Category: Uncategorized (Page 30 of 53)

Way to go Arkansas.

The Arkansas House of Representatives passes Republican 20 Week Abortion Ban. There are not even any exceptions for rape and incest. The current non-Huckabee governor, Mike Beebe, is a Democrat. In this part of the country, however, that is no guarantee of rationality. Fortunately, his office has issued a statement that he is unlikely to sign the bill. According to RH Reality Check,

[February 5th] he announced that his office’s preliminary research into the bill says it would be unlikely to survive a court challenge.

I wish that, for once, these clowns would lose the Orwellian names and just call a bill the “Filthy Slut Had It Coming, Now Get in the Kitchen and Make Me Some Pie Act.”

h/t Little Green Footballs

David Frum’s portion of the Daily Beast had a post up titled Limbaugh: Difference Between Cubans and Mexicans is… containing this Limbugh quote:

[T]he way the Republicans are looking at it is that they think that Hispanic immigrants are made-to-order conservatives. For some reason, culturally, they think that they’re invested in hard work. And using the Cuban exile model, they’re exactly right. But the Hispanic demographic, if you will, or population, has shifted. And the Cuban exile model is no longer the dominant model. The Mexican immigrant model is. And that — they arrive with an entirely different view of America. And I’m sorry if this is offensive, but it’s true.

You see, the Cubans’ embrace of the right wing is due to their work ethic. Unlike most “ethnics,” Cubans are not chronic layabouts. Look at any constructions site in New Mexico at lunchtime. The majority of these so-called “workers” will be of the “Mexican immigrant model.” There they sit, moochers and looters eating some vile ethnic fare, even as society’s producers like whites and Cubans toil away in air-conditioned office buildings.

I would hold that one can objectively claim that if you listen to Rush Limbaugh, you are a pox on the society in which you live.

I’m sure I’m a bit late on commenting on the Dewar’s ad. I had to go in to work early this morning, and somehow the conversation turned to wines. I thought I would make it a little more low-brow, so I introduced Night Train. My interest was piqued, and when I got home, I sought more information on such oenophilic delights. As I have the attention span of a toddler, I followed a number of different paths until I ran into the aforementioned:

Dewar’s Scotch claims to be for “serious” drinkers. Maybe it’s the cynic in me, but I when I think of “serious” drinkers, the starting point of my Google soujourn is what comes to mind:

via Bum Wines

It’s been around for a while, but the genre of television-delivered brain atrophy therapy known as the high school drama keeps intruding into commercials. Granted, my viewing of those commercials implies I am already undergoing a less potent form of the same therapy. Nevertheless, I am compelled to comment on that particular genre to my ones of readers.

I am reminded of the Bruce Springsteen song, Glory Days. It is an upbeat tune, but listening to the words is an exercise in depression.

I think I can make a general description of those people whose glory days occurred in high school: sad. I understand that there are exceptions. Many Olympic athletes certainly did attain a certain glory at that age, but for the most part the rest of us find it completely forgettable. I think we do our children a serious disservice by allowing them to believe that high school soap opera and sports will have any lasting interest for them later in life.

In the room at the entry of my parents’ house sits an antique desk dating to the turn of the last century. On this desk sits a brass lamp, not quite so old. On the base of this lamp is a brass plate congratulating its original owner for some achievement or other in the year 1922. What is of interest? After more than 90 years, the original bulb yet burns. That is what I thought of when I read a posting at David Frum’s blog from his friend John Gardner entitled A Snowball’s Chance of Economic Recovery. The author says he has an epiphany while looking at still functioning decorations from Christmases long past:

Christmas lights that are over half a century old and still working. A couple of Snowballs and their successors, the GE Lighted Ice (small pieces of plastic on top of a colored bulb giving an overall impression of ice) give out every year, but the vast majority go on. Cool to the touch and providing a soft light, they are close to the ideal light for a natural tree. Of course, they were made in the United States.
…
An economy based on planned obsolescence or rapid turnover of items of poor quality may generate more sales, at least in the short run; an economy based on quality will endure. Some companies in a variety of industries are (re)discovering this, but their range is too often limited, either by region or by cost. The true genius of postwar General Electric and so many other icons of American industry was that real quality at a reasonable cost was available for the masses – and made here at home.

Light bulbs that last decades are hardly an innovation. But how would our societal philosophy change if we made cars to last essentially forever? This would require serious systems engineering from the drawing board on, but it already done with aircraft. Aircraft are engineered with ease-of-maintenance as a key design factor. Items that are destined to wear out are replaced at specified times. Why is this not done with cars? I suppose some idiots want the “freedom” to get cheap shit from China and replace it all time and again. For those with no foresight, the enormous downstream cost is worth it in “right now” dollars.