Happy Nevada Day from Las Vegas.
“Is your uh, is your wife interested in….photography, ay?” (reference) Ay? Well now you no longer have to keep records proving that she was of legal age at the time.
What’s twice the size of Texas, disgusting, and getting bigger every day? Unfortunately, it’s a massive garbage dump at sea. It’s so big, one expert says “At this point, cleaning it up isn’t an option.” Since 80% of the trash-continent’s contents come from land-based sources, experts propose measures that reduce reliance on plastic bags and packaging as a means to slow its growth.
Oil’s Well that Ends Well. Oil is up again, now hitting over $92 a barrel. Oh, and the dollar continues to slide. Add to that this item:
On September 29th…, the government of Iraq announced that the next annual renewal of the United Nations Security Council mandate for a multinational force in Iraq — the only legal basis for a continuation of the American occupation — will be the last. That was… the first shoe to fall. The second may be an announcement terminating the little-noticed, but crucial companion Security Council mandate governing the disposition of Iraq’s oil revenues.
Tax overhaul proposals blooming in the sun? There must be an election coming up. This one comes from Congressman Rangel. It allegedly would reduce taxes on roughly a third of Americans, repeal AMT, and place a surtax on people who he thinks make too much money ($200,000 per year). You want a simple sensible tax overhaul proposal that can be explained to anybody in less than 10 minutes? Make the standard deduction equal to the poverty line, indexed annually. Cap itemized deductions at three or even four times that, making AMT obsolete. Add no more than a half dozen “over and above” deductions for stuff most of us agree are beneficial to society, like charitable contributions. Recalculate tax brackets and rates accordingly. The End.
I wish my inner conspiracy theorist would shut up. Seriously. Not to make light of what is still happening in California with the fires, but now we are finding out that several of the fires were arson, there were delays in getting firefighting aircraft into the skies, the stadium shelter was just short of being a free festival, the number of evacuees turns out to have been greatly exaggerated, and Mr. Bush arrives (stopping all other flights, including those firefighting planes) just in time to look like a conquering hero. I don’t want to think that anybody could have set this in motion just to show how well the government can respond to a disaster. I want to believe all that is mere coincidence. I really do.
Interview with a MythBuster. Ok, interview with both the MythBusters.
Declare War on Stress. (reference) Americans have more stress these days, fueled by housing costs and terror fears.
Won’t somebody think of the children. Firedoglake has a fascinating item called “From The Cradle to Uncertainty”, but be sure to click through to the CDF called “The Cradle to Prison Pipeline”. I could do without the ethnocentric preachyness of Marion Wright Edelman (hint, not all religions worship on Sunday, and what the heck does that have to do with kids being doomed to prison?), but the idea that some kids — by the very circumstances into which they are born — may be funneled into a life of crime is sobering. Oh, and on a related note, a cartoon relevant to SCHIP and other Medicare For All plans.
Stop worrying about the War on Terror. It’s the War on Freedom we need to be concerned about.
And finally. If the economy is great, and corporations are making lots of money, and the consumer is buying stuff, how are corporations getting that stuff to the consumer? Because they sure aren’t putting it on trains and trucks. He cites not just one, but 4 shipping companies whose earnings are soft on “reduced demand”.
Have a great weekend.
oh the plummeting dollar… Am I the only one notice the Canadian dollar was higher (may still be) than the USD? Has this happened at all or frequently?
It’s very unusual. Here’s a 5 year chart.
I love the Mythbusters! I would love to see that show piped into the schools to teach children to question and test.
While I agree that questioning and testing are important things to teach kids, I have a sneaking suspicion most of them would focus on the exploding stuff. That, and sadly some teachers don’t really want kids questioning too darn much.