Just thought I would take a moment and wish you all a Happy New Year, and I hope you enjoy yourselves as you sit back and relax after what has been an eventful year.
And it has been eventful- the chaos in Iraq, the tumult of the election year, as well as al lthe domestic political squabbles that we have endured. And there have been some positive developments mixed in with all the other events- Rick Santorum, Katherine Harris, Cynthia McKinney, and George Allen are all out of politics. Saddam Hussein is dead. Don Rumsfeld is retired. All of those are good things of varying importance.
And how can I forget the Steelers winning the Super Bowl and the Mountaineers winning big against Georgia!
As I get older, I realize that every year, even the bad ones, were good years. I am lucky. Employed, in good health, my family is happy and well, my friends are all doing well, and I have a lot of things to look forward to this coming year.
Additionally, this website is still moving along nicely. Having Tim aboard has really rounded things out (although not so much with my turn against the GOP as of late), we have a good thing going (for the most part) in the comments (I wish there were emore right-wing voices), and hopefully Tom will be able to post more. And despite the dire predictions about possible fealty to my new corporate overlords at Pajamas Media, I have never felt freer(sp?) to write what I want, and I appreciate the fact that they have never ONCE approached me to change a post or push something I was uninterested in. Say what you want about PJ- they are a good company to work for and my relationship with them has been fine.
At any rate, best of luck with the New Year, don’t drink and drive, and don’t forget to eat your pork and sauerkraut tomorrow for good luck.
Kyle
Happy New Year to you, Mr. Cole. I don’t always agree with you, but you’re an honest man who calls them as he sees them. It’s especially gratifying to see how common sense about Iraq has invaded your thinking. Sorry if that comes off as a bit condescending. But it’s rare for anybody to take a hard look at the facts and face up to what they’re saying.
Tsulagi
Yeah, some were more gooder than others, but yeah.
Happy New Year!
Jon
Pork and sauerkraut? Blasphemy! All good Appalachians know it should be hamhocks and black-eyed peas!
Congrats on running perhaps the most intellectually honest blog left, and good luck in 2007.
ThymeZone
Feliz Ano Nuevo.
That’s Happy New Year in illegal alien.
RSA
. . .or fewer right-wing stooges. In a few recent threads the question of whether Iraq had WMD has raised its head again. Good God.
Weisswurst, with a bit of brown mustard, and a semmel (a Kaiser roll) as accompaniment, just after midnight.
Krista
Happy New Year to you too, John (and Tim, and Tom, of course)! This site is definitely a home away from home for many of us, and I’m delighted to have the daily opportunity to converse, share, debate, and occasionally brawl with such fine folk. Don’t let Tunch get too liquored, and I’ll be enjoying my New Year’s Day tourtiere with all of you in my mind.
ThymeZone
Where would the liberal ThymeZone get such material? From a review of a book being advertised on this site.
2007 promises to be an interesting year. Let’s not forget to keep our eyes on the ball.
The rightwing lie machine is in full throat, just waiting for an opportunity to seize the attention and momentum back for the crazy people who want the government to sell books explaining that the Grand Canyon was created by Noah’s Flood.
All of this nonsense so that that the billionaire Frist family and the other fat cats who get rich while familes go into the shitter in this country every day, can keep getting fatter.
John’s “good company to work for?” Shills for this crap.
CaseyL
What Krista said. I am deeply fond of our hosts, and most of the posters here.
John and Tim and the BJ Crowd: A very Happy (and safe) New Year to all of you!
demimondian
Happy new year, ya’ll. May all of your dreams for the new year be fulfilled.
craigie
Me too. I’m always open to genuine conservative arguments, instead of what we usually get. Of course, that may just represent the threadbare nature of conservatism as a philosophy, I suppose…
Meanwhile, Happy New Year!
jake
AHEM. Ya’ll forgot the collards.
Happy Newd Year to you all.
TenguPhule
Happy New Year to the Sane, the Logical and the those who’ve gone off the kool-aid.
May the Hard Right continue to diminish in 2007 as it did in 2006.
TenguPhule
Oh, which tradition is that? Never heard of that one before.
demimondian
Jeebus, TZ — my employer delivers a lot of ads, too; in fact, even though you don’t think of Gollum as an advertising company, that’s what it is. More than that, my job is to find better and more effective ways to push those ads at you. Do you think I’m pleased by all the ads I push? If so, then think again, dude.
ThymeZone
Just a reminder of what this is really all about. I don’t know about you, but I am not in this for the warm fuzzies.
