View from Minneapolis

Pass the Books. Hold the Oil. - NYTimes.com

2012-03-11T12:32:00.001-05:00

Pass the Books. Hold the Oil. - NYTimes.com: "In sum, says Schleicher, “knowledge and skills have become the global currency of 21st-century economies, but there is no central bank that prints this currency. Everyone has to decide on their own how much they will print.” Sure, it’s great to have oil, gas and diamonds; they can buy jobs. But they’ll weaken your society in the long run unless they’re used to build schools and a culture of lifelong learning. “The thing that will keep you moving forward,” says Schleicher, is always “what you bring to the table yourself.”" Thomas Friedman

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Romney’s bellicose tone on Iran goes too far - The Washington Post

2012-03-09T08:37:00.001-06:00

Romney’s bellicose tone on Iran goes too far - The Washington Post: "The United States and its allies should seek to eliminate the Iranian government’s will to make a bomb, not its capacity. I hope Romney realizes that, while sanctions and diplomacy may not be working as well as we’d like, they’re the best tools we have — and that an attack at this point gets us nowhere. But if he believes his own rhetoric, this election may be about more than the economy. It may be about war and peace." Eugene Robinson

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Ignorance Is Strength - NYTimes.com

2012-03-09T08:33:00.001-06:00

Ignorance Is Strength - NYTimes.com: "So whenever you hear Republicans say that they are the party of traditional values, bear in mind that they have actually made a radical break with America’s tradition of valuing education. And they have made this break because they believe that what you don’t know can’t hurt them." Paul Krugman

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The Washington Monthly - The Magazine - The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama

2012-03-08T14:06:00.001-06:00

The Washington Monthly - The Magazine - The Incomplete Greatness of Barack Obama: "That Obama has done all this while also steering the country out of what might have been a second Great Depression would seem to have made him already, just three years into his first term, a serious candidate for greatness."

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Will the techno-optimists save the world? - Paul Gilding - Independent writer & advisor on sustainability.

2012-03-07T19:20:00.001-06:00

Will the techno-optimists save the world? - Paul Gilding - Independent writer & advisor on sustainability.: "The danger in techno-optimism is that it becomes a form of denial. That things aren’t that serious and therefore politically difficult change that will confront powerful vested economic interests can be avoided. Such a view is reassuring, it feels good and it fits nicely with our genetic tendency to optimism.

Unfortunately it’s also wrong." Paul Gilding

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Liz Cheney - Desist! - NYTimes.com

2012-03-07T08:39:00.000-06:00

Liz Cheney - Desist! - NYTimes.com: "At a press conference Tuesday, the president excoriated the “bluster” and “big talk” in this political season about bombing Iran. “When I see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, I’m reminded of the costs involved in war,” he said, adding: “This is not a game. And there’s nothing casual about it.” There would be consequences for both Israel and America, he cautioned, “if action is taken prematurely.”

“When I visit Walter Reed, when I’ve signed letters to families,” he said, “whose loved ones have not come home, I am reminded that there is a cost.”

And, he noted dryly, “Typically, it’s not the folks who are popping off who pay the price.”

Given our decade of misadventures, it’s astonishing that the hubris still trumps the humility." Maureen Dowd

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Israel’s Best Friend - NYTimes.com

2012-03-07T08:36:00.000-06:00

Israel’s Best Friend - NYTimes.com: "If it comes to war, let it be because the ayatollahs were ready to sacrifice their whole economy to get a nuke and, therefore, America — the only country that can truly take down Iran’s nuclear program — had to act to protect the global system, not just Israel. I respect that this is a deadly serious issue for Israel — which has the right to act on its own — but President Obama has built a solid strategic and political case for letting America take the lead." Tom Friedman

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Super Tuesday - NYTimes.com

2012-03-07T08:31:00.000-06:00

Super Tuesday - NYTimes.com: "The results Tuesday night did not settle the race. Republican voters will have to go on for some time choosing between a candidate, Mitt Romney, who stands for nothing except country-club capitalism, and a candidate, Rick Santorum, so blinkered by his ideology that it’s hard to imagine him considering any alternative ideas or listening to any dissenting voice."

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Chatological Humor: Why 'fair comment' is not a defense for Rush Limbaugh - The Washington Post

2012-03-06T15:42:00.000-06:00

Chatological Humor: Why 'fair comment' is not a defense for Rush Limbaugh - The Washington Post: "Were you as gratified as I was when Rush Limbaugh finally admitted on the air yesterday that he has gotten rich and famous by “pandering to the prejudices and insecurities of marginally literate, unfathomably ignorant jackasses who have to be told what to hate”?" Gene Weingarten

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Andrew Breitbart, a bomb-thrower without ideas - The Washington Post

2012-03-05T21:29:00.000-06:00

Andrew Breitbart, a bomb-thrower without ideas - The Washington Post: " Imagine President Perry or Santorum or Bachmann or Palin or Gingrich. This horror is partially the product of a Republican intellectual and political establishment that has only one value: to win. The party’s hierarchy patronizes its own base. It will use its energy and grievances to regain power so that a select few can lead. It offers nothing by way of rebuke to religious figures, such as the astoundingly bigoted Franklin Graham, who dress their prejudice in the glad rags of piety." Richard Cohen

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Rush Limbaugh, too fearsome for GOP candidates to cross - The Washington Post

2012-03-05T21:24:00.000-06:00

Rush Limbaugh, too fearsome for GOP candidates to cross - The Washington Post: "So let’s get this straight: These guys want us to believe they’re ready to face down Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Eun, the Taliban and what’s left of al-Qaeda. Yet they’re so scared of a talk-radio buffoon that they ignore or excuse an eruption of venom that some of Limbaugh’s advertisers — nine, at last count, have said they would no longer sponsor the show — find inexcusable." Eugene Robinson

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Peter Diamandis: Abundance is our future | Video on TED.com

2012-03-05T09:24:00.000-06:00

The "heaven" scenario of the Singularity.

