"Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"" - Ranjit Mathoda
"The Pro-IP Act would establish a new copyright enforcement division with the Department of Justice and create a new position for a federal copyright enforcement czar. The bill would also enable law enforcement agents to seize property from copyright infringers." - Ranjit Mathoda
"Wow, that's a long bike ride! An additional idea I've heard on how to be better at keeping your commitments is make a bet. It doesn't have to be monetary, and you can either make it with someone else, or you can tell yourself that if you don't keep the commitment you will instead take some other action (like donating to a charity). The idea is to increase the unpleasantness of not keeping the commitment..." - Ranjit Mathoda
"Most Americans (59%) think that news organizations have overcovered the Wright controversy. About two-thirds of Democrats (66%) and nearly as many independents (59%) say that news organizations have devoted too much coverage to Wright's recent speeches. But as many as half of Republicans agree that Wright's comments have received too much coverage." - Ranjit Mathoda
Economist Bryan Caplan: "With arguments like these, I doubt that I'll be getting any phone calls from Hillary's team. Her [gas tax suspension] proposal is defensible; it's just not defensible using arguments that the American people wants to hear." - Ranjit Mathoda
Microsoft: "We have no plans or commitments to implement any new type of content filtering in the Zune devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC. We think some folks in the industry were expressing hopes for how the entire industry, not just Microsoft, would come to look at content distribution, and some speculation has ensued. Again, no plans are in place toward this end." - Ranjit Mathoda
"German auto-maker Daimler is the latest foreign company to consider setting foot once again in Iraq, as it contemplates opening an office in Baghdad." - Ranjit Mathoda
"To continue Paul's analogy, Myhrvold's company gets together a bunch of mountain climbers and asks them about mountains they think may be worth climbing. They put together a map and brand it as an Intellectual Ventures map. The government says if you want to go up that trail, you must buy that map." - Ranjit Mathoda
"Of particular interest, the researchers reported, the analysis identified families of genes that link the platypus to reptiles (like those for egg-laying, vision and venom production), as well as to mammals (antibacterial proteins and lactation). The platypus lacks nipples; the young nurse through the abdominal skin." - Ranjit Mathoda
Doesn't matter. It's not the President's responsibility to solve economic problems. A reading of the Constitution reveals how actual change power a President has. It's Congress that inacts change. The President just says yea or nay. And even the Congress can say "thanks for your opinion, but we're still going with our plan" - Casper
Economics isn't useful just to solve "economic" problems. The House of Representatives actually starts money related legislation, but usually they negotiate with the executive first, particularly if it's the same party. The Constitution isn't just a paper; it takes people with customs to put it in effect. - Ranjit Mathoda
posted a message
“Analysts are saying by winning NC decisively and basically tying in IN, Obama has won”
