Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Friday, March 20, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
What Are You Afraid Of
What Are You Afraid Of
How Media Lights the Fear Fire
Of course, news outlets stoke the fire of collective fear. “The media loves to tap into the fear response because it doesn’t engage with the rational mind. Scary headlines and disturbing images are captivating,” says sociologist Dr. Margee Kerr, whose book Scream: Adventures in the Upside of Fear comes out in October.
Adds Dr. Christopher Bader, a professor of sociology and the lead researcher of the Chapman University Survey on American Fears (see Fear This, Not That, page 5): “People often don’t realize that when they’re watching the news they’re watching the worst possible scenario. That’s why it’s news: A serial killer gets airtime because he’s rare, not because serial murders are on the rise.”
How Media Lights the Fear Fire
Of course, news outlets stoke the fire of collective fear. “The media loves to tap into the fear response because it doesn’t engage with the rational mind. Scary headlines and disturbing images are captivating,” says sociologist Dr. Margee Kerr, whose book Scream: Adventures in the Upside of Fear comes out in October.
Adds Dr. Christopher Bader, a professor of sociology and the lead researcher of the Chapman University Survey on American Fears (see Fear This, Not That, page 5): “People often don’t realize that when they’re watching the news they’re watching the worst possible scenario. That’s why it’s news: A serial killer gets airtime because he’s rare, not because serial murders are on the rise.”
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Monday, January 5, 2015
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Monday, December 8, 2014
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Medicare Is Not “Bankrupt” — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Medicare Is Not “Bankrupt” — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Claims by some policymakers that the Medicare program is nearing “bankruptcy” are misleading. Although Medicare faces financing challenges, the program is not on the verge of bankruptcy or ceasing to operate. Such charges represent misunderstanding (or misrepresentation) of Medicare’s finances.
Medicare’s financing challenges would be significantly greater without the health reform law (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA), which substantially improved the program’s financial outlook. Repealing the Affordable Care Act, a course of action promoted by some who simultaneously claim that the program is approaching “bankruptcy,” would make Medicare’s financial situation much worse.
Claims by some policymakers that the Medicare program is nearing “bankruptcy” are misleading. Although Medicare faces financing challenges, the program is not on the verge of bankruptcy or ceasing to operate. Such charges represent misunderstanding (or misrepresentation) of Medicare’s finances.
Medicare’s financing challenges would be significantly greater without the health reform law (the Affordable Care Act, or ACA), which substantially improved the program’s financial outlook. Repealing the Affordable Care Act, a course of action promoted by some who simultaneously claim that the program is approaching “bankruptcy,” would make Medicare’s financial situation much worse.
Conservatives Should Explain Exactly What Jonathan Gruber Tricked Us All Into Believing
Conservatives Should Explain Exactly What Jonathan Gruber Tricked Us All Into Believing
Because the truth is that the Affordable Care Act has ended up costing less than was originally predicted.
Because the truth is that the Affordable Care Act has ended up costing less than was originally predicted.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Friday, June 20, 2014
Glenn Beck Admits Liberals Were Right About Iraq War
The world has turned upside down!
Glenn Beck Admits Liberals Were Right About Iraq War
Glenn Beck Admits Liberals Were Right About Iraq War
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Friday, June 13, 2014
Who lost Iraq? The Iraqis did, with an assist from George W. Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fareed-zakaria-who-lost-iraq-the-iraqis-did-with-an-assist-from-george-w-bush/2014/06/12/35c5a418-f25c-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html
Article: Whenever the United States has asked this question — as it did with China in the 1950s or Vietnam in the 1970s — the most important point to remember is: The local rulers did. The Chinese nationalists and the South Vietnamese government were corrupt, inefficient and weak, unable to be inclusive and unwilling to fight with the dedication of their opponents. The same story is true of Iraq, only much more so. The first answer to the question is: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lost Iraq. The prime minister and his ruling party have behaved like thugs, excluding the Sunnis from power, using the army, police forces and militias to terrorize their opponents. The insurgency the Maliki government faces today was utterly predictable because, in fact, it happened before. From 2003 onward, Iraq faced a Sunni insurgency that was finally tamped down by Gen. David Petraeus, who said explicitly at the time that the core element of his strategy was political, bringing Sunni tribes and militias into the fold. The surge’s success, he often noted, bought time for a real power-sharing deal in Iraq that would bring the Sunnis into the structure of the government.
