February 2010
Detained Americans deny Child Trafficking →
There is a long history of Americans and other Westerners going to war or disaster struck areas and grabbing babies. The impulse to care for the children is laudable … but often the “orphans” snatched aren’t really orphans. The same thing happened in Vietnam.
Of course, not all the people grabbing children have benevolent intentions. Donating to established aid groups with...
“The only hope left for [Orly “Birther”] Taitz’s reputation is that...”
– The 50 Most Loathsome Americans, 2009 | The Beast
The list is entertaining, but ought not be taken seriously.
January 2010
“[T]he trial was a circus largely because the defendant was uncontrollable and...”
– Dana Perino, arguing that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should not be tried in a civilian court.
Perino has either a short or a selective memory. Do you remember the Moussaoui trial? Remember how Moussaoui came across as an absolute nut? Remember how he had confessed to a bunch of contradictory things and...
“At this point in the discussion, al Qaeda’s goal … is inconsequential. The...”
– Bellatoris, in a very good response to my post: Terrorism is a law enforcement issue. You don’t really believe otherwise. And I agree entirely with this line.
Of course, this is the same reasoning used for hate crime crime legislation. Like terrorism, hate crimes are political. They are meant...
Terrorism is a law enforcement issue. You don't...
The Republicans have restarted one of their favorite games. Obama, like any Democrat, is “soft on terror.” It’s not because of anything specific he’s done. It’s just that 1) he’s a Democrat, 2) he believes that soft power is important enough that it shouldn’t be squandered for partisan political gain, and 3) he’s criticized the way the Bush...
California Senate approves single-payer health... →
The proposal by Sen. Mark Leno, D- San Francisco, authorizes $1 million to establish a commission that would decide how to pay for the system. The funding plan would ultimately have to be approved by voters.
This is going to be a tough one for California to figure out how to finance. Or maybe not. They could do a hefty tax on businesses who would no longer have to insure employees.
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“Bill and Melinda Gates announced plans Friday to invest $10 billion in the fight...”
– Gates: $10B vaccine program could save 8.7M lives - CNN.com
Sometimes all the zeros blur together and I miss stories like this on the first read through. So Bill Gates gave away some money. Big deal.
No. Bill gates plan to invest $10 billion dollars. $10,000,000,000. And it could save nine million...
Did I just blow all my nerd cred with that last...
I might have accidentally said something was awesome, solely on the grounds that it’s awesome. And I hadn’t done any of the prerequisite chasing of rumors or suffering in anticipation. And I’m definitely talking about a gadget more than 24 hours after its announcement. Is that a faux pas? I’m sorry, nerd bourgeoisie.
It won’t happen again.
“You cannot use it effectively with one hand which in turn means that you need to...”
– iPad: The Greatest Disappointment in Human History (via azspot)
The iPad hate is the tech world’s equivalent of Fox News. Or of these guys:
I know, it’s not everything you dreamed of…but that doesn’t mean it’s not awesome. It doesn’t mean you couldn’t use...
Party of No →
azspot:
Paragons of fiscal discipline, every Senate Republican today voted against reestablishing “pay-as-you-go” budgeting rules that mandate that any new spending must be paid for. The rule passed on a 60-40 party line vote.
The Grand No Party! The Party of Nihilistic Tax Cuts!
Pentagon plan on 'don't ask, don't tell' ready for... →
It looks like this has been in the works for a while. And we all thought Obama had just let that promise lapse.
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tiffvicious asked: Just saw your post on the "refund anticipation loan"... omg I work for a tax company and you are 100% right... but the fact is some people seriously don't have a clue about preparing their own taxes, the fee's are high, and I hate how companies rape people, so i am up front about the fee's (unlike others preparers) and the people who are willing to pay for cast back fast...
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“So the statistics are clear: Democratic presidents have been more successful at...”
– Politifact.com
If you’re more interested in caveats, context, and serious discussion than you are in talking-points plucked out of context, the full article is here.
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Refund Anticipation Loan = BAD
If you get your taxes done professionally and whoever prepares them offers you a Refund Anticipation Loan, save yourself some money. Refuse.
The scheme is pretty simple. Everybody wants their tax refund. And everybody wants it quickly. So certain tax preparation agencies offer “refund anticipation loans” to “help” people get their refunds faster. And who doesn’t like...
“Tehran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced 11 people to death after convicting...”
– CNN
I occasionally complain about the erosion of our civil liberties—but I’m not blind. I know we’ve got it better than most, if not all, of the rest of the world.
Just Say "No"?
Jeff Miller writes,
Mr. President, saying no can be tremendous leadership. I wish we had a president that would say “no.” One who would say “no” to war. Say no to “waste.” Say “no” to wiretapping. Say “no” to indefinite detention. Say “no” to lobbyists. Say “no” to banks. Say “no” to the car companies. Say “no” to Wall Street. Say “no” to AIG. Someone who would say “no” to corrupt...
Full text of the State of the Union Address →
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“This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law...”
– Barack Obama
It looks like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell should be gone within the year.
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“The responsibility to govern is now yours as well. Just saying no to everything...”
– Barack Obama
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“Families around the country are tightening their belts, making tough decisions....”
– Barack Obama
I think I’m with him on this one.
(via squashed)
This sounds great in theory, but it simply doesn’t fit with the president’s (desired) actions: Obamacare. It will destroy our economy over time, as well the compounded effects of not reforming Social Security and other entitlement...
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“Families around the country are tightening their belts, making tough decisions....”
– Barack Obama
I think I’m with him on this one.
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“Now, let’s clear a few things up.”
– Barack Obama
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Student loan forgiveness and education tax cuts could really level the playing field for a lot of people.
Biden Fever: Catch It!
(via catbus)
I think I saw a zombie movie about that.
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Barack Obama: I want a Senate jobs bill on my desk without delay.
U.S. Senate: Delay is the only thing we're good at!
No capital gains tax on investment in small...
That could be a really big deal, particularly for people looking for venture capital.
Uh-oh. Republicans aren’t standing. Apparently they’re against tax cuts now.
“I have never been more hopeful about America’s future than I am tonight.”
– Barack Obama
Seriously? Never? I mean, I’m cautiously optimistic. But I wouldn’t say I’ve never been more hopeful.
C-SPAN's state of the Union Stream →
Check it out! A way to watch the State of the Union without awful commentary. The pundits are silenced!
It also has all the past State of the Unions since Truman.
Also, there seems to be an unfiltered Twitter stream on the page, which strips the whole thing of its dignity.
Is there anything more cringe-worthy than State of the Union commentators making sports metaphors?
"The State of the Union is _____"
How should Obama finish the sentence? How will he?
In the State of the Union, watch for...
Will anything happen to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?
Will Obama make concrete proposals on what to do for healthcare reform?
Will Obama lash himself to his spending freeze proposal?
Beyond that, there will be a lot of talk about jobs. And about the deficit.
“Shift gears to job creation for now, and come back to health care in a few...”
– Robot-Heart-Politics on the Democrats’ apparent decision to table healthcare reform. She adds, “(Waiting for the rotten fruit to fly)”.
I’m not throwing. I’m dissatisfied enough with the Senate bill that I would rather see a few smaller, hopefully bipartisan bills....
“Federal officials arrested four men on Monday and charged them with posing as...”
– 4 Arrested in Phone Tampering at Landrieu Office - NYTimes.com
It’s a rough time to be a bold, undercover conservative documentarian criminal. He’s obviously being targeted for his political activism (or maybe for his felonious activities).
After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for... →
In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest. Could its fate be a sign of what others, including The New York Times, might expect? So, three months...
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What caused the recession? Social Stratification.
None of the explanations I’ve heard for the recession ring true—so I thought I would offer my own. There were clearly a host of contributing factors. Consumers’ debt-to-income ratios got out of whack. Some banks screwed up risk assessment. And there were some serious abuses in the mortgage market. But, theoretically, there should have been checks on all of these. And of course...
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“Some things are just sort of obviously right.”
– Neil Gaiman’s tag for the blog post where he announces his engagement to the Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer. Any children that couple produces will, at birth, be way cooler and have way more nerd cred than I can ever aspire to.
Obama will discuss Don't Ask Don't Tell in the... →
Does that mean he’s finally moving to end it? For the last year, Obama has had Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Mention. It looks like that’s going to change.
What caused the financial crisis?
Crazy rhetoric aside, the Supreme Court really... →
Maybe it’s time to calm down.
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“Second, no movement could possibly tame the great wild lions of love, lust, and...”
– Julia Baird “The Case Against Settling” [Newsweek] (via sarakatherine, newsweek)
I like Baird’s article much better than the Lori Gottlieb article it responds to. But I think both miss something important. Throwing away a checklist of requirements for anybody you date doesn’t mean you...
On Reading Captain Underpants his Miranda warnings
It looks like the underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, more commonly known as Captain Underpants, (which means some of us will need a new secret identity), was questioned for a number of hours and provided valuable information. After he was belatedly read his Miranda rights, stopped talking.
It’s a little backwards to first question Capt. Underpants without Miranda warnings then...
“Either there are two completely different Barack Obamas, or, in his first year...”
– Stephen Colbert
Math & Politics
Randy Haddock, responding to my criticism of a post of his, writes
Of course, the job created will eventually pay for itself. The cost that goes into creating a job will eventually be recouped, sooner or later. I’m sure we all understand this. However, this is not what we were promised or told. We were promised unemployment wouldn’t go above 8%. We were promised job growth. We were promised a...
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In which certain conservatives are bad at math
Randy Haddock and NoMossHere posted a chunk of an IBD editorial by Sean Higgins titled, “Obama’s Green Jobs Program: $135,294 Per Job.” Here’s a chunk of it:
The White House announced Friday the awarding of $2.3 billion in tax credits — the money comes from last year’s stimulus bill — to companies to create “green jobs.”
[…]
Obama says the grants will create...