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The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Democrats are back in array!

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Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

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One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Happy Thoughts

Happy Thoughts

by | 197 Comments

This post is in: 

Here.

Let’s just forget your host is an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, conflict-seeking jerk who takes every opportunity to needle people but who (barely) is redeemed by a love for animals, and spend this thread talking about positive things.

And I was talking about Anne Laurie.

*** Update ***

An action shot for the lovers:

andthefurminatorgentlywept

Be back after I shake out the blanket, vacuum, and shower.

*** Update ***

Top this for good news:

Happy thoughts? I can do that. My cousin, who was in a coma for 7 weeks with H1N1, walked 36 feet today, is beginning to be able to speak again (even with a trach) and is set to kick rehab butt. You go girl!

Reader Interactions

197Comments

  4. 4.

    Steeplejack

    My happy thought (with a bit of a BOB spin): I think I will buy some birdseed tomorrow and scatter it around randomly on the walk to and from work the rest of the week. I bet the sparrows could use it after all this snow.

    By the way, the sparrows seem to be different here in NoVa than I have seen them elsewhere. They like to travel in parties of about 8 to 12. I always thought they were solo operators. But I keep coming across groups of them infesting a bush or pecking around a stretch of sidewalk, and as I approach they all take off en masse. Except there is always one who doesn’t get the memo. “Wait, what?” Darwinian selection at work.

    I don’t know how this relates to the seven classical arts or to $1.39 pizza, so I guess I have BOB fail.

  5. 5.

    CaseyL

    Let’s just pretend that even though your host is an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, conflict-seeking jerk who takes every opportunity to needle people but who (barely) is redeemed by a love for animals, and spend this thread talking about positive things.

    OK.

    Hey! It’s great that you’re an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, conflict-seeking jerk who takes every opportunity to needle people but who (barely) is redeemed by a love for animals! Way to go!

  7. 7.

    Keith G

    Need to thank the several B-Jers who weighed in when I asked for suggestions for a net book. Asus popped up a few time and I took the plunge adding one to my stable. I am very happy with it and got change back from my $300.00.

  9. 9.

    beltane

    What action? My cats are starting to get the Tunch physique now that it’s too cold for them to go out. All they do is eat when they’re bored, and they’ve been very, very bored.

  10. 10.

    MikeJ

    I have pork tenderloin braising in the oven, and the pear chutney I made earlier today is making a most pleasant stinkitude throughout the kitchen. And while Dewer’s will never be confused with a fine single malt it can make a rather nice Rob Roy.

  14. 14.

    General Winfield Stuck

    I’ll be. Looks like Tunch is smiling at us silly democrats a fussin’ and feudin”. The King looks Kingly senor cole.

  17. 17.

    beltane

    @arguingwithsignposts: The progressive HCR drama is starting to fade. The diary at the top of the GOS Rec list is about how Jane Hamsher convinced the diarist to support the bill. How’s that for effective activism.

  22. 22.

    Comrade Mary

    I’m worried. John said he was taking a shower 30 minutes ago and we haven’t heard back from him. He isn’t mopping again, is he?

  23. 23.

    RedKitten

    First of all, we love that you’re an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, conflict-seeking jerk who takes every opportunity to needle people but who (barely) is redeemed by a love for animals. We know that inside, you’re all marshmallow.

    And secondly, I’m loving the pic of Tunch! He’s all furminated and gorgeous for the holidays. Handsome boy.

    Positive things? Well, my sugar cookies turned out beautifully, I am now officially done all of my Christmas shopping, Sam is sleeping the sleep of the innocent upstairs, and thanks to a quick shopping trip today, we have an obscene quantity of beer and wine in the house.

  28. 28.

    mr. whipple

    and spend this thread talking about positive things.

    Hey, the Browns got a new President. Maybe there can be a return to a real rivalry with the Stillers.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    Let me just join the crowd in praising the Tunch pic and demanding that you continue posting them at least as often as Lily pics.

  30. 30.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    Happy thoughts? I can do that. My cousin, who was in a coma for 7 weeks with H1N1, walked 36 feet today, is beginning to be able to speak again (even with a trach) and is set to kick rehab butt. You go girl!

    AWSP: how is kitty adjusting to her new home?

  33. 33.

    Robin G.

    Positive things… hmm.

    Hmm.

    Thinking.

    Hmm.

    Wait! I know! There’s a bin of cookies in the freezer! And a half-full bottle of port in the cabinet!

    Yay!

  34. 34.

    Chuck Butcher

    Kitty pictures are a good thing, but I’m sorry John – can’t match an hour on a Harley in NE OR on 12-21. The alley was tricky but no marks on me or Harley.

  36. 36.

    Max

    @jeffreyw: I have 11 episodes recorded at the advice of someone on this blog. Can’t remember who. Maybe it was you.

    I’m planning on making it a marathon one of these days.

  42. 42.

    merrinc

    Adoption update: made it back to Petco a couple days after I posted about the 5 year old kitty who had been discarded by her human in favor of an allergic boyfriend. Turned out that she had found a home but they had a gorgeous 3 yr old Maine Coon who immediately bonded with my daughter. Haven’t taken any pics yet but you can see her here:

    http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=15364278

    The name Missy Belle was not gonna work for us so we’re calling her Noelle.

  47. 47.

    John Cole

    @merrinc: I was looking at adding a Maine Coon to my stable just the other day! The only thing holding me back is I am almost 40 and already have a cat and a dog and am getting close to an A&E Series of my own.

  49. 49.

    Dave C

    Happy thought: I saw Avatar yesterday. It was more fun than I’ve had at the movies in many, many years.

  53. 53.

    Dave C

    Happy thought: I saw Avatar yesterday. It was more fun than I’ve had at the movies in many, many years.

  57. 57.

    ellaesther

    @John Cole: Yes. He is. Because the Christians are having a holiday. But would he ever take off Rosh Hashana or even Yom Kippur? Noooooooooooo.

    Twice a year, he pisses me off. Then I go back to loving him.

  64. 64.

    eastriver

    I haven’t looked through all the comments, but surely I can’t be the first to point how disturbing it is for you to have a picture of a cat on a cat-themed blanket.

    Seriously.

    I don’t want to even think about how many stale cat toys you have strewn under couches and chairs.

  66. 66.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    @ellaesther: Yeah, it was – perfectly healthy, athlete, no flu symptoms and then bam, in 36 hours she’s in the hospital on a respirator. The first 3-4 days they were not very hopeful, so this recovery is truly a blessing as far as the family is concerned.

  68. 68.

    Ed in NJ

    Have Giants-Panthers tix for next Sunday, so 45-12 is making me very happy. Not only back in the playoff hunt, but not staring at sitting in a freezing cold, 1/2 empty Giants Stadium watching a meaningless Giants game when I could be home tracking my team’s fantasy football championship game.

  71. 71.

    TaosJohn

    Positive? Okay, I’ve been eating someone’s homemade caramel corn for three minutes now, and I still have all my teeth. The last time I ate the stuff, it cost me $4,000: pulled off a crown and most of the tooth, had to get a dental implant.

    Still eating. Still crazy.

  72. 72.

    amorphous

    Let’s just pretend that even though your host is an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, conflict-seeking jerk who takes every opportunity to needle people but who (barely) is redeemed by a love for animals, and spend this thread talking about positive things.

    Uey. Complete sentence fail.

  75. 75.

    PurpleGirl

    Nice picture of Tunch.

    Just read at First Draft that the Mexico City Council had voted to legalize same-sex marriage; they will change the definition of marriage from “the union of a man and a woman” to “the free uniting of two people.” The new law will allow a whole host of rights, including adoption. Yay for Mexico City.

  78. 78.

    merrinc

    @John Cole – Considering the response to the video clips of Tunch doing nothing terribly exciting, I’m sure we’d all watch your A&E show.

    @RedKitten and Bad Horse’s Filly – this is the south so Missy Belle wasn’t all that surprising. Combine that with learning of her human’s demise and I was thinking old southern lady. I tried to test that theory by seeing if I could get a reaction by exclaiming “Bless your heart!” but she reacts with absolute joy to any attention.

  83. 83.

    ellaesther

    @Bad Horse’s Filly: I just turned around in my desk chair and asked the husband to pleeeease get the shot…. The kids are covered, I will be soon (now that it’s available to us old types!), but he was holding out. Why? I don’t know.

    “Uh, honey? This lady on the intertrons…?”

    Holy crow. Again, I say to you: Yay! And may it all be good from here on out.

  85. 85.

    valdivia

    Loved the picture of Tunch and his shadow.

    And so glad for Horse’s cousin’s recovery.

    Happy thoughts? My godson was born 5 days ago and he is a major cutie. Welcome to the world little guy!

    edit–@arguing: smudge is so wonderful. keep her pics coming!

  86. 86.

    amorphous

    @John Cole: Thanks, I had to read it three times to make sure I wasn’t going nuts. I’m only +0.5, so I was convinced my eyes crossing was due to grammaticals.

  87. 87.

    Betsy

    Positive things – in 30 minutes I’ll be 30! A friend organized a party for me at a bar on Friday night, I had an outstanding dinner with my mom, stepdad, and sweetie on Saturday night, and tomorrow he and I are going to go try a “hidden jewel” Italian restaurant that I’ve been meaning to visit for years, just the two of us. I am happy and feeling grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.

    My cat just bit the hell out of my ankle, though. I guess that’s what we get for naming her Chompers.

  88. 88.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    @Zuzu’s Petals: Thank you. She really has had a cheering section – I guess she’s gotten over 1000 cards, and who knows how many notes on the journal where they do her updates and people can leave notes.

    I had to laugh when I saw your name – I just saw Karolyn Grimes (ZuZu) at a craft show last month signing books and posters – I might have been the only person there who knew she also played little Debbie in The Bishop’s Wife (one of my favorite holiday movies). She looked amazingly beautiful.

  95. 95.

    Betsy

    @arguingwithsignposts:
    She’s so pretty!

    BTW, it is almost scary how much she looks tunch-like, except for the top-of-the-head black spot, and the fact that she lacks her own gravitational field.

    Fix’d.

  99. 99.

    Zuzu's Petals

    @Bad Horse’s Filly:

    Good for your cousin…wait ’till she hears about all the BJers cheering her on.

    I think Karolyn Grimes might be about the only one left. Glad she’s still getting some mileage out of it…not to mention the little Debbie thing.

    So here’s another happy thought:

    “Zuzu’s petals!”

  100. 100.

    Yutsano

    @Bad Horse’s Filly: If there are no pictures, it didn’t happen. At least that’s the plausible denial I expect out of those two. Not that I’d complain mind you, she’s been needing some relief in that category lately.

  101. 101.

    asiangrrlMN

    First of all, Cole you are forgiven for ever bit of nastiness over the past two weeks. You have heeded my daily cries for a picture of Tunchie, and I haz a happy. Yes, my dear FH#2 (Yutsano) is correct that I squealed upon espying his magnificent visage.

    @arguingwithsignposts: I swear that cat gets cuter with each picture.

    @jeffreyw: I think it was valdiva who recommended it, but I would not swear to it.

    @merrinc: Noelle is beautiful! Thanks for adopting her.

  103. 103.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Bad Horse’s Filly: That is excellent news. Many positive vibes that she will continue steadily in her progress. Please keep us updated.

    @Yutsano: Hon, you should know if I got shagged, I would be crowing about it to you all night and giving you high-fives.

    @Betsy: Happy birthday, Betsy. I hope your 30th year is your best yet.

  104. 104.

    valdivia

    @jeffreyw: @asiangrrlMN:

    Yes it was me! I was pimping Epitafios here. If you saw season I and have not seen Season II I must encourage you to watch. If you saw II and have not seen I, you should do that too. Both are must watch. I love that the ending in both is totally Un-Hollywood. Dark, dark, dark.

    Edit–I see from the pic you were watching Season I–you have to watch Season II, just wrapped on on HBO. Just as good and brutal.

  107. 107.

    valdivia

    @MikeJ:

    No I had not heard! I was trying to get to DC today from nyc and finally did but that meant I was away from the intertubes. Thanks so so much! yay!

  110. 110.

    Yutsano

    @Bad Horse’s Filly: This really is excellent news! When she gets to rehab, make sure she gets a physiotherapist who will strike the right balance of pushing her limits while respecting her comfort level. PTs are great health care providers as a whole, I think she’ll learn a lot about herself going there.

  111. 111.

    valdivia

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I am so excited that jeffrey already saw it and now you are intrigued. One thing I love about the show also is how much you get a vibe for life in Buenos Aires. Just let me know what you think when you have watched a bit of it.

    @MikeJ–thanks the filter works like a charm!

  112. 112.

    amorphous

    Not for nothin’ but I just discovered Mastodon thru Crack the Skye (I’m slow on the musical uptake), and I must say my faith that good metal exists and that well-executed concept albums do exist has been restored. That album is awesome. Back to listen to more Mastodon!

  115. 115.

    Something Fabulous

    @RedKitten: Ok, I had to go look it up too, hoping against hope it was some kind of Canadian small appliance or something, and 1) I’m old and 2) EWWWW.

  118. 118.

    Anne Laurie

    Let’s just forget your host is an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, conflict-seeking jerk who takes every opportunity to needle people but who (barely) is redeemed by a love for animals…
    __
    And I was talking about Anne Laurie.

    I blush.

    You’re such a sweetie, Mr. Cole.

    Happy birthday, Betsy!

    And Bad Horse’s Filly, best wishes for your cousin’s continued swift recovery.

    Best Solstice wishes to all! Remember, even though Winter has barely started (we spent last night shoveling 8″-10″ of it), from this point forward the light is getting stronger every day.

  123. 123.

    Fern

    @Anne Laurie:

    from this point forward the light is getting stronger every day.

    Yes! It’s easier to take dark setting by 4:30 when I know that my part of the world is starting to turn back towards the light.

  125. 125.

    mcd410x

    We bombed Yemen? See what you can get away with when the public is distracted by health care reform …

  127. 127.

    Fulcanelli

    My support and vote for my junior Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has proven to be one of, if not the best vote I’ve ever cast for an elected official in over 35 years of voting. Christ, I could get used to this.

    Check out his speech taking a blowtorch and a pair of pliers to the GOP over the HCR bill from the floor of the Senate the other day. Worth the read.

    I haz a proud, righteous happy. Only a couple of years under his belt and already he’s bringing the pain to these delusional Gooper fucksticks. Now if he can only wake our other Senator, Jack Reed from banking industry contribution induced coma.

    BTW, that is a handsome kitteh, John Cole. Handsome, indeed.

    Booyah, bitchez…

  128. 128.

    RedKitten

    @Notorious P.A.T.: Yeah — I could NEVER live with someone like that. Not that I don’t have sympathy for people with mental illness (and hoarding is def a mental illness, AFAIK), but I’m a bit of a Martha Stewart when it comes to keeping things organized, so living in a house where every horizontal surface is cluttered with crap? That would be my own personal Hell.

    And happy birthday, Betsy!

    Oh fuck, I just realized it’s 1:30am — I have GOT to go to bed!

  129. 129.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Fulcanelli: That was a great speech. Have you noticed that many of the firebrands on our side are junior senators? Not your mama’s liberals, indeed. I do not suffer senator-envy, though, because…Al Franken, bitchez!

    @RedKitten: Night! Sleep tight.

  132. 132.

    Anne Laurie

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Where everybody knows your name? I suppose that makes me Sam.

    Dibs on Carla.

    (And I swear I will do my incompetent best to ban anybody who calls me Cliff.)

  133. 133.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Yutsano: What about me? Where is MY snowstorm? Really, it’s all I want for Xmas. Well, that and Alan Rickman….

    By the way, I am going to be out of town from Dec. 27 – Jan. 8. Just a FYI.

    @Anne Laurie: Yes! You would make the perfect Carla! Who’s Woody?

  134. 134.

    Fulcanelli

    @asiangrrlMN: Kinda, almost, maybe makes you think we aren’t doomed, eh MEH?

    Yer boy AL was presiding at the time and must have been smiling down on him from the podium when Whitehouse finished.

    Norrrrrm!

  135. 135.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Fulcanelli: Hahahahahaha! Yeah. Some people were talking earlier about Majority Leader Al Franken. Kinda has a nice ring to it. And yes, I know it’s way premature, but this is a happy thoughts thread, so who cares?

  138. 138.

    Yutsano

    @arguingwithsignposts: Would be teh awesome, but notgonnahappen. The Senate has too many seniority rules and traditions in place for that to happen. Now Durbin could probably make a play for it. I could handle that situation.

  142. 142.

    JoePo

    I just made the mistake of going to FDL on health reform. Apparently, Ezra Klein is a water carrier for the corporate elite and status quo & cetera. I would say circular firing squad, but those guys are all pretty convinced they’re outsiders and so how can they be in the same circle as Ezra Klein who’s the ultimate insider and anyone who disagrees is like Bush and WMDs or some such.

    I give up. I’m gonna go read Infinite Jest and hold it in a way to make sure everyone can see the cover.

  144. 144.

    bago

    @freelancer (itouch): I just unlocked Al-Tair’s armor and have to love the tombs. But the navigation puzzles and the subject 16 puzzles really hook me. Reconciling the base ten and base three numeric systems in one of the memories was a total throwback to high school matheletes. I talk occasionally to the guy who coded the flying assassinations in the first game, and he was in charge of the combat for this game. He knocked it out of the fucking park. The entire team deserves far more than the sixty bucks I spent. It is that good.

  150. 150.

    Et Tu Brutus?

    When somebody tells you nothing is impossible, ask him to dribble a football. ~Author Unknown

  154. 154.

    hamletta

    @asiangrrlMN: I know this thread is devoted to happy news, so I hate to break it to you that Alan Rickman is mine, all mine!

    Yay for Bad Horsie’s cousin!

    My good news is that my choir is coming together for Christmas Eve. We got a late start, and last Wednesday’s rehearsal was sounding pretty rough, but Sunday afternoon we made a lot of progress, and I found performances of the stuff we’re doing on YouTube on Sunday evening and practiced some more, and I feel good about the tricky parts.

    Also, our lead soprano is recovering from the 103° fever she had over the weekend, and will most likely be able to sing with us!

    A Lutheran candlelight service is somethin’, alright. When they turn the lights out, and everybody has their little candles, even the C&E-ers remember the harmonies to “Silent Night.”

  157. 157.

    burnspbesq

    @Ed in NJ:

    Which Giants are going to show up, is the question. The ones who showed up tonight, or the ones that would be an underdog against Don Bosco?

  160. 160.

    Steeplejack

    Well, I was just reading to get caught up, but I’m going to bed in a few minutes. Finished Montalbano on the DVR and need to get up early for an appointment.

  161. 161.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: I’m here, just for some strange reason stalling the cookie baking. In fact I may wait until the morning to actually finish baking them off.

  164. 164.

    burnspbesq

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I’m only around for about two more minutes. Have to drive the kid’s friends home, then pay bills, then hit the rack.

    Strange thing about the Isle of Wight record. There were 600,000 people there when it was recorded, but the lack of crowd noise makes it sound like it was recorded at a 400-seat club. Still, I like it – although “Famous Blue Raincoat” remains my favorite “Leonard Cohen record.” Jennifer Warnes can sing a little.

  165. 165.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: Researching the recipe to see if I can put off the actual baking tomorrow (I can) and just general work decompression. Oh and an orange beast has taken over my lap and is demanding attention. So I might be in this position for quite awhile yet.

  166. 166.

    asiangrrlMN

    @burnspbesq: Hit the rack? Hmmmm…(valiantly striving not to make a double entendre).

    Love Leonard. What a timeless voice.

    Yutsano, damn. Just as I’m going to bed. Hopefully, FH#1 will poke his head in to titillate you. Er….

    Ok, bitchez. I’m turning in early tonight. Damn. Raven is making waaay too much noise for a nine-pound cat. Night!

  168. 168.

    Yutsano

    @Steeplejack: I have a good Sicilian friend. I may ask if he’s heard of it. If not he may enjoy it anyway, especially since he won’t require the subtitles.

  169. 169.

    freelancer (itouch)

    I chose Michael Bluth because he’s flawed but funny. If I could do pie in the sky, I’d go with Friday Night Lights’ Eric Taylor. Great man and leader, but I don’t have the ego to presume that I have the integrity he does. Same goes for the idealism of one Lee Adama.

  171. 171.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    Let’s just pretend that even though your host is an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, conflict-seeking jerk who takes every opportunity to needle people but who (barely) is redeemed by a love for animals, and spend this thread talking about positive things.

    Better that than … an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, circle-seeking jerk…

    :)

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Better Norm than Abby!

    :)

    @Bad Horse’s Filly:

    That is excellent news BHF! May the road to full recovery be short and smooth.

  173. 173.

    wonkie

    I love the books the Montalbano series is based on. About every five pages, no matter what action is taking place, everything stops so the characters can eat a really fabulous meal.

  175. 175.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    @Tattoosydney:

    While you are there be sure to check out the local ‘greenery’. I hear they have some smokin’ stuff.

    ;)

    Hope you are enjoying yourself and don’t slip on the ice!

  176. 176.

    Yutsano

    @Tattoosydney: Wheee fun! The cookies are made and OH BABY are they delish! If I thought they’d survive the trip Down Under I’d send you some. Or you could settle for the recipe (English units however, transforming them to metric gets too close to math for me and makes my head hurt.) which is fortunately widely available on the Net. Don’t ask me why I’m still awake.

  177. 177.

    harlana peppper

    Ah, finally, the long-awaited Tunch pic! How gratifying!

    And since we are only talking positive on this thread, may I say that I will always love Jane Hamsher, much reviled on this blog, for her passion and courage. As stated before, her actions and those of her compatriots had minimal effect, but at least they tried and they had the interests of the American public at heart. I don’t know why so many of you hate them with such particular fervor.

  179. 179.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    @harlana peppper:

    I wouldn’t call it hate of Jane, more like an extreme distaste for her tactics. Saying it is hate is an easy way for some to dismiss her detractors as unbalanced or biased against her. Anyone who is ‘out in front’ of an issue like she has chosen to be invites both praise and criticism. The Joe Lieberman blackface a couple of years ago is the earliest offense of hers that caught my eye and her apology was what I call a conditional apology, not an unconditional one that I think anyone would make when they have offended people. The If I offended…  condition turns a sincere apology into an insincere one.

    I really don’t care for her tone and the way she likes to play fast and loose with the facts, leaving important information out that could undermine her argument in favor of slightly less information delivered in a way to put her argument into the best light possible. I know everyone does it but that is no excuse in my book. Tell a cop that everyone else was going just as fast as you were  if you get pulled over speeding, it won’t work. Give me facts or I will tune you out, end of story.

    But what has turned me completely off is her latest move to align herself and her ‘movement’ with the organizations of Phyllis Schlafly and Grover Norquist to go after Ben Bernanke, then using those alliances to justify a new alliance with the teabaggers via FreedomWorks and Dick Armey, using a bullshit argument stating that her group and the teabaggers are both against the current health bill as justification for doing so. Yes, they are both against the bill but for wildly different reasons. I could see her argument holding water if the teabaggers were for a better health care bill but that is not the case, they want nothing at all. Nada, zip, zilch. An ‘alliance’ like that is a the enemy of my enemy is my friend  kind of alliance, nothing more or less.

    She can continue to do what she wants but I have permanently tuned her out as someone to listen to as a source of accurate information. I had to laugh when I saw her describe herself as a “Libertarian Democrat”, nice twist there. No, she is a sour, bitter Hillary supporter and her mob uses the same words to describe Obama and his actions as I have seen at No Quarter, Confluence, Hillaryis44 and other pro-Hillary/anti-Obama sites. Jane has become nothing more than a convenient host for ratfuckers and bitter-enders looking for an outlet and they have attached themselves to her. No wonder they have no problem working with FreedomWorks and the teabaggers; they both hate Obama with a white-hot hate that burns their sense of reason away. A marriage of convenience makes perfect sense to me, not an alliance.

    You can admire her, that is your right, but don’t expect everyone to see her in the way that you do. I am heartened to see that the saner heads at Kos are calling her, Slinkerwink and their minions out on their disruptive and hateful behavior; it’s about time some cooler heads prevailed over there. Even they are gagging on the alliances and the lame justifications her followers are trying to use to validate her decisions to do so. Slinkerwink called Al Franken a shit-peddler and more. John Lewis became a “sell-out”, John Lewis a sellout?!  Those are not the words of a progressive, no f’ing way. No sale.

    Sorry for the long response but you asked for it. ;)

  180. 180.

    bob h

    What does 7 weeks in IC do to one’s solvency? I’m guessing it bankrupts you even with insurance.

  181. 181.

    Demo Woman

    @DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal): Wow! The site itself has become whiny. Christie’s posts were always well reasoned and insightful. When she retired there was no reason to visit except for TBogg’s snark.

    @RedKitten: Can we now depend on you to provide the word of the day and does it only count if I use it in a sentence in front of someone else?

    @Bad Horse’s Filly: Many happy thoughts. I hope that her recovery continues.

    @Dave C: I am so jealous. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to see Avatar.

  182. 182.

    daryljfontaine

    @Wayne T: I came from that, which hurt my heart, back to @Calming Influence‘s easter egg, which at least made me laugh a bit afterwards.

    I need to go watch a couple hours of 30 Rock or something to cheer myself up.

    D

  183. 183.

    Steeplejack

    @wonkie:

    I’ve read only a couple of the novels–The Shape of Water and one other–so I can’t really compare and contrast. I know that Montalbano in the TV series looks nothing like what he’s supposed to in the books. But I think Andrea Camilleri has co-written at least some of the scripts, so I guess he has had some influence.

    I just like the series because it’s a nice change from American TV. The sets and scenery are gorgeous–not tarted up, just Sicily, but wow!–the acting is pretty good, and the plots are good enough to keep things going. Mostly it’s the general vibe and the characters, which is pretty much what keeps you coming back to any series. And Montalbano in the TV series likes to have a good meal too, which he does frequently.

    The channel that runs Montalbano, MHz Worldview, is available on some cable systems outside the D.C. area. (List at the link.) The International Mystery series on Sunday and Tuesday nights also runs some other good shows. There’s the Swedish Wallander series, Maigret (with Bruno Cremer), a German cop show called Scene of the Crime (Tatort) and a Norwegian series called Varg Veum. And they occasionally run a couple of other Italian ones, The Octopus (the mob!) and the miniseriesHomicide Squad. That last one was pretty bad, but, again, the scenery was nice and it had two incredibly beautiful actresses in it–Luisa Ranieri and Chiara Conti–so I could not turn away. A year or two ago they even ran a German series adapted from Donna Leon’s Inspector Brunetti novels. Slightly weird to see “Italians” in Venice speaking German, but whatever.

    ETA: MHz now has DVDs of some of these shows available at their Web site, but the last time I checked they were out of a lot of the Montalbano ones except for the complete sets. But the mini-sets (two or three 90-minute episodes) are only about $20, so when they’re back in stock they would be a good way to check out the series and see if you like it.

  184. 184.

    R-Jud

    BHF, I’d probably have to send up a flare before you’d see this way down here on the bottom of the thread, but I’m glad your cousin is doing so much better after coming back from the brink. Merry Christmas indeed.

    We are waiting for my sister-in-law to give birth. She was due on Thursday; she’ll check in with the midwives tomorrow if there’s no action. I told her I don’t mind if she gives birth on my living room floor Christmas Day, as we’re planning to have the carpet torn out in January anyway.

  186. 186.

    jibeaux

    My family now owns a ukulele! It’s not as good as Bad Horse’s Filly’s story (go, girl!), but it’s what I’ve got right now.

  188. 188.

    HRA

    I was unable to get on BJ last night at home. It’s the same problem I had in the past with a prompt from Adobe Reader. I even updated it to Adobe 7. Any suggestions would be welcome.

    Sorry I have not read all the above comments. Time is of the essence at work.

    I cannot top the news about your cousin, John. I am very happy for her and for the family. It’s quite a Christmas gift.
    Best wishes to her for the road to her recovery.

  189. 189.

    p.a.

    Dear god! If those are before-and-after pics of Tunch I think you’ve taken the diet thing waaaayy too far.

  191. 191.

    scott

    “…forget your host is an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, acrimonious, conflict-seeking jerk who takes every opportunity to needle people …”

    Gee John, there’s a really easy fix for that condition: simply stop fucking behaving that way.

    At least toward the people who are actually on your side that is.

    Although that having been said, and in your defense, I know it must be hard for you to shed the authoritarian impulses you must surely be saddled with after a lifetime of being a conservative. But you should really try a little harder because what you’ve got going on right now is not very pretty.

    Mmmmkay?

  192. 192.

    Steeplejack

    @scott:

    [. . .] I know it must be hard for you to shed the authoritarian impulses you must surely be saddled with after a lifetime of being a conservative. But you should really try a little harder because what you’ve got going on right now is not very pretty.

    Yeah, and you don’t sound like a sanctimonious prick at all.

  194. 194.

    T. Scheisskopf

    John:

    Not only are you redeemed by the cat and dog that own you(What you have done with your little girl is amazing…), you are also redeemed by your culinary skills and love for good eatin’.

    You ain’t so bad.

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