Populism: Just like racism!

Matt Taibbi gets it. How many times in the last few weeks have you heard the word populism used by the mainstream media to describe the desire to reform our financial system? It takes a completely valid argument and uses that word to make it trite. I also like how Taibbi calls bullshit — and [...]

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The Party of Assholes

I am loath to blog about the worst of the worst wingnuts like Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Lynn Cheney and Glenn Beck. I mean what’s the point? Their assholeishness is hardly something so subtle that it needs a blogger (let alone thousands of them) to point out. Nonetheless what is truly disgusting lately [...]

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Two short observations

Pat Robertson on NPR speaking about Oral Roberts’ 1987 plea to his supporters that they donate money to his church or God would kill him: It was unseemly. We all have a mole or a wart somewhere in our lives. What do you mean it was unseemly? He said God told him that he was [...]

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Todd Willingham

Ever since reading the heartbreaking New Yorker article about Todd Willingham’s execution, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him. I haven’t talked about it, because what can you say? What can say about something so evil as the execution of an innocent man? It challenges our beliefs in a way that isn’t comfortable [...]

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“You lie”

It’s amazing how low the stakes are with the Republicans. Outrage over illegal immigrants getting health care? I might add that the President said it wasn’t true. I would have paid good money — campaign contribution money — to hear anyone — ANYONE — say “you lie” during one of the George W. Bush speeches [...]

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In the Loop

I saw In the Loop last night and I can’t recommend it enough. The film is an offshoot of the British television series “The Thick of It” which I have only seen a couple of episodes of. The series and film have a sort of docu-drama feel although the actors don’t confront the camera at [...]

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The man who would be Emily Dickinson

With all of this talk about someone forging a Kenyan birth certificate for Obama, I was reminded of a fascinating article I read many years ago in the Guardian. Mark Hofman was a really good forger. He conducted careful research and he chose his victims well. They were people who bought the forgeries because they [...]

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Jon Stewart vs. the “birthers”

more about “Jon Stewart vs. the “birthers”“, posted with vodpod

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OMFG!

I don’t see any clicks on my stats for the article in the post below. Which is understandable. It’s a long article and quite an undertaking to read it. But let me just say that after reading it, I am as pale as a ghost.

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The Great American Bubble

I haven’t read this myself yet, but Jake highly recommends this Rolling Stone article on the Goldman Sachs influence in various bubbles in the U.S. economy.

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Don’t listen to philosophers

No really, don’t. Remember Nietzsche, Marx? Not a good idea. Besides, lack of government intervention is what got us in this mess.

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A sucker is born every minute

There is so much going on in this story; it’s hard to keep track. An art collector is suing Louis Vitton and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art for selling him what he thought was original art, but was actually leftover material from LV handbags. If he knew that the $6,000 he paid for [...]

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Lord what fools these mortals be

more about “LOON WATCH: Right-wing bets against U…“, posted with vodpod

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Quote for the day

I’m not sure whether this quote was Hayden’s or Mukasey’s. Disclosure of the techniques is likely to be met by faux outrage, and is perfectly packaged for media consumption. It will also incur the utter contempt of our enemies. Perhaps you should have thought of that before you tortured people.

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Historical revision of the day

It’s interesting how photographs create history. We’ve all seen the Ken Burns’ affect in countless documentaries, but what if the photographs are deliberately misleading? Will anyone remember and revise the historical record? My sister brought this story to my attention. A Japanese-American battalion liberated the concentration camp of Dachau during World War II but no [...]

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Forget everything you’ve read about Dubai

It’s much much worse. I’ve been keeping up with the news about this strange place. I read the National Geographic article. I read about people abandoning luxury cars at the airport in order to get out of Dubai without being thrown in debtors prison. But nothing prepared me for this. There are so many human [...]

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It’s mental illness

With the recent trend of senseless massacres in the U.S. (seven in the past month according to AP), the MSNBC headline reads “Experts: Many motives drive mass murder.” Mass murderers are as different as their killing field — be it a nursing home or a suburban home — and as diverse as their reasons for [...]

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Keep copies

This is a nail-biter of a story from Salon about medical malpractice. I’d post an excerpt, but I don’t want to give away the dramatic ending.

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Madoff investors want fabricated money

The agency liquidating Bernard Madoff’s brokerage says the $2.6 billion it has on hand is enough to satisfy all legitimate claims by victims of the money manager’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme. This is good news, right? I was flabbergasted by the following: Some Madoff investors are up in arms about SIPC’s decision, announced by Picard [...]

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What the Republicans do that the Democrats don’t

If we were to do the Pepsi challenge and decide one party is “better” than another, I think we’d have trouble – obviously aside to particular issues that interest an individual. It’s often difficult to differentiate the two since both parties are political machines often beholden to special interests. There’s nothing that makes a Republican [...]

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A truly fascinating peek into the Madoff’s office

How does such a large Ponzi scheme work without attracting attention? For insight into the inner workings of a highly functional yet dysfunctional office, this article is an amazing read detailing the Bernard Madoff scandal. I’ve worked in an office with an eccentric CEO, and I know Jake has too. What if all the weirdnesses [...]

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Want to read an angry post on the travesty of Guantanamo Bay?

Oh, it will make you angry. There are several dimensions to the debate over the U.S. prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that the media have largely missed and, thus, of which the American people are almost completely unaware. For that matter, few within the government who were not directly involved are aware either. The [...]

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Please monitor this volcano 54 miles from Seattle

It’s kind of important. Info on Mt. Rainier, here. This excellent photo is via Seattle rainscreens photostream. Update: CNN article, here.

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A little late

It seems that now Republicans all of a sudden care about preserving white house emails. A California Republican congressman has called on President Obama to put in place a system that ensures all White House emails be preserved even if official business was done through private e- mail accounts. Rep. Darrell Issa, the senior Republican [...]

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Impressive

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