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This plus little else - 11 February 2009
Feb. 12th, 2009 12:12 amStarting today’s entry with some advice - Get rid of old clothes that make you feel fat, especially if your weight-loss regimen is working, lesty you keep moving the goalposts on yourself and reinforcing negative thinking because you’re not your ideal. (Hey, wait. I think I can use this thought in some other places...)
Right up top in the International desk, we have a Worst Person. Meet Pastor Danny Nalliah, who declares that abortion is the cause for the Australian wildfires, in a rather Pat Robertson-like denunciation of the country, claiming that God withdrew his protection from Australis because of abortions.
Prime Minister Maliki is not happy with Vice President Biden's criticism that reform in Iraq isn't moving quick enough. Compared to say, Afghanistan, where militants staged a raid on three government buildings, he might have a bit of a case for the matter.
Israel's elections return nonconclusive and both possible prime ministers scramble for coalition partners. They'll both go hard on Hamas and Iran, though.
Domestically, Muzak files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
If you want to know how some of the United States Army treats its privates, look no further than the case of Pvt. Adam Lieberman, who attempted suicide and left a note on the wall, survived his attempt and found himself criminally charged, including a count of defacing government property that was supposedly going to be dropped if his mother painted over his suicide note, which she did. Desribing the process, it sounds a lot like the Army considers soldiers disposable, an if they develop mental health problems, that’s their fault and the Army doesn’t want to have to do anything with it. Bet most of them suddenly turn up as “pre-existing conditions”, too. The General satirically applauds the sadism displayed.
In other military news, apparently, the troops are getting more obese. Stress from deployment and work apparently is the chief reason why the troops are getting more obese. So in addition to the mental problems like the account above, the troops are displaying the natural stress reaction - storing and gaining fat.
We're talking negotiations for a compromise stimulus bill. Thursday, I’ve heard, is when they put the compromise bill to a vote. The Governor of South Carolina still believes we need no such stimulus, declaring that, while it will be painful, it will be quick, and also referring to the dangers of what he called a “savior-based” economy, where knowing who will bail you out is more important than the market.
In Ohio, a deer stumbled into just the right place for it - a veterinary clinic stockroom. After claming it and stitching it up, they released it back into the wild. Oklahoma got tornadoes as its odd thing.
In the opinions, The Professor notes that while
President Obama has the stuff to stake the Republican Party and watch it turn to dust, he's not doing it by letting his stimulus bill get cluttered with tax cuts, giving the Republicans a way out - if it fails, they can claim it was the spending. If it succeeds, they can claim it was the tax cuts. Speaking of stimulus, Mr. Sullum believes he's hearing echoes of how the previous administration passed USAPATRIOT in the way this administration is passing stimulus - by using fear to stifle debate, for which there will be no real way of knowing that it worked, and the Democrats will take credit for the natural recovery... and we’ll have that much more debt to worry about.
Ms. Ham believes that John Kerry hates tax cuts because it gives the people the freedom to spend it on what they want, while lambasting him for not supporting any tax cuts amendments to the stimulus bill. Mr. Kerry’s remarks, however, indicate that he’s aware the populace might decide to save all that tax-cut cash and not use it as stimulus at all, or will invest it in corporations that routinely do business outside the United States and do their very best to avoid paying taxes, living wages, or benefits in the United States. Know-it-better-liberals or not, if government spends the money, it gets spent, which is part of the point of kickstarting the economy - to get money spent doing stuff. Mr. Ferrara disapproves of the stimulus by claiming it's spending-by-ideology, instead of spending based on what works - Reaganomics .
Don Tapscott says that in the Internet-enabled world, it would be a great thing for the President to tap the brains of the people on how to solve issues, with large forum discussions and ratings on ideas. Hopefully, they get implemented in a timely manner, too, but it might still be a useful tool just for figuring out how the public thinks a problem can be solved, whether it’s right or wrong. And many of those public people aren’t on the teams that are trying to craft policy - you could get the opinion of several hundred scientists on how a problem might be fixed, or get input from teachers in the trenches on how to fix education, etc.
Mr. Morris hopes to make discord in the Democrats by declaring that the power of the Secretary of State is being eaten away by the appointments of the President and the actions of the Vice President, leaving her out in the cold, as an opponent instead of part of the team.
