You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2009.
As I’ve said, I’m not opposed to widening the road to allow for easier access for goods into and out of the county. But I think some good points are raised and the issue warrants some substantive discussion.
I’ll put the blog in my list soon.
Heraldo has a link to a podcast (or something) of the program. Again, Jennifer Savage interviews Kym (Redheaded Blackbelt), Eric (the “CNBC Narc”), and Sohumborn.
I think I understand why Sohumborn is no longer posting.
Who: The Devil Makes 3 + special guests The NPK & The Bucky Walters Where: Mateel Community Center (Redway, CA)
When: Friday, March 6th, 2009 (Doors- 7:30pm)
Why: Great alternative acoustic music to support MCC!
The Devil Makes 3, NPK & Bucky Walters At Mateel This Friday, March 6th This Friday, March 6th, the Mateel Community Center in Redway will present an evening of rocking acoustic music with The Devil Makes 3 and special guests The NPK and The Bucky Walters.
Hailing from Santa Cruz, CA, The Devil Makes 3 is at the forefront of today’s alternative acoustic movement with a slightly punky perspective on vintage American blues and bluegrass. Laced with elements of ragtime, country, folk and rockabilly, the critically praised, drummer-less trio – consisting of guitarist/front man, Pete Bernhard; stand-up bassist, Lucia Turino; and guitarist/ banjoist, Cooper McBean – brings forth a genuine approach to acoustic music that is deeply steeped in rhythm. Their hip and danceable music has quickly made them into a national sensation and this will be their first performance at the Mateel Community Center.
Opening the show will be the original genre-bending bluegrass of Arcata’s own, The Bucky Walters, who will take the stage at 8pm, followed by a special acoustic performance by SoHum’s favorite alt rockers, The NPK.
Tickets are on sale now at the usual local outlets and online at http://www.inticketing.com for a price of only $15 MCC members, $17 general, or $20 at the door. Doors open at 7:30pm. This is an all ages show with snacks, desserts, beer, wine, and refreshments available for purchase. For more info visit http://www.mateel.org or call 923-3368 and don’t miss The Devil Makes 3 with special guests, The NPK and The Bucky Walters this Friday, March 6th at the Mateel Community Center.
And some Devil Makes Three clips from last fall’s Hoedown.
California’s unemployment rate is now at 10.1 percent.
This time for hiding a witness.
I have been made aware that people calling Bank of America to find out if their mortgages are backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are being told that “we are not releasing that information.”
I suspect it is not legal for them to withhold that information, but that will have to wait for a class action. For those who call your bank and receive the same treatment I suggest that you apply for the relief anyway. The federal government is supposed to have the program in place by March 4. Force the banks to process the applications which could be avoided if they are honest with their customers.
I’ll post whatever information I can find on the procedure for applying for relief.
From Josh Marshal noting what I’ve noticed over the past few weeks – every time some economic report comes out it’s “worse than assumed.”
I’m going to start feeling better, or at least stop feeling worse, when I hear about the release of a major economic indicator that the economic forecasters hadn’t assumed — even after all the gloom and pessimism — would be better than it turned out to be. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not looking for ‘good’ numbers. I expect them all to be bad for some time to come. What continues to surprise me, however, is that even after we’ve gotten to an apparent consensus that we are in for a recession that is much more severe than anything we’ve endured in the post-war era, and even after six months in which each successive month looked worse than the last, that with each new number we’re still surprised that it’s even worse than we’d realized — still worse than the consensus assumptions.
Maybe we need better assumers before we can get out of this mess.
In my socialist teenage youth my fellow travellers’ many lessons included a metaphor about phases of capitalist crisis. We have bus with engine in full working order and roaring. The driver has showed up and is in his seat. The commuters are at the stop waiting to board. The weather is good, the traffic is clear. But nobody is moving, because the tokens were never delivered.
The point was made even more profoundly in the famous British science fiction comedy radio show Life, the Universe, and Everything, where a planet’s economists predicted a major depression. The economists having no solution, the planet’s scientists devised a means for the entire population to be placed in suspended animation until the depression blew over.
The whole idea behind socialism, folly or not, was that we as a species actually do have control of what we do, but pretend we do not. Socialism represented the idea that we could make conscious collective decisions about what we were doing – some models democratic and others quite obviously not. As I’ve said on this blog before, the free marketer notion of individuals acting on their own and the collective will paying homage to the Newtonian machine which will work nearly perfectly so long as we don’t interfere with it is about as utopian and requires just as much faith as the most radical of socialist proposal – among the propositions which “work well on paper.” The planet has the same means of production it had 10 years ago. but we can’t take action to right our course until we wait for cosmic signs in “indicators” upon which our “assumers” seize upon to gauge the success or failure of action or inaction.
To quote Samuel Goldwyn, “we need some new cliches.”
Sort of a quasi-intellectual slapstick. All those people in all those forums – this was a gag folks. Joachin Phoenix was not stoned. Letterman may have been in on it, or maybe he just plays along well. It is funny.
His attorneys have been hinting at it and now it’s come out of Coleman’s mouth.
He caught a break yesterday. After two hours Franken’s team moved to strike the entire testimony because Coleman had flagrantly violated the disclosure process. The motion was granted by a very angry court, but the court obviously slept on it and this morning decided it was being too harsh.
In the meantime, several weeks after it was brought to the Minnesota Supreme Court, there is still no ruling on Franken’s motion to certify the election results while the legal action is pending so that Minnesota has some representation during a long and tedious trial which some have accused Coleman of deliberately dragging out. The count is currently Franken with 249+.
Addendum: Here’s a pretty good summary.
Liberal economic historian Jeff Madrick discusses the history of American government role in the economy with Fox News’ James Pinkerton, suggesting that the notion of a laissez-faire early America is a myth. It’s a very informative, and is really what a conversation between a liberal adult and a conservative adult should look like. Unfortunately, it’s not the type of discussion which draws ratings.
Highlights:
Jeff’s book “The Case for Big Government” (02:10)
The myth of a laissez-faire early America (09:14)
What Milton Friedman got wrong (10:26)
Jeff says Alan Greenspan’s model never really worked (06:44)
Stimulus worries (05:07)
Is government smart enough to rescue the economy? (07:22)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
more about “The Case for Big Government“, posted with vodpod
What’s distracting to me is that Pinkerton sounds so much like Al Franken.
Anyway, there are other “diavlogs” like this one at bloggingheads.tv
Sohum Parlance II 
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