Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

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

Let’s show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

The words do not have to be perfect.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

People are weird.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

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

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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60Comments

  4. 4.

    Comrade Stuck

    It looks finally like wingnuts are delving into scientific theory and why we need to keep CO2 in the atmosphere. It seems since CO2 has Carbon in it, then we must put the skids on all this Cap and Trade nonsense.

    From MattY

    SHIMKUS: It’s plant food … So if we decrease the use of carbon dioxide, are we not taking away plant food from the atmosphere? … So all our good intentions could be for naught. In fact, we could be doing just the opposite of what the people who want to save the world are saying.

    I mean, who can say they are anti-plant food. It’s like saying you’re Anti-Mom or Anti-Bambi. Expect Senator Inhoffe to give a two hour speech on the Senate Floor claiming liberals hate plants and are going to kill off the Arugula crop, instead of saving the planet.

    This has been today’s wingnut science advisory.

  7. 7.

    mgordon

    Well if your image of an American is a beer swilling, wife beating, Mexican hating, Jesus rode the T-Rex thinking, Nascar loving dimwit then I’m sure Obama would seem foreign.

    It isn’t called Riehl world view for nuthin man.

  8. 8.

    valdivia

    RE the Riehl thing–we are again with the ‘real american’. I love the ‘island’ touch. euphemism much?

  9. 9.

    Bootlegger

    @Unabogie: Thanks man I needed a good laugh. Looked like Beck’s Citizens were outnumbered there, surrounded if you will. Good times. Good times.

  10. 10.

    Bootlegger

    World Cup Qualifying
    US comes back and fights hard (literally) for a 2-2 draw in San Salvador.

  11. 11.

    Bootlegger

    @Comrade Stuck: That’s full of win too! Y’all are digging up the right wing entertainment tonight!
    Do you think they’ll support planting more trees now?

  13. 13.

    Brick Oven Bill

    The people who I enjoyed time with today could be basically grouped into three categories:

    1. Bush supporters, who acted sheepishly in today’s group social dynamic. (30%)

    2. People who believe that Bush and Obama both represent the same interest, namely the Federal Reserve. (70%)

    3. Subsets of numbers 1 and 2 who were growing gardens and worried that if the dollar collapses, there could be a supply-system breakdown and food shortages, leading to very bad things. The cost of farmland was one topic of discussion. (30%)

    The thing that made the biggest impression on me was the ability of these people to communicate, and the manner in which they communicated. This was a highly intelligent crowd.

    People were very guarded in the semi-formal presentation setting, as we were all strangers. As we broke apart into the post presentation informal groups with a beer, we became much more open.

  14. 14.

    Farley

    More layoffs at my husband’s workplace, effective Tuesday. We think he’s not one of them, but a number of good people will be gone, and some incompetents/friends of the bosses will be given yet more free passes.

    A badly-run company in a bad economy. We’re hoping this will be the last round for awhile.

    It’s that tight-in-the-throat feeling for the next couple of days.

    Good luck everyone. Stay safe and smile when you can. Towards that end, I love Netflix on my computer! Watching "Midsummer Night Sex Comedy" now.

  16. 16.

    Tim F.

    Why do radio news shows always punctuate stories about space travel with Space Oddity? Do they close every story about parenting with Cats in the Cradle? It feels like bad judgment, or bad luck, or something.

  17. 17.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    BOB, yer special needs group sounds like a barrel of monkeys. Now could you kindly answer CD’s question? Why no uprisings when Bush was bent over the world, cornholing it with clenched teeth?

  18. 18.

    Bootlegger

    @demimondian: That’s a spooky tale. Who the fuck does Doogan think he is? He took it upon himself to reveal the identity of a citizen who asked not to be identified. WTF is that?!

    I appreciate that John Cole is willing to use his real name and that Doug and Tim use some of their’s, but I don’t believe it should be *required* to blog. There are real threats to one’s career and family.

    Anyone else feel this way? I mean most of us use pseudonyms here, probably for a variety of reasons. Why do you use yours?

    I do it to protect my career, where academic freedom is currently under assault by the rightwing and so I can feel free to share things about myself that could cause my family some embarrassment (smoking pot is still illegal too).

  20. 20.

    Mark S.

    @Unabogie:

    That thread is full of win. I sincerely thought this guy was a parody at first:

    Race and color have EVERYTHING to do with it! Otherwise you liberals would never win an election! You NEED the underclass, the malcontents, the illegals, the future criminal baby factories (single mothers), and all the other human debris to vote! The productive John Galts of this once beautiful country will never again vote for the Demosocialists! And before we are run over at the election box and allow all we have to be taken away, there will be some very ugly backlashes. Count on it…..

    but he kept bringing the stupid

    And if the liberals don’t like the laws, they just have a dictatator in black robes change them!

    Can this guy come over here?

  21. 21.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I mean most of us use pseudonyms here, probably for a variety of reasons. Why do you use yours?

    I thought I was being more honest.

  23. 23.

    Incertus

    @Bootlegger: I started off with a pseudonym because I was worried about my privacy, but I learned pretty quickly, thanks to a troll from another site, that my pseudonym didn’t help me. I’ve kept it as a way of pushing traffic to my blog, but my identity isn’t a secret now. I sometimes wonder if it’s kept me from moving up as far as I’d like so far in my career, but I don’t let it worry me too much.

  24. 24.

    gocart mozart

    Dan Riehl says Obama is not an American, while his commenters bluster about armed resistance.

    I went through the trouble of cutting and pasting an excerpt of the NYT article John posted on the previous thread. Alas, I forgot that Danny Boy had banned me. Political correctness, blah blah blah and all that.

  25. 25.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Just Some Fuckhead;

    A number of people stressed that this was the first political event that they had ever attended. Most did not say either way. I do not know why they failed to participate during the Bush years. Perhaps Bush was a better actor.

    I myself sent George Bush $25 in 2004. I went to a rally, clapped, and felt good about things. One of the participants today was convinced that Daddy Bush is orchestrating today’s events.

    I do not presume to know. But I think things might just be about Hillary, the Columbia University records, and the bankers.

  26. 26.

    CD

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Bill: Interesting. I assume groups 1,2, and 3 represent a Venn diagram of sorts, and I understand what you’re saying. I actually understand some of those folks’ concerns, and moreover even share a few of them.

    But I’m totally at a loss as to how the Constitution, of all things, has suddenly become their reason for not going down this new and uncertain road. The phrase "finding jailhouse religion" comes to mind. Seems to me intellectually dishonest of these new Constitutional scholars, particularly in light of JSF’s question (a downright eloquent one, I believe, and a powerful image as well):

    "Why no uprisings when Bush was bent over the world, cornholing it with clenched teeth?" (–JSF, March, 2009)

  27. 27.

    srv

    Thank odin there was something other than basketball to do in Boston tonight. Kris Kristofferson filled the bill.

  28. 28.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    I do not presume to know. But I think things might just be about Hillary, the Columbia University records, and the bankers.

    IOW, fevered imaginings carry more weight with you deadenders than actual shit flying off the fan?

  29. 29.

    InflatableCommenter

    Bush was bent over the world, cornholing it with clenched teeth

    I think this scans better as

    Bush, with clenched teeth, was bent over the world, cornholing it mercilessly

    Otherwise it might read that Bush was cornholing with his teeth, which is, you know, sort of a metphorical trainwreck.

    Either way, I’m stealing it and taking credit for it.

  30. 30.

    Bootlegger

    @Brick Oven Bill: Hey BOB, despite my snarkiness, I actually appreciate anytime anyone tries to organize at the grassroots level. It can only be good for democracy when people do this. I do, however, share CD’s opinion that it seems that this sudden sense of civic responsibility is more about the mirage created by the Rightwing Noise Machine and Villager Masturbation than it is about a concrete, objective set of concerns.

