Corrente

Another failure for Republican social engineering? What a surprise! AP:

A report released by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys was based on an analysis of 61,335 people who have gone to credit counseling agencies, the required first step before filing bankruptcy under the law that took effect on Oct. 17.

Read below the fold...

Charles Manson is not yet sure if he'll abuse his new position to foment discord, start race riots, or to appear on American Idol.

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(Jivester News, Lmtd.) The Bush Administration has formally announced which organization will receive the highly coveted Federal Prison Maintenance contract, and it was no surprise that the winner is Charles Manson, who will take over the post right after Congress shits its pants. Read below the fold...

Now it all makes sense. (For awhile, I was thinking this was a Rove-ian ploy--a way to let Republicans show their "independence" by standing up to Bush for once. Fat chance!) Just read between the lines of this story from AP (Mr. Subliminal in italics): Read below the fold...

So the newsies today and tonight have been intoning, like this is a portentious New Thing that they just discovered, "This [the bombing of the Askariyah shrine in Samarra] could signal the start of civil war in Iraq." I hate to tell them but they're a little behind the times. Come along as we explore how I know, and maybe pick up a tip or two on doing news searches on Google. Lambert ain't the only one who can give geek..... Read below the fold...

Hard to assess this one, eh? AP:

President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.

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Yes, you heard me right. As I noted yesterday, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has announced his intention to veto a bill called, HB1318 or, misleadingly, the "Voter Protection Act of 2006." This takes a certain amount of balls (hmm...a cup and a half? 27 yards? Sixteen tons? Maybe not a good metaphor, but there ya go) to come out against such a thing, since that automatically means you are in favor of Vote Fraud. Read below the fold...

Froomkin used to read us, back in the day...but I don't think Sunday's Sabbath Gasbag/Pundit Pap rap was one of those occasions. Marvy Mary Matalin got pummelled 'round the flagpole and back in time for tea, beat up by a wide range of blogosophers in fact, for her "Meet the Press" performance, but Froom exceeds nearly all of us for elegant snark. I bow in his direction: Read below the fold...

Another Parker quote: "If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to."

Discuss. Read below the fold...

Dorothy Parker wrote (1926):

Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

Parker foreshadows, as early as 1926, so many of the twentieth century's favored methods of execution: gas, especially, but also guns at the various fronts, and, of course, the lynch mob's rope. Read below the fold...

What could possibly be the problem? I mean, the ports are in blue states, they're not part of the base, and heck, when the ice caps go, they'll all be underwater. Shame about the real estate values. But then, they're all traitors anyhow. AP: Read below the fold...

Discuss.

NOTE Another snippet of conversation from LA. Read below the fold...

Yes, Bush has seen the light: America's "addicted" to oil. Sure, He's coming round to this view just a little late, but the reality-based community is always happy to welcome new members, however belated the may be. But, based on past history, I have just a tiny bit of skepticism about the, erm, thoroughness of his latest conversion experience. AP: Read below the fold...

And so. Not that anyone here didn't see it coming, but CNN is reporting (I'll come back and drop a link when I can find one) that the SCOTUS will take on the six-year old South Carolina law banning late term abortions. Read below the fold...

I love burning bridges, or rather I must given how I've lived most of my life, so I respect this young man. I've got a lot of snarky things I could say about the academe, the field, the job market, the differences in schools and programs and individual faculty. I have only ever put my reputation on the line in public once, and that wasn't really a big risk for me. What this man is doing is akin to Lucretia (iirc), the Roman woman who took a knife to her breast in the public square to prove that she was not lying about being raped. Mr. Barrett, desite what I'm sure are solid qualifications, will never work in certain large parts of the field, because he has made this statement. I wish him the best of luck, as I agree with his conclusions and welcome another expert into the fold of those who believe that the very foundations of the "war on terror" are little more than lies and fantasies: Read below the fold...