Multi Medium

B&W Arena Construction Photoblogging

In case you’ve forgotten, I am objectively pro-black-and-white…

Add comment August 19th, 2010 at 10:34am Posted by Eli    Permalink

The Return Of Arena Construction Photoblogging

The sad thing is that the arena is actually finished now.  These photos are from almost a full year ago, that’s how long my photo-processing hiatus has been.

Add comment August 18th, 2010 at 12:10pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

Wednesday Why-I-Love-The-Weekly-World-News Blogging

Best. UFO. Explanation. Ever.

Two nights ago, hundreds of cruise passengers were distracted from an evening of dancing and drinking when thirty-year-old financial advisor Dianne Rimsky started screaming and wildly pointing to the waters off the starboard side.

“The way that woman was carrying on, I thought she had spotted an iceberg,” said vacationer David Willis.  “But when I looked where she was gesturing, I almost dropped my cocktail.”

Half a mile from the luxurious Marco Majestic, Rimsky had seen what turned out to be an ‘Unidentified Submerged Object.’

“It was large and gray,” said a still-shaken Rimsky, “and covered in multi-colored flashing lights.  And it was moving very fast.  I thought it was going to hit us – but then, suddenly, it turned and went in a different direction.”

Virtually everyone on the ship reported hearing a high-pitched burbling sound, like a porpoise on helium.  The strange object was only visible for a few minutes, during which time everyone on the ship watched in fascination.

“We had a number of theories as to what it was,” said banker Jason Green.  “Some thought it was a new type of submarine.  Others imagined that it was an alien vessel of some kind.  But based on careful study of some cellphone images I managed to grab, I believe it was simply a whale tangled in Christmas lights that had washed away in a hurricane the year before.  That seemed the most logical explanation.”

There was more, but it was really all downhill from there…

Add comment August 18th, 2010 at 07:59am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Priming-The-Pump La Jolla Photoblogging

Turns out I left off of the La Jolla photoblogging a little prematurely last year; I still had a handful of photos left.  And since I’m flying back out there tomorrow, it seemed like this would be a good time to get them out of the way…

Add comment August 17th, 2010 at 06:18pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

Programming Note

I’m on vacation for the next week or so, so posting will probably be light.  But I’ve started processing photos again, so there will be some photoblogging.  Whoo!

Add comment August 17th, 2010 at 01:15pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

Monday Media Blogging

Who among us does not love Taiwanese CGI news re-enactments?

That is exactly how it happened.

Add comment August 16th, 2010 at 11:55am Posted by Eli    Permalink

We Get E-Mails

Well, I don’t – or at least not this one, because I cancelled my OFA membership in disgust after Obama and the Democrats sold out on the public option.  But I know progressives who did:

Eighteen years ago, shortly after graduating from law school, I helped lead a voter registration campaign in Chicago that generated record turnout on Election Day.

That experience taught me one of the most important lessons I ever learned as a community organizer: When people promise that they’ll do something — like voting — they are far more likely to do it.

That’s why one key part of our Vote 2010 plan this year is to get folks like you from across the country to commit to vote, to make sure we get as many people as we can to cast their ballots this fall.

But getting the commitments we need starts with your own promise to make it to the polls and cast your ballot.

Will you please commit to vote in the 2010 elections?

Over the next 82 days, volunteers across the country will spend countless hours calling voters and knocking on their doors, asking them the same question.

And you can bet that I am counting on you to join them in talking to voters in your community.

This election offers a stark choice. We Democrats are hard at work trying to move America forward, repairing a decade of damage and growing an economy based on the Main Street values of hard work and responsibility.

We’ve fought for and won historic reforms to our health care system, a victory 100 years in the making, and to Wall Street, the most sweeping overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression.

But after years of policies that landed us in the worst recession since the 1930’s, the Republicans who got us there have not come up with anything different from the policies of George W. Bush.

We simply cannot afford to go backwards or let them repeal our reforms. And making sure we can continue moving forward starts with your own promise to cast your ballot in these elections.

Please commit to vote this fall:

http://my.barackobama.com/Commitment

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

Aw.  Isn’t that nice.  I guess the “P.S. I hate your liberal guts, you pot-smoking dirty hippie retard” at the end must have gotten cut off by an e-mail glitch or something.  That’s okay though, we all got the message anyway.

