Monday, April 30, 2012
Not For Everyone
I'd guess the 1997 era homeownership rate is more 'normal' than the boom era rates.
Give Or Take
The brightest bulbs.
I actually think one cause of Young Eartherism isn't religion, it's narcissism. Hard to imagine all this existing without MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
I actually think one cause of Young Eartherism isn't religion, it's narcissism. Hard to imagine all this existing without MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
One Hell Of A Slippery Slope
It's not an entirely simple issue, but once governments start telling ISPs to block sites, they probably won't stop at the most obvious things. Stuff We Don't Like will be next, and Bonsai Kitten won't be far behind. You can see what the internet would have been like if smart people hadn't sneaked it out there before anyone noticed when you look at facebook (or compuserve and AOL back in the day). It isn't a place where any idiot can throw up a blog without worrying that someone will pull it if they don't like it.
The Great Shirk
Hopefully one good thing coming out of this recession is that a few more left-leaning economists start understanding that the right wing economists actually meant what they've been saying all of these years. All unemployment is voluntary, driven solely by people being unwilling to take jobs at the current wages.
CRISIS
That we get to wake up each day and wonder if the whole thing is going to fall apart should tell us we're doing something wrong. And by 'we' I mean our Galtian Overlords.
Getting It The Wrong Way Round
Unsurprisingly, Spain is officially in recession. Governments everywhere have decided that austerity and deficit cutting - or at least the appearance of trying to cut the deficit - are ends in themselves. But they never are. Even if you believe it's the most important thing, the way to cut government borrowing is to have more people have jobs so there's more tax revenue being collected. Firing everyone and destroying your economy does not solve your borrowing problem.
There's evil here, perceived opportunities to gut the welfare state and labor protections, but there's also a whole lot of stupid.
There's evil here, perceived opportunities to gut the welfare state and labor protections, but there's also a whole lot of stupid.
Operation Blame Yurp
Our great and glorious leaders were setting the stage to use that excuse here if there weren't signs of the economy improving, but they're running with it now in the UK.
Yurp is messing up, but so are the posh twins (Cameron, Osborne) in the UK.
David Cameron issued a stark warning yesterday that the eurozone is facing a renewed threat of collapse as he blamed economic woes on the Continent for Britain's double-dip recession.
In comments which will infuriate other European leaders ahead of elections in France and Greece next weekend, the Prime Minister said Europe was not "anywhere near half-way through" its currency crisis.
Yurp is messing up, but so are the posh twins (Cameron, Osborne) in the UK.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
74
I'm constantly amazed by the number of eventheseriousliberals who imagine that once we cut that grand bargain on social security we can put the issue to bed for all eternity.
Seventy fucking four.
WILL: -- is simple. I mean the average length of retirement in the 20th century expanded from two years to 20 years. The system was never designed for this. If we had indexed the retirement age to life expectancy in 1935, the retirement age today would be 74 and we'd have no problem.
Seventy fucking four.
The Whitey Tape
I've noticed that right wing nutcases on the internet (newspaper site commenters, etc.) have seized on the idea that there's some TRUTH about Obama that the lamestream media conspired to suppress in 2008.. Maybe Breitbart was going to reveal it so the New Black Panthers had to take him out. Or something.
You Hope It's Just Elaborate Security Theatre
Because otherwise the people in charge are dumber than you think.
And buy Charlie's book (one of them anyway). It's about the Eschaton after all.
And buy Charlie's book (one of them anyway). It's about the Eschaton after all.
Perhaps They Should Be Restive
Something about these paragraphs manages to capture all of the current wrong thinking.
When your unemployment rate is 25%, that is your problem. Nothing else. You should not be thinking about any other problems. There is no mechanism such that "cutting government spending" will lead to an improved fiscal outlook. There is, however, a mechanism such that "more jobs" will lead to an improved fiscal outlook. Fix the recession, fix the economy, fix any fiscal issues. There is no way to fix the fiscal issues in isolation.
The country’s economic problems have become the epicenter of Europe’s debt crisis in recent weeks as investors worry over Spain’s ability to push through austerity measures and reforms at a time of recession and mass unemployment.
The cuts are aimed principally at slashing the government’s deficit from 8.5 percent of economic output to the maximum level set by the European Union of 3 percent by 2013. For this year the goal is 5.3 percent.
With the economy shrinking and the population restless, there are concerns that the government will not meet its targets and will be forced to seek a financial rescue as Greece, Ireland and Portugal have done before.
When your unemployment rate is 25%, that is your problem. Nothing else. You should not be thinking about any other problems. There is no mechanism such that "cutting government spending" will lead to an improved fiscal outlook. There is, however, a mechanism such that "more jobs" will lead to an improved fiscal outlook. Fix the recession, fix the economy, fix any fiscal issues. There is no way to fix the fiscal issues in isolation.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Face the Nation has Haley Barbour, Villaraigosa, and Jerry Brown.
Meet the Press has Gibbs, Gillespie, so glad she's representing me Rosen, and some Republican House member from Washington.
This Week has John Brennan, Carly Fiorina, Granholm, Eric Schmidt, and David Walker.
I'm starting to think that whenever they invite a woman on they make sure to pair her with a women from the other team.
Document the atrocities!
Meet the Press has Gibbs, Gillespie, so glad she's representing me Rosen, and some Republican House member from Washington.
This Week has John Brennan, Carly Fiorina, Granholm, Eric Schmidt, and David Walker.
I'm starting to think that whenever they invite a woman on they make sure to pair her with a women from the other team.
Document the atrocities!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Get Your Britcoms Here
It isn't out in the US yet, but In The Loop fans will like this Yes Minister for the New Labour era.
Lunch Thread
I like the weekend, so I'm thinking about putting a little weekend in the weekend.
enjoy.
enjoy.
Listen To The Jaayyyyaabb Creeaayturrrzz
And not the assholes in Big Finance. If people had money to buy their products, they'd hire more people and make more product.
This is difficult to comprehend, I know, but it's true!
This is difficult to comprehend, I know, but it's true!
Your Liberal Media
Not gonna link, but the Washington Post has Frank Luntz tell us about "five myths of conservative voters." And then Jonah Goldberg tells us about "Liberals' top five cliches."
Friday, April 27, 2012
Insurance Policy
A big class divide these days is between those who had family members who could help them and those who didn't. Lots of people who didn't get a lot of financial help from their families - they didn't, for example, borrow $20K from them - are unaware that the fact that family help was potentially available, whether or not they used much of it, always provided a little insurance policy for them, a little backstop. And of course it's the case that, generally, such families did help. A hundred bucks here, a car insurance payment there, an overnight loan covering the tuition, etc. Even if it doesn't add up to much overall it's the difference between treading water and drowning, between having to quit school and not.
Their World
Mittens.
We’ve always encouraged young people: Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.
Who Do You Feel Comfortable With
We're at that stage of the campaign season when the pundits will assure us that what really matters is which candidate makes you feel comfortable, is of your tribe, the one you'd want to have a beer with. Does he eat the kind of food you like to eat? Does he SEEM like he eats the food you like to eat?
I don't deny the reality of tribalism in our politics. It's very real and very powerful. But people who know better should take a few moments now and again to explain that ultimately it's policies that matter. Vote for the guy who is, say, less likely to starve your granny. Whoever that is.
I don't deny the reality of tribalism in our politics. It's very real and very powerful. But people who know better should take a few moments now and again to explain that ultimately it's policies that matter. Vote for the guy who is, say, less likely to starve your granny. Whoever that is.
Deja Vu All Over Again
The response by some to those who said austerity was quite obviously the stupidest fucking idea in the world is pretty similar to the response to those of us who said that invading Iraq for no good reason was the stupidest fucking idea in the world. Basically, pointing out the fail means you love the fail!
The people who are wrong about everything don't care.
The people who are wrong about everything don't care.
In Defense Of Child Labor
Claire McCaskill put this out on the twitter machine yesterday.
And the Obama administration retreats:
Not sure how the AP knows this was unpopular, but glad we've preserved the right of little Johnny to lose a limb or two. Common sense won!!!
We are ruled by the worst people in the world.
Great news,our work to stop dumb rule on children working on farms succeeded! Rs & Ds from farm states came together and common sense won.
And the Obama administration retreats:
WASHINGTON — Under heavy pressure from farm groups, the Obama administration said Thursday it would drop an unpopular plan to prevent children from doing hazardous work on farms owned by anyone other than their parents.
The Labor Department said it is withdrawing proposed rules that would ban children younger than 16 from using most power-driven farm equipment, including tractors. The rules also would prevent those younger than 18 from working in feed lots, grain bins and stockyards.
Not sure how the AP knows this was unpopular, but glad we've preserved the right of little Johnny to lose a limb or two. Common sense won!!!
We are ruled by the worst people in the world.
Even More Beatings
Like Krgthulu I'm not especially optimistic that the powers that be will own up to being wrong or change their policies. They've convinced themselves that the only thing that matters is "low government borrowing costs" because this means that the people who have all the money have "confidence" in them. Of course low government borrowing costs don't just reflect market confidence by the bond vigilantes, they reflect the fact that their economies are crap and there aren't any productive investments anywhere. But, hey, as long as interest rates are low, nothing else matters.
I might actually prefer evil. This is mostly just stupid.
I might actually prefer evil. This is mostly just stupid.
And The Beatings Will Continue
Now that we've made it easier to fire people, the confidence fairy will appear!
...and at home GDP growth at a sad 2.2%. It's a complete mystery why this is happening.
On Thursday Rajoy said he was determined to stick to austerity measures even though they are aggravating the economic slump and calls for growth measures are on the increase around Europe.
...
The government expects labor reforms passed in the first quarter that make it cheaper for firms to hire and fire to produce results next year. Many firms have taken advantage of new rules to lay off more staff.
...and at home GDP growth at a sad 2.2%. It's a complete mystery why this is happening.
Real federal government consumption expenditures and gross investment decreased 5.6 percent
in the first quarter, compared with a decrease of 6.9 percent in the fourth. National defense decreased
8.1 percent, compared with a decrease of 12.1 percent. Nondefense decreased 0.6 percent, in contrast to
an increase of 4.5 percent. Real state and local government consumption expenditures and gross
investment decreased 1.2 percent, compared with a decrease of 2.2 percent.
This Isn't Necessary
But the current policies will continue until the country is destroyed.
And on and on...
Unemployment in Spain has risen to 24.4% in the first quarter of this year. That's a shocker. The figure was expected to be a percentage point lower at 23.%.
It's an increase on 22.9% in the last three months of 2011.
And on and on...
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out any renegotiation of the fiscal pact on budget discipline agreed by 25 European Union governments and rejected criticism that the bloc was not focusing on growth.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Whines From The Basement
After doing this for (please kill me) 10 years and posting a dozen+ posts per day, the one which always gets me is "why are you posting about X??"
South Philly Parking
This comment is pretty awesome.
ok, here's what i used to do when i lived in south philly & parking was at a premium. let the tickets rack up. they won't threaten to boot until it's at least a couple thousand. once you start getting the letters threatening to boot, change you tag. go to the corner title & insurance store. tell them soneone stole your tag. get a new one. the clock starts ticking all over again. F-the PPA. I will never pay a PPA parking ticket.
Stuff I Think I'm The Only One Who Noticed When It Was Relevant
John Kerry licks his lips frequently in a creepy way.
John Edwards eerily resembles Kenneth from 30 Rock.
That is all.
John Edwards eerily resembles Kenneth from 30 Rock.
That is all.
In Defense Of The Spin Room
Contra Pareene: at least one person liked The Spin Room. Me! It was like every other crappy cable news program on at the time, except it had a pomo awareness that it was a completely crappy. It made clear that The Politics Show of that era, our politicians and the media that covered them, were ridiculous and awful. It wasn't parody, just the distilled essence of all that crap.
And Then He Scratched A Backwards 'B' On His Face
Weird psychology here.
Cops say Toledo is the tire slasher.
JOE NICOLETTI was amazed at the anger spewing from David Toledo as the two sat in Toledo's living room in January, talking about the lowlife who got his rocks off by slashing their neighbors' tires.
"Some of the things he said were almost a vigilante-type thing," Nicoletti said.
Cops say Toledo is the tire slasher.
The Annual Ritual
Every year we get a bit of good news in January or so, everyone declares victory and takes their ball home, and then....
There was a bit more reason for optimism this year, but we still never had the "crazy" job growth that would signal a healthy recovery. Just a bit of good news and some wishful thinking.
The odds that the economy has fallen into a spring slowdown – for the third straight year – rose this morning.
There was a bit more reason for optimism this year, but we still never had the "crazy" job growth that would signal a healthy recovery. Just a bit of good news and some wishful thinking.
It Would Be Horrible If We Had Two Different Political Parties
Pieces like this remind us that the political establishment - including the press - really hates the idea of having two different political parties that actually disagree about stuff, and maybe even provides an actual real choice for voters. It's much better when people are elected on personality and image, and the consensus policies of the Wise Old Men Of Washington can be implemented without any troubling disagreement or, god forbid, notice by the voters.
You Know
Unless we're talking about some weird clerical error, you know if you have your doctorate or not.
But the guy is involved with all of the Right sorts of things, so no harm no foul.
All I know is what I've read in this article, but my spidey sense tells me there's something deeply corrupt going on here.
The University of Pennsylvania placed the vice dean of its Graduate School of Education on administrative leave late Wednesday after The Inquirer began asking questions about his false claim to have a doctoral degree.
But the guy is involved with all of the Right sorts of things, so no harm no foul.
Since joining Penn, Lynch has become a lightning rod for controversy. He has pushed entrepreneurial methods and supported programs such as Teach for America, which puts bright college graduates who lack education degrees in some of the nation's toughest public schools for a two-year commitment.
A February 2011 feature on him in Penn's alumni magazine said: "What happens when you unleash an entrepreneurship evangelist on an education school? Meet Doug Lynch, the vice dean bent on making Penn GSE a hub for social entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and next-generation educational reform."
Penn professor John Puckett said Lynch had unfairly been targeted because he is trying to shake up the graduate school and make it better. He said Lynch had made an "honest mistake."
Lynch, he said, told him that the chair of the dissertation committee at Columbia had assured him not to worry about the changes he was being asked to make.
"Doug's a little sloppy. He moves from one project to another in a great hurry," Puckett said.
All I know is what I've read in this article, but my spidey sense tells me there's something deeply corrupt going on here.
Diversity On The Teevee
I haven't seen Girls and have no opinion about anything to do with the show, and don't quite understand why that show in particular has inspired the latest round of discussion about diversity on the teevee, but I got hit with a cluestick years ago when someone pointed out that the issue wasn't simply that all of the lead actors of some shows were white. That might be problematic, but the kind of problem which can be justified or explained away (not necessarily satisfactorily explained, but that there were explanations). A major issue was that you had these shows that would take place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or New York (for example), and all of the background characters - the extras - were white.
"All" is generally an exaggeration, but the point is that even when shows are set in places with significant racial diversity, it's often the case that the world they portray, and not just in the foreground, is a lot whiter than reality.
"All" is generally an exaggeration, but the point is that even when shows are set in places with significant racial diversity, it's often the case that the world they portray, and not just in the foreground, is a lot whiter than reality.
And All Is Right As Right Can Be
The plan is credible, you see, no matter how many lives it destroys.
There's evil involved, but Osborne is quite clearly a stupid, stupid man.
Yet Mr Osborne insisted yesterday that he would not sanction more borrowing, even with the economy slumping again.
"The one thing that would make the situation even worse would be to abandon our credible plan and deliberately add more borrowing and even more debt," he argued. Even in the grip of a double dip, there is to be no "Plan B".
There's evil involved, but Osborne is quite clearly a stupid, stupid man.
What Exactly Is Their Output?
Mystery to me.
The surprise fall in output at financial and business services firms in the City of London and beyond has wrongfooted a raft of economists who had been expecting the most powerful part of the UK economy to have expanded sufficiently in the first three months of the year to stave off a return to recession.
Not only did business and financial services output fall by 0.1%, but, within that performance, the vast financial services subsector – including banks, building societies and insurance firms – "made the largest negative contribution", according to preliminary estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Answers
The short answer is that right wing assholes are right wing assholes even if they're pleasant chaps at faculty meetings and academic conferences. The longer answer is that technocrats imagine there is one correct solution to a problem, when in fact in the real world we disagree about the problems and disagree about the desired goals and therefore disagree about the solutions. We are not all on the same page.
Party All The Time
As I said before, I don't care if someone wants a big house, but it's a big mystery to me why anyone would want such a thing unless they intended to entertain. A lot.
There Isn't Even A Story There
At least there's a plausible-sounding story with the magical tax cut fairy. There is no coherent story with the austerity fairy.
Will The Security State Ever Bump Up Against The NRA State
One hears about various TSA plans to take security theater productions on tour to all kinds of mass transit locations, and then one hears about various authorities wanting to let people carry their concealed guns everywhere.
If there's any point to security theater, it's, you know, to find the damn guns. If the guns are legal then there's really no point to it at all.
If there's any point to security theater, it's, you know, to find the damn guns. If the guns are legal then there's really no point to it at all.
Their Only Hope
In the UK is that olympics-related program activities nudge the economy along, giving time for the dopes in charge to quietly walk back their austerity plans.
