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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

You cannot shame the shameless.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

After roe, women are no longer free.

The words do not have to be perfect.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

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You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Site Maintenance / Monday Night Open Thread

Monday Night Open Thread

by John Cole|  October 29, 20075:15 pm| 141 Comments

This post is in: Site Maintenance

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I am tired, so it is now up to you to document teh stupid (which will, no doubt, come from someone who thought of himself as anti-idiotarian just a short while back. Time flies when you are a moron.).

*** Update ***

I thought I was done, but idiocy is on the march. At the Bookworm blog, this update after ranting that Greenwald was somehow deceiving people by publishing not only the portions of the email he wanted to address, but the entire email:

I seem to have gotten linked at Salon, and I’ve had a few people take issue with the fact that Greenwald included a link to the original letter at another website. I don’t care.

The bone I’m picking is with the fact that he created a straw man against which to argue when he selectively edited the original letter and used that selectively edited text as his target. Once Greenwald did that, he created a strong disincentive for readers to trot over to the link and read the whole thing. His readers trust that Greenwald, in his redaction, nevertheless preserved the original text’s meaning — which he did not.

So my beef is with a stylistic approach to argument, not with the argument itself. There are three reasons that lead people to edit their opponent’s statements to suit their own argument, rather than arguing against what their opponent said in the first place: carelessness (my most common sin), intellectual puniness (and I won’t accuse Greenwald of that), or an agenda (which Greenwald openly displays and which Media Matters displayed when it went after Rush).

So, Greenwald had an agenda, and he pursued it. That’s fine, but he used a smarmy lawyer’s tactic to do it, and that’s not fine. He deserves to be called on that tactic.

Why not just stick your fingers in your ear (wash them first, it might get messy after having your thumb so far up your ass), and chant “LALALALALALA I’M NOT LISTENING LALALALALA” like other 8 year olds? I will let one of their commenters explain things:

Reducing a longer text to simply quote the passages relevant to one’s argument is called: writing. Indicating that orginal text has been removed is done by the use of ellpses (plural for ellipsis). High school english, here, sparky. Glen’s post was 1) open and honest 2) well sourced 3) persuasive. The fact that no one claims ownership of the original letter should be an indication to you how unprofessional and childish the letter is to most every reader who has had high school English.
Nevertheless, you lie about Greewald hiding the original, then proudly admit you “don’t care” you lied, and then continue to misinterpret Greenwald’s argument. You are maliciously ignorant.

The only defense of that churlish letter is that the ascribed official disowns it and therefore it may not be authentic — as Greenwald is willing to concede.

That much stupid (as evidenced in the original post by the Bookworm), does not come innocently or naturally. It takes work being that dumb. No doubt I will be savagely attacked for not reprinting the entire post.

Clearly we are reaching the end times when the right-wing is asserting that punctuation and hyperlinks have a left-wing bias.

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Reader Interactions

141Comments

  1. 1.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 5:29 pm

    see? the tsunami of wingnut stupidity has overwhelmed you – it’s working!

  2. 2.

    Krista

    October 29, 2007 at 5:35 pm

    I wonder if melted Hola Fruta can be administered via IV. We must help you keep your strength up, John!

  3. 3.

    Dreggas

    October 29, 2007 at 5:53 pm

    STOP THE PRESSES, GET OUT THE RED LIGHTS HERE’S PROOF THAT THE PERSON AT OB WINGS IS FULL OF IT:

    TEH TROOPS AREN’T EVEN DRIVING THEIR HMMWV’S

    WHY DO THESE PHONEY TROOPS ON PHONEY PATROLS HATE AMERICA?

    [ /SNARK ]

  4. 4.

    John Cole

    October 29, 2007 at 5:55 pm

    Not eating Hola Fruta this week- I am on the heavy shit instead for the Holidays.

    Edy’s Pumpkin Ice Cream

  5. 5.

    ThymeZone

    October 29, 2007 at 5:59 pm

    Unable to stop talking like this, am I.

    Help me stop in the name of everything holy, you must.

    AAAAaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

  6. 6.

    Mary

    October 29, 2007 at 6:00 pm

    GAAAAHHH!!! Pumpkin ice creeeeeeeam ….

  7. 7.

    Krista

    October 29, 2007 at 6:05 pm

    Dangerous shit, that pumpkin ice cream is. Nine new threads in one day?

    (Am now giggling uncontrollably, as I now recall my friend doing a post-battle Yoda impersonation — “Hmmm! Fuck your shit up, I did!”

  8. 8.

    Darkrose

    October 29, 2007 at 6:12 pm

    Q: What is the number one thing Yoda says during sex?

    A: Easier this would be, without Frank Oz’ hand up my ass.

  9. 9.

    Dreggas

    October 29, 2007 at 6:20 pm

    Dude I love pumpkin Ice Cream. It’s right up there with Pumpkin Ale. No snark intended.

  10. 10.

    Mike

    October 29, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    I have a bottle of Pumpkin Ale that I hadn’t quite gotten around to throwing away. Should I rethink?

  11. 11.

    Dreggas

    October 29, 2007 at 6:30 pm

    Mike Says:

    I have a bottle of Pumpkin Ale that I hadn’t quite gotten around to throwing away. Should I rethink?

    Truthfully I liked the stuff. It’s definitely different but worth trying. Look at it this way, you can try it and if ya hate it throw it away. Or you can throw it away never knowing if you might like it.

  12. 12.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 6:42 pm

    This is a Bible I could believe in.

  13. 13.

    D-Chance.

    October 29, 2007 at 6:53 pm

    Lessee…
    Boylan, check.
    GI Joe outrage, check.
    Crazy football play, check.
    CY buffonery, check.
    I’d say you pretty well covered it all today, Mr Cole.

  14. 14.

    jnfr

    October 29, 2007 at 6:55 pm

    Pumpkin Ice Cream! Oh man, now I have a craving.

  15. 15.

    Perry Como

    October 29, 2007 at 6:57 pm

    GAAAAHHH Pumpkin ice creeeeeeeam ….

    Heh. I made a pumpkin salsa and a pumpkin seed salsa this weekend. Tasty.

  16. 16.

    jcricket

    October 29, 2007 at 7:03 pm

    Much like Ezra Klein, I guess my patriotism filter is just plain not working.

  17. 17.

    Krista

    October 29, 2007 at 7:04 pm

    Pumpkin seed salsa? I looooove pumpkin seeds and am very, very intrigued. May I have your recipe?

  18. 18.

    Mr. Sifter

    October 29, 2007 at 7:04 pm

    Krugman has a great op-ed today. Its about how the right is selling fear.

    If anyone is bored, please visit my blog.

  19. 19.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 7:06 pm

    Its about how the right is selling fear.

    you don’t say?

  20. 20.

    Perry Como

    October 29, 2007 at 7:13 pm

    I looooove pumpkin seeds and am very, very intrigued. May I have your recipe?

    Sure, but the main ingredient is going to be tough to find in Canuckistan. I think it has to do with hating freedom (and chiles ;)

    —–

    5x roasted New Mexico Hatch green chiles (hot) – roasted, peeled and seeded
    1x toasted jalapeño – peeled and seeded
    3x cloves toasted garlic
    6x toasted tomatoes – peeled and seeded
    handful of roasted pumpkin seeds
    juice from .5 sour orange
    handful cilantro
    cumin to taste
    salt to taste

    Put all ingredients into a food processor and blend

    —–

    It’s a basic salsa, but the Hatch chiles and sour orange give it a nice brightness, while the pumpkin seeds give a nice earthiness. The difference between toasting and roasting is using a skillet versus an oven. Not sure if it makes a huge difference, but I’ll trust Rick Bayless when it comes to Mexican cooking.

  21. 21.

    incontrolados

    October 29, 2007 at 7:16 pm

    *peeks out*

    Is Mona gone?

  22. 22.

    PaminBB

    October 29, 2007 at 7:17 pm

    OK, after being entertained by the earlier threads, I began to wonder about this Bluto the Dread Pundit character. Interestingly, the bottom of his main page claims copyright by DBDB Writing Services. Based on the projection about Greenwald and sock puppetry, is his entire site one giant sock puppet show? Inquiring minds want to know.

  23. 23.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 7:20 pm

    That much stupid (as evidenced in the original post by the Bookworm), does not come innocently or naturally. It takes work being that dumb.

    they just don’t know when to quit digging the hole deeper, do they?

  24. 24.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 7:27 pm

    christ, I feel dumber for having read Bookworm’s post.

  25. 25.

    nightjar

    October 29, 2007 at 7:29 pm

    So, Greenwald had an agenda, and he pursued it. That’s fine, but he used a smarmy lawyer’s tactic to do it, and that’s not fine. He deserves to be called on that tactic.

    Drat, that diabolical leftard devil Greenwald. He used his devious, anti-business, anti-Amercica trial lawyer potions on we wingnuts–gist to make us look stupididider than weeze already are. Michelle, Michelle, please rescue we’uns from the da moonbat’s.

  26. 26.

    The Stranger

    October 29, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    Ya know what I think. I think Glenn “Sybil of the Intertubes” Greenwald is pretending to be Boylan. That’s what I think.

    Stayed tuned, folks…Gleen is going to look stupid again.

  27. 27.

    Jess

    October 29, 2007 at 7:35 pm

    This is a Bible I could believe in.

    Renato, I’m amused and wildly curious–WHAT is a lolcat? Can you explain this project a bit? (I especially liked Genesis 1.)

  28. 28.

    Andrei

    October 29, 2007 at 7:36 pm

    With all this recent ranting of yours, I have high hopes you’ll finally make the last move and drop being a part of Pajamas Media.

    I know you have your reasons, yada yada yada, but do the right thing. You don’t need them. There are plenty of ways you can create revenue without being a part of that outfit. And yes, this will honestly be the last time I ever bring this up again.

    On a different note, I’d love for you to go back and read all the past articles where there was a good portion of us in your commenting section railing against the likes of some of your rightwing commentors. I hope now maybe you can see the kind of frustration some of us have had for so long now dealing with these types of people.

    The behavior of the rightwing isn’t all that different in the past ten years. The whole Clinton/Lewinsky scandal is basically the same bullshit, but we lived in a time of peace versus a time of war. That’s pretty much the only different. Overall, the Lewinsky affair was simply an attempt to scream as loud as possible about crap that in the end doesn’t matter and only creates conflict amoungst the people of the country. That some of you (conservative to centrist types) are starting to see it like we are certainly helps, but now I guess the question is how do you fix it all. And yes, I know the leftwing has their idiots. That’s not the point. Most of the idiots on the left lost their influence a long time ago.

  29. 29.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 7:37 pm

    Drat, that diabolical leftard devil Greenwald. He used his devious, anti-business, anti-Amercica trial lawyer potions on we wingnuts

    my asshole ex-father has a roughly similar tactic whenever we are arguing (all too often, which is why he’s an ex-father): whenever I make a really good, completely unassailable point, he says, “Well, you’re very good with words…”

    I learned to follow that one up with, “I accept your admission that I’m right and your apology as well.”

    I long ago gave up trying to reason with him, since like the true wingnut he is he can never admit error, so I resorted to just fucking with him.

  30. 30.

    AkaDad

    October 29, 2007 at 7:38 pm

    It’s ironic that this much dumb comes from a blog called bookworm…

  31. 31.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 7:39 pm

    WHAT is a lolcat?

    you’re new to the intratronz, aren’tcha?

    look it up on wikipedia – the back story is a bit too long to post here. Short version: inside humor for net nerds.

  32. 32.

    Perry Como

    October 29, 2007 at 7:41 pm

    Interestingly, the bottom of his main page claims copyright by DBDB Writing Services. Based on the projection about Greenwald and sock puppetry, is his entire site one giant sock puppet show? Inquiring minds want to know.

    Interesting, indeed. I’d look into the financing of DBDB Writing Services. I bet they are funded by secular Jew, George Soros.

  33. 33.

    Darkrose

    October 29, 2007 at 7:41 pm

    Renato, the LOLcat Bible is good, but I prefer the Brick Testament.

  34. 34.

    Jess

    October 29, 2007 at 7:41 pm

    That’s fine, but he used a smarmy lawyer’s tactic to do it, and that’s not fine. He deserves to be called on that tactic.

    BWWAAHAHAHA! He doesn’t understand ellipses or the concept of selecting relevant quotes to respond to, so Glenn is up to a “smarmy lawyer’s tactic? OMfuckingG. These guys are truly pathetic. Someone explain to me how they took over the airwaves while we were sleeping.

  35. 35.

    The Other Andrew

    October 29, 2007 at 7:42 pm

    Playing semantics games with torture, alleged WMD, and alleged terrorist network/nation-state alliances doesn’t count as a smarmy lawyer tactic. But using hyperlinks? Why, that’s devious, Clinton-esque verbal trickery that no True American would ever have anything to do with!

  36. 36.

    Jess

    October 29, 2007 at 7:45 pm

    you’re new to the intratronz, aren’tcha? look it up on wikipedia

    Okay, fine–I’ll do my own research. Thanks for pointing me to yet another distraction when I should be grading midterms…

  37. 37.

    Salty Party Snax

    October 29, 2007 at 7:59 pm

    We need a third party.

    One that starts at 3AM.

  38. 38.

    stickler

    October 29, 2007 at 8:05 pm

    Jumping Judas Iscariot!

    Thanks for pointing me to yet another distraction when I should be grading midterms…

    Is everyone on the blogs an academic? This is getting creepy.

    (And Jess: I returned all my midterms last week. Bwah-ha-ha!)

  39. 39.

    jake

    October 29, 2007 at 8:06 pm

    So my beef is with a stylistic approach to argument, not with the argument itself.

    OMG this is some funny shit. When will BlaRigistanians demand that all blogs conform with Strunk’s Elements of Style? This could be a great way out for them. Why bother to debate the merits of a statement when you can object to their choice of words?

    “I can not believe he used ‘reluctant’ there! Real patriots would have used ‘hesitant,’ or maybe ‘unwilling’.”

  40. 40.

    Rick Taylor

    October 29, 2007 at 8:20 pm

    Since it’s an open thread, I can insert this. Marc Lynch talks about the casualties in Iraq and makes a point much better than I did. It’s not about good news or bad, or what the latest casualty figures are; what’s actually happening and what does it bode for the future.

    The whole thing is worth reading, but here’s the core:

    I was surprised at the consensus on our panel yesterday . . . about where Iraq was heading: towards a warlord state, along a Basra model, with power devolved to local militias, gangs, tribes, and power-brokers, with a purely nominal central state.

    As I’ve argued repeatedly, this is the most likely effect, intended or otherwise, of the Petraeus-Crocker tactics. The US is empowering local actors at the expense of the national level, while both communities are fragmenting at a remarkable rate. The Sunni side is divided among the various insurgency factions (their efforts at forming a Political Council notwithstanding), the various Awakenings (which are themselves internally divided, bickering over power and personalities), tribes and local leaders looking out for their own, and an al-Qaeda movement which peaked last fall when it launched its abortive and self-defeating bid for hegemony with its ill-fated Islamic State of Iraq project. On the Shia side, the UIA has fragmented, the Mahdi Army has fragmented (though reportedly Sadr has used the ceasefire period to try to sort things out), Badrists and Sadrists are fighting in the streeets, Sistani has lost influence and his aides are being murdered at an alarming rate, and as Jon Alterman has pointed out there are some 144 competing militias in Basra alone.

    This kind of fragmentation might help the US in its tactical maneuvers at the local level, and buy local stability in the short term. But it is absolute anathema to any kind of national deal. As Jim Fearon, one of the leading political scientists working on civil wars, recently put it, “a power-sharing deal tends to hold only when every side is relatively cohesive. How can one party expect that another will live up to its obligations if it has no effective control over its own members?” It also deeply complicates any neat ideas about partition, of course, since there are no unified blocs to which one could easily devolve power.

    Tactics working against strategy – that’s been the concern I’ve been expressing for many months now. I haven’t been reassured. Instead of getting sucked into debates over body counts, or clutching at whatever good or bad news crosses the headlines each morning, the national debate should be looking at the big picture. It isn’t about how we are doing day to day – what are we trying to achieve?

    We need much more analysis like this.

  41. 41.

    nightjar

    October 29, 2007 at 8:21 pm

    stickler say’s

    Is everyone on the blogs an academic? This is getting creepy.

    Well at least it’s not the Bookworm.com. I hear those guys are so smart their brains are considered lethal weapons.

  42. 42.

    PK

    October 29, 2007 at 8:22 pm

    I think the only thing that can explain the right wing nuts is biology. Some damage to the brain during passage through the birth canal(or maybe they all fell on their heads as babies). Maybe parts of the brain dealing with reason, logic and reality got squished really tight and there was subtle loss of brain function which only future technologies will be able to detect. Thats my theory anyway!

  43. 43.

    EJ

    October 29, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    “selective” editing?

    Is there some other kind of editing?

  44. 44.

    jake

    October 29, 2007 at 8:31 pm

    I hear those guys are so smart their brains are considered lethal weapons.

    To whit: Blunt objects.

  45. 45.

    incontrolados

    October 29, 2007 at 8:36 pm

    Jess, you can start with I Can Has Cheezeburger and then go to Sadly No! and Jon Swift — search or look through the archives.

    Is everyone on the blogs an academic?

    It looks that way — but I am on a different schedule than most of you. It has its pluses and drawbacks.

  46. 46.

    Bookworm

    October 29, 2007 at 8:36 pm

    Sweetheart, I know all about using ellipses when writing to reduce the amount of text or tighten an argument. As a lawyer, I use it all the time to remove extraneous, or irrelevant material. I actually get that bit.

    My problem was, and continues to be, that Greenwald removed substantive material to create a straw man against which he could argue. That’s a stylistic approach that interests me irrespective of the merits of Greenwald’s factual assertions (something I quite carefully and explicitly did not touch upon). I simply found dishonest the way in which Greenwald castigated Boylan’s writing after having edited it down to something that it did not start out to be.

    So, if anyone is doing the la-la-la, hide the facts approach to writing, you’d better check in with Mr. Greenwald. All I did was point out the elephant in his intellectual living room. I didn’t put it there.

  47. 47.

    Jess

    October 29, 2007 at 8:37 pm

    (And Jess: I returned all my midterms last week. Bwah-ha-ha!)

    We hates you.

  48. 48.

    Cinderella Ferret

    October 29, 2007 at 8:38 pm

    With all this recent ranting of yours, I have high hopes you’ll finally make the last move and drop being a part of Pajamas Media.

    Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo! What if HRC is elected? Jesus! Do you realize how much fun we are going to have? It will be the 17th year of the Former Cheerleader/Bubba dynasty. Of course, the 4th amendment will be officially dead by then, but what hell, I hear Gitmo ain’t that bad during the winter. Of course, it may be little harder to score some Brown Acid and absolutely no Wild Turkey–who knows, maybe some good Cuban rum will get us through the dark lonely night.

    Good times! Maybe we could name the mini-series Watching the last gasping breaths of the American Dream.

    OK. I’ve been at my Fortified Compound in an Undisclosed Location in New Mexico for way too long. But, what the fuck, I’ve got enough ammo and mood altering substances to keep me bent until Chelsea runs against the Twins for the Presidency … Yah-tah-hey.

  49. 49.

    jcricket

    October 29, 2007 at 8:43 pm

    “Well, you’re very good with words…”

    I do love that the standard wing-nut insult these days is filled with “you’re an elite”, or “out of touch with the common folks” or “good with wards” or “lawyery” (or whatever).

    So schooling, education, knowledge – all bad.

    Being “elite” (the best at something) – also bad (elite schools doubly bad, unless you’re a Republican attending them and later spit on them, a la Clarence Thomas)

    Being rich (out of touch) – very bad – (unless you inherited the money from a Republican).

    Bill Maher rants about this fairly often and he’s dead on. The fact that Republicans have hitched their ride to the people that would rather be stupid than learn is their own fault. The best we can do is make sure the hand-brake and “safety” is off as they careen off the tracks.

  50. 50.

    jcricket

    October 29, 2007 at 8:46 pm

    No doubt I will be savagely attacked for not reprinting the entire post.

    Remember, this is the same group of people that went out of their way to defend the blatant plagiarisms of Ben Domenech. Perhaps they actually think that reprinting entire books/passages/etc is the only way to write. As I just wrote, the disdain for intellectuals, elite universities, liberal arts programs, etc. amongst the wing-nuts has been growing at a pretty fast pace in recent years.

    The idea of excerpting, quoting and properly attributing the works of others is obviously an anathema to the right. Perhaps foot/end-notes have a liberal bias?

  51. 51.

    Xanthippas

    October 29, 2007 at 8:52 pm

    I looooove pumpkin seeds and am very, very intrigued. May I have your recipe?

    What the hell is this? I come over here to find malicious snark in the comments and I see the Balloon Juice recipe exchange instead? What’s next? Balloon juice ornament swap? John Cole’s knitting tips? Man up guys!

    More seriously, I cannot believe that anybody would intelligently or honestly make the argument that cutting and pasting parts of certain people’s writing to make a point is dishonest. EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE BLOGOSPHERE DOES THIS EVERY DAY. The fact that a reader cannot figure out how to follow the link to the source to read the material for themselves says something about the qualification of the reader to be on the intertubes, not the blogger.

  52. 52.

    Xanthippas

    October 29, 2007 at 9:05 pm

    I simply found dishonest the way in which Greenwald castigated Boylan’s writing after having edited it down to something that it did not start out to be.

    First of all Bookwarm, thanks for admitting you’re a lawyer. As my experience around the blogosphere and in law school have taught me, the ability to reason or think logically or the inability to not be a dishonest hack in no way precludes one from being a lawyer. But thanks for reminding everyone else of that fact.

    Second, I read the email in full and hardly found Greenwald’s editing to be dishonest. I’m willing to admit that editing to totally misconstrue someone’s point and then not posting a link to the source at all, or posting a link in some hideaway spot that discourages your reader from clicking on it, is pretty dishonest. Greenwald didn’t do that. He selected representative excerpts, and provided a link to the full email right at the outset. And I’m sorry, but the people who went after him first clearly didn’t bother to take note of the latter, which is what truly makes this so incredibly ridiculous. Whatever your high-falutin’ language, what you wrote is basically an argument for not having to click a link and read things for yourself.

  53. 53.

    jake

    October 29, 2007 at 9:05 pm

    Clearly we are reaching the end times when the right-wing is asserting that punctuation and hyperlinks have a left-wing bias.

    First they came for reason and logic, and I said nothing…

  54. 54.

    jcricket

    October 29, 2007 at 9:11 pm

    He selected representative excerpts, and provided a link to the full email right at the outset

    This is the only point they could (in theory) argue in a case like this. For example, had Glenn taken a sentence like “Listen Glenn. Some right-wingers were quoted as saying that I think you’re an idiot, but I do not speak for them any more than I speak for the Preident.” and turned it into “Listen Glenn… I think you’re an idiot.. I speak for the President [when I say this]”

    Of course that’s not what he did.

    And once again (see Graeme Frost or any soldier who criticizes the war) – rather than provide a counter argument, the wing-nut-o-sphere goes into high dudgeon and attempts to manufacture another controversy to disguise the fact that they have no argument on their side. No facts. Not even a sliver of truth.

    But I guess this is what we should expect from people who think Bush is a misunderstood, under-appreciated genius (Time’s blog of the year, in fact) and speculating incorrectly about counter-tops is journalism.

  55. 55.

    Krista

    October 29, 2007 at 9:12 pm

    “Man up?”

    (Stares down at own breasts)

    Screw you, hippie. Political mudslinging and bullshit will come and go, and the story will stay the same ’till the end of time. It’s just the players that change.

    But good salsa? Missing that opportunity would have been downright criminal.

  56. 56.

    ConservativelyLiberal

    October 29, 2007 at 9:16 pm

    Wingnut-O-sphere will hyperventilate at the liberal font that Greenwald used, next thing you know. For me to predict, this is easy.(Damn you Yoda!)

    ‘Look at that pixel usage! And the size and color! What an outrage! He obviously hates the troops!‘

  57. 57.

    nightjar

    October 29, 2007 at 9:17 pm

    Bookworm say’s

    “I simply found dishonest the way in which Greenwald castigated Boylan’s writing after having edited it down to something that it did not start out to be.”

    So, if anyone is doing the la-la-la, hide the facts approach to writing, you’d better check in with Mr. Greenwald. All I did was point out the elephant in his intellectual living room. I didn’t put it there.

    And of course, sweetheart, you aren’t actually retreating but simply attacking from a different direction.

  58. 58.

    eyeball

    October 29, 2007 at 9:19 pm

    Honestly, BookW, do you really think that because you – a known right-wing water carrier – tells us in Realityville that Greenwald has created a straw man, it makes it true? You may cling to that opinion, but i have read all the material and see no straw man at all – i see a reasoned if polemical analysis by Greenwald that uses the emailers’ own words to undercut him (emailer = Boylan). You seem to think that Boylan’s elided remarks somehow alter the gravitational forces of the logical universe. You are wrong, They are side-blather that a veteran writer correctly ignores. The only elephant around here is the one the 24%ers are riding off the GOP cliff.

  59. 59.

    The Other Steve

    October 29, 2007 at 9:37 pm

    It’s not about good news or bad, or what the latest casualty figures are; what’s actually happening and what does it bode for the future.

    Good analysis, but then you have to remember the purpose of the plan was to create the perception of security, so that our forces could pull out. In that sense, I guess I rather support it.

  60. 60.

    AkaDad

    October 29, 2007 at 9:39 pm

    “Man up?”

    (Stares down at own penis)

    Screw you, hippie.

  61. 61.

    Johnny Pez

    October 29, 2007 at 9:41 pm

    Punctuationofascism Awareness Week:

    Coming to a college campus near you!

  62. 62.

    incontrolados

    October 29, 2007 at 9:43 pm

    Does the fact that memeorandum has this nonsense as its top story reflect on the stupidity of memeorandum?

  63. 63.

    jake

    October 29, 2007 at 9:44 pm

    Shorter Bookworm: …I got nuthin’.

  64. 64.

    KCinDC

    October 29, 2007 at 9:55 pm

    Apparently Greenwald isn’t the only one Boylan has sent a hackish unprofessional accusation of unprofessionalism to.

  65. 65.

    Peter Johnson

    October 29, 2007 at 10:30 pm

    My problem was, and continues to be, that Greenwald removed substantive material to create a straw man against which he could argue. That’s a stylistic approach that interests me irrespective of the merits of Greenwald’s factual assertions (something I quite carefully and explicitly did not touch upon). I simply found dishonest the way in which Greenwald castigated Boylan’s writing after having edited it down to something that it did not start out to be.

    Greenwald has a history of this. And posting an email written in confidence violates every tenet of good journalism.

  66. 66.

    KCinDC

    October 29, 2007 at 10:37 pm

    Yes, because the relationship between a public affairs officer and a journalist is one of confidence. Next PJ will explain to us how publishing information from a press conference is a violation of spokesperson-journalist privilege.

  67. 67.

    Peter Johnson

    October 29, 2007 at 10:38 pm

    Ya know what I think. I think Glenn “Sybil of the Intertubes” Greenwald is pretending to be Boylan. That’s what I think.

    I think that’s pretty unlikely. No one would be stupid enough to pull a stunt that obvious. Glenn’s a dishonest creep, but no one’s ever called him dumb.

    I suspect the perpetrator is the same person who stole Boylan’s identity in Vermont. With enough personal information, it’s pretty easy to answer the security question to rest the password on most email accounts. And what’s you’ve done that, sending out fake emails is trivial.

  68. 68.

    Jess

    October 29, 2007 at 10:41 pm

    “Man up?”

    (Stares down at own breasts…and notices the salsa spilled down the front of her shirt)

    Fixed. :-)

  69. 69.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 10:44 pm

    Bookworm Says:
    As a lawyer

    Seriously? You’re a lawyer?

    Then I would strongly suggest that your clients and/or employer sue the institute of higher learning from which you obtained your degree, for whatever the educational equivalent of malpractice is.

  70. 70.

    KCinDC

    October 29, 2007 at 10:46 pm

    So the idea is that the Centcom e-mail system works like Yahoo Mail? Brilliant! And then the fiend somehow set the password back before Boylan noticed he didn’t have access to his e-mail anymore?

    PJ, it was a nice spoof for a while, but unfortunately you’ve gone a little too far into stupidity at this point. Time to make up a new name and try again with a little more subtlety.

  71. 71.

    teh

    October 29, 2007 at 10:47 pm

    Sure they made up the thing about him not printing the whole e-mail, but it was just a rhetorical tool to show how dishonest his quotations were.

    Isn’t there a term for this? Fake but accurate?

  72. 72.

    r€nato

    October 29, 2007 at 10:50 pm

    My problem was, and continues to be, that Greenwald removed substantive material to create a straw man against which he could argue.

    in other words, you’re (now) claiming he quoted out of context.

    I followed the link to the original email – long before I’d ever heard of you or the right-wing hissy fit over this, by the way – and there’s no way any rational person could conclude that GG distorted the original by quoting only the relevant portions of it in the body of his post.

    You can’t admit you’ve made an ass of yourself. It’s OK. You have a lot of company over on your side of the blogosphere, and I assure that by this time next week everyone will have (mostly) forgotten all about your embarassing little tirade.

  73. 73.

    Spartacvs

    October 29, 2007 at 10:54 pm

    Peter Johnson Says:

    … posting an email written in confidence violates every tenet of good journalism.

    What evidence do you have, other than the admonition in the supposedly ‘fake’ email, that Boylan’s emails to Greenwald were written in confidence. The Russert rule perhaps?

  74. 74.

    scarshapedstar

    October 29, 2007 at 10:55 pm

    Hold up. The people who claim that Al Gore said he “invented the internet” are now taking a stand against selective quotation?

    The drooling, helmeted, monkey-shit-for-brains assclowns who had the vapors when John Kerry said that George Bush, you dumbshits THE TROOPS!!1 were “stuck in Iraq” because they were too stupid to “do [their] homework”?

    Man. Speaking of the Kerry campaign, I coulda sworn that there used to be a word for this kind of behavior…

  75. 75.

    Peter Johnson

    October 29, 2007 at 10:55 pm

    So the idea is that the Centcom e-mail system

    Excuse me, but do you actually know anything about the Centcom email system? If not, then why would you speculate?

    As I’ve said before, this email account is used only for communication with the press. He has a different one for intramilitary communication. There’s no reason to believe that the security measures on this account would be different from those on Yahoo or Gmail. Laugh all you want to, but it is more than likely that someone could get into the account if they information such as the colonel’s mother’s maiden name, first pet’s name, favorite book, etc.

  76. 76.

    SP

    October 29, 2007 at 10:55 pm

    Identity theft? For real, PJ?

    I mean, if I steal someone’s identity online, the first thing I can’t wait to do, now that I’ve committed multiple felonies is to visit a political blog! Forget about taking credit card and banking information and shit like that. No, I would, as a master ID thief, seek out some smarmy lawyerly left wing blogger type and fuck with him. Totally.

  77. 77.

    scarshapedstar

    October 29, 2007 at 10:59 pm

    No, SP, see, what happened was Glenn hacked the dude’s account and then wrote an email attacking his own post.

    Makes perfect sense, no?

  78. 78.

    Peter Johnson

    October 29, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    I mean, if I steal someone’s identity online, the first thing I can’t wait to do, now that I’ve committed multiple felonies is to visit a political blog!

    If you read what Boylan wrote to Greenwald about the identity theft, you’ll see that they had already used the identity to obtain credit cards, etc. So this would hardly be the first thing the perpetrators did.

    Get your facts straight.

  79. 79.

    Spartacvs

    October 29, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    Peter Johnson Says:

    … sending out fake emails is trivial.

    Sending out fake emails which impersonate the account and the person of the spokesman for General Petraeus and which pass through identifiable military servers is trivial, who knew?

  80. 80.

    jake

    October 29, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    I suspect the perpetrator is the same person who stole Boylan’s identity in Vermont.

    Shorter Peter Hugh Johnson: I got less than bookworm.

    And posting an email written in confidence violates every tenet of good journalism.

