November, 2014 archive
Fraternity Row (Updated) 0
When I was an undergraduate, a long time ago, I did not join a fraternity. I never quite figured out why I should pay dues to get drunk, when I could get drunk quite nicely on my own, thank you very much. As far as I could tell from my seat in the bleachers, getting drunk and molesting women was what fraternities were all about.
After graduation, I did a year of graduate work at Mr. Jefferson’s University. One of the traditions was for a fraternity to burn a random car in “Mad Bowl” during some campus celebration I forget the name of.
Consequently, I am confident that this will work out as intended.
Also, pigs, wings.
Afterthought:
AFAIC, the whole United States “Greek” system should be abolished. Doing so will not expunge evil from this world, but it will end a little bit of institutionalized evil.
Addendum, Later That Same Day:
The InterFraternity Council admitted that the fraternity members who pelted participants in Friday’s Take Back the Night protest against sexual assault with eggs and waved dildos at them behaved in a manner that did “not reflect the values of the Greek community at SDSU.”
The fact is that this does, indeed, reflect the “values of the Greek community,” and not just at SDSU.
This has been another episode of watch what they do, not what they say.
Droning On 2
I found out when I was a teen-aged boy that “because you can” is not a good reason for doing something.
Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor Oh, Forget It, Reprise
0
Erwin Chemerinsky and Samuel Kleiner, both distinguished legal scholars, consider Republican outrage of President Obama’s daring to act as he were President, for Pete’s sake.
The heated Republican rhetoric in response to President Obama’s immigration announcement is unquestionably table-pounding. His opponents have neither the law nor the facts on their side, so they have resorted to name calling and threats.
Remember, Republicans are outraged because hate sells and their base is buying.
Sham Sandwich (Updated) 0
Addendum, a Little Bit Later:
PoliticalProf agrees. A snippet from his response to a reader’s question:
So no indictment is no surprise.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Show politeness to others, and the politeness shall rebound upon you.
He pulled the hammer back on the gun to emphasize his threat. Later, he tried released the hammer, but the gun fired while Emery had it pointed at his face.
Power Grab 6
I think Jason330 nails it, or, at least, a lot of it.
Republican Family Values 0
Afterthought:
There is no truth to the rumor I’m starting that the GOP is changing its name to Gamma Omega Phi and opening a chapter at the University of Virginia.
Immunity 0
I’m not surprised, just disgusted.
In the South (and St. Louis is “South,” make no mistake), being white has long been all the reason you need to kill a Not White person.
Afterthought:
As much as I deride Twitter for debasing discourse (“Twitter discussion” is an oxymoron, with the emphasis on “moron”), John Cole’s tweet pretty much sums it up.
Bill Correction 0
Michael Dearing suggests that tech companies and the government are rewriting the Bill of Rights. Here is his rendering of the current de facto state of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, taken from a presentation by Reed Hundt, “Make No Secrets About It,” November 11, 2014 at Stanford. .
Follow the link; methinks he has a point.
Afterthought:
No, I don’t agree with some of the suggestions for a rewritten version, particularly the bit about a right to “secret arms purchases,” but I do think the larger point is worth considering.
Tech Tricksters 2
Uber and Lyft are nothing more than gypsy cabs with a front office.
The Wrong Question 0
Dick Polman asks, “Immigration showdown: Can the GOP keep its zealots under control?”
I submit that that question has already been answered. Not only is the answer, “No,” it is “No, because the zealots are already in control.“
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Practice for politeness.
Proctor says Shoemaker was shot in the head Sunday while in a home in an area north of Basye. An adult and a juvenile were shooting targets a few hundred yards from the home on an adjacent property.
How Stuff Works 0
The Miami Herald explores the smoke-filled emails of how Republicans gerrymandered Florida. A snippet:
The consultants established a database of lawmakers’ home addresses and overlayed them on some maps. In another case, they considered ways to pack black voters in a Miami-Dade district by creating a district with “some long tentacles to reach out and grab enough black population.”
