Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Republicans in disarray!

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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

Optimism opens the door to great things.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

He really is that stupid.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

The willow is too close to the house.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

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

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

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120Comments

  2. 2.

    RevPhat

    Please support the Million Can March, a progressive counter protest to the July 4th tea parties. One million cans of food for our nation’s food banks. Donate a bag or more! of groceries to your local pantry and then let me know how many items you gave. You can read more about it here. Thanks.

  5. 5.

    Chuck Butcher

    Gus decided to bark at something in the bedroom at 3:30AM PDT so here I am still awake at 5:30. 150 pounds of barking will WAKE you up.

    Apparently there are 200 riot police in Revolution Square and a “few” protesters in the streets. CNN

  6. 6.

    geg6

    I hate to sound all sincere and squishy, but my thoughts are with the Iranian people today. Although their idea of reform is not the same as mine, I have been very moved by what they are doing: risking their lives to make their idea of a republic better. Would that we Americans had shown such courage back when our election was stolen.

  7. 7.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Hey, RevPat;

    I have been to a couple of these ‘Tea Party’ get togethers, and found them to be very refreshing. They consist of engaged Citizens who care about the Constitution and take the time out of their productive days to voice their opinions.

    You would be surprised at how many people in small agriculture are engaging in these discussions. So I would respectfully request that before you get on the high horse about guillotines, counter-protests, and cans of Spaghetti-O’s, you seek common ground with those people who have to struggle with the new intrusive rules the Obama Administration is imposing on family farms. Farms are where the stuff in the can comes from.

  9. 9.

    Chuck Butcher

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    found them to be very refreshing

    It’s always fun to find out that you’re not alone – even if it is in stupidity. Where were any of you over the last 30 yrs? Oh, that’s right, eating the St Ronnie mythology shit.

  10. 10.

    geg6

    BOB, I don’t know where the hell you live, but all the small farmers I know support Obama’s push for buying local and organic and hate Republicans as the party of big agribusiness. And since agriculture is the largest industry in my state and small farmers make up the vast majority of that industry, I’m guessing I know a lot more small farmers than you do. And what do you know, not a teabgger in the bunch.

  11. 11.

    geg6

    Oh, and just to show how little you actually know about family farmers, it’s not their products in those canned goods you so piously tell us to be grateful for. That’s big agribusiness’ stuff. You really are stupid sometimes.

  12. 12.

    harlana pepper

    I always miss the fun cuz I don’t come here at night.

    As stated on previous thread, I would like my own personal blog-stalker like asiangrrlMN. What am I doing wrong?

    I know, I know, I’m much too cranky.

  14. 14.

    harlana pepper

    @geg6: Personally, I welcome squishiness. This can be a tough-ass comment section sometimes. ;)

  15. 15.

    harlana pepper

    BOB:

    [The purpose of teh burdensome NAIS is]

    To protect the health of U.S. livestock and poultry and the economic well-being of those industries, we must be able to quickly and effectively trace an animal disease to its source. When a disease outbreak occurs, animal health officials need to know:
    * Which animals are involved in a disease outbreak
    * Where the infected animals are currently located
    * What other animals might have been exposed to the disease

  16. 16.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    I am being have.

    Something my niece said once in response to the “behave” command. You almost need to hear the long “a” in “have” to get the full brilliance of it.

  18. 18.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ harlana pepper/13

    My BIG Hope is for a picture of Tunch and Lily together (or Tunch with G&G — I’m not fussy).

  20. 20.

    Indylib

    Anybody else go through the southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois mess of a storm last night?
    We lost power for about 10 hours, had 3 hours of tornado warnings, 65 mph winds and had some serious short term flooding, which unfortunately included our basement to the tune of about 3 feet when our sump pump decided it was tired and quit working.
    So I get to spend the day getting the rest of the water out of the basement, picking up tree branches, and seeing if we can salvage our back yard pool which was empty so we could clean it and got blown half way across the back yard. Fun Stuff!

    I’m not really going to complain too much though, the tornado warning ended just as the basement started to flood, so my kids didn’t end up perched on the poker table to stay out of the water. No one I know was hurt and I hope the same goes for anyone who went through the storm.