3 comments August 13th, 2010 at 11:20am Posted by Eli    Permalink

What Lessig Said

In his reaction to the White House’s latest progressive-bashing fiasco, Professor Lessig nails what makes Obama so deeply frustrating:

It’s certainly not fair to criticize Obama for not being a Lefty. He wasn’t ever a Lefty. He didn’t promise to be a Lefty. And there’s no reason to expect that he would ever become a Lefty.

But Lefties (like me) who criticize Obama are not criticizing him for failing our Lefty test. Our criticism is that Obama is failing the Obama test: that he is not delivering the presidency that he promised.

When Candidate Obama took on Hilary Clinton, he was quite clear about what he thought about the way Washington works. And he was quite clear about why he was running for President. As he said:

[U]nless we’re willing to challenge the broken system in Washington, and stop letting lobbyists use their clout to get their way, nothing else is going to change. And the reason I’m running for president is to challenge that system.

Read it again: “The reason I am running for president is to challenge that system.”

(multiple similar Obama quotes follow)

Since coming to power, Obama has pushed just one piece of legislation that would have any effect at all on the power of lobbyists over Congress. That bill has not passed, and even if it had, it would have changed nothing in the lobbyists’ power. He has not even indicated that he would support the only substantial reform of lobbyists power with support in Congress today — the Fair Elections Now Act. Indeed, “congressional reform” doesn’t even merit a mention on the “Additional Issues” page of whitehouse.gov (though “sportsmen” does).

Obama’s strategy as president has not been to “change the way Washington works.” Rather, he has pushed reforms in the same old way, with the same old games….

(…)

[Obama] promised to “take up the fight.” His failure to deliver on that critical promise — the promise that distinguished him from his main primary rival — or even to try, is a failure that everyone, Lefties included, should be free to complain about without suffering the rage of Gibbs.

Of course, Obama has always been careful to couch his capitulation to the will of corporate lobbyists as some kind of principled pragmatism, as necessary compromise in order to achieve his noble objectives, but the reality is that President Obama has demonstrated little or no desire to oppose or reduce the power of corporate lobbyists and corporate money in our political system, which is rapidly approaching absolute.  And I think that’s a pretty damn fair and reasonable complaint to make after he made such a show of being Mr. Clean during the campaign.

Add comment August 13th, 2010 at 07:19am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Washington Post Calls 85% Of America “Denialists”

Well isn’t this special…

The current focus of the Social Security denialists’ ire is President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which they view as a stalking horse for gutting Social Security. A new group, the Strengthen Social Security Coalition, which includes the AFL-CIO, the NAACP and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, asserts that the president’s two choices to chair the panel, Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Alan Simpson, “sent a clear message. Social Security is on the chopping block.” The groups’ list of what changes are unacceptable is longer than what it would consider: no increase in retirement age; no reduction in benefits; no “means testing.” Rather, they say, the adjustments should come from the revenue side. Though the possibilities are not specified, they include raising the payroll tax rate, raising the ceiling for income on which benefits are paid or finding a new revenue source, such as the estate tax or a new financial transactions tax.

We would prefer a more balanced solution, one that relies on a combination of revenue increases and benefit adjustments. On the revenue side, it’s essential that the funding source come from within the Social Security system itself. The coalition is correct that Social Security should not be used to deal with deficit problems outside the program, but the converse is also true: Getting Social Security on a sustainable footing should not add to the deficit. Raising the payroll tax ceiling to cover the same share of wages that it did in 1983 would make sense, but that would only solve about one-third of the long-term problem. Some adjustments on the benefits side, particularly making benefits less generous for the highest-income recipients, would also make sense.

…Or the payroll tax ceiling could simply be removed, which as I understand it would fix 100% of the problem.  Funny how “benefit adjustments” seems like a perfectly acceptable idea but removing the cap doesn’t.

But if the WaPo wants to call us denialists, we’re in good company:

Social Security turns 75 this week and remains an intensely popular program with voters of all ages, who strongly oppose cutting it to reduce the deficit, according to a new survey paid for by AARP and conducted by GfK Roper.

The poll, which was provided exclusively to HuffPost, finds that 85 percent of adults oppose cutting Social Security to reduce the deficit; 72 percent “strongly oppose” doing so.

Too bad there just doesn’t seem to be any political will for doing what a mere 85% of the country wants.

2 comments August 12th, 2010 at 11:39am Posted by Eli    Permalink

No One Could Have Anticipated…

Come on, did anyone really think that Congress would pass a financial reform bill that hurt Goldman Sachs?

As Wall Street scrambles to find the best and most profitable way to operate under the new financial reform law, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. — the firm that was expected to suffer the most under the legislation — could emerge practically unscathed.

(…)

[T]op Goldman executives privately advised analysts that the bank did not expect the reform measure to cost it any revenue.

“The statement was perhaps surprising in its level of conviction,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski wrote in a note to clients, “but we’ve learned to take such judgments from GS very seriously.”

(…)

The law, signed by President Obama in July, could force the trading of derivatives, a big business line for Goldman, onto exchanges. Regulators might allow the trading of some contracts over the counter but require that the resulting payments be handled by a clearinghouse.

Either way, “we think we are well positioned to be a market leader under the new rules,” said Jack McCabe, co-head of Goldman’s derivatives clearing service business.

Richard Bove, a bank analyst at Rochdale Securities, said he had changed his view of the law’s effect on Goldman.

“I thought this company was going to be really harmed by this bill; now I’ve figured out that it’s not going to happen,” he said. “They should win big here.”

It’s not Matt Drudge who rules our world.  It’s Goldman Sachs.

Add comment August 12th, 2010 at 07:07am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Wednesday Why-I-Love-The-Weekly-World-News Blogging

This is why I never pick up my phone unless it’s someone I know:

Flip Mallard thought he’d finally be free of annoying telemarketers.

“I got a new number and promptly registered with the National Do Not Call List so I could say goodbye to unsolicited sales pitches,” he told Weekly World News.  “The only folks who would have my number would be friends and family.”

Silence was golden for a few weeks until Mallard started receiving phone calls in the middle of the night.

“It was way past two in the morning when the phone rang,” he said.  “I scowled at the Caller ID, which read ‘Caller Unknown – Out of Area.’  Furious at being awakened, I picked up the phone, determined to give whoever it was a severe tongue-lashing.”

“At first there was silence, then a low pulsing hum as if I were being connected over vast distances,” he said.  “Suddenly I heard what sounded like a cat caught in a blender.  In the midst of all that shrieking, I could’ve sworn I heard my name.  I figured it was my creepy coworker, Robert Bendis, trying to ‘punk’ me, so I screamed right back.  He screamed.  I screamed.  We both screamed – for a full five minutes.

“I finally hung up,” he said.  “But moments later, a bright beam of light shot from the night sky into my bedroom.  A hologram of slithering, tentacled, vaguely humanoid creatures with multiple breasts danced by my bed.  It was like an extraterrestrial version of Girls Gone Nova – and somehow I’d ordered it!

“That was when I realized I’d been alien telemarketed!”

In the weeks that followed, Mallard received more off-world sales calls.

“Evidently I was now fair game to every Tom, Dick and Q’uetztol out there,” he complained.  “Since I had ‘bought’ once, my name and number had been made accessible to other ETelemarketers.  Whenever the phone rang I was too scared to say anything, lest I accidentally order a molecular condensing weight loss program!”

The beleaguered – and tired – Mallard had no choice but to finally change his phone number again.

“Thankfully, the intergalactic calls stopped,” Mallard said.  “I haven’t figured out how to cancel the holograms, though, so I guess I’ll have to change my debit card number as well.

“Fortunately, pennies go a long way on their world.”

Hmm, a vacation in outer space is even more attractive now that I know the exchange rate is so favorable.  Also, I really, really love the word “ETelemarketers”.

Add comment August 11th, 2010 at 07:25pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

If You’ve Got Nothing To Hide…

Google’s Eric Schmidt thinks online anonymity is too “dangerous” to be allowed:

Speaking on a panel at the event, Schmidt argued that anonymity on the Internet is dangerous. “In a world of asynchronous threats, it is too dangerous for there not to be some way to identify you,” he said.

Schmidt took the stance that governments may eventually put an end to anonymity. “We need a [verified] name service for people,” he said. “Governments will demand it.”

He expanded on his thoughts in a separate interview.

(…)

“[I]f you are trying to commit a terrible, evil crime, it’s not obvious that you should be able to do so with complete anonymity. There are no systems in our society which allow you to do that. Judges insist on unmasking who the perpetrator was. So absolute anonymity could lead to some very difficult decisions for our governments and our society as a whole and I don’t think we want that either.”

This sounds an awful lot like arguing that the police should have everyone’s DNA and fingerprints on file because we’re all potential criminals.

Add comment August 11th, 2010 at 07:20am Posted by Eli    Permalink

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Obama and the Democrats can’t figure out why they just can’t seem to muster any enthusiasm from their base.  I mean, it’s not like they’ve ever done or said anything to demoralize us, right?

During an interview with The Hill in his West Wing office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.

“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”

The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”

Of those who complain that Obama caved to centrists on issues such as healthcare reform, Gibbs said: “They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president.”

(…)

Gibbs’s tough comments reflect frustration and some bafflement from the White House, which believes it has done a lot for the left.

In just over 18 months in office, Obama has passed healthcare reform, financial regulatory reform and fair-pay legislation for women, among other bills near and dear to liberals.

Obama is also overseeing the end of the Iraq war, with the U.S. on schedule to end its combat operations by the end of this month.

He’s also added diversity to the Supreme Court by nominating two female justices, including the court’s first Hispanic. Yet some liberal groups have criticized his nominees for not being liberal enough.

“There’s 101 things we’ve done,” said Gibbs, who then mentioned both Iraq and healthcare.

Well gee, maybe Mr. Gibbs can explain Obama’s Unstoppable Freight Train Of Success to drug-addled hippie wavpeac, who is living with the consequences of Obama’s stirring progressive victories on at least four different fronts.  Or to Bob Borosage or Glenn Greenwald, who both have excellent critiques of how the Obama administration has compromised and betrayed progressive ideals at every turn.

The most telling quote comes from conservative David Frum, of all people:

More proof of my longtime thesis, Repub pols fear the GOP base; Dem pols hate the Dem base.

Which is accurate, but incomplete.  Both parties’ pols fear the GOP base, and both parties’ pols hate the Dem base.  And as a result, the Republican base feels energized, triumphant and powerful, while the Democratic base feels dispirited and powerless.  And Gibbs’ lame walkback notwithstanding, abuse and unconvincing happy talk are a poor substitute for conviction and results.

1 comment August 10th, 2010 at 03:01pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

Monday Media Blogging

The first rule of of Jane Austen Fight Club is: One never mentions Jane Austen Fight Club.

Add comment August 9th, 2010 at 11:14am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Sunday Mr. Deity Blogging

Mr. Deity totally aces his psych eval:

Mainly because he has absolutely no anger issues at all.

Add comment August 8th, 2010 at 04:53pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

Friday Quote & Batpug Blogging

This week’s quote is from Trail Of A Serial Killer, with Chris Penn and Michael Madsen:

There is no beast so cruel, that does not have some mercy. But I am no beast, and therefore have no mercy.

And, of course, there’ll be other people’s batpugs…

(h/t shadowy & mysterious Codename V, who is crazy about both pugs and Batman)

3 comments August 6th, 2010 at 11:37am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Job Creation Fail

Uh, Mr. President?  You’re supposed to be creating jobs here…

In recent months, President Obama reversed his campaign promises on trade issues – first by dropping his pledge to renegotiate NAFTA and then by pushing to pass NAFTA-style trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Now, with the unemployment crisis persisting, the key jobs question is once again front a center in American politics. Specifically: How do we create jobs here at home and build our most valuable 21st century industries?

The first and foremost answer is that our government should stop doing stuff like the program described in this stunning new report from Information Week:

U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers

Despite President Obama’s pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia.

Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent’s low labor costs…

The outsourcing program (is) sure to draw the most fire from critics. While Obama acknowledged that occupations such as garment making don’t add much value to the U.S. economy, he argued relentlessly during his presidential run that lawmakers needed to do more to keep hi-tech jobs in IT, biological sciences, and green energy in the country.

Amazing.  Just amazing.  Obama is now actively working against employment in the U.S. by actually encouraging American companies to outsource.  I can’t even imagine what he might be thinking, other than that he wants to prove how totally not anti-business he is.

Or, of course, he simply doesn’t give a damn.  That’s usually a pretty safe bet.

Add comment August 6th, 2010 at 07:30am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Stat Of The Day

China is apparently working on a super-duper-high-speed maglev vacuum train with a top speed of 1000+ km per hour, at a cost of over $2.95 million per kilometer of maglev vacuum railway.

Put those two numbers together, and you get a train that travels at $3 billion per hour. I would make a pilgrimage to China just for that.  And pandas.

