Words Fail Me category archive

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.)

A flock of schlock at Delaware Liberal.

(Be sure to sample the comments.)

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Senate has approved almost $4.6 billion to settle long-standing claims brought by American Indians and black farmers against the government.

The money has been held up for months in the Senate as Democrats and Republicans squabbled over how to pay for it. The two class action lawsuits were filed over a decade ago.

If these folks had not been not-white, this would have been approved long ago.

My disgust-o-meter is off the chart.

If you see a “cheesesteak” on a menu more than 35 miles from Philadelphia, you can be certain it’s not a true cheesesteak sandwich.

If the menu says, “Philly Cheese Steak,” you can be certain that it’s an abomination that would warrant a kneecapping at 2nd and South.

This is from the menu at one of the nicer restaurants around here:

French Baguette? Pat Oliveri would be insulted. Does “Oliveri” sound French to you?

Bell peppers? They had better not try that at Broad and Passyunk.

(Given the track record of this restaurant, it’s probably quite palatable, but it is not a “Philly Cheesesteak”–maybe a Virginia Beach Frenchie Steak.)

There’s another dive in these parts that actually puts mayonnaise on some vile concoction that they refer to as a “Philly Cheesesteak.” (I worked up the nerve to try that one. I shouldn’t have.)

Words fail me.

Science 2.0 (Scientific Blogging under a new name) reports that the United States has more plastic surgeries (“procedures” if you want to pretend they aren’t “operations”) than any other country.

It does not surprise that the majority are cosmetic. Worldwide rankings of the top procedures are:

For the last ten years, the consensus has been that breast augmentation was the most popular plastic surgery procedure but the ISAPS Global Survey puts liposuction at the top, representing 18.8% of all surgical procedures, followed by breast augmentation at 17%, and blepharoplasty (upper or lower eyelid lift) at 13.5%, rhinoplasty (nose reshaping) at 9.4% and abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck) at 7.3%.

The popularity of surgical procedures varied by country with Brazil, the United States, China, Mexico, India and Japan the dominant countries for the top five procedures.

(snip)

The top five non surgical procedures are: toxins or neuromodulators injections (Botox, Dysport) (32.7%), hyaluronic acid injections (20.1%), laser hair removal (13.1%), autologous fat injections (taking a patient’s fat from one location and transferring it in the same patient in another location) (5.9%) and IP Laser treatment (4.4%).

Lots of money for not much of anything, if you ask me. Or even if you don’t.

The new radical danger: the Humane Society.

A conservative group in Missouri is picking up the backing of the Tea Party and Joe The Plumber in its quest to stop the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal rights groups from passing “radical” anti-puppy mill legislation.

Certainly, protect those puppy mills.

We all need more of puppy mills.

Truth, justice, and the American Way puppy mills.

Eric Zorn reports in the Chicago Trib:

(University of Chicago law professor Todd Henderson) posted a now world-famous jeremiad to his blog griping that he and his wife, a physician, “are just getting by” on a combined income that “exceeds the $250,000 threshold for the super-rich” who will owe more in taxes under Obama’s plan.

The nanny, the lawn service, the maid service, the private school for their three children, the cable TV … “If these cuts don’t work, we will sell our house,” he bleated.

I am somehow unable to feel Professor Henderson’s pain. Never having been elevated to ranks of the privileged, I cannot grasp the horror of having to vacuum one’s own floors, of having to rear one’s own children, or of having to push one’s own lawn mower.

Offered without comment:

Gucci, the Italian brand owned by Paris-based PPR SA, and Burberry Group Plc, the U.K.’s largest luxury retailer, are targeting status-conscious parents with $340 fur-lined suede infant boots, a $375 baby cashmere outfit and a girl’s double- breasted gabardine trench coat retailing for $750.

Children’s wear accounted for 5 percent of Burberry’s 1.28 billion-pound ($2 billion) sales last year and may double to 10 percent “over time” . . . .

Bet you can’t watch it all the way through:

I don’t think that even Krafft-Ebbing had a word for this.

And it is getting creepy.

Emphasis added.

Filipino teenage singer Charice Pempengco says she prepared for her debut on the hit TV show “Glee” by getting Botox and an anti-aging procedure “to look fresh on camera.”

The 18-year-old Charice, whose singing career rocketed after appearing on Ellen DeGeneres’ and Oprah Winfrey’s talk shows, underwent a 30-minute Thermage skin-tightening procedure and Botox to make her “naturally round face” more narrow, celebrity cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo told ABS-CBN television.

Mithras reports.

Gosh, I hope he’s wrong. But the track record indicates that Buccaneer Petroleum pretty much can’t find its rear end with both hands.

And John Boehheadner wants no more regulation.

The Republican Party–the Party of “Thank you, Mistress, may I have a please have another.”

Furrfu.

Addendum, a Day Later:

So far, holding on.

In Colorado.

Steve Benen explains.

Much criticism of Obama does not contain an undercurrent of racism.

It contains an undertow. In the eyes of some, he will never get anything right.

So do did others.

Via Shaun Mullen.

Addendum:

Brendan (warning: language).

Apparently, British Airways considers every man to be a child molester.

The Revolutionary War was clearly justified.