Al Walentis

Latest Articles in this Channel:

02/10/12--21:01: Weekend open thread (chan 1326856)

Spread your santorum.




02/13/12--10:03: Can you tell the difference between championship dogs and Beat poetry? (chan 1326856)

Seamist on a Windward Tack.

Carpe Diem’s Old School.

McMagic’s Candied Ham of Pebbles Run.

Are they among the best-in-breed winners frm last year's Westminster Dog Show?

Or are they random phrases from Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl”?

Slate has a fun quiz here.




02/14/12--04:55: haoppy VDay to all the (cheapskate) lovers in the house (chan 1326856)

The message says “My love for you is priceless!”




02/15/12--04:50: Morning newspaper throws killer whales under the bus (chan 1326856)

The Reading Eagle came down, strong, this morning against the notion that orcas should enjoy some constitutional protection because these highly intelligent beings, in the words of constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe, are unjustly and "cruelly confined for purposes of involuntary servitude."

It should be noted that the federal lawsuit filed by PETA does not reference Larry Orkus, the hideous little man who masterminded the newspaper's journey into 19th century publishing practices, but to five orcas -- Tilikum, Katina, Kasatka, Ulises and Corky -- incarcerated at San Diego's SeaWorld.

Six days ago, a judge dismissed the lawsuit so the Eagle, irrelevantly, is now stating its piece:

[W]hat about seeing-eye dogs, drug-sniffing dogs, bomb-sniffing dogs, police dogs, draught horses or animal actors? How about family pets? Would Fido and Kitty be happier in the wild? How about parrots and other birds kept in relatively small cages, where they cannot fly?

And if those animals have a right to exist free, would the same right apply to mice, rats, termites and other creatures that invade our homes and threaten our health?

This, of course, is the dreaded slippery slope, whereupon extending dignity to sentient beings with greater intelligence than most Republicans could somehow extend to termites or, perhaps, the polyester fibers than make up Opinion page editor Jim Homan's everyday apparel.

We all should know that personhood only applies to human beings and embryos.





02/15/12--13:04: Spreading Santorum (chan 1326856)

Oh, my.




02/17/12--04:37: That'll teach them for not using contraception...oops! (chan 1326856)

From Slate's Dahlia Lithwick:

This week, the Virginia state Legislature passed a bill that would require women to have an ultrasound before they may have an abortion. Because the great majority of abortions occur during the first 12 weeks, that means most women will be forced to have a transvaginal procedure, in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced. Since a proposed amendment to the bill—a provision that would have had the patient consent to this bodily intrusion or allowed the physician to opt not to do the vaginal ultrasound—failed on 64-34 vote, the law provides that women seeking an abortion in Virginia will be forcibly penetrated for no medical reason. I am not the first person to note that under any other set of facts, that would constitute rape under state law.

Don't want to look at a pretty picture of a cooing embryo? Stick a Bayer aspirin between your legs, lady. You would, if you really were a lady.

 




02/17/12--04:45: Van Halen is coming to the Sovereign Center because all the shows sell out there, except when they don't (chan 1326856)

A tale of two stories.

From the Life section of today's newspaper:

Big-name acts like Van Halen and concert promoters like Live Nation have kicked the tires and are buying Reading's Sovereign Center as a venue of choice when they go on the road....

"Reading is a good market, it's an amazing building and the community has proven its support for big-name acts by repeatedly selling out," [the promoter] said....

"The community at large supports the shows by buying tickets," said Zane Collings, SMG regional manager.

From Page One:


With attendance at Reading's two civic center venues down sharply over the past three years, operator SMG is projecting a $700,000 operating loss by the June 30 end of the season, members of the Berks County Convention Center Authority were told Thursday....

[T]otal attendance for the Sovereign Center and the Sovereign Performing Arts Center - through Dec. 31, the end of the first half of the fiscal season - was down 24.3 percent compared with the peak year of 2008, and that the 2011 attendance was down 13.2 percent from the same period in 2010.

This is all so very confusing. Are Van Halen on drugs, or something?





02/17/12--09:15: GOP to Judy: You drink our milkshake (chan 1326856)

Nominating petitions have been filed in Harrisburg, and Judy Schwank is going to have clearing sailing to a full term as state senator in the 11th district.

Looks like none of the local GOP scalawags has a Super PAC patron willing to fund a sad, futile run.

Not Larry Madaglia, who ran let time and doesn't want to be caught with his pants down again for having to defend Tom Corbett's medieval budget.

Not Michael Rivera, the hand-picked candidate of chief commish Christian Leinbach.

Not some old, washed-up, has-been former sheriff who would love to hand out handguns to all the voters.

What is wrong with those Republithugs? Are they not insane any longer?

Mike O'Pake is looking down from heaven, smiling, having a beer. At a photo-op.

(Complete candidates list here.)




02/17/12--21:01: Weekend open thread (chan 1326856)

Time to share intelligent thinking on the critical issues of the day, such as contraception.




02/21/12--04:30: Terror among the tombstones (chan 1326856)

Friends, better check your backyards. Are any of your dear chickens missing?

Some people are rounding up future roasters, slaying them "ritualy (please elaborate), and then  dumping the smelly carcasses among the grave sites in Aulenbach's Cemetery.

Here's the sad report:

The cemetery, which straddles the city and Mount Penn, has been the scene of similar dumpings, one Friday and a half-dozen others in the past two years, said Sandy Stief, cemetery caretaker and historian.

"But this is the biggest one yet," Stief said.

She said the bags of dead chickens in the past had been tossed behind stone pillars or just inside the entrance. The chickens dumped Sunday night apparently were thrown randomly on the grounds, some landing on grave sites, she said.

What are the men in blue doing to round up and punish the satanic perpetrators? Not a whole lot, it turns out the only crime is...littering.


Do not these poor birds have any rights? Will turkeys be next, or pit bulls?