Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

In my day, never was longer.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Let me file that under fuck it.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

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Reader Interactions

234Comments

  2. 2.

    Brick Oven Bill

    It’s good to see your blog doing so well John Cole. Al Gore still sucks. Good God, imagine if he had been President. He’d only be worth around $2 million, plus futures contracts.

  5. 5.

    Colonel Danite

    If we can’t discuss one the genius of Redd Fox in Sanford and Son, I’m outta here.

  7. 7.

    SGEW

    Good God, imagine if [Gore] had been President.

    Do you honestly believe that this would have been worse than Bush being president?

    Really?

  8. 8.

    Dennis-SGMM

    @Colonel Danite:
    The first edgy comedy album I ever heard was by Redd Fox. I had found where my parents hid it and played it for myself one day while they were out. That was nearly fifty years ago and I still remember his saying of the then-nascent civil rights movement “Somebody tries to hit me upside the head with a billy club and my knife opens by itself.”

  12. 12.

    South of I-10

    @John Cole: I was late to the other open thread, but little South thinks Lily is the cutest little puppy ever. For real. (This is a verbatim quote. I don’t know where she is getting “for real” from, I guess from school?)

  14. 14.

    PurpleGirl

    I planned to spend the evening doing some freelance typing and I just discovered that I typed over several pages and did a save and wiped out text that I needed to keep. (I know to do a “save as” first… why didn’t I do that?????) ARGH!!!!

    Maybe I should spend the evening doing something else — like reading blogs or crocheting or doing both in turn or reading crochet blogs.

  17. 17.

    Linkmeister

    @PurpleGirl: If you figure out how to crochet a blog (there must be a font for that, right?), please advise.

    There will be home-cooked onion-soup flavored burgers and baseball on the tube out here this evening.

  18. 18.

    Dennis-SGMM

    @Betsy:
    We all seem to have some time on our hands. Let’s form the First Church of Billie Jean and declare that Michael Jackson died for our sins. That should appreciably shorten the mourning period.
    Or, we could just watch South Park’s The Jeffersons Episode.

  20. 20.

    Nicole

    Visiting the parental units. Taking my dad to see Star Trek tomorrow- I remember him watching afternoon reruns of the original show when I was very little, so I’m looking forward to seeing the movie with him.

  23. 23.

    JenJen

    @John Cole: Don’t want boring? Lift the Sanford Moratorium! Otherwise, this is going to turn into a “Hey, what did you have for dinner” thread.

    Not that there’s anything wrong with that, obvs. I had a Frosty-Cino and a cheeseburger. Deal.

  25. 25.

    vishnu schizt

    Hell yes football soon. I swear the first week of college ball is better than Christmas. I’m heading out to swill margaritas at a local Portland Or restaurant. T-minus 30 mins to a sweet tequila buzz. Peace out.

  26. 26.

    Dennis-SGMM

    @John Cole:

    Has it occurred to these guys that the way back into power for the GOP is to loudly distance themselves from the lunatics?

    That’s their base.

  28. 28.

    John Cole

    Yeungling’s Black and Tan is terrible. I took two sips, poured it out, washed the glass, waited five minutes to rechill the glass, and poured a Boddingtons to cleanse my palate.

  31. 31.

    JGabriel

    @chuck:

    HELP!! I’ve dropped some and I can’t get DOWN

    Dropped some what? Acid?

    Cause if that’s the case, we’re just gonna point and make fun of you until you get paranoid and freak out. Then we’ll laugh.

    .

  34. 34.

    bago

    Hey, I just got up. Going to be watching power tool races after I put the chickens in the coop. If you know what 2cb is, you’ll understand.

  36. 36.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    JG, thanks. I have no idea how I wound up with that link so I’ll blame it on WaMo’s crappy platform.

    Has it occurred to these guys that the way back into power for the GOP is to loudly distance themselves from the lunatics?

    That would require them to realize they’re lunatics. I especially liked Malkin’s Wanted posters. Classy. Not at all reminiscent of some deranged ass clown who tried to place government officials under citizen’s arrest.

  37. 37.

    JenJen

    @John Cole: Sanford’s a pig.

    I’m done!! :-)

    By the way, y’all, Frosty-Cino’s = Crazy Delicious. For reals.

    @kommrade reproductive vigor: Malkin ought to be ashamed of herself. A “Wanted” poster? Really? Could she not explain her views in a different manner? Does she not understand her own fringe-lunatic audience? If I were one of those Congress Critters, I’d ask for increased security.

  38. 38.

    passerby

    @Comrade Jake: To echo what Linkmeister said, there is not enough green in the world that could describe my envy of your road trip with your brother.

    I have a niece in Albuquerque and if I didn’t have to worry about what to do with my little pawtner Rex, I’d be rolling out to the great SW or maybe northern california or San Diego. I could use some new horizons.

    Linkmeister, if I understand correctly, you’re in Hawaii where road trips would be a bit limited in scope–though you’d always be in paradise.

  40. 40.

    gbear

    I spent the afternoon at the Pride festival at Loring Park in Minneapolis (where I met an extraordinarily hunky grade school teacher from FL who summers in MN. What a dreamboat) and now I’m snacking on a bag of Cheetos. Who say’s there’s no diversity in my life.

  41. 41.

    passerby

    I made a big green salad and put some left-over boiled shrimp in it. 45 minutes later I had a big bowl of Fruit Loops.

  43. 43.

    MikeJ

    Steelers camp? Like with feather boas and “It’s Raining Men” blasting? How much more camp could you get?

    Dinner: marinating wild caught Alaskan sockeye in basil, olive oil and garlic while the grill heats up.

  44. 44.

    steve s

    Hmm. Going to have to contact Cleek. The script now works, BOB’s comment above now has him pledging allegiance to pie, but it’s thrown the formatting of the comments way off.

    EDIT: hmmm. now it’s working. Cool.

  45. 45.

    Rosali

    He remained a virgin for as long as I knew him. I definitely wasn’t interested. He had religious reasons for not having sex but indicated that he would be open to having a woman blow him.

  46. 46.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    but indicated that he would be open to having a woman blow him.

    I’m pretty sure that’s tattooed in the male dna, if ya blur the woman part.

  47. 47.

    Dennis-SGMM

    @passerby:
    Wha’? I had some boiled shrimp in the freezer and there’s always lettuce in the fridge so I made the green salad w/shrimp. So far, no sign of Fruit Loops. Do I need to wait the full 45 minutes for the metamorphosis?

  49. 49.

    passerby

    @steve s:

    I don’t know if you did that with the pie cuz I got a wide load of comments on my screen right now too.

    Edit: ok now

  50. 50.

    JGabriel

    Rosali:

    He had religious reasons for not having sex but indicated that he would be open to having a woman blow him.

    Well, whatever other issues he had, I guess that rules out a fear of dentata.

    .

  51. 51.

    demkat620

    Sad to admit it, I am boring. I am watching the new Dr. Who on BBCAmerica.

    That’s pretty sad.

  52. 52.

    JimPortlandOR

    I’m exhausted too: hearing the warnings from House GOP (via Matt Yglesia’s link to YouTube vid) on the about-to-barely-pass Energy Bill.

    – “this kind of suicide”

    – “we we choose liberty or will we chose tyranny” (Michele Bachman folks!)

    – “this bill will turn out the lights on America”

    – “there hasn’t been any global warming in ten years”

  53. 53.

    Montysano

    I spent the entire day outside, gardening and painting. Yeah, it was hot; 90+ degrees. I’d just had enough of vegging out in the air conditioned zone and decided to defy the local conventional wisdom that “You just can’t go out in this weather”.

    Now…… a fresh tomater and onion sandwich, a frosty beer, and Funkadelic on the turntable.

  55. 55.

    Linkmeister

    @passerby: Yes. And I’ve got a serious case of rock fever, since it’s been (counts on hands and feet) 16 years since I’ve made it off the island.

    Self-employment will do that to you.

  56. 56.

    John Cole

    @passerby: It should be fixed now. I was adding the google ad to the comments and single post page. Trying to maximize the ad space since blogad sales blow.

    I need to find an ad group to join like advertising liberally or something to boost sales.

  57. 57.

    Dennis-SGMM

    I definitely wasn’t interested. He had religious reasons for not having sex but indicated that he would be open to having a woman blow him.

    That alone sets him apart from almost every other man in the world.

  59. 59.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Q: What happens to the Energizer Bunny when you put his batteries in backwards?

    A: He keeps coming and coming.

    I wonder how that translates on steve s’ filter.

  60. 60.

    John Cole

    I definitely wasn’t interested. He had religious reasons for not having sex but indicated that he would be open to having a woman blow him.

    I think a compelling argument could be made this is not a religious thing. Since I’m sensitive and a nice guy, I’ll leave it to Death by a Mosquito Truck to explain.

  61. 61.

    Dennis-SGMM

    @passerby:
    I blame it on the fact that I’m attempting to re-read Kafka’s “Die Verwandlung” using only my terribly rusty Deutsch.

  63. 63.

    steve s

    John Cole
    Yeungling’s Black and Tan is terrible. I took two sips, poured it out, washed the glass, waited five minutes to rechill the glass, and poured a Boddingtons to cleanse my palate.

    I’ve had a few of those. I didn’t think they were so bad. Course, my beer palate’s not very educated. What’s so bad about it?

  64. 64.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    The unspoken assertion being that I’m insensitive and not nice.

  65. 65.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    @JenJen: FERA (an anti-fraud bill that was signed into law mid-May) included a shit ton of additional funds for the S.S. True, they do some fraud investigation/enforcement work but I’m betting a lot of it goes towards keeping track of maniacus malicious domesticus.

  68. 68.

    gbear

    He had religious reasons for not having sex but indicated that he would be open to having a woman blow him.

    Ummm, did this just come up in casual conversation?

    And how common is it for people (gay and straight) to not think of oral sex as ‘sex’? I mean come on, it’s not smooching, it is S.E.X.

  70. 70.

    passerby

    @Dennis-SGMM:

    re-read Kafka’s “Die Verwandlung” using only my terribly rusty Deutsch.

    RE-read? why on earth would you want to do that again? The only thing I’ve felt like reading lately is Cook’s Illustrated. I’ve got it on my Kindle and have gotten into the habit of reading (in english) baking recipes as I doze off at bedtime.

    Right now I think tonight’s entertainment will be

    1) Toot a root.
    2) Pop in Netflix Bourne Supremacy
    3) Maybe have more Froot Loops

  74. 74.

    steve s

    JGabriel
    kommrade reproductive vigor: I think you’ve got the wrong link there for the Purity Purge™. It’s actually at this address.
    (I only know cuz I linked it in the last thread.)

    Rather than just delight in their gnashing of teeth, which I love to do, I’ll ask, is the GOP anger at their eight representatives substantially different from how, if some conservative a55face Democrat votes against a public option, we’ll all hit the roof? If Baucus or Collin Peterson or some tool of the insurance industry votes against real healthcare reform I expect some pretty heated language from our side to be issued in their direction. And I’ll be issuing it too.

  75. 75.

    LD50

    Good God, imagine if [Gore] had been President.

    Do you honestly believe that this would have been worse than Bush being president?

    I know Nader voters who think that.

