You haven't learned the lesson -- putting quotes around the "obama criticizes clinton" gives 9,940 hits. It makes a difference whether you surround the phrase with quotes. What you searched for returned pages having each of the words "obama", "criticizes" and "clinton". It would include pages saying "Limbaugh criticizes obama and clinton" or pages in a blog where one article was about "obama criticizes bush" and one was about "clinton votes for the AUMF". You need to learn how searching works before making this kind of ill-informed claim.

Posted at March 2, 2008 1:06 PM in response to Biased media!? Why I'm angry

Your conflation of war opposition with backseat driving is unconvincing. Current polls show widespread opposition to the Iraq war and Bush's conduct of it. I don't think we need to acquiesce to military action in Iran or be seen as backseat drivers.

It is ludicrous to believe that a change in Executive branch personnel will change the outcome of even desirable actions by the White House, much less make unacceptable actions such as military action against Iran a successful way to forestall destabilization in Iran and by Iran of her neighbors.

Posted at April 10, 2006 1:50 PM in response to WILL BUSH GO DOUBLE OR NOTHING?

Legalization as articulated in Kennedy's bill (incorporated with enforcement of employment of legal workers and more money for border policing) will not drive wages down... these workers are already here earning depressed wages.  Giving them legal status will remove the employer's ability to tell them he can't pay them much because he's taking a risk of a fine.  That is what happens today.  Also many illegals are members of families whose other members have legal status.  Consider the effect on these families if their father, mother or grandparent is deported. 

 As for the loss of manufacturing jobs, don't blame this on illegal immigration ... it is pretty obvious that that is a result of offshoring.

Posted at March 27, 2006 11:31 AM in response to Is Paul Krugman a Nativist?

Anyone interested in what's going on in Afghanistan should Google for <a xhref="http://www.google.com/search?hs=kPV&hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%22sarah+chayes%22+afghanistan+2005&btnG=Search">Sarah Chayes</a>.  She is an ex-NPR reporter who left NPR after reporting on the Afghan situation from Afghanistan post 9/11.  She then worked for multiple projects to rebuild the country.  She has a well-informed and devastating take on the situation there.  Note that the link I provide looks for Google hits with "2005" dates.  There is other interesting stuff if you omit this restriction, but some not as current.

Posted at March 12, 2006 11:06 AM in response to Letter from an American contractor in Kabul

You will have to be more convincing as to why any competition among insurers is useful.  With single payer, there is still competition among doctors and hospitals, who actually deliver the health services.  There is really no justification that I can imagine to rivalry among insurers.  As MY has stated, it perverts the incentives to deliver good care.

Posted at March 5, 2006 8:00 AM in response to A Rehashed Complaint

Given that we know the FBI and the military don't have enough Arabic language experts to translate the material found in close proximity to real terrorists (or in the case of Iraq, real insurgents) why does anyone think that information gleaned from a sieve applied to all the telecommunications in the U.S. is going to be looked at?  I think this is a classic case of the drunk looking for his lost keys under the streetlamp, because that's where the light is.  The NSA knows how to apply a computerized filter to the backbone switches in the telecom infrastructure, and the Bush apparatchiks love a good technology play and think they understand it.  So let's look there, rather than do the hard work to deploy more translators and human intelligence.

Posted at December 27, 2005 9:24 AM in response to Doing The Math

Don't forget this aspect when writing your Senators [WaPo]:

The [new] bill adds language prohibiting people from "willfully and knowingly" entering a restricted area "where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting." The measure also applies to security breaches "in conjunction with an event designated as a special event of national significance," according to the bill.

Penalties for such violations would increase from six months to a year in prison.

To the ACLU, the changes would open the door to even tighter security restrictions at major events and would subject protesters to harassment from federal law enforcement officers. The Bush administration has come under sharp criticism from liberal and civil-liberties groups for disputed arrests and security measures at presidential events.

"It's cementing the trend of the Secret Service basically acting to arrest or harass or control dissenters, and now not just at presidential events but at other events," said Timothy H. Edgar, the ACLU's national security counsel. 

Posted at December 13, 2005 5:26 PM in response to I just got back from the Senate floor...

People who dismiss the importance of outing V. Plame should consider that when she was acting as a covert operative she met with and worked with others.  It doesn't take a mental giant to figure out that bad things might happen to those others once it became known who she actually worked for abroad.  This isn't simply about ruining her upward mobility.

Posted at October 15, 2005 9:43 PM in response to Red Herrings

Apparently Miers is a fairly recent convert to an evangelical church in Dallas, according to Olasky's blog.

(Don't recall where I saw this lin originally, maybe Drum.) 

Posted at October 3, 2005 8:09 PM in response to Dobson Buys Miers Some Time--With a Price

To bring this discussion back to reality, let's remember what the Davis-Bacon wages actually are, before waxing poetic about the evil unions and the economy-building corporations, and how rolling back Davis-Bacon will help the poor: 

Job Type (Prevailing Wage)

Alabama

• Concrete finisher ($10.07*)
• Pipelayer ($8.21)
• Carpenter ($11.18*)
• Backhoe operator ($10.51)
• Truck driver ($8.54)

Louisiana
   

• Mason tender ($7.00)
• Pipelayer ($9.84)
• Carpenter ($13.75)
• Backhoe operator ($14.42)
• Dump truck driver ($11.01)

Mississippi
   

• Cement Mason ($8.33)
• Pipelayer ($7.45)
• Carpenter ($8.67)
• Backhoe operator ($7.67)
• Truck driver ($6.14)

Posted at September 25, 2005 9:00 AM in response to Times Change