I'd Like to Make a Return...

This post from Daniel Pink's blog is so good I had to repost it verbatim.  Too bad the government's return/exchange policy isn't modeled after Nordstrom.

Every once in awhile, you hear of an idea so blindingly obvious and inarguably wise that you wonder why in God’s name it’s still a notion and not a reality.


That happened to me this morning when I heard about the Taxpayer Receipt, the brainchild of the folks at Third Way.


In a brief and readable policy paper, David Kendall and Jim Kessler propose “providing each taxpayer with a receipt that shows them exactly how their money is spent to the penny.” That’s it.


Here’s what the receipt would look like:

War Checklist

A great op-art from the Times:

In Which the Mayoress Reveals Her Platform

I woke up at 6:30am today, a Sunday, and found myself mentally summarizing my stance on every issue.  I know, what?

So, in the tradition of Sunday morning punditry, Meet the Pressler:

Brian Stuckey of Denver is an Idiot

And I hope he's the only Brian Stuckey so that this comes up in his Google results forevermore.

Here's his stupid letter to the New York Times:

To the Editor:

Re “Equality in the Military” (editorial, Feb. 3):

Your argument that “polls show that Americans broadly support repealing the law” that bars gays from openly serving in the military is hardly convincing. Even if the statistics are true, the moral conduct of America’s military forces should not be predicated on public polls. It is a matter of morality. And a nation’s morality is no stronger than the weakest link in the chain.

Your Jan. 29 editorial “Ending {lsquo}Don't Ask, Don't Tell’ ” spoke of the legislation as “the relic of a bygone era.” But morality is not confined to a particular era. If the laws of God proscribed specific kinds of immoral conduct in biblical times, there is little evidence to suggest that such laws do not apply today.

A repeal of the ban would be catastrophic for both the military and the nation — especially in a time of war.

Brian Stuckey
Denver, Feb. 3, 2010

Now, Brian, you get an A for composition, spelling, and grammar, but an F- for understanding that we're talking about the laws of A COUNTRY THAT IS A WESTERN INDUSTRIALIZED DEMOCRACY, not your conservative fundamentalist church. Seriously, dude, plus your rhetoric as our entire country only being as morally strong as its weakest member is pretty dismal, not to mention entirely unevidenced. Keep your morality inside your home and your church, mmkay?

And cheers to the wise, articulate souls that wrote the other four letters. Way to go.

In Which the Mayoress Criticizes Obama for the First Time

I still just love Obama. The hope that brought us all together last year got under my skin in a profound way, and I'm glad that optimism is still part of my outlook over a year after that historic election.

That said, I understand why people are frustrated. The economy, the war, health care, terrorism, environment, and our perceptions of whether

One thing I do give our high-up leaders credit for is that they know far more about what's really going on that we do in areas like international relations and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's why I don't comment a lot on those topics here. I hate that the wars are still going on, and I'm not crazy about this surge news; but I also don't have any understanding of war strategy or how to effectively end one.

Where I do criticize is on matters where I have first-hand knowledge or experience, or where my day-to-day life is directly affected. (Again, why I'm also active in local politics.) So, health care, economy, taxes, and equal rights are the issues I care about most.

My biggest complaint with the Obama Administration so far is lack of oversight in the financial industry. It's criminal what the banks have gotten away with.

And second, but much less, other economic stimuli. But he's addressing that now, and has done some pretty great immediate things, like helping me pay my COBRA and extending unemployment. And I think it's very long-term visionary of him to work so hard on health care and will ultimately make this a better country in many ways.

But when it comes to most everything else, let us not forget that he's not even been on the job for a year, and he was left with a despicable mess by a disgusting administration.

So I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. I have faith; I still think he's up to a whole lot of good.

Who Can Handle the Contradictions?

Don't miss Maira Kalman's latest editorial.