…On the internet. And the reason why is fascinating. It’s not that we have lower population density - it’s ineffective/nonexistent regulation. Apparently, markets (in at least some situations) actually perform markedly better when constrained by judicious regulation.

Something that might be worth thinking about in some other areas as well, perhaps.

So, my very favoritest Op-Ed writer has put a piece up on his blog on the tragically misunderstood racial legacy of the Gipper (so known for his “constant and exuberant gipping”, according to a reputable source). And I have to say, I think he’s really on to something. After all, not a few other prominent Republicans have made similar statements, even into the present day. And if these weren’t just innocent mistakes, what else are we to believe? That for decades one of the two dominant political parties in America has founded its success in large part on racist appeals of remarkable toxicity? Why, David Broder would get the vapors at the mere suggestion of it. No, that’s clearly ridiculous.

…Right?

That’s something of a novel concept these days, isn’t it? By, for, and of the people. Kinda stands in contrast to the system we’ve got now, which seems to be government by the lobbyists, for the corporate special interests backing them, and of an entrenched Washington elite that recent history has shown to be catastrophically arrogant and out-of-touch. And the people? Who needs ‘em?

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Paul Krugman put a bee ee ay yootiful column up a few days ago about how the Bush Administration is busily resurrecting practices that were discarded as ineffectual and dangerous all the way back in Medieval Europe (the tax farming reference is explained here, by the way). What’s remarkable about this isn’t so much the knuckleheaded incompetence with which these things are executed or the sheer grasping avarice motivating them - these things are simply expected from the Bushies at this point. Rather, what’s really interesting here is what this reveals about their ultimate goals and motives, and by extension those of the broader conservative movement that nurtured them, brought them to power, and enabled (enables, rather) their every excess not merely willingly, but with what appears to be positive glee.

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So apparently Sweden is admitting many times more Iraqi refugees than the US, even though our population is roughly 33 times the size of theirs. Meanwhile, Iraqi refugees (many of whom are refugees because they helped US forces) are living in poverty, often in disease-riddled conditions, and at constant risk of being tracked down by the enemies that drove them from Iraq in the first place.

If this is what compassionate conservatism looks like, God forbid we should ever experience the regular kind.

…Is the title of the latest action-packed epic of heroism to emerge from the traveling circus of wingnuttia that is the Republican presidential primary. Go check it out.

And as a side note, I especially love how this spoofs the typical wingnut fantasy that each and every action they do or do not perform is a unique and beautiful example of American Heroism (TM).