Words Fail Me category archive

Oh, my.

Jennifer Abel has an update.

Just read it.

I guess I’m old and cranky, but I find treating the family pet in this manner to be somehow profoundly disrespectful to the pet.

And slightly icky.

The taxidermists at Huffman . . . also stuff house cats, dogs, parakeets, snakes and just about anything else that fits into their 3-foot- tall freeze-drying machine.

For clients, who pay from $800 to $1,800, the final product allows them to keep their best friends around forever, resting near the fireplace, at the foot of the bed, wherever.

Afterthought:

After talking with a friend, apparently it is just me.

Really, what can I add to this?

Virginia Beach officials are considering an idea to house a tent city for the homeless.

Marc Davis, media and communications manager for Virginia Beach, says this idea is merely a subject of information discussion with city officials. There has been no formal proposal or study surrounding the idea.

This just doesn’t seem right or fair:

Overnight commuters who use Pocahontas 895 in Varina (southeast of Richmond, Va.–ed.) no longer will be able to pay tolls at the main toll plaza by cash. Beginning July 31, those who pass through the toll between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. daily must pay either by E-Z Pass or Visa or Mastercard credit or debit cards.

(snip)

The automated toll equipment will not accept cash, debit cards that require use of a PIN, or any card other than Visa or Mastercard. Cash will still be accepted at the main toll plaza between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. daily.

So much for “legal tender.”

When my Jim Crow school system started to proceed towards complying with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Lq! all those years ago, they canceled the prom because they were afraid some little white boy would ask some little black girl to dance of (much worse) some little black boy would ask some little white girl to dance.

That was over four decades ago.

But they didn’t go as far as an Arkansas school district did just this spring. They gave the award to those who earned it; within a couple of years, a black girl earned valedictorian (in fact, I think she may have been in my brother’s class):

A high school in Arkansas would not permit a black female student with the highest GPA in her high school to be valedictorian of her graduating class, and appointed a white student with a lower GPA to serve as the black student’s co-valedictorian.

Follow the link for details and citations.

Words fail me.

Banish soft drinks from school vending machines. Cut down on Happy Meals. Load school lunches with fruits and vegetables. Pull the plug on the television and shove kids outdoors.

Those are some of the weapons that schools, doctors and parents wield to prevent overweight kids from packing on more pounds.

But there’s another possibility: Surgically implant an inflatable silicone band — known as a gastric band — around the top of the stomach to restrict food intake. That way, people eat smaller meals and feel full faster.

Banding works for many adults. Now Allergan Inc., a maker of gastric bands, is asking the Food and Drug Administration to approve its device for morbidly obese adolescents as young as 14.

In Onion there is strength.

New heights of nasty.

Gov. Scott Walker believes a new law that gives gay couples hospital visitation rights violates the state constitution and has asked a judge to allow the state to stop defending it.

Full story at the link.

Via Hanlon.

Broken bats.

He (Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay) needed some luck and got none. Dan Uggla and Eric Hinske both reached on back-to-back, broken-bat singles to put runners on first and third with no outs in the fourth.

Andy Borowitz (full report at the link):

After seizing an enormous cache of porn from his compound in Pakistan, the CIA said today that it now has a new theory about fallen al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

“It’s clear that Osama bin Laden acted alone,” said CIA director Leon Panetta. “And he spent most of his waking hours doing just that.”

I fail to understand the fuss.

A porn stach stash is normal; it’s mass murder that is not.

Also, Noz has a thought.

See Glomarization for details.

Ashcroft, ethics, and the con-artists formerly known as Blackwater.

A match made in–well, somewhere.

If you get raped, you’d better keep a receipt.

Field narrates.

Seen at my local apothecary:

Holy moly. Words fail me.

Truly classy, these Republicans. Right out of this week’s episode of CSI: Miami.*

Kansas State Rep. Virgil Peck (R) suggested Monday that the best way to deal with the illegal immigration problem may be the same way the state might deal with the problem of “feral hogs” — by shooting them from a helicopter.

According to the story, he said later, “I was just speaking like a southeast Kansas person.” Says something about southeast Kansas if he’s accurate.

You can hear him be classy at the link.

_____________________

*Yes, I know that CSI: Miami is one of the most over-the-top, melodramatic, poorly acted pieces of science fiction on the telly vision, but it has a certain unapologetic campy flair.

As Glomarization pointed out in a post I linked to yesterday, these people are crazy.

Now, a Missouri Republican wants to repeal Missouri’s child labor laws.

It’s to be expected from folks who think puppy mills are good.

Next up, kiddie mills.