2012 archive
Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach Tomorrow 0
Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and help our chapter leader celebrate her birthday.
When: Tuesday, July 24nd, 6 p.
Where New Location:
Yard House Virginia Beach
4549 Commerce Street (Map)
More here.
Mitt the Flip Back in Time 0
I remember sitting on the swing on the side porch in the late ’50s, after reading some apocalyptic article in Readers Digest, thinking that it was good that I lived within 40 miles of the largest military complex in the world, since the firewall from the nuclear bomb would take us out and we wouldn’t have to worry about the aftermath of World War III.
The Cold War was entering the chilly stasis where it would remain for the next three decades. The United States and the Soviet Union had recently had dueling “atmospheric” H-bomb tests. The Korean stalemate had not yet solidified and the failed revolution in Hungary was a recent event. “Who lost China” was a political bludgeon in campaigns (as if China had ever been ours to lose), and Ike was sending the first “advisors” to Viet Nam.
Trudy Rubin considers Mitt the Flip’s foreign policy statements, then wonders whether he is still sitting on that swing, lost in the past.
One telling example: Earlier this year, he made the stunning claim that Russia was “our number-one geopolitical foe,” prompting former Secretary of State Colin Powell to comment, “C’mon, Mitt, think. That isn’t the case.”
Romney’s cold war mind-set prevents him from coming to grips with the major global problems he would have to deal with. In October, in a major foreign policy speech, he insisted: “This century must be an American century. In an American century, America leads the free world, and the free world leads the entire world.”
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Senator Nelson of Florida speaks out:
Firearms Fantasies 2
The BooMan:
Also, they won’t give up their full-metal-jacket Viagra.
Read the whole thing.
Twits on Twitter: Xtreme Bad Sports Dept. 0
Honestly, you can’t make this stuff up.
I cannot wait for the quadrennial athletic marketing orgy in Ye Olde Country to be over.
Also, too.
Hidden Assets 0
The Guardian reports that the amount of money hidden in places like the Cayman Islands (aka Romney’s Reward) exceeds the combined GDP of Japan and the United States. A snippet:
(snip)
“These estimates reveal a staggering failure: inequality is much, much worse than official statistics show, but politicians are still relying on trickle-down to transfer wealth to poorer people,” said John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network. “People on the street have no illusions about how unfair the situation has become.”
It’s not the Laffer Curve.
It’s the looter’s curve,
Open Season in Florida 0
The Tamba Bay Times analyzes Florida cases in which the “stand your ground” defense has been successful and finds that it seems to have backfired like a cheap gat (follow the link for examples and statistics and the full-sized chart):
The gun nuts’ dream:
Every outing, a joker’s joke; every city, Dodge City; every hill, Boot Hill.
Don’t Even Think about It 0
Not if you are a student in Texas.
The Texas Republian Party opposes teaching “higher order thinking skills.” A nugget from Leonard Pitts, Jr.; click to read the rest:
Never mind. The Texas branch of one of our two major political parties opposes teaching critical thinking skills or anything that might challenge a child’s “fixed beliefs.” So presumably, if a child is of the “fixed belief” that Jesus was the first president of the United States or that 2+2 = apple trees or that Florida is an island in an ocean on the moon, educators ought not correct the little genius lest she (gasp!) change her “fixed belief,” thereby undermining mom and dad.
Guess they have figured out that “higher order thinking skills” are inimical to Republicanism.
Twits on Twitter 0
Can you buy your own twits-to-go?
(George Smith’s experience leads him to believe so. See his comment here.)
We Need Single Payer 0
Arizona death panel Republican state legislature at work:
The elected officials who control the state say we can’t afford to expand coverage.
The flaw in that logic is that taxpayers wind up picking up the tab anyway.
Republicanism, your choice for governance with a mean streak by persons with mean streaks on behalf of persons with mean streaks.
More like This 0
The scams won’t stop till the scammers go to jail.
Phillip D. Murphy, former head of Bank of America’s municipal derivatives desk, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., wire fraud and conspiracy to make false entries in bank records, according to the indictment filed yesterday in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Misdirection Plays, Look over There! Dept. 0
Chauncey Devega predicts the pontificating. Here’s a nugget; click to read the rest:
Instead, James Holmes’ apparent killing of a dozen people, and wounding 59 others as he was channeling the Batman character The Joker, who is not coincidentally “The Clown Prince of Chaos,” will prompt a moral panic about popular culture, comic books, movies, and violence. This is an old and tired script.