-
Sponsored Links
Follow Us!
Author Archives: Julia P
The Era of Big Government Is Over*
*Except in New York!! Not if our State Senate has anything to say about it. Let’s face it, it’s time for even the most die-hard of Democrats to admit that big government is out and fiscal responsibility is in, even if it means whittling away at key social welfare programs like early childhood education. While most other states are using every resource they can find to plug the leaks in their budgets, New York legislators are just adding to the waterfall. Bill Hammond says the “worthless State Senate,” which has rejected Paterson’s proposals to cut spending, will carry on funding overburdened, inefficient state programs until New York is functionally bankrupt. He writes: Rejecting virtually every one of Paterson’s modest midyear … More >>
Tagged david paterson
1 Comment
Was Obama-Mania Too Trendy To Last?
Remember LiveStrong bracelets? You know, those rubber yellow things from 2004? If you didn’t have one, you were relegated to the class of the horribly-uncool. Add the bonus of actually being a good cause to the cool factor, and you had a vastly successful charity campaign. But now, do you ever see someone with a LiveStrong bracelet anymore? Rarely. Is Obama-mania like a trendy charity? Sure we all had our buttons, lawn-signs (well, not in NYC, but you get my point), posters, t-shirts…the list goes on. But where are they now? More importantly, what happened to the intangibles like our thirst for change and motivation to turn America around? Have they gone the way of the charity-rubber-bracelet trend? The Times … More >>
Investigating ACORN
Seems like calling for an independent prosecutor is all the rage these days. First torture allegations and now ACORN? Charles Lipson of the Chicago Tribune says it’s time for Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an investigation and appoint an independent prosecutor to examine the operations of ACORN. Recently, ACORN employees were caught on tape giving business advice to an aspiring sex trade entrepreneur by telling him to market his business as “performance artists” and how to avoid taxes. Perhaps they’ve taken the mission of community action too far? Lipson reasons: Independent prosecutors should not be appointed lightly. But in this case, there are good reasons why Atty. Gen. Eric Holder and other political appointees in the Justice Department should … More >>
Tagged acorn
Leave a comment
A Reminder of Why We Vote
If some of you are still looking for motivation to drag yourself to the nearest polling place today, the Times‘s Adam Nagourney offers a picture that is both frightening and inspiring for young voters in his Week in Review article from this past Sunday. He examines the “geriatric gap” in American politics which suggests that perhaps the most salient distinction between voters is their age. Nagourney claims the age gap is one of the biggest forces in the debate on health care–young voters overwhelmingly approve of the President’s reform plan while older voters overwhelmingly disapprove. (One of my recent posts also examined this issue as it relates to views on gay rights). Despite young people’s support of the health care plan, there is one big hurdle to translating that … More >>
Young, Progressive, And Uninsured
Young people (such as ourselves) are overwhelmingly supportive of President Obama’s push for health care reform, as shown by a SurveyUSA poll of people ages 18-29. Only about half of this age group receives health care through an employer so one would logically assume that this is the primary motivation for supporting health care reform. A recent article from the Chicago Tribune, however, says otherwise. Even though young people are in favor of reform, the article says, they don’t see much need for health care for themselves. Thus, they seem to have tuned out the specifics of health care reform despite generally supporting it. Members of Congress and activist groups are now urging young adults to tune in. Earlier this … More >>
Opinions on Gay Rights: Ideological or Generational?
The debate over same-sex marriage tends to get defined in ideological terms based on religious conviction or conservative political leaning, but a new paper by Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips of Columbia shows that age may, in fact, be a more salient distinction when it comes to differences of opinion on gay rights. (See PDF of paper here) While figuring out there is a difference between the opinions of older and younger people isn’t rocket science, many of us don’t realize just how vast the difference is. The graphic below illustrates the views on same-sex marriage of people 65 and over (blue diamonds) and people 18-29 (red squares): Ryan Sager of True/Slant rightly points out that this chart tells us … More >>
