Outside the Beltway

Rush Limbaugh is apparently not impressed with Barack Obama’s presidency. That doesn’t make him a racist.

Tonight’s topics: New airline screening measures, Karzai vs. Petraeus, political infighting among victorious Republicans, and the defeated Democrats keeping their leadership intact.

The gang at The Week ask, “Are child-free flights the next travel trend?”

Food prices are rising in China. For us higher food prices mean we get fat a little more slowly; for a poor Chinese family it means starvation stalks a little closer.

The cholera outbreak in Haiti continues unabated; riots against UN peacekeepers have broken out.

Airport security is less intrusive in Communist China and war torn Afghanistan than in the USA. Have we finally had enough?

Dana Milbank asks, “Would we be better off under a President Hillary Clinton?” His affirmative answer isn’t very convincing.

The mental gymnastics people go through to justify their position on marijuana legalization are exhausting.

Tonight’s topic: Slow news day. We’ll figure out something.

Despite the Democrats sweeping quite literally every statewide office in California, Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization ballot issue, lost by 10 points.

Isn’t that a strange goal? Shouldn’t college prepare students to have better lives later on?

215,000 people attended the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” compared to 87,000 for “Restoring Honor.” Even if you believe the numbers, they don’t tell us much.

Tonight’s topic: The election is finally here.

Sharron Angle’s attorney is charging that “Harry Reid intends to steal this election if he can’t win it outright.” She touts various “shenanigans” in a fundraising letter.

Political pundits love centrism and moderate candidates. But political movements are built on desire for broad change.

Is angry and violent language which dominates blog comments sections a sign of broader trends in our political culture?

There’s a trend toward using metrics to identify ways to stem the skyrocketing cost of higher education. The likeliest result is to devalue the “education” component.

Jane Austen was a poor speller and sloppy grammarian but her published words were precise and exquisite thanks to her editor, William Gifford.

Fast Internet access is becoming a necessity for modern life. Should we subsidize it by eliminating the Postal Service?

NPR has fired Juan Williams over controversial comments about Muslims.

Tonight’s topics: The foreclosure mess, low GDP growth, and the world-wide Tea Party.

Jonah Goldberg observes, “It took 410 days to build the Empire State Building; four years to erect the Golden Gate Bridge. The Pentagon took two years; the Alaska Highway just nine months. These days it takes longer to build an overpass.”

Sarah Palin and the Tea Party aren’t as clueless as their detractors think.

Remember that $400 tax cut President Obama gave you? Neither do 90 percent of Americans.

An English instructor commenting at Balloon Juice takes issue with my characterization of taxation as “confiscating” income.

Today’s college students are 40 percent less empathetic than they were thirty years ago. Is our political culture to blame?

Polls show the Republicans easily retaking the House but falling short in the Senate. But 2006 showed us that wave elections can produce shocking outcomes.

The Pentagon has advised gay soldiers not to come out in the wake of a court order ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. This is a very pro-gay move.

Some Democratic candidates for Congress are working hard to distance themselves from Nancy Pelosi.

Jim Treacher has coined a new term, Oprahturfing, to describe wealthy celebrities funding attendance at political rallies. While clever, the concept of “Astroturfing” is being misused by both sides.

Paul Krugman argues that recent economic crises demonstrate that America has failed at corporate governance, banking, and the rule of law.

Tonight’s topics: The latest mortgage scandal, lust for a third party, the role of judges in Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, political motorcades and their impact on the little people, and who knows what else. I hear there’s an election coming up, so perhaps that will enter into the discussion as well.

We must abandon an Industrial Age education system that rewards compliance and stifles creativity.

The skyrocketing cost of tuition makes it harder for students to justify getting a liberal arts education rather than training for a high paying job.

Should members of the Armed Forces and other public employees have the same rights under the 1st Amendment as the rest of us? Or should they be more like journalists?

As widely rumored, Fredi Gonzalez has been hired to manage the Atlanta Braves, following the retirement of the beloved Bobby Cox.

American troops in Afghanistan are overindulging in the fast food fare brought in to raise their morale.

You might not hear little kids say they want to be “powerful” when they grow up. But they sure as hell want power now.

The Alaska Republican says he won’t answer questions about alleged misconduct as a public official, deeming it “personal.”

According to some new studies by crack economists, it’s helpful to have a spouse bringing in some money if you happen to lose your job.

Republicans are suddenly targeting — and Democrats in some cases are conceding — House seats that were until recently considered out of play.

The disaster that began last Monday in Hungary continues to unfold.

President Obama and the Democrats are charging the Chamber of Commerce of funneling foreign money into ads for Republicans. It’s a desperate move unlikely to work.

Once the province of science fiction, a car that can drive itself is now a reality, thanks to Google and DARPA. The implications are mind boggling.

New Jersey’s governor has killed a vital infrastructure project because of huge cost overruns. It’s penny wise and pound foolish.

Yet another study shows what any of us who’ve ever spent any time around soldiers already knew: Our Army is not comprised of stupid people who couldn’t find a decent job.

Daniel Larison’s “The Case Against NATO” makes compelling reading. In my New Atlanticist post “The Case Against the Case Against NATO,” I explain why it’s wrong.

Tonight’s topic: America’s rising income inequality and what, if anything, we ought to do about it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger predicts President Obama’s re-election. Historically, that’s the safe bet.