Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

You cannot shame the shameless.

T R E 4 5 O N

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You can’t love your country only when you win.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republicans in disarray!

Consistently wrong since 2002

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Night Open Thread- There Will Be Blood Edition

Reader Interactions

236Comments

  2. 2.

    schrodinger's cat

    Thanks John for the photo.
    Physics HW for BJers
    Determine the frequency of oscillation of Tunchinator’s tail.

  7. 7.

    R-Jud

    Apparently there is at least one creature on Earth immune to those big shiny puppy eyes.

    Either that, or he loves ’em so much he wants to dig them out for himself.

    I’ve got a cat draped around my neck at the moment. I’d take a picture, but I’m having a bad hair night.

  10. 10.

    Mark S.

    Derb is the word that you heard:

    “The conservative case against it is that women lean hard to the left,” Derbyshire responded nonsensically. “They want someone to nurture, they want someone to help raise their kids, and if men aren’t inclined to do it — and in the present days, they’re not much — then they’d like the state to do it for them.”

    Women shouldn’t be allowed to vote because they vote for Democrats. Let’s see, are there any other traditionally marginalized groups that tend to vote for Democrats? I seem to recall reading something . . .

  11. 11.

    John Cole

    It is my fault. Someone said they wanted a Tunch pic, so without turning around and looking I yelled “Kitty, kitty kitty, Tunch.” I turned around and he was already there, so I picked up the camera to take a pic, and Lily came in because she heard me calling Tunch. As I was snapping the pic, she gave him an aggressive sniff and was rewarded with the PAW O’DOOM.

    BTW- Lily has figured out the connection between my keys and me leaving the apartment, and now sleeps on my keys whenever she can so she can guilt me when I leave.

  13. 13.

    beltane

    What an awful day. The Republicans suck, the Democrats suck, and it’s supposed to snow tonight.

    As to Tunch’s weight (is it OK to use this thread?), it comes down to exercise. My male cat became quite obese after being neutered last fall, but a summer of hunting outside has made him lean and mean. It’s not a good idea to let cats outside most places, but maybe you could find ways of getting him moving. Canned cat food tends to give them stinky breath and causes dental problems over time.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Determine the frequency of oscillation of Tunchinator’s tail.

    Unfortunately, there’s some missing information: the exposure time of the photograph (whatever software John is using to edit his pictures is stripping out the EXIF codes).

    Lacking that, we’ll do what we physicists call a first-order approximation (translation: wild guess). Looks like about 2 Hz.

    -dms

  17. 17.

    RedKitten

    My god — that blurring motion means that Tunch was actually…moving!

    Mark the day on your calendars, kiddos!

  20. 20.

    Bubblegum Tate

    Commentor puravida at Tbogg’s FTW:

    The reviews [for Palin’s book] are in:

    WaPo: “Baffling, incoherent” but Palin is well positioned for 2012.
    NYT: “Incoherent. baffling” but Palin is a force to be reckoned with in 2012.
    WaTimes: “Brilliant, tour de force” Palin is well positioned for 2012.
    WSJ: “Brilliant, tour de force” Palin a shoo-in in 2012.
    Lowry, Goldberg, Erickson: “Fap, fap, fap, fap, fap, fap…”

  25. 25.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Good evening BJers. Heading out to the city by the bay tomorrow for the weekend.

    Nice photo, jc. That is some serious bipartisanship there.

  33. 33.

    The Moar You Know

    Looks like Tunch throws a mean left. Hope the dog manages to keep some dignity and organs intact.

  35. 35.

    Fulcanelli

    I assume Tunch has his talons intact? You may have some ‘splainin’ to do Cole, if we see Lily with a wounded nose.

    Snorgling? So that’s what they call pet pR0n these days… There goes your PG13 Rating.

    Anyone else having trouble with BJ loading on their computer today. I have, on and off, all afternoon.

  37. 37.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    I follow the White House Socia1ist Muslim Indoctrination Blog and they have a great take down of Fox News and the talking idiots that inhabit that planet. they’ve been jibbering endlessly about Obama’s one day trip to help Chicago get the 2016 bid. The entire post is worth a read but the last line is priceless:

    For even more Fox lies, check out the latest “Truth-O-Meter” feature from Politifact that debunks a false claim about a White House staffer that continues to be repeated by Glenn Beck and others on the network.

    That’s right. Lies.

  39. 39.

    Zuzu's Petals

    @Max:

    Y’know, I’m really glad the Obama folks are calling out the liars and doing it on time.

    But still, there’s something about seeing a snarky get-down-and wrestle-with-’em blog with the White House imprimatur that makes me uncomfortable.

  42. 42.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @JK:

    Oh, man, is that response good. To wit:

    We are not here because the domain name could cause confusion. We do not have a declaration from the president of the international association of imbeciles that his members are blankly staring at the Respondent’s website wondering “where did all the race baiting content go?” We are here because Mr. Beck wants Respondent’s website shut down.

    Between this lawyer and the judge in the Orly Taitz case, my esteem for the legal profession has been increased slightly.

  43. 43.

    Demo Woman

    @John Cole: Years ago while visiting the vet for the annual check up, my golden got tired of waiting and picked up my purse and dragged it to the door. He decided it was time to leave.
    I love this picture. It’s nice to see Tunch let Lily know, that he’s number one.

  45. 45.

    Dreggas

    if you want tunch to get more exercise, have you tried the laser pointer? It drives my cats nuts. As an added bonus it tends to drive dogs nuts too.

  49. 49.

    demkat620

    John, you said Lily weighs 17 lbs. How much does Tunch weigh? He looks a lot bigger than that.

    Or are you still going with fluffy?

  50. 50.

    Annie

    I just love the picture. It is priceless. Thanks ever so much! It really made by day. Go Tunch go…He is getting his exercise — boxing. Great for those arm muscles. And, to have his own personal bunching bag. Life couldn’t get any better…

  52. 52.

    MikeJ

    @Skepticat: I’ve been wondering if Cole needs to install a good caching plugin, but that’s something for his webmistress, or someone else with a complete understanding of his set up, to determine.

  53. 53.

    John Cole

    @demkat620: Lily put on a pound since I got her, but the vet said she is the perfect weight. She weighs 18.5 lbs and the vet gave her a body rating of 4.

    Tunch is around 15 lbs now. It is just the angle. And yes, he is super fluffy. The only place he is really fat is he has the waddle underneath where his junk used to be, the rest of him is just broad and big.

  57. 57.

    burnspbesq

    Over at Balkinization, there is (wonder of wonders) a thoughtful and entirely civil discussion going on in the comments involving Bart dePalma and several other regulars.

    So Tunch and Lily must throw down in order to restore the universe to its normal level of conflict.

    P.S. This sudden anomaly notwithstanding, Bart is still the all-time uber-Troll, the John Elway of trolldom, the role model that all little Rumplestiltskins want to be when they grow up.

  58. 58.

    John Cole

    @Skepticat: It has been terrible for me. DougJ has been on my shit for weeks, and has a server he wants us to move to for 6k a year, but for fuck’s sake, I have no desire to ask people to pay that. I know I can not afford it, but I felt bad asking for a grand for a site redesign and maintenance contract.

    They told me they were moving us to a new server, but I don’t know what happened. They never got back to me. I emailed them earlier.

  59. 59.

    Annie

    Whatever you decide, I think we all will support you. I certainly can give more. Just to see Tunch and Lily is enough for me to give.

  61. 61.

    burnspbesq

    @John Cole:

    OK, wait a sec.

    $6k/year = $500/mo. So if 50 people agree to pay $10/month, it’s done.

    Figure out a way to hit my credit card automatically every month, or send me a bill once a year, and I’m in. I get a lot more fun and enlightenment out of this place than I get out of the NPR station I support at that level.

    I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to find that there are a lot of others in the BJ community who feel the same way.

    Amirite, people?

  63. 63.

    DecidedFenceSitter

    @Zuzu’s Petals:

    But still, there’s something about seeing a snarky get-down-and wrestle-with-’em blog with the White House imprimatur that makes me uncomfortable.

    Unfortunately, it’s a no win condition. Either they sit on the sidelines hoping someone else will do it, so they don’t have to get shit on their shoes – and watch as no one does it, and we, the blogosphere scream “WHY ISN’T ANYONE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THIS?” or they can do something about it, and break proper decorum.

    The first hasn’t worked. So onto the second.

  65. 65.

    Anne Laurie

    Lily has figured out the connection between my keys and me leaving the apartment, and now sleeps on my keys whenever she can so she can guilt me when I leave.

    Our guys have learned that when I put a bra on, it means I’m going beyond the backyard. I haven’t seen so much enthusiasm about my underwear choices since I was young and svelte and single!

    P.S. I have a fat file of Lexicon additions and amendments waiting for the happy day when I have access again. The Lexicon is going to need pruning, but my tendency is to over-stuff during the initial build-up and then cut back by 30% or so. May be a Lexicon OT every day or so, until John or the webmistress has time to deal with WP selectively banhammering me.

  66. 66.

    schrodinger's cat

    @asiangrrlMN:
    Actually I was doing a Tunch.
    Question: Is Cartman like Tunch? I have only seen a couple of episodes of South Park so I know who Cartman is, but don’t know much about him.

  67. 67.

    Betsy

    @Mark S.:
    You beat me to it. Derbyshire also added that he thinks the 1964 Civil Rights Act should be repealed.

    It is still astonishing to me that there is someone who would say out loud that he thinks that women should lose the vote because…they don’t share his politics. Someone should have had the gonads to follow up with, “So, African-Americans also lean left. Should they lose the franchise as well?”

  70. 70.

    DonkeyKong

    What did the five fingers say to the face! -Tunch James

    He’s a lethargic freak, lethargic freak, he’s lethargically freaky! nyow!

  71. 71.

    asiangrrlMN

    @schrodinger’s cat: Cartman says that in an episode.

    @Betsy: Same asshat said Civil Rights Act wasn’t a good thing because you can’t legislate virtue…cognitive disconnect, anyone?

    Betsy, I try not to read B.o.B., but I seem to remember him riffing on this topic before.

  72. 72.

