1/ A fascinating column from Paul Krugman that points out the fundamental differences between the parties [Dems and the GOP] but also the underlying philosophy behind the disagreements......his point is there is such a gap in philosophy neither side can ever reconcile with the other.....
What are the differences I’m talking about?
One side of American politics considers the modern welfare state — a private-enterprise economy, but one in which society’s winners are taxed to pay for a social safety net — morally superior to the capitalism red in tooth and claw we had before the New Deal. It’s only right, this side believes, for the affluent to help the less fortunate.
The other side believes that people have a right to keep what they earn, and that taxing them to support others, no matter how needy, amounts to theft. That’s what lies behind the modern right’s fondness for violent rhetoric: many activists on the right really do see taxes and regulation as tyrannical impositions on their liberty.
There’s no middle ground between these views. One side saw health reform, with its subsidized extension of coverage to the uninsured, as fulfilling a moral imperative: wealthy nations, it believed, have an obligation to provide all their citizens with essential care. The other side saw the same reform as a moral outrage, an assault on the right of Americans to spend their money as they choose.
2/ An excellent Jon Stewart on his favourite subject, the hypocrisy of Fox news on their coverage of the Arizona shootings......good one.....5 minutes.....
3/ Fox News seems to have learned a lesson from the Arizona tragedy......
University of Arizona last night, the Fox News Channel today took
the extraordinary step of naming President Barack Obama an
honorary American.
"Let's face it, he's earned it," said Fox host Glenn Beck. "I don't care
where he came from, he's one of us now."
Naming President Obama an honorary American was only one of a
series of conciliatory moves made today by what promises to be a
kinder, gentler Fox News.
A network spokesman said that starting this week, Fox would air
one minute of civil discourse every Sunday at 4 AM.
4/ Stephen Colbert has a regular commentary called "The Word", and this is a very good one........on the Arizona shootings and the media response.....4 minutes....
Even if they were, Colbert showed a clip where SarahPAC employee Rebecca Mansour said the crosshairs were actually "surveyor's symbols."
"Which explains why this map of surveyor's symbols was immediately taken down from the Palin website," Colbert rationalized. "Because Sarah Palin knows that now is not the time to determine land elevation."
Colbert also used Palin's "blood libel" comment during her "State of my living room address" this week to back up his argument. Agreeing with Palin that angry political rhetoric didn't cause "apolitical" Jared Lee Loughner to attack, Colbert went so far as to say that angry political rhetoric is actually good for us.
5/ Of all the evil corporations in the country Monsanto, the Big Ag company, is up there..... doing evil things to us, the country and the planet.....
This brings to my mind the biggest bully of all: the biotech company, Monsanto Corporation. Taken in context, Monsanto’s list of corporate crimes should have been enough to pull their corporate charter years ago. And yet we allow them to continue to destroy our food supply, our health and the planet. Monsanto or Monsatan? Take a look at the company’s track record and decide for yourself.
6/ British comics Clarke and Dawes on the European Debt crisis.......the lads clearly and simply explain what is happening in the Euro zone economies.....funny....2 minutes.....
7/ Who can you trust any more? Law schools, bastions of [supposed] integrity and majesty, have been lying and fudging the numbers about jobs for their graduates to keep the students coming.....it's very profitable for the colleges to have law students - it's the most expensive degree, and they have them for six years. Most young lawyers are burdened with crushing debt that they can't repay....what a racket.....
In reality, and based on every other source of information, Mr. Wallerstein and a generation of J.D.’s face the grimmest job market in decades. Since 2008, some 15,000 attorney and legal-staff jobs at large firms have vanished, according to a Northwestern Law study. Associates have been laid off, partners nudged out the door and recruitment programs have been scaled back or eliminated.
And with corporations scrutinizing their legal expenses as never before, more entry-level legal work is now outsourced to contract temporary employees, both in the United States and in countries like India. It’s common to hear lawyers fret about the sort of tectonic shift that crushed the domestic steel industry decades ago.
But improbably enough, law schools have concluded that life for newly minted grads is getting sweeter, at least by one crucial measure. In 1997, when U.S. News first published a statistic called “graduates known to be employed nine months after graduation,” law schools reported an average employment rate of 84 percent. In the most recent U.S. News rankings, 93 percent of grads were working — nearly a 10-point jump.
8/ A very strange video, quite hypnotic and a little
disturbing.....Sarah Palin's breath sounds......1 minute.......
9/ Speaking of evil corporations, how about the big coal mining companies in the South.....the mountaintop removal and subsequent stripping of the coal degrades everything around it.....
Two things - one is the EPA seems to have grown a pair, which is good, and the second is when you read this article look at the list of defenders of this awful practice......it seems to me the Republicans just don't care about the environment at all....they don't seem to think about the future........defend the corporations at all costs no matter how bad or harmful the practice, and keep those campaign contributions coming....
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agencyrevoked the permit for one of the nation’s largest mountaintop-removal coal
Arch Coal’s proposed Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County, which would have buried miles of Appalachian streams under millions of tons of residue, has been the subject of controversy and litigation since the first application was filed more than a decade ago. Opposition intensified after the Bush administration approved the mine’s construction in 2007, issuing a permit required under the Clean Water Act.
The boldness of the E.P.A.’s action was striking at a time when the agency faces an increasingly hostile Congress and well-financed business lobbies seeking to limit its regulatory reach.
