November 11, 2010, Post-Armistice Day Pot Pourri
Jim Henley gives us his take on the highjacking of Armistice Day by the forces of militarism and war-mongering, thereby investing the Newspeak holiday of "Veterans Day" with a creepy vibe that's exactly the opposite of what was originally intended for the holiday.
TD Sister sends us this Grey Lady piece on the legal, financial and other troubles encountered by a former coal baron trying to take on one of the most evil corporate empires in America (and as you know, that's saying something).
And in perhaps his greatest act of contempt yet for the City of which he is the Lord Mayor, Mayor Mike Bloomberg has replaced the heinously unqualified Joel Klein as chancellor of the (by far) largest public school system in the country with one Cathie Black, who has the trifecta of no professional educational experience herself (she, like Bloomberg himself, is a media executive), not sending her children to public schools (they go to private boarding schools), or even attending public schools (she went to parochial schools). But, of course, Joel Klein, the Clinton/Reno -era Justice Dept. Antitrust Division head whose qualification for the job he's sucked at for nearly nine years was that Mike Bloomberg is a billionaire and knows everything and thought Klein wouldn't give him trouble (and Mike's a billionaire... and knows everything)... will be replaced by Ms. Black... who, if you believe in coincidences (and you know I don't)... and speaking of evil corporations... just happened to serve on the same charter school board as Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. will now be Mr. Klein's new employer.
And over in South Korea, the U.S.A. is receiving unusually vociferous criticism from other world leaders over our policy of "quantitative easing", or looser money to try to stimulate our moribund economy, which other nations fear will end up screwing their economies... Lighten up, boys and girls... it's not as if the United States ever really does anything else!!!
And the affectionately named "catfood commission" chairmen have issued their draft report intended to cut the nation's never-ending deficits... I think their explanations can best be summarized by "have we not prisons and workhouses?" Their deficit reduction plans will cause pain now and result in fiscal benefits decades from now, when everyone involved is senile or dead... and the rich are... still rich, and everyone else will hopefully go away... Boys and girls would do well to remember that while Alan Simpson was a Republican senator, Erskine Bowles worked for arch-rightwinger Bill Clinton (remember, Bob Dole could never have "ended welfare as we know it" or set in motion what became the financial crisis we are currently in; only a so-called Democrat, like "New Democrat" Bill Clinton, or "WTF Democrat" Barack Obama could).
This has been... "Post-Armistice Day Pot Pourri."