Category: Shorties

Cola Deconstructed: The nice folks at Beachbody have a few things to say about soda pop, one of the biggest calorie sources in the American diet.  Let them run down the ingredient list, and then maybe have a nice cool glass of iced tea.

And now for something completely different: Tastespotting. Hey, if you are going to consume lots of calories, they should be really delicious! Besides, pictures can’t make you gain weight… can they? 

While we’re on the topic of food: Next season’s Top Chef will attempt to prove they’ve not jumped the shark by having a “masters” series. Judges will include Neil Patrick Harris and Morgan Spurlock. Competitors will include Roy Yamaguchi and Wylie Dufresne. No word yet on whether I’m setting up the DVR for this.

Huh, it’s a while till lunch, isn’t it: Hospital food could be as bad for you as whatever put you in the hospital. 

This final thought about food: Studies finally admit what many have suspected for a while. Food safety is “no longer improving.” 

Japanfilter!: It’s been too long, hasn’t it? Amazing Modern Samurai, My Japanese Coach for DS, and Please Don’t Trample the Geisha.

Gun Control is about Aim: Thank [Diety] he was as bad a marksman as he was an English student! “The man who gunned down 13 people at an upstate New York immigration center fired 98 shots from two handguns in a little more than a minute, police said Wednesday.” Imagine the carnage if he were actually a decent shot.

Way to Not Get It, Chrysler: The only new car in the 2010 lineup? An SUV that gets a whopping 20 MPG. Gee guys, don’t knock yourselves out. There’s only a huge list of SUVs that get better mileage than that. 

Silver Lining?: The current economic woes are having one good effect. It’s sharply reducing the trade deficit. We’re already down to levels not seen since 1999.

Be Afraid If You’re Brown: Can you prove you are a United States citizen with things you normally keep in your wallet? It turns out most people can’t.  

On a Kindle, nobody knows you’re reading schlocky romance novels: As much as 50% of electronic books sold  might be romance novels! 

Something new for you to read: The Awesomer. 

The ACLU Doesn’t Want the TSA taking the Ultimate Upskirt Pix: Ok, actually they are against new see-thru camera technology. Your choice is to let them look at you nude through your clothes, or let them fondle you pat you down.

I don’t usually follow sports, but: Imagine a young man who works hard and overcomes injuries. He finally lands his dream job. The first full day of work, everything goes great! Everybody is happy with his performance. But all that is cut short when, mere hours later, he is killed by a drunk driver. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t let people you know drive drunk. Do call the cops when you see a drunk driver.

And one last thing: The economy is lousy and lots of people are out of work. Those that do have jobs are under a lot of stress. Take care of yourself, people. Someday we’ll look back at 2008 and 2009, laughing about what awful times those were. In the meantime, reach out for help. Or reach out to help, where you can. We’re all in this together.

Live from Riyadh: It’s King Abdullah! Great piece from Newsweek on the reigning monarch of Saudi Arabia.

Delicious Couch Potatoes: Looking for a cheap, no-equipment workout? Well, you could do a lot worse than 5BX. Thanks to MeFi for reminding me of it.

Amazing what one motivated guy with a good camera can do: He can take pictures of the International Space Station. From the ground. With no telescope. A friend remarked “And we still say we can’t find Saddam’s WMDs.” Well one thing is for sure, they aren’t at the ISS.

Vegetarians may skip this: stupidity is alive and well. I can’t believe that there are people that dumb who don’t self-Darwin. And I can’t believe an actual newspaper printed this. No wonder print media is doomed if this appeared outside the humor column.

When you want government money, you take attached government strings: unless of course you are super wealthy. Where was I? Oh yes, “Lawmakers in at least eight states want recipients of food stamps, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing.” If the tests were actually accurate (which they’re not) and cheap (where are cash-strapped states getting the money?) and the consequences were some sort of counseling program, I might think it was almost acceptable. As it is, I fear that such initiatives will result in people not applying for benefits to which they are entitled, children in these households doing without things like basic nutrition and a safe home, and desperate people turning to crime. While nobody is saying that illegal drugs are good, none of the probable outcomes of this proposal are good either.

A few random items on current economic conditions: the credit crisis was a heist? A delightful if simplified history of the world since World War 2 and how it resulted in the current mess from a new favorite site, Gin and Tacos. We’re up to 21 bank closures this year (it’s only 4 PM as I write, I may have to add to this later). Are the newest bailouts trying to bypass Congress? “Well, if we have to play by your rules you can take back your sucky old TARP money (that we swore we desperately needed).”

