I listen to a lot of podcasts, and one of them is the almost daily "American Conservative University." Not to be confused with any actual institution of higher learning, it usually consists of a one hour block of c-list wingnut radio hosts like Dennis Prager or Michael Medved.

Anyway, Dennis Prager is perhaps most hilariously known for his boorish moralizing about Judeo-Christian values. However, after listening to a number of these Prager podcasts, I was struck by how astonishingly stupid he is. I know, I know, I shouldn't be that surprised. But take these two examples, and see what I mean.

First, Prager had wingnut comrade Hugh Hewitt on his show to discuss the "Fair Tax," the highly regressive and foolishly impractical nationwide consumption tax. Hewitt is not a fan of the Fair Tax, while Prager is. Well enough; people disagree. However, I was truly astonished at the level of Prager's misunderstanding of the tax. I mean, you would think that a nationally syndicated radio show host who advocates for a policy has given policy details at least a modicum of thought. But you would be wrong. Behold my transcript of this exchange (starting at the 20:55 mark).

Hewitt: One other thing about the Fair Tax is that they've done a very good job of selling the idea of 23%, and that's misleading. A good friend of mine once said that he preferred clarity to agreement.

Prager: Who was that? Who was that?

Hewitt: It was a guy named Prager.

Prager: Oh, Prager.

Today is Tuesday May 19th and that means if you're registered to vote in the city of Philadelphia, it's very important that you get out there and vote! Turnout is always lower in primaries, so your vote counts that much more. Early reports are that turnout is very low across the city, and as Dan U-A notes, that only empowers entrenched political machines to decide the election. If you think Philadelphia deserves better, then do something about it.

The only endorsement we made in this election is Seth Williams, the candidate for District Attorney. He's the rare candidate that brings both experience and a fresh perspective to this important job, and Philadelphia desperately needs a smart, competent DA. He has also been endorsed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Fraternal Order of Police, Liberty City Democrats, Neighborhood Networks, and many other groups in the city. Check out his website at VoteSethWilliams.com.

There are a number of other positions to vote on, and though we haven't endorsed anyone in those races, our old Obama organizer was working for Leon King, for judge. Young Philly Politics has others they've endorsed here.

You vote at the same place you voted in November, which is at Van R hall if you live in any of the dorms or University crossings.

Don't forget; If you don't vote, you don't get to complain!

At the 100 Days panel discussion last night there were a number of issues raised that deserve further discussion, if only to explain how wrongheaded some of the assertions made were. However, one exchange I thought was interesting enough to return to it here. While responding to a question about the oppressive taxes in this country from a College Republican in the audience, I referred to the fact that we actually have some of the lowest effective tax rates in the developed world. Hardly exciting stuff, but the interesting thing was the response that invoked. A number of students from the College Republicans and the Student Liberty Front (think Ron Paul...) reacted immediately as though I misspoke or made an obvious error. To them it was obvious that we have oppressively high taxes.

They were confused, however, about nominal tax rates and effective tax rates. Behold, the data.

Anyone who has taken any economics understands the difference between nominal and effective rates. It's a distinction that's crucially important when discussing interest rates, for example. Nominal tax rates are the marginal rates levied, the numbers actually specified by statute. Effective tax rates, however, are what companies actually pay. The difference, of course, is that large corporations, as is their prerogative, spend a fair deal of effort lowering their actual tax liabilities through loopholes and tax shelters. While nominal marginal rates can certainly affect business decisions, effective tax rates are more relevant to a discussion of the effect of taxes on the economy, and for anyone claiming oppressive taxation.

Come check out "100 Days of President Obama" tonight! It's a student panel discussion about the Obama administration also featuring the Drexel Republicans and Student Liberty Front. Discussion moderated by Prof. Scott Knowles. Q & A to follow.

Starts at 7:30 in Mitchell Auditorium in Bossone (JFK Blvd and Market St)

The way back, actually. So tonight, like every Tuesday, the center city chapter of Drinking Liberally met at Triumph Brewery on 2nd and Chestnut. Around 8 I went to the bathroom, and on the way back up, walking past the first booth in the place, I thought to myself, "Self, that guy really looks like Pat Toomey!"

Now, poli-sci geek that I am, this would have been exciting any day, but today was even more special. After -all, Pat Toomey is the right-wing firebrand who was set to whoop Arlen Specter by 20-30 points in the GOP primary, which led Arlen to switch parties just this afternoon. On this day more than any other, Toomey was topical. And he had decided to have dinner in the same restaurant as the weekly Drinking Liberally. Life is full of irony.

When I went back upstairs I walked up to Duncan and Noz and said "I'm about 50% sure that Pat Toomey is downstairs right now." As Noz relays at his blog, he then googled what Toomey looked like, and went to scout it out, reporting back "That guy really looks like Pat Toomey."

Naturally, I found this quite satisfying, because I don't think that anybody trusted my identification of him. Then a number of people raced downstairs to confirm, and Brendan actually got in a longish discussion with him. Here's the evidence:

Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican senator from Pennsylvania since 1980 (longer than any of us have been alive), took the final step in the growing alienation from his party. Obviously this is big news, and there is plenty of coverage and reaction over the internet. I personally have some things I like about this, and some things I dislike. Breaking them down as such looks somehting like this.

The Good

• The Democrats, with Al Franken's eventual seating, have a 60 member caucus, nominally enough to break fillibusters (caveats apply).
• This both highlights and reinforces the idea that the Republican party has grown radical and isolated, controlled by its crazy base.
• This makes the Democratic party look reasonable and attractive to self-identified "moderates", if not actual ones.
• It was likely that T.J. Rooney and Rendell were going to pick a challanger to Specter that would be in the mold of Casey (one of my least favorite senators), and this buys PA Democrats time to grow their field of challangers. Joes Sestak and Schwartz are only serving their 2nd and 3rd terms in the house, and in 4-6 years will be more credible candidates for statewide office. And who knows where Seth Williams will be in 2016...
• Senator Specter probably won't be a senator for 25 more years, whereas a Casey-esque DINO would.
• Specter came out during his press conference and said that PA Republicans are too crazy to be allowed to judge his record.

The Bad