I would call the war on drugs silly if it hadn’t needlessly ruined so many lives. Instead the word I would use is tragic, or maybe disastrous. Far and away the criminalization of marijuana is the least defensible battle in that war. But at least in the state of Washington there’s been a moment of clarity on that: [Read more…]
Jim DeMint (R-Secede) has announced he will leave the Senate to head the one of the most influential think tanks in the nation. The Heritage Foundation was created in part by uber wingnut trailblazers like Joseph Coors to offset what conservatives of the time saw as Nixon’s pursuit of liberal solutions (Yes, you read that right). The Foundation rose to prominence in the early 80s as one of the pioneering cheerleaders for ‘reducing government,’ by which they meant exactly what the teaparty means today, robbing from the poor and giving to the rich. They’ve done some other, more novel things too: [Read more…]
The annual bleg
Statistics predict that of the several thousand people who visit this site every day, the vast majority live in households that make between $20,000 and $200,000 a year. That’s quite a range. But one thing we have in common is our paychecks will be lighter come New Year’s Day if no deal is reached, by about 50 to 500 dollars a check depending on where you fall into that spectrum. Being poor sucks, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is begging readers for holiday handouts this week. But it has taught me to be extremely frugal. These are all obvious, I’m sure we all know about them, but being reminded doesn’t hurt, and knowing and practicing are two different things. [Read more…]
A company called Golden Spike may confirm swirling rumors that it intends to land humans on the surface of the moon by the year 2020. It may sound like pie-in-the-sky, but this is no fly-by-night outfit. Reports are the company is staffed by some of the most accomplished engineers and mission planners to ever turn dreams into reality. Word is that includes Dr. Alan Stern of the New Horizon’s mission to Pluto and Beyond (Interviewed here), and former Apollo launch director Gerry Griffin. [Read more…]
In the wake of the somewhat disappointing news about Mars Curiosity this week, there are reports of another rover in the works. That got me to think’n! We’re getting good at building these things and we might be on the cusp of a generalized rover design that would work in many places all over the solar system. A standardized, scalable and adaptable primary architecture and power train married to one of several reliable EDL packages that could turn this century into an age of discovery on par with the one kicked off by Columbus 500 years ago. Hey, a boy can dream. [Read more…]
The annual bleg
The ground shakes, the sky darkens, an unholy union between a Master Orc and goblin minions forged deep in the darkest bowels of Mordor cleaves in twain: Dick Armey has left Freedom Works. This evil entity was arguably most responsible for funding and organizing and therefore elevating a nascent Teaparty. It was Armey’s Works who first saw crazy people in homemade colonial period costume ranting incoherently about the president’s birth certificate next to a van down by the river, and imagined the same crazy people in designer suits ranting about birth certificates on Fox News. No one is saying for sure why the Works are going Dickless, this is an organization that really values Dicks, the bigger the Dick the more they like it, so it’s quite the juicy little mystery: [Read more…]
Have you heard of a debt plan called Panetta/Burns, similar to Bowles-Simpson? No? Good, because there is no such plan. Did you know ACORN stole the election for Obama? Nope? Also wise, see below. How about secession, the last refuge of a fake patriot or a real traitor? This new PPP poll (.pdf) has all that and more. Some highlights: [Read more…]
The annual bleg
Remember when, things were different then? Lo, these many years ago, when there was a season I looked forward to all year. Alas, decades of deregulation and tax cuts threw our economy into the shitter and left the national savings account badly overdrawn. I was a victim, no recession has ever hit me like this. In no time I went from comfortable to trying to survive on a 12 dollar an hour job with no viable path to a living wage. It basically turned Christmas into another bill I couldn’t afford. Fortunately, I have some really kind readers who changed that when they pitched a few bucks into this week’s annual bleg. [Read more…]
The annual bleg
If no deal is reached and the US goes off the so-called fiscal cliff, one party better be wearing a bunji cord or a BASE rig. Because a new poll released today by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Washington Post, conducted Nov. 28-Dec. 2, confirms Americans will blame conservatives: [Read more…]
Every December atheists are saddled with being Scrooges who hate Christmas. It’s a strawman of course, all the better to demonize us in the eyes of the public. I for one love Christmas. True, I don’t believe in supernatural beings, but in the same way I like Halloween even though I don’t believe in witches, I like Christmas even though I’m skeptical on Gods and flying reindeer. But it turns out there are indeed people who seek to demote Christmas. They’re called Christians: [Read more…]