Wednesday, July 01, 2009
You Can Never Be Too Rich...
Massachusetts has the second-lowest rate of obese adults in the U.S.
- Obesity rates among adults rose in 23 states over the past year and didn't decline anywhere, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long said that nearly a third of Americans are obese. The Trust report uses somewhat more conservative CDC surveys for a closer state-by-state look. Among the findings:
_Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity, 32.5 percent, for the fifth year in a row.
_Three additional states now have adult obesity rates above 30 percent, including Alabama, 31.2 percent; West Virginia, 31.1 percent; and Tennessee, 30.2 percent.
_Colorado had the lowest rate of obese adults, at 18.9 percent, followed by Massachusetts, 21.2 percent; and Connecticut, 21.3 percent.
_Mississippi also had the highest rate of overweight and obese children, at 44.4 percent. It's followed by Arkansas, 37.5 percent; and Georgia, 37.3 percent.
_Following Alabama, Michigan ranks No. 2 with the most obese 55- to 64-year-olds, 36 percent. Colorado has the lowest rate, 21.8 percent.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Separated at Birth?
Fascist Boston radio host Jay Severin...
...and Freddie Kruger?
...and Freddie Kruger?
Saturday, May 16, 2009
GOP Admits to Discrimination
- RNC chief: Gay marriage will burden small business
By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press Writer
SAVANNAH, Ga. Republicans can reach a broader base by recasting gay marriage as an issue that could dent pocketbooks as small businesses spend more on health care and other benefits, GOP Chairman Michael Steele said Saturday.
Steele said that was just an example of how the party can retool its message to appeal to young voters and minorities without sacrificing core conservative principles. Steele said he used the argument weeks ago while chatting on a flight with a college student who described herself as fiscally conservative but socially liberal on issues like gay marriage.
"Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for," Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. "So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money."
Seriously: what's the difference between this, and saying, "We only provide our full benefits package to straight people"?
Worse, in Steele's ideal world, what would stop businesses from hiring only straight people? It's cheaper, right? If they only had to provide full benefits to straights, wouldn't they naturally try to discern the sexual preference of potential employees?
Oh yes, they would.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Then Let Us Come to a Mutual Understanding
"It was my understanding that I was involved in an altercation."
- Scott Walker, May 11, 2009.
Ok.
Friday, May 01, 2009
My arm go comme a...
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Some Helpful Advice for Canadiens Fans Coming to Boston for the NHL Playoffs.
Welcome to Boston! We appreciate you as fans of our worthy opponents, the Montreal Canadiens, and as fellow fans of the great game of hockey. We hope you enjoy your stay in Boston, and offer these suggestions for getting the most out of your experience in our great city:
1. All food and beverage items in the Garden cost one dollar, so $20 will get you ten beers and tons of food.
2. Outside the Garden, be sure to stop by The Harp for a drink. Remember: if you sing "God Save the Queen," in the Harp, you get free appetizers!
3. Boston Police officers are very friendly, and prefer to be addressed as "Pig-Brain." This is an old Boston police joke -- it will show the officer that you really know Boston, and you'll share a good laugh.
4. Bruins fans LOVE Canadiens fans - especially your cool European-style "Ol, Ol" chant. We find it irresistible. If you see a large group of Bruins fans from Charlestown, throw your arms around them in the communal spirit of hockey, and lead them in a good, loud, round of "Ol!" -- and be sure to kiss them each on both cheeks, in a show of continental solidarity.
5. Some of the best restaurants in Boston are nearby, in the North End. Better still, North End residents LOVE their daughters to date men from foreign countries. So enjoy the food, and feel free to flirt heavily and openly with the pretty girls in the North End.
Once again, enjoy your stay in Boston - and may the best team win!
1. All food and beverage items in the Garden cost one dollar, so $20 will get you ten beers and tons of food.
2. Outside the Garden, be sure to stop by The Harp for a drink. Remember: if you sing "God Save the Queen," in the Harp, you get free appetizers!
