This guy’s going to hell
posted by TheDon
BluegrassRoots went to the Creation Museum and wrote a very good report on it. Includes:
Early in the museum, the visitor is given advice on the proper mind frame to have for your visit: “Don’t think, just listen and believe”.
I’m pretty sure the RNC could sue them for copyright infringement…
I think Tucker just called Republicans stupid
posted by TheDon
The Beach Gestapo
posted by Susan Stark
I love the beach. I love the water. I love the sound of the waves and the wind caressing me.
I’ve loved this ever since I was a little girl in Michigan, swimming in the great, fresh-water lakes that surround the state. And it’s the same here in New York, the same beautiful sand, water, waves, and wind. As an adult I swim in the salt-water of the Atlantic.
But one thing I and other New Yorkers could do without are the obsessive and harassing park personnel and policies, otherwise known as the Beach Gestapo.
Once, on Staten Island, I walked from the train to the beach, got in the water, and was promptly told by a passing personnel that I must, MUST be in a designated swimming area with lifeguards. I had to walk a half a mile north to this area, only to see that the area was only several yards long, and was crammed with noisy people and their kids. I like my beach experience quiet, so I walked as far away from the crowd as possible, while still in range of the lifeguards. I should not have had to do all of that, because a simple sign saying “NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY, SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK” would have sufficed in most places. Not here, apparently.
The Beach Gestapo also goes around at 6pm sharp to tell everyone to get out of the water because the beach is closing. Shocking. I never heard of that practice until I moved here.
There are very few personnel at Coney Island Beach in Brooklyn telling folks to leave the water “immediately, or else”, but the last time I was there, there were signs on the bathroom doors telling people that they cannot use the bathroom to change clothes. This would’ve made sense if the city provided a place to change clothes, but there wasn’t a building in sight where you could do that. I changed clothes in the bathroom anyway, and so did everyone else. A nice bit of psychological warfare, if you ask me.
And finally, there are those who have been ticketed for leaving their stuff on the beach while they go into the water. Doing something like that is completely normal to the rest of us, but apparently not to the city. (Gee, too bad they didn’t have a maid to watch it for them, right Bloomberg?)
I have a word for the Beach Gestapo and everyone else reading this. The wealthy go to Fire Island and the Hamptons to swim. They do not swim in the city. I am a resident of New York City, and my hard-earned tax dollars pay for these beaches, and I will use them to my heart’s content. And so will every other New York City resident. You are not going to force us out with your personnel and your mind-games. We are not going to back down. Give it up.
TGIF! Drinks are on me!
posted by TheDon
It’s 90 degrees in Atlanta today, so our drink is a summer classic. Refreshing and wonderful.
Caipirinha
cut a lime into eighths and put it into the bottom of a glass
pour 1 Tablespoon sugar on the limes
crush the sugar into the limes with a pestle or wooden spoon, completely juicing them and dissolving the sugar
pour in 1/2 cup rum (Brazilian rum – cachaca preferred)
stir
put a handfull of ice on top and stir again
cheers!
I will never go to an Indiana County Fair
posted by TheDon
Not with this kind of stuff going on:
BAGHDAD (AP) – In a dawn strike Friday, unidentified gunmen attacked the house
of the police chief in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killing his wife, two brothers and 11 guards, Diyala provincial police reported.The attackers also abducted two sons and a daughter of police chief Col. Ali Dilayan al-Jorani, police said. The chief, head of central Baqouba’s Balda police station, wasn’t at home at the time, they said.
Can you even imagine the brutality of this attack? ELEVEN guards killed, along with the wife and two brothers! Yikes. I’m guessing this will make them hate us for our freedoms even more.
I meant for OTHER people…
posted by TheDon
If a conservative is a Democrat who has been mugged, I guess a liberal is a Republican who has had a slip-and-fall. According to ACSBlog, Robert Bork joins the long list of “tort reform” advocates who want a little taste of the pain and suffering money.
Judge Robert Bork, one of the fathers of the modern judicial conservative movement whose nomination to the Supreme Court was rejected by the Senate, is seeking $1,000,000 in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages, after he slipped and fell at the Yale Club of New York City. Judge Bork was scheduled to give a speech at the club, but he fell when mounting the dais, and injured his head and left leg. He alleges that the Yale Club is liable for the $1m plus punitive damages because they “wantonly, willfully, and recklessly” failed to provide staging which he could climb safely.
Judge Bork has been a leading advocate of restricting plaintiffs’ ability to recover through tort law. In a 2002 article published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy–the official journal of the Federalist Society–Bork argued that frivolous claims and excessive punitive damage awards have caused the Constitution to evolve into a document which would allow Congress to enact tort reforms that would have been unconstitutional at the framing.
$1 million, huh? His left leg must be priceless, because at MOST an injury to his head is worth $1.25.
Ted Rall is Finalist in Lambda Legal Cartoon Award; Online Voting Open to Public
Posted by Mikhaela Reid
Cartoonist Mikhaela Reid here. I’m supposed to be one of Ted’s guest bloggers, but I’ve been ill with strep my entire guest blog tenure so far and won’t be posting until I get better.
However, I wanted to quickly let everyone know that Ted’s cartoon “Explaining the Supreme Court” is one of five finalists in Lambda Legal’s Life Without Fair Courts cartoon contest. Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.
Check out all the finalists and cast your vote.
Here’s the contest info:
Lambda Legal has teamed up with Prism Comics (an organization for the LGBT graphic artist community), and media sponsor, The Advocate, to launch a nationwide contest to find the best representation of what life would look like without fair courts. First prize in the contest is exposure in The Advocate and on Advocate.com. Second and third prize include donated shopping sprees from Diamond Comics Distributors. Contest judges include Joan Hilty, Editor at DC Comics; Phil Jimenez, Freelance Illustrator and Comic Book Artist; Mikhaela Reid, creator of the original series, Life Without Fair Courts; and George Stoll, Art Director for The Advocate.
(Disclaimer: I was on the panel of judges who picked the finalists since I drew the original “Life Without Fair Courts” series that came before the contest, so I can’t take sides, but figured Ted’s fans should know about the contest since he’s trekking through the Stans and unable to post about this himself.)
A Progressive Appointment
posted by TheDon
Bush’s appointment of a gay Surgeon General is a big step forward for his hate-filled regime. Although James Holsinger is not the first gay appointee in the administration, he is the most openly gay one since Ken Mehlman.
Think Progress has Holsinger’s story,
including founding a church that “ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian.”
Look for him in a public restroom near you.
Like father, Like son
posted by TheDon
It has long been known that Chimpy takes after his mother. His temper, his cruelty, his beady-eyed stupidity, his disregard for all things decent are a perfect reflection of the former First Lady. Now, finally, we see King George share some characteristics with dear old dad.
Scooter Libby just became the highest ranking government official to get sentenced since the heady days of Iran-Contra. The disregard for the Constitution, extra-governmental intelligence gathering, the war-mongering, the corporate cronyism? That’s from dad.
