2010 archive
Grains of Salt 0
It would be easy to denounce this as a “blame the victim” article, but it’s really more than that.
I think it’s us.
(snip)
Nope. It’s us.
The thought that people get the government they deserve also applies to media: People get the media they deserve. We seem to be fleeing substance at every opportunity, perhaps because substance is painful and hard to read and understand.
In its place, we embrace whatever is put in front of us and treat it as real and bathe in it for a while until another reality presents itself. Remember health care? Death panels were a big part of that debate until they weren’t. Then there is our compelling Kenyan president. Tea party people still believe that one.
Part of what makes a cliche a cliche is that it states a truth so well that repackaging that truth is difficult. Two cliches:
- Don’t believe everything you hear (though a chestnut too many ignore). These days, it’s a good idea also not to believe everything you see, even if you see it in person (research shows that eyewitness testimony is quite unreliable).
- Consider the source, especially when the source has a record of unreliability and an ax to grind. Even reliable persons of good will can make mistakes. To an ax grinder, everything is a new sharpening wheel.
I make no claim that my choice of topics here is fair and balanced. This is a hobby; I’m a loudmouth with a website. I don’t claim to be a journalist.
This blog is opinionated; I have my own axes that I sometimes grind.
I do try
- to pick axes that deserve grinding,
- to get facts straight (and correct errors when I learn of them), and
- to make clear where facts stop and opinion begins.
One thing I’ve learned in 50 years of following news is that, if it looks like it doesn’t make sense, it probably doesn’t.
Twits on Twitter 0
And they know where you are.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
No doubt the NRA will leap to the defense of this guy.
Smoke Break 0
BBC:
The judge adjourned the trial till tomorrow. It appears that there are no smoking areas at the courthouse.
I smoked for years. It is a nasty, dirty, dangerous habit, which delivers a little bit of pleasure now for a lot of hurt later. I support banning smoking in public places.
Nevertheless, tobacco is still a legal product; this smoking-areas-not-allowed is really going too far.
Wind 0
Good news from Maryland: Anne Arundel County (home of Annapolis) approves private energy windmills.
Be Popular. Fool with Your Friends. 0
With free ecards from the Democratic Party of Virginia.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
The wrong things go up, the wrong things go down:
“It’s still a horrible number. It’s just not as horrible as what people were looking for. Do you really view that as good news? Apparently the stock market does,” said Mary Ann Hurley, vice president of fixed-income trading at D.A. Davidson & Co in Seattle.
A separate report from the Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 37,000 to a seasonally adjusted 464,000 last week, more than erasing a decline in the prior week.
Echo Chamber 0
Media Matters has the timeline of the Shirley Sherrod smear. It is instructive in demonstrating how quickly the smear spread.
Meanwhile, Steve Benen discusses how conservative outrages tend to be manufactured nonsense.
There’s an App for That 0
iMugger iTracked during software demonstration:
“We kind of noticed while that was happening, boy, she was really starting to move pretty fast and she wasn’t heading back toward the place,” he said. “Moments later she comes bursting into the office and said she’d just been mugged.”
The mope was apprehended and handcuffs were applied.
Stray Thought 0
Serendipity is needing to mend something and finding a needle already threaded with the proper thread in the sewing box.
Shoplifting for Dummies 0
No vodka is worth this. It’s made from potato peels, for heaven’s sake. Charging more than $5.00 for a bottle represents the evils of marketing.
Scotch whisky, maybe worth it, but only a single malt.
Add all the fancy flavorings you want, it is rubbing alcohol with a degree from a diploma mill.
The only use for vodka is 8 parts to 1 part dry vermouth rocks olives with a dash juice from the olive jar for flavor, because gin tastes like turpentine.
A Pome, Not by Henry Gibson 0
Mad Kane:
The GOP’s Honesty Deficit
By Madeleine Begun KaneThough the GOP deficit hawks
Are famed for “must pay for it” squawks,
They nix plugging the hole
Caused by tax cuts. How droll!
Yes, that’s how hypocrisy talks.
QOTD 0
Ernest Hemingway, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.
Another Reason To Vote for Glenn Nye 0
Rigell hearts Wall Street banksters:
Via Blue Virginia.