Sunday, November 30, 2008
Back at Work
Because this don't never get old. Watch the whole damn thing. If they were paying you to actually get something done, they'd be paying you more.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Civil War
It is Civil War weekend here in Oregon. The beloved Oregon Ducks of Eugene will be taking on the only semi-liked Oregon State Beavers of Corvallis.
By all accounts this game will be a good one, as both teams play for major bowls. The Rose, for the first time since 1964, for the Beavs, the Holiday for the Ducks. There are some that are saying that we all win either, but screw that. I really dislike many, many Beaver fans. They have that aggressive, in-your-face, rural ignorant hick thing going that most recently saw itself personified in Sarah Palin. Their cheerleaders have been known to sport cammo. While cheering. I just can't stand them, but they are not the Huskies. Or the Trojans. Or any team coached by Rick Neiweseal.
Go Ducks.
(Pics of new, even more God-awful, uniforms later?)
By all accounts this game will be a good one, as both teams play for major bowls. The Rose, for the first time since 1964, for the Beavs, the Holiday for the Ducks. There are some that are saying that we all win either, but screw that. I really dislike many, many Beaver fans. They have that aggressive, in-your-face, rural ignorant hick thing going that most recently saw itself personified in Sarah Palin. Their cheerleaders have been known to sport cammo. While cheering. I just can't stand them, but they are not the Huskies. Or the Trojans. Or any team coached by Rick Neiweseal.
Go Ducks.
(Pics of new, even more God-awful, uniforms later?)
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Got a Date With a Bird?
Between a House marathon on the USA (USA! USA! USA!) network and a full day of cooking, this might be my only chance to wish you all happy Turkey Day.
So, Happy Thanksgiving!
On the menu:
Turkey: Brined overnight in a salt, brown sugar, lemons, oranges, herbs and allspice berries. Covered liberally in oil, salt and pepper. Roasted @ 500 for half-an-hour, about 2.5 hours or so at 350 after that.
Dressing: New recipe. Dried cornbread and white bread, with Italian sausage and apples. Onions and celery, natch. Got some homemade stock I cooked last week for the moist. 350 for half-an-hour with Tom, then 425 to crisp once the bird vacates the cook box.
Roasted vegetables: Sweet potatoes, carrots, cippolini onions, sweet peppers. Covered liberally in olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. 350 degrees for 1/2 an hour with the turkey, 425 to finish them off once the bird takes a rest.
Leeks: Five slices of bacon, let 'em render. Remove bacon, add four leeks that have been cut into 1/2 inch pieces, washed and separated. Salt, pepper, maybe a little fennel and caraway seed. Let those leeks cook down until soft.
Green beans: Washed, blanched, ice bathed ahead of time. Hot pan with olive oil (would use butter, but guests have allergies), beans in the pan, tossed to coat. Lots of garlic, salt, pepper, and a squeeze or two of the meyer lemon.
Gravy: Classic 1 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon to 1 cup formula. Again, would use butter for my fat, but will fall back on turkey fat/olive oil, flour, and then more of that stock I made last week. I might throw in some drippings, but it's kind of a pain in the arse. You have 20 minutes to make gravy while the turkey rests and there's almost no way for the fat to separate from the drippings in that time and to make the gravy. But whaddya going to do?
Guest are responsible for bread, cran, wine and pie. AB made some chocolate mousse. We should be having a rocking time. Wish you could all be here.
So, Happy Thanksgiving!
On the menu:
Turkey: Brined overnight in a salt, brown sugar, lemons, oranges, herbs and allspice berries. Covered liberally in oil, salt and pepper. Roasted @ 500 for half-an-hour, about 2.5 hours or so at 350 after that.
Dressing: New recipe. Dried cornbread and white bread, with Italian sausage and apples. Onions and celery, natch. Got some homemade stock I cooked last week for the moist. 350 for half-an-hour with Tom, then 425 to crisp once the bird vacates the cook box.
Roasted vegetables: Sweet potatoes, carrots, cippolini onions, sweet peppers. Covered liberally in olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. 350 degrees for 1/2 an hour with the turkey, 425 to finish them off once the bird takes a rest.
Leeks: Five slices of bacon, let 'em render. Remove bacon, add four leeks that have been cut into 1/2 inch pieces, washed and separated. Salt, pepper, maybe a little fennel and caraway seed. Let those leeks cook down until soft.
Green beans: Washed, blanched, ice bathed ahead of time. Hot pan with olive oil (would use butter, but guests have allergies), beans in the pan, tossed to coat. Lots of garlic, salt, pepper, and a squeeze or two of the meyer lemon.
Gravy: Classic 1 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon to 1 cup formula. Again, would use butter for my fat, but will fall back on turkey fat/olive oil, flour, and then more of that stock I made last week. I might throw in some drippings, but it's kind of a pain in the arse. You have 20 minutes to make gravy while the turkey rests and there's almost no way for the fat to separate from the drippings in that time and to make the gravy. But whaddya going to do?
Guest are responsible for bread, cran, wine and pie. AB made some chocolate mousse. We should be having a rocking time. Wish you could all be here.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Not Gonna Happen
David Neiwert at C&L goes all weak at the knees at the thought that Congressional Dems might not be launching investigations into allegations of torture and human rights abuses that occurred during Bush's War on Terror. He cites as evidence that this may happen a conversation on the Maddow show where Jonathan Turley speculates that the Bush admin won't be issuing preemptive pardons because the Dems don't have the stones to investigate anything. Neiwert writes:
The fantasy of indicting anyone important in the Bush administration is just that, a fantasy. For hump sake, they couldn't get anything on Gonzales. Our best bet would be to lead by example. We keep saying, "the grown ups will finally be back in charge," if that's the case, let's act like it. Launching futile investigations just so we can needle some people who are out of power isn't what grown ups do, and is not what the American people want.
*Did you know that Corbin Bersen and his wife, British actress Amanda Pays, named their son Oliver North Bernsen?
