tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83456376702398518452012-01-26T11:51:53.841-06:00social commentary from a mercenary sociologistΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.comBlogger2901100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-40975989802443568642012-01-07T13:00:00.001-06:002012-01-07T13:00:59.810-06:00

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-46413831070055271512012-01-03T14:35:00.001-06:002012-01-03T14:37:05.052-06:00

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-68188753815526172662011-11-15T17:10:00.002-06:002011-11-15T17:12:43.550-06:00

Quite an accurate portrayal of the tabletop RPG experience!

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-58904700326335825342011-11-14T16:33:00.002-06:002011-11-14T21:36:00.689-06:00

The Recall of Governor Walker begins tomorrow! But he's firing the first shot of the war with $300,000 of ads over the next week, starting during tonight's Packers v. Vikings game. Will he be telling us about the 250,000 jobs he's created, like he promised? Or will he talk about how Wisconsin is losing jobs faster than just about any other state?

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-8030301386080694542011-11-12T13:01:00.002-06:002011-11-12T13:23:05.491-06:00

Tim Wise on racial privilege, hat tip to Pharyngulahe fits the aesthetic that is needed to give a college talk... he fits what people are willing to sit and listen to for an hour...

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-20016171771895229022011-11-08T13:05:00.004-06:002011-11-08T13:17:21.757-06:00

My fellow Olympians and I discussing the Greek debt crisis. Why I am terrible?!?

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-54364720065246260542011-11-05T17:17:00.004-05:002011-11-05T17:27:35.643-05:00

Behold! Sagacious journalist Bill Moyers on various topics including the Occupy movement... 20 minutes, but good.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-32161955195508550522011-10-31T00:50:00.002-05:002011-10-31T00:52:50.598-05:00

Great article on some unsung heroes, the garbage collectors of Wauwatosa: Bless The Ones Who Haul The Trash.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-83281644099014393802011-10-27T07:46:00.001-05:002011-10-27T07:48:34.860-05:00

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-22761709545977713552011-10-20T21:03:00.004-05:002011-10-20T21:23:33.190-05:00

So this is interesting. One thing the Department of Housing and Urban Development is interested in is people's health and well-being as it relates to their housing situation and neighborhood. I collect a lot of this kind of information for them through the Census Bureau, which they have contracted to administer the American Housing Survey. It seems that they have also done an experimental

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-73242173862446575922011-09-23T12:06:00.004-05:002011-10-30T13:33:41.915-05:00

I like what gnarlytrombone has to say in the comments about JB Van Hollen's decision not to help investigate Walker's corrupt minion Cindy Archer even though he was gung-ho to investigate the corruption of a black city alderman...Joe Suburb sees MKE as a foreign, barbaric territory that drains resources from REAL Wisconsin (and Madison as enabler of that draining). That's pretty much Walkerism in

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-35526200710960379022011-09-22T14:35:00.002-05:002011-09-22T14:37:35.584-05:00

i don't know where this is from but i like it:Probability is a mathematical concept, coming from statistics. Entropy comes from physics. It is the assertion-- established logically and experimentally-- that the universe, by its nature, is "running down", moving toward a state of inert uniformity devoid of form, matter, hierarchy or differentiation.That is, in any given situation, less

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-19485795854244516192011-09-22T06:47:00.002-05:002011-09-22T06:51:16.713-05:00

Government assistance is only "welfare" when other people do it. From the NYT article:...a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 56 percent of Americans said they wanted smaller government and fewer services.... A 2008 poll of 1,400 Americans by the Cornell Survey Research Institute found that when people were asked whether they had “ever used a government social program,” 57 percent

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-38049967463959821822011-09-19T13:40:00.005-05:002011-09-19T13:43:46.793-05:00

This guy is a hero of mine, and here he is in Wisconsin at Fighting Bob Fest giving a rousing speech. Worth six minutes of your time.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-6439679580456496912011-09-18T14:09:00.001-05:002011-09-18T14:10:30.391-05:00

The earliest we could legally begin circulating petitions to recall Governor Walker is Nov 5, 2011. Once we file, we have 60 days to collect about 700,000 petition signatures (540,208 plus a buffer). Then a recall election would be held within the next 2½ to 4 months (depending on legal challenges, election dates, etc.) Some recall supporters believe we should begin the recall petition as

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-50809631441778531752011-09-17T19:37:00.003-05:002011-09-17T19:40:22.123-05:00

This is written in a kind of abstruse academese, but it is a fascinating critique of an axiom of economics: that our systems of money and credit must have evolved from a primitive system of barter.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-65596125568685847592011-09-09T15:19:00.000-05:002011-09-09T15:19:59.706-05:00

Obama just made his "jobs speech" and I tend to agree with John Cole at Balloon Juice that we're screwed.  We're screwed because Obama is clearly sober and rational, and not at all crazy. Obama will propose something moderate and completely reasonable, but we all know it is not going to be enough to get us out of this mess, and that assumes we can even get it past the teahadist House (we won’

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-81957961542857367342011-09-06T21:16:00.003-05:002011-09-06T21:19:38.423-05:00

Wow, excellent article here linking religious fundamentalism, patriarchy, and sexual/reproductive politics."Sexuality is unclean, a sign of the fall, and both [menstruation and nocturnal emissions] are a waste of a potential life. Yes, potential life. Because not only is it a person as soon as the egg and sperm meet, these two ingredients must be preserved because each could lead to life

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-69811486364587737492011-09-03T15:45:00.007-05:002011-09-03T16:58:11.346-05:00

Just got back from the rally. There were between 200 and 250 cops in full-on riot gear, about 10 on riot-gear-clad war horses, some kind of riot tank, many cop cars, ambulances, etc. Between 1,000 and 2,000 anti-Nazi protestors lined the streets. Between 50 and 100 Neo-Nazi's showed up in "White Pride World Wide" shirts, confederate flags, swastika flags, and outlaw biker gear. The Neo-Nazi's

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-74257634506971244062011-08-31T14:25:00.004-05:002011-08-31T14:34:45.224-05:00

Fascinating research here. especially interesting idea: The Secession of the Successful, referring to the tendency in upper income brackets to pull out of the market for public services, taking their resources with them. So if you can afford to live in a gated community, send your kids to private schools, hire rent-a-cops etc... then you will starve those public services of the relatively

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-74329185319059044652011-08-14T18:52:00.004-05:002011-08-14T19:34:16.259-05:00

Attended Slutwalk MIlwaukee yesterday afternoon. In case you haven't heard, it is a global movement intended to raise awareness of the problem of victim-blaming in cases of sexual assault, you know, "it's her own fault she was raped for dressing like that." Here's a good Journal-Sentinel write up. Here's feminist advocate Hugo Schwyzer discussing the issue (and why men should get involved) and

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-23478977036497030652011-07-20T17:14:00.001-05:002011-07-20T17:16:01.242-05:00

Welcome to the 1st World!Something just beeped and I don't know what it was...

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-4919642679581251512011-07-06T05:44:00.004-05:002011-07-06T05:50:22.554-05:00

Got up at 6 to be on campus by 7, so I could be prepped before class. Taught from 8:30 to noon. Came home, had about a 3 hour break, then worked other job until 2 am. Was supposed to keep working until 4 or 5 (to close) but was interrupted by sick wife needing to go to the hospital. Was at hospital from 2 to 5 am. Got home very tired. Found a FedEx envelope with instructions to attend a 3-

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-31118254180167525052011-06-13T21:15:00.005-05:002011-06-13T21:19:27.365-05:00

OMG Journal-Sentinel rightwing asshat Patrick McIlheran is leaving the Journal-Sentinel (thank God) to join the Washington DC staff of "Plastic Man" Ron Johnson (effing great). I guess vapid idiots deserve one another?

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-51602492629008139362011-06-09T09:13:00.006-05:002011-06-11T20:55:05.499-05:00

***edit - A Radical Profeminist paid me the compliment of picking up my train of thought and running it with it! Radical!***My brain almost exploded when I opened up my email this morning. See, I subscribe to the mailing list for this ridiculously well-funded and well-organized Arlington, VA-based pro-life group called Students For Life, in order to keep tabs on their memes and tactics. You

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-28510467773419686362011-06-08T16:18:00.002-05:002011-06-08T16:19:04.130-05:00

Why America's Furious: Cornel West, Robert Reich, and More

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-60977212297480639932011-05-25T00:01:00.003-05:002011-05-25T00:03:10.921-05:00

Well, you could get a flat tire, or raped. Same diff.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-83885056621903501182011-05-11T18:05:00.000-05:002011-05-13T15:37:02.109-05:00

Here is a really great (and long) article on the recent financial crisis, called "The People vs. Goldman Sachs" by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone. It discusses a scathing 650-page report by a bipartisan Senate committee, called "Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse"Some highlights:the financial crime wave described in the... report came on the heels of a

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-71311490834841387572011-05-04T17:08:00.003-05:002011-05-04T17:17:45.964-05:00

I'm very excited that my personal friend (and a stalwart progressive) Bethany Ordaz is off to a great start in her run for Wisconsin State Assembly!Her kick-off party was awesome, she's got the support of JoCasta Zamarippa (who CAN helped elect), and now the endorsement of the SEIU.She's gonna have a Milwaukee event on Wednesday, May 25th, at the Transfer Pizzeria in Bay View. Put it on your

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-87822819368416000482011-04-27T10:14:00.004-05:002011-04-27T10:31:27.679-05:00

Ha ha, check it out! The infamous Westboro Baptists were thwarted in a recent attempt to protest the funeral of a marine killed in Afghanistan. I don't know if I condone beating them up, but this part is hilarious:Most of the morons never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had Kansas plates in the

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-85772496858663403632011-04-19T09:20:00.006-05:002011-04-19T12:40:57.569-05:00

If this article is to be believed, there is a government man-camp in Malaysia where effeminate boys are sent for re-education in the fine art of manliness.The aim of the camp is to "help" boys with effeminate tendencies to behave in a "proper" manner. I shudder to think what kind of activities go on there."It is to help address the problem afflicting secondary schoolboys."Yes, effeminacy is a

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-61496463870395916962011-04-18T13:20:00.001-05:002011-04-18T13:23:39.294-05:00

Woo Hoo! Linked at Sociological Images without any effort on my part! The bloggerati are finally beating a path to my door.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-2543422875189116092011-04-18T09:49:00.003-05:002011-04-18T10:06:39.888-05:00

How 'bout that?also I kinda wanna work for the company these guys are with...h/t Angry Asian Man

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-81537321789793204522011-04-18T09:41:00.003-05:002011-04-18T16:34:08.421-05:00

As I was working on updating my taxonomy of logical fallacies for my upcoming Critical Thinking class, I came across this gem on Wikipedia: The label if-by-whiskey refers to a 1952 speech by Mississippi lawmaker Noah S. "Soggy" Sweat, Jr., on the subject of whether Mississippi should continue to prohibit (which it did until 1966) or finally legalize booze...My friends, I had not intended to

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-69745283451895563172011-04-14T11:41:00.004-05:002011-04-14T11:48:28.989-05:00

Getting married is a major hassle. Too much to do, not enough time, and the political turmoil ain't making things any easier! Neither is having gotten another job. Or having friends / a social life. How do so many people manage to do this without going completely around the bend?

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-83567603164954953542011-03-18T12:12:00.003-05:002011-03-18T12:15:31.715-05:00

Walker and religion: single-mindedly driven by self-righteous confidence (a la George W Bush)conservatism and religion: inability to deal with randomness, propensity to see coincidence

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-42430730452421686002011-03-17T09:35:00.001-05:002011-03-17T09:38:52.669-05:00

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-65409182962049863852011-03-04T17:28:00.002-06:002011-03-04T17:30:22.249-06:00

What better way to test the structural integrity of fighting-girl costumes?

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-2160754839117717272011-03-04T12:22:00.003-06:002011-03-04T13:16:00.744-06:00

Goodnight Dune, h/t Orgtheory

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-17236329740545528302011-03-03T09:07:00.011-06:002011-03-03T10:01:03.303-06:00

The best strategy for the rich is to split the middle class and pit them against each other. It's the perfect Long Con. This distracts them from realizing just how little their slice of the American pie really is.Most public servants and most private sector workers are in that yellow slice, and the GOP is telling us that we are the fiscal problem, we need to tighten our belts and take a pay

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-63733756923269245572011-02-10T09:06:00.002-06:002011-02-10T09:10:14.895-06:00

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-64412545897939227712011-02-01T10:20:00.002-06:002011-02-01T10:23:14.539-06:00

We are doomed. Hell hath frozen over, and spilled over into SE Wisconsin. 20 inches. 4-foot drifts. Ice-dragons and northern moongoats. Time to go home and listen to Impaled Northern Moonforest.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-77181216769588396082011-01-25T20:00:00.004-06:002011-01-25T21:39:18.253-06:00

First and foremost, Rest In Peace, Maxine Udall, girl economist. You had so much more awesomely incisive blogging left to do, and will be sorely missed.In other news, hey I broke 300 posts!In still other news, I'm watching the State of the Union...good to talk about the conditional funding of "our generation's" Apollo missions and so on, and "winning the race to educate our kids" rather than "

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-69076457022703337402011-01-19T08:53:00.003-06:002011-01-19T09:34:10.957-06:00

In the course of supporting Jim Sullivan for County Exec, folkbum points out an excellent example of how conservatives have managed to move the center of political discourse substantially to the right. In the largely conservative Journal-Sentinel's "PolitiFact" feature, Chris Abele is "fact-checked" and it is discovered that his family's foundation has given money to causes such as alternative

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-21884305742156090572011-01-08T12:32:00.003-06:002011-01-08T12:34:56.687-06:00

Sweet, I made S.I.!!!Too bad it had to be for the sexualization of 6-year-olds.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-31896463755603315002011-01-07T19:53:00.007-06:002011-01-07T20:09:21.022-06:00

Some words of wisdom from the late Carl Sagan, h/t Richmanwisco. "We are the custodians of life's meaning."

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-16220577992673294602011-01-04T18:15:00.008-06:002011-01-06T16:12:41.674-06:00

( X-posted at Blogging Blue )Listening to At Issue with Ben Marens the other day, I was struck by what seemed to be hypocrisy in Governor Walker's stance on taxes. Hard to believe, I know, but bear with me for a moment. Ben was interviewing Professor Dennis Dresang from UW-Madison regarding Wisconsin's budget deficit. Now, for a bit of context, keep in mind that Governor Walker said the

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-70769917687864489382011-01-02T17:31:00.002-06:002011-01-02T19:40:25.265-06:00

This is the year we hit 7,000,000,000 people. So tell me, do ya feel special, punk? Well, do ya?

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-26024097542842516142010-12-24T15:14:00.000-06:002010-12-24T15:14:13.607-06:00

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-48024088124409781212010-12-16T12:12:00.004-06:002010-12-16T12:26:21.142-06:00

Put this in your pipe and smoke it: you can geographically explore any neighborhood's racial make-up with the U. S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, 2005-2009, by making with the clicky clicky right here.Hat-tip to Katja of international gothic-electro-industrial sensation The Gothsicles.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-44602216434932097392010-12-14T16:44:00.003-06:002010-12-14T16:50:37.270-06:00

They can't have joined the Tea Party, those folks are only FISCALLY conservative... oh wait, nevermind."The way the data looks, if this is a marriage of convenience, it's one that would be against the law. The relatives are too close," said [Public Religion Research Institute chief Robert] Jones.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-29209873939457508962010-12-14T15:28:00.000-06:002010-12-14T15:29:20.272-06:00

Wish I had this in class the other day...

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-2869816134877180272010-12-09T09:53:00.005-06:002011-01-07T20:10:34.432-06:00

Looks like we get a far bigger economic bang for our unemployment/foodstamp buck than we do for our tax-cuts-for-the-rich buck. Hm.Also there's a new-ish Census blog that's much more interesting than the old Director's Blog.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-40852068443421266542010-12-02T15:16:00.001-06:002010-12-02T15:16:56.068-06:00

Created by Oatmeal

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-28449662654978584042010-11-27T18:41:00.003-06:002010-12-16T12:27:07.500-06:00

I really dislike Chicago.1. distinctive stench of open sewer lines2. insane drivers3. no parking unless you want to pay through the nose4. massive fleshy walls of humanity on every street

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-37274166020526021502010-11-09T17:23:00.006-06:002011-01-07T20:11:28.930-06:00

Oh good, this guy represents the people of Illinois in the US Congress, and he could very well be the next chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. We should definitely base all public policy on the book of Genesis. h/t Illy-T

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-47821406096198395692010-11-09T05:15:00.002-06:002011-01-07T20:12:57.336-06:00

Here is Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers singing "Atheists Don't Have No Songs"

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-21729107821531005842010-11-07T08:25:00.003-06:002010-11-07T08:39:20.888-06:00

In her post on "Faith-Based Economics," Maxine Udall uses Adam Smith to draw a damning comparison between market fundamentalism and religious fundamentalism that builds on a Brad Delong article about the "pointless pain caucus." The point is that it's irrational and even superstitious to believe that we must endure harsh austerity measures, slash government, and reduce wages if we are to get

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-35247018324972977512010-11-06T12:09:00.006-05:002010-11-06T14:57:36.817-05:00

The world is changing before our very eyes. For a long time there was a split in the American political landscape between cultural/moral values, and fiscal/economic values. Now, cultural/moral issues seem to have been eclipsed by fiscal/economic ones. Rhetoric about jobs, taxes, and the scope of government has become the common denominator that has turned Wisconsin "red," while gay marriage,

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-27426910011112917892010-11-04T08:55:00.007-05:002010-11-04T09:46:18.967-05:00

So via estimable Angie Andriot I stumbled across this NerdyAppleBottom blog post wherein the mother of a 5-year-old boy who dressed as Daphne from Scooby-Doo rants indignantly about him being ridiculed at pre-school as gay. But the thing is, it wasn't his peers who ridiculed him; they gave him high-fives. It was his peers' mothers. Kids don’t learn how to be bullies on their own - they are

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-64628389696359425022010-10-27T13:08:00.004-05:002010-10-27T13:10:49.449-05:00

All we have to do is team up with Mexico and Canada, and, like a continental Voltron, we will become an unstoppable dragon that will conquer the rest of the world.see more funny videos

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PART IInteresting that the main thrust of Ron Johnson's attacks on Russ Feingold is that Russ is a career politician and therefore must go. (Throw the bums out!) Yet every Ron Johnson yard sign I've seen has been situated right next to a Scott Walker sign, who, wait... wait for it... yes... I'm getting something now... is also a career politician. So the message must not be resonating with

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-11423490072881456132010-10-22T15:29:00.002-05:002010-10-22T15:32:45.662-05:00

Crooked Timber has a fun cultural-discourse-analysis interpretation of why conservatives, while not interested in being racist, are often anti-anti-racist. Check it out.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-18182316760031555092010-10-21T08:47:00.001-05:002010-10-21T08:48:28.519-05:00

Feminism: why the body is up there with politics and economics.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-9305455668159113702010-10-08T15:40:00.001-05:002010-10-08T15:41:33.887-05:00

I don't even know what to say. Christian leader says yoga is bad.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-15596863428488711982010-10-07T18:36:00.009-05:002010-10-07T20:14:47.278-05:00

Geez Hermes, enough about politics already, it's kind of nauseating. Don't you have anything better to write about?OK, well here's an old-fashioned post about video games! (and politics.)There is a controversial new Medal Of Honor game coming out. The Electronic Arts series is known for realistic re-enactments of historical wars. This new one is set in present-day Afghanistan, and the big

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-43526247985780280112010-10-06T17:47:00.006-05:002010-10-06T18:13:35.254-05:00

Crooked Timber is one of the more abstruse sociological blogs in my blogroll, but poli-sci professor Henry writes an interesting and approachable analysis of Tea Party organizational dynamics wherein he compares them (and the Howard Dean campaign) to the biological dynamics of a slime mould. Check it out.we may plausibly expect to see that the radical decentralization of organizational

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-73428320084748044502010-09-26T20:59:00.000-05:002010-09-26T21:00:01.534-05:00

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-47238553174991608662010-09-25T07:38:00.000-05:002010-09-25T07:49:10.521-05:00

Jonathan Taplin shows how easy it is for the powers-that-be to promulgate false consciousness through the airwaves thanks to the new ruling that corporations, as people, can spend infinite benjamins on political ads."The Tea Party Marks that actually believe that Americans for Job Security is some grass roots organization of aggrieved citizens nod their heads, in fantasy solidarity with the fat

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-22544810765973351252010-09-22T12:30:00.001-05:002010-09-23T21:07:26.402-05:00

I'm super into Maxine Udall (girl economist) these days.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-88294240206230363132010-09-19T13:37:00.001-05:002010-09-19T13:41:58.778-05:00

Sometimes one's students make one proud. I had my intro to soc students do an assignment where they analyze commercials to see what they imply about society. Here's a good one that practically analyzes itself.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-42487998619287271322010-09-19T10:24:00.000-05:002010-09-19T10:46:20.084-05:00

aaaaand just to put a little religious icing on my "wealthy-should-give-a-little-back" cake, here is a great Huffington Post article from Paul Raushenbush, in which he indicts the hypocritical alliance of the Values Voters of the religious right with the laissez-faire-capitalism-championing fiscal conservatives.It seems that new Census data show that 1 out of 7 Americans are now in poverty! And

