Fact of the Day

85% of upstate New York residents live within 25 miles of the Erie Canal.

Quote of the Day

Plantiga's definition of a fundamentalist:

A stupid ass whose theological beliefs are to the right of me and my enlightened friends.

The Indictment of President George W. Bush

I'm not, nor ever have been a Bush hater. I didn't vote for him, but I don't think he was some loon running amok. The Iraq War wasn't a net positive, but I understand the impetus and the seemingly necessity of taking care of rogue nations. Nevertheless, from a more fundamental point of view President Bush was a disaster. At a time when our nation needed (and could afford) fiscal/domestic leadership, he flushed it down the toilet.

As the Mr. Douthat points out in a response to Mr. Mead's excellent post:

In hindsight, I suspect, the most damning judgment on the politics of the 2000s will be that our leaders (well, many of them, at least) misjudged how long they had before the fiscal crunch arrived. It was understood, throughout the decade, that once the baby boomers retired there would have to be an era of belt-tightening and fiscal retrenchment — but that moment still seemed a long (or at least a medium) way off, and the problem of the entitlement system’s sustainability seemed like it could wait for the late 2010s or early 2020s.

He goes on to say:

Looking backward, though, it’s very bad news for the legacy of George W. Bush, whose fiscal record looks much more irresponsible in the cold light of hindsight than it did while he was in the White House. For a time, Bush’s hope for rehabilitation seemed to rest on the possibility of a decent outcome in Iraq, but now I suspect that even that won’t be enough to rescue his reputation: Both right and left bear responsibility for letting the 2000s slip away, but Bush was the decider, and his budgetary decisions look worse and worse with every passing day.

Alas.

Funding Your State

The Great Recession may be officially over, but states throughout the land are still facing difficult budget decisions. They need to decide what to fund and how to raise the money. Too often in discussions of taxation we focus on income tax or just federal taxes when in fact we have a whole slew of taxes. Instead we need to talk about the tax burden citizens face rather than particular tax rates (e.g., the rich may face the highest income tax rate, however, if their income is from dividends their tax burden is significantly less).

You particularity see this tax reality with separate states. For example, in my lovely state of South Dakota we have no income tax, yet one of the higher property tax rates. As far as sales tax we are on the lower end, however, many more items are tax (e.g., groceries and clothes, while high tax MN exempts those items). Needless to say, tax policy is super fun.  Check out these state graphics:

OR

A 5 year old Girl's Prayer OR Semper Fi, Moon

From the Sandbox, via Best Defense:

          God bless all our friends and daycare,
          and all our teachers at daycare ...

          God bless soldiers and sailors,
          polar bears and penguins ...

God bless astronauts and Space Shuttles.
God bless marines and ballerinas.

Amen

A Picture

From: APOD

Copyright: Credit & Copyright: Bret Webster

Screwed...again

The NBA draft lottery was held today. The Timberwolves, once again, were in position to receive a great pick with odds on to receive the second pick. But, of course, it didn't happen. Take it away Star Trib:

Minnesota was awarded the fourth pick in next month’s NBA draft during Tuesday’s lottery, extending its history of never moving up via the league’s talent raffle. The Wolves’ 15-67 record was the second-worst in the NBA, but for the seventh time in 12 lottery appearances, they were moved down in the draft-selection order when two other teams, this time Washington and Philadelphia, were randomly drawn ahead of them.

Sweet... sure this is a deep draft, but sheesh...

Diversity and the Supreme Court

As widely reported President Obama has nominated Elena Kagan to replace Justice Stevens on the Supreme Court of the United States (or SCOTUS). Much ink has been spilled on your qualifications, her point of view (Democrat, but too much or too little?), her gender, and her religious affiliation (with her on the court we'd have 3 Jews and 6 Catholics).

However, one point that has been little discussed is the lack of geographical diversity on the court. With Ms. Kagan's appointment we have 4 justices from NYC, 1 from New Jersey, 2 from California. 1 from Georgia, and one from Indiana. That's 8 justices growing up within 50 miles of the ocean. This isn't necessarily bad, but it does highlight a true diversity "issue." Nine justices can't represent the whole country, but it's a worrying trend when justices aren't familiar with rural areas, don't really know what a starry night looks like, and have no experience with life in the middle of the country.

........................
For some interesting analysis read David Brooks, who highlights the problem of our nominating incentives. I'm also with Matthew Yglesias who argues that we should change the lifetime appointment to 15 years.  

An Excellent Political Ad

We are soon coming to political ad season across America, but some states get an early taste with primary season. Here is an excellent political ad from Pennsylvania by Sestak attacking Spector for switching parties. You may not agree with the sentiment, but it's a good one.


For some short analysis, check out this post by The Atlantic's Joshua Green.

El Sol

I've always wanted to be an astronaut.


HT: APOD