The benefit dinner was fun- it was like a WV wedding with raffle tickets and fewer drunks, complete with fried chicken, rigatoni, green beans and a really painful performance of the Electric Slide. Hopefully they will make some good money.
I suppose at some point I should talk about politics, but I’m not really in the mood. Kinda sunburned and tired, and not all motivated to talk about things. I will say this, though- I watched Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann last night for the first time in a long while, and I can fully appreciate why some Republicans might think the outrage over torture is little more than a partisan witch hunt. The smugness and giggling and parade of indignant partisans from those two was overwhelming. After watching those two, I completely understand why some might think this is “prosecuting political differences.” It isn’t that I disagree with them on the facts, it is their almost gleeful tone. It was really off-putting.
In sports, the Pens sent the thuggish Flyers and their drunken reprobate fans home- the Flyers might play better hockey if they try to score instead of just skating around the ice trying to board or trip the opposing team, and Gary Bettman should get the idiots who run the sound for the Flyers to stop them from drumming up chants directed at specific players. Scumbags. The Steelers picked a man named Ziggy, meaning our long line of draft day funny names continues. Finally, Pat White went in the second round to the Dolphins, much higher than I thought he would go. Good for him.
Decided against The Wrestler
Persia
Swine flu is on my mind. Mexico City is pretty well shut down. Are the regular news outlets talking about this? I haven’t had much TV on.
Ninerdave
Still watching the draft….
…is it just me, or does anyone else want to waterboard the idiot that came up with the Coors Light/Football Coach Commercials.
Bill H
The Chargers picked a linebacker, which isn’t really consistent with their glee at getting Shawne Merriman back. Of course his contract is up after 2009 and he will demand about a trillion or so per year regardless of his 2009 performance.
Bryan
The Dark Side is not a fun book to read at all. And it should be required reading for every American.
b-psycho
I suspect Rachel & Keith act like that because they’re trying to come off Daily Show-esque.
JL
This week has been so productive. The torture memos bothered me and I used that excess energy to clean up my yard, cut up fallen tree limbs, plant my tomatoes and herbs, prepare another garden for beans and such and plant a few dozen gardenias. I’m tired.
Mr. Stuck
@Persia:
I live just a relatively short drive to the Mexican border and have been reading about this all day. What makes it scary is it’s brand newness of gene re-combination. Plus it is a type A virus and no one has any inherent immunity and is spread airborne. And, since it has animal genes in it, making a vaccine is harder and takes more time.
There have been only three other Type A’s with the potential for pandemic flu in the past 100 years. The first was the Spanish Flu that killed up to 50 million people, then the Hong Kong one in 68 that killed some 1 million worldwide, and the third in 1976, that sputtered out and didn’t do a lot of damage.
So it will be the luck of the draw this time and with international travel could become a calamity.
Otherwise, I’m starting Season 4 disc 4 of BSG. It is the last disc on netflix for bsg, and about halfway thru the last season.
cleek
agreed. it really is.
Olbermann especially takes it so far as to practically discredit his criticisms.
JK
John,
Agree with you to a large degree about Maddow and Olbermann. I think both of them, at some gut level, are frustrated comedians. I think they want to be entertainers as mush as they want to news anchors.
A few weeks ago, Maddow had David Frum on as a guest and she seemed stunned and dazed when he reprimanded her for her flippant and sarcastic demeanor. I hate David Frum but I think he has a valid point.
Whatever you do John, please don’t go all Bob Somerby on us. He has a severe case of Olbermann Maddow derangement syndrome.
Having knocked them around, I think a fair minded viewer has to admit that they’re capable of rising to the occassion and doing insightful, informative segments when they drop the stand-up comic persona.
The Moar You Know
I agree. It’s been hard to not go up to every
Republican I know and yell in their faces “HOW DO YOU LIKE IT NOW?” Really hard.
We Dems and DFHs were on the receiving end of so much abuse – and frankly even from a partisan, getting your goals accomplished point of view, so much of that abuse was utterly unnecessary. Is it REALLY necessary to frame a policy disagreement as “hating America”? But that’s what they did, and it takes the forgiveness of a Jesus or Ghandi to not want to turn around and cram every soiled and sordid thing they’ve been responsible for and attached to down their throats.
So I don’t blame Keith or Rachel. Or myself, for that matter. None of us are Jesus or Ghandi and there is going to be some good old fashioned petty, partisan, stupid payback. It shouldn’t be that way, and it REALLY detracts from the impact the torture issue should be having, but there’s just not going to be any help for that. Liberals are pissed. And they have every right to be. We got the shit kicked out of us for eight years, and by God, the Republicans didn’t even stop for twenty-four hours after the election. They’re on the ground, but they’re still trying to kick us in the balls.
So don’t be surprised if someone busts out the tire iron of torture and starts beating the shit out of the GOP with it. They’ve earned it.
Comrade Darkness
This is the reason I so much prefer women’s hockey. No checking allowed. I thought I’d miss the violence, but, nope.
Corner Stone
@Ninerdave:
Nope. I love that shit.
Turgidson
I dunno, seems to me like Olbermann and Maddow just think punishing the assholes who approved torture is a moral imperative rather than a political football. I don’t detect much glee. Generally Olbermann is often overly dramatic and Maddow is always overly cute/sarcastic, but I don’t think either of them are reporting on torture in a gamesmanship kind of way. They seem more serious about it than they do about other political issues.
I mean, I agree that both shows take quite a bit of glee in denigrating the GOP on any number of things every night (they make it so easy, after all, and they freakin deserve it too)- so it would be easy for the casual viewer to lump the torture issue in with the rest of it. I just don’t think their motivation in covering torture is to take yet another dump on the GOP. The fact that the GOP look like tools anyway isn’t their fault.
