are thrown a bone, consider the “Mobile Informational Call Act of 2011“, which would amend federal law to allow corporations to pester cell phone users with robocalls. I first learned about it in a fundraising email from the […]

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I’m so prescient

Thursday, December 8, 2011

A while back I had this to say about the fact that Wall Street is pouring so much money into Scott Brown’s campaign: One must wonder how much money Wall Street will have to raise for Scott Brown to overcome the harm articles like that in today’s Times (Wall Street Rallies Around Scott Brown for […]

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