An email to NPR’s Morning Edition: After President Obama’s address on the restructuring of General Motors and Chrysler, your host said he would be turning to experts for their reaction. He began by citing the Dow Jones Industrial Average – which, he noted, had remained unchanged. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is computed from the [...]
When Brett Hinds is singing, Mastodon is the new Black Sabbath.
Glenn Greenwald: When I first heard Chuck Todd questioning Obama at Tuesday’s Press Conference about why Obama wasn’t demanding “sacrifice” from ordinary Americans — as though the massive loss of jobs, homes, retirement security and financial opportunities isn’t sufficient “sacrifice” — I mistakenly attributed Todd’s question to the standard vapid ignorance of our media stars. [...]
Many if not most of Bernie Madoff’s victims were lured in by a web of other victims rather than by Madoff himself. They were set up for the con by relatives and friends who had previously been set up, inadvertently, by others. Contagion. In the same way that cities are vectors for epidemics, society is [...]
Meredith Whitney on Charlie Rose: The larger issue that is so important to focus on is something your friend Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote about, which is the whole notion of what are the rules? What is a contract and how do we protect contracts? How do we protect the legal system in this country? Because [...]
Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell: The second dimension that is largely unreported is that several in the U.S. leadership became aware of this lack of proper vetting very early on and, thus, of the reality that many of the detainees were innocent of any substantial wrongdoing, had [...]
Frank Rich: Another highly regarded poll, the General Social Survey, had an even more startling finding in its preliminary 2008 data released this month: Twice as many Americans have a “great deal” of confidence in the scientific community as do in organized religion.
This dense but rewarding summary of the Federalist Papers ends by posing some vexing and important questions, especially whether “modern bureaucratic structures” are at odds with a system of checks and balances. What’s funny is that some of these questions may be answered in the form of legislation – the author has joined the Obama administration.
Found while searching for the literary fad of 1909: “Officials of the Pasadena Rapid Transit Company announce they are meeting with success in their project to build a high speed railway from Pasadena to the heart of Los Angeles…[The train] will cover the distance from Los Angeles to Pasadena in 12 minutes.” According to maps.google.com, [...]
Never mind the cracks forming on the ad-based revenue model, here’s the root problem: a press that doesn’t inform will not survive the information age. Jon Stewart isn’t very funny when he’s lecturing his fellow entertainers on CNN (then) and CNBC (now) but that doesn’t mean he’s not right. Nor is it exclusively a political [...]
One hundred years ago, it may have been a certain kind of poetry – let’s say, allusions to trains. This year it appears to be writing in 140 characters or less.
Gordy Thompson as quoted by Clay Shirky on viral distribution and its impact on newspapers, a business built on limited distribution channels: One of the people I was hanging around with online back then was Gordy Thompson, who managed internet services at the New York Times. I remember Thompson saying something to the effect of [...]
Joseph Fuller: The models themselves—and particularly the interaction among models—has grown so complex that it may have become impossible for any human to fully grasp the types and volumes of derivatives traded in this way or to predict how the models will interact with each other. His recommendations, especially on bonuses, are compelling.
Perhaps four of the most important words in politics: “what if I was?”
This week’s On the Media has an excellent, extensive story on those most real Americans: the confidence men.
Crime is mostly about opportunity. Bankers have the most.
Whatever publicity Kutiman’s video song album receives – and I’m guessing quite a lot – is well deserved. The video sequencing is clever and lighthearted, the music tastefully composed and the overall conceit exudes love for humanity. Much of music is a conversation across space and time, a retracing of other people’s gestures, a palimpsest. Today’s sampling [...]
The U.S. State Department has warned college students not to travel to Mexico for Spring Break in order to avoid drug trafficking violence. What if it warned them instead not to consume illicit drugs from Mexico as a way to diminish drug trafficking violence?