Why Michelle Malkin Should Never Be Listened To

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & Deficit, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

From her site: The soul-fixer-in-chief is here to dry your tears By Michelle Malkin  •  March 31, 2009 12:44 AM Reuters is running a story on the Obama administration’s new federally subsidized counseling services/referrals for those suffering from depression related to the economy. As usual, the government’s prescription for pain is…more government. The economic psychology guide was developed with help from the … Read More

Why Many People Can’t Take Congress Seriously

Ken AshfordCongress, Environment & Global Warming & Energy, Godstuff, RepublicansLeave a Comment

Exhibit A. This is Representative John Shimkus, Republican from Illinois.  He serves on the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, a body which considers, among other things, global warming and climate change. Below is a clip of Representative Shimkus speaking on March 25 in the Energy and Environment Subcommittee.  He is expressing his view that global warming is not … Read More

Oliver Twisted

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

Big Hollywood's S.T. Karnick: The latest PBS adaptation  of Charles Dickens’s classic novel Oliver Twist demonstrates the urgent need for reform of the taxpayer-supported broadcasting service–or an end to taxpayer funding for it. Among PBS's crimes, according to Karnick?  Casting a black woman as Nancy: Clearly the producers are imposing an ideal of a colorblind society on a story where … Read More

About That Alien Invasion

Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

That strange light and boom that appeared over North Carolina (including one observation in High Point), Virginia, and Maryland?  The one that I blogged about yesterday? It was the Russkies, not aliens: The mysterious boom and flash of light seen over parts of Virginia Sunday night was not a meteor, but actually exploding space junk from the second stage of … Read More

NC Nursing Home Shooting And Other Mass Killings

Ken AshfordCrimeLeave a Comment

Somehow, this possible motive doesn't make the killings any less senseless. Speaking of senseless killing, I'm not looking forward to next month. On April 19, 1993, following a 51-day standoff, federal agents raided the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. A fire, later determined to have been set by the Davidians, destroyed the compound and killed 57 of its residents. On … Read More

Unsportmanlike Tweeting?

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

This Twitter phenomenon is getting out-of-hand and just plain silly: The National Basketball Association has fined Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban $25,000 for unsportsmanlike Twittering for his online comment about referees, The Dallas Morning News reports. After Friday's game with the Nuggets, Cuban used the interactive site to question why a technical foul wasn't called on a Nugget player for … Read More

President Bartlet, Toby Ziegler, and Josh Lymon To Go To Capital Hill Tomorrow

Ken AshfordCongressLeave a Comment

Yes, they are fictional, but they're still doing good work: If there was ever any doubt that fictional President Jed Bartlet's administration was pro-labor, the answer is now clear. Actors Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Schiff — all of the fictional NBC presidential drama "The West Wing — will appear at an event in Congress on Tuesday seeking to bolster … Read More

Redoubt

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

The Anchorage Daily has a nice photo set of the volcanic eruptions last week of Mt. Redoubt.     The volcano's continued eruptions have resulted in a whole new round of criticism of Governor Bobby Jindal: Thanks to "something called volcano monitoring," to use the denigrating language of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, passenger jets did not fly into ash clouds … Read More

MySpace Is Now Half The Size Of Facebook

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

Poor Rupert Murdoch: MySpace had 124 million monthly unique visitors last month, a decline of 2%, according to the marketing research company comScore. Facebook, by contrast, racked up 276 million unique visitors, an increase of 16.6%. Michael Arrington, co-editor of the influential industry blog TechCrunch, posted: "What was a bad situation in November 2008 is starting to turn outright ugly … Read More

The Alien Invasion Began Last Night

Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

There were strange lights and "booms" from the sky last night, observed from North Carolina to Maryland: Robert in Sunbury, NC: At 9:38 PM, I watched a meteor cross over Sunbury, NC. It was traveling from the West towards the East. My wife and our friend also saw this event. Very exciting!!! Diana in Virginia Beach: At around 9:45 pm … Read More

But It Works So Well For Jack Bauer

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Right wingnuts must be unhappy to read this: When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets … Read More

My Antipode

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

If I were to dig a hole straight down to the center of the Earth, I would come out in the Indian Ocean, several thousand miles west of Perth, Australia. Good to know….