I guess some things just never change.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
New Meaning
From a piece linked to by both Andrew Sullivan and Balloon Juice:
beck v. trans. beck-ing, beck-ed, to be baselessly attacked by an idiot with a megaphone, then have those accusations alter your life for the worse because it’s politically expedient for your spineless superiors to demote or fire you.
beck v. trans. beck-ing, beck-ed, to be baselessly attacked by an idiot with a megaphone, then have those accusations alter your life for the worse because it’s politically expedient for your spineless superiors to demote or fire you.
Oops
I get such a kick outa things like this post at Balloon Juice.
There's all kinds of stuff rollin' around in my head because of this ACORN kerfuffle. It seems the public is pissed off (whether you think it's genuine or manufactured, it's still there). So politicians feel the need to beat up on somebody in response to it. They look around for a convenient scapegoat; they put together some piece of shit Resolution or an actual Law; they push it thru without really thinking it thru; and then they get to believe they're all heroes for having solved some big problem - except that the action usually proves the Rule of Unintended Consequences, and almost always has a lot more to do with getting reelected than it does with anything else.
I dunno - I guess it's just that we've personalized and demystified government to the point where we think any average yahoo can do it - we've demanded mediocrity, so that's what we've got.
There's all kinds of stuff rollin' around in my head because of this ACORN kerfuffle. It seems the public is pissed off (whether you think it's genuine or manufactured, it's still there). So politicians feel the need to beat up on somebody in response to it. They look around for a convenient scapegoat; they put together some piece of shit Resolution or an actual Law; they push it thru without really thinking it thru; and then they get to believe they're all heroes for having solved some big problem - except that the action usually proves the Rule of Unintended Consequences, and almost always has a lot more to do with getting reelected than it does with anything else.
I dunno - I guess it's just that we've personalized and demystified government to the point where we think any average yahoo can do it - we've demanded mediocrity, so that's what we've got.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Uh oh ("10 years of hell")
Per the good folks at Real News: hang onto your hats - it could be a bumpy ride.
I've felt for a while now that there's a couple of Real Estate shoes yet to drop. Multi-Family Residential is one, and Commercial is another, but the really big one is that the system itself is teetering. We have a very weak safety net of the kind that's needed to keep pumping some dollars into the economy even when people are outa work. What makes unemployment so dangerous is that it smacks us twice: first, because people who aren't working a regular job aren't paying taxes; and second, they aren't buying anything but the bare necessities so there's less money circulating.
There's also the small matter of not fixing the problems that got us into this mess. One of the take-aways from the video is that the big banking interests have dramatically increased their lobbying budgets. I think we can expect long and rancorous fights over regulations - which will prob'ly shape the midterm elections next year.
We'll see if Barney Frank and Chris Dodd manage to redeem themselves (Phil Gramm didn't do it all by himself, y'know).
I've felt for a while now that there's a couple of Real Estate shoes yet to drop. Multi-Family Residential is one, and Commercial is another, but the really big one is that the system itself is teetering. We have a very weak safety net of the kind that's needed to keep pumping some dollars into the economy even when people are outa work. What makes unemployment so dangerous is that it smacks us twice: first, because people who aren't working a regular job aren't paying taxes; and second, they aren't buying anything but the bare necessities so there's less money circulating.
There's also the small matter of not fixing the problems that got us into this mess. One of the take-aways from the video is that the big banking interests have dramatically increased their lobbying budgets. I think we can expect long and rancorous fights over regulations - which will prob'ly shape the midterm elections next year.
We'll see if Barney Frank and Chris Dodd manage to redeem themselves (Phil Gramm didn't do it all by himself, y'know).
Work Force Demographics
A very cool interactive chart. Click on MALE and then on FEAMLE to get a rather jarring look at the way the mix has shifted over the years.
I don't know what any of it really means, so if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear 'em.
I don't know what any of it really means, so if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear 'em.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Fun With Maggots
A young woman who produces Nature Documentaries recently returned from a trip to Belize with a small stowaway - see video
Oops
Your Missile Defense Tax Dollars hard at work.
(I don't really know what this is - I'm trying to track it down - it just seems like the kind of thing that happens when you give too much money to some government yahoo)
On Obama's decision to nix the Jr Bush deal with Poland and Czecho: Why deploy a weapon that doesn't work to defend against a threat that doesn't exist?
(I don't really know what this is - I'm trying to track it down - it just seems like the kind of thing that happens when you give too much money to some government yahoo)
On Obama's decision to nix the Jr Bush deal with Poland and Czecho: Why deploy a weapon that doesn't work to defend against a threat that doesn't exist?
Ezra Klein - WaPo
Klein's piece in The Washington Post
Some things that really stand out:
"The average health-care coverage for the average family now costs $13,375, according to Kaiser. Over the past decade, premiums have increased by 138 percent. And if the trend continues, by 2019 the average family plan will cost $30,083."
"Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, a researcher at the Rand Corporation, and David Cutler, a health economist at Harvard, recently estimated the savings that could be attained by "modernizing" the system over the next 10 years. The changes they examined weren't dramatic. Replacing paper records with computerized files, making it easier for people to comparison-shop across insurers, "bundling" payments for the treatment of a single illness rather than shelling out separately for each doctor visit -- that sort of thing. Added up, they equaled a startling $2 trillion over 10 years. That's a lot of money for policies that have received virtually no attention in the debate."
I think this as a 2-part problem and we have to try fixing one part at a time.
Part One = the cost of Insurance
Part Two = the cost of Care
Some things that really stand out:
"The average health-care coverage for the average family now costs $13,375, according to Kaiser. Over the past decade, premiums have increased by 138 percent. And if the trend continues, by 2019 the average family plan will cost $30,083."
"Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, a researcher at the Rand Corporation, and David Cutler, a health economist at Harvard, recently estimated the savings that could be attained by "modernizing" the system over the next 10 years. The changes they examined weren't dramatic. Replacing paper records with computerized files, making it easier for people to comparison-shop across insurers, "bundling" payments for the treatment of a single illness rather than shelling out separately for each doctor visit -- that sort of thing. Added up, they equaled a startling $2 trillion over 10 years. That's a lot of money for policies that have received virtually no attention in the debate."
I think this as a 2-part problem and we have to try fixing one part at a time.
Part One = the cost of Insurance
Part Two = the cost of Care
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Pysanky
We have a bunch of Ukranian Easter Eggs (pysanky) that Irene's mom has created thru the years. Once in a while, something goes wrong and we lose one of them. In this case, it looks like the egg leaked and began to spoil the dye, so we had to put it down.
Luckily, we can preserve something of these unique little treasures in digital form.
Luckily, we can preserve something of these unique little treasures in digital form.
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