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-38354788551932667792010-09-16T14:52:00.000-05:002010-09-19T23:51:59.539-05:00

So Boehner and the whole damn Greedy Ol' Party are resistant to any tax cuts that don't include the richest of the rich. But according to this CBS poll, most Americans are not! A slim majority want to tax the rich: 53% think it's a "good" idea, only 38% actually think it's a "bad" idea, and the rest, somehow, don't know if it is good or bad.I don't know what those 38% are thinking, but I

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-55736515062936459662010-09-14T17:37:00.000-05:002010-09-14T19:26:11.251-05:00

House minority leader John Boehner has been in the news a lot for marshalling GOP forces to steadfastly resist the President's plan to extend the Bush tax cuts for the least wealthy 97% of Americans. These are couples who bring in less than a quarter mil per year, or singles who take home less that 2oo grand. 200 grand!!! The Associated Press say that fewer than 3% of Americans roll in that kind

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-26645216424578183562010-09-14T06:51:00.000-05:002010-09-14T17:33:20.592-05:00

Whoa! The president of Zimbabwe comes out against absentee corporate ownership. I wonder how this will turn out! What if all countries required corporations who operated businesses there to be 51% owned by locals? Would madness and chaos result?

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-57536766488993270082010-09-11T21:10:00.000-05:002010-09-11T21:13:39.762-05:00

Barrett is as tough a do-gooder as his namesake from Final Fantasy VII.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-62955033706229963202010-09-08T17:16:00.000-05:002010-09-09T19:59:24.942-05:00

Last time we talked about demosqueracy, and trembled at the might of our new Islamic overlords (who legally get to tell us what to do once they've built a mosque anywhere in New York). Now my friend and mentor Wayne Thompson is gonna weigh in on Islamophobia over the airwaves, September 9th, on Wisconsin Public Radio, the Ideas Network, on the Joy Cardin Show. You can listen to the mp3

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Once again, Hermes is headed to Milwaukee's annual LaborFest to celebrate labor and, what the heck, might as well hang out with the prez too.(also, Chris Moews for Sheriff!)

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-24236549323955713442010-08-24T20:17:00.000-05:002010-08-24T20:38:54.093-05:00

Good article on the commercialization of yoga, which is an ancient meditative practice now billed as a way for spoiled Americans to lose weight and look young and attractive. To that end, people are trying to patent poses and basically own forms of it, which is diametrically opposed to the spirit of the thing! In fact it's like a perverse mockery of the wisdom of the originators. Yoga is

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-54951883395586561732010-08-23T16:15:00.000-05:002010-08-23T16:52:06.588-05:00

This so-called "ground zero mosque" thing is way out of hand. It's a free country. If you buy real estate you can pretty much do what you like with it, within the bounds of the law. I don't even know if I agree with that, but that's the way our system is. Its not about wisdom, or common sense, or sensitivity... that stuff has to do with norms and mores which are not the issue. Legal

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-28512240977549166762010-08-22T11:15:00.000-05:002010-08-22T11:17:21.554-05:00

Activist performers!

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-68438793386530540702010-08-15T16:57:00.006-05:002011-11-26T10:45:16.380-06:00

Methodology unit - also tie in to religion unit - what are we interested in sociologically when we ask questions? from Crooked TimberDeviance unit: racism and the War on Drugs, from Mariam Williams. Also, a recent disparity in sentencing.Race/ethnicity unit - How I learned to stop worrying and love talking about race, from the estimable Jay Smooth of Ill Doctrine.Religion unit - does Christianity

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-57839773042458018372010-08-04T09:10:00.004-05:002011-12-31T14:13:56.621-06:00

From Beth Duckles: Asking Beautiful QuestionsI teach at a university where professors are encouraged to teach students to “think critically”. This is a worthy goal, and one I support. But after a few years of teaching, I’m beginning to believe that as hard as I try, and as many times as I put it down as a goal on my syllabus, assign things that make it a priority or push the students to think

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-88882524111255674012010-07-26T07:45:00.000-05:002010-07-26T07:50:02.843-05:00

things to check out later when i have time:Jane Austen's Fight ClubYes Men documentary on BitTorrentalso look for something about The Kobold Wizard's Quest for the Dildo of Enlightenment +2

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-724274195322192122010-07-18T19:24:00.000-05:002010-07-18T19:31:52.479-05:00

