photo (c) Chris Walker Studs Terkel, the great American historian, radio host, and defender of civil liberties, has died. His radio spot lasted 45 years, the entire second half of the 20th
Our first halloween in the new apartment passed quietly, with our household demon getting into the spirit of things by gritting a mini-Butterfinger bar in his pointy teeth. It sure is nice to be in A
Yes, it is that time again… no, not Presidential Election Day! World Zombie Day, when hordes of shambling, bloody-mouthed fiends stagger through the streets to find you and eat your brain. What
As Americans shudder beneath the shadow of their inter-galactic debts, the India Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully launched their lunar orbiter, the Chandrayaan-1. The two-year m
Interesting article in today’s SFGATE, looks at the similarities and differences between today’s financial meltdown and the crash that led to the Great Depression. Many points are made to show that
Does anyone seriously think the current economic collapse is surprising? There is a reason that Reagan’s first term in office spawned the “me” generation, and a reason that the wipeout of the Savings and Loan industry happened almost overnight. It all began with Reagan’s strict deconstructionism of the regulatory systems that protected us from predatory Wall Street sharks. Just to keep our facts straight, vicious greed is nothing new to U.S. financial circles. Read Mathew Josephson’s The Robber Barons, if you have a strong stomach for exploitation and naked avarice. Of course, if you prefer you can just stick your head in the rubbish bin and pretend that our leaders are all beneficent “industrial statesmen.” Nonetheless, after the misery of the Great Depression years, some reasonable barriers were raised to prevent excessively over-leveraged cash-to-debt ratios, which causes banks to collapse. Reagan, of course, would have none of that! According to Reaganomics, aka trickle-down economics, aka voodoo economics, the only thing we ever need to worry about is how fast the rich become richer. Remember Michael Milken, anyone? Or Gordon Gekko? When the dot-com meltdown finally occurred, after the decade long run-up of irrational exuberance, did it take anything more than a micron of brain-matter to see that the frenzied flight of assets from stocks into real estate was not a good idea? Apparently, as long as the brokers and other sharks can make their dime, it is a trifling matter if the entire economy is banked on fantasy, zero-collateralized debt based on hyper-inflated prices. Brilliant! You see that broken down flea-bag dump, with flapping chunks of old asbestos siding falling off the termite-ridden particle boards? It can be yours for only $879,999, today! No money down! Sign here!
Long ago I dreamed of taking a slow boat to China… To get away from this caterwauling madhouse that we call the United States. I even went so far as to buy a boat, which at the time was a half-sun
Agree or disagree, it’s still a fun list of the 50 things you really must have in your comic book collection.
Successful launch of the Shenzhou 7 mission… Taikonauts walk the walk… and float back down to mother Earth at Siziwang Qi, Inner Mongolia.
The countdown has begun for tonight’s scheduled liftoff of the Shenzhou 7 mission, which includes the first EVA space-walk by Chinese Taikonauts. The intrepid crew will be wearing Chinese made “Feit