Skip to content

Category Archives: Politics

Specter wants to delay Holder vote

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Arlen Specter is trying to put the brakes on Eric Holder’s nomination to be Attorney General. According to Specter, Holder’s involvement in the Marc Rich pardon warrants close scrutiny: But Specter is already applying the brakes, indicating that Republicans are going to make a big deal out of Holder at the hearing. Specter said he […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

Block that meme

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” Winston Churchill Right now the left wing of the blogosphere is trying to put the pants on a bit of truth about union workers at GM, so I thought I’d do my share. This particular lie started […]

Also filed in Economics | | Comments (1)

Second most important election of the year

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Henry Waxman beat John Dingell in a secret ballot among House Democrats. Waxman will now chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell has been a pawn of the auto industry for years, and is as much responsible for Detroit’s shortsighted approach to its business as were the managers that flew their private jets to […]

Also filed in Environment | | Comments (0)

Republican Prospects

Sunday, November 16, 2008

I first became politically aware in the early 60s. My father was a died in the wool Democrat, and though my mother was initially an independent, she always voted Democratic. The first election that I followed closely was the Goldwater-Johnson affair. I remember sitting in front of the TV screen with a scorecard, waiting to […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

Liars, damned liars and statistics

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Nate Silver over at fivethirtyeight.com gives some context to the oft repeated claim that the surge in minority voters is responsible for the passage of proposition 8 in California: Certainly, the No on 8 folks might have done a better job of outreach to California’s black and Latino communities. But the notion that Prop 8 […]

Also filed in | | Comments (1)

Apocryphal

Monday, October 20, 2008

Apocryphal: “1. Of questionable authorship or authenticity. 2. Erroneous; fictitious: “ Recently my wife told me a story that she had read at a Kos diary. It was a weird kind of story, since it engendered a sort of perverted hope. Here it is: So a canvasser goes to a woman’s door in Washington, Pennsylvania. […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

Terminal dysfunction

Monday, September 8, 2008

I am going to wait a while before entering panic mode, which so many have done with the polls showing a tightening race, what with the McCain convention bounce. Odd how we get all upset when the expected happens. More problematic is the fact that the press appears to have entered the tank big time […]

Also filed in | | Comments (0)

Public service announcement

Thursday, July 24, 2008

A friend and neighbor has asked me to remind my readers that Glen Beck is an a**hole.

Also filed in | | Comments (1)

George Bush hearts Schrödinger’s cat.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

I enjoy reading books about physics. I don’t pretend to clearly understand all of the paradoxes that have been introduced into modern physics, but I feel that, at least while I’m reading about them, I can sidle up to a sort of understanding. We are not hard wired to understand these things, so they’re counterintuitive. […]

Also filed in Iraq | | Comments (0)

A follow-up for Sean, if I might

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Paul Choiniere has a column in the Day this morning about Sean Sullivan’s long shot candidacy in the Second District Congressional race. He summarizes Sean’s political philosophy: He feels government has grown well beyond the means of the average taxpayer to support it, that the ever-larger budget deficits are a major cause for concern. He […]

Also filed in Joe Courtney | | Comments (1)