July, 2011 archive
QOTD 1
H. L. Mencken, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
It was morality that burned the books of the ancient sages, and morality that halted the free inquiry of the Golden Age and substituted for it the credulous imbecility of the Age of Faith. It was a fixed moral code and a fixed theology which robbed the human race of a thousand years by wasting them upon alchemy, heretic-burning, witchcraft and sacerdotalism.
Oscar Material 0
“Duck, Dodge, and Dismantle” 2
Aside:
The interviewer spins wheels to get her to commit to concessions.
Of course, if she did so, they would not longer be “concessions.”
They would be the starting point in the next round of talks.
(I nearly wrote “negotiations” instead of “talks,” but there aren’t any “negotiations.” It takes two to “negotiate.” Going limp on the floor and yelling “my way or the highway” in Republican fashion is not “negotiating.”)
Cantor’s Cant 0
Scott Lehigh of the Boston Globe reviews documents that Eric Cantor claims support his budgetary positions and finds out that–surprise–they do not.
It doesn’t get much more revealing than that.
Follow the link for the evidence.
Medicare or Millionaires 0
Which do you prefer?
Via TPM, which has the Republican response, q. v.
John Cole comments on said Republican response:
QOTD 0
Agatha Christie’s character, Jane Marple:
I always think the worst. What is so sad is that one is so often justified in doing so.
Red Bull 0
Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Third Thursday Dinner 0
- What: Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Third Thursday Dinner
- When: July 21st, 6:00 PM
- Where: Kelly’s Hilltop Tavern, 1936 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23454 (map), in the nonsmoking section.
Show up, order off the menu (separate checks), socialize, and talk politics–or whatever else interests you.
See the website for more information.
“World’s Dumbest” Candidate 0
No, I’m not talking about a politician for once.
I’m talking about TruTV.
I once worked with a railroad police captain on a series of projects.
One thing that really irked him was the “cops and doughnuts” stories. He used to complain, “I don’t even like doughnuts.”
He would have told this clown that this was a bad idea:
Apple Patent Trolling Defeated 0
The use of bogus patent and trademark suits as a tactic to stifle competition is growing.
It’s nice to see one squelched.
(snip)
In a ruling late Monday, the U.S. International Trade Commission’s six-judge panel affirmed a preliminary decision in May that Kodak’s technology doesn’t infringe on Apple’s patent rights and that one of the two patents in dispute is invalid.
Facebook Frolics 0
All your dataz are belongz to Facebook, Gold Card version.
Through the new “Link, Like, Love” application on the American Express Facebook page, customers can link card accounts to their own pages. Cardholders’ Facebook use and circle of online friends — what Palo Alto, California-based Facebook Inc. calls a user’s “social graph” — will be used to personalize merchant deals, entertainment offers and other perks.
Full disclosure:
I use my AmEx card to the exclusion of other cards.
AmEx has treated me well, including getting me reaccommodated in record time after a missed airline connection in Phoenix. I had arranged a new flight through them before I got through the line to the airline service desk.
I wouldn’t sign up for this on a bet.
Wishes Do Come True 0
Two men broke into a police van because they wanted to pose pictures of themselves being arrested.
They locked themselves in, then they got their pictures, full-face and profile, down at the station..
Recidivists 0
It really is time to start rounding up banksters and putting them in jail.
Not the street hoods. The Moriaritys.
QOTD 0
Robert Heinlein, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t have steak.