Peter Diamandis: Abundance is our future | Video on TED.com:

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Take the Subway - NYTimes.com

2012-03-04T10:16:00.000-06:00

Take the Subway - NYTimes.com: "If you are so reckless as to dismiss all climate science as a hoax, and do not accept the data that our planet is getting hotter and the oceans rising, I can’t help you. That’s between you and your beach house — and your kids, whose future you’re imperiling.

But you better believe this: The planet is getting flatter and more crowded. There will be two billion more people here by 2050, and they will all want to live and drive just like us. And when they do, there is going to be one monster traffic jam and pollution cloud, unless we learn how to get more mobility, lighting, heating and cooling from less energy and with less waste — with so many more people." Tom Friedman

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Four Fiscal Phonies - NYTimes.com

2012-03-02T10:38:00.000-06:00

Four Fiscal Phonies - NYTimes.com: "It has been obvious all along, to anyone paying attention, that the politicians shouting loudest about deficits are actually using deficit hysteria as a cover story for their real agenda, which is top-down class warfare. To put it in Romneyesque terms, it’s all about finding an excuse to slash programs that help people who like to watch Nascar events, even while lavishing tax cuts on people who like to own Nascar teams." Paul Krugman

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The Machiavellian Temptation - NYTimes.com

2012-03-02T10:36:00.000-06:00

Changing ourselves is more than will-power.

The Machiavellian Temptation - NYTimes.com: "If you think you can change your life in a prudential way, the way an advertiser can get you to buy an air freshener, you’re probably wrong.

As the Victorians understood (and the folks at Alcoholics Anonymous understand), if you want to change your life, don’t just look for a clever trigger. Commit to some larger global belief." David Brooks

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Paul Gilding: The Earth is full | Video on TED.com

2012-03-01T09:09:00.000-06:00

I review his book a few months ago. Well worth 16 minutes of your time.

Paul Gilding: The Earth is full | Video on TED.com:

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Slow Death in Michigan: Why the Drawn-Out GOP Primary Is Nothing Like 2008 | Swampland | TIME.com

2012-02-28T16:49:00.000-06:00

Slow Death in Michigan: Why the Drawn-Out GOP Primary Is Nothing Like 2008 | Swampland | TIME.com: "And each of the candidates have made fools of themselves in ways that Obama and Clinton never did. Newt Gingrich said he was hired as a consultant for Freddie Mac because he was a “historian.” He has said that Obama is the most dangerous and radical President in history. He has said this is the most important election since 1860. To which, one can only say: he is the most apoplectic presidential candidate in, well, eons! Romney’s gaffes–each an innocent blunder in its way–have slowly painted the picture of a clueless rich guy. And what can one say about Santorum? I’m on the record praising him for having the courage of his convictions, but, not to put too fine a point on it–the guy is something of a jerk" Joe Klein

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Republicans ill at ease with the world around them - The Washington Post

2012-02-28T14:27:00.000-06:00

Republicans ill at ease with the world around them - The Washington Post: "The longer the Republican presidential contest drags on, the more uncomfortable Mitt Romney seems around blue-collar Americans, and the more antagonistic Rick Santorum seems toward America’s professionals, current and aspiring, and their ideals. This does not portend Republican success in November, whatever the outcome of Tuesday’s primaries in Arizona and Michigan. Harold Meyerson

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Obama hits Romney with withering mockery as he makes case for reelection - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

2012-02-28T13:51:00.000-06:00

Obama hits Romney with withering mockery as he makes case for reelection - The Plum Line - The Washington Post:

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Enough of Rick Santorum’s sermons - The Washington Post

2012-02-28T09:39:00.000-06:00

Enough of Rick Santorum’s sermons - The Washington Post: "Rick Santorum is not, as some would have it, the Republican Party’s problem. The GOP is half the political equation, and so its inability to offer candidates of sound views and judgments is everyone’s problem. We have to vote for someone after all. But when I mull Santorum’s views on contraception, the role of women, the proper place for religion and what he thinks about education, I think he’s either running for president of the wrong country or marooned in the wrong century. The man is lost." Richard Cohen

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Rick Santorum’s rhetoric goes to the extreme - The Washington Post

2012-02-27T16:56:00.000-06:00

Rick Santorum’s rhetoric goes to the extreme - The Washington Post: "Progressives have an obvious interest in seeing the Republican Party choose a weak nominee, but they shouldn’t hope for Santorum. He would be the most extreme candidate since Barry Goldwater — and probably would suffer the same fate. But the nation can’t afford to take that chance."Eugene Robinson

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What Ails Europe? - NYTimes.com

2012-02-27T09:13:00.000-06:00

What Ails Europe? - NYTimes.com: "The next time you hear people invoking the European example to demand that we destroy our social safety net or slash spending in the face of a deeply depressed economy, here’s what you need to know: they have no idea what they’re talking about." Paul Krugman

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I work for Uncle Sam, and I’m proud of it - The Washington Post

2012-02-26T20:43:00.000-06:00

I work for Uncle Sam, and I’m proud of it - The Washington Post: "So to all our politicians, I implore you: Stop using the government workforce as a political football. Just stop. It demeans you, it demoralizes us, and it is counterproductive to drive away the best and brightest from working for the betterment of this country.

We don’t do our jobs for glory, or money or power. We do them — and do them well — because we take pride in our work and pride in representing the United States of America." Jason Ullner, federal employee

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Ghastly Outdated Party - NYTimes.com

2012-02-25T19:56:00.000-06:00

Ghastly Outdated Party - NYTimes.com: "The Republicans, with their crazed Reagan fixation, are a last-gasp party, living posthumously, fighting battles on sex, race, immigration and public education long ago won by the other side.

