Arrogance and Warming (NYT)

only explanation found

President Bush’s decision to deny California permission to regulate global warming emissions from cars can only be explained as the product of ideological blindness.

An Idea Whose Time Should Be Past (NYT)

lefty voters incarcerated

Nowhere is repeal of mandatory-sentencing policies more urgently needed than in New York, which passed its draconian drug laws in the 1970s.

Qaddafi Plays Paris and Madrid (NYT)

not dictatorial enough

Libya’s leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, has been trying to rehabilitate his international image. Despite his efforts, he still has a long way to go.

A Pause From Death (NYT)

The death penalty is neither deterrant nor retribution.

The death penalty marks the place society accords to the voice of the victim, a voice which is missing.

There's no place for that in the modern left.

The U.N. General Assembly’s vote for a global moratorium on the death penalty was a milestone, yet its symbolic weight made barely a ripple in the U.S.

Slowing the Rise in Health Costs (NYT)

reform suggested

The good news is that many of the reforms analyzed by the Commonwealth Fund might improve the quality of health care delivered to Americans.

Converting Women

I wonder what it would take to convert women over to an estrus cycle. My dog seems pretty stable emotionally.

Reefer Madness in Iowa (NYT)

60s referenced

by Maureen Dowd
We owe it to the people of Iowa to stick to critical issues like the economy, and how to get a fiscally responsible budget like we had in the ’90s, the ’90s, the ’90s ...

It’s Too Late for Later (NYT)

columnist warming

by Thomas L. Friedman
If there is one change in global consciousness on climate change that seems to have settled in the past couple of years, it is the notion that later is over.

Latter-Day Republicans vs. the Church of Oprah (NYT)

good left bad right theater

by Frank Rich
Instead of handing down tablets of what constitutes faith in America, Romney-style, the Oprah-Obama movement practices an American form of ecumenicalism.

The Candidates’ Veiled Histories (NYT)

history is written by the editorialists

All of the presidential candidates should have figured out that privacy rights are checked at the door for anyone who aspires to the Oval Office.

Why the Fed Can’t Fix It Now (NYT)

investigation called for

Whichever way the economy breaks, the vulnerability of the moment should prompt a thorough investigation of how things got to this dangerous tipping point.

Plenty of Blame for Afghanistan (NYT)

hawkish on better strategy

irretrievable badness warned

Unless the United States and Europe come up with a better strategy — and invest more money and troops — the “good war” in Afghanistan will go irretrievably bad.

Mitt’s No J.F.K. (NYT)

the projection card

by Maureen Dowd
Mitt Romney was right when he said that “Americans do not respect believers of convenience.” Now if he would only admit he’s describing himself.

Making Peace With Pieces (NYT)

the hard-to-see plonk

by Thomas Friedman

Unless there is more reconciliation within the countries in the Middle East, it is hard to see how there will be more reconciliation between them.

The Republicans Find Their Obama (NYT)

the wetback card

by Frank Rich
The real reason for Mike Huckabee’s ascendance may be that his message is more uplifting than that of rivals whose main calling cards are fear and nativism.

Auctioning Off Nevada (NYT)

Federal ownership urged

Nevadans have every right to have boccie and tennis courts. But it’s not clear why the federal government should sell off chunks of the nation to pay for them.

Show Us the Mortgage Relief (NYT)

too voluntary

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr.’s new relief plan to stanch the foreclosure crisis is too voluntary as it relies on the private sector to protect the public interest.

In Arrogant Defense of Torture (NYT)

the demand-explain-scoff-be aspect

Lawmakers should demand that the White House explain why intelligence operatives should scoff at a ban on torture that is unquestionably the law of the land.

No Child Left Behind

I wonder if ``No child left behind'' refers to the Rapture.

Utopia is not far out of the picture, in the leftist hallucination.

The Geography of Hate (NYT)

the noose menace

The graphic, above, shows some of the reported sightings of nooses in the past two years.

The High Cost of Health Care (NYT)

It would be easy, if you'd realize that it's caused by so-called insurance.

No doctor can stay in business charging more than people are willing to pay.

The relentlessly rising cost of health care is the worst long-term fiscal crisis facing the nation, and it demands a solution, but finding one will not be easy or palatable.

Banks Gone Wild (NYT)

replace novel ways of losing money by sure way of losing money

by Paul Krugman

The subprime crisis and the credit crunch are the result of our failure to effectively reform corporate governance after the last set of scandals.

New Numbers on AIDS (NYT)

important to gay readership

Even with revised estimates, the AIDS epidemic remains one of the world’s greatest scourges, requiring a strong campaign to bring it under control.

Digging In Deeper in Pakistan (NYT)

sometimes politics follows cleaning out thugs

Before plunging American forces deep into Pakistan’s borderlands, Washington needs to deal with the political crisis threatening that country’s very core.

The Immigration Wilderness (NYT)

press 1 for spanish

America is waiting for a leader to show a little backbone and courage, and risk saying that the best answer on immigration is not the simplest one.

Note, rope trigger probes (Baltimore Sun)

Nationwide noose epidemic!

It's only a question of time until an airliner returns to the airport because a noose was found in the lavatory.

This year's shark attack.

A note with racial overtones and a knotted rope found in an East Baltimore firehouse early yesterday triggered a probe by the city's fire and police departments, and the FBI has begun its own preliminary investigation into possible civil rights violations.

Newspaper Question

Were newspapers better when they put the women's pages in the second section?

Turkey Tune-Out Time (NYT)

abusive email received


by Roger Cohen

It’s time to reintroduce Americans to each other. E-mailitis is soul-ravaging — and perilous.

Ms. Paulose Departs (NYT)

conservative sacked is always a good sign

The removal of Rachel Paulose is a hopeful sign that the new attorney general, Michael Mukasey, may be serious about fixing the Justice Department.

Trying to Save Lebanon, Again (NYT)

war on islamofascism has been disappeared by the left

Lebanon is President Bush’s last viable project for expanding democracy in the Middle East. We fear if something isn’t done quickly, that too will unravel.

Congestion Relief (NYT)

Sounds good. But what is the leftist angle?

The most important promise President Bush could make to travelers is to accelerate the replacement of the antiquated radar-based traffic control system.


Aha. Command and control.

Accommodating everyone who wishes to fly is not necessarily the right idea. If Washington stopped short-changing the rail system and followed the European model, traveling a few hundred miles could take about the same time as flying when you account for waiting time.

A Modest Victory for Transit Riders (NYT)

command and control first

The formula for financing mass transportation in New York City should be changed before any fares are raised by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The Court and the Second Amendment (NYT)

fog created

We hope that the Supreme Court will render a decision respectful of the Constitution and the consequences of denying government broad room to regulate guns.

Limiting Power’s ‘Natural Tendency’ (NYT)

encroaching encroached

Lawmakers in Congress will have to stand firm to enact more needed fixes to President Bush’s deeply flawed measure that encroaches on civil liberties.

Pay Me for My Content (NYT)

whine for money


By JARON LANIER

How long must creative people wait for the Web’s new wealth to find a path to their doors?

A Swarm of Swindlers (NYT)

don't lend money to swindlers!

by Bob Herbert
Like vultures, the mortgage lenders began circling the single-family house with the tiny front lawn on Merrill Avenue.

Raising Children Behind Bars (NYT)

rush to infantalize children

The rush to criminalize children has set the country on a dangerous path.

Another Very Scary Germ (NYT)

new ``needs-to'' discovered

The development of bacterial strains that are resistant to many antibiotics is a problem that needs to be tackled broadly.

The Scientists Speak (NYT)

I'm a scientist and I say it's bullshit.

The world’s scientists have done their job on global warming. Now it’s time for world leaders, starting with President Bush, to do theirs.

What ‘That Regan Woman’ Knows (NYT)

theater review

by Frank Rich

With the filing of a lawsuit by a vengeful eyewitness who was fired from her job, the Rudy Giuliani story may just have gained its own reincarnation of Linda Tripp.