  77. 77.

    Betsy

    Doing my part to keep the thread boring:
    Does anyone know why cats do a silent meow? My cat has never meowed audibly, though she does little chirps and trills. But every once in awhile I’ll look at her and she’ll move her mouth as if she’s meowing, but no sound comes out. Is it just at pitch higher than humans can hear?

  78. 78.

    AhabTRuler

    Shitty mouthfeel and bad aftertaste. Not particularly mellow or creamy, and tasted like someone poured soda water into a Guinness.

    Juxtaposed with the oral sex comments, this is just wrong.

  79. 79.

    JGabriel

    JenJen:

    Malkin ought to be ashamed of herself. A “Wanted” poster? Really? Could she not explain her views in a different manner?

    I kinda love it when they turn the eliminationist rhetoric on themselves.

  80. 80.

    passerby

    @Linkmeister:

    And I’ve got a serious case of rock fever, since it’s been (counts on hands and feet) 16 years since I’ve made it off the island.

    Now theres something I’ve never considered possible in terms of Hawaii, but since you mentioned it, I think I’d go nuts.

    Were you born there? Is getting off the island something everyone feels like doing from time to time?

  81. 81.

    dmsilev

    @gbear:

    And how common is it for people (gay and straight) to not think of oral sex as ‘sex’? I mean come on, it’s not smooching, it is S.E.X.

    I seem to recall a study finding that teens who took virginity pledges and similar had a remarkable propensity to define sex as solely penile-vaginal intercourse, and just about anything else in the wide panoply of human sexuality was regarded as fair game.

    Somehow, this failed to surprise me.

    As to your specific question, there’s Bill “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” Clinton as an exemplar.

    -dms

  82. 82.

    Incertus

    @JenJen:

    Malkin ought to be ashamed of herself. A “Wanted” poster? Really? Could she not explain her views in a different manner?

    Nope. We don’t call her Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage for nothing. She’s got one speed–batshit insane.

  83. 83.

    inkadu

    @Betsy: My theory on the silent meow is the cat is going for a very high pitch meow but is too lazy to put the breath into it. The cat understands you’re looking at it so assumes you get the general idea.

    I like to give cats a silent meow when they’re on the other side of the window. Sometimes they give it back.

    lol, etc.

  84. 84.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    I’m changing my handle again soon to Destiny’s Chump for you folks that need to update yer pie filters. For those of ya that are a little confused about what to call me now, ya can call me Jack.

  85. 85.

    Dennis-SGMM

    RE-read? why on earth would you want to do that again?

    Because I took the good time and trouble in my teens to learn enough of the language to read Hesse’s “Das Glasperlinspiel” auf Deutsch simply because I was so impressed at the time by the English version and I felt that I might be missing something by not reading the original. Now I’m in my sixties and it’s interesting to see how many neurons I can resurrect by attempting to re-read some works in a language that I once knew well.
    At this point, I need all the neurons I can get.

  88. 88.

    steve s

    – “there hasn’t been any global warming in ten years”

    I’ve seen that so many places lately. It’s so painfully stupid to have to listen to, isn’t it?

    I invite people to look at this graph. Take a look at that high peak around 1999. That’s what these morons are basing this comment on. They’re saying that because that noisy peak in the data was around 1999, ‘there hasn’t been any global warming’ in ten years. Someone saying that might as well be wearing a sign that says “I’m a huge moron. I probably can’t even tell the difference between a pronoun and a complete sentence.”

    Fortunately, when someone says things like that, you can enlist Cleek’s script to make them talk about pie instead.

    2
    June 27th, 2009 at 7:51 pm Reply to this comment
    brick oven bill
    PIE! I EAT IT!

    Isn’t that so much smarter and better-informed than the usual?

  89. 89.

    Rey

    Geez, I leave this blog for 10 mins, come back and there is a new open thread plus 80 comments? And we can’t talk about Sanford? not fair, I will finish my glass of Francis Coppola Merlot and call it a night. BTW- If I hear Billie Jean one more time i swear I’m gonna cut my ears off.

  90. 90.

    JGabriel

    steve s:

    Rather than just delight in their gnashing of teeth, which I love to do, I’ll ask, is the GOP anger at their eight representatives substantially different from how, if some conservative a55face Democrat votes against a public option, we’ll all hit the roof?

    Yep, it is. We’ll bitch about primarying ‘our’ guys if they vote against a public option and there’s a reasonable chance of a more progressive Democrat winning.

    They put out death threats.

    .

  92. 92.

    Betsy

    I seem to recall a study finding that teens who took virginity pledges and similar had a remarkable propensity to define sex as solely penile-vaginal intercourse, and just about anything else in the wide panoply of human sexuality was regarded as fair game.

    Indeed.

  95. 95.

    steve s

    Gotta agree with JGabriel that our side’s not as nutty as their side. But it’s good to be vigilant. We musn’t let the amoral tards drag us down to their level.

  101. 101.

    Incertus

    @Rey:

    If I hear Billie Jean one more time i swear I’m gonna cut my ears off.

    I’ve had the tv and the radio off for the last day and a half because I didn’t want to get blasted by that. The overreaction (in my eyes) bugged me so much that I wrote a piece today for The Rumpus arguing that Farrah Fawcett’s death deserved more attention because her life had more meaning.

  105. 105.

    Indylib

    Just came in from helping my husband clean the gutters, which here in S. Wisconsin consisted of removing 3 inch deep sections of solid leaf-mass in chunks that were sprouting little baby trees. Our rental property has 12 mature trees, it’s a damned leaf factory.

