MLK Day Roundup
Some Monday morning links…
- Eritrea having a coup.
- World Politics Review has a roundup of Mali links.
- SPS Principe de Asturias heads out to pasture.
- All Praise New Glorious Leader Helfrich!
- Thoughts on engagement with the DPRK.
- Ooh, let’s rank stuff! Navies of the Indo-Pacific…. Go!
- Universities are ducking their responsibilities to adjunct faculty, part one million.
- The five year rise in college sports spending.
- Wyoming loves box wine and Canadian whiskey. Now you know.
timb:
January 21st, 2013 at 11:37 am
For comedy gold, go see Libertarian Todd Zywiki’s piece on adjuncts at Volokh Conspiracy. It’s almost chilling in its disdain for other people (isn’t that the definition of Libertarianism). The comedy is the last sentence.
Who hurt Todd at such a young age and why can’t he join the human race?
Derelict:
January 21st, 2013 at 11:42 am
Re: Ranking navies.
Interesting that the Royal Australian Navy is not on the list.
Robert Farley:
January 21st, 2013 at 11:44 am
Yeah, the right wing is all asputter about the plight of adjuncts this morning, without noting that the people (unfairly, it’s true) being docked weren’t receiving health care from their employers in the first place.
mark f:
January 21st, 2013 at 11:59 am
But if we arm Eritrea
then we won’t have to pay her
and everyone can go home
timb:
January 21st, 2013 at 12:11 pm
They also don’t seem to note that the process the colleges are engaging in are expressly frowned on in the IRS rules and the adjuncts could be determined to be “full-time enough” (yeah, I made up a phrase. What of it?) and the university could still have to pay the 8%. Hope they take it out of the President’s security detail or dry cleaning allowance
divadab:
January 21st, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Re: Wyoming booze preferences: I’d bet dollars to donuts* that Canadian shoppers from Alberta are sharply skewing the stats. Crown Royal and box wine? As Canadian as curling, the only sport that actually is played better drunk.
*now that donuts cost more than a dollar, the metaphor needs an inflation adjustment.
NonyNony:
January 21st, 2013 at 12:35 pm
now that donuts cost more than a dollar, the metaphor needs an inflation adjustment.
I’ve actually heard people use the phrase “dollars to donut holes”, possibly due to this very issue.
Doug M.:
January 21st, 2013 at 12:59 pm
As of noon EST (8 pm in Eritrea), it wasn’t looking too good for the coup:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57564977/possible-failed-coup-attempt-in-eritrea/
Doug M.
Bill Murray:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:00 pm
why would Albertans drive several hundred miles through Montana and/or the Dakotas to get to Wyoming for booze?
The Dark Avenger:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:17 pm
My genetics teacher in college used to say “Garbage to doornails”.
Cody:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:17 pm
Yea…
I’m guessing the intended audience on the site isn’t going to notice that. Even with the reduced hours, I would suspect the adjunct is coming out ahead if he or his family ever goes to the doctor.
This is under the assumption he’ll be getting a subsidy under Obamacare for his healthcare. I can’t be sure on that, as I haven’t read the bill.
rea:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:18 pm
Jeez, if people are absolutely determined to make universal health care not work, they may be able to cause some problems! Who would have thought that!
Joe:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:20 pm
We also have Randy Barnett, who spent loads of post talking about that threat to liberty the PPACA, using Glenn Reynolds to speak about the overcriminalization rampant in this country. That is, one is a blue moon, we get a “hey, we are really consistent libertarians” sort of thing.
Also, Eugene “arm the teachers” Volokh or Kopel has no interest commenting on the gun proposals. Apparently, NOTHING there, including just doing what the NRA alleges it supports in better enforcing existing law, is worth anything. Both 2A scholars but at a key moment, crickets.
timb:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:36 pm
“making universal health care not work” = Libertarianism
justaguy:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:37 pm
Not getting benefits while teaching 7 writing classes a semester, which even if they’re the same class is an insane workload.
Manju:
January 21st, 2013 at 1:53 pm
The unintended consequence is the loss of income, not heathcare.
Manju:
January 21st, 2013 at 2:02 pm
You don’t have to worry about that. You make policy under the assumption that folks will behave in accordance with their economic interests, not ideological.
