Just a heads up there won't be any posting today. Overtime schedule can make things a little too difficult to balance...
I'd rather put things down than break them trying to juggle.
Probably back tomorrow, or Sunday at the latest.
Friday
Thursday
International Angle: Drug Boss Captured
I can't even fathom living in Mexico with the drug violence going on. Mexican authorities captured on of their most wanted drug lords, continuing a string of recent law enforcement successes.
But how well is this going to serve as deterrence? Are they just sweeping away the competition for the next generation? As long as there's so much money to be made in drugs, and there's a reasonable chance of success, there will be someone else ready to pick up where the arrested guy left off.
I'm not sure what the answer is, and making it impossible for the bosses to operate securely is definitely a good step in my eyes. But it still doesn't change the fact Mexico scares the hell out of me.
But how well is this going to serve as deterrence? Are they just sweeping away the competition for the next generation? As long as there's so much money to be made in drugs, and there's a reasonable chance of success, there will be someone else ready to pick up where the arrested guy left off.
I'm not sure what the answer is, and making it impossible for the bosses to operate securely is definitely a good step in my eyes. But it still doesn't change the fact Mexico scares the hell out of me.
National View/Local Corner Hybrid: Ohio Voters
NPR is reporting on Ohio Valley voters...because, well, Ohio is kind of a big deal this election.
The big take away...it's a mess. And that kinda sums up the issue I've seen with Ohio voters.
People you'd expect to vote Democrat (working poor, lower middle class) are stuck on gay marriage. Or abortion. I remember being baffled by this when Bush got reelected--people loudly proclaiming they voted for the man were the ones who hurt the most because of his policies.
But Bush had the same social conservative mindset, and that's all that matter to them. Where it gets interesting is these fundamentalist Christians don't necessarily like Mormons...Romney is no good old boy.
The big take away...it's a mess. And that kinda sums up the issue I've seen with Ohio voters.
People you'd expect to vote Democrat (working poor, lower middle class) are stuck on gay marriage. Or abortion. I remember being baffled by this when Bush got reelected--people loudly proclaiming they voted for the man were the ones who hurt the most because of his policies.
But Bush had the same social conservative mindset, and that's all that matter to them. Where it gets interesting is these fundamentalist Christians don't necessarily like Mormons...Romney is no good old boy.
Wednesday
International Angle: Moronic, Irrational Rage in Egypt and Libya
The attacks on the US Embassy in Cairo, and the deadly one on the Consulate in Benghazi which took 4 lives, can only be described as a clusterfuck. BBC has the details, in politer terms.
I almost have too many words for this situation.
I almost have too many words for this situation.
- This has nothing to do with Islam. No god, no religion, no rational human being views these attacks as anything good or wholesome. I see these actions and I see many things: Ignorance, crime, blind hate, people with no future, people who do not use their brains. They're just Libyan Ku Klux Klan members--useless individuals who are not indicative of their parents societies.
- Why are people making deliberately-offensive films knowing this is a likely outcome? All the subject matter in the world, and you make a movie about a man who's not supposed to be portrayed at all.
- Why on earth is it ok for this to even BE a likely outcome? Rioting and killing people is not an acceptable way to express your feelings.
- Where were the Marines to shoot these rioters? What about local cops? I realize we're talking Libya here, but there has to be some sort of rule of law. If not, right back to the first question--where were the Marines?
- Until every citizen in the world is able to buy into peace and prosperity, they have no reason to protect life or property. Until all children can grow up without knowing hunger, they will learn to steal and kill as a means to survival. They will know only one problem solving method--to kill those between you and resources.
- Senseless, tragic, utterly useless deaths. Keep the victims and their families in your thoughts.
- This is why we don't have warp drive. We're too busy pissing each other off and killing each other to even think about evolving as a race. Until we can genuinely respect each others differences (that's a two way street, everyone), we will be stuck in this never ending cycle of violence.
