Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Obama and the Stimulus
An explanation of why the stimulus package is helping the economy, but not President Obama's poll numbers.
Obama losing his charm as health care debate drags on?
"The spell is broken. The charismatic conjurer of 2008 has shed his magic. He's regressed to the mean, tellingly expressed in poll numbers hovering at 50 percent."
Texting While Driving
A lot of states have been moving to pass, or have passed, legislation prohibiting texting while driving. Car & Driver recently did a real-world study of reaction times when drivers (C&D employees on a closed course) were texting, reading texts, and impaired by alcohol. Definitely eye-opening.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
John Podesta statement on Van Jones resignation
He's the boss where I work, the Center for American Progress. Van Jones worked there too. Emphasis is mine:
Van Jones is an exceptional and inspired leader who has fought to bring economic and environmental justice to communities across our country.
He has chosen to resign because he believed he was serving as a distraction to the president’s agenda. I respect that decision.
Van was working to build a common ground agenda for all Americans, and I am confident he will continue that work. Unfortunately, his critics on the right could find no common ground with him.
Clearly, Van was the subject of a right-wing smear campaign shrouded in hypocrisy. Van’s chief tormentor Glenn Beck, who spent weeks engaged in vicious name-calling, retains his perch at Fox News after calling the president a racist who has “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” Van has set a standard that Beck would never impose upon himself.
I look forward to working with Van to move our country towards a clean energy economy that empowers and lifts up all Americans.
Obama adviser Jones resigns amid controversy Environmental official had signed 9/11 petition, disparaged Republicans
The Obama administration may as well install a revolving door.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Things to do in DC (Cheap food, free entertainment, and more)
Here's a few websites on stuff to do in DC, given to me by one of my colleagues in my office (US Marshals). Take a look at some of the events around Washington, especially the cheap eateries to find out where to get great food for less than $10. There's also an extensive listing of free entertainment around Washington and other free/cheap events.
Symphony Orchestra on the west lawn of the Capitol Building on Labor Day: http://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showEvent&event=NJLAB
Here’s a few more web sites that were passed on to me about living in DC, different events, and free or cheap excursions throughout the city.
http://dcist.com/
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/goingoutgurus/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/cityguide/features/2008/interns-guide/index.html
Enjoy!
Symphony Orchestra on the west lawn of the Capitol Building on Labor Day: http://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=showEvent&event=NJLAB
Here’s a few more web sites that were passed on to me about living in DC, different events, and free or cheap excursions throughout the city.
http://dcist.com/
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/goingoutgurus/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/cityguide/features/2008/interns-guide/index.html
Enjoy!
Business, GOP, and Obamacare
Interesting analysis of how Republicans pushed back against coalition of business interests that Obama White House had forged.
Schumer, Vilsack join forces to relieve bankrupt daily farmers in NY
Here is a link to the release of the press conference call I had to transcribe yesterday. Really exciting to listen to!
Gotta love the Hamilton connection: Tom Vilsack '72
Gotta love the Hamilton connection: Tom Vilsack '72
A Blast from the Past..
I stumbled upon this on the Drudge Report and thought it was not only fun but related back to our trip to the Newseum this past Wednesday. It's crazy how quickly modern technology changes, and even crazier how dated these original designs appear! The New York Times website looks relatively similar, but the complexities have clearly grown with the popularity of online news sources. As we learned at the museum, news is dynamic and journalists and thier broadcasting companies will continue to push the limits to appeal to the public and make news as instantaneous and easy to obtain as possible. Enjoy!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular-websites-looked-when-they-launched.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6125914/How-20-popular-websites-looked-when-they-launched.html
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Question: How are we going to pay for health care? Answer: "I don't know..."
The Democrats out there who have been ranting about how poorly spoken health care town hall attendees have been shouldn't be so hypocritical. If the Democratic Congress is so bent on passing health care faster than they can say, "higher taxes for hard-working Americans", then maybe, just maybe, they should have some kind of concrete answer for how it will be paid for other than, "Well, I don't know."
One way Republicans are "getting support" to stop health reform
Hint: their "supporters" are scammed into supporting them.
Al Ham in Vanity Fair and other strange things
I saw this article on RCP. I like the mention of Hamilton, but more so I love the description of Paulson during the interview and the way the author stretches it to a metaphor. I find the line "I asked if he wouldn’t rather stop, and resume our conversation another time. “That’s O.K.,” he said. “I’m just going to go through this all. I won’t remember it. You know, I barely remember the details now.” particularly entertaining. A great insight into what it takes to get these major bills, etc. done.
