June, 2010 archive
They Get Regular Paychecks Already 0
Not Larry Sabato reports.
New Developments 1
Some years ago, while waiting for a connection in Las Vegas, I started chatting with another fellow who was looking out the same window of the waiting area watching the planes move around.
We discovered that we were both from the same area and introduced ourselves. I recognized his name and said, “I voted for you! Twice!”
He had succeeded a county executive whose term in office was notable for petty influence-peddling and incompetence and had served the two terms allowed him. I thanked him for his part in cleaning up the mess.
He said to me (this is from memory, but it’s pretty close),
I had one rule. I never met with a developer unless the country attorney or the head of the country zoning board was with me.
Think about it.
When something goes wrong in local government, it almost always involves real estate. . . .
I know nothing about the facts of this proposal except what’s in the newspaper story at the link, but recalling that conversation makes think about the first line of the 59th Street Bridge Song.
Leprechauns in Louisiana? 0
BP seems to think so (emphasis added):
The Times-Picayune tries to cut him some slack:
Svanberg is Swedish, and his comments may have been an unintentional slight.
Er, yeah.
Hiding Their Frights under a Bushel 0
From TPM:
Remember the GOP establishment didn’t want these far-right, insurgent candidates in the first place, and now Republicans fear that in the year of the tea party, Paul and Angle could become the face of the party for the midterm elections. That could present an image to voters that screams radical more than it does electable.
According to the story, Paul is now asking reporters to submit questions in writing, and Angle is being “staffed up and prepared” before meeting Republicans, I guess the way that Sarah Palin was prepped for her interview wit Katie Couric.
Where Obama Disappoints 0
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Respect My Authoritah | ||||
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Via Hanlon’s Razor.
Suiting Up 0
Bloomberg reports that the lawsuits against Buccaneer Petroleum are starting. I must admit that suing the board of directors under civil racketeering statutes is a creative touch (emphasis added):
Investors in three states, including Louisiana and Alaska, have sued BP’s board of directors for allegedly causing more than $50 billion in shareholder losses by failing to implement safety policies that would have prevented the spill. In a separate class-action lawsuit in Florida, the company is accused of “a pattern” of criminal acts including fraud. That suit seeks triple damages under federal civil racketeering law.
War Gamers 0
Thoreau hears the war mongers mongering war with Iran with other persons’ children once more, because Afghanistan and the Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq have worked out so well.
A nugget:
Of course, the fact that they are rational and self-interested apparently doesn’t mean that we should try anything drastic like, say, negotiating.
Cat Toy 0
When I opened the video, my friend asked whether an iPad can keep your coffee warm. (She also suggests that Iggy is declawed.)
Via Scientific Blogging.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Six-packs optional:
Scott P. Ferguson, 34, was accused of pointing a shotgun at a man after he stopped in a metered parking space along the street near Ferguson’s home in the 400 block of E. Freemason St.
According to the write-up, Mr. Ferguson seemed to think that the “metered” (that is, public) parking space was his wife’s personal property and that he was defending it from rustlers.
The President’s Address 0
Excerpt:
We shall see how cooperative Buccaneer Petroleum turns out to be. I have little faith that they deal in good faith.
If Buccaneer Petroleum dealt in good faith, this would not have happened.
Whatever other lessons can be drawn from this, the first one is that the free hand of the market is actually the dead hand of the market. It deals death.
Corporate rapine is not the answer, no matter what the question.
“I’ll Take Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, Too” 0
Dick Destiny on the uses and misuses of “Manhattan Project.”
The Galt and The Lamers 0
Andrew Sullivan on neocons: All theory, no reality.
This rather echoes what I said about Libertarians regarding allegiance to theory over facts.
As much as I am irritated over Sullivan’s worryworting over deficits, his tendency to get distracted by “entitlement” spending when the bloat is in military spending, and his obsession with Sarah Palin’s progeny, I commonly find his analyses of political movements (at least those of which he is not part) to be quite acute.
Stupid Car Tricks Get My Her Goat
0
Not DUI. All the seats in the passenger compartment were taken:
(Sheriif’s Deputy–ed.) Key asked the driver, Fiona Enderby, 32, what was in the trunk.
A goat, Enderby told her.
And that’s what Key found when the lid was opened. The animal, a male of unknown age, had its legs tied and was panting heavily. The temperature in the compartment — tested about 10 minutes after the trunk was opened — reached 94 degrees, according to a news release issued Monday by the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office. It was unclear how long the goat had been in there.
Ex-Rated Agencies 0
The ratings agencies told investors that all those hinky CDOs and mortgage-backed insecurities were A-double-OK. They were complicit in Wall Street’s successfully convincing investors to buy bags of air.
That house needs to be cleaned, but the House of Representatives is considering eliminating the Franken amendment:
Franken is seeking to limit conflicts in the existing system, where an institution pays for its rating, and at times, shops for the best rating it can get for the lowest price.
However, late Monday, House leaders, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Democrat from Massachusetts, put together an offer to the Senate that would strike that measure and replace it with a House provision that would have the SEC conduct a one-year study to evaluate whether such a board would work and present to Congress recommendations for regulatory or statutory change.
“Long-term studies” and “blue ribbon commissions” are where legislative proposals are sent to die.
My letter to my elected representatives incongruously assembled goes out today.
Spill Here, Spill Now, Christmas Story Dept. 0
If BP’s flacks had a bb gun, they would shoot their eyes out.
They must sit around in a room and brainstorm ideas about how to make the company look bad, badder, baddest.
Via Mithras.
A European Import Worth Considering 0
Bloomberg:
Directors at banks that received public funds would also have their salaries capped at 500,000 euros ($613,000), and at least 40 percent of any bonus would be deferred for five years, under the measures approved by the assembly’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Strasbourg, France yesterday.
QOTD 0
Harriet Beecher Stowe, from the Quotemaster:
To do common things perfectly is far better worth our endeavor than to do uncommon things respectably.
New Sources of Energy 0
Andy Borowitz reports:
At a press conference at corporate headquarters in London, BP CEO Tony Hayward said that environmentalists would embrace the new technology “because lies are a totally renewable resource.”
It’s not British Petroleum. It’s Bullshit Petroleum.
Dirty Bomb FUD 0
Armchair Generalist on Jeremy Hilary Boob PhD, White House Version.
