Adam writes about not getting why affirmative action enrages people so much. There are only tiny pockets of society where affirmative action is implemented in such a way that people might actually notice. I remember Al Franken, in one of his books, talking about how he'd give paid speeches to rooms full of upper level management and he'd joke about what a big impact affirmative action had obviously had on the composition of the group.
As Adam says, if any of those enrgaged by affirmative action would spill half as much ink on legacy admissions, a practice which, whatever its intended purpose, has the clear effect of privileging the progeny of wealthy white people, I'd be more sympathetic.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
WE MUST DESTROY SOCIAL SECURITY TO SAVE IT
Hey, it's Trustees report day. I had almost forgotten. The bad news is that with absolutely no changes whatsoever to the program it can pay scheduled benefits in full until 2037 after which it could continue to pay out about 75% of scheduled benefits forever. The good news is that the Social Security Administration believes we're going to live a bit longer!
Connections
I'm also not really sure what it the ultimate impact of the internet on thinking will be. I do find (both in myself and from teaching students) that in order to be able to connect the dots, and be good at connecting dots, you have to have a lot of dots. Without a decent amount of knowledge in your brain you can't really have a good big picture sense of things.
We Will Always Have Newt
I actually don't mind if the media anoint him the unofficial leader of the GOP. It isn't as if he's going to do them any favors. But it still says something fascinating about our media that they've elevated the disgraced former Speaker to such a position.
Deep Thought
I didn't care what Ross Douthat thought about anything before he had a New York Times column, and I still don't care.
PELOSI KNEW 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I admit to mostly not following and not caring about what Nancy Pelosi knew or didn't know about which torture methods the Bush administration was using on what day. This whole conservative belief that torture is awesome and Nancy Pelosi knew about it so shut up stupid liberals is just odd. To the extent that Pelosi or anyone was complicit I would hope that they would be held accountable. That's bipartisanship I can believe in!
Monsters
In 2006, Richard Cohen explained why he thought the Iraq war was a good idea:
And Tom Friedman explained it in 2003:
This is elite Washington. These are your betters.
On the contrary, I thought. We are a good country, attempting to do a good thing. In a post-Sept. 11 world, I thought the prudent use of violence could be therapeutic.
And Tom Friedman explained it in 2003:
What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, "Which part of this sentence don't you understand?"
You don't think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we're just gonna to let it grow?
Well, Suck. On. This.
Okay.
That Charlie was what this war was about. We could've hit Saudi Arabia, it was part of that bubble. We coulda hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could.
This is elite Washington. These are your betters.
Morning Thread
Funny how little coverage there is of this even though it occured just after Big Dick spoke about how awesome torture can be.
Why it almost gets to the Washington Post's "Walter Pincus Memorial Page", but not quite.
A former CIA high-value detainee, who provided bogus information that was cited by the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq war, has died in a Libyan prison, an apparent suicide, according to a Libyan newspaper...
In their book "Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War," Michael Isikoff and David Corn said Libi made up the story about Iraqi training after he was beaten and subjected to a "mock burial" by his Egyptian interrogators, who put him in a cramped box for 17 hours. Libi recanted the story after being returned to CIA custody in 2004.
Why it almost gets to the Washington Post's "Walter Pincus Memorial Page", but not quite.
Monday, May 11, 2009
We're All Subprime Now
Foreclosures spreading from city to suburbs in Chicago area.
Recession is here, and option arm implosion coming...
Home foreclosures are surging in Chicago's suburbs just as they level off or decline in many city neighborhoods already ravaged by mortgage defaults.
Foreclosure cases filed in the first quarter jumped between 25% and 70% from the fourth quarter in DuPage, Will, McHenry, Lake and Kane counties, according to new data provided to Crain's by the Woodstock Institute, a Chicago-based housing advocacy group. Meanwhile, foreclosures fell 8% in Chicago, the first quarterly decline in a year.
Recession is here, and option arm implosion coming...
I Dined With Chase Utley Once
Well, he was across the room dining with other people. Not really sure why anyone would want to dine with Specter.
Dealers
Some business owners are going to have a crappy week.
Thousands of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC dealers may learn their fate within the next few days as both auto makers finish the list of the dealerships they plan to cut.
GM dealers will be notified this week as to whether they will continue to receive new cars and trucks from the auto maker, GM Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson said Monday. Mr. Henderson said he expects to "wind down" most of the targeted dealerships during the year.
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