Totales Turns

One of my weaknesses is a liking for econoblogs. While I'm not a trained economist myself, I do like to read the analysis of those who are (as opposed to those who pretend to be like Donald Luskin). One of the more interesting ones was General Glut, who takes a distinctively different approach:

General Glut, sworn enemy of Jean-Baptiste Say and neo-classical economics, continues to maintain as he has through the days of Sismondi, Marx and Keynes that capitalism's tendencies are toward crises of overaccumulation and underconsumption. Globalization performs this sorry old tale through debt, deflation and depression on the stage of the whole world.

The General quit blogging back in September, but today I say via Sadly, No! that The General has returned.

I am thinking about segregating out the econoblog links from the blogroll and making that a separate section. If anyone knows of some good ones other than Angry Bear, Brad DeLong, General Glut and It's Still the Economy Stupid, please drop me a line and let me know. |

Oral sex lessons to cut rates of teenage pregnancy

Encouraging schoolchildren to experiment with oral sex could prove the most effective way of curbing teenage pregnancy rates, a government study has found.

--snip--

Now an unpublished government-backed report reveals that a trial of the course has been a success. Schoolchildren, particularly girls, who received such training developed a 'more mature' response to sex.

So if I understand this right, this is a scheme to encourage girls to consider giving head as an alternative to outright sex? Once again, where the hell was this course when I was in high school. It would have made senior year much easier to deal with.

Thanks to Political Animal for the link. |

Sosa hurts himself sneezing

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Sammy Sosa felt a bit sheepish while explaining why he wasn't able to play Sunday against the San Diego Padres.

He sneezed twice shortly after arriving in the clubhouse before the game, which brought on back spasms and forced him to grab a chair to support himself. While his Chicago Cubs teammates were out beating the Padres 4-2 for a three-game sweep, Sosa spent the afternoon in the trainer's room receiving treatment.

When I looked at the box scores this morning, I wondered why Sosa hadn't played, as all the other Cub regulars had been in the line up. Now I know. And I wish that I didn't. |

Bald Eagle Leaving Threatened Species List

May 17, 2004, 8:47 AM EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The American bald eagle -- the national symbol whose decline helped spur the Endangered Species Act and a ban on the pesticide DDT -- will be off the threatened species list this year, a top Bush administration official said Saturday.

Craig Manson, the administration's point man on the Endangered Species Act, said it's time to concentrate recovery efforts on more needy species.

"It's no longer endangered, but it's still deserving of special protection," Manson said in an interview.

The birds still would be safeguarded under the federal Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940, which prohibits killing or selling the animals.

I don't generally have a whole lot of hope for the prevention of environmental damage over the long run. All you need to do is look at the fact that in West Virginia, mining companies are allowed to remove the tops of mountains, mine the coal underneath and then dump the excess rock and silt into nearby steams. Needless to say this usually kills the stream and the valley through which it was flowing. The argument usually made is that it would simply be too expensive to dispose of the waste in a way that doesn't take advantage of the destruction of the environment. We know that this causes long term damage and yet is still allowed because we desire cheap energy. All that said, the fact that the bald eagle has made a nice comeback is the type of thing that helps to give me some hope for the future. |

Get Your War On is new. And good. Oh, so good. |

This really is just disgusting:

The Bush administration has sent Attorney General John Ashcroft out as a speaker to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark decision that paved the way to the civil rights movement.

--snip--

In 1999 Ashcroft accepted an honorary degree from Bob Jones University — a school known for its racist policies, which, at the time, included a ban on interracial dating.

Emphasis mine.

Having grown up in a fairly well integrated environment (the Army), I honestly never gave much thought to B vs BE until I got out in to 'real world' and discovered that not all schools had been as integrated as mine always were throughout my childhood. It came as a bit of a shock to me that people wouldn't want integrated schools. Combine that with the fact that I went to University in Missouri and am well familiar with John Ashcroft has resulted in my whole week being ruined already. Thanks a lot, you miserable failure. |

The Grey Turtleneck Avenger is looking for a little turkee in the form of legal United States tender. Given that the work he does is more valuable than 99% of the stuff put up on the CBS nightly news and 110% of the stuff on Fox News, please consider swinging some cash his way, until his employment situation straightens out. And bear in mind that as leftists this is the type of thing that we need to pull together on, given that we don't have the Heritage Foundation to back us. Show the love. |

Off to see the Preakness in a couple of hours. Looks like The Cliffs Edge has scratched, which ruined the tri I wanted to play. Wish me luck anyway and hope that Shane Sellers, The jockey who was supposed to be on The Cliffs Edge, gets another mount. He seems like a good guy and has worked hard on behalf of jockeys issues. and as good Democrats, aren't we supposed to be in favor of the labor side of the issues? |

Kos has put an email, in its entirety, that he received from a Freeper. Now, given that this guy asked to have his email reprinted and Kos did and included the senders email address, how wrong would it be to sign the Freeper up for every Spam list I can think of? I suppose I don't really want to do that, but it couldn't hurt to put his email address on the main page for all the spiders crawling the web looking for addresses could it? Nah, I didn't think so...

bigrodeo@sbcglobal.net |

Over the last several days, more and more of the Brood X cicadas have emerged from their hiding spots underground to take up residence on the local trees. Supposedly in about a week, they will be swarming everywhere. And then in about 4 or 5 weeks they will be gone for the next 17 years, hiding undergroud (kind of like a Republican with a good idea). Rather a fascinating survival stratigy. I'd be interested to know how their numbers this time around compare to 1987 and if the amount of development in the DC area has impaced them more than expected. |

This is just disturbing on so many levels. These are the types of stories that truely make me worry about not only the sanity of those supposedly protecting us, but also the direction of the country as a whole. As has been said by others, when your the good guys, you're supposed to act like you're the good guys. |

Last night was the second to last episode of Angel, he of the Buffy spin-off. Mrs. Totales and I say on the couch, eating humus (garlic flavored) and watching. Near the end of the episode (start of Act Three) there was a scene with a prisoner, unclothed and with a hood over his head, shackled to the ground. Surrounding him were people watching as Angel came in and killed the prisoner. Kind of sad how events in the news are worse than events on a fictionalized TV show about the Apocalypse. |

I noted this on Atrios yesterday, but didn't have time to link and come up with a snarky headline:

The Google Terrrorist
It was the lead item on the government's daily threat matrix one day last April. Don Emilio Fulci described by an FBI tipster as a reclusive but evil millionaire, had formed a terrorist group that was planning chemical attacks against London and Washington, D.C. That day even FBI director Robert Mueller was briefed on the Fulci matter. But as the day went on without incident, a White House staffer had a brainstorm: He Googled Fulci. His findings: Fulci is the crime boss in the popular video game Headhunter. "Stand down," came the order from embarrassed national security types.

If the malAdministration is going to start taking these things seriously, perhaps they should read this. Hell, the advice has to be at least as realistic as whatever Rumsfeld has been saying. |

Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant. |

This is not good: Coach gave $300 to Clemons, NCAA charges

At least it doesn't look like they are going to loose postseason eligibility over this. And in all fairness, this is less than I had expected. |