From Pine View Farm

May, 2014 archive

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

As the twig is bent, no grows the tree.

Payson police say the toddler was playing with a sibling around noon Tuesday when they found a gun inside their apartment.

They say the weapon discharged and the toddler was shot in the head.

That’s just one of the reports from Gun Nut Paradise in today’s inbox, folks. Now, about those IQ tests for gun ownership . . . .

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Who Knew? 0

Science is taught at the University of Farmers!

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News, Ripped from the Ticker 0

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Pay for Performance 0

Headline:  CEOs Make 250 X Employees.  Boss to secretary:  I want you to know that I consider myself only worth 200 times what you are.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

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Serendipity 0

I knew golf had to be good for something.

For now, however, they are still two of 20 Shawnee upperclassmen learning what it takes to design and build a construction project on deadline.

For three years, technology education teacher Stefani Kirk has required her students to make mini-golf courses.

“They’re real-world projects” that let students “see their brainstorms start as pencil sketches,” she said, “and evolve into something people actually use.”

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Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0

Jobless claims fell by 27,000 to 300,000 in the week ended May 24, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 318,000. The four-week average declined to the lowest level since August 2007, before the last recession began.

(snip)

The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, decreased to 311,500 from 322,750 the week before.

There is a lesson here: Play the percentages. Always bet against Bloomberg’s experts.

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Jet Set 0

Reuters’ Bethany McLean investigate the stealth jets.

According to Federal Aviation Administration records, Jos. A. Bank leases a private plane, and not just any private plane — a high-end Dassault Falcon 2000EX. A reader of Jos. A. Bank’s financial statements would almost certainly not be aware of the existence of the plane.

What’s interesting is that despite all the furor about corporate jets, and the complaints about executive compensation, experts say this situation is not uncommon.

(snip)

Jos. A. Bank’s plane is not identified in the company’s financial statements. I searched its proxy statements and 10Ks going back to 2003 for the terms “jet,” “personal use,” “aircraft,” and “airplane,” and found nothing related to this aircraft. And this is technically proper — if the plane is being used entirely for business purposes.

Read the rest, in which she explains how the perk can be kept in a poke, right there next to the pig.

When does “compensation” turn into plain ordinary skimming? Inquiring minds want to know.

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Plus Ca Change 0

The cycle of death.

Chart showing cycle of public reaction after a mass shooting:  Outrage to Apathy.

Via Driftglass.

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If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0

Dick Polman:

Hard as it may be for some people to believe, the VA’s screwups didn’t begin in 2009 when Obama took the oath. I well remember 2005, when VA secretary Jim Nicholson (an ex-GOP chairman with no government management experience, and no previous experience advocating for vets) had to admit that Iraq and Afghanistan vets were waiting interminably for medical services. Turned out, the VA had severely undercounted – by 80,000 – the number of vets expected for treatment that year. Put simply, the VA had somehow failed to anticipate that Bush’s needless war in Iraq would spark an enrollment surge.

Things only got worse. By mid-2007, the VA’s disability claims backlog exceeded 400,000. Meanwhile, Nicholson had already approved bonuses for top VA officials, totaling $3.8 million. And in spring ’07, when he was confronted with reports of widespread vet treatment shortfalls, he said the evidence was merely “anecdotal,” and he voiced this memorable gem: “When you are treating so many people, there is always going to be a linen towel left somewhere.”

Funny, I don’t remember congressional Republicans calling for Nicholson’s head, or blaming Bush for mismanaging the leviathan.

Do read the rest, in which he also takes some jabs at President Obama.

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QOTD 0

Eric Hoffer:

They who clamor loudest for freedom are often the ones least likely to be happy in a free society.

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Break Time 0

Off to drink liberally.

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Room Service 0

Cat being served on his tower

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Twits on Twitter 0

Entitled twits.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

To thine own self be polite.

Police say their investigation determined that 64-year-old Darryl Bell died from accidental gunshot wound.

Troopers say Bell was attempting to get off his ATV with a loaded shot gun when the weapon discharged, causing his fatal injuries.

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Games People Play 0

Gun Nut Bingo:

Bingo card filled with responses gun nuts give when someone questions the proliferation of firearms.


Click for a larger image.

Via Mojo Blogs.

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Requiem for a Road Warrior 0

I don’t miss stepping on airplanes two or three times a month any more.

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Standing at the Confluence of Marketing, Propaganda, and Stupid 4

Dick Polman comments on this weekend’s mass shooting in Santa Barbara, California (emphasis added):

The NRA’s essential premise – which so nicely serves its clients, the gun manufacturers – is that the Second Amendment protects the “right” of all Americans to buy self-protection. Our laws, during the past four decades, have been twisted and bent to that purpose. But the kid in Santa Barbara didn’t buy his semi-automatics and his 400 rounds of ammo (three stores, piece of cake) for the purpose of self-protection. Quite the opposite. He did it for the purpose of aggression.

He said it himself, in his social media “manifesto.” He couldn’t score with girls, he thought it was “unfair,” so therefore he would get “retribution” by blasting the girls. Misogyny, entitlement, and the American gun culture – perfect synchronicity.

Read it.

In other news, Joe the Not a Plumber plays the trump card.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Warning shots, the polite way.

Neighbors told Action News loud arguing was coming from the house, before gunshots were heard. Neighbors also said the women left the house bleeding before being rushed to a Modesto hospital.

Deputies arrested Miller. His daughter told Action News her father called her from jail and said he did not intend to hurt anyone.

“‘I said, ‘You shot Tammy?’ He said, ‘Yes, I didn’t mean to. I meant to shoot up in the air.’ And he says, ‘I don’t know what happened,'” said Mary Bhogal.

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QOTD 0

Samuel Adams:

We cannot make events. Our business is wisely to improve them.

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Special Drinking Liberally Cheasapeake Tomorrow 0

Relax and discuss politics and everything else in a liberal atmosphere.

When: Wednesday, May 28, 6:00 p.

Where:
Greene Turtle
Greenbrier Mall (between Sears and Macy’s)
1401 Greenbrier Pkwy, #2260
Chesapeake, VA (map)

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