2011 archive
Falling Dominoes 0
The latest straw poll winner in the GOP is Herman Cain. From John Baur in my ex-local rag:
They’re blindfolded, so you never know where the pin gets stuck.
How else to explain Saturday’s surprise win of pizza king Herman Cain in Florida’s straw poll?
The event itself was meaningless was a meaningless fundraiser in which voting came with a fee and few persons participated, but it reminded me of Dick Polman’s column on teabag litmus tests last week:
“If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart. We need to be educating these children, because (otherwise) they will become a drag on our society.”
Two problems for Perry: (1) The tea-partying Floridians want to kick out the illegals, not educate them; as one straw-poller told Politico last night, “If they’re illegal, they need to get the hell out of America.” And (2), the kick-’em-out folks resented being told that they are heartless.
Litmus paper, in case you may have forgotten because of the adoption of that term by political reporters, is used for quick and dirty pH tests.
Litmus tests reveal that the Repubican base is acidly corrosive.
The Entitlement Society 0
At Bloomberg, Jonathan Weil argues that the government of Switzerland must bail out the bonuses of the UBS bonus babies.
His argument boils down to this: If the geniuses who have run the banking industry into the ground, along with the international economy (persons labeled by Weil as the “best and the brightest”), don’t get their bonuses, they might go work somewhere else.
In other words: They work for a bank. Therefore they know what they are doing.
This is hardly persuasive; it is, indeed, wankery of the highest order.
Nothing in the banksters’ performance indicates that they are the best at anything or the brightest in anywhere.
Their exit to other employment, employment for which that have demonstrated expertise (perhaps administering ball-toss games at carnivals in the parking lots of your local Catholic Churches) would likely benefit the economy and the society.
Custis Tomb 0
A reporter from the local rag tells of trekking to Custis Tomb on the Eastern Shore and wonders about the implications of the epitaph on the tomb of John Custis IV:
Eastern Shore legend does not wonder, but unequivocally holds that Mr. Custis was most unhappily married.
The story told by my father states that, one day, accompanied by his wife, Mr. Custis steered his carriage into the Chesapeake Bay.
“Mr. Custis,” asked his wife, “where are you going?”
“To hell, Mrs. Custis.”
“Drive on, Mr. Custis, drive on.”
Truth, Justice, and the American Way 0
Wait a minute. Leonard Pitts, Jr., has some doubts about that whole “truth” thing. Here’s a nugget:
Facts? True believers don’t need no stinking facts.
Throw Away the Church Key 0
I do not believe that this will work out as expected.
(snip)
The city judge in Bay Minette will let misdemeanor offenders choose to work off their sentences in jail and pay a fine; or go to church every Sunday for a year.
If offenders select church, they’ll be allowed to pick the place of worship but must check in weekly with the pastor and police.
I wonder whether they will also be required to put something in the offertory.
QOTD 0
Sophia Loren, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
The facts of life are that a child who has seen war cannot be compared with a child who doesn’t know what war is except from television.
Hair! 0
Changing times means changing crimes:
Nearly 500 packages of hair was stolen around 5 a.m. Friday, and the thieves targeted two specific brands: Malaysian and Indian Remy, Lucien Poko, the store’s general manager, told the AJC. Poko runs all seven Beauty Master stores in the Atlanta area, and he said five have now been robbed.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
A buyer’s market, if the buyer still has a job:
Shortly after the Desais asked several friends and real estate agents to be on the lookout for a well-priced, well-equipped abode, Shah presented this newly bank-owned property in Chesapeake’s Emerald Greens community.
Intrigued by the $608,900 asking price, the Desais had to view it. They decided that day to make an offer.
By Their Humor Shall Ye Know Them 0
They claim it’s a satire of affirmative action:
This sort of stuff is funny only through the lens of racism.
Otherwise, otherwise.
The Circular Firing Squad 0
Shall the circle be unbroken?
TCF National Bank is suing a firm it hired to appraise nearly 3,000 homes.
In a federal lawsuit filed in Minneapolis, TCF alleges Market Intelligence Inc. of Milford, Mass., improperly inflated the value of the residential properties the bank was financing. One of the services Market Intelligence provided was a field assessment, or a drive-by inspection.
The bank, of course, had no responsibility in this.
A Brew of Hate 0
A snippet from Dick Polman’s comment on Thursday’s Republican debate provides supporting evidence (emphasis added)
It was also predictable that the Republican debate audience would act out in some repulsive fashion, and so it did, this time booing a gay soldier who had volunteered to put his life on the line for his country. The gay soldier appeared on video – which was fortunate for the cowardly homophobes, because this way they could safely bark their bigotry without having to confront the soldier, and his thick biceps, live and in person.