Friday, June 24, 2005
New Lesson: The Importance of Checking Back
My Digital Phoenix post on the TPM Cafe earned another comment a couple of days ago.
I just noticed it and responded.
Another important blogging lesson. Even trails that appear to have gone cold occasionally come back to life.
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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
A Promotion!
I got an e-mail from Kate Cambor and Joshua Michael Marshall today. Apparently, they “noticed your interesting and thoughtful contributions to the discussion at TPMCafe and wondered if you’d be interested in being an ‘author’ at the site.” That loftier status would allow me to start threads without allowing others to screen their propriety--and to screen threads that others would like to begin.
I accepted, of course. Who doesn’t love a promotion?
Baby blogger is learning to walk.
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Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Yglesias v. Friedman
Tom Friedman apparently noticed the Democrats’ lack of ideas. Matt Yglesias took offense. I threw my hat into the ring:
Friedman may have been a bit glib, but that’s only because he failed to clarify which Democrats were out of ideas. This morning’s Washington Post editorial ("Where are the Democrats?") was clearer:
“Responsible proposals from Democratic economists that would blend benefit cuts and tax increases have gotten nowhere with Democratic lawmakers.”
Democrats have plenty of ideas. I’m less convinced that Democratic lawmakers or Democratic Party leaders do. As far as I can tell, when Clinton left town, our idea people and our politics people forgot how to talk to each other. They now occupy different worlds and agree to meet every four years at a convention--where the former draft platforms and the latter make noise to “rally the faithful.”
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Imperial Overstretch
Ivo Daalder started not one, but two, threads about the meaning of the French non and Dutch nee votes. He attracted numerous interesting comments. I tried floating an imperial overstretch theory--again, not once but twice:
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American Antitrust Institute Conference
I attended an AAI conferency yesterday. Great stuff--considering the relationship among complexity theory, simulation, algortihms, and antitrust. The sort of stuff I was trying to push as a research agenda in the early 90s with no takers.
The basic question is: Suppose we envisiion a “market” as an emergent property, and think about detailed simulations in a complexity-theoretic sense. How would that inform antitrust economics? And how might it alter the courts of antitrust law?
Great questions. Now if I can only figure out how to get some research funding to study them.
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Monday, June 20, 2005
The Age of Nixon
Stirling Newberry posted a great essay on ”The Age of Nixon.” He compared Jackson and Nixon, and found numerous similarities. His upshot? Bush is the end of the Nixonian era, and the Republican’s dominance is about to end. I chimed in:
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Centerfield
A few days ago, I followed a few links to Centerfield, the blog of “the Centrist Coalition.” Like many things on the Internet, this coalition seems to be about 6 guys, but they’ve got some interesting dialogs going anyway.
I chimed in on a few issues: reparation (peace vs. justice); Iraq & Guantanamo; centrism; and California political hsitory. This site strikes me as a lot like TPMCafe, though not quite as lively and without the foreign policy headliners.
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Saturday, June 18, 2005
I’m Not Alone
Ken Baer’s posting this morning was critical of the Democratic leadership. The first three comments were less than complimentary. I offered my support.
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