June, 2011 archive
Wars and Rumors of War 0
Doug J at Balloon Juice muses about war fever, Potomac style:
DC elites like war because they know they know they won’t have to go themselves, because wars are an opportunity to show off how much they know about Kurdish or whatever, and because they see themselves as citizens of the world who should care passionately about the “freedom” of this or that people (that last bit sounds more condescending than I mean it to be, I think).
I think he has a point (though he left out the part about rank-and-file Democrats who also fell for Bush’s lies).
He also left out the part about how beating the drums of war makes old men feel like macho men.
Wars of choice are popular with those who won’t have to fight.
Humpty Dumpty History: Paul Revere, with Bells On (Updated) 0
Sarah Palin says she got it right.
Frightening is that it is quite certain that she is sincere.
Sincere ignorance is still ignorance.
Addendum, That Afternoon:
In wingnut world, history is what they want it to be. From TPM:
iDropers 0
New Frontiers in Cell Phone Addiction 0
Without missing a beat . . .
Also, a couple of weeks ago on the other side of the country:
She traveled by mouth from Oakland, California, to Salem, Oregon, where she was taken into custody for disorderly conduct.
I was on a train once from New York to Philly. A woman boarded the “quiet car,” which was instituted primarily because of cell phones, and talked loudly for miles. The Conductor had to explain (I knew the Conductor–he handled himself in exemplary fashion) that he could and would call the cops to the next station before he could get her to move to another car.
Amtrak story via GNC.
Banana Repugnant 0
Chiquita had paramilitaries on the dole.
Chiquita claims it was paying protection money, not employing the paramilitaries.
They allege they or their relatives were tortured or killed in banana-growing areas by paramilitaries paid by the company.
Chiquita, which is based in the US, has admitted paying paramilitaries.
All seriousness aside, ample evidence demonstrates that, with many corporations, when you have revenue on the one hand, there is no other hand.
Death Panel Disco 0
On the Media autopsies the made-up death panel furor of the health care reform debate to figure out what it tells us about news coverage. From the website:
Follow the link to listen or listen here:
The transcript is to be posted Monday afternoon.
Facebook Frolics 0
He’s being charged with making terroristic threats:
Out with the Box 0
Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Jekyll, Medicare Dept. 0
The Republican Party tried to block this ad, claiming that it was false:
As Kommandant Klink would have said, “Request denied!” because the ad isn’t false.
While the Republican plan would turn Medicare into an unrecognizable monster (while they try to slip it through by grandfathering anyone 55 or older), it would retain the name.
Their plan is to create a Mr. Hyde, but keep the name, Dr. Jekyll.
Revisionist History 0
Contrary to conventional wisdom, it’s a Republican thing:
Excerpt:
The conservatives and the right wing have been on the wrong side of history so long, their solution is change the facts.
Cannonball Running 0
This column appeared in the local rag several weeks ago, but only recently became available on line.
The writer interviews two persons who participated in the real Cannonball Run. A nugget:
“Things were getting bad,” Baker recalled. “We had scheduled where the gas stops were to be and I blew by it at 12 o’clock when nothing else is open, only because a state trooper is on me.”
Follow the link for the rest.