First Looks category archive

. . . said the spider to the fly.

August 9, 2009 | Posted by: Frank | Posted in: First Looks | Bookmark this post

Puddytat 1, Tweety 0.

Frankly, I could do without the little presents.

It’s a constant undercurrent in this scene.

No, I’m not accusing the Marx Brothers of racism, and, as they were Jewish, they probably had plenty of other isms to deal with. Though they were children of their time, just as I am a child of my time.

But watch closely. You can see it, a nasty undercurrent, not noticeable when the film was made because it was part of the fabric of society, but all too noticeable now.

It is there, even as Harpo takes the harp to heavenly places, because this film is a child of its time.

And consider as you watch it: This is what the odious Southern Strategy of the Republican Party is all about.

And this is what the whole “birther” thing springs from.

Keeping the darkies in their place. And keeping the white folks scared of the darkies.

Aside: My South Carolina grandmother commonly used the term “darkie.” In her upbringing, it was bad form to remind black folks that they were black.

Report from the field on Twitless Thursday:

Though I didn’t see anyone jumping out of windows or cowering in corners, raging against the dying of the light, I did notice a kind of mass withdrawal that seemed to grip the online community during the hours that Twitter was down.

People were on Facebook saying stuff like “TWITTER IS DOWN! I CAN’T LOOK AT MY COMPUTER! IT BURNS!”

The response was even more pathetic on MySpace: “TWITTER IS DOWN. IS ANYBODY THERE? ANYBODY???”

I read those things (and yes, they were in all caps) and realized the horrible truth. While Twitter is merely a social-networking tool for me, it’s an addiction for others. That’s scary. Because boiling all our social interactions down to 140 characters means we’re no longer talking with each other. We’re talking at each other.

I talked my thoughts at people at Geekazine.

I have cancelled my home delivery subscription to the Inquirer, mainly because I’m gone so much anymore it’s not worth it. And the last time I did a delivery stop, they forgot to start it again (more FAIL).

So this morning I went to the local Wawa to pick up a paper to enjoy over my coffee. If nothing else, I still want the comics and the advice column. Life is not life without comics, despite the best efforts of the Republican Party to render them redundant.

I didn’t look at the paper. I just grabbed it, along with several other things.

And when I got home, I noticed it was kind of fat.

I looked.

It was dated Sunday, August 9, 2009. It had all the Sunday sections and everything. The articles aren’t even up on the website yet.

The Inky is not known for releasing the Sunday paper early.

So where in the time warp did today go?

Read more »

H/T to Kiko’s House.

Naturally, he got shouted down by a mob of wingnuts at a recent townhall meeting.

Follow the link for details.

He was finishing his new-member orientation in the basement of the Cannon House Office Building and hurrying to make a plane. A woman stopped him and said, “Hang on a minute — don’t you want to hear about the benefits?” Then, he recalls, she showed him “a whole cafeteria” of health insurance plans available to him and his family because he was now a federal employee.

“I told her, ‘I’ve got a plane to catch. If you can make that same offer to everybody I’m representing, then I’ll accept it.’ Then I turned to walk out,” the Wisconsin allergist told me in one of two phone interviews this week. “It didn’t seem right. It didn’t feel right to me that I was being offered something that wasn’t being offered to the people I was representing.”

Via the Wayward Episcopalian

The Coyote’s Byte suggests what we can do when Twitter is down.

My favorite:

Going to the bathroom without telling anyone.

Follow the link for the full list.

From paulapoundstone.com. An excerpt:

America’s growing up. We have a black President, and we’ve spent almost as much time on health care as we have on Michael Jackson.

Via CC.

“Stabilizing” is just another way of saying “running out of people to lay off,” and it’s still over half a million (emphasis added):

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits dropped more sharply-than-expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, boosting views that the labor market and the economy were stabilizing.

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell 38,000 to a seasonally adjusted 550,000 in the week ended August 1 from 588,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said.

(snip)

However, the number of people collecting long-term unemployment benefits rose by 69,000 to 6.31 million in the week ended July 25 . . . .

But check this out for a comparison.

Read it here.

That’s how long I regularly read the Washington Post.

Past tense. Not past perfect.

Via Atrios.

Back after three days and two nights of little or no connectivity. The network connection in the hotel room was broken–it didn’t work with two different computers and two different ethernet cables.

The cellphone also did not connect from the hotel. Service at the same spot has been excellent in the past and there were strong signals a few miles up or down the road, so, on the way back, I called the carrier to notify them that it looked like one of their towers was on strike. They were shocked when I said I didn’t want a refund or something “done for” me.

There was wireless in the lobby. Because of the nature of the business I was conducting, I decided that that would be enough for now.

But now I’m back.

Light bloggery.

I really don’t know what I think of this.

Like most persons I know, I find something inherently repulsive about dogfighting and the persons who enable it and something warped about those who somehow find it entertaining.

At the same time, there are folks out there who harmed far more persons in far deeper ways who not only haven’t served time, but also are still getting umpty-ump million dollar bonuses.

I am positive, though, that the SCLC should have stayed out of this one.

Some residents of Michael Vick’s hometown are preparing a “celebration” for the former NFL quarterback, and Vick is expected to make an appearance at the event, an organizer said Friday.

The event is being sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC chapter president in Vick’s hometown of Newport News, Andrew Shannon, said Vick is scheduled to speak at the event intended to promote Martin Luther King Jr.’s teachings of nonviolence.

“We believe (Vick) has made atonement and we are hopeful that the public at large gives this young man a chance to move forward with his life,” Shannon said.

Pamela Merritt writes in the Guardian what I’ve been saying. She’s got a good take on Gatesgate too:

The Birther movement is not simply another crazy conspiracy theory – it gives us a window into a society where quite a few people would rather grasp at shadows than acknowledge that the president of the United States is a black man.

Like flies:

First BankAmericano, Elizabeth, New Jersey

Peoples Community Bank, West Chester, Ohio

Integrity Bank, Jupiter, Florida

First State Bank of Altus, Altus, Oklahoma

And that’s just the ones in the eastern half of the country. No doubt there will be more to come.

While we’re waiting, ponder on this.

More:

Mutual Bank, Harvey, Illinois, joins the ranks of the non-existent.