Filed on February 28, 2009 at 4:20 pm under by dcobranchi
It’s Bill the cat. In the flesh.
Filed on at 2:29 am under by dcobranchi
I’m sorry, but a $4,000 tax increase on $300,000 income is not exactly a “laser-like strike aimed straight at their wallets.”
Filed on February 27, 2009 at 4:13 pm under by dcobranchi
PZ found a prime specimen of republicanus ignoramus.
Filed on February 26, 2009 at 10:28 pm under by dcobranchi
When did registering for the SAT become more complicated than buying a home?
Filed on at 9:38 pm under by dcobranchi
Senate bill S259 would allow HEKs to play g-school sports.
14 (23) Power to Adopt Eligibility Rules for Interscholastic Athletic Competition. –
15 The State Board of Education may adopt rules governing interscholastic
16 athletic activities conducted by local boards of education, including
17 eligibility for student participation. These rules shall provide that any high
18 school student who attends:
19 a. A public high school that does not have an interscholastic athletics
20 program in a given sport may participate in that sport at the high
21 school closest to the student’s school that has a program in that sport,
22 subject to the terms and conditions applicable to a regularly enrolled
23 member of that school’s student body.
24 b. A private school, home school, or charter school that does not have
25 an interscholastic athletics program in a given sport may participate
26 in that sport at the base public high school for the student’s address,
27 subject to the terms and conditions applicable to a regularly enrolled
28 member of that school’s student body. If the student’s base school
29 does not have a program in the sport, the student may participate in
30 the sport at the public high school closest to the student’s base school
31 that has a program in that sport, subject to the terms and conditions
32 applicable to a regularly enrolled member of that school’s student
33 body.
That bolded bit, I think, is the key. If you’re going to have to meet the”terms and conditions” of the g-schools, it’s not worth the trouble.
Filed on at 6:31 am under by dcobranchi
My favoritest coffee in the world, the coffee that makes the espresso that gets me out the door in the morning, is NLA at Sam’s Club. And I can’t buy it online!!!
Filed on February 24, 2009 at 4:55 pm under by dcobranchi
Good bill or bad?
UPDATE: More info from the better of SLC’s two papers.
Filed on February 22, 2009 at 5:25 pm under by dcobranchi
Pretty pic at APOD today.
Filed on at 6:47 am under by dcobranchi
In my local paper:
Toxic religion injures our nation
I can’t wait to see all the LttE this one inspires.
Filed on February 21, 2009 at 8:25 pm under by dcobranchi
Found on craigslist:
Ok, Today I think all could agree the world is gone to hell in a hand basket..With all of the big businesses hording all of the stimulus money along with the banks not making loans unless your credit is perfect and they seem to forget we have to all have a roof over our heads. This morning the news commented, 700,000 people became newly unemployed in February alone and the predictions are that 10% of you reading this will be unemployed by the end of the year. Folks, its time we take back control of our lives. With that being noted, I have developed a plan to offer housing, a long term job based on your qualifications, a new safe way of life, a infastructure completely relient on the people only. Picture coming home to a place where crime is below 2% and groceries are bought at 5% above cost, Clothes bought at 5% above cost and a bank that will work with you no matter what your situation is, A car included with your home, Cable TV included, unlimited phone calls including Long distance to friends and relatives, A tax deduction on your home every year, and the best part, imagine a year or so and you cannot fulfill your obligation on your home for one reason or another…No forecloser, nothing going on your credit to harm your future, just clean up and move out. Sounds like a dream? Actually more viable than you ever realized. First this type of place doesn’t exist today because the ecomomy hasn’t uncovered the possibilities until now. I need your input of your interest in such a place. Would you want to live in a place that you could jog, play tennis, swim, and roam freely without worry of being mugged? Would it be worth $1000 down and $650 per month + a flat $200 for all utilities ( Water,Cable,Phone,Electric and a car in a 1800 sq ft modern home. Please respond with your questions and interests as I want to know if the people would want this..If the response is good, I will pursue this until it is reality. I have the plan, just need interested people to complete this..
Filed on February 20, 2009 at 7:42 pm under by dcobranchi
Apparently the Tasings will continue until we can force the police to find a less violent means of dealing with the people they’ve sworn to serve and to protect. A million dollars from the officer and another from the town should serve as a nice incentive to re-think their actions.
Nan passed along this tale of a 90-pound autistic boy being Tased twice. Supposedly he posed a credible threat to the police officer.
Riiight.
Filed on at 9:51 am under by dcobranchi
GM: $1.87 $1.75
C: $2.09
BAC: $3.31
Hmmm. A share of GM is cheaper than a gallon of gas.
