June, 2011 archive
All That Was Old Is New Again 1
Slightly over a year ago, Dennis G. at Balloon Juice wrote a long post on theft of labor as a tactic of the rich and powerful to get more rich and powerful. Here’s a bit (I would recommend the whole thing–it explains the purpose of Reagonics):
Before the Emancipation Proclamation and the passage of the 13th Amendment (which Mississippi has still NOT officially ratified) slavery was a State sponsored institution in America and it was the easiest way to steal the labor of others. Protecting the simplicity of that labor stealing system is why the Confederates started the Civil War.
Now Georgia tries to bring back press gangs, dressing them up as “probation officers.”
Meta: Blogroll 0
While I was watching the Phillies clip the Cardinals’ wings last night, I went through my blogroll and deleted a number of sites that no longer interest me, are no longer active, or are no longer relevant (such as a number of the early blog listing sites).
I will be adding some new sites over the next few days, but, since no one looks at sidebars, I will likely be the only person who notices.
The one site that caused me a pang when I deleted it was Jon Swift, for the author, one of the best satirists to grace the internet or, for that matter, the English language, passed away two years ago.
Gone from my blogroll, but not from the memories of those who appreciated the skill with which he exercised his scalpel and his kindness and generosity to new bloggers.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
The Republican campaign strategy continues:
Stocks slumped and Treasury securities rose as the figures, combined with a drop in new-home sales, showed the recovery was struggling to gain momentum. Bernanke said yesterday that joblessness above 9 percent and weakness in housing show the economy’s “headwinds” may be stronger than Fed policy makers initially estimated.
(snip)
Purchases of new homes dropped 2.1 percent in May to a 319,000 annual rate, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The median price of new properties sold declined from a year earlier.
Congressional Democrats seem to have become vertebrates; they’ve called out the Republican strategy:
We’ll see how long that lasts.
Also, what Atrios said.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Teaching your children responsibility through example, the polite way:
Spill Here, Spill Now 0
The circular firing squad locks and loads:
(snip)
Transocean’s report comes two months after a study by the US Coast Guard said Transocean contributed to the disaster because of the company’s lax safety culture, and poorly maintained equipment on the Deepwater Horizon.
BP also says Transocean was partly to blame and is suing the Swiss company – the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor – for $40bn (£25bn).
Transocean also counters in its report that BP used a poor well design, which it says led to the failure of the cement around the well casing.
This is like squabbling over who’s more culpable: the perp who loaded the gun, the one who bought the ammo, or the one who pulled the trigger.
The Ravishing of the Middle Class 0
An interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
QOTD 0
Lillian Hellman, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Nobody outside of a baby carriage or a judge’s chamber believes in an unprejudiced point of view.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
A Rose by Any Other Name . . . (Updated) 0
Marketing aside, it’s still Agony Airlines:
Later on in the story, the airline is quoted as saying it doesn’t have a dress code, leading one to wonder whether it just practices random acts of fashion policing.
You can learn more about the baggy pants incident.
Addendum, the Next Day:
Field goes where I considered going, but chickened out.
Koch Raid (Updated) 0
It’s strategy to get your social security into the hands of banksters.
They need something to fund the next bubble.
Addendum:
Robert Greenwald, who produced the video, discusses this at the Guardian. A nugget:
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
In the Belly of the Beast 0
“Incognegro”: Two liberal black bloggers infiltrate the Right Online conference:
A bit from the write up:
Via the Booman.
Endless War and the Entitlement Society 1
At the Asia Times, Ellen Brown considers how military spending is actually a drag on the economy. A nugget (emphasis added):
Most politicians understand … that weapons production is currently the number one industrial export product of the US. They know that major industrial job creation is largely coming from the Pentagon. Thus most politicians, from both parties, want to continue to support the military industrial complex gravy train for their communities.
That explains why the country seems to be permanently at war. If we had peace, the war machine would be out of a job. Every year since World War II, the US has been at war somewhere. It has been said that if we didn’t have a war to fight, we would have to create one just to keep the war business going. We have a military empire of over 800 bases around the world. What is to become of them when the lion lies down with the lamb and peace reigns everywhere?
She goes on the explore ways to move to an economy that’s not based on killing somebody somewhere day after day.
QOTD 0
Jawaharlal Nehru, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
You don’t change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall.
Pay for Performance 0
Very creative.
Chiang issued his decision after conducting an analysis of the budget package pushed through by Democratic lawmakers last week on a simple majority vote. Lawmakers said they believed that action allowed them to continue receiving paychecks, but Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed the package, saying he didn’t want to see billions more in borrowing or questionable maneuvers.
The larger issue is that California has rendered itself ungovernable. Governor Brown seems to have the guts to make push come to shove.
H/T Karen for the link.
Driving while Brown 0
Imprisoning brown persons for profit(eers):
Dogmatic Justice 0
There’s something almost poetic about this:
