Apr
26
2007

URLs du Jour

2007-04-26

  • Jerry Taylor administers a well-deserved fisking to John McCain's recent speech on energy policy. It's long but thorough, and it's not pretty for anyone who might have hoped for some free-market positions to be taken by a self-described conservative candidate. Even more depressing is Jerry's punchline:
    Now, to be fair, this same intellectual horse-whipping could be administered to every single energy speech being given by every single candidate running for the presidency. So in that spirit, consider these comments as the standard-issue rebuttal to everything you.re about to hear on the campaign trail re our "addiction to oil."
    "Indeed."

  • Greg Mankiw, however, gives a half-cheer to Christopher Dodd's recent advocacy of a carbon tax. (Did you know that Senator Dodd is an actual candidate for President? Of the United States? Well, he is.) Professor Mankiw comes across as a very optimistic guy; not merely a glass-half-full type, but a happy-there's-anything-in-the-glass-at-all type. The rest of Senator Dodd's economic positions look pretty dreary, although he's not in Kucinichville.

  • An NYT article describes yesterday's oral arguments before the Supreme Court challenging the McCain-Feingold-inspired ban on some "electioneering communications" for a period before elections. It's worth reading for both content and slant. For an example of slant:
    The Supreme Court put defenders of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law on the defensive on Wednesday in a spirited argument that suggested the court could soon open a significant loophole in the measure.
    "Loopholes" are, by connotation, bad. Safe speculation: if it were the NYT whose First Amendment rights were endangered, the article would say something like "… the court could soon restore Constitutional protections eroded by the measure."

    But also worth reading on the same topic is Dahlia Lithwick in Slate, who's more obviously slanted, but more lively. Scalia "bellows"; Kennedy "intones"; and, most stunningly of all, New Hampshire's own David Souter "explodes" and then "sneers". Sigh—he seemed like such a nice guy when he lived up here. It appears being on the Supreme Court for awhile can turn you into a short-fused jerk.

    But Kip Esquire frames the real issue:

    It is preposterous — un-American — to suggest that the Bill of Rights applies in November but not December. With each new campaign finance case the Court humiliates itself even further.
    Exactly.

  • In an apparent candidate for "Bottom Story of the Day", the headline reads:
    URI Senate doesn't vote to make club apologize
    … but it's actually a bit of good news; the University of Rhode Island Student Senate has backed down from its previous threat to strip recognition from the URI College Republicans for its satirical offer of a $100 scholarship, with eligibility to only white, heterosexual American males.

    It's sad, of course, that we have one fewer higher-ed target to ridicule here at Pun Salad. But we are optimistic that, as in the past, there will always be more to come along. FIRE has, as you'd expect, more.

  • So, kinda heavy on the politics today, huh? If you're not tired yet, check the Manolo on John Edwards' hair. The Bobby Sherman connection is made, explaining (for me) why all those 40-something ladies find Edwards so fab and dreamy. (Via the Dynamist.)


Last Modified 2007-04-28 8:14 AM EDT