Category Archives: Perusin’ & Musin’

Some random thoughts from perusing the web…

Rick Perry Wants Wall Street Regulation Rolled Back – In an interview on CNBC, Rick Perry said that regulation of Wall Street was fine before the collapse, that it was actually the fault of government regulators that the economy crashed.  He wants Dodd-Frank and other Wall Street regulations to be rolled back.   Merry Christmas, Wall Street.  Between Perry’s 20% flat tax proposal and his desire to roll back financial regulation, happy times are sure to return to Wall Street.  It’s just the rest of us who won’t be participating in whatever kind of economic recovery Perry prefers.

CDC Recommends Boys get HPV  Vaccination - The CDC today put out a recommendation that young boys also get the HPV vaccine, before they become sexually active.  The vaccine will protect boys from certain cancers and genital warts.  I wonder who will be the first to come out and oppose the recommendation.  After all, we can’t have any government entity telling us what to do now, can we!?!?  It’s oppression!!  It’s some kind of governmental control conspiracy!!   Mark my words, you WILL see such comments from the right very soon.   Maybe it’s all a matter of evolution, survival of the fittest.  Pretty soon, all the ignorant, anti-science, right-wing wackos will be extinct through their own refusal to accept recommendations such as these, while us liberal, science-loving, tree-huggin’ wackos will rule the earth because WE were smart enough to immunize our children.

U.S. Security In Peril, $200 billion in proposed weapons cut - One proposal to help the debt reduction committee find $1 trillion in savings over the next decade is to cut spending on nuclear weapons by $200 billion.   $200 billion cut??!?!  How will America survive?!?!?  Those on the right would have you believe this somehow decimates America’s nuclear “deterrent”.  Uh….no.   Cutting $200 billion means we still would spend $500 billion on nuclear weapons over the next century.  HALF A TRILLION dollars spent for a weapon we say we will never use.   I actually wouldn’t mind seeing the debt panel fail, which would trigger the automatic cuts, including cuts to defense.  Political gridlock may be the ONLY thing that gets us to reduce our ridiculous levels of military spending.

Iceland to Plant French Trees to Save Species from Warming – Icelandic and French scientists are discussing a plan to plant French tree species endangered by global warming in Iceland.  Warming temperatures will soon make Iceland’s climate suitable to support some French tree species, which may not be able to adapt to warming temperatures in France.  It’s an interesting plan, and I certainly support efforts to save endangered plant and animal species.  However, I do think efforts like this are better PR moves than they are for long-term conservation planning.  If climate change becomes so extreme that some French tree species begin to die out, the climate shift isn’t a short-term phenomenon.  It would take one hell of a long-term view to plant trees in Iceland with the intention of replanting them in France many centuries in the future.   It’s a nice thought, but the practicality and utility of such plans is pretty questionable.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of plant and animal species are going to have to be able to adapt or migrate on their own.

Top Earners Doubled Share of Income - Over the last 30 years, the top 1% of wage earners had incomes increase 275%.   The bottom 20% of wage earners had incomes only increase a dismal 18%.  As the study notes, government policy is much less redistributive now than 30 years ago, with current tax and other government policies favoring the rich more than they used to.  This study pretty much typifies what Occupy Wall Street is protesting.  I find it laughable that many conservative commentators continue to brush off Occupy Wall Street as a short-term passing fad.  As long as the gap between rich and poor continues to grow, OWS is here to stay.

Repeal the 20th Century – Vote GOP -  I love this column on the Washington Post, by Katrina vanden Heuvel.  I love the reference to an earlier Washington Post column, and the “Repeal the 20th Century – Vote GOP” line.  As vanden Huevel notes, the GOP would not only like to dismantle 20th century social programs such as Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, but they seem hell-bent on dismantling several decades (or more) of scientific research.  Given how GOP candidates seem to stumble all over themselves trying to see who can sound the most ignorant on climate change and evolution, it wouldn’t surprise me if the eventual GOP winner is the first one to embrace the flat earth theory.