opinion

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No One's Being Honest About the Budget

Both parties' fixes amount to 'wishful thinking': Robert Samuelson

(Newser) - Republicans and Democrats both claim to have a plan to fix the budget, but neither party is offering a realistic approach. It’s time for Dems to admit that “spending control requires genuine cuts in Social Security and Medicare”—and it’s time for the GOP to recognize...

Jack Shafer: Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism Are Pointless
 Pulitzers Are 
 Pointless 
OPINION

Pulitzers Are Pointless

They're weightless 'footnotes,' not 'headlines': Jack Shafer

(Newser) - The Pulitzer Prizes for journalism are awarded today, but they don’t mean a thing, writes Jack Shafer. “I doubt that one newspaper reader in 10,000 could tell you a day after the Pulitzers are awarded who got the prize for explanatory reporting,” he notes in a...

Heavy Metal Speaks the Truth
 Heavy Metal 
 Speaks the Truth 
OPINION

Heavy Metal Speaks the Truth

And in a world of fiction, it's due for a resurgence

(Newser) - Heavy metal is outlandish, it’s ridiculous, it’s frightening—and it relates fundamental truths about the dark side of human nature, writes James Parker in the Atlantic . Indeed, its dark lyrics echo the writings of mythographer Sir James George Frazier: “We seem to move on a thin crust...

Next Bubble to Burst? Higher Education, Says PayPal Co-Founder Peter Thiel

 Next Bubble to Burst? 
 Higher Education 
OPINION

Next Bubble to Burst? Higher Education

We invest vast sums in a future that may not exist, says Peter Thiel

(Newser) - We’re in the midst of another bubble, and it's not an Internet one, according to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. It's a higher education bubble, and "like the housing bubble, the education bubble is about security and insurance against the future,” writes Sarah Lacy, who sat down to...

Paul Krugman on Budget Deal: What Happened to the Old Barack Obama?

 Barack Obama Has Gone AWOL 
paul krugman

Barack Obama Has Gone AWOL

Not only is Obama caving to the GOP—he's 'celebrating' it, writes Paul Krugman

(Newser) - Barack Obama has left the building. Granted, with Republicans running amok, all Obama really has is “the bully pulpit,” but incredibly, “he’s using it to reinforce his enemies’ narrative,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Maybe he did have to make big concessions...

Romesh Ratnesar: Pentagon Budget Must Shrink to Fix Deficit
Face It, Washington:
Defense Budget Must Shrink
OPINION

Face It, Washington: Defense Budget Must Shrink

Pentagon's policies 'outdated'; deficit's the biggest threat: Romesh Ratnesar

(Newser) - The latest budget compromise may have resulted in “sweeping” and “historic” cuts, as the White House, Congress, and the media have claimed—yet “not a solitary penny” was cut from defense spending. Instead, spending will break $700 billion in 2011, which happens to be a post-World War...

Why Obama Gets No Credit for Success

His presidency's been about 'preventing disaster,' writes Michael Grunwald

(Newser) - President Obama “prevented an atrocity” in Libya, but no one’s giving him credit. Why? “Because he prevented an atrocity,” writes Michael Grunwald in Time . It’s called the “counterfactual problem:” “It's hard to get credit for avoiding a disaster when it's impossible to...

Ethics, Science Both Inconvenient for Climate Deniers

High stakes demand high seriousness, not 'cynical careerism': Krugman

(Newser) - Climate change deniers aren’t just flouting scientific evidence—they’re flouting morals, writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Case in point: Last week, Republicans invited a pair of scientists to testify at a Congressional hearing on climate science. When Berkeley’s Richard Muller, a climate change skeptic,...

Orrin Onken: Secrets of a Glenn Beck-Loving Liberal

 Secrets of a  
 Beck-Loving  
 Liberal 
in case you missed it

Secrets of a Beck-Loving Liberal

Right-wing radio is lefty Orrin Onken's guilty pleasure

(Newser) - There’s something about right-wing talk radio that’s undeniably attractive—even for a “sushi-eating, Prius-driving, gay-marriage-supporting Oregon liberal” like Orrin Onken, he writes in Salon . Though he’s always been a lefty, Onken began listening in high school, and he’s maintained his “dirty little secret” for...

Congress Must Stop Ignoring Article 1, Section 8

If Congress had debated recent wars, we'd have saved trillions: Walter Rodgers

(Newser) - Congressional Republicans have been hard at work cutting a few million in funding from NPR; but if they’d just played by the rules a decade ago, they could have saved at least $4 trillion, writes Walter Rodgers in the Christian Science Monitor . That's one estimate of how much the...

Lesson From Europe: 'Savage Austerity' Won't Help

Paul Krugman: Portugal, Ireland, UK learned the hard way

(Newser) - Just a few years ago, global leaders knew they had to focus on job creation before they tackled deficits. But that strategy “has been abandoned in the face of phantom risks and delusional hopes,” writes Paul Krugman in the New York Times . Now, it’s all about reducing...

Rebecca Black's 'Friday' Song Proves Love-Hate World of the Internet: Meghan Daum
 Rebecca Black 
 Proves New 
 Rules of Fame 
meghan daum

Rebecca Black Proves New Rules of Fame

Meghan Daum: To be really popular, you have to be really unpopular

(Newser) - With Friday, 13-year-old Rebecca Black has a top 20 song on iTunes and a video that’s reached 35 million views—but what she’s most noted for is widespread derision. “We don't hate you because you're famous. You're famous because we hate you,” reads one of the...

Remember Taylor as She Was: In Bed

Screen legend managed to be prostrate in nearly every movie

(Newser) - We remember John Wayne in the saddle, Brigitte Bardot on the sand—and as for Elizabeth Taylor, we’ll remember her on a bed, writes Tim Robey in the Telegraph . Somehow, she managed to sprawl over soft furniture in “most of her key roles,” he notes. “One...

'Earth Hour' Won't Solve Our Energy, Climate Change Troubles: Bjorn Lomborg

 'Earth Hour' Is a Joke 

Bjorn Lomborg

'Earth Hour' Is a Joke

We need real green solutions, not just 'feel-good' movements: Bjorn Lomborg

(Newser) - This Saturday night, environmental activists are calling on the world to dim the lights for “Earth Hour”—a nice idea, but one that may actually be counterproductive. Look at it this way: "If everyone in the world participated in this year's Earth Hour, the result would be...

Mark Bittman: 6 Morsels of Good News on Food
 6 Morsels of  
 Good Foodie News 
mark bittman

6 Morsels of Good Foodie News

School lunches are improving; Walmart's into sustainability: Mark Bittman

(Newser) - Sometimes it’s important for a critic to drop the criticism and offer some praise. In the New York Times , Mark Bittman presents a taste of good news in the food world:
  1. Backers of better food policy are gaining real traction: The reauthorized Child Nutrition Act will improve school lunches,
...

Diary Advice from Monty Python Diarist Michael Palin
 How Not to Write a Diary 
Michael Palin

How Not to Write a Diary

Michael Palin: If you're not interesting, don't pretend to be

(Newser) - Keeping a diary is well worth your while—but there are some “do’s and don’ts” to keep in mind, writes Monty Python’s Michael Palin in Vanity Fair . The big one is, “don’t try and make your life interesting when it isn’t,” notes...

Dave Eggers: Enough With the Teacher Layoffs

System leaves already-struggling public educators in lurch

(Newser) - Public school teachers grapple with 80-hour work weeks on tight salaries, with little creative freedom, while the media attacks their unions—and on top of all that, they face mass layoffs on a regular basis. In San Francisco, for example, 2,800 teachers were warned last week that their jobs...

Paul Krugman: Barack Obama, Congress Have Abandoned the Unemployed
 Washington Has 
 Abandoned the 
 Unemployed 
paul krugman

Washington Has Abandoned the Unemployed

Krugman: Why are we obsessed with the deficit when millions need jobs?

(Newser) - One-sixth of American workers can’t find full-time jobs, and things aren’t getting any better for them: There are nearly five times more jobless people than there are job openings, and the "average unemployed worker has been jobless for 37 weeks." Yet all we hear about from...

Is NPR Liberal? The Radio Station Should Speak Up: Meghan Daum

 Hey, NPR: 
 Stand Up 
 for Yourself 
OPINION

Hey, NPR: Stand Up for Yourself

Station keeps mum in the face of widespread criticism: Meghan Daum

(Newser) - Accusations of a liberal slant are raining down on NPR, and its leaders are putting up with it. It’s time for the station to “show some self-respect and fight back,” writes Meghan Daum in the Los Angeles Times . Tell us: “Are you liberal? Are you neutral?...

We Need a Real Populist in Next Election

America's wealth gap has spiraled out of control: David Francis

(Newser) - With the gap between rich and poor Americans exploding—and hardly anyone talking about it—what Washington needs is a “genuine populist,” writes David R. Francis in the Christian Science Monitor . Some quick facts: The wealthiest 1% “took 23.5% of the nation’s income in 2007,...

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