July, 2012 archive
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
“Look! Up in the Sky!” 0
Er, whoops.
The neighbor’s phone rings. The kid knocks. The Air Force shows up in a caravan to reclaim what is lost and promptly launches an investigation to learn the details of how this happened.
How, that is, a behemoth C-17 cargo plane landed at the wrong airfield.
What are the odds that the crew will end up on drone duty?
Self-Made 0
In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ruth Ann Dailey spins a little tale that both skewers some sanctimonious* lefties and casts light on the rightwing reaction to President Obama’s statement that (I’m paraphrasing here) every successful person had a little help along the way.
Read it all the way through (the punch line is at the end, natch).
______________________
*Sanctimony is never well-timed and seldom welcome.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
There’s no there there. TPM:
The state signed a stipulation agreement with lawyers for the plaintiffs which acknowledges there “have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such investigations or prosecutions in other states.”
It’s all hype and hypocrisy.
Misdirection Plays, Suffer the Children Dept. 5
At the Guardian, Dave Zirin argues that the NCAA sanctions against Penn State are a gross abuse of power. A snippet:
As rotten and corrupt as big-time college sports are, Zirin may have a point. It’s certainly worth thinking about.
More to the point, in my opinion, is this: Penn State’s cover up of a serial pederast was not about football, though the worship of football made the cover-up easier.
It was about powerful persons protecting other powerful persons because they were all members of the same club. A football team, a board of directors, a religious hierachy–all clubs with their insiders who consider their fellows to be better than everyone else because, after all, they would not be insiders otherwise, now, would they?
The NCAA sanctions will encourage persons to think that the issue has somehow been dealt with, so they can enjoy their NFL and college football games, drink their beers, and buy their overpriced branded swag without thinking of the rot on the sidelines, in the locker rooms, and in front offices.
And persons will think that the NCAA sanctions somehow address the rot and avert their eyes from the the amoral corruption of rich Insiders’ Clubs throughout business, politics, religion, and, yes, sports, because
Both Sides Now 0
Republicans want the evul fedrul guv’mint to go away, except when they don’t.
Gov. Bob McDonnell said the June 29-July 1 storms, which included hail and fierce winds known in meteorological terms as a derecho, “required extraordinary response and recovery efforts at the local and state levels.” Forty-seven localities declared emergencies.
Guns and Poses 0
Noz muses about calls not to “politicize” stuff. A nugget:
(snip)
i really can’t think of any time the “politicizing” objection ever comes up other than when some nutball takes advantage of the lax gun laws in the u.s. and blows away a bunch of innocent people. when that happens, then suddenly asking serious questions about the policies that allowed that to happen is a grievous sin against the victims of the tragedy, in the way that practical questions following any other kind of tragedy is not. it’s a crazy double standard, one that manages to shut down real discussion of an issue that certain parties don’t want discussed.
Follow the link to read the snippage. It’s worth the two minutes.
I’ve learned that it’s “politics” when you lose, a “process of negotiation and compromise” when you win.
Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach Tomorrow 0
Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and help our chapter leader celebrate her birthday.
When: Tuesday, July 24nd, 6 p.
Where New Location:
Yard House Virginia Beach
4549 Commerce Street (Map)
More here.
Mitt the Flip Back in Time 0
I remember sitting on the swing on the side porch in the late ’50s, after reading some apocalyptic article in Readers Digest, thinking that it was good that I lived within 40 miles of the largest military complex in the world, since the firewall from the nuclear bomb would take us out and we wouldn’t have to worry about the aftermath of World War III.
The Cold War was entering the chilly stasis where it would remain for the next three decades. The United States and the Soviet Union had recently had dueling “atmospheric” H-bomb tests. The Korean stalemate had not yet solidified and the failed revolution in Hungary was a recent event. “Who lost China” was a political bludgeon in campaigns (as if China had ever been ours to lose), and Ike was sending the first “advisors” to Viet Nam.
Trudy Rubin considers Mitt the Flip’s foreign policy statements, then wonders whether he is still sitting on that swing, lost in the past.
One telling example: Earlier this year, he made the stunning claim that Russia was “our number-one geopolitical foe,” prompting former Secretary of State Colin Powell to comment, “C’mon, Mitt, think. That isn’t the case.”
Romney’s cold war mind-set prevents him from coming to grips with the major global problems he would have to deal with. In October, in a major foreign policy speech, he insisted: “This century must be an American century. In an American century, America leads the free world, and the free world leads the entire world.”
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Senator Nelson of Florida speaks out:
Firearms Fantasies 2
The BooMan:
Also, they won’t give up their full-metal-jacket Viagra.
Read the whole thing.
Twits on Twitter: Xtreme Bad Sports Dept. 0
Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up.
I cannot wait for the quadrennial athletic marketing orgy in Ye Olde Country to be over.
Also, too.