Add comment August 5th, 2010 at 09:37pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

The Other Gaypocalypse

Sure, it’s a big deal that Judge Walker struck down Prop 8, but it’s sucked up so much blog and media attention that I think we’re missing the dire unintended consequences of another, very similar ruling:

Mexico’s supreme court on Thursday upheld a landmark law that allows gay marriage in the capital city, bucking a challenge raised by the conservative government of President Felipe Calderon.

This year, Mexico City became the first capital in mainly Catholic Latin America to pass a law allowing gay couples the same marriage and adoption rights as heterosexuals.

Do you realize what this means? Millions of opposite-marriage-loving Mexicans will be forced to flee to the United States (but not California) to preserve the sanctity of their marriages!

In addition to the inevitable collapse of American society as we know it, think how many conservative heads will explode while trying to decide whether to vilify the interlopers or welcome them as brothers. (Pro Tip for Mexican marriage refugees: Tell Bill O’Reilly how much you love Christmas and falafel – I know it sounds weird, but trust me on this one.)

(Crossposted at The Seminal)

Add comment August 5th, 2010 at 08:32pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

It’s Not Just Hyperbole

Conservatives really are crazy:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are “converting Denver into a United Nations community.”

“This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed,” Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.

Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor’s efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes “that’s exactly the attitude they want you to have.”

“This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms,” Maes said.

He added: “These aren’t just warm, fuzzy ideas from the mayor. These are very specific strategies that are dictated to us by this United Nations program that mayors have signed on to.”

Maes said in a later interview that he was referring to Denver’s membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an international association that promotes sustainable development and has attracted the membership of more than 1,200 communities, 600 of which are in the United States.

I guess the UN will be using its famous black helicopters to force everyone to ride Hickenlooper’s Communist UN Bikes.  When they’re not busy fluoridating the water to contaminate our purity of essence, that is.

Add comment August 5th, 2010 at 07:13am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Wednesday Why-I-Love-The-Weekly-World-News Blogging

Finally, a reason to watch The Bachelor:

The conclusion of The Bachelorette can only mean one thing – that it is time for the newest installment of The Bachelor. While Ali’s mission is over, ABC’s has started – again. This season did not produce the usual fan favorite to become the next Bachelor. With that in mind, ABC had to think outside the box to land their next stud.

Weekly World News has confirmed that ABC has selected none other than Bat Boy to become the next Bachelor. While one producer said that the answer was “obvious,” other insiders of the show said that the decision was a difficult one.

“We are swinging for the fences on this one,” said a producer, speaking anonymously. “Bat Boy is America’s favorite mutant, but what do we really know about him. He is someone of great intrigue and mystery, but there is no denying he has his faithful following.”

Opting to not select one of Ali’s heartbroken suitors, ABC decided to go in a new direction in hopes of breathing new life into the series.

“There is only so many times that we can select the same kind of guy to become ‘The Bachelor,’” said another producer. “We didn’t want to go with the usual rugged, all-american man or the wealthy man with a smile that’s fit for a movie. We wanted something unusual, something that would rock the boat.”

There is no doubt that ABC is swinging for the fences on this one. Bat Boy is certainly ecstatic on the decision and cannot wait to begin his quest for love.

“Bat Boy has always been an individual that has lived a life of mystery,” said Bat Boy’s rep. “What many people don’t know about him is that he has always wanted to find love, but has never been successful in that quest. He his hoping that this new venture will produce the woman of his dreams. We will have to work on his biting problem, however.”

I just hope the competition doesn’t get too ugly – what healthy, red-blooded American woman wouldn’t do anything to date Bat Boy?

2 comments August 4th, 2010 at 11:31am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Tone-Deafness: We Haz It

The Obama administration continues to demonstrate their ultra-keen political instincts and compassion for the common man.  First up, Ken Salazar going to bat for the oil industry:

July’s decision halted development on billions of dollars in leases in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea. Beistline found that the federal government didn’t follow environmental law before selling drilling rights. Among other things, he found the government had failed to analyze the environmental impact of natural gas development, “despite industry interest and specific lease incentives for such development,” according to court records.

The Obama administration is among those seeking clarification from Beistline, a rare recent case of the administration siding with the oil industry. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asked the court to narrow the ruling so that another company, Statoil, which owns 16 Chukchi leases, could start seismic testing roughly 100 miles from the coast. Government attorneys told the judge that Statoil, a global oil company partly owned by the Norwegian government, would likely face “significant economic losses” if it couldn’t proceed with seismic surveying.

Statoil said Tuesday it might cancel the seismic tests it hoped to do in the Chukchi this summer because it remains unclear whether the company will be allowed to do the work.

Environmental groups said they were stunned by the administration move, which they said undercuts the administration’s recent decisions to put the brakes on Arctic exploration in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

And, they said, marine mammals such as whales and walruses can be harmed by the testing. The impact of such tests on marine life was one of the issues the court said the federal government failed to consider adequately before issuing the Arctic drilling leases.

Awesome.  So nice to see the Interior’s deep concern for protecting the environment from the offshore oil industry.

And then there’s the always-reliable, prosperity-is-just-around-the-corner Tim Geithner:

Until now, President Obama and his advisers have been adamant that Congress should extend the expiring 2001 and 2003 tax cuts only for individuals making less than $200,000 and married couples making less than $250,000, leaving tax rates on upper-income earners to increase as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2011.

But when asked repeatedly on ABC’s “Good Morning America” whether he would recommend that Obama veto an extension of the upper-income tax cuts, Geithner refused to commit.

(…)

“If you extend particularly these tax cuts that only go to 2 percent of the highest-earning Americans, then there’d be a much higher probability they’ll be extended indefinitely,” Geithner said. That would dramatically drive up the deficit and be “a deeply fiscally irresponsible act,” he added.

But asked again whether he would commit to a veto threat against any legislation extending all of the Bush-era tax cuts for now, Geithner responded “no.”

This sounds an awful lot like the healthcare reform fiasco, where Obama repeatedly claimed to support the public option, but refused to commit to vetoing any bill without it.  And after the way that turned out, it’s hard not to interpret a refusal to veto as a signal of tacit support.

Add comment August 4th, 2010 at 07:24am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Won’t Someone Think Of The Oil Companies?

Shorter Jonah Goldberg: The offshore drilling ban is the real tragedy of the Gulf.

No, really.  Because he has cheerfully embraced Michael Grunwald’s happy propaganda story about how the oil is all dissolving and everything’s going to be fine and the environmental impact isn’t really a big deal at all (um, right).  He also appears to embrace Grunwald’s assumption that any dead animal carcasses that are not obviously covered with oil must therefore have died of natural causes.  Either that or he’s incredibly dishonest, but surely that can’t be true, right?

Some birds were oiled and died, always a sad sight. But according to Time magazine, the number of birds killed is — so far — less than 1 percent of the avian casualties of the Exxon Valdez. And to date, only three oiled mammal carcasses have been recovered. Three.

Wow, three sure is a small number, isn’t it?  Maybe there isn’t anything to worry about after all!

But if you look at the actual report (PDF) from the Deepwater Horizon Response site (which probably has best-case numbers, and of course doesn’t count dead animals that weren’t recovered), you see that while there were only three oiled mammal carcasses, there were 64 overall. Still not a huge number, but bigger than Jonah’s carefully-parsed figure by a factor of 21.  And mammals are the smallest of the categories encompassed by the report.  There are 504 dead sea turtles, and 3455 dead birds (but that’s nowhere near the number of birds killed by the Exxon Valdez spill, so that’s okay).  But no count of the number of dead fish, or shrimp, or oysters, much less damage to coral reefs and other deep-sea habitats, or even the number of Gulf residents and cleanup workers sickened by dispersants or oil fumes or tainted seafood.

But hey, we only found three dead mammals with oil on them, so that proves that this is just those crazy tree-hugging liberals getting hysterical again and trying to take away everyone’s jobs!  I’m surprised Jonah didn’t cite the lack of seal, otter and walrus casualties as proof that BP’s environmental response plan is working perfectly.

Add comment August 3rd, 2010 at 08:18pm Posted by Eli    Permalink

Productivity Is Awesome!

Who among us does not love increased productivity?

The shoddy economy is leaving many workers feeling overworked, underpaid — and yet relieved to be employed at all.

“Fewer workers are doing more and more,” said Brett Good, a district president with staffing firm Robert Half, which has surveyed workers on this topic. “You’ve got a lot of people that are working harder, making less money — and you’re getting to a point of frustration.”

Employers have cut millions of jobs since the recession began in December 2007, driven by a drop in business and a desire to shore up costs and boost profits. Although the cost-cutting has helped propel a spate of strong earnings in recent weeks, pleasing Wall Street, it has left those who are still employed struggling to pick up the slack.

