Rock on.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
The Wayback Machine
November 13, 2003.
(11-13) 04:00 PST Washington — 2003-11-13 04:00:00 PST Washington -- The Bush administration plans to support the creation of a reconstituted governing body in Iraq that will assume a large degree of sovereignty by next summer -- a move that could lead to a relinquishing of control by the U.S.-led occupation before the 2004 presidential election.
The decision was reached after two days of hastily organized talks at the White House with Paul Bremer, the U.S. governor in Iraq, in an attempt to accelerate the political transition -- one of two prerequisites, along with security, for the eventual American withdrawal from Iraq.
Yongnuo "John Snow" ST-E2 Punches Above Its Weight
For those of you who are Canon shooters and use optical remote flash, you may want to look at Yongnuo's version of the ST-E2 transmitter.
Highlights:
• AA-powered (no more 2CR5s!)
• Greater range -- like, a lot
• Swivels 135 degrees
• Thus, can control flashes behind the camera
• About half the price (est. street, China)
So what's the deal with the "John Snow" part? That's how Google machine-translates the name on the detailed review on our Chinese language partner site. So, John Snow it is.
Okay, Canon shooters, is this thing interesting enough to take a flyer? What about you current ST-E2 owners -- are the extra features enough to make you reach for you wallets?
Sound off below.
-30-
"Inappropriate Signal To Investors"
Some in the Fed seem to think that the Great Casino is the real economy.
By The Way I Plan To Vote
There's this weird chatter about how crazy it would be for mildly disgruntled democrats to stay home in November and not vote. I agree! Totally crazy! I'll vote for Sestak and Bob Brady, the former probably needs my vote and the latter doesn't. But GOTV concerns aren't about people like me, they're about numerous other people who don't always make a point of voting.
Live on YouTube tonight: President Obama’s Oval Office address on Iraq
President Obama set a deadline of August 31, 2010 for ending the combat operation in Iraq and shrinking the U.S. footprint there to no more than 50,000 troops. Tonight, at 8 P.M. ET, the President will address the country from the Oval Office about the status of this effort. You can tune into a live-stream of the speech on YouTube at www.youtube.com/whitehouse -- where you’ll also be able to ask the White House follow-up questions on the future of American involvement in Iraq in a special Moderator series. Click here to submit your question now.
If you miss the live address and the Q & A, tune in to Citizentube afterwards where we’ll feature the President’s remarks, the Q & A, and the Republican response to the Administration’s plan in Iraq.
Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, recently watched Obama to Mark Iraq Handoff in Primetime Speech
If you miss the live address and the Q & A, tune in to Citizentube afterwards where we’ll feature the President’s remarks, the Q & A, and the Republican response to the Administration’s plan in Iraq.
Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, recently watched Obama to Mark Iraq Handoff in Primetime Speech
Why It's So Maddening
There's some truth to this counterintuitive take on Krgthulu, and it's the reason some of us our pulling our hair out. The solution to the economic problems we face are, if not perfectly simply in practice, pretty straightforward. That we've had people arguing otherwise, and even people notionally on the right side worrying about invisible bond vigilantes and arguing for a smaller stimulus than necessary just because, is maddening. So, yes, optimistic that problems are solvable. Pessimistic that they will be solved.
One True Christian
If I went around calling peoples' religions "evil" I'd probably get into a bit of trouble. Not that I'm important, of course, but the usual suspects would say I was bigoted against the faithful and whatnot.
Credit Where Credit Is Due File
Orrin Hatch.
Labor Day is almost here so I imagine the mosque "controversy" will begin to recede. What will next August's stupid fake controversy that gets 24/7 coverage be?
Labor Day is almost here so I imagine the mosque "controversy" will begin to recede. What will next August's stupid fake controversy that gets 24/7 coverage be?
I Have No Idea What We're Doing There
I at least understood that we stayed in Iraq so Very Serious People could feel better about themselves. Not an especially good reason, of course, but a reason at least.
Roadside bombings and attacks by militants in Afghanistan killed five U.S. soldiers Tuesday, raising the American death toll since this weekend to 19.
The number of American soldiers killed in August is now 55, a drop from the 66 who died in July, the deadliest month of combat for U.S. troops since fighting began in 2001.
Morning and Stuff
Not an economist, but I think Ruth has it about right. The financial system is like a house of cards that is teetering on the brink of collapse. Sooner or later all the assets held by the banks will have to be valued at market rates instead of the inflated values currently assigned to them. I suppose our betters are hoping that either the housing market will re-inflate or that they can spread the losses out over several years for a soft landing. Either way, it's not very comfortable knowing that we're so close to having the whole house collapse.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Externalities
I thought this was a decent if imperfect piece at GreenTechMedia today. If nothing else it highlights once again the point that energy from coal has significant negative externalities that are not reflected in its price, full stop. It's a very simple point, but apparently not simple enough for the brain trust that scribbles editorials in the WSJ. Whether they don't understand simple economic concepts or whether they dissemble to advance an agenda, or both, is up for debate I suppose.
WSJ editorial is full of crap. Dog bites man. Open thread.
WSJ editorial is full of crap. Dog bites man. Open thread.
Urban Hellhole Blogging
The more interesting than parking (impossible I know) bit of the earlier article about the Italian (aka 9th St.) Market is whether retail gentrification will alter the character of the place which, as I understand it, has from the beginning been a fairly low end market area catering to poor immigrants. There are some higher end specialty shops mixed in a bit, and the various butchers have good if not top quality meats, but overall it's more of a lower priced retail corridor. Locally, the demographics are a mix of older Italian- and African-American populations, along with yuppies, hipsters, and newer Mexican and Vietnamese immigrant populations.
Mandatory Parking
Oy.
Hopefully the information in the second paragraph is actually operative. It would be absurd to require any sort of parking on that parcel.* It would either make it prohibitively expensive to build (underground) or completely break up the flow (surface). None of the existing structures along the corridor have any parking. There are municipal lots and plenty of on street parking nearby. More importantly, people actually, you know, walk there.
*building is gone, and is now empty lot.
On Midwood Management, the New York developer who owns the Paesano's property on Christian Street, and who is purported to be interested in taking over more of the Market: "Midwood wants to open a mixed-use retail and condo space there at the [long-abandoned] Ice House space [at Ninth and Washington], yeah. But the city challenged them to build a parking lot underground as part of the deal, a project that'll cost them plenty. I don't think they're concerned with taking the Market over. They got their hands full."
(Midwood couldn't be reached for comment; DiCicco says Midwood is downsizing its vision due to the dip in the real estate market, and now plans an all-retail space, with no parking, that allows for housing atop if the housing market rebounds.)
Hopefully the information in the second paragraph is actually operative. It would be absurd to require any sort of parking on that parcel.* It would either make it prohibitively expensive to build (underground) or completely break up the flow (surface). None of the existing structures along the corridor have any parking. There are municipal lots and plenty of on street parking nearby. More importantly, people actually, you know, walk there.
*building is gone, and is now empty lot.
I Really Think So
I was also struck by the coverage of Japan this morning. For years everyone in econ-world mocked Japan and their poor policy responses to their economic problems, with a 'there's no way we would do that' attitude. Well now we're doing that, and much of econ-world thinks it's great.
More advertiser control on YouTube
This post is part of the “BizBlog Series,” which was formally its own blog. Check back each week to see articles about partners and advertisers on YouTube, or search under the label 'BizBlog'.
We’re constantly working to give advertisers control and flexibility over their YouTube campaigns. We place great value on this because ads are an extension of what a company represents as a business, and we want YouTube to be a place where that reputation and image can flourish.
To that end, we’ve been rolling out features to keep advertisers in control of their campaigns. We announced one such example last week, when we launched a feature that gives select advertisers the ability to voluntarily age-restrict their videos. But there’s more work to do.
To date, we’ve given advertisers the ability to pick and choose individual videos on YouTube to target using our Video Targeting Tool. But one of the most frequently requested features we’ve heard from advertisers is the ability to exclude individual videos and channels from the campaigns they run on our site. Today, we’re excited to announce video and channel exclusions, a way for advertisers to pick specific YouTube videos and channel URLs that they don’t want their ads to appear on.
Here’s an example: let’s say you run a vegan bakery. You want to strike a balance between good exposure for your baked goods online, while staying true to your company values in offering items free of animal or dairy-products. Now you can indicate which videos are not the best fit for your audience. Since your customers are probably not watching "Homewrecker Hot Dog," you can provide this video exclusion under the "Networks" tab.
Similarly, you might run a keyword-targeted campaign on bakery-related keywords and exclude whole channels that you don’t feel suit your audience. So if FoodNetworkTV has videos centered mostly around cooking meat dishes, you have the controls to prevent ads from showing on that channel and specific videos.
Alternatively, if your ads are appearing on a video that has content you deem inappropriate for your audience, or perhaps isn’t performing in terms of click-through rate or conversions, you can optimize your campaign by using this new feature to exclude it.
Google has also been investing significantly in ensuring brand safety, transparency and control for advertisers across the Google Display Network. We’re hoping that these added layers of control will make your campaign targeting even more precise. Keep sending us your feedback so we can make future product improvements.
Baljeet Singh, Senior Product Manager recently watched “AH NOM NOM: Wholesome Bakery Best Vegan Bakery Food Cart In San Francisco”
We’re constantly working to give advertisers control and flexibility over their YouTube campaigns. We place great value on this because ads are an extension of what a company represents as a business, and we want YouTube to be a place where that reputation and image can flourish.
To that end, we’ve been rolling out features to keep advertisers in control of their campaigns. We announced one such example last week, when we launched a feature that gives select advertisers the ability to voluntarily age-restrict their videos. But there’s more work to do.
