Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Everybody saw this coming.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

When I was faster i was always behind.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Let me file that under fuck it.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

You are here: Home / Open Thread

Open Thread

by | 37 Comments

This post is in: 

In honor of John’s 10,000th post, I thought that I should reveal a little secret – our archives are pretty easy to navigate. If you read the http header for any particular post you will see that it ends in a number. That’s the total number of posts on the blog ending with that one. The archives go all the way back, so here for example are posts # 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181 and 6725.

This is purely in response to some questions in the comments, not an encouragement to skim through the archives for things to embarrass John with. Those of you who will do it anyway should feel completely awful about yourselves.

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  3. 3.

    jack fate

    From Post # 8:

    For those of you who live underneath a rock, a large corporation named Enron has failed. Obviously, it is imperative that 100 people who have no idea how to run a business, and probably are as large as any reason as to why many businesses fail, must hold hearings to find out why it has failed. The 100 people in question are the United States Senate, where entrepeneurial giants like my own Senators, Jay Rockefeller and Robert C. Byrd, can grill Enron execs about their business practices. I am sure there will be no partisan bickering about this either. Why do I say this? Because Joe Lieberman has said so, and he is a man of his word. At least he was, until he became a vice-presidential candidate. Then he became a left-wing lackey and Gore hack. But, we do have his word.

    ACES!!!

    Seriously, this is one of my favorite blogs to read and the one that will probably get me fired. To John, Tim F., the guy from Texas and anyone else who’s posted here: Here’s to 10,000 more posts.

    Yours in Dirty Fucking Hippiedom,
    jack to-the-m-n-f’n fate.

  5. 5.

    Zifnab

    On Caz’s Criticism of Nelson Mandela’s Criticism of the US

    It’s easy to dole out socialism and anti-American sentiment from their NYC
    highrise, choosing alliance with terrorists, ruthless dictators, and murderers
    rather than the evil United States. Perhaps the UN will be the next terrorist
    target, then they can pass another “tough” resolution and feel important. But I
    doubt the terrorists would bite the hand that feeds them.

    Well said, Caz.

    I totally forgot how much fun this is.

  7. 7.

    Punchy

    From #3 (cuz #2 and #1 links dont work):

    Aim High,” I always say.

    Damn, the tool-age was strong back then. John, you’ve come a long way, “aiming high”. Ha ha!

  8. 8.

    John Cole

    Hey- in fairness regarding Lieberman, he always was a moderate Democrat, and as soon as he became the Vp candidate he IMMEDIATELY shifted to the left. I mean, it was dramatic. I remember a series of him having to go to black churches in 2000 to prove he was liberal enough.

    And then, after the election, he went back to his moderate ways again. A few years later, he has veered to the right. I think my description of him, considering when it was written, is not wingnutty at all.

    There is some grade a wingnut in there (like, for example, when I was shitting all over sey hersh in one of the posts Tim linked), but I don’t think that is one of them. Lieberman went hard left in 2000. There is no denying that.

  9. 9.

    John Cole

    To get what Balloon Juice really looked like, the real first posts, like John’s first public superbowl pick (hint: wrong!!)…you need to looked at the wayback machine.

    I loved that look. Still do.

  10. 10.

    cleek

    #666

    If you are as depressed as I am about Layne, Welch, and everything else, just remember that we are still blessed with William Quick and Stephen Green and Megan McCardle and Martin Devon and so many others who do great work.

    And we always have Jeff Goldstein and Andrea Harris to say what you were thinking but didn’t have the balls to say.

    There are so many others- LGF, Daimnation, etc. I am here to tell you that the status of blogging is good.

    oh John…

  11. 11.

    kwAwk

    Anybody know about what post one is likely to come across the great epiphany, where John flipped from hard right to hard left?

  12. 12.

    John Cole

    oh John…

    Come on, now, when was that written? I am not going to defend every stupid thing I have said, but let’s be fair.

    July 1, 2002. LGF was a small blog among a number of warbloggers. It was little gren fascists at the time. Jeff Goldstein was funny, having written what is still one of my favorite posts ever about the asshole Ted Rall.