Do What You're Good At
To me the calculation is simple: the producers will always take all of the money for streaming, whoever actually runs the front end, and they can't do that for DVDs. Streaming might, over time, kill the DVD-by-mail business, but I imagine there will long be a pretty decent market for "get every title ever sold delivered to your door in 24 hours for one low monthly fee" when the competition will likely be a set of competing services that don't have any kind of comprehensive catalog.
Netflix would be insane to abandon their core business. The first sale doctrine means they can make money doing that, and offer a stable product to customers. In streaming, the content producers are always going to just take all the money with high license fees.
Netflix would be insane to abandon their core business. The first sale doctrine means they can make money doing that, and offer a stable product to customers. In streaming, the content producers are always going to just take all the money with high license fees.
And At Home
Not good.
I'm aware that I highlight the bad news more than the good news, but it's because I find that on balance in the rest of the discourse universe there's a tendency to do the reverse. I try to avoid making predictions, but I do think the "things are getting better" view is a bit too widespread, given that things have not gotten better nearly enough or nearly fast enough.
Durable goods orders tumbled 4.2 percent, the largest decline since January 2009, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday after a downwardly revised 1.9 percent increase in February.
Economists had forecast orders for durable goods, which range from toasters to aircraft, falling 1.7 percent after a previously reported 2.4 percent rise in February.
I'm aware that I highlight the bad news more than the good news, but it's because I find that on balance in the rest of the discourse universe there's a tendency to do the reverse. I try to avoid making predictions, but I do think the "things are getting better" view is a bit too widespread, given that things have not gotten better nearly enough or nearly fast enough.
Heckuva Job
UK is in recession, and idiot schoolboy George Osborne assures the people that the beatings will continue.
...adding, unlike US figures, these are not annualized so it's worse than it sounds.
9.39am: George Osborne has put out a statement reacting to the news saying the UK economic situation is very tough and is taking longer than hoped to recover. But he won't be swayed from Plan A.
The one thing that would make the situation even worse would be to abandon our credible plan and deliberately add more borrowing and even more debt.
He says paying off the debt is harder as Europe nears recession and notes that the UK faces the "biggest debt crisis of our lifetimes".
Because it's WORKING DAMNIT!!!!
In all 8 quarters since the Chancellor arrived at Number 11, economy has grown 0.4% vs 4.3%* predicted by June 2010 deficit reduction plan
The cunning plan of growing the economy by making sure that nobody but rich people has any money will work! It cannot fail, it can only be failed!
Awesome.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Evening Thread
Most of day without an internet, so suckier blogging than usual. Anything good on the teevee these days? Anything good on the big picture screen? My nerd self would probably be looking forward to the Avengers more if I didn't think Thor and Captain America were pretty crappy. Don't expect perfection from my men in tights flicks, but they shouldn't be...boring.
At Least I Know I'm Free
Shit is fucked up and bullshit.
Hospital patients waiting in the emergency room or convalescing after surgery could find themselves confronted by an unexpected visitor: a debt collector at bedside.
One of the nation’s largest medical debt-collection companies is under fire in Minnesota for having placed its employees in emergency rooms and other departments at two hospitals and demanding that patients pay before receiving treatment, according to documents released Tuesday by the Minnesota attorney general. The documents say the company also used patient health records to wrangle for more money on overdue bills.
Uhh...
I'm not against destroying the current model of academic publishing, but, bad bets by Larry aside, Harvard certainly can afford the subscriptions. And a pony for me. And a moon colony.
Just Folks
Don't care about the big house, but do love how Villagers see themselves.
Washington once shied away from such overt expressions of wealth, more common in Beverly Hills and Palm Beach. But the owners of Lumiere see their mega-mansion — big enough to make your average McMansion feel downright cozy — as a dream home.
Yeah right
Apparently FoxNews is reporting that Smirk-addict Steve Doocy is going to correct his self-created misquote piehole moment (the latest among a lifetime) this morning about what Obama said re: silver spoons.
I imagine it will go something like this:
I imagine it will go something like this:
"I mistakenly added words and...and it is Obama's fault"
Monday, April 23, 2012
Social Security Trustees Change Arbitrary Assumptions About Future, Get Different Results
More disturbing than the results about Social Security is the fact that apparently we're going to all be poorer than they thought.
Mark Warner's on the twitter machine lying to everyone saying this means it "runs dry" in 2033. I can't find the new report on the website yet, but the sentence to find is the one that reads something like "After 2033, without changes to the program Social Security will only be able to pay out X% of promised benefits" where X will be something between 75-80 or so and X% will be "higher benefits in real terms than current beneficiaries receive."
So, uh, not running dry, asshole.
...and there's the summary statement, "Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2086. "
Alternatively we could make people retire later and cut everybody's benefits now and give the money to rich people. Just a thought.
In explaining the changes in their Social Security projection, the trustees cited slower growth in average earnings of workers, lower earnings from interest on the trust fund’s holdings of federal debt, and the persistence of unemployment during the slow recovery from the recent recession.
In particular, they projected a lower estimate of average real earnings in the future, primarily because of a surge in energy prices in 2011 that is expected to “be sustained,” as well as slower assumed growth in average hours worked per week after the economy has recovered.
Mark Warner's on the twitter machine lying to everyone saying this means it "runs dry" in 2033. I can't find the new report on the website yet, but the sentence to find is the one that reads something like "After 2033, without changes to the program Social Security will only be able to pay out X% of promised benefits" where X will be something between 75-80 or so and X% will be "higher benefits in real terms than current beneficiaries receive."
So, uh, not running dry, asshole.
...and there's the summary statement, "Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2086. "
Alternatively we could make people retire later and cut everybody's benefits now and give the money to rich people. Just a thought.
Bring Back Rent Control!
It's an economist's heresy, a sort of "only fools and Frenchmen" thing, to suggest, but for those who believe, I think rightly, that for various reasons we probably have "too much" homeownership in this country, some degree of "soft" rent control for long term tenants would probably need to be a part of a policy package to make long term renting attractive to people.
I'm not talking about a hard rent control policy which led to people still paying their 1945 rent in Manhattan, I'm talking about the recognition that long term renters, especially, should have some stakeholder rights in their units, and that they should, over the medium term at least, be protected from sharp rental spikes. Basically longer term renters should have some protections, including some degree of rent control, which ensure that they won't suddenly be out on the street. This stuff isn't just about helping tenants, it also helps to align owner/tenant incentives, giving tenants more stake in keeping the place up.
I'm not talking about a hard rent control policy which led to people still paying their 1945 rent in Manhattan, I'm talking about the recognition that long term renters, especially, should have some stakeholder rights in their units, and that they should, over the medium term at least, be protected from sharp rental spikes. Basically longer term renters should have some protections, including some degree of rent control, which ensure that they won't suddenly be out on the street. This stuff isn't just about helping tenants, it also helps to align owner/tenant incentives, giving tenants more stake in keeping the place up.
Inflation Is Quite Low
Sure there might be some specific good affecting particular industries that have been going up fast, but inflation is not a problem. If these businesses are having problems passing costs onto their consumers it's because of lack of demand.
I Don't Know Much About This Stuff
But I do know that the idea that the 50s were a time of Protestant and Catholic harmony in the US, or that American Christendom generally was more united than now, is, to say the least, pretty fucking stupid.
...link fixed. Also, too, typos.
...link fixed. Also, too, typos.
Oh Fabulous Joy
Social Security Trustees Report will be released today. Much stupid to follow probably, so quick someone get eaten by a shark.
Fortunately There's A Policy For That
You know.
So much of the coverage is about the numbers flashing on the wall. The powers that be are causing immense suffering. Needlessly.
In its latest monthly report, the Bank of Spain said it believes that the country's GDP fell by 0.4% in the first three months of 2012. That follows a 0.3% contraction in Q4 2011, and zero growth in the third quarter of last year.
So much of the coverage is about the numbers flashing on the wall. The powers that be are causing immense suffering. Needlessly.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Gonna Frack The Whole Country Up
Increasingly of the opinion that the worst thing that can happen to a place is discovery of an extractable and exportable natural resource, with absentee landlords unconcerned with the state of the neighborhood getting almost all of the benefits.
Hopefully the price of natural gas goes to zero before the water table is destroyed.
Hopefully the price of natural gas goes to zero before the water table is destroyed.
It's A Shame The Winner Will Be French
Would be surprised if some US pundit hasn't made an awesome 2002-era joke like that about today's elections in France.
Sunday Bobbleheads
This Week has Susan Collins and Sheila Jackson Lee.
Meet The Press has Peter King, Issa, and Axelrod.
Face the Nation has Lieberman, Coburn, Elijah Cummings, Sheila Jackson Lee, a former Secret Service dude, a Romney dude, and Stephanie Cutter.
Document the atrocities!
Meet The Press has Peter King, Issa, and Axelrod.
Face the Nation has Lieberman, Coburn, Elijah Cummings, Sheila Jackson Lee, a former Secret Service dude, a Romney dude, and Stephanie Cutter.
