Friday moon rising

This crane is outside the old Courthouse Building in Columbus, while across the street a new one is being finished. Friday evening the moon was coming up, and the crane made a nice object for the camera to focus on.


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Psyche!

Yes people, it snowed last night.



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Health Care Equals Fascism

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Conservative blogger Ann Althouse reacts

Conservative blogger on racial epithets: "So what?"

It's also important to distinguish "angry protesters" from particular individuals who cross the line into the kind real ugliness or violence that should be condemned. There's nothing wrong with showing anger at the thing that motivates you to protest. That's what protests are for! The members of Congress have a lot of power, and they ought to have to hear the anger their exercise of that power is causing. It's outrageous for them to pose as victims without very good cause. So what if some idiot said a bad word? That's a trivial distraction compared to the power they are about to exercise in the face of such strong opposition to what they are about to do.

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war snarkers of slackitude!




Etc.
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Happy St. Patrick's Day 2010 - pics

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Happy St. Patrick's Day 2010

Seanchai and the Unity Squad




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Slate: Christopher Beam is messing with you

Andrew Breitbart is messing with you.
By Christopher Beam

The videos serve as the ultimate Breitbart Rorschach test. To the left, they expose Breitbart once and for all as a blubbering, red-faced freakazoid. To the right, they're the testimony of a telegenic hero finally standing up to the liberal media.

Now watch this brown nosing.

Of course, it's the prerogative of the Times to decide what's published in the Times. Maybe it just didn't think the ACORN scandal was that big a deal. (Shane said as much to Hoyt.) Plus, when the publication breaking the news is itself fresh-faced and unproven, as Big Government was, the big dogs are always skeptical. Breitbart doesn't buy it. "It's one of the biggest stories ever," he says, comparing it to Watergate and Abu Ghraib. "It's a big-ass story."
...
The best measurement of the ACORN videos' impact may be the lengths to which Breitbart's opponents have gone to discredit them. Follow the back-and-forth closely, and you'll quickly find yourself deep down a rabbit hole of charges, countercharges, and counter-countercharges over such details as whether O'Keefe went into ACORN's offices dressed as a pimp or in business casual.

That's right, it doesn't matter whether the prosecution has any evidence, what's important is that the accused WAS FORCED TO HIRE A LAWYER!ONE11!

Still, to placate his critics, Breitbart has offered to release the complete, unedited video footage—but only if Boehlert or Podesta agrees to watch it with him in public, followed by a Q&A. (Breitbart has already released the complete transcripts and audio.) Breitbart knows they won't take him up on the offer.

SADLY, NO!

Stay tuned for more B.S. from Andy:



And go to hell, Slate.
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Just for the Halibut

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Spring 2010, headfake version maybe

P.S.

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Interview with Bush Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao (reprise)

I've noticed that my blogging peer group has been working the nostalgia factor this past week. Far be it for me to buck the trend be anything but one of the sheep.

The first blog I ever read and commented upon was Wonkette. Before that, my online commentation was located on the Yahoo Finance MMM board.



So here's that link

I am reminded of this is because Mr. Elaine L. Chao is back in the news.

UPDATE: I left out part of the story. Here is my post on July 3, 2003:

(The Daily Wipe™) Exclusive Interview with Bush Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao

In the wake of today's disappointing reports on the unemploment rate and non farm payrolls, TDW™ gained a one on one interview with Elaine Chao (who also happens to be the second wife of Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, but no one knows that, not even Senator McConnell).

TDW™: So Mrs. McConnell, what do you think of these horrendous employment reports?
ELC: (Silence, but with a stare that would curdle milk at a hundred yards)

TDW™: So Ms. Chao, what do you think of the horrendous employment reports?
ELC: We here at the Bush Administration are committed to returning this country to the proud footing it had before those Democratic sleazebags kicked out Dubya's Daddy.

TDW™: Actually, Bush Sr. lost the election because the economy was not doing well, correct?
ELC: Shut up. Anyways, as part of our Leave No Stone Unthrown© reelection campaign...