They’re trying to roll back the clock, but time is passing them by." Maureen Dowd

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Did Jeb Bush Actually Say That? | Swampland | TIME.com

2012-02-24T16:28:00.000-06:00

Did Jeb Bush Actually Say That? | Swampland | TIME.com: "“I used to be a conservative, and I watch these debates and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective, and that’s kind of where we are.”" Jeb Bush

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America Is Europe - NYTimes.com

2012-02-24T08:21:00.000-06:00

America Is Europe - NYTimes.com: "When you include both direct spending and tax expenditures, the U.S. has one of the biggest welfare states in the world." David Brooks

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On the president as alien - The Washington Post

2012-02-23T06:46:00.000-06:00

On the president as alien - The Washington Post: "We are blessed with the freedom to say whatever we want about our president. But those who cast Obama as something other than one of us don’t understand him and don’t understand what it means to be American." E.J. Dionne

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The failure of austerity politics - The Washington Post

2012-02-21T11:57:00.000-06:00

The failure of austerity politics - The Washington Post: "Yet Romney and his rivals for the GOP nomination remain blissfully oblivious. They continue to call for deep cuts in spending that would lay waste to jobs, threatening the slow growth we have. With their having failed to learn the lesson of the Great Depression, there is no reason to think they will absorb the lesson of Europe’s lurch back into recession. But their exaggerated hysteria about the United States verging on a Greek-like collapse is, if anything, a caution about the very austerity they would inflict upon us." Katrina Vanden Heuvel

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The Talent Society - NYTimes.com

2012-02-21T07:37:00.000-06:00

The Talent Society - NYTimes.com: "But if there is one theme that weaves through all the different causes, it is this: The maximization of talent. People want more space to develop their own individual talents. They want more flexibility to explore their own interests and develop their own identities, lifestyles and capacities. They are more impatient with situations that they find stifling." David Brooks

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Rick Santorum could take Republicans down with him - The Washington Post

2012-02-20T21:10:00.000-06:00

Rick Santorum could take Republicans down with him - The Washington Post: "The issue, for Republicans, is not just that Santorum would lose in November. It’s that he could be a drag on House and Senate candidates as well. Imagine, say, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) trying to explain to his constituents why someone who doesn’t fully understand women’s participation in the workforce should be president." Eugene Robinson

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Whitney Houston and Alcohol’s Toll - NYTimes.com

2012-02-19T10:17:00.000-06:00

Whitney Houston and Alcohol’s Toll - NYTimes.com: "The chatter about Amy Winehouse’s dalliances with crack cocaine was more derisive than the talk of her boozing, though what ultimately killed her was alcohol.

What killed Houston is still to be determined. But as we turn her into a cautionary tale and tote up all the places she went wrong, let’s not be too quick to edit drinking out of the picture." Frank Bruni

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Robert Reich: Manufacturing Illusions

2012-02-17T21:28:00.000-06:00

Robert Reich: Manufacturing Illusions: "The fundamental problem isn't the decline of American manufacturing, and reviving manufacturing won't solve it. The problem is the declining power of American workers to share in the gains of the American economy." Robert Reich

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The Morning Plum: Americans love the safety net. They just don’t know it. - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

2012-02-17T09:59:00.000-06:00

The Morning Plum: Americans love the safety net. They just don’t know it. - The Plum Line - The Washington Post: "One of the central, driving questions in our politics is this: Why are people who are themselves reliant on government programs so prone to electing anti-government politicans who want to put them on the chopping block?" Greg Sargent

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Moochers Against Welfare - NYTimes.com

2012-02-17T09:28:00.000-06:00

Moochers Against Welfare - NYTimes.com: "Many readers of The Times were, therefore, surprised to learn, from an excellent article published last weekend, that the regions of America most hooked on Mr. Santorum’s narcotic — the regions in which government programs account for the largest share of personal income — are precisely the regions electing those severe conservatives." Paul Krugman

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The Electoral Wasteland - NYTimes.com

2012-02-17T09:21:00.000-06:00

The Electoral Wasteland - NYTimes.com: "the small fraction of Americans who are trying to pick the Republican nominee are old, white, uniformly Christian and unrepresentative of the nation at large." Timothy Egan

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Payroll tax deal may include federal pension changes - The Federal Eye - The Washington Post

2012-02-15T14:10:00.000-06:00

Payroll tax deal may include federal pension changes - The Federal Eye - The Washington Post: "“There is something seriously wrong in our country when Congress doesn’t blink an eye at dipping into the pockets of middle class VA nurses and border patrol agents, but threatens to shut down the government when asked to raise taxes for millionaires and billionaires,” Dougan added."

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A Responsible 2013 Budget - NYTimes.com

2012-02-14T08:58:00.000-06:00

A Responsible 2013 Budget - NYTimes.com: "If Congress were not dysfunctional — if it cared more about economic stabilization than scoring political points — it would sign on to a budget like this. As it is, the proposal will go nowhere, largely because of the Republican refusal to raise taxes on the wealthy and to spend money on vital programs. Senate Democrats, who don’t want to make hard political choices, also share the blame. They have already said that they do not intend to pass the president’s or their own budget, deferring their responsibility for a third year. At a time when honest economic planning needs all the support it can get, that’s a serious mistake."

