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"She turns to the white board and draws two acronyms with an arrow between them: SLICS and SLYCS. The..."

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:26:47 -0400

“She turns to the white board and draws two acronyms with an arrow between them: SLICS and SLYCS. The global economy needs to move from a SLICS (So Long as I Can Survive) mentality to a SLYCS (So Long as You Can Survive) mentality. Central banks and governments should worry less about stimulating domestic demand for domestic goods and more about stimulating demand for traded goods. Toyota workers should buy Nissan cars, and vice versa. “The U.S. has no business saying ‘buy American’; it should be saying buy non-American,” she said. “It’s this kind of a huge mental leap that is actually required if we are going to move out of this situation we’re in.” Slow food and locavores have their place, Hama says. But she’d prefer that China and Japan export shiitake mushrooms to each other. Japan can send its most delicious, most expensive ones to China, where the free-spending nouveau riche will pay big money for them, while China can mass-produce cheaper ones that can be consumed by Japan’s yen-pinching masses.”

- What If Paul Krugman Were a Woman?

Neda Agha-Soltan Becomes a Symbol of Iran Protests Through Video

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:45:50 -0400

Neda Agha-Soltan Becomes a Symbol of Iran Protests Through Video

"the analysts at Homeland Security fretted that things may turn out even worse than in the 1990s —..."

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:44:21 -0400

“the analysts at Homeland Security fretted that things may turn out even worse than in the 1990s — that thanks, in part, to the election of an African-American president, “the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years.” And that’s a threat to take seriously. Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.”

- Paul Krugman - The Big Hate

"Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the R.N.C. haven’t directly incited violence,..."

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:40:28 -0400

“Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the R.N.C. haven’t directly incited violence, despite Bill O’Reilly’s declarations that “some” called Dr. Tiller “Tiller the Baby Killer,” that he had “blood on his hands,” and that he was a “guy operating a death mill.” But they have gone out of their way to provide a platform for conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, just as they did the last time a Democrat held the White House.”

- Paul Krugman - The Big Hate

What is Your Size?

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:18:02 -0400

What is Your Size?

"Last week it was business as usual, as Republican leaders nattered ad infinitum over the juvenile..."

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:20:40 -0400

“Last week it was business as usual, as Republican leaders nattered ad infinitum over the juvenile rivalry of Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich at the party’s big Washington fund-raiser. Few if any mentioned, let alone questioned, the ominous script delivered by the actor Jon Voight with the G.O.P. imprimatur at that same event. Voight’s devout wish was to “bring an end to this false prophet Obama.””

- Op-Ed Columnist - The Obama Haters’ Silent Enablers - NYTimes.com

"When President Obama speaks at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association on Monday he..."

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:17:52 -0400

“When President Obama speaks at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association on Monday he will need all of his persuasive powers to bring doctors into the campaign for health care reform. Doctors have been complicit in driving up health care costs. They need to become part of the solution.”

- Editorial - Doctors and the Cost of Care - NYTimes.com

Barack Obama's Facebook news feed. - By Christopher Beam and Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:21:13 -0400

Barack Obama's Facebook news feed. - By Christopher Beam and Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

"t strikes me as intuitively obvious that in order to succeed in a white man’s world, women..."

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:17:11 -0400

“t strikes me as intuitively obvious that in order to succeed in a white man’s world, women must learn to see both sides in ways that men do not. If that is true, it just might make them “better” judges, at least in some circumstances. I don’t know whether Judge Sotomayor was trying, albeit rather artlessly, to make some version of that argument in her speeches about the relative wisdom of Latina woman. But if I could ask her just one question at her confirmation hearing about that Berkeley speech, that would be it”

- Does Sonia Sotomayor really believe wise Latina women are better jurists? - By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine

Condoms: The Prophylactic Against War Criminals - This Chinese condom ad features the tagline "Such tragedy could have been easily avoided."

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:29:49 -0400

Condoms: The Prophylactic Against War Criminals - This Chinese condom ad features the tagline "Such tragedy could have been easily avoided."

