I knew you could. How about, "not ready for prime time"?
A bad case of Performance Jitters almost always sneaks up on you at the worst possible time, and while it can happen to anybody, there's usually some kind of underlying reason for it (duh). The big one of course, is that you're not feeling quite as well prepared as you'd like to be. And there's always that little guy's voice in the back of your mind telling you to shut up and get outa there 'cuz you suck at this and nobody likes you. (I hate that little guy)
So anyway, Rubio does get a coupla points for trying to "do it live" instead of putting together a bunch of pre-recorded junk and just guessing at what the Prez was gonna say. But I think the real problem is that he's not convinced of a good bunch of what he was saying, and when you haven't fully rationalized those internal conflicts, then your body language is going to betray you almost every time.
Feb 13, 2013
Feb 12, 2013
Today's WTF
GOP Backs Path to Citizenship Unless Obama Supports It
A new Washington Post poll finds that 70% of Americans said they would support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, including 60% of Republicans.
But when the same question was asked of a separate sample of respondents, this time with Obama's name attached to it, support dropped to 59% overall and just 39% among Republicans.
That Guy In The Funny Hat
So there's lots of buzz about why The-Pope-Formerly-Known-As-Ratburger would just up and quit the sweetest gig in all of Christendom.
I'll give ya'll my take on it, right after you enjoy a picture of all the fucks I give about Popes and other power freaks who like to manipulate people by threatening them with the reprisals of their imaginary friends:
Before he became Pope Benedict 16, Cardinal Ratzinger was the Catholic Church's Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (aka The Inquisition - and yes, that Inquisition). He also took it onto himself to have all of those inconvenient reports of priestly child molesting referred to his office so they could be thoroughly investigated (ie: crushed, sprinkled in lime and then buried). So lemme see - the guy who knows where all those bodies are buried and which closets contain which creepy skeletons; the guy who knows everything about every member of the church hierarchy; the guy who handled the scandals so well it only cost the church $2 Billion in settlement payments (so far, that we know of) - that's the guy who gets elected Pope because of his supremely holy goodness and his outstanding moral excellence. Horse shit.
And now, he's having a tough time keeping up with the busy schedule of Church Royalty so he steps humbly aside, wanting to leave it to someone with more energy and better capability of withstanding the rigors blah blah blah.
If you buy any of that, I've got a stud mule you'll be interested in too.
Fugelsang has a more complete wrap-up:
I'll give ya'll my take on it, right after you enjoy a picture of all the fucks I give about Popes and other power freaks who like to manipulate people by threatening them with the reprisals of their imaginary friends:
Before he became Pope Benedict 16, Cardinal Ratzinger was the Catholic Church's Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (aka The Inquisition - and yes, that Inquisition). He also took it onto himself to have all of those inconvenient reports of priestly child molesting referred to his office so they could be thoroughly investigated (ie: crushed, sprinkled in lime and then buried). So lemme see - the guy who knows where all those bodies are buried and which closets contain which creepy skeletons; the guy who knows everything about every member of the church hierarchy; the guy who handled the scandals so well it only cost the church $2 Billion in settlement payments (so far, that we know of) - that's the guy who gets elected Pope because of his supremely holy goodness and his outstanding moral excellence. Horse shit.
And now, he's having a tough time keeping up with the busy schedule of Church Royalty so he steps humbly aside, wanting to leave it to someone with more energy and better capability of withstanding the rigors blah blah blah.
If you buy any of that, I've got a stud mule you'll be interested in too.
Fugelsang has a more complete wrap-up:
Feb 10, 2013
The Krugman Speaks (really)
There seems to be a general mood in the US right now that guys like Krugman recognize as a special kind of taciturn, pinched-faced, gotta-make-sacrifices-and-just-buckle-down, Yankee-boot-strap, Calvinist bullshit.
And I sit here in my warm little basement in central Virginia, wondering when the semi-hopeful, grin-and-bear-it hollowness I see in so many people's eyes starts to turn them into the armies of desperation.
Today's Gun Nut
It never fails. Some jag-off with a small penis and a big gun shoots up a school and before the bodies are even in the ground, some other jag-off with a similarly small penis - but with a great big mailing list - starts jumpin' up and down screamin' about how all this horrible shit happens because the kids aren't allowed to pray in school anymore, and... wait, what?
