Month: May 2012

Athenae, Terrorism6 Comments

On Police States

Show me what a police state looks like? I’m on record any number of times saying that Godwin’s Law is a law for a reason, and that Hitler is like Hitler and pretty much nobody else is like Hitler. If you’re going to call somebody a Nazi, they’d better be invading Poland. So no, Chicago is not like Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia this morning. But it is possible to hold in our minds the idea that this is not in fact an actual police state, and also that “Not Soviet Russia” is not, shall we say, the highest standard … Continue reading On Police States

Tommy T9 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – “Bury my knee at wounded heart” edition

No post today, folks. Left knee and some loose-floating internal cartilage Have conspired to keep me not only hobbled, but at 7 out of 10 on the agony scale. I’ll be back next Monday unless I get fed up and take a saw to my left leg, or gnaw it off like a trapped wolf. I did makethis, to express my feelings toward Mr. “Hey-I-should-beat-theJerimiah-Wright-dead-horse-because-I’m-a-moron” : Later, ya’ll. Continue reading Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – “Bury my knee at wounded heart” edition

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media4 Comments

12 Arrests is a Low-Key Bears Game

It’s not on the video, butlast night’s coverage, natch, quoted the guy in the most outlandish costume who would only refer to himself as “Vermin Supreme.” Because after five solid minutes of reporting on various police techniques, you want to cut straight to the nuttiest person in any crowd for “the other view.” Why were people protesting? Not a clue, going by the TV news coverage. But hey, we’ve got a rundown of the streets that are closed and how this is all going to screw up “your” commute. The protesters having nothing to do with the presumed audience for … Continue reading 12 Arrests is a Low-Key Bears Game

Adrastos, Diary, Music, Sunday Morning Video

Sunday Morning Video: True Love Travels On A Gravel Road

Peter Adrastos Athas

Dr. A and I went to a party at a friend’s hunting and fishing camp yesterday. It’s only 50 miles from Adrastos World HQ but seems like another world to a city boy like me. It had all the comforts of home and we essentially ate all afternoon. The only way we roughed it was traveling on a gravel road. Hence, this week’s SMV: Continue reading Sunday Morning Video: True Love Travels On A Gravel Road

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media, Terrorism7 Comments

OMFG PROTESTERS

Allison Hantschel

Journalism at its finest. Just fucking shoot me. Look, there is legitimate reporting about actual security concerns, disruptions to commutes, etc, and then there is this hicktown fucking freakout like oh, God, we’ve never had a major event around here before so let’s scare the people in the ‘burbs who last were downtown for a play three years ago and got nervous about parking under fucking Navy Pier. One downside to all the fine weather is that it seems to have spurred Asshole Season to arrive somewhat early. A. Continue reading OMFG PROTESTERS

Athenae, On Wisconsin, Stupid Blue Dog Tricks19 Comments

Keep Your Powder Dry, Boys

Allison Hantschel

Southern Beale referenced this earlier, but it’s become clear in recent days that the DNC has decided to cut Wisconsin loose, probably because hey, it’s just a state full of union workers and teachers and cops and farmers and steelworkers and so, really, fuck it, we can afford to let it rot. And rotting is what it’s doing. Make no mistake, we only think we’ve seen what Walker and his Fitzgerald cronies are like. There’s a whole other world of bullying, punishing, vindictive, scorched-earth plans under their skins, and if we think they’re arrogant now, if we think they’re bold … Continue reading Keep Your Powder Dry, Boys

Doc, Economy, Political Crack4 Comments

Confounding Variables

docphd

I always find it amusing when politicians use newspaper articles in their ads to support their claims, especially when those claims are tied to numbers. Speaking as a journalism sinner, a good number of us went into journalism because we had a phobia regarding math. I’ve known great, award-winning journalists who couldn’t balance their checkbooks, so when I see ads like this one from Scott Walker, I must pause and ponder. Truth be told, I got over some of my math phobia when a stats prof pulled a Jedi Mind Trick on me during my doctoral program. “Don’t worry about … Continue reading Confounding Variables

