Liberal Talk Radio

Links Mentioned: the troop ramp-up in Afghanistan

Links Mentioned: Barney Frank at the town hall … Frank Rich.

I’m still a bit shattered by the results of the mayoral race.  Nickels was a sophisticated, cosmopolitan leader who understood growth and what that means for Seattle.  Was he perfect?  Not at all. Nonetheless, Democracy (in this case, the torch’n’pitchfork “any bum but this one” variety) works its magic, and we’ll have a new mayor [...]

I’m not sure when the last time was that I checked the “bottom” of my soul — it’s possible I may never have checked down there — but some have: Judith A. McHale was expecting a contentious session with Ansar Abbasi, a Pakistani journalist known for his harsh criticism of American foreign policy, when she [...]

This is a travel week here at BATP, so no podcast. We’ll be back next week! In the meantime, check the archives for any episodes you may have missed.

Editor’s note: this is a guest post from long-time reader Sebastian Hernandez. Point #1: The vast majority of Americans receive Health Care benefits from their employers, making Health Care one of the, if not the #1 budget item outside of regular operating capital for businesses. Think of it as a voluntary tax. At the current [...]

Sometime — probably in the very near future — someone will make a biopic of John Hughes’ life. Done correctly, it could win an Academy Award — even if only because A.O. Scott is the right age for it. When they get around to writing it, the screenwriter will use Molly Ringwald’s op-ed as a [...]

Health reform astroturf, new strategies for dealing with open-air drug markets and finally, we debate Seattle’s proposed plastic bag tax. Links Mentioned: The “drug market initiative” in Seattle … an earlier effort on Long Island … the bag tax.

Beer, Boeing, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal and finally, a Latin American news roundup. Links Mentioned: Frank Rich … the state of play in Honduras … the 777 wing stress test… the 787 troubles … FARC and Venezuela … Beer choices

David Frum trumpets the successes of the last 30 years of conservative politics: In 1975, the federal government set the price of every airline ticket, every ton of rail freight, every cubic foot of natural gas and every barrel of oil. It controlled the interest rates paid on checking accounts and the commission charged by [...]