January, 2014 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another gun joins the politeness improv.
A 25-year-old Riverton man was accidently shot in the upper leg by his wife Sunday afternoon.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office says the couple was target practicing with several friends near Hutchison Road when the 9mm handgun she was using went off striking the man.
First, There Was Duck Dynasty 0
Now comes Tennessee with Redneck Reality. Here’s a snippet from the preview in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press.
Of course, those rights haven’t been endangered, but never you mind. Pretending there is a war on Christmas has helped Sarah Palin sell her new book, and stirring the fear pot has helped Fox News get more clicks on the Fox Nation opinion website.
More down home doings at the link.
Facebook Frolics 0
You can’t make this stuff up.
The Wauwatosa couple received an anonymous letter in the mail this month.
“It’s a little upsetting seeing, hearing and reading about someone’s vacations all year while we all can’t afford one,” it said.
The letter went on to tell them to stop being so selfish and have some kids.
More frolics at the link.
Coming Unglued . . . 0
. . . so I pulled the drawer out to re-glue it and a squatter moved in.
“Give Peace a Chance” 0
The Booman remembers Pete Seeger.
State of the Union Address 0
I’ll read about it tomorrow. That’s what newspapers are for.
In the meantime, I wish for the end of inane acronyms like POTUS and FLOTUS and SOTU.
A pox on the reporters and bloggers who think such constructions are cutesy-wutesy. They should STFU.
In other news, the snow in the street is up to the level of the top of the curb, indicating that five or six inches have already fallen, and it looks to keep up all night. Looks like a snow day tomorrow. See some pictures here.
One of the nice things about where I live is that I won’t have to shovel snow!
More on Marriage Malice 0
Governor McAuliffe has declined Republican requests that he defend Virginia’s laws to persecute persons for being.
Monday afternoon, McAuliffe declined Del. Bob Marshall’s request for him to appoint outside counsel on a federal challenge to that law scheduled for a hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
Seeing Delegate Bob Marshall’s name in the story is no surprise. He is a weather vane, unfailingly pointing in the direction of hate-full-ness on every social issue. The forces of persecution for being are so frustrated that some are calling for impeaching Attorney-General Herring. Their discomfiture is gratifying.
If it is true that you can judge a person by the enemies he or she makes, Mr. Herring is a pretty decent fellow.
Elections matter, folks.
RIP Pete Seeger 0
Pete Seeger passes away after almost a century of championing the dispossessed and the persecuted.
I saw him in person once, at the Mobe in 1969, where he led the crowd in “All We Are Saying Is Give Peace a Chance.”
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
It’s all about living in a John Wayne movie.
The Fee Hand of the Market 0
I was at a gathering recently with someone who considers himself a “Libertarian.” He was a nice guy, but, for some reason, not receptive to my position that “Libertarianism is a sophisticated rationale for amoral selfishness that refuses to recognize the sociological reality of original sin” (that is, the innate capacity and willingness of humans to do bad things because they can get away with them). (I was slightly more tactful than that, but not much.)
Discourse with ideologues is difficult. No mind is more closed than that of a true believer.
I did not pull out my “A Libertarian is a Republican who is ashamed to admit it” argument. I am saving that for a future encounter . . . .
Image via Bartcop.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
I wonder what gave him away: the little fluffy white tail or the antlers.
Early in his career, my brother lived in Vermont for a couple of years. They used to get hunters passing though. One day he told me of overhearing an exchange between two of them at a gas station. It went something like this:
“Did you bag anything?”
“No, but I got off a couple of ‘sound shots.'”
What, you may ask (he did) is a “sound shot.”
Jumping through Whoops 0
Deaths from whooping cough soar in Cali. I trust the anti-vaccine zealots find this gratifying:
Other factors include the cyclical nature of the disease and an increasing number of parents opting out of immunizations for their children.
Much more at the link.
I can remember seeing grainy black and white pictures of kids in iron lungs because of polio on the telly vision when I was young. Mumps nearly killed my parents when I was about four (mumps is much more serious in adults than in children). There were many family tales of children almost dying from whooping cough or measles and perhaps tales I did not hear of those who did; I do know that, in the graveyard at the little country church my family has attended since before the War of 1812, there are lots of tiny little graves.
Vaccines put an end to that. Now, fear and hysteria based on fraudulent claims threaten to bring it all back.
Penn and Teller explain vaccination (Warning: Language).
Penn and Teller via PoliticalProf.
