Susan Page

I assume most of the "audience" does not read the comments, so you may be surprised to learn that Susan Page left one today. Who is Susan Page? She works for USA Today (which honestly, I don't read) but she also is a frequent guest and substitute host on the Diane Rehm Show which is where I know her from. This morning I posted about something she said on the air, specifically a word she used that I thought was a silly made-up word. It was my normal sort of off-handed absently vitriolic diatribe that started with her and then wandered around the subject of cute little made up words; you can read it two or three posts below if you really want. Her comment back to me was nothing but classy. I don't think I'd have been so restrained if I'd written what I wrote about her comment about something I said. She simply pointed out she had not coined the term "stagflation." For this reason, I feel I should post not just a reply comment, but also post her reply and my reply to that here, at the same level as my original comment. It seems only fair.

Susan's Reply:

Hey, just for the record, I didn't invent "stagflation" as a word. It was coined during the 1970s, when after the oil price shocks we had stagnated growth and inflation -- where we might be headed again. "Stagflation" is a first cousin of "the misery index." Maybe that's a phrase about to make a comeback, too.
Thanks.
Susan Page

My reply to Susan:

I have to say that I never expected to have anyone with celebrity about whom I write respond to one of my rants. I find it a vaguely humbling experience though I’m not entirely sure why; I think there is just a degree of affirmation in knowing that someone unrelated to me reads this thing where I vent from time to time. I also grant you that I just dashed back there and re-read what I wrote about Susan Page.

So, to Susan Page, of USA Today: If it really was you (one always must doubt a bit on the Internet unfortunately), thank you for reading and thank you for commenting. I still think that Stagflation is a silly, overly-cute word as are green collar, whatever-gate, and a whole host of other words people invent all the time. However, none of that lessens, in any way, my appreciation that you took the time to read and comment. I listen to snippets of the Diane Rehm show a lot and I know you are a frequent guest and hostess on the show, so this may not be the last time I take your name in vain. Regardless of what I may say from time to time in the heat of a rant, you should know how much I usually appreciate your rather more neutral view of things during the Friday News Round-up (or on other topics) than the views provided by some of the other guests. I am also quite aware of how much easier it is for me, sitting in my quiet chair here in Illinois, to take cheap, off-the-cuff, shots at those like you who are a bit more in the spotlight and don’t have the luxury of being able to take equally cheap shots back. I don’t believe I could restrain myself half so well.

Hillary Clinton and the Great Debate

Listened to David Korn (I think it's spelled that way) on Diane Rehm today. David is a radical liberal who despises his own right foot and writes for the Nation. They were talking about last night's debate between Obama and Clinton. And he was talking about her "human moment at the end" in spite of the fact that apparently with a minute after it happened, her staff had posted it to YouTube with as propaganda write-up. Staged event anyone? Anyway, Korn was saying that her human moment shined through because it was when she got away from the negative attack posture she had been... wait for it... "forced" into. FORCED? Give me a break! No one forced her, and if they did, do we want a next President who can be so easily forced? She went there all on her own, and you, Mr. Korn, are trying to spin this and make excuses for her. Forced? Phooey!

AD&D

Played AD&D last Wednesday night. I had forgotten how much I missed epic fantasy RPGs. I've been in the world of VtM and other blood sucking nocturnal marauders far too long it seems. I'm really enjoying it and looking forward to two weeks from now. Just need to do a character background and get some character tweaks in. Woot!

Stagflation? Really?

Reporters should not try to be cute and invent words. NPR today has Susan Page (whom I usually like) talking about "Stagflation." Isn't that cute? Last week it was "green collar jobs" (not on Diane Rehm) . Doesn't that just make sense. It's bad enough most people can't use the English they have already, but do we need to go making up new parts of it too? In the past we had White Water gate and Iran-Contragate. Hell, we had everything-gate because if you wanted it to sound scandalous, you'd call it something gate.

I ask you what the hell is a green collar job? A white collar job is management where they wore white shirts, tie, etc. Hence "white collar." A blue collar job is more of an assembly line job where they often wore blue coveralls (picture the Maytag repair man icon). Hence, "blue collar." But if you want to talk about jobs in renewable/environmental energy business, why look we have a color (green) so we call them green color jobs. Aren't we just so clever? We'll ignore the fact that one relates to the type of work while the other relates to the sector of work, because if you don't understand a metaphor (I know this isn't really a metaphor.), we can mix away until we look absurd. Consider that we will now have blue collar green collar jobs and white collar green collar jobs (mint green collar?). Won't that make a lot of sense?

You should have to be licensed to use the English language.

Senatorial reply

Remember when I wrote my Senators and Representatives about using pre-paid visas for tax refunds? I finally got an answer from one.

****

February 21, 2008

Mr. Dan Brackmann
Dear Mr. Brackmann:

Thank you for contacting me regarding Congressional efforts to stimulate the economy. I appreciate hearing from you.

On February 7, 2008, Congress passed and sent to the President legislation designed to stimulate our struggling economy. I voted for this bipartisan bill, which will provide tax rebates for most individuals who in 2007 made at least $3,000 in wages, Social Security benefits, or veterans disability benefits. This rebate will help more than 65,000 veterans in Illinois and more than 20 million seniors across the country. Eligible families with a child who is under the age of 17 will receive an additional per-child rebate of $300. The rebates begin to phase out for those with incomes above $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for families.

Corporations will benefit from accelerated depreciation for new investments and small businesses will be able to write off up to $250,000 in new purchases. The legislation also will take a small step to help address the current housing crisis by increasing the loan limit for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.

I supported several important initiatives that were included in the legislation passed by the Senate Finance Committee but that were excluded from the final bill. One such provision would have extended unemployment benefits to help laid-off workers who find that it takes longer to find a new job when businesses are hiring fewer workers. Resistance from the President and his allies in Congress prevented us from enacting this provision in our first attempt, but we will keep trying.

The Senate Finance package would have expanded payments to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low-income families meet the high costs of heating or cooling their homes. The package also contained tax credit provisions to encourage the use of alternative and renewable energy sources.

The legislation passed by Congress will prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving rebates.

The economic stimulus package passed by Congress will promote growth in the near term and help address the needs of those affected by the economic downturn. While it is a good start, more work remains to be done so that Americans who most need a helping hand are given the assistance they deserve. I will continue to support efforts to include an expansion of LIHEAP and the food stamp program and an extension of unemployment benefits in further Congressional efforts to stimulate our economy.

In addition, I am working to allow families that have been forced into bankruptcy due to the subprime mortgage crisis to restructure their mortgages rather than having the banks foreclose on their homes. Foreclosures hurt the homeowner, the bank, and the surrounding community, which sees its housing values go down. Bankruptcy relief is one of the most important things we can do to inject greater stability into an economy trying to work its way out of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Thank you again for your message. Please feel free to keep in touch.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Durbin

United States Senator

RJD/jc

P.S. If you are ever visiting Washington, please feel free to join Senator Obama and me at our weekly constituent coffee. When the Senate is in session, we provide coffee and donuts every Thursday at 8:30 a.m. as we hear what is on the minds of Illinoisans and respond to your questions. We would welcome your participation. Please call my D.C. office for more details.

****

What a bunch of twaddle! Thank you for writing and he's a bunch of sophistry that has, at best, a tangential relationship to what you wrote about, but sounds like one of my campaign pamphlets. Oh and let me add a campy P.S. (like I actually thought of it at the last minute) so this seems homey and you might not realize its a form letter.

Political tripe.

Negative ads

NPR also reported today about how it was bad for the Democrats to not have found a candidate yet. Apparently, the failure to consolidate behind either Clinton or Obama is somehow damaging to them because they can’t focus on dealing with McCane.

I just don’t see how that is. Nothing should change their stance on any issue. Nothing should stop them from targeting McCane with their speeches or ads. But then that is the key isn’t it: targeting. Apparently they are targeting each other. Now why should that hurt them you ask? Why should pointing out how great you are as a candidate matter? It doesn’t… unless you are running negative attack ads.

So, what this boils down to is that having two candidates so late in the race is only bad because they stoop to running attack ads against each other. Oh whaaa. The DNC has the ability to punish candidates for negative ads just like it has the right to refuse to seat delegates from Florida. Just start imposing vote penalties for every negative ad and see how fast those ads stop. Then, the Dems won’t have the problem with their candidates undermining each other in a prolonged race.

How old am I?

Writing the last piece just made me think back to Gustavus. The text messaging idea so depends on the ASSUMPTION that everyone will have a mobile device with them. No class I can think of had anyone with a cell phone and probably not with a laptop. In 15 years, cellular phones have gone from nothing to an assumption. Am I really that old?

