May, 2013 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness in the “happiest place on earth.”
A grandmother handed a Cobra .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol about noon to a park attendant, who immediately contacted security and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
The gun nut in question was quoted as saying the gun fell out of his pocket.
If there were an intelligence test for gunutt–oh, never mind.
Journanimalism 0
ABC embraces its role as GOP flack.
We Need Single-Payer 0
Cut through the rhetoric and the lies.
What it means is that the Republican Party does not want you to have affordable health care.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Via C&L.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 1
Heidi Moore distrusts the numbers.
She suspects that reports of recovery are overblown and that the “housing recovery” isn’t so much a “recovery” as the next stage of foreclosure frenzy.
In this case, they may be creating the boom themselves. House-flipping in California has reached levels not seen since 2005, according to the Wall Street Journal. This rise in price is, by all accounts, artificial. Housing, like all products, responds to the laws of supply and demand. When supply decreases – when there are fewer homes on the market – then prices will rise. This is what is happening now.
And I’m still waiting for sequestrian dressage to start affecting the numbers, because it will.
Endless War?
0
Shaun Mullen is buoyed by President Obama’s recent speech, in which he promised to try to do something about endless war. A nugget:
Republicans predictably took to the fainting couch en masse, because — let’s face it folks — you either like war or you don’t like it, and the ideologues who have bent the Grand Old Party out of any recognizable shape believe there is no higher calling than shedding American blood on foreign soil no matter how flimsy the reasons for doing so may be.
Follow the link for his full thoughtful analysis. As I write this, the post has three comments which quite thoughtfully pertain to the post.
A Bridge To Mar 1
Dick Polman reports on the sad state of bridges and other infrastructure, then identifies part of the problem.
There it is, your bridge repair money at work.
A Reader’s Guide to Pols and Pundits 0
Bella Depaulo explains why we are so bad at detecting lies.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
A memorial to politeness:
Detectives said that Kimble’s 8-year-old daughter reported the shooting by calling 9-1-1. Two of Kimble’s other daughters, ages 11 and 13, were also inside the home.
Yesterday’s War 0
E. J. Dionne finds precedent for Oklahoma’s Senator Coburn’s initial statement on federal disaster aid for victims of the Moore, Okla., tornado:
Make no mistake, it’s still about keeping the big house big and the subjugated in subjugation
The rest is window-dressing.
Droning On 0
The handwritings on the wall–er–train.
The new drone, outfitted with an infrared camera and the company’s red and white logo, will use GPS to document the times and places where vandals are observed, making it easier to prosecute offenders. Flying at an altitude of some 150 meters (492 feet), it will be able to keep watch for more than 80 minutes at a time, quietly whizzing through the sky at up to 54 kilometers (33 miles) per hour. It can also be put on autopilot function for stretches as long as 40 kilometers, the paper said.
“It’s Turtles All the Way Down” 0
We went to the Gardens yesterday, after breakfast at the club (it’s open to the public–breakfast was quite nice and the staff was very friendly).
Quite a little group of families on their way to a birthday garden party gathered to watch. One of the mothers told us that the turtles are red-eared sliders, which, frankly, sounds like something you could buy, but wouldn’t want to, at a White Castle.
Watch a short turtle video (AVI).
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
A carnival of politeness to memorialize:
A 14-year-old boy from Hampton was shot in the back and is now listed in critical condition. A 17-year-old boy from Newport News was shot in the leg and has since been released from the hospital. An 18-year-old male from Hampton was also shot in the leg and went home to recover. A 16-year-old Newport News girl was shot in the ankle and also went home.
Police said the shooting happened a few blocks from the Hampton Carnival in the 1900 block of Coliseum Drive. Davis’ family members told WAVY.com they did not understand why the shootings happened at a place their kids were supposed to feel safe.
According to gun nut logic, if everyone had been packing, this would not–oh, wait.
School for Scamdal, “Hard-Left Ideology” Dept. 2
Ruth Ann Dailey seems to think that President Obama has a “hard-left ideology” but that, since voters like him, the Republican scamdals won’t touch him.
All that that tells me is she hasn’t been paying attention to what President Obama actually says and does.
Not even I, leftie liberal as I may be, have a “hard left ideology.”
And, compared to me, Obama is a cupcake.
Global Warming Is a Hoax, Except Reality 0
A rising tide floods all houses.
Currently, homes built in such areas must be built 1 foot above where floodwaters can rise. The higher elevation would bring the requirement up to 3 feet and is one of several changes proposed.
City staff originally pushed for an increase to 2 feet last year, but a rise in the sea level caused the Planning Commission to go higher, Vice Chairman Martin Thomas Jr. said. Already, the city has seen a dramatic increase in the number of properties with recurring flood damage.