Affordable Family Planning (NYT)

money ejaculation recommended

Lawmakers should pass a bill that would make college health centers and safety-net clinics eligible for a discount on prescription contraceptives.

A Loud Legal Voice on Warming (NYT)

scientific court

A California decision on fuel-economy standards for vehicles should help persuade Congress that the time for denial on global warming is long past.

Two Sides of Mr. Sarkozy (NYT)

conflict resolvers

Nicolas Sarkozy will have to resolve the conflict between his enlightened trans-Atlantic overtures and his narrow protectionist vision for Europe.

Sifting for Facts Amid the Promises (NYT)

didn't inhale

In health as in wealth, politicians must understand they waive much of their privacy when they decide to seek the highest public office.

When Doctors Inject a Disease (NYT)

higher prices urged

New York State officials’ plan to push for the elimination of multidose vials would help provide protection for patients against contamination.

The Bluefin Slaughter (NYT)

fish hiroshima

A huge slab of raw guilt should be placed on Japan, whose voracious appetite for the bluefin has done the most to make it disappear.

Democrats Find Their Voice (NYT)

voters voting not considered

Democrats must continue to push President Bush and his Republican allies to concede their failed war policy and change course.

Transistor history (BBC)

knowledge imparted to women

Early computers, such as the ENIAC, used vacuum tubes - similar to light bulbs - to do calculations and took several people to operate.

Played for a Sucker (NYT)

continuous mistakes expected

by Paul Krugman

Barack Obama’s Social Security mistake was exactly what you’d expect from a candidate who promises to transcend partisanship in an age when that’s neither possible nor desirable.

Gorbachev’s Baggage (NYT)

Gorbasm cheapened

We see little wrong when famous people endorse products for pay. But a statesman peddling a product is seen to cheapen his historic achievement.

A Stem Cell Achievement (NYT)

Democrat cloned

The scientific success in Oregon ought to galvanize Congress to expand the array of embryonic stem cell research that can receive federal financing.

Prosecuting Blackwater (NYT)

shamefulness deplored

Contractors have been involved in some of the most shameful incidents in the Iraq war. But not one contractor has been prosecuted for crimes.

In Contempt (NYT)

checks and balances deplored

Joshua Bolten and Harriet Miers are dangerously challenging Congress’s power — and the system of checks and balances established by the founders.

Don’t Turn on Ethiopia (NYT)

strongly worded letters needed

By VICKI HUDDLESTON and TIBOR NAGY

Congress should use creative diplomacy to deal with the combined threat of insurgency and war in Ethiopia.

Obama in Orbit (NYT)

Bush not connected

by Roger Cohen
Barack Obama, in many ways, is where the world is going. He embodies interconnectedness where the Bush administration has projected separateness.

Don’t Shut Up and Play (NYT)

gossip banned

The United States Bridge Federation’s censorship on members of the American women’s bridge team is un-American.

100-to-1 Rule (NYT)

Nobody's recognizing anything but expediency.

The war on drugs is the single most destructive doctrine ever invented, except possibly price controls.

Nothing expedient about that, however. So the war on drugs continues.

Fortunately, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are finally recognizing that the crack laws are both grossly unfair and counterproductive.

Congress and the Mortgage Mess (NYT)

curb to lenders' natural urge to lose money needed.

the day of novel theory arrives.

If Congress wants to protect consumers, lawmakers must resist further efforts to cripple a bill that is designed to curtail abusive mortgage lending.

The Governor in His Labyrinth (NYT)

Clintonian roguishness suggested

The test of Gov. Eliot Spitzer is not how deep a hole he has dug for himself in his first year in office - it is whether he can figure out how to climb out of it.

Why Americans Delay Action on Climate Change (NYT)

disbelief in hokum noted

By KURT CAMPBELL

Probably the most important reason is the profound lack of public knowledge on issues related to climate matters.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda (NYT)

opportunity to do the wrong thing squandered

a liberal tragedy

by Thomas L. Friedman

President Bush squandered a historic opportunity to put America on a radically different energy course after 9/11.

