January, 2013 archive
Obsessives 0
Nick Cohen marvels at the conservative obsession with the sex lives of others. A nugget:
I know it is dangerous to generalise on a subject as vast and complicated as human sexuality, but I have learned from my admittedly sheltered life that men who are, as they say, “secure” in their heterosexuality have little interest in what their homosexual friends do in bed and our indifference is reciprocated. Whenever we hear conservatives announce that equality for gays “undermines marriage”, we think: Our marriages can take it, what’s so wrong with yours?
Gun Nut Paradise Approacheth Apace 0
The movies will be ever so much more exciting once it fully blossoms.
The Duplicity of the Hostage-Takers 2
In the Roanoke Times, Andy Schmookler points out the hypocrisy of the Republican stance on the debt ceiling.
But the legitimate congressional powers of the purse are about spending, and this has nothing to do with that. The debt ceiling isn’t about spending. The money has already been spent. This is about paying one’s bills.
Paying one’s bills is what responsible people — and governments – do. The power that Boehner wants — and that the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is now also threatening to use – is the power to make the United States an irresponsible country.
Read the rest.
Snakes on a Plane 0
Demoted to below the fold, because the embed has the annoying habit of playing without asking permission.
When “No” Means “Yes, Dude, Like, Totally.” 0
It has been my experience that persons who are not racists don’t do racist things. YMMV.
Five Little Piggies 0
The end is kind of lame, but the beginning and middle are okay.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Celebrate, politely.
A New Year’s celebration crashed into Norfolk prosecutor Brent Johnson’s driveway last week.
Specifically, a 9 mm slug fired during holiday revelry dented his car and came to rest in his driveway.
Incensed, Johnson pocketed the slug and showed it to friends and colleagues. “If that 9 mm had struck a human being in the head, there’s no doubt it would kill them,” said Johnson, a veteran attorney and Army Reserve officer.
The article goes on to list numerous other examples of gunnutty expressions of joy and happiness during the holiday.
Once you start keeping track, you will find that, in real life, antics like this and others more deadly far outnumber examples of good guys winning High Noon shootouts and claiming fair maidens.
The High Noon shootouts fill gun nuts’ fantasies as they find fulfillment fondling their Glocks.
But they are still and only fantasies.
A Drag, on Life, the Universe, and Everything 2
Rick Perlstein explains why he is proudly a “liberal” (emphasis added):
Each and every time, the people at the forefront of advancing those reforms—often putting their lives on the line—called themselves liberals.
Each and every time, people who called themselves conservatives announced that those reforms would unravel civilization.
Then—each and every time—once the reform was achieved and taken for granted, and civilization didn’t collapse, conservatives claimed to have always been for it, even holding themselves up as the best people to preserve it.
Read the rest.
It’s all the explanation you need for why, as Stephen Colbert says, “the facts lean left.”
And the explanation for why “conservatism” is continually fighting a rearguard action to take things–retirement, pensions, safety, health care, security, rights and freedoms–away.
Via Will Bunch.
Lay off the Java 2
DHS says turn off your java. It can’t be trusted.
Hackers have figured out how to exploit Java to install malicious software enabling them to commit crimes ranging from identity theft to making an infected computer part of an ad-hoc network of computers that can be used to attack websites.
Oracle does not have a good record on bug fixes.
Remember that “Java” and “Javascript” are not the same thing. Javascript is not implicated in the warning.
More at the link.
Dustbiter 0
Just when I think that regular bank failures might be passe, the FDIC proves me wrong.
Bank no more on
Misfiring into Tragedy 0
More often than not, relying on guns for personal safety does not turn out the way gun proponents predict.
It rebounds, sometimes in unspeakably sad ways.