Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

So many bastards, so little time.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Be a wild strawberry.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

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Archives for 2003

Jerks

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With all the talk about Hillary Clinton, I should point out that immature, childish, jerk-like behavior is not limited to Democrats:

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig cleared the way for the Senate to approve the promotions of 127 Air Force captains and majors, but will continue to stall promotions of higher-ranking officers in a showdown over planes for the Air National Guard in his state.

Relenting to requests from the White House, Craig’s staff processed paperwork releasing the 127 nominees Wednesday night and they were scheduled for a Senate vote Thursday, said Will Hart, a spokesman for the Idaho Republican.

“Senator Craig is still reserving his right on the rest of these holds until we are able to come to a conclusion,” Hart said.

What a total asshole.

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Kinda Neat

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I thought this was neat:

Hey, how about this! We were just notified by True Majority.Org, run by Ben and Jerry’s ice cream co-founder Ben Cohen, that TalkLeft has won a blogging award for being one of their top 25 favorite blogs. They are sending us a case of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

I doubt Ben Cohen reads Balloon Juice, but if he did, the only flavor he would probably send me is raspberry.

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Port Security

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Sounds like a good plan:

The Bush administration has decided to place teams of American inspectors at major seaports in Muslim nations and other smaller, strategically located foreign ports to prevent terrorists from using cargo containers to smuggle chemical, biological or nuclear weapons into the United States, senior administration officials said.

The inspectors, they said, will be provided with radiation monitors, chemical detectors and other equipment to inspect “high risk” metal cargo containers before they are placed on ships bound for the United States.

Port security should not be a partisan issue, but the Democrats have tried. At any rate, this is a good start, and it should be applauded. By the way- it should be recognized that no matter what steps we take, I am convinced there will be another attack on the United States- we are just too big to defend everything. Regardless, we are making progress and learning as we go. Security is not an overnight goal- it is something we will have to work on for years.

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More Of This Please

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On Tuesday we had this:

Sam Waksal, the ex-CEO of ImClone Systems who admitted to insider trading allegations, was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday.

Judge William Pauley also ordered Waksal to pay $3 million in fines and $1.26 million in restitution. He is the first CEO to be sentenced in the wake of numerous high-profile corporate scandals.

Today, we have this:

Three former Dynegy Inc. executives were charged in a federal indictment unsealed Thursday with conspiracy and fraud for their roles in accounting transactions that regulators say improperly boosted the energy company’s cash flow and lowered its taxes.

In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit agsinst the three people.

“These defendants are accused of withholding the truth about Dynegy’s true fiscal condition from the SEC, shareholders and the public,” U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby said.

Named in the indictment were Jamie Olis, 37, Dynegy’s former senior director of tax planning; Gene Shannon Foster, 44, former vice president of tax; and Helen Christine Sharkey, 31, a former member of Dynegy’s risk control and deal structure group.

We need a lot more of this, and the only thing that is going to keep these people straight is the fear of long stays in the Big House if they get caught.

Of course, if I were hyper-partisan like the increasingly strident Yglesias, Marshall, Barlow, and the rest of the liberal bloggers, I would have to point out that a couple more indictments and stiff prison sentences, and we may finally end the culture of corporate fraud and greed that set in during the Clinton years.

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I am back..

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The trip to Dallas and back went off without a hitch. No accidents, no tickets (1 warning), and no missed flights on the way home. All is well.

A few quick notes-

– ATTENTION ALL SOUTHERN FOLK- Ford, Chrysler, and Chevrolet all sell something other than monster trucks and SUV’s. They are called cars. You might think they are kinda interesting- they even fit 4 whole people- they have this thing called a back seat- sorta like a bigger version of an extended cab, if you will. I know some of your women were a touch on the hefty size- but other than your dates, I didn’t see you hauling anything to justify the 9 million Dodge Power Ram 950000 monster trucks I saw on the road.

– The life expectancy of a Tennessee State Trooper has to be shorter than that of a D-Day infantryman at Omaha beach. All of I-40 west is named in memory of a trooper- which could explain why there were none on the road issuing tickets. I drove 85 miles an hour the whole way from Nashville to Memphis, and people were passing me like I was going 40. Amazing- so much for the ‘law and order’ South.

– I learned that in the south, the four food groups are barbecued, deep-fried, breaded, and dessert.

– I stopped in Hope, Arkansas, birthplace of the Big Me, aka Billy Jeff. If Arkansas is their vision for the whole country, the Clintons must be defeated at all costs. There was a spectacular hole in the wall BBQ joint there (The Smokehouse?), and I had the best pulled pork sandwich I have ever had.

– Dallas leads the nation in middle-aged bottle blondes with boob jobs.

– If everyone in the South would drive slower and talk FASTER, they would find their life to be much more fulfilling (one theory of mine was that they drive like hell to make up for all the lost time spent speaking at such a slow rate of speed).

– The South is hot. Damned hot.

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Wonderful

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I believe that the way our current system is set up, very few come out out of prison a better person. Via TalkLeft, we find Gray Davis’s latest attempt to make this worse:

The state’s financially strapped corrections department is prohibiting inmates from leaving their cells at three prisons in an attempt to reduce overtime pay for guards and is considering further cost-saving restrictions at most of the system’s 32 institutions, according to the chairwoman of the state Senate committee that oversees prisons.

Fabulous. Folks, unless someone is on Death Row or in jail for life with no chance of parole, these people WILL be released from jail. And in most cases, they will still be unskilled, uneducated, and perhaps carrying Hepatitis B, HIV, or both. The only skills training they will have received are PhD’s in hard crime, an education provided free of charge from their fellow inmates. Add to this to the well known destabilizing effects of sensory deprivation caused by longterm solitary cofinement, and we are ACTIVELY experimenting in the creation of a breed of supercriminals- supercriminals who will be one day back on the street, living down the street from you, and more than likely, responsible for the majority of the violent crimes happening in your town or neighborhood.

It is not being soft on crime to recognize that this is a recipe for disaster. You are not a flaming liberal for not wanting to have these monsters released from prison in a worse condition than when they entered (and we did put them away for a reason, didn’t we?) You are not a bleeding heart commie for wanting prisoners to receive education, skills training, and rehabilitation. What you are is someone with an IQ higher than a pool of tepid water.

Oh hell. Go read this. This is sort of related.

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