2011 archive
Stray Question 0
Why does the rose with the sharpest thorns always get the worst case of black spot?
Track Record 0
When considering this:
. . . remember that these are the same folks who said the mortgage-backed securities, derivatives, and credit-default swaps were good things.
The Entitlement Society 0
Steven M theorizes about why too much is never enough for the plutocracy. He sees an end of a sense of noblesse oblige amongst the willingness to plunder the poor and downtrodden. A nugget:
It also seems to me — as I think I’ve said before — that the rich see America the way drug dealers see an impoverished neighborhood: whatever damage they seem to be doing to their surroundings, they thrive, so they come to believe they’re thriving, at least in part, because they’ve turned the neighborhood into a hellhole.
Can’t Tell the Liars without a Scorecard (Updated) 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., tallies the score. Follow the link for the play-by-play and an analysis of why the score turned out the way it did.
I reviewed 100 such statements on Politifact’s web site. By my count, of the 70 that originated with an identifiable individual or group (as opposed to a chain email or miscellaneous source), 61 were from the political right. That includes Rush Limbaugh saying President Obama is going to take away your right to fish, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer saying beheaded bodies are being found in the desert, Sarah Palin claiming death panels will stalk the elderly — 90 percent of the most audacious lies coming from conservatives.
Addendum, the Next Day:
J. M. Ashby:
Heh.
Race to the Bottom of the Teapot 0
Every once and a while, teabaggers reveal what truly lies beneath their (you will pardon the expression but in some ways it is most accurate) movement.
Belly Up 0
One more time.
The internet is a public place.
Dorothy McGurk, who said she was unable to work because of injuries from a 1997 car accident, was being paid $850 (£520) a month in maintenance for life.
(snip)
A New York judge ruled her alimony should be cut to $400 a month.
Tax Fax 1
In a long article at Philly dot com, Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele analyze the BIg Lie that American corporations are taxed too heavily (or even, in some cases, at all). A nugget from the introduction:
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
One of the more egregious falsehoods being peddled by the corporate tax cutters is that companies doing business in the United States are taxed at an exorbitant rate. Not so. Though the United States has one of the highest statutory rates on the books at 35 percent, the only fair way to measure what companies actually pay is their effective rate – what they ultimately pay after deductions, credits, and assorted write-offs. By that yardstick, companies in the United States consistently pay taxes at rates lower than corporations in Japan and many nations in Europe.
First Rose 0
My container roses survived the winter quite nicely.
Also, light bloggery.
Twits on Twitter 0
Mitt the Flip makes a blip.
What Atrios Said 0
What Atrios said. (Though the voting profile doesn’t apply to my state. Wish it did, but doesn’t. Southern Strategy and all that.)
If It Moves, It Must Be a Target 0
Offered without additional comment, from Philly dot com:
“Why not?” seems to be the sum total of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s rationale for legalizing the hunting of porcupines – which, with a top velocity of 2 m.p.h., are only a little more difficult to “hunt” than a bag of hammers.
Read the whole thing. If you can find a reason for this other than the one I offer in the title to this post, please share your theory in a comment.
The Republican War on Women, Reprise 0
Gail Collins, riffing one John Kyl’s mendacity, thinks that there’s a hidden agenda in the rightwing fury over abortion: To keep ’em barefoot and pregnant.
A nugget:
(snip)
The reason this never comes up in the debates about reproductive rights is that it has no popular appeal. Abortion is controversial. Contraception isn’t. A new report by the Guttmacher Institute found that even women who are faithful Catholics or evangelicals are likely to rely on the pill, IUDs or sterilization to avoid pregnancy.
What we have here is a wide-ranging attack on women’s right to control their reproductive lives that the women themselves would strongly object to if it was stated clearly. So the attempt to end federal financing for Planned Parenthood, which uses the money for contraceptive services but not abortion, is portrayed as an anti-abortion crusade. It makes sense, as long as you lay off the factual statements.
Dick Polman has more on the lies. Another nugget:
Really? By what measure does the move against Planned Parenthood represent “the will of the American people” – given the fact that the people never voted in ’10 for this morality crusade, and that the polls contradict Pence’s claim?
The guy is just making stuff up. Or perhaps he didn’t intend it as a factual statement.
In Wingnut World, “just making stuff up” may be a family value.
Not in my family.
Solution Looking for a Problem 0
This is not news.
This is why cooking was invented.
Also, 136 samples?
The new estimate is based on just 136 samples of beef, chicken, pork and turkey purchased from grocery stores in Chicago; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
(snip)
The new study found more than half the samples contained Staphylococcus aureus, a bacteria that can make people sick. Worse, half of those contaminated samples had a form of staph that’s resistant to at least three kinds of antibiotics.
I am more concerned about the “resistant to at least three kinds of antibiotics” part.
We Need Single Payer . . . 0
. . . because a health insurance industrial complex whose primary purpose is paying the country club memberships of its executive bonus babies by denying health care is likely to have a whatchamaycalllit oh! right conflict of interest:
MedSolutions was hired in July 2009 to review claims before doctors administered tests such as knee MRIs and CT scans of the brain. The firm stood to lose money if it did not reach its 20 percent savings target, according to the report. Such a contingency violated state law. It was removed from the contract last summer.
QOTD 0
Charles Evans Hughes, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
The most ominous spirit of our times, as it seems to me, is the indication of the growth of an intolerent spirit
.