29 Aug

Attn. Wicked Witch of the West...

... but beware of falling houses!  I know how much you kids today love your economic indicator charts.  So here ya go, go hog wild!

Well, so much for the ‘ownership’ society.  I just feel sorry for all the people that were duped into risking their life savings on a housing market so transparently inflated by collusion and false rhetoric. 

Hat tip to atrios. 

29 Aug

Western medicine grows third eye

More breaking news from the Center for Really Obvious Things in a rare joint collaboration with the No Sh*t Sherlock Society:


Western medicine separated the mind from the body in the Middle Ages when the famous French philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes agreed to accept flesh and bone as the province of physicians, while the Catholic Church claimed possession of the mind, insisting it was the creation of the soul.

But Descartes, whose works were placed on the Church's Index of Prohibited Books in 1667, believed the two really interacted in the brain. Using the fledging powers of observation and deductive reasoning that he was then developing, Descartes could conclude that "the mind is so intimately dependent upon the condition and relation of the organs of the body, that if any means can ever be found to render men wiser and more ingenious than hitherto, I believe that it is in medicine they must be sought for."

It's taken a long time, but doctors and psychologists are now bringing the mind and the body back together amid new evidence that the mind can improve the healing process in ways that traditional medicine can't.

After all those years of documenting the power of the placebo effect, so much so that double-blind studies are a requirement for any respectable study, suddenly western medicine is willing to concede the possibility that we have the power to aid in our own healing process?

28 Aug

Forbes.com says Wives are Like Whores

Wow. Found this on FAIR (emphasis mine). Apparently Forbes.com recently offered an opinion piece by it’s executive editor called “Don't Marry Career Women” complete with handy slideshow depicting the “Nine Reasons to Steer Clear of Career Women.”:

 

Well, for 48 hours at least.... Two days after its publication, "Don't Marry Career Women" disappeared from the Forbes.com website, along with an earlier story by Noer, titled "The Economics of Prostitution," in which he compared "wives" to "whores" and wrote that "the implication remains that wives and whores are—if not exactly like Coke and Pepsi—something akin to champagne and beer."... But about three hours after the story's sudden absence from the Web, a visitor to the Forbes.com site found "Careers and Marriage," a debate.

Editors had reframed Noer's story as one half of a "point-counterpoint" discussion, lightening its heft as an institutional statement by pairing it with a rebuttal by married female columnist Elizabeth Corcoran. "Don't Marry a Lazy Man" was the title of Corcoran's take, which flaccidly asserted that "studies aside, modern marriage is a two way street. Men should own up to their responsibilities, too."

 

How boring, how dreadfully dreary my day would be if I didn’t have these people to make fun of? I mean, c’mon, we all know there is no shortage of misogynistic bungholes in the world – that one of them would be an executive editor of one of the most prominent patriarchal jerk-rags of corporate neo-liberalism should come as no huge surprise. Comparing wives to whores is so beyond the pale that I can’t even feel insulted by it – it says enough about the author that I almost feel a degree of pity for him. It’s like the guy wandering 5th Ave. with drool on his chin screaming ‘bitch’ at every female tourist unlucky enough to cross his path. The guy is clearly so deranged that there is no point in even validating his opinion with a debate.

What I am insulted by is Forbes.com’s handling of the situation. I mean, the crazy old man is still Executive Editor, he’s bound to slip one or two past the other editors. But when you discover the problem, you pull the story. Sort of like patiently explaining to your 90-year old grandmother that it is not ok to use the word ‘colored’ anymore. Issue an apology and the problem goes away. But Forbes.com instead decides to solve the problem by offering the supposedly ‘fair and balanced’ counter-point to the argument.

First of all, “Don’t Marry a Lazy Man” is not the opposite of “Don’t Marry Career Women.” It’s not even in the same ballpark. It’s so far out of the ballpark that it’s beginning to question if the ballpark even exists. As though women wouldn’t have to seek careers if their husbands would only stop being so lazy and bring home the bacon. As though 35+ years of second-wave feminism would disappear overnight if only men would make more money. So now instead of one vacuous piece of idiocy, we have two – each with their own honored place within the nice tidy dichotomy of 1950.

28 Aug

Teacher fired for saying China, Mexico and the UN exist

Reported on RockyMountainNews.com:

A seventh-grade geography teacher at Carmody Middle School was suspended with pay today when he refused to take down three foreign flags on display in his classroom.

Eric Hamlin said the flags of China, Mexico and the United Nations were relevant to the unit on the fundamentals of geography he teaches during the first six weeks of the semester. He’s used the same display for most of the nine years he’s taught in Jefferson County, Hamlin said.

The foreign flags are in addition to the standard U.S. flag found in all classrooms.

Hamlin said principal John Schalk escorted him from the building Thursday before classes began. He was handed a letter saying the matter is under investigation and warning him to remain off school property.…

Hamlin has more than 50 flags that he uses during the course of the year. He asks students to consider the symbolism different countries put on their flags, such as the stars and stripes on the U.S. flag.

Er., 9 years, 50 flags per year – so that’s 450 foreign flags that have come through this educator’s classroom. And suddenly we have an administration who has deliberately and systematically ushered in an era of xenophobia against, hmmm – China, Mexico and the United Nations! Bet hey, no coincidence there, I’m sure this dude really had it comin’ for all his fancy liberal talk of ‘geography’ and ‘symbolism’. “Hamlin” isn’t even his real name – it’s his Operative handle. His real name is “Special Agent Fernando Wong-Anan”. And he’s doing his part to turn all your little children into pinko-commie socialists – huh-moo-ha-ha! (yeah, I can spell an evil laugh this way if I want)

 

28 Aug

Lazy Monday Link Vomit

8th Circuit Court of Appeals rules that “police may seize cash from motorists, citing that “possession of a large sum of cash is ’strong evidence’ of a connection to drug activity.” 