There's been a certain amount of dismay expressed by progressives over the past week or so about Obama's emerging Cabinet and the lack of any real liberals within his administration so far; some of this is reasonable, some of it excessive.I think that we can all lament the abuses that occurred under the Bush administration. Guaranteeing Guantanamo prisoners their rights and a speedy hearing will be good. Not torturing will be awesome. But keeping this discussion going? I'm not sure where that gets us. And I am very much not sure that the American people will be clamoring for CIA officers to be hauled in front of committees to be called torturers. I can't help but thinking of Ollie North* pretty much kicking ass and becoming a national hero while explicitly admitting to breaking the law.
But if Turley is right, and the Obama administration and congressional Democrats do what they've been doing all along -- going along to get along, and putting politics over principle -- when it comes to confronting the reality that torture was conducted under American auspices, then the resulting uproar and outrage will be fully deserved.
The fantasy of indicting anyone important in the Bush administration is just that, a fantasy. For hump sake, they couldn't get anything on Gonzales. Our best bet would be to lead by example. We keep saying, "the grown ups will finally be back in charge," if that's the case, let's act like it. Launching futile investigations just so we can needle some people who are out of power isn't what grown ups do, and is not what the American people want.
*Did you know that Corbin Bersen and his wife, British actress Amanda Pays, named their son Oliver North Bernsen?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
EFCA, Which I Support
Go here for a good post about why EFCA is so necessary and how close we are to seeing it passed.
h/t: C&L
Good news though-- all the Democrats elected in the Senate are likely to be EFCA supporters, as are almost all the new Democratic House members-- we'll have to see about the 2 right-wingers from Alabama the DCCC wasted so many millions of dollars electing-- and, more importantly, one of the sponsors of the Senate bill is Barack H. Obama. The House already passed the bill 241 to 185 on March 1, 2007. On June 26 the Republicans managed to filibuster the bill to death, 48 Republicans joining in that effort. The only Republican joining the Democrats to end the filibuster was Arlen Specter (R-PA). Tim Johnson (D-SD), a co-sponsor, was in the hospital and couldn't vote. Several of the anti-working families Republicans who joined the filibuster were defeated-- or have retired and been replaced-- by Democrats: Wayne Allard (CO), Elizabeth Dole (NC), Pete Domenici (NM), Gordon Smith (OR), Ted Stevens (AK), John Sununu (NH) and John Warner (VA). If the vote were to take place today there is every indication that it would be 59- 40. That's one short of passage-- and that's why the recount in Minnesota and the re-run in Georgia are both so important.I know I seem to be a more pro-EFCA guy as it gets closer to passage, but I think previously it was a matter of not wanting to dream the impossible dream.
h/t: C&L
I Choose Both!
Which is more ridiculous? This headline from the Register Guard:
Despite Obama, racial disparities persistor this opening paragraph from Jonah Goldberg:
Despite Obama, racial disparities persistor this opening paragraph from Jonah Goldberg:
In an attempt to dial down expectations for his administration, President-elect Barack Obama's supporters have dropped much of the "messiah" talk.You decide!
Monday, November 24, 2008
That's Five Rs, If You're Counting
I am late coming to this, but it is too good to pass up comment on. An editorial in the WSJ actually tries to link the "War on Christmas" to the collapse of the stock market.
capitalist system immoral system was built on?
Let's not even get started with personal responsibility and restraint, as those have nothing to do with the investor, only the investee. Once the paperwork on the 401(k) is signed, all personal responsibility and restraint is at an end.
Even though I haven't lost anything (knock, knock), I have friends who have, so if it helps them get some money back, I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Especially you non-Christians, you need it most of all.
What really went missing through the subprime mortgage years were the three Rs: responsibility, restraint and remorse. They are the ballast that stabilizes two better-known Rs from the world of free markets: risk and reward.This, in and of itself, is pretty freaking hilarious, but I actually found the opening much better. Despite a persistent belief in the wonders of the free market, Daniel Herringer argues that many Americans have lost 50% of their wealth through no fault of their own! It seems that poor people, people who have not the morality required for home ownership committed fraud on their loan applications on such an epic scale as to bankrupt innocent investors who were merely trying to make a moral buck on those loans.
Responsibility and restraint are moral sentiments. Remorse is a product of conscience. None of these grow on trees. Each must be learned, taught, passed down. And so we come back to the disappearance of "Merry Christmas."
How the financial markets fell so far so fast will occupy economic seers for years. The path to 50% wealth reductions and the death of Wall Street was paved with good intentions, notably the notion that all should own a house, even if that required giving away the house to untutored borrowers with low-to-no-interest loans.Perhaps it requires the perspective of someone who has lost absolutely nothing (knock, knock) in this great market collapse to say this, but if you lost half of your wealth because of the collapse of an immoral system, doesn't that mean that approximately 50% of your wealth was built on that very immoral system? Weren't you trying to cash in on the crazy morality-free frenzy that the entire
This good intention set off history's largest chain of moral hazard. The great unraveling began sometime between 2005 and 2007, when borrowers, lenders and securitizer shamans all found themselves operating in a zero-gravity environment, aloft on moral hazard.
Let's not even get started with personal responsibility and restraint, as those have nothing to do with the investor, only the investee. Once the paperwork on the 401(k) is signed, all personal responsibility and restraint is at an end.
Even though I haven't lost anything (knock, knock), I have friends who have, so if it helps them get some money back, I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Especially you non-Christians, you need it most of all.
