Bon The Geek On Rick Perry

Zandar Versus The Stupid: Rick Perry Signs Pact With Devil: "How can someone who does not understand or believe in freedom ever protect it? "

'via Blog this'

On Old Horses

Saudi Arabia discovers 9,000 year old civilization: "JEDDAH (REUTERS).- Saudi Arabia is excavating a new archeological site that will show horses were domesticated 9,000 years ago in the Arabian peninsula, the country's antiquities expert said Wednesday.
"

'via Blog this'

Dumb GOP law of the day

Daily Kos: Ohio legislator proposes drug testing for unemployment benefits: "An Ohio Republican state senator has introduced a bill requiring unemployed people to take a drug test before receiving unemployment benefits or welfare. A drug test they'd have to pay for up front, and be reimbursed for if they passed. You might look at this as another crazy proposal that's not going anywhere, and maybe it won't be passed in Ohio. But it's actually modeled on a Florida law requiring welfare recipients to take and pass a drug test to get benefits; only the part that targets unemployment benefits is really new. State Sen. Tim Grendell joins a long line of Republicans blaming unemployed people for an economy with no jobs, saying:
"

'via Blog this'

PZ Meyers on Ann Coulter On Evolution

Rats emboldened by Rick Perry | Pharyngula: "Coulter has a BA in history and a law degree. She hasn’t even done any research on the biology she’s critiquing; she only parrots creationist sources. Liberals aren’t afraid to argue evolution with her, but instead see her as an unqualified, clueless twit who isn’t even capable of addressing the actual substance of an argument.

"

'via Blog this'

Eric Cantor On The Real Earthquake Problem

Eric Cantor: No Federal Earthquake Disaster Aid Without Spending Cuts | Crooks and Liars:

"While touring the damage in his district, Cantor surmised, “Obviously, the problem is that people in Virginia don’t have earthquake insurance.” As the Insurance Information Institute notes, “earthquakes are not covered under standard U.S. homeowners or business insurance policies, although supplemental coverage is usually available.” So, for Cantor, the problem here is that Virginians didn’t have the foresight to predict an exceedingly rare natural disaster and pay out of their own pocket in advance."

'via Blog this'

Really? This is his solution?

Krugman on Fake Krugman

Paul Krugman Impersonator Uses Google Plus To Make Stupid Arguments In Bad Faith: "Krugman, in a response that came before he even found out that someone was impersonating him on Google+, observed, "You have to assume that this kind of argument is made in deliberate bad faith -- although I suspect that many of these people don't remember what it is to make an argument in good faith."

"

'via Blog this'

On Dick Cheney's memoir

Daily Kos: Dick Cheney's memoir to be released next week:

"In any event, this will be the must-read book of the fall season for a certain set of people; for example, people that are depressed that the Harry Potter series has ended and who really wanted to read more stories about Voldemort.

Steve Jobs Death Watch

Oh shut up. You were thinking it too!

Don Singleton On Retirement Age

Don Singleton:

"Much higher. But do it gradually. Don't just slowly take it up to 70 and stop. Each year when the retirement age is less than life expectancy increase it a few months. This will encourage younger workers to maintain their own retirement savings that can increase with compounding interest, and investments that can appreciate over the long term, and not depend on an undependable government to do it for you."

Yes, you read that right. This fellow thinks that retirement age should be increased as long as it is less than life expectancy.
I had to read this several times and read other posts by Mr Singleton to make sure that i wasn't being tricked by a parody site.

I expect to work until I am no longer physically or mentally able to do so because I love what I do and as an added bonus it is very rewarding financially. In Don Singleton's world we would ALL have to do that, no matter what we do for a living. I don't know much about Mr Singleton other than he seems to be a geek like me but I am guessing that he doesn't have a lot of manual laborers in his social circle.

JP Morgan May Take Over Bank Of America?

