Arran's Alley
Mick Arran
- Location
- Savannah, Georgia, USA
- Bio
- I've done everything from recycling to teaching in a pre-school. Most recently I was for 10 years an acting and theater teacher as well as a pallet builder. I read a lot and I'm an old man who remembers the distant past with somewhat more clarity than this morning's breakfast.
I've been blogging for a decade and I don't do "light". If you're looking for recipes, self-promoting displays of items made for sale, titillating stories about how I was a pimp for an afternoon, or the beauties of toasters, you've come to the wrong place. Check the Front Page.
MY RECENT POSTS
- Where Have We Seen This
Before?
May 17, 2011 08:40AM - Candidate Gingrich Wants a
"Conversation" About Medicare
May 16, 2011 08:39AM - A Calm, Rational Conversation
April 14, 2011 04:46PM - The Rich Win. Always
March 26, 2011 05:36PM - Socialism - It's Not Just For
Crackpots Any More
March 19, 2011 04:08PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “Whatever works.”
May 17, 2011 08:41AM - “Excellent point,
Elijah!”
May 16, 2011 06:23PM - “Everybody keeps telling
me how "smart" Gangrene is but
if
this is the b…”
May 16, 2011 08:41AM - “Do you think she's being
sarcastic?”
April 14, 2011 04:48PM - “Time. Is. Running.
Out.”
March 26, 2011 05:39PM
Mick Arran's Links
- Blogs Worth Checking
- Savannah Regional Central Labor Council
- The Sideshow (Avedon Carol)
- Unclaimed Territory (Glenn Greenwald)
- Robert Reich's Blog
- Barbara's Blog (Barbara Ehrenreich)
- Norwegianity
- Crooks and Liars
- Walled-In Pond
- Mine Blogs
- Arranology
- Fact-esque
- mickarran's blog (Savannah Morning News)
- Series
- Siren Song
- The Bush Cult
- Dump the Dems
Where Have We Seen This Before?
I must admit that I'm having difficulty with this Dominique Whosis thing. On one hand, it does the heart good to see the head of the often-criminal IMF perp-walked in handcuffs and denied bail. 'Bout time somebody in the predatory globalized
Candidate Gingrich Wants a "Conversation" About Medicare
Is Newtie Gangrene actually running for president this time instead of pretending he is as a way of boosting his new book or his lecture fees (which has always before turned out to be his real agenda)? Seems it may be so
A Calm, Rational Conversation
From Digby, who really ought to know better by now.
And once we cut the deficit by doing nothing and everyone has pulled themselves together after this collective panic attack, we can all sit down and have a rational discussion about long term health care costs and fixing that little shortfall
… Read full post »
The Rich Win. Always
It occurred to me when I was reading a book on the beginning of the Civil War that we, us ordinary shlubs, have been under the thumbs of the rich since the beginning of what we are foolishly pleased to call "civilization". From the very beginning of socialized tribal
Socialism - It's Not Just For Crackpots Any More
Socialism. It's scary just to say it, ain't it?
You might think that's a Bad Thing. I mean, hasn't everybody been shying away from terms like "liberal" and "progressive" and "socialist" because we've been taught they represent frightening, evil people and anti-American values? But in fact it's a Go
The Children of Babbitt
A hundred years ago – OK, 89, I rounded it off, so sue me
– Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel called Babbitt, the
first ever
about what our wanna-be-aristocrat upper middle class was really
like. It was a hugely successful book, not least because it
skewered a smug, self-satisfied, arro… Read full post »
IOKIYAR, Meet IOKIYAC
As we are all now well aware, there is a split in the nation's system of law and morality: if you're a conservative Republican , committing fraud is a standard business practice and adultery is justified by your patriotism; if, otoh, you're a liberal Democrat, playing golf is tantamount to treas… Read full post »
Did You Know...?
1) Did you know that Newtie would never have committed adultery if he wasn’t such a damned passionate patriot?
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is in the early stages of a presidential campaign, spoke in an interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network /
… Read full post »
Our Plutocracy: It's Official
In case you had any doubts, this is a plutocracy (Via Avedon):
The financial world is tres concerned that after 30 yrs of outsourcing, globalizing, union destroying, automation, and stock-friendly lay-offs, there isn't much left in the way of employees. (Via FDL's Blue Texan)
Even
Fantasy Politics
I don't suppose I need to ask how this qualifies as "moving to the center". Especially when you consider the latest poll results. It doesn't, of course, except on Wall Street and inside the Village Bubble where life is beautiful all day long and all you have to do is smile.
