A Moment of Clarity.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Strong Arm Steady Crew.
No, seriously.
Words.
"It's not yet clear how the one-armed-midget demographic is shaping up, but everybody else seems to be bailing on the GOP.
Begging the forgiveness of one-armed midgets, I'm merely quoting Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. In a Washington Times interview shortly after being elected head of the GOP, Steele met Howard Dean's gays/guns/God challenge and raised him a jackpot of grief.
Steele was making the point that the GOP needed to "uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets." That was February. This is now:
As state party chairmen gather this week in Maryland, a new Gallup analysis shows that since 2001, fewer people in all but one demographic (those who attend church weekly) have been identifying themselves as Republican.
People moving away from the GOP include those who attend church nearly weekly or monthly, Midwesterners, Southerners, married people, moderates, college graduates, and nongraduates.
The findings confirm growing disenchantment with a party that is viewed as belonging primarily to older white men, despite the GOP's having selected a hip-hop-friendly African American to lead it.
Whatever the thinking is, it isn't working..."
Love/Hate.
A crown fit for a King!
Words.
"In a little over 100 days, the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress have delivered a series of blows to the pride and morale of the Central Intelligence Agency.
It began with the release of the Justice Department memos -- a move opposed by CIA Director Leon Panetta along with four previous directors. Then, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. did not rule out Justice Department cooperation with foreign lawsuits against American intelligence operatives. Then, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the CIA of lying to her in 2002 about waterboarding, which she admitted learning about five months later anyway but did nothing to oppose because her real job was to "change the leadership in Congress and in the White House.
...And now Obama has described the post-Sept. 11 period as "a dark and painful chapter in our history." In fact, whatever your view of waterboarding, the response of intelligence professionals following Sept. 11 was impressive. Within days, the CIA had linked up with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan and begun preparations to remove the Taliban. The counterterrorism center run of out CIA headquarters was the war on terror in the months after the attacks, making daily progress in capturing high-value targets. Now the president and his party have done much to tarnish those accomplishments. So much for the thanks of a grateful nation."
EARLIER:
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Oh Word?
That's a good look?
Words.
"Forget about where you come down on "torture" or "enhanced interrogations." The simple fact is that, as a political matter, the drive for a "truth commission" -- never mind a war crimes tribunal -- is dead as long as Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House.
And while I oppose the sort of witch hunt Pelosi and her energumens clearly crave, this isn't necessarily good news.
Pelosi is blocking the road to ritual human sacrifice because there's ample evidence that she was complicit in what she righteously condemns as torture. Principled opponents of the CIA's program insist that what Pelosi knew and when she knew it is irrelevant to the substantive issues at stake.
And they are absolutely right..."
"QUESTION!"
The Breaks.
Words.
"It certainly looks like another example of crying wolf. Three weeks ago the World Health Organization declared a health emergency, warning countries to "prepare for a pandemic," and said the only question was the extent of worldwide damage. Senior officials prophesied that millions could be infected by the disease. But as of last week, the WHO had confirmed only 4,800 cases of swine flu, with 61 fatalities. Obviously, these low numbers are a pleasant surprise, yet one has to wonder: What did we get wrong?..."
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Quarantined.
Souled out(!!!).
Words.
"..."We are going to be in a period of decreased risk tolerance," he said. "We'll overreact. We'll end up contracting more than we need to."
To estimate how long that will take, Lo switched metaphors -- to the five stages of grief theorized by psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. "Financial loss can be as traumatic as terminal illness," he said. "We're somewhere between stages three and four, between bargaining and depression -- emotional depression, not financial depression. We're not going to recover until we get to acceptance. We have to accept the fundamental reality that we can't live in a leveraged state. I think we have another six to nine months before we see a genuine recovery."
That may sound a little New Age-y compared with the supply-and-demand stuff you learned in college. But Lo is only one member of a growing caucus of respected behavioral economists who argue that psychology's impact on the economy isn't a blip, it's a real factor that can help inflate a financial bubble -- and, after the bubble bursts, delay a recovery.
Most behavioral economists don't rely on dopamine, but the underlying point is the same. Humans control the economy, and humans aren't purely rational beings. They have emotions, mood swings and hormones, and those non-rational factors affect their economic decisions, from splurging on lattes to reducing interest rates at the Federal Reserve.
During the real estate boom, consumer spending was boosted by the "wealth effect." Homeowners thought they had money to burn because their houses had risen sharply in value. Now that phenomenon has turned upside down like a bad mortgage. Instead of a wealth effect, we're embracing a "new frugality." Both rich and poor say they are cutting back. Spending at luxury stores has plunged; spending at Wal-Mart is up. If we were hoping for a recovery led by consumption, that's going to take a while.
The good news is that Americans, stung by the results of their profligacy, are saving again. Last year, the national savings rate -- the percentage of income that Americans didn't spend -- dropped below zero; as a nation, we were borrowing money to buy stuff. This year, for three months in a row, the savings rate has edged up above 4%, and economists expect baby boomers -- anxious about their depleted retirement accounts -- to push it over 6%.