  22. 22.

    Svensker

    Anyone know an untraceable poison that is easy to administer? So far, we’re on 3 phone calls from the in-laws before 9 AM (non-emergency) and my blood pressure can’t take it. It’s either me or them….and I know who I’m voting for.

    Please e-mail poison instructions to [email protected]. Instanter, as Mr. Wooster would say. Thanks.

  23. 23.

    Ash Can

    @Bill E Pilgrim: My husband said that to his mother once when he was little. Cracked her right up, and it’s one of her favorite stories about her boys to this day.

  25. 25.

    vishnu schizt

    @Brick Oven Bill: Hey BOB, you fucking hack get real, read up on your trolls before you dream them up. Let’s take a trip down the memory lane known as USDA website:

    The USDA initiated the implementation of the National Animal Identification System in 2004. The NAIS is a cooperative State-Federal-industry program administered by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

    So this was initiated during the your beloved decider’s administration and under a republitard congress. So yea its is Obama who wants to implement this, Jesus Christ you wingtards are something else. News flash: Obama wants to abort your guns! I’m sure that will throw you into a weekend long shit fit… Enjoy your insanity!

    Cheers

  27. 27.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Ash Can: Not surprised in a way, it’s a perfect Chomskian demonstration of how children’s minds and language work.

  29. 29.

    harlana pepper

    SiubhanDuinne:
    Once again, John the Tease, not telling us whether Lily is going to meet G&G. Cesar would approve since socialization with other dogs should help with her insecurity issues.

  30. 30.

    geg6

    Ha ha. Those of us who never marry never have to worry about how to kill the in-laws. Another reason to be happy with my choices. My sympathies to all who have not been so lucky. ;-)

  31. 31.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @WereBear: One guy I knew, after he had a relationship with someone with a particularly crazy family plus ex-husband, told me “I swear, from now on I’m only dating someone if she’s an orphan with amnesia.”

  33. 33.

    Incertus

    @Bill E Pilgrim: I’m always listening to kids–though not interacting with them directly–for just that reason. I can’t tell you how many lines of poetry I’ve gotten directly from kids coming up with just that sort of thing.

  35. 35.

    Brick Oven Bill

    I have explained many times Vishnu schist how both sides of the two party system serve largely the same Globalist agenda, see Geithner, and made no argument that Obama initiated NAIS, only that farmers are angry about the federal government intruding on their business. This would be a good time for the Administration to demonstrate that it does not think it appropriate to have my neighbor’s rooster implanted with a micro-chip, eh?

    I have been thinking about getting a goat. If I do get this goat, I will not implant it with a micro-chip. I will just feed and milk it.

  36. 36.

    harlana pepper

    @Svensker: I watch a lot of true crime stuff, I know succynolcholine (sp?) works nicely. Slip it into their peas and mashed potatoes. It paralyzes the victim first so they are fully aware that you are killing them and stuff.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ BoB/7

    BTW, those “new intrusive rules” the Obama Administration is “imposing on family farms”? Go back to the document you linked and look at the dates, Bill.

  38. 38.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Incertus: I know this one well. Someone I lived with did poets in the schools for a few years and she brought home entire notebooks that we both stole from shamelessly.

    My more recent favorite was my French friend just speaking English. I can’t tell you the amount of great material that comes out of that.

    Bad translators like Google are good also, I did a whole piece based on an English machine translation of a French restaurant review. What came out just automatically was machine-brilliant.

  39. 39.

    Xanthippas

    I know we’ve already had like 25 threads about this but I just have to say…the thing that bothers me the most about the cheerleading for the Iranian dissidents is that so much of it is occurring with a complete and utter lack of context; that is, the history of our relationship with the country. I know that people on the left want to say “Well yeah, but we’re on the side of the people in the street this time.” And my response to that is is to say that we should be somewhat careful about any response we make to Iran’s internal politics, because things over there are a lot more complicated than they seem to us, and twittering “revolution!” and “democracy!” won’t help when they start rolling out the tanks. Nor are we all going to feel mutually freedom-ish with each other if/when Moussavi rises to power and Iran continues to build nuclear weapons to aim at Israel and other Arab states.

