Politics

ADMITTING A MISTAKE….TalkLeft has the story today of a prosecutor who’s now convinced he made a mistake 25 years ago and is fighting to free a pair of men who were convicted of killing a nine year old girl. There are a lot of people who could learn a lesson from this. Everyone makes mistakes, […]

EMERGENCY ROOM POLICY….The administration has backed off on its policy of limiting emergency room use by Medicaid patients. A sudden attack of consience of the part of the happy Republicans running things in Washington? Not quite: “We weren’t troubled by the policy. We were troubled by the controversy it caused,” [Medicaid administrator Thomas] Scully said […]

THOSE NASTY SUV OWNERS….David Brooks writes about SUVs in the Wall Street Journal: The main charge is that people who drive sport “utes” are moral savages. SUV drivers “tend to be people who are insecure and vain” not to mention “self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors and communities,” writes Keith Bradsher in his book, […]

LIMITING STATE SPENDING….South Knox Bubba reports today on the Tennessee Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), a proposal that would limit spending growth to a combination of inflation and population growth. We’ve had a similar proposal in California, although it hasn’t really gotten anywhere yet. Oddly enough, I support this kind of thing, but with a […]

FROM THE “NEVER SEND EMAIL IN ANGER” DEPARTMENT….Nick Denton has the latest on Julie Meyer of Ariadne Capital, and it’s not pretty: From: Julie Meyer Sent: 21 January 2003 14:22 To: All staff Subject: The final straw. I see that whoever has been sending our confidential emails to a certain website has done it again. […]

DINOSAUR WING DING….Chinese paleontologists have discovered the fossil of a four-winged dinosaur/bird/thingy. Charles Murtaugh has the details, plus a cool picture.

UBIQUITOUS TRACKING….Can you really be tracked everywhere you go, as I claimed yesterday? Reader Ian D calls my attention to an article that says tire manufacturers are going to start putting RFID emitters in tires. It’s happening fast, folks….

DID HE OR DIDN’T HE?….JOHN LOTT AND THE MYSTERIOUS SURVEY….The revelation that John Lott has been masquerading on the Internet under the name “Mary Rosh” has given everybody considerable entertainment today, but it has a more serious side too: it is now obvious that he is the kind of person who is willing to engage […]

YEARNING FOR A GOLDEN AGE….Greg Beato has a great paragraph today on people who pine away for the past: It’s always easy to pick the best from the past (i.e., Casablanca) and compare it with the mediocre of the present, then conclude that they just don’t make them like that anymore. But anyone who bothers […]

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS….I have often wondered about the names given to prescription drugs: Prozac, Viagra, Xanax, Motrin. Who comes up with them? Is it just the marketing department, or are there rules to be followed? And what are they supposed to mean? Wonder no more! This article in the Economist was so interesting that I’m going […]