Liberal Talk Radio

Contrarian points me to this piece in Reason highlighting some good news in Iraq: Al Qaedaesque insurgent action from Anbar to Basra is calming down. Sunni fighters are aiming not at U.S. troops, but at Al Qaeda troublemakers. From June to now, the military says, violence in and around Baghdad is down 59 percent; car [...]

If you’re like me, you’ve been noting the recent decline in violence in Iraq with some cautious optimism. U.S. troop deaths are down, for example, and civilian deaths have dropped so much that it’s actually crippling the Iraqi cemetary industry. Things are still way worse than they were in 2004 and 2005, but the trend [...]

[I think I wrote that headline before] The markets have already priced in a Bernanke rate cut.  The question is: where do we go from here?  With inflationary pressure likely to mount given a rate cut, and with the dollar tanking, what other mechanisms can the Fed exercise to stimulate the economy moving forward? The [...]

Fresh from the Prof’s trip to New York, talk transit and life on coasts East and West.  Plus: Barack Obama is shaking up his campaign, but is it going in the right direction?Links Mentioned:  Obama brings the bigots … and claims he has a plan for Social Security … D.C. goes to metered taxis

The Prof had to travel to an undisclosed location to solve America’s health care crisis, so we’re about 24 hours behind. Unconfirmed reports have him going shot for shot with Hillary Clinton and a bottle of Patron. Check back Tuesday for this week’s episode.

Hillary Clinton is staffing up in preparation to deliver a knockout punch to Obama in Iowa. She’s got only the slimmest of leads there, and with the funky caucus math, it’s anybody’s game. This comes via Mickey Kaus, who argues that Hillary needs Obama and Edwards to both stay in the race through Iowa and [...]

“It’s my job to make sure you don’t grow up stupid. It’s bad for the world.” – Guidance Counselor Tami Taylor to fullback Tim Riggins on the TV Show Friday Night Lights, in what may be the most succinct argument for activist government ever penned. (I’m just now working my way through Season 1, but [...]

Need to post a correction to our previous episode. In discussing the Turkish massacre of Armenians, I incorrectly assigned responsibility for those events. In fact, the Ottoman Turks, in their last days, were responsible for the attrocity. Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, himself expressed regret for those events. And despite lingering tensions with [...]

It’s like pre-grunge America circa 1987, except with much higher stakes: Marxists once referred to religion as the opium of the people, but in today’s China it is the music promoted on state-monopolized radio that increasingly claims that role. China’s leader, Hu Jintao, has talked since he assumed power five years ago about “building a [...]

A couple of days ago, Steve Benen noted Rudy’s double-standard: I am curious, though, what’s driving the change. Infidelity involving a Dem was a legitimate area of inquiry, but infidelity involving a Republican (one who has expressed interest in a constitutional amendment to protect the “sanctity” of marriage) is beyond the pale. Republicans who went [...]