Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

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

Fight them, without becoming them!

People are complicated. Love is not.

This fight is for everything.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Bark louder, little dog.

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

Celebrate the fucking wins.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

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163Comments

  6. 6.

    Violet

    A flier for this arrived in my mailbox yesterday. I about puked when I opened it. Isn’t the “Get Motivated” seminar the same outfit where that George W. did his first post-presidency speech?

    Well, La Palin has apparently decided to cash in on the speaker’s circuit. She’s appearing “Live Via Satellite!” on this thing. Her topics:

    • How to Successfully Manage and BalanceYour Personal and Professional Priorities

    • How to Overcome Obstacles with Creative Solutions

    • The Secrets to Effective Decision-Making

    • How to Have Grace Under Fire

    • How to Become a Person of Influence

    Live via satellite? And people pay real money to watch screens? That’s a racket for sure.

  8. 8.

    Violet

    @Violet:
    Oh, no, wait! They’ve updated the website. Now the speakers are Live and In Person! That’s scary.
    Edit – I guess it depends what day you go. First day live, second day via satellite. Okay…I’m finally waking up today. LOL.

  11. 11.

    Quiddity

    How about John defending this?

    Obama Backs Cadillac Tax

    President Barack Obama is pushing U.S. House Democrats to drop their opposition to a tax on high- end insurance plans …

    How to pay for the 10-year legislation, whose price tag topped $1 trillion in the House, may be the biggest fight in coming days. The Senate would impose a 40 percent tax on the high-end, employer-provided insurance plans; the House wants a 5.4 percent surtax on couples earning at least $1 million.

    I don’t like the Senate bill’s funding mechanism. Not only do I think it’s unfair (for a variety of economic reasons to detailed to put in this comment), but it’s terrible politics. Taxing the mid-to-upper middle class to pay for those below? That’s political poison.

    My question is, why is Obama putting his thumb on the scales? Why urge this particular policy point at all? He backed off from applying pressure on people (e.g. Lieberman) or on policies (e.g. in-the-weeds reimbursement formulas) in the past. What’s up?

  12. 12.

    scav

    nothing is zero, right? From my memory of the number line, that’s better than the negative sanity we had going yesterday.
    Me? I got snow and 12 plus hours predicted still to go of it. That plus a freely running drain adds up to a definite positive (albeit still fractional) in the local environment.

  17. 17.

    Brick Oven Bill

    So there I was, at the bar. CNN, of all media outlets, was running the eight clips of Obama promising to televise the health care negotiations on CSPAN. A friend from the former construction industry, currently on unemployment, was there. His dad’s girlfriend had recently hit his dad in the face with a frying pan, causing injury, and a breakup. There was a cute bartendress.

    This bartendress hates her ex-husband and is planning to set up a facebook page with boobs as the profile-picture, frame him by pretending to be under-age, and then turn him in to the authorities. You have to love ex-wives.

    In any case, this friend is pretty smart and although we have known each other for years, have not had any real political discussions. He is very worried about the future of his two young children, and relayed these concerns to me as he was kind of drunk. He then explained that he had seen this guy on TV yesterday named Glenn Beck, and that the three scenarios that Glenn laid out seem like our only real options, none of which are good.

    ‘I know Skip’, I responded, ‘I know’.

  21. 21.

    Third Eye Open

    Tomorrow night will see lows dip into the mid-twenties here in north Florida, with the possibility of short bursts of slush and ice. Global Climate Change is a hoax, the weather proves it! /Inhofe

  22. 22.

    Left Coast Tom

    @Violet:
    So…people are supposed to spend actual money to listen to Palin blather about topics that, without exception, she’s failed at? Is the “motivation” supposed to be by way of counter-example?

  26. 26.

    Col. Klink

    Check out Orly today! Obama used mind control rays to try and kill Rush. (Or something.)She’s crossed over into Joker levels of crazy.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @Skepticat: Skepticat, I have been away for nearly 2 weeks. I just read about your kitty in the open thread from last night. I’m so sorry. You mentioned inoperable cancer… didn’t your kitty just have surgery a few weeks ago, or did I lose my mind while I was gone?

    With my dogs, I have always said “As long as they’re in it, I’m in it. When they’re done, I’m done.” We listen, they decide. It’s obvious that you love your kitty. You will know when it’s time.

    I am still broken hearted after losing my kitty three weeks ago. I thought it would get easier, but it hasn’t. Quiver’s ashes were waiting for me at the vet when I returned from my trip, and I find it comforting to hold the cast of his paw print in my hand, but it’s still so hard.

    I know you and your kitty will treasure every day together.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    @Left Coast Tom:
    I haven’t the slightest idea. I’m sure she’s got tons of supporters in Texas, though, so she’ll probably put rear ends in seats, and that’s all that matters. People think she’s accomplished a lot, for whatever reason.

  29. 29.

    BR

    @Quiddity:

    I think the Cadillac tax is a good thing. I also think the high-income tax is good. We should just put both in there. We need to move towards separating employment from health benefits, and we need to move back towards taxing the top income earners. So it makes sense to include both.

  30. 30.

    Elisabeth

    @Violet:

    It should be a short speech:

    How to Successfully Manage and Balance Your Personal and Professional Priorities

    How to Overcome Obstacles with Creative Solutions

    Doesn’t take long to say, “Just quit.”

    Blockquote fail. Oh well.

  31. 31.

    matoko_chan

    I have been reading the Avatar reviews….i think conservatives hate Avatar because it is partly about race. They can’t say the r-word, so they crit Avatar as anti-capitalism, anti-military, and anti-american.
    Liberals hate Avatar because it is partly about god, and liberals can’t say the g-word, so they crit Avatar as racist, a childhood fantasy, and white guilt.
    Are those the two big taboos, Dr. Cole?
    conservatives cant talk about race, and liberals cant talk about god?

    i tried this with some links, and it wont post.>:(

  32. 32.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Here is good news, no doubt in spite of the diabolic dithering of RahmBarrackOrahmObama.

    <blockquote>A new Public Policy Polling survey in Connecticut finds Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) with a dismal 25% approval rating while 67% give him bad marks.

    I wanna fight. who wanna fight too?

  34. 34.

    John PM

    Chicago is supposed to get 14 inches of snow, my work laptop crashed and I need to figure out how to make a Pinewood Derby car for my 6-year old. Any suggestions on the third topic would be appreciated.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    @PeakVT:

    It always amazes me how cats get themselves into positions that look like they can’t possibly be comfortable and then fall right to sleep.

  36. 36.

    MichaelR

    @Violet: I hope you don’t believe that Palin (or most of the other speakers) created their themes and presentations all by themselves.

    In fact, I would guess that