Today’s Sausage will be accompanied by a companion article later today/this week/whenever I get around to it.
“Held Back” – Ed (Gin and Tacos)
I graduated from college in 2006, and was fortunate enough to find a job midway through my senior year. However, even then it was becoming alarming to my alma mater’s administration that hiring was dropping precipitously. Students that normally would have received three to five job offers were getting two, one, or none at all. I know a lot of very smart people that did masters’ programs rather than enter the working world. Unfortunately, they graduated right as the Recession was in full swing.
The bigger problem is that the Recession has pushed back so many of the touchstones of adulthood. Getting married, buying a house, having kids , etc. are all being pushed further and further back to accommodate un- or underemployment, uncertain circumstances.
Now, before you think that this is all “Me and my special snowflake friends are too good to sling burgers and work construction”, I’d like to point out that the young have always been the bedrock of the economy. See, the retired rely on a constant influx of young workers paying the various payroll taxes into Social Security, Medicare, etc. to keep the system solvent. Not only that, but industry requires a constant stream of fresh blood to infuse new ideas, new thinking, and new energy into the corporate world.
Everything is synergistic. When the system works, everyone prospers. But when one group sells out everyone else for their own selfish benefit, we all get screwed.
“Dimon’s Déjà Vu Debacle” – Paul Krugman (New York Times)
UMPH. SO SHRILL.
“Ken Bennett, Arizona Secretary Of State, Gets Response From Hawaii On Obama Birth Certificate Request” (Huffington Post)
I can only hope that response was a notarized letter from the Hawaii attorney general’s office saying “Fuck off, Ken.”.
“Persuasion and the Gay-Marriage Generation Gap” – Conor Friedersdorf (The Atlantic)
I think that gay marriage has more support than people realize. I think there are a lot of people that are reflexively anti-gay marriage, but that’s only because they don’t know a gay person, or haven’t thought critically about the issue. As an example: the black community. Yes, there are plenty of bigots, but what we’re looking at now is the floor of popular support for gay marriage. As old bigots die off, they’re replaced by new bigots, who are just bigoted toward different things. Frankly, I don’t know how opposition to gay marriage survives as a plank in the GOP platform for too much longer without becoming an electoral albatross.
“Newark Mayor Cory Booker defends Bain Capital, Attacks Obama Campaign” – Judd Legum (ThinkProgress)
*Newark Mayor’s office phone rings*
Receptionist: “Hello, Newark Mayor’s office.”
White House Switchboard: “Hi, this is the White House Switchboard. I have the President of the United States on the line for Mayor Booker.”
Receptionist: “Just one second and I’ll put you through.”
*Mayor Booker’s phone rings*
Mayor Booker: “Hello?”
Receptionist: “Mayor Booker, I have the President of the United States on the line for you.”
Mayor Booker: *thinks “Oh fuck.”* “Please put him through.”
POTUS: “Mayor Booker. Barack Obama here.”
Mayor Booker: “Mr. President, it’s an honor…”
POTUS: “Cory, I’m gonna stop you right there. I don’t have a lot of time to talk, so here’s the deal. I need you to shut the fuck up about the Bain Ad.”
Mayor Booker: “But Mr. President…”
POTUS: “Cory, do you know why we’re running that ad? It’s because Mitt Romney is going to lie his way to the White House if we don’t. He didn’t “create” any jobs. In fact, he cost a lot of jobs, on his way to making a lot of money for him and his friends. So we’re gonna keep running it.”
Mayor Booker: “Well, I don’t think it’s right to attack the hedge fund and capital guys…”
POTUS: “Cory, how badly to you want President Romney and the Ryan Budget? Because they’re going to saddle this country with so much debt, we’re gonna have to start renting out Mt. Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, and the Grand Canyon to Middle Eastern Oil Shieks and the Chinese Government for birthday parties.
I’ve got Campbell Brown selling me out because her husband works for the Romney Campaign.
And I have two Congressmorons trying to legalize the use of propaganda on American citizens.
So, Cory, with all that in mind, let me say this: I’m the leader of your party and the President of the United States. I can’t be any clearer than this: Shut. The. Fuck. Up. About. The. Bain. Ad. Got it?”
Mayor Booker: “Yes sir, Mr. President.”
POTUS: “Thanks. Great chat, gotta run.” *hangs up*
Mayor Booker: “Sonofabitch…”
“The Re-Education of Cory Booker: Dem Mayor quickly backtracks on his criticism of Obama’s Bain Ad” – Sahil Kapur (TPM)
“Graham: “We should tell the Iranians, No Negotiations” until you give us what we want.” – Ali Gharib (ThinkProgress)
This shouldn’t be at all shocking. The GOP has been doing the same thing with the Democrats for four years.
“Meet Joe Ricketts: Billionaire has Millions to smear Obama, demands massive taxpayer subsidies for baseball stadium” – Judd Ledgum and Josh Israel (ThinkProgress)
I’d attempt to imagine the conversation between Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and Joe Ricketts after Ricketts asks Emmanuel for a shitton of taxpayer money, but I think attempting to type out that many curse words would summon a great elder dragon or raise the dead or something similar.
Also too; hypocrisy, lol.
“Top Right-Wing Group: minority births are “not a good thing” because they “don’t share American values”” – Adam Peck (ThinkProgress)
Ah, Phyllis Schlafly. I spend most of my time ripping on the male side of the GOP (which, in all fairness, is the vast majority), but every so often a conservative woman says something really, truly awful, and I feel the need to respond. So, let me try this again.
Ah, Phyllis Schlafly, you xenophobic, racist, bigoted, colossal bitch. Go back to the hole you crawled out of and die already.
“Fox Poll: Strong plurality prefer an Obama Supreme Court to a Romney Supreme Court” – Ian Millhiser (ThinkProgress)
Of course they do. Romney picked Scalia (Grumpy), Thomas (Sleepy), Alito (Dopey), and Roberts (Doc) as his model Justices. You know, the ones responsible for such hits as Citizens United, which opened the floodgates of money from every Right Wing nutjob billionaire that wanted their own personal member of Congress.
“The changing complexity of Congressional speech” – Lee Drutman and Dan Drinkard (Sunlight Foundation)
I found this article particularly interesting. In 2001, both parties spoke at basically the same grade level (not at all surprising, as both parties were saying the same thing at the time). Prior to 2007, the GOP tracked higher than the Democrats. But post-2007, the GOP took an absolute nose dive. The Democrats did too, but the difference is not nearly as large. In 2010, the difference is pronounced, there is almost a full grade level of difference between the two parties.
Lots of fascinating information here.
“”Democrat” Roy Schmidt pulls ultimate dick move, jumps to GOP too late for another Dem to run” (Electablog)
With friends like these, who need anemones?
