Kasztanka, Polish Marshal Józef Piłsudski's favorite combat mare, was stuffed upon her death in 1927 and after World War II was destroyed, allegedly on the orders of Piłsudski's enemy, Marshal Michał Rola-Żymierski.
Happy labor day. I've commented, in my own mildly obsessive-compulsive way, about the tendency that web site tenders seem to have of giving a story one name on the link at the main page, presumably to entice lure-able you, and another at the page of the the actual item.
It's tempting to decry the people at cnn.com for calling this story "Obama rallies union troops on Labor Day" on the home page, a la Fox News' frequent habit of labeling a centrist dem a republican in the graphics at the bottom of the screen, but maybe that would be taking this too seriously. Besides, it's a bit amusing. Hey Tea Partiers, hide the womenfolk, Obama's coming!
What's less amusing is not noting the mendacity of WTO BHO bragging of "cutting the payroll tax" and wanting to keep it cut, and not noting that he means cutting the revenue stream for social security. But maybe I'm just a nerd for thinking stuff like that matters.
Note the pairing of the controlled stimulus, cutting revenue for social security, with the uncontrolled stimulus of speaking to a traditional labor day get-together of union types. Months or years later, reporters and pols on both sides can point to this. If you lap it up, you must say to yourself, "What's wrong with me? Why, even union members support cutting revenue for social security!"
Annie Lowrey, Deliverance:The U.S. Postal Service must make massive changes if it is going to survive
I generally like Annie Lowrey's reporting, but this was really disappointing, just the usual boilerplate about a government agency needing to become lean and mean and innovative, blah blah blah, at the expense of its workforce. Presumably Lowrey and her peers have to periodically remind you that they work for the Washington Post and mustn't rock the austerity boat. People worry about jobs, and the further deterioration of the economy. OK, how about not laying off 120,000 more postal workers and not getting apoplectic about how the USPS needs to break even? (Does the post Osama Afghanistan war have to break even? How about the not-war that we're not-waging on Libya? Couldn't we use cheaper missiles or fewer sorties and still achieve a protracted stalemate?)
Lowrey does mention "innovating" by allowing the Post Office to set its own postage rates (You know, like their private sector competitors already do), as opposed to waiting for the congress to vote on any rate changes. Of course they could have done this years ago if the Democrats and Republicans weren't intent on starving the beast. As one commenter observed, the problem is the Post Office is underfunded.
TV reporter:"The Down House owner Chris Cusack said the customer called the bartender a "twerp" on Twitter, and the manager showed her the door."
Tweet Gets Houston Customer Kicked Out - www.ksat.com HOUSTON
-- A Houston diner is kicked out of a restaurant not for something she did, but apparently for something she said on Twitter. Wednesday, August 17, 2011.
Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes? | Rolling Stone Politics
Imagine a world in which a man who is repeatedly investigated for a string of serious crimes, but never prosecuted, has his slate wiped clean every time...
