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Monthly Archives: June 2013

Different rules for different folks

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A few stories picked up at random on the net, the common thread of which is that it’s good to be a banker or the functional equivalent. Among other things, you get to make your own laws. Consider first, this article from this morning’s Times. When a broker defrauds you, you can’t sue them. Every […]

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Yet another Modest Proposal

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

It seems clear that the chink in the armor of the National Security State is the fact that a lot of normal human beings-the kind that have consciences and know right from wrong- are given access to state secrets. It can’t be avoided. We need drones to handle this stuff. There is only one solution. […]

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Attention Deficit Disorder at Work

Monday, June 10, 2013

Speaking of Iran-Contra, to which I alluded in my previous post, it looks like Obama is now the beneficiary of a phenomenon that I, at least, first noticed at the time of that affair. The geezers among us remember that at first, the scandal consisted of the fact that Reagan secretly sold weapons to Iran. […]

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One conspiracy theory we always knew was true

Monday, June 10, 2013

We are all familiar with the term “October Surprise”. It refers to an action taken shortly before an election, usually by the party in power, designed to affect the election’s outcome. The term was first used, I think history would show, in 1980, when Republicans loudly proclaimed their certainty that Jimmy Carter would somehow, likely […]

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Mea culpa

Sunday, June 9, 2013

A day or two ago I penned a short post about a study that showed that inequality in the United States was a result of deliberate governmental policy. The point I tried to make, in a more or less humous vein, is that it doesn’t take a study to make that finding; the facts are […]

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Maher de-canonizes Reagan

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Amen Hat tip Why Evolution is True

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Friday Night Music

Friday, June 7, 2013

So, no rock legends died this week, but chance has come to my rescue. I’ve got my iPod connected to my car stereo system, and my choice of music is pretty much dictated by randomly spinning the selection wheel on the stereo. It’s an uncertain process, since I also have to keep an eye on […]

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The least surprising news of the year

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Why am I not surprised that the NSA is monitoring our phone calls? Why am I not surprised that this intrusion into our private lives is the one issue in which the cherished goal of “bi-partisanship” has been reached, for Congressional Democrats and Republicans alike seem to think it’s great. The real question is: why […]

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Fresh from the Department of Redundancy Department

Thursday, June 6, 2013

David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winner and former New York Times reporter on economic issues, analyzes a recent study of wealth among five nations among those with the richest economies and concludes: “In short, what the paper shows is this: Inequality is a product of government policy.” (via Widening Economic Inequality in United States Is […]

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A Tale of our Times

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

This post is only tangentially related to politics, though the story is emblematic of our culture. I found out about it because my wife and I subscribe to the Boston Globe, for it’s a local Boston story. We were particularly interested because our son currently has a fellowship at the Academy of Arts and Sciences, […]

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