a scratch pad for half-formed thoughts by a liberal political junkie who's nobody special. ''Hard Heads, Soft Hearts'' is the title of a book by Princeton economist Alan Blinder, and tends to be a favorite motto of neoliberals, especially liberal economists.
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Deep Thought (in no way related to events of last night): By not supporting cheap late-night transit, conservatives are trying to impose Sharia law on me The American People: sip some tea, pray for all the boozers who you, generous soul, have personally informed and assured that you will pray for, then drive home.

(via Google): Save The Children's Somalia food crisis appeal

Jibril Mohamed - Famine in Somalia: Was it always like this?

The current famine and the previous one in 1992 are the result of a meaningless war that began in 1991 when the last effective government of Somalia was ousted from power by aimless warlords who mobilized their clansmen to create chaos. Somalia was in better shape than the grim situation that has become the norm for the past two decades, and I have hope that the future is much brighter than this.

Somalia joined the league of world nations in 1960. In the first 30 years of its existence, the country proved itself as a leader in democracy, diplomacy and development. In the 1970s, Somalia had undertaken ambitious development and diplomatic initiatives. The Somali language was written and literacy levels jumped from a meager 5% to more than 60%. . .

. . .In 1991, when civil war broke out, the simple life I loved was no more. I walked eleven days and eleven nights to find safety in Kenya. I found refuge at the Dadaab Refugee camps where my education was supported by the generous people of the United States. I started teaching mathematics and business studies at a tender age and I will always remember the malnourished faces of my 320 students who sat under the scorching sun of Dadaab for six hours every day to get an education from a youthful teacher who was considered a wealthy man by the standards of the camp despite making $30 a month. . .

Arthur Silber - Power of Narrative

. . .Did these two young men actually riot or loot? Did they themselves participate in the events they wrote about? Did they mean the Facebook posts seriously -- or just as some kind of joke?

But you see, the government isn't interested in any of those questions. And they didn't charge the two young men with actual rioting or looting. They charged them for the Facebook entries. For what they wrote. That's it. . .

Reclusive Leftist - Dr. Socks says hi

Hey everybody. I’m doing well; healing up nicely. I feel better every day. Thank you all for your kind wishes and support. I think I must have the nicest commentariat in the world. . .

. . . when you’re one of the people who actually needs Social Security and Medicare. . .

. . .For the rest of us, it’s no game.

I was wondering the other night about FDR. What motivated the man? He was rich, he was upper class, he was set for life. Why did he fight so hard for the working folks? Whatever it was, we need to bottle it and spike the drinks of everyone in Washington. . .

Susie Madrak - These kids today

This is pretty amazing!

. . .On a bleak winter hiking trip to the Catskill Mountains, the 7th-grader from New York noticed a pattern among tree branches, and determined (as naturalist Charles Bonnet did in 1754) that the pattern represented the Fibonacci sequence of numbers. Aidan wondered why, and figured it had something to do with photosynthesis.

In a pretty innovative experiment, this intrepid young scientist set about duplicating an oak tree, comparing its sunlight-capturing abilities to a traditional rooftop solar panel array. Guess what he found?. . .

(Via Shakesville): Towleroad - New Immigration Rules Could Help Same-Sex Couples

The Obama administration announced yesterday that immigration officials, guided by the Department of Homeland Security, can now use "prosecutorial discretion" to stop deportation for illegal immigrants who pose no threat to the nation.

While the move will largely benefit people who illegally entered the United States as children, Metro Weekly reports that the new policy will also help same-sex binational couples. . .

I think the Obama team has been taking some heat from some conservatives for this decision. But I think the principle of prosecutorial discretion is very, very important, something we all understand when it comes to laws it's possible for us to break, at the very least traffic laws. If the Obama adminstration sticks with this in the face of criticism, they'll deserve a lot of credit.

Yglesias

". . .I believe my business and non-profit investments are much more beneficial to societal well-being than sending more money to Washington.”
— Charles G. Koch, Chairman and CEO, Koch Industries, Inc.

I think what this misses is that government programs, as inefficient and mediocre and expensive as they may be, are willing to take line responsibility for things the private sector either can not, or will not. Social Security does take line responsibility for the incomes of most retirees. Medicare does take line responsibility for medical care for most retirees. Unless and until the private sector and the non-profit sector is willing to take line responsibility for these important jobs in the same way government currently does, government programs are worth taxing for, and worth paying taxes for.

Yglesias: . . .Hiking mass transit fares while cutting services is not some kind of close substitute to dealing with the projected increases in the cost of health care. It’s not just small relative to the scale of the real fiscal issue, it’s completely irrelevant. A form of short-term pain that has no benefit over the long-term.

Matthew Yglesias - Business Opposition To Economic Recovery

. . .My point is just that during the Great Depression insistence on monetary orthodoxy was worse than a crime, it was a mistake. The leading lights of the business community were perfectly sincerely in their belief that financial orthodoxy was good for America, and they were also completely wrong. Not just wrong about what was good for America, but about what was wrong for their own businesses. . .

. . .We could spend the next 80 years trying to understand the psychological, ideological, and class biases behind these views. The fact of the matter, however, is that the Chamber of Commerce was mistaken. . .[business leaders], even if they’re very smart about the businesses they run, don’t have particular insight into macro-stability issues.

Matthew Yglesias - To Save The Economy, You Sometimes Need To Ignore Business

Many on the right and center indicate that in order to restore the economy, President Obama needs to do more to cater to the whims of rich businessmen. Many on the left feel that this is exactly wrong and that in order to restore the economy, President Obama needs to do more to stick it to the rich and dispossess them. History suggests that both are wrong. Economic recovery would be good for business, but businessmen who may be good at running businesses are extremely bad judges of macroeconomic policy . . .

. . .The Depression was not good for big business. Nor was it good for banks and large financial institutions. Ending the Depression required stepping on some toes, but fundamentally the Depression was a negative-sum experience and everyone was better off when growth returned. But here’s a couple New York Times articles from June of 1933 — “Plea” from June 2, “Return to Gold” from June 4 — showing the business community’s intense hostility to the expansionary monetary policy that eventually saved all their skins. . .

. . .running an economy is not the same as running a nationwide network of big box retailers, or a diversified conglomerate, or a large bank, or an innovative electronics company, or any other successful business. People generally understand this in reverse. Nobody ever said “Bill Clinton was a good president, so he’d be a great replacement for Bill Gates when he steps down at Microsoft.” But it’s true the other way ’round as well. . .

Jessica Valenti - Learning to love my baby

After a life-threatening pregnancy and a premature birth I was scared to hold my newborn daughter – or to get too attached . . .

. . .Even today, with Layla pudgy and happy and starting to say words such as "kitty" and "baby", I worry about her health constantly and, at times, can feel myself starting to drift away from her. It takes work, more than I'd like to admit. If we really value parenting, if we value mothers and children, then we'll lose the notion that there's a proper way to love a baby. Believe me, mums will thank you.

Digby - And now for some good news...

. . .From about 7:00 every morning to 10:00 (or later) every night, activists from 18 states stood out in 100-degree heat, intense pouring rain and everything in between to stand with Dr. Carhart, his excellent staff and the women they serve with dignity, compassion and respect. At many points during those nine days we outnumbered the antis. Members of the community kept stopping by with doughnuts, drinks and thank yous for our service. There was no violence, the clinic stayed open, and we did a great job representing the pro-choice majority in this country . . .

posted by Anonymous at 4:54 PM