I got your open thread right here.
Laura W.- Kale makes an appearance in today’s show!
Reader Interactions
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
In after Baud. Damn.
Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.
A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.
A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.
Second rate reporter says what?
Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?
It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.
A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals
He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.
Optimism opens the door to great things.
The willow is too close to the house.
Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.
“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”
Hot air and ill-informed banter
The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.
He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.
Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.
We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.
Let’s finish the job.
No one could have predicted…
Republicans do not pay their debts.
The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.
“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”
Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.
Zifnab
Fo’ged’abodit.
liberal
OT: given how much of a wuss-ass Rockefeller is as a Senator, can we draft JC for the next election cycle?
r€nato
New WaPo/ABC poll has Obama at 69% approval.
Poll
I don’t know how this compares historically to other first-term presidents, but I’d say a nearly 70% approval after 100 days, with the economy in the bad shape it’s in, is pretty remarkable.
liberal
(What brought it to my mind was how much of a giant wuss Rockefeller was when it came to investigating the lies that got us into the Iraq War…and given how big the torture stuff is in the news these days…)
Laura W
And I have not stopped dancing since!
Wait till we get to the colon cleansing segment. I’ll be on the ceiling!
El Cid
How’s this for weird news: In Colombia, their version of a Bernie Madoff scandal involves a giant, nation-wide pyramid scheme called DMG (humbly, after its owner-huckster, David Murcia Guzmán).
It involved open and obviously impossible promises to poor and middle class people around the country that if they only invested now that they’d get double their money back in 6 months.
Of course, it collapsed, and now the founder is in jail.
But this apparently is no where near the end.
The victims, in the millions, feel aggrieved. The DMG says it was just trying to help poor people.
So the collapsed pyramid company now says it might found a giant new political party, and rather than this being some weird sideshow, they may start off with an enormous list of members (all their clients seeking government assistance) and serious amounts of money — in the middle of a situation where the president’s allies are continually being arrested for being involved with narco-paramilitaries and the liberal-left opposition is falling apart again.
It’s potential the collapsed-pyramid-scheme-party may be able to instantly capture dozens and dozens of Senate positions and maybe even local governments.
harlana pepper
I am still reeling from the recent revelation that we tortured people. My god, who knew?? Someone justify it for me please, just tell me it’s really no big deal, I mean, it was the *good* kind of torture, right?!
(flips remote to MTP)
rob
CNN is treating Obama’s first 100 days like it’s election day all over again. I’m so sick of it. John King just posted a statement from Sarah Palin on her observation of the President, who the hell cares what she thinks.
r€nato
@rob:
hey, the more that Sarah Palin is put forth as the face of the GOP, the better AFAIAC. I kinda like the Republicans being known as the crazy party.
Brian J
From the other thread, John Cole said:
I can see where you’re coming from, but at the same time, most, if not all, of the responses from the Republicans on this and everything else are incredibly stupid. How else are you supposed to respond to Sean Hannity’s promise to be waterboarded for charity? How else can you respond to something like Boehner’s claim that cows give off carbon gases, as opposed to methane?
I’m interested in hearing more about some sort of factual rebuttal to their points. Bob Somerby was supposedly doing something like this, in addition to bashing their style. I’ll try to check him out later today to see what I find. Still, even if you disagree with their style, we’re not talking about someone responding to something mature with something juvenile. We’re talking about responding to something juvenile with mockery, which might be what the situation calls for.
smiley
Interested in what’s making the front pages around the country? Go Here. Interestingly, swine flu is not making it in some of the border towns but ammunition shortages because of fears of Obama is in some interesting places (Gainesville, FL?).
Added: I like to check out what’s happening in places where I used to live.
smiley
@smiley:
Actually, on further inspection, the swine flu is making front pages all across the country — including border towns.
TR
Off topic, but I want more information about the alarming banner headline at the top of the site.
Sweet Jesus, that’s scary. How’d she break out of the Phantom Zone?
SGEW
@TR: re: the alarming banner.
I am much more concerned with a free and at large Ann Coulter than I am about Swine Flu. It’s not an advertisement: it’s a public service warning.
Alert! Alert! Ann Coulter roams the Earth! Flee! Flee, my children!
Mr. Stuck
Watching the morning bobbleheads this morning provided a years worth of stupid. From Kit Bond to Brit Hume to Howie Kurtz to the knuckleheads on the first half hour of MTP.
I wanted to claw my eyes out, but then I read the new ABC/Post poll with Obama at a 69% approval. Obama destroying America wingnuts and sleazy DC pundits? No one is listening to your drek.
passerby
@Laura W:
That’s hilarious.
Will an appearance by Colin Powell telling what he knows about enhanced interrogation do the trick?
JenJen
John King has a special gift for going into diners and finding the absolute dumbest people in America, and then putting them on TV so they can impart their dumbness upon us. Sigh.
I really don’t like this John King guy. I also really don’t like David Gregory. George Snuffleupagus, I can live with. I love Bob Schieffer, though, so he tends to balance out the ludicrous Sunday morning punditry.
In other news, Iceland chooses leftist government over conservatives to lead them back from economic ruin. I wonder if they’ll throw Tea Parties, too? And, an Italian cruise ship uses its private Israeli security force to fend off Somali pirates… interesting.
AhabTRuler
No, the swine flu is all the colon cleanser I need right now, thankee!
Hey, I’m just glad that someone else calls him that.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
If only that were true.
The dreck fountain still waters the blogosphere.
It’s an efficient system. The blogs, which cost little to operate, have this millionaire-funded cable tv machine feeding them straight lines every day.
Dennis-SGMM
Here we go:
Lawmaker wants border closed over swine flu
This is what politicians do. Although Massa overlooks several realities about the porous nature of our border with Mexico, his call for closing it is what you might expect from any pol. The real fun will start when the clueless and leaderless opposition party jumps on the issue. “This is proof that Obama is weak on…,” or “The response of our health care system proves that it’s the best in the world. Obama would be wise to leave well enough alone.” The possibilities are endless. Combine the threat of epidemic disease with the assiduously cultivated climate of fear and someone (I’m looking at you, Michele Bachmann) is bound to demand the instant round up of all illegals – if not their summary execution. This is a potentially serious matter requiring a calm, informed. and methodical response. We can count on the GOP for anything but.
KCinDC
What is making Google think we all need to see Coulter’s face all over the site? I thought we were free of that sort of thing once the PJ Media era was over.
AhabTRuler
Yeah, can we get the ads for the cartoon furry porn back, please? Frankly, it is more appealing.
Corner Stone
All the people on This Week agreed part of the torture debate was considering how effective the results were.
It’s over, at least in the Village. If the utility of torture is part of the “debate” then there is no debate.
Mr. Stuck
@Dennis-SGMM:
Can’t haz them grimy mezkins infecting good white Christian Merkins.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
As luck would have it, we fired the GOP a few months ago.
We won’t be treated to photos of Barack gazing cluelessly out of Air Force One windows at the brown, disease-carrying hordes streaming into our country.
Mr. Stuck
Is it any different when a dem says it? Maybe, don’t know what Massa was thinking when he said it. But it still sounds like what it sounds like. Flame away.
Library Grape
um, did you guys notice that John McCain explicitly said on Face the Nation this morning that the Bush administration violated the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture? I wrote a post on it here: http://www.librarygrape.com/2009/04/mccain-we-violated-geneva-conventions.html
So, McCain is basically saying that the Bush administration committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. It boggles my mind how he can say this and then turn around and say we just need to move on.
Brick Oven Bill
Obama’s approval numbers are puzzling. Part of it must be attributable to the fact that, at this point in our democracy, most people don’t pay many taxes, and when new stuff is promised by the government, they say ‘goodie’.
Much of it must be better handlers, the public education system, and the soft bigotry of low expectations. I mention this because of the outright misrepresentations that people and the press apparently accept from this President. None of these can save the dollar however. Governments are funded either through taxes, borrowing, or currency deflation, and numbers one and two are already maxed out.
I am sitting here at Panera’s, having decided to risk exposure to the Swine Flu. An overweight, unattractive 18ish female just walked in. She is wearing short white shorts and a tight shirt, and, as far as I can tell, has convinced herself that she should not be embarrassed by her appearance. Her thighs are in contact with each other and this affects her stride. She is alone and now has a strawberry smoothie with a dollop of whipping cream on top.
Slurp.
passerby
Swine flu huh. Anyone else wondering how they can identify the epi-center as being Mexico while countries around the globe are reporting cases of this?
Is it a case of spontaneous generation of the virus or mass hysteria? in any event the effect is the same: whipped up fear and accompanying panic.
I’m more concerned about the panic part which can lead to government imposed quarantines and various and sundry lock downs. Is the swine flu more virulent than the other viruses that threaten us everyday?
Mexico seems to be the target.
[end of tinfoil hat musings]
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@Brick Oven Bill:
Sunday morning, and you are already posting drunk?
The Moar You Know
@Brick Oven Bill: Food is love.
Mr. Stuck
This one does threaten more, because of it’s recombinant, or newness which can mean little inherent resistance, and the fact it is easily spread via air. It can also mutate itself quickly and become less dangerous, or more. It is good news that the cases in US are less potent, so far.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
You don’t really understand John McPain. His mind is flexible. You learn to be flexible when you are a POW.
SGEW
hilzoy asks this question, and says “yes,” with caveats:
Worrisome, but not panic-worthy. We hope.
JenJen
@Brick Oven Bill: How would you explain Bush’s low approval ratings, preferably without being deliberately obtuse?
And if you like, you could post a photo of yourself, and allow us to judge whether or not you should be embarrassed by your own appearance. Just a thought.
Mr. Stuck
Anyways, there is a news conference by the Obama administration in about 7 minutes. Could learn more them.
Brick Oven Bill
JenJen; Come on over to Panera’s and check me out. I’m the guy in the dark shirt and blue jeans at the eastern wall by the pictures, three tables away from the window. If you want a strawberry smoothie with a dollop of whipping cream, I will buy you one. Me, I am drinking diet Coke.
Re: Swine Flu
Being an observer of biology, and not a student of it, I do not understand this statement that made it out in a Bloomberg write-up:
“The swine flu virus contains four different gene segments representing both North American swine and avian influenza, human flu and a Eurasian swine flu, CDC said.”
Somebody please enlighten me as to how a naturally-evolving Mexican flu bug can have elements from both Eurasia and North America. To me, this statement from the CDC is concerning.
Common Sense
@JenJen:
You are talking about a man who uses cheese as a market index.
Think he watches his weight?
JenJen
I think Atrios pretty much nails understanding the extraordinary movement in the “Right Track/Wrong Track” numbers (up 31 points since the end of the Bush Administration!), vis-a-vis President Obama:
smiley
@Brick Oven Bill:
That’s creepy, BoB. Are you sure that you real handle isn’t Buffalo Bill?
SGEW
Talk about your “soft bigotry of low expectations,” eh B.O.B.?
New POTUS: Hello, my name is “Very Much Not Bush.”
American People: You’re our favorite president ever, ever!
Foreign Dignitaries: We love America again!
GOP: He’s the Anti-Christ!
yup yup.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
You really need to get out more, Bill.
It’s all about the Sputniks.
Krista
Don’t most women have thighs that are “in contact” with each other? Christ, Beyonce’s thighs touch together, and only someone with a completely warped sense of proportion would call her fat.
Dennis-SGMM
@Brick Oven Bill:
Someone who knew was talking about it on NPR, Friday. IF I understood correctly, the virus has a “sloppy” genetic structure. It carries its genetic information in RNA rather than DNA so as it reproduces subsequent generations may incorporate genetic information from any of its hosts. This characteristic can either cause a super virus or it can cause it to lose its effectiveness in humans.
Laura W
@passerby: um…did I miss the detox diet segment? I swear if I flipped away it was for mere seconds? Did they cut it? Will it air next Sunday? I was mostly curious to see this part:
‘cuz I’ve had two gastroenterologists prescribe me Prilosec and another one like it in the last two months AND I DON’T EVEN HAVE GERD. Both gave me horrible bloat and gas. (TMI?) Furthermore, upon inspection my colon was found to be so healthy I don’t have to have it probed for another 10 years.
I’m a big fan of detox programs and colon cleansing/colonics. Almost became a colon hydrotherapist in my early 20s (TMI again?) “Dangerous”, indeed.
Goobers.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@Dennis-SGMM:
Thus its ability to always be one step ahead of us.
It is the perfect bioweapon, in a way. It never goes away.
JenJen
@Brick Oven Bill: No thanks! Chillin’ in a corporate coffee shop doesn’t sound very appealing to me, especially on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon. Besides, I’m more of a Jägermeister-with-beer-chaser kind of gal.
Laura W
@smiley:
Silence of the Brick Ovens?
(Funny, smiley.)
Josh Hueco
Can’t we call it Rove Flue? Swine flu is defamatory towards pigs, a species that is quite intelligent and sociable.
