April, 2011 archive
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
The regular Thursday roller coaster report.
Up again:
The report also showed the number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those receiving extended payments dropped, a sign the jobless rate may fall in coming months. Companies have been cautious about ramping up hiring until they see further signs the recovery is self-sustaining, one reason why Federal Reserve policy makers yesterday pledged to complete their asset- purchase plan by June and keep borrowing costs near zero.
The portion I emphasized underscores the hollowness of claims that giving companies more profits leads to more hiring.
They are just stuffing more money in their mattresses.
Union Jacked 0
With just a touch of too late out of the gate:
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Goldman’s Sacks 0
In pictures.
Fracturing the Lens of History 0
For those of you who don’t understand how adherents of the Lost Cause can argue, even today, that slavery was not the cause of the American Civil War, I offer you this column in yesterday’s local rag.
The author employs a tactic which I remember from defenders of the Lost Cause during my youth, surrounded as I was by white folks whose ancestors wore the gray, as did my own, and who were distressed that the Civil Rights movement threatened Our Way of Life(TM).
He drags out the political minutiae of the last few months leading up to the war, creating a haze of detail about conventions and congresses and resolutions and proclamations, to avoid the ultimate truth:
If it were not for a desire to protect and perpetuate slavery, no Southern state would have seceded and no war would have ensued.
All the rest is sophistry, sophistry designed to avoid confronting the moral rottenness–the belief that some persons, because of the color of their skins, are destined by God to be bought, sold, and otherwise disposed of as property in perpetuity–at and in the heart of the Lost Cause.
A Sternly Worded Letter to the Editor has been dispatched.
Mania Nova 0
Josh Marshall identifies a new psychological pathology to be submitted for inclusion in the DSM:
Frankly, I think the President’s releasing the “long form” birth certificate was a silly idea.
In usenet lingo, the White House is feeding the trolls. Just makes them hungrier.
These birther trolls already have all the proof they need of Mr. Obama’s illegitimacy in office. In their eyes
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Prez ain’t white.
That ain’t right.
It is that simple.
Clown Cars 0
Clarence Page sees through the Donald’s act:
That’s why Trump steers attention away from himself, even to the point of raising questions about Obama’s college grades. “I heard he was a terrible student, terrible,” Trump said in an interview with the Associated Press. “How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard? I’m thinking about it, I’m certainly looking into it. Let him show his records.”
Of course, it is Trump who is sounding like a broken record. Sitting high and dry just like that water-barrel clown, it didn’t take the Donald long to figure out that no candidate goes unnoticed who panders to the Obamaphobes.
Follow the link to see why I chose the title for this post.
The Civility Fetish 0
Not that I’m against civility, but, as Josh Marshall points at TPM, facts matter as much as, if not more than tone of voice.
An excerpt:
Via Atrios.
Graham Plays the Trump Card 0
And gets trumped. Bearing false witness and all that.
Watch Lawrence O’Donnell trip him up in his own words.
Via Balloon Juice.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
Foreclosure fashionistas:
In the 15 months through March, at least 25 houses in the Las Vegas area changed hands for more than $3 million, with at least seven doing so through foreclosure or by selling at a loss, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and Clark County property records. In 2009, 14 homes sold for more than that amount, with one trading at a loss.
Drinking Liberally Tomorrow in Virginia Beach 0
Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us.
When: Wednesday, April 27, 6 p
Where:
Kelly’s Tavern
1936 Laskin Rd, # 201
Virginia Beach, Va. (Map)
More here.
Seen on the Street 2
Oh, my.
QOTD 0
William J. Brennan, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Law cannot stand aside from the social changes around it.
On Royal Wedddings 0
Tradition at Comically Vintage, plus what Field said.
