Category: Shorties

Hi folks! Don’t forget to check in over at Central Sanity now and then (or at least get the RSS feed) or you’ll miss things I’ve written over there recently like “The F in FBI is for Fun” and “Yes Virginia, there is an NRA Approved Gun Law”.

Follow up: Just because it cost a lot doesn’t mean it’s any good. It turns out that idea applies to healthcare too.

The funny things people dig out of the ground: This week’s treasures includes a giant bird-like dinosaur, the wall that Romulus might have killed Remus for jumping over (maybe), and a 1957 Plymouth.

Thank goodness somebody said it: Wil Wheaton has come out and said what most of us are thinking, the election cycle is way way too long. Granted, he says it a little more colorfully than I generally would. He even has a theory about why:

I believe that these outrageously long cycles are all about money, which is all about corporations and PACs, which leads me to believe that elections are more about perpetuating a Plutocracy than engaging the population in a dialog of ideas.

Unfortunately the CIA is prohibited by law from interfering in domestic affaires: It turns out that some CIA veterans are concerned about the “Rule of Law” in the Bush and Post-Bush era.

Somebody read that darn disclaimer at the bottom of all the ads for investment products: Bear with him, he’s an economist (and therefore a little dry to read). The fact remains that somebody is willing to go on the record saying that No single investment vehicle is right for everybody, and that includes the purchase of a family home. I would like to vigorously correct one fact he cites, “Owning a home is often cheaper than renting.” More accurately, owning a home is often cheaper than renting a house. This critical distinction is due to the fact that the person who rents out a house must pay the mortgage and still wishes to make a profit over that. Renting by itself is a different kettle of fish; in many markets, a decent apartment or rented condo can be cheaper than a mortgage payment. The choice to rent or own, stand-alone home or part of a building of attached homes is a decision each family should make based on their own needs, future plans, and financial situation. Just because “Americans widely view homeownership as the best choice for everyone, everywhere and at all times” doesn’t mean it is really the best choice for any particular person at any particular time.

Oh waah: “Democrats fear that the focus on the war has blurred.” Harry Reid went on to say of those of us who use our own personal soapboxes to speak out against the war: “I understand their disappointment. We raised the bar too high.” No, Harry, it’s like I told you in that open letter: we want out; they want us out; we understand that if you guys had held your ground, there would be either no more money to fight this thing (forcing an end right now), or a compromise involving a firm timeline to get out. Oh, and I did get a reply from one Congressmouse. You can see it in the “read more,” but it’s roughly summarized “Now don’t you worry about a thing, little lady! We won’t let those bad old Democrats force us to give up!”

Huh, apparently there are no more problems faced by People of Color because of their race: the Justice Department is much more worried about discrimination on religious grounds than pretty much anything that would benefit people who aren’t white. Except sex slaves. They like saving sex slaves. Really! It’s in the article! I am imaginative, but I can’t make stuff like that up.

Funny how people turn progressive when you ask them where they stand on individual issues: There’s a new report — with footnotes even — that suggests Americans are not nearly as conservative as our political theatre would have you believe. Summary here, commentary here.

Security Theatre Act XVIII: Scene one, Reagan Airport. A woman dares to follow the first rule of traveling with a child, provide for the child’s needs first, and ends up threatened with arrest over a sippy cup. She offered to drink the contents of the cup right then and there! Instead, she is seemingly deliberately delayed just enough to miss her flight (because everyone wants a lady with a now-cranky toddler to spend a few more hours in the airport, right?), and threatened with arrest a few more times. The kid is needless to say screaming! She is furthermore accused of deliberately spilling some of the contents of said cup! Let me tell you something, even if the other people in line didn’t know it, they were glad that kid had the cup. After all it kept him quiet and happy. And really, how stupid would you have to be to transport bomb-making materials in something apt to spill? This story has an update: the TSA denies it happened, despite the fact that the security camera footage is available for you to watch. Scene two, O’Hare Airport. a clown has his makeup confiscated. Ok, I think they just proved who the real clown is, and it’s not the guy with the costume.

Back from the Dead: the immigration bill that just won’t die is back, still including crap like biometric Social Security Cards and the official fallible list of eligible workers, but now with new! added money for border agents. Particularly hilarious are Trent Lott’s comments that we need to rein in talk radio hosts (where were you on this 5 years ago, Trent?), and Harry Reid saying yeah yeah we’ll get right on that as soon as we are done with the energy bill. That would be the same energy bill Republicans are threatening to filibuster because it contains a committment to renewable energy. Pull up the popcorn, this could take a while.