My opinion on buying troubled assets: the measure of a good plan is that it makes the recipients breathe in sharply in pain. My suggestion? Offer 10 cents on the dollar. Some of the banks should say “Wow, that’s harsh, but it’s better than nothing.” Others should say “You know, I think we can do without that,” as Ford said in response to the automaker bailout. That’s the sign that it’s on the right track. If all the banks are lining up for a piece of the action, the taxpayer is getting screwed. I guaranty it.

Delightfully Random: Cranky Thursday Musings made me laugh; as did the Evil Knievel stock chart action. I never know what to make of Ken Tanaka. And here’s a random thought for the biggest **** you know.

I’m not sure what’s stranger: a county DA has decided to charge 3 minor girls with kiddy porn for allowing themselves to be photographed. If convicted, these girls may have to be in a sex offender database for the rest of their lives:

One is a picture taken two years ago at a slumber party showing Marissa Miller (now 15) and her friend Grace Kelly from the waist up, both wearing white bras. The other depicts Nancy Doe (a pseudonym used to protect the girl’s real identity) standing outside a shower with a bath towel wrapped around her body beneath her breasts.

Skumanick actually offered the girls a deal. If they didn’t want to face charges, they could be placed on probation, subject to random drug testing, and attend a six- to nine-month re-education program dealing with pornography and sexual violence. The D.A. explained the objectives of that program in a letter he sent home to the parents. They include gaining “an understanding of what it means to be a girl in today’s society, both advantages and disadvantages,” and identifying “non-traditional societal and job roles.”

Now as strange as the whole thing sounds, they want to teach about “what it means to be a girl”? Does that phrase not raise anyone else’s neck hair? Please! The icing on this bitter cake is that the parents aren’t allowed to see the evidence. That would be disseminating kiddy porn.

Breaking News: UPS has decided they aren’t going to advertise on the O’Reilly show any more. They decided that supporting a show that had somebody stalked and threatened to kill people from an opposing network might be a bad thing.

And last item of the day: Cherry Blossoms.

Yes Yes, Jon Did Excellent Work: Everybody seen these clips from the Daily Show eviscerating CNBC and Rick Santelli? Great, let’s move on. 

Barbie Turns 50: and the hard-hitting financial news reporters and comentators of Forbes are there! Way to expose her age, Forbes!

Don’t Fall for this Scam: Some financial companies try to collect debts from the dead. Now, strictly speaking death doesn’t end one’s legal obligations. However, the next of kin is under no obligation to pay on the behalf of the dead when the estate can’t cover it. What are they gonna do? Ding Late Aunt Mildred’s credit score? Oh no, she may not be able to finance a house in the afterlife!  

How dare the poor have contact with reality: Somebody is actually upset that someone in a soup kitchen was able to take a cell-phone picture of Michelle Obama serving people. Not because of security concerns, but because here was a person without enough money for a decent meal who nonetheless had a charged up cell phone with a camera in it. First, many cell phones are free with a service plan (as anybody with a grasp of reality knows), and now it’s hard to get one that does not have a camera. Second, cell phone plans start at very cheap. Third, a phone number is almost required to get someone to call you in for a job interview. Smart man indeed if he kept his cell bill paid while letting all else slide. More on what Mrs. O was up to here.

Forbes has a solution: They theorize that we consume too much health care in certain areas because there are too many doctors and hospitals. So it follows that “Decreasing or eliminating supply-sensitive care could greatly reduce health spending without rationing beneficial care….”  The other way to describe this “solution” is to round up doctors and relocate them to under-served areas. Yeah, that will go over well. 

Nouveau Archeaology: Man-made ruins, courtesy of ArtificialOwl.

This paragraph is a bit depressing, or, I Hate This Part Right Here: Presented with minimal comment, Bankruptcy filings up; World GDP growth expected to be negative for the year; Ford sales plummet, selling fewer than 100,000 vehicles in February (and they aren’t the only hurting automaker); unemployment at its highest level since 1983; in addition to 651,000 jobs lost in February, the experts revised the January and December numbers upwards. All I can really say is “Wow.”

On the idea of College For Everybody: Unnecessary. 

The SBA Rides Again: The Obama Administration has budgeted $700 million for the SBA, which should back $28 billion ($28 thousand million) in SBA loans. No word on where they are going to find small businesses that actually have the equity to apply for those loans.

The Financial Crisis Made Simple: And vaguely amusing.

Just say no to slave labor: our current lax enforcement standards on employers who hire illegal workers has an interesting end point, modern slavery. 

And finally, I’d like to close with some happy news: Pink Dolphin. It’s real.

All You Can Eat Stimulus Bar. Yes America, apparently We Can Has Stimulus Package. Here’s an outline of the provisions. Note that the home buyer tax credit isn’t there. But the bill might give you indigestion. There might be a provision in there to require an electronically verified “white list” of people who can legally be employed. Anybody want to guess if that’s more accurate than the No Fly List? Business Week says that provision is now gone. Oh, and it turns out that 20% of government contract workers earn poverty wages. 

Some Alternative Stimulus Ideas. Tim says why not just pay off everybody’s mortgage (which is what I was thinking when the unfortunately accurately named TARP came out). E.B. Misfit suggests tough love for certain Congressmen who thinks no good ever comes out of government spending. Update:  The President is thinking small, but it sure sounds like “let’s pay some of these defaulting mortgages ourselves.” Let’s hope it helps people like this, who played by the rules and are now underwater through no fault of their own.

Food Fight. On one hand, the nice people at This Is Why You’re Fat give us turbaconucken. Vegetarians?  You might not want to click on that. On the other hand, we have a guy eating himself skinny on “16 hard-boiled egg whites, one and a quarter pound of meat and four cups of vegetables, sprinkled with an occasional carbohydrate.”

Can you tell me how to get… How to get that upcoming new book about behind the scenes at Sesame Street?

All this and no merit badge.  Junior Archeology buff builds ancient Japanese style hut, intends to live in it. More on the Jomon period at Wikipedia.

Happy Birthday Mister President and Mister Scientist. You knew it was Lincoln’s 200th birthday, right?  Did you also know it’s the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin?

Oh, and one last thing. I finally joined Twitter. You’ll find me as bmagnus.

It’s the first Shorties of 2009! 

A few dangling bits of 2008:  10 Weirdest Political Moments of the year.

Baby You Can Drive My Car:  Maybe not if it’s a GM.  Here’s a great graphic to illustrate their problems.

Track 22:  Amtrak has this little contest going on for photographers who want to take pictures of their trains.  Amtrak’s security people have a problem with people taking pictures of trains. Something less than hilarity ensued. 

Japanfilter!:  Japanese 1-2-3’s list of useful business vocabulary and Free Japanese Lessons.

Drowning in Milk:  It seems that the recession has caused a milk surplus to develop.  Gee, maybe there’s no more excuse for rBST. 

Listen up, Congressmice:  The voters — you remember them, right, the people without whom you wouldn’t have been sworn in today? — want you to get some stuff done.  That goes double for you two, Pelosi and Reid!  Don’t think your backs are safe next election cycle if you screw this up. Don’t think I won’t vote against the incumbent in the primary, Harry! 

How much do you know about the TSA and Security Theatre?:  Find out with this handy quiz!

A Public Health Argument for Medicare For All: “Arguably, this is why there are regulators: some things, such as not turning 190 hospital workers into dead people, are worth the financial hit. But as long as savings–and keep in mind the program would have lowered overall costs by $115 million annually–are parceled out among different special interest groups, each armed with lobbyists that can corrupt oversight mechanisms, then we will continue to have health care inefficiencies that kill people.”  I could have done without his parting shot about the definition of “special interest groups.”

Excuse me, haven’t I been saying this for years now?:  Tasini from the Daily Kos points out n the fact that the underlying problem with our current economy is that Joe and Jane Average no longer have any money becase they haven’t had a real raise  in a long time. 

And Last But Surely Not Least:  Look, I know there are times when a family has to give up a pet.  It’s sad but it happens. If you don’t find it sad, you probably shouldn’t own animals (and you might want to reconsider children). But if you have to give up an animal, at least take it to a shelter instead of turning it out into the wild. It stands a chance in a shelter. You can contact PAWS for more info. I’ve been a supporter since before I was a teenager, and they do good work.

Just Say No….  to inferior drug tests that yield false positives.  Yet another reason that random drug testing is a Bad Idea.

Back to the Future:  As the economy continues to suck so badly we can no longer pretend it’s not already a recession, if not worse, some companies are reaching for the way-back machine to see if tried-and-true methods from the past might be the way to go right now.

Truckers don’t need sleep:  at least thats what new proposed Federal regulations (that courts have struck down multiple times) say.

How many times do I have to say this?  Insurance is not an investment!  Your insurance agent is not a financial advisor!  If he tells you he wants to sell you an “investment,” make him talk to your financial advisor (or toss him out of your living room). His job is to sell you insurance.  When you buy something from an insurance agent, you should get regular statements telling you what you owe and/or how much what you have is worth.  If you don’t get this regular statement, you should suspect that your insurance agent is a fraud. 

Speaking of things that are not investments:  Don’t buy stock in bankrupt companies.  It’s a sucker’s game. 

That’s not God talking:  Listen, if “God” is telling you to ram another vehicle at 100 MPH, you need medication.  Oh, and to get out from behind the wheel. 

At a complete loss for Christmas ideas?  You can donate farm animals to people in poor countries.  It may not be fun to play with, but you might be doing good for an entire village. 

A Prediction for GM’s Future: So, according to a colleague over at TMV,  “Mulally is coming by car from Detroit. Wagoner will drive a Chevrolet Malibu hybrid sedan for the 520-mile trek. Nardelli won’t travel by corporate jet, but a spokeswoman declined to elaborate on his travel plans, citing security reasons.”  First, Mulally and Wagoner never heard of car-pooling?  They are going to and from almost identical places at exactly the same time!  I bet they would save a seat for Nardelli, too!  But in any event, I hereby predict that after Mr. Wagoner has driven a Malibu hybrid on a  520 mile roadtrip, there will be a lot of tweaks if not a complete re-design next model year.

What Maha Said:  The “conscience” rule is trying to rise from the dead.  Never mind reality. I am totally with her on that last line: “There is a simple solution to health-care workers with a ‘conscience’ problem — find another line of work.” 

Speaking of Health Care:  yet more proposals to “reform” medical residencies are too little too late. The problem is not residency.  The problem is the $140,000 in student debt they have on average before they ever get to residency. Remember, internship and residency have been “employment” since the original Bush Administration.  You regulate those with the Department of Labor. 

And this person works at a university:  I was reading along when I found something mind-blowingly stupid.  Emphasis mine: 

“We’re having to cut classes and professors,” says [Patricia] Hurley [financial aid director at Glendale Community College in California]. “Tuition will go up. And our outreach efforts to high schools and into the community are being hampered because we no longer have the financial resources. All this is happening at a time when it’s critical to get the word out that college is still affordable.”

So let me get this straight, services are going down, tuition is going up, financial aid is getting harder to come by, but we need to make sure everybody knows they can still afford college. Riiiiight. 

Happy December, everybody!

What would you suppose is the greatest breakthrough in public health? The discovery of germs, perhaps?  Vaccines? Doctors washing their hands?  Pasteurization?  Nope.  The Toilet!

It’s (not) all in your head: If a  modern preacher in a mainline demonination suggested that you shun antibiotics in favor of trusting in the healing power of God, he’d be laughed out of most congregations, perhaps with an admonition that “God gave the power to heal that into the hands of doctors.”  Yet one out of three people who confide in their preacher about diagnosed mental illness get a fast ration about demons, sin, and lack of faith! (Warning, there is an image that may offend people with too much time and not enough real things to worry about on that site.  I’d apologize, but unless you are under-aged, I’m not sorry.)

Where have all the lenders gone? Well, banks have better things to do with the taxpayer provided money than actually lend it out.  Seriously.  I am hearing experienced Realtors grumble that “you have to have cash or walk on water these days.” However, just today President Bush told them “come on guys, cut it out already!” so everything should be ok soon. I have a nice bridge to sell you, cash only please.

Huh, that’s not what they said last time: The Republicans are warning that putting one party in charge of both Congress and the White House would be Very Very UhohUhoh Bad.  Just in case we were unclear on this, Governor Palin reiterated the idea, explaining that somehow or another, it would lead to Gridlock!  Funny, 4 years ago we were told that if we did not put one party in charge of both Congress and the White House things would be Very Very UhohUhoh Bad and Terrorists would rule the world or something.

The President and the Constitution: Commander in Chief?

TSA to see reason: The airplane carry-on ban on anything liquid may be lifted in 2009.  Please keep in mind that the Europeans are already ahead of us on this one, and security experts have openly asked “if this stuff is so darn dangerous, why are we piling it all in one bin again?”

Oh no, there might be more high school dropouts if we expect students to learn stuff: At least that’s the warning bell being sounded by USA Today. Forgive me for failing to see why this is a bad thing. We have a lot of jobs in this nation that don’t really need a high school education to do properly. Second, the idea that “everyone” needs a diploma devalues the diploma itself.  Third, the diploma needs to mean that a certain level of mastery has been acheived (and frankly, if you can pass the GED at 14 I am not sure why you shouldn’t).

Your dose of Tama: Stationmaster Cat Tama has been knighted. That medal looks pretty cool on him!

Mercurial: Cool pictures of Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

I seem to recall having said this: Counting calories is making a comeback, because calories matter!  Now, if only common sense would make a comeback as well….

The consumer is down: I think Business Week said it all when they said “The Conference Board said on Oct. 28 that its consumer confidence index has dropped to an all-time low, from 61.4 in September to 38 in October.” Wow. The Economic Policy Institute adds “American consumers shopped but have now dropped”. Unbossed points out that the real problem is crappy wages. This is apparently not true if you happen to be a football coach (here’s an idea for balancing the university budget, cut this number drastically!). And finally, the election as viewed by the homeless.

And last but surely not least: It’s Write to Marry Day. Thanks to Last Left Turn Before Hooterville for pointing it out.  If someone can explain to me how my marriage can possibly be threatened by George Takei or Pam Spaulding I’d really appreciate it. Am I supposed to suddenly leave my partner of 17 years because I can kiss a girl??  Why should the gay and lesbian people I know who are in long-term committed relationships have fewer rights than [insert vapid and short lived but heterosexual relationship here]?  Furthermore, this is not about sex.  It’s about property rights and medical care and companionship and tax benefits and all the other stuff.  Here’s what the head of the ACLU has to say on the matter.  He’s writing from the heart.

Before I get too far: Stay classy, Senator!  What was this man thinking??

Life is not like the movies: Thankfully, given Shorties titles!  But seriously, life is even less like the movies when you are a computer.

Tips for running a small business: particularly in the worst of times.

Leaders must also be servants: Taza, son of Cochise.

The whole truth: “The ‘living beyond our means’ argument, with its thinly-veiled suggestion of moral terpitude, is technically correct….  But this story leaves out one very important fact. Since the year 2000, median family income has been dropping, adjusted for inflation.”  Robert Reich is off telling the truth again. And it’s only going to get worse according to the IHT.

More truth: Underemployment is at a 14 year high at 11%.

May I have some more?: Ok, have some inflation data!

I hope you never need this: Advice for New Paupers.  Unfortunately it’s all too easy a slide into a really bad place from which it’s hard to climb out.

Schneier shows us that conventional wisdom about terrorists is wrong: Terrorist groups are a lot more like gangs (or all those little independent Jewish groups in Life of Brian) than political movements. In fact, there are 7 ways they are highly ineffective.

An interesting view of the bailout: What if Mr. Paulson really started playing hardball with the banks that want to take government money but not really give anything up/back in return?

Another Missing Link: A newly found fossil explores a transition between fish and the land-dwelling vertebrates that followed 375 million years ago.

Anime explained by alien visitors?: Some documents support the idea that in the early 1800s, Japan was visited by strange-featured little people with pink faces, red eyebrows, and impossibly long white hair, who arrived in round, glass covered “boats.”

Iraq wants the United States to follow some rules: Specifically, they want our soldiers to not commit crimes, they want us out of the cities by next June, and they want us out of the country altogether by 2011. So, assuming no catastrophes, whoever is elected President next month can take credit for bringing troops home.  All he has to do is abide by the existing agreement.

Nite, folks.  Stay sane.

Word to the new source of titles: If you love horror movies as much as I don’t, you will want to bookmark Doomed Moviethon.

Succinct Scientific Analysis: from Fafblog on Global Warming.

But it’s just a little airport in a big city: Chicago is going to privatize Midway Airport. Midway is, well, Chicago’s Love Field, with slightly smaller buildings surrounding it.

Have you bothered to register to vote? Well how about you BotherVoting too. Nobody says you have to vote for one of the major candidates. You can register your distaste for all of the above, if you so choose, by selecting an obscure candidate or even writing in a favorite cartoon character.

USA Today asks the same question many of us have wondered: Does the Border Patrol single out people who are brown or look “ethnic”?

Evolved: Scientists now think that HIV has been around for about 100 years, quickly and quietly mutating. Yeah, that’s what we call evolution when it happens to germs.

Kudos to everyone who commented: the HHS has had to (temporarily, I fear) back down on new guidelines that would let medical professionals decide not to allow certain medications for women on the grounds that it might cause an abortion in someone who was not yet pregnant.

