Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- Step Right Up! – This critique of WDW’s Toy Story Midway Mania is a bit over-analyzed, perhaps — but there’s a lot of truth in there, too. Action-fun at the expense of story-fun is not what the Disney experience is supposed to be about.
- Texas Education Agency Slams Fox News’s Fearmongering About The State’s Social Studies Curriculum Changes – Jeez, even Texas Republicans are criticizing Fox News.
- TurboTax drops Glenn Beck, whose show has gone without ads for more than a month in the UK.: Amanda Terkel
- Beck doubles down on opposition to ‘social justice’ – The only thing I can think of in defense (or at least mitigation) of Beck here is similar to the 80s controversy over “Liberation Theology” in the Catholic Church in Latin America — if a religion is putting concerns for Man over God, or is more interested in greater good / group benefit over the importance of the individual, then it bears some further discussion and examination. Of course, Beck’s presentation of those concerns, even assuming that level of rational thought, is so clownish as to be laughable, except that it tars a worthwhile concept like “social justice” with the stain of Becks saying it’s Nazism in disguise.
- Where’s our Ensign frenzy? – Money graf: “Republicans, in other words, have demanded higher moral standards of all of us, while failing to meet these standards themselves — and failing to ostracize the guilty from their ranks. It’s quite a racket, which the media encourages by playing along.”
- The GOP discovers its distaste for earmarks – Heh.
- CBO weighs in – Health Care Reform will actually reduce the deficit? But … but … socialism! Death panels! ACORN!
- Oklahoma Will Destroy Evidence In Order to Thwart Federal Hate Crimes Laws – Because the only people who should be judging whether something is a hate crime is … the locals. Riiiiight. I’m sure George Wallace would have agreed.
- McCain, Lesson Learned – As ugly as McCain’s 2008 logo was, it was also highly distinctive, visible, and unique. In fact, its lack of polish was almost a strength. The new one looks nice, yes, but not so distinct that it will stand out against some other nice logos.
- Nimble Design – /the/path/of/most/resistance – As a database guy / cataloger / organizer (no really) kind of guy, the idea of doing away with the (visible) file system is really irksome to me (the lack of file hierarchy / organization is one of the things that bugs me frequently about a number of Google programs). On the other hand, I can see the ease-of-use point for a lot of more casual (less OCD) people.
- Vaccinating kids for flu protects almost everyone [Neuron Culture] – So (1) child vaccination really is a public health issue, not just whimsy, and (2) kids are serious little Typhoid Marys.
- Texas Drops Thomas Jefferson – Of course — he was a Deist, a Democrat, a civil libertarian, and an intellectual. Why would Texas every want to have kids learning about him?
- Liberty vs Reality – Too many places to start with the general incoherency here … but I’m amazed by how gushing “Liberty University” is about Monckton’s peerage and titles.
- Walmart is not the culprit, it is the symptom – An interesting (if ideological and occasionally paranoid) analysis of suburban sprawl, how we got there, and what, if anything, can be done about it.
- Vaccinating kids for flu protects almost everyone [Neuron Culture] – In other words (1) child vaccination is a public health issue, not a personal whim, and (2) kids are freaking Typhoid Marys.
- New “Smart Meters” for Energy Use Put Privacy at Risk – An interesting set of concerns (and some great fodder for some TV scriptwriter).
- Ensign sex scandal worsens: Steve Benen
- Wonk Room » Gov. McDonnell Rebuffs Attorney General, Issues New Directive Protecting LGBT From Discrimination – So he issued a set of non-binding suggestions that employment discrimination against gays was not something he’d tolerate, not an executive order. Big whoop. Though I have to wonder whether some of his conservative supporters will suddenly reconsider their support.
- CNN’s Crowley Suggests Democrats Debated Afghanistan Exit Strategy To ‘Make The Massa Story Go Away’ – While I have no doubt that the Democrats would like the whole Massa thing to go away (so would some of the Republicans who were quick to embrace, then back off of, him), suggesting that an open debate about a war that’s killed hundreds of US soldiers and cost us billions of dollars is a convenient excuse to sweep a relatively minor scandal under the table is self-serving claptrap from CNN.
- It’s always (and by always I mean never) fun when economists are caught contradicting themselves – I would suggest a distinction lies in the economic situation at the time. That said, I don’t believe our unemployment benefits are so lavish that most out-of-work workers are content to lounge about and live off the dole. Some are, no doubt, and I agree that’s unfortunate and even reprehensible. But I suspect you could find a lot of counter-cases, too. So are we more motivated to punish the lazy or assist the unfortunate?
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