“Nancy Pelosi to me was a wonder in this deal, and she was available 24-7, anytime I called her on the cell phone,” Paulson told me, his hulking frame unfolding in a comfortable chair in his office at the Treasury, dominated by an oil portrait of his first pred e ces sor, Alexander Hamilton. “She was engaged, she was decisive, and she was really willing to just get involved with all of her people on a hands-on basis.” Paulson paused. “Now let me … I’ll be there in one minute … Let me just make a … I have been, you know … I finished this thing on Thursday night, flew over to Tokyo, flew back, and I’m battling a bit of a stomach problem.”
And with that Paulson ducked into the private bathroom adjoining his office, closed the big paneled door, and audibly, violently, and repeatedly threw up. He emerged a moment later as if nothing had happened, but in a few minutes he did the same thing all over again. I asked if he wouldn’t rather stop, and resume our conversation another time. “That’s O.K.,” he said. “I’m just going to go through this all. I won’t remember it. You know, I barely remember the details now.”
In the months to come, I would think of Paulson’s perseverance in the face of gastric distress as a metaphor for the way he persevered through the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. He never missed a day of work due to illness or indisposition in two and a half years, though he often awoke at one or two a.m., unable to go back to sleep. “I don’t mean to make light of this, because I felt awesome responsibility,” he told me on one occasion. “But as I said to someone—it may not be a great analogy, but once you’re boiling in oil, it doesn’t make much difference” what the temperature is.
Like the Dartmouth offensive lineman he once was (his nickname had been “The Hammer”), Paulson spent most of his time at Treasury slogging down the field, facing one crisis after another. History will decide whether Paulson’s policy choices were wise or ill-advised. Economists and politicians are already deeply divided. But watching him over many months, it was hard not to be impressed by the resolve with which this moderate old-line Republican—a man with a threshold faith in the wisdom of markets—became the greatest economic interventionist of his generation.
“Nancy Pelosi to me was a wonder in this deal, and she was available 24-7, anytime I called her on the cell phone,” Paulson told me, his hulking frame unfolding in a comfortable chair in his office at the Treasury, dominated by an oil portrait of his first pred e ces sor, Alexander Hamilton. “She was engaged, she was decisive, and she was really willing to just get involved with all of her people on a hands-on basis.” Paulson paused. “Now let me … I’ll be there in one minute … Let me just make a … I have been, you know … I finished this thing on Thursday night, flew over to Tokyo, flew back, and I’m battling a bit of a stomach problem.”
And with that Paulson ducked into the private bathroom adjoining his office, closed the big paneled door, and audibly, violently, and repeatedly threw up. He emerged a moment later as if nothing had happened, but in a few minutes he did the same thing all over again. I asked if he wouldn’t rather stop, and resume our conversation another time. “That’s O.K.,” he said. “I’m just going to go through this all. I won’t remember it. You know, I barely remember the details now.”
In the months to come, I would think of Paulson’s perseverance in the face of gastric distress as a metaphor for the way he persevered through the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. He never missed a day of work due to illness or indisposition in two and a half years, though he often awoke at one or two a.m., unable to go back to sleep. “I don’t mean to make light of this, because I felt awesome responsibility,” he told me on one occasion. “But as I said to someone—it may not be a great analogy, but once you’re boiling in oil, it doesn’t make much difference” what the temperature is.
Like the Dartmouth offensive lineman he once was (his nickname had been “The Hammer”), Paulson spent most of his time at Treasury slogging down the field, facing one crisis after another. History will decide whether Paulson’s policy choices were wise or ill-advised. Economists and politicians are already deeply divided. But watching him over many months, it was hard not to be impressed by the resolve with which this moderate old-line Republican—a man with a threshold faith in the wisdom of markets—became the greatest economic interventionist of his generation.
Fair and balanced
Fox News is by far the most watched cable news, but it still finishes third behind USA and TNT reruns of NCIS and Bones.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Some (maybe too straight) talk from an Obama adviser
Not a sentiment I agree with universally, but it could be said about people in both parties. Either way it's flying around the internet right now.
A Counter to Brooks from The New Republic
TNR's Jonathan Chait argues that the economic crisis is bringing down Obama's approval ratings, not his liberalism.
Obama's Rhetoric & Policy Vision
This article relates to what we were discussing in our class this morning, about Obama's rhetoric to the American people and attempts at creating an effective regime in Congress.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
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