text:
But the esteem for Klain wasn't based on his resume. Rather, he had a mix of policy, political and bureaucratic chops that everyone agreed was rare. The policy people spoke admiringly of his policy savvy, and they all agreed he lapped them in political instincts. The political people admired his political instincts, but recognized he was better at policy. And everyone agreed Klain knew how to run an interagency process.
Sunday Reads: Sinatra Suite and Other DistractionsPosted: November 2, 2014 Filed under: 2014 elections, abortion rights, birth control, court rulings, Elections, Foreign Affairs, morning reads, racism, Republican politics, Spain, the GOP, U.S. Politics, Women's Rights | Tags: Argentina, ballet, jim crow, Republican voter suppression, war crimes 18 Comments
Good Morning
Two days left, and if you are sick of all the campaign commercials on TV…then I think you will agree, we all could use some distractions.
For me this is going into week three of hell, so I have been up to my ass in distractions=QatQi
But I won't bitch about the TCM blackout again…
So let's just start the post with a link that got the whole post going.
From HuffPo: A Brief But Stunning Visual History Of Ballet In The 20th Century
As holiday season approaches, visions of sugar-plum fairies inevitably begin dancing in our heads. 'Tis the time of "The Nutcracker," and other classic ballet performances that countdown to a whole new season of dance across the world. In honor of the possibilities of the 2014-2015 season, we dug into the photographic archives of Getty and the Associated Press to find the most iconic snapshots of ballerinas and prima donnas over the ages.
Below is a brief but beautiful visual history of the art form, ranging from 1911 to 1999. From Vaslav Nijinsky to Benjamin Millepied, Anna Pavlov to Sylvie Guillem, the collection of vintage portraits gives a mostly black-and-white glimpse into over a century's worth of ballet greats. Much has changed in terms of representation and body image over the years, and while we can only hope to see more diversity, it certainly shows in these images. Take a look and let us know your thoughts in the comments.
It is brief, and they do miss out on a lot of artist…many from the 1970s, when there was a surge in professional dancers that really kicked some ass. So as you can see…I have added to the articles images throughout this thread. Enjoy the pictures of some of the best dancers evah! And be sure to watch the videos too, I bet you have never seen these performances. (Oh yeah, and keep a mental note of that picture of Nijinsky, because we will come back to it in a moment.)
Like this one, from 1984…it is Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Suite:
Originally broadcast in 1984 over New York's WNET/Thirteen on "Great Performances," as part of the "Dance in America" series Baryshnikov Dances Sinatra and More… film. Mikhail Baryshnikov, along with members of American Ballet Theatre, dance three works choreographed by Twyla Tharp: "The Little Ballet," "Sinatra Suite," and "Push Comes to Shove."
Damn that man could dance…mmmm, and he was gorgeous too.
Another production from the same year that I think you will enjoy…I have a two clips featured below but you can see the entire show here: Evening at the Met – 1984 – YouTube 100th anniversary celebration at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. This performance took place on May 13, 1984.
And that picture of Nijinsky, well…in this 100th anniversary performance, Lillian Gish introduces Nijinsky's "Le Spectre de la Rose" danced by Patrick Dupond.
The ballet was first presented in Monte Carlo on 19 April 1911. Nijinsky danced The Rose and Tamara Karsavina danced The Young Girl. It was a great success. Spectre became internationally famous for the leap (jump) Nijinsky made through a window at the ballet's end.
That alone is something you need to see. (Click on Lillian Gish name above…)
Along with that Huffpo link, here is a Buzzfeed post that has some beautiful images: Gorgeous Vintage Photographs Of Ballet Dancers
Many more at link.
Video time:
First up, two performers that were amazing together:
Marcia Haydee and Richard Cragun
My favorite of the bunch has to be Taming of the Shrew…
This is the performance from the 1984 Met show:
Here is their version of Romeo and Juliet:
Next up,
Manon Act I Pas de Deux – Antoinette Sibley & David Wall
Giselle Act II Pas de Deux – Alicia Alonso & Jorge Esquivel
Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella – Grand Pas de Deux "Don Quixote"
Le Grand Pas de Quatre 1/2 – Les Ballets Trockadero
Dammit…now I have to post some news shit. Okay. But I am going to be quick about it.
Boko Haram: Kidnapped Girls Have Been Married Off, Truce Never Happened
A man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said more than 200 girls kidnapped by the group six months ago had been "married off" to its fighters, contradicting Nigerian government claims they would soon be freed.
Nigeria's military says it killed Shekau a year ago, and authorities said in September that they had also killed an imposter posting as him in videos. In the latest recording it is hard to see the man's face as he his filmed from a distance.
But it is likely to raise grave doubts about whether talks between a Boko Haram faction and the government in neighboring Chad will secure the release of the girls, who were kidnapped from a secondary school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April.
"We have have married them off and they are all in their husbands' houses," the man claiming to be Shekau says.
"The over 200 Chibok girls have converted to Islam, which they confess is the best religion. Either their parents accept this and convert too or they can die."
The majority of the kidnapped girls were Christians.
Police seek driver in California hit and run that killed 3 trick-or-treaters | Reuters
Detectives continued their search on Saturday for the driver of an SUV who struck and killed three teenage girls trick-or-treating on Halloween in Southern California, and investigators were unsure who was behind the wheel of the vehicle, a police spokesman said.
The three girls, ranging in age from 13 to 15, were in costume and carrying candy bags when they were hit while crossing a street on Friday evening in Santa Ana, about 35 miles (55 km) south of Los Angeles.
Officers found the sports utility vehicle abandoned behind a nearby retailer, said Santa Ana police spokesman Corporal Anthony Bertagna.
Later on Friday night, police went to an address registered as the home of the vehicle's owner, but the occupants of the house had no connection to the SUV, Bertagna said.
Detectives are unsure where the registered owner of the vehicle might be living, or whether the SUV had been stolen before the hit and run collision, he said.
I wonder if this was some sort of gang initiation thing…those kids were walking in the crosswalk when they were run over. Two of the kids were sisters, twins.
This caught my eye via Politics USA: Minority Voter Suppression In North Carolina Witnessed Firsthand
It is harder to vote in North Carolina these days. On June 25, 2013, the Supreme Court, in Shelby v. Holder, gutted a landmark provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A majority of the justices struck down Article 5 of the Act, which had required federal preapproval of changes to voting practices in southern states. Eviscerating Article 5 effectively halted its protections and set the stage for sweeping efforts to disenfranchise minorities, women, the elderly and students. Six weeks later, emboldened by the Court's ruling, the North Carolina General Assembly passed the nation's most restrictive voting law all in the name of "preventing voter fraud."
Lawsuits challenging the law have been filed by various organizations including the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina. The ACLU and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice sought to have certain provisions of the law stayed until the trial scheduled for summer of 2015. The request for a stay was denied at the district court level, but the district court's decision was reversed by a three judge panel at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. On October 8, 2014, the Supreme Court struck down the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that had stayed many of the 2013 North Carolina's laws restrictions thus instituting widespread voter suppression.
Read the rest…if you can.
In connection to the link above… Jim Crow returns | Al Jazeera America
Election officials in 27 states, most of them Republicans, have launched a program that threatens a massive purge of voters from the rolls. Millions, especially black, Hispanic and Asian-American voters, are at risk. Already, tens of thousands have been removed in at least one battleground state, and the numbers are expected to climb, according to a six-month-long, nationwide investigation by Al Jazeera America.
At the heart of this voter-roll scrub is the Interstate Crosscheck program, which has generated a master list of nearly 7 million names. Officials say that these names represent legions of fraudsters who are not only registered but have actually voted in two or more states in the same election — a felony punishable by 2 to 10 years in prison.
Until now, state elections officials have refused to turn over their Crosscheck lists, some on grounds that these voters are subject to criminal investigation. Now, for the first time, three states — Georgia, Virginia and Washington — have released their lists to Al Jazeera America, providing a total of just over 2 million names.
Ya got that? 2 miiiiiiiillllllliiiioooon names.
The Crosscheck list of suspected double voters has been compiled by matching names from roughly 110 million voter records from participating states. Interstate Crosscheck is the pet project of Kansas' controversial Republican secretary of state, Kris Kobach, known for his crusade against voter fraud.
The three states' lists are heavily weighted with names such as Jackson, Garcia, Patel and Kim — ones common among minorities, who vote overwhelmingly Democratic. Indeed, fully 1 in 7 African-Americans in those 27 states, plus the state of Washington (which enrolled in Crosscheck but has decided not to utilize the results), are listed as under suspicion of having voted twice. This also applies to 1 in 8 Asian-Americans and 1 in 8 Hispanic voters. White voters too — 1 in 11 — are at risk of having their names scrubbed from the voter rolls, though not as vulnerable as minorities.
If even a fraction of those names are blocked from voting or purged from voter rolls, it could alter the outcome of next week's electoral battle for control of the U.S. Senate — and perhaps prove decisive in the 2016 presidential vote count.
"It's Jim Crow all over again," says the Rev. Joseph Lowery, who cofounded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King, Jr. Lowery, now 93, says he recognizes in the list of threatened voters a sophisticated new form of an old and tired tactic. "I think [the Republicans] would use anything they can find. Their desperation is rising."
You know what that reminds me of, what this redneck says in this scene from Mississippi Burning:
Pertinent part starts around 0:35 min but the whole damn clip is good.
One more on race: Spike Lee: Idea that America is a post-racial society under Obama is 'bullsh*t'
n an interview with Fusion TV, director Spike Lee dismissed the notion that America has become a post-racial society under a black president, calling the belief 'bullsh*t."
Speaking with Fusion host Jorge Ramos about race in America, Lee touched upon multiple subjects including the police chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City and the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Asked by Ramos what he tells his children about race in America, Lee replied "I don't care who you are, if you're African-American in this country, you know know what the deal is."
Prompted to elaborate by Ramos, Lee continued.
"That you're black. It just means that you're black. And the people who get in trouble are the people who forget they're black," Lee explained. "You can't just think I'm so successful that I've reached another realm. And I'm in a so-called post …" at which point Lee asked the audience for help remembering the term 'post-racial'. "Yeah, that bullsh*t, where now that we have a black, African-American president that race no longer matters. And there are times, even today, it's hard for me to catch a cab sometimes. In New York City."
Asked by Ramos why, in 2014, incidents like the deaths of Garner and Brown by police officers still happening, Lee said, "There's a big division for the police departments, I think, in this country, versus people of color."
Addressing the death of Garner, Lee noted that the chokehold was banned over twenty years ago.
Lee said that, after seeing the video of Garner being held and choked to death by police officers, he couldn't help but notice the similarities to the chokehold that killed the character Radio Raheem (see video below), in his landmark 1989 film, Do The Right Thing.
In the film, the death of Raheem set off rioting and the destruction of the neighborhood.
Video at the link.
More right-wing shit: Arizona School Board Votes To Get Rid Of Textbook Pages That Discuss Abortion
An Arizona school district is making sure that students are not educated about abortion in biology class.
This week, Gilbert Public Schools' governing board voted to remove pages from an honors biology textbook because the pages talk about mifepristone, a pill that can induce an abortion, reports local outlet 12 News. Members of the board contended that the pages violate a state statute, which prevents school districts from providing instruction that "that does not give preference, encouragement and support to childbirth and adoption as preferred options to elective abortion," says the outlet.
The specific section in question is titled "Contraception can prevent unwanted pregnancy." It says that "complete abstinence (avoiding intercourse) is the only totally effective method of birth control, but other methods are effective to varying degrees." The passage, from the seventh edition of Campbell Biology: Concepts and Connections, goes on to describe the morning-after pill and mifepristone.
Why can't these bible thumpers keep it to themselves.
The issue was first brought to the board's attention after the conservative Christian organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, wrote a letter to the district's superintendent in August, saying that the textbook violates state regulations, reports the outlet. The board voted 3-2 to redact the pages in question, although it is unclear whether the district will remove the specific pages or blacken unwanted passages, says local outlet KTVK-3TV.
