tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84449562009-11-25T08:38:19.695-08:00A last, perhaps final, attempt to blog in a way that genuinely suits me. (And part of that involves the <a href="http://myverybrain.blogspot.com/2007/06/some-ground-rules.html">comments policy</a>.)The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comBlogger2248125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-6825918997723588832007-07-09T09:17:00.000-07:002007-07-09T09:19:05.459-07:00

In the simplest terms, I’m glad nobody noticed the revival of this blog; that would only make this latest re-interment more embarrassing.Even so, this second burial enjoys an advantage over the first in that this most recent closure comes out of a happier frame of mind. Rather than the old bitter taste on the tongue, I’m shutting down My Very Brain in the knowledge that a one-man blog is not the

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-91981006569128375572007-07-03T15:54:00.000-07:002007-07-03T16:14:18.240-07:00

And thus a concept was born....or rather borrowed, and abbreviated, from my other site. I need to keep reminding myself this is a blog, more of a message board that I want to visit for purposes of blabbing as opposed to writing seriously; the latter activity rightly belongs in outlets with a higher bar to publication, editors, fact-checking, etc.So, without pounding that soapbox any longer, here

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-81926681305131238302007-07-02T15:26:00.000-07:002007-07-02T15:27:14.605-07:00

...for running this site (not that anyone will see it take effect). But, if it does pay off, I'll be able to start pimping the thing once again.(########)

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-69368878276106481372007-07-02T15:12:00.000-07:002007-07-02T15:26:27.648-07:00

I can't recall a Supreme Court ruling in the past few years that has spawned the kind of sustained commentary I'm seeing in the wake of the ruling that struck down Seattle, Washington and Louisville, Kentucky programs for "voluntary" diversification (I use scare quotes there because the case itself suggests an element of the involuntary). A piece I read on Slate today about how conservatives

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-39030992379637306862007-06-29T16:21:00.000-07:002007-06-29T16:40:04.275-07:00

Just a quick one here...A couple weeks of Supreme Court verdicts have sufficiently shocked a chunk of the country, thereby reminding people that George W. Bush's elections had consequences, whatever you think of them. The scary thing to me personally, though, was the ease with which I was able to predict how nearly every single ruling the Court made would come down (one exception) when I saw

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-47051059377720152652007-06-29T16:03:00.000-07:002007-06-29T16:21:16.819-07:00

Some days, you just have to celebrate the junk out there.For instance, the always useful b3ta.com (who made this catchy thing, for instance) directed me to a new "wiki" project, The Uncyclopedia, which looks like a spontaneous, collaborative comedy stunt. And, of course, it's got the obligatory entry to Chuck Norris.Anyway, there's a place to kill time for ya.Speaking of places to absolutely

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-88446913547176977302007-06-28T12:24:00.000-07:002007-06-28T12:47:14.133-07:00

Slate fronted an item today calling for the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney...love the photo, by the way.In a sharply titled column - "Cheney Unbound" - the staid 'n' steady David Broder, after listing the various outrages Cheney has committed against the spirit of an informed public reaches the conclusion that Cheney's modus operandi "was not illegal, and it was not unconstitutional" -

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-68671726341974790042007-06-27T13:18:00.000-07:002007-06-27T13:19:48.328-07:00

I’m not running this site to convince anyone of anything; it’s about writing, giving vent aggravations on one hand and voicing happy thoughts on the other. It’s not so much that I object to allowing this to be a forum as I don’t want to waste a lot of time quibbling with unseen strangers about the meaning and particulars or this quote or that government report.Given that and after some thought,

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-16938199562513705322007-06-27T13:14:00.000-07:002007-06-27T13:18:43.153-07:00

very, (ver’-e) adj. [L. verus, true] 1. actual, precise {used to emphasize the exact identity of a particular person or thing}; 2. (archaic) real, genuineThose aren’t the only dictionary definitions of the word “very.” But those definitions best explain what went wrong with this site - not to mention the several aborted, and deleted, attempts that followed.This blog suffered - and died multiple

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1169665039885723602007-01-24T10:53:00.000-08:002007-01-24T10:57:42.023-08:00

Kerry bows out of '08 presidential race.I don't care about your party affiliation. This is good news for everybody not directly related to Senator Kerry. It's not because he would have been a worse president than Bush; the 2004 election is in the past, where it belongs. It's because he's just a pompous wind-bag, someone any sane person wouldn't want to hear from for four straight years. There

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1169661981042041472007-01-24T09:16:00.000-08:002007-01-24T10:06:52.253-08:00

I'll begin this commentary on the President Bush's State of the Union address with the trivia. I'll confess right now that I still get a kick out of this annual address. It's not the speech itself so much as the theatre inherent in our public servants bobbing up and down on cues attuned to their respective political cultures. The ritual becomes dumber still with our currently divided Congress;

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1169510527736608552007-01-22T15:35:00.000-08:002007-01-22T16:02:08.156-08:00

I know, I know. I've abandoned the post...not that anyone has noticed (well, the sitemeter for It's a Simple Game did show a hit from My Very Brain, but I still don't actually believe it).Anyway, since posting my "goals for 2007," I have made only feeble attempts to stick with said goals and have generally ignored this space. The fundamental reason for this is what amounts to a total lack of

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168905527707681032007-01-15T15:55:00.000-08:002007-01-15T15:58:47.726-08:00

