Browsing PBH By Articles

Is The Summer Of 2011 The Worst Ever?

Rupert Murdoch was pied in the face. TBS canceled the late-night show of alleged comedian George Lopez. And a Mexican mariachi band serenaded a beluga whale in Connecticut.

That was it. Media schadenfreude and a gyrating marine mammal: the lone highlights of the Summer of 2011. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The Summer of 2010 should have been rock bottom. Three interminable months of the Greek contagion, the BP Gulf Leak, and an Icelandic volcano no one could pronounce.

Sports fans endured breathlessly hyped months of LeBronian ego. Saintly boyfriends, Sex & The City 2. And fratty roommates everywhere, the Smirnoff Ice Bros Icing Bros meme.

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Compliments And Hennessy All Around

Oh me oh my:

The agreement between the Oakland rapping guys was this: Each rapping guy would be allotted one section of the rap song to rap about whatever he wanted. The only exception was the Two Pack rapper, who would be rapping during the first and final block of the rapping song. This was because he was the leader and if the other Oakland rapping guys had any misgivings about that, then they certainly knew better than to say anything.

Even the backup rapping guys who were only allowed to chime in occasionally to respond to the lyrics knew that.

“We should all remember to rap about some of our own positive characteristics,” said one rapping guy. “That way, the listener trusts our interpretation of the subject matter.”

“Good idea!” said another rapper. “Then it’s like a resume!”

Keep reading… trust me. And then move on to the whole Tom Oatmeal blog.

Gorbachev Talks Gorbachev

The Article: SPIEGEL Interview with Mikhail Gorbachev in Der Spiegel.

The Text: In a Spiegel interview, Mikhail Gorbachev, 80, discusses the last days of the Soviet Union, his failure to resolve problems with the Communist Party and the ensuing bloodshed he says still troubles him today. He also accuses Vladimir Putin of pulling the country “back into the past.”

SPIEGEL: Mikhail Sergeyevich, you turned 80 this spring. How do you feel?

Gorbachev: Oh, what a question. Do you have to ask me that? I’ve gone through three operations in the last five years. That was pretty tough on me, because they were all major operations: First on my carotid artery, then on my prostate and this year on my spine.

SPIEGEL: In Munich.

Gorbachev: Yes. It was a risky procedure. I’m grateful to the Germans.

SPIEGEL: But you look good. We saw you before the operation.

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Cosseting The Rich Is Killing America

The Text: Stop Coddling the Super-Rich by Warren Buffet in the New York Times.

The Article: Our leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.

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Why America Isn’t In Revolt

The Article: 8 Reasons Young Americans Don’t Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance by Bruce E. Levine at AlterNet.

The Text: Traditionally, young people have energized democratic movements. So it is a major coup for the ruling elite to have created societal institutions that have subdued young Americans and broken their spirit of resistance to domination.

Young Americans—even more so than older Americans—appear to have acquiesced to the idea that the corporatocracy can completely screw them and that they are helpless to do anything about it. A 2010 Gallup poll asked Americans “Do you think the Social Security system will be able to pay you a benefit when you retire?” Among 18- to 34-years-olds, 76 percent of them said no. Yet despite their lack of confidence in the availability of Social Security for them, few have demanded it be shored up by more fairly payroll-taxing the wealthy; most appear resigned to having more money deducted from their paychecks for Social Security, even though they don’t believe it will be around to benefit them.

How exactly has American society subdued young Americans?

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