Stimulus turns 1 today. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. GOP was against you, but takes credit for you, too.

                          

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[snip]

By [1932] the Great Depression was raging, with unemployment rates rising to 25 percent.

To combat unemployment and alleviate poverty, the federal government engaged in a massive public works and jobs program through the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Private markets weren’t about to create jobs, and the public sector became the employer of last resort. The job creation from the WPA provided survival and sustenance for millions of American families. Where is the contemporary WPA?

Absent public job creation, it is likely that the economy will not fully recover…

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Related on Past in Print:

Hey Obama, while you’re at it, bring back the CCC

                          

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Without doubt, the coolest, most uplifting video clip I’ve seen in years. Many thanks to @annavan for passing this along. The clip is, as you put it, “best wedding entrance ever!”

Be sure to the read the OutspokenMedia.com post that goes along with the clip. The author, Lisa Barone, nails it:

That’s what happens when you do something people aren’t expecting. When you don’t allow yourself to get caught up in the pomp and circumstance of it all. When you finally stop taking yourself so seriously. When you embrace the moment, remember what life used to feel like and go for it.

Spot on. 

                          

From The National Security Archive, posted 23 April 2009: Attorney General cited inconsistency “with traditional American liberties.” State Department overruled RFK proposal to withdraw prohibitions on travel… Documents Record First Internal Debate to Lift Ban.

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(Link to Arnold’s post @ page bottom.)

Imagine if it were W, rather than Obama, who stepped in to settle the Sarkozy / Hu rift at the G20. Try to picture the faces of the translators as Bush broke off a sports analogy or two. Or, maybe there would have been someone — a Secret Service Agent or, perhaps, Angela Merkel — charged with distracting W from getting involved.

Frankly, Bush never possessed the gravitas to pull something like that off. It’s refreshing to have a President who does.

I’m glad it went well for Obama in Paris. He strikes me as the kind of fella’ who’d truly enjoy the city’s atmosphere.

More on Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

                          

The first month of the Obama administration has been a whirlwind. The president signed the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act–the most comprehensive (and most expensive) legislation in American history–into law on Tuesday in Denver. The following day, Obama began to implement the economic recovery package, no doubt continuing the frenetic pace established since his inauguration. Congress, however, will likely set about getting some answers out of the Bush administration.

That the Congress and the President will be traveling separate paths is inconsequential and should be expected. As Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com perceptively posted on Sunday, the liberal, or progressive, electorate is by no means a homogeneous bunch. He describes progressives as being divided into “rational” and “radical” contingents with countless individual members falling somewhere between the two.

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Originally Published @ care2.com, by Aaron D. Pendell:

Those calling for the prosecution of Bush administration officials have had their shorts in a bunch lately. The rhetoric coming from Obama and his transition team has given them no reason for comfort. Judging by George W. Bush’s Monday press conference performance he is either too worried about it or not at all, and likely the latter. However, there are plenty of reasons to expect to see Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. hauled before a court of some sort. We may just have to wait a bit longer.

Of course, pessimism is understandable. Consider the President Elect’s comments from last Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

I think my general view when it comes to my attorney general is that he’s the people’s lawyer. Eric Holder’s been nominated. His job is to uphold the Constitution and look after the interests of the American people. Not be swayed by my day-to-day politics. So ultimately, he’s going to be making some calls. But my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past.

There are two ways to look at this. Either, Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder, once confirmed, will sort it out, or Obama will go the Ford/Nixon route and issue preemptive pardons “for the good of the country.” Time columnist Joe Klein, in this week’s print issue, suggested that pardoning the Bush administration officials would be a “cagey” option for Obama:

… he could pardon Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld for the possible commission of war crimes. Then they’d have to live with official acknowledgement of their ignominy in perpetuity.

Klein actually manages to make a pardon sound like a kick in the privates, but within the article he also suggests that he has no reason to believe that they will, or won’t, pursue war crimes charges while ensuring the same mistakes are not made going forward.

