Words Fail Me category archive

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.

Oh My Gov! reports on Arizona Republican efforts to give their governor a personal army.

Personal armies are usually the domain of Middle Eastern despots and the Emperor from Return of the Jedi. That is, of course, until America’s Fun State gets into the act… naturally, we’re talking (yet again) about Arizona!

Republicans in the Arizona State Senate have recently introduced bill SB 1495 which would establish a “state guard” that can be called upon by the Governor, in this case the beloved Jan Brewer, to provide state security in the event of the federal government calling up the Arizona National Guard or (and this is the fun part) “for any other reason the governor considers to be necessary.”

The bill goes on to specify that the Governor would have the power to establish an “armed force for the safety and protection of the lives and property of the citizens of the state.”

As I recall, some other states tried something like that about a century and a half ago. It didn’t work out so well.

The SCV is keeping company with persons who are not very nice, such as leaders of a terrorist organization, for that is what the Klan was (and, to the extent it still gasps for breath, is).

A fight is brewing in Mississippi over a proposal to issue specialty license plates honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who was an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

The Mississippi Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans says it wants to sponsor a series of state-issued license plates to mark the 150th anniversary of what it calls the “War Between the States.” The group proposes a different design each year between now and 2015, with Forrest slated for 2014.

Follow the link to see how the SCV is attempting to rationalize their choice by claiming that Forrest later regretted it (which he likely did).

Afterthought:

His regrets do not erase his deeds.

More to the point, honoring him today carries a message, and it is not a message of tolerance and redemption. The SCV cannot be unaware–is likely quite aware–of the symbolism that honoring one of the founders of the Klan would convey.

Addendum, the Next Day:

My approach to history is more economic and sociological than it is “great man” based (“great men” do live to influence events, but they do so only when social and economic currents provide the opportunity; that is why Christopher Columbus is celebrated and Leif Ericson is a footnote).

Plus, growing up Virginian, my schooling on the Civil War was oriented primarily towards the battles of the Army of Northern Virginia under the leadership of St. Robert E. Lee, with a cursory nod towards the Battle of Vicksburg.

So I did not know until Dennis G. pointed it out at Balloon Juice that Nathan Bedford Forest, adulated hero of the SCV, made his fortune buying and selling human beings for a profit.

Addendum-Dee-Dum-Dum:

He continued in the trade nafter the war. Dennis G. does more research.

This is very strange.

Different cultures do indeed have different customs. (Video report. Print report.)

(Warning: Scatological. May not be to your taste.)