“Ms. Carney-Nunes,” began the e-mail from Michelle Malkin, a best-selling and often inflammatory conservative writer with a heavily trafficked Web site. “I understand that you uploaded the video of schoolchildren reciting a Barack Obama song/rap at Bernice Young elementary school in June. I have a few quick questions. Did you help write the song/rap and teach it to the children? Are you an educator/guest lecturer at the school? Did you teach about your book, ‘I am Barack Obama’ at the school? Your bio says you are a schoolmate of Obama. How well-acquainted are you with the president?”
Carney-Nunes looked at the time stamp—6:47 a.m.—and closed the file without replying. She knew Malkin had driven criticism of President Obama’s back-to-school speech, streamed nationwide, as an attempt to indoctrinate students. Now Malkin was asking about a YouTube video of New Jersey public school children singing and enthusiastically chanting about Obama from a Black History Month presentation.
By nightfall, Carney-Nunes’s name was playing on Fox News and voice mails on her home phone and cellphone were clogged with the furious voices of strangers. The e-mails kept pouring in, by the hundreds, crammed with words spam filters try to catch: She was a “nappy-headed” traitor; she would lose her job and go to jail; she was Leni Riefenstahl, the filmmaker who glorified Hitler.
Maybe Malkin’s haraunging of the MSM to lift the rock to take a look at what the wingers are howling about will backfire big time on them when the papers find not “concerned citizens” but “councils of conservative citizens” waving Confederate flags and burning crosses.
2.
calipygian
BQ fail.
3.
calipygian
Steve Wynn on FNS just now:
“Government has never ever raised the standard of living in the history of civilization period”
Well except for the TVA that electrified most of the American south, the Soviet nationwide electrification campaign in the 20s and 30s, the Egyptian pharaohs irrigating the Nile valley, the Romans building a network of roads still in use today, etc.
You know, I’d always read your name as Cal-Egyptian, and assumed you were a person of Egyptian descent who lived in California.
Then I focused my eyeballs and really read it — and googled it — and now…
Shake your booty.
5.
geg6
My Sunday did not get off on a good note. On the local teevee political show, that smarmy Rep. Tim Murphy-R was concern trolling Obama with the local anchor boy doing his best Stretch Gregory imitation by dancing backup to him. I wanted to scream.
6.
SiubhanDuinne
@TimF: Are you trying to pith me off?
7.
Brick Oven Bill
Imagine that calipygian, electrifying the railroads as a legitimate use of government spending to stimulate the economy. What a good idea.
It might work nearly as well as handing out cash to people standing in long lines in Detroit and sending federal money to Richard Daley after a crime was (finally) caught on video.
If that video had been released following the Olympic decision, the odds of the Daley Machine producing it would have been 77%. But as it was released at an inopportune time before the Olympic decision, costing Valerie and her friends money, we have to consider that it was produced by the Daley Machine and either inadvertently leaked, leaked by someone who was pissed at one or more real estate investors, or was actually filmed by a bystander.
Therefore, the odds of the Daley Machine producing the beating video have been reduced to 37%.
8.
Seanly
CNN has three separate videos of President McCain being interviewed by human facsimile John King. The topics are the Republican plan for health care, VP Palin and McCain’s plan for the rest of his first term.
9.
calipygian
@Brick Oven Bill: Wow you are incoherent. In a scary, forgot to take the haldol kind of way.
10.
calipygian
Liz Cheney is on the FNS panel and it is stunning how amazingly dumb she is.
11.
wrb
@calipygian:
Too little Haldol or too much of that Hadacol bounce, hard to tell.
12.
DBrown
@calipygian: That is the result of Liz being an anal rather than vaginal birth.
Look llike the “The Moar You Know’s” narrative is wrong again.
I read the linked story. Sorry to say this, she seems kind of crazy; I’m willing to bet there’s an excellent chance she went after dad, who then shot her.
14.
Brick Oven Bill
Question: Why do Daley and Obama use credit cards, checks, and electronic transfers when they spend our government money?
But they cannot. There is no place to hide. Teabaggers, empowered by the Internet, lead the way with open eyes. Sight is one of our Five Senses.
Take for instance Brandy, who is what we call ‘Texas pretty’. Brandy would not drink Kool Aid laced with cyanide because some guy preaching about loving communities told her to. Brandy’s eyes are open.
Compare Brandy’s eyes with Annie’s eyes. Annie is squinting. The guy to Annie’s left is smiling. You figure that one out.
15.
SiubhanDuinne
@calipygian: Why do you torment yourself by watching FNS in the first pplace?
16.
geg6
Looks like BoB is ODing on pie this morning. Too much pie is bad for you, BoB!
17.
calipygian
@SiubhanDuinne: A little bit south of here, there is a Krispy Creme bakery. The bakery is pumping grease into the waste disposal system and some poor bastard from the county has to go down there every once in a while and check on the big globs of grease that is clogging the shit stream. FNS is that sewer, Bill Krystal and Chris Wallace are those big globs of shit and grease clogging political discourse and I am that poor Prince William County sewer worker.
18.
SGEW
@calipygian: But what have the Romans ever done for us?
I cannot stomach the Talk shows this morning, I had on ESPN but, that weirded me out because my ex-hubby had it on constantly- switched to the E! channel and found bliss. The Soup and then some stupid show about these two sister’s that live in Miami or something. Anyway, lots to accomplish today, overcast and mild in the Mid-South, dinner with the family later– Life is definitely good…
21.
SiubhanDuinne
@calipygian: Wow! When I read your reply I thought you had come up with a picturtesque, if disgusting, metaphor. But the link in your correction cleared that up — so to speak.
22.
Comrade Darkness
Open thread? So, I can bitch at will then?
