If 60 Minutes hired Journalists

Thought Experiment

Dissolved

Film as comfort food

Miss Pettigrew

We watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day  tonight, and it's another NetFlix recommendation that was dead on.  The You Tube scene will suffer out of its context, and flat sound, but I loved this rendition of "If I cared." Pettigrew stars Frances McDormand in the title role, and Amy Adams as the sweet, but not so wholesome ingénue.  Set in 1938 London, it appeared early on to be a farce, but soon settled into what it is - an old fashioned drama about girl meets boy, and boy, and another boy, and then Miss Pettigrew. Odd that I felt comfortable with this film, which back-drop is the certainty of the coming war, and the uncertainty it portends.  It's not Mrs. Miniver, but did make me think of it, didn't it?  A lot of you will like it.  If you rent the DVD, watch the back-story about  its origin.  The author was a knockout.

WAR?

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton also struck down the section of law that makes it a crime not to carry immigration registration papers and the provision that makes it a crime for an illegal immigrant to seek or perform work.

That leaves Arizona with two choices.  No dicking around allowed. Arizona ignores Bolton's decision on the basis she lacks any constitutional granted standing to get involved; and threaten to arrest any federal agent attempting to enforce her order.  Calling up the Arizona National Guared would be in order. Capitulate, dashing the hopes of millions of Americans who recognize this is an historical opportunity, maybe the last ever,  toreturn to the rule of law. One or the other.    UPDATE United States v. Arizona — How 'Bout United States v. Rhode Island?  “ Well whaddya know? It turns out that Rhode Island has long been carrying out the procedures at issue in the Arizona immigration statute: As a matter of routine, RI state police check immigration status at traffic stops whenever there is reasonable suspicion to do so, and they report all illegals to the feds for deportation. Besides the usual profiling blather ... [More] ”

Galluped

Galluped v. gal·luped, gal·lup·ing, gal·lups

About ten days ago I came cross this story. “ PRINCETON, NJ -- Democrats pulled ahead of Republicans, 49% to 43%, in voters' generic ballot preferences for the 2010 congressional elections. ” Here's a few synchronous news items featured on Drudge. Halperin: Dems Start to Panic as Reality Sets In... POLL: Obama a Hindrance on Fall Elections... POLL: ANY REPUBLICAN WOULD BEAT OBAMA IN '12... Whites, Independents Deserting Obama... PAPER: The Tax Tsunami On The Horizon... Unemployment rate above 7% through Obama term... OBAMA SIGNS MASSIVE NEW GOV'T REGULATIONS -- AT REAGAN BUILDING! Yup.  All the ingredients for a sudden switch to the Democrats are there *snort*. Here's Gallup's reasoning for this bolt-from-the- blue shift towards the Obamunists. “ It's possible the increased voter support for Democratic candidates this past week is linked with the Wall Street regulatory reform bill that passed in the U.S. Senate last Thursday, July 15. The financial reform bill is the second-biggest piece of legislation to get through Congress this year, ” I know people around here were beside themselves with glee over ... what was that  ... the financial reform bill?   Was lots of anxiety it wouldn't get passed.  Some widders got a palsy worryin' about it.  Whew.  Today one of the few independent pollsters, one with a reputation for accuracy, stepped up to the plate.  “ Rasmussen: Generic Congressional Ballot Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 46%, Democrats 36% ” Gallup had a reputation for being reputable once.  So did the AP, CBS, ABC.... .  Once.

Just say NO

Clearwater's lifeguard station needs to be handicapped-accessible The tab: $455,700

In days of old, when knights were bold

People at the liquor store are always asking: “Say Rodge, what were old brothels like?”

Gold Rush Brothel

Michele Bachman

Political Throb-ons

“ Rep. Michele Bachmann appears on Bill O'Reilly's show, and is told that she is "second to Sarah Palin in far left angst... They're after you now." "I think it happened with a competing cable network that took an interest in me, and it's only grown," she responds. "Now, it's almost like I have personal stalkers, only they have Tv shows, so it's kind of an interesting phenomenon." Bachmann also suspects that MSNBC has a "stereotype for women" in which she does not fit into. ”

My Head, MY HEAD!

LEAVE ME ALONE DAMMIT

Sewer rats Every time I run across one of these HARPX HARPIC drain cleaner advertisements (rollover), this is what I see.  So I rendered it.

Guns 'n Docs

Boundary Violations Gun Politics in the Doctor's Office

“ "The correct response to that question is: "Do you know what a Boundary Violation is? Are you aware that such a medical ethics violation can cost you your practice?" # posted by  Kristopher : 7/27/10 1:04 PM ” Kristopher is one of the valued commenters here.  I like to think he's the ghost of Spoons, an erstwhile guardian angel who tried to save me from myself.  Anyway, his comment to the Pistol Packing Mama post triggered this one. “ Imagine this scenario: you visit your doctor for back pain. Your doctor asks if you have firearms in your home. Then he announces that your family would be better off (especially your children) if you had no guns at all in your house. You leave the doctor's office feeling uneasy, wondering what guns have to do with your backache. Does your doctor care about your family's safety? Or instead, did he use your trust and his authority to advance a political agenda? American families may soon find themselves in this scenario. Social activists are taking their war on gun ownership to a new battleground: the doctor's office.(1) The American Medical Association (AMA)(2), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)(3), and American College of Physicians (ACP)(4) are urging doctors to probe their patients about guns in their homes. They profess concern for patient safety. But their ulterior motive is a political prejudice against guns and gun owners. And that places their interventions into the area of unethical physician conduct called boundary violations. (Full) ” My own physician and I crossed e-mails over his support for Obamacare, but I eventually saw in our exchange the potential for prollems.  Like pissing-off the waiter who will be bringing your food order.  He never mentioned guns however. Is there any aspect of society left untouched by politics?

'Splain this Lucy

Seven People Have Been Entrusted With The Keys To The Internet

Something I understand Okay, help me out here.  “ The basic idea is that in the event of an Internet catastrophe, the DNSSEC (domain name system security) could be damaged or compromised and we'd be left without a way to verify if a URL is pointing to the correct website. That's when the holders of these smart cards would be called into action: A minimum of five of the seven keyholders – one each from Britain, the U.S., Burkina Faso, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, China, and the Czech Republic – would have to converge at a U.S. base with their keys to restart the system and connect everything once again. A minimum of five people is needed because each of the smart cards contains only a fraction of the recovery key necessary to set things right again. This means that no single person will hold all the power to resetting our little cyber world. [BBC via PopSci] ” Burkina Faso?  Trinidad?  Tobago? WTFF?  I mean, this sounds like a fine idea, especially if it will override an effort by Obama to shut down the nets, but why the five-of-seven verification?  I'm prolly way oversimplifying, but my techno pea-brain sees this as the lights going out prollem.  Why the hell can't anybody reset the fuse?  This sounds like something I should hate\, but don't know why.

When you drive with fascism ...

When You Drive a VOLT

two models to choose from TWO MODELS TO CHOOSE FROM News that Government Motors has introduced the VOLT electric car that will cost $41,000, and travel 40 miles on its battery charge, triggered thoughts of Al Gore, the Father of American Techno Fascism.  He must be humping a battery charger in his rented hotel room as we speak.  My yearning for some on-point didacticism led me to unearth this homage (ho-mazhhhh),  Al Gore's Fried Green Fascism.   You're welcome.

Eye Wash

Today's Puzzle

BONUS:  I put it together for you.  You're welcome. Tom Mann