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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.
Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.
Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers
Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.
It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.
You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.
GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.
Accountability, motherfuckers.
Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.
Fuck these fucking interesting times.
If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.
Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.
So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.
Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.
Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.
Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.
“But what about the lurkers?”
Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.
Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!
When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson
Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!
Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.
“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”
How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.
LiberalTarian
Yup, great shopped.
Andrew
I hate CG moonscape crap. But don’t worry, Michael, it’s not because of you.
KCinDC
What planet are you living on, Michael?
LiberalTarian
That’s no moon.
LiberalTarian
Rats. Sorry commenter-over-there who is much more clever than I. My blockquote didn’t work. :)
Bubblegum Tate
O/T: Bush Administration’s 10 Dumbest Legal Arguments of the Year
Dustin
What is that, a Terragen raytrace image?
demimondian
Interestingly, Yglesias’ post is great…up until his license attribution. That photo is not under creative commons, and it isn’t of the north pole, and…well, it’s actually copyright infringement.
But other than that, he’s right. Kind of like the argument he offers in support of polarization.
Ted
This is an awesome picture!
Leave it to Mike D. to think it’s real…
Ted
Hey, there was a blockquoting snafu!
RSA
This is my favorite of the photos I took this past year, though I make no claims to being a good photographer (and I know that some readers on this blog actually are). My wife embroiders and was taking a break as we went through a ruined abbey in Wales.
Zifnab
Shorter Yglesias: Newsweek’s Evan Thomas is factually wrong on his presented hypothesis and doesn’t know what the fuck he is talking about. Ergo, the opposite of everything Thomas said is true.
Yglesias is off base and its painful to watch because he makes the same common wisdom mistakes that Thomas fumbles into. The partisan nature of politics hasn’t saved us from economic turmoil or pulled us out of Iraq. Heavy partisan divides that, to be honest, existed straight back until the 80s, have not made our country a happier and better place.
On top of that, some would say Dems have failed on a number of key issues – wiretapping telecomm amnesty, war funding, and White House investigation – they were elected specifically to fight for. Otherwise would say the Dems have been deliberately malfescent, on telecomm amnesty in particular. Simple, blind partisanship hasn’t gotten the job done. 2007 has been a series of political trainwrecks.
demimondian
No, Zif, Yglesias’ argument is more interesting than that. He argues that polarization between the parties on the issues of the day makes the meaning of the vote clearer, and, therefore makes the exercise of citizenship more rewarding and more likely.
Unfortunately, that argument only works if there’s a single issue that you care about. If there are many issues, then the likelihood that your vote is easily quantified is very low.
Michael D.
Who gives a fucking shit if it’s real or not? It’s fucking nice. Jesus Christ. Some of you are so anxious to catch me in a snafu, it’s laughable. Grow the fuck up and get a life. You’re pitiable. It’s a nice graphic, even if it isn’t a photo.
It’s nice :-)
Andrew
Catch you in a snafu? You shoot so much obvious bullshit it’s a matter of waiting 2 minutes and then repeating what you said.
“Healthcare. Most candidates have a plan. But beyond the sound bite or the talking point, they don’t explain it.”
LOL
Michael D.
Hahaha! Andrew Andrew Andrew. You show me a plan laid out by ANY of the candidates that tells me how they are going to pay for it. Show me a plan that shows how they are going to ensure that every American gets health care. Show me a plan that doesn’t bankrupt the treasury. Show me a plan that doesn’t bankrupt business. Show me a plan put forth by ANY candidate that actually includes the numbers. You can’t, because they WON’T.
Silly boy.
Unlike you, I have lived in a world of socialized medicine.
Ted
Wow, what a meltdown! Michael, people here aren’t ‘anxious’ to catch you in a snafu. It’s just pointed out as it happens on a regular basis. And if you’re that impressed by that particular photoshop job, you can just lose yourself in Digital Blasphemy. Most of them are far higher res than that ‘North Pole’ pic.
Michael D.
Ha! It’s not a meltdown. It’s just funny to me! Trust me, you people aren’t important enough to me to melt down over.
myiq2xu
You should know by now Mike, some people need to have something to bitch about, otherwise they would have to shit or go blind.
Sometimes I think John should have named this site “Bitch Fest.”
Ted
It’s simply what happens when you develop a publication (in this case, Balloon-Juice) into something with modest respectability and regular readers. People express their thoughts on the latest hires.
ThymeZone
Oh, I think we’ll be the judge of that.
myiq2xu
Mike gets paid?
I figured he was working for free, and worth every penny. If he’s getting paid, well then I’m gonna have to rethink a few things.
Maybe I should ask for a partial refund on my lifetime membership.
ThymeZone
Meanwhile …. the Yglesias thing. Kos did a post on the partisanship – voter interest thing a day or two ago.
Kos’ argument is that partisanship is a force in favor of participation, not the opposite, as has been the conventional wisdom. And to him, this proves the benefit of partisanship.