Seven-year Sidekick user here, pissed as hell about microsoft destroying my lovely little usable, dead-simple, always worked cell phone.
Fuckers.
23.
SiubhanDuinne
Pictur*esque*
Damned edit function.
24.
Warren Terra
@ SGEW, #18
@calipygian: But what have the Romans ever done for us?
Y’know, I had exactly the same response, except that I wanted to include the hyperlink.
25.
ChrisB
Must read column by Frank Rich in the Times this morning stomping all over John McCain and the hawks who completely messed up our foreign policy during the Bush administration:
Much better than watching Howie Kurtz debate whether Fox News is fair and balanced or not.
26.
geg6
I refuse to deal with the bobbleheads this morning. I am eating a giant cinnamon roll and drinking my favorite, Dunkin Donuts coffee. My John is making stuffed banana peppers to take to my sister’s where we will be watching the World Champion Steelers. It is another typical fall day here in Pittsburgh, some clouds with a bit of sun peeking out now and again, temps in the 50s. Football and fall make life worth living. Stuffed banana peppers are just icing on the cake.
27.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m heading off to see the 11:00 am showing of Capitalism.
@calipygian:
I’m sure I would agree with you if I could figure out what he was babbling about.
29.
Brick Oven Bill
Yesterday, using Arithmetic, we developed the Global Warming Equation: Departure from Tave = 0.00144 (year minus 1980) + 0.0000057 (year minus1980)^2. This equation predicts future temperatures using the assumptions held by Al Gore’s Award Winning theory. In this case, theory in no way reflects practice, although I am rethinking some of the coefficients, as there is something there that is not making sense.
In what organizers said was a rarity, Gore took half a dozen questions from journalists, including one from Phelim McAleer, an Irish filmmaker who asked Gore to address nine errors in his film identified by a British court in 2007.
Gore responded that the court ruling supported the showing of his film in British schools. When McAleer tried to debate further, his microphone was cut off by the moderators.
Al Gore makes profits from Carbon Credit sales. Generation Investment Management, LLP, was founded by Al, and his friend from Goldman Sachs, David Blood. David Blood retired as CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and then met up with Al the Award-Winner.
I have a sincere question for the bobblehead watchers out there–why? Why do you watch the shows? I have a hard enough time reading the shorter versions; I know my head would ‘asplode if I actually watched the shows themselves.
Full slate of games to watch this crisp, chilly October day.
@calipygian:
You ever notice that Kryspy Kreme and Bill Krystal both spell their names starting with “K”? One is pumping filthy grease into the sewer and the other one makes donuts.
32.
Demo Woman
@Seanly: Thanks for the warning. I just love when MSM drools over “let them muddle through” McCain.
My first home-made pastrami is in the smoker. T-minus 2 hours and counting!
34.
geg6
By the way, if Mr. Cole happens to peek in, hope you’re feeling better. GO STILLERS! Lily should have her cape on and we should have photographic evidence of that. Just sayin’.
@ChrisB: This was an excellent article and well worth the read. I agree with Steve Benen over at Washington Monthly. Too bad President McCain pre-taped his segment on Friday. It would have been great to get his response to this article. Then again, the show’s host never would have asked him about it.
36.
wag
Well except for the TVA that electrified most of the American south, the Soviet nationwide electrification campaign in the 20s and 30s, the Egyptian pharaohs irrigating the Nile valley, the Romans building a network of roads still in use today, etc.
Yeah, but these examples are all left leaning examples. What has the GOP ever done for all of us, except for the Interstate Highway system (Eisenhower) and the EPA (Nixon). Face it, the GOP has done it’s gol-darndest to be consistent in not allowing government to help people for nearly 40 years. THAT is an impressive record.
37.
Demo Woman
@calipygian: Thank you for linking to this article. I have already forwarded it to my friends and family. We can only hope that you are right.
Maybe Malkin’s haraunging of the MSM to lift the rock to take a look at what the wingers are howling about will backfire big time on them when the papers find not “concerned citizens” but “councils of conservative citizens” waving Confederate flags and burning cr
osses.
38.
Just Some Fuckhead
Steelers at Lions on CBS today opposite the market game. WTF? Meanwhile, the 3-1 Bengals playing the 3-1 Ravens for the best record in the AFC North in the next closest market, not to be found on my teevee.
I hate the NFL or my local CBS affiliate, or both.
39.
GregB
I watch the Sunday shows just to see Paul Gigot. He’s dreamy. I wish he were a Gigotlo.
Has it occurred to any of the gay activists currently pissed off at Obama that he was not speaking to them, but to the larger public. Having the President publicly and openly speak to the HRC in support of gay rights is not a nod to the HRC group, it is a message to the larger public.
Christ. I just give up. I’m going back to the couch and the vaporizer. Come to the computer and check things out and I have 400 emails and mass stupidity at memeorandum.
41.
anonevent
@Paul L.: Actually, Paul, if you read the BJ link you actually linked to, John said that the belief that was wrong about guns is that everyone is a law abiding citizen until they’re not. Considering the fact that the section that John posted mentions that they children reported the dad shooting Mom, I don’t see anywhere John was implying that just the mom shouldn’t have a gun. As for Moar’s statement, I’ll leave that to Moar.
But I do have a question: How did her having a gun help her in this case?
But I do have a question: How did her having a gun help her in this case?
Sadly for her, she was in Condition White.
43.
Corner Stone
Anyone who lives near DC please be warned! Saxby Chambliss and DiFi are both on the same roundtable at the same time! A whirling, twirling vortex of utter and indefinable stupidity could open up at any point and suck you in.
44.
calipygian
@Demo Woman: The last line of the article is a killer:
Carney-Nunes spends a lot of her free time teaching children how to bridge divides, but she has no idea how to build a dialogue with those who attacked her.