Obamacare isn’t going to fail because folks are determined to make it not work. They’re determined to find every loophole that allows them to save a buck. You have to assume that.
joe from Lowell:
January 21st, 2013 at 2:02 pm
Good point!
Given that the new American bases there are being used to reposition our resources as part of the “Asian pivot,” we pretty clearly need to start thinking of Australia that way.
timb:
January 21st, 2013 at 2:06 pm
It’s good you’re here to either a) obfuscate the obvious or b) re-state the obvious.
xxy:
January 21st, 2013 at 2:21 pm
If businesses really cared about saving money when it comes to healthcare they’d be pushing hard for socialized medicine, which would reduce direct healthcare costs to them as well as costs due to lost productivity. The college and universities mentioned wouldn’t be cutting faculty to avoid increased costs, so they could offer more classes, serve more students and collect more tuition and fees.
But in general short-term greed and ideology prevent this. Come on, you’re making the same silly argument Rand (or was it Ron?) Paul made concerning the civil rights act – completely ignoring 100 years of American history that proved folks are more than willing to lose lots of money to enforce norms and ideology. It was a bad argument then and it’s a bad argument now.
bph:
January 21st, 2013 at 2:36 pm
They missed the only exit.
catclub:
January 21st, 2013 at 3:05 pm
I am not much of a wine drinker, but my understanding is that box wine _can_ be very good. Plus not going bad due to the better air-free storage seems a big plus. I have read the articles where the wine makers try to push box wines ( good quality! no more bouquets like an aborigine’s armpit!) but snobbery still has too much effect on sales.
Manju:
January 21st, 2013 at 3:41 pm
There’s no point complaining that the Right is leaving out a material fact:
when the fact in question is in fact not material.
timb:
January 21st, 2013 at 4:20 pm
The question of healthcare availability IS important if you’d read more than the title or do you think “I wonder who voted for in November” is Todd’s shot at him for losing 2 grand in salary?
The guy getting screwed twice is why the good professor is laughing at him
Manju:
January 21st, 2013 at 4:54 pm
Yes.
rea:
January 21st, 2013 at 5:31 pm
although he does that at 3 schools . . .
DrDick:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:51 pm
“making
universal healtheverything care not work” = LibertarianismFTFY
DrDick:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:53 pm
Ignoring all of history is the heart of Libertarianism.
DrDick:
January 21st, 2013 at 6:56 pm
There are a lot more towns in either Montana or the Dakotas than in Wyoming. A lot more liquor stores as well.
Manju:
January 21st, 2013 at 7:35 pm
My guess is that this concerns Title VII. One of the Pauls was making an argument that you don’t need it, assuming that the rest of the CRA was enforced. As the argument goes, once Jim Crow falls as a legal regime, blacks will be served at the lunch counter…b/c it is the proprietors self-interest to gain new customers.
You’re saying the lesson of history is that the proprietors will go against their economic self-interest. I think that’s incorrect, or at least such a scenario is an outlier.
A better argument is to recognize that in a racist society there is an economic self-interest in not serving blacks. The wealthier white customers prefer it that way.
Warren Terra:
January 21st, 2013 at 8:00 pm
RE the DPRK, Eric Schmidt’s daughter (an aide of some sort to Bill Richardson, apparently) was on the recent trip with Richardson and her father, and has written a chatty and enjoyable travelogue. No great insights or revelations, but interesting nonetheless.
timb:
January 21st, 2013 at 8:19 pm
see my earlier critique. Do you have DW-Nominate stats which can help you determine where Zywiki’s nihilism is usually directed?
justaguy:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:41 pm
Sure, and that’s fairly typical with adjuncting. My point is that if the school feels teaching 2 classes would go over 29 hours of work per week, they have to be assuming at least 15 hours per class. So, while his actual workload might be less if he’s teaching similar classes, by their accounting he’s working 105 hours a week and not getting any benefits. And that’s pretty standard for adjuncts, or at least not so out of the ordinary as to be surprising.
Halloween Jack:
January 22nd, 2013 at 1:25 pm
I think that you can blame the Gallo family for establishing that box wine = crap wine, and your workaday wine snob for perpetuating it. Of course, if you just want a glass or two with dinner for the health benefits, having something that keeps the air (and light) out is better, and there are some decent selections out there, as long as you don’t have someone fresh out of a community-center wine tasting class that insists that they can smell the plastic of the liner in the bouquet.