Politics

Corporations and Government are Almost the Same, Except Corporations are Voluntary?

September 6, 2012 Corporations

In the midst of the political season and the political conventions, in which the role of corporations is an increasingly significant issue (no corporations are not people), David Burge, who blogs here as Iowahawkblog, tweets this: “Government” is just a word for things we do together. “Corporation” is just a word for things we do […]

Read the full article →

Constituent Consistency

September 5, 2012 County Government

One of the things that’s interesting about this story in the Observer, out in Dunkirk, NY is how the comments (vitriol included) are so like what you’ll read and hear all over New York where a county is considering doing anything other than building a new nursing home. Here are a couple of examples: FredoniaFred:The […]

Read the full article →

North Carolina Needs King Cnut

May 30, 2012 Forecasting

And speaking of science and politics, North Carolina is considering prohibiting, by law, sea level rise. Here’s House Bill 819. And here’s an appropriately snarky, commentary by Scott Huler in Scientific American. According to North Carolina law, I am a billionaire. I have a full-time nanny for my children, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, […]

Read the full article →

A Nation in Decline? Commentary by Ed Luce

April 20, 2012 Economics

I’m excerpting liberally below, but you should still consider reading the original. This is a conversation that goes beyond the conventional and superficial. It’s not fun and it’s not optimistic, but if you believe that the first step required in dealing with challenges is to learn and think realistically about them, then this is worth […]

Read the full article →

Arithmetically Correct Lie

April 19, 2012 Data

Last week, Mitt Romney repeatedly said that women have lost 92.3% (note the precision of the “.3”) of the jobs since Obama became President. The arithmetic is correct. But there’s no need to be polite and call it “misleading.” It’s a lie, a deliberate attempt to mislead. How ironic for a guy who made so […]

Read the full article →

Once Again, The Argument Against Single Payer

March 27, 2012 Federal Government

Even while supporting universal coverage, I wrote and posted arguments against a single-payer system in June, 2005. At some point, I would expect that link to become inactive, so I’ve copied it below in its entirety. Though I might tinker with a couple of minor things, for the moment I’ll leave it as originally written. […]

Read the full article →

Once Again, Why Universal Coverage?

March 26, 2012 Government

I wrote and posted the following on my first blog on February 2, 2005. At some point, I would expect that link to become inactive, so I’ve copied it here in its entirety. I might tinker with a couple of minor things, but for the moment, choose to leave it as originally written: Implicit in […]

Read the full article →

Use the Damn Data Newt

March 25, 2012 Data

It might not seem so to some, but compared to how much I babble about politics at home and among friends, I’ve minimized political talk on this site. (That may change later in year.) But I couldn’t resist this piece, Newt Gingrich: Not Great With Numbers by Jesse Singal on Gingrich’s pursuit of the Republican […]

Read the full article →

An Old Quote Recalled

March 23, 2012 Politics

In today’s New York Times, we find State Senate Race Spotlights a Feeble Democratic Party by Michael Powell. Powell recalls Meade Esposito, former Chair of the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club in Southern Brooklyn which, in its good times, gave us two recent NYS Assembly Speakers. Powell’s own words are pretty good when he describes Esposito […]

Read the full article →

Orwell on Political Language

March 19, 2012 Politics

Something tells me that this will be a good week to start with a reminder from Orwell: Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. George Orwell, Why I Write, 1946

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →