Support Builds for Next Gen Fighter
Obama and the GOP may be at odds over the budget, but on one item -- the F-35 fighter -- there is a growing bipartisan consensus to back the project. America’s in an economic and budgetary crisis and Republicans in the House are being pressured to look more closely at cutting defense spending. On …Will Harper Face Spring Election?
Most Canadians may not want one, but the country's opposition Liberal party is starting to push for a general election. Will their gambit pay off? Even if most Canadians don’t want one, it’s going to be pretty hard to avoid a general election this spring. Speaker Peter Milliken’s ruling that …Why NPR's Better Off Without Federal Funds
NPR gets 2% of their direct funding from the federal government. Is that worth the media headlines and political battles? I think it's safe to say that National Public Radio has had a rough week recently. Support for NPR funding during the current budget cycle has become a proxy for other …Counting Japan's Quake Dead
A huge tragedy has struck Japan. Yet, there are still reasons to be optimistic that the final death toll will not hit the projected 10,000 count. A huge tragedy has happened in Japan; the economic and cultural damages to the nation are immense. All that said, there’s a very good reason to be …The New Tyranny: Carbon Monoxide Detectors?
A report about repealing a carbon monoxide detector mandate set off a twitter debate and revealed how today's conservatives weigh libertarian ideas. It started as a funny short item about right-wing excess. A Montana representative introduced a bill to repeal a local law requiring landlords …The Fake Japanese Nuke Scare
An explosion at an earthquake damaged nuclear plant in Japan has raised fears of a nuclear incident. How worries should we be? An explosion at an earthquake damaged nuclear plant in Japan has raised fears of a nuclear incident. But how realistic are the fears? This dramatic headline blasts out …
Why This Teacher is Rooting Against the Union
Like most conservatives, I’m excited that public sector unions are, for now at least, on the ropes. But there's a catch: I'm also a teacher. Like most conservatives, I’ve watched the recent events in Wisconsin with great interest. I’m as excited as the next GOP voter that public sector unions …Japan Prepared for Wrong Quake
While scientists in Japan had been predicting a large earthquake for years, they may have spent resources safe-guarding the wrong region. According to my father, who lives in Tokyo, you would only have noticed there was an earthquake in Tokyo the day before by the many people out on the streets …
A Conservative Case for Farmers’ Markets
So much of what we celebrate today as the “farm-to-table” movement is really just a modern re-imagining, or re-invention, of a less industrialized time. Every Thursday evening, around 7 p.m., I begin checking outside my side door to see if the elves have made their delivery yet. It’s quite …
The Prowl: When a Gal Needs a Man
After a week spent dealing with work crisis, illness, and a leaking gas pipe in my apartment, I gave in to gender stereotypes and called my boyfriend for consolation. A close friend frequently likes to quote from a song whenever I mention my boyfriend; he will say: "What is love? Baby don't …We're All Charlie Sheen's Enablers
In the past, we wanted our stars and politicians to be larger than life, like American royalty. Now, we want to watch when they spin out of control. I'll ask the question myself. Why, when there is revolution in Egypt and Libya, a horrifying tsunami and earthquake in Japan, and a legislative …Tea Party: Disaster Readiness = Big Brother
Japan was able to properly prepare for a massive earthquake thanks to a proactive public sector. Would today’s conservatives oppose similar regs? Earlier today I wrote about how Japan was able to properly prepare for a massive earthquake due to strict building codes and a proactive public …Income Inequality: It's a Global Thing
For all the concern over income inequality, is America's experience really that different than the rest of the modern world? Yet again and again [economists and other researchers not named Hacker or Pierson] have found themselves at dead ends or have missed crucial evidence. After countless …