Socioculture

Matt Taibbi’s new ongoing series “The Supreme Court of Assholedom,’ as you may suspect, is a lot better than its post-collegiate-humor sobriquet. A recent case: ‘Dragon Mother’ Amy Chua.

“When Larry Summers once said that he thought that “countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted” compared to countries in the West, his reasoning was that Western human beings were economically far more productive than Africans (if you go by GDP per capita) and therefore it made more sense to pollute in Africa because the quantifiable cost, in economic terms, would be less. This instinct to numerically measure the worth of people by how much money they make is the kind of social psychosis that produces an Amy Chua; she’s what you get when you live in a world that completely devalues qualities like honesty, integrity, decency and kindness, and conversely celebrates things like Having Stuff, Looking Good and Winning.”

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/the-people-vs-tiger-mom-amy-chua-20110318

Economics / Socioculture

As long as we have our priorities straight…

“Republicans have convinced a large percentage of voters that America is in trouble, not because it wastes 20% of the annual budget on wars of aggression and Homeland Security porn-scanners, but because of the poor and retirees.
“Republicans tell us that our grandchildren are being saddled with impossible debt burdens because of handouts to retirees and the poor. $3 trillion wars are necessary and have nothing to do with the growth of the public debt. The public debt is due to unnecessary “welfare” that workers paid for with a 15% payroll tax.
“When you hear a Republican sneer “entitlement,” he or she is referring to Social Security and Medicare, for which people have paid 15% of their wages for their working lifetime. But when a Republican sneers, he or she is saying “welfare.” To the distorted mind of a Republican, Social Security and Medicare are undeserved welfare payments to people who over-consumed for a lifetime and did not save for their old age needs.
“America can be strong again once we get rid of these welfare leeches.
“Once we are rid of these leeches, we can really fight wars. And show people who is boss.
“Republicans regard Social Security as an “unfunded liability,” that is, a giveaway that is interfering with our war-making ability.
“Alas, Social Security IS an unfunded liability, because all the money working people put into it was stolen by Republicans and Democrats in order to pay for wars and bailouts for mega-rich bankers like Goldman Sachs.
“According to the official 2010 Social Security reports, between 1984 and 2009 the American people contributed $2 trillion, that is $2,000 billion, more to Social Security and Medicare in payroll taxes than was paid out in benefits.
“What happened to the surplus $2,000 billion, or $2,000,000,000,000?
“The government spent it.
“Over the past quarter century, $2 trillion in Social Security and Medicare revenues have been used to finance wars and pork-barrel projects of the US government.”

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03102011.html

Foreign Policy / Socioculture

There’s no chance of our rethinking this whole Middle East thing? Really?

“We hate you because you do not consider us worthy of democracy, of determining our own future; how bloody patronizing of you. You think we have for centuries been ruled by despots and so you continue to impose your choice of despots on us, while you loosen our oil spigots, arm and enrich a colonial settler state, your cop on the beat who ensures the oil flows smoothly and the despots keep the subjects quiet with the tanks and fighter jets you supply them.
“You call it the Eisenhower doctrine. We call it imperial pillage. Why should it surprise you when it engenders feelings of helplessness and indifference in some, and blind rage in young educated, discontent middle class or higher Muslim youth — whom you choose to dub “home-grown terrorists”— who get involved in movements opposing the status quo or fighting back against U.S. hegemony?”

http://www.counterpunch.org/kathwari03112011.html

Economics / Socioculture

Collective bargaining for salaries, but nothing else? Yeah, that’ll be fine. NOT, says the superb Laura Flanders:

“It was 1909, in the crowded Great Hall at New York’s Cooper Union; a big union boss was talking about talks and a 16-year-old girl shouted out from the back: “WALK OUT.”
“More than 30,000 shirtwaist factory workers walked off their jobs after that. This week’s International Women’s Day celebrates the anniversary of that strike, by mostly young, immigrant women like 16 year old Clara Lemlich. 700 women were arrested, many more beaten and spat on for being “On strike against God.”
“They struck for eleven weeks. It was the first successful uprising of women workers in this country–but their success didn’t go far enough.
“Had, it, the 1911 Triangle Factory fire that killed 146 of these workers two years later might never have happened. A documentary about the fire is available now from PBS’s website, another one’s coming from HBO. At the March 25 centennial commemoration, the names of all the dead will be read.
“But fewer Americans remember the demands these women and girls made… Not just for wage increases, but for the ability to have a say in the conditions of their workplace–the workplace that killed them. Those are the rights that will be taken from American workers if the Republicans’ power grab is allowed to stand.”

