But they do have more than their share
Case in point, a Republican legislative aide in the Pennsylvania statehouse who propositioned a teen online, he wanted to have sex while one or both of them were wearing a panda costume, and there are indications that diapers may have been involved too.
It gives an entirely new meaning to Richard M. Nixon’s “Checkers” speech.
When he talks about his wife Pat having, “Respectable Republican cloth coat,” and not a fur coat……
A Sex Party has been formed in Canada, which is committed to the liberalization of sex laws and regulations and to to combat the stigmatization of sex in the political process in North America:
The monster in question is ‘erotophobia‘. “Running amok through the North American psyche – like a deranged yet invisible King Kong – are deeper antisex attitudes that produce stale marriages, anti-prostitution legislation, laws against public nudity, government classification of pornography, cautionary – not positive – sex-education classes, media censorship, homophobia, and the biggest bugaboo of all: guilt.”
This follows the formation of similar political organizations in Australia and the UK.
I actually think that puritanical attitudes about sex, and the alarmist attitudes about the juxtaposition of sex and race in the United States, have created a truly delusional mindset on the part of the right wing, and the emergence of a truly pro-sex movement in the US would therefore be a good thing.
It turns out that stealing artifacts from archeological sites is expensive and time consuming, and eBay allows these folks, who already know a fair amount about the artifacts to to make their money more easily by peddling counterfeits:
A little over a decade ago, archaeologists experienced a collective nightmare–the emergence of eBay, the Internet auction site that, among other things, lets people sell looted artifacts. The black market for antiquities has existed for centuries, of course, with devastating consequences for the world’s cultural heritage. But we could at least take some comfort that it was largely confined to either high-end dealers on one end of the economic spectrum or rural flea markets on the other. The sheer physical constraints of transporting and selling illegal artifacts kept the market relatively small. But the rise of online auction sites promised to drastically alter the landscape. And so it did, just not in the dire way we had anticipated.
Back in the pre-eBay days, the cost of acquiring and selling an antiquity was high. The actual looter was usually paid little, but various middlemen down the line added huge costs. During my 25 years of working in the Andes, I have often seen this dynamic at work. In years past, transporting an object was a big expense, even for portable artifacts, and the potential for arrest added to the total cost of doing business. In addition, the expense of authentication, conservation, and occasional restoration of the pieces, made buying and selling quality antiquities a wealthy person’s vice.
Our greatest fear was that the Internet would democratize antiquities trafficking and lead to widespread looting. This seemed a logical outcome of a system in which anyone could open up an eBay site and sell artifacts dug up by locals anywhere in the world. We feared that an unorganized but massive looting campaign was about to begin, with everything from potsherds to pieces of the Great Wall on the auction block for a few dollars. But a very curious thing has happened. It appears that electronic buying and selling has actually hurt the antiquities trade.
How is it possible? The short answer is that many of the primary “producers” of the objects have shifted from looting sites to faking antiquities. I’ve been tracking eBay antiquities for years now, and from what I can tell, this shift began around 2000, about five years after eBay was established. It is true that fakes have been around for centuries. In 1886, the celebrated Smithsonian archaeologist W. H. Holmes described countless bogus antiquities in Mexico. A few decades later, Egyptologist T. G. Wakeling noted that many ancient Egyptian artifacts were, in fact, fakes. In the 19th century, American and European museums purchased large numbers of “Etruscan” ceramic vessels and sarcophagi that came straight from the kilns of rural Italian farmers. But these were usually the really good fakes, labor-intensive pieces that required lots of work and skill. Today, every grade and kind of antiquity is being mass-produced and sold in quantities too large to imagine.
…
The interaction between technology and society is indeed weird.
So, I go off to hear the Franklin High School strings festival, which includes stuff from Franklin Middle, where my daughter goes, and plays violin, in addition to Timber Grove and Chatsworth elementary schools, and when I get back, all hell has broken loose.
Looks like about ½ dozen things developed.
Go figures.
Brad Delong came up with this bon mot:
Republicans Plan to Rename Selves
I hear that the Republican Party plans next week to rename the Democratic Party the “Democratic Socialists”…
… And to rename themselves the “National Socialists.”
