“Want to trim the federal budget and improve the military at the same time? Shut down West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy, and use some of the savings to expand ROTC scholarships.”
Tom Ricks made the case in last Sunday’s Washington Post.
But that’s not the best line. This, from Charles Pierce is:
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that, if Ricks’s proposal is enacted, Notre Dame is unlikely ever to win another football game.”
Historian Marc Simmons begins his Saturday column:
“During the 1846-47 U.S. conquest of New Mexico, an uprising at Taos against American occupation proved to be one of the bloodiest and least understood episodes of the entire military campaign.”
What would happen if CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox decided they could do just as well as cable networks (just as well meaning, make just as much money). At some point this will happen.
Are the local TV channels (the network affiliates) planning for this?
Or are they like the newspapers, about to be leapfrogged by changing technology without a clue?
“‘This is a place where fans of waterboarding can meet, chat, and yes, hook up,’ Mr. Cheney told Fox News host Sean Hannity last night.”
Go read it all.
Links are through iTunes.
Tower of Song by Leonard Cohen
Mighty Storm by The Duhks
Bare Bones by Madeleine Peyroux
Walk Between the Raindrops by James McMurtry
Hope by Jack Johnson
And Lively Up Yourself by Bob Marley
When are we going to get a “do not send” list to prevent junk mail?
I’d be willing to bet, for example, that I’ve averaged at least one piece of mail a week for 10 years from Max Sanchez a local realtor.
Max, Max, cut it out. Please. I will never, ever list with you. One more piece of mail will not change my mind.
There’s two or three pieces a week for hearing aids — because my father’s mail was forwarded here after he died.
Then there’s the stupid flyer that comes every Tuesday. I never go out to get the mail on Tuesday.
Blogging today is strictly in commemoration of
. . . Shirley MacLaine, five-time nominee for the Oscar for best actress — winning for Terms of Endearment in 1984 — was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in Richmond, Virginia 75 years ago today. She and brother Warren grew up in Arlington, Virginia.
. . . Barbra Streisand was born in Brooklyn 67 years ago today. Miss Streisand has been nominated for the best actress Oscar twice, winning for Funny Girl in 1969. She also shared the Oscar with Paul Williams for best original song in 1977 for A Star is Born.
Reportedly MacLaine and Streisand celebrate their birthday together each year.
It appears Chrysler for certain and General Motors most likely will go through some sort of bankruptcy. Chrysler will probably be liquidated; GM restructured as a much smaller company.
There are three reasons for bankruptcy that I can figure. Renegotiate with bondholders (those that hold the debt amassed by the companies). Renegotiate with labor unions (and get the government to assume the massive health and retirement obligations). And third, renegotiate with dealers.
GM has more than twice as many dealers (over 6,000) as Toyota (1,500) and Honda (1,300) put together. How many of those 6,000 GM dealers are unnecessary? How many GM dealers do you suppose will disappear in the next 12 months? (All the Chrysler and Dodge dealers will.)
And how will the loss of those stores affect the local advertising market? Will more newspapers close? Will TV stations? At times it seems as if local TV is nothing more than car dealer ads and live news stand ups.
And can we afford a society with that many out of work car salesmen on the streets?
(Chrysler has 66,000 employees. I never see mention of how many people work for Chrysler and Dodge dealers.)
“We are big believers in dentist-chair bargaining,” he told a gathering of insolvency lawyers and accountants. “For those of you not familiar with this approach, it is inspired by the story of the man who walks into his dentist’s office, grabs the dentist by the balls, and says, ‘Now, let’s not hurt each other.'”
Ron Bloom, financial strategist and member of the president’s auto-industry task force quoted by Peter J. Boyer in The World of Business: The Road Ahead in this week’s New Yorker. Online article available only to subscribers, but an excellent read on the current state of the auto-industry.
Aside factoid. Honda has 1,300 U.S. dealers. Toyota has about 1,500 dealers. GM has more than 6,000 dealers (all protected by state franchise laws).
“Anyhow, the real reason for the electoral college wasn’t all that high-minded guff about voter information, or even some noble desire to protect small states. It was to enhance the power of slaveowners.”
Hendrik Hertzberg in a discussion of the National Popular Vote plan. Until today I believed we should leave the electoral college alone. Hertzberg’s little essay convinced me differently.
Constitutional scholars (and brothers) Akhil Reed Amar and Vikram David Amar have made all the arguments. You can find links to their work (via Hertzberg) at FindLaw’s Writ | Akhil Amar and Vikram Amar. Scroll about half way down.
But read Hertzberg first.
New York Times columnist David Pogue answers the most common consumer tech questions. An example:
Q: What TV should I get?
A: Plasma for dark rooms, LCD for bright ones.
If it matters to you—and there’s no reason it should—it looks like plasma is on the way out. Most companies have stopped manufacturing and selling them (Panasonic is the notable exception).
If it were me, and if I could afford it, it’d get an “LED LCD”—an LCD screen illuminated by LED lights. The blacks are so black, it’s like you’re looking into space.