Good Points, All
Deliciousness from Oregon via TNR.
| Posted by Mike Dillon
48 of 64 | warn tnr | respond
I dont see why the Taxpayers should bail out any business, you say government but its Taxes and inflation that pay for it.What is the incentive for a business to make a profit when if they fail Uncle Sam will pay his bills? What about the millions of small business owners whos companies fail? Bail them out also? .Hell bail me out Ive lost nearly 80% of my IRA in less than a year. Its a known fact that Big Business pay proportionately less Tax than the average Joe. Look at PGE in Oregon before Enron bought them they paid 10 dollars income tax in the 90s on millions of dollars of revenue. So far 9 banks got bailed out, who was bank #10 that got the Finger and why? What about the first bailout of AIG when they threw a half a million dollar soiree and gave all of us the finger ,then they got more??? Its all catty wampus right now. Did the banks actually lose money? I thought home loans were insured by Fany and Freddy in case of default? I and many others like me lost our IRAs if we had REITS which had the best track record of any investment available at least in my Vanguard account. This whole ball game was planned long ago to happen like it is happening and who is suffering from this so called crisis? This is a war on the average American. Thank God I am not 65 I would have nothing to live on now. Hopefully it will come back in the next 10 years so maybe I can at least afford a Big Mac when I retire. Dont expect help for Average Joe with the people B. Hussein Obama has picked to run the Finances they are the ones who engineered this mess. Lets get to the real questions and that is why did Building 7 at WTC fall down ?Why are we in Iraq protecting Halliburton interests when most all of the alleged Hijackers were Saudis? Why is Cheney believed when he says he stepped down from Halliburton? Why did they move to Dubai? Was it to avoid taxes? Why was Halliburton allowed to collect tax money for serving military lunches they didnt serve to anyone and for that matter why are they serving lunches to the Army anyway? What happened to all the Mess Seargents? Why can I buy a pair of Designer bifocal prescription glasses in China for 80 bucks when the Bargain frame ones in the States cost me 500? Half of which is paid by my insurance?? And the one that actually iritates me most is why are our American Colleges filled with Illiterate Athletes who go to school for free while the intelligent students pay there own way for the most part. And last but not last how did America sit back and let Department of Homeland Security get involved in so many programs that have nothing to do with stopping terrorists? Remember the grandfather from Oregon in May 2007 that got a fine of 55,300 bucks without due process from DOHS for bringing back some cheap replica watches that cost him 14 bucks overseas? Who are the real terrorists in America today? Obviously its not Bin Laden and his cronies. Was Sadaam an Al Queda? Why has America forgotten that Bin was a CIA operative who delivered guns and money from the USA to defeat Russia in the Afghan- Russian war that was fought over where an oil pipeline was to be layed to benefit Saudis and the Big Oil companies? America has gone to Hell in a handbasket and this is only the beginning.
Somethign About Nuts and Tress and the Relative Distances at which They Fall
There is some talk of changing Oregon's initiative process to make it harder for certain interests to fraud their way onto the ballot. All well and good, except that the idea I've heard floated most often would involve discounting 10,000 petition signatures for every fraudulent one identified.
Even though our initiative process has been used for purposes not entirely friendly to the progressive agenda, doesn't mean that the process itself is broken. The fact that the right has been able to use the initiative process to advance its agenda should trouble the hell out of us. The fact that progressives dismiss the thought of using the process ourselves should be even more troubling. We are the ones who are supposed to have the people on our side.
Which is why any idea that involves invalidating legitimate signatures from legitimate voters, for whatever reason, makes me cringe. Okay it horrifies me. There have to be countless better ideas than this one, like actually signature matching all the signatures instead of just randomly sampling. I can't help but wonder how progressives would react if conservatives were proposing discounting 10,000 voter registration cards submitted by ACORN for fraudulent card. I can't imagine we'd think this was a good idea.
Ignoring the will of the voters is something that no progressive should advocate. We can educate and change minds, but we shouldn't ignore.
Even though our initiative process has been used for purposes not entirely friendly to the progressive agenda, doesn't mean that the process itself is broken. The fact that the right has been able to use the initiative process to advance its agenda should trouble the hell out of us. The fact that progressives dismiss the thought of using the process ourselves should be even more troubling. We are the ones who are supposed to have the people on our side.
Which is why any idea that involves invalidating legitimate signatures from legitimate voters, for whatever reason, makes me cringe. Okay it horrifies me. There have to be countless better ideas than this one, like actually signature matching all the signatures instead of just randomly sampling. I can't help but wonder how progressives would react if conservatives were proposing discounting 10,000 voter registration cards submitted by ACORN for fraudulent card. I can't imagine we'd think this was a good idea.
Ignoring the will of the voters is something that no progressive should advocate. We can educate and change minds, but we shouldn't ignore.
Watching Roaches Climb the Wall
The Fox reality show "Secret Millionaire" is possibly the most offensive thing I have seen on television since I saw Janet Jackson's boob for half a second. (Thank Jeebus the FCC have put an end to those shenanigans.) Well, I haven't actually seen the show, I've only seen the promo, but Lord, it doesn't look like there's really much doubt that this sucks.
The premise of the "reality" show is that each week a super-millionaire will spend 10 days living as a poor person, getting to know the "community," and then revealing his "true" identity to people when he gives a "deserving" person or group a check for $100,000.
If you're anything like me, you're going to need a moment to process all that.
Just in case you think there might be a chance this show could be a well-done exploration of poverty in America, let quash those thoughts now:
The whole thing is fucked up. Fox is going to make millions in advertising on a show where some lucky poor person is going to "win" $100,000. Fuck anyone who comes out of this show "pledging to do more," without realizing all their money is derived from the exploitation of these very people. Who doesn't realize that the whole fucking system is based on exploiting these people. Who doesn't realize that this is just another form of exploitation.
Arg.
The premise of the "reality" show is that each week a super-millionaire will spend 10 days living as a poor person, getting to know the "community," and then revealing his "true" identity to people when he gives a "deserving" person or group a check for $100,000.
If you're anything like me, you're going to need a moment to process all that.
