First Looks category archive

A loss. As my two or three regular readers know, I have long been a fan of his work.

Please follow the link and contribute to help his widow. I did.

Via Balloon Juice. Please follow the link to read John Cole’s post.

Have you ever flipped (or had flipped at you) high beams as a warning of a speed trap?

Seems at least one police department didn’t like that bit of driver-to-driver neighborliness. Police in Ellisville, Mo., would fine drivers as much as $1,000 for doing such warnings.

But no more. A federal judge ruled in February that drivers have a First Amendment right to tell other drivers a speed trap is ahead.

The columnist goes on to suggest why cops should not consider this a bad thing.

Off to drink liberally.

Afterthought:

It was a good time. Join us for the next one. It’s fun and it’s free (except separate checks).

Stay classy, Virgina Republicans.

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

When: Thursday, February 27th, 6 p.

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

More here.

Off to drink liberally.

The tall ship Bounty was lost because the captain made a “reckless” decision to set sail into Hurricane Sandy, according to the first official report on the sinking.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Monday released its 16-page report. A separate Coast Guard investigation is ongoing.

This is no surprise. Anyone who knows anything about boats could have predicted this.

When I worked for the railroad, I occasionally got to read NTSB reports on train wrecks. I found them fascinating, but, then, I worked for the railroad. Anyone else might have found the mass of detail boring.

The NTSB takes so long to issue their reports because they don’t miss the teeniest tiniest thing.

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

When: 6 p., Tuesday, February 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.

Back when I was a road warrior, leaping on airplanes and trains to travel all over the country, I always enjoyed reading the local rag, wherever I happened to be. Nothing tells you more about a place than the letters to the editor in the local newspaper.

I particularly enjoyed the Boston Globe, the Chicago Sun-Times (before Rupert Murdoch), and the Los Angeles Times. When Murdoch destroyed the credibility of the Sun-Times by his very presence, I moved to the Chicago Tribune, which leaned conservative, but sane.

That was then.

I commend to your attention George Smith’s discussion of how Sam Zell destroyed the Chicago Trib and the L. A. Times. It is a text-book illustration of how extracting maximum return from a property by shafting persons who do honest work and expect an honest return for their labor conflicts with the legitimate capitalist notion of providing good value for a reasonable return.

There is a difference between an capitalist economy and a leech economy.

We do not have a capitalist economy.

We have a lamprey economy.

As I write this, the weather plugin on the sidebar is displaying an error message.

Weather Unavailable or invalid NOAA code.

As I have changed nothing, I am assuming it is their problem, not mine. If the problem persists, I will look into it more deeply.

Addendum, Minutes Later:

Now it’s working. Blankety-blank computers.

This is good news.

The Natural Bridge will become a state park under a deal reached between its former and current owners and several Virginia agencies.

(snip)

Last spring Puglisi (the owner–ed.) contracted with Jim Woltz of Roanoke-based Woltz and Associates to auction the property, but told him that he wanted the national historic landmark to become a national or state park.

“He didn’t want it to be a carnival. He didn’t want to see a zip line off the bridge,” Woltz said.

If you have never seen it, it’s worth a trip.

Warning: If you are looking for tastefulness, look elsewhere.

Pete Seeger passes away after almost a century of championing the dispossessed and the persecuted.

I saw him in person once, at the Mobe in 1969, where he led the crowd in “All We Are Saying Is Give Peace a Chance.”

I’ve added Juanita Jean’s Beauty Salon to the feeds, over there, on the sidebar, because, frankly, it rocks.

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Off to drink liberally.

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

When: Thursday, January 23rd, 6 p.

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

More here.

Or not.

Warning: More bad taste than usual.

Off to drink liberally.

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

When: 6 p., Tuesday, January 14.

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.