Rock on.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Oligarchs
Stoller on the progressive case for voting against Obama.
We need to build a different model of politics, one in which people who want a different society are willing to actually bargain and back up their threats, rather than just aesthetically argue for shifts around the margin. The good news is that the changes we need to make are entirely doable. It will cost about $100 trillion over 20 years to move our world to an entirely sustainable energy system, and the net worth of the global top 1 percent is $103 trillion. We can do this. And the moments to let us make the changes we need are coming. There is endless good we can do, if enough of us are willing to show the courage that exists within every human being instead of the malevolence and desire for conformity that also exists within every heart.Update: Scott Lemieux replies. (via John Cole at Balloon Juice.)
Systems that can’t go on, don’t. The political elites, as much as they kick the can down the road, know this. The question we need to ask ourselves is, do we?
Dumb Distinctions
No, being RE-ELECTED with a popular vote/electoral vote split does not have some meaning distinct from being elected that way.
That's not "hyperpartisanship," that's what Republicans do every time a Democrat wins election. The "not my president" bumper stickers were everywhere in 1993.
Am I the only one who lived through this stuff?
Every modern president to be re-elected — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush — has gotten a bigger share of the vote in their second bid for office than their first, and with it, a chance to claim a mandate.
A win in the electoral college that is not accompanied by one in the popular vote casts a shadow over the president and his ability to govern.
If Obama is re-elected that way, “the Republican base will be screaming that Romney should be president, and Obama doesn’t represent the country,” McKinnon predicted. “It’s going to encourage more hyperpartisanship.”
That's not "hyperpartisanship," that's what Republicans do every time a Democrat wins election. The "not my president" bumper stickers were everywhere in 1993.
Am I the only one who lived through this stuff?
Exceptionalism
Just so you know, US health care systems suck.
Americans spend $2.64 per person for healthcare for each purchasing power equivalent dollar spent by the 33 other countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD data shows the U.S. spends $8,233 per capita compared with an average of $3,118 in the other 33 countries.
Friday, October 26, 2012
We Could Build That
Maybe we should.
WASHINGTON — The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, underfunding and delays in launching replacements, according to several recent official reviews.
Because When Else
Will I have a chance to link approvingly to something on Fox News.
It's a big fun movie, not the heavy pretentious pseudo-intellectual thing some critics have made it out to be. The themes are fairly obvious and not groundbreaking, and I highly doubt the directors thought otherwise.
It's a big fun movie, not the heavy pretentious pseudo-intellectual thing some critics have made it out to be. The themes are fairly obvious and not groundbreaking, and I highly doubt the directors thought otherwise.
It's All About Tax Cuts For Rich People
I know we all know this, but it's still worth the regular restatement. Nobody cares about the deficit. The greatest threat to our economy was the deficit, until we had a surplus, and then suddenly the greatest threat to the economy was the surplus. It's mostly not about spending cuts, though Republicans do want poor people to suffer a bit more, overall we're not talking about much money (doesn't take a very big cut to make poor people suffer more). It's just about cutting taxes for rich people. The end.
Blahs
What's "amazing" (horrifying) is that while old white dudes like Sununu instantly jump to the idea that the main thing which drives African-American voting habits (congratulations, Senator Steele) is racial solidarity, but would freak if you suggested white people are more likely to vote for white people.
Just Business
Sometimes I feel like a bit of a sucker for not devoting my life to locking kids up for profit.
We do love our children in America. It's all about the children here. Yes sir.
(ht)
JACKSON, Miss. — Authorities in east Mississippi run a “school-to-prison pipeline” that locks up students for infractions like flatulence or wearing the wrong color socks, a policy that mainly affects black and disabled children, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday in a federal lawsuit.
We do love our children in America. It's all about the children here. Yes sir.
(ht)
Not So Good
2% is still not recovery growth, just weaker than should be but better than awful. Just crawling forward.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Let's Put The Fun Back In Funemployment!!!
No I don't know how to do that, other than giving away lots of free money. I just occasionally suffer stroke-inducing levels of rage thinking back to the days of funemployment.
Never
As Digby regularly points out, the Republican logic is that both parties agree on spending cuts so let's do the spending cuts. Since we disagree on revenue increases, we won't do those. Compromise!
So the answer is never.
So the answer is never.
Here's What I'm Going To Do For You
As I've said before, I used to be a bit more optimistic about the government giving goodies to older people, as older people vote and the baby boomers are hitting that age. I was worried about privatization, as that's something which could've been successfully marketed long enough to ram it through, but otherwise I thought things would be fine.
Dean Baker offers an explanation for why the hell the Democrats aren't running on a plan to double or triple Social Security benefits. Might be true. Still, they'd better consider doing it or the other party might get the idea to do it. Running on a plan to do it doesn't mean actually doing it, of course, but....
Dean Baker offers an explanation for why the hell the Democrats aren't running on a plan to double or triple Social Security benefits. Might be true. Still, they'd better consider doing it or the other party might get the idea to do it. Running on a plan to do it doesn't mean actually doing it, of course, but....
All Is Quiet
Occurs to me that four years ago my state was part of the big battle, with activists coming in on buses and nonstop advertising.
Doesn't feel that way now.
Doesn't feel that way now.
The Big Grift
There's the occasional faux-shock about how much money is spent on politics, especially presidential politics. I'm not especially disturbed by the numbers. Hiring a large full time nationwide staff for a couple of years costs a lot of money, as does all forms of advertising. We can be concerned about the implications of that, but the numbers themselves don't really bother me.
But left out of the discussion, usually, is that campaigns help make a nontrivial number of people quite wealthy. Sadly, not me!
But left out of the discussion, usually, is that campaigns help make a nontrivial number of people quite wealthy. Sadly, not me!
Trying To Destroy The World
The rich screw it all up, the poor are made to suffer, and generally our elite press cheer it on.
None of this has anything to do with helping Greece, it's only about helping the people who lent money to Greece. And in the end it won't even help them. Needless suffering because austerity.
Life in Greece has been turned on its head since the debt crisis took hold. But in few areas has the change been more striking than in health care. Until recently, Greece had a typical European health system, with employers and individuals contributing to a fund that with government assistance financed universal care. People who lost their jobs received health care and unemployment benefits for a year, but were still treated by hospitals if they could not afford to pay even after the benefits expired.
Things changed in July 2011, when Greece signed a supplemental loan agreement with international lenders to ward off financial collapse. Now, as stipulated in the deal, Greeks must pay all costs out of pocket after their benefits expire.
None of this has anything to do with helping Greece, it's only about helping the people who lent money to Greece. And in the end it won't even help them. Needless suffering because austerity.
Gambling Our Way To Prosperity
We're doomed.
City Council President Darrell Clark: “Jobs, jobs, jobs. This is what it’s all about. [A second casino] is the most significant economic opportunity for the city of Philadelphia.”
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
The Sociamalist Countries Are Doing Just Fine
The most "socialist" countries in Europe are actually doing quite well. I won't argue that's because of their socialism, but it certainly isn't driving Europe's problems.
Not A Parent So I Can't Understand
But one of my minor pet peeves is when supposedly fairly progressive dudes play American Sitcom Dad and "joke" that they're going to lock their daughters up until they're 21, or make the horrible pain face at the thought of their little darling actually going out on a date with a boy.
Really don't do it.
Really don't do it.
Gambling Our Way To Prosperity
On one hand, if there's going to be another casino (mandated by state law), near the convention center is the right place for it. On the other hand, I look forward to bailing the project out (not).
But How Does It Make Me Feel
Obviously comparing consensual sex with rape is a tad, well, insane, but what gets me is that it's all about his feefees.
Daughter doing what she wants to do, or daughter being raped. Makes him feel the same, so it's similar, you see. From a father's perspective.
Daughter doing what she wants to do, or daughter being raped. Makes him feel the same, so it's similar, you see. From a father's perspective.
Mysteries
Why do conservatives love fetuses and at least the idea of babies but seem to generally hate people?
We Must Lower Taxes So We Can Raise Them
However they sell this, it's just "cut taxes on rich people so we can increase them for everybody else."
That's what it is.
Also, too, they don't care about the deficit.
That's what it is.
Also, too, they don't care about the deficit.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Tuesday Mini Movie Review
Cloud Atlas is good. Certainly not surprised by varying opinions of the movie - won't speak to everyone - but don't listen to the haters. They're wrong. People calling it overly earnest, or self-important, or overly simplistic aren't quite seeing it. It isn't any of those things.
The Race Is Tightening!!!
I understand that's one exciting storyline, but "the black guy with a funny Mooslim name is probably going to win this election despite a shitty economy" is a pretty good one too.
The Local Connection
I had forgotten that the new NYT head honcho was director general of the BBC when the Savile investigation was pulled.
Fortunately There's A Plan For That
Austerity!
The people who run the world are determined to destroy it.
Spain’s economy contracted for a fifth quarter, adding pressure on Premier Mariano Rajoy to seek more European aid even as the euro area’s fourth-largest economy met a bill-sales target,
The people who run the world are determined to destroy it.