I love the guy, I think he is beyond awesome, but I disagree with him on this point. I agree that partisanship may drive voter interest and participation …. but to what end? The end is not necessarily good. I think we owe the Iraq war, Bush’s presidency, and a host of troubles to the effects of partisanship.
The fact that evangelicals, for example, may come out to vote in order to support an evangelical agenda in an atmosphere of partisanship deliberately stirred up to provoke just such an outcome … results in having a country run by goddam fools who don’t care if government doesn’t work, as long as God’s will is being done somehow.
The idea that “more voters” equals “more or better democracy” is kind of silly when the engine driving the more democracy is something operated by people who think the earth is 6000 years old and that government should be Godly.
What is needed is not partisanship, which is an unfocussed imperative. What is needed is activism, on the part of the people who know what the fuck they are doing.
If partisanship drives positive activism … then, good.
If not, then, bad.
2008 will tell us a lot about how this turns out.
Ted
But what does that look like? I’m not sure what specific things you mean by ‘activism’, as different than partisanship.
ThymeZone
Activism means going out and working to achieve a political goal. Working for a candidate, fundraising, blogging, putting signs in front yards, holding coffees, registering voters, doing GOTV for your bloc.
It means activism, proactive efforts to promote and achieve specific goals and agendas. It means work.
We’re conditioned to think it means confrontational politics, but that is certainly not a requirement.
myiq2xu
“Partisanship” is usually defined by the Nattering Nabobs of Negativism as the opposite of meek submission.
Partisanship is what the GOPers do – they block legislation that they agree with just to keep the Democrats from enacting anything. When the 3N’s talk about comity and compromise, what they mean is the Dem’s should bend over and grab their ankles for the Rep’s.
We want real Democrats in DC, not quislings. Standing up for what you believe in and calling ’em like you see ’em isn’t partisanship, it’s leadership.
ThymeZone
Please don’t talk about my relatives this way ….
Andrew
I guess the NHS isn’t socialized medicine. Certain people may disagree, but I can just tell them that Michael knows everything!
LOL
Michael D.
I don’t mind that a bit. As long as you don’t mind a rebuttal! I can take it. Otherwise, shit, I would have quit this blog on the first day!! :-)
ThymeZone
Wrapping up my third year here, and I’ve had my ass kicked from one end of the room to the other more than once. I have the contusions to prove it.
So hang in there.
Krista
And that’s why we haven’t had a giant Balloon-Juice in-person party. TZ keeps threatening to show us his contusions.
ThymeZone
Four footer!
(*distance traveled by spit food or beverage)
My evil plan is unmasked.
myiq2xu
That’s what ya call a full moon.
demimondian
What TZ won’t tell you is that most of the wounds were self-inflicted.
STEVEinSC
Get-out-the-vote efforts to increase participation in elections are ridiculous. It only impels ignorant cows to go and they will split their ignorant vote 50-50. Informed-voters are the only ones who should really vote. By extension partisan, or better, motivated, voters tend to know what the fuck is going on. That’s where the contest should be.
demimondian
Yes! I’m so with you there!
That’s why we should make sure that only the truly informed are allowed to vote at all. I’ve heard that one of the best ways to manage this is something called a literacy test. What do you think of the idea?
myiq2xu
Gee, what a great idea! I wonder why nobody ever thought of it before?
But will there be any conservatives able to vote?
LiberalTarian
I admit, Michael D., that when I saw the picture my heart stopped a little. So, I was a little bummed out when I realized it wasn’t real. Not angry, just disappointed. I have a few favorite natural images: the crescent moon with Venus nearby, waxing or waning; the reflection of the sky on nearly still water at dusk or dawn. It was a nice image, and it wasn’t your fault that I immediately assumed it was a picture, or that what’s-his-banana over there was totally wrong also about it being an actual picture of the moon over the north pole, or that I felt a little cheated that the image was not a picture but an artist’s rendition.
But, in a way, the whole issue is something of a good set up for the discussion of the polarization of politics and the inherent crippling effect on our national consciousness that is being done to us by having a rigid set of definitions and rules for “the right” and “the left.”
Some few are benefiting a great deal from this logical fallacy, this false dichotomy that is recently in the shape of taking sides over whether the country should be liberal or conservative. As if one is correct and the other is wrong, one is good and the other is bad, one is real and one is fake.
At least if we call it partisanship we know what it is, and can recognize what is real and what is imagined. The problem is, so much of our discourse, and even our national policy, is rife with this same false dichotomy. In a way, I think Obama has the right idea, that he should be willing to appoint Republicans to his administration, but rather than select from the pool of people who have so gleefully promulgated the false dichotomy that has been so destructive to our national interest, maybe he could appoint Republicans who have carefully shrugged off the mantle of party and pursued justice, for instance, Patrick Fitzgerald for Attorney General. But, I don’t think he would, I think Obama would continue the logical fallacy by putting back into the power the very people who have been benefiting from our national polarization.
