'Avatar' Robbed at Academy Awards

Baker on the real threat to millennials (5.00 / 1)

The real threat to millennial living standards are:

1) inequality -- the continuation of the recent trend where more money goes to the top of the income distribution;

2) a broken health care system -- protectionists in control of policy want workers to give all their money to insurers, drug companies, medical supply companies and highly paid specialists;

3) ecological problems -- if the people in Bangladesh can make our children pay for the damage we have done to their land and lives through global warming, then our kids may be in trouble;

4) incompetent economic policy -- if geniuses like Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke continue to control economic policy, then they may be able to create poverty even in a world of enormous potential affluence.

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/b...

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 09:40:57 AM CST

NYT lies about the Iceland rip off (4.50 / 2)

emphasis added:

Missing the Story on Iceland: Can the Bankers Steal Your Kids' Money

The NYT's piece on Iceland's referendum on using public money to pay debts to foreign bank depositors failed to explain the real issues involved. During the boom, several Icelandic banks courted deposits outside the country, mostly in the UK and the Netherlands, by offering higher interest rates. The banks then used these deposits to finance a range of highly speculative investments.

As long the bubbles kept expanding, this model was hugely successful. However, when the bubbles burst, the value of the banks' assets collapsed and they had no ability to repay their depositors. This would have all been a private matter, except that the government insures bank deposits up to a certain level (like the FDIC in the United States). Iceland, as a matter of its treaty obligations with the European Union, is obligated to maintain a system of public deposit insurance which applies to both domestic and foreign depositors.

The issue here is whether private banks can effectively create enormous obligations (the money at stake would be equivalent to $6 trillion in the United States) for taxpayers. There was obviously an enormous regulatory failure on the part of the Icelandic bank regulators. International agencies like the IMF also played a role in failing to call attention to what were obviously very speculative investments. (Frederick Mishkin, a former Federal Reserve Board governor, did his part to promote the Iceland catastrophe, touting the great strength of its economy in a 2006 report. He does not appear to have faced any consequences as a result.)

It is also likely that some of the banks' actions involved fraudulent accounting practices if they concealed the extent of their true liabilities. The question then is whether the taxpayers or the depositors should bear the risk from fraudulent actions by banks. Arguments could be made in both directions, but this issue is never mentioned in the article. . . .

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/b...

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 09:44:38 AM CST

Correction about Iceland's obligations (4.00 / 2)

Under EU rules cross border banking requires home government of banks trading internationally (ie, having a foreign branch, rather than a foreign subisdiary, the latter coming under the deposit insurance scheme of the country where the subisdiary is) to insure deposits up to acertain level. Something like 20,000 euros.

The UK Government, when the crisis hit, decided to pay out all retail depositors (ie, not necessarily commercial organisations) in full. They are asking for that full amount to be paid, not just the amount that the Icelandic Government was obliged to guarantee.

There's a significant argument as to whether the Icelandic Government agreed to carry that cost or not.

Posted by: Tim Worstall | March 6, 2010 1:42 PM

http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs...

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 13:19:41 PM CST

[ Parent ]

WSJ lies about the jobs outlook (0.00 / 0)

WSJ Gets Carried Away With Optimism on Jobs

I was one of the economists who thought the February jobs report was relatively good given the weather. Still, that was only compared with an expectation of a very bad report. The WSJ went a bit overboard with a headline: "Outlook Brightens for Jobless."

The report still showed a loss of 36,000 jobs. It is certainly possible that if we remove the effect of the weather, that the number would have been a small positive, but this is nothing to write home about. The economy has to generate about 125,000 jobs a month just to keep even with the growth of the labor force. No one thinks the economy would have created that many jobs in February even if the weather had been great.

Given the severity of the downturn, we should be seeing job growth in the neighborhood of 300,000 to 400,000 a month. There is no plausible story that gets us there any time soon. And, there are many downside risks with the withdrawal of supports for the housing market, state and local government cutbacks, and the possibility of a higher dollar worsening the trade balance. So, the WSJ may want to rework that headline.

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/b...

Yes, tale, Baker has been a good education over the past few days, for those like you who need to learn his essential lesson.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 09:47:22 AM CST

If these are the "essential" (meaning: elementary) economic lessons you need to learn, Reft, as elementary as they are, (0.00 / 0)

then by all means,

"keep readin' Dean Baker!"