“How can I talk to those people?” she said. “These are people who persist in believing that Barack Obama is a Muslim, that he isn’t a citizen of this country. You tell me: Where is the beginning of that conversation?”
That this was on the front page of Kaplan Test Prep is stunning.
45.
Rey
What John Cole said @ #40.
I think Sully, Dan Savage and the rest would have only been happy if the Prez brought his Presidential pen to the speech last night and signed an executive order or whatever on stage to end DADT and DOMA. Now THAT would have been good news for John McCain…..
46.
Steeplejack
Wine question for Laura W (or anyone):
My brother is having a big birthday party and wants a suggestion for a middle-of-the-road white wine. I say “middle of the road” because he doesn’t want a big, fat Chardonnay and he doesn’t want something “tart and flinty.” (WTF?!)
I was thinking maybe a Vouvray, but then I realized the last time I had a decent Vouvray (Marc Bredif?) was quite a while back. Mostly I have been drinking low-end everyday table wine.
So, any suggestions for a case of something that will be good but won’t break the bank?
@calipygian: Yeah, but I would be more impressed by the article if it didn’t contain the standard “but they called Bush Hitler! ! !” equivalence trope.
48.
Matt
The Decline of the West pt. 51356280
When you walk into the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar in Paulding County, you feel like you’ve walked into a different era.
Behind the pool tables stands a mannequin in a Klu Klux Klan costume, but it’s what’s outside of the Patrick Lanzo’s restaurant that has some people angry.
Lanzo put up a sign that reads “Obama’s plan for health-care: N*&%*r rig it.”
CBS Atlanta’s Michelle Marsh asked Lanzo why he put up the sign.
“I’ve been putting up signs for 22 years and I’ve put up all kinds of political signs,” said Lanzo.
“Why did you use the N word?” Marsh asked.
“Well, I’ve used it most of my life. There are different ways to put your opinion up, but that’s just the words I choose,” Lanzo answered.
Despite the sign, Lanzo said he’s not a racist.
He said he’s just against what he calls a “sub standard healthcare plan,” which he said President Obama is trying to push through.
Black and white people who live in the area say the sign is offensive and they want it down. Lanzo says he’s exercising his free speech.
“I stand by my president, but I also stand by my First Amendment right to criticize him if I feel he’s wrong,” Lanzo said.
The West Metro NAACP issued this statement: This latest ploy for attention by Mr. Lanzo is not surprising. What is of concern however, is the total lack of leadership and action from the elected officials of Paulding County, who repeatedly have allowed this type of toxic public display.”
@AhabTRuler: I’m actually impressed that that old trope was rolled out only once and very briefly.
The rest of the article concentrates on the batshit insane Malkinite wing of the GOP.
51.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: I’ve suggested this one before on BJ, and I still stand behind it:
“And I’m not a wine person, I prefer Spanish Rioja’s and other fruity reds (generally with a strong blackberry or plum sensation) you can make a great Sangria with but if you want to try a dry, yet smooth white that is top notch for under $15 you absolutely can not go wrong with this: Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc
I have the 2006, haven’t tried the 2008. It’s got a great apple overtone with a little citrus flavor. Not too much oaky taste. IMO, a nice velvety start, exploding fruit middle, and a finish that is easy and not bitter at all. A lot of whites I’ve tried have a bitter finish but this doesn’t.”
FWIW.
52.
DBrown
@Brick Oven Bill: You are talking about a subject you know near nothing about. Why do you embarrass yourself by displaying your vast ignorance and contain to use elementary arguments to push an idea that any high school student knows as fact? Your need to STFU until you try and learn at least the bare knowledge required of this field so you can leave remarks that make some sense. If you prefer ignorance like most repub-a-thugs, then stick to being a troll on politics – at least then, you can be a little entertaining.
53.
LiberalTarian
I think the Tacoma Bridge failure due to resonance is a good metaphor for today’s right wing. And, of course, the dude strolling away from his car is perfectly analogous to those 20-some percent-er teabaggers who finally walk away but leave their dog in the car to perish. Too dumb to see what is happening until the last second, too callous to care for the poor saps who cannot help themselves, but perfectly willing to save their own skin.
54.
Brick Oven Bill
You shut up DBrown.
I am very well qualified; I have developed the Global Warming Equation. This makes me preeminent.
A carbon dioxide level of 0.0338% creates Al’s theoretical temperature rise of 0.001 degrees Celcius each year. The carbon dioxide levels are rising by 0.00015 percent per year, creating a second-order differential equation, and a theoretical acceleration in warming. This is pretty basic stuff. I think DougJ is a math teacher and can probably back me up on this and perhaps help me with the coefficients.
Thus, with the use of Arithmetic, my qualifications exceed those of Al Gore, who eats lots of meats and cheeses, and David Blood, the CEO from Goldman Sachs.
The Interstate, Social Security, unemployment insurance, welfare, Food and Drug Administration, labor law, minimum wage, lifeguards, park rangers, police, fire fighters…
56.
gnomedad
@Matt:
I love how these guys are “not racist” in roughly the sense the sun is “not hot”.
57.
Perry Como
Behind the pool tables stands a mannequin in a Klu Klux Klan costume, but it’s what’s outside of the Patrick Lanzo’s restaurant that has some people angry.
Lanzo put up a sign that reads “Obama’s plan for health-care: N*&%*r rig it.”
How dare you suggest this man is racist?! You’re the racist!!!
The best all-purpose white that I have found is called CMS. Chardonnay, marsanne and sauvignon blanc work together quite well and it costs very little. It goes with every white-wine food that I have tried so far and doesn’t outcompete delicate stuff.
Almost everyone I know loves Menage a Trois white, another blend (chardonnay, muscat, chenin blanc) by the Folie a Deux winery. Be careful – serious wine lovers hate the wine for the same reason that most love it. The blender added way more vanilla than usual to maximize popular appeal, and it works, but people with a palate can tell and it pisses them off.
If you don’t want a blend I would have suggested sauvignon blanc, except that “tart and flinty” makes it sound like your brother doesn’t want a sauv blanc, especially not the good ones from New Zealand. If you can afford to pay a little more and want some character, Rieslings from Alsace come surprisingly dry. They definitely deserve a look if you’re turned off by the grape syrup stuff made on the east side of the Rhine. French love pinot gris because it pairs with almost anything. Although it is a little low-key for my tastes when I can have a sublime French Riesling or Gewurtze (with dessert), that or its Italian cousin pinot grigio might work well for you.
IMO the chardonnay market is overexposed (about the most obvious fucking statement in the world of wine) and therefore it is hard to find a genuinely good one amid the dreck.
good luck.
59.
gnomedad
@Bob In Pacifica:
Police and firefighters are moral hazards, causing people to underinvest in firearms and bucket brigades.
60.
Ash
@John Cole: Sullivan’s whole rant just made me roll my eyes.
I don’t like big fat Chardonnays either, and have recently discovered that un-oaked “naked” Chardonnays are delicious. They’re not cheap, but I’ve found them for about $12 a bottle which is reasonable for a special occasion, and most places give discounts on cases if you ask nicely. Oh, and wink, also, too. You betcha.
62.
Corner Stone
Can I just gripe a little about trying to search BJ for older posts?
Advanced search through Google is just not finding what I know is out there. Trying to find a post in the last year or so discussing the whole “I’m the only thing between you and the mobs” statement that was attribed to Obama at one point during the height of financial fear mongering.
Don’t know if it’s the way BJ is set up, the way Goog does its thing, or a combo.
Just needles me when I can’t find anything.
ETA – or it could be my inadequacy, which is always possible. Or so my mother always told me. …*sob*…
63.
Beej
@wag: 40 years? Hell, more like 100 years. The last Republican who did anything to make government help actual people was T. Roosevelt.
Thanks for your recommendations. I’ll pass them along.
This is a big deal for my brother–his 50th birthday–and he’s stressing a little because he wants everything to be perfect. He is a bit of a wine snob connoisseur, and he’s trying to find something good to please a large crowd of diverse people, and that he can buy in bulk without breaking the bank.
I might have to buy a bottle or two myself–purely for research purposes, of course.
Stuffed banana peppers are just icing on the cake.
You have no idea what a strange image this evokes. Banana peppers … icing … cake.
Corner Stone – Trying to find a post in the last year or so discussing the whole “I’m the only thing between you and the mobs” statement that was attribed to Obama at one point during the height of financial fear mongering.
Here’s one link (google search term “balloon juice obama I’m the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks“)
Who would have ever thought I would be *happy* to be watching the Bengals and Ravens on the teebee??
Course, when the Cowboys are the other option, I’ll take just about anything.
Thank you CBS for the reprieve!
I share your consternation: “tart and flinty” ought to be the hallmark of a good chardonnay – or chardonnay-grape-based wine, but there you go….
You didn’t say if price was a concern, but if it is, try finding some Yellow Tail Australian chardonnay. Not quite as bity as some chards, but not as fruity as a Sauv Blanc or Fume Blanc. And cheap(ish). BTW, if your budget isn’t a concern, I’ll second the rec on Ferrari-Carano. One of California’s best.
71.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: I first found the FC Fume Blanc when it was served at a hoity-toity dinner party in River Oaks (very toity part of Houston). And I was amazed that I not only tolerated it but actually enjoyed it. Most of the other 30 – 40 people there also found it enjoyable.
Definitely worth the $14 or so bucks and if you don’t like it I’ll e-mail you an IOU.
Advanced search through Google is just not finding what I know is out there. Trying to find a post in the last year or so discussing the whole “I’m the only thing between you and the mobs” statement that was attribed to Obama at one point during the height of financial fear mongering.
I wasn’t paying attention to the date of my search in my earlier reply. Just entering pitchforks as a Balloon Juice search term, gives you the following:
Wow – I just read Sullivan’s screed in full: bitter much, Andrew?
Not only does he miss the larger point, as John points out; but he also seems oblivious to the rather important fact that we have actually had a President of the United States stand up in a public forum, and pledge to end (or at least try to end – Obama isn’t an autocrat) antigay discrimination as offcial policy. Note that: the President of the United States . Can one even imagine the previous incumbent doing as much? Or even Bill Clinton (whose offcial “efforts” for promoting gay rights were always compromised, circumscribed and half-assed, whatever his personal feelings)?
Yeah, Sully’s right, in some way: Obama didn’t actually DO a lot: but as Rey noted in #45, He probably wouldn’t have been satisfied by anything less than an immediate Executive Order, signed on the podium. And even then he would probably pen a post complaining “why did it take him so long”?
I don’t think price is a big constraint, as bro’ man is something of a connoisseur and can afford it. But he doesn’t want it to go to waste, e.g., Uncle Cheapjack obliviously guzzling expensive wine while complaining that there are no flaming baloney wrap-ups or blackened Viennas at the buffet table.
They definitely should have had that idiot’s AK-47s.
77.
Corner Stone
@Brachiator: Thanks for the assist, the phrase I found when I googled the supposed Obama statement did not use “pitchfork” it used mob so I never used the specific term “pitchfork”. But that was what I was trying to find, so thanks.
This still makes me laugh until I cry:
“The important thing is he’s going to take their toys from them, hopefully, through executive compensation limits and other controls on their irresponsibility.”
@Steeplejack: Your brother should definitely try the CMS white, assuming that he can find it in your state. Inexpensive and wildly popular both with sommeliers and with picky drinkers like my (French) wife.
