2015 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Bid your good-nights politely.
Mr. Swaha saw a bullet hole in the wall and called 911. He knocked on the door of an adjacent apartment but was told by a woman who came out to investigate the noise that no one lives there. The woman checked the next apartment down and a bloody man answered.
Ah, to rest in the arms of Morpheus in NRA Paradise . . . .
Making the Grades 0
Bob Molinaro marvels at the academic brilliance in big-time NCAA football:
“The Play’s the Thing Wherein I’ll Catch the Conscience of the King” 0
In this case, the play is Straight Outta Compton, which seems to be catching a lot of consciences.
Family Lies Ties
0
“The Smart One” forgets about his brother’s signal accomplishment. Daniel Ruth sets him straight:
It was George W. Bush and his handpicked stooges who literally lied the United States into an unnecessary war with a nation that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. But you didn’t hear that in Jeb Bush’s speech.
It was because of his brother’s ineptitude and lack of understanding of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region that after hostilities began, the Bush administration all but assured neighboring Iran would now have a compliant, albeit corrupt, ally. But you didn’t hear that in Jeb Bush’s remarks at the Reagan shrine.
More straight-setting at the link.
Bill Maher and Jennifer Granholm Attempt To Explain Women To a Republican, but He Ain’t Having None of It 0
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Separate and unequal, still a thing: The Tampa Bay Times tells one story of re-segregation in the present.
First they abandoned integration, leaving the schools overwhelmingly poor and black.
Then they broke promises of more money and resources.
Then — as black children started failing at outrageous rates, as overstressed teachers walked off the job, as middle class families fled en masse — the board stood by and did nothing.
Follow the link for the rest of the story.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Play politely in the park.
An 8-year-old boy is hospitalized after accidentally shooting himself in the foot.
It happened just after 5:00 p.m. Wednesday at Chelten Avenue and Ardleigh Street in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.
Police say the boy found a gun while walking in the park and picked it up.
Another playful day in the NRA Playground.
Politically Correcting the Record 0
Reg Henry calls out the meanness behind those who whine about “political correctness:
What bunk. As most of us learned in kindergarten as our first practical experience of free speech, when you say something mean, some kid is likely to whack you with a wooden block. In the real world, then as now, reacting to negative language is not necessarily political. Oftentimes, it is just insensitivity and bad manners inviting a reaction.
“Or Your Money Back” 0
I’m not a big fan of Amazon, as they are trying to hijack all of the retail (cue the chorus: all of the retail) and their warehouses are hell-holes for workers, but I do sometimes order books from them because books are what they do best.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised at this: I recently ordered some additional Phryne Fisher mysteries (you should too–I’ve read six and am heading for nine) from Amazon; because I was hitting the road for a few days, I paid for overnight delivery. Two of them arrived as scheduled, but one was shipped late. Amazon refunded the entire shipping fee I paid, an amount equal to the cost of one of the books, because of that. I didn’t care and wasn’t going to complain, as I had two books to take with me and stuff happens you know; they did it on their own hook.
I’m still not a big fan of Amazon, but credit where credit is due and all that, eh what?
You’ve Heard about the Cat in the Hat? 0
Now learn about the cat in the bag.
Nor Any Drop To Drink 0
Der Spiegel looks at water and finds the reflection disturbing. A nugget:
But people in developing countries are no longer the only ones affected by the problem. Droughts facilitate the massive wildfires in California, and they adversely affect farms in Spain. Water has become the business of global corporations and it is being wasted on a gigantic scale to turn a profit and operate farms in areas where they don’t belong.
Idols of the Kings 0
In the Roanoke Times, John Freivalds takes issue with the deification of the “Founding Fathers” (emphasis added–follow the link for the rest):
And Ulysses Grant declared “it is preposterous that the people of one generation can lay down the best and only rules of government for all who are to come after them.”
Bordewich, writing in the July 5 Wall Street Journal, adds: “Does it really matter if politicians revise the Founding Father story to suit their own ends? .?.?. Opportunistic misuses of the fathers disregards political debate, militates against compromise and disguises lack of thought behind a veil of propaganda.”