Litlebritdifrnt
Took advantage of the glorious weather to do lots and lots of laundry (five loads including changing the winter weight duvet to the summer weight one), pinched out my tomatoes, weeded and thinned out the pea/mustard/rutabega/seed lettuce/onion bed. Discovered that fresh cut broccilli florets that are just about to flower are like CRACK to birdies (Melody and Harmony that is) I swear this stuff is like birdy cat nip. Planted impatiens and begonia in hanging baskets for the shade. Added more topsoil to the Potato Tower, cleaned up the front porch area (leaves, leaves, and more leaves) made Arnamade and Con a new bed complete with a new cushion (for 50cents from my favorite thrift store). Added Tourina to my container plantings outside and filled up all my bird feeders outside. Tomorrow the job I am dreading, cleaning out the pond (or as DH now calls it “the swamp”) I don’t dread it cause it is yucky, I am dreading it because I don’t want to kill anything that may be living in it and that may be unavoidable.
PS) Did anyone else see the piece over at Slate titled “Why can’t Chaney stop talking now?” or something, exactly, he has been in a “secure location” for 8 years and not said a dicky bird and all of a sudden he has lots to say?
Kirk Spencer
@Persia: dunno about regular news outlets. I’ve got a variety of more direct reports including some emergency response people who’ve been getting warning orders.
Bottom line – right now there’s enough to make sure everything is ready to roll but not enough to actually start rolling out defenses. There are a lot of cases that are SUSPECTED, but which haven’t passed final confirm test of being swine flu. That’s pretty important, actually. We’ve got some of these suspect cases in TX, KS, CA, and NY. AZ and NM are reviewing some existing cases which aren’t suspected of being swine flu, but under the circumstances need checked. As of this instant (as far as we know) nobody in the US has died of this bug. There are 20 people in Mexico who’ve died of what may be this bug, but the tests are not yet complete to confirm or deny.
One major point – it has crossed a major line. It is human to human transmittable. As Mr. Stuck noted, that’s worrisome given it’s recombinant. It may fizzle, but it has the possibility of being a Big Deal. We’ll have some idea within (I think) four or five days.
For now, just take a bit of extra care – the care you’d take in a ‘normal’ bad flu season. Cleanliness, try to avoid folk who are coughing and sneezing, that sort of thing.
Tattoosydney
It’s Saturday morning – I’m uploading more pictures of animals and flowers at Singapore Zoo, contemplating washing the dog, and wondering where the hell Laura and Fuckhead are….
bayville
Stuart Taylor: Still A Douche.
Mr. Stuck
The question could be, how does one deal with the jaw dropping stupid of the wingnut defense of torture? The SERE kanard, the phony ticking time bomb hooey, the dems did it too bullshit (cause they were told about it but couldn’t tell anyone else or they’d be breaking secrecy laws). Especially given the relentless nature of the torture apologists efforts to mock something that had previously been taboo for this country.
And the worst steaming pile of all, that it works, so we should do it. Aside from the fact that that claim is highly disputed by a number of insiders, since when do we excuse crimes because they work. If this was a one or two time thing right after 9-11, some slack could be given. But that is not what happened.
Laura W
@Tattoosydney: Well, it’s not my night to watch Fuckhead, so I can’t speak to that. Leah does need a bath. I can speak to that.
I couldn’t decide between this and this for you.
They both make me happy in different ways.
#2 more so tonight.
She’s very unique and this is a really nice rendition.
JK
During the conventions, MSNBC truly gave Stewart and Colbert a run for their money as political satirists.
I’ll put these MSNBC clips up against the best segments of Stewart and Colbert (obviously not counting those Stewart and Colbert segments that used any of this MSNBC footage)
Olbermann vs Matthews
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncuj9RWgcME&feature=related
MSNBC Meltdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CudatgNdoIU&NR=1
Olbermann vs Scarborough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WqOmc1SCC4&NR=1
Olbermann vs Mike Murphy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mynTeLWOYQs&feature=related
Litlebritdifrnt
@JK:
I still think that Olberman’s special comment about Hillary dropping the assasination thing into the mix was a thing of beauty, I have watched it numerous times and will more than likely watch it again. It was the righteous indignation felt by all of us at that particular moment in time and was pitch perfect. IMHO.
JL
@Litlebritdifrnt: I did not see the Cheney piece but IMO he’s been spouting spew simply because Bush did not pardon him. The talk has been that he was upset about Libby but I feel that he knows that he could be indicted.
Shygetz
Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander is criticizing the Democrats for…wait for it…not making US energy policy more like France. The fun never stops.
gnomedad
Dana Perino opens her mouth again; same ol’ same ol’. Nice kryptonite necklace, though.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Tattoosydney:
Pray for me, tomorrow I have to bathe a cat. Nelson my darling fixed one-eyed tom cat tries very hard to wash himself, but he tends to just slobber all over himself to the extent that he now has dreds. He looks utterly pathetic and I am afeeeered that the animal control people will take one look at him and think he is being neglected. So tomorrow I will bathe him (no doubt much blood letting will insue) just to try and make him look a little more respectable. (Damn he looked so nice after the deep fat fryer incident I am contemplating dousing him in vegetable oil)
Litlebritdifrnt
@JL:
You could be exactly right there. Never thought about that.
JK
@Litlebritdifrnt: On balance, I think Olbermann and Maddow are a net positive. As I wrote earlier, I do think they undercut and devalue their programs when they stray into Stewart and Colbert territory.
I think it’s a Catch-22 situation. If they completely dropped their sarcasm/flippancy/snarkyness from their broadcasts, people like Bob Somerby might become fans, but they’d probably lose too many Nielsen shares and then they’d get the axe.
JK
@gnomedad: She can’t help herself. She’s paralyzed from the neck up.
Whenever I see Dana Perino, Sarah Palin, or Michele Bachmann on tv, I’m reminded of Bob Dylan’s line from the song Idiot Wind
“You’re an idiot babe, it’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe”
asiangrrlMN
I love Keith and Rachel. I am very sarcastic myself, and it feels cathartic to see them let it out. I thought Dave Frum was an ass on Rachel’s show and disingenuous to boot. He has petulant whiny sarcasm down pat.
To me, Keith and Rachel know their shit. They tell their shit. They are partisan, but still hold Democrats up for ridicule. Sure, I would have Rachel cut out some fluff and Keith become a tad bit less self-serving, but I wouldn’t want them to substantially change the way they are.
Totally OT, I HATE SPRING! I want my winter back. That is all.
Max
Scarborough Country, Sarah Palin, Dana Perino and Glen Beck contribute to the NY Post list of 100 Mistakes in the first 100 Days.
I say we impeach Obama now and let the healing begin.