Just in case you think there might be a chance this show could be a well-done exploration of poverty in America, let quash those thoughts now:
"How often do we see somebody who's homeless on the street and wonder what it would be like to live like that?" Fox president of alternative entertainment Mike Darnell asked. "Whereas the superwealthy are so detached from that experience. This is a really clever conceit and has a great emotional arc to it."I cannot begin to express my disgust with this whole premise. For some reason it's visceral. I mean fuck anyone who thinks they can even begin to "understand" what it's like to be poor because they spend ten days living in a crummy LA apartment. I mean will they have to ride the bus? Public transportation? Holy fucking hell on Earth! Will they have to work some shit job for eight hours a day? Eat Top Ramen? Oh noes! Will they worry about the electricity payment? Will they have to worry about their kids moving down the same road, knowing that there's almost nothing they can do about it? Will they have to know that every fucking day of their lives will be exactly like this, except when they get worse? Will they develop substance habits because anything that can make the pain go away for just a bit is worth whatever theoretical costs come down the road? Will their social lives revolve around the pursuit of pain management? Will they, heaven forbid, be forced to spend their nights watching Fox reality programming because there is nothing else on? Fuck anyone who spends that ten days passing judgment on the behaviors and actions of people who live a completely different life. Fuck anyone who thinks they are some sort of awesome fucking person because they hand someone a check at the end of the ten days (but only if that person is truly worthy!).
The whole thing is fucked up. Fox is going to make millions in advertising on a show where some lucky poor person is going to "win" $100,000. Fuck anyone who comes out of this show "pledging to do more," without realizing all their money is derived from the exploitation of these very people. Who doesn't realize that the whole fucking system is based on exploiting these people. Who doesn't realize that this is just another form of exploitation.
Arg.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Common Knowledge
In a must-read about the Big 3 bailout, Jonathan Cohn debunks the $70 an hour myth. I found this passage enlightening, but depressing:
btw, check out that first comment. Yes, unions will just have "give up keeping all those retirees happy." No sense in not destroying tens of thousands of lives while we're at it.
h/t: Bellman
The number only gets to $70 an hour if you include the cost of benefits for retirees--in other words, the cost of benefits for other people. One of the few people to grasp this was Portfolio.com's Felix Salmon. As he noted yesterday, the claim that workers are getting $70 an hour in compensation is just "not true."Depressing because this fact should be basic knowledge, but, as he notes, it appears that it is not. If we can have a week-long conversation about the Big 3 and their problems without everyone knowing that the high labor costs are legacy costs, then...well...jeebus.
btw, check out that first comment. Yes, unions will just have "give up keeping all those retirees happy." No sense in not destroying tens of thousands of lives while we're at it.
h/t: Bellman
Breathtaking
One of the best things about living Eugene is that you wake up to letters like this on the editorial page. First thing in the morning, it really gets the brain juices flowing.
Happy New Year, comrades
Another year has come and gone. Time for Christmas.
America has voted in a new president. We'll keep our guns, money, and religious freedom, thank you very much. You can keep the change!
Remember Sarah Palin in 2012? I think Santa Claus is broke this Christmas. All the money went to OPEC. And now, we will be fighting just one war. So instead of our brave soldiers dying in two countries, they will just be dying in one - Afghanistan.
President-elect Barack Obama promises to get Osama bin Laden, so he is going to send troops into Pakistan. Gee, didn't some complain about President Bush doing that in Iraq? Besides, I thought we were fighting the same enemy: Muslim extremists who hate us.
I hope we're happy in our new socialist state where there's no room for Jesus. We will be like the Borg, with the same consciousness. No individuality here; it's all for the state, you know. And we will get the population down, too, one baby at a time.
It looks like a lump of coal in our stocking this Christmas. Have a Happy New Year, comrades!
CAL CROWE JR.
Florence
Thursday, November 20, 2008
When You Absolutely Positively Must Download It Overnight
Discover magazine has a little article about the NSF-funded Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI), a team of researchers that have been charged with thinking about the future infrastructure of the internet. Apparently, a lot of people use it. All well and good of course, but the woman who heads GENI's network science and engineering council has some troubling ideas about ways to solve the infrastructure problems. Ideas that don't sound at all like net neutrality.
Then FedEx came along. Different rates are charged based on size, distance, and difficulty of delivery. If a customer is willing to pay extra, her packages can move ahead of everyone else's. Speed is achieved, at the cost of pricing a good many people out of the market.
FedEx is something corporations and the relatively better-off can enjoy, while the poorer individual consumer is left to use the slower post office. We hear increasing calls for the elimination of the postal service from a certain wing of the political spectrum as well.
It seems to me that the "FedEx" model of internet infrastructure sounds a like like the elimination of net neutrality. Let's hope this is not where GENI is headed.
The next step - transitioning the world to Internet-wide upgrades - may be the biggest hurdle. "Some people think this sounds crazy, but we have plenty of examples of large infrastructures for which there is an alternative that does some things better, " say Ellen Zegura. "Think of FedEx compared with the old U.S. Postal system."Yes, let's think about the comparison. The postal service treats every package the same, charging the same rate to every customer. Until FedEx came along, distance the package traveled didn't matter. No location was too remote for delivery. The fact that service was subsidized by the taxpayer kept it cheap, reliable, and equitable, if not exactly speedy.
Then FedEx came along. Different rates are charged based on size, distance, and difficulty of delivery. If a customer is willing to pay extra, her packages can move ahead of everyone else's. Speed is achieved, at the cost of pricing a good many people out of the market.
FedEx is something corporations and the relatively better-off can enjoy, while the poorer individual consumer is left to use the slower post office. We hear increasing calls for the elimination of the postal service from a certain wing of the political spectrum as well.
It seems to me that the "FedEx" model of internet infrastructure sounds a like like the elimination of net neutrality. Let's hope this is not where GENI is headed.
Is It Too Obvious?
People do see that the collapse of the Big 3 is a natural outcome of NAFTA and other free trade agreements, right?
It's not like we didn't know this was going to happen eventually. If corporations can freely chase the cheapest production costs, then they will do it or die. Yes, high labor costs are a factor, but, call me crazy, high labor costs are good for America. It means workers have money to buy things. Things like food, shelter, and cars.
Oh, it's going to be a hell of a depression.
It's not like we didn't know this was going to happen eventually. If corporations can freely chase the cheapest production costs, then they will do it or die. Yes, high labor costs are a factor, but, call me crazy, high labor costs are good for America. It means workers have money to buy things. Things like food, shelter, and cars.
