May, 2010 archive
Blast from the Past, Snarlin’ Arlen Dept. 0
Many years ago, I listened to KYW–I caught it on the skip–on my Christmas transistor radio–transitor radios were an amazing new invention–while lifting my Christmas gift Sears Ted Williams weights (which I still have) on my home-made weight bench as a 98-pound weakling 10th grader.
KYW had recently moved from Cleveland to Philadelphia and remade itself as the first all-news AM station the country.
(When it was in Cleveland, I also listened to it on the skip; my favorite show was the Harv Morgan Show, which I would listen to while under the covers so my parents wouldn’t catch me. I’m sure they knew and with the wisdom of good parents just let it go. RIP Harv Morgan.)
Back then, Arlen Specter was the up-and-coming young crusading district attorney of Philadelphia.
Since them, Arlen has been a Democrat, a Republican, and a Democrat again. But first and foremost he has been an Arlenocratican with one overriding cause: the full employment of Arlen Specter.
He is no longer young and he long ago stopped crusading.
If you enjoy it half as much as the rest of us do, you will be happy in your twilight years.
Good-bye and good night.
Whatever Sestak may be, he can’t possibly be more craven, more manipulative, more self-absorbed. If he’s even just a little bit better, he’s progress.
Aside:
I do not criticize Obama for endorsing Arlen. Arlen switched ranks and provided a vote when a vote was needed. Honorable politics–honorable life–ultimately boils down to personal relationships and honorable politicians honor their debts. That’s how the game is played.
As long as it’s above-board, it’s okay.
Idealistic purity is great in a vacuum. (Many of my leftie friends want to live in that idealistically pure vacuum land. I honor and mourn their idealism at the same time.)
It’s not how real life works, because real life is not lived in a vacuum.
Real life is not lived in a vacuum in your day-to-day dealings and it’s not lived in a vacuum in their day-to-day dealings.
Real life is goals and bargains and debts and trade-offs and concessions and two steps forward and one step back and sometimes one step forward and two steps back but by God keep trying to push in the right direction and that’s all you can do.
You get and give to get what you can and hope that the next time you can make a giant step instead of a baby step. And life goes on.
Live with it.
VBDems Join with Sierra Club on “Spill Here, Spill Now.” 0
I’ll be out of town, but you may not:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Susan Mariner
Chair, Virginia Beach Democratic Committee
(757) 692-0989
chair@vbdemocrats.org
www.vbdemocrats.orgOFFSHORE WIND EXPERT to SPEAK at VIRGINIA BEACH DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE EVENT
Virginia Beach, VA, May 18, 2010 — Ivy Main, Renewable Energy Chair of the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, will promote the possibilities of offshore wind versus offshore drilling at a May 22nd, 2010 Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Breakfast. The breakfast event begins at 9AM and will be held at Bubba’s Deli, 3600 Dam Neck Rd. The event is open to the public. Cost for a full breakfast buffet is $10 per person.
The Virginia Beach Democratic Committee believes that America’s prosperity and security demand an energy policy that focuses on clean, renewable sources. Committee members expressed disappointment that Governor McDonnell continues to push full speed ahead on offshore drilling in spite of the massive oil spill in the Gulf. “I am very concerned that Governor McDonnell doesn’t seem to be listening to the Navy, who has made it clear that they oppose drilling off Virginia’s coast, or to the citizens of Virginia Beach who are rightly worried about the welfare of our beautiful coastline,” said Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Chair Susan Mariner. [Virginian Pilot, May 18th, 2010]
The Virginia Beach Democratic Committee is the official branch of the Democratic Party in Virginia Beach. VBDC Chair Susan Mariner served as the Hampton Roads Political Director for Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Campaign.
Ivy Main can be seen giving a brief 2009 presentation on offshore wind at http://tinyurl.com/ydflyyl
Plumbing the History of Plumbing 0
The Guardian has a fascinating article, excerpted from a forthcoming book, on the development of accouterments of life that we take for granted, such as stairs and lawns. Here’s a nugget from the section on toilets:
But early toilets often didn’t work well. Sometimes they backfired, . . . .
Ursa Rising 0
Doug Noland at the Asia Times explains why he is bearish on the world economy.
There is a lot of financial industry lingo in the article, but plowing through it worth while. The bulk of it is in the first page and a half. The remainder is daily news summaries and citations. As I interpret it, his thesis is that, by sanctioning the creation and growth of instruments such as CDOs, governments, especially the U. S. government and the Fed under Alan Greenspan, encouraged a business model based on selling bags of air.
And that the detrimental results are not over yet.
A sample:
Net Neutrality 0
It is a small victory, but it is a victory nonetheless:
The justices rejected Cablevision’s appeal without any comment, siding with the FCC.
