Above all else, I believe in pragmatism. Laws and policies should be evaluated not by ideology, but by whether (or not) they work. As such, it has been very interesting to see results from things like marijuana legalization in (first) Colorado and now Washington state, or the availability of free or low-cost contraception on teen […]
“During the World Cup, Uruguay is playing Italy and one of their players bites an Italian player. How many of you folks have ever been bitten by a Uruguayan?” – David Letterman “The World Cup has an official song. The official anthem is ‘We Will Find a Way.’ It narrowly beat out the other contender, […]
The state of Colorado has been offering free birth control to low-income women for over five years. The results? Their teen birth rate dropped 40%. According to the governor, “This initiative has saved Colorado millions of dollars. But more importantly, it has helped thousands of young Colorado women continue their education, pursue their professional goals […]
As I’ve been predicting in this blog for a long time, solar energy just makes way more sense than burning fossil fuels, even ignoring environmental issues and just going on pure economics. The only thing keeping fossil fuels going now is huge governmental subsidies. The Guardian puts it bluntly — “Even if coal were free […]
“Yesterday Michelle Obama said she wants Americans to elect a woman president ‘as soon as possible.’ So even she has had enough of President Obama.” – Conan O’Brien “I am excited about the World Cup and the U.S. soccer team. But I will admit there are nuances to the game that are lost on me. […]
“BioShock Infinite” is a computer game set in the floating city of Columbia, which is run by a religious zealot and largely populated by xenophobic racists who wage war against the heathens of the world (i.e., those people who don’t live in Columbia). In this city the idea of “America” has become a kind of […]
“I guess now Dick Cheney knows what it feels like when someone you thought was a friend shoots you in the face.” — Jon Stewart (after Fox News’ Megyn Kelly called out Cheney for being wrong on Iraq) “President Obama said he wants his daughters to work minimum wage jobs because it builds character. The […]
A few weeks ago the Supreme court unanimously ruled that Obama had exceeded his constitutional authority by making “recess appointments” to the National Labor Relations Board. Recess appointments are specifically authorized by the constitution, and Obama used them because Republicans have been failing to approve many of his appointments to critical government jobs. But the […]
One of my favorite political blogs, Eclectablog, points out an interesting statistic: When Bill Clinton left office and George W Bush was sworn in, the number of people without health insurance in the US stood at 38.4 million (a number which would have been zero if the Clintons had succeeded in passing single-payer health insurance). […]
“You know where it’s bad now? Iraq. It was bad and now it’s getting worse. Today President Obama said he might have to send in Dennis Rodman.” – David Letterman “Iraq is so bad that President Obama phoned Hillary Clinton and asked her if she could start early.” – David Letterman “The Smithsonian unveiled a […]
From Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s (blistering) dissent to the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing certain employers to violate the law by not providing contraception as part of their health insurance: Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be ‘perceived as favoring one religion over another,’ the very ‘risk the [Constitution’s] Establishment Clause […]
“Last night Hillary Clinton said she won’t support legalizing recreational marijuana until we see how it goes in Colorado. Officials in Colorado couldn’t respond because they were too busy swimming in a pool of money.” – Jimmy Fallon “Crack-smoking mayor of Toronto Rob Ford is returning to Canada. He’s been in the United States in […]
While it is probably way too early to make a definitive assessment, it has been six months since marijuana became legal in Colorado, and so far all the signs are looking good: Overall crime has dropped 10% from this time a year ago, and violent crime has dropped 5.2%. In the first four months, the […]
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