An Epiphany While filling out forms for My Green Card

I will pay more in taxes (state and federal, payroll and income tax) than the median household income in this country.

Yeah, I think the US should welcome me with open arms for no other reason than i don't bitch, whine and complain about it like so many folks do.

This Will End Well - Teaching Standards Edition

This doesn't seem like an especially good idea to me but what do I know?

Sixty individuals, ONE teacher among them, will write national education standards in the next five months, in a secret process that excludes effective input from students, parents or teachers....

On Libertarian Populism and the GOP

Mike Konczal has a good read over at the Washington Post

All of this brings home the last point: The arguments in favor of libertarian populism presuppose what they need to prove — that the reason these voters stayed home was because Mitt Romney wasn’t far enough to the right on economic libertarianism. Maybe. Or perhaps the voters stayed home because no one focused on straight-up jobs, which would require a more interventionist agenda. Far from turning out more white voters, a more libertarian agenda could keep them at home. 

But non-voting whites might also be staying home because they are alienated in a world of increasing cultural liberalism, of gay marriage and globalization, one that doesn’t privilege their maleness and whiteness enough. A campaign that seriously addresses white working-class resentment might lose other voters (white and non-white) faster than they are gained.

On Chris Christie, All Round Nice Person

Or maybe not quite so much 

Ultimately, Christie was given the keynote addres sat the 2012 GOP convention – a coveted speaking slot reserved for rising stars. There, his “big” personality came out in a big way: when organizers told Christie that they were scrapping a three-minute introduction video before his speech due to time constraints, the governor insisted they reconsider. When they pushed back, according to Balz, Christie told a member of the production team “to ask the director if he had ever heard anyone say ‘f***’ on live television, because that’s what he was about to do if the video didn’t run.” After another sharp exchange, Christie said he wouldn’t deliver the speech if the video didn’t run. Romney’s convention team leader, Russ Schriefer, intervened, instructing the director to play the video…

h/t to Anne Laurie at Balloon Juice

On How Not To Celebrate The Fourth

From TPM comes this bad news

The 7-year-old Virginia boy who was struck by a stray bullet while on his way to watch a Fourth of July fireworks display died Friday, according to Richmond-based NBC affiliate WWBT.
Police said the accident was likely the result of someone firing a gun in the air to celebrate the holiday. It is still unknown who fired the shot.

Idiocy.

On Telemarketers That Call On Holidays

To the folks at the Albany Times Union, a Hearst newspaper,

You have guaranteed that I will never subscribe to your newspaper by engaging telemarketers that call on Independence Day.

Thanks,
Rob

Today in marriage Equality - Costa Rica Edition

Good thing it isn't the thought that counts

In the “ooops” move of the century, the legislature of Costa Rica accidentally voted for a measure that would legalize same-sex marriage. Conservative lawmakers voted for the bill before realizing that it redefined marriage to include same-sex civil unions

I will still take this as a win.