July, 2011 archive
Words Fail Me 0
The Republican Party has become a subversive organization, willing to send the country into default to further their partisan goals. They have crossed from “conservative” to “nihilist.”
Even Grover Norquist has bailed on them (see the link below).
The Booman sums it up:
This is what happens when the Republicans win big in an election. Horrible things happen.
Wanted: Get Out of Jail Free Card 0
Grants of immunity usually come after charges are filed.
The mortgage servicers want protection from additional state and federal claims over their mortgage practices as part of reaching a settlement that may exceed $20 billion, according to the people, who declined to be named because the talks are private. The banks are seeking releases that go beyond servicing of mortgages to include lending and securitization of loans, one of the people said.
These are not nice people.
Linguistics 0
In the Chicago Tribune, Megan Crepeau decodes Congressman Allen West’s (R, My-Way-or-the-Highway) charge that Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is “not a lady” because she dared to disagree with one of his political stances.
After pointing out that the Congresswoman is neither a British peer nor a 19th Century robber baron’s trophy wife, she concludes with
But West takes it very seriously, and here’s why: When he said “lady,” he was speaking in code. To old-fashioned conservative men like West, “lady” just means “someone who agrees with me,” or at least “someone who disagrees with me quietly.” To be a “lady” is to be docile, calm and uncritical. West thinks that since his colleague is just a woman, not a lady, she doesn’t deserve to “be afforded due respect.”
Birds in the Bush 0
When the parents return to the nest with food for the tykes, they take a roundabout path, dodging, pausing, doubling back, while frequently looking around. I’m no birdologist, but it appears to me that they’re being cautious to avoid leading predators back to the nest.
No birds were touched in the taking of this photograph.
Gang of Six Warfare 0
Pure political theatre.
Any “big solution to a big problem” conceived in crisis mode is likely to solve nothing.
Nevertheless, I appreciate that President Obama has to play the hand he has been dealt from the bottom of the deck by the three-card monte dealers called the Republican Party.
The good part starts about halfway through, when the subject of Allen West (R., Cyberbully) comes up.
When Life Gives You Lemons . . . 0
. . . break something.
“I hit the first $25,000 car I could see,” Cross told the Herald. “I didn’t hit a car under $20,000. Then I moved a van that they wouldn’t come down on the price for. I moved it with the lemon they sold me. I just held it to the floor until I couldn’t move it anymore. I took out seven vehicles, including my own.”
The public is rallying to his defense.
Via Dave Barry.
QOTD 0
Jessamyn West, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
How can you tell whether or not you have had enough until you’ve had a little too much?
Bible Thumpers 0
It seems to have been part of a variation of the old badger game, in which theft, rather than extortion, was the goal:
Like so many who recommend reading the Bible, they ignore the messages.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Standing Up for the Budget 0
The Stand-Up Economist on how it works:
We don’t have a budget deficit because the left wing believes in mandates, or because the right wing believes in markets. We have a budget deficit because the centrist voters believe in magic!
Via DelawareLiberal.
A Modest Proposal 1
I have a pretty low opinion of Ralph Nader.
His best days are far behind him, and his fits of scolding everyone have become tiresome.
Then there’s that enabling George the Worst thing.
But I must admit that he raises a good question in a recent column in the Chicago Trib, to wit (I’m paraphrasing here):
Read it.
Fake Fruit 0
Counterfeiting entire walled orchard fruit stands, er, Apple Stores, in China.
There is no truth to the rumor that I’m starting that they were inspired by Wall Street Banks, who posed as legitimate businesses with solid products while selling bags of air securitized mortgages and credit default swaps.
“It looked like an Apple store. It had the classic Apple store winding staircase and weird upstairs sitting area. The employees were even wearing those blue T-shirts with the chunky Apple name tags around their necks,” she wrote on her blog.
The scale of the operation does inspire a sort of grudging admiration.
More at the link.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
For all practical purposes, no change:
