For anything other than Palin or Jackson. I’m seriously at the end of my rope here with the coverage of these two.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
You cannot shame the shameless.
There’s always a light at the end of the frog.
Innocent people don’t delay justice.
Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.
One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.
We’re not going back!
If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.
American History and Black History can not be separated.
We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.
An almost top 10,000 blog!
Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.
Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.
Ah, the different things are different argument.
Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.
This really is a full service blog.
Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.
with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.
When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.
“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”
Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?
Consistently wrong since 2002
Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.
Svensker
So you’re saying you’re literally at the end of your rope?
Rey
Well get ready- it’s Jacko-o-rama today. Hopefully, this will be the end of it since he will officially be put in the ground. As for Palin, I really think she will end up on Faux news so we can see her everyday. Oh joy!
JK
My favorite Robert McNamara anecdote
h/t http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/71328.html
r€nato
Speaking of which… I take it, then, that discussion of David Carradine is OK?
r€nato
@JK:
I hope something like that happens every single time Rumsfeld dares to mingle among the public.
Only, he doesn’t hang on.
dan robinson
How about that Lance?
robertdsc
Odd question of the day:
I collect certain kinds of military art. In doing some Googling and whatnot, I found a site that has some art that I’m interested in. When I looked through their catalog of available items, I found that they also have Nazi propaganda posters in stock. My question is: would you shop with such a place that sells these kind of things alongside their otherwise standard outdoorsman’s merchandise?
Lemmiwinks
Agreed, though MJ’s death did inspire a massive South Park binge starting with the Mr. Jefferson episode.
Demo Woman
Mika’s phrase of the day, real people. How she thinks that will lead to less emails than real American, I don’t know.
gbear
So do we go back to Sanford then?
Al Franken becomes my senator today. Yay.
PaulW
If we can’t discuss that guy… if we can’t discuss that other lady… then we have no other option but to discuss the latest Transformers movie… John? John? Where are you going, John? I was just kidding, John. John? JOHN, where’d you get that howitzer!!! AAAAAA…
geg6
Can we discuss the myriad of ways that Mika B. should be killed on Morning Joe? How that vapid woman came from the loins of her father, I’ll never understand.
Apparently, I am not just not a real American, but I’m not a real person either.
Persia
@r€nato: No, I want him to live. And get spat on every time he walks down the street.
In other news, my husband’s best friend just got a dog. I am thinking of sending in pictures, as he’s a golden retriever and thus pretty much photogenic by default.
Punchy
Some sick fuck on my TV yesterday bragged how he was Ebaying his JaxMem tix for…..wait for it……$15K apiece. Making money off a dead guy. Stay classy!
Persia
@robertdsc: Well, it depends. Do they have all kinds of WWII memorabilia, or are the Nazis, er…special?
Demo Woman
@geg6: Since I tape Rachel, MSNBC automatically comes on in the am. Mika definitely needs to get out more if she thinks that she alone can identify real people.
arguingwithsignposts
@geg6:
That seems to be a common trait among people who don’t agree with Mika. I wonder if her father feels sad about her fall?
JK
@r€nato:
Agreed.
@Demo Woman:
Mika must be taking extra strength stupid pills because she’s sounding dumber by the minute.
@gbear:
It looks like this scumbag will get to hang on to his job. This cocksucker is still telling fellow Repubs that resignation would be the easy way out.
South Carolina GOP votes to censure Sanford
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/07/07/south.carolina.sanford.censure
gbear
@robertdsc:
Can you tell if they’re selling the posters as an example of how ‘ur doin it wrong’ or if they’re catering to buyers who like that stuff? If it was my choice, I wouldn’t give them my money. I’ve avoided stores for lesser reasons (i.e: stores proudly displaying christianist messages).
arguingwithsignposts
@JK:
Well, that doesn’t surprise me about sanford. He’s always been a douchebag. S.C. has exceeded its quota of douchebags, in fact – bob jones u., sanford, demint, graham, etc. pity for such a beautiful state.
jnfr
It’s going to get close to 100 here today, and I think I’m going to spend the day in the garden in spite of that, just to avoid the wall-to-wall MJ coverage. Let us pray this is the last of it.
dan robinson
That kind of describes cable talkers for the last week, doesn’t it?
JK
July 7, 2009 is a date that should live in infamy for the alleged profession of journalism. If hell exists, I hope there’s a special section of it reserved for all of the asshole tv execs who gave the green light for wall to wall coverage of today’s funeral service at the Staples Center.
The obsessive, wall-to-wall coverage of a certain celeb death for the past week is like parents allowing their children to eat all of the junk food they want for a week without having to eat any vegetables or other food that they don’t like.
24 hour cable news is great in theory, but horrible in practice. Thank God for C-SPAN.
Phoenix Woman
Sanford is staying because nobody wants the lieutenant governor to replace him. Why? Because the Lt. Gov., Andre Bauer, makes Sanford look sober and responsible. (Oh, and there are persistent rumors about that he’s a barely-closeted gay guy.)
This means that the Dems might actually have a shot at the seat next year, if they can pick a candidate whose knuckles don’t drag on the ground.
Nicole
Re: Mika- many years ago I read something that theorized that the genes for intelligence are passed along more from the mom’s side. While I’m sure it’s a gross generalization, it does sometimes come back to me when I see children of very bright men who are dumb as a bucket of hair. I feel that they should serve as a warning to other very bright men when they seek mates. Don’t let Mika happen to your future family.
(Of course, Mika’s mom may be very bright herself, in which case we can only assume Joe’s particular strain of stupid is so powerful it’s actually contagious.)
dan robinson
The team time trial is being run over farm roads. In some places, the paved road is less than a single lane wide. This will be good.
Violet
@JK:
Wingnuts make my head hurt. Resignation is “the easy way out” for Sanford, but for Palin, “keeping her head down and plodding along” is the “quitter’s way out.” Good Lord, these people don’t begin to make sense. Do they even know what words mean?
Sorry for the Palin mention – it was only to highlight the wackiness of Wingnuttia in general.
In other news, it’s raining here. Raining! This is big news, as this is probably our driest summer on record. Severe drought and watering restrictions in place. Rain is a welcome event indeed.
Phoenix Woman
If anyone wants to watch something uplifting, may I suggest the coverage of the swearing-in of Senator Al Franken? The Al Franken Decade starts NOW!
Seriously, Franken has a good heart. He does USO tours, for starters. And as has been pointed out, he comes to the Senate as one of its most serious policy wonks.
Rosali
Can we talk about McCain? Has anyone seen him lately?
Johnny B. Guud
The whole thing has been spinning way out of control. I’m getting a little disgusted seeing these people wave their Jacko memorial tickets around with these huge smiles on their faces like they just won tickets to a invitation-only, acoustic set for a Beatles reunion with Eric Clapton in George’s place (my shameless Shallow Hal reference).
Seriously, this is a person’s death we’re talking about here–and a sick individual to boot, I don’t care how many records he sold.
The whole culture is depraved…
dan robinson
It would be great if a Republican governor came out of the closet.
And I resent remark about knuckledragging. If I don’t drag my knuckles on the ground, how do you expect me to maintain my callouses?
The Other Steve
The people complaining about the Michael Jackson coverage apparently weren’t alive when Elvis Presley or John Lennon died.
ZZZZzzzz
Punchy
Is DKos getting hacked at the moment?
r€nato
@dan robinson:
watching the Tour here as well. I’m surprised at the condition of parts of the road; I was talking with a biker friend just yesterday about it and I asserted that they probably fix up all the roads prior to the Tour.
I guess not. Some of these roads are looking in pretty sad shape.
JK
When someone aspires to be president of the United States, I don’t have any problem with heavy coverage of her by the MSM. When that someone delivers the stupidest, most incomprehensible fucking resignation speech in American history, I think it’s valid to spend lots of airtime trying to decipher, deconstruct, translate, and interpret said speech.
On the other hand, excessive coverage of a celebrity death is absolutely indefensible and just pandering to the lowest common denominator in the name of ratings.
different church-lady
Do you think Palin resigned because she was depressed about Micheal Jackson’s death?
*ducks*
BruceK
I’m still trying to figure out how the President of Venezuela can say that the Honduran overthrow is being backed by the “Yankees” at the same time that the US Secretary of State is meeting with the ousted Honduran President and the US President is pretty firm in his denunciations of the military strongmen currently in charge in Honduras.
Oh, wait: “They have the support of the Yankees. I’m not saying they have the support of Obama, because Obama I believe is a prisoner of the empire” as well, Chavez said. (AP via Google)
What’s the left-wing version of a wingnut black hole? Or is it the same thing, only spinning counter-clockwise?
dan robinson
Senator Al.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_mwsDFm7bQ
It’s alright.
JK
China’s “Bloodiest Clashes” In 20 Years
http://themoderatevoice.com/38370/chinas-bloodiest-clashes-in-20-years
Xinjiang: 150 dead in Uighur unrest
http://ww4report.com/node/7543
JK
@dan robinson:
Al Franken also did a brilliant Henry Kissinger impersonation in a Grateful Dead concert film, the title of which I don’t recall.
anonevent
@Punchy: According to the webpage that finally came up it looks like the DK master db is being moved.
Violet
@r€nato:
Rode along with the Tour a few years ago (holiday thing, following the Tour), so rode some of the same roads, either before or after the Tour riders. And no, they don’t really fix them up all that much.
The towns and villages that get a stage going through them really do everything up in a big way. It’s a big deal, and very political, to get a Tour stage. So they’ll make sure all the flowers are in place, the town is clean, etc. If there are construction projects in the way, they’ll finish those so their town doesn’t show badly. But between towns, villages, or cities, it’s kind of anything goes.