Oh, it's going to be a hell of a depression.
Only One Day Left...
for Bush to make this world a worse place before he leaves. Tomorrow is the deadline for the Bush administration to issue new executive rules that cannot easily be undone by Obama.
Thank God he's intent on going out on a dozy. The Bush administration is about to enact a rule that would allow executive administrators to determine for themselves whether a proposed project would threaten endangered plants or animals. Current rules require that the projects receive an independent review by wildlife experts.
You may remember this rule was the one speed-reviewed when 15 people "read" the 250,000 comments on the proposed change in four days. Surprisingly, they didn't find much in the rule that needed changing.
And you do have to hand it to the Bushies, just in case this nation goes nuts and elects someone who might appoint people who would take their responsibility to the Endangered Species Act seriously, the rule also includes a provision that bars anyone from taking the release of gasses that may cause global warming into consideration at all.
If you're going to go down as the worst president in history (sorry Andy), you may as well go all the fucking way down, no?
Thank God he's intent on going out on a dozy. The Bush administration is about to enact a rule that would allow executive administrators to determine for themselves whether a proposed project would threaten endangered plants or animals. Current rules require that the projects receive an independent review by wildlife experts.
You may remember this rule was the one speed-reviewed when 15 people "read" the 250,000 comments on the proposed change in four days. Surprisingly, they didn't find much in the rule that needed changing.
And you do have to hand it to the Bushies, just in case this nation goes nuts and elects someone who might appoint people who would take their responsibility to the Endangered Species Act seriously, the rule also includes a provision that bars anyone from taking the release of gasses that may cause global warming into consideration at all.
If you're going to go down as the worst president in history (sorry Andy), you may as well go all the fucking way down, no?
Comics Cwickies
Beetle Bailey goes meta. Normally, I am a big fan of meta comics (PBS, Bloom County), but this kind of disturbs me. This strikes me more as dark moment where an artist realizes that his life's work has been one big, lame joke. Unless this quickly turns into Sarge and Beetle (finally) admitting what's been between them all these years, I am hoping this sudden self-awareness is an aberration.
Ziggy, on the other hand, is always keeping it meta. Today's comic forces us to contemplate just what it means for a joke to go "stale" or be "out-of-date." Can we truly knew that a joke fails miserably because it is "old," if we can never know if it would have been funny in the first place? If this joke ever had a chance, what is the precise moment it would have reached been vintage? As the last book was being published? Somewhere in the middle when Rowling had reached critical mass? Early on, when the phenomenon of earning millions for childrens' books was somewhat fresh? Of course, we'll never know, but at least Ziggy is here to force us to wonder.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Gloomy Me
Digby nails it in a post about card check:
When someone close to Obama says that there may need to be some restructuring of labor deals between the Big 3 and UAW, you will know that someone made a decision and we lost. And it will portend more such close calls over the next 4 to 8 years.
The economic crisis, particularly the Big 3 meltdown, is offering the right what they see as a new opportunity to break unions and destroy any advances workers might have expected under a progressive government.I said much the same thing a few days ago. The "right" can't crush anything at the moment, but the right combined with Democrats looking to make deals is another story. I fear that a pro-corporate, pro-bailout, pro-single payer health insurance, anti-union coalition is going to coalesce. And, unfortunately, our friends are going to cut us adrift to get health care.
When someone close to Obama says that there may need to be some restructuring of labor deals between the Big 3 and UAW, you will know that someone made a decision and we lost. And it will portend more such close calls over the next 4 to 8 years.
Those Short-Sighted Sons a' Bitches
More on the Big 3 soon, but for now...
Let's imagine for a second that we just accept that the Big 3 automakers are struggling because they can't compete in the auto marketplace largely because they are saddled with high labor costs. Let's all pretend that we'd run out and buy a Chevy Aveo tomorrow, if only it wasn't a piece of shit, because if GM didn't have to pay some retired guy's health care, they'd be made of the best materials, would get 70 miles to the gallon, have a suspension, crumple zones, and all that other bullshit that Japanese and European car makers cram their cars with. When I think about the super car of tomorrow I could be driving if it weren't for some 60-year-old hump with a bad back driving up the cost of American cars, oh it just gets my blood a' boiling. For fuck sake, disks were made to bulge! That's what they do!
Alright, so high labor cost is just killing Ford. Not a fleet of cars no one wants to buy, that's not the problem. We all want to drive an Expedition, that's a given. That's pure American power right there. That's a car you take the kids and the dogs and the grandma out for a nice American picnic in. Maybe on the forth of July. Fourteen miles in the city? My old Granada only got like twelve, so that's a 16% improvement right there. But we can't afford it, you and I. We can't afford $32K base price. Why? High cost of labor. That Expedition would cost something like $8,000, if only Ford had the same labor costs as Toyota. There goes my blood again.
But that's not my point. As long as we can agree that labor costs are whats killing the Big 3, I think we're good. Don't get me started on the so-called tightening credit market. I don't even know what that means. You sell me a Chrysler 300 for $14,000 on a zero interest loan, there's a 62% chance I'll make the payments on time. So it's labor that's the problem. Agreed.
I still don't understand why we got to blame UAW for this. Why the invective directed towards unionized autoworkers. How the fuck can it be the hump with the bad back's problem that the Big 3 automakers offered him lifetime health care when he put in his 30? How the fuck can it be the worker's fault that GM offered him a big pension in lieu of higher wages (or, possibly more to the point, any say in what kind or how cars are made in the US)? Auto workers are called "greedy," "short-sighted," and, in less complimentary circles "communist bastards that are destroying this nation." I provide no links because I'm lazy and I made that last one up. But you all know what I am saying. All of this is UAW's fault.
I wouldn't care what the free marketeers are saying, except this seems to be the common opinion of the proverbial man on the street. Not just Charlie Wallstreet or Joe Sixpack, but every-fucking-body. Everyone knows that UAW priced themselves right out of the market and destroyed the greatest American corporations since US Steel, which, as we know, unions also destroyed.
