A fascinating tidbit from Harry’s Music:
Back in December of last year, the auction house Sotheby’s sold Bob Dylan’s original handwritten lyrics for The Times They Are A-Changin’ to a hedge fund manager for $422,500 (full story here).
by DougJ| 56 Comments
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Free Markets Solve Everything, We Are All Mayans Now
A fascinating tidbit from Harry’s Music:
Back in December of last year, the auction house Sotheby’s sold Bob Dylan’s original handwritten lyrics for The Times They Are A-Changin’ to a hedge fund manager for $422,500 (full story here).
This post is in: Election 2012
Everything Mistermix said about Jon Tester can probably be said about Jim Webb in Virginia, who has announced he will not seek re-election. The possibility that George Allen might be the next Senator from Virginia just increased greatly.
by John Cole| 48 Comments
This post is in: War on Terror aka GSAVE®, OBAMA IS WORSE THAN BUSH HE SOLD US OUT!!, Security Theatre
But what happened last night highlights the potential to subvert the two-party stranglehold on these issues — through a left-right alliance that opposes the Washington insiders who rule both parties. So confident was the House GOP leadership in commanding bipartisan support that they put the Patriot Act extension up for a vote using a fast-track procedure that prohibits debate and amendments and, in return, requires 2/3 approval. But 26 of the most conservative Republicans — including several of the newly elected “Tea Party” members — joined the majority of Democratic House members in voting against the extension, and it thus fell 7 votes short. These conservative members opposed extension on the ground that more time was needed to understand whether added safeguards and oversight are needed.
It would be nice if an actual civil liberties alliance could be forged and this wouldn’t be a meaningless one-off, but as Glenn notes, the overwhelming majority of Congress still voted in favor of the Patriot Act, and when it comes up for a vote under normal rules, it will sail through the House and the Senate. And in the off-chance that something truly bizarre happens and it is defeated, you can bet your house that Obama and Holder will be out there stumping for it, telling us we desperately need it to “KEEP AMERICA SAFE.”
The people in power don’t like to give up power. It’s really that simple. Even when they are your guy and you think they are a “good guy.”
by $8 blue check mistermix| 61 Comments
This post is in: Gay Rights are Human Rights, Republican Stupidity
On the ground in Real America:
Some 83 percent of Kentuckians say gay people should be protected from discrimination in the workplace, in housing and in public places such as restaurants, according to a survey released Monday by the statewide Fairness Coalition. That is an increase of 18 percentage points since 2004, when a similar survey was conducted.
Yet, when Sarah Palin™ tweeted or burped or farted that she’s (edit) not attending CPAC but apparently unwilling to denounce GOPProud [R-teh ghey], who are attending, she gets this:
Palin’s comments didn’t exactly go down well with the American Principles Project, one of the group leading the GOProud/CPAC boycott. In a statement yesterday, APP president Frank Cannon called on Palin to explain her remark. “The concern of conservatives is over the participation of a group whose stated goals run at odds with that of core conservative principles, not over debate over those issues,” Cannon said. […]
Those “core conservative principles” are polling at 17% in Kentucky, so I hope Cannon can convince Palin™ that they’re worth defending to the bitter end.
This post is in: Open Threads
Whenever you need to explain something technical…
Then do anything else. ;)
Yup, there goes 1:49 of a perfectly good morning. (From Barbara Inge Karsch via @edyong209.)
Image: Henri Testelin Colbert (No. Not that one. Philistines!) Presenting Members of the Royal Academy of Sciences to Louis XIV, c. 1677.
A Bit More Open Thread…with a bonus science communication tutorial.Post + Comments (42)
by $8 blue check mistermix| 134 Comments
This post is in: Manic Progressive
Kos, after the DREAM act died:
Anybody who votes to punish innocent kids is an asshole. Plain and simple. And while I expect it from Democrats like Ben Nelson and C-Street denizen Mark Pryor, I honestly thought Jon Tester was different. I was wrong. I am now embarrassed that I worked so hard to help get him elected in 2006. I feel personally betrayed.
Not only will I do absolutely nothing to help his reelection bid, but I will take every opportunity I get to remind people that he is so morally bankrupt that he’ll try to score political points off the backs of innocent kids who want to go to college or serve their country in the military.
To me, he is the Blanche Lincoln of 2012 — the Democrat I will most be happy to see go down in defeat. And he will. Nothing guarantees a Republican victory more than trying to pretend to be one of them.