Sometimes I'm amazed we haven't managed to kill ourselves off completely. Utterly disgusted with humanity right now. We're better than this.
Local Corner: Dispatch Charging for Online Content
You might've seen it already...the Columbus Dispatch is back to charging for online content. I personally ran into this problem the other day, where I started reading up on local news and found I couldn't get much more than headlines.
WOSU did an interview with Phil Pikelny, Vice President of Dispatch Digital on the subject.
For me, it's a very simple decision: Even with this blog, I do not and will not use $239.88 of that website every year. I'll find alternate sources for news, starting with chipping in $10 to WOSU.
WOSU did an interview with Phil Pikelny, Vice President of Dispatch Digital on the subject.
For me, it's a very simple decision: Even with this blog, I do not and will not use $239.88 of that website every year. I'll find alternate sources for news, starting with chipping in $10 to WOSU.
National View: Yelp Reviews as Political Tool?
So I'm browsing through the NPR webpage this morning...and...find this story on Yelp reviewers alternately slamming and praising Scott Van Duzer and his Big Apple Pizza.
Yelp, if you're not familiar, is an online review service. It's used to let consumers rate local businesses--as the website says on the welcome page, "from the city's tastiest burger to the most renowned cardiologist."
I didn't expect this, but I'm not surprised. After all, I'm one of the guys who plans to never step foot in a Chic-Fil-A establishment, and have broadcast that fact on Twitter, Facebook, and this blog. If I used Yelp, I probably would've done it there too.
Or maybe not. I don't use a garden trowel to cut wood, and I don't use a screwdriver as a chisel (not since I was like, 9 anyway). Yelp doesn't strike me as the right venue to voice political opinions.
But hey, whatever. Ultimately, that's a decision each person needs to make on their own--does the way an owner votes matter enough for you to find a different pizza joint?
In the case of myself and Chic-Fil-A, absolutely. And in the case of "Rick B." and Big Apple Pizza it seems the same way.
Just some food for thought...
Yelp, if you're not familiar, is an online review service. It's used to let consumers rate local businesses--as the website says on the welcome page, "from the city's tastiest burger to the most renowned cardiologist."
I didn't expect this, but I'm not surprised. After all, I'm one of the guys who plans to never step foot in a Chic-Fil-A establishment, and have broadcast that fact on Twitter, Facebook, and this blog. If I used Yelp, I probably would've done it there too.
Or maybe not. I don't use a garden trowel to cut wood, and I don't use a screwdriver as a chisel (not since I was like, 9 anyway). Yelp doesn't strike me as the right venue to voice political opinions.
But hey, whatever. Ultimately, that's a decision each person needs to make on their own--does the way an owner votes matter enough for you to find a different pizza joint?
In the case of myself and Chic-Fil-A, absolutely. And in the case of "Rick B." and Big Apple Pizza it seems the same way.
Just some food for thought...
Tuesday
International Angle: East China Sea Heats Up
First Japan buys the disputed islands--then China sends warships to patrol them. BBC has the story. This can't end well.
It's almost unimaginable, to think of two modern powers with more to lose than to gain actually firing shots in anger over some real estate. But since we're stuck in the fossil-fuel era, people don't think rationally about things relating to oil, or natural gas.
I don't actually think this will come down to a three way rumble with China, Taiwan, and Japan duking it out over these tiny islands--but that's what they said about Kuwait, too. Largely, because there's no way the United States will sit back and let China fire on allies over contested territory--and there's no way China wants a couple carrier battle groups with hostile intent in the area.
But these things have been said about other things. "There's no way Germany will reoccupy the Rhineland. There's no way Hussein will invade Kuwait. There's no way the Soviets will invade Afghanistan." Take your pic. History is made out of the unthinkable.
This might look like a small escalation, but it just goes to show China isn't intending to back down just because Japan "bought" their "sovereign territory." That means there's more than a few chapters left to this book.
