tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post2930895676277327562..comments2024-03-18T21:52:45.757-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Was 1957 America Better Than Today? (An Outright Rant!)David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13329563573763679832024-01-16T08:20:27.956-08:002024-01-16T08:20:27.956-08:00Reporting in from 2024:
I was going to point out t...Reporting in from 2024:<br />I was going to point out that the more things change, the more the whining about the good old days stays the same.<br /><br />But I was struck about the first anecdote about "Billy": <i>Billy is more careful next time</i>.<br /><br />More careful about <b>what?</b><br /><br />Being whipped with a belt taught Billy to be more careful when he broke into a car. Lock picking is a valuable skill and almost anyone can master a shimmy.<br /><br />I never had a criminal inclination - nor would I be foolish enough to admit it on the internet for the AIs to scoop up and add to my profile - but everyone I know who was whipped with a belt, myself included, can lie casually and without compunction if that is what it takes to avoid punishment. It is not a conscious decision when it has been literally beaten into you that getting found out will bring physical, searing pain. It takes a serious, conscious effort of will to oppose that reflex, one that is necessary to be healthy.<br /><br />The lash teaches a lesson that is not that healthy for society.rewinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14008105385364113371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1313761528551116232020-06-25T04:51:09.263-07:002020-06-25T04:51:09.263-07:00Student loan debt is a thing which is obviously wo...Student loan debt is a thing which is obviously worse.<br /><br />It's important to know that a black belt improves the odds against rape. It is not a guarantee of safety.<br /><br />There's better and more varied food available than in 1957. On the other hand, I remember late 50s/early 60s, and people weren't nearly as obsessive about food. Food wasn't such a source of moral issues and health fears, and I bet there weren't as many people with eating disorders.<br /><br />I'm a test case for Whole Language vs. Phonics. I'm reasonably bright, but I don't have much eidetic visual memory. I learned to read English on my own from a phonics-based book.<br /><br />Hebrew school used flash cards with whole words on them for the first two years, and I wasn't learning anything. Fortunately, in the third year, they taught how the individual letters sounded, and I could learn that easily.Nancy Lebovitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07068537632391466902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53303405196182992812020-06-21T14:25:23.554-07:002020-06-21T14:25:23.554-07:00Whole language for people of high intelligence is ...Whole language for people of high intelligence is good? Not for all of us. I'm autistic and dyslexic. Where the former is concerned I've been appraised as a very high functioning autistic. In 1959 they were using whole language to teach kids how to read and I was failing.<br /><br />SO Mom, an English teacher at the time, checked me out and learned of my dyslexia. She had training in phonics, so she tried that. I blossomed. So much so that by the 5th grade I was reading at a 10th grade level. And yes, my dyslexia still gives me problems, most especially when I'm stressed and tired. I have to sit back and compose myself. And misinterpreting what I see is not just a problem when it comes to reading.<br /><br />To be mean here, I can see why some parties have to insist that Patty of the Patterson/Gimlin film has to be a man in an ape suit,and that such an interpretation can reassure some, but Mom taught me that paying attention to what you see and refusing to take the convenient interpretation is better in the long run. I find it too easy to misinterpret and I'd rather not do it.mythusmagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10458869083534878283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-55216243004370667042020-06-21T14:17:32.666-07:002020-06-21T14:17:32.666-07:00@Anonymous has the typical angry ignoramus rant:
...@Anonymous has the typical angry ignoramus rant:<br /><br />>>>... people in the 1950's dressed up better, wore better clothing, even if they had to make the darn things<br />>>> themselves!!!<br />Only in the movies and on TV, you dolt. The fancy movie & TV clothing was hideously expensive; most men of working class a "a" suit. Women were socially required to wear uncomfortable, poorly made clothes because, well, "feminine"<br /><br />>>> All of the clothing for sale in America today practically comes from China and is absolute crap !!!<br />And affordable. And not all crap. Perhaps if your precious Wal-Mart weren't focused on sucking every last dime out of every town to Bensonville Arkansas?<br /><br />>>>{blah, blah, blah polemic}The 1950's were optimistic and people were socially mobile.