/snark
P.S I think my fav is #99 – Obama enrolled his daughters in private school. Yeah, how dare he protect his girls from the crazies.
Max
http://tinyurl.com/cuxee5
Oops. Forgot the link
Fr33d0m
Tacitly I’ll have to agree with Mr. Stuck. I see no way to address the stupidity of the Republican’s position with dry and serious tones. It takes two sides serious about the topic to have a debate. If the Republicans bring socialist/facist, Bannana Republic and water boarding is not torture to the table, how do you effectively refute that without ridicule?
Litlebritdifrnt
@Max:
Yeah, he should just let those two little african american indonesian, muslin girls go to a public school where they can be targeted by every racist lunatic out there, yeah cause that would be being a real Amurican and a good father so long as he gave them each a glock and taught them how to use it. Fucking tool. Personally I am still concerned that POTUS, Michelle and the girls are not surrounded by bullet proof glass 24/7. Although I have to admit I am absolutely giddy about the fact that Oily Titz is now telling everyone that they have the “right” to make a citizens arrest of the POTUS due to fraud, cause you know those guys who are always talking into their sleeves will think that is SO MUCH FUN.
Montysano
I’ve been invited to hang in a new gallery here in town. I’ve done art shows, but this is my first gallery hang. So I had to dust off the darkroom (which had been idle for a couple of years), buy paper, mix fresh chemicals, etc. But it’s still a thrill to watch that image magically appear on a blank sheet of paper. In fact, I think I was invited in part because I’m one of the last analog photographers around.
Break’s over… back to the dark!
JK
@Max: Scarborough, Palin, Perino, and Beck represent 4 good arguments in favor of sexual abstinence. They’re all pathological liars and they’re dumbing down our society down to death.
On their first day of school, the Washington Post website lost its mind and posted an article that practically laid out the floorplan of the school. Fortunately, they later removed the post.
Max
I love how they put random stuff on the list and then don’t bother to explain from what point of view it is a mistake…
#40. Obama lifts travel and remittance restrictions on Cuba.
… Or, labeling a mistake something he hasn’t even done…
#41. Obama considers dropping the embargo on Cuba
os
lol Keith knows hes ridiculous though. he admits to it so no one really takes him all too seriously. he rarely puts anyone on his shows that disagree with him or have another side to the same argument. Rachel however is just a witty sarcastic intellect. shes the smart girl in the room that makes you feel small by saying something you dont get until the end of the day.
MT
Evander and I spent the last four years watching him play (and photographing the games). You’ll like him.
jeffreyw
Lazy day, a couple of runs on the quad, giving the dog some exercise, jumped a bunch of deer off the back pond, covey of quail in the back field. Cooked a nice dinner for the missus, strip steaks, shrimp cocktail, asparagus in lemon butter, french fries.
Listening to an audio book on the nano, downloaded from podiobooks.com.
Stayed away from the TV all day.
Fencedude
@Max:
Yeah, the entire list is screwy.
But then again, New York Post.
Litlebritdifrnt
Dam but every single video being watched on Youtube right now is an
“Britain’s got talent” video. That is scary.
Meanderthal
In sports, the Pens sent the thuggish Flyers and their drunken reprobate fans home- the Flyers might play better hockey if they try to score instead of just skating around the ice trying to board or trip the opposing team, and Gary Bettman should get the idiots who run the sound for the Flyers to stop them from drumming up chants directed at specific players. Scumbags.
You know, I’m not really a big Pens fans, but I always enjoy watching the Flyers lose. Not just because their team is largely composed of troglodytic goons, but because their fans are the most horribly offensive, abusive pack of lunatics I’ve had the misfortune of sitting among in a long time.
And considering that I have to drive to Nashville to catch most of my live games, that’s saying something.
JK
@Max: Best uses for a print copy of the New York Post:
The lining of a bird cage and the lining of a kitty litter box
ethan salto
We’re gonna have to agree to disagree. On the torture issue, I think Olbermann and Maddow are doing heroic work.
And they’re both Cronkites compared to Fox’s current apocalyptic insanity.
ON TORTURE: I want an investigation, and then prosecutions, if warranted. And it sure as hell looks as if they’ll be warranted. Take a look at Frank Rich’s Sunday column — that’s the narrative for next week.
Ed Marshall
I rewatched The Revolution Will Not be Televised today. It’s a documentary filmed by an Irish crew who were supposed to be making a flim about Hugo Chavez and wound up being in the Presidential Palance during the 2002 coup.
What weirded me out watching it again, was the eerie similarity between what the private media in Venezuela did to promote the coup via protests and what Fox did with the Tea Party bullshit. Watch that and tell me I’m paranoid.
Dennis-SGMM
I’m working on a toy airplane. Technically it’s radio controlled model airplane. It’s a toy. I designed this one to look, and fly, like the planes of 1912-1914 which means slow and graceful. It’s electrically powered so all you hear is the prop and that’s so quiet that you can barely hear it.
I like to do the Dawn Patrol, flying at six AM in a local park. There’s usually calm air then and the planes look neat when I climb them up into the sunlight.
AhabTRuler
@Dennis-SGMM: pics?
Dennis-SGMM
@AhabTRuler:
Sure thing
This one is made of Depron foam (Used for floor insulation in Europe) and bamboo skewers. I’m just making some minor repairs after I nosed it over on landing.
Corner Stone
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Yes. Righteous if you were a fucking idiot and tool. That is all.
You fucking idiotic tool.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
WRT to Olbermann and Maddow, I watch them and enjoy them, but my bullshit detector is constantly going off with the torture fauxrage.
There’s really nothing new in the story. Who didn’t know that the potatoheads had lied us into a war, cooked the intel, and hyped the threats? Who didn’t know that they were lying about interrogation methods and sending grunts to jail to cover the abuses approved by the people in charge? Who really thinks that waterboarding a few people is really worse than killing tens of thousands of civilians in an apparently useless war against a country that really did nothing to deserve that kind of treatment in 2003?
The good news, to me, is that the president is not going to fall for the misdirected rage-iness delusions on his left and is going to keep his eye on the ball, which is why I did all I could to help get him elected.
