Heading out shortly to Durham, NC for a jazzy evening at the Jane Monheit concert there tonight at the Carolina Theatre.
When dealing with troubled times, it’s best to just follow Irving Berlin’s advice:
“Let’s Face the Music and Dance.”
Even when, as Schwartz and Dietz wrote, we we feel we are “Dancing in the Dark”:
Filed under Music, Uncategorized
I do love it when a Nobel Prize-winning Economist says the same things I do….
Or rather, when my thoughts I align with his….
Since I only took 2 semesters of Econ at Washington and Lee, I can hardly claim to be an expert….
Except in common sense….
Please take the time to read Paul Krugman’s article in the New York Times.
Here is a brief excerpt and a link to the full article:
So what do we learn from the rather pathetic search for austerity success stories? We learn that the doctrine that has dominated elite economic discourse for the past three years is wrong on all fronts. Not only have we been ruled by fear of nonexistent threats, we’ve been promised rewards that haven’t arrived and never will. It’s time to put the deficit obsession aside and get back to dealing with the real problem — namely, unacceptably high unemployment.
Filed under Politics, Uncategorized
I’m so relieved to know our Justice Department has it’s priorities in order…
I’m sure they don’t have anything more pressing than this to consider…
Of course, this does impact a large portion of the population that has to drink to deal with the fact that we have a bunch of incompetents (AKA: The GOP) in Washington focusing on irrelevant issues instead of addressing the most pressing needs of the country.
Forget the Tea Party, let’s start the Beer Party!
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday filed a lawsuit to stop Anheuser-Busch InBev’s proposed $20.1 billion purchase of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which would unite the ownership of popular beers like Budweiser and Corona.
The government said the deal could lead to higher beer prices in this country because it would substantially reduce competition in the U.S. beer market, particularly in 26 metropolitan areas. It said the merged firm would control nearly half the beer sales in the U.S.
In response, Anheuser-Busch InBev promised a court fight to preserve its deal.
Americans spent at least $80 billion on beer last year. ABI’s Bud Light is the best-selling beer in the nation and Modelo’s Corona Extra is the best-selling import.
via Anheuser-Busch-Grupo Modelo Merger Challenged By Justice Department.
Filed under Congress, Politics, Uncategorized
I am so tired of hearing politicians talk about the “DEFICIT” like it was the biggest threat to America since communism or some other previous excuse not to deal with real problems…
This is an entirely manufactured “crisis” and the “Conservatives” are trying to use it to kill programs they have always hated anyway- like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and VA Benefits. They are also using it as an excuse to cut federal jobs.
For example, I called the Veteran’s Administration 12 times today trying to check direct depositing my Mother’s benefits from my Father’s service. I wasn’t allowed to do it on the web because it is a Custodial situation. Each time I got a message telling me they could not take my call because of high call volumes and to call back later. It took 2 years to get the benefit application approved due to “staffing” issues- and then only with Congressional help…..Hire some people, goddammit!
This is madness….
Anyway….
I’ve had my say on this many times. We do not have any deficit problem that can’t be solved by higher employment, growth and investment in much-needed infrastructure projects. The GOP and their Democratic enablers are only making the situation worse by not addressing these core issues responsibly and intelligently.
Someone needs to break the DC bubble and it sounds like maybe, just maybe, there may be some sensibility leaking into the Capitol.
But they still have a long ways to go and need to start by not listening to the Tea Party fools and their Billionaire sponsors or the Corporate chieftains. Of course ending corporate welfare, such as subsidies to the oil companies, and making the wealthy pay their fair share by closing tax loopholes would also help…
I’ll keep hoping they will hear Paul Krugman’s voice calling from the wilderness. Meaning outside of DC and it’s suburbs…
From Yahoo Finance:
With even top Republicans such as Eric Cantor beginning to question the political wisdom of waging perpetual warfare over the deficit, it’s possible that Washington may slowly turn its attention to other, more pressing matters.What could be more urgent than deficit reduction? you may ask.My answer: Almost everything.If deficit reduction was ever urgent, it no longer is. We’ve already accomplished most of the deficit-reduction required in this decade, nearly enough to stabilize our debt, but at a great cost to current economic growth. We’ve sacrificed with high unemployment, tepid growth and underinvestment in public goods.Not to mention our inability to get anything else done while we bicker about deficits.The $16 trillion debt sounds like a terrible thing, but no one has been able to show how this high level of debt has had any negative impact on the economy or on the people so far. Has anyone come around looking for your share of it?Interest rates are very low, so the public debt isn’t crowding out private investment. The burden from interest payments is extremely low, less than half what it was when Ronald Reagan was exploding the federal budget back in the 1980s. We survived.
MORE: Five problems bigger than the national debt – Yahoo! Finance.
Filed under Congress, Politics, Uncategorized
Too bad the dog couldn’t send his owner to be euthanized for stupidity….
Good news is the dog was saved…
Bad news is there is nothing to stop someone this ignorant, cruel and heartless from getting another one…
Let’s just hope he never has a Gay child…
Excerpt from the Huffington Post with link to full story:
A Tennessee dog owner sent his pet to be euthanized because he suspected the dog was “gay.” Fortunately, the pup was later adopted.
A Jackson, Tenn., resident surrendered his “gay” dog for euthanization to the Jackson Rabies Control Animal Shelter on Jan. 29 because he saw his male pitbull/American bulldog mix “humping” another male dog, the Examiner reports.
The Huffington Post confirmed with Jackson Rabies Control, a high-kill shelter, that the dog had been surrendered because his owner believed he was “gay.”
Although animals can be gay, dogs mount each other to express dominance, for play or because of nervousness/excitement, Psychology Today notes.
A Facebook campaign was set up to try and save the “gay” dog, according to the Atlantic. A Facebook post detailing the troubling situation called for immediate action.
Filed under Pets, Uncategorized
Let me start by saying, I love Anne Hathaway. I find her extremely talented, likable, poised and attractive. She is one of my favorite actresses and I see everything she does.
Criticizing her is almost like kicking a kitten….
But….
I’ve never seen such a blatant Oscar campaign as the one waged on her behalf this year….
She was very good in “Les Miz”, but not great….and that’s partly the Director’s fault. Too many tight shots over blew the performances quite a bit and I was not thrilled with some of his other choices. I thought Samantha Barks and Eddie Redmayne gave the best performances in the film.
“Lincoln” was also a flawed film, but with some great performances-especially by Daniel Day Lewis. If I could vote, I wouldn’t vote for it for Best Picture either-“Argo” would be my choice. But I would surely vote for Sally Field, over the lovely Anne, for Best Supporting Actress. Ms Field was just wonderful as Mary Todd Lincoln and did the almost impossible- made me forget I was watching Sally Field.
Again, I love Anne Hathaway. Her day on the podium will come, realistically, probably in a couple of weeks. She’s definitely still the favorite.
But it should be later and for a better role and performance in a better film.
And unexpected upsets to the front runner have happened before. Ask Lauren Bacall….
Anyway, what do I know?
In any event, here is a great parody of Anne’s campaign by the very talented Emma Fitzpatrick.
Thanks to my FB friend, Chris, for first posting it for me to see….
Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, Movies, Uncategorized
I keep having a recurring thought….
I may be alone here, but stick with me and we’ll see….
I first heard “Les Miserables” on an actual record album when it opened on Broadway in 1987. It would be several more years before I actually saw it on stage. I was in my 20’s and facing something I never thought I would face a that time in my life….
Death. Young people I knew were suddenly dying….
AIDS was at it’s most deadly peak and I was starting to see people disappear. They did that then. They disappeared to die quietly in small towns and big cities while the rest of us were stunned and not sure how to go on with this new normal….
Most of America was still trying to work through this while so many young men just …..disappeared.
I think that’s why the song that stood out for me from “Les Miserables” then was “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”. We didn’t realize it was a revolution then, but it was….
A quiet, deadly one….
We weren’t all brave and selfless, but we couldn’t miss the empty chairs at empty tables…
It was quite a different context, but it seemed to resonate with me– and I think quite a few others.
And it changed our world….
I think that may have been what made “Les Miz” relevant to our generation….
I think this subtle, subliminal, un-intentional subplot meant more to a lot of us than we realized then and may have added a gravitas for us that the rest of the show may not have otherwise reached….
With this one song, the show became part of the time and place for so many of us…it made it real and in the moment for just that moment.
Like I said, you may not be with me on this, but I think more Gay men may have had this reaction- whether or not they were aware of it- than they realized….
I know I did…
I loved how Eddie Redmayne performed this song in the movie- even if I had issues with the movie as a whole- but his very real version is not on YouTube yet. But Michael Ball’s excellent concert version is…
Filed under Gay, Movies, Uncategorized
I’ll freely admit I have not been in a Walmart in more than a dozen years.
I can’t go there for many reasons-all related to political, economic, social justice and esthetic concerns.
I just wish people would realize that someone is paying the price for all the cheap junk they sell at that place.
Our communities pay the price as we lose local businesses Walmart runs out of business. We, as a society, pay the price by focusing on quantity and not quality. But most importantly, workers pay the price- at Walmart stores and most severely at the factories that supply them.
These working conditions would not be allowed in the U.S. for good reason. We, hopefully, learned our lesson early in the 20th Century with the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Fire….
Someday, hopefully, Walmart will be held accountable and have to pay for this themselves….
From ThinkProgress.com:
More than 100 workers died in a garment factory fire on November 24 in Bangladesh. The Dhaka plant, which was making products for Walmart and Sears, had no emergency exits or emergency evacuation procedures.
But in a meeting last year, Walmart officials decided against agreeing to pay suppliers more so that they could upgrade their manufacturing facilities and pay for the costs of safety improvements. “Specifically to the issue of any corrections on electrical and fire safety, we are talking about 4,500 factories, and in most cases very extensive and costly modifications would need to be undertaken to some factories,” Walmart officials said in documents obtained by Bloomberg News. “It is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments.”
More than 300 Bangladeshi garment factory workers have died since 2006. Walmart reported a 9 percent increase in third-quarter net income, earning $3.63 billion.
Filed under Politics, Uncategorized
I don’t know why I continue to be amazed at stories like this…..
Corporate America is really big on “accountability” and “results driven performance.”
At the worker’s and Middle Management level….
Personally, I think these “bonuses” and Golden Parachutes for failed upper Management ought to be taxed at round the 99% rate if the Company is in Bankruptcy. If the Company shows a profit, then regular tax rates should apply. That would drive true accountability and performance based rewards at all levels….
I know, impossible to enforce, but I can dream of wage equality, can’t I?
As I said earlier, it’s really hard to fail making junk food for Americans…..
From AmericaBlog.com:
You remember Hostess. Home of the Twinkie. Gone bankrupt and closing down after the previous CEO tripled his salary, knowing full well they were on their way to the poor house.
Well here we go again, Lucy.
While it’s worth noting that current Hostess acting CEO Gregory Rayburn, to his credit, is not accepting a bonus, you have to ask yourself why anyone would be getting a bonus in the first place, with the company in bankruptcy.
Well. It seems that at the same time the company went into bankruptcy, and now is cutting employees’ pay by 8%, just in time for Christmas, the management team finagled itself a whopping $1.8m bonus. ”The money is intended as an incentive for 19 top-level managers to remain with the Twinkies and Ding Dongs maker to oversee its liquidation,” the LA Times reports. Right, because you wouldn’t want to lose any of the winners that oversaw a company going into bankruptcy.
via Hostess employees get 8% pay cut, management gets $1.8m bonuses.
Filed under Politics, Uncategorized
This is a real example of what is totally wrong with the Corporate Culture and Corporate accountability in America….
These guys destroyed a profitable, iconic American Company.
Even though it makes nasty, bad-for-you treats full of preservatives and strange chemical things…
But that’s what America seems to want. It’s really hard to fail at this….
And they failed. And are going bankrupt. Bad management is the only excuse…
And they are getting bonuses for this? Talk about Bain Capital as a business model….
I guarantee the hourly workers aren’t getting any bonuses for making the product; only those whose “leadership” destroyed the company….
From the L. A Times:
Hostess Brands Inc., in the midst of winding down its business, won approval Thursday from a federal bankruptcy judge to give as much as $1.75 million in bonuses to its executives.
The money is intended as an incentive for 19 top-level managers to remain with the Twinkies and Ding Dongs maker to oversee its liquidation.
The payouts will be granted only if managers “achieve a set of specific tasks and goals within a specified time frame that are designed to speed and lower the cost of the wind-down,” Hostess spokesman Lance Ignon said.
The maximum bonus amount, Ignon said, represents 0.07% of Hostess’ revenue and 0.17% of the value of its assets and is below the average for bonuses in comparable bankruptcy cases. Hostess Chief Executive Greg Rayburn would be not be eligible for a bonus, Ignon said.
via Hostess wins OK to give execs up to $1.75 million in bonuses – latimes.com.
Filed under Food, Politics, Uncategorized
Lost in the 21st Century 