Books, ideas, words, rhetoric …. have consequences. An army of paid liars and manipulators, funded by corporations and billionaires, is out there stealing your future and your kids’ futures in more ways than you can count right now.
These assholes have declared war on you. Maybe some people want to sit there and smile through it but I don’t.
2006 was a successful year for the forces of sanity, but there is a lot of work to do and a lot of bullshit to dig out from under.
phillytales
Umm….
That’s Happy New Anus, but it’s the thought that counts!
demimondian
None of which has jack doodle to do with Bra and Panties Media (love that name — who came up with it?) I shill for crap that would make any sane person cringe. (I admit that my knowledge of extremist web sites frequently proves useful, if a cause for some consternation among my colleagues.) I still have the best gig in the industry, you know, and I wouldn’t turn it in for anything.
whatsleft
Happy New Year to all. I am deeply appreciative of this site. Thank you Mr. Cole, Tim F., T in T, and all regulars except Darrell.
And, lovely fluffy white rice under the hamhocks, black-eyeds, and collards with freshly chopped onion on top. Mmm mmm
ThymeZone
I could be wrong, but I think it does. PJ media runs ads for crapola rightwing books and other poison all the time.
Unless they were the last employer on earth with health insurance for me and missus’ extensive list of defects, I wouldn’t work for them. Or maybe I would, considering that the health insurance crisis is one of several ways that the GOP and its noise machine are intent on fucking over the middle class in this country in every possible way.
Ben
This site used to be a home away from home for me… until Darrell came back. One of your new years resolutions should be to get rid of him again. He adds nothing to the discourse on this board, hijacks every thread with his inanity, and causes many people to visit more sporadically than they would otherwise. Happy New year to posters and John and Tim F.
Beej
Happy New Year to all. Oh, and re Darrell, one of my favorite poster slogans of all time: Love your enemies. Nothing else makes them quite so angry.
Pb
Happy New Year, everybody… and John, ‘freer’ is fine, although ‘more free’ works nicely as well…
Ross
Happy new year! Here’s hoping that 2007 brings peace.
John S.
Happy New Year!
May the year 007 be just as exciting as its namesake.
OCSteve
Not sure how much I qualify, but I’m planning on participating more. Certainly I am right of center on many things, other things, not so much. These days it’s hard to be identified with anything that could be labeled “republican” and conservatives seem to be a dying breed. Maybe I just need a new label for 2007…
Happy New Year to the BJ crowd.
ThymeZone
Independent?
OCSteve
TZ: That could work. I’ll think about it once the hangover recedes a bit :)
ThymeZone
Just in case our long night of revelrie causes anyone to forget why we shake our verbal fists on a blog ….
(from WaMo)
I’m printing that out and putting it at the top of my monitor as a way to guide my blog behavior in the new year.
Are ya pissed by Snow’s indifferent and arrogant brush-off? Good. Get mad and send money to antiwar.com and the ACLU like I do. Or to the activist org of your choice. You’ll feel great for doing it and you’ll be supporting sound opposition to the war machine and to the forces that would steal your liberties for their own purposes.
Jane Finch
Pork and sauerkraut? No, no…New Year’s is a time for tortiere.
ThymeZone
I miss some aspects of the drinking I could once do … but not the hangovers.
Here’s the best advice I can give you based on my long experience with these morning-after malaises:
Get and stay hydrated.
If you can eat soup, like chicken soup or menudo, then do so. I’m fortunate to be a person who likes menduo so much that I can … and do … eat it out of a can. But whatever soup seems palatable, eat it.
Once you are hydrated and feeling up to it, take a walk. The exercise gets things going in your bloodstream.
Don’t lay around with a sofa cushion over your head moaning and wishing for death …. that only makes it worse.
Good luck!
Krista
Um yeah, they do. They want their president to stop being an insufferable asshat and to start behaving and setting policy as though he actually gives a sweet goddamn about the troops and whether or not their families will ever see them again.
Krista
Agreed! Bonne année, Jane Finch.
Mike
Happy New Year to all, even Darrell.
demimondian
New years day is a time to assemble the kids’ school things for their return tomorrow.
Punchy
As Mr. Cole’s nose grows browner, the thank-you check is in the mail. Bra and Panties Publishing is so proud.
Happie Knew Yer to all
Dug Jay
Per Thyme Zone:
Right. They would fit right in with idiots such as Thyme Zone.
ThymeZone
Hey, you were paid to be here and start the argument two hours ago. Lil’ late now.
You’re fired.
