Today In Cloying Sentimentality

Yes - yay for this kid.  He pushed thru and he might just make it.

Everybody has everything nice to say about how wonderful he is; and how generous his girlfriend's parents are; and how FSU's gonna step up and help; and how amazing it is that people raised a fuckload of bucks to help him out.  All excellent.  Very very excellent indeed.  (I mean it - good for that kid; way to go)

Except for the part where his dad is practically invisible.  I guess it's because dads really don't count for much anymore.  Or is it because a guy with a coupla kids and a dead wife just gets dumped on the side of the road, and nobody gives a fuck about it (this is Florida, y'know)?  And hey - if he can't manage to get back on his feet all by himself, well then he's nuthin'; he's morally deficient.  Why didn't he borrow some money from his parents and start a business?  Fuckin' loser.

If America is so fucking strong, how come we can't lift that kid's dad (and his brother) outa that hole they're in?  How is it we can only manage to help 33% of that family?

And don't get me started on the extreme Press Poodling, as they epically fail at a decent opportunity to tell a real story about real people and instead turn it into this Heapin' Helpin' of Feel Good Pablum Bullshit.

A Bit Shocking

...cuz, when you think of "librul pinko-socialist utopia", you just automatically think - Utah(?)

From NationSwell, via Democratic Underground

Utah has reduced its rate of chronic homelessness by 78 percent over the past eight years, moving 2000 people off the street and putting the state on track to eradicate homelessness altogether by 2015. How’d they do it? The state is giving away apartments, no strings attached. In 2005, Utah calculated the annual cost of E.R. visits and jail stays for an average homeless person was $16,670, while the cost of providing an apartment and social worker would be $11,000. Each participant works with a caseworker to become self-sufficient, but if they fail, they still get to keep their apartment.

And did you catch the part about saving tax dollars?  Wow - turns out the sensible, business-like thing to do is to be generous and charitable.  Hoodathunkit!?!

So, when the clear-eyed rational tough-love austerians are talking about how "we just can't coddle these people because all we're doing by giving them handouts is teaching them to be dependent"? - well, now we have some more very good empirical evidence that they really are just being the short-sighted narrow-minded pricks we tho't they were in the first place.  Not that this particular bit of very good empirical evidence won't be lost on 'em, like it usually is.  To wit:

In a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, only 36 percent of Americans reported having "a lot" of trust that information they get from scientists is accurate and reliable. Fifty-one percent said they trust that information only a little, and another 6 percent said they don't trust it at all.

Science journalists fared even worse in the poll. Only 12 percent of respondents said they had a lot of trust in journalists to get the facts right in their stories about scientific studies. Fifty-seven percent said they have a little bit of trust, while 26 percent said they don't trust journalists at all to accurately report on scientific studies.

So it's a complete crapshoot on whether we get our collective head out of our ass, but hey - there's never a bad time to throw some Carlin at ya: