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The Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics department outdoes themselves in terms fo frightening material by pointing out the top one percent's ownership of nearly half the assets in the United States, and the bottom 90 percent's ownership of 80 percent of the debt. So the deflation that's going on right now is very good for those who are creditors, and not so great for debtors. And thus, the rich are doing their best to hold down inflation to make it so they get paid back not only in full, but with money that's worth more now than it was when the debt was taken on.
Out in the world today, she who could be the next Madonna finds her newest CD stopped at the Lebanese border because they fear the artist and the lyrics will be offensive to practitioners of religion in the country.
The Japanese government indicated today that the disaster at Fukushima was significantly worse that initially and continually reported, and some of the fuel in the nuclear reactors may have escaped the inner containment vessels.
India has test-fired a missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload. A reminder that Pakistan has more than merely terrorism that will concern the rest of the world - they also have India nearby that could instigate a local nuclear world.
Domestically, Artist Lupe Fiasco indicates that he believes Barack Obama is the greatest terrorist in the world today, with the argument that the actions the United States takes in the world are the inspiration for most other terrorism.
The entire high command of the candidacy of Newt Gingrich resigned their posts today over differences in the campaign's direction and focus. While the punditry believes this sinks Mr. Gingrich's chances of capturing the Republican nomination, we note that there is at least seven months before the first primary for next year, and that gives Mr. Gingrich more than enough time to regroup.
Rick Santorum thinks that Google is doing him wrong by allowing the Interwebs to, well, Google his name and find that it also means a particular slang term involving anal sex byproducts. This is Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum, someone who seems to have no trouble at all saying all sorts of things that have awful sexual connotations, and meaning them. Yet Google is apparently doing him wrong by letting the Interwebs say what they think about him.
A Massachusettes elected state official, in addition to his zeal that says anyone without proper documentation should be deported immediately, including their families and children, indicated that he felt that women here illegally should have no protection at all in case they should happen to be raped, and that they should be afraid of going to the police, because they know they'll be deported.
Speaking of police, A Special Crimes officer of the New York Police Department said his division believes that women who ask for female police officers to recount their stories of sexual assault to are lying about the sexual assault ninew times out of ten.
Last out, The good news is that Michigan's recesion may be over. The costs, however, appear to be several things, like the city government of Benton Harbor and several schools in the Detroit Public School System, including the Catherine Ferguson Academy, a school that provides support for pregnant teenage women and gets them into university with scholarships and more help. Because the state-appointed emergency managers with dictatorial powers determined that those things were necessary - and their decisions cannot be appealed.
In technology, Monsato herbicide Roundup is likely to cause birth defects...and the regulators that approved its usage knew this and apparently had other interests in mind.
An unscupulous computer technican installed remote control software on Apple computers, then sent fake error messages to get women to take their laptops into their shower rooms so he could take pictures and video of them.
In opinions, The WSJ makes a blanket call for Congresscritters who have dallied outside of their marriages to resign now, before they're subjected to the inquiries and the web of lies unraveling like so many others have.
Mr. Brownfield believes he knows why the economy continues to move sluggishly - President Obama and his apparent "government must be grown!" decisions and his super-anti-business stances that demand regulation of business, something The Corporatists and their Republican allies abhor. Thing is, Mr. Brownfield is performing a little sleight-of-hand, placing the discontent of the country at the way the country has been run right next to a conservative analyst who believes he has the solution. I wonder, of those that were polled, whether they disapproved as strongly of the Corporatists, of the Congress, and the Other Party as much as they are apparently dissatisfied with the President. My guess is the country isn't pointing fingers at one side or another, but painting wide brush strokes and saying "get rid of anyone who can't fix this thing, or who wants to play petty politics blaming other people for it instead of getting to actual work". The political game is what it is, though, which means there will be plenty of analysts claiming the only sane policy will be to slash government spending to the bone and not raise any taxes at all, because that's what The Corporatists and their lackeys want.
Mr. Goldberg does a better job, pointing out that the because the President wanted to take ownership of the recovery, or lack thereof, he should be invested with some of the blame because its gone south...and then he says, "But really, no President controls the economy.", which undercuts his point of "The media should be hammering the President on why the economy isn't better." So something else isn't working, Mr. Goldberg? What might that be? What's the thing(s) that need actual attention to get the economy going again, and can we shower them with our ire, if the President isn't actually responsible for any of it?
Mr. Stossel continues in his thesis that licensing requirements and regulations are actually ways to stifle competition and make sure that poor and minority people don't get into businesses. His citation example is for a cosmetology license to braid hair that requires 2,000 hours of classroom instuction, instruction he believes is useless and then leveraged by already-established businesses to keep home entrepreneurs out by threatening them with fines for unlicensed businesses. Which sounds a lot like what established corporations do to startups, even when there are no licenses required. I do not think that tha abolition of licensing requirements will suddenly make corporations more altruistic about finding ways, clean or dirty, to get rid of their competitors.
