A blog about politics, poetry, sports and music.
SHARED SACRIFICEOf course.
"Usually used by a politician who wants other people to share in the sacrifice so he/she doesn’t have to." Scott Urbanowski, Kentwood, Michigan
Many retailers entered the season “with pretty optimistic plans” that shoppers would rush into stores and pay full price, Mr. Bassuk said. But that did not pan out, and the final days before Christmas have retailers being “much more aggressive in terms of promotions being offered,” he said.
Shoppers are filling their holiday lists against the backdrop of an uncertain year, with stubbornly high unemployment, increased food prices, volatile gas prices and unpredictability for stocks and Europe’s debt crisis. The government on Thursday said that third-quarter economic growth had not been as brisk as it previously estimated, because of a drop in consumer spending on services like health care.
This is good for last-minute shoppers like me, but not the retailers, and certainly not for the larger economy.Your extremely one side opinion on the Lowes/Muslim issue, I believe, sets up a straw man argument. "..the Florida Family Association, a small activist organization, called for a boycott because the show distorts “the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values” Terrorism is a threat to lives. Not to liberties and values. The threat FFA was talking about was the threat of Sharia based laws, limits on free speech caused by 'sensitivity' concerns, and the attack against Christianity that fundamentally defines Islam - If you read the Quran, nearly every page has some reference to Christians and Jews; how their beliefs are misguided, including allegations of changing the scriptures, Jesus not having been crucified, and denial of his divine nature. That is the threat that FFA was talking about. That is the core feature of Islam that the TLC show tried to hide. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!Of course, there is no straw man here -- my criticism is of a very real argument being made and Lowe's response. And at no point do I dismiss terrorism -- only the assumption that it must be mentioned every time we discuss Islam or Muslims.
A) With Ashes & Fire, Ryan Adams issues one of his most satisfying solo efforts.
B) Black Keys rock out on a great follow to Brothers -- El Camino.
C) Consistency, the hallmark of Wilco, the Feelies and Cake, each of which released another top-notch disc in careers that feature no clinkers.
D) Disappointing at best, R.E.M. releases a yeomen-like, but unfullfilling disc; Lady Gaga issues a weak effort that contains a few good songs; the Amy Winehouse vault is opened with some good covers and unnecessary originals; while The Strokes and P.J. Harvey release their worst efforts. Other disappointments included Steve Earle (good but not great, not up to earlier standards), the Jayhawks and The Cars (some good singles, but mostly a disc that begs the question, "Why come back?").
E) Emptying the vaults has become a great way for rockers like the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello (not to mention the jazz greats) to remind the world what made them great -- and make them and their record companies some cold, hard cash.
F) "Forget You," or something like that, an unforgettable single by the unforgettable Cee Lo Green.
G) Good-bye to R.E.M. When the Athens band called it quits earlier this year it marked the end of a long and illustrious career. (Unfortunately, it ended with the mediocre Collapse into Now, a disappointing follow to the brilliant Accelerate.)
H) Happy as hell that the Feelies came back.
I) If imitation is, indeed, the sincerest form of flattery, then R.E.M. should find the Decemberists' The King is Dead.
J) Garland Jeffreys returned with a great, though under-the-radar gem, The King of In Between.
K) Killer debut by The Civil Wars with Barton Hollow.
L) Lulu, as in a lulu of a terrible album by Lou Reed and Metallica. Even with The Raven, the pretentious attempt to set Edgar Allen Poe, in the discussion, Lulu stands as the worst album of Lou's career and one of the worst ever recorded.
M) Crazy music from Mariachi El Bronx.
N) New finds: Several established bands made it onto my playlist for the first time, making me wonder why I hadn't heard them before -- Dawes, the aforementioned Mariachi El Bronx,
O) Old guys make good music. Both Paul Simon and Tom Waits release great albums. As always.
P) Protest: Iraqi-American folk-rapper protest singer Stephan Said's disc, Difrent, was a great find to be sure.
Q) Quiet folkies The Fleet Foxes step it up on their sophomore set.
R) "Rolling in the Deep" helps make Adele's 21 a powerful follow, if not quite as good as her debut disc 19.
S) Super group Superheavy offers a super heavy set.
T) Take a moment to remember Charlie Louvin, John Barry, Don Kirschner, Nick Ashford, Jerry Leiber, Amy Winehouse, Phoebe Snow, Gerry Rafferty, Poly Styrene, Gil Scott-Heron and the Big Man, Clarence Clemons.
U) Undun is another great hip-hop record by The Roots.
V) Variety and eclectic virtuosity -- hallmarks of the latest Van Hunt disc.
W) Women of rock, I salute you. As I said, it was the year of the rock 'n' roll woman with the top discs -- Wild Flag's self-titled debute, Le Butcherettes' Sin Sin Sin and records by the Dum Dum Girls, Lydia Loveless, Lucinda Williams, Imelda May and Ida Maria -- dominating the year's releases.
X) X frontman John Doe releases a Keeper of an album.
Y) "You are a Tourist" was a great lead-off single from Death Cab for Cutie's great album Codes & Keys.
Z) Z, as in the letter that represents sleep in the comics, is as good a way to end this and to offer a sum-up of the generic pop that still rules the airwaves. With so much good music out there, it is sad to see so much with so little value dominating radio and the video screen.
Under the proposal, known as premium support, Medicare would subsidize premiums charged by private insurers that care for beneficiaries under contract with the government.The plan is supposed to open the existing system to competition and lower prices, which seems unlikely. The problem with Medicare is not that it lacks competition, but that it is far too small a program and only includes the segment of society that uses the most health care. What we know about Medicare, when compared with other insurance options, is that it has much lower overhead than the private sector. Its costs have been rising not because of inefficiency but because health-care costs more generally are skyrocketing.
Congress would establish an insurance exchange for Medicare beneficiaries. Private plans would compete with the traditional Medicare program and would have to provide at least the same benefits. The federal contribution in each region would be based on the cost of the second-cheapest option, whether that was a private plan or traditional Medicare.
In addition, the growth of Medicare would be capped; in general, spending would not be allowed to increase more than the growth of the economy, plus 1 percentage point — a much slower rate of increase than Medicare has historically experienced.
They aren't NFL owners. They don't share a big enough cut of the revenues. They don't have an unending stream of television money. Their arenas aren't at about 95 percent capacity. They aren't a national obsession. And their small-market teams aren't flush, in most cases, like the Packers or Steelers are. They can't just cut players and get rid of their salaries, which aren't guaranteed in the NFL. They want control, big control, like the NFL teams have and they don't. They don't want the LeBrons and D-Wades hooking up on their own terms.Zirin was even more blunt about it. The owners, he says, have a stake in defining players and their talents not as labor, but the product of labor. The players, in this definition, means that they are incidental and have no control.
This is why players, always to media outrage, turn at times to the metaphor of slavery and a plantation to explain their predicament. Not because they are comparing themselves to those who suffered under bondage but because owners constantly contest whether they are in fact the masters of their own talents. For players, it's unclear if they are the occupier of their own gifts and hard work or whether they are the occupied. The NBA’s decision to nix the Chris Paul deal shows that they have perfect clarity on the question. They own the talent and by definition can assert the right of occupation.In the end, this is going to doom the league to future labor strife and an increasingly poisonous relationship that could ultimately damage the always fragile connection between the fans and the teams for which they root.
“It is not the most important issue, it is the only issue,” he told me last week. “Until we solve the problem of all this money we will not have an honest debate in the country. Our democracy is in big, big trouble.”As he would say, "Have at it, hoss!"
So, Herman Cain is out, Newt Gingrich is up and Mitt Romney has no scruples. Just another week in the long-running (or so it seems) Republican primary.
Cain, who appears to be a serial harasser at the very least, announced today that he's suspending his campaign -- which basically means he's done. That he ascended as high in the polls as he did despite being a raving nutcase, does not exactly place the GOP faithful in a good light.
As Cain plummets, Newt rises -- despite years of hypocrisy and a campaign based on pure self-interest.
And Mitt, the likeliest candidate to survive the primaries? He proved himself a liar of the highest order, a man without any discernible integrity. It's one thing to distort an opponent's position; it's something else -- and something outright disgusting -- to do what he did in his recent anti-Obama ad.
Romney quoted the president so badly out of context -- he quotes Obama quoting McCain in 2008 and leads viewers to believe it was Obama's opinion now -- that the best you can say is he's a disgusting liar. The worst? Don't get me started.
The sad thong is that we need a strong, principled Republican in the race and a legitimate lefty to expand debate beyond the nonsense we've been getting.
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