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- Why some House Democrats are gravely concerned about retaining Nancy Pelosi as minority leader truly baffles me. If it were some specific disagreement on what policy direction Democrats should (futilely) pursue in the 112th Congress, I'd understand. But no, they believe that the American people sent them a message in the election, that they actually care who leads the caucus. Republicans care about this sort of thing, Republican voters care, but everyone else? Not so much. So these Democrats are worried about the half-formed rantings of their political rivals. What cowards.
- The Moustache and The Lawyer team up to write the stupidest op-ed in the known universe, making the case that the Founding Fathers' constitutional intent, recently reaffirmed and ratified by The People, would be to deny ratification of nuclear-arms treaties, which as we all know, was a burning issue in the late 18th century. But seriously. Isn't the Boalt School of Law at U.C. Berkeley just a wee bit embarrassed that it still employs (the tenured) John Yoo? What were the editors of The New York Times thinking? Why would they publish something this ridiculous?
- Can someone please explain to me why the line in the sand between the nanny state and individual freedom so often falls on the regulation of cigarettes? Daniel Foster is outraged that the government is using scary pictures to deter would-be smokers, declaring that "1) Your government believes that you are an idiot and a child. 2) Your government knows what is best for you. 3) Defy your government at your own (mortal) peril." He adds that he might pick up the habit again, purely out of spite. I've been known to occasionally indulge in a cancer stick, and knowledge that inhaling carcinogens might be bad for me wasn't spoiled by federal efforts to remind people of this.
- Remainders: Repealing the ACA is obviously politically impossible, but there's a very good reason why Republicans won't even bother trying; the intellectual dishonesty of the conservative movement is a very big problem; libertarians defending poor, abused payday lenders speaks for itself; the inability of elites to come to terms with the inevitable depletion of carbon-based energy is astonishing; there was a time when Tucker Carlson was considered a serious print journalist; I think I'm going to start calling Rand Paul "Mr. Republican"; the very definition of "obliviousness"; and apparently we're staying in Afghanistan forever, which is so, so awesome.
--Mori Dinauer
