2012 archive
Pledge Weak 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., evaluates the spectacle of our elected representative incongruously assembled backing away from their pledges of fealty to the troll under the bridge Grover Norquist. A nugget:
But it leaves an observer in the oddly weightless position of applauding a thing and being, simultaneously, disgusted by it. Has politics ever seemed more ignoble than in these clumsy, self-serving attempts to justify a deviation from orthodoxy? They have to do this, of course, because the truth — “I signed the pledge because I knew it would help me get elected, but with economic ruin looming and Obama re-elected on a promise to raise taxes on the rich and most voters supporting him on that, it’s not doing me as much good as it once did.” — is unpretty and unflattering.
I Get Mail 0
Congressman Steve King (R-Cloud Cuckoo Land) sent me a letter asking me to support his campaign to make English the official language of the United States.
Straight to the round file.
The Dispossessed 1
Meta: New OTR Link 2
I’ve added a new link to the Old Time Radio portion of the sidebar. Check it out.
The “Secesh” 1
In my local rag (TM), Daryl Lease visualizes a meeting amongst the new secessionists. A nugget:
“Hey, what do we do with the 47 percent?”
“The 47 percent who voted for Mitt Romney?”
Read the rest. Oh, do read the rest.
Celebrate the New Year with HPR (Sticky) 0
Join HPR for the 24-hour New Year’s Eve stream. All the cool kids will be there.
Learn how to participate. Coolness is just a click away.
Spotty Bloggery 2
I shall be in and out for a few days.
My mother died late Thursday afternoon eight years short of a century.
She is released from the prison of Alzheimer’s.
Now we are occupied in bringing home the grandkids and great grandkids, who are scattered across the land, and giving them a chance to say farewell.
Waste no sympathy on me.
I am not grieving.
My grieving has been done, done in the years of watching and visiting the person who used to be.
She is freed
As my girlfriend said most eloquently, it was time for her soul to be free, free to find a new home.
And life goes on . . . . .
Have It Your Way 0
Untrustees 0
Another tale illustrating the marvelous magic of fee market capitalism.
Private estate manager Thomas Thorpe of Los Gatos charged a brain-injured San Jose man $108,771 after just 4½ months’ work — and then billed him more than twice that much in a legal battle to defend his fees.
“What did he contribute to the whole process? For the $100,000, could you give me one example?” Justice Franklin Elia demanded of Thorpe’s attorney, Ellyn Nesbit. “Give me a $20,000 example!”
Overland 2
I have seen him tooling around the neighborhood.
Last weekend, while on a walk, I saw him decorating it for Christmas. I stopped to chat with him and he graciously gave me permission to post the pictures on my blog (that’s not him in the driver’s seat–that’s me).
His pride and joy, a 1949 Willys Overland.
Close Encounters of the Sacredly Geometrical Kind 5
At Delaware Liberal, Pandora recounts tangling with a believer in the mystical magical misrepresented Mayan calendar motif. Read it.
My favorite line, a true and absolute gem:
I pointed out that popcorn was a miracle if you didn’t know how it worked.