Solutions that make little sense

NPR reported today on some of the things that are being called for to “fix” the problem posed by all the shootings in the nation’s institutions of higher education. I’m not going to go into all of them, but one caught my attention. The solution advocated was for the school to have a system that text messaged all the students if a shooter happened or a bomb was threatened or some other similar thing happened. Issues with the ability of the system to handle say 36,000 sudden text messages on a campus like Mizzou aside, I wondered a few things.

1. This requires that all students have a cell phone and that they register it with the school. Or will the school issue cell phones?

2. Most of these shooters seem to shoot up classrooms, not dorms, not football games, and not cafeterias. Assuming that students are conscientious they will have any cell phones on silent and will be taking notes. Can you picture how some crusty math prof would react if his students kept getting and receiving messages during his lecture. So the folks who potentially most need to know, are least likely to be getting the messages.

3. Finally, I can’t help but note that these are not largely attacks planned and carried out by groups. They seem to be one shooter going on a rampage. As soon as a shot is fired, anyone in the vicinity just got instant warning faster than any pre-programmed text message and any text message would arrive after the shooting. Only in a Virginia Tech type scenario where the shooter takes a break, would text messages help and most modern colleges would now immediately shut down in that situation because of Virginia Tech.

The 500 pound gorilla

I heard a lot on NPR this morning about the housing market. Senate hearings calling the Secretary of the Treasury on the carpet like the fact that Americans over spent was his fault. Why didn't our government do more. (No one is clear on WHAT it should have done. Can you imagine the reaction if the government started interfering with mortgages or property sales because it decided the borrower/buyer could not afford that?)

Ladies and gentlemen, the home mortgage "crisis" is a small scotch terrier on the couch compared to a couple other animals in the room. First we have the 500 pound gorilla over there on the divan; his name is consumer credit card debt. If he starts rampaging around we'll have a much bigger problem. It's been reported on, noted, etc. and we ignore the reports and move on. But when he shifts, someone will be called on the carpet for not doing Something about it. Over there in the corner, behind the end table, you see the large 1 ton elephant that no one is talking about? That is the Social Security debt. It's so big that some people consider it a scared cow. It is also occasionally reported on, but ignored on the assumption that if we don't think about it, it won't do anything. But if it starts to jump around, well, you'll long for the good old days of the home mortgage crisis.

I guess the Senate did not want to talk about that.

Here Genie Genie, Come see the nice bottle

This will be serious, not sarcastic.

Yesterday, yet another gunman shot up another campus, this time a geology class at Northern Illinois University. I was once a geology major. I visited NIU when I was looking at grad schools for Communication. Last night someone shot up some cars at a local high school basketball game. There have been several shootings at institutions of higher learning since last year. My sister teaches at one. This shooting business obviously has to stop.

Many people locally will advocate that gun control is the answer but it is not. At least as far a VA tech, the guns used were already illegal. When people argue to get rid of guns, they don’t actually mean that. Usually, what they mean is to get rid of guns in the hands of people that shouldn’t be trusted with them or get rid of guns for everyone but the authorities. I don’t think that the “get rid of” advocates have really thought out their position; I think it is largely an emotional reaction. If only the authorities (government) had guns, we would suddenly have a society where the state could impose its will on the people. That scares the hell out of me. It is just as bad if we magically made all firearms/gunpowder technology disappear. That would throw us back to largely muscle powered technology, and being skilled with that takes quite a bit of time and practice. We had a society like that once, from Biblical times to the Feudal lords of Europe. It was a time when the warrior elite (who had weapons and knew how to use them) got to lord it over the peasants. Do we really want to go back to that? What the “get rid of” folks really want to do is get rid of people who break down in violent episodes, but good luck with that.

So what is my answer? I don’t have one, at least not a good one. I don’t think it is reasonable to put metal detectors in all college buildings or to turn them into walled compounds. While some students might like it, we also can’t force a college environment to be a nudist colony where no one can conceal a weapon (nor would that solve the problem; it would just change the point where shooting starts). Moral issues aside (and there are a TON of them for this one), we can’t set up a TV program where disturbed young people can get their moment of fame by shooting up each other and then themselves on camera and not in school because that’s a stupid idea that doesn’t address the anger issue. I doubt very much we can identify the societal ill that is causing this because there probably is not a uniform one nor could we agree on it.

Do we just live with it *shudder*? How do we put the genie back in the bottle?