Document Dump

Ken AshfordRaceLeave a Comment

Remember a few months ago when a bunch of black kids from a day camp tried to go swimming in a community pool (permission having been granted by the pool's Board of Driectors), and were then told to leave because some of the pool members (all white) complained? The Human Relations Committee came out with a damning report this past … Read More

Palin Memoir Due In November; English Translation To Follow

Ken AshfordElection 2012Leave a Comment

HuffPo: NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) – A memoir by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will be published this November, with an English translation due shortly thereafter, her publisher confirmed today. According to Carol Foyler, a spokesperson for the publisher, translators are working "around the clock" to translate Ms. Palin's text into English. "We have hired the best linguists in … Read More

Supreme Court Cases I’m Following: At A Glance

Ken AshfordGun Control, Supreme CourtLeave a Comment

Hearing date Case Summary Where did the case come from?  Government position My position My prediction for outcome 9/9/2009 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Whether to overrule precedents upholding state and federal limits on corporate political spending. D.C. Circuit No No Yes 10/6/2009 U.S. v. Stevens Can the government criminalize selling dogfight videotapes or other depictions of animal cruelty? … Read More

Not The Strongest Defense

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

The Vatican addresses the whole clergy-pedophilia thing: The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the UN, defended its record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse. Oh… "only 1.5% to 5%"?  Is that all? Imagine that pedophile statistic being applied to, say, public … Read More

Loon River

Ken AshfordObama OppositionLeave a Comment

Count in singer and still-not-dead Andy Williams as a teabagger: "Don't like him at all," he said, "I think he wants to create a socialist country. The people he associates with are very Left-wing. One is registered as a Communist. "Obama is following Marxist theory. He's taken over the banks and the car industry. He wants the country to fail." … Read More

“Hostile Toward Christianity”

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Blogger Tom McMahon thinks that the National Park Service is "hostile toward Christianity" because it recommends that its publications use BCE (before common era) instead of BC, and CE (common era) instead of AD.  From the editorial style guide of HFC: Since when does adopting neutral non-religious writing style become "hostile toward Christianity"? That's the problem with some of these … Read More

Knickers Twisted

Ken AshfordGodstuff, Local Interest, Theatre1 Comment

Letter to the Editor recently: Increasingly common My wife and I recently attended a performance of Moonlight and Magnolias at Twin City Stage ("Movie Stage," Sept. 13). What we were hoping for was a wholesome comedy. What we experienced was a profanity-laced production that made frequent use of a variety of obscene language. This is the type of language that … Read More

Anti-Government Sentiment Leads To Murder?

Ken AshfordObama OppositionLeave a Comment

What happens when you gin up anti-government sentiment among the rightwing nuts? The AP is reporting that Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found hung to death in Kentucky with the word “fed” was scrawled on the dead man’s chest. Investigators are still trying to determine the motive, but “law enforcement officers have told … Read More

Making News…. Literally

Ken AshfordRight Wing and Inept MediaLeave a Comment

Media Matters has some interesting (and unfortunately non-embeddable) video of Fox News at the 9/12 rally. Actually, it's two videos.  One is what was telecast — Glenn Beck talking to a reporter on the scene of the D.C. mall during the 9/12 rally.  Beck was saying to the reporter that critics of the rally were saying it was all staged/astroturfed, etc. … Read More