Notably, the Arizona Department of Education previously reviewed the textbook and said it was not violating the state statute. An attorney for the district said the same, reports local outlet the East Valley Tribune. As a result, one of the board members who voted against changing the textbook, Lily Tram, called the move an example of censorship.
And how about this for thumping: FL Supreme Court removes judge for running Christian ministry business from her courtroom
What is it with these people?
There was almost a major accident in NYC: 'Human Error' Caused Drill to Hit Train — NYMag
On Thursday, a ten-inch construction drill bit pierced the ceiling of a subway tunnel near 21st Street–Queensbridge station, almost impaling a crowded F train. Luckily, the conductor hit the brakes when he felt the drill touch the train, and no one was hurt. How did this close call occur? According to MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz, someone screwed up.
"At this point in the investigation, the incident appears to have been caused by human error and doesn't involve equipment malfunction," Ortiz told the New York Daily News. That human is employed by Griffin Dewatering New England Inc., a contractor working on the East Side Access Project, which will eventually connect the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central. Ortiz also said that "officials have determined further drilling for the project isn't needed," which should be of some comfort to F train riders, who have been forced to put up with a lot lately.
And in world news: Argentina asks Spain to arrest 20 Franco-era officials
An Argentine judge has asked Spain to arrest and extradite 20 former officials accused of abuses during the military rule of General Franco.
They cannot be tried in Spain because of an amnesty law but the officials could be prosecuted in Argentina.
The families of alleged victims asked Argentina for help because it has an extradition treaty with Spain.
In April, Spain's high court refused to extradite to Argentina a former policemen accused of torture.
Judge Maria Servini de Cubria issued the arrest and extradition warrants for two former ministers of General Franco's regime, and 18 other officials, invoking "universal jurisdiction" – a legal doctrine that authorises judges to try serious rights abused committed in other countries.
Using the doctrine, Spain briefly detained Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998.
The two most prominent suspects in Judge Servini's investigation are Rodolfo Martin Villa, 79, who was Franco's interior minister, and Jose Uteri Molina, 86, who was housing minister.
Give that a read, it is interesting…I wonder how it will all turn out.
Some of you may have gotten a chance to see this flick on TCM, Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows : moviemorlocks.com – Elevator to the Eyes of Jeanne Moreau
Here is a look at " The study of mimicry shows a close relationship between scientific psychology and the theatre, says Tiffany Watt-Smith." :BBC News – The human copying machine
And our last link…Tower of London poppies: Why they make a fitting memorial – The Independent
Tube closures and warnings of a crush of visitors couldn't keep half-term crowds from Paul Cummins' ceramic poppies on Saturday.
It is easy to visualise each poppy as a death.
…shocking splashes of colour in the poppies installation – the bloody wave over the walls, the crimson stream flowing from a window, the narrow ribbon of red in the moat. But nothing prepared early spectators for what followed. In box after box, they arrived, ceramic flowers and stalks, assembled at random heights by volunteers, many too young to have known a relative involved in the First World War.
How do you remember 888,246 lives? We cannot take in the numbers, though we have seen enough news bulletins to know about mass deaths. To single out one soldier's story helps us focus, but overlooks the rest. Live footage, fictional re-creations, cannot help us with the scale of loss. But it is easy to visualise each poppy at the Tower as a death, for we have grown up associating the flower with remembrance. We do not need to see a single face or coffin to feel a lump in the throat: we know how to love and grieve.
A solemn ending I know…but it is the beginning of November. The weather is dreary and cold and damp, we even had snow in Banjoville this weekend. And as for the Fall Foilage? There was none this year. The leaves just turned to brown. Very depressing and such a let down. I hope it is not a premonition of things to come this Tuesday. We will be here to live blog the Election Day event, so please stop by the blog. Otherwise, if you are around today, leave a comment or thought…and have a pleasant day.
Below are all the pictures in this post, plus a few I could not fit so give them a look if you like…
Wednesday Reads: Safe…or not safe?Posted: October 29, 2014 Filed under: Barack Obama, morning reads, Religious Conscience, Republican politics, U.S. Politics, Women's Rights | Tags: most dangerous subways, safest subways 28 Comments
Good Morning
Sorry this is so late, I just could not get it together this morning. Let's continue to blame it on the DISH blackout of my favorite and sanity saving Turner Broadcasting channel: TCM.
Starting off this post with a contradiction…at least I think it is.
New York City's public transport system ranked world's safest for women | Al Jazeera America
Compared to 15 of the world's largest capital cities, New York City has the safest public transportation system for women and Bogotá has the most dangerous, according to a survey published Tuesday by Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Researchers surveyed more than 6,000 women in the 15 most populous world capitals and New York City to gauge women's experiences with harassment and violence while riding public transportation. Survey questions focused on how safe women felt taking public transportation after dark, perceived risk and experience with verbal and physical harassment, the likelihood of bystander assistance and trust in authorities handling reported cases.
Cities were then scored and ranked in order of how safe their public transport systems are for women.
I always felt safe in the NYC subway system myself. But then that was back in 2000…while in DC a few years ago, that subway scared the crap outta me.
New York City led the pack with Tokyo and Beijing coming in second and third. Latin American cities ranked the lowest, with Bogotá being the worst, and Mexico City and Lima not too far ahead.
"Public transport is a nightmare," explained Beatriz Rodriguez, 26, a domestic worker and resident of Bogotá. "Mobile phones are frequently stolen, and you can be a victim of harassment as I've been."
"At first I thought what I felt against my back was a bag, but when I turned around, I realized it was a man rubbing up against me, exposing himself," she lamented. "It's disgusting to have to face this on your way to work."
The survey's findings reveal far-reaching consequences for women, especially those who live in low- or middle-income areas where they "tend to be more reliant on public transport and on non-motorized means," said Mary Crass, head of policy at the International Transport Forum, an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) think-tank.
"When there is not frequent, reliable, accessible transport, this can affect women and anyone's ability to access opportunity and notably employment in urban areas, which can make a big difference for women in particular," she added.
In the United States, a record 40 percent of all households with children under 18 include mothers who are the sole or primary source of income for the family. Single mothers, with a median annual income of $23,000, are more likely to be dependent on public transportation to commute to their jobs, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In New York City 30 percent of women surveyed reported having experienced verbal or physical abuse while riding the city's public transportation system, while in Mexico City more than 60 percent reported such violence.
Now I am glad that AJam mentioned the NYC verbal abuse because this is the subject of my next link:
Watch This Woman Receive 100 Catcalls While Walking Around For A Day
What is the scariest part of this video…is the dude who follows her around for a while and does not let up.
Ten hours of walking around New York City, 100 catcalls and one huge problem.
Rob Bliss of Rob Bliss Creative makes viral videos for a living and decided to use his craft to shine a light on street harassment, a pervasive issue affecting females around the world. Partnering with actress Shoshana B. Roberts and Hollaback, a nonprofit movement launched by activists to end street harassment, Bliss packaged his production as a PSA and offers viewers a different perspective on the problem.
"I felt like no one had ever really shown what it's like to experience street harassment, more or less," Bliss told The Huffington Post. "No one has — from a third-party perspective, on the outside looking in — been able to step back and look at it and watch it happen in front of them."His intent, he said, was to offer an "unbiased" look at what many women experience on a daily basis. "No messaging. No judgement. Let people view it as it is and talk about," he added.
During filming, Bliss attached a GoPro camera to his back with a chest strap; he wore a yellow backpack, sunglasses and earbuds to look unassuming while walking five to 10 feet ahead of Roberts, who held two microphones in her hands. The actress wore simple clothes for the shoot: jeans and a black, crew-neck T-shirt.
"It was completely intentional that she wore what she wore," Bliss said. "I wanted to fight back against the 'Oh, she's wearing blah blah blah.' I didn't want to give ammunition to anyone who may detract from this video. If she wanted to wear something that showed more skin, I definitely think that guys would have been louder and more vocal about this."
Well, this is where you get down to it…
In 10 hours of walking, Roberts faced more than 100 instances of street harassment. Responses ranged from catcalls — "beautiful," "sexy," "God bless you" — to angry remarks.
"Somebody's acknowledging you for being beautiful. You should say thank you more," one man said.
"You don't wanna talk? Because I'm ugly? We can't be friends, nothing? You don't speak?" another persisted.
Multiple men walked with Roberts for extended periods of time. One remained silently at her side for five minutes.
"I was going in blind without expectations, especially as a guy," Bliss told HuffPost. "I was very surprised that we had so much interaction, some of it being as aggressive as it was, [like] the stalking that was involved repeatedly from different groups. That blew my mind. It made me sick to my stomach. I felt something I had never really felt before, almost feeling as if I were in her shoes. I didn't experience it personally, but I was in such close proximity to it."
Roberts was not immediately available for comment when contacted by HuffPost, but she told Hollaback, "I'm harassed when I smile and I'm harassed when I don't. I'm harassed by white men, black men, Latino men. Not a day goes by when I don't experience this."
Read more about the group called HollaBack:
Hollaback! You have the power to end street harassment A non-profit and movement to end street harassment powered by local activists in 79 cities and 26 countries
Since this post is so damn late, I will give you a quick trip through the rest of today's links.
Bill Cosby has another actress giving details of abuse: Actress Details Years of Alleged Rape and Manipulation by Bill Cosby
How I wish Obama had never opened the Birth Control religious conscience can of worms…New birth-control rules found too demanding : SCOTUSblog
There is a shit can of worms that should be opened here in Georgia. I am talking about a whole mess of voters that seem to be totally fucked over: BREAKING: Court Refuses To Intervene In Case of 40,000 Missing Voters In Georgia | ThinkProgress
When I saw this next headline, I immediately thought of Brawndo…it's got electrolytes. But seriously: BBC News – UN urges salt-damage solution to reduce threat to crops
About 2,000 hectares of fertile land are lost each day due to damage caused by salt, according to a UN analysis.
The total area now affected is equivalent to the size of France – 62 million hectares – which has increased from 45 million 20 years ago.
In other "science" news: Vaccine 'success' raises hopes of saving koalas from chlamydia Now that is something hopefully one day we will have a vaccine for humans.
Sticking with science stuff: Pope reminds Catholics: evolution, Big Bang are true | Ars Technica
Pope Francis took a stroll yesterday from the Vatican guest house apartment where he lives over to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to unveil a bust of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The bust itself is rather Teutonically foreboding, but the most interesting bit of the unveiling came when Francis made a short speech to assembled members of the Academy. Though only a few paragraphs long (and currently available only in Italian; the translation below is unofficial), Francis's remarks focused largely on evolution—still a controversial doctrine in parts of the worldwide Christian church.
"When we read in Genesis the account of Creation, we are in danger of imagining that God was a magician, complete with a magic wand capable of doing anything," Francis said. "But he was not. He created beings and let them develop in accordance with the internal laws that He has given to each one."
Tell it to the right-wing bible thumping nuts who think the world is only 6,000 years old.
More at the link.
And hey…since we've got articles on birth control in humans…chlamydia in koalas…how about A battle for ant sperm?
And a little something on: Spiders and transgenic goats lead to new silk road | Al Jazeera America
For scientists around the world, a multibillion dollar prize has been hiding from them in cobwebs floating just above their office desks.
It's the hunt for spider silk — and an efficient way to make a lot of it — that has evaded researchers for the last two decades. But why are they after spider silk?
As Professor Randy Lewis of Utah State University puts it, it's the "ancient biomaterial of the future." Spiders have made their silk for 400 million years, and we're just now beginning to realize just how strong, absorbent and useful it is.
The other story about the goats: From spiders to goats in search of silk | Al Jazeera America
There is a new app that looks like it will be beneficial: UK charity launches app to scan for suicidal tweets
And if you don't feel suicidal now…take a look at this funny thread from TBogg: It's a Very Duggar Wedding Registry: What would Jesus buy?
