It will be interesting to see some polling numbers on Latino perceptions of the Republican party before and after the Sotomayor nomination/confirmation. Stuff like this (claiming Sotomayor is linked with a Puerto Rican terrorist group) is a killer:
I’ve obtained some footage of that Puerto Rican terrorist group — known as the Sharks — in action:
Update. Is Coburn actually doing a Ricky Ricardo imitation here?
Zifnab
She must have excellent finger snaps.
Pablo
And where is her Birf certificate. Also.
R-Jud
Sonia “Jazz Hands of Justice” Sotomayor.
jcricket
Sotomayor should have opened with:
Bonus points if any Republicans ask “Maria” if she “feels pretty, oh so pretty?”
Paddy
Video- Sen. Coburn Tells Judge Sotomayor She Has “Lots of Splainin’ To Do”
That isn’t going to make any friends either.
jcricket
But seriously folks, remember all the polling about how 95% of blacks vote(d) Democrat nowadays? Expect similar polling in 10 years about Hispanics, Asians, gays, Jews, the non-religious, etc.
Republicans can have 100% of the white bigot vote, which they so clearly want, it’ll just mean losing 80% of the country.
Fine by me.
General Winfield Stuck
Just listened to panty wetters Cornyn and Sessions on the great cookie monster of SCOTUS justices citing foreign law as references in their opinions.
I expect the nutters to move away from Sharia Law fearmongering into something much, much worse.
Oui. French Law.
EEGADS! Think of the chill den.
RememberNovember
Wasn’t it Ogilvy who said the last dishonest advertising was in politics?
Jen R
@Paddy: Damn it, when am I going to learn that if I think it’s too over-the-top not to be parody, it’s probably something a Republican really did?
retr2327
IIRC, I think you have the wrong (i.e., non-Puerto Rican) gang from West Side Story in the video.
John PM
How long before Sessions starts say that every Puerto Rican’s a lousy chicken?
BTW, if memory serves, the recently elected governor of Puerto Rico is a Republican. Yes, he is; thank you Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Fortu%C3%B1o). No doubt Republican Senators continued bashing of a woman of Puerto Rican herritage will only benefit Mr. Fortuno. I wonder why he wasn’t on the witness list.
MikeJ
Both gangs are in the clip.
John PM
@retr2327:
No, the Sharks were the PRs. The Jets were the white-trash ethnic.
The Grand Panjandrum
Jesus! Why don’t they ask her if she is personally acquainted with Juan Valdez and Speedy Gonzalez? Holy shit, every time I think these bastards couldn’t possibly be any dumber than they are, I am proven wrong. (And I had such low expectations to begin with.)
Alan
Actually, the Jets were Polish-American, who (in the 1950’s) were still exotic enough to be considered a disfavored ethnic group.
jcricket
@The Grand Panjandrum: Speedy Gonzalez. Wasn’t he a criminal type? She’s probably empathetic to his plight, being from an underprivileged background and all.
Perry Como
Oh, just wait until the hearings restart. The Republicans are coming back in wearing sombreros and ponchos.
Radon Chong
With all this heat the Republicans are putting on her, Sotomayor might just have that meltdown!!1!1!!
Bootlegger
@jcricket: Speedy Gonzalez is a terrorist! Just watch Boomerang, its there every day for all to see.
jenniebee
Whoo commercials running during the hearings on MSNBC asking people to tell their congresscritters not to tax “juice drinks and sodas” (i.e. corn syrup) to fund health care because juice is part of a healthy, balanced diet that promotes good health.
Llelldorin
And, now, at last, the Republicans are demonstrating that they learned absolutely not one little thing from their Proposition 187 fiasco in California.
For years, California was a “bellweather” state, like Missouri; we tended to swing on the knife’s edge in Presidential elections. This lasted until 1994, when then-Governor Pete Wilson decided he’d play footsie with the nativist crowd in Orange County to gin up the right-wing vote. It worked, for that election—Prop. 187 passed, and Wilson handily defeated Kathleen Brown. The only “mild” tradeoff was alienating the California Latino vote.
The long-term result? A massive citizenship and voter registration campaign in the (almost absurdly large) Latino community, and the shift of California to a solidly Democratic state.
With a success like that, why wouldn’t they want to repeat the experiment on the national stage?
Zifnab
@jenniebee:
Wait, are they “taxing” or “eliminating subsidies”? Because I know how people get those two confused all the time.