3. Boston Police officers are very friendly, and prefer to be addressed as "Pig-Brain." This is an old Boston police joke -- it will show the officer that you really know Boston, and you'll share a good laugh.
4. Bruins fans LOVE Canadiens fans - especially your cool European-style "Ol, Ol" chant. We find it irresistible. If you see a large group of Bruins fans from Charlestown, throw your arms around them in the communal spirit of hockey, and lead them in a good, loud, round of "Ol!" -- and be sure to kiss them each on both cheeks, in a show of continental solidarity.
5. Some of the best restaurants in Boston are nearby, in the North End. Better still, North End residents LOVE their daughters to date men from foreign countries. So enjoy the food, and feel free to flirt heavily and openly with the pretty girls in the North End.
Once again, enjoy your stay in Boston - and may the best team win!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Gone Bruin
201k is on hiatus until the end of the 2008-2009 NHL season. In the meantime, enjoy this:
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Gail Collins...
...is the funniest.
Gail obviously doesn't understand that pushing aside failed Republican economic policies in favor of proven Democratic ones (aka the ones people actually voted for in November) is the old kind of bi-partisanship.
The new kind involves talking a lot about compromise, then giving the Money People what they want.
After all, it's their country, and Obama knows it. He always has.
- I dropped out of school for a semester to campaign for Barack Obama. And now Im asking myself whether I spent four months living with my aunt and going door to door in Dayton, Ohio, just so we could have a stimulus plan written by a bunch of moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats in the Senate.
I dont know how many times we need to go over this, but this is actually a real-life version of what Obama promised during the campaign. Didnt you jump up and cheer when your guy promised that hed get Republicans and Democrats to work together?
I wanted them to work together on global warming, not on cutting money for Head Start out of the stimulus.
And Obama feels your pain. He always said the bipartisan path was going to be rocky, but this week the going was so rough that the great trailer-tractor of stimulus blew out several tires on the shoals of post-partisanism. It was embarrassing the President of the United States held White House negotiations with people who had already announced that they had no intention of voting for his bill. He let minority-party subleaders lecture him about whats wrong with redistribution of wealth. He had a bipartisan Super Bowl party! But he still wound up cooling his heels, waiting for word from the newly hatched moderate caucus on what would happen next. This is the group that was led by Susan Collins of Maine. In November, we apparently elected Collins and her fellow Maine Republican, Olympia Snowe, to help run the country. And you wasted all that time thinking about Joe Biden.
Gail obviously doesn't understand that pushing aside failed Republican economic policies in favor of proven Democratic ones (aka the ones people actually voted for in November) is the old kind of bi-partisanship.
The new kind involves talking a lot about compromise, then giving the Money People what they want.
After all, it's their country, and Obama knows it. He always has.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
You Go.
The Inauguration
Here, in no particular order, are our favorite moments from yesterday, along with those of some Poor Readers:
- Dick Cheney doing his Dr. Strangelove imitation, with George W. Merkin Muffley Bush walking beside him.
Rick Warren going on at length about the need for inclusion, a new humility, a new humbleness, a new direction, because we're ALL Americans in this new, changed world where the old divisions no longer apply -- then reciting the "Our Father."
Joe Biden's "I only accepted this job because Barack promised me it would be a substantive position, with real input," while written all over his face was "Woo-hoo! No real job and endless state dinners here I come!"
The endless fanfares that almost turned the whole event into Hail, Freedonia:
- "And now, the assistant undersecretary of the interior for the northern district of southern Virginia!" *Gee-gee-ga-gee-gee! Gee-gee-ca-geeeeeeeee!!!!!"
- We kept expecting Mel Brooks to come out dressed as a king.
Katie Couric, about an hour after Obama was sworn in, asking the CBS correspondent in Gaza if "anything had changed there since Barack Obama took the oath of office."
Countless pro-Obama posters commenting in the NY Timesthat God had a hand in making him President, and that "cynics," "doubters," "separatists" and anyone who judges Obama "on an issue," are the new Real Enemy.
- In other words, God made our guy President, and anyone who doubts or questions is the Enemy.
- Gosh, that sounds familiar...
- That Joe Biden's wife dresses and comports herself like a Type A Cougar.
That the new First Lady can actually dance.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Kennedy Suffers Seizure, Kerry Still a Doofus
- WASHINGTON -- Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts collapsed at the congressional luncheon honoring President Obama and has been taken to a local hospital.
Dr. Edward Aulisi, chairman of neurosurgery at Washington Hospital Center, just released this statement:
Senator Edward Kennedy experienced a seizure today while attending a luncheon for President Barack Obama in the U.S. Capitol. After testing, we believe the incident was brought on by simple fatigue. Senator Kennedy is awake, talking with family and friends, and feeling well. He will remain at the Washington Hospital Center overnight for observation, and will be released in the morning.
A few hours later, Senator John F. Kerry of Massaschusetts visited Kennedy, whom he said would remain overnight at the hospital. "He's laughing and joking right now, he's got all his Irish dander up," Kerry added, according to the AP.
Doofus.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Stop The Presses!
That Was The Point, Wasn't It?
More Joining American Military as Jobs Dwindle
- As the number of jobs across the nation dwindles, more Americans are joining the military, lured by a steady paycheck, benefits and training.
And the trend seems to be accelerating.
When the economy slackens and unemployment rises and jobs become more scarce in civilian society, recruiting is less challenging, said Curtis Gilroy, the director of accession policy for the Department of Defense.
They are saying, There are no jobs, no one is hiring, or if someone is hiring they are not getting enough hours to support their families or themselves, said Sgt. First Class Phillip Lee, 41, the senior recruiter in the Army office in Bridgeport, Conn.
He said he had been struck by the number of unemployed construction workers and older potential recruits people in their 30s and beyond who had contacted him to explore the possibility.
Of the high school graduates, a few told him recently that they had to scratch college plans because they could not get students loans or financial aid.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Let's Not Quibble About Who Killed Who
The question:
- "Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor...to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"
- ...on Sunday, George Stephanopoulos directly asked Obama Fertik's question ("the most popular question on your own website")
Obama echoed Biden's reply: "I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards... My orientation is going to be to move forward."
Obama: The Blank Screen
The next months and years could be fascinating, as the nation begins to discover who and what Barack Obama is. We wish more Americans had looked into the question a bit more before voting for him, but what's done is done; all that's left to do now is watch for the reveal -- and the efforts to minimize, obscure, rationalize, and deny it.
It's early days, and the ground is still wet and muddy, with observers of all political stripes unsure of exactly what creature they're tracking:
Gosh.
If only some system had existed waaaay back in November that could have shed a little light on the guy. You know, some people to look into it and somehow get the information out to voters. Something.
Heck, voters could have gone crazy and looked into it themselves. Nah -- that would have killed the buzz.
Anyway, Ms. Schlink is incorrect that McCain voters will be happier with Obama than "the people who voted for him," simply because so many of the people who voted for him never knew or cared what his political beliefs were -- and still don't. They'll be happy with whatever he does, because their support for him was never about him; it was about themselves.
People are capable of any level of rationalization the morning after, especially if the night before was entirely about their own self-satisfaction. And don't think Barack Obama doesn't know it:
It's early days, and the ground is still wet and muddy, with observers of all political stripes unsure of exactly what creature they're tracking:
- ...Mr. Obamas effort to use this interregnum between Election Day and Inauguration Day to present himself as a political moderate (he might use the word pragmatist) appears to be working. In this latest poll, 40 percent described the president-elects ideology as liberal, a 17-point drop from just before the election.
I think those of us who voted for McCain are going to be a lot happier with Obama than the people who voted for him, Valerie Schlink, 46, a Republican from Valparaiso, Ind., said in an interview after participating in the poll.
Gosh.
If only some system had existed waaaay back in November that could have shed a little light on the guy. You know, some people to look into it and somehow get the information out to voters. Something.
Heck, voters could have gone crazy and looked into it themselves. Nah -- that would have killed the buzz.
Anyway, Ms. Schlink is incorrect that McCain voters will be happier with Obama than "the people who voted for him," simply because so many of the people who voted for him never knew or cared what his political beliefs were -- and still don't. They'll be happy with whatever he does, because their support for him was never about him; it was about themselves.
People are capable of any level of rationalization the morning after, especially if the night before was entirely about their own self-satisfaction. And don't think Barack Obama doesn't know it:
- ...perhaps this opacity is Obamas political genius: that it is precisely the enigmatic, inert character of Obama that seems to generate the desire to identify with him, indeed to love him....Obama recognizes this capacity in an intriguing and profound remark when he writes, I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.
Friday, January 16, 2009
"Without Truth there is no Justice. Without Justice there is no Freedom."
Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman rightly calls for the incoming Obama administration to investigate and if warranted prosecute the outgoing Bush administration for the lies and crimes of the last eight years.
Mr. Krugman makes this argument knowing full well the incoming Obama administration will do no such thing (which is why he's calling for it.)
We'd add to his argument two additional reasons why such an accounting is essential:
Mr. Krugman makes this argument knowing full well the incoming Obama administration will do no such thing (which is why he's calling for it.)
We'd add to his argument two additional reasons why such an accounting is essential:
- If the American people don't hold their leaders accountable for crimes committed in their name, then the American people are likewise guilty.
If the lies and crimes of the outgoing Republican administration are not exposed, then those who perpetrated them -- and their sympathizers -- will rewrite history to blame Democrats. This effort has already begun.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
That Was Then...
President-elect Barack Obama in 1996:
- I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.
- "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."
Monday, January 12, 2009
It's About Time
Friday, January 09, 2009
Change! Compare and Contrast
2000: Having won the Presidency with a margin so small that to this day many people dispute that he won it at all, George W. Bush inherits a country in reasonably good shape, and a government surplus -- and declares that he has a mandate to enact a radical right-wing Republican agenda. He then embarks on an eight-year campaign of labeling any political disagreement over his efforts as tantamount to treason.
2008: Barack Obama, winning the presidency in a decisive electoral victory, inherits a deficit of historical proportions, a country and an economy left in shambles by George W. Bush's right-wing Republican agenda -- which voters across the spectrum disapprove of, turning both Houses of Congress over to Democrats and sending Bush offstage with the lowest approval ratings in modern history -- and proposes economic recovery measures which consist in large part of the failed Republican policies that caused the problem.
To objections from Democrats about his proposals, Obama said:
2008: Barack Obama, winning the presidency in a decisive electoral victory, inherits a deficit of historical proportions, a country and an economy left in shambles by George W. Bush's right-wing Republican agenda -- which voters across the spectrum disapprove of, turning both Houses of Congress over to Democrats and sending Bush offstage with the lowest approval ratings in modern history -- and proposes economic recovery measures which consist in large part of the failed Republican policies that caused the problem.
To objections from Democrats about his proposals, Obama said:
- "It's time to get past the old Washington habit of being too concerned about where on the ideological spectrum the idea originates."
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Now THAT'S Ironic
This would be funny if it weren't so not funny.
You know the people you have to deal with when you have a problem with a bill or a credit card company or other lender? The ones who answer the 800 line, speak slightly funny English and have obviously fake names -- and never give you a break?
The ones who, no matter how many times you explain things, no matter how long you've been a customer, no matter how much money you've paid over the years, absolutely never let you off the hook?
The ones that are very sorry, but there's nothing they can do about the extra fee, the higher interest, the over-limit penalty -- the whatever?
You know the ones I mean?
They're having a slight issue and they'd really appreciate your understanding.
You know the people you have to deal with when you have a problem with a bill or a credit card company or other lender? The ones who answer the 800 line, speak slightly funny English and have obviously fake names -- and never give you a break?
The ones who, no matter how many times you explain things, no matter how long you've been a customer, no matter how much money you've paid over the years, absolutely never let you off the hook?
The ones that are very sorry, but there's nothing they can do about the extra fee, the higher interest, the over-limit penalty -- the whatever?
You know the ones I mean?
They're having a slight issue and they'd really appreciate your understanding.
- Satyam Chief Admits Huge Fraud
NEW DELHI Satyam Computer Services, a leading Indian outsourcing company that serves more than a third of the Fortune 500 companies, significantly inflated its earnings and assets for years, the chairman and co-founder said Wednesday...
The chairman, Ramalinga Raju, resigned after revealing that he had systematically falsified accounts as the company expanded from a handful of employees into a back-office giant with a work force of 53,000 and operations in 66 countries.
Mr. Raju said Wednesday that 50.4 billion rupees, or $1.04 billion, of the 53.6 billion rupees in cash and bank loans the company listed as assets for its second quarter, which ended in September, were nonexistent.
Revenue for the quarter was 20 percent lower than the 27 billion rupees reported, and the companys operating margin was a fraction of what it declared, he said Wednesday in a letter to directors that was distributed by the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Satyam serves as the back office for some of the largest banks, manufacturers, health care and media companies in the world, handling everything from computer systems to customer service.
In the four-and-a-half page letter distributed by the Bombay stock exchange, Mr. Raju described a small discrepancy that grew beyond his control. What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years. It has attained unmanageable proportions as the size of company operations grew, he wrote. It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.
Speaking of a deep regret and a tremendous burden, Mr. Raju said that neither he nor the co-founder and managing director, B. Rama Raju, had taken one rupee/dollar from the company.
Yet More Change!
Wow, here's some new ideas.
New for a Democrat, that is.
On top of the $300 billion in tax cuts announced yesterday?
My, Obama certainly is all about change. We haven't heard about "reforming" Social Security and Medicare, knifing entitlement programs, and cutting taxes since...well, since the last time Republicans brought it up.
He's changing things alright; changing the Democratic Party into the Republican Party.
Will his supporters blink? Not for a moment. They'll love these ideas. They'll be certain that Social Security faces "a looming crisis" unless it's "reformed." They'll be thrilled with the way he's "reaching across the aisle."
Oh, Yes They Will.
Wall Street will soon have the only government loot that had as yet escaped it: Social Security. And progressives will not only have enabled it, they'll be all for it.
New for a Democrat, that is.
- WASHINGTON President-elect Barack Obama said Wednesday that reforming massive government entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare would be "a central part" of his effort to control federal spending.
Noting that the Congressional Budget Office had just estimated he would inherit a $1.2 trillion federal deficit for fiscal 2009, Obama promised to cut unnecessary spending.
"We expect that discussion around entitlements will be a part, a central part of those plans," Obama said. "And I would expect that by February in line with the announcement of at least a rough budget outline we will have more to say about how we're going to approach entitlement spending."
On top of the $300 billion in tax cuts announced yesterday?
My, Obama certainly is all about change. We haven't heard about "reforming" Social Security and Medicare, knifing entitlement programs, and cutting taxes since...well, since the last time Republicans brought it up.
He's changing things alright; changing the Democratic Party into the Republican Party.
Will his supporters blink? Not for a moment. They'll love these ideas. They'll be certain that Social Security faces "a looming crisis" unless it's "reformed." They'll be thrilled with the way he's "reaching across the aisle."
Oh, Yes They Will.
Wall Street will soon have the only government loot that had as yet escaped it: Social Security. And progressives will not only have enabled it, they'll be all for it.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Well, He Did Promise Change
Obama Plan Includes $300 Billion in Tax Cuts
No, we don't expect the majority of his supporters to have any problem with it. He could privatize the public schools and they'd be all for it -- he's Obama!
We look forward to "Yes We Can" progressives espousing the merits of trickle-down economics.
Oh, Yes They Will.
Here's a quick chart of how it works, so you can follow along for the next four years:
- WASHINGTON President-elect Barack Obama plans to include about $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses in his economic recovery program, advisers said Sunday, as his team seeks to win over Congressional skeptics worried that he was too focused on government spending.
No, we don't expect the majority of his supporters to have any problem with it. He could privatize the public schools and they'd be all for it -- he's Obama!
We look forward to "Yes We Can" progressives espousing the merits of trickle-down economics.
Oh, Yes They Will.
Here's a quick chart of how it works, so you can follow along for the next four years:
- Step 1: Obama makes appointment, proposal, or needless concession that violates core progressive value.
Step 2: Specific progressive group affected (and other suspicious characters) complain.
Step 3: Citing "a need for change," unflappable Obama supporters unequivocally endorse policy despite its being a violation of core progressive values and despite its not being a change from current (Republican) policy at all.
Step 4: Faced with the inescapable perniciousness of the policy, Obama supporters concede its flaws [NOTE! This step may not happen!] but defend it on the grounds of "political necessity" -- whether or not it is in fact a political necessity.
Step 5: Repeat.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Boycott the NHL All-Star Game
This is an embarrassment and a disgrace.
Obviously the NHL was in a bad spot, having allowed fan voting over the Internet that allowed fans to spam the vote. But having detected and rectified that issue the league should have had the guts to wipe the slate clean and start the voting over.
Whatever outcry that would have engendered would be preferable to the ridiculous spectacle of four teams representing the entire starting lines of both the Eastern and Western Conferences.
The Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins are in 5th and 8th place. The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks are in 4th and 6th place.
Where are the San Jose Sharks? The Detroit Red Wings? The Washington Capitals? The Boston Bruins?
Sorry -- we will not be watching. If the NHL is going to allow Montreal to turn their 100th Anniversary All-Star Game Celebration into a home-town event, then they can have it.
Hope they enjoy it. A party they're throwing for themselves that no one else is coming to.
Obviously the NHL was in a bad spot, having allowed fan voting over the Internet that allowed fans to spam the vote. But having detected and rectified that issue the league should have had the guts to wipe the slate clean and start the voting over.
Whatever outcry that would have engendered would be preferable to the ridiculous spectacle of four teams representing the entire starting lines of both the Eastern and Western Conferences.
The Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins are in 5th and 8th place. The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks are in 4th and 6th place.
Where are the San Jose Sharks? The Detroit Red Wings? The Washington Capitals? The Boston Bruins?
Sorry -- we will not be watching. If the NHL is going to allow Montreal to turn their 100th Anniversary All-Star Game Celebration into a home-town event, then they can have it.
Hope they enjoy it. A party they're throwing for themselves that no one else is coming to.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Album of the Year
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Change You Need To Suspend Your Disbelief For
Part I, Wherein Our Hero Selects an Anti-Choice, Anti-Gay Marriage Preacher to Deliver the Invocation at his Inauguration:
Gay leaders furious with Obama
Praise and Criticism for Proposed Interior Secretary
Gay leaders furious with Obama
- Barack Obamas choice of a prominent evangelical minister todeliver the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement...
Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, opposes abortion rights but has taken more liberal stances on the government role in fighting poverty, and backed away from other evangelicals staunch support for economic conservatism. But its his support for the California constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage that drew the most heated criticism from Democrats Wednesday.
Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans, the president of Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese, wrote Obama Wednesday. [W]e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.
Obama opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposed the California constitutional amendment Warren backed. In selecting Warren, he is choosing to reach out to conservatives on a hot-button social issue, at the cost of antagonizing gay voters who overwhelmingly supported him.
Praise and Criticism for Proposed Interior Secretary
- President-elect Barack Obamas choice to lead the Interior Department, Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, said on Wednesday that his job would be to try to balance protection of public lands with the continued development of domestic sources of coal, oil and natural gas.
