Well, at least there is an obvious solution to the fact that we apparently have 36 more does of
Move up some execution dates! C'mon, we're working on a timetable here, people.
(Seriously, though: Sharing is sometimes a good thing, Governor.)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
There is an obvious solution to this
Texas Refuses to Share Lethal Injection Drug
Well, at least there is an obvious solution to the fact that we apparently have 36 more does ofsodium thiopental killin' juice than we have executions scheduled before the drug is scheduled to expire.
Move up some execution dates! C'mon, we're working on a timetable here, people.
(Seriously, though: Sharing is sometimes a good thing, Governor.)
Well, at least there is an obvious solution to the fact that we apparently have 36 more does of
Move up some execution dates! C'mon, we're working on a timetable here, people.
(Seriously, though: Sharing is sometimes a good thing, Governor.)
Monday, November 29, 2010
Interesting little federal budget tool.
You've heard the newer complaints directed toward the Tea Party, since the racism charges didn't stick, right? "Give us specifics as to what cuts you'd make to the federal budget."
Help comes from an unlikely source: NYT Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget Deficit.
Being that this is, as my hubby would say, Pravda on the Hudson, I somehow doubt they want anyone to notice that the budget deficit can be erased completely by 2030 (and cut to $360B by 2015) without touching any of the Bush tax cuts (including leaving the estate tax expired and capital gains taxes at current levels). My "solution" involved a mix of 92% spending cuts & 8% tax increases--and it would be remarkably simple to do it with 100% spending cuts, by the way.
These are the options I chose & why:
Cut foreign aid in half. I imagine this could be done--and then some--by simply ceasing to provide foreign aid to nations with atrocious human rights records. In my happy place, I choose to assume that UN funding is included in this.
Eliminate earmarks. Want pretty rest stops? Pay for it your own damn self.
Eliminate farm subsidies. This is one sacred cow which will never be slain, but the bulk of "farm aid" goes to big agribusinesses. I've been all for cutting farm subsidies since I discovered as a teenager that local farmers were planting corn and allowing it to die because they could get more money for doing that, from the federal government, than they could by growing & selling the corn.
Reduce the federal workforce by 10%. The federal government is bloated. This ties in to the next category, though:
Other cuts to federal government. According to the article/tool, this includes eliminating some agencies, reducing funding for the Smithsonian & the National Park Service & eliminating the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. In my happy place, it also includes eliminating the Department of Education.
Cut aid to states by 5%. Again, you want it, you pay for it yourself.
Reduce nuclear arsenal and state spending. This is not a huge reduction in the nuclear arsenal, and frankly we can always build new nukes if needed, nor do I see space-based missiles as a hugely needed weapons category.
Cancel or delay some weapons programs. These things have notoriously bloated budgets and such long lead times that by the time the weapons are put into place, they're no longer state of the art.
Reduce the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 60,000 by 2015. Look, I'd like to stay until we're sure the job is done. Realistically, though, if we can't get it done in the next five years, we can't get it done, period.
Enact medical malpractice reform. Tort reform is one of the biggest reasons doctors are actually willing to practice in Texas. Theoretical cost savings aside, I think this would lead to reduced costs for individuals and a better standard of care overall. (VBACs for all, dammit! Fuck you, John Edwards!)
Increase Medicare & Social Security eligibility to age 70. Harsh, I know, but necessary until we find a better solution than those two programs.
Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013. The description says of this: "Among other things, this would crack down on many hospitals and doctors with the highest costs." This is significant because costly tests are often performed unnecessarily. (See: CT scans, which actually deliver a high dose of radiation and, to boot, aren't as clear as MRI scans.)
Tighten eligibility for disability. I've got relatives who chase SSI like it's the fucking Holy Grail. Some of them actually are disabled, but more of them are lazy. Thankfully, the lazy ones have thus far been denied, but I'm sure that doesn't apply to everyone's relatives.
Use an alternate measure for inflation. One which, preferably, reflects reality.
Payroll tax: subject some incomes above $106,000 to tax. In a perfect world, we'd scrap the current tax system and go with the FairTax. In the meantime, this portion of withholding is minute. We can afford it. This is my only tax increase.
Now, here's what I didn't cut: Air Force and Navy fleets. "Noncombat military compensation and overhead." This is code for: fuck over retirees and vets for their health care again. I'm not a fan of that, nor of the idea of taking housing allowance into consideration when computing pay increases. Benefits like the housing allowance, bonuses, etc make the military appealing. To, you know, the 1% of the population which has served.