What seems… Read full post »
S Dak Elimination Solution & Probable Blue Dog Compromise
The Brilliant Minds in S Dak have come up with plan to eliminate all abortions that is breathtaking in its simplicity, almost elegant. Make it legal to kill the doctors who perform them.
… Read full post »A law under consideration in South Dakota would expand the definition of "justifiable homicide" to include k
Randian Libertardianism and Traffic Lights
Since none of us get anywhere these days espousing intelligent, workable, rational solutions to our deadly problems, and seeing as how the Randian views of the batshit crazy Right (BCR) are so much easier to pursue what with their not having to provide any sort of proof that any solution
… Read full post »Atrios: Still in Denial After All These Years
Business First. Also Second, Third, Fourth....
President Barry O, continuing confused on his role wherein he apparently thinks he's president not of a nation but of a corporation that helps other corporations to screw consumers, has decided that with the economy everywhere but Wall Street in free fall and banks foreclosing on homes they don't own
… Read full post »This Will Not Happen
The Myth of Christmas
Reprinted from 12.24.06 – And it will continue to be printed every year until the O’Reilly-originated “War on Christmas” BS ends. There’s no antidote to lies except truth.
This would be the time, if ever there was one, to reflect on the meaning of Christmas, but before w… Read full post »
Panic on Wall Street
The Masters of the Universe on Wall Street are shivering with fear, something M's of the U rarely experience, certainly not more than 3 or 4 times per each 4-hr day. Is this because:
- They have finally realized that the endgame of the economy-theft they've organized will be a/
The Culture of the Rich
So our democracy is finally dead after 235 yrs, replaced by the corporatist plutocracy the rich have always wanted. Our old level-seeking, middle-class-directed economy is no more, replaced by a plutonomy aimed at filling the needs of the rich and ignoring everyone else. Is that as far as it goes? Un… Read full post »
Liberal Ideas Aren't "Fringe"
In 1964, Lyndon Baines Johnson, not the most liberal of liberal FDR Dems, fought the right-wing poor-bashers by saying stuff like this in speeches all over the country (this excerpt comes from a speech he made in North Carolina on May 7):
Right here in North Carolina, the State where I
… Read full post »
Fiction Friday: Aunt Harriet's Revenge, Episode 23
climbing mount mortimer
by Ponsonby Q Braithwaite
(Ponsie and Carolyn, intrepid as always, have finally reached their destination, the Mortimer Mansion, with limbs intact and hearts of steel. They are, they believe, ready to face whatever dangers await them in their attempt to purl… Read full post »
Third Parties: Not Just for Fun Any More
At Norwegianity, Mark Gisleson thinks we have to vote Democrat. The argument he makes is weak but it's the only one there is.
… Read full post »They [Republicans] want us tired. They want to create outrage fatigue so we'll stay home on November 2. Fuck you if you don't vote this year, and fuck yo
The Rich Need Our Help - $$$ Addiction
No, this isn't another one of those tongue-in-cheek attacks on the rich that have become so fashionable lately, what with them making such horse's asses of themselves. (Via Mark G) I actually have come to believe that rich people really do need our help, not just because it would prevent th/
… Read full post »RW Blogger Admits He Hearts Witchcraft
In the world of Right-wingnuttery, it is considered important to espouse only fundamentalist religious views: gays are evil, abortion is evil, Obama is the Antichrist, and Halloween is a symphony for the devil in which demons hide in candy and take over kid’s souls, turning them into Satan&rsqu… Read full post »
New Liberals = Old Conservatives
David Sirota is having a little difficulty telling the difference between Neoliberal economic policies and the kind the GOP has been pushing for decades. (Via Norwegianity)
… Read full post »In simplistic, Lexus-and-Olive-Tree terms, the neoliberal economic argument goes like this: Tariff-free trade polici
Obama's Labor Day Kabuki
Everybody, it seems, wants to believe Obama isn't a corporate puppet sell-out. Bob Herbert, who has been very tough on Obama's willingness to give Wall Street anything it wants while refusing Main Street more than the absolute minimum of what it needs, "finally" hears what he's been wanting to h/
… Read full post »
Peter K. Harrell
BOKO
RARobertsJr.
Enemy of the State
John George Archer
Dennis Loo
Salon.com