Violet
@Zifnab:
The real answer probably doesn’t matter. The word “tax” is a scarier word to use on a TV commercial. “Eliminating subsidies” almost sounds good – why should those evil soda manufacturers be subsidized? So they go with “tax” to make it sound bad.
Bootlegger
@jenniebee: Now THAT, takes the friggin’ corn syrup cake. High fructose corn syrup is now part of a healthy diet! This is the equivalent of “cigarettes are good for you.”
LD50
@Llelldorin: If you assume, as I do, that the GOP runs on symbols rather than results, this repetition of history is nothing surprising.
jcricket
@Bootlegger: I have it on good authority that “andele andele arriba arriba” is secret spanish code for “kill whitey”
Daryl
Kudos to Sessions for getting Sotomayer to admit there is going to be a rumble. Tonight as a matter of fact.
Sotomayer wouldn’t spill on the place but Sessions is pretty sure it will be on a Hollywood backlot.
Zifnab
@Violet: You must not have seen the ad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbRxTOyGf0
ellaesther
Oh.My.Fucking.God. Coburn did not just go there. HE DID NOT.
That’s it. Where’s my passport? I mean I was going to pitch a fit about how that first clip just proves that the GOP seems to think that this is 1984 and words don’t mean what they mean and they can just lie their fucking asses off and who cares? Because words are malleable!
But now I’m just going to leave.
White House Department of Law (fmrly Jim-Bob)
Someone please tell Coburn that Ricky Ricardo was Cuban, like his real-life model, Desi Arnaz.
Dennis-SGMM
@Llelldorin:
Indeed. LA county is now 47% Hispanic, California is 36% Hispanic and the mention of prop 187 still causes fury. Prop 187 was overturned in Federal court but that hasn’t stopped California Republican legislators from again pushing to deny all state funded services, including education, to illegal immigrants as a cost cutting measure. The only people more stupid than the Republicans are the ones who vote them into office.
ellaesther
And also, as a self-outed big stinking feminist (see: open thread), may I point out that the Ricky Ricardo thing is not just racist? That Coburn managed to snag the brass ring of sexism as well, in one fell swoop! Because Ricky was not exactly demonstrating his respect for Lucy or womankind when treating her as a recalcitrant 7 year old who had misbehaved and thus needed to do some splainin’. (I seem to recall that he used to spank Lucy, too! Oh fucking hell).
Roger Moore
@Llelldorin:
They didn’t even learn enough not to try it again in California. They’re quite literally trying exactly the same thing again. There’s a new initiative that’s collecting signatures that would try to do exactly the same denial of government services that was ruled unconstitutional in Prop 187. So they’re actually dumb enough to try the same thing that backfired electorally even though they know it will have no effect if it passes because it will be ruled unconstitutional.
Oh, yeah, they’re also trying to go against the 14th Amendment by denying birth certificates to American born children of illegal immigrants. I’m sure the courts will just love that. Don’t these bozos ever learn?
Jen R
@ellaesther: I thought about that, but I was trying not to have a rage blackout on top of my migraine.
MacsenMifune
So wise Latina is Republican code word for militant extremist now. This whole thing is a waste, the Republicans are not going to ask any serious questions, because they don’t have any. Instead they are going to play for time hoping the she pulls a Bork and self immolates. The odds of that happening are……………
JGabriel
DougJ @ Top:
Ooh, I hope that one’s airing in NYC.
.
ruemara
My PR DH is now at full on his apoplectic gauge. Between that dumbass add and the fact that Ricky Ricardo was CUBAN, ty republicans for keep your minority rolls low.
jcricket
No, it’s actually not. It’s a great chance to see what Republicans do when left to their own devices, when the stakes are basically meaningless. And what they do is act like xenophobic race-baiters with zero clue of how they sound to normal folks.
Republicans: Turning mildly humbling experiences into utter humiliation since 2006.
Violet
@Zifnab:
I have seen the commercial. I think it doesn’t work, but I guess that depends on your views on HFCS.
First the white woman insults the black woman, suggesting she doesn’t care what her kids eat – what the heck? How incredibly rude. But then, it seems to me that after she’s been an idiot, she kind of realizes it, and she just tries to keep her mouth shut and change the subject. Like if you accidentally say something about politics or religion and then realize you’re not with like-minded people.
Meanwhile, the black woman is pouring tons of corn syrup into cups, while saying it’s “fine in moderation.” How is pouring gallons of the stuff “moderation”?