  107. 107.

    steve s

    I went to check out that Wanted poster, because I assumed that was the ‘death threats’ you were referring to. I don’t usually expose myself to the straight-up tard, preferring to get it cut from the guys at BJ, WashMo, MotherJones, etc. But I did, and though I wouldn’t say it’s a death threat, the comments there are utterly nuts. Here’s one:

    On June 27th, 2009 at 10:15 am, ArizonaNeanderthal said:
    …
    This reminds me of the Video where Saddam Hussein (the one is Iraq, not the Beltway) is purging the Baath Party. As his Security Services are leading men away to be killed the remaining Baathist are screaming support for Saddam Hussein (the one is Iraq, not the Beltway), tears in their eyes hoping they will not be next. A neat trick he learned from his idol Joesph Stalin-the master of the purge. But why not? Cowards, weaklings and traitors serve no useful purpose.
    …
    Await the knock on the door- The One Has Arrived-it is time for the Unrepentant Capitalist and Blue Eyed Devil to get his. Property and Power must be returned to their rightful owners-the Proletariat. Reference William Ayres and Jeremiah Wright if you doubt me.

    orig here

  108. 108.

    Deborah

    To carry over a great suggestion from the end of the previous thread, wouldn’t it be great if more wingnuts were driven by Obama to go Galt? Boehner and Gingrich and various Cheneys could experiment with metal alloys for decades before anyone thought to look for them.

    Also (nods to Steve S) could be applied to any members of the left we need to misplace, like Pumas.

  109. 109.

    Rey

    @john cole

    True, didn’t think about that. I’ll save the mutilation to my body for when David Gregory drops dead and we get another MSNBC marathon of how wonderful he was. Watching Liza Minelli on Larry King Dead, I would give my eyeball to hang out with her, she is one fascinating and looney women. I love her.

  110. 110.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Good God, imagine if Gore had been President.

    If I ever see you, I will fight you.

  112. 112.

    geg6

    I’d just like to say that all of you who are not watching “True Blood” on HBO have no idea what fun you are missing. It’s only two episodes into the season and it’s already amped up to 11. My Real Man and I had kosher hotdogs on the grill with his homemade sauerkraut and twice-baked potatoes with green onions from his garden, sour cream, peppered bacon, and cheddar cheese. Dessert was cantaloupe and watermelon with lime sorbet. Oh, and beer. Lots and lots of lovely, cold beer.

  113. 113.

    ruemara

    @John Cole:

    I made homemade blueberry muffins and home churned sweet butter for breakfast. After inspecting my water collection system and the potential for drip irrigation, I harvested arugula, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, peaches and herbs for dinner. Between myself and the roommates, we set a spread of slow smoked pork ribs, salad, new roasted taters, brandy grilled peaches in brown sugar & brandy sauce. After dinner, roomie #1 will continue furmination on my legs so I can head out for SF pride parade without a full head of shag on display ‘neath my shorts. Then I will play WOW till I snooze.

    Now that’s effing boring, mate. But immensely satisfying. In the interests of preventing Maudlin Michael Overload (where were you fuckers when the man needed help) I am playing Mutemath because I love them and would bear their babies if I weren’t opposed to bearing childrens and didn’t find them sessy at all.

  114. 114.

    JGabriel

    From Pat Buchanan’s latest screwup via Notorious P.A.T.:

    The panelists also suggested that, without English as the official language, President Obama would force Americans to speak Spanish.

    That’s just silly. Everyone knows Obama doesn’t speak Spanish; he’ll make us all speak Classical Arabic instead.

    Frickin’ wingnuts can’t keep their own narratives straight.

    .

  115. 115.

    Dennis-SGMM

    I’ll save the mutilation to my body for when David Gregory drops dead and we get another MSNBC marathon of how wonderful he was.

    Gregory will, like all men, die. His hair will live forever.

  118. 118.

    InflatableCommenter

    imagine if Gore had been President.

    Sadly, he wasn’t. We might have avoided 911.

    Something tells me he wouldn’t have sent the intel briefers away in August 2001 with the sneer, “Okay, now you’ve covered your asses.”

  121. 121.

    JGabriel

    steve s:

    … I wouldn’t say it’s a death threat …

    True, it’s missing the DEAD OR ALIVE part, but I think we can read that as implied. It’s not as if they’re wanted for a jail sentence, they’re wanted for elimination – whether from the party or the world is left to the reader’s judgement or imagination.

    And Malkin’s readership doesn’t seem the type inclined to any of the less violent interpretations.

    (As is evidenced by the nutter you quote, for example.)

    .

  123. 123.

    Lyle4

    @geg6: I tried True Blood for a couple of episodes and I just couldn’t get past the ridiculousness. And the accents, oh god those accents…

  127. 127.

    ruemara

    @John Cole:
    Rexxar & Dethecus. but leveling PVP is a suckage that can only be out sucked by watching McCain’s performance in the last few debates.

  128. 128.

    JGabriel

    @geg6:

    My Real Man and I had kosher hotdogs on the grill with his homemade sauerkraut and twice-baked potatoes with green onions from his garden, sour cream, peppered bacon, and cheddar cheese.

    Not to be morbid, but the two of you are going to die together in a massive coronary. You know that, right?

    .

  129. 129.

    steve s

    Deborah
    To carry over a great suggestion from the end of the previous thread, wouldn’t it be great if more wingnuts were driven by Obama to go Galt?

    Oh, it’s my deepest hope that Glenn Reynolds, Limbaugh, Dr. Helen, Sean Hannity, etc, actually do up and Go Galt. They divest themselves of their ties to the larger world, and abscond to a hidden location, depriving us parasites of their glorious intellect and ethics, and await the inevitable crumbling of society. I would pay good money to help that happen. I would throw the biggest party. We’d get vodka by the keg. It would be Sabado Gigante II up in here.

    Can you imagine how awesome that’d be? We’d drink a bunch, and laugh about them, and other people will take their jobs, and forget about them long after they’re eaten by mountain lions in Colorado. Years later, we’d say, “Hey, do you remember when that smarmy law professor hid in the woods with a generator and a bowie knife, and was eaten a few weeks later by a half-starved drug addict talk-show host from the next cabin?” And we’d have a good laugh.

    Sadly, they’ll never do it, because deep down, in some place they refuse to acknowledge, they know that Going Galt doesn’t make the least bit of sense outside of poorly-written utopian fantasy novels.

  130. 130.

    Rosali

    Watching Liza Minelli on Larry King Dead, I would give my eyeball to hang out with her, she is one fascinating and looney women.

    She and I were standing next to each other at a club once. She was normal, not drunk, and looks exactly like she does on tv. However, I have to question her judgment. How could she not know that David Guest is gay?

  132. 132.

    geg6

    Death By Mosquito Truck: Yes. Real Men are rare but well worth the trouble to find. My Real Man cooks for me, plies me with delicious alcoholic beverages, indulges my tv habits and sports mania, and, instead of cheating on me like a pig, makes sure to take me to the bar where the young bartender hits on him so she can see that he’s not interested and that I’m the reason why. And he tells me the whole story. I love Real Men because they actually understand women.

  134. 134.

    steve s

    Please no spoilers on True Blood. Downloading season 1 as we speak.

    And Top Gear Season 10. But I guess you don’t have to avoid spoilers for that one. Not expecting Richard Hammond to get decapitated by a hovercraft or anything.

  136. 136.

    Rey

    @incertus

    Lovely piece, I agree as well. Every time The Burning Bed comes on I watch it. She was wonderful in that role, actually the whole cast was. I have no doubt that if her death had been the only event that happened this past Thursday, her work in that movie and the many women that possibly were helped or finally heard would have been spotlighted more.

  139. 139.

    geg6

    JGabriel: Well, that’s not an every day sort of meal. Generally, since we don’t live together, I eat my big meal for the day at lunch and it’s usually low fat and quite healthy with yogurt for dessert. My evening meal is usually an apple with peanut butter or some spinach salad with oranges, mushrooms, and toasted almonds with a honey garlic dressing. And he eats similarly. And we both walk every day, at least 5 miles. But weekends at his place, we throw caution to the wind and revel in food indulgence.

  140. 140.

    Laura W

    @geg6: I would love to post Bonnie Raitt’s version of this live with Sippie Wallace from “Road Tested”, but this is pretty damn awesome.

    Women Be Wise, keep your mouth shut.
    Don’t advertise your man…

  141. 141.

    JGabriel

    @John Cole:

    Although using the word fancy probably killed any chance any of you would believe me.

    We’re still trying to figure out what you mean by it. It’s kind of ambiguous – are you saying you believe yourself to be a real man, or that you fancy one for yourself?

    .

  145. 145.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    geg6, I should clarify my remarks to indicate I don’t fully understand women. I think part of being a Real Man is understanding you’ll never fully grasp, ya know, that whole thing.

  146. 146.

    Svensker

    @John Cole:

    gbear And how common is it for people (gay and straight) to not think of oral sex as ‘sex’? I mean come on, it’s not smooching, it is S.E.X. John Cole Shitty mouthfeel and bad aftertaste. Not particularly mellow or creamy, and tasted like someone poured soda water into a Guinness.

    Unfortunate juxtaposition of posts.

  147. 147.

    JGabriel

    geg6:

    Well, that’s not an every day sort of meal.

    Heh. I was joking, as my diet in general is probably not much better than your weekend indulgences – well, ok, maybe a little better, I go for the spinach salad on occasion too.

    .

  149. 149.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @kommrade reproductive vigor: I am so sick of this, I turn on MSNBC for politics, I do not expect to hear “breaking news, we are updating news which was reported 24 hours ago, and are now posting breaking news that there has been no breaking news since he died 24 hours ago” I mean come on.

  151. 151.

    iluvsummr

    Heading to a friend’s bday party soon. Has anyone been to Buenos Aires? Was thinking about visiting Brazil again, but given its prominence in the news, I’ve been considering a trip to Argentina instead, since I’ve never been (thanks Mark Sanford for that inadvertent stroke of advertising genius). What are the fun things (not people) to do in Buenos Aires?

  153. 153.

    geg6

    John Cole, I’d have said you were a Real Man, but then that last open thread showed you haven’t quite gotten the hang of understanding women. So I can only say that you’re about 95% there. Keep trying though. You’re still young. You’ll get there.;-)

  161. 161.

    demkat620

    @steve s: Oh Top Gear. That’s my favorite! I love it when they do the challenges. Did you see the Vietnam episode? Genius.

  162. 162.

    YellowJournalism

    My son requests more Tunch Cam, or at least he would if he could speak in full sentences. He was squealing with laughter watching that fat cat chase the laser pointer. He also started bopping in my lap to the background music.

  163. 163.

    steve s

    Dang, JGabriel beat me to it. His understanding of emphasis could teach his understanding of grammar a thing or two.

    :-)

    Okay I better shut up about grammar because the gilbey’s vodka just arrived. Arrove? Anyway, it’s Sat night, the booze is here, and I think it’s about time to watch some grumpy brits complain that the new Porsche 911 is Rubbish.

    Anything to say, Brick Oven?

    148
    June 27th, 2009 at 10:27 pm Reply to this comment
    brick oven bill
    I don’t want to live in a world without pie.

    As true today, as when it was written.

  165. 165.

    John Cole

    @YellowJournalism: No tunchcam tonight, but I just got an email from my parents with vacation videos of the JRT’s at the beach with a … Great Pyrenese (sp?).

    The friend who spent the week with them said, and I quote, “I came with a Great Pyrenese (sp?) and am leaving with a 100 lb Jack Russell Terrier.”

  166. 166.

    steve s

    Demkat: slowly working my way through it. Curiously enough, my girlfriend got me hooked on the show. So far I’ve only seen Seasons 5,6, and 7, and I’ve just started Season 11. 10 is downloading as we speak. Don’t think I’ve seen the vietnam episode yet, but the one where they’re all given 1000 quid and have to make themselves police cars is so funny I was on the floor laughing. The slogan painted on Jeremy’s Fiat’s door was enough to make my sides hurt.

  168. 168.

    Brachiator

    @Incertus:

    I’ve had the tv and the radio off for the last day and a half because I didn’t want to get blasted by that. The overreaction (in my eyes) bugged me so much that I wrote a piece today for The Rumpus arguing that Farrah Fawcett’s death deserved more attention because her life had more meaning.

    Indeed. Because her poster set off endless bouts of masturbation among teenage boys for decades.

    Just trying to keep up with the themes of oral sex and saddlebacking.

    I seem to recall a study finding that teens who took virginity pledges and similar had a remarkable propensity to define sex as solely penile-vaginal intercourse, and just about anything else in the wide panoply of human sexuality was regarded as fair game.

    It’s not just teens. Reasonable fear of pregnancy aside, looking for intercourse substitutes is a game played by subsets of society and religions that make an absolute fetish of a woman’s virginity.

  169. 169.

    YellowJournalism

    @Rosali: Lucky! She seems like a great lady to be around. She was wonderful on Arrested Development. I hope they bring her back for the movie!

    All you Farrah fans need to watch “Extremities” again. That movie is just so disturbing on so many levels. People talk about revenge flicks like “I Spit on Your Grave” or “The Hills Have Eyes” for showing how easily people will give in to their darkest side in the name of revenge or survival, but for my money, “Extremities” portrays that a way that is honest and realistic without being sensational or gross.

  174. 174.

    steve s

    It’s not just teens. Reasonable fear of pregnancy aside, looking for intercourse substitutes is a game played by subsets of society and religions that make an absolute fetish of a woman’s virginity.

    I thought i was familiar with all the basic fundy behavior, until a friend informed me of the Date Your Daughter phenomenon. I am still creeped right the fcuk out.

  177. 177.

    Church Lady

    Packing to leave in the morning for Knoxville to take the youngest to freshman orientation. I’ll have two in college this fall. My checkbook is crying.

  178. 178.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    @steve s:

    I thought i was familiar with all the basic fundy behavior, until a friend informed me of the Date Your Daughter phenomenon. I am still creeped right the fcuk out.

    Sounds like you got a fugly daughter.

  179. 179.

    Violet

    Went to see “Food, Inc.” tonight. I knew most of it, but it’s scary stuff. I do a lot of organic gardening and grow my own food, but I can’t grow everything and who knows where the rest of the food comes from and what’s in it.

    Someone needs to break up the food corps with anti-trust legislation. And the FDA needs to do it’s job. And people need to request/demand better labeling and change their eating habits to force the hands of food manufacturers.

    I have very little confidence any of this will ever happen until something horrible happens as a result of all the genetically modified foods, like people start turning green or growing tails or something.

  180. 180.

    steve s

    LOL no I’m right now rewatching the end of season 11 ep 1, the three police cars thing. good lord it’s funny.

    Previously I thought the weirdest brit pronounciation was pronouncing ‘valet’ VAA-lit. But now I think it’s pronouncing ‘coupe’ COO-pay….

  181. 181.

    PurpleGirl

    Linkmeister, your comment on dinner inspired me to make dinner. So I did some veggies to go with cold chicken cutlets. I felt better after eating. Then I spent some time crocheting. I began another piece of hyperbolic crocheted coral reef. I find the repetitive nature of the work relaxing.

  182. 182.

    JGabriel

    steve s:

    Previously I thought the weirdest brit pronounciation was pronouncing ‘valet’ VAA-lit. But now I think it’s pronouncing ‘coupe’ COO-pay….

    You should hear what they do to schedule. And what they do aluminum is just dreadful – they even spell it dreadfully.

    .

  183. 183.

    steve s

    In the early 90’s, I was exposed to both Rush Limbaugh pronouncing Schedule the British way, and my chemistry instructor Paul Fox pronouncing it Al-oo-min-yum.

    No wonder I made a C in that class.

    BTW, I wish you could all see this ep, but for an idea of how funny it is, here’s the Hamster’s police car.

  184. 184.

    Anne Laurie

    Does anyone know why cats do a silent meow? My cat has never meowed audibly, though she does little chirps and trills. But every once in awhile I’ll look at her and she’ll move her mouth as if she’s meowing, but no sound comes out. Is it just at pitch higher than humans can hear?

    There’s actually a book called THE SILENT MIAOW, a how-to-raise-a-cat-manual of sorts, with tons of great black&white photos. Haven’t re-read it for several decades, but I suspect the pictures have aged better than the advice. The conceit was that Paul Gallico (who also wrote the novel that Disney’s “Nine Lives of Thomasina” was based on) “found” a manuscript his own cat had been typing for the benefit of other “kittens, strays, and homeless cats” looking for human suckers. I just spent 20 fruitless minutes trying & failing to link thru Amazon, but the book’s not in print anyways, and either Amazon’s default or JC’s earlier coding experiments have defeated my technical idiocy.

    Shorter: Nursing kittens use the “silent miaow” on their mammas, or rarely on other adult cats they’re trying to manipulate, and some adult cats continue using it on their human “mammas” for the rest of their lives. (I don’t think the scienterrific thinking on this has changed since 1965 altho there have probably been doctorates based on refining it.)

    Be assured that when a cat does this to you, it is a high compliment, which is the important part.

    The Silent Miaow

  185. 185.

    steve s

    Sorry for being too chatty, I’m convalescing. Thursday, here in Lake City, Florida, it was 96 degrees, and roughly 114% humidity, and when I got done teaching math I went to my parents’ house. Something was wrong with their water line. After much digging I’d uncovered where some tree roots had pushed an elbow joint apart. While they went to get some kind of PVC glue, I worked in the sun going at tree roots with an axe and a reciprocating saw. I wanted to get done and get the hell home and wasn’t being very smart about taking breaks. After a few hours, I felt like I was going to throw up and pass out simultaneously, and my pulse went through the roof. Having gotten very near heat stroke, the last 2 days I’ve just been sitting on my a55 in front of the computer not doing anything strenuous. I think cabin fever is setting in and I’m getting unusually chatty.

  186. 186.

    MikeJ

    BTW, I wish you could all see this ep, but for an idea of how funny it is, here’s the Hamster’s police car.

    The tiny SUV thing? Good one. Have you seen his crash yet?

  189. 189.

    patrick

    Tomorrow morning, at 8:00 am, I’m leaving Little Rock, Arkansas in a minivan, with my wife and three of my chill-rens – boys aged 10, 8 and 5.

    The ultimate destination is St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada with stops in Knoxville TN, Harrisburg PA, Boston Ma, St. Stephen’s NB, North Sidney NS (ferrying over to Port aux Basques NF) stopping in Corner Brook NF, and then driving to St. John’s NF.

    We’ll stay for 4 weeks. I will catch many trout. I will lay around a lot – some of which will be on the beach. I will kayak in the Bay of Islands. I will visit places like Lark Harbour, Come By Chance, Cow Head, Placentia Bay, Conception Bay and Trinity Bay. I might even take a little trip out to St. Pierre et Miquelon. I will camp out in the Gros Morne National Park. I will most likely eat a moose.

    I will not worry about my chill-rens, as they will be run amok-ing with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmother. My wife and I will have teh sexytime as often as I can convince her of it.

    We will leave for home on the St. John’s to North Sidney ferry, with stops in Montreal, Toronto, Cincinatti and Nashville.

    I will pay very little attention to politics.

  190. 190.

    Johnny B. Guud

    In one of the oddest yet pleasurable rarities in life, my Ipod Home just shuffled “Pennies From Heaven” by Billie Holliday and Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”, in that order….

  191. 191.

    MikeJ

    no, but i heard he got a brain injury drag racing. nothing too serious, i hope.

    Nah. He’s back at the start of the next season and they replay the footage. Not drag racing, but driving a rocket car. Front right blew at 300+mph. If Hamster was any taller his head would have stuck out of the roll cage and when the car flipped he’d have been killed. As it was his helmet dragged.

  193. 193.

    steve s

    You know, I wonder about that a bit. I see, many times, people driving in convertible cars and those little …um…Roll Parabolas?… seem to be lower than the top of the driver’s head. I’m not especially tall, just 6′, but would it kill them to make a Roll Parabola just a wee bit bigger?

  195. 195.

    Ron

    @John Cole:
    John, nobody should be bottling black and tan beer. A black and tan should be made by pouring stout and ale separately. That being said, the one thing I miss about living in western PA is the availability of cheap Yuengling everywhere. It was as available and cheap as the mass-produced swill that passes for beer in the US and while it isn’t a great beer, it is definitely decent IMHO.

  196. 196.

    BethanyAnne

    As it’s an open thread, I just found a great Youtube channel. TV Legends I just watched a very long interview with George Carlin – like a 3 hour interview from 2007. I don’t really have much in the way of heroes, but he’s about as close as I get. Tons of other people there, too. I can tell I’m going to waste lots of time with it. :-)

  197. 197.

    4jkb4ia

    What about this Steelers camp? Torii Hunter and Carl Crawford need help! I just voted for them 10 times!

  198. 198.

    4jkb4ia

    If Josh Hamilton gets voted in it will not be on the basis of anything he did this year.

  199. 199.

    steve s

    one thing I miss about living in western PA is the availability of cheap Yuengling everywhere. It was as available and cheap as the mass-produced swill that passes for beer in the US and while it isn’t a great beer, it is definitely decent IMHO.

    Sadly, I don’t have a good beer palate yet. I’ve got a ridiculous coffee palate, I can tell you what continent it was grown on, how old it is, etc. (That ashy, volcanic Sumatra taste? NOM NOM NOM.) But that’s from thousands of coffee tastings. Haven’t had many beer tastings. The Yeungling lager seems fine to me, as does their black and tan, but that’s kind of like someone who’s not had much coffee saying guatemalan coffee is kinda like ethiopian. When John says, yeah, it doesn’t have the same mouthfeel, i can understand that, having had a lot of Guiness, but it’s not as clear to me as other things.

    I’ve come to think having a refined palate is a curse. When you can only drink coffee from certain regions brewed in certain methods, has your life really improved? Or have you set yourself up for regular disappointment?

    My beer and wine palate is unsophisticated. I’ll let an Ernest and Julio Gallo wine breathe for an hour and think it’s fine. My girlfriend will bring some ultra-fruity Robert Parker bottle to the mix, and it will just annihilate my palate. Have i benefited? Has the sophistication improved my life?

    The gods must be crazy.

  203. 203.

    AhabTRuler

    @Tattoosydney: Yesterday they had strawberries on sale at the store, but they were just a little past. So I did a quick and dirty chocolate dip on them. Yummy!

