2012 archive
We Need Single Payer 0
PoliticalProf had to go to the doctor, which set him to wondering (emphasis added):
What has struck me throughout the whole debate about healthcare in America is how few people like me . . . can then take the next step and ask: what if I didn’t have the money? What would I have done?
Read the rest.
Target Practice 0
Apparently, shot just because he was there:
Ray Dolin, was hitching on Highway 2 in Montana on Saturday as part of a project to produce a memoir on the great things about the open road in the big country.
Dolin was sitting on his backpack, just west of of the town of Glasgow early Saturday evening when a pickup truck slowed down.
However, rather than extending the offer of a ride, the driver extended a gun out of the window and shot Dolin in the arm.
(snip)
“It appears to be a random shooting. We don’t know exactly what caused him to do it. He just drove up and shot him,” Valley County Sheriff Glen Meier said.
The shooter was eventually apprehended.
Faites vos jeux 0
Shrewd investment strategies my anatomy.
In testimony prepared for a hearing today, Dimon expressed regret over losses in the bank’s chief investment office, saying that its trading strategy was “poorly conceived and vetted” by senior managers who were “in transition” and not paying adequate attention.
They put it all on double-zero and let it ride, then, when they spun the wheel, they discovered they had forgotten to fix vet the wheel.
This is failed strategy on Wall Street.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
TSA Security Theatre 0
No fly? No exit.
Drinking Liberally Norfolk Today 0
Drinking Liberally is a support group for liberals, where you can realize you are not alone.
When: 6 p., Tuesday, June 12.
Where:
Lola’s Caribbean Restaurant
328 W 20th St (map)
Details here. Meetup page here.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
The Philadelpia Daily News catalogs some of the results:
If the new Pennsylvania voter ID law is allowed to take effect at the November election, these women won’t be able to vote. They and seven other Pennsylvania voters are the named plaintiffs in the suit filed against the law six weeks ago.
And then there’s New York native Joyce Block, 89, of Bucks County, who does possess the necessary birth certificate and a Social Security card — but in her maiden name. The only record she has of her marriage to Carl Block nearly 70 years ago is in Hebrew, which wasn’t enough to get her a voter ID until her state senator intervened.
At the Chicago Trib, Dennis Byrne has a long paean to Chicago’s history of vote early, vote often. He leaves out one crucial fact:
Historically, ballot boxes have been stuffed in the counting room, not in the voting room (and more recently, in the Supreme Court).
That’s why, historically, it’s called “election fraud,” not “voter fraud.”
“Voter fraud” is a PR term to gut out the vote.
Sharia Charades 0
Despite what you hear in the wingnutosphere, there is no chance that Sharia low could ever trumph U. S. civil and criminal law. So why the fuss, other than to stir up hate to be harvested for votes?
Steve Chapman sees parallels between the rightwing hysteria over Sharia law and times from our history.
We’ve come a long way in religious tolerance. Or maybe not. The belief that Catholics are irredeemably alien and disloyal has given way to the fear that Muslims pose a mortal threat to our way of life.
That distrust is behind a push in state legislatures to forbid courts from applying Islamic Shariah law in any case.
One-Track Minds 0
In a Psychology Today blog, Nigel Barber struggles to understand rightwingers’ pervy preoccupation with sex.
He doesn’t quite succeed, but does advance some interesting theories. It could be a start to understanding why Republicans and their dupes and fellow travelers want to control your bedroom behavior.
Paulistas Appalled 0
The Republican Party is resisting teabaggers’ attempts to turn the Republican National Convention into a celebration of Ron Paul. Daniel Ruth, recognizing that it’s the Republican, not the Libertarian, National Convention, is bemused:
(snip)
What seems lost on the tea party revelers, who love to claim a firm grasp of American history, is that the whole idea behind a presidential nominating convention is to officially nominate the party’s presidential candidate. Honest! It’s not about tossing hosannas at the chap who garnered less support than Pete Rose on a Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.
Why are they at the Republican National Convention?
One more time: Most Libertarians are Republicans who are ashamed to admit it (and justly so, one might add).
Droning On, the Memo 0
Thoreau explains it all.