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Newest Blog Entries:
NYT Op-Eds (3)
"We need a national conversation about the dimensions of poverty or a chunk of working-class America could be calcified into an underclass" (Kristof); "The issue of covering contraceptives in health care plans has Catholic bishops in an uproar. Let’s try to talk through this in a calm, measured manner" (Collins); "Haiti’s culture of impunity must end with the prosecution of Jean-Claude Duvalier" (Guest Op-Ed)Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, February 9, 2012
Colbert v. The Supreme Court
Posted by Michael Butler, Sunday, February 5, 2012NYT Editorial & Op-Eds (10)
"Three major legal cases may influence the 2012 election, but the cases also illustrate how politics shape the Supreme Court" (Editorial); "Whether Barack Obama wins or loses in November, the Democratic Party’s attention will immediately turn to 2016" (Guest Op-Ed); "Whether you can obtain a job, credit or insurance can be based on your digital doppelgänger — and you may never know why you’ve been turned down" (Guest Op-Ed); "Anyone entertaining such dreams of the Internet as a refuge for the bohemian, the hedonistic and the idiosyncratic probably didn’t know the reasons behind the disappearance of the original flâneur" (Guest Op-Ed); "How do the laws and mores of different nations manage, if at all, the multinational companies that now govern our digital lives?" (Guest Op-Ed); "Romney’s Mormon faith is too central to his biography and identity to be swept to the side" (Bruni); "Web tools can turn the world upside down. Change.org has empowered ordinary people to close down homophobic 'clinics' in Ecuador, shine a light on sex trafficking, and force banks to drop fees" (Kristof); "Vladimir Putin has been unable to make the political, economic and educational changes needed to make Russia a modern European state. Will he step up?" (Friedman); "Can Callista transform Newt so that he can transform her into the First Third Lady?" (Dowd); "Half of the country wants to restrict or end abortion, but you wouldn’t know that from the coverage of the Planned Parenthood-Komen controversy" (Douthat)Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, February 5, 2012
NYT Op-Eds (2)
"Mitt Romney said that he was concerned about 'middle-income Americans.' He certainly has a funny way of showing it" (Blow); "With that big political dust-up about breast cancer this week, we’ve clearly hit the point where there’s nothing that can’t be divided into red state/blue state" (Collins)Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, February 4, 2012
NYT Editorial & Op-Eds (5)
"The Supreme Court of the United States should broadcast its hearings live. Adding video would enhance public understanding of the court" (Editorial); "Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a bill making Indiana another 'right to work' state" (Rosenthal); "This primary season, pro-choice Republican women don’t have good options" (Guest Op-Ed); "The Republican Party used to be known for its moderate pragmatists. Then the party forced moderates like Mitt Romney to feign extremism just to compete" (Kristof); "Did you hear? Mitt Romney said he doesn’t care about poor people. Really, he did. Let’s break this down" (Collins)Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, February 2, 2012
NYT Op-Eds (3)
"Current candidates would do well to look back at the birth — and failure — of mortgage-backed securities" (Guest Op-Ed); "Can backbone propel you to the front? Team Mitt and Team Barry compete on spine spin" (Dowd); "From Cairo to Moscow, humiliation has been the most underestimated force in politics" (Friedman)Posted by Ian Alterman, Wednesday, February 1, 2012
NYT Editorial & Op-Eds (10)
"The system for reviewing presidential appointments is broken. Changing the rule is a risky course, but it is the only way to get the nation’s work done" (Editorial); "A student movement led by Camila Vallejo and centered on reforming Chile’s educational system is upending the society" (Guest Op-Ed); "Millions of children take drugs to help them pay attention — but do they really help?" (Guest Op-Ed); "Focusing on public expectations of privacy means that our rights change when technology does" (Guest Op-Ed); "While Cynthia Nixon’s critics have good reason to worry about how her words will be construed, they have no right to demand silence and conformity from her" (Bruni); "Would it be ethical to produce, or take, a drug that makes us more likely to help others?" (Guest Op-Ed); "What is it about runways that brings out the fire in our cool president?" (Dowd); "There is a big gap in how C.E.O.’s and political leaders look at the world" (Friedman); "The power of the state can crowd out other forms of community" (Douthat); "Religious people are more likely to donate to charity" (Guest Op-Ed)Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, January 29, 2012
NYT Editorials & Op-Eds (5)
"The United States is slowly recovering, but still struggling, and it is still in need of government action and strong political leadership" (Editorial); "There is absolutely no excuse for the New York Police Department’s decision to show a film about Muslims to more than 1,400 city police officers" (Editorial); "In the 21st-century economy, everyone is going to have to find a little something extra to stand out in their field of employment" (Friedman); "Mitt Romney, leaving us at wit’s end with his witless pranks" (Dowd); "Maikel Nabil Sanad’s experience illustrates the challenge facing Egyptian society if it hopes that democracy and pluralism will replace the Mubarak government" (Guest Op-Ed)Posted by Ian Alterman, Wednesday, January 25, 2012
NYT Editorial, Op-Eds, Letters (11)
"Americans spend more than patients in any other country, but with very mixed results" (Editorial); "Drones are blurring the civilian and military roles in war and circumventing the constitutional mandate for authorizing it" (Guest Op-Ed); "If only a presidential candidate would adopt this four-part agenda, he would surely be the winner on election night in November" (Friedman); "'Porgy and Bess' supplies a prism through which African-Americans have viewed their history" (Nocera); "No longer will only men be allowed to sell a bra to a woman clothed head-to-toe in an abaya" (Guest Op-Ed); "Could 2012 be a race between two powerful victims yearning to be lonely at the top?" (Dowd); "In both parties, there is a long tradition of underwhelming nominees" (Douthat); "If liberals care about middle-class salaries, public education and other state-funded services, they need to care about controlling health care costs as much as conservatives do" (Guest Op-Ed); "Lessons from Paula Deen on indulgence and its consequences" (Bruni); "It's 2012, and let's face it, the old way of sizing up candidates on the left-to-right spectrum just will not do" (Guest Op-Ed); "Sunday Dialogue: State Laws on Unions" (Letters)Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, January 22, 2012
NYT Op-Eds (2)
"Gingrich's plan seems to be to appeal to an ugly, gut-level anger and animosity among a sizable portion of the Republican electorate" (Blow); "Thanks to Newt Gingrich, sex was very much on the minds of South Carolina voters this week" (Collins)Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, January 21, 2012
NYT Editorials & Op-Eds (6)
"Mitt Romney’s tax returns will remind Americans of the fundamental unfairness of the tax code and show just how much it favors the rich" (Editorial); "We are happy that the drive to pass antipiracy legislation has slowed enough that Congress might actually consider all its implications carefully" (Editorial); "More important to the nation’s energy future than the Keystone XL oil pipeline is the development of renewable and alternative energy sources" (Editorial); "The keepers of the flame of free speech are banishing people for their speech" (Guest Op-Ed); "Will capitalists be the death of capitalism?" (Kristof); "With the South Carolina primary only days away, it’s time to take stock of how all the candidates are doing" (Collins)Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, January 19, 2012
NYT Op-Eds (3)
"The phrase 'under God' was not conceived to promote unity, but capitalism and conservatism" (Guest Op-Ed); "To the manner, and manor, born in an American version of Downton Abbey, Mitt and Poppy have a lot in common, warts and all" (Dowd); "Some recent news out of Egypt shows just how tough diplomacy is going to be going forward" (Friedman)Posted by Ian Alterman, Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Smirking Chimp (3)
Are we lucky enough to be witnessing the self-destruction of the Reupblican Party?; The GOP's "marvelous unreality show"; When winter fades, will we see an "Occupy Spring?"Posted by Ian Alterman, Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Stuff you didn’t know you didn’t know!
Courtesy of Mike DaileyPosted by Michael Butler, Sunday, January 15, 2012
NYT (11): Editorials, Op-Eds, Letters
"Mitt Romney and the Republican Party fear talking about income inequality in the campaign" (Editorial); "In a sound ruling, the National Labor Relations Board concluded that employees’ federal right to engage in concerted action trumps any arbitration agreement that bars group claims" (Editorial); "The Tea Party’s influence is diminishing as conservatives seem to be inching toward nominating Mitt Romney" (Guest Op-Ed); "Presidential candidates are just like you. You plus multiple homes and millions" (Bruni); "There has yet to be any discussion over the one quality that has subtly driven Mitt Romney's candidacy: his race" (Guest Op-Ed); "The private equity revolution of Mitt Romney and others helped keep America competitive, but the human costs must be acknowledged, too" (Douthat); "In fashion next fall: enigmatic, elusive, analytical Harvard grads" (Dowd); "For those in the news media who covered the slow-motion collapse of the Soviet Union, this moment feels familiar" (Guest Op-Ed); "As a new government takes shape, Egyptians are finding their voices again and rediscovering their neighbors" (Friedman); "Medieval Europe had barbarian hordes, famine and plague. We have millions of people on Xanax" (Guest Op-Ed); "Sunday Dialogue: Mobility and Inequality in Today’s America" (Letters)Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, January 15, 2012
FDL: Colbert SuperPAC Goes on the Air in South Carolina
David Dayen @ Firedoglake (w video of Colbert and Stewart making the announcement) ..This caps off one of the most brilliant pieces of performance art in quite some time. Colbert is “running” for President now as an evolution of his show-don’t-tell critique of the Citizens United decision and what it has meant for campaign finance in America. His SuperPAC has run ads in Iowa, used candidate Buddy Roemer in spots that technically didn’t “coordinate” with the candidate because they were considered issue ads, and tried to purchase naming rights to the South Carolina primary, adding a referendum to the ballot asking voters whether corporations are people or “only people are people.” .. As satire, this goes light years beyond the March to Restore Sanity. Colbert is displaying every single problem with the Citizens United decision, and the mess of our campaign finance laws, by showing the practical application of them in the real world.. read more
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, January 15, 2012
Colbert Super PAC: Mitt the Ripper –or– Attack in B Minor for Strings
Posted by Mike Blaxill, Sunday, January 15, 2012
NYT Op-Eds (3)
"The presidential candidates need to get a grip on our nation’s income inequality" (Blow); "The current presidential race has demonstrated that $1 million is practically nothing these days. Nothing!" (Collins); "Theodore Roosevelt, when he was police commissioner, tried to crack down on New Yorkers’ alcohol consumption. It didn’t go well" (Guest Op-Ed)Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, January 14, 2012
GOP should try auditions, not debates – Entertainment News, Peter Bart, Media – Variety
Posted by Michael Butler, Friday, January 13, 2012NYT Op-Eds (5)
"Few gestures would improve American-Cuban relations as much as handing over the coveted piece of land that houses the Guantánamo Bay detention camp" (Guest Op-Ed); "One Mitt Romney was born with a silver spoon, the other one’s was wooden. Both want your vote" (Dowd); "Egyptian Islamists, the newly elected majority in government, have some big decisions to make. It’s going to be fascinating to watch this play out" (Friedman); "A new study suggests a great teacher is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased earning power to students. It’s time to overhaul our education policy" (Kristof); "Don’t worry, people! With the South Carolina primary coming up next, here are the answers to the most important questions that are surely on your mind" (Collins)Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, January 12, 2012
NYT Editorials, Op-Eds, Letters (12)
"Voters, unionized or not, should recognize the new “right to work” push for what it is: bad economics and cynical politics" (Editorial); "An important new study based on capital cases in Connecticut provides powerful evidence that death sentences are haphazardly meted out" (Editorial); "A lab-created bird flu virus needs to be destroyed, or better contained, and future research closely reviewed" (Editorial); "President Obama could cut the arsenal by two-thirds without diminishing its power. It would also save billions of dollars" (Guest Op-Ed); "Street lighting is at risk of being restricted once again to residences and neighborhoods able to afford it" (Guest Op-Ed); "I spent seven and a half years at Guantánamo, without explanation" (Guest Op-Ed); "I was arrested on a bus ride and wound up in prison at Guantánamo Bay" (Guest Op-Ed); "To hear the Republican candidates speak, you’d think Ronald Reagan was the last Republican president — and that he upheld the party’s current values" (Bruni); "When something extraordinary happens, like the uprising and subsequent truly free elections in Egypt, you just shut up and take notes" (Friedman); "The attacks on Rick Santorum and his wife are weird but inevitable" (Douthat); "In New Hampshire, Rick Santorum’s hot politics of aggrievement are competing with Mitt Romney’s cold politics of convenience" (Dowd); "Sunday Dialogue: Do We Live in a Less Deadly Time, or Not?" (Letters)Posted by Ian Alterman, Sunday, January 8, 2012
NYT Op-Eds (6)
"Mitt Romney says that President Obama has been a job destroyer, while he was a job-creating businessman. But those claims border on dishonesty" (Krugman); "Big surprise. Some of the Republican presidential candidates are once again using race to pander to the right" (Blow); "Pro forma Senate sessions present an unconstitutional interference with the president’s irreducible power and duty" (Tribe); "Rick Santorum’s ideas may need some massaging, but their roots offer an important seedbed for a new 21st-century philosophy of government" (Brooks); "Good news, people! For our latest meeting of the Presidential Primary Book Club, I read Rick Santorum’s 'It Takes a Family' so you won’t have to" (Collins); "Rather than bringing power to secular revolutionaries, the Arab Spring is producing flowers of a decidedly Islamist hue" (Guest Op-Ed)Posted by Ian Alterman, Saturday, January 7, 2012
NYT Op-Eds (3)
"Technology is a means of enabling freedom, not an end in itself" (Guest Op-Ed); "If Mitt Romney ends up winning the Republican presidential nomination, let’s hope that he reverts to the moderate pragmatist he was for most of his career" (Kristof); "Can’t wait to see what the Republicans do next. New Hampshire is lovely this time of year" (Collins)Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, January 5, 2012
NYT (4): National News
Obama uses recess appointments to put Cordray in charge of Consumer panel, and fill NLRB spots; Indiana Dems pull a "Wisconsin," depriving GOP of quorum for right-to-work vote; Olbermann pisses off yet another boss; Judge smells a rat in cat litter ad, pulls it from TV.Posted by Ian Alterman, Thursday, January 5, 2012
