-
Bush administration attempts to hide a sicker, poorer nation


...unfortunately, it's not Afghanistan, but is instead the U.S. They had their appointee in the Census Bureau release the data a month earlier than usual, during the August congressional recess, rather in September when there would be more people waiting to notice it and it could undercut what poll boost the upcoming GOP Convention will give them. The number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year, and the uninsured went up by 1.4 million. Hoorah.

I'd say something about this potentially popularizing Bastille Day here in the US, particularly if November 3rd dawns as a dark day announcing four more years of dress rehearsal for the Apocalypse, but I don't want an off-hand comment to lead to a visit from the Secret Service. I'm all about peaceful, lawful disgruntlement and protest here, folks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

(TV/streaming video) New & Leftover Items, a Touch of 2024, and some Nostalgic Forensics

-
Image
    So much else calling out for attention, and with watchables already piled up, finding even more things to watch doesn't seem like much of a sane prospect. I'm not even fishing around for new things at the moment, as I need to get some other things done and make some attempt to round out my life a little.       This week on Paramount+, the fourth season of the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks came to a satisfying end. A manic pace of in-universe nods continues to give it the Star Trekiest of Trek feels with the casual, plot-essential trivia drawn from decades of Star Trek shows, woven throughout.       Also there, the contemporary Frasier series' first season hits its halfway point with episode five. I'm enjoying it, but it continues to walk a wobbly line as some of it works smoothly while other moments reek of formula, with some of each overlapping. I'd be very interested in seeing how well or not this new series works on its o...
Read more

Catching Up with Old Friends (Streaming media series)

-
Image
   I haven't done any blogging posts on current and streaming media since November 3rd, which broke a streak of weekly ones that had been going since September of 2019 - albeit as part of a different, group, blog. As with many such inactions, it wasn't intended as a formal stoppage, just a momentary delay, but here it is five weeks later. This post's linking theme is the return of fondly-remembered characters. It really should include the recent arrival to streaming of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny over on Disney+, but I haven't really mustered my reactions to that. Instead, I'll stick with two other nostalgic items that arrived this week.       Yesterday saw the arrival of the season finale, episode ten, of Kelsey Grammar's return of Frasier Crane in the 2023 iteration of Frasier , over on Paramount+.      The series picked up on the titular character in the present, whom we haven't seen since his 11-season first series wr...
Read more

Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

-
Image
      Even though I've already watched the pair of debut episodes of Frasier (see next paragraph), and this week's Star Trek: Lower Decks (which continues to do a stellar job of mining  previous Trek series for character, episode and extraterrestrial culture lore and deftly applying them at breakneck speeds), I still have multiple things I'm looking forward to catching up on, including new eps of Gen V (Amazon Prime), Loki (Disney+), and both Archer and Welcome to Wrexham (both on Hulu), along with the first two episodes of a final six for Doom Patrol over on Max... and that's just off the top of my head, so getting this week's streaming post out of the way brings those one step closer for me.       I've watched the two episodes of the new Frasier series that arrived on Paramount+ this week, and while it was a mixed bag it was good to see the character back, with him attempting to move into his third act by returning to Boston, where...
Read more