First Looks category archive

But where will the Mallies go?

Aside: I’ve been to the Mall of the Americas. It gets its high store count by cheating. It has–or had at the time I visited–two Radio Shacks on two different levels, and counted them both.

I have shot the trouble and reactivated the WordPress Mobile Plugin.

Jon Swift, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, and Blue Girl are leading the charge to this year’s Blogroll Amnesty Day.

Mr. Swift explained the requirements for participation (post linked above) as follows:

Celebrating Blogroll Amnesty Day is easy. You don’t have to put up a tree or a poll or buy candy or flowers, wrap presents or risk your life playing with dangerous fireworks. All you have to do is link to some smaller blogs that you like or celebrate the idea of linking or blogrolling in any way you see fit.

Mr. Kangaroo (linked above) encourages inclusion:

tho we are happy to point out, one need not link exclusively to progressive/liberal blogs. we highly encourage you to find a sensible rightist blog and link thereto. (ha! that’ll keep ya busy for the weekend!)

Ms. Girl (linked above) says, “No excuses.”

Small and newbie bloggers please be aware of the ironclad rule that you are not allowed to make “hey no blog is as small as mine” jokes regarding Blogroll Amnesty Day. The rule is, straight from the queen of the indy blogs herself (ahem), that you are not allowed to complain or mention your blog’s low traffic until you have been posting daily for a year. If you’re little, link other blogs that are new or still growing their audience, and encourage them to practice their craft daily.

To join them in the celebration, I will add at least five new blogs to my blogroll over the next three days. (I added two today, but I’ll not count them.) I’ll also figure out some way to make them stand out without using the acronym for Blogroll Amnesty Day. (Adding a site to the blogroll and labelling it B. A. D. would probably defeat the purpose.)

I won’t necessarily know whether they are bigger or smaller than I, because, frankly, I decided a long time ago not to worry about “hits” all that much, but I will promise that they will be off the main highway and down the side streets of the Inner Tubes.

Addendum, the Next Evening:

Thanks to the Facebook app, “Networked Blogs” (see the sidebar on the main page), I’ve found a bunch of neat blogs.

From Balloon Juice (emphasis added).

(W)e would be so much better off if the Republicans just took a little breather, got themselves pulled together and composed, and stopped being the crazy uncle at the holiday dinner ranting insanely about everything. These guys need to get their act together and figure out that the “loyal” in loyal opposition is fealty to the country first, and not the party.

Ya think?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Nah.

Ain’t gonna happen.

Too much invested in fantasy.

Draining the swamp.

It is really, really difficult to disagree with this.

I carried a TCU card for 24 years. For 20 of those years, I was not in a union job, but I continued to carry the card.

Why?

TCU didn’t do a lot for me directly (except that, when my job went from non-union to union in compliance with the terms of the contract, my salary went from eight grand to twelve grand because it had to be aligned with pay scales of equivalent jobs).

What TCU did happened 30 and 40 and 50 years earlier (then it was BRAC), when it fought for recognition so that it could represent employees in contract negotiations.

I used to know a man who was one of the founders of the UTU. He could tell stories of having been shot at during the ’30s for his union activities (he was also one of the finest and most honorable men I have ever known).

American management had as much integrity then as it has now.

Now we look around us and see what happens to working persons when there is no one to represent them.

Robert Reich:

Go back about 50 years, when America’s middle class was expanding and the economy was soaring. Paychecks were big enough to allow us to buy all the goods and services we produced. It was a virtuous circle. Good pay meant more purchases, and more purchases meant more jobs.

At the center of this virtuous circle were unions. In 1955, more than a third of working Americans belonged to one. Unions gave them the bargaining leverage they needed to get the paychecks that kept the economy going. So many Americans were unionized that wage agreements spilled over to nonunionized workplaces as well. Employers knew they had to match union wages to compete for workers and to recruit the best ones.

Fast forward to a new century. Now, fewer than 8% of private-sector workers are unionized. Corporate opponents argue that Americans no longer want unions. But public opinion surveys, such as a comprehensive poll that Peter D. Hart Research Associates conducted in 2006, suggest that a majority of workers would like to have a union to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions. So there must be some other reason for this dramatic decline. But put that question aside for a moment. One point is clear: Smaller numbers of unionized workers mean less bargaining power, and less bargaining power results in lower wages.

It’s no wonder middle-class incomes were dropping even before the recession. As our economy grew between 2001 and the start of 2007, most Americans didn’t share in the prosperity. By the time the recession began last year, according to an Economic Policy Institute study, the median income of households headed by those under age 65 was below what it was in 2000.Typical families kept buying only by going into debt. This was possible as long as the housing bubble expanded. Home-equity loans and refinancing made up for declining paychecks.

Note that the mopes have copped a plea and promised restitution.

What restitution is there for persons incarcerated for personal profit?

(They are since claiming the plea bargains are “conditional.” Apparently that means they reserve the right to renounce them if they decide they can get off in a trial. My intensive study of Law and Order reruns leads me to think that the prosecutors won’t think much of that.)

Two top Luzerne County (Pa.–ed) Court judges took kickbacks to place juvenile offenders in detention centers, even ordering some to be locked up against the recommendations of probation officers, federal authorities said yesterday.