Help comes from an unlikely source: NYT Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget Deficit.
Being that this is, as my hubby would say, Pravda on the Hudson, I somehow doubt they want anyone to notice that the budget deficit can be erased completely by 2030 (and cut to $360B by 2015) without touching any of the Bush tax cuts (including leaving the estate tax expired and capital gains taxes at current levels). My "solution" involved a mix of 92% spending cuts & 8% tax increases--and it would be remarkably simple to do it with 100% spending cuts, by the way.
These are the options I chose & why:
Cut foreign aid in half. I imagine this could be done--and then some--by simply ceasing to provide foreign aid to nations with atrocious human rights records. In my happy place, I choose to assume that UN funding is included in this.
Eliminate earmarks. Want pretty rest stops? Pay for it your own damn self.
Eliminate farm subsidies. This is one sacred cow which will never be slain, but the bulk of "farm aid" goes to big agribusinesses. I've been all for cutting farm subsidies since I discovered as a teenager that local farmers were planting corn and allowing it to die because they could get more money for doing that, from the federal government, than they could by growing & selling the corn.
Reduce the federal workforce by 10%. The federal government is bloated. This ties in to the next category, though:
Other cuts to federal government. According to the article/tool, this includes eliminating some agencies, reducing funding for the Smithsonian & the National Park Service & eliminating the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. In my happy place, it also includes eliminating the Department of Education.
Cut aid to states by 5%. Again, you want it, you pay for it yourself.
Reduce nuclear arsenal and state spending. This is not a huge reduction in the nuclear arsenal, and frankly we can always build new nukes if needed, nor do I see space-based missiles as a hugely needed weapons category.
Cancel or delay some weapons programs. These things have notoriously bloated budgets and such long lead times that by the time the weapons are put into place, they're no longer state of the art.
Reduce the number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to 60,000 by 2015. Look, I'd like to stay until we're sure the job is done. Realistically, though, if we can't get it done in the next five years, we can't get it done, period.
Enact medical malpractice reform. Tort reform is one of the biggest reasons doctors are actually willing to practice in Texas. Theoretical cost savings aside, I think this would lead to reduced costs for individuals and a better standard of care overall. (VBACs for all, dammit! Fuck you, John Edwards!)
Increase Medicare & Social Security eligibility to age 70. Harsh, I know, but necessary until we find a better solution than those two programs.
Cap Medicare growth starting in 2013. The description says of this: "Among other things, this would crack down on many hospitals and doctors with the highest costs." This is significant because costly tests are often performed unnecessarily. (See: CT scans, which actually deliver a high dose of radiation and, to boot, aren't as clear as MRI scans.)
Tighten eligibility for disability. I've got relatives who chase SSI like it's the fucking Holy Grail. Some of them actually are disabled, but more of them are lazy. Thankfully, the lazy ones have thus far been denied, but I'm sure that doesn't apply to everyone's relatives.
Use an alternate measure for inflation. One which, preferably, reflects reality.
Payroll tax: subject some incomes above $106,000 to tax. In a perfect world, we'd scrap the current tax system and go with the FairTax. In the meantime, this portion of withholding is minute. We can afford it. This is my only tax increase.
Now, here's what I didn't cut: Air Force and Navy fleets. "Noncombat military compensation and overhead." This is code for: fuck over retirees and vets for their health care again. I'm not a fan of that, nor of the idea of taking housing allowance into consideration when computing pay increases. Benefits like the housing allowance, bonuses, etc make the military appealing. To, you know, the 1% of the population which has served.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Really, City Council?
Bowie Street could be shortened--in name only.
Bowie Street--already only a mile long--is of course named after Alamo defender Jim Bowie. The owners of the restaurant at the top of the Tower of the Americas, and Mary Alice Cisneros (wife of you-know-who), want to rename 60% of Bowie Street Tower of the Americas Way so people can find their way to it more easily. Because, in the words of the newspaper, "[i]t seems a tower rising 750 feet isn't enough of a beacon for travelers."
The DRT doesn't care, because it's not the portion of the street by the Alamo.
Quick show of hands--what is San Antonio best known for, the Alamo, or an admittedly impressive remnant of a 40+ years ago World's Fair?
And for the record, you can indeed see the tower in spite of the Convention Center and Alamodome and even the Charlie Foxtrot of a hotel they built nearby. The reason more folks don't go is because it costs $11 to take a damned elevator ride, and once you've seen it once, there's really no reason to go a second time. (But hey, at least the elevators haven't broken halfway up in a while.)
