September, 2013 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Pubescent politeness.
The girl was sleeping in her Hayward home early Thursday when a stray bullet from a nearby shooting wounded her in the buttocks.
Misdirection Play, an Emily Post Post 0
Cleveland area school district arranges for an etiquette consultant.
(snip)
The class will cover the importance of respecting others, making eye contact, social graces, cellphone etiquette, how to write thank you notes and more.
“Bad manners are at an epidemic level in our society. We’ve made kids today so reliant on technology that many are incapable of sitting in a living room and having a conversation.”
Technology does not cause rudeness.
It may facilitate it, especially when the rude can hide behind anonymity, but blaming some hazy “technology” for causing rudeness is as absurd as blaming automobile engines–also a technology–for causing bad driving.
I used to do “communications” training for supervisors (known in the trainer’s locker room as “how to talk good”) back before there was a computer in every pocket.
People were rude in the olden days too.
Only they left behind no evidence thereof engraven in eternal electrons.
Afterthought:
If the kids learn anything, more power to the class.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
Picture the God Squad.
Cooch and the Coal King 0
Know them by the company they keep.
Missed America 0
Daniel Ruth reviews the bigoted racist responses to the selection of an American of Indian descent as Miss America (which have been well covered elsewhere in these electrons), and has a wonder.
What is wrong with so many people in this country?
The other day, the great Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts, bemoaning the nation’s apparent lack of interest in any remote semblance of reasonable gun control in the face of repeated mass shooting deaths, raised an elegantly simple point.
Is America crazy?
It’s a reasonable question. But, with all due respect to Pitts, it would seem there is another question to raise.
When a Miss America contestant can generate such a groundswell of hatred, vitriol and ignorant accusations, is America stupid?
Follow the link.
Hunger Gamers 0
Republicans vote to kick poor folks off food stamps.
Elsewhere, E. J. Dionne comments on the logic of these tactics. A nugget:
These are not nice people.
The Secesh, Zombie Apocalypse Dept. 0
Determined to be where they are not wanted.
Craig Cobb, 61, purchased a dozen plots of land in Leith (pronounced ‘Leeth’) and plans to turn it into a colony for white supremacists, the Bismark Tribune reported last month. He has already sold or transferred ownership of some plots to people who share his white nationalist beliefs, and advertised the town as a place where “responsible hard core” white nationalists can fly “racialist” banners, the New York Times reported.
Read the story from the Bismark Tribune.
Visit the town’s nascent website.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 1
Gutting out the vote in Virginia:
Every state periodically cleans their lists to remove duplicate registrations. However, unlike most states, Virginia officials are sending notices to voters stating that their registrations have already been cancelled, with no prior notice, only weeks before the October 14th deadline to register for the November election. If a legitimate Virginia voter’s registration is cancelled by mistake and that voter doesn’t see the notice in time to re-register, they’ll be effectively disenfranchised.
Follow the link. Sign the petition.
It likely will not stop this, but do not sit by quietly. Remember, Republicans do this stuff because they know that cheating is their best strategy.
There is virtue in protesting the detestable.
Afterthought:
For all I know, I’m one of the 57,000. I don’t know whether I’m still on Delaware’s or possibly even Pennsylvania’s roles.
I expect the great majority, perhaps almost all, are persons who have moved, registered legally in their new locations, and have no intention of gaming the system.
System-gaming is a Republican thing.
Water over the Damned 0
As I said once, I’m not a big Al Sharpton fan, but, as my old boss used to say, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.