    And also, I detest finding myself aligned with the right-wingers and neocons who are interested in the outcome of this confrontation only to the extent that it affects our interests in the Middle East.

  40. 40.

    harlana pepper

    @Brick Oven Bill: Good grief, I guess you don’t give a shit whether some of us die from mad cow disease. Jeebus, man. Come on. (I could smack myself for believing you)

  41. 41.

    Indylib

    My original post is living in moderation hell.

    Did anyone experience the lovely mess of a storm we had last night in southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois?

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Oops. Should have read Vishnu Schizt’s post before taking on BoB’s dubious grasp of history.

  43. 43.

    Johnny B. Guud

    And my response to that is is to say that we should be somewhat careful about any response we make to Iran’s internal politics, because things over there are a lot more complicated than they seem to us, and twittering “revolution!” and “democracy!”

    I agree with this for the most part. My attitude toward this really hasn’t change much. From the outset of the crisis, I didn’t believe that it would help the protesters at all if the mullahs were able to portray to the muslim world that the US was seen as supporting them (the protesters that is). I believed that silence was the best policy—as the administration has followed.

    However, as the week has dragged on and the violence increases, I think it’s becoming harder for the administration not to say anything of substance in their support.

    As the world sees more images of reformists being suppressed and even killed in the streets, it becomes more of a human rights issue. Surely this is something the administration can make clear. Hopefully…

  45. 45.

    vishnu schizt

    @harlana pepper: Sorry Harlana, you are correct. Obama wants to abort white peoples guns, but only if you are a “mainstream conservative” meaning you know the following to be true:

    1. Obama was really born in a Pakistan madras to Osama Bin Laden’s “Baby Mama”.
    2. Sotomayor is a raging David Duke style racist.
    3. Michelle Obama would be a welfare queen if not for affirmative action.
    4. Govmint is always the problem, unless they are tapping your neighbors phone, then its all cool.
    5. “24” accurately reflects the latest and greatest in information extraction technology.
    6. The US Penal system is so incompetent that they couldn’t possibly take care of a “terrist”, so the solution to crime is to throw more people in prison for longer periods of time. Practice makes perfect!
    7. Abortion is always wrong, unless you daughter gets knocked up then we really don’t need to talk about those things.
    8. Rank stupidity and incompetence in your leaders is a feature not a bug.
    9. Closing the borders is a perfectly reasonable option to keep all those foreigners out, so my lazy ass teenage son can refuse to do the grunt work they do, with out being bothered by them mowing the neighbors lawn.
    10. Tax cuts take care of everything, and you especially enjoy the fact that your lazy ass teenage son sits on the couch all day now that his band program was cut at school.

    Otherwise, line up you DFH’s and brown folks we are handing out free guns, whiskey and money!

  47. 47.

    Fulcanelli

    @geg6, @ harlana pepper: The wife and I are estranged from both of our tiny families, and are better for it. No in-laws and we’re both only children.

    We have only our 3 daughters to worry about, and we’re already having to deal with the nonsense of the oldest daughter’s fiance’s parents: Pious Catholics who know everything who never set foot inside a church due to the father’s degenerative illness in his hips and heart trouble, yet a) they insist their kid and my step-daughter have a full church wedding, b) on the weekends they go walking around and staying over at the Foxwoods Casino and c) my future son-in-law is a smug, 30 yr. old, wet-behind-the-ears republican talk radio listening mama’s boy who still lives at home with his parents.

    Anybody wanna trade?

    Edit: If this post eventually clears, can anybody tell me wtf would trigger moderation in it?

  48. 48.

    Indylib

    Grrrrr-arrgggh!

    My post about the storm last night in Wisconsin seems to have set off the moderation demons. No mention of footwear or pharmaceuticals of any kind.

    Anybody else get to enjoy the loverly storm we had last night in southern Wisconsin?
    65 mile an hour winds, tree branches everywhere, 3 feet of water in our basement, 10 hours with no electricity and 3 hours of tornado warnings.

  49. 49.