To date, we’ve given advertisers the ability to pick and choose individual videos on YouTube to target using our Video Targeting Tool. But one of the most frequently requested features we’ve heard from advertisers is the ability to exclude individual videos and channels from the campaigns they run on our site. Today, we’re excited to announce video and channel exclusions, a way for advertisers to pick specific YouTube videos and channel URLs that they don’t want their ads to appear on.
Here’s an example: let’s say you run a vegan bakery. You want to strike a balance between good exposure for your baked goods online, while staying true to your company values in offering items free of animal or dairy-products. Now you can indicate which videos are not the best fit for your audience. Since your customers are probably not watching "Homewrecker Hot Dog," you can provide this video exclusion under the "Networks" tab.
Similarly, you might run a keyword-targeted campaign on bakery-related keywords and exclude whole channels that you don’t feel suit your audience. So if FoodNetworkTV has videos centered mostly around cooking meat dishes, you have the controls to prevent ads from showing on that channel and specific videos.
Alternatively, if your ads are appearing on a video that has content you deem inappropriate for your audience, or perhaps isn’t performing in terms of click-through rate or conversions, you can optimize your campaign by using this new feature to exclude it.
Google has also been investing significantly in ensuring brand safety, transparency and control for advertisers across the Google Display Network. We’re hoping that these added layers of control will make your campaign targeting even more precise. Keep sending us your feedback so we can make future product improvements.
Baljeet Singh, Senior Product Manager recently watched “AH NOM NOM: Wholesome Bakery Best Vegan Bakery Food Cart In San Francisco”
Any Idea What They're Doing There
I really have no idea.
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO says 7 US soldiers killed in 2 roadside bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan.
The Optimistic View
Not passing this along because I agree or disagree, I'm just fascinated by what's presented as the optimistic outcome.
So the good scenario - the worst is over - unemployment will drop all the way down to 9% by the end of 2011!!
In January 2009, the administration projected that unemployment would drop below 7% by the end of 2011, without any stimulus.
If Berner's right, the worst is over. He expects consumption to grow 2 to 2.5 percent annually, propelling a steady -- if unspectacular -- recovery. Indeed, consumption spending grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the second quarter. Berner forecasts unemployment to decline slowly to about 9 percent by year-end 2011.
The trouble with this analysis, as Berner admits, is that it presumes that most of the adjustment has already occurred. But what if worried Americans are only midway? In the past decade, they counted rising stock and home wealth as "saving," which rationalized high borrowing and spending. Now, the process may work in reverse. Since late 2007, lower home and stock values have shaved about $10 trillion from household wealth. If Americans tried to replace most of this through more annual saving, consumer spending would remain weak for years.
So the good scenario - the worst is over - unemployment will drop all the way down to 9% by the end of 2011!!
In January 2009, the administration projected that unemployment would drop below 7% by the end of 2011, without any stimulus.
Constrained
There is a lot the administration could have accomplished that the progressive base would have praised. Sometimes this would have entailed doing something, like DADT, that was expected and promised. Other times, this would have entailed taking stronger action in response to events, as with health care reform and job creation. So there is handwringing, excuses offered, and worse, on whose fault it is that liberals have not been overjoyed with the administration.
So what can Obama really do?
So what can Obama really do?
Sunday, August 29, 2010
On Assignment: Nathaniel Welch for Men's Journal
UPDATE: Adds available-light-only version of the photo, inside.
__________
New York based photographer Nathaniel Welch shot the above photo to illustrate a story for Men's Journal on the flaws of sunscreen. I thought it really popped, and talked to him about the lighting while he was en route to Boulder Colorado. Read more »
__________
New York based photographer Nathaniel Welch shot the above photo to illustrate a story for Men's Journal on the flaws of sunscreen. I thought it really popped, and talked to him about the lighting while he was en route to Boulder Colorado. Read more »
On The More Optimistic Side
Perhaps the placing of this op-ed by Laura Tyson, "a member of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board," signals a shift...
The Safe Way To Travel
I'm sure there are good reasons some parents might hesitate to bring their kids on mass transit, but concern for safety isn't one of them.
Or Maybe Because Of
Just thinking outside the box here.
Despite the presence of almost 150,000 foreign troops, violence across Afghanistan is at its worst since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.
Oh Jeebus
Please find a new plan already.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration has not decided whether it should resurrect a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said on Sunday.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Meet the Press has Landrieu, Landrieu, and Brad Pitt.
Face the Nation has Joe Miller (R-AK), Kendrick Meek, President Barbour and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
This Week has Arne Duncan, the head of the AFT, and Jamie Oliver.
Document the atrocities!
Face the Nation has Joe Miller (R-AK), Kendrick Meek, President Barbour and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.
This Week has Arne Duncan, the head of the AFT, and Jamie Oliver.
Document the atrocities!
Contempt
In his opening column, the new ombud at the NYTimes displays the newsroom's contempt for its readers--people are apparently either partisans or nitpickers--and, by extension, for the "scold, scourge" in "the principal's office" who ostensibly represents them.
Deep Questions of Our Time
In the long run, is the African American community likely to view Glenn Beck with the same reverence with which they regard Martin Luther King, Jr?
Only time will tell.
Only time will tell.
Five Years After Hurricane Katrina
Five years ago today, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast region, crashing through the levees that held the waters of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet at bay from the city of New Orleans. Overnight, 80 percent of New Orleans was submerged. To this day, only a fraction of residents in the hardest hit areas, like the Lower Ninth Ward, have returned to their homes.
Today, in partnership with ABC 26 (WGNO), a local television station in New Orleans, we commemorate the anniversary of Katrina with a selection of videos on our homepage from New Orleans residents.
Many of you have taken this anniversary as an occasion to upload videos to YouTube about the disaster and where things stand today, from never-before-seen footage shot in 2005 of the hurricane itself to stories of what it was like to leave your home of more than 50 years behind.
Some videos showed how much work is left to be done, like this one from the Ninth Ward, narrated by a resident returning home to survey the damage five years later:
Others discovered relics left behind but not forgotten:
And some chose to honor their city and its resilient spirit through song:
If you lived through Hurricane Katrina, we still welcome your reflections. Please submit your videos using YouTube Direct on ABC 26’s website. A selection of videos will also be featured on abc26.com, ABC 26’s YouTube channel, and broadcast on ABC 26 (WGNO).
Olivia Ma, News Manager, recently watched “Rebirth Brass Band: Do Watcha Wanna (in the French Quarter)”
Today, in partnership with ABC 26 (WGNO), a local television station in New Orleans, we commemorate the anniversary of Katrina with a selection of videos on our homepage from New Orleans residents.
Many of you have taken this anniversary as an occasion to upload videos to YouTube about the disaster and where things stand today, from never-before-seen footage shot in 2005 of the hurricane itself to stories of what it was like to leave your home of more than 50 years behind.
Some videos showed how much work is left to be done, like this one from the Ninth Ward, narrated by a resident returning home to survey the damage five years later:
Others discovered relics left behind but not forgotten:
And some chose to honor their city and its resilient spirit through song:
If you lived through Hurricane Katrina, we still welcome your reflections. Please submit your videos using YouTube Direct on ABC 26’s website. A selection of videos will also be featured on abc26.com, ABC 26’s YouTube channel, and broadcast on ABC 26 (WGNO).
Olivia Ma, News Manager, recently watched “Rebirth Brass Band: Do Watcha Wanna (in the French Quarter)”
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Boring Blogging Day
Weather is nice and I'm not really up for Glenn Beck day.
I'm sure you can go read some of the many fine blogs which can be found on the left of your screen.
I'm sure you can go read some of the many fine blogs which can be found on the left of your screen.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Conflictivism
For our second cross-post from the Guggenheim’s The Take blog, inspired by YouTube Play. A Biennial of Creative Video, Jaime Davidovich pontificates on YouTube as “public access gone ballistic” and how the 21st century artist might deal with the site’s cacophony of image and sound.
Davidovich was one of the first artists to recognize cable television for its potential for contemporary art, producing The Live! Show, a weekly public-access television program that featured avant-garde performances, artwork, political satire and social commentary. He’s currently working on pieces for his YouTube channel, as well as “video paintings,” or video images projected onto a gestural painting surface. You can read his original article here.
In his recent book Feedback: Television Against Democracy (2007), David Joselit challenges artists with a manifesto that echoes a sentiment common among us: "How is your image going to circulate? Use the resources of the 'art world' as a base of operations, but don't remain there. Use images to build publics."
I have been practicing Joselit's principle since 1976, putting art into the public arena through public-access television. One of my first programs was The Live! Show, a satirical variety show about the art world, which ran from 1979 to 1984 on New York cable television.
In the series I appeared as Dr. Videovich, my alter ego, interviewing artists such as Eric Bogosian, Tony Oursler, and Martha Wilson, as well as Marcia Tucker, founder of the New Museum, and the present-day director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, Richard Armstrong. The idea of The Live! Show was to showcase art on a popular medium — TV — allowing people to watch these works in the comfort of their homes.
Continuing the first-come, first-serve spirit of public-access TV, YouTube, with the tagline "Broadcast Yourself," is the current medium for circulating art outside the pristine walls of the art gallery. YouTube is public access gone ballistic — an anarchist brain on steroids. While public-access television was one channel at a time, YouTube features dozens of channels at the same time, and they are not listed anywhere, but found by user searching. And while public-access television was low tech and a 30-minute format, YouTube is all tech and features short clips with a maximum length of 15 minutes. I currently have a work on YouTube that is a close-up video of a delete key with audio accompaniment. The concept of this piece is to provide a break in the cacophonous overload of YouTube images and sound.
