Outside the Beltway

A cute protest sign based on a blog quip has created a minor internet sensation.

Damage from starting one’s career during a recession can persist over one’s entire working life.

Many Americans die from preventable dental disease because they can’t afford care.

Matthew Yglesias resurrects an argument that should have died off when Napster disappeared.

Either a bunch of bloggers or one of the world’s smartest economists doesn’t understand economics.

The more education you have, the more you’re likely to spend on booze.

Does it matter which candidate the GOP nominates?

Do people who take advantage of tax breaks get a “government benefit”?

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

44 Republican Senators have already pledged to filibuster John Bryson’s nomination as Commerce secretary.

Thousands of pedestrians are killed in America each year. Are we doing enough about it?

Are we safer in high population areas?

Is the war in Libya illegal?

Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg is catching some flak for complaining that he’s “struggling like everyone else” despite a net worth in the millions.

So, some bright people are surprised at new polling showing that a significant minority of Southerners have not enthusiastically embraced their ancestors’ loss in the Civil War.

Breathless hysteria over the trend toward a less white America misses an important fact: most Hispanics are white.

A handful of young male bloggers have launched themselves to the head of the line, leapfrogging those who’ve spent years playing the game by the old rules.juice

Evolution is falsifiable and biology is a science. Economics might be.

Americans drink less than Europeans and far less than Russians.

Why on earth are we still using coin operated parking meters when our highest value coin in actual use can only buy you seven and a half minutes of parking?

Is American policy in the Middle East dictated by national interest or interest groups?

How rich is the United States? Our poor are richer than the richest in India.

It’s Lee-Jackson Day again in Virginia, and, once again, I find myself wondering why the South continues to honor a dishonorable legacy.

By this point in the last presidential cycle, there were already 14 major party candidates who had publicly announced. There are zero today.

While I support a college playoff, there’s an argument to be made for the integrity of the regular season.

Have credit cards and ATMs eliminated the value of large currency zones?

Why not just give poor people money rather than start up big charities?

Some DC based hipsters want to know why America doesn’t have good pubs like in London. It turns out, they’re everywhere.

The People In Charge telling us that something is Necessary For Our Own Good makes a large number of people accepting of the inconvenience, no matter how asinine or unsupported by evidence.

While Social Security has radically lowered the elderly poverty rate, it hasn’t eliminated it. Should we do more?

While Matt Yglesias is right that talk about “Realignment” after a single election is ridiculous, there have indeed been realigning elections in U.S. history.

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

The Republican “Pledge to America” is chock full of photographs of Real Americans. And they’re disproportionately old white people.

Should proper nouns be exempt from local spelling conventions?

The earnings gap between those with and without a college education continues to grow. But this masks other realities.

Affluent whites are astounded that Adrian Fenty appears about to lose his bid for re-election as DC’s mayor. But the majority black population is less than thrilled with his tenure.

Is our problem that the very rich have too much money? Or that the rest of us don’t have enough?

A renowned sports economist argues that black quarterbacks are treated differently than their white counterparts.

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas’ new book, AMERICAN TALIBAN: HOW WAR, SEX, SIN, AND POWER BIND JIHADISTS AND THE RADICAL RIGHT, continues a long tradition in political polemics.

Why do we need to license barbers, again?

Unemployment is not equally distributed in America.

Are we nearing the point where presidents won’t be able to fill Supreme Court vacancies?

ABC’s Sunday talking heads show has a new host. Is she a secret Taliban sympathizer?

The concentration of policy wonks in the Washington-New York-Boston corridor produces skewed analysis.

The Washington Post Company, which famously accepted Dave Weigel’s resignation from its namesake newspaper last month, has hired him back in essentially the same job for its online magazine Slate.

Conservatives have long complained about liberal media bias. But conservative media seems to be much worse.

Rural whites are outperformed by Jews and Asians and passed over by blacks and Hispanics in the name of “diversity” by elite universities.

Matt Yglesias argues that “Northern Europe is Egalitarian Because of High Taxes.” I would argue that he has his causality backwards.

France’s Christophe Lemaitre became the first white man to run the 100 meters in under 10 seconds when he clocked 9.98 on Friday. Untold blacks have done it since 1968.

A roundup of some of the more intelligent commentary on the Big Picture issues in the brouhaha of the day.