And here’s a partial just for Mark:
A: Mac or PC?
Q: I’m going to get torrents of hate mail no matter what I say, so here you go: Mac, if you have a choice.
By the end of next year.
From The Huffington Post.
Among the 12: Borders (1971), Crocs (2002), Old Navy (1994) and Chrysler (1925).
Chrysler is likely to disappear next week.
Read this because you have a duty to be informed about the things your government did.
It is an op-ed piece by a former FBI supervisory special agent. It’s just 825 words.
Lethal is a 99¢ iPhone/iPod Touch application. According to the review at The Unofficial Apple Weblog:
• LETHAL now gives a risk ranking for every US and Canadian town or city with a population over 100,000, plus all Canadian National Parks. If you’re within a large metropolitan area, you can watch your LETHAL index change as you drive around.
• More disasters! More dangerous animals!
• The crime information is more specific, with new updated crime data from the FBI database.
• You can view rankings for all locations from most dangerous to least (or vice versa) for all indexes and specific risks. Want to find the #1 area to get killed by a grizzly bear? LETHAL can help.
I think I can get 99¢ worth of fun out of this just while driving down Central in Albuquerque.
Update: Data is actually not yet granular enough to show variations within a city the size of Albuquerque.
“At the Bank of America, the largest U.S. lender by assets, 7.8 percent of credit-card accounts were delinquent in February by more than 30 days …”.
And it’s even worse when you remember that February only has 28 days.
The Rio Grande Cottonwood, a welcome sight to pioneer desert caravans because it often signaled water, typically reaches 50 to 60 feet in height, with a trunk of three feet in diameter. Some of the grand old cottonwoods in the Rio Grande Valley have reached 90 feet in height, with trunks five feet across. In open areas, the tree may divide into branches near its base, producing a spreading crown. . . .
The Rio Grande Cottonwood reproduces by seeding, unlike many other flood-plain trees which regenerate by sprouting. It flowers in the spring, before it leafs out. It releases its seeds, each carried by downy white tuft, or “parachute,” in anticipation of traditional spring floods and winds, the principal mechanisms for dispersion. A mature Rio Grande Cottonwood can produce as many as 25 million seeds in a season, covering wide areas with a blanket of “cotton.”
Today’s blogging is strictly in commemoration of
… Shirley Temple Black. The actress turned diplomat is 81. Shirley Temple was in approximately 50 films before she turned 18. She received a special juvenile Oscar in 1935.
… Lee Majors. He’s 70. Soon the $6-million man will be found on eBay for $7.95 $6.95.
… Michael Moore, 55.
… Judy Davis. The two-time Oscar nominee is 54.
… Valerie Bertinelli. For 20 years, Mrs. Eddie Van Halen, she’s 49, but must feel older.
… George Lopez. He’s 48.
… Melina Kanakaredes, 42.
… Dev Patel. He’s 19. Do you know who he is?
It was on the date in 1791 that James Buchanan, the former worst president ever of the U.S., was born.
Stephen A. Douglas, the short guy who debated Lincoln during the 1858 election—and won the election — was born on this date in 1813. Douglas died shortly after Lincoln’s inaugural as president in 1861.
April 23, 1564, is generally accepted as the birth date of William Shakespeare.
And 52 years later, on April 23, 1616, both Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died. One likes to think that had they been in heaven sooner, The Bible would have been better written.
Lousy timing. Why are they doing this in April? God intended baseball for late summer afternoons and evenings.
Dean Baker never tires of telling us that the news media doesn’t have a clue:
In the Morning Edition top of the hour news summary (not on web), NPR told listeners that car sales are down because of low consumer confidence. Wrong!
Car sales are down because consumers have seen $6 trillion in housing bubble wealth and have also seen around $8 trillion in stock wealth disappear. The reduced spending is the result of reduced wealth.
Stuff White People Like tells us about one of the phases “that all white people are required to go through before they can obtain their bachelor’s degree.” This stage is known as “Bob Marley.”
Depending on the coolness of the white person, they can experience this stage anywhere between the sixth grade and their last year of college. Regardless of when they went through this phase, every white person can tell you about the time when they had Legend on repeat. If you wish to test this theory, go to any floor in a College Dorm and there is a 100% chance you will find at least one Bob Marley poster.
Personally I prefer Marley’s Natty Dread album.
“So, if price is your top priority, buy a Windows PC. If speed, ease of use and stability matter more, buy a Mac.”
In other words, if you want quality, buy Mac. If you want junk, buy Windows.
Look at the smug look Rep. Barton (R-Moran) has. He thinks he’s so cute. Fred and Wilma riding dinosaurs to church in Alaska. 73 seconds.
From TPMTV.
“I’m always amazed that something as great as The New Yorker can be had for a buck an issue when people routinely pay $4 for burnt coffee, $10 for crappy movies, and $12 for -tini drinks.”
Talk about crying at a wedding.
Link via kottke.