A Liberal Defense of Clarence Thomas
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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Slate's Dahlia Lithwick had a very interesting column this weekend cautioning her fellow liberals against smearing Justice Clarence Thomas as they mount their defense of Judge Sonia Sotomayor:
The temptation to smack back and argue that we deserve to seat Sotomayor because Thomas was a lousy affirmative-action pick who turned into a third-rate justice is hard to resist. But it's flat wrong. Liberals achieve nothing by suggesting that Thomas' elevation to the high court was preposterous on its face or that his tenure there has been a disgrace....
Claims that Thomas is too stupid to ask questions and in constant peril of embarrassing himself at the court are just not that different than claims that Sotomayor is mediocre. Nobody who has followed Thomas' 18-year career at the Supreme Court believes him to be a dunce or a Scalia clone. Whether you accept Jan Crawford Greenburg's claim that Thomas' constitutional theories are so forceful that they have shaped Scalia's or you believe the more common view that Thomas has a deeply reasoned and consistent judicial philosophy that differs dramatically from those of the court's other conservatives, accusations that he's been a dim bulb are just false. They also reveal that the name-calling that originates now, during the confirmation process, engenders a mythology that can never be erased.
It's nice to see Lithwick make this point (even if she has done a little name-calling of her own). Whether you agree with his opinions or not, Thomas has quite obviously proven himself on the Court. Yet the ridiculous idea that he's less capable than his fellow justices still persists, even among people that ought to know better.
A Liberal Defense of Clarence Thomas
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
A Liberal Defense of Clarence Thomas
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A Liberal Defense of Clarence Thomas
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A Liberal Defense of Clarence Thomas
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A Liberal Defense of Clarence Thomas
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posted by 77767 @ 6:00 PM, ,
Whip It Good
(Bill Gurstelle is guest blogging here on Boing Boing. He is the author of several books including Backyard
Ballistics, and the recently published Absinthe
and Flamethrowers. Twitter: @wmgurst)
I'm into bullwhips. I make 'em, read about them, use them, and write about them. Being able to handle a bullwhip is an impressive skill. There's a section in Absinthe and Flamethrowers that covers the basics in terms of whip use and technique. If you don't think learning the bullwhip is Golden Thirdstuff, you haven't tried it.
The following movies are my Top Whip Movies, chosen for having characters known for their whip using skills. (Interested readers are invited to write me with their favorites. Whip experts will note that the movies below include both stockwhips and cat-O-nines, which are quite different from one another in purpose.)
1. All Indiana Jones Movies. My son Andy is a graduate student in archeology currently on a dig in Ghana. I gave him a bullwhip as an undergraduate. I wonder if he brought it, and if it could go as carry-on luggage?
2. Legend of Zorro ("Nobody leaves my tequila worm dangling in the wind,") Mask of Zorro, and the many other Zorros
3. King of the Bullwhip. This 1950 oater stars Lash Larue, the king of the bullwhip, hence the title.
4. Catwoman. Yes, a pretty bad movie, but it has Halle Berry in a tight leather outfit cracking a whip.
5. Blues Brothers. Jake Blues sings the theme from Rawhide in Country Bob's Bunker, while cracking a conveniently placed bullwhip.
6. Bullwhip (with Rhonda Fleming and Guy Madison.) GM is an underappreciated talent.
7. Mutiny on the Bounty. I seem to remember some sailors getting flogged.
8. Jailhouse Rock. I vaguely remember Elvis getting flogged.
9. The Ten Commandments. I also seem to remember some Israelites getting flogged. "I can flick a fly from my horse's ear without breaking his stride," - Vincent Price as he gently pets his whip in what I think is the best whip related scene from The Ten Commandments,
Whip It Good
[Source: Good Times Society]
Whip It Good
[Source: News Herald]
Whip It Good
[Source: Rome News]
Whip It Good
[Source: Rome News]
posted by 77767 @ 5:37 PM, ,
Cable Companies Aren't Immune From The Economy As More People Go Online-Only For TV
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People are cutting back on lots of spending these days, but one area that was supposedly relatively safe was in-home entertainment expenditures. Things like cable and satellite TV and Netflix were thought to even thrive during economic downturns as people looked to limit going out, choosing instead to stay in and be entertained. While that seems to be working out for Netflix, cable companies are starting to feel the pinch as people drop their subscriptions and get their TV fix online. While it's a relatively small number of people that are making the move, it's the sort of thing that cable companies have been concerned about for a while. The WSJ story talks about some moves by the likes of Comcast and Time Warner to grab more online viewers, but if the cable companies continue to try and treat their online efforts in the same way as their traditional offerings, it's hard to see much success. It doesn't seem like a coincidence that this is happening as cable companies are looking to introduce caps on their broadband services. They say it's because some consumers are creating too much traffic, in part because of their online video viewing, and it's straining their networks. But perhaps it's just a way to try and capture lost TV revenue from cord-cutters? Of course, trying to get users who are going broadband-only for their TV to take on metered broadband seems like a good way to drive them to competitors with uncapped plans.
Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
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Cable Companies Aren't Immune From The Economy As More People Go Online-Only For TV
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Cable Companies Aren't Immune From The Economy As More People Go Online-Only For TV
[Source: Online News]
Cable Companies Aren't Immune From The Economy As More People Go Online-Only For TV
[Source: Abc 7 News]
Cable Companies Aren't Immune From The Economy As More People Go Online-Only For TV
[Source: News Leader]
Cable Companies Aren't Immune From The Economy As More People Go Online-Only For TV
[Source: La News]
Cable Companies Aren't Immune From The Economy As More People Go Online-Only For TV
[Source: Television News]
posted by 77767 @ 3:58 PM, ,
Repurpose: Hardware Hackers
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“A documentary film by Jack Oatmon ( http://twitter.com/jackoatmon ).
A look into the hardware hacking community in Montreal, including the Foulab collective. Why are more and more hobbyists experimenting with hacks and circuit bends? What relationship does this imply about consumer society and technological advancement? Is this a real-world analog of ‘user generated content’?
Check out the lab: http://foulab.org/
Check out more music by XC3N: http://www.last.fm/music/XC3N“
Related posts:
- New York City Hackers ...
- Chariots Of The Gods, Classic 1970 Documentary Based On Von Daniken’s Book Of The Same Name ** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ...
- The Joseph Newman ‘Energy Machine’, Turning Matter Into Energy ...
Repurpose: Hardware Hackers
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Repurpose: Hardware Hackers
[Source: Health News]
Repurpose: Hardware Hackers
[Source: Newspaper]
posted by 77767 @ 3:10 PM, ,
Reason Morning Links: Is It Still News When the Government Takes Over a Car Company?
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• GM files for bankruptcy. Washington will give the company an additional $30 billion to play with, and will take a 60 percent stake in return. The U.S. isn't the only government taking ownership: Another 12 percent goes to Canada.
• The Nevada legislature overrides a veto and legalizes domestic partnerships.
• Someone who hasn't parsed the phrase "pro-life" very carefully has killed an abortionist.
• The emergency powers behind the Fed's Wall Street bailouts.
• Irony alert: A report making the case for stronger intellectual property rights was partly plagiarized.
Reason Morning Links: Is It Still News When the Government Takes Over a Car Company?
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Reason Morning Links: Is It Still News When the Government Takes Over a Car Company?
[Source: Wb News]
Reason Morning Links: Is It Still News When the Government Takes Over a Car Company?
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Reason Morning Links: Is It Still News When the Government Takes Over a Car Company?
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Reason Morning Links: Is It Still News When the Government Takes Over a Car Company?
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Reason Morning Links: Is It Still News When the Government Takes Over a Car Company?
[Source: Murder News]
posted by 77767 @ 2:33 PM, ,
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