Quote of the Day

Fez:

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So Obama is arrogant to claim ANY credit in the killing of Bin Laden, but Mitt Romney gets to claim credit for saving America's Auto Industry?

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It's called "chutzpah".

Another Popcorn Moment

Raw Story

Rep. Allen West, a tea party Republican from Florida, on Monday compared the draw down of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to the appeasement of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, according to Right Wing Watch.
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“I look at what happened between President Obama and President Karzai as a 1930s, Chamberlain, Hitler moment,” West told radio host Frank Gaffney. “There is not going to be peace in our time.”

One neocon asshole to another.

Note to Willard: Make cashiered army officer and so-far-right-he's-coming-back-around-on-the-left nutjob West your running mate for Veep. You're not going to win anyway and you can put one over on Grampa Walnuts - this guy makes Moosebreath look almost sane. Since all the other Repug whackjobs - except Paul, who sticks around like psoriasis - have mercifully succumbed, you have to entertain us all by yourself.

In related news:

U.S. Obesity Rate May Hit 42% by 2050

Heh. Pass the popcorn! Extra butter, please!

Miners

Here's one for Fixer. He's probably seen it, but I saw it for the first time yesterday evening.

Thanks to Newcastle.

Good questions ...

Addicting Info has 10 questions to ask a conservative. Betcha you won't get a straight answer.

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Both the 10 Commandments and the Seven Deadly Sins have no mention of being gay or having abortions. Greed, though, seems to be a biggie. Why do conservatives seem to get that backwards?

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Why should people who inherit their money not pay taxes and people who earn their money be taxed at the highest rate?

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More deck ...

Just put up a progress report on the deck project for the friends and relatives.

Headline of the Day

MRI study hopes to unlock what dogs are thinking

Interesting, but be careful what you wish for...

Actually, if they can train dogs to hold still for the MRI, maybe with considerably more effort they can train Repugs to do it so we can figure out what they're thinking. Probably not much different - if you can't eat it or fuck it, piss on it.

Difference being we like dogs and they have socially redeeming qualities.

Learning That Works

Very good article in Time by Joe Klein on vocational education in High School.

I spent the better part of forty years plying a trade that I learned at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College aka "The College Of Motersickle Knowledge". I am a huge booster of vocational education.

The article described things I knew and things I didn't. Worth a read.

Vocational education used to be where you sent the dumb kids or the supposed misfits who weren't suited for classroom learning. [...]

C'est moi...

Unfortunately, the education establishment's response to the voc-ed problem only made things worse. Over time, it morphed into the theology that every child should go to college (a four-year liberal-arts college at that) and therefore every child should be required to pursue a college-prep course in high school. The results have been awful. High school dropout rates continue to be a national embarrassment. And most high school graduates are not prepared for the world of work. The unemployment rate for recent high school graduates who are not in school is a stratospheric 33%. The results for even those who go on to higher education are brutal: four-year colleges graduate only about 40% of the students who start them, and two-year community colleges graduate less than that, about 23%. "College for everyone has become a matter of political correctness," says Diane Ravitch, a professor of education at New York University. "But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than a quarter of new job openings will require a bachelor of arts degree. We're not training our students for the jobs that actually exist." Meanwhile, the U.S. has begun to run out of welders, glaziers and auto mechanics--the people who actually keep the place running.

The average of students at LATTC when I went there was about 26. The students were at the age when they realized it was gonna be a dead-end world for them if they didn't learn how to do something. It was their way up and out and they took it damned seriously.

Getting kids involved in real vo-tech, as opposed to busy-work for the dumb and delinquent like turning chair legs or fixing clunkers, while they're still in High School is a damn fine idea.

Oh, the irony...

Ironic Times

OBAMA HAILS “NEW KIND OF RELATIONSHIP” WITH KABUL
Direct deposit replaces bags of cash.

SEC: Stock-Picking Robot a Fraud
Scheme convinced many investors to move their funds from dart-throwing chimp.

Younger Workers Being Pushed into Low Wage Service Jobs
Serving burgers to older workers pushed into retirement.

NCAA May Delay Changes to Academic Requirements
Especially one requiring defensive linebackers to pass reading test.

U.S. Teen Tobacco Use Plummets
Only wealthiest 1% of teenagers can afford cigarettes.

"I'm a stripper, not a prostitute!"

Not that I have a problem with either, but I think I posted about this woman the first time she got busted:

An East Rockaway woman ran a prostitution business out of a hot dog vending truck she often parked on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin, Nassau police said Friday.

