In the market for a new home? Don’t miss the Open House guide in the paper Saturday and Sunday.
A clever gal named Laura Hammons wondered which would be harder to get at Walmart: bullets or birth control? Shot in Austin, Texas, the video below answers the question. Here’s Laura’s Facebook page.
Note from Dan: This comment from Other Aaron came in on the Thursday column thread. The author is a newcomer to this blog.
“What’s the point in being an atheist?
One of 2 things happen when you die, either nothing if God doesn’t exist or you burn in hell. Those are your only choices right?
If you believe in God when you die one of 2 things also happens, either nothing if it isn’t true or you go to heaven. Why choose to be something that has no single outcome that is possibly beneficial when you die? Only thing I can see is to try to prove to those who do believe that they are wrong and you are right.
Problem with that is you won’t find out until you’re dead and there is no one to tell at that point so really it accomplishes nothing. Just like Christians get labeled as soul winners Satan is just as good at winning souls.
Those who are atheists if they take pride in “being right” or thinking they are “not deceived” who’s to say they aren’t the ones being deceived? If they are wrong and God does exist then they are.
Something to think about. . .”
Grafic by Dan
The big election is now more than a week past, but there still are some lingering questions out there.
One of the big ones is whether Congress and the White House can forge a sensible deal to reduce the annual budget deficit, which these days tops an unsustainable $1 trillion. That’s the “fiscal cliff” you’ve heard so much about in the media.
To explore this issue I spoke this week with Nicolaus Tideman, who for 39 years has taught economics at Virginia Tech. Early in his career, he also served as senior staff economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.
I also sought some to put some questions to western Virginia’s House congressional delegation — Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County; Morgan Griffith, R-Salem; and Robert Hurt, R-Chatham. But I was far less successful in that endeavor. Read more »
Mark Jurkevich
Since the euro crisis began, the euro zone, like a terminally ill patient, has had its bad phases and its bearable phases. With this month’s bank failures in Spain and the election results in Greece and France, it has entered into a very bad period. More than at any time since the crisis began, world financial and political leaders are openly speculating whether Europe’s common currency has now begun a death spiral. Contrary to liberal media coverage of this potential death watch, dissolution of the euro is in America’s medium- and long-term interest.
In recent decades a bipartisan U.S. movement has championed the virtues of global economic competition. So far, the result for Americans has been a mixed bag. On the plus side, it has helped keep U.S. inflation and interest rates low, while letting Americans enjoy a lot of reasonably good quality Chinese consumer products. On the minus side, globalization has gutted American manufacturing, suppressed income growth and caused massive trade deficits. The U.S. is now the world’s largest debtor country, a politically disadvantageous position vis-à-vis its creditor nations. Read more »
Shot by Dan | 2009
Mr. Casey,
Sometimes, I disagree with your views in your column and blog, but I understand and respect your knowledge of the Roanoke area. My wife and I are considering locating to the Roanoke area. We are 60 years of age and have no children. We realize the need to have access to certain facilities and services as we age, (Dr. office, hospital, post office, bank, grocery, drug stores, public transportation, etc). I ask these things based on the thought that we may not be able to, or choose not to drive at some point in the future.
You have lived in the Roanoke Valley Area some years and I am sure you are aware of the subtle differences in the various neighborhoods in the area. In your estimation which neighborhoods have the most to offer people like ourselves? I would like to have access to public water and sewer, cable internet a level area etc. We began our Internet search and at this point are looking at Salem. We are not opposed to the notion of an area in Roanoke proper or other surrounding neighborhoods.
Our main interest is finding a location where people like ourselves can live independently as long as possible. We now live in a rural Va. county but we realize that aging people need help to remain in a country/rural environment. At present, we must drive 6 miles to the nearest grocery store. As I stated above we have no children to help or tote us around in our senior years. We have decided that we must find an area that is more “senior friendly.”
I would really appreciate your thoughts on this manner.
Rob
(Sorry to post this on the blog, I tried to privately email you but got the returned to sender message. If others would like to comment that would be great.)