Now I gots to clean my screen,
Well, we now have a new theory on the fate artist Vincent Van Gogh’s ear, that rather than having cut it off himself, that it was as a result of a fight with fellow artist, and friend Paul Gaugin:
According to official versions, the disturbed Dutch painter cut off his ear with a razor after a row with Gauguin in 1888. Bleeding heavily, Van Gogh then walked to a brothel and presented the severed ear to an astonished prostitute called Rachel before going home to sleep in a blood-drenched bed.
But two German art historians, who have spent 10 years reviewing the police investigations, witness accounts and the artists’ letters, argue that Gauguin, a fencing ace, most likely sliced off the ear with his sword during a fight, and the two artists agreed to hush up the truth.
This is a definition of friendship of which I was previously unaware.
*You really didn’t think that I could pass up this pun.
First, we have the return of a variant of Spanish Influenza (Swine Flu), and now we have reports of a spike in volcanic activity at Anak Krakatau, which in Indonesian, means “son of Krakatoa,” the small volcanic island that is the the volcano that emerged from the explosion of Krakatoa.
It’s kind of creepy when you think about it, stock market crash, Spanish Influenza, and now this.
What catastrophe is due to revisit us again? The Black Death? The 100 Years War? The Partridge Family?
OK, so I am now firmly in my late 40s, and I’ve been putting my glasses on my forehead for close work for about a year, and it’s time for me to get a new prescription, and I got bifocals.
Presbyopia catches up with us all.
In any case, the lenses are of the no line variety, and I’m still adjusting (I think that they may have gotten my left (dominant) eye wrong.
I was waiting in line for a roller coaster at Hershey Park, and thought, “I forgot my chess board……damn.”
Posted via mobile phone.
The juxtaposition of a cat, an old sock filled with Catnip, and a fishing poll with something dangly on it can provide the opportunity for almost limitless amusement.
Too funny!
What starts with “f,” ends with “k,” and means “screw your workers”? That’s right—401(k).
James Ridgeway
It’s a breadboard in the lab for a robotic product in development.
Look at the last line:
I just hurt myself laughing:
In a severe blow to the credibility of evolutionary science, biologist Richard Dawkins admitted today that Darwin’s theory of evolution could offer no rational explanation for the continued existence of creationists. The process of natural selection sees genes which provide an advantage in the battle for survival being preserved across generations, but scientists can find no useful purpose for the gene which leads people to believe that the earth was created in only six days about 10,000 years ago.
Solipsism as proof of Genesis.
It is harder getting the tune of Weird Al’s Virus Alert out of your head than it is to banish It’s a Small World from your brain.
I’m ready for Vogon poetry for relief.
From the ever reliable Andy Borowitz:
As the federal government moves to institute salary caps for Wall Street executives, an increasing number of assholes are seeking employment elsewhere, a study confirmed today.
According to the report commissioned by the University of Minnesota’s School of Business, at a time when the economy needs experienced hands at the tiller, some of the financial world’s best-trained dickwads are fleeing the ship.
….
I need a screen wipe.
So it’s Chol Moed Pesach*, and we had an early morning meeting. About 20 people in the room, and what seems to be a box of donuts for each person, along with soda†, and I can’t have any of it.
Chametz, technically leavened bread, but really anything not certified as kosher for Passover, is forbidden, so I have water, and peel myself an orange.
At another meeting, someone brings in a couple of boxes of left over Easter candy, and I cannot have any of that.
*sigh*
Sometimes, I am seriously Jonesing for leavened bread products right now.
*Not a Yom Tov, in the case of Passover, days 2-5 of the 8 days, so you can work.
†Also not allowed, corn syrup, don’t you know.
And the kids made her breakfast, though their real gift was helping her cleaning for Passover.
In any case, they made her oatmeal with fresh strawberries, and my daughter Natalie also made her decaf coffee with chocolate, and strawberries.
Strawberries? Great googly moogly! My wife did gamely manage to get it down, and it’s sweet, but I need to instruct Natalie in the ways of coffee.
