July, 2013 archive
Lady McDonnell: “Out! Out! Damned Skort” 0
Dressed for success.
The spending is legal under Virginia’s lax campaign finance laws, which prohibit the conversion of political funds for private use only when a PAC or campaign committee disbands — not while it is operating.
Repo Star Wars 0
Not to discount secret government surveillance, I do believe we should pay more attention to secret private surveillance.
For example, from Tambabay dot com:
When customers successfully paid off their loans, they were invited back for a free “safety check,” the lawsuits say. Then, employees would remove the secret devices.
Much more at the link.
Afterthought:
Frankly, I trust the Feds a lot more than I trust either the Zuckerborg or Crazy Charley’s Jalopy World down the street there, on the left.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Welcome persons into your place of worship politely, just as Jesus would have done.
A Texas pastor is being accused of murder for allegedly fatally shooting his nephew on Sunday.
Fiduciary Fiddles 0
First they came for your pensions and left you with IRAs (by the way, how’s that working out for you?)
Now they are back for your IRAs.
Q. What the Dickens? 0
A. Exactly.
Republicans have decided that Oliver Twist depicts Utopia and Fagin, the ideal governor.
Addiction Is a Physical Thing 0
I have known addicts–addicts to alcohol and other drugs.
If they stop using their drugs of choice, their bodies rebel and they suffer horrible physical torment–nausea, DTs, hallucinations, and more.
If a man stops sending pictures of himself to strangers, I guarantee (as Justin Wilson would have said) that he will not suffer nausea, DTs, and hallucinations.
I can be as lecherous as the next guy, perhaps more lecherous than some, and, because I understand lechery, I have long believed that attempts to create an ailment called “sex addiction” are at best attempts to promote full employment for opportunistic therapists and at worst complete and total garbage.
Really, now, Anthony Weiners of this world, if you don’t press “send” on that SMS, are you going to throw up, have hallucinations, and see pink elephants?
Catherine Bennett reports in the Observer:
Who wrote that – Tiger Woods?
Because researchers at UCLA tested brain activity in self-diagnosed hypersexual people and found no evidence to separate their participants’ reactions from those of normal people with a high sex drive.
Addiction is a real and horrible thing. I was a smoker. I know.
I’m still an addict, addicted to nicotine, but in gum form, without sucking crap into my lungs. (It’s at least an improvement.)
To use “addiction” as an excuse for being a narcissistic jackass insults every person who has ever struggled with a real physical addiction, from smokers on up.
Being a narcissistic jackass may be a “condition,” but it’s not an addiction.
Addictions are treatable.
Silent Witnesses 0
Steve King appeals to his fellow travelers.
Droning On: By Their Own Words Ye Shall Know Them Dept. 0
The Guardian reports on a GI gamer who rained robotic death from the skies when he answered the call of duty:
The remarkable insight into the working life of one of the most modern of military operatives is provided in a 30-minute film that will be shown at the Imperial War Museum in London from Monday, the first in a new programme of exhibitions under the title IWM Contemporary.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
My local rag revisits a Great Moment in Politeness, reporting on the attempt to identify whodunnit:
A bullet fell from the sky just before Fourth of July fireworks shot into the heavens.
Most likely fired by a reveler near the Swift Creek Reservoir, its ascent lost steam just as throngs were converging on the banks to watch the show. High in the darkness above thousands of heads, gravity turned the bullet back toward Earth.
Now, police are trying to trace its arc in reverse, from its stopping place – inside the skull of a 7-year-old boy – all the way back to the finger that pulled the trigger.
Precedent 0
Jeff Artis, President Emeritus of the Roanoke, Va., Chapter of the SCLC, sees trouble zimmering*:
Read the rest. Please do read the rest.
__________________
*Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
Light Bloggery 0
Break time.
Republican Kamikaze 0
Jonathan Chait is not optimistic.
He believes that the right-wing has decided that, if they can’t save the country from the forces of truth, justice, and the American Way, they might as well just burn it down.
A nugget:
And the worst is not behind us.
Football uber Alles 0
Bob Molinaro, in my local rag:
More of his incisive insights at the link.
Theft of Services 0
Bill Maxwell sees an insidious undercurrent in the charter school movement: the rebirth of seg academies. A nugget; follow the link for the rest:
Operating with public money, charters are more subtle in determining who attends them. In addition to location and word-of-mouth marketing, many self-select by establishing curricula that appeal to specific groups. Touting their core mission, they do not mention diversity in their recruitment.
At my breakfast meeting this morning, someone brought up the Trayvon Martin case. I went off, pointing out that the bigots never give up; they just go into hiding from time to time and then try again.
Contingency Plans 2
Darrell Lease, columnist at my local rag, envisions the machinations behind The Regent’s recent trip to Afghanistan, which followed his apology for “embarrassing” the Commonwealth by inadvertently accidentally unintentionally appearing to be on the take and in it for the money. A nugget:
“Dear Friend,
As you read this email I’m currently visiting with our troops in Afghanistan. … This is a trip I’ve looked forward to for a long time. Freedom is not free. Every day we wake up safe and secure because our neighbors, co-workers, family members and friends have volunteered to leave the peace of home for the danger and uncertainty of our world’s most volatile locations. On this trip, I’m telling them, on behalf of all of us, thank you.”
(snip)
Some scoundrels had the audacity to ask if the governor is wrapping himself in the flag in an effort to deflect attention from his troubles here at home in Virginia, a state that — let us be clear — has never been stronger.
Hipster Heavens 0
Patrick Kerkstra writes at Philly dot com:
Not just Philadelphia’s Babbitts, but Babbitts in many other cities are falling into the same trap.
A strong economy does not grow from buying stuff; it grows from making stuff, then selling it.
Also, hipsters are ironically annoying.
The (Steve) King of the Muleheads 0
The Colbert Report
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Via TPM.