That's got to be keeping some people in Washington up late.
It's almost unimaginable, to think of two modern powers with more to lose than to gain actually firing shots in anger over some real estate. But since we're stuck in the fossil-fuel era, people don't think rationally about things relating to oil, or natural gas.
I don't actually think this will come down to a three way rumble with China, Taiwan, and Japan duking it out over these tiny islands--but that's what they said about Kuwait, too. Largely, because there's no way the United States will sit back and let China fire on allies over contested territory--and there's no way China wants a couple carrier battle groups with hostile intent in the area.
But these things have been said about other things. "There's no way Germany will reoccupy the Rhineland. There's no way Hussein will invade Kuwait. There's no way the Soviets will invade Afghanistan." Take your pic. History is made out of the unthinkable.
This might look like a small escalation, but it just goes to show China isn't intending to back down just because Japan "bought" their "sovereign territory." That means there's more than a few chapters left to this book.
That's got to be keeping some people in Washington up late.
National View: Chicago Teacher Strike
So the teachers in Chicago have gone on strike after the city and the union failed to reach an agreement on some key issues, among them teacher evaluation and job security assurances. As NPR points out, this particular strike may very well indicate what sort of future unions in general can look forward to.
For me, this highlights just how out of sync teachers unions are with the reality of today, not unlike how out of touch the United Auto Workers were in the early 2000's and up until the Federal gov't had to bail out GM.
Public schools are broken. There aren't many people who have worked with a recent high school graduate, or tried to teach them in a college setting, who will disagree with that statement. American children are still some of the worst-ranked in the world. Our technical and science jobs are being filled by foreigners being flown in from half-way around the world, because our graduates can't cut it.
My problem with the teachers unions is they've dug the battle lines around the teachers, all teachers, even the ones not doing their jobs. Any discussion of change is shot down without discussion. Teachers unions have adopted a very Republican attitude of "NO!" without offering alternatives.
That's not good enough for my tax dollars.
If I don't do my job (which often involves teaching some 18-year-old how to apply basic math or reading comprehension in a real world setting), I will lose my job. If I do my job well, I'll get a 4 percent(ish) raise. I'm having a hard time seeing what's wrong with the deal Chicago offered.
This is not to say unions should just roll over and accept everything. School districts are notorious for trying to cut costs at teacher and student expense. Higher class sizes, unfair pay, inadequate supplies and facilities have all been seen over and over--they're WHY the unions exist in the first place. I count plenty of teachers among my friends and family, and I'll be the last person to say a poor word against them, or to suggest they should deal with elected officials on a one-on-one basis.
But this combative, uncompromising stance isn't helping anyone. It's why Kasich was able to paint such a compelling nasty picture of teachers in the Senate Bill 5 fight. Like so many other things in our society right now, the old model does not work. We need to find a better way to protect everyone's interest and serve the larger good.
For me, this highlights just how out of sync teachers unions are with the reality of today, not unlike how out of touch the United Auto Workers were in the early 2000's and up until the Federal gov't had to bail out GM.
Public schools are broken. There aren't many people who have worked with a recent high school graduate, or tried to teach them in a college setting, who will disagree with that statement. American children are still some of the worst-ranked in the world. Our technical and science jobs are being filled by foreigners being flown in from half-way around the world, because our graduates can't cut it.
My problem with the teachers unions is they've dug the battle lines around the teachers, all teachers, even the ones not doing their jobs. Any discussion of change is shot down without discussion. Teachers unions have adopted a very Republican attitude of "NO!" without offering alternatives.
That's not good enough for my tax dollars.
If I don't do my job (which often involves teaching some 18-year-old how to apply basic math or reading comprehension in a real world setting), I will lose my job. If I do my job well, I'll get a 4 percent(ish) raise. I'm having a hard time seeing what's wrong with the deal Chicago offered.
