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Category Archives: Politics

Surprising finding…not

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Some news from the Department of Why am I not surprised by this. It seems that politicians of both the the right and the “left” believe their constituents are far more out of touch with their own self interest than is actually the case: When we compare what legislators believe their constituents want to their […]

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Let them live amongst the rabble

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Digby rebuts the argument (made here) that members of Congress should be paid more, so that they can keep up with their “peers” and won't feel tempted to cash out for even more than their enhanced (above the present $172,000 per year) salaries by turning to a career in crime lobbying: But they're not supposed […]

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Gaming the Education Proposal

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

A few days ago I suggested that one should ask the following question when considering Obama’s proposals to make college more affordable: How would I subvert this system had I a mind to do so? I suggested one way in which the proposal was bound to founder: the institutionalized revolving door that guarantees that the […]

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Sometimes simple is best

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Obama is proposing a plan to help students pay for college. What could go wrong? A draft of the proposal, obtained by The New York Times and likely to cause some consternation among colleges, shows a plan to rate colleges before the 2015 school year based on measures like tuition, graduation rates, debt and earnings […]

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Not sure about this

Thursday, July 11, 2013

I’m a big Elizabeth Warren fan, and I’m also firmly convinced that the Glass-Steagall Act should never have been repealed, and should be reenacted. That being the case, why am I a bit reluctant to cheer on Elizabeth after receiving her email asking me to support her recently introduced 21st Century Glass Steagall Act. Well, […]

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Attention Deficit Disorder at Work

Monday, June 10, 2013

Speaking of Iran-Contra, to which I alluded in my previous post, it looks like Obama is now the beneficiary of a phenomenon that I, at least, first noticed at the time of that affair. The geezers among us remember that at first, the scandal consisted of the fact that Reagan secretly sold weapons to Iran. […]

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The IRS “scandals”

Monday, May 13, 2013

The scandal de jour revolves around the fact that one office in the IRS, under a Bush appointed commissioner, used terms such as “tea party” and “9/12” to help pick and choose the 501©(4) applications to review. I don’t have much to add to what’s written here at the American Prospect. The real scandal, of […]

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A better way to a better House

Saturday, December 29, 2012

A David Roberts (drgrist) tweet directed me to this article, which I thought I would pass along. I believe I’ve made similar suggestions in this blog (I know I’ve verbalized them), but for the life of me I can’t find the posts. Here’s the gist of it: Executive summary: The lack of fairness and accountability […]

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Little noted

Monday, November 12, 2012

In keeping with their fear and loathing of effective messaging, the Democrats themselves will probably never mention this, but tell your friends that the GOP only kept control of Congress because they managed to gerrymander every state they control beyond recognition. More people voted for Democrats for Congress than Republicans. It’s a point that should […]

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Election Day Musings

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

I’m still a bit groggy, having had only four hours of sleep last night, but as an amateur self-appointed pundit I feel it my solemn duty to get my reactions to last night’s events on record, for the edification and education of the non-pundits of the world. I freely confess that in my stupefied state, […]

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