Liberals Are Cool: Chuck Hagel: Republican Party Has ‘An Astounding Lack Of Responsible Leadership’ →
Former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel (NE) can’t muster any praise for his Republican colleagues’ behavior in Congress over the past few months. In an interview with the Financial Times, Hagel blasted GOP leadership for their “irresponsible actions” during the debt ceiling debacle, noting that “I think…
(Source: thinkprogress.org)
Raymond Scott | Powerhouse
One of my absolute favorite pieces of music, and one that has had a tremendous amount of influence on me, only in part because of Carl Stalling’s heavy use of this (and other Scott themes) in the background music for Warner Brothers cartoons.
The piano intro to the second section - robotic, mechanical - is perfection.
His approach was interesting - no written score - and he was an electronic music pioneer as well…
Media who are doing or who have done Irene “hype” stories should be forced to decamp and head to upstate New York and Vermont, because STFU already.
Still pissed off about this. All the major news networks ended their wall-to-wall coverage just as this started, then begrudgingly each sent a single reporter to Vermont.
Meanwhile, CNN had three reporters in Lower Manhattan alone reporting the eight inches of water that trickled a block inland during Irene.
Grand Central as Hurricane Irene approaches. (by MTAPhotos)
The MTA’s alerts are getting sassier and sassier.
As president of the United States, I would pray. I would pray and ask the Lord for guidance.
Stop Coddling the Super-Rich →
“I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.”
It’s official: I love Warren Buffett.
The rich are different — and not in a good way, studies suggest →
“In an academic version of a Depression-era Frank Capra movie, Keltner and co-authors of an article called ‘Social Class as Culture: The Convergence of Resources and Rank in the Social Realm,’ published this week in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, argue that ‘upper-class rank perceptions trigger a focus away from the context toward the self….’ In other words, rich people are more likely to think about themselves. ‘They think that economic success and political outcomes, and personal outcomes, have to do with individual behavior, a good work ethic,’ said Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Because the rich gloss over the ways family connections, money and education helped, they come to denigrate the role of government and vigorously oppose taxes to fund it.”
Wow. Who ever would have guessed?
Vespa near Union Square, NYC
