Liberal Talk Radio

Slow week. Sorry about the light posts. I’ve been knee-deep in a database upgrade over at the day job, and it’s killing my blogging time. I think I might latently be a database designer. There’s something so rewarding about it. And so very, very anal-retentive. I guess what I like about it most is the [...]

Ed Kilgore reminds us that America is only free trade if and when it suits our interests. Case in point: Canadian timber. Theirs is cheaper than ours. We slapped it with tariffs. NAFTA ruled in favor of Canada. We ignored the ruling. Imagine if Mexico tried to slap a tariff on our imports? We’d be [...]

It fascinates me that even with the war, hurricanes, a housing price bubble and more, it’s been such a slow-boil kind of summer that intelligent design has become a topic du jour. Maybe I’m not the only one with fond memories of long nights spent in dorm hallways, quoting philosophers half-understood. At least it moves [...]

Great article in Slate this morning on Real Estate agents and economics. Ever wonder how it is that Realtor comissions have stayed at 6 percent while the number of realtors grows each year? Me too. You’d think some smart realtor would offer 5 percent and make a hefty profit as a discounter. Turns out that [...]

The Iraq Constitution draft is finalized. Here’s what you need to know. Plus: The People’s Republic of Hawaii, Military base closings, and the ambitions of George Lucas. Click here to listen. Subscribe to the Podcast in iTunes.

The Bush Administration has made a move on fuel standards. It’s something. The new system is designed to be as flexible as possible, splitting up the SUV market into six smaller segments, based on footprint: Under the new attribute-based system, the standards would range from as high as 26.8 mpg in 2008 for smaller vehicles [...]

We’ve been remiss in talking about the Iraqi constitutional process, I realize. I find it fascinating, and I’m eager to suss it out. Hopefully on next week’s broadcast we’ll be able to organize some of our thoughts and give some feedback on this amazing process. In the meantime, Fred Kaplan has the money quote today: [...]

The Baba Ganouj edition: San Francisco’s loony supervisors, Gaza pullout, and Peak Oil. Click here to listen. Subscribe to the Podcast in iTunes.

Popping around on Drudge today, I Saw this headline: SAN FRAN BANS WWII BATTLESHIP… I thought, well, Drudge is sneaky. It probably isn’t what I think it is. He usually constructs his headline to cause maximum uncomfortability to Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, or the Democrats in general. But no, it’s true: the City of San [...]

The Carpetbagger reports that, against all odds, House Republicans are planning on bringing add-on private retirement accounts to a floor vote next session. Classic move, of course: use your weakness as a strength. Polls consistently show the Prez’s approval on Social Security hovering in the 30s. But this particular move is bizarre for reasons that [...]