Submitted by mass on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 7:33am
Seriously? Are you freaking kidding me?:
Since 1979, China's family planning rules have barred nearly all urban families from having a second child in a bid to stem population growth. With no male heir competing for resources, parents have spent more on their daughters' education and well-being, a groundbreaking shift after centuries of discrimination.
Oh, that's great! Girls are really thriving under China's one-child policy. Excellent!
Except...: Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Thu, 12/09/2010 - 5:46pm
Barney Frank suggests unemployment benefits could have passed without the Obama-McConnell tax deal. According to Frank, "It's totally unbalanced.... unemployment shouldn't be considered a concession they give to us." Unemployment benefits have been passed some four or five times since 2008. Frank reminds us what happened the last time a Republican tried to hold up an extension.
Via HuffPost: Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Tue, 12/07/2010 - 3:43am
After reading the details of the Obama/Republican tax cut deal, some Left leaning economists seemed at least not hostile to it. Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Fri, 12/03/2010 - 9:41am
Submitted by mass on Fri, 09/24/2010 - 10:47pm
In case you missed it, last week DC Mayor Adrian Fenty was primaried by DC council chairman Vincent Gray. Gray won a decisive victory over Fenty, and the race fell on racial lines:
In the District's most racially homogenous neighborhoods, Gray won by 4 to 1 margins in black areas and Fenty won by 4 to 1 in white areas.
While race seems to be a factor in the DC race, it's important to note that race and income are tightly linkedin DC: Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 10:40pm
Absolutely beautiful. And, check out the plaintiff. Fantastic!
Via the AP:
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A federal judge in Southern California has declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips on Thursday granted a request for an injunction halting the government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military.
Phillips says the policy doesn't help military readiness and instead has a "direct and deleterious effect" on the armed services.
The lawsuit was the biggest legal test of the law in recent years and came amid promises by President Barack Obama that he will work to repeal the policy.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 7:59pm
There's this myth going around. It seems many people think the extension of Bush-era tax cuts on the first 250k in income per family exclude wealthy families. They do not. While policy makers are debating letting the Bush-era tax cuts exclusively targeting those with family incomes above 250k, these families would not be excluded from the Democratic proposal to extend these other tax cuts. Indeed, in dollar terms, the wealthy fair better under the so-called middle-class tax cuts, than the middle-class.
Via OpenLeft:
Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 5:46pm
It's always so trippy when you realize the President and his people are living in a fantasy. Anyway, here's Obama's. Que the dream sequence.
Via Joan Walsh: Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Fri, 06/18/2010 - 3:12pm
Back in February Kos suggested Crist switch parties and run as a Democrat in the upcoming Florida Senate race, a clear endorsement of Charlie Crist for Senate:
If he(Crist) wants to survive in politics, switching is his only hope. What's more, I'd welcome him into my party.
Here's the bottom line: there are only two people who can win that seat -- Crist and Rubio. I'd much rather it be the former, and Crist ain't gonna do it as a Republican.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Mon, 04/19/2010 - 9:33am
Submitted by mass on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 10:32pm
I listened in on a conference call earlier this evening hosted by Healthcare-Now to discuss the health insurance reform passed last night. For anyone interested, a recording of the call will be posted to the Healthcare-Now website by tomorrow night. These people are real policy wonks and my notes do not do justice to the conversation, but Michael Lighty, Policy Director for National Nurses United made some quick points about the some of the failings of the plan that stuck with me, including:
- The insurers will control the initial appeals board for claim denials and there will be no federal standard
Submitted by mass on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 9:02am
H/T whatweretheysmoking
You probably know by now about the mass firings of 93 educators at the Central Falls High School of Central Falls, Rhode Island. When an agreement between the teachers union and the district superintendent could not be reached regarding longer days and compensation, the educators were all fired. Doesn't that seem like a useful tool for the superintendent. The negotiations were not going her way so off with their heads. Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 11:12pm
Submitted by mass on Thu, 09/24/2009 - 1:37pm
As the Democrats busily work on plans to make us all captive consumers of the private health insurers, the rich are cutting loose from the system. While we'll be stuck in costly Exchanges, the rich will be moving on toward their own privately reformed health system. Welcome to the world of concierge medicine. Read below the fold...
Submitted by mass on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 8:28pm
From advocacy groups like HCAN and MoveOn.org to prominent blog sites like Daily Kos and Fire Dog Lake, single payer is the policy which must not be named. There seems to have been a strategic decision by several advocacy groups and progressive bloggers not to have a policy discussion or front page reporting relevant to Medicare for All once the policy was proclaimed "off the table" by the Democratic leadership and the President. Read below the fold...
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