    The preceding sentence is the sign of a:

    1. Lazy spoofer.
    2. Determined liar.
    3. Hardcore cretin.

    Votes?

  81. 81.

    eyeball

    October 29, 2007 at 11:01 pm

    Boy, Mr. Johnson — you’ve got bupkes on Greenwald, don’t you.

    By the way, I’ve been a newsman for 27 yrs — there is NO (none, zippo) presumption of confidentiality when a high-ranking official sends you a work-related email-fax-letter-statement-telegraph-voice mail-teletype-etc. in his/her official capacity. It simply does not exist. And the idea that there would be one when the communique addresses work product you have written and published is, to be charitable, an assertion pulled from thin air. In fact, granting presumptive off-the-record status to a powerful, high-ranking government figure working in his/her official capacity is what “violates every tenet of good journalism.” Like the rest of 24%istan, you have it backasswards.

  82. 82.

    KCinDC

    October 29, 2007 at 11:04 pm

    An identity thief gets the pet’s name and favorite book? And those are useful in getting into the Centcom e-mail account? PJ is clearly a spoof. I think you all can stop wasting your time on him now.

  83. 83.

    The Other Andrew

    October 29, 2007 at 11:05 pm

    Conservative Peter Johnson lecturing people on honesty? Wow, every time I think the comments can’t get funnier…!

  84. 84.

    Peter Johnson

    October 29, 2007 at 11:10 pm

    Eyeball: the point is that this email was clearly fishy. Greenwald should have checked with Boylan to see if it was real before running it.

    I’ve had spam before from (fake) names that were similar to the names of a friend or a coworker. Did I go onto a blog and claim my friend or coworker was trying to sell me discount Cialis (or whatever)? No, because I knew it was fake. Glenn should have done the same.

  85. 85.

    eyeball

    October 29, 2007 at 11:12 pm

    You’re right KC – we’re being punked. The lads at SadlyNo have gotten hold of the name of PJohn’s dog and are trying to make a laughing stock out of him. The dog, I mean.

  86. 86.

    TenguPhule

    October 29, 2007 at 11:14 pm

    I’ve had spam before from (fake) names that were similar to the names of a friend or a coworker. Did I go onto a blog and claim my friend or coworker was trying to sell me discount Cialis (or whatever)? No, because I knew it was fake. Glenn should have done the same.

    Because clearly responses to questions addressed to that officer would be the first thing a spammer would make up instead of peddling the purple pill.

    And even if he did send it, IOKIYAR AMIRITE?

    Spoof Harder, Dickie.

  87. 87.

    Cinderella Ferret

    October 29, 2007 at 11:41 pm

    Peter Johnson: You should change your first name to Randy. It would be much funnier, especially for our friends from the UK. But, randy or not, a Johnson is just a Johnson. By the way, did you hear about the Colorado Rockies? They went down faster than Larry Craig in the men’s room! Yah-tah-hey.

  88. 88.

    rawshark

    October 29, 2007 at 11:58 pm

    Peter Johnson Says:

    Ya know what I think. I think Glenn “Sybil of the Intertubes” Greenwald is pretending to be Boylan. That’s what I think.

    I think that’s pretty unlikely. No one would be stupid enough to pull a stunt that obvious.

    FEMA would.

  89. 89.

    eyeball

    October 30, 2007 at 12:00 am

    P.S., P.J.: How is the email “clearly fishy”? WormBook says it’s utterly unfishy when read in its entirety, and she appears to accept that it is from Boylan. By calling it “fishy” are you potentially denigrating our brave colonel? Or are you saying that Greenwald got an unfishy email, which he posted in its entirety, then elided it to render it fishy, then neglected to check with the originator of the unfishy email as a result of having himself made the email seem fishy? Or does Boylan’s tepid denial convince you utterly and completely that the email originates with an indentity fish … er, thief … even though the email references a prior exchange between G & B that only those two could have known about … ? Backwards reels the mind, as they say.

    Of course it’s possible the identify thief has the Real Boylan tied up in his basement and is in Iraq posing as Boylan to make the Real Boylan seem fishy. That would actually be quite cool and if it turns out to be true I will wear no pants for a full day around my office in your honor.

  90. 90.

    TR

    October 30, 2007 at 12:13 am

    Just when you think the right-wing blogs have hit rock bottom, they find a way to tunnel through.

    Christ, this is hilarious.

  91. 91.

    Pb

    October 30, 2007 at 12:24 am

    TEH TROOPS AREN’T EVEN DRIVING THEIR HMMWV’S

    Aha! If they aren’t even driving them, then there’s no way they could possibly run over a dog! Game, set, and match, moonbat phony soldiers!

  92. 92.

    ConservativelyLiberal

    October 30, 2007 at 12:26 am

    I vote for 3: Hardcore Cretin

    Peter Johnson, eh? Should have used Richard Bleu or even Mike Hunt for a ‘handle’…MAOROFL

    Damn you Yoda!

  93. 93.

    Zuzu

    October 30, 2007 at 12:28 am

    “his intellectual living room” ????

    Oh God, I’m wheezing from laughter.

  94. 94.

    Zuzu

    October 30, 2007 at 12:36 am

    Peter Johnson said:

    Greenwald has a history of this. And posting an email written in confidence violates every tenet of good journalism.

    Bullpucky. If you’d bothered to click on the link and read the e-mail, you’d see that Boylan intended to post it at the website himself.

    Catch a clue, pops.

  95. 95.

    eyeball

    October 30, 2007 at 12:36 am

    FINAL INCONVENIENT FACT FOR P.J. AND RIGHTOSPHERICS WHO CLING TO “IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OFF THE RECORD” ARGUMENT:

    FIRST LINE OF BOYLAN E-MAIL:

    “I had hoped to post this in response to your article, but apparently it is closed already.”

  96. 96.

    Peter Johnson

    October 30, 2007 at 12:38 am

    “I had hoped to post this in response to your article, but apparently it is closed already.”

    Huh? You’re saying that proves the email was real?

  97. 97.

    Zuzu

    October 30, 2007 at 12:47 am

    I’m saying it proves it wasn’t “written in confidence” you idiot.

  98. 98.

    Zuzu

    October 30, 2007 at 12:49 am

    That last to PJ.

  99. 99.

    Johnny Pez

    October 30, 2007 at 12:51 am

    Peter Johnson Says:

    “I had hoped to post this in response to your article, but apparently it is closed already.”

    Huh? You’re saying that proves the email was real?

    Option One: try to explain to PJ what’s going on.

    Option Two: mock PJ.

    Your call.

  100. 100.

