First Looks category archive

Warning: Language.

Just read it.

Via Juanita Jean.

Brian Greenspun decided that, after a lifetime of paying into the system, it was time to sign up for his Social Security benefits. What he saw at the Social Security Office gave him pause (emphasis added).

And although many of us argue about the rightness and wrongness of government assistance for those in need, few of us ever have the opportunity to actually touch someone who is living the nightmare of not having enough. Of anything.

So before you argue the merits of smaller government — code for reducing the money set aside for people in real need — take a trip to the Social Security office.

I know looks can deceive, but I saw no one that day who didn’t appear so obviously in need of the few assistance dollars they would get from their visit to the office. Young, old, sick, challenged and generally lost and silent in our great society, they filled the room and waited for someone to help.

Remember, in GOP-speak, an “entitlement” is money that goes to someone who is not already rich.

Shopped by Facebook.

For you rock historians out there:

Off to drink liberally.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.

When: Thursday, March 27th, 6 p.

Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

More here.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

No doubt someone will blame this on all the marijuana on the East Slope.

Via the Booman.

Stu Bykofsky is fed up with the coverage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

I do care about the lives of the hundreds of innocent passengers and crew. The spiderweb of tragedy radiates out to their families, friends and associates. But my caring doesn’t change facts on the ground (or in the air). Interviews with families of the victims add nothing, other than emotion, to the story. There is poignant human interest in them, but they are frustrated and heartbroken. Sometimes pathos turns to bathos, as when families called off a hunger strike after seven hours.

Talking about the facts, or so-called facts, provides a case study of the weakness of breaking-news journalism, often called the first draft of history. It’s the first draft, not the final draft.

He goes on to compare the coverage to the last days of the TV show Lost (the fascination for which ever escaped me).

He sums up in one column why I avoid broadcast news. It’s become venal voyeurism for vapid viewers, less nutritious than a Hostess Twinkie.

If Akismet does not catch you, I will, and you will be zapped.

Catch up with the latest in “I’m-not-a-racist-but.”

I’m a Southern Boy. I know a bigot when I see one.

Family weekend.

Georgia poised to crush the stones:

House Bill 459 would allow authorities to ticket those who lollygag in the state’s left lanes. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for any driver on a divided highway who does not move to the right when a car going faster approaches from behind.

With the state House already signing off on the measure, all it needs is Gov. Nathan Deal’s signature to become law.

I certainly see the rationale for this, but I wonder whether folks who think fifteen miles an hour over the speed limit is their right will seize on this to justify their tailgating.

______________

*”Road boulder” is a phrase from Gary Richards’s excellent Roadshow column.

Off to drink liberally.

Excerpt:

We live in a country that guarantees free speech, . . . but it’s not a country that guarantees that anything you say is correct.

The rest is moved below the fold because it autoplays on some systems.

Read more »

Drinking Liberally is a gathering place for liberals. Socialize and laugh in a friendly atmosphere.

When: 6 p., Tuesday, March 11.

Where:
Uno Chicago Grill
5900 Virginia Beach Blvd
(Janaf Shopping Center) (map)

Tuesdays for Norfolk, Thursdays for Virginia Beach to make it easier for persons with commitments on either day to catch at least one per month.

DST fever.