Consider these numbers: Approximately 2,225 people killed a day on average: That’s the number Stalin killed if we accept Robert Conquest’s high estimate of 20 million total Stalin victims over his rule of approximately 25 years. Approximately 6,000 people killed per day on average: That’s the number we get if we accept Timothy Snyder’s estimate […]
As our befuddled and recalcitrant Congress and President move us ever closer to the abyss of default, we are beginning to hear the Administration’s payment plan if the debt ceiling is not raised by next Tuesday, August 2. All we know for sure as of this writing is that the Administration plans to pay bondholders […]
Let’s pretend that we’re the gods and goddesses of media coverage and we’re faced with the dilemma of deciding how much time and space to spend reporting on the deaths of two prominent people. We know in advance that we will assign 5,715 Internet stories to the more significant death and 728 to the less […]
As reported in today’s New York Times, we now have three plans to reduce the deficit as a condition of raising the debt ceiling: 1) The McConnell-Reid Outline; 2) “Gang of 6” Plan; and 3) The Tea Party Plan (AKA “cut, cap and balance.”). These three plans present us with the quintessential American consumer decision—choosing […]
It must be “Get Michele Bachmann” Week, what with the succession of rumors, innuendos and news swirling about her over the past few days, including: She believes that black farmers against whom the U.S. government practiced discrimination do not deserve compensatory payments. Her husband’s Christian counseling clinics have therapies that try to “straighten out” gays. […]
Hallelujah! Finally some very good news: the Institute of Medicine, which advises the U.S. government on health issues, has recommended that healthcare plans provide contraception free to women, including the accident-erasing Plan B pill. The news should cheer three groups: women in general, those who oppose abortions and those who want to lower healthcare costs. […]
Read More… from No-cost contraception will cut healthcare bills and abortion rates.
My writing mind wants to escape for a little bit from the farcical circus in Washington, as our elected officials play chicken with our debt-fueled economy. So come with me to the more refined world of historical assessment. I read a lot of history, and one trend I have noticed since the turn of the […]
Transport yourself back in time about 10 years, and assume you have some kind of a decent job. With the price of movie tickets pushing eight-nine bucks and pay TV offering a disappointing selection of movies, wouldn’t you have paid $16 a month for unlimited movies over your computer and one DVD at a time […]
The Republicans have painted themselves into a corner on the debt ceiling limit by linking Congressional approval to raise the ceiling to a strict program of spending cuts with no tax increases. Let’s set aside for one instant the fact that only through tax increases to fund greater spending will we start creating jobs again […]
If anyone had any doubt about the racial bias of the current recession, the Associated Press article that came out this past weekend should be an epiphany, a revelation or the nail in the coffin. There can be no doubt: African-Americans are being hurt worse than others in our current economic turmoil. This paragraph from […]
Read More… from Disparate impact of recession on Blacks shows that institutional racism still exists