June, 2014 archive
Do Unto Others 0
The non-profit where my friend works has a library. One of the librarians there once told my friend that the library must replace more Bibles than any other book, because it was the most stolen book.
Misdirection Play, GOP Support the Troops Dept. 0
Listen to the “conservative” miss the point.
Dick Polman remembers Shinseki’s political bravery. Had his advice been followed, not only would thousands of lives been saved and tens of thousands of injuries prevented, but also the situation at the Veterans’ Administration would be nowhere nearly so messed up as it is.
I bring this up not to traipse down memory lane, but to highlight a cruel contemporary irony. Bush’s reckless invasion of Iraq – and the needless resultant casualties – seriously swelled the VA caseload and exacerbated the problems that landed in Gen. Shinseki’s lap. Given his foresight in 2003, that was the last thing he deserved.
Who, Indeed? 0
Robert Glover wants to know who America is for. A nugget:
America is not about them.
It is a place where three million children go to bed hungry in this “great country” every night.
America is not for them.
It is a country where the elderly die from too much heat in the summertime and too little heat in the wintertime.
America is not about them.
Follow the link for his answer.
Lost in a Lost World 0
Oh, my.
Andrew James Joffe, 24, of Chuluota, called 911 in Polk county around 1:50 a.m. Thursday, saying he didn’t known his exact location, but that he was walking somewhere along Deen Still Road.
The “stolen property” in his kit included, amongst other items, a GPS device.
Via the Orlando Sentinel.
TSA Security Theatre 0
It’s all just smoke and mirrors.
Bearly There 0
Below the fold because it autoplays and has a commercial. If you would rather read the story, go to the Orlando Sentinel.
Hiding in Plain Sight (Updated) 0
If you look really closely beneath the daffodils daylilies, you can see the mother duck sitting on her nest.
This is within three feet of the condo’s mailboxes under a little tree in the median strip of the parking lot. While we were there, she did not move–the only way to verify that she was alive was to see her blink.
We had another look this morning; she was still there, but facing the other way.
Addendum
:
Here’s a picture taken today from a different angle.
Afterthought:
Residents have left dishes of water and of grass clippings for her. I don’t know whether ducks eat grass clippings, but it’s really very sweet.
Republican Jesus 0
A letter to the editor of the Roanoke Times sums it up:
How did we get from “blessed are the poor” to the republicanized message of “the poor get what they deserve”?
Stray Thought 0
I think I’ve figured out why hipsters prefer the Yassar Arafat look those silly beards that look like three days’ stubble.
They think it’s cool to look as if they’ve stayed up in their Mom’s basement all weekend playing World of Warcraft and flirting with Siri while forgetting to shave.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Practice random acts of politeness.
When the politeness was over and done with, three persons were randomly dead.
Truth and Truthers 0
The fellow who stole memorial signs from playgrounds honoring the dead in the Sandy Hook school shootings and who also claimed that the killings were a hoax and never happened has been apprehended, thanks in large part to Chez Pazienda and The Daily Banter.
He is not alone in his trutherism (sp?), in his ability to disavow facts because he doesn’t like them.
You realize, of course, such people are nuts.
Realize also that considerable resources, including
- Fox News,
- the wingnut thinktank complex,
- ALEC,
- the New York Times as long as it keeps hacks like Ross Douthat and David Brooks on its payroll,
- the “main stream media” as long as it gives Cal Thomas, Charles Krauthammer, Megan McArdle, Christine Flowers, and their like paychecks (Google them yourselves–I’m not providing links), and
- the rest of the “vast rightwing conspiracy” (for naming which Hillary Clinton was mercilessly reviled, but which exists nonetheless–too sophisticated to meet in smoke-filled rooms, but meeting the essential definition of “conspiracy,” that is, “coordinated”) .
are devoted to nurturing their nuttiness so as to undermine our polity.
Both sides don’t do it, and, until and unless the media stop pretending that they do, we will continue to be doomed.
Yes, I’m fed up. My country is being sold down the river (you will pardon the expression but it is most apt) and no one is paying attention.
Support the Troops, GOP Style 0
In other words, leave them imprisoned.
Republican claims that they “support the troops” are as clanging bells or tinkling cymbals, signifying nothing.