Category: Uncategorized
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German banks and Detroit Pensions
From the New York Times on Detroit’s pension plan troubles. >”German banks were big buyers of Detroit’s pension debt; now they are complaining that they were told it was sovereign debt, as if it were issued by a national government.” They were told? By who? Some guy in the Admiral’s…
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The mysterious charm of austerity
Desire for a low wage, low education workforce and simple short sighted greed could easily explain why cutting government social programs is so popular among the elite, but the question of why anyone can get voted into office on that platform seems mystifying to our Progressive friends. The well documented…
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Debating Progressives
We start with me being, I admit, a trifle exasperated. The level of narrative driven stupidity in liberal press coverage of Fed Chair is infuriating. — rootless (@root_e ) September 16, 2013 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Dante Atkins, “Featured writer, DailyKos” pops up to engage. @root_e I can give you a ton of…
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Meritocracy
I remember back in the late ’90s when Ira Katznelson, an eminent political scientist at Columbia, came to deliver a guest lecture to an economic philosophy class I was taking. It was a great lecture, made more so by the fact that the class was only about ten or twelve…
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Jeff Sachs sense of humor
[Sachs]Instead, the US should provide evidence of the chemical attacks to the UN; call on the Security Council to condemn the perpetrators; and refer such violations to the International Criminal Court. Moreover, the Obama administration should try to work with Russia and China to enforce the Chemical Weapons Convention. If…
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Jesse Helms – the soul of the modern Republican Party
Appearing on “Larry King Live” in 1995, Jesse Helms, then the senior senator from North Carolina, fielded a call from an unusual admirer. Helms deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, the caller gushed, “for everything you’ve done to help keep down the niggers.” Given the rank ugliness of the sentiment —…
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DailyKos and the tradition of fictional instructions for President Obama
Time to go nuclear over Obamacare—here’s one thing the White House must do – DailyKos Sun Sep 08, 2013 at 03:00 PM PD What must the White House do? Go nuclear like Fukashima, spilling millions of gallons of nuclear waste into the Pacific? Blow up Nagasaki? I can hardly wait…
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New York Times shamefully deceptive Syria coverage
Friday September 6, the supposedly liberal New York Times ran a front page story about the public’s lack of enthusiasm for President Obama’s proposal to take military action against the Sarin Gas using Assad Regime in Syria. This article has been widely reproduced in newspapers across the country. Reporter Michael…
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Barack Obama’s crazy project
Many people, including supporters of the President, don’t understand the crazy ambition of Barack Obama’s political project. He’s not trying to get some alphabet soup of programs passed or win on this or that issue, he is trying to fundamentally change the political climate in the USA, on an staggeringly…
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Basics of international law – from 431 BC
The Athenians explain international law to the people of Melos: Athenians. For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious pretences- either of how we have a right to our empire because we overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you have done us- and…