WHO GUARDS THE NATIONAL GUARD? The National Guard is in trouble. It has only 56 percent of the required equipment, and several states worry about their readiness in the case of an emergency. The administration recommends neighborly sharing of equipment, which will only work if the neighboring states happen to have the equipment your state […]
J. Goodrich
J. Goodrich is a recovering economist and the sole proprietor of the political blog Echidne of the Snakes. She also blogs for TAPPED.
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How the Media Skew Gender Research
Studies that support traditional roles for women get popularized, while more nuanced research can’t generate buzz.
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OUTSOURCING ME?
OUTSOURCING ME? That is probably the next step. The signs are in the air: The job posting was a head-scratcher: “We seek a newspaper journalist based in India to report on the city government and political scene of Pasadena, California, USA.” A reporter half a world away covering local street-light contracts and sewer repairs? A […]
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THE POPE IN BRAZIL.
THE POPE IN BRAZIL. Benedict‘s visit to this country where over 140 million Catholics live has so far been mostly about abortion. This is because there is a possibility that the strict abortion laws in Brazil might be relaxed in the future: The controversy over Brazil’s abortion policy began on Monday, when Luiz Inacio Lula […]
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ONE IN EIGHT
ONE IN EIGHT. That is the number of Iraqi children who die before their fifth birthday, according to a new report from the Save the Children charity. Iraq wasn’t doing well on this count even before the occupation, but roadblocks, violence, lack of basic utilities, and the shortage of hospitals and medical personnel are certainly […]
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CBS AND THE RACISTS
CBS AND THE RACISTS. Katherine Seelye writes about CBS’s decision to block all commenting about Barack Obama: CBSNews.com has been getting so many vitriolic comments about Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, that it has taken the unusual step of blocking all reader comments on its stories about Mr. Obama. The comments to Ms. Seelye’s […]
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THE FLYTRAP THEORY FOR DUMMIES.
THE FLYTRAP THEORY FOR DUMMIES. Think Progress lets Dick Morris explain it to us: Last night on Hannity and Colmes, right-wing pundit Dick Morris also claimed that we need to keep U.S. troops in Iraq so that terrorists don’t come to the United States. But he argued that we need to put “Americans right within […]
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ON ALL THINGS FRENCH.
ON ALL THINGS FRENCH. Or, rather, some comments on the American media coverage of the French presidential elections. The conservative candidate (though a European type of a conservative), Nicolas Sarkozy, won with 53.1 percent of the vote, leaving the Socialist candidate Segolene Royal with 46.9 percent. What does this mean? The short answer seems to […]
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THE TINFOIL BRIGADE.
THE TINFOIL BRIGADE. Tinfoil is a good material for a hat that keeps out the probing thought waves of others in sci-fi stories. In political talk a tinfoil-wearer is someone who is into conspiracy theories, or someone who is into something others want to see as conspiracy theories — I always keep a large piece […]
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A MAN’S FIELD.
A MAN’S FIELD. What do the following things have in common? “I’m the commander.” “It is the haircut that will not die.” “The need for one-man rule.” The first is a comment by George Bush, the president of the United States. The second is a comment by Roger Simon at the Politico about the hair […]