If current signage isn't enough, hanging secondary signs (á la Cesar Chavez Way, which is technically some other street) ought to be.
Bowie Street--already only a mile long--is of course named after Alamo defender Jim Bowie. The owners of the restaurant at the top of the Tower of the Americas, and Mary Alice Cisneros (wife of you-know-who), want to rename 60% of Bowie Street Tower of the Americas Way so people can find their way to it more easily. Because, in the words of the newspaper, "[i]t seems a tower rising 750 feet isn't enough of a beacon for travelers."
The DRT doesn't care, because it's not the portion of the street by the Alamo.
Quick show of hands--what is San Antonio best known for, the Alamo, or an admittedly impressive remnant of a 40+ years ago World's Fair?
And for the record, you can indeed see the tower in spite of the Convention Center and Alamodome and even the Charlie Foxtrot of a hotel they built nearby. The reason more folks don't go is because it costs $11 to take a damned elevator ride, and once you've seen it once, there's really no reason to go a second time. (But hey, at least the elevators haven't broken halfway up in a while.)
If current signage isn't enough, hanging secondary signs (á la Cesar Chavez Way, which is technically some other street) ought to be.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
A little revival...
I've spent the last week snuggling the little lady you see in the post below this one. One more daughter means one more name to throw into the mix and call someone else by.
Someone told me soon after I had my miscarriage back in 2007 that what heals it is to have another baby. He was right, I think.
I didn't really talk about it here, but I spent pretty much the entire pregnancy in a low-grade state of anxiety. God alone knows what went wrong last time (though, as my best friend said, something was bound to give at that point, given everything else that went wrong in my life at that time). There was some small relief when I passed the point at which the last baby died, and a bit more when I began to feel movement, but it was not until I actually held Miss Marie that I truly let go of the last bit of fear.
The title of this post comes from Radney Foster's latest album, which I've mentioned on this blog before. I'm not going to quote the title song, though, but one further into the album: Life is Hard, Love is Easy.
Whatever gets thrown at me, I am blessed.
Someone told me soon after I had my miscarriage back in 2007 that what heals it is to have another baby. He was right, I think.
I didn't really talk about it here, but I spent pretty much the entire pregnancy in a low-grade state of anxiety. God alone knows what went wrong last time (though, as my best friend said, something was bound to give at that point, given everything else that went wrong in my life at that time). There was some small relief when I passed the point at which the last baby died, and a bit more when I began to feel movement, but it was not until I actually held Miss Marie that I truly let go of the last bit of fear.
The title of this post comes from Radney Foster's latest album, which I've mentioned on this blog before. I'm not going to quote the title song, though, but one further into the album: Life is Hard, Love is Easy.
Whatever gets thrown at me, I am blessed.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
For now...
The missing part of this post:
More later; strangely enough, spending a couple of days in the hospital got me behind in my schoolwork.
More later; strangely enough, spending a couple of days in the hospital got me behind in my schoolwork.
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Third grade math makes me want to kill someone.
When I was pregnant with Linda, I read an article in Scientific American about how math manipulatives actually make it more difficult for students to learn the concepts. I remember manipulatives from back in elementary school; I also remember thinking they were stupid.
Seems that they've found something more idiotic than manipulatives. Strategies.
Now, to the rest of us, strategies are plans of action. To third-graders learning multiplication, they're pictures.
Let that sink in a second. Third grade students are learning multiplication, but they're having to draw pictures to do so.
Bobbie's homework today included a page of word problems. Something along the lines of Jimmy has three boxes. Each box holds eight cars. How many cars can he store altogether?
Now, were you or I to come across that problem, we'd write out 3 x 8 = 24 and be done with it. But no. Bobbie can't do that. Bobbie has to use her strategies. Bobbie has to draw three boxes, and then eight cars in each box, and then number every freaking "car."
Actually, because Bobbie has me for a mother, she first wrote out the equation and solved it, and then went back and did the drawing. She also got a rant on how idiotic it is that they're being made to do these things.
Why are they doing this with mathematics? Exactly what is difficult about isolating the numbers and then the words which tell you what to do with them and then doing it? I could almost understand if this was kindergarten, but it isn't. It's third grade.
We learned a saying in Russian...повторение мать учения. Repetition is the mother of learning. Drills don't sound fun, but you know what? They work. San Antonio College actually has the best math program in the state. Know how they teach? The professor shows how to do a problem, and then you practice the same type of problem again and again and again until you get it. It works.