Uncle Cheapjack obliviously guzzling expensive wine while complaining that there are no flaming baloney wrap-ups or blackened Viennas at the buffet table.
I don’t know what a flaming baloney wrap is, but a fried baloney sandwich is the absolute balls.
Now I’m hungry. And it’s halftime so *WIN*!
Once had a party with some friends where we were supposed to bring a memorably kitschy dish from our family backgrounds. God, it was memorable. Amazing how much massive quantities of alcohol can contribute to any get-together. Anyway, I have a fuzzy memory of some meat product and fire, but possibly that was not an intended part of the recipe.
Anyway, “flaming baloney wrap-ups” and “blackened Viennas” (pronounced “Vye-eeh-nas,” in the Southern style) have become coded phrases in certain circles.
Your friend has probably purchased the Conservative Talking Points iPhone app, approved by Apple for sale and now available for $1.99 at the app store. It provides users with 250 talking points on everything from “America – The Greatest Nation Ever” to “Out of Control Spending” to ACORN to “Private Industries Taken Over (See Fascism in America).”
“Be armed with the Conservative Talking Points (CTP) iPhone App as your powerful arsenal to debate those emotional and ill-prepared liberals,” it advertises in the pre-purchase info provided at the app store. It should make a nice pairing with the Glenn Beck Station Locator app, for anyone who needs to find Glenn Beck on the radio with haste.
calipygian
Maybe the WaPo monitoring of the Hate-o-sphere will be a good thing after all. Front page story on the Malkinite hoards harrassing a NJ school principal that gets it mostly right.
Maybe Malkin’s haraunging of the MSM to lift the rock to take a look at what the wingers are howling about will backfire big time on them when the papers find not “concerned citizens” but “councils of conservative citizens” waving Confederate flags and burning crosses.
calipygian
BQ fail.
calipygian
Steve Wynn on FNS just now:
“Government has never ever raised the standard of living in the history of civilization period”
Well except for the TVA that electrified most of the American south, the Soviet nationwide electrification campaign in the 20s and 30s, the Egyptian pharaohs irrigating the Nile valley, the Romans building a network of roads still in use today, etc.
Svensker
@calipygian:
You know, I’d always read your name as Cal-Egyptian, and assumed you were a person of Egyptian descent who lived in California.
Then I focused my eyeballs and really read it — and googled it — and now…
Shake your booty.
geg6
My Sunday did not get off on a good note. On the local teevee political show, that smarmy Rep. Tim Murphy-R was concern trolling Obama with the local anchor boy doing his best Stretch Gregory imitation by dancing backup to him. I wanted to scream.
SiubhanDuinne
@TimF: Are you trying to pith me off?
Brick Oven Bill
Imagine that calipygian, electrifying the railroads as a legitimate use of government spending to stimulate the economy. What a good idea.
It might work nearly as well as handing out cash to people standing in long lines in Detroit and sending federal money to Richard Daley after a crime was (finally) caught on video.
If that video had been released following the Olympic decision, the odds of the Daley Machine producing it would have been 77%. But as it was released at an inopportune time before the Olympic decision, costing Valerie and her friends money, we have to consider that it was produced by the Daley Machine and either inadvertently leaked, leaked by someone who was pissed at one or more real estate investors, or was actually filmed by a bystander.
Therefore, the odds of the Daley Machine producing the beating video have been reduced to 37%.
Seanly
CNN has three separate videos of President McCain being interviewed by human facsimile John King. The topics are the Republican plan for health care, VP Palin and McCain’s plan for the rest of his first term.
calipygian
@Brick Oven Bill: Wow you are incoherent. In a scary, forgot to take the haldol kind of way.
calipygian
Liz Cheney is on the FNS panel and it is stunning how amazingly dumb she is.
wrb
@calipygian:
Too little Haldol or too much of that Hadacol bounce, hard to tell.
DBrown
@calipygian: That is the result of Liz being an anal rather than vaginal birth.
Paul L.
Looks like the Husband shot the gun toting “crazy” woman.
Cops: Husband shot soccer mom as she chatted on webcam
So John C how it is her fault? Other than her choice in husbands?
If Only There Had Been More Guns
Look llike the “The Moar You Know’s” narrative is wrong again.
Brick Oven Bill
Question: Why do Daley and Obama use credit cards, checks, and electronic transfers when they spend our government money?
Answer: Because they want to get away from this.
But they cannot. There is no place to hide. Teabaggers, empowered by the Internet, lead the way with open eyes. Sight is one of our Five Senses.
Take for instance Brandy, who is what we call ‘Texas pretty’. Brandy would not drink Kool Aid laced with cyanide because some guy preaching about loving communities told her to. Brandy’s eyes are open.
Compare Brandy’s eyes with Annie’s eyes. Annie is squinting. The guy to Annie’s left is smiling. You figure that one out.
SiubhanDuinne
@calipygian: Why do you torment yourself by watching FNS in the first pplace?
geg6
Looks like BoB is ODing on pie this morning. Too much pie is bad for you, BoB!
calipygian
@SiubhanDuinne: A little bit south of here, there is a Krispy Creme bakery. The bakery is pumping grease into the waste disposal system and some poor bastard from the county has to go down there every once in a while and check on the big globs of grease that is clogging the shit stream. FNS is that sewer, Bill Krystal and Chris Wallace are those big globs of shit and grease clogging political discourse and I am that poor Prince William County sewer worker.
SGEW
@calipygian: But what have the Romans ever done for us?
calipygian
My mistake. Southern Fairfax County, not PWC.
