Being Blog: The God Who Fits Our Agenda: 9/11 Then and Now
by Debra Dean Murphy, special contributor
Photo by Aftab Uzzaman/Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0
September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday. Most of us remember that day and what we were doing around nine o’clock that morning. (I was at the veterinarian’s office; we had just gotten a puppy the…
Setting Their Hair on Fire
Paul Krugman | NYT
O.K., about the Obama plan: It calls for about $200 billion in new spending — much of it on things we need in any case, like school repair, transportation networks, and avoiding teacher layoffs — and $240 billion in tax cuts. That may sound like a lot, but it actually isn’t. The lingering effects of the housing bust and the overhang of household debt from the bubble years are creating a roughly $1 trillion per year hole in the U.S. economy, and this plan — which wouldn’t deliver all its benefits in the first year — would fill only part of that hole. And it’s unclear, in particular, how effective the tax cuts would be at boosting spending.
Still, the plan would be a lot better than nothing, and some of its measures, which are specifically aimed at providing incentives for hiring, might produce relatively a large employment bang for the buck. As I said, it’s much bolder and better than I expected. President Obama’s hair may not be on fire, but it’s definitely smoking; clearly and gratifyingly, he does grasp how desperate the jobs situation is.
But his plan isn’t likely to become law, thanks to Republican opposition. And it’s worth noting just how much that opposition has hardened over time, even as the plight of the unemployed has worsened. […]
So, at this point, leading Republicans are basically against anything that might help the unemployed. Yes, Mr. Romney has issued a glossy, well-produced “jobs plan,” but it might best be described as 59 bullet points with nothing there — and certainly nothing to justify his assertion, bordering on megalomania, that he would create no fewer than 11 million jobs in four years.
The good news in all this is that by going bigger and bolder than expected, Mr. Obama may finally have set the stage for a political debate about job creation. For, in the end, nothing will be done until the American people demand action.
Jittery
I’m really trying to work hard and live life in more grateful and humble fashion than I have in the past. I’m feeling quite jittery and am easily annoyed today. I’m quite tired, work was challenging this week, and the children are so happy and noisy. It’s all a bit more than I can take right now. Please….ssshhhh. Mmmmm…..tired…… I’d love to rest, but the children have a friend over and are playing quite nicely. Guests from out-of-town whom I did not know were coming are coming to visit in a couple of hours.
All that being said, today was quite nice. My wife and I had a nice date day hanging out at the library and an inexpensive lunch at an Indian buffet. Life feels a bit challenging right now, but we’re standing on the cusp of some lovely circumstances. My wife also told me that she thought that I should start writing down my experiences of growing up as a Pentecostal pastor’s son. She also told me that the hard part would be to stop editing myself and just write my story.
Classical Flash Mob Stuns Commuters
Jesper Nordin conducts the Sjællands Symfoniorkester (Copenhagen Philharmonic) in a flash mob at Copenhagen Central Station playing Ravel’s Boléro. This kind of performance art reminds us that, when you least expect it, you can become submerged in beauty within moments: anywhere, by anyone (in street clothes, hauling a bassoon), and it can disappear just as quickly.
“This was a very typical time. I was single. All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and that’s what I had.”
—Steve Jobs in 1982 by Diana Walker (via: jedsundwall)