As for what is on my mind this week? A hiring and purchasing freeze at work, making difficult work nearly impossible, and working seven days under great pressure without a day off and with no relief … which is probably the best situation we will get this year thanks to budget shortfalls directly tied to the recession. I sure as heck hope that we turn this thing around because one way or the other, the alternative is going to create hellish problems for a lot of people.
And why do I stay at this grindstone of a job situation? Because I can’t replace the job or the health insurance right now.
I am lookng forward to sleeping late in the morning and missing every one of the pointless Sunday talk shows.
Ash
Something scary from Bloomberg:
:O
Dave Trowbridge
Vegging is the order of the evening here. I just finished moving about a ton of topsoil (1.75 yards) twice: shoveling it into a truck at the pickup site (thanks, Freecycle!) and then out again in the alley where I pile up/make soil amendments. I can hear the hot tub calling, but first I’ve got to make dinner. (I’m on my own this weekend; my wife’s down at the Nebula Awards in LA.)
Comfort reading tonight: James Michener. Just finished re-reading Chesapeake and am getting started on The Source.
The gotcha quality of the left is getting on my nerves, too. Anybody and everybody who touched the torture tar baby should be investigated and, if culpable, prosecuted. Can you hear me, Nancy?
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Ash, that Bloomberg report is bullshit. A bunch of people here checked original sources and it looks as if Solis died from a heart attack.
Wini
@asiangrrlMN: I like spring, but would trade summer for winter a fair share of the time.
Edit: spring is kind of irritating, though, when studying for exams.
El Cid
@Ed Marshall: I don’t think you’re paranoid. I just think there are underlying reasons why hierarchically organized, funded, and directed right wing opposition movements catering to a frustrated middle-middle / upper-middle class looks very similar in any country, whereas poor and working class movements can sometimes look very similar and sometimes very different — because the Venezuelan middle and middle-upper / professional classes live lives in surface ways quite similar to U.S. middle classes, while the Venezuelan poor and working classes’ conditions of life are very different from the average U.S. working class person.
Brick Oven Bill
Wind power is a hoax. If Maddow and Olbermann are embarrassing over waterboarding, they are borderline criminal over wind power. These two report to MSNBC, which is owned by GE, which is run by Immelt. Immelt is an economic advisor to Obama, who is pretty dim on things like the Constitution, let alone energy policy.
GE also builds windmills. A more honest and less fascistic company is E.ON Netz. E.ON Netz is a German company that makes its money running windmills. This is their annual report. Here is one highlight:
“Wind energy is only able to replace traditional power stations to a limited extent. Their dependence on the prevailing wind conditions means that wind power has a limited load factor even when technically available. It is not possible to guarantee its use for the continual cover of electricity consumption. Consequently, traditional power stations with capacities equal to 90% of the installed wind power capacity must be permanently online in order to guarantee power supply at all times.”
Keep in mind that the corporation that wrote those words makes its money from wind power. The number is probably closer to 95-100%. Wind power is a lie created by corporate welfare coupled with ignorance. Future American electricity will be provided by nuclear power. Future American liquid fuel will be provided by oil shale.
Ash
@Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse: Thanks, it was scary to think about.
Fencedude
@Brick Oven Bill:
BOB, please kindly STFU up about power systems. You know jack all on the subject.
Go back to your pizzas and stay out of stuff you have no knowledge about.
cleek
i could do with a week where two out of three stories isn’t about torture.
yes, i know it’s a real and serious issue. but as HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker says above: there’s nothing new here. what we knew three years ago should’ve been plenty sufficient to generate 10x as much outrage as we see now.
i honestly expect nothing to come of this : no charges, no trials, no convictions. so every day we spend rehashing this is more dpressing than the last.
and no, it’s not a self-fulfilling prophesy; as a Z-list blogger, i’m pretty sure i have absolutely no influence on what happens in the DOJ.
also: Cornish game hen: tastes like eating chicken but requires the effort of eating lobster. whose stupid idea was that?
Darcy
What republicans think that all this outrage over torture can come from KO and RM alone? I think they’re funny and relevant, but KO & RM’s reach is miniscule. Only those who follow politics as inside baseball for “the left” watch them.
They(KO & RM) are the just most visible outlet for such strong anti-torture opinions. This is a major problem.
Anti-torture isn’t a fucking republican vs. democrat issue.
Mike in NC
We were at a community function tonight. It’s a good bet when they bring on the Electric Slide you head for the door in a hurry.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
Greatest line I have seen all week, funny as hell, and true.
For poor food ROI, the Cornish game hen is right there with the artichoke.
El Cid
We need to find some old dude to stick on a horse who will charge his lance at windmills, given the clear Satanic threat represented by the wind power fanatics. He’s going to need backup, though. An assistant who rides beside him and helps the old man pursue the tasks he’s convinced are necessary. BOB?
Brick Oven Bill
Glenn Beck sucks Fencedude. You make an excellent point. And here are some other thoughts from E.ON-Net:
“In 2004 two major German studies investigated the size of contribution that wind farms make towards guaranteed capacity. Both studies separately came to virtually identical conclusions, that wind energy currently contributes to the secure production capacity of the system, by providing 8% of its installed capacity.”
As wind power capacity rises, the lower availability of the wind farms determines the reliability of the system as a whole to an ever increasing extent. Consequently the greater reliability of traditional power stations becomes increasingly eclipsed.
As a result, the relative contribution of wind power to the guaranteed capacity of our supply system up to the year 2020 will fall continuously to around 4% (FIGURE 7).”
JK
@cleek: Do you see any value in going medieval on insufferable assholes like Peggy Noonan and George Will for their stinking hypocrisy and outrageous comments on the torture memos and investigations?
Martin
So Obama goes to Mexico, delivering the engineered virus, which promptly spreads back to the US creating a panic. Obama then delivers an ultimatum to Congress that they must deliver a health care bill in the next 6 months.
Are there no lengths this man won’t go to create a social!st, fascist, maoist state?!
El Cid
@Martin: The point of the whole scam, though, was neither the deaths by epidemic nor the passage of a health care program, but wind power. Think about it. Sort of. Not too much. Just sort of repeat it.
cleek
well, it’s fun to do, so, yeah. fun is valuable.
but i’m not so sure yet another outraged post on torture is going to bring anyone to justice. i’d surely love to be wrong, however. so don’t let my pessimism stop you.