Arrogant little baby wants to close I-395 HOV lane so his motorcade doesn’t have to wait for slow-moving liberals in their fancy hybrid cars. 

A polymorphous shadow of gasses and dust somehow invoked a secret parliamentary trick to derail legislation that would open government contracting up to public scrutiny. 

Krugman has a lucid piece in TAP on why we should return to the evils of Realism, ‘cus they’s a helluva lot better than neoconservatism! 

Meet the heroic sisters who were the inside moles in exposing State Farms’ efforts to sodomize and kill Katrina victims.

25 Aug

Friday Dublin Pics

Seems like all the boggers have their own photo schtick these days. It occured to me upon my return that I am probably the only U.S. politics blogger living in Dublin and that some of you may be interested in seeing some snapshots from this wonderfully up-and-coming city. I'll try to make this a regular Friday thing and eventually organize them into a gallery of sorts.

Probably the most logical place to start would be Grafton street - the largest pedestrianized area in the city. Grafton can be a damned nightmare to walk along since it is covered year-round with artists, musicians, merchants, tourists, tourists, and tourists. My advice for those who deign to visit is to plot a straight line and walk without any regard for what is in your way. Trust me, they'll move.

As a special bonus, I submit to you this fabby piece of urban art, known as a "Dublin Bus Timetable." These remarkable little statues can be seen littering the tree-lined streets of Dublin practically all over the city. Legend has it that these pieces were once used to predict the arrival and departure of public transportation. Today, of course, they are merely used as decoration and to provide residents with the chance to have a good chuckle at the tourists who actually believe they will catch a bus at the advertised time.
25 Aug

Why does the Bush-tummy hate America?

Pic from DoubleSpeak:


Because actual patriotism makes him sick to his stomach.

25 Aug

Segregation, CBS-style

Hmmm… 

For the first portion of the 13th season of "Survivor," which premieres Sept. 14, the contestants competing for the $1 million prize while stranded on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific will be divided into four teams — blacks, Asians, Latinos and whites

…

In a statement, CBS Entertainment, which is part of New York-based CBS Corp., defended the ethnic twist, saying it follows the show's tradition of introducing new creative elements and casting structures that reflect cultural and social issues.

"CBS fully recognizes the controversial nature of this format but has full confidence in the producers and their ability to produce the program in a responsible manner," the statement said. "'Survivor' is a program that is no stranger to controversy and has always answered its critics on the screen."


I hereby publicly admit that Survivor is one of my guilty pleasures, and the only member of the ‘Reality’ TV caste I deign to watch (except, of course, Stan Lee’s Who Wants to be a Superhero – ‘cuz I’m a big nerd).  And for the record, I had no particular problem with their previous segregationist setups along gender lines.  Moreover, one cannot help but notice that the show always makes an attempt (albeit markedly feeble) to distance itself from the homogenous distribution of white males. 

However, a contest between men and women to a far greater extent occupies the realm of a good-natured rivalry – sort of like two neighboring universities battling it out in their annual grudge match.  Yes, white men remain the standard against which all others are measured, but gender equality had advanced at least somewhat sufficiently to where the contest is, though silly, at least not quite as insulting. 

However, I really don’t believe this country is ready to delve into the racial divide in this kind of contest.  I mean, what good can come of a racial victory?  If Team White Power reigns supreme, are we supposed to view this as proof of Western biological predisposition?  If one of the other teams win, is it supposed to be some kind of commentary on the great strides of racial equality? 

If CBS really wants to push the envelope, why not construct a more racially diverse group, instead of the token black or Asian?  Or how about a transgender?  Even better, how about Republicans vs. Democrats?

25 Aug

OTC Plan B ... for some.

It’s about time: 

Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription — but only with proof they're 18 or older, federal health officials ruled Thursday, capping a contentious 3-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive. 

Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor's note to buy the pills, called Plan B, the Food and Drug Administration told manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. 

Note the sound of one hand clapping for one half of a victory.  Of course, when the abortion rate plummets, let’s all enjoy the Repugs crediting abstinence-only education. 

And speaking of hot red-state sex, this has got to be the most asinine study article ever written.

25 Aug

ID implants for our soldiers?

WTF?:

The company lobbying for a Pentagon contract to insert radio frequency identification chips under the skin of U.S. military personnel has already had its technology cloned by two experts.

VeriChip Corp. is “in discussions” with the Air Force, Navy and the Department of Veterans Affairs to sell its radio frequency identification chips, said Scott Silverman, CEO of VeriChip’s parent company.

VeriChip says that the devices are secure, but Annalee Newitz, a contributing editor at Wired magazine, and software engineer Jonathan Westhues, say that’s not true.

Newitz wears a VeriChip under her arm, and last month at a computer hackers’ conference in New York, she and Westhues made a copy of her VeriChip — and her private medical data — using a homemade device.

Ok, two questions:

1) When the hell do we get to publicly debate the ethics of micro-chipping our soldiers?; and

2) Where is all the righteous indignation from the Christian Taliban over the so-called mark of the beast?