I Hate What You Just Said

You learn something new every day at the Wasilla Assembly of God Church.

A must-read article on Obamanomics.

For anyone who follows economic trends, or politics, or pays attention to anything, or has a brain, or can see, or isn’t a moron, the findings of the recent Brookings Institution report will not be terribly surprising. From the Christian Science Monitor:

One less visible aspect of the economic boom of the 1990s was a decline in the number of low-income working people who lived in very poor neighborhoods.

But that trend has reversed during the first five years of this decade, according to a new analysis by the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. It found that the number of poor people who live in areas of concentrated poverty increased by 41 percent since 1999.

“Many of these neighborhoods that made these great gains in the 1990s – with the downturn in the beginning of this decade and the weak recovery – have been hit hard by this economic change,” says Elizabeth Kneebone, lead author of the report and a senior research analyst at Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program. “We’ve lost a lot of ground and see poverty again increasing in these neighborhoods.”

Such increases in concentrations of poor people in specific neighborhoods create a kind of self-perpetuating economic segregation, says Ms. Kneebone. That’s because low-income neighborhoods generally have lower-performing schools, less access to good jobs, poorer health outcomes, higher crime rates, and less economic investment.

“As people try to work their way out of poverty, they don’t find as many of the opportunities they need in very low- income neighborhoods,” she says. “All of this creates the cycle that perpetuates poverty.”

Not surprising. Incredibly sad, but not surprising.

In a recent interview from the Olympics with Bob Costas, George W. Bush said “I don’t see America having problems.” Sure, he wasn’t referring to class issues as such, but to America’s position in the world.  (Which still makes that statement totally nuts).  But it is a perfect summary of the Bush Administration’s attitudes, isn’t it? Bush doesn’t see the problems. America is fine. Iraq is doing great. Freedom is on the march. Mission accomplished. I can’t think of any mistakes I’ve made.

He is President Pangloss.

Contrast Bush’s comments - indeed his entire conduct during his presidency - with Lyndon Johnson’s comments during his 1964 State of the Union Address:

This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. I urge this Congress and all Americans to join with me in that effort.

It will not be a short or easy struggle, no single weapon or strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won. The richest Nation on earth can afford to win it.

LBJ was no saint, to be sure, for many reasons. But it would be nice for this country if our President, like Johnson did in ‘64, had some sense of the gravity of poverty, and the terrible sin of radical inequality.

It would be nice, wouldn’t it?

8.04.08

Dear Pasquale,

I read about your family’s generosity to my campaign while watching several websites this afternoon.

I was honored that you and your wife, Alice, each gave the maximum donation possible to the RNC-McCain Fund — a whopping $28,500 each!

This must have been a true hardship for you. I read that you currently rent your home in Queens; and my campaign staff informs me that Alice is an “office manager” at Hess petroleum and you are a “track foreman” at Amtrak. Why, the office manager for my campaign doesn’t make $28,500 in an entire year! And Pasquale, since I’ve proposed eliminating Amtrak and personally voted to cut the budget of Amtrak repeatedly, I know how much you must be hurting during this period of financial downturn. And yet, you have somehow miraculously found a way to write me a check for $57,000 dollars. You must both be working 3 or 4 additional jobs. A wise man once said that this kind of behavior is “uniquely American.”

My friends, I appreciate your generosity.

Yours sincerely,

John McCain

P.S. Say hello to everyone over at Hess petroleum for me…

Who do those Europeans think they are, pretending to show us Americans how to brew beer?  Hop pellets, rice…ginseng, guarana.  B-to-the-E doggg, it’s what fine brewing is all about:

B^E is Budweiser’s newest entry in a long line of innovative beers. This remarkable new product combines beer with caffeine, ginseng and guarana giving you a new malt beverage with a variety of ingredients.

