Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
- Budget cuts lead to ‘crash taxes’ – “If there’s an incident, it seems problematic for folks to hesitate to contact fire/rescue, for example, because they can’t afford an expensive bill from the municipal government.” Yeah, that always ends well. Disgusting.
- It’s a contest of one extreme, not two – Where the “center” is can sometimes be a matter of debate. But the assumption that anyone who identifies as a party member is an extremist, or that it’s all sort of a he-said-she-said dialog with no basis to judge how mainstream a candidate is, is a false one.
- Religious Right Demands Inclusion in GOP Agenda – Not that platforms and talking points mean all that much once one party or another gets in office. But it will be interesting to see how the GOP handles it.
- Loony Tunes – I had no idea there was so much uproar over the new iTunes logo.
- MONTANA: Tea Party Head Fired After Facebook Joke About Killing Gays – Kudos to them for firing his ass so quickly.
- Alaska US Senate candidate cited after police say he failed to exercise care to avoid crash – Sounds like he’d be perfect in Congress! Much of the Senate (particular though not solely on the GOP side) failed to exercise sufficient care to avoid the most recent economic crash …
- Advertisers get hands stuck inside HTML5 database cookie jar – I’m not particularly paranoid about this — but it’s always good to know.
- Planned Parenthood Clinic Firebombed – Um … domestic terrorism, anyone?
- Op-Ed Columnist – America’s History of Fear – NYTimes.com – “Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. We should all have the guts do the same at home.”
- Universal Experience – Ice Cube Makers are the new Catsup Bottles.
- Labor Day is a memorial day if your loved one went to work but never came home [The Pump Handle]: Celeste Monforton none@example.com
- Man Sets House On Fire, Dies In It, After Losing Home To Homeowners’ Association – HOAs are a clumsy method to enforce social conformity. They tend to eventually become a magnet for little tyrants (since to do it right is hard, thankless, unpaid work). Unfortunately, living in a town where people would, in fact, paint their houses orange and blue, I can see why they are also a necessary evil.
- Would You Pay $25 For The Right To Speed? – Deregulate speed limits! If people get killed, they can choose to go slower!
- Obama’s Labor Day speech takes aim at the GOP’s ‘economic philosophy’ – I hope Obama’s revitalized rhetoric — campaigning and inspiring support, rather than trying to take a centrist, inoffensive approach — pays off. Because the best we can hope for in November is increased gridlock through increased GOP representation; the worst is far worse.
- Magical Firefly Trails (5 pics) – People make fun of me for my reaction, as an adult, first seeing fireflies. I remain enchanted.
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1. Well, fire and police departments are socialist, right? Naturally, capitalists would prefer to pay for these services only when they use them. I hear that OCP is being contracted to provide police for at least one major city.
😉
15. My favorite firefly drawing is by Allie Brosh. She is, i think, the funniest blogger out there. The fireflies are part of a story about her track meet in Texas.
I sense a great new insurance company opportunity here!
There, fixed it for you.
re the necessity of HOAs. There are some situations where they are clearly necessary (e.g. in a community of townhomes with considerable common property to manage — I have lived in two such communities and been on the HOA board in both cases). There are other situations where it is arguably whether they are necessary or not. However, so far as I am aware, HOAs are always disclosed before a buyer buys a property. Like anything, they may be abused, but no one can reasonably claim they were unaware about what they were getting into when they bought their property, and there are two clear solutions to any problem that may arise: (a) get involved, or (b) sell and move elsewhere. Committing suicide is clearly not a rational response to a problem with an HOA.
P.S. Gee Dave, the default font size in your comment editing window got REALLY SMALL. My eyes are getting old, and it would be cool if the default font size was the same as for the body text rather than so much smaller.
(1) I agree that people should know what they are getting into, and committing suicide is not a rational response.
(2) Yes, I’m aware of the comment text size problem. I’ll get it resolved in the next day or so, even if it means returning to the status quo ante.