Posts tagged "c.r.e.a.m."

'Type-A-Plus Students Chafe at Grade Deflation'

h/t Jane NYT: When Princeton University set out six years ago to corral galloping grade inflation by putting a lid on A’s, many in academia lauded it for taking a stand on a national problem and predicted that others would follow. But the idea never took hold beyond Princeton’s walls, and so its bold vision is now running into fierce resistance from the school’s Type-A-plus student body.

I have a weird problem with the educational institution which I’ll somehow get over to go to grad school, or not. But it comes to a boil when we’re talking about the Ivy League and their grade inflation because the students who make up a large part of their campuses were likely afforded some advantages their parents gave them growing up that led to their position in a world where opportunity is much larger for them than the rest of their peers, whether it’s because of some bullshit legacy or because they’re actually well groomed for the academic world through work and access to the best teachers. The latter of which is great and fine but once you get to Yale or Princeton or wherever there’s no reason you need to be handed an A because you and the upper echelon have declared your own people to be much better than those on the outside and fix the game to further benefit yourselves even more. So the argument that this GPA deflation will affect their ability to get a job in today’s economy is just hilarious to me..tiniest violin I’m playing over here.

‘The reason is simple: being expensive is part of the point. A Macbook Pro is just as much of a status marker as a Louis Vuitton purse or a BMW. Being more expensive than another product of similar capability isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. But unlike that purse or that car, Apple products come with a kind of built-in deniability about the fact that they are purchased in part because of their class signals. Look, people love to demonstrate wealth; it is one of our culture’s more singular obsessions. But a lot of people, for reasons of politics and decorum (and this extends to conservatives and liberals alike), feel guilty about flashing their class. So while they look down at, say, black urban youth for wearing expensive jewelry, they make sure you know where they went to college. Both are signaling, and both have everything to do with money, but one allows you to deny that you are so signaling.’ -L’Hôte via Racialicious

I find his denying signaling idea remarkable because it’s so true, often evident around me as I’m usually always surrounded by college educated Mac-users. There’s a lot more to his post at the link..most of it I agree with but I don’t see how one could compare a Zune with an iPod Touch, the Apps/iTunes arena is just too good compared to anything similar.

Obama Can't Win

Because he’s playing a horrible offense and defense. His latest move is a 3 year domestic spending freeze (education, nutrition, national parks) while exempting military expenses and after spending billions on corporate bailouts. Obviously this angers many of the people who voted for him and conservatives will somehow ignore history and continue to claim the deficit is a result of liberal programs so they can say this does very little to correct it. Despite how little it would save, the White House is willing to get that little for the sake of social programs..which sounds an awful lot like a previous administration.

Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act

First political action in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to sell our government. via The Consumerist: Wildcat Rep. Alan Grayson has introduced a new bill that would tax corporate political donations at the eye-popping rate of 500%.

I haven’t read the entire thing but I worry that this would just mean the richest of the rich end up getting what they want because they’re the only ones that can afford political ‘donation’.

Top 5 AdBlock Hitlist

|http://ad.doubleclick.net/* with 2,498 hits
|http://openxxx.viragemedia.com/* with 1,884 hits
|http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/* with 804 hits
|http://ads1.msn.com/* with 655 hits
|http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/3.0/global/misc/* with 532 hits

That doesn’t include the sites I’ve whitelisted nor does it include the more annoying javascript ads I’ve blocked with NoScript. Doubleclick (owned by Google), with that amazingly high number, is considered by some to be malware because of its tracking of peoples’ IP’s and cookies. Whenever I’m on a computer with no blocking software I’m taken aback at how bad it has gotten.

'Long Term Discouraged'

A nice, bland term for a million or so (and counting) people who have exhausted their job hunt resources and disappeared from govt unemployment stats. I’m sure we’d see a sharp rise in documented depression if they had ‘long term health insurance’ and ‘long term bar tabs’.

Where Chicago Stimulus Funds Went

A large amount went to university grants, including ones that study interstellar gas, the behavior of powders and more seemingly important projects. In comparison to Head Start programs it’s a bit aggravating to read. I know knowledge is power but priorities?

You can follow your state/city here if you don’t live where the cool kids do.

From an infographic that illustrates things that happen in one minute. Photo link via buzzfeed

From an infographic that illustrates things that happen in one minute. Photo link via buzzfeed

The stock of the major health insurance companies since the health reform bill has been dropping govt-run insurance options. All in all, relative to the last version of health reform issued by the Senate, things have turned out pretty well for the health insurance industry,” said Carl McDonald, an analyst at Oppenheimer. “In particular, all versions of a government-run health plan have largely been eliminated. -HuffPo I’m very interested in hearing how Obama spins this in the State of the Union..this is what he said in his 2009 State of the Union Jr a year ago: So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year. This is what he said in the first Presidential debate: We right now give $15 billion every year as subsidies to private insurers under the Medicare system. It doesn’t work any better through this private insurers; they just skim off $15 billion. That was a giveaway, and part of the reason is because lobbyists are able to shape how Medicare works. They did it on the prescription drug bill. They’ve done it with respect to Medicare. In an ad in Jan 2008: I’ll be a president who finally makes health care affordable to every single American by bringing Democrats and Republicans together. In the 2007 primaries: I’ve got a plan. But we’ve had plan before, under a Democratic president in the ‘90s and a Democratic Congress. We couldn’t get it done because the drug and insurance companies are spending $1 billion over the last decade on lobbying. And that’s why we’ve got to have a president who is willing to fight to make sure that they don’t have veto power. 2004: I ask for a Senate vote to allow safe imports of US-approved drugs that are manufactured in US-approved plants. And, I urge Jack Ryan to stop siding with the drug manufacturers and put aside his opposition to the re-importation of lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada. I know it must be difficult to put a stop to the insurance behemoth and turn around and go the other way but wow. We’re handing more to the insurance companies, we jettisoned the cheaper drugs from Canada idea, we gave in to those billion dollar lobbyists, we brought no one together (except when we needed to throw poor women under the bus) and as far as I know we haven’t had a President who put up a decent fight against all this.

The stock of the major health insurance companies since the health reform bill has been dropping govt-run insurance options. All in all, relative to the last version of health reform issued by the Senate, things have turned out pretty well for the health insurance industry,” said Carl McDonald, an analyst at Oppenheimer. “In particular, all versions of a government-run health plan have largely been eliminated. -HuffPo

I’m very interested in hearing how Obama spins this in the State of the Union..this is what he said in his 2009 State of the Union Jr a year ago:

So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.

This is what he said in the first Presidential debate:

We right now give $15 billion every year as subsidies to private insurers under the Medicare system. It doesn’t work any better through this private insurers; they just skim off $15 billion. That was a giveaway, and part of the reason is because lobbyists are able to shape how Medicare works. They did it on the prescription drug bill. They’ve done it with respect to Medicare.

In an ad in Jan 2008:

I’ll be a president who finally makes health care affordable to every single American by bringing Democrats and Republicans together.

In the 2007 primaries:

I’ve got a plan. But we’ve had plan before, under a Democratic president in the ‘90s and a Democratic Congress. We couldn’t get it done because the drug and insurance companies are spending $1 billion over the last decade on lobbying. And that’s why we’ve got to have a president who is willing to fight to make sure that they don’t have veto power.

2004:

I ask for a Senate vote to allow safe imports of US-approved drugs that are manufactured in US-approved plants. And, I urge Jack Ryan to stop siding with the drug manufacturers and put aside his opposition to the re-importation of lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada.

I know it must be difficult to put a stop to the insurance behemoth and turn around and go the other way but wow. We’re handing more to the insurance companies, we jettisoned the cheaper drugs from Canada idea, we gave in to those billion dollar lobbyists, we brought no one together (except when we needed to throw poor women under the bus) and as far as I know we haven’t had a President who put up a decent fight against all this.

Dems Get 60th Vote For Some Bullshit

At its core, the legislation would create a new insurance exchange where consumers could shop for affordable coverage that complied with new federal guidelines. Most Americans would be required to purchase insurance, with federal subsidies available to help defray the cost for lower and middle income individuals and families.

States would be permitted to ban insurance coverage of abortions in policies sold in the exchange, except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in jeopardy. In states where such coverage is permitted, consumers must notify their insurance company they want it, and pay for it separately.

So screw you, unemployed/poor women who don’t have the foresight to know they’ll need an abortion in the future..but since they’re poor they wouldn’t be able to pay for it anyway so we win, right? More negotiations over the role of the govt in regulating insurance plans in this exchange will happen after break, which is when we’ll hear a lot of lobby talk about govt interfering with private industry despite the fact that the govt just handed over a shitton more money to them by making people buy insurance. Expect Lieberman to increase his whining, expect a bill that increasingly gets closer to what the insurance industry has been fighting for for decades. You’d think putting in regulations for the exchange would come before guaranteeing more clients for the companies in a ‘reform’, it being an afterthought just reminds us who comes first in this country. The abortion restriction negotiations are also not over..which to me means it’ll get worse, I can’t see how the Democrats are going to negotiate their way backwards towards reproductive health options for all women, not just the rich.