Author: bmagnus

The Shorties Saga: New Moon

Merry Zappadan: It has been brought to my attention that Zappadan began last night. Felicitous greetings those who celebrate, and of course the admonition to dance like a fool and not eat yellow snow.

Can’t He Eat Dinner in the Toilet? Geez!: That is what some ignoramuses are really saying when they tell a lactating mother to go nurse in the bathroom. Get over your bad selves; the original purpose of breasts — God Given if you believe in God — is to feed babies. Why don’t you go eat dinner in the toilet?? Now that being said, most mothers try to be discreet: they nurse at home before going out, they use modesty covers, they pump. But **** you if you disagree, anyplace it’s ok for a baby to have a bottle, it’s ok for him to eat the all natural diet that was intended for him.

Banks do as they please, we pay the fees: 6 more bank failures yesterday. That brings us to 130 for the year and no sign of slowing down in 2010. But the surviving banks aren’t accountable to their customers — an obvious breach of free market thinking, wherein banks that screwed customers should be the first to fail as we take our business elsewhere. Instead, they have to be “pressured” to do the right thing, and “regulated” to keep them from screwing us harder. We can’t just take our business elsewhere because either our small local bank will fold and be sold off to Faceless Conglomerate Bank Co or our mortgages will be bundled and sold piecemeal to them. And while it’s easy to say “I’m not doing business with Chase, close my credit card account and move my checking account”, it’s hard if not impossible to control who owns your mortgage. How nice that B of A suddenly has the money to rid itself of its largest and most meddlesome investor. Since when doesn’t the Fed have the ability to regulate them anyhow?

Say goodbye to all this, and hello to oblivion: (obligatory) Escalation in Afghanistan is teh win… for the bin Laden anyway. Heaven forbid we should learn from those who tried to fight “the good war” there before us.

It’s the Jobs, Stupid: The people want to go to work. They want to work more than they are worried about the deficit or much of anything else, and that’s actually kind of smart: you see, working people pay more taxes than those who don’t work! If we don’t get these people jobs, we risk losing the middle class altogether. (Yeah, I know I swore off HuffPo, but it’s Elizabeth Warren). Here’s a handy fact sheet.

Obligatory Health Insurance Reform Roundup: Remember, if the insurance companies want it, it’s probably bad for consumers — and that’s what Forbes says! Women have unusually high stakes in this thing. Poor Aetna having to cut all those customers so they can remain fabulously profitable! And remember that when they talk about “cost controls” they aren’t talking about controlling your premiums, but rather what your doctor and hospital gets paid. Oh, and this clip, wherein Shatner wishes the Vulcan neck pinch and mind meld were real… and that Nimoy were standing behind his guest.

Why Police Confiscations Must Be Further Regulated: “We think your passenger is a hooker so we’re taking your car… Oops we’re mistaken, you owe us $1400 to get your car back!”

And Last: A handy Wall Street to English translator.

Two Sad Stories Involving Children

#1, in which Seatbelts Would Have Saved Lives

Yesterday, an ordinary looking minivan blew out a tire and clipped another vehicle. What happened next was horrifying. The van rolled multiple times. It turns out that inside that van were 15 people — in a van that normally seats 8 — only two of whom were wearing seatbelts. Thirteen children were thrown from the vehicle. Ten people were severely injured, five were killed, including a little kid 3 years old. One witness says there were “kids flying everywhere.”

Please, people. Make sure everybody in your vehicle is belted in. If that means taking two vehicles or getting a bigger vehicle, so be it. For that matter, check your tires regularly. This was preventable. The adults in that vehicle had a responsibility to do certain things to keep those kids safe and they failed.

#2, in which Grade School Kids Lack Almost Everything

Every city has a school like Vegas’s Whitney Elementary. In some ways, it’s like any other grade school in Clark County School District, one of the 5 largest school districts in the nation. It’s got a mix of students from all racial backgrounds, although it’s almost half Hispanic. It doesn’t have the best test scores, but the scores could be a lot worse.

However, of their 562 students in 2007-2008, 370 got free school lunches and another 62 got reduced price lunches. The principal estimates that 75% of the 622 current students have experienced homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless. Because most of the families can’t afford much of anything, the school holds monthly birthday parties for all the kids who had a birthday, complete with cake and presents. The school has it’s own food bank, it’s own clothing donation stockpile. Every teacher has a story of a kid who needed help.

Now, say what you want about personal responsibility. These are little kids, all under the age of 12. Not one of them has any control over his or her circumstances. None of them can legally get a job, and frankly society is better off with them learning to read and write than becoming unskilled child laborers. There is a Christmas wish tree from these kids in my office. It will break your freaking heart. There are kids that just want a pair of pants that fits, or maybe a sweater. There are kids who asked for one toy, singular, that I could buy with the kind of money I typically have in my wallet. There is one family that all they want for Christmas is to have electricity!

So if it is in your heart to send something to Whitney Elementary, please do. If instead is in your heart to find and give to your own hometown’s version of Whitney Elementary, that is wonderful too. If all you can send is kind wishes and prayers or maybe spreading the word, it’s better than nothing.

In Closing: the best reason for Cheney to run for President in 2012 is that he thinks we run elections under Gallifreyan rules and won’t let him be extradited to the Hague (is this seriously the best the Republicans got??); The Life of Brian couldn’t be filmed today, and more’s the pity; I guess terrorists only count if they are brown; recycle small electronics with the USPS; yawning is good for you; obligatory item on controlling health insurance costs; Blue Cross BS demonstrates why we need reform now; I’m going to let the economists worry about whether this Dubai mess is a big deal (their Vegas investments notwithstanding) (sorry, a drop of 150 on the Dow doesn’t impress me anymore); WTF is wrong with Africa??; concentration of wealth; the importance of arts education; an a cartoon on commercial and industrial regulation.

What’s wrong with this?

From USA Today:

Women are driving longer into their pregnancies — often saving maternity leave until after giving birth — a lifestyle change that is leading to predictions of an increase in fetal deaths in car crashes.

What? Do they mean that at some point, I was supposed to have stopped working or going to the grocery store and maybe even just remained in my nice safe home until I went into labor?? Perhaps I should have called an ambulance instead of driving myself in the snow to the hospital where my husband was working? I swear I never got that memo!

Perhaps it would interest “journalist” Sharon Silke Carty that the average American woman has paltry maternity benefits: in most cases 12 weeks leave, with no pay, and that assuming she works for a company with more than 50 employees — fewer than half of all American companies — has been there at least 12 months, and has put in a minimum of 1250 hours during the previous 12 months. For most families, the “unpaid” part of that is a deal-breaker even if she qualifies. As conservative rag Forbes observed back in May:

And since the majority of women can’t afford not to work for a full three months, they also tend to return to work sooner than the law dictates. Perhaps that’s why in May 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 55% of first-time mothers were working six months after giving birth. In the early 1970s, only 25% were working 6 months after childbirth.

So I am not sure what USA Today is on about when getting the vapors over pregnant drivers. Sure, it would be nice if Detroit gave a flip about anything but 6 foot tall men when it comes to safety in the front seat — reason #2 I buy cars from countries that have short women — but I’m not holding my breath.

In closing: political minefield; what’s wrong with this picture; small business getting the stimulus funds shaft, ensuring recession for the foreseeable future; credit card scam involves hiding your bill; how is a Vegas magic act like the CIA?; knives that the TSA never notices; Twilight models an abusive relationship; Nevada still not sure we need any of that there Real ID stuff; 9 ways to avoid holiday weight gain; Americans doomed to financial illiteracy (in addition to the more mundane illiteracy and innumeracy); and emo comic book characters.

Thankful

From the Economic Policy Institute. See also, half of teachers report buying food for students with their own money.

We can’t even make sure all our citizens have food, yet obesity is a huge problem. We can’t even make sure all our citizens have food, yet Congress wants to force them to buy insurance. We can’t even make sure all our citizens have food, yet we dare to call ourselves the greatest nation on earth.

I am so thankful I could cry.

Well Done?