Document the atrocities!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Austerity For Other People
In Topsy-Turvy Land.
The Dutch government has taken a tough line on bailouts for Greece and given strong support to Germany’s efforts to force through a new pact on fiscal responsibility in the euro zone.
But the country’s domestic politics have been plunged into crisis because targets for the budget deficit, laid down by the European Union, were missed.
On Saturday it became clear that a package of measures that had been under negotiation for several weeks, intended to save about 14 billion euros, or $18 billion, would not be supported by the Freedom Party, led by Geert Wilders, a populist right-wing and anti-Islam campaigner. The proposal included spending curbs and tax increases.
SocialSecurityAndMedicareAndMyHeroinConsumption
Everybody who actually knows anything about this stuff knows this, so when the lump Social Security and Medicare together you can put them in the "liar" column.
Friedmanbaggers
I was at an establishment in the early evening yesterday, and the trio next to me were talking politics. They were an example, once again, of the problem with NPR-And-New-York-Times-Reasonable-Liberals. Fairly well-informed, but fairly well-informed by polite Newshour duels between good friends BoBo and EJ and thoughtful columns by reasonable intelligent centrists like Tom Friedman. The one guy stated that what we really needed was a third party, a party of the center. You know who he'd been reading, and it wasn't my Wanker of the Decade award presentations.
Stability
I don't follow the education debates much but I see all these stories about the yearly school closings of "bad schools" including charters. I imagine having some sort of stability - and expected stability - might have some importance in the lives of young children, but what do I know.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Correct Me If I'm Wrong
Not my culture, but the battle isn't between conservatives and liberals in the Catholic church, it's between the people in charge and some of members of the church who aren't.
Laterz Skaterz
oopsy!
Aviva Plc (AV/), the U.K.’s second- biggest insurer by market value, said the company’s investment unit mistakenly sent an e-mail dismissing its entire staff before retracting the message.
Fine, Galtian Overlords, Make Us Poor, But...
...do you have to make people suffer so? It's one thing to take an income hit, it's another thing to spend an entire life with high degrees of income insecurity. It isn't just stagnant or declining incomes that's the problem, it's that most people face a daily nontrivial probability that they're going to be completely fucked.
Oh Dear
Yet another attempt to impose laws and regulations on "bloggers" that don't apply to anyone else in the universe.
How They Roll
When they stakes are big, the stakeholders play a lot dirtier than is usually acknowledged.
When The WaPo Doesn't Like You
I have no knowledge or opinion of Argentina's nationalization of their oil industry, but I do know when the WaPo starts talking about South American countries they're usually talking crap.
I have no idea what "political development" means, but...let's see what the CIA has to say about the economics. Argentina:
Chile:
Neighboring Chile, which has far surpassed Argentina in economic and political development, would be the ideal replacement.
I have no idea what "political development" means, but...let's see what the CIA has to say about the economics. Argentina:
 | |
8% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 13
9.2% (2010 est.)
0.8% (2009 est.)
| |
| | |
$17,400 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 69
$16,200 (2010 est.)
$15,000 (2009 est.)
| |
Chile:
|
|
|
|
6.5% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 33
5.1% (2010 est.)
-1.5% (2009 est.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
$16,100 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 74
$15,300 (2010 est.)
$14,800 (2009 est.)
| |
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Spy guys and nasty stuff
On Virtually Speaking, 23-year vet of Clandestine Services of the Central Intelligence Agency Glenn Carle, author of The Interrogator, will be telling Jay Ackroyd his story of one of the most secret and sensitive CIA interrogations during the US War on Terror. (Remember John Yoo?) Listen at this link, on the upcoming hour, or later on stream or podcast.
I Miss Ike, Nixon, Ronnie, George I, Oh Sweet Jesus Even George II
I imagine that will be our responses to the next Republican president, whoever he or she is.
...I forgot Ford!!!
Saturday Night Live - Kissinger visits Ford -... by ClassicPL
...I forgot Ford!!!
Saturday Night Live - Kissinger visits Ford -... by ClassicPL
There's Always A Reason
Sunday show producers always have their excuses, but no matter what the state of the world if it's Sunday, it's white, male, and Republican.
Wankered
That's some combination of knackered and bloggered.
And I'm working on my eagerly anticipated biofuels magnum opus.
And I'm working on my eagerly anticipated biofuels magnum opus.
Interesting
I imagine there are some interesting comments inbetween the locker room towel snapping at the House gym, when they forget who might actually be around.
Does He Use Light Starch Or Heavy Starch?
Good thing we're going to spend the next several months talking about the key issues.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
There's Some History Of This
Booman's generally a bit more up on his history than I am, so he should know that the Catholic Church has a wee bit of history as a political organization.
I'm not Catholic, so not my role to tell them which games they should participate in. Religious organizations can play in politics if they wish, though that comes at a price.
I'm not Catholic, so not my role to tell them which games they should participate in. Religious organizations can play in politics if they wish, though that comes at a price.
Someone Please Ask
Next time one of you bumps into the moustache of understanding, maybe when one of his calls drops on the Amtrak, ask him how much a typical Social Security beneficiary receives every month. Bonus points if he can tell you how many Acela tickets that would buy.
Pretty Sure It's The Same Problem?
Amtrak's wifi just piggybacks on someone's cellular data network presumably...
Yes I'm A Cynical Old Man
But the WORK Act would've been a great idea when Dems ran the House and Senate.
Still I suppose that there's a slight chance that seeing how evil the other guys are might inspire them to be less evil. Also, too, thanks Bill Clinton.
Still I suppose that there's a slight chance that seeing how evil the other guys are might inspire them to be less evil. Also, too, thanks Bill Clinton.
Speaking Of Oldheads
People who watch baseball a bit more closely than I do might have a different take, but I always thought Moyer got away with his 78 mph fastball because batters assumed it would come at them faster than it did.
Heckuva Job
Even in the most hellish of urban hellholes there's often a tendency to overestimate parking demand.
On the day of the Yankees home opener last week, the stadium was packed with more than 49,000 fans, but inside a nearby parking garage on 153rd Street, three of the four floors were empty.
Parking cashier Janee Addison estimated about 20 percent of the 2,300 spots were actually being used, and that was during the third inning, when even the latecomers had scanned their tickets.
Some
That word was actually in this post. I didn't mean ALL OLDHEAD BOOMERS MAKE ME WANT TO SMASH, I meant that some of them are really clueless, or assholes, about certain advantages they had that the kids today don't, like cheap public universities. Defined benefit plans. That kind of thing.
Graduating In A Recession
The comments to this Inqy column are priceless.
I see a lot of this basic attitude, that young people suck and should be grateful to have a fast food job. There's a generation that rode a pretty nice wave, and some of them don't want anybody else to have nice things.
I see a lot of this basic attitude, that young people suck and should be grateful to have a fast food job. There's a generation that rode a pretty nice wave, and some of them don't want anybody else to have nice things.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Unverifiable Anecdote Blogging!!!!
So take with grain of salt. Also, too, this is from memory. But years ago a reader wrote in and said he'd been a little tipsy on the streets of New York and bumped into our Tommy Friedman. Being a little tipsy he said he'd bumped into Friedman and first mistakenly asked if he was Paul Krugman. Upon realizing who he was, he asked if he'd really said we went to war in Iraq to tell Iraqis to "Suck On This." Friedman replied, "That doesn't sound like something I would say."
This has been another edition of unverifiable anecdote blogging.
This has been another edition of unverifiable anecdote blogging.
Assholes
Whatever one thinks of such prizes, failure to award a prize tells us what they think of themselves.
Work So Hard I Couldn't Unwind
It's been fun, if a bit taxing, celebrating the ESCHATON DECADE, in the only appropriate way. Thanks to all who have very generously given to the 10 year celebration fund. It is much appreciated and will hopefully keep my blogs mighty and strong for a bit longer.
Where's BoBo
This exercise was somewhat arbitrary, but not all things are really wankery. Wanking's a bit like obscenity, unsurprisingly, in the sense that it's hard to define but you know it when you see it. The Editors, who inspired the wanker of the day originally, tried to explain a bit at some point.
Everybody on the list is in part representative of a whole family of wankers. Some who didn't make the list failed to do so because they're dead. And some just...well, didn't seem precisely like wankers to me. I see people like BoBo and Reynolds as more Quiet American types, secretly napalming villages or nuking random cities while discussing Burkean humility over tea with Gail Collins or perusing the latest Sharper Image catalog. There's a word for that, though I'm not sure it's wanker.
Everybody on the list is in part representative of a whole family of wankers. Some who didn't make the list failed to do so because they're dead. And some just...well, didn't seem precisely like wankers to me. I see people like BoBo and Reynolds as more Quiet American types, secretly napalming villages or nuking random cities while discussing Burkean humility over tea with Gail Collins or perusing the latest Sharper Image catalog. There's a word for that, though I'm not sure it's wanker.