    How the fuck was I supposed to know what they would say in thE next 7 years? How was I supposed to know what the LGF comments section would devolve into? You don;t get to judge statements I made then by what they have said over the last 7 years, and you don’t get to judge my statements out of context. If you remember clearly, we were not even rushing to war in July 2002 (We don’t roll out a new product in the summer”).

    There is plenty of offensive stuff in the archives, but cut me some slack. And remember, unlike others, I have not “disappeared” mine.

  13. 13.

    John Cole

    Anybody know about what post one is likely to come across the great epiphany, where John flipped from hard right to hard left?

    I was wavering towards the Nov. 2004 election, voted for Bush, and then came Schiavo.

    Schiavo was the end.

  14. 14.

    jack fate

    Hey- in fairness regarding Lieberman, he always was a moderate Democrat, and as soon as he became the Vp candidate he IMMEDIATELY shifted to the left. I mean, it was dramatic. I remember a series of him having to go to black churches in 2000 to prove he was liberal enough.

    And then, after the election, he went back to his moderate ways again. A few years later, he has veered to the right. I think my description of him, considering when it was written, is not wingnutty at all.

    I didn’t find it that Wing-Nutty™, it was just one of those things when I read it today, 6 years after the fact, it stuck out. Hindsight and all that. . . I starting reading this wonderful blog a little before you jumped the shark and joined us hateful, spiteful and wholly unpatriotic Hippies in our crusade to ruin America. Even some of your best posts from your Wingnut™ phase were, while I disagreed with some or much of the content, well written and argued from an intellectually honest perspective. Of course, they were sprinkled with the vitriol and snark one expects from any side of the blog world, but they’re good, none-the-less.

  16. 16.

    cleek

    There is plenty of offensive stuff in the archives, but cut me some slack.

    i’m here every day.

    there’s your slack.

  17. 17.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    You’re a better man than me JC. I woulda bulldozed the archives into a deep hole and covered it up with Tim F. and mountains of dirt.

  20. 20.

    Punchy

    Empty Suit SoD Gates has been smokin the good stuff:

    He said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is to be commended for taking the initiative in Basra, and he described the Iraqi security forces as having performed reasonably well, with American support.

    “Based on what I’ve seen, the limited reporting I’ve seen … they seem to have done a pretty good job,” Gates said without mentioning that al-Maliki had promised a “decisive and final battle” for control of the southern oil capital of Basra when he ordered a military intervention there a week ago.

    Apparently their ability to literally lay down arms and join the opposition was done with commendable moxie and forthright gusto. Golf clap.

  21. 21.

    David

    Also, presented without comment:

    First things first- INDC and Protein Wisdom are great sites- I think Jeff Goldstein is a frigging genius.

  22. 22.

    LiberalTarian

    I dunno, I don’t think John was ever hard right. I don’t think he’ll ever be hard left, either. How could he have EVER been hard right when he has never been a fan of the death penalty?

    I kinda like him the way he is. I do my fair share of finger wagging, but his opinions are not entrenched in stone to the hilt. Nobody can be a fringe-y and be able to change their mind.

    It is likely, as with all pendulum swings, relatively sane and decent people will get control of the GOP again (although they will still want to do things I would rather they don’t, and it won’t be next frakking year, but may five or ten down the road?). When John lands back on the right again, I’ll be cool with it. I don’t think he’ll ever buy anybody’s line, hook and sinker again–I hope he can keep the rest of us healthily skeptical, too. When I used to have Republican friends (before the invasion of the Delay body snatchers and Bush thuggies), we used to talk rationally about what the left and right could do and could not do. I’d be cool with that again.

  23. 23.

    jcricket

    Looks like Republicans say, if you’re in times of budget troubles, it’s the people that should suffer:

    California is facing the worst budget crisis, with a $16 billion shortfall, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has proposed a $4.8 billion cut in education services. About 20,000 teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses and other support staff members have received notice of potential layoffs, according to the state’s Education Department.