Out of all of this, John Santore expresses the confusion of a nation that believes in Barack Obama and his message, but thinks the way that things are being done, both by him and by others, is wrong. Instead of the “well, he’s not bright enough to do it right” image that followed the last administrator around, people are finding different reasons to attribute to the failure or off-trackness of the current one. We still believe in change. But we’re not sure whether his change will be good or bad, maybe. Mr. Blankley is more pessimistic, accusing the President of rhetorical misrepresentation of Republicans and people who don't go along with him 100%, presenting himself as the only respectable person in Washington. Mr. Lambro agrees here, believing that Mr. Obama is not acknowledging that his opponents have reasoned and real objections to his plan, based on their belief that the attempt to spend into economic success didn’t work (even though FDR did drop unemployment 6 percent with his programs). Ms. Malkin goes the furthest along, accusing Barack Obama of meddling in people's bad financial decisions, using our money to pay for it, and playing it as helping the populace, instead of the wasteful spending it is.
Elsewhere, the markets shrugged at the Treasury Secretary's new bank plan, after an initial drop with skepticism as the word. (Or, if the WSJ, hostility with alternatives. Twice around.) Mr. Wolf feels the new plan is a serious failure because it tries to answer the optimistic question, when it should be pessimistic. The consensus seems to be that the Treasury Secretary spoke before he had all his facts, or even a plan, in place, for which the markets naturally fell in fear.
Mr. Vodicka says the U.S. should build missile defense in the Czech Republic and Poland to spite Russia and keep the happy U.S. sentiment alive, instead of letting Russia think that it can dictate the policies of the nations in Eastern Europe.
The WSJ creis "Shock! Horror!" at an unscripted moment where journalists who were selected to ask questions weren't there - conveniently ignoring that the last administrator’s press secretary deliberately placed reporters in a region he called "Siberia" and directed the administrator not to call on them.
And, finally, Mr. Williams believes that all of this stimulus discussion, and most of what the federal government does, is totally against the Constitution, and that FDR was responsible for it with the way he molded the Supreme Court to get his programs passed, leaving us to wonder what sort of states the states would be in if his view of the world prevailed. Would we have insolvent states, or some that have decent roads and some that suck, or schools that are good and bad? Sounds like a great alternate history book.
Into technology, where Twitter helps people find jobs and network, people design street vehicles that look remarkably like starfighters, robots that provide a telepresence at the office, helmets that can read preferences without having to train people on using brainwaves, and stackable memory systems, while simulating early phases of the universe, trying to find ways of knocking the Kindle off its e-book perch, and finding quantum mechanics in biological processes, which is making the biology part kind of nervous. And we’re also trying to devise experiments that say richer students have ruder body language than poorer ones, based on their interest and engagement in conversation. Oh, yes, and turning beer waste into fish food.
And at the end, a lot of Stairway to Heaven.
Right up top in the International desk, we have a Worst Person. Meet Pastor Danny Nalliah, who declares that abortion is the cause for the Australian wildfires, in a rather Pat Robertson-like denunciation of the country, claiming that God withdrew his protection from Australis because of abortions.
Prime Minister Maliki is not happy with Vice President Biden's criticism that reform in Iraq isn't moving quick enough. Compared to say, Afghanistan, where militants staged a raid on three government buildings, he might have a bit of a case for the matter.
Israel's elections return nonconclusive and both possible prime ministers scramble for coalition partners. They'll both go hard on Hamas and Iran, though.
Domestically, Muzak files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
If you want to know how some of the United States Army treats its privates, look no further than the case of Pvt. Adam Lieberman, who attempted suicide and left a note on the wall, survived his attempt and found himself criminally charged, including a count of defacing government property that was supposedly going to be dropped if his mother painted over his suicide note, which she did. Desribing the process, it sounds a lot like the Army considers soldiers disposable, an if they develop mental health problems, that’s their fault and the Army doesn’t want to have to do anything with it. Bet most of them suddenly turn up as “pre-existing conditions”, too. The General satirically applauds the sadism displayed.
In other military news, apparently, the troops are getting more obese. Stress from deployment and work apparently is the chief reason why the troops are getting more obese. So in addition to the mental problems like the account above, the troops are displaying the natural stress reaction - storing and gaining fat.
We're talking negotiations for a compromise stimulus bill. Thursday, I’ve heard, is when they put the compromise bill to a vote. The Governor of South Carolina still believes we need no such stimulus, declaring that, while it will be painful, it will be quick, and also referring to the dangers of what he called a “savior-based” economy, where knowing who will bail you out is more important than the market.
In Ohio, a deer stumbled into just the right place for it - a veterinary clinic stockroom. After claming it and stitching it up, they released it back into the wild. Oklahoma got tornadoes as its odd thing.