THE ONE TRUE WANKER OF THE DECADE
Tom Friedman.
Tom Friedman, artist's conception.
Friedman possesses all of the qualities that make a pundit truly wankerific. He fetishizes a false "centrism" which is basically whatever Tom Friedman likes, imagining the Friedman agenda is both incredibly popular in the country and lacking any support from our current politicians, when in fact the opposite is usually true. Washington worships at the altar of the agenda of false centrism, and people often hate it. Problems abroad, even ones which really have nothing to do with us, should be solved by war, and problems at home should be solved by increasing the suffering of poor and middle class people. Even though one political party is pretty much implementing, or trying to implement, 99.999999% of the Friedman agenda, what we really need is a third party catering precisely to this silent majority of Friedmanites.
Truly great wankers possess a kind of glib narcissism, the belief that everything is about them while simultaneously disavowing any responsibility for anything. The important thing about an issue is whether it proves Tom Friedman fucking right, but if it doesn't we can just move on to the next big thing that will prove Tom Friedman fucking right. If you advocate for wars that go a bit bad, well, it's not your fault. If only Tom Friedman had been in charge everything would have been great.
Such wankers are impervious to criticism because they're always doing battle with straw critics. They never remember what they said last week, and assume you won't either.
Tom Friedman is wrong about everything, and Tom Friedman don't care!
Friedman actually styled himself a critic of the war he so strongly advocated for, but the path of his criticism was as Greenwald described:
If only the ungrateful wogs would have done what they should have done then everything would have been great.
If this blog has contributed one small thing to our discourse over the past decade it has been, thanks to a tip from a commenter, pointing out to the world Friedman's Suck On This moment. You might have thought you knew why we went to war in Iraq, but Friedman knew the real reason.
That was then, and this was later.
For years Friedman spent dithering about the war. Oh gee it wasn't going well, but the light at the end of the tunnel might be around the corner in another critical 6 months, leading me to coin the term Friedman Unit, or the F.U. It wasn't just Friedman of course. Basically every pro-stay in Iraq person would utter some version of "the next six months is critical" on a regular basis. For years I put these statements in my calendar, and six months later would remind the world that nothing had changed and we are still in Iraq and the stupid fucking fuckstick is still writing in your newspaper or on the teevee blathering about the next crucial six months.
The state of the world is what it is in large part because people in positions of great power think this absurd buffoon of man is a Very Serious Person. This hasn't actually been the Eschaton Decade, it's been the Tom Friedman Decade. And the next one probably will be too.
We're fucked.
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Tom Friedman, artist's conception.
Friedman possesses all of the qualities that make a pundit truly wankerific. He fetishizes a false "centrism" which is basically whatever Tom Friedman likes, imagining the Friedman agenda is both incredibly popular in the country and lacking any support from our current politicians, when in fact the opposite is usually true. Washington worships at the altar of the agenda of false centrism, and people often hate it. Problems abroad, even ones which really have nothing to do with us, should be solved by war, and problems at home should be solved by increasing the suffering of poor and middle class people. Even though one political party is pretty much implementing, or trying to implement, 99.999999% of the Friedman agenda, what we really need is a third party catering precisely to this silent majority of Friedmanites.
Truly great wankers possess a kind of glib narcissism, the belief that everything is about them while simultaneously disavowing any responsibility for anything. The important thing about an issue is whether it proves Tom Friedman fucking right, but if it doesn't we can just move on to the next big thing that will prove Tom Friedman fucking right. If you advocate for wars that go a bit bad, well, it's not your fault. If only Tom Friedman had been in charge everything would have been great.
Such wankers are impervious to criticism because they're always doing battle with straw critics. They never remember what they said last week, and assume you won't either.
In April 2003 Friedman said that Arab journalists who talked about the US ‘occupation’ of Iraq were guilty of ‘Saddamism’. In August 2003 Friedman wrote: ‘This is an occupation.’
In 2007 he surmised that Iraqis ‘hate each other more than they love their own kids’. In 2009 he hoped that they’d learned from America’s ‘million acts of kindness’ and ‘profound example of how much people of different backgrounds can accomplish when they work together’.
In 2005 Friedman argued: ‘We have to have a proper election in Iraq so we can have a proper civil war there.’ Earlier this year, he wrote: ‘For all of the murderous efforts by al-Qaida to trigger a full-scale civil war in Iraq, it never happened.’ Never mind that in 2006 he said: ‘It is now obvious that we are not midwifing democracy in Iraq. We are baby-sitting a civil war.’
Tom Friedman is wrong about everything, and Tom Friedman don't care!
Friedman actually styled himself a critic of the war he so strongly advocated for, but the path of his criticism was as Greenwald described:
(1) If the war is done the right way, great benefits can be achieved.
(2) If the war is done the wrong way, unimaginable disasters will result.
(3) The Bush administration is doing this war the wrong way, not the right way, on every level.
(4) Given all of that, I support the waging of this war.
If only the ungrateful wogs would have done what they should have done then everything would have been great.
If this blog has contributed one small thing to our discourse over the past decade it has been, thanks to a tip from a commenter, pointing out to the world Friedman's Suck On This moment. You might have thought you knew why we went to war in Iraq, but Friedman knew the real reason.
I think it [the invasion of Iraq] was unquestionably worth doing, Charlie.
...
We needed to go over there, basically, um, and um, uh, take out a very bigstatestick right in the heart of that world and burst that bubble, and there was only one way to do it.
...
What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, "Which part of this sentence don't you understand?"
You don't think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we're just gonna to let it grow?
Well Suck. On. This.
Okay.
That, Charlie, was what this war was about. We could've hit Saudi Arabia, it was part of that bubble. We coulda hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could.
That was then, and this was later.
To me, the most important reason for the Iraq war was never W.M.D. It was to see if we could partner with Iraqis to help them build something that does not exist in the modern Arab world: a state, a context, where the constituent communities — Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds — write their own social contract for how to live together without an iron fist from above.
For years Friedman spent dithering about the war. Oh gee it wasn't going well, but the light at the end of the tunnel might be around the corner in another critical 6 months, leading me to coin the term Friedman Unit, or the F.U. It wasn't just Friedman of course. Basically every pro-stay in Iraq person would utter some version of "the next six months is critical" on a regular basis. For years I put these statements in my calendar, and six months later would remind the world that nothing had changed and we are still in Iraq and the stupid fucking fuckstick is still writing in your newspaper or on the teevee blathering about the next crucial six months.
The state of the world is what it is in large part because people in positions of great power think this absurd buffoon of man is a Very Serious Person. This hasn't actually been the Eschaton Decade, it's been the Tom Friedman Decade. And the next one probably will be too.
We're fucked.
Support This Site:
The Final Countdown
9th runner up Megan McArdle.
8th runner up Richard Cohen.
7th runner up Diane Sawyer.
6th runner up Jonah Goldberg.
5th runner up Lord Saletan.
4th runner up Mark Halperin.
3rd runner up Joe Klein
2nd runner up Andrew Sullivan.
1st runner up Fred Hiatt.
The ONE TRUE WANKER OF THE DECADE will be revealed at noon o'clock.
Stupid Policy Tricks
The selling off of parking is going to haunt Chicago forever. They didn't just do it too cheaply, they did it stupidly.
When I lived in Providence they did a similar thing, except the Mayor was smart enough to include a "we can cancel this at any time for any reason" provision in the contract, and they did cancel it pretty quickly. It turns out the enforcement of parking regulations has a broader public policy purpose than simply raising money! Shocker!
When I lived in Providence they did a similar thing, except the Mayor was smart enough to include a "we can cancel this at any time for any reason" provision in the contract, and they did cancel it pretty quickly. It turns out the enforcement of parking regulations has a broader public policy purpose than simply raising money! Shocker!
American Politics
What we have to look forward to over the next several months is the following scenario repeated over and over again: somebody says something dumb, it gets elevated into a pseudoscandal, cable news freaks out, there are calls for various people to denounce whatever or whoever, and then eventually the whole thing calms down until the next time, likely because somebody was eaten by a shark somewhere.
We so excited.
We so excited.
Monday, April 16, 2012
At Long Last My Personal Nightmare Is Almost Over
Tomorrow, on the 10th year anniversary of the suckiest blog of all, ESCHATON, the Wanker of the Decade will be announced.
As I've already said, the selection process wasn't exactly scientific, but I'll also give some thoughts about why some seemingly obvious candidates didn't quite make the cut.
As I've already said, the selection process wasn't exactly scientific, but I'll also give some thoughts about why some seemingly obvious candidates didn't quite make the cut.
WANKER OF THE DECADE - 1st Runner Up
Fred Hiatt.
As editorial page editor of the Washington Post, Fred Hiatt has presided over what is perhaps the world greatest gaggle of wankers. Fred's a true wanker connoisseur, a collector of fine wankers. Whenever a new wanker appears on the market, Fred is there, ready to outbid all rivals at the auction. His ever expanding menagerie of wankers forms the Rogue's Gallery of DC, perpetually frustrating the poor inadequate scribes at DC comics. Is there a supervillain more inspired than Charles Krauthammer? Move aside, Darkseid. The people who populate his crayon scribble page could easily fill a Wanker of the Decade list all on their own, though we should not forget that Fred manages to produce some quality wanks on his own or through the disembodied, though sadly not disemvowelled, voice of The Editors.
Some years back I had a wee epiphany when I realized that, for the most part, we aren't supposed to to read the WaPo editorial page. It isn't actually for us. It's a means for certain elites to send messages to each other, a way for the "Gang Of 500" to take their battles public, to signal their interests and priorities. There are some exceptions to this, some columnists who write for readers, but for the most part it's simply a conversation by and for elites. If you're good enough, smart enough, and, doggone it, Fred Hiatt thinks you're important, there's no limit to the amount of bullshit you can have blessed by him. On his page is where the Washington Consensus is defended daily, truth be damned.
Krauthammer. Broder. Hoagland. Kristol. Novak. Cohen. Lane. Cupp. Thiessen. Kurtz. Samuelson. Diehl. Kelly. Noonan. Will. Ignatius. Parker. Marcus. Milbank. Gerson.
Some of these people are no longer with us, and I have no idea which ones Hiatt is really responsible for, but I'm a lazy blogger so I'll just throw them all in his column. Imagine assembling this collection of horrors, and being proud of it.
To his credit there is some diversity of opinion there, though unsurprisingly your liberal media isn't very liberal, but this award is for wanking, not pure wingerism. And aside from amassing the greatest collection of wankers in human history, Fred's own contributions to wanking cannot be overlooked. He's even a wanker on issues only I seem to care about. Perhaps more importantly, there's rarely a problem that can't be solved by killing people somewhere or impoverishing your granny. Might makes right, bitches! The deficit is a bigger threat than Hitler, or at least more important than people having jobs. The Editors (the bad ones) were Iraq deadenders, ensuring thousands and thousands more came to deadly ends. Also, too, Afghanistan. Accountability for elites? Don't be silly. Just have a commission!
It's an award for individual achievement in wanking, and an award for the highest achievement in group wanking. Congratulations, Fred!
As editorial page editor of the Washington Post, Fred Hiatt has presided over what is perhaps the world greatest gaggle of wankers. Fred's a true wanker connoisseur, a collector of fine wankers. Whenever a new wanker appears on the market, Fred is there, ready to outbid all rivals at the auction. His ever expanding menagerie of wankers forms the Rogue's Gallery of DC, perpetually frustrating the poor inadequate scribes at DC comics. Is there a supervillain more inspired than Charles Krauthammer? Move aside, Darkseid. The people who populate his crayon scribble page could easily fill a Wanker of the Decade list all on their own, though we should not forget that Fred manages to produce some quality wanks on his own or through the disembodied, though sadly not disemvowelled, voice of The Editors.
Some years back I had a wee epiphany when I realized that, for the most part, we aren't supposed to to read the WaPo editorial page. It isn't actually for us. It's a means for certain elites to send messages to each other, a way for the "Gang Of 500" to take their battles public, to signal their interests and priorities. There are some exceptions to this, some columnists who write for readers, but for the most part it's simply a conversation by and for elites. If you're good enough, smart enough, and, doggone it, Fred Hiatt thinks you're important, there's no limit to the amount of bullshit you can have blessed by him. On his page is where the Washington Consensus is defended daily, truth be damned.
Krauthammer. Broder. Hoagland. Kristol. Novak. Cohen. Lane. Cupp. Thiessen. Kurtz. Samuelson. Diehl. Kelly. Noonan. Will. Ignatius. Parker. Marcus. Milbank. Gerson.
Some of these people are no longer with us, and I have no idea which ones Hiatt is really responsible for, but I'm a lazy blogger so I'll just throw them all in his column. Imagine assembling this collection of horrors, and being proud of it.
To his credit there is some diversity of opinion there, though unsurprisingly your liberal media isn't very liberal, but this award is for wanking, not pure wingerism. And aside from amassing the greatest collection of wankers in human history, Fred's own contributions to wanking cannot be overlooked. He's even a wanker on issues only I seem to care about. Perhaps more importantly, there's rarely a problem that can't be solved by killing people somewhere or impoverishing your granny. Might makes right, bitches! The deficit is a bigger threat than Hitler, or at least more important than people having jobs. The Editors (the bad ones) were Iraq deadenders, ensuring thousands and thousands more came to deadly ends. Also, too, Afghanistan. Accountability for elites? Don't be silly. Just have a commission!
It's an award for individual achievement in wanking, and an award for the highest achievement in group wanking. Congratulations, Fred!
Smell The Glove
Some people have nostalgia issues, but I'm pretty sure the death of America's newsweeklies will be a net positive in the world.
Slumlords
I'm certainly in favor of there being a larger and more diverse stock of rental housing in this country, I'm just not optimistic that this is going to work out well.
Silly Pierce
We're there to train security forces. Because they need to be trained. And when they stand up we'll stand down. And a pony.
I Suppose We'll Have To Just Push Unemployment Even Higher
Spain discovering that "TEH MARKET" does not like it when you destroy your economy.
The world is run by the stupidest fucking people in the world.
The world is run by the stupidest fucking people in the world.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Commitment
No way I could let this one pass.
Several parishioners were emphatic they would not join St. John's, whose brownstone steeple towers above the hillside community, because its parishioners had "looked down" on Catholics from the other Manayunk parishes when they were young.
"We'll be second class," said an usher who did not give his name. "And besides, they've got no parking."
WANKER OF THE DECADE - 2nd Runner Up
Andrew Sullivan.
While the horrible events of 9/11 predated, somewhat, THE ESCHATON DECADE, among the numerous consequences was the rise of the warbloggers. Sullivan had a longish media career, but was also one of the early bloggers. And after 9/11, General Sullivan enlisted in the Fighting 101st Keyboard Kommandos, otherwise known as the "warbloggers," whose primary mission was to fight America's most important enemy, the enemy at home known as "Americans."
In the Sunday Times of London on September 16, 2001 (!!), Andrew had these lines:
This was 5 days after 9/11 (presumably written a couple of days before). It was those coastal enclaves that were, you know, attacked, and already Andy had established that the "decadent left" was likely plotting treason as an appropriate response to 9/11. But the real wanking happened when there was a minor rewrite for when that piece was republished elsewhere and archived on his blog as a "Best of" (other proud accomplishments were his promotion of The Bell Curve and Betsy McCaughey's Clinton HCR lies).
And the mountaineers might ride their mounts up a mountain to Mountainville.
The war at home was on, from Sullivan's screed pre-Afghanistan war on through the Dixie Chicking of America. It was not enough to support the war - any war eventually! - it was important to go to war against the people opposing it. It was so with Afghanistan when basically no one with a microphone opposed it, and it was so with Iraq when almost no one with a microphone dared do so (I'm looking at you Klein!). The rules of the game had been established. Oppose the war if you dare traitor!!!
Back in the day our Andy had a habit of comparing himself to Orwell, inspiring this from the late great dearly departed MWO.
The Daily Dish archives from the pre-2006 seem to have not survived Sullivan's various moves (possible I'm just failing to find), so most of the High Wanking from that era has to be found elsewhere, but at some point he started pushing something called The Eagles, which was the silent majority of people who agree with Andrew Sullivan about everything. I had more faith in The Beagles.
Lots of people like Sullivan. I met him once while having drinks with young Ezra Klein. Seemed nice enough. His views are certainly a wee bit less repellent than they used to be, perhaps he's laying off the minty-fresh testogrease a bit, though when I read his blog I react how I imagine people do when they read this blog: it's kinda boring and he doesn't write much. I at least have a comments section where occasionally a wise thing is said, and I'm the one who gets no respect! Still he occasionally finds time to weigh in on the "Are Black People Stupid?" question that he's long been fond of.
As we get higher and higher on this list, I get more tired even as the wanking of the wankers becomes greater and greater. One could waste a lifetime writing about the wanking of Andrew Sullivan. I'm starting to worry I have.
While the horrible events of 9/11 predated, somewhat, THE ESCHATON DECADE, among the numerous consequences was the rise of the warbloggers. Sullivan had a longish media career, but was also one of the early bloggers. And after 9/11, General Sullivan enlisted in the Fighting 101st Keyboard Kommandos, otherwise known as the "warbloggers," whose primary mission was to fight America's most important enemy, the enemy at home known as "Americans."
In the Sunday Times of London on September 16, 2001 (!!), Andrew had these lines:
The middle part of the country - the great red zone that voted for Bush - is clearly ready for war. The decadent left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead - and may well mount a fifth column.