The whole thing doesn’t work for me. But then I read labels and avoid HFCS as much as possible. So I’m probably not their target audience. I don’t see that it has changed the mind of the white woman in the commercial – she just kind of shut up about it to be polite and get through the party. So I don’t think it will change other people’s minds either. But like I said, I’m already biased against it.
I think it’s a good sign that the HFCS industry is having to defend itself with commercials. That shows awareness is growing. At least I’m trying to be optimistic.
ellaesther
@Jen R: So sorry. Advil?
Ash
OT: another day, another Jake Tapper faceplant.
ricky
Before all you Balloon Juice Intellectuals get your psycho/political panties in a wad over the racial/sexual implications of an I Love Lucy Phrase (which has been one of my usernames I will disclose), remember this:
Fred and Ethyl represent the post war intellectual left’s rejection of their com-symp past, and foreshadows the inroads of right wing radio into the offspring of their ethnic type.
And while I am at it, splain to me why this is filed under Burkean Bells.
Ash Can
The Committee for Justice assholes don’t mention the scary terrorist-supporting organization by name, but I’m betting it’s the same one that, IIRC, Alberto Gonzalez chaired for a while and whose guest convention speakers have included George W and Arnold Schwartzenegger.
No ridicule is too cruel for these lowlifes.
JGabriel
ellaesther:
Do we really need to chastise Desi and Lucy for their minimally S&M bedroom escapades? I thought we liberals were above that.
.
jenniebee
@Zifnab: They’re describing it as a tax on soda and juice drinks. There’s no actual reference to corn syrup in the commercial.
On that note, does anybody have a recipe for a good pecan pie that doesn’t use corn syrup?
Violet
@jcricket:
Agreed. It’s actually pretty fascinating to see just how low they’ll go. The Onion, The Daily Show, Colbert…they can’t even make this stuff up.
At some point, the Republicans, or at least small c conseratives, are going to wake up and realize how this comes across and what it’s going to mean for their future. And things will change. But it looks like that day is a little farther off than I thought.
General Winfield Stuck
I like the clip where Cornyn cites one of Sotomayors’s former colleagues, that heaven forbid, she might hold the dread “liberal instincts”. I guess that’s “liberal fascist instincts” now, after Jonah’s unholy marriage expose.
Bobbing for red apples in a barrel full monkeys.
jibeaux
@ricky:
because it’s DougJ.
jenniebee
@Violet: that wasn’t the commercial I just saw on TV. The one I saw had a family camping and talked about how horrible it was in these tough times for congress to tax creature comforts like sodas and juice drinks. They said something about health care and said that exercise/balanced diet, etc. were the real keys to good health. Then they directed the viewers to contact Congress to tell them not to tax sodas or juice drinks. There was no direct reference to corn syrup in the commercial.
General Winfield Stuck
Because it’s all Burkean when the Bell tolls.
Jen R
@ellaesther: Imitrex + acetaminophen + caffeine seems to be taking care of it.
I have these weird generic acetaminophen caplets that have a spearmint coating. I keep forgetting about it, so it’s a surprise every time I take a pill. It’s like taking Tic-Tacs for your headache.
ricky
jibeaux @ 47
I am still smarting from his inexplicable leaving David Brooks inner thigh out of that file category.
Bret
Ay yay yay!
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
KG
Dear Senator Coburn,
As a Cuban-American, I would like to remind you that we are the only portion of the Latino community that the GOP has not yet pissed off. Contrary to what you might think, doing impressions of Ricky Ricardo is not a way to endear yourself or your party to our community. I would also point out that Dezi Arnez (and his character Ricky Ricardo) were Cuban, Judge Sotomayor is Puerto Rican, there is a difference between those two. I know it can be confusing, but you’re now finding ways to annoy two voting blocks in multiple states that your party will need if you ever expect to have something that resembles a governing majority before you die.
Now, as far as using the accent, please stop. That is rather annoying, and probably offensive. There are plenty of Latinos, from all of Latin America, who do not have such an accent. And to hear an old white man say that is, well, insulting. This would be akin to you quoting Dr. Dre (poorly) at a hearing for an African American nominee.
Sincerely,
KG
jcricket
@Violet:
Remember the recent Colbert where he “agrees” with the Rep. who said that “Hunger can be a motivator” and that we should deny her food as motivation?
Seriously, Republicans are now arguing in favor of starving children – without prompting. Best just to get out of the way and let them immolate themselves.