Rey
I cannot stomach the Talk shows this morning, I had on ESPN but, that weirded me out because my ex-hubby had it on constantly- switched to the E! channel and found bliss. The Soup and then some stupid show about these two sister’s that live in Miami or something. Anyway, lots to accomplish today, overcast and mild in the Mid-South, dinner with the family later– Life is definitely good…
SiubhanDuinne
@calipygian: Wow! When I read your reply I thought you had come up with a picturtesque, if disgusting, metaphor. But the link in your correction cleared that up — so to speak.
Comrade Darkness
Open thread? So, I can bitch at will then?
Seven-year Sidekick user here, pissed as hell about microsoft destroying my lovely little usable, dead-simple, always worked cell phone.
Fuckers.
SiubhanDuinne
Pictur*esque*
Damned edit function.
Warren Terra
@ SGEW, #18
Y’know, I had exactly the same response, except that I wanted to include the hyperlink.
ChrisB
Must read column by Frank Rich in the Times this morning stomping all over John McCain and the hawks who completely messed up our foreign policy during the Bush administration:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/opinion/11rich.html?ref=opinion
Much better than watching Howie Kurtz debate whether Fox News is fair and balanced or not.
geg6
I refuse to deal with the bobbleheads this morning. I am eating a giant cinnamon roll and drinking my favorite, Dunkin Donuts coffee. My John is making stuffed banana peppers to take to my sister’s where we will be watching the World Champion Steelers. It is another typical fall day here in Pittsburgh, some clouds with a bit of sun peeking out now and again, temps in the 50s. Football and fall make life worth living. Stuffed banana peppers are just icing on the cake.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m heading off to see the 11:00 am showing of Capitalism.
Bill H
@calipygian:
I’m sure I would agree with you if I could figure out what he was babbling about.
Brick Oven Bill
Yesterday, using Arithmetic, we developed the Global Warming Equation: Departure from Tave = 0.00144 (year minus 1980) + 0.0000057 (year minus1980)^2. This equation predicts future temperatures using the assumptions held by Al Gore’s Award Winning theory. In this case, theory in no way reflects practice, although I am rethinking some of the coefficients, as there is something there that is not making sense.
One day before, on Friday, Al Gore took six questions, in Madison Wisconsin. Madison Wisconsin.
In what organizers said was a rarity, Gore took half a dozen questions from journalists, including one from Phelim McAleer, an Irish filmmaker who asked Gore to address nine errors in his film identified by a British court in 2007.
Gore responded that the court ruling supported the showing of his film in British schools. When McAleer tried to debate further, his microphone was cut off by the moderators.
Al Gore makes profits from Carbon Credit sales. Generation Investment Management, LLP, was founded by Al, and his friend from Goldman Sachs, David Blood. David Blood retired as CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and then met up with Al the Award-Winner.
Sight, Touch, Hearing, Smelling, Taste.
asiangrrlMN
I have a sincere question for the bobblehead watchers out there–why? Why do you watch the shows? I have a hard enough time reading the shorter versions; I know my head would ‘asplode if I actually watched the shows themselves.
Full slate of games to watch this crisp, chilly October day.
Bill H
@calipygian:
You ever notice that Kryspy Kreme and Bill Krystal both spell their names starting with “K”? One is pumping filthy grease into the sewer and the other one makes donuts.
Demo Woman
@Seanly: Thanks for the warning. I just love when MSM drools over “let them muddle through” McCain.
@calipygian: Great comparison.
donovong
My first home-made pastrami is in the smoker. T-minus 2 hours and counting!
geg6
By the way, if Mr. Cole happens to peek in, hope you’re feeling better. GO STILLERS! Lily should have her cape on and we should have photographic evidence of that. Just sayin’.
asiangrrlMN
@ChrisB: This was an excellent article and well worth the read. I agree with Steve Benen over at Washington Monthly. Too bad President McCain pre-taped his segment on Friday. It would have been great to get his response to this article. Then again, the show’s host never would have asked him about it.
wag
Yeah, but these examples are all left leaning examples. What has the GOP ever done for all of us, except for the Interstate Highway system (Eisenhower) and the EPA (Nixon). Face it, the GOP has done it’s gol-darndest to be consistent in not allowing government to help people for nearly 40 years. THAT is an impressive record.
Demo Woman
@calipygian: Thank you for linking to this article. I have already forwarded it to my friends and family. We can only hope that you are right.
osses.
Just Some Fuckhead
Steelers at Lions on CBS today opposite the market game. WTF? Meanwhile, the 3-1 Bengals playing the 3-1 Ravens for the best record in the AFC North in the next closest market, not to be found on my teevee.
I hate the NFL or my local CBS affiliate, or both.
GregB
I watch the Sunday shows just to see Paul Gigot. He’s dreamy. I wish he were a Gigotlo.
-G
John Cole
Has it occurred to any of the gay activists currently pissed off at Obama that he was not speaking to them, but to the larger public. Having the President publicly and openly speak to the HRC in support of gay rights is not a nod to the HRC group, it is a message to the larger public.
Christ. I just give up. I’m going back to the couch and the vaporizer. Come to the computer and check things out and I have 400 emails and mass stupidity at memeorandum.
anonevent
@Paul L.: Actually, Paul, if you read the BJ link you actually linked to, John said that the belief that was wrong about guns is that everyone is a law abiding citizen until they’re not. Considering the fact that the section that John posted mentions that they children reported the dad shooting Mom, I don’t see anywhere John was implying that just the mom shouldn’t have a gun. As for Moar’s statement, I’ll leave that to Moar.
But I do have a question: How did her having a gun help her in this case?
Corner Stone
@anonevent:
Sadly for her, she was in Condition White.
Corner Stone
Anyone who lives near DC please be warned! Saxby Chambliss and DiFi are both on the same roundtable at the same time! A whirling, twirling vortex of utter and indefinable stupidity could open up at any point and suck you in.
calipygian
@Demo Woman: The last line of the article is a killer:
That this was on the front page of Kaplan Test Prep is stunning.
