The Bronchitis thing is mostly over. I'm still home on doctor's orders, taking codeine tablets to control the coughing and have injured a rib somehow, but overall I feel a lot better, and will be back in action as a teacher of English by Wednesday.
During my nearly two weeks of house arrest, I've had time to read great big fat loads of analysis of the financial crisis, and have a few links which will no doubt be totally riveting to my three readers. The Atlantic has this article, in which a former stock analyst pretty convincingly argues that in the free market, where everyone acts rationally in his own interest, bubbles like the recently burst real estate market are bound to form. He also has a fairly cogent take on why we never learn from them. Key point? There's no one to reasonably scapegoat. Ross Douthat offers qualified agreement, but Matt Yglesias doesn't buy it.
Also, this month's Cato Unbound has a round table of four prominent economists with four very different points of view on what happened to touch off the crisis, and it makes for interesting, if slightly laborious reading, and promises in future to become even more interesting as they all start responding to one another.
Finally, a couple of conspiracy theories: please enjoy this article, reporting on the fact that some people are convinced that Barack Obama's election is the "biggest hoax in the history of our country" because guess what?! Obama isn't even and AMERICAN CITIZEN!!!! The article's from politico, but it reads like an article from The Onion. And, there's always the terrifying spectre of the Fairness Doctrine. Even George F. Will saw fit to waste column space on this non-starter, apparently. However, no one but The Embattled Right has any interest in it whatsoever, if you read this recent piece on The New Republic. As Yglesias puts it, "I’ve never heard of anything like the current conservative mania for blocking a particular legislative provision that nobody is trying to enact."
Yes. This is a boring politics blog.
I'll just end with a brief conversation I had with my 16-year-old son the other day while chatting it up on video skype:
Him, groggy and deadpan, having just woken up: Hi Mama.
Me: Geez! Your hair looks like a MOP!
Him, totally bershon, totally over me: Well, YEAH. I had HAIRSPRAY in it!
Aww yeah.
Your family's hair is enviable. Please tell me there's a chance Jacob will change the color of his hair at some point. It's something I never got the chance to do, so I always like to see people take advantage of the opportunity.
Speaking of rock star hair, I saw David Bowie's "The Man Who Fell to Earth" the other night. Oh boy. I was not prepared for the genius of his hair in that film, nor was I prepared for the numerous glimpses of his penis.
In other news, I love that conspiracy theory about Obama's citizenship. Hilarious. The wingnuts promulgating this theory can't help rubbing his middle name like some xenophobic fetish.
Posted by: Jason | 08 prosinec 2008 at 07:28 dop.
Jason, BRACE YOURSELF: Jacob has already colored his hair -- it's chestnut brown!
Posted by: Crazy Jane | 08 prosinec 2008 at 07:41 dop.
Have you seen the stories about this fucktard? Oh my god.
Posted by: Jason | 09 prosinec 2008 at 01:03 odp.
Happy Inauguration Day, Dude! I know you must be very proud!
Posted by: Tara H. | 20 leden 2009 at 06:07 odp.
Happy Mother's Day, Jaime!
Posted by: Tara Holland | 10 květen 2009 at 11:58 dop.
You neeever update this!
Posted by: Tara Holland | 12 červen 2009 at 04:23 odp.
:-/
Posted by: Tara Holland | 03 červenec 2009 at 01:08 odp.