    Schwarzenegger has also proposed $650 million in cuts to the Healthy Families Program and Medi-Cal, which together provide health-care services to more than 7 million senior citizens, disabled people and children in the state. Adults under the Medi-Cal program would lose their dental benefits, as well as optometry and psychology services.

    When are CA and other cash-strapped states ever gonna start telling people the truth: These services cost money. Limiting the ability of the government to raise that money by capping tax increases below inflation will guarantee service cuts. We need to repeal these caps.

    The reality is that no one wants to cut these services, because to do so is to hose everyone but the ultra-rich. Republicans have simply sold people a fantasy that you can’t raise taxes because taxes are bad. We could up the tax rates for top income earners, close all the budgetary loopholes and then start putting money away during economic boom times to help smooth out the down times.

    Or we can continue this shell game.

  24. 24.

    jcricket

    It is likely, as with all pendulum swings, relatively sane and decent people will get control of the GOP again

    I do wonder if/how this will happen… Will the fundies just stay home? Form their own party? Where will the truly anti-tax/government types go? Libertarian party?

  25. 25.

    Krista

    First things first- INDC and Protein Wisdom are great sites- I think Jeff Goldstein is a frigging genius.

    Oh my goodness, I remember how royally pissed off John would get when we’d make fun of Goldstein. Good times.

    I also remember making great sport of Don Surber, as the photo on his blog showed him wearing a very colourfull tie, with a faded denim shirt. (He used to comment here regularly.)

    Wow…the nostalgia.

  27. 27.

    capelza

    Oh wow, I’ve been comng here for three years.

    I remember the “Just Us” post…

    Stormy, Stormy, Stormy…though we, and I think Krista agreed, too..we did find common ground on the fact that Naveen Andrews was smokin’ hot…

    Congrats John..and Tim, et al as well…this is a remarkable blog.

  28. 28.

    jake

    Alas. Where once there roamed mighty hordes of wingnuts there are only a few limping jackalopes like Paul L. (whom I still say is p. lukshake).

  29. 29.

    Krista

    Stormy, Stormy, Stormy…though we, and I think Krista agreed, too..we did find common ground on the fact that Naveen Andrews was smokin’ hot…

    Well yes. Some things simply cannot be denied.

  30. 30.

    Jen

    Naveen Andrews was smokin’ hot…

    Agreed. And a skill set to die for. Like MacGyver. And with that, plus being a woman over 30, we have found my common ground with Patti and Selma Bouvier.

  31. 31.

    Krista

    And a skill set to die for.

    Like when he broke the guy’s neck with his legs, while he had his hands tied behind his back? Definitely impressive.

  32. 32.

    Evilbeard

    Whatever happened to early commenter Nate? I liked how he questioned everything.

    Did he evolve into ppGaz?

  34. 34.

    Brian

    Tim, that’s actually not an HTTP header. You’re talking about the browser’s address bar, presumably, which contains the site URL (e.g., https://balloon-juice.com/?p=10008 ).

    HTTP headers are the headers used in actual HTTP transmission, containing some meta-data about the web server’s response; you can see those on most linux or OS X based systems by typing curl -I ‘https://balloon-juice.com/?p=10008’. Typical http headers might be instructions on caching policy, the date sent, experimental headers like x-pingback, and so on.

  35. 35.

    Reverend Spooner

    Alas. Where once there roamed mighty hordes of wingnuts there are only a few limping jackalopes like Paul L. (whom I still say is p. lukshake).

    A superior species, the spoofer, moved in and took over their niche on the Balloon Juice comment thread foodchain.

    That Schiavo thread brings back memories. I’ve been lurking here since Schiavo, and posting here (under over a dozen pseudonyms) since September 2005. I had no idea I’d come in so early in the blog’s existence, though. 3900 posts, compared to where we are now.

    God, I feel old all of a sudden.

  36. 36.

    Zuzu

    Sorry for adding to John’s embarrassment, but must say this made me sigh:

    And I love Dick Cheney.

    2004 Endorsement

    Oh, and all that stuff about those swell Swift Boaters … whew, hope that one got figured out.

    What, you want to see my high school yearbook? Uhm, ah, I think it fell in a hole …

Comments are closed.