I like how these Obama/Biden coasters for sale on their campaign site show them without ties. Cause the campaign knows that the kind of folks who'd use these coasters are the kind of folks who'd want to have a beer with them, not a cocktail.

Originally posted January 25 at revenuewatch.org.Blogger Elisabeth Rosenthal raises a simple but vital point in this week's NYT "Sunday Review": As governments, watchdogs, the media and regular citizens embrace transparency as an increasingly important value, how do we ensure that information prompts action, and does not become an end in itself?Using examples including restaurant grading in New York, risk assessment for loans and carbon emission reports, Rosenthal warns that:... disclosure requirements merely get information onto the table, but themselves demand no further action. According to political theory, disclosure is both a citizen's right and a tool to ensure good government and consumer protection, because it provides information that leads to informed decisions. Instead, disclosure has often become an endpoint in the chain of responsibility, an act of compliance with the letter of the law rather than the spirit of transparency. ...Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis famously wrote in 1913…