March, 2017 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to your bride-to-be.
Maybe he should have stuck to texting while driving.
Giving the Gift of Gunnuttery 0
The Roanoke Times’s Dan Casey was recently gifted (when did “gift become a verb?) with a membership in the NRA. He discusses it in today’s column. A nugget:
That seemed attractive because, figuratively, I shoot myself in the foot all the time. Those payouts would make for a nifty retirement fund, you know?
Anyway, I was touched by Matthews’ (the gifter–ed.) thoughtfulness and generosity. So I called to thank him for the membership. He sounded quite gracious. He urged me to read “America’s 1st Freedom.”
“Maybe you’ll learn something,” Matthews said.
Right — like how former President Barack Obama seized everybody’s guns.
But wait! There’s more (at the link).
“Suffer, Baby” 0
A writer to editor of The Roanoke Times recalls the suffering of a nephew stricken with cystic fibrosis at the age of six weeks and marvels at Republican efforts to gut health care coverage.
A snippet:
Out of the Woodwork, Origins Issue 0
Update: Edited to fix the goofs.
Lee Camp notes that, during Trump’s campaign, white supremacists, white nationalists, and wannabe robber barons were not evident in the Trumpian entourage (though garden-variety rascists and bigots certainly were). He wonders where they came from. The relevant section is the first 10 minutes or so in the video (warning: language).
The Medicine Show 0
Reka Basu recounts a recent experience with U. S. medical care. She has been dealing with a dermatalogical problem that has cost her hundreds of dollars and many hours with the U. S. Medical-Industrial Complex. Then she was introduced to a cure in an unexpected way:
Actually, a beautician giving me a facial in an Indian beauty parlor had come up with it during my recent annual visit to India. Seeing my elbows, the woman dispatched a pedicurist to the drugstore next door to get me an over-the-counter ointment she said would bring signs of improvement in a week. And it did.
I bring this up not because my skin problems are of much consequence. On the contrary. If a beauty parlor employee can recognize symptoms and suggest a treatment that works after two doctors, a biopsy and several medications couldn’t, it suggests a larger problem with our profit-obsessed medical care system and pharmaceutical industry.
Follow the link for her theory as to why that particular over-the-counter salve is not available in the United States.
Note:
If you are using an adblocker, the Des Moines Register may ask you to turn it off. I don’t use an adblocker, but I do use NoScript in conjunction with a hosts file, so I needed to tell NoScript to “allow all” scripts on the page. I’m am quite willing to let legitimate newspaper websites think that I’m reading their ads. Newspapers need all the help they can get.
“Presidented” 0
In the San Francisco Chronicle, John Diaz list precedents for a President. A nugget:
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Don’t let politeness take a back seat to anything.
Stefan E. Zdanowicz, 24, of Bethlehem, a back seat passenger, was moving his 9mm pistol from one jacket pocket to another at 12:20 a.m. on Sunday when he fired the gun, state police at Fogelsville said Friday.
Do the math. Guns + stupid + booze = NRA Paradise.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is a family value.
The child is expected to recover, and, no doubt, the family will be stronger for it.
