May, 2010 archive
Lies, Damned Lies, and Republicanisms 1
TPM reports:
Today, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs struck back.
Attempting to blame the government–local, state, or federal–for BP’s incompetence and penny-pinching is beyond skullduggery, though the determination of the Republican Party to destroy the federal regulatory apparatus comes into play.
But by now we know that they will say anything and everything to advance their cause. Truth is not an issue in WingnutWorld.
The Rude Pundit addressed this oil-gusher-is-Obama’s-Katrina sort of garbage last week (If you follow the link, remember that the Rude Pundit’s nom de blog is well-deserved; his language is such that I had to expurgate the quote, and this was the mildest paragraph of the lot).
As Harry Truman pointed out:
Times have changed. The Republican Party has not.
The Republican Party, now and ever the Party of Privilege.
All the rest is camouflage.
Dealing with Terrorism: A Novel Suggestion 0
Thoreau has a novel suggestion:
Aside:
Two lesson from Times Square:
- It didn’t work.
- Good police work, not torture, nailed a suspect, who, it is important to remember, is still a suspect.
Let’s try Thoreau’s idea out on him.
Inexhaustible Oceans 0
I doubt that this applies only to the U. K.
Researchers used port records dating from the late 1800s, when mechanised boats were replacing sailing vessels.
In the journal Nature Communications, they say this implies “an extraordinary decline” in fish stocks and “profound” ecosystem changes.
Four times more fish were being landed in UK ports 100 years ago than today, and catches peaked in 1938.
And we haven’t seen yet the effects of the gusher:
The Rule of Law Unraveled 0
If the law is not the same for everyone, we do not have rule of law.
Keith Olbermann described the importance of the rule of law last night while criticizing the willingness of John McCain (and others) to throw out the liberties of some.
Here is the key part of the transcript. It’s a good description of the importance of the rule of law:
This man — whatever other reprehensible thing he appears to be — is an American citizen!
And if you can decide that he shouldn’t have the same rights we would give to the man who shot President Reagan, or to serial killers, or to Bernie Madoff, then the precedent that you set can some day end thusly:
Some day, for some reason, somebody will be able to arrest you, Mr. McCain, and declare that you are not entitled to your Miranda rights, and that perhaps you should be tried by a military court.
While you pander to a group that tries to dress up its bitching about paying its fair share of taxes as “the government is taking away freedom,” you propose that the government should take away… freedom.
You shame yourself in the eyes of American Patriots, and in the eyes of your fellow veterans who sacrificed, and the honored dead who gave their lives, to protect the freedoms and the laws you have today suggested should be optional!
For practical purposes, the law is not the same for everyone. Shoplifters with public defenders do not face the same odds as Wall Street banksters with $1500-an-hour defense lawyers.
Nevertheless, a thread in the story of America has been the struggle to make the law the same for everyone; now, at least, that shoplifter does get a public defender.
To rip that thread from the fabric of the story for some would be to do so for all.
The portion quoted above starts about 55 seconds into the video:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
How Dry I Am 0
Concord, Mass., draws a line on the right to dry:
It does not apply to existing restrictions and compacts.
The story goes on to point out that “a nightlight uses 5 watts of energy, a vacuum cleaner 1,000 watts, a clothes dryer 5,000 watts.”
Sister Ship 0
From the Facing South blog:
Extremely detailed description and analysis at the link.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Mr. Glock, meet Mr. Crucifix.
Churches and temples, eh? What about mosques?
This is reaching film noir dimensions.
Taking Witchduck Road to Its Roots 0
Not far from here is a street named Witchduck Road. The name comes from a witch trial (Massachusetts was not the only colony with witch trials):
A judge ordered Sherwood to be tried by ducking. So on July 10, 1706, with her thumbs tied to her big toes, Sherwood was ducked in the Lynnhaven River.
The street leading to her ducking spot now carries her legend as Witchduck Road.
Our attorney-general is repaving and widening the road for more duckings:
More at the link.
Kook-kook-a-choo.
_____________________
Note: “. . .little too pretty and wore clothing that was a little too tight.” I made a study of the witch trials when I was a student. Sex, sexual fantasies, and weird repressed sexual desire were a significant aspect of them.
On the part of the inquisitors, not on the part of the accused.
Role Play 0
Strange (emphasis added):
The exercise was incorporated into a fifth-grade history lesson titled “Rome, Ruler of the Ancient World” at Eagle’s Nest Christian Academy, a school in Milton for pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
The five students who were auctioned off to classmates had low merit points, said Reyes’ mother, Margaret, who called the lesson “demeaning.”
