Why are the Republicans all plugging their ears

And singing 'La la la I can't hear you la la la'?

WASHINGTON -- Government efforts to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy appear to be helping the U.S. climb out of the worst recession in decades.

Ah. Never mind.

Update: .... but then again...Atrios reminds us

Bill Moyers' view

On Rupert Murdock and his purchase of the Wall Street Journal:



Update: Just a reminder of what Murdock's word actually means via Keith Olbermann's experience:

You can make statistics

Say whatever you want them to say. The Bush administration excels at this. So, apparently, does the Wall Street Journal:

Mark Thoma at Economist's View says:

The Wall Street Journal says Kevin Hassett has discovered the Laffer curve, but I think these data might say something else. Here's the picture from the editorial where they are making their usual plea for more tax cuts:

The blue line is supposed to be the Laffer curve, but this is far from compelling. Since it looks like all that's been done here is to draw a line through an outlier, Norway (an outlier that in other contexts we are told to ignore because it is an outlier, e.g. see below), and since this is clearly not the best fitting line to these data, here's another possibility:

More discussion at PZ Myers at Pharyngula, Sean at Cosmic Variance, and Brad DeLong.

Moral clarity?

Bolton has 'moral clarity'? Really?

Think Progress has the quote:

"JOHN BOLTON, who was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has joined Washington Speakers Bureau for exclusive representation. Last week, the “Wall Street Journal” described him as someone who “saw the world as it really was” and spoke “with moral clarity about it.”"

Wouldn't 'fanatical focus' be more appropriate?



You in the back! I've seen you at Plato's Retreat!