If you’re a cycling fan, doing a Tour holiday is a blast. We had a fantastic time. Rode a lot, saw gorgeous sights, and ate and drank well every night. Hard to beat.
stinkwrinkle
@robertdsc:
I think propaganda posters are great art, and my appreciation of them in no implies any endorsement of the sentiments expressed by them. So, shop away, I say!
media browksi
I’m home with the flu (they’ll let me know if it’s h1n1 this afternoon, huzzah!) and all the coverage is about Subjects Which Must Not Be Named in This Thread.
Sigh. If I get to feeling better I’m going to braise some ribs. Any suggestions for rib rubs? I’m thinking brown sugar, kosher salt, ancho chile, lemongrass, smoked paprika & Old Bay.
SiubhanDuinne
When I first became aware of Mika, I kind of admired her — she refused to do segments on Paris Hilton or Britney Spears or whoever the celebrity du jour was at the time, and I thought, Hmmm, a bit of journalistic integrity there, trying in a small way to maintain some semblance of standards. Also, she talked back to Joe sometimes and called him on the stupid things he spouted. But since that early high point, she’s just become whiny and nagging. I turn on Morning Joe a couple of times a week to see if it is possibly any better. But it never is, usually as much because of Mika as anyone else, so I watch something else after a minute or two.
Jason
@Johnny B. Guud:
Careful. That kind of talk is generating cash for Peter King’s opponents. You don’t want the Jackson Mob voting you out of office.
Phoenix Woman
BruceK: Chavez was one of the few defenders of the Iranian régime against Moussavi’s faction, and was one of the people insisting that Obama was somehow orchestrating the protests when in fact the protesters asked Obama to stay out of it.
As with a lot of hardcore tinfoilers — and I say this as someone who likes Chavez’ efforts to lift his people out of poverty — he is having a hard time reconciling what he’s seeing with what he’s trained himself to think.
Fulcanelli
@anonevent: …presumably to an undisclosed location.
media browksi
@PaulW: Re Transformers 2,
1. has anyone seen it and can confirm the severe anti-Obama bias?
2. Can anyone confirm that Megan Fox is not CGI?
Original Lee
This story over at Crooks and Liars makes my day. Who would have thought that teabagging was like fireworks?
SiubhanDuinne
When I first became aware of Mika, I kind of admired her — she refused to do segments on Paris Hilton or Britney Spears or whoever the celebrity du jour was at the time, and I thought, Hmmm, a bit of journalistic integrity there, trying in a small way to maintain some semblance of standards. Also, she talked back to Joe sometimes and called him out on the stupid things he spouted. But since that early high point, she’s just become whiny and nagging. I turn on Morning Joe a couple of times a week to see if it is possibly any better. But it never is, usually as much because of Mika as anyone else, so I watch something else after a minute or two.
Johnny B. Guud
@Jason: Saw that last night. Amusing…
The Grand Panjandrum
@gbear:
Congrats! I think Al will make a very fine Senator and if Paul Wellstone were still around he’d make him proud. It’s a great day for the American worker when a pro-union guy like gets sworn into the Senate.
demimondian
@r€nato: That chatter keeps hanging on and on.
MikeJ
Man, it’s a pity we can’t talk about the Department of Law.
media browksi
@Nicole: @SiubhanDuinne:
Mika is exhibiting Stockholm Syndrome (wonder if DougJ will catch it too) from sitting in a room with Joe too long.
SiubhanDuinne
Ack! Sorry about the double post.
anonevent
@media browksi: Saw it, and:
1. Obama’s name is used when a representative of the president comes in and tells Optimus Prime that the Autobots need to leave because there’s the possibility that the Decepticon attacks are only occurring because of their presence. At the time, not even Optimus Prime could dispute it. Remember, though, in the first movie GWB was made out to be a lazy ass that was concerned about Ding Dongs.
2. Does it matter?
jibeaux
The popularity of Transformers is destroying my faith in America. This is about a movie about robots that turn into cars and back into robots, or maybe cars that turn into robots and back into cars. This is a feature length film seen by adults. I’m not saying we have to all watch The Tea Cozy or obscure Iranian cinema all the time, but this is the #1 movie out during a time of year when you can spend until 9:00 outside enjoying the sun, swimming, biking, double dutch rope jumping, or trying to find another way to eat zucchini. It’s depressing.
anonevent
@jibeaux: Sorry, but 100+ temps are why God invented air conditioning.
media browksi
@anonevent:
1. Fair enough :)
2. It would just explain a lot.
Persia
@jibeaux: I don’t mind that it’s about giant robots. I mind that it’s a racist, sexist piece of crap.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Punchy:
At the record company meeting
On their hands – a dead star
And oh, the plans they weave
And oh, the sickening greed
At the record company party
On their hands – a dead star
The sycophantic slags all say:
I knew him first, and I knew him well
Re-issue! re-package! re-package!
Re-evaluate the songs
Double-pack with a photograph
Extra track (and a tacky badge)
A-list, playlist
Please them, please them!
Please them!
