Will Hines Dot Net

For those of you discouraged by criticisms of Obama’s first year, I point you to this — it was item number one in The Economist’s “The World This Year” round-up:

Barack Obama was inaugurated as America’s 44th president. In a whirlwind first year in office, Mr. Obama overturned a prohibition on federal funding for stem-cell research, eased some restrictions on dealing with Cuba, lifted a ban on people with HIV traveling to the United States, pushed Congress to pass health-care reform, promised to close the detention camp at Guantanamo, pledged a cut in American’s emissions and promoted the first Hispanic person to the Supreme Court.

I’ll remind you that The Economist is a conservative British magazine, which has a skeptical attitude at best towards America in general and Obama in particular. Still, when tallying what’s important about the year, there’s no doubt of the positive overall change that’s happened. It’s fair game to criticize the president as harshly as you want — it’s part of the job — but step back and see the trends: we’re in a good place, getting better. Full disclosure: disagree with me and I’m probably going to totally ignore you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dyna’s Mad Men illustrations continue their steady takeover of the internet. Today she’s in The Comics Journal’s blog Journalista!, which was linking to the blog Drawn!

…Which made me look through Drawn! Which is super-cool! Do you all know about this site? Check out these typewriter robots!

Unrelated opinions you did not ask about, which you likely won’t agree with, and that I am not qualified to offer.

1. College athletes should be paid. Yes, their tuition and room/board is part of that but it’s not enough by a long shot. At UConn last year, tuitition/room/board for out-of-state students was $30 thousand. The basketball program grossed almost $8 million, and that’s not counting money from merchandise. It infuriates me that the coaches, athletic directors and recruiters can make hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and sometimes endorsements but the athletes — the vast majority of which will not go to the pros — walk away with just 30 grand in non-cash.

2. Serial killers / mass-murderers should never have their names published. You can still report the whole story of their lives — just leave out the person’s name. This is similar to how the media treats the identity of rape victims — the police and courts know the victim’s name, but it’s left out of all news coverage. The Virginia Tech killer would be known as “The Virginia Tech killer,” and no one would know his name. When you commit a heinous act of violence — you become a non-person. These guys are motivated at least partly by fame and by suppressing their name we help keep that from them. John Lennon deserves to be famous. The guy who killed him does not.

3. Artists should be allowed to use corporate logos in their work without restriction. No, I don’t know how you’d ascertain what “art” is. But if corporations can use their logo in advertisements that manipulate my opinion in their favor, someone should be allowed to use it to manipulate opinions against them. Balance!

4. A four-pitch walk gets two bases. All pitchers must face at least one batter. No designated hitter. Pete Rose should be allowed in the Hall of Fame, but they should be allowed to use the word “scumbag” on his plaque.