2009 archive
Snow 2
Sleet on top of snow.
Even the biggest dog (50 pounds) is walking on top of the crust. Looks like almost every school in Delaware is closed.
Supposed to be 40 degrees and rain by noon.
Addendum:
Already turning to rain.
DelLib has a fun discussion of Delawareans’ screwy reactions to the white stuff.
Coleman Stoved 0
Fact Check dot org looks at Minnesota. Follow the link for the full analysis:
Unlike many right-leaning blogs and commentators, Coleman makes no claim of partisan funny business by the five members of the Canvassing Board, which has only one clearly identified Democrat. Coleman’s lawyer once praised the panel’s makeup, in fact.
Coleman’s appeal challenging the board’s certification, which a three-judge panel began hearing Jan. 26, lays out his theory: “Not every valid vote has been counted, and some have been counted twice.” Coleman raises several issues, among them: duplicate ballots, “missing” ballots, “improperly” rejected absentee ballots and discrepancies in rulings made on ballots concerning voter intent.
The outcome of this squeaky-close race now rests with the courts. But even if Coleman wins on all points it’s far from certain that he would gain enough votes to change the outcome. When the Canvassing Board was forced to count some disputed absentee ballots, for example, it was Franken who won a majority of them. Now Coleman wants even more rejected absentee ballots opened and counted, but nobody can say if he would get a higher percentage of those, or if he would just see Franken’s margin increase.
“So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye” 0
TerranceDC sums it up.
Today’s Deep Thought 0
from Jack Handey, over there, on the sidebar
———————————————>
is too chillingly true to be allowed to just scroll away:
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.
“Tear Down This Myth” 0
Buy the book.
Mr. Bunch starts with a description of the state of the Reagan Myth today (along with a few jarring facts showing how it deviates from anything approaching in any remote way truth, history, or the American Way.)
He then journeys into truth and history. (With truth and history, we can find the American Way.)
(Full disclosure: I haven’t finished the book yet. But this story needs to be told. Those who believe distorted history create a distorted present.)
Also posted at the Great Orange Satan.
Return of Beyond the Palin 0
This is an example of someone who believes her own press releases.
It reminds me of when Buffalo Bob visited my campus during his short revival of popularity.
He visited during midterms.
In the words of one of my friends, “Dozens thronged the stage. Autograph hunters by the twos and threes stormed the stage door.”
Wailin’ Palin is going to be surprised at how far the public, except for the nutcase fringe deadenders, are so much just so over her.
H/T Karen for the link.
Comment Rescue: Good Money after Bad Dept. (Updated) 3
Bill, in the comments.
I think the whole kerfuffle over contraceptives is a side-issue, like worrying about where that penny rolled to while the dollars are burning in the fireplace, but I think the rest of it deserves the attention of my two or three regular readers.
Hell, he even did something I usually don’t:
Research.
Addendum:
The Booman attempts to corral this Trojan horse of an issue. The whole thing is worth the five minutes it takes to read, but here’s the heart of it:
Having said that, even if the Republicans were using the term ‘family planning’ it is difficult to defend the economically stimulative effects of family planning funding. Most people see family planning funding as a program for helping (mostly) poor women, and not as a way to create jobs or jump start the economy. Even Nancy Pelosi was inclined to argue the waiver was a cost-reducing measure rather than a strictly stimulative one. Good family planning programs will reduce the cost of providing health care (CBO estimates it will save $200 million over five years).
Addendum-Dee-Dum-Dum:
Here’s another take, courtesy of Karen.
I’m not taking a stand on this. As I said, it’s a side issue to this bill.
(Aside: That does not mean I consider it a side issue to public policy; health care will soon be on the table. Rather, this who-shot-john is another manifestation of the Repulsican Party’s weird and rather creepy preoccupation with other persons’ genitalia.)
The practical truth in politics is that sometimes the smartest thing to do is concede the skirmish and focus on winning the war.
Optimism 4
The Booman points to signs of progress:
(Aside: The Booman seems to have a firmer grasp on political reality than do a lot of the ideologues and naysayers. To paraphrase what a friend emailed to me today over something else, there’s a country to save here. It’s time to stop quibbling over commas and semicolons. The Repubs haven’t yet figured out that the great majority of the country is just tuning them out. They’ve shown what they do, and no one wants them to do more of it.)
Now maybe the country can move forward and fix all the problems that the Repubs created.
Huh? 3
Just saw a Comcast commercial about the upcoming digital switch directed to persons using over-the-air television broadcast channels.
On a cable network.
Whodunnit? 0
The Guardian lists the suspects.
Wing Time 4
It’s rather disgusting that people actually watch this thing live on the telly vision, while food aid organizations can’t keep up with demand.
I’ve seen video clips. That’s enough. The concept and the execution are both throw-up making.
Video courtesy Brendan, who has a lot more details and statistics, if you can–er–stomach them.
Copywrongs 0
Phillybits faces a quandary, which he has since removed from his site.
Hypocrisy (Updated) 0
I just heard John “Boner” Boehner gassing about tax cuts on Marconi’s Magic Box in a story about the economy.
Among other things, he said that “government cannot fix this problem.”
Why the hell not?
Government–most specifically Republican government–created it.
Addendum:
Krugman dissects the lies. A nugget:
Here’s how to think about this argument: it implies that we should shut down the air traffic control system. After all, that system is paid for with fees on air tickets — and surely it would be better to let the flying public keep its money rather than hand it over to government bureaucrats. If that would mean lots of midair collisions, hey, stuff happens.
Bushonomics: The Hangover 0
No bonuses here:
The reason is no mystery to the Rev. Thomas Laymon, who runs the mission.
“The doubling is very evident every night now,” he said. “And the answer is it has an economic reason behind it, because these are not just the homeless who are coming in.”
This Is Not Right 0
I know that politics (with a small “p”) are part of running any large organization.
The way I look at it, it’s “politics” when your position loses and it’s a “process of negotiation and compromise” when your position wins.
Compromise may not be a pretty thing.
Nevertheless, it is often a necessary thing. If you cannot take two steps forward because the current is too strong, one step forward is good. (Some of my fellow lefties haven’t figured that out yet, but that’s another blog post.)
But sanctioning the denial of truth is beyond the pale of civilized conduct and beyond the pale of the Gospel of Love.
Drinking Liberally Center City Philadelphia 0
Tuesday, Triumph Brewing Company, Chestnut two blocks from Front, 6 p.
Plenty of parking on Front, and, for drivers, parking meter rates have doubled. Save up even more quarters. (Meters are still cheaper than lots.)
Good food, good drink, good politics, good fellowship for all left-thinking persons.
Beyond the Palin 0
An update from the frozen north.