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And, of course, the New York Post had their own take on it.

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A Long Island hooker sold more than just sausage at her roadside hot-dog truck — using the truck to peddle her own flesh even though she’d been busted on the same rap eight years ago, cops said yesterday.

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Sound familiar?

Are you a fascist? Many people are fascists and they don’t even realize it. And sometimes, they know it all too well, but hide and deny it. Most of the time though, it’s obvious who the fascists are. For instance, you might be a fascist if…

Do you recognize these traits in the members of a certain political party? I do.

Then and Now ...

I have no idea where I stole this from last week. If it's yours, let me know and I'll give ya credit.

It writes itself ...

Do you think he trusted Snowflake Snooki?

Former Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Sunday advised presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney to selected a running mate that “he knows he could trust.”

“The absolute most important aspect is if something happened to [Romney], would that person be well qualified to take that place?” McCain told ABC’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. “I happen to believe that was the primary factor on my decision in 2008. I know it will be Mitt’s. I’m very happy to say we’ve got a very deep bench.”

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Time to get Grandpa Walnuts back to the home ...

Happy Mexican St. Paddy's Day!

An excuse for gringos to drink tequila instead of green beer! Don't worry, it'll be green when it comes up! :-)

Cautionary note: Today is also the Full Flower Moon, denoting a time of increased fertility. Be careful out there!

Thanks to jeffstanulis.

Rambo Jesus

Stolen from my own Facebook page after first stealing it from The Christian Left.



Should you encounter this incarnation of Jesus remember that if you use a "six o'clock hold" aim at the bottom of the flag. For "point of aim = point of impact", hold on the 6th or 7th stripe. In real life of course, such a figment of a deluded imagination will not look exactly like that and your round will get him right at the top of his beer gut or, more likely, dead center in his fat ass when he realizes liberals have guns too and turns and runs away.

Also, in the unlikely event of close quarters combat (righties run very fast when afraid), common courtesy requires you to remove the magazine and clear the chamber before you jam the weapon up his ass.

Saturday Emmylou Blogging

Subtitled for your convenience!

Emmylou Harris & Trisha Yearwood ~ Tennessee Rose

Thanks to cweiandnd.

The Wisdom Of The Ages...

Maybe I'm just jaded, or maybe dead from it all, but there's nothing going on today besides watching the Repugs waffle-stomp their weenies, so back to basics...

Just looking for my car keys, ma'am...

What Would Happen If You Stuck Your Hand In The Big Bang Machine?

Far-Right Conservatives Invent New Language

Addicting Info

I DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO ACT and started trying to put together a new right-wing lexicon. Here’s what I have so far:
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Fox News: the last bastion of truth where free enterprise is always worshiped.

Patriot: any American who listens exclusively to Fox News, who agrees that taxes on billionaires can never be raised because it will make them sad, or something; a person who feels it is better to deny health care to other Americans, because, well, if you love America, you don’t want poor Americans to love America and be healthy, too; may also be an American who supports family values and would love to die for his or her country, except when they might want to commit adultery, personally, or actually have the chance to enlist and get shot at by real enemies of the United States. (See: Cheney, Gingrich, Romney, etc.)

Patriotism: what a billionaire or millionaire feels when he or she sees other people’s children sent off to fight to protect his or her freedom, while simultaneously keeping tax rates low (flag pin displayed in your lapel proves your patriotism, but serving in the military under the actual real flag does not if you’d like to marry your same-sex partner).
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Public sector workers (also union thug, below): men and women who undermine individual economic freedoms and pose an insidious threat to free markets because their jobs cannot be outsourced to Mexico or Honduras.

Much, much more.

Who knew ...

Exploding Head Syndrome: Do you have it? We do! How cool is that? It's not, as some might think, the result of cognitive dissonance, but, as w/ so many syndromes, it's all in the mind, baby:

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This happens to me about 3 times a week. I thought it was just me and I figured it was a result of a misspent youth.

Screwing the spouses ...

The crux of the biscuit:

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To civilians, this is analogous to someone telling us after losing our spouse that we can have his or her retirement money or their life insurance -- but not both. Of course, this would be considered an outrage and an earned-benefits rip-off, but for military families, this evidently makes complete sense to the government. [em on orig]

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Heaven forbid a military spouse gets what any other citizen would expect after their loved one dies (let alone the fact they died protecting the nation). Can't have that because they might have to raise taxes a tenth of a percent on the rich folks.