Here's the thing though, who the fuck could anyone at UAW have possibly predicted what would happen in the US auto market in the last forty years? Obviously no one, or we wouldn't fucking be here. Instead, it is blithly assumed that the current economic crisis is the logical outcome of agreeing to pay retiree health care and pensions. If UAW hadn't been so greedy and short-sighted (and communist!), the Big 3 would be doing fine. I mean the UAW should totally have anticipated incompetent management, free trade, and a housing market collapse. Duh.
Here's how it should have gone circa 1965, so that we all could have avoided this mess.
Big Labor Boss (addressing autoworkers at a union meeting): Well boys, the Big 3 are raking in millions of dollars in profits. People love the fuck out of those Chevy Impalas. Now, I've heard a lot of you call from a return of the fins. Look, I love the fins as much as the next red-blooded American, but they ain't coming back. Let it go boys. Obviously cars are getting smaller these days and we're just going to have to accept that. What we lack in size, we'll make up for in horsepower, am I right?!
Where was I, ah yes, millions and millions in profits. Now the management has come to us with proposals where they would continue to fund our pensions and health and all that, but they want to keep the wages within reason. It looks pretty fucking sweet, but I gotta recommend we turn this offer down.
(Cheers and calls of "Fight, fight fight!")
BLB: Whoa, there boys! Don't misunderstand me. We gotta turn this deal down because it's too fucking sweet.
(Boos and calls of "Huh, huh, huh?")
BLB: That's right, too fucking sweet. Sure everything is going pretty great for auto makers and America right now. Hell, we're kings of the fucking world people, but it ain't gonna last. Nope, there are some dark fucking times ahead. Right now, even as I address this crowd, there are men in the Pentagon that are plotting to seize on the flimsiest of evidence that the North Vietnamese attacked our brave sailors in Vietnam. This will widen a war against a determined guerrilla foe. The widening war with cause a cultural rift that right-wingers will be able to frighten most of you with for the next four decades. I'm telling you right now, your granddaughters will marry Negroes and your grandsons will be queers. Our eventual defeat in Vietnam will send the nation into a existential funk. Our apparent military vulnerability will be exploited by OPEC which will -- hey, hey, calm down people. Give me a minute here. I know what the fuck I am saying -- OPEC is going to embargo oil. Embargo. This will lead to people wanting to drive small, fuel efficient cars.
(Laughter)
BLB: No, I'm fucking serious. First it will be a company called Datsun, which will eventually be called Nissan, but that's neither here nor there. Toyota will kick all of our asses. Fuck, even the Koreans will take us to school. I shit you not.
Ted: BLB, won't we start making small cars too? Better cars? More efficient, better built? We are the fucking best labor force in the world!
BLB: Afraid not, Ted, although I appreciate your support for my seemingly insane prediction of the future. Nope, we'll continue to build the same large cars because that's what Americans want, even if it's not what they'll buy. We want Americans to feel good about us, even if the word "nostalgia" increasingly creeps into the conversation. Nope, we'll respond by launching a campaign of vilifying the Middle East as a whole, which will have some pretty fucking interesting consequences down the road, and we'll open up a can of anti-Japanese propaganda that will come in handy for the steel and timber industries as well. It won't work, but it will certainly feel good.
Ted: But certainly our political allies will help us! They'll keep foreign cars out of the market with high tariffs!
BLB: We will have no political allies. Remember that cultural rift I mentioned? Enough of you will be so afraid of the queers and the women (oh jesus, the women) that you'll vote Republican.
(Cries of "Never! Never!")
BLB: Oh, you'll vote Republican alright. You'll vote Republican enough that even the Democrats will come to believe in something called "free trade." Free trade basically means that there will be no protection for American workers. You'll be competing with the world when it comes to wages and benefits.
Ted: Why would American workers sell themselves down the river like that?
BLB: Cheap socks.
Ted: I rise to call for a vote of no confidence in BLB.
(Cries of "Here, here!")
BLB: Seriously. As products are increasingly made anywhere but the United States, they'll be cheaper. As the US loses it's manufacturing base, wages will decline and it's all you'll be able to afford. Soon enough "cheap goods" will become your mantra. Fuck, part of the culture war will be aimed at convincing you that anyone that wants you to buy an America made product that will last more than four months is a communist bastard out to destroy your way of life.
(Cries of "Second!")
BLB: Let me finish, it gets better. Our demonization of all-things Middle East will lead to a rise in Islamic conservativism. Our continued meddling in the region will eventually lead to a rise in Islamic terrorism...look I'm leaving a lot out here people...that will, in turn, lead us to launching an unprovoked war of choice in a place called Iraq. This will lead to a destabilizing of the world oil market, which will send the price of oil through the roof.
This war will combine with a collapsing economy in the US. You see, you fucks will continue to vote for Republicans because Jesus tells you to. Those Republicans will continue to do exactly what Republicans do, they will run this country in the interest of the wealthy few. They will cut taxes on the rich
("Cut taxes in a time of war? You're fucking crazy!")
they will cut taxes on the rich, which the rich will use to speculate in the real estate market. The market will become inflated enough that banks will be giving loans to people who obviously cannot afford to pay them back because someone has to buy a wildly overpriced house, am I right?
("You're fucking crazy!")
As the housing market collapses, we'll come to discover the whole fucking economy was based on a house of cards and it will come crashing down, restricting the lending market so that no one wants to give anyone a loan to buy a car. As more and more people are laid off, no one will really want to buy a car any way. With gas prices so high, they certainly won't want to buy a large American car. I'm not even going to mention our reputation for building really slipshod cars.
So, again, given what will obviously happen in the next forty years, I recommend we turn down this sweet ass offer and ask the Big 3 to keep their money for a time when they are really going to need it.
Ted: All in favor of throwing this bum out?
All: Aye!
