From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
"It ain't the years, it's the mileage. If by mileage you mean years."
The annual Beloit College Mindset List is generating the usual gasps and titters as it reflects on how the mental cards are stacked in the collective minds of the Class of 2017, meaning you whippersnappers born in the year of unicorns and rainbows known as...1995. Welcome to their world:
• As their parents held them as infants, they may have wondered whether it was the baby or Windows 95 that had them more excited.
• Having a chat has seldom involved talking.
• Gaga has never been baby talk.
Carpe diem, y'all.
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• They could always get rid of their outdated toys on eBay.
• They have known only two presidents.
• Threatening to shut down the government during Federal budget negotiations has always been an anticipated tactic.
• Captain Janeway has always taken the USS Voyager where no woman or man has ever gone before.
• Courts have always been ordering computer network wiretaps.
• With GPS, they have never needed directions to get someplace, just an address.
• Their parents have always bemoaned the passing of precocious little Calvin and sarcastic stuffy Hobbes.
• A Wiki has always been a cooperative web application rather than a shuttle bus in Hawaii.
• They have always known that there are “five hundred, twenty five thousand, six hundred minutes" in a year.
Oh, great. Thanks for the earworm, Beloit.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, August 26, 2013
Note: Due to a daycare mix-up, C&J's regular NSA tracker Bart will be unable to intercept our communications today. Instead, all keystrokes will be monitored by Dwayne in accounting, who would be most appreciative if you could type just a bit more leisurely than normal so he can keep up. Thx. ---Mgt.
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11 days!!!
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the New York City mayoral primary:
15
Days 'til
Artwalk 2013 in Birmingham, Alabama:
11
Percent of Americans surveyed by Reuters/Ipsos who say President Obama should and should not, respectively, intervene in Syria:
9%, 60%
Number of Americans who are expected to use the health insurance exchanges in the 19 states that will have them, versus the original estimate of 7 million:
8.5 million
(Source: USA Today)
High school students prosecuted each year in Texas for truancy:
118,000
Truancy prosecutions by all the other states combined:
52,000
(Source: Harper's Index)
Increase in the bear population in Maine since 2004 (bear hunting season starts today):
30%
(Source:
Maine Sunday Telegram)
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Happy International Dog's Day!!!
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CHEERS to a pleasant afternoon at the mall. Estimates on the Republican-free crowd size at Saturday's rally in D.C. are varying this morning. The organizers say 100,000 attended, the tea party says 60 attended, and the Park Service says hey, leave us out of it. Whatever the number, it was a packed event and a powerful 50th-year tribute to MLK's "Dream" speech:
The spot where King
stood on Aug. 28, 1963
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A parade of speakers took the podium over the course of the morning, including U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who recognized the monumental achievements of King’s original movement but acknowledged that many of his objectives have not yet been fulfilled. […] He reiterated earlier criticisms of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act---a topic that quickly emerged as one of Saturday’s focal points. “This morning, we affirm that struggle must and will go on until every eligible American has a chance to exercise his or her right to vote," said Holder, who on Thursday sued Texas over a strict voter ID law.
U.S. Rep John Lewis (D-Ga.), one of the pillars of King’s movement and the youngest speaker at the 1963 march, pressed the crowd to “fight the good fight” for freedom. He energized spectators with a chant: “You’ve got to stand up, speak up, speak out, and get in the way! Make some noise!”
MLK50 events continue this week, culminating in a speech by President Obama (flanked by Carter and Clinton) at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the tea party will be commemorating the third anniversary of Glenn Beck's historic 2010
"Restoring Honor" rally by trying and failing to remember a single thing about it.
JEERS to lame-o culpas. Last week my blockhead governor, Paul LePage, told a roomful of Republicans that President Obama "hates white people." A couple of those Republicans were so disgusted by it that they confirmed his remarks to the press. Trapped like a rat, LePage issued a non-apology apology:
The written statement, obtained by the Portland Press Herald, begins with LePage saying, "My fellow Republicans, I write to you to apologize for any difficulty that remarks recently reported in the press may have caused you." He goes on to say, "Let me be clear, I do not believe that President Obama dislikes any racial group."
You can read a pdf of his full statement---in which he expresses his "remorse" only to fellow politically-inconvenienced Republicans and blames his foot-in-mouth disease on his brain's lousy French-to-English dictionary (seriously)---
here. Or, if you don’t feel like reading it, just make some random grunting noises and you'll get the gist.
JEERS to smearing more lipsick on the pig. Russian president Vladimir Putin now says he has banned all demonstrations in or around Sochi for the two-and-a-half months before the Winter Olympics. The announcement has made people in other countries very mad. But probably not as mad as the owner of the Sochi Ronco outlet store.
CHEERS to letting broads in the booth. On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution---giving women the right to vote---was certified by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby. The female citizenry used their newfound powers to elect second-worst-president-ever Warren Harding. Ladies, will you ever live that down?
CHEERS to reunion day. Keith Olbermann and ESPN (or, to be precise, ESPN2) will tie the knot again tonight at 11, when his new show debuts. This time he's in his element: the whiz-bang world of sport…
He's baaaaaack!!!
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Each nightly show will begin with Mr. Olbermann alone at the anchor desk for 10 to 15 minutes, reviewing as few as one or as many as 10 sports events making news. “Essentially, it will be an attempt to provide context and information and perspective that looks forward to the next day’s interpretations,” Mr. Olbermann, 54, said. A short interview with a notable subject that plays off an aspect of one of those stories will follow, then videotaped highlights of the day’s events. “Just because I like doing highlights,” he said.
We hear he's reviving his "Worst Person in the World" segment. Sorry to say, just like in politics there's no shortage of them in sports, either.
JEERS to death sticks. On August 26, 1957, the Soviet Union announced it had successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. It got a B in reading, an A in math, and oddly enough, a C- in rocket science.
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Five years ago in C&J: August 26, 2008---The Democratic Convention in Denver…
CHEERS to Night 2! Tonight's line-up includes headliner Hillary Clinton and a keynote speech from former Virginia Governor Mark Warner. Also at the podium: Pay Equity pioneer Lilly Ledbetter, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, New York Gov. David Paterson, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Gallagher (bring a poncho---it's gonna get messy).
CHEERS to my new mom. Michelle...I'm giving you permission to adopt me. What time's dinner?
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And just one more…
Breakfast is served.
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CHEERS to being 5 years old. Admit it---Kindergarten is as good as it gets. The toys, the playground, the nappytime, the smell of sour milk, that moment when you choose to be gay (Source: James Dobson)...and no homework! Well, you can thank the St. Louis Board of Education for that blissful year in your life---they opened the first publicly-funded kindergarten on today's date in 1873. I even remember my kindergarten teacher: Mrs. Dunn. Big hair, eyes that lit up whenever we drew something vaguely resembling something recognizable and, in terms of patience, a living saint. Kindergarten, by the way, is a true rite of passage for budding tea partiers. Its where they get their first experience pounding square pegs into round holes. Today in the C&J Café: all-you-can-eat paste buffet.
Have a tolerable Monday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Republicans Admit to President Obama That They Are Afraid of Bill in Portland Maine
---Politicus USA
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