2011 archive
Unintended Consquences 0
The Smoking Gun reminds us of what happened the last time the Republicans shut down the government.
Spill Here, Spill Now, Serve with Cocktail Sauce 0
Excerpt: “In my opinion, nothing that’s being caught in these waters today is safe for human consumption.”
Via Facing South.
Glenn Beck’s New Gig 1
Andy Borowitz reports:
Speaking at a press conference announcing the move, Mr. Beck told reporters, “The best part of this deal is that I won’t need to change my format at all.”
Mr. Beck said that his program was “a perfect fit” for a schedule of programming packed with aliens, paranoid conspiracy theories and alternative universes.
Details at the link.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Slightly barely just a little bit better maybe:
The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, declined to 389,500. The average is just 1,000 above a two-year low that was reached three weeks ago.
Finding Meaning in Meanness 0
One of the notable aspects of today’s Republican Party, other than the whole making-the-rich-richer-and-the poor-poorer thing that has been the staple of Republicanism for decades, is its mean-spiritedness.
Shaun Mullen captures it well.
Aside:
I don’t agree with Shaun about Medicaid or Medicare. I have known persons on Medicaid and Medicare and seen the type of nursing homes that sick or aging Medicaid and Medicare patients who have no other means get stashed in.
They provide “get-by” care at best.
Calling them “entitlements” is akin to calling the privilege of not dying from a curable disease an “entitlement.”
But, in Republican world, not dying from a curable disease is an entit–oh, never mind.
Cap It On 0
At the convenience store.
“What’s Fluxbox?”
“It’s a window manager for the Linux OS.”
“Never heard of it.”
“That’s why I wear the hat.”
Anti-Vaccination Hysteria Bears Fruit 0
Offered without comment:
At least 30 people associated with Blue Mountain School have been diagnosed with the highly contagious disease, also called pertussis, including 23 of its 45 students, said Shelly Emmett, the alternative school’s director.
(snip)
The outbreak was caused by not properly vaccinating people against the disease, O’Dell (Dr. Molly O’Dell, director of the New River Health District–ed.) said, noting that a subset of the population does not follow vaccination recommendations.
Republican Thought Police 0
Clarence Page exposes the duplicity. A nugget:
Thought police? If you want to have a future in today’s Republican circles, thou shalt not scoff in public at the power of talk-show star Rush Limbaugh or the next day thou shalt find thyself apologetically groveling at his mighty throne.
Newspeak? Don’t even think of referring to tea party supporters as “teabaggers,” even when they’ve got tea bags dangling from their hats.
But, amusing as such examples might be, the rise of right-wing PC takes on an aroma of real danger in a current case of what I call Wisconsin Doublethink: The use of state versions of the Freedom of Information Act to suppress information that the right doesn’t like.
Counting Down the Count 0
Behind the numbers:
Follow the link for details.
Dressed for Excess 0
Stephanie Wraith, Contra Costa Teen Correspondent for the San Jose Mercury News, considers prom fashions and asks, “When did hooker chic become in style for prom?”
She suggests some remedies. Here’s one:
See the rest at the link.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
Afterthought:
My friend watched this last night while I was at my meeting and found it astounding.
I burned out on 60 Minutes a long time ago.
Afterthought 2:
But I’ve been following this story. Nothing in it surprised me.
Via Atrios.
Plus Ca Change 0
James Carroll, writing at the Boston Globe, looks at the history of Christian prejudice against Islam. A nugget:
Meanwhile, as is always true of bigotry, Europeans knew very little about actual Muslims. The Koran dates to the seventh century, but there was no Latin translation of the sacred text until the middle of the 12th century. The first “approximately objective account of Islam and the prophet,’’ in the phrase of the theologian Hans Kung, did not appear in Europe until the 18th century — a book that was promptly censored by the church. None of this stopped Christians from assuming they knew what Islam was, right from the start.
There seems to be something in human nature that longs to have enemies and perpetuate enmity.