December, 2011 archive
TSA Security Theatre, Thursday Night Smackdown Dept. 0
Jesse Ventura discusses his suit against the TSA. He’s suing on Fourth Amendment grounds:
The Phony War on Christmas 0
We will fight until we live in a world where free Americans everywhere seek not validation of their religious beliefs through Macys signage . . . .
“Public-Private Partnerships” 0
All the rage right now.
Here’s how they work:
A legitimate governmental function needs doing, such as, say, an expressway needs to be built. Instead of the building the expressway directly with tax money, the government gives the tax money to a private company, which uses it to pay for executive bonuses and country club memberships.
Years later, a new sidewalk is christened.
With toll booths.
Jay Bookman, while discussing some proposals in Georgia, sums up the underlying methodology.
Mitt-tating an Image? 0
At Psychology Today, R. Michael Alvarez attempts to understand why so many Republicans want to give Mitt the Flip:
In particular, these Republican voters saw Romney as distant and unlikeable. When the focus group moderaters asked the participants to describe what family member each Republican candidate might be, Gingrich was described as a close family member, “a grandfather, a father, a favorite uncle.” But Romney, who the talking heads think will be the eventual nominee, was described in distant and negative ways—my favorite, “The dad who’s never home.”
He goes on to consider how Mitt might flip his image.
Though no doubt causing a flap, that’s the one flip certain to flop.
As a counterpoint, courtesy of Steve Benen, here’s Mitt condemning flip-flopping, yet another issue on which Mitt has flipped:
Cainspiracy 0
At SeattlePI dot com, David Horsey traces the roots of the conspiracy to take down Herman Cain’s candidacy. It’s been a-brewing a long time.
A nugget:
This conspiracy goes back much farther than the brief months of Cain’s campaign, of course. It began back in the 1960s when the liberal media elites identified a Kenyan-born baby with an American mother; a child they could groom in secret to become their tool to destroy Christian America. They arranged a fake birth announcement in Honolulu’s newspapers, indoctrinated the boy in the Muslim cesspool of Indonesia and, when the time was right, brought him to the exotic, multiracial pleasure garden of Hawaii where he could easily fit in and begin his surreptitious climb to power.
Follow the link. It’s worth it, if only to see the editorial cartoon.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
An actual voter fraudster lands in the dock:
The jury found Schurick guilty on all four counts, including election fraud and failing to include an Ehrlich campaign authorization line on the calls. After the verdict was read, Schurick clutched his wife, who burst into tears.
Prosecutors said the call, which was made as Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley swept to a re-election victory, was designed to suppress black votes.
The story goes on to quote from exhibits in the case that verify that black and other minority voters were specifically targeted. This should help the NAACP’s case.
The defense is taking the position that freedom of speech includes freedom to commit fraud.
The defendant’s expression in photographs taken after the court adjourned lead me to think he was stunned at being held accountable.
Via Balloon Juice.
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up 0
Cherry Knoll Elementary School Principal Chris Parker told television station WPBN on Monday that he was disappointed with the decision to make the change to “Deck the Halls” after children kept giggling.
One line in the popular version of the song is “Don we now our gay apparel,” referring to festive holiday clothing.
More distressing than students’ state of vocabulary-challenged-ness is that the writer of the news story felt it necessary to define “gay” for the readers of the news story.
The Phony War on Christmas 0
The AFA grades companies on how Christmas-friendly they are based on the frequency of Christmas themes in their attempts to bamboozle customers into buying over-priced, unnecessary, useless stuff advertising.
Apparently, Toyata’s wrapping a car in a Christmas bow is somehow “Christmas friendly.”
I find this year’s crop of Christmas commercials particularly sick-making. Indeed, one of the benefits of using the DVR is the ability to zip the commercials. Even watching them go by a double-speed is painful.
Race Is a Fiction . . . 0
. . . a cultural construct that exists only in the eyes of those who see it, though it be a powerful fiction, a brain-eating destructive zombie of a lie.
CrookedTimber recalls the Immigration Service’s list of races from 1914:
The prosecution rests.
Corporate Raiders 0
Raiding employee pensions:
One of the most popular ploys is to use the bankruptcy court to undermine the bargaining position of labor unions. The latest firm to do so is American Airlines, which said it took the step to “achieve industry competitiveness.” This is corporate-speak for “we’re going to milk our employees dry.”
Full story at the link.
“Two Pieces of (Tax) Hypocrisy” 0
Robert Reich explains “two pieces of hypocrisy” in the Republican position on taxes:
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
(snip)
Fourteen states have passed a total of 25 measures that will unfairly restrict the right to vote, among black and Hispanic voters in particular.
The new measures are focused – not coincidentally, the association insists – in states with the fastest growing black populations (Florida, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina) and Latino populations (South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee).
Follow the link for details.
You know that the petition is justified. The record makes that clear.
TSA Security Theatre 0
A TSA agent told her it was a federal offense.
“It’s in the shape of a gun. I’m like, it’s a design on the purse. How is it a federal offense?” said Gibbs.
TSA is taking the position that it is a “replica gun.” Watch the video and decide for yourself how much it replicates a gun.