The Aquarian Weekly » Patrick Slevin

Austerity Measurement: Budget Ideology Fails Outside Of A Vacuum

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:58:46 +0000

Poll Shows Americans Balance Budget Better When They’re Actually Given A Budget To Balance

As a March 4 deadline looms for approval of a new budget (as well as the humiliating process of raising the debt ceiling), the propositions emerging from both sides of the aisle are shamefully typical. The Democratic budget cutting leans toward reductions in military spending (effectively killing the Joint Strike Fighter Program), while the Republican proposal further guts domestic spending (additional cuts in training and employment grants, clean drinking water, science spending, etc.).

The truth of the matter, however, is that about 84 percent of the…

Austerity Measurement: Freedom Isn’t Free, And Neither Is Oil

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:38:34 +0000

Nobody loves a despot when he’s down and out. Or when there are thousands of rioters outside of his opulent palace.

The recent ousting of Tunisian “President” Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and the current (as of this column’s filing) instability of the Egyptian “President” Hosni Mubarak regime have put the United States and the greater oil-consuming West in a tight spot. Both leaders had the explicit support of the U.S., and while Tunisia’s revolution was hailed as an example of true bottom-up democratic initiative by Barack Obama and others, the exuberance is missing regarding calls for democracy in Egypt, a…

Austerity Measurement: The Job Killer In Me Is The Job Killer In You

Patrick Slevin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:31:04 +0000

God, all this work is killing me. Ever feel like you should quit your job and raise llamas in South America for a living? Even if you don’t have one right now? I get that all the time, although I’ve no knowledge of llama-raising. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a llama in person, although I might have at a zoo.

I bet there’s someone at a zoo who feels the same way, even though he works at the zoo and is probably sick to death of llamas. Maybe he wants to raise alpacas instead. Odds are, he probably…

Interview with Patton Oswalt: Combing The Wasteland

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:58:38 +0000

Patton Oswalt may be known to the wider world as the voice of Remy the Rat from Ratatouille or Spencer Olchin from the long-running sitcom King Of Queens, but fans of clever standup have known him primarily as the introspective geek culture philosopher-comedian behind the comedy albums/specials Feelin’ Kinda Patton, Werewolves and Lollipops and My Weakness Is Strong.

With the release of Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, Oswalt can now add “published author” to his resume, though he spent many years writing punch-up for comedy films—unquestionably the inspiration for a mock punch-up chapter in the book—and admits writing two shelved genre novels…

Austerity Measurement: Fuck The Rich; Or, Polls Show Most Americans Agree With This Headline

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:05:59 +0000

As Chris Rock once said (over and over again, as is his style), “I’m not talking ’bout rich, I’m talking ‘bout wealthy.” Everyday Americans have a different perspective about who’s rich and who isn’t. Are you rich? Odds are you’re not. And even if you were, you might not admit to it. In fact, ask the person sitting next to you if they’re rich. They could earn five times what you do, but it’s likely they don’t consider themselves rich. Just overtaxed.

That said, Americans believe that the rich should be on the hook for deficit reduction rather than the…

Austerity Measurement: Diplomatic Immunity, Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Trust Ambassadors

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:07:39 +0000

The substantive details of state department cables released by the “roguish” website Wikileaks and the context thereof have almost eclipsed every other news story this week, even as unemployment benefits are running out for 2 million Americans, Bush tax cuts are due to expire, the Pentagon released a report suggesting repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would not be disruptive to troops, and 21-term House Representative Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is being censured on the floor of Congress.

To put it mildly, Christmas came a few weeks early for foreign policy junkies this year.

Juicy highlights? American diplomats called Russia a…

Austerity Measurement: The Grim Future Of Charity

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:26:07 +0000

One look into Jimmy Wales’ creepy eyes on any page of the Wikipedia and an overlooked side effect of the world’s pursestrings’ drawing becomes painfully clear.

You’re not donating as much as you used to.

Well, maybe you are. Jimmy’s not trying to single anyone out. But it could be that you’re not. Or we’re not. Many are financially ruined, underwater on their mortgages, or just flat out of work. And even the steadily employed look over their shoulders when talks of budgets arise, and Americans now keep an eye on their spending more so than perhaps their entire lives.…

Austerity Measurement: Deficit Reduction, You Asked For It

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:51:08 +0000

Interestingly, the bitter pill of smaller government that Tea Party-leaning Americans shoved down the ballot box not two weeks ago came into the public discourse this week not from the newly elected House Of Representatives but the Democrat-led executive branch, with a laundry list of recommendations by the White House Commission on Financial Responsibility and Reform.

And if anything, the recommendations look like the product of small government advocates, leaving both entitlement programs and military budgets on the table. In fact, early on the project was dubbed the “Cat Food Commission” by its detractors, implying that’s what those on entitlement…

Austerity Measurement: Let’s Talk About The Weather

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:38:25 +0000

This week’s election is being monitored with rapt fascination by pundits and talking heads for the national temperature, but one truth stands tall about mid-term elections that all the Tea Party would-be revolutionaries and Rally For Sanity would-be marchers can’t change.

They’re just not sexy. And this year, they’re downright ugly.

New Jersey’s races are almost thankfully bland, as neither the Governor’s house or Senator Menendez or Senator Lautenberg’s seat was up for election. Sure, I’ve got a representative on my ballot, but beyond that, it’s a few freeholders and a common-sense constitutional amendment that deductions of employee wages for…

The Austerity Measurement: The Message to “Real” Americans: Vote European

Patrick Slevin — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:03:17 +0000

Long the punching bag of conservative United States commentators, Europe’s moves over the last few weeks toward an “age of austerity” (a term which not-yet UK Prime Minister David Cameron popularized) makes the budget handwringing of the Tea Party movement appear all talk and no trousers.

Or as Americans call them: pants.

Watching the new breed of conservatism wriggle out of comparisons to Europe is telling of the movement’s short-term political ambitions and the greater reality of American domestic policy. The public sector protests in France and Greece, the quiet desperation in Britain and Iceland, and the shadowy schadenfreude of…