Archive for the ‘Will Rogers Moments’ Category
Dollars Could Lead to Voting
In my reading this morning this sentence happened in front of my eyes: The legendary right-wing operative [Karl Rove] has been hard at work amassing $32 million for his tax-exempt organization …. [source] It's a discussion of money in politics, a common topic this close to an election, and a topic of considerable importance I […]
In: All, Eureka!, Will Rogers Moments
Mmmm: Lemony
Sometimes I am stupefied by the breathtaking depth of philosophical / ethical thinking on exhibit in the political discourse of modern politicians. Sharron Angle, I'm told, is a Republican candidate for US Senate in Nevada. Here is part of her response in answer to a question about abortion in the context of a father raping […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Will Rogers Moments
Natural Things Not Found in Nature
I learned today, from reading the article referenced below, that there is a crisis in sunscreens. Some sunscreens don't entirely block all UV, some people don't apply their sunscreen often enough, some sunscreens contain chemicals. Many of the sunscreens that claim to be "all natural" actually are full of petroleum and many other compounds not […]
In: All, Feeling Peevish, Will Rogers Moments
Things I Didn't Say First
The former governor [Mike Huckabee] said that “my use of the phrase ‘ick factor’ was as the established notion from within the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender (GLBT) community. It was not an indication of personal aversion, but rather a reference to an established phrase used mostly from same-sex marriage advocates and militants – not one […]
In: All, Feeling Peevish, Will Rogers Moments
More Popery
Creatures, including humans, "can be protected or endangered", the pope, 82, told the Vatican diplomatic corps in a traditional January address focusing mainly on environmental issues. "One such attack comes from laws or proposals which, in the name of fighting discrimination, strike at the biological basis of the difference between the sexes," he said, citing […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Will Rogers Moments
Rep. Joe Wilson: Republican VP Hopeful?
So we have the curious case of Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, shouting at the President during the latter's remarks to a joint session of congress last night. In the midst of reporting on that in today's press (e.g., the New York Times), some mention was made of the President's speech. As I […]
In: All, Current Events, Splenetics, Will Rogers Moments
Learned Heredity?
I tried to believe in nothing. And I failed. It was simply too difficult for me to let go of a belief in God that is as innate to me as the English language. [Lauren Cahn, "Why I Failed As an Aethist", Huffington Post, 31 August 2009.] I find this last statement very odd. The […]
In: All, Such Language!, Will Rogers Moments
Who Stands?
Now I'm confused — again. It happens so easily these days. I read (via Towleroad: "Arlen Specter Health Care Town Hall Nearly Gets Physical") that the loudest, angriest white male at Arlen Specter's recent healthcare townhall meeting shouted: "One day, God's gonna stand before you. And he's gonna judge you…". Now, I am just an […]
In: All, Current Events, Will Rogers Moments
Stephen Hawking Erroneously Found Dead in "Death Panel" Marketing
How interesting. I learned from Avedon Carol (who learned from Wonkette….) of an editorial in the Investor's Business Daily that, in explaining how government-run-healthcare "death panels" wold imperil your grandmother's life, used as the centerpiece of it argument that famed physicist Stephen Hawking, whose life is challenged with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as […]
In: All, Current Events, Laughing Matters, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Will Rogers Moments
Who Took Whose Country?
Rachel Maddow told me that, according to the SEC, the profits of health insurance companies were $2.4 Billion in 2000, but $12.7 Billion in 2007. This is only a 429% increase, almost keeping pace with inflation. (I watched the segment at Joe.My.God.) She also notes that by 2007 the average compensation of the CEO of […]
In: All, Current Events, Will Rogers Moments
Thomas: "There is a proliferation of rights."
I'm reading this article* about an appearance by nobody's favorite Supreme-Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and I notice that I am a bit disturbed by several things. Perhaps not actually surprised, but disturbed. He appeared at an event organized by the Bill of Rights Institute (about which I know nothing) at which he made some remarks […]
In: All, Personal Notebook, Will Rogers Moments
Kinosian on Quantum Butterflies
Every now and then I come across a sentence or two of such breathtaking new-agey, pseudo-scientific gobblety-gook that–well, it takes my metaphorical breath away and I am rendered speechless. Ecce: We've all heard the adage if a butterfly flaps its wings in Hong Kong, there's a hurricane in Manhattan. Today, quantum physics says yes, the […]
Pnk-Pistol-Totin' Dykes
Here's one for the Will Rogers scrapbook — file under "you can't make this stuff up". Do you lie awake at nights worried about violent, roving gangs of pink-pistol-totin' lesbians out to recruit your ten-year old daughters? Neither do I. However, some people with over-heated imaginations apparently do. I suspect that merely giving you the […]
In: All, Laughing Matters, Will Rogers Moments
Warming Denial Humor
From an administration already known to be rich in comedy comes a new act: "I guess I would ask which human beings, where and when, are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now, is the best climate for all other human beings," he […]