This was 5 days after 9/11 (presumably written a couple of days before). It was those coastal enclaves that were, you know, attacked, and already Andy had established that the "decadent left" was likely plotting treason as an appropriate response to 9/11. But the real wanking happened when there was a minor rewrite for when that piece was republished elsewhere and archived on his blog as a "Best of" (other proud accomplishments were his promotion of The Bell Curve and Betsy McCaughey's Clinton HCR lies).
The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead - and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column.
And the mountaineers might ride their mounts up a mountain to Mountainville.
The war at home was on, from Sullivan's screed pre-Afghanistan war on through the Dixie Chicking of America. It was not enough to support the war - any war eventually! - it was important to go to war against the people opposing it. It was so with Afghanistan when basically no one with a microphone opposed it, and it was so with Iraq when almost no one with a microphone dared do so (I'm looking at you Klein!). The rules of the game had been established. Oppose the war if you dare traitor!!!
Back in the day our Andy had a habit of comparing himself to Orwell, inspiring this from the late great dearly departed MWO.
The Daily Dish archives from the pre-2006 seem to have not survived Sullivan's various moves (possible I'm just failing to find), so most of the High Wanking from that era has to be found elsewhere, but at some point he started pushing something called The Eagles, which was the silent majority of people who agree with Andrew Sullivan about everything. I had more faith in The Beagles.
Lots of people like Sullivan. I met him once while having drinks with young Ezra Klein. Seemed nice enough. His views are certainly a wee bit less repellent than they used to be, perhaps he's laying off the minty-fresh testogrease a bit, though when I read his blog I react how I imagine people do when they read this blog: it's kinda boring and he doesn't write much. I at least have a comments section where occasionally a wise thing is said, and I'm the one who gets no respect! Still he occasionally finds time to weigh in on the "Are Black People Stupid?" question that he's long been fond of.
As we get higher and higher on this list, I get more tired even as the wanking of the wankers becomes greater and greater. One could waste a lifetime writing about the wanking of Andrew Sullivan. I'm starting to worry I have.
Roger Ailes Was Named After Penile Dysfunction
What a horribly weird person.
During an after-lecture interview with student journalists Eliza Kern and Steve Norton, Ailes referred to O'Brien -- who anchors the CNN morning news show "Starting Point" -- as "that girl that's named after a prison."
Presumably, Ailes was referring to the Soledad Correctional Training Facility in Monterey County, Calif. It's not yet clear why Ailes would believe that O'Brien was named after the facility, or why he would think that students at the University of North Carolina would be particularly familiar with the California prison system.
"High School Daughters"
What the hell is wrong with you?
While the city’s Methodist founders pursued moral and religious objectives, today’s leaders zero in on maintaining a wholesome environment for families, subordinating the desires of adults to the needs of children. Whatever the motivation, that intentional devotion to building “social capital” — the benefits arising from “investment” in community life and human relationships that deliver the greatest satisfaction — has distinguished Ocean City from other Shore destinations and many hometowns.
That foundation has been very good for families, as high school daughters can roam downtown and boardwalk unsupervised with friends on summer evenings without provoking parental anxieties. It has also made Ocean City a cash cow for businesses willing to live with, not bite, the hand that feeds them.
Friction
I remember arguing about this stuff with an energy economist years ago. People don't want yet ONE MORE FUCKING THING TO HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT.
Sunday Bobbleheads
This Week has Timmeh.
Face the Nation has Timmeh, AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JOHN MCCAIN MUST CREDIT FACE THE NATION, and Issa.
Meet the Press has Timmeh, and a catfight between Michele Bachmann and Kirsten Gillibrand.
Document the atrocities!
Face the Nation has Timmeh, AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JOHN MCCAIN MUST CREDIT FACE THE NATION, and Issa.
Meet the Press has Timmeh, and a catfight between Michele Bachmann and Kirsten Gillibrand.
Document the atrocities!
That'd Be a "No"
Our old friend Fred axes the question...
"Do Republicans realize they've just called for the repeal of welfare reform?"
Negative on that, negative...
"Do Republicans realize they've just called for the repeal of welfare reform?"
Negative on that, negative...
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Free Money
Aside from absurd executive compensation and the rewarding of rich assholes who did, and continue to do, their best to destroy the planet, it's absurd to imagine that the best way to fix the economy is through a banking system which rather recently obviously proved itself to be a miserable failure.
Give the money to us!
Give the money to us!
Why You're All A Bunch Of Pathetic Fools
Just kidding. Have seen a few posts like that around the internets lately. They might be my favorite.
Where Men Can Be Men
I'm glad I don't feel as if I'm suddenly robbed of my personhood whenever there are some wimmenfolk around.
Friday, April 13, 2012
WANKER OF THE DECADE - Runner Up #3
Joe Klein.
A few years ago Joe Klein wrote a book called "Politics Lost: How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid." Surprisingly, it wasn't a repentant autobiography, a Lee Atwater-style mea culpa, because if there's anybody who knows how to trivialize Democracy it's Joe Klein, and if there's anybody who thinks you're really fucking stupid it's Joe Klein. Who are you? Just about anybody not named Joe Klein, unless you're a Republican alpha male or a general with some shiny medals. The reason to read Joe Klein is because he's smart, you're not, and if you disagree with him or disrespect him you're likely not just stupid, but an extremist. It's one of his favorite words.
It isn't available online, sadly, but Kevin Baker writing for Harper's got the essence of Joe:
He's a fairly typical Democrat who hates Democrats, liberal who hates liberals, the real problem with the Democrats being unions, hippies, people who hate the military, people who vote for Democrats, the Democrats they vote for. The usual.
He spent years being America's Concern Troll when it came to Iraq. He opposed the war except, you know, he didn't really bother to tell anybody. He wasn't all that much of a fan of how things were playing out, but the real problem, of course, were the Democrats who were trying to kill off all of our troops by cutting off funding.
Even when he's wrong, he isn't wrong, and fuck you you fucking fuckhead fuckers it's all so hard and who could really expect him to separate true from false. and in any case the REAL PROBLEM is that people on the internets are mean to Joe Klein.
He is small, and an incredible wanker. Also, too, a whiny ass titty baby. A hypocritical one.
I managed to do this without even getting to wanking from the pre-ESCHATON DECADE era. So much wanking.
A few years ago Joe Klein wrote a book called "Politics Lost: How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid." Surprisingly, it wasn't a repentant autobiography, a Lee Atwater-style mea culpa, because if there's anybody who knows how to trivialize Democracy it's Joe Klein, and if there's anybody who thinks you're really fucking stupid it's Joe Klein. Who are you? Just about anybody not named Joe Klein, unless you're a Republican alpha male or a general with some shiny medals. The reason to read Joe Klein is because he's smart, you're not, and if you disagree with him or disrespect him you're likely not just stupid, but an extremist. It's one of his favorite words.
It isn't available online, sadly, but Kevin Baker writing for Harper's got the essence of Joe:
Far from the objectivity that he claims, Klein exists at a perfect confluence of infantalism: all politics must be directed towards meeting his personal needs and prejudices, and all politicians must constantly entertain him.
He's a fairly typical Democrat who hates Democrats, liberal who hates liberals, the real problem with the Democrats being unions, hippies, people who hate the military, people who vote for Democrats, the Democrats they vote for. The usual.
He spent years being America's Concern Troll when it came to Iraq. He opposed the war except, you know, he didn't really bother to tell anybody. He wasn't all that much of a fan of how things were playing out, but the real problem, of course, were the Democrats who were trying to kill off all of our troops by cutting off funding.
Even when he's wrong, he isn't wrong, and fuck you you fucking fuckhead fuckers it's all so hard and who could really expect him to separate true from false. and in any case the REAL PROBLEM is that people on the internets are mean to Joe Klein.
He is small, and an incredible wanker. Also, too, a whiny ass titty baby. A hypocritical one.
I managed to do this without even getting to wanking from the pre-ESCHATON DECADE era. So much wanking.
The Future
Will involve the PR department sending me requests to embed their marketing materials for free followed by the legal department informing me that they're going to sue me and have me arrested.
Half a joke, but the latest round of the internet copyright wars has had nothing to do with copyright and everything to do with control. They want to own the internet and kick everybody else off of it.
Half a joke, but the latest round of the internet copyright wars has had nothing to do with copyright and everything to do with control. They want to own the internet and kick everybody else off of it.
Plunder
No tanks needed.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Three European railway companies are interested in buying all or part of Greece's railway business, as the debt-laden country sells assets to satisfy its lenders, people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
Shocking
Someone dares to suggest that free market fairies can't always create money out of thin air.
But more than that, I have yet to understand any logic of the "infrastructure banks." It's just another way to siphon public value off to private interests.
But more than that, I have yet to understand any logic of the "infrastructure banks." It's just another way to siphon public value off to private interests.
