Ogre-oid: UK Values Coal Co. Sponsorship Over Wendell Berry

Despite being in opposition to its own naming rules and its supposed mission as a land-grant University as well as over the protests of faculty and alumni, the University of Kentucky has decided to name the new dorm for it's basketball team the "Wildcat Coal Lodge" in honor of Big Coal's sponsorship. Perhaps Kentucky's best known writer and also a UK alumnus and former teacher there, Wendell Berry has decided to remove all his donated papers from U.K. and transfer them to the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort. "I don't think the University of Kentucky can be so ostentatiously friendly to the coal industry ... and still be a friend to me and the interests for which I have stood for the last 45 years. ... If they love the coal industry that much, I have to cancel my friendship." [more]

I have a feeling the President of UK would publicly suck the cock of Tony Hayward if he would donate a few million to the University's basketball program.

NY Times Propoganda Depicts Oil-Spill Containment Efforts as a Success

In its latest endorsement of corporate mania and reckless greed, the front page of yesterday's NY Times (2010, May 17) featured an "article" that blatantly depicts BP's efforts to contain the oil spill that resulted from its exploded rig in the Gulf of Mexico as a success. This interpretation of events follows the same rhetorical trope that shapes popular media discourse about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that are also successes no matter the loss of life, widespread destruction, and all of the many other things that obviously go wrong (like the failure to protect American lives on September 11, 2001, for example). The word "success" is featured in the title of the article and again on page A15 in the title of the article's continued section. The word "success" or close variations of it, e.g. "successful" appear seven times in the 23 paragraph article. But the word "failure" only appears twice and does not appear until the 19th paragraph--even though there wouldn't be anything to report in the first place were it not for the fact that everything about the operation has been a total, abject failure. And the first time an event related to containing the spill is described as a failure it is immediately re-interpreted as a "success" because of what the damage-control people figured out as a result. BP spokesman Tom Mueller is quoted in the article as saying that the oil spill itself and the time it's taken to mitigate its rate of flow into the ecosystem are "not a problem" and spins the environmental tragedy and BP's tortoise-esque urgency at stopping the fucking oil from filling the entire Gulf of Mexico as an educational opportunity: ". . . it's what I'd call learning, reconfiguring, doing it again." Funny how when these virtues are mentioned in support of investment in education and teachers salaries, they are ridiculed as a welfare-state appeal on behalf of people who don't want to be held accountable. Of course, if you're BP, Halliburton, or the U.S. military, you don't have to worry about being held accountable, because major media outlets like the NY Times will fuel the feedback loop whereby Americans tell themselves over and over that those organizations never fail, even when they fuck up colossally.

Why Does Most Information About Cost Increases Look Skewed Like This?

Ogre-oid: Texas

Ogre-oid: Governments Cutting Aid to the Poor Rather Than Tax the Rich

The recent cuts in Kentucky's higher education budget made our list of ogre-oids a couple of shows ago.  It would appear this is budget time for most states so I've been hearing more and more about harsh budget cuts by states to the services that help the poor.  The consistent reaction by officials to this is, "Times are hard.  What else can we do?"  The answer is, "Raise taxes on wealthy people."  But apparently that option is "off the table." 

Here are some examples of funding cuts in state programs which have no effect on the wealthy and could be avoided if taxes were increased on the wealthy:

Cuts in public transit in Louisville.  The eliminated lines are mostly in poorer areas where residents already have a hard time getting to and from work, especially late night work which is readily available to the lowest paid.  "Service reductions" almost assuredly means the last bus will run at 9p.m. (way too early) instead of 11p.m. (still way too early).

Child welfare funding slashed in Oklahoma.  First up on the chopping block:  The Children.  They are the most vulnerable and have no voice in politics.  Fuck the little crumb snatchers.

L.A. to lay off teachers.   "The Board of Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District voted to notify 5,200 teachers and workers that they could be laid off in order to cut costs as the district grapples with a $640 million budget deficit."  Please note that the wealthy's children do not attend public schools, generally.
 
California continues cuts for developmentally disabled.  I mean, seriously.  You couldn't tax some rich people to help these other people?  Really?

New Jersey Transit to cut jobs and salaries.  Buried in the story, this quote from Executive Director James Weinstein:  “Unfortunately, fare and service changes will have to be a part of New Jersey Transit’s overall response to this financial crisis. I know this will be painful for our customers.”  In other words, "We're going to stick it to the employees and customers rather than drawing on the wealth of our richest citizens."

This goes on and on.  Severe cuts to higher education in almost every state, this in a nation which has pathetic high school education.  If you want at least a middle class job you have to spend a minimum of four years in college.  Cuts to food stamps and medicare.  Cuts to V.A. hospitals and most other services for veterans.  Or, as usually happens, states have frozen hiring so the already overworked and underpaid employees dealing with public housing, homeless shelters, food aid, housing assistance, job training, etc. carry an even heavier work load with no help of the burden easing or becoming bearable.  Meanwhile taxes on the wealthy and on mega-corporations (the ultra-megas) are reduced to "attract" them to the area.  I say, if you're not willing to help support your community, get the fuck out of my country.