I am a conflictivist, an artist who explores the conflict between high and low culture. The artist of the 21st century cannot live solely in the art world or the “real world.” Rather, he or she should commute between the two.
How should artists today deal with new forms and media? Please comment below (note comments are moderated due to spam) or directly on The Take.
Davidovich was one of the first artists to recognize cable television for its potential for contemporary art, producing The Live! Show, a weekly public-access television program that featured avant-garde performances, artwork, political satire and social commentary. He’s currently working on pieces for his YouTube channel, as well as “video paintings,” or video images projected onto a gestural painting surface. You can read his original article here.
In his recent book Feedback: Television Against Democracy (2007), David Joselit challenges artists with a manifesto that echoes a sentiment common among us: "How is your image going to circulate? Use the resources of the 'art world' as a base of operations, but don't remain there. Use images to build publics."
I have been practicing Joselit's principle since 1976, putting art into the public arena through public-access television. One of my first programs was The Live! Show, a satirical variety show about the art world, which ran from 1979 to 1984 on New York cable television.
In the series I appeared as Dr. Videovich, my alter ego, interviewing artists such as Eric Bogosian, Tony Oursler, and Martha Wilson, as well as Marcia Tucker, founder of the New Museum, and the present-day director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, Richard Armstrong. The idea of The Live! Show was to showcase art on a popular medium — TV — allowing people to watch these works in the comfort of their homes.
Continuing the first-come, first-serve spirit of public-access TV, YouTube, with the tagline "Broadcast Yourself," is the current medium for circulating art outside the pristine walls of the art gallery. YouTube is public access gone ballistic — an anarchist brain on steroids. While public-access television was one channel at a time, YouTube features dozens of channels at the same time, and they are not listed anywhere, but found by user searching. And while public-access television was low tech and a 30-minute format, YouTube is all tech and features short clips with a maximum length of 15 minutes. I currently have a work on YouTube that is a close-up video of a delete key with audio accompaniment. The concept of this piece is to provide a break in the cacophonous overload of YouTube images and sound.
I am a conflictivist, an artist who explores the conflict between high and low culture. The artist of the 21st century cannot live solely in the art world or the “real world.” Rather, he or she should commute between the two.
How should artists today deal with new forms and media? Please comment below (note comments are moderated due to spam) or directly on The Take.
HAMP'd
I've long said that if the economy fails to turn around, a big reason will be the administration's failure to adequately deal with the housing and foreclosure crisis.
Time to hope that someone decides he needs some new advisers. If only they'd listened to me and backed cramdown....*
*They did in theory but made no effort
Time to hope that someone decides he needs some new advisers. If only they'd listened to me and backed cramdown....*
*They did in theory but made no effort
Inflation Was Actually Kinda Awesome For A Lot Of People
I've never seen a study, but while the 70s had some economic problems, for large numbers of homeowners inflation eroded the value of their mortgages tremendously. If wages keep up - and that's an if of course - higher than expected inflation is pretty awesome for people with nominally denominated deb and bad for those who lent the money, which is why banksters and their pals at the Fed really really hate inflation.
The Danger Of Appointing GOP Daddies
I can understand why Obama reappointed Bernanke given the circumstances. I also hope people start acknowledging that it was a mistake.
Stay Classy
The greatest senator a few weeks ago.
What a joke.
12-18 months recovery...
Some things never change: Birds fly, waves pound the sand and cranky old men complain that everything was better in their own day.
Today's entrant is Jim Bunning who was, of course, a starting pitcher for 17 big-league seasons before becoming a Republican Senator from Kentucky. A reporter from Politico asked Bunning for his thoughts about Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg missing his start on Tuesday with shoulder soreness. Bunning grabbed his arm with a fake exclamation of pain and then decided to question Strasburg's manhood.
"Five-hundred twenty starts, I never refused the ball," Bunning said. "What a joke!"
What a joke.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo announced this morning that pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg will probably require "Tommy John" elbow ligament replacement surgery.
12-18 months recovery...
Though It Ultimately Was A Mistake
Obsessing too much about possible Republican attacks about "wasteful" spending has crippled some spending initiatives in the stimulus.
And the economy is where it is now.
And the economy is where it is now.
Oh Well
So much for that.
U.S. economic growth slowed more sharply than initially thought in the second quarter, held back by the largest increase in imports in 26 years, a government report showed on Friday.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 1.6 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said, instead of the 2.4 percent pace it had estimated last month.
We're The Greatest Nation In The History Of The Universe
But some things are just too expensive.
SAN DIEGO — Fire departments around the nation are cutting jobs, closing firehouses and increasingly resorting to “rolling brownouts” in which they shut different fire companies on different days as the economic downturn forces many cities and towns to make deep cuts that are slowing their responses to fires and other emergencies.
Philadelphia began rolling brownouts this month, joining cities from Baltimore to Sacramento that now shut some units every day. San Jose, Calif., laid off 49 firefighters last month. And Lawrence, Mass., north of Boston, has laid off firefighters and shut down half of its six firehouses, forcing the city to rely on help from neighboring departments each time a fire goes to a second alarm
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Shorter NYT
Hatred of deficit spending when done by Democrats has distracted Republicans who normally spend lots of time hating gay people.
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) called on President Obama to fire former Senator Alan Simpson from his position as Co-Chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in light of Simpson’s recent remarks regarding Social Security. Nadler issued the following statement:
“We cannot trust the integrity of any product or recommendations of the Commission as long as former Senator Simpson is the Chairman. His insulting and outrageous comments reveal his own mistaken belief that Social Security is a) in crisis, b) about to collapse, and c) contributes to the deficit. None of this is true. In fact, the Social Security Trust Fund has a $2.5 trillion dollar surplus, and it will be able to pay 100 percent of benefits through 2037, according to the Social Security Board of Trustees. What’s more, Social Security has not contributed at all to the federal deficit. It is well known that Simpson has tried time and again over the years to raise the retirement age and cut Social Security benefits, and he makes no attempt to disguise his goals and attitude toward Social Security in his most recent comments.
“Furthermore, Simpson demonstrated a total disrespect for women and an unjustifiably contemptuous attitude toward Ashley Carson, Executive Director of the Older Women’s League. His comments were offensive, ignorant, and misleading, and he should be fired immediately.”
Though, admittedly, Simpson isn't the problem. The whole crew is.
Glenn Beck Has A Fever Dream
One would have thought that trying to appropriate the civil rights movement and the legacy of MLK, facts be damned, would be problematic. I guess not.
Hamp'd
Whatever you think the feds should have done (or not) to help homeowners, what happened is that they set up and endorsed a predatory lending program which has ended up completely screwing people. It's unconscionable.
Q&A - Mini-Boom
Quite a few people asked me about the small boom that was used for the key light in the photos of J.D. Roth.Here's the skinny, in seven words: Cheap, travels well; I really like it.
Details, after the jump. Read more »
Beck'd
The slightly interesting thing Beck is that he appears to be an insane megalomanic who is self-aware enough to be aware of that fact. It's what allows him to be a huckster clown on top of it.
A Good Face for Radio
Terminally bored and trapped in your cubicle this afternoon?
Ibarionex Perello and I were finally able to mesh our schedules to do a podcast interview for The Candid Frame. It's 45 mins, and covers Strobist's early days, leaving the paper and what's next.
If you are so inclined, you can find it here.
-30-
Ibarionex Perello and I were finally able to mesh our schedules to do a podcast interview for The Candid Frame. It's 45 mins, and covers Strobist's early days, leaving the paper and what's next.
If you are so inclined, you can find it here.
-30-
Not Over
Treasury's predatory lending program did not solve the crisis.
The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process declined last quarter to 4.57 percent from 4.63 percent in the first quarter, partially because of lender efforts to ease payments for homeowners and the impact of temporary home purchase tax credits, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in its quarterly delinquency report.
Foreclosures could head higher in coming months, however, as the percentage of borrowers at least one payment behind resumed its rise after easing late last year, the MBA said.
Campaign And The Economy
Judging by all the emails I get from various campaigns and party organizations, the Dem plan for the campaign is to run against social security privatization and then come December vote to cut benefits and raise the retirement age.
As for what they should actually be doing, I'm rather skeptical that there's much that monetary policy can do though that doesn't mean I think it can do nothing. As a matter of politics one would think, as dday says, they should unite around an awesome jobs bill and run with it whether or not President Snowe blesses it.
Though, probably, they think if we give the economy another F.U. everything will be ok. They might be right. But 6 months is a long time...
As for what they should actually be doing, I'm rather skeptical that there's much that monetary policy can do though that doesn't mean I think it can do nothing. As a matter of politics one would think, as dday says, they should unite around an awesome jobs bill and run with it whether or not President Snowe blesses it.
Though, probably, they think if we give the economy another F.U. everything will be ok. They might be right. But 6 months is a long time...
Silly Krugman
Our capitalist overlords are simply going Galt to protest the coming nationalization of all of the means of production.
Or something.
Or something.
310 Million Tits
No wonder there is so much suckage in the world. Thanks Mr. Simpson for clearing that up for us.
Good Morning.
Good Morning.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Enjoy YouTube in Croatian, Filipino, Serbian and Slovak
Starting today, you can experience YouTube in four new languages: Croatian, Filipino, Serbian and Slovak. This brings the grand total of languages we support to 28, a nearly 50% increase since the beginning of 2010. (And remember: by selecting automated captions on a video, you can experience that video in over 50 languages.) Take a look at the languages we've launched since the start of YouTube:
By the end of this year, our goal is to offer the YouTube experience in 40 languages, doubling the number we started with at the top of 2010. With each new rollout, we hope to make YouTube a bit more accessible to more people, regardless of where in the world they might live. For more information, please watch the “YouTube Answers: Worldwide” video, which tackles your most popular questions about our international sites and operations.
