P.B. The bear is grouchy. Bring candy.

A commentary that ran on Market Place tonight by Harley Shaiken. Shaiken is a professor at UC Berkeley and a leading candidate to be the next US Labor Secretary. Tess Vigeland was guest host for tonight's show. Market Place is produced by American Public Media.

Tess Vigeland: Today the White House confirmed that it's looking at "orderly bankruptcy" as an option for two of the Big Three automakers. Basically the government would prop up GM and Chrysler for several months while an o… Continue

Maybe these things are making sense to us because we're just wired that way...

First, a very brief article in Scientific American by Adam Hinterthuer:

Brain Seeks Patterns Where None Exist

The brain will find patterns or images where none really exist. Relaxation exercises lowered the chances of finding a pattern that wasn't really there.

When we feel like we don't have command of our own fate, our brains often invent patterns that offer a sense of self-c… Continue

There's a discussion this morning claiming all sorts of nasty associations and malevolent intent behind the "peace sign" so I thought this might be a good time to examine a smear campaign.

First, and this is extremely important, history especially ancient history may sometimes seem connected or even relevant to current events even though there is zero connection. This would be the fodder of conspiracy fanatics. History does have a funny way of repeating itself and sometimes the reasons are clea… Continue

People have remarked on your narrow-mindedness more than once in a week.

Anyone's ever encouraged you to "get help".

Members of your family or friends stay quiet when you're in the room because you are generally doing the talking.

Your replies to opinions that differ from yours are one of the following:

a. A taunt or insinuation about that person’s maturity, wisdom, IQ, or gender preferences.

b. Reams of material copied and pasted from any blog.

c. You carefully avoid addressing any point… Continue