Archive

  • Tom Tancredo. Puppet.

    Ezra KleinAug 04, 2005

    Has anyone else noticed that caped anti-immigration crusader Tom Tancredo's leadership group is called Team America PAC?  Does anyone else find that hilariously funny?  Is this a secret clue that the guy's just as much a parody as he seems and is really nothing but a puppet dancing for observer amusement?

  • Where To Now?

    Ezra KleinAug 04, 2005

    This Business Week editorial is about the best thing I've yet read on Bush's upcoming tax reform (italics mine):

  • The Peace Army

    Ezra KleinAug 03, 2005

    Shakespeare's Sister has a good post on the McCain-Bayh bill that'd allow military recruits to fulfill part of their service obligations in the Peace Corps.  Apparently, the program was popped into the Defense Bill from a couple years ago and, well, funny thing, no one ever informed the Peace Corps.

    Whoops.

    I'm a little conflicted on the program, to tell you the truth.  On the one hand, it seems like a good idea to give recruits exhausted from the army a chance to wipe the blood from their hands and do some humanitarian work.  Nevertheless, I've got to come down against it for three reasons.

  • Immigrants and Health Care

    Ezra KleinAug 03, 2005

    Great post over at the Health Law Prof's blog summarizing a recent American Journal of Public Health article on immigrant usage of our health system.  We've all heard, I'm sure, that our rise in health costs and the difference between us and other societies is our enormous immigrant population, which is to say that the goddamn Mexicans k

  • Torture

    Ezra KleinAug 03, 2005

    The Washington Post has an extraordinary five-page report on torture today.  In this case, it's not just the crime, but the cover-up:

    Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush was being stubborn with
    his American captors, and a series of intense beatings and creative
    interrogation tactics were not enough to break his will. On the morning
    of Nov. 26, 2003, a U.S. Army interrogator and a military guard grabbed
    a green sleeping bag, stuffed Mowhoush inside, wrapped him in an
    electrical cord, laid him on the floor and began to go to work. Again.

  • "Hard Work"

    Ezra KleinAug 03, 2005

    A bit too hard, it seems. When President Bush kept repeating how tough his job was during the primaries, maybe we should have relieved him of it. Instead, he's decided to blow it off for a bit:

    President Bush is getting the kind of break most Americans can only dream of — nearly five weeks away from the office, loaded with vacation time.

  • Bleed 'Em

    Ezra KleinAug 03, 2005

    Good comment by Hunter, and one that Democrats should take pretty seriously:

    A 70% Republican district was turned into an edge-of-your-seat race -- I'd have liked to win the thing outright too, but realistically, these results are fantastic. Make them battle for every seat, in every state. Use our grassroots to bleed the Republican money machine.

  • Adrian!

    Ezra KleinAug 03, 2005

    It should be no shocker to hear Paul Hackett fell a bit short in his congressional bid last night. No, what should make you short of breath and leave the children open-mouthed in awe is that he only lost by 4%. 4%! In a district that generally goes Republican by 65%-75%, we lost by 4%!

    For the GOP, that's a chill wind blowing.

    At this point, it's unclear whether Paul Hackett is a bellwether, an isolated superstar, or both. It may be that Coingate and the Republican Majority's arrogance have given Ohioans a nasty case of voter remorse or Paul Hackett himself was such an attractive option that they almost overcame their natural biases. In any case, he'll be a helluva force for 2006.

  • And Liberality For All

    Ezra KleinAug 02, 2005

    Matt has the best comment I've seen on the hilarious-yet-deranged conservacomic series that us liberals have spent the last two days chortling over:

  • Score One for the Well-Off

    Ezra KleinAug 02, 2005

    Whether you're comfortable with America's gaping income inequality or not, I think we can all agree that this really shouldn't be happening:

    People whose net worth is over $70,000, the median in the United States, are 30 percent less likely than poorer people to feel pain at the end of their lives, a difference that persists even when controlling for age and severity of illness, a new study shows.

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