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The Materialist Fallacy - NYTimes.com

2012-02-14T08:54:00.000-06:00

The Materialist Fallacy - NYTimes.com: "Second, it’s not true that people in disorganized neighborhoods have bad values. Their goals are not different from everybody else’s. It’s that they lack the social capital to enact those values." David Brooks

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Only one party is serious about the deficit - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

2012-02-13T15:45:00.000-06:00

Only one party is serious about the deficit - The Plum Line - The Washington Post: "t’s budget day, and no doubt a lot of self-described deficit hawks are going to be taking Barack Obama to task for favoring only long-term deficit cuts. So perhaps this is a good time to reiterate that on deficit reduction, the Democrats really are the only game in town.

This is confirned yet again by the big news out this afternoon: That Republicans in the House are now supporting a payroll tax cut extension that isn’t paid for." Greg Sargent

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Severe Conservative Syndrome - NYTimes.com

2012-02-13T09:38:00.000-06:00

Severe Conservative Syndrome - NYTimes.com: "The point is that today’s dismal G.O.P. field — is there anyone who doesn’t consider it dismal? — is no accident. Economic conservatives played a cynical game, and now they’re facing the blowback, a party that suffers from “severe” conservatism in the worst way. And the malady may take many years to cure." Paul Krugman

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Book review: ‘The Real Romney,’ by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman - The Washington Post

2012-02-11T20:56:00.000-06:00

Book review: ‘The Real Romney,’ by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman - The Washington Post:

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We Need a Second Party - NYTimes.com

2012-02-11T20:36:00.000-06:00

We Need a Second Party - NYTimes.com: "Until the G.O.P. stops being radical and returns to being conservative, it won’t provide what the country needs most now — competition — competition with Democrats on the issues that will determine whether we thrive in the 21st century. We need to hear conservative fiscal policies, energy policies, immigration policies and public-private partnership concepts — not radical ones. Would somebody please restore our second party? The country is starved for a grown-up debate." Tom Friedman

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Romney’s Missing Magic - NYTimes.com

2012-02-11T20:29:00.000-06:00

Romney’s Missing Magic - NYTimes.com: "Romney wafts through a voter’s fingers, a puff of presidential-looking air. Because of flip-flops over time, he has been called squishy, but his shortcoming right now is really different — and more damaging — than that. He’s vaporous." Frank Bruni

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Money and Morals - NYTimes.com

2012-02-10T09:42:00.000-06:00

Money and Morals - NYTimes.com: "So we should reject the attempt to divert the national conversation away from soaring inequality toward the alleged moral failings of those Americans being left behind. Traditional values aren’t as crucial as social conservatives would have you believe — and, in any case, the social changes taking place in America’s working class are overwhelmingly the consequence of sharply rising inequality, not its cause." Paul Krugman

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The Crowd Pleaser - NYTimes.com

2012-02-10T09:39:00.000-06:00

From conservative columnist David Brooks:

The Crowd Pleaser - NYTimes.com: "At first glance, President Obama and Mitt Romney share some similar traits. Both Harvard Law School grads are smart and analytical. Both are emotionally reserved rather than touchy-feely. Both are traditionalist in their family and personal lives. But one glaring difference is that Obama seems self-sufficient while Romney seems other-directed."

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Obama, Explained - Magazine - The Atlantic

2012-02-09T08:59:00.001-06:00

Obama, Explained - Magazine - The Atlantic: "AS BARACK OBAMA CONTENDS FOR A SECOND TERM IN OFFICE, TWO CONFLICTING NARRATIVES OF HIS PRESIDENCY HAVE EMERGED. IS HE A SKILLFUL POLITICAL PLAYER AND POLICY VISIONARY—A CHESS MASTER WHO ALWAYS SEES SEVERAL MOVES AHEAD OF HIS OPPONENTS (AND OF THE PUNDITOCRACY)? OR IS HE POLITICALLY CLUMSY AND OUT OF HIS DEPTH—A PAWN OVERWHELMED BY EVENTS, AT THE MERCY OF A SECOND-RATE STAFF AND OF THE REPUBLICANS? HERE, A LONGTIME ANALYST OF THE PRESIDENCY TAKES THE MEASURE OF OUR 44TH PRESIDENT, WITH A VIEW TO HISTORY."

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Obama, Explained - Magazine - The Atlantic

2012-02-09T08:59:00.000-06:00

Ellen DeGeneres Responds to Anti-Gay 'One Million Moms' JCPenney Controversy | NewsFeed | TIME.com

2012-02-08T15:13:00.000-06:00

Ellen DeGeneres Responds to Anti-Gay 'One Million Moms' JCPenney Controversy | NewsFeed | TIME.com: "On a more serious note, DeGeneres thanked her supporters for backing her, and said, “I stand for honesty, equality, kindness, compassion, treating people the way you want to be treated and helping those in need. To me, those are traditional values. That’s what I stand for.”"

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Clint Eastwood, Rick Santorum and the limits of pessimism - The Washington Post

2012-02-08T15:00:00.000-06:00

Clint Eastwood, Rick Santorum and the limits of pessimism - The Washington Post: "As for Eastwood, his Super Bowl ad for Chrysler led many conservatives to reveal themselves as whiny complainers incapable of celebrating the achievements of American enterprise and public policy." E.J. Dionne

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Congressional earmarks sometimes used to fund projects near lawmakers' properties - The Washington Post

2012-02-07T09:09:00.000-06:00

Congressional earmarks sometimes used to fund projects near lawmakers' properties - The Washington Post: "Thirty-three members of Congress have directed more than $300 million in earmarks and other spending provisions to dozens of public projects that are next to or within about two miles of the lawmakers’ own property, according to a Washington Post investigation."

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Clint Eastwood Detroit 2012 Super Bowl Commercial - YouTube

2012-02-06T08:37:00.000-06:00

Worth a watch.

Clint Eastwood Detroit 2012 Super Bowl Commercial - YouTube:

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Frank Rich on Mitt Romney -- New York Magazine

2012-02-05T10:54:00.000-06:00

Frank Rich on Mitt Romney -- New York Magazine: "Back in the thick of the 2008 Republican presidential race, I asked a captain of American finance what he had made of Mitt Romney when they were young colleagues at Bain & Company. “Mitt was a nice guy, a smart businessman, and an excellent team player,” he responded without missing a beat. Then came the CEO’s one footnote, delivered with bemusement, not pique: “Still, whenever the rest of us would go out at the end of the day, we’d always find ourselves having the same conversation: None of us had any idea who this guy was.”" Frank Rich

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Mitt’s Muffled Soul - NYTimes.com

2012-02-05T10:52:00.000-06:00

Mitt’s Muffled Soul - NYTimes.com: "The news media’s caution about focusing on Romney’s religion mirrors his own reticence, which, as Frank Rich pointed out in New York magazine last week, may be a big reason he can’t connect with voters in a visceral, intimate way. He’s editing out the core of his identity. He’s muffling his soul." Frank Bruni

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Romney, the Rich and the Rest - NYTimes.com

2012-02-04T10:27:00.000-06:00

Romney, the Rich and the Rest - NYTimes.com: "Romney is not only cold and clumsy, he’s disastrously out of touch, and when talking about real people, out of sorts. If only he had a heart, and if only that heart was connected to his brain." Charles Blow

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Romney’s indifference to the poor - The Washington Post

2012-02-03T11:44:00.000-06:00

Romney’s indifference to the poor - The Washington Post: "I wish Mitt Romney’s cavalier dismissal of poverty in America could be chalked up as just another gaffe, but it’s much worse than that. The Republican front-runner seems dangerously clueless about the nation he seeks to lead." Eugene Robinson

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Romney Isn’t Concerned - NYTimes.com

2012-02-02T22:20:00.000-06:00

Romney Isn’t Concerned - NYTimes.com: "Which brings us back to Mr. Romney’s lack of concern. You can say this for the former Massachusetts governor and Bain Capital executive: He is opening up new frontiers in American politics. Even conservative politicians used to find it necessary to pretend that they cared about the poor. Remember “compassionate conservatism”? Mr. Romney has, however, done away with that pretense.

At this rate, we may soon have politicians who admit what has been obvious all along: that they don’t care about the middle class either, that they aren’t concerned about the lives of ordinary Americans, and never were." Paul Krugman

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A Painful Betrayal - NYTimes.com

2012-02-02T22:12:00.000-06:00

A Painful Betrayal - NYTimes.com: "With its roster of corporate sponsors and the pink ribbons that lend a halo to almost any kind of product you can think of, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has a longstanding reputation as a staunch protector of women’s health. That reputation suffered a grievous, perhaps mortal, wound this week from the news that Komen, the world’s largest breast cancer organization, decided to betray that mission. It threw itself into the middle of one of America’s nastiest political battles, on the side of hard-right forces working to demonize Planned Parenthood and undermine women’s health and freedom."

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Obama says his policies are guided by Christian faith as well as economic soundness | StarTribune.com

2012-02-02T14:21:00.000-06:00

Obama says his policies are guided by Christian faith as well as economic soundness | StarTribune.com: ""We can't leave our values at the door. If we leave our values at the door, we abandon much of the moral glue that has held our nation together for centuries and allowed us to become somewhat more perfect a union," he said." President Obama

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The Darkening Tone of the Primaries - NYTimes.com

2012-02-02T09:08:00.000-06:00

The Darkening Tone of the Primaries - NYTimes.com: "After winning on Tuesday, Mr. Romney said his campaign was “about saving the soul of America.” If this is the direction he plans to take in the coming months, he will first need to save the soul of his campaign."

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Mitt Romney won in Florida but lost overall - The Washington Post

2012-02-01T16:33:00.000-06:00

Mitt Romney won in Florida but lost overall - The Washington Post: "That Romney is still standing is something of an achievement. Judged by the standards of a political consulting textbook, his campaign executed a strategy in Florida that it had no choice but to pursue. Yet Romney won votes, not affection, a nod rather than an embrace. His is a competent campaign with the soul of a smoothly operating machine. That’s why so many Republicans continue to ask: Is this all there is?" E.J. Dionne

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Establishment Republicans have only themselves to blame - The Washington Post

2012-01-31T12:16:00.000-06:00

Establishment Republicans have only themselves to blame - The Washington Post: "It’s hard to know who is the more ridiculous figure — the grandiloquent, bombastic and compulsively dishonest Gingrich, or the beguilingly ignorant Cain, a man who has never held elective office and who was reduced to speechlessness when asked a question about Libya. Nonetheless, Gingrich, his Alfred E. Neuman grin on his face, accepted the endorsement and then went on with his nihilistic campaign for the White House. This has been an exceedingly silly political season." Richard Cohen

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Why does Mitt Romney want to be president? - The Washington Post

2012-01-31T10:06:00.001-06:00

Why does Mitt Romney want to be president? - The Washington Post: "Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have all laid out bold visions — more properly, hallucinations — of where they would take the country. But where is Romney’s shining city on a hill? What’s his “compassionate conservatism,” his “hope and change”? What is it that Mitt Romney, deep in his heart or down in his gut, really believes in?" Eugene Robinson

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Why does Mitt Romney want to be president? - The Washington Post

2012-01-31T10:06:00.000-06:00

The Great Divorce - NYTimes.com

2012-01-31T09:56:00.000-06:00

The Great Divorce - NYTimes.com: "I doubt Murray would agree, but we need a National Service Program. We need a program that would force members of the upper tribe and the lower tribe to live together, if only for a few years. We need a program in which people from both tribes work together to spread out the values, practices and institutions that lead to achievement.

