Photo: Phil Compton
8.15.2009
What? Adventures in South America? Surely you jest!
Some American troops will soon find themselves stationed at military bases scattered across the South American nation of Colombia with a mission to use advanced Predator drone technology to aid the fight the drug trade and combat terrorism, according to published reports Saturday.
link: Raw Story » Deal: United States soldiers will deploy to Colombia
OK, that does it
(WIRED) -- Without more funding, NASA will not meet its goal of tracking 90 percent of all deadly asteroids by 2020, according to a report released today by the National Academy of Sciences.
link: NASA falling short of asteroid-detection goals - CNN.com
Now I'm never coming out from under my bed.
Midsummer night's flick
On tonight's schedule is the movie "The Big Lebowski," which I have already seen once and which I absolutely guarantee is a perfect choice for a 90º August eve. Watch the thing from start to finish and not one single brain cell will fire. In fact, it's pretty much about brain cells that don't fire. And fire, need I point out, is something you do not want on a hot summer day like today.
Women want showers; what's next?
The city has approximately 35 female police officers and supervisors, and the officers had filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination three years ago over the lack of accommodations....
"We have many female officers. Like their male counterparts, they wanted showers and more space."
link: Police station project to add locker room - MassLive.com
8.14.2009
And right out in the open, too
Michigan insurance regulators have approved a 22 percent increase for group and individual Blue Cross Blue Shield health policies in the state, according to reports published Thursday....
Blue Cross is also awaiting a September 14 hearing on its proposed 33 percent rate hike for senior citizens, according to Detroit Free Press.
link: Raw Story » In MI., Blue Cross raising individual, group rates 22 pct.
8.13.2009
8.12.2009
Like it was never there
The postpartisan, postracial, post-Clinton-dysfunction world that Barack Obama was supposed to usher in when he hit town on his white charger, with turtle doves tweeting, has vanished.
link: Op-Ed Columnist - Toilet-Paper Barricades - NYTimes.com
If it can't happen in Ohio it can't happen anywhere
Falling fish shatters Ohio driver's windshield
link: Falling fish shatters Ohio driver's windshield - Yahoo! News
All Silvio's women
Theological and scientific questions aside, here's a real puzzler: How can a chubby, balding and rather nerdy guy attract so many bright, accomplished and -- well, yes -- good-looking women?
-Paul Knue
ED NOTE: "Good-looking women" is probably a good phrase to use in a post, Googlewise, so any time you are moved to mention good-looking women, just go right ahead and mention good-looking women.
Also, your humble Curmudgeon-in-Chief is signing up for Italian lessons.
Is it a sin to listen to Rush?
Today's theological question: Is it a sin to listen to Rush Limbaugh?That's an easy one, with an obvious answer. The more important, and difficult, question is a scientific chicken-and-egg one: Does listening to Rush Limbaugh cause brain damage? Or: Are people with brain damage attracted to Rush Limbaugh? Maybe a couple billion stimulus dollars can be allocated to this important research.
-Paul Knue
8.11.2009
After the world ends...
...Hulu carries a series of TV shows called "The Big Ten's Greatest Football Games" and the oldest game on the list was played in 19 freakin' 90.
Self expression of a sort
Telegraph, UK - A project to encourage prisoners to explore their inner self through verse has suffered a setback after inmates were caught plagiarising poems in a bid to win a L25 prize. . .
link: UNDERNEWS: PRISONERS STEALING POEMS TO WIN PRIZES
"This should be the biggest story in the United States"
Only 65 of every 100 men aged 20 through 24 years old were working on any given day in the first six months of this year. In the age group 25 through 34 years old, traditionally a prime age range for getting married and starting a family, just 81 of 100 men were employed.
For male teenagers, the numbers were disastrous: only 28 of every 100 males were employed in the 16- through 19-year-old age group. For minority teenagers, forget about it. The numbers are beyond scary; they’re catastrophic.
link: Op-Ed Columnist - A Scary Reality - NYTimes.com
8.10.2009
Wait, read that again
Coburn Dukehart, NPR - some of what I saw at the county fairgrounds in Wise, Va., last month left me wordless.
For two-and-a-half days, about 800 doctors, nurses, dentists and optometrists treated 2,700 uninsured and underinsured people, most from Appalachia. No one was asked for an insurance card. There were no co-pays. And there were no bills....
Of the patients, 51 percent are uninsured, 40.3 percent are on Medicaid or Medicare, and just 7.3 percent have employer or private insurance. Fewer than 1 percent of patients have dental or vision insurance.
Twenty-six percent of the people are employed, 40.6 are unemployed, 4.7 percent are retired and 4.8 percent are children.
link: UNDERNEWS: THE PUBLIC HEALTHCARE YOU DON'T HEAR ABOUT
Twenty-six percent are employed, but only 7.3 percent have employer or private insurance.
So much for that fine, employer-provided health care I've been hearing so much about.
8.09.2009
Getting it right
Robert Reich - The economy is getting worse more slowly. That's just about the only clear reading that's coming from the economic reports...
...my estimate is that one out of five Americans who would otherwise be working full time are now underemployed. We are still experiencing the biggest decline of any post-World War II economic slump.
link: UNDERNEWS: UNDERSTANDING THE EMPLOYMENT FIGURES
Meanwhile that talking house (the white one) in Washington (the DC one) keeps babbling about an imaginary number of "jobs saved" and trying to pretend that somehow, sinking more slowly is good.
Every sinking boat stops sinking eventually, at which point, more often than not, it is just called sunk.
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