This is not to say unions should just roll over and accept everything. School districts are notorious for trying to cut costs at teacher and student expense. Higher class sizes, unfair pay, inadequate supplies and facilities have all been seen over and over--they're WHY the unions exist in the first place. I count plenty of teachers among my friends and family, and I'll be the last person to say a poor word against them, or to suggest they should deal with elected officials on a one-on-one basis.
But this combative, uncompromising stance isn't helping anyone. It's why Kasich was able to paint such a compelling nasty picture of teachers in the Senate Bill 5 fight. Like so many other things in our society right now, the old model does not work. We need to find a better way to protect everyone's interest and serve the larger good.
9/11 Anniversary
It's going to be done-to-death today. Remember the fallen--and remember why they fell.
Not because people hate us, but because we allowed political turf wars and other stupid, inexcusable issues to exist within our police and intelligence communities.
Never forget, and never let the policy makers forget either.
Not because people hate us, but because we allowed political turf wars and other stupid, inexcusable issues to exist within our police and intelligence communities.
Never forget, and never let the policy makers forget either.
Monday
International Angle: Monuments to an Empire Lost
I ran across this pretty cool piece on the BBC New website this morning.
I've heard about the Tegart fortresses in passing before, in Leon Uris's "The Haj," for instance. It was kinda cool to get the behind-the-scenes story--the guy who came up with the idea, and forced it on the Empire.
I like to reflect on the British Empire. There's a lot there.
On the one hand, an incredible resume of achievement and accomplishment. The colonizing, the spreading of a lifestyle, the trade, money, sheer impressiveness of having a quarter of the earth under direct control.
On the other hand, the dark side. The repression of the people who rightly owned the land. The brutal suppression of dissent. Exploiting the land and people, with an unequal investment back in.
It's still relevant, simply for the influence British rule has on former colonies and territories. Most obviously in places like Australia and New Zealand, and the United States.
But also in Hong Kong, a British territory until the late 90's--they've had democratic values so strongly instilled that the Chinese government is having a hard time converting them.
Of course, there's dark sides of the influence too--one doesn't have to look too far in Africa to find the damage colonialism did there.
My point is not to glorify the British Empire, but to recognize the fact it was impressive enough to live on today, influencing the world picture 60 years after it began to break apart.
I've heard about the Tegart fortresses in passing before, in Leon Uris's "The Haj," for instance. It was kinda cool to get the behind-the-scenes story--the guy who came up with the idea, and forced it on the Empire.
I like to reflect on the British Empire. There's a lot there.
On the one hand, an incredible resume of achievement and accomplishment. The colonizing, the spreading of a lifestyle, the trade, money, sheer impressiveness of having a quarter of the earth under direct control.
On the other hand, the dark side. The repression of the people who rightly owned the land. The brutal suppression of dissent. Exploiting the land and people, with an unequal investment back in.
It's still relevant, simply for the influence British rule has on former colonies and territories. Most obviously in places like Australia and New Zealand, and the United States.
But also in Hong Kong, a British territory until the late 90's--they've had democratic values so strongly instilled that the Chinese government is having a hard time converting them.
Of course, there's dark sides of the influence too--one doesn't have to look too far in Africa to find the damage colonialism did there.
My point is not to glorify the British Empire, but to recognize the fact it was impressive enough to live on today, influencing the world picture 60 years after it began to break apart.
Local Corner: Occupy Columbus Told to Remove Tent
According to the Dispatch, the tent hadn't been taken down by 12:20am Monday morning, twenty minutes after the deadline.
I haven't seen the tent personally. What I find most interesting is the comments on the Dispatch's page. A lot of people who work downtown, complaining about a largely-abandoned tent serving as an eyesore.
That's legit, if you ask me. You can't use a tent as a proxy in a protest. That's got to be the weakest, most half-ass attempt at protest I've heard of. "I'm just gonna leave this tent here as a symbol of our solidarity with the guys who are, y'know, battling cops and tear gas. Now I gotta get to work."