Lee from NC
@Violet:
Sorry, but no. Racists never realize how they sound. They think they are right and that’s that. I’ve worked with racists who, despite the fact that I’m a gay white male in a relationship with a black male, continued to espouse to me some of the most despicable racist crap I’ve ever heard. And then were surprised when I disagreed with them.
In their world, they’re right and everyone either thinks like them or is stupid.
El Bandito Blancito
Am I the only one who is disappointed in her hearing performance so far?
We had an acronym in law school: ATFQ… Answer The F-ing Question. It just doesn’t seem like she is willing to answer any difficult questions on the 2nd amendment, LOAC (from yesterday), Kelo takings, etc.
Initially I really liked the pick, but I would still like a little bit of substance to come out of this thing.
Violet
@jenniebee:
I haven’t seen that one. That’s kind of funny that they made a commercial where people are whining because someone wants to tax their hfcs-y drinks. Sounds like an addiction issue to me.
The corn industry could probably pay a doctor to say HFCS isn’t bad for you (in moderation), but every nutritionist out there will tell you that drinking sugary (or hfcs-y) drinks isn’t good for you. Every health program or diet I’ve ever seen suggests replacing sweet drinks with water. The industry really is being ridiculous.
It does remind me of the tobacco industry arguments. I guess we’ll see what happens. If there’s a penny or five cents more in tax on a can of soda, I don’t see the problem with that. Water is a marginal monthly expense if you drink tap water from your own faucet. The health of the country would be seriously better off if sodas kind of vanished overnight.
Okay, stepping off my soapbox.
Montysano
Next up: Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III reminds Sotomayor that “We don’t need no steen-king badges”.
PaulW
@El Bandito Blancito:
Problem is, boss, this isn’t law school. This is politics. If you actually answer the f-ing question they will nail you to it. Which is why you have to be as f-ing vague as possible without looking like a brainless idiot (SEE Fredo “I don’t recall” Gonzales).
Common Sense
Jesus people. Food that is chemically altered to be as unhealthy as possible is as American as fried chicken. Next you’ll be pissing on jazz. The gazpacho is about 15,000 miles to the east, comrade.
Violet
@Lee from NC:
I think what I was trying to say is that eventually either the powers that be in the GOP, or a band of small c conservatives will realize that the people supposedly representing them are horribly racist and are pushing the majority of the country away. I didn’t mean to suggest that the racists themselves will change. I know that can happen, but it’s relatively rare.
I do that that at some point in the apparently distant future, small c conservatives who aren’t racists will band together with some other groups – not the usual southern racist crowd – and come up with some new ideas for a viable party. Who knows, it might not even be called the Republican party.
Meanwhile, things like these hearings serve only to let their real colors show. And it isn’t pretty.
El Bandito Blancito
@PaulW:
two things: First, I’m trying to hold her to a slightly higher standard than Alberto; and second, since she’s getting confirmed anyway, isn’t this an opportunity to at least be semi-assertive about what you stand for as a judge? The way she is answering some of these questions, coupled with her passing the buck in Ricci, it makes me think she’s afraid to stand up when it counts.
But, then again, maybe my expectations were to high.
satby
@KG:
Have you ever listened to Coburn talk? Dude will probably do Amos and Andy the next time there’s a black nominee for anything.
gex
@Violet: I suppose eventually they will, I just can’t see how. Remember, the Christianists and racists were deliberately invited in for purposes of electoral victory. After the economic crash last year, it will be some time before their vision of the economy becomes popular again. And after Iraq, it will be some time before their vision of national security becomes popular again. That they had to use the rabid base to win when their ideas had greater appeal to Americans doesn’t bode well for their ability to jettison the rabid base now. Frankly, I don’t know where the Republican party can go.
geg6
OT, but has anyone been paying attention to the Glennzilla takedown of Chuck Todd in his morning post today? Excellent takedown, as only Glenn can do. Well, there have been, as always, updates. The first was a rather peevish whine from Todd that Glenn should have contacted him first before publishing to get Todd’s views on what he was actually saying (which, if you said it on a nationally televised cable news program on which you are identified as not only the White House correspondent but as providing political analysis seems a bit redundant, wouldn’t you say?). To which Glenn replied, well, you said it, I didn’t. But if you wanna defend that shit, well, I’ll be happy to let you hang yourself. So they will be doing a podcast this afternoon. I think that might be some entertaining stuff.
BP in MN
@El Bandito Blancito:
I think it’s just become the norm for all judicial hearings for the nominee to avoid any semblance of honest opinions about cases that might matter, to avert even the slightest bit of controversy. Roberts and Alito were exactly the same way, and I don’t remember Breyer or Ginsburg saying much of interest either.
I think it’s stupid, and the hearings a charade, but I don’t think it reflects anything on Sotomayor’s willingness to stand up for whatever principles she holds.
I do wish Obama had given Mendoza a fair hearing though…
Common Sense
@satby:
Imagine Coburn’s accent if Obama nominated Frank for something.
gex
@BP in MN: Dang, there are a lot of Minnesotans in these blog comments.
geg6
@Common Sense:
It would, no doubt, involve lots of lisping. And swishing. Gotta have the swish.
BP in MN
@gex:
I know! You would think we’d be outside enjoying the all-too-brief summer…
Ash
@El Bandito Blancito: No one ever says anything of substance in these hearings. At least not that I can remember.
El Bandito Blancito
@BP in MN:
you’re probably right, and maybe I am still bitter that he didn’t tap Diane Wood initially, but I still say that when you have the sumbitchin’ nomination sewn up, you can afford to do it with a little bit of flair.
and
@gex,
we Minnesotans–despite our celebrity politicians–have our finger on the pulse of politics, my friend.
General Winfield Stuck
OT
I for one ,would welcome an open thread on health care. A lot of good stuff happening on this front, aside from the Sotomayor dog and pony show.
Violet
@gex:
I don’t see how they will either, but I do think it’ll happen. Eventually the Dems will overplay their hand and the pendulum will swing back the other way. Maybe America will decide it wants to be a nation of racists, but I don’t think so. That means whoever comes up with some new, non-racist ideas and enough people to form a party will be the ones that get the votes. Maybe that’ll be call the Republican party; maybe not. But the Dems won’t stay in power forever. The American people always seem to want a change after a few years.
inkadu
My only problem with HCFS is that it is nowhere near as tasty as cane sugar.
Try to find a soda that uses cane sugar. It’s really difficult. Your best bet is local brands. Or go to South America, where sugar is still cheaper then corn.
Roger Moore
@inkadu:
Here in Southern California, we can sometimes get Mexican Coca-Cola. They don’t have the same trade-distorting subsidies and tariffs we do, so they still make it with good old fashioned sugar, and it’s great.
PurpleGirl
I just had a phone call from some group against the soda tax. I am against it but I wouldn’t lend my name to any of these groups because I don’t want them to think I agree with them on other things involving taxes.
The “splaining” thing could also backfire on the GOP with regard to Cuban communities. Mixing up Puerto Ricans with Cubans probably won’t sit well with Cuban voters; my upper middle class Cuban almost mother-in-law detested Puerto Ricans. The GOP really has to get their people to think critically before they talk. (Although it can be fun watching what happens when they don’t.)
Common Sense
@inkadu:
It’s possible to find this around the state (mainly by the bottle in convenience stores). I’ve seen it throughout Texas. Not that Imperial is a saintly company or anything, but at least they use real sugar.
and yeah Mexican Coke is available all over the place as well.
Violet
@inkadu:
It’s pretty easy where I live. Coke is made with sugar in Mexico, and shops that cater to a Mexican clientele import it. Plenty of those shops where I live. I just don’t drink soda hardly at all, so I don’t buy any.
Agreed! It really does taste so much better. If corn subsidies were lowered or eliminated or HFCS was taxed, the manufacturers might go back to sugar.
gex
@inkadu: Often in the ethnic foods section of a grocery store you can buy the Mexican Coca-Cola in glass bottles with cane sugar used as the sweetener.
I saw the funniest thing on one of my friend’s Facebook page. In response to a question about what iconic American brand made you proudest, his answer was the Mexican imported Coca-Cola.
steve s
Pepsi now makes cane-sugar versions of its drinks called Pepsi Throwback, Mountain Dew Throwback, etc. I tried some recently (because a friend told me he liked the taste better, not for bogus health reasons. Cane Sugar is no better or worse for you than HFCS). I couldn’t taste the difference, but maybe I’m just not sensitive enough.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Common Sense:
Gazpacho is Spanish, not Russian. You may be thinking of borscht. Also, Moscow is only about 4670 miles from New York, so you would probably overshoot your destination.
gex
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Other than that, it was a killer take-down!
Colette
@jenniebee:
I use this one, which I got online somewhere long ago. I’ve read that pecan pie was invented by company that makes Karo as a way of selling more corn syrup, but don’t know if that’s true at all.
1 flaky pasty crust (single)
3 eggs
1 c light brown sugar — packed
1 c maple syrup — pure
4 TB butter, unsalted — melted
1/4 ts salt
1 ts vanilla extract
2 c pecans — coarsely chopped
Lightly grease a ten-inch pie pan and put the pie
crust in.
Set the oven at 400 degrees to pre-heat. Position a
rack to the middle.
In a bowl, beat the eggs until they are combined. Add
the sugar and mix well. Stir in the maple syrup,
butter, salt, vanilla, and pecans. Pour the filling
into the pie crust and tranfer to the oven.
Bake the pie for 10 minutes. Reduce the temparature
to 350 and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes or
until the filling is set. Give the pie a gentle
shake; the center should remain firm. Let the pie sit
at room temperature to cool completely.
Common Sense
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
Anything east of South Carolina starts to blend together.
And I don’t know what kind of metric based measurements you use, but here in the US of A we prefer to keep those commie bastards as far away as possible, even if it means adding a few miles here and there.
inkadu
Wow. I’ve never gotten so many responses to any comment I’ve made. Clearly there are a lot of sugar addicts out there.
I have family in South America, and when I was a kid visiting I drank about two liters a day. Delicious. It came in glass bottles, and when you were done drinking, you took your bottle back to the grocery store before you could buy another one. And I think in the 90’s, the Coke in glass bottles around Christmas time had sugar.
And Steve — Mouth feel is probably just as important as taste. HCFS feels like that coca cola polar bear came in my mouth.
Isn’t there a tarriff on Brazilian sugar right now? I hear a lot of people bitching that sugar cane makes cheaper ethanol, but we can’t use it in the US, because the ethanol is just a sop to corn states.
We’ll have to talk about ice cream in some other thread, too. That’s really gone down hill in the past few years.
JGabriel
Holy cow. Specter just defended “empathy”.
Specter’s becoming a flaming liberal.
.
gex
@JGabriel: Of course he did. Did you see Sestak’s fund raising totals?
A Mom Anon
@steve s:
Pepsi used to make it,it was only available for two months this spring. I does taste better,I know alot of people can’t tell,but I can. I can buy the Coke from Mexico with plain old sugar,but it’s almost 2 bucks for one 16 oz bottle.
Just as well though,I started drinking LaCroix and other lightly flavored waters instead of soda a couple months ago and I’ve lost 23 lbs. My last big vice is coffee with caramel creamer,if I can find the creamer without HFCS I’d buy it in second.
Throwin Stones
Does Jefferson Beauregard Sessions remind anyone else of Foghorn Leghorn, or is it just me?
“I need, I say, I need a pointer, and that dog’s got just the head for it. Pointed, that is.”
or maybe…
“Okay, I’ll shut up. I’m not one that has to keep talkin’. Some fellas just have to keep their mouths flappin’, but not me! I was brought up right, my pa used to tell me “shut up” and I’d shut up! I wouldn’t say nothin’! One time, darn-near starved to death.”
Dave C
If these hearings keep giving John excuses to post “West Side Story” videos, I don’t want them to ever end!
J.
OMG, if you haven’t seen Stephen Colbert’s take on the Sotomayor hearings you HAVE to check this out.
Zandar
GOP is fail with little meta-fails orbiting around it.
(“Say hello to ma leetle fail!”)
steve s
am i the only person who thinks the pepsi throwback logo is a bit …suggestive…?
link
Allan
The New Coke rollout coincided with Coca-Cola’s switch to HFCS. I always wondered if it was meant to remove Classic Coke from the marketplace temporarily so that consumers wouldn’t taste the change from cane sugar…
PurpleGirl
It’s not available allover — mainly in Jewish neighborhoods — but Coke-Cola uses sugar cane for soda for Passover. It’s a Kosher thing, changing the sweetener so as not to use the regular stuff during Passover. You have look for it in the weeks just before Passover and buy a supply.
Svensker
@PurpleGirl:
Hey, they’re all brown, talk funny and live on islands close to Florida. Let’s not mix anybody up with nuance here, let alone facts. (Ditto what you said about Cuban attitudes toward Puerto Ricans. I’ve run into, too.)
KG
@76: Pepsi throw back. Also, what 77 said. (edit: the other cool thing about Mexican Coke (calm down kids) is that it comes in a glass bottle rather than plastic)
I wonder how many members of the Judiciary committee are licensed attorneys. I also wonder how many of them ever actually practiced law in an actual court room with an actual judge. And dealt with actual clients with actual facts and had to apply actual case law to those actual facts.