Filed on February 17, 2009 at 4:42 pm under by dcobranchi
I believe all right (as in correct) thinking folks ought to discourage new GOP head Michael Steele from even letting the Log Cabin Republicans see the itsy-bitsy ever shrinking big GOP tent, let alone come inside. After all, the LCRs only represent 20,000 gays. And millions and millions of young adults who will see the GOP as the party of bigots and homophobes. Of course the bigots base are correct. The GOP doesn’t want those kind of voters even considering voting for them.
Filed on at 6:09 am under by dcobranchi
Someone bail me out, please, if the police grab me.
Filed on at 5:00 am under by dcobranchi
that I’m no longer a Catholic. They really are stuck in the 4th century.
Filed on February 15, 2009 at 6:34 am under by dcobranchi
Yes, I understand that parents of kids diagnosed with autism are frustrated and upset and want answers. But the science is the science. And now the courts have spoken, too.
Let’s spend our energies looking for the real causes of autism, instead of re-fighting lost battles.
Filed on February 14, 2009 at 3:20 pm under by dcobranchi
A wacko Christian lawyer is wacked out worried that Obama is the Antichrist going to steal our kids and turn them all into Soylent Green make it more difficult for us to homeschool.
Filed on at 6:17 am under by dcobranchi
Love,
APOD
Filed on at 6:09 am under by dcobranchi
An edu-post.
Filed on February 13, 2009 at 5:41 pm under by dcobranchi
Summary: Rush Limbaugh falsely claimed that Democrats “have reformatted the [economic recovery] bill — they’ve made it a PDF file when they posted it. … And, so, you can read every page, but you cannot keyword search it. It’s not a text file as legislation normally is as posted on these public websites. They don’t want anybody knowing what’s in this.” In fact, as Adobe Systems notes of PDFs: “You can run a search using either the Search window or the Find toolbar. In either case, Reader searches the PDF body text, layers, form fields, and digital signatures.”
Media Matters helpfully points Rush to CRTL+F.
Filed on at 4:49 pm under by dcobranchi
12x optical zoom camera for $110. Wow!
Filed on at 4:28 pm under by dcobranchi
I have to give them credit, rightwingers have brass (bowling) balls:
Bruce Chapman is president of the Discovery Institute and a former director of the Census Bureau from 1981 to 1983. He says handing control of the Census over to the White House would compromise the integrity of the system and the population count so many people rely on.
“The first consequence is that literally states could [gain] or lose congressional seats. There could be changes in the makeup of legislative bodies within states,” he notes. “Millions, billions of dollars of money could be reallocated according to some sort of formula where the Census Bureau’s hard numbers are adjusted by sampling techniques and computer modeling, which are not good science.”
First, statistical modeling is quite well established science. And second, I’ll take lectures on what is and what isn’t good science from anyone associated with the DI when Hell freezes over.
Filed on February 12, 2009 at 4:30 pm under by dcobranchi
Shocked, I tell you*. Vaccines containing thimerosal aren’t linked to autism.
Not really.
Filed on at 2:14 am under by dcobranchi
Folks who believe that thimerosal-containing vaccines cause autism should receive an important ruling today.
I’ll be surprised if the plaintiffs win.
Filed on February 11, 2009 at 5:00 pm under by dcobranchi
This one is pretty hard to fathom:
A fourth-grade teacher at Bellefontaine’s Western Intermediate School, who was arrested Tuesday on prosecution charges, allegedly used a school computer and postings on Craigslist to set up daytime trysts with clients.
Daytime trysts? She was arrested at noon. Maybe she was on her lunch break?
Filed on at 4:34 am under by dcobranchi
Today’s product description is a must read. Too funny.
Filed on February 8, 2009 at 5:54 pm under by dcobranchi
I believe the GOP said the exact same thing about the Clinton tax hike in 1993.
Filed on at 6:14 am under by dcobranchi
In the Forum section of today’s Fayetteville Observer, the question concerned whether or not NC should institute a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. This one wins the Godwin Award for Most Egregious Violation of the Law in Old Media:
We have nonsmoking restaurants. We have only a few restaurants that have smoking and nonsmoking as required by law. I suggest to anyone, smoker or nonsmoker, look at Belmont, Calif., and see how government can get out of control. There you cannot smoke in your home.
My fear is what is next. Also, look up history under passive smoking and you might be surprised to learn one of the first to coin the phrase was Hitler.
For the record, NC isn’t so backward that we require smoking and nonsmoking sections by law. The law requires only that there be a nonsmoking section.
Filed on February 7, 2009 at 6:47 pm under by dcobranchi
Published a few minutes ago:
Vandals set two school buses on fire at Southview High School early Sunday and damaged another bus.
Filed on at 1:09 pm under by dcobranchi
In response to some atheist advertising, Christians think they need to promote God. But at least one con artist minister believes he’s found a way to turn a pound or two:
In Britain, the Rev. George Hargreaves, leader of the Christian Party, said he was annoyed that buses running past his London office bore the atheists’ creed. So his minor political party bought advertising assuring people of God’s existence. Those ads also seek to raise money by encouraging people, for a $2 fee, to text “Amen.”