But, back to the primary topic at hand. I accept that you like the image. I did, however skim the post accompanying it, and so the provenance of my notion of a political false dichotomy rather than political polarization. But, would it be so hard to note in your initial post that it is not an awesome picture (that implies someone with a camera took it), but an awesome rendering?
Andrew
What the fuck is Liberaltarian going on about? Fake moon pictures are like partisanship?
Screw it, I’m drinking.
myiq2xu
I’m watching The Replacements on TNT right now. Its got one of the greatest movie lines EVER in it:
Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever!
Bombadil
LOL!
demimondian
Actually, I’ve heard of an even better approach, which Michael D. ought to just love — it’s more efficient than the Fair Tax, requires no new bureaucracy, and collects money only from those who want a say in our government: it’s called a “Poll tax”, AKA Pay to Play, Democracy Style.
It’s libertarian through and through. Minimal government intervention, and each person gets to decide how much their vote is worth to them, and it’s even fair: every person’s vote is worth exactly the same amount.
It even allows great slogans: “Don’t have the Poll dough? Don’t go!”
LiberalTarian
Yeah, it was a stretch. Whatever. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to only drink at social gatherings. As a result, I keep having these manic attacks of clarity (well, they seem clear to me anyway). That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.
myiq2xu
Here’s my plan to increase participation by eligible voters:
Upon leaving the voting booth each voter is given a card with a unique number on it (absentee voters will have one mailed to them.) The number will not in any way indicate party affiliation or how the voter cast his or her vote.
After all polls are closed, there will be a random drawing, and at least one voter will win one million dollars. There may be smaller prizes too.
Before collecting the prize, it will be determined that the voter was, in fact, eligible to vote.
I’ll bet that voter participation will exceed 99% under my plan.
demimondian
Oh, yeah. Votola! I *luvs* me some votola!
myiq2xu
I have resolved that I will only drink on days that end in “Y”
myiq2xu
Oh, yeah, and holidays too.
demimondian
I’m better than you, then. I’ve resolved to only drink on days whose names end in g!
When they’re spelled in German.
Dennis - SGMM
Just ask each prospective voter what the first ten amendments to the Constitution are collectively called. Those who answer correctly will be asked the names of their Representative in the House and either one of their Senators. Answer that and vote away.
You’ll be able to tally the returns with a bag of marbles and two clay bowls.
myiq2xu
That’s too easy.
1) Name the signers of the Declaration of Independence (in order)
2) Name all of the Chief Justices of the United States, and identify the key decisions that were issued by their respective courts.
3) Discuss the effect of Locke and Montesque on the political philosphies of Jefferson and Madison (essay)
4) Identify and describe each of the major eras of U.S. History (short answer)
5) Discuss the theory of the frontier on U.S. development. (essay)
Bonus: Discuss Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville, including his methodology and the validity of his conclusions, in relation to the Civil Rights Movement (oral exam)
Chuck Butcher
RSA,
A striking photo.
I’m a partisan Democrat because the Republicans can’t seem to do anything I can get along with. I am an activist considerably beyond posting, I am that because I cannot live well without hope. In order to justify hope I have to believe that effort has effect. I have little to no reason to believe that my left vision will be accomplished in my lifetime, but that’s ok, I have kids.
demimondian
A brilliant addition to a literacy test, by the way.
Tim F.
FWIW, Tocqueville’s discussion of the races in America was the least compelling of his work, loaded as it was with the unsupported assumptions of that day.
However, his economic argument against slavery was excellent on both a factual and strategic ground. IMO all arguments involving major policy should have at least a moderately compelling economic aspect, since in most fights between an economic argument and a moral argument (assuming that the sides are not ridiculously outmatched) the economic case usually wins. To name one example, of all of the reasons why modern environmentalism failed that has to rank in the top two.
LiberalTarian
D’oh. That does it. I need to go find a social gathering. Bars are social, right? ;)
LiberalTarian
D’oh. That does it. I need to go find a social gathering. Bars are social, right? ;)
Then again, if people who are periodically commenting here are drinking, well, viola, social gathering, drinking OK per NY resolution. HA! Take that, stinky stupid New Years Res!!
ChristieS
My sister sent me that pic a year ago, or so. I liked it so much it’s now my desktop wallpaper. I’m Pagan, so the crescent moon is a big part of my religious symbolism. What a great picture.
ChristieS
Jeebus! LOL, You wouldn’t happen to be my AG1101 professor would you? I could swear I got the same questions on our first exam last semester.
calvinthecat
calvin, sadly, must inform the gentle readers that this photoshopped picture has been around the tubes for awhile now and with each showing gets roundly debunked. As calvin seems to recall, it is a piece of art created by a German art student.
Unfortunately, calvin cannot recall the site reference for more detailed information.
Happy New Year.
Kynn
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