Ezra Klein

Chris is gushing over Open Congress, the new congressional tracking project from the fine folks at The Sunlight Foundation and The Participatory Politics Foundation. Some gush, frankly, is warranted. I spend a lot of time tracking Congressional motions and the technology for doing so, as offered by government, is clunky and frustrating. Open Congress, by […]

According to a new analysis of the 2005 Census Data, the number of severely poor Americans shot up by 26 percent between 2000 and 2005, growing 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population did during the same period. That’s worrisome: we’re not just seeing an increase in poverty, we’re seeing an increase in severe […]

Tyler laments the trend in films to feature heroic resisters to the East German stasi, as if the region were a cauldron of dissent and liberalism held in check by nothing more than tyranny and a particularly efficient secret police force. Relatedly, I’m reading Hitler’s Beneficiaries by Gotz Aly, which makes the point that the […]

I just came back from this, so I have about 6,000 calories of saturated fat slowing down my circulatory system and am ready for some serious Oscar watching. This is an open thread for award show commentary. 12:14: Nicholson looks like Lex Luthor. And w00t on The Departed! 12:09: Woo Scorcese! And as for the […]

(Posted by John.) via China Digital Times, it seems that the People’s Republic is innovating in the fight against Muslim insurgencies: Ironically, China’s ability to successfully kill or capture militants without social blowback demonstrates the significant degree to which China has won the population’s “hearts and minds,” however begrudgingly….

[litbrit is reflecting] The first thing I noticed about this country was the abundance of neon that sprouted along her streets. There wasn’t a big Welcome To The Land of Opportunity sign on the wall in the Customs and Immigration enclosure at Miami International Airport, but once we headed into the city (today, it’s more […]

by Nicholas Beaudrot of Electoral Math I wonder how the Americans for Tax Reform will score this vote. It’s good to see principled conservatives like Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) and Patrick “who needs to read bills when I can have Barney Frank wipe the floor with me instead?” McHenry (R-NC) voting against tax relief for small […]

by Nicholas Beaudrot of Electoral Math This graph from Nielsen’s This graph from Nielsen’s blogpulse shows the rate of blog posts that mention top tier ’08ers. It tells a sad story about the state of political blogging. Hillary Clinton’s trend line shows two local peaks; her announcement on Januray 20th, and the recent Obama-Geffen-HRC dustup. […]

Oh man, I’d forgotten how hilariously wrong TNR‘s endorsement of Joe Lieberman was. Kos reminds: But one day, Joe Lieberman’s warnings in this campaign will look prophetic. And the principles he has espoused will once again guide the Democratic Party. It will be the work of this magazine, to whatever small degree possible, to hasten […]

By Ezra When my great-great-grandfather was 14, he stole a wagon. At 22, he over-imbibed from a wineskin and had impure, though partially humorous, thoughts about a nearby goat. These thoughts were never acted upon, but they existed nonetheless.* So here’s the question: am I a thief? A sexual deviant? Is the guilt from these […]