2013 archive
Why I Have Trouble Taking the Tamba Bay Rays Seriously 0
Whenever I see a headline like this, I think of Desperate Housewives.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Cruz (Out of) Control 0
It’s a wandering discussion, but listen to Senator McCaskill try to talk sense about health care and politics on Morning Joe.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The one thing that has become clear about Senator Ted Cruz is that he suffers from Attention Deficit Disorder as defined by Chez Pazienza:
Mr. Cruz cannot stand a deficit of attention.
Via Delaware Liberal.
Zero Tolerance, Zero Sense 4
Officials punished the boy with a four-day suspension and branded him a “weapons offender” for possessing the pen, which emitted a small shock when the cap was pressed.
But it’s okay for a gun nut to pack heat in a bar.
You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Misdirection Play 0
I call shenanigans.
“This law is hurting real people in my district and around the country,” the Bucks County Republican wrote.
A spokesman for SeaWorld, the amusement park’s parent company, confirmed Wednesday that the company was cutting the weekly work limit for part-time employees from 32 to 28 hours.
No, what’s causing the pain here is the refusal of employers to pay a living wage or to provide reasonable benefits.
To paraphrase Daffy Duck, they’re despicable.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
A little better.
(snip)
The four-week average dropped to 308,000 from 315,000 in the prior week, today’s Labor Department report showed.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits increased by 35,000 to 2.82 million in the week ended Sept. 14. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs.
In related news, Bloomberg’s experts are nothing if not consistent. Details at the link.
Droning On, Crazy Eddie’s Great Deals Dept. 0
Last week at Tyndall AFB in Florida, a pilotless F-16 roared into the sky with an empty cockpit, according to Boeing.
The QF-16 the pilotless jet didn’t just take off, turn around and land. It climbed to 40,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico, broke the sound barrier and performed maneuvers like barrel rolls at more than 7Gs.
They are going to serve as targets in pilot training.
Droning On 2
Collateral damage?
Lies and Lying Liars 0
Mike and his guest dissect the Republican disinformation campaign about the Affordable Care Act and the efforts of insurance executives to astroturf teabaggers so they can keep their country club memberships.
Two Scoops of Black and Tan 0
I don’t drink much beer (any Sotch is better than every anything else), but I’m tempted to go buy some Yuengling (if I can get it here–haven’t looked) to celebrate the resurrection of Yuengling Ice Cream:
Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach Tomorrow 0
Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.
When: Thursday, September 26th, 6 p.
Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)
More here.
iJunk Science 4
At Psychology Today Blogs, Jim Taylor surveys the evidence and concludes that the two most important factors in successful schools are the affluence of the school district and the skill of the teachers
Nevertheless, as he points out, the current rage is tech, not teach. A nugget:
Why the fascination with iJunk? Follow the link for his take on it.
iJunk sales, of course, are part of it. The rest, I think, is magickal thinking augmented by a misdirection play, hope that glitzy iTois will somehow make up for poverty, hunger, underpaid and mistreated teachers, decaying buildings, and anything resembling public accountability for the public good.
Slurred Lines 0
As my two or three regular readers know, I grew up white under Jim Crow in the segregated but not very deep South.
The whole time I was growing up, only once did I hear someone talk like this.