<br />BWAHAHAHAHAH For the upper middle class white population, sure. The rest is only in movies and TV. Sounds like our boy Anonymous was raised by the TV.<br /><br />>>>I'd love to be in that 'beatnik' scene in Greenwich village 1957-63, only the 1950's could produce original<br />>>>poets and thinkers.<br />BWAHAHAHAHAHAH Unheated, uninsulated apartments with running cockroaches instead of running water? Starving people in apartments and on the street? You *clearly* haven't actually *read* any of the beatniks you claim you admire. Your knowledge of "beatnik" seems to be limited to Breakfast at Tiffany's.<br /><br />>>>{angry polemic of no content or knowledge}<br /><br />Typical fantasizing about a past that never was, from someone who clearly only knows it from TV.<br /><br />feh.LeadDreamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08409426196689041392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35567288570450965372016-07-08T08:22:42.079-07:002016-07-08T08:22:42.079-07:00As a note, Thalidomide was never actually approved...As a note, Thalidomide was never actually approved for use in the US by the FDA. There were clinical trials in the US and it did result in 17 birth defects *but* it never left trials. West Germany and the UK were the primary regions impacted by the thalidomide induced birth defects. I just want to make this clear because a lot of people seem to think that the FDA approved thalidomide and use that as a reason as to why the FDA is useless, the pocket of Big Pharma, etc. The reality is that the rejection of thalidomide was a clear victory for the FDA and demonstrated their regulatory power over large corporations. Chris Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06446156976262275472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15743215749975975292016-07-08T04:59:59.987-07:002016-07-08T04:59:59.987-07:00"Rates of teen sex, teen pregnancy, abortion,..."Rates of teen sex, teen pregnancy, abortion, STDs, early marriage, and domestic violence are far LOWER in Blue America than they were in 1957"<br /><br />I agree that rates of lower rate of teen pregnancy, abortion, STDs, early marriage, and domestic violence are good things. I don't think having lower rates of teen sex is necessarily a good thing as you are fighting one billion years of evolution on that one and the only reason we are even having this discussion in the first place is because evolution has won that one.<br /><br /> I think the logical thing to do is to educate teens to have sex responsibly. As sex is controlled by the autonomic nervous system the same as digestion, telling someone not to have sex is almost the equivalent of telling them not to eat. Evolution doesn't care about high society or religious sensibility, it only cares about getting genes into the next generation. <br /><br />You will also create a society of people who are like the pigeons in the Skinner box that was configured not to dispense food every single time it was depressed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68676521468682277382015-07-12T02:59:18.557-07:002015-07-12T02:59:18.557-07:00I was born in 1959, yeah sure the 1950's had p...I was born in 1959, yeah sure the 1950's had problems, but people got on with it. I have to agree with James Ellory (born in 1948, across the Pacific pond from myself and a cool-urban writer), people in the 1950's dressed up better, wore better clothing, even if they had to make the darn things themselves!!! All of the clothing for sale in America today practically comes from China and is absolute crap !!!<br /> The guy who wrote this propaganda article, has an "agenda" and wants America to go back to 1910, where everyone works like a slave(12 hour days minimum) for 10 bucks a week and Lawyers close deals for $25 (or 30 pounds for Canadians & Brits) . The 1950's were optimistic and people were socially mobile. I'd love to be in that 'beatnik' scene in Greenwich village 1957-63, only the 1950's could produce original poets and thinkers. What's today's Greenwich village? Full of Yuppy scum, like this article's writer, a yuppy-techno-nerd & a total turd !Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-13562208907485429582011-10-23T18:42:16.953-07:002011-10-23T18:42:16.953-07:00Thanks to Tacitus for pointing out the different p...Thanks to Tacitus for pointing out the different populations. Southern "Red" states have a much higher percentage of blacks than most "Blue" states. It is quite possible that blacks in conservative states are much better off than in liberal states (especially when taking purchasing power into account), but the larger numbers could result in a lower average for the whole.<br /><br />There are, of course, residues of racism and racist policies. There's no denying that - but it often applies as much or more in Northern states as in the South.<br /><br />We might also look at the individual blacks who moved to Northern states. Many must have been motivated types who were interested in bettering themselves. I see many of that type now abandoning the Northern States and returning to the South. They are voting with their feet.