May, 2012 archive
UnAmerican Activities Deportment 0
At MarketWatch, Al Lewis (no, not that Al Lewis) takes a scathing look at those who give up their US citizenship so they don’t have to pay taxes. A nugget:
Caught between your money and your country, you chose your money. You sold your American soul.
Read the rest.
“And Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The absurdity of gunnuttery on review (as the newsreels used to say). Let’s call it “the Dillinger Defense.”
You can’t make this stuff up.
Details at the link.
Aside:
If you’re too young to know about newsreels . . . .
The Voter Fraud Fraud, War on Women Dept. 0
Glomarization reports:
It’s simple. Republicans don’t want the people to vote. If the people vote, Republicans lose.
And they know it.
Dustbiters 0
The FDIC is still managing to find some nuggets to munch on.
Droning On (the Couch) 0
At Asia Times, Pepe Escobar channels a drone’s visit to its shrink. Oh! the agony!
A nugget:
Dr Puant: But there must be a problem, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.
Drone patient: That’s right, Doc. And that concerns all those miscreants saying we’re sort of, like, illegal killers. C’mon, we are model workers! We never complain. We never sleep. We don’t engage in commie protests. These people don’t seem to have listened to my mentor Mr Brennan [White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan].
Flip Side 0
Noz has a somewhat different perspective on Mitt the Flip:
“It’s not that the campaign cared whether Ric Grenell was gay,” one Republican adviser said. “They believed this was a nonissue. But they didn’t want to confront the religious right.”
romney will be the GOP nominee. the religious right is not going to vote for obama. standing up to the religious right might even help him to win over independents, the people who will actually decide the general election. and yet mitten is so scared of making christian conservatives mad that he’s willing to toss overboard an advisor whose expertise he values.
In fairness (Noz is nothing if not fair), he goes on to point out that political cowardice is not limited by party lines.
They Only Think of One Thing 0
The Republican preoccupation with sex is downright creepy.
Loathe Thy Neighbor 2
The Republican subservience to the politics of hate has been on display this week as Mitt the Flip flipped off a newly hired aide for being gay.
Dick Polman calls the Flipper out:
Meanwhile, Leonard Pitts, Jr., citing this speech, skewers the notion that Jesus missed his word and actually meant to say, “Loathe they neighbor”:
Vines points out, for instance, that the frequently quoted condemnation (homosexuality is an “abomination”) from the Old Testament lawbook of Leviticus has no application to Christians, who are bound by the teachings of the New Testament. He explains that St. Paul’s admonitions about the “effeminate” and “abusers of themselves with mankind” stem from modern mis-translations of ancient Greek terminology.
. . . and Eric Zorn muses on the Flipper’s subservience to bigotry, predicting he will have more opportunities to show his independence from the hate:
Zorn left out this bit: pigs, wings.
Facebook Frolics 0
The Sheriff fired the deputy for his “liking” the Sheriff’s opponent in the campaign:
“Going to a candidate’s Facebook page and liking it in my view is a political statement. It’s not a very deep one, but you’re making a statement when you like a person’s Facebook page,” Messner said.
Ducks on a Pond Roof
0
One does not thing of ducks as birds that perch, so I was somewhat taken aback to see two of them walking around on the roof of the adjacent building. Here’s one. It’s a good hundred yards away, so, even with the long lens, it’s not quite as sharp as I would wish, but the novelty makes up for that:
The Galt and the Lamers 0
Dick Destiny captures a delicious screenshot; he attributes it to the magic of keyword advertising.
Follow the link to enjoy.
Where Are They Now? 0
Droning On 0
Drones go to college.
Why do I keep remembering the scene in The Matrix in which the drones dumped Neo’s body out of its pod?
More Dulcet Tones 0
I have another podcast up at HPR.