(sadly, this was your life)
But you could have said no
If you’d wanted to
You could have said no
If you’d wanted to
Bpi, mtv, bbc
Please them! please them!
(sadly this was your life)
But you could have said no
If you’d wanted to
You could have walked away
…couldn’t you?
I touched you at the soundcheck
You had no real way of knowing
In my heart I begged take me with you …
I don’t care where you’re going…
But to you I was faceless
I was fawning, I was boring
Just a child from those ugly new houses
Who could never begin to know
Who could never really know
Oh…
Best of! most of!
Satiate the need
Slip them into different sleeves!
Buy both, and feel deceived
Climber – new entry, re-entry
World tour! (media whore)
Please the press in belgium!
(this was your life…)
And when it fails to recoup?
Well, maybe:
You just havent earned it yet, baby
I walked a pace behind you at the soundcheck
You’re just the same as I am
What makes most people feel happy
Leads us headlong into harm
So, in my bedroom in those ugly new houses
I danced my legs down to the knees
But me and my true love
Will never meet again …
At the record company meeting
On their hands – at last! – a dead star!
But they can never taint you in my eyes
No, they can never touch you now
No, they cannot hurt you, my darling
They cannot touch you now
But me and my true love
Will never meet again
Johnny B. Guud
OT — This past week I spent a few days at a B&B on Otsego Lake in upstate NY, enjoying the peace and quiet, then spent a day in Cooperstown.
The owners of the B&B served us french toast made with this fantastic cracked-wheat bread. I asked about the bread and the owner noted that a relative is a baker and makes the bread at his bakery 30 miles away. To me the bread was so good, we took the time to drive out there after we had checked out, and bought a few loaves.
If anyone is interested, the bakery is called Heidelberg Baking
The cracked wheat bread is fantastic. Just FYI
JK
@SiubhanDuinne: @Nicole:
As horrible, putrid, and noxious as I find Fox and Friends, I believe Morning Joe has caught up to it in terms of repulsiveness and unwatchability. For morning news, I go with C-SPAN’s Washington Journal. The Today Show, Early Show, and Good Morning America are usually watchable for the first 45 minutes before they transition into cotton candy fluff.
GRreynoldsCT00
we can be sure she was jealous of the media coverage he was getting
SiubhanDuinne
@ media browski: Stockholm Syndrome. Tee hee!
anonevent
@Persia: I’ll grant you racist, mostly because the twins are kind of over the top, but I’m not so sure about sexist. Two of the toughest characters in the movie are Megan’s character – who, as she says, is the only one who can keep saving Shia’s character – and the girl at the college who is actually a decepticon. As for Megan’s shorts, OK, that.
The Grand Panjandrum
@The Other Steve: Heh. But seriously everyone here should remember the Anna Nicole Smith coverage. They had media helicopters following her funeral procession to the boat that was going to carry her remains to the island where they buried her. She was a B-list, no talent, famous for being famous celebrity and still got very wide coverage. That is why I do not subscribe to cable. I can find all the news I need on the web.
Face
@MikeJ: The thing is, with shit this stupid, can Fox even accept her as a talking head? I realize they like those who spout the ridiculous, but can they put up with her spouting the nonsensical/make-believe all day long?
GRreynoldsCT00
and you’re being generous…sometimes I get fed up in the first five minutes depending on what they decide to lead with!
canuckistani
Match every German purchase with a Soviet purchase, and that will keep it clear that you’re collecting for historical interest rather than dreaming of a revival.
And some of those old Soviet propaganda posters make seriously cool art.
jibeaux
Why is the air conditioning so over the top, though? You go into a movie theatre in summer and it’s never more than about 63 degrees in there. Then you go back out into the heat, it makes me dizzy. I use A/C too when it’s hot, but I like to not feel like I’ve gone into the walk-in beer cooler a the A & P.
And sure, I’ve heard a little about the Obama bashing and the gold tooth robot and I guess I don’t know about the sexism, and I try to care about the racism of a gold toothed slang-talking robot, but I can’t get past the fact that we’re discussing a talking robot. Who turns into a car. It’s hard for me to care about the subtler messages contained within something so asinine. Just go see movies that don’t so obviously suck and you won’t have to watch stupid stereotypes along with all the other really, really stupid stuff, is what I feel like saying…
JK
@jibeaux: @Persia:
This is the kind of movie I’d never want to see and I’m very disappointed that it has made so much money. I take a small measure of comfort in the fact that the reviews of it of have been heavily negative.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Johnny B. Guud: If you are a beer drinker take a tour of the Ommegang Brewery in Cooperstown. The make some great Belgian-style beers well worth drinking.
peach flavored shampoo
What’s this mean?
anonevent
@jibeaux: Because if you didn’t have it that high, the theater would quickly start smelling like a gym locker. Plus, a full theater can quickly raise the room temperature.
DBrown
@Jason: Really? And all the people who came out for bushwhack after he killed thousands of American boys and hundred of thousands of Iraqi’s somehow makes (he who shall not be named) fans look depraved? Grip a grip on reality.
dan robinson
Hey, don’t bad mouth TWANS!