10/ The next collapse of home values in South Florida will be centered around getting flood insurance - if you have a mortgage in SFla you need flood insurance, and if the levees in West Broward are unsafe it would mean higher flood insurance premiums.....also if we get a big, fat, wet hurricane that sits over SFla and dumps rain it would mean major flooding in West Broward and Dade.......
The Broward County section of the East Coast Protective Levee fails to meet certification standards for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to an engineering assessment issued late last year.
In addition to raising safety concerns, failing to meet those federal standards could lead to inflated flood insurance costs in Weston, Coral Springs, Sunrise, Pembroke Pines and Broward's other western communities.
11/ Music video - "OK Go" the "This Too Shall Pass".....this is their viral video with the amazing Rube Goldberg creations.....and paint, lots of paint.....good song too....3 wonderful minutes.....
12/ Miami politics have often been corrosive, but in recent years the vitriol has calmed down a bit.....so this story from the Times about a feud between the Police Chief and the Mayor is almost like old times.....
A few years ago, a commissioner was indicted for fraud, then voters returned him to office anyway. Soon after that, the results of an election were overturned, leaving the city without a mayor.
Even by Miami standards, however, the latest contretemps inside City Hall seem strange.
Miami’s mayor, Tomas P. Regalado, has accused the city’s Police Department of conducting surveillance on him. After spotting a suspicious car outside his home, he declared that he felt “very threatened.”
The police chief, Miguel Exposito, has accused the mayor of improperly trying to disrupt a covert investigation into illegal gambling. The mayor, he said, has “gone beyond the legal bounds” of his office.
Both officials deny wrongdoing, but as their sparring intensifies, it seems likely to threaten their ability to work together.
The two men “cannot possibly co-exist anymore,” said Richard P. Dunn, a city commissioner who represents Northern Miami. “It’s just embarrassing.”
13/ Movie and TV time
"The Dilemma"
Kevin James and Vince Vaughn in a guy movie......the review is polite .......
Trailer for The Dilemma
"The Green Hornet"
If you like cool stuff "blowing up good, real good" then this movie is for you......if your brain is working fine, see something else.....
Trailer for Green Hornet
TV this weekend
"My Wives Don't Understand Me" is the title of this review of Big Love, the polygamy drama restarting this weekend. I've not watched this show but it's supposed to be pretty good.....
Todays video - walking through the window....magic trick you won't believe......
Todays Irish joke
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Todays family joke
Broccoli Casserole
A woman goes to her boyfriend's parents' house for Christmas dinner.
This is to be her first time meeting the family and she is very nervous.
They all sit down and begin eating a fine meal.
The woman is beginning to feel a little discomfort, thanks
to her nervousness and the broccoli casserole. The gas
pains are almost making her eyes water. Left with no other choice,
A woman goes to her boyfriend's parents' house for Christmas dinner.
This is to be her first time meeting the family and she is very nervous.
They all sit down and begin eating a fine meal.
The woman is beginning to feel a little discomfort, thanks
to her nervousness and the broccoli casserole. The gas
pains are almost making her eyes water. Left with no other choice,
she decides to relieve herself a bit and lets out a dainty fart.
It wasn't loud, but everyone at the table heard the poof.
Before she even had a chance to be embarrassed, her
boyfriend's father looked over at the dog that had been
snoozing under the woman's chair, and said in a rather
stern voice, 'Skippy!'.
The woman thought, 'This is great!' and a big smile came
across her face.
A couple of minutes later, she was beginning to feel the
pain again.
This time, she didn't even hesitate. She let a much louder
and longerrrrrrip.
The father again looked at the dog and yelled, 'Skippy!'
Once again the woman smiled and thought 'Yes!' A
few minutes later the woman had to let another rip.
This time she didn't even think about it.
She let a fart rip that rivaled a train whistle blowing.
It wasn't loud, but everyone at the table heard the poof.
Before she even had a chance to be embarrassed, her
boyfriend's father looked over at the dog that had been
snoozing under the woman's chair, and said in a rather
stern voice, 'Skippy!'.
The woman thought, 'This is great!' and a big smile came
across her face.
A couple of minutes later, she was beginning to feel the
pain again.
This time, she didn't even hesitate. She let a much louder
and longerrrrrrip.
The father again looked at the dog and yelled, 'Skippy!'
Once again the woman smiled and thought 'Yes!' A
few minutes later the woman had to let another rip.
This time she didn't even think about it.
She let a fart rip that rivaled a train whistle blowing.
Once again, the father looked at the dog with disgust and yelled,
'Skippy, get away from her, before she shits on you!'
Todays blonde joke
While wandering through a clothes store in a shopping mall, a blonde suddenly remembers she needs a microwave. Seeing one in the back, she tells the clerk she wants to buy it. The clerk looks up, and glances at the microwave in question and says, "We can't sell that to blondes."
Irate at the apparent discrimination she decides she'll fool him, and goes home and dyes her hair to become a brunette. The next day she returns to the same store and again asks a different clerk for the microwave. Again the clerk says, "We can't sell that to a blonde impersonating a brunette."
Aghast, she thinks it's unfair discrimination and decides to try one more time, only this time as a red-head. She waits patiently outside the store until another clerk is available and once more asks to buy the microwave. Again she is disappointed to hear, "We can't sell that to a blonde impersonating a red-head."
Frustrated she asks, "How did you know I was a blonde?"
"Because, that's not a microwave, it's a TV."
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