2010 archive
Old Movies 0
Remember how in old movies the bad guys would meet with each other in their hide out to plan their next heist and get into a fight with a rival gang?
Well.
Temper Tantrums 0
I used to have a boss who was a retired bird colonel USA. He told us that the army had taught him that, when there was a decision being considered, to
“. . . fight like hell until the decision is made, then shut up and make it work.”
Dick Polman on Republican “contempt for democracy” (the title of his post):
Having failed to get their way on health reform, the losers threw a tantrum and refused to let the grownups get on with the everyday business of governing – actually for the second straight day, thus confirming the recent vow by John “Country First” McCain that there “will be no cooperation for the rest of the year.”
It’s worth the five minutes it takes to read.
Dustbiters 0
It’s easier to choose a bank when there are fewer from which to choose.
Mark these off:
-
Desert Hills Bank, Phoenix, Arizona
Unity National Bank, Cartersville, Georgia
This is been going on for over a year, thanks to our financial geniuses.
And you should see the fish that got away.
Have Cake, Eat It Too 0
Bloomberg takes a poll:
Follow the link to see the full analysis. The incoherence of teabagging is stultifying.
How Crazy Is Too Crazy? Reprise 0
Michael Tomasky, writing at the Guardian, compares the US political climate in the Sixties with the climate today. Some nuggets (I couldn’t narrow it down to just one):
. . .
Now we have a radical movement, a wing of which is directly threatening violence not just against members of Congress, but in general, with this talk of insurrection and civil war we hear emanating from some quarters. And the courageous response of the GOP has been to put a narrow amount of “space” between the insurrectionists and themselves, but only when pressed to do so by the media.
. . .
This is twisted. You have a group of people who, unhappy with a legislative outcome legitimately reached by duly elected people, think it’s somehow their “right” to call that oppression and threaten violence. They are people, let’s be blunt, who know nothing about history and political thought.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
“Concealed carry to go! Get your concealed carry here!”
So say Utah and Florida, who don’t care whether you actually live in Utah or Florida, so long as your find happiness in a warm gun (emphasis added).
“It’s not Utah that has made the permit so valuable,” said W. Clark Aposhian, chairman of the state’s Concealed Weapons Review Board. “It’s other states that have made it so valuable.”
But the permit’s surge in popularity with out-of-state gun owners has given pause to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, who last September expressed fears that his state could become known as a “wholesale clearinghouse” for concealed-carry licenses.
(snip)
As to why Utah appears almost eager to help non-residents get concealed-weapons permits, Aposhian said, “I’d look at it from another way. We don’t just deny a permit based on a subjective line in the dirt where a border is. If you fit the requirements to possess a firearm legally and pass a background check on that, you’re entitled to the permit.”
These folks tend to claim to believe in states’ rights, that is, that states are sovereign within their own borders. Except when they don’t.
Full Disclosure: I have nothing against guns. Used properly by skilled shots, guns can be useful and shooting guns can be fun. Some of my leftie buddies go to the range frequently.
Packing heat in Starbucks does not proper use constitute.
Packing heat on The Hill in Wilmington is just asking for trouble.
I have nothing against guns. I’m against stupid.
H/T Karen for the link.
Knowledge Is Bad, Truth in Healthcare Dept. 0
The Health Care Reform bill includes a provision to create a body to study the comparative effectiveness of treatments for ailments.
The health industry doesn’t like that. Buried in a story at Bloomberg (emphasis added):
Heaven forbid that doctors should know which brand of snake oil works best.
Farmwillies 0
I grew up on a farm.
To me, farming=work. It makes me go all over Maynard G. Krebs.
Not so, apparently, city folk. The BBC attempts to understand the fascination of Farmville:
See the Sub 0
Video tour of the USS New Mexico.
How Crazy Is Too Crazy? 0
I observed in an email to one of my two or three regular readers:
Boy the crazies are coming out of the woodwork like termites swarming in the old Orkin commercial.
(Thus betraying my age. “When termites start swarming/you have to take warning./Call Otto the Orkin man.” I tried to find it on YouTube but could not. It’s too old.)
She emailed back:
They really are. It wasn’t this bad in Dallas in the 60’s.
She grew up in Dallas in the Sixties.
I suggested that, if the actions of the KKK, the bombings of churches during the civil rights struggles, and stuff like that were taken into account, the violence of the Sixties might rank right up there.
Over at SLANTBlog, F. T. Rea also differs with my reader. He says in part
(snip)
I’m old, I’ve seen this kind of crap before.
But then I got thinking. There is something different today.
Back in the Sixties, when I was a young ‘un, the national leaders of both the Republican and the Democratic Parties neither excused nor encouraged the violence.
One cannot say that about the leadership of today’s Republican Party.
I have not before seen the leadership or those who are seen* to represent the leadership of a major United States political party excuse, embrace, and encourage violence without rebuke from their own party.
The Republican Party has shown itself to favor uncivil government.
_____________________
*If the Republican Party cared to disavow the Becks, the Hannitys, the Limbaughs, or any of the other haters, it could easily do so with a press release. It choses not to. By its silence, it endorses them.
What Goes Up Must Come Down 0
A pome, not by Henry Gibson.
- Someone shot a bullet into the air.
It came to Earth in Cantor’s lair.
So Eric said, “Vandalized!”
Said the cops, “Not in our eyes.
“The shot was fired vertically.
It descended spinningly.
Falling, falling, it struck Eric’s glass.”
Thus Eric fibs, for he’s an ass.
Inspiration here. Commentary here.
Blame the Victim 0
National Republican Campaign Committee spokesman says that Tom Perriello is responsible for Mr. Perrielo’s brother’s propane line being cut, apparently in retaliation for Mr. Perriello’s vote for the health care bill.
Blue Virginia quotes the Roanoke, Va., Times, then comments.
While his organization doesn’t condone such behavior, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Andy Sere said Perriello is not the victim.
“Central and Southside Virginians are the ones who are going to have the bear the burden of increased taxes,” he said. “What you’re seeing is a frustration among his constituents who believe he’s not listening to them.”
That’s right, according to the NRCC spokesman, threats of violence (and worse) against his family are actually Tom Perriello’s fault because he had the audacity to vote for health care reform. In other words, the NRCC spokesman is arguing, in America if you disagree with a policy of your government or a vote by your duly elected representative, the recourse is not the “ballot box” but the metaphorical “bullet box.”
Follow the link for the entire post.
Nowhere To Go, Nothing To Do 0
Still slightly under half a mil:
Using the old seasonal factors, claims would have dropped only to 453,000. The prior week’s claims figures were revised to show a 5,000 rise instead of a drop. Analysts, who had expected claims to slip to 450,000, said the data was a step in the right direction.