Something is not rotten in the state of Denmark

A rare moment of disharmony in Copenhagen came in 2010, when Carlsberg workers struck over management demands that they drink beer only during lunch hour. Via CBS News.

What's David Brooks wrong about today? He's startled to note that the congressional Republicans haven't offered any help to the workers who, he believes, put them in office ("The Workers Paradise", missing apostrophe sic):

I am appalled that Republicans didn’t seek to balance this tax bill with an equal effort to help the people who actually got them elected. The central problem of our time is the stagnation of middle-class wages, the disintegration of working-class communities and the ensuing fragmentation of American society.

So he's got one of those laundry lists of "reform" conservative proposals from the American Enterprise Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and National Affairs, including of course "mobility vouchers" to help people flee their dying villages and go where the jobs are, which is a great way of halting the disintegration of working-class communities, as is well known (another effective method is hurricanes).

Thing that really stood out for me was this:

Cheap shots: Democratic debate

Well, OK. I say the Democrats won. Sanders supporters and Clinton supporters alike had to feel reassured about how the party would do if their own candidate lost the primary, and Sanders and Clinton themselves set a great example in their insistence on disagreeing with each other respectfully. As someone who has had a fairly positive impression of both, I was a little more able to see what's wrong with them: more bothered than before by what looks to me like Green Lanternism on Sanders's part (I'm less concerned about his electability than what he would do if elected, which looks like not much, since as he says he needs a "political revolution" to carry out his program, whereas what he's likely to get is a GOP House and a very hostile press), and by Clinton's ability to make up a record to please any audience (especially on that TPP question, minor though it probably is in the long run). But I'm glad she called herself a progressive so decisively and forthrightly, knowing the line would get pulled out as a sound bite by all sides, and I'm glad he presents such a good example of sticking to his guns.

Something is not rotten in the state of Denmark

Most annoying moment for us self-described socialists:

Women and narcomanes

In what sense would you suppose requiring insurance providers to buy women health insurance that covers preventive care including birth control is the same as Denmark giving away free heroin to drug addicts "so they won't commit crimes to get the money"? No, I can't figure it out either.

That was the venturesome analogy offered by Bill O'Reilly, reacting yesterday to the testimony before Congressional Democrats of Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke, [jump]