It's a tragic story, I know, but one that could obviously have been avoided, if only those greedy-ass auto workers had had to foresight to turn down that health care and pension. They should have said "thanks, but no thanks" and we wouldn't be in this mess today. Am I right, or am I right?
Let's imagine for a second that we just accept that the Big 3 automakers are struggling because they can't compete in the auto marketplace largely because they are saddled with high labor costs. Let's all pretend that we'd run out and buy a Chevy Aveo tomorrow, if only it wasn't a piece of shit, because if GM didn't have to pay some retired guy's health care, they'd be made of the best materials, would get 70 miles to the gallon, have a suspension, crumple zones, and all that other bullshit that Japanese and European car makers cram their cars with. When I think about the super car of tomorrow I could be driving if it weren't for some 60-year-old hump with a bad back driving up the cost of American cars, oh it just gets my blood a' boiling. For fuck sake, disks were made to bulge! That's what they do!
Alright, so high labor cost is just killing Ford. Not a fleet of cars no one wants to buy, that's not the problem. We all want to drive an Expedition, that's a given. That's pure American power right there. That's a car you take the kids and the dogs and the grandma out for a nice American picnic in. Maybe on the forth of July. Fourteen miles in the city? My old Granada only got like twelve, so that's a 16% improvement right there. But we can't afford it, you and I. We can't afford $32K base price. Why? High cost of labor. That Expedition would cost something like $8,000, if only Ford had the same labor costs as Toyota. There goes my blood again.
But that's not my point. As long as we can agree that labor costs are whats killing the Big 3, I think we're good. Don't get me started on the so-called tightening credit market. I don't even know what that means. You sell me a Chrysler 300 for $14,000 on a zero interest loan, there's a 62% chance I'll make the payments on time. So it's labor that's the problem. Agreed.
I still don't understand why we got to blame UAW for this. Why the invective directed towards unionized autoworkers. How the fuck can it be the hump with the bad back's problem that the Big 3 automakers offered him lifetime health care when he put in his 30? How the fuck can it be the worker's fault that GM offered him a big pension in lieu of higher wages (or, possibly more to the point, any say in what kind or how cars are made in the US)? Auto workers are called "greedy," "short-sighted," and, in less complimentary circles "communist bastards that are destroying this nation." I provide no links because I'm lazy and I made that last one up. But you all know what I am saying. All of this is UAW's fault.
I wouldn't care what the free marketeers are saying, except this seems to be the common opinion of the proverbial man on the street. Not just Charlie Wallstreet or Joe Sixpack, but every-fucking-body. Everyone knows that UAW priced themselves right out of the market and destroyed the greatest American corporations since US Steel, which, as we know, unions also destroyed.
Here's the thing though, who the fuck could anyone at UAW have possibly predicted what would happen in the US auto market in the last forty years? Obviously no one, or we wouldn't fucking be here. Instead, it is blithly assumed that the current economic crisis is the logical outcome of agreeing to pay retiree health care and pensions. If UAW hadn't been so greedy and short-sighted (and communist!), the Big 3 would be doing fine. I mean the UAW should totally have anticipated incompetent management, free trade, and a housing market collapse. Duh.
Here's how it should have gone circa 1965, so that we all could have avoided this mess.
Big Labor Boss (addressing autoworkers at a union meeting): Well boys, the Big 3 are raking in millions of dollars in profits. People love the fuck out of those Chevy Impalas. Now, I've heard a lot of you call from a return of the fins. Look, I love the fins as much as the next red-blooded American, but they ain't coming back. Let it go boys. Obviously cars are getting smaller these days and we're just going to have to accept that. What we lack in size, we'll make up for in horsepower, am I right?!
Where was I, ah yes, millions and millions in profits. Now the management has come to us with proposals where they would continue to fund our pensions and health and all that, but they want to keep the wages within reason. It looks pretty fucking sweet, but I gotta recommend we turn this offer down.
(Cheers and calls of "Fight, fight fight!")
BLB: Whoa, there boys! Don't misunderstand me. We gotta turn this deal down because it's too fucking sweet.
(Boos and calls of "Huh, huh, huh?")
BLB: That's right, too fucking sweet. Sure everything is going pretty great for auto makers and America right now. Hell, we're kings of the fucking world people, but it ain't gonna last. Nope, there are some dark fucking times ahead. Right now, even as I address this crowd, there are men in the Pentagon that are plotting to seize on the flimsiest of evidence that the North Vietnamese attacked our brave sailors in Vietnam. This will widen a war against a determined guerrilla foe. The widening war with cause a cultural rift that right-wingers will be able to frighten most of you with for the next four decades. I'm telling you right now, your granddaughters will marry Negroes and your grandsons will be queers. Our eventual defeat in Vietnam will send the nation into a existential funk. Our apparent military vulnerability will be exploited by OPEC which will -- hey, hey, calm down people. Give me a minute here. I know what the fuck I am saying -- OPEC is going to embargo oil. Embargo. This will lead to people wanting to drive small, fuel efficient cars.
(Laughter)
BLB: No, I'm fucking serious. First it will be a company called Datsun, which will eventually be called Nissan, but that's neither here nor there. Toyota will kick all of our asses. Fuck, even the Koreans will take us to school. I shit you not.
Ted: BLB, won't we start making small cars too? Better cars? More efficient, better built? We are the fucking best labor force in the world!
BLB: Afraid not, Ted, although I appreciate your support for my seemingly insane prediction of the future. Nope, we'll continue to build the same large cars because that's what Americans want, even if it's not what they'll buy. We want Americans to feel good about us, even if the word "nostalgia" increasingly creeps into the conversation. Nope, we'll respond by launching a campaign of vilifying the Middle East as a whole, which will have some pretty fucking interesting consequences down the road, and we'll open up a can of anti-Japanese propaganda that will come in handy for the steel and timber industries as well. It won't work, but it will certainly feel good.
Ted: But certainly our political allies will help us! They'll keep foreign cars out of the market with high tariffs!
BLB: We will have no political allies. Remember that cultural rift I mentioned? Enough of you will be so afraid of the queers and the women (oh jesus, the women) that you'll vote Republican.