Doc, Economy, Political Crack4 Comments

Confounding Variables

I always find it amusing when politicians use newspaper articles in their ads to support their claims, especially when those claims are tied to numbers. Speaking as a journalism sinner, a good number of us went into journalism because we had a phobia regarding math. I’ve known great, award-winning journalists who couldn’t balance their checkbooks, so when I see ads like this one from Scott Walker, I must pause and ponder. Truth be told, I got over some of my math phobia when a stats prof pulled a Jedi Mind Trick on me during my doctoral program. “Don’t worry about … Continue reading Confounding Variables

Adrastos, Gret Stet Politics, PBJ, Political Crack6 Comments

Grover Hearts PBJ

Peter Adrastos Athas

Professional GOP dicksmack Grover Norquist has come out for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as Mitt Haircut’s running mate. He posted a love letter to PBJ at Politico: Romney would do well to have a wing man who can astutely explain the flaws in President Barack Obama’s policies and lay out the GOP’s innovative, pro-growth alternatives. There are many attractive prospects out there, but Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal can do not just all that, he has already implemented the sort of bold reforms at the state level that are now desperately needed at the federal level. Bold? PBJ? His “reforms” have … Continue reading Grover Hearts PBJ

Athenae, Economy6 Comments

94 Percent

Allison Hantschel

JESUS: Ninety-four percent of students who earn a bachelor’s degree borrow to pay for higher education — up from 45 percent in 1993, according to an analysis by The New York Times of the latest data from the Department of Education. This includes loans from the federal government, private lenders and relatives. And why is this? Nationally, state and local spending per college student, adjusted for inflation, reached a 25-year low this year, jeopardizing the long-held conviction that state-subsidized higher education is an affordable steppingstone for the lower and middle classes. All the while, the cost of tuition and fees … Continue reading 94 Percent

Adrastos, Mad Men Recaps, Television5 Comments

Mad Men Thread: Dark Shadows

Peter Adrastos Athas

Dr. A and I saw the Burton/Depp Dark Shadowsreboot on the very day th is Mad Men episode aired. The movie had 2 good acts and a semi-crappy third act but how can one not love a movies that uses Jeepster? This may have been lesser Tim Burton but lesser Burton is still pretty good. I’ll let him keep his troll doll… Mad Men’s Dark Shadows had considerably more depth and showed our man Don at both his best and his worst. Roger’s comeback continues and he had the best line about the Manischevitz people: “Fiddler on the Roof: audience … Continue reading Mad Men Thread: Dark Shadows

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media, Terrorism7 Comments

OMFG PROTESTERS

Journalism at its finest. Just fucking shoot me. Look, there islegitimate reporting about actual security concerns, disruptions to commutes, etc, and then there is this hicktown fucking freakout like oh, God, we’ve never had a major event around here before so let’s scare the people in the ‘burbs who last were downtown for a play three years ago and got nervous about parking under fucking Navy Pier. One downside to all the fine weather is that it seems to have spurred Asshole Season to arrive somewhat early. A. Continue reading OMFG PROTESTERS

Adrastos, Law/Justice1 Comment

The Gret Stet Of Incarceration

Peter Adrastos Athas

I enjoy ragging on the local rag, The Times-Picayune. Its editorials can be annoying BUT it’s actually a pretty darn good newspaper. They’ve been running an excellent multi-part, multi-departmental, multi-reporter series on the state of imprisonment in Louisiana. We not only have the highest incarceration rate in the country but in the world. That’s right: higher than either China’s or Iran’s. Why? Money. Louisiana has several private pokeys and there are rural parishes that depend on jail income to stay afloat. Now that the state budget is out of whack, the lege is revisiting the Gret Stet’s sentencing laws. I … Continue reading The Gret Stet Of Incarceration

Adrastos, Political Crack6 Comments

Grover Hearts PBJ

Professional GOP dicksmack Grover Norquist has come out for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal as Mitt Haircut’s running mate. He posted alove letter to PBJ at Politico: Romney would do well to have a wing man who can astutely explain the flaws in President Barack Obama’s policies and lay out the GOP’s innovative, pro-growth alternatives. There are many attractive prospects out there, but Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal can do not just all that, he has already implemented the sort of bold reforms at the state level that are now desperately needed at the federal level. Bold? PBJ? His “reforms” have consisted … Continue reading Grover Hearts PBJ

Adrastos, Law/Justice1 Comment

The Gret Stet Of Incarceration

I enjoy ragging on the local rag, The Times-Picayune. Its editorials can be annoying BUT it’s actually a pretty darn good newspaper. They’ve been running an excellent multi-part, multi-departmental, multi-reporter series on the state of imprisonment in Louisiana. We not only have the highest incarceration rate in the country but in the world. That’s right: higher than either China’s or Iran’s. Why? Money. Louisiana has several private pokeys and there are rural parishes that depend on jail income to stay afloat. Now that the state budget is out of whack, the lege is revisiting the Gret Stet’s sentencing laws. I … Continue reading The Gret Stet Of Incarceration

Athenae, On Wisconsin, Stupid Blue Dog Tricks19 Comments

Keep Your Powder Dry, Boys

Southern Beale referenced this earlier, but it’s become clear in recent days that theDNC has decided to cut Wisconsin loose, probably because hey, it’s just a state full of union workers and teachers and cops and farmers and steelworkers and so, really, fuck it, we can afford to let it rot. And rotting is what it’s doing. Make no mistake, we only think we’ve seen what Walker and his Fitzgerald cronies are like. There’s a whole other world of bullying, punishing, vindictive, scorched-earth plans under their skins, and if we think they’re arrogant now, if we think they’re bold now, … Continue reading Keep Your Powder Dry, Boys

Current Affairs, Stupid Republican Tricks6 Comments

And I Thought Missouri Was The Show Me State

southernbeale2014

Missouri’s House Republicans held a super-secret ceremony yesterday to unveil the bust of Famous Missourian Rush Limbaugh, in which armed police (at taxpayer expense, one would assume) guarded locked House chamber doors to keep out the riff-raff Democrats: The unveiling of Limbaugh’s bust was kept secret from all but invited guests until less than an hour before the ceremony. While Republican lawmakers were invited, Democrats were not and visitors were blocked from entering. All but one of the doors to the House chamber were locked with armed Highway Patrol and Capitol Police patrolling the hallways outside the chamber. House Speaker … Continue reading And I Thought Missouri Was The Show Me State

Adrastos, Television5 Comments

Mad Men Thread: Dark Shadows

Dr. A and I saw the Burton/DeppDark Shadowsreboot on the very day this Mad Men episode aired. The movie had 2 good acts and a semi-crappy third act but how can one not love a movies that usesJeepster? This may have been lesser Tim Burton but lesser Burton is still pretty good. I’ll let him keep his troll doll… Mad Men’s Dark Shadows had considerably more depth and showed our man Don at both his best and his worst. Roger’s comeback continues and he had the best line about the Manischevitz people: “Fiddler on the Roof: audience or cast?” Yeah, … Continue reading Mad Men Thread: Dark Shadows

Athenae, Economy, Immoral Values, Science, Television5 Comments

The Weight of Our Choices

I’ve not followed the HuffPo’s advice to not watchThe Weight of the Nation, in no small part becauseI was hoping it would focus more on this: The fourth section: “… CHALLENGES, examines the major driving forces causing the obesity epidemic, including agriculture, economics, evolutionary biology, food marketing, racial and socioeconomic disparities, physical inactivity, American food culture, and the strong influence of the food and beverage industry.” This part of it is FASCINATING, though short shrift is given to the inherent race and class distinctions in health-related amenities in rich and poor communities. I could watch a whole series just about … Continue reading The Weight of Our Choices

Current Affairs, On Wisconsin11 Comments

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

southernbeale2014

I don’t mean to step on anyone’s turf over here, since the Wisconsin recall isn’t my beat. But dammitall, I read this and just wanted to throw up my hands: blockquote> According to the Wisconsin Dem, the party has asked the DNC for $500,000 to help with its massive field operation. While the DNC has made generally supportive noises, the money has not been forthcoming, the official says — with less than a month until the June 5th recall election. The DNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. […] Polls suggest that very few Wisconsin voters are … Continue reading This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things