Back in college, my friend Janie and I both had to do a presentation on the Bel Canto singing style of the Baroque era. Janie was the voice major, and she ended up going right before me (“Great,” I thought, “Just what everyone wants is to hear two presentations on the exact same thing right in a row. Couldn’t somebody else go next?”). She had a little handout, and demonstrated all the various ornamentations that could be added to the music — sort of a musical reading between the lines that is much more strict than modern improvisational jazz. Yes, she sang them. She did a nice job, too.

After this fabulous presentation, I got up in front of the class, opened a book from the library (I’m pretty sure it was this one), and read a story that went something like this:

A great Diva was at a dinner party, and one of the other guests was going on about a new young singer, and her complete mastery of added ornamentation. The Diva finally tired of the conversation and replied, “Yes, but can she sing 6 plain notes?”

Then I began to discuss issues of technique.

And that strangely enough brings me to this week’s Top Chef.

Quick  overview for those who don’t know but do care (as opposed to those of you scrolling down to the closing bits), Top Chef takes 16 competitors who are actively working in top restaurants and whittles them down to one “top” chef of that season in a series of “elimination challenges.” While style and taste are important, this is primarily a TV show, and certain things are edited to be exciting for TV. After all, we at home don’t even have the luxury of smelling what they’ve made. This is clearly not to be confused with the big cooking competitions like the Bocuse D’Or.

So, this week there were 5 competitors left, and the elimination challenge was modeled on the Bocuse D’Or.

Remember, these guys are pros. They either own notable restaurants in their hometowns or are working with chefs every foodie has heard of. One has his very own James Beard award already (and frankly, a nice beard to go with it). So you would think this isn’t a big deal to them and you’d be wrong.

To make a long story short, 4 competitors made very complicated dishes that each had a fatal flaw: undercooked meat, salmon with a bone left in, imprecisely butchered proteins, ingredients that didn’t mesh as expected. One dish was less complicated — only by comparison! — but perfectly done. The chef who made this dish was ridiculed by another competitor as making “the kind of food I make on my day off!”

Yet guess who won? Despite the fact that the judges were disappointed by the level of sophistication shown in the dish, perfection won over complication. It turns out that all of us would rather have “6 plain notes” than a thousand poorly executed ones.

In Closing: the Senate is preparing to sell us all to the insurance companies tonight, so remember this day when the incumbents come sniffing around for money and votes; go ahead! Read the damn thing! Maybe they could all stand to know what’s in it!; AHIP doesn’t even want to hear about how small businesses can’t afford their products; let’s reinstate the laws that were deemed necessary in the Great Depression to keep it from happening again (you know, the ones that have been dismantled systematically since the Reagan Administration?); Elizabeth Warren; unfortunately, withholding medication from people in jail is not an isolated thing, but it is inhumane (treat people like animals and then be all surprised when they act like animals…. Listen up PETA, people have faces too, how about supporting rights for them?); I wonder how incarceration rates effect the official unemployment rate; it’s pathetic that even poli-sci majors don’t know the freakin Bill of Rights (I’ve known 2nd graders who could accurately summarize them); Christian Scientists have shorter lifespans; bank failure update; Ezra brings us Bourdain talking turkey; and finally, Nordstrom Just Says No to Christmas Creep, won’t deck the halls until Black Friday. I’m starting to really like Nordstrom.

Disconnected

As I write, it is a Thursday afternoon. The stock market is closed for the day, and the Dow ended the day at 10,322.44. It must be nice in their world.

Meanwhile, foreclosures are at a record high, with 14.41% of mortgages either in foreclosure or with at least one past due payment. Think about that a moment. Knock on 20 doors in an “average” community and 3 of them are likely somewhere on the road from “missed a payment” to “bank owned”. Needless to say, the rate is lower in most of the country, but higher in Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada.

In addition to residential mortgage loans being in a tough spot, industrial and commercial lending is down 20% year over year. At first, you might think “good, that means that banks are only lending to companies that are likely to pay it back.” In fact, this crash of lending means that firms which might otherwise had a short term liquidity problem will go bankrupt for lack of financing, putting more people out of work. In addition, it is clear that almost no loans are available for new and small businesses, which are now unable to take up their role creating jobs for the rest of us. Remember, SBA loans are government insured second mortgages; nobody has equity anymore, so just forget about it. The rest of the SBA’s functions are largely consulting.

