Subject to Change, version 2.0
Mostly found objects; at least until I find something I want to write about.


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Tuesday, May 24, 2005
 

The Impossible Has Happened.

I've found an HSA plan I like: Oshkosh Truck Corp. (OSK ), for example, has veered away from the old -- and costly -- health maintenance organization it used for its 4,500 nonunion employees. The plan's low copayments encouraged...

[Ezra Klein]
5:09:52 PM    

BREAKING: Ignoring Deal, Frist to File for Cloture on Myers.

In the deal struck yesterday evening, negotiators agreed that two judicial nominees - William G. Myers and Henry Saad - “will be filibustered or withdrawn.” Last night, Frist indicated he would abide by the agreement: Mr. President, a lot has been said about the uniqueness of this body. And, indeed, our ...

[Think Progress]
5:07:44 PM    

Shutdown of Inquiry....

It is surely harmful to souls to make it a heresy to believe what is proved.

Galileo Galilei

The astronomer Galileo was more than a simple academic. He was a wealthy aristocrat, a social climber, and something of a political figure. ...

[j a c k *]
5:04:24 PM    

Ordinary Rendition.

Next time Bush declares his confidence in our rejection of rendition, I wouldn't, uh, believe him. Sweden's released a report detailing an America rendition done on their territory, which, had it been done by Swedish police, would've been illegal....

[Ezra Klein]
3:15:05 PM    

AIPAC's Big, Bigger, Biggest Moment.

Perle provoked cheers from the crowd when he favored a military raid on Iran, saying that "if Iran is on the verge of a nuclear weapon, I think we will have no choice but to take decisive action." When Harman said the "best short-term option" is the U.N. Security Council, the crowd reacted with boos.

AIPAC's Big, Bigger, Biggest Moment

Dana Milbank | May 24

WaPo - How much clout does AIPAC have? Well, consider that during the pro-Israel lobby's annual conference yesterday, a fleet of police cars, sirens wailing, blocked intersections and formed a motorcade to escort buses carrying its conventioneers -- to lunch. Richard Perle, Jane Harman (D-Calf), and Sec. Rice addressed the AIPAC crowd. As Brian notes at Gorilla in the Room, it appears Perle is pushing for military action in Iran. These people are scary. -ww This article is posted under fair use rules in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and is strictly for the educational and informative purposes of our readers.

[The Agonist]
3:14:09 PM    

A better game

Josh has a fun game, but I've got a better one. What "senior biologist" would call a platypus a "bird-like mammal", think the fugu genome is a strike against evolutionary biology, says that evolution is "irrelevant to most of the life sciences", and would declare that "scientific case against Darwinism is largely won"?

I sure don't have any idea, but whoever it is is certainly an odd duck, very marginal and freaky.

I don't agree with Josh that it could be Phil Skell. Dembski claims it's someone not known for their views on ID creationism, and unless ol' Bill is lying…no. Couldn't be.

- PZ Myers (pzmyers@pharyngula.org)

[Pharyngula]
3:12:45 PM    


That splintering sound you hear is the GOP coalition coming apart.

Let's take a quick look at the list of things I'd love to see happen right now.

* Bush losing stature and public support? Check.

* Congressional Republicans with the lowest poll support in a decade? Check.

* And perhaps most importantly, the dormant fissures dividing the GOP coming to the surface? One big check.

John M. Engler, [...]

[The Carpetbagger Report]
1:37:07 PM    

Preemptive Strikes.

After we lived through crap like this :

Q Scott, I just wanted to ask you, follow up on the Catholic bishops and a couple of actions they took. One was, they raised questions about whether we should -- there was justification for preemptive action against Iraq without further evidence, I wonder if the White House has any comment on their statement.

MR. MCCLELLAN: Well, I think the United States and the international community were all speaking with one voice when it comes to the importance of disarming Saddam Hussein. This threat is real, and it must be addressed. The risk of inaction is too great. So we are going to continue work with the United Nations and work with our friends and allies to disarm Saddam Hussein. It's about protecting not only America, but the region and the world from the risks that he poses.

Is anyone really surprised to see this?
North Korea on Tuesday refused to rule out a pre-emptive attack, even amid signs it may be willing to return to the nuclear bargaining table.
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The North poured out anti-American rhetoric — a tactic it has used in the past before entering negotiations — by claiming that Washington's "hostile policies" led it to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent and warning against any attack to dislodge its leadership.

"The United States should be aware that the choice of a pre-emptive attack is not only theirs," the North's official news agency quoted the state-run newspaper Minju Joson as saying. "To stand against force with force is our unswerving method of response."