The school says that “(i)t was for one day only and students were not slaves but paid servants,” The task was to carry the books of their masters/employers, but, again according to the school, no one was actually compelled to do it.
What I find curious was the reference to “merit points.”
It’s difficult to tell whether this was an attempt to teach or to punish or some teacher’s idea of cutesy-poo pedagogical creativity.
But it is definitely strange.
Green Tea 0
Lipton recycles. More at the link:
There are no paper towels in the bathrooms at Lipton Tea.
Or Styrofoam coffee cups in the cafeteria.
And, on the trash trucks that pull away from the building on West Washington Street – well, there aren’t many trash trucks.
There’s basically no trash.
Seeing the Light, Hazily 0
Backing up, but not backing all the way down. Most of them are saying they now favor a delay and studies (emphasis added):
(snip)
The last study of the Atlantic Ocean by the federal government, conducted two decades ago, estimated that at least 130 million barrels of oil and at least 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be off Virginia’s coast. That’s equal to the amount of oil used in six days and the amount of gas used in less than a month in the United States.
As several persons have pointed out (see the previous post), no one and nothing has been harmed if the wind blows out at a wind farm.
Much more at the link.
Fright of the Iguana 0
Ocean City Councilwoman Margaret Pillas posed the riddle to her colleagues at a budget meeting, and now the council is set to reconsider just what it means to have a domesticated animal in the resort.
At a recent budget hearing, Pillas wondered aloud whether such a beast would pass the litmus test of being allowed out and about on a leash, and she questioned the town’s current ordinances that define a pet.
Pillas hedged on specifics, but fellow council member Mary Knight sniffed out the details.
“I think I know what this is about,” Knight said. “I’ll say it –I call him Iguana Man.”
According to the story, Iguana Man seems to like to walk his Iguana along the Ocean City Boardwalk and it causes some to be discomfited.
Having spent a lot of time in Wildwood, I suspect that no one on that portion of the Joisey Shore would look twice. Cape May, now, would be another story.
Grill-Baked Fish with Vegetables 0
This is a derived from an old camping recipe I read somewhere.
Ingredients:
Fish (catfish, cod, or similar fish are best; fillets are easiest)
Onion
Bell Pepper
Tomato
Pepper
Dried Parsley
Note: The quantity of vegetables depends on the amount of fish. See step 4 below.
Procedure:
1. Preheat grill to medium heat.
2. Slice vegetables. For the onion, thin wedges work best.
3. Pull enough aluminum foil to wrap seal in the fish and other ingredients. Brush the aluminum foil with olive oil.
4. Layer the vegetable slices on the foil, then lay the fish on them, then layer more vegetables on top of the fish. Sprinkle with pepper, parsley, and anything else that sounds good. (Salt is not necessary for ocean fish. They come already salted.)
5. Seal the foil tightly around the fish and vegetable mixture and place it on the grill until done (depending on the grill, 30 to 45 minutes).
Goes well with asparagus roasted with olive oil and garlic, which can be cooked on the same grill.
Variations:
For a charcoal grill or campfire, place directly in embers and cover with the embers. Cooking time will be reduced.
Any vegetable that can be sliced thin and still maintain some, such as zucchini, and be added to the ingredients.
Torpedo, Baby, Torpedo 0
The wingnut mafia has started to float a theory that the oil gusher in the Gulf resulted, not from an accident, but from sabotage.
This seems to serve two purposes:
- Divert the attention from Big Oil.
- Provide an enemy about whom to panic (see my post from Monday on the rhetoric of panic).
Noz deconstructs the argument:
if you’re going to come up with a conspiracy theory to suit your political purposes, maybe you should make sure it actually suits your political purposes.
Afterthought:
A reader of TPM suggests that an undercurrent to this is to drum into persons dear little ears until they believe it that the government’s response was slow.
Have Cake Eat It Too, Spill Here, Spill Now Dept. 0
No More Mister Nice Blog comments on the calls for Mr. Obama to do something about the oil spill gusher. Read the whole thing; it’s delicious. Profane, but delicious:
(snip)
And now the Republicans are demanding that the government “fix the problem”?
Via the Poorman.
May 4, 1970 0
I was in the Campus Center at my college with a some friends. As I recall, we were playing bridge.
One of my friends came in and said, “They are killing us.”
QOTD 0
Doug Larson, from the Quotemaster:
Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.
“BP – Beyond Principle” (Updated) 0
That’s part of the title of an editorial in the Guardian. A nugget:
Addendum:
Rick Perry (R–Loony Bin) thinks the gusher was an act of God.
Guess he worships at the Church of BP.
I need a drink.