Change the commenting rules (see below) – yea or nay?
Or talk about Scarlett Johansson. Your choice.
Open Thread
Koan of the day:
Democrats are afraid of losing, Republicans are afraid of looking weak.
Discuss.
A Beauchamp Review
Which, of course, means it is reasonable and doesn’t have any name calling, dripping sarcasm, and bitter ad hominem attacks, and as such probably doesn’t even count as blogging.
Still worth reading, though.
The Bad Bridges
Sullivan links to an archived graphic of bad bridges in the US, and a couple things stand out:
1.) If you look at the blown up map, Brooke, Hancock and Ohio County in WV are all marked red (as is Mon. County), meaning they have problem bridges. That region, the northern panhandle of WV, has it’s old industrial base along the Ohio River; Koppers, Wheeling-Pittsburgh and Weirton Steel, Fostoria glass (not sure how many if any of these are still in business) and many other industries reside or used to reside there. If you drive from Wheeling to Weirton up old Route, it seems like you can not go 1/4 mile without seeing an old steel bridge.
The point- there are a ton of bridges, and I am not sure how many are still operational, and if the archive is conflating the older out of use bridges and the newer bridges for civilian traffic.
2.) When I first looked at the map, I thought “Gee- the SW doesn’t have many bad bridges at all.” Then I realized I am a moron.
3.) Of the industrial centers with a number of waterways, it appears that Oregon and Washington stand alone as being in good repair. There might be a lesson to be learned by comparing the relationship between state and local government in regards to infrastructure in those states and New York, in which it looks like there is not a safe bridge anywhere.
Pretty interesting, though.
Bill O’Reilly, Human Sewage Dump
Check Mate
Creeps
Bizarre story in the NYT about pedophiles:
The search for the self-described pedophile in the large-brimmed black hat commences nearly every day here, with findings posted on chat rooms frequented by mothers.
He was spotted at a fair in Santa Clarita. He recently emerged from the Social Security office on Olympic Boulevard. He tapped away on a computer at the library in Mar Vista. Warnings have gone out. Signs have been posted.
And yet unlike convicted sex offenders, who are required to stay away from places that cater to children, in this case the police can do next to nothing, because this man, Jack McClellan, who has had Web sites detailing how and where he likes to troll for children, appears to be doing nothing illegal.
This story is interesting for two reasons. First, why do most pedophiles (the ones outside of the Rectory, that is) look like extras from the set of Deadwood:
Yech. Is this some sort of Darwinian process in which we are able to spot out perverts (for you Creationists- is this God’s way of pointing out perverts)?
The other reason this story is interesting is because a bunch of mothers are going to band together to pressure the CA legislature to do something about this guy. What, I do not know, but it is always interesting to see what kind of assault on our Constititution hysterical moms and craven politicians can launch.
Extra bonus- Eugene Volokh is quoted at the end of the article.