Tim Russert is Bob Somerby’s Bi**h There’s not really any other way to read this installment of the Daily Howler. AB

Bush to Repeal Steel Tariffs The Washington Post is reporting that Bush has decided to repeal the steel tariffs. Given the growing crowd of countries that had recently announced that they would retaliate by putting tariffs on US products (as noted by AB in this post), I’m not surprised. As I argued in another earlier […]

More Medicare Part of the reason I made this graph of the just-passed Medicare Prescription drug benefit was to facilitate some clear thinking on the subject by commenters and other bloggers. In this post, Ruy Texiera points out that [Seniors] will be hyper-aware of how much they will and will not be helped by the […]

Era of Big Government, Cont’d. John McCain sums it up nicely: “Congress is now spending money like a drunken sailor,” said McCain, a former Navy officer, “and I’ve never known a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination that this Congress has.” [snip] “The administration originally supported an energy bill that would cost about $8 […]

Free Trade and Retaliation Up to now, most of my arguments — and Kash’s — in favor of free trade have been premised on the idea that access to inexpensive imports is good for U.S. consumers and also good for the countries selling the goods. A second line of argument is that when the imports […]

Are Faculty in the Humanities Liberal? Yes, almost surely so. But Stanley Fish, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has what I think is the right response: David Brooks is only the most recent sage to point out that, especially in the humanities and social […]

Even the Pro-Free Trade Paul Krugman Via Matt Yglesias, Paul Krugman offers some thoughts that I think a fair number of Angry Bear readers will agree with: First and foremost, the promise of export-led growth has failed in too many places. In particular, Latin America has signally failed to replicate Asia’s success: Latin nations have […]

More Reading For Your Thanksgiving Enjoyment This one is suitable for children, but should be digusting to everyone. Bob Novack, in the Sun-Times: On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father’s vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they […]

The Era of Big Government, Continued In the NYT today: Broad Bills Stuffed With Lawmakers’ Pet Items. Some highlights: “A provision benefiting a specific hospital in Tennessee was added to the Medicare bill at the last minute in an effort to get the vote of Representative Harold E. Ford Jr., Democrat of Tennessee … Mr. […]

In Case You Haven’t Seen It Yet … … I offer you this exchange for your Thanksgiving amusement (warning: not suitable for children): [Neil Bush’s] ex-wife’s attorney sounded skeptical. “Mr. [Neil] Bush, you have to admit it’s a pretty remarkable thing for a man just to go to a hotel room door and open it […]