2011 archive
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
It’s all about disenfranchising eligible voters.
A Cult of Tea 0
Chauncey Devega reads the tea leaves. An excerpt (emphasis in the original):
First, the Tea Party is easily lampooned; However, their songs, folksy misspelled posters, embrace of ignorance as authenticity, and love of costumes are a type of political theater. Consequently–and this is a point that many in the pundit classes and other professional bloviators seem to miss–“the show is the thing.” Reasoned discussions of policy and good governance are made secondary to a sense of belonging. For folks who feel alienated, scared, and “want to take their America back” (from “the blacks, the gays, the atheists, the Socialists, the liberals” etc.) a sense of belonging is a powerful salve for alienation and anomie.
A key point. When the ghouls in the audience at the last three Republican debates howled for murder, death, and hatred of Americans who happen not to be straight, they were marking out the boundaries of their political community. Their cheers were not those of outliers; they were the id of a community that stood silent in complicity and agreement.
Second, as I argued elsewhere, the Tea Party with its hostile faux populism is a cult-like organization whose ethos has infected the Republican Party as a whole. Emotion trumps reason. Faith has been mated with ideology to create a worldview that is immune from critical interrogation and intervention. Heretics are burned at the proverbial stake of Right-wing talk radio and Fox News. And ideological orthodoxy is the prime directive, even if it means destroying the U.S. economy (as was seen during the debt ceiling hostage taking by the Tea Party GOP), or believing in fictions such as cutting the federal budget in a time of the Great Recession will magically create economic growth.
Faith-Based Tea 0
A snippet:
When you look at modern conservatism, these are people who are becoming increasingly immune to facts that dispute their world view. . . . that is really disturbing when you get into areas of public policy because it is leading them to advocate things that are really destructive.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Back over 400,000. Republican obstructionism continues to obstruct.
Reductions in firings may set the stage for bigger gains in payrolls needed to bring down the unemployment rate, signaling more confidence among companies that demand will hold up. Employers added 59,000 workers to payrolls in September and the unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent, according to the median forecast of economists before tomorrow’s jobs report.
No doubt firing more sanitation workers will help.
Facebook Frolics 0
No place to hide:
The poll found solid majorities saying they knew who was behind it.
QOTD 0
Jimmy Carter, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.
Bike Texts 0
Since resurrecting my bicycle, I’ve have ridden it four of the last five days.
I can’t imagine trying to send a text while peddling:
The City Council today passed an ordinance prohibiting bicyclists from texting while moving. They also cannot make cell phone calls unless using a hands-free device under an ordinance that passed the council without dissent. The ban will go into effect next month.
Wall Street Walkers 0
Bill Shein considers the “Occupy Wall Street” activists and sees hope. A nugget:
Under the banner of “The Other 99 Percent,” these nonviolent activists, increasingly accompanied by Americans of all colors and ages and incomes, are showing us what love of country – and love of our fellow citizens – should look like.
Not coincidentally, these young people are among those most affected by new photo-ID requirements for voting that were fast-tracked through many state legislatures this year. Thus, those most likely to vote against the unacceptable status quo are being systematically excluded from democratic participation. Without money, and without a meaningful voice in elections, they’ve instead taken to the streets, their bodies and voices standing in for empty wallets and blocked ballots.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Rachel Maddow explains why Republicans are dedicated to stealing the franchise from eligible voters. In the first seven minutes, she provides the background; then she explains the voter suppression strategies in North Carolina.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Via Facing South, which has additional commentary.
La Cosa Nostra 0
Omerta in action:
During the invitation-only dinner for Archbishop Charles J. Chaput at a parish hall in Montgomery County, Chaput singled out Lynn in the crowd and noted how difficult the ordeal has been for him, according to one priest who attended and two people briefed by others at the gala.
Much of the audience, which included hundreds of priests, then stood and applauded, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.
TSA Security X-Rated Theatre 0
Protecting us against the dreaded breast bomb:
Of course, she did set off an alarm at JFK… and then the TSA both refused to let her show the card explaining the details, but also required her to be physically groped by the TSA — with them loudly threatening her that she wouldn’t fly otherwise. They also kept her out of sight from her luggage . . . .
Click for the rest.
Via GNC.
The Internet Is a Public Place, Men Are Pigs Dept. 1
Apparently, there were several young ladies from EHS texted naked photos to their boyfriends. The boyfriends then posted those photos on the internet without their girlfriends’ consent.
The story quotes a sophomore girl as saying, most wisely,
“I think a lot of the girls are really upset about it and wished they didn’t do it, but in my opinion, it’s like their own fault for sending the pictures to people, if they didn’t want them out, they shouldn’t send them in the first place,” sophomore Emily Sowers said.
Sure, the boys involved acted like scum.
This surprises you how? They are teen-aged boys, a demographic not renowned for good judgment. (Nor, for that matter, are teen-aged girls, or this would not have happened.)
QOTD 0
John Glenn, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
For all the advances in medicine, there is still no cure for the common birthday.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
Harry Shearer interviews Eve Smith on the banksters’ antics.
Listen. Now. (Or download it and listen later. Whichever. Just make sure you listen to it.)
Facebook Frolics 0
Arresting status updates:
The investigation into the video collection of Omari Listenbee, 33, of Glenside, began when a 37-year-old Exton woman filed a report with West Whiteland Township police.
The woman said Listenbee, her former boyfriend, had threatened to post sexually explicit videos of her on the Internet, including the Facebook accounts of all of her friends, unless she paid him $3,000, said West Whiteland Sgt. Martin Malloy.
Cantor’s Cant 0
Eric Cantor says no to jobs.
Move! Bike Computer 0
As my two or three regular readers know, I have lately been doing some work around the house. Specifically, I brought order out of the chaos that was the garage.
In the process, I uncovered my bike, built a simple repair sling, and got the machine ready for use, because the terrain in these parts is mostly flat ideal for bicycling. After my first outing, I decided it would be nice to keep some record of where I’ve been, so I downloaded two free applications from the Android Market.
I ended up choosing the Move! Bike Computer. It uses the phone’s GPS function to track your route and stats. If you don’t like to keep the GPS satellite feature turned on (and I don’t because it kills the battery and it’s creepy to automagicly tell someone else exactly where you are), it offers to turn it on when you fire it up.
It’s not perfect. The manual could use more detail and, in the example below, you will see that the “average speed” is higher than the “top speed”; I have no way of knowing whether that’s the program or a GPS anomaly. The map and distance of the route, though, were my main interests and were spot on.
I don’t need perfect and the price was right.
I had forgotten how much I like to bike.