March, 2011 archive
Weaving Straw Basket Cases 1
At Philly dot com, Chris Kelly considers how straw men (straw persons? straw crows? straw scarecrows? strawcrows?) are created and used to distract us from what’s happening.
A nugget:
It’s how Rush Limbaugh, who recently signed a $300 million contract to build and destroy legions of straw men every day, can claim he is a spokesman for the working class. It’s how Sarah Palin can be talked about as a serious candidate for president, and how a weepy basket case like Glenn Beck can be held up as the “only sane voice in the media.”
It’s how so-called conservatives can insist that the Wall Street bankers who crashed the economy should keep their astronomical bonuses, but unionized public employees should give up their hard-won pensions. It’s how President Obama can tap General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt to help “reform” the corporate tax structure, even as the New York Times reveals that GE – with worldwide profits of $14.2 billion last year – paid zero U.S. taxes.
History Lessons 3
There’s an old joke, likely apocryphal, from the WWII era which claims that Winston Churchill, when asked, “Will Americans ever have fascism?” responded, “Of course, but they will call it anti-Fascism.”
Which is a lead in to recommending this post by True Blue Texan, which also recalls the WWII era.
Facebook Frolics 0
Researchers disagree on whether it’s simply an extension of depression some kids feel in other circumstances, or a distinct condition linked with using the online site.
The story goes on to list the myriad dangers of Facebook. Only towards the end does a doctor get quoted to the effect that, to the extent that Facebook has an effect, it is limited to potentially exaggerating tendencies that already exist. I guess scary sells (it certainly sells in politics).
I certainly do not think Facebook is inherently a grand and glorious thing. It can be a useful tool for many things, including recreation and reconnection; as with other tools, such as a sledge hammer, one can just as easily drop it on one’s foot if one doesn’t pay attention.
(One of the dangers of making computers easy to use it has been that it has made them easy to use for everyone, including those who don’t bother to learn how to practice safe HEX.)
Every few years come alarms from “experts” about this thing or that thing which is ruining our youth.
When I was a young ‘un, it was comic books ruining our youth.
Then it was television, followed by long hair on boys, disco dancing, and video games.
It is, in fact, global warning. It has one constant: those issuing the warnings are rewarded with articles, interviews, and book contracts.
I am more optimistic.
I am confident that our youth are quite capable of ruining themselves without help.
Twits on Twitter 0
Charlie Booker considers the twitting (and Facebooking) of Rebecca Black. A nugget:
Hilariously, many of them attacked the wrong Rebecca Black, and were actually beaming their hatred at an etiquette coach of the same name, a woman who regularly appears on US TV to discuss the merits of civil discourse. The worse their abuse, the more gracefully she responded, which somehow made them look infinitely more small-minded than they already were.
Dreams Denied 0
I can’t say I’m as gloomy as Shaun.
But it wouldn’t take much more to get me there.
An excerpt:
It is suffocating its middle class, turning its back on newcomers and giving corporations and fat-cat financiers obscene tax breaks.
It is ignorant of its own history, core values and virtues, and many of us, if shown a copy of the Bill of Rights, would believe it to be a subversive document.
It has an unbreakable addiction to foreign oil, values clean air and water only when they don’t get in the way of profit making, and cares little that its infrastructure is crumbling one bridge at a time.
Misdirection Plays 0
Gary Younge, writing at the Guardian, considers the dis-semblance (as opposed to resemblance) of the Republican Party to reasonableness, particularly the tendency to campaign as “conservatives” and to govern as gun-toting theocrats.
It’s worth the three minutes it takes to read.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
I mentioned this when it first happened. Now the case proceeds towards trial.
The “manslaughter” case mentioned below involves another case of a hunter bagging one of those two-legged deer so easy to spot because of their distinctive orange vests, in case with a rifle. In the densely-populated suburban county in which the two-legged deer roam, hunting with a rifle is banned because, well, it’s a densely populated suburban county and a even a .22 calibre bullet can travel over a mile.
A nugget.
But from Manilla’s (the defendant–ed.) perspective, the greater concern is that he had a gun in the first place. As a felon – convicted of aggravated assault in 1985 – he is banned by law from possessing a firearm.
If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor, Manilla faces up to five years in prison.
But he also faces three felony counts of illegal firearms possession for the guns he had with him in Bucks County. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
And federal authorities may be looking into additional firearms charges.
He had about six dozen guns to keep himself felling warm and comfy and virile at night.
The Galt and the Lamers 0
Bob Cesca shows why he is Han Solo.
Bad Ideas Live Forever 0
In the Guardian, Walt Gardner looks at the history of “pay for performance” for teachers.
Early in my career with the railroad, I learned that, if one employee contravenes a policy, the employee is likely culpable; if the majority of employees contravenes a policy, the policy is likely wrong.
Aside from the overtly criminal (embezzlers, ponzi scheme managers, and other fraudsters), most working persons do not go to work planning to defraud their employers by performing their jobs badly. They may be intending other forms of misconduct while on duty and on the property, but they aren’t thinking something like, “I’ll just stock all the merchandise on the wrong shelves today.”
I’ve long had qualms about “pay for performance” for teachers and most of the other education “reform” schemes based on testing. As my mother, a math teacher, once said to me, “How can we expect them to read if there isn’t a magazine in the house?”
The reports of “teaching to the test” and fudging students’ scores are so numerous and so frequent as to indicate to me not a failure of school teachers and administrators, but the failure of the strategy.
The trouble was that the strategy sucked the creative life out of classrooms, as teachers became obsessed with the code. When it became apparent that the approach demeaned education, it was dropped in the 1890s. Pay-for-performance re-emerged briefly in Canada in 1876, but it ran into similar difficulties and was terminated in 1883.
Afterthought:
Ever notice how many bad ideas’ reason for existence is summed up in, “But we have to do something?“
Driving while Brown 1
The Chicago Tribune reports on a numbers game in McHenry County, Ill., west of Chicago, in which brown persons who spoke Spanish were listed as white, rather than Hispanic, on police officers’ traffic stop reports:
- The problem grew worse each year. By 2009, the statistical analysis showed, 1 in 3 Hispanics cited by deputies likely were mislabeled as white or not included in department data reported to the state.
- If mislabeling and underreporting are taken into account, the department’s official rate of minority stops would have towered over its Chicago-area peers rather than appearing average.
- Department brass repeatedly missed warning signs of potential problems, even after a deputy complained that some peers targeted Hispanics.
Follow the link and draw your own conclusions.
March Madness (Updated) 0
About 15 minutes after McCafferty climbed the pole by standing on top of her minivan, the DelDOT equipment rumbled toward her.
Perched on a bend in the metal pole with her fuzzy bedroom slippers dangling down, McCafferty refused to budge despite police and DelDOT pleas.
Police threatened to tow her van. They asked if she would miss work over this. She replied she “would be here all day,” no matter what. McCafferty heard threats that the hoop would come down whether she cooperated or not.
There’s a picture of her sitting on the basketball hoop at the link.
Most of the basketball hoops in question have been there for decades. The law banning them (and certain other things within seven feet of the pavement) was passed in 2005. (Hmmm, maybe I could have gotten the state to take down that tree I paid someone 400 smackers to take down in 2007 and saved a few bucks–it was about 18 inches back.)
I know that neighborhood well. When I lived in those parts, I had friends in Radnor Green. It’s quiet and secluded, with little traffic except when persons are leaving for and returning from work and school. The streets are wide and curvy, though not twisty, which keeps speeds down.
I can’t say that I believe pointing basketball hoops towards the street is a good idea, but, honestly (as my mother would have said).
When I went to Radnor Green, I would occasionally have to wait for kids playing ball to clear the street, but they usually seemed to do so without delaying me. I have also had to wait for kids on skateboards and bicycles to clear the street.
I know.
Let’s ban bicycles and skateboards.
While we’re at it, let’s just ban kids in suburban neighborhoods.
Addendum:
The local member of the Delaware House has asked the state police to look into how this was handled. From today’s follow-up story:
Moments later, after the pole is removed and put into a truck, the same trooper denies she ever made such an offer.
John McCafferty said the woman never clearly identified herself or which agency she was with but just issued orders.
Back in my railroading days, I was involved in a long project with the railroad police which took me to railroad police offices all over the country.
I learned that the railroad cops–sworn officers, many with state and municipal experience–considered the Delaware State Police to insufferably arrogant and hated having to deal with them.
On! Wisconsin 0
Oh, look!
One-party rule.
Details at the link.
Also, Angry Black Lady’s post at Balloon Juice is worth a read. The excerpts from the opinion of the court order mentioned above are gems.
As Atrios points out, an executive that is determined to a court can finds a way.
I think it was Andrew Jackson who said, of a Supreme Court ruling, “They made the decision. Let them enforce it.”
Democracy is ultimately a contract among the governed and those who govern about how those who govern shall conduct themselves. If one party breaks the contract, they break democracy.
