First Looks category archive
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.
QOTDWeek
0
Franklin D. Roosevelt (I think I shall keep this one on the front page for a while. It needs remembered):
Point Counterpoint 0
Via True Blue Texan, “It gets better”:
Via Donviti, “It gets worse”:
IT GETS WORSE
Uploaded by FirstLastName. – See video of the biggest web video personalities.
The Moving Finger Points, and Having Pointed, It Points Back at You 0
“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.
Robo-Signers 0
The banksters’ mortgage foreclosure fraud explained, with illustrations (as children’s books used to say), via Atrios.