January 2012
29 posts
“In a profession which specialises in hypocrisy, Mr Gingrich’s performance stands out.”
—
Newt Gingrich harried Bill Clinton for having sex with an intern 27 years his junior when he was having sex with a staffer 23 years younger than himself. His arrogance, meanwhile, verges on monomania. He once wrote of himself as the “definer of the forces of civilisation”. (via theeconomist)
Which is why I implore you, dear Republicans: please nominate him as your candidate.
— From SF.
The Most Badass Excerpt From Barney Frank's Interview With The NY Times
- Interviewer: You’ve long argued for the decriminalization of marijuana. Do you smoke weed?
- Barney Frank: No.
- Interviewer: Why not?
- Barney Frank: Why do you ask a question, then act surprised when I give an answer? Do you think I lie to people?
- Interviewer: I thought you might explain why you support decriminalizing it but don’t smoke it.
- Barney Frank: Do you think I’ve ever had an abortion?
“Well maybe she can chow down on her own smug sense of self-importance. Tell this woman if she wants to eat leaves and rain, she can go out in the garden and nibble on a birch tree. We’ve got a field of grass out the back. She can can get down on all fours and chew away like all the other cows. In the meantime, she can sit her boney arse down and eat my meat.”
—
Alan Davies as Roland White in Whites.
— From SF.
“In Europe, in the United States, throughout the world, we need to make sure we are investing — we are investing in technology, we are investing in basic education so that people can take advantage of these tools. We want to make sure we have the right regulatory environment — a regulatory environment that promotes innovation and economic growth.”
—
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO at the Digital Life Design conference in Munich, seems to be saying that privacy and economic growth are incompatible.
This is, of course, the exact response you’d expect from someone who’s personally made millions (billions?) of dollars exploiting people’s privacy. Facebook is sure to be wary of some strict new privacy regulations that the EU is recommending.
I loathe Sandberg’s line of reasoning here, that somehow protecting consumer rights is an anathema to making money. Protecting consumers, to my mind, is one of the purposes of government, particularly in a world where corporations have increasing power over our everyday lives, are ever more resistant to self-policing and are bigger, richer and more global than has ever been known in history.
It strikes me that this may be one of the greatest differences between the theories of government in Europe and the United States. I’m becoming more and more wary of a government that insists on protecting the powerful on the backs of the powerless.
(via jimray)
Agreed, most enthusiastically. Reading this, I am torn between shock and amusement. I can’t fathom how the bright, talented Ms Sandberg can keep a straight face whilst equating privacy protection to anti-capitalism before a European audience. I can only conclude that this doesn’t stem from a strong belief in market freedom, but either profound cynicism or a complete misunderstanding of how Europe works. Or both.
Luckily, and unlike here, lobbying only goes so far in the EU. Fingers crossed it’ll stay that way.
— From SF.
Play
Comedian Ruby Wax tells of being a Beatles fan during grad school:
“I used to call the operator in Liverpool from Chicago so that I could hear the accent and all my girlfriends would be crowded around the phone and when she, you know, would say ‘Livapoool’ we’d scream. We’d scream and then we’d hang up.”
(From BBC radio 4 Saturday Live)
— From London.
Play