I mean, someone who has actually spent some time as a real life lawyer in the last two decades might have some insight into why most of these questions are incredibly stupid.
And I’m not even watching. Also!
inkadu
@KG: Republican lizard-brain talking points trump the education and experience found in the cerebrum.
chopper
@steve s:
well, not quite. hfcs isn’t sucrose, it’s already broken down into fructose and glucose. that means it bypasses the body’s system for slowing sucrose digestion, namely the enzyme sucrase which can be limited by the body in order to keep a good pace. hfcs bypasses this and gets digested very quickly and spikes blood sugar way faster. different metabolic pathway.
Brachiator
@ellaesther:
I Love Lucy is just comedy, unlike these hearings, which are bad farce, and not much worth commenting on.
In comedy, there is always a character who is authoritarian (adult, even male if you have to go there) and another who is anarchic (child-like, even feminine If you have to go there) without respect to the actual gender of the performer. Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, The 3 Freakin’ Stooges. Moe the authoritarian, Curly the anarchist. Among the Marx Brothers, Harpo was practically androgynous. Burns and Allen. Martin and Lewis. Lucy was fully in this tradition. And even in the TV universe of I Love Lucy, Fred and Ethel as a couple were more adult authoritarian than were Ricky and Lucy.
Trying to lay sexism on Lucy misses the point, even the subversive nature of the show (originally, the executives didn’t want Desi Arnaz to play Lucy’s husband, because he was foreign born, and some of the musical performances on the show are not just Cuban, they are straight-out Afro-Cuban).
Maybe someone can get Coburn to say “Vitameatavegamin” before the hearings are concluded.
Comrade Kevin
@steve s: Suggestive of what?
jenniebee
Watching the hearings, just waiting for the moment that Sotomayor announces to Spectre that she’s going to talk directly to the American people without the filter of the media, winks, declines to play politics as usual and submit to “gotcha” questions, and then offers to the committee to “look that up and get back to ya.”
Waiting…
jenniebee
@chopper: see, now if the white woman in that commercial linked to earlier had done her homework and knew all that scientificky stuff about sucrase and shit she wouldn’t have had to back down when that uppity black woman got all up in her face with the fruit punch, yo.
Not really, but do you think we could sell it that way to Sessions to get him to fund more scientific education?
Persia
@Violet: The lobby has some pretty amazing commercials in ‘family’ magazines, too. They’re scared.
jenniebee
Franken’s up and this is brilliant. He begins by asking Sotomayor to give her definition of Judicial Activism, she says that she doesn’t think there’s any such thing, that it’s all based on law and she has faith in the good faith of judges, etc.
So then Franken says that he thinks there is a real and rising problem with Judicial Activism and starts giving her examples of conservative Judicial Activism and asks her to explain why they’re legitimate law.
This is full of awesome.
Brachiator
@chopper:
well, not quite. hfcs isn’t sucrose, it’s already broken down into fructose and glucose. that means it bypasses the body’s system for slowing sucrose digestion, namely the enzyme sucrase which can be limited by the body in order to keep a good pace. hfcs bypasses this and gets digested very quickly and spikes blood sugar way faster. different metabolic pathway.
Well, not quite, according to a recent episode of Skeptoid (High Fructose Corn Syrup: Toxic or Tame?)
HFCS is used because it’s cheaper and (as a liquid) handier to use in various food products.
Brachiator
@chopper:
Well, not quite, according to a recent episode of Skeptoid (High Fructose Corn Syrup: Toxic or Tame?)
HFCS is used because it’s cheaper and (as a liquid) handier to use in various food products.
ETA: Curses! Darn double post. The InterTubes have won again.
gex
@Brachiator: Didn’t they recently find that there’s mercury in HFCS?
KG
@107: that’s a good answer by Sotomayor; something I would probably give… but then I’m a libertarian anti-Bork.
Violet
@jenniebee:
Spectre is involved? Where’s James Bond when we need him?
inkadu
@gex: I am sure ‘they’ have found mercury in HFCS. And HFCS has also been linked to autism.
Steeplejack
@A Mom Anon:
From personal experience: if you’re a serious recreational cola user, a good way to taper off is to mix LaCroix (I liked lime) and Coke half and half, then gradually reduce the Coke over time. Amazing how light you can go on the Coke and still get that refreshing cola taste! (Cue the singing twins or whatever.)
LD50
What’s even cooler than that is that they keep recycling the bottles forever, even after they get huge chips in them. I used to use the bottles for homebrewing beer.
