Monthly Archives: January 2013

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Hot Tip

This photo is going viral:

PastorTip

And here’s the background:

The pastor was part of a party of 20 who ate at this server’s restaurant. Like many American restaurants, this particular one has a policy of adding an automatic 18% tip for large parties. It’s something the computer does automatically, not something the server has any control over. According to the server, the pastor and his party tried to get around the automatic 18% tip by asking for separate checks, even though the same man was paying for the whole table. The server says that everyone was happy with the service; they just didn’t like the idea of a compulsory tip. The result? The pastor scribbled out the tip, leaving none at all, and adding the note, “I give God 10%. Why do you get 18?”

Having worked as a waiter, I’ve had that happen to me, too.  Once someone left me a bible tract, saying that it was much more precious than money.  I asked them how many of those would add up to my rent payments.  The owner of the restaurant saw what happened.  She stormed out of the kitchen and told the pastor and his family to get their sorry asses out and not to come back ever.

I wonder what makes these people think they’re doing a good job of selling their faith to others if they act like cheap poltroons.

HT to JMG.

“A Reflection of Thoughts”

Chris Culliver, a football player with the San Francisco 49ers, made some off-the-cuff and derogatory remarks about gay people:

I don’t do the gay guys man. I don’t do that. No, we don’t got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff. Nah…can’t be…in the locker room man. Nah.

After a little talking-to from the team management — for gods sake, you play in San Francisco — he issued an apology:

The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience.

“They were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel.”

What?

I’ll give him credit for apologizing, however awkwardly.  But what the hell is “that sweet stuff”?  That was not covered in the Gay Training manual… at least not in the edition I got.

The Little Twerp

Sometimes I think Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says things just to see if anyone is listening.  For example:

I haven’t forgotten about Benghazi. Hillary Clinton got away with murder, in my view.

Let’s be charitable and assume he’s speaking figuratively about murder because, well, you know, they never did prove anything about Vince Foster, so of course saying someone got away with murder is just, well, you know, a figure of speech.

When Jim DeMint was in the Senate, Mr. Graham was considered to be the reasonable one from South Carolina.  Those were the days.

The Lone Gunman

At yesterday’s hearing on Capitol Hill about guns, Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president for the NRA contradicted his own testimony from 1999 and came out against universal background checks now we have a black Democrat in the White House.  And freedom.

If Mr. LaPierre is against universal background checks, he’s about the only one who is.

Ninety-two percent of Americans favor background checks for all potential gun buyers, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll.

[…]

Support for universal background checks went across party lines: 89 percent of Republicans and 93 percent of Democrats and independents were in favor, as well as 93 percent of gun households and 85 percent of those living in a household with a member of the National Rifle Association.

After the shooting in Newtown, a lot of people — myself included — doubted that anything meaningful would be done about guns.  We’d all seen this happen before; the shock and horror, the tearful funerals, the call for action and then… nothing.  The NRA and their backers would tell us that now is not the time, or there are enough laws, or oh, look, mental health.

But this time seems to be different.  The memories linger on, and for the first time in a very long time, the arc is bending towards the side of actually doing something.  In watching the video clips of Mr. LaPierre trying to make his case, he sounded like he was the only one still holding out for doing nothing other than distract and blame someone else.

Finally.  Maybe this time something will actually get done.

*

Mr. LaPierre’s solo act wasn’t the only thing to see at the hearings.  Gayle Trotter, who could only be described as a spokesmodel for the AR-15 assault weapon, showed up and cheerfully told the committee that she just loves the feel of a weapon that can mow down 20 people in less time than it takes to open a can of soup.

The defenders of guns may know how to shoot out the eye of a fly at 100 yards, but they sure have a lot to learn about PR.

Tell Your Folks

These people are just plain sick.

Tennessee’s so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay‘ bill died with the adjournment of the state assembly last year. But now the measure is back — with new, harsher requirements.

The bill, SB 234, still bars Tennessee teachers from discussing any facet of “non-heterosexual” sexuality with children in grades K-8. But the newest iteration also includes a provision requiring teachers or counselors to inform the parents of some students who identify themselves as LGBT.

As if kids that age aren’t under enough pressure to conform with perceived social norms — whatever they are.  Laws like this will guarantee more alienation and possible tragic actions because some teacher in some grade school thinks some kid is “acting gay” and sends a note home.

Short Takes

Israeli air strike in Syria was aimed at arms shipment.

U.S. aid to Egypt is still flowing despite turmoil.

One dead, two wounded in a shooting in Phoenix.

William “Mo” Cowan is the new senator from Massachusetts.

Shrinkage — The U.S. economy contracted a tad in the 4th quarter.

Guns – Gabby Giffords testifies before Congress.

