First Looks category archive

Babe the Blue Ox had a certain amount of charm, even though she was a corporate symbol to advertise a lumber company.

The Blue Dogs, not so much. They are to preoccupied with getting their tickets punched by BCBS:

In related news, the new Puritan witchhunters. Wimmen’s bodies belong to them.

Text of the speech, below the fold.

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Here.

Via the Booman.

No more:

BankFirst, Sioux Falls, S. D.

First Piedmont Bank, Winder, Ga.

Temecula Valley Bank, Temecula, Calif.

Vineyard Bank, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Ah, Cucamonga.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Mays:

Via Oliver Willis.

Via the Political Cat.

If their capacity for fantasy could be harnassed for electricity, our energy problems would be over.

Another example here.

Just racism and bigotry. And making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Really, it’s just not a very nice party.

Via Balloon Juice.

Why does the Republican Party think that the answer to every question is “War”?

Tuesday, Triumph Brewing Company, 2nd and Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pa., 6 p. Good food, good drink, good fellowship.

You’re probably safe to attend tomorrow. I have a summer cold that will likely keep me off the road.

From a comment up the road a piece and to the left.

It amazes me how so many people in this country confuse “freedom of speech” with “freedom from consequences.”

An armed society is a polite society. Not.

John Cole on Cheney and the violation of civil liberties:

I was listening to NPR yesterday, and one analyst stated that the reason Washington is terrified to investigate this is because they know that so many laws were broken so flagrantly that any investigation will lead to the indictment of Bush and Cheney, and that, for obvious reasons, terrifies the Democrats (you can listen to that piece here). It would simply consume Washington and destroy Obama’s agenda, and they want to avoid that at all cost. Holder, on the other hand, may not give two hoots about Obama’s agenda and the delicate sensibilities of the Democrats, and go after them anyway.

(Follow the link to see the links that Mr. Cole refers to above.)

Looking to the future is one thing. Turning a blind eye to evil is quite another.

Evil was done.

In our names.

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Via BartBlog.

Sample institution about which consumers should be able to make their own decisions without a financial consumer protection agency.

Because, natch, financiers are so trustworthy and have only their fiduciary duty in mind.

Bank of Wyoming, Thermopolis, Wyoming, ain’t no more.

By my count, that’s 53 dustbiters this year. The FDIC is maintaining their two banks a week average.

It’s not just a large island in the North Atlantic any more.

. . . overall, more than 1,000 Peco (Philadelphia Electric Company–ed.) customers have lost power in the last few months because of aggressively growing vines that have shrouded tree trunks, poles, fences, rocks, and anything else in the paths of their insidious tendrils.

The outages are symptoms of what evidently has been a breakout year for the region’s vegetation.

The harvest of growth – and it’s not just the vines – is the product of a near-perfect recipe concocted by nature: generous and consistent rains mixed with gently warmed soil.

(There’s a short ad at the beginning.)

A scientist writing in the Guardian has skeptical commentary here.

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First time initial claims for unemployment have dropped under 600,000 in quite a while. MarketWatch:

The number of (unemployment) initial claims in the week ending July 4 fell 52,000 to 565,000 – the lowest level since January – as the manufacturing layoffs, predominantly automotive, that had been expected have already occurred at some companies, according to the Labor Department. The department added that some seasonally expected layoffs may come later or not at all.

(snip)

The four-week average of initial claims fell 10,000 to 606,000. The four-week average smoothes out distortions in the week-to-week data.

(snip)

Last week the government reported that the U.S. economy shed jobs at a faster pace in June than in May, suggesting that the turnaround in the economy may take longer than expected. Nonfarm payrolls shrank by 467,000 in June, higher than the 325,000 decline expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch and the 322,000 jobs lost in May. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 9.5% in June from 9.4%. Since the recession began in December 2007, payroll employment has dropped by 6.5 million

Still doesn’t get my next door neighbor a job.