Brian Truong, Product Manager, recently watched “Flower Warfare - Behind the Scenes.”
By the end of this year, our goal is to offer the YouTube experience in 40 languages, doubling the number we started with at the top of 2010. With each new rollout, we hope to make YouTube a bit more accessible to more people, regardless of where in the world they might live. For more information, please watch the “YouTube Answers: Worldwide” video, which tackles your most popular questions about our international sites and operations.
Brian Truong, Product Manager, recently watched “Flower Warfare - Behind the Scenes.”
Next Steps
Nothing new here yet....
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass., Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama held a conference call with top economic advisers on Wednesday to discuss newly released grim data that has raised fears the economy is at risk of a new downturn.
...
"The economic team provided an update on the next steps to keep the economy growing, including assistance to small businesses and the extension of tax cuts to the middle class," it said.
Along Those Lines
Plenty of Dems feel completely comfortable running against Obama and other Dems from the right, as is always the case, and I'm sure the DCCC will help many of them do it. But my question is whether any of them will run against the administration from the left, even on something as basic as 'the economy.'
I Feel Your Pain
Curious if anyone has noticed many Democratic politicians running on the economy? As in, it sucks and we need to do something about it.
Deep Thought
I'm so old I can remember when the running of primary challenges against incumbent senators bordered on treason.
High Broderism
It is ultimately about a desire for a not very competent technocracy run by the people you find to be pleasant when you dine at their table on quail. Paying too much attention to politics over the years as certainly made me cynical about a lot of things, but I don't think I've ever lost my respect for the idea that democracy requires the consent of the governed, even if the masses are often seriously ill-informed.
Are you win? Or are you fail? YouTube trivia game show enters second season
Win/Fail, a trivia-based game show from the people behind POPTUB and FAILBlog, is all about YouTube: its history and lore, heroes and controversial characters, smash hits and cult favorites. Snarky questions range from noob-friendly to topics that would challenge even the most grizzled YouTube vets. In its first iteration, Win/Fail racked up over 18 million views; for v2, they’ve added Dustin Diamond (aka Screech from Saved by the Bell) as the voice of the show, as well as the opportunity to play for a real prize. So, no Rickrolling this time. Honest.
As part of our ongoing series of Creator’s Corner posts focused on the people who make cool videos on YouTube, here’s a Q&A with the team behind the show.
1) Where did the idea for Win/Fail come from?
Not too long ago, we produced over 450 episodes of POPTUB, a daily best-of-YouTube show. This resulted in a staggering, even embarrassing, amount of YouTube knowledge. We needed to know we weren’t alone in that. The response to the first game made us feel a little better.
2) How can one study to be an"Olympian of YouTube knowledge"?
Much like the SATs, it’s more about everything you’ve absorbed, over your entire YouTube lifetime, leading up to one moment of truth. You can’t really study.
If you insist on cramming, however, this is a pretty good place to start; YouTube’s new Charts page works, too.
To ace the game, you’ll need either a) encyclopedic knowledge of YouTube or b) keen observational skills to pick up on subtle hints dropped liberally throughout the videos.
3) How do you decide what to put in each episode?
First, we planned to make an entire 25-question series about Drinking Out of Cups, but then thought better of it. We try to choose videos most people will be familiar with and then throw in a few personal favorites.
4) One piece of advice you’d give to other video producers?
Find a great partner to work with to help promote your content. We are big fans of our friends at FAILBlog.
5) Little known fact about Win/Fail?
Win/Fail v1 was voiced by our good buddy PJ Morrison. You might recognize his voice from Law & Order.
For more info about Win/Fail, contact Maureen Traynor at Embassy Row.
As part of our ongoing series of Creator’s Corner posts focused on the people who make cool videos on YouTube, here’s a Q&A with the team behind the show.
1) Where did the idea for Win/Fail come from?
Not too long ago, we produced over 450 episodes of POPTUB, a daily best-of-YouTube show. This resulted in a staggering, even embarrassing, amount of YouTube knowledge. We needed to know we weren’t alone in that. The response to the first game made us feel a little better.
2) How can one study to be an"Olympian of YouTube knowledge"?
Much like the SATs, it’s more about everything you’ve absorbed, over your entire YouTube lifetime, leading up to one moment of truth. You can’t really study.
If you insist on cramming, however, this is a pretty good place to start; YouTube’s new Charts page works, too.
To ace the game, you’ll need either a) encyclopedic knowledge of YouTube or b) keen observational skills to pick up on subtle hints dropped liberally throughout the videos.
3) How do you decide what to put in each episode?
First, we planned to make an entire 25-question series about Drinking Out of Cups, but then thought better of it. We try to choose videos most people will be familiar with and then throw in a few personal favorites.
4) One piece of advice you’d give to other video producers?
Find a great partner to work with to help promote your content. We are big fans of our friends at FAILBlog.
5) Little known fact about Win/Fail?
Win/Fail v1 was voiced by our good buddy PJ Morrison. You might recognize his voice from Law & Order.
For more info about Win/Fail, contact Maureen Traynor at Embassy Row.
Also, The Tooth Fairy
I suppose we'll never know, but it'd be nice to know who in the administration decided they needed to cower to the nonexistent demands of "the market" and start making noises about the need for deficit reduction. And it'd be nice to know why that person still has a job.
So Surprising
So Surprising
So very surprising.
New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods excluding transportation equipment posted their largest decline in 1-1/2 years in July while overall booking rose far less than expected, pointing to a slowdown in manufacturing.
...
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders excluding transportation dropped 3.8 percent—the biggest fall since January 2009—after rising 0.2 percent in June. Overall orders rose 0.3 percent following a revised 0.1 percent fall in June.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Animals
During the Katrina disaster, victims were perceived as criminal vermin by media, law enforcement, and the military. It was never quite clear how starving people would get very far swimming down the road with big screen TVs, but for a time that concern was seen as more important than people simply trying to eat or drink fresh water.
It’s Fall TV time
Summer is coming to a close here in the U.S., but that also means a renewed palette of television is around the corner. The Fall TV Preview is here to help guide you through the slate of new and returning shows from major broadcast and cable networks. Co-presented by our friends at EntertainmentWeekly, the program offers bite-sized previews of scripted shows, reality TV, comedies, dramas and more.
We’ll also be featuring a playlist of Entertainment Weekly’s latest interviews with the hottest TV stars, so you’ll be well-equipped to speculate on this season’s break-out hits and potential misses.
Fall TV Preview is live through September 13.
Mark Day, Comedy Manager, recently watched “Fall TV 2010 - 'Fringe' Part 1.”
We’ll also be featuring a playlist of Entertainment Weekly’s latest interviews with the hottest TV stars, so you’ll be well-equipped to speculate on this season’s break-out hits and potential misses.
Fall TV Preview is live through September 13.
Mark Day, Comedy Manager, recently watched “Fall TV 2010 - 'Fringe' Part 1.”
I CRASHED THE MARKET
Not really, of course, but people had made convincing case that that the housing numbers were going to be much much worse than expected. And they were!
Bringing In The Bucks
An energy innovation hub at the Navy Yard sounds cool. You know what else would be innovative? Extending the subway to the Navy Yard.
Perhaps You Should Start Listening To Some New People
Krugman reminds us of that crucial misstep, when the administration economic advisers were spooked by sasquatch invisible bond vigilantes and pivoted from stimulus to CUT SPENDING OR WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE.
Maybe some people should recognize that they suck and should retire. Maybe before the election?
Maybe some people should recognize that they suck and should retire. Maybe before the election?
Shovel Ready
Yes I'm sure that if the government tried hard enough, they could borrow a bunch of money at 2.5% and figure out some crazy ways to spend it.
Kick Their Ass And Take Their Gas
We should probably just put Pete Peterson and T. Boone Pickens in charge of everything and the rest of us can get back to our lives..
They Ran The World
One of the incredibly frustrating things during the Bush years was that people who were incompetent buffoons at best and transparently evil liars at worst were treated as Very Serious People.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Sales of previously owned U.S. homes dropped more steeply than expected in July to their lowest pace in 15 years, an industry group said Tuesday, implying further loss of momentum in the economic recovery.
The National Association of Realtors said sales dropped a record 27.2 percent from June to an annual rate of 3.83 million units, the lowest level since May 1995. June's sales pace was revised down to a 5.26 million-unit pace.
The expectation was 4.7 million.
Beware Of The Bond Vigilantes
10-year Treasury at 2.51. As I keep saying, at rates this low it's a crime not to borrow crazy amounts and spend it on SUPERTRAINS and fixing bridges and whatnot.
Only A Stock Market Crash Can Save Us Now
I'm guessing the same people who think the cure for a recession is a long spell of mass unemployment don't actually think that a falling stock market is a good idea. Labor should feel the hangover, but not the mighty capitalists with their Galtian splendor.
No I don't really want any bad news, but some kinds of bad news might spur some action. The kind of bad news that doesn't spur action? 15.6% unemployment among African-Americans.
No I don't really want any bad news, but some kinds of bad news might spur some action. The kind of bad news that doesn't spur action? 15.6% unemployment among African-Americans.
Decades Of Crazy Right Wingers Appointing Crazier Right Wingers
I don't know, but likely that's the untold story of the Fed.
But they're all very serious people!
But they're all very serious people!
What do you think about human rights (and your rights) online?
Government police shutting down farmer’s protests in China. A tobacco company employing under-age workers in Kazakhstan. Iranian merchants striking to protest tax increases in Tehran. We've seen stories like these on our computers and phones every day, and we've been documenting many of them on our breaking news feed on Citizentube over the past few months. Videos like these are more than just breaking news images; they're often political statements meant to bring about change.
Earlier this summer we started a blog series with WITNESS, a human rights video advocacy and training organization, examining the role of online video in human rights. So far we’ve talked about why video matters to human rights and how you can protect yourself and the people you film when uploading to YouTube. In this post, we want to raise some key topics about the future of human rights video online, and to hear your thoughts and ideas in a special Moderator series that we've set up on these questions:
How can uploaders balance privacy concerns with the need for wider exposure?
YouTube and other websites give citizens the opportunity to tell stories that would otherwise not get get heard. But what if wider exposure could be harmful to the people you’ve captured on video? At Google and YouTube, we talk a lot about the privacy of your personal data, but what about the privacy of your personal visual identity? There are some exciting technologies that can automatically identify human faces in digital media, but the implications of these technologies need to be considered carefully: if improperly implemented, they could make it even easier for governments and oppressive regimes to identify, track down and arrest activists or protesters (this has happened in Burma and Iran). While we’ve said before that people should consider blurring the faces in human rights videos and getting consent from those they film, inevitably judgment calls need to be made by uploaders who are trying to get footage out quickly to massive audiences to raise awareness. How do you think uploaders can find the right balance?
How can we stay alert to human rights footage without getting de-sensitized to it?
What image first opened your eyes to a human rights issue? In the past, in many countries, human rights images were largely filtered through the news media. But today, nearly everyone has seen a video or photo on the Internet that has made them aware of injustice. With access to these kinds of images getting easier, and more stories appearing from more places, the sheer quantity of this content risks either overwhelming viewers, or desensitizing us to its value. Researchers, educators and legislators are all thinking about how to build media literacy for the virtual age -- and human rights is a growing part of that discussion. How do you think people can stay alert to the power of these images without becoming immune to them?
Does human rights content online require some kind of special status?
As many of the examples in this blog series illustrate, human rights video is unique, and it requires special consideration by viewers, activists, legislators and online platforms. At YouTube, our terms of service carve out special exceptions for videos that have educational, scientific, or documentary value. But in many cases, human rights content is subjective and requires special interpretation -- and now that video can spread far and wide and can easily be reused and remixed beyond its original context (including by human rights abusers themselves), it’s even more important to follow some common guidelines. Every online hosting platform on the web has its own policies for dealing with this content and slowly, a new set of ethics and guidelines is developing in this arena. What do you think those guidelines should look like? And do you think human rights video deserves some kind of special status across the web? Why or why not?
We’d like to hear your thoughts on these questions. Submit your responses or questions to our Moderator series on Citizentube, in video or in text, and we’ll continue the conversation with thoughts on some of your top-voted submissions in a future post.
Steve Grove, Head of News & Politics, YouTube, and Sameer Padania for WITNESS
Earlier this summer we started a blog series with WITNESS, a human rights video advocacy and training organization, examining the role of online video in human rights. So far we’ve talked about why video matters to human rights and how you can protect yourself and the people you film when uploading to YouTube. In this post, we want to raise some key topics about the future of human rights video online, and to hear your thoughts and ideas in a special Moderator series that we've set up on these questions:
How can uploaders balance privacy concerns with the need for wider exposure?
YouTube and other websites give citizens the opportunity to tell stories that would otherwise not get get heard. But what if wider exposure could be harmful to the people you’ve captured on video? At Google and YouTube, we talk a lot about the privacy of your personal data, but what about the privacy of your personal visual identity? There are some exciting technologies that can automatically identify human faces in digital media, but the implications of these technologies need to be considered carefully: if improperly implemented, they could make it even easier for governments and oppressive regimes to identify, track down and arrest activists or protesters (this has happened in Burma and Iran). While we’ve said before that people should consider blurring the faces in human rights videos and getting consent from those they film, inevitably judgment calls need to be made by uploaders who are trying to get footage out quickly to massive audiences to raise awareness. How do you think uploaders can find the right balance?
How can we stay alert to human rights footage without getting de-sensitized to it?
What image first opened your eyes to a human rights issue? In the past, in many countries, human rights images were largely filtered through the news media. But today, nearly everyone has seen a video or photo on the Internet that has made them aware of injustice. With access to these kinds of images getting easier, and more stories appearing from more places, the sheer quantity of this content risks either overwhelming viewers, or desensitizing us to its value. Researchers, educators and legislators are all thinking about how to build media literacy for the virtual age -- and human rights is a growing part of that discussion. How do you think people can stay alert to the power of these images without becoming immune to them?
Does human rights content online require some kind of special status?
As many of the examples in this blog series illustrate, human rights video is unique, and it requires special consideration by viewers, activists, legislators and online platforms. At YouTube, our terms of service carve out special exceptions for videos that have educational, scientific, or documentary value. But in many cases, human rights content is subjective and requires special interpretation -- and now that video can spread far and wide and can easily be reused and remixed beyond its original context (including by human rights abusers themselves), it’s even more important to follow some common guidelines. Every online hosting platform on the web has its own policies for dealing with this content and slowly, a new set of ethics and guidelines is developing in this arena. What do you think those guidelines should look like? And do you think human rights video deserves some kind of special status across the web? Why or why not?
We’d like to hear your thoughts on these questions. Submit your responses or questions to our Moderator series on Citizentube, in video or in text, and we’ll continue the conversation with thoughts on some of your top-voted submissions in a future post.
Steve Grove, Head of News & Politics, YouTube, and Sameer Padania for WITNESS
Morning
Listening to Digby on Virtually Speaking. She has a wonderful radio voice. Also, what Digby said.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Heating up the 2010 midterm elections with In-Stream Ads
This post is part of the “BizBlog Series,” which was formally its own blog. Check back each week to see articles about partners and advertisers on YouTube, or search under the label 'BizBlog'.
Getting elected to the House or Senate these days is no longer as easy as putting up some yard signs, holding babies and smiling at the local senior center. With 68% of U.S. voters heading online before they vote to do research on local ballot initiatives, being online is crucial to getting elected. For the last couple of election cycles, we have seen how important it is for politicians and issue advocacy groups to maintain channels on YouTube — but when it comes to advertising, most campaigns get their messages to constituents through online ads across search and the Google Display Network with tactics like Google Blasts.
This cycle, dozens of races in 15 battleground states are incorporating a different ad format into their campaigns: In-Stream Ads. Using In-Stream Ads, candidates and issue advocacy groups have reached millions of U.S. voters this primary season. The best part? It straddles that line between digital and TV advertising: most campaign managers and political agencies are taking their standard made-for-TV 30-second ads and simply re-purposing them to run on YouTube. Campaigns can target locations (like their state or district), as well as content categories on YouTube, allowing them to tailor their message to specific groups of constituents. For example, a candidate interested in reaching young moms might target nutrition, fitness, health and parenting categories.
Defeat the Debt, a non profit group driving issue awarenessof the national debt, has already reached over 1 million people by running In-Stream ads across the country. In some markets they have even opted to run In-Stream instead of TV ads due to their effectiveness. Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett has also run In-Stream Ads in conjunction with his television campaigns, reaching almost 500K potential voters in Wisconsin on YouTube. Senatorial candidates Marco Rubio (Florida) and Dino Rossi (Washington) have also implemented campaigns.
While we can’t predict how politicians will actually do once they’re elected, it’s clear that their campaigns are taking advantage of the latest ways to engage and inform voters on important issues in 2010.
Amy Barth, In-Stream Ads Specialist, Google Elections and Issue Advocacy, recently watched ”Guy Walks Across America”
Getting elected to the House or Senate these days is no longer as easy as putting up some yard signs, holding babies and smiling at the local senior center. With 68% of U.S. voters heading online before they vote to do research on local ballot initiatives, being online is crucial to getting elected. For the last couple of election cycles, we have seen how important it is for politicians and issue advocacy groups to maintain channels on YouTube — but when it comes to advertising, most campaigns get their messages to constituents through online ads across search and the Google Display Network with tactics like Google Blasts.
This cycle, dozens of races in 15 battleground states are incorporating a different ad format into their campaigns: In-Stream Ads. Using In-Stream Ads, candidates and issue advocacy groups have reached millions of U.S. voters this primary season. The best part? It straddles that line between digital and TV advertising: most campaign managers and political agencies are taking their standard made-for-TV 30-second ads and simply re-purposing them to run on YouTube. Campaigns can target locations (like their state or district), as well as content categories on YouTube, allowing them to tailor their message to specific groups of constituents. For example, a candidate interested in reaching young moms might target nutrition, fitness, health and parenting categories.
Defeat the Debt, a non profit group driving issue awarenessof the national debt, has already reached over 1 million people by running In-Stream ads across the country. In some markets they have even opted to run In-Stream instead of TV ads due to their effectiveness. Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett has also run In-Stream Ads in conjunction with his television campaigns, reaching almost 500K potential voters in Wisconsin on YouTube. Senatorial candidates Marco Rubio (Florida) and Dino Rossi (Washington) have also implemented campaigns.
While we can’t predict how politicians will actually do once they’re elected, it’s clear that their campaigns are taking advantage of the latest ways to engage and inform voters on important issues in 2010.
Amy Barth, In-Stream Ads Specialist, Google Elections and Issue Advocacy, recently watched ”Guy Walks Across America”
Cruelty
Like Felix, I actually do doubt (maybe I'm just naive) that people at Treasury wrote down a plan to deliberately screw over lots of desperate homeowners. However, that's their message, not mine. When confronted with a choice between "you guys fucked up" and "you guys are complete and total assholes" they went for option 2.
