July, 2009 archive
By the C 0
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Down at the Farm 0
According to the neighbor who heard it from the mail carrier who saw the whole thing, a garbage truck left the street with his little dumpster arms in the air. They snagged the power lines, bringing down the pole. This happened at about 12:30 p. m. The lights came on sometime during the night. Not having any plug-in analog clocks, I’m not sure how long the power, cable, and telephone were off. But it was at least eight hours.
The only non-natural sound on the street during that time was the generator at the house a few doors down; the previous owners fell for the Y2K panic.
The story doesn’t seem to have made the paper, since it didn’t involve a car running into a house.
Errands 0
Off to DMV to take care of some paperwork. In Delaware, they open on Wednesdays from noon to 8 p. m.
When I go there, my goal is always to get the clerk to laugh.
Brendan Makes a Phone Call 0
This one’s a beaut. A nugget:
Casey’s office: “well, I wouldn’t say it’s three republicans. It’s more like the health insurance lobby that he thinks is more important that the rest of the country.”
Me: “hahaha, he certainly is an asshole, could you transfer me to his office.”
Casey’s office: “hahahaha, our pleasure!”
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
CalWreck 0
What happens when persons are not willing to pay the cost of living in a civilized society taxes.
No more la la la in LalaLand.
I Write Letters 0
My letter to my elected representatives incongruously assembled:
This is to urge you to support health care reform including some form of public option.
Frankly, I believe that the correct act would be to institute a single-payer model, as is used in the rest of the civilized world, but I agree with Mr. Obama that that is a political non-starter. What is indisputable is that the current system, for all that it lines many pockets, does not generate satisfactory or even mediocre health care at a cost reasonable to American society as a whole.
Thank you.
Not Just a River in Egypt 0
(Or maybe it’s “Egypts.” Noz wonders here.)
It’s a way of life. George Monbiot in the Guardian:
He goes on the discuss some of the consequences of blundering into the future with blinders on. It’s worth the five minutes it takes to read.
Debunking Healthcare Lies 0
On the Media takes out the Shona Holmes story–and story is the right word:
“It just makes me angry that the media isn’t looking into this any more. It wasn’t hard for me to find out what she actually had . . .”
Read the transcript here or listen below:
The Ownership Society 0
TPM on owning fruitcakes:
This gives Republicans a choice: Vote yes on the resolution, which would repudiate the Birthers; vote no, to endorse them; or skip the vote, which would basically be the same as voting no.
Put up or shut up.
Then, again, there are the complete nutcases.
From the Sanity Department: It doesn’t matter where Mr. Obama was born, though he was born in the United States. His mother was an American citizen. He would have been an American citizen had he been born on a planet orbiting the star Sirius in a galaxy far, far away, in a time far, far ago, for heaven’s (as it were) sake.
Certifiable 0
If there can be any such thing as an unAmerican activity, I nominate suborning lies. It’s a Republican thing.
Via Balloon Juice, where John Cole adds this comment:
The reason Republicans in DC are running from some guy on the street asking them whether or not Obama is an American citizen is because they have spent the last thirty years cultivating a base of insane crazy people, and while they may escape a reporter from FDL, they can’t escape the base.
Drink Liberally 0
and meet with the Philadelphia Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society tomorrow evening at Triumph Brewing Company, Chestnut and Letitia, Philadelphia, Pa., 6 p., Tuesday evening.
While waiting, from the “I Can’t Resist Dept.,” learn about Republicanism by listening to Hour One of Radio Times for July 23, 2009 about “Why Do Couples Have Affairs?” (MP3). (Sorry, it doesn’t cover diapers, toe-tapping, or Congressional pages.)
Brendan Writes a Column 0
In which he considers spectral beings here.
Light Bloggery 0
Travelin’ coming to an end.
Gatesgate 0
Shaun Mullen ponders at Kiko’s House:
Crowley, of course, infamously let an unpleasant situation escalate into a bad one when when he confronted Harvard prof Henry Louis Gates in the act of breaking into his Cambridge home, Gates got crosswise instead of submissive and Crowley arrested him on a disorderly conduct charge that was dropped thisfast when word of the absurdity of the collar got out.
Read the whole thing.
Financial Geniuses 0
Pay for performance at work, Wall Street Edition: