August, 2010 archive
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up 0
But you don’t have to:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| I Give Up – 9/11 Responders Bill | ||||
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Via TPM.
Catch-22 0
Chew on this tidbit from Bizarro World:
Aside:
The article does not go into what concessions, if any, Google made to regain its license to do business in China.
Driving while Brown: The Crux 0
The local rag nails it:
Whatever that means.
(I corrected the grammar, as you will see if you follow the link, because, well, I had to.)
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Not good. Bloomberg:
(snip)
Economists forecast claims would fall to 455,000, according to the median of 43 projections. Estimates ranged from 444,000 to 470,000. The government revised the prior week’s total to 460,000 from a previously reported 457,000.
Who are these economists and why does anyone pay attention to their forecasts?
California Proposition 8 Ruled Unconstitutional (Updated) 0
It’s a district court ruling and will undoubtedly be appealed.
“Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples,” the judge wrote in his 136-page ruling.
He also said proponents offered little evidence that they were motivated by anything other than animus toward gays – beginning with their campaign to pass the ban, which included claims of wanting to protect children from learning about same-sex marriage in school.
Vivian Paige has posted the ruling itself.
As I have said before, nothing that happened between another couple, gay or straight, affected either of my marriages. We managed to mess them up quite well without outside help, thank you very much.
The notion that giving gay folks the joy of marriage (and, he added cynically, the fun of divorce court) somehow does anything to anyone else is a smokescreen.
It’s a smokescreen for hating persons because you just don’t like them and their existence (maybe) makes you feel weird.
And everyone knows it’s a smokescreen, even those who blow the smoke.
Addendum:
Michael Tomasky says, “To hell with the backlash.”
Seen on the Street, Right-of-Way Dept. 0
H/T Susan for the picture.
What If You Give a Tea Party and No One Shows Up? 0
Bob Cesca has the link.
Uncovering Workman’s Comp Fraud? 0
But when she was waiting tables, she had to carry stuff:
After being awarded payments by a judge, she collected nearly $23,000 in disability benefits and more than $4,000 in medical expenses, according to the state.
“But she was observed working as an exotic dancer during the time she was supposedly injured and collecting Workers Compensation payments,” according to Attorney General Tom Corbett.
Nor Any Drop To Drink II 0
I’ll have a Scotch on the rocks with a glass of drugs on the side (emphasis added):
None of the medications detected at water intakes and treatment plants is regulated, and none is targeted or routinely removed by current treatment methods. detection ranged from caffeine and analgesics in United Water Delaware’s big freshwater intake near Stanton to micro-bits of synthetic estrogen in a Seaford well.
I’m betting Delaware is not alone in this.
In a few years, I reckon folks will know whether the “smatterings” are significant enough to cause harm.
Happy Birthday, Mr. President 0
Happy 49th.
Non carborundum illegitimi.
America’s Mayor 0
Not Rudy Guiliani, nutcase extraordinaire.
Michael Bloomberg, who understands the ideals for which the Founders risked their blood and treasure and resists the advocates of unreasoning hate. From his speech today (emphasis added):
This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions or favor one over another. The World Trade Center site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan.
Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11, and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would betray our values and play into our enemies’ hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists, and we should not stand for that.
Via John Cole.
Driving while Brown 0
Ken Cuccinelli looks west for inspiration.
But he advised authorities against addressing civil violations of federal immigration laws.
(snip)
Under current state law, authorities are required to check the immigration status of individuals who are taken into custody. Legal interpretations by attorneys general may carry some weight with courts but aren’t considered binding.
This would seem to extend that to anyone who is questioned, including witnesses, victims, and by-standers who turn out not to have witnessed anything. The story goes on to quote spokespersons from various police departments that indicate that the police departments are approaching this very cautiously.
This is witch hunt territory. The opinion was in response to a question from a state legislator known for right-wing grandstanding.
Listen to the rhetoric of the anti-illegal immigration bunch. It is the same as the rhetoric of the pro-segregation forces of the Jim Crow south (and of today–they are still with us, they are just quieter about it)–only the target has changed.
Immigrants, legal or otherwise, are not the root of the problem; they are the tree growing from the root. The United States’s immigration laws form the root, an impenetrable mess designed to exclude immigrants from the nation which likes to style itself as a “nation of immigrants.”
Read up on the legal history in Kevin R. Johnson’s article from the Indiana Law Review.
It is almost impossible for someone to immigrate legally unless he or she is rich, has a Ph. D., is a media star, or some combination thereof.
And Republicans forestall any attempt at reform.
iWingnut 0
Via The Richmonder.
Twits on Twitter 0
Details here.
Breaking: Kids Can Be Annoying 0
I’m listening to this show right now through the magic of my podplayer (listen at the link):
This morning, the Chicago Tribune featured this column, which manages to be both amusing and disturbing as it considers some of the existential pressures on parents:
These and other stories like them were sparked by a long article in New York Magazine, which explores this proposition:
In other surprising news, hurricanes tend to happen during hurricane season.
The flaw in the reasoning is assuming that
- having children is supposed to bring “happiness” (whatever that is), that
- “happiness” is a goal of life, and that
- “having fun” produces happiness. (It isn’t and it doesn’t, though they overlap.) Therefore
- rearing children must be a fun-filled goal-oriented endeavor.
Watching your kid hit a homer in Little League or play trombone while marching with precision in the university marching band can be fun, but fun and happiness are not the same thing, though they can overlap. (Furthermore, if one views rearing children as a goal-oriented endeavor, one cannot learn whether the endeavor be successful unless one outlives one’s children and sees the end, in which case the outcome will likely be considered unsatisfactory.)
The whole damn kerfuffle is a waste of time built on error. (And it’s got me wasting my time with it right now. My bad.)
God knew that kids can be annoying. That why he made sex pleasurable.
The issue isn’t feeling good, for heaven’s sake; it is doing good. The latter produces the former, not versy vicey.