Graph of the Day - December 6th

(Source: CNNMoney)

Mancession? He-covery?
(Update: I hadn't heard the term "he-covery" but a little Googling finds a good early source in the NYT.)

During the peak of the Great Recession many economists and labor experts commented on the gendered nature of job losses. Some coined it the "mancession" because men were losing jobs much faster, so fast that at one point the number of working men and women in the American economy was equal. The graph above illustrates that well. There is more behind it though. Newsweek pointed out in July 2009 that it didn't mean it was all roses and daffodils for working women.

The basic gist: women on average hold more part time jobs and are paid less and the Recession hit hardest on "male" jobs, full time jobs, and higher paying jobs.

So men are recovering faster in the job market? I am sure with more research I would understand it better, but I am more interested in the "what it means" rather than the "why." The new jobs created in the "he-covery" tend to be lower paid than the jobs that were lost. If it is the case that men are taking these jobs then as whole we should see the income of men lowered. Does this mean the gap between average pay for men and women will shrink, but not because women have increased towards parity? Just a thought.

Arkansas Republicans start 'em young....

Arkansas College Republicans probably think they were being cute and clever by taking a picture of Governor Beebe out of context and using it to score cheap social media points.

TalkBusiness.net called it "Vile Attacks and Lies by Some Arkansas Republicans" and I couldn't agree more.

@ArkCr @GovBeebeMedia thinks Obamacare is best for Arkansas. Is that him or the booze talking? twitpic.com/7o23s4 #crnc #arleg

@ArkCR @GovBeebeMedia expects Arkansans to follow his lead, yet he is so drunk he cant even stand! #arleg twitpic.com/7o23s4 #crnc

@ArkCR: While thousands of Arkansans can’t find work, @GovBeebeMedia gets hammered drunk. PICTURE: http://t.co/JnAm58kf #arleg

These College Republicans could have still used this picture to go after Gov. Beebe. "Gov. Beebe pours the wine and entertains the upper class while thousands of Arkansans can't even afford Bud Light." Or "Gov. Beebe has champagne taste on Arkansas' beer budget."

Perhaps Young Democrats of Arkansas should seize on the poor taste of their Arkansas counterparts. "Governor Beebe: Servant of the People." "Governor Beebe: Serving up good times."

As for his effort in serving a white wine, it leaves something to be desired:

Monday's Song from Hell - November 14th

Not because it is an annoying song that you can't stop humming. Because music can sometimes cement itself in the minds of people and become a common expression of their values or opinions. That's why this song might become hell for those who stand in the way of the 99% of Americans who are not being served by our political, economic, and financial systems.

Now Makana's new song "We Are The Many" can be criticized as being from hell because of the very simple rhyming pattern of the verses (AAAA), but at least the end of the chorus makes clear the whole point of the Occupy Wall Street and 99% movement.

Lyrics below the video thanks to Honolulu Civil Beat.

We Are The Many Lyrics & Music by Makana Makana Music LLC © 2011

Ye come here, gather ’round the stage
The time has come for us to voice our rage
Against the ones who’ve trapped us in a cage
To steal from us the value of our wage

From underneath the vestiture of law
The lobbyists at Washington do gnaw
At liberty, the bureaucrats guffaw
And until they are purged, we won’t withdraw

We’ll occupy the streets
We’ll occupy the courts
We’ll occupy the offices of you
Till you do
The bidding of the many, not the few

Our nation was built upon the right
Of every person to improve their plight
But laws of this Republic they rewrite
And now a few own everything in sight

They own it free of liability
They own, but they are not like you and me
Their influence dictates legality
And until they are stopped we are not free

We’ll occupy the streets
We’ll occupy the courts
We’ll occupy the offices of you
Till you do
The bidding of the many, not the few

You enforce your monopolies with guns
While sacrificing our daughters and sons
But certain things belong to everyone
Your thievery has left the people none

So take heed of our notice to redress
We have little to lose, we must confess
Your empty words do leave us unimpressed
A growing number join us in protest