Brookline, Massachusetts, 1994 - The Rumpus.net

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:20:32 -0400

Brookline, Massachusetts, 1994 - The Rumpus.net

"I recently was “let go” from my job when my child hit a major medical crisis and my..."

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:43:30 -0400

“I recently was “let go” from my job when my child hit a major medical crisis and my employer decided to replace me with someone male, younger, able to travel and work 70+ hr weeks. All because I asked to work a 40 hr week for a few weeks to be able to help (my husband, child, family) get things in order. Prior to this “problem” I was an executive who worked 60-80 hrs a week and traveled at least 2 weeks out of a month. I made my company serious $$. One problem in years and I got screwed, big time. They blamed the economy. No kidding. My family lost more than 2/3 of our income, plus the health coverage that was critical. We are facing losing our house and all that we’ve worked for in the last 20 yrs. I’ve seen male colleagues whose children have medical issues, like cancer, who are given company support and major flexibility, and even weeks of time off without penalty. But this is never extended to the mothers - who, as many have said, are seen as the main caregivers.”

- The Motherhood Penalty: Working Moms Face Pay Gap Vs. Childless Peers - BusinessWeek

"Using fake resumes for two equally qualified candidates–one childless, one a mom—the researchers..."

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:34:22 -0400

“Using fake resumes for two equally qualified candidates–one childless, one a mom—the researchers found that the mother was 100% less likely to be hired when she applied for a position. Mothers were consistently ranked as less competent and less committed than non-moms. “They were also offered $11,000 a year less pay, on average, than an equally qualified childless candidate,””

- The Motherhood Penalty: Working Moms Face Pay Gap Vs. Childless Peers - BusinessWeek

blog.pmarca.com: The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:35:25 -0400

blog.pmarca.com: The Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity

Annals of Medicine: The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care. By Atul Gawande

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:33:24 -0400

Annals of Medicine: The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care. By Atul Gawande

Moyers on Single Payer Healthcare (YouTube)

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:31:05 -0400

Moyers on Single Payer Healthcare (YouTube): “Bill Moyers Journal discusses the aspects of the proposed Single Payer Healthcare Plan. This plan would finally remove the for-profit insurance industry from our healthcare system, let doctors once again practice medicine without a middle man between them and their patients, and spend less money providing healthcare coverage for all Americans, everybody in - nobody out.”

"H. Edward Hanway, Chair/ CEO, Cigna Corp, $30.16 million (annual compensation, 2006-07)"

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:04:04 -0400

“H. Edward Hanway, Chair/ CEO, Cigna Corp, $30.16 million (annual compensation, 2006-07)”

- Medical Bills Underlie 60 Percent Of U.S. Bankruptcies: Study

"Obama said that single payer would be good if we were starting from scratch. Well, I think things..."

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:03:16 -0400

““Obama said that single payer would be good if we were starting from scratch. Well, I think things are pretty bad, so we should start from scratch. But actually, a single-payer system is basically like expanding Medicare to include everyone, so we have a model just waiting for us to use. I recently learned that in Taiwan, they looked around the world for a system and they decided they would copy our Medicare and use it to cover all the people there. Why don’t we do that?”

- Questioned, Obama Says Single Payer Would Be Best — Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA)

"late-term abortion looms much larger as a reason to oppose abortion than it should given its rarity...."

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:02:24 -0400

“late-term abortion looms much larger as a reason to oppose abortion than it should given its rarity. It’s also important to note that past 24 weeks, the laws do not permit abortion that isn’t tied to reasons of life and health (fetal or maternal). People primarily worried about late-term abortion need to understand what it is that they’re worried about, understand that what they’re worried about is already heavily regulated, and then need to make the case from there, based on the cases that actually occur.”

- Four months, three weeks, and two days of poor arguments. « The Edge of the American West

Bembo's Zoo

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:11:28 -0400

Bembo's Zoo: Lovely Flash animations of animals made entirely of Bembo letterforms & punctuation marks.