March, 2010 archive
Bend a Twig When It Is Young 0
And it grows up bent.
Behind this is a truth: The facts of history do not list to the far right. Wingnuts recognize this, so they manufacture their own facts, such as their bogus idea that the Founders created the United States as a Christian nation.
As they wrote Constitution when the European religious wars of the Reformation were recent history; had lived, many of them, obligated under British rule to support an established church; and witnessed persons persecuted by the British colonial rulers because of their religious beliefs, the last thing the Founders wanted was to establish a church. Hence, the establishment of religion clause in the First Amendment.
Manufactured facts have the troubling characteristic of not being factual.
There is another word for manufactured facts which are not factual.
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Lies.
H/T Karen for the link.
The Fee Hand of the Market 0
A recipe for use by self-policing markets:
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1. Bring water to boil.
2. Add books.
3. Boil until books thoroughly cooked.
Serves: One crash.
More here.
Twits on Twitter 2
Hubris:
I can see it now:
@Heartburn: Hamburger for lunch.
@Notip: Lousy service at Joe’s bar and grill.
@Takeaction: Support HR2789.
@3rdFloorScottDorm: Who wanna part-tay! Hot chicks cold brewskis wanted!!!
Lord help us.
Housekeeping: Automatic Registration Disabled 0
Enough with persons (or more likely bots) registering as “stripteasegirl” and “sexywebcam.” Ripping them out of the database is annoying.
Any real live person wishing to register here, not that registration conveys any benefits since I switched to Askimet for filtering comment spam, can email me using the link at the top of the page.
“And All the Birds Did Shrink” 0
With apologies to Samuel Coleridge:
This shrinkage has occurred within just half a century, with the birds thought to be evolving into a smaller size in response to warmer temperatures.
We Need Single Payer 2
What we have is just plain nuts.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Do 0
It’s helicopter unemployment: It’s just hoverin’ in the high 400Ks.
The four-week average of initial claims – a better gauge of employment trends than the volatile weekly number – rose by 5,000 to 475,500. That’s the highest rate since late November.
Deja Vu All Over Again 0
The American Civil Liberties Union had demanded that the Itawamba County school district allow senior Constance McMillen to attend with her girlfriend. A school district policy requires that dates be of the opposite sex.
Back when I was a young ‘un, a little law called the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.
In my Jim Crow county, three things happened immediately.
One: Some parents organized an all-white private school. Such schools were called “seg academies.” Those students who went to the “seg academy” slowly drifted out of the lives of those of us who stayed in the public school.
Two: The public schools started to lurch unwillingly towards racial integration. Fortunately, where I grew up, the leadership recognized that racial segregation of public schools was done for and decided the only choice was to make integration work.
One black girl joined the senior class of the white high school the next year. About a dozen black girls and boys joined the junior class the year after that (my junior year). And so on.
Of course, no white kids were sent to the black high school, not for many years.
And
Three: The prom was canceled.
It remained canceled for years for fear that some little black boy might want to dance with little some white girl.
Parents are still punishing children with the parents’ hate and fear.
Unreasonable Suspicion 0
John Cole points out that what’s missing in the noisy discussion of the prisoners at Guantanamo is acknowledging that many of them are innocent.
Dead Seas 0
Acidification
(snip)
Increased acidity means that shellfish, from the tiniest to the largest species, have trouble making their shells from calcium carbonate, a victim in the changing chemistry of the oceans, the experts said.
That threat has watermen worried about future impacts on crabs, oysters, clams and other commercial stocks that grow shells or rely on small shellfish for food, said Wayne Creed, an Eastern Shore fisherman, writer and consultant.
The story goes on to point out that some climate change deniers claim that acid is good.
Apparently it is, if you like algae blooms and dead zones.
They must be taking some other kind of acid, the kind that alters reality.
Seed Money 0
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Survival Seed Bank | ||||
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Via John Cole.
We Need Single Payer 0
But almost anything would be better than what we’ve got.
Avatar 1
No, I haven’t seen it. After Klaatu’s capsule review, I don’t know whether I shall:
(All that money and) “All they could do is retell Dances with Wolves.”