Afternoon Vid: Redemption Controversial When It Comes to Animal Torture
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 03:16 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - President Obama's call to Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has gotten a lot of attention. The president reportedly praised the Eagles for accepting quarterback Michael Vick, after the quarterback did time in prison for dogfighting. Some, including, apparently, the president, think Vick has served his time, and deserves a second chance. But as Mediaite's Matt Schneider notices, Megyn Kelly at Fox News is having none of it. Inviting two guests on to debate, she lists the torture to which Vick subjected dogs unwilling to fight--hangings, beatings, "rape stands" for females, and more. Here's the discussion: Full Story | Top |
The SEC Investigation That Could Make Facebook Go Public
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 03:08 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - Silicon Valley darlings like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have weathered periodic waves of speculation about whether they were poised to go public, but the rumors never bore fruit. None of the social networking sites are traded on a stock exchange. Full Story | Top |
Cut America's debt, but spare Social Security
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:20 am PST
The Christian Science Monitor - America is whipping itself into a frenzy because of debt. Listen to the chairmen of President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission and other deficit-cutters and you're likely to hear an "underlying moral tone," as economist John Irons puts it. The debt-cutters say Americans need to: Full Story | Top |
Top Tweets: Elton John's Baby Edition
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 01:59 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - 1970s rock fans everywhere had an excuse to play one of their favorite Elton John songs on repeat today. John and partner David Furnish announced they were welcoming home their new son, Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, who was born on Christmas Day. On Twitter, many congratulations and references to other famous John lyrics ensued. The Guardian was excited about its clever headline for the occassion .bbpBox19855795457884160 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/23462264/GuardianTwitterBackground.gif) #9AE4E8;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block} You can tell everybody, this is our son: Elton John becomes a father at 63 http://gu.com/p/2m4a3/tfless than a minute ago via twitterfeedGuardianUSAGuardianUSA Full Story | Top |
As New Jersey Declares Emergency, Gov. Christie Enjoys Disney World
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 01:13 pm PST
The Atlantic Wire - As New Jersey reels from a blizzard that disabled much of the state this week, two people are missing: Governor Chris Christie and Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, who are both on vacation out-of-state, leaving Senate President Stephen Sweeny as the interim governor. Some pundits are calling this a bit of a political faux pas for Christie, who was at Disney World while New Jersey was under a state of emergency. The question of whether it actually matters for New Jersey's ability to handle the crisis seems less controversial, with most observers conceding it doesn't make much difference. But there are two big pieces of political context: Christie's harsh rebukes of state employees and his growing national profile. Over the past month, pundits have branded Christie as an unlikely rising Republican star, a false idol for conservatives, or a viable 2012 challenger to Obama. Here's what they're saying about Disney-World-Snow-Gate 2010. Full Story | Top |
Evaluating Libertarianism
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:01 am PST
The Atlantic Wire - Beam's History Is Going to Be Useful to Outsiders who don't pay attention to this stuff, writes David Weigel at Slate. "But no case against libertarianism sounds very compelling right now, because any alternative to the managed economy sounds great to a country with 9.9 percent unemployment," he figures. "Do libertarians promise utopia? Sure. So do the socialists who came up with the ideas that motivate Democratic politicians. Voters don't care much about where ideas come from as long as they have jobs. Now, the real test for libertarians will come if a year of Republican austerity budgeting is followed by economic growth." Discrepancy: 'The Founders Were Not Libertarians. They Were Constitutionalists,' points out John Vecchione on the conservative blog, Frum Forum. Beam, as a "liberal critic" of libertarianism, falls prey to making this "founders" mistake that even many libertarians get wrong. To put it simply: Beam's assertion that the "Constitution was a libertarian document" is not true. The Constitution, argues Vecchione, limited the federal government to certain roles--but it did not so limit "the state." The founders, in fact, should be defined as Constitutionalists rather than libertarians. "The Founders believed in carefully delineated federal powers either broad (Hamilton) or limited (Jefferson, sometimes) but all believed in a more powerful state than libertarians purport to believe in," writes Vecchione. "If ever there was a libertarian document it was the Articles of Confederation. ... It was in fact, the hot mess that critics of libertarians believe their dream state would be ... and it was recognized as such by the majority of the country and was why the Constitution was ratified."Quibble: 'No Inherent Reason' Why Free-Marketers Are Aligned With Social Conservatives? At ThinkProgress, Matthew Yglesias objects to one small part of Christopher Beam's treatise: his characterization that "there’s no inherent reason that free-marketers and social conservatives should be allied under the Republican umbrella." This is a common refrain among libertarians, figures Yglesias, but there's a reason why this coalition came to fruition:If you look at American history, you see that in 1964 when we had a libertarian presidential candidate the main constituency for his views turned out to be white supremacists in the deep south. Libertarian principles, as Rand Paul had occasion to remind us during the 2010 midterm campaign, prohibit the Civil Rights Act as an infringement on the liberty of racist business proprietors. Similarly, libertarians and social conservatives are united in opposition to an Employment Non-Discrimination Act for gays and lesbians and to measures like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that seek to curb discrimination against women. And this is generally how politics goes in most countries. You have a dominant socio-cultural group allied with the bulk of the business community, and you have a more diffuse "left" coalition of reformers associated with labor unions and minority groups. There’s nothing "inconsistent" about organizing politics this way. Full Story | Top |
Are Americans Spending Money Again?