Rey
What John Cole said @ #40.
I think Sully, Dan Savage and the rest would have only been happy if the Prez brought his Presidential pen to the speech last night and signed an executive order or whatever on stage to end DADT and DOMA. Now THAT would have been good news for John McCain…..
Steeplejack
Wine question for Laura W (or anyone):
My brother is having a big birthday party and wants a suggestion for a middle-of-the-road white wine. I say “middle of the road” because he doesn’t want a big, fat Chardonnay and he doesn’t want something “tart and flinty.” (WTF?!)
I was thinking maybe a Vouvray, but then I realized the last time I had a decent Vouvray (Marc Bredif?) was quite a while back. Mostly I have been drinking low-end everyday table wine.
So, any suggestions for a case of something that will be good but won’t break the bank?
AhabTRuler
@calipygian: Yeah, but I would be more impressed by the article if it didn’t contain the standard “but they called Bush Hitler! ! !” equivalence trope.
Matt
The Decline of the West pt. 51356280
Matt
Here’s the original link:
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/news/21245741/detail.html#
calipygian
@AhabTRuler: I’m actually impressed that that old trope was rolled out only once and very briefly.
The rest of the article concentrates on the batshit insane Malkinite wing of the GOP.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: I’ve suggested this one before on BJ, and I still stand behind it:
“And I’m not a wine person, I prefer Spanish Rioja’s and other fruity reds (generally with a strong blackberry or plum sensation) you can make a great Sangria with but if you want to try a dry, yet smooth white that is top notch for under $15 you absolutely can not go wrong with this:
Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc
I have the 2006, haven’t tried the 2008. It’s got a great apple overtone with a little citrus flavor. Not too much oaky taste. IMO, a nice velvety start, exploding fruit middle, and a finish that is easy and not bitter at all. A lot of whites I’ve tried have a bitter finish but this doesn’t.”
FWIW.
DBrown
@Brick Oven Bill: You are talking about a subject you know near nothing about. Why do you embarrass yourself by displaying your vast ignorance and contain to use elementary arguments to push an idea that any high school student knows as fact? Your need to STFU until you try and learn at least the bare knowledge required of this field so you can leave remarks that make some sense. If you prefer ignorance like most repub-a-thugs, then stick to being a troll on politics – at least then, you can be a little entertaining.
LiberalTarian
I think the Tacoma Bridge failure due to resonance is a good metaphor for today’s right wing. And, of course, the dude strolling away from his car is perfectly analogous to those 20-some percent-er teabaggers who finally walk away but leave their dog in the car to perish. Too dumb to see what is happening until the last second, too callous to care for the poor saps who cannot help themselves, but perfectly willing to save their own skin.
Brick Oven Bill
You shut up DBrown.
I am very well qualified; I have developed the Global Warming Equation. This makes me preeminent.
A carbon dioxide level of 0.0338% creates Al’s theoretical temperature rise of 0.001 degrees Celcius each year. The carbon dioxide levels are rising by 0.00015 percent per year, creating a second-order differential equation, and a theoretical acceleration in warming. This is pretty basic stuff. I think DougJ is a math teacher and can probably back me up on this and perhaps help me with the coefficients.
Thus, with the use of Arithmetic, my qualifications exceed those of Al Gore, who eats lots of meats and cheeses, and David Blood, the CEO from Goldman Sachs.
Bob In Pacifica
To continue calipygian’s thoughts at #3.
The Interstate, Social Security, unemployment insurance, welfare, Food and Drug Administration, labor law, minimum wage, lifeguards, park rangers, police, fire fighters…
gnomedad
@Matt:
I love how these guys are “not racist” in roughly the sense the sun is “not hot”.
Perry Como
How dare you suggest this man is racist?! You’re the racist!!!
Tim F.
@Steeplejack:
The best all-purpose white that I have found is called CMS. Chardonnay, marsanne and sauvignon blanc work together quite well and it costs very little. It goes with every white-wine food that I have tried so far and doesn’t outcompete delicate stuff.
Almost everyone I know loves Menage a Trois white, another blend (chardonnay, muscat, chenin blanc) by the Folie a Deux winery. Be careful – serious wine lovers hate the wine for the same reason that most love it. The blender added way more vanilla than usual to maximize popular appeal, and it works, but people with a palate can tell and it pisses them off.
If you don’t want a blend I would have suggested sauvignon blanc, except that “tart and flinty” makes it sound like your brother doesn’t want a sauv blanc, especially not the good ones from New Zealand. If you can afford to pay a little more and want some character, Rieslings from Alsace come surprisingly dry. They definitely deserve a look if you’re turned off by the grape syrup stuff made on the east side of the Rhine. French love pinot gris because it pairs with almost anything. Although it is a little low-key for my tastes when I can have a sublime French Riesling or Gewurtze (with dessert), that or its Italian cousin pinot grigio might work well for you.
IMO the chardonnay market is overexposed (about the most obvious fucking statement in the world of wine) and therefore it is hard to find a genuinely good one amid the dreck.
good luck.
gnomedad
@Bob In Pacifica:
Police and firefighters are moral hazards, causing people to underinvest in firearms and bucket brigades.
Ash
@John Cole: Sullivan’s whole rant just made me roll my eyes.
Cat Lady
@Steeplejack:
I don’t like big fat Chardonnays either, and have recently discovered that un-oaked “naked” Chardonnays are delicious. They’re not cheap, but I’ve found them for about $12 a bottle which is reasonable for a special occasion, and most places give discounts on cases if you ask nicely. Oh, and wink, also, too. You betcha.
Corner Stone
Can I just gripe a little about trying to search BJ for older posts?