The Prince and the Plane (NYT)

evil spotted

Somehow, what we’re left with is the image of a plane that is meant to take off — into its own ever-warming atmosphere of unreality.

Job Insecurities (NYT)

The standard of living depends not only on people stopping doing the wrong things, but also on their starting doing the right things.

Any incentive not to start doing right things right away screws up the incentives.

Any system that doesn't work in line with natural human incentives fails.

Any leftist never considers side effects, which are usually the chief ones, to their policy proposals.

Which is why no leftist idea ever works.

Which is why there are conservatives.

As the saying goes : if you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative at 30, you have no brain.

Preparing for layoffs, whether brought on by a downturn or by the continuing shift to a globalized economy, is the least that lawmakers can do.

Digging a Hole (NYT)

leftist candidate needed

Although he proved his tough-guy bona fides by staging a bloodless coup in 1999, Gen. Pervez Musharraf looks increasingly weak.

Where’s That Energy Bill? (NYT)

danger warned against

With Congress feeling the pressure to do something, there’s a danger that vital provisions could be dropped just for the sake of producing a bill.

The Insanity of Bush Hatred (WSJ)

If it isn't clear, it isn't French.


BY PETER BERKOWITZ
I had been invited to appear on a panel to debate the ideas in Princeton professor and American Prospect editor Paul Starr's excellent new book, "Freedom's Power: The True Force of Liberalism." To put in context Prof. Starr's grounding of contemporary progressivism in the larger liberal tradition, I recounted to the Princeton audience an exchange at a dinner I hosted in Washington in June 2004 for several distinguished progressive scholars, journalists, and policy analysts.

The Character Factor (NYT)

Captain Queeg on the ship of state

by David Brooks
There is nobody in politics remotely like Senator John McCain.

Righting Reagan’s Wrongs? (NYT)

race baited

by Bob Herbert

Ronald Reagan may have been blessed with a Hollywood smile, but he was elbow deep in the same old race-baiting Southern strategy of Goldwater and Nixon.

Public Works: When ‘Big Government’ Plays Its Role (NYT)

Keynes Lives!

By ADAM COHEN

The story of the 1930s public works programs is timely again, because much of America is falling apart.

Some Help in a New Life (NYT)

Charity for Aquinas meant thinking the best of people rather than the worst.

That's why it was redemptive for the believer.

Some time after that it came to mean money.

Charities are organizations. Organizations love money above everything.

Every penny you donate to The Times’s Neediest Cases Fund goes to seven local charities.

Don’t Rush to a Fare Hike (NYT)

public-sector effect not detected

in the private sector, nobody bears burdens they don't want to bear.

voluntary transactions happen because both sides come out ahead.

involuntary transactions happen through bearing burdens.

The M.T.A. is wrong to try to solve its problems primarily on the backs of financially burdened riders.

Structural Failures (NYT)

no tough choices involving the welfare state, for the NYT

The recent crash of an Air Force F-15 fighter jet is the latest reminder of the tough military budget choices this country will face for the foreseeable future.

All They Are Saying Is Give Happiness a Chance (NYT)

subscriptions down

By EDUARDO PORTER

Despite all the wealth we have accumulated, true happiness has lagged our prosperity.

Again and Again in the Balkans (NYT)

strongly worded letter time

The Balkans have a dismal way of living up to their stereotype as a region of ancient, intertwined and irreconcilable feuds.

Dollar Policy: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (NYT)

clueless economic theory exports rise

The stated desire for a strong dollar is on a collision course with the stated belief in market-determined exchange rates.

The Plight of American Veterans (NYT)

bleakness proposed

As an unpopular, ill-planned war in Iraq grinds on inconclusively, it can be a bleak time to be a veteran.

A Bite of the Bagel (NYT)

Bushies' fault

by Maureen Dowd
Knowing I was going to miss my Weekend Update from “Saturday Night Live,” I asked the show’s head writer to give me an update on the writers’ strike.