Any Given Sunday
It's incredible that years later reporters either pretend or misremember that Bush had awesome church attendance habits. But mostly this conversation is dumb, as there's a very simple reason why even the most devout church loving president would decide to skip church: it would be incredibly disruptive for any congregation to have to deal with all of that. So a president would have to find a church that fit him, and one which the Secret Service could approve of, and one which was ok with having snipers on the roof and in the corners every week. It's possible. Bill Clinton did it. But it's obviously problematic.
Their Baby
The reason I focus on HAMP is that it is entirely the administration's baby. They didn't need to get President Snowe or Lord High Everything Else Baucus on board, or reassure Vice President Lieberman that hippies would hate it sufficiently. They used TARP money, and it was the main portion of the TARP funds that were supposed to be used to help people instead of banksters. They could have done just about anything with the allocated funds, and instead they barely even spent any of them. I actually don't believe this was their initial intention, but it's the line that they themselves are running with in declaring victory so who am I to disagree.
No They Are Cruel People
Truly awful people.
Conning homeowners by announcing a government program designed to help them when in fact it was designed to help the banksters is, in my world, "cruel."
The conversation next turned to housing and HAMP. On HAMP, officials were surprisingly candid. The program has gotten a lot of bad press in terms of its Kafka-esque qualification process and its limited success in generating mortgage modifications under which families become able and willing to pay their debt. Officials pointed out that what may have been an agonizing process for individuals was a useful palliative for the system as a whole. Even if most HAMP applicants ultimately default, the program prevented an outbreak of foreclosures exactly when the system could have handled it least. There were murmurs among the bloggers of “extend and pretend”, but I don’t think that’s quite right. This was extend-and-don’t-even-bother-to-pretend. The program was successful in the sense that it kept the patient alive until it had begun to heal. And the patient of this metaphor was not a struggling homeowner, but the financial system, a.k.a. the banks. Policymakers openly judged HAMP to be a qualified success because it helped banks muddle through what might have been a fatal shock. I believe these policymakers conflate, in full sincerity, incumbent financial institutions with “the system”, “the economy”, and “ordinary Americans”. Treasury officials are not cruel people. I’m sure they would have preferred if the program had worked out better for homeowners as well. But they have larger concerns, and from their perspective, HAMP has helped to address those.
Conning homeowners by announcing a government program designed to help them when in fact it was designed to help the banksters is, in my world, "cruel."
Extend And Pretend
So the jerks at Treasury have basically decided that as long as the banksters are doing good everything is fine.
Sadly, they'll probably find out soon that unless the rest of us are doing fine, the banskters are still in trouble.
Sadly, they'll probably find out soon that unless the rest of us are doing fine, the banskters are still in trouble.
Dream
The post-war boom in single-family residential housing, fueled by a complex collection of subsidies, was a huge boon to a couple of generations. But if you are under 55 or so, it is not turning out so well.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Shoot the Bloggers: J.D. Roth
While I was in Portland last month I photographed J.D. Roth, the man behind the blog Get Rich Slowly, for my ongoing project on bloggers.
J.D. had earlier escaped the shackles of a big wad of credit card debt, and has since created a career out of teaching others how to manage their money more sensibly. For the shoot, we did some standard headshots which would be useful to him for his public speaking appearances, etc. But I also wanted to do something a little more intense and/or cerebral, which is what led to the shot above. Read more »
Virtually Speaking
Tonight's guests are Digby and Jay Ackroyd, listen now (8:00 PM Eastern) or later at the link.
Signed,
Not Atrios
Signed,
Not Atrios
Someone's Gotta Go To Disney World
There's this weird disconnect in our discourse, where it's expected that people take plane trips, fill hotel rooms, go fill the seats in the local steak house, etc... but that anyone who does such things is spending on unnecessary luxuries.
Kids Today Suck
And it's their fault they don't graduate college debt free and find instant meaningful employment with affordable health insurance.
Where We Are
As Stan Collender says, elites demanded we listened to the bond market up until the point when the bond market started to send a different message, at which point it was "LA LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU MUST DESTROY LIVES OF MORE PEOPLE LA LA LA".
Nobody Could Have Predicted
It'd be one thing if austerity was truly the only way forward, but austerity was pushed by elites as a way of actually helping these economies to convince them to bail out their creditors.
Sunday Bobbleheads
This Week has Karzai and some people to talk about the not mosque.
Face the Nation has Odierno and Attorney General Graham.
Meet the Press (is this a joke?) has McConnell, Armey, Granholm, Katty Kay, Paul Gigot, Jeffrey Goldberg, and Rick Lazio.
Document the atrocities!
Face the Nation has Odierno and Attorney General Graham.
Meet the Press (is this a joke?) has McConnell, Armey, Granholm, Katty Kay, Paul Gigot, Jeffrey Goldberg, and Rick Lazio.
Document the atrocities!
Threats
Pew:
More Detail:
This is insane. Utterly delusional. A demonstration of the power of propaganda even in a society with very open communication systems. The survey itself exhibits the propaganda bias; "No major threat exists" is apparently not a choice.
The only threat that remotely compares to a country aiming thousands of nuclear weapons at US population centers, set to launch on command, is climate change. In some ways it is more insidious because it requires a government looking at generational timeframes. But, c'mon. Pakistani instability poses a threat to the US? 85% of the Serious People say so.
And, wonderin' aloud, the threat from Pakistan is that it will launch an attack against India, right? And the Iran threat involves attacking its neighbors. So, why is Israel, not an NPT signatory, not on this list?
The public and CFR members generally see the world as more dangerous for the United States since the Cold War ended two decades ago. And majorities in both groups say the danger of an attack on the United States with a nuclear, biological or chemical weapon is greater now than a decade ago.
More Detail:
This is insane. Utterly delusional. A demonstration of the power of propaganda even in a society with very open communication systems. The survey itself exhibits the propaganda bias; "No major threat exists" is apparently not a choice.
The only threat that remotely compares to a country aiming thousands of nuclear weapons at US population centers, set to launch on command, is climate change. In some ways it is more insidious because it requires a government looking at generational timeframes. But, c'mon. Pakistani instability poses a threat to the US? 85% of the Serious People say so.
And, wonderin' aloud, the threat from Pakistan is that it will launch an attack against India, right? And the Iran threat involves attacking its neighbors. So, why is Israel, not an NPT signatory, not on this list?
Saturday, August 21, 2010
5 Questions for Mark Horvath, Founder of InvisiblePeople. tv
We're always inspired by the people who use YouTube as a way to document how the other half lives, and Mark Horvath is a great example. As the founder of Invisible People. tv, a project that encourages homeless people across the United States to tell their stories on YouTube, he has sparked a discussion on the site about poverty and hunger. Mark's videos are a raw and real depiction of what it's like to live in a tent city, under an overpass, or within a cardboard box. Today, we're featuring a few of these videos on the YouTube homepage, and we’re pleased for Mark to speak further about his work right here.
1) Why did you start Invisible People. tv, and specifically, Road Trip U. S. A. ?
Sixteen years ago, I had a very good job in the television industry. Fifteen years ago, I became homeless, living on Hollywood Boulevard. I rebuilt my life to a point where I had a three-bedroom house and a 780 credit score, then in 2007 the economy took a nosedive. Like many Americans, I found myself unemployed, living off my credit cards, and hoping for the best. The best never came, but several layoffs — along with foreclosure on my house — did.
By November 2008, I found myself once again laid off. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and, to be honest, I was scared of once again living on the streets of Hollywood. I could see homelessness all around me, but I couldn’t bear to look. I was turning away because I felt their pain.
Don't waste a good crisis. It’s a simple concept and it’s how InvisiblePeople. tv started. For the most part I had lost everything but some furniture, my car, a box of photos, laptop, small camera, and my iPhone. My laptop could not cut video because it had a 5400 drive. Videos need to have a music bed, nice graphics, b-roll and be well-produced. But after looking at what I didn't have and all the problems that were stopping me, I decided to just use what I had. I registered a domain, changed the header on a WordPress theme, grabbed my camera, and started to interview people.
I honestly didn't think anyone would even view the videos. I was really doing it to release something that was deep down inside me, and to be candid, to keep busy. It was a really dark time and InvisiblePeople. tv gave me a purpose.
I'll never forget going into the first tent city. It was 400 yards in a wooded area where no help could easily arrive if I found myself in trouble. I questioned my sanity walking in there with a camera and a bag of socks. One smart thing I did was blast what I was doing all over social media so people could feel like they were right there with me. That day my life changed. People started to tweet me encouragement and all kinds of support. The InvisiblePeople. tv road trip was born.
Last year I traveled 11,236 miles around the U.S. in a three-month period. I went under bridges, into tent cities, and walked through many shelters and rundown hotels. There was no way anyone could foresee the impact. I became a catalyst for change in several communities. Housing programs were started; feeding programs were started; 50 homeless kids who could not go to school because they didn't have shoes suddenly had brand new shoes within an hour of my visit thanks to social media. A farmer even donated 40 acres of land that is now even being used to supplement low income families in a local school. I could go on and on.
2) Do you consider your work citizen reporting, activism or a combination of both?
I am a storyteller. I also empower people to tell their own stories. Not sure you could frame me as a citizen journalist or activist even though there are elements to both in what I do. Beth Kanter coins the term "Free Agent" in her book “The Networked Nonprofit.” I like that.
3) Is there one story that has particularly inspired you to keep doing what you're doing?
Last year I met Angela, who is living under a bridge in Atlanta and she changed me. She is dying under that bridge...
When I asked what was being done to help her, the response I received was, "We bring her sandwiches.” Sandwiches are not enough. Up to that point I thought that people should do whatever they can do to help – even if it’s just baking cookies. After meeting Angela I realized people need housing, jobs and health services. So maybe your support level is just baking cookies. That's fine. But don't just randomly hand them out. Take your cookies to an organization that is providing housing, jobs and health services.