More saving is good for the economy in the long run because it means more capital to invest in growing businesses. But the way people invest is likely to change too, and for the same reason spending habits have changed: Once burned, twice shy."
"Talk and talk and talk and talk."
For Your Consideration...
[ED'S NOTE: The talk on Religion begins at the two minute, fifteen second mark]
Words.
"What atheists don't seem to realize is that even for believers, faith is never easy in this world of injustice, pain and delusion. Even for believers, God exists just beyond the scrim of the senses. So, atheists, how about losing the tired sarcasm and boring self-pity and engaging believers seriously?"
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Atheists: No God, no reason, just whining
[ED'S NOTE: The talk on Religion begins at the two minute, fifteen second mark]
Words.
"What atheists don't seem to realize is that even for believers, faith is never easy in this world of injustice, pain and delusion. Even for believers, God exists just beyond the scrim of the senses. So, atheists, how about losing the tired sarcasm and boring self-pity and engaging believers seriously?"
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Each One, Teach One.
A Moment of Clarity.
Words.
"For decades, the divide between the White House and the impoverished black and immigrant neighborhoods in the nation’s capital has often seemed insurmountable. But in recent months, Michelle Obama has become something of a human bridge between the two worlds.
Mrs. Obama, the first lady, has repeatedly traveled to Anacostia and other neighborhoods rarely visited by the power elite here in an effort to reach out to young people who are struggling to succeed.
She has offered advice to Tiara Chance, the daughter of a part-time cleaning lady, who has long believed that college is solely for the well to do; to Ashleigh Cannon, who lives in a group home and longs for the rhythms of stable family life; and to Akrem Muzemil, an Ethiopian immigrant who has struggled to learn English and to close his ears to the seductive call of street gangs hunting for recruits.
To the students she counsels, Mrs. Obama’s gilded life in the White House is almost unimaginable. But in their stories, friends and relatives say, the first lady hears the echoes of her own struggles as a working-class girl on the South Side of Chicago.
...Mrs. Obama, the first African-American first lady, is also among the first to emerge from the urban working class, historians say. Her parents never attended college and rented an apartment when she was growing up. At Princeton, she wrote in her senior thesis, she sometimes felt “like a visitor on campus, as if I don’t really belong.”
Mrs. Obama feels so strongly about dispelling such doubts among young people that she came close to tears last month as she addressed a girls’ school in London. Aides said she saw something of herself in the faces of the immigrant girls in the audience.
“She wants to help those who were like she was,” said Craig Robinson, her brother. “She is focused on telling them they can make it.”
...“There were kids around my neighborhood who would say, ‘Ooo, you talk like a white girl,’ ” Mrs. Obama said. “I heard that growing up my whole life. I was like, ‘I don’t even know what that means.’ But you know what? I’m still getting my A’s.”
The students welcome her with astonishment."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: To Inspire Young People, First Lady Shares Working-Class Background
Words.
"For decades, the divide between the White House and the impoverished black and immigrant neighborhoods in the nation’s capital has often seemed insurmountable. But in recent months, Michelle Obama has become something of a human bridge between the two worlds.
Mrs. Obama, the first lady, has repeatedly traveled to Anacostia and other neighborhoods rarely visited by the power elite here in an effort to reach out to young people who are struggling to succeed.
She has offered advice to Tiara Chance, the daughter of a part-time cleaning lady, who has long believed that college is solely for the well to do; to Ashleigh Cannon, who lives in a group home and longs for the rhythms of stable family life; and to Akrem Muzemil, an Ethiopian immigrant who has struggled to learn English and to close his ears to the seductive call of street gangs hunting for recruits.
To the students she counsels, Mrs. Obama’s gilded life in the White House is almost unimaginable. But in their stories, friends and relatives say, the first lady hears the echoes of her own struggles as a working-class girl on the South Side of Chicago.
...Mrs. Obama, the first African-American first lady, is also among the first to emerge from the urban working class, historians say. Her parents never attended college and rented an apartment when she was growing up. At Princeton, she wrote in her senior thesis, she sometimes felt “like a visitor on campus, as if I don’t really belong.”
Mrs. Obama feels so strongly about dispelling such doubts among young people that she came close to tears last month as she addressed a girls’ school in London. Aides said she saw something of herself in the faces of the immigrant girls in the audience.
“She wants to help those who were like she was,” said Craig Robinson, her brother. “She is focused on telling them they can make it.”
...“There were kids around my neighborhood who would say, ‘Ooo, you talk like a white girl,’ ” Mrs. Obama said. “I heard that growing up my whole life. I was like, ‘I don’t even know what that means.’ But you know what? I’m still getting my A’s.”
The students welcome her with astonishment."
Changes.
A Moment of Clarity.
Words.
