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"Soft as Pudding"

Submitted by Roanman on Tue, 08/16/2011 - 07:40

 

Young adults born in the 1980s and early 1990s leaped out of nicotine- and alcohol-free wombs to be deemed geniuses every time they passed a test, awarded trophies every time they caught a ball and tucked into comfy car seats on the victory ride over to their favorite sushi palace.

They took groovy public-service internships at an age when their grandfathers were sweating on assembly lines or being shot at by Nazis, lived with their parents until they were 28, then proceeded directly to their shrinks for marathon weeping sessions every time they messed up a project at work.

They’re as soft as pudding, and they know it. The Greatest Generation didn’t need triathlons or X-treme skateboarding; every Friday night was a thrill ride after manual labor and eight Schlitzes.

 

From Kyle Smith, film critic at the New York Post.

Ckick on the above photo for his personal blog.

 

OK, OK We'll Post It.

Submitted by Roanman on Wed, 02/16/2011 - 12:00

 

All morning long, I kept getting the same email, with the same link, over and over again.

Nearly every one of the minions who take The Wall Street Journal online, knowing that I enjoy James Taranto's ongoing taunt of the New York Times and their star columnist Paul Krugman, felt compelled to give me a heads up on this morning's Best of the Web column at WSJ.com.

As though I hadn't already been up and skulking my favorite sites for hours.

I suppose it would be ungracious (ingracious?) one of those for sure ... maybe both, not to thank each and every one of you for thinking about our site.

And because it seems very important to you that we spread the word on this issue, and more importantly, because I was going to do it anyway, here we go.

First, from Taranto's post linking to the original article at The Telegraph

 

Great Moments in Socialized Medicine 
First the bad news. "The National Health Service is today condemned over its inhumane treatment of elderly patients in an official report that finds hospitals are failing to meet 'even the most basic standards of care' for the over-65s," ...
 

Now the good news: "In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We've all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false," according to Paul Krugman, star columnist at the New York Times.

Oops, but there's more bad news: The New York Times has been known to publish out-and-out falsehoods on its opinion pages, including under Krugman's byline.

Good news: This could be one of those instances in which he's telling the truth. Bad news: We wouldn't bet on it.

 

Now the full story.

As always, the photo links to the entire peice.

Recommended

 

NHS shamed over callous treatment of elderly

The National Health Service is today condemned over its inhumane treatment of elderly patients in an official report that finds hospitals are failing to meet “even the most basic standards of care” for the over-65s.

By Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent 

A study of pensioners who suffered appalling treatment at the hands of doctors and nurses say that half were not given enough to eat or drink.  One family member said the maltreatment amounted to "euthanasia".

Some were left unwashed or in soiled clothes, while others were forgotten after being sent home or given the wrong medication.

In several cases considered by the Health Service Ombudsman, patients died without loved ones by their sides because of the “casual indifference” of staff and their “bewildering disregard” for people’s needs.

The damning report warns that extra money will not help the NHS meet required standards of care and that more problems are likely as the population ages.

Ann Abraham, who as health ombudsman carries out independent investigation of complaints against the health service, said: “The findings of my investigations reveal an attitude – both personal and institutional – which fails to recognise the humanity and individuality of the people concerned and to respond to them with sensitivity, compassion and professionalism.

 

But no death panels.

 

Catching up on a Sunday Morning

Submitted by Roanman on Sun, 01/23/2011 - 07:24

 

Nobel Economics Laureate, Princeton University economic professor, and New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman defines the sides.

 

"One side of American politics considers the modern welfare state — a private-enterprise economy, but one in which society’s winners are taxed to pay for a social safety net — morally superior to the capitalism red in tooth and claw we had before the New Deal.

It’s only right, this side believes, for the affluent to help the less fortunate.

The other side believes that people have a right to keep what they earn, and that taxing them to support others, no matter how needy, amounts to theft.

That’s what lies behind the modern right’s fondness for violent rhetoric: many activists on the right really do see taxes and regulation as tyrannical impositions on their liberty.

There’s no middle ground between these views.”  Paul Krugman

 

Hmmmmmm

Submitted by Roanman on Wed, 12/01/2010 - 06:42

 

 

From James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal who loves (hell, maybe lives) to torment The New York Times, on two very different responses to leaked information.

On "Climategate".

"The documents appear to have been acquired illegally and contain all manner of private information and statements that were never intended for the public eye, so they won't be posted here."—New York Times, on the Climategate emails, Nov. 20, 2009.

On Wikileaks latest revelations.

"The articles published today and in coming days are based on thousands of United States embassy cables, the daily reports from the field intended for the eyes of senior policy makers in Washington. . . . The Times believes that the documents serve an important public interest, illuminating the goals, successes, compromises and frustrations of American diplomacy in a way that other accounts cannot match."—New York Times, on the WikiLeaks documents, Nov. 29, 2010.

Politics? ................... Maybe?

Nahhhhh, not The Old Grey Lady.

 

 

From the New York Times 11/25/2010

Submitted by Roanman on Mon, 11/29/2010 - 08:11

  

The New York Times is starting to get it.

“It seems Abdulmutallab, a name T.S.A. agents must now memorize, is to blame. Abdulmutallab is the failed Nigerian ‘underwear bomber’ of last Christmas. He joins the failed shoe bomber and failed shampoo-and-bottled-water bombers in a remarkable success: adding another blanket layer of T.S.A checks, including dubious gropes, to the daily humiliations of travelers.

 

“Whether or not these explosive devices were ever actually operable remains a matter of dispute, just as it remains a mystery that the enemy — if as powerful as portrayed — has not contrived a single terrorist act on U.S. soil since 9/11. What is not in doubt is an old rule: Give a bureaucrat a big stick and a big budget, allow said bureaucrat to trade in the limitless currency of human anxiety, and the masses will soon be intimidated by the Department of Fear.

 

“Lavrenti Beria, Stalin’s notorious secret police chief, once said, ‘Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.’ The T.S.A. seems to operate on the basis of an adapted maxim: ‘Show me the security check and I’ll find you the excuse.’

 

“Anyone who has watched T.S.A. agents spending 10 minutes patting down 80-year-old grandmothers, or seen dismayed youths being ordered back into the scanner booth by agents connected wirelessly to other invisible agents gazing at images of these people in a state of near-nakedness, has to ask: What form of group madness is it that forsakes judgment and discernment for process run amok?

 

“I don’t doubt the patriotism of the Americans involved in keeping the country safe, nor do I discount the threat, but I am sure of this: The unfettered growth of the Department of Homeland Security and the T.S.A. represent a greater long-term threat to the prosperity, character and well-being of the United States than a few madmen in the valleys of Waziristan or the voids of Yemen.

 

“America is a nation of openness, boldness and risk-taking. Close this nation, cow it, constrict it and you unravel its magic.

 

“There are now about 400 full-body scanners, set to grow to 1,000 next year. One of the people pushing them most energetically is Michael Chertoff, the former Secretary of Homeland Security. He’s the co-founder and managing principal of the Chertoff Group, which provides security advice. One of its clients is California-based Rapiscan Systems, part of the OSI Systems corporation, that makes many of the ‘whole body’ scanners being installed…

 

“Intelligence has improved beyond measure since 9/11. It can be used far more effectively at airports. Instead of humiliating everyone, focus on the very small proportion of travelers who might present a threat.

 

“So I give thanks this week for the Fourth Amendment: ‘The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’  I give thanks for Benjamin Franklin’s words after the 1787 Constitutional Convention describing the results of its deliberations: ‘A Republic, if you can keep it.’ To keep it, push back against enhanced patting, Chertoff’s naked-screening and the sinister drumbeat of fear.” – Roger Cohen, “The Real Threat to America,” The New York Times, 11-25-10

 

Cut the Deficit

Submitted by Roanman on Mon, 11/22/2010 - 06:14

 

The much maligned New York Times has come up with some wonderful and instructive interactives over the past several months, this one stands among the best.

You are in charge.

Enact your plan to cut the deficit, the interactive does the math for you.

Click the image below to link up the site.

Recommended.

 

 

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