His efforts in the past as a state and federal official to thread the difficult political needle between the environment and energy brought him decidedly mixed reviews from environmental groups on Wednesday, but cautious praise from energy and mining interests.
Environmental advocates offered mixed reviews of Mr. Salazar, 53, a first-term Democratic senator who served as head of Colorados natural resources department and the states attorney general. He was not the first choice of environmentalists, who openly pushed the appointment of Representative Ral M. Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona, who has a strong record as a conservationist.
Oil and mining interests praised Mr. Salazars record as a state official and as a senator, saying that he was not doctrinaire about the use of public lands for resource exploitation. Nothing in his record suggests hes an ideologue, said Luke Popovich, spokesman for the National Mining Association. Heres a man who understands the issues, is open-minded and can see at least two sides of an issue.
Mr. Popovich noted approvingly that Mr. Salazar had tried to engineer a deal in the Senate under which mining companies and others could reclaim abandoned mines without fear of lawsuits. (The legislation is pending.) He also backed a compromise under which oil companies could drill for natural gas in limited parts of the Roan Plateau in northwestern Colorado, a plan that most environmental advocates opposed.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Phil Kessel NHL's #1 Star of the Week
Congrats to both Phil and coach Claude Julien. They did this together.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Gee, Where Could That Have Come From?
Republican Senators are holding up an auto-industry bailout unless it includes steep concessions by the United Auto Workers union.
Now what constituency could have put that bug in GOP ears?
Who could have instructed Mitch McConnell and company to suddenly see a need and an opportunity to bust a union in the process of bailing out an industry?
Who else?
Now what constituency could have put that bug in GOP ears?
Who could have instructed Mitch McConnell and company to suddenly see a need and an opportunity to bust a union in the process of bailing out an industry?
Who else?
Friday, December 05, 2008
Why Sean Avery Got Six Days
People expressing surprise at the severity of Sean Avery's suspension from the NHL have missed, from the start, exactly what Avery was saying when he made his ill-conceived remarks.
It was clear to us from the first we heard it that Avery was using the term "sloppy seconds" intending its most graphically sexual and vulgar meaning -- not as "a disparaging term for an ex-girlfriend" but in its most literal, graphic and pornographic sense.
Sean Avery, oft-ridiculed as "Sean Gayvery" for his interest in fashion, wasn't insulting his ex-girlfriends; he was making a sexual insinuation about other NHL players. What he was saying, in so many words, was, "Gee, they call me gay but there's a lot of guys in this league that like to sleep with women after I've slept with them."
As in, immediately after he'd slept with them.
Understand that it isn't the "sexual preference" aspect of this remark that was the problem; it was that Avery intended "sloppy seconds" to be understood in its most literal, graphic, and sexual sense. That's why he's in trouble.
We knew NHL commissioner Gary Bettman would throw the book at him because we suspected that Bettman, aged 56, would hear it the way we heard it.
It was clear to us from the first we heard it that Avery was using the term "sloppy seconds" intending its most graphically sexual and vulgar meaning -- not as "a disparaging term for an ex-girlfriend" but in its most literal, graphic and pornographic sense.
Sean Avery, oft-ridiculed as "Sean Gayvery" for his interest in fashion, wasn't insulting his ex-girlfriends; he was making a sexual insinuation about other NHL players. What he was saying, in so many words, was, "Gee, they call me gay but there's a lot of guys in this league that like to sleep with women after I've slept with them."
As in, immediately after he'd slept with them.
Understand that it isn't the "sexual preference" aspect of this remark that was the problem; it was that Avery intended "sloppy seconds" to be understood in its most literal, graphic, and sexual sense. That's why he's in trouble.