If we could jam the tribes together, we’d have a better elite and a better mass." David Brooks

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Newt Gingrich and the Future of the Right - NYTimes.com

2012-01-30T11:18:00.000-06:00

Newt Gingrich and the Future of the Right - NYTimes.com: "But the country is going through a profound restructuring in moral and economic thinking and the danger for Republicans is that their current coalition might become obsolete. If the party doesn’t adapt, the alternative is that its power centers — the Christian right, anti-immigration forces, and proponents of policies that benefit the affluent at the expense of the less well-off — will refuse to adjust, in which case the party risks going the way of the Studebaker." Thomas Edsall

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The Austerity Debacle. - NYTimes.com

2012-01-30T11:13:00.000-06:00

The Austerity Debacle. - NYTimes.com: "The infuriating thing about this tragedy is that it was completely unnecessary. Half a century ago, any economist — or for that matter any undergraduate who had read Paul Samuelson’s textbook “Economics” — could have told you that austerity in the face of depression was a very bad idea. But policy makers, pundits and, I’m sorry to say, many economists decided, largely for political reasons, to forget what they used to know. And millions of workers are paying the price for their willful amnesia." Paul Krugman

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Made in the World - NYTimes.com

2012-01-29T10:34:00.000-06:00

Made in the World - NYTimes.com: "If only — if only — we could come together on a national strategy to enhance and expand all of our natural advantages: more immigration, most post-secondary education, better infrastructure, more government research, smart incentives for spurring millions of start-ups — and a long-term plan to really fix our long-term debt problems — nobody could touch us. We’re that close." Tom Friedman

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Lunar Colonies, Lunacy and Losses - NYTimes.com

2012-01-28T05:13:00.000-06:00

Lunar Colonies, Lunacy and Losses - NYTimes.com: "Establishment Republicans understand this simple, painful truth: Romney is no guarantee of victory, but Gingrich is an absolute guarantee of defeat. At least here on Earth." Charles Blow

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Why Gingrich would lose in a debate with Obama - The Washington Post

2012-01-27T15:20:00.000-06:00

Why Gingrich would lose in a debate with Obama - The Washington Post: "What if the president and the former House speaker dueled in a series of open, nationally televised debates? An honest look at Gingrich’s record suggests that the results could differ markedly from the fantasies of Team Newt. Obama would not collapse in a heap, Gingrich would not emerge triumphant — and the whole thing would go down as the biggest campaign blunder since Richard Nixon figured he could out-debate John F. Kennedy on television." John Pitney Jr.

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Cougar Family May Die Because of Government Trappers | Psychology Today

2012-01-27T12:39:00.000-06:00

Please write to the officials in the article and urge them to release the cougar mother so she can nurture her babies.

Cougar Family May Die Because of Government Trappers | Psychology Today: "Now, trappers from Wyoming Fish and Game have removed the mother of two kittens despite the fact that the kittens are still dependent on her for food and their survival. The family was living in their natural home range on the edge of Jackson, Wyoming (where people had been feeding deer) and there had been no problem with their being there at all. Apparently someone complained and Wyoming Fish and Game went out and trapped and removed mom. "

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Three scenarios for an Obama-Romney matchup - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

2012-01-27T12:34:00.000-06:00

Three scenarios for an Obama-Romney matchup - The Plum Line - The Washington Post: "For now, if you want to know what’s going to happen in November, you should mostly ignore head-to-head trial test polls. For the next six months, watch the economic indicators and Barack Obama’s approval ratings. Those are going to start telling you what kind of race we’re going to have a lot sooner than the horse race numbers will." Greg Sargent

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Economic fairness eludes the GOP, but not Obama - The Washington Post

2012-01-27T09:48:00.000-06:00

Economic fairness eludes the GOP, but not Obama - The Washington Post: "Perhaps more of a political problem, from the GOP’s point of view, is Obama’s riff on shared responsibility. Republicans seem eager to double down on a “greed is good” ethos that has more resonance when the economy is booming, real estate values are soaring and everybody feels rich. Obama, by contrast, envisions a return to an America where the successful and fortunate lend a helping hand to those down on their luck, rather than coldly leave them behind. This seems much more in tune with the times." Eugene Robinson

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Jobs, Jobs and Cars - NYTimes.com

2012-01-27T09:36:00.000-06:00

Jobs, Jobs and Cars - NYTimes.com: "So we should be grateful to Mr. Daniels for his remarks Tuesday. He got his facts wrong, but he did, unintentionally, manage to highlight an important philosophical difference between the parties. One side believes that economies succeed solely thanks to heroic entrepreneurs; the other has nothing against entrepreneurs, but believes that entrepreneurs need a supportive environment, and that sometimes government has to help create or sustain that supportive environment.

And the view that it takes more than business heroes is the one that fits the facts." Paul Krugman

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Deconstructing a Demagogue - NYTimes.com

2012-01-27T09:23:00.000-06:00

Deconstructing a Demagogue - NYTimes.com: "Gingrich, as he showed in a gasping effort in Thursday night’s debate in Florida, is a demagogue distilled, like a French sauce, to the purest essence of the word’s meaning. He has no shame. He thinks the rules do not apply to him. And he turns questions about his odious personal behavior into mock outrage over the audacity of the questioner. Timothy Egan

After inventing, and then perfecting, the modern politics of personal destruction, Gingrich has decided now to bank on the dark fears of the worst element of the Republican base to seize the nomination — using skills refined over four decades."

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Will Steger: Make America climate-literate | StarTribune.com

2012-01-27T09:19:00.000-06:00

A voice on climate change that I believe absolutely.

Will Steger: Make America climate-literate | StarTribune.com: "I still find it hard to believe that the Larsen B ice shelf disappeared because the Earth is warming. To me, that was impossible. But it is gone. I look forward to the day when all Minnesotans have learned to read the climate as they learn to read a book, and to understand what it means. Will Steger

____"

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Robert Reich: Why No Responsible Democrat Should Want Newt Gingrich To Get The GOP Nomination

2012-01-26T20:56:00.000-06:00

Robert Reich: Why No Responsible Democrat Should Want Newt Gingrich To Get The GOP Nomination: "Republicans are worried sick about Newt Gingrich's ascendance, while Democrats are tickled pink.

Yet no responsible Democrat should be pleased at the prospect that Gingrich could get the GOP nomination. The future of America is too important to accept even a small risk of a Gingrich presidency." Robert Reich

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Obama heaps mockery on Romney’s `envy’ charge - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

2012-01-26T14:31:00.000-06:00

Obama heaps mockery on Romney’s `envy’ charge - The Plum Line - The Washington Post: "At an event in Las Vegas this afternoon, Obama offered his most extensive rebuttal by far to the bogus GOP charge that the push for higher taxes on the wealthy is about “class warfare” and “envy.”" Greg Sargent

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The State of the Union (and the Presidency) | Swampland | TIME.com

2012-01-26T11:05:00.000-06:00

The State of the Union (and the Presidency) | Swampland | TIME.com: "I have a new print column, which TIME subscribers can find here, about Barack Obama’s rousing and very effective State of the Union message. It was effective in three ways–as a policy response to the Republicans running for President, as a spiritual response to the Republican insinuations that he was not quite American and as a response to those in the media, like me, who have occasionally questioned his aloofness and zest for battle. " Joe Klein

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In State of the Union address, Obama steps up to defend government - The Washington Post

2012-01-25T13:42:00.000-06:00

In State of the Union address, Obama steps up to defend government - The Washington Post: "At the very beginning of his speech, the president pivoted from “the courage, selflessness and teamwork of America’s armed forces” to the post-World War II nation of his Kansas grandparents. If the war against fascism was followed by “a story of success that every American had a chance to share,” surely we can find our way again to “an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”" E.J. Dionne

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Average Is Over - NYTimes.com

2012-01-25T09:58:00.000-06:00

Average Is Over - NYTimes.com: "In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment. Average is over." Tom Friedman

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CHART: What Romney would pay under his own tax plan - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

2012-01-24T15:52:00.000-06:00

CHART: What Romney would pay under his own tax plan - The Plum Line - The Washington Post: "This is about more than Romney’s tax burden; it goes to the very heart of what this election is all about. The GOP is set to nominate someone who not only disagrees with Obama about what constitutes fair taxation. Romney personally embodies, and personally benefits from, everything that Obama and Dems will allege is unfair about our current tax system and all the ways the economy is rigged for the rich, and against the middle class." Greg Sargent

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Why this election is a choice, not a referendum - The Washington Post

2012-01-24T12:26:00.000-06:00

Why this election is a choice, not a referendum - The Washington Post: "Tuesday night, in his State of the Union address, President Obama will also define the election as a choice — a choice between those who would go back to the policies that drove us off the cliff and those who would build a new foundation for the economy. The administration has made it clear that it plans to warn against the extreme and unsustainable inequality that is corrupting our democracy and has crippled our economy." Katrina vanden Heuvel

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Gingrich’s restless mind could push Obama forward - The Washington Post

2012-01-24T12:22:00.000-06:00

Gingrich’s restless mind could push Obama forward - The Washington Post: "Where is the Democratic Gingrich?

I do not mean that Newt Gingrich — the one who is a virtual Michelin Man of grandiosity, pneumatically overstuffed with self-references and appeals to the political gutter. I do not mean the man whose public life has been as chaotic as his private one (and vice versa) and who is capable of the most sinister simplicities, such as the time he suggested that Susan Smith would not have murdered her two children had Republicans been in power. This Gingrich is a Rorschach test: If you don’t think he’s nuts, you are." Richard Cohen

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Andrew Sullivan: How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics - The Daily Beast

2012-01-23T09:13:00.000-06:00

Andrew Sullivan: How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics - The Daily Beast: "It’s not that I don’t understand the critiques of Barack Obama from the enraged right and the demoralized left. It’s that I don’t even recognize their description of Obama’s first term in any way. The attacks from both the right and the left on the man and his policies aren’t out of bounds. They’re simply—empirically—wrong." Andrew Sullivan

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Newt Gingrich exploits politics of class and culture - The Washington Post

2012-01-23T08:55:00.000-06:00

Newt Gingrich exploits politics of class and culture - The Washington Post: "Conservatives may denounce class warfare, yet by shrewdly combining the politics of class with the politics of culture, Newt Gingrich won his first election in 14 years, humbled Mitt Romney and upended the Republican Party." E.J. Dionne

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A Good Candidate Is Hard to Find - NYTimes.com

2012-01-21T20:04:00.000-06:00

A Good Candidate Is Hard to Find - NYTimes.com: "THERE are 300 million people in the United States of America. There are millions of political activists, volunteers, organizers and would-be officeholders. There are hundreds of thousands of elected officials. Yet somehow, out of all this multitude, the Republican Party has been unable to find a candidate for the White House in 2012 who inspires anything but weary resignation from its voters." Ross Douthat

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American Voters - Still Up for Grabs - NYTimes.com

2012-01-21T19:58:00.000-06:00

American Voters - Still Up for Grabs - NYTimes.com: "People have been misled by months of crazy G.O.P. debates that make the country look so much more divided, small-minded and unwilling to sacrifice to fix our problems than it actually is. That’s why I’d bet anything that the first candidate who steps out of the cartoonish politics of destruction — “Romney is just a capitalist vulture. Obama is a Kenyan socialist” — and shocks the public by going radically responsible, radically honest, radically demanding and radically aspirational, along the lines above, will be our next president." Tom Friedman