The reality that these Duggar people are out there, and they have a following…and that following votes, should be enough to get you tweeting things that could trigger that new Twitter app.
Finally, from Medievalist.net: The Re-medievalization of Halloween
From punkin chunkin to the newfound popularity of witches, the festival of Halloween is reaching back to the Middle Ages for its traditions. Is this a good thing for medievalists?
This is the question raised by M.J. Toswell in her paper, "The Dangers of the Search for Authencity? The Ethics of Hallowe'en", which appears in the latest issue of Studies in Medievalism. The Western University professor examines how the popular North American holiday is in recent years seeking to give "a veritably medieval experience."
Interesting read…give it a look.
All I know is that I am so ready to get medieval on DISH's ass!
heracliteanfire: 'Marginalia of the earliest… | Illumanu
'Marginalia of the earliest known illustrated example of a witch on a broomstick in the 1451 manuscript, Hexenflug der Vaudoises (Flight of the Witches), authored by Martin Le France (1410-1461).' (via Letterology: Halloween Heresy)
Whats going on in your neck of the woods?
Sunday Reads: It's Nightmare on #DISH NetworkPosted: October 26, 2014 Filed under: 2014 elections, abortion rights, Afghanistan, birth control, child sexual abuse, corporate greed, court rulings, Crime, Cuba, Hillary Clinton, History, morning reads, Planned Parenthood, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, Russia, science, the GOP, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights 44 Comments
Good Morning
It is all I can do to get myself out of bed lately, sleep is the thing that seems to hold me down. This is worse than usual. Yesterday Boston Boomer titled her post Extra Lazy…no way.
But the inability to lift my fat ass from the mattress of late does not owe itself to "laziness" or the fact that I am still recovering from one of the worst bouts of bronchitis…it is due to DISH induced depression.
Yes! That is it! That has to be the only explanation, because I cannot tell you just how upsetting this whole TCM blackout has been for me. This week alone I've missed The Innocents, The Woman in White (which is the one that hurts the most) and tonight's Diabolique .
The thought of this ongoing DISH disaster really does have me screaming in agony and disgust…that is, when I am not in bed sulking.
So, any lawyers out there? Tell me. Can I sue Dish for causing my depression to become overwhelming and my general mental health to deteriorate? Fuckitall.
Today's post is the way it is…not because of laziness. Nope.
It is the way it is because of lack of giving a shit about anything else, because the Basturds at Dish Network have made it impossible for me to think about anything but Eleanor Parker appearing in the shadows as a ghostly figure dressed in white.
So, the links are out-of-order and all over the place. The images are varied and generally photos from Hollywood Horror flicks…with a few behind the scenes shots.
All that being said, here we go:
Therapists Missed Adam Lanza's Rage As A Teenager
Really? You think?
The extent of Newtown school shooter Adam Lanza's growing rage, isolation and delusions when he was a teenager were apparently overlooked by his mother, psychiatrists and counselors, according to a report expected to be issued next month.
The report found that Lanza, who gunned down 20 children and six educators at the Sandy Hook Elementary School nearly two years ago, did not have to become a violent adult, Scott Jackson, chairman of the Sandy Hook Advisory Commission, said on Friday.
Say that again…
It says better screening and evaluation might have helped detect earlier the 20-year-old's potential for violence.
We'll definitely talk more about that later on next month…
For a quick infographic: The Most Popular Words Used In Classic Books (INFOGRAPHIC)
Personally, I would have edited the thing to get rid of the little words, but I guess that is the whole point.
Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass has a reputation for championing the individual ("I am large, I contain multitudes"), so it's surprising that the most frequently used word in the poem — "all" — applies to the collective or universal.
A word cloud generated on WordItOut.com shows that "one," "body," "old," "new" and "man" — words more adherent to the contemporary conception of Whitman — are also among his favorites. The unexpected appearance of "all" reveals the less readily clear heart of the poem: that all individuals are connected by their primal, natural desires, and that upholding the importance of the individual simultaneously romanticizes the universal.
In a way, the visualization of Whitman's language can serve as a map to understanding the underlying emotions his work is meant to evoke. "All" is a nexus around which more specific details ("sea," "land," "war," "words," "woman") float.
Hey, look here…there may be a chance: HUFFPOLLSTER: New Polling Gives Michelle Nunn An Edge In Georgia
In other happy news: Government recognizes same sex marriages in six new states | MSNBC
The federal government will now recognize marriages between same-sex couples in six more states, Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Saturday.
Same-sex married couples in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Wyoming will now qualify for Social Security benefits and other types of social insurance typically reserved for married couples.
"With each new state where same-sex marriages are legally recognized, our nation moves closer to achieving of full equality for all Americans," said Holder in a Justice Department statement.
"We are acting as quickly as possible with agencies throughout the government to ensure that same-sex married couples in these states receive the fullest array of benefits allowable under federal law." he added.
That graphic is interactive so go check it out.
Hillary…in North Carolina: Clinton: 'Protect women's rights' | TheHill
"The fact that women in North Carolina still get paid less than men for the same work costs those women and their families thousands of dollars every year. Imagine what a working mom could do with the money she is owed, the better home she could rent or even buy?" she said. "This is not just a women's issue, this is a family issue, a fairness issue."
"Women's rights are the canary in the mine. If you don't protect women's rights here at home and around the world, everybody's rights are lost," she said. "You have to ask yourself, do you want a senator who will always defend a woman's right to make her own healthcare decisions and won't ever shame or judge a woman for decisions that are complex and deeply personal, or do you want a senator who will push so-called 'personhood' laws that would outlaw common forms of birth control and ban abortions even in cases of rape or incest?"
I took out the usual snarky shitass commentary.
Over in Arizona: Arizona Law Will Allow Employers to Fire Women for Using Birth Control : US News : Latin Post
On Monday, Oct. 20, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-2 to endorse the Arizona House Bill 2625, which would allow Arizona employers to repudiate health insurance coverage for contraceptives based on religious affirmations.
This would give Arizona businesses license to request that female personnel being prescribed birth control pills verify they're using them for intentions that are non-sexual or non-reproductive, such as acne treatment or hormone control.
"I believe we live in America. We don't live in the Soviet Union," said Majority Whip Debbie Lesko, R-Glendale, who penned the bill. Lesko also stated that said bill corresponds with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which was endorsed March 2010. "So, government should not be telling the organizations or mom and pop employers to do something against their moral beliefs."
However, many people, like Planned Parenthood Arizona President Bryan Howard, say the Arizona House Bill 2625 would intrude on women's rights in regards to preserving the confidentiality of their medical records. Howard also noted that zero grievances have been filed by insurance companies since 2002 when Arizona passed the Contraceptive Equity Law, which barred religious establishments from refusing its personnel contraceptives for non-sexual or non-reproductive reasons.
And in Tennessee: Abortion Capital of Bible Belt? Tennessee Vote Tests That Idea – NYTimes.com
…abortion opponents here who believe that Tennessee has for too long been a Bible Belt outlier due to a State Supreme Court decision in 2000 that ruled that the state's constitutional guarantee of a right to privacy includes the right to an abortion. Over the years, the ruling has served as a partial bulwark against the wave of abortion restrictions that have swept other conservatives states.
Now, anti-abortion forces are trying to change that at the ballot box by passing Amendment 1, which states that nothing in the Tennessee Constitution "secures or protects" a right to abortion.
Two other states, Colorado and North Dakota, are also trying to restrict abortion this Election Day with so called "personhood" ballot measures, which would extend extra rights and protections to the unborn. Colorado has previously voted twice against versions of the measure.
Here in Tennessee the ballot fight has taken center stage this political season, and abortion opponents are buoyed by the Democratic Party's comically poor chances of recapturing the governor's mansion. The party's challenger to incumbent Bill Haslam, a Republican, is Charles V. Brown, a retired construction worker and political neophyte best known for his suggestion that Mr. Haslam be strapped to an electric chair.
"When there's no real candidate to vote for, it's hard," said Rebecca Terrell, the executive director of Choices, a clinic in Memphis that offers abortions, in acknowledging that abortion rights forces face a hard time getting out the liberal vote.
That is beyond pathetic.
But you know…Get Real: Planned Parenthood's sex ed is better than abstinence-only programs at getting kids to abstain.
Yep: Proof That Comprehensive Sex Ed Classes Actually Help Kids Put Off Having Sex | ThinkProgress
But not that it will make any difference. Right? Supreme Court and circuit court rulings on voter ID and abortion: Poor and powerless don't count.
The Supreme Court of the John Roberts era gets one thing very right: It's one of the most free-speech-protective courts in modern history. There is no purveyor of semi-pornographic crush videos, no maker of rape-aspiring violent video games, no homophobic funeral protester, no anti-abortion clinic counselor, and no filthy-rich campaign contribution–seeker whose rights and privileges will not be treated by the court with the utmost reverence and solicitude.
This is important and vital, and one doesn't want to slag the court for the boundless attention and care it lavishes upon the most obnoxious speakers in America. After all, the First Amendment is kind of the constitutional gateway drug, the portal to the rest of the Bill of Rights. And without securing meaningful protection for the rights to speak, assemble, worship, and publish, so many of our other rights might be illusory. Great. Stipulated.
That makes it extra weird whenever the assorted (lets call them largely "conservative") justices of the Roberts court, and judges on lower courts across the land, turn their attention to the protection of other rights—equally crucial but perhaps less sexy—like, say, the right to vote or to obtain an abortion. That's when the nameless, faceless rights seekers all blur into oblivion, a great unwashed mass of undifferentiated shadow people. And that is when some judges find it all too simple to bat these rights away with a stroke of the pen.
In the past few weeks, it's been astonishing to contrast the regard afforded to individual speech rights with the cavalier dismissal of other, equally precious hallmarks of democracy.
Oh yeah, sing it sister. You go and read the rest of Dahlia Lithwick's article at the link.
One thing is certain…it all stinks like shit…or something else? Scientists say Rosetta's comet stinks — literally – LA Times
Researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland say that if you could take a whiff of the cloud of gas surrounding the icy nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko you would smell a pungent mix of hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs); ammonia (horse stable); and formaldehyde.
There would also be a hint of the smell when a match is struck (sulfur dioxide) and a whiff of alcohol (methanol). Carbon disulfide would add just a touch of sweetness, the scientists say.
Rotten eggs and horse piss.
What does not smell like bullshit is these chicks who are speaking up for women's right to choose abortion: Meet 5 kick-ass women advocating for abortion rights
There are a few interesting flicks coming out or already playing that have women behind the camera…or writing the checks.(I told you this post was going to be all over the place.) Weekly Update for October 24: Women Centric, Directed and | Women and Hollywood
And for those with an art history bent: Classical trends in Byzantine and Western Art in the 13th and 14th centuries Medievalist.net
Oh yeah…check this out: Vatican's manuscripts digital archive now available online
Then again, if you want to look at one book which tracks our human history, look no further than a dictionary: New Statesman | The joy of dictionaries
You could write a history of the world just by looking at the words that got into the dictionary, and disappeared from it. You would of course have your great scientific advances: oxygen, aeroplane, penicillin, and boob job. But politics would play its part, for it was the world of politics that gave us Cold War, glasnost, ayatollah and suicide bomber. New habits make themselves known through phrases like sofa-surfing and texting. And art and music can be seen with the arrival of impressionism, ragtime, heavy metal, hip-hop, and emo. New social types arrive. Before the 1980s there was no such thing as a Sloane Ranger or a yuppie (from "Young Urban Professional"). And the 1990s gave us Britpop and ethnic cleansing.
