T.A.S.S is of course the Russian State Newspaper and neither it nor its kin Pravda (ironically The Truth) had much of a reputation for useful or accurate journalism
Government aid for newspapers doesn’t fit the American ideas of a free press or capitalism very well. I really don’t think that there won’t be strings attached and the last thing the US needs is another propaganda engine.
Besides if no one wants to read the paper anymore why should the Taxpayers pay for it ?
I’ll grant you that local coverage is important but that is better met by having a “G-Tube” Citizen Journalists (all praise the mighty digital camera and laptop) and Transparency laws.
By streaming all the meetings and proceedings of the government live and unfiltered by journalists right to the web, trials, city council meetings, debates, you name it. Stream it (with a delay when mandated for some trials) and archive it all
This sort of transparency would give far better opportunity for citizen participation and would be far more effective than the current system of mostly tame journalists at getting knowledge outrages and abuses to the public
DUI is a pretty nasty offense but I think this sort thing is an overreaction in many cases.
Policies that do not differentiate very well between reckless drunken driving and slightly impaired driving are flawed. Minor DUI offenses (and yes there are such things) are really are not much worse than talking on a cell phone or driving while tired. We don’t go all out in these things (and can’t really) and I don’t see that just because booze is involved that we should on minor DUI’s. We should let the punishment fit the crime and given the legacy of bad results and overreactions (c.f Prohibition) it would be wise not to let the victims lobby suggest laws.
Of course as an alternative to jail or a suspended license for serious repeat offenders, well its not a bad idea.
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” - Edmund Burke, 1770
Dr. Warren’s Book “the Two Income Trap” trap is well worth the read but if you don’t have time to read it you will find the lecture below to be very worthwhile. Just leave it on in the background and give it a listen while she explains why the US Middle and Lower classes have been shafted so badly in the last generation.
I am hoping this year will be a better one that the last one. With all the economic turmoil and our first “left” government in more than 30 years things certainly will be different.
This year I hope to have some videos up on YouTube, a better tracking system to find out just how many people actually read me, and a lot more income.
This is a solid explanation of just what the heck went on with our economy. Its a little light on solutions but its still a very complete and easy to read primer.
The ancient Greeks had a term for what we are missing, Arete roughly
“goodness”, “excellence” or “virtue” of any kind. In its earliest appearance in Greek, this notion of excellence was bound up with the notion of the fulfillment of purpose or function; the act of living up to one’s full potential.
When we rediscover this strength in ourselves we can again become great, the kind if nation that put a man on the moon instead of the falling apart Empire Friedman references.
The choice is simple — the reconstruction of the South, or the deconstruction of the U.S. economy.
Its probably the most important article I’ve read in a long time. It lays out much of the current internal crises and gives us workable solutions all at one time.
To Whit
The alternative to the Southernization of the U.S. is the Americanization of the South — a process that was not completed by Reconstruction and the New Deal and the Civil Rights era, which can be thought of as the Second Reconstruction. The non-Southern states, through their representatives in Congress and the executive branch, and with the help of enlightened Southerners, need to use the power of the federal government to put a stop to the Southern conservative race-to-the-bottom strategy once and for all.
Call it the Third Reconstruction. The first step is to end the race to the bottom in wages and regulation, by national action. The national minimum wage should be gradually raised until it is a living wage, of $10 to $12 an hour, and it should be adjusted for inflation. At the same time, federal regulations should set a higher floor with respect to worker safety regulations, environmental regulations, and others, preventing America’s own internal rogue states from gaining any advantages by flouting national standards. Most Southern politicians and business leaders will howl that this will bankrupt the South. That’s what they said about the abolition of slavery, child labor, and the convict lease system, too. The South was a better place to live after those reforms, and it will be a better place to live when there is a living wage throughout the South.
Folks, pass the article on. discuss it, and think on it. I think Lind onto something here.
Not my title. Its the work of the inimitable Robert Reich.
The article is well worth the read as it explains in simple language some of the reasons why the stimulus and bail out are likely to fail.
Of course there are other problems including lop sided trade, automation and demographics in play but there is enough meat here to spur some thought anyway.