Why do the AP classes focus on the least useful texts?

I have no idea, but I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks so. Penny Arcade Tycho writes about his own experience surviving his expulsion from the smart kid lit classes, where they were "reading" Ulysses:

My first and only F well in hand, the illusion I had of myself - that of a pristine jarred brain casting aspersions on greasy, cavorting bipeds - was obliterated. I was enrolled, then, in a series of what were (and may still be called) "bonehead" classes, which was apparently where they hoarded all the Twain. And I Am The Cheese, and Watership Down, books that played with modern language and perspective and voice, and played rough.  There's really no doubt that my entire life turned on that point, and it never really stopped turning: the point at which Writing became decoupled from English.

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 18

Starkey Beard

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 17

Beard for Bangladesh

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 16

Beatle beard

Chart of the decade

That's from Chuck Marr via Jon Chait, who writes:

Now, the flaw in the liberal story is the lack of an ironclad causal mechanism. Liberals have a lot of fairly persuasive stories about how this happened -- political power, the decline of unions, monetary policy, changing social norms -- but all those stories have at least some problems. Still, that chart captures the overriding economic problem of the current era. It also explains why policy solutions like the "Road to Prosperity" are so insane. It is based not only on ignoring this overriding reality but of accelerating it. Ryan's premise that liberating the wealthy from their social obligation will create mass prosperity. It could not be more out of touch with reality.

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 15

Hall of Fame beard.

This isn't going to help nosocomephobics

via MoJo, Hospitals: Way More Dangerous Than You Thought

So the researchers started tracking errors at three hospitals themselves. As a result, they found that voluntary reporting missed 90 percent of the errors that took place in those hospitals. The study found that 1 in every 3 hospital admissions resulted in an adverse event, a figure that should make everyone shudder. A mere 10 types of errors made up nearly two-thirds of all the adverse events, conditions that included pressure sores and post-op infections—things that don't take rocket science to prevent. The cost of all these errors is high: as much as $17 billion every year, all from hospital screw ups that could be prevented. Perhaps Republicans looking to reduce health care spending should try going after medical errors rather than the people who suffer because of them.

1 in 3.

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 14

Beard for beards sake.

Michelle Bachmann, speaking from the heart

… on why she's qualified to be President of these United States:

"I have a very broad, extensive background.

I'm a student of many years. I've studied a number of, a wide berth of topics. I sit currently on the Intelligence Committee. We deal with the classified secrets and with the unrest that's occurring around the world. I also sit on Financial Services Committee.

But again, I've lived life.

Tomorrow, I'll be celebrating my 55th birthday, and I've had a wide, extensive life. And again, my background is a very practical, solution-oriented vision."

See the video.  

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 13

Bearded Bishop sounds like a euphemism...

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 12

Make a wish, baby. A beard will make it come true.

This episode of "Screw the Poor" brought to you by Paul Ryan [Updated]

According to David Brooks, the Paul Ryan budget proposal will

* Prevent the government shutdown
* Set the bar for "seriousness"when it comes to budget discussions
* Become the republican nominee's budget platform
* Heal the lepers
* and...

"... will put all future arguments in the proper context: The current welfare state is simply unsustainable and anybody who is serious, on left or right, has to have a new vision of the social contract."

Well, well. Fine. Let's look at the top line item of the new vision: phasing out Medicaid Medicare* as we know over 10 years, replacing it with

"... a defined contribution plan. Instead of assuming open-ended future costs, the government will give you a sum of money (starting at an amount equal to what the government now spends) and a regulated menu of insurance options from which to choose." 

Well. Fine. Except that, as Matt Yglesias points out with a handy chart, [Medicaid*] expenditures don't match up with enrollees. Unless that regulated menu of insurance options includes high-risk pools and mandates enrollment  to cover payouts to the elderly and the disabled, it won't work even in the short term.

In the long term, of course, we've got this flat payout replacing our open-ended commitment. Since everybody from Nancy Pelosi to Paul Ryan assumes continuously rising health-care costs, how is this anything other than essentially cutting off access to health care for poor children, disabled people, and the elderly everyone except those that can pay out of pocket what used to be covered by Medicare? While still cutting taxes for the rich?

Stay classy, Republicans!

UPDATE: EPIC BELLMAN FAIL - I've conflated Medicare and Medicaid. 

Ryan proposes to phase out Medicare and replacing it with block grants will do nothing to account for rising costs, just shift the burden for most Americans on to their families. Meanwhile, he will turn Medicaid into block grands so that individual states can decide how and with what vigor they will screw the poor.

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 11

Seventies beard, eighties mullet.

Bearded Men Singing - Special Week-End Manic Edition

Bearded one-legged flutist unleashed.

I'm only posting this to keep bearded men below the fold, but still, Atrios has a good point

It's true that as with many bursting bubbles, even if some people lose their shirts in the crash it's possible that left behind in the wake is something useful. However, it isn't clear that a bunch of extra modern housing is a 'good thing' even in a place where numerous people didn't previously have access to such accommodations. A house is more than a house, it's also a location. One thing that location needs to provide is access to gainful employment. Ghost cities might provide for some improved accommodation for people at low prices, if prices are going to drop, but that doesn't do much for them if there are no jobs nearby, no functioning government services, no retail, etc. And unoccupied housing units can deteriorate very, very fast. via

This isn't something we deal with so much in Austin, where the economy hasn't really crashed, or even stalled. But I've seen it in other cities: There's a real danger of suburbia turning from a middle-class milestone, like Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde, into the new century's ghetto. People can move there and then be… trapped.

Bearded Men Singing from the Heart, Part 10

The lyric says I love you. The beard says I mean it.

Maybe we should arm them with tiger blood

…. NATO is now policing a civil war in which it is almost impossible to tell who is a civilian and who isn't, who is a rebel and who isn't, and which pick-up trucks are Qaddafi's and which ones are the rebels'. For these reasons, arming the rebels is a total crap shoot. On what grounds do the people of the United States have a reason to arm one side in a civil war, when we have no idea who they are? Doesn't the fact that NATO has already warned them not to attack "civilians" tell you something?

I remember Iraq when we spent months not believing there was an insurgency. How could the Iraqi people defend the dictator who oppressed them? It didn't compute. And then we realized things were not quite as simple as Bill Kristol and Paul Wolfowitz had told us - and we are still there ten years and a trillion dollars later.

This is a dumb war, Mr President. And you are supposed to be against those. Remember?

via Sullivan.

C.I.A. on the ground. It's Reagan-esque. It's really, really disappointing.