I recently happened across this article by Paul Krugman, The Great Wealth Transfer. To sum up: the economy has done very well, but only the top 5% has actually seen significant gains over the past 40 years.

It's a rather eye-opening article.

I need to move. I hate my neighborhood. Someone spraypainted my motorcycle last night for the third time this year, second time in as many months.

I went to the hospital yesterday, not for myself, but because my mom was going in for surgery. Nothing major, we were assured, but invasive and a couple hours' worth. In part I went to support my dad, and in part because I was worried too ( Read more... )

My girlfriend tried to take in a stray cat not too long ago, but since she's moved, the stray and her other cat are apparently having dominance issues. We're hoping someone might take her. Usually, she's sweet, well behaved, and a bit shy. She hasn't indicated that she likes to be held, but she is demanding of attention on occasion, though she ( Read more... )

So it turns out the fever wasn't just a fever, but the symptoms of an infection. Yay! I'm on antibiotics! And my leg really really screamingly badly hurts sometimes. Bonus!

Fevers really really suck.

I'm gonna try to sleep again.

So a conservative "scholar" is putting out a book in January, The Enemy At Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibilty for 9/11. In it, he makes the astonishing contention that America deserves what it got from Al Qaeda, and removing all vestiges of "cultural liberalism" are needed to appease defeat the terrorists. Oh, and it's the liberals who ( Read more... )

Please stop biting me. :(

Lesser than the last, of course:

• Republicans decide that parents need to be told how to do their job, and that a new government body is needed to do it. Wasn't this supposed to be exclusive purview of Democrats?
• Republicans decide "freedom of religion" is nice in theory, but shouldn't really be something you can take legal action on. I assume this ( Read more... )

Sometimes, I am astonished by our politicians and the sheer lunacy they engage in, such as the bill just passed by Congress which gives the President the authority to strip any individual, citizen or not, of their rights, for any reason, and imprison and torture them for as long as he or she chooses. The Republicans were all for stripping away the ( Read more... )