Subscribe to Excerpts
Subscribe by Email
Garrett Epps thinks that the debt ceiling is unconstitutional; Bruce Bartlett agrees. I’m not so sure; the question would turn on whether appropriations and entitlements that the Treasury would need to borrow to pay for would be regarded as “public debt” within the meaning of Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment. You could argue it both [...]
Archive for May, 2011
May 19th, 2011
May 19th, 2011
To the surprise of exactly no one, Senate Republicans will filibuster Goodwin Liu’s nomination to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. As I argued yesterday, this really shouldn’t matter if the administration’s eventual goal is to appoint Liu to the United States Supreme Court: many of the greatest justices had no or virtually no judicial [...]
May 18th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
Dave Roberts at Grist has written an interesting piece about the esoteric topic of “carbon wedges” and his concern that the Wedge Daddy (Princeton’s Robert Socolow) believes that the cost of achieving significant carbon reduction is high. Roberts appears to embrace the power of “green positive thinking”. To quote Dave, “Does Socolow understand that pessimism [...]
May 18th, 2011
Newt Gingrich’s spox has an epic meltdown about his boss stumbling out of the gate: The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding. Washington cannot tolerate threats from outsiders who might disrupt their comfortable world. The firefight started when the cowardly sensed weakness. They fired timidly at first, then the sheep not wanting [...]
May 18th, 2011
Category: Affordable Care Act, Medicaid
We can’t address Medicare’s problems through revenue alone. We can, however, largely address Medicaid’s problems that way.
May 18th, 2011
Category: Law Notes
Goodwin Liu is a 39-year-old professor at Berkeley Law School, whom President Obama has nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Like the vast majority of Obama appellate judicial nominees, Senate Republicans have filibustered him. Is this because Liu is liberal? Perhaps, but Adam Serwer says that the stakes are bigger: The real reason [...]
May 18th, 2011
Category: Law Notes, Watching Conservatives
Well, not quite. But just look at the quotes. Clarence Thomas, in a recent speech to Georgia attorneys: “This job is a humbling job,” he said. “It’s the end of the food chain. And some people can do it, and some can’t. But what it teaches you is that you don’t have all the answers. The [...]
May 18th, 2011
Category: Uncategorized
Yes, it’s true, and can’t be denied. I’m now officially old enough to know better. But don’t worry: I refuse to act my age. I am told that Matt Yglesias turns thirty today. Well, I never trusted him in the first place. But if this means I’m now supposed to be twice as wise as [...]
May 17th, 2011
Category: 2011 Democratic Agenda, Campaign 2012, Energy and Environment, Health Care, Republican Party
In the last three days, Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts has endorsed Paul Ryan’s plan to end Medicare, and just today voted against repealing oil company subsidies. That’s more right wing than Susan Collins. Some polls show Brown relatively popular in Massachusetts. A few months of truthful negative ads should put an end to that. [...]