A lengthy NYT article on the Tea Partiers — which Sam comments on below — does a good job of sheding light on what this movement is all about. The Tea Party is obviously one of the biggest topics in American politics right now. Their recent convention showed that they are here to stay for … Read more
In today’s Crimson, Avishai Don argues that, if California’s voter-approved gay marriage ban is upheld in the courts, it will “legitimize the concerns of the segregationists four decades ago.” But the correlation between Perry v. Schwarzenegger and Loving v. Virginia is, legally speaking, less than one-to-one, even though the comparison makes for a compelling emotional … Read more
So, we finally see the controversial Tim Tebow ad… and…. this is what everyone’s been fighting over? Transcript: Pam: I call him my miracle baby. He almost didn’t make it into this world. I can remember so many times when I almost lost him. It was so hard. Well he’s all grown up now, and … Read more
Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic’s politics editor, just gave us a glimpse of his daily reading regime, and it surprised me. There’s an astonishing reliance on Twitter, something I’ve purposefully not used as just another source of news (I don’t want really important tweets, like what my friends had for lunch, being lost in the news … Read more
Follow us as we watch President Obama’s State of the Union! Summary: Obama’s State of the Union Address was reminiscent of his victory speech on the day he was elected. He appealed to voters on all parts of the political spectrum by focusing on issues that are at the forefront of the minds of … Read more
Medical innovation, now and later Conventional wisdom dictates that, to the extent that health care reform lowers drug prices, it will reduce profits for pharmaceutical companies and limit their incentives to develop new medical innovations. While this common criticism is, perhaps, founded, the effects of reform on medical innovation may not be wholly negative. Although … Read more
Politicians’ Self-Interest and the Future of Campaign Finance Reform The debate surrounding campaign finance reform has too long revolved around esoteric questions such as whether money is speech, or whether corporations are persons under the First Amendment. Those questions are fine for the Supreme Court, but for the practical purpose of enacting meaningful campaign finance … Read more
Balancing the personal and the statistical in teacher assessments It is no secret that finding and rewarding high-quality teachers is key to addressing America’s educational shortcomings. But how governments should assess and improve teacher quality eludes decision-makers. There are two primary modes of teacher evaluation: the personal-evaluation model and the statistical, test-based model. Each … Read more
Faith-based initiatives face tough political realities When President Bush campaigned in 2000, faith-based initiatives were at the center of his “compassionate conservative” pitch, and candidate Obama promised to renew the effort to help faith-based charities secure enhanced access to government assistance and funding. But the success of faith-based initiatives has been limited both by conservatives, … Read more
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina, and where we stand today On Aug. 29, 2005, one million people were displaced overnight when Hurricane Katrina assaulted the Gulf Coast. “We plan for what we’ve experienced, but you don’t even begin to understand [a worst-case scenario] until it is upon you,” Marty Bahamonde, a FEMA employee who took refuge … Read more