2011 archive
Stray Thought 0
Television shows used to have heroes.
Now they have zeros.
Twits on Twitter, Scholasticism Dept. 0
Kyle Wingfield, writing at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, discusses the University of Iowa’s awarding of a scholarship based on skill at being a twit on twitter:
(snip)
Putting style or form above substance is rampant in our slogan-obsessed politics. Complain all you want about the vagueness and vacuity of “hope and change,” but Obama didn’t invent the bumper sticker.
Staying with politics, the problem may be not only how we select our leaders but how narrowly we cast the field.
Robosigns of the Times 0
Like Crabby Appleton, the American banking industry appears to be rotten to the core.
At the time, robo-signing was thought to be contained to the affidavits that banks file when a mortgage is issued and somebody buys a house. The documents are used to prove they have the right to foreclose if the homeowner isn’t making mortgage payments. Companies that process mortgages said they were so overwhelmed with paperwork that they cut corners.
But now, as county officials review years’ worth of mortgage paperwork, in some cases combing through one page at a time, they are finding suspect signatures — either signed with the same name by dozens of different people, improperly notarized or signed without a review of the facts in the paperwork — on all sorts of mortgage documents, dating as far back as 1998, The Associated Press has found.
Great Feats of Prestidigitation 0
Steve Chapman, who normally seems sane and reasonable, manages to convince himself that a merger of Southwestern Bell Cingular AT&T and T-Mobile, which would reduce the number of major cell phone carries to two and a half (with Sprint being the half) would increase competition in the cell phone industry.
Next, he will quantify the number of angels who can dance on the head of a pin.
Also, pigs, wings.
Tent City Retirement Paradises 0
On this Labor Day, remember that Republicans want to hand the fruits of your labor over to Wall Street.
The “Why” of “Just Say No” 0
A retired Republican staffer explains why he retired after three decades–his disgust at the tactics of the contemporary Republican Party. A nugget:
A deeply cynical tactic, to be sure, but a psychologically insightful one that plays on the weaknesses both of the voting public and the news media. There are tens of millions of low-information voters who hardly know which party controls which branch of government, let alone which party is pursuing a particular legislative tactic. These voters’ confusion over who did what allows them to form the conclusion that “they are all crooks,” and that “government is no good,” further leading them to think, “a plague on both your houses” and “the parties are like two kids in a school yard.” This ill-informed public cynicism, in its turn, further intensifies the long-term decline in public trust in government that has been taking place since the early 1960s – a distrust that has been stoked by Republican rhetoric at every turn (“Government is the problem,” declared Ronald Reagan in 1980).
The media are also complicit in this phenomenon. Ever since the bifurcation of electronic media into a more or less respectable “hard news” segment and a rabidly ideological talk radio and cable TV political propaganda arm, the “respectable” media have been terrified of any criticism for perceived bias. Hence, they hew to the practice of false evenhandedness. Paul Krugman has skewered this tactic as being the “centrist cop-out.” “I joked long ago,” he says, “that if one party declared that the earth was flat, the headlines would read ‘Views Differ on Shape of Planet.'”
Click and read.
Via Jay Bookman.
If You’re Wondering Why It Doesn’t Feel like Much of a Holiday . . . 0
Andy Borowitz reports:
The Labor Day celebrations are expected to kick off Monday afternoon in Beijing with a barbeque attended by over seven million people and presided over by former NBA star Yao Ming.
Details at the link.
Billionaires Run Amuck 0
Thom Hartmann explains:
QOTD 0
G. K. Chesterton, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
Afterthought:
This is impetus for the Republican War on Science
On Card Sharks and Other Shysters 0
The idea of gambling as a revenue stream has always caused me disquiet.
My conservative Southern Baptist upbringing perhaps predisposes me against gambling to raise public revenue.
So too does my study of U. S. Southern history: after the Civil War, most Southern states instituted lotteries of some type, having no tax base left. In almost every case, lottery administrators ended up in South America living the sweet life of other people’s money.
At the same time, I do enjoy the ponies on a nice summer day. I wouldn’t play poker, but a penny a point at bridge wouldn’t faze me; I do not have a blanket objection to friendly wagers amongst those who play fair and can afford it. These days, a game of penny ante poker can cost less than an evening at the movies.
It’s justifying state lotteries and, to a much greater extent, slot machine palaces as sources of tax revenue that makes me queasy.
I think that, thanks to Renee Loth’s column in the Boston Globe, I have discovered the source of my disquiet. Here’s the snippet of discovery:
Here’s why. Gambling revenue – like user fees, naming rights, specialty license plates, and other forms of “voluntary’’ contributions to government – erodes a fundamental idea of democracy: that we’re all in this together. Instead of all people contributing equitably to the common good, a casino economy fractures the social compact. And it asks the most from those who can afford it least.
Clearly, we are not all in this together.
Those who have the most are in it the least, so the alternative is the fleece.
The Clothes Make the Man 0
. . . and he found himself in the rough.
He wasn’t dressed as a clown – just wearing some colorful clothing after an outing at Terry Hills Golf Course. But deputies say he was intoxicated.
Via Wait! Wait!
Stray Thought 0
“Smart TV” is a contradiction in terms.