Math is incredibly simple. It really is. Just numbers. They go together in the same way every time. Mucking it up with anything else simply does not make sense.
Seems that they've found something more idiotic than manipulatives. Strategies.
Now, to the rest of us, strategies are plans of action. To third-graders learning multiplication, they're pictures.
Let that sink in a second. Third grade students are learning multiplication, but they're having to draw pictures to do so.
Bobbie's homework today included a page of word problems. Something along the lines of Jimmy has three boxes. Each box holds eight cars. How many cars can he store altogether?
Now, were you or I to come across that problem, we'd write out 3 x 8 = 24 and be done with it. But no. Bobbie can't do that. Bobbie has to use her strategies. Bobbie has to draw three boxes, and then eight cars in each box, and then number every freaking "car."
Actually, because Bobbie has me for a mother, she first wrote out the equation and solved it, and then went back and did the drawing. She also got a rant on how idiotic it is that they're being made to do these things.
Why are they doing this with mathematics? Exactly what is difficult about isolating the numbers and then the words which tell you what to do with them and then doing it? I could almost understand if this was kindergarten, but it isn't. It's third grade.
We learned a saying in Russian...повторение мать учения. Repetition is the mother of learning. Drills don't sound fun, but you know what? They work. San Antonio College actually has the best math program in the state. Know how they teach? The professor shows how to do a problem, and then you practice the same type of problem again and again and again until you get it. It works.
Math is incredibly simple. It really is. Just numbers. They go together in the same way every time. Mucking it up with anything else simply does not make sense.
Saturday, November 06, 2010
So...we have a mouse
First time that I can recall that I've had one. I think there was one time when I was a kid--I remember traps, but that may well have been wishful thinking on my uncle's part in regards to lowering the snakes' food bill.
Anyway, I was in the bedroom last night and saw something smallish and dark go running from behind the dresser to behind the bedside table and back a couple of times. One thing I have learned we have to deal with on the East Side are giant cockroaches (the ones that are called palmetto bugs in an attempt to make them sound innocuous). Rarely saw the damned things in the trailer park, but encounter about one a week over here. And I'm terrified of them. So I saw this thing out of the corner of my eye and thought "Dear God I hope that is a mouse and not just a huge cockroach."
Eventually I didn't see it anymore, so I forgot about it. Until about 6 or 7 this morning, when the older two girls ran screaming into our bedroom, where Esther was sleeping with us.
"A mouse! A mouse! Mommy, there's a MOUSE!"
"Yeah. We heard something rattling and so we turned on the light and there it was!"
Mind you, this is said in that high pitch that only prepubescent girls are capable of making. Being a concerned mother, I said what I always say in these circumstances.
"Well, don't eat it. Now go back to bed."
"But it's a mouse!"
'I heard you. Don't eat it."
At about this time, Esther sat up and once again proved why she simply must be my uncle reincarnated. "A mouse?" she said "I wanna see it!" And then she ran to the other bedroom. While her sisters were still standing over me jumping around and squealing.
We finally got them all back in bed, though Esther was rather disgruntled that she didn't get to see the mouse. She has named it--Meecie, of course--and is determined that we must capture it so that it can be her pet.
Anyway, I was in the bedroom last night and saw something smallish and dark go running from behind the dresser to behind the bedside table and back a couple of times. One thing I have learned we have to deal with on the East Side are giant cockroaches (the ones that are called palmetto bugs in an attempt to make them sound innocuous). Rarely saw the damned things in the trailer park, but encounter about one a week over here. And I'm terrified of them. So I saw this thing out of the corner of my eye and thought "Dear God I hope that is a mouse and not just a huge cockroach."
Eventually I didn't see it anymore, so I forgot about it. Until about 6 or 7 this morning, when the older two girls ran screaming into our bedroom, where Esther was sleeping with us.
"A mouse! A mouse! Mommy, there's a MOUSE!"
"Yeah. We heard something rattling and so we turned on the light and there it was!"
Mind you, this is said in that high pitch that only prepubescent girls are capable of making. Being a concerned mother, I said what I always say in these circumstances.
"Well, don't eat it. Now go back to bed."
"But it's a mouse!"
'I heard you. Don't eat it."
At about this time, Esther sat up and once again proved why she simply must be my uncle reincarnated. "A mouse?" she said "I wanna see it!" And then she ran to the other bedroom. While her sisters were still standing over me jumping around and squealing.
We finally got them all back in bed, though Esther was rather disgruntled that she didn't get to see the mouse. She has named it--Meecie, of course--and is determined that we must capture it so that it can be her pet.
Friday, November 05, 2010
This leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
And I don't even like the dude.
Political speech is protected, broadly speaking, by the First Amendment. That any organization forbids its employees from contributing to political campaigns would seem to me to be an infringement of their rights. Military members can get in trouble for participating in political action while in uniform, but they're obviously able to make donations as they please in their private lives.
I could almost understand the claims of journalistic integrity...If Olbermann had any. Seriously, is there any question that MSNBC leans hard left? That Olbermann leads in that?
Political speech is protected, broadly speaking, by the First Amendment. That any organization forbids its employees from contributing to political campaigns would seem to me to be an infringement of their rights. Military members can get in trouble for participating in political action while in uniform, but they're obviously able to make donations as they please in their private lives.
I could almost understand the claims of journalistic integrity...If Olbermann had any. Seriously, is there any question that MSNBC leans hard left? That Olbermann leads in that?
Women still don't need guns.
You know that saying, the one about how it's more moral to be raped than to explain your attacker's body to the police? Sarcastic, of course, but I couldn't help thinking of it when I read this:
'Text Message Rapist' Timothy West acquitted of rape despite apology secretly recorded by cops.
'Text Message Rapist' Timothy West acquitted of rape despite apology secretly recorded by cops.
(emphases mine, of course)
So, she did everything just the way she was supposed to do. She didn't fight back, she gave him what he wanted, she allowed the police and the justice system to take it from there...
And he was acquitted. Because there were no signs of forced entry (as if such is necessary for unlawful entry). Even though he essentially admitted to doing it in the recorded apology.
But yeah, good thing she didn't have a gun. 'Cause then someone could've gotten killed. (Nevermind that sometimes that's the whole freaking point.)
So, she did everything just the way she was supposed to do. She didn't fight back, she gave him what he wanted, she allowed the police and the justice system to take it from there...
And he was acquitted. Because there were no signs of forced entry (as if such is necessary for unlawful entry). Even though he essentially admitted to doing it in the recorded apology.
But yeah, good thing she didn't have a gun. 'Cause then someone could've gotten killed. (Nevermind that sometimes that's the whole freaking point.)
You know...
The implication in this makes me want to hurt someone:
I'm going to assume the missing word is "fought". You can probably guess my feelings on a liberal arts-degreed twerp who cannot even craft a complete sentence even hinting at cowardice in others.
Here is the full article.
Here's the thing. These dudes weren't armed. That any of them, in those circumstances, fought back still puts them above your average civilian, given how few of the rest of us fight back in even vaguely similar situations. (Last time I checked, the number of people who fought back against the Virginia Tech shooter was 0.)
The article itself is much more even-handed. But I still want to slap whomever decided that was a good idea to put on the front page.
Here is the full article.
Here's the thing. These dudes weren't armed. That any of them, in those circumstances, fought back still puts them above your average civilian, given how few of the rest of us fight back in even vaguely similar situations. (Last time I checked, the number of people who fought back against the Virginia Tech shooter was 0.)
The article itself is much more even-handed. But I still want to slap whomever decided that was a good idea to put on the front page.
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Something to make the Right look stupid...
Mom upset over son's assignment to recite Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish.
Just heard this on Joe Pags's show.
Here's the thing. I was all ready to piss my britches about this. I'm the one who was disgruntled by Bobbie skipping over Constitution Day because it falls during Hispanic Heritage Month.
And then Pags started reading the story:
So, the kid is in Spanish class when this happened. And yet, Mama gets her panties in a wad.
I took German in junior high and high school, and Russian in high school. At least one year, I had German during first period, which of course was when we said the Pledge. We did not translate it into German and say it in German. We never translated it into Russian, either.
However, I've got to say it makes perfect sense to translate something you know by heart into a language you are learning. It makes a lot more sense than translating something randomly, in fact.
The parents look like absolute xenophobic asshats here, to be quite frank. Especially given the fact that they were made aware of the assignment at the beginning of the year and offered the opportunity to request a substitute assignment.
Honestly, given that they didn't complain until after Little Darling earned a big fat 0 for the assignment makes me think it's less about how "wrong" it is to learn the Pledge in Spanish and more that Little Darling didn't bother learning it, and they're making a fuss after the fact to hide that he's a lazy schlump. As the saying goes, never assume malice where stupidity fits.
Just heard this on Joe Pags's show.
Here's the thing. I was all ready to piss my britches about this. I'm the one who was disgruntled by Bobbie skipping over Constitution Day because it falls during Hispanic Heritage Month.
And then Pags started reading the story:
Melissa Taggart says she was delighted that her son was learning a foreign language in the eighth grade -- until she learned he was expected to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish.
So, the kid is in Spanish class when this happened. And yet, Mama gets her panties in a wad.
I took German in junior high and high school, and Russian in high school. At least one year, I had German during first period, which of course was when we said the Pledge. We did not translate it into German and say it in German. We never translated it into Russian, either.
However, I've got to say it makes perfect sense to translate something you know by heart into a language you are learning. It makes a lot more sense than translating something randomly, in fact.
The parents look like absolute xenophobic asshats here, to be quite frank. Especially given the fact that they were made aware of the assignment at the beginning of the year and offered the opportunity to request a substitute assignment.
Honestly, given that they didn't complain until after Little Darling earned a big fat 0 for the assignment makes me think it's less about how "wrong" it is to learn the Pledge in Spanish and more that Little Darling didn't bother learning it, and they're making a fuss after the fact to hide that he's a lazy schlump. As the saying goes, never assume malice where stupidity fits.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Yet another reason why the Democrats lost...
This has been floating around my Facebook feed today.
If the Democrats really think this is accurate? If so, they're either a) stupid or b) woefully out of touch. B is pretty much a given at this point, but I'm starting to wonder about A.
Given the President's apparent cluelessness about the causes of last night's Democrat walloping, I am beginning to believe it goes all the way to the top.
Well, no, Nico. It wasn't. *updated*
Nico LaHood doesn't quite grasp why he lost the District Attorney race:
Actually, the answer can probably be found here:
Don't get me wrong: I am no Susan Reed fan. From "inadvertently" buying stolen airplane tickets to intervening when a friend of her son was caught at the airport with a loaded gun, lily white she ain't. (And there are other stories, several of 'em, that I simply can't remember off the top of my head.)
And yet somehow the Democrats thought that running an admitted former drug dealer against her was a good idea. Mind you, LaHood isn't exactly the "turned my life around" poster child--he's the son of a judge, and it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to know that opened doors for him that are nailed shut for other former low-level drug dealers who want to work anywhere north of McDonald's.
I wonder about Democrats. Especially Texas Democrats. Especially in this election cycle. LaHood wasn't the only candidate who should have been an outright joke. I mean, shit, look at Bill White. Seriously. Rick Perry's an Evil Rich White Guy, according to the Left in this state...So exactly what was Bill White? According to his own freaking campaign website, before being elected mayor of Houston, "he ran one of the region's most successful businesses" and "helped build and manage one of the nation's most successful law firms." I mean, really. Those were the top choices. Two businessmen-turned-politicians. Bill White looked like a total ass attacking Perry's money--and Perry looked like a total ass attacking White's. The only difference is, Perry has never pretended to be anything but, well, Rick Perry. Yes, yes, he is an elitist asshole. But at least he's honest about it.
“I think this is a referendum on Washington D.C.,” he said. “This is not a reflection of what you've done or your commitment to me”
Actually, the answer can probably be found here:
“It's the first time I've had a criminal run against me,” [Reed] said, “and I don't think our community would ever want someone involved in drug trafficking to lead them.”
Don't get me wrong: I am no Susan Reed fan. From "inadvertently" buying stolen airplane tickets to intervening when a friend of her son was caught at the airport with a loaded gun, lily white she ain't. (And there are other stories, several of 'em, that I simply can't remember off the top of my head.)
And yet somehow the Democrats thought that running an admitted former drug dealer against her was a good idea. Mind you, LaHood isn't exactly the "turned my life around" poster child--he's the son of a judge, and it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to know that opened doors for him that are nailed shut for other former low-level drug dealers who want to work anywhere north of McDonald's.
I wonder about Democrats. Especially Texas Democrats. Especially in this election cycle. LaHood wasn't the only candidate who should have been an outright joke. I mean, shit, look at Bill White. Seriously. Rick Perry's an Evil Rich White Guy, according to the Left in this state...So exactly what was Bill White? According to his own freaking campaign website, before being elected mayor of Houston, "he ran one of the region's most successful businesses" and "helped build and manage one of the nation's most successful law firms." I mean, really. Those were the top choices. Two businessmen-turned-politicians. Bill White looked like a total ass attacking Perry's money--and Perry looked like a total ass attacking White's. The only difference is, Perry has never pretended to be anything but, well, Rick Perry. Yes, yes, he is an elitist asshole. But at least he's honest about it.
