April, 2010 archive
Stray Thought 0
Coal mining will continue to be dangerous as long as mine operators consider safety to be part of an expense, rather than a way of life.
Lies, Lying Liars, and Republicans 0
Speaks for itself:
(snip)
Colonel (Lawrence–ed.) Wilkerson, who was General Powell’s chief of staff when he ran the State Department, was most critical of Mr Cheney and Mr Rumsfeld. He claimed that the former Vice-President and Defence Secretary knew that the majority of the initial 742 detainees sent to Guantánamo in 2002 were innocent but believed that it was “politically impossible to release them”.
Via Thoreau.
Gunnar Myrdal Was Correct . . . 0
when he said (in 1938 mind you) that the Negro problem in America is a white man’s problem:
Video via the Booman, whose entire post is worth a read.
Brendan Poses a Question 2
Then he answers it.
I Hope Tiger Woods Wins the Masters . . . 0
. . . because whatever he did in his marriage, he never pretended to be anything other than what he was.
Sure, he kept his personal life quiet (with good reason); that means he wasn’t parading his family in public in some kind of family values hype.
He’s more honest than most of the sanctimonious gasbags who are writing and talking about him in the media.
No, I don’t watch golf on telly vision.
Twits on Twitter 2
In Scotland.
Of course, if he did that here and if and only if he were a wingnut, he’d be hailed as an outspoken hero.
iYawn 1
Bill Shein. A nugget:
QUESTION: When I opened the box, I found my new iPad was wrapped in a black turtleneck. Why?
ANSWER: The black turtleneck is the official symbol of our iLord and iMaster, Steve Jobs, praised be He. Every iPad comes lovingly wrapped in a turtleneck that has been Blessed by Steve™ at no additional charge. As you may have heard, five of these shirts were once worn by Steve. If you get one – which will smell strongly of pure genius – you’ll win a tour of Apple’s secret design studio. During your visit, you’ll learn about upcoming products like the Everlasting GatesStopper and the iHuxley, the perfect device for our brave new world of permanent distraction.
Donning the Breastplate of Hate 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr. Read the whole thing:
Then you consider Hutaree and its alleged plan to kill in the name of God, and the idea of some innate, saving difference between us and those bearded others in other places begins to feel like a fiction we conjured to help us sleep at night.
(snip)
Why does their Jesus need the help of men in camo fatigues with guns and bombs? In this, he is much like the Allah for whom certain Muslims blow up marketplaces and crowded buses. Muslim and American terrorists, it seems, both apparently serve a puny and impotent God who can’t do anything without their help.
I Get Mail 1
I do not find this surprising. From the ACLU.
We’ve told you about the ACLU lawsuit on behalf of Constance McMillen, the Mississippi student whose school canceled the prom rather than let her attend with her girlfriend. Last month, a federal judge in Mississippi ruled that the school violated Constance’s First Amendment rights. However, the judge was satisfied by the school’s promise that Constance would be welcome at a private prom, so he did not force the school to put its own prom back on.
What happened next is shocking.
Last Friday, Constance went to a private dance that was billed as the school prom. The event—attended by Constance, her date and five other students—was essentially a decoy event. According to news reports, virtually all of the other students went to a parent-sponsored prom to which Constance was not invited.
No, it’s not shocking. It’s typical.
All seriousness aside, this was just cruel.
They were not even willing to stand up for their bigotry. They tried to pretend it away through some kind of shell-game trick.
This is where hate groups have a moral edge. At least they are honest about hating. That’s better than the carpet-chewing pseudo-morality of the hypocrites.
Act now.
Aside:
When I was a young ‘un, the girls all danced with each other anyway.
So what’s the big?
Paranoia Strikes Deep; on the Right It Shall Creep 0
From Fact Check dot org. Follow the link for the full analysis:
Q: Did the new health care law give Obama a Nazi-like “private army” of 6,000 people?
A: No. Contrary to false Internet rumors, the new Ready Reserve Corps of doctors and other health workers will report to the surgeon general and be like the “ready reserves” in other uniformed services. They will be used during health emergencies.
They make stuff up because truth is not on their side.
Whereass 0
Via Not Larry Sabato, a home run. Click the link to chase the ball.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
All the Easter Bunnies have been laid off:
Initial jobless applications increased by 18,000 to 460,000 in the week ended April 3, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The week leading up to Easter and the two weeks that follow are traditionally a “volatile time” for claims, a Labor Department analyst said, making it difficult to discern the underlying trend in applications.
The details are rather irrelevant. It’s still in the high 400,000s.
At least it’s holding steady.
They Just Like the Idea of Blowing Stuff Up 0
Republican foreign policy in a nutshell.
Open Letter, Tea Bag Dept. 1
Apparently, this is making the rounds in email forwarding land. It hasn’t landed here yet; I have it via DelawareLiberal:
We had eight yearsof Bush and Cheney, but now you get mad!
You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative had her cover blown simply for contradicting Dick Cheney.
You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq .
You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden.
You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city drown.
You didn’t get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich.
You didn’t get mad when, using reconciliation; a trillion dollars of our tax dollars were redirected to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage which cost over 20 percent more for basically the same services that Medicare provides.
You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark, and our debt hit the thirteen trillion dollar mark.You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick.
Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans… oh hell no.
AND NOW YOU’RE MAD !
Heh.
Monopoly Games 0
Read how AT&T tried to take over the broadcast waves in 1922.
Think net neutrality.
AT&T story via GNC.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
“Honest, Occifer, it just suddenly went off all on its ownsome. I don’t know what it was thinking.”