[:o)

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by: donkeytale @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 20:46:14 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Should U.S. troops mutiny like they do in 'Avatar'? (3.00 / 3)

For the record, here's the first 4 graphs of what I actually wrote about Avatar. I definitely think U.S. troops should quit being troops, and should not kill Iraqis or Afghans. Do you agree or disagree? And what's the implication of that belief? 'Killing commanding officers?' OR 'Much much better never to join the military' Who's side are you on?

Should U.S. troops mutiny like they do in 'Avatar'?
by: fairleft
Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 17:54:41 PM EST

It definitely seems morally right to side with the colonized against the colonizer and preemptive invader, the U.S. and the Western invaders now so nakedly aggressively imperialist toward the third world. NGOs' feeble cover stories notwithstanding, poor people and poor countries are there for the rich and powerful to exploit, otherwise they are ignored.

But much much better never to join the military as it is now, and I think 'Avatar' can be an impactful as hell anti-recruitment propaganda video for U.S. high school kids. You really don't want to join the corporate mercenary imperial shock troops burning down and blowing up native villages and all inside. Those are the bad guys, the assholes, the macho airheads, not the heroes.

But, the above interpretation of U.S. military conduct in the world, though the obvious one, requires wide social support, by you and me, especially all over the progressive blogs and whineytopia. We must counter the huge corporate media lie, the 'our troops are heroes' bullshit. Make it so my army of progressive and left bloggers!! Talk up Avatar's anti-colonial, pro-resistance, anti-U.S.-military-recruitment meaning everywhere your blogging selves reach. . . .

http://www.pffugeecamp.com/dia...

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 09:57:52 AM CST

Here's an "essential (English) lesson" for you, Imam Reft: (0.00 / 0)

"Mutiny" is an open rebellion against your commanding officers in order to take command control from them. To "quit being troops" in yur typically hackneyed phrase is closer to "desertion."

Its highly unlikely for any "mutiny" in the US armed forces to become truly "mutinous" unless you kill a commanding officer or two, as its not at all likely that the commanding officers would give up their command without an armed struggle.

So, if there is any misunderstanding of your "point", which, BTW doesn't have a shred of meaning in the the context of you asking me in first place, another of yur fatuous specialties, then the misunderstanding is a direct consequence of yur inappropriate word usage and the responsibility for the misunderstanding rests entirely on you.

In any event, you should be making your "point" entirely to the the troops who you are urging to "desert," not me.

 

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by: donkeytale @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 21:31:06 PM CST

[ Parent ]

So the provocative headline with the Question mark fooled you (2.00 / 1)

That's what I thought.

And, by the way, why don't you answer the important questions:

I definitely think U.S. troops should quit being troops, and should not kill Iraqis or Afghans. Do you agree or disagree? And what's the implication of that belief? 'Killing commanding officers?' OR 'Much much better never to join the military' Who's side are you on?

All I'm doing is I honestly and logically following the implications of what I believe. As usual you prefer not to say what you believe and not to state logically what those beliefs imply. Helps you out when you need to grok with right-wing business colleagues, I spoze.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 11:31:28 AM CST

[ Parent ]

And where does the implication of what you believe lead yu? (4.00 / 1)

Here is the problem with yur weak schitck, Reft: stating what you (or I) believe means nothing.  

Moreover, taking grandly utopian positions like the ones you espouse on a regular basis is a purely reactionary stance. The meaning of "FakeLeft" defined.

Read Marx. "Communist Manifesto."  

Stating yur jr. high skkkool beliefs does nothing to bring about any reality. In fact, it serves only to perpetuate the status quo you claim to want changed.

Therefore, your questions and my answers to your questions are not only not important they are meaningless.

You state (and re-state) yur beliefs solely to make yurself feel self-important.

"I'm a better, purer pwog than you" is the true delusional implication of what you believe.

RIOTOUS!

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by: donkeytale @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 13:12:45 PM CST

[ Parent ]

bottomline humanity and common sense (3.00 / 2)

There's nothing utopian about asking individuals not to kill people on a massive scale for no good reason because that is murder. So I don't believe that you are right, and that asking for the preceding is now utopian. And I don't believe you will accomplish anything good politically by backing off from (or shutting up about) that bottom line, by, for example, supporting mass murder by the U.S. but asking, mealy-mouthedly, for just a little bit less.

