It’s been expected, but now it’s all but official: Aides confirm that Florida Governor Charlie Crist will, indeed, announce tomorrow that he will run for the U.S. Senate as an independent. Crist has been a Republican his entire career, but a run from former state House speaker Marco Rubio on his right has pushed him both out of the party primary and into the center. This, in effect, both blows up this race, as well as solidifying it earlier than the primary would have. Rubio now has a longer time to move center to try and court...
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BREAKING: Bankers are greedy and evil
JPMorgan Chase wants you to sign the slip. According to the American Banker, in a mailing from JPMorgan Chase to customers whose debit cards had been switched from Washington Mutual when JPC bought WaMu, the bank strongly urged cardholders to sign the slip rather than enter their PIN when making debit card purchases. The mailing continues, “It’s not a credit card, so the money still comes out of your checking account. But by choosing ‘credit,’ you won’t have to enter your PIN in public.” Brilliant. JPMorgan Chase wants you to be safe. Sadly, it’s also terribly dishonest....
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 28 April 2010
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 of Peach” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today’s is from Maureen “Refrigerator” Dowd, who in her column “Olive Oil and Snake Oil,” writes about...
Continue reading...National Zoo's panda Mei Xiang not pregnant
It’s official: Mei Xhiang, the lady panda currently in residence at the National Zoo in D.C., is not pregnant. Pandas are notoriously difficult to inseminate and especially more difficult to test for pregnancy, and it was hoped that Mei Xhiang’s artificial insemination in January may have taken hold. But, sadly, it was (yet another) false alarm. Mei Xiang and her partner, Tian Tian are on a ten-year loan from China, and in that time, Mei Xhiang has given birth to one cub, Tai Shan, who has returned to China. The two are expected to be returned to...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Good morning, folks. Jenny McCarthy has some medical advice for you and your kids. Now, your morning constitutional: The Coast Guard will attempt to burn off portions of the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico today that is closing in on Louisiana’s shore and ecologically sensitive areas around the Mississippi River basin. The slick has moved to within nearly twenty miles of the Louisiana coast.R Clarence Dupnik, the sheriff of Pima County, Arizona says he will not enforce Arizona’s new immigration law, calling it “racist,” disgusting,” and “unnecessary.” His inaction could land him in trouble, as...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 27 April 2010
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 of Peach” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today’s is from David “Yawny-Pants” Brooks, who writes in his column “The Goldman Drama,” comparing the characters...
Continue reading...Tim Wise: "Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black"
(Got from Ghost, but since he’s at work or the bar or something, I’m stealing it.) Tim Wise nails it: Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters – the black protesters – spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester – these black protesters with...
Continue reading...Morning Constitutional – Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Good morning, everybody. Hugh Hefner has saved the famous Hollywood sign. Now, your morning constitutional: Senate Republicans blocked the opening of debate for the financial reform package on a 57-41 vote (with 60 needed for cloture). Sen. Ben Nelson voted against cloture, while Majority Leader Harry Reid switched his vote to “no” (to allow him to bring the bill for another vote), while Republican Sens. Kit Bond and Bob Bennett did not vote. Chaos erupts in the Ukrainian parliament as the chamber extends the lease on a Russian naval base in Ukraine. The provisional government in Kyrgyzstan...
Continue reading...Tax rates, visualized
To illustrate, Weather Sealed’s infographic team charted the historical U.S. income tax brackets for singles, adjusted for inflation, from 1910 to present. The colors indicate the marginal tax rate: black for low, red in the middle, and yellow for high. The horizontal axis is the tax year, and the vertical represents taxable income, log-scale, normalized to 2010 dollars with the Bureau Of Labor Statistics’ monthly CPI-U figures. The bracket data comes from The Tax Foundation and the IRS, and the effects of Social Security, capital gains, AMT, and other tax varieties are not included. The really is...
Continue reading...New York Times Columnist Line of the Day – 26 April 2010
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 Fries” Friedman, Gail “The Colander” Collins, Nicholas “The Dark Crystal” Kristof, &c. Well, I’ve decided to devote a daily feature to these folks, by daily pointing out one line that is either awesome, funny, insightful, intelligent, ridiculous, or utterly divorced from reality. I hope you enjoy. Today’s is from Ross “Do That Thing” Douthat, who writes in his column “Not Even in South Park?”...
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