Why I'm not a Sox Fan anymore....

No, not because they lost last night - not even because my johnny-come-lately yet inexplicably die-hard wife kept me awake for the entire damn thing - but because people like this are no longer with us - they're against us!  

On Pirates

This column is circulating in the uber-liberal blogosphere, my mom's email list, my brother's facebook page and various other subversive centers for Un-American Activities.  In all seriousness though, the fishing stuff is true (except that Asian nations are just as guilty as the Europeans he mentioned).   I couldn't find verification on what I would call an impartial news source (someoone please send it to me if you have one!) on the nuclear waste dumping and the Italian mafia, although it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

None of this suggests we should turn the other cheek to piracy or that Easter Sunday's dramatic rescue was not warranted.   It is just further proof that what happens in God-forsaken countries halfway across the world eventually will have some effect on us (this piracy story is not over, not by a long shot).  Somalia hasn't had a functioning government in about 20 years (maybe longer?) and the piracy is not a result of some intrinsic "evil-doers" or "terrorists"rising on orders from Satan himself to attack America and All-Things-Good - but rather a predictable consequence of the poverty and lawlessness that has racked that nation for this extended period of time.

Something to chew on.

On Tea and Crumpets

Because it snowed today in Boston,

 global warming is not happening

Lobsters with claws growing out of their claws

From Gloucester.  Hey, I had too much coffee tonight so I can't sleep.

Freak Lobster Mutated With Double Claw from Joey on Vimeo.

Calculated Risk: Krugman warns of...

...ZOMBIE BANKS ON THE MARCH!!!

Shank, Culry Haired Boyfriend, whatever you want to call him

Seldom has a sports writer generated the kind of animosity that seems to have developed around long time Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy.

Here' the thing:I like Shaughnessy's columns - and I don't care who knows it.  True, with the financial problems the Globe is dealing with, it's hard to justify them spending big bucks on sports reporting, let alone sports opinion columns.   But from "pass the Jim Jones kool-aid" to " it would be hard not to imagine Carl Everett head-butting customers as he walked down the aisle of Section 25." I find him to be a reasonably good writer who makes me laugh.  I find him to be far more literary and well-informed than a typical newspaper reporter, let alone sports reporter. 

And I like his writing.  So popular opinion be damned, Dan Shaugnessy is one of things I'll miss most if we lose the Globe.

I can't wait to get back

on the bike.

Stop worrying about terrorism

Really - just stop.

Photographs of the Hermit Kingdom

Random web zen I ran across this morning...I want to get better but it's also nice to have some time to surf at home....

Contemplating life without the Globe

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this.  I still read the Globe religiously, even though I almost always read it online without paying (therein lies their problem).  It may not be what it used to be, but it is still by far the best daily in Massachusetts. 

Yet part of me almost wants to see them stop publishing, because I think print newspapers are ea relic of a bygone era (or soon will be).  That said, I would not simply want to see their news staff disband, rather I'd like to see them try to figure out how to make the online "paper" profitable.  I think it will be very tough for a news organization to do any sort of "in-depth" reporting on a consistent basis without charging for content, and I for one would be willing to pay - particularly for local coverage that I can't get for free elsewhere. 

Asian Beetle Tree-Clearing in Worcester

This is right across the way from our first house in Worcester, in the heart of Burncoat neighborhood - which is apparently the heart of the Asian Longhorned Beetle infestation.

Sad to see - I'm going to have to take a drive through the old 'hood to see if there are any trees left on our old street.

TARP Visualized

From calculated risk...

These pictures are fake (at least the last couple), but humorous nonetheless.

"Principled" conservatives are just out and out lying now

$8 billion of the stimulus package has been earmarked for an initial investment in development of high-speed rail corridors.  This is a fraction of the estimated total cost to bring truly dedicated high speed passenger rail to the Northeast Corridor or LA-SF on the west coast (either project is currently estimated in the $40-$50 billion range).  There are other high traffic "corridors" being considered, such as one between LA and Las Vegas.   Not letting the facts get in the way of her grandstanding and feigned outrage:

Here is Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.) explaining her vote against the bill Friday despite the benefits to her home state: “Michigan is a state of about 10 million people, and we are the hardest hit, as I said, by this economy. And yet we are expected to get approximately $7 billion from this bill. And apparently the Senate majority leader has earmarked $8 billion for a rail system from Las Vegas to Los Angeles? You have got to be kidding. You have got to be kidding.”

Indeed, you have got to be kidding.

Massachusetts may consider a mileage charge

I like it.  I would hope there would be a way to charge more for peak hour driving - but this would be a good start.

Perhaps not the most important issue of the day but...

...the RIAA is very annoying.  Jules and I did a fair amount of "sharing" mp3's back in the days of the original napster.  We don't do it anymore - I don't really see a need for it with all the music sampling on youtube et. al.; and the wide variety of stuff you can buy on itunes and other digital music sites for a buck.  I may not be the best example, because I've never been a music nut the way some people are - my tastes vary widely and are probably best described as "unsophisticated" by people who are musically inclined or deeply engaged to a particular genre. 

That said I am reminded of our temporary love affair with a Canadian band called "Great Big Sea".  We had never heard of them (they are quite big in the maritime provinces but get almost NO play on commercial US radio) until Jules was searching napster for "Irish drinking music" and stumbled upon one of their songs.  Long story short we ended up buying about 4 of their CD's and paying to see them live in concert when they played Avalon in Boston a few years ago (and I go to VERY few live concerts in venues bigger than a local bar).   Never would've happened without our illegal music "sharing" habit!

Serious horsepower

http://www.snopes.com/photos/boats/drugrunner.asp

Joe The Economist

As a partisan liberal, perhaps I should take some joy in the Party of Lincoln following Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Barracuda and Joe the Plumber War Correspondent Economist off a cliff.  But I can't help but think this is NOT going to help our country at all. 

Prayers for Ahlu Sunna

link

Health Care Now

Paul Krugman's column this morning urges chides the Obama administration for their apparent willingness to "let a good crisis go to waste" and reminds me of the excellent New Yorker piece I read last week.    It is no more a brief history of universal health care in the UK as it is a lesson in "path dependence", the idea that how you achieve a goal has to consider where you are starting from  - or it won't work.   Or something like that?  Maybe I need some more coffee and get back to real work rather than trying to be an amateur social scientist...but this stuff is pretty important and interesting to me.

Transportation Priorities

My company, part of the "highway lobby" would not be happy about me promoting this.  To hell with them, especially since I'm in the rail group anyway.

Remember back in 2007 when the bridge collapsed
in Minnesota? It turned out that thousands of bridges across the
country were deemed "structurally deficient," and in almost two years,
little has changed.

With billions about to be committed for a new economic recovery
package, you'd think Congress would prioritize fixing what's broken.
But the powerful highway lobby is pressing hard for nearly all the
money to spent on building new roads and bridges.

I just signed a petition to the new Congress, asking them to make
sure that our tax dollars are going to repair and maintenance, instead
of wasting our money on expanding a crumbling road and highway system.
Will you sign on, too?

http://action.smartgrowthamerica.org/t/3224/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=206

We can't afford for Congress to write a blank check to the states.
The economic recovery package they're working on right now needs to
include transparency and accountability, so we can see where the
money's going and ensure that we fix what's broken before starting to
build even more.

Why should we spend billions to build new roads to crumbling bridges?

Please, sign the petition today. All you have to do is click here:

http://action.smartgrowthamerica.org/t/3224/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=206

Thanks.

Book Is Rallying Resistance to the Antivaccine Crusade

I'm addicted to the NYT and it's liberal bias.   What will I do when they go out of business?

Anyway, here's an article about a book that the anti-vaccine wing-nuts are NOT very pleased with. 

A less controversial post from a lesser bastion of the liberal elite media

Check your credit card statements! Don't let them get away with this!

What you don't know about Gaza

Every American should read this. And then call your congressman about that $3 billion and those security council vetoes.