From Pine View Farm

January, 2010 archive

Before You Give 0

The earthquake in Haiti has caused persons to open their hearts (except for Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh) and wallets to help, much as they did after the Pacifid sunami several years ago.

Before you give, you might want to check out the charities at Charity Watch dot org. You might be surprised at who gets rated highly and at who doesn’t.

Via TOTN.

Share

Stats 0

Juan Cole:

. . . the bonuses of the six biggest banks are now estimated to come in at $150 billion. Ten percent of that would be two years worth of Haiti’s gdp.

Share

Twits on Twitter 2

The novelty might be wearing off. Ricky Gervais:

Leaving the microblogging site after less than a month of tweeting, he complained that celebrities used it for “showing off” and he did not need to make “new virtual friends”.

For an example of a twit too fantastically stupid to comprehend, go here.

Share

Why We Need the ACLU 1

It’s not just for momentous Constitutional questions.

It’s also for the silly and vindictive–silly except for wanting to put some teenage girls away for being stupid teenage girls.

Share

Like Teenagers in Three-Piece Suits (Updated) 0

They want unrestricted use of the car and someone else to pay the car insurance.

The Obama administration wants the biggest banks to pay more taxes – and to make more loans.

The president says that’s not a contradiction. If the biggest banks can afford thousands of million-dollar manager salaries and “obscene” trader bonuses, he figures they can afford a $10-billion-a-year tax on bank investments to defray the cost of the 2008 bank bailouts.

Addendum:

Read Paul Krugman’s column.

Share

Resurrecting Lies 1

I remember hearing Joe McCarthy’s rants on Marconi’s Magic Box when I was a young ‘un.

He lied. He was a liar through and through, who would say anything to scare the public and get votes.

He is the spiritual godfather of the modern Republican Party, which will say anything to scare the public and get votes.

And in Texas, some folks want his lies to live again.

When we last checked in on the U.S. history textbooks standards setting process down in Texas, the conservative-dominated State Board of Education was mulling one-sided requirements to teach high school students about Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly, and the Moral Majority.

Now, in the home stretch of a process that will set the state’s nationally influential standards, a liberal watchdog group is worried that the State Board of Education will try to push through changes to claim that communist-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy has been vindicated by history, among other right-wing pet issues.

H/T Karen for the link.

Afterthought
:

If these clowns will buy Joe McCarthy, maybe I can sell them this bridge I have here.

Furrfu.

Share

QOTD 0

Teddy Roosevelt, via the Quotemaster:

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.

Afterthought: Not just presidents. But the criticism should, one wishes, be based on the Real World, not on the Republican one.

Share

Those Who Cannot Learn from History etc. 0

(with apologies to Santayana) are Republicans:

This is why the GOP in its current state cannot be allowed to govern. There is for them . . . no disaster so great that it can penetrate the armor of received wisdom that passes for the best of “conservative” thought by our friends across the aisle. If you don’t need to prove what you know is true, then there is no reason to check to see if the policies that flow from that “knowledge” actually, you know, work.

(snip)

The GOP approach to public life has not changed in a generation: lower taxes, less regulation. That’s it. But, as everyone with a pulse knows, we tried that for the Bush years. It left us, as we know, with a catastrophic economic crisis, an enormous transfer of wealth from the middle class to the rich, wars dishonestly begun and incompetently managed and all the rest.

Share

Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0

Not great, but not terrible:

The four-week moving average of initial claims fell to 440,750 last week from 449,750, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Weekly jobless claims, which are more volatile, rose by 11,000 in the week ended Jan. 9, more than anticipated, to 444,000.

Share

What a Maroon. What an Ignoramus. 1

Pat Robertson, mired in hate-fullness.

And ignorance.

Share

New Street People 0

You can bank on it.

Foreclosure activity nationwide also jumped last month, as 349,519 properties received foreclosure notices, up 14 percent from November and 15 percent from a year earlier. The national data include notices of default, the first stage of the foreclosure process after a homeowner has missed mortgage payments.

Share

And Now for Something Completely Different 0

Share

As My Mother Would Have Said . . . 0

. . . the biggest nothing.

Share

History Lesson 0

The cost of silence, the price of speech.

Teacherken.

Share

Californicated 0

Looking for handouts because Republican economics just doesn’t work.

Share

Foxy Lady 0

Brad Friedman in the Guardian:

Free money just to stay stuff, that doesn’t even have to be true, accurate, correct or even coherent is celebrated at Fox. Palin has just landed her dream job.

Share

Beatles Haircuts 2

Jeez oh man, I thought the hair wars were so over 40 years ago.

Then, again, it’s Texas.

Share

Foot Loose 2

Strangeness:

Police first publicized a rash of burglaries, most targeting University of Delaware students, on Thursday. All victims reported break-ins during which the intruder stole only men’s shoes along with photographs of the men. All of the incidents occurred over Christmas break when students were away, Henry said.

Share

The Prayer as Prologue 0

Up the road aways, there has been one of those periodic kerfuffles about self-important blowhards inflicting meaningless empty invocations on an inattentive public opening public meetings with prayer.

A summation from a letter to the editor.

Share

Quality Construction at a Price That’s Right 0

This is the warship that was built with steel salvaged from the World Trade Center.

At least it’s still under warranty:

Less than three months into its operational life, the dock landing ship New York must undergo repairs to replace faulty engine parts, the Navy said.

Share