From Pine View Farm

October, 2012 archive

(Washington) Post Racial 0

Colbert skewers George Will’s farcical attempt to claim that “white guilt” accounts for President Obama’s standing in the polls.

Via Raw Story.

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Facebook Frolics, Disappeared Dept. 0

From the website:

In August, retired US Marine Brandon Raub was arrested for controversial posts he made on his Facebook page. Raub was arrested by the FBI and was placed in a psychiatric ward against his will, but was later released and wasn’t charged of a crime. A new Army document shows that social media use is considered an warning indicator for radical extremism by the US military. John Whitehead, a constitutional attorney joins us with his take on what situations like these could mean for the rest of Americans.

I have no idea what he posted and I don’t care. But I remember that a favorite tactic of Stalin was to confine his enemies to “mental hospitals.”

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Romney’s Bain 0

Sending more jobs overseas. Details at bainport.com.

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Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0

For all practical purposes no change. Bloomberg:

Applications for jobless benefits increased 4,000 to 367,000 in the week ended Sept. 29, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 370,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The prior week’s reading was the lowest in two months.

(snip)

The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits also was unchanged at 3.28 million in the week ended Sept. 22. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.

Those who’ve used up their traditional benefits and are now collecting emergency and extended payments increased by about 1,400 to 2.16 million in the week ended Sept. 15. The number of people receiving extended benefits climbed by 18,800 after an increase in New York’s jobless rate allowed dismissed workers in that state to again become eligible, a Labor Department spokesman said.

The Ryan Plan to sell the government to Wall Street and offshore all employment will, no doubt, alter these numbers.

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On the Debate, Comment Rescue Dept. 1

I haven’t watched a Presidential debate in years and decided that now was not the time to start. They turned into kabuki long ago.

I gather that Romney was glib and assured. So was Vanilla Ice.

(It’s my comment. I can rescue it.)

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The Voter Fraud Fraud: Resurrection Day 0

Strategic Allied Consultants, the Republican voter registration outfit that was filing fraudulent registration forms in Florida, tried to raise the dead.

Here’s a snippet from Dick Polman’s article (emphasis added):

“The problem” apparently includes: incorrect addresses, addresses that don’t exist, signatures that don’t match the names, signatures in the same handwriting, dates of births that don’t match the names, and (my favorite) names that match up with the names in death records. As one unamused Florida country supervisor tells a local reporter, “A number of dead people were trying to register to vote.” In another county, roughly 25 percent of the registration forms are suspect or bogus. And in the wake of what has surfaced in Florida, election officials in North Carolina are now reviewing the local activities of that same registration group, Strategic Allied Consultants.

Click to read the rest

Voter fraud.

It’s a Republican thing.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Twitter comes down with a case of jock twits.

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QOTD 0

Marilyn Monroe:

Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them.

Addendum: Whoops. Double quotes. But somehow it seems appropriate.

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Romney Style 3

Good debate prep, full of zingers.

Via Delaware Liberal.

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Don’t Be Evil 2

You could argue that we have a Presidential election that pits the forces of evil against the forces of it-could-be-worse.

That’s no reason to bail. As Kevin Drum puts it:

That said, if you’re an actual lefty agonizing over whether you can possibly support the lesser of two evils this year, I have nine words for you: How did that work out for you in 2000?

Voting is not a right. It is a duty.

Throwing away your vote shirks your duty.

Kevin Drum via Bob Cesca.

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A Picture Is Worth 0

And Contradict Me has a yacht load of them.

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Manniquins for Millionaires 0

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The Entitlement Society 3

Right wingers are fond of claiming that poor folks living on unemployment start to feel entitled to a life of ramen noodles and turkey dogs.

Reg Henry, at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, points out that moral lapses do not respect wealth; he suggests that rich folks just as easily can feel entitled to a life of idleness playing golf and yachting to the Caymans to visit their money.

But, he says, there are exceptions:

For example, I know of a fellow who, despite winning the birth lottery, had the gumption and smarts to create a highly successful business. After a period of becoming wealthy in his own right, he then decided to rest on his bounteous laurels and run for president.

Trouble is, he can’t relate to anyone now. He is so desperate to be liked by ordinary people that he will say any old conservative thing just to show he is one of the boys.

It is a sad spectacle because it’s such a waste of obvious talent. Instead of investing money in a Swiss bank or the Cayman Islands, he could start another business right here in America, maybe producing special harnesses that could keep dogs safe on the roof of the family car.

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Cheese It, It’s the Like Squad! 0

New York City spreads cyber-dragnet.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday that he’s doubling the number of detectives assigned to combating local teen gangs and that increased surveillance of social networks will be a major part of the strategy.

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Teabaggage 0

The Commander Guy theorizes why Mitt the Flip’s campaign may have Pekoed and his support seems to be Lapsang, leaving his campaign teetering on the Lipton of failure and him with that sinking Darjeeling.

Read more »

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Make TWUUG Your LUG 0

Join us Thursday.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source.

Tidewater Unix Users Group

What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.

Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.

Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.)

When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, October 4.

Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)

Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)

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To Protect and Swerve 0

A Gwinnett County sheriff’s deputy was allegedly driving drunk when he rolled his patrol car early Wednesday in Walton County.

(Couldn’t resist.)

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QOTD 0

Marilyn Monroe:

Men are so willing to respect anything that bores them.

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Words Fail Me 0

From time to time, I consider going into a rant about how the media tends to portray Southerners as bumpkins, idiots, and morons.

Something always happens to dissuade me–usually some Southerner acting like an idiotic moronic bumpkin:

A Republican candidate for Congress says his Facebook post featuring a photo of his gun and a “Welcome to Tennessee” message for Barack Obama was in no way meant as a threat to the president.

“Good Lord, no,” Brad Staats told The Tennessean in a telephone interview on Monday. “Absolutely not. I’m not one of those that would ever threaten the president. He’s probably got enough of his own stuff to worry about without me.”

I think I can understand Mr. Staats’s puzzlement as to why cyber-brandishing a gun and calling out the President should be worthy of note. I can hear the wheels grinding slowly in his head. I hazard that they sound somewhat like this:

He’s just one of them darkies. And an uppity one at that.

What’s the big deal?

Pah!

H/T Dick Destiny for the link.

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One Plus One = Empty Suit 0

There’s no there there.

Via TPM.

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