Shortcakes.
I'll just do short takes today. No, not shortcakes! Short TAKES, damnit!
Ten and Counting. I find it hard to mark the anniversary of 9/11. I've always kind of bridled at the idea, pretty much since the first six-month anniversary of that awful day. It's a thing that's always with us, seared into our consciousness, a pall cast over our democracy. Do we need a ceremonial reminder? I don't know. If it brings people solace in some small way, it's worth it. For myself, though, it feels superfluous. Every day is a reminder.
There are enduring monuments to that day. Probably the most imposing are our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, still going after the death of Osama Bin Laden. What a legacy, eh? All the more bitter, really, since we still have malevolent actors like Dick Cheney running around, peddling their twisted rationales for
atrocities they played a central role in committing. Even with all this, I spent a good amount of time watching that film by those French guys who were with the firehouse that first responded to the Trade Tower disaster. Gripping stuff. Those firefighters are giants.
Lend Me Your Keynes. Obama has proposed something about a third the size of what's needed, but that, in the current political circumstances, is about twice the size of what I'd expected from him. I'm not crazy about the trade deal component - that seems like bailing out the boat on one end and poking a hole in the hull on the other - but otherwise it's not bad, nor are some of the "pay-fors" proposed in the form of tax increases on rich people. Of course, Boehner and his chorus of tea party clowns are rending their garments, swearing to oppose any new spending or increased taxes, clinging to the same tired arguments that got us here in the first place - cut taxes, slash spending, eliminate regulation.
Here's the thing: if we keep cutting, we undercut anything that resembles a recovery. I know the republicans don't like the idea that federal spending creates jobs, but they also don't like the idea of anthropogenic global warming or evolution. Their not liking something doesn't make it any less true. Spending on infrastructure projects, aid to states and localities, and the like saves and creates jobs, period. It did in 2009-10, just not enough to pull us out of the titanic hole George W. Bush and the "slash taxes and regulations" crowd pitched us into last time we let them drive.
Congress: shut up and pass the freaking bill. People need work and you've got nothing. Just pass it.
luv u,
jp
Ten and Counting. I find it hard to mark the anniversary of 9/11. I've always kind of bridled at the idea, pretty much since the first six-month anniversary of that awful day. It's a thing that's always with us, seared into our consciousness, a pall cast over our democracy. Do we need a ceremonial reminder? I don't know. If it brings people solace in some small way, it's worth it. For myself, though, it feels superfluous. Every day is a reminder.
There are enduring monuments to that day. Probably the most imposing are our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, still going after the death of Osama Bin Laden. What a legacy, eh? All the more bitter, really, since we still have malevolent actors like Dick Cheney running around, peddling their twisted rationales for
atrocities they played a central role in committing. Even with all this, I spent a good amount of time watching that film by those French guys who were with the firehouse that first responded to the Trade Tower disaster. Gripping stuff. Those firefighters are giants.Lend Me Your Keynes. Obama has proposed something about a third the size of what's needed, but that, in the current political circumstances, is about twice the size of what I'd expected from him. I'm not crazy about the trade deal component - that seems like bailing out the boat on one end and poking a hole in the hull on the other - but otherwise it's not bad, nor are some of the "pay-fors" proposed in the form of tax increases on rich people. Of course, Boehner and his chorus of tea party clowns are rending their garments, swearing to oppose any new spending or increased taxes, clinging to the same tired arguments that got us here in the first place - cut taxes, slash spending, eliminate regulation.
Here's the thing: if we keep cutting, we undercut anything that resembles a recovery. I know the republicans don't like the idea that federal spending creates jobs, but they also don't like the idea of anthropogenic global warming or evolution. Their not liking something doesn't make it any less true. Spending on infrastructure projects, aid to states and localities, and the like saves and creates jobs, period. It did in 2009-10, just not enough to pull us out of the titanic hole George W. Bush and the "slash taxes and regulations" crowd pitched us into last time we let them drive.
Congress: shut up and pass the freaking bill. People need work and you've got nothing. Just pass it.
luv u,
jp
Comments