I got my new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and there was not one spread of Heidi Klum. I still love you, Heidi.
False Hysteria
Matt Yglesias links to this piece in TNR debunking the false hysteria promoted by the rhetoric of the pro-choice crowd. I understand that they must use this sort of nonsense to whip up their base, but it is really unappealing to the vast majority of voters. You think they would have learned this by now. I am pro-choice (within reason), but I have little sympathy or patience with the rabid abortion-at-all-costs that gets all the press. They make my head hurt as much as the Falwell’s and the Robertson’s. Every time Al Gore got up on the podium during the last election and said in his drawn out faux-good-old-boy accent “The right for women to choose is in deep peril,” I just wanted to smack him in the face. I am assuming I am not alone.
Matt closes with this remark:
At any rate, you won’t see me supporting pro-life Supreme Court nominees.
That is fine- everyone has their issues and their reasons. But can we stop the lying and the hysteria (and Matt agrees with the article, so I am not insinuating or implying he is lying, so don’t go flaming him)?
*** Update ***
Yglesias has updated his comments and I don’t know if initially interpreted him in the manner I should have. To hell with it. Go read the TNR article.
Excellent
I shoveled for an hour, making a path through the 2 feet of snow to my car, at which point I started to dig my car out. After I got one shovelful out of the way, the snowplow came and plowed me in deeper than I was before. I threw my shovel at them and I went inside.
Fortunately, this pictured really cheered me up.
Snowy Days
About a foot or so and counting, and no end in sight. Threw the cat into a snowbank to see what he would do (he had never seen snow like this). The scratches should heal in no time.
The Prison Construction Boondoggle
TalkLeft links to the Sentencing Report’s new study titled Big Prisons, Small Towns: Prison Economics in Rural America.
I have not read it yet, but apparently Jeralynn has, and states that “rural prisons produce no positive economic benefits for local communities.” Once I read it, I will comment more, but you should go check it out.
Regardless of your political affiliation, it should be clear that we have a problem in this area. No one comes out of prison a better person (Shawshank Redemption be damned), and unless we intend to just start locking everyone up for life, we have a serious problem. We need education programs, drug rehabiliation, and programs that SUCCESSFULLY transition inmates who have served their time and paid for their crime to become full, productive citizens once again. There are others who can speak more eloquently about this than I can, but I think the notion (and reality) of prisons serving only a punitive function is helping no one.
You’ve Been Warned
Never, ever write stupid things in the Vodkapundit’s comments section. It gets ugly.
Life Is Unfair
Austin City Limits on PBS is showing Stevie Ray Vaughan outtakes, and it is just spectacular. I saw him in the 80’s when I lived in Poughkeepsie, NY and he was just amazing. I have seen A LOT of concerts (the majority of them Dead shows), but Stevie Ray was the best I have ever seen.
Stevie Ray Vaughan is dead, and Eminem is up for an Oscar. I think I am going to cry.