2012 archive
Droning On 0
Remote-control robotic death from the skies.
According to Robot’s Rules of Order, he was hit by drone. Therefore he was ipso facto an “enemy combatant.”
If the drone has missed, he would not have been a combatant.
It’s the best catch there is.
QOTD 0
Bill Cosby, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Sigmund Freud once said, ‘What do women want?’ The only thing I have learned in fifty-two years is that women want men to stop asking dumb questions like that.
Praised with Faint Damns 0
I don’t think the old boy thought through the implications of his remark. From TPM:
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Keeping old folks from the polls:
Out of 44,861 active Philadelphia voters 80 or older, more than one in four, a total of 12,313, do not have photo ID from the state Department of Transportation – either a driver’s license or a nondriver ID. Those figures are based on an Inquirer analysis using computer data developed by PennDot and the Pennsylvania Department of State, which is responsible for state elections.
Among active Philadelphia voters – those who have voted at least once in the last four years – the state counted about 136,000 whose names and birth dates did not match those with PennDot IDs. Overall, that number is 15.6 percent of the city’s active registered voters, about 874,000.
But among older voters, the percentage without PennDot ID increases – to 19.5 percent among voters aged 65 to 79, and 27.4 percent among voters 80 and older.
Much more at the link.
Remember that these laws are not about protecting the integrity of elections.
They are about protecting the incumbency of Republicans, who know that a healthy voter turnout is inimical to them and to the interests of their corporate masters.
Facebook Frolics 0
No doubt this will work out well:
(snip)
Once it’s live, Facebook users will need to agree to let Facebook access their information, which will be used to prefill their name and date of birth in the voter registration form. Users will still need to provide a driver’s license or state ID number to continue.
Facebook, natch, is renowned for the security and respect with which it treats its users’ data.
Crabby Appleton, Bankster 0
An industry rotten to the core:
The roll call of alleged malfeasance at other banks is long.
Follow the link for just a eensy-weensy bit of the roll call.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T., the R.E.P.R.I.S.E. 0
A couple of days ago, I posted my friend Andrew’s letter to the Mayor and City Council regarding President Obama’s visit to Virginia Beach.
The Mayor graciously contacted Andrew. Here is Andrew’s follow-up, posted with permission:
Monday morning I received a call from Mayor Sessoms and also an email from Councilman Jim Wood expressing concern and providing an explanation in the matter of President Obama’s visit.
I sent a personal email to Councilman Wood who expressed his regret for missing the opportunity to meet the President, and thanked him for his response.Mayor Sessoms and I had a very candid conversation in which he expressed his view that he had not been invited by the President’s campaign and was concerned about pushing himself in where he may not have been wanted. And, without an invitation, vetting and clearance by Secret Service, he would not have been permitted to greet the President. He further expressed his regret of not having the opportunity to personally meet the President which would have been an honor for him.
I expressed my thanks for his taking the time to reach out to me to advise that it was not any attempt to snub the President but a matter of feeling uninvited. His position was that he would have been honored to meet, speak to and shake hands with the President. He certainly had no intention to disrespect the President of the United States.
My response was, by example, to put myself in his place saying that I, knowing that the President was visiting, would have been proactive and reached out to secure an invitation as Mayor of the city to welcome the President. With the local office of both Senator Webb and Congressman Rigell, I think that would have been quickly handled.
The above said, I appreciate the Mayor taking the time to personally contact me to provide an explanation and we did have a candid and fruitful conversation. I do believe that if this situation occurs again the outcome will be much different. We’re (Virginia Beach) the biggest kid on the block and we ought to be able to meet both opportunities and challenges and be able to “stick our chest out” so to speak when it’s over.
Andrew Jackson
QOTD 0
H. L. Mencken, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
Verbal Ticks and Tricks 0
In other news, Field considers “retroactive retirement” and “self-deportation” and is inspired to suggest more neologisms.
Cantor’s Cant 0
Oh noes! Hidden agendas?
“The Makers and the Takers” 0
From the website:
But what’s really important here is this – Fox is partially right…only they have their two labels reversed. The makers are people who MAKE things – the workers – and not people like Mitt Romney who haven’t ACTUALLY made anything in their lifetimes. The makers are ALSO people who help the workers make things – people like teachers, cops, and firemen – unionized public sector workers who ensure that our communities are safe, clean, and educated – and that our markets have rules. On the other hand – the Takers are people who TAKE things, like the billionaires who live high on the hog while their workers are making things.
What If? 0
Contradict Me looks at colorful contradictions.
The Playing Fields of Eton 0
The more news I hear about the quadrennial marketing frenzy soon to take place in ye Olde Country, the more I the phrase whispered, “unmitigated disaster.”
The games do indeed give every sign of international cooperation: German humor, French humility, Italian stoicism, American respectfulness, and British abandon.
Sorry–can’t resize this video down. There is no sizing information in the script for editing.