Archive for September, 2010
I Can’t Keep Up
Take the dogs to the park for a half hour, come back, and there are 30 new messages from advocacy groups and campaigns in my email box. Look- I understand it is the campaign season, but I have a working theory that most human beings will go their entire lives without telling me something truly [...]
September 28, 2010
· 
John Cole · 
48 Comments
Posted in: Get off my grass you damned kids
Divided against itself
There was a discussion about how whether or not kids should be taught how to write cursive here a little while ago in the comments, and I thought that Kain’s hippie prescriptions for public education—which I strongly agree with—provided a good opportunity to bring up something that I oppose even more than I oppose the [...]
September 28, 2010
· Angry DougJ · 172 Comments
Posted in: Fucked-up-edness, Other, Pink Himalayan Salt
Juvenile Justice
Wanted to return to these posts by DougJ and John Cole because juvenile justice is one area where really positive things are happening. Slowly. First, the boot camp, get-tough approach endorsed and promoted by George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and a host of others has been completely discredited and is the process of being scrapped. [...]
September 28, 2010
· Kay · 33 Comments
Posted in: Corrections, Democratic Stupidity
Open Thread: Tankrupt
Thank you, Tom Toles, and GoComics.com. I finally get an offer for some of that blogospheric swag one hears about… and it’s from a Penguin sub-sub-subsidiary spokesperson offering a review copy of what sounds like a truly dreadful book about Nancy Pelosi. Complete with glowing tributes from Gingrich, Breitbart, Fred Barnes at the Weakly Standard, [...]
September 28, 2010
· Anne Laurie · 39 Comments
Posted in: Assholes, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, Bring on the Brawndo!
Bring Out Your Dead
The next two years should be fun: Rep. Darrell Issa means business! If the GOP takes back the House of Representatives the new chairman of the Congressional Oversight and Government Reform Committee will investigate only the important stuff, like ACORN (which no longer exists) and the post office! Scary stuff! I’m really glad that Democrats [...]
September 28, 2010
· John Cole · 82 Comments
Posted in: Election 2010, Republican Stupidity
Productivity in public education
Noah Millman has a really smart post up at The American Scene on the growing inequality gap for basic needs like housing, health care, and education. I think he’s right on the money, but one thing I want to quibble with is his use of the concept of productivity. Perhaps I’m reading this too literally, [...]
September 28, 2010
· E.D. Kain · 70 Comments
Posted in: Education
Next Step in HCR (Just Maybe)
The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts “... Officials draft plans for new system to compensate doctors, hospitals“: Governor Deval Patrick’s administration is reviving the state’s ambitious plan to change how doctors and hospitals are paid, aiming to hand the Legislature a specific proposal by Jan. 1 and end months of disagreement over how to control [...]
September 28, 2010
· Anne Laurie · 12 Comments
Posted in: 59-41 Senate Minority, C.R.E.A.M., World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)
Oldster Glasses
Homely glasses aren’t just for hipsters anymore. These are TruFocals, which allow the user to dial in better focus using a little bar on the bridge of the frame. I’m just about to buy bifocals but I’ll be god-damned if I can stand looking like a geriatric Harry Potter, no matter how compelling the technology.
September 28, 2010
· mistermix · 62 Comments
Posted in: Science and Technology
Yezhov Politely Raises His Hand
For what it’s worth John didn’t ‘pimp’ the health care bill or really spend any energy on it one way or the other. After Scott Brown sent an august figure like Barney Frank running headfirst into a tree, John mostly gave it up for dead. Most people did. I pimped the hell out of that [...]
September 28, 2010
· Tim F. · 74 Comments
Posted in: General Stupidity
The DRahma Never Stops
According to ABC news, liberalism’s greatest villain, Rahm Emanuel, is planning to leave the administration this week. Prepare for a few days of media wanking about “what this all means.”
September 28, 2010
· John Cole · 56 Comments
Posted in: Black Jimmy Carter, Election 2010
When You Have Faith, You Don’t Need to Know Nothing
Too funny: Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people, but they are also deeply ignorant about religion. Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles [...]
September 28, 2010
· John Cole · 114 Comments
Posted in: Bring on the Brawndo!, Religion
Encryption Nonsense
It’s hard to improve on Charlie Savage’s story and the many good discussions of the civil liberties implications of the Obama administration’s desire to mandate back doors to encrypted messaging systems like BlackBerry and Skype. I just want to point out that, in addition to the violation of privacy, it’s also bad business and bad [...]
September 28, 2010
· mistermix · 18 Comments
Posted in: Security Theatre, Shitty Cops
Early Morning Open Thread: Life Can Get Better
From commentor JAHILL10: The first picture is of Jake the day we brought him home from the Philadelphia SPCA in 2005. All head and legs, wormy, hungry, and happy to be someplace other than the shelter. My husband and I went there looking for a “scruffy dog” about two years after my Scottie dog of [...]
September 28, 2010
· Anne Laurie · 28 Comments
Posted in: Dog Blogging, Open Thread, Pet Rescue
Warning Off the Stalkers
My sincere personal thanks to commentors SciVo and Concerned Citizen for this… ... because, frankly, Cee Lo Green is happy to present himself as a WATB and, yes, a stalker. As do many of our most prominent RW politicians and their apologists among the punderati, so now I can recycle this for Glenn Beck, John [...]
September 28, 2010
· Anne Laurie · 34 Comments
Posted in: Assholes, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing, Humor, Music
Cockwork orange
I don’t care about John Boehner’s personal life, but my friends tell me this could be a big story (via Mike Stark): Insiders on Capitol Hill are buzzing about an upcoming New York Times exposé that will detail an alleged Boehner affair. Boehner’s alleged paramour is a lobbyist. Again, don’t think extramarital affairs should matter [...]
September 27, 2010
· Angry DougJ · 140 Comments
Posted in: Green Balloons, Politics