Gee, I sure hope PBS is around long enough for interested people to see it…

http://www.counterpunch.org/flanders03112011.html

Politics / Socioculture

“For years public opinion polls have shown a plurality of Japanese opposed to nuclear power. A 1999 Asahi Shinbun poll showed 45 per cent of Japanese opposing nuclear energy, with only 32 per cent supporting it. In 1996 half the electorate of Mie Prefecture signed a position opposing the construction of a nuclear plant. But as a study on public opinion and nuclear power in Japan published by Rice University in 2000 noted, a minority argued that nuclear power was the key to Japanese energy independence. “These views allowed officials to discount protests as short-term, selfish economic anxiety. They effectively used financial rewards and compensation to dampen discontent. Little attention was given to the legitimacy of public concerns on safety.”

Good thing the party in power of the House of Representatives here pays attention to public opinion polls and what Americans think is really important…wait…what…?

http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp03142011.html

Media

It’s everywhere, and you’ve already seen it, but, like the Old Spice commercials, I must link to it… must link to it…must link to it…

Media / Socioculture

While once-a-year basketball geeks slave over their NCAA brackets, the literate ladies amongst us – God bless ’em – have the option of participating in Middlemarch Madness, pitting awesome female characters from literature against each other in a completely arbitrary battle of wills and hipness.
Derision is sure to follow for my thinking this is pretty cool – but this is pretty cool, and I’m already sick of people named Jimmer and Hansbrough. I’m already unreasonably stunned that Irene Adler went down in the first round in a 7 vs. 10 upset.

http://persephonemagazine.com/category/features/middlemarch-madness/

http://persephonemagazine.com/2011/02/middlemarch-madness-our-contestants/

Sex / Socioculture

Pajiba’s Dr. Pisaster is another in a seemingly inexhaustible line of sex-advisors-on-the-web. But, y’know, she’s pretty good…

“As scandalous as it was for my great-grandmother to divorce my great-grandfather over infidelity, it would have been impossible for him to leave her simply because the two of them were sexually incompatible. I bring this up because while divorce is more common and our society is more sexually open, there is still a stigma attached to the idea of leaving someone because you aren’t sexually satisfied. One that leaves many people suffering.”

http://www.pajiba.com/pajiba_dirty_talk/dealing-with-the-sexdrive-disparity-in-your-relationship-.php

Media

Now she’s doing this at Joan Jett’s expense? Turning ‘I Hate Myself For Loving You’ into that synthetic Sunday Night Football travesty was bad enough. And Gwyneth had her fun with Cee-Lo’s ‘F*** You.’ But this is an outrage!!! We need to figure out how to stop this woman while still securing a shitload of money for Joan Jett.

Sports / Economics

Drew Magary reminds us who the real bad guys are.

“Make no mistake, if you don’t get to watch football next fall, it will be because 31 rich assholes (and whatever cheese-and-sausage co-op owns the Packers) have decided that they aren’t rich enough. Period. Think about that. Think of everything that will be impacted simply for the sake of these 31 people. The Jets are already getting set to give their coaching staff pay cuts. By the time the fall rolls around, there could be massive layoffs across all teams: secretaries, equipment managers, trainers, everyone. People who are decidedly NOT wealthy and who stand to gain nothing from any of these talks. That’s all the fault of Jerry Richardson and his ilk.
“Regardless of how this shit plays out, starting tonight, this is all 100 percent the owners’ fault. Maybe you’ll grow tempted to start blaming the players equally as this thing drags out, but you shouldn’t. This isn’t like 1994, when baseball shut down because it had both asshole owners and a players union that didn’t even want drug testing and initiated the labor conflict by putting down their bats and striking in the middle of the season. This is different. This was premeditated and instigated by the NFL owners.”

http://deadspin.com/#!5775431/the-real-villains-of-the-nfl-lockout-a-gentle-reminder