2009 archive
Thought Police 0
At Liberty (sic) University, firings will continue until thought improves.
Oh.
Wait.
Kevin Roose writes at the Guardian:
As evidenced by the 32% of evangelicals between the ages of 18-29 who voted for Barack Obama last November, “Christian” and “Republican” are no longer synonymous in America, and Liberty’s pathetic attempt to maintain a unified political stance by silencing dissent shows how out of touch the university is with its own student body.
Twits on Twitter 0
El Reg:
He added: “I think if people were able to take these 140 characters and develop a poetic Western form – a haiku of our own in which all human existence could be compressed into those 140 characters – that would be a satisfying thing, but that’s not what I see when I read them.”
California Dreamin’ 0
The story goes on to cite the Federal bailout of New York City as a comparison.
This situation illustrates the internal contradictions (as Marx would have said) of Republican Economic Theory. Republicans have rendered raising taxes almost impossible in Cali. At the same time, they rendered cutting services almost impossible. For a long time, thanks to Republicanism, Californians have been thinking they can get something for nothing–more expensive government services (it’s called the Price Index) without paying for them.
Before you scream welfare queens, consider that schools and corrections are almost half of the total.
(Note that I am not arguing for any particular tax policy. Far be it from me to offer any solutions.)
I am merely pointing out another example that the Republican theory that cutting taxes is the economic 42, the answer to life, the universe, and everything, is just so much hooey. It is the camouflage for the Party’s mission of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
Everything has a price.
Taxes are the price of living in a civilized society.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Running out of persons to lay off:
However, the number of people staying on benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased 110,000 to a higher-than-forecast 6.79 million in the week ended May 16.
On a possibly brighter note, the same story reports that April durable goods orders were up slightly.
I say “possibly” because these preliminary figures, including the unemployment figures, are often revised a month later–usually in the wrong direction. Follow the link to see what happened to the March durable goods estimate.
William O. Douglas She’s Not 0
Frankly, Douglas should be the model for a Supreme Court justice.
But Sotomayor seems to be a decent sort.
It’s kind of fun watching the righties make stuff up.
An “activist judge,” in wingnut parlance, is ipso facto any judge that does not agree with wingnuts.
Scott Lemieux writes at the Guardian:
Deborah White discusses the Republicans’ bigoted reactions here.
And Mad Kane immortalizes the whole shebang in poetry here.
What Noz Said 0
This has been the first edition of What Noz Said.
The Great Game 0
(with apologies to Rudyard Kipling)
Andrew Sullivan on the Sotomayor nomination:
The more they recede into fantastickal thinking, the less influence they have.
The less influence they have, the more they recede into fanstastickal thinking.
And so on.
Watch the fantasies demolished:
Twits on Twitter 0
Phishers invade Twitter. Like most phishing schemes, this one relies on the failure of persons to pay attention to what they are doing.
From the Toimes:
Simple Answers to Simple Questions 0
The Question, from Dick Polman:
Will the GOP, prodded by its conservative base, dare to assail a woman of color who rose from humble beginnings on sheer merit; who was formally tapped for the federal district bench by a Republican president (George H. W. Bush); and who was confirmed in 1998 for a federals appeals court seat by a Republican Senate, voting 67-29? (By the way, those 67 Yes votes included 25 Republican senators…seven of whom are still serving.)
The Answer:
Twits on Twitter 0
Geekazine elucidates.
Too Much Texting Is Not the Cause of Dumbness 0
Dumbness is the cause of too much texting.
It never fails. When something new comes along and catches the attention of the Younger Generation ™, armchair shrinks appear with papers and telly vision interviews (before that, it was Marconi’s Magic Box; before that, Chatauquas; before that, drums) claiming that “It (whatever it is) is ruining our youth. Gasp. Horrors. (Book contract?)”
The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.
Frankly, the kids who suffer from anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation would find some way to do so if cell phones and text messages did not exist.
I did.
The Household Financial Fallacy 0
Fundamental to this whole mess is thinking of one’s primary residence, not as a place to live, but as an investment. That’s gambling with the grocery money.
The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index decreased 18.7 percent from March 2008, matching the drop in the year ended in February. The measure declined 19 percent in January, the most since data began in 2001.
Record foreclosures are depressing the value of other properties, contributing to a slump in household wealth that is hurting consumer spending and the economy. Still, falling prices and mortgage rates have made homes more affordable, helping to stem the slide in sales, which will eventually help prices stabilize.
Douglas A. McIntyre, writing at 24/7, considers the claim that the S&P data is so old (two months) as to be meaningless:
The market is looking for ways to claim that housing is finding a bottom and that it is possible that a recovery in home prices in in the wings. While there may be some pick-up in sales in the most depressed markets including Nevada and Florida, there is no sign that prices are rising. Clever buyers are moving in to buy homes in foreclosure, but the prices of these houses are so low that their sales may actually bring down the average price of the homes being sold in those markets.
Funny Money 0
I’ve tried to read this article three times now and each time I get lost in the mumbo-jumbo. Maybe Duncan understands it–after all, he used to teach this stuff–but I don’t.
One thing I have learned in years of working in large organizations is that, if something doesn’t make sense and can’t be expressed in plain language, the odds are that it just doesn’t make sense and someone is pulling a fast one.
The magician doesn’t really make the rabbit magically turn into a hankerchief and losers don’t magically become winners. It’s all just sleight of hand.
Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America Corp. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. are also poised to benefit from taking over home lenders Wachovia Corp., Countrywide Financial Corp. and National City Corp., regulatory filings show. The deals provide a combined $56 billion in so-called accretable yield, the difference between the value of the loans on the banks’ balance sheets and the cash flow they’re expected to produce.
Faced with the highest U.S. unemployment in 25 years and a surging foreclosure rate, the lenders are seizing on a four- year-old rule aimed at standardizing how they book acquired loans that have deteriorated in credit quality. By applying the measure to mortgages and commercial loans that lost value during the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the banks will wring revenue from the wreckage, said Robert Willens, a former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. executive who runs a tax and accounting consulting firm in New York.
Not that the Wall Street Wankers would ever try to pull a fast one. Oh! Certainly not!
We need new accounting rules.
Stray Thought 0
If Obama had nominated Jesus Christ himself to the Supreme Court, the wingnuts would have left (their hate-full version of) the Christian faith rather than support the nomination.
Idle Moments 1
Not sure how I feel about this.
On the one-hand, idling vehicles don’t seem to be the eleventh plague.
Light Bloggery 0
Travel day.