Martin
As long as I can keep selling my thermostat firewalls and hoarding tractors, it’s all good with me.
JK
John,
Is there any chance that the ads for Ann Coulter’s column and Newt Gingrich’s newsletter could be removed from this site?
Dennis-SGMM
@El Cid:
Wind power, William Ayers, Reverend Wright. Connect the dots.
cleek
every time the ad runs but nobody buys, they lose money.
AhabTRuler
Fixeteth.
Martin
Why? Cole making some money off of them means that they’re finally doing some good in the world.
Roberto
Long time lurker, but I will try to post an image. There are three who will need a good home in a few weeks…..
Can’t seem to work it. If anyone in the Houston area is looking for an adult cat (very sweet) or an orange tabby, or a female that looks a lot like John’s cat, let me know, please.
Mom was a stray that showed up a week before her kittens were due. They are now 25 days old.
JK
@cleek: Thanks. I hadn’t thought of that.
Dave C
Anybody else just watch Kobe absolutely murder Salt Lake City’s defense? It was brutal and awesome!
Martin
Obama declares all vegans terrorists! The outrage! Apparently everyone who likes animals or is named Daniel is also a terrorist! Where will this madness end!
JGabriel
@HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker:
I like Cornish Game Hen. OTOH, I also like quail, which has an even poorer ROI.
.
garyb50
John Cole watched Rachel M and Keith O last night for the first time in a long while…. & both of them were off-putting.
Church Lady
Reading “The Blind Side” by Michael Lewis. Michael Oher’s story is truly inspirational. Good for him – he went 23rd in the first round to the Ravens.
Tattoosydney
@Laura W:
Natalie wins.
Cat Lady
ANTS everywhere!
Duck confit, French lentils with mirapois for dinner with old friends.
Red Sox pwn3ed the Yanks again. Yeahhhhh!
Torture is wrong.
Swine flu is coming.
Eat low on the food chain.
Keep the faith.
That is all.
Tattoosydney
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Now there lies a story I must have missed.
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
@cleek:
This is an open thread, so while we’re on the subject of food-related pet peeves:
Cutting Chocolate cake into square pieces does not magically convert them into brownies!
Steve V
Agree with you that Reps are feeling a witch hunt’s on. At Ben Smith’s blog he has a post that quotes Sarah Palin’s contribution to the NY Daily News’s “100 Days, 100 Mistakes” opus, and I think it probably captures the way Republicans feel Obama has been behaving in a parisan manner. If you’re able to put aside the sense of entitlement (and classic GOP victim-card playing) that permeates the piece, and can forget for a moment that they were calling Obama a social ist before he did anything in office, you could almost be persuaded to feel for them.
JK
@Cat Lady: To paraphrase radio play by play announcer John Sterling TTHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEE YANKEES LOSE!!
J. Michael Neal
@JK: Christ, he got rid of Pajamas Media. Are you people never satisfied?
Dennis-SGMM
IF you can also forget that, had McCain won the election, their boots would be on our necks, we’d be at war with Iran, Pakistan and North Korea, and Treasury Secretary Phil Gramm would be telling us that market forces will be sufficient to right the economy so stop whining about the recession.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Spring vehicle ‘cleaning’ here. The strut rod bushings on our Mustang are shot and it turns out that one of the strut rods is slightly bent so new strut rods it is. Replacing the rest of the bushings with polyurethane ones to tighten up the suspension, plus a new Flaming River manual rack unit and tie rod ends. It also needs new strut rod mount (to frame) bushings but nobody makes them. Our Mustang is one of the “Lost Pony” ones (1978) and finding parts for it is a real pain.
Front end wise, there are parts galore as this car was the first (Mustang) to have rack & pinion steering and the rodders have cloned it to death, so no problem there. The problem is that Ford used a separate bracket, isolated with rubber bushings w/ steel inserts, on each side of the car for the respective strut rod to mount to. My bushings are shot and none are available. Solution? Buy some 6061-T6 aluminum plate and hand machine a set. It was a bit of work but now I have solid frame mounts (even tighter suspension response).
I just finished the cleaning and stripping of the remaining parts so tomorrow is powdercoating day. If you live in a high humidity/coastal area, powdercoating can’t be beat for metal protection. I use an old stove and a cheap powdercoating kit to do the work and the parts look like new when done. No paint fumes/vapors, just the faint smell of hot polyester as it melts. No smoke at all, no need to be right up to it spraying and inhaling paint fumes. Let it cool and it is ready to use, no waiting for paint to dry. The powders are cheap, they have many colors and durability levels to choose from.
After this is done I am pulling the head and cylinders off of my motorcycle to change the base gasket, then that will be followed with a tranny rebuild for the wife’s Olds. It is nice when you can do your own work because you know it will be done right the first time and it will be a hell of a lot cheaper than a shop job. All I ever take a car to the shop for is new tires or an alignment, I service everything else. I use a local machinist for that stuff but I tear down and reassemble everything I work on.
It used to be a job but now it is a hobby. Thank the FSM for computers, much cleaner work with far fewer scraped knuckles.
Kineslaw
I go in cycles in terms of watching KO. I like him for a while, then his pompousness annoys too much. RM I like a lot. In terms of torture I think they are in a hard spot. Torture is evil and very few of their colleagues are willing to call it evil. Surprisingly few are even willing to call it torture.
RM cares passionately about U.S. troops and she cares passionately about foreign policy. Torture hurts both. I want her to rail against torture again and again from as many perspectives as she can get on her show in hopes of convincing as many people as possible that torture hurts the U.S. and those that authorized it need to be held accountable.
One thing that can make Rachel’s show hard to watch is all the abrupt tone changes. Some nights I can deal with it, but other nights, especially if I am only half paying attention, it is harder to match the tone to the subject matter. She could definitely dial back the snark from an 11 to a 8 and I would be happier.
Cat Lady
@JK:
For the win.
/masshole
Joshua Norton
So now Rick Perry wants Government drug money for pig flu.
Geez. One day it’s “You guys hate me! I’m outta here!!” *doorslam*
Three days later: “Mom?… I’m hungry, and my car is out of gas. Can I have two months’ rent money? Also, can you do my laundry?”
Maybe he and Bobby Jindal can do a steel cage death match over any remaining supplies of Tamiflu.
Comrade Kevin
@Corner Stone:
Someone needs a hug.
JasonF
Max: My favorite Obama “mistake” from that New York Post article was failing to acknowledge the Armenian genocide in Turkey. WTF? If that’s a mistake, it’s a mistake that every President and most Congressmen for the last 90 years have made. For the record, I think we ought to acknowledge it, as well as acknowledging that the people and the government who perpetrated it are long gone. But while President Obama is in Europe talking about admitting Turkey to the EU is probably not the time
Litlebritdifrnt: I’m not watching Britain’s Got Talent — I’m watching Glasvegas videos (what a fantastic band). And I absolutely do not get the Susan Boyle mania. Sure, she’s frumpy looking and overweight, but why is it surprising that she has a beautiful singing voice? Speaking as a fat and ugly person, we have just as much talent as anybody else, thankyouverymuch.
J. Michael Neal
Eh. I thought it was the weakest book by Lewis I’ve read, and I like his stuff a lot. Keep in mind that, under the best of circumstances, his anecdotes are not entirely trustworthy, and he tends to make his sources look better than they are. Reading The Blind Side, my bullshit detectors were going off. In the afterword, you learn that Sean Tuohy was a childhood friend of Lewis. I suspect that this story has been prettied up a lot.
Even as written, I find it a lot less inspirational than a lot of people seem to. For one, Tuohy admits that, had Oher not been an obvious monster on the football field, he’d never have helped him at all. When you consider Tuohy’s relationship with Briarwood Christian Academy, there’s a lot of self interest involved.
My other big problem is the admitted cutting of academic corners. I found some of the stuff they did to keep Oher eligible at Briarwood, and then make him acceptable at the University of Mississippi absolutely appalling. That was a sham education. There is no way you can convince me that Oher had any business at a community college by the end of the book, let alone a four year university.
The Blind Side exposes a hell of a lot of things wrong with athletics in this country, whether the author realizes it or not.
Comrade Kevin
@Corner Stone:
Speaking of being an idiotic tool…
Dennis-SGMM
@Joshua Norton:
Perry’s abrupt change in tone is particularly confusing because Texas will have to provide government services for those Texans who might otherwise have died of the flu. I can only think that his plan is to vaccinate essential (White) personnel in hopes that the flu winnows down those troublesome (And Democratic voting) Mexicans.
JK
Why Is Texas So Psycho?
http://www.alternet.org/story/138306/why_is_texas_so_psycho
J. Michael Neal
This was a good week. I took the Financial Accounting and Reporting section of the CPA exams on Wednesday. I’m pretty sure I passed, though they won’t actually let me know for a couple of months. The simulations were embarrassingly easy. I’m pretty sure I got all the points on them, so I have some wiggle room on the multiple choice stuff. I also think that there was a key piece of information missing from the simulation on diluted earnings per share; they told you the ratio of convertible preferred shares to common shares, but didn’t say whether that was the figure before the stock split or after.
I had a date today. Completely different person than I was talking about a few weeks ago. Someone on e-harmony finally responded. Were trying to set up a second date. The only downside is that she lives in Wilmar, which is a hundred miles west of here. As I’ve been saying, there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of women in the Twin Cities who aren’t crazy, but I never meet them. I still haven’t, just for reasons of distance rather than craziness. We’ll see how it goes.
Cat Lady
@JasonF:
Daniel Larison reviewed Obama’s speech, and Obama threaded the needle between saying “genocide” and “slaughter”.
http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2009/04/25/a-decent-compromise/
We have a smart guy running things now. Everyone’s beginning to understand they’re going to have to start running to catch up.
JK
@Cat Lady: I’m hoping for a clean sweep tomorrow. If that happens, Mike Francessa and Michael Kay will have fire coming out of their nostrils when they open their radio shows on Monday.
JasonF
Thanks for the link, Cat Lady. I had been under the impression that our official policy on Armenia had been to say “Genocide? What genocide? Hooray for Turkey, a non-communist, non-radical-Islamist government in a vital region of the world!”
It’s quite possible — probably even — that I’m wrong and that President Obama is not the first president to acknowledge that something happened to the Turkish Armenians 90-odd years ago. But I just clicked through Larison’s link and I very much like the way President Obama acknowledged that history.
Mr. Stuck
@Comrade Kevin:
CS has come a long way since his Dead Ender days. But occasionally backslides.
Max
Apparently there is more than one Max posting here. I’ll have to come up with another name, dammit.
Cat Lady
@JK:
Please keep me posted on that. I know there are already grumblings about the pitching. I love the smell of Yankmee schadenfreude in the morning.
AhabTRuler
@Mr. Stuck: And don’t criticize Texas, no matter how justified.
Ahab +6 Stoli 100 proof, straight.
rikyrah
I don’t care if Olbermann does a Special Comment about torture every night.
This isn’t about him or Maddow for me.
It’s about the kind of country I want to live in. The one I’ve been fighting for.
These mofos broke the law. They need to be arrested. Put on trial. Those that were lawyers, need to be permanently disbarred.
I want my country back. I want the rule of law back.
Hell no to ‘ moving forward’. These mofos haven’t learned anything. They need to be put in jail to prove that they are NOT above the law.
AhabTRuler
I don’t know if the “rule of law” ever really existed, but I want to see some mutherfuckers strung up over torture.
JK
@Cat Lady:
There’s nothing like the YES Network post-game wrap-ups following playoff elimination games involving the Yankees. Each time I’ve seen lead Yankee play by play announcer Michael Kay after they’ve been eliminated in the playoffs he was seething with anger and barely able to contain his disgust. He looked and sounded like someone who had just lost a $10,000 bet and watched his dog being shot.
Mr. Stuck
@AhabTRuler:
Not to worry. They are fixing to secede their dumb asses and colonize Mars/
JK
MSM’s message to Obama: “Forget it Barack, It’s Chinatown”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A_LYDMIDEE
Tattoosydney
@Dennis-SGMM:
Win.
Will
How on earth could you pass on The Wrestler?