It's too late to start complaining now, Mr. President. You're the one who set the precedent for unprovoked attacks on other countries. As a country that prides itself for its (mostly undeserved) reputation as the world's moral leader, the United States gave the okay for other countries to attack their enemies without evidence of an impending threat. You can't just close Pandora's box just because you didn't like what was in it.

[The Talent Show]
1:35:24 PM    

Everyone To The Brig!.

Michelle Malkin writes on Milagro Cunningham, the illegal immigrant who raped and attempted to murder an 8-year-old. The horror of his crime and the well-being of the girl seem to be made subservient to the fact that he was in the country illegally. It's not the law or his illegality I'm arguing against, but rather the idea that he did what he did because he was an illegal alien, as Malkin seems to be implying by the connection to driver's licenses and Osama bin Laden. She's obsessed with proving that illegal immigrants are, by their very natures, murderers and rapists. Of course, given her general proclivity to believe that all non-her immigrants deserve a good locking up or three, I shouldn't really be shocked at this.

[Pandagon]
11:54:52 AM    

Novak falsely claimed that national debt is smallest percentage of GDP "that it has ever been".

In describing the mounting national debt as "a phony issue," CNN host and syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak stated that the debt "is smaller as a percentage of GDP [gross domestic product] than any of our other -- than it has ever been." In fact, the national debt as a percentage of GDP (Excel document) has grown every year since President George W. Bush has been in office. In 2004, the $7.4 trillion national debt constituted 62.9 percent of GDP; in 2001 when Bush took office, the debt was 57.3 percent of GDP. In 1981, it was 32.9 percent of GDP; in 1929, the earliest year for which the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis lists GDP figures, it was just 16.3 percent. The 2004 figure of 62.9 percent is close to double that of 1981 and nearly four times that of 1929.



YearNational debt ($)GDP ($)Debt as percentage of GDP
1980930,210,000,0002,789,500,000,00033.3%
19811,028,729,000,0003,128,400,000,00032.9%
19821,197,073,000,0003,255,000,000,00036.8%
19831,410,702,000,0003,536,700,000,00039.9%
19841,662,966,000,0003,933,200,000,00042.3%
19851,945,941,616,4604,220,300,000,00046.1%
19862,125,302,616,6584,462,800,000,00047.6%
19872,350,276,890,9534,739,500,000,00049.6%
19882,602,337,712,0415,103,800,000,00051.0%
19892,857,430,960,1875,484,400,000,00052.1%
19903,233,313,451,7775,803,100,000,00055.7%
19913,665,303,351,6975,995,900,000,00061.1%
19924,064,620,655,5226,337,700,000,00064.1%
19934,411,488,883,1396,657,400,000,00066.3%
19944,692,749,910,0137,072,200,000,00066.4%
19954,973,982,900,7097,397,700,000,00067.2%
19965,224,810,939,1367,816,900,000,00066.8%
19975,413,146,011,3978,304,300,000,00065.2%
19985,526,193,008,8988,747,000,000,00063.2%
19995,656,270,901,6159,268,400,000,00061.0%
20005,674,178,209,8879,817,000,000,00057.8%
20015,807,463,412,20010,128,000,000,00057.3%
20026,228,235,965,59710,487,000,000,00059.4%
20036,783,231,062,74411,004,000,000,00061.6%
20047,379,052,696,33011,735,000,000,00062.9%



From the May 18 edition of CNN's Crossfire:

NOVAK: You know, James [Carville, co-host], of all the lousy issues you have, the lousiest is the debt. As Ronald Reagan once said, I don't worry about the national debt; it's big enough to take care of itself. As a matter of fact, it is smaller as a percentage of GDP than any of our other -- than it has ever been. This is a phony issue. That's not hurting us.

[Media Matters for America]
7:00:16 AM    

Senate compromise.

So the good news is that cooler heads prevailed, and Senators John McCain and Ben Nelson are the heroes while Sen. Bill Frist is the goat who comes out looking like an idiot. (I saw somewhere that he had cots brought in for an all-nighter. What a drama queen.) (...)

[South Knox Bubba]
6:53:31 AM    

Not everybody loves Raymond.

The Green Knight points us to a story about some confused Iraqi Christians we've recently liberated. O to have the right to be free of self-righteous American nannystate retards with too much time on their hands. Priceless. Unfortunate for Iraqis...

[DunneIV -- Trying not to be retarded about all this]
6:20:02 AM    

Somebody with an ugly moustache is proud.

Jesus H. Christ, this speech by Condi Rice is psycho, absurd and utterly clueless. Oh yeah, fucking scary too. So, let me tell you what I did tonight. First I watched Condoleeza Rice give this speech here and not a... [

DunneIV -- Trying not to be retarded about all this]
6:15:02 AM    


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