    JL

    @Indylib: Gee.. I’m sorry about your flooded basement. Do you have a pump to help empty it. Living in the south, I know what 3 hours of tornado warnings are like. We are having a heatwave in GA. The temps are in the mid-nineties and when you factor in the humidity, it feels like it is over 100. It’s way to early for those types of temps.

  50. 50.

    Svensker

    @Indylib:

    Yikes. Hope you’re all OK. Hate the water in the basement part especially — no good stuff flooded, I hope.

  51. 51.

    geg6

    Indylib: Welcome to the weather system that’s been plaguing Western PA the last two and a half days. And looks to be plaguing us for the entire weekend. Luckily, my small portion of the region seems to have gotten lucky. It’s all happening a few short miles north, south, and east of me. But I do not expect that luck to hold and it hasn’t stopped us from getting daily rainfall amounts of over one or two inches. At least no funnel clouds here. Not yet anyway.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ JL/46

    I’m in Georgia too, and am trying to feel a little bit cooler by wearing my 16-year-old tshirt with the front page of the AJC and its “The Blizzard of ’93” headline.

    It’s not really working.

  56. 56.

    Indylib

    @JL: We have a sump pump in the basement that gave up the ghost about an hour into the storm. I was outside last night for 2 hours in the dark helping my husband hook up the pool pump as a replacement. It didn’t do too bad, now we only have 1 foot of water.

    @Svensker: Nothing seriously ruined, we’ve been through this before, our rental is old and the foundation is in crappy shape, so we pulled up all the carpet and all of the furniture has legs and all of the electronic cords are up off the ground (my husband has 5 computers down there).

    @geg6: Yes, lovely isn’t it. We’ve gotten to enjoy the company of all these damned storms on the way to your neck of the woods. Don’t despair, this is is followed by some really warm air, it’s 78 degrees with 66% humidity here at 10 in the morning. It was in the low 60’s last week. Summer is finally here, yea!

  58. 58.

    anonevent

    Two stories over the past week from my youngest of three boys, age 4, whom we shall call C.

    1. On sunday, I was woke up by my wife who told me there was a mouse in the toilet. As I’m heading into the bathroom, she’s telling me how C came and wake her up, saying Lucky is in the toilet (Lucky is our pet hampster). Sure enough, there is a mouse in there, not a hampster. It was just sitting there looking up at me. I looked at it for a few seconds, shut the lid, and flushed it (sorry PETA). After we got done, I asked C if he needed to use the potty, and he said, “No, I’ve already gone.” In that toiled. He peed on the mouse first, and then came and told us.

    2. (If you haven’t seen the trailer for Eddie Murphy’s new movie “Imagine That” you may not get the joke) C took his first test in Taekwondo. Whenever one of our kids tests, we let them choose where to go for dinner. He chose McDonald’s. After we ate, we let him play in the play area for a bit. On our way home, he’s telling us about playing with another boy: “Yeah, we went up the stairs, and then we went into the car, and I got to drive, and then I asked the boy ‘Do you like scones?’ And then we went down the slide” The other four of us just died laughing in the car.

  60. 60.

    Fulcanelli

    BOB’s getting a goat?

    Target-rich environment, meet the Balloon-Juice comments section.

    5… 4… 3… 2…

  61. 61.

    geg6

    Speaking as someone who spent about five months unable to eat properly and losing about 30 pounds I could ill afford and getting medical tests and treatments to combat my illness due to getting e coli from spinach a few years ago, I really don’t give a crap how onerous your teabagging buddies find food safety rules to be, BOB. And my friend’s husband who now has a chronic disease due to the green onions he ate at Chi chis concurs and says fuck you. Just sayin’.

  62. 62.

    gbear

    @Indylib:

    Sorry to hear about all your troubles with rain. I’ve been amazed watching the rain patterns on radar this summer. It seems like there’s been a constant band of heavy rains travelling thru northern IA, southern WI and just catching the southern edge of MN. Here in the Twin Cities, we’re in drought conditions, about 5″ behind for the year so far. We barely got a sprinkle last night when the front came thru. I wish the water in your basement could have landed in my back yard.
    Take care. Dealing with a flooded basement sounds like a shitty way to spend a saturday. Hope you didn’t lose too many trees in your neighborhood.