Sometimes these words merely involve a new label applied to something that already exists. The teenager was never heard of before 1942. This doesn't mean that the ages thirteen to nineteen didn't exist before then. It was merely that they weren't considered that important. You were a child and then you were a young man or woman. You played with toys, then you put those toys away and got yourself a job. The teenage phenomenon could only start when the teenagers were separated out by language. They were given a name and with it they were given an identity and very soon they were able to listen to teenage music, dress in teenage fashions, and do teenage things like dancing and sulking.
More at the link.
Those of you in LA, hopefully you can see this show: Over 800 Living Folk Artists Come Together For Massive Iboamerican Exhibition
I love this: Stephen Hawking's First-Ever Facebook Post: 'I Know I Will Forever Be' | Mediaite
Open Thread – Old White People Complaining About Halloween? | Crooks and Liars
Blue gal makes a point at that link.
Another interactive infographic at this link: WHO: global Ebola cases now exceed 10,000 | Ars Technica
Oh, and something more on Ebola: Ebola's evolutionary roots more ancient than previously thought — ScienceDaily
Sticking with history…and cinema (of sorts.) The tragic genius of Alan Turing and The Imitation Game | Stephen Liddell
If you're not familiar with the name Alan Turing, the chances are that you soon will be with the release of the new film, The Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch in the starring role. Alan Turing holds a unique place in history as being someone who not only one of the greatest minds in history who helped save his country and the free world in WW2 but one whose personal life was mired in secrecy which led to a terrible end for him and a shame to his country and a loss to the world.
The tide is turning it seems: The Shifting Politics of Cuba Policy – NYTimes.com
There was a time, not too long ago, when any mainstream politician running for statewide or national office in Florida had to rattle off fiery rhetoric against the Cuban government and declare unquestioning faith that the embargo on the island would one day force the Castros from power.
For generations, among Cuban-Americans, once a largely monolithic voting bloc, the embargo was a symbol of defiance in exile — more gospel than policy.
That has changed dramatically in recent years as younger members of the diaspora have staked out views that are increasingly in favor of deepening engagement with the island. Cuba still looms large in Florida politics, and to an extent nationally. But it is far from the clear-cut issue it once was.
Yesterday, I saw this The View From Your Window « The Dish and thought…damn that looks familiar. Turns out it was taken just a spit away from Banjoville:
Blue Ridge, Georgia, 12.22 pm
Look carefully. You may see some NRA card carrying Republicans stalking a deer in the underbrush.
This is a terrible story out of Gary, Indiana and it is not about the serial killer: Indiana man shoots and kills 13-year-old neighbor for laughing at him
A Gary, Indiana man shot and killed a 13-year-old neighbor boy for laughing at him on Friday night.
According to the Gary Post-Tribune, police have not released the shooter's name, but said that he shot Kobe Jones, 13, nine times. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:31 p.m. on Friday by the Lake County Coroner's office.
Gary Police Lt. Thomas Pawlak told the Post-Tribune that the gunman's home was broken into and robbed some time on Friday afternoon. The man arrived home around 5:00 p.m. and discovered the robbery and flew into a rage.
As he was having a noisy tantrum in his back yard, a crowd of neighborhood residents gathered. Jones made the mistake of laughing at his neighbor's histrionics, which drove the man to even greater heights of rage.
He produced a gun and shot Jones nine times, killing him. The shooter and his girlfriend fled the scene in a car, but returned at around 7:00 p.m. and surrendered to police.
They are both currently being held at Gary City Jail. Charges are reportedly pending.
In world news:
Afghan Mullah Who Raped Girl in His Mosque Receives 20-Year Prison Sentence – NYTimes.com
Putin accuses United States of damaging world order | Reuters
Australian Researchers build reversible tractor beam that moves objects 100 times farther than other efforts
In out of this world news:
Alan Eustace Jumps From Stratosphere, Breaking Felix Baumgartner's World Record – NYTimes.com
Y'all see the shit going on in Reality TV land?
More 'Sons of Guns' stars arrested: Pro-gun reality TV family charged with child abuse
This comes after: 'Sons of Guns' reality show star Will Hayden arrested for rape of 11-year-old child and his own daughter when she was 12 years old.
But the big story this weekend is: Mama June — Dating Man Who Molested Her Relative | TMZ.com
53-year-old Mark McDaniel. He was convicted in 2004 for aggravated child molestation. Prosecutors say he molested an 8-year-old child — forcing oral sex. June was dating McDaniel at the same time he molested the child.
McDaniel served 10 years and was released this past March. He is now a registered sex offender in the state of Georgia.
The show has since been cancelled. Turns out the 8-year-old was that shitass Mama June bitch's little girl…
'Honey Boo Boo' shocker: Mama June's daughter Anna says she was victim of mother's child-molester boyfriend: report – NY Daily News
In the wake of the cancellation news, June took to Facebook on Friday to deny the reports that she is romantically involved with the registered sex offender.
"The statement of me dating a sex offender is untrue," she said to the camera in what she described as a "truth video."
"I would not ever ever put my kids in danger I love my kids too much," she continued. That is my past. I have not seen that person in 10 years."
Despite her denials, new photos of June and McDaniel continue to emerge. TMZ published pictures of the two house-hunting in Georgia on Saturday, including one photo of the two appearing to hold hands. The site reports that the photos were taken last month.
Now the reason I post all this Boo Boo Reality crap is so that this next link makes sense:
TLC Producer Wants List Of 100 Fucked-Up Families On Desk By End Of Day | The Onion – America's Finest News Source
Saying that he didn't "give two shits" if they had to knock on the door of every trailer and halfway house in the country, TLC producer and programming director Mark Livingston reportedly told his staffers Friday that he expects to see a list of at least 100 fucked-up families on his desk by the end of the workday. "We're up shit creek right now, so I need each one of you assholes rooting through every gutter in the goddamn Ozarks to find me a household of inbreds, addicts, or fat-as-fuck morons that we can put in primetime," a visibly aggravated Livingston said to his staff following the cancellation of the network's popular Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, stressing that the new families had better be "borderline brain-dead" and "messed up as all fuck." "If they have 20 dipshit kids, that's great. If they only have one greasy dimwit kid who can barely string a sentence together, that'll work too. Hell, you get me some snarl-toothed family of backwoods idiots who all call their dad Papa Pig or some shit like that, and I'll sign them immediately. Just find me some family of sewer people I can throw in front of the goddamn camera, got it?" At press time, Livingston was angrily telling his staffers that they could all find a new job wiping asses at the Disney Channel if they brought him one more suggestion for a morbidly obese teen mother.
Just a few more links.
Did anyone notice:
Frank Mankiewicz, Press Secretary To Sen. Robert F. Kennedy And President Of NPR, Dead At 90
Frank Mankiewicz, the press secretary who went before television cameras to announce the death of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and later served as political director for presidential candidate George McGovern, died Thursday. He was 90.
Mankiewicz died of a heart attack at George Washington University Hospital, said a family friend, journalist Adam Clymer.
Mankiewicz was a longtime Democratic political operative as well as a lawyer, journalist and author. McGovern once recalled his former campaign aide as a perceptive, straightforward political adviser.
"I never got any bad advice from Frank," said McGovern, a senator from South Dakota who was the Democratic nominee for president in 1972. "I found him just fascinating to travel with during the campaign. I picked up a lot of perspective, a lot of insights and a lot of humor from Frank."
The son and nephew of Hollywood filmmakers, Mankiewicz studied journalism and law. He worked for newspapers in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles before assuming the role of President John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps director in Lima, Peru, in 1962 and later was a regional director in Washington. In 1966, he became press secretary to Sen. Robert Kennedy, D-N.Y., who was assassinated two years later while campaigning for the party's presidential nomination.
In June 1968, Kennedy had just won the California primary and finished his victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Mankiewicz left the entourage for a moment to help the candidate's wife, Ethel, step off a platform.
"She was at the time three months pregnant, although I don't think anybody knew it, except the inside group," Mankiewicz recalled on the 30th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination. "We helped her down. And then she said, 'Go on,' and we started to move off quickly to catch up. And that's when we heard the shots."
Frank Mankiewicz, 90, Press Aide to Robert Kennedy and NPR Chief, Dies – NYTimes.com
A scion of Hollywood, the son of Herman J. Mankiewicz, who wrote "Citizen Kane," and the nephew of Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who directed "All About Eve," Mr. Mankiewicz grew up with an Algonquin West round table in his Beverly Hills home, regaled by movie stars and famous writers.
He became a journalist and lawyer and, inspired by the Kennedys, went to Washington at the dawn of the New Frontier and took an executive position at the Peace Corps, full of idealistic hopes. What he encountered were assassinations, the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandals.
Frank Fabian Mankiewicz was born in Manhattan on May 16, 1924, one of three children of Herman and Sara Aaronson Mankiewicz. His father, early on a drama critic for The New York Times and The New Yorker, began his celebrated Hollywood career in 1926. The household was awhirl with the famous: Regulars included F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, James Thurber, Margaret Sullavan, Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.
"They got serious about things that didn't matter to me, such as clothes and how much money you made," Mr. Mankiewicz said of his parents in a People magazine interview in 1982. "That kept me out of the movie business."
He attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania for a year, then joined the Army infantry in World War II and saw combat at the Battle of the Bulge. After the war he resumed his studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating in 1947, then earned a master's degree in journalism the next year from Columbia University and found newspaper work in the Los Angeles area.
Mr. Mankiewicz married Holly Jolley in 1952 and had two sons with her. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1988, he married the novelist Patricia O'Brien.
Ms. O'Brien survives him, as do his sons, Joshua, a correspondent for NBC News, and Benjamin, a host of Turner Classic Movies; an older brother, Donald Mankiewicz, a novelist and screenwriter; four stepdaughters, Marianna, Margaret and Maureen Koval and Monica Krider; a 1-year-old granddaughter; and eight stepgrandchildren.
Round this post off with a grouping of movie links:
Hullabaloo-Saturday Night at the Movies Fright night at the art house: A top 10 list By Dennis Hartley
moviemorlocks.com – Halloween Won't Hurt You: Or, How My Daughter Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blob
40 Awesome Behind The Scenes Photos From Horror Movies
29 Awesome Behind-The-Scenes Photos From The Sets Of Classic Movies
Have a great day…while I go back to bed and mope about missing out on TCM…enjoy the videos below by the way!
Photos found on Pinterest.
Friday Reads: Economic AnemiaPosted: October 24, 2014 Filed under: 2014 elections, Austerity, Barack Obama, Economic Develpment, Economy, Elections, Federal Budget, Federal Budget and Budget deficit, Federal Government Shutdown, income inequality, morning reads, Republican politics | Tags: uo 65 Comments
Good Morning!
Since I'm in the middle of revamping my course for Graduate Finance Students in International Finance and reviewing textbooks and the usual stuff, I thought I'd focus on the economy for the morning.
One of the most awful results of the Reagan years has been the creation of mainstream paranoia over policy using data evident from the scientific method, intellectuals and academics that spend years researching and learning theory and empirical evidence, and the idea that government can't ameliorate issues through policy but is somehow a potential enemy of the governed.
This kind of paranoid drivel used to be the realm of militia types like Clive Bunday and John Birchers like the Koch Brothers and father. It had no place in mainstream discourse until Reagan started pumping up the idea that poor people game the government and the government games every one else. Its now spread to Christian extremists, the NRA, and most of the Republic Party.
Let me give you the latest example of someone who is possibly going to be a Senator from Iowa. Joni Ernst is doing the Sharon Angle thing of declaring any government issue she doesn't like her potential enemy and any one supporting that view as a potential target of her nice little gun that she carries with her everywhere.
Joni Ernst, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Iowa, said during an NRA event in 2012 that she would use a gun to defend herself from the government.
"I have a beautiful little Smith & Wesson, 9 millimeter, and it goes with me virtually everywhere," Ernst said at the NRA and Iowa Firearms Coalition Second Amendment Rally in Searsboro, Iowa. "But I do believe in the right to carry, and I believe in the right to defend myself and my family — whether it's from an intruder, or whether it's from the government, should they decide that my rights are no longer important."