Fifty-six percent of Americans have taken on extra duties at work over the past two years because of staff cuts, according to insurer MetLife’s Study of the American Dream, which was conducted in April and released last week.

Employees also are cramming more work into each day. Labor productivity has moved steadily higher over the past two years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(…)

Most people who are enduring harder says at the office probably are relieved just to be working, said David Bowles, a consultant and co-author of the book “Employee Morale: Driving Performance in Challenging Times.”

“The average worker is probably quite happy to have a job,” Bowles said. “The overriding feeling is (that) whatever’s happening to them, they are not on the other side of that fence.”

“Productivity” sure does sound an awful lot like “fear-driven overwork” to me.  Hey, why hire more workers when you can squeeze your existing ones into doing whatever you want for less pay because they’re deathly afraid of being unemployed?

Add comment August 3rd, 2010 at 07:23am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Monday Media Blogging

The Swedish Chef attempts to prepare Der Pöpcørn Shrimpees:

Add comment August 2nd, 2010 at 11:33am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Drowned By The Rising Tide

So much for a rising tide lifting all boats.  It seems like no matter which direction the economy is moving, the only people who benefit are the wealthy.  Bob Herbert writes about corporations taking advantage of increased worker productivity and the excuse of the recession to lay off and cut the wages of more workers than they actually need to so they can hoard their profits, while the Financial Times has a long story about America’s stagnating incomes and lack of upward mobility.

It is one of the greatest and saddest ironies of all that so many Americans are so passionately opposed to taxes on income brackets that they will never ever occupy.  They’re either outraged that Democrats want to tax their imaginary future millions, or they somehow imagine that they’re the ones whose taxes are getting raised, or both.  Whatever the reason, the conservative doctrine that we must cut all manner of social services in order to pay for military spending and tax cuts for the rich is still far more popular than makes any logical sense.  Hell, the Tea Party has actually managed to package tax cuts for the rich as populism.

Towards the end of the FT story, a member of one of the struggling middle-class families it profiles invokes the Tea Party mantra of “I want my country back,” but he didn’t mean from Barack Obama and the Democrats.  He meant from the corporations and wealthy who have done nothing but take without giving anything in return.  I want my country back too.

5 comments August 2nd, 2010 at 07:32am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Friday Quote & Wild Dog Blogging

This week’s quote is from the Kurt Russell classic, Big Trouble In Little China:

We take what we want and leave the rest – just like your salad bar.

And, of course, there’ll be other people’s wild dogs…

They look like sweethearts.

Add comment July 30th, 2010 at 11:35am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Someone Hasn’t Been Paying Attention…

CNBC’s Diana Olick on the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA)’s decision to protest Obama’s disastrous Making Homes Affordable plan and demand real help for homeowners:

What’s so interesting about this event is that I’m guessing the bulk of the protestors are overall Obama supporters. The majority of NACA employees and volunteers are minorities and largely Democrats. Bruce Marks says he voted for Obama and supported him. This will be the first large-scale, organized protest of the Administration’s housing bailout, and given who is protesting, it will be hard for the President to ignore.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  Because if there’s one thing Obama’s been completely unable to ignore, it’s progressive organizations that advocate for people who aren’t millionaires.

Worst. Community. Organizer. Ever.

1 comment July 30th, 2010 at 07:14am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Objectively Pro-Dog-Poop

As Goldy says, the saga of poop bags in Everett, WA offers a great example of the conservative mentality in a nutshell (or poop bag, as the case may be):

If you thought yesterday’s post on dog poop bags was just a quick toss-off, well think again, for the moment I saw the Seattle Times/AP piece on cash-strapped Everett spending $8,430 on plastic dog poop bags, I immediately recognized an opportunity to provoke a conversation on what I believe to be the most pernicious aspect of today’s conservative movement: its stubborn insistence on choosing ideology over reality.

(He then quotes some right-wing commenters ranting self-righteously about how dog owners should take responsibility for providing their own poop bags and the government shouldn’t be spending money on this.)

Fecal coliform bacteria is one of the most serious pollutants in many of our nation’s urban streams, and modern DNA tests routinely trace the majority of the contamination back to dog waste. That’s why, in an effort to combat both this very real health concern, and the general nuisance factor of unpicked-up poop, municipalities nationwide have pursued a coordinated campaign that includes general public outreach and education, the creation of dedicated off-leash parks with adequate waste handling facilities, and yes… providing and stocking taxpayer funded poop bag dispensers at parks, trails and other popular dog walking routes.

Municipalities maintain this expense, even in the face of dramatic budget cuts, because it works… not just due to the convenience, but because the mere visible presence of these bag dispensers and waste receptacles is socially reinforcing, resulting in a dramatically higher compliance rate with existing pooper scooper laws. From a public health and quality of life perspective, few public expenditures produce such bang for the buck as the $8,430 Everett spends on plastic poop bags.

But that’s not good enough for the personal responsibility crowd. The mere notion of spending public dollars on something individuals should do for themselves offends their sensibilities. And so they would prefer to see their public sidewalks, parks and trails covered in shit than admit that sometimes, reality trumps ideology.

(…)

Today’s conservatives seem so obsessed with how people should behave, that they have little or no tolerance for how people actually do behave. So steeped in faith — faith in God, faith in the market, faith in American mythology, faith in their personalized reading of the Constitution — nothing will stop today’s conservative leaders from advocating what should work over what actually does.

I think that’s correct for social conservatives, but it’s not quite right for fiscal conservatives.  Where social conservatives can’t bear the thought that someone, somewhere might be having a good time, fiscal conservatives can’t bear the thought that someone, somewhere might be getting something for free at their expense.  It doesn’t matter whether the benefits outweigh the costs, someone is getting something for free.

That’s why they hate any kind of stimulus spending – it doesn’t matter whether it boosts the economy and makes everyone richer, someone is getting something for free.  Of course, they don’t mind so much if that someone is already filthy rich, because they’ve obviously worked hard to get that way and deserve every benefit that society can give them.  But ordinary schmucks or – God forbid – minorities or immigrants?  How dare they take my hard-earned money!

As I have said before, if you offered to pay a conservative ten dollars to give five dollars to a homeless guy, I don’t think they could bring themselves to do it.  They would rather deprive themselves than benefit someone they view as undeserving.

Add comment July 29th, 2010 at 07:49am Posted by Eli    Permalink

Wednesday Why-I-Love-The-Weekly-World-News Blogging

Yes, the Weekly World News does have a sports section:

Pitcher Pope Benedict XVI has signed with the Los Angeles Angels for the remainder of the 2010 Major League Baseball season.

The 83-year-old pitcher looked ecstatic after signing his one-year contract.  The Angels have now loaded up their pitching rotation by adding the Holy Father, a highly praised righthander, to their staff.

The move isn’t the first time that the Vatican has broken with tradition, but Pope Benedict wants to reach out to Catholics in America and there’s no better way than pitching for his favorite team.  The St. Louis Cardinals were disappointed, they thought their team was Pope Benedict’s favorite, but as the Pope said, “Angels are holier than Cardinals.”

Vatican sources were concerned that the Pope would not be able to wear his traditional gold cross while pitching, but Bud Selig, the Commissioner of MLB, said he will allow the Holy Father to keep it on. “Bless Bud,” said the Pope.

The Angels were going to acquire Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for Joe Saunders, but at the last minute they decided instead to trade Joe Saunders to the Vatican for the Pope and two bishops to be named later.

The Angels will  not only have one of the best starting rotation in the American League, but they will have God on their side. “We really feel good about adding the Pope to our starting rotation,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “This is a huge opportunity for us to upgrade not only now, but for eternity. To have real Angels rooting for us… that’s worth gold.  Hallelujah.”

Some baseball insiders are skeptical. “An 83-year-old on the mound, are you kidding me?  He’s gonna have to rely on a screwball, a change-up and a lot of prayers,” a laughing  Bob Geren, the Manager of the Oakland Athletics said.  Angels pitching coach, Mike Butcher said in response, “Geren can laugh all he wants, but PB has some pitches no major league player has ever seen.  He’s got a lot of movement on the ball.  We call one of his pitches “The Pope Popper.”  It just pops into the catcher’s mitt without PB ever moving a muscle.  Hallelujah.”

Non-Catholics, atheists and sinners in MLB are concerned that the Pope may favor Catholic batters, especially those named Jesus.  However, Scioscia said the Pope will be “charitable” to all.

Now they just need to hire Batboy as a batboy…

1 comment July 28th, 2010 at 11:43am Posted by Eli    Permalink