And this is proof that they just don't get it, from this morning's Facebook feed. If the local judicial system just got worse, it's because Democrats thought it would be a good idea to run an admitted criminal for District Attorney. I mean, let's think about this a minute, folks. What does the District Attorney do? Prosecute criminal cases. So why would a criminal be considered a good fit for the job? Are Democrats really this stupid?
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Oh, no bias THERE...
Canseco carrying early vote over Rodriguez.
Yeah. How about "Canseco, not a total failure in the private sector...."? Not that Ciro was a failure in the private sector. Mainly because he's never been in the private sector.
Well, then. 'Twas worse than I thought.
(I know, I know, I should go to bed. This is, what, my third post for the day? No, Erik & I aren't having a competition, though you should totally check out his latest post. I about spit when he showed me his Facebook wall.)
Canseco, a wealthy banker-attorney, carried the early vote in Bexar County, which makes up two-thirds of the district's electorate, by nearly 10,000 votes.
Yeah. How about "Canseco, not a total failure in the private sector...."? Not that Ciro was a failure in the private sector. Mainly because he's never been in the private sector.
Well, then. 'Twas worse than I thought.
(I know, I know, I should go to bed. This is, what, my third post for the day? No, Erik & I aren't having a competition, though you should totally check out his latest post. I about spit when he showed me his Facebook wall.)
Erk?
Was reading at Farce the Music, and glanced over at Trailer's blog roll and did a double take. Had to click over to the blog to be sure I wasn't seeing things; I'm not:
Granted, looking at the blog header, their kind of country and mine aren't the same. I actually do like Brad Paisley. (Not this song. This song exemplifies the sort of mawkishness I detest in Nashville.) This post actually has nothing to do with the quality of the song, however.
Can a song only eleven years old rightly be called "classic"?
Let's look at the top 25 songs of 1999 (at least, as far as About.com is concerned):
1) "God Gave Me You"--Bryan White (Hand to God, I have no idea what this song is, though it's prompted a visceral reaction from my husband.)
2) "Little Man"--Alan Jackson
3) "Lessons Learned"--Tracy Lawrence
4) "Pop a Top" --Alan Jackson
5) "Gone Crazy"--Alan Jackson/"When I Said I Do" --Clint Black
6) "I Love You" --Martina McBride
7)"You Were Mine" --Dixie Chicks
8) "Amazed" --Lonestar
9) "Anymore" --Travis Tritt (edit: As Erik pointed out to me, this song is from 1991. Very odd.) (Edit, part 2: Ah, Travis Tritt back in the righteous mullet days.)
10) "Cowboy Take Me Away" --Dixie Chicks
Eh, screw it. I actually have no idea what the selection criteria were there; for all I know it's the author's favorites. At any rate, some of the songs rank very high up on my personal list (I actually did put "You Were Mine" as one of my favorite songs of the decade, and I'll get around to Part Two of that list eventually).
But classics? No. None of them. 'Cause if ANY song that came out in 1999 is a classic, so is this:
Might be a bit hard to read; the header is Classic Rewind: Brad Paisley-- "He Didn't Have to Be".
Granted, looking at the blog header, their kind of country and mine aren't the same. I actually do like Brad Paisley. (Not this song. This song exemplifies the sort of mawkishness I detest in Nashville.) This post actually has nothing to do with the quality of the song, however.
Can a song only eleven years old rightly be called "classic"?
Let's look at the top 25 songs of 1999 (at least, as far as About.com is concerned):
1) "God Gave Me You"--Bryan White (Hand to God, I have no idea what this song is, though it's prompted a visceral reaction from my husband.)
2) "Little Man"--Alan Jackson
3) "Lessons Learned"--Tracy Lawrence
4) "Pop a Top" --Alan Jackson
5) "Gone Crazy"--Alan Jackson/"When I Said I Do" --Clint Black
6) "I Love You" --Martina McBride
7)"You Were Mine" --Dixie Chicks
8) "Amazed" --Lonestar
9) "Anymore" --Travis Tritt (edit: As Erik pointed out to me, this song is from 1991. Very odd.) (Edit, part 2: Ah, Travis Tritt back in the righteous mullet days.)
10) "Cowboy Take Me Away" --Dixie Chicks
Eh, screw it. I actually have no idea what the selection criteria were there; for all I know it's the author's favorites. At any rate, some of the songs rank very high up on my personal list (I actually did put "You Were Mine" as one of my favorite songs of the decade, and I'll get around to Part Two of that list eventually).
