Month: October 2009

The House Democrats are trying to re-name the public option. Publius notes:

The most valid reason not to call it "Medicare" is that the public option is far less socialized.  Even under the most liberal bills, the public option would only be available to a fraction of the public, and even then would have other restrictions such as artificial floors on reimbursement rates, etc. 

One would think interracial marriage would be a non-issue for a US senator in 2009. Amanda Terkel suggests otherwise:

Although both Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) have publicly condemned Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell for refusing to issue marriage licenses to interracial couples, Sen. David Vitter (R) has stayed noticeably silent. (ThinkProgress contacted his office, but we did not receive a response.) Blogger-activist Mike Stark caught up with Vitter and asked him about his position. “Have you commented? What did you have to say about it?” asked Stark. Vitter simply smiled, stepped into the elevator, and allowed the doors to close.

Mike Konczal points out a major problem with geo-engineering by pumping sulfur into the atmosphere:

[L]et’s then assume that the sulfur is causing too many side effects, and we want to shut it down. Then what happens? The sulfur rains out over the course of a short time period, say a year, and then the Earth heats up 5 degrees very, very quickly. No gradual increase over this time period; we have the same carbon amount as we had before. We haven’t lost any weight, we were just wearing bigger pants. That would be a nightmare situation, and as such even if the side-effects were terrible it would be difficult to “turn off” such a plan.

Courtesy of Ezra Klein:

 "There are a few things economists believe in our souls so strongly that we have a hard time actually explaining them," [MIT economist Jon Gruber] said. "One is that free trade is good and another is that health-care costs come out of wages." To put it another way: Economists are pretty united on this point. A firm's compensation for its workers is pretty static, and if relatively more goes to health-care costs, relatively less will go to wages, and vice-versa. But this isn't just a matter of theory. The [above] graph charts the percent growth in the median household income versus the percent growth in health-care costs since 1990.

Ambers is already gaming Iowa:

The congealing conventional wisdom is that if ex-Govs. Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin run for president, the best way to dilute their support is to cede them the Iowa precinct caucuses, which are dominated by social conservatives voting on social conservative issues. For this strategy to work, the candidate would have to set the expectations bar quite low and publicly admit, very early on, that Huckabee and Palin are likely to win. The candidate has to accomplish this without alienating social conservatives. (Mitt Romney won't attribute his loss in Iowa to anti-Mormon bias, but plenty of his advisers are willing to go there.)

Kathleen Parker takes aim at the stoner stereotype:

[T]he shift toward a more sensible national policy is no longer confined to the left. Nor is the long-haired stoner the face of the pro-pot lobby. Today's activist, more likely, doesn't have facial hair, but she does have kids. Lately to the smallish conservative crowd, notably once led by anti-prohibitionist William F. Buckley, is Jessica Corry of Colorado, a married, pro-life Republican mom, soon to be "freedom fighter of the month" in High Times magazine.

Her kicker:

In 1929, the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform led the movement to end alcohol prohibition. Might women lead the next revolution in personal autonomy?

(Hat tip: DrugWarRant)

J. E. Dyer of Commentary asks everyone to suspend judgment:

This was a sting operation, not the interdiction of espionage solicited by a foreign government. The FBI affidavit alleges no act of targeting Nozette or his information by a foreign spy agency.  Nozette’s own behavior was what alerted the FBI to his potential susceptibility. Anyone who has had clearances has secrets to sell, but nothing in this episode indicates that the Israelis were looking for the particular ones Norzett has.

Nozette will probably deserve whatever he gets. But let’s wait until espionage involves actual evidence of initiation by a foreign government — as with Cuban spies in the State Department, Chinese spies in an NSA facility in Hawaii, and cyber-espionage by Russia and China against the U.S. power grid — before attributing interests to that government in a specific incident.

Agreed. But what will be interesting will be this guy's politics and social circle. And that we are only beginning to find out about.

With Congress finally approving the transfer of Gitmo detainees to the US for trial, the debate over where to try and imprison them is sure to heat up soon. Underblogger Bodenner reports on the likeliest location:

Standish, a town of 1,500 people, is the seat of a county with an unemployment rate of nearly 25 percent. It is one of the most impoverished counties in Michigan–the state hit hardest by the recession. In June, two months before my visit, things had gone from bad to worse: Governor Jennifer Granholm announced that the town's main economic engine–the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility, which funds about one-quarter of the city's budget and is the county's largest employer–would be shuttered.

More here.

As gay people and our families are forced to address core anxieties and concerns about marriage equality, the truth is our best ally. Defensiveness and euphemism suggest self-doubt. There is no reason for that. Tell the truth. As this family does:

To help get this spot on the air in Maine, click here.