Hardline propagandist L. Brent Bozell III insists the liberal media have been coddling Anthony Weiner's scandal, as opposed to the furor they expressed when Mark Foley was sending texts to Congressional pages. Surely Mr. Bozell could have picked an example that was more appropriate? Congressman Foley was sending lewd messages to pages that were under the age of consent. Mr. Weiner was sending material to women who were not his wife, but were of age, to the best of his knowledge, and were consensually involved in the matter. Mr. Foley was also promoting himself as a family-values candidate who believed in the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and that gay people were icky and awful...and the recipients of his text messages were male pages. Mr. Weiner has not. And furthermore, Mr. Weiner is correct - as far as we've seen, excepting perhaps in "conduct unbecoming a gentleman" terms, Mr. Weiner has not done anything that violates the rules or ethics of his office. Mr. Foley, had his texts turned toward action, would likely have been breaking the law as well. The two situations are not at all alike, and Mr. Bozell insults Mr. Weiner by putting them together, and his further insinuation that the liberal media is not baying for blood because they show favoritism is not borne out by the facts of the matter. It's scandalous, it's getting covered, and it brings up the problem that, say, Senator Vitter, who has admitted to soliciting prostitutes in violation of the law, is still part of Congress.
Mr. Brownfield returns, this time with some questions for the President's candidate for Secretary of Defense, asking him whether he believes the military should get everything it wants and more.
Ms. Marie-Turner says that employers will be given great incentives to drop their health care coverage in the new Obamacare environment, which will drive up the costs of the program past their initial calculations. Her insistence is that the market be able to avoid that fate by avoiding Obamacare, rather than thinking about what could be implemented to make the program work so that people can get coverage that follows them from job to job, so they can do the job they like without worrying about the insurances and the associated costs that can easily kill even the best of savings.
Dr. Hall tackles the question of whether or not the foundation of the United States was a Christian founding, and navigates with aplomb between the extremes of a totally secular state and the fanatical fundamentalist interpretation. His conclusion, that Christianity is important to understanding the founders, still very relevant to today's governance, because it provides a moral framework to hang the laws upon, and that religion deserves to be in the public square, but not so much that it impugns upon the freedom to practice whatever religion (or lack thereof), are nuanced and more scholarly than many of the polemics usually featured in the Heritage columnists. We hope they continue that trend.
And last out, the suggestion that perhaps a stable life and economic security makes people happy, rather than a strong amount of religious belief - European social democracies tend to be the tops in the happy index. Religion might make a poor substitute in the United States, because that existential crisis is still running very strong.
Last for tonight, the insights into history that lists and those that made and kept them have provided.
Out in the world today, she who could be the next Madonna finds her newest CD stopped at the Lebanese border because they fear the artist and the lyrics will be offensive to practitioners of religion in the country.
The Japanese government indicated today that the disaster at Fukushima was significantly worse that initially and continually reported, and some of the fuel in the nuclear reactors may have escaped the inner containment vessels.
India has test-fired a missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload. A reminder that Pakistan has more than merely terrorism that will concern the rest of the world - they also have India nearby that could instigate a local nuclear world.
Domestically, Artist Lupe Fiasco indicates that he believes Barack Obama is the greatest terrorist in the world today, with the argument that the actions the United States takes in the world are the inspiration for most other terrorism.
The entire high command of the candidacy of Newt Gingrich resigned their posts today over differences in the campaign's direction and focus. While the punditry believes this sinks Mr. Gingrich's chances of capturing the Republican nomination, we note that there is at least seven months before the first primary for next year, and that gives Mr. Gingrich more than enough time to regroup.
Rick Santorum thinks that Google is doing him wrong by allowing the Interwebs to, well, Google his name and find that it also means a particular slang term involving anal sex byproducts. This is Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum, someone who seems to have no trouble at all saying all sorts of things that have awful sexual connotations, and meaning them. Yet Google is apparently doing him wrong by letting the Interwebs say what they think about him.
A Massachusettes elected state official, in addition to his zeal that says anyone without proper documentation should be deported immediately, including their families and children, indicated that he felt that women here illegally should have no protection at all in case they should happen to be raped, and that they should be afraid of going to the police, because they know they'll be deported.
Speaking of police, A Special Crimes officer of the New York Police Department said his division believes that women who ask for female police officers to recount their stories of sexual assault to are lying about the sexual assault ninew times out of ten.
Last out, The good news is that Michigan's recesion may be over. The costs, however, appear to be several things, like the city government of Benton Harbor and several schools in the Detroit Public School System, including the Catherine Ferguson Academy, a school that provides support for pregnant teenage women and gets them into university with scholarships and more help. Because the state-appointed emergency managers with dictatorial powers determined that those things were necessary - and their decisions cannot be appealed.
In technology, Monsato herbicide Roundup is likely to cause birth defects...and the regulators that approved its usage knew this and apparently had other interests in mind.