We knew NHL commissioner Gary Bettman would throw the book at him because we suspected that Bettman, aged 56, would hear it the way we heard it.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Sean Avery
First: 201k has both Sean Avery and Dion Phaneuf in a fantasy hockey league which only counts PIMs. We're currently in second place in the league; to say we were looking forward to tonight's game would be an understatement.
Second: if Avery had said what he said on the ice, being his usual pest, trying to irritate an opponent -- fine. Keeping (or losing) your composure is part of the game.
But he didn't say it on the ice; he said it on camera, hours before the game.
Furthermore, from the great Kevin Paul Dupont:
Second: if Avery had said what he said on the ice, being his usual pest, trying to irritate an opponent -- fine. Keeping (or losing) your composure is part of the game.
But he didn't say it on the ice; he said it on camera, hours before the game.
Furthermore, from the great Kevin Paul Dupont:
- Only some six weeks to go before the Players Association informs the Lords of the Boards whether it will keep on keepin' on with the current CBA or whistle it dead after this season. NHLPA boss Paul Kelly has met with 17 of the 30 clubs...
According to Kelly, many of the questions raised by players relate to how to keep revenues growing. "My response is that the guys need to keep doing what they're doing, namely playing competitive and exciting hockey, and continuing to be great ambassadors for the sport off the ice..."
Monday, December 01, 2008
Moon over Medford
According to Boston.com,
The Crescent Moon, of course, "slices" its way across the sky.
For the record, Mercury "slides," Neptune "swims," the Earth "spins," and Saturn "plows."
Meanwhile, Uranus "reels."
- Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, have been marching toward each other for more than a month in the southwestern sky at dusk. As they've drawn closer together, the sight has been catching more people's eyes, and now the show is reaching its climax.
This evening, weather permitting, you will see Venus and Jupiter blazing about a finger's width apart at arm's length. Look early enough and, far to their lower right, you can find the crescent moon just above the horizon.
The Crescent Moon, of course, "slices" its way across the sky.
For the record, Mercury "slides," Neptune "swims," the Earth "spins," and Saturn "plows."
Meanwhile, Uranus "reels."
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Why Bother?
Maureen Dowd is worried about U.S. newspapers "off-shoring" reporting:
- [James Macpherson] fired his seven Pasadena staffers including five reporters who were making $600 to $800 a week, and now he and his wife direct six employees all over India on how to write news and features, using telephones, e-mail, press releases, Web harvesting and live video streaming from a cellphone at City Hall.
I wondered how long it would be before some guy in Bangalore was writing my column about President Obama.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
They Had it Exactly Backwards
Apparently there's some consternation among supporters of Barack Obama that his cabinet picks and recent rhetoric are far less progressive than they'd expected.
Gee, what a shocker.
Here's another one for you, Poor Readers: while Barack Obama is, and has always been - at best - a centrist who talks like a progressive, Hillary Clinton is a progressive who talks like a centrist.
Voters who confused Clinton with her husband were in error, and we continue to expect it's an error the honest among them will live to regret.
Gee, what a shocker.
Here's another one for you, Poor Readers: while Barack Obama is, and has always been - at best - a centrist who talks like a progressive, Hillary Clinton is a progressive who talks like a centrist.
Voters who confused Clinton with her husband were in error, and we continue to expect it's an error the honest among them will live to regret.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
We May Cry.
There it is, in living color.
It may not last, but damn it, we got a picture of it.
So hoist one tonight, where ever you may be, members of the Boston Diaspora, to the best coach in hockey, Claude Julien, and the FIRST PLACE BOSTON BRUINS.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It may not last, but damn it, we got a picture of it.
So hoist one tonight, where ever you may be, members of the Boston Diaspora, to the best coach in hockey, Claude Julien, and the FIRST PLACE BOSTON BRUINS.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bruins Slapshot Night
A great time at the Bruins' game last night, on "Slapshot Night." Here's a photo of the Boys in the Box wearing their Hanson Brothers glasses:
Photo 2008 www.201k.com
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Just Because...
...tomorrow night is "Slapshot Night" at the Boston Bruins.
