hmmmm

Here's a crazy idea: sell "amnesty" for illegals as a means of paying off the massive deficit. So many folks bitch about illegals "not payin' taxes like honest 'Mer'cans do", how about we make them all citizens? HA! That'll show 'em not to mess with us. After all, considering the whining from the Right, what better punishment can you imagine than making them pay taxes? 'Cause, like, they're already enjoying the fruits of the nation (like working long hours for unacknowledged aristocracy making pathetic wages while political deals are done in backrooms based not on the needs of the People but on who's got the most money).

question

Is it just me, or does using your own car in a bombing that's not a "suicide" seem like a really stupid idea? How hard is it to steal a car? Teenagers do it all the time. What part of not having links to the bombing did this guy not understand? If this is the quality of the intellect behind the danger, then the fact that we're still worrying makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with our side.

I stole this

Ken Murphy's 'A History of the Sky' enables the viewer to appreciate the rhythms of weather, the lengthening and shortening of days, and other atmospheric events on an immediate aesthetic level: the clouds, fog, wind, and rain form a rich visual texture, and sunrises and sunsets cascade across the screen.

An image of the sky is being captured every 10 seconds from a camera installed on the roof of the Exploratorium, on the edge of San Francisco Bay. The images collected over each 24-hour period are assembled into a 6 minute movie.



Ken Murphy's website.

Stolen from Presurfer

thursday night at the movies

a thought

So, some have suggested that the environmentalists may have sabotaged the oil platform in the gulf, hoping the disaster would end offshore drilling. It's a stupid idea, but, I suppose, possible, if really, really unlikely. See, environmentalists want to protect all the environment, not just part of it. They're not really a "destroy the village to save the village" crowd.
Here's another possibility, which seems to me more likely*: that someone who's been investing heavily in oil futures (say, perhaps, a Wall Street bank) sabotaged the rig in an effort to drive up oil prices, thus making their investment pay off all the better. Now that is a scenario that fits a philosophical profile.



* though neither is as likely as a simple combination of greed and lack of oversight

robert reich rocks

I've argued in the past that education needs to be better funded in the U.S., that in a land where ads and pundits tell us (in the interest of getting us to spend money) that education is the "best investment money can buy", it's crazy that we dont spend more funding on it. Hell, I think many people would be willing to accept cuts in welfare spending, if we simultaneously made higher education free and provided childcare for anyone who needed it. Think of it as teaching a man to fish.

quote for the day

"The enemy isnt liberalism. The enemy isnt conservatism. The enemy is bullshit."

Lars-Erik Nelson

quote for the day

"After all, you can't spell "Arizona" without the letters N, A, Z, and I."

Samurai Frog, discussing recent nuttiness in Arizona.

for monday

via Jonco.

just a thought

I havent had much to say about Arizona's new illegal immigrant bill, mostly because it's such a stupid, irritating law, and much of what needs to be said has been said already by people better at it than me. I just wanted to add one more point, though: If an officer was to stop me and ask me for proof of citizenship, I dont think I would have any, aside from my driver's license, which I suspect a lot of illegals have. I dont carry my social security card* around with me, nor my birth certificate. Actually, I'm not sure just where my birth certificate is these days, since I couldnt find it last time I looked for it.
Of course, this is completely beside the point, because I can guarantee you that a white boy such as myself is never going to be asked for proof of anything other than insurance. Right there is the problem with this "law", and the reason that it will probably end up being overturned.

Addendum: Frank Rich says Arizona's not the problem, but a symptom. I say, even though a cough isnt a cold, it still sometimes requires some strong medicine.


* also not unusual for illegals to have