tbentley.com

Oh, great: The conglomerate, Freedom Group, that includes Bushmaster (who made the AR-15 used to slaughter 20 children and 6 adults in Newtown, CN) and at least six other armaments manufacturers, is go be sold by private equity investment group Cerberus:

Cerberus said that it was putting the Freedom Group up for sale….

Cerberus signaled that it wanted to remove itself from the uproar over the nation’s gun laws in seeking to sell Freedom, which makes the Bushmaster rifle used in the massacre.

from Mother Jones

So Cerberus won’t own Freedom Group, but will sell it.  Won’t stop making the awful things, just doesn’t want to be so closely connected to them.  I think this is technically called “washing one’s hands”.

And to whom will Freedom Group be sold?

Several foreign gun manufacturers, including Forjas Taurus of Brazil and Heckler & Koch of Germany, could be possible acquirers, according to a banker familiar with the weapons industry.

Terrific; some Brazilians or Germans will now resume flooding  America with assault weapons.  I feel so much better now.

During the George W. Bush administration, spending increased sharply even as revenue collapsed. Revenue as a share of G.D.P. fell to 17.5 percent in 2008 from 20.6 percent in 2000, yet spending rose to 20.1 percent in 2006, before the economic crisis hit, and 20.7 percent in 2008, from 18.2 percent of G.D.P.

via Bruce Bartlett: The New Republican Tax Policy – NYTimes.com.

These quotes are from the US Gov. HHS site:

The parts of the adolescent brain which develop first are those which control physical coordination, emotion and motivation. However, the part of the brain which controls reasoning and impulses – known as the Prefrontal Cortex – is near the front of the brain and, therefore, develops last. This part of the brain does not fully mature until the age of 25.

————————–

This brain region gives an individual the capacity to exercise “good judgment” when presented with difficult life situations. Brain research indicating that brain development is not complete until near the age of 25, refers specifically to the development of the prefrontal cortex.^{3  (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services )}

 

Makes me wonder at the validity of all the socialogical, anthropological studies done with undergraduate students.

NY Times:

The term ‘premium care’ has positive connotations. Premium gas is high-test gas;  premium services are those that provide more services; premium seats at the theater are those front-center.

Premium Health Care is actually referring to the charge you pay for health insurance.  That is, premium as a monthly fee.

‘Voucher’ Insurance Plan would be a more honestly descriptive term.  Or ‘constrained reimbursement’.  ‘Token’ health care?

But the word Premium carries with it its own positive conotation, and its double meaning.

It’s like ‘pro-life’ as opposed to ‘pro-choice’.  You could be pro-choice, and still be against abortion; but if you’re pro-life, you can’t be in favor of abortion: the opposite to pro-life is anti-life.

A wise man once told me, “Never get a house that doesn’t have corners to hide in.”  Or at least a plethora of corners, hidable or not.  And some doors.

I don’t understand the demand for homes with an “open plan.”  This generally means a lack of walls, no corners,  large open spaces.  Which means, a larger house.

My house now has about 3500 square feet of space.  This gives three bedrooms, livingroom, master bedroom, master bath with separate WC and walk-in closet, dining room, kitchen, plus lanae in the warm months. There are lots of corners in our place.  And a number of doors.  We use one of the smaller bedrooms as a TV room; sometimes, after watching the news, I will walk from there to the master bath, passing through the diningroom and livingroom, where there is quiet, classical music playing.  The contrast is stunning, and immediately soothing.  An immediate hideout.  And an entirely different wing of the house.

The average-size home built in the the 60’s was 675 square feet; in the  late  ’70s it was 1250 square feet; the average size home built today is over 2500 square feet.  My own house could fit easily in the “great room” of many new homes.

I put this growth of square footage down in large part to the demand for “open layout.”  When everything is open, everything is together, and privacy is lost. So if you want to feel alone, you have to have another room, and then each room has to be larger.  In the open plan, you can watch the TV from the kitchen sink; in fact you *must* watch the TV if you’re standing at the kitchen sink–or at least hear it.  Hear the TV, and all the converstaions in the rest of the “open” area, including squabbling and qvetching. And the dog barking. And the phone ringing. And you’re never alone–until you go down in the basement, or to the “bonus” room  (o0ps, the bonus room is usually an open space upstairs, overlooking the “great” room).

I really think we’d all be better off if we learned to live in less space, but with more private spaces, where you can be alone and quiet, to just think.  Or is that un-American?

Lots of scary talk about frackin’ goin’ on these days. Doing big scary things underground, where we can’t see what’s going on. Not being forthright about what they’re doing.
Reminds me of some other big things going on underground–some other big, scary things. Really. I wrote about it a couple of years ago, here:  My Atomic Explosion

Why we’re not shut up in a room:

Chart

(I post these charts so I will be able to show them in an argument)

Can’t stand hearing Repooplicans saying again and again that Obama has lost jobs and has never created any jobs. Note that Obama took office during the great decline in employment, and jobs started going up after the Stimulus started.  Here’s the important graph:

chart of jobs before/after obama

I’ve been saying (into whichever aether I’ve been swimming in) that the Republican Primary Race has been a great Reality Show production.  The Iowa Caucus race is prime tool of the production.

Republicans know that they will get media attention from any foment in the race. They get the attention of every media-eyeballing citizen.

Every time there is a new contest, everyone watching can’t help but consider (in her own mind), “Who would I vote for now?”  Time and time again, as first one candidate, then the next, falls and a new candidate is raised up, so theat the viewer is, in his mind, is choosing again and again between two different Republican candidates.  Note that each time, he is voting for a Republican!

So here’s your average (Independent?) voter, time and time again mentally choosing a Republican candidate.

The simple heuristic of familiarity insists that, in the voting booth in the national election, he’s more likelly to vote for the one he’s already voted for in his mind, and that will be a Republican.

The voters’ minds have alreadty been set up to be responsive to a Republican candidate.

It will take an incredible amount of work for this prediliction to be countered by the Democrats.