Holder is a different matter, altogether. During the prospective Attorney General’s confirmation hearings Thursday, he left little doubt how he felt about “enhanced interrogation tactics,” as well as those whom approved their use.

video:http://www.youtube.com/v/NG27VicGW5E&hl=en&fs=1

That sounds like a man who means business, but again, patience will be required. Eric Holder will have a monumental task before him in straightening out the Department of Justice after eight years of W.

I know. Having to be patient really sucks when you want something to happen, and I’m curious to know what you think. If you’ve read this far, you must have an opinion. Will Obama sic his new AG on the outgoing administration, or will he let it drift? The dilemma reminds me of a quote from Thomas Jefferson:

A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to it’s true principles. It is true that in the mean time we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war & long oppressions of enormous public debt… If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, & then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are the stake.
—Philadelphia, June 4, 1798

Do not fret. It will happen. A little patience…

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From Martin Miller at photographyserved.com:
Although the term, WMD, has become a part of our daily lexicon, it remains very much an abstraction for most of us. This series of images offers a retrospective look at some of these weapons. Most of my subjects are drawn from the Cold War period during which there was a very real threat to the survival of civilization itself…

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The past ten years have been particularly interesting. The Internet has moved from a niche oddity – the turf of specialists and kids – to a pervasive reality in both our business and personal lives.

Of course, Erickson’s assessment is apt but incomplete.  The bulk of her Harvard Business Online post consists of brief time-line, beginning in 1998 with the foundation of Google:

Let me say that again – Google was founded only 10 years ago! Today, with Google’s advanced algorithmic breakthroughs and the competing frenzy of innovation by Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Amazon, useful Web search is the norm. Rather than ending debates with “well, that’s your opinion,” facts can be settled in seconds.

Oh, if only everyone based their opinions solely on facts.  The rapid and increasing speed of the Internet has changed the flow of information from a trickle to a river, but not all of that information is useful, and a great deal of it is quite subjective.  Worst of all, these conditions allow a user to seek out media which is already agreeable to his or her sensibilities.

This is what sets historians apart from the casual Internet user.  A historian must be particularly discerning of online media before considering any of it as source material.  There is a lot of great material on the web, but there is a lot of bullshit too. It is best used track down material that may or may not be online.

Consider a little bit of Erickson’s time-line:

1999

Everquest, a “massively multiplayer online role-playing game” (MMORPGs) is introduced, changing computer games from feats of individual dexterity to extended contests of strategy and reputation development.

Business jargon expands to include terms reflecting the fear of “brick-and-mortar” companies “getting “Amazoned.”

Jack Welch declares the Internet to be the greatest change in business in his lifetime and orders GE’s 12 units to integrate internet technology into their business plans.

The Melissa Computer Virus shuts down email systems worldwide; creating instant recognition of how dependent business has become on this tool.

2000

Y2K turns out to be a non-event, but, as companies prepare, executives recognize that many IT programs are outdated and unwieldy. A shift begins to construct programs out of smaller building-blocks of code.

Dot.coms “crash,” but not before they have installed a significant Internet infrastructure.

PayPal is founded, extending online purchasing capability to millions. Over the next several years, consumer attitudes shift from not trusting ecommerce to buying comfortably over the Internet.

Over 250 million participate on the Internet – about ten times as many as just two years earlier

All of the above are fascinating, factual trends regarding the Internet and society.  However, none of it may be considered source material, If for no other reason than Erickson likely never intended it to be.  It is just a blog post, after all.

What gives Erickson’s artical historical value for the Internet savy historian is that her blog is packed with potential search terms.  Good search terms and keywords may quickly lead to news articles, book reviews, and bibliographies pertinent to the searcher’s query.  Simply put, a quality search permits one to reduce the amount of bullshit to be sifted through.  And, as anyone who has ever performed a poor search already knows, there is a great big pile of it out there.