She was the embodiment of Republican family values.
Xenos
@Demo Woman: Mika thinks that a Gallup poll about generalized political preferences is dispositive in the matter. God save her. Just one year with Joe and her brain has turned to mush.
The Grand Panjandrum
Since this is an open thread I found this: Joe the Plumber found a government program he could get behind:
Words fail. But Think Progress has a real doozy of a quote from JTP and video. It should be of little wonder that this guy creamed his jeans over Palin. They are both what has become the rump of the GOP: ignorant fucks who play the victim card at every opportunity.
media browksi
She Who Must Not Be Named:
The Grand Panjandrum
@dan robinson: LOL. You know as funny as that is there is a kernel of truth to it.
Shinobi
They are striking in that one place this week… What’s it called…. Oh yeah, Iran.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@JK:
No teevee in the morning for me; I like NPR’s Morning Edition, while reading the newspaper (printed on …er…. paper, as the FSM intended).
Napoleon
Greenwald is saying Froomkin has been hired by Huff Post.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/07/froomkin/index.html
JK
@GRreynoldsCT00:
For the most part, I tend to stick with Washington Journal.. I also like to check out Democracy Now http://www.democracynow.org and Morning Edition.
geg6
I am an Al Franken fan. I’ve read most of his books and believe he is quite the policy wonk in the grand tradition of Al Gore. I believe he will be a good senator for the people of Minnesota and a credit to his hero, Paul Wellstone. I am very happy to see him in the Senate.
However, I also am a fan of his SNL work, although I know I may be in a distinct minority here. I simply cannot find any online clips of his really great stuff. Two that I remember fondly were his work as the first fully synergystic campaign correspondent, covering (I believe it was) the 1980 election season with a satellite dish attached to a football helmet he wore on his head. It was fucking hilarious at the time, was quite prescient about the future of the MSM, and had to have some impact on the people who write for the Daily Show. At about the same time, Al did an op-ed on Weekend Update that was about as comedically a brave a thing as I’ve ever seen on network tv and a bit that cost him his chance to produce SNL (Lorne Michaels had him as his top pick) the next season when Michaels had decided to step down. It was about then-network president, Fred Silverman, and what a spectacular piece of FAIL he was with charts illustrating how the entire NBC lineup was tanking and ended with Franken proclaiming that Silverman didn’t deserve his network provided limo. It was called “A Limo for the Lame-O” and every time I saw W in a limo, it called up the memory of that sublime put down.
Good times.
Johnny B. Guud
@The Grand Panjandrum: Thanks for the tip. I’d like to include that stop the next time I travel up there. I’m thinking in the fall, as I’m sure the foliage is beautiful up there.
JK
@The Grand Panjandrum:
Don’t forget the thousands of hours of airtime that CNN, MSNBC, and FNC pissed away on tabloid nonsense like Gary Condit/Chandra Levy, Scott and Laci Peterson, Drew Peterson, Natalee Holloway, and all of the other attractive missing white women.
GRreynoldsCT00
Re Anna Nicole, I loved it on CNN when Jack Cafferty was leading into Wolfe Blitzer’s report and asked him if Anna Nicole was still dead…
Da Bomb
@The Other Steve: You didn’t even have to be alive to catch all of the craziness that ensued after those two died. There’s visuals and plenty of written accounts.
This is nothing new.
MikeJ
Go go Garmin!
geg6
Between Ariana hiring Froomkin (awesome, I heard there was a bidding war) and Josh hooking up with Marc Andreesen’s cash, you gotta wonder about what the people at NYT and WaPo are thinking these days. This stuff makes me almost as giddy and happy as the DFHs putting the brown One in the White House.
A Mom Anon
Here’s what I don’t get: If you’ve got 24/7 to fill on the teevee “news”,how in the hell does it serve even the ratings to run the same single story the whole time? Having the whole damned day ought to make it easier to come up with all kinds of interesting things to fill the time.
I know,the corporate masters want us bored and stupid and watching commercials for drugs we don’t usually need and crap that’s supposed to resemble food.
I wish I had a few billion lying around,I’d start my own freaking network.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Napoleon: Heh. Good news for everyone except the Washington Post. Too bad his blog wasn’t “working” anymore as they claimed when they fired him.
Froomkin becomes a star of new media, and the HMS Post hoists the tattered flag of Neoconservatism and Broderism and sails off into irrelevance.
media browksi
Does anyone have an actual link about Froomkin?! I’m coming up with nothing!
Michael
I won’t utter the “P” word, but this article from David Kahane was so purple-faced and spittle flecked that I just had to share.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDE3MmE5MDVmMGM1YjQ2NmVhMjJkN2I2ZTcxMzhlNjU=
A tidbit. There’s so much in it that it deserves front page coverage, and Kahane really needs to check with his cardiologist about his rage-induced blood pressure.
The Grand Panjandrum
@JK: I follow David Shuster on Twitter and yesterday he sent out a tweet during his show that they were going to follow a high speed car chase in Houston. ….. oy …. How could it possibly be interesting unless Al Cowens is driving with Natalie Holloway hunched down in the back? What? Do they think we’re mindless idiots, or something?
Michael
Another gem……
JK
@Napoleon:
Great news if it’s true.
@geg6:
I haven’t done much digging on Hulu, so I don’t know how many SNL clips are available there. Hopefully, some good Franken sketches are on that site. I think most SNL skits were deleted from YouTube.
I’m a die hard fan of SNL from 1975-1980. The SNL skits on Obama, Clinton, Palin, and McCain were absolutely brilliant, but once they ended I stopped watching the rest of the show. I thought it was ironic that the MSM was so over the top praising those Obama, Clinton, Palin sketches, given that the remaining skits were usually garbage. From 1975-1980, SNL was actually watchable from start to finish.
There’s an SNL sketch where Al Franken draws a map of the US and it’s amazing in terms of its accuracy to a real professionally produced map.
PaulW
@media browksi:
It’s not directly severe. It’s done via proxy, with a pencil-pushing geek representing teh Obama White House wanting to toss the Autobots off the planet thinking it will get rid of the Decepticons as well.
Wasn’t there a godawful Al Pacino movie about a CGI actress…?
Rumors abound that Megan Fox has all these tattoos but for her arm, leg, and midriff-revealing scenes they were digitally scrubbed off.
Other questions:
3. Is there any chance we can sue Michael Bay to ensure the third Transformers movie has fewer scrotum and blackface jokes and more robot battles?
4. And can we sue to get Grimlock and the Dinobots to FINALLY get some scenes?
GRreynoldsCT00
yes
Bill E Pilgrim
@media browksi: Here It was in Napoleon’s post above also.
BruceK
@Phoenix Woman: Fair enough on the props for Chavez’s anti-poverty efforts, but still, one has to have serious concerns with any ideology that’s utterly dependent on, basically, the Boogieman.
Is it schadenfreude to enjoy rabid ideologues spraining their brains as they try to pound square pegs (e.g. Obama) into round holes (e.g. their ideological image of Obama)?
(NB: here in Greece, they know socialists. And communists. Heck, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party are second and third in parliamentary representation here, respectively. And anyone claiming to anyone here that Obama is a socialist would probably be spoken to in very calm, soothing tones, don’t worry, the jackets are supposed to fasten like that, don’t worry so much about the extra-long sleeves…)
gex
@The Other Steve: That’s a good point. Back then, with limited media you were not able to avoid the topic. So far, I have been able to avoid the MJ stuff with the exception of the stuff on this blog because I have far more entertainment choices.
jibeaux
@anonevent:
Well, not if they CLEANED it. I put my fall and winter stuff away in the attic when it’s out of season, I don’t have the space for it, but I have to save a WOOL cardigan that I keep in my foyer closet exclusively for taking to movies. I’ll never understand it. Restaurants are sometimes the same way. If it’s warm but not dreadfully hot, for me having open windows and a fan going to circulate the fresh air is the best feeling in the world, refreshing but not chilling, but pretty much no one does it that way. I just try to opt for places where you can at least sit outside.
Napoleon
@JK:
In the last few days I viewed a clip of him doing that on the Letterman show.
jibeaux
Damn, if the HuffPo hires Froomkin I guess I’m going to have to start reading it. But when are they going to hire a professional graphic designer, is my question. That website gives me a headache.
media browksi
@Bill E Pilgrim: danke
@Michael: @Michael: Ok, I’m running a pretty severe fever here, but did that all come off as a triumph among all possible fever-stoked, bugfuck apeshit crazy wingnut diatribes?
Bill E Pilgrim
@JK: Franken has done that map thing a number of times. Pretty cool.
media browksi
I’m really disappointed in you all: not ONE rib rub recipe? Really?
Cyrus
@Johnny B. Guud:
Overreact much? I haven’t seen the stuff on TV you’re talking about, but aren’t there only like 1,600 or 1,700 tickets? The fraction of ticketholders who are waving them around like idiots does not make a culture. (Yes, I know a lot more people wanted tickets than got them, but even more obviously, we don’t know anything about them.) The media is focusing on the more buffoonish ticketholders, but that’s because its job is to entertain; this is not a new revelation either.
What do you actually object to here, the fact that Jackson has/had any fans at all? I wasn’t alive then either, but The Other Steve was right. People are still going to Graceland. Elvis impersonators got started while he was still alive. The problem you complain about in our culture dates back to long hair on men and white people performing African-American-influenced music in general.
JK
@geg6:
I hate to rain on your parade, but this news doesn’t sound encouraging at all
h/t http://www.gallup.com/poll/121403/Special-Report-Ideologically-Moving.aspx
@The Grand Panjandrum:
24 cable news is pretty much bread and circuses tv. When they can’t find an attractive missing white woman to latch on to, there are always the reliable standbys of car chases, shoot-outs, and burning buildings.
