Hot off the Press: The future's so white I gotta wear shades edition

Another slow news week for me. I've been busy and unable to devote the kind of attention current events demand.

Is it just me or does it seem like there is too much information, too much news? The news industry is working at a breakneck pace to flood its audience with information and facts, and I often wonder how much this drive for instant news has contributed to misinformation. It certainly doesn't allow for thorough reporting. Instead of looking at the big picture, we're obsessing over the individual puzzle pieces that make it whole. Perhaps I'm just a romantic journalist, yearning for the days when the only news came with the morning edition, when stories had at least a day to develop and be investigated.

Whatever. I'm talking out of my ass.

Lean times at Harvard means no cookies at faculty meetings: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/education/09harvard.html.

The DMR article regarding Iowa's 10 percent across the board budget cut (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20091009/NEWS10/910090372) paraphrased Governor Culver:

Raising taxes isn't an option, he said.

Is it just me, or is this thinking just not the solution? Every year the state is forced to eviscerate itself because of dwindling tax returns (thanks, Mr. Vilsack), yet nobody wants to increase taxes, the obvious solution. If you want a decent social net, good roads (that are plowed in the winter), safe streets, clean drinking water, fire protection, and an excellent education system you have to fucking pay for it. Corporations should pay for it, too. After all, if they get first amendment rights like everyone else, they should have to pay taxes like everyone else. (While 27 percent of federal revenue is generated through income tax, only 4 percent comes from corporate taxes. Does that make sense?)