JenJen
@Laura W: I read this piece about detox-cleanse in The Shitty Beast the other day, and it sounded like a pretty horrible experience to me. Blech.
SGEW
Are you wearing a green hunting cap, perchance?
I’m telling you, the prose style is so similar it’s uncanny sometimes.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
I’ve pondered this since you wrote it, and the best I can come up with is, “eventually.”
I know that answer bites. But the colon hydrotherapy thing has thrown me for a loop.
passerby
@Laura W:
Some of my best friends are hydrotherapists. And I’m also a big fan of cleansing the body but, personally speaking, I am squarely in the “One Way” corner. That is: (where the GI tract is concerned) it goes in here…and it comes out there–one direction.
High colonics have there place in medicine but I haven’t found them to be necessary–for me.
There’s more than one way to get clean. Whatever works for you…works for you.
This spring I’m working on a liver cleanse. Less meat, more green things, no alcohol : (
Max
@JenJen:
I totally agree re: John King. And I would add.. Why are we still looking at the stupid map? I loathe that map.
I think Gibsy did a good job on MTP, despite Gregory’s stupid. I miss Tim Russert. Not because he was that great a host, but he was a huge Buffalo Bills fan, like me, so I believed Tim’s heart was in the right place.
Why aren’t there any women or people of color hosts on any of these shows? All of them have boring white guys.
Brick Oven Bill
Krista; Do not get me wrong, there is nothing nicer than a woman with a healthy amount of body fat on her. I personally do not find super-model skinny ladies to be attractive and, if there was a magic wand I could waive to make all women instantly of one body mass index, I would choose to make them all at a body mass index of 25.
This is likely a very common body mass index of desire for males. The woman with the affected walk probably had a body mass index of 42, perhaps because of circumstances beyond her control, or perhaps because she drinks too many strawberry smoothies with dollops of whipping cream. In either case, my comment was intended to reflect the growing levels of tolerance in our society, both within and without the boundaries of our personal lives.
It is this growing level of tolerance which gives our President a pass with his liberties with truth, in my opinion. Bush was probably just as bad, but was more effective at hiding his actions, and had terrible numbers nonetheless. Congress too has terrible numbers. I do attribute the high approval numbers of Obama, in part, to his mixed-race heritage, and expectations rooted in our social environment.
Jenjen. I just come here for the free Internet, and to observe. Jagermeister and beer are very good.
passerby
@Brick Oven Bill:
I am a student of biology and the whole “four different gene segments” aspect, to me, smacks of genetic engineering.
sgwhiteinfla
Turns out in the face of a potential swine flu pandemic Gov Rick Perry of Texas is actually a big gubmint pinko commie librul!
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/26/tx-perry-swine-flu/
I don’t want to make light of the prospect of this spreading but I find it ironic that the same man who was talking about the oppressive hand of the federal government a week ago is now going hat in hand for help that ONLY the federal government can provide.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
Nice to see that you got your daily blown-cover post out of the way early today.
Every day you post something that removes all doubt as to whether anyone should take you seriously.
You just can’t help it.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@passerby:
I think this proves Intelligent Design, once and for all.
John Cole
I volunteer to touch Beyonce’s thighs.
That is all.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@sgwhiteinfla:
I think that public health proves beyond a doubt:
Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.
JenJen
Most interesting result from today’s ABC News/Washington Post poll:
Ouch, GOP! Something tells me the Tea Parties are giving you kids a false sense that a “movement” is brewing, and this misguided sense is going to push the party even further out of the mainstream. I predict the 2012 GOP Nominee will be the Mayor of Crazytown. And of course Politico chimes in and gets it just about exactly wrong.
El Cid
Why are so many people convinced that the colon is dirty, and filled with toxic materials? Just because dirty stuff comes out the end?
Mr. Stuck
Oh noes! Obama went golfing today on the eve of world destruction. There goes next weeks news cycle.
passerby
@HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker:
Wow, hadn’t thought about it that way but, yep, it would indeed.
gnomedad
@TR:
Earlier today, John wondered
Now we know. That, and Republicans loose in New York. End times!
AhabTRuler
@El Cid: Similar to the Republicans, no one likes a bag of shit.
El Cid
@JenJen: Ooh! Maybe they’ll nominate the Hamburglar!
Corner Stone
@Brick Oven Bill:
She should not be.
And fuck you, you old perv.
demkat620
Well, I don’t know about you guys but I am rather enjoying having a proactive government instead of a reactive one.
Nice to see our officials doing their jobs competently.
Corner Stone
@El Cid:
Ummm, because it’s *your colon?*
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@John Cole:
Security!
magisterludi
On the subject of colonics- only had one high colonic and I felt great afterwards, but it was pricey. Cleansing can be overdone, depleting good flora and irritating the bowel. I read in a nutritional therapy book about a guy who developed cancer from overuse of psyllium.
Ever tried the Vitamin C flush? When my mother fractured her spine and had a morphine drip (constipating) nothing gave her relief until she tried the flush. Fast, safe, and effective not to mention cheap.
Mike in NC
At this very moment the RNC is sending a planeload of strategists to Columbia to study this phenomenon.
demkat620
@Corner Stone: You said that much more eloquently than I could.
F U Bill.
El Cid
@Corner Stone: Yes, but the colon is an organ of the human body, and human organs are continually renewed and their tissues and cells replaced. This strikes me as the kind of thing we should be using the knowledge available to us, rather than folk insights of sympathetic magics, i.e., if dirty things come through the colon, the colon must be dirty too.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
Bob just got a little tingle in his nether regions.
Mike in NC
@ B.O.B.
Where is the obligatory report on armpit hair?
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@magisterludi:
I like to rely on the Boss Flush.
The boss walks up and says, TZ, why aren’t you working?
(Answer: I didn’t know you were coming.)
Then off to the men’s room.
valdivia
not to be the annoying resident spell checker but the country name is ColOmbia, with an O, Columbia with an U is the University. ;-)
Sorry it just drives me bananas to see it spelled wrong.
Laura W
Because you never know who might be lurking at BJ and who you might help with your post, Oxy-Powder, bitches!
(You can get it on amazon cheaper. Remember to click thru at the top right of this site.) Great stuff. And I’ve googled the hell out of it for over 2 years trying to find horror stories and haven’t found one.
Doubters please don’t hear that as a challenge. Just sharing my “experience, strength, and colon hope”.
El Cid
@valdivia: The spelling might have been off, but the joke was spot-on — I feel bad I didn’t think of it myself! It’s obvious! The GOP should become the DMG!
Corner Stone
@El Cid:
True, but so is the heart. And I can guarantee you that mine is dirty. Lust! Lust evah-ree-wheruh!
magisterludi
HWPK- whatever gets your peristalsis going!
JenJen
You know BJ has jumped the Sunday Shark when the high-minded open thread morphs into a discussion of Beyonce, strawberry smoothies (with whipped cream), and poop. :-)
AhabTRuler
Hey, don’t forget the District of…
Dennis-SGMM
@demkat620:
Bush’s response to the swine flu would have been to issue dark statements about Terrorist Biological Weapons and swine-flu-spreading sleeper cells.
Fox News and CNN would then endlessly replay photos of dusty beakers and cracked test tubes found in Afghanistan. Newt Gingrich would be interviewed because of his expertise on the subject.
The Bush administration would ram through a new law mandating that anyone traveling more than ten miles from their home would have to register with the FBI or face indefinite detention.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Looks like Canada has joined the party: swine flu cases identified in Nova Scotia and BC.
There’s a press conference on the CBC right now.
valdivia
@El Cid:
agreed and kudos to Mike inNC for thinking of it.
Corner Stone
@Brick Oven Bill: Although, I’ve gotta fucking say – your reporting on Americana, whether it’s accurate or only exists in your sick little cranium, kinda reminds me of the Family Guy episode where Peter self-narrates his life for two weeks.
Begun to grow dull and listless
Personally, I think yours is an indispensable blog.
valdivia
@AhabTRuler:
totally forgot about that. how could I?
David
Connect the dots:
April 15th Tea Parties ———> April 25th Swine Flu Pandemic
Brick Oven Bill
I came to Panera’s to get out of the house and get some work done for the man with two desks’ boss. The lady who did not know he had two desks, has since quit, so nobody knows anything on the public-sector side of my little project. It is embarrassing and concerning how inept this particular local government has become. I trust very few doctors, but know one good one who works at a very reasonable fee for my family. When the government takes over health care, the good doctors will head to the Caribbean, I am afraid. This is the point when the national border will begin to become established.
Just a few years ago, this local government, which did very little back then, performed the tasks which I am now performing. From a decade of intimate associations with this local government, I have learned that the nature of government is to consolidate power, and outsource accountability. I suspect it is far worse at the federal level. Just wait until they get into medicine.
But back to Panera’s, it is difficult to work here because there is so much to observe. There is now some guy in his 70s with a light leisure suit and a lap top computer, surrounded by people like me, who are at least trying to be productive. He likes to talk to all of them and asks if they can ‘transmit’ from this location. He will not shut up. Americans, at least in this part of the country, are a very polite people.
Mr. Stuck
@Dennis-SGMM:
And of course the all purpose du.. duk duck duct tape to keep out enemy wildlife/
Laura W
@passerby:
Well, next weekend I
planhope to begin a 30-day gallbladder/liver cleanse myself. I suspect my gallbladder is underperforming. Slacker organ.I purchased this starter kit. Good info on her site. You might enjoy some of it.
(I can give up wine for a month, right? RIGHT? But not my morning free trade, shade grown, organic French Roast. That is the one dietary non-negotiable in my life.)
“Walk On” Noonan on Fareed? Great incentive to go out back and continue laying down my base tan.
Corner Stone
@Brick Oven Bill:
Sorry, but – Once you pull the curtain away you realize that there are only a few people pressing the buttons, and their voices are weak. The truth is that they don’t surround us at all. We surround them.
JenJen
@Laura W: I’m watching Noonan too, with my jaw full-on dropped. She is grating on my last nerve, and distracting me from tidying up the house. Something about her style of prose and constant waxing is just so completely annoying to me.
“That was then, this is now, move forward.” March on, keep walkin’, Pegs.
(as an aside, I really would like to know what skin care line she uses. It’s as though her face, as well as her ideology, is frozen in 1984.)
Dennis-SGMM
I dusted my spleen and changed the oil in my appendix from 5W-30 to straight 30W.
JL
@Dennis-SGMM: Bush would not respond for another week.
passerby
@Laura W:
Everyone has their favorite alkaloids that help them get through day to day existence: caffeine, nicotine, theobromines et alia. That’s brain involvement so, like you, I’m cutting back but not off of caffeine and nicotine. Occasionally, I crave chocolate and have learned that I must answer that call.
But I’ve cranked up the juicer opting to add lighter nutrition while cutting way back on the steaks and pork. Greens salad with olive oil and lemon juice everyday. And don’t even start me talking about what a bully gluten is for me.
Rice rice rice. It’s boring but, to echo a recent topic, you gotta be cruel to be kind (in the right measure).
Baaaaaybeee…you gotta be cruel to be kind.
(sorry, I just had to finish the chorus)
tc125231
@SGEW: Well said. I have my grandchildren in the underground bunker….
Well, not really. But I would if I were a GOOD grandfather.
Zuzu's Petals
@Laura W:
I succeeded in getting two friends addicted to kale chips this week.
Easily done … they are dee-lish!
Kyle
I have learned that the nature of government is to consolidate power, and outsource accountability. I suspect it is far worse at the federal level. Just wait until they get into medicine.
And how is this different from privately-owned profit-seeking corporations, especially health insurance companies?
Ask any doctor how they enjoy their work life being dictated by HMOs and what that does for quality of care. Or ask the typical HMO patient.
I have personal experience of living in several Western countries. You can find substantial minorities or even majorities in those countries that would prefer the US system for various aspects from taxation to education to auto emissions to abortion laws to alcohol regulation. But you will not find a double-digit percentage anywhere that would prefer the US health care system to their own.
I’m not for a privatized health care system or a government-run health care system — I’m for a health care system that works efficiently, with world-competitive costs and access to care. The fact that costs of specific procedures in the US are several multiples what they are in other Western countries is an indictment of the inefficiency and legislatively-designed corporatist profiteering in our system.
The US health care system ranks 37th in the world, and just about every country ranked higher has a higher level of government involvement. (Cue cut-and-paste wingnut rant that comes up every time, about the World Health Organization’s ranking system being “communist”, mention rich Saudis and South Americans coming to US for heart operations, irrelevant comparisons of the US system to third-world hellholes (real high standards you have for our country), followed by “If you don’t like it, go live in North Korea/Cuba”).
As we have seen in the last eight years, Republicans deliberately corrupt or destroy every government function they can’t loot, so a government that delivered health care in the typical shitty manner of a Repig administration that would make that party even less suitable to choose to administer the government than they are now. No wonder they fight so hard against increasing government involvement in health care.
