Horowitz counts on your ignorance

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Saturday February 25, 2006 · 12:40 AM PST

2006/02/25 · 00:40

I posted this review of David Horowitz's The Professors over at amazon.com and at my blog. While I don't mention it in my review, I should mention that I find Horowitz to be a douchebag of the highest order. Enjoy.

I'm familiar with a good number of the professors who are, erm... "profiled" in Horowitz's latest screed, and I'll agree with his assessment of many of them. Yep, they're radicals. They challenge sexism, racism, capitalism, U.S. foreign policy, etc., etc. Read More

Corporate Ownership of Shipping Terminals: Port Security Just the Tip of the Iceberg

wobblie

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Monday February 20, 2006 · 11:38 PM PST

2006/02/20 · 23:38

A lot of keystrokes have been pecked describing Bushco's approval of a deal selling terminal operations in major East Coast ports to Dubai Ports World (DPW), a corporation owned by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Most of the commentary that I've read revolves around issues of port security and terrorism, with critics highlighting the Bush administration's malignant neglect of our nation's shipping infrastructure. Others have maintained that while this is certainly a bad political move, this particular sale isn't necessarily a security risk, as the global shipping business and port operations are by their very nature transnational and the previous terminal owners, P&O, where themselves a foreign-owned (UK) business.

All the infrastructure talk you can handle, on the flip... Read More

NYT Bias? Who's on their Board?

wobblie

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Tuesday December 27, 2005 · 1:37 AM PST

2005/12/27 · 01:37

I just finished reading COBear's excellent piece connecting the dots concerning the New York Times' shocking inability to report news vital to the healthy functioning of our democracy. In the comments, sara seattle chimes in with this comment decrying the influence of corporations on both or governmental and media institutions. Her comment got the hamster on the wheel in my head.

University of California - Santa Cruz sociologist Bill Domhoff writes of "corporate interlock" in his book Who Rules America? (a must read for any Kossack looking for a critical examination of the rich and powerful in the United States). Simply put, a cursory examination of the Times Board of Directors reveals the entry point into a web of networks that provide the context for the newspaper's editorial decisions.

Watch me work on the flip... Read More

Air stagnation: Nickel and Dimed by the Weather

wobblie

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Friday December 16, 2005 · 11:24 PM PST

2005/12/16 · 23:24

Okay, so this winter to date seems to have been a continuation of the last... dry and cold. Living in the Pacific Northwest, I'm accustomed to a certain amount of precipitation - nine months worth of the old liquid sunshine. But I'm not getting any of it. This is certainly a bummer from my perspective as a kayaker: we've had about 5 days of good creeking flows at a time when I should be able to choose a watershed willy-nilly and have enough liquid to float my boat (not that I've really had any time to kayak, of course). But this winter's weather has more insidious implications.

My point on the flip... Read More

OR:GOV - Kitzhaber mulling third run (and other random musings, with BCS rant and poll!)

wobblie

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Saturday December 03, 2005 · 5:28 PM PST

2005/12/03 · 17:28

This little morsel of information is raising a few eyebrows here in the Beaver State. Reported in both The Oregonian and The Register-Guard (registration required for the latter).

From the R-G:

Former Gov. John Kitzhaber said in an interview Friday that he's serious enough about launching a political comeback to have called his successor, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, to inform him that he may challenge him for the governorship.

More facts and idle speculation on the jump. Read More

NYT Waking Up?

wobblie

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Thursday September 01, 2005 · 2:30 AM PDT

2005/09/01 · 02:30

First, this editorial in today's NYT (diaried by Volvo Liberal here). Then, I ran across this article, whose title, "Hard New Test for President" not-so-subtly invokes the "it's hard work bein' preznit" complaints from the fall debates, while the content paints a portrait of a not-ready-for-primetime leader.

This leads me to the question: has the Times previously milquetoast coverage of the Bush Administration reached a tipping point?

Summary and conjecture after the break... Read More

AP: GOP Busted on "No Voter Suppression" Pledge

wobblie

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Thursday August 11, 2005 · 2:39 AM PDT

2005/08/11 · 02:39

Cross-posted at Booman Tribune

Thought I'd post a "head's-up" to someone more up on the history of this particular GOP criminal act than I. Found this AP story over at the Guardian.

First, Ken Mehlman's "solemn word":

Earlier this week, RNC chairman Ken Mehlman, the former White House political director, reiterated a "zero-tolerance policy" for any GOP official caught trying to block legitimate votes.

