Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Republicans don’t trust women.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

This blog will pay for itself.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Everybody saw this coming.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

A consequence of cucumbers

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

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

He really is that stupid.

The words do not have to be perfect.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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59Comments

  1. 1.

    srv

    absolutely no movies I want to watch

    If there are movies in the top 250 IMDB that you haven’t seen, you should think about that.

    Generation Kill premiers tonight on HBO.

  2. 2.

    JoshB

    Try hulu.com (this is not spam or anything, I’m just making a suggestion to help with your boredom). My partner just told me about it, and now I’m glued to the couch watching hours of Family Guy reruns. It’s a nice break from politics.

  4. 4.

    srv

    List of great movies most folks haven’t seen.

    Seen Exiled? All the Jonny To movies? Not the Departed crap remakes but the original Ho Kong series (Infernal Affairs).

    Zero Effect, Leolo, The Great Debaters, Man on Fire, Cocaine Cowboys?

  5. 5.

    Laertes

    WSG is better than a poke in the eye, but not by much. I think I’d rather stare at a wall and wait for Monday.

  6. 6.

    Geeno

    WSG??? You must be horde. WSG for allies is like root canal. I only even think of doing it if it’s the daily. AV that was PvP back in the day….

  8. 8.

    BethanyAnne

    1. What the hell is “WSG?”

    snap answer: the armpit of BG’s…

    in English: Warsong Gulch is a battleground in World of Warcraft.

    Is it WSG weekend? I’m not sure even that’s a good enough reason to do that instead of AV.

  10. 10.

    nightjar

    The Mist is on Dish PPV 1.99 special. It’s got stars so I reckon it’s worth it.

  17. 17.

    Delia

    john b Says:

    Glenn Greenwald is on point today.

    I believe it’s official. We are now in what Gene Roddenberry mistakenly thought was an alternate universe.

    I want to be in some other reality.

  18. 18.

    Conservatively Liberal

    57 degrees out and cloudy here on the south Oregon coast, but everything is on fire inland…lol

    Today we gave all of our private health information to the G-lady from the CDC for the national health survey. How exciting…

    We are now statistics. ;)

  19. 19.

    Ed in NJ

    RIP Bobby Murcer.

    If there’s a baseball heaven, hopefully he’s knocking a few back with Thurman right about now.

  20. 20.

    strait woman

    Get your hands on The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Good read.

  21. 21.

    strait woman

    Get your hands on The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. Good read.

  22. 22.

    ThymeZone

    “No country was ever ruled by so mean a class of tyrants as, with a few noble exceptions, are the editors of the periodical press in this country. And as the live and rule only by their servility, and appealing to the worst, and not the better nature of man, the people who read them are in the condition of the dog who returns to his vomit.”

    Thoreau, on the press.

    Someone here the other day was asserting that our recent experience with the press was somehow unique and worse than anything seen in the past. After I caught my breath from laughing so hard, I rebuked the gentleman.

    But Thoreau does it much better than I could. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

    Today is Thoreau’s birthday.

  23. 23.

    cyntax

    Hot as hell outside, and humid to boot, I am cranky, and there are absolutely no movies I want to watch, and I am not in the mood to read.

    Tour de France time, baby! And the (relatively) local team–team Columbia–is cleaning up. It’s being broadcast almost continually on the Vs. channel so it’s not like you can miss it.

    And before you start crabbing about how it looks boring or don’t understand it (and it’s not worth learning), check out this primer (keep in mind any info about specifc teams is from last year so ignore that):

    …The Teams: identified by the hideous, flourescent, and distinctly un-macho tight spandex outfits that crack you up because they look like a pack of wussies compared to say football players. Don’t be fooled by the prom-dress colors–while you’re sitting there drinking beer and scratching yourself, any one of these pretty boys can whup your [email protected]# six ways to Sunday….
    Anyway, there’s lots I’m forgetting, or flat blowing off, for now, but I’ll get around to it as we go. In the meantime, stake your place at the side of the road with the other screaming nationalist wingnuts, try not to take out any riders with your camera, and don’t forget to yell, Allez Allez!

    [rest of article]

  24. 24.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    Bored?

    How can you be bored when we just had one of the largest bank failures in US history. From what I’m reading from the usual suspects (CalculatedRisk, NakedCapitalism), the sinking of the SS IndyMac is going to suck 4-8 billion from the FDIC, which for those of you keeping score at home is 7-15% of the total amount currently in the insurance fund.

    IOW, worst case scenario (is there any other kind these days?) and with 6 more of these sort of sinkings (WaMu, I’m looking at you) then poof! no more FDIC insurance left for whoever fails next. John Dillinger, call your office, the banks are playing Russian Roulette with 7 chambers and 1 bullet. It might be time to start keeping track of how many times the trigger has been pulled.

    IM IN UR BANKZ BURNIN UP ALL UR MONIZ

  25. 25.

    liberatemeiexinfernis

    Hot as hell outside, and humid to boot, I am cranky, and there are absolutely no movies I want to watch, and I am not in the mood to read

    same here. only just seems more depressing

  26. 26.

    ChrisO

    Can anyone tell me why Alliance is so completely sucky at WSG?

    I mean, I can understand the occasional defeat, but not losing every single frickin’ time…

  27. 27.

    Delia

    Why does Amazon want to sell me this freakin’ Kindle gadget? I can read perfectly fine on paper, thank you.

    And has anyone read Kevin Phillip’s Bad Money?

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    On the lighter side of news, John McCain plans to become aware of all Internet traditions:

    He said, ruefully, that he had not mastered how to use the Internet and relied on his wife and aides like Mark Salter, a senior adviser, and Brooke Buchanan, his press secretary, to get him online to read newspapers (though he prefers reading those the old-fashioned way) and political Web sites and blogs.

    “They go on for me,” he said. “I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need.”

    […]

    As they tapped, Mr. McCain said he did not use a BlackBerry, though he regularly reads messages on those of his aides. “I don’t e-mail, I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail,” Mr. McCain said.

    -dms

  29. 29.

    Wilfred

    Garry Shandling (art):

    Broke up with my girlfriend. She moved in with another guy – I draw the line at that.

    Democratic Party (life):

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite assurances to the contrary from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democratic insiders are certain Sen. Joseph Lieberman next year will be kicked out of the party’s caucus and lose his Senate chairmanship if he addresses the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., as planned.

    Lieberman’s Democratic colleagues willing to accept his support of Sen. John McCain for president consider speaking to the GOP convention as the last straw. Lieberman was re-elected from Connecticut as an independent in 2006 after losing the Democratic nomination because of his support for the Iraq war.

    Finally, a line in the sand.

  30. 30.

    ThymeZone

    Broke up with my girlfriend. She moved in with another guy – I draw the line at that.

    “Broke up with my girlfriend. Caught her lying. Under another man.”

    Some comic on Last Comic from last year.

  32. 32.

    cbear

    Broke up with my girlfriend. She moved in with another guy – I draw the line at that.

    My girlfriend has marks all over her body—-from guys touching her with 10-ft poles.
    (Rodney Dangerfield)

  33. 33.

    dbrown

    From the NYT:
    Debt of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac soared in their best one-day gain in history on Friday amid speculation that a government takeover of the housing giants would make the bonds more like ultra-safe U.S. Treasuries.

    So, capitalism as per rupubics: Private profit, socialized (i.e. middle class suckers)risk.

    As for IndyMac, the feds (i.e. paid for by the sucker middle class) will pay out at least 50% of all savings OVER the 100K limit! WTF?! When was the taxpayer roped into covering fools who put more than 100K in these ‘private for profit’ banks!

    People – these parasites (the top 5%) are the enemy and like in France, someday, their turn will come.

  34. 34.

    HeartlandLiberal

    Some serious movie watching suggestions for John:

    Lawrence of Arabia. With Peter O’Toole. Anthony Quayle. Anthony Quinn. Sir Alec Guiness, and Omar Shariff, who, along with O’Toole, is absolutely magnificent in his role.

    My wife and I just finished watching it for the first time in decades.

    It remains, as far as we are concerned, one of the top ten movies EVER made, both for its probing the mind of a z brilliant and sensitive individual caught up in war and history, and for its biting commentary on war, history, imperialism, and the Middle East and the Arabs.

    If you have never watched it, you have not seen one of the best films ever made.

    If you want American History, go get Gettysburg, the four hour plus Ted Turner film. I still get chills and am overcome with emotion everytime I watch it, and I think I have watched the whole thing three times, at least.
    One of my great-great grandfathers was in the Georgia unit of the Confederates who tried, and failed, to take Little Round Top. This film is one of the most compelling dramas portraying actual military actions I have ever seen. The tragedy for me is always summed up as the confederate general who has managed to lead Pickett’s charge to the Union line, only to see his men slaughtered, and find himself mortally wounded, lies dying, and asks that his friend who is commanding the Union forces behind the line be given his regrets. While the film shifts some of the identities of the principles, the point is well made. These men who went to West Point together, fought in Mexico together, shared life and loves, on that day had fought each other in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, and not all survived.

  36. 36.

    Wilfred

    Lawrence – the freaks’ freak, the crackpots’ crackpot. It is a great movie, but its caricatures of Arabs are a bit much, no?
    Much of it was taken from Lowell Thomas’ hagiography, which Lawrence despised, or so he said. Thomas is played by Arthur Kennedy, I think.

    Lawrence’s letters are amazing, visionary even, for what he saw as the future of the Arabs. Much more interesting than his other writing but not that different from what Macauley saw for the Indians. Even so, given the time, place and ineradicable imperial zeitgeist he was better than Philby, (but not Wilfred Thesiger) in his friendship and solidarity with Arabs.

    The most endearing anecdote I ever read about him is a passing mention in Robert Graves’ 1928 bio (authorized by Lawrence) of him making a scandal in the dining room at All Souls College in Oxford by calling the waiters by clapping his hands in the Arab way. I liked him better for that.

  37. 37.

    cain

    I’m meeting iwth our local oregon obama campaign for some kind of strategy meeting. It should be pretty simple “don’t piss of the left. Fuck the right.” It’s all directional.

    cain

  38. 38.

    lampwick

    “Washington Floats Bailout Plan for JohnnieMac”

    By Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Stenographer

    Speaking before reporters at the White House today, President George Bush called on Congress to join him in developing a rescue plan for struggling presidential candidate JohnnieMac.

    “JohnnieMac is a American institution, which for the past thirty years has made it possible for thousands of members of the fourth estate to feed their families and purchase homes. Today I am asking Congress to work with Treasury Secretary Paulson to formulate a plan which will allow JohnnieMac to stay afloat and continue his run for the nation’s highest office.”

    JohnnieMac is a hybrid private-public entity created by the U.S. Navy shortly before World War II, and now owned largely by lobbyists and large corporations. It was orginally set up to make it easier for members of the American press to improve their living standards, and over the years has helped thousands of them find access to housing and food. A merger with drug-taker Hensley & Co. in 1980 increased JohnnieMac’s liquidity and influence even further.

    It is also one of the largest homeowners in the country, with major holdings in at least nine different states. A recent scandal revolved around JohnnieMac’s inability to account for all the homes in its possession.

    JohnnieMac has suffered from other missteps as well, including its announcement this week that Americans should “quit their bellyaching” about the economy, a half-hearted attempt to restructure its chain of command, and admissions that it had still not mastered the Google. As a result of its poor performance, confidence in the institution has fallen precipitously in the past few months. JohnnieMac stock was trading at around 5.0 on Intrade at the close of the day on Friday.

