2008 archive
Edward R. Murrow Quotation of the Day 0
Christiane Amanpour on Fresh Air:
“Objectivity means reporting the truth.
“It doesn’t mean causing a false equivalence or saying ‘on the one hand this, on the other hand that,’ it doesn’t mean equating victim with aggressor. If we do that, we’re accomplices.”
Drink. Drink Liberally. 0
Drink.
You have reasons.
Drink to forget.
Drink to forget that your 401K is now a dollar-three-eighty-K.
Drink to forget that job you don’t have any more, or the one you won’t get because it no longer exists, or the one your husband/wife/son/daughter/father/mother/friend just lost.
Drink to forget your employer, the company that is gone with the wind.
Drink to forget your house, the one you don’t have any more.
Drink to dedicate the refrigerator box that is your new home.
Drink to forget the lives lost, twisted, mangled, and wasted in the Glorious and Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq.
Drink to forget torture, betrayal, concentration camps, duplicity, and doltishness.
Drink to celebrate.
Drink to celebrate January 20, 2009.
Drink to celebrate competence, steadiness, and thoughtfulness.
Drink to celebrate the elevation of idea over ideology, the general welfare over General Confusion (and his entire staff).
Drink to celebrate hope over hostility, selflessness over selfishness.
Drink to celebrate the blood, sacrifice, and ideals of the Founders.
Drink to celebrate the Constitution of the United States of America.
Drink to celebrate the people of the United States of America, who, with many false starts, much backing and filling, many errors, sidetrips, and distractions, somehow usually, over the generations, ultimately figure out the difference between right and wrong.
Drink Liberally, Tuesday, Triumph Brewing Company, Tuesday, Chestnut between Letitia and 2nd, Philadelphia, Pa., 6 p.
(Updated to include the day of the week. D’oh!)
Bushonomics: We’re Trucked Dept. 0
This weekend, I went to Connecticut.
In these parts, that means driving the New Jersey Turnpike, at least if you want to get there the same day you start out (and pray that two vehicles on the NJT don’t try to occupy the same spot at the same time, or you’ll just get to your destination tomorrow).
I’ve driven the NJT many times. From Trenton up until about Exit 11 (the Garden State–any time I’m headed for New England, I take the NJT to the Garden State to the Tappan Zee Bridge–I’m not driving through Manhatten on a bet; a New York City cab is one of the Great Bargains in the World), it is lined with distribution centers warehouses.
The last time I went up that way, a couple or three years ago, all the warehouses were in use and trailers were backed up to the loading bays to discharge and receive loads and commercial developers were building new warehouses on spec.
This time, well, if you want to pick up a vacant warehouse cheap, the NJT corridor is the place to go.
Along about exit 8, NJT separates into car only and car/truck/bus lanes. I usually take the car/truck/bus lanes, because, by God, if I die in a firey crash on the Turnpike, I at least want it to be at the hands of a professional driver, not at the hands of some idiot kid trying to make it from Washington to New York City in 35 minutes.
Funny thing:
I’ve probably made a couple dozen round trips through that part of the turnpike in the past ten years. Usually, weekday or weekend, the car/truck/bus lanes are choked with trucks.
The other day, on my drive north, I saw only a few long-haul truckers; most of the trucks were local delivery guys or local trash haulers.
Today, driving south, for the length of the turnpike from the Holland Tunnel to Trenton, I saw no more than three long-haul truckers. Mostly, the car/truck/bus lanes were like the car only lanes, except more sedate.
No jobs, no money, no credit, no customers.
No customers, no wares.
No wares, no warehouses.
No warehouses, no trucks.
Republican Economic Theory triumphant.
Also posted, with slight edits, at the Great Orange Satan.
Courting Justice 0
Justice requires courts.
At every level.
Roger Cohen in the Toimes (no relation to Richard “I used to have a clue” Cohen):
The effect of U.S. rejection of the court, combined with the trashing of habeas corpus at Guantánamo Bay, has been devastating. Allies from Canada to Germany that are court members have been dismayed by the U.S. dismissal of an institution they see doing evident good.
H/T Alison for the link.
Milhous’s Law 0
A corollary to Godwin’s Law. More from Steve at ASZ.
He Was Right . . . 0
. . . and he paid the price of being right in the Bushie World.
He lost his job.
Josh Marshall reports that he has a new job:
Waiting for reactions from Rummie.
Press “Play” 0
For your iPod or MP3 player.
Who’s President Anyway? 0
Barney Frank first came to my attention during the Clinton BJ hearings, when the Republican Party, which has no problem with solicitation of homosexual sex in public men’s rooms, went all ga-ga over a blue dress. Congressman Frank has quite a way with words.
Indeed, he has a way to cutting to the quick (emphasis added):
“At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time,” Frank said. “I’m afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He’s got to remedy that situation.”
Some Saturday Sunshine 0
Hope.
Yes we did.
Travel Day 0
Light bloggery.
But I’m sure something will enrage me.
Bushonomics: Ripple Effects Tsunami Dept.
0
Move along folks. Nothing to see here.
The company said Thursday it plans to cut 2,500 jobs — about 4 percent of its work force — in the next year. DuPont is also cutting 4,000 contract workers by the end of this year, with more contractors expected to be cut next year.
Nothing.
Swampwater 0
Justice? We shall see.
While no drugs were involved in the killings, the government’s attorneys may attempt to apply a clause in the 1988 Anti-Drug Abuse Act that requires a 30-year sentence for any violent crime committed with a machine gun.
One More Time: The Internet Is a Public Place 0
Oh, my:
If it’s not something you want everyone to see, don’t show it to everyone.
H/T Karen for the link.
Stray Thought 0
How the hell can I manage to lose the cap from my Sharpie in ten seconds?
