Just how low can they go?

Story from today’s Rocky Mountain News, titled “Ads pit disabled vet against disabled vet.” I could proclaim this the utter gutter of political campaigning. But not so fast: they have another week to go before the election. God knows what other slimy cards are just about to be pulled out from the bottom of the deck. They could trump even themselves.

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Our ever-vigilant legislature leaves no toilet unprotected

In Colorado this summer you couldn’t miss the loud and frantic flailings of our fine elected officials in the General Assembly as they reacted to the “immigration crisis.” They convened in special session and rushed through several laws intended to cure the rampant welfare fraud and other gross impositions on the body politic from the flood of illegal immigrants.

Said flood apparently had been a Top Secret Classified Fact unknown to those fine elected officials until just this spring. But when they discovered it, after being duly shocked (“Shocked. Shocked. Shocked.”) they fearlessly scrambled to produce sound bites for this fall’s election protect Colorado from the scourge.

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Sometimes it’s really a village

Officially it’s a big city, but like all cities it’s more like a collection of villages. Case in point, from the October 2006 edition of Insight, published for and about employees of the City and County of Denver:

The quick thinking actions and caring of Public Works Department employees Bob Baca and Teresa Maestas played an important role in saving the life of a Denver resident.

The rest of the story is below the fold:

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Honoring the subconscious

I hope “subconscious” is the right word. I’m obviously no expert on the workings of the human brain although I’m always grateful that mine works at all. I’m sitting here at 6:20 on a Saturday morning sipping my second cup of coffee and marveling at what just happened here.

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Why can’t we just buy our own health care coverage?

Certifiable Princess writes funny. I love that. The latest installment over there chronicles the extremely dysfunctional management at her workplace, in the person of the Office Manager Monster. Whose felony crimes against fashion are just the beginning of a terrible rap sheet.

Because of the strange US system where employers provide health insurance for working folks, people end up hanging on to jobs they hate (even when they love the work itself). Because they need to keep health insurance coverage in place for themselves and their families. What’s up with that? How did we get here, where a person’s only realistic way to obtain health insurance is through her employer? Why isn’t there a viable option out there where you can sign up for reasonably priced health care coverage independent of your job?

We don’t rely on our employers to get mortgages, educations, groceries, or most of the rest of life’s needs and wants. We go out and rummage around the marketplace for them. Sure, most of us wage slaves have to work at something – usually a job – to bring in money. But except for health care coverage, we spend that money wherever we find the goods and services we buy.   For health care coverage, we are chained to our jobs.

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Beauty

Over at YouTube, here’s a great Dove video, “Evolution,” on a subject I hate thinking about: the false standards of beauty constantly marketed to all of us and especially girls and women. (YouTube doesn’t support WordPress blogging yet and I can only figure out how to just link to it. Sorry.)

HT to the CrankyProf over at Cranky Epistles.

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Peeks

The geeks who bring us the weather reports at weather.com have their lyrical moments, as I see this morning:

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I voted

Denver Election Commission goofs and all, I just fnished filling out my mail-in ballot, sealed the envelope and put gobs more postage on it than it needs.

It supposedly needs 87 cents postage. I slapped on three first-class stamps, 39 cents each. I don’t keep different-denomination stamps on hand, only first-class ones. I rarely mail anything heavier than one ounce unless it’s a package or priority mail – and I take those to the post office counter anyway. If I tried keeping a bunch of different-denomination stamps around I’d just lose ‘em, and end up wasting the money I spent on them.

What’s up with the little “I Voted” sticker? We get those when we vote in person so we can wear them on our lapels. Now there’s one on the instruction sheet for the mail-in ballots – WITH INSTRUCTIONS to peel it off, no less. Oh, pleeeeze . . .

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At least the Denver Election Commission didn’t do this one

In Grand Haven, Mich., Ottawa County will pay about $40,000 to correct a typo on 170,000 Nov. 7 election ballots: The “L” was left out of “public.” HT to The Daily Nooz.

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A little common sense to counter the archi-babble

The common sense is mostly found below the fold in this post. First, the context. Denver’s newspapers and bloggers are chattering these days about the City’s dumping the headliner big-name out of town architect (Steven Holl) from its huge new Justice Center project. Seems he was running true to his form on recent projects in other places: producing unworkable designs which could not be built within the project’s budget. It’s a courthouse, people. It’s financed with proceeds from the sale of bonds. There won’t be a private sector fund-raising project to pay for any cost overruns as there might be – and have been – for a museum, library, theater or other cultural facility.

Pundits have wrung their hands and piteously mewed their grief that our poor little hick cowtown won’t be a “world class” city if we do silly things like this. In her column in yesterday’s Rocky Mountain News, Mary Voelz Chandler lamented that the City needs an “advocate for public architecture” – literally a whole new publicly-funded job. So we can, I suppose, continue to wow the world with all the “world class” architecture in Denver.

Uh-huh. Like guys in Boston or Seattle or Munich are going to say to the wife, “Gosh, honey, we’ve just got to take our vacation in Denver this year,

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What all dogs have in common

They have 321 bones and 42 permanent teeth. Regardless of breed.

I just learned that while watching one of my favorite shows: Barkitecture. It’s on the DIY Network. Veterinarian Karen Tobias hosts, along with designer Kenny Alfonso (“Barkitect”). Some of the doghouse designs are just way cool and fun.

I also have a serious soft spot for Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer.

These aren’t must-watch TV shows. I couldn’t tell you when they’re scheduled.  I just love clicking around and finding one of them.  Little delights.

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Goodies from the inbox

How many free email newsletters have I signed up for, only to find I’m deleting the latest installment unread from the inbox? More than I can remember. Mostly because I lacked continuing interest in the subject matter.

But I’m always sure to read the latest copy of Tom Mighell’s Internet Legal Research Weekly – despite the definitely un-sexy title. Because I’m interested in the subject and because he usually comes through with fun little things to brighten the dim corners where we legal drudges sit slumped over our keyboards and dusty files.

From this week’s newsletter: Write like a Babylonian.

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Oh, you go, sister!

Just found Saintseester Says . . . . Funny broad. Funny blog. Great posts about traveling to New Orleans from her home in Alabama to attend the historic Monday Night Football game in tihe Superdome last week, of which here’s just one.

I’m glad I have a new keyboard that’s spozed to resist moisture damage. I spluttered Diet Coke over it

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A geezette apprentice in the flat world

I’ve been reading Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat 2.0. I’m learning a lot from the book. Technology, outsourcing, insourcing, globalization.

Millions of hungry, bright, ambitious, focused young people across that globe – in Eastern Europe as well as India and China and that neighborhood – studying their buns off.

While American kids coast and play video games. While our government burns up all our

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Thought for the day

” I am not ashamed of my spiritual beliefs, I just don’t think they should be pulled out of my purse as a ploy to sell make-up.” – comment [currently listed as #17] posted by “pinkstinks — cranky consumer” over at Mary Kay Sucks.

Yep.

And run like hell from anybody who bills themselves as a “Christian” whatever – investment advisor, makeup consultant, plumber, contractor, ad nauseum.

I don’t need the windows prayed over.  I need ‘em fixed.

I’m not looking to have the kitchen sink shutoff valves converted.  They need to be replaced.  And unlike theological doctrines, those pipes have to hold water.

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And now for that really really really important subject: celebrity fashion

That slight jolt I felt may have been the Earth tipping a little on its axis: the great broads responsible for the ruthlessly clever (and brilliantly ruthless) dissections of shamelessly ill-dressed celebs over at Go Fug Yourself have posted an appreciation of Kate Winslet which just rocks.

But they weren’t so blinded by admiration that they left their wit at home in yesterday’s handbag, thank the goddess,

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Dooce on boobs

Okay, okay, it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month and I often remember my friend Linda Palmieri, who lost her valiant fight against the disease nine years ago. I like to think that wherever she is now, she’s comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable with her irrepressible sharp wit. A woman who never thought that “irony” was something you used to press shirts. (HT to Jeffrey from whom I stole that line.)

But lest this thing get too sepulchral or saccharine, let’s turn in our hymnals to yesterday’s post by Dooce aka Heather Armstrong, who’s turned her blog masthead pink for the month in honor. Recounting her aunt’s recent bout with the disease, she writes:

Lola had reconstructive surgery on both breasts last week while we were out of town, and by all accounts she’s recovering well, although my mom says she’s a tad grumpy — how my mother differentiated that from the mood Lola has been in for the last 40 years I HAVE NO IDEA. Seems she doesn’t like the look of the new ones because one of them is looking in the wrong direction in an exact imitation of a lazy eye, but that should correct itself once the swelling from the surgery has subsided. Whose boobs haven’t gone wandering once or twice in their lives? You can’t sit there and tell me that you haven’t ever had a bad day when one of them was staring blankly at the floor while the other one was frantically searching the menu for French fries. OR WAS THAT JUST ME?

Blurbodoocery, Inc., will be making a donation to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation this month with the hope that ongoing research will make a true difference in the lives of millions of women. This also gives me a chance to talk about boobs in nauseating detail like I haven’t since I stopped breastfeeding Leta and lost the ability to shoot milk at the dog’s head from four feet away.

And Heather:  it’s just you.

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Copyright, censorship, and fair use

Click over to the Columbia Journalism Review and read Copyright Jungle, an excellent primer on copyright law by Siva Vaidhyanathan, associate professor of culture and communication at New York University.

HT to Tom Mighell.

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