Ernst made the remark a little more than a month after gunman James Holmes allegedly killed 12 people and injured 58 in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Ernst's campaign did not respond to The Huffington Post's request for comment about the remark on Wednesday evening.
Earlier this year, Ernst released an ad in which she points a gun at the camera and vows to "unload" on Obamacare.
We've also experienced this massive attempt to rewrite secondary school textbooks and curricula to reflect the deeply held philosophical and religious views of these folks rather than theory or empirical evidence brought about by hundreds of years of research and scholarship. This also ignores primary documents that show just the opposite to be factual.
But, facts be damned, there's children's minds to warp. Biased ideas are not at the center of legitimate academic pursuit. Folks that follow agendas tend to live at the edges of universities and most departments are quite embarrassed by them. I spent time in a department where one research professor's favorite pursuit was proving that iqs and brain sizes among varying races were the reason for underachieving groups in an economy. All DNA evidence shows that race is a social construct but this guy spent a life time trying to show the relationship between brain sizes of races and incomes and jobs. So, most time when you see folks that believe this stuff, they reside some where on the fringes. However, since the Reagan years, there's been a major attempt by right wing religious zealots to teach propaganda and there's been a rather significant increase in the level of ignorance on things from incoming freshmen.
This is happening even in economics where you would think that paranoia about "communism" would've gone away since the fall of the USSR. Not true, however. They prefer to fear imagined boogey men and to set up imagined fairy tale rescuers over doing policy that's be proven effective in years of empirical study.
The standards' authors are clearly fans of the free enterprise system, consistently emphasizing the advantage of American capitalism over other structures.
For example, the high school standards state that students should be able to "understand how the free enterprise system drives technological innovation and its application in the marketplace." The middle school standards clearly promote free enterprise capitalism over other economic systems, saying that students should be able to "compare and contrast free enterprise, socialist, and communist economies in various contemporary societies, including the benefits of the U.S. free enterprise system." Finally, the standards connect capitalism with the conservative ideal of limited government, asking students to be able to "explain why a free enterprise system of economics developed in the new nation, including minimal government intrusion, taxation, and property rights."
It really takes very little time spent in economics to realize that political constructs are not economic constructs. For example, the United States economy was founded on Mercantilism which began with monopolies, charters, grants and largess of royalty and aristocracy. The concepts of Capitalism and of Communism had the same roots and they were a lot more philosophical than ever real. Even, now, we have a modified market system. There has never EVER been a "free market" system or "communism" in an economic sense. Socialism is just one end of a modified market system and still relies heavily on private ownership of the majority of factors of production. Most facets of government policy are to make a market behave closer to a free market model because it can't possibly d0 so under one factor, characteristic, or situation that exists. I mean really, who wants to leave the market for uranium to the free market? That's just an extreme example.
The problem is that dogma has overtaken reality among folks that now find themselves in office. It's bad for the country. It's bad for business. It's bad for nearly every one. The one thing that's becoming abundantly clear since the Clinton Presidency and definitely during the Obama Presidency is that the Democratic Party is the party of Wall Street and Big Business. It's not the Republicans. No where is this more evident than economic reports written by the private sector. Today's Republicans scare the shit out of big business and finance. The last few battles to keep the federal government and the deficit funded has nearly caused market meltdowns twice. You also don't see them complain about increasing the minimum wage or decreasing the current level of income equality. NO REALLY. This means Chris Christie is really going to have some 'splaining to do over this statement.
Labor Secretary Tom Perez on Thursday panned New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's comments that he's "tired" of the minimum wage debate.
"Chris Christie's got his head in the sand if he's getting tired about the minimum wage," Perez said according to Bloomberg Politics.
President Barack Obama and Democrats have led the push to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10, and the issue has made its way onto the campaign trail this year.
"Chris Christie needs to talk to his economists, who will tell him that 70 percent of GDP growth is consumption," Perez said Thursday.
The criticism came just days after Christie said he was "tired of hearing about the minimum wage" at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference on Tuesday.
"I really am," the Republican governor and potential 2016 hopeful said. "I don't think there's a mother or a father sitting around the kitchen table tonight in America saying, 'You know, honey, if our son or daughter could just make a higher minimum wage, my God, all of our dreams would be realized.'"
"Is that what parents aspire to for our children?" Christie asked. "They aspire to a greater, growing America, where their children have the ability to make much more money and have much great success than they have, and that's not about a higher minimum wage."
Before the Labor secretary chimed in, the remark drew fire from other Democrats, and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest even quipped during a briefing Wednesday that people living on a minimum wage are those who are really tired.
Christie also used his time at the podium to make a 2016 prediction.
"I am convinced that the next president of the United States is going to be a governor," Christie said. "We've had this experiment of legislating .. and getting on-the-job training in the White House. It has not been pretty."
So, this kind've talk is really making the economists of Wall Street and of huge corporations very nervous. They're quite aware that today's Republican Party is tanking the economy.
Even though Republicans depict themselves as the party for business and banks, it turns out that the GOP's economic policy is detrimental to their bottom lines and continued existence; particularly rising costs and stagnant wages since the Bush-Republican Great Recession. What both bankers and retailers really want instead of tax cuts, deregulation, and more Republican austerity and budget cuts are better incomes for all Americans that will lead to increased consumer confidence and greater purchasing power to trigger higher business profits. What they have learned after thirty years of "trickle-down" is that the trillions of dollars taken by the 1%, especially since 2009, have failed miserably to stimulate the economy. Instead, they demand more buying by the masses that Wall Street firms and analysis of 65 of the nation's top retailers claim will only happen with, as President Obama preaches, growing the economy from the middle-out.
For example, in a report last month titled Inequality and Consumption, Morgan Stanley economists said, "Despite the roughly $25 trillion increase in wealth since the recovery from the financial crisis began, consumer spending remains anemic. Top income earners have benefited from wealth increases but middle and low income consumers continue facing structural liquidity constraints and unimpressive wage growth. To lift all boats, further increases in residential wealth and accelerating wage growth are needed." Republicans completely disagree and either resist consideration of raising the minimum wage or promote abolishing it altogether. According to the Republicans, increasing income inequality must continue and it is crucial that they convince the population that no wage is too low. It is a belief the Koch brothers espouse but it is rapidly losing favor in circles whose survival depends on a population of consumers.
Standard and Poor's (S&P) rating agency concurred with Morgan Stanley's economists in their August report, How Increasing Income Inequality Is Dampening U.S. Economic Growth, And Possible Ways To Change The Tide, and strongly advised the federal government to create "a path toward more sustainable growth, that in our view, will pull more Americans out of poverty and bolster the purchasing power of the middle class. A rising tide lifts all boats…but a lifeboat carrying a few, surrounded by many treading water, risks capsizing." To "lift all boats," S&P suggests a "high degree of rebalancing" that includes increased "spending in the areas of education, health care, and infrastructure to help control the income gap that, at its current level, threatens the stability of an economy still struggling to recover." Contrary to wisdom of real economists concerned with America's economic survival, Republicans across the country have been laser-focused on their austerity crusade to cut spending on education, infrastructure, and healthcare including the cruel heartlessness of refusing free Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
Despite the call from both banks and businesses to increase the minimum wage and spending on essentials for a robust recovery, congressional Republicans have obstructed and outright blocked each and every attempt by the President and Democrats to stimulate the economy. Despite trailing every developed nation on Earth in infrastructure, Republicans consistently refuse the President's calls to increase spending on desperately-needed infrastructure repairs including roads, bridges, public buildings, and sewers that numerous economists, including some highly respected conservatives, say is crucial for job-creation, increased consumer spending, and a vibrant recovery. Increased consumer confidence, and spending, is something all economists agree is for the good of the country's economy but can only happen if incomes rise for the majority with higher wages and more well-paying jobs.
I've said this a million times but it's true. If you have an economy that's 70% reliant on consumer spending for growth and 99% of the population has stagnant to falling real income, you're going to run into trouble. Especially since a huge part of that 99% spends high levels, all of, or beyond their income and wealth levels. Years and years of evidence has shown that consumers are the real job creators. No business hires workers if no one is buying their goods and services. Rich people–especially with some of the horrid changes we've had in the tax code during the Dubya years–are spending more and more of the income and wealth on gambling paper for paper profits. This does not create anything of value in a real economy but it sure creates asset bubbles and the potential for financial meltdowns. One has only to survey retailers to figure out the relationship between incomes of the middle and working classes and their bottom lines and their hiring plans.
Former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon, whose company had seen consumer traffic drop for six straight quarters and same-store sales drop for five quarters, explained in July 2014 that "we've reached a point where it's not getting any better but it's not getting any worse—at least for the middle (class) and down." Kip Tindell, CEO of the Container Store, put retailers' feelings best when he said, "consistent with so many of our fellow retailers, we are experiencing a retail 'funk.'" The culprit is obvious: low wage and income growth for the middle class. Median household income in 2013 stood 8 percentage points below its 2007 prerecession level.
The simple fact of the matter is that when households do not have money, retailers do not have customers. The failure of incomes to keep up with the growing cost of college, child care, and other middle-class staples leaves even less money for retail spending. A previous analysis by the Center for American Progress shows that this so-called "middle-class squeeze"—stagnant incomes and the growing cost of middle-class security—leaves the median married couple with two kids with $5,500 less to spend annually on food, clothes, and other essentials that retailers sell.
Or, as officials of J.C. Penney—whose sales fell 9 percent in 20136—put it when listing the risks to its stock value: "the moderate income consumer, which is our core customer, has been under economic pressure for the past several years."
Moreover, retail spending—which includes spending on everything from clothing to groceries to dining out—has broad implications for the entire economy since it accounts for a large fraction of consumer spending, which itself makes up 70
percent of U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP.
Even Walmart is concerned even while not paying living wages, not providing good benefits, and not creating an environment where a worker feels secure about his/her future. Now the weird thing is that fringe economists are still overly scared about inflation and high taxes. These things, however, are not at the top of any one's concerns that would be invited on any Fox News program. Here's a headline from Forbes: "Want a Better Economy? History Says Vote Democrat!". In 2012, a number of books evaluated the results of the economy under Democratic vs Republican administrations. The results are startling.
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan is attributed with saying "everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." So even though we may hold very strong opinions about parties and politics, it is worthwhile to look at historical facts. This book's authors are to be commended for spending several years, and many thousands of student research assistant man-days, sorting out economic performance from the common viewpoint – and the broad theories upon which much policy has been based. Their compendium of economic facts is the most illuminating document on economic performance during different administrations, and policies, than anything previously published.
The authors looked at a range of economic metrics including inflation, unemployment, corporate profit growth, stock market performance, household income growth, economy (GDP) growth, months in recession and others. To their surprise (I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Goldfarb) they discovered that laissez faire policies had far less benefits than expected, and in fact produced almost universal negative economic outcomes for the nation!
From this book loaded with statistical fact tidbits and comparative charts, here are just a few that caused me to realize that my long-term love affair with Milton Friedman's writing and recommended policies in "Free to Choose" were grounded in a theory I long admired, but that simply have proven to be myths when applied!
- Personal disposable income has grown nearly 6 times more under Democratic presidents
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown 7 times more under Democratic presidents
- Corporate profits have grown over 16% more per year under Democratic presidents (they actually declined under Republicans by an average of 4.53%/year)
- Average annual compound return on the stock market has been 18 times greater under Democratic presidents (If you invested $100k for 40 years of Republican administrations you had $126k at the end, if you invested $100k for 40 years of Democrat administrations you had $3.9M at the end)
- Republican presidents added 2.5 times more to the national debt than Democratic presidents
- The two times the economy steered into the ditch (Great Depression and Great Recession) were during Republican, laissez faire administrations
The Obama economy is actually surprisingly good given that a large number of good economic policies have not been enacted due to Republican political kung fu.