Cain
@Laura W:
That was in the latest episode of “Keeping up with the Kardashians”. (meh, I hate that show, except for the husband.. everybody else is lame)
cain
passerby
It’s 80 degrees here and I gotta go cut the grass, the Joneses and all. Gonna put some shorts on and get some sun on my pasty white winter arms and legs.
Too bad to read about west coast and NY area getting up into the 90s and 100s. Oy. Hope the TN valley can stave off temps like that until (official) summer. Every year I try to see how long I can go without cranking up the AC–I love the low energy bills. Last year I made it to June.
Time to don my sound dampening Kensington headphones and mp3 player and fire up the mower.
Cain
@smiley:
Swine flu, the one illegal mexican immigrant that you can’t resolve with guns.
cain
Krista
Great.
tc125231
@JenJen:
Nicely put. Possibly overly optimistic. Nobody has recently gone bankrupt by underestimating the American electorate. The question is whether Obama can make maturity fashionable….
The earlier discussion of women’s thighs isn’t exactly heartening on that front.
Cain
@Brick Oven Bill:
And it’s turning you on, eh Bill? Let us know if you make it to third base.
cain
Zuzu's Petals
@Laura W:
Well you know one of the Hall and Oates guys married the woman who gave him a high colonic. Just think what you missed.
Cain
@Josh Hueco:
Meanwhile, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus are giving the biggest ‘we fucking told you about those pigs.. but you never listen to us!”
cain
JK
Bill Maher’s Latest New Rules
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rz_JPguPOE
tc125231
@Kyle:
Kyle, what are you, a wild-eyed fanatic? The US has a perfectly good system that produces the highest costs with extremely mediocre health outcomes. But you are safe from government overisght! Heck, the system can’t even keep track of its records for itself!
So you want some crazy system where doctors are paid proffessionals, not entreprenuers trying to get rich? And where the deaths per 1000 treatable illnessess are under 30 (Germany and FRance) or even under 20 (Sweden) vs. the over 40 statistic in the US?
Next you are going to tell me that 1/2 of all American bankruptcies shouldn’t be caused by medical bills. And that everybody should be covered.
What craziness. No wonder the GOP is rabid.
Zuzu's Petals
@Laura W:
For some reason, every time I post about my fave new snack, kale chips, the comment gets delayed or doesn’t even show up. Maybe it’s the link, trying a new on …
Anyhoo, I’ve only had the “quite cheesy” recipe, but …fantabulous!
Cain
@John Cole:
Shit.. I was going to offer to help, but then the scene from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” where Michael and the Zombies are all reaching for the girl after they had ripped apart into the house she was trapped came into mind. haha. That would be Beyonce’s perspective.. hehe
cain
Brick Oven Bill
It is an economic impossibility to extend the Western levels of medicine that you have likely experienced to the world and, increasingly, to all within the borders of Western countries Kyle. My kid just got some immunization shot and it cost me $160. This single immunization is two months’ worth of wages for a worker in Central America.
You can make the argument that the government would be more efficient than the private sector. I don’t know either way. But I do know that ‘electronic medical records’ is not a cost-saving method in and of itself. Electronic medical records provide a method to centralize information and control the inevitable rationing of health care.
Potentially it is something worse. I do not understand why the ACLU has a fit about the government listening in on overseas phone calls, but is silent on the government controlling Citizen’s medical records. It is interesting that the Obama Administration is doing this to the military first, and that it is not a voluntary program for the servicemen. This is another tactical error by the Administration, in my opinion.
Cain
@El Cid:
Toxic is a word that sometimes is described when I sometimes hit the bathroom. Maybe caustic too. Especially if you eat cabbage. Woo wee! Even my cats were disgusted.
cain
JK
@JenJen: Side effects from excessive viewing of Peggy Noonan include nausea, headaches, light-headedness, numbness in arms and legs, and insomnia.
Brick Oven Bill
Hey Cain;
Q: What do mopeds and very large females have in common?
.
.
.
A: They are both fun to ride until your friends see you doing it.
Thus I have learned to control my passions. So it is just me, my Diet Coke, and my dimming hopes of getting anything done. The lady with the strawberry smoothie has left the building.
JenJen
@tc125231: You know what, though? It’s going far better than I would have ever predicted, and I’m not even an eternal cynic. I am honestly a bit taken aback by these polls; it’s like the most pleasant surprise.
@Zuzu’s Petals: FTW!
@Brick Oven Bill:
Because everybody knows if it costs that much in the US, it costs that much everywhere.
tc125231
@Brick Oven Bill:
Well, if you don’t know it is either because you have spent absolutely no time investigating it, or because you suffer from “McArdle Syndrome” –the ability to read quantitative information with utter incomprehension. McS is often associated with excessive consumption of Ayn Rand.
However, you make a good point. Although the other first world health care systems are increasing in cost at a much slower rate, they are increasing. At some point, some sort of “rationing” is inevitable, unless there is a “breakthrough” of some kind. The rationing in the US is accomplished via three mechanisms:
1. No coverage. Not only do these people pay the entire cost, but the cost is higher. The “list” price on my colonoscopy was over $5k. After my PPO kicked in, the amount paid the hospital fell to about $600, of which I paid about $250.
2. Poor coverage. Many people have insurance, but when they get sick, they find that it doesn’t cover much.
3. Tapped out coverage. People have what appears to be OK insurance, but the costs simply exceed what it will pay.
There are other forms of rationing. As has been statistically shown by a number of measures (life expectancy, infant mortality, deaths per 1000 treatable illnesses, etc.) these other mechanisms produce lower overall per capita costs, lower rates of increase, and better outcomes.
Support whatever position you want. But don’t give me the “I don’t know” routine while making grand statements about healthcare in the world.
Laura W
@Zuzu’s Petals:
I did not know that! I know Kenny Loggins sure did, and I, too, was living and high colonicing in Santa Barbara at that very time!
Re: kale chips. Never seen those, but when I got all excited about Kale on TeeVee this morning, I remembered I had this filed away from a helpful commenter:
James K Polk, Esq.
@Laura W: If you love Kale, try this out.
Tuscan Kale Chips
12 Large Kale leaves, rinsed, patted dry, cut lengthwise in half, center ribs and stems removed
1T olive oil
Preheat oven to 250F. Toss kale with oil in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange leaves in single layer on 2 large baking sheets. Bake until crisp, about 30min for flat leaves and up to 33 minutes for wrinkled leave. Transfer leaves to rack to cool.
@Cain:
As long as my colon is keeping up with the Kardashians’ colons, that is all it cares about, Cain.
Zuzu's Petals
@Mr. Stuck:
I really loved that despite week after week of wingnut commentaters’ faux outrage over Obama’s bow, Chavez handshakes, “apologies,” etc.:
JK
Not every Republican is a deranged, delusional asshole, yet
Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins gave Barack Obama an A grade on his handling of national security
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/26/ed-rollins-gives-obama-an_n_191492.html
El Cid
@tc125231: I was going to point out the various ways in which important public health issues like vaccinations are not simply left up to the private market and for the poor to be shut out in many 3rd world nations, given public health programs in, say, South American nations, and policies of producing or buying cheap alternative medicines for public health issues over paying expensive patented Western ones. But why? To whom would I be addressing the topic? El Quijote against wind power, who also is bothered by revealing thighs?
Corner Stone
@Cain:
Who says? I don’t think that is at all clear at this point.
Guns – the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.
tc125231
@JenJen:
Yeah, reason to hope. He appears to make no group totally happy. Maybe we are maturing, because the polls seem to recognize that as a good thing.
Anyway, I have kids and grandkids. I have every reason to want to sacrifice for the future.
Zuzu's Petals
Great. Blockquotes still screwy, not allowed to edit my own comment six seconds after posting.
Arrggh.
Martin
I just want to say that I’m relieved that there is no risk that the current President is considering invading Mexico for deploying weapons of mass destruction. A year ago I wouldn’t have been so sure.
You overlook the fact that in Central America it would have cost $3 for the same shots from the same drug company. The US is subsidizing the world pharmaceutical consumption because the ‘market’ is only ‘free’ to overcharge people here, so they do that. When we insist on playing by a different set of rules than the rest of the world, we shouldn’t be surprised when we lose.
No it’s not. The government has owned the military and veteran health records for a century now. Nothing is changing except the format the data is kept in. They are starting there because it has zero policy implications and is a perfect test bed. And it will save money. Not tons, but every bit helps.
OriGuy
There’s some information about the swine flu from people who know what they’re talking about at Effect Measure. It doesn’t sound good. The Republicans in Congress aren’t helping, by holding up the confirmation of Katherine Sebelius; DHHS has a big role to play in fighting this.
Zuzu's Petals
@Laura W:
Kenny Loggins … thanks, I knew it was one o’them ’80s guys!
Sounds like a tasty recipe. A lot like doing your own work, though.
tc125231
@El Cid:
Amen, my friend.
JK
Nice site devoted to 2 bit phony and fraud Rudy Giuliani
http://www.rudy-urbanlegend.com/
JenJen
@tc125231: My dad, the diehard Republican who was disgusted enough with Bush in time to vote for Kerry in 2004, and who pissed off everybody at his coveted wine tastings for vocalizing, often, that Bush was a horrible president, and who would ring me up just to vent about those experiences, still voted for McCain in 2008.
And yet, the other day, he said to me, “Thing is, you can’t help but like this guy. He seems like the right man at the right time, and that family! If you’re not behind him, at this point, you’re just un-American, if you ask me.”
Anecdotal and my own little focus group, I know, but people who are just like my dad are the people who are influencing these poll numbers.
JK
@Zuzu’s Petals: One of Bill Maher’s New Rules from Friday: There’s no such thing as Essential Kenny Loggins
Zuzu's Petals
@JK: @JK:
Too funny.
Cat Lady
@JK:
Ed Rollins has stayed consistently mostly reasonable, apart from the Huckabee gig, which I assumed he did for the money and to keep his Rolodex updated. Huckabee was probably kind of entertaining to be around, too. Rollins and David Gergen are from the realist wing of the party, the ones who actually work and travel outside the whackadoodle bubble. I think they both still think the Republicans will come back to their way of thinking, and by being patient and reasonable, they’ll prevail. They would be wrong.
JenJen
Check out the NY Post’s read on the pulse of a nation:
100 Days, 100 Mistakes – Joe Scarborough, Glenn Beck and Others on Obama’s Short, Error-Prone Time in Office
Burn!! And no, I didn’t make that headline up.
Martin
I should note that yesterday I too was bothered by revealing thighs. At a girl scout event where different troops were dressed in regional costumes, the girls from Scotland were wearing plaid miniskirts, knee-high white socks, and pigtails. When the girls are 8-10 and the skirts *way* too short and the socks just up above the knee so all you can see is thigh, it goes very quickly from ‘cute’ to ‘what the fuck was the troop mom thinking’.
A number of us parents found it interesting how few changes were needed to move it back into the cute category.
Oh, and chinese girls running around in lederhosen and blond white girls running around in traditional vietnamese or afghan attire jolts the brain – it really stands out. We really do have very broad (even when harmless) stereotypes of how people are expected to look.
SenyorDave
I live in the DC area, and today I called the WaPOst to cancel my subscription (I read the Broder “Scapegoat” column and it offends my intelligence – it was the last straw). They offered me the paper for $1.11 per week, basically 80% off the regular price. Seeing as how I would still have bought in on Sundays anyway, I took the offer. Plus I got a $10 AMEX gift card. So its about 75 cents a week for 6 months. For that I can put up with Broder’s senile writings, Will’s columns on the evils of blue jeans (that was an actual column from two weeks ago), and Krauthammer’s apparently forgetting that US foreign policy is Obama’s primary concern, not Israel’s foreign policy.
JenJen
@SenyorDave: Now that is interesting! I’d have taken the offer too, no duh, but it really is pretty telling that you’re getting the WaPo delivered for about a buck a week just so they can keep their circulation numbers up.
El Cid
@JenJen: The main purpose of newspaper subscriptions and vending machine sales are to yield firm data to give to advertisers on how many people will be reading the product, where, and even with what demographics.
Our financial value to newspapers isn’t really the subscription paid, so much, as it is the guaranteed delivery of our eyeballs to advertisers. I don’t remember, but I think it was during the 1930s that ad revenue began to be the predominant factor.
JK
@Cat Lady: Bill Maher put it well on Friday when he said that the Republican Party went from the party of the big tent to the party of the sideshow attraction and that if they’re talking secession after less than 100 days, will they be talking unabombing in 2 years. I agree with him that if Texas wants to secede they shouldn’t let the 21st century hit them in the ass on the way out.
Ok, not every tea party attendee was a tinfoil hat wearing knckledragging whackjob but…
Teabagger Arrested for Making “Bloodbath” Threats
Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, was arrested by FBI agents who identified him as the Twitter user CitizenQuasar. In a series of tweets beginning April 11, CitizenQuasar vowed to start a “war” against the government on the steps of the Oklahoma City Capitol building, the site of that city’s version of the national “Tea Party” protests promoted by the conservative-leaning Fox News.
“START THE KILLING NOW! I am willing to be the FIRST DEATH!,” read a tweet at 8:01 PM that day.
Source: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/twitterraid.html
Cain
@Laura W:
Good luck, the show acts like the medication to clear my colon anyways. I always seem to want to hit the bathroom after the show airs.
cain
Cain
@Brick Oven Bill:
Squirrels don’t count as friends, BoB.
cain
Cain
@Corner Stone:
Well I suppose if the bullet contained another virus and the gun was several microns big I suppose that might be the solution.
cain
JK
@JenJen: The only utility for a copy of the NY Post is for lining in a bird cage or a kitty litter box. Scarborough and Beck are malignant carinogens who are poisoning and polluting our media with their cesspool of lies, half-truths, and distortions. They are scum.
Zuzu's Petals
@Cain:
God, that’s something my eighth-grade son repeated back in the ’80s. Even then he was making fun of the other junior-high guys.
Comrade Darkness
@OriGuy, More mockery of bad republican politics via random acts of nature. Further proof god is a democrat.
Comrade Darkness
@Brick Oven Bill: The lady with the strawberry smoothie has left the building.
Surrealism is no excuse for not doing the hard labor to keep your posts up to snuff, my man.
Corner Stone
@Martin:
Ummm, can’t say I’ve ever actually cared but – is there such a thing as too short for an 8 year old? Aren’t they by definition asexual to most normal people?
I’m willing to be told I’m behind the times here. I just think there’s nothing an 8 yr old can do that I would consider sexual.
Martin
That’s what we thought too. Problem was that at a distance, it wasn’t always easy to tell that they were 8-10 (problem was more with the tall 10 year-olds, than the 8’s. One was almost the same height as my wife) and as you got closer your perception started to shift. I’ll admit that at first I thought it was just me, but found out that, no, most of the parents there had the same observation that I did. There wasn’t anything outright wrong, but it was just half a step into creepy.
We spent a fair bit of time discussing it because it seemed to catch most of us off-guard, and we generally concluded that it was the socks that pushed in into creepy since there were lots of other girls wearing skirts nearly as short and none of us found that creepy. For many of the girls the socks were just over the knee, as though it was designed to draw your eye up to the thigh. It seemed almost intentional designed to do that (it wasn’t, obviously).
The fact that the skirts were red plaid was also determined to be a big part of the problem. We determined that’s now been stereotyped when combined with the pigtails and white socks. We had an interesting discussion about how subtle changes can affect our perception so much.
Cain
@Zuzu’s Petals:
The whole therad does have a sophomoric feel doesn’t it? :-)
I’m glad to have contributed to it.
cain
JK
Mark your calendars
Cliff May, President of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is Jon Stewart’s guest on Tuesday’s Daily Show.
Comrade Kevin
@Laura W:
I saw this in the local paper (scroll down) and it reminded me of Balloon Juice!
Laura W
I haven’t paid close enough attention (no offense) to know if this ever got posted. Was on Rachel’s show Friday night, I believe. Jason Linkins (be still my heart) has it in his Sunday Talking Heads column today.
Auto-tune The News #2, pirates, drugs, gay marriage.
Very good for the chuckles. It’s quite Flight of the Conchordish.
Corner Stone
@Martin: Ok, boring story alert – when I was young my neighbor across the street stepped into a huge fireant hill and was immediately covered. Her parents stripped her down in the backyard and hosed her off as quickly as possible. Now, to my mind, I remember her being 6 or 7 at the time.
As a parent now with an almost 5 year old I just find it unfathomable to say if I had an 8 year old girl playing in my back yard and she hit the fireant pile that I would hesitate for a second due to her budding sexuality.
I don’t know, this whole thing creeps me out. Not calling anyone out or saying BS or any of that, just saying I think it’s obviously strange when a sub-10 yr old is wearing provacative clothing.
With that said, I will admit I’m of the age that I can no longer distinguish between a 16 yr old girl and a 22 yr old girl. But FSM help me I hope I never start considering an 8 yr old to be of an age that makes me hesitate.
Don’t know what else to say really, except if BoB pipes up here I may hunt him down.
Laura W
@Comrade Kevin: I demand a kale-colon hydrotherapy thread! (Another one, I mean.)
That sounds great. And thanks for the scroll down prompt. I had to come back and read your message again after clicking through and trying to figure out why you were talking to me about Chicken Fricassee. Phew.
Edit: I’m gonna try that kale salad. Sounds quick and easy.
(insert obligatory “like me” joke.)
JenJen
@Laura W: Both Jason Linkins and Matt Taibbi surpass the minimum qualifications for my pool of next-ex-husband candidates. It’s not really fair to the others.
Laura W
@JenJen: I’ve not got an ex-DH. I’ve been saving myself for Jason all these (long) years, apparently.
Can you tell me any reason why I am sitting here sneering at Walk On By Noonan on the Fareed repeat? Is it because I walked on by her earlier in favor of tanning?** I think it’s because there are no In Treatment reruns on. Maybe I’ll go find some golf.
**One can never know why one makes such choices as one is never quite sure of one’s inner motivations. Is one?
Resting chin in hand, thoughtfully…
Christ, huh?
JenJen
@Laura W: How’s the tan? I slathered on the Jergens Glow and still watched Noonan, so there. I’ll give you Jason, but keep your paws off Taibbi, he’s mine. (insert emoticon representing phony fisticuffs here)
So, Noonan. She’s something, isn’t she? It’s hard to look away. I’ll reiterate… what the hell kind of weird, secret, Bohemian Grove Reagan Youth Machine did she step into and out of?
Laura W
@JenJen: Tan’s coming along nicely for so early in the season, thanks. My daily walks get me a really nice base and I just run around in Jostar cruisewear, loudly colored dresses and thongs all damn spring/summer. I’ve never been as tan in my life as I get here. I LOVE the weather here. Although it’s hot suddenly. I would like passerby to note that just one half hour ago I caved and put the A/C on! Damn. It’s not even May. I’m still paying $200 heating bills.
what the hell kind of weird, secret, Bohemian Grove Reagan Youth Machine did she step into and out of?
Stepford Speechwriter?
Edit: I’ll give you Jason, but keep your paws off Taibbi, he’s mine.
Ha! I was gonna make you the same offer. Win/Win!
D-Chance.
Cole,
You been following the online feud between Charles Johnson and Robert Spencer and Pammycakes?
