From Pine View Farm

February, 2015 archive

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

A permit for youthful politeness:

A three-year-old boy accidentally shot himself inside a home in northwest Harris County Friday, according to police. . . .

Harris County Precinct 5 Captain Romeo Chapa tells us they believe the child’s parents have a concealed handgun permit and that the child may have found the gun and accidentally shot himself.

The child didn’t make it.

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Southern Strategy 0

Redneck sitting in front of shack adorned with Conferate flags.  Woman asks,

Via Job’s Anger.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Noah on ark balanced on Mt. Ararat.  Caption:  When it dawned on Noah that the real reason was to rid the world of Twitter.


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Jeb “Oh God Please Not Another” Bush Declares His Independence 0

Jeb Bush on the shoulders of George the Worst on the Shoulders of George the First:  Read my lips.  I am my own man.


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Just Another Perk 0

Jeez Louise.

Sex between lobbyists and government officials who are covered under North Carolina’s ethics laws does not constitute a gift that must be listed in disclosure reports, the State Ethics Commission said Friday.

“Consensual sexual relationships do not have monetary value and therefore are not reportable as gifts or ‘reportable expenditures made for lobbying,’” the formal advisory opinion says.

If consensual sexual relations “do not have monetary value,” why is prostitution illegal?

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The Mother Load 0

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Chartering a Course for Disaster 0

The Roanoke Times calls out the Virginia Republican Party for (guess what?) hypocrisy, this time on schools. A snippet:

It (the amendment–ed.) would give the state Board of Education the power to authorize charter schools — charter schools being public schools that can operate independently of the rest of the local school system.

Or put another way, it would allow Richmond to tell local governments how to run their school systems.

That runs contrary to how conservatives such as Obenshain generally think schools should be operated. Ordinarily, they believe schools should be run locally, with few mandates from Richmond and even fewer, if any, from Washington.

So why the philosophical about-face here? Because it appears to be the only way to accomplish another conservative goal: The creation of more charter schools.

In Republican land, putting public money in private hands outweighs using it for the public good six days a week and twice on Sundays.

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QOTD 0

Johnny Weismuller:

How can a guy climb trees, say Me Tarzan, You Jane, and make a million?

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Be polite to your neighbors.

A city resident told police that at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, she and her boyfriend and juvenile daughter were inside their apartment in the 600 block of Greenbrier Court when they heard a loud bang and a bullet came through the wall of the living room.

The round struck a piece of furniture in the dining area before it was spent, the report said. A few minutes later, Swisher, the victim’s next-door neighbor, knocked on the door and apologized for the incident.

Deadeye was arrested. The story does not indicate whether the charges against him include at least one count of stupid.

Afterthought:

“Juvenile daughter.”

I imagine that that’s police-speak for “little girl.”

The stupid. It burns.

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Throwing Shades 0

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Republican Healthcare Alternatives 0

Begging.

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Snowy Twits 0

Bob Molinaro:

You know what’s just as good as most of the pictures of Hampton Roads snowscapes being sent via Twitter? Looking out your window.

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Clear and Present Dangers 0

Republican Congressman:  Today is sunny, so who needs a clean air bill?  No one got indicted today, so who needs campaign finance laws?  I got my government-funded health insurance, so who needs to expand Medicaid?  But we urgently need laws to protech relights liberties from gay wedding cakes!

Via Job’s Anger.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Once in a while, I toy with the notion of becoming a twit on Twitter, then Twitter convinces me to slowly back away.

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Sauce for the Goosed 0

A former travel agent from New Jersey has been ordered to sell his house and car to pay restitution to 20 customers who paid him for a Mediterranean cruise that never happened.

Now, if that remedy could be extended to Wall Street banksters . . . .

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Do You Believe in Magic? 0

Jessica Valenti suggests that Republicans think that women are magickal beings with mystical powers beyond masculine understanding.

Methinks she is onto something.

Then, again, mayhaps they are simply sexist nutcases.

Inquiring minds want to know.

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QOTD 0

Willaim Jennings Bryan:

No one can earn a million dollars honestly.

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Showmanship May Be Artful (Like a Dodger), But It Is Not Art 0

One more time: If you have to install it, it’s a washing machine or a computer operating system or a furnace. It’s not art.

Even if it makes persons go “Gee Whiz,” it’s not art.

Art is not “installed.” Art is.

Barnum was wrong. One is not born every minute.

The birthrate is much higher.

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Making an Exceptionalism, Reprise 0

(Link fixed.)

At Asia Times, Alfred W McCoy identifies what he dubs “the real American exceptionalism.” A snippet:

Washington, more than any other power, created the modern international community of laws and treaties, yet it now reserves the right to defy those same laws with impunity. A sovereign ruler should, said Schmitt, discard laws in times of national emergency. So the United States, as the planet’s last superpower or, in Schmitt’s terms, its global sovereign, has in these years repeatedly ignored international law, following instead its own unwritten rules of the road for the exercise of world power.

Follow the link to find to what thinker McCoy attributes such arrogation of power. You will be taken aback.

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Making an Exceptionalism 0

Title:  Rewriting AP History To Emphasize

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

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