Priorities
The NYPD really needs to stop this bullshit.
NEW YORK (AP) - A paid informant for the New York Police Department's intelligence unit was under orders to "bait" Muslims into saying inflammatory things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press.
Shamiur Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bengali descent who has now denounced his work as an informant, said police told him to embrace a strategy called "create and capture." He said it involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests.
It's The Parking And Setbacks, Stupid
I think there's a bit too much focus on the relationship between building heights and density, in that density implies "skyscrapers." But in the more residential areas of Philly not filled with blight and abandoned buildings, there's a decent amount of density despite the fact that much of it was constructed with a 35' height limit. But it was also constructed without any setbacks and with very little off street parking taking up space.
Personally I'm fine with taller buildings, and there are definitely places (near transit) where there should be taller buildings, but you can pack quite a few people in without them.
And the point of packing people in is that if you do you create walkable neighborhoods with sufficient demand for a variety of local retail.
Personally I'm fine with taller buildings, and there are definitely places (near transit) where there should be taller buildings, but you can pack quite a few people in without them.
And the point of packing people in is that if you do you create walkable neighborhoods with sufficient demand for a variety of local retail.
The World
Last night we learned that "foreign" means "China" and "areas where dark and scary Muslims roam."
I'm reasonably sure there's a bit more to it than that.
I'm reasonably sure there's a bit more to it than that.
Bush Is America
That's what you stupid liberals don't understand. Bush is the embodiment of the country, the walking talking personification of America.
Monday, October 22, 2012
The Debate: The Debating
Two weeks from tomorrow and this will all be over.
Don't worry kids. Campaign 2016 starts on Nov. 7.
Don't worry kids. Campaign 2016 starts on Nov. 7.
No Longer Hellish Or Cheap
I can see the logic of residency requirements for certain kinds of city workers (cops, for example), but with urban hellhole real estate no longer cheap (in some urban hellholes such as DC) it's going to be a pretty big burden.
Flying Death Robots
I don't write much about the stuff Glenn Greenwald tends to focus on anymore, not because I'm trying to be a good little Obot, but because I find it all to be completely depressing and hopeless. Under a Republican administration you can expect some half-hearted objection to the National Security State and Empire from Democrats, and under a Democratic president there's seemingly no way to do anything about any of it. Most Dems - elected and voters - are happy to defer to Obama. And pretty soon Mittens might control the flying death robots.
The Most Trusted Name In News
I've probably been a bit more supportive of CNN over the years than they deserved, but they became a deeply broken institution once they decided to become the Tea Party Network.
And this.
And this.
The Big Tent
I guess we're getting that big right wing Christian truce.
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association removed language labeling Mormonism a “cult” from its website after the famed preacher met with Republican nominee Mitt Romney last week and pledged to help his presidential campaign.
Stink
With all this talk of grand bargains and gangs of 8, while the Village media equates Seriousness with inflicting pain, we need to raise a stink with our elected officials. The CAF has put up a tool for doing so.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
The New Tire Swing
Oh jeebus.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Mitt Romney will be participating in his own political version of Monday Night Football when he faces off against President Obama in their final debate of the campaign cycle. But on Sunday morning, Mr. Romney took a break from debate preparation to make a stop at a gridiron of a different sort — a flag football beach face-off between members of the news media and members of Mr. Romney’s staff.
Sunday Night
And while I realize it'll appeal to only 3 people, those 3 people should see this, so I will re-run it.
Destruction
It won't be easy, but Greece needs to get out of the Euro and tell their Galtian Overlords to fuck off.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Face the Nation has Rubio, Kevin NotJohn Madden, Stephanie "I Will Fuck Your Shit Up" Cutter, Nooners, Sangers, Kleiners, Dickensoners
This Week has that asshole Rahm, Rubio, Debbie W-S, America's Pastor Ralph Reed, Van HitlerStalinPolPot Jones, Greta Van, Matty Dowd.
Meet the Press has AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RUBIO MUST CREDIT MEET THE PRESS, America's sweetheart Rob Portman, Zombie Dee Dee Myers, Zombie Mike Murphy, The Moustache of Understanding, Helene Cooper.
Document l'atrocities!
This Week has that asshole Rahm, Rubio, Debbie W-S, America's Pastor Ralph Reed, Van HitlerStalinPolPot Jones, Greta Van, Matty Dowd.
Meet the Press has AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH RUBIO MUST CREDIT MEET THE PRESS, America's sweetheart Rob Portman, Zombie Dee Dee Myers, Zombie Mike Murphy, The Moustache of Understanding, Helene Cooper.
Document l'atrocities!
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