A brief rant on being a ShortWoman: I get carded; I occasionaly get “childrens menued”. I often have no choice but to climb on supermarket shelves to reach things. I keep a stepstool upstairs, and another one downstairs. I have to take my time test-driving a car to make sure it fits me and not just my family’s needs, but frankly I just usually head for the Japanese models. I am not petite, I am short. I have not been able to shop in a “petite” section with any reliability for something like 7 years. That’s when the standard “petite” inseam went from 27″ (just a little long but ok) to 28″ (ground-dragging). One retailer went to a 29.5″ inseam. I know 6′ tall men who wear a 30″ inseam! Nor am I alone in not being able to find clothes that fit. Look around next time you are at the mall. You will see many women under the “average” height of 5’4″ with obviously re-hemmed pants, monstrous heels hidden under pants that are way too long, and my personal favorite, pants dragging on the ground being destroyed by the wearer’s own shoes. Some women — I’ll leave it to you about whether they are lucky or not — are able to find clothes in the girls section; alas I actually have a figure. I solve the problem by buying any pair of pants that comes roughly to the tops of my shoes, even if the label says “cropped” or “capris”. I occasionally supplement this by ordering from Lands End, where they hem many items to order and have a 26″ inseam jean. Oh, and I wear skirts whenever possible. I actually considered running this site as a fashion and shopping site for other Short Women. So imagine my delight to find in one day Jill from Brilliant at Breakfast talking about being “normal sized” as well as Cynthia of Shorties Stories Rant, a companion site to her original site, Shorties Stories. I’m terribly sorry if you’re too tall to get it.

Have a great weekend, everybody.
Continue reading Mr. Shorties

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!

Follow-up and China-Fiter: China is responding to international pressure market forces by implementing “a system allowing the recall of unsafe or unapproved food products….” What that version of the story doesn’t bother to mention is the former head of the Chinese version of the FDA has been sentenced to death. Could this be a message for the person who currently holds the post? Maybe a message for the West? Hmm, could be. On a completely unrelated note, one New York neighborhood has changed so much, some of its residents are trying to learn Mandarin.

Vegas Baybee: Did you know that there’s 400 miles of flood control tunnels under Las Vegas? Or that there’s a huge luxury community/resort called Lake Las Vegas… that actually has a lake? Or that we’ll bet on anything here, even Rock Paper Scissors? Well, uh, now you know.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Far East: your dose of Japan-Filter for the week includes a blog about Japanese Whiskey It turns out there’s a bit to know about them. I suppose I must mention that the new Miss Universe is from Japan. But most importantly, the West is clearly falling behind in Rock Ballad Technology! This nation must embark upon an amtibious program of lyrical and musical research; I nominate Jimmy Webb to head the program with a generous government grant. Note, the first version of the song includes subtitles (in Japanese), but I honestly like the second version by the original songwriter better.

But back in Massachusetts: It’s nice to see some Ivy League colleges like Amhearst actively doing things to help young people with talent but not necessarily money attend.

What nobody knew about was the news from Brazil: Brazil gets it. They know too many abortions take place in their country, despite the fact that abortion is illegal (Right, making something illegal totally makes it go away, memo to the “just say no to drugs/sex/whatever” crowd). They also know that if they want to prevent abortions, they have to prevent unwanted pregnancies. So what are they doing? They are subsidizing birth control pills. Just show your state ID card, and a month’s supply is only twenty cents! They also intend “to increase the number of free vasectomies performed at state hospitals.” Good move from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Even that could not compare to the news from Outer Space: Namely, that 28 new planets had been found, bringing the total known non-solar-system planets to 236 (or is that the number of stars with planets?), highlighting advances in planet-hunting technology, and virtually insuring that conditions condusive to the development of life must exist out there someplace.

Of course, other events were unfolding in the Midwest: Presidential Candidate Senator Obama has tossed a healthcare plan into the ring, but little in details are available yet — just dozens of reprints ot that one article by Mike Glover — even on his official website’s section on healthcare. Interestingly, this happened within a day of the Christian Science Monitor telling us that Detroit’s auto manufacturers are trying to get out from under retiree’s health insurance expenses. Oh, and let’s not forget that some medical groups are posting their pricelists online. I think such transparency is a good idea, personally. And not because it lets patients consumers shop for a better deal. Because it gives doctors a tool for determining fair prices to charge and for dealing with insurance companies. Update, The plan is out: read it firsthand, or Ezra Klein’s one, two, three posts on what he sees there.

But all these events could be overshadowed by news coming from our nation’s Capitol: If you haven’t read up on this yet, educate yourself. Any sufficiently big disaster — terrorist attack, another Katrina, heck even a stock market crash the way I read it — and the President can unilaterally decide to invoke a directive making him more or less a dictator until such time as he decides it’s safe to cede power back to pretty much anybody else. Meanwhile, Pelosi says the disaster known as Global Warming is real, and lawmakers want to make it worse by pretending coal is an “alternative fuel.” Oh, and as one final insult, it turns out that if the Federal Government had to follow the same accounting rules as most companies, last year’s deficit spending would be $1.3 trillion with a t (“million million”), and the national debt would be more like $59 trillion, putting your own household share at $11,434 last year and $516,348 total. Nothing like putting your own debts in perspective, is there?

Yes, I know there have been more than 28 of them.

If you lined up a thousand economists they couldn’t come to a conclusion. You know it’s bad when somebody like Paul Krugman — who has never been shy about his opinions — has to say something that amounts to “Well, it’s not that simple” in regards to current trade policies.

Funny how we only care about fuel economy when gas is expensive. A Senate committee proposes raising fuel efficiency standards 10 miles per gallon in 10 years from 2011 to 2020. Meanwhile there is speculation by the British — not the American economists — that this will surely impact the economy, and even now there are Congressional hearings on gas prices. The Houston Chronicle condemns these hearings as “Gasoline prices are rising — quick, find a scapegoat!”

You have got to listen to this. When I last talked about new music and up-and-coming musicians, I somehow neglected Jonathan Coulton. Well, the New York Times thought he was worth a 6 page spread. Not only does he do pointedly funny original songs like “Shop Vac”, his covers of songs like “Baby’s Got Back” and “You Oughta Know” are marvelous.

Would you believe I’ve met that guy? No, really, he helped me get into grad school in a strange way…. Wait, everything about John Cage was strange. Anyway, BoingBoing linked to this video of him.

Backtrack from Iraq. The good news is Harry Reid is allowing a motion to cut off funds to Iraq to the Senate floor. The bad news is it would give complete funding for another year. This is exactly the sort of nonsense I feared would happen when the House was talking about “We’ll fund you but only for another few months”: a few months here, a few months there, a year gets funded; suddenly Hillary saying her first act as President (in January of 2009, she hopes) will be to bring the troops home looks optimistic.

A month can bring perspective. The nice folks over at The Moderate Voice also wonder if school culture contributes to school violence. Don’t forget to read this rebuttal from The Seeker Blog that basically says we should blame the grown-ups, most importantly the parents. As for myself, I find there are valid points in both, but we cannot leave out some share of blame for teachers and administrators: the grown-ups who theoretically control the school environment. There are times I wonder about schools that more closely resemble Lord of the Flies than Ramona Quimby’s school.

Speaking of schools and violence, a follow up. Two of the teachers involved in the mock-gunman incident have been suspended. I can only hope this is a formality pending their dismissal, rather than a slap on the wrist. Furthermore, I hope other schools do a simple web search on potential teachers and notice that Quentin Mastin and Don Bartch were both suspended for incredibly poor judgement. Oh, and the Gun Guys have some things to say about the incident too.

The problem is… well, that there’s more than one problem. Ezra Klein brings us a chart and commentary on Social Security.

Speaking of Social Security, here’s a bad idea. Wired tells us there is a proposal to put biometric “proof” of our identity on Social Security cards, and require employers to exclusively use them for verification of employment eligibility. This would of course mean that every employer would have to buy expensive biometric readers and computer equipment to make it run. The proponent of this measure says don’t be silly, you could use the one at the post office (yeah right). I’ll tell you how employers will get around this: suddenly everybody will be a contractor, with all the problems that go with being a contractor. And of course there is the problem that this isn’t just a de-facto national ID card, it is absolutely a national ID card with all the attendant civil liberties and identity theft issues that entails. There is one more thing in this article that bears further scrutiny: “Currently, U.S. employers can accept a range of documents, including expired U.S. passports, tribal documents, refugee documents, birth certificates, driver’s licenses and even school report cards, to establish an employee’s eligibility for work.” Compare that to the official instructions on the I-9 form. You’ll find the official list of documents on the last page; it is not legal for an employer to specify which documents must be used, only that it be “one item from column A or one item each from columns B and C”. Column A verifies both citizenship status and right to legally work in this country; it includes things like passports and green cards. This proposal implies that these documents can be forged. Column B is documents that verify identity, and it is also where Wired gets their scare statement that just having a report card is enough to prove you can work in this country…. except that’s not true. If someone is under 18 they can use a report card as an ID document, but they still have to present an item from column C, proof you can actualy work in this country. Way to fear-monger there, Wired.

And finally, Don’t you people have something important to worry about?? Seriously, I am not understanding the problem with the Mary Jane figure. Oh no! She’s fully clothed! And she’s doing laundry! His laundry! Oh the horror!! Because heaven knows she’s only doing laundry because it’s a stereotypically slavishly woman thing to do. Did these people get this upset over the various Catwoman costumes over the years and I just missed it? Did they not come to the conclusion of every teenaged boy that Superman has x-ray vision and can therefore see Lois Lane’s underwear any time he pleases? You know, if Mary Jane were, say, handcuffed to the bucket or wearing fetish gear of some sort, I’d say these people had a point. But lacking that? It’s a figurine; it’s for sale; if you don’t like it, don’t buy it. If you need some real issues of actual importance to most women to get worked up about? NOW has a nice list, you might also look at Finally Feminism 101’s FAQ or Feminist.com I mean really people: aren’t spousal abuse, equal pay, legal discrimination against mothers, Darfur, sexual assault against female members of our armed forces, school shooters who specifically target girls, and access to contraceptives more important than some cheezy little statue? Sheesh!

You can’t save energy! What will the neighbors think?? How homeowner’s associations are bad for the environment. The good news is that states and the feds can pass laws pre-empting neighborhood rules. In fact the feds did just that in 1996 over an issue of clearly overiding national interest, satellite dishes.

Um yeah, maybe we ought to refinance those before they all default and leave us holding the bag. That’s what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and WaMu (funny seeing them here) and the Mortgage Bankers Association are saying. I guess there’s somebody around old enough to remember the 1980s and the fallout from the Savings and Loan problems. It was years before they got all the property sold.

The Little Government Agency That Could. Be on the lookout for news in the coming weeks from the Office of Special Counsel investigations. It sounds like they are making a go at connecting the dots between Rove, Gonzales, the RNC, and just about every other rotten thing on the Potomac.

Waaah! The Lawyers are getting in the way! The government wants to limit attorney access to “unlawful combatants.” If they can actually make a judge see things their way, what exactly is stopping them from limiting Joe Average from seeing his lawyer if he is accused of a serious crime? All they have to do is say his lawyer is disruptive and poses a “security risk” the way I see it. Talk about a situation where I would be delighted to be proven wrong!

Boy, I wish I was average. Because apparently the average American has 25 electronic gadgets (guilty) and spends $1200 per year on more electronic gadgets.

All or Nothing. President Bush is really going to town on this illegal immigration thing. Yesterday’s radio address included bits like “We need a system where our laws are respected. We need a system that meets the legitimate needs of our economy. And we need a system that treats people with dignity and helps newcomers assimilate into our society… We must address all elements of this problem together, or none of them will be solved at all.” Today he told a graduation assembly that “the immigration system is deeply broken: Employers are not held accountable enough; borders are not secure enough; businesses need workers willing to do low-paying jobs; and the 12 million people estimated to be in the U.S. illegally cannot all be deported and so must be dealt with ‘without amnesty and without animosity.'” He then added “We must address all elements of this problem together — or none of them will be solved at all.” He really does have a black-or-white good-or-evil this-or-that way of looking at the world, doesn’t he? Hey, when you have a perfectly good meme going, stick with it. Good luck coming up with a bill that does all that without eroding the American workforce. Last I heard, the way to find workers willing to do low-paying jobs was to pay them more.

It turns out there’s some disagreement about the “timetable” for getting out of Iraq. Oh, I wasn’t talking about in Congress! I was talking about among the Iraqis! Now, interesting quote in this story from Presidential hopeful The Other Clinton,

“The first thing I will do upon taking office is to end the war in Iraq,” Clinton said.

So, for those of you playing at home, Mrs. Clinton thinks we will still have substantial troops in Iraq in January of 2009. And — follow me on this — that means she thinks both current efforts and any future effort before 2009 to end the war are Doomed. Now that’s what I call setting a timetable to surrender.

More American Terrorists. Except we aren’t calling them Terrorists, we are calling them Militia. Jill over at Brilliant At Breakfast sums it up nicely when she says “I guess you have to be dark-skinned, Muslim, and Really Really Scary-Looking to qualify as a terrorist in the eyes of this bunch.”

Food for Thought. The Baltimore Sun tells us that we import a lot more food than we used to and do proportionately less testing of it than we used to. The Indy Star outlines some of the reasons why.

And Finally…

Fist Full of Dollars. Now Katrina victims are being asked to buy (or at least pay rent on) their FEMA trailers. Let’s overlook for a few minutes that these people’s homes were destroyed over a year and a half ago and they are still living in trailers, despite the fact that it underlines how absolutely abysmal progress has been in rebuilding the area. Instead let me point out this section:

The hurricanes destroyed more than 200,000 homes, according to government estimates, including many apartments that have yet to be rebuilt. Louisiana recently announced that it had awarded $202 million in federal funds to help small landlords restore more than 5,200 rental units. With many fewer apartments available, rents along the Gulf Coast have soared, leaving many former residents of New Orleans unable to afford to return home.

Funny thing, when you try to replace 200,000 homes with 5200 apartments, scarcity results.

As I await a packing crew, I have a few minutes to bring you some of the news tidbits that struck me.

Green Card? I’m from East L.A.! (pop culture reference)You would think the President had more important things to do than worry about “Immigration Reform” what with the problems in the Department of Justice and the EPA being told to do their jobs and people not being real happy about what’s going on in Iraq and everybody going behind his back to do this “diplomacy” thing with our “enemies”. Nope! My favorite quote from this article is “With up to 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., lawmakers haven’t agreed on how to uphold the law without disrupting lives, eroding the workforce and risking political upheaval.” Guess what? You can’t do all three. Blanket amnesty will get you one and two, but then you still have the problem of not knowing whether any of these immigrants are Bad Guys. I can’t think of another option that will get you 2 out of 3. And don’t forget that “eroding the workforce” is a codephrase for “getting rid of people willing to work illegally in questionable conditions for possibly very little money.” Oh, the horror, if employers had to follow the law! Elsewhere, the President says he’s caused a drop in illegal immigration by hiring more border guards and building more fences. Maybe he also caused it by making the economy bad enough for the poor that it’s easier to stay in one’s home country.