Comrade Kevin
Amazing, the Sharks actually won game five, and actually got goals from both Marleau and Thornton.
SixStringFanatic
@AhabTRuler: Like it says on the t-shirt:
Don’t mess with Texas.
It’s not nice to pick on retards.
AhabTRuler
That is extraordinarily unfair to the developmentally challenged.
Dr. Squid
Now that you get to play the Bruins, their fans will bring up Ulf Samuelsson and tell you to shut up about gooning it up.
AhabTRuler
OT: Everyone at HP should DIAF. One day, when I am not filled with loathing, both self- and towards our country, I will tell you how I got one over on those bastards.
tavella
Solis did die of a heart attack, but it was caused by pneumonia sending his diabetes (and thus blood chemistry) out of control. Supposedly it wasn’t flu-related pneumonia, depending on how much you trust the government to be truthful about that.
Either way, this flu has a very short incubation period, so you don’t have to worry about Obama.
It is one of those things that makes you suspect that one dimension over they are living in the Thriller Plot universe where the entire leadership of the Americas has dropped dead and the Secretary of Agriculture is now president.
slightly_peeved
When Dick Cheney starts talking about torture or Newt Gingrich starts talking about family values in an interview, and the interviewer pulls out a gutta-percha cane with a gold head and starts beating the guest like a rented mule while yelling “You’re a motherloving liar!”, then we can talk about Maddow or Olbermann being too partisan for people’s liking.
The issue of partisanship in US journalism hides a deeper problem – the issue of wall-to-wall bullshit. If someone’s lying in an interview, it’s not impolite or partisan to call bullshit on them – it’s proper goddamn journalistic practice. I’ll take an honest partisan over a lying or ignorant ‘balanced’ journalist any day.
AhabTRuler
Beginning and end of all considerations of forgiveness for wrongs. From here.
Ahab +more sober, but still PO’d.
Patrick
Rachel Maddow is providing the most insightful and best informed short analysis of the news, and certainly the most engaging political television, of anyone today, if you ask me. Of course she tries to keep it entertaining, that’s part of the job. Contra the pompous David Frum, witty and occasionally lighthearted political commentary is an old and honored tradition in this country, and can be at least as “serious” as the lugubrious groping after portentous themes that is his own stock in trade.
I have to admit that the tone, and even the content, of Keith’s show has become rather tiresome to me by now, bitter and unwavering partisan that I am. The nightly obsession with Bill O’Reilly, for instance, just bores me to tears. But I can never forget that this was a man who was standing up to Bush/Cheney and their Republican thugs and fighting the good fight when nobody else on television was saying a word about the corruption, deceit, and rampant abuse of power.
auntieeminaz
@The Moar You Know: What he said.
sgwhiteinfla
I know that many people are put off by Keith Olbermann’s over the top style. I get that. But the truth is he is the closest thing we have had on Tee Vee to a progressive voice on cable news probably ever. Does he get carried away? Yes. Does it come of as manufactured emotion at times? Of course. But he has also been a voice for most of us on the left who wouldn’t have ever had one but for him. When just about everyone else was cheerleading the Iraq War on mindlessly on cable news Olbermann was speaking truth to power and being attacked for it. When the illegal wiretapping story came out he was front and center protesting it while everyone else on cable news was trying their best to look the other way. And torture isn’t something he just started speaking on last week, he has been on it since the news first broke about what he had done at Abu Ghrab.
If there was no Keith Olbermann there likely would never have been a Rachel Maddow show and definitely not a Big Ed show. Now the thing about Olbermann is if you watch him one night out of the month then sure it will seem fake. But if you watch him on a regular basis you come to see that no matter how over the top he comes off he is consistent. And bigger than that he criticizes Democrats right along side Republicans when they step out of line. He has criticized Obama several times since coming to office. Especially over the bailouts in words that echo many of the comments I have read here, and also during the stimulus bill debate when it seemed as if he was giving up too much to the Republican and Democratic obstructionists. Here are a few reminders of why Keith Olbermann matters.
On Barack Obama and FISA.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#25466045
And in this one he actually calls out his own sister station, though not by name, CNBC.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#29783656
Now I get that Olbermann may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but what he ain’t is just a liberal version of Hannity or O’Reilly who deal in lies, deceit and smears to go along with their bombastic styles. Maybe KO and Rachel Maddow aren’t perfect or some peoples’ model of what they SHOULD be but they are a damn sight better than not having any voice out there that speaks for us at all. For all of their being over the top or too cute or focusing too much on “comedy” they bring the rebuttals to the right wing talking points spouted unchecked on most other stations and even their own at times that would otherwise never be heard.
I realize I am probably coming off as preachy or like a fan boy but I happen to appreciate the fact that my viewpoint is actually put out there for at least 2 hours every week night after having to listen to republican talking point after republican talking point highlighted all day with rarely any pushback from any other pundits. I leave you with this last link to KO’s special comment on gay marriage. If that alone isn’t enough to appreciate his show I don’t know what is.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27652443
AhabTRuler
@sgwhiteinfla: Yes, but as one of my professors pointed out (a liberal at that), KO doesn’t count because he has a Communications degree (with apologies to our host), not a Journalism degree.
God bless higher education in this country, because no one else will.
Ash Can
@Mr. Stuck:
Maybe by telling them that, according to the members of the Greatest Generation who had the jobs of interrogating Hitler’s lackeys, they don’t know shit.
@HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker:
Except that the flavor makes the artichoke worth it, besides the fact that it’s one of the best butter delivery systems known to mankind.
@Joshua Norton: What a complete and total schmuck Rick Perry is. He acts like an 18-year-old, and he’s not even good at that.
Comrade Michael "Bloggah Please" Brown
I don’t agree. That’s the dumbest fucking thing you’ve said in at least a month, Cole (and I’m tracking that shit, BTW, and it’s almost as bad as the ramps post — haysoose, dude, they’re spring fucking onions, for god’s sake, everybody on Earth knows about them).
The people Olbermann and Maddow are talking about are dumber than hogs eating snakeshit in a mud sink, and should be laughed at when they’re not being imprisoned. There is, frankly, far too little contempt displayed for these idiots. They, and Greenwald, are working on it. I wish you would support them a little harder.