4) You've collected hundreds of interviews with homeless people around the world. Why do you think folks are willing to talk to you about their experiences? Are there any special tactics you use to draw out their stories?
The #1 rule is: respect everyone. I never force a story. In fact, the best stories are the ones I never get on camera. That's kind of why I don't feel citizen journalist fits me. I honestly put people before the story.
I also use socks to break the ice. Socks on the streets are like gold. Almost all organizations, churches or groups will feed homeless people. In most parks where homeless hang out churches will feed the same people all day long, but rarely are socks handed out. By handing a homeless person a clean pair of socks, even without saying a word, they know I know a thing or two about street life.
Once someone agrees to an interview and the camera is recording, I simply do my best to be a good listener. That's not always easy when my heart gets wrecked.
5) At the end of each video, you ask your subject, "If you had three wishes, what would they be?" What are your three wishes?
Back years ago, working as a TV producer, if an interview went dry I would distract and refocus by asking people their three wishes. When I first started InvisiblePeople. tv, I did it once in a while. I didn't know the impact that question had on the viewers. Then last year, when I spoke at the University of Arkansas, the organizer secretly had everyone in the audience write on large, white poster board their three wishes. When I was done speaking, they all held them up to show me. Talk about a powerful memory! From that moment on I have asked everyone what their three wishes are.
My first wish would be that people really see the reality of homelessness; second, that we develop communities and work as a team to solve this social crisis. The third? I would like security and normalcy in my life, but with a name like Hardly Normal, it's never going to happen!
Please always remember: the homeless people you’ll ignore today were much like you not so long ago.
Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits & Activism Manager, recently watched "Cliff".
1) Why did you start Invisible People. tv, and specifically, Road Trip U. S. A. ?
Sixteen years ago, I had a very good job in the television industry. Fifteen years ago, I became homeless, living on Hollywood Boulevard. I rebuilt my life to a point where I had a three-bedroom house and a 780 credit score, then in 2007 the economy took a nosedive. Like many Americans, I found myself unemployed, living off my credit cards, and hoping for the best. The best never came, but several layoffs — along with foreclosure on my house — did.
By November 2008, I found myself once again laid off. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted and, to be honest, I was scared of once again living on the streets of Hollywood. I could see homelessness all around me, but I couldn’t bear to look. I was turning away because I felt their pain.
Don't waste a good crisis. It’s a simple concept and it’s how InvisiblePeople. tv started. For the most part I had lost everything but some furniture, my car, a box of photos, laptop, small camera, and my iPhone. My laptop could not cut video because it had a 5400 drive. Videos need to have a music bed, nice graphics, b-roll and be well-produced. But after looking at what I didn't have and all the problems that were stopping me, I decided to just use what I had. I registered a domain, changed the header on a WordPress theme, grabbed my camera, and started to interview people.
I honestly didn't think anyone would even view the videos. I was really doing it to release something that was deep down inside me, and to be candid, to keep busy. It was a really dark time and InvisiblePeople. tv gave me a purpose.
I'll never forget going into the first tent city. It was 400 yards in a wooded area where no help could easily arrive if I found myself in trouble. I questioned my sanity walking in there with a camera and a bag of socks. One smart thing I did was blast what I was doing all over social media so people could feel like they were right there with me. That day my life changed. People started to tweet me encouragement and all kinds of support. The InvisiblePeople. tv road trip was born.
Last year I traveled 11,236 miles around the U.S. in a three-month period. I went under bridges, into tent cities, and walked through many shelters and rundown hotels. There was no way anyone could foresee the impact. I became a catalyst for change in several communities. Housing programs were started; feeding programs were started; 50 homeless kids who could not go to school because they didn't have shoes suddenly had brand new shoes within an hour of my visit thanks to social media. A farmer even donated 40 acres of land that is now even being used to supplement low income families in a local school. I could go on and on.
2) Do you consider your work citizen reporting, activism or a combination of both?
I am a storyteller. I also empower people to tell their own stories. Not sure you could frame me as a citizen journalist or activist even though there are elements to both in what I do. Beth Kanter coins the term "Free Agent" in her book “The Networked Nonprofit.” I like that.
3) Is there one story that has particularly inspired you to keep doing what you're doing?
Last year I met Angela, who is living under a bridge in Atlanta and she changed me. She is dying under that bridge...
When I asked what was being done to help her, the response I received was, "We bring her sandwiches.” Sandwiches are not enough. Up to that point I thought that people should do whatever they can do to help – even if it’s just baking cookies. After meeting Angela I realized people need housing, jobs and health services. So maybe your support level is just baking cookies. That's fine. But don't just randomly hand them out. Take your cookies to an organization that is providing housing, jobs and health services.
4) You've collected hundreds of interviews with homeless people around the world. Why do you think folks are willing to talk to you about their experiences? Are there any special tactics you use to draw out their stories?
The #1 rule is: respect everyone. I never force a story. In fact, the best stories are the ones I never get on camera. That's kind of why I don't feel citizen journalist fits me. I honestly put people before the story.
I also use socks to break the ice. Socks on the streets are like gold. Almost all organizations, churches or groups will feed homeless people. In most parks where homeless hang out churches will feed the same people all day long, but rarely are socks handed out. By handing a homeless person a clean pair of socks, even without saying a word, they know I know a thing or two about street life.
Once someone agrees to an interview and the camera is recording, I simply do my best to be a good listener. That's not always easy when my heart gets wrecked.
5) At the end of each video, you ask your subject, "If you had three wishes, what would they be?" What are your three wishes?
Back years ago, working as a TV producer, if an interview went dry I would distract and refocus by asking people their three wishes. When I first started InvisiblePeople. tv, I did it once in a while. I didn't know the impact that question had on the viewers. Then last year, when I spoke at the University of Arkansas, the organizer secretly had everyone in the audience write on large, white poster board their three wishes. When I was done speaking, they all held them up to show me. Talk about a powerful memory! From that moment on I have asked everyone what their three wishes are.
My first wish would be that people really see the reality of homelessness; second, that we develop communities and work as a team to solve this social crisis. The third? I would like security and normalcy in my life, but with a name like Hardly Normal, it's never going to happen!
Please always remember: the homeless people you’ll ignore today were much like you not so long ago.
Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits & Activism Manager, recently watched "Cliff".
When Liberalism Doesn't Work It Discredits Liberalism
Aside from the fact that I'm not happy with certain outcomes, if you do liberalism badly then people get it in their heads that maybe liberalism is pretty sucky. The economy sucks and HAMP was a complete failure, whether deliberately or not, and that's what people know.
Pastor Gerson Explains The World
NPR had on Pastor Gerson, a man who had no small part in helping to liberate large numbers of Muslims from their lives, to discuss the Park51 "controversy." He explained the big problem is that the debate is dominated by people on one side who think that Islam is not compatible with plurality, and on the other side by people who think that all who oppose are simply bigots.
The next piece was about a bunch of bigots who are protesting a mosque somewhere in California.
The next piece was about a bunch of bigots who are protesting a mosque somewhere in California.
Dumb Ideas Which Probably Won't Happen Anyway
Just to prove there's at least one SUPERTRAIN project I think is stupid.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Friday Late Night
Some more banks got eated, too lazy to link. I'm sure they were tasty.
Glad that the couple of times people asked me if they should bother with HAMP I said...well...not sure...but leaning against. Walk away instead.
Glad that the couple of times people asked me if they should bother with HAMP I said...well...not sure...but leaning against. Walk away instead.
The transmission of art by television (and now YouTube)
Inspired by YouTube Play. A Biennial of Creative Video, the Guggenheim has launched a terrific blog called The Take, featuring writings by scholars, artists and other experts on topics like online video, digital content, the history of video art, and the effects of the Internet on art and culture. Naturally, some of what’s being covered has strong connections to YouTube, and so the kind folks at the Guggenheim have allowed us to cross-post here.
This post is from writer/curator Michael Connor, founder of the Marian Spore contemporary art museum in Brooklyn and co-curator of the permanent exhibition “Screen Worlds” at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. Connor also teaches at the School of Visual Arts and New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program. You can read his original post here.
"The transmission of art exhibitions by television is the beginning of an era when the public will be taught to appreciate great works of art, seeing them in their homes.”
This was the prediction made in a report written by one E. Robb for the BBC way back in 1933, less than a year after their first experimental television broadcast. For Robb, art on television meant pointing a camera at a painting or sculpture.
More than three decades later, a German filmmaker named Gerry Schum had a similar idea. In those days, West Berlin was cut off from the rest of West Germany by the Iron Curtain. In 1968 Schum wrote that “not only must works of art be flown into the city, also critics and visitors from West Germany experience difficulty in reaching Berlin.” Television, he realized, could allow artworks and visitors to be connected across such long distances and closed borders.
West Berlin’s plight is partly what inspired Schum to start an art gallery on television. Fernseh-Galerie (Television Gallery), as it was called, was a pioneering series of video art commissioned by Schum, including two broadcast exhibitions in 1969 and 1970. The first exhibition, Land Art, was broadcast on the public station Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) on April 15, 1969. Many notable artists contributed films that were then transferred to videotape, including Jan Dibbets, Richard Long, Walter de Maria, Dennis Oppenheim, and Robert Smithson.
My favorite piece produced by the gallery is Jan Dibbets’s TV as Fireplace. Between December 25 and 31, 1969, public television station WDR III in Cologne rebroadcast Dibbets’s video of a burning fire every night for three minutes. The logs were lit on the first night, and the fire grew in intensity before slowly dying on the last one. Perfectly site specific, Dibbets’s piece turned the home’s cathode-ray tube into a flickering fire for just a few moments at a historical moment when the TV set had gone a long way toward replacing the hearth as the focal point of domestic space.
