2012 archive
Georgia Dodges a Bullet 0
Georgians can relax. The degree of public insanity will remain unchanged.
Love Letters in the Sand 0
A 14-year-old found the 57 letters inside a box walking along a beach in Atlantic Highlands the day after Sandy struck. They chronicled life for Dorothy Fallon and Lynn Farnham from 1942 until the week before they married in 1948.
If I saw a box walking along a beach, I think I would have noticed too.
Fox in the Hen House, AKA Life in the Bubble 0
The Richmonder has a personal encounter with the workings of Fox News.
Spill Here, Spill Now, Pass the Buck (Updated) 0
Since corporations are people, my friends, why isn’t BP itself in the dock?
The employees were merely its henchmen. It’s the Mr. Big.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the deal, also said two BP PLC employees face manslaughter charges over the death of 11 people in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the massive spill.
Details and a look back at the events of the spill at the link.
There is still a possibility that BP will be brought up for “gross negligence,” but a nice violent criminal felony such as manslaughter would be more satisfying and more appropriate.
After the trial, BP could go the slammer and then, to borrow a phrase from a parole officer I once knew (our sons went to different schools together), Enron could make a woman of it.
Addendum, the Next Day:
I still say, make them share a cell with Enron.
Two BP workers have been indicted on manslaughter charges and an ex-manager charged with misleading Congress.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) said BP must hand over $4bn. The sum includes a $1.26bn fine as well as payments to wildlife and science organisations.
As part of the agreement, BP will also plead guilty to 14 criminal charges.
The Entitlement Society 0
Shorter Mitt the Flip: The 47% beat me.
That, natch, is why he got 47% of the vote.
As my ex would have said, “Jeez oh man, what a jerk!”
When Hero-Worshippers Lose Their Heroes, It’s Not Pretty 0
PoliticalProf lays out the sequence of events of the Petraeus scandal (follow the link for the enumeration) and concludes:
Watch any soap opera you’ve ever seen. Nighttime or daytime. This is the standard story. it perhaps does not deserve quite so much detail.
I think a run-of-the-mill scandal has been complicated by the dashing of the press’s veneration of Petraeus and wingnuts’ desperate desire to make everything about President Obama; this clip illustrates both, although the blogger’s comments about it address only one of those items.
It probably also doesn’t hurt that it’s giving reporters an excuse to go all tabloid.
I think I’ll go watch some F-Troop reruns.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Bloomberg:
Applications for jobless benefits surged by 78,000 to 439,000 in the week ended Nov. 10, the most since April 2011, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Several states said the increase was due to the storm that hit the Northeastern part of the U.S. in late October, a Labor Department spokesman said as the data were released to the press.
(snip)
Claims were projected to rise to 375,000 from the prior week, according to the median estimate of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Projections ranged from 340,000 to 475,000. The prior week’s reading was revised up to 361,000 from an originally reported 355,000.
(snip)
The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits climbed by 171,000 to 3.33 million in the week ended Nov. 3, the most in more than four years. 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 decreased by about 33,300 to 2.12 million in the week ended Oct. 27.
Some persons are theorizing that a longer-term effect of the storm may be a boom in rebuilding supplies.
Obamapocalypse Now! 0
Chauncey Devega offers comfort to the huddled masses of fearful white voters dreading the imminent Obamapocalyse.
A nugget.
If I were white, a conservative, and listened to the Right wing media, I would be scared and upset too. I would feel confused. How could so many people lie to me? It just isn’t fair! It must be some type of conspiracy.
I do not have a ready answer. But I do want to help you feel better. Because I am your friend, I am going to let you in on a secret that Fox News and the Republican Party will not share with you. Are you ready?
White people run America.
Decoding the Code 2
Lee Atwater, in his own words:
Anyway you look at it, race is coming on the back burner.
In case you haven’t noticed the secession kerfuffle, know that it’s at least partially because Republicans have intentionally kept race simmering away on the back burner for four decades.
Via Bob Cesca.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
Thom explores “bankster-assisted” suicide; persons killing themselves because they have lost their homes.
The Galt and the Lamers 0
Dick Destiny did, indeed, (try to) read Atlas Shrugged so you don’t have to.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politely discourage strangers from spotting deer.
State police say Jeremy James Pritts shot a 17-year-old girl Sunday night after she used a spotlight from the back of a pickup on an outing with her parents.
(snip)
Police say Pritts admitted firing at the light, saying he was frustrated with spotters and poachers in the area.
Everybody Must Get Fracked 0
Facing South reports:
“By itself, concern about groundwater contamination reduces property values by up to 24 percent,” the authors found.
Details at the link.
Kick This to the Curbside 0
From my local rag:
“Curbside voting” is a service in which, for old or disabled voters, voting officials bring a ballot to the voter and allow him or her to complete it without standing in line.
At the polling place where I spent most of election day, a site of some of the longest waits in my little corner of the world, there were a few curbside voters, but not enough to cause four-hour waits.
I’m casting my ballot for the Oscar in the “What can I say that sounds good?” category for this tale.
Carfoolery 0
Citizens Benighted, reductio ad auto: