Category Archives: blogging

Just Griping

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True story: On Monday I sent a payment for something in a regular-size envelope from a post office in southern Westchester County, New York — about three miles north of the Bronx — to an address on Long Island. And I wanted to be sure it arrived in a timely manner. So I sent it priority mail with delivery confirmation so I could track its progress on the USPS website.

According to the USPS website, the envelope was sent to a processing facility in Puerto Rico. I am informed it left Puerto Rico on Wednesday and is on route to the destination in Long Island. Timely sort of went out the window already. Sigh.

Update: The envelope was delivered this morning.

Girls Rule

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By good luck I flipped on the television in time to see the big filly Zenyatta win the Breeder’s Cup Classic at Santa Anita. Amazing come-from-way-behind performance, and she’s the first filly to beat the boys and win that race. I’ll look for a video of the race for those who missed it.

Thoroughbred Times has the video. Zenyatta is the big black horse with white socks on her hind legs and a white blaze on her nose. Her jockey is wearing soft turquoise and pink. This was her 14th win out of 14 races.

Be Brave

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I am about to upgrade to a newer version of WordPress. Wish me luck.

Update: Yay! I think the spam is gone, the site is upgraded, and nothing bad seems to have happened.

In a Nutshell

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State of the Blogosphere:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

CIA Director Leon Panetta tells the House Intelligence Committee that the CIA has been hiding significant information from Congress, beginning in 2001 and continuing until last month, presumably when Mr. Panetta found out about it.

In the past, this would have been a significant scandal. However, in post-Bush America the scandalous is normal.

And the Right Blogosphere leaps upon the significant development that the President’s name was misspelled in a White House press release. This is the shiny thing that will keep them distracted from the significance of the first story for a few hours, until someone among them cobbles together a rationalization/excuse they can all get behind.

The third story connects back to the first. President Obama objects to a provision that would require him to inform more than 40 members of Congress — instead of just the so-called “Gang of Eight” — about covert actions taken overseas. Make of that what you will.

Another Shooting

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This time it’s at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. The first news reports say no one was killed, but three people (including the suspected shooter) are being treated for gunshot wounds. The suspect is an 88-year-old man named James von Brunn who has a record of white supremacist writing.

Update: I’m hearing from MSNBC that a police officer was killed. Terribly sad.

Update: OK, this is weird. You might remember that the DHS report said right-wing groups would likely try to recruit military veterans because of their military experience. The report also said “those with military backgrounds constitute a small percentage of white supremacist extremists.” However, the small number of military veterans who do get mixed up in extremist organizations tend to be among the more dangerous members, which makes it advisable to keep an eye on the small number of military veterans who do get mixed up in extremist organizations. Right-wing pot-stirrers willfully misread the report to mean that all returning veterans constitute a threat to national security and had to be watched, which is not at all what it said. Dave Neiwert explains.

According to this right-wing blogger, Fox News is going on and on about how the shooting vindicates the DHS because the accused shooter is a veteran. He’s a World War II veteran, for bleep’s sake. This is, like, wrong twice. Yeah it vindicates the DHS report, but not because of the shooter’s veteran status.

Update: Debbie Schlussel is blaming Muslims and 9/11 truthers for today’s shooting. I’m serious. Pardon me if I don’t give her a link.

Update: Malkin is saying the shooter was neither right nor left, just loony. See Dave Neiwert for rebuttal.