"The noisy right-wing brat pack, including Rush and his dittoheads, has been complaining since Newt was a pup about how Congress never gets anything done. It's a corrupt institution, frozen in time by invulnerable incumbency, full of members too busy serving lobbyists and filling out expense reports to attend to the people's business. Now, Congress is ready to get things done with a vengeance.
The president and his party in Congress face the terrifying prospect of being able to fulfill their campaign promises. They will have no excuse if there is no health-care reform or energy reform, or if there are and they are disasters.
The biggest shock, though, will probably be to the voters. For years they have called for "change," generally unspecified, while enjoying the status quo more than they cared to admit. (They want health-care reform provided that they can keep their own doctor. They want congressional term limits, but they like their own member enough to reelect him again and again.) They have demanded alchemy from their representatives -- expand our benefits and cut our taxes and balance the budget while you're at it -- and then staged hissy fits when the politicians didn't produce.
Now, when the voters demand change, they may well get it. We'll see how they like it."
The Green Initiative.
The cool.
Words.
"YOU MAY RECALL President Obama urging Congress to pass the stimulus bill immediately because the economy so desperately needed money. The massive recovery bill was passed, and, recently, a few "green shoots" have been popping up -- indicating that, perhaps, the worst may be over. Is it a result of the stimulus? Tough to say, but, given the amount of money that has actually gone out the door, probably not.
Government agencies have thus far spent $29 billion of the $787 billion stimulus package, and less than that has gone out in tax cuts. What has been spent has mostly gone to Medicaid and unemployment insurance -- real "shovel-ready" programs in that they are already in place. It is true that just knowing that money has been authorized ($88 billion so far) can allow projects to get started and jobs to be created. Nonetheless, of the $20 billion approved for spending so far for the Education Department, for instance, 97.2 percent remains unspent. Of the $10 billion approved for the Transportation Department, a full 99.7 percent is still left to be spent.
The challenge of getting government money out the door fast is one reason that some economists challenge the value of Keynesian stimulus policies. By the time checks are being written, they argue, an economic recovery is often underway. The result can be an inflationary waste of money."
Thursday, May 14, 2009
"WHAT YOU SAY?"
"[NOT TO ME!] SHE AIN'T NO DIVA!"
Words.
"[Dick] Cheney has replaced Sarah Palin as Rogue Diva. Just as Jeb Bush and other Republicans are trying to get kinder and gentler, Cheney has popped out of his dungeon, scary organ music blaring, to carry on his nasty campaign of fear and loathing.
The man who never talked is now the man who won’t shut up. The man who wouldn’t list his office in the federal jobs directory, who had the vice president’s residence blocked on Google Earth, who went to the Supreme Court to keep from revealing which energy executives helped him write the nation’s energy policy, is now endlessly yelping about how President Obama is holding back documents that should be made public.
Cheney, who had five deferments himself to get out of going to Vietnam, would rather follow a blowhard entertainer who has had three divorces and a drug problem (who also avoided Vietnam) than a four-star general who spent his life serving his country."
6 O'Clock Blues
"Hot fun in the Summertime?"
Words.
"...According to the League of California Cities, L.A. would be forced to loan the state $67.7 million. The county would be particularly hard hit, giving up as much as $250 million. The overall impact on local government -- and your neighborhood -- is estimated at just over $2 billion.
Taking 8% of the property taxes now used to fund local governments would force deep cuts in the services and programs delivered by your city and county. Worse, a property tax shift fixes nothing. The state is obligated to repay the local governments -- with interest -- in three years. That just kicks the state's deficit down the road. This might make cynical sense for termed-out legislators and Schwarzenegger. But the state will have dug itself a deeper hole from which it's less likely to recover..."
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Higher Learning.
A Moment of Clarity.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Arizona State Snubs Obama | ||||
| ||||
Jokes.
Too much?
Words. For Your Consideration...
"Washington buzz lately has become a buzz saw.
In the days since the correspondents' dinner, reaction to Barack Obama's reaction to Wanda Sykes's one-liners has resembled a confederacy of scolds. What dreary, sensitive wretches we've become.
Do I think Sykes was a monument to hilarity? No, but she was funny much of the time. Do I think her now-infamous Rush Limbaugh jokes were over the top? Yeah. That's a comedian for you. Do I think her performance -- and Obama's apparent amusement -- marks the decline of civilization? This is hardly a new development.
I do think we take ourselves far too seriously -- and literally.
...Lost in the frenzy is the more important matter of our thin-skinned intolerance and our reflexive lurch to take offense. We might remind ourselves that it's always the fanatics who can't take a joke."
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
ONE MORE TIME!
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
EARLIER:
Through the Looking Glass.
A simpler time. -Sigh- "I want to go to there!"
Words.
""What the Hell's Going On?" It's a simple yet completely fair question given all that's happened over the last nine years. But still, there is almost no unified consensus to this question in the U.S. Try asking friends and family. Feel free to present it as a party game.