<br /><br />Furthermore, despite all the hype there is good reason to believe that blacks are more likely to be a burden on the system than whites. I know it doesn't fit neatly into liberal dogma, but I've worked with blacks in the South and ... well, I end up doing most of the work. There are exceptions, of course - I've worked with a few wonderful black workers, and even many of those who won't work hard are really nice people - but the difference in work ethic (generally) is huge. We've recently had a good deal of immigration from eastern Europe, and immigrants from several of these countries have all told me the same thing, independently and without prompting: in their home countries they were told that the black workers in America did all the hard work and heavy labor, and then they came here and were surprised to find that most of them barely do their jobs at all. Actually, they are less kind in their assessment than I am, but let's just say that independent observers with a predisposition to give a positive assessment regularly end up with an assessment more negative than that of white southerners.<br /><br />I have likewise had episodes where necessity has compelled my black co-workers to put in almost an average day's work, and heard them regale their friends afterwards with tales of the incredibly hard work they had performed - and what is more these co-workers are better than average among the black workers who work at the same company.<br /><br />I have a European friend who lives in a nation in Africa and has married a native woman there, and he has noted much the same thing about <i>most</i> of the natives there. (His wife - and her small tribe - are an exception in that country.)<br /><br />I don't want to be negative here. There are many admirable things about African and African-American culture, and there is much to be said for valuing other things than work and the material wealth it provides. I get along well with quite a few black or mixed-race co-workers and friends and value many of the contributions of blacks to Southern culture. To pretend that race or culture is irrelevant, however, is a farce.<br /><br />I believe in dealing with people as the individuals they are, without regard to their race - and that is the very opposite of racism. However, that doesn't blind me to the fact that some behaviors <i>tend</i> to be associated with groups, and ignoring that does not make a person tolerant or wise. It just makes them afraid to admit the truth.Alnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-5995181901520564632011-10-23T00:40:00.326-07:002011-10-23T00:40:00.326-07:00Tacitus2,
Had a look at that report, it's most...Tacitus2,<br />Had a look at that report, it's mostly national stats, rather than state-by-state. (Bah, essays. My kingdom for a table.)<br /><br />Their short Red/Blue essay does give me one number, Red vs Blue white-only. Red wins. But it doesn't give Red vs Blue black-only.<br /><br />Do you see that it is actually quite a nasty thing if whites in Conservative states are doing better than whites in Liberal states <i>and</i> blacks are doing worse in Conservative states?<br /><br />Anyway, noticed something odd:<br /><br />When asked whether "Having a good marriage is extremely important", highschool girls agreed much more than HS boys. But when asked if they thought "most people will have happier lives, if married", boys eclipsed girls.<br /><br />So boys think marriage is awesome, but don't really care if it's not. Girl's think most marriages sucks, but think it's vital that they don't.<br /><br />Wonder if that explains the divorce rates?<br /><br />(anyway, onward and all that.)Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49398385953652563712011-10-23T00:10:16.139-07:002011-10-23T00:10:16.139-07:00onward...onward...David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82715131696375466782011-10-23T00:01:42.816-07:002011-10-23T00:01:42.816-07:00Yeowch. Well, most of the cool new sci fi is vari...Yeowch. Well, most of the cool new sci fi is variant fantasies about superpowers. Heroes, limitless, Kickass, Source Code... all low budget but cool concept. <br /><br />Hey, anything to get out of sequelitis. I hope it's well done.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32505616256616207042011-10-22T22:53:19.840-07:002011-10-22T22:53:19.840-07:00The trailer for the film "Chronicle"
Th...<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-M5Qx57_UU" rel="nofollow">The trailer for the film "Chronicle"</a><br /><br />This is why superpowers are only a good thing if everybody gets to have superpowers.sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91198313015585494112011-10-22T13:43:01.197-07:002011-10-22T13:43:01.197-07:00Tacitus, you just made me smile ;-) Heck, if Clin...Tacitus, you just made me smile ;-) Heck, if Clinton can be the "first black president." I once saw him play the saxophone....David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73476229501963070142011-10-22T13:16:28.261-07:002011-10-22T13:16:28.261-07:00Paul 45