Overweight people eat differently: Ok, sounds like a missive from the Duhpartment of Research. It turns out that overweight people and normal weight people have very different behaviors at a Chinese Buffet.

I’ve been asked to link: Army of Women is an organization for the prevention and cure of breast cancer.

Strangest story you will read all day, I promise: In Britain, “A road rage driver was burned to death after ramming another vehicle and setting her own car on fire by furiously revving her engine….” Be sure you scroll down to the pictures of the “ladies” involved.

It’s a little late to debunk Dan Quayle: I know, I’m on about the wrong Veep Debates, but do you remember when Danny talked about all the jobs that would evaporate if the proposals in Al Gore’s book were implemented? Well a new study says that renewable energy could create millions of jobs.

Oh, Okay, a few words about the current Veep Debate: Courtesy of Defective Yeti.

Stop using code-words: Conservatives want to argue that all our current foreclosure problems are due to a 1977 law (talk about your time delay) that “forced” banks to lend to “unqualified minorities.” For pity sake, if they came out and said “it’s the fault of black people” — which is what they are thinking — they would be laughed back to 1863. Don’t let them wink-and-nudge us into some kind of Jim Crow America.

Things are tough all over: I guess you’ve probably heard that jobless claims are the highest they’ve been since just after 9/11. Did you also hear that entrepreneurs are struggling? Did you know that many “entrepreneurs” are nothing more than people who couldn’t get a job and so they started working for themselves? And to top it all off, are you aware that the day after voting for a huge financial rescue bill, he said that same bill was “putting us on the brink of economic disaster”?

Not Trivia, or at least Not Trivial: Did you know that one in every 6 Americans has a criminal record?

That’s it for now. Have a great Friday.

Letters from the Occupation: Journalist Elizabeth Ryan’s letters from Post-war Japan have been found, and there are hopes they will turn into a book.

Indoctrination?: Is it indoctrination to refuse to lie to students? “Teaching the controversy” is often nothing more than an excuse to give equal time to disproven theories.

She was never convicted: Lizzy Borden only allegedly took an axe, and gave her mother 40 whacks. Now she is a museum subject.

Altogether too true: A little chart of national media election coverage.

Netroots Voter Registration Drive: Seriously people.  Register to vote already. It’s important.  And it’s even more important that you get your butt off that chair and vote in the elections.  You waive your right to complain if you won’t do **** **** about the status quo. No excuses, no nonsense about jury duty (that list often gets pulled from the drivers license database, anyway).  Take 3 minutes to register to vote, and commit to making your opinion known.

Need something to be an activist about?: Proposed changes to the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines would make it easier for just about anybody who works in any sort of medical facility to prevent women from receiving some medical services and medications on “moral grounds”.  This proposed change potentially effects 98% of all women in the United States. We have until the 25th to make it clear that this is not acceptable.

If you think these aren’t related, you’re wrong: USA Today goes on about how too few medical students are opting for the un-glamourous world of General Internists. Scroll down and you’ll see “Members of the medical school class of 2007 graduated with an average debt of $140,000….”  That’s up from $60,000 in 1990 and $95,000 in 2000.  Then USA Today went on some more about “Medical schools, journals start to fight drug industry influence.”  Maybe if these young men — and let’s not use gender-neutral language to hide the fact that they are mostly men — didn’t graduate with the equivalent of an extra house payment hanging over their heads (and committed to 3-5 years of underpaid overwork if they ever want a “real” job), they wouldn’t need gifts from the drug companies. We won’t successfully “reform” the system without addressing how medical school gets funded.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: the kind of employer who doesn’t mind ignoring illegal immigrant workers is the same kind of employer who is willing to ignore other labor laws.

The Governor Sends His Regrets: We must stop using that airport because it’s too convenient.

Somebody ran the numbers: Obama won’t raise your taxes unless you make a whole lotta money.  McCain won’t lower your taxes unless you make a whole lotta money. Lest you think this is the ranting of a buncha liberal latte sippers, the data is from Business Week.

Gotta supress this science stuff: Experiments consistently prove that junk food is junk.

He finally said it: Obama has finally called a lie a lie.

Squeeze: American workers caught between high gas prices, high health insurance costs, and falling wages.

And just a brief rant: Victoria’s Secret has pants.  They have them in a cut called The Bridget Fit.  This is misleading advertising, as I would have to be at least 6-8 inches taller than I am to fit into that.