August 2011
72 posts
Programming Note
Your friendly neighborhood Tumblr-girl here at the Prospect is leaving after a stellar summer. Thanks for following! Hopefully you’ve enjoyed our stories & sense of humor. Hopefully someone will be picking up with the Tumblr and keep entertaining you/informing you on a regular basis. Fist-bump!
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“My basic problem with Paul is this: His conception of freedom is fairly simply...”
– A small section of Adam Serwer’s explanation on why Ron Paul is good but not good enough.
Give your iPhone a hug →
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Non-evolving views on evolution
It isn’t that there aren’t educated Republicans who understand evolution, and it isn’t even that they’re a minority within their party—although they are (according to Gallup, 52 percent of Republicans think God created humans in our present form less than 10,000 years ago). It’s that none of those people care enough to argue about it. They’ve ceded this issue to the crazies. When somebody tries...
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“The winning party next year will be the one that successfully pins the bleak...”
– Robert Kuttner
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Don't Got Your Back →
Guaranteeing bonds for EU member nations could put a swift stop to the European debt crisis, but don’t expect this to happen anytime soon.
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Keystone? You mean the beer?
…No. From Today’s Balance Sheet:
The biggest environmental story you’ve probably ignored this week has been the protest surrounding the Keystone XL project. Here’s everything you need to know in one quick paragraph: The Keystone XL project is a 1,661-mile pipline that, if approved by the State Department, would carry as much as 900,000 barrels of oil from Canada’s...
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New York judge dismisses criminal sexual assault... →
Oy.
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Strike, Interrupted →
The Verizon work stoppage ended when everyone reached an agreement to “restructure bargaining.” Is that really a win for the labor movement?
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Not All Tax Relief is Created Equal →
“News flash: Congressional Republicans want to raise your taxes,” writes the Associated Press this morning in a story that explains how Congress will allow the payroll tax break to expire come January 1. Currently, workers pay 6.2 percent of their wages in taxes that go toward Social Security; employers pay an equal amount. Last December, Congress approved Obama’s request that...
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Job Posting: We need an associate web editor!
The American Prospect seeks an Associate Web Editor. The position involves assisting the Web editor with planning coverage, editing and assigning pieces, and helping to manage a growing staff.
We are seeking someone with at least two years’ experience editing and assigning for the Web. The ideal candidate has a passion for digital journalism, with a particular interest in domestic policy...
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Michael Bloomberg's YMI
The public is overwhelmed by budget deficits, shrinking public supports, and the inability of its government to compromise. In this climate, so-called minority issues seem like a distraction. But black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24 are profoundly more likely to be poor than whites, more likely to be unemployed or the victims of violent crime, and less likely to graduate from high...
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“I think it’s impossible that he’ll surrender… He doesn’t have the courage, like...”
– Abdel-Salam Jalloud, Gadhafi’s former right-hand man, who fell out with the leader in the ’90s. He says Gadhafi will not go easily or quietly. (via theweekmagazine)
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Happy birthday, welfare reform!
Fifteen years ago today, Bill Clinton signed the law that created the program commonly known as welfare-to-work, fulfilling a campaign promise to “end welfare as we know it.” Today, there is little doubt that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act did just that, removing what had been a large cash-assistance program from the social safety net. The decline continues....
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WatchWatch Prospect staff writer Adam Serwer and Conor Friedersdorf talk Rick Perry, civil liberties and the incredible Louis CK on Bloggingheads.
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Smoke weed, lose your kids.
Adam Serwer comments on this NYT story:
Keep in mind that “State law makes possession of as much as 25 grams of marijuana — enough for 20 or 30 marijuana cigarettes — a violation similar to a traffic offense, punishable by a fine of up to $100.” So in some cases, we’re talking about people losing their children for the equivalent of running a red light. Obviously it’s...
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Is the strike sick?
How has the decline of strikes affected American culture and politics?
When unions were able to operate on a broader scale, they could impact the politics and economy of the entire nation. In 1946, you saw a great strike wave where workers at thousands of employers struck at the same time for basically the same set of demands and fueled a broad class-consciousness in society. We saw a real...
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Take the Republican argument against taxes and... →
Spoiler: no.
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“China censures Google and other search engines to prevent activism. During the...”
– Did BART trample on the constitution?
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WatchOur new executive editor, Bob Moser, went on Democracy Now! this morning to talk about Rick Perry’s record in Texas. Moser is the former editor of The Texas Observer and spent three years watching Governor Goodhair’s every move in the Lonestar State. He knows his stuff.
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“It’s 2000 all over again: A Republican governor from Texas is running for...”
– Rick Perry doesn’t apologize — except when he does.
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The problem with our education reform
On an unseasonably warm evening last November, Glendalys Delgado lowered herself into a child-sized chair in the classroom of her youngest son, Juan, a second-grader at Thomas Dudley Elementary School in Camden, New Jersey. Juan’s teacher, Shakira Wyche, sat next to her looking serious.
“You’re going to be a little upset,” Wyche told Delgado as she held up Juan’s report card. A line of Fs trailed...
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Rick Perry says the Fed is treasonous
Now that the Republican mainstream contains Fed skepticism and “tight” money, it’s no surprise that Perry would embrace it as part of his nascent effort to reach a national constituency. The big problem is that these ideas are insane, and could destabilize the world economy if actually brought to bear on American economic policy.
In other words, if there’s any actual lesson to draw from...
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Not with a bang but a whimper →
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The only way to win the debate was not to play.
On the whole, you could say that Romney “won” the debate—he escaped the tough questioning of the hosts and maintained the aura of being the inevitable nominee. But it’s hard to say that his win matters, since we’re all waiting for Rick Perry. And at this moment, Perry looks like the candidate to beat. More than any other Republican on the national stage, he fits the GOP ideal: a hawkish, radical...
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Shoulda sent this via snail mail →
The friendly mailman your dog barks at every morning might not be around for much longer. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is asking Congress to allow it to circumvent union contracts in order to cut 120,000 jobs.
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“Corporations are people, my friend.”
– GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney, on why the U.S. shouldn’t raise taxes on corporations to shield Social Security and Medicare from cuts. “Everything corporations earn goes to people,” he told the audience. (via officialssay)
True story: Corporations ARE people under U.S. law.
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Of course President Obama insists on compromise.... →
