Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- Dumbass Quote of the Day [Dispatches from the Culture Wars] – War is peace! Freedom is slavery! Ignorance is Strength! Net Neutrality is Censorship! Michelle Bachmann is Brilliant!
- Eyjafjallajökull flight cancellations: How the right decision is being made to look wrong : Eruptions – Money graf: “This is a classic ‘no win’ situation for the EU, meteorologists and anyone involved in the (in my opinion) right decision to play it safe – the trap of disaster mitigation is that if you get it right, and no one is hurt, then people fall into a sense of complacency. Suddenly, the loss of money has become as big a problem as the loss of life.”
- Whale Poop : The Thoughtful Animal – Alas, this is just the sort of interesting science that a variety of anti-science / denialist / no-dollars-for-volcano-monitor types would mock and/or use to justify cutting off funding for … well, for something, dagnabbit.
- Establishment – This is one of those too-much-awesome posts that should be ready by everyone in our country. From religious-based (and well-grounded) concerns over a Nationalized Day of Prayer to an excellent takedown of the problems with the hard and soft establishment of religion (and the strange bedfellows it leads to), there’s just too much here even to select a single pull quote. Read it.
- The Real Chicken-Checkup Fallacy – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com – An excellent point: “The key fact about health care — the central issue in health care economics — is that it’s all about the big-ticket items. Checkups don’t cost much; neither does the treatment of minor illnesses. The money that matters goes to bypasses and dialysis — costs that are highly unpredictable, and that almost nobody can afford to pay out of pocket. Modern health care, if it’s going to be provided at all, has to be paid for mainly out of insurance.” That’s why insurance has stopped being solely for catastrophic events, and is now pretty much a requirement for anything beyond the simplest “chicken”-level health care.
- Senate Budget Committee Proposes Slashing State And Foreign Aid Budgets While Increasing Pentagon Funding – I really don’t see a national security threat by freezing Defense spending for a year. Especially if everyone else has to tighten their belts.
- Maybe America doesn’t want a hogtied judicial branch after all. – By Dahlia Lithwick – Slate Magazine – Money graf: “My only point here is that most Americans, having been terrified by the specter of ‘liberal activist’ judges legislating from the bench, should be equally terrified at the prospect of ‘humble judicial minimalists’ who are institutionally powerless to do anything at all to protect America’s women, its workers, its minorities, and its environment. I suspect most Americans still want to believe that if they are the victims of discrimination or injustice or brutality, the courts are a place to go for vindication.”
- Do Count Your Chickens… – Remember — this is what the GOP wants to leave in place while they “repeal” (and, maybe, “start over”). How anyone can morally support such a thing is beyond me.
- Guy Fawkes, new Republican hero – So now they’re the party of “Gunpowder Treason”? I see no reason why that should ever be forgot(ten).
- Sooner state scares – Money graf: “It’s a good thing Oklahomans have elected all of those small-government types to the legislature, who will force citizens to undergo medical procedures they don’t want. Nothing says ‘limited government’ like state-mandated, involuntary, invasive procedures, right?”
- My New Car Decal | Discover Magazine – Oh, I might seriously have to get me one of these …
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The decal can be found in various places — search “smart mudflap girl” …