Monthly Archives: May 2012

Chris Hayes, heroes, and ‘Catch 22’


Erik Kain at Mother Jones, defending MSNBC host Chris Hayes who, on Memorial Day weekend, was bombarded with insults after criticizing those who overuse the word “hero”: In transforming our soldiers or police automatically into “heroes” we ignore the atrocities … Continue reading

Posted in arts, fiction, history, Iraq war, mainstream media | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Mittens must have loved NYT’s puff piece


In case you missed it: Jodi Kantor’s front-page story in Sunday’s New York Times, headlined “Romney’s Faith, Silent but Deep,” was one of the most cringe-worthy puff pieces about a political candidate published in recent memory. Read it and you’ll … Continue reading

Posted in liar, mainstream media, Mitt Romney | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

South Philly saints come marchin’ in


This is in case you missed the May procession held today under a soul-piercing blue sky on Philly’s Italian Market. Kids in white suits and dresses, followed by statues of solitary saints on floats pushed by local parishioners, with a … Continue reading

Posted in food, humor, livable cities, pop music | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Wall Street creep of the week


Even the grimmest fiction seems less depressing than many real-life news stories. For example, there’s that poor man in California who killed himself Sunday after a long, unsuccessful fight to avoid being evicted from his home by Wells Fargo, the … Continue reading

Posted in Great Recession, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, Wall Street | 1 Comment

America colonized again


From The National Employment Law Project, May 10: Long-term unemployed workers in a growing list of states are being abruptly cut from federal unemployment insurance, a new analysis from the National Employment Law Project shows. Due to reductions Congress enacted … Continue reading

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, mainstream media, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Wing nuts love Mom, too


Sara Robinson of Alternet had a good idea for a Mother’s Day column – “Ayn Rand-Loving Right Is Like Teen Boys Gone Crazy” — but she got carried away and ended up arguing that Randian conservatism is, more than anything … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

‘Get a job’ easy to say if you’ve got one


Paul Krugman recently noted a close resemblance between Ben Bernanke’s famously lame prediction about the economy — “I think as those green shoots begin to appear in different markets and as some confidence begins to come back that will begin … Continue reading

Posted in arts, movies, unemployment | 1 Comment

When will Obama ‘evolve’ on jobs?


From MoveOn.org: Breaking: The Obama Announcement That May Just Make You Cry And after the sappy headline: Yes! We couldn’t be more excited! As MoveOn Executive Director Justin Ruben puts it: “This is a historic day. The president’s support for … Continue reading

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Obama, The New Depression, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Mittens distinguishes himself again


How awful is Mitt Romney? Is there anything he won’t do or say to improve his chances of being elected? Here’s a for instance: … On Thursday morning, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton conducted tense negotiations with the … Continue reading

Posted in humor, Mitt Romney, Politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Cut food stamps, save the F-35!


And save the rich from having to return to those grim days before the Bush tax cuts, which have, over the past decade, added $2.4 trillion to the federal deficit. From ThinkProgress: Yesterday, House Republicans moved legislation forward aimed at … Continue reading

Posted in Congress, economic collapse, Great Recession, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments