I don’t normally pay much attention to the whole Miss America thing, but apparently they had the drawing or whatever they call it last night, and I suppose it’s interesting to note that they crowned the first Indian-American woman, and she happened to be Miss NY. Oh, yeah, and she also happens to be Miss Syracuse and is the daughter of somebody who works in my building (though I don’t actually know who she is because I rarely leave my office). All of this, I only found out this morning (because, as I said, I don’t actually pay much attention to this sort of stuff). I feel obliged to note that she is actually not even the first Miss Syracuse to become Miss America – the first of course being Vanessa Williams, whose reign was slightly abbreviated. So we have both the first Indian-American and African-American Miss Americas (next I guess we’ll have to shoot for the first Native American one). So ends your Syracuse trivia lesson for today.
Do you use Gmail? If so, you’re not alone – at least according to former NSA chief Michael Hayden who said:
“Gmail is the preferred Internet service provider of terrorists worldwide,”
Sadly, Gmail isn’t actually an ISP. It’s a free e-mail service. Seems as if Hayden’s intelligence is a bit faulty.
Looks like the UN is confirming that chemical weapons were used in Syria.
“the environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used … in the Ghouta area of Damascus†on Aug. 21.
“The conclusion is that chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic … against civilians including children on a relatively large scale,â€
Hopefully this agreement between the US and Russia works out and they can get rid of Syria’s chemical weapons without out our having to kill any more people over there.
If you’re a Breaking Bad fan but haven’t watched last night’s show yet, let me just say: “holy shit.”
Oh well, I guess I better get back to work.
Miss America crowns first winner of Indian descent, and critics slam her as Arab terrorist
Miss New York spends her first press conference defending herself from angry viewers calling her un-American, Arab and Indonesian. ‘I have to rise above that,’ she said after winning the coveted crown.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/1st-america-indian-descent-slammed-arab-article-1.1457133#ixzz2f6Lb1gvi
Used to be we were proud to be a nation of immigrants (of course, she was born here so she isn’t actually an immigrant, but whatever). I guess that’s just for white immigrants, though (except for the Irish of course).
I guess I get the 7/11 and “outsourcing” comments, but it amazes me that people think she’s Arab and/or Muslim (not that it would right even if she was).
I mean, if you’re gonna be a racist, at least get your races straight.
Oklahoma is tied for the most number of Miss Americas. Just say in’ .
Our second runner up came to the new Miss
SyracuseAmerica’s defense and voiced her disgust at the ignorance expressed over the new “queen’s” background.I think the feeling for immigrants waxes and wanes with economic times. My mom, first generation American, suffered mightily growing up in a town near you, pj.
That would be Binghamton, right?
My wife got a lot of resentment from people when she was a kid. Of course, she was a kraut in 1950s NYC, so there may have been a few lingering hard feelings.
Good thing she wasn’t Japanese.
Bingo!! …as my pops calls it.
>>Oklahoma is tied for the most number of Miss Americas
I bet they were all white, though.
It has seemed to me that ever since I was a kid in the 60s, there has been a concerted effort by thems losing their grip on power to try to preserve it or take it back by any means necessary. The World Wars and the Depression and the New Deal were catalysts to some opening cracks in the nation’s hierarchy allowing an expansion of the middle caste and integration and new rights for womens. The ‘social safety net’ helped the elderly live out their life with some degree of security and the poor eat and have a little bit of relief. Decent educations were available at reasonable prices for just about anybody who wanted one which led to a more prosperous nation. If there was American ‘exceptionalism’ it was because of that time and what the nation became.
I have felt for years that the old guard couldn’t cotton to that. Social Security and the New Deal forever was stuck in many a craw and to this day they are trying to dismantle it. School integration/bussing and racial ‘equality’ and prayer bans spurred new efforts to maintain the divide in other ways and to begin to undermine public education. Good affordable higher education was allowing too many folks of all kinds to climb up to levels in society that threatened the oligarchy and thus those public schools started to be underfunded making them almost as unaffordable as the exclusive/expensive private schools. There was also an attack on the curriculums because all of the ‘subversive’ teaching. The result of that was curricudumb, re-written texts and reduction of things like civics and government resulting in a dumbing down of the population. The attack against the rights of minorities and women has never relented.
The dumbing down makes possible so much of what is happening today. There are legions of uneducated and consequently uninformed or badly deluded people who are susceptible to the new and false images of the constytooshun and ‘murican exsepshunulism’ that fit the manipulations that hidden and higher powers need for them to believe to turn back the clock and maintain and expand their control.
It is all rather depressing and I am afraid we are approaching ‘game over’ or at least for the rest of my lifetime.
🙁 :tinfoil:
I think there has been an uneducated or undereducated population forever. But there were jobs for those folks for whom education was not the way. Artisans were able to earn good livings and, after the industrial revolution, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, tailors etc. could make a decent living. Schools recognized that there were different paths for people and made learning trades as well as going to college their mission. Somewhere we decided that everyone must be college educated, no matter what their path in life. I remember in NYC when the school system declared that there would be the same academic requirements for kids going to trade schools as there were for kids planning to go to college. That helped to destroy the trade schools. If there had been a decision to help kids who wanted to go to college to get there that would have been excellent. Instead it made it impossible for the kid who loved woodworking but not literature to hone his/her skills.
There is that, too. To some degree they have done their best to degrade the entire public school system. I could probably slip that into my thesis as well but you would certainly know better. I would imagine you can get any training you need for a price at a for-profit.
:omg: :billcat:
You gotta send that one to Jim Earl.
I just did.
After readying pj’s comment at #3, I went down a worm hole and found this intriguing site, Miss American 1933. A low and behold, Miss. Oklahoma was part American-Indian, but not the first:
Like Syracuse, many roads have a Ponca City connection.
Well, I stand corrected. Though Norma doesn’t exactly look Native American, according to Find a Grave, she was a “full blood” Cherokee.
Makes you wonder why her father got the name “Smallwood”.
The head of the American petroleum institute in Colorado has
reassured everyone that none of the THZoZuSANDS of
gas and oil wells in Weld county that are COVERED in water have failed
(Cept one) and there’s nothing to see here so just move on son.
Thank Goodness!
And to think I thought that might be of some concern.
:hot:
Just a little undercovered? Ya think?
No one except David Sirota
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/18/industry_puppets_spew_obscene_lies_while_people_drown/singleton/
Pope Francis faulted the Roman Catholic church for focusing too much on gays, abortion and contraception, saying the church has become “obsessed” with those issues to the detriment of its larger mission to be “home for all,” according to an extensive new interview published Thursday.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/pope-francis-gay_n_3954776.html
I really, really like Pope Francis. I am shocked at myself.
I’m almost feeling like genuflecting a little myself.
World War O, Gail Collins
The war against Obamacare: All the rationality of a Justin Bieber fan riot, and all the restraint of “Saw VI.â€
On Wednesday, leaders of the House of Representatives announced their plans for a 42nd and 43rd vote to thwart the new health care reform law. If they don’t get their way, they’re threatening to defund the government and crack the debt ceiling.
“The law is a train wreck,†said Speaker John Boehner. The majority leader, Eric Cantor, said someone had to protect middle-class families from “its horrific effects.â€
The arrival of Obamacare is worse than an invasion of giant zombies swinging nuclear-tipped crocodiles! Yet it lives! If only we lived in a country where citizens had the power to turn things around by voting lawmakers out of office. Like Uruguay or Latvia.
Seriously, people, why do you think the Republicans have gone so completely lunatic when it comes to this issue? Why do they behave as if, once the health law begins to roll out, it will be cemented in place like an amendment to the Constitution?
True, it would be a pain to repeal the whole thing if it doesn’t work out. But not a pain sufficient to wreak havoc on the global economy like, say, refusing to raise the debt ceiling. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has been leading the push to shut down the government unless Congress repeals Obamacare. But have you ever heard him vow that if Congress doesn’t repeal Obamacare there will be … elections and then a new Congress that will repeal Obamacare?
Actually, Ted Cruz has an answer for this. Once the law goes into effect, he told the Web site The Daily Caller, the public will be overwhelmed by its sugary sweetness — “hooked on the subsidies.†It’s the duty of Congress to take it back before people can taste it, just the way New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to whisk away high-calorie Big Gulps.
So, the message is clear. The new health care law is going to be terrible, wreaking havoc on American families, ruining their lives. And they are going to love it so much they will never have the self-control necessary to give it up.
So the war goes on. No issue is too big to ignore in the name of Obamacare repeal. None is too small. None is too unrelated. In the Senate, the latest victim was a popular, useful bill on energy efficiency, whose happy march toward passage came screeching to a halt when a handful of Republicans tried to make it a vehicle for votes on you-know-what.
“This will be the most, the worst …†sputtered Harry Reid, grasping for adjectives before settling on “the least productive Senate in the history of the country.â€
“Least productive†was fairer than “worst.†After all, there was that session when somebody beat Senator Charles Sumner half to death with a walking stick.
Anyway, things are ridiculously awful.
The energy efficiency bill is the legislative version of a fluffy puppy. It was co-sponsored by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. It involves helping manufacturers save money on energy use, and creating new model building codes, making plans and cooperating and studying. Portman and Shaheen have been working on it for three years.
“Energy efficiency is something everyone can agree to,†said Shaheen in a phone interview.
Well, possibly not everybody. It’s hard to predict how the bill would fare in the House, where some people still haven’t gotten over the Bush administration’s decision to phase out incandescent light bulbs. But there were at least some signs of hope.
And things were going great in the Senate. The bill was approved 19 to 3 in committee. When it came up for debate on the floor, nobody even attempted to offer a parliamentary motion to hold up all progress indefinitely and then require 60 votes to move forward.
“Then,†Shaheen said sadly, “Senator Vitter objected.†David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, demanded a vote on his amendment to eliminate any health care subsidies for Congress. He was followed by the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, waiving a proposal to postpone an entire piece of the law. Reid refused to allow indefinite voting on Obamacare during the energy efficiency bill debate. The fluffy puppy was caged in the basement.
You do not want to know all the details of Vitter’s motion. The original health care legislation stripped members of Congress and their staff of their traditional insurance coverage. Nobody would care if the members voted to cover themselves through policies available only on Nigerian Internet sites. But the staff is another matter. If the amendment passes, people like Congressional clerical workers would be virtually the only Americans offered every possible disadvantage and none of the advantages of health care reform.
“It’s to get them to recognize the pain that America’s about to feel,†said Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming.
Followed, of course, by delicious, addictive joy.
I know you’re worried about the government shutting down on Oct. 1. Who wouldn’t be? Services suspended, the nation’s credibility damaged in the eyes of the rest of the world. What serious person would want to let that happen?
Hehehehe.
The better to plan your watchful worry, here’s a tentative schedule of events:
Monday, Sept. 23: Senate goes into session to consider the House bill that couples funding for the government with defunding Obamacare.
House is on vacation. I’m serious.
Wednesday, Sept. 25: House comes back from vacation. Early. So stop carping.
Thursday, Sept. 26: Senate is working its way toward a vote on the bill. Whoops! Somebody just objected to something. May take a little while longer.
Friday, Sept. 27: The House takes up a bill to raise the debt ceiling, thus allowing the government to continue paying its bills. Which is tied to defunding Obamacare, and construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Saturday, Sept. 28: The entire planet says: “Keystone pipeline?â€
Sunday, Sept. 29: Maybe a day or two before, but around here — the Senate strips the Obamacare part from the bill funding the government, passes the bill and sends it back to the House.
Sept. 30: Last minute! Clock is ticking!
Oct. 1: Best-case scenario — the House passes the bill in the wee small hours of the morning. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief and moves on to the question of whether the government’s ability to pay its debts should hinge on the construction of an oil pipe to the Gulf Coast.
One thing at a time. About keeping the government running: In the end, it’ll all be up to the House Republicans — pass a clean bill or dig in their heels and turn off the lights. “At that point, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American people,†said Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
House leaders were less than thrilled with his advice. It was sort of like a guy who left the Alamo at the last minute, yelling “Victory or Death!†as he galloped out of sight. Some people believe that Cruz is behind everything crazy going on in Washington right now. This is possibly true, if you work under the reasonable assumption that everything that happens in the world is based on a movie plot.
THE CALGARIAN CANDIDATE
During the Bush administration, agents of the Democratic Party hatch a long-term plot to ensure political ascendancy in the 21st century. Their secret tool: a Canadian-born Texas lawyer who they kidnap and brainwash. The mole — we will call him T. — suddenly emerges out of political obscurity in 2012, propelled into the U.S. Senate by members of the Texas Republican Party who have also been secretly hypnotized by the Democratic operatives. The only sign of their transformation is a compulsion to say “T. is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life†over and over again.
By the next year, Democrats decide they want to force the Congressional Republicans to behave with breathtaking irresponsibility. Time to pull the trigger! While T. is standing alone at a Washington costume party, he is approached by a beautiful woman dressed as the Second Amendment. And then …
Actually, the House Republicans have plenty of Tea Party patriots who are perfectly capable of being crazy all by themselves. Representative Ted Yoho of Florida told The Times’s Ashley Parker and Jonathan Weisman that he was ready to stick to his guns: “It only takes one with passion — look at Rosa Parks, Lech Walesa, Martin Luther King.â€
I am mentioning this partly because it isn’t often you hear someone equate eliminating health insurance for the poor with Rosa Parks. Also because I like to write “Representative Ted Yoho.â€
The bill the House sent to the Senate on Friday doesn’t even make much sense. The “defund Obamacare†part looks as though it was written by squirrels. If it became law, Obamacare would actually continue to exist. At most, the administration would be crippled in their early efforts to get younger uninsured Americans to sign up for health coverage. (This would presumably give the opposition more time to run those ads that show a young woman being given a pelvic exam by a monster Uncle Sam doll.) And, meanwhile, the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program would be thrown into chaos, as well as payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients.
But what the heck. No sacrifice is too great when the cause is convincing young adults that they shouldn’t buy health coverage.
It’s an intense moment, even by current political standards. When the Republicans met in conference on Friday, Politico reported, Representative Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania compared John Boehner to Jesus: “I don’t want this to be like Palm Sunday, where we bring the speaker in on a little donkey and then next Friday, we crucify him.â€
I know, I’m having a hard time getting the image out of my mind, too.
Hey, PJ! Are you OK?
He’s still got a pulse and he’s breathing, so I guess he’s OK. 😐 Just not blogging much since last week.
He ordered parts for his very loud car last week and they haven’t come yet, so he’s not a happy camper because it’s sounding louder all the time & he doesn’t like to drive it. It’s getting colder here :penguin: , too, and the days are getting shorter, so he’s kind of unhappy about that as well. His blogging muse is on vacation. :ear:
Thanks RG it’s always good to know you guys are OK.
PJ, are you alright?
We’re flying to Rochester today for an in-law visit and a big family wedding this weekend.
I’ll keep my ear to the wind to see if I can hear a very loud car.
Shout Out to PJ! :banana: :yippee: :bow: :doh:
Too bad you weren’t there last week, you could have seen Maron at the Rochester Fringe Fest.
:kub: Hope pj is a-ok, too! Thanks for the update, rg. Apply travels art!
Now it’s Vern’s turn to let us know what’s happening as he searches for a new perch.
I figured pj was savoring a big win over Tulane and the Emmy win for Jeff Daniels.
For me, I am trying to lawyer up for an elderly/disabled eviction status or some kind of settlement.
Good luck, Vern.
We saw Maron about three weeks ago in Denver.
Great set followed by an encore retelling of the Mel
Brooks story.
Wish I’d packed a sweater for the cool Rochester night :cold:
I was wondering if had gone out for that. I think he hits your area on a regular basis. Stay warm, stay dry! :cold:
Yeah, he comes through every year the last few years.
A couple of years ago he went off on the guy in front
of me so much I didn’t want to risk it last year :paranoid:
Fight the good fight Vern. I consulted a lawyer
about an age-related issue that was worth the money
spent.
I am not sure if you remember but a few years ago when his marriage was going down in flames, I went to a benefit MM did here and for some reason against all logic I bought the front row center seat because it was there. The other two comedians unloaded on me for some reason. When Maron came up I think he recognized me and actually engaged a little but there was a woman sitting next to me who said a thing or two and got caught up in a huge torrent of anger drawing from both of his failed marriages. Having talked to her a little, I am not sure that he had not found a worthy target.
I’m way out of the Maron loop of late. :billcat:
Give ’em hell, Vern.