    Drastic change of subject #1: Is today going to be the day that Lily meets the JRTs? This can’t be good.

    Drastic change of subject #2: Taking for granted that today is going to be a very sad day for voters in Iran. Hope that it can be sad without also being a bloodbath.

  63. 63.

    Fulcanelli

    @geg6: You have had some tough times haven’t you? Damn. Try to keep on smiling, though. Sending good karma hugs your way….

  64. 64.

    Fulcanelli

    @gbear: Here in southern New England, we’ve had no spring. We’ve seen about 6 days of seasonably, warm & dry weather over the last two months. Damp and rainy the rest of the time. It sux.

  66. 66.

    El Cid

    @Brick Oven Bill: Indoor plumbing is almost universal in Mexico, except in certain ultra-rural peasant agriculture areas. What are you talking about?

    (Unless you meant in the fields where agricultural workers must work, in which case it’s a measure of how commonly employers provide sanitary facilities, because I’m pretty sure that in the middle of most giant farm fields there’s little indoor plumbing.)

  67. 67.

    geg6

    Yeah, BOB. But the spinach that sickened me was from the good ol’ USofA. There’s a good reason I am now friendly with the local farm community and buy only local. And thanks for the good wishes, Fulcanelli. I’ve had a pretty good life with some bumps along the road. I don’t recommend e coli as a weight loss program, though. ;-)

  68. 68.

    burnspbesq

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Aw, c’mon Bill, get serious.

    We have decades of incontrovertible evidence that when left to its own devices, the market doesn’t produce an appropriate level of food safety. You know the reasons as well as I do: information asymmetry, unequal bargaining power, excessive costs of information, etc. Food safety is the paradigm case of a public good. ONLY government can provide the amount of food safety that consumers want.

    And only a Democratic administration will do so, because Republican administrations are a wholly-owned subsidiary of agribusiness.

    Get a grip, willya.

  71. 71.

    LD50

    I miss that age. My boys are just not that funny anymore at ages 9, 9 and 10.

    Really? I thought that was that age when my daughter started to get really entertaining.

    Now 14-15, that’s no picnic.

  72. 72.

    Svensker

    Changing the subject again completely:

    For those of you who heard about and/or contributed to my friend with cancer…..great news! Her doctor has told her she is in remission! As long as she’s cancer free, she won’t be getting the horrendous chemo treatments that were really knocking her out. She’ll still be getting regular doses of one drug, but it has very few side effects. She’s actually starting to feel well enough to work. Anyway, here is part of what she said, in her own words:

    ….I feel a little funny about having accepted money from the readers, so generously given to a complete stranger, and then sort of fading from view and not keeping them informed. So it would make me very happy if you were to post my happy update, with my very warmest wishes!…Also tell them how grateful I am for the fact that donors from the blog were largely responsible for my meeting my private individual health insurance deductible early in the year, so for most of my almost weekly chemo regimen, as well as the Herceptin infusions I’ll have in perpetuity, will also be paid for until the end of the year. So now all I’m paying is a co-pay for the doctor appointment and a biggish percentage of prescriptions, and anything not covered, thanks largely to your swell bunch of friends….But to say I would be up a creek with a hole in the boat and no paddle without your generous friends is the understatement of the year. Every time I get a copy of the explanation of benefits sheet from LifeWise and see “Amount you’re responsible for: $0,” I rejoice in the basic goodness of all those who helped me out when they didn’t even know me. I simply can never thank them enough.

    She tells me that she actually tidied up her studio and did some work on a quilt commission the other day…and went out for a movie which was a great joy for her.

    Thanks again, guys. You really came through. And I think the lessening of stress she had because of your financial aid absolutely helped her recovery.

    Group hug! Srsly.

  73. 73.

    LD50

    Indoor plumbing is almost universal in Mexico, except in certain ultra-rural peasant agriculture areas. What are you talking about?

    Bill O’Reilly told BOB that them Messkins don’t have indoor plumbing, and that’s good enough for him.

