November 30, 2010 · 6:55 pm

Winning the Class War – NYTimes.com

The latest from Bob Herbert:

There is no way to bring America’s consumer economy back to robust health if unemployment is chronically high, wages remain stagnant and the jobs that are created are poor ones. Without ordinary Americans spending their earnings from good jobs, any hope of a meaningful, long-term recovery is doomed.

Beyond that, extreme economic inequality is a recipe for social instability. Families on the wrong side of the divide find themselves under increasing pressure to just hold things together: to find the money to pay rent or the mortgage, to fend off bill collectors, to cope with illness and emergencies, and deal with the daily doses of extreme anxiety.

Societal conflicts metastasize as resentments fester and scapegoats are sought. Demagogues inevitably emerge to feast on the poisonous stew of such an environment. The rich may think that the public won’t ever turn against them. But to hold that belief, you have to ignore the turbulent history of the 1930s.

via Winning the Class War – NYTimes.com.

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November 30, 2010 · 6:55 pm

Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy – NYTimes.com

Another great column from Frank Rich:

As John Cassidy underscored in a definitive article titled “Who Needs Wall Street?” in The New Yorker last week, the financial sector has paid little for bringing the world to near-collapse or for receiving the taxpayers’ bailout that was denied to most small-enough-to-fail Americans. The sector still rakes in more than a fourth of American business profits, up from a seventh 25 years ago. And what is its contribution to America in exchange for this quarter-century of ever-more over-the-top rewards? “During a period in which American companies have created iPhones, Home Depot and Lipitor,” Cassidy writes, the industry reaping the highest profits and compensation is one that “doesn’t design, build or sell a tangible thing.”

It’s an industry that can buy politicians as easily as it does dwarfs, which is why government has tilted the playing field ever more in its direction for three decades. Now corporations of all kinds can buy more of Washington than before, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and to the rise of outside “nonprofit groups” that can legally front for those who prefer to donate anonymously. The money laundering at the base of Tom DeLay’s conviction by a Texas jury last week — his circumventing of the state’s post-Gilded Age law forbidding corporate campaign contributions directly to candidates — is now easily and legally doable at the national level.

via Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy – NYTimes.com.

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November 30, 2010 · 5:58 pm

Va. lawmaker claims pat-downs part of ‘homosexual agenda’ – wtop.com

What next?  Has every lawmaker in Virginia lost their minds????

WASHINGTON – A conservative Loudoun County lawmaker says controversial airport pat-downs by the Transportation Security Administration are part of a “wide-scale homosexual agenda.”

Eugene Delgaudio, a Republican representing Sterling on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, made the comments in a widely distributed e-mail sent in his capacity as president of the conservative nonprofit Public Advocate of the United States.

In the e-mail — reported by WUSA9 — Delgaudio also says the TSA’s non-discrimination hiring policy is “the federal employee’s version of the Gay Bill of Special rights.”

“That means the next TSA official that gives you an enhanced pat-down could be a practicing homosexual secretly getting pleasure from your submission,” he wrote.

via Va. lawmaker claims pat-downs part of ‘homosexual agenda’ – wtop.com.

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Filed under Politics, Social Commentary, Travel, Virginia

November 29, 2010 · 10:07 pm

Chapter 41: In the Basement, Part 2 | My Southern Gothic Life

New post up on my other blog:

The basement renovations were completed just in time for my teenage years.

The basement became my domain.  My sister did not seem interested in it and my Father grudgingly shared it.  My Mother pretty much ignored it and stayed in her room with “inner ear” issues.

My Mother always used “inner ear” issues to get out of doing anything she didn’t want to do.  No matter what it was…if she didn’t want to do it or deal with it, she went to bed with “inner ear”.  I think that was a pseudonym for Valium.

In any event, my Father and I thoroughly enjoyed the new basement.

Link to complete post:   Chapter 41: In the Basement, Part 2 | My Southern Gothic Life.

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Filed under Danville, My Journey, Social Commentary, Virginia

November 29, 2010 · 9:20 pm

Style Rules – List of Men’s Style Basics – Esquire

This is wonderful….and accurate.

Thanks to my friend, John, for pointing me to this…

24 Essential Rules of Men’s Style

From how to pretend you’re dressing better than you are to how many socks you should own, these quick and funny tips will guide any man from bedroom to work and back

via Style Rules – List of Men’s Style Basics – Esquire.

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November 29, 2010 · 8:48 pm

where-americans-are-getting-richer: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

I knew I was lucky, but this shows how lucky those of us with jobs are….

Greensboro, N.C., might not be the best place to find a steady job. But if you’ve already got one, chances are you’re doing better than you were a couple of years ago.

The city’s unemployment rate is 9.8%, nearly a point above the still-high national average. But those with college degrees who have managed to keep their jobs during the recession have seen their median income jump to $53,400 in 2010 from $48,900 in 2007.

via where-americans-are-getting-richer: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance.

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Filed under Education, Greensboro, North Carolina, The Economy, The South

November 28, 2010 · 6:30 pm

Paying an Arm and a Leg for Health Care

From Kevin Drum at Motherjones.com:

So many charts, so little blog. Which chart should I show you from yesterday’s release of the latest global comparison of healthcare prices? How about the cost of hip replacements? Here it is:

The “average” number is a little hard to see, so here it is: $34,454. That’s 2x what it costs in Germany, 3x what it costs in France, and 6x what it costs in Switzerland. WTF?

This goes a long way toward explaining why hip replacements are so popular in the United States: they’re a huge profit center for doctors and hospitals. Keep this in mind the next time someone starts going on about how you never have to wait in line for a hip replacement in America. It’s not because our healthcare system is super efficient, it’s because doctors are super eager to perform them.

The full set of cost charts is here, and they’re pretty instructive. You can, if you want, try to make the case that we perform better hip replacements or do better angioplasties than other countries. But appendectomies? CT scans? Normal deliveries? As Aaron Carroll says about the astonishing numbers for routine CT scans and MRIs:

Why does it cost so much more in the US? Does the radiation work better here? Are the scanners different? If you’re wondering, the CT scanner was invented in the UK, so it’s not like there’s some reason to believe our machines are better….Let’s be clear. I have no problem with things costing more when they are demonstrably better. Or, if you’re getting more of them for your money. But a scan is a scan is a scan. There had better be a good reason for it costing more here, and I can’t think of a good one.

This is one of the reasons healthcare costs so much in America. We aren’t getting more for our money, we’re just paying a lot more for the same stuff as everyone else.

Link to full article:  http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/11/paying-arm-and-leg

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Filed under Health Care, Politics, Social Commentary, The Economy

November 28, 2010 · 6:25 pm

Tom DeLay GUILTY: Jury Convicts Republican In Money Laundering Trial

Catching up on the news after the Holiday weekend…

There is still some justice.

Now, let’s see if this holds on appeal…

AUSTIN, Texas — The heavy-handed style that made Tom DeLay one of the nation’s most powerful and feared members of Congress also proved to be his downfall Wednesday when a jury determined he went too far in trying to influence elections, convicting the former House majority leader on two felonies that could send him to prison for decades.

Jurors deliberated for 19 hours before returning guilty verdicts on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering in a scheme to illegally funnel corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002. He faces up to life in prison on the money laundering charge, although prosecutors haven’t yet recommended a sentence.

via Tom DeLay GUILTY: Jury Convicts Republican In Money Laundering Trial.

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November 28, 2010 · 6:24 pm

Harvey Milk: Hope

I just wanted to pause a moment to remember Harvey Milk who was assassinated 32 years ago today…

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November 26, 2010 · 8:03 pm

New Evidence Proves First Flag Made By Betsy Ross Actually Shirt For Gay Friend | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source

I love The Onion:

PHILADELPHIA—Historians at the University of Pennsylvania announced the discovery this week of a personal diary from the late 18th century that reveals the first U.S. flag sewed by Betsy Ross was originally intended as a shirt for her flamboyant gay friend Nathaniel.

“This has completely upended the accepted narrative behind the first American flag,” said historian Kenneth Atwood, who led the team of scholars analyzing the long-forgotten journal of prominent Philadelphia homosexual Nathaniel Linsley. “Now we can say with certainty that our nation’s most enduring symbol of freedom, strength, and prosperity is actually just the result of Nathaniel’s desire for a sassy, tight-fitting top.”

“We’ve all been taught that the 13 stars and stripes of the first U.S. flag represented the original 13 colonies, but this is simply not the case,” Atwood added. “In fact, Nathaniel thought that stripes were slimming, and he just really, really liked stars.”

via New Evidence Proves First Flag Made By Betsy Ross Actually Shirt For Gay Friend | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source.

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