"Do you know how to make God laugh? You tell him your plans." Hari Sheldon – Foudation's Fear
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 6th, 2010
Unreal Blog Physics, Philosophy and Money Economist’s View: Why is the American Jobs Machine Broken?. This is an important discussion that, at it’s heart, is about “who killed the American dream”? He points to a long piece from Andy Grove (former CEO of Intel) summarized thusly: The piece is long, detailed and worth reading in [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 4th, 2010
Unreal Blog Physics, Philosophy and Money How is it the a large segment of the public still falls for the GOP’s shtick after they’ve already proven that they’ll do the exact opposite of what they say? Like they say below, points for shear chutzpah. In any case, to summarize, Boehner wants to restore fiscal discipline [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 4th, 2010
Unreal Blog Physics, Philosophy and Money I don’t agree with GOP party chair Michael Steele’s assertion about Afghanistan being Obama’s war, I do agree that it is a war of choice. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that it’s an unwinable war. We have very little to gain and much to lose in Afghanistan. Three prominent Republican [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 4th, 2010
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 2nd, 2010
Paul Krugman continues to tilt at windmills: Op-Ed Columnist – Myths of Austerity – NYTimes.com. Which brings me to the subject of today’s column. For the last few months, I and others have watched, with amazement and horror, the emergence of a consensus in policy circles in favor of immediate fiscal austerity. That is, somehow [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 1st, 2010
Not so much in Ireland: Despite its strenuous efforts, Ireland has been thrust into the same ignominious category as Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. It now pays a hefty three percentage points more than Germany on its benchmark bonds, in part because investors fear that the austerity program, by retarding growth and so far failing [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jul 1st, 2010
Presidential scholars who actually know what they’re talking about rank Bush dead last: The Greatest and Worst Presidents in History. A new Siena poll of 238 presidential scholars ranks the top presidents in American history: Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. “Teddy Roosevelt had, more than any other president the [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 30th, 2010
Andrew is, sadly, depressingly,but almost certainly correct. We’re hostage to an evermore expensive, bloody and doomed effort in Afghanistan. Those of us who hoped for some kind of winding down of the longest war in US history will almost certainly be disappointed now. David Petraeus is the real Pope of counter-insurgency and if he decides [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 29th, 2010
Op-Ed Columnist – The Third Depression – NYTimes.com. Krugman notes that what are effectively austerity policies will cause the current economic malaise to remain, dragging the economy down. Failure to support local and state governments who lack the means to maintain spending levels will in essence reverse the recovery as they are forced to lay [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 28th, 2010
It’s official: White House wants more spectrum for wireless broadband. Excellent idea, we aren’t’ going to be able to build a nationwide fiber network outside of cities and suburbs. Wireless broadband seems the only reasonable solution. Either that or we sit back and watch as the rest of the world leaves us behind. This kind [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 27th, 2010
Turns out that there was nothing there. It was a purely political attack on the nations most successful anti-poverty organization. I think it was mostly because they were extremely successful in registering poor voters. On Monday, June 14, a preliminary probe by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)of ACORN has found no evidence the association [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 27th, 2010
This is an interesting piece about the duality and contradictions inherent in the Tea Party movement. Obviously it’s written by a sympathetic writer, but he does have some insights into what drives the Tea Party’s success and what may tear it apart. The Two Faces of the Tea Party | The Weekly Standard.
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 25th, 2010
Pakistan wants a bigger role in Afghanistan: Pakistan is presenting itself as the new viable partner for Afghanistan to President Hamid Karzai, who has soured on the Americans. Pakistani officials say they can deliver the network of Sirajuddin Haqqani, an ally of Al Qaeda who runs a major part of the insurgency in Afghanistan, into [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 22nd, 2010
Residents of a small city in eastern Nebraska voted Monday to banish illegal immigrants from jobs and rental homes, defying an earlier decision by the city’s leaders and setting off what is all but certain to be a costly and closely watched legal challenge. via Nebraska Town Votes to Banish Illegal Immigrants – NYTimes.com. This [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 21st, 2010
There seems to be meme going around that the President’s speech was written at too high a level. According to CNN the President was too professorial, talking like a snooty liberal with a fancy high school edumacation. “Obama’s speech may have gone over the heads of many in his audience, according to an analysis of [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 21st, 2010
Krugman continues tilting at windmills in his quest to get policy makers to understand Economics 101: The Congressional Budget Office, in its analysis of President Obama’s budget proposals, predicts that economic recovery will reduce the annual budget deficit from about 10 percent of G.D.P. this year to about 4 percent of G.D.P. in 2014. Unfortunately, [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 18th, 2010
So you only need to follow a law that you are clearly aware of if a regulatory agency asks you to? WTF? In response to a U.S. senator’s questions in a letter, BP said it never follows a federal law requiring it to certify that a blowout preventer device would be able to block a [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 18th, 2010
John Derbyshire has a rather pessimistic view of the Gulf oil spill: As the writer says: “The very least damaging outcome as bad as it is, is that we are stuck with a wide open gusher blowing out 150,000 barrels a day of raw oil or more.” In slightly different words: The best we can [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 16th, 2010
Miss June really gives you a bone! (pun intended). Stripper shoes look even trashier in X-Ray: Medical imaging firm EIZO wanted to come up with a catchy giveaway that highlighted their expertise in “high-precision displays for the examination and diagnosis of radiographs.” The result, dreamt up by German ad firm BUTTER: A pin-up calendar in [...]
Posted in Blog Post on Jun 16th, 2010
BP Guards beach cleanupWhat possible justification would BP have for hiring private security to keep people off public beaches? If the beach needs to be closed for “safety” reasons, then shouldn’t the local or state governments make that decision? To me it sounds like the only thing they’re doing is trying to (futilely) prevent the [...]
Date: 07/01/2007