For Women, It’s Always A Wonderful World
Posted on July 1, 2013 in Political Cartoons
Fear not, fair female. There’s always the United States, where a growing number of politicians believes that an unborn fetus has more rights than you.
Obama’s Student Loan Policy Under Scrutiny
Posted on July 1, 2013 in Articles
The Article: Obama Student Loan Policy Under Scrutiny As Congress Tackles Student Borrowing Costs by in The Huffington Post.
The Text: Congressional Democrats have pounced on a nonpartisan government report showing the Department of Education this year is forecast to earn a record $51 billion profit off student borrowers, denouncing the Obama administration and urging for structural reforms.
Members of the House of Representatives including George Miller (D-Calif.), John Tierney (D-Mass.) and John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) cited news reports in The Huffington Post that highlighted the Tuesday estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, which showed that the Education Department was forecast to report higher earnings this year than Exxon Mobil and nearly as high as those of the four biggest U.S. banks by assets combined.
“We don’t see students or their parents as profit centers, and we don’t think it’s an appropriate concept to be acting like a market-driven bank here,” Tierney said.
FISA Court: Now Hiring!
Posted on June 30, 2013 in Videos
If you’re feeling stuck in the professional doldrums, why not apply for a position in the top-secret FISA Court? You’re your own boss, and all you have to do is say yes–you can even trample on American civil liberties from home!
An Awesome Rebuttal To A Tea Party Facebook Post
Posted on June 30, 2013 in Images and Political Cartoons
One can’t even fathom the bigoted, 100% fact-free response that awaits the Duchess.
When “Alternative” Becomes Mainstream
Posted on June 30, 2013 in Articles
The Article: Sunny Uplands by Geoffrey Car in The Economist.
The Text: Rebranding is always a tricky exercise, but for one field of technology 2013 will be the year when its proponents need to bite the bullet and do it. That field is alternative energy. The word “alternative”, with its connotations of hand-wringing greenery and a need for taxpayer subsidy, has to go. And in 2013 it will. “Renewable” power will start to be seen as normal.
Wind farms already provide 2% of the world’s electricity, and their capacity is doubling every three years. If that growth rate is maintained, wind power will overtake nuclear’s contribution to the world’s energy accounts in about a decade. Though it still has its opponents, wind is thus already a grown-up technology. But it is in the field of solar energy, currently only a quarter of a percent of the planet’s electricity supply, but which grew 86% last year, that the biggest shift of attitude will be seen, for sunlight has the potential to disrupt the electricity market completely.