Making it way too complicated. Democratic leaders in the House want to “fix” the AMT. How about just capping tax deductions at 3 or 4 times poverty level for a family of four and abolishing the AMT? Allow an additional deduction for charitable contributions — we don’t want to interfere with people who want to do good for society — but that’s it!

The name is Short. Miss Woman if you’re nasty! (pop culture reference) Kudos to the IHT for bringing us “Backlash against enforced informality”.

“A Terrorist Watchlist couldn’t possibly be used for political purposes…. could it?” Maybe not. This story is as yet unsubstantiated, but it seems a University Professor, Constitutional scholar, and Veteran has been put on a no-fly list for saying things the Bush Administration disagrees with. When trying to figure out what was going on, he was allegedly asked if he’d been in some peace protests, because that often lands people on the list. Right, because peace activists are really apt to blow stuff up. Yeah.

And my pet peeve doesn’t even make the list. This article uses British rules but still makes some interesting points. However, if you want me to read your resume instead of tossing it in the trash, you’ll need this page too.

Downsizing: It’s not just for low wage workers anymore. Citigroup prepares to lay off 8% of its workforce.

CNBC’s Chief Economist called it “unremittingly bad.” Yeah. US mortgages are at all-time record default rates. The IMF says there is a “small chance” of “major dislocation”.

Castro says something to the effect of “Burn food because there’s not enough oil?? Are you people out of your minds???” Excellent point. In other news, Changes to emissions rules are in the wind.

Eliot finally does something I don’t like. Just what we all want, for the Presidential campaigns to be even longer.

At least somebody is coming out ahead. “More Uninsured Means More Healthcare Corporate Profits. And remember, “corporate profits” do not provide care to anyone. “Corporate profits” represent overcharges to people who need healthcare. This is not money paid to doctors and nurses. Very little of it is money paid to community hospitals. This is money counted after all the researchers creating drugs to treat serious diseases have already been paid. This is money whose sole purpose is to say to Wall Street “Look how much money we have!”

“First you give me money every week. Then I tell you to eat less food, eat more veggies, and take these vitamins.” Maybe I need to write a diet book! The Motley Fool catches up to what I said years ago, some diet plans do more for your wallet than your waistline. Don’t get me wrong, not all diet plans are evil, and there is something to be said for the portion/calorie control of “once you have eaten the contents of this box you are done.” But the primary goal of a corporation is to make money, and these diets are being marketed by corporations.

That’s all for today. It is unknown whether I will have time to post later this week. Thank you for your patience.

Please won’t anybody think of the Children??? Monday’s report was that Children who spend time in daycare are more apt to have behavioral problems. Now, as I read the article it occured to me that “child care was defined as care by anyone other than the child’s mother who was regularly scheduled for at least 10 hours per week” means that Dad watching the kids was considered “child care.” And frankly, I wondered if the observed effects were in fact statistically significant. Or whether the results took into account any of the other reasons a child might act out. But in any event, by Tuesday the same news was totally revamped to say that the effects of daycare don’t last into the teenage years. Oh, and that “problem behavior” included such problems as “argues a lot.” By that standard, I was a bad, bad kid in school.

Near Sandy Forest Walruses? Susie Bright has a few words about “NSFW” (which, by the way, really means “Not Safe For Work” except, as Susie notes, if you make enough money).

A fitting new home for the Department of Homeland Security: a former psychaitric hospital.

Kafka shook his head and walked away in disgust…. The Washington Post points out how easy it is to push Joe Average into the underground economy just by using government terror watchlists:

Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

Because the penalties for doing business with people on the list is so high, most businesses would rather not deal with them at all. And since nobody really knows how someone gets on one of these lists, nobody has a clue how to get off the lists either.

Global Warming: The Christian Science Monitor brings us the latest on polar cap melt predictions, and the International Herald Tribune tells us about vanishing high desert oases in peril.

Oh yeah: reasonably priced custom made jeans!

The article may be 7 years old, but it’s still relevant: It may be more relevant than it was when it was written! E.D. Hirsch on standardized testing. This man is The Guy who can tell you what Joe Average should know, whether Joe is in Kindergarten or Grad School. The article predates “No Child Left Behind”, but the fundamental issues have changed little.