"The position of the Republican National Committee is simple: We will not tolerate fraud; we will not tolerate intimidation; we will not tolerate suppression. No employee, associate or any person representing the Republican Party who engages in these kinds of acts will remain in that position," Mehlman wrote Monday to a group that studied voter suppression tactics.

That carefully worded bold section does not bind their hands, however, in paying the legal bills for someone who did engage in one of these activities.

Flip, flip, flip to review...
Read More

Senate Apology Long Overdue and Completely Inconsequential

wobblie

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Sunday June 12, 2005 · 2:01 AM PDT

2005/06/12 · 02:01

In a fit of pique, a suddenly conscience-stricken U.S. Senate delivered a long overdue apology for the actions that its members took (or, more to the point, didn't take) over 100 years ago.

Tomorrow, too late for Williams and the 4,742 others murdered by lynch mobs between 1882 and 1968, the Senate will vote on a motion apologising for the failure to enact an anti-lynching law first proposed 105 years ago.

'The apology is long overdue,' said Republican Senator George Allen, sponsoring the resolution with Democrat Mary Landrieu.

The Guardian has the story here.

NYT: Health Care Reform Must Be Pushed by CEOs

wobblie

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Wednesday May 18, 2005 · 12:30 AM PDT

2005/05/18 · 00:30

From this morning's NYT - Matt Miller, covering MoDo's gossip beat while she's on book leave, has this to say about health care reform:

President Bush - who, with 51 percent of the vote, has set 100 percent of the agenda - has taken a pass. And the terms of the debate remain surreal. After all, Margaret Thatcher would have been driven from office if she'd proposed anything as radically conservative as Bill Clinton's health plan, which would have left millions uncovered and had private doctors deliver the care.

Is there hope? Maybe. But only if America's chief executives exercise their "nuclear option."

The CEO "nuclear option?" Corporate CEOs lead the charge on a national health care system.

Click here for the whole scoop, before the Times limits on-line access to its editorial page to those who are willing to pay for it.

Is this really the way we want health care reform to occur? Probing questions and refreshing diet beverages after the flip. Read More

Late Night Recipe Exchange - What Would Jesus Eat?

wobblie

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Thursday May 12, 2005 · 2:21 AM PDT

2005/05/12 · 02:21

From The Guardian: Americans seek bodily salvation through Jesus diet.

Man does not live on bread alone, but Americans have become increasingly reliant on doughy carbohydrates in their diet. Now many in a rapidly expanding country are asking: "What Would Jesus Eat?"

That is the title of one of a growing number of Christian diet plans crowding the lifestyle shelves of mainstream bookshops. Other bestsellers include The Maker's Diet, The Hallelujah Diet and Body by God. For the persistently overweight, they hold the promise of spiritual and bodily redemption.

wobblie

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Monday May 09, 2005 · 3:18 AM PDT

2005/05/09 · 03:18

Leave it to those unflappable Brits to be so understated about what seems to a pretty big deal.

As reported in today's Guardian: "Huge radioactive leak closes Thorp nuclear plant."

A leak of highly radioactive nuclear fuel dissolved in concentrated nitric acid, enough to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool, has forced the closure of Sellafield's Thorp reprocessing plant.

The highly dangerous mixture, containing about 20 tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel, has leaked through a fractured pipe into a huge stainless steel chamber which is so radioactive that it is impossible to enter[...]

The managing director of British Nuclear Group, Sellafield, Barry Snelson, who ordered the plant to be closed down, said: "Let me reassure people that the plant is in a safe and stable state."

Quick! To our fallout shelter beneath the fold! Read More

Social Security Reform a Diversion: Robert Reich

wobblie

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Tuesday May 03, 2005 · 2:16 AM PDT

2005/05/03 · 02:16

While we're busy preventing Bush's quixotic assault on Social Security, an even greater travesty is occurring behind the scenes, according to Robert Reich in the May 2 USA Today:

The president just ended a 60-day whirlwind tour to try to sell his Social Security plan. But almost everyone inside the Beltway, and a growing number outside, know it's going nowhere.

Polls show most Americans don't want to tinker with Social Security. Many Republicans, facing re-election, don't want to touch it. Why still flog it?

Because Social Security is a place holder. As long as it remains on the domestic agenda, it blocks consideration of the real domestic crisis President Bush doesn't want to touch: the health care system.

Summary, commentary, and complementary beverage service from an honest-to-god medical sociologist below the fold. Read More

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