(Cries of "Never! Never!")
BLB: Oh, you'll vote Republican alright. You'll vote Republican enough that even the Democrats will come to believe in something called "free trade." Free trade basically means that there will be no protection for American workers. You'll be competing with the world when it comes to wages and benefits.
Ted: Why would American workers sell themselves down the river like that?
BLB: Cheap socks.
Ted: I rise to call for a vote of no confidence in BLB.
(Cries of "Here, here!")
BLB: Seriously. As products are increasingly made anywhere but the United States, they'll be cheaper. As the US loses it's manufacturing base, wages will decline and it's all you'll be able to afford. Soon enough "cheap goods" will become your mantra. Fuck, part of the culture war will be aimed at convincing you that anyone that wants you to buy an America made product that will last more than four months is a communist bastard out to destroy your way of life.
(Cries of "Second!")
BLB: Let me finish, it gets better. Our demonization of all-things Middle East will lead to a rise in Islamic conservativism. Our continued meddling in the region will eventually lead to a rise in Islamic terrorism...look I'm leaving a lot out here people...that will, in turn, lead us to launching an unprovoked war of choice in a place called Iraq. This will lead to a destabilizing of the world oil market, which will send the price of oil through the roof.
This war will combine with a collapsing economy in the US. You see, you fucks will continue to vote for Republicans because Jesus tells you to. Those Republicans will continue to do exactly what Republicans do, they will run this country in the interest of the wealthy few. They will cut taxes on the rich
("Cut taxes in a time of war? You're fucking crazy!")
they will cut taxes on the rich, which the rich will use to speculate in the real estate market. The market will become inflated enough that banks will be giving loans to people who obviously cannot afford to pay them back because someone has to buy a wildly overpriced house, am I right?
("You're fucking crazy!")
As the housing market collapses, we'll come to discover the whole fucking economy was based on a house of cards and it will come crashing down, restricting the lending market so that no one wants to give anyone a loan to buy a car. As more and more people are laid off, no one will really want to buy a car any way. With gas prices so high, they certainly won't want to buy a large American car. I'm not even going to mention our reputation for building really slipshod cars.
So, again, given what will obviously happen in the next forty years, I recommend we turn down this sweet ass offer and ask the Big 3 to keep their money for a time when they are really going to need it.
Ted: All in favor of throwing this bum out?
All: Aye!
It's a tragic story, I know, but one that could obviously have been avoided, if only those greedy-ass auto workers had had to foresight to turn down that health care and pension. They should have said "thanks, but no thanks" and we wouldn't be in this mess today. Am I right, or am I right?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Bard Fest...
kicks ass!
Amber has a lead role in Comedy of Errors - by William Shakespeare (that's right, Shakespeare) - and she was amazingly good. Like, one of three people in the entire play that was not speed-saying her lines, but actually acting with facial expressions and gestures and everything.
Even though most of the kids bit, I'm still processing that a seventh grade class was able to work up a full Shakespeare play and put it on so that a decent portion of the plot was intelligible. I don't really remember seventh grade (good times, good times), but I dare say that we weren't putting on Shakespeare.
Post-play I suggested that she thinking about acting, she was so good. She replied that she didn't think so, as acting seemed like a lot of work.
Always my daughter, that Amber.
Amber has a lead role in Comedy of Errors - by William Shakespeare (that's right, Shakespeare) - and she was amazingly good. Like, one of three people in the entire play that was not speed-saying her lines, but actually acting with facial expressions and gestures and everything.
Even though most of the kids bit, I'm still processing that a seventh grade class was able to work up a full Shakespeare play and put it on so that a decent portion of the plot was intelligible. I don't really remember seventh grade (good times, good times), but I dare say that we weren't putting on Shakespeare.
Post-play I suggested that she thinking about acting, she was so good. She replied that she didn't think so, as acting seemed like a lot of work.
Always my daughter, that Amber.
Democrats Go Spelunking (Again)
Lieberman is keeping his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee. And why wouldn't he? He only endorsed McCain, said the election of Obama would be dangerous, and made favorable remarks Republican Senators in tight elections. I can't see why he wouldn't be able to retain a powerful position in the Senate.
The Senate Democrats truly have no courage, spine, or moxie.
Oh Lord, it's going to be a long rest of our lives.
The Senate Democrats truly have no courage, spine, or moxie.
Oh Lord, it's going to be a long rest of our lives.
Failure!
Apparently my ability to offend is so potent that I have brought disrepute on previous endeavors. Not wishing to bring undue stress into the lives of those that didn't ask for it, I think I'll make my home back over here for awhile where friends of mine won't feel the need to apologize to friends of theirs for my observationings.
With that in mind, let me offer this as a first post back.
It seems that the Sons and Daughters of Confederate Veterans, Maryland chapters, hold an annual meeting at Johns Hopkins University. This year they have been told that they will not be able to use the university facilities to hold their meeting. According to this blog post, this is being done specifically because the continued veneration of those that rebelled against the United States in defense of the right to hold a certain class of people in bondage has become distasteful.
The kicker is that the blog post declares this act to be "unpatriotic." Try wrapping your head around that one.
I also particularly enjoy comment number four:
With that in mind, let me offer this as a first post back.
It seems that the Sons and Daughters of Confederate Veterans, Maryland chapters, hold an annual meeting at Johns Hopkins University. This year they have been told that they will not be able to use the university facilities to hold their meeting. According to this blog post, this is being done specifically because the continued veneration of those that rebelled against the United States in defense of the right to hold a certain class of people in bondage has become distasteful.
The kicker is that the blog post declares this act to be "unpatriotic." Try wrapping your head around that one.
I also particularly enjoy comment number four:
Richard G. Williams, Jr. said...I wanted to write, "As opposed to the unrepentant Sons and Daughters of traitors?" but the blog is moderated, so I guessed that my missive wouldn't make it through.
I'm sure that Bill Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist, would be welcome at John Hopkins.
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