Fitting back in
Insights into round numbers and the changing shape of holes in families and society:
“…these numbers, round or otherwise are nonsense. They’re worse than meaningless. They allow us to care about this war on cue for some fraction of a news cycle. But by the time we’ve gone to the fridge, grabbed a beer, and slapped our fat asses back down on the sofa, things have moved on to the story of the drug-addled starlet’s custody fight with her 5th ex-husband. In six or seven months, when the number’s climbed to another round increment, the press will spare a few more minutes of air time and remind us to care again briefly. Between now and then, most of the deaths will be back below the fold on page A-39…”
- Zoologist Mike Dunford, Numbers and Tragedies, Statistics and Losses
There’s a lot more – go read! Mike’s wife, a doctor, has been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Update links:
- PZ Myers gets over himself and mourns 300 million dead
- Dick “other priorities” Cheney says “Hey, they volunteered!” and allows how “the president carries the biggest burden, obviously.”
- Which leads ***Dave to haul out some sympathy for our suffering president in The Bush Man’s Burden
Media consolidation allows the agenda to be set according to the needs of the oligarchs and plutocrats—turned on and turned off at their will like a spigot.
Ooops. My crazy guy paranoia is showing; I shouldn’t be mentioning the obvious in polite company.
I just saw Jesse Jackson commenting on the financial crisis as part of the 12:00 CNN newshour. I’ll paraphrase what he said:
There is no housing mortgage mess as it’s referred to; what there is, is a financial deregulation mess because the financial community hasn’t been regulated or had competent oversight for at least a decade.
They treated Jesse like he had horns growing out of his forehead on that one, regardless of the truth. I find myself wanting to throw heavy objects at my TV for being the constant lying b*tch in my house (although I invited her in).
Jesse is sort of a loon, but on this, he was the first person in weeks to call a spade what it is.
Hillary, that insane b*tch, has recommended that what we need is a blue ribbon commission to study this financial mess, co-chaired by Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin. Total insanity. TOTAL F*CKING INSANITY.
Excuse me—lost my mind just for a second there; but the media consolidation isn’t going to have the courtesy to call her what she is.
Guys, you could do worse than Nader. Hillary, Obama and McCain are worse.