Good morning, folks. Planet Michael, a virtual world devoted to Michael Jackson\’s life, is being developed. Now, your morning constitutional: The Senate will take up a Defense Authorization Act today that includes a repeal of the \”don\’t ask, don\’t tell\” policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving in the military. Letting all the Bush tax cuts expire could come close to balancing the budget. House Republicans plan to unveil a campaign blueprint later this week, which they hope will show that Republicans have an agenda to govern beyond merely stopping the White House. Adults under 30 are...
Continue reading...September 2010
From the annals of minor hypocrisy
I know some enterprising young girls who like to set up lemonade stands on warm days. Lucky for them, they live in a well-to-do neighborhood where folks tend to tip high (“a lot of times,” they tell me breathlessly, “people give us a dollar and say to keep the change” for the 50 cent cups). It’s also a well-trafficked area. Among other things, there’s a large synagogue just down the street. On Saturday, the girls tell me, they made “so much money.” “Lots of people who were going to services got lemonade and cookies,” they inform me. ...
Continue reading...She turned me into a newt
Good grief. So, Republican nominee for Senate Christine O’Donnell claimed back in (maybe) 1999 on Bill Maher\’s infamous Politically Incorrect to have dabbled in witchcraft (but never joined a coven), and had one her first dates on a Satanic altar (after seeing a movie, of course). May be a cliché, but this is seriously some shit that you really just can’t make up.
Continue reading...Irish Taoiseach Brian Cowen probably hammered right now
Breaking News: The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland gets drunk. Quite a bit. In fact, he’s probably rat-arsed right now. According, at least, to an alarming exposé by none other than that bastion of journalistic excellence, the Daily Mail: But a review of Mr Cowen’s public behaviour and his own admissions, coupled with extensive interviews of people who have witnessed the Taoiseach’s excessive consumption, reveals a habit of drinking that has been well known in Leinster House for more than a decade. This is a man who has designated Wednesday nights as ‘drinking nights’...
Continue reading...Won't somebody think of the children?
The National Review cover story, “The Case for Marriage,” draws an argument against same-sex marriage solely founded on the idea that marriage is for sexual relations, and that sexual intercourse between men and women makes babies. It is true that marriage is, in part, an emotional union, and it is also true that spouses often take care of each other and thereby reduce the caregiving burden on other people. But neither of these truths is the fundamental reason for marriage. The reason marriage exists is that the sexual intercourse of men and women regularly produces children. If...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day
If you’re one of the four-or-so frequent readers of this here blog, chances are you also occasionally check out the New York Times op-ed page. You may even know the names: Thomas “Friedman’s Just Another Word For Nothing Left to Lose” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. This is a daily feature dedicated to these folks: one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today\’s is from Paul \”The Little Professor\” Krugman, who in his column \”The Angry Rich,\” highlights the...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Monday, 20 September 2010
Good morning, everybody. Lindsay failed another drug test. Now, your morning constitutional: The busted oil well in the Gulf of Mexico is finally plugged for good. President Obama will revive its defense and support of the health care reform passed earlier, with a number of changes taking effect this week, including the elimination of co-payments for preventative services and allowing people to stay on their parents\’ insurance until they\’re 26. The Sweden Democrats, Sweden\’s far-right party, won seats in the Swedish parliament for the first time, denying the ruling center-right coalition enough seats to form a majority...
Continue reading...Poem of the Week
It’s a gorgeous afternoon in the Midwest, sunny and breezy with that autumn something in the air. Here’s a poem. Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio by James Wright In the Shreve High football stadium, I think of Polacks nursing long beers in Tiltonsville, And gray faces of Negroes in the blast furnace at Benwood, And the ruptured night watchman of Wheeling Steel, Dreaming of heroes. All the proud fathers are ashamed to go home, Their women cluck like starved pullets, Dying for love. Therefore, Their sons grow suicidally beautiful At the beginning of October, And gallop...
Continue reading...This is how bad it got: Poverty and Unemployment Insurance
This chart is pretty staggering, and gives a little more credence to the call to keep expanding unemployment insurance, even if Sharron Angle thinks it “spoils” the unemployed. This chart comes from Arloc Sherman from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who writes: The headline story in today’s Census Bureau report is the large jump in the poverty rate in 2009. But an exclusive Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of the new survey data shows that unemployment insurance benefits — which expanded substantially last year in response to the increased need — kept 3.3 million people...
Continue reading...Nominee for Senate Christine O'Donnell thinks if you get AIDS, you deserved it. Also, thinks Joe Biden tapped her phones.
One of many 1990s-era videos featuring Christine O’Donnell, the newly-minted Republican nominee for Senate from Delaware, spouting crazy nonsense. Did you know that condoms actually facilitate HIV transmission? Also, Politico has some stories from former staffers from her failed 2008 senate attempt: Kristin Murray, who left her position in the state party to serve as one of several campaign managers for O’Donnell during that race, said warning bells went off in June 2008 when the two were discussing cell phone plans. ‘She told me that she thought Joe Biden tapped her phone line,’ she said. Alan Moore,...
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