Memphis has come a long way since the 60s…
Cover of the local free press Memphis Flyer
Virgin Births, Dime a Dozen
“’Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this wise. When his mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.’ Yes, and the Greek demigod Perseus was born when the god Jupiter visited the virgin Danaë as a shower of gold and got her with child. The god Buddha was born through an opening in his mother’s flank. Catlicus the serpent-skirted caught a little ball of feathers from the sky and hid it in her bosom, and the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli was thus conceived. The virgin Nana took a pomegranate from the tree watered by the blood of the slain Agdestris, and laid it in her bosom, and gave birth to the god Attis. The virgin daughter of a Mongol king awoke one night and found herself bathed in a great light, which caused her to give birth to Genghis Khan. Krishna was born of the virgin Devaka. Horus was born of the virgin Iris. Mercury was born of the virgin Maia. Romulus was born of the virgin Rhea Sylvia.”
The above is from Christopher Hitchens book, god is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything.
Given his status as journalist and author, I did not feel the need to vet the above information. I am sure it has been done many times before.
Paul Krugman: 9/11…an occasion for shame
Read Mr. Krugman’s full blog posting below. IMHO he is one of the clearest of the pundits around.
My Sentiments
Want more Candorville…check out Darrin Bell’s web site candorville.com
Welfare Mama, My A$$
One of the reoccurring themes when I talk to my fellow citizens on the right of the political spectrum is freeloaders. They seem utterly outraged and maybe terrified that someone might be getting something with their tax money. I keep hearing stories about the welfare mama driving a Cadillac. Another favorite story is the teenage bimbo driving a hot car, living with her boyfriend, and paying for cigarettes with food stamps. Then we have malingers collecting workers comp for a fake injury. The stories go on and on.
I have no doubt that there are cases like the above. I spent an afternoon a while back Googling for statistics on this type of fraud or abuse of the system. I did not have a lot of luck finding any numbers. My gut feeling is that the dollars pale in comparison to the real welfare cheats, doctors, lawyers, hospitals, and corporations.
A while back I worked for a large corporation involved in the care of the elderly. Their standard business practice was to bill Medicare for every possible thing. Apparently they were a little too zealous about it. The government pushed back at them and they had to pay back a rather large sum of money (in the millions). If memory serves there was also a fine involved, but I am not entirely sure on that part.
A news story just broke, 91 charged in Medicare fraud crackdown. They have just arrested 91 individuals, including doctors and other medical professionals. They are claiming $295 million in false billings. Continue reading “Welfare Mama, My A$$”
Texas please secede
Upon secession you can stop sending us idiots like Bush and Perry.
Controversial Photo Spread Glamorizes Domestic Abuse?
I probably have a different view than most as my ex was director of a battered woman’s shelter for several years. After that she worked troubled teens who often were the target of domestic violence. That is when I first realized that men can be and frequently are pigs when it comes to relating to women. That is in good measure why I do not find these things even vaguely humorous. We all need to be treating each other with love and respect. Can you imagine what sort of world that would be… to paraphrase Lennon.
Controversial Photo Spread Glamorizes Domestic Abuse? Link removed
Disillusioned Republican laying it out
I am disillusioned… still
Our government/legislative process has been hijacked by nut cases and our Maginot Line of defense against these fruit cakes is a batch of spineless Democrats. Mr. Obama apparently has taken Neville Chamberlain as a role model on how to lead a nation.
Mean time, back at the ranch USA, Snidely Whiplash has kidnapped Nell and Dudley Do-Right has fallen into an inter-galactic black hole. No serious money is betting on him coming out the other end, and creditors are foreclosing on the ranch.
Below is a quote from the article Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult by Mike Lofgren at truth-out.org.
“But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP. Continue reading “Disillusioned Republican laying it out”
Modern Day Zombies
Teenagers walking
Not interacting
Except with their phones
Are they drones
Or maybe Borg
Irishman on his cheek
A tear does streak
Sad, how very sad
Rick Perry’s Giant Sump Pump
I usually do not excerpt the whole article but this is too rich. Do you think we could get Reich, Krugman and Kristoff to run the government?
Robert Reich
Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, ‘Aftershock’
8/31/11
Of all the nonsense Texas Governor Rick Perry spews about states’ rights and the tenth amendment, his dumbest is the notion that states should go it alone. “We’ve got a great Union,” he said at a Tea Party rally in Austin in April 2009. “There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that.”
The core of his message isn’t outright secession, though. It’s that the locus of governmental action ought to be at the state rather than the federal level. “It is essential to our liberty,” he writes in his book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington, “that we be allowed to live as we see fit through the democratic process at the local and state level.” Continue reading “Rick Perry’s Giant Sump Pump”