Weather – Storms bring tornadoes to Georgia.

R.I.P. Patty Andrews, 94, the last of the Andrews Sisters.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A Little Night Music

I heard on the radio this morning that today marks the second anniversary of the passing of composer John Barry, and they played this piece.

http://youtu.be/DhRjUHNrpuA

I liked the music better than the movie.

The Little Town That Could

If you need your cockles warmed on a winter day, read this story about Vicco, Kentucky, a tiny place with a big heart; not much money but a sense of fair play and equality that a lot of other places could use as an example.

In a former pool hall that is now the municipal building for a coal smudge of a place in eastern Kentucky called Vicco, population 335, the January meeting of the City Commission came to order. Commissioners and guests settled into patio chairs, bought at a discount and arranged around a long conference table. Those who smoked did.

The Commission approved the minutes from its December meeting, hired a local construction company to repair the run-down sewer plant and tinkered with the wording for the local curfew. Oh, and it voted to ban discrimination against anyone based on sexual orientation or gender identity — making Vicco the smallest municipality in Kentucky, and possibly the country, to enact such an ordinance.

After that, the Commission approved a couple of invoices. Then, according to a clerk’s notes, “Jimmy made a motion to adjourn and Claude seconded the motion. All voted yes.”

It’s stories like this one that remind us that every now and then, we redeem ourselves.

Carrying On

George F. Will doesn’t think women can measure up to the rigors of combat:

You’re 6’4″, 240-pound Marine, and you’re injured, and you need a Marine next to you to carry you back to safety, and the Marine next to you is a 5’4″ woman who weighs 115 pounds. It’s relevant.

Yeah, except there are plenty of ways to do it without being a buff dude.

Once again another right-wing talking point gets run over by reality.  What’s next; fighting women won’t be lady-like?

Cold Feet

It looks like the vote-rigging plans of some folks in the GOP aren’t getting very far.  Virginia’s plan didn’t make it out of committee, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has a “real concern” about plans in his state to change the way electoral votes are counted.

I’m pretty sure the only reason they’re backing away from it is because other people like us found out about it and raised a stink.  If they could do it without being caught, they’d do it without hesitation.

Short and Obvious

There have been a couple of hiccups at the server that hosts this blog, so rather than write something long and insightful, I’m keeping things terse this morning so that I don’t have to go back and try to recreate them if they get lost.

In other words, the same crap as usual.

That Won’t Help

I stopped watching CNN so long ago I don’t even know what channel it is on my cable system.

Today they announced that James Carville and Mary Matalin, the Fred and Ginger of punditry, have been given the heave-ho, and conservative commentator Eric Erickson has been called home to his mother ship, Fox News.

But I’m still not going to watch CNN.

Nice People

The worst enemies of gun rights and the Second Amendment are often the people who are trying to defend it, including these geniuses who heckled the father of a child killed in Newtown.

“The Second Amendment!” was shouted a couple of times by as many as a dozen gun enthusiasts in the meeting room as Neil Heslin, holding a photo of his slain 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, asked why Bushmaster assault-style weapons are allowed to be sold in the state.

“There are a lot of things that should be changed to prevent what happened,” said Heslin, who said he grew up using guns and was undisturbed by the interruption of his testimony.

“That wasn’t just a killing, it was a massacre,” said Heslin, who recalled dropping off his son at Sandy Hook Elementary school shortly before Lanza opened fire. “I just hope some good can come out of this.”

So much for a serious conversation with people like that.

Short Takes

The Senate confirmed John Kerry to be Secretary of State.

President Obama pushes immigration reform in Las Vegas.

Things are still chaotic in Egypt.

Australia cleans up after floods.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood stepping down.

Miami New Times says clinic supplied A-Rod and others with drugs.

Mazel tov to Jim Nabors and his husband on their marriage.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Polishing a Turd

The GOP doesn’t see anything wrong with their party that a quick buff and shine won’t fix:

“It’s not the platform of the party that’s the issue,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said Friday after being easily reelected to a second, two-year term. “In many cases, it’s how we communicate about it. It is a couple dumb things that people have said.”

A slide presented during a closed-press strategy session said that Mitt Romney might be president if he had won fewer than 400,000 more votes in key swing states.

“We don’t need a new pair of shoes; we just need to shine our shoes,” said West Virginia national committeewoman Melody Potter.

So as far as they’re concerned, it’s not what you say but how you say it.  So they can still be anti-women, anti-gay, anti-immigrant, pro-pollution, pro-mythology and anti-science; they just need to market it better.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

Common Cause

Question:  What do the AFL-CIO, B’nai Brith, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Hadassah, and the YWCA, among a lot of others (including Common Cause), all have in common?

Answer:  The NRA is convinced they’re all enemies of freedom.

HT to LGF.