    BOB should review what food safety was like in America in the 1800s to understand why these evil soçialistic practices were initiated in the first place.

  76. 76.

    Allan

    Isn’t it cute how BoB changes the subject without ever acknowledging he was wrong? Oh, that retarded smear against the President didn’t work? Here, try this one then…

  77. 77.

    Indylib

    @gbear:

    I wish the water in your basement could have landed in my back yard.

    I would be happy to send it to you if a cost efficient method could be devised. We have had a lot of rain in the last couple of months.

    @LD50:

    Really? I thought that was that age when my daughter started to get really entertaining.
    Now 14-15, that’s no picnic.

    I think the difference here is gender. I thought my daughter was funny at that age, too. My husband finds all the fart and burping jokes from my sons quite amusing – me, not so much.

    And if you think 14-15 is bad wait until 17. My daughter is now 19 and I’m just getting back to the point I don’t want to do something to her.

  78. 78.

    geg6

    burnspbesq, BOB is either a troll who doesn’t know any better than to mouth winger pieties devoid of any relation to reality or completely a lying piece of shit who knows he’s a liar and cynically doesn’t care, even if his positions cause people to get severely ill or die. Anyone who shills for agribusiness, birthers, and teabaggers would seem to me to be the latter. Which would make him serious–seriously lacking in human compassion.

  79. 79.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    My nine year old keeps me laughing. My 14 year old, not so much. She has other priorities.

  80. 80.

    Indylib

    @Svensker:
    That is wonderful news! Tell her congrats and best wishes for a continued remission.
    Don’t forget to let her know that several people (me, for one) showed an interest in her quilts, so when she’s back up to speed you should post some pics of her work, we might be able to drum up some business for her.

  83. 83.

    asiangrrlMN

    @harlana pepper: You need to be on the nightshift to have a stalker like I do. We have all the crazy weird fun late at night!

    Groan. It’s too early in the morning for B.O.B. I need more than one mug of coffee to read his shit. Oh, wait. I never read his shit! That’s right! Now I feel better.

    P.S. harlana pepper, if you ask B.O.B. nicely, I’m sure he’ll stalk you.

  84. 84.

    FormerSwingVoter

    Why does anyone bother responding to BOB? He makes things up just to get a rise out of people.

  87. 87.

    Brick Oven Bill

    If you look at the USDA link that I just made up to get a rise our of people on food-borne illness from produce, keep in mind that NAFTA was passed in 1994.

    That trend from 1994-1999 can most accurately be mathematically described as a parabola.

  88. 88.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Svensker: This is awesome news. I second Indylib. When your friend feels better and can get back to quilting, please post on how we can see her pieces (with intent to buy).

    harlana pepper, feel better now?

  89. 89.

    burnspbesq

    @Fulcanelli:

    Nope, not me. I do international tax.

    Depending on where you live, I might know somebody. email me at burnspbesq AT gmail DOT com

  92. 92.

    harlana pepper

    @asiangrrlMN: I am apparently physically incapable of reading and/or comprehending any of BOB’s posts. My eyes automatically begin to cross. In addition, I get pissed when I catch myself believing he’s anything but a curiously obtuse spoof troll.

  93. 93.

    burnspbesq

    @geg6:

    Yeah, i know all that – but sometimes I can’t resist the impulse to sodomize him with the Fact Stick.

  94. 94.

    geg6

    Yep, it’s that damn NAFTA that caused my e coli infection from California spinach. /rolling eyes. Meanwhile, some badly needed good news from Pakistan. NYT reporter who was kidnapped and held by the Taliban for 7 months has escaped with the help of Pakistani military. Kudos to all.

  95. 95.

    El Cid

    FWIW, Congressional Research Service (PDF)

    **********************************

    China is now the third largest source of U.S. agricultural and seafood imports…

    …U.S. imports of agricultural and seafood products from all countries increased from 35.9 million metric tons (MMT) in 1997 to 48.7 MMT in 2007, or by 36%. The increase by value was 95%, from $43.8 billion in 1997 to $85.4 billion in 2007. Among the product categories that more than doubled in volume during the period were live animals, wine/beer, fruit/vegetable juices, wheat, coffee, snack foods, and various seafood products.

    Not all agricultural imports are used for human food; some products are ingredients in pet food and animal feed, in manufactured goods (e.g., rubber), and in the nursery plant trade. Nonetheless, many consumers are obtaining a growing portion of their diets from overseas. In 2005, nearly 15% of the overall volume of U.S. food consumption was imported, compared with 11%-12% in 1995. The proportions (volume) for some food product categories were much higher: in 2005 as much as 84% of all U.S. fish and shellfish was imported (55% in 1995); 43% of all noncitrus fresh fruits (34% in 1995); 37% of all processed fruits (20% in 1995); and 54% of all tree nuts (40% in 1995).9

    U.S. imports of Chinese agricultural and seafood products have increased far more rapidly, from 433,000 metric tons (MT) and $1 billion in 1997 to 2.1 million MT and $4.9 billion in 2007. China was the third leading foreign supplier of these products to the United States in 2007, after Canada and Mexico.

  97. 97.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ JL/52 (sorry, had to turn off the BlackBerry for a while and am just catching up). I sure did live in Atlanta during the Blizzard of 1993. I’ll never forget it — I had a heart attack while the storm was raging. A miracle (for me, anyhow) that the ambulance was able to respond and get me to the ER, as the roads were almost completely closed down.

  98. 98.

    PeopleAreNoDamnGood

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    The food problem has had a meteoric rise since the release of Windows 3.11, or as we call it, Windows For Non-Workgroups.

    If you knew anything, you’d know that this giant piece of malware has caused more human death than any artifact in history, Bill.

  101. 101.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    That trend from 1994-1999 can most accurately be mathematically described as a parabola.

    I think some of the “facts” in your posts could be mathematically described as more than a pair of bola. The singular of which, of course, would be “bolus.”

  102. 102.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    @PeopleAreNoDamnGood:

    The food problem has had a meteoric rise since the release of Windows 3.11, or as we call it, Windows For Non-Workgroups. If you knew anything, you’d know that this giant piece of malware has caused more human death than any artifact in history, Bill.

    OMIGOD, that is the most uninformed shit I’ve ever read in a comment thread. Food-borne illnesses have skyrocketed since mass adoption of cellular phone technologies. Not only is the ubiquitous mobile phone a harborer and convenient transporter for these malicious bacteria but it is a widely accepted theorofact that cellular phones break down the human body’s resistance to poisoined food. Our pre-telecommunications-era ancestors could unbelievably eat the whole thing requiring little more than an occasional alkaloid-seltzer remedy. Not so anymore, friend. Food-borne death has your number.

  103. 103.

    You Don't Say

    I hope you didn’t let those rambunctious little JRTs overwhelm Lily! Please let us know how it went.

  104. 104.

    FormerSwingVoter

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    That trend from 1994-1999 can most accurately be mathematically described as a parabola.

    Except that your “theory” provides no mechanism for outbreaks to have decreased from 1994-1997. Blaming the increased rate of outbreaks on NAFTA is actually less valid than blaming it on the release of Titanic, based on the timing.

    Furthermore, the AG-ECO News Report you linked clearly shows NAFTA imports leveling off from 1998 to 2002, during the sharpest increase in outbreaks, then increasing by a large margin every year thereafter, while outbreaks were decreasing from 2002 onward.

    In summary, you are an idiot.

  105. 105.

    vishnu schizt

    USDA: Food Illness Outbreaks by Year (Produce)

    1990-1992 ~10 outbreaks/year;
    Present ~80 outbreaks/year

    AG-ECO News: Food Imports from NAFTA:

    1990: $5 billion
    Present: $24 billion

    The solution to this disturbing trend is clearly to put micro-chips in my neighbor’s chicken’s head.

    Frankly, the increase in food borne illness is directly related to the number of hybrid cars on the road. There were none in the 90’s, well except those those goddamed electrics, and we all know those were directly responsible for the dramatic increase in the number of blowjobs given by white house interns in the 90’s. Since those patchouli moblies were ripped off the roads I haven’t heard one outbreak of this scourge (intern blowjobs that is). Back to the the hybrids, they obviously are the cause, look at the facts! The fact they are hippie mobiles, specifically designed to transport farmers market produce and so-cial-i-smmm to the suburbs.