From The Daily Mail, 12-21-12:
And yes, I know it's not really about praying away the bullets; it's supposed to be about teaching the right values to the kids so they don't grow up to be shooters - but that's just the same ol' Authoritarian/Theocratic shit in a different package. If the assholes in school don't get to pray and they end up shooting people; and the good people in all these churches do pray and they still end up shooting people - then don't we need to consider the probability that prayer doesn't have one fucking thing to do with it?
So what else ya got there, Skeezix?
hat tip = Democratic Underground
From The Daily Mail, 12-21-12:
Horror as gunman executes woman while she decorates church for children's party in new shooting rampage that left four dead.From MLive-Flint Journal, 1-15-13:
Deadly church shooting at Flint funeral is widely ignored outside of Genesee CountyThere have been 20 or more Church Shootings in the last dozen years in the US.
And yes, I know it's not really about praying away the bullets; it's supposed to be about teaching the right values to the kids so they don't grow up to be shooters - but that's just the same ol' Authoritarian/Theocratic shit in a different package. If the assholes in school don't get to pray and they end up shooting people; and the good people in all these churches do pray and they still end up shooting people - then don't we need to consider the probability that prayer doesn't have one fucking thing to do with it?
So what else ya got there, Skeezix?
hat tip = Democratic Underground
Feb 9, 2013
Today's Gun Nut
So, this Dorner guy, who's had years of training in the use of firearms, goes off his trolley and guns down some of his buddies. Buddies of those buddies hit the streets looking for the guy - apparently with a little get-back in mind.
LA Times:
But somehow, I'm supposed to feel comfortable with the prospect of being "protected" by hoards of random yahoos carrying semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity ammo clips.
We are so fucked.
LA Times:
An attorney representing two women who were delivering newspapers when they were shot by police during a massive manhunt for an ex-LAPD officer called the incident "unacceptable," saying his clients looked nothing like the suspect.
Emma Hernandez, 71, was delivering the Los Angeles Times with her daughter, Margie Carranza, 47, in the 19500 block of Redbeam Avenue in Torrance on Thursday morning when Los Angeles police detectives apparently mistook their pickup for that of Christopher Dorner, the 33-year-old fugitive suspected of killing three people and injuring two others.
Hernandez, who attorney Glen T. Jonas said was shot twice in the back, was in stable condition late Thursday. Carranza received stitches on her finger.
"The problem with the situation is it looked like the police had the goal of administering street justice and in so doing, didn't take the time to notice that these two older, small Latina women don't look like a large black man," Jonas said.2 Latina women are very nearly killed. These 2 Latina women - who were in a pickup truck that looks nothing like the one Dorner was reported to be driving - barely survive the encounter with some highly trained and experienced officers of the law.
But somehow, I'm supposed to feel comfortable with the prospect of being "protected" by hoards of random yahoos carrying semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity ammo clips.
We are so fucked.
Feb 8, 2013
That Dodge Commercial (redux/update)
Updating a post from earlier this week:
hat tip = JR
God Made A Factory Farmer - watch more funny videos
hat tip = JR
About The Drone Thing
As usual, Hayes gets pretty close to what it's about.
The main thing to remember is that process counts. The US was set up to put Process in front of outcome. If we take care in how we get to the conclusion, we stand a much better chance of getting to the right conclusion. That seems pretty important when we're trying to figure out who's next in line for a Hellfire Anal Probe.
We gotta get this one right, and I'm not convinced Obama's gonna get there for us. Seems like he's willing to do some good Democrat things (equal rights, gun regulations, etc) but just as you start to think he's really pulling in the right direction, he cuts back and does something like this extra-legal assassination-by-drone shit.
I guess I'm just really hoping he's trying to rearrange the legalities - not to make it easier to blast somebody we don't like - but to be a little more sure that we blast the right guy(?), and to be a little surer about knowing who pulled the trigger and why they targeted any given dude.
Also hoping this isn't just another cynical move to defang the usual Repub attacks on Dems as being insufficiently BadAss.
The main thing to remember is that process counts. The US was set up to put Process in front of outcome. If we take care in how we get to the conclusion, we stand a much better chance of getting to the right conclusion. That seems pretty important when we're trying to figure out who's next in line for a Hellfire Anal Probe.
We gotta get this one right, and I'm not convinced Obama's gonna get there for us. Seems like he's willing to do some good Democrat things (equal rights, gun regulations, etc) but just as you start to think he's really pulling in the right direction, he cuts back and does something like this extra-legal assassination-by-drone shit.
I guess I'm just really hoping he's trying to rearrange the legalities - not to make it easier to blast somebody we don't like - but to be a little more sure that we blast the right guy(?), and to be a little surer about knowing who pulled the trigger and why they targeted any given dude.
Also hoping this isn't just another cynical move to defang the usual Repub attacks on Dems as being insufficiently BadAss.
Feb 7, 2013
Today's HipHop
My 2nd son said, "Hey Dad - If you wanna know what the kids are listening to these days..."
First, if you're of a certain age, try not to think about Annie Hall right now. And then you can stop wondering about shit like "history repeats itself" or " everything runs in cycles" or "the more things change, the more they stay the same" blah blah blah. People say shit like that because for good or ill, there's some truth to it.
When Culture and Economy are all tied up together; and when both are driven by fad and fashion; and when things can change so quickly - I guess we have to expect a certain wastage left behind as we lurch along the timeline.
Is it the latest iteration of RetroChic, and do we call it Gleaning? Or what?
First, if you're of a certain age, try not to think about Annie Hall right now. And then you can stop wondering about shit like "history repeats itself" or " everything runs in cycles" or "the more things change, the more they stay the same" blah blah blah. People say shit like that because for good or ill, there's some truth to it.
When Culture and Economy are all tied up together; and when both are driven by fad and fashion; and when things can change so quickly - I guess we have to expect a certain wastage left behind as we lurch along the timeline.
Is it the latest iteration of RetroChic, and do we call it Gleaning? Or what?
This Is How We Do It
A little Journalism; a little Community Organization; a little Crowd Sourcing; a little Citizen Participation - pretty soon it starts to add up to that thing we used to call 'democracy'.
Slate has a gizmo that lets you put in start and stop dates to pull up the total reported gun deaths in the US.
Here's a partial screen shot of the chart showing how many Americans have died of gunshots in the 55 days since Newtown:
In those same 12 years, here in the US, well over 330,000 Americans have been killed with guns.
Slate has a gizmo that lets you put in start and stop dates to pull up the total reported gun deaths in the US.
Here's a partial screen shot of the chart showing how many Americans have died of gunshots in the 55 days since Newtown:
That's a partial look - it only includes the last coupla weeks, and it only includes the deaths reported by everyday regular people. And notice that they haven't included the number of dead Americans in the last few days (because it takes a while to gather, confirm and publish the findings).
But the more people who are paying attention, the better the data will be. You can help us draw a more complete picture of gun violence in America. If you know about a gun death in your community that isn’t represented here, please tweet @GunDeaths with a citation. (If you’re not on Twitter, you can email slatedata@gmail.com.) And if you’d like to use this data yourself for your own projects, it’s open. You can download it here.About 5500 Americans are dead because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 12 years of war, 5,500 dead Americans.
In those same 12 years, here in the US, well over 330,000 Americans have been killed with guns.
Feb 6, 2013
Today's Oxymoron
"Reasonable Conservative"
Keeping in mind the immortal words of Ferris Bueler - "Isms, in my opinion, are not good".
This bit from Andrew Bacevich at The American Conservative is actually pretty close to what I've held to be true for a good long time.
The thing that gets me is that here's a guy trying to make some sense of his own thinking, and to extricate himself (and his fellows) from having been lumped in with the screaming wingnuts of the GOP. Hope springs eternal.
Keeping in mind the immortal words of Ferris Bueler - "Isms, in my opinion, are not good".
This bit from Andrew Bacevich at The American Conservative is actually pretty close to what I've held to be true for a good long time.
Conservatives take human relationships seriously and know that they require nurturing. In community lies our best hope of enjoying a meaningful earthly existence. But community does not emerge spontaneously. Conservatives understand that the most basic community, the little platoon of family, is under unrelenting assault, from both left and right. Emphasizing autonomy, the forces of modernity are intent on supplanting the family with the hyper-empowered—if also alienated—individual, who exists to gratify appetite and ambition. With its insatiable hunger for profit, the market is intent on transforming the family into a cluster of consumers who just happen to live under the same roof. One more thing: conservatives don’t confuse intimacy with sex.--and--
The key to success will be to pick the right fights against the right enemies, while forging smart tactical alliances. (By tactical, I do not mean cynical.) Conservatives need to discriminate between the issues that matter and those that don’t, the contests that can be won and those that can’t. And they need to recognize that the political left includes people of goodwill whose views on some (by no means all) matters coincide with our own.
So forget about dismantling the welfare state. Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and, yes, Obamacare are here to stay. Forget about outlawing abortion or prohibiting gay marriage. Conservatives may judge the fruits produced by the sexual revolution poisonous, but the revolution itself is irreversible.Of course, I have to diverge from some of his points (eg: his take on "Original Sin" is actually pretty good, but I've come to view it from the opposite perspective), and some of his agenda items leave something to be desired.
The thing that gets me is that here's a guy trying to make some sense of his own thinking, and to extricate himself (and his fellows) from having been lumped in with the screaming wingnuts of the GOP. Hope springs eternal.
Today's Gun Nut
From WSPA in Greenville SC:
The Greenville Police responded to a shooting at Haywood Plantation Apartments around 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.
A 3-year-old boy named Tmorej Smith was found dead with a single gunshot wound to the head.
Investigators say the child and a 7-year-old sibling were playing with a pink handgun that they thought was a toy when the gun went off.
The shooting has been ruled as accidental. No charges have been filed at this time and the investigation continues.
Officials are reminding gun owners to keep them locked at all times and out of reach of children.--and--
There has been a concerted effort in the gun industry to increase interest and awareness among women. An array of “cute” weapons are available, including Hello Kitty AK-47 assault rifles, a “Lady Di” Handgun, and even a delightful Mardis Gras themed “My Little Carbine”. For the especially careless girl, there is a Care Bear body armor vest.hat tip = Addicting Info
Feb 5, 2013
Today's Gun Nut
This points up just how specious the "law-abiding citizen" argument is. Everybody is a law-abiding citizen right up 'til the instant they stop abiding by the law.
A couple with four children were shot and killed in an argument over dog feces on Monday, police in Texas said.
Officers were called to a shooting at the Sable Ridge Apartments in Dallas at about 8 a.m. Monday.
When officers arrived, they found two people, later identified as 32-year-old Michelle Jackson and 31-year-old Jamie Stafford, dead at the scene from apparent gunshot wounds. An infant inside the couple's apartment was not injured.
After talking with witnesses, police began searching for Chung Kim, a resident of the complex identified by residents as a man who lived in the unit below Stafford and Jackson and was seen leaving the complex after the shooting.US News on NBCNews.com
That Dodge Commercial
I got kinda nauseous when I saw this, but I can admit also to being just a tiny bit impressed by its power.
Now, after a coupla days of Facebook Sharing of this "totally awesome (and not-even-a-little-cynically-manipulative-fantasy-fuck) tribute to The Real 'Murica", some dirty Librul at The Atlantic has to shit in the punch bowl over a few stoopid facts.
Now, after a coupla days of Facebook Sharing of this "totally awesome (and not-even-a-little-cynically-manipulative-fantasy-fuck) tribute to The Real 'Murica", some dirty Librul at The Atlantic has to shit in the punch bowl over a few stoopid facts.
The arresting images combined with the crackle of what everyone immediately recognizes as old audio made everyone at our Super Bowl party stop and watch. Dodge, I'm sure, had good demographic analysis of their audience, so they knew they could go godly with the message and encounter little backlash. So God made a farmer, and also the advertising agencies who will use him to sell trucks. Quibbles aside, I'd rather have this kind of Americana than GoDaddy's bizarre antics.
But there's a problem. The ad paints a portrait of the American agricultural workforce that is horribly skewed. In Dodge's world, almost every farmer is a white Caucasian. And that's about as realistic as a Thomas Kincade painting.
Stipulating that visual inspection is a rough measure for the complex genealogical histories of people, I decided to count the race and ethnicity of the people in Dodge's ad. Here's what I found: 15 white people, one black man, and two (maybe three?) Latinos.
I couldn't help but wonder: Where are all the campesinos? The ethnic mix Dodge chose to represent American farming is flat-out wrong.Taking one short step beyond the race thing (and remembering the last shot in this video), let's think about what a farm actually looks like here in 2013. And then maybe we can talk about the simple fact that a farm isn't really a farm anymore - it's a factory. You don't feed 7 Billion humans on a coupla chickens and a few acres of beans and millet and pygmy cucumbers.
One last thing: until the late 40s, Nostalgia was considered a mental disorder.
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