2011 archive
Light Bloggery 0
Cheese straws and lemon chess pies are on today’s agenda.
Addendum:
Mr. Sore Throat has put out my pilot light for the day and was I looking forward to those cheese straws! I even grated up a pound of cheese yesterday.
QOTD 0
Robert Benchley, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
The most common of all antagonisms arises from a man’s taking a seat beside you on the train, a seat to which he is completely entitled.
Dustbiters 0
After a break of over a month, the FDIC is again remastering the universe.
All gone:
And, for desert . . .
Living History 3
The racism is never far from the surface, is it?
“I’m not a bad person,” Jamie Hein told ABC News Thursday. “I don’t have any problem with race at all. It’s a historical sign.”
A relative of a tenant, who has since moved in reaction, visited the pool. Then the sign went up.
I think that’s enough history.
Aside:
I have known a number of good persons who think of themselves as bad, or, at least, as not good enough.
I have never known bad persons who thought of themselves as bad persons.
The Phony War on Christmas 0
Nothing says “Christmas” like an AK-47.
The Colbert Report
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The Odious Southern Strategy Rides Again Still
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Chanceydevega marshals the evidence.
I’ve said in these pages many times, “I’m a Southern Boy, I know the code.”
And I do.
But seeing this stuff pulled together in a succinct list brings even me to pause.
Here’s a nugget. Click to read the rest:
While folks . . . should in fact be focused on the Republican Party’s masterful use of a politics of white racial resentment, nativism, and disdain for the Other. Context matters. Consider the circus that is the Republican Party’s presidential primary field for the election year 2012, and the policies they have endorsed.
1. Electric fences and moats to kill illegal immigrants;
2. Suggesting that black people are lazy, and their children should serve as janitors in order to develop a work ethic;
3. Wallowed in the filth of Birtherism, and indulged in rank, open bigotry against the country’s first black President;
4. Suggested that Muslim Americans should be profiled (perhaps they should carry special cards? or wear a mark on their clothing?) because of their religion and a propensity to commit “terrorism”;
5. Include a candidate who leisured at a family retreat named “Niggerhead” and grew up in sundown town*;
6. Are beholded (sic) to the Tea Party, a faction and AstroTurf group which can trace its origins back to the white supremacist, white nationalist, John Birch Society (the former is also a group whose racist tendencies have been well-documented).
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*For those who do not know the term, “Sundown town” defined.
Adventures in Linux, Podcast Edition 0
If you care to hear my dulcet tones, I have a podcast up at HPR.
It was recorded and edited in Audacity. A thank you to all the geeks who posted audacity how-to videos on YouTube.
Witchy Woman 0
Men Are Pigs, Boardwalk Empire Dept. 0
And a casino policy will probably keep it that way.
Applicants are being told they will only have jobs for as little as four years at a time, after which they will have to re-apply. That means competing with younger, fresher faces — a requirement that has never been made before in the 33-year history of casino gambling in Atlantic City.
If this isn’t an attempt to write discrimination on the basis of age and looks into the bargain, I’m a penguin. This is a throwback to how airlines hired stewardesses, back when they were called “stewardesses.”
QOTD 0
Winston churchill, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
I’m always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.
Takes One To Know One 0
Listen to one callow opportunist talk about another callow opportunist.
Something Is Very Wrong 0
I’ve been walking around outside in short sleeves.
I’m not trying to prove anything. I’ve been around too long to care about proving anything.
It’s because it’s short-sleeve weather.
This is not a right thing to be able to do in mid-December in these parts.
Trial by Jury Balloons (Updated) 0
New antics in Happy Valley:
Words fail me.
Addendum:
Mr. Lawyer Person is regretting his words.
Duh.
End Addendum
Afterthought:
As much as persons decry the flood of sexual imagery in our society (I recently watched my first episode of Two and a Half Men–in between the laughs, I was amazed that it was actually on; Father Knows Best was never like this!), it occurs there may be a positive aspect to it.
When I was a young un, sex was a secret known only to adults and undiscussed by everyone, except in code. A sexual handbook, for instance, was a “marriage manual.” If you ever saw one, you will remember that it had damned little in it about budgets, communications, and emotional give-and-take, but a lot about anatomical give-and-take.
Sex is as universal a human experience* as birth and death. Being willing to talk openly about it humorously or salaciously may enable persons to talk openly about it seriously.
In situations involving sexual victimization, this could translate into victims willing to speak up promptly and testify if need be–before the statute of limitations expires.
Since the incidence of sexual abuse and assault is far more common than most persons realize, this is a good thing.
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*The thought is not original to me. I read it recently, but I cannot remember where.
Ending as It Began 0
The Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq seems to be actually limping to an end, just as it began: with a lie (emphasis added).
Yeah, right.
As is typical of such stories, there is no mention of the thousands of Iraqis sacrificed to President George the Worst’s lies and perfidy or of whether this was worth their price.
Absence of Malice 0
There’s not enough hate on television.
The Florida Family Association wants to remedy that.
Meanwhile, on aisle five:
The Ultimate Rerun 0
Researchers believe that the signals bounced off an object or mass of objects. The shows were not named in the story.
My first question was, “What show was it?” but the story didn’t mention that.
Via GNC.
Anniversaries 0
Garrison Keillor* is on the radio telling me that this is the anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, honored by today by its abrogation.
Afterthought:
I don’t want to hear whiny lefties blaming the President. He didn’t have the votes to sustain a veto.
A lot of lefties really need to grow up and live in the real world.
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*I did not turn on the radio. Frankly, the old boy’s gone stale.