    The micro chips? Obviously caused by Red Sox world series championships.

  107. 107.

    passerby

    @Indylib:

    Indylib you have my sympathies. No doubt the effects of those three feet of water will be dictating your activities for the next few days. Naughty naughty sump.

  109. 109.

    LD50

    Yuck. Just yuck. Raw cookie dough. Oh, how I loved it when I was a kid.

    I rediscovered it when my daughter started baking chocolate chip cookies. It still rocks. Tastes better than the baked cookies, for some odd reason.

  110. 110.

    D-Chance.

    Remember the recent Jim Treacher invasion, where he faked outrage over David Letterman’s humor, in regards to Sarah! Palin’s daughter (despite owning a website of his own entititled, “Mother, May I Sleep With Treacher?”?

    Well, Instaputz found a rather interesting tweet from the fauxrager… also, nice avatar, given the subject of the tweet, Jim.

  111. 111.

    burnspbesq

    @PeopleAreNoDamnGood:

    Ever since I got this Blackberry, I have had a spastic colon, and have not been able to sleep.

    Get an iPhone, ya big silly. Miracle cure for everything.

  112. 112.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    @Punchy: Er… no. In their long, stolid climb from the basement under the cellar, the Tribe will show those national-league so-and-so’s. (oh, if only we had a bullpen…)

    Damn you national league! Ohka can pitch, but hitting? Not so much.

  113. 113.

    shelley matheis

    There had been murmurs that it might be coming down the end of this past week, but I was disappointed that there wasn’t a final decision on the Franken/Coleman (endless) decision.

  114. 114.

    RevPhat

    BoB, you must not have attended the tea party here in Cincy. I didn’t find it all refreshing when the party goers starting shoving the news media. Didn’t catch any of their refreshing language, so can’t relay that on to you.

    So you continue your research into farms stuff, I’ll be taking my little bags of groceries over to the Welcome House. The children don’t have time for everyone to reach common ground before they eat.

    And to the rest of the Balloon-Juice crowd, my first time posting here. I’ve lurked for awhile, but then really got suck in to the whole Lily saga. I’m just trying to drum up some biz for the food drive. But I can take it somewhere else. Thanks

    Million Can March: one million cans of food by July 4th

  115. 115.

    asiangrrlMN

    @LD50: Crap. What I meant to say (in my mind) is that I loved raw cookie dough when I was a kid, so it grosses me out that now, some kids are possibly getting e coli from the pre-made raw dough. I really need to wait until coffee before posting.

  116. 116.

    Yutsano

    Crap. What I meant to say (in my mind) is that I loved raw cookie dough when I was a kid, so it grosses me out that now, some kids are possibly getting e coli from the pre-made raw dough. I really need to wait until coffee before posting.

    I can’t buy store-bought cookie dough. Ever. It’s just too much like cheating to me, plus it never has nuts in it and chocolate chip cookies without walnuts are sacreligious to me.

  117. 117.

    Yutsano

    I’d also bother to mention to BoB that animals not for a commercial agricultural use do not have to be tagged under NAIS (I have yard chickens that I adore, none are marked as I don’t sell their eggs) but I’m a firm believer in DNFTT.

  119. 119.

    Peter J

    Meanwhile, some badly needed good news from Pakistan. NYT reporter who was kidnapped and held by the Taliban for 7 months has escaped with the help of Pakistani military.

    From the NY Times story:

    “From the early days of this ordeal, the prevailing view among David’s family, experts in kidnapping cases, officials of several government and others we consulted was that going public could increase the danger to David and the other hostages,” said Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times. “The kidnappers initially said as much. We decided to respect that advice, as we have in other kidnapping cases, and a number of other news organizations that learned of David’s plight have done the same. We are enormously grateful for their support.”

    Until now, the kidnapping has been kept quiet by The Times and other media organizations out of concern for the men’s safety.

    The driver, Mr. Mangal, did not escape with the other two men.

    No concerns for the driver?

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