TW3 — and a few FYI’s
That Was The Week That Was … pretty dismal, if you listen to the specifics. There are times when we should probably take a mental health break, breathe deeply, go cold turkey on the news for a bit — or, if you can’t stand the peace and quiet, read a condensed version, like the one below.
In other news — to keep it light — apparently Michael Steele was facing a vote of No Confidence from the Republicans yesterday; perhaps that’s what prompted him to confess that he’s pro-choice today. What’s to lose? Besides — did any of us think the Pubs would keep him in the top spot for long? I’m surprised it lasted this long.
Sara Palin’s daughter Bristol, has broken up with her hunky fiancee, Levi, and considering his pre-candidacy blog — where he said he had a girlfriend but it was nothing serious … and he didn’t want kids — I’m surprised they lasted this long. If you ask me, Bristol dodged a bullet; but she’ll never get too far out of Mommy Dearest’s influence, me’thinks.
Last — and feel free to laugh — Glenn Beck and Chuck Norris are in cahoots to take back America, before the Wrong Kind of Americans [Commie Socialist Pinko us] ruin it; there are evidently thousands of little Red cells across the nation that can be activated in an eye blink. They’re thinking this Friday would be a good day to try out a Second American Revolution. If you want to join in, here’s a map. The article link is from World Net Daily — go to their home page if you want to find out what’s up with the Wingnut Division of the Righty hoards.
And, lastly, I’m surprised Norris lasted this long … he’s had so much work, he’s beginning to look stuffed. The eyebrow pencil is particularly attractive.
It’s worthwhile, of course, to mention that all those Red cell members got guns and a seriously crazed attitude. So — keep yer heads down, citizen. It’s getting weird out there.
By the way, we celebrated Grammar Day? Who knew!! Did we cancel for the last eight years because we didn’t dare mention it?
No bonus today, although I’ll include this final link because it just tickles me — move over, Maxine: Kiss My 83 Year Old Ass
Jude
Harper’s Weekly Review
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 651,000
jobs were lost in February (making it the third straight
month in which more than 650,000 jobs have been lost) thus
increasing the unemployment rate to 8.1 percent, the
highest level since 1983. The Obama Administration pointed
to 60 new highway-paving jobs in Maryland as proof that
the $787 billion stimulus package was succeeding. “That’s
how we’re going to get the country back on its feet,” said
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The White House hopes
that the stimulus package will generate 3.5 million jobs;
4.4 million have been lost since the recession began in
December 2007, and a total of 12.5 million people are
unemployed, a number greater than the combined populations
of Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New
Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wyoming,
Washington, D.C., and both Dakotas. Economists predicted
that by the summer one in ten Americans would be out of
work. Former Countrywide Financial president Stanford
Kurland founded PennyMac, a business that purchases
delinquent mortgages, sometimes for pennies on the dollar,
from the government. “It is sort of like the arsonist,”
said Margot Saunders, a lawyer with the National Consumer
Law Center, “who sets fire to the house and then buys up
the charred remains and resells it.” The World Bank said
that the global economy would shrink in 2009 for the first
time since World War II, and auditors said that even with
loans from the Treasury, General Motors is likely to
fail. The United States celebrated Grammar Day.
After Republican senators prevented the passage of a
spending bill, Congress was forced to enact an emergency
five-day stopgap to keep the government from shutting
down. Senator John McCain criticized a $951,500 earmark
for a “sustainable Las Vegas.” “So much for the promise of
change,” he said. When asked about the state of the
Republican party, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said,
“It’s kind of like asking whether the stock market has
bottomed out.” The International Criminal Court charged
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with war crimes and
crimes against humanity for his “essential role” in the
genocide in Darfur. “‘Rape the women, kill the children,’”
one Sudanese soldier, who deserted, recalled as his
orders. “‘Leave nothing.’” The Sudanese government
responded by ordering relief organizations responsible for
feeding hundreds of thousands of people to cease
operations and leave the country. A man accused of killing
his girlfriend was shot inside a California courtroom
after he repeatedly stabbed the judge presiding over his
case, and a Nevada man was found guilty of sexually
assaulting two small girls. The verdict was based on a
video that showed the man, an animal trainer for Siegfried
& Roy named Chester Stiles, raping a two-year-old
girl. Neighbors and counselors of Lexie Agyepong-Glover, a
13-year-old Virginia girl who was killed by her foster
mother, said that in the past two years they had
repeatedly called police to report the child’s abuse but
nothing was ever done. People recalled Lexie wandering the
streets dressed in a barbecue-grill cover, trying to board
her school bus wearing only her underwear, and being
driven away from school in the trunk of her mother’s
car. “Lexie walks right over, climbs in that trunk,”
Brenda Taylor, Lexie’s school-bus driver, said. “She did
not hesitate, like she had been doing it every day.”
Alan Landers, the 68-year-old face of Winston cigarettes,
died of lung cancer, and a European study found that obese
teenagers are as likely as heavy smokers to die
prematurely. “It’s fairly dramatic when you say something
is as lethal as smoking,” said one of the researchers. “We
know of very few things from a health perspective that are
as lethal as smoking.” February U.S. retail sales
increased 0.7 percent, although if Wal-Mart sales were
excluded, sales would have decreased by 4.1 percent. “Flat
is the new up,” said one retail analyst. “If you’re only
doing a zero percent increase, congratulations. You’re a
winner.” Fans of Phish, who reunited after a five-year
hiatus to play three shows at Hampton Coliseum in Norfolk,
Virginia, were dismayed to learn that vendors would not be
allowed to sell their wares in the stadium’s parking
lot. “They won’t let us set up anywhere,” said Sarah Rose,
a 34-year-old who had hoped to sell her gems, jewelry, and
handmade dresses. “I’ve been to, like, 100 shows, and I’ve
never had this happen. This is a community.” Another
would-be vendor who was told by police that he needed a
permit said, “I’m just trying to make a living, feed my
kids. It’s a depression going on.” The Flaming Lips’ “Do
You Realize” was named Oklahoma’s state rock song. “Do you
realize,” go the lyrics, “that everyone you know/some
day/will die?” A dozen gunmen in Pakistan attacked the
visiting Sri Lankan cricket team, killing eight people and
injuring six players, and led some to question whether
Pakistan should remain a co-host of the 2011 Cricket World
Cup. President Barack Obama said the United States was not
winning the war in Afghanistan. The president of
Guinea-Bissau, Joao Bernardo Vieira, was assassinated; the
prime minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, was injured
in a car crash that killed his wife; and a 40-yard-wide
asteroid just missed striking the earth. President Obama
attempted to reassure the nation: “I don’t think,” he
said, “that people should be fearful about our future.”
– Claire Gutierrez
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/03/WeeklyReview2009-03-10
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” ~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007
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1 comment March 12th, 2009