I am not one of those people that believes in reverse discrimination, and that old white males are struggling for equality in a pitiless world run by women and people of color. (Affirmative action is a bad idea, but a necessary one to counteract a worse one, segregation and institutionalized povertization of the black underclass.) So […]
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UPDATED: Why do liberals hate science?
Shikha Dalmia at Reason.com had a few things to say about liberals and their penchant for ignoring inconvenient evidence in an article entitled, “The Myth of the Scientific Liberal.” Since part of the subject matter involves climate disruption, I’m sure Brian Angliss would ordinarily have much of weight and merit to contribute, but alas, time […]
The student loan interest rates are too damn high
Like many other twentysomethings, I was watching the Daily Show the other night to see what news Jon Stewart and his crew were mocking/making sense of, and the middle segment hit a little close to home. Obviously, this is meant to be a goof. Education is a wonderful thing, and encouraging people not to go […]
Does Tim Tebow get a free pass because he’s a moron?
In the space of 24 hours, we’ve now heard three sports reporters finally come out and call Tebow stupid. There was the article yesterday that said that he was so dyslexic and ADD he couldn’t keep the letter-number sequence straight between leaving the huddle and reaching the line. Now dyslexia is one of those words […]
Fall into the gap: Why are women still paid less than men for equal work?
In case anyone missed it today, I wanted to take the time to point people towards the Center for American Progress’s (CAP) terrific interactive feature “The Game of Wages.” It’s fun, it’s visually fantastic, and it drives home a problem that shouldn’t exist: that in 2013, women are still getting paid less than men for […]
Guns, knives, pit bulls and the new Gallup poll
This morning I walked past a man about my age, sixty, who was wearing camouflage and a fatigue-style cap. He had two Bowie knives on his belt and was walking a ferocious-looking pit bull that had to weigh eighty pounds. My immediate thought was, “Who’s this guy and what’s he afraid of?” Who knows? Maybe […]
Generation Poor: Gen X and Millennials losing ground…
This month, the Urban Institute put out a study called “Lost Generations? Wealth Building Among Young Americans.” In the report, the Institute confirmed what most of Gen X and Gen Y already knew: we’re poor. “Today, those in Gen X and Gen Y have accumulated less wealth than their parents did at that age 25 […]
Pew study: Newspapers’ hard times continue
Shocked! Shocked we should be! But the latest report on the State of the Media by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism comes as no surprise. The bottom line: Fewer resources equals compromised journalism. From a PEJ press release summarizing the 2013 report‘s overview: The report pinpoints multiple signs of shrinking reporting […]
Mississippi is fat and wants to stay that way
Mississippi Republican State Senator Tony Smith, who, as a restaurant owner as well as a state senator, conceivably profits from the poor nutritional choices of his constituents, has proposed a piece of state legislation being dubbed the “anti-Bloomberg bill.” The act’s official title is “An act to reserve to the legislature any regulation of consumer […]
Education: we’re here, we’re online, get used to it…
A recent article at Raw Story (RS) contained the alarmist headline, “Research shows everyone does worse with online learning.” The article goes on to cite a new study by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Columbia University that states uncategorically, at least according to RS, “students tended to perform worse academically in online classes — […]
Karl Rove vs. the Tea Party: heads progressives win, tails conservatives lose
Whee! Now this is fun. Here’s a quote from a letter from two dozen conservative leaders reported in an article by Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times. “You obviously mean to have a war with conservatives and the Tea Party,” the letter said. “Let it start here.” Nice allusion to Lexington and Concord there, […]
Super Bowl farmer ad sucks, and the idea behind it sucks, too
Well, the votes are in on the best ads from the Super Bowl, and everyone it seems, loves a schmaltzy ad sponsored by Dodge Ram which celebrates American farmers as true heroes, exemplars of all that is right and good with our country. To put this in terms a farmer would understand: Bullshit. If this […]
China changes its mind on food
In something of a Big Deal, it has emerged that China no longer will pursue the goal of being self-sufficient in food. According to the South China Morning Post, Chen Xiwen, who is the director of the rural affairs policy-making committee of the Communist Party, and who therefore presumably knows a thing or two, the […]
Why corporations are like Burmese pythons
Last week, many Americans were stunned to pick up their newspapers and learn that AIG was suing us taxpayers for saving them. We shouldn’t have been. That’s what any corporation would do. Indeed, the directors of AIG had to consider it or else get sued themselves. Corporations are the Burmese pythons of the economic ecosystem. […]
AIG: Today it’s “Thank you, America.” Will it be “Screw you, America” tomorrow?
This just in from NYT’s DealBook: Rescued by a Bailout, A.I.G. May Sue Its Savior The board of A.I.G. will meet on Wednesday to consider joining a $25 billion shareholder lawsuit against the government, court records show. The lawsuit does not argue that government help was not needed. It contends that the onerous nature of […]
Scrogues Converse: Lex asks an “innocent” question of Scrogue economists
At S&R, often there are days of debate and discussion on particular topics before we publish a post. When these discussions are rich enough, we post them in the hope that you will weigh in on the conversation. Here’s one such discussion, started when one of our colleagues decided to ask the “innocent” question: Should the […]
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- “Where Girls Grow Strong” – and Boy Scouts follow
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- UPDATED: Pope Francis says atheists can go to heaven: Sweet Jesus! The College of Cardinals done elected a hippie
- Magic Hat vs. West Sixth brewhaha: will MH win the battle that costs them the war?
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
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