As for the Frum thing: That was at least 4 months ago, or before the election anyway. Frum accused her of being insufficiently respectful of the Republican Party and the “serious” arguments of McCain supporters and other nincompoops on the right who have been wrong about practically every god damned thing they’ve opened their mouts about for at least a decade. Fuck Frum and fuck those people. Rachel said exactly what needed to be said, and does so regularly.
Nethead Jay
@sgwhiteinfla: Thank you for that, you just said what I was trying to formulate much better. Especially this paragraph
And yeah, the gay marriage special is my all time favorite too. But this isn’t about the comments, it’s about taking on stories in a fashion that most other main stream media dare not, for fear of being called “liberal” and “angry” by Fox, the hard right and the elite arbiters of tone and style in the Village. *Spits*
Certainly, there’s a place for traditional journalistic soberness, but IMO also at least an equal one for indignation and calling to account.
As for Rachel Maddow being too flippant, too sarcastic or whatever, I like it though I realize not everybody does. But I think something is being missed. It seems to me one of the things she does is talking to a segment that also had a significant role in getting Obama elected, in a way that nobody else does. Namely younger, knowledgeable, liberal and outraged, people who have had it with the outmoded structures, prejudices and conventions of society. And I think she’s onto an important part of the audience here.
Oh, and David Frum can go jump in a vat of toxic waste for all I care.
Anyway, I get both Countdown and Rachel Maddow as podcasts so as to be independent of schedule. I can dig up the links if anyone wants them.
zoe kentucky
#122– Everything Patrick said.
I have found Olbermann somewhat insufferable since last fall.
Rachel is a totally difference story. Rachel is a glowing, happy shining light of truth, intelligence and humor.
Cat Lady
@JK:
Good.
Thlayli
Says the guy who named his cat after one of them.
The Giants, of course, did the boring thing and picked the player everyone said they would.
@JasonF:
The Jesus & Mary Chain, produced by Phil Spector.
gil mann
Ah yes, the final stage: developing an out-of-proportion antipathy toward what few allies you have, based on something vanishingly insubstantial. Your political conversion to the Democratic Party is now complete!
I ain’t mad atcha. I do the exact. Same. Shit. Plus I’m trying to tamp down a ginormous man-crush over this animal shelter business you’ve been up to. But y’know, while I myself choose not to join in the Olbermann backlash, I can at least understand why others would—Maddow, though? Watching her fall out of favor with liberals is just irritating. She’s the best thing to happened to American broadcast media since Craig Kilborn got replaced on TDS. Fuck us with a rusty weedwacker for turning on her purely out of habit.
Krista
That mental image just made my morning. Thanks. :)
Corner Stone
@Comrade Michael “Bloggah Please” Brown:
I hope for your sake you don’t have a day job.
Hyperion
@The Moar You Know:
why not?
they are choosing to take this approach.
Chup
I gotta agree with Comrade Michael Brown — these fuckers have to be laughed at and ridiculed at all times. Did you see Colin Powell’s ex-chief of staff on the Maddow program the other night? Col. Wilkenson called out Dick Cheney for the fucking coward that he is. There is NO reason to show these assholes any respect whatsoever.
Chup
Sorry, Hyperion, there ain’t no blame to be given. You and John sound like the Heathers in DC and NY who are soooooooo outraged that the folks who have been in power are being belittled. Show me where they are WRONG and not where they have upset your delicate sensibilities.
People who value “propriety” over doing the correct thing is why we have to clean out the stables every 10-15 years in this country. Put some of these fuckers in jail and ensure that they can’t hold another government job in their lives and maybe, just maybe, things can improve.
Jason F
@Thlayli:
Exactly! The description I used yesterday in describing them to someone was “What if early U2 formed a Jesus and Mary Chain cover band and got Phil Spector to produce?”
Argive
Enjoy your victory, it was well-earned. I will bask in my white-hot hatred of the Pittsburgh Penguins and cheer for every team they play against from now on. Even if it’s the Devils or Rangers.
I will also point out that the organist was playing the same music they play at pretty much every regular season game – the fans decided to chant “Crosby sucks.” I don’t approve of this sort of thing, but that’s playoff hockey for you.
Ecks
Mizzou boy makes good, weee! Now I like the Steelers even more.
omen
@Turgidson:
ty. i’ve never seen those two giggle about torture.
poopsybythebay
@slightly_peeved:
Thank you for stating the obvious. To talk about Olbermann or Maddow is crazy considering almost everyone else involved in our diabolical media establishment tend to be a group of sycophantic, lying, pseudo-balanced bullshitters. So you are 100% correct about wanting to have an honest partisan over most of the phony crap we put up with on TV and in newspapers everyday as if it is normal. When reality is considered to be partisan what have we become? It makes me completely apoplectic.
poopsybythebay
@Comrade Michael “Bloggah Please” Brown:
Amen to you as well. It is as if our side is supposed to bow down and show these a-holes respect when they obviously deserve only our contempt and if you ask me I think occasionally they have been far to deferential to the other sides outrageous and illegal behavior. Olbermann and Maddow both have on people like; Chris Cillizza, Howard Fineman, and others who will take up for the rightwing gasbags in half a second if you let them. Not to mention how many times Maddow has had on Tim Pawlenty and other a-holes who she treats with respect while they spout the party line just as ridiculously as Rush Limbaugh, but Pawlenty is supposed to be a very serious Republican. Tell me the last time Fox had on anyone other than moon braying lunatics who call Obama the Anti-Christ, and a socialist? And let’s not forget Glenn Beck pouring gasoline on people, but Olbermann and Maddow are too partisan???? Give me a break.
HyperIon
@Chup:
that’s not my point.
i have no problem with TDS which contains ACTUAL wit.
belittle away…just don’t sound like an 8th grader.
i thought the RM snickering episode about tea-bagging was childish. or junior-highish. she can do lots better.
KO is a very large ego. I never much cared for him on ESPN either. too bombastic.
itsbenj
whoa, who cares about anyone’s “tone” in condemning torture? what’s wrong with you? the wingnuttiness inside emerges every once in a while, eh? yikes.
itsbenj
seriously, the more I think about it, the more disgusted I am. better take a break from this blog for a while, I can’t condone this kind of pedestrian attitude about something so important.