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- Whatever you think of the federal bailout of General Motors, It's hard to argue that the proper response is to boycott the company given the country's current economic state. GM employs thousands of workers and every sale they make makes it more likely those workers will keep their jobs. But if you're Rush Limbaugh and you openly want the president to fail and the country to be mired in economic hardship, then of course you'll think a boycott during a recession makes perfect sense.
- The Weekly Standard didn't feel the need, unlike National Review, to use the cover of their latest magazine to point out the humor in portraying one racial stereotype in the context of another. But like National Review, they are singularly obsessed with "wise Latina woman" Sonia Sotomayor and have a cover story dedicated to what they believe is now the most controversial 32 words ever spoken by a Supreme Court nominee.
- If the existence of Fred Hiatt is any indication, the only apparent qualification for being a Washington Post editorial page editor is to believe that one-party rule in Washington began on January 20, 2009, after "two decades of mostly two-party rule." Hey, I'd be happy if the four (or six, depending on your perspective) years the GOP completely ruled Washington hadn't existed either, but wishing doesn't make it so.
- Paul Krugman makes another excellent point on the issue of excessive borrowing from overseas breaking us in the short term. While government borrowing is obviously quite high right now, for the past 15 years or so it was private lending that was consistently higher than what the government borrowed from overseas. Krugman concludes with a nice sound bite: "We’re actually borrowing less from foreigners than we were before."
- I like this Bradford Plumer piece on technological breakthroughs and climate change, as it addresses an observation I've made before. On the one hand, I hate it when "technology will save us all" is used to argue against doing anything about the way we consume energy now and how it impacts the globe. But on the other hand, technology will have to save us all insofar as there currently exists nothing to replace our oil-based energy infrastructure. Obviously what's missing is a deep political commitment towards making that happen and that starts with cap-and-trade, emissions standards, R&D investment, etc.
- Weekend Remainders: The White House refuses to cross a picket line; College Republicans fall on hard times; the House GOP doesn't know why they oppose IMF funds; activist judges in South Carolina side with poor children instead of courageous Governor Mark Sanford; and libertarians are still wistfully dreaming about building awesome tree houses at sea.
--Mori Dinauer