Stephen Colbert or some other comedian was once being interviewed on Fox News and parodied their hysterical overuse of breaking news alerts with this: “This is a Fox News Alert. A cat has fallen out of a tree.”
I’m incredibly grateful that C-SPAN continues to operate. I’m surprised no one has mounted a serious effort to get them off the air since they provide actual information instead of tabloid nonsense.
Napoleon
@JK:
Read Ed Kilgore’s takedown of that poll over on the Democratic Stratagist.
OriGuy
A few years ago, I got hooked on a UK show called Time Team, when it was carried on History International. The premise is simple: a group of archeologists descend on a place where someone’s found some Roman coins or some odd lumps and bumps in the ground. They spend three days with high-tech equipment and lots of diggers trying to figure out what’s going on. I’m still watching episodes that have been uploaded to Veoh.
Tomorrow night is the debut of Time Team America on PBS. Same premise, different cast. They’re starting with Roanoke Island. The DVR is already set.
Johnny B. Guud
I was channel surfing, caught a split-screen shot of the memorial
concertservice on MSNBC.I understand it’s summer, a slow news cycle, whatever. But this is what a major news network considers newsworthy. The media is officially irrelevant.
Good grief.
Jason
@DBrown: I will try to grip that, yes.
But ok, I’ll bite, ’cause I’m not sure what you’re saying. But I think it’s a lot more odd to want to defeat Peter King (Peter effing King!) because he said conventional-wisdom things about Jackson than to want to defeat PK because he’s a legislator who I find really backs the ugliest stuff. I’d probably analogize it with out-of-state backing for Prop 8 in CA.
Which, oddly, makes me sympathetic to King’s statements about Jackson. We don’t know what MJ was into in terms of philanthropy, but seems like a lot of money went into an arena show that’s a pretty empty gesture, politically. For whatever supporters to just get their dander up at King right now is kind of depraved, actually, when you consider what all the money surrounding MJ’s death could’ve done for a pro-marriage initiative in Jackson’s home state.
Steeplejack
@geg6:
I remember those classic Franken bits. The satellite-dish-helmet one was great when it ended with Franken being struck by lightning and his skeleton lighting up.
jenniebee
@robertdsc: I can see why you’d be reluctant if they sell only Nazi propaganda or if the posters in question look like they were picked for what someone thought was current relevance. In that case, I’d run don’t walk somewhere else.
But if they also have stuff like this, you’re on pretty safe ground.
Lyle4
@media browksi:
Eh? The movie was stupid, like REALLY FUCKING STUPID, but I didn’t get this? They only mention Obama once, to say he’s in an undisclosed location or something.
Did I just answer a sarcastic question with a serious answer?
Jason
@jibeaux: oh that is for sure. Wait I think the little bald dude from “Californication” has another post up MUST GO READ
scott
@The Other Steve:
It was irrational then and it’s irrational now. But then the Romans always did like their games; kept the masses occupied.
Cheers,
S
JK
@PaulW:
It’s called Simone. I’ll give Pacino a pass on this one because he starred in my 2 favorite movies The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.
If you examine the filmography of any actor or actress, I think you’d be very hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t have at least 1 or 2 horrendous films on his or her resume.
The only exception I know of is John Cazale, but he died of bone cancer at age 42.
Cazale’s Filmography
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
The Conversation
Dog Day Afternoon
The Deer Hunter
geg6
@JK:
Well, I don’t have time to parse all the underlying numbers and background information on the Gallup site, but based on the phrasing of the question, I really don’t think that tells us anything at all about what people think. Hell, I’m more conservative than I was 30 years ago, 20 years ago, 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. But exactly what does conservative mean? In my own personal context, I’d define it as respecting our American traditions and history, not wanting to radically change without considering consequences before implementation of changes, having our courts take precedent into account, etc., etc., etc.
So does that make me a wingnut?
4tehlulz
Major oh shit moment.
Banks Will Stop Taking California IOUs Friday
Time to stock up on pitchforks and torches. (Hope I can use them this time; these take up more space than you think.)
The Saff
@geg6, re: Al Franken.
I liked his radio program on Air America. He was always good when he appeared on Letterman, too. I donated several times to his campaign last year even though I don’t live in Minnesota. Franken sounds like a really smart cookie and I wish him well in the Senate.
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
@Michael:
Re Kahane: Palin could have squelched all of the jokes, all of the SNL skits, if she had just shown an ounce of readiness, or just a tiny shred of intellect. After 8 years of Dubya, the country was in no mood for another inarticulate dunce, hence the rise of BO. The choice of Palin was an incredible display of tonedeaf leadership, and a real stroke of luck for our side. Had McCain chosen Huckabee, it might be a different world today.
JK
Where’s a good hacker or culture jammer when you need one? If I could have 1 wish right now, it would be for someone to have the technical expertise to completely block out the signals of every tv channel broadcasting coverage of MJ’s funeral services for the whole fucking day.
I miss the good old days when something like that was still possible to pull off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Midnight_(HBO)
Throwin Stones
@JK:
I think that was the ’87 New Year’s Eve show available on pay per view. I’ll have to dig thru the cabinet.
JK
@Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon):
For all of the disappointment Obama might be causing us with his backtracking, I’m counting my blessings that someone as monumentally incompetent as the Wasilla Wingnut is not in the White House at this very minute.
freelancer
Holy crap,
BEST HEADLINE EVER!
Throwin Stones
@Throwin Stones:
Or maybe Dead Ahead ~ ’80 at Radio City?
SGEW
@freelancer: Holy shit. That one might actually beat “Headless Body in Topless Bar.” Extraordinary.
Michael
@media browski
Complete triumph in the fever-stoked, bugfuck apeshit crazy wingnut diatribe department, and nobody is awarding me the trophy I deserve for finding it.
The best part is that it isn’t at The New American, but is at freakin’ NRO, fer chrissakes.
Like Rodney Dangerfield, I get no respect at all.
Ash Can
@media browksi: “Department of law.” LOL!
I’m loving this bit, too:
Yeah, because those situations were exactly the same as hers, don’tcha know. Also.
And this:
Yup, exactly the same. ::headdesk:: And she’s whining about a double standard. Jeebus. Whoever put her on the GOP ticket with McCain needs to be beaten with a stick.
And speaking of certifiable, holy moly, @Michael, that guy really, really needs to get a grip. I mean, go home, have himself a good cry, and get the hell over it. Talk about teenage angst.
(Yeah, yeah, I know. P____-free thread. This stuff is just too good, though.)
Comrade Kevin
@media browksi:
Ribs rub:
½ teasp Dry mustard
4 teasp Garlic powder
4 teasp Onion powder
¼ teasp Black pepper
¼ teasp Cayenne pepper
¾ teasp ground cumin
2½ teasp Kosher salt
⅛ teasp Dry oregano
3½ teasp Brown sugar
¾ teasp Ancho chili powder
arguingwithsignposts
@JK:
there’s a youtube clip of him drawing that map at a meeting when he was campaigning for senator. I’m too lazy to search for it now, but it’s fascinating.
media browksi
@Comrade Kevin: That’s what I’m talking about! Thanks!
Leelee for Obama
Completely OT-another computer question. What the heck should I disable to avoid the security hole in IE? Also, would I need to disable my Norton 360 to download Firefox? I am not in any way computer savvy and really need to know. Anyone, Anyone, Beuller?
arguingwithsignposts
@4tehlulz:
Fucking amazing, after all the money the taxpayers of this country gave them. Yikes.
Svensker
@Leelee for Obama:
Don’t know much about computers, but do know a fair bit about Norton….get rid of it! It’s a total resource hog and not that great at catching incoming viruses. I used to love Norton, but in the past few years they’ve become a dinosaur. I can’t tell you how much better my computer runs since I ditched them (don’t go for McAfee instead, they’re just as bad –I recommend ESET/NOD for quick and accurate). You should not have to disable Norton to download Firefox, however.
Leelee for Obama
@Svensker: Thank you, Svensker. I just renewed my Norton, damnit! I have to read the agreement and see if I can get my ducats back!
par4
Media reform is the only hope.Some adults with authority in charge of the FCC might start making a difference.
Cain
@Nicole:
There might be some truth to that. My father is a brilliant mathematician, but I seem to have gotten a lot of my genes from my mom (eg learning disability, and what not) and I do happen to get some of his intelligence, but mostly his personality (without the temperment and the drive).
cain
BDeevDad
This screen capture says it all when it comes to the media.
Santiago
@ Leelee for Obama
Yep, there’s seems to be a compatibility problem with Firefox 3.5 and Norton 360. A downloadable hotfix from Symantec will be available soon (though they did not exactly say when).
http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=nis_feedback&thread.id=59221
Svensker’s ESET/NOD recommend is best tho’
KCinDC
My photos of Franken drawing the map. It was great. He drew it while answering questions about health care, and then auctioned it off, telling the buyer he should color it in on election night as Obama won the states.
JK
@KCinDC:
That’s great. Thanks for posting it.
RedKitten (formerly Krista - the Canadian one)
You ever have one of those days when you just want stab certain people in the groin with a rusty fork? Our conference starts in two days, I’ve been busy as hell, and one of our board members has decided that now’s a good time to make all sorts of petty, unreasonable requests of us via email from his home base in California, and if we dare to offer a more reasonable counter-suggestion, responds with terse, nasty orders. I’m tempted to find out which of you folks lives near him and offer you $100 to ring his doorbell and smack him soundly upside the head when he answers.
Leelee for Obama
@Santiago: Thanks for the link, they say July 15-does that mean my stuff isn’t safe now that I’m using Firefox? I am so tired of all this crap!
Santiago
@Leelee for Obama
It’s safe as long as you stick to surfing blogs like this and not opening spam mails ; )