Talk of the Town - talkofthetown's Blog - Bakersfield.com

Depressing Christmas cards

If you haven't already posed with fake smiles for your family Christmas card, here's a novel idea which pokes fun at the depressing economy.

The cards showcase vintage photos from the Great Depression with humorous captions.

See them here.

Leading Catholic: Disney has corrupted kids

Ahh, Disney. Good, clean, wholesome entertainment for all the family.

Little ones learn right from wrong. Good always triumphs over evil. If Disney ruled the world it would be be called Disneytopia.

So it was something of a shock to hear the following from one of Britain's most prominent Catholic clerics, Christopher Jamison:

"The message behind every movie and book, behind every theme park and T-shirt is that our children's world needs Disney," he says.

"So they absolutely must go to see the next Disney movie, which we'll also want to give them on DVD as a birthday present.

"They will be happier if they live the full Disney experience; and thousands of families around the world buy into this deeper message as they flock to Disneyland."

He continues: "This is the new pilgrimage that children desire, a rite of passage into the meaning of life according to Disney.

"Where once morality and meaning were available as part of our free cultural inheritance, now corporations sell them to us as products."

Fr Jamison, who is one of Britain's most prominent Catholic clerics, claims that brands such as Disney market themselves to be about more than mere materialism to create an addiction to consumption.

"This is basically the commercial exploitation of spirituality," he says, adding that as a result Disney and other corporations "inhabit our imagination".

For the full extent of the cleric's withering criticism, go here.

Kid comes before designer jeans

The economy is so bad and times are so tough that terrific sacrifices must be made just to survive.

Today's New York Times has just such a heart-wrenching story. A Florida mother has decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and forgo this season's designer jeans so she can buy her young daughter a big bundle of Christmas presents which will no doubt end up in next spring's yard sale.

Thanks to the ever-observant Gawker for taking the piss out of this story.

Predicting the stock market

The Dow is up right now almost 250 points, but only the eternal optimists among us think the stock market hasn't reached its nadir.

In times of uncertainty we always look to trusted sources for comfort, and even if the prognosis is not good, at least we have an idea of what's coming.

Here's a clip from Time Magazine's story, "Looking for the Bottom":

This dark outlook augurs a U-shaped recession. The downturn, which began in the fourth quarter of 2007, will be longer than the usual 18 months. The recovery will probably be anemic and for the next few years the U.S. economy is likely to grow below potential. That's the best-case scenario. It suggests that we are many months, and perhaps thousands of Dow index points, from a market bottom.

Judge: Obese fliers should get two airline seats

If you're fat and flying within Canada, you won't have to suffer the indignity of unintentionally rubbing up against the person sitting in the seat next to you.

A new ruling — which could have implications across the airline industry worldwide — means Canada's two largest airlines must give disabled and morbidly obese passengers an extra free seat on domestic flights, beginning in January.

The airlines are worried people will abuse the ruling and try to get two seats when they don't really need them, but it's unknown whether frequent Canadian fliers will begin a concerted effort to pack on the pounds in order to take advantage of the new ruling.

More details here.

Palin's unfortunate interview backdrop!

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin continued a long tradition and pardoned her state's turkey from its impending doom, but the fowl massacre carried on happily behind her during a long post-pardon interview.

See video here.

Record number of pot plants seized in state

State and federal drug enforcement officials say they have pulled more than 5 million marijuana plants from public and private land this year, a record amount.

If half the nation's domestically produced marijuana is grown in California, and California has, like, a massive budget deficit, would it make sense to legalize the herb in this state, tax it and sell it?

Your thoughts?

Safe haven or easy way out?

A 5-year-old boy last night became the 35th child dropped off in Nebraska as part of that state's safe-haven law.

The wording in the law is vague and doesn't mention an age, only 'child.' Thus, 'children' as old as 17 have been abandoned by their parents or grandparents to be cared for by the state. In a few cases, the child didn't even know they were being abandoned.

Lawmakers are meeting today in a special session to work on changing the law so it applies to infants only.

Allowing young, scared, unprepared mothers to drop their newborns off at hospitals and fire stations is one thing. Dropping your teenage kid off because you can't be bothered to care for them anymore is something else entirely.

Where's the good gas prices news?

Let's ignore for a minute that the falling price of oil is a sign of the generally crappy economy.

I get that.

But what's got me puzzled, is that when oil prices were way up not too long ago we were drowning in hard-luck stories about pizza delivery guys who couldn't afford a tank of gas. Barrel loads of companies were passing the higher cost of gas off to us, the consumer. Food prices were through the roof, partly due to higher transportation costs. Airlines were sticking passengers with hefty fuel surcharge fees.

Now that the price of oil is down and I can get a gallon of gas for the very reasonable price of $2.27, suddenly no one's talking about gas prices anymore.

Surely I'm not the only one who's thrilled they're not paying $65 to fill up their car.

The Californian had an article in its Business section today warning us to 'enjoy it while it lasts.'

McDonald's shines in bad economy

So much for the recession making everyone a bit thinner.

McDonald's same-store sales rose 8.2 percent in October, even as sit-down chain restaurants are feeling the pinch of a tighter economy.

Perhaps the Porterville McDonald's isn't such an anomaly after all!