    Perry Como

    October 30, 2007 at 1:02 am

    Well, luckily for us Right thinkers, we have our own Facebook now, without that Dhimmicrat bias:

    http://www.rightwingfacebook.org/

  101. 101.

    rachel

    October 30, 2007 at 1:06 am

    tickler Says:

    Jumping Judas Iscariot!

    Thanks for pointing me to yet another distraction when I should be grading midterms…

    Is everyone on the blogs an academic? This is getting creepy.

    (And Jess: I returned all my midterms last week. Bwah-ha-ha!)

    You suck. :-(

  102. 102.

    rachel

    October 30, 2007 at 1:19 am

    r€nato Says:

    Bookworm Says:

    As a lawyer

    Seriously? You’re a lawyer?

    Then I would strongly suggest that your clients and/or employer sue the institute of higher learning from which you obtained your degree, for whatever the educational equivalent of malpractice is.

    Look, if our students chose to be stupid once they leave school, there’s not a lot we can do about that.

  103. 103.

    eyeball

    October 30, 2007 at 1:30 am

    Hey Zuzu, check out the major facial BookWorm gets at her site for (wait for it) hyperlinking to a WashTimes story about a study she didn’t read and using it to make an elephant in the intellectual living room argument about “teh media.”

    http://bookwormroom.wordpress.com/2007/10/29/media-people-again-fail-to-do-their-job/#comments

  104. 104.

    SP

    October 30, 2007 at 1:42 am

    Option two.

  105. 105.

    Zuzu

    October 30, 2007 at 2:12 am

    eyeball Says:

    Hey Zuzu, check out the major facial BookWorm gets at her site for (wait for it) hyperlinking to a WashTimes story about a study she didn’t read and using it to make an elephant in the intellectual living room argument about “teh media.”

    http://bookwormroom.wordpress.com/2007/10/29/media-people-again-fail-to-do-their-job/#comments

    I love it:

    “You can read (and weep over) the rest of the report here.”

    “Here” being, of course, the Washington Times article, not the report.

    Bus-ted.

  106. 106.

    myiq2xu

    October 30, 2007 at 3:25 am

    Lemme see, if I unnerstand Petite Johnson correctly, GG committed the heinous offenses of:

    A) Quoting out of context

    B) a fake email

    C) that was confidential

    It seems to me that these alleged offenses are mutually exclusive of each other, but I’m just an ignorant DFH

  107. 107.

    bago

    October 30, 2007 at 4:16 am

    Man. This Peter Johnson sounds like a dick.

  108. 108.

    owlbear1

    October 30, 2007 at 7:19 am

    I suspect the perpetrator is the same person who stole Boylan’s identity in Vermont. With enough personal information, it’s pretty easy to answer the security question to rest the password on most email accounts. And what’s you’ve done that, sending out fake emails is trivial.

    On a DOD exchange server behind a NAT? Sure thing Sparky.

  109. 109.

    dslak

    October 30, 2007 at 7:30 am

    This Peter Johnson sounds like a dick.

    What’s wrong with guys named Richard?

  110. 110.

    jake

    October 30, 2007 at 7:55 am

    Option Two: mock PJ.

    Peter Johnson smells of elderberries!

  111. 111.

    scarshapedstar

    October 30, 2007 at 7:57 am

    Eyeball: the point is that this email was clearly fishy. Greenwald should have checked with Boylan to see if it was real before running it.

    That’s why Boylan denied it so vigorously and didn’t play some coy game of “Gee, that’s a funny email… don’t remember if I wrote it or not… ;)

  112. 112.

    Face

    October 30, 2007 at 7:59 am

    Hey, who wants a shitload of lead with their Tonka Trucks and all of 3 people to monitor it?

    Oh yeah, the Bush Admin

    Has anyone ever heard–anywhere?–where a dept. head is actively trying to reduce their budget, and reduce their staff? Is this unprecedented?

  113. 113.

    over_educated

    October 30, 2007 at 8:20 am

    So, if Glenn Greenwald was previously sent an e-mail from Boylan, from the same address, why would he have any reason to doubt the veracity of the current e-mails?

    Do you personally call everyone who sends you an e-mail to ensure that they sent it?

  114. 114.

    scarshapedstar

    October 30, 2007 at 8:47 am

    Has anyone ever heard—anywhere?—where a dept. head is actively trying to reduce their budget, and reduce their staff? Is this unprecedented?

    Sounds like responsible conservatism to me! Then again, I swim in a lead-lined swimming pool every day. Ad sometms my ehad hurts to badddddddddddddddddddddddd

    *drool, spark, fizzle*

  115. 115.

    Bob In Pacifica

    October 30, 2007 at 8:55 am

    I have, of late, been concerned about the infiltration of commas into my comments.

    +++

    The problem with pumpkin products, or pumpkin pulp in products heretofore pumpkin-free, is not so much the pumpkin but the pumpkin spice. Had a very good pumpkin cake the other day with a cream cheese frosting to die for. It wasn’t overspiced. I’ve had some “interesting” pumpkin beer but it’s not the kind of thing that you can get drunk on.

  116. 116.

    Peter Johnson

    October 30, 2007 at 9:01 am

    Is everyone on the blogs an academic?

    Probably. People with real jobs can’t waste all day writing left-wing drivel on a website.

  117. 117.

    Krista

    October 30, 2007 at 9:08 am

    Probably. People with real jobs can’t waste all day writing left-wing drivel on a website.

    So what’s your excuse for the vast quantity of right-wing drivel out there, including your own?

  118. 118.

    r€nato

    October 30, 2007 at 9:08 am

    So, if Glenn Greenwald was previously sent an e-mail from Boylan, from the same address, why would he have any reason to doubt the veracity of the current e-mails?

    email headers are part of The Vast Left-Wing Media Conspiracy.

  119. 119.

    r€nato

    October 30, 2007 at 9:16 am

    I mean, if I steal someone’s identity online, the first thing I can’t wait to do, now that I’ve committed multiple felonies is to visit a political blog! Forget about taking credit card and banking information and shit like that. No, I would, as a master ID thief, seek out some smarmy lawyerly left wing blogger type and fuck with him. Totally.

    It’s exactly like that time Saddam moved his WMDs to Syria just so he could embarrass George W. Bush, rather than using them against the invading troops to attempt to preserve his regime.

  120. 120.

    grumpy realist

    October 30, 2007 at 9:16 am

    But a self-admitted lawyer such as “Bookworm” can post? Or are you saying that lawyers don’t have “real jobs”?

  121. 121.

    Zifnab

    October 30, 2007 at 9:18 am

    Probably. People with real jobs can’t waste all day writing left-wing drivel on a website.

