The National Review is once again carrying the water for this White House and Kevin Drum takes note in META-PARODY. The theme of the Bush apologists seems to be that the troops were at fault – I guess for having such incompetent as their civilian leaders who refused to properly plan. National Review carried this […]

Long term interest rates are back below 4.0%. Is this a good thing? Not necessarily. Because low rates may simply reflect worries that the economy is slumping, largely because of the high price of oil. In fact, oil prices and long-term interest rates do indeed seem to be moving in opposite directions lately. The chart […]

Yes, we all know that one of the most important powers that the president has is to nominate people to the Supreme Court. This presidential power is then checked by the requirement of Senate confirmation. Or is it? At least temporarily, the president can make a recess appointment, which doesn’t require Senate confirmation. Now consider […]

For some reason, Salon decided to devote some space to Ralph Nader today. I don’t have much to say about the article itself, but it did bring to mind a double-take I had earlier when reading this in an WSJ story (subscription): Mr. Nadler says his group’s $1 million ad spending isn’t meant to specifically […]

Perhaps those wealthy Americans whose confidence has fallen had read this week’s Buttonwood column in The Economist: BUTTONWOOD’S cats are normally the very picture of somnolent peacefulness. Last night, however, the purrs turned into deep growls, and the growls, all of a sudden, into a whirr of fur and fury. Listen carefully and you can […]

According to Iraq’s Prime Minister, the incompetence of the US is at least partially responsible for the massacre of Iraqi army recruits over the weekend: BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq (news – web sites)’s U.S.-backed government said on Tuesday that “major neglect” by its American-led allies led to a massacre of 49 army recruits at the […]

Two things to note from this CNN story. One is how the GOP is trying to find almost any excuse for Bush’s incompetence as far as securing the HMX and RDX explosives: But in the wake of the NBC report, the Bush campaign fired off a statement saying that Kerry’s criticism of the president over […]

This is utterly unsurprising, but still depressing: The Bush administration intends to seek about $70 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan early next year, pushing total war costs close to $225 billion since the invasion of Iraq early last year, Pentagon and congressional officials said yesterday. Perhaps now would be […]

From CNN/Money: NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wealthy Americans are becoming increasingly worried about the country’s economic outlook, and their reluctance to spend and invest is hurting growth, according to a survey released Monday. As oil prices boil to new records and Iraq continues to appear unstable, McDonald Financial Group’s Affluent Consumer Confidence Index slid to […]

One of the most worrying aspects of the Bush administration has been its consistent push to increase the power and authority of the government. This is particularly noticeable when juxtaposed to the administration’s moves to erode the ability of individuals to exercise their democratic rights to stand up against the government. Note that while the […]