February, 2011 archive
Return of Beyond the Palin, Pot Kettle Dept. 0
Sarah Palin tells Sean Hannity that Christina Aquilera should be deported for missing some words in the national anthem at the Super Bowl. (Actually, “deported” is the wrong word. Since Aquilera is from New York, “banished” would be, I think, the more accurate term.)
Here is the crucial quote from Palin, offered without further comment:
Via Eschaton.
Facebook Frolics 0
Jay Leno, via OhMyGov!:
The Egyptian protesters are using Facebook to get away from the police, but the police are using Farmville to build fences to keep the protesters in.
Experts now say the protests in Egypt were started by bloggers. Bloggers started the whole thing on Facebook. In fact, the No. 1 choice to replace Mubarak — Justin Bieber.
We Need Single Payer 0
Noz reports from the trenches, where’s he’s fighting to get coverage for his son (emphasis added).
His son has a pre-existing condition. He’s alive:
Also, this, for which I have no words.
There’s the Pound Sterling, then There’s the Pound Avoirdupois 0
Since Brendan recommended the site, I’m subscribing to a food and recipe blog.
I won’t be taking them up on the gardening tips.
My Daddy used to pay me 35 cents an hour to pull weeds in the soybean field.
In July.
In the South.
Yeah, I know it’s the Upper South, but it’s still the South.
I know that some persons look at a garden and see recreation, relaxation, and creativity; all I see is (Maynerd G. Krebs voice) work.
Groceries are what supermarkets are for.
Check out this recipe.
Farm Fresh, here I come.
QOTD 0
Alfred Adler,from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.
Turnabout 0
There is a certain delicious irony in this:
The website of Washington DC-based HBGary Federal was hijacked Sunday along with the Twitter account of CEO Aaron Barr. The company’s website was defaced with a message that read, “This domain seized by Anonymous under section #14 of the rules of the Internet.”
“Your recent claims of ‘infiltrating’ Anonymous amuse us, and so do your attempts at using Anonymous as a means to garner press attention for yourself,” the messaged continued. “How’s this for attention?”
Follow the link to learn why Mr. Aaron Barr (it is so difficult not to type “Aaron Burr“) has unplugged his router. Seems his bid for publicity has attracted port scans.
While thinking that Anonymous’s actions are ultimately rather pointless–it’s deeds are roughly the internet equivalent of tee-peeing the lawn of the principal and school board member that you don’t like–I admire the chutzpah here.
On a more serious note, to the extent that persons in authority persist in thinking that there is a group called “Anonymous,” they betray their lack of a clue and their overall $luser-dom.
It’s not a group when the only qualification for membership is showing up.
It may be a chance meeting on the inter-streets, a mob, a gang, a vested interest, or (current beaten-to-death buzzword) stakeholders (apologies to Dr. Van Helsing), but it’s not a group.
The press paints Anonymous as if it were The Gathering.
Hell, it’s barely a gathering.
Stray Question 0
If a bad film is released in 3D, does that make it three times as bad or only half again as bad?
Twits on Twitter 0
Dick Destiny gets real. A nugget:
No, not really. I indicated I didn’t have interest in the story that Facebook and Twitter had been significant to the Egyptian uprising.
I did see that US-made M1 tanks were laying smoke screens and refraining from shelling and machine-gunning crowds.
Which doesn’t jive with the regular make-stuff-up things passed off by US media.
The Fee Hand of the Market 0
Bank of America settles the claims, agreeing to pay claimants $400,000,000.00.
“The bank actively provides false or misleading balance information to these customers, including plaintiff, that in turn deceives these customers into making additional transactions that, in turn, will generate even more overdraft fees for the bank,” Torres’s lawyers wrote in the complaint.
Pernicious Legacy 0
Cynthia Tucker explains the damage done by Ronald Reagan. A nugget:
That has led to our present dilemma — one in which the United States is nearly ungovernable. American voters are more dependent on government than ever. Just try reducing the size of Medicare or Social Security or agricultural subsidies. (Reagan didn’t actually reduce the size of government; he didn’t even try. See chart below.) But they stubbornly resist the idea of raising revenue to cover those programs — because that would feed government!
Some voters are so philosophically opposed to government that they simply block out the idea that programs they love, such as Medicare, are government programs. (Reagan opposed the creation of Medicare, by the way, insisting that it would lead to “socialism.)
Facebook Frolics 0
The internet is a public place.
Super Bull VII: A Celebration of the NFL 0
A. J. Daulaerio in Playboy (Warning: Yes, that Playboy, the one with the big articles) illustrates how, indeed, winning is the only thing:
Super Bull VI: A Celebration of the NFL 0
In weight training, there is a lift called the “clean and jerk.”
I’ve found the jerk, but not the clean.
Joan Vennochi writes in the Boston Globe:
“It is like a football game,’’ he said. “You throw an interception and you bounce back from your mistake.’’
That may be true for him, but what about the woman who suffered from his “mistake’’? His behavior was ugly enough to merit the league suspension and this admonition from the DA who declined to press charges against him: “We are not condoning Mr. Roethlisberger’s actions that night. . . . If he were my son, I would say, ‘Ben, grow up.’ ’’
Afterthought
I am not a fan of Michael Vick.
Nevertheless, I am struck that Vick got jail for mistreating dogs, whereas Roethlisberger got suspended for a short time for treating a woman like a dog.
This communicates a distressing dissonance between our concern for dogs and our concern for women that I care not to contemplate.
Aside:
Jesus should charge royalties for being used as a PR tool by folks who discover him just as their public careers are in jeopardy. Not that I would question anyone’s sinceri oh, never mind.
Super Bull IV: A Celebration of the NFL 0
Derrick Z. Jackson, admitted Packers fan, writes:
Super Bull III: A Celebration of the NFL 0
NFL team owners, another group for whom too much is never enough.
Phil Sheridan at Philly dot com:
In their posturing, the two sides have created at least one interesting conundrum. Goodell and the owners have pushed hard for expanding the regular season from 16 games to 18. Part of their campaign is to trash the value of preseason games, which would be cut from four to two. These are the same games NFL owners have forced season-ticket holders to pay full price for over the last 20 years or so.
So what happens if the union holds the line and refuses to accept the 18-game season? It is going to be impossible for the league to go back to pretending the preseason games are anything more than consumer fraud, but they’ll have to. They’re not going to give up the revenue.