Krista
Who said anything about fitting in? This site would be awfully tedious if we all “fit in” with each other. Differing viewpoints are what makes things interesting, and to say that one belligerent leftie is what keeps the right-wing voices away is absurd. Heck…we lefties have Darrell to put up with, and he hasn’t chased us away yet.
capelza
Happy New Year John Cole (and Tm and Tom, too).
And to my fellow posters, as well. I spent New Years alone (the hub is crabbing) with my little hobbit dog and obnoxiously lovable cat. Watched “LOTR” in a marathon and “Alexander” (I am one of the five people in North America that actually loves this film.)
I didn’t even realise that it was midnight..no gunshots or firecrackers. What is this country coming to? Heh. Made a little cake for myself and treats for the critters.
Only two more years of the Bush admin…weeeee!
Mike
More righties posting you say? Consider this John C., Darrell IS the right. You are now in the center with many of us. You really want more Darrells posting?
OCSteve
I’ll do my best not to go there.
I’ll have to respectfully disagree with that. I suspect that there are plenty of areas where Darrell and I part ways. The first is that I didn’t vote for a single Republican this year. (Assuming he did). Another is that I don’t have the stomach for 200 comment flame wars anymore. Life is too short.
ThymeZone
We need more OCSteves posting and fewer Darrells.
For that reason, I support human cloning.
jake
Does this mean we’re all licensed to kill? Or perhaps we now have the even more amusing license to “ill.” [cue Beastie Boys, raise Geek Alert to Code Orange]
Happy End of the War against Christmas (V.2006)!
demimondian
No, Mike, Darrell is not the right; in fact,
he is no more representative of the right than Wade Churchill is of the left. There’s a whole slough of people that would be considered “right”, yet are not lunatic authoritarians. Conservatism is a political philosophy every bit as pragmatic as (American-style) liberalism, in which the costs of unexpected consequences are given a higher value.
Darrell is a right-wing version of the “magical thinkers” to which all political philosophies are susceptible. (And, lest you think that “pragmatism” is not, consider the basic “let it go, and it will get better on its own” form of that philosophy. It’s a seductive ideal, except that the fact is that some things need to be fixed, unintended consequences be damned.)
Newport 9
Fixed.
demimondian
And improved for greater accuracy.
Krista
I think that’s the most refreshing thing I’ve read on here in a long time. Stick around, friend — I’m looking forward to seeing some hearty debate.
demimondian
It will be easier to avoid 200 comment flame wars when there’s interesting disagreement. In a sort of Reverse Gresham’s Law for comments, one would expect that in a situation in which people were not mandated to respond to any given comment, the highest value comments would typically be the ones most responded to, and thus the content of comments would rise.
ThymeZone
200 comment flame wars are hardly a worthy topic here … and neither are the 300- and 400- and 500-comment ones.
Here’s a worthy topic:
MSNBC’s current home page.
Check the placement and framing of two stories:
Iraq US deaths reach 300, and ….
Denver player gets killed in driveby.
The latter is the banner headline with big picture and the dramatic label “TRAGEDY.”
A second-rate football team loses a player to a shooting, and it’s a big photo and a TRAGEDY.
The Iraq war continues its endless, useless death-machine grind of much worse tragedy, and gets shoved to the side.
See the Tony Snow comment I quoted above. Your government apparently is quite happy with you caring more about football — or just about anything — than about what is really going on in Iraq.
I am looking forward to the 1000-comment flame war on this topic.
Hands?
ThymeZone
Sorry, Iraq US deaths = 3000
Someday, even this blog will have editable posts. Maybe after the end of the Iraq war?
demimondian
Ah, I see that TZ has joined the ranks of the Truly Wise. O! Great One! O! Thou whose wisdom eclipses mine just as the moon eclipses the sun! O! Thou shining star, thou Betelgeuse, thou Rigel, let thy light shine into the darkest corners of the conspiracy which is our military-media-mindray-machine, and explain to me, you humble, faithful, follower, how my government got MSNBC to put up that propaganda?
The Other Steve
I want to stress just how important the Darrell’s of the world are.
If you don’t understand, just go on over to dKos, where there is a giant self-immolation flame out going on with one group turning against the other group.
See, the Darrell’s are important, as they give us all an outlet for our flame throwers.
Scott Chaffin
(I wish there were emore right-wing voices)
That’s some funny stuff. You, in hand with the BJ Greek chorus, have done everything you need to do to run me off. I used to enjoy your comment space, but you’ve got this problem these days:
they give us all an outlet for our flame throwers
So, in my mind, why bother when it’s just a space for folks to sharpen their chops for the dorm-room debating societies? It’s not like I’m going to change their minds.
