September, 2009 archive
Lies and Lying Liars–A Continuing Series 0
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Transcript here.
The issue isn’t that Congressman Joe Wilson (Embarrassment–SC) is a nutcase. It’s that he’s one of a party of nutcases.
Electrons Travel at the Speed of Light 0
But they have to march in formation.
According to the BBC, Unlimited IT dispatched 11-month-old Winston from its call centre in the town of Howick to its Durban office. The bird carried its data payload stored on a memory stick, and in fact made the trip in just one hour and eight minutes.
All joking aside, an hour to download the equivalent of a standard DVD is not so bad. In the States.
Elsewhere, it’s lousy:
Housekeeping 0
Updated to the current version of WordPress and doing server maintenance (backups and the like). It things are a little slow, it’s because the network connection is really busy right now.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Reuters:
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected initial claims to drop to 560,000, after reaching 576,000 the prior week, which had previously been reported as 570,000.
As regards the “tumbling” number of persons collecting long term benefits, it “tumbled” all the way 6,247,000 to 6,088,000. That’s a “tumble” of about 3.5%.
I’ll be looking to know whether it “tumbled” because persons got jobs or because their benefits expired.
Unemployment benefits do expire.
This is still a Republican scorecard. Their policies caused this. And this was the result of policy–not of blind dumb luck.
To the extent things might be looking up a little, it’s not their doing.
Lies and Lying Liars 0
Fact Check dot org calls out “Conservatives for Patients’ Rights” (there’s an oxymoron if you ever saw one). A nugget:
Rationing? That occurs on a regular basis today, whenever insurance companies or government programs like Medicare reject claims, or when the companies drop people who have become ill for not disclosing often minor and unrelated preexisting conditions. Under pending legislation, insurance companies would be unable to deny coverage to individuals because of preexisting conditions.
And when it comes to losing one’s insurance, that’s another everyday occurrence under today’s system, as millions of people who have lost their jobs in the recession have found. Under the pending proposals, individuals could lose their current insurance plans, though for different reasons; small businesses might decide to buy coverage through a newly created health insurance exchange, for instance, rather than stick with their current plans. The big difference? For the vast majority, if not all, people, “losing your insurance” would simply mean switching insurance plans – not losing coverage, as many do today.
Follow the link for the full analysis.
Mystical Magical Obamagic 1
Alex Goodall dissects the secret messages of Mr. Obama’s speech to school kids. A nugget:
Serious thought: The hoo-ha over this talk did not start because the talk was conceivably objectionable. Hell, Mr. Obama is too smart a politician to try to pull off the kind of crap he was being accused of (and I think he would never have conceived of what was attributed to him, because I think he is a good and decent man, however much I disagree with some of his strategic and policy decisions).
The hoo-ha over this talk followed this sequence:
- 1. Hate Obama and everything he stands for, even if you have no idea what he stands for.
2. Find something and twist it to justify the hate.
3. Rinse and repeat.
Mr. Obama’s Speech on Health Care 0
It is really very simple. Do you care about your fellow citizens?
Or do you not?
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Transcript here.
At the 26 minute mark, he calls out the liars.
Jerks 0
It’s how they roll.
Brendan Makes a Phone Call . . . 0
. . . and does other stuff.
In other news, the AARP tries to winnow the lies from the health care debate. I don’t always agree with their positions, but the analysis is pretty good.
Aside: If the government wants to use contractors, they should contract intelligence gathering to the AARP–the CIA has nothing on them. I got my first mailing from them the day I turned 50.
Republican Family Values, Origins Issue 0
The Republican Party was feeling down and out and depressed. It was disgusted at the debauchery around it.
Horrors! Gay folks wanting to leave the closet where they rightfully belong. Women wanting to be not-barefoot and not-pregnant-all-the-time. Teenagers learning about sex before the baby comes.
Men peeing sitting down!
It just wasn’t like it used to be back in the good ole 1950s 1940s 1890s Republican daydream of what life used to be like.
Against its predilections, the Party decided to take a chance on visiting a shrink.
This wasn’t one of your new, up-to-date cognitive therapists. This was an old line Freudian. Anything after 1950 was far too cutting edge for the Republican Party.
So the Republican Party settled down on the couch. The shrink, being an old-line Freudian, decided to start with the Rorschach test.
He held up an inkblot. “What does this remind you of?” he asked.
“Sex,” answered the Republican Party.
He held of another inkblot. “What does this remind you of?” he asked.
“Sex,” answered the Republican Party.
This went on until the entire library of inkblots was exhausted.
After a long pause, the shrink stroked his goatee (I said he was an old-line Freudian) and said, “I think you are obsessed with sex.”
“Me!” screamed the Republican Party, jumping off the couch.
The Fat of the Land 0
The comments to this are just priceless.
“R” Rated 0
“R” for “Republican”:
There’s a transcript of much of it here.
Here’s the point:
Lots (I pointedly do not say nor mean “all”) of these “family values” Republicans spout “family values,” not because they have any, but because they think it will get votes.
And it is curious how “family values” in their parlance refers always to sexual behavior, not to business practices, not to treating persons with courtesy in publc discourse, not to lying the nation into war, not to giving away the store to “contractors” who cost more and provide less than full-time government employees, not to threats against the lives of elected officials.
Sexual behavior, so long as there is no hurt nor victimization, really is not the government’s business. Prattling on about “family values” to get votes is a misdirection tactic to distract voters from stuff that is the government’s business, such as, say, just for example, don’t know why I would think of these, fraudulent and reckless banking practices, e. coli in the food supply, and the broken health care system.
It is a deeply cynical manipulation of those who believe their rhetoric.
Video via Brendan.
Stand and Deliver 6
This is the pastor who prays for Mr. Obama to die.
Never in my life–and I’ve attended churches most of my life–have I heard a pastor pray for someone to die.
Or preach about how to pee.
Update: Whoops! Forgot to add a title.
Via Balloon Juice.
I’m a Southern Boy. I Know the Code. 0
Saxby Chambliss warns Obama, “Don’t be uppity.“
eBook Reader 0
I found a neat free and open source ebook reader. It’s not big on eye candy, but it is quite functional.
It was designed for Android, but has been ported to both Windows XP and Linux desktop versions. I reviewed it at Geekazine.
I decided to mention it here because I know that my two or three regular readers also read books.
Facts about the Public Option 0
Robert Reich: “They (the opponents–ed.) want to scare you.”
