My Ricochet handle comes from a great book about this very practice that Judith describes. Not only are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, but also we cannot "easily" bailout out Fannie and Freddie again. The sad truth is that as long as these institutions can bend to political pressure, the market for housing can never be truly reflective of market realities. Sure the price of housing has come down in many areas worst hit by the recession, but what we really needed was a honest to goodness bottoming out while individuals could go through the bankruptcy process if that is/was the best course for them. Want to know a major reason why growth is so sluggish? No one knows what to do with their underwater homes. The Dude is correct, housing is a path to recovery. However, we don't want it to resemble the 2000s boom recovery that was ultimately leveraged debt financed.

Very well said throughout. I believe Ricochet may be most popular in that bluest of locales, Washington DC, where residents are routinely faced with tough conversations from incredulous opposing minds. Like a whetstone it hones your arguments but makes us want to seek out a community such as Ricochet more than our friends from more conservative locales.

A Capitalism for the People by Luigi zingales. Easily accessible stuff from a mind we should heed.

Historical, but soon to be making a comeback: Arrested Development

If you've never seen it, you will need to hold your nose at the show's politics. However, if you like the combination of laugh out loud zany set ups and clever, slow burn jokes that take entire seasons to set up, this is the show for you. Elaborate, funny and acted darn well.

Current: Modern Family

It is no surprise that one of the show's creative team members, Abraham Higginbotham, is an Arrested Development alum. Modern Family is the best sitcom on TV right now and it is not even close. Parks and Rec and Big Bang both make you laugh with certain characters, yes. But Modern Family does that with snappier dialogue, much more subtle humor/wordplay and storylines that frequently end where you least expect them to. Also acted well and written superbly.

A fantastic bar with great sweet potato fries. Look forward to stopping by!

Nick Papageorgio! From Yuma!

Name your weekend...

Fantastic idea for a podcast. Robert, I've always enjoyed your reporting. Andrew, I look forward to your insights as well. For someone such as me who also gets a daily up-close view of the wheels of government turning, this podcast presents a fantastic means by which to let the broader swath of conservatives know why certain things happen or don't.

on my knees every year

You make salient points here. Our side needs to make fervent, emotional arguments the hallmark of the folks for abortion. Our appeals need to be grounded in a natural law-esque approach that is not attached to any religious beliefs in particular. Certainly religious arguments bolster our side, but they are one of the tactics that turn many people on the fence off when you begin making them. The Lincoln-Douglas debate approach of persuasion on humanist grounds works much better for winning converts. Hadley Arkes in his book First Things lays out these rhetorical lines of reasoning as they bear striking resemblance to the debate over slavery.

I am an Amherst alum. You would be shocked at how little play our sole graduate to occupy the White House receives on campus. There are far more pictures of JFK when he visited campus in the 60s than there are pictures of Coolidge. As for Frost, he is our library's namesake. Many of the entry-level English classes feature his work in their syllabi. Coolidge has a few buildings around campus named after him, including the quietest of what are known as the "Social Dorms" (apt, no?). I do agree though with your new book that the moment is ripe for a rejuvenation of Coolidge on campus. Let me know and I can help you lead the charge with some greatly interested alums!

Foxfier: thanks for bringing the movement to match willing parents to abortion leaning mothers to light. I didn't know that it hasn't been successful. What are your thoughts though on how scientific advances will make inroads into (emphasis) reasonable (emphasis) legal protections for the unborn? At what point do the courts had to confront the new reality of abortion at the 21st week being an infringement against our most vulnerable citizens? Remember the goals are modest steps such as the born alive infant protection act.

Leigh: I agree with you that the ultimate goal was and is for our liberal friends to remove shame from those who make the choice to abort. There was a great thread on ricochet not too long ago about the means by which liberals use the tactic of removing shame to advance their agenda. But one more case.

Joseph paquette: I hope you're correct. It will be an indelible stain that future generations look back on the years from 1973 until the day it is illegal again, just as the years under slavery were considered years living under America's original sin.

I watched all of the new House of Cards and season one of the British version. They are two shows spun from the same web, but they operate more as signs of the times in which they are/were produced. Spacey's character is ruthless and manipulative just as Richardson's is. However, Spacey has more rivals than Richardson does in his universe. In a way the British version is incredible myopic in its depiction of interests that influence an MP. The new production features a wide array of competing power hungry individuals that are more richly developed. You can tell that the current show inhabits a world that competes with the ensemble dramas made popular since The Sopranos with more strong female characters. This is not a knock against the original, just an observation that will be apparent to anyone who watches both versions. 

hot cocoa and breakstone's bread sticks to dip