Democracy’s Root: Diversity (NYT)

8th century personages in the news


by Thomas Friedman
King Abdullah’s path-breaking meeting with Pope Benedict XVI surely gave many Saudi clerics heartburn. But as historic as it was, it left no trace.

The Coup at Home (NYT)

sunday theater review

by Frank Rich
Even if President Bush had the guts to condemn Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, there is no longer any moral high ground left for him to stand on.

Taint by Association (NYT)

because times readers like being lied to.

it's a shrinking market but it's all they've got.

By CLARK HOYT
The Public Editor

Why would The Times give a former analyst who lied to investors a platform to write about financial markets?

A Big Box of Eagles (NYT)

helmets with horns

The music industry is undergoing tectonic shifts, something that is beautifully illustrated by the marketing of “Long Road Out of Eden.”

Grading the Grades (NYT)

U is for union

In Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s new system for rating New York City’s public schools, the counterproductive A through F rating system should be ditched.

Abdicate and Capitulate (NYT)

insufficient politicization mocked

Democrats have done precious little to avoid giving the job of attorney general to a man who does not even have the integrity to take a stand against torture.

Recession? What Recession? (NYT)

nothing to lose but your chairs

by Bob Herbert

The elite honchos in Washington and their courtiers in the news media are all but completely out of touch with the daily struggle of working families.

Rudy and Bernie: B.F.F.’s (NYT)

resemblance terrification

by Gail Collins

The Rudy Giuliani version of loyalty, which bears a terrifying resemblance to the George W. Bush brand of loyalty, is entirely about self-protection.

New Jersey’s Verdict on Stem Cells (NYT)

new taxes proposed

The task of moving stem cell research to the next level cannot be left to the states — it needs to be underwritten by federal financing.

Roses and Reality in Georgia (NYT)

the Carter legacy

The Bush administration has a clear responsibility for insisting on a restoration of Georgia’s freedoms and a fair presidential election in January.

Hope for the Everglades (NYT)

alligator waterways and navigation bill

It’s good news that Congress overrode a veto by President Bush and approved a water resources bill that has been around for seven years.

Indicting Mr. Kerik (NYT)

troubling question alluded to

Bernard Kerik’s case raises the troubling question of why Rudolph Giuliani, a leading candidate for president, has been close to him for so long.

This Blog's Reading Level : Application Error

Application Error! The type initializer for 'Subtext.Framework.HostInfo' threw an exception.

Weblog Awards

Once again Best Individual Blogger passes us by.

McCain Says Kerik Reflects on Giuliani (AP)

Keating-five McCain, they call him.

McCain cited Kerik's relationship with his Republican presidential foe as a reason to doubt Giuliani's judgment.

Health Care Excuses (NYT)

no kidding

by Paul Krugman

The reality is that the best foreign health care systems do as well or better than the U.S. system, while costing far less money.

Beware Reality (NYT)

TV in the editorial offices

Regardless of the outcome of the Hollywood writers’ strike, we implore the networks not to let reality TV intrude further upon our free time.

Toward Greater Import Safety (NYT)

stuck in Chinese finger trap

Congress will need to flesh out the Bush administration’s vague plans with sufficient resources to protect the public from unsafe foods and products.

Veterans Without Health Care (NYT)

another solution is universal execution for leftists

One solution would be some form of universal health coverage for all Americans. Then uninsured veterans could get the care they need.

An Overdue Step for Equal Justice (NYT)

drama club

The Senate should pass a bill to outlaw discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation, and President Bush should sign it into law.

Pat Loves Rudy (NYT)

faked sincerity deplored


by Gail Collins

Maybe Rudy Giuliani’s leadership is so powerful that people exposed to it find it impossible to doubt the sincerity of his every word.

Big Tobacco Defeats Sick Kids (NYT)

shameless voters drop the NYT

The defeat of an Oregon referendum in Tuesday’s election is a testament to the shamelessness of the nation’s big tobacco companies.

Ingenuity in Space (NYT)

next week, Tommy, we'll make battery acid

Under difficult conditions on an unusually busy and lengthy mission, NASA’s astronauts accomplished their tasks impressively.