Over at Salon’s Broadsheet, Sara Libby – a Friend of the Blog — takes a critical look at the whiteness and maleness of the new pundit class: What bothered me about Calderone’s ranting wasn’t so much whether any of these young men deserved to break into these famously stodgy, old-school institutions — I find all their Read More
cross-posted from U.S. of J Adam Serwer has more on Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s announcement that April is Confederate History Month: The “state’s rights” in question involved the ownership of black people, and the “federal intrusion” the Confederacy opposed was the efforts of the federal government to secure the rights of black Americans. Through the Read More
Ta-Nehisi Coates on the “not black enough” phenomena: When Obama himself asserted that a kids in black neighborhoods who read are assailed as “acting white” it really annoyed me–mostly because I’ve been that kid all my life, known kids like that all my life, and I’d never heard anything like that. I certainly heard “nerd” Read More
I have yet to see Green Zone, Matt Damon’s Bourne-esque latest, but I’ve been enjoying the commentary surrounding it. For instance, here’s Freddie DeBoer with his take on conservative criticism of the film: What’s really behind these charges of “slander,” I suspect, is that this movie tells the bald truth about America’s involvement in Iraq: Read More
Over the past week, there have been at least two glorious instances of hilariously racist rhetoric. Last week, Arizona Rep. Trent Franks suggested that African-Americans were better off under slavery, given the abortion rate in black communities. Shani deals with the problems inherent in that argument in her piece for the American Prospect. I’ll just Read More
E.D. Kain on Tea Partiers and rural whites: But I wonder, have rural whites (i.e. angry rednecks) really been in power for decades? And what do we mean by “in power” anyways? Is it possible that people in general have simply been more in control over their own destinies in the past, making most of Read More
With a few slight adjustments, of course! That is, the White House’s recently released health care proposal is virtually identical to the Senate’s health care bill, with a few notable changes (if you’d rather not go to the White House site, you can read the full proposal here): The White House’s proposal eliminates the Nebraska Medicaid exemption Read More
This analysis of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (aka: the stimulus), by New York Times reporter David Leonhardt, is the most important thing you’ll read today: Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked. Let’s say this bill had started spending money within a matter of Read More
This doesn’t make any sense (via LA Times): As President Obama’s approval ratings sag and the mood of voters sours, some Democratic congressional candidates are distancing themselves from the White House, with the back-channel blessing of party officials. The candidates are positioning themselves as independent voices no less frustrated with the Obama administration than people Read More
x-posted from U.S. of J. The fact that the University of Virginia’s student newspaper would use the words “African magic” in a description of an op-ed should give you a few signs as to its quality (to say nothing of the op-ed itself): “June Bug,” our rented Toyota Spark, took us everywhere we wanted to go. Read More