Way back up in my initial reply...the vir...Paul 45<br /><br />Way back up in my initial reply...the virginiaedu study compared out of wedlock (what a quaint term) stats for Red and Blue states with minority citizens factored out. I botched editing the post and mistakenly said divorce stats instead of the correct category. Worth a read. Also, to the best of the imperfect stats I have tried to look at other race specific stats where available. <br /><br />But enough.<br /><br />Oh, I tried to find state by state pork rind consumption but even the internet can't answer everything.<br /><br />David, interesting factoid about your earlier life.<br /><br />My correlary, a year spent as the only white guy in the Black student interest house at our small college. They wanted to vote me VP of the Black Students Union. Would have looked interesting on the resume applying to Med school, eh?<br /><br />Standing down<br /><br />TacitusTacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17007086196578740689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8569760476501853822011-10-22T12:34:35.417-07:002011-10-22T12:34:35.417-07:00Tacitus2:
Red, Blue, whatever. These stats are a ...Tacitus2:<br /><i><br />Red, Blue, whatever. These stats are a national shame. I just don't find it useful to put the blame exclusively on a group to whom one feels a degree of ranting animus. That is the path to ostrichism.<br /></i><br /><br />I'll leave it to our host to say whether the lack-of-family-values thing he's ascribing to Red America is coming from its black population. I will say that that was not what came to mind when Dr Brin mentioned the subject.<br /><br />What first came to my mind was (say) Newt Gingrich and his ex-wives, or that South Carolina governor on the Appilachan Trail, vs the too-wholesome-to-believe family of the current president.<br /><br />I realize that Democrats have had their bad moments too, family-values wise (JFK, Clinton, John Edwards), but if the GOP is going to run ON family values, they have to do a little better than simply "Well, we're no worse than the ones we vilify for THEIR performance."LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19443674083878361152011-10-22T12:31:46.575-07:002011-10-22T12:31:46.575-07:00Tacitus2,
Thanks for trying to dig out the actual ...Tacitus2,<br />Thanks for trying to dig out the actual numbers, but... you dug up the wrong ones...<br /><br />David didn't mention the racial health divide in his original rant. He just said, paraphrasing, "Red states have worse stats than Blue states". It was you who said, again paraphrasing, "Ah, but that's because there's more African Americans in Red states and that screws the stats."<br /><br />That's why I tried to point out that you can't actually refute David's rant that way. If you want to correct for differences in population mixes, you have to compare apple-with-apples.<br /><br />White populations in Red vs Blue, <i>and</i>, separately, non-white population in Red vs Blue. (Or black vs black, separate to non-black vs non-black.)<br /><br />Only then can you actually refute David's claims.<br /><br />(Aside: I'd also love to see such an apple-vs-apples comparison between the top ten reddest voting states, the top ten bluest voting states, and the ten states that switch parties the most.)<br /><br /><i>"Conservatives tend to ascribe a little more importance to personal responsibility, especially in private matters like this,"</i><br /><br />But don't Conservatives believe that it's <i>better</i> to have a society that places more value in personal responsibility? Ie, it leads to a better society, while nanny-stating leads to societal decay. If so, then shouldn't the "personal responsibility" States be vastly better off by now? Isn't that David's point?<br /><br />Ie, if Conservative politicians have the inside track on Family Values, why is their divorce rate higher than Progressive politicians? If Conservatives have all the economic wisdom, why do their states suck economically? If Liberalism causes moral breakdown, like teen pregnancy, why is the teen pregnancy rate higher in Conservative states?Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-16179717775316933212011-10-22T12:22:32.332-07:002011-10-22T12:22:32.332-07:00Tacitus, I am willing to ponder separately the cul...Tacitus, I am willing to ponder separately the cultural baggage that has long helped to stymie advancement in Black America. Though with great care because polemic here can back you in the ass, hard, years later. I went to an 80% black high school in 1968, a time of extreme tension, so I know a thing or two. Certainly Obama and the Black Muslims and Bill Cosby and others have stepped up and chided and pushed responsibility movements that have made a difference.