November, 2008 archive
The Historical Perspective on Thanksgiving (which First Took Place in Virginia, by the Way) 0
Jon Swift reminds us of what it’s all about.
Credit Where Credit Is Due 0
What Susie said.
Wanker of the Day (Updated) 0
I have avoided doing the “Wanker of the Day” schtick because I think it is grossly overworked, but Jeez Louise. . .
Juan Williams, who I just heard say that the Obama we are seeing now is not the man we saw during the campaign and perpetuating the meme that we lefties are somehow disappointed in his appointments.
Many persons, left and right, projected their own beliefs on the candidate.
Frankly, that’s their problem.
As I have said before, anyone who is surprised at Mr. Obama’s actions just was not paying attention for the past two years.
Having regularly heard Mr. Williams’s commentaries throughout the campaign–oh, never mind.
Addendum:
For a reality-based analysis, listen to this.
One More Time: The Internet Is a Public Place 0
’nuff said:
Leary then remembered that “when the group arrived, one of them had asked about one of our waitresses who was not working that night”.
The absent waitress in question was able to give Leary the name of her fleet-footed acquaintance, and he immediately ran it through Facebook. He explained: “I searched the name and there he was, large as life. And he was pictured with his girlfriend – the only girl who had been in the group.”
Republicanism in a Nutshell (Updated) 0
Oh, this is beautiful. Mithras cuts to the quick.
Follow the link. Read the whole thing.
Here’s his precis of the intellectual and strategic underpinnings of Republicanism:
To the racists, conservatism could say, “You’re right. You are the noble white people who built Western Civilization and the United States, the greatest country on Earth. Now these darkies want to take it all away.” To the fanatical anti-communists, conservatism could say, “You’re right. Capitalism is the highest form of human virtue because it requires people to compete for resources and demonstrate their skill and intelligence in a true meritocracy. Anything that hinders that competition is evil, and Communism is the quintessence of evil – it is an international conspiracy solely meant to destroy capitalism.” To the religious wackos, conservatism could say, “You’re right. God the Father preordained the natural state of things that should be reflected in human society, but Satan is leading these sluts and sodomites astray. You are the good people who are doing God’s work in fighting their evil ways.” To the rich, conservatism could say, “You’re right. The mob of poor have discovered that they can vote themselves funds from the public treasury, from your pocket, and if they succeed they’ll never work again and society will collapse. We have to stop them.”
Addendum (H/T Alison for the link):
From Erik Lundegaard:
cf. 1964 and 2008:
Beyond Wingnuttery 0
Most persons like trains.
Trains are fun. The railroad is a fun place to work. Sometimes I miss it, though I do not miss the company that I used to work for.
Then there are train nuts, who make watching, writing about, maybe building model trains a hobby. It’s sort of like industrial bird watching.
Then there are what, on the railroad, we used to refer to as “foamers” or “FRNs” (loosely translated: “freaking rail nuts”). They are the persons who dress up in bib overalls and canvas steam-era engineer caps, go down to the train station whenever it’s open, watch the trains go by, and write down the consist of every train, even though all the cars look alike and were made by the same manufacturer within a few years of each other.
Somewhere along the line, they have lost any grip on basic reality.
You can get the same psychological breakdown in just about any line of endeavor; certainly, you can get it in politics, when persons lose sight of the concept that the purpose of a government is to govern and, in the United States, “provide for the general welfare.”
You can get persons who become so steeped in delusion and unreality that, frankly, they should not be let out without what used to be so graciously called in Victorian England a “companion.”
These people here are bleeding foamers. They illustrate why progressives started referring to themselves as the “reality-based” community:
Both urge the court to consider claims that President-elect Obama is not qualified to be president, because he is not a natural-born American citizen.
And why the term “wingnut” is not a misnomer.
Public Service Announcement: Set the Record Straight Dept. 0
The First Thanksgiving was in Virginia.
Just sayin’.
Everyone have a great Thanksgiving, remembering that, however bad things may look, there is still good.
Stray Thought 0
If you have a large enough bottle of Frank’s Original Red-Hot, anything can be made to taste good.
Philadelphia Bleeds Green . . . 0
It’s Duct Tape Time 0
Just in time for the holidays, your newest dose of Homeland Stupid:
So what? Every self-styled security expert who has surfaced in the press or broadcast media for the past eight years has talked about the possibility that some one, somewhere, might target public transit.
Hell, it’s been done already.
It would be foolish to think that evul dooers haven’t had the same thoughts and maybe even voiced them.
Let’s just hope that, if intelligence actually learns something substantiated, the President has the brains to pay attention. This time.
Scams 0
Talk of the Nation yesterday had an interesting show about scams. It’s well worth a listen.
It starts with the one mentioned in the excerpt below, but ends up ranging over a much wider range of subject matter:
Surprisingly, there was no mention of the Republican Party.
“A Chicken in Every Pot” . . . 0
. . . promised Herbert Hoover.
By the end of his administration, not only were there no chickens.
There were no pots.
Sort of like today.
Food Bank officials estimated that Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem County residents would require four million pounds of food in 2008, but as of Oct. 31, the warehouse already had distributed 4.2 million pounds.
To Hell with Oscar and Emmy 0
Who cares about them anyway? Get ready for the awards show that matters.
The Dukies:
Break Time 0
Off to look for a parking place in Old City.
Update:
Triumph Brewing Company worked out well. We had the upstairs to ourselves (can’t have all those liberals near real customers, you know). Plenty of room. Could hear ourselves think. Nice variety on the menu. Good service. Mithras thinks we’ll probably give it a few more weeks of testing.
End the Politics of Hate: McHatchet Job Dept. 0
Reacting to this interview with Willaim Ayers, Dan Kennedy writes in the Guardian (emphasis added):
Which makes it all the more reprehensible that John McCain and Sarah Palin would single this man out, holding him up as an object of hatred as the crowds they had whipped into a frenzy cried, “Kill him!” The McCain-Palin ticket may be history, but the rage it unleashed lives on.
“Now that the campaign is over, have the death threats stopped?” (interviewer Terry–ed.) Gross asked Ayers.
“Escalated,” Ayers replied.
“Why, do you think?”
“I’m not sure,” Ayers said, “but I’ve gotten a lot of threats that talk about civil war and the fact that we now have a socialist government and that the war is on. And I send all of these threats to the police because I don’t know how to handle them”.
Drinking Liberally Update 5
No second chance for the Plough and Stars.
Triumph Brewing Company, 117 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.
One More Time: End the Politics of Hate 0
From the Booman Tribune. Read the whole thing:
Oh, Noes 0
In Maryland, State Troopers to obey speed limits. What’s the world coming to?
Yeah.
We’ll see.
Aside: I have known a lot of police officers. Almost all of them have been good, decent persons. The percentage of good, decent persons in policing is a lot higher than the percentage of good decent persons in, say, the hedge fund or investment banking industry.
And they spend their working lives wading through the dregs of humanity.
Nevertheless, I’m sure I’m not the only person who finds it frustrating when an officer cruises down the road “keeping pace with the traffic” (that is, going 10 mph over the speed limit) one day and issues tickets for regular drivers who do the same thing the next day.
