First Looks category archive

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.

• 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

Then, again, Phillies 6, Giants 1.

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

Mackay Island will not issue Sumner a permit to excavate unless he has backing from a sanctioned archaeologist or group.

More here.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (I think I shall keep this one on the front page for a while. It needs remembered):

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.

Via True Blue Texan, “It gets better”:

Via Donviti, “It gets worse”:

This has been another edition of What Brendan Said.

.

“I am not a racist.” At the 45 second mark.

Er, yeah . . . .

We can perhaps cut her some break because she is a child of another time; any white persons born in 1920 grew up in a time of open racism and racist imagery–not just the brutal KKK type, but the more subtle Stepin’ Fetchit-Ole Black Mama-loyal family retainer type (heck, such imagery was common when I was a young ‘un, and I’m two-thirds her age). Given that we have–most of us have–come to agree that racism is a social and moral evil, a racist remark must needs a foxhole in which to hide.

Methinks her denial is more for herself than for any other.

But sayin’ don’t make it so.

’tis a commentary on how difficult letting go can be.

Via Ta-Nehisi Coates, who asks a question I can’t answer.

Afterthought:

A test for nascent racism and bigotry:

If you consider the color of persons’ skins (or persons’ countries of origin, or whatever) as determinants of their characters, rather than as adjectives, you are on your way.

The banksters’ mortgage foreclosure fraud explained, with illustrations (as children’s books used to say), via Atrios.

TPM lists whose in the crosshairs of the hit:

Details below the fold.

Read more »

You may tell yourself, “No one will vote for such a dummy.”

Therefore you sit there, eat Cheetos healthful whole grain snacks with celery stalks on the side, and watch YouTube educational documentaries.

Vote or be ruled by dummies.

More lockouts in Florida.

Via Atrios.

Dick Polman considers the rise and fall of Rick Sanchez:

CNN wanted an edgy, controversial personality, somebody who would create buzz. After all, that’s what the game is all about. But CNN didn’t want Sanchez to, as we say, “cross the line.” (Whatever that line is. Nobody ever quite defines it, given that the line keeps moving all the time, further into tawdry territory.) CNN wanted Rick to be Rick – without being too Rick. Yet it seemed inevitable that he would finally go beyond the pale, given the traits he brought to the table – traits that CNN sought out six years ago, in its desperation to boost viewership.

That’s the real crux of the Sanchez story.

(snip)

Exit traditional dispassion, hello passion. That’s why Campbell Brown’s journalistically responsible prime-time show (which, naturally, tanked in the ratings) will be officially supplanted tonight with a ‘tude and opinion show that pairs a (talented) conservative columnist with a fallen governor who digs hookers.

The glitz factor is why Rick Sanchez got tapped for stardom in the first place, so that’s why I’ll cut him a break. He didn’t dumb down the news discourse. In the final analysis, we did.

Victoria Coren, writing at the London Observer, makes the case that cheer leading is not a sport.

She has a point.

There are many endeavors which require athletic ability, but are not sports, such as tight-rope walking and band marching. There are others which require little or no athletic ability, but are considered sports, such as auto-racing and golf (especially golf–I live next to a golf course, I see golfers, don’t argue).

A nugget from her take down:

They aren’t doing sport. They are waggling their arses near boys who are doing sport. The boys are motivated to compete harder and triumph in the subliminal (or not so subliminal) hope that they’ll get first pick of these little minxes on the sidelines. Even if you don’t think it’s sexual – and I do; I think these girls might as well be bent over a rock, waiting to be mounted by whichever caveman gets back first with a rabbit in his hand – at best, their job is to support the action rather than take part in it.

I’m reading an old murder mystery that I’m having trouble understanding.

It involves something called “poison pen” letters prepared on a device referred to as a “portable typewriter” and delivered by something called the “post.”

On the road taking care of business at the farm.

Regular insanity will resume tomorrow.

Irregular insanity may resume earlier.