JP Morgan May Take Over Bank Of America - 24/7 Wall St.:

"There is a rumor circulated on Wall St. that JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) will take over Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) within the week. The government will support the deal with a $100 billion investment in preferred shares issued by the combined entity. Alternatively, the government may guarantee the value of a large pool of Bank of America assets. The word is that Treasury Secretary Geithner has discussed the transaction with JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon.The “merger” would completely destroy the value of BAC’s common shares

I have no other comment about this than ...

What a bad fucking idea.

When Things Go Bad For Screenwriters

‘Conan The Barbarian’ Scripter Answers: “What’s It Like To Flop At The Box Office?” – Deadline.com:

"Sean Hood is one of the four credited screenwriters on the remake of Conan The Barbarian released last weekend to dismal grosses. Today he writes on the Internet Q&A site Quora about “What’s it like to have your film flop at the box office? Don’t they know how bad it is before it comes out?”:

Little known fact ... the lady that shares my life is a screenwriter. Here's hoping that she never has to write a piece like this.

On the other hand, it would mean that she was the writer of a very big budget movie so I guess that wouldn't be so bad. I would like that house in Venice ...

Comment Of The Day - Balloon Juice Edition

Balloon Juice » Hungarian rhapsody:

 Villago Delenda Est - August 21, 2011 | 3:28 pm · Link

@Elizabelle:

A rout of the hard right might be bad for media ratings, but would be good for democracy.
I don’t disagree with you in the slightest, the problem is, such a rout is NOT good for the Village. Close race means ratings, which means money, which means career advancement for Villagers. They do not have the country’s best interest at heart, only their own myopic selfish interest.
Never mind that the Belmont Stakes in ‘73 was one of the most amazing and memorable horse races in history precisely because it wasn’t even close.

George Will Might Not Be Stupid

Chris Christie, America’s Caesar - The Washington Post:

He relishes being America’s Caesar — its most powerful governor.

But the above sentence surely is.

Memo To Kathleen Parker - STFU

What’s wrong with these bleeping people? - The Washington Post:

An “MF” here or an “FU” there might not constitute the unraveling of society, but each one uttered in another’s involuntary presence is a tiny act of violence against kindness, of which we surely could use more.

Really? This is what has her knickers in a twist?

Shaking my head.

Some Good Radio Ratings News

Rising Hegemon: Awww: With a lull in ratings since November, Rush Limbaugh had a 3.0 share of listeners for his radio time slot, which is a 33% slide from October and from last April, reports Crain's Business.

Molly Ivors on Hillary and Barack

Whiskey Fire: I Told You So! (Except I Was Wrong):

I wanted to end on a decisive note, but I find I don't have one. Obama is dealing with a level of obstruction I have not seen in my lifetime, and is in the position of trying to defend programs against a raft of Neitzschean, Randian ideologues who are interested in nothing but corporatist hegemony for the people who elected them, and third-world anarchy for everyone else. They do not care if they drive the whole bus over a cliff.

Obama is standing between us and them. Ineffectively, maybe, but he's there. Hillary may have played it differently, but the cliff would still be there, and they'd still be determined to drive off it. And things would be just as fucked.

Yglesias on GOP Nostalgia

Race and Conservative Nostalgia | ThinkProgress:

As I said at the time, on its face it’s difficult to make sense of that. John Boehner was born in 1949. Does he feel nostalgic for the higher marginal tax rates of the America he grew up in? For the much larger labor union share of the workforce? The threat of global nuclear war? It’s difficult for me to evade the conclusion that on an emotional level, conservative nostalgics like Boehner are primarily driven by regret at the loss of social privilege by white men. In Boehner’s defense, I often hear white male progressives express nostalgia for the lost America of the 1950s and 1960s and think to myself “a black person or a woman wouldn’t put it like that.” But progressive nostalgics do at least have the high-tax, union-dominated economy and egalitarian income distribution as the things they like. But from a non-bigoted conservative point of view, what is there really to miss about the America John Boehner grew up it? The tax rates were high, but at least they didn’t let Jews into the country club?