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Newt’s Southern Strategy - NYTimes.com

2012-01-21T10:30:00.000-06:00

Newt’s Southern Strategy - NYTimes.com: "Newt Gingrich is surging in South Carolina and has a good chance to win that state’s primary on Saturday. But, as he rises, so grows the dark shadow that he casts over his party and the grievous damage he does to its chances of unseating President Obama." Charles Blow

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Five myths about Barack Obama - The Washington Post

2012-01-20T21:15:00.000-06:00

Five myths about Barack Obama - The Washington Post: "Barack Obama’s rise in politics was so rapid, and his background so unusual, that he was immediately subjected to malicious myths — from the bogus story that he was raised Muslim to the lie that he wasn’t born in the United States." Jonathan Alter

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Newt Gingrich and the forgiveness ploy - The Washington Post

2012-01-20T14:26:00.000-06:00

Newt Gingrich and the forgiveness ploy - The Washington Post: "But a moment is just that, and projection of the sort experienced by the Charleston, S.C., audience can be fraught with peril. Over-identification clouds judgment, and, though we are all sinners, we are not all running for president of the United States. Gingrich’s sins of the flesh ultimately are of less importance than the narcissism and grandiosity that compel his actions.

Voters would do well to think less of what they would do in his shoes than what Gingrich will do, should he win the prize. As the reality of his astonishing self-regard sinks in and one imagines where his unflagging certitude might lead, it is less easy to identify with the weeds in his garden. As projection falters, empathy finds no place to land." Kathleen Parker

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Religious right has lost its political influence - The Washington Post

2012-01-20T14:23:00.000-06:00

Religious right has lost its political influence - The Washington Post: "God knows what has become of the religious right.

The movement of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson has been in decline for some time, but recent events suggest that they are wandering in the political wilderness." Dana Milbank

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The poor are the Americans no one wants to talk about - The Washington Post

2012-01-20T12:35:00.000-06:00

The poor are the Americans no one wants to talk about - The Washington Post: "But many Americans are being overlooked in this bipartisan conspiracy of economic abstraction. A significant and growing portion of the population lives in poverty. In 2007, the rate was 12.5 percent. By 2010, it was 15.1 percent. The share of Americans in extreme poverty — with an income less than half the poverty line — is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has kept such records." Michael Gerson

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Left to Obama: Time for constitutional amendment against Citizens United - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

2012-01-20T11:32:00.000-06:00

Left to Obama: Time for constitutional amendment against Citizens United - The Plum Line - The Washington Post: "With unprecedented amounts of cash set to flood the airwaves this year, campaign finance reform advocates have slowly began to coalesce around a far-fetched idea: How about a constitutional amendment to ban big money in politics?" Greg Sargent

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Moralizing’s High Cost - NYTimes.com

2012-01-20T09:25:00.000-06:00

Moralizing’s High Cost - NYTimes.com: "The abundant contradictions here are troubling even to some of his most fervent supporters. At a town-hall-style session in Beaufort, S.C., on Thursday, a former Marine drill instructor took the microphone to call Mr. Gingrich as inspiring as Winston Churchill — but also to tell him he remained troubled by his “lapses in personal judgment.” The Marine wondered how Mr. Gingrich could face President Obama in the fall with his past."

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Taxes at the Top - NYTimes.com

2012-01-20T09:23:00.000-06:00

Taxes at the Top - NYTimes.com: "Call me peculiar, but I’m actually enjoying the spectacle of Mitt Romney doing the Dance of the Seven Veils — partly out of voyeurism, of course, but also because it’s about time that we had this discussion. Paul Krugman

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Political Animal - Jobless claims reach a four-year low

2012-01-19T09:18:00.000-06:00

Political Animal - Jobless claims reach a four-year low: "The number of Americans who filed requests for jobless benefits sank by 52,000 last week to 352,000, the lowest level since April 2008, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday."

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Preaching Division in South Carolina - NYTimes.com

2012-01-18T09:21:00.000-06:00

Preaching Division in South Carolina - NYTimes.com: "By mixing falsehoods with racial condescension, Newt Gingrich brought a raucous presidential debate crowd to its feet on Monday night in South Carolina, further cheapening his reputation and that of the state Republican Party."

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One million recall petition signatures submitted to recall Wis. Gov. Scott Walker | StarTribune.com

2012-01-17T14:49:00.000-06:00

Go Wisconsin!

One million recall petition signatures submitted to recall Wis. Gov. Scott Walker | StarTribune.com: "MADISON, Wis – Opponents of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday they have obtained more than 1 million signatures on petitions to recall him from office, nearly half of the number that voted in the 2010 election that put him into office."

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Where Mitt Romney’s tax rate will actually cut him - Post Leadership - The Washington Post

2012-01-17T13:33:00.000-06:00

Where Mitt Romney’s tax rate will actually cut him - Post Leadership - The Washington Post: "Who knows how much the 15-percent tax rate will hurt Romney as a candidate. What I would guess could hurt him more is saying things so out of touch with the realities of average Americans. Many who would consider voting for Romney don’t begrudge him his wealth, or perhaps even the fact that he pays low taxes. But what probably isn’t going to help him is talking about $374,000 as being “not very much.”" Jena McGregor

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Mitt Romney: A very big gamble for the GOP - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

2012-01-17T11:58:00.000-06:00

Mitt Romney: A very big gamble for the GOP - The Plum Line - The Washington Post: "So let’s tally up some of the major things we know about Romney in the context of this cultural, political and economic moment.

1) At a time when the 2012 presidential election is expected to focus heavily on tax fairness, the GOP is set to nominate someone who is worth as much as $250 million, but pays a lower tax rate than many middle class taxpayers." Greg Sargent

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