I've read some pretty bone-headed criticisms of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and laughed them off as mostly misinformed. But nothing — NOTHING — comes close to the recent piece by Bryan Fischer, the Director of Issue Analysis as the American Family Association. This is a glorious example of meathead-ary. Writing in Rightly Concerned, Fischer argues that the Occupy Wall Street protesters … Read More
“The Well-Lubricated Weather Vane”
That's what GOP presidential contender Jim Huntsman says of Mitt Romney, who is becoming famous for brash flip-flops. I mean, it's one thing to have an evolution of your ideas over the span of several decades, but Romney just does complete 180-degree turns in months, even weeks. It's really hurting his campaign and credibility, and yet, here he is today, … Read More
1%
I saw a headline in which Michael Moore admits he is in the 1% (the top 1% of income-earners in this country). Of course, he's within the 1% in monetary terms only. He's with us 99 percenters in every other respect. "Wait", I thought. "Just how do you know what percent you are?" Ah, thank you Wall Street Journal. I'm … Read More
It’s Getting Crowded
When I was born, I was the 3,167,000,594th person. How do I know? This site told me. Even with people dying (e.g., Steve Jobs), there are now twice as many people on Earth as when I was born. More than twice. In fact, I was (roughly) the 3 billionth person born, and we're expecting the 7 billionth person any day now. … Read More
A Good Chart ‘Splains A Lot
Okay, follow me on this. It's not too difficult. We all know that there has been overall economic growth in the past two decades. But the complaint of the OWS movement it that overall economic growth does not raise all boats of the economic stratosphere. Conservatives, on the other hand, will try to tell you that because of trickle-down economics, when … Read More
Kids & TV
Here's the latest data from Common Sense Media about the media diets of young children in America. I'm kind of surprised that we have one year olds watching an hour of TV every day. Yeah, no ADD problems for them in the future. One year olds — can they even focus? Other interesting findings: 30% of kids under two have … Read More
Not Just Warren Buffet
WSJ reports: A new survey from Spectrem Group found that 68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more) support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners. So the lower and middle AND wealthiest classes all support a … Read More
Harsh But True <> “Ad Hominem”
In a brilliant piece yesterday, Paul Krugman gives voice to a phenomenon that I, too have noticed lately, to wit, that rightwing commentators, pundits and bloggers (Patterico's Pontifications, I'm looking at you!) can't tell the difference between a valid, albiet brutializing, policy argument, and an "ad hominem" argument where you just call someone a name. Paul, you have the floor: … Read More
Republican-to-English Dictionary
[I]n the hopes of facilitating cross-party dialogue and mutual understanding, I have compiled what I believe to be the first comprehensive Republican-to-English dictionary, featuring words commonly used by Republicans, and their English translations, alphabetized for your convenience: America (United States of): A country located in the N. Western Hemisphere that is #1. Bible: A sacred text that provides incontestable answers … Read More
Food For Thought
Lawyers, journalists, investment bankers — they are liabilities, not leaders, in the zombie-infested world…. In the zombie apocalypse, your J.D. is worthless — which is actually not so different from the real world of recent years. – Torie Bosch, in a thought-provoking Slate article entitled First, Eat All the Lawyers, arguing that the boom in zombie-related entertainment reflects, and is fueled by, … Read More
On The Other Hand….
My praise of the OWS site still stands, but it's this kind of nonsensical infighting – tension growing between those who want to bang their drum all day (literally) and everybody else — that's going to make OWS a bit of a laughing stock. Where do I come down on this? Well, when I visited, the drumming circles weren't playing. Drumming … Read More
Zombies Pump $5 Billion Into The Economy
Not the zombies themselves, mind you. I suspect that zombies spend very little cash. But zombie things add $5 billion to the economy, according to the website 24/7 Wall Street. They explain: Think way beyond zombie movie ticket sales. Think about DVD sales, video games, comic books, novels, Halloween costumes, zombie walks, merchandise, conventions and even zombie art. Add to … Read More
NOM Uses Obama Crowd Photos In New Hampshire Ad
See if you can spot any similarities in this website, which is a website that the National Organization for Marriage has put up to end same-sex marriage in New Hampshire… and this website post, which is about the crowds who turned out for an Obama rally in November 2008 in Columbus Ohio: Hint: look in the lower left hand corner of … Read More
Broadway Reviews In Brief
Sister Act Saw it last Friday with Tony nominee Patina Miller as Delores Van Cartier (the "Whoopi Goldberg role"), but without Victoria Clark (Tony Winner for Light on the Piazza) as Mother Superior. I had low expectations for this show, thinking it would be fluff. But the book was far better than I expected, the music was very good, and … Read More
Hermain Cain’s Internet Ad is Bizarre!
But you have to get to the forty-second mark to see why….