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 10:06 am PST
The Atlantic Wire - This year, Americans ramped up their holiday shopping--particularly on clothing and jewelry--to a degree not seen since before the recession. Consumer spending rose by 5.5 percent relative to last year--more than many analysts expected--while online sales increased by 15 percent, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse, which tracks all retail sales except automobiles from early November through Christmas Eve. Not all sectors performed well; electronics, for example, experienced only modest gains as new technologies like 3D sets flopped and a television surplus caused TV prices to decline. Full Story | Top |
What Is Libertarianism?
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 09:19 am PST
The Atlantic Wire - Beam's History Is Going to Be Useful to Outsiders who don't pay attention to this stuff, writes David Weigel at Slate. "But no case against libertarianism sounds very compelling right now, because any alternative to the managed economy sounds great to a country with 9.9 percent unemployment," he figures. "Do libertarians promise utopia? Sure. So do the socialists who came up with the ideas that motivate Democratic politicians. Voters don't care much about where ideas come from as long as they have jobs. Now, the real test for libertarians will come if a year of Republican austerity budgeting is followed by economic growth." Discrepancy: 'The Founders Were Not Libertarians. They Were Constitutionalists,' points out John Vecchione on the conservative blog, Frum Forum. Beam, as a "liberal critic" of libertarianism, falls prey to making this "founders" mistake that even many libertarians get wrong. To put it simply: Beam's assertion that the "Constitution was a libertarian document" is not true. The Constitution, argues Vecchione, limited the federal government to certain roles--but it did not so limit "the state." The founders, in fact, should be defined as Constitutionalists rather than libertarians. "The Founders believed in carefully delineated federal powers either broad (Hamilton) or limited (Jefferson, sometimes) but all believed in a more powerful state than libertarians purport to believe in," writes Vecchione. "If ever there was a libertarian document it was the Articles of Confederation. ... It was in fact, the hot mess that critics of libertarians believe their dream state would be ... and it was recognized as such by the majority of the country and was why the Constitution was ratified."Quibble: 'No Inherent Reason' Why Free-Marketers Are Aligned With Social Conservatives? At ThinkProgress, Matthew Yglesias objects to one small part of Christopher Beam's treatise: his characterization that "there’s no inherent reason that free-marketers and social conservatives should be allied under the Republican umbrella." This is a common refrain among libertarians, figures Yglesias, but there's a reason why this coalition came to fruition:If you look at American history, you see that in 1964 when we had a libertarian presidential candidate the main constituency for his views turned out to be white supremacists in the deep south. Libertarian principles, as Rand Paul had occasion to remind us during the 2010 midterm campaign, prohibit the Civil Rights Act as an infringement on the liberty of racist business proprietors. Similarly, libertarians and social conservatives are united in opposition to an Employment Non-Discrimination Act for gays and lesbians and to measures like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that seek to curb discrimination against women. And this is generally how politics goes in most countries. You have a dominant socio-cultural group allied with the bulk of the business community, and you have a more diffuse "left" coalition of reformers associated with labor unions and minority groups. There’s nothing "inconsistent" about organizing politics this way. Full Story | Top |
Barack Obama Is a Michael Vick Fan?
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:37 am PST
The Atlantic Wire - How Did Vick Become the Victim? Commentary Magazine’s Jonathan S. Toobin notes that some Vick supporters see the quarterback as "a victim of prejudice against African-Americans who have served time in prison," and suggests that by endorsing Vick, the President is, in fact, endorsing is argument. Full Story | Top |
Conservatives Split Over Opposition to Michelle Obama's Obesity Drive
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 07:16 am PST
The Atlantic Wire - First Lady Michelle Obama's push against child obesity, which mostly calls for reforming school lunch programs, is either nanny state big government "run amok," as Sarah Palin put it, or, as some conservatives concede, a relatively unoffensive effort to make kids healthier. The issue has exposed a slight but interesting divide in the conservative commentariat, which cannot seem to agree on whether they should let the first lady's effort slide or oppose it with all their might. The split reveals a difference of opinion on just how "laissez faire" school lunchrooms should be as well as the limits of anti-Obama opposition just for opposition's sake. Here's what they're saying. Full Story | Top |
Cutting Social Security will not fix the national debt
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:35 am PST
The Christian Science Monitor - Washington is panicking over the national debt. Powerful members of Congress, spurred on by recommendations made by some members of President Obama’s recently concluded fiscal commission, are planning an aggressive legislative agenda to balance the books. Part of this strategy is attacking Social Security. Full Story | Top |
Harmful US hypocrisy on freedoms abroad
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:35 am PST
The Christian Science Monitor - Times are tough for organizations around the world working on sensitive issues such as human rights, governance, religious freedom, and humanitarian aid. As individual human rights and political liberties have declined over the past few years, governments worldwide have also restricted the capabilities of independent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), preventing them from operating freely, or at all. Full Story | Top |
Is Jon Stewart Today's Edward R. Murrow?
Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:29 am PST
The Atlantic Wire - Chronicling Jon Stewart's role in drawing national attention to the stalled bill granting health care for 9/11 first responders, the New York Times' Bill Carter and Brian Stelter suggest that the Daily Show host could be "the modern-day equivalent of Edward R. Murrow." They say Stewart single-handedly "turned the momentum around" on the once-doomed legislation much in the same way that "Edward R. Murrow turned public opinion against the excesses of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s." Are they right? Here's what media-watchers are saying about the comparison and what it reveals about today's media. Full Story | Top |
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