March, 2009 archive
Pledge Class 2
Republican apologists (emphasis added) and their knee pads:
H/T Alison for the link.
Vote in the Poll 0
Over at Balloon Juice.
He Said It Was the Saddest Story He Ever Wrote 1
Gene Weingarten looks at what happens when a parent forgets a baby in a car to die in the heat:
The wealthy do, it turns out. And the poor, and the middle class. Parents of all ages and ethnicities do it. Mothers are just as likely to do it as fathers. It happens to the chronically absent-minded and to the fanatically organized, to the college-educated and to the marginally literate. In the last 10 years, it has happened to a dentist. A postal clerk. A social worker. A police officer. An accountant. A soldier. A paralegal. An electrician. A Protestant clergyman. A rabbinical student. A nurse. A construction worker. An assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician. It happened to a rocket scientist.
Last year it happened three times in one day, the worst day so far in the worst year so far in a phenomenon that gives no sign of abating.
The facts in each case differ a little, but always there is the terrible moment when the parent realizes what he or she has done, often through a phone call from a spouse or caregiver. This is followed by a frantic sprint to the car. What awaits there is the worst thing in the world.
Read the whole thing. And, for discussion, tune into Tuesday’s chat.
H/T Karen for the link.
Drinking Liberally 1
Triumph Brewing Company, Chestnut just east of 2nd, Philadelphia, Pa., 6 p., Tueday.
Don’t know whether I’ll make it this week.
If I don’t, hoist one for me.
If I do, buy one for me.
In a Phrase 0
John Cole (emphasis added):
Saturday morning in the hotel at the “complimentary breakfast” (sorry–I can’t compliment the breakfast. The only bagels were raisin bagels–I was compelled to inform the Front Desk Clerk that bagels come in plain, egg, garlic, onion, sesame, and many other varieties, but that “raisin bagels” and “cinnamon raisin bagels” are not bagels, they are cookies), the Saturday Today Show was on. (I didn’t even know there was a Saturday Today Show. I am network teevee illiterate.)
As we watched the news about the unemployment rate, the eight of us who happened to be in that room came to a conclusion:
Wall Street Bankers would look good in orange jumpsuits picking up litter along the road.
The Galt and the Lame 0
I really can’t improve on what John Cole said.
4,000 Posts 0
I love numbers that end in three zeroes.
And Now for Something Completely Different 0
This site is a hoot.
Ignorance Redux 2
One of the great American historians of the mid-twentieth century, Richard Hofstadter, wrote a wonderful book, which documented the United States’s love-hate relationship with learning and inquiry.
It was true then. It is true now.
Notice to Oklahoma: Legislation does not change facts. You see, facts have this one uncomfortable property.
Facts are.
Via CC.
Nowhere To Go, Nothing To Do 0
Bonddad analyzes the unemployment figures. Follow the link for the full analysis:
1.) The best read of job growth for the last expansion is a total of 8.2 million jobs created. 2.6 million jobs were lost in the last 4 months, or 31%. Since the recession began, we’ve lost 4.4 million jobs or 53%. There is no way to spin those numbers as anything except terrible.
2.) The number of people who worked part-time for economic reasons increased by 787,000. That’s also a ton of people. That number has increased by 3.7 million over the last 12 months — also a ton of people. That facts tells us two relevant data points. First, businesses are still cutting back sharply. Secondly, there is probably at least one more month of horrible job losses in the works; that number is simply too high for there not to be another serious round of job losses coming down the pike.
3.) Year over year, the unemployment rate of service occupations has increased from 6.7% to 9.1% the unemployment rate of natural resources, construction and maintenance has increased from 9.1% to 17.7% and the unemployment rate of production, transportation and material employment has increased from 6.6% to 13.1%.
4.) Hours worked is decreasing across a wide swath of industries.
Simply put, this is an incredibly ugly report.
The Science of Manglement Management
0
Ten things the staff does not want to hear under the current economic conditions, from BuzzWhack.
Please Make It So 0
Heartland America just sent me another catalog threatening me that, if I don’t buy something, it might be my last.
Unwell Fargo 0
It’s about time.
Companies that are drowning who pretend they are still healthy by paying normal dividends act like fools.
No, wait.
Companies that pretend they are growing by selling boxes of air act like fools.
No, wait.
Wall Street bankers act like selfish gits.
There. Got it right.
I Love a Parade 0
I hope that this is merely the first cohort.
Room at the Inn 0
The hotel I’m at, in a small town in the country, has 52 rooms. And six rooms rented. I have a wing to myself.
Granting that it’s the off season (most of their business are vacation travellers breaking their trips to Myrtle Beach and points south) and a competitor (Holiday Inn Express, yecchh) has opened down the street, making two hotels in a one-half-hotel town, but even so . . . .