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Apr. 25th, 2012 04:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* There are now 11 UN observers in Syria. People have been pointing out sniper's nests to them in violation of the cease fire and risking their lives bringing them evidence. Assad's people are targeting the folks talking to the observers, of course. Nothing is being done, of course, and Assad starts up the genocide as soon as the observers leave.
* The UK joins Spain back in Recession. I do not understand why this is a surprise. Austerity measures slow the economy. Most EU governments are enacting austerity measures knowing full well that firing people etc. slows economies and yet they are all surprised that cause and effect are still connected.
* Iran's oil producing facilities have been hit with a cyber attack. It's assumed to be a deliberate hit by another power. It's only a question of time before we and Israel are hit back. The Republicans are standing in the way of any sort of advance protection on the grounds that it's "regulation." *facepalm*
* Pennsylvania is santorum's home state, and he's very unpopular there. Yes, he's no longer running. Some have speculated he deliberately dropped out before the Pennsylvania primary so losing there would be less embarrassing, and therefore damaging. He di still manage to come in a distant second. The Results: Romney 57%, Santorum 19%, Paul 13%, Gingrich 11%. Connecticut: Romney 68%, Paul 13%, Gingrich 10%, Santorum 7%. Delaware Romney 56%, Paul 27%, Gingrich 11%, Santorum 6%. New York: Romney 60%, Paul 17%, Gingrich 14%, Santorum 10%. Rhode Island: Romney 63%, Paul 24%, Gingrich 6%, Santorum 6%.
* Mitt Romney wants to remind you that even though he's in favour of the Ryan budget which will drop over a million students off Pell Grants as they help the poorest college students, and which doubles interest on student loans, he sides with the President on extending lower interest rates on student loans rather than doubling them this summer as his republican colleagues intend this summer. Notice those things contradict. But he feels your student debt pain. After all he claims he and his wife were so poor in college they had to sell off some of their stock options to pay for them. I can only assume he thinks actual college students working their way up from actual poverty have stock options too, so don't need extra help. This is a man who claims a million plus a year income is "not much money" after all. What the fuck does he know about folks literally working their way through college with no generational wealth or parental support? Meanwhile, the President was still trying to pay off his student loans eight years ago, what with him actually having had to work for everything he has.
* Newt Gingrich wants to remind you that not doubling student loan interest is bad for students. Riiiiight.
* Rush Limbaugh is going after law school student Sandra fluke because she dared to tweet in favour of keeping the lower student loan rates instead of doubling them as republicans want. After all how dare she think our country should invest in our future by keeping lower interests on loans, which he insists is some sort of hand out even though it isn't. the thing about loans is you have to pay them back. Also, is it just me or is it really creepy that he seems to be stalking this young woman?
*This thing does a good job analyzing the Republican hatred of students who can't afford college without loans including Republican Virginia Foxx essentially calling all of us who did work study and took out loans because we weren't born rich lazy (Her clip at the 7:45 point or thereabouts): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/
* They found a dairy cow with BSE here in the US, begging the question, "How many didn't they catch?" (I refuse to call it "Mad Cow" because I don't think it's funny. Watch some vids of people and animals with it and see if you think it's funny too. If you do, I'm guessing you have no empathy, as it's on my short list of worst diseases you can get. Rabies wins, but Creutzfeldt-Jakobs is pretty fucking terrible and untreatable.) They assure us the beef supply is safe, but I am happy I don't eat meat. Anyway, experts say the milk is safe as it can't be transferred that way.
* I haven't said anything about the John Edwards trial. I think there is no question that Mr. Edwards is a skeevy unethical misogynist. (His misogyny came clear during the campaign when he made an incredibly sexist remark about Hilary Clinton. New revelations that he is a misogynist douche only strengthen that impression for me). I do think there is still some question as to whether or not this is illegal under campaign finance law, which is what the trial is establishing. This is a novel application of the statutes so the trial is literally setting precedent. None of this is new, and I doubt I'll say anything else until it's over, if then.
* Similarly, y'all know how I feel about Rupurt Murdoch and the associated cruelty, invasion of privacy, and political/police corruption. Yes, I'm following the trial, but I have nothing new or clever to say. for the record, the livetestimony is so dull, my brain tried to escape through my ears.
* I'm still dreaming a lot of Architecture, houses and apartments scurlling out. I've added a new neighborhood to my dream Bellingham, a residential area with a few shows downtown that is unmored in time. This week though, it's been airplanes and airports, either going back to France or to various places in Asia. It dawned on me yesterday, that even though Philadelphia airport is the one I've been to most often in life, the majority of this week's airports were mostly JFK, where I haven't been in almost thirty years, with bits of other airports blended in or tacked on.
* You'd think I'd be a West Wing fan, but it fell into the hole where the only TV channel we had was a fuzzy one out of Canada, so I've actually never seen it. I decided I probably ought to give it a try, but it feels... ancient the way political stuff tends to do after even a few news cycles have passed. Yes it's fictional, but it's cultural moment was so specific as an alternative fantasy to the bush presidency. I'm going to watch further, just in case it catches as I'm sucker for ensemble casts, but I've got a bunch of things all needing to go back next Monday and some of them are way longer waits.
* I just got Beaver Moon 2011 in a trade. I am not convinced it's possible to own enough of it. I'm pretty sure I don't.
* I love the whole idea of a glow in the dark dinosaur quarter. Brava Canada!
* I love Laurie Anderson's music and have a whole bunch of her albums. I am deeply uncomfortable with it being in an ad.
* Bwahahahahaha! http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/2e87bd3144/rick-santorum-aborts-presidential-campaign?rel=player
* The UK joins Spain back in Recession. I do not understand why this is a surprise. Austerity measures slow the economy. Most EU governments are enacting austerity measures knowing full well that firing people etc. slows economies and yet they are all surprised that cause and effect are still connected.
* Iran's oil producing facilities have been hit with a cyber attack. It's assumed to be a deliberate hit by another power. It's only a question of time before we and Israel are hit back. The Republicans are standing in the way of any sort of advance protection on the grounds that it's "regulation." *facepalm*
* Pennsylvania is santorum's home state, and he's very unpopular there. Yes, he's no longer running. Some have speculated he deliberately dropped out before the Pennsylvania primary so losing there would be less embarrassing, and therefore damaging. He di still manage to come in a distant second. The Results: Romney 57%, Santorum 19%, Paul 13%, Gingrich 11%. Connecticut: Romney 68%, Paul 13%, Gingrich 10%, Santorum 7%. Delaware Romney 56%, Paul 27%, Gingrich 11%, Santorum 6%. New York: Romney 60%, Paul 17%, Gingrich 14%, Santorum 10%. Rhode Island: Romney 63%, Paul 24%, Gingrich 6%, Santorum 6%.
* Mitt Romney wants to remind you that even though he's in favour of the Ryan budget which will drop over a million students off Pell Grants as they help the poorest college students, and which doubles interest on student loans, he sides with the President on extending lower interest rates on student loans rather than doubling them this summer as his republican colleagues intend this summer. Notice those things contradict. But he feels your student debt pain. After all he claims he and his wife were so poor in college they had to sell off some of their stock options to pay for them. I can only assume he thinks actual college students working their way up from actual poverty have stock options too, so don't need extra help. This is a man who claims a million plus a year income is "not much money" after all. What the fuck does he know about folks literally working their way through college with no generational wealth or parental support? Meanwhile, the President was still trying to pay off his student loans eight years ago, what with him actually having had to work for everything he has.
* Newt Gingrich wants to remind you that not doubling student loan interest is bad for students. Riiiiight.
* Rush Limbaugh is going after law school student Sandra fluke because she dared to tweet in favour of keeping the lower student loan rates instead of doubling them as republicans want. After all how dare she think our country should invest in our future by keeping lower interests on loans, which he insists is some sort of hand out even though it isn't. the thing about loans is you have to pay them back. Also, is it just me or is it really creepy that he seems to be stalking this young woman?
*This thing does a good job analyzing the Republican hatred of students who can't afford college without loans including Republican Virginia Foxx essentially calling all of us who did work study and took out loans because we weren't born rich lazy (Her clip at the 7:45 point or thereabouts): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
* They found a dairy cow with BSE here in the US, begging the question, "How many didn't they catch?" (I refuse to call it "Mad Cow" because I don't think it's funny. Watch some vids of people and animals with it and see if you think it's funny too. If you do, I'm guessing you have no empathy, as it's on my short list of worst diseases you can get. Rabies wins, but Creutzfeldt-Jakobs is pretty fucking terrible and untreatable.) They assure us the beef supply is safe, but I am happy I don't eat meat. Anyway, experts say the milk is safe as it can't be transferred that way.
* I haven't said anything about the John Edwards trial. I think there is no question that Mr. Edwards is a skeevy unethical misogynist. (His misogyny came clear during the campaign when he made an incredibly sexist remark about Hilary Clinton. New revelations that he is a misogynist douche only strengthen that impression for me). I do think there is still some question as to whether or not this is illegal under campaign finance law, which is what the trial is establishing. This is a novel application of the statutes so the trial is literally setting precedent. None of this is new, and I doubt I'll say anything else until it's over, if then.
* Similarly, y'all know how I feel about Rupurt Murdoch and the associated cruelty, invasion of privacy, and political/police corruption. Yes, I'm following the trial, but I have nothing new or clever to say. for the record, the livetestimony is so dull, my brain tried to escape through my ears.
* I'm still dreaming a lot of Architecture, houses and apartments scurlling out. I've added a new neighborhood to my dream Bellingham, a residential area with a few shows downtown that is unmored in time. This week though, it's been airplanes and airports, either going back to France or to various places in Asia. It dawned on me yesterday, that even though Philadelphia airport is the one I've been to most often in life, the majority of this week's airports were mostly JFK, where I haven't been in almost thirty years, with bits of other airports blended in or tacked on.
* You'd think I'd be a West Wing fan, but it fell into the hole where the only TV channel we had was a fuzzy one out of Canada, so I've actually never seen it. I decided I probably ought to give it a try, but it feels... ancient the way political stuff tends to do after even a few news cycles have passed. Yes it's fictional, but it's cultural moment was so specific as an alternative fantasy to the bush presidency. I'm going to watch further, just in case it catches as I'm sucker for ensemble casts, but I've got a bunch of things all needing to go back next Monday and some of them are way longer waits.
* I just got Beaver Moon 2011 in a trade. I am not convinced it's possible to own enough of it. I'm pretty sure I don't.
* I love the whole idea of a glow in the dark dinosaur quarter. Brava Canada!
* I love Laurie Anderson's music and have a whole bunch of her albums. I am deeply uncomfortable with it being in an ad.
* Bwahahahahaha! http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/2e87bd3144/rick-santorum-aborts-presidential-campaign?rel=player