<br /><br />One can stare at the huge incarceration rates among black males and see some real reason behind their brittle, harsh feelings and a chip on the shoulder that makes them resent finger-wagging lectures. In fact, that indignant pride isn't that much different from the mania in Red-white America... what they used to call an inferiority complex, that manifests as a raging uplifted fist aimed at those who think they are better.<br /><br />(A sci fi eugenics-leaning dope might even raise the issue of how removal of so many males might change genetic profiles... but he'd be an asshole. I've encountered such guys.)<br /><br />Am I proclaiming the LEFT knows all? Fie! Remember, I'm the guy who proclaims the Clinton-Gingrich Welfare Reform Bill as the high point of bipartisan governance in the last 20 years, removing that dire word ("welfare") from most peoples' political vocabularies. <i>Most of the family-disincentives that conservatives rightfully raged against were removed then. And in the CLinton economy, things were really looking up for Black America.</i><br /><br /><b>My greatest anger is against the DeLay monsters who kicked Gingrich out for the crime of negotiating, and who have transformed conservatism from a legitimate voice of discourse into an insane asylum.</b><br /><br />The point is that none of this has anything much to do with the topic at-hand. It is just excuse-making incantation. <i>There are blue states with as large a minority component as any red state and those blue states all do better on all the social metrics. </i>California and New York vs Texas and Alabama? Hands down. All categories.<br /><br />And if Texas and Bama are dragged down by their minorities it proves they are lousy at governance and CA and NY are better at helping theirs.<br /><br />The issue, I remind you, is<b> culture war, </b>not race. All the Republican candidates except Johnson and Huntsman are screaming at the top of their lungs that Blue America is sick. Yes Paul too. <br /><br />They howl that they know governance and morality and economics far better than the parts of America that are<i> better governed, more productive, more generous ... and yes far more moral</i> by every statistical way that morality can be objectively measured.<br /><br />They ran America off a cliff, proved that they govern insanely, and are now leading a charge to retake what they ruined.<br /><br />That's the topic.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8458302774084751192011-10-22T12:18:52.130-07:002011-10-22T12:18:52.130-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41516489612646245462011-10-22T11:55:47.278-07:002011-10-22T11:55:47.278-07:0020 minutes left before rapture deadline, californi...20 minutes left before rapture deadline, california time.<br /><br />Of course it's passed in Florida...<br /><br />Geez read this: http://www.christianpost.com/news/harold-camping-oct-21-rapture-god-stopped-saving-people-in-may-family-radio-says-58476/<br /><br />http://www.christianpost.com/news/harold-<br />camping-oct-21-rapture-god-stopped-<br />saving-people-in-may-family-radio-<br />says-58476/<br /><br />Dang... forgot to post that... too lateDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-48498582115715802582011-10-22T11:20:17.938-07:002011-10-22T11:20:17.938-07:00Can we examine the social trends of black America ...Can we examine the social trends of black America outside the South? If the negative trends are due not to the residue of Jim Crow and Klan then attributing them to the white population of the South becomes problematic.<br /><br />The population of Mississippi is 38% black. By numbers the largest black population in a county is Cook in IL. Chicago proper is 36.8% black. The district of Columbia is 60% black. Percentage of births to unmarried mothers in the three? MS 54% DC 59% Chicago 51.9%. Recall that the overall rate of births to blacks that were to non married women is appalling. I found a 2010 estimate of 72%.<br /><br />STD rates seem to be calculated by race rather often. According to CDC the rates of chlamydia nationwide are 8.7 fold greater in blacks than whites. That of gonorrhea 20.5 fold greater. Cook county in 2008 did worse...a 24 fold differential in chlamydia and 63 fold in gonnorhea. <br /><br />The overall rates of Chlamydia and Gonnorhea in DC are 4835 and 1687 per 100k respectively. In Mississippi 4079 and 1142.<br /><br />I could go on, but this is depressing. Point being, as before, that statistics can deceive. Are Rahm Emmanual, and Oprah and Larry Hart to blame for the lousy numbers regarding Black Chicago? Is the consistently Democratic leadership of DC to blame for their numbers?<br /><br />Red, Blue, whatever. These stats are a national shame. I just don't find it useful to put the blame exclusively on a group to whom one feels a degree of ranting animus. That is the path to ostrichism. <br /><br />Sincerely<br /><br />TacitusTacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17007086196578740689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18805228957125346892011-10-22T10:56:51.413-07:002011-10-22T10:56:51.413-07:00Statistics and contention. What combination.
