We Ignore It

In case you thought drug abuse was the problem of someone else: 78% of drug addicts in America are white.

Instead of spending an hour watching Survivor or Desperate Housewives this week, spend a few minutes watching this.

~Forth

more about “We Ignore It“, posted with vodpod

Wave at me.

For all of my friends who asked me what Twitter was 6 months ago and to all of the people who have whispered to me “What’s Twitter?” in the last 3 months, I found a 2 minute video explaining what Google Wave is, or at least what 3.5% of it is.  Yes, I have actually had several people ask me what Twitter was in low conspiratorial tones as if they were embarrassed to be outside of the loop.  I didn’t mind though because frankly it’s nice to be in the know and it is nice to help a friend.  I see this happening in the next six months with Google Wave so I’m here to head that off.

~Forth

Is there something wrong with majority rules?

When Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), representative of the double consonant majority of New Hampshire, said the title of this blog he was speaking to history… not to the future.

But, and I’m sure it was a big one, BUT, he probably wasn’t planning on being in the minority any time soon.

I ask instead, when did Wal Mart gain the same rights as Walt Henry?  Why does Conoco deserve better treatment than Conner Lavery? I don’t know.  What I do know is that Wal Mart has more money than Walt and that Conoco more power than my cousin Conner.  I do know that in the waning hours of of stupidity and foolishness, there will no doubt be a few Cassandras – a few oracles of reason – a few Americans who question if Murrow was right.  If Murrow’s words still ring true.  If “Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.” still means something.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure.

~Forth

P.S. The health insurance industry is currently spending $1.4 million a day lobbying Congress. What’s in your wallet?

Post Office Stimulus

Watch it, you slacker.  The last half is the best.

~Forth

Because there are private bureaucrats, too.

I read today that in the past decade the insurance companies have made a profit of 428%.  Is it me or does the industry’s woe is me routine seem a bit … I dunno, disingenuous? It sent me looking for a current Noam Chomsky talk on healthcare since I had posted one during the election season.

Chomsky contends that the American public has supported a modern healthcare system for decades but the business world has always been against it.  The recent years’ explosion of healthcare costs for manufacturing companies (see the car industry) has caused this industry to support a some sort of single-payer government healthcare plan.  In other words, when the people want it, meh.  When industry wants it… well that’s another matter.

My favorite part starts at the 6.25 mark where he talks about how the health industry’s complaints that the public plan will drive them out of business might as well be an admission that they are so inefficient that the government will do it better than they will.  I do not understand how the nationalized health care opponents can say the government doesn’t know what they are doing yet the healthcare industry says that it can not compete with the government.  Seems paradoxical.

~Forth

You May Have Missed It

You were asleep.  It’s alright, so was I.  When I got in my car at 6.30 the talk was of a speech that happened while the nation slept.  It is mostly our habit to ignore anything that doesn’t happen within the time zones that encompass our nation but this time it happened to make the radio and I happened to hear it on NPR.

The president spoke in Cairo a little over a week ago and I heard it a few hours later on the radio.  The portions that I heard were interesting, and well thought out but the one section that struck me was this:

Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists.  They have killed in many countries.  They have killed people of different faiths — but more than any other, they have killed Muslims.  Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam.

This line struck me for many reasons but by far the most profound thought I had was I’ve never thought of it like that before. If there is one point that I’d wish people every where to hear, it is that point.  I have had a little less than a dozen Muslim students pass through my classroom door and, other than the hajib they wear as a choice, they are as diverse as their peers.  Some are quiet, some are leaders, some are thoughtful, and some don’t participate in class.  I’ve always tried to reconcile the horrors of the world by thinking that not all Muslims are the same but I’ve never quite thought what the president said in Cairo.

Of all the things I want people to remember is that these extremists – these terrorists – aren’t waging war on America or the western world, they are waging a war on those who disagree with them, on the good and the sensible who wish for peace and prosperity.  These people are Christian and Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist, Muslim and Atheist, but mostly they are people.

I just wish it was that simple…

~Forth

Iowa does it again!

Awhile back I wrote a post praising Iowa for banning smoking in bars and restaurants and making fun of them a bit while making fun of Wisconsin as well for not following Iowa’s lead.  I grew up on the border of Iowa and Illinois – Back grew up on the Iowa-Wisconsin border - and in my time I’ve done a good bit of making fun of Iowa, I mean, it’s IOWA?!?  But they continue to astound me.  Having seen Milk and really being taken by the story, I care a bit more about this subject then I might have prior.

