Vuvuzelas for BP

A worthy cause.

AT-AT Afternoon

Courtesy of Mr. Pinero..

1937

In case you missed the recent round of  politi-theater, Congress recently neglected to extend unemployment benefits to nearly 1 million fellow Americans because they’re concerned (as they should be) about deficit spending (although we’ll ignore the fact that bush-era wars/war-on-terror/war-on-drugs spending by the GOP accounts for a large chunk of this). Turns out we’ve been down this road before. In 1937, after unprecedented Federal spending helped cut unemployment in half, Republicans pressured FDR to balance the budget. Unemployment doubled.

“The Depression, as bad as it was, would have been much worse without the government spending,” says Alan Brinkley, a historian of the Depression at Columbia University. “And the 1937 effort to balance the budget — I think almost every economist would agree — was a catastrophe.”

Ok, setting aside the negative humanitarian (and economic) impact of axing benefits for 1million people, I get the tough on big-government thing, and in some ways I agree with it. But when you have economists telling you to keep dumping money into public projects, and historians saying, look this has happened before, it might do you well to listen for change, as opposed to cranking out another soundbite for your conservative base.

General Disarray

Changing commanders in the middle of a war is never easy. Lincoln fired lethargic General McClellan and appointed Grant to command the Army of the Potomac. The troops were not happy with the change. Truman fired General MacArthur, and conservatives hammered him for it….Generals frequently tend to be more popular than presidents. They appear stronger, more purposeful, more competent. But they have the luxury of only focusing on war, on killing the enemy or capturing ground. Presidents, whether they want to or not, must deal with the big picture. More…

Before I get hammered here for taking the side of the president, let’s try a little litmus test – go find a local freelance reporter with nothing to lose, use facebook, or maybe just buy a billboard if you’re well off. Proceed to speak/post with zero filter about your job, your boss, your coworkers, the public face of your company, etc. Then report back here as to the status of your employment in about a week.

Racing is Fun

Really. Don’t I look like I’m just having a great time?

Joe Barton

Of course he’s form Dallas. What an Asshat.

World Cup

Every four years the world goes justifiably insane. From Frank Deford…

The Olympics has embraced team sports more and more — but, even with celebrity Dream Teams, the games remain more of a variety show.

By contrast, like it or not, the World Cup is pure, raw, down-and-dirty unadulterated sport at its best. There are no World Cup hymns. There are no podiums for the runners-up. Losers walk.

Last night while eating dinner at the Whole Foods Pasta Bar, we were seated next to a brit, and struck up an amiable dinner conversation between us, him and the chef. “I’m actually a US citizen now,” he said with  a noticeable amount of chagrin. “Oh so, Saturday,” I replied, “I guess that’s going to be interesting for you with England vs US?”

“Well on Saturday, respectfully you and your country can get fucked as far as that’s concerned.”

Ah sports, the great unifier. I plan to take the higher ground than our dinner friend: Saturday will find us at Fado or some equally worthy beer-serving establishment, beverage in hand at too early a time in the day, possibly in colonial garb, screaming obscenities at our cousins, the Brits.

A Requiem for the Gulf

“Our leaders were too corrupt and lazy to prevent this from happening and they are as incompetent and powerless to stop it as the greedy industry they have so cheaply licensed.” – A sad read from James Moore.

BP’s Liability

Cue the lawyers….

Jeffrey Rachlinksi, a Cornell University professor specializing in environmental law, calls the current push by Senate Democrats to lift the upper liability “largely redundant theater.”

Language already in the Oil Pollution Act, established after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, eliminates the cap if the party responsible for a spill is found to have been grossly negligent or violated federal regulations governing the construction, safety or operation of an offshore rig such as the Deepwater Horizon. The rig was destroyed seven weeks ago in an explosion that killed 11 workers.

It’s “highly unlikely that the events of April 20 did not include one or more deviations from these codes,” Rachlinski told NPR. More…

So now it falls to BP to prove they were running a rig in accordance with the letter of the law, a rig that is currently sitting on the floor of the gulf, and was actually operated by another company, all with a price-tag sufficient to  bankrupt a multinational corporation.

Oh yeah, this will be settled quickly and fairly, I’m just sure of it.