From Pine View Farm

August, 2011 archive

I Get Mail 0

Heh.

I can’t wait to see which Republican candidate will terrify me into voting for Obama again.

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Cantor’s Cant 0

I was too young in 1961 to notice this cartoon, but the description of it really does capture the sense of entitlement central to Republicanism:

A 1961 drawing by the great Washington Post cartoonist Herblock showed Barry Goldwater, the conservative Republican and retail heir, looking down disdainfully at a poor woman and her children and saying, “If you had any initiative, you’d go out and inherit a department store.” I can picture a similar cartoon featuring Rep. Eric Cantor, the current House majority leader.

Follow the link to see the writer Cantorize the wound.

Afterthought:

In Republican world, there’s never enough money to help the poor and always enough money to help the rich.

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QOTD 0

Napoleon Bonaparte, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):

What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history? A fable agreed upon.

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Grounded 0

Linda Clawson and Sam Seder analyze the Republican tactics and goals in the now-ended FAA funding hostage situation.

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Schools Have a Koch Problem 0

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Stray Thought 0

Have you ever noticed that, when God talks to Republicans, he always tells them exactly what they want to hear, even though the answer to one contradicts the answer to the other?

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Deficit Drumbeats along the Yongding 2

Through state media, China is taking advantage of the US financial situation to suggest that US military spending is too high. A snippet from the Asia Times report:

The message was point-blank – China should not be expected to finance the US military and Beijing has the right to exert greater leverage over the Pentagon’s humungous budgetary allocations (currently at $649 billion per annum). The new assertiveness on the part of China over US military spending is more radical that any spending-cuts proposal from the deficit-phobic Republican Party, as the former takes a stab at the core of American hard power and might in the world.

I tend to agree that US military spending is out of control, though I am certain my path to that conclusion is much different from China’s. As I heard today, nine days worth of military spending in Afghanistan would fill the budget hole at the US Post Office.*

I suspect China is primarily concerned with protecting their investments in US T-Bills.

Aside:

The Republican Party is not “deficit-phobic.” It is deficit prone, as a casual acquaintance with its track record shows. Its current “deficit-phobia” is a tactic, more three-card monte.

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*Next week, the show link will move from “Current Show” to the Show Archives. It’s kind of a screwy way to do it, but that’s how their website works.

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Why I’ve Lost Interest in College Sports 0

Bob Molinaro, discussing rumors of another college conference reshuffle in my local rag:

. . . yet another reminder that television and boosters – not administrators – call the shots at the top of the football food chain.

(snip)

As you may have noticed, tradition in college sports doesn’t exist anymore. Unless you’re talking about the tradition of winking at ethics and decency.

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The Secret of Political Success 0

At Comically Vintage.

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Polarization 0

What the Booman said.

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QOTD 0

George Orwell:

As with the Christian religion, the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents.

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Site Redesign Update, Web Cerfing Dept. 0

This theme allows me to post the complete Bennett Cerf quotation that forms the motto of this blog.

Bennett Cerf was a genius, a scholar, a gentleman, and a lover of English, which he showed in his affection for puns, the horribler the better.

As a country boy who has become a city boy, I can attest to the accuracy of this particular quotation.

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And Now for Something Completely Different 0

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Seen on the Street 0

Or, more properly, on the CBBT.

Boids

I have the boid book out and am trying to figure out what they are. My very tentative guess so far is immature gulls.

Read more »

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Tea and Cookie Cutters 0

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A Herd of Cats 0

Cat Graph

Via Paying Attention.

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Why Your Vote Matters 0

Bill Maher explains:

Congress has the lowest approval rating ever. 82 percent of the American people say Congress sucks. But to be fair, these are the same idiots who voted these people in, so they can go suck it as far as I’m concerned.

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Hostage-Taking 0

Bill Maher:

There are consequences to voting for economic terrorists. There’s a rumor that Joe Biden called the Republicans terrorists this week. And they were furious about this. They were so upset about being called terrorists, they went out and took the FAA hostage.

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All Hat, No Cattle 0

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Trends in Comment Spam 0

The newest trend in comment spam seems to be yahoos promising to help me improve my SEO.

Since they can find me, I don’t think there’s a problem. Heck, I’d rather they didn’t find me.

Anyway, I’ve never been interested in trying to fake out Teh Giggle, and fake out is what these bozos are selling.

Also, before I pecked this out on the typing machine, I did something I have not done in several years, not since I registered my domain name: Searched for “pine view farm” with several search engines. The results were interesting.

According to my stats, the search that brings the greatest number of referrals here is consistently the James Beard Hollandaise Sauce recipe. followed by the Steak with Mushroom, Onion, Red Wine Sauce recipe.

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