Here’s Tester’s opponent, Denny Rehberg:
Rehberg spoke Monday before the state legislature. As the Helena Independent Record reports. “When I first heard his decision, like many of you I wanted to take action immediately,” Rehberg said. “I asked: How can we put some of these judicial activists on the Endangered Species list?”
The DREAM act was never going to make it past cloture – it went down 55-41. Nelson and Tester voted against cloture, and brave Joe Manchin ran away, but even if all three flipped, not a single Republican was ready to let the DREAM act pass. So Tester decided to take one vote off the table for his tough re-election campaign. And that’s enough for Kos to be “happy” to see him replaced with an asshole who thinks it’s a good idea to make a crack like that less than a month after what happened in Tucson.
Jon Tester is as good as it gets in Montana, and he might just squeak out a win in a Presidential election year with enough money and support. If progressives can’t tolerate the Testers of the Senate, we’re going to get Rehbergs, and things are going to be a hell of a lot worse. If you think I’m wrong, take a look at a map and tell me where Democrats are going to pick up another rural red state Senator to replace Tester.
Update: Commenter Wulfgar points to this post at his blog, where he makes this point:
After spending maybe a total of 5 hours in the Jon’s presence, I voted for him knowing that he and I disagree on the issue of any amnesty for illegal aliens. Markos Moulitsas spent much more time than that with Jon Tester while finishing his book, Crashing the Gates.Yet somehow, what was clear to me was lost on Kos. Tester was not going to vote for amnesty, and a look at his voting record shows clearly that indeed he has not.
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Open Threads, Pet Rescue
A few months ago my girlfriend and I were sitting on our balcony when we hear this little sweetheart meowing below. With one kind look from us, she climbed up a tree and into our lives. She was so loving and friendly that we assumed she must’ve been someone’s pet and sent her on her way after a while.
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Every few nights she’d return and every time she came back, she looked skinnier and skinner. Eventually we bought cat food for her visits and soon thereafter she coaxed her way into sharing our bed. She is such an absolute sweetheart and so well-behaved we began to feel guilty that we’d “stolen” someone’s beloved pet. We called every nearby vet, put up signs all around the neighborhood, in grocerystores, pet stores, pharmacies, and many other local “public” places, but never got any calls. Even the vet agreed that she was too well socialized to be feral. He suggested that we let her roam freely in case she was simply lost. After a few weeks of her coming back to us with increasing frequency the vet gave us his support to declare her as our own.
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It might not be clear in the picture, but her left ear is a mess. It is missing the tip and has more than a few notches and chunks missing from it. Both we and vet aren’t sure if these are from a fight, or signs that she was part of a catch-fix-and release program common for feral cats in the area (they mark the feral cats they’ve caught, fixed, and released by snipping off the tip of the left ear, but the other notches and tears make it unclear if this is what happened to her).
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The first night she slept in our bed, my girlfriend jokingly started calling her JWow, a reference to the character JWoww on the Jersey Shore, due to this kitty’s propensity to come over, sleep with a stranger, then sneak out in the morning. Having never seen the show myself (and thinking it a lame reference), we tried desperately to come up with a more appropriate name, but nothing else seemed to fit her, so JWow she has become. I told the vet this story and he said, “So your girlfriend came up with the name? How serious is this relationship? You might be stuck with this name longer than you’re stuck with the girlfriend.” But the vet too has come to love her, and the name. Sometimes, when embarassed, we lie and tell people her name is Jezebel.
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My girlfriend once visited a psychic who told her that her beloved (and dead) childhood pet would return, and kitty here looks exactly like that that cat (a tortoise shell named Mr. Jingles despite actually being a female). I don’t buy into that sort of thing, but for the girlfriend, this cat was not merely a random blessing, but a prophesy come true. All I know is that I love this little critter so much, the way she curls up with me when I sleep, and the way she greets me with such joy and excitement whenever I come home. We spend hours a day playing games together and the amount of joy in my life has increased dramatically because of her.
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We tried for a bit to convert her to an indoor-only cat due to the proximity of some busy streets, but she’s spent too much of her life outside to give it up and she finally won the war (yes, she has her outdoor shots). She is now the queen of our apartment complex and is loved tremendously by everyone here (in fact, short-term kidnappings by neighbors who adore her is a bit of a problem). I’ve seen her turn many a grown man into a bubbling mess with her undeniable charms and sweetness.
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That being said, we’re the first to admit that, at least in pictures, she isn’t the most conventionally cute kitty. In fact, she looks quite evil and gremlin-like at night, scaring the crap out of us on a few occasions when she first started to live with us. But, in person,her loving nature is so overwhelming no one can help but declare her the cutest thing ever after a few minutes of belly rubs.