Experiment

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Saturday January 30, 2010 · 12:59 AM PST

2010/01/30 · 00:59

The point of this diary is the poll. Please, indulge me.

Poll

27 votes Show Results

Select an option

27 votes Vote Now!

Select an option

<50% will choose this option

4 votes

<25% will choose this option

2 votes

<10% will choose this option

6 votes

<1% will choose this option

4 votes

<0.01% will choose this option

11 votes

You just can't make this up: Lead now verboten, Chinese toymakers use CADMIUM

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Monday January 11, 2010 · 8:31 PM PST

2010/01/11 · 20:31

After strict new rules banned lead in imported Chinese toys, manufacturers just switched to a different toxic metal, cadmium, for their toys. The metal in these toys, sold at (wait for it: Wal-Mart) can harm brain development, and hurt our most vulnerable.

LOS ANGELES (Jan. 10) - Barred from using lead in children's jewelry because of its toxicity, some Chinese manufacturers have been substituting the more dangerous heavy metal cadmium in sparkling charm bracelets and shiny pendants being sold throughout the United States, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The most contaminated piece analyzed in lab testing performed for the AP contained a startling 91 percent cadmium by weight. The cadmium content of other contaminated trinkets, all purchased at national and regional chains or franchises, tested at 89 percent, 86 percent and 84 percent by weight. The testing also showed that some items easily shed the heavy metal, raising additional concerns about the levels of exposure to children.

Poll

75 votes Show Results

What do we do?

75 votes Vote Now!

What do we do?

nothing

5 votes

regulate cadmium in imports the way we now regulate lead

11 votes

place heavy tariffs on imports from Dickenonsian nightmare countries

40 votes

stop doing business with china and states like it

19 votes

Erm, WTF? Grayson Demands Jail for Web Parodist

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Tuesday December 22, 2009 · 11:47 AM PST

2009/12/22 · 11:47

This kind of behavior is unacceptable when conservatives do it, and I for one find it equally repugnant when liberals do it. We're supposed to be above all that.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

In fact, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando took such offense at a parody website aimed at unseating him that the freshman Democrat has asked that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder investigate the Lake County activist who started the anti-Grayson website "mycongressmanisnuts.com."

Specifically, Grayson accuses Republican activist Angie Langley of lying to federal elections. His four-page complaint highlights the fact that the Clermont resident lives outside his district, but that Langley still uses the term "my" in "mycongressmanisnuts.com."

Come on Grayson, how petty can you be? The correct response is to ignore these jerks, not to lend them credence and mock the values for which you ostensibly stand.

Poll

146 votes Show Results

Jail the parodist

146 votes Vote Now!

Jail the parodist

Yes

27 votes

86 votes

Pie

33 votes

You Can't Eat Gold

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Monday December 07, 2009 · 9:26 PM PST

2009/12/07 · 21:26

On NPR this morning, All Things Considered actually had as a guest someone who claimed that the sixteenth amendment (which authorizes the income tax) is illegal, and that the only constitutional financial system is the "gold standard". In his eyes, we need to abolish the Federal Reserve and return to a simpler system. If I recall the segment properly, he's suing the government to accomplish just that.

Now, that's the traditional purview of Ron Paul fans, and of people who think National Treasure is a documentary. But I've been seeing this mode of thinking, and its shibboleth, the word "fiat", appear with alarming frequency on the Left too, and even on this very site.

Below the fold, I explain why this kind of thinking leads to really terrible policies.

Poll

35 votes Show Results

Which system?

35 votes Vote Now!

Which system?

Current system, work to appoint better Federal Reserve members

16 votes

Give monetary policy controls directly to Congress

7 votes

Return to the gold standard

12 votes

You can't fix obesity with nutrition education

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Tuesday July 21, 2009 · 1:33 PM PDT

2009/07/21 · 13:33

The comment below from another diary struck me. I was initially planning to reply, but my thoughts super-sized themselves into a diary-sized piece. Anyway:

"Pick an appetizer. What's in Buffalo wings? You start with the fatty part of the chicken. Many times it's fried in the manufacturing plant first. It's fried again in the restaurant. That red sauce? Sugar and fat. That creamy sauce? Fat and salt.

And man, is that delicious. Come on --- even here in Buffalo, nobody eats chicken wings often enough to make an overall difference to his health. The kind food we eat is a relatively minor factor in our nutrition: far more important is the sheer amount. Compare our diets with those of the French: their diet consists of fatty cheese, wine, and various dishes with fatty cream sauces. (And don't get me started on the dessert.) Yet they are fit --- and it's because they look at food differently.

America's problem isn't the burger, but that it comes with two patties, three buns, and enough potatoes to feed 1840s Ireland. Our culture, far from limiting portions, encourages enlarging them. The quintessentially American idea is: "more is better, especially if I can get a good deal on it". Below the fold, I try to explore what makes food different.

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Monday June 15, 2009 · 3:11 PM PDT

2009/06/15 · 15:11

I have a confession to make: before the situation in Iran came to a head, I didn't really think of Iran as having people. Of course, I intellectually recognized the broad outlines of Iran's demographics and history. But somehow, I just never thought of people. It was as if its entire population of Iran looked and thought like Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah, and the nation could be abstracted away as a personality, a petulant bully in the middle east.

But then came Friday's election and its aftermath. (More below the fold.)

quotemstr

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Saturday March 07, 2009 · 11:34 PM PST

2009/03/07 · 23:34

Andy Card recently said that healthcare is a want, not a need. He's half-right. All needs are also wants, really. What makes a want a need is that someone will pay any price to get it. In economic terms, that means that for a need, demand is inelastic. No matter how high the price rises, it will still be in demand until people run out of the money. A need means life or death.

When conservatives say that health care is a "want", what they mean is that it should be regulated by markets, like all our other needs, such as food, shelter, and so on. Below, I sketch a description of why healthcare is special, and why we should treat it specially. Others have elaborately explained why public healthcare is better in micro-economic terms: economies of scale, reduced load on businesses, larger risk pools, and so on. This is my attempt to explain why public health care is better in a universal sense as well.

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Monday December 22, 2008 · 10:18 PM PST

2008/12/22 · 22:18

I quite liked All Infrastructure Is Not Created Equal. Devilstower makes a good point about minimizing the maintenance burden for the future.

Reading the comments, however, I was struck by the outright disdain for the automobile contained in some of them. I'm as progressive as anyone here. I favor single-payer universal health care, gay marriage, a progressive-as-hell tax code, and education for all. But I've never been able to agree with the Green-or-buster advocates living under our big test.

I feel that technology makes our world a better place, and I suspect almost everyone would agree with this sentiment, taken in isolation. Nevertheless, there is a contingent that wants us to avoid certain technologies because these technologies have unsolved deleterious effects or unctuous corporate sponsors. Perhaps these technologies don't fit a particular personal vision for society. Regardless of the cause, I feel that the merits of a technology are often ignored and the faults taken as unsolvable.

There are many examples, but today I'd like to talk about the automobile. Far from being a "habit we need to kick", as one comment read, the automobile is actually one of the greatest boons of the modern age.

Poll

38 votes Show Results

The automobile:

38 votes Vote Now!

The automobile:

A great invention

24 votes

A scourge upon mankind

5 votes

A necessary evil

7 votes

A historical accident

2 votes

NYT Editorial on Taxes Considered Harmful

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Thursday April 24, 2008 · 12:20 PM PDT

2008/04/24 · 12:20

Today's New York Times editorial claims that all three candidates are lying about their economic plans regarding taxes on the middle class. But the editorial assumes that taxes can't be made progressive.

In effect, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama are saying that they can pay for their promises mainly by raising taxes on the top 3 percent of taxpayers. That’s neither politically nor economically plausible.

Far from not being economically plausible, this approach is necessary and desirable.

RSS

Experiment

You just can't make this up: Lead now verboten, Chinese toymakers use CADMIUM

Erm, WTF? Grayson Demands Jail for Web Parodist

You Can't Eat Gold

You can't fix obesity with nutrition education

Confession

Healthcare is a want (also, a need)

In Defense of the Automobile

NYT Editorial on Taxes Considered Harmful