We are a society of the self-deluded.
By Association: A lot of misinformed moralists are saying that Israel did not have the moral or legal right to attack Syrian targets. Don't they understand that through its association with the US, Israel long ago gained immunity to such piddling concerns. If the US does it - assassination, torture, random airstikes - then it must be okay because the US is the world's premier Good Guy. And state sponsored violence that resembles acts of war are okay for the US, they are certainly okay for Israel.
Unclear On The Concept: A Republican-convened NY Senate public hearing on campaign finance reform was closed to the public.
TV Guide: In Detroit, three women who were snatched off the streets and held in a house in an ordinary neighborhood for a decade have been rescued. Details are not immediately available, but will soon be saturating the airwaves like re-runs of Criminal Minds.
Stay Tuned: Word is that a course of antibiotics could cure up to 40% of cases of severe chronic back pain. Fine. Now the back surgeons can join the urologists in the unemployment line.
Line In The Sand: Obama says the US has a moral obligation to stop the killing of innocent (sic) civilians in Syria. Interesting idea; but if we start rescuing folks from internecine slaughter, where will it stop? Oh, right. Africa.
Playing House: US house prices rose 10.5% in March, y/y. Is there any way that any house, anywhere – much less most houses, everywhere – increased that much in value? If so, to whom?
Quick Hits: Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?" Yes.
Water Is Wet, Duh: A couple of researchers report that “stabilizing aggregate disposable income plays a 'negligible role' in stabilizing the economy” but changing available funds by redistribution is effective. Gee, letting the poor use the money the rich have just sitting around boosts the economy, who could'a guessed?
Snowcones: This winter's snowfall totals on Greenland's Western Ice Sheet are only 30% to 70% of normal, which makes it “more likely” that the 2013 melt will be significant.
Success Breeds: While the misery they caused through their financial chicanery drags on, two Cabinet posts are being delivered to people "who specialized in" financial rip-offs.
Certain Uncertainties: Between 2007 and 2011, there was a major "slowdown in the growth of health spending". If the trend continues, public-sector health care spending could be reduced by $770 billion over the next 10 years. Makes one question all those 'we're gonna die!' debt predictions.
Precis: “Unregulated capitalism is out of control.” Yes, and you just noticed? Good on details though.
Here Comes The Sheriff: New York AG Schneiderman says the big banks continue to skirt the law because they do not think law enforcement will target them for prosecution. He also said they are wrong. I'm not holding my breath.
Maneuvers: The head of the USAF Sexual Assault Prevention office has been arrested for conducting field trials... Quite why this was necessary is unclear - after all, there are 70 sexual assaults involving our soldiers every day; couldn't he have just been an observer? The phrase 'assault troops' used to be a description, not a directive.
The Parting Shot:
5 comments:
CKM.....regarding "snowcones" , less greenland snow and the ice sheet melting...
thanks, very interesting article, especially in light of all the "crowing" the right wing did earlier this year when nasa corrected its greenland snow melt algorithm ( of course as you and the readers here know well, thats what scientist do, they refine and correct....
i dont expect the wing nuts self correct in the face of the more recent data...but guess instead they will confabulate
it will be "interesting" to see what happens as more and more fresh water from greenland is dumped into the atlantic ocean at the "top" of the gulf stream's flow around north america on its way , clockwise, to europe
one of the great questions is.... will the addition of fresh water on top of the more dense salt water affect ocean currents
unfortunately, we may be about to find out and soon
and if it does...if.. if...then the weather patterns will probably go nuts,,,but who knows for sure as we go on playing climate roulette
mach turtle
So I guess we could/should wrestle ourselves to the ground in Afghanistan and Somalia to stop the blah blah blah before we head to Syria. Perhaps Lindsey and John could perform a stylized demonstration on the floor of the senate so that we can see how real men do that sort of thing.
Precis: We've gone beyond laissez-faire, which implies total deregulation. Instead, corporations have rigged the markets on the buy and sell sides of their businesses. Inputs, like labor and materials, are kept artificially cheap through subsidies like illegal immigration, SNAP for the working poor, and tax loopholes. Output prices are manipulated through oligopolies created by company consolidation (energy, food, insurance ,media etc, etc.).
However, as I've said before, these are merely symptoms of a greater malady: the legalization of corporate bribery of politicians. If a Constitutional Amendment banning all forms of consideration to federal employees, including revolving door jobs, these problems would self-correct rather quickly. Of course, the Fed has taken us so far down the rabbit hole of class based wealth transfer, a major depression would likely ensue due to the collapse of the credit market which would result from some long overdue defaults.
The bottom line is that it takes two to tango and we only have ourselves to blame for this. We allowed ourselves to be dumbed down into our current intellectually impaired complacency.
HS - I pretty much concur with your view - this (and what's to come) is a result of our essential lassitude. Our preference for the easy way, the path requiring the least effort, the least knowledge, the least intellectual curiosity, has certainly led us here.
We are indeed responsible for ourselves and what we have allowed others to do to us.
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