Then I saw this exchange between Jon Stewart and Mike Huckabee and thought Stewart nailed it for me.  Seriously, watch it.  I had intended to write a post on it but I never got around to it.

Then Iowa of all places goes and does it again.  This story from their Senate majority leader about his 20 year old daughter says it all:

In my mind they didn’t legalize gay marriage so much as strike down a law that disenfranchised Iowa citizens.  Unfortunately, polls seem to point to the topic as polarizing in Iowa – it’s polarizing everywhere – and while it seems like it is secure for 4 to 5 years it will really depend upon a stable Democratic majority. /sigh

~Forth

UPDATE: The Bearded Man linked this in his comment below but I love this scene (as he knows) and I love this show (he knows this, too).

I Got Nothin’

The last month has been crazy with the onset of lacrosse season and the perpetual grading of papers, so I leave you with a bit of late night TV to enjoy.

As well as the reverb:

~Forth

The Electoral College

A few friends were having a “talk” about the Electoral College and one mentioned it to me.  Forth being Forth, I went out and compiled some numbers for you to toss around in your head.

Largest 10 States Estimated 2008 Population 165 million

Smallest 10 States Estimated 2008 Population 8.724 million

California is the largest with 36,756,666 million people.  They have 55 Electoral College votes.
Their population per Electoral College vote is 664,604.

Wyoming is the smallest with 532,668 people.  They have 3 Electoral College votes.
Their population per Electoral College vote 174,277.

The difference between the largest and smallest state today there are 36.224 million people.

The Electoral College has been in place as we know it since 1804.

The population in 1804 of the nation was somewhere around 6 million and there were 17 states.

Virginia had the most electors -24 votes- with a population of 807,557
Their population per Electoral College vote was 33,648.

Delaware and Ohio had the least -3 votes- with populations of 64,273 and 45,365
Their population per Electoral College vote was 21,424 and 15,121.

The difference between the largest and smallest state today is 762,192 people.

The executive summary goes like this: When the US adopted the electoral college system the largest state was only about 3/4 of a million larger than the smallest.  Each electoral college vote in Virginia represented only half of the population that it did in Ohio or Delaware.  Now the the votes of California only represent 1/6th of what they represent in Wyoming.

Now of course, California gets a lot more attention than Wyoming but does that seem fair either?  The system seems off.  I’m not proposing we go straight popular vote (though that does seem to be the conventional wisdom when it comes to changing the system) but I am saying we should have another look at it.

My argument is this:  the system seems to have been designed to prevent the country from going to far too fast; it has also allowed the minority -that is frequently belligerent in this day and age- to hold hostage necessary and dare I say intelligent reform.  Since the less-populated more rural states tend to be more conservative, the system is biased towards the status quo.  This, at times, has been beneficial, but as the majority of the American populous moves towards the cities it is also creating a disparity in voting power which I find unacceptable.  It is theoretically possible for a bill to have a large majority of the American people’s support yet fail in the Senate where rules much like the Electoral College give far more power to the smaller states than is necessarily equitable.

Am I in favor of the little guy having little or no say? Of course not.  But at the moment, the little guy has WAY too much of a say.  Sometimes we hear too much from a minority that isn’t 35 or 40% of the population but is more like 10% of it.  As Ike once said of a small majority that felt Social Security should be done away with “their number is negligible and they are stupid.”
~Forth

Outsourcing Reactions

I could react to the Un-State of the Union and the Republican response but I’m not up for it and frankly my readers would rather hear other people talk about it I’m sure.  In case you were wondering where the joke was in that sentence it was “my readers.”  Everyone knows no one reads this blog for me.

The second video is particularly interesting.  I have little or nothing against Bobby Jindal other than I don’t like the argument that government must suck because it has always sucked.  That just sounds defeatist to me.

Smart people saying stuff:

Darn’t I can’t get a youtube video to Brooks and Shields from Jim Lehrer News Hour reacting to Obama.  If you follow this link and click on the left dot in the bottom right of the video you’ll get that part of it.  WHY MUST THE INTERNET BE SO HARD.

I can get them reacting to the Republican response though:

Brooks has always been billed as a conservative columnist but I’m guessing there are conservatives howling at his reaction as Progressive and Liberal.  Meh, I disagree with him a lot but I think he’s smart and honest.

~Forth