TDW™: No Stone Unthrown©?
ELC: I meant No Stone Unturned©. Now where was I? Oh yeah, Shut Up. Anyways, following in the footsteps of Saint Ronnie Reagan, I have a plan to revitalize this country's workforce, and thus its economy.

TDW™: Which particular footsteps were those?
ELC: Don't you remember when Saint Ronnie solved the school lunch budget crisis by reclassifying ketchup from condiment to vegetable?

TDW™: I do remember something about a vegetable...
ELC: Shut up. Anyways, the problem with our economy (not that there is one, everything is being solved by our brilliant president)...the PERCEIVED problem with our economy is the decline in manufacturing jobs. Manufacturers lost 56,000 jobs last month, the 35th straight decline. Since a recent peak in July 2000, factory employment has fallen by more than 2.6 million to 14.7 million.

TDW™: Thats not good.
ELC: Well, service jobs are doing quite well. And here lies the genius of my plan. When someone makes a hamburger at McDonalds, what are they doing?

TDW: Performing a service, by serving someone a nutritious meal based on the three main food groups: grease, salt, and sugar?
ELC: Shut up. What that person is doing is MANUFACTURING a hamburger! So you see, we are going to reclassify employment in the fast food industry from services to manufacturing. I expect this will add 10 percentage points to GDP expectations immediately.

TDW™: Isn't that like trying to make a silk purse from a sow's ear?
ELC: (Milk curdling stare). You use too many neurons, don't you?

TDW™: I've been told that, sometimes.
ELC: That reminds me, I have a bone to pick with you MMM board people. This alleged "Three Neuron Method™". Saint Ronnie perfected that two decades ago! By 'res ipsa loquitor' you people have no right to that patent.

TDW™: Excuse me, but didn't Saint Ronnie really perfect the "Zero Neuron Method™"? Impressive work to be sure, but probably beyond the capabilities of your average Neurosuction™ customer.
ELC: I guess you have a point there. Saint Ronnie truly was working without a net...or even a strand. But I digress...what do you think of my plan?

TDW™: Well, for one, service sector jobs just do not have the multiplying impact on the overall economy that manufacturing jobs do...How do McDonalds jobs add to overall economic activity?
ELC: (rolling her eyes) What dunces these many neuroned morons be. Shut up. Eat enough McDonalds meals and what happens? You need to buy a new pair of Dockers®. How's that for a multiplying impact, doughboy? This interview is over.

TDW™: Wait, I heard this funny joke about the Bush Administration, called 'things go better with bush...'
ELC: (pushes button on her desk...secret service agents rush in with drawn pistols) If he says another word, shoot him.

TDW™: OK, perhaps some other time for that joke.

~thunder for TDW™

So what happened in February 2004?

Here's Rep. Dingell's hilarious letter to N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers:

Dear Dr. Mankiw:

I noticed in the recently released Economic Report of the President that there was some consternation in the defining of manufacturing. It could be inferred from your report that the administration is willing to recognize drink mixing, hamburger garnishing, French/freedom fry cooking, and milk shake mixing to be vital components of our manufacturing sector.

I am sure the 163,000 factory workers who have lost their jobs in Michigan will find it heartening to know that a world of opportunity awaits them in high growth manufacturing careers like spatula operator, napkin restocking, and lunch tray removal. I do have some questions of this new policy and I hope you will help me provide answers for my constituents:

Will federal student loans and Trade Adjustment Assistance grants be applied to tuition costs at Burger College?

Will the administration commit to allowing the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) to fund cutting edge burger research such as new nugget ingredients or keeping the hot and cold sides of burgers separate until consumption?

Will special sauce now be counted as a durable good?

Do you want fries with that?

Finally, at a speech he gave in Michigan this past September, Secretary Evans announced the creation of a new Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing. While I understand that it takes a while to find the right candidate to fill these positions, I am concerned that five months after the announcement no Assistant Secretary has yet been named. I do, however, know of a public official who would be perfect for the job. He has over thirty years of administrative and media experience, has a remarkable record of working with diverse constituencies, and is extraordinarily well qualified to understand this emerging manufacturing sector: the Hon. Mayor McCheese.

With every good wish...
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Root canal dinner

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Church of the Rabbit Orbs, ii

P.S.

Furthermore
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