Steve Antler links to this Bruce Bartlett piece about outsourcing. It’s a must read if you’re at all interested. Money Quote:

Cisco, for example, is a leader in outsourcing, but has not reduced the number of its domestic employees because they have been redeployed into other areas, doing higher value-added work. These jobs often pay better than those that were outsourced.

Perhaps I’m just feeling grouchy today, but I feel compelled to link to this. I’ve been trying to come up with a suitable rejoinder to the following line, but I just can’t. I can’t do it justice. It’s too good. It’s the perfect fusion of factual inaccuracy and abominable style that we’ve all been reaching for all these years. It represents the pinnacle of an art form, the very highest layer of the ziggurat. Here, help yourself:

Science has proven that our population is growing exponentially, and the mathematical diagrams derived by science show that this growth will continue until it peaks.

I surrender, ODE. You win.

The piece then devolves into this weird amalgamation of Malthus and Walt Disney:

Let’s imagine that there’s this beautiful pristine pond, and in the middle of it is this perfect little island with emerald green grass, flowering plants, nitrogen-rich soil and a population of flightless birds…

Um, no. Let’s not. God, will the cuteness never end? At least the editorial is right on the money.

An interesting spread of opinions on the concealed-carry issue, from the ODE, here. Most eyebrow-raising is that of pre-CIS major Hanna Budan, quoted as saying:

“There can be too much power when only one group is allowed to carry guns or have weapons. I would feel more comfortable if DPS, who is hired and trained by the University, had guns.”

Yikes. I salute Hanna Budan for her faith in humanity, or that subset thereof hired by the University as rentacops. (Only one group, did you say?) She goes on to say that she’d rather have guns in residence halls than classrooms. I think allowing people to bring guns to class is an awful idea, but the residence halls? The Bean complex, specifically? These are people who have already demonstrated a spectacular ability to injure one another using only everyday household objects and institutionally-provided items of furniture. What could possibly go wrong with a bunch of drunken eighteen-year-olds packing handguns in a confined space?

There’s more, but I’m busy and I wanted to use that headline before anyone else. Cheers.

I’m very sorry to see Genesis close their doors. That was some righteously good juice. If you get a chance while they work through their current stock, grab a Green Life smoothie and become forever unsatiated by Odwalla.

In related news: Kudos to our benefactors at the Collegiate Network, and Justin in particular, for a very enjoyable Saturday evening. However, I think we should now declare some kind of moratorium on the purchase or consumption of the forty-two ounce Cuervo 1400 margaritas. This would also apply to the concoction and decanting of them, and the joyous brandishing of them above the head in both hands. While I’m at it, even the hinting at or making of veiled references to them should probably be discouraged. Needless to say, the blowing of bubbles in them – whether using a straw, or after having partially submerged your head in their vasty depths – also falls under this general scheme of self-preservation.

If the Genesis Juice Collective is a public health risk, then the forty-two ounce Cuervo 1400 margaritas are nothing less than a terrible punishment meted out by a vengeful deity. We’re living in the End Times, people.

Our esteemed Editor-in-Chief wrote a guest commentary concerning gay marriage and the Constitution in today’s Daily Emerald. I am sure Mr. Dreier was too modest to mention it here earlier this morning so I will take this moment to do so. Check it out.

“Watch out because the federal government just keeps coming down on the people,” Genesis Juice Co-op President Benjamin Cutler said to local supporters.

This is what happens when a market gets over-regulated, some firms will drop out and leave a void where the supply used to be. I’m not sure if it’s wrong of me or not, but I do get a certain amount of joy from these hippies deciding to close due to government. They want environmental regs, they want health care, they want paternalism…but the instant it applies to them heaven forbid!

“They’re taking away people’s right to choose,” Cutler added.

You’re goddamn right they are, maybe this will make them get it and start calling for the deregulation of our economy. Wait, who am I kidding, they’re whiny lefties, they’ll just complain about the big-bad government getting down on “the people.” It’s probably too much to expect them to make the logical leap.

So, apparently, some parents want SSRIs not to be used in “kids” anymore. Because, you know, it’s got to be the anti-depressants that are causing suicide not, say, THE DEPRESSION THAT THEY’RE BEING TREATED FOR! I’m sorry, but without any sort of proof doctors should continue to prescribe SSRIs when needed. Whether or not the class of drugs is over-prescribed as a whole, well, that’s a different question. And, this has no bearing on MAOIs like Wellbutren, which seem to be a lot better for some folks. My final question is this: Since when is a recent college graduate a child?

“To die in this violent, unusual fashion without making a sound … Paxil must have put her over the edge,” said Sara Bostock, describing how her daughter Cecily stabbed herself in the chest with a kitchen knife shortly after graduating from Stanford University and two weeks after starting the drug.

Yes, Paxil must’ve done it, not the depression. Furthermore, it takes at least two to three weeks for SSRIs to achieve the appropriate levels in one’s system. That is, they’re really not working for at least a couple of weeks after you start. That’s something to consider when looking at suicide right after starting treatment. Also, maybe folks who are put on SSRIs are more depressed and therefore more likely to kill themselves anyway. I hope the FDA looks at all the angles before listening to another emotive interest group.

UPDATE [Thanks To Flood in comments]:

Hairsplitting heads up: Wellbutrin is actually not an MAOI and doesn’t fit the standard categories of anti-depressants.

Next time, I’ll check WebMD