2011 archive
TSA Security Theatre 1
A. Barton Hinkle reviews the current standings in his TSA “Invasive Search Contest.” Here’s a nugget; follow the link for the full recap.
Mr. Hinkle is looking forward to new invasions as a result of the current horsehockey over explosive implants.
Drinking Liberally Tomorrow in Norfolk (Updated and Kicked to the Top)) 0
Drinking Liberally is a support group for liberals, where you can realize you are not alone.
When: 6 p., Wednesday, July 13.
Where:
Jack Quinn’s Irish Pub
241 Granby Street
Norfolk, Va. (map)
Moved to The Boot, 123 West 21st Street, Norfolk.
Details here.
More about Drinking Liberally.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Bring history alive, the courteous way:
South Dakota law says that a person convicted of a felony in South Dakota or another state cannot possess or have control of a firearm for 15 years.
Obamabotics 0
I am continually bewildered by some of my leftie friends who think that President Obama was somehow elected Emperor Obama, who delude themselves into thinking he is much more liberal than he is, and who are angry that he has not by fiat enacted every single one of their pet projects.
Anyone who thinks Mr. Obama is anything other than a mildly center left Democrat just was not paying attention during the campaign.
(Yes, my kindhearted, outraged, outrageous friend from Philadelphia, I’m thinking of you.)
Do I wish Mr. Obama were more liberal?
Damn right, but consider what could have been, for Heaven’s sake.
Some of my fellow lefties also–and this is their most significant failing–delude themselves into thinking he governs in a vacuum and carries a magic wand. His name is Barack Obama, not Harry Potter.
Accordingly, I commend Angry Black Lady’s post on this topic to your attention.
PowerPoint Is Evil 0
This is a cause I can support.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
“Polite.”
Rhymes with “bright.”
Anthony Martin, 21, and other men were drinking and playing with a gun before the incident, Pueblo Police Sgt Eric Bravo told the Pueblo Chieftain.
Mr Martin died at the scene early on Sunday.
Investigators believe he did not know the gun was loaded, Sgt Bravo said. No arrests were made.
Scam Alert, Dead Tree Dept. 0
It looks as if all those out-of-work mortgage salespersons have found employment.
For some time, The Nation has warned subscribers to beware of phony subscription renewal mailings. The warning includes a statement that renewals sent through those companies may not even show up at the magazine. I’ve gotten some of those myself.
But today I saw a new twist: three mailings all designed to look like renewals to magazines that to which I don’t (and wouldn’t*) subscribe. They do include the phrasing, “Notice of Renewal/New Order,” but they are clearly designed to trick persons into thinking they are renewals.
Watch out for items like these:
_________________
*Time has degenerated into a sideshow, the New Yorker is too provincial (plus I can read the cartoons at the doctor’s office), and The Nation is progressive enough for me.
Banks Embrace Facebook Business Model 0
They are working on plans to market you to retailers. They aren’t planning to sell your data, just allow others to use your purchasing history “for marketing purposes” (i.e., spam).
The privacy work-around it this: The banks will keep the data and serve as intermediaries for the spammers.
Getting someone to sign up for your card — $95 (annual fee). Having them miss a pay date — $25 (late fee). Being able to monetize information about everything they buy — Priceless. Well, not priceless exactly. An analyst estimates it could generate over a billion dollars yearly in additional revenue for banks — and could be a problem for start-ups in the same space.
H/T Todd at GNC for publicizing this.
Cantor’s Cant, Kabuki Dept. 0
You can’t put your money where your mouth is if all you have is mouth. In the debt ceiling discussions, Republicans are all mouth.
From TPM (emphasis added):
With me so far? Good, because here’s the rich, hair-pulling, you-got-to-be-kidding-me part:
When the parties sat down yesterday at the White House for another round of hashing out a deal, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) laid out the spending cuts House Republicans hammered out in earlier failed talks with Vice President Joe Biden aimed at a grand bargain on the long-term budget. Now set aside that there’s an open question as to whether Democrats ever did or ever would agree to those cuts Cantor laid out. And set aside that the deal Cantor is proposing doesn’t offer any compromise to Democrats on the tax side (it’s still spending cuts only).
Set all that aside and guess what?
Cantor’s own numbers don’t add up to $2 trillion!
Jonathan Bernstein discusses the emptiness of Republican fiscal posturing (I nearly wrote “policy”) at his blog:
But it’s wrong for objective observers to describe Republicans as fiscal conservatives, when in fact it’s Democrats, for better or worse, who appear through their actions to actually care about reducing budget deficits.
For Republicans, the debt ceiling is not the issue; they happily raised it seven times under President George the Worst.
The debt ceiling is a Trojan Horse for making the rich richer and the poor poorer. It’s what they do.
Twits on Twitter 0
Lord love a duck!
I knew that an MBA degree had been sullied, primarily by the actions of MBA degree holders, but this takes the cake.
The University of Iowa, Home of the Twits of Tomorrow.
Pledge Central 2
At Philly dot com, Elmer Smith discusses the recent kerfuffle over a pledge that, among other things, attempted to portray slavery positively; he suggests that Republican candidates’ knee-jerk reaction is to sign any wingnut pledge thrust in front of them without reading it.
A nugget:
Even so, he managed to be only the second signer. Michele Bachmann was first to send back her signed document.
Neither was in as big a rush to clarify their position after learning that they had signed a pledge stating that black children were more likely to be raised in a two-parent home during slavery than they are “after the election of the U.S.A’s first African American president.”
Really?
I read that line and wondered why black people ever allowed slavery to be taken from us.
Santorum and Bachmann, on the other hand, wondered how to explain why someone who could cosign something so patently stupid should be trusted to govern.
Rope-a-Dope (Updated) 0
Caustic, but not inaccurate.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Via Balloon Juice.
Addendum, Later That Same Day:
The dope is starting to realize it is roped.
Heh.
Eleven Dimensional Chess.
As I’ve said before, Chicago politics is a tough teacher.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to the neighborhood kiddies:
Spill Here, Spill Now 0
Asia Times reports on the sharing of the wealth:
COPC and CNOOC, the country’s biggest offshore oil producer by capacity, last week apologized for the oil leaks – one month after their operations 50 kilometers off the northern coast of Shandong province started to pollute 840 square kilometers of Bohai Bay.