JenJen
@Laura W: I was never happier than the summer of 2006. I was so tan, following a delightful spring spent in Key West workin’ on a killer base.
There’s just something about being tan, isn’t there? Seasonally-appropriate really does matter; it’s why we opposition-constituents here in Cincinnati call John Boehner “Beggin’ Strip” in the off-season.
JK
@Laura W: This mashup was weird but interesting. Ruth Marcus, in particular, never sounded better. I fall asleep when watching her on tv. She’s the defintion of boring.
@JenJen: Peggy Noonan should have played the lead role in the remake of The Stepford Wives.
opium4themasses
The colon-cleansing thing annoys me. It strikes me as only slightly more believable than the kinoki pads. Panaceas always strike me as false.
The body is not full of toxins that once cleared will cure all ails. Many of the “toxins” which cause us problems are needed in some amount. Not to mention I’ve never found a description of which toxins are being removed. Add to that the risks of perforation, loss of water, and loss of electrolytes (the colon is where the body reabsorbs water and electrolytes before elimination).
Regular enemas are a bad gamble for no demonstrable gain.
TR
OT, but this Joan Walsh smackdown of the media’s pathetic perspective on torture deserves a wide viewing.
Comrade Kevin
@opium4themasses: Party pooper.
JK
@TR: Watching Joan Walsh on tv is always a breath of fresh air. She was especially good appearing alongside Dick Armey when he made the ridiculous comment that he was glad she wasn’t his wife.
Wile E. Quixote
@tc125231
No kidding. I’ve been re-reading Rick Perlstein’s excellent Before the Storm, Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus, which is finally back in print. BtS is the story of the 1964 election just as Nixonland is the story of the 1968 and 1972 elections. The ending of BtS describes how in the 1964 election Barry Goldwater, who was at least 100 times the man John McCain is, got his ass handed to him by Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 election, which also resulted in massive losses for the Republicans in the House and Senate.
The punditocracy of the time said that it was all over for the Republicans, but two years later the Republicans lost seats in the House and Senate, then Richard Nixon won the next two presidential elections and Republican candidates won the presidency seven out of ten times in the following 40 years. You underestimate the crazy at your own risk.
Chris Johnson
I was paying John to do that :) I ran through all the money my own ad spaces had saved up, and then I was out.
I don’t have it saved anywhere, it was a simple prank. I’m still running the NSFW furry comic at http://www.tallyroad.com if you cannot get enough cartoon breasts and wangs :)
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
And the punditocracy has spent the last 45 years whitewashing Barry Goldwater as some respectable sagebrush conservative. If you read House of War by James Carroll, you’ll find out that the fact that we didn’t start a nuclear war with the Soviet Union was practically over Barry Goldwater’s dead body.
Everybody ranks on LBJ’s ad portraying him as a nuclear-warmonger, but it was in fact quite accurate.
JenJen
@TR: Niiiiiiiiice!
Chuck Butcher
I’m pretty disgusted that after some Dremel and Mother’s Polish time spent polishing aluminum that the 60F temperature is insufficient to support some Harley 80 Inch SuperGlide time in the face of serious winds. I’ve reached the state where being ticked at the weather makes more sense than being pissed about torture and Republican ass-hattery. Overload, I guess.
TR
Yep.
I was actually impressed that when Cizilla trotted out the polling — 49% think torture is always wrong, 48% think it’s OK in some circumstances — she didn’t take the easy route of shoving the numbers down David Frum’s throat. He’d just sneered that her position was the position of “a small minority.” No, it’s the position of a plurality, a position slightly more popular than your position, asshole.
But she’s a better person than I am, and instead of seizing on polling data that actually helped her side of the argument, though narrowly, she stuck to her guns. She pressed the point about how polling is meaningless here, even as the Beltway Circle Jerk she was talking to was stuck in all-politics mode.
Dennis-SGMM
@Wile E. Quixote:
The “Daisy” Ad, one of the things that killed Goldwater’s chances. The ad was shown only once and then the media of the time took over the echoing (Sound familiar?).
You’re right about the resurgence of the crazy: Nixon resigned in disgrace then we had Ford’s brief stint, followed by Carter’s single term then on to Reagan and Bush I. The progression of Republican presidents set me to thinking. Nixon was a crook, capable in some regards but fatally flawed. Reagan was a phony. Period. He was the one who solidified the Republicans’ shtick of say anything while you do what you damned well please and wrap the whole works in the flag. Bush I was at best a well-intentioned dud. We know all too much of Bush II. The characteristics of this progression coupled with Americans’ historical amnesia suggest to me that not only will Palin be the nominee in 2012, she’ll probably win in 2016.
Laura W
Uh oh.
Wrenching animal story alert.
Elephant orphanage on 60 Minutes.
And Joe Biden (D-
MBNADelaware)(Please do not hit me, Fuckhead.)
OriGuy
I picked up a case of Kirkland beer at Costco. The label says it’s brewed by Hopper Und Maltz Brewing Company, San Jose. I understand it’s actually made by Gordon Biersch. Six each of German Lager, Hefeweizen, amber ale and pale ale.
GottaLaff
GOP Fought Pandemic Preparedness
With bonus love story between Rumsfeld and his favorite swine, Karlos Rovero!
http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2009/04/gop-fought-pandemic-preparedness.html
Comrade Kevin
@OriGuy: I’ll have to check it out, Gordon Biersch makes some good beer.
JK
@GottaLaff: This is great info. Maybe we should just call it the “Republican Flu”
@Dennis-SGMM: Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I’d like to believe that enough people now regard Palin as a walking punchline that she’ll never cross the threshold into electability. Unfortunately, she’ll remain a force to be reckoned with simply because the MSM loves anyone who provides good copy or soundbite material.
Brachiator
@JK:
Unfortunately, she’ll remain a force to be reckoned with simply because the MSM loves anyone who
provides good copy or soundbite materiallooks hot.Fixed.
JK
@Brachiator: It certainly doesn’t hurt, but sex appeal does not translate into competence. I can’t see her hotness providing enough coat tails to attain 270 electoral votes.
Dennis-SGMM
@JK:
That would raise my estimation of Republican voters by a couple of notches. I’m old enough to remember Nixon’s “”You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference,” when he lost the California gubernatorial race in ’62. Look how badly that turned out for him.
JK
@Dennis-SGMM: Whatever she does over the next 4 years, I don’t think Palin will be able to convince enough people that she isn’t a moron. Her sex appeal and charismatic appeal among the wingnuts will keep her in the game, but I’m confident her dumbness will be her downfall.