April, 2012 archive
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Once again, no change for all practical purposes. Also, they still need new “experts” to make their predictions (follow the link for the expertitude).
(snip)
The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figures, climbed to 381,750 last week, the highest since Jan. 7, from 375,500.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits rose to 3.32 million in the week ended April 14 from 3.31 million.
The continuing claims figure does not include the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs.
I wish I could get a gig as one of their “experts.” Expertise seemingly is not a qualification.
DIY Bridezilla 0
Ask Amy for the details.
QOTD 0
Jim Bouton, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many players on the field?
Melting Pot 0
From TPM. Follow the link for the rest.
Funny how history repeats itself. That’s the sort of stuff people used to say about Italians three generations ago.
Afterthought:
My ex can remember having “greasy dago wop” shouted at her as she walked to first grade.
As I said earlier today, hate seems to be constant. Only the targets change.
Windy NIMBY 0
Frankly, I find that industrial wind turbines have a sort of industrial grace to them.
The Donald doesn’t.
“I am very disappointed with him, these wind turbines will destroy Scotland,” Trump said in a telephone interview on April 19. “Other countries are stopping building them. Alex is 20 years behind the curve.”
Aside:
The Donald’s claim that countries are abandoning wind energy is a self-serving lie.
This is not a surprise.
Ready, Fire, Aim 0
Ed Weiner writes a letter editor of the Philly Daily News with a message for the “both parties are alike throw the bums out” crowd:
For example, all I’m reading in articles and opinions are how people are in an uproar over Governor Corbett and the policies he is putting into place that virtually cripple people who are struggling, cripple the poor, hurt education, help the rich get richer and give tax breaks to big corporations. Ahh, haven’t we seen this before under the right wing (Republicans)?
The parties are not both alike.
Remember that come November.
Boiling Pots 0
Anyone who pays attention knows that the “post racial society” ballyhoo following Mr. Obama’s election was, er, somewhat optimistic delusional.
The outpouring of bigotry, racism, and prejudice, both coded and decoded, from the racist far right and its fellow travelers, dupes, and symps in the Republican Party has exceeded anything since the Civil Rights struggle of the 1950s and 1960s.
Optimists are hoping that this is American racial bigotry’s last gasp. Pessimists believe that hatred is always with us, though from time to time it chooses different targets; witness, for example the self-proclaimed Christians who have turned the God of Love into an Idol of Hate since the birth of Christianity.
George Davis muses on the place of the Trayvon Martin case in the “post racial” myth. A nugget:
And no place is America more brutally and stubbornly racist than the criminal justice system, which is one of the reasons that the Trayvon Martin case has stayed in public consciousness so long. It has the precise right ingredients for the media to get the American public to look into an area of our historical legacy that most post-racial Americans do not wish to look into.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Remedial politeness training would seem to be indicated.
QOTD 0
John Mortimer, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
I suppose that writers should, in a way, feel flattered by the censorship laws. They show a primitive fear and dread at the fearful magic of print.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Gunnuttery Is Not for Everyone 0
Field explains how it really works.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
Bankster magic continues to cast its spell:
And Mitt the Flip wants to do it all over again. Paul Krugman explains (follow the link for the rest):
Misdirection Play, Social Security Dept. 0
There’s a big black headline in my local rag implying the doom of social security (the link does not appear to be on their website yet).
Rather than duplicate efforts, I’ll just let Atrios explain it.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Thom explores the myth of the Wild West and how it contributes to gunnuttery:
