what we’re selling to China
Solar power. Just because you can’t export sunshine from Arizona, doesn’t mean you can’t export the ability to harness its energy.
Monthly Archive: September 2009
opposition as governance
“My hunch is that the Times’ editors see Friedman aiming the gun at his foot, but watching a man stupid enough to actually pull the trigger is so fun they hate to intervene. That...
In Which I Take on a Nobel Laureate
Paul Krugman goes after arguments that the public option is not an important part of health care reform this morning. A central point of Krugman’s is that the public option will significantly reduce costs,...
Why not give merit pay a shot?
I confess I’m somewhat baffled by Dana Goldstein’s beef with merit pay: Forty years of psychological research demonstrates that when someone is faced with a complex, creative task — like teaching — money is...
Obama’s Well Nigh Impossible Wed. Night Task
President Obama’s two biggest problems politically are 1. a frankly crazy and irresponsible minority GOP party (with plenty of enablers to be sure) and 2. His own party affiliation. In the immortal words of...
Our Three Party Democracy
Creepy admiration for China’s authoritarian government aside, the main point of Tom Friedman’s most recent New York Times op-ed is actually pretty sound: the United States has become something of a neutered one-party democracy. ...
Matt Steinglass responds
Matt Steinglass has responded at length to some of my thoughts on the circumcision debate, in the comments of my posts on the subject. If you’ve read any of my posts on this issue...
More meandering thoughts.
Jamelle, the ferocity of the right-wing opposition to Obama mystifies and bewilders me, so as far as I’m concerned your explanation’s as good as any. Because when I try to imagine what I would...
Sarah Palin’s latest foray into the healthcare debate
Here it is. There’s a lot to digest – some good, some less so – but my first impression is that criticizing Obama for installing unelected, unaccountable and (at least according to her) unpopular...
holes in the safety net
Jonathan Cohn wades into the Baucus framework [pdf] released today and notices that families making between 300% and 400% above the poverty line ($66,000 to $88,000 for a family of four) would get stuck...
Late to the party: Anathem edition.
I read Neal Stephenson’s Anathem over Labor Day weekend. It’s not particularly apposite to the holiday, but it was the right book for my frame of mind. Stephenson’s scholar-monks appealed to the part of...
A few meandering thoughts on racial anxiety and Obama’s right-wing opposition
As I’m sure most of you have noticed by now, I write (and think!) a fair amount about racial politics. Indeed, it goes beyond my blogging – a good chunk of my undergraduate education...
Good legislation makes everyone happy
In light of Max Baucus’ now circulating health care bill, Josh Marshall asks if he is “the only one who thinks that if the Dems pass a bill with mandates and subsidies for poor...
A decent interval
The uncanny resemblance between his latest offering and Ross Douthat’s New York Times column from a few weeks back should (finally) put to rest any notion that New Gingrich is a font of original...
Fisk me gently
Chris Bodenner picks apart some dumb objections to closing Gitmo. Memo to the Dish: Keep the interns blogging after Sullivan gets back from vacation.
