From Pine View Farm

2009 archive

Anyone Who Has Ever Read . . . 0

. . . The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer knows that Pat Buchanan is a unacquainted with historical truth.

Then, again, anyone who has actually listened to Pat Buchanan knows he is a unacquainted with historical truth.

Jesus H. Christ.

I’m going to bed while something stupid from Court TruTV rocks me to sleep.

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“Make To Sure Spell Everything Wrong and Swear a Lot” 0

Tracking your kids on line.

Via Susie.

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Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go (Update) 0

Choose your indicator: upsy or downsy.

A Labor Department report on Thursday showed initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 570,000 last week. However, the four-week moving average for new jobless claims, considered a better gauge of underlying trends, rose 4,000 to 571,250.

Still over half a million.

Addendum, the Next Day:

9.7% Unemployment. QOTD from Marketwatch:

Economist Robert Brusca said the trend is favorable, adding that he couldn’t understand the pessimism of so many observers. “I feel like a parent locked in a car with a little kid screaming ” DADDY! ARE WE THERE YET?”

Many economists think the unemployment rate will top out near 10%, late this year or early next year. “What really matters is when payrolls and the jobless rate will turn, and we still believe that the timeframe on both is soon, probably sooner than most other forecasters expect,” wrote Stephen Stanley, chief economist for RBS Securities.

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“R” Rated, Reprise 2

Content removed in deference to a friend.

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Folk Medicine 0

Leeches

Via Bartcop.

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“R” Rated 0

“R” for Republican

One more time, it’s not the sex.

It’s the hypocrisy.

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In Onion Veritas 0

Read the whole thing:

After years of battling crippling premiums and agonizing deductibles, local resident Michael Haige finally succumbed this week to the health insurance policy that had ravaged his adult life.

While family members refused to look at Haige’s insurance plan as a death sentence, it soon became clear that their loved one was facing the biggest fight of his life. Countless visits to doctors, claims adjusters, and loan officers proved futile, with Haige being told at every turn that his case was hopeless.

“They said there was nothing they could do for him, that modern medicine was powerless against this monster,” Sheila Haige said. “Still, Michael never gave up. He kept saying that he was going to beat the odds, that he was going to find some way to get coverage.”

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Rationing 0

Health care rationing.

It’s already being planned in the Sanfordized State, folks.

We just don’t want to call it what it is.

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“Best Health Care in the World” 0

Except when it’s not.

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The Peter Principle 0

I said at the time that the best thing about Tom Ridge’s being named Secretary of Homeland Security was that it got him out of Pennsylvania.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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My Grandmother Was from South Carolina 0

She would be mortified.

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Twits on Twitter 0

You can now study Twitter and similar stuff in college, at least at DePaul:

(The course) will focus on how to confirm and evaluate reports by citizen journalists, particularly in cases of breaking news. The class will also help students learn how to sort through information on the Web for story tips and context..

Confusing medium and message.

Read more »

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Jaws 0

. . . a pit bull deflated all four tires of a deputy’s cruiser near Hope Mills (N. C.–ed.) on Sunday. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Tanna says the deputy parked his car in a woman’s driveway while responding to her complaint about another dog.

The deputy was uneaten.

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Rationing 0

Health Insurance

Via Bartcop.

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Oh Noes! 0

Parents have long suspected their teenagers aren’t thinking the same way they are. In the last decade, scientists studying the teen brain have discovered that they’re right.

The same kids who used to make their beds without a fight, follow the rules and delight their parents with their generally sunny personalities somehow morph into moody, unmotivated youth who seem to delight in frustrating their loved ones and testing the limits of every rule.

It’s all in their heads. Read the article to see why.

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Brendan Writes a Column 0

Read it here.

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When Zombie Banks Walked the Earth 0

Joseph DiStephano discusses the walking dead.

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I’m Just Sorry I Won’t Be Registered To Vote in Virginia in Time To Vote against This Clown 2

Republican nominee for governor, Bob McDonnell.

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Swamp Gas 0

Normally, I wouldn’t pay attention to something like an internecine blog war between an anonymous-author-turned-reporter and a Constitutional-lawyer-turned-blogger, but comment number 26 is an absolute hoot.

Afterthought: Greenwald’s response here.

Addendum after Reading All the Comments:

The latest line is Greenwald by two touchdowns and a safety.

Addendum-dee-dum-dum:

It is rather curious how political reporters tend to characterize bloggers as anonymous, even when they are not and may, like Geenwald, never have been anonymous.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Twitter passes My Space in the UKofGBandNI.

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