Reading the news that Arlen Spector has joined the Democratic Party, I felt a moment of jubilee and then, upon reflection, a bit of concern.
I sort of like checks and balances. Once/If Franken ever gets to Washington, the Dems are filibuster-proof.
More worrisome, can you guess when the last time the Democratic party held a filibuster-proof [...]
Archive for the ‘politics’ Category
Arlen Spector
Posted in politics on April 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I.O.U.
Posted in politics on February 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Oh. My. God.
I wonder how many of the [relatively highly-taxed] citizens of CA will return the favor by sending in I.O.U.s with their 540s?
Perhaps they ought to impose an unwanted furlough on their representatives and deduct accordingly?
Fact Vs. Belief
Posted in gender, politics on December 18, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Via an article on cnn.com:
Considering that Clinton’s departure will leave only 16 women in the Senate out of 100 senators, many feminists BELIEVE women are underrepresented on Capitol Hill.
Ummmm, 16 out of 100 means that women ARE underrepresented on Capitol Hill. This is a social FACT in need of explanation, not a BELIEF held only [...]
It starts…
Posted in politics on December 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My inbox is awash with Obama problems. I gave money to the No on Prop 8 campaign as well as Obama’s election campaign (not much at all, but apparently $30 rates numerous emails). The Prop 8 people are pretty pissed about Rick Warren giving the invocation at the inauguration. I’m also on a listserve of [...]
Homophily in Politics
Posted in politics on October 21, 2008 | 8 Comments »
As the presidential election gets nastier, I’ve been reflecting a bit on homophily. I suspect that we academics must rank fairly highly on this (though tell me if I am wrong). I DO think it’s a problem but it certainly makes life a heck of a lot easier.
I’ve gotten into a bit of trouble lately [...]
Sarah Palin, Post-Debate
Posted in politics on October 3, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I’ve been going back and forth on what I think about Palin. At a basic level, the choice of her as the VP candidate offends me as an American and as a woman. I’m offended that she is allowed to avoid the press and offended that we as a country are so stupid that we [...]
Obama
Posted in politics on August 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My immediate, unedited reaction to Obama’s speech is one of muted disappointment, slightly underwhelmed. I loved the section on Martin Luther King Jr. and liked that he addressed social divides (abortion, gun control, gay marriage). Other than that, it felt pretty “typical” to me. I think my reaction on this is a good thing, however [...]
This needs to stop…
Posted in politics, sports on April 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Mr. Me and I live by two simple truths. The first is that there is a causal relationship between us buying packs of tickets to sporting events and the team doing much worse than expected (the best example of this being our influence on the 2004-05 Timberwolves season that was marred by contract disputes, incredibly selfish play [...]
thoughts on public sociology and the tenure process…
Posted in on the tenure track, politics, research on April 17, 2008 | 6 Comments »
i attended a great discussion this week on public sociology, engaged sociology, applied sociology, embedded sociology, whatever the heck you want to call it… i guess i fancy myself one — or, really, i fancy myself becoming one once my academic reputation allows for it. or, to be more clear, i fancy myself combining extra-academic policy sociology [...]
The Candidates and Criminal Justice Policy
Posted in politics on March 26, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Thanks to The General Blog of Crime for pointing out the Sentencing Project’s guide to the criminal justice policy positions of the ‘big three’ remaining presidential candidates. A quick look yields what one might expect — the biggest differences are between parties. McCain tends toward the conservative (surprise!), Obama leans pretty far left, and Clinton [...]
