2011 archive
Facebook Frolics 0
Update: Link appears broken at the other end. Here’s the newspaper story.
Oh, my.
Afterthought:
Free speech means you can say it, no matter how stupid and hate-full it is. It doesn’t mean that others are prevented from objecting to it.
Contraband of Brothers 0
A ceremony yesterday commemorated an event from a century ago (long story at the link): Three slaves escaped from working on Confederate defenses and fled to Fort Monroe, Virginia.
Today, we would say that they sought asylum. The Union forces did not know what to do.
In the weeks and months after Butler’s ruling, thousands of former slaves marched into Union hands.
Today, persons descended from those men and women celebrate their having been classified as “akin to enemy horses or cannon” and consider it to have been a step up from their previous status.
“Singing in the fields” my anatomy.
False Equivalences Again 0
Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution discusses wingnut attacks on ultra-conservative George Senator Saxby Chambliss for the crime of being willing to talk with Democrats. In the process, she points out the falsity of false equivalences. A nugget:
Let Rush Limbaugh say what he will, there is simply no similar force on the political left.
Follow the link to her reasoning and her examples.
Rapturous Thinking 0
Greet the new rapturous day!
-
Calling CQ.
Calling CQ.
Isn’t there anybody there?
Anybody . . . . ?
If you were expecting to be raptured today and are reading this, you obviously are not worthy. Live with it.
Hey! What happened to all those annoying self-righteous?
Get your rapture relief here!
All seriousness aside, we were given the capacity for reason for a purpose.
Faith without reason is not faith.
It is fanaticism. It is Jonestown.
The Elmer Gantrys and the other End-of-the-World-Is-Nigh scammers–the false prophets who live by gulling the unreasoning and the vulnerable to sell the lectures, the radio shows, the books, the retreats, and the merchandise–will claim that there must be an error in their cosmic arithmetic, a sign that was misread, and, like a GPS gone screwy, will continue
- recalculating, recalculating, recalculating . . .
all the while soliciting additional donations from their willing victims to pay for more and better recalculators while selling revised lectures, revised radio shows, revised books, revised retreats, and revised merchandise.
They will continue fleecing their followers and betraying trust with their con games, for, as L. Ron Hubbard knew, the best scam is a religion scam.
Rapturous Studies 0
I had decided to lay off the rapture snark (I still have a couple of items waiting in the wings), but this was just too good to pass up (emphasis added):
The entire column is, in fact, quite the giggle.
Also, do the rapture math.
Liars, Damned Liars, and Republicans 0
They just can’t help themselves. From TPM:
(snip)
According to the paper, quotes referring to how Corwin will “end harmful spending” and support lower taxes are in fact from her own campaign appearances, thus putting the candidate’s words into the paper’s mouth. Local news outlet WKBW has video of the offending TV spot on its website.
Greater Wingnuttery LVI 0
Attack as a substitute for thought: it’s what one does when one is capable of the former, but not of the latter.
“People are calling her a [word for a female anatomy part], a left-wing commie, a slut and a whore. They say they hope she gets gang-raped,” said Myers’ father, Wayne Myers. “And those are some of the nicer things they’ve been saying.”
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
There no doubt is a reason why the Republican Party so fears voters.
Twits on Twitter 0
What it was, was football.
Read it. It’s delicious.
Also, the free market place of ideas, UK (where there is no legal protection for free speech) version. A nugget:
As Dickens said, “The law is an ass.” As it is already in that condition, it needs no help from twits on Twitter to attain it.
I do sympathize with those who do not wish their privacy invaded. And the British tabloid press may well be the least-principled, sleaziest media in the English-speaking world, making America’s National Enquirer look like the Journal of the American Medical Association.
At the same time, I have no sympathy for persons who feed at the public trough, but who wish to protect themselves from the consequences of their own bad behavior.
All in all, I lean towards the idea that fresh air is better than no airings.
QOTD 0
T. S. Eliot
Sightless, unless
The eyes reappear
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose
Of death’s twilight kingdom
The hope only
Of empty men.
Dustbiters 0
After a short interruption, the FDIC has resumed its series honoring our banking community for its integrity and responsible fiscal-ness.
Attempting to consolidate its hold on the position of the state with the most banks on the FDIC’s leader loser board, comes now Georgia.
These banks won’t be around for the rapture.
Later:
And the last entrant of the day:
Rapture Tours 0
Warning: Questionable taste; language.
Truth Is Not an Option 0
Aside:
Regarding the Gingrinch and truth, as my old boss used to say, “Even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.”
Dog Whistles, Reprise 0
Tom Levenson comments. A nugget:
It could work. It has in the past. And hence the obligation: every time a Palin or a Gingrich — or any of them — plays to that voter on the margin they think they can capture with a coded appeal to racism, it’s time to name and shame. It isn’t much, I know, but the goal is to raise the psychic cost of actually pulling the lever for and against the color of the candidates’ skin that much higher.
Follow the link to find out why he felt this needed to be said.
Seen on the Street, Quoth the Raven Dept. 0
Probably here to presage the rapture.
H/T Susan, who thinks that someone has been feeding the bird, for the pix.