It was no joke on Thursday when I asked Austan Goolsbee, a pretty fair amateur comic, to rattle of key economic indicators that are trending in very positive ways right now.
"Jobs created. Weekly U.I (jobless) claims. Unemployment rate. Auto Sales. Gas Prices," said Goolsbee, former head of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers and a onetime winner of the annual "D.C.'s Funniest Celebrity" contest.
And, yet, as a headline in Politico.com also noted Thursday, "Economic Anxiety Dominates 2014." So what's really and truly up? What explains the disconnect between seemingly very strong numbers and the lack of love for Obama and the Democrats?
"You can't brag about the economy because people can't feel it," said Thomas Bowen, a Chicago-based Democratic political and policy consultant.
"I'm sure (some) Democrats have polled this: 'The recovery isn't working for you.' That's why they're not running on the economy improving.
Not long after, I was driving past a state unemployment office along a rather somber commercial strip on Chicago's Northwest Side. The parking lot was full. And then I mulled the folks I know working part-time involuntarily or sticking with jobs they don't especially like out of fear of the limited alternatives.
"You're talking about indicators in the last six months," said Bowen. "But look at the start of the recession until today. We're just getting out of the hole from jobs losses. And the jobs aren't the same. They're not higher paying construction jobs." "Not all indicators equate with average folks," said Anna Greenberg, a Washington-based Democratic pollster.
"Wages and salaries are stagnant," she said. "Yes, the stock market is up and the jobless rate down. But the cost of living is up and you may not have more money."
So, a lot of economists like me remain very confused. It's not like there's not support by people and businesses for good policy like infrastructure projects, improving the terms of student loans so more folks can access higher and continuing education, and a reasonable minimum wage. The cities and states that have raised the minimum wage are even those that are doing well among states. States that have raised their minimum wages have better job growth.
New data released by the Department of Labor shows that raising the minimum wage in some states does not appear to have had a negative impact on job growth, contrary to what critics said would happen.
In a report on Friday, the 13 states that raised their minimum wages on Jan. 1 have added jobs at a faster pace than those that did not. The data run counter to a Congressional Budget Office report in February that said raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, as the White House supports, could cost as many as 500,000 jobs.
"In the 13 states that boosted their minimums at the beginning of the year, the number of jobs grew an average of 0.85 percent from January through June. The average for the other 37 states was 0.61 percent.
"Nine of the 13 states increased their minimum wages automatically in line with inflation: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Four more states — Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island — approved legislation mandating the increases."
The AP notes: "[The] state-by-state hiring data, released Friday by the Labor Department, provides ammunition" to the camp in favor of raising the minimum wage.
"Economists who support a higher minimum say the figures are encouraging, though they acknowledge they don't establish a cause and effect. There are many possible reasons hiring might accelerate in a particular state.
" 'It raises serious questions about the claims that a raise in the minimum wage is a jobs disaster,' said John Schmitt, a senior economist at the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. The job data 'isn't definitive,' he added, but is 'probably a reasonable first cut at what's going on.' "
So, it just appears that there's a huge portion of the United States electorate and elected that would rather live in their dream world of imaginary beings and dogma than have their lives made better by using what we know and what we've learned.
What's on your reading and blogging list today?
Tabloid Tuesday ReadsPosted: October 21, 2014 Filed under: Media, misogyny, morning reads, Republican politics 57 Comments
Good Morning!
I've had a bout of a really bad stomach flu and I'm just beginning to get some energy back, so I'm not going to post anything that takes any analysis. Hopefully, this will be a fun post after week after week of horrifying news. Oh, these tabloid covers don't come from Fox News or any right wing blog, just so you know.
Jane Fonda has had a really interesting life. She recently gave an interview that opened up a lot of the more distressing things that she's endured. You need to go to the link to watch/listen to the interview.
She talks about losing a parent to suicide (4:00), how being a tomboy with no period made her wonder if she was really a girl (4:30), how failed marriages forced her to look inward for strength (7:30), how she said goodbye to a slowly dying parent (13:30), how she manages being a caretaker for her partner with Parkinson's (22:00), and what sex is like after celibacy (26:15). She's not scared of anything anymore. You'll love it.
She's still working and has done these interviews as part of blitzing the airwaves for her new movie. Fonda's life has been an open book but now so are many of her feelings about that life.
In a career spanning more than 50 years, the two time Oscar winning actress has always been hard to ignore. Before she was the video work-out queen of the 80′s, Fonda was a noted activist for Civil Rights and an outspoken opponent to the Vietnam War. She has repeatedly expressed regrets about the photographs taken of her posing with North Vietnam guns that shot down American planes.
"At your level of fame the easy thing to have done throughout your entire career was to seek privacy and instead you've spoken out about causes that you believe in. Why?" asked Bryan.
"I'm my father's daughter, explained Fonda. "I grew up with Tom Joad. The Grapes of Wrath. 12 Angry Men. The Wrong Man. Ox-bow Incident.
"My dad never spoke much. He was very taciturn.But I knew that these movies had characters that he loved, and that's what he felt the world should be like and he believed in sticking up for the underdog, for fairness and justice."
"And so at a certain point in my life I found myself going in that direction and it's made me a better person for sure. And I've learned a lot. I didn't just sort of give money out like it's a charity. I was down in the trenches and it really made me a better actor too, I must say."
There's something else Jane inherited from her famous father Henry. A tendency to get teary.
"My dad always said 'Fondas cry at a good steak', Fonda said." It's a sign of empathy I think. Because the crying doesn't mean sad. It means your heart is open and your soul is open. And I found ( This Is Where I Leave You) full of those kind of moments that opened my heart and my empathy gene and I hope that it does for audiences. And I think it will."
Yet another study has shown that the most conservative areas of the country are the most porn-addicted. Is it the misogyny, the down home religion, or the repression? This study argues that it's correlated with defense mechanisms.
In October, two Toronto researchers, Cara MacInnis and Gordon Hodson, published a study that correlated the popularity of sex and adult material-related search terms across various regions or states with information from a Gallup pool asking about religious and political attitudes. Their study design involves a number of different comparisons and considered the effects of poverty, population, and other variables.
Unsurprisingly, higher levels of religiosity and conservatism correlated higher search rates sexual content – specifically, it meant more searches for phrases like "sex," "gay sex," or "sex images."
While aggregate data can't be used to draw conclusions about individual behavior and is open to alternative interpretations, it fits with information from other sources. For instance, Business professor Benjamin Edelman at Harvard found that states that place a higher esteem on traditional gender roles and sexuality have higher rates of paid subscriptions for adult materials – which seems to imply they have no idea how the Internet works in these states, as well.
It dovetails with claims made by strip club owners that they make up to three times as much during Republican conventions than Democratic conventions or even the Superbowl. MacInnis and Hodsen quote an exotic dancer named Layla Love who said in 2001 that the arrival of the RNC brought with it "15 to 17 hour shifts, every day" until the convention ended. She added that "So, for basically seven days straight, I will be in the club, every day, day shift and night shift."
So we've stated the obvious; what's this got to do with defense mechanisms?
There are several that are relevant to this discussion:
- Denial means simply refusing to acknowledge that some event or pattern is real.
- Repression involves pushing uncomfortable thoughts and feelings to the far recesses of the subconscious mind.
- Reaction formation is saying or doing the opposite of what you really want but won't allow yourself to express.
- Projection means assuming that others share the impulses, feelings, and vices that you find unacceptable in yourself.
We've all encountered at least one of these before when dealing with a religious conservative: for instance, the Religious Right projects more than an IMAX theater. When factored into this discussion, however, it becomes easy to picture a group of so-called "Values Voters" at the convention after a night painting the town (Republican) Red:
Projection: Godless liberals are destroying this country-feminazi sluts demanding sex with no consequences and faggots pushing their gay agenda on our children.
Repression: What?
Reaction formation: This town is full of trashy dancers who wag their big tits and tight asses at honest businessmen. We should lock them up and throw away the key.
Repression: What?
Denial: Real Christians, through prayer, have the power to resist temptation. Only righteous men in public office can stop the moral decay of this sex-obsessed country.
Repression: Did you say something?
We all have our failings; nobody is perfect. But if you're going to demand perfection from others and make no allowances for failure, you better damn well be perfect yourself. Not just "saved" – perfect.
Here's an interesting portrait of King Tut. Did he really have "girlish hips" and boy boobs?
Earlier this year, egyptologists from the American University in Cairo shed light on some of the bizarre burial rituals discovered in the tomb, including the fact the king's penis was embalmed at a 90-degree angle – the only mummy to have ever been found with this feature.
On the outside of the tomb, decorations depicted Tutankhamun as underworld god Osiris, while wall paintings (pictured) showed the king being embraced by the underworld god. It is believed that if Tutankhamun was shown to be this powerful god it would quash a religious revolution taking place in the 1320s BC
Researchers from the American University in Cairo believe the king's appendage was embalmed at a 90-degree angle to make the young pharaoh appear as Osiris, the god of the underworld.
The angling of the penis was a feature worn by 'corn-mummies', created in honour of Osiris.
The mummy was also covered in black liquid to resemble Osiris' skin.
Elsewhere, Tutankhamun's heart was missing when the tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922.
Religious texts claimed Osiris' heart was similarly removed by his brother Seth.On the outside of the tomb, decorations depicted Tutankhamun as Osiris.
They claimed that this may have been carried out on purpose to make the king appear like Osiris, the god of the underworld, in an attempt to frighten religious revolutionaries.
At the time of his death in 1323 BC, the father of the teenage Egyptian king was said to be leading a religious revolution in the country.
It is believed Akhenaten wanted to destroy the belief in the Egyptian gods and instead worship a sun disc called the Aten.
Tutanhkhamun was trying to tackle this revolution when he was believed to have broken his leg and died from an infection in the wound. DNA analysis in 2010 also found traces of malaria in his system.
During mummification a decision was made to not only embalm the erect penis, but also to cover the king's body in black liquid – similar in colour to the skin of Osiris – and remove his heart.
These rituals, according to Professor Salima Ikram from the university, were done in order to make people think Tutankhamun was the underworld god.
His DNA also showed some weird things.
Albert Zink, from the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Italy, deciphered the truth about the ruler's parents by studying the royal family's DNA.
He found that Tut was born after his father Akhenaten – dubbed the heretic king – had a relationship with his sister. Incest was not frowned upon by the ancient Egyptians and they did not know about the health implications for any offspring.
Hutan Ashrafian, a lecturer in surgery at Imperial College London, said that several members of the family appeared to have suffered from ailments which can be explained by hormonal imbalances. He said: 'A lot of his family predecessors lived to a ripe old age. Only his immediate line were dying early, and they were dying earlier each generation.'
Egyptian radiologist Ashraf Selim: 'The virtual autopsy shows the toes are divergent – in layman's terms it's club foot. He would have been heavily limping.
'There is only one site where we can say a fracture happened before he died and that is the knee.'
Evidence of King Tut's physical limitations were also backed up by 130 used walking canes found in his tomb.
Republican Candidates for all levels of office continue to say strange things too. This one is really weird. Is it just me or does it appear that many of them seem to have mental illnesses that should be treated? I mean isn't religious delusion like an indicator of some really awful problems?
Rep. James Clyburn's (D-S.C.) Republican challenger referred to same-sex couples as "gremlins" and "bullies" in a Facebook post urging supporters to oppose gay marriage at the polls this fall.
Anthony Culler, the GOP nominee for Clyburn's seat, wrote a Facebook post on Oct. 14 decrying same-sex marriage as "a pestilence that has descended on our society, against our will, by those in the courts and government that do not value the traditional family."
"Same sex couples that seek to destroy our way of life and the institution of marriage are NOT cute and cuddly but rather (for those of you that are old enough to remember the movie), Gremlins that will only destroy our way of life," he wrote.
He adds: "These people are bullies and now that they are winning their true and hateful nature is much easier to see and hear."
