So Julia and I did our 2011 taxes last night. We came out pretty well all things considered. Not nearly as well as some presidential candidates, but well enough to have no real complaints. Speaking of presidential candidates, however, despite our miniscule income compared to Mitt Romney, we still paid a higher percentage of our income in taxes than he did. Which is, dare I say, a patently ridiculous outcome.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Foggy
• Currently Listening To: "I Saw Her Standing There", The Beatles

I get the feeling that Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature know that their majority will not last very long. Why else would they put forward amendment after amendment to the state constitution, trying to ensconce their beliefs into permanence while at the same time avoiding the veto pen of Governor Dayton? Their creativity when it comes to these amendments leaves much to be desired, since they are mainly the same old issues that they yearn for year after year, but even though they are the same old retreads, the cost to the state should these amendments pass would be very real.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Monday
• Currently Listening To: "I Want To Know What Love Is", Foreigner

Charles Murray, one of the authors of the infamous book The Bell Curve, has come out with a new book, this one about classism and “White America”. Given his history, it’s no surprise that people are lining up to trash the thing, and with good reason: his quiz for how thick your “upper-class bubble” is essentially a test of membership to one particular group of people in this country: whites who are mainly rural, conservative, and Evangelical Christian. As this subset of America is itself makes up a minority of the country, I really don’t understand what point he is trying to prove, other than some people aren’t members of that group.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Sore

A few days ago, the New York Times had a story about who really makes up the 1%. It’s a wide variety of people, making a wide variety of incomes depending on where exactly they live (unsurprisingly, the top 1% in Connecticut looks a bit different than the top 1% in Alabama). Of course, not all of them, nor even a majority, are the kinds of investment bankers and hedge fund managers that many people are upset at for ruining the economy. The NYT story about the top 1% is about the top 1% by income; the top 1% by wealth is a different group, arguably more removed from the middle class than the top 1% in income earners. That certainly makes sense: a surgeon that is in the top 1% in income may only be one generation removed from a middle-class upbringing, while a top 1% wealth-accumulator has probably only known luxury.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Pain
• Currently Reading: "Requiem For A Dream", Hubert Selby Jr.

It’s been pretty fun to watch the GOP presidential race and all of the non-Mitt-on-Mitt violence going on, as you may imagine. However, never did I expect to hear people like Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry attack Mitt Romney using language that sounds like it would be more at home coming out of the Occupy Wall Street protesters: “vulture capitalist”, “crony capitalism”, and everything else. It’s evident that those barbs are creating some sting, since Romney is firing back that anybody who attacks him for Bain Capital is attacking capitalism itself. I find that particularly odd, especially from a party that essentially takes the opposite approach when liberals attack, for example, guns. Here’s a hint to Romney: you’re not doing it right.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Sore
• Currently Listening To: "Long, Long, Long", The Beatles
• Currently Reading: "The Compass of Pleasure", David J. Linden

Now that the CFPB has somebody in charge despite Republican efforts to the contrary, it can actually start getting into the business of what it was created to do: protect consumers by regulating financial products. And it just so happens that some news I read today provides a handy example for thinking about what exactly needs to be regulated.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Calm
• Currently Listening To: "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place", The Animals

President Obama made a recess appointment today to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which caused Republicans to absolutely flip out (A Fox News blog screamed that he “mocks the Constitution”, which I have to say gave me quite the chuckle). Is Obama a dictator? Is he wielding absolute powers? Does Fox News distort the truth? Will Rick Santorum beat Obama in 2012? All signs point to “no”

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Satiated
• Currently Listening To: "Something", The Beatles

It may be the night of the Iowa caucuses, but I don’t feel like commenting on the hilarity therein: if you want to read about how Michele Bachmann thinks one of the most important issues facing the U.S. is light bulbs, how Rick Santorum wants to allow states to outlaw birth control, or how Herman Cain thinks he is qualified to be Secretary of Defense because he was on a Navy boat once, there’s plenty of places to do that. Instead, let’s talk about debt!

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Exhausted
• Currently Listening To: "Take Me to the River", Talking Heads

The First Amendment to the Constitution is probably the most misunderstood amendment, likely because it is the one that most people know about. Few things are funnier than hearing it misused by people who say things like “You can’t ban me from this website, I have First Amendment rights!” It’s one thing for internet trolls to not have a grasp of what the First Amendment means; it’s quite another for churches to think that they have a right to discriminate while getting government contracts.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Currently Listening To: "Daughter", Pearl Jam
• Currently Reading: "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions", Edwin Abbott Abbott
• Just Watched: Crazy Stupid Love

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell famously said that the number one priority of Republicans is to make Obama a one-term president. As a necessary conclusion from this assertion, Republicans are trying to deny any kind of success to Obama. Even if that means deliberately subverting a program that aims to expand health care coverage to people. Reading things like this just makes me sick.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Current Mood: Engaged
• Currently Listening To: "Little Miss Strange", Jimi Hendrix