Archive for the ‘Raised Eyebrows Dept.’ Category
Wolfowitz on Iraq
Testimony by then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of Iraq policy, before a House subcommittee on Feb. 28, 2003, just weeks before the invasion, illustrated the optimistic view the administration had of postwar Iraq. He said containment of Hussein the previous 12 years had cost "slightly over $30 billion," […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
No Apology Here!
It seems that Jesse Helms, the homophobe who refuses to die, has written his life story. I am beside myself with anticipation. The œuvre was given brief notice in The Washinton Post (9 June 2005, thanks to the AP), in a piece titled "Helms Apologetic on AIDS in Memoir". Woo hoo! I thought. Helms actually […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Cut in Pay
On average, jobs leaving America pay $22,457 more than the jobs being created. Tell that to your kid. [Andy Stern, "A Dreary Day at GM", The Huffington Post, 9 June 2005.]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Anal Sibation
Pope Benedict, in his first clear pronouncement on gay marriages since his election, on Monday condemned same-sex unions as fake and expressions of "anarchic freedom" that threatened the future of the family. I was getting a little worried there: what was taking him so long! After all, he'd known for years that gay marriage was […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
How Big is Aruba?
[Update: For those who are looking for an answer to the question, the Caribbean island of Aruba has an area of 193 sq km (74 sq mi), about the area of Washington, DC.] This just in from the public-radio station I listen to most days, WBJC*: There is some sort of search, evidently with teams […]
Give Me a Sign….
Not that long ago, Isaac came home with word that the letters on the illuminated sign outside a church he passes on the way to his commuter-train stop had been rearranged to read "My Clits Wet Is Yours?". Loads of good, clean fun, although we notice that recent advances in church-sign technology have given us […]
In: All, Curious Stuff, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
I'm a Serial Sperm Killer
I ask you, how could I not at least notice the headline of this little Paul Waldman piece from The Gadflyer? Stop the Sperm Massacre! President Bush has opened my eyes to what may be the greatest tragedy currently taking place in our nation. Embryos, he has told us, are "life" that must not be […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Doesn't It Look Like A…?
I didn't even know these were the results we'd been waiting for (until someone — who it was escapes me now — pointed it out), but now that they're here we can all be happy. It reminds me a bit of my college art teacher to whom everything with curvey lines was "vaginal", everything with […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., The Art of Conversation
What Members?
The Chicago Sun-Times report includes the comment from DeLay that made me choke on my coffee this morning when I heard it on NPR: Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) said the embryonic research bill would force taxpayers to finance "the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings." "Dismemberment"? In order to dismember something, doesn't it have […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Weak Fathers
Dobson prefers his electorate nauseated by the noxious fumes of the windbag. He's opined that homosexuality results from a weak father figure–who knew Dick Cheney was such a softy?–and that, if caught early, can be "cured." Dobson also endorses corporal punishment for children. "By learning to yield to the loving authority … of his parents," […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Hate-Based Illiterates
Shakespeare's Sister ("Irritated by Ignorance: A Rant"), reading exposés of the activities of hate-based fundamentalists groups written by Deborah Levinson (who is apparently fearless enough to wade into that noxious swamp), presents us with some barely literate, dripping-with-hatred comments from Ms. Levinson's mailbag. The vitriol is astonishing and yet predictable; in other circumstances it might […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Public-Affairs Programming
Admittedly, being — shall we say — underemployed for most of the current President's time in office, it's rare that I suffer laughter, even a chuckle, in an unguarded moment. However, it does happen, and we might as well rejoice in the event and give credit where credit is due. This time, it's thanks to […]
Hot Cocked
On Wednesday afternoon, I was sitting in a hushed, carpeted room in one of the National Science Foundation towers, in Bollston, Virginia. I was on a review panel, and we were quietly deliberating the relative mertits of a stack of proposals. One of the reviewers, who was in constant touch with her staff and the […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Unconnected Bits of Countries
Thanks to a blog named Tottyland (whose author is usually more interested in shirtless rugby players than in unusual facts from geography), I recently learned this fascinating fact: Did you know that there are twenty two bits of Belgium inside Holland including bits of fields? "What in the world could this mean?" was my first […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., The Art of Conversation
A-F Friendly
"Riff" is a great word, although I feel a bit — not quite estranged, since we never had a relationship to begin with — distant from "riff", and I doubt that I will ever be as close as I am to truly favorite words like "madcap" and "chuffed". No doubt this is tied to my […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Such Language!
Original Meaning Means…?
From "Justice Scalia critical of 'living Constitution'", by Rachel Graves (Houston Chronicle, 5 May 2005): COLLEGE STATION – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia portrayed himself in a speech here today as one of a dying breed of judges who strictly interpret the Constitution. "The Constitution, when it comes before a court, should mean exactly […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Borrow @ the Fetish Bank
In my continuing fascination with the search strings that bring visitors to my blog or other websites, I was momentarily slackjawed to see this phrase as a search string: Fetish Bank What in the world could it mean? What might a "Fetish Bank" be? At first my thought was that it might be a place, […]
Dobson's Group Not "Religious"
Via John Aravosis at AMERICAblog First, Microsoft caves to anti-gay radicals in the name of diversity, and before that, ABC refused to run a pro-diversity ad for the United Church of Christ. The reason ABC gave the UCC for denying their ad: "The network doesn't take advertising from religious groups. It's a long-standing policy," said […]
In: All, Eureka!, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
Gay Ed. for Teens
In a fascinatingly frank story, "Bashing Gays and Children" (by Amy Smith, 29 April 2005), the Austin [TX] Chronicle fills us in on the antics of "the gay-obsessed GOP rep from Pasadena [Texas], Robert Talton". It seems that he added an amendment to a Texas House bill that would "launch an $8 million inquisition into […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Rickets & Windows
File under "unintended consequences": In 1696 a window tax was inroduced in Britain when the financially hard-pressed govenment started taxing properties based on the number of windows. The citizenry responded by bricking up windows and the darker houses are thought to have contributed to an increased incidence of rickets and tuberculosis. [David Whitehouse, The Sun: […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, It's Only Rocket Science, Raised Eyebrows Dept.