The incomparable Taegan Goddard says "Technology is Destroying American Democracy." The advent of scientific gerrymandering (they can include or exclude specific houses now!) might convince you that's true, but the Tea Party insurgency shouldn't -- the Tea Party insurgency worked so well not because of technology but because it had massive right-wing financial support. And he leaves out blogs, which arrived in force just as the "liberal" media finished evolving into a complete establishment mouthpiece, and which was the main place liberals resisted George W. Bush for six years. I'm more inclined to believe we simply haven't been using technology to our best advantage, and yes that includes me, too.
FAIR finds too many "liberal" media outlets blaming "Big Labor" for scuttling the "free" trade deal. If only Big Labor were big enough to do that on its own! Big Labor now claims 1 in 9 American workers, versus 1 in 3 just 40 years ago, yet the "liberal" media can't see past it. If you've been attending who's been providing the anti-"free" trade alerts you see at this blog, you'll see the same cross-section of consumer groups, environmentalists, and liberal activists that Newsweek (at least) saw when it covered the debacle.
Another day, another analysis of the EPA's fracking report demonstrating that it wasn't the "victory" for frackers they're claiming it is. Long story short: oil and gas drillers have been "largely uncooperative with researchers," a lack of cooperation that delayed the report for over two years; the EPA has limited access to fracking chemical information thanks to (you guessed it) the 2005 energy bill that allowed frackers to keep that info secret, and "(i)ncredibly, EPA did not include underground wastewater injection in its study, a common form of wastewater disposal that has been shown to pollute groundwater." There's more, of course, like the part where Pennsylvania frackers have twelve times the chemical mixing spells of Colorado frackers.
Ho hum, some rich folks in California wonder why they should have to ration their water, too, because ZOMG I HAVE TEH NEEDZ!!!!! A real conservative might say that if overuse of water winds up killing, say, the various industries surrounding lawns, golf courses and show horse farms, then that's just the genius of capitalism. That should tell you how many actual conservatives inhabit our uppermost classes.
Finally, the incomparable Eschaton catches David Brooks saying something entirely ridiculous about how "great" NAFTA has been for Mexico's economy. Long story short: it hasn't been great for Mexico's economy, and it hasn't (contra Mr. Brooks's claim) reduced the flow of undocumented Mexicans to the United States. We shouldn't be paying any attention to David Brooks, but the New York Times still pays him handsomely to churn out his beaux arts right-wing rubbish, and Presidents still seek out his attention. Maybe we should have a la carte buying options for New York Times columnists.
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