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Greetings, weekend warriors. It's definitely time for... more stuff and nonsense, otherwise known as news.
Y'know how people panic around here and in more southern climes when faced with snow, to the point where it can be dangerous to drive because no-one else nor the road clearing crews have an idea what to do with the stuff? When faced with this difficult problem, the residents of Sapporo, Japan, know what to do with it - make giant snow sculptures, of course.
Remember that earlier statistic about how the amount of empty homes was bigger than the official homeless statistic? That situation leads to pictures of abandoned houses. If we have the capacity, tell me again why we aren't finding places for people to live on affordable rents again?
Last, what drives someone to call and complain and mount a campaign to do the same to a hotel about a pansexual BDSM event happening at a local hotel, anyway? It's not like they're planning on attending, are they? As best I can tell, the BDSM crowd will be discreet if there is the chance the public will be watching, so it's not like anyone will see anything they didn't want to. Oh, wait, it's for the sake of "decency and public health". Three-to-one odds that the BDSM people are some of the best people to talk to about good hygeine practices, and again, the aforementioned screening process. Oh, no, wait, it's because there's the possibility that The Gay might be present, isn't it? You'd be fine and dandy if they were all strights, and probably would insist on males as the dominant parties, but because there are possible gay people there, then it's an affront. That must be it...
On the international desk, an attack on Ugandan rebels went horribly wrong, with the rebels scattered but committing atrocities in their wake as they retreated.
Russia has been rattling the sabres hard lately, perhaps as a cover for the economic woes globally, perhaps as an attempt to distract reporters from saying that Mr. Putin danced to Abba hits from a cover band during a private performance.
President OBama is considering multiple plans for withdrawing United States troops from Iraq, some that plant troop withdrawal at a campaign promise moment, and others that extend it out a little bit more. Still, the President is considering plans to get United States troops out of Iraq, which is more thatn his predecessor did for most of his two terms.
A.Q. Khan, involved in charges that he helped proliferate nuclear weapons to several rogue states around the world, has been officially freed from any charges or punishments, which had Ms. Maddow and/or Mr. Olbermann rather worried yesterday.
In the United States, the new chair of the Republican party has asked for the resignation of the entire RNC staff, signaling that he intends to take the party in a different direction than their current (self-destructive, if I may say so) path.
The stimulus bill heads to compromise, after a much-reduced version is agreed-upon by the Senate, and the committee between the two will have to hammer out ways of reconciling a bill that will then have to go back to both houses and be passed again. It's probably not the stimulus bill the President wants, nor is it going to be the perfect Democratic bill, but it will probably get the highly bipartisan rating, unless the Republicans decide they're going to vote against the bill they helped to create, just because they don't like it.
Light on details, naturally, which means the comment squad will fill in their own blanks. A reporter was physically restrained after asking a question after one of Leon Panetta's hearings. That much is known, but waht the question was, where the reporter was, none of that is available. If you look at the comment squad, though, it's the sign that we're being led by "gangsters" or that it's a sign of how the new government will run roughshod over civil liberties and dictate to everyone what they can and can't do. IF we had, say, actual details, like "the reporter was moving toward the director and was within the minimum safe distance", that would help. Or whether he had a shoe in hand as he was asking the question. Y'know, details.
Something that could bite the President more forcefully is the observation that he is not arriving to his appointments on time, a habit that seems to have been with him as a Senator, as well. I've heard it referred to as "Island time", where thins are not punctual, but flexible. Perhaps this is his Hawai'i upbringing, or perhaps it's for reasons we don't know about.
In the opinions, a plea to help the oceans out and devise plans to keep them functioning as we work out ways of not poisoning ourselves through greenhouse gas emissions - they're right that if the oceans crash, so do we. It sounds a lot lie the whole world is just about ready to throw up its hands and say "I give up. Soon enough, I'll reduce your population to something sustainable, while you work feverishly to repair your own damage as you die in droves." I don't know how true that is, nor on what timescale it will work, but it definitely sounds bad.
In opinions of the President, his policies, and his family, Erin Brown throws out waves of negativity at the press corps' treatment of Michelle Obama, considering her still part of the glamour that until-recently surrounded the President, where she can do no wrong, despite having done so already. And The WSJ is still complaining that the President's ban-pending-review of torture techniques will make for a skittish CIA that won't get needed information because they're too afraid of CYA.
