I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Linkee-poo, a time for man and beast to stand and feel the seasons turn to watch the stars for secret signs and God's true lessons learn

Why for profit school meals are a bad idea. "A cafeteria worker in an Idaho middle school said she was fired for giving a free meal to a student who told her she was hungry and didn't have money to pay for it, The Idaho Statesman reported Wednesday." To be fair, she had been warned earlier for not charging a student for a cookie.

A town in Wales proposes to offshore to avoid UK taxes. Not so much because they want to avoid paying their taxes to the UK, but to force Parliament to act to prevent companies from offshoring to avoid paying their fair share. Wonder if that could work here.

Space-X sticks the landing. While Blue Horizons claimed victory, this is the first actual space shot to land it's first stage safely.

Hey, remember when we thought we had finally made the fashion industry face it's obsession with sickly-skinny models? Apparently the work is not over.

The scourge of balance billing. Tell me again why we shouldn't have a single-payor system?

Stephen Colbert says there is something to admire about the Trumpsters populism. Mostly because it shows that democracy works, and it's screwing up the republican party establishment.

In Texas, it's a battle of Nativity scenes. The Gov requests removal of a Founding Fathers nativity from the state capitol, and "Fearing a legal battle, the City of Orange removed its nativity scene after an atheist group requested a 'happy holidays' sign be hung next to it."

The GOP is starting to come to terms with the Stars and Bars. "'The problem with the Confederate flag isn't the Confederacy, the problem with the Confederate flag is what it began to represent later,' (Jeb!) Bush said while on a campaign stop. 'And that's what we have to avoid to heal those wounds.'" This is the "okay, global warming may be happening, but it's not human caused" stage, which the GOP arrived at about a decade after science proved it was caused by human activity. No, former Gov. Bush, we've already shown it was a racist symbol, intentionally designed that way, and it stood for the continuation of slavery. In another ten years we may get them to realize it was always about slavery, but they'll say, "what can we do about it now?"

Dr. Carson realizes that people don't think he's tough enough (or savvy enough) to be Commander-In-Chief. So he's going to fire some people. Because that's what stands in for "tough leadership" in the GOP. Also, he's going to talk about how to deal with ISIS in Libya. And then he changes his mind (re: "clarifies his statement") to say no he's not. And then he says he'll be changing things up. "Still, the retired neurosurgeon did not deny that some leadership changes may still be in the works, telling Politico that he may add new faces to his senior leadership team and shift staffers’ roles."

Rand Paul, without a sense of (ironic) entitlement, says he won't participate in a second-tier debate.

No comments: