Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

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

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Wednesday Night Open Thread

Wednesday Night Open Thread

by | 183 Comments

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It appears the turf wars of 2009 are finally over, and Lily has ceded the futon to his royal highness Tunch, and now has made this old hand-me-down chair (every family has a chair like this- it was in my house as a toddler, then in my mom’s office for decades, then when she retired I didn’t say no quick enough when she asked if I wanted it):

imsleepingfool

At any rate, don’t forget to vote for Bitsy. We are doing well this week- over 1600 already. I know we can crack three k.

Also, this:

Michael Steele, hamburger helper.

Reader Interactions

183Comments

  3. 3.

    Jay in Oregon

    Ooo, getting started early I see.

    I’m still at work, but I might drop in later and say “howdy”.

  4. 4.

    smiley

    I think some pets like some boundaries. Tey like a sense of envelopment. You know, belonging to the family. Or maybe being owned by the resident overweight cat. /dog whisperer.

    I have a hideous chair too. It’s not even very comfortable. It is, however, convenient to have have when some one needs a seat.

  5. 5.

    Cat Lady

    Tunch’s Paws of Fury have restored order to the universe. Poor Lily. It’s Tunch’s world, and we just live in it.

    There’s really nothing to say about Michael Steele except FAIL.

  6. 6.

    John Cole

    @smiley: This one is actually pretty damned comfortable. Has a lot of cushion, but a really stiff back and I like to sit in it when I hurt my back or strain myself somehow.

  7. 7.

    jl

    @schrodinger’s cat: Never fear, the TunchForce will always abide with us, even though an overly fanatical devotee of a new cult has removed his image.

    Glad that Lily The Dog and Tunch The Cat have worked out an mutually agreeable arrangement. I hope their impertinent owner still has a comfy place to sit, he deserves a few perks, I suppose.

  10. 10.

    jl

    Oh dear. I was going to point out that the likely truth was that Lily has taken Cole’s favorite comfy chair. But I thought it would be cruel. Though Cole seems to have spilled the beans. Life can be hard for the gamma mammal of the house.

    I hope Lily lets Cole sit in whenever his back hurts.

  11. 11.

    JGabriel

    John Cole:

    Michael Steele, hamburger helper.

    I’M ON YT TRAKZ, BLOCKN’ YR ONRUSHIN’ TRAIN! MOOO!

    .

  13. 13.

    JGabriel

    @jl:

    I hope Lily lets Cole sit in whenever his back hurts.

    Lily obviously loves John. She’ll just scoot out of his way, then jump on his lap instead.

    .

  14. 14.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Lily is a lean dog and shorthaired. They get cold very easily and like fluffy doggie beds with loose blankets and stuff they can wriggle into, specially their legs and paws. Just a suggestion.

  15. 15.

    jl

    In fairness to Steele, the Fox News mannequin did get the confusion started with the image of a train leaving the station with the president ‘at the wheel’.

    If he had said ‘leaving the dock’ or ‘president at the helm’ or ‘president on the poop deck’ it would have really gotten interesting.

  17. 17.

    smiley

    @John Cole: The picture you posted makes me think that your chair is larger than mine. Mine is what is considered a side chair. I hope that’s the last time I post anything saying that you have something larger than I do – except cats.

  18. 18.

    JGabriel

    jl:

    In fairness to Steele, the Fox New mannequin did get the confusion started with the image of a train leaving the station with the president ‘at the wheel’.

    Yes, and of “breakman”, Steele went for the “cow” metaphor.

    Really, it’s not like he didn’t better choices.

    .

  21. 21.

    jl

    @JGabriel: OK, good. I don’t want Cole to turn into a cow on the tracks in front of an onrushing Tunch The Cat and Lily The Dog. That would be sad.

  22. 22.

    JGabriel

    @JGabriel:

    Yes, and instead of “breakman”, Steele went for the “cow” metaphor.

    Sigh. I’ve got to learn to stop laughing before I post. I so miss the post editing function.

    .

  24. 24.

    Punchy

    I’m a little slow here….what exactly is this Bitsy bit and how does clicking on a link help a dog? Is she a dog blogger (dogger)? TIA

  25. 25.

    LT

    Good lord, is the Bitsy thing some kind of sick practical joke? Will it never end?

    P.S. John, I think you’re going to want to jump on this. I’m thinking the Republicans may demand that Obama order an attack on Honduras.

  26. 26.

    bleh

    “At the wheel.” “The cow on the tracks.” And you KNOW that fully 27% of the country — and a lot larger percentage of Fox viewership — was saying “yessir, that’s absolutely right.”

    Why do we even bother with these morons?

  27. 27.

    John Cole

    Lily is on my lap every possible moment.

    We do have a new game, though. When I am lying on the couch and she is on my stomach, I will blow in her face and make a high-pitched noise, and this gets her all wound up. Then I say “vroom vroom vroom,” and for whatever reason she charges into another room and stays there until I yell “Lily” and she comes screaming back onto the couch, at which time I say “VROOM VROOM VROOM” and she does an immediate u-turn and rushes back into the other room. Rinse and repeat for 15 minutes.

    What can I say? We’re easily entertained. Tunch usually climbs something tall and looks down on us with disgust.

  29. 29.

    JGabriel

    Think Progress via freelancer:

    For months and months, conservatives blamed President Obama for the slumping stock market. … Now that the Dow has rebounded to over 10,000, what are the conservatives saying? On his Fox News today, Neil Cavuto claimed the stock market rebound is evidence of a “Bush recovery” …

    I just made fun of that wingnut motif, in a different context, two threads ago:

    B-b-b-but, Clinton was only able to balance the budget because of Reagan! And Clinton did it in such a way that his spending only became apparent under Bush! Nyah! Nyah!

    They are so fucking predictable.

  30. 30.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @John Cole:

    That’s funny. A little crazy, but funny. I had an Aussie Shepard once where we would square of outside at a corner of the house, then I would start to bark and he would tear out and circle the house and full speed jump into my arms and knock us both to the ground. Best of fun.

  31. 31.

    jl

    @JGabriel: So, if Steele is the cow, that means the GOP Congressional delegation is the turntablist, trying to switch the train onto another track.

    Steele should have said he was the turntablist, that would fit in with his hip-hop pitch for the white race’s party PR program.

    That might even get him another TV debate with Chuck D, which would get him noticed again among the crowd he is trying to woo.

  33. 33.

    HumboldtBlue

    You badmouth the family heirloom chair, and yet, there you are getting worthwhile use from same slandered piece of functional furniture. I bet if that chair had a radio program it would sue you for slander, you America-hating commie.

  34. 34.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @JGabriel:

    It’s amazing how they spin, isn’t it? I’d like to see the internal memo that spelled out that FAIL was going to be a talking point.

    Too bad we’ve got to look at.

  37. 37.

    Cain

    @JGabriel:

    Jeepers, that video is a cow snuff film. I can’t believe I’m laughing at it.

    I didn’t.. I flinched. :( But you’re looking at the guy relocates insects out of his home instead of killing them.

    cain

  39. 39.

    Svensker

    @Punchy:

    Just click on the link and you can read the story. Whatever prize money Bitsy wins will go to a dog shelter in her area.

  40. 40.

    JGabriel

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    why doesn’t the tag want to work?

    Only the top level posters can embed video and charts. Which is a sound choice, because you can end up with some pretty heavy bandwidth threads if everyone was allowed to do it.

    .

  41. 41.

    jl

    @HumboldtBlue: Does that we should start calling Rush ‘Lazyboy’? I can see Limbaugh as a overstuffed chair, but his tuck-n-roll is overdone, and too much chrome on top.

    (in honor of mixed metaphors everywhere and throughout history)

  42. 42.

    Demo Woman

    Michael Steele, hamburger helper.
    I’m not a big beef eater anyway, but this picture doesn’t help.
    I can’t wait for the new PETA ad.

  43. 43.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @JGabriel:

    I was trying to make a link to the chart. The final link is to the basic version of the Dow chart at Yahoo. I learned about the embed thing in a previous open thread.

  44. 44.

    chuck

    ahh but for a proper title.

    “Hand On The Whistle, Hand On The Brake”

    or how about

    “Drivin That Train, High On Cocaine”

  45. 45.

    JGabriel

    @jl:

    … in honor of mixed metaphors everywhere …

    Yeah, that one was more Cuisnarted(tm) than mixed, but still funny.

    .

  48. 48.

    freelancer

    @jl:

    Wow, nice Friedman.

    I can’t wait til someone calls Steele a “dumb fucker” and that shit gets YouTubed.

    I just made that brand a verb. Kill me. Do it now.

  49. 49.

    smiley

    We do have a new game, though. When I am lying on the couch and she is on my stomach, I will blow in her face and make a high-pitched noise, and this gets her all wound up. Then I say “vroom vroom vroom,” and for whatever reason she charges into another room and stays there until I yell “Lily” and she comes screaming back onto the couch, at which time I say “VROOM VROOM VROOM” and she does an immediate u-turn and rushes back into the other room. Rinse and repeat for 15 minutes.

    This is very interesting to me. In any time since you’ve had her, have you said or yelled at a loud voice, “vroom vroom vroom or anything that might sound like it?” If not then I would guess that there’s something about that phrase that is similar to something scary in her past. The fact that she comes back to you when you call her is cool though.

  51. 51.

    JGabriel

    @chuck:

    ahh but for a proper title.

    I Plowed A Cow In Reno, Just To Watch Him Die

    (Umm, yes, I know cows aren’t “him”‘s, but it’s funnier that way.)

    .

  53. 53.

    Demo Woman

    John, I’m glad that the pets survived the all the odors from your recent sterilizing the abode.

  54. 54.

    Chad N Freude

    Josh Marshall says it best.

    In other words, in addition to his other shortcomings, Steele is apparently unschooled on the history of train/cow confrontations

  59. 59.

    Chad N Freude

    @freelancer: Hmph! I was getting a login screen with a rejection of user id/password. Being a high-tech genius, when I read your response, I figured out what the problem was and fixed it.
    Thanks for motivating me to actually identify a problem rather than whine about having one. Other commenters please note.

    Note to John: Never mind.

  60. 60.

    Chad N Freude

    Thanks to all who responded to my … issue, but Freelancer got to me first and wins the prize.

  62. 62.

    inkadu

    @JGabriel: I’ve got the post editing function.

    If you’re blocking scripts, you should enable addtoany.com (I think). I’ll tell you more after I write this and see what buttons pop up.

    And voila. Editted.

    Edit: Edited.

    Doesn’t seem to be addtoany or projectwonderful… hmm… but it works. I think.

    Sorry if this has already been talked to death here.

  64. 64.

    Cain

    Holy shit, I was going through the archives (don’t ask me why.. ) and man, Darrell was one special kind of crazy. I started getting angry just re-reading his posts and I don’t usually don’t get too involved emotionally when posting here. That guy can stir up a hornets nest just by looking at it. he must have been really disgusted when John converted.

    I was reading this post in case you were curious. It was the drag out fight between Jane “of the left” Hamsher and John. We don’t have those kind of fights anymore. (a good thing generally)

    cain

  65. 65.

    RedKitten

    @John Cole:

    When I am lying on the couch and she is on my stomach, I will blow in her face and make a high-pitched noise, and this gets her all wound up.

    Careful with that…blowing in a dog’s face is often a surefire way to piss them off. My husband’s boss used to do that to their dog a lot just to tease it, and the dog never seemed to mind that much, until one day the dog decided that she DID mind it, and she minded it enough to bite the guy’s nose. No damage was done, but it’s still something you’ll want to be cautious about.

    Is it time for a Sam photo to go with the Lily photo? I think it might be — either the red sweater one or the sad-faced one I emailed you the other day would work nicely, I think. :)

  67. 67.

    Anne Laurie

    What can I say? We’re easily entertained.

    Yeah, this is the sort of thing I bring up when people demand to know why we chose pets instead of kids. Do this with a rugrat, and even if the kid thinks it’s having a good time, some busybody will report you to the authorities…

  69. 69.

    pcbedamned

    I didn’t say no quick enough when she asked if I wanted it):

    Doesn’t matter. Moms have a way of making you feel like you have stabbed them in the heart if you say no to taking something that was near and dear to them – or that they seriously want to get rid of without having to move it themselves. I know this because my mother’s favorite trick whenever I go to visit and she wants to ‘clean house’ is tell me ‘”This belonged to your _________”(insert dead relative that will give the most guilt here). I actually brought home about 1/3 of her house this past week-end while there for Thanksgiving…

  72. 72.

    AhabTRuler

    @Notorious P.A.T.: Actually, I find that reaction common to any profession which interacts with “stupid fuckers”. Of course, such utterances are most common when one of the aforesaid fuckers is about to buy it, as I’ve certainly heard similar on COPS, combat videos, &c. &c.

  73. 73.

    Chad N Freude

    @inkadu: I’ve got everything on this site unblocked and no editing function in FireFox. What browser are you using?

  74. 74.

    beltane

    @Comrade Jake: Twenty-three foster children is another way of saying “orphanage” or “foundling home”. Charles Dickens would have had a field day with Michele Bachmann.

  80. 80.

    metricpenny

    Lily didn’t cede. She knows she coordinates better with the chair.

    John and Tunch, it’s a girl thing. Y’all wouldn’t understand.

  81. 81.

    Cain

    @RedKitten:

    This thread was the one where I finally lost my patience with that crazy fucker. The fun starts around comment #16.

    Doh! I remember that thread. I was still in browsing mode then I think. I started posting shortly around that time..

    cain

  83. 83.

    Chad N Freude

    @RedKitten: I started reading the thread but had to quit when I read #40. And that wasn’t even Darrell, it was someone called Brian.

  84. 84.

    Cain

    Couldn’t edit the post, but I found it funny that Red Kitten’s link is the same subject of of gay marriage that we were talking about all this week.

    cain

  86. 86.

    Midnight Marauder

    The next installment of “Adventures In Feckless Leadership With Harry Reid”:

    Reid’s Office Pushes Back, Says Lefty Campaign Against Him Is Non-Starter

    Senator Harry Reid’s office is now going on record pushing back hard against a campaign by the left to compel him to force Dem Senators into line on health care, with Reid’s spokesman sending me a statement claiming the idea is unworkable and a non-starter.

    “Senator Reid is focused on crafting a health care bill that will overcome a Republican filibuster. Stripping Democratic Senators of their leadership titles is a decision that would be left up to the Caucus, not Senator Reid. In light of this reality it’s unlikely that the Caucus would ever go along with this idea.”

    If everything is just “left up to the Caucus,” then why the fuck does the Caucus need a fucking “leader”? Also, why do you need to craft legislation to get past a “Republican filibuster” if you have the super magical 60 votes you’ve been asking for since the beginning of time? You’ve got 60 votes…WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED, HARRY?!

    This farce just gets more and more ridiculous with every single day.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Python on Countdown:

    John Cleese and Terry Gilliam are going to be Keith’s guests later on Countdown, on this the 40th anniversary of MPFC.

    Old chairs:

    My father spent nearly all his time during his last years in a creaky, but very comfortable, old once-white leather recliner. Occasionally when I came in dead tired he would get up and insist I relax in his chair. A couple of weeks before he died, he told me that he wanted me to keep the chair — which he christened “Hugs” — and said that every time I sat in it I should think of his arms around me. I did and I do, almost 15 years later. (Now I’m tearing up and I haven’t had even one glass of wine yet.)

    Taylor Branch:

    Heard him speak today about his new book “The Clinton Tapes.” Although I wasn’t able to ask the many questions Juicers suggested in a thread about 10 days ago, he addressed some of the main themes y’all were interested in, especially terrorism and the media. Am not going to try to write a report with thumbs on the BlackBerry tonight but will try to post a summary tomorrow. In the meantime I’m sitting here with his book (inscribed! autographed! all 707 pages of it!) and hope to have a good start on it before I sleep tonight.

  89. 89.

    Cain

    @Chad N Freude:

    @RedKitten: I started reading the thread but had to quit when I read #40. And that wasn’t even Darrell, it was someone called Brian.

    Not as insane as the one I linked to. You had DougJ and John sparring about who kicked whose ass vis-a-vis Jane vs John. Then Darrell crapping shit into his hand and flinging it all over the place. It was a fucking zoo. If it was a south park episode, there would be a part where everybody would take their clothes off and start a naked fist fight. I suspect that all threads that Darrell queered would end up that way. hah.

    cain

  90. 90.

    Demo Woman

    @RedKitten: That post was a thing of beauty. I love Sam’s new poutie picture.. That will be the one you show his girl friend some day.

  91. 91.

    RedKitten

    @Cain: Yeah, that Jane Hamsher thread has definitely become the stuff of legend. I’m sure John wishes that all records of it (and our memories of it) would disappear into thin air. :)

  94. 94.

    CaseyL

    @smiley: I dunno about “scared”; it seems more like the sound gets her excited. Depends on whether she runs away like she’s playing-excited or like she’s scared-excited.

  95. 95.

    Shell

    ave a new game, though. When I am lying on the couch and

    Hee. Does she like the ‘play-bow?” That always gets Miss Kate going.

    It’s funny what words/sounds will affect a dog. Especially one that’s had some kind of history before they’ve come to you. When we adopted Clemmie, the shelter guessed she was about three years old. She’d been found abandoned in a park and there were some hints that her earlier years had not been happy ones.
    Anyway, from her first days here, the phrase ‘uh-oh’ would always get her excited and on her guard. Even a whispered, ‘uh-oh’ would send her leaping on to the couch, growling and peering out the front window as if the Huns were about to descend.

  97. 97.

    Anne Laurie

    @Comrade Jake:

    I assume you guys caught the clip of Michelle Bachmann talking about her twenty-three foster children? Twenty-fucking-three. Freedom baton, also.

    Quantity over quality, it’s the standard Talibangelical parenting trope. Possibly (hopefully) the majority of those foster kids didn’t actually spend a whole lot of time at Bachmann’s house, because the system is so overstressed it’s not uncommon for kids to be shuffled through ‘homes’ the way a mid-level marketing exec is shuffled through district offices. And the dirty secret of our xlnt ‘Murken “child welfare” system that nobody wants to mention is that there’s so few people willing to do such a demanding job for so little money (or respect) that some people can and do make a career of baby farming. Most “professional” foster parents are good people who love kids, but there are always agenda-driven incompetents who find it easier to get certified as a foster parent than a daycare provider, because by definition the foster kids’ parents aren’t going to complain about bruises, infections, or religious indoctrination. I may be a bad person for assuming that Bachmann found it more profitable to squeeze in an extra couple of bunkbeds & high chairs than to find an office or retail job at her competence level, but how many “outside” employers can you imagine putting up with Bachmann’s weird behavior?

  101. 101.

    Laura W

    @dr. luba: Thank you but be careful. They are really cracking down on the multiple addys from same ISP issue. I used to vote with all four of my email addys but have stopped. While I don’t think four or five would catch their eyes, they have become more and more vigilant as to “fraud” over the weeks. Which is a good thing.
    I suppose.
    Sigh.

  104. 104.

    John Cole

    BTW- the other game we are fond of is lying on the floor with me going “nom nom nom nom nom” and trying to sneak a kiss on her forehead and seeing if I can get one off before she licks my face. Which sounds cute until you factor in where she licks herself when I am not paying attention.

  108. 108.

    AhabTRuler

    @John Cole:

    Screw that. I still contend I was right.

    Hah! I’ve read that thread, and you doubled down on wrong so many times it has to be expressed in scientific notation to be fully appreciated. It truly was a thing of beauty!

  113. 113.

    Wile E. Quixote

    My grandfather, who I deeply love and respect, is one of those FWD conservatives. He sent me this today.

    Subject: Fw: Send This To All Seniors
    Lets hope and pray they live long enough to vote!
    Apparently liars are as scarce on Capital Hilll as sand is scarce at the beach.
    Obama recently approved a 2% salary increase for all federal employees effective January 1, 2010. Members of the executive, legislative and judicial branch are due for an automatic pay increase in January as well. All this on the backs of seniors who will not incur any COLA increases for several years.
    For the first time in history, the Congress will not allow an increase in the social security COLA (cost of living adjustment).
    In fact, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation predicts there may not be any COLA for the next three years.
    However, the per person monthly Medicare insurance premium will be increased from the 2009 premium of $96.40 to $104.20 in 2010 and to $ 120.20 for the year 2011.
    Send this to all seniors that you know. Remind them to not vote for the incumbent senators.

    Oh fuck. The government isn’t going to increase the amount of my Social Security check and is going to require me to pay $24 dollars a year more for my comprehensive health insurance in 2011. Goddamnit, get them out of my Social Security and Medicare. All I can say is “Jesus H. titty-fucking Christ!”.

  115. 115.

    John Cole

    @WereBear: Lily has three dog beds in her house. Two of them have her very own Steelers blanky in them, the third is on my bed, and she sleeps in it underneath my comforter. She will not freeze to death.

  116. 116.

    JGabriel

    AhabTRuler:

    I’ve read that thread, and you doubled down on wrong so many times it has to be expressed in scientific notation to be fully appreciated. It truly was a thing of beauty!

    I’m officially opposed to this particular piece o’ BJ slang, but there’s really no other word for it: THIS.

    .

  117. 117.

    Chad N Freude

    @Wile E. Quixote: To be fair, while “Throw the bums out” is a silly response, I believe there are a lot of people dependent on Social Security and who actually need the annual COLA. This is yet another example of sticking it to the non-rich so that the rich don’t have to take a hit to their CO Lavish LA.

  119. 119.

    Chad N Freude

    @JGabriel: Both the article linked to and the AP report on which it’s based seem to say (without making it explicit) that it’s a single payment of $250 for the year. This is considerably less than the usual COLA. On the other hand, the rate of inflation is negative (!), and I don’t know what effect this would have on the “normal” COLA.

  123. 123.

    WereBear

    Fear not, John. Lily’s name is secure on the list of Most Spoiled Doggies.

    Which is as it should be.

    We had two inches of snow yesterday, but all the snowmen are looking very ragged in the middle of green lawns again. Then again, it’s not yet Halloween.

  124. 124.

    RedKitten

    @Demo Woman:

    I love Sam’s new poutie picture.. That will be the one you show his girl friend some day.

    Yeah, I love that picture too. He usually makes that face if it takes me more than a nanosecond to make with the bottle, and I’d been trying for weeks to get a picture of it.

  127. 127.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @RedKitten:

    and I’d been trying for weeks to get a picture of it.

    Time flies don’t it. Pretty soon he’ll be wanting a car and money. Then it’s off to college for the big party. Enjoy your red hair, it’ll be gray soon enough.

  128. 128.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Watching KO’s show, it is amazing and sad to me that this nation has to rely on charity to treat so many people who can’t afford health care. And the senate can’t seem to get behind a public option, much less single payer, which is what we need.

  129. 129.

    valdivia

    Have you guys seen this? Sorry if someone already posted it but I think that takes the cake on having Reps get credit for good things and Dems blamed for all bad things.

    Obama’s recession but it is Bush’s recovery? Head, desk.

  130. 130.

    ellaesther

    @RedKitten: Oh, honey, I don’t know how I managed to miss all those pictures up until now but all I can say is: Ohmygodhowpreciousishe?!? and: Squeeee!!

    I’m almost glad I got to see a great big batch of them all in one go — they’re just lovely, and it’s so fun to see him growing up! My young things are now a bruising 6 and 10 years old, but I remember how in those first six months in particular, it was like I woke up every morning to a brand new person.

    Please give him a snuggle from a complete stranger on the internet!

  132. 132.

    ellaesther

    Also, and not incidentally: “I am the cow on the tracks” may now become one of my leading self-referential phrases. It won’t replace “I am perfectly capable of contradicting myself — I have a bicameral mind” (thank you, random wonky friend of my brother, about 20 years ago), but it may work its way up to near those heights!

    Q: “Why won’t you go out with us tonight?”
    ellaesther A: “Because I am the cow on the tracks.”

    Q: “Why can’t I watch that movie, Mom?”
    ellaesther A: “Because I am the cow on the tracks.”

    Q: “Why won’t you join Facebook?”
    ellaesther A: “Because I am the cow on the tracks.”

    Yes, I can see that this is going to be a very handy addition to my personal phrase repertoire! (At least on a par with “THAT’S not change I can believe in” — ie: entire flour container spills all over the pantry [this really happened]; I mutter “THAT’s not change I can believe in.” [rinse, repeat]).

    Thank you GOP!

  133. 133.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Then there’s this little dingleberry of Rushlove from the certifiable Andrew McCarthy

    That’s how Rush treats people — in the Martin Luther King aspiration that the content of one’s character is what matters, not the color of one’s skin. Yet, in the media narrative, he’s somehow the one who’s got a race issue — and the guys who trade on race, live and breathe it 24/7, are held up as our public conscience. The Left calls this “progress.” I call it perversion.

    That’s right, Rush Limbaugh just another MLK. You heard it here first.

  138. 138.

    South of I-10

    If you pray, please say one if you don’t, please send some positive vibes to my stepfather-in-law who is currently on his way to New Orleans via ambulance for (hopefully) a liver transplant. This is all very sudden. I don’t want to threadjack, so please, carry on. I guess I could make this relevant by pointing out this may be the only time he’s been lucky to be a Vietnam Vet – he has government run health care.

  141. 141.

    Anne Laurie

    @Chad N Freude:

    “a career of baby farming” means that Bachmann is Little Buttercup.

    True, that!

    And the tragicomedy in our own 21st-century Little Buttercup’s (Little Nutterbuddy’s?) life is that her eldest son, having spent his formative years ‘working with children’, has now joined the soshulist-nazo-commie Teach for America program, where he will come into constant contact with progressive-cooties and may even end up marrying one of those people, i.e., a non-wingnut! ! !

  143. 143.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Left Coast Tom:

    Why are they even trying?

    Don’t know, but maybe since Gawd abhors a vacuum the wingnuts are using their puke funnels to fill it.

    Man, I love that term.

  144. 144.

    ellaesther

    @Demo Woman: Ultimately, though, isn’t that the role of the cow on the tracks? To be the very thing through which Progress and Change must go “SMUSH!”? I ask you.

    @Notorious P.A.T.: It certainly should! If it’s tag in my brain, it should be a tag in my internets!

    and quite seriously: @South of I-10: All my best good vibes, for you, and for him, and for all who love him. Good, good luck to you all.

  145. 145.

    Xenos

    @Bubblegum Tate: Stormy can be credited with introducing drunken commenting – she would pop in with a comment about each drink she was having, and get more and more argumentative, and then would not care anymore.

    I still have not figured out if Paddy O’Shea was an early Dougj creation, though. There were so few lefties back then, someone had to fake one.

  147. 147.

    Midnight Marauder

    @Notorious P.A.T.:

    Who knows, “the cow on the tracks” might even become a Balloon Juice tag

    Dear lord, please let this happen. But do not let it ever be overused. It can only be used for the multitudinous greatness that is Chairman Steele.

    The Internet has been around a while, now.

    What Up, indeed.

    And definitely sending you positive vibes @South of I-10.

  152. 152.

    Midnight Marauder

    I’m really curious to hear thoughts on these HuffPo shenanigans:

    Arianna: Why Joe Biden Should Resign

    I don’t ever read any of her editorials, and I do actively try to avoid her any time she pops up on my teevee, but surely, she cannot think that is a serious suggestion, no? That has to be wingnut bait, right?

    Right?

  153. 153.

    Ash Can

    Ooh, sweet doggie and sweet baby pictures. Most excellent.

    As for Michael Steele, gads. Every additional day he’s in his job his situation becomes more cringe-worthy. I wish he’d just cut his losses and go back to private life permanently.

    And PS South of I-10: Good luck.

  154. 154.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Ultimately, though, isn’t that the role of the cow on the tracks? To be the very thing through which Progress and Change must go “SMUSH!”?

    You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs, and you can’t unite a country without disintegrating a few cows.

  155. 155.

    grumpy realist

    Sort OT from the topic of this thread, but did anyone notice that the Queen of the Birthers, Orly Taitz, got whopped with a $20K fine for her legal shenanigans? (TPM has been all over this). I’m planning to download the judge’s 47 pages–supposedly truly a thing of legal beauty. As someone taking Civil Procedure right now, I’ll be interested in how many of the rules Orly managed to totally ignore…..

  157. 157.

    Mr Furious

    @Cain: Wow, Cain. That was an epic post. I’m sorry to see I didn’t wade in at the time—I can clearly remember “the Jane Hamshers of the left.”

    Two things:

    1. It’s hard to believe that then-feisty DougJ ended up First Officer.

    2. What the hell ever happened to Pooh? Or ppGaz?

  159. 159.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Midnight Marauder: No, she’s saying it’d be the best way to galvanize support for leaving Afghanistan. To wit, Joe Biden is against escalating in Afghanistan, he’ll lose the argument in the White House, more troops will be sent, so he then resigns on principle and the theoretic shit hits the fan (“vice-president resigns!”) and we’ll leave Afghanistan. She’s wrong, of course.

  161. 161.

    Chad N Freude

    @Midnight Marauder: Read it through. Short version: If JB is serious about getting out of Iraq (cogent arguments in HuffPost article), he should resign if his arguments don’t prevail, rather than waiting for years for everyone involved in decision-making to write d’oh-we-should-have-known memoirs to take a firm stand.

  163. 163.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Mr Furious:

    1. It’s hard to believe that then-feisty DougJ ended up First Officer

    I’d say that would be Tim F. DougJ is more like Chief of the Boat. The USS Balloon Juice if you will.

  164. 164.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Had his nuts cut. Sits home these days smiling at nothing.

    Hope it didn’t hurt much.

  165. 165.

    cj

    Okay I cried when the cow got hit………but I don’t think I would if it was Steele (because he should know better not to be on the tracks).

  167. 167.

    Wile E. Quixote

    @Cat Lady

    I really do love and respect the guy though. He’s actually my step-grandfather and after my Dad and Mom got involved he and my grandmother (step-grandmother) accepted us into their lives as more grandchildren. He spent 30 years in the Navy and served in submarines in the Pacific Theater during World War II (Yet still loves submarine movies.) and worked his way up from the enlisted ranks and retired as a lieutenant commander. When I had my accident 7 years ago and was in the hospital for two months he and my grandmother visited me almost every other day. Politics aside he’s a great guy. I usually just ignore these, but this was too, too much.

  168. 168.

    Wile E. Quixote

    @Chad N. Freude

    That’s a good point. If you put me in charge of the budget I’d be able to find enough money to pay for a COLA for SSI recipients. OK, there would probably be some unhappy farmers afterwards, and some unhappy folks from the mining and logging industries and definitely a bunch of unhappy defense contractors, but we’d be able to pay for the COLA, and avoid raising the Medicare premiums. However, upon lengthy consideration upon the matter (well no, I’m lying, but I wanted to say “upon lengthy consideration of the matter” because it would make me sound smart and hopefully cause you to ignore my proclivities towards profanity, run-on sentences and the savage abuse of the parenthetical phrase) it’s a trade-off that I’m willing to make.

  169. 169.

    Midnight Marauder

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    No, she’s saying it’d be the best way to galvanize support for leaving Afghanistan. To wit, Joe Biden is against escalating in Afghanistan, he’ll lose the argument in the White House, more troops will be sent, so he then resigns on principle and the theoretic shit hits the fan (“vice-president resigns!”) and we’ll leave Afghanistan. She’s wrong, of course.

    Yeah, I gave it a read and that’s pretty much exactly what I walked away with. Why she would ever think that such a course of action would go down in that naively ideal fashion is beyond me.

  170. 170.

    Wile E. Quixote

    Oh, and on the original subject, Jesus what a maroon. It’s just so damned depressing the scientific illiteracy of modern Republicans. I mean it’s obvious to anyone with a rudimentary grasp of physics, much less the concept of metaphor, that a cow, an animal which weighs, at most, 500 kilograms and is composed of squishy wet protein chains suspended on a framework consisting of a matrix of protein fibers and calcium carbonate is not going to do well going up against a mere locomotive (made out of steel, weighing around 150 metric tons and moving at say 50 kph) much less a freight train weighing up to 2000 metric tons. Most people would look at this and if confused about the metaphor would ask themselves “squishy wet thing weighing 500 kg versus hard metal thing weighing 2,000,000 kg and moving at 50 kph” and immediately infer the meaning and correct usage of the metaphor. But not Mike Steele, nope, Mike Steele is a bug on the speeding windshield of metaphor.

  178. 178.

    asiangrrlMN

    @South of I-10: You cannot thread-jack an open thread. I will send a white light and some seriously positive vibes to your stepfather-in-law. Thank god he has insurance.

    @RedKitten: Sammy may haz a sad, but he certainly made me SMILE! So cute.

    Cole! I agree that you need a girlfriend. Seriously. Oh, and you need to post pics of Tunch before he gets pissed off at the inequity.

  179. 179.

    Cain

    @South of I-10:

    If you pray, please say one if you don’t, please send some positive vibes to my stepfather-in-law who is currently on his way to New Orleans via ambulance for (hopefully) a liver transplant. This is all very sudden. I don’t want to threadjack, so please, carry on. I guess I could make this relevant by pointing out this may be the only time he’s been lucky to be a Vietnam Vet – he has government run health car

    Luck to you!!! (someone wish me luck on a house closing, sent in our offer, hope it all goes well)

    cain

  181. 181.

    Cain

    @Mr Furious:

    1. It’s hard to believe that then-feisty DougJ ended up First Officer.

    2. What the hell ever happened to Pooh? Or ppGaz?

    Yeah, no kidding! I haven’t seen Pooh or ppGaz in awhile. Since the election I think? We had some great times during the election. heh.

    cain

  182. 182.

    Cain

    @ellaesther:

    Oy, poor cow.

    I was seriously disturbed by that video. It gives me the willies. The worst part was actually feeling that cow going under the train. *shudder* Thanks Cole.. bastard.

    cain

  183. 183.

    Cain

    @ominira:

    @Cain: Jain?

    No, not that extreme. :-) I’m Hindu though, but it’s nothing really related to that. I love animals.

    cain

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