    What a great excuse to eat an entire box of strawberries!

  204. 204.

    Brachiator

    @steve s:

    I’ve come to think having a refined palate is a curse…

    A discerning palate can lead you to all kinds of culinary adventures. A refined palate is mere snobbery.

    Julia Child loved McDonald’s french fries, which she noted were quite good “until the nutrionists got at them.”

  205. 205.

    Steeplejack

    @John Cole:

    Yuengling’s Black and Tan is terrible.

    Amen. I tried it briefly after my grocery store stopped carrying Saranac Black and Tan, which is pretty good and also inexpensive. I was appalled by the Yuengling. But somebody on the beer thread last night convinced me to try the Yuengling Porter. Just not this weekend. I stocked up on Samuel Adams Black Lager.

  207. 207.

    Steeplejack

    @Betsy:

    I had a cat who did that. I always thought it was her version of what the AFLAC duck does. Sort of: “Wait. What?”

  208. 208.

    Steeplejack

    @Ron:

    John, nobody should be bottling black and tan beer. A black and tan should be made by pouring stout and ale separately.

    Yeah, I get that, of course. But I take the name of the bottled version as sort of an approximation of what it’s shooting for. For me, the Saranac was pretty good, the Yuengling sucked.

    I am a fan of motor-oil-weight beers in general, preferably 10W30 or higher.

  211. 211.

    Glocksman

    @South of I-10:

    Funny that.

    Every time I take my boxer for a walk, she attracts a lot of females who coo over how cute she is.

    Too bad for me that 98% of them are between the ages of four and fourteen, and the other 2% are happily married adults supervising their four year olds who are petting my dog.

    I love it when little kids pet her, as she loves to play with and be around children, but her caretaker needs some loving too. :)

  212. 212.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I was just sitting here pondering that apparently I still have my thread-killin’ mojo. I got home from work about 11:30, was sucking down Black Lager and reading the threads in order, going through this one and commenting here and there, then got to the bottom, hit “Refresh” and saw that I was the only person (until you) to comment in about an hour.

    It’s hard out there for a night owl.

  214. 214.

    Glocksman

    @Brachiator:

    As someone who worked as both a short order and buffet cook at a bowling alley for over 10 years, let me assure you that her praise was more due to JR Simplot’s QC than to anything McD’s had to offer.

    Our fries were sourced via Sysco from Simplot, and frankly they kicked MickeyD’s ass up and down the street.

    If I opened my own grill, JR Simplot would be my french fry supplier of choice and damn the price simply because the quality of their product is worth it.

  218. 218.

    Linkmeister

    @passerby: No, I was a military kid, but I moved here in 1978. I used to go on regular vacations (mostly road trips, which I why I seriously envy Comrade Jake), but I’ve become principal caregiver and self-employed trying to work from home.

  220. 220.

    asiangrrlMN

    @JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker: Well, you had a good lunch, I presume. Did you buy yourself something nice, too? That’s the only thing I do on my bday. I like that song. Thanks!

    @Steeplejack: I thought you wrote, “Bangin’ ass“, which would have been really funny. I have never heard of the guy or the song. Wow. He looks like Prince light (and sounds like him, too). Oh, wait. Now I recognize the song.

    Oh, football. If the Vikes sign Brett Favre, I will root for the Packers this season. That is all.

  221. 221.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    He looks like Prince light (and sounds like him too).

    Well, back then everyone wanted to be M.J. lite or Prince lite. The “anxiety of influence” at work.

    Okay, here’s someone who didn’t want to be Prince lite–Sagat.

    Now I’m really gone.

  224. 224.

    Glocksman

    @JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker:

    I certainly hope not.
    Mark Knopfler is much too talented to limit himself as a Prince wanna-be.

    In fact, I consider him to be one of the more under-rated talents of all time.

    Dire Straits aside, look at his songwriter credits.
    Shit, his ‘country’ work alone should see him acknowledged as a master of composition.

    ‘He’s got a daytime job, he’s doing alright’. :)

  229. 229.

    JGabriel

    I confess, I always kind of liked Knopfler but was never a big fan. I guess Richard Thompson was already filling that Brit/Celt great guitarist/songwriter niche for me? Though I did like Knopfler’s soundtrack work on Local Hero and Cal.

    .

  231. 231.

    JGabriel

    JMN Is Now asiangrrlMN’s Official Stalker:

    here’s the greatest song in rock and roll history

    You know, I may have to take issue with that: Blue Line Swinger.

    (If you’re too impatient for the intro, the beat really picks up around the 3:50 mark.)

    You, you won’t talk about what we see when the lights are out
    And I’m willing to hold your hand while you’re lost,
    while you’re so full of doubt
    Walk for miles, on your own loose ends, I’ll find you there
    I’ll find you there

    You, you walk up thin blue lines possible with reality
    And I, I see through small red eyes,
    glowing still at your uncertainty
    Out of darkness you will come around, I know you will
    I know you will
    And I’ll find you
    And I’ll find you there

    .

  232. 232.

    liberal

    @Glocksman:

    Every time I take my boxer for a walk, she attracts a lot of females who coo over how cute she is.

    Man, I love boxers.

  233. 233.

    Glocksman

    @Linkmeister:

    No, but I’ll have to check it out.

    @liberal:

    They’re loyal dogs, but they’re also hyperactive.
    As my niece put it, ‘boxers never quit being puppies’.

    Still, Haley is a sweet dog who’d never hurt anyone intentionally.
    Unless they hurt me, that is.
    Then you’d have 60 pounds of pissed-off boxer to deal with.

    Though she really doesn’t look very ferocious, does she?

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