Valentine’s Day Open Thread
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! You’re all my sweethearts, even you trolls. I hope you’re having a good one! What’s on your mind besides love?
At least 17 artifacts from the Egyptian Museum of Cairo are missing following a break-in, the country’s minister of antiquities said Sunday.
The missing objects include a gilded wood statue of King Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess; parts of a gilded wood statue of Tutankhamun harpooning; a limestone statue of Akhenaten; a statue of Nefertiti making offerings; a sandstone head of an Amarna princess; a stone statuette of a scribe from Amarna; 11 wooden shabti statuettes of Yuya; and a heart scarab of Yuya.
The discovery that the ancient treasures are missing came after museum staff took an inventory, Zahi Hawass said in a statement.
The police and army plan to question people who are already in custody, Hawass said.
One good thing is that these objects are so recognizable that they won’t be easy to sell. I don’t doubt that there are some unscrupulous dealers out there willing to handle them. Unless a buyer has a private collection they show to very few people, it will be difficult to take these pieces. I’m hoping that the museum recovers the artifacts quickly.
There’s an anniversary coming! It’s been five years since Clarence Thomas has uttered a word publicly during a SCOTUS case.
A week from Tuesday, when the Supreme Court returns from its midwinter break and hears arguments in two criminal cases, it will have been five years since Justice Clarence Thomas has spoken during a court argument.
If he is true to form, Justice Thomas will spend the arguments as he always does: leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes, whispering to Justice Stephen G. Breyer, consulting papers and looking a little irritated and a little bored. He will ask no questions.
Who needs words when your ideology has already decided the case? That’s just extra energy that he doesn’t want to waste. Let us all celebrate Silent Clarence and his intellectual addition to law.
Tags: Open Thread
There is apparently an unlimited supply of weirdness in the world.
This, however has a certain appeal. Kind of like a low-tech Twitter.
silent discos are a lot of fun. I’ve been to one where you could choose between a few different closed circuit stations… it is really funny to see people dancing to multiple tempos
Obama’s new push for “competitiveness” reminds me of Howard Dean’s old stump speech explaining that the US is competing against nations with universal public health care. I haven’t heard that point brought up for a while now.
Chip Flowers released his State of the Treasury report today.
http://treasurer.delaware.gov/documents/TreasuryRpt_2011-02-14.pdf
It is vintage Chip. The report is well-thought out, tackles all relevant issues, and offers concrete solutions to identified problems.
Happy Valentine’s Day, *sweetheart*.
Happy Valentine’s Day. My mail is full of pleas for money from various levels of the Democratic Party, including an hilarious missive signed by John Daniello and written by someone totally else.:D
Did we always used to have the option of being “card carrying” members of the party? Or is this new.
Yeah, happy valentine’s you-know-who. I drop a bundle on extravagant gifts and I get one box of gummies and no oral? Its over. Sure I’m a dick to break up in public but what do you know about dick anyway?
Mongo gets no pleas for money from the party. Maybe they figure I already gave enough. Or maybe somebody saw my truck and figured I should keep every dime I have.
Interesting report, Jefferson…good start to his life as a public servant.
Agreed–Chip is definitely a man of ideas! Chip is innovative and has the rare ability to be inspirational. I see nothing but great things for his future and for our state in the coming years. Hopefully Chip can lift us from the present tendency toward negativism to the higher ground of our best possibilities.
Jefferson. So true. Not just vintage Chip. It is vintange Founding Father. It is the People’s Treasury, not just a lowly Office. The challenges he faces are equal to those of our Founders:
The State Treasurer, in accordance with a mandate inherent in his constitutional duty as steward of public funds, deems it necessary and proper to submit a report to the People of the State of Delaware informing the citizenry of the condition of their treasury
(the “People’s Treasury”). In preparing this First Report on the Delaware State Treasury (the “Report”), the State Treasurer and his administration have taken due care in considering the great challenges facing our state finances in this period of economic turmoil.
As we emerge from this turmoil, the pivotal question standing before us is whether the People’s Treasury,humbled by our past economic hardships but strengthened by the wisdom of experience, will emerge stronger in this new era of unrivaled challenges and unprecedented opportunities.
Madison and Jefferson: I will reiterate a point I made before the election — unless Chip intends to be Treasurer for life, the changes he seeks carry the potential for great mischief in the wrong hands (see Janet Rzewnicki; she’s the reason the duties of the office were curtailed in the first place). I need only point to the Insurance Commissioner’s office to illustrate the danger of allowing the people to vote on offices for which they don’t have the knowledge to judge the abilities of the candidates.
Fair enough point, but not sufficient to reject Chip’s suggestions.
Under your theories, the powers of the governor should have been limited so we’d have been protected from Ruth Ann Minner and residents of selected districts should not be permitted to choose who represents them in the General Assembly.
Wrong. Managing insurance companies and the state’s funds are specialized jobs. Representing the people is not.
Further, one does not have to empower the office of treasurer to follow Chip’s suggestions.
Agreed that the treasurer and insurance commissioner are specialized positions but my point, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, is that governors like Minner and the clowns who populate Legislative Hall have the power to do far more harm to the state’s interests than Chip Flowers ever will … and we’ve got voters who foolishly re-elect them year after every-other-year.
On that we agree. Perhaps if voters could be educated to the point where they wouldn’t elect those idiots, they might know enough to vote for the right IC and Treasurer, too.