Category Archives: law

Quote of the Day

Why did the stimulus go wrong? In the end, we took a soapbox racer to a go-kart track and then realized we were competing against actual cars. Great analogy — and better analysis — by Ezra Klein.

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The conservative contradiction

In reflecting on Rand Paul and his ever-changing principles, the Lexington Herald-Ledger makes an interesting point about all the small-government types.  Perhaps it says less about the ranters who are leveraging widespread dissatisfaction into cynical grasps for office, and more … Continue reading

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The President and the Ring

I hate to turn into just a site that reposts The Daily Show but sometimes they’re spot on.  The continued failure of President Obama to live up to his pre-election rhetoric on the rule of law is the most galling … Continue reading

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The impact of sharing, a case study

This is an excellent TED talk about what intellectual property people can learn from the fashion industry. In essence, there is no IP protection in fashion (except for trademark), and yet its economic impact dwarfs highly-protected fields like music or … Continue reading

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Seconded…

This piece from the Atlantic captures my feeling pretty close to exactly, re: the recent Rand Paul flap on the Civil Rights Act and his alleged “courage”.  In particular, the conclusion: Now, after the police dogs, night-sticks and fire-hoses have … Continue reading

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Stabilizing US Debt

Everyone says they could balance the budget if they were in charge.  Few understand what would be involved.  I just played a neat simulator that actually allowed me to explore what different policies would do. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to … Continue reading

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Even better visualization of Facebook’s vanishing privacy

This (http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/) is an animated illustration of how Facebook has been increasingly defining your personal data as “open to everyone”.

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A fantastic visual response to “Show us your papers” in AZ…

From the cartoonist Lee Judge ( http://media.kansascity.com/images/cartoons/judge/04-2010/judge_04272010_700.jpg)

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How to Lie with the Truth — and how to counter it

A meme spreading like wildfire throughout the rabid right is that “47% of Americans don’t even pay federal income tax.”  Clearly it’s time for another tax cut for the uber-wealthy in the interest of “fairness”. David Leonhardt wrote a piece … Continue reading

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16,500 : a “mistake” so egregious as to be a lie

Where did the rabid right get the figure of 16,500 new “IRS agents” that (they claim) will be required to enforce the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act? They made it up. Really.  It came from nowhere.  In fact, … Continue reading

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