Many moons ago in the blogosphere there was a minor writer with the moniker “Bryan S.” who flew the flag of “Arguing with Signposts.” His politics were vaguely conservative, warblogger, humorist, cynic, libertarian. In short, he screwed all that up. So, you might say this is my attempt to set that stuff straight. The flag is flying again. But we’ve set a course that’s at odds with the haze of the last eight years. Onward!
I first started reading blogs around the time of 9/11. It was something that pushed a lot of people to explore this new medium of expression. You could be a world away and read the thoughts and impressions of real people who were suffering through a tragedy, and sympathize with their feelings.
It’s been a long eight years since then. People said things would never be the same, and for some people, that’s true. A lot of bad things have been done in our nation and around the world under the banner of 9/11. Over 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in two wars. Countless thousands of citizens of two nations have been killed in those wars as well.
So today, I’m sure people will be remembering the ones who were directly impacted by the events of that day eight years ago. I hope they will remember the ripples that have spread from that event and affected the rest of us.
Dean Esmay is a blogger I knew way back in the day. You’ll note he’s in the blogroll to the left of this column. I tried to register for his site to comment on his “last open thread,” but the site says registration is disabled. Well, Dean, if you want “open thread,” you need to be more inviting, dude!
I love Washington. My wife and all four of my children were born in Northwest. I hope I never leave. But let’s be honest: The city’s not ready for democracy, much less statehood.
I can’t believe someone is paying Tucker Carlson to spout this un-American crap. I can’t believe the Washington Post is hosting this un-American crap on their web site.
Banks are not required to publicly reveal how much money they make from penalty interest rates and fees, though government officials and industry consultants estimate they constitute a growing portion of revenue.
The question is “Why not?” These are publicly-traded companies that took down the entire economy. They should understand how little sympathy there is in the broader world for their “woe is me” pity party. Nobody pities the loan shark. And these folks are just wearing nicer suits.
When the government was talking about limiting executive pay, everyone was up in arms about the “sanctity of contracts.” Of course, when the contract basically says, “Screw you, I’ll do what I want,” I guess that’s sacred too.
Well, that swine flu stuff didn’t last long, did it? The media have already moved on to the latest breathless speculation, now that David Souter has announced his resignation from the Supreme Court.
My advice: Elections have consequences. Of course, Supreme Court picks don’t always turn out the way you want them – at least, they didn’t *used to* before Reagan. I hope Obama picks someone who throws the Republicans into a tizzy and turns out to be a reliable progressive voice on the court.
Now let’s be honest: I hate the tax code. I pay good money to have taxes done each year because it’s so complex. Would I like a simpler tax code? Sure.
But the rest of those “10 reasons” are pure plutocratic spinspeak.
Even if it’s simpler, it’s still got to be progressive. Because fat cat rich types don’t pay near most of their total income in taxes (speaking of sales tax, etc.), or for bare necessities.
The simple equation is this: Any time a multimillionaire is telling you the tax code should be “fairer,” that’s a cue that you’re about to get something other than “fair” taxes.
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