26 May 2012

Christmas in the Sunshine State

[This was actually written last December on the Neo, but I never got around to posting it]

As usual I had my meeting with Budweiser under the palms of North Dale Mabry at Tanks Bar. We had some great German beer. He did not bring up politics, nor did I. He is still a big Bushie and I am still convinced that Bush's reputation is never going to survive either the first or second or last draft of history. For one thing, every memoir to come out of his administration has been an embarrassment and an indictment as each writer tries to cover his ass. But ... we will see.

Of more importance to me was his opinion of the new governor, Rick Scott. He snorted and said the man should have gone to prison, almost did go to prison, and only by sheerest luck failed to go. The crime: his company ripped off the government for millions in Medicare overcharges.

His new job? Repealing as much government regulation of companies like his as he can. Also turning the schools over to parental control, and otherwis

New Word

Barking Moonbats

Actually in modern English vocabulary's mutation rate that matches that of bacteria, this is an old expression. It is only that I have discovered an explanation of it in un-Spun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation.

"Extreme political partisans sometimes display such irrational thinking that they have come to be dismissed as "barking moonbats." A barking moonbat is "someone who sacrifices sanity for the sake of consistency," according to the London blogger Adriana Cronin-Luks of Samizdata.net, who helped popularize the colorful phrase. It is most often applied derisively to extreme partisans on the left, but we use it as originally intended, to apply to all farout cases whose beliefs make them oblivious to facts, regardless of party or ideology."

So, lefties, birthers, Dan Brown followers, and people who read, and believe, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail." Now we know.

btw, it is a fun little book that you should read. Or rather every citizen should read.