Preview of Coming Attractions: I am trying to work through some ideas towards a rather lenghty post on healthcare and health insurance. Some recommended reading includes Krugman on Obama’s Not-Quite-Universal Healthplan, an in depth piece on what Cuba does right (first, scholarships; second, serving the community; third, medical missionaries that bring help and get good will as a by-product), this brand new item on the cost of cancer drugs, and a cornucopia of gadgets and services remind people to take their medication.
“The problem is, you’re still female and it’s still a man’s world.” That’s a quote from an Associated Press article called “Web, reality TV help make porn more pervasive.” The expert they were quoting was trying (and failing) to get across the idea that sometimes one woman’s empowering behavior is another woman’s pathetic behavior. Many of you know I’ve been accused of not being a very good feminist, but even I noticed that this article is all about girls and women. No mention of those ads for men’s underwear, not even a nod to those racy Axe ads. Nope, no scantily clad men on the TV! Can you imagine the uproar if 300 was about a group of bikini clad Amazon soldiers instead of male soldiers wearing nothing but tight shorts and capes? Over at Shakesville, Melissa McEwen has found another article in this vein, this one about school dress codes… sort of. As she points out, this one dances around the issues so hard that the author bemoans the effect of skimpy clothing upon male observers without actually mentioning the human being wearing it.
Some startling statistics: Way too many Americans don’t read books, and don’t even go into bookstores. I am willing to blow off the fact that over half of new books aren’t read to completion, because many people own reference books that are not meant to be read cover to cover. Well, that and the fact that I have put down books that suck. In any event, this throws a light on all those people who have walked into my mother’s living room and, upon seeing an entire wall lined with jam-packed bookcases asked “Oh, which one of you reads?”
If it’s good enough for the Vice-President and the President, it’s good enough for the FCC: In a hilarious development, an appeals court found that “fleeting expletives” in a live broadcast were no reason to punish TV networks, since after all “in recent times even the top leaders of our government has used variants of these expletives in a manner that no reasonable person would believe referenced sexual or excretory organs or activities.” I guess Family Values really do begin at home.
Good Question: The Christian Science Monitor asks How should the United States protect privately owned facilities? Indeed. The question is even relevant without the first word. Are there private facilities so important to the nation at large that security should be a federal responsibility? If so, why shouldn’t the facility itself be nationalized to ensure its continued operation? After all, many factories in this country have proved that private facilities can be closed at the whim or financial needs of the owner. Just asking.
Three Items on Agriculture: First, Alternet points out how the modern agricultural methods that were supposed to feed the world may actually be leaving most farmers poorer and most countries hungrier. From there we have one Congressman’s view of what a farm subsidy should be like and what it should do for all Americans. And frankly, it’s hard to find fault with his points. By way of contrast, we have a preview of the likely winners and losers in the upcoming Farm Bill. Summary: big agribusiness wins; “farmers, farm laborers, food processing workers, rural communities, the environment, poor country peasants, many developing country agricultural industries, urban laborers in both developed and developing countries facing wage competition from rural migrants and U.S. taxpayers” lose.
If you’re going to play semantic games, you have to remember which rules you put in place: yes, I’m the umpteenth person to mention that the military tribunals have decided that they only have jurisdiction on unlawful enemy combatants, not just enemy combatants in general. Well better to figure that out now than on appeal. Assuming they get those. Make no mistake, this is only a legal speedbump, not a concrete barrier. But at this point it’s nice to know that at least some aspects of due process apply.
Connecting the dots: Insight on how predatory lenders not only destroyed neighborhoods, discriminated against non-whites, contributed to the current default/forclosure rates, destroyed the financial security of families, and on top of all that fed (if not caused) regional real estate bubbles. I have yet to see so many strands woven so skillfully into the real estate issue.
I wonder what he did to make the kitties mad: Pet lion and tiger decide they would rather have the caretaker for lunch instead of the chicken.
And your moment of Zen: Hello Barbie!
Regarding your mother’s bookshelves, the respose
to the querry “Which one of you reads?” always was: “Oh, none of us. They’re just for show. All of us are functionally illiterate.”
As to the unfortunate episode with the lion and tiger who preferred caretaker over a chicken dinner, it WAS a meat processing plant … or maybe they had already had chicken for lunch that day.