August, 2014 archive
Southern Strategy Redux 2
The Republican Party just can’t let go.
Chauncey Devega is blunt (follow the link for the entire piece):
First daughter said last night that, if President Obama and the Democrats are indeed waging a war on white folks, “it must be very covert.”
Twits on Twitter 0
Very Special Twits.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Dispose of your weapons politely.
You can’t make this stuff up.
School for Scamdal 0
After the fifth investigation has deemed that the Republican fuss over Benghazi was all smoke and mirrors, Republicans are launching yet another investigation so as to stir up their base. This one will be led by one Tray Gowdy (R–Cloud Cuckoo Land).
Dick Polman’s comments are worth a read; here’s a nugget:
For those folks, the empirical findings in the House Intelligence Committee report (which has to be declassified by the intelligence community) won’t matter a whit. There is a “paranoid style in American politics,” as the esteemed historian Richard Hofstadter famously wrote, characterized by “heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy,” and any congressional panel that fails to feed the mindset must surely be part of the conspiracy
Jim Wright also reviews the events at Stonekettle Station. Here’s a bit:
For two years conservatives have been demanding “the truth.”
And they’ve got it.
By their own hand, from their own people.
And suddenly, the party of personal accountability is strangely quiet on Benghazi.
But then it really wasn’t the truth they were after, was it?
Suffer the Children 0
Dick Polman:
So what does the GOP do, in the one chamber of government it controls? It OKs a crackdown measure drafted in part by the likes of Michele Bachmann (she’s ecstatic about the House action, which tells you all you need know). In short, the GOP has opted to become known as the deportation party.
The Marquis de Sade, were he alive today, would be a Republican.
Why I Am Fed Up with Professional Sports, Reason Googleplex 0
I am fed up with sports because this can be considered newsworthy by a major newspaper:
Parking Wars 0
I akways knew that Philly was tough on parking.
He steps out of the car, “I hit my clicker,” the automatic door lock, “it makes a ‘hoo-hoo’ noise” and Yan heads for the curb to feed the meter. He sees a parking-enforcement officer writing a ticket.
“Where did you come from?” asks the startled parking-enforcement officer, Alfred Toto.
“From the driver’s seat,” Yan says, trying not to sound smart-alecky. “I assume you’re not giving me a ticket.”
“Your meter has expired,” says Toto.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, August 7.
Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Enter the Darwin Awards, politely.
The 31-year-old man killed himself after firing a gun he said was empty, according to reports.
The man was in his apartment in south Evanston with three friends when he retrieved a shotgun, police said. The man proceeded to show off the gun, alarming his friends, who told him to put the shotgun away. The resident ejected two to three rounds from the shotgun and told his friends it was empty. He then held the shotgun to his face and pulled the trigger.
Everybody Must Get Fracked etc. 0
Warning: Even more tasteless than usual.
Separate Entrances 0
Recently, much fuss has been made about a ritzy Manhattan development’s plan to have a “poor door,” a separate entrance for persons in the “affordable” apartments. Leonard Pitts, Jr., points out that the fuss overlooks the obvious. A nugget:
Afterthought, Later That Same Day:
I know about separate entrances. Once, when my mother, my brother, and I were taking the bus to visit my grandmother in South Carolina–I was maybe ten–I entered the wrong separate entrance to the wrong waiting room in the Raleigh, North Carolina, bus station. All the Not White folks in that room stopped talking and looked at me, with “What are you doing here” in their faces.
I have never felt so out of place, nor so alone.
I would never wish that feeling on anyone.
Any society that breeds that feeling is evil.
Anyone who would perpetuate that society is evil.
Gag Orders 0
The University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors has decided that dissent is a bad thing.
I strongly doubt that Thomas Jefferson, who had as many faults as he had virtues, would approve.
Full Disclosure:
I did a year of graduate work in history at UVa. It almost destroyed my love of history (but it didn’t–if you don’t know where you came from, you cannot know where you are going), but it did me the inestimable service of convincing me that I did not want to become a professional academician.
Those folks will stab you in the back over a semicolon.