An unscupulous computer technican installed remote control software on Apple computers, then sent fake error messages to get women to take their laptops into their shower rooms so he could take pictures and video of them.
In opinions, The WSJ makes a blanket call for Congresscritters who have dallied outside of their marriages to resign now, before they're subjected to the inquiries and the web of lies unraveling like so many others have.
Mr. Brownfield believes he knows why the economy continues to move sluggishly - President Obama and his apparent "government must be grown!" decisions and his super-anti-business stances that demand regulation of business, something The Corporatists and their Republican allies abhor. Thing is, Mr. Brownfield is performing a little sleight-of-hand, placing the discontent of the country at the way the country has been run right next to a conservative analyst who believes he has the solution. I wonder, of those that were polled, whether they disapproved as strongly of the Corporatists, of the Congress, and the Other Party as much as they are apparently dissatisfied with the President. My guess is the country isn't pointing fingers at one side or another, but painting wide brush strokes and saying "get rid of anyone who can't fix this thing, or who wants to play petty politics blaming other people for it instead of getting to actual work". The political game is what it is, though, which means there will be plenty of analysts claiming the only sane policy will be to slash government spending to the bone and not raise any taxes at all, because that's what The Corporatists and their lackeys want.
Mr. Goldberg does a better job, pointing out that the because the President wanted to take ownership of the recovery, or lack thereof, he should be invested with some of the blame because its gone south...and then he says, "But really, no President controls the economy.", which undercuts his point of "The media should be hammering the President on why the economy isn't better." So something else isn't working, Mr. Goldberg? What might that be? What's the thing(s) that need actual attention to get the economy going again, and can we shower them with our ire, if the President isn't actually responsible for any of it?
Mr. Stossel continues in his thesis that licensing requirements and regulations are actually ways to stifle competition and make sure that poor and minority people don't get into businesses. His citation example is for a cosmetology license to braid hair that requires 2,000 hours of classroom instuction, instruction he believes is useless and then leveraged by already-established businesses to keep home entrepreneurs out by threatening them with fines for unlicensed businesses. Which sounds a lot like what established corporations do to startups, even when there are no licenses required. I do not think that tha abolition of licensing requirements will suddenly make corporations more altruistic about finding ways, clean or dirty, to get rid of their competitors.
Hardline propagandist L. Brent Bozell III insists the liberal media have been coddling Anthony Weiner's scandal, as opposed to the furor they expressed when Mark Foley was sending texts to Congressional pages. Surely Mr. Bozell could have picked an example that was more appropriate? Congressman Foley was sending lewd messages to pages that were under the age of consent. Mr. Weiner was sending material to women who were not his wife, but were of age, to the best of his knowledge, and were consensually involved in the matter. Mr. Foley was also promoting himself as a family-values candidate who believed in the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and that gay people were icky and awful...and the recipients of his text messages were male pages. Mr. Weiner has not. And furthermore, Mr. Weiner is correct - as far as we've seen, excepting perhaps in "conduct unbecoming a gentleman" terms, Mr. Weiner has not done anything that violates the rules or ethics of his office. Mr. Foley, had his texts turned toward action, would likely have been breaking the law as well. The two situations are not at all alike, and Mr. Bozell insults Mr. Weiner by putting them together, and his further insinuation that the liberal media is not baying for blood because they show favoritism is not borne out by the facts of the matter. It's scandalous, it's getting covered, and it brings up the problem that, say, Senator Vitter, who has admitted to soliciting prostitutes in violation of the law, is still part of Congress.
Mr. Brownfield returns, this time with some questions for the President's candidate for Secretary of Defense, asking him whether he believes the military should get everything it wants and more.
Ms. Marie-Turner says that employers will be given great incentives to drop their health care coverage in the new Obamacare environment, which will drive up the costs of the program past their initial calculations. Her insistence is that the market be able to avoid that fate by avoiding Obamacare, rather than thinking about what could be implemented to make the program work so that people can get coverage that follows them from job to job, so they can do the job they like without worrying about the insurances and the associated costs that can easily kill even the best of savings.
Dr. Hall tackles the question of whether or not the foundation of the United States was a Christian founding, and navigates with aplomb between the extremes of a totally secular state and the fanatical fundamentalist interpretation. His conclusion, that Christianity is important to understanding the founders, still very relevant to today's governance, because it provides a moral framework to hang the laws upon, and that religion deserves to be in the public square, but not so much that it impugns upon the freedom to practice whatever religion (or lack thereof), are nuanced and more scholarly than many of the polemics usually featured in the Heritage columnists. We hope they continue that trend.
And last out, the suggestion that perhaps a stable life and economic security makes people happy, rather than a strong amount of religious belief - European social democracies tend to be the tops in the happy index. Religion might make a poor substitute in the United States, because that existential crisis is still running very strong.
Last for tonight, the insights into history that lists and those that made and kept them have provided.