They'll probably respond with something like, "What's going on with what? Heidi and Spencer? American Idol? LeBron?" This will take you to phase two of the question "With the whole country." At this point answers like "Everyone's corrupt" or "Stupid republicans" or "Damn liberals" will kick in.
..."They're all a bunch of crooks" is another common answer. And it's just as powerless as the "things go in cycles" response. It usually leads to not voting and not looking for reliable sources of information and news because after all, "they're all a bunch of crooks." How come when we are robbed by an actual bunch of crooks at gun point we don't say, "What are you gonna do? They'll all a bunch of crooks." No, we call the police and demand swift action, and then we call A and E and shoot a true crime show.
This excuse is also music to the ears of the ineffective and privileged, who by all rights should have a mob outside their house or at least be hissed at every time they go out to dinner. (By the way, what happened to hissing? I haven't seen it since the end of Dangerous Liaisons. It works, and people like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and John Yoo should get a wave of it every time they enter a restaurant. That's borderline civic duty type of stuff.)
As tricky as it seems, the answer to "What's going on?" is, I would argue, actually pretty simple. And here it is:..."
"GUESS WHO, GUESS WHO, GUESS WHO, GUESS WHO, GUESS WHO'S BACK!"
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Excuse Me Your Dick Is Out | ||||
| ||||
Words.
"Can't we send Dick Cheney back to Wyoming? Shouldn't we chip in and buy him a home where the buffalo roam and there's always room for one more crazy old coot down at the general store?
For the final act of his too-long public career, Cheney seems to have decided to become an Old Faithful of self-serving nonsense. His latest in a series of eruptions came Sunday on "Face the Nation," when he continued to press his revisionist case for torture -- and, for good measure, counseled his beloved Republican Party to marginalize itself even further from public opinion and common sense.
"It's good to go back on the show," Cheney told host Bob Schieffer at the beginning of the interview. "It's nice to know that you're still loved and are invited out in public sometimes."
I don't know about the love, but I do know why Cheney gets asked to appear on talk shows so regularly. Unrestrained by protocol or objective reality, he's pretty much guaranteed to say outrageous things. He requires no prompting or coaxing. As far as he's concerned, issues have just one side -- his -- and anyone who disagrees must secretly wish to deliver our nation to al-Qaeda."
Credit Crunch.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Credit Check | ||||
| ||||
Monday, May 11, 2009
Can't Stop, Won't Stop?
"This is our Country!"
Words.
"Can a television show with a shrinking audience actually increase its revenue?
In the case of “American Idol,” the answer is yes, and the manner that the show’s creators are going about it could change the way that producers and broadcast networks think about the longevity of reality television programs.
Despite losing viewers in each of the last three years, “American Idol,” still the top-rated series on television, is generating ever-growing profits for its creators and, it appears, for Fox Broadcasting through brand extensions, marketing arrangements and licensing fees.
...Advertising revenue, which primarily benefits Fox Broadcasting, has grown in each of the last three years, according to TNS Media Intelligence, to $903 million last year. That is nearly double the level of three years earlier. Those figures do not include Fox’s ancillary sponsorship deals and other income, like royalties it receives from the sale of music performances by “Idol” contestants.
Even though “American Idol’s” ratings have declined, Fox has put more hours of the show on the air and has been able to charge a higher rate as its ratings lead over other shows has grown.
The revenue and profits of 19 Entertainment have grown even more quickly, according to the financial statements of CKX. Its revenues from “American Idol” alone grew to $96 million last year from $67 million two years earlier, with gross profit margins expanding to 77 percent from 69 percent in that span.
Including revenue from “Idol” programming in other countries, from music sales related to all the “Idol” shows and from “So You Think You Can Dance,” also on Fox, 19 Entertainment produced revenue of $223 million last year, up from $151 million two years earlier.
...Even though the overall audience is declining, “American Idol” appears to be in little danger of losing its crown as the top-rated television series...Mr. Sillerman cited that jump as evidence that “American Idol” could run indefinitely.
“If you only had a 10-year-old, you would probably say the impact of ‘Sesame Street’ has diminished, because it’s not on in your house anymore,” Mr. Sillerman said. “But they’re making new 5-year-olds every year.”"
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Tropic Thunder.
New flava in ya ear!
Cam'ron Feat. Skitzo & Byrd Lady.
Cookies-N-Apple Juice
& Silky (No Homo).
Cam'ron Feat. Skitzo & Byrd Lady.
Cookies-N-Apple Juice
& Silky (No Homo).
Friday, May 08, 2009
MIXTAPE FRIDAYS!!!
Emotional Rescue. An EP.
1/She Loves Everybody/Chester French
2/El Manana/Gorillaz
3/Daniel/Bat for Lashes
4/Epiphany/Chrisette Michelle
5/Hysteric/Yeah Yeah Yeahs
6/I Don't Remember/Ciara
7/Where Do We Go From Here/Alicia Keys
8/All I Really Want/Rick Ross feat. The Dream
Each One, Teach One.
