Okay, WTF is up with the way they package things like, say, thumb drives. Not only is it in an outrageous amount of plastic for its size, but it's really thick plastic - AND it's hermetically sealed AND crimped EXTRA tight around the edges!
You have to use scissors, really, to open these packages, and of course that ruins the scissors. But I’m guessing it aids in the prevention of shoplifting--which is, of course, a significantly more important issue than our impending environmental catastrophe (insert obligatory reference to the 12/2012 Mayan calendar thingy)
Speaking of catastrophes, check it out from Harper's Index:
Percentage change since 2002 in average premiums paid to large U.S. health insurance companies: +87; Percentage change in the profits of the top ten insurance companies: +428; Chances that an American bankrupted by medical bills has/had health insurance: 7 in 10
Let me give a shout out to Harper's Magazine, too. Best. Magazine. Ever.
Speaking of health care, I just saw "As Good As It Gets" again the other day and forgot about the strong health care access component to it. Interesting.
In another movie I saw, a woman made a very compelling argument about how after we had our post-WWII and Cold War "education push" to keep up with the Russkis, everyone got smart, questioned things, and the 60s happened. The guv'mint learned its lesson and has slashed education ever since. A few days after seeing that movie (which is about 5 years old), I read a strikingly similar theory/essay in Harper's magazine. Plausible or not? Discuss.
I've decided I would have no problem whatsoever living in a "Christian nation" if all these hypocrites actually did honestly base policies on "What Would Jesus Do?" I mean, any doubt on which side Jesus would be on re: health care? Or gay marriage for that matter? Or treating corporations as people?
It was disgusting beyond belief to see the outrage among the "Christians" when Obama “played the God card” for not helping the least among us--they actually got all huffy and many southern churches started advocating against health care just coz they were so outraged. Seriously, are these people truly that selfish and deranged?
I read this great letter to the editor in the Chronicle the other day wherein someone pointed out that conservatives always attack progress by flipping the script. "Extending civil rights to blacks means our rights are under attack." "Granting marriage rights to gays is an attack on marriage." "Extending medical coverage to all is an attack on health care."
As this letter writer mentioned: "There seems to be a steady pattern in which conservatives can't seem to enjoy a legal, social, or economic benefit without the added thrill of knowing that it's being denied to someone else." Word.
I do think the educational system has been deliberately dumbed-down for many years, so that people can be more easily manipulated. The mainstream news media, especially broadcast, has also been dumbed-down, sensationalized, and right-wing-propagandized. Another way the right-wing turns things upside down is by accusing their enemies of what they themselves are or are doing. For example, they tell outright obvious lies, then when the President calls them on their lies, they yell, "You lie!" Another example is the modern-day brownshirts saying Obama is like Hitler.
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