What's For Dinner?

Carmi's Thematic Photographic 220 is What's for dinner?

I personally have never bought any lobsters from Kroger. But here they are, handcuffed with rubber bands, awaiting their fate.





P.S. It's been far too long since Applebee's was mentioned on this blog.

Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.
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I'll Bet You Think This Column's About You

I don’t know if America has a leadership problem; it certainly has a followership problem. Vast majorities of Americans don’t trust their institutions. That’s not mostly because our institutions perform much worse than they did in 1925 and 1955, when they were widely trusted. It’s mostly because more people are cynical and like to pretend that they are better than everything else around them. Vanity has more to do with rising distrust than anything else.

Many of the best minds on the internets have already dissected Bobo's latest wankfest. From Atrios to Echidne to Charles Pierce to driftglass.

I'll just post a video for all the little people at their Applebee's salad bars, busy questioning authority.



Other Beesness:









(Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.)
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Cat on the Highway

Friday Cat Blogging (Whiskey Fire is well-known for this):







Also, here's a kitty, some bees, and the sky.







In other news, I believe this is my first published comment ever at the NYT on anything other than a Paul Krugman post.

David Brooks attempts a lesson in morality for the real Americans.



Yes, it's rich.

The key job in the Good Person Construct is to manage your rationalizations and self-deceptions to keep them from getting egregious. Ariely suggests you reset your moral gauge from time to time. Your moral standards will gradually slip as you become more and more comfortable with your own rationalizations. So step back. Break your patterns and begin anew. This is what Yom Kippur and confessionals are for.

Next time you feel tempted by something, recite the Ten Commandments. A small triggering nudge at the moment of temptation, Ariely argues, is more effective than an epic sermon meant to permanently transform your whole soul.
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A final thought occurred to me. As we go about doing our Good Person moral calculations, it might be worth asking: Is this good enough? Is this life of minor transgressions refreshingly realistic, given our natures, or is it settling for mediocrity?

David Brooks wants to help the little people improve their morality. Of course, he makes his living writing propaganda for war-mongers and kleptocrats. Don't try this at home, little people. Settle for mediocrity.

P.S. David Brooks types his tripe twice a week. Visit driftglass for an expert take-down of Tuesday's nonsense.

(Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.)
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Paul Krugman Attacks Applebee's Salad Bar

At the beginning of last week, the commentariat was in raptures over the Serious, Courageous, Game-Changing Ryan plan. But now that the plan has been exposed as the cruel nonsense it is, what we’re hearing a lot about is the need for more civility in the discourse. President Obama did a bad thing by calling cruel nonsense cruel nonsense; he hurt Republican feelings, and how can we have a deal when the GOP is feeling insulted? What we need is personal outreach; let’s do lunch!
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So what is there to talk about?

What's all this about lunch, now?

*** SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED ***




P.S. What's my point, other than that David Brooks is a very silly person who gets a paycheck for no good reason? I need your recommendations, that's what. I've heard that if one gets enough recommendations, one wins a free set of china, or some such.

Note: Do not recommend Dr. Dick's comment. Although it's a perfectly fine comment (perhaps even a genius comment if I had been the one to post it), Dr. Dick has more china than one can shake a stick at.

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