I would suggest that FDL look into providing a spot for live, ongoing action w/r/t these protests; perhaps some sort of automatic top-listing? More folks at the Lake calling the Boston and/or Atlanta PD now would certainly help, for example. Wish I could do more now than a few phone calls, but hearing from Miami in Boston surprised the BPD person on the phone!

Yeah, that too — they’re not mutually exclusive, especially with rum!

South Florida, amongst the ex-pats, the boat folks (and not just Cubans), and palm trees. We have to live with Governor Scott, but there’s always a price for paradise, right?

And I wish I could remember more of it! Good times…

Actually first saw Hornsby in 1991, playing keyboard with the Dead at RFK in Washington, D.C. — didn’t find out until later from my (double graduate) University of Miami wife that he was an alum as well. Strange circles and all, but at least more enjoyable to think about than the rest of D.C. lately.

There are LOTS of other ways for the federal government to spend money that don’t have the negative effects of defense contractor spending, such as infrastructure maintenance or construction. You’re just being contrary for the sake of being so.

On the other hand, there’s indeed a case to be made that “taxing the rich” isn’t punitive, but rather a fair assessment of the gains in productivity that have accrued at a proportionately higher rate to the upper 5% — having gone to both undergrad and grad school with those folks, you can’t convince me for a second that they all “earned” it themselves.

Probably because there’s an agenda to fulfill? You’re right, that’s not really what I’d intended, at least not directly. The issue with the budget is that we’re running at a deficit — there are lots of ways to reduce that (e.g., ending wars, allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire) without “new” taxes designed to help ameliorate the bad effects of those prior problems.

The idea of a transaction tax on Wall Street has been floated here and in other places before: not only would it raise revenue for the federal government, but also act as a brake on “reckless” trading. You’d get a two-fer, no?

Glad that I didn’t watch — hard to believe indeed how far we’ve come as a nation in just the past ten years (or even three, depending on perspective). As for emigration, I’m thinking to an off-the-beaten path island… Dominica, perhaps. Papayas and coconuts, with the occasional chicken and mahi — consider it the south Florida version of living off the land.

Thanks for the welcome folks, and tuezday, I expect I’ll hear from you again. With two little ones by myself this weekend, and a big proposal due on Monday, I’m calling it a night. Happy chatting, all.

Well, I had hair in the ’70s…

Thanks, and precisely why I kept coming back — whether for advice on regional resource extraction policy or the best mango-apple pie recipe, fire pups are indeed always there (note that I didn’t specify which was more important… I am a cook at heart).

Thanks, and I used to work in the early morning, so got a lot of good advice from eCAHN (IIRC the handle) regarding things academic. As Jimmy Buffet said in song, “There’s a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning.” The same applies at FDL, in my experience (and in the best possible sense).

@ Larue: Yep, both commercial and rec — I’m an academic fisheries scientist down in South Florida, having left my D.C. policy life to play with more fishes and less politicians. Of course, I now have to deal with Governor Scott, so it’s a mixed bag.

Also, I don’t know if there’s a format for this, but I did just join FDL a few minutes ago — not as a congrats, but as an apology. I’ve been participating/lurking on FDL for almost four years, helping as I could on a post-doc’s salary. When this news came out this week about the White House and SS benefits, I realized that FDL was about the only site I visited that made sense any more — and I have a graduate policy degree from William & Mary. Thanks to Jane et al. for all their work, and I’m sorry that it’s taken so long to be able to formally support as a member what you all do.

It’s just nice to see something less soul-sucking than the last thread – it is Friday!

When it comes to political deafness, lots of folks refer to Obama’s “bubble” — if he accepts any of this report, I’m all about forever referring to it as his bunker instead.