Tuesday Twaddle: The State of the Union Sucks

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by Dick.

And it has at least since Lincoln freed no slaves.

The Emancipation Proclamation proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the ten states then in rebellion. While it apparently freed 3.1 million of the 4 million slaves in the U.S. at the time, those ten states had seceded and recognized neither U.S. law nor fiat. Mr. Lincoln’s Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not outlaw slavery, and did not make the ex-slaves citizens.

Now federal regulators have outlawed any and all import of the reptilian plague of pythons in our swimming pools and swamps.

The import ban restricts only the Burmese python, two African pythons, and the yellow anaconda. The Obamanation called it “a victory for Florida’s native environment.” Those of us actually in Florida know it, too, freed no slaves and captured no pythons. See, these snakes are captive-bred in the U.S. so that import ban had the same effect on snakes Mr. Lincoln’s on slaves.

It took the Army of the Republic to free the slaves but slavery did finally become illegal everywhere in the U.S. in 1865 thanks to the Thirteenth Amendment. We probably won’t amend the U.S. Constitution to get rid of snakes. Or send in the army.

Of course, there are snakes and then there are snakes.

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Mr. Obama will report on the State of the Union this evening. He is expected say that unemployment is dropping but that we need to bring manufacturing jobs home from overseas, more home-mortgage market support, incentives for alternative energy development, more government, and higher taxes.

Posted in Throw Da Bums Out, Extras!, Politics & News, Random Access | 3 Comments »

Liberals, The Dumbest Creatures On The Planet

Friday, June 24, 2011 by Dick.

This is too too good not to share.

“My favorite bit is the one where Chris Matthews, who I believe takes himself seriously as a journalist, declares: “I hate that even-handed, so-called objective journalism. You know, you can’t say something isn’t true if it’s true…’.”

James Delingpole makes the point that The science is settled: US liberals really are the dumbest creatures on the planet. He also something this writer has said time and time again: there is real science and there is political science. Our liberal friends don’t know the difference.

As Mark Twain taught us more than a century ago,

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.
“It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Posted in Extras!, Science (not-so-real), Politics & News | 10 Comments »

Flag Day

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 by Dick.

Celebrate Flag Day today, June 14.

Posted in Extras! | 1 Comment »

Monday Madness

Monday, May 9, 2011 by Dick.

VTRANS, the Vermont Agency of Transportation, closed Route 7 a few days ago because record high lake levels have flooded portions of the road. The road remains flooded. And closed.

VTRANS painted the road today. Really.

Posted in Extras! | 2 Comments »

Religious Argument

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Dick.

Religion! religion!
Oh, there’s a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Here we go now.
Alright, altar boys.

Mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa
Mea culpa mea culpa mea maxima culpa

Where’s the church, who took the steeple
Religion is in the hands of some crazy-ass people …
[thanks to Jimmy Buffett for Fruitcakes]

“Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back,” my friend Nola ‘Fanny’ Guay told me.

Microsoft is for Repuglicans because they like the illusion that they can change their desktops.

Apple is for Demorats because they are used to having the government do everything for them.

Posted in Extras!, Tech Toys | 2 Comments »

No Slimy Sex

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 by Dick.

If NPR wants continued support, they need to make it easier, not harder, to listen. I tried to download a couple of my favorite programs this week, Car Talk and Wait Wait. Their download links didn’t work. On to Fresh Air. Terry Gross had a couple of goodies last week. Under the Sea, Sex Is Slimy Business and How The ‘Pox’ Epidemic Changed Vaccination Rules.

The Fresh Air download link took me to the (very slow) NPR Media Player which showed what I listened to last week. Back to Fresh Air. Click again. Now Slimy Sex started playing but the download link was missing.

I don’t want to listen on my computer. I particularly don’t want to listen on my computer right now. I also don’t want every episode clogging my (limited) iPod. I want to Click Here, download the interview, and listen tomorrow or the next day or next week when I’m driving or walking or doing something that is conducive to spending my time listening to their show.

If NPR can’t get something that simple to work, maybe the Repugs are right.

Posted in Extras!, Politics & News, Media | 6 Comments »