himwhynot

Tim Fernholz wonders whether the only thing you can count on are bank taxes going away: President Obama announced the tax at his political low point last January, following Democratic defeats in Virginia and New Jersey. Health-care reform and financial reform were on the ropes. The move was seen by cynical observers as a cheap […]

Alexandra Gutierrez reports that as Sarah Palin becomes ubiquitous in the Lower 48, Republicans in Alaska are trying hard to forget her.: A Palin endorsement in Alaska mattered two years ago. Last election cycle, she backed then-Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in the House race against Rep. Don Young, and he expected to skate to victory […]

Courtney Martin explores feminists’ fraught relationship with the first lady’s political agenda — or lack thereof: Unlike Sarah Palin, who is aggravating because she’s all style and no substance, the first lady is driving many a feminist batty because she’s got so much substance but is shrouding it in nonthreatening style. While Palin is an […]

Reading Jamelle’s post on the Dr. Laura “n-word” incident made me think back to my time teaching sociolinguistics to first-year college students. I used to have them read “Teaching the N-Word,” an essay by Emily Bernard, a professor of English at the University of Vermont (for anyone who hasn’t read it, I suggest you do), […]

It’s easy to see the story of Steve Slater — the JetBlue flight attendant who, after sparring with an unruly passenger, took to the P.A. system to blurt out expletices, stole some beer from the plane’s stock, and made his getaway via the emergency exit — as nothing more than a hilarious breech of decorum. […]

What’s remarkable about the right’s reaction to the Prop. 8 ruling is how the supporters of the gay-marriage ban in California continue to espouse the flimsy justifications that crumbled under judicial review. That’s because [[ANTECEDENT CONFUSION they]] are entirely irrelevant to the central question the judge considered: Does the ban violate the Equal Protection and […]

Kevin Mattson argues that “the people” are no more virtuous or incorruptible than elites, and pandering to them won’t advance liberal political goals: But liberals, like it or not, have to worry about more than just rallying the masses around their collective anger. They have to worry about governing — and nurturing the semblance of […]

Paul Waldman looks at conservatives gearing up to defend the expiring Bush-era tax cuts.: The idea of legislators shaping policy to directly benefit their own personal bank accounts is largely a relic of a bygone era. It may happen from time to time, but today’s professional political class is usually more interested in helping the […]

Tom Lee argues that while new exemptions to the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act are an improvement, the basic paradox of telling consumers how they may use electronics remains unaddressed: Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems are what makes your iTunes movie rentals expire after 24 hours; it’s what makes it impossible to copy an Xbox […]

Tomorrow, the Senate is scheduled to hold a cloture vote on the DISCLOSE (Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections) Act, WHICH TKTKTKTTK. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case earlier this year, Congress has been trying to reign in corporate campaign spending. The House passed the DISCLOSE Act […]