Either do it or don't, c'mon.
Now, do I agree with a special law being written specifically to deal with this tent? Not really. The law of unintended consequences is gonna come back to bite the city on the ass for this one. Or maybe not, as it only refers to "non-commercial" structures...I'm sure that provides enough loopholes for things the city does want to have on the sidewalks.
National View: Gov't Sells AIG
So the time has come: AIG raised enough money to buy out the majority stake the Federal government has had for the last 4 years or so. The BBC has the story.
This was all part of the bailout madness--banks, insurers, auto makers all needed insane amounts of cash to stave off certain collapse. Debate STILL rages about whether or not the bailouts were necessary (Josh Mandel, for instance, carefully avoids condemning the auto bailout in his commercials but can't see why we bailed out the banks).
Personally, I'm behind how the situation was handled. I don't think the bailouts solved any problems in our economy. Especially in banking--the same people have the same jobs and are lobbying Congress to let them do the same things that got our economy catywonkus in the first place.
But had we let all those banks and insurers fall flat on their asses? We wouldn't be bitching about a slow recovery--we'd be clamoring for more soup lines. We wouldn't be grumbling about the small profit made on AIG and other stocks the government bought--we'd be moving to Canada, or Iraq, or possibly Mexico looking for work.
Institutions like AIG would most likely have survived bankruptcy. The people responsible would most likely have been fired (or simply downsized). And a culture of fear would have risen. You think banks don't loan enough money now? A bank recently out of bankruptcy protection is not one you'd like to meet. For decades, the horror of what happened "After the Feds turned us away" would cripple the financial sector, making recovery from the housing bubble pop impossible, and compounding every other problem in the economy.
Conjecture, yeah. There's no way of knowing what's down the trail we didn't take. But I'm comfortable with these guesses.
Where I get irritated is the fact we have serious politicians who want to continue deregulating. "These guys had so much rope they did actually hang themselves, and we had to cut it for them to save them from dragging us all down. Why do you want to put shackles on their creativity?"
The bailouts were good; our inability to take steps to prevents another bailing from becoming necessary, inexcusable.
Congress, I'm looking at you. And you.
Amateurs.
This was all part of the bailout madness--banks, insurers, auto makers all needed insane amounts of cash to stave off certain collapse. Debate STILL rages about whether or not the bailouts were necessary (Josh Mandel, for instance, carefully avoids condemning the auto bailout in his commercials but can't see why we bailed out the banks).
Personally, I'm behind how the situation was handled. I don't think the bailouts solved any problems in our economy. Especially in banking--the same people have the same jobs and are lobbying Congress to let them do the same things that got our economy catywonkus in the first place.
But had we let all those banks and insurers fall flat on their asses? We wouldn't be bitching about a slow recovery--we'd be clamoring for more soup lines. We wouldn't be grumbling about the small profit made on AIG and other stocks the government bought--we'd be moving to Canada, or Iraq, or possibly Mexico looking for work.
Institutions like AIG would most likely have survived bankruptcy. The people responsible would most likely have been fired (or simply downsized). And a culture of fear would have risen. You think banks don't loan enough money now? A bank recently out of bankruptcy protection is not one you'd like to meet. For decades, the horror of what happened "After the Feds turned us away" would cripple the financial sector, making recovery from the housing bubble pop impossible, and compounding every other problem in the economy.
Conjecture, yeah. There's no way of knowing what's down the trail we didn't take. But I'm comfortable with these guesses.
Where I get irritated is the fact we have serious politicians who want to continue deregulating. "These guys had so much rope they did actually hang themselves, and we had to cut it for them to save them from dragging us all down. Why do you want to put shackles on their creativity?"
The bailouts were good; our inability to take steps to prevents another bailing from becoming necessary, inexcusable.
Congress, I'm looking at you. And you.
Amateurs.
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