The Big Lie among others

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-- In the when-you-screw-up-man-up department, I read a pretty good column about "The Big Lie" by Barry Ritholtz today. In bite-sized English, the column takes apart the generally-Republican argument that banks and other financial institutions are somehow the victims in the current economic downturn ... instead of the perpetrators. "The Big Lie" was a term coined by Adolph Hitler -- a propaganda technique now so widely in use that hardly anyone is as horrified by the implications as they were when Hitler put the technique to very good use. I sometimes think that what infuriates the American public about its political and business leaders is the fact that everyone has an excuse and no one will admit to personal responsibility ... and thereby pave the way for a meaningful solution. If everyone's dog is eating their homework ... well, what sort of adult world is that?

-- In Afghanistan -- the country in which the United States has committed itself to doing whatever it is that policy-makers claim to be worth fighting and dying for -- an Afghan mother and daughter were stoned and shot to death for their "moral deviation." Every country is forced to make compromises with other countries. But I wonder if anyone is willing to recoil at the compromises they have made.

-- In the rabbit's foot department, some 1,000 Chinese couples planned to exchange nuptial vows in Malaysia today. It's an auspicious day, apparently -- 11/11/11. Elsewhere, others imputed various other meanings based on the confluence of numbers. All I can think is, what the hell, it was a full moon last night and anyone knows that full moons bring on irrational and sometimes insane behavior and belief. Oooooooeeeeeeeeeooooooooo!
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