It seems like the powers that be in our government have not learned a thing from the debacles in Vietnam, Iraq, and Libya. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), has claimed that if we go to war with Iran, we can just bomb it from the air for a few days and then it will be over.
Hey, remember when the Bush Administration said that the Iraq War would only last a few weeks to a few months? Remember when Obama said that the Libya bombing would be a quick military operation? How did those two things go again, exactly?
The Iraq War lasted eight years and cost us over $2 trillion dollars. While we got rid of Gaddafi in Libya pretty quickly, the region destabilized afterwards, much like Iraq did when Saddam Hussein was overthrown. The thing about the Middle East is that it's a complete hellhole. If you topple one bad guy, another always seems to be waiting to take his place.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Atlanta Nights: When Bad Writing Becomes Comedy Gold
It is roughly the tenth anniversary of the publishing of a hilariously--and intentionally--terrible book called Atlanta Nights, give or take a few weeks. Atlanta Nights was not written as a serious book--it was written as an experiment to see just how little Vanity Publishing companies like PublishAmerica actually cared about the quality of the work they published. Well, PublishAmerica did fall for the hoax and published the book after the authors, a group of sci-fi novelists lead by James D. MacDonald, paid them to do so. The experiment was successful.
The authors revealed that the book was a hoax a few weeks after it was published, causing much embarrassment to PublishAmerica. They didn't stop there. The cover artist got in on the fun, too, and thus the cover of Atlanta Nights features palm trees and an ocean sunset.
And now, here is a map of Georgia, so you can tell just how close Atlanta actually is to the beach.
Look at the map. Now look at the book cover. Now look at the map again. Now look at the book cover again. Now look at the map, then the cover, then the map, then the map again, then the book cover, then both simultaneously, and then look over the book cover and then the map one last time.
For comparison's sake, imagine if the book were set in Seattle, but the cover showed a picture of Haystack Rock. Or, for my family on the East Coast, imagine the book cover showed the Montauk Point Lighthouse, but the book itself was set in Philadelphia. Believe me, this is the least of geographical inaccuracies in this book.
You probably won't notice those blunders, though. You'll be too busy having your brain tied into knots at the nonsensical and completely random changes in the sequences of events that barely hold what little plot there is in the story. Not even the characters themselves are described consistently. The main characters actually change ethnicities in one chapter before becoming white again by the next chapter. One character is a man for most of the book, until he randomly becomes a woman for one chapter, and then returns to being a man again. The main "plot" of the book is set in motion when a character named Henry dies. However, Henry turns up alive in one of the chapters and talks to the other characters as though they had simply invited him over for dinner. A chapter later, he is dead once again. These occurrences are treated as mundane and normal in the context of the story, and once they're over, they're never mentioned again.
The book is full of grammatical errors throughout. One of the authors, taking cues from many a bad fanfic, writes as though he has no idea how to properly use a comma. The storyline is clunky and disjointed because each author wrote their section separately. Because they wanted the story to be as incoherent as possible, they did not read each others' contributions, and had no idea which chapters were supposed to flow into each other. This would have been more than enough, but one author upped the ante and decided to change between past tense, present tense, and future tense at random intervals during his contribution to the story. One chapter is computer generated by the Bonsai Story Generator.
Also, this story has penguins. Vicious borrowing predators that live in the Sahara and howl at the moon after dark. No, seriously. That is really how the book describes penguins.
I have decided that even though this book wasn't intended to be taken seriously, that doesn't mean that I can't make fun of it. Some spots will be a challenge, though...they really kind of make fun of themselves for me.
My mockery of chapter one will be out pretty soon, hopefully by tomorrow night.
Oh, and if you look at book cover, you'll see that Atlanta Nights was written by "Travis Tea." Since that somehow didn't give away at least part of the joke to the people in charge of PublishAmerica, I imagine that the quality of their employees is roughly equal to the quality of the books they publish.
Monday, March 2, 2015
OMFG: Smoking Pot Causes Crack Babies!
From--where else--Fox News's "Dr." David Samadi, on Fox & Friends in response to a study stating that marijuana was less dangerous than alcohol:
"It actually causes heart attacks. It increases your heart rate. And on and on."