There’s a sucker born every minute. — Proverbs 32:1
Filed on at 7:30 am under by dcobranchi
Bob Herbert in the NYT:
It’s been clear for years that the G.O.P. is a party without a heart. But its pointless obstructionism, its overall lack of any serious response to what is a clear national economic emergency, seems to indicate it’s also a party without a brain…
The Republicans still don’t get it. Most act as if they don’t understand that in this radical economic downturn the demand for goods and services has fallen off a cliff, and that government spending is needed — and needed quickly — to replace a large portion of that lost demand.
The goal is twofold: to alleviate some of the enormous suffering (something that is easily understood if you have a heart), and to revive the battered economy (equally easy to understand by anyone with a brain).
Filed on at 6:22 am under by dcobranchi
This chart pretty much says it all. And, no, that’s not an extrapolation. Those are actual job losses through January.
Filed on February 6, 2009 at 6:46 am under by dcobranchi
A GOP-bot almost stumbles on Truth:
“The new president’s only agenda is to undo everything that was put in place by the former administration, with no interest in the cost to this once-great nation.”
But her construction is a little mangled. This way is much clearer, IMO:
The new president’s only agenda is to undo everything that was put in place, with no interest in the cost to this once-great nation, by the former administration.
Filed on February 4, 2009 at 6:08 pm under by dcobranchi
This has to be one of the dumbest issues on which to take a contrary stand.
Filed on at 3:13 pm under by dcobranchi
Donny Wildmon of the AFA is such a kidder. Check out his latest sidesplitter:
Obama nominates pro-p*rn, pro-abortion lawyer for the number 2 position in the office of the Attorney General
Phone calls need now!
February 4, 2009
Dear Daryl,
Your phone calls are urgently needed now! President Obama has nominated David Ogden to be the second person in command in the U.S. office of the Attorney General! Ogden must be confirmed by the Senate.
Call your two senators and tell them to vote against the Ogden nomination. Ogden is no friend of the family.
• As an attorney in private practice, David W. Ogden has filed briefs pushing for gays in the military.
• He has litigated numerous obscenity and pornography cases on behalf of clients like Playboy, Penthouse, the ACLU and the largest distributor of hardcore pornographic movies.
In various cases, he has filed briefs opposing:
• parental notification before a minor’s abortion
• spousal notification before an abortion
• the military’s policy against public homosexuals serving in uniform
• the Children’s Internet Protection Act and the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act.
Filed on at 5:51 am under by dcobranchi
The NC General Assembly is considering giving parents a choice between comprehensive sex education (which works) and abstinence only sex education wishful thinking (which doesn’t). Believe it or not, this is actually a step in the right direction:
Two state lawmakers say they think North Carolina’s mandated abstinence-until-marriage sex education curriculum does not tell students what they need to know to keep from getting pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease.
Rep. Susan Fisher of Asheville and Rep. Bob England of Ellenboro want to add a comprehensive curriculum that would include more information on contraception. The proposed change would give parents the option to choose which program to send their children through: The comprehensive one or the abstinence-only one.
Sex ed is taught in grades 7 to 9 in Cumberland County. In 1995, state lawmakers passed a bill limiting sex education to mainly focusing on abstinence.
[snip]
The abstinence-only curriculum discusses other methods of pregnancy- and disease-prevention, but bars teachers from telling students details such as how to use a condom.
When students ask their teachers questions that the teachers are not allowed to answer, the teachers may refer them to someone else who can or to their parents, said Shirley Johnson, the Healthful Living Coordinator for the Cumberland County Board of Education.
That makes sense, because we all know that teens are completely comfortable talking to their parents about sex.
There’s a reason that NC ranks in the top 10 for teen pregnancy rate. I wonder what it could be.
Filed on February 2, 2009 at 5:54 pm under by dcobranchi
I blast my friend the editor for calling for 2 years of compulsory service by recent HS grads. Feel free to come over and blast him (or me), too.
Filed on February 1, 2009 at 8:20 am under by dcobranchi
It’s a bit of a long story that I might blog about soon, but I ended up on extreme wingnut Phyllis Schafly’s website. There I learned all sorts of interesting “facts” about the feminist agenda. I also learned that I’ve been wrong in thinking all these years that the two genders were male and female. Under Obama, they’ve been redefined:
Appoint feminists to key positions in all the federal departments and strive for gender balance (i.e., fifty percent feminists) throughout the government… Many Americans don’t understand what it means to be a feminist. Now we know. The premier feminist organization, NOW, has defined feminism for us.
Filed on at 3:11 am under by dcobranchi
Looks like I’ll have to resort to bribing my physician in order to keep my private health records private.