B^E has a bold and bracing beer taste with lightly sweet/tart tones, and a “wow” factor in the finish. Created for those contemporary adults who are looking for the latest flavors and variety of mixtures to keep up with their fast paced and highly social lifestyles, B^E takes beer to the next level.

It’s different. It’s exciting. It’s beer with something extra!

How’d that work out?

Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. will reformulate its alcoholic energy drinks to remove caffeine and other stimulants they contain as part of a nationwide legal settlement, it announced Thursday.

An investigation by attorneys general of 11 states found the largest U.S. brewer was marketing its caffeinated alcoholic beverages to minors and misrepresenting the drinks’ health benefits, New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.

Though the company agreed to make changes, it insisted its Tilt and Bud Extra drinks were not marketed to minors.

CNN

Any more questions about how the King of Beers became the Belgian biatch?   Europe is kicking our ass, admit it.

From the AP:

ORLANDO, Fla. (July 12) - An Orlando man has traded the naming rights to his unborn son for a $100 gas card.

David Partin recently heard that a local radio station was giving $100 worth of free gas to the listener who called in with the most interesting item to trade.

Stop Tape!  I’d feel a lot better about this if it was more than $100.  I mean, aren’t we about 3 decades past people getting excited about winning $100 on the radio?  Roll tape:

Central Florida radio hosts Richard Dixon and J. Willoughby were quick to take Partin up on his offer, The Orlando Sentinel reports.

Stop Tape!  We all knew this was coming out of Florida when we saw the headline, didn’t we.  Will Florida please secede?  Seriously.  Please, Florida, just go away.  Roll Tape:

When the baby is born this winter, he will be named Dixon and Willoughby Partin — with the “and” included.

Stop Tape!  This Winter!  You mean this idiot has this tiny award on layaway!  He’s set the bar so low that he knows two seasons from now he’s gonna need gas money bad enough to sell out his son?  This is bad.  Roll tape:

Partin’s girlfriend, Samantha, says at least her son will have an interesting story about how he got his name.

Stop Tape:  It goes something like this.  My Dad’s a douche and my Mom didn’t use one.  They both listen to two douches on the radio.  My douche Dad thought he needed gas money until he learned that the car needed more than gas to run.  It needed to be taken off blocks in the front of the yard and affixed with tires and an engine among other things.  Roll tape:

Dixon and Willoughby plan to be at the hospital when the baby is born and will hand over the gas card when they see the official birth certificate.

End Tape:  Of course Dixon and Willoughby will be at the hospital - he’s the one being born.  Oh, wait, the radio guys.  Got it.

Those Irish punks have ruined everything, now Poland :

In a newspaper interview published Tuesday, Mr. Kaczynski said it would “pointless” to sign the Lisbon Treaty in light of the Irish rejection.

Damn, that’s the height of amazing nerve.  I’ll bet Sarko’s not happy.

“The European idea is in danger if we don’t protect Europeans,” Mr. Sarkozy said Monday.

What’s the “European idea” you ask? Is it a more moderate, sensible version of the American dream? A collective light bulb hovering over Belgium?  What kind of fuel economy does it get?  Does it include peeing standing up?

In a surprisingly frank admission, the French foreign minister, Bernard Koucher said the no vote in Ireland illustrated how the European Union had alienated its citizens by conducting politics in a manner they find incomprehensible.

“They understand nothing,” Mr. Kouchner said in comments to journalists in Paris “The institutions interest no one.”

He argued that, in contrast, voters did appreciate that Europe “was not able to respond to the rise in the price of petrol.” As for the jargon in which business in Brussels is conducted, Mr. Kouchner said, “no one understands — including me.”

New York Times

Conducting politics in a manner they find incomprehensible.  Good thing we don’t have that problem here in the greatest and best country God has ever given man on the face of the earth.

The current trajectory of wealth distribution in America must certainly be making this man proud. For the rest of us, The Nation has devoted its June 30 issue to the growing problem of profound inequality.

The handy “guide” to extreme inequality is filled with useful links.