It’s Miss Virginia week here in Roanoke, and the many contestants are in town, preparing for Saturday night. In honor of that, we present this video, from the Miss USA Pageant, where contestants were asked if evolution should be taught in public schools (h/t to ThinkProgress).
And below is the winner of the pageant, and her view:
Next question: Should students be taught that the Earth revolves around the sun?
Prolineserver | Wikimedia Commons
There’s one and only one columnist in the world who owns a Nobel Prize, and that is the New York Times’ Paul Krugman. He won it in economics (he’s a professor at Princeton) but if they gave one in expository writing he would deserve another one, too.
Such is the case with his column today, which succinctly and adroitly explains the broad causes of the financial crisis in many Western economies today.
From The New York Times:
The fact is that what we’re experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess weren’t responses to public demand. They were, with few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people — in many cases, the same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own catastrophic mistakes.
Krugman goes on on to name a couple of the players. One is former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the Ayn Rand acolyte who gave us the housing bubble (which is still deflating). Another is former President George W. Bush, who served his supporters more than he served the public.
I would have added in there the 1993 repeal of Glass-Stegall, which was initiated by the GOP but signed into law by President Bill Clinton (and which to date has not been re-enacted).
Part of Krugman’s genius is he keenly understands his audience and ensures his columns aren’t bogged down with technical economics that most readers wouldn’t understand. That’s a hard trick for nearly anybody to avoid, much less a highly schooled economist.
Bravo, again.
Wikimedia Commons
Let’s have a little fun in the realm of national politics and history today, bloggers.
Name the politician I’m describing with the following factual statements:
1) He was an outspoken supporter of a controversial labor union the government tried to shut down.
2) His goal was a world free of nuclear weapons, because he considered the nuclear deterrence policy known as Mutually Assured Destruction (or MAD) to be insane.
3) He played a key role in the enactment of a law that legalized abortion when the mother’s health was in jeopardy.
4) His support of a law that banned citizens from carrying firearms (not merely handguns) in public places tipped the scales in favor of its enactment.
Who was this? Read more »
Sen. Arlen Spector Tuesday gave his farewell remarks on the Senate floor. And he took particular aim at the Supreme Court (cue the video to the 6:50 mark), especially Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both of who, Specter argued, repudiated promises they made during the confirmation hearings.
The proof of that was their votes in Citizens United, which overturned part of McCain-Feingold and allowed corporations (and unions) to spend unlimited amounts of money, independently, on behalf of candidates they support.
From Raw Story:
“The recent decision in Citizens United is illustrative. Ignoring a massive congressional record and reversing recent decisions, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito repudiated their confirmation testimony given under oath and provided the key votes to permit corporations and unions to secretly pay for political advertising, thus effectively undermining the basic democratic principle of the power of one person, one vote.”
In January of 2010, the Supreme Court struck down the McCain-Feingold campaign finance act in its ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that corporate funding of political candidates cannot be limited under the First Amendment.
Watch the entire video. It’s good stuff. Sounds like Specter is regretting his defense of Clarence Thomas these days.
Wikimedia Commons
My eyebrows did a little dance this morning when I saw the front-page headline: Vick says he’d like pet dog; anger follows.
The jump head was no less eyebrow-raising: Some say Vick should be permanently banned.
Why is Vick talking about this, now? He’s out of prison, he making a comback in football, he’s patching up his ruined finances. Is he so hungry for attention that he has to resort to statement like that to get it?
Now, I’m one of the folks who believe Vick got hammered too hard by Judge Henry Hudson (the same judge who made news earlier this week by agreeing, in part, with Virginia Attorney Ken Cuccinelli Ken Cuccinelli on his law suit against the health-care reform bill). He’s paid his debt to society.
But this was a dumb move on Vick’s part. All he did was give People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals an opening.
“Vick should be banned from owning dogs for life,” said Jane Dollinger, a PETA spokeswoman. “Just as convicted pedophiles aren’t allowed free access to children, anyone who is responsible for hanging, electrocuting or shooting dogs and who causes them to suffer in unimaginable ways should never again be allowed access to dogs.”
Really? Now they’re comparing him to pedophiles? That seems about as dumb as Vick opening his mouth on the subject in the first place.
Tell us what you think, folks.