A Moment of Clarity.
Can't Stop. Won't Stop.
Words.
"...On the morning of the Town Hall appearance, Bristol also appeared on ABC and NBC, broadcasting maddeningly mixed messages about teen pregnancy prevention on the nation's most widely watched news shows. She seemed to emphasize the abstinence-only approach to pregnancy prevention on Good Morning America ("It's important for me to get involved just to advocate and promote abstinence and send my message out...abstinence is a hard choice but it's the safest choice and the best choice") only to appear on the Today Show minutes later to admit that abstinence can be unrealistic for some teens and they should use contraception ("If you're going to have sex I think you should have safe sex.")
I recognize I'm trained to listen for nuances in the sex ed debate. I'm also twice Bristol's age. And so it's easy for me to slip into the Simon Cowell role. No, she's not polished. Hers is a kind of witness-cross-examined-style speech -- short statements which leave you wondering what she isn't saying. I'm not even sure Bristol realizes that she's been contradicting herself.
So at first listen, her message sounds way off-key. On a second closer listen though, I started to hear something else. It sounded more like a new, albeit unrehearsed and out-of-the-studio, style. In truth, if her televised appearances this week are cobbled together, there is definitely a message worth listening to. Even comprehensive sex ed proponents should be fine with what she's actually saying. People who favor comprehensive sex ed have reflexively shunned her. She has seemed at times brainwashed by the group which still believes abstinence is the only direction a teenager needs to get. But in her roundabout way, Bristol is in fact voicing the core message of comprehensive sex ed which is: there's no better protection against pregnancy and disease than abstinence, teens should postpone becoming sexually active, but those that are having sex need to use to protection."
THE HUFFINGTON POST: Why We Need Bristol (and Levi)
EARLIER:
Baby Blues.
Can't Stop. Won't Stop.
Words.
"...On the morning of the Town Hall appearance, Bristol also appeared on ABC and NBC, broadcasting maddeningly mixed messages about teen pregnancy prevention on the nation's most widely watched news shows. She seemed to emphasize the abstinence-only approach to pregnancy prevention on Good Morning America ("It's important for me to get involved just to advocate and promote abstinence and send my message out...abstinence is a hard choice but it's the safest choice and the best choice") only to appear on the Today Show minutes later to admit that abstinence can be unrealistic for some teens and they should use contraception ("If you're going to have sex I think you should have safe sex.")
I recognize I'm trained to listen for nuances in the sex ed debate. I'm also twice Bristol's age. And so it's easy for me to slip into the Simon Cowell role. No, she's not polished. Hers is a kind of witness-cross-examined-style speech -- short statements which leave you wondering what she isn't saying. I'm not even sure Bristol realizes that she's been contradicting herself.
So at first listen, her message sounds way off-key. On a second closer listen though, I started to hear something else. It sounded more like a new, albeit unrehearsed and out-of-the-studio, style. In truth, if her televised appearances this week are cobbled together, there is definitely a message worth listening to. Even comprehensive sex ed proponents should be fine with what she's actually saying. People who favor comprehensive sex ed have reflexively shunned her. She has seemed at times brainwashed by the group which still believes abstinence is the only direction a teenager needs to get. But in her roundabout way, Bristol is in fact voicing the core message of comprehensive sex ed which is: there's no better protection against pregnancy and disease than abstinence, teens should postpone becoming sexually active, but those that are having sex need to use to protection."
EARLIER:
Straight Talk Express.
A Moment of Clarity.
Words.
"Believe it or not, often I can see the other side of an argument. I know that tough gun control laws save lives and make our communities safer, for example, but I also see clarity in the Second Amendment. I support affirmative action, but I realize that providing opportunity to some worthy individuals can mean denying opportunity to others. Thinking about some issues involves discerning among subtly graded shades of gray.
On some issues, though, I really don't see anything but black and white. Among them is the "question" of granting full equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans, which really isn't a question at all. It's a long-overdue imperative, one that the nation is finally beginning to acknowledge.
Before his inauguration, President Obama called himself a "fierce advocate of equality for gay and lesbian Americans." Now, with the same-sex marriage issue percolating in state after state and with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy ripe for repeal, it's time for Obama to put some of his political capital where his rhetoric is."
THE WASHINGTON POST: MIA On Gay Marriage
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Words.
"Believe it or not, often I can see the other side of an argument. I know that tough gun control laws save lives and make our communities safer, for example, but I also see clarity in the Second Amendment. I support affirmative action, but I realize that providing opportunity to some worthy individuals can mean denying opportunity to others. Thinking about some issues involves discerning among subtly graded shades of gray.
On some issues, though, I really don't see anything but black and white. Among them is the "question" of granting full equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans, which really isn't a question at all. It's a long-overdue imperative, one that the nation is finally beginning to acknowledge.
