Preview of coming retractions, courtesy NYT: An alternative path is to put in place more means testing throughout Medicare. For instance, higher-income older Americans have already been paying larger Medicare premiums and receiving a lower prescription drug benefit; that’s part of what made it possible to expand the prescription benefit within budgetary constraints. This could be taken much further. Of course, the idea of cutting some government transfers provokes protest

Donald Douglas at American Power, a companion piece to Karl’s, below: Today’s big foreign policy spin is the report that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has apparently backed Barack Obama’s amorphous troop withdrawal plan for Iraq. There’s a malevolently otherworldly reaction to this around the leftosphere, where many appear to suggest that the success of the surge somehow validates the radical left-wing surrender agenda of the Democratic Party and the

As the blogosphere is abuzz with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s comments to Der Spiegel about Barack Obama’s 16-month timeframe for a withdrawal from Iraq, I would note that Allahpundit (with whom I diagreed elsewhere this morning) catches all the nuance, saving us all the time.  Maliki’s comments are based on the assumption that positive trends continue, that al Qaeda and the militias are being defeated and that political reconciliation is

Though Peter Wallsten of the L.A. Times writes that Barack Obama is doing just as badly among white evangelical voters as his party’s 2004 nominee was at this point, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life poll that forms the basis of Wallsten’s post emphasizes that John McCain has a smaller lead among white evangelical voters than Pres. Bush had at a similar point in 2004. Both takes are correct,

At The Volokh Conspiracy, Jim Lindgren writes about Barack Obama’s various position on Iraq over time, but adds this: Personally, I would prefer that, should Obama clearly pivot on what to do in Iraq, he not be attacked by either the left or the right for flip-flopping, but rather commended for responding to new realities. After all, he is likely to be President, and the earlier he takes a more

Imagine that every fourth word in “Howl” were an f-bomb, and you’ve pretty much got the idea behind this post at Feministe.

The Mexican government is honoring U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy for his defense of immigrant rights. Mexico announced Friday it will award Kennedy the Aguila Azteca, the highest honor the government can bestow on foreign dignitaries. An announcement on Mexico’s federal registry says Kennedy will be presented with a sash in the United States. The Aztec Eagle?  Anybody know the recipe? Foreign to dignity, maybe.

As I announced yesterday, I’m posting payment buttons for my bleg to defray some of the expenses of sending Brendan to his Arabic summer program and Aidan to camp. So, as promised, here is PayPal.  I can’t even make the button stick, so awesome is my HTML-fu. Amazon apparently requires 5 to 7 days to set up, so I suppose I’ll have that ready then, or if you’re really itching

So. Am I to get rich penning content for you peopleses? Doubtful, but who knows? Others have certainly made a living writing for an internet audience. The bastards. Anyway, please do me a favor and click on the icon below to take a (very very very) short survey (something like 5 questions, I think) dealing specifically with user-end web-based content acquisition. And while you’re taking the survey, just for the

The Onion — “America’s Finest News Source” and publisher of satirical “fake news” — reports: ‘Time’ Publishes Definitive Obama Puff Piece NEW YORK—Hailed by media critics as the fluffiest, most toothless, and softest-hitting coverage of the presidential candidate to date, a story in this week’s Time magazine is being called the definitive Barack Obama puff piece. *** According to political analysts, the Time piece features the most lack-of-depth reporting on