I think it is the most effective strategy for antiwar and counter-recruitment activists to make the transparently reasonable argument to potential future soldiers that if you kill people for no good reason that is murder, and that 'murder = what you're signing up to do' so don't fukcing do it. Anything that pussy foots around the preceding is, realistically, doing a great disservice to young potential killers by being dishonest with them (and an even greater injustice to those they might sign up to kill). And pussy footing's a strategic mistake for counter-recruiters, because young people respond to honesty and truth and not bullshit.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 13:49:58 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Yur spinning the discussion again. (3.50 / 2)

This is the example of yur utopianism to which I'm referring:

I definitely think U.S. troops should quit being troops, and should not kill Iraqis or Afghans. Do you agree or disagree? And what's the implication of that belief?

What you "think" has no substance. Its unreal, sheerly fantastic. That you bother to be so imperiously (h/t noom) unreal is what is so great about yur blognality.

Labelling yurself "common sense" and "humanistic" is also the pure egotism of the arrogant whisp of hot air. Again, the implication of what you believe in is.....fake.

If you truly were what you so pompously label yurslef, then you wouldnt be here so pompously labelling yurself.

But thanks for the advice about counter-recruiting. I could tell by the way you responded to Vox that you are an expert.

[:o)

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by: donkeytale @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 20:50:09 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Rated holy.... (2.00 / 1)

to counter the unfair rating of boring.

http://davefromqueens2.blogspo...
http://allaircraftarenotinvolv...

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by: socrates @ Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 00:57:29 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Yur spinning the discussion again. (2.00 / 2)

This is the example of yur utopianism to which I'm referring:

I definitely think U.S. troops should quit being troops, and should not kill Iraqis or Afghans. Do you agree or disagree? And what's the implication of that belief?

What you "think" has no substance. Its unreal, sheerly fantastic. That you bother to be so imperiously (h/t noom) unreal is what is so great about yur blognality.

Labelling yurself "common sense" and "humanistic" is also the pure egotism of the arrogant whisp of hot air. Again, the implication of what you believe in is.....fake.

If you truly were what you so pompously label yurslef, then you wouldnt be here so pompously labelling yurself.

But thanks for the advice about counter-recruiting. I could tell by the way you responded to Vox that you are an expert.

[:o)

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by: donkeytale @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 20:50:10 PM CST

[ Parent ]

rated boring.... (4.00 / 1)

for being a double post.

http://davefromqueens2.blogspo...
http://allaircraftarenotinvolv...

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by: socrates @ Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 00:58:23 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Last weekend (5.00 / 4)

I was one of a group trying to assist someone in the Navy who is working for Conscientious Objector status, which is possible in the armed forces, but very difficult to get without outside support. Just being a witness and being supportive can make a huge difference in such circumstances.

This most recent weekend I helped thirteen children, aged seven to sixteen, update or start their conscientious objector home files. One young boy of eight or nine in particular really "got it," and the tear stains on his letter might just clinch his case, should it ever come to that.

I think personal contact is the most effective method in each instance. I would be hesitant to recommend methods that simply mirror what one claims to decry.

I agree we need to do a lot more work in the high schools. The Peace Abbey is a great place to start if you are thinking of volunteering for such important work. If you know any high school age students, please consider downloading their information packet and sending them to that website.

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by: vox humana @ Mon Mar 08, 2010 at 22:26:28 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Support the Non-Troops!! (5.00 / 1)

Great post vox, I'll check it out.

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 11:32:24 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Support the non-troops by counter-recruiting (5.00 / 1)

Counter-recruiting is one good way to spend your time.

AFSC's direct approach:
Thinking of Enlisting?
http://www.afsc.org/Youth&Mili...

A list of counter-recruitment organizations around the country:
http://www.nnomy.org/joomla/in...

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. -- A-Hep

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by: fairleft @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 11:39:08 AM CST

[ Parent ]

As the Buddha noted, everything exists only in relation to everything else (4.00 / 2)

This exquisitely ancient piece of wisdom eventually inspired Albert Einstein, among others.

I understand and applaud the movement towards conscientious objection among the military?

As for the hi skkkoolers, doesn't conscientious objection only have meaning in relation to a military draft?

Are you anticipating the resurrection of the draft? Or is this just an exercise in symbolic protest?

In any event, I'm going to clue in my son, and see if he'll start such a group at his skkkool. Money where his teenaged mouth is. I'll feed him this link. Its important for the kidz to do their own heavy lifting. Adults interefere way too much these daze. Its how we've turned out succeeding generations of gimps.

Sonny boy's very leftwing, too. Even calls himself a socialist/

RIOTOUS!

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by: donkeytale @ Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 07:42:19 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Some answers: (4.00 / 2)

As for the hi skkkoolers, doesn't conscientious objection only have meaning in relation to a military draft?