    Re: Kettle: BLACK!

  122. 122.

    r€nato

    October 30, 2007 at 9:19 am

    Look, if our students chose to be stupid once they leave school, there’s not a lot we can do about that.

    ok, I’ll cut academia some slack: perhaps bookworm got her degree from University of Phoenix or some other internet-only pseudo-college paper mill.

  123. 123.

    Dick Shaft

    October 30, 2007 at 9:23 am

    And why haven’t we heard anything about the fonts?

  124. 124.

    capelza

    October 30, 2007 at 9:54 am

    Zuzu..great find.

  125. 125.

    jcricket

    October 30, 2007 at 10:10 am

    Hold up. The people who claim that Al Gore said he “invented the internet” are now taking a stand against selective quotation?

    Right. Just like the people who invented the Swift Boat liars are the ones who want to talk about standards of evidence now.

    The whole idea behind the right-wing machine (re: global warming, evolution, anything) is to muddy the “evidentiary” waters so people think it’s all a matter of opinion.

    The same people who rail on and on (and on and on and on) about the evils of moral relativism are themselves the worst purveyors of relativity when there exists objective reality to the situation.

    It’s one of the worst legacies of the modern Republican party because it cuts so deep into everyone’s search for the truth.

  126. 126.

    jcricket

    October 30, 2007 at 10:20 am

    “his intellectual living room” ????

    It’s a gay smear. You know, gay’s have tastefully decorated living rooms. And so if this is a mess in there, it’s an insult to Glenn.

  127. 127.

    horatius

    October 30, 2007 at 10:32 am

    Petey,

    Give it up. You’ve dug yourself deep enough to never get out of it.

  128. 128.

    Heywood Jablomy

    October 30, 2007 at 10:39 am

    The evidence is clear — hypertext transfer protocol is a left-wing conspiracy.

    Notice how the slashes go down and to the to the left.

    Does anyone believe Boylan’s denial?

  129. 129.

    OniHanzo

    October 30, 2007 at 10:53 am

    Why does it always come down to the same old multiple choice option about Bush policy enforcers?

    They’re either a) reckless, partisan, juvenile and abusive with their powers or b) invincibly incompetent and wholly unconcerned with matters of national importance… or even with mopping up the mistakes of some “invisible” entity “hijacking” their own good name.

    How the hell can these guys be the vanguards of our nation’s security when they don’t seem to give a tinker’s damn about CIA leaks, Iraqi munitions dumps or vulnerable .mil accounts (if you take their easily deflated lies at face value)?

    How is it all so damn whimsical to these imbeciles? They’re like infants with car keys.

  130. 130.

    Perry Como

    October 30, 2007 at 11:01 am

    email headers are part of The Vast Left-Wing Media Conspiracy.

    Actually, email headers have a well known liberal bias.

  131. 131.

    ThymeZone

    October 30, 2007 at 12:01 pm

    People with real jobs can’t waste all day writing left-wing drivel on a website.

    Oh yeah? When they are on call 24 x 365 and are working on holidays, weekends, vacation days, sick days, early mornings and late nights, and getting paid on salary the same amount as peers who are working 9 to 5 M-F, and managed by idiots who are “working” 9 to 5 M-F, they can do any fucking thing they want as long as they get their work done on time and their things are taken care of.

    And if you have a problem with that assertion, you can kiss my entire ass.

  132. 132.

    wingnuts to iraq

    October 30, 2007 at 12:22 pm

    why isn’t peter johnson in Iraq?

  133. 133.

    Julie

    October 30, 2007 at 1:30 pm

    Pumpkin Ice Cream! Oh man, now I have a craving.

    I recommend Pumpkin Milkshakes. Also, Pumpkin Cupcakes. :)

  134. 134.

    scarshapedstar

    October 30, 2007 at 2:22 pm

    why isn’t peter johnson in Iraq?

    He has a rare and untreatable condition wherein his body has become one giant hemorrhoid.

  135. 135.

    Tax Analyst

    October 30, 2007 at 2:29 pm

    Peter Johnson Says:

    Is everyone on the blogs an academic?

    Probably. People with real jobs can’t waste all day writing left-wing drivel on a website.

    OK…you really beg the question here, Mr. Johnson. Just WTF do YOU do for a living? (Me? I’m just as advertised, a “Tax Analyst” – for an Income Tax Software Support Bureau.) So I showed you mine…time to show us yours, if ya’ got one, that is. Don’t worry if it’s kinda puny. After all, it’s whatcha do with it that counts.

  136. 136.

    Peter Johnson

    October 30, 2007 at 2:41 pm

    Mr. Johnson. Just WTF do YOU do for a living?

    I’m s small business owner.

  137. 137.

    Tax Analyst

    October 30, 2007 at 3:00 pm

    Peter Johnson Says:

    Mr. Johnson. Just WTF do YOU do for a living?

    I’m s small business owner.

    Thanks, use ta’ be one of those myself, except without the extra lower-cased “s” in front of it. Man, I barely had time to scratch my ass when I was doing that. 10-12 hour days, 6-day weeks. Long time ago, though – Times musta changed.

  138. 138.

    jcricket

    October 30, 2007 at 3:31 pm

    I’m s small business owner.

    I’m not a small business owner, but I play on the blogs. When Republicans need a family farm that’s been hurt by the estate tax, they find me, although I’m really hard to find, because they haven’t been able to find me in the past when they needed me.

  139. 139.

    binzinerator

    October 30, 2007 at 4:18 pm

    Well, PJ, business must be damn slow. ‘Cause like those left-wing drivelers you sure got time to waste on blogs.

    But wait. I’ve ran my own business before, and when it’s good I had to work my ass off. And when it was slow I had to work my ass off even harder if I wanted to get new business. So I had no time either way.

    And when you’re finally done at the end of the day of doing what it is you do to earn money, you have to do record-keeping for taxes and wages, marketing, invoicing for billing and other administrative and clerical tasks. You also have to dun people when they don’t pay on time.

    So I haven’t the fuck idea how you get the time for all that drivel you write.

    Semi-retired? Trust-funder? The business is more of a part-time hobby, eh? Must be, because according to you, people with real jobs can’t waste all day writing on a website.

  140. 140.

    binzinerator

    October 30, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    Man, I barely had time to scratch my ass when I was doing that. 10-12 hour days, 6-day weeks. Long time ago, though – Times musta changed.

    Man, they musta’ve. ‘Cause that’s what I remember too. And that’s why I stopped doing that and became someone else’s employee.

Comments are closed.

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    October 29, 2007 at 11:41 pm

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