Fact
Having now been to both, Edinbrugh is way cooler than Glasgow. Sorry, Glaswegians! (Yes, that is what they are called.)
Archive for 2/09
Scotland
That is where I am until Sunday morning, so limited/no blogging until then. Pictures when I get back.
Deep Thought
What will Roland Burris admit to next?
Can You Guess Who Said This?
In response to Rush Limbaugh’s “I want Obama to fail” comment:
That was a terrible thing to say. I mean, he’s the president of all the country. If he succeeds, the country succeeds. And if he doesn’t, it hurts us all. Anybody who would pull against our president is not exactly thinking rationally.
Answer after the jump.
Phelps Won’t Be Charged for Smoking Pot, But His Friends Will
By now you’ve probably seen the photo of Michael Phelps taking a bong hit at a party in South Carolina. The Richland County, SC, Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation into the incident, and guess who’s off the hook:
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Monday that he didn’t have enough physical evidence to press charges against the 23-year-old swimmer after the November party near the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
“We had a photo and him saying he was sorry for inappropriate behavior,” Lott said at a news conference. “He never said, ‘I smoked marijuana.’ We didn’t have physical evidence.”
In other words, they won’t prosecute Phelps because he didn’t walk into the station and turn himself in. By Sheriff Lott’s logic, this should be enough to declare bankruptcy:
Of course, since the law applies equally to celebrities and regular folks, the same should go for everyone else at the party, right?
The sheriff’s office said eight people were arrested during the investigation. Seven have been charged with simple possession of marijuana, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail or a $575 fine. Another person was arrested for driving under suspension.
Hm. Any guesses as to how only Phelps managed to escape prosecution? How many Olympic gold medals do you need for one of those “get out of jail free” cards?
Don’t Regulate the Economy While Drunk
- Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa will resign his post after appearing drunk at a press conference. Honestly, with the Japanese economy in the tank, who’s surprised that he spent the night at the bar? (MarketWatch/YouTube)
- Speaking of economic disasters, California still has no budget thanks to Republicans who refuse to vote for one. Hmmm, where have we seen this before? Now the Governator will have to fire 10,000 state employees and cut 275 public works projects, including upgrades to bridges to prevent them from falling down in earthquakes. On top of that, the projects will also cost more money to shut down than it would cost to keep them working. Fiscal conservatism at its finest! (Los Angeles Times)
- Bill Clinton, who was almost the First Lady right now, says that Obama did the right thing with the stimulus package and that Republicans don’t really understand that bipartisanship means working with Democrats. (DailyKosTV)
- Four Tennessee Republican legislators have jumped on the “Obama is not an American” bandwagon and have joined a lawsuit demanding to see Obama’s birth certificate. Okay people, here it is. And for those who are freaking out about it being a copy of the certificate, read where it says, “This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding.” Mmkay? (Tennessean/Fight the Smears)
- Ex-Presdent George W. Bush never did pardon Scooter Libby, and this has made Dick Cheney very, very angry. A warning to the former president: I wouldn’t go hunting with Dick any time soon if I were you. (New York Daily News)
Liars
A friendly reminder that you shouldn’t always believe what you read in the traditional media.
- The lie, from conservative columnist George Will:
As global levels of sea ice declined last year, many experts said this was evidence of man-made global warming. Since September, however, the increase in sea ice has been the fastest change, either up or down, since 1979, when satellite record-keeping began. According to the University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.
The truth, from the University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center:
We do not know where George Will is getting his information, but our data shows that on February 15, 1979, global sea ice area was 16.79 million sq. km and on February 15, 2009, global sea ice area was 15.45 million sq. km. Therefore, global sea ice levels are 1.34 million sq. km less in February 2009 than in February 1979. This decrease in sea ice area is roughly equal to the area of Texas, California, and Oklahoma combined.
It is disturbing that the Washington Post would publish such information without first checking the facts.
- The lie, from economics professor Bradley Schiller:
As [Obama] tells it, today’s economy is the worst since the Great Depression.
…
It is bad history because our current economic woes don’t come close to those of the 1930s.The truth, from Media Matters:
Has Obama ever claimed that today’s economy is the worst since the Great Depression? Readers have no idea, because Schiller can’t be bothered with quoting the president.
…
For the record, here’s what Obama said (and what Schiller wouldn’t tell readers):“We are going through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”
Note a couple things. Obama did not suggest, as Schiller falsely claimed at the outset of his column, that “today’s economy” is just as bad as the Great Depression. Obama said we were experiencing the “worst economic crisis” since the Great Depression. Words have meaning, and an econ prof ought to be able to differentiate between the “today’s economy” and an “economic crisis.” Either that, or Schiller played dumb really hard.
Second, note the “since” that Obama used. He claimed today’s economic crisis represents the worst since the Great Depression. But in his column, Schiller quoted all kinds of stats to prove today’s woes don’t compare to the Great Depression. But Obama never compared it to the Great Depression. He said it’s the worst since.
Does Schiller honestly not realize that by claiming today’s economy crisis is the worst since the Great Depression, that Obama was not claiming today’s economy is just as bad as the Great Depression. Or was Schiller aggressively playing dumb. Again?
- The lie, from TIME’s Amy Sullivan:
When Republican Senator Judd Gregg announced on Thursday that he no longer wished to be the Commerce Secretary nominee, he said that the decision was based in part on serious disagreements with the Obama White House over the 2010 census.
The truth, from, erm… TIME’s AMY Sullivan:
Gregg himself backed off the issue in a news conference after he announced his withdrawal, insisting that his concerns over the census were “slight” and refusing to address it further.
And the print media wonder why they’re all going out of business. Maybe they should fire some columnists and hire some fact-checkers.
He’ll Save Children But Not the British Children
Happy Presidents’ Day, America!
Not the Worst After All
- The Bush Legacy™ is a success! A panel of 65 historians judging presidential leadership has ranked George W. Bush 36th out of 43. Take that, William Henry Harrison! (C-SPAN)
- Secretary of State Clinton is off to Asia on her first overseas trip and you can follow her. On Twitter! Seriously, everyone is on Twitter these days. (techPresident/Twitter)
- House Republicans are taking advantage of the Presidents’ Day recess to go back to their districts and tout the benefits of the recently-passed stimiulus package that they unanimously voted against. It seems like their big political strategy is to hope nobody was paying attention. Good luck with that. (McClatchy)
- Whoops! Two nuclear submarines–one British, one French–accidentally crashed into each other in the Atlantic Ocean. Nobody was injured, which was fortunate considering that they were both carrying nuclear freaking missiles. (Guardian)
- Rumor has it that the Senate will vote to give DC a voting member of Congress next week. (Roll Call)
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