We occupy the streets
We occupy the courts
We occupy the offices of you
Till you do
The bidding of the many, not the few

You can’t divide us into sides
And from our gaze, you cannot hide
Denial serves to amplify
And our allegiance you can’t buy

Our government is not for sale
The banks do not deserve a bail
We will not reward those who fail
We will not move till we prevail

We’ll occupy the streets
We’ll occupy the courts
We’ll occupy the offices of you
Till you do
The bidding of the many, not the few

We are the many
You are the few

Song from Hell, for a Saturday

This came about from a conversation with my good friend Gayathiri. She finally got to spend some actual time with one of my acquaintances, Jason. She said that he was really nice. I totally agreed. Jason is honestly a positive person. He is an excellent people person when it's his job to listen and work with others. He has impressed several of the volunteers with whom he is working at our local Center. He is actually a joy to be around. A different acquaintance I know dislikes him, but we figured out why: that guy is a person who is just ugly, inside and out, who dislikes Jason because he is a cute, positive, and competent person.

So describing to Gayathiri, I said, "ya, he is just sunshine and lollipops all the time." UGH...that is all it took! Know I am stuck with it in my head...and now you are.

Monday's Song from Hell - April 25th

The back story on how this was pulled off in the Oregon legislature. I wish more legislative bodies treated each other with the respect required to build the kind of trust it must take to do something like this. That legislature is probably able to come to compromises

Harps adds bulk food section

Seen today at the Wedington St. Harps store. First time I have seen it.

Ozark Natural Foods has some competition now. Bulk foods is what I buy the most of at ONF. Though Harps is not offering the huge selection of organic bulk food, I will probably start buying some of my bulk food here. Most of this selection is nuts, dried fruit, and oats. I mostly buy almonds, pumpkin seeds, oats, and lentils by bulk.

Why bulk? Well...for one, you decide how much you want. It's slightly cheaper too. Less packaging. Supposedly more sustainable...even if you are buying in small quantities, the super thin produce bag is less intensive than whatever extra crap marketers incorporate into packaging in hopes of higher sales.

Map of the Day - April 5th

This is my proposed redistricting map for Arkansas. I did this to illustrate that you can basically do anything you want with redistricting as long as the districts have equal population and don't dilute minority voting rights (not much of a concern in Arkansas). I started this map with two ideas: give each district an equal length of state border and have them all meet in the middle of the state. This map would be a big change for many cities, but gives each district a share of urban and rural areas.

(Bentonville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Hot Springs together in a district. Rogers, Springdale, Russellville and Conway in another. Jonesboro, West Memphis, North Little Rock, and Pine Bluff in another. Little Rock, Saline County, Texarkana in the last one)

There has been much hullabaloo about the congressional redistricting that is happening in Arkansas this spring. The main controversy is about moving Fayetteville out of the 3rd CD and into the 4th CD. "Fayetteville to the Fourth" one of the plans has been called. I oppose moving Fayetteville to the 4th CD if there is another way of creating equal population districts that are more compact. This opinion is not very popular with many Democratic party leaders, officials, elites, and activists. Some have said that moving Fayetteville is best because it gives Democrats more opportunities to win Congressional seats....I support compact districts over partisan success. Some have accused a few Fayetteville Democrats of this plan because those elected officials want to run for Congress in a district that is much more likely to elect a Democrat....again, I support compact districts over the success of any individual politician.

There have been many maps from many people. I hope someone creates a website to archive all the possible maps created by legislators and by citizens during this session. I think far too many people during this session simply said "the 3rd has to lose voters" then accepted whatever was put in front of them. There are plenty more than one way to skin that cat. High schoolers with access to the internet can create all kinds of maps that are equal population that satisfy legal challenges. UPDATE: The most recent map to pass the AR Senate!

Make your own redistricting map with this online tool. It maps and counts the voters in districts that you create yourself!

http://gardow.com/davebradlee/redistricting/launchapp.html