Messkin Coke is great. Reminds me of what Coke tasted like when I was a little kid. It’s considerably less carbonated than American Coke, tho.
Ben
Your chica appears to be incapable of stringing together a cogent sentence. Doubtless you’re all beaming with pride.
Anne Laurie
No, the Republicans are showing off their hard-right credentials to their “base”, such as it is. Clips of Sen. Self-Righteous Pale-Male sternly lecturing the uppity Latina broad will be excerpted in many future political ads — the fact that the most successful of those ads will be those made by Sen. S-R P-M’s non-Republican opponent has not yet impacted their worldview.
Brachiator
@gex:
Local PBS guy Huell Howser did a feature on a store in Highland Park Ca store that sells over 250 vintage sodas (Visiting…With Huell Howser #1602 – GALCO’S).
A number of customers noted how the soda formulations and the bottling were exactly what they remembered from their childhood.
There’s probably far more mercury in Jeremy Piven than has ever been found in any HFCS.
gex
@inkadu:
Washington Post story on mercury in HFCS
Web MD article on mercury in HFCS
Fuck you. Just cause Jenny McCarthy is a crackpot doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned about mercury. What a tool. Did you know ‘they’ have also found melanine in pet food and e-coli in produce? Or do you take joy in eating poison delivered to you by big agribusiness? Tool.
ETA: I brought this up in the sugar vs. HFCS debate. I was just trying to say that the one without mercury is probably less harmful. But fuck me, huh?
El Cid
Sen J. Beauregard Sessions: “So, damn, lady, is yer damn panel gonna say that all Amerikins got the right to keep and bear arms? I want you to tell me now — how you gon’ rule on cities & states on gun laws! And how come you even mentionin’ ‘for’n law’? Didn’t you one time tell Puerto Rico to replace our law with foreign law? Huh?”
Brachiator
@gex:
Well, if you insist. Mercury in HFCS is junk science at its most refined (The latest Scare du Jour: mercury in HFCS).
At least the Sotomayor hearings are serving some kind of useful purpose, if only to dispel false notions about food safety.
Douche Baggins
Jeff Sessions.
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III.
Sherriff Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.
Deputy Sherriff Jefferson Beauregard Sessions Bodean.
Vice-Deputy Sherriff Jefferson Beauregard Sessions Bodean Toadhumper IV.
I thought the mercury / HCFS thing was snark. But it wasn’t. I suspected that Dick Cheney was up to treasonous activities all along. He was. Nothing shocks me anymore, and mostly I’m saddened by the fucked-up nonsense that America has become. God bless us all, even the atheists.
gex
@Brachiator: God damn. I hadn’t seen the scare debunked. My apologies to the other posters I responded to. Perhaps you’ll forgive me — I don’t exactly trust the FDA to give a shit whether or not there is poison in the food supply though.
Eta: I would like to note that not having mercury and claiming the form of mercury in it is not harmful seem contradictory to me.
Brachiator
@gex:
The article sought to clarify two issues. Sometimes people fall into zero tolerance nonsense, as though the mere presence of a substance is harmful, without any consideration of quantity.
But sometimes you have to be exposed to a certain amount of a harmful substance for some defined period of time before it can pose a serious threat to you.
Further, in the case of mercury, whether it is a vapor or another form is a crucial distinction.
If you spill gasoline on your hand, you wash it off and life goes on. But drinking 10 to 50 ml of gasoline can kill you, and breathing in several ml of gasoline can cause pneumonia.
Science has yet to determine what level of Republican gassing at the Sotomayor hearings may be harmful.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Grand Panjandrum:
And the Frito Bandito, too.
Chuck Butcher
@SiubhanDuinne:
What about that damn little dog?
AlanDownunder
What a shame Sotomayor doesn’t have a nice homely husband without any public record to be criticised for who could sit in the senate during the confirmation hearing and get tearful if nasty senators were rude to his beloved about things he didn’t understand.
bjacques
Bring back Moxie!
@118 Brachiator:
18 years ago I went to vintage soda store in Dallas. They had Dutch Coca Cola, because the Netherlands was one of the few countries that still used cane sugar. They also had Moxie!
typitty typitty…
It’s still there! The Soda Gallery on 408 N. Bishop. I had a Dutch coke and a Moxie. But a bee flew into my Nesbitt’s Lime Soda and I had to throw it away.
Most of the time I’m a peaceful guy, but I lost my temper that day.