Before his inauguration, President Obama called himself a "fierce advocate of equality for gay and lesbian Americans." Now, with the same-sex marriage issue percolating in state after state and with the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy ripe for repeal, it's time for Obama to put some of his political capital where his rhetoric is."
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Baby Blues.
HE SAID,
SHE SAID.
Words.
"...when it comes to combating teen pregnancy, the Palin family has done enough damage already. What worse message could you send to teenage girls than the one they delivered at the Republican convention: If your handsome but somewhat thuglike boyfriend gets you with child, he will clean up nicely, propose marriage, and show up at an important family event wearing a suit and holding your hand. At which point you will get a standing ovation.
Now a single mom on the outs with the father of her baby, Bristol wants a new kind of happy ending.
“I just want to go out there and promote abstinence and say this is the safest choice,” she said on “Good Morning America.”
“It’s not going to work,” said her ex-boyfriend, Levi Johnston, in a dueling early-morning interview.
If you have ever watched Levi Johnston on TV for two minutes you will appreciate how terrifying it is when he has the most reasonable analysis of a social issue.
Because Bristol’s own philosophy seems, at minimum, tentative, it’s hard to tell whether she believes that cheerleading for abstinence should be coupled with education about birth control methods. She and Levi used condoms, except when they didn’t."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Bristol Palin’s New Gig
EARLIER:
Contact High.
SHE SAID.
Words.
"...when it comes to combating teen pregnancy, the Palin family has done enough damage already. What worse message could you send to teenage girls than the one they delivered at the Republican convention: If your handsome but somewhat thuglike boyfriend gets you with child, he will clean up nicely, propose marriage, and show up at an important family event wearing a suit and holding your hand. At which point you will get a standing ovation.
Now a single mom on the outs with the father of her baby, Bristol wants a new kind of happy ending.
“I just want to go out there and promote abstinence and say this is the safest choice,” she said on “Good Morning America.”
“It’s not going to work,” said her ex-boyfriend, Levi Johnston, in a dueling early-morning interview.
If you have ever watched Levi Johnston on TV for two minutes you will appreciate how terrifying it is when he has the most reasonable analysis of a social issue.
Because Bristol’s own philosophy seems, at minimum, tentative, it’s hard to tell whether she believes that cheerleading for abstinence should be coupled with education about birth control methods. She and Levi used condoms, except when they didn’t."
EARLIER:
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
"FASHION!"
A Moment of Clarity.
"Hand me my mirror Jerome!"
Words.
"With the current onslaught of homophobic rage against Kanye West and his globally chic crew (comprised of style maverick Fonzworth Bentley and Taz Arnold of musical group Sa-Ra to name a few), it seems like Generation Y has all but forgotten that the ritual of expressive dress was in fact borne of the black-male community. If young audiences would dare to conduct a comparative study, they'd inevitably find that Kanye West’s 2007 Grammy outfit really had nothing on Eddie Murphy’s red-leather get-up in his 1987 stand-up film Delirious, and that Prince and his bedazzled unitards would quickly render André 3000’s Top-Siders and patterned suspenders meek and perhaps even typical.
So what’s gone wrong? How did the community that once welcomed Little Richard become so violently judgmental? And why, in 2009, is “looking gay” in the black community even an issue?"
THE DAILY BEAST: Does Kanye Dress Too Gay?
"Hand me my mirror Jerome!"
Words.
"With the current onslaught of homophobic rage against Kanye West and his globally chic crew (comprised of style maverick Fonzworth Bentley and Taz Arnold of musical group Sa-Ra to name a few), it seems like Generation Y has all but forgotten that the ritual of expressive dress was in fact borne of the black-male community. If young audiences would dare to conduct a comparative study, they'd inevitably find that Kanye West’s 2007 Grammy outfit really had nothing on Eddie Murphy’s red-leather get-up in his 1987 stand-up film Delirious, and that Prince and his bedazzled unitards would quickly render André 3000’s Top-Siders and patterned suspenders meek and perhaps even typical.
So what’s gone wrong? How did the community that once welcomed Little Richard become so violently judgmental? And why, in 2009, is “looking gay” in the black community even an issue?"
Coming Attractions.
Ladies & Gentleman I present to you, Joel McHale, John Oliver, & Chevy Chase in Community:
Coming soon to a TV screen near you!
Coming soon to a TV screen near you!
Stand & Deliver.
A Moment of Clarity.
Words.
"After years of unconscionable delay, the House has approved legislation that would, for the first time, extend federal hate-crimes law to give substantive coverage to gay people. The act would be an important step forward in protecting all minorities from violence and a tribute to a young man whose life was cut short by bigotry.
...The Matthew Shepard Act, as the bill is known in the Senate, would provide increased funding to state and local authorities to prosecute a wide range of hate crimes — ones motivated by race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It would also authorize the federal government to prosecute these crimes when states fail to do so.
