Shorter Alan Simpson: “I can’t believe these veterans. First, they risk their lives, often to fight idiotic wars cooked up by reactionary policymakers such as myself (you know, people who actually deserve taxpayer-funded health care and cushy pensions), then they expect us to pay them health benefits. I wish these damned freeloaders would stop sucking […]
Month: August 2010
As a means of registering my discontent with conservative claims that the fact that 70 percent of Americans abhor the idea of the “Ground Zero Mosque” means it should be abandoned, I hereb
I’ve been meaning to contest David’s contention that sabermetrics proves that managers don’t matter. I don’t actually think that sabermetrics has proven this, and I also don
Most of the reading I’ve done about the period suggests that claims about the framers hating paper money are accurate. To expand on Matt’s point a bit, the real lesson here is that this kind of “originalist” argument is just stupid. Obviously, we’ve learned a great deal since 1787, and moreover American political economy is […]
The Times led today with an expose of the US Army’s rehabilitated physical training system: That familiar standby, the situp, is gone, or almost gone. Exercises that look like pilates or yoga ro
Tonight Obama will explain to the country what exactly it means that Operation Iraqi Freedom is “over.” War correspondent Richard Engel tried to do the same thing on the Colbert Report las
Do you know what happens when you allow “scholars” like Jonah Goldberg to invent historical movements and monsters? You end up with uncited statements of obvious provenance that mask sheer lunacy behind the rhetorical scrim of conventional wisdom: [T]he principles that inspired the American founding were always viewed as universal principles, which applied to all […]
Just ahead of their time?
Thirty-six minutes into “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword,” a surprisingly intimate conversation between Don and Dr. Faye Miller takes an uncertain turn when the subject of analysis comes u
Good to see that a state judge has quashed the efforts of all-purpose winger Ken Cuccinelli to sue the climate scientist Michael Mann for the crime of practicing science. Unfortunately, while Mann can win in the courts, as Brad Plumer notes Cuccinelli can’t really lose: The odds seem pretty slim that his next subpoena will […]
A very sober-minded and even-handed 2000 word essay, complete with extensive scholarly references, about the possibility that using astrological charts can help you win at roulette.
Obama’s approach to judicial nominations has, indeed, been very weak. The legislative situation is about to get a lot worse, so now is the time to get as many nominees confirmed as he can. And i