Al Franken is running for the Senate in 2008. This is great news for Norm Coleman, who could be a vulnerable GOP incumbent otherwise. Al Franken is one of the most thin-skinned people out there, his speaking style is atrocious, and Minnesota’s last affair with electing someone to office based solely on celebrity didn’t go [...]
Hugo Chavez has made himself dictator of Venezuela, abandoning any pretext of democratic rule: Mr Chavez has said the legislation will transform the country into a socialist society. Opponents describe the new law as an abuse of power. In the open-air public ceremony in the capital, lawmakers voted unanimously to grant the Venezuelan leader the [...]
The science blog Respectful Insolence has an excellent and in-depth piece on why why the “miracle drug” DCA isn’t a cure for cancer and why the conspiracy stories surrounding it are baseless. Once again, the people who scream the loudest have the least informed opinions: What irritates me about the hysteria some bloggers are whipping [...]
The Economist has a good piece on the realities of the minimum wage increase: We have written a fair bit about the question of minimum wages over the last few months. It is probable that the minimum wage increase will not cost enough jobs to make its effects readily distinguishable from random economic variation. It [...]
NBC News ran this rather frank interview with American troops in Iraq on how they deal with the criticism of the war: They’re right — the “dissent” over the war with Iraq cannot be made without consideration that it actively makes the jobs of our troops harder. The argument that “dissent” is automatically “patriotic” is [...]
The Los Angeles Times notes that the Big Three automakers are trying to blame their woes on Japan rather than try and fix the problems which are making American automobiles non-competitive. As the piece notes: The Big Three have hurt themselves with overly generous union contracts, including lavish health and retirement benefits and restrictive work [...]
Bill Roggio has more on this weekend’s fighting in the Iraqi city of Najaf, home to the Shrine of the Imam Ali, one of the holiest sites in Shi’ite Islam. Over 300 Sunni terrorists and Shi’ite cultists were killed in the battle. 2 US and 8 Iraqi soldiers and police died in the fighting. This [...]