Mr. Tiger declares that as more men lose their jobs in the bad economy, more women are going to be faced with more pressure, and that more men will not take part in the family system or get married, and will not be seen as good partners because they're out of work. I think Mr. Tiger is concerned that we might be ceding control over to women, who will then have to do all sorts of job-children balancing, without men, because the men aren't worth it.
Messers. Hubbard, Scott, and Zingales caution against more government spending on bad assets, but prefer the creation of bad banks to more TARP-like relief, feeling that the government's stabilization is the worthwhile option and possibly all it can do, and now it's up to the banks to spin their bad assets off, cringe at the hits they take from them, but use their good assets to start getting the financial sector back to lending, and hope that the stimulus package and the economy do the rest of the work to getting things back to normal. Ms. charen takes a much more negative view, considering that the President has already gone bankrupt on "responsibility" because he has Geithner in treasury, and because of the bailout bill, where states that are overspent can get help from those that haven't, and of course, federal health care, the preferred punching bag of the anti-Obama crowd everywhere. Well, unless they're talking about how tax cuts are inherently superior to any kind of spending, period, as the WSJ does.
Mr. Icahn says we need to give corporate power back to the shareholders, so that they can recall boards and management that has been performing poorly, and crush their otherwise-exorbitant salaries, instead of having the government do so by regulation. Sounds good, and the idea of the shareholders being able to change their state of incorporation so as to give themselves the maximum amount of protection is a good start. Perhaps, acting as a good example of why this is needed, Mr. Barker details how the TVA really doesn't answer to anyone in government, and thus nobody was paying any attention to things that might have prevented the fly-ash spill. Mr. Barker also suggests some moderate reforms to be used in lieu of selling the TVA off from the government. (Bad economy and all that.)
In science and technology, the evolution of man toward a species that can take control of its own evolution, through the use of biological manipulation and genetic control. Which is an awesome thing to strive for, but us Humes being who we are, the question is how it gets used. That can get paired with an inexpensive ubiquitous computing device so as to augment our reality with extra information and/or play some ARGs while we do our work.
Last for tonight, an ode to agnosticism, by someone living right in it. He captures the paralyzing part of not knowing as well as the good things that shifting around to spectrums instead of opposites can provide.
Y'know how people panic around here and in more southern climes when faced with snow, to the point where it can be dangerous to drive because no-one else nor the road clearing crews have an idea what to do with the stuff? When faced with this difficult problem, the residents of Sapporo, Japan, know what to do with it - make giant snow sculptures, of course.
Remember that earlier statistic about how the amount of empty homes was bigger than the official homeless statistic? That situation leads to pictures of abandoned houses. If we have the capacity, tell me again why we aren't finding places for people to live on affordable rents again?
Last, what drives someone to call and complain and mount a campaign to do the same to a hotel about a pansexual BDSM event happening at a local hotel, anyway? It's not like they're planning on attending, are they? As best I can tell, the BDSM crowd will be discreet if there is the chance the public will be watching, so it's not like anyone will see anything they didn't want to. Oh, wait, it's for the sake of "decency and public health". Three-to-one odds that the BDSM people are some of the best people to talk to about good hygeine practices, and again, the aforementioned screening process. Oh, no, wait, it's because there's the possibility that The Gay might be present, isn't it? You'd be fine and dandy if they were all strights, and probably would insist on males as the dominant parties, but because there are possible gay people there, then it's an affront. That must be it...
On the international desk, an attack on Ugandan rebels went horribly wrong, with the rebels scattered but committing atrocities in their wake as they retreated.
Russia has been rattling the sabres hard lately, perhaps as a cover for the economic woes globally, perhaps as an attempt to distract reporters from saying that Mr. Putin danced to Abba hits from a cover band during a private performance.
President OBama is considering multiple plans for withdrawing United States troops from Iraq, some that plant troop withdrawal at a campaign promise moment, and others that extend it out a little bit more. Still, the President is considering plans to get United States troops out of Iraq, which is more thatn his predecessor did for most of his two terms.
A.Q. Khan, involved in charges that he helped proliferate nuclear weapons to several rogue states around the world, has been officially freed from any charges or punishments, which had Ms. Maddow and/or Mr. Olbermann rather worried yesterday.
In the United States, the new chair of the Republican party has asked for the resignation of the entire RNC staff, signaling that he intends to take the party in a different direction than their current (self-destructive, if I may say so) path.
The stimulus bill heads to compromise, after a much-reduced version is agreed-upon by the Senate, and the committee between the two will have to hammer out ways of reconciling a bill that will then have to go back to both houses and be passed again. It's probably not the stimulus bill the President wants, nor is it going to be the perfect Democratic bill, but it will probably get the highly bipartisan rating, unless the Republicans decide they're going to vote against the bill they helped to create, just because they don't like it.
Light on details, naturally, which means the comment squad will fill in their own blanks. A reporter was physically restrained after asking a question after one of Leon Panetta's hearings. That much is known, but waht the question was, where the reporter was, none of that is available. If you look at the comment squad, though, it's the sign that we're being led by "gangsters" or that it's a sign of how the new government will run roughshod over civil liberties and dictate to everyone what they can and can't do. IF we had, say, actual details, like "the reporter was moving toward the director and was within the minimum safe distance", that would help. Or whether he had a shoe in hand as he was asking the question. Y'know, details.
Something that could bite the President more forcefully is the observation that he is not arriving to his appointments on time, a habit that seems to have been with him as a Senator, as well. I've heard it referred to as "Island time", where thins are not punctual, but flexible. Perhaps this is his Hawai'i upbringing, or perhaps it's for reasons we don't know about.
In the opinions, a plea to help the oceans out and devise plans to keep them functioning as we work out ways of not poisoning ourselves through greenhouse gas emissions - they're right that if the oceans crash, so do we. It sounds a lot lie the whole world is just about ready to throw up its hands and say "I give up. Soon enough, I'll reduce your population to something sustainable, while you work feverishly to repair your own damage as you die in droves." I don't know how true that is, nor on what timescale it will work, but it definitely sounds bad.
In opinions of the President, his policies, and his family, Erin Brown throws out waves of negativity at the press corps' treatment of Michelle Obama, considering her still part of the glamour that until-recently surrounded the President, where she can do no wrong, despite having done so already. And The WSJ is still complaining that the President's ban-pending-review of torture techniques will make for a skittish CIA that won't get needed information because they're too afraid of CYA.
Mr. Tiger declares that as more men lose their jobs in the bad economy, more women are going to be faced with more pressure, and that more men will not take part in the family system or get married, and will not be seen as good partners because they're out of work. I think Mr. Tiger is concerned that we might be ceding control over to women, who will then have to do all sorts of job-children balancing, without men, because the men aren't worth it.
Messers. Hubbard, Scott, and Zingales caution against more government spending on bad assets, but prefer the creation of bad banks to more TARP-like relief, feeling that the government's stabilization is the worthwhile option and possibly all it can do, and now it's up to the banks to spin their bad assets off, cringe at the hits they take from them, but use their good assets to start getting the financial sector back to lending, and hope that the stimulus package and the economy do the rest of the work to getting things back to normal. Ms. charen takes a much more negative view, considering that the President has already gone bankrupt on "responsibility" because he has Geithner in treasury, and because of the bailout bill, where states that are overspent can get help from those that haven't, and of course, federal health care, the preferred punching bag of the anti-Obama crowd everywhere. Well, unless they're talking about how tax cuts are inherently superior to any kind of spending, period, as the WSJ does.
Mr. Icahn says we need to give corporate power back to the shareholders, so that they can recall boards and management that has been performing poorly, and crush their otherwise-exorbitant salaries, instead of having the government do so by regulation. Sounds good, and the idea of the shareholders being able to change their state of incorporation so as to give themselves the maximum amount of protection is a good start. Perhaps, acting as a good example of why this is needed, Mr. Barker details how the TVA really doesn't answer to anyone in government, and thus nobody was paying any attention to things that might have prevented the fly-ash spill. Mr. Barker also suggests some moderate reforms to be used in lieu of selling the TVA off from the government. (Bad economy and all that.)
In science and technology, the evolution of man toward a species that can take control of its own evolution, through the use of biological manipulation and genetic control. Which is an awesome thing to strive for, but us Humes being who we are, the question is how it gets used. That can get paired with an inexpensive ubiquitous computing device so as to augment our reality with extra information and/or play some ARGs while we do our work.
Last for tonight, an ode to agnosticism, by someone living right in it. He captures the paralyzing part of not knowing as well as the good things that shifting around to spectrums instead of opposites can provide.
