Ben Domenech is a conservative and founder of RedState. He opposes health reform. And yet even he finds ridiculous Megan McArdle‘s argument that Big Pharma is the only entity capable of producing medical innovation. He writes: Working at the Department of Health and Human Services provided me the opportunity to learn a good deal about […]
Dana Goldstein
Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.
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SHOCKING STAT OF THE DAY.
According to a new poll, only 42 percent of self-identified Republicans believe Barack Obama is an American citizen; 30 percent are “not sure,” and 28 percent believe he’s not a citizen. In the general population, 77 percent of people know their president — as required by law — is a citizen. Via: Taegan Goddard. Update: […]
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“LIFESTYLE” AND HEALTH REFORM.
Maybe we don’t need to do anything at all about our health care system. After all, it’s junk food and divorce that are making people unhealthy. And those are things people “choose.” Megan McArdle: These aren’t just a way to save on health care; they’re a way to extend and expand the cultural hegemony of […]
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THE ABORTION AD WARS.
None of the health-reform bills before Congress mandate abortion coverage in a potential public plan. Rather, they kick that ball down the field, allowing a council of experts — after reform passes — to advise the Health and Human Services secretary on what procedures should and shouldn’t be covered. Yet continuing its campaign to use […]
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DOES OBAMA SOUND LIKE AHMADINEJAD? REALLY?
In a New York Times op-ed yesterday, Israeli journalist Aluf Benn asked President Obama to soften his tough anti-settlement talk with a conciliatory speech to the Israeli public, which is increasingly skeptical of the American president. Regardless of what you think of this idea, it’s pretty clear that there is a pernicious narrative emerging, suggesting […]
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MUMBLINGS ON THE FINANCE COMMITTEE HEALTH BILL.
The AP has an anonymously sourced report on the compromise health-reform legislation emerging out of the Senate Finance Committee. It isn’t looking good. Some features of the bill: No government-funded public-insurance option, and no national health-insurance exchange. These features of the House tri-committee and Senate HELP bills are intended to bring down costs by fostering […]
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A “Uniquely American” Abortion Debate
The notion that tax dollars shouldn’t pay for abortions is an international aberration, an example of American exceptionalism run amok.
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KUDOS TO US!
Everybody who’s anybody is reading this Michael Massing piece in The New York Review of Books, which smartly surveys the current landscape of original web reporting and analysis. I just want to say that although Massing doesn’t make note of this fact, a startling number of the figures he lauds began their careers at The […]
Posted inEducation in America
A THINK TANK RACKET ON EDU RESEARCH?
Although universities produce 14 to 16 times more educational research in a year than advocacy-oriented think tanks, a new study of the media outlets that most influence education news coverage — the New York Times, Washington Post, and Eduction Week — finds that think tank reports are more likely to be cited by reporters. What’s […]
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HOW WOULD HEALTH REFORM “SUBSIDIZE” ABORTION?
It’s quite complicated to understand how, exactly, abortion opponents are using the health reform process to attempt to limit access to family planning. In this RealityCast podcast, the wonderful Amanda Marcotte and I discuss the topic, and Amanda has a helpful clarification: One reason anti-choicers are up in arms over reform is because the federal […]
