Month: May 2005
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A Sullivan reader fights back
An economist writes in to Andrew Sullivan to dispute his ridiculous characterization of Daniel Okrent’s criticism of Paul Krugman as “damning”: You are dead wrong (as well as sloppy and lazy) in your portrayal of Okrent and Mankiw’s statements about Paul Krugman. (For the record, I know both Paul and Greg, although not well.) The
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WSJ plays the “pro-Al Qaeda” card
A Wall Street Journal editorial condemning Amnesty International’s description of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as the “gulag of our time” ends with this: It’s old news that Amnesty International is a highly politicized pressure group, but these latest accusations amount to pro-al Qaeda propaganda. A “human rights” group that can’t distinguish between Stalin’s death
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Scary local news
From The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper: Three crosses were burned in separate locations in Durham late Wednesday evening, Durham Police Department officers reported. Ku Klux Klan fliers were also found at one location, police told The Associated Press. DPD Lieutenant Kevin Cates classified the cross burnings as a “hate crime.” “It is too early into
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Spencer Bachus, Bill O’Reilly and the anti-dissent brigade
In the long tradition of conservative attacks on dissent since 9/11, Rep. Spencer Bachus has likened some fairly innocuous comments by Bill Maher to treason (via Josh Marshall — see also the Bachus press release): Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., takes issue with remarks on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, first aired May 13, in
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Andrew Sullivan: Biased processing in action!
Here’s Daniel Okrent’s parting cheap shot at Paul Krugman: Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults. Maureen Dowd was still writing that Alberto R. Gonzales “called the Geneva Conventions ‘quaint’ ” nearly two
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What are Ron Wyden and Max Baucus talking about?
I’ve written before about how the alternative minimum tax needs to be fixed before it explodes into the middle class at the end of the decade — a nasty problem that the Bush administration has used to keep deficit projections down. Surprisingly enough, the administration has insisted that any fixes be “revenue-neutral”; ie lost revenue
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Google vs. the American Association of University Presses
The New York Times reports that Google Print for Libraries is being challenged by the American Association of University Presses: How long is a snippet? That is one of more than a dozen questions directed at Google Inc. this week by the executive director of the Association of American University Presses, the trade group representing
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Goo-goo watch: David Broder
More McCain fetish nonsense from David Broder, dean of the “can’t we all get along” wing of the press: The Monday night agreement to avert a showdown vote over judicial filibusters not only spared the Senate from a potentially ruinous clash, but also certified John McCain as the real leader of that body. In contrast
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McClellan disinformation watch
Via Atrios, here’s Editor & Publisher on the latest nonsense from the White House podium: At a White House press briefing Monday, Press Secretary Scott McClellan, pressed by reporters and with Afghan President Karzai in disagreement, retreated on claims that Newsweek’s retracted story on Koran abuse cost lives in Afghanistan. He also claimed that he
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The real question about the nuclear option deal
I don’t have much to add on last night’s agreement to avert the nuclear option, except to say that the fate of specific nominees is a minor concern compared with the larger issue — preventing the GOP from breaking the rules of the Senate on a party-line majority vote. Can the agreement hold back the