The Message For 2014

...and beyond - as long as it takes.

Here's the poster for every Democrat running for any office at any level at any time - or until they manage to get outa their own fuckin' way:

It's the Tea Party economy, stupid.

BTW, Dems - ya gotta figure out how to give up the industrial strength corporate funding.  And I get it; it's gonna be harder than quittin' smokin'.  But ya gotta do it, guys.

more than a lousy tip o' the hat = The Professional Left Podcast

Type vs Type

Type 1 Error = False Positive

Type 2 Error = False Negative

(paraphrasing Michael Shermer)
You're a hominid out for a stroll on the African plains 2 million years ago, and you hear a rustle in the grass.  Do you assume it's a dangerous predator, or do you assume it's harmless?

If you identify the sound as a predator, and it turns out to be the wind, then you've made a mistake (a Type 1 Error).  You lose some time, but you've survived - you continue to hunt and to live and to breed.

If you identify the sound as the wind, but it turns out to be a leopard, then you've removed yourself and all your potential descendants from the gene pool.

We are descended from a very long line of creatures who consistently made Type 1 Errors.

And that (partly) explains why we insist on believing in ghosts; and that Elvis is alive; and that there is a god.

Dr Shermer, if you please:

Shit Doesn't Just Happen

Mr Tim Wise on Privilege

I've posted this before in one iteration or another, but it's generally a good idea to repeat the important lessons.  So just think of it as being part of our Continuing Education requirements.



I tend to check on certain things.  And when somebody sounds like he knows what he's talking about, it's even more important to see if he really knows what he says he knows.

Today's Seer

I really do try not to be too dismissive of most people's heart-felt beliefs (yeah, I know - that one prob'ly seems pretty hard to swallow).  The problem is that when guys like Pat Robertson get to where they're guys like Pat Robertson, it just always seems like they goes right 'round the fuckin' bend.

Notice here - in 2011 - the guy makes predictions with some fairly hard dates attached - even tho' he issues the usual bullshit caveat about how it's risky to do exactly what he ends up doing.



Did you get it?  Right now, we're supposed to be completely broke; creditors banging on the doors of the treasury; unemployment way higher than it is; with strife and turmoil; and and and.

These people are phonies.  Stop giving them money you don't have for something that doesn't exist, and which you don't need in the first fuckin' place.

Some Change Is Good

Vaginal Bob is no longer Virginia's Governor.  So, with his departure, along with that of his evil minion Attorney General (Kenny the Kooch), we can finally start to scour the first few layers of crappy governance off the public hide in Richmond.

We shoveled literally hundreds of thousands of public dollars into the pockets of private lawyers so Bob McDonnell would have legal representation once it was disclosed that Cuccinelli shared McDonnell's aversion to keeping his hands outa the cookie jar.  And that's kinda how some of these crooks get away with their shit - it's a fairly simple (and very much time-honored) tradition of making sure nobody's accountable because everybody's guilty.

Hope springs eternal in spite of politicians' constant efforts to kill it, but I insist that it's not unreasonable to expect public officials to act honorably.  So here's hoping  Mark Herring and Terry McAuliffe are at least a little more square with the whole ethical behavior thing.

hat tip = Blue Virginia

Today's Tune

Maybe a little more suited to warmer weather, but I don't really care.

Emma Jean --Amazing Rhythm Aces



btw - Gin and pink lemonade?  Don't knock it 'til ya try it. 'Sides, it's a suthrun thang.  Ya'll just don't git it.

These Kids Today

Political (and other messaging) Manipulation might get some of us to believe practically everything anybody tells us, but it's just as possible that digital tricks get way too many of us to the point where we're not willing to believe anything about anything at all.

Welcome to the dawning of The Age of Radical Skepticism.

Today's Pix

No Means No, Dick

Except, of course, once a woman says "I do", she can't say "No, don't" ever again - she must submit to her husband because she's forfeited all rights to make her own decisions about anything.



And don't even think about giving me shit about my "prejudices against conservatives".  Conservatives don't hold radical views (that's one of the big reasons we call 'em conservative in the first fuckin' place, ya peabrain).  Stop voting for these Taliban assholes.

hat tip = Addicting Info

An Outrageously Blatant Act Of Journalism

And the name of the rat bastard pinko librul media type who insisted on at least trying to hold this valiantly entrepreneurial job creator accountable for something completely out of his control?  Kallie Cart, WCHS Channel 8 Eyewitness News

I have no idea if Ms Cart has done anything else of note in her career, but when a Press Poodle does anything even close to a decent job of imitating a real reporter, I think it's important to pile on some laurels.

Now, maybe if she took a hard look at the failures of the Regulatory Regime, we'd have something even more worthy of my much-sought-after kudos.  Go get 'em, Kallie.  Keep doin' good.

hat tip = Addicting Info