There is a registration for men only (Mr. Byron, where are you? This is a serious issue!) when they turn eighteen. There is no option on the form to register as a conscientious objector. All are simply entered into the database. It is recommended that when young men such as your son send in their registration card, that they write "I am a conscientious objector" on it AND PHOTOCOPY it before they send it (the Selective Service simply enters the information they requested into the database and destroys the actual card)

Are you anticipating the resurrection of the draft? Or is this just an exercise in symbolic protest?

For young men, failure to register means no access to federal financial aid for college, and in many states, no drivers license or even admission into state schools. This is already the beginning of an "economic draft," and is much more than symbolic. Some young men feel that simply by entering their names into the database intended to show the world that America stands ready to fight at a moment's notice, that they are perpetrating the aggressive side of American foreign policy. Their options are few, though, if they wish to drive or go to college.

By law, if a man has not registered by age twenty-six, he may never register, and all above punitive actions become permanent.

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by: vox humana @ Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 16:21:31 PM CST

[ Parent ]

This reminds me that I have never shared with my son or really anybody (4.00 / 1)

except my first wife, who lived the hardest part of it with me.  

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by: donkeytale @ Thu Mar 11, 2010 at 05:45:02 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Correction duly made.... (0.00 / 0)

and apology extended....Failreft called for desertion not mutiny...

[:o)

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by: donkeytale @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 03:03:02 AM CST

[ Parent ]

He still focked up the comments in this section (0.00 / 0)

Interminable. Good choice of descriptor for that fool's posts. Diary recommended by the way.... Take care, from Lappy the lapdog  p.s. this website is very boring. Soapblox really shit the bed. Booman, MLW- all of these places stink in a most Otvosian way. You just like the format or something. There's nothing going on here. Not sure how you stomach it.  

http://davefromqueens2.blogspo...
http://allaircraftarenotinvolv...

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by: socrates @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 17:19:27 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I've been hanging with yur crowd at DFQ2 under a fake name (0.00 / 0)

I'm leaving little Hansel and Gretel-like mispellicism crumbs trailing behind but I guess you hadnt noticed. Bin kkkeeping it more subtle at yur site. No vulgarity. Trying to be a wallflower, kkkeep it civil and polite.

Thats a pretty fucking good diary you posted on Bedell's facebook coonnections. The circumstantial evidence that the dude was a typikkkally mild west coast lefty who had become totally mindfocked by the right woose left CT  is pretty overwhelming. Still, they will deny it, here too...

Its truly hilarious tho, completely unsurprising, to see Jones and his ilk now backpedaling away from taking any responsibility for creating the zeitgeist that propels teh crazies purely to make bling...er I mean, win the info warz....

This is why I love the whiteysphere.

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by: donkeytale @ Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 20:27:10 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Good points (4.00 / 1)

Mostly about how great a blogger I am. But seriously, that Bedell dude was obviously in with the right woos left crowd. I realise the Facebook links don't mean too much, but they do look strange. That Hopsicker dude is finished. He should've avoided falling on my radar system. p:>

I can't figure out who you are. There are a couple anonymous making sense. But they seemed to reference things I didn't think you knew about, like Rigorous Intuition. Or maybe you are now up to speed and can see it's not that big a pool of internet personalities who seem tied to the hip. There was one guy talking about the Texas connection. Perhaps that was yourself.

Also, new comments do show up on older threads. One guy just showed up and said I freaked him out in regards to Johnny Gosch and his mom being focked with by the zeitgeist. Man, the word zeitgeist rules. Anyway, I'm thinking pockets of awareness are finally paying off. We need to be like The Matrix dude. The way you are with Gilligan. He is an infinite tap of nonsense. You find a way to slow it down like a video game and avoid it. Then you do some triple flip off the walls and nail him. They had me going for a while that you might be a freeper troll. I always mess up at first with nearly everything. Maybe it has been my strategy to lull folks into thinking they can take advantage of me forever. The internet can be quite the strange experience. People you think are full of it can turn out to be some of the most wise ones around. Others one could have total faith in end up being the Wizard of Oz. I don't know how to say this without sounding like a pompous focker, but guys like us, we persisted, when anyone else would have given up, and if you think about it, we are probably as well known as bloggers as a lot of these other people like Hopsicker. Maybe not. But maybe.We need a phrase for a blogospheric counter-enlightenment. How about the counter-zeitgeist movement? And friggen George there. Just seeing that beard is making me feel itchy.

http://davefromqueens2.blogspo...
http://allaircraftarenotinvolv...

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by: socrates @ Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 00:54:52 AM CST

[ Parent ]