Archive for the ‘ Politics ’ Category

Grayson introduces public option

Grayson has just introduced a four-page bill that would extend Medicare to any American who chooses to buy in at cost. Sheer brilliance. [ READ MORE ]

Columbia expansion dealt blow

A New York appeals court voted 3-2 against the use of eminent domain for Columbia’s expansion into West Harlem. The finding seems to list the usual culprits, like a flimsy blight finding, and (probably rightly) suggests that the decision to use eminent domain and the subsequent necessity of finding a public purpose were made in [ READ MORE ]

UP prof allegedly punches coworker

Well, I wasn’t going to blog this ugly event (to which JS brought my attention), but seeing as the NYPost has picked it up in addition to the NYTimes and as it’s on the front page of reddit.com, I guess I can mention it briefly. I consider Mac, the professor in the dispute, to be [ READ MORE ]

Piven on Beck

So Glenn Beck’s conspiracy theories now position Frances Fox Piven as the conduit from Woodrow Wilson and the Progressives to Obama and the liberal left…uh…sorry, the “radical left fringe”. [ READ MORE ]

Petersen on Power, Prestige and Position

I know I should be writing more. Perhaps I should just save my twittering style as drafts and trickle them out over a couple of days… But, for lack of anything else at the moment (otehr than the fact that I finally found auto insurance, which is a story no one wants to hear), let me [ READ MORE ]

People, Poverty, and Morality

Since a useful discussion ensuing from this post is more or less invisible if you’re not paying attention, I’ve decided to help it resurface here for potential continuation. As I see it, the basic discussion has evolved into a debate over whether poverty serves a social purpose and if so whether that purpose is morally acceptable. Jay [ READ MORE ]

US Civil War II

WSJ has a short piece on Igor Panarin’s recently reiterated 1976 prediction that the US will break up into six republics. He based the forecast on classified data supplied to him by FAPSI analysts, he says. He predicts that economic, financial and demographic trends will provoke a political and social crisis in the U.S. When the [ READ MORE ]

Theory, technicalities, and politics

I’ve been working on a syllabus for a class called Urban Planning in Developing Countries for Barnard’s Urban Studies program. Before dinner I had put together a number of sessions, some of which seemed more promising and engaging to me than others. Refugee camps as cities appeals greatly, for instance, while contingency valuation in water [ READ MORE ]

Phew! Obama wins

Finally, we can all move on from the cult of personality to doing the hard work of building a better nation. I would only add that Obama’s win approaches Clinton’s decisive 1992 victory and reverses a series of close races in which I seem to recall Republicans declaring “mandates”. We can only hope that the conjuncture [ READ MORE ]

Republicans are the Marxists?

I’ve come across two articles this morning that try to turn the Marxist/Socialist tables on the Republicans. The weaker and more obvious of the two is from Hale Stewart on the Huffington Post, who argues that the ongoing bailout is an example of “state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production and [ READ MORE ]

Fox claims Obama’s a Marxist

There’s hope! Fox News on Obama’s political development. Obama Affinity to Marxists Dates Back to College Days Barack Obama shrugs off charges of socialism, but noted in his own memoir that he carefully chose Marxist professors as friends in college. Barack Obama laughs off charges of socialism. Joe Biden scoffs at references to Marxism. Both men shrug off [ READ MORE ]

ServiceNation Summit

  • September 14th, 2008
  • Posted in Politics

So after cleaning up from the little gathering here last night, I sat down with some water and the TV before retiring. By chance, CSPAN was replaying the ServiceNation Summit interviews with McCain and Obama, which JN had the pleasure of having attended. I was struck by two things. First–and fairly broadly–the emotional and moral [ READ MORE ]

The Job – Urine Test

I haven’t posted for some time since I’m trying to get my dissertation proposal together, but I got the following email today from family. I felt compelled to respond, and while the position is simplistic, it felt good to try writing it out, so I offer it up to you all, too. Correct me where [ READ MORE ]

Right to the city…uh, park

NYTimes reports great news in the fight to defend our first amendment right to free speech: After three years of litigation, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation agreed on Tuesday to back away from the main part of a controversial regulation limiting public events on the Great Lawn, in the heart of Central [ READ MORE ]

Moyers interviews Barber

“When politics permeates everything, we call it ‘totalitarianism’. When religion permeates everything, we call it ‘theocracy’. When commerce permeates everything we call it ‘liberty’.” I’m not a huge fan of Benjamin Barber, but in this interview with Bill Moyers on the threat of capitalism to democracy, I find him rather palatable. It’s a call for [ READ MORE ]