President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Judge Michael T. Conahan agreed to a plea deal that would send them to prison for seven years, according to an agreement filed in federal court Monday.

The judges allegedly concealed $2.6 million in payments from one of the owners of the centers and an unnamed person, authorities said. At the same time, the judges also worked to ensure that the facilities reaped millions of dollars in business by sending them a steady number of juveniles.

The judges also agreed to plead to tax fraud. Both have stepped down, have agreed to be disbarred and will pay restitution, according to prosecutors.

Sleet on top of snow.

Even the biggest dog (50 pounds) is walking on top of the crust. Looks like almost every school in Delaware is closed.

Supposed to be 40 degrees and rain by noon.

Addendum:

Already turning to rain.

DelLib has a fun discussion of Delawareans’ screwy reactions to the white stuff.

Buy the book.

Mr. Bunch starts with a description of the state of the Reagan Myth today (along with a few jarring facts showing how it deviates from anything approaching in any remote way truth, history, or the American Way.)

He then journeys into truth and history. (With truth and history, we can find the American Way.)

(Full disclosure: I haven’t finished the book yet. But this story needs to be told. Those who believe distorted history create a distorted present.)

Also posted at the Great Orange Satan.

Excerpt below the Fold

Bill, in the comments.

I think the whole kerfuffle over contraceptives is a side-issue, like worrying about where that penny rolled to while the dollars are burning in the fireplace, but I think the rest of it deserves the attention of my two or three regular readers.

Hell, he even did something I usually don’t:

Research.

Addendum:

The Booman attempts to corral this Trojan horse of an issue. The whole thing is worth the five minutes it takes to read, but here’s the heart of it:

The Republicans are making hay about contraceptives, but it is a distorted and dishonest talking point. Reporters should set the record straight on the facts before they analyze the effectiveness of the talking point. They shouldn’t reinforce the talking point before analyzing it.

Having said that, even if the Republicans were using the term ‘family planning’ it is difficult to defend the economically stimulative effects of family planning funding. Most people see family planning funding as a program for helping (mostly) poor women, and not as a way to create jobs or jump start the economy. Even Nancy Pelosi was inclined to argue the waiver was a cost-reducing measure rather than a strictly stimulative one. Good family planning programs will reduce the cost of providing health care (CBO estimates it will save $200 million over five years).

Addendum-Dee-Dum-Dum:

Here’s another take, courtesy of Karen.

I’m not taking a stand on this. As I said, it’s a side issue to this bill.

(Aside: That does not mean I consider it a side issue to public policy; health care will soon be on the table. Rather, this who-shot-john is another manifestation of the Repulsican Party’s weird and rather creepy preoccupation with other persons’ genitalia.)

The practical truth in politics is that sometimes the smartest thing to do is concede the skirmish and focus on winning the war.

Q. Bob Herbert in the Toimes:

What’s up with the Republicans? Have they no sense that their policies have sent the country hurtling down the road to ruin? Are they so divorced from reality that in their delusionary state they honestly believe we need more of their tax cuts for the rich and their other forms of plutocratic irresponsibility, the very things that got us to this deplorable state?

A. Yes.

The Booman points to signs of progress:

No, if there is going to be a cure for bipartisanship, it isn’t going to come from the Republicans in the Senate. Their back is already broken, and they know it. All that remains is for them to get used to it.

(Aside: The Booman seems to have a firmer grasp on political reality than do a lot of the ideologues and naysayers. To paraphrase what a friend emailed to me today over something else, there’s a country to save here. It’s time to stop quibbling over commas and semicolons. The Repubs haven’t yet figured out that the great majority of the country is just tuning them out. They’ve shown what they do, and no one wants them to do more of it.)

Now maybe the country can move forward and fix all the problems that the Repubs created.

It’s rather disgusting that people actually watch this thing live on the telly vision, while food aid organizations can’t keep up with demand.

I’ve seen video clips. That’s enough. The concept and the execution are both throw-up making.

Video courtesy Brendan, who has a lot more details and statistics, if you can–er–stomach them.

From today’s New York Times business webpage:

As Duncan says, “Lucky duckies.”

Phillybits faces a quandary, which he has since removed from his site.

Tuesday, Triumph Brewing Company, Chestnut two blocks from Front, 6 p.

Plenty of parking on Front, and, for drivers, parking meter rates have doubled. Save up even more quarters. (Meters are still cheaper than lots.)

Good food, good drink, good politics, good fellowship for all left-thinking persons.

And those economists at WellsWachovia should know about downturns (emphasis added):

The U.S. economy contracted violently in the fourth quarter, with gross domestic product falling at its fastest pace in more than 25 years, economists said ahead of what promises to be a grim week of economic news.

“Real economic activity fell off a cliff during the fourth quarter, producing a sharp drop in employment, output and spending,” wrote economists at Wachovia.

It’s gonna take a long time to clean up this mess.

And the worst part is that it’s not over. Economists expect another huge decline in the first quarter, with a smaller contraction in the second quarter.

Apparently, there was a pageant today.

Via Delaware Liberal, which also posted the text.