And the piece titled “The Rich and the Rest of Us,” by John Cavanagh and Chuck Collins, is on the money (bad pun intended):

Over the past three decades, market-worshiping politicians and their corporate backers have engineered the most colossal redistribution of wealth in modern world history, a redistribution from the bottom up, from working people to a tiny global elite.

Indeed. And part of the problem is about changing the discourse:

To reverse this reckless course, we need to change our nation’s dominant political narrative and restore faith in the critical role that government must play to protect the common good. But we can’t stop there. We need to confront directly the threat posed by this inequality.

That won’t be easy. Too many Americans see the enormous concentration of our nation’s wealth as a symptom of a sick society, not a cause. Indeed, most of our politicians and pundits refuse to treat it as any sort of problem at all. They may sometimes bewail particularly unseemly CEO paychecks. They may twitter occasionally about the latest bilious billionaire extravagance. But that’s it. The Senate couldn’t even manage to eliminate a tax loophole for gazillionaire hedge-fund managers last year. And even progressive wish lists tend to call only for a return to pre-George W. Bush tax rates, a step that would undo a mere one-sixth of the rise in income inequality we have experienced since the late 1970s, according to the Brookings Institution.

(I seem to recall some other dude striking similar notes recently).

In any event, we best address our nation’s economic woes quickly. That way, we can get back to tackling the really serious issues, like the War. On Christmas.

Ah, who isn’t just a bit nostalgic about the great Gold Rush of 1849?  You remember the fun we used to have claim jumping, exploiting Chinese workers, and once we got warmed up, strip mining?

For my money, it doesn’t get any better than the old Amalgamated Copper Mining Company mine in Butte, Montana, now known as the Anaconda Mine with its main attraction, the Berkeley Pit.

Is there nothing better than seeing American ambition from outer space?  Yeah those were good times indeed, when men were men, the West was wild and digging massive holes in the earth’s crust was but a glint in the eye of Copper King William Andrews Clark.

So let us then hail the arrival of the next Gold Rush, renew our rugged individualism and place our claims once again:

Today, record gold prices, widespread economic turmoil, and the enduring optimism of America’s entrepreneurial classes have combined to entice fresh swarms of prospectors to head west in search of hidden riches beneath the picturesque hills and ravines of the Golden State.

The “new 49ers,” as today’s wave of fortune-seekers are known, are a breed apart from their historic predecessors, driving trucks and SUVs down the dusty tracks first created by trains of horse-drawn wagons nearly 160 years ago. But they share with them a timeless predisposition for what veterans call gold fever. “It’s like going to Vegas, except with this, we actually get to win something,” said Mike Dunn, clutching almost an ounce of nuggets unearthed from the south fork of the Feather river last Sunday. “We’ve just hit a halo of gold, and this lot alone must be worth between $500 (£250) and $1,500. I’ve just about paid for my trip already.”

The Independent

I just felt a tingle down my spine.

Dreams won’t be the only things broken. Last week, three men were killed trying to reopen a 19th-century mine in rural Madera County. Police said the men, all in their twenties, died from carbon monoxide poisoning while using a petrol-powered pump to drain the 20ft-deep shaft.

And no risk.

“There is so much of that stuff out here you wouldn’t believe,” said Ekhard Davisky, who pans for gold near Paradise in Butte County. “The trick is finding it. I think it was Mark Twain who said a gold mine is just a hole in the ground owned by a liar, and I think he just about got it in one there. But if you know what you are doing, and you are prepared to listen and learn about how to do it properly, there’s never been a better time to be looking for gold. Back in 1849, an ounce of gold was $18.80, which was about enough to buy a man a nice suit and a steak dinner. And when you think about it, that’s the price of it now. These are happy days.”

Damn right they are.  Meet me and Jedadiah at the Buttercup Pantry in Placerville and we’ll strike it rich.

From baking to the dap:

That’s what politics is all about, baby.  Build that bridge girls.