The biggest beneficiaries would probably be African-Americans, who make up the largest group of hate-crime victims. It would also help Hispanics, who have been increasing targets of anti-immigrant hatred. The bill’s opponents have focused on the protection of gay people, who were the victims in more than 16 percent of the hate crimes reported by the F.B.I. in 2007.
...After the House’s strong vote — 249 to 175 — in favor of the bill, the Senate needs to follow. Senator Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, has introduced the companion bill, which has bipartisan support. Harry Reid, the majority leader, should quickly schedule a vote."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Matthew Shepard Act
Words.
"After years of unconscionable delay, the House has approved legislation that would, for the first time, extend federal hate-crimes law to give substantive coverage to gay people. The act would be an important step forward in protecting all minorities from violence and a tribute to a young man whose life was cut short by bigotry.
...The Matthew Shepard Act, as the bill is known in the Senate, would provide increased funding to state and local authorities to prosecute a wide range of hate crimes — ones motivated by race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It would also authorize the federal government to prosecute these crimes when states fail to do so.
The biggest beneficiaries would probably be African-Americans, who make up the largest group of hate-crime victims. It would also help Hispanics, who have been increasing targets of anti-immigrant hatred. The bill’s opponents have focused on the protection of gay people, who were the victims in more than 16 percent of the hate crimes reported by the F.B.I. in 2007.
...After the House’s strong vote — 249 to 175 — in favor of the bill, the Senate needs to follow. Senator Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, has introduced the companion bill, which has bipartisan support. Harry Reid, the majority leader, should quickly schedule a vote."
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Straight Talk Express.
With Christianity Today and "Joe the Plumber"!
Words.
Christianity Today: "In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?"
Wurzelbacher : "At a state level, it's up to them. I don't want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary--it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do--what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we're supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing."
Pause.
THE COLORADO INDEPENDENT: ‘Joe the Plumber’ on Dobson, ‘queers’ and GOP rebranding
Words.
Christianity Today: "In the last month, same-sex marriage has become legal in Iowa and Vermont. What do you think about same-sex marriage at a state level?"
Wurzelbacher : "At a state level, it's up to them. I don't want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it's wrong. People don't understand the dictionary--it's called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It's not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we're supposed to do--what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we're supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I've had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they're people, and they're going to do their thing."
Pause.
Love is a Battlefield.
Ladies & gentleman I present to you for your consideration, Keri Hilson & Kanye West in Knock You Down, live on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Loose Rap.
Same script, different cast?
"Some days you have to ask yourself, my God, what if these people were Republicans?
...Let's look at the here and now. Barack Obama, who vowed he'd provide a transparent administration staffed with disinterested public servants with the self-restraint of Roman castrati, appointed an admitted tax cheat to run the Treasury Department -- and he's hardly the only one in the administration.
...We ain't seen nothing yet. For starters, the real corruption isn't what the media are ignoring or downplaying as isolated incidents. It's what the media are hailing as bold, inspirational leadership. The White House, as a matter of policy, is rewriting legal contracts, picking winners (mostly labor unions and mortgage defaulters) and singling out losers (evil "speculators") while much of the media continue to ponder whether Obama is better than FDR.
If a Republican administration, staffed with cronies from Goldman Sachs and Citibank, was cutting special deals for its political allies, I suspect we'd be hearing fewer FDR analogies and more nouns ending with the suffix "gate." "
Three Guys, A Party, and a Pizza Place.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Words.
"I've been thinking a lot lately about our party and its future. A president of the opposite party reaching his milestone first 100 days in office; a veteran senator changing parties; the media speculate about whether the Republican Party can win another election. But the Republican Party's core is strong...
...Things change because things change, not because of any ideological primacy or purity on a particular end of the political spectrum. The American people are, for the most part, highly practical and pragmatic. They like what works, and in a properly functioning political system, two broad-based national parties will offer them reasonable alternatives for what is likely to work best.
The core Republican beliefs in less government, lower taxes, more liberty and greater security in a dangerous world united people as different as Mark Hatfield and Jesse Helms during my years as leader of the Senate. Those same beliefs carried Ronald Reagan into the White House in 1980 and 1984. Those beliefs still have power today. And if the American people perceive overreaching or underachieving in the Obama administration and among its allies in Congress, the Republican way may prove very attractive again in very short order.
It's happened before."
Monday, May 04, 2009
I Stay in Love.
No, seriously. Last week I finally got my hands on my very own copy of Bat for Lashes' latest LP Two Suns, and this? This song right here? I come back to it often/it stays on repeat. Definitely one of 2009's finest thus far.
Bat for Lashes.
Daniel.
Live on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Big ups once again to the folks over atStereogum for putting this on my radar. That's what's up!
Bat for Lashes.
Daniel.
Live on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Big ups once again to the folks over at
The End.
"It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times."
Saturday, May 02, 2009
The Bad News Bears.
"COME ON GET UP!"
Words.
"The economy has imploded, the auto industry is in danger of being vaporized and more than half of all working Americans are worried that they may lose their jobs in the next year. So what’s the Republican response? To build a wall of obstruction in front of efforts to get the economy moving again, and then to stand in front of that wall chanting gibberish about smaller government, lower taxes, spending cuts and Ronald Reagan.
It’s not a party; it’s a cult. I’m no fan of Arlen Specter, but if I were a Republican, I wouldn’t be shoving him out the door and waving good riddance. This is the party of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Newt (“I’m trying to rise from the ashes”) Gingrich, and the dark force who can’t seem to exit the public stage or modify his medieval ways, Dick Cheney.
It is losing all credibility with the public because it is not offering anything — anything at all — that could be viewed as helpful or constructive in a time of national crisis. And it has been unwilling to take responsibility for its role in bringing that crisis about..."
EARLIER:
Friday, May 01, 2009
Grindin'.
You know how we do.
A few years back, you know during my formative late high school teenage/4 year college dwelling years I didn't like calling myself smart, or hearing that I was smart for that matter. I was quick to point out that it was less a matter of smarts for me, and more about how my "stong work ethic" kept me ahead, alert, and on my toes. I sough comfort in my oft-repeated tale of trying to "keep up with Joneses" academically by actually you know, reading, studying, and taking it all in, on my own accord, to a beat that worked for me, til I got it, mastered it, and could take it out to the streets in the form of a few sentences here and there during conversations with my peers or inside the classroom. Yeah, being smart had nothing to do with it. It was the ethic. No combination of the two. All you had to do was put in a little work, and you'd get it, it'll come to you. And then, it's smooth sailing, you got it! That's what I told myself. That's how it went down. And that's all I could think about, when I started to read this:
"Some people live in romantic ages. They tend to believe that genius is the product of a divine spark. They believe that there have been, throughout the ages, certain paragons of greatness — Dante, Mozart, Einstein — whose talents far exceeded normal comprehension, who had an other-worldly access to transcendent truth, and who are best approached with reverential awe...
...What Mozart had, we now believe, was the same thing Tiger Woods had — the ability to focus for long periods of time and a father intent on improving his skills. Mozart played a lot of piano at a very young age, so he got his 10,000 hours of practice in early and then he built from there.
The latest research suggests a more prosaic, democratic, even puritanical view of the world. The key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not a divine spark. It’s not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success, even in realms like chess. Instead, it’s deliberate practice. Top performers spend more hours (many more hours) rigorously practicing their craft...
...The mind wants to turn deliberate, newly learned skills into unconscious, automatically performed skills. But the mind is sloppy and will settle for good enough. By practicing slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, the strenuous student forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance."
Oh? Word.
"HEY HO!"
"Let's go?"
"The Republican Party says it stands for individual rights, limited government, free enterprise, fiscal restraint, a strong defense -- and it's hard to argue with any of those broad principles. But they have to be interpreted in the context of today's America, which is different from the America of 1989, or the America of 1889.
A modern Republican Party would have argued for a modified stimulus package, not a bunch of tax cuts that most economists agree couldn't possibly do what a stimulus is supposed to do. A modern Republican Party would share in the Democrats' outrage at the inefficiency and unfairness of our health insurance system and would work to shape true reform rather than prevent it. A modern Republican Party would recognize that "no" is not the answer that Americans want to hear.
Come on, folks. Aren't you supposed to believe that competition is good? Then why have you decided not to compete?"
Get Behind Me Satan!
"YOUUU!!!"
Words. For Your Consideration.
"Most prosecution enthusiasts aren't all that thirsty for the blood of the CIA bureaucrats who actually conducted the torture of suspected terrorists. Their anger and desire for retribution are aimed at the Bush administration officials who ordered the torture of suspected terrorists and those very near the top who knew all about it and apparently approved (or did nothing to stop it), especially the Justice Department lawyers who wrote those fatuous memos claiming that practices such as "waterboarding" were actually within the law.
The trouble with this desire for retribution isn't that it goes too far. The trouble is that it doesn't go far enough. There is another group -- a large one -- that stood by doing nothing while Americans grabbed people off the streets of foreign countries, took them to other foreign countries (because we don't allow this sort of thing in the United States!) and tortured them until they said whatever our government wanted to hear. If you're going to punish people for condoning torture, you'd better include the American citizenry itself.
Sixty-two million of us voted to reelect George W. Bush in 2004. That was more people than had ever voted for a presidential candidate up until then. (In 2008, Obama got 69 million.) Unlike 2000, Bush's 2004 victory was solid and unambiguous.
Bush was so unpopular by the time he left office that it's hard to believe he was reelected four years earlier. That gave him and his associates four more years to violate America's dearest principles. But plenty of torture had gone on by the end of his first term. If you're looking to punish the ultimate decision makers, you can't stop at the Justice Department or even the White House. You've got to go all the way to the top. You have to ask the famous Howard Baker question about the voters themselves: What did we know, and when did we know it?"
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