  31. 31.

    Tim F.

    But I think things might just be about Hillary, the Columbia University records, and the bankers.

    No, no, and a little. I would be similarly right if I argued that I could cook a loaf of bread with a can of latex paint, two pigeons and a match.

  32. 32.

    Brick Oven Bill

    CD;

    I do not know what a Venn diagram is. I sense that a certain percentage of the population is coming to grips with the fact that recess is ending, and is seeking solace in ideals.

    I am probably the most guilty of these. I spoke up and stated that, while we do not know what comes next, the odds are that we will pivot upon the foundation of the Constitution.

  35. 35.

    Bootlegger

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    the odds are that we will pivot upon the foundation of the Constitution.

    See? This is my point exactly. This isn’t a concrete concern. What does it mean to "pivot" on the constitution? And what makes the odds greater?

  37. 37.

    CD

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Bill, I don’t buy the suggestion that George W. Bush was a "better actor" with regard to his numerous illegal actions: Calling himself "The Decider" and calling the Constitution "a goddamned piece of paper" and saying that the U.S. would be better off as a dictatorship if he were the dictator are not exactly warm-and-fuzzy smooches toward the Founding Fathers, to my way of thinking.

    More to the point, what exactly do YOU think Obama and Congress are doing, right now, that is specifically proscribed by the Constitution? And to what extent do you think those views are representative of your Beck colleagues? Please show your work.

  38. 38.

    Laura W

    It’s a square dance call.

    Even if I weren’t up way past my bedtime, and goofy grape on pinot grigio, that would still be wicked funny.

  40. 40.

    Brick Oven Bill

    CD;

    “A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State.”

    -James Madison, Federalist 10

    The military pledges its oath to the Constitution, not the government, Bootlegger. This was the basis of my comment. The military knows this. My old boss used to give out copies of the Constitution at reenlistment ceremonies. This is why Glenn Beck is wrapping his arms around the Constitution and the military. He is a very smart man.

    I cannot believe that Obama was dumb enough to propose taking away government benefits from soldiers who were wounded in the line of duty. Does he not know the discussions that would result from this? This is because he is an academic.

  41. 41.

    LD50

    More to the point, what exactly do you think Obama and Congress are doing that is specifically proscribed by the Constitution? Please show your work.

    [bachmann]
    He’s black! And he’s a liberal! Where in the constitution does it say a black or a liberal can be president?
    [/bachmann]

  42. 42.

    The Moar You Know

    SHIMKUS: It’s plant food … So if we decrease the use of carbon dioxide, are we not taking away plant food from the atmosphere? … So all our good intentions could be for naught. In fact, we could be doing just the opposite of what the people who want to save the world are saying.

    @Comrade Stuck: All that is needed to rebut that argument is to point out that marijuana is a plant, one that is smoked by hippies, Mexicans, liberals and black people.

    I expect them to be screaming for carbon caps within a week.

  45. 45.

    Bootlegger

    @Brick Oven Bill: Dude, that isn’t the constitution. Second, there is nothing in that quote that has changed, recently or in the last 230 years, that could even remotely defined as a "pivot". Why do you think Madison felt compelled to write about it? It certainly wasn’t some hypothetical he dreamed up. These "wicked projects" have been around since the founding.

  46. 46.

    Bootlegger

    @Brick Oven Bill: Oh, and Obama didn’t try to take away military benefits. He asked soldiers with private insurance through their jobs to not use the scarce resources of the VA.
    I’ve listened to Beck and he’s not defending any constitution I’ve read about.

  47. 47.

    CD

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Bob: I’m looking for some portion of the Constitution ITSELF that you’re pivoting upon in your planned uprising (my two left feet make me unpivotable, unfortunately), not someone’s commentary upon the Constitution, even the esteemed Mr. Jefferson.