In the opinions, The Professor notes that while
President Obama has the stuff to stake the Republican Party and watch it turn to dust, he's not doing it by letting his stimulus bill get cluttered with tax cuts, giving the Republicans a way out - if it fails, they can claim it was the spending. If it succeeds, they can claim it was the tax cuts. Speaking of stimulus, Mr. Sullum believes he's hearing echoes of how the previous administration passed USAPATRIOT in the way this administration is passing stimulus - by using fear to stifle debate, for which there will be no real way of knowing that it worked, and the Democrats will take credit for the natural recovery... and we’ll have that much more debt to worry about.
Ms. Ham believes that John Kerry hates tax cuts because it gives the people the freedom to spend it on what they want, while lambasting him for not supporting any tax cuts amendments to the stimulus bill. Mr. Kerry’s remarks, however, indicate that he’s aware the populace might decide to save all that tax-cut cash and not use it as stimulus at all, or will invest it in corporations that routinely do business outside the United States and do their very best to avoid paying taxes, living wages, or benefits in the United States. Know-it-better-liberals or not, if government spends the money, it gets spent, which is part of the point of kickstarting the economy - to get money spent doing stuff. Mr. Ferrara disapproves of the stimulus by claiming it's spending-by-ideology, instead of spending based on what works - Reaganomics .
Don Tapscott says that in the Internet-enabled world, it would be a great thing for the President to tap the brains of the people on how to solve issues, with large forum discussions and ratings on ideas. Hopefully, they get implemented in a timely manner, too, but it might still be a useful tool just for figuring out how the public thinks a problem can be solved, whether it’s right or wrong. And many of those public people aren’t on the teams that are trying to craft policy - you could get the opinion of several hundred scientists on how a problem might be fixed, or get input from teachers in the trenches on how to fix education, etc.
Mr. Morris hopes to make discord in the Democrats by declaring that the power of the Secretary of State is being eaten away by the appointments of the President and the actions of the Vice President, leaving her out in the cold, as an opponent instead of part of the team.
Out of all of this, John Santore expresses the confusion of a nation that believes in Barack Obama and his message, but thinks the way that things are being done, both by him and by others, is wrong. Instead of the “well, he’s not bright enough to do it right” image that followed the last administrator around, people are finding different reasons to attribute to the failure or off-trackness of the current one. We still believe in change. But we’re not sure whether his change will be good or bad, maybe. Mr. Blankley is more pessimistic, accusing the President of rhetorical misrepresentation of Republicans and people who don't go along with him 100%, presenting himself as the only respectable person in Washington. Mr. Lambro agrees here, believing that Mr. Obama is not acknowledging that his opponents have reasoned and real objections to his plan, based on their belief that the attempt to spend into economic success didn’t work (even though FDR did drop unemployment 6 percent with his programs). Ms. Malkin goes the furthest along, accusing Barack Obama of meddling in people's bad financial decisions, using our money to pay for it, and playing it as helping the populace, instead of the wasteful spending it is.
Elsewhere, the markets shrugged at the Treasury Secretary's new bank plan, after an initial drop with skepticism as the word. (Or, if the WSJ, hostility with alternatives. Twice around.) Mr. Wolf feels the new plan is a serious failure because it tries to answer the optimistic question, when it should be pessimistic. The consensus seems to be that the Treasury Secretary spoke before he had all his facts, or even a plan, in place, for which the markets naturally fell in fear.
Mr. Vodicka says the U.S. should build missile defense in the Czech Republic and Poland to spite Russia and keep the happy U.S. sentiment alive, instead of letting Russia think that it can dictate the policies of the nations in Eastern Europe.
The WSJ creis "Shock! Horror!" at an unscripted moment where journalists who were selected to ask questions weren't there - conveniently ignoring that the last administrator’s press secretary deliberately placed reporters in a region he called "Siberia" and directed the administrator not to call on them.
And, finally, Mr. Williams believes that all of this stimulus discussion, and most of what the federal government does, is totally against the Constitution, and that FDR was responsible for it with the way he molded the Supreme Court to get his programs passed, leaving us to wonder what sort of states the states would be in if his view of the world prevailed. Would we have insolvent states, or some that have decent roads and some that suck, or schools that are good and bad? Sounds like a great alternate history book.
Into technology, where Twitter helps people find jobs and network, people design street vehicles that look remarkably like starfighters, robots that provide a telepresence at the office, helmets that can read preferences without having to train people on using brainwaves, and stackable memory systems, while simulating early phases of the universe, trying to find ways of knocking the Kindle off its e-book perch, and finding quantum mechanics in biological processes, which is making the biology part kind of nervous. And we’re also trying to devise experiments that say richer students have ruder body language than poorer ones, based on their interest and engagement in conversation. Oh, yes, and turning beer waste into fish food.
And at the end, a lot of Stairway to Heaven.
