Clipmarks | missmartini's 'slate' clips

A Return to the Cash & Carry Economy

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:05:48 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Fascinating article in Slate.

The Death of the Credit Card EconomyCar leases, student loans, no-money-down mortgages, and high credit limits are vanishing.

The most revolutionary notion in commerce today is one of the oldest. If you want to buy something, you may actually have to pay for it. We are reverting from a "borrow and buy" economy to the "cash and carry" model of our grandparents.

Tags: credit, cash, economy, money, finance

From Slate: If Obama Loses

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:18:13 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Whether you are comfortable with the discussion of race or not. Whether you believe race is still an issue or not. This is a very interesting article.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

If Obama LosesRacism is the only reason McCain might beat him.

If it makes you feel better, you can rationalize Obama's missing 10-point lead on the basis of Clintonite sulkiness, his slowness in responding to attacks, or the concern that Obama may be too handsome, brilliant, and cool to be elected. But let's be honest: If you break the numbers down, the reason Obama isn't ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He does so for a simple reason: the color of his skin.

Tags: race, politics, obama, 2008, election

Where are these troops going to come from?

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:09:22 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Yeah. Shocking - we don't have enough troops ; the troops in Fort Bragg live in a literal cess pool ; there is not enough health care (physical or mental) for the troops coming back ; enlistment is down (even though I've heard otherwise) - yes, there is a problem and we are already over-working the troops in Iraq & Afganistan and in turn, destroying families. I don't get it and this just pisses me off.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

The Army's Math ProblemWe don't have any more soldiers to send to Afghanistan unless we take some out of Iraq.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wants to send 7,000 more U.S. troops—about two brigades—to Afghanistan, according to the May 3 New York Times. But there's a problem, which the story underplays: We don't have any more troops to send. The Army is in a zero-sum state: No more soldiers can be sent to Afghanistan without a one-for-one reduction of soldiers in Iraq.

Let's look at the numbers.

Tags: war, iraq, increase, troops, afganistan, slate

This recession ...what will it be like?

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:14:22 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: A good article in Slate about how bad this recession could be...

Clip Source: www.slate.com

How Bad Could It Get?Will the recession be more like the 1990-'91 downturn or the Great Depression?

The question of whether the U.S. economy is in a recession is, at this point, a matter of decimal points. Since the population grows faster than 1 percent, anyway, Wednesday's announcement of a 0.6 percent rise in gross domestic product for the first quarter is functionally a drop.

The real question now is: How bad could it get? Are we facing another version of the brief recession of 1990-'91, which, as James Fallows once memorably wrote, "was over by the time it was identified"? Or are we going to be wearing barrels for clothes and burning Ikea furniture to heat our homes, in a rerun of the Great Depression?

Tags: recession, 2008

Ewww. Come on people! What are you doing to these kids?

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:15:26 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Ok, so I posted a comment about Miley Cyrus but not because she was being sexy but because she looked dead in that photo and Michael K had me cracking up. Anyway, this was on Slate, and it is pretty frickin' creepy. What are these people doing to these kids? We sit here and talk about protecting children but this is what is out there all over the world.

Sorry, I know, there is a lot more going on in the world that I am paying attention to, I just do not post it. But this is gross.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Mickey Mouse OperationForget Miley Cyrus. Check out Disney's Chinese underwear ad.

Reading McTeague's comment over coffee yesterday morning, I couldn't help but think of an advertisement I'd seen a few months ago while on a reporting trip to China. I was walking from my Beijing bed-and-breakfast to a nearby subway station when I was stopped in my tracks by a billboard that made the controversial 1990s Calvin Klein underwear ads look artistic by comparison. Staring down at the throngs of shoppers on Beijing's Xinjiekou Nandajie Avenue, a busy commercial thoroughfare about a mile west of the Forbidden City, was a white girl who looked all of 12, reclining in a matching bra-and-panties set adorned with Disney's signature mouse-ear design. In a particularly creepy detail, the pigtailed child was playing with a pair of Minnie Mouse hand puppets. In the upper left-hand corner was the familiar script of the Disney logo.

Fall Out Boy & The Roots

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:50:26 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: Ok, this article cracked me up. Just that one paragraph had me giggling behind the circulation desk.

However, I will admit, I kind of like how Patrick Stump from the Fall Out Boy sings. I blame it on my nephews.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Falling for Fall Out BoyDid the Roots just trick me into liking a lame emo band?

Now, I don't really know anything about Fall Out Boy, but I understand that I'm expected not to like them. They wear hair gel, and one of the guys in the band dates Ashlee Simpson, so it's fair to assume that they suck and that their fans are vapid teeny-boppers whose heads would explode if they heard what real rock 'n' roll sounds like. What kind of lame middlebrow loser do the Roots take me for?

Tags: music, the_roots, fall_out_boy, slate, opinion, funny

Dealing with this Liar Loan Tale first hand

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:14:58 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I am sure a lot of people out there are also dealing with this. I have not seen anyone really write about it on a personal level because (1) it's embarrassing (2) people feel swindled (3) there is a lot of shame in losing a home.

We have not lost our childhood home yet but it is a possibility.

Mama Martini is excitable. She falls for these things. She is not stupid or anything like that, she is a little ill-informed. She's also a bandwagoner. I love her to death but Mama Martini has no one to reel her in anymore. Papa Martini was the one to do that and now, he's no longer here.

We (the Martini sibs) had a sit down with her and my brother was so angry at the people who convinced her that using our childhood home as collateral for another one was a good idea. So, here it is. From Slate, an article that finally addresses the other side - the side that people who have been swindled feel. Thank goodness. I was wondering when this was going to happen.

Hopefully, we don't lose th

Clip Source: www.slate.com

moneybox: Commentary about business and finance.

Inside the Liar LoanHow the mortgage industry nurtured deceit.

By Mark Gimein
Posted Thursday, April 24, 2008, at 11:25 AM ET

Here's the narrative we've heard about the mortgage meltdown: miscalculation and unfounded optimism, clueless investors, cash-strapped home buyers clobbered by rate resets.

It's the story of the liar's loan.

Tags: home, loan, crisis, mortage industry, slate, shady

What if...? - 5 years in Iraq

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:11:43 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I saw this on Slate. I thought I'd share.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

politics: Who's winning, who's losing, and why.

How Did I Get Iraq Wrong?I didn't.

By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Monday, March 17, 2008, at 2:10 PM ET

Editor's note: To mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Slate has asked a number of writers who originally supported the war to answer the question, "Why did we get it wrong?" We have invited contributions from the best-known "liberal hawks," many of whom participated in two previous Slate debates about the war, the first before it began in fall of 2002, the second in early 2004. We will be publishing their responses through the week.

236.com - Spitzer Thought Process Flowchart

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:23:39 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I know, people like Spitzer. He just can't keep his friend in his pants and likes prostitutes and his wife is seriously seriously pissed off at him. There is a great Slate article on the whole PR campaign with how politicians deal wit sex scandals but she seriously looks peeved.

This, though, is hilarious!

Clip Source: www.236.com

Thought Process Flowchart: Eliot Spitzer

Eliot Spitzer, what were you thinking?

Tags: eliot spitzer, flowchart, 236.com, hilarious

Hillary as the Devil

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 17:29:36 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I love Slate magazine. But seriously, what else can you say about this image - which I accidentally clipped twice! For emphasis!

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Reuters Claps Horns on HillaryThe Obama Messiah Watch, Part 10

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Last month, Reuters clapped a halo on Michelle Obama. The March 10 Time, in its cover photograph, bathes the head of the candidate himself in otherworldly white light. But the good book says that before Christ, there was the Antichrist. We know him as the devil, the beast, the foul fiend, the cloven hoof, the prince of darkness, the angel of the bottomless pit, Old Scratch, Satan, Beelzebub, Belial, Lucifer, and Mephistopheles. The iconographers in Reuters' photo department propose a new name. Care to guess? Hint: It's someone with at least 35 years of experience and a fondness for red phones. Yes, Reuters wants you to know that these days the Antichrist travels under the nom de guerre "Hillary." I don't know how else to read this photograph. Me, I have my doubts. Wouldn't the devil do better advance work?

Tags: hillary, slate, devil

Slate Article - Irving Penn : one of my all time favorite photographers

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:46:37 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I love Irving Penn and his portraits. I have a book that is a collection of his work on my shelf at home. This is an interesting Slate article about him because of the recent acquisitions made by a number of museums, like the Getty here in L.A. I cannot wait for next year when they will show the collection in the "Small Trades" exhibit.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Irving PennHe photographed the most important artists of the last half-century—and in the process joined their ranks.

Irving Penn photographed so many prominent cultural figures of the 20^th century that, over the years, he came to be regarded as an equal among them. But his stature grew not just because of his venerated subjects—he advanced the genre of portraiture. His formal rigor, graphic daring, and studied simplicity brought the portrait to a new level of representation. The rich, mottled tones with which he crafted his portraits are less about creating mood than about rendering pure physicality. With bold, contrasting light, he cast his accomplished subjects in nothing less than monumental terms—as if each one is chiseled, for the ages, in stone.

Tags: irving penn, getty, slate magazine

Equal time - equal talk

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:13:53 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I like this piece from Slate about Chris Matthews and how he should talk to his male guests just like he talks to his female guest.

Can you image that? He can tell his male guests that they are beautiful and have a great face and are a gift to women-kind.

Clip Source: www.slate.com

HardballsHow would Chris Matthews sound if he talked to men like he talks to women?

Matthews also recently apologized to Hillary Clinton for saying that the "reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around." It's ridiculous for Matthews to have to apologize to the women he's interviewed. What he needs to do is treat the guys equally.

AT&T loves spying on us

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:19:55 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: When I saw this article in Slate, all I could think of was, "WTF?"

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Has AT&T Lost Its Mind?A baffling proposal to filter the Internet.

Chances are that as you read this article, it is passing over part of AT&T's network. That matters, because last week AT&T announced that it is seriously considering plans to examine all the traffic it carries for potential violations of U.S. intellectual property laws. The prospect of AT&T, already accused of spying on our telephone calls, now scanning every e-mail and download for outlawed content is way too totalitarian for my tastes. But the bizarre twist is that the proposal is such a bad idea that it would be not just a disservice to the public but probably a disaster for AT&T itself. If I were a shareholder, I'd want to know one thing: Has AT&T, after 122 years in business, simply lost its mind?

Another op-ed piece - response to Steinem

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:53:09 GMT

clipped by: missmartini
clipper's remarks: I thought this was an interesting op-ed piece on Slate in response to Steinem's NYT piece on Clinton and gender

Clip Source: www.slate.com

Steinem Makes Excuses for HillaryGender, race, and the presidency.

By Timothy Noah

Tags: steinem, timothy_noah, op-ed, race, gender, politics, 2008, candidacy

SoCal Wildfire Preparedness

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:45:46 GMT

clipped by: missmartini

Clip Source: www.slate.com

The Fire Next TimeHow wildfire preparedness is turning California into Arizona.

When your biggest investment is a house in fire country, every green thing that could turn brown starts to look like "flammable material," in the terminology of firefighters. Indeed, a relatively new law requires Californians to remove dead, brown flammable material and to severely thin out even potentially flammable green material. Property owners must maintain a lean, clean relatively bare zone in an area of 30 feet immediately surrounding a house, plus a "reduced fuel zone" in the remaining 70 feet or to the property line.

Tags: wildfires, prepare, slate, article, southern california, california