But classics? No. None of them. 'Cause if ANY song that came out in 1999 is a classic, so is this:
Movies
Erik and I were lying in bed last night talking about the strange catching nature of vomiting (we're passing around a stomach bug), and he mentioned the story--I said I knew what he was talking about, then backed up to make sure. Yep, we were both thinking of the pie eating contest story-within-a-story from...
That's where it broke apart. Erik said Stand by Me; I said "The Body." He knew the movie; I knew the novella.
This is par for the course for me, actually. I did watch Stand by Me on TV once and was singularly unimpressed with it; the novella is worlds better. But even larger than the list of movies where I prefer the book is the list of books that I've never actually seen the movie for.
I reread King's On Writing last year, and it prompted me to check The Shining out of the library. I have yet to see the movie. Part of me wants to, but more of me thinks "Redrum? That's not in there. And what the fuck is Jack doing holding an axe? And his wife had a razor blade, not a butcher knife."
I suppose that the movie adaptation of "Apt Pupil"--incidentally from the same collection as "The Body", along with "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" (another movie I've never seen), and "Breathing Lessons"--soured me on movie versions of Stephen King works forever, though I will say that the TV version of "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" was pretty good. I've never seen Pet Sematary, either.
This isn't all about Stephen King movies, though.
There are a lot of films that everyone else has seen that I have not. Which is kind of odd on the one hand, since I love movies, but not so much so on the other, since I grew up really poor, and so movies weren't exactly high on the list of things to spend money on. Nor are they now, though every once in a while Erik and I will say "We should go see a movie!" (We are inevitably distracted by the bookstore.) And even with economics taken out of the picture, I'd far rather move though a novel at my own pace, with my own mental images, than be spoon-fed someone else's idea of, well, anything.
Last summer I bought Monster Hunter International and saw The Hurt Locker on the same day. This year I bought Monster Hunter: Vendetta, but I have not been to see another movie in the theater since The Hurt Locker. (I did manage to see both Zombieland and The Hangover on DVD, however.)
I should probably come up with a list of movies that most people have seen but I haven't...thing is, I can't even think of them. I don't see it as a deficit of any sort unless I'm in a conversation where it comes up. This happened a fair bit during Creative Writing, in fact. When films came up as a point of reference for short stories, I was absolutely lost.
So, if we are ever hanging around in real life, you are far better off not asking me what I thought of any of the Alien films.
That's where it broke apart. Erik said Stand by Me; I said "The Body." He knew the movie; I knew the novella.
This is par for the course for me, actually. I did watch Stand by Me on TV once and was singularly unimpressed with it; the novella is worlds better. But even larger than the list of movies where I prefer the book is the list of books that I've never actually seen the movie for.
I reread King's On Writing last year, and it prompted me to check The Shining out of the library. I have yet to see the movie. Part of me wants to, but more of me thinks "Redrum? That's not in there. And what the fuck is Jack doing holding an axe? And his wife had a razor blade, not a butcher knife."
I suppose that the movie adaptation of "Apt Pupil"--incidentally from the same collection as "The Body", along with "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" (another movie I've never seen), and "Breathing Lessons"--soured me on movie versions of Stephen King works forever, though I will say that the TV version of "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" was pretty good. I've never seen Pet Sematary, either.
This isn't all about Stephen King movies, though.
There are a lot of films that everyone else has seen that I have not. Which is kind of odd on the one hand, since I love movies, but not so much so on the other, since I grew up really poor, and so movies weren't exactly high on the list of things to spend money on. Nor are they now, though every once in a while Erik and I will say "We should go see a movie!" (We are inevitably distracted by the bookstore.) And even with economics taken out of the picture, I'd far rather move though a novel at my own pace, with my own mental images, than be spoon-fed someone else's idea of, well, anything.
Last summer I bought Monster Hunter International and saw The Hurt Locker on the same day. This year I bought Monster Hunter: Vendetta, but I have not been to see another movie in the theater since The Hurt Locker. (I did manage to see both Zombieland and The Hangover on DVD, however.)
I should probably come up with a list of movies that most people have seen but I haven't...thing is, I can't even think of them. I don't see it as a deficit of any sort unless I'm in a conversation where it comes up. This happened a fair bit during Creative Writing, in fact. When films came up as a point of reference for short stories, I was absolutely lost.
So, if we are ever hanging around in real life, you are far better off not asking me what I thought of any of the Alien films.
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