Culler goes on to charge that gays have "a strong tendency for substance abuse," and urges readers to avoid the " 'over the top' and 'anything goes' ceremonies or parties that these people revel in."
"Stand against this and we will reverse it and drive it back into the darkness," he writes.
One more before I go go too. This one is real but sounds like tabloid stuff. I kid you not. Although, really, what is Politico any way if not a beltway tabloid and only journalism in the minds of the originating stooges?
Federal law enforcement officials are taking an ISIL threat against Michele Bachmann so seriously that Capitol Police have given the Minnesota Republican her own security detail.
An online threat against Bachmann emerged recently, according to multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the situation. Last week, Bachmann was provided a security detail in response, according to the sources.
Members of the U.S. Capitol Police's Dignitary Protection Division were briefed on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The police security will continue until Bachmann, who will retire at the end of this Congress, is no longer in office.
A police detail of this type typically means 24-hour protection when a member of Congress is on Capitol Hill or back in the home district.
Officials declined to outline the specific nature of the threat.
Bachmann's office referred news media inquiries to Capitol Police. A Capitol Police spokeswoman declined to comment.
"The U.S. Capitol Police does not discuss law enforcement operations or security regarding Members of Congress," spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider wrote in an email.
Bachmann has been publicly critical of not only ISIL, but also Islam, calling on President Barack Obama to declare war on the religion during a speech at the conservative Value Voters Summit at the end of September.
"And I believe if you have an evil of an order of this magnitude, you take it seriously," Bachmann said. "You declare war on it, you don't dance around it. Just like the Islamic State has declared war on the United States of America."
Have a great day! What's on your reading and blogging list today, because it's a WIDE OPEN thread!
Lazy Saturday Reads: Ebola, Texas, and Crazed RepublicansPosted: October 18, 2014 Filed under: 2016 elections, Barack Obama, medicine, morning reads, Real Life Horror, Republican politics, Rick Perry, science, Scott Brown, U.S. Politics | Tags: Beltway Bob, CDC, ebola, infectious disease prevention, Mitt Romney, Nathan Deal, Peggy Noonan, Ron Klain, Ted Cruz, Tom Frieden 32 Comments
Good Day!!
There are two confirmed cases of Ebola contracted within the U.S., and now we have an "Ebola Czar." President Obama has named Ron Klain, a lawyer and political operative who most recently served as "president of Case Holdings, which manages the assets of AOL founder Steve Case, and general counsel of Case's venture capital firm, Revolution." Before that, according to USA Today, he worked for a lobbying firm, but not as a registered lobbyist. And before that,
He was the chief of staff for two vice presidents, Joe Biden and Al Gore, and one attorney general, Janet Reno. He served as a senior White House aide to President Obama….
As Biden's chief of staff, Klain had a key role in implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and signed off on one of its most controversial projects: a $535 million loan guarantee to solar panel maker Solyndra.
"Sounds like there are some risk factors here — but that's true of any innovative company that POTUS would visit," Klain wrote to Department of Energy officials May 24, 2010, a day before Obama visited a company factory. "It looks like it is OK to me, but if you feel otherwise, let me know."
Earlier in his career, he served as the staff director of the Senate Democratic Leadership Committee and chief counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee….
Klain served as the top lawyer on the Gore-Lieberman Recount Committee after the 2000 election and was portrayed by actor Kevin Spacey in the 2008 film Recount.
He has no experience with health care issues or control of infectious diseases. Maybe Obama just did this to throw a bone to crazy Republicans, but it's not working. They're predictably attacking the choice. On the other hand, good old
Beltway Bob Ezra Klein thinks Klain is a perfect pick.
Something I learned during the first two years of the Obama administration, when the staff infighting was at its worst: if you wanted to get somebody to say something nice, ask them about Ron Klain.
Klain entered the administration as Vice President Joe Biden's chief of staff. This was, itself, notable: Klain has been chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, too, making him the only person to serve in that position for two different vice presidents.
Okay . . .
The Ebola response involves various arms of the Department of Health and Human Services (particularly, though not solely, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the Pentagon, the State Department, the National Security Council, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, President Obama's office, private stakeholders, and many, many more.
The "czar" position requires someone who knows how these different agencies and institutions work, who's got the stature to corral their efforts, who knows who to call when something unusual is needed, who can keep the policy straight….
I've seen some people arguing that there would be no need for an Ebola Czar if the Senate would simply confirm Dr. Vivek Murthy, Obama's nominee for surgeon general, who's being blocked because the National Rifle Association doesn't believe gun violence is a public-health issue. Murthy should be confirmed, but it would be a mistake to make him Ebola czar; he's a newcomer to government, and would need to learn, on the job, how to manage the various agencies and principals involved in the response effort. He'd likely get sidelined as players with more weight and bureaucratic skill began going around him.
Actual government experience is badly underrated in Washington. Politicians run for office promising that they know how to run businesses, not Senate offices. "Bureaucrat" is often lobbed as an insult. But in processes like this one, government experience really matters.
Maybe Klein is right. He makes some good arguments anyway.
Scott Brown seems to believe a venture capitalist is what's called for. Brown had this to say yesterday: "We Would Not Be Worrying About Ebola Right Now" If Romney Won.
Scott Brown told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade Friday that Ebola wouldn't be a problem for America if Mitt Romney had won in 2012.
"Gosh can you imagine if Mitt was the president right now?" Brown said. "He was right on Russia, he was right on Obamacare, he was right on the economy. And I guarantee you we would not be worrying about Ebola right now and, you know, worrying about our foreign policy screw ups."
Golly gee willikers, Batman! You can watch the interview at the Buzzfeed link above. New Hampshire Republican agree, according to The Washington Post.
It's interesting that Texas politicians are attacking Obama's Ebola response so vehemently. You'd think they would be more concerned about how a Dallas hospital sent Thomas Duncan home with a 103 degree fever, even though he told them he had just arrived from Liberia. And how they let nearly 80 hospital workers care for Duncan for days without any special protective gear. And how they let people who had been exposed to Duncan's bodily fluids travel travel by air and sea to possibly expose hundreds of other people. But no. Gov. Rick Perry, who could have stopped exposed Texans from traveling, went to Europe during the Ebola crisis and now says President Obama should have handled Texas' problem for him.
And then there's Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Here's what he had to say about the new Ebola Czar. I'm not going to link to it, because it's at Newsmax:
"We don't need another so-called 'czar'; we need presidential leadership. This is a public health crisis and the answer isn't another White House political operative. The answer is a commander-in-chief who stands up and leads, banning flights from Ebola-afflicted nations and acting decisively to secure our southern border."
Kaili Joy Gray at Wonkette: President Doctor Ted Cruz Is The Only Cure For Ebola.
Remember that time Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Canada) was all, "Say health care one more time, and I will shut this government DOWN!" and also something about Green Eggs and Ham and Nazis?
Nuh uh, no you do not, because Cruz would never be so reckless and irresponsible as to suggest the government should have nothing to do with health care because FREEDOM. That's not leadership, and Cruz is all about leadership. Especially the presidential kind, cough cough, wink wink, nudge nudge, YEAH WE KNOW, CRUZ WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT!
That's why Cruz is leadershipping so hard in response to President Obama's announcement that he will appoint an Ebola czar to coordinate all the government agencies tasked with dealing with this mess (which is mostly in Africa, but that doesn't count). Obama had to Do A Thing because the entire rightwing will not shut up about it. The folks at Fox and on the interwebs know for A Fact we are all dying this second of the terrifying African disease from Africa, spread by African Africans just like Obama, who is African and hates America and dear lord will these people never stop? (No. The answer is no.) ….
Right on, amen, and hells yes! Right now — and at no other time in history — the government has a duty to Do A Thing about Americans facing a public health crisis. And if stupid Obama insists on listening to the director of the Centers for Disease Control instead of Bill O'Reilly, Cruz will have no choice but to launch his 2016 presidential campaign right this second to save America.
And really, who better to just now discover the government serves a purpose and should maybe sometimes do stuff than the guy who wanted to shut it down because doing stuff is the last thing the government should ever do?
Honestly, I'm think some crazy Republicans would like to cause an epidemic just to spite Obama.
By the way, have you heard there's been another screw up at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital? A patient who might have Ebola was transferred to the hospital from Baylor Hospital, and then went missing after Presbyterian sent him on his way.
On Friday morning Baylor Hospital in Dallas confirmed a patient with 'Ebola similar' symptoms also triggered positive on a verbal screening questionnaire.
Although a positive blood test has not been confirmed, sources say it's not unusual to have a patient screen positive considering the wider net for Ebola now over Dallas. A positive screening means the patient met some of the criteria to cause concern.
According to Baylor, it was the answers to some of the screening questions — like if a person had been in contact with a known Ebola patient — that triggered the standing protocol by Dallas County Health and Human Services that the person be transferred to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, presumably for further, complete testing.
A source at Baylor said the patient came to the Emergency Room through a private entrance and was then immediately put into isolation.
According to a statement released by Texas Presbyterian, via The Boston Globe,
"The patient was placed in isolation at Texas Health Dallas and evaluated with all appropriate precautions," the statement read. "The patient was determined to be low risk and wanted to leave the hospital. The CDC and Texas Department of State Health Services were advised of this and did not feel it was necessary to have her detained."
However, the Globe learned that earlier,
Spokespeople for Texas Health Presbyterian told local news stations that they had not received a transfer patient and could not say whether the patient had been treated or released. There is no confirmation that this patient has Ebola. Texas Health Presbyterian has not responded to Boston.com request for comment.
WTF?! Someone in authority in Texas needs to make sure Texas Presbyterian is not involved with anymore suspected Ebola patients. Period. But Gov. Perry is too busy blaming everything on President Obama to do anything useful in his own state. Where is this patient? Are we really sure she is OK?
More insane Republican responses to the Ebola mess: CNN has a list, What's more disturbing than Ebola? The outrageous commentary. Here's just one example from Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia:
"The most comforting thing that I heard from (Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health) was that water kills the Ebola virus. I've never heard that before. I thought it was something that was so contagious there wasn't much you could do to prevent it or anything else, so her advice was 'wash your hands.' " –Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal told the Marietta Daily Journal.
From the experts:
"As with other infectious diseases, one of the most important preventive measures is frequent hand-washing. Use soap and water, or use alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60% alcohol when soap and water aren't available," the Mayo Clinic said about the prevention and spread of Ebola infection.
Read more at the link.
And then there's Peggy Noonan. She thinks Megyn Kelly of Fox News knows more about preventing Ebola than CDC Director Tom Frieden. Here's Simon Meloy at Salon on Noonan's solutions: Peggy Noonan's plan to save America: Think like an 11-year-old.
We need a travel ban, Ms. Noonan observes, drawing deeply from her vast reservoirs of disease-control expertise. "If we don't momentarily close the door to citizens of the affected nations, it is certain that more cases will come into the U.S." It is certain! They will come here with their disease. They will come to America. You may be inclined to note that the broad consensus among public health officials is that closing off West Africa will only make the epidemic there worse, which will in turn increase the risk of transmission to America. The petulant naysayers among you may be wont to point out that imposing a flight ban will only make it harder to track the movements and contacts of potentially infected persons.
But that's just more gobbledygook, more amphigory, more hurbledy-burbledy. That, as Ms. Noonan writes, is how the government talks, and "everyone who speaks for the government on this issue has been instructed to imagine his audience as anxious children." No … instead of speaking like children, writes Ms. Noonan, we should bethinking like children:
It is one thing that Dr. Frieden, and those who are presumably making the big decisions, have been so far incapable of making a believable and compelling case for not instituting a ban. A separate issue is how poor a decision it is. To call it childish would be unfair to children. In fact, if you had a group of 11-year-olds, they would surely have a superior answer to the question: "Sick people are coming through the door of the house, and we are not sure how to make them well. Meanwhile they are starting to make us sick, too. What is the first thing to do?"
