What's Wrong with California?
The Republican governor of California can't get just three members of his own party to go along with him to keep the state government functioning. Shortly, Gov. Schwarzenegger will likely be forced to layoff some 200,000 state employees, while public works of all sorts will stand idle at a time when the national crisis appears to whirl around the need not simply to keep people working but to create more jobs for them to do.
Gail Collins points out in today's New York Times just how petty things can be in the state that proved itself the biggest dupes in the Enron scandal a few years back. State Senator Abel Maldonado—a super rich broccoli farmer (read that as a guy who got super rich off the sweat of ultra cheap farm labor)—wants to be state controller. He really hates the current controller and will do whatever is in his power to prevent him from redecorating his office. (I told you it would be unbelievably petty.) Thus he'll stop any spending bill within his means to do so.
Evidently, state election laws need to be changed if Maldonado is to run for controller, and he's currently "holding out" for changes to be made in the election laws. As far as Maldonado is concerned, the state can go bankrupt if he doesn't become controller. It's just this sort that has infected state governments around the country. Don't fool yourself into believing in the few bad apples theory or that the right sort of system could prevent this behavior. Only vigilance and the proper laws can limit the lust for power.
In Economic News:
More than 6.5 million Americans are now receiving unemployment compensation, as the jobless rate continues to climb (See the NPR story). The good news is that the stimulus package passed, but now the question becomes how long will it take and to what degree will it be effective.
The Decline of Literacy:
The news recently has focused on the delivery of the news, including the loss of the book review sections in newspapers. Dick Meyer addresses the issue at NPR today, arguing that along with the decline of newspapers will come a decline in reading of books and ultimately a decline in overall literacy.
Unfortunately, this decline has been going on for some thirty years now, and is part of the explanation of how we've gotten into our current mess. President Obama is right in asserting that, if we ever to pull ourselves out of our economic whirlpool, we must focus on education. But it isn't just the schools that need our attention. The first function of newspapers is to educate readers.
Some will argue that C-SPAN2's Book TV has taken the place of the book review sections in newspapers, but viewers will note that Book TV primarily devotes its time to "non-fiction" works with a heavy emphasis on the political and its nonstop stream of right-wing propaganda from publishers devoted to this pet project. Others will note that Oprah, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and Charlie Rose all provide venues for the promotion of book sales, and this is true, but they hardly provide significant literary commentary, other than perhaps Charlie Rose, that is likely to enhance literacy.
The Republican governor of California can't get just three members of his own party to go along with him to keep the state government functioning. Shortly, Gov. Schwarzenegger will likely be forced to layoff some 200,000 state employees, while public works of all sorts will stand idle at a time when the national crisis appears to whirl around the need not simply to keep people working but to create more jobs for them to do.
Gail Collins points out in today's New York Times just how petty things can be in the state that proved itself the biggest dupes in the Enron scandal a few years back. State Senator Abel Maldonado—a super rich broccoli farmer (read that as a guy who got super rich off the sweat of ultra cheap farm labor)—wants to be state controller. He really hates the current controller and will do whatever is in his power to prevent him from redecorating his office. (I told you it would be unbelievably petty.) Thus he'll stop any spending bill within his means to do so.
Evidently, state election laws need to be changed if Maldonado is to run for controller, and he's currently "holding out" for changes to be made in the election laws. As far as Maldonado is concerned, the state can go bankrupt if he doesn't become controller. It's just this sort that has infected state governments around the country. Don't fool yourself into believing in the few bad apples theory or that the right sort of system could prevent this behavior. Only vigilance and the proper laws can limit the lust for power.
In Economic News:
More than 6.5 million Americans are now receiving unemployment compensation, as the jobless rate continues to climb (See the NPR story). The good news is that the stimulus package passed, but now the question becomes how long will it take and to what degree will it be effective.
The Decline of Literacy:
The news recently has focused on the delivery of the news, including the loss of the book review sections in newspapers. Dick Meyer addresses the issue at NPR today, arguing that along with the decline of newspapers will come a decline in reading of books and ultimately a decline in overall literacy.
Unfortunately, this decline has been going on for some thirty years now, and is part of the explanation of how we've gotten into our current mess. President Obama is right in asserting that, if we ever to pull ourselves out of our economic whirlpool, we must focus on education. But it isn't just the schools that need our attention. The first function of newspapers is to educate readers.
Some will argue that C-SPAN2's Book TV has taken the place of the book review sections in newspapers, but viewers will note that Book TV primarily devotes its time to "non-fiction" works with a heavy emphasis on the political and its nonstop stream of right-wing propaganda from publishers devoted to this pet project. Others will note that Oprah, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and Charlie Rose all provide venues for the promotion of book sales, and this is true, but they hardly provide significant literary commentary, other than perhaps Charlie Rose, that is likely to enhance literacy.
Labels: Literacy, Politics, The Economy
posted by Jim | 10:34 AM
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