Jun 26, 2014

Today's Pix









About That Thing In Mississippi

Teabagger fave Chris McDaniel challenged Thad Cochran in a GOP primary and lost.  The 'Baggers are trying to tell us that Cochran courted "the black vote" to pad his totals blah blah blah.

Look, guys - I'm not gonna try to convince anybody that the 'Murican voter is some kinda genius, but if those Mississippi Democrats wanted to fuck up the GOP's chances to get their guy back in the Senate, they woulda voted for McDaniel.  I can't possibly be the only one here who remembers Sharon Angle and Christine O'Donnell, can I?

Of course, it seems the Press Poodles are willing to go with the Shenanigans-At-The-Polls narrative - or at least the Tea-Party-Is-So-Over blurb - because if they point out that a lot of people in today's GOP really are stoopid enough to see a duck and call it a frog, then they lose the dramatic tension and it makes it harder for them sell us the Red vs Blue / They're All The Same / It's A Horse Race bullshit.

Just a thought.

Jun 25, 2014

Happy Birthday, Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia officially ratified the Constitution of the United States and became the 10th state of the United States on June 25th, 1788.

Jun 24, 2014

The Invisible Hand

..is invisible because it's another mystical fabrication of "capitalists" who aren't interested in doing any more work than it takes to sell us the illusion of a useful product instead of creating something of real value.

There's no such thing as Alternative Medicine.  Anything that's been studied and tested and peer-reviewed and proven beyond the 95% Certainty Threshold is called Medicine - because that's what it is.  Everything else comes under the general heading of Quackery. However, there are new things that come along all the time, and some of them could lead to (or actually be) the next great discovery.  So the point is - as always - to be skeptical and to demand evidence.

By the 1920s, a huge fad had grown up around Radium (eg), which was being touted as a miracle substance - "liquid sunshine" is how some companies described it.  They sold people on drinking water that had been infused with radon gas, and never mind that a good buncha these suckers died of various cancers and leukemia - Marie Curie died in 1934 of aplastic anemia believed to have been contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation - and her original lab notes are still too radioactive to be handled safely.

Science finds something interesting, and almost immediately, the sharpsters gather to figure out how to use this new stuff to separate the marks from their paychecks.

Commerce must be regulated.  We have to be careful not to let regulation be used as a political weapon to gain an unfair advantage just to beat down competition, but every time we've allowed "the free market" to run wild, we've paid a heavy price.  A little of that good ol' American Common Sense is in order here.

Jun 22, 2014

Call It "Quaint"

FAIR-TV looks at the week's Press Poodling:




Isn't it Interesting?

Interesting, but not surprising at all.

Here's a report (Business Insider) on how researchers are unlocking the secrets of how Antibiotics-Resistant bacteria are making it really hard for us to kill them.
The global threat of antibiotic resistance could finally be tackled after British scientists discovered a chink in the armour of deadly bacteria.
Health experts have warned that within 20 years even routine operations like hip replacements and organ transplants could be deadly because of the risk of infection.
But now scientists at the University of East Anglia have discovered how the bug responsible for E-coli and salmonella builds an impenetrable wall to keep out antibiotics.
I guess it's interesting to me mainly for these three reasons:

1) A properly funded public institution (not in USAmerica Inc, of course) is leading the pack while we're sittin' here with our thumbs up our ass.

2) Evolution, motherfucker.  How do you suppose those brainless little bugs have managed to flummox "the greatest healthcare system on the planet"?

3) For the Dems - you've been handed 2 more great little items that should be more than enough to beat the GOP bloody.  What do you intend to do with them?

Jun 21, 2014

One God Further

Saturday Nite Tunage

Born To Be Blue --Mavericks




No Sugar Tonight --Guess Who

"a bag of goodies and a bottle of wine - we're gonna get it on right tonite"




No Matter What --Bad Finger




All My Only Dreams --The Wonders




A Cheat --The Blue Hawaiians




Dirty Work --Steely Dan




I Wanna Love You --Delbert McClinton




I'd Rather Go Blind --Etta James




Walk Away --James Gang