    Anne Laurie

    @John Cole:

    DougJ has been on my shit for weeks, and has a server he wants us to move to for 6k a year, but for fuck’s sake, I have no desire to ask people to pay that. I know I can not afford it, but I felt bad asking for a grand for a site redesign and maintenance contract.
    …
    They told me they were moving us to a new server, but I don’t know what happened. They never got back to me. I emailed them earlier.

    FUCK, John, I would chip in to upgrade the usability of this site, and I’m unemployed! If “they” are unwilling to keep up with the site traffic, have you showed them the proposal from Doug’s server and asked for a counter-offer?

  73. 73.

    jl

    A little less kibble and more wet food (I think grilled salmon and tuna steak will do on most days) may deliver a less cranky High Dignified Tunchness.

    Thanks for the Lily The Dog and Tunch The Cat pic.

  74. 74.

    Anne Laurie

    Incidentally, that picture should definitely be included under the Lexicon def of “bipartisanship”.

  77. 77.

    Desert Rat

    Tunch is alive, isn’t he?

    Normally it’s dangerous when somebody who leads a sedentary life suddenly engages in vigorous physical activity.

    Wouldn’t want him to have a stroke or some such.

  78. 78.

    JK

    @John Cole:

    BJ was unavailable to me for almost 2 hours today from 12:30 – 2:30 pm eastern time.

    The quality of the content on this site is great and the BJ Lexicon is brilliant, but the erratic, unreliable nature of the BJ server drives me crazy.

  79. 79.

    dmsilev

    @schrodinger’s cat: No. I figured that a spherical cow was a better first-order approximation.

    (For those who haven’t heard the extremely geeky joke: A dairy contracts with a physicist to help improve their milk production. He arrives, takes a look around, then goes back to his office and calculates for a good long while. Then he comes back to the dairy and tells them he has the answer. Walks up to a blackboard, draws a circle on the board, and says “First, assume a spherical cow”.)

    -dms

  80. 80.

    jl

    As for exercise, my parents got a cat harness for their cat. The idea was to walk it. But the cat is a very timid indoor cat, and the cat is afraid to walk. Then the idea was to take the cat out into the garden, and tether it with a very long leash so it could wander around while ma and pa putter in the garden. But the cat is afraid to leave the backdoor stoop. Or the side garden stoop, Or the front yard stoop. Or the stoop out into the little corner shade garden.

    But, maybe that would work better with Tunch.

    I wonder how the Mighty Tunchinator would take to a cat harness, or a walk? If he did, that might produce cat exercise.

  81. 81.

    burnspbesq

    @SGEW:

    Hard to believe, I know. Check it out for yourself. It’s in the comments to Tamanaha’s post about some obscure professor from Notre Dame taking potshots at Hart.

  82. 82.

    SGEW

    @John Cole:

    I have to admit that I would shell out more than a little scratch to get this place running SNAFU free.

    John, you know that you could get mad money from us, if you asked. I commend you for not abusing the power you have over your loyal readership/commentariat.

    Even if some of us are here just to see Tunch.

  84. 84.

    Cat Lady

    @John Cole:

    This site has kept me going through the dismal sucky unemployment year this has been, and I’ll happily share some of my stimulus with you. I hate it when it won’t load, don’t you?

    For the lexicon:

    Bobbleheads
    My Beautiful Mind

  85. 85.

    Desert Rat

    @Betsy:

    You beat me to it. Derbyshire also added that he thinks the 1964 Civil Rights Act should be repealed.

    It is still astonishing to me that there is someone who would say out loud that he thinks that women should lose the vote because…they don’t share his politics. Someone should have had the gonads to follow up with, “So, African-Americans also lean left. Should they lose the franchise as well?”

    I think he already addressed that with the 1964 Civil Rights Act comment, didn’t he?

    Let’s face, Derbyshire is a perverted old Tory who would be happy to restrict the franchise to white men of property, given the chance.

    One of the great political minds of the 17th Century, that one.

  87. 87.

    SGEW

    @burnspbesq: Yeah, I just read through. Extraordinary.

    Ah, “Bart.” Now there’s a troll for the ages. Our local variety really needs to take lessons.

  89. 89.

    jl

    More Tunch The Cat and Lily The Dog pics, and I would throw some bucks for a new server and upgraded site. Particularly if we could get action films as exciting as promised by the still in this post.

    And the apparently few and far between Tunch and Lily snorgle pics. I imagine they would be of dignified, medium distance snorgling as shown recently. I doubt Tunch would put up with the impertinence of a lesser being, even a dog, let alone a mere human, being overly familiar, let alone touchy-feely snorgling.

  90. 90.

    burnspbesq

    @SGEW:

    Bart toned it down a little when he moved to the hoity-toity academic environment of Balkinization. Remember what he was like when he was the resident troll at Greenwald’s place? That, boys and girls, was the Golden Age of Trollery.

  91. 91.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @burnspbesq:

    shame to hear it. I’m trying to get out there Saturday afternoon/evening. The conf. i’m at is filled with sessions, though. But miss Gillian Welch for free? Hmmm.

  92. 92.

    Bob In Pacifica

    “Not all inter-species snorgling attempts end well…”

    Tell me about it.

    Or,

    Yeah, the story of my life.

    Or,

    Don’t tell my brother-in-law.

    Or,

    Bartender, pour me another and I’ll tell you about my inter-species snorgling attempts.

  94. 94.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @burnspbesq: No, I’d sooner pay for Faceborg access than support this rathole. Don’t get me wrong, I adore John. But everyone else – including me and you – totally sucks.

  97. 97.

    DarrenG

    John & Co.

    I don’t know what your current traffic/memory/CPU usage patterns look like, but $6k/year sounds like highway robbery unless I’m way off on my guesses.

    Have your techno brain trust check out virtual private server setups like this one, which should fit you quite nicely for well under $100/month.

  99. 99.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    I would be quite happy to contribute to the upgrade of BJ, seeing as being able to post my various utterly stupid problems on here and get some help is invaluable. I am in a really bad place right now, but I know that my BJ pals will be there for me. That is “priceless” to be honest.

  100. 100.

    burnspbesq

    @SGEW:

    Good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share.

    Run for the hills, boys and girls. SGEW has unleashed the fearsome Led Zep Earworm.

  101. 101.

    JK

    @freelancer:

    Glenn Beck is a raving, drooling, bedwetting loon and a malignant media carcinogen. Hopefully, there’s a special place in hell reserved for him.

  103. 103.

    Betsy

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    I’m really sorry to hear that. I hope your mum arriving will help! (I am remembering correctly that you said your mother was going to visit, right? That wasn’t someone else?)

  104. 104.

    schrodinger's cat

    @dmsilev:
    I have heard that one before, but I thought you were dropping not so subtle hints about Tunch kitteh’s size.
    Sizist!

  111. 111.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @SGEW:

    Doing just that, pretending that there is not a problem right now while law enforcement takes their sweet arse time… hoping that they get their arse in gear asap….

  114. 114.

    Chad N Freude

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Dolt! DougJ sucketh not! JC & DougJ are gods.

    Since I canceled my subscription to the online WSJ when they threw right-wing politisnark into Ted Kennedy’s obit (and published an apparently unedited, un-copy-read op-ed by Our Lady of Wasilla at the same time), I have funds available to support the BJ Website Infrastructure Stimulus Package. Where do I send the check?

  115. 115.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Betsy:

    Yeah my Mum will be here on Friday (well saturday at 1am or something on Amtrak) I have decided not to tell her anything about the step daughter theft thingy cause you know my mum (like my sister) would basically eat the throat of anyone who crossed me, so for the sake of letting law enforcement do their job I am going to keep my mouth shut. I just have to hope that I don’t get drunk (always a possibility when my mum visits) and spill the beans. Having said that I am so looking forward to her visit. Can I say “comfort food” six weeks of it. HA!

  119. 119.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Yes, I know that, and isn’t that the truth? Our strange little community here, that holds each other up, gets us all back on track and basically tells us to get our act together. I am so grateful for that, you have no idea. I cannot tell you how much I am glad that I found BJ and its totally and utterly strange posters, you guys are keeping me sane, despite the fact that we are all in fact insane. It is all good.

  121. 121.

    Chad N Freude

    @amorphous: Thanks for that link. Unfortunately, it has only real facts and so cannot be taken seriously by the faith-based gun worshipers. Somewhere on the infinite web there’s a story today about bar owners in Arizona being really upset about the new law that allows people with concealed firearms to take them into places where people consume alcohol and take umbrage at what other people say to them.

  132. 132.

    SGEW

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    . . . despite the fact that we are all in fact insane.

    What are you saying?! It’s them, they’re the ones who are all insane! Those other people, out there, they’re the one who are crazy . . . not us!

    (looks around frantically)

  133. 133.

    Cat Lady

    My Beautiful Mind: refers to Barbara Bush’s dismaying dismissal of the impending trumped up clusterfuck her fuck up son George W. Bush was about to unleash upon Iraq, a credulous and cowed America, and a skeptical and mistrustful world. This shameless display of lack of simple human empathy soon became a hallmark of The Cheney Regency. This meme became further refined after Katrina, when Barbara Bush continued to tell us more about George W. Bush than about the Katrina victims, reinforcing the old adage that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

  134. 134.

    General Winfield Stuck

    The DSL gawds have graced me with a few minutes on the internets, and now I have nothing to say except getting a new modem tomorrow that might fix the problem, if not, well, I’ll just have to immolate myself in front of Qwest offices in town.

    I bet they’d fix it then.

    And that photo must be the fork side of spooning. I’m bettin’ on the Tunchster to assert his ultimate command.

  136. 136.

    ellaesther

    Ok, Imma blog pimp (except that I’m really pimping for an awesome book. I swear!):

    I just wrote a crazy effusive (but very short!) post about one of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time — bar none, regardless of genre, subject matter, you name it, regardless of anything, one of the best books to cross my door ever — and it bears sharing with a larger audience:

    My post is here: Excellence – in book form.

    The review I wrote and to which I refer (if you’d rather) is here: Dallas Morning News

  137. 137.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @John Cole:

    Gee whiz. 6 large a year seems a bit much to me, though I would give for it if that’s the choice to get a reliable server. But there must be something a little less than that in the 3 thou. range maybe, or thereabouts. That would meet the needs of this blog.

  138. 138.

    Fulcanelli

    @John Cole: I enjoy the hell out of this place.

    Count on my bux, John. I’ll throw in every month, for sure, but you’ve got to hang some big fuzzy dice from the masthead image… Either that or a plastic Jesus on the dashboard.

    That’s not too much to ask is it? Well, is it?

    New Lexicon entry: Paw O’ Doom!

  140. 140.

    Midnight Marauder

    I will gladly contribute something from the meager penance I get temping these days if that’s what it takes to make this place functional 24/7 again. And most certainly with the immaculate Balloon Juice Lexicon up and running.

    x3 (these are bong hits, FYI.)

  144. 144.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Don’t know if anyone watched the floor of the House late this afternoon, that had the two primo gooper wingnuts Steve King and Frau Bachmann having a colloquy debate on Acorn.

    Breathless it was, especially on the shady dealings of ACORN using taxpayer money to help get Obama elected. As proof, King showed a big poster of a blownup photo he personally took at ACORN headquarters outside where an Obama sign was posted on the window bars in New Orleans. King made a point that the place was fortified with window bars like it was some kind of Mafia house/ But anyone who’s been to NO’s knows that every building there is fortified this way because it has long been a crime ridden city.

    But the kicker was King claiming his photo was proof that ACORN was nothing but a campaign appendage of the Obama 08 campaign because of this sign. Well, Bachmann was ooing and awing that he got this shot during the election, but then King came clean after stammering some, that actually he took the photo in July of this year well after the election, but it didn’t matter cause he was sure it was there all this time because, well, shut up! that’s why.

  146. 146.

    ellaesther

    @freelancer: There was actually was a draft that said something very directly about that! But decisions were made and words saved and blahdeblahblah, but: Yeah!

    Man alive, if ever a book could have saved us, it was this one. Though in W.’s case, it would likely have been shredded or something first. By Rumsfeld.

  147. 147.

    Fulcanelli

    John, what would really light up the BJ decor is a masthead logo done by Ralph Steadman (of Hunter S. Thompson fame). I’d pitch in for that…

  149. 149.

    Bender

    Michelle Obama: “As much of a sacrifice as people say this is for me or Oprah or the president to come for these few days,” the first lady told a crowd of people involved in the Chicago project, “so many of you in this room have been working for years to bring this bid home.”

    Which suggests the question: Can M’chel fly with her bat’leth in the overhead, or does she check it?

    Thank you, M’Chel…Oprah…Zero. For the sacrifice.

    Of flying first-class to Europe. To stay in four-star hotels.

    For the noble purpose of bringing the Olympics — and the attendant bribery, kickbacks, hookers, cocaine, and mob construction gigs — to Chicago.

    Because everything’s fine here. We don’t really need a president, obviously.

  151. 151.

    Midnight Marauder

    Here’s the thing that gets me about the never-ending “are Republicans poised for a comeback?” stories that keep floating out of The Village. At some point, the epic hypocrisy and absolute bereavement of any principle or integrity has to catch up with them. It just has to. And this seems like the perfect venue for that occasion to arise:

    Tom Price: We’ll Scrap Grayson Resolution If He Apologizes

    “That was the avenue that was defined by the Democrats in charge when someone breaches the decorum,” Price said. “So we chose the same vehicle.”

    Isn’t there a problem here? Price, like 166 other Republicans, voted against the Wilson resolution.

    Once again, there is no reason to take these people seriously. Thank god for Alan Grayson.

  152. 152.

    pattonbt

    So if that awesome picture represents modern bipartisanship, does that make Tunch a Republican? Please say it isnt so!

    And count me in for any fundraising requirements.

  154. 154.

    freelancer

    @ellaesther:

    Yes, understanding religious differences might have helped us, but given the jaw-dropping hubris that has been widely reported about Rumsfeld getting pissy about seeing any post-war infrastructure building done anywhere in the Administration, it sounds like career civil servants and the relevant experts at State and the CIA were poo-pooed anyways. Team America could just drop into Baghdad, blow the fucking shit out of the country, chock full of Holy Sites, and then wave goodbye, no harm no foul.

    It probably would have made little difference, but yeah, editors are fickle.

  156. 156.

    Luthe

    Jon Stewart just stole your line about skull-fucking kittens. I fear you need a new line to make you #1 on Google.

  157. 157.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Bender:

    What are you smoking tonight Bender. Did you not know that GWB hopped on AF 1 and flew off to last years olympics just to watch — for 4 days, not 18 hours to try and get the games here because well, it might even boost the economy and create a few days. Though now, apparently, Chicago is no longer a legitimate US city because a dem presnit is from there.

    Before you know it, you wingnuts will be noodling around Obama’s bathroom habits, does he wipe with Acme Brand Toilet paper or the extravagant Scott’s and how many times does he flush during the day to save taxpayer dollars. A bunch of boorish nags you are.

  163. 163.

    Ash Can

    @Midnight Marauder:

    Thank god for Alan Grayson.

    And how. It’s about fucking time someone sounded off like that. By all means, have debate on the floor. Spirited, even. Raised voices, red faces, the whole shot. Go for it. But when one side’s idea of debate basically amounts to dropping trou, mooning the C-Span cameras, and laughing themselves silly over it, the only thing worth batting an eye over is the fact that it took this long for someone to call them out on it.

  164. 164.

    Mnemosyne

    Which suggests the question: Can M’chel fly with her bat’leth in the overhead, or does she check it?

    Does anyone know what language this comment is in? I tried looking it up in the Klingon dictionary, but it didn’t make any sense there, either.

  171. 171.

    Skepticat

    @John Cole: I can only imagine. That was meant more as a comment rather than a complaint, as I’m fairly sure you aren’t doing it intentionally just to make us more frustrated. It’s just that I’m impatient and can’t wait to see what great new things have popped up on my favorite site.
    I wish my financial situation weren’t so tight right now. I could send you a lot of old Dell towers, a few Dell power sources, flat monitors, routers, assorted odd peripherals, and about a hundred power cords if it would help. (Leftovers from a company that caused said situation.)

    Why don’t you ask for contributions toward pet food, which probably would bring a tremendous response, and then put the funds toward the server?

  173. 173.

    Brachiator

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    The reviews [for Palin’s book] are in:
    WaPo: “Baffling, incoherent” but Palin is well positioned for 2012.
    NYT: “Incoherent. baffling” but Palin is a force to be reckoned with in 2012.
    WaTimes: “Brilliant, tour de force” Palin is well positioned for 2012.
    WSJ: “Brilliant, tour de force” Palin a shoo-in in 2012.
    Lowry, Goldberg, Erickson: “Fap, fap, fap, fap, fap, fap Oh, God. Oh, God! Oh, God! Starbursts!…”

    Fixed

  175. 175.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Skepticat:

    bout this time last year, on the old server before this one, it was so slow that I could submit a comment, eat dinner, go for a walk and maybe, Maybe it might have posted by then.

  176. 176.

    freelancer

    @AW:

    I’ve never heard of this guy before today. I’m thinking he’s in a safely Democratic District, and he got a conference call from Pelosi and Rahm Emmanuel on Monday or something:

    Bunch of weeping fraidy-cat puppyfuckers keep eating our news cycle. It’s demoralizing the country, time to take the leash off. Are you ready to serve your country and your President, Rep. Grayson?

  181. 181.

    freelancer

    @AW:

    And Jesus, did he show up on Fox News?! These Villagers aren’t giving him an inch. I know wingnuts that call CNN [low, dumb voice] Commie News Network [/low, dumb voice]

    Liberal Media, my ass.

  182. 182.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Re: My Hat

    I have owned a hat for five years, bearing the name of my little outfit, purchased from a man who used to make clothes for the local high school team. This hat has become stained with sweat. Due to capillary action, the sweat stains run up the seams, creating a more or less parabolic sweat stain pattern.

    An acquaintance that I have become fond of recently told me that my hat was disgusting. There was mentioned a garage sale hosted by two lesbians. There I bought a new hat for one dollar bearing the name NORDFAB Ducting.

    I do not know how NORDFAB Ducting makes their money, but it is a very clean hat. Immaculate. And it has on its left side an American flag.

    I like my new hat.

  185. 185.

    gnomedad

    @Betsy:

    Derbyshire also added that he thinks the 1964 Civil Rights Act should be repealed.

    Derbyshire is making it unnecessarily complicated. We should simply not allow Democrats to vote.

  187. 187.

    slag

    6k/year seems a bit outrageous for server space. Nonetheless, you can definitely count on a few pesos from me.

    Also, @Max, great link! It’s Fight the Smears 2.0. Much needed since the Village ethics panel isn’t doing its job.

  189. 189.

    gbear

    @Wilson Heath: Isn’t he amazing? He’s leaving a trail of shredded talking points shattered bobbleheads in his wake. He’s had enough and is calling bullshit on absolutely everybody who’s not trying to pass the healthcare bill asap.

    (hmmm, I left a comment over 20 minutes ago and it’s still in moderation)

  194. 194.

    Steeplejack

    I think the picture at the top is an illustration from Hexagram 38, “Avalanche,” of the I Tunch.

    Mountain waits
    Mountain waits
    Mountain waits
    Mountain strikes!
    Mountain abides

  195. 195.

    Martin

    Well, my prediction might be coming true. Rumors now that Apple has gone to newspapers, magazines, and textbook publishers to produce subscriptions for a new tablet device – color + audio/video.

    Amazon should have gone farther with Kindle (and perhaps couldn’t due to technology), but as far as I see things, it’s the publishers only hope for survival. Paper is just kicking their asses, and the web is a bitch to monetize for low-cost, impulse content.

    Let’s see if it plays out.

  196. 196.

    Calouste

    @freelancer:

    Nope. Grayson is a freshman who beat out the incumbent Republican 52-48.

    Maybe he just worked out that with 70%+ of the Americans being for the public option, standing up for it will improve his re-election prospects.

  199. 199.

    Calouste

    @freelancer:

    Btw, I don’t want to accuse him of playing cynical politics athough my previous comment might come accross like that. I’d more like to accuse him of, you know, actual representing his constintuents and the people that voted for him rather than monied interests.

  202. 202.

    MikeJ

    Unfortunately, there’s some missing information: the exposure time of the photograph (whatever software John is using to edit his pictures is stripping out the EXIF codes).

    If you click on the pic, you get the full sized with exif data:
    # Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 10/300 second ===> 1/30 second ===> 0.03333 second
    # Lens F-Number / F-Stop = 35/10 ===> ƒ/3.5
    # Exposure Program = normal program (2)
    # ISO Speed Ratings = 1600

    In the larger pic, the tail appears to move about 1 diameter of the tail in 1/30th of a second. Sadly, there’s not enough room in this margin for me to complete the calculations.

  204. 204.

    asiangrrlMN

    @BDeevDad: Yes! I damn near gave him a standing ovation of one after watching that video the first time around. I thought, “New guy’s got balls.” Looks like I can add him to the short list of true progressives like Anthony Weiner and Sherrod Brown. Woot!

    Or at least I can add him to the short list of Dems not afraid to take on the GOP. I’ll take what I can get right now.

  205. 205.

    Steeplejack

    Got home from the part-time gig extremely late tonight, and I’m feeling a bit hectic. Have to decompress, get a little sleep, then do a turnaround and go back in at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. Have to work a full shift, but then I’m leaving tomorrow night to go to the beach for four days. Yee-haw!

    I believe the palatial beach house will have Internet access, so I will try to keep up with Balloon Juice.

    Not going to bed yet. Just wanted to get that out there. I am psyched. This is my first real vacation in a couple of years. And going to the beach is my ultimate vacation. That is all.

  206. 206.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Steeplejack: Woot woot! You deserve a vacation, Steep-man. I hope you enjoy yourself to the fullest and forget about us poor BJers in the cold cold climates.

    Yes, yes, OK, I adore the cold. What of it?

  209. 209.

    DougJ

    This is my first real vacation in a couple of years. And going to the beach is my ultimate vacation. That is all.

    Have a great time. What beach are you headed to?

  211. 211.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Jay in Oregon: I hope you do. I have heard that a good night’s sleep will do wonders for you, though, truth to be told, I cannot speak from experience.

    Oh, and Cole, in all seriousness, thanks for the Tunch pic. I was really jonesing one.

  212. 212.

    AlmostClever

    I am just a longtime lurker, but will gladly pay to see you continue to be my high-speed sanity filter for the internets.

  213. 213.

    Lesley

    The UK has a Biggest Loser for pets program.

    Don’t tell Tunch, but Socrates the cat is bigger.

    The verdict, not surprisingly, was that he was simply too fat to move, possibly because of his taste for cheese and onion crisps. Twice a day, regular as clockwork, he had managed to stagger to his paws and miaow for his breakfast and tea.

  216. 216.

    Steeplejack

    @DougJ:

    Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. I’ve never been there before, but my brother has been quite a few times and got the use of a friend’s house for the extended weekend.

    I love going to the beach, no matter what the time of year. It is incredibly calming to me. And the weather is supposed to be pretty good this weekend: sunny and highs in the mid-70s. I’m sure the water is ‘nad-nippingly cold, but I might give it a go anyway. I once swam in Dover Harbor with a friend who was going to swim the English Channel when the water temp was 58°. Okay, that was cold.

  217. 217.

    Jason Bylinowski

    @John Cole: Since I too asked to be subscribed to your newsletter, I would be more than willing to give you some money if it means a better, smoother BJ experience. Said the man to the hooker with pointy teeth.

  218. 218.

    Anne Laurie

    @Luthe:

    Jon Stewart just stole your line about skull-fucking kittens.

    There have long been BJ minions convinced that Stewart’s writers lurk among us.

    @MikeJ:

    Sadly, there’s not enough room in this margin for me to complete the calculations.

    Finally, a math joke old and weak enough for me to understand!

  219. 219.

    MikeJ

    @Steeplejack: I used to go to Rehoboth fairly often. It was easier to get somebody else’s house when it was chilly and rainy, which I think is a great time to be at the ocean. Nothing unclogs a programming induced mental block like grabbing a laptop and heading to the beach. Especially when it doesn’t take four hours to get across the damned bridge.

  221. 221.

    Steeplejack

    @MikeJ:

    Nothing unclogs a programming induced mental block like grabbing a laptop and heading to the beach.

    Exactly. I am taking a laptop and a book on Ruby. Ecstasy.

    I always take way too much stuff to read, so I’ve also got Joshua Ferris’s comic novel Then We Came to the End, which I just started, Tom Holland’s Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic (mentioned prominently here at Balloon Juice recently) and Terry Pratchett’s Moving Pictures, which I am about halfway through. Probably will also take some “spiritual” book, but I haven’t decided on that one yet.

    Rubicon is also bait for my brother. He loves Roman history and is a serious collector of Roman coins. And he is one of those “What are you reading?” people who ends up “borrowing” your book and hogging it for the duration. So Rubicon is there to tempt him, and if he goes for it I’ve still got the other stuff to keep me happy.

  222. 222.

    Brachiator

    @Steeplejack:

    Rubicon is also bait for my brother. He loves Roman history and is a serious collector of Roman coins. And he is one of those “What are you reading?” people who ends up “borrowing” your book and hogging it for the duration. So Rubicon is there to tempt him, and if he goes for it I’ve still got the other stuff to keep me happy.

    So, this recent news item must really have your brother reeling:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1216986/Roman-Emperor-Neros-legendary-rotating-dining-room-uncovered-archaeologists.html

    Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be the Roman emperor Nero’s fabled rotating dining room. The ‘coenatio rotunda’, which was discovered in the remains of the first century Golden Palace on Rome’s Palatine Hill, is thought to be the one described by the Roman historian Suetonius in Lives of the Caesars.

  223. 223.

    Cain

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Yeah my Mum will be here on Friday (well saturday at 1am or something on Amtrak) I have decided not to tell her anything about the step daughter theft thingy cause you know my mum (like my sister) would basically eat the throat of anyone who crossed me, so for the

    Oh? What happened? (provide link you don’t need to repost for my benefit) That kind of sucks if there was some kind of law enforcement incident involving a loved one. Those are really difficult to deal with sometimes.

    cain

  224. 224.

    Steeplejack

    @Brachiator:

    Yeah, I saw that. Will have to discuss this weekend.

    It’s funny, but my brother’s knowledge of Roman history is incredibly vast but also incredibly spotty. It’s gotten better as he’s gotten older, but at one point I realized that his knowledge of history was linked to his collecting of Roman coins. He would say, “So-and-so, pictured on this so-called Figby denarius–which I got from a dealer in Paris at a very good price–instituted the salt tax and blah, blah, blah [10,000-word dissertation].” But then he would turn around and be all like “Julius who? The Ides of what?” It was hilarious.

  225. 225.

    Brachiator

    @Steeplejack:

    It’s funny, but my brother’s knowledge of Roman history is incredibly vast but also incredibly spotty. It’s gotten better as he’s gotten older, but at one point I realized that his knowledge of history was linked to his collecting of Roman coins.

    Ah, OK. You mean stuff like this story about a trove of Roman silver coins found in the UK?

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1200126/Treasure-trove-silver-Roman-coins-worth-thousands-buried-field.html

    That is an interesting bit of a tunnel vision perspective on history.

    And it’s primarily Roman coins, and not just salvaged historical artifacts in general?

  226. 226.

    Morbo

    @burnspbesq: I don’t think he’s toned it down so much as Bart is different things to different people. He’s far more of a partisan hack at 538 than he is at Balkinization, for example.

  227. 227.

    Steeplejack

    @Brachiator:

    It’s just Roman coins. As a kid he used to collect American coins and even had a short article published in one of the numismatist magazines (“The Mercury Dime: Problems and Prospects,” something like that), but as an adult he concentrated on ancient coins and then just on Roman ones.

    And he’s not a dunce on history. It was just that for a time there was a decided numismatical angle to a lot of his interest.

  228. 228.

    Jay in Oregon

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Well, if I woke up at all during the night, I wasn’t up long enough to remember it.

    Now I just need to work on going to bed before 10:30 so I can be up at 5.

    The pieces are fitting together again, a little at a time.

  229. 229.

    Wilson Heath

    @slag:
    Yeah, the first comment that started the shitstorm was so-so. The good bit in the video is after Tweety sets up the hand wringing and the call for an apology. Who deserves an apology? The tens of thousands who die for lack of health insurance. And he calls out the obstructionists on it.

    Frak bipartisanship if the Finance Committee is the way it works. Reid should be stripping committee appointments if people are insisting on being part of the problem. And there is peril for people like Blanche Lincoln, who is in trouble for her reelection bid. If you don’t have seniority on a powerful committee, why should lukewarm constituents keep you around? Committee positions should be for closers.

  231. 231.

    Brachiator

    @Steeplejack:

    It’s just Roman coins. As a kid he used to collect American coins and even had a short article published in one of the numismatist magazines (“The Mercury Dime: Problems and Prospects,” something like that), but as an adult he concentrated on ancient coins and then just on Roman ones.

    Ah. Oddly enough, Roman history seems to be popping up everywhere. Here’s a new story about a new UK find of a Roman amphitheater:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1217353/Face-sand-Roman-amphitheatre-unearthed-ancient-port.html

  232. 232.

    CaseyL

    OK, I’m really late to this party – I’ll tell you all about it later* – but I want to add to the consensus that:

    1) This Tunch’N’Lily shot is the Best Evah! Tunch’ N’ Lily = Punch ‘N’ Judy!

    2) I am another of the proudly unemployed who will gladly kick a monthly ten-spot into the Server Fund. Hell, I already give emptywheel $25 a month, and I read BJ lots more than I read FDL.

    *I was at my friend Dylan’s house most of yesterday, crafting props for my costumes for the upcoming Steampunk convention here in Seattle. That con’s gonna be kickass: there’s already have twice as many people registered as the organizers expected, coming in from as far away as Down Under.

  235. 235.

    Zuzu's Petals

    Well my new strategy is to give to the opponents of GOPers who make public asses of themselves…and tell them why.

    Now I’m gonna donate to Grayson and let him and the GOPers know why.

    Looks like plenty of folks have had the same idea:

    ActBlue Grayson pages

  236. 236.

    Steeplejack

    @Brachiator:

    Thanks for the link. I had to go to work this morning, just got back home.

    I sent my brother the link about the discovery of the trove of coins and got back a profanity-laced diatribe about how that should have been him. He has taken several hiking tours in England, and I think it is a pipe dream of his to uncover something like that–maybe a Roman vending machine clogged with Saxon slugs.

Comments are closed.