Advanced search through Google is just not finding what I know is out there. Trying to find a post in the last year or so discussing the whole “I’m the only thing between you and the mobs” statement that was attribed to Obama at one point during the height of financial fear mongering.
Don’t know if it’s the way BJ is set up, the way Goog does its thing, or a combo.
Just needles me when I can’t find anything.
ETA – or it could be my inadequacy, which is always possible. Or so my mother always told me. …*sob*…
Beej
@wag: 40 years? Hell, more like 100 years. The last Republican who did anything to make government help actual people was T. Roosevelt.
calipygian
@Beej: Well Nixon DID set up the EPA.
AhabTRuler
@calipygian: Hey, Nixon “set up” many people, I don’t think he deserves a prize for it, just a place in Hell!
Corner Stone
@calipygian: True, but since it was Nixon I have to believe he was setting up some kind of long con on the American people.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone, @Tim F., Cat Lady:
Thanks for your recommendations. I’ll pass them along.
This is a big deal for my brother–his 50th birthday–and he’s stressing a little because he wants everything to be perfect. He is a bit of a wine
snobconnoisseur, and he’s trying to find something good to please a large crowd of diverse people, and that he can buy in bulk without breaking the bank.I might have to buy a bottle or two myself–purely for research purposes, of course.
Brachiator
@geg6:
You have no idea what a strange image this evokes. Banana peppers … icing … cake.
Corner Stone – Trying to find a post in the last year or so discussing the whole “I’m the only thing between you and the mobs” statement that was attribed to Obama at one point during the height of financial fear mongering.
Here’s one link (google search term “balloon juice obama I’m the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks“)
https://balloon-juice.com/?p=27923
Corner Stone
Who would have ever thought I would be *happy* to be watching the Bengals and Ravens on the teebee??
Course, when the Cowboys are the other option, I’ll take just about anything.
Thank you CBS for the reprieve!
Jay C
@Steeplejack:
I share your consternation: “tart and flinty” ought to be the hallmark of a good chardonnay – or chardonnay-grape-based wine, but there you go….
You didn’t say if price was a concern, but if it is, try finding some Yellow Tail Australian chardonnay. Not quite as bity as some chards, but not as fruity as a Sauv Blanc or Fume Blanc. And cheap(ish). BTW, if your budget isn’t a concern, I’ll second the rec on Ferrari-Carano. One of California’s best.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: I first found the FC Fume Blanc when it was served at a hoity-toity dinner party in River Oaks (very toity part of Houston). And I was amazed that I not only tolerated it but actually enjoyed it. Most of the other 30 – 40 people there also found it enjoyable.
Definitely worth the $14 or so bucks and if you don’t like it I’ll e-mail you an IOU.
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
I wasn’t paying attention to the date of my search in my earlier reply. Just entering pitchforks as a Balloon Juice search term, gives you the following:
https://balloon-juice.com/?s=pitchforks
Pitchforks into ploughshares? from Sunday, April 5th, 2009 looks like fun
https://balloon-juice.com/?p=19579
Paul L.
@anonevent:
The same way that it helped these Pittsburgh policemen.
So the police should not have guns?
Jay C
@John Cole:
Wow – I just read Sullivan’s screed in full: bitter much, Andrew?
Not only does he miss the larger point, as John points out; but he also seems oblivious to the rather important fact that we have actually had a President of the United States stand up in a public forum, and pledge to end (or at least try to end – Obama isn’t an autocrat) antigay discrimination as offcial policy. Note that: the President of the United States . Can one even imagine the previous incumbent doing as much? Or even Bill Clinton (whose offcial “efforts” for promoting gay rights were always compromised, circumscribed and half-assed, whatever his personal feelings)?
Yeah, Sully’s right, in some way: Obama didn’t actually DO a lot: but as Rey noted in #45, He probably wouldn’t have been satisfied by anything less than an immediate Executive Order, signed on the podium. And even then he would probably pen a post complaining “why did it take him so long”?
Steeplejack
@Jay C, @Corner Stone et al.:
I don’t think price is a big constraint, as bro’ man is something of a connoisseur and can afford it. But he doesn’t want it to go to waste, e.g., Uncle Cheapjack obliviously guzzling expensive wine while complaining that there are no flaming baloney wrap-ups or blackened Viennas at the buffet table.
Er, we have an eclectic family.
Tim F.
@Paul L.:
They definitely should have had that idiot’s AK-47s.
Corner Stone
@Brachiator: Thanks for the assist, the phrase I found when I googled the supposed Obama statement did not use “pitchfork” it used mob so I never used the specific term “pitchfork”. But that was what I was trying to find, so thanks.
This still makes me laugh until I cry:
“The important thing is he’s going to take their toys from them, hopefully, through executive compensation limits and other controls on their irresponsibility.”
Tim F.
@Steeplejack: Your brother should definitely try the CMS white, assuming that he can find it in your state. Inexpensive and wildly popular both with sommeliers and with picky drinkers like my (French) wife.
Steeplejack
@Tim F.:
Will give it a go. The Ferrari-Carano also looks good. I will look for these for myself.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack:
I don’t know what a flaming baloney wrap is, but a fried baloney sandwich is the absolute balls.
Now I’m hungry. And it’s halftime so *WIN*!
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Once had a party with some friends where we were supposed to bring a memorably kitschy dish from our family backgrounds. God, it was memorable. Amazing how much massive quantities of alcohol can contribute to any get-together. Anyway, I have a fuzzy memory of some meat product and fire, but possibly that was not an intended part of the recipe.
Anyway, “flaming baloney wrap-ups” and “blackened Viennas” (pronounced “Vye-eeh-nas,” in the Southern style) have become coded phrases in certain circles.
freelancer
WTF?!:
Via Ed Brayton by way of Ambinder