Rubber room or steel bars
With every new bill, the people in Washington are announcing that they are either crazy or thieves. And, no, I do not just mean the Republicans. Everyone who put the poison in the laughably-named JOBS Act deserves to be arrested, but Obama signed it.
See, Atrios keeps saying, "Maybe somebody should do something," but they are doing something - they're making things worse.
Signed,
Not Atrios
See, Atrios keeps saying, "Maybe somebody should do something," but they are doing something - they're making things worse.
Signed,
Not Atrios
Thursday, April 12, 2012
What Views?
I think reasonable people can disagree about building height limits in DC, but I've long been fascinated by the always asserted notion that with the current height limits there are unobstructed views of various DC landmarks all over the city. I've spent a reasonable time there and this just isn't true at all in any way.
Gambling Our Way To Prosperity
A second casino in the city is probably inevitable, and this is at least a decent enough (on transit) location for it.
The Freak Show
It's always difficult to resist talking about the latest Freak Show event. The temptation to scream SHUTUPTHISSOSTUPIDPLEASESTOPTALKINGABOUTIT is overwhelming. But that just seems to encourage.
No Wanker Today
Countdown has to finish Tuesday, so I'm running out of days off here.
I've been a bit jokey about the difficulties of writing the wanker posts, but in truth it has been difficult, though not because it's hard work or similar. The ESCHATON DECADE has been a pretty fucked up decade, a time when this country stopped even bothering to pretend to live up to many of its supposed ideals. We go to war and kill lots of people for no good reason, elites have eliminated any accountability for themselves for criminal wrongdoing, we've tortured and assassinated people, and the response to massive economic suffering and related criminal fraud has been to give lots of free money to the people who caused it all.
And one premise of his blog is that all of this shit happens, in part, because of the fucking wankers who rule our public discourse. Paying too much attention to it every day can be bad enough sometimes, but reliving it all again is actually a bit painful.
By request: Here's the story so far.
9th runner up Megan McArdle.
8th runner up Richard Cohen.
7th runner up Diane Sawyer.
6th runner up Jonah Goldberg.
5th runner up Lord Saletan.
4th runner up Mark Halperin.
I've been a bit jokey about the difficulties of writing the wanker posts, but in truth it has been difficult, though not because it's hard work or similar. The ESCHATON DECADE has been a pretty fucked up decade, a time when this country stopped even bothering to pretend to live up to many of its supposed ideals. We go to war and kill lots of people for no good reason, elites have eliminated any accountability for themselves for criminal wrongdoing, we've tortured and assassinated people, and the response to massive economic suffering and related criminal fraud has been to give lots of free money to the people who caused it all.
And one premise of his blog is that all of this shit happens, in part, because of the fucking wankers who rule our public discourse. Paying too much attention to it every day can be bad enough sometimes, but reliving it all again is actually a bit painful.
By request: Here's the story so far.
9th runner up Megan McArdle.
8th runner up Richard Cohen.
7th runner up Diane Sawyer.
6th runner up Jonah Goldberg.
5th runner up Lord Saletan.
4th runner up Mark Halperin.
Priorities
Some things should be scandals, but strangely aren't.
There are elements of the administration fail on housing that I chalk to the usual reasons (too cozy with the big banks, etc). But sometimes I look at what's happening and wonder if the people working on this stuff are just incompetent. You know, it's easy to sit around and talk about that great party you're going to have, but eventually someone has to go buy the kegs, hang up the decorations, and put the cocktail weenies in the oven. Doing stuff takes work.
WASHINGTON — A fund to support homeowners in the communities hit hardest by the collapse of the housing bubble has disbursed just 3 percent of its budget and aided only 30,640 homeowners in the two years since its creation, according to a report released on Thursday by a federal watchdog office.
The Hardest Hit Fund, which was created in the spring of 2010, grants money to state housing finance agencies for efforts to help families that are facing foreclosure. It has “experienced significant delay” because of “a lack of comprehensive planning” by the Treasury Department and limited participation by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the large mortgage servicers, said the report by the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
There are elements of the administration fail on housing that I chalk to the usual reasons (too cozy with the big banks, etc). But sometimes I look at what's happening and wonder if the people working on this stuff are just incompetent. You know, it's easy to sit around and talk about that great party you're going to have, but eventually someone has to go buy the kegs, hang up the decorations, and put the cocktail weenies in the oven. Doing stuff takes work.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
What Is Life Without A Touch Of Poetry In It
Reader s offers a haiku:
I like your blog much,
It does not take me long to
Read it in the morn'.
That's Real Money
Odds of it being paid?
An Arkansas judge fined Johnson & Johnson $1.1 billion Wednesday because of how its Janssen subsidiary marketed the antipsychotic drug Risperdal through the state Medicaid program, the Associated Press reported.
WANKER OF THE DECADE - Runner Up #4
Mark Halperin.
I'm not even sure what Mark Halperin's job is anymore, aside from being a dick on Morning Joe, but once upon a time he oversaw production of The Note, ABC News's morning emailed news tip sheet, back before such things were commonplace. It strung together a digest of the supposedly important news stories of the day with a gossipy self-important narrative which posited the existence of a "Gang of 500," basically the people who run Washington and therefore the world. You know, Mark Halperin, Mark Halperin's friends, people who kiss Mark Halperin's ass, Republicans, and assorted other worthies. This was in the post-9/11 era when, much as a segment of a prior generation continually imagined they were refighting the Spanish Civil War (unclear on which side), the DC chattering classes imagined themselves as noble warriors on the front lines of The Global War On Terror. In world of The Note, everything was good news for Republicans and Matt Drudge ruled the world.
The Note was all very self-referential and insidery, which had a certain appeal to outsiders imagining they were getting the water cooler chat from Very Important People, the aforementioned Gang of Wankers. It was what people interested in politics would read because they thought it gave some insight into the insider's view of how the world worked. And it did do that, but after reading The Note for awhile, with its jokey indifference to just about everything other than just how important the Gang Of Wankers truly was, the reader would begin to suspect that David Icke is right and we are actually ruled by a race of alien reptilian humanoids dedicated to the destruction or enslavement of humanity and that the Washington Swampland was actually the inspiration for the 3rd scene of The Garden of Earthly Delights. If human, and not alien, then The Gang of 500, as portrayed in The Note, were truly the worst people in the world. People so awful no decent human beings would dare get near them. The horror of this world was compounded by the fact that it seemed as if the notional members of the Gang of Wankers actually liked how they were portrayed. Nobody objected that I can remember, despite Halperin's expressed view of his tribe. After years spent elevating the stupid and the trivial, Halperin had a sad about it. And another.
It's hard to imagine a bigger saddo then someone desperate to court the approval of Hugh Hewitt As with most of the wankers, he's basically wrong about everything all of the time and then wrong just a little bit more. And did I mention he was a dick?
I'm not even sure what Mark Halperin's job is anymore, aside from being a dick on Morning Joe, but once upon a time he oversaw production of The Note, ABC News's morning emailed news tip sheet, back before such things were commonplace. It strung together a digest of the supposedly important news stories of the day with a gossipy self-important narrative which posited the existence of a "Gang of 500," basically the people who run Washington and therefore the world. You know, Mark Halperin, Mark Halperin's friends, people who kiss Mark Halperin's ass, Republicans, and assorted other worthies. This was in the post-9/11 era when, much as a segment of a prior generation continually imagined they were refighting the Spanish Civil War (unclear on which side), the DC chattering classes imagined themselves as noble warriors on the front lines of The Global War On Terror. In world of The Note, everything was good news for Republicans and Matt Drudge ruled the world.
The Note was all very self-referential and insidery, which had a certain appeal to outsiders imagining they were getting the water cooler chat from Very Important People, the aforementioned Gang of Wankers. It was what people interested in politics would read because they thought it gave some insight into the insider's view of how the world worked. And it did do that, but after reading The Note for awhile, with its jokey indifference to just about everything other than just how important the Gang Of Wankers truly was, the reader would begin to suspect that David Icke is right and we are actually ruled by a race of alien reptilian humanoids dedicated to the destruction or enslavement of humanity and that the Washington Swampland was actually the inspiration for the 3rd scene of The Garden of Earthly Delights. If human, and not alien, then The Gang of 500, as portrayed in The Note, were truly the worst people in the world. People so awful no decent human beings would dare get near them. The horror of this world was compounded by the fact that it seemed as if the notional members of the Gang of Wankers actually liked how they were portrayed. Nobody objected that I can remember, despite Halperin's expressed view of his tribe. After years spent elevating the stupid and the trivial, Halperin had a sad about it. And another.
It's hard to imagine a bigger saddo then someone desperate to court the approval of Hugh Hewitt As with most of the wankers, he's basically wrong about everything all of the time and then wrong just a little bit more. And did I mention he was a dick?
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