The children would reply: "Close the door." One would add: "Just for a while, while you figure out how to treat everyone getting sick." Another might say: "And keep going outside the door in protective clothing with medical help." Eleven-year-olds would get this one right without a lot of struggle.
Yes! Trust in the wisdom of 11-year-olds. Unlike disease control officials, they are not burdened by years of experience in dealing with outbreaks, and the things they say are generally easier to understand. And whose heart is not warmed by the delicate innocence of a child's words as imagined by a former Reagan official?
Much more insanity at the link.
I know there's lots more news happening, but I'm so fascinated by the crazy responses to Ebola that I just can't stop reading about them. Please let us know know else is happening in the comment thread, and have a nice weekend.
Friday ReadsPosted: October 17, 2014 Filed under: Barack Obama, morning reads, Republican politics, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics | Tags: Amber Vinson, Angela Merkel, austerity, Belize, Bill Clinton, Carnival Cruise Lines, ebola, Ebola hearing, El Nino, Euopean Union, Federal Reserve, Hillary Clinton, Janet Yellen, Martha Coakley, Mary Landrieu, NOAA, Polar Vortex, Rand Paul, U.S. House of Representatives, winter weather 24 Comments
Good Morning!!
I'm going to begin with some good news today.
It looks like the coming winter will be on the mild side. From Discovery News: Winter Forecast for US Nothing to Shiver About.
Don't expect the polar vortex to pummel the eastern United States this winter, government scientists said today (Oct. 16).
Overall, forecasters expect mild winter conditions across much of the United States, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said as they issued their annual winter weather outlook.
While there's always a chance that the polar jet stream will again funnel frigid Arctic air south toward the United States, nothing in the new forecast indicates a rerun of the persistent patterns responsible for the "polar vortex." "We do not expect to see a repeat of last winter," said Mike Halpert, acting director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
Developing El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean will influence this year's winter weather, with wet conditions forecast from Southern California to South Carolina, and dry conditions expected across the North. Temperatures will be warmer than average in the West and in New England, but colder in the South from Texas east to Florida, according to the forecast.
I hope they're right!
Now for the latest Ebola news . . .
Why can't Dallas hospital workers just stay home until they're cleared? From The Washington Post: Texas hospital worker quarantined on cruise ship in Caribbean.
A Texas health-care worker who "may have" handled lab specimens from Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan has been isolated on board a Carnival cruise ship in the Caribbean. The worker has shown no symptoms of the disease, according to Carnival, which said it is in close contact with the Centers for Disease Control. A Carnival spokeswoman said the guest, who was not named, will remain on board in voluntary isolation until the ship returns to its home port of Galveston on Sunday.
The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital employee and a partner boarded the ship Oct. 12 in Galveston, Tex., before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the requirement for active monitoring, the State Department said in a statement. Although the worker is healthy, the U.S. government is working with the cruise line to get the ship back to America "out of an abundance of caution."
The employee, who has not been named, did not come into direct contact with Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. However, he or she may have been exposed to his clinical specimens, the State Department said.
"It has been 19 days since the passenger may have processed" Duncan's fluid samples, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement early Friday morning. "The cruise line has actively supported CDC's efforts to speak with the individual, whom the cruise ship's medical doctor has monitored and confirmed was in good health. Following this examination, the hospital employee and traveling partner have voluntarily remained isolated in a cabin."
Belize refused to allow the woman (gender identified by news release) to be leave the ship so she could be evacuated by the U.S.
In its own statement Thursday, the the Belize government said it "was contacted today by officers of the U.S. Government and made aware of a cruise ship passenger considered of very low risk for Ebola….Nonetheless, out of an abundance of caution, the Government of Belize decided not to facilitate a U.S. request for assistance in evacuating the passenger through the Phillip Goldson International Airport."
Now that the horses are out of the barn, so to speak, officials in Texas have decided to close the barn doors. From USA Today: Travel Ban for Texas health care workers in Ebola case.
Texas health officials have ordered any person who entered the room of the first Ebola patient at a Dallas hospital not to travel by public transport, including planes ship, buses or trains, or visit groceries, restaurants or theaters for 21 days, until the danger of developing Ebola has passed.
The instructions, issued by the Texas Department of State Health Service late Thursday, cover more than 70 health workers involved in providing care for Thomas Duncan, the Liberian national who became the first patient to test positive for Ebola in the United States.
Duncan died Oct. 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
The hospital workers were ordered to undergo monitoring twice a day, including one face-to-face encounter.
The health department said anyone failing to adhere to the rules "may be subject to a communicable disease control order." The health workers were asked to sign a written acknowledgement of the directions when they appear for monitoring.
According to The Hill, the CDC has now decided it needs to talk to passengers who were on Amber Vinson's flight from Dallas to Cleveland. Vinson is the second nurse to come down with Ebola after caring for Thomas Duncan, who died of the disease last week.
After reports that she may have shown symptoms on her flight back to Dallas, the CDC asked those passengers to contact the agency. But in a release Thursday night, the CDC expanded that notification to include passengers on Vinson's flight to Cleveland. The agency said that it wants to interview passengers and that "individuals who are determined to be at any potential risk will be actively monitored."
Ebola is contagious once an infected person starts exhibiting symptoms, so the CDC wants to keep tabs on anyone that could have come into contact with Vinson when those symptoms began. She traveled to Cleveland on Oct. 10 and returned on Oct. 13, the day before she reported her symptoms to the CDC.
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives decided to get involved in the Ebola crisis, and it wasn't pretty. BloombergPolitics compiled The Five Worst Questions from the House Ebola Hearing. According to the article, Democrats are wrong to claim that lack of funding made the situation worse. Republicans obsessed over banning travel into the U.S. and "securing the borders." But the most ludicrous question came from Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA).
Representative Morgan Griffith wanted to know if humans can catch Ebola from dogs, and Frieden said there were no known incidents. But still, the Virginia Republican wanted to know if we could stem the flow of West African dogs traveling into America.
"Don't you think we ought to at least restrict travel of dogs?" he asked.
"Um," Frieden replied. "We'll follow up in terms of what's possible."
In addition, President Obama held an "emergency meeting" at the White House yesterday.
(Reuters) – President Barack Obama said he was considering appointing an Ebola "czar" to coordinate the fight against the virus in the United States, but he remained opposed to a ban on travel from West Africa.
Obama's administration is facing sharp criticism from lawmakers over its efforts to contain the disease at home. Obama authorized calling up military reservists for the U.S. fight against Ebola in West Africa on Thursday….
"It may be appropriate for me to appoint an additional person" to oversee efforts to contain Ebola, Obama told reporters, adding that experts have told him "a flat-out travel ban is not the way to go" because current screening measures at airports are working.
He said he had no philosophical objection to a travel ban but that some travelers might attempt to enter the United States by avoiding screening measures, which could lead to more Ebola cases, not fewer.
A final dose of stupid came from Sen. Rand Paul, who told an audience of college students that you could catch Ebola by standing three feet from someone who is infected.
His comments directly conflict with statements from world health authorities who have dealt with Ebola outbreaks since 1976.
Paul…made his comments during a stop at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire Wednesday. In his remarks, he called Ebola "incredibly contagious" and suggested it could spread at a cocktail party attended by someone who is symptomatic, according to CNN video footage….
"You're not going to get AIDS at a cocktail party. No one's going to cough on you and you're going to get AIDS. Everybody knows that. That's what they make it sound exactly like," Paul, a doctor and potential presidential contender, said Thursday at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. "But then you listen to them closely, they say you have to have direct contact. But you know how they define direct contact? Being within three feet of someone."
World health authorities have been clear that Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids, and that blood, vomit and feces carry the most virus. Health workers are at particular risk because in the course of caring for patients, they draw blood and clean up diarrhea when the patients are most infectious. Likewise in the epidemic zone in West Africa, people involved with burials of highly infectious bodies are at high risk.
In other news . . .
Bill Clinton is heading down to Louisiana on Monday to stump for Mary Landrieu, according to Politico.
Former President Bill Clinton will campaign in Louisiana Monday with Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, joining the endangered incumbent in the state capital of Baton Rouge.
Clinton, unlike President Barack Obama, can be an effective surrogate in the red Southern states where the Democratic majority hangs in the balance.
The visit, Clinton's second for Landrieu this election cycle, comes a day before the start of early voting, which runs from October 21-28.
I've been hoping Bill would find time to come to Massachusetts to campaign for Martha Coakley for Governor, and what do you know? He blew through here yesterday! He spoke at Clark University in Worcester.
WORCESTER — Former President Bill Clinton told a capacity crowd at Clark University today that elections are just one big job interview.
Speaking in Worcester in support of Martha Coakley's run for governor, Mr. Clinton said Ms. Coakley's actions and advocacy as attorney general indicate how well she will perform once she completes that job interview.
"All you've got to do," he told more than 800 people who waited in a line the length of the Main South campus in monsoon-like conditions to get into Atwood Hall, "is increase the number of employers who make the hiring decision."
Ms. Coakley, a Democrat, and her running mate, Steve Kerrigan of Lancaster, are in a tight race with Republican Charlie Baker and his running mate, Karyn Polito of Shrewsbury. Mr. Clinton tried to convince the crowd they had the potential to make it a landslide.
"I don't care what the polls say, she can win this race handily if you want it bad enough," Mr. Clinton said.
Now we just need Hillary to show up.
How about a little economics news? It seems people in Europe are getting fed up with Angela Merkel's austerity obsession, according to the NYT. I can't excerpt from the piece, but here's a report from The Local in Italy:
Italy and France on Thursday reacted to turmoil in global stock markets by stepping up their calls for the European Union to switch course to focus on growth, not on balancing budgets.
But their calls were once again batted away by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who insisted the way out of the crisis was for all eurozone states to stick to agreed rules on the size of their deficits.
In the latest salvos in a simmering row that is set to come to head at a summit of EU leaders next week, Rome and Paris went on the offensive on the sidelines of the ASEM meeting in Milan.
"We in a very delicate moment in terms of the international economic and financial situation," Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said.
"Which is all the more reason for Europe to show itself capable of producing an economic response based on investment in growth and not only on rigour and austerity," Renzi said.
He also said a "focus on growth" was recommended by the IMF – "and they don't seem to be dangerous communists to me".
According to UK Reuters, the U.S. has warned Europe about the possibility of deflation.
The United States on Wednesday renewed a warning that Europe risks falling into a downward spiral of falling wages and prices, saying recent actions by the European Central Bank may not be enough to ward off deflation.
In a semiannual report to Congress, the U.S. Treasury Department also said Berlin could do more to help Europe, namely by boosting demand in the German economy, Europe's largest.
"Europe faces the risk of a prolonged period of substantially below-target inflation or outright deflation," the Treasury said.
The Guardian today published a summary of Europe's "five years of economic crisis."
Finally, Janet Yellen has expressed concern over growing economic inequality in the U.S. Reuters reports:
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Friday the growth of economic inequality in the United States "greatly" concerned her, and suggested in a detailed speech on the politically charged issue that Americans should ask whether it was compatible with their values.
With global financial markets rebounding from days of frenzied selling, Yellen did not comment on the volatility or on monetary policy. Instead she focused on the gulf between rich and poor that has only grown wider over the last several decades and, she said, through the U.S. economic recovery.
"The extent of and continuing increase in inequality in the United States greatly concern me," Yellen told a conference on inequality at the Boston branch of the central bank.
"It is no secret that the past few decades of widening inequality can be summed up as significant income and wealth gains for those at the very top and stagnant living standards for the majority," she told economists, professors and community workers.
"I think it is appropriate to ask whether this trend is compatible with values rooted in our nation's history, among them the high value Americans have traditionally placed on equality of opportunity."
Good for Yellen. Now let's see some action beyond the words.
What else is happening? Please post your thoughts and links in the comment thread, and have a fabulous Friday!!