2011 archive
Dustbiters 0
My friend had cataract surgery yesterday (when seems to have gone very well) so I missed the FDIC’s weekly celebration of responsible fiscals and universe masters.
Don’t look for these responsible fiscals. They ain’t mastering universes no more:
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United Western Bank, Denver, Colorado
The Bank of Asheville, Asheville, North Carolina
Bait and Stitch 0
From the if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it files:
Gwen Haden says a surgeon at a Nevada VA hospital shorted her by 50 cubic centimeters. She is asking for $150,000 in damages.
In November 2009, Haden underwent elective breast augmentation surgery at Mike O’Callaghan Federal Hospital, near Las Vegas. She says in the suit she paid $1,850 for the surgery plus $800 for 300cc implants.
ConsTEAtutional Amendments 0
Leonard Boasberg, writing at the Philadelphia Inquirer, wonders why, if teabaggers so revere the Constitution, they are so eager to amend it. A nugget:
The so-called “repeal amendment,” if approved – which, fortunately, seems unlikely – would allow the repeal of any act of Congress or federal regulation by the legislatures of two-thirds of the states. Legislators in 12 states have come out in favor of this nutty idea, as have Virginia’s attorney general, Kenneth Cuccinelli, and the new majority leader in the House, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia.
(snip)
Instead of reading the Constitution aloud, the Republican members of Congress might do better to read the Federalist Papers, written by Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to explain and defend the Constitution to the then-disunited states. In Federalist No. 34, Hamilton countered those who objected to the idea that the laws of the United States would be the supreme law of the land.
“But what inference can be drawn from this, or what would they amount to, if they were not to be supreme?” he asked, and answered: “It is evident they would amount to nothing.”
Like phony preachers who wave the Bible while stuffing their pockets from the offertory, they like only the parts they like and so there!
Terrorism in Idaho 0
The story of the very real bomb that was in Spokane is getting far less play than the story of the underwear bomb that fizzled. One wonders why.
Meanwhile, the Rude One is so outraged at the attempted bombing of a Martin Luther King Day parade that he cannot even bring himself to be profane, at least not to his usual standards of profanity which often keep me from quoting him directly.
Excerpt below the fold.
Back Alleys 0
Glomarization points out why the back alleys are coming back.
When Chickens Come Home To Roost 0
RSPCA inspectors say they want to speak to the two men who approached the restaurant in Bermuda Park, Nuneaton, on a moped on Tuesday evening.
The RSPCA wants to talk to the two men about their abandonment of the chicken. The chicken is up for adoption.
QOTD 0
The war against terrorism is a war against those who engage in torture.
Afterthought:
Sometimes it is unclear who exactly is on the other side:
Watch Heads Explode 0
A couple of season ago, the TV show Bones had a Muslim character as an intern in the lab.
In the story line, he masqueraded as an immigrant, affecting an accent, fearing that to reveal that he in fact was a native-born fully Americanized religiously-observant Muslim would be too difficult in the workplace.
Such a masquerade in the face of the virulent bigotry of some against all Muslims because of the actions of a few Muslims seemed unfortunately most plausible. Indeed, given the implausible plots of the Bones series, it was one of the more plausible narratives of that sequence of shows.
Clarence Page writes in the Chicago Tribune (follow the link for the full column):
She’s right. A black TV family like Bill Cosby’s Huxtables — or a Hispanic-American family like, say, George Lopez’s show — might not seem like such a big deal anymore, now that a real-life black family occupies the White House. But back in the 1980s, “The Cosby Show” was the decade’s biggest TV hit and is even credited with changing the way a lot of us black Americans viewed ourselves and our perceptions of opportunity in America’s mainstream.
Some critics still complain that “The Cosby Show” was too good, that it’s well-off family headed by a doctor and a lawyer was too far removed from the lives that most black people lived. But, more important in my view was the larger message: The American Dream is not for whites only.
Imagine the exploding wingnut heads if this were actually to take place.
Disintegrating Values 0
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word – Disintegration | ||||
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Barry Saunders of the Raleigh News and Observer comments at McClatchy.
Via Will Bunch.
The Entitlement Society 0
The Guardian’s Richard Wolff has another piece on the place where too much is never enough::
(snip)
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs pays out $15bn (in bonuses–ed>), alongside the other big banks’ comparable payouts.
Read the whole thing.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Better than last week:
Applications for jobless benefits decreased 37,000 in the week ended Jan. 15, the biggest decline since February 2010, to 404,000, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 420,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls fell, while those getting extended payments rose.
(snip)
Estimates in the Bloomberg survey of 49 economists ranged from 400,000 to 462,000, after an initially reported 445,000 the previous week.
As I’ve grumbled before, it seems crucial to someone whether the actual figures are above or below expectations (note that they never seem to be at expectations), which leads me to wonder about the expectators. These expectations seem like the spread in the betting line for a football game.
I really think that these “forecasters” and “analysts” whose predictions get quoted in such stories should be identified in a little more detail.
- Are they academicians, consultants, banksters, or what?
- Is their expertise pro bono or for hire?
- Are any of the well-known persons who predicted the housing crash–and got resoundingly ignored by most media and the business and Bushonomic establishment–included or are they the folks with a history of demonstrated failure in three-piece suits?
- Does each news outlet use the same panel week after week, or do they trade for new ones in the “Fantasy Economists League” before each week’s Tuesday trading deadline?
For all I know, they operate out of little pink houses with yard signs saying “Sister Paula’s Economic Readings–No Appt. Necessary.”
Referring to them simply as “economists” or “experts” or “panel” imputes to them a level of profundity that, frankly, is not supported by their performance.
QOTD 0
Edgar Allan Poe, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led.
Seen on the Street 0
Full moon rising over the Atlantic, seen from 67th Street, Virginia Beach.
The water blends into the sky at the horizon. The moon reflects as an orange streak in the ocean. The moon itself appeared orange to the eye, but not to the camera.
H/T Susan for the pic. I ran it through the GIMP, but the GIMP can’t bring out what isn’t there to begin with. Damned good for a cell phone.
Civility 0
Mike Gruss reported in the local rag that
“I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior. I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them. I will stand against incivility when I see it.”
(snip)
So he mailed the letters – and waited for responses. How many did he get back?
Three. Three people, including Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, signed on. No one else replied, which, coincidentally enough, is kind of uncivil.
I must wonder most uncharitably whether they remembered to include the campaign contributions?
Aside:
Since Frank Wolf first appeared on the Virginia political scene when I was living in Arlington umpty-ump years ago, I have most decidedly not been a one of his fans, but I must give him and his staff kudos for reading and answering their mail.
The Entitlement Society 0
Where too much is never enough:
(snip)
The $15.3bn set aside for bonuses and salaries was down 5% on the $16bn for the previous year but did not fall as fast as revenues, which dropped 13% to $39.1bn in 2010.