    Prominent Republicans quickly seconded the President’s call for a bailout. “JohnnieMac is as much a part of America as Tang, or computer chess,” said former governor Mitt Romney. “I don’t think it’s enough just to save it: we need to double Johnnie Mac.”

    And in a striking show of bipartisanship, Senator Joe Liebermann, head of the Connecticut for Liebermann Party, also spoke in favor of the proposal. “I think I speak for myself and for others in my party when I say that our country owes an enormous debt to JohnnieMac. JohnnieMac is the American Joe Liebermann has been waiting for.”

    Yet there were some dissenters, including Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who called the proposal “pure, unadulterated horseshit,” and presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, who said, “This is just another a typical Washington quick fix. As much as I honor JohnnieMac’s many, many years of service to America, it will take much more to get that venerable institution back on its arthritic feet.”

    It was not clear when Congress and the White House would begin talks on the plan.

    In his remarks, President Bush also hinted at the consequences of failure: “If we can’t get together a plan to save JohnnieMac, we may have to do what the state of Florida did back in November of 2000,” he said, adding, “We are fully prepared to go that far, if it becomes necessary, and if we have to.”

    by: me

  39. 39.

    Bruce in Norte California

    An Iranian saboteur is traveling around California on his moterbike starting forest fires. He was seen in the vicinity of at least 3 blazes and has several gas cans strapped to his bike and a pocket full of wooden matches.

  40. 40.

    Krista

    Hot as hell outside, and humid to boot, I am cranky, and there are absolutely no movies I want to watch, and I am not in the mood to read

    Care to trade places with me? I just worked my third 16-hour day, and have discovered anew that trying to handle politicians during a disarmament conference is like herding cats. Or kindergartners. Or cats in kindergarten. I can’t decide which because I’m just too fucking tired right now.

    I swear to fuck — I have no idea how these people are supposed to solve the world’s problems when they can’t even follow basic instructions in their conference packages.

  41. 41.

    Dennis - SGMM

    An Iranian saboteur is traveling around California on his moterbike starting forest fires. He was seen in the vicinity of at least 3 blazes and has several gas cans strapped to his bike and a pocket full of wooden matches.

    In other news: the Department of Homeland Security has outlawed the sale of motorbikes, matches, gasoline, and anything that will burn. “We realize that some may be inconvenienced,” said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, “But we know that Americans will understand that these actions are being taken for their safety.” A handout given to the press also mentioned that the Constitution was being suspended west of the Rocky Mountains until the terrorist arsonist is caught.

  43. 43.

    Dennis - SGMM

    Karl Rove missed a hearing and left the country on an unannounced “long planned trip“. I can’t believe that man still has a passport.

    Is it too much to wish for that Karl hears the words “cavity search” on his return?

  44. 44.

    Incertus

    In other news: the Department of Homeland Security has outlawed the sale of motorbikes, matches, gasoline, and anything that will burn. “We realize that some may be inconvenienced,” said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, “But we know that Americans will understand that these actions are being taken for their safety.” A handout given to the press also mentioned that the Constitution was being suspended west of the Rocky Mountains until the terrorist arsonist is caught.

    That’s not remotely believable. We have an unsuspended Constitution? Come on.

  45. 45.

    jrg

    Is it too much to wish for that Karl hears the words “cavity search” on his return?

    Can you think of anyone with more incentive to carry plans for weaponized anthrax out of the U.S.? They should shove the Hubble telescope up Karl Rove’s ass every time he buys a pack of gum.

  46. 46.

    cbear

    I lost my girlfriend. Well, actually, I know where she is – it’s just that another guy is doing it to her.
    Bobcat Goldthwaite

    My girlfriend wanted to have sex in the backseat of the car—and she wanted me to drive.
    R. Dangerfield

  47. 47.

    Original Lee

    Movie new to me: Secondhand Lions, with Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, and Kyra Sedgwick. Pretty good way to spend almost 2 hours.

