First Looks category archive
Light Bloggery 0
Out and about.
PSA: Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach 0
When:
-
Thursday, 6:00 p. m.
Where:
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CROC’s 19th Street Bistro
620 19th St. (19th at Cypress Ave., one block east of the Virginia Beach Convention Center)
Virginia Beach, Va.
More information.
“Come for the beer, stay for the check.”
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
StevenD comments on the consequences of tea-hate-full-ness.
I cannot do it justice with an excerpt or summary. Just please read it.
The Sixth Freedom 0
According to Andy Borowitz:
The alarming thing is that O’Donnell’s reading of the Constitution is typical of that of the teabaggers. They are the Humpty-Dumpties of historical interpretation–they make it mean what they want it to mean, one thing today, another tomorrow.
She is just the most incoherent at expressing it.
“Take No Prisoners” (Updated) 0
This does not seem right (emphasis added).
The Apache helicopter pilots killed both Iraqi men after being advised by a US military lawyer that they could not surrender to an aircraft and therefore remained valid targets. A leading military law expert consulted by the Guardian has questioned this legal advice.
Follow the link. Read it all.
Aside:
No wonder the Pentagon wants to keep this stuff secret. Claiming that it endangers lives in the future is sophistry.
It endangers careers in the now.
Addendum, Slightly Later:
The Guardian comments (emphasis added):
(snip)
But each extra piece of evidence builds a portrait of a military occupation deeply implicated in practices that were illegal under international law and unconscionable in the eyes of any reasonable observer.
The terrible truth about British and American involvement in Iraq seems increasingly to be that it was not just a strategic failure, it was, for the occupying powers, a moral catastrophe.
Season’s Over 0
Thank you, Phillies, for a great run.
Dismal Discussion 0
When I was a young ‘un and we visited our grandmother in South Carolina twice a year, our route nicked the northern portion of the Great Dismal Swamp.
Even those few miles of it impressed one that it was a most unusual place.
Yesterday’s HearSay, the news and information show on our local NPR station, included an interview with the author of a book on the Great Dismal.
It is worth a listen.
Follow the link to listen or to download the mp3. The interview starts approximately 35 minutes in.
Cat Lady II 0
If you have internet, and you likely do, you’ve probably seen the video.
Now read about the results of the trial.
Meta: Comments 0
I want to thank those of you have commented here.
This site does not get many comments (it has half as many comments as posts) and I have fallen out of the habit of checking for them.
I apologize and will do better, though I cannot promise to respond each one.
VBDC Third Thursday Dinner 0
- What: Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Third Thursday Dinner
- When: October 21st, 6:00 PM
- Where: Kelly’s Hilltop Tavern, 1936 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23454 (map)
Show up, order off the menu (separate checks), socialize, and talk politics–or whatever else interests you.
I have attended several of these. They tend to be smaller gatherings, highly informal, and a lot of fun.
For more information, email VaBeachBoy@aol.com
They Might Be Giants 0
Then, again, Phillies 6, Giants 1.
Catch 22 0
It’s the best catch there is.
A retired schoolteacher from Hawaii is so fascinated with the story of the Lost Colony that, upon retirement, he moved from Hawaii to North Carolina so as to continue studying it (now, that’s fascination).
He thinks he knows where some of the settlers moved before they disappeared–Mackay Island, in the northern end of the Outer Banks, north of Roanoke Island–but
The President’s Weekly Address 0
Excerpt:
I want to close these tax loopholes. Instead, I want to give every business in America a tax break so they can write off the cost of all new equipment they buy next year. That’s going to make it easier for folks to expand and hire new people. I want to make the research and experimentation tax credit permanent. Because promoting new ideas and technologies is how we’ll create jobs and retain our edge as the world’s engine of discovery and innovation. And I want to provide a tax cut for clean energy manufacturing right here in America. Because that’s how we’ll lead the world in this growing industry.
These are commonsense ideas. When more things are made in America, more families make it in America; more jobs are created in America; more businesses thrive in America. But Republicans in Washington have consistently fought to keep these corporate loopholes open. Over the last four years alone, Republicans in the House voted 11 times to continue rewarding corporations that create jobs and profits overseas – a policy that costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year.