For the Children!! Somebody actually ran a study that shows “In a child’s buffet of food commercials, more than 40 percent of the dishes are candy, snacks and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood.” Now, setting aside for a moment that 40% isn’t even close to “most” (could the reporter have gotten things mixed up and means that 40% of all ads aimed at kids are for junk food?), let’s remember that we are talking about food ads aimed at kids. You don’t have to sell Mom on the idea that fruits and vegetables are good for you and she should buy more of them. But you do have to work at making her think it’s a good idea to buy lots of candy, cookies, sugary cereals, and snacks. The other part of the equation is who pays for the ads: the makers of those “candy, snacks, and fast food”! Listen folks, there is a quick way to deal with these commercials: turn off the TV. Failing that, talk with your kids about what they’ve just seen. Say things like “Did you notice that ‘complete breakfast’ was a balanced meal without the cereal?”

The judge was dissapointed he couldn’t throw the book at him: A civil lawsuit stemming from torture allegations has been dropped against Donny Rumsfeld. The judge had to do so based on the law, but he called the situation “lamentable.” On an only sort of related note, the Australian man who pled guilty at Guantanamo did so just so he could get out of there.

Can’t tell the players without a scorecard: Having trouble keeping up with this early bumper crop of Democratic Presidential hopefuls? Here’s a handy article about where they all stand on healthcare. It is worth noting that not one of them has a stance on the expensive class/race war we usually just refer to as the “War on Drugs.”

Come Home: The Senate has joined the House in saying “Ok, Mr. Bush, you can have some money to run your war, but you need to start cleaning up and putting your toys away!” The only reason I mention this is that factions within some groups like Move On think this is a cop-out position (you can learn things listening to the radio). They feel the voters strongly told Congress “We want our soldiers home and we want them home now!” and that these deadlines months out are meaningless. I think many of us would prefer a more prompt withdrawal (particularly the Iraqis), but let’s not let “perfect” be the enemy of “good.” Anything that gets us closer to gone is progress at this point; let’s not forget it.

Millions of Peaches: these nice folks ask If organic food is so popular, why are so few farms transitioning their land?”

And finally: the truth about R2-D2.

Come on Hollywood; horror movie titles with more than one word?

To Your Health: I know it isn’t a new article, but start with the nice folks at Alternet telling the truth, Private Health Insurance is Not the Answer. I used to think that letting people be in charge of their own insurance would bring rates to a manageable level and fix the problem, and that might have been true a decade ago. But I’m not sure it’s true now, and I am very sure that the Bush plan — which would as a side effect raise taxes on working Americans by over half a Trillion with a T dollars over the next ten years alone — won’t fix much of anything but insurance company profits. This problem has gotten so bad that Healthcare is the number one domestic concern of Americans according to a recent poll. In fact “Nearly two-thirds said the federal government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans and half said they would be willing to pay as much as $500 more in taxes a year for universal coverage…” For more data from that poll, try the New York Times, who add that “Only 24 percent said they were satisfied with President Bush’s handling of the health insurance issue, despite his recent initiatives, and 62 percent said the Democrats were more likely to improve the health care system.” Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the wild card in health insurance reform: Eliot Spitzer. Yes, the esteemed Governor Spitzer is taking aim at the Big Health Groups that want to keep taking more and more money from the people and state of New York. So he invited them all to a nice little breakfast, and showed them a little powerpoint presentation, rebutting all their objections to his proposed cuts. I respected Mr. Spitzer — as the AG for New York — for standing up and taking care of the voters who put him in office, and for using whatever tools he had at his disposal. He’s not the sort who whines that he needs new laws to fight injustice; he figures out how to use the ones he has (makes you wonder if he isn’t the basis for this fictional character).

“You probably don’t want to have them in your slippers. They’re kind of spiky,” the Scientist Announced: No, really! Scientists have discovered at least 11 complete fossils of an ocean creature who lived about 505 Million years ago. “Orthrozanclus had no eyes and no limbs and apparently moved along the ocean floor with a muscular foot, like a snail does, while dining on bacterial growths, the researchers said…. It was covered in a shell and had almost three dozen long, pointy, curved spines sticking out from the edge of its body, and many smaller ones, too.”

Mortgage A-GoGo: AFP tells us that “Those exotic, high-risk mortgages that fueled the US real estate boom are now showing high rates of failure, prompting concerns that the housing market may come crashing down faster than expected,” (duh) and “[M]any people who got subprime loans in 2005 are now seeing their monthly payments jump by 30 to 50 percent. And with payments due, fears are rising about widespread defaults and that a general collapse in the subprime lending sector could spill over to the broader housing sector, and perhaps to the broader economy.” Subprime delinquencies are up to 12.8% (ARM delinquencies 13.2%) compared with a national average of 2.44% mortgage delinquency. Freddie Mac — Fannie’s little brother — is headed into the fray, announcing that “it would no longer buy those high-risk home mortgages that it deems to be the most vulnerable to foreclosure,” and “it was developing new fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages to provide lenders with more choices for subprime borrowers.” Ironically, as sensible as this move is, it may cause an even bigger headache for certain homeowners as mortgage companies that collapse may result in homes being lost through no fault of the “homeowner”. Oh, and I should not neglect this article from the Washington Post entitled “A Growning Chorus on Risky Mortgages.” Some European economists are concerned that this may ultimate result in massive economic disaster. You have to love a serious economic article willing to refer in bold type to “Subprime Idiots.” It is worth reading the whole thing, including the section titled “US Steps Towards Banana Republic.”