Official unemployment — which is traditionally undercounted — is over 10%, more like 17% once you include people like “discouraged workers,” and over a million people are due to run out of unemployment benefits before the end of the year. Merry freakin Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I found out today about a family that all they really want for Christmas is electricity! Sure, I bet there’s someone like that in your neighborhood too. Help them out if you can, mmkay?

Roubini is right. We have two economies going on in this country right now: one for the top companies where everything is wonderful and bonuses all around; and one that you and I live in. I believe two radical things when it comes to economics. First, interest rates all by themselves don’t magically fix the economy. Second, there’s no such thing as a jobless recovery (and by extension, I think what we are now experiencing is still the 2001 recession).

Ok, a few quick items on health insurance reform: An economist tells you how he’d fix the problem; best and worst health care by state roughly correlates to political leanings; Ezra goes mining for silver linings in the Senate version of the reform bill; and one item of interest to everyone who even knows a woman in Nevada. Some idiots who believe that a fertilized but not yet implanted egg has the same rights I do — a grown woman and mother — wants to outlaw “pills that induce abortion.” However, due to sloppy writing and even sloppier understanding of biology, the amendment would also most likely make all hormonal birth control illegal. Get the word out, this could be a mess.

In Closing: Views of Mt. Fuji; short history of the internet; only 2 countries have failed to ratify an 20 year old international treaty on children’s rights — Somalia and the United States; Just Say No to plastic crap at Thanksgiving and the whole year through (seriously, don’t you have better things to spend money on??);  and finally, a hilarious Thanksgiving letter.

City of the Shorties

Sorry I’ve been underground this week. Anybody want to guess why? Points to anyone who said Modern Warfare 2. It’s good. Anyways, time to tab dump.

Sex, Lies, and Misogyny: Oh, I could keep going on, but I’m so disgusted with Congress I could scream. Mike put it well when he said “Because nothing says freedom like forcing a woman with a dead fetus to get a sepsis infection.” Of course, big business is taking advantage of the fact that women make less than men and firing the employees who make “too much”. Except for the big bosses of course! We couldn’t ask them to take less money or anything like that. I’ve got news for both political parties: women are roughly 50% of voters and no candidate can win without at least some of us voting for his or her worthless  hide.

Fail Fail: High school’s autodialer system accidentally calls “thousands” of parents to tell them their kid is failing at least one class. Oops, that call should only have gone to parents of kids who were actually in fact failing. I sure do hope no kids were punished as a result of this message. I can imagine the conversations: “You liar!  The school says you are failing a class, what is it??” “I swear dad, I don’t know! I thought I was doing good in all my classes!” Insert profanity as the conversation continues.

Pretty darn good as dreams go: A dream “That Congress actually cared about working people.”

Speaking of Congress Screwing the People: Dylan Rattigan goes off on the 10th anniversary of repealing Glass Steagal. Wow, I am liking the new, improved, angry Dylan!

Well Named: The TARP continues to live up to it’s unfortunately accurate acronym, and will cost the taxpayer money that could have gone to healthcare, education, roads, the aqueducts, etc.. We all would have been better off if Congress had given $100,000 towards each primary mortgage.

The Supreme Court may Change Everything: It looks like the entire court is ridiculing the idea that a business practice can be patented. The interesting and potentially game-changing part of this is that software patents are a subgroup of business practice patents.

The WPA Built my High School: (Seriously. But it’s just not the same since they tore out half the front lawn to widen the freeway.) Some interesting thoughts on building public works in the modern economy.

Does she like photographs? Eh? Eh?: Say no more. Releasing risque photographs as a form of sexual assault.

Omnibus: Bruce Schneier distills all his thoughts on security theatre into one brilliant essay.

Japanfilter, Take a Bow: Ok, this is really a pretty simple gaffe. Obama-sama is bowing to Akihito-sama as if he were a Japanese citizen, not as if he is the leader of a sovereign nation of at least equal importance to Japan. Notice the slight bow from Akihito-sama and the even slighter inclination from Michiko-sama? However, the people screaming about this sure didn’t say much when Bush-sama was off kissing Saudi princes!

Crystal Ball

Or — Back to the Future Part 3962

Or — How to Confirm that We’ve Been Screwed.

Ok. By now we all know that the House passed a health insurance reform turd — I mean bill — last night. While it still needs to get through the Senate (and there are signs that might be difficult), it’s being hailed as historic. It squeaked through on a 2 vote margin, and apparently to get that they had to insert something called the Stupak Amendment which effectively prevents health insurance from covering abortions.

Now, don’t start thinking this is about sluts. Sure, it’s easy to support this if you are thinking “dirty sluts can pay for their own abortions.” The overwhelming majority of women seeking abortions are not sluts who need retro-active birth control. The vast majority of abortions are sought because either birth control failed, the pregnancy is the result of rape (after all, good girls wouldn’t need to use the pill, now would they??), the fetus is too deformed to live, or the mother will DIE if she tries to carry the pregnancy to term. And follow me on this for just a moment, women living in poverty are more likely to be the victim of crime and less likely to have access to the very best pre-natal care. This puts the women who can least afford an abortion without financial assistance at risk of 3 out of 4 of the above.

This isn’t about sluts. This is about life saving surgery.

And now it won’t be covered by insurance. Thanks a whole bunch, Congress.

To be brutally honest, that’s not really even the worst of it. This turd is littered with gifts to highly profitable insurance companies, highly profitable drug companies, and other highly profitable health care companies at the expense of the voter and taxpayer. I left hospitals off the list of corporate beneficiaries for now because many hospitals, [Diety] bless them, are still not for profit entities. In fact, in Michigan, hospitals are non-profits by law. This is why Dennis Kucinich couldn’t bring himself to vote in favor of the bill — I highly encourage you to read his complete statement, because it is informed and eloquent.

Tomorrow is Monday, and we will find out who really benefits from this bill. I predict that the real winners will be apparent on CNBC tomorrow. Keep an eye on company stocks like these:

I bet the majority of them will be up tomorrow on news of the “reform” bill passing. Maybe if there were a large, profitable corporation that represented the American people, we could get Congress to listen to what we want. In the meantime, I’m with Susie: the party gets no more money if they continue to treat us like crap and then make us stories about how that’s a good thing.

Fort Hood

I spent some of my youth living near Waco, TX. It was about a half hour drive to Temple and Kileen, home to Fort Hood. Horrific things happened out there today, and my deepest thoughts for peace and happiness go to everyone involved.

We may never know why 3 men he opened fire on their his fellow soldiers, the second shooting incident this year. We may never know how they he managed to kill a dozen people* and wound over 30 on a military base where thousands of men have sidearms and the skills to use them. We may never know why Major Hasan, a psychiatrist,** holed up with a big sniper rifle a couple of guns, although there is conjecture that he was about to be deployed to Iraq — despite his recent arrival at Fort Hood. There is no telling why this happened to take place the day a graduation ceremony was to be held on campus.***

Truly the President was correct when he called it “a horrific outburst of violence,” but he promised that all these questions will be answered. Since Major Hasan is dead, this seems unlikely. Let’s hope the Commander in Chief is correct.

Update: See also changes, original text crossed-out. Looks like Maj. Hasan is alive, and we have confirmation that a “first responder” was injured but not killed. They’re also saying he was the only shooter, and had only civilian weaponry. Of all the crazy things, he’s an expert in combat stress. Please tell me this isn’t his idea of an experiment on inducing combat stress.

* An early report indicated that one was a police officer. I can no longer find this detail, which may have been reported in error. If this was true, was it military police, local police, or just a guy who happened to show up for the graduation? See update. Still no idea what sort of “first responder”: civilian or military.

** Apparently, even army docs can shoot with the best of them! I don’t know if this pleases me or terrifies me. The surgeons on M*A*S*H didn’t do that! Can you imagine Col. Blake with a 50 cal??

*** Although there are several local colleges, it appears to have been a ceremony for soldiers who completed coursework through distance learning programs while deployed overseas.

In Closing: the story of Maneki-Neko; how to make baguettes; 45 things you didn’t know you could make at home; this Political Compass quiz is an interesting way to spend 5 minutes; Schneier on zero tolerance policies; Gaza life sucks; reinstate Glass-Steagall!; medical advice brought to you by Coke; Shark-fu is brilliant, and she tells you how it is; personal bankruptcies are up 9%, which could have something to do with the job numbers (but hey, they’re productive!); CBO laughs in the face of the Republican health insurance reform plan; and 50 years of economic history in one picture. Notice that nice big uptrend line from the 60s to roughly 1980? Then notice that down-trend during the reign of St. Ronnie? Yeah, trickle-down really worked great, thanks for nothing. Literally.

Open Letter to Dr. Howard Dean

Dear Doctor:

Or, do you prefer Governor? Mr. Chairman?

On last year’s Election Day, we elected our first African American President, and validated your strategy for the Democratic party — the 50 state strategy. My husband and myself were two of the people out there on the ground, giving what little money we could, literally knocking on doors asking people to vote for Mr. Obama, and turning a “red state” blue.

Frankly, now we’re not sure we got a good deal.

Our troops are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, with “support” from profiteering corporations instead of fellow servicemen. Guantanamo is still open for business, and few of the men there are seeing anything that might approach “due process.” The Obama Administration is defending the use of warrantless wiretaps. The GLBT community has a list of grievances and what they see as broken promises.

The government pleads poverty when it comes to helping ordinary citizens weather the biggest recession ever, yet there always seems to be plenty of money for bankrupt banks and poorly run auto makers. We’ve got long term, possibly structural unemployment, and we are being told that private industry is going to have to pick up the slack and hire people. Few companies are hiring, and the combination of a banking mess and a health insurance mess means that few new companies will be opening their doors anytime soon. This is no longer a land of opportunity for anybody willing to work for it. Too much depends on luck, knowing the right people, and having the money up front. Instead, it’s a land where half of all kids will at some point receive food stamps.

And lets talk about this health insurance reform thing for a minute, can we? I’m really sick of writing about health insurance reform, but there are things that must be said. To be honest, I knew we were in trouble when Rahm Emanuel arrived and you weren’t offered any position in the Administration. Let’s face it, Doctor: nobody has experienced the insurance industry from more angles than you. You’ve been insured, bought insurance for your employees, bought COBRA (you mentioned that in the debates, remember?), negotiated contracts and received reimbursement from insurance companies, and helped regulate insurance on the state level. You managed to get coverage for every kid in your state, no questions asked!

Fixing the health insurance mess is critical to getting people back to work — which is in turn critical to getting our economy moving again, fixing the housing market, and getting long term stability for our banking sector. Most Americans want a public option (preferably Medicare For All) that is going to bring prices down, they want “pre-existing conditions” to go away, they want insurance companies to pay what is owed promptly and without argument. Instead, Congress has argued and cut back-room deals with the insurance companies and drug companies that, in the eyes of Joe and Jane Average, are screwing us.

Once they finally put together legislation that looked like it might not be horrible, they set right back to work messing it up with junk like coverage for prayer treatments and separate coverage riders for abortion — which like it or loath it is sometimes a life-saving surgery that shouldn’t require an extra fee to be covered! These are only 2 items that have come to light today; who knows what other junk is in there to turn this franken-bill into a real monster?

I’ve stopped giving money to the Democratic Party in all its forms for the reasons outlined above. Every time they call, I send money to Democracy for America or Move On. And that, Doctor Dean, is where you come in.

It is clear to me that for the most part my [former] party is hopeless: hopelessly corrupt, stupid, spineless, and generally worthless. You were clearly right to leave when you did, while you still had a reputation as a winning political tactician. I think that with your guidance, DFA and MoveOn could and should form a new political party, reclaiming “liberal” as a good word, and based firmly on the principles of the Bill of Rights. I feel certain there are a number of Democratic figures that would want to be part of such a movement (Dennis Kucinich and Ed Schultz come to mind), and if you truly embrace civil liberties right, there might even be some “moderate” Republicans who might at least be friendly.

Please just consider it. Let’s be real here, if you thought there was hope for the party, you’d still be Chairman.

Thank you for your time. I hope all is well for you and your family.

— Bridget Magnus, AKA the ShortWoman, Realtor, former Democrat, and proud American

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