    And isn’t Obama’s oath to the same Constitution that the military’s is? Unless he’s breaking the law with his stimulus package, or depriving Americans of their Constitutional rights, I don’t see the conflict.

    (Swing your partner, circle left, also…)

  49. 49.

    garyb50

    Broke out my sax tonight & after blowing for 10 minutes realized I have bad cork & how the fuck can I afford to get that fixed?

  52. 52.

    Bootlegger

    @CD: Without a doubt, gray hairs have that effect on the best of us.

    It would be nice, however, when Beck’s Citizens refer to the Founding Fathers they consider Mr. Jefferson’s ideas. I have in mind, particularly, his snark on the transfer of wealth through inheritance.

    I am conscious that an equal division of property is impracticable, but the consequences of this enormous inequality producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property, only taking care to let their subdivisions go hand in hand with the natural affections of the human mind. The descent of property of every kind therefore to all the children, or to all the brothers and sisters, or other relations in equal degree, is a politic measure and a practicable one. Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions or property in geometrical progression as they rise. Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right.

  53. 53.

    CD

    @Bootlegger:

    Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right.

    Holy Karl Marx, Mr. Jefferson! Say it ain’t so. Next thing we know, you’ll be wanting to conscript our young’uns for nefarious "public service."

  54. 54.

    Bootlegger

    @CD: Yep, that was his idea too. So convenient for Beck’s Citizens to forget this writer of the constitution when wailing about the *pivot* on the constitution.

  55. 55.

    Pooh

    Anchorage seems to be in the throws of the apocalypse. It seriously looks like the ghost cloud spreading over NYC in GhostBusters. Everything is closed, no one is on the streets and it smells vaguely of rotten eggs. Yay saturday night.

  56. 56.

    gocart mozart

    B.O.B. , just wondering what you think of government tapping phones without a warrant, holding citizens for several years without trial or access to counsel, torture and of course perjury by a non-democratic official? Thanks in advance for your response.

  57. 57.

    apistat

    I’m pretty impressed with whoever is picking the musical guests at SNL these days. First they have Fleet Foxes and TV on the Radio in recent weeks, which make sense given how much critical praise they got when all the best of 2008 lists were coming out. Neither of them are mainstream big, but definitely big by indie standards.

    However, they’ve outdone themselves for next week’s show by booking French indie-pop band Phoenix. They’re largely unheard of on this side of the Atlantic; their last album in 2006 (which was very good, by the way) has sold only 36,000 copies to date. A pretty big change in profile after having Kelly Clarkson on the week before.

    Regardless, it was an excellent pick and I guarantee that they’re gonna blow up after this/when their new album comes out in May. Their first two singles (youtube links below) are infectiously catchy pop gems that could definitely be big this summer in the same way that ‘Young Folks’ and ‘Float On’ were in previous years.

    Have a listen to both of them here:
    1901
    Lisztomania (ignore how disturbingly well it fits with scenes from The Breakfast Club)

  58. 58.

    MikeJ

    Anchorage seems to be in the throws of the apocalypse.

    Volcanoes have a well known liberal bias.

  59. 59.

    MikeJ

    However, they’ve outdone themselves for next week’s show by booking French indie-pop band Phoenix.

    Heheh. They have a picture of an Oblique Strategy card on their web site. That pleases me.

  60. 60.

    Dennis-SGMM

    There hasn’t been an attack on American soil…
    Detainee’s Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots (WaPo)

    When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him.

    The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads.

    In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida’s tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida — chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates — was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said.

    The article goes on to explain that, rather than being an Al Qaeda bigshot, Zubaida had "strained and limited relations" with Osama bin Laden and only vague knowledge that something was happening before the Sept. 11th attacks.
    The words "Vague Knowledge" seem like a fitting epitaph for the Republicans in general and the Bush administration in particular.

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