2013 archive
Labor Days 0
When I worked for Amtrak, I had the privilege of knowing and working with some of the old Pullman porters and waiters. I did not know them well, but they worked hard and took pride in their work.
At least, with Amtrak, they had their own names.
Labor Days 0
Ron Pedersen, Jr., reminds us that Labor Day is about Labor, not beer and skittles, and finds precedent:
It is not uncommon to find American businesses today that, like Pharaoh, always demand more. More sales. More production. Beat last year’s or last quarter’s figures. Work harder; work faster. We even have an entire industry of energy drinks dedicated to help make it happen.
But the deeper relevance of the Pharaoh story for today is the question of who benefits from the increased production. What did the Hebrew slaves get in return for their extra labors? Nothing. Egypt’s splendor was built on their backs.
Read the rest.
Asking the Wrong Question Always Gets a Wrong Answer 2
Judging from the headlines at the news sites I frequent, the Very Serious People seem to have decided that the crucial question regarding Syria is whether or not Syria used gas warfare. Framing the question in that way implies that, if the answer is yes, some sort of attack is ipso facto justified.
Ignoring that there is no such thing as a “surgical strike” except in the fantasies of warmongers, the actual question is lost in the frame:
What would an attack accomplish, other than killing some folks?
- Would it end the civil war in Syria?
- Would it topple the bad guys and elevate the good guys (ignoring, again, that there don’t seem to be any good guys on either side of the fighting, just innocents in the middle)?
- Would it protect the innocents?
- Is there anything outsiders can do to end the carnage?
No one argues that any of these can be answered with a “yes.”
The argument instead seems to be that, by raining remote-controlled death, our disapproval would be made manifest, as a God rains lightning from the sky.
In other words, it is the “diplomatic” equivalent of punching a hole in a wall out of frustration.
The frustration still exists, and now your hand is injured and you have to repair a hole.
This is not diplomacy.
This is the impotent masturbating with missiles.
Image via BartCop.
Dream a Little Dream 0
Dan K. Thomasson does:
Follow the link.
Performance Optional 0
McClatchy’s Sarah Anderson debunks the CEO “pay for performance” scam. A nugget:
- Four CEOs of financial firms that received some of the largest bailouts in 2008 have reappeared on the top 25 highest-paid lists since the crash.
- Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell got the boot in 2006 after the drugmaker’s stock plunged 40 percent. He still jumped out of the escape hatch with a golden parachute worth nearly $200 million.
- Dialysis giant Da-Vita HealthCare has had to fork over more than $350 million over the past year to settle various fraud cases. Nevertheless, CEO Kent Thiry made the top 25 highest-paid list in 2012 with more than $26 million in total compensation.
Speaking of pay for performance, explain to me just how this is “education” and not an Amway dealership.
Facebook Frolics, Expropriation Dept. 0
What’s yours is theirs.
The proposed update is set to go into effect in about a week, in September.
A judge mandated the clarifying language as part of Facebook’s recent $20 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought on by users who said Facebook was using people’s information and images for advertising without consent or compensation. Some of those users were under 18.
Details at the link.
Facebook Frolics, None So Blind Dept. 3
At the end, she asks for twits.
Remember, the “user” is not the customer; he or she is the product.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 3
Be polite to yourself.
But Docteur finally admitted that the gun in his waistband had gone off and he had shot himself after he was not able to explain why there was only a hole where the bullet exited from his pants. He was also not able to tell police what happened to his handgun after the incident.
But keep it a secret.
Afterthought:
Packing heat is not as easy as gun nuts tell themselves it is.
How Many Angles Can Dance on the Head of a Pin 0
In the Roanoke Times, John Winfrey tries to explicate the different strains of “Libertarianism.”
Here’s but two of the angles:
By contrast, the libertarian movement that controls Republicans in the House and Senate and most Republican states is heavily influenced by the Christian right. The cumbersome title “tea party libertarian Christian right” has become part of our public discourse on television, radio, newspapers and, of course, the Internet.
Nowhere does he get to the fundamental underlying truth of what passes for “Libertarianism” in the contemporary political landscape:
A “Libertarian” is a Republican who is ashamed to admit it.