Concepts are the vocabulary of thought. (WORDS) (CONCEPTS) Venn diagram? They work WITH language, as a way to link arbitrary words with reality… Importance of conceptualizing in school – in the standard model of learning, you are expected to grasp key concepts as they are explained in lectures and readings, and follow along the cumulative process as they are built up and developed. For

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-44487551948604809352010-07-12T19:05:00.000-05:002010-07-13T06:37:02.003-05:00

7/13 - languagehow you speak/write contains METAdataFoucault on using language to classifyFact checking politicians: one local politician claimed that they “introduced eight consecutive budgets without an increase to the property tax levy from the previous year.” this has been described as a carefully worded statement, but “sneaky and misleading.” On the face of it, the statement makes

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-56857005228572833792010-06-20T13:54:00.000-05:002010-06-20T13:55:19.763-05:00

via Total Drek...

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-84100426304416117572010-06-13T22:13:00.000-05:002010-06-13T22:47:16.732-05:00

awesome Zimbardo video on the psychology of time!what seems to be a great post on discrimination in power discourse over at boingboing.In the comments section of my post last Friday on women in science, a couple people were confused by the idea that bigotry and discrimination could be something done, for lack of a better word, accidentally ... even subconsciously. I can understand why that's

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-73800891930822419552010-05-30T22:00:00.000-05:002010-05-30T22:01:56.974-05:00

yep, I'm engaged. thinking about having a Tarvuist ceremony...

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-62524477629964455132010-05-13T08:40:00.000-05:002010-05-13T08:52:17.950-05:00

People complain that taxation hurts the economy. They don't like having some of their money taken away and given to Big Government, because that limits their freedom to give it to Big Business in exchange for the trinket du jour. So if a private company is not being supported by your dollar, you think the economy has taken a hit? Where do you think those taxes go? Into a hole in the ground?

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-3528586867516653192010-04-28T22:29:00.000-05:002010-04-28T22:31:37.134-05:00

This is one of the two or three kinds of things I would be doing if I were still in grad school. Sigh.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-86387804201483860282010-04-26T20:34:00.001-05:002010-04-26T20:34:36.155-05:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-69772306565654079682010-04-25T16:16:00.000-05:002010-04-25T16:17:28.342-05:00

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-41028364546366517152010-04-15T17:59:00.000-05:002010-04-15T18:00:32.676-05:00

Doom draws near. (h/t Chesto)

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-7103736583839406832010-04-07T22:51:00.000-05:002010-04-07T22:59:06.979-05:00

I was invited to give a mini-lecture on the Census to a retirees group called the Allis-Chalmers Big Timers club. I got a free lunch at Alioto's, and provided the after-mean infotainment to about 100 old, middle-class white folks. 98% of them were awesome - polite, friendly, able to at least feign an interest in what I was saying. Then there were a couple of Tea Party types. They were rude

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-32032926929971434072010-03-14T22:29:00.000-05:002010-03-14T22:53:29.666-05:00

It slightly irks me that people park on the sidewalk in my neighborhood, because I have to divert into the street with a dog in tow. I imagine I'd be super-pissed if I were in a wheelchair.The neighbor does it all the time, and I can understand why. She's a hoarder, and her garage is probably full of stuff. And her garage is right up against the street, with just a few feet of driveway between

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-66279621647908247162010-03-04T09:11:00.000-06:002010-03-04T09:59:20.791-06:00

this is for my own use, getting ready for a class...Universally, all societies rank people systematically. This is called stratification, and it is a trait of a society, not of individuals. But we think of ourselves in terms of our talent and effort, relative to others around us.How do parents pass on position to kids - gang documentary.Depending on whether the system is "closed" or "open,"

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-47569043767836638592010-02-25T10:36:00.000-06:002010-02-25T10:52:02.356-06:00

I like it when our political system makes rational policy moves, based on evidence from scientists rather than ignorant, preachy moralizing from hypocritical demagogues. Remember last October when I was talking about Lena Taylor working on the Healthy Youth Act? Well yesterday Governor Doyle signed that bitch into law. In your face,Wisconsin Family Voice, or should I say,

ΕΡΜΕΣhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13603910165854702494noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8345637670239851845.post-32181256320917299162010-01-28T09:57:00.000-06:002010-01-28T09:58:19.725-06:00

The Blur of The Media - 2010Census

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