Watching TV as Fireplace on YouTube would of course be completely different. Online video shatters the direct link that Dibbets made between physical viewing environment and moving image. Given that audiences may now watch videos on an iPhone at the beach or a computer at the office, is it still possible for artists to create this kind of dialogue between the physical space of viewing and the space on-screen?
What do you think? Please comment below (note comments are moderated due to spam) or directly on The Take.
This post is from writer/curator Michael Connor, founder of the Marian Spore contemporary art museum in Brooklyn and co-curator of the permanent exhibition “Screen Worlds” at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. Connor also teaches at the School of Visual Arts and New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program. You can read his original post here.
"The transmission of art exhibitions by television is the beginning of an era when the public will be taught to appreciate great works of art, seeing them in their homes.”
This was the prediction made in a report written by one E. Robb for the BBC way back in 1933, less than a year after their first experimental television broadcast. For Robb, art on television meant pointing a camera at a painting or sculpture.
More than three decades later, a German filmmaker named Gerry Schum had a similar idea. In those days, West Berlin was cut off from the rest of West Germany by the Iron Curtain. In 1968 Schum wrote that “not only must works of art be flown into the city, also critics and visitors from West Germany experience difficulty in reaching Berlin.” Television, he realized, could allow artworks and visitors to be connected across such long distances and closed borders.
West Berlin’s plight is partly what inspired Schum to start an art gallery on television. Fernseh-Galerie (Television Gallery), as it was called, was a pioneering series of video art commissioned by Schum, including two broadcast exhibitions in 1969 and 1970. The first exhibition, Land Art, was broadcast on the public station Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) on April 15, 1969. Many notable artists contributed films that were then transferred to videotape, including Jan Dibbets, Richard Long, Walter de Maria, Dennis Oppenheim, and Robert Smithson.
My favorite piece produced by the gallery is Jan Dibbets’s TV as Fireplace. Between December 25 and 31, 1969, public television station WDR III in Cologne rebroadcast Dibbets’s video of a burning fire every night for three minutes. The logs were lit on the first night, and the fire grew in intensity before slowly dying on the last one. Perfectly site specific, Dibbets’s piece turned the home’s cathode-ray tube into a flickering fire for just a few moments at a historical moment when the TV set had gone a long way toward replacing the hearth as the focal point of domestic space.
Watching TV as Fireplace on YouTube would of course be completely different. Online video shatters the direct link that Dibbets made between physical viewing environment and moving image. Given that audiences may now watch videos on an iPhone at the beach or a computer at the office, is it still possible for artists to create this kind of dialogue between the physical space of viewing and the space on-screen?
What do you think? Please comment below (note comments are moderated due to spam) or directly on The Take.
The Horror Show Continued
Mike Konczal:
Really fucking unbelievable. As I think I said to Mike at Netroots Nation, if HAMP is actually a program designed to boost the housing market and funnel money several billion more dollars to banks, it's also a really fucking horrible and stupid and inefficient way to do that even without the "screwing people over" part.
- They are sticking by HAMP. The narrative seemed to change from helping homeowners to spacing out the foreclosures. I asked them to repeat it, because the idea that billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent to smooth out foreclosures for banks struck me as new narrative – it’s explicitly extend-and-pretend, and also fairly cynical.
- There was talk about how fiscal policy can’t move through Congress. I asked them about only 0.5% of HAMP being spent and how that could be used without Congress’ permission. Before I suggest that the remainder of the $50bn be divided into two funds, the Digging Holes Across States (DHAS) fund and the Filling Holes Across States (FHAS) fund, two far more socially productive means of spending the HAMP money than what is currently being done with it, I was told that the entire $50bn is expected to be spent by the time the program is over. I didn’t believe it; we will see.
Really fucking unbelievable. As I think I said to Mike at Netroots Nation, if HAMP is actually a program designed to boost the housing market and funnel money several billion more dollars to banks, it's also a really fucking horrible and stupid and inefficient way to do that even without the "screwing people over" part.
Horror Show
Thanks for finally admitting the HAMP was essentially an 'extend and pretend' plan, a way to gouge a few more pennies out of desperate homeowners before dumping them on the streets. We're from the government, and we're here to fuck you over.
Hey, It's Friday
And another week in the month of stupid (August) is almost over. I hope the Dems are planning to roll out some new product after labor day, because "vote for us because we're not going to privatize social security" isn't really going to cut it.
Share your reflections on Hurricane Katrina, five years later
Five years ago, on August 29, Hurricane Katrina began battering the Gulf Coast region, destroying homes, schools and businesses, and submerging the city of New Orleans under water. The deadly hurricane claimed over a thousand lives, left hundreds of thousands without homes, and caused tens of billions of dollars worth of damage, amounting to one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States. Despite these challenges, the resilient spirit of the Big Easy has helped the city and its residents rebound and rebuild.
In 9 days we will commemorate the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a collection of videos on the YouTube homepage created by New Orleans area residents. In partnership with ABC 26 (WGNO), a local television station in New Orleans, we invite Gulf Coast region residents to reflect on the five years since Katrina and submit videos using YouTube Direct on ABC 26’s website. A selection of videos will also be featured on abc26.com, ABC 26’s YouTube channel, and broadcast on ABC 26.
Did you live through Hurricane Katrina and have a story to share? Upload your video here: http://www.abc26.com/community/rememberingkatrina
Olivia Ma, News Manager, recently watched “Vaccarella Family - Hurricane Katrina”
In 9 days we will commemorate the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina with a collection of videos on the YouTube homepage created by New Orleans area residents. In partnership with ABC 26 (WGNO), a local television station in New Orleans, we invite Gulf Coast region residents to reflect on the five years since Katrina and submit videos using YouTube Direct on ABC 26’s website. A selection of videos will also be featured on abc26.com, ABC 26’s YouTube channel, and broadcast on ABC 26.
Did you live through Hurricane Katrina and have a story to share? Upload your video here: http://www.abc26.com/community/rememberingkatrina
Olivia Ma, News Manager, recently watched “Vaccarella Family - Hurricane Katrina”
Destroying Their Retirement Savings
NPR had a bit about how people are cashing out their retirement plans, or in some cases taking out loans from them (better, do that if you can), due to hardship needs. We should be talking about lowering the Social Security retirement age, not increasing it.
Stop Listening To The People Who Are Wrong All The Time
Something had to cause that premature austerity pivot the administration began several months back.
December Is The Bleakest Month
Given the basic dynamics of the catfood commission: Republicans don't need a 'win' but Dems do and Republicans won't support any tax increases except maybe regressive ones, there's a good chance that come December that they will come out with a "compromise" which will include raising the Social Security retirement age. Why Dems think a political winner will be destroying their one remaining brand, basically the most popular thing the government does, and opening themselves up for attack ads stating, truthfully, "Congressman X voted to raise your retirement age..." I do not know.
December will, for us, be the busiest month.
December will, for us, be the busiest month.
Where'd All The God Talk Go
While we're debating whether Obama is a secret Muslim, it occurs to me that all the religion talk that infused our political discourse for a few years there has almost disappeared.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Mainstream Positions
I think Amanda goes a bit wrong with the last paragraph.
Things that are mainstream aren't necessarily true, and plenty of thoroughly mainstream views in a majority Christian country seem as "nutty" to nonbelievers as the apparent non-mainstream beliefs she listed. Atheism is obviously a fringe belief in the US, as is belief in the Islamic religion.
The point is there's a difference between beliefs about things which are basically verified or verifiable and beliefs which are in the realm of faith. Yes it's possible Obama is secretly a Muslim, but all available facts (remember that Reverend Wright stuff?) suggest otherwise. The virgin birth and divinity of Jesus and the existence of ghosts are, as far as I know, not exactly verified and as of yet not verifiable. Still people are free to believe them and I can't say they're wrong, I can only say I doubt they're right.
..adding that while I'm not religious despite occasional accusations to the contrary I'm not anti-religion. Most of us believe in things which don't necessarily have a strong factual basis, and most of us probably construct some unsupported paradigm to try to make sense of the universe and our place in it.
There have been many news reports over the past few years debunking the rumor that Obama is a Muslim. Nevertheless, the right-wing media continues to push the myth. These fringe views aren’t rejected by influential conservatives, but often embraced, and therefore picked up in mainstream discourse and media. Saying that he needs to publicly change his habits of worship in order to appease people is like saying he needs to roll around in big piles of money to show he isn’t a socialist.
And in the end, there will always be people who can’t be convinced of mainstream positions. Twenty-one percent of the public believes in witches, 41 percent believe in ESP, and 34 percent are convinced that “houses can be haunted.”
Things that are mainstream aren't necessarily true, and plenty of thoroughly mainstream views in a majority Christian country seem as "nutty" to nonbelievers as the apparent non-mainstream beliefs she listed. Atheism is obviously a fringe belief in the US, as is belief in the Islamic religion.
The point is there's a difference between beliefs about things which are basically verified or verifiable and beliefs which are in the realm of faith. Yes it's possible Obama is secretly a Muslim, but all available facts (remember that Reverend Wright stuff?) suggest otherwise. The virgin birth and divinity of Jesus and the existence of ghosts are, as far as I know, not exactly verified and as of yet not verifiable. Still people are free to believe them and I can't say they're wrong, I can only say I doubt they're right.
..adding that while I'm not religious despite occasional accusations to the contrary I'm not anti-religion. Most of us believe in things which don't necessarily have a strong factual basis, and most of us probably construct some unsupported paradigm to try to make sense of the universe and our place in it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)