A U.S. appeals court in New York last year upheld the FCC’s decision to require Cablevision’s cable systems on Long Island to carry WRNN, a station from upstate New York that broadcasts mostly home-shopping programing.
Part of the bargain when cable companies came on the scene 40 years ago was that they would have to carry local television stations, because television is not just entertainment, but also a public service. (I know that’s difficult to believe; television seems to have turned into pubic service interrupted by murders and fantastically stupid (un)reality shows, but even today, when there is a blizzard or a flood, most persons turn to local television news to find out what’s going on.)
This was because many persons feared that the cable companies would simply ignore the local station, turning instead to “super-stations” (like WTBS and WGN).
The fact that now many persons have choice between cable from a cable company, cable from a telephone company, and satellite television does nothing to reduce the possibility that any one or all of them might decide that carrying local programming costs too much.
In this case, one might say, “But a home-shopping station? Oh, come on.” But the issue is not the content of the station; the issue was local programming versus national programming.
We cannot depend on corporations to make decisions based on the public good. If we could, no one would have ever heard of Glenn Beck. Just look around.
Republican Family Values 0
The gift that keeps on giving.
Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder 0
What Brendan said on bigoted eyeballs (warning: language).
Steve M. has more about the mysterious conspiracy.
Driving While Brown 1
It’s starting.
Just as predicted. Follow the link.
Tell me he wasn’t stopped because he was brown. If you buy that, I have a nice bridge for sale in Brooklyn.
Act here.
Meetthefacts Meets Meet the Press (Updated) 0
I heard about Meet the Facts dot com on this weekend’s On the Media.
Meet the Facts is an independent volunteer fact-checking project focusing on Meet the Press; it was started by two college students because David Gregory, the host of Meet the Press, refuses to fact-check his guests, claiming that members of the public can do their own fact-checking.
In addition to their fact-checking, Meet the Facts states how much time is required to fact-check each item to illustrate that, in fact (to coin a phrase), members of the public do not have the time to fact-check each item while also going to work, taking the kids to Little League, going to the store, and mowing the damned lawn for Heaven’s sake; they believe, indeed, that fact-checking is part of what conscientious journalists do.
I infer that they do not consider David Gregory to be a conscientious journalist, but that’s just me. Me, I haven’t watched a Sunday talker for 40 years and don’t intend to start now. I got better ways to waste my Sundays.
Here is their report on Mike Murphy’s claims on Sunday’s Meet the Press that (1) there is an illegal immigrant crime wave in Arizona and (2) the Obama administration has done nothing about it.
I’ll summarize the report for you:
Crap.
Follow the link above for the full analysis.
Lies work because persons repeat them without calling them out.
Addendum:
Meetthefacts considers criticisms of its conclusion in the case cited above.
Bachelorhood Becomes a Sin 1
Joan Vennochi in the Boston Globe:
WHY DOES a single career woman with short hair always have to answer the is-she-gay question?
The bigotry and stereotyping implicit in the questioning of Elena Kagan’s identity are most disgusting. Indeed, it is supremely icky.
Ms. Vennochi skewers it well.
Birth Rites 0
From Fact Check dot org:
(As journalists, we wonder, “Since when has a government official needed a law to ignore a request for information?” But we assume Hawaii officials have their reasons.)
Shorter version: Hawaii is tired of wasting its time with whackjob looney bigots.
Banana Fana Foe Fana 0
The name game, with new rankings:
But some families just can’t decide on a name for their new bundle of joy before leaving the hospital. Should they choose Samantha (ranked No. 21 statewide last year) or Savannah (23)? Aiden (14) or Ayden (77)?
“Guns Don’t Kill People. People Kill People.” 0
Except when the gun belongs to a policeman. Then it somehow manages to go off on its own.
Addendum:
Unrelated, but on the same topic: Karen has a sad tale.
In this case, the authorities seem to have decided to make someone pay. The shooter was not a cop.
It was kid, playing with a gun left unattended by its owner.
Celibation 0
James Carroll, a one-time seminarian, had a long and thoughtful meditation on celibacy and the priesthood in the Roman Catholic church. It ranges from the institution of the celibate priesthood in the 12th century to the relationship amongst the doctrines of celibacy and the Roman Catholic Church’s hostility to birth control and abortion. He sees a common thread in all three positions: maintaining power.
I commend it to your attention. A nugget:
The Old Softball Shoe 0
This is a softball story which has nothing to do with Elena Kagan.
The South Tahoe High School varsity players drank the soda at a team slumber party on May 1, hours after a game against Wooster High School of Reno, Nev.