Fashion Police: Can anybody corroborate this story? This is the only version I can find, and something in the back of my head is quoting Carl Sagan… something about extraordinary claims and extraordinary proof. Boston Police allegedly blew up a man in a bulky coat for loitering by a lamppost for more than 10 minutes. After all he might have had a bomb. His girlfriend said “There was a long line at Starbucks, and Evan wanted to smoke so he waited outside for me. Next thing I know I look up and I see police blowing him up. I always told him that down jacket made him look puffy.” Officer Charlie O’Hara of the bomb squad says “I’d blow up a hundred innocent people if I can prevent another 9/11.” Yeah, I’m not sure the citizens are with him on that. You don’t suppose he’s related to Gotham City’s Police Chief O’Hara, do you?

Yoink! UPS decides it doesn’t need no French airplanes when we make perfectly good jumbo cargo jets here in the United States.

It’s the Economy, Stupid! Poverty is getting worse. Not only are more people poor, they are poorer. One out of every 6 Americans depends on some program for the poor. It’s bad enough that some people are starting to correctly think “Too many people – including those who live in the suburbs and in the rural areas – are descending into it too fast for that to be the sole explanation. All of those people aren’t lazy or stupid.” Gee, do you think?

Good job reading those books, Johnny. Now you get to drag your parents out for pizza: Critics are just now catching on to a program called Book It, which rewards kids who read a target number of books with food that manages to be both fatty and starchy (i.e., fattening no matter whose paradigm you like). Now, leaving aside for a moment that this is a slap in the face for families that are vegan or deal with several major common food allergies, “The program is now under attack by child-development experts who say it promotes bad eating habits and turns teachers into corporate promoters.” It also takes control away from parents, who now have the choice of negating little Johnny’s award, or eating food they don’t want from a company they have not chosen to support. Of course some critics say that a major purpose of public schools is to take away parental control…..

You may not like him, but he has a point: Guess who said this? “The prevailing powers today are in the hands of those who have economic and military power which puts fear in others. They can make you starve. They can close the doors for your exports of raw materials such as coffee or oil.” How about this? “Those who threaten you with military power or with the (U.N.) Security Council are the people who are controlling the world and if you go against the tide you might be destroyed.” And this, about strings attached to international aid? “This is an international dictatorship that is being practiced against people, especially poor people.” Give up? Muammar Gaddafi.

Reality, Real ID, and You: The ACLU calls it a Real Nightmare. Wired calls it an internal passport. The good news is that the deadline for states to implement a Even better, the actual implementation rules have been released, so we can all quote chapter and verse on what it really says.

And finally, on a related note: Ron Paul’s essay, “It Can’t Happen Here”.

Gomen Nasai. Success may be Toyota’s worst enemy, as it is getting more difficult to make the way they do things scale. (Not finding a good definition of “scale” online. I am using it as “the ability of a system or practice to serve incrementally more users and or an incrementally larger organization as needs grow.” Put that in your Wikipedia and smoke it.) In case you ever were curious, the History of Toyota. How did Mr. Toyoda’s company become Toyota? A character informally known as a “chong-chong” that looks a bit like a double quote-mark was omitted from the corporate name to separate home life from corporate life, and make the company name “luckier”.

We don’t care where you are from as long as your money is green. On one hand, we have the New York Times asking NAFTA should have stopped illegal immigration, right? This article scratches the surface of how NAFTA in fact shrunk Mexico’s manufacturing base and made it not cost effective for their farmers to stay in business. The latest news confirms that Mexico’s economy is experiencing reduced growth and increased inflation A quick look at stories about “The Tortilla Crisis” suggests that — just like in the United States — the Mexican central economic authority does what it can to under-report inflation. But have no fear; illegal immimgrants who come over the border can apparently get credit cards from Bank of America. Mr. BinLaden, please disregard the previous sentence, mmkay? Thanks.

Maybe Regulation Can Be a Good Thing. Apparently it takes leaving Joe Scarborough on a plane for 9 hours to get something going in this country. But now, it looks as though the flying publicrights as travellers. If it can get rammed through Congress, if lobbyists don’t kill it, if the airlines don’t try to head it off by offering a non-binding “promise.” If you want to keep up with this topic, don’t forget to stick with Upgrade Travel Better.

The Soft Bigotry of Lowered Expectations. Way to go, Condi. An article entitled “Low expectations ahead of Rice-Olmert-Abbas talks” is this quote from Ms. Rice: “What I would consider a success … is that we have gotten started.” Showing up is worth diplomatic points? Whatever!

It turns out Americans prefer food that won’t kill them. Who knew. The USDA is making some changes in the inspection process to focus on food processing sites where there have been problems in the past, freeing up places where they have in the past done things right to keep working. Both consumer groups and meat packing interests are approaching these changes with skeptical optimism, which means they are probably as close to “on target” as we will ever get. On a related note, how the heck did they manage to get salmonella into peanut butter??

