state of the union

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BP Oil Poster

There are plenty of structural issues around the crisis in the Gulf, but this one was on my mind tonight. PDF version here.

>  17 June 2010 | LINK | Filed in , ,

Memorial Day

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Source: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/04/military_veterans_suicide_042210w/

While there may not be so many “unknown soldiersany more, it seems like there are more and more forgotten ones in our midst.

>  31 May 2010 | LINK | Filed in , , , ,
Job Loss to Recovery. The Obama administration has posted an infographic to bolster claims that a year after its signing, the Recovery Act is working wonders. I get the point, but the y-axis label is confusing: wouldn’t negative job loss be the same as job creation? Regardless, I had a different picture of the recovery.
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>  17 February 2010 | LINK | Filed in , ,

Tracking the Recovery

>  1 February 2010 | LINK | Filed in ,

To the Spoils, Go the Victories


Capitol

2008

“In 93 percent of House of Representatives races and 94 percent of Senate races... the candidate who spent the most money ended up winning.”

2006

“In 93 percent of House of Representatives races and 67 percent of Senate races... the candidate who spent the most money won.”

2004

“In 95 percent of House races and 91 percent of Senate races... the candidate who spent the most money won.”

2002

“Just over 95 percent of U.S. House races and 75 percent of Senate races were won by the candidate who spent the most money.“

2000

“The candidate who spent the most money won 98 percent of the elections for positions in the House of Representatives. In the Senate the percentage was 85 percent.”

There are plenty of other factors (incumbents, for instance, tend to have a financial advantage) but I found these numbers persuasive.

>  29 November 2008 | LINK | Filed in , ,

Work! Not War!

>  24 July 2008 | LINK | Filed in , , ,

You Don't Know the Half of It

The ACLU has posted a handful of documents they’ve pried from the CIA about the use of waterboarding on prisoners in CIA custody.

After the Director of the CIA publicly admitted that the CIA has, in fact, used waterboarding, the agency could hardly argue that this was a state secret.

The documents are, of course, heavily redacted, an insolent gesture of spite to the court, the ACLU and concerned citizens. The graphic effect is comically absurd — and chilling to imagine what else lies beneath the black. Click below for a larger image.

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>  29 May 2008 | LINK | Filed in , , ,