Alright, I've been distracted by life for awhile and thus, no posting.
That said, you should be happy for me not having enough time at the keyboard so deal with it.
I've been sitting around reading newspapers and magazines lately. Various reasons why, but I have been re-acquainted with the idea that most of them are filler with occasional nuggets of goodness. Which is why I still don't have subscriptions to much beyond Wired, Smithsonian, and Star Wars mags.
First off, in a recent issue of Newsweek, Fareed Zakaria challenges our "We're Number One" mentality in light of, well, what truly is.
I usually find the US News & World Report to be a fascist propaganda machine. Maybe it's the advent of FAUXNews making it look better or the problem of finding slacked-jawed conservatives who can actually read, but I found a couple articles related to women's interest. The first one laments the culture of pig-headed, let-someone-else-kill-'em-all Bush league machoism that has been the norm in this country since 9/11.
The other article concerns the quickly rising cost of birth control, and how it particularly affects college students. Funny, that a law originally designed to save citizens money on drugs has allowed pharmaceutical companies to double or triple their prices. Wait, you say, drug companies are not working in our best interests? Yeah, seems that way. So yeah, I'm sure this will lead to a rise in pregnancy and drop-out rates among those who just want to better their lives.
Another Newsweek article, this one on the arrogance of our politicians. Giuliani, Clinton, we're talking about people like you.
Apparently, as much as Bush would like it to be, we are not in Judge Dredd land yet. For some reason, sentencing guidelines for cocaine have been lowered. Now look, I don't do any drugs - no, really, I don't - but if you are going to nail someone to the wall and make them do time for drugs, then maybe coke and heroin would be the way to start. Now I realize this may be some asinine way to improve race relations for Bush and friends, but maybe actually providing social opportunities instead of reduced penalties for committing crimes is the way to go. Nah, that would fly in the face of being Republicans I guess.
Giuliani is apparently hinting that he used tactics akin to torture back when he was trying to get info out of the mob. Seriously, when your race for president improves when you say you like torture, isn't that a sign America is seriously way off track?
Not surprising however, during the Bush years, prosecution of white collar crime is down 27% and cases involving official corruption are down 14 percent. I'd like to say I'm surprised by this, but the same guy who keeps appointed corporate interests to oversee - well, corporate interests - would definitely not wake up every day making sure laws aren't being broken that hurt America.
Comments