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Saturday, January 29, 2005

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Things You Might Have Missed

I'm back for 24 hours before heading out on the road again for a few days. That's my life right now. I warned you a few weeks ago that I'd have to be scaling back. We're there now.

Here are a few things you might want to read:

Susie tells us about the upcoming military draft and how we get there. Attention high school and college students (and their parents)! You might want to pay attention. Your life is about to change.

Avedon found this gem by Charlie Pierce at Altercation:
Did I just hear Richard Perle on Nightline say that the biggest mistake we made in Iraq was not handing the country over to Ahmad Chalabi three years ago? Yes, and the biggest flaw in our national economy is that we haven't turned the Federal Reserve over to Ken Lay. Yes, and the biggest mistake I am likely to make in trying to understand this Festival of Fruitcakes is failing to have laid in enough mushrooms to get me through the State of the Union.
Shrooms! Now there's an idea. I usually stock up on anti-nausea medicine for a big W woof. Maybe some psychotropic alkaloids would be better. Hard to imagine that halucinations could be any scarier than reality at this point.

Duckman GR at The Left Coaster reminds me to read Krugman:
After laying out why Bush’s arguments regarding African-American life expectancy and Social Security benefits are faulty at best, in just a couple of graphs, then he lays out the damning truth that knee caps the whole argument. (bolds are mine-DGR)
What's really shameful about Mr. Bush's exploitation of the black death rate, however, is what it takes for granted.

The persistent gap in life expectancy between African-Americans and whites is one measure of the deep inequalities that remain in our society - including highly unequal access to good-quality health care. We ought to be trying to diminish that gap, especially given the fact that black infants are two and half times as likely as white babies to die in their first year.

Now nobody can expect instant progress in reducing health inequalities. But the benefits of Social Security privatization, if any, won't materialize for many decades. By using blacks' low life expectancy as an argument for privatization, Mr. Bush is in effect taking it as a given that 40 or 50 years from now, large numbers of African-Americans will still be dying before their time.

Is this an example of what Mr. Bush famously called "the soft bigotry of low expectations?" Maybe not: it isn't particularly soft to treat premature black deaths not as a tragedy we must end but as just another way to push your ideological agenda. But bigotry - yes, that sounds like the right word.
The only problem is that anyone who is smart enough to read Krugman on a regular basis would never have voted for Bush in the first place. But I do find it quite troubling that more than half of the American voting population is either as dumb as a box of hammers or in serious need of professional mental health services. Oh well . . .

And oh, by the way -- it seems that on election day in Iraq, the only thing that Sunni and Shia voters will agree on is that they want the U.S. to pack up and go home. Heck, I bet a majority of the U.S. troops would agree on that one. Looks like we're approaching a consensus.

The Slacktivist says it so clearly:
You may not know Alberto Gonzales.
But we're sure you'll recognize his work.
Go read. Then write to your senators.

That's all for now. Places to go. People to be. Hasta.

# posted by AZ Gringo @ 1/29/2005 06:49:00 AM
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Friday, January 28, 2005

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Rain Storm Nominated for a Koufax!
Go Vote Now!

Rain Storm is honored to be considered for a Koufax Award in the Best Series category (that's what happens when I'm away from my computer for a few days -- maybe I should leave town more often).

If any of you kind readers want to stop by the Wampum blog and say a few kind words, I will be most grateful.





# posted by AZ Gringo @ 1/28/2005 04:40:00 PM
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Wednesday, January 26, 2005

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At a conference.
Say NO on Gonzales

I'm away at a conference this week, and only getting on-line when I can find a free WiFi spot to hook up (which begs the question: why don't more brew pubs have free WiFi?).

Anyway, blogging will be light this week. Be good. Raise Hell. Oppose the Gonzales nomination with all your resources.

America simply must not have a chief law enforcement officer who is also the author of the administration's torture initiative.

Go read Armando, and Kos. If you love America and all that she should stand for, then STAND UP AND SAY "NO WAY ON GONZALES!"

# posted by AZ Gringo @ 1/26/2005 05:38:00 PM
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Tuesday, January 25, 2005

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Nixon Was Re-Elected Too

Nixon got his. Bush will get his. Now you can get your own.

Order your Nixon was Re-Elected Too bumper sticker here.

Let the impeachments begin!

# posted by AZ Gringo @ 1/25/2005 09:48:00 AM
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Sunday, January 23, 2005

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Dear Abby . . .

Dear Abby,

My husband has a long record of money problems. He runs up huge credit card bills and at the end of the month, if I try to pay them off, he shouts at me, saying I am stealing his money. He says pay the minimum and let our kids worry about the rest, but already we can hardly keep up with the interest.

Also, he has been so arrogant and abusive toward our neighbors that most of them no longer speak to us. The few that do are an odd bunch, to whom he has been giving a lot of expensive gifts, running up our bills even more. Also, he has gotten religious in a big way, although I don't quite understand it. One week he hangs out with Catholics and the next with people who say the Pope is the Anti-Christ.

And now he has been going to the gym an awful lot and is into wearing uniforms and cowboy outfits, and I hate to think what that means.

Finally, the last straw. He's demanding that before anyone can be in the same room with him, they must sign a loyalty oath.

It's just so horribly creepy! Can you help?

Signed,

Lost in DC

Dear Lost:

Stop whining, Laura. You can divorce the jerk any time you want. The rest of us are stuck with the asshole for four more years!
Or until the War Crimes/Impeachment Trials (which ever comes first).

Thanks to Judith, who always seems to be the first to send me these.

# posted by AZ Gringo @ 1/23/2005 02:35:00 PM
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