‘Scuse me? Guys? The Center is over here. A bit to the left. Yeah, that’s it. I’ve been reading all darn weekend about how the Democratic Presidential candidates had better be careful not to sound like they don’t support the troops, and not to sound like they are all liberal and stuff. In fact, even relatively conservative Americans are alarmed by the growing gap between the haves and have-nots. Some are willing to go so far as to call it a liberal resurgence, pointing out that “Presidential candidates, for instance, can now safely utter “universal health care” without being tarred as supporters of “socialized medicine.” Polls show increasing support for raising the minimum wage, stem-cell research, gay and lesbian civil unions, alternative-energy initiatives and increased financial aid to offset the escalating cost of college.” And yet The Pundits warn against politicians saying that they honestly stand for the things The Voters want. Huh? Isn’t it the voters that put elected officials into office? I can only imagine the ornery comments that the late Molly Ivins would have.

Speaking of voters and the voting machines that (allegedly) record their votes. Researchers at Princeton were able to buy themselves a “secure” voting machine for $82. Experiments are now underway to find out just how “secure” it really is.

From the “It Sounded Like a Good Idea at the Time” Department. Artificial coral reef damaging to the real thing. And content recognition software is supposed to automatically determine whether music or video is copyrighted; one of several problems is that just because there’s a copyright doesn’t mean there is not a permission. I used to work in this industry and it appears that there are still many unaddressed issues.

Three Coins in the Fountain. The Governator’s plan may place a huge burden on (what’s left of) the middle class. It seems that there is a large swath of population who make too much to qualify for assistance but not enough to really afford a healthplan that covers much of anything. Remember, this plan is mandatory health coverage, not universal health coverage. Speaking of universal health coverage, Ezra Klein brings us a nice item on universal health, Medicare, and prescriptions. Whatever we end up with health insurance reform wise, I sure do hope it will cover regrowing fingers.

That’s it for now. Happy Presidents Day. How many of them can you name? Hint: there have been 43, including the younger Mr. Bush.

Startling news from the wonderful world of education! It turns out that more classrooms are using the incredible variety of news sources and viewpoints available on the internet than are using the local newspaper. No wonder there, rather than students dragging around whatever biases are inhererent to the local news outlet, a savvy teacher can demonstrate issues like bias by contrasting worldwide coverage. CNN, NY Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and a dozen English language publications from foreign nations are just a click away. Google news can give you 50 different spins on one story in half a second. (Oh yeah, and it saves paper.)

News flash: some parents feel seeming pure is more important than being alive. Apparently, potentially saving your daughters’ lives is controvertial. There is a vaccine that prevents most cervical cancer. But because the virus it prevents can be transmitted through the dreaded sex, some parents think it’s unneccessary. Because goodness knows Good Girls are never raped, and never ever have unfaithful husbands.

Don’t get me started. Here’s an item called Who Would Jesus Deport. Short version, “Waah! Let’s be nice to immigrants! Under these rules Mary and Joseph would be deported!” Reality break: Jesus said to render unto Caesar that which was Caesars, by which he meant to follow the laws where you are; furthermore since Mary and Joseph were travelling under a royal commandment to present themselves for tax assessment, no they wouldn’t have been deported. If you’re going to quote the Bible, at least get it right!

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Maybe you need a new search engine. Here’s a hundred of them to try.

“Mah House! I’m the decider!” The President is tightening his grip, and asserting that a host of agencies answers to him. Sounds to me like a showdown is inevitable.

Two items on food and eating. First, what many of you already know, it’s darn hard to eat a quality diet of healthy foods on a budget. As a follow up, Healthy eating and the federal school lunch program. The take away quote in a sea of important details, “Currently, 78 percent of schools in America do not meet USDA nutritional guidelines.” So an important thing to remember about the 39% of children who are in low income families, which includes 18% of children who are in poor families, is that 78% of them can’t even get a USDA approved quality meal in the school student lunch program. Oh, and if you are one of those people who has a hard time making the food budget work out, you might try some of the tips from the Hillbilly Housewife.

And finally…

Maybe if we stop treating everybody like a potential terrorist there will be more tourism. Really? D’ya think? The travel industry says travel to the United States is down because there’s not enough officials at border posts, the officials that are there “bark” at travelers, and travelers simply feel unwelcome. This results in an estimated loss to the United States economy of “$94 billion in economic gains, some 200,000 newly created jobs, and $16 billion in tax revenue.” That is to say absolutely nothing of international opinion of America and Americans. Federal officials reply: “If, God forbid, there’s another terrorist attack … travel to our country would come to a standstill. And then, I believe, they would find themselves in a much worse position.” It is unknown if the official actually added the words “oooga booga!” or “look out!”

Would we as a nation rather be the sum of our hopes, or the sum of our fears?