Anyway, I still like reading your stuff (I’m sure you’re thrilled to pieces), and Happy New Year to yall. And congrats to WV — that was a hell of a game to watch.
ThymeZone
Ah, still no point too obvious that you cannot miss it, I see.
Tony Snow, my earlier post. That’s the reference. Not that MSNBC is run by the fucking government, but that the fucking government doesn’t want you to be upset at the death toll. A simple point. Elegant in its simplicity, impossible to miss. The MSNBC treatement reminds of the Snow dismissal. See? Get it? For $25, I’ll draw you a picture. For $50, I’ll color it it in with crayon for you.
Don’t get it? Oh well, it just goes on your endless list.
Meanwhile, I have a football game to win. It is up to me to urge on the Wolverines to destroy the University of Spoiled Children today.
You are on your own for three hours, dude, try not to hurt yourself.
demimondian
O! Wisdom! O! Enlightenment! O! Thou, whose reasoning is as the puddle beneath the oil-slick!
The MSNBC treatment reminds you of the Snow dismissal. Ah, very good. I am enlightened — you *intended* to establish a foolish non-sequitor! I, being slow, missed your intent!
Ah, TZ, truly your wisdom is as the oil-slick atop the puddle at gas station. (I mean colorful, of course, not noisome, poisonous, or bad smelling.)
ThymeZone
You need some new material, dude. Really. If you can’t do better than that, I forbid you to read my posts, you are going to hurt your brain. I don’t want to be responsible for you causing yourself an injury. I’d stick with a good Star Wars newsgroup or something more your speed.
(This is what happens when you get a liberal echo chamber.)
demimondian
O! Wise! O! Witty! O! Thou whose team of choice makes me cheer for injuries!
I, unworthy worm, have no material of my own. Rather, I but reflect the coruscating crepuscular rays of you, the Sun and Sum of all that enlightens my darkness. I bring no more — and no less — than you yourself have brought down to us from the Olympus from which your hurl your thunderbolts.
Perhaps if *you* were to grace me with new material, I would be inspired myself, O! Thou Muse!
ThymeZone
Anything’s possible, I guess. Send me your credit card numbers and expiration dates, and I’ll see what I can do.
demimondian
O! Thou clever! Thou cute!
Surely one as exalted as yourself needs no inducements to scatter the corn of thy infinite inspiration. What could one as lowly as I bring to you? Why, nothing, of course, as, next to you, I am as nothing, thin next to fat, light next to heavy, deft as next to plodding.
ThymeZone
Yeah, that negative self-image thing is going to be a problem.
This is going to cost a lot more than I originally thought.
demimondian
(Forgive me, O! Great One! for editing your text for clarity.)
O! Funny! Humor! His Gracious Eminence has blessed me with a joke! No, one such as yourself could not be cursed with a negative self-image. How could one who has been raised as high as you imagine himself to be lower then he truly is? Indeed, any having seen you, how they they imagine you to be lower, having seen the heights to which you aspire?
ThymeZone
Yeah, sorry, but our time is up for today.
demimondian
Ha! What a wimp-out! That was truly anti-chimpalicious, TZ.
ThymeZone
‘Kay. See the girl on your way out.
demimondian
Uh, TZ? There’s no “girl”. In fact, there’s no “way out” — I’m sitting at a computer some thousands of miles away from you.
You really need to do something about those delusions, guy. They’re starting to crimp your style.
ThymeZone
You mean, your delusions?
What do you suggest I do about them?
I’m eating potato chips and watching a football game. I’m doing the best I can with your stupid nonsense.
demimondian
Um, no — yours. You seem to have fallen into this odd delusion that there’s a “girl outside”. TZ, there’s really no girl.
Now, you go have a nice rest, and maybe you’ll feel better in the morning.
ThymeZone
Will you be gone?
demimondian
TZ, I’m not there at all. If you don’t want to encounter me, it’s really quite easy: use the pie script, and I’ll vanish like a bad dream.
ThymeZone
Boo!
demimondian
I like pie!
ThymeZone
Knock yourself out.
demimondian
Ewww….I don’t like Marie Calendar’s pies. I particularly don’t like banana creme pie.
ThymeZone
You love the pie you have, not the pie you wish you had.
Krista
That pie doesn’t look too bad, where it actually seems to have real bananas in it. But yeah…I can think of lots of other types of pie that I’d be picking over that.
Pie’s is now off-limits, however. It’s post-holidays, my jeans are too snug, and it’s time to get back on that treadmill and run like my hair is on fire and my ass is catching.