I think this passage from an editorial from The Arizona Republic gets at what made Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. such a visionary:"At one point [in the weeks before his death, Dr. King] gathered Chicano farmworkers, White coal miners from Appalachia and Native Americans from the Dakotas together in a single room. They discussed what later would become the 'Poor People's Campaign.'"This isn't a call

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168905281473629492007-01-15T15:43:00.000-08:002007-01-15T15:54:41.566-08:00

An interesting aspect of Iraqi politics has creeped into the dialogue about President Bush's proposed surge. The New York Times' John Burns gets credit (in my little corner of the world, anyway) for the first mention of this dimension:"First among these is a Shiite-led government that has been so dogmatic in its attitude that the Americans worry that they will be frustrated in their aim of

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168904514543048052007-01-15T15:33:00.000-08:002007-01-15T15:42:11.590-08:00

From this morning's The Oregonian (LINK)."At the same time reform-minded legislators are pledging to limit perks from lobbyists this year, lawmakers have collected more than $900,000 in campaign contributions since the Nov. 7 election.""Three-quarters of that money has gone to the Democrats who now control both the House and Senate, according to campaign finance reports."It's things like this

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168643570406053312007-01-12T15:06:00.000-08:002007-01-12T15:12:50.526-08:00

So, yeah, no posting to this site today. If you want to see why, check the other site - though even there you won't get the full story till later today.Today was very soccer-y.Anyway, I'm optimistic about the balance I'm working toward on the sites; I've got some plans between them that should make for easier posting - at least after I get past the monster MLS season review project I assigned

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168561739591369322007-01-11T16:12:00.000-08:002007-01-11T16:28:59.663-08:00

I'm so pissed that the vast majority of people who visit this site and who attempt to use the link won't be able to get through. You see, The Atlantic is a bit stingy with access...not that I blame them as they've got good stuff.......including Carl M. Cannon's super-review of presidential mendacity, in which, for some dang reason, the sitting president came up. Go figure.Anyway, if you can get

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168560725925365242007-01-11T16:05:00.000-08:002007-01-11T16:12:05.930-08:00

Meet Me on Paranoia StreetThe righteously paranoid Julian Sanchez (just yanking his chain...not that he knows me, or will read this) wrote a good article for Reason about new, highly-intrusive searching/surveillance machines that, 1) pose devilish problems for Fourth Amendment interpretation, and, 2) I wish were still some ways off in terms of development, never mind use.The part of the piece I

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168560350566465572007-01-11T16:01:00.000-08:002007-01-11T16:05:50.640-08:00

It, um, sounds like a good bookI've read two reviews now for a book titled Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor (LINK to Amazon). As the title suggests it's about life and the jury-rigged economy in the ghettoes of America. It sounds like an interesting read.The two reviews: Slate and The American ProspectI mean no great disrespect to the Prospect's reviewer, but the Slate

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168470342997917212007-01-10T15:02:00.000-08:002007-01-10T15:05:43.003-08:00

Read it before the link goes "poof."A friend forwarded this one from the tightly-guarded pages of the Wall Street Journal. The thrust of the article deals more with reforming the legal side of the healthcare equation. It won't fix anything, but, seeing as it is discussing a system that eschews blunt-instrument approaches like capping damage awards and the like, it seems a decent idea. Long

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168470123194899132007-01-10T14:58:00.000-08:002007-01-10T15:02:03.266-08:00

Well, shit. I didn't link to the political index I had intended to mine for new sources - and that's just as well. It sucks. The online publications I hadn't heard of wind up, often as not, to no longer exist. And the ones I had heard of don't do me much good because, well, I'd already heard of them and passed or accepted, right?In any case, I think I'll keep plugging away at this one -

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168448208293071892007-01-10T08:52:00.000-08:002007-01-10T08:56:48.363-08:00

So, I kinda spazzed on yesterday's posting. Too much commentary/rehashing of past silliness, linking to stupid articles, etc. Naughty, naughty. In any case, I blame Blogger for being squirrelly all day.Well, take 'em one day at a time as they say in Alcoholics Anonymous. Starting fresh today. In fact, I've got a little web exploration project in my head. In the constant search for new

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168390108827015242007-01-09T16:43:00.000-08:002007-01-09T16:48:28.853-08:00

After six years of Republican over-reach, it's a little fun to see some famous liberals getting ready to head down the same road. While he makes the generally constructive points about using the newly-passed PAY-GO rules to connect taxes to popular initiatives, a Robert Kuttner piece from the American Prospect contains several whoppers about what last November's elections meant. For instance:"

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168389674421572862007-01-09T16:24:00.000-08:002007-01-09T16:41:15.313-08:00

I read Richard Cohen's op-ed in today's Washington Post with a bit of an embarrassed smirk. Without digging too deep into, Cohen offers his take on what he considers an intellectually dishonest dodge that allows Bush to hew to his version of reality; in simple terms, if you give him one version of reality, he politely points to the unknowns and falls back on an agree-to-disagree default - a

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8444956.post-1168300461038803842007-01-08T15:45:00.000-08:002007-01-08T15:54:21.043-08:00

I had intended to post this stuff last week, but, I'm happy to say, I had better things to do.Anyways.......it's not that I found the funniest, must-see stuff. But there were a couple freakshows and one cute little thing I thought enough of that I wanted to pass them on.The first freakshow demonstrates, in a series of photos, what happens to your hand when a brown recluse spider gives you a

The Manly Ferryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781284717499002494jeffbull71@yahoo.com