Happy St. Patrick's Day

"Creativity isn't learned, it's unlearned"

Sir Ken Robinson on creativity in children (and, by extension, in adults).

President Obama's Plan to Roll Back the Bush Tax Cuts

From The Washington Monthly

Exactly

Why is no one else saying this (from "Fears of a Clown," by Timothy Egan, New York Times, 3/04/09):

"Obama, [Limbaugh] has said since, is waging a 'war on capitalism.'

There is a war, all right. We are witnessing the worst debacle of unfettered capitalism in our lifetime brought on by — you got it, capitalism at its worst. It cannibalized itself. Government, sad to say, had nothing to do with it — except for criminal neglect of oversight.

Now that government has been forced to the rescue, just who is insisting on taxpayer bailouts? Who is in line for handouts? Who is saying that only government can save capitalism? The very leaders of unregulated markets who injected this poison into the economy, the very plutocrats that Limbaugh celebrates.

And, of course, let us never forget that the bailouts of banks and insurance companies were initiated by the Republican president Limbaugh defended for eight years."

And you want to know who said "Let 'em all fail; if they can't keep their houses in order, then let them shutter the doors" (The "they" referring to everyone from AIG to GM)? My pinko-commie self. Just about as far from Limbaugh as you can get.

I'm sick of these people who are so in love with capitalism and the free market insisting that it's such a terrible thing for government to step in and take over, that we're moving toward a socialist state. Well, how about those people who love the free market so damn much just stop asking the government for money? How about that? Let's see what happens when your free market continues to fun free.

Seriously, just stop taking the money then.

Am I Taking Crazy Pills?

This from The New York Times today:

"The ability of the diminished minority to delay the bill signaled growing unease in Congress, among Democrats and Republicans, over the levels of government spending in recent months and the staggering increase in the federal deficit."

Ahem, excuse me? "[I]n recent months"?!?! WTF?! Have these people even been paying attention to this country's spending over the last eight years? Under the Clinton Administration the gross debt in the U.S. went from the low-three trillions to the mid-five trillions. Under Bush II it jumped from there to over ten trillion.

But only in "recent months" has there been a growing unease among Democrats and Republicans. Give me a break.

(Some graphs and charts for those numbers, here and here.)

New Graphic

The new art work accompanying the title of this blog is courtesy of my two-year-old nephew Harper...'cause that's how he loves me.



Damn, all three of my nephews are awesome.