Article: Whenever the United States has asked this question — as it did with China in the 1950s or Vietnam in the 1970s — the most important point to remember is: The local rulers did. The Chinese nationalists and the South Vietnamese government were corrupt, inefficient and weak, unable to be inclusive and unwilling to fight with the dedication of their opponents. The same story is true of Iraq, only much more so. The first answer to the question is: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lost Iraq. The prime minister and his ruling party have behaved like thugs, excluding the Sunnis from power, using the army, police forces and militias to terrorize their opponents. The insurgency the Maliki government faces today was utterly predictable because, in fact, it happened before. From 2003 onward, Iraq faced a Sunni insurgency that was finally tamped down by Gen. David Petraeus, who said explicitly at the time that the core element of his strategy was political, bringing Sunni tribes and militias into the fold. The surge’s success, he often noted, bought time for a real power-sharing deal in Iraq that would bring the Sunnis into the structure of the government.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Study Confirms US Is Ruled by Rich, Corporate News Ignores It
Study Confirms US Is Ruled by Rich, Corporate News Ignores It
American democracy is no longer very democratic, according to a new university study (4/9/14; Perspectives on Politics, Fall/14). Instead, it's dominated by moneyed elites in a process where public opinion has little to no impact on policy. Released a month ago by Princeton's Martin Gilens and Northwestern's Benjamin I. Page, the study concludes:
American democracy is no longer very democratic, according to a new university study (4/9/14; Perspectives on Politics, Fall/14). Instead, it's dominated by moneyed elites in a process where public opinion has little to no impact on policy. Released a month ago by Princeton's Martin Gilens and Northwestern's Benjamin I. Page, the study concludes:
Economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Friday, May 9, 2014
Obama, the feckless tyrant
article: But the condemnation continues, unrestrained by consistency. The conservative commentariat has turned on a dime from talk of “King Obama” to worry about the “price of weakness” and the president’s missing “backbone.”
A month ago, the Heritage Foundation president, former senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), called Obama a “playground bully” and an “imperial president.” Now DeMint accuses him of making “weak statements” that will “only invite aggression.”
Six weeks ago, Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a Senate candidate, posted a photo of Obama on Facebook with the messages “Stop the imperial president” and “Stop the Obama power grab.” Now Cotton has issued a statement accusing the president of “trembling inaction.”
Grabbing power with trembling inaction? Only the most diffident of despots could pull that off.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-obama-the-feckless-tyrant/2014/03/03/73470bdc-a320-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html
A month ago, the Heritage Foundation president, former senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), called Obama a “playground bully” and an “imperial president.” Now DeMint accuses him of making “weak statements” that will “only invite aggression.”
Six weeks ago, Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a Senate candidate, posted a photo of Obama on Facebook with the messages “Stop the imperial president” and “Stop the Obama power grab.” Now Cotton has issued a statement accusing the president of “trembling inaction.”
Grabbing power with trembling inaction? Only the most diffident of despots could pull that off.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-obama-the-feckless-tyrant/2014/03/03/73470bdc-a320-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html
Ronald Reagan’s Benghazi
There were more than enough opportunities to lay blame for the horrific losses at high U.S. officials’ feet. But unlike today’s Congress, congressmen did not talk of impeaching Ronald Reagan, who was then President, nor were any subpoenas sent to cabinet members. This was true even though then, as now, the opposition party controlled the majority in the House. Tip O’Neill, the Democratic Speaker of the House, was no pushover. He, like today’s opposition leaders in the House, demanded an investigation—but a real one, and only one. Instead of playing it for political points, a House committee undertook a serious investigation into what went wrong at the barracks in Beirut. Two months later, it issued a report finding “very serious errors in judgment” by officers on the ground, as well as responsibility up through the military chain of command, and called for better security measures against terrorism in U.S. government installations throughout the world.
In other words, Congress actually undertook a useful investigation and made helpful recommendations. The report’s findings, by the way, were bipartisan. (The Pentagon, too, launched an investigation, issuing a report that was widely accepted by both parties.)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2014/05/ronald-reagans-benghazi.html
In other words, Congress actually undertook a useful investigation and made helpful recommendations. The report’s findings, by the way, were bipartisan. (The Pentagon, too, launched an investigation, issuing a report that was widely accepted by both parties.)
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2014/05/ronald-reagans-benghazi.html
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Under the Influence | Boston Review
Under the Influence | Boston Review
Democracy requires that all citizens—rich and poor alike—have influence over the policies their government adopts. Of course, it would be unreasonable to expect everyone to have equal sway. Citizens differ not only in economic resources but also in time, knowledge, and interest in social and political affairs. Still, when influence becomes too skewed toward the affluent, when political power becomes too concentrated in the hands of a few, democracy itself is threatened.
Democracy requires that all citizens—rich and poor alike—have influence over the policies their government adopts. Of course, it would be unreasonable to expect everyone to have equal sway. Citizens differ not only in economic resources but also in time, knowledge, and interest in social and political affairs. Still, when influence becomes too skewed toward the affluent, when political power becomes too concentrated in the hands of a few, democracy itself is threatened.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
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