John McCain doesn't believe in America

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Wednesday September 10, 2008 · 4:36 AM PDT

2008/09/10 · 04:36

John McCain likes to call himself a maverick. But McCain is really a cowboy, shooting from the hip to pick a Vice President who's never had national experience, but already knows how to pack in the pork and tell lies on camera. Sarah Palin, in her moment in the spotlight, chose to introduce herself to the country as a pitbull in lipstick.

But we've already got a cowboy as President and a pitbull as Vice President and they took America into war, debt, and recession. Now they want us to believe that another cowboy and another pitbull can fix our broken healthcare system, responsibly end the war in Iraq, and lower the price of gas? They must not believe Americans care, and they don't believe we can work together to fix these problems.

Barack Obama believes in America, and he believes in Americans, and he believes that together we can put this great country back on track. Starting November 4th, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Whaddyall think of that as a theme?

electroniceric

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Wednesday December 21, 2005 · 9:41 AM PST

2005/12/21 · 09:41

In Richard Posner's op-ed piece this morning, the good judge's credulity about data mining is astonishing. For example:

Because of their volume, the data are first sifted by computers, which search for names, addresses, phone numbers, etc., that may have intelligence value. This initial sifting, far from invading privacy (a computer is not a sentient being), keeps most private data from being read by any intelligence officer.

Unfortunately for his thesis, there is absolutely no evidence for such an assertion, and that vacuum of facts is specifically due to the fact the President circumvented Congress. Read More

Triple unemployment among returning Iraq vets

electroniceric

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Tuesday October 18, 2005 · 7:40 AM PDT

2005/10/18 · 07:40

While reading a related story on Air Force Link (OK, it was a Slashdot story...), I came across
this nugget. It shows that unemployment among returning vets is three times the national average, or 15%, and

Officials said that's partly because most troops seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are in the early stages of their military careers and possess limited transferable job skills or very little civilian work experience.

This is an embarassment to us all. Read More

More thoughts on abortion, or putting my foot right in it

electroniceric

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Sunday May 29, 2005 · 2:04 PM PDT

2005/05/29 · 14:04

Since kos' post on NARAL's outright rejection of Langevin, and a very thought-provoking exchange with stickmd, I've been thinking about abortion. I'm a big believer that our current "pro-choice" vs. "pro-life" debate is a perennial loser and a pair cement shoes for progressives, because it puts all us in the position of defending abortion, which is not really what we (or me at least) are in favor of. Read More

A progressive gets pissed about taxes

electroniceric

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Tuesday April 12, 2005 · 10:43 AM PDT

2005/04/12 · 10:43

Let me start by saying that I believe in progressive taxation, and at the end of the day, I don't really get that upset when money's taken off of my paycheck. Society has needs that only government can meet, and that means people need to pay to play. That said, our current tax code is a monstrosity. I'll give you the bottom line before the rest: it's my job as a citizen to pay taxes, but it should not be my job to make an arcane set of calculations to do so.

Could I really be agreeing with Bush that we need tax reform? Read on. Read More

Turning the other cheek to treason

electroniceric

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Thursday February 24, 2005 · 3:00 PM PST

2005/02/24 · 15:00

The WSJ loves traitors, as long as they're Republicans or GOP apparatchiks. Read More

Priming the pump

electroniceric

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Wednesday December 29, 2004 · 8:09 AM PST

2004/12/29 · 08:09

It's about goddamn time: this article in the Post finally takes a realistic look at the true threat of al-Qaeda acquiring nuclear weapons. And, as any scientist familiar with the elements of nuclear weapons could tell you:

While the technology is relatively simple and has been described in dozens of published scientific studies and policy journals, the path to development is filled with technological and logistical challenges -- the most significant of which is obtaining at least 50 kilograms of bomb-grade uranium.

To put this in perspective, for the US to enrich even close to enough uranium to make a 1940's gun-style nuke still requires a massive complex at Oak Ridge and elsewhere.

The article goes on to point out that arming a nuke is distinctly harder than figuring out how to unlock someone's cell phone - a key premise of most of the "terrorists with nukes" fear-mongering. Are we at last seeing a ray of hope of a fact-based foreign policy debate? Read More

Dems for small business, part 1

electroniceric

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Wednesday December 01, 2004 · 5:49 PM PST

2004/12/01 · 17:49

There's been a lot of talk around these parts about how the Dems need to become a true reform party, and how that means having a coherent position on issues rather than simply reacting to what the GOP brings up.

I had an experience today that made me think there's a lot of room to get ahead when it comes to the practice of medicine. Read More

Unwedging two issues

electroniceric

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Wednesday November 24, 2004 · 10:22 AM PST

2004/11/24 · 10:22

I've been thinking about two key wedges the Democrats have to undo to move back into majority

Being pro-growth
Tiptoeing around "patronization by redistribution"

electroniceric

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Sunday November 07, 2004 · 5:44 PM PST

2004/11/07 · 17:44

One of the many effective elements of the Kerry Edwards campaign, and one that was well supported by bloggers in general and Kossacks in particular was pushing on the media to keep Republican spin from directing the narrative. While we're out of electoral power, I think we need to go full bore on this.

Obviously without a bully pulpit like a campaign we'll have a harder time getting a lot of column inches, but read on for some ideas for keep the pressure on the media to report our side of the story well. Read More

RSS

John McCain doesn't believe in America

Posner's incredible credulity

Triple unemployment among returning Iraq vets

More thoughts on abortion, or putting my foot right in it

A progressive gets pissed about taxes

Turning the other cheek to treason

Priming the pump

Dems for small business, part 1

Unwedging two issues

Keep Up the Media Pushback