    Book new to me: The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Very good way to spend 2 days, especially if you’ve traveled in Europe at all.

  48. 48.

    Dennis - SGMM

    Movie new to me: Secondhand Lions, with Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, and Kyra Sedgwick. Pretty good way to spend almost 2 hours.

    We saw “Secondhand Lions” when it first came out and it was an instant family favorite.
    If you’re a fan of Robert Duvall I’d also recommend “The Apostle.” Great performance.

  49. 49.

    Brachiator

    ThymeZone Says:

    “No country was ever ruled by so mean a class of tyrants as, with a few noble exceptions, are the editors of the periodical press in this country. And as the live and rule only by their servility, and appealing to the worst, and not the better nature of man, the people who read them are in the condition of the dog who returns to his vomit.”

    Thoreau, on the press.

    Someone here the other day was asserting that our recent experience with the press was somehow unique and worse than anything seen in the past. After I caught my breath from laughing so hard, I rebuked the gentleman.

    But Thoreau does it much better than I could. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

    You missed my point when I first broached the subject, and you still miss the point.

    Some people cry, piss and moan when Rupert Murdoch or Clear Channel becomes a monopoly by buying up competitors and replacing a diversity of views with a single, narrow voice. One of my points was that people should be concerned when newspapers and magazines go out of business, when newsstands shut down, when reporters and editors are fired, when news reporting is outsourced to incompetents and amateurs, and when what remains is either shallow infotainment or the outright whoring of pundits to those in power independent of the will of their editors and publishers.

    To suggest that the more things change, the more they stay the same only betrays your ignorance of the actual history of newspapers.

    For example, there was a time when the LA Times decided that it was tired of simply being the voice of the Southern California WASP ruling class, fought off the most bigoted Chandler family members, hired independent editors, expanded its national and foreign bureaus, and actually reported news. But now the paper has become so degraded that it had to apologize for errors made in the obituary of its own former publisher Otis Chandler, has seen publishers and editors dumped who refused to bow to demands to gut the newsroom, and is now owned by a mogul who believes that reporters should be judged by the number of column inches they produce, not the quality or significance of their reporting.

    Does this suggest that there has ever been a Golden Age of news? Hell, no.

    But if you really believed that the more things change, the more they stay the same, then you would have to say that it doesn’t matter whether McCain or Obama wins the presidential election. And I know you don’t believe that.

    Today is Thoreau’s birthday

    Today is also the birthday of “Curly-Joe” DeRita, a lesser Stooge, but a Stooge nonetheless.

    And the sad fact is that today there are more lesser stooges, and fewer of Thoreau’s noble exceptions, in charge of the media.

  50. 50.

    Fulcanelli

    A couple of awesome flicks if you’re interested…

    Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis is phenominal as usual… No milkshakes in this one, though) and Pan’s Labyrinth…

  51. 51.

    Genine

    Care to trade places with me? I just worked my third 16-hour day, and have discovered anew that trying to handle politicians during a disarmament conference is like herding cats. Or kindergartners. Or cats in kindergarten. I can’t decide which because I’m just too fucking tired right now.

    I swear to fuck— I have no idea how these people are supposed to solve the world’s problems when they can’t even follow basic instructions in their conference packages.

    LOL! I can fully relate! Organizing conferences is my job. I don’t deal with politicians, but I deal with corporate executives, who are the same way. I totally empathize!

    Its more like cats in kindergarten on Ridilin/Crack cocktails.

  56. 56.

    rachel

    Is it too much to wish for that Karl hears the words “cavity search” on his return?

    Is it too much to wish for that Karl stays the hell away for the rest of his miserable life?

  58. 58.

    louisms

    I’m engaged in a Homicide, Life On The Street marathon this weekend. Any of y’all who haven’t gotten into it oughta.

  59. 59.

    Gus

    Hot as hell outside, and humid to boot, I am cranky, and there are absolutely no movies I want to watch, and I am not in the mood to read.

    That’s why Dionysus made alcohol.

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