Consumer Revolt (Part 1)

These stories follow a familiar pattern, one which I sympathize with: consumer revolt against the rich and powerful, who have received hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars in bailouts while average Americans get screwed. Witness this woman's one-person crusade on YouTube against Bank of America and its sky-high credit card interest rates. Andrew Cuomo, the Attorney General of New York, is filing charges against Bank of America executives for their failure to disclose bonuses paid in connection with their acquisition of Merrill Lynch one year ago (at the height of the financial crisis). As if that weren't enough bad news for Bank of America, a federal judge has also ruled that a $33 million settlement between it and the Securities and Exchange Commission cannot be allowed to go through.

Hitler and AIDS

This picture is from a poster in Germany, part of a new ad campaign for World AIDS Day. It has generated a lot of controversy, especially considering that some have viewed this as confusing Adolf Hitler with people with HIV/AIDS. I personally don't have a problem with this kind of public awareness campaign, because it elicits a great deal of controversy and gets people talking (which is the point of the ad campaign). The following video is difficult to watch, so for anyone squeamish about sex I don't recommend viewing it. However, it leaves a sinking feeling in my gut that dramatically conflates AIDS with the banality of evil.