My b...Statistics and contention. What combination.<br />My beef with David's rant was predicated on the notion that he was calling white-south America hypocritical because they tout their traditional values yet have distressing rates of stds, out of wedlock births etc. (I am giving up on divorce stats, they are problematic in several ways).<br /> <br />my contention was that it was cheating to use stats that were heavily influenced by a group that is certainly living in said Red states but would not regard themselves as "Red" politically, and presumably are not making noise about family values.<br /><br />Black America has horrendous social issues. I take no pleasure in reporting them.<br /><br />David cried foul, saying in essence that since southern whites have by and large been making the rules, apportioning the resources etc that they bear responsibility in all particulars for what I describe as "blue within red".<br /><br />Conservatives tend to ascribe a little more importance to personal responsibility, especially in private matters like this, but for purposes of discussion I will foolishly march forward.<br /><br />I am going to do this again in two parts, as I dread character limits. All stats will be derived from census data, or from either cdc or local health department info.<br /><br />ReWinn, refer back to my earlier post that excerpts the virginaedumarriage project. It is based on census data.<br /> <br />TacitusTacitushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17007086196578740689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-40237868832873061572011-10-22T09:24:42.916-07:002011-10-22T09:24:42.916-07:00LarryHart,
"The guy [argued] that the 20 inch...LarryHart,<br /><i>"The guy [argued] that the 20 inches of snow in the midwest last winter proved global warming was false."</i><br /><br />I don't know if I've posted this before, but your comment reminded me of it:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-F8EO3qOVk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-F8EO3qOVk</a><br /><br />(Turing word: Cross)Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86519076841338358692011-10-22T09:15:45.581-07:002011-10-22T09:15:45.581-07:00What you're missing (I presume intentionally) ...<i>What you're missing (I presume intentionally) is that the money to PAY workers to do all that stuff is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, and THEY have no incentive or desire to pay workers to improve the public realm. It's not profitable for THEM.</i><br /><br />Of course. This is what I meant by saying, "our economic system is failing to allocate human labor effectively". The question is, why do we so often hear from smart blog commentators that "those people are just obsolete now"?David McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16603857353437134459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91453066284889545042011-10-22T09:15:29.981-07:002011-10-22T09:15:29.981-07:00Tacitus2,
I get what you're trying to argue, b...Tacitus2,<br />I get what you're trying to argue, but I don't believe that you can fairly compare:<br />Blue States whole of population, with Red States whites-only.<br /><br />To corrent for population mix differences, you have to compare:<br />Solid Blue States, whites only, with solid Red States, white only,<br /><i><b>and</b></i><br />Those same Blue States, sans blancos, with those same Red States, sans rouge-cous.<br /><br />And I have no idea what those numbers are, but for David's rant not to hold, at the very least African Americans would have be no worse off in Red States than in Blue States.<br /><br /><i>"Would an apology to southern Red America not be in order?"</i><br /><br />Really? For sucking at helping minorities? Surely that's less apology-worthy as it is an "Oh and another thing...!"<br /><br />(guity: Not inncent.)Paul451https://www.blogger.com/profile/12119086761190994938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91385231544215060202011-10-22T08:56:12.120-07:002011-10-22T08:56:12.120-07:00Alice remembers hope; I remember fear: the air rai...Alice remembers hope; I remember fear: the air raid drills, the bomb shelters, the "duck and cover" campaign all convinced me that Armageddon was near, was just a matter of time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com