March, 2010 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 1
For two years, in between carpools, I transferred between the bus and the subway at the Pentagon subway station in Arlington, Va., where yesterday some yahoo with a gun cut loose.
Just to be clear, I am against prohibiting firearms. I like shooting and I’m pretty good when I’m in practice. Guns are neither inherently good nor bad. At the same time . . . .
Prudescence 1
Honest to Pete, someone has a real problem, and it’s not the family that sculpted the snowwoman.
Words fail me, because this is too stupid for words.
“Hold the Pickle, Hold the Lettuce” 0
Special orders don’t upset us.
Scam Alert II 0
Cramming is back:
This week, the FTC filed charges against two San Francisco brothers, accusing them of fraudulently billing people for services supposedly provided by numerous companies with names such as GoFaxer.com, Global YP and Inc21. A federal judge issued an injunction halting operations by the businesses while the men await trial.
Crammers use a wide variety of ways to stick consumers with charges they never approved.
More of that fee hand of the market that righties are so fond of talking about.
We Need Single Payer 1
She divorced her husband of over 40 years because he had Alzheimer’s.
It was the only way, after running through all the family’s savings, to make care affordable for him.
Heath care reform is a matter of morality, not a matter of country club memberships for executives.
Our present system is immoral and forces good people to do immoral things to stay alive.
Roberta has found some peace in the realization that “marriage means more than a piece of paper.” Her love and devotion to Alex have not diminished; she visits him every day in the nursing home, giving him the latest news about their children and sometimes bringing flowers. Totally incapacitated now, both physically and mentally, Alex will never improve or return home. But Roberta is grateful for the time they do have, as well as the peace of mind that comes with knowing her own future is secure. “I’m grateful I still have my home and enough savings so I won’t be dependent on my children,” she says. “But the real question is, why should health care have to end up in the divorce courts? What kind of a system is that?”
Barbutti 0
Souls are lined up to enter Heaven. As each one enters, St. Peter gives the soul a harp.
On the other side of things, other souls are lined up to enter Hell. Each one receives an accordion . . . .
Domestic Terrorists 0
From the Guardian:
And the Republican Party is quietly encouraging this stuff while acting all proper in public with it’s “socialism” rhetoric.
Read the whole thing.
Red Herring 0
Medical tort reform:
Let’s call this tort-reform fixation what it is: a sign that many Republicans are bereft of ideas and obsessed with an issue that will do nothing to lower care costs or cover the uninsured. Medical malpractice is a political crutch that opponents of the health-care bills lean on time and time again to justify their efforts to derail reform.
The author of the column is a trial lawyer. Nevertheless, that does not keep him from being right. There may need to be some reform medical malpractice law in the interest of justice and good medical practice, but the effects of malpractice insurance, suits, and settlements on costs are minimal:
Constitutional Deficiency Anemia 0
The American Bar Association on Liz Cheney’s ad about lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees:
The point of having Constitutional rights–and the reason for the Bill of Rights–is that rights should not be only for persons we like. And persons should be deprived of rights because they have done something to forfeit them, not because of what they are suspected or accused, but not proven, to have done.
Anyone can accuse based on anything . . . or nothing. (Sen. Joe McCarthy, q. v..)
It’s called “justice” and the “rule of law.” It’s the alternative to tyranny.
The Cheneys and their acolytes have never understood that.
This Stuff Really Is Numb-Making 0
After a while, the hypocrisy no longer surpises one.
Hypocrisy seems to be a fundamental Republican family value.
Then, again, it wouldn’t be news but for the hypocrisy.
Scam Alert 0
This one comes and goes; the callers claim to be calling from Canada.
The caller said he was in Canada on a fishing trip with friends when they accidentally trespassed on an Indian reservation and were arrested. They needed $2,000 to get back to the United States, the caller said.
When the elderly man told the caller that he didn’t have any money, the caller hung up, Navarro said.
He then telephoned his daughter to find that Ian wasn’t in Canada but at work.
QOTD 0
Philip K. Dick via the Quotemaster:
There will come a time when it isn’t ‘They’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be ‘My phone is spying on me.’
Playing Airplane 0
I did it from the front seat of our 1955 Ford after my father installed seat belts. I didn’t have real planes.