Month: October 2013

Very limited posting today.

I have six billion errands to run, I did not sleep well last night, and I am kind of grumpy and somewhat burned out because of those two factors.  There is, unfortunately, a good deal of stress involved with this gig sometimes; and it only gets worse when you can sort of move the needle on something, you think, maybe, but you’re not sure just how much you’re moving it…

…sorry.  That came close to whining.  Anyway, have to go mop the kitchen floor now.  Chores are useful for teaching a fellow about the need to focus.

“The Times They Are A-Changin’.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS6DC2w5j5I

The Times They Are A-Changin’, Bob Dylan

Oh, boy, Moe’s in a Dylan kind of mood!  – Which is kind of like being ‘puckish,’ but not really*.

Moe Lane

*Mostly because the Victorians made damned sure to defang all the old folklore.  And I can’t say that I blame them much for that; better safe, than sorry.

HAHA @BarackObama’s HAHAHA #julia’s been made into HAHAHA an *unperson*! HAHA

If this is true, it’s the funniest thing that I’ve heard all week. [Take it away, Ann Althouse:]

Is the old Obama campaign slideshow “Life of Julia” anywhere to be found on the web?

Back in May 2012, everyone was talking about that graphic depiction of the benefits of various government programs. Remember?

Barack Obama has a new composite girlfriend, and her name is Julia. Her story is told in an interactive feature titled “The Life of Julia” on the Obama campaign website. Julia, who has no face, is depicted at various ages from 3 through 67, enjoying the benefits of various Obama-backed welfare-state programs.

I have something I’d like to say about it, but I can’t find it anywhere on the web. It’s not at the link everyone linked to when everyone was talking about it, which was at the Obama campaign website. The campaign is over, so I guess there’s no obligation to continue to host it, but this was an important historical document, and it shouldn’t fall down the memory hole. Continue reading HAHA @BarackObama’s HAHAHA #julia’s been made into HAHAHA an *unperson*! HAHA

It’s remarkable how much the 1966 Batman film draws on HP Lovecraft.

The whole plot was more or less ripped off of from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, or at least the central conceit was.  Add to that the simultaneous profound betrayal felt by Batman at a crucial moment in the movie – one that pretty much called into question the very pillars of his emotional stability as Bruce Wayne – and the final moments that evoked so perfectly Ken Hite’s thesis in The Man Who Shot Joseph Curwen, and you have a surprisingly Lovecraft-inspired movie.  I say ‘surprisingly’ because the movie is in itself not actually all that horrific.

Continue reading It’s remarkable how much the 1966 Batman film draws on HP Lovecraft.

White House kitchen garden, like all unfunded agitprop exercises, now going to seed.

I couldn’t have come up with a better metaphor for this administration if I tried.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In the famous White House kitchen garden, tomatoes are rotting on the vine. Herbs have gone to seed. And the sweet potatoes – a favorite of President Barack Obama – have become worm food.

It’s another impact of the government shutdown, one that only the fox and the many squirrels that live on the White House grounds could love. Continue reading White House kitchen garden, like all unfunded agitprop exercises, now going to seed.

#Obamacare exchanges: June myth versus October reality.

Here’s a fun game: see how far you can get in this Atlantic Obamacare puff piece from June 2013 before you erupt in involuntary laughter!

As the first website to be demonstrated by a sitting President of the United States, Healthcare.gov already occupies an unusual place in history. In October, it will take on an even more important historic role, guiding millions of Americans through the process of choosing health insurance.

…I broke down at ‘millions.’  Although if I had managed to keep it together for that then I would have still completely lost it when I saw the Atlantic’s, ah, overly optimistic graphic on the Obamacare signup procedure.  This is a much more accurate representation of how the process is actually working right now: Continue reading #Obamacare exchanges: June myth versus October reality.

Quote of the Day, This Is Why We Fight #Obamacare edition.

Never mind partisan maneuvering: when it comes to stopping Obamacare, it is in the best interests of the country that we win.  Because the waves of pain are just going to keep on coming.

The first two weeks of healthcare.gov have passed, with no progress toward a usable website on which to enroll. The public is being told that they can also enroll via paper applications, but does anyone really think that the staff are in place to handle the volume of applications that must be completed to avoid the fines taxes that are part of Obamacare? Eventually, those paper applications will have to be converted to computer files, and is it likely that those computer systems will be up to the task?  Or that the data entry personnel will handle the conversions without massive problems?

Next April, just as income tax returns are about to be filed, with required paperwork indicating the taxpayer has health insurance acceptable to the feds, there are likely to be millions of people claiming they tried to enroll, but could not.

Continue reading Quote of the Day, This Is Why We Fight #Obamacare edition.

Alan Grayson just needs a little something to tide him over. Just a little, to get his head straight.

There ain’t nothing so sad as a junkie looking for a fix.

If you don’t feel like clicking through, it’s a link to a site reproducing a presumably official Alan Grayson tweet bragging about the fact that Gawker once called him a hero.  Put to the side that it’s Gawker – it’s also old. Certainly not for anything Grayson’s done this term, because he’s done jack.

Ach, how the measly have fallen.

Moe Lane