He doesn't cite any studies to back up his claims, of course. He has the word, "Dr." next to his name, so that makes him an expert by default.
"We're seeing in Colorado that we had 13 kids that came into the emergency room and ended up in the ICU as a result of overdose from marijuana." Samadi said.
Well, you can OD from marijuana just like any other drug. Being "less dangerous" than alcohol doesn't mean it's 100% safe. I think the real question we should be asking is what parents are letting kids smoke marijuana, and can we get the child protection services on their asses ASAP?
"Now we have crack babies coming in because pregnant women are smoking this whole marijuana business," Samadi added.
OMG! Crack babies! OH NOEZ! IT'S THE END OF CIVILIZATION!!!!
Seriously? 1989 called, Mr. Samadi, they want their moral panic back.
"It actually causes heart attacks. It increases your heart rate. And on and on."
He doesn't cite any studies to back up his claims, of course. He has the word, "Dr." next to his name, so that makes him an expert by default.
"We're seeing in Colorado that we had 13 kids that came into the emergency room and ended up in the ICU as a result of overdose from marijuana." Samadi said.
Well, you can OD from marijuana just like any other drug. Being "less dangerous" than alcohol doesn't mean it's 100% safe. I think the real question we should be asking is what parents are letting kids smoke marijuana, and can we get the child protection services on their asses ASAP?
"Now we have crack babies coming in because pregnant women are smoking this whole marijuana business," Samadi added.
OMG! Crack babies! OH NOEZ! IT'S THE END OF CIVILIZATION!!!!
Seriously? 1989 called, Mr. Samadi, they want their moral panic back.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Scott Walker: Foreign-Policy Genius
With only 21 months to go until Election Day, both parties are recruiting candidates that they hope will be their ticket into the White House. Scott Walker, who has had Presidential ambitions since he survived the 2012 Wisconsin recall elections (if not earlier), was interviewed by ABC's Martha Radditz on the subject of foreign policy (namely the threat of ISIS in the Middle East). He offered the American people a taste of his foreign policy proposals. By that, I mean he tossed a word salad filled with platitudes and cliches but void of any actual substance.
Radditz: What is your big bold plan on Syria?
Walker: I think aggressively, we need to take the fight to ISIS and any other radical Islamic terrorist in and around the world, because it's not a matter of when they attempt an attack on American soil, or not if I should say, it's when, and we need leadership that says clearly, not only amongst the United States but amongst our allies, that we're willing to take appropriate action. I think it should be surgical.Very enlightening. Please tell me more.
Walker: We need to have an aggressive strategy anywhere around the world. I think it's a mistake to--
Radditz: But what does that mean? If we're bombing and we've done 2,000 air strikes, what does an aggressive strategy mean in foreign policy?
Walker: I think anywhere and everywhere, we have to be--go beyond just aggressive air strikes. We have to look at other surgical methods. And ultimately, we have to be prepared to put boots on the ground if that's what it takes, because I think, you know--
Radditz: Boots on the ground in Syria? US boots on the ground in Syria?
Walker: I wouldn't rule anything out. I think that when you have to lives of Americans at stake and our freedom loving allies anywhere in the world, we have to do things that don't allow those measures, those attacks, those abuses to come to our shores.Um, Scott? You do realize that Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric is an example of how not to articulate your policy proposals, right?
Monday, January 19, 2015
Dinesh D'Souza: The MLK of Our Time
It's not hard to see the similarities, right? Martin Luther King Jr fought for social justice and equality for all of humanity regardless of skin color. Dinesh D'Souza...well, he's an Indian-American whose made a name for himself as a successful fear-peddler to right-wing audiences. The Right-Wing Fear Peddling Industry is normally white dominated, so that counts for something, right?
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Seeing Job Growth Through a Partisan Lens
During an election year, the politicians who are running for office will have a whole host of issues to deal with. For the past several years, job growth has been a big issue, not just nationally, but at the state level. Like any statistic, measuring job growth involves numbers. While the saying, "numbers don't lie" is usually accurate, it overlooks the fact that numbers can be cherry-picked. And politicians enjoy cherry-picking during an election year.
In Wisconsin, much is being said by both side's about the jobs record of the current governor, Scott Walker. His opponent has attacked him for falling short of his pledge to create 250,000 private sector jobs in his first term (through May, Wisconsin has gained 114,300 private sector jobs since Walker took office in January 2011--it's highly unlikely that the 135,700 jobs needed to make his pledge a reality will be created in just seven months).
Scott Walker is defensive, comparing job growth during his tenure favorably to that of his predecessor Jim Doyle. At a recent news conference, Walker claimed that he created more jobs in first three years than Jim Doyle did in his entire two-term tenure. Politifact analyzed that claim and graded it "Mostly True." Walker's numbers are accurate, but they're also cherry-picked. The jobs losses of the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009 are the primary cause of Doyle's poor job performance.
However, even before the recession, job growth was slower under Doyle in his first term than under Walker, with 86,530 jobs created between 2003 and 2006 vs. 91,813 jobs created between 2011 and 2013. Does this mean that Scott Walker has more successful policies?
At face value, that would seem to be the case. However, the big picture is a little more complicated than that. A study from the Wisconsin Taxpayer's Alliance shows that the pace of job growth in Wisconsin has been slower than the historical average since 2000. But Wisconsin is hardly alone here. This is true of a majority of US States, and for the nation as a whole. Even before the Great Recession, job growth and the performance of the US Economy in the mid-2000s was rather modest when compared with previous expansions. Much of this had to due with the manufacturing employment sector, which was hit hard by the 2001-02 recession and then stagnated for the majority of the mid-2000s expansionary cycle.
Wisconsin, an upper-midwest state where manufacturing plays a large roll in the economy, had job growth that lagged behind the US as a whole because of it. Most midwestern states did, especially Michigan and Ohio.
Since 2010, a slight-rebound in US manufacturing has benefitted the midwest, Wisconsin being no exception. In 2010, the last year of Jim Doyle's tenure, Wisconsin gained 33,658 private sector jobs. Job growth in Wisconsin has not different significantly during the Walker years (29,800 in 2011, 33,872 in 2012, 28,141 in 2013). Wisconsin, like most states, is also beholden to national trends in the economy and the jobs market. The governor will take credit for good conditions and will be blamed for bad ones, but there are a lot more forces at work.
Of course, political partisanship also plays a role here. During the 2012 elections, the Republicans loved attacking Obama on his jobs record while downplaying the role of the Great Recession. The jobs record of George W. Bush, however, wasn't very impressive, but the seemed to enjoy bragging about the 7.4 million jobs created between from 2002 to 2007. This ignores the fact that in 2002, the first year of the mid-2000s expansion, the US actually shed 508,000 jobs. And in 2003, it created only 105,000 jobs. By contrast, the first two years of the current recovery posted a gain of 958,000 jobs in 2010 and 2,083,000 jobs in 2011. This followed a loss of 3,591,000 jobs in 2008 and 4,987,000 jobs in 2009. Since there were 133,976,000 jobs in January 2009, job growth during the Obama years was in the net loss region before July 2012. In January 2013, the country had 135,261,000 jobs, giving Obama's first term an unimpressive net gain of only 1,285,000 jobs.
Several Republicans, including Scott Walker, claimed that this was the worst four years of job growth since the Great Depression. In fact, the four years of Bush's first term were worse. In January 2001, the country had 132,694,000 jobs. In January 2005, that number was 132,753,000. This is a net gain of only 59,000 jobs.
During the six-year expansion from 2002 to 2007, a total of 7,398,000 jobs were created. From 2010 through 2013, 7,608,000 jobs were created. Those observations used similar cherry-picking to those of Scott Walker, just using different years. Both he and I ignore the job losses of 2008 and 2009. The main reason I'm mentioning this is to show how easy it is to cherry pick data and how easy it is to view it from a partisan lens. The way Walker picked his data shows that he has a better jobs record than Jim Doyle. The Democrats obviously aren't going to argue in favor of such a claim. The way I picked my data shows that Obama has a better jobs record than Bush. The Republicans damn sure as hell aren't going to argue in favor of that. Neither would Scott Walker.
