Sometimes I enjoy impossible tasks like squeezing blood from a turnip. So today I attempt the near impossible task of trying to make Standard & Poors (that stalwart watchdog company that was totally on top of the mortgage crisis and has never had any questionable calls before…sarcasm dripping from computer screen) credit downgrade sexy. Well,…
Category: Wednesday
WCE: Why Republicans Should Immigrate to the “Small Government” Haven of Somalia
“I don’t want to eliminate government. I want to shrink it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it.”–Grover Norquist, current Republican “thinker”/former Confederate soldier. Over and over again, we’ve been told by Republicans that government is inefficient, wasteful, harmful, dangerous, a thief, and pretty much everything but a…
Now What? (Life Post-Grad): The Internet Generation’s Stubborn Refusal to Leave Their House
R.I.P. Borders. This week the second largest book retailer in America declared bankruptcy and liquidation. Everyone expected it to scale back its store locations for months now–the smart money even said it would declare bankruptcy–but I don’t know if anyone expected it to close every single store. This is just part of a pattern of…
Working Class Economist: 5 Revenues That Should Be Considered to Lower the Deficit
1. Legalizing Marijuana: No true list of deficit reduction ideas would be complete without it. I didn’t even waste time by putting a preamble paragraph before getting right down to the business of getting high. It’s impossible to know for sure how much taxable revenue the US is missing out on by moving such a…
The Fast Food Critic: Dairy Queen Blizzards
I’m not going to be exactly unbiased about this one. If you were to come up and ask me about Dairy Queen Blizzards I would probably tell you they’re incredible. And then you would probably say “That’s great, but I was asking you about the weather, not Dairy Queen Blizzards.” At which point I might…
Now What? (Life Post-Grad): Is Facebook Making Young People Dumber?
When my mom told me last week that she was considering getting a facebook, I knew we had reached an apex point for Facebook users. An older lady who doesn’t think privacy is a four letter word and has refused to pronounce facebook correctly for the better part of a decade (my favorites: “Facepage” “Facecook”…
The Fast Food Critic: Sonic’s Hot Dogs
If you live in an area that has a Sonic–the drive in themed fast food restaurant where you pull up to an individual speaker, park, and order–you’ve probably seen a commercial for the chain’s new hot dogs that promise to be a “taste of America.” I guess that means that the one hot dog that…
Now What? (Life Post-Grad): Will This Generation Be Less Free Than the Last?
People on the conservative side say Obama is taking away freedom at an alarming rate. People on the liberal side say he’s not doing enough to protect freedoms from the Tea Party or restore any of the freedoms Bush stripped away. All of which puts us in the unfortunate position of agreeing that freedom is…
WCE: Salute the Real People Making America Free: The American Worker
This weekend was that most hallowed of American holidays, the 4th of July. And while I was watching some of the different celebrations of American independence on Television (i.e. blowing the fuck out of some clouds with fireworks) a definitive trend emerged. Over and over again we were told to “Salute the Troops” “Pray for…
The Fast Food Critic: McDonald’s “Freedom” Fries
This week’s theme of Freedom has me thinking about the most sacred of America’s fast food: McDonald’s fries. People acknowledge that McDonald’s burgers taste like old tire treads and McDonald’s itself seems to shrug that off (“Hey, your kid wants a happy meal with a little fucking toy made in China, so blow us and…
Working Class Economist: The Private Sector Wants Gay Marriage
Republicans like to pretend that the private sector can solve any and every problem. The post office loses one of your packages? Privatize it. Public education getting you down? Dismantle the whole budget and give out private school vouchers. Ron Paul even believes the Civil War wasn’t necessary and the private sector could have solved…
The Fast Food Critic: Movie Theater Popcorn
Today I take a cheat in a way by reviewing something that isn’t technically fast food. Still, since I don’t do this feature most weeks, a cheat is better than nothing. The item today is the internal scourge of the movie theater: theater popcorn. It’s greasy, it’s smothered in enough salt to cure a ham…
Working Class Economist: Why Mexicans Are Not Taking Your Jobs
Recently, Alabama’s Republican legislature passed the most restrictive immigrant legislation since the Japanese saw the inside of an internment camp. The real reasons are politically cynical (most families that are illegal have kids or relatives that are legal, if the whole family uproots to a different state none of them will be able to vote…and…