In Wisconsin, much is being said by both side's about the jobs record of the current governor, Scott Walker. His opponent has attacked him for falling short of his pledge to create 250,000 private sector jobs in his first term (through May, Wisconsin has gained 114,300 private sector jobs since Walker took office in January 2011--it's highly unlikely that the 135,700 jobs needed to make his pledge a reality will be created in just seven months).
Scott Walker is defensive, comparing job growth during his tenure favorably to that of his predecessor Jim Doyle. At a recent news conference, Walker claimed that he created more jobs in first three years than Jim Doyle did in his entire two-term tenure. Politifact analyzed that claim and graded it "Mostly True." Walker's numbers are accurate, but they're also cherry-picked. The jobs losses of the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009 are the primary cause of Doyle's poor job performance.
However, even before the recession, job growth was slower under Doyle in his first term than under Walker, with 86,530 jobs created between 2003 and 2006 vs. 91,813 jobs created between 2011 and 2013. Does this mean that Scott Walker has more successful policies?
At face value, that would seem to be the case. However, the big picture is a little more complicated than that. A study from the Wisconsin Taxpayer's Alliance shows that the pace of job growth in Wisconsin has been slower than the historical average since 2000. But Wisconsin is hardly alone here. This is true of a majority of US States, and for the nation as a whole. Even before the Great Recession, job growth and the performance of the US Economy in the mid-2000s was rather modest when compared with previous expansions. Much of this had to due with the manufacturing employment sector, which was hit hard by the 2001-02 recession and then stagnated for the majority of the mid-2000s expansionary cycle.
Wisconsin, an upper-midwest state where manufacturing plays a large roll in the economy, had job growth that lagged behind the US as a whole because of it. Most midwestern states did, especially Michigan and Ohio.
Since 2010, a slight-rebound in US manufacturing has benefitted the midwest, Wisconsin being no exception. In 2010, the last year of Jim Doyle's tenure, Wisconsin gained 33,658 private sector jobs. Job growth in Wisconsin has not different significantly during the Walker years (29,800 in 2011, 33,872 in 2012, 28,141 in 2013). Wisconsin, like most states, is also beholden to national trends in the economy and the jobs market. The governor will take credit for good conditions and will be blamed for bad ones, but there are a lot more forces at work.
Of course, political partisanship also plays a role here. During the 2012 elections, the Republicans loved attacking Obama on his jobs record while downplaying the role of the Great Recession. The jobs record of George W. Bush, however, wasn't very impressive, but the seemed to enjoy bragging about the 7.4 million jobs created between from 2002 to 2007. This ignores the fact that in 2002, the first year of the mid-2000s expansion, the US actually shed 508,000 jobs. And in 2003, it created only 105,000 jobs. By contrast, the first two years of the current recovery posted a gain of 958,000 jobs in 2010 and 2,083,000 jobs in 2011. This followed a loss of 3,591,000 jobs in 2008 and 4,987,000 jobs in 2009. Since there were 133,976,000 jobs in January 2009, job growth during the Obama years was in the net loss region before July 2012. In January 2013, the country had 135,261,000 jobs, giving Obama's first term an unimpressive net gain of only 1,285,000 jobs.
Several Republicans, including Scott Walker, claimed that this was the worst four years of job growth since the Great Depression. In fact, the four years of Bush's first term were worse. In January 2001, the country had 132,694,000 jobs. In January 2005, that number was 132,753,000. This is a net gain of only 59,000 jobs.
During the six-year expansion from 2002 to 2007, a total of 7,398,000 jobs were created. From 2010 through 2013, 7,608,000 jobs were created. Those observations used similar cherry-picking to those of Scott Walker, just using different years. Both he and I ignore the job losses of 2008 and 2009. The main reason I'm mentioning this is to show how easy it is to cherry pick data and how easy it is to view it from a partisan lens. The way Walker picked his data shows that he has a better jobs record than Jim Doyle. The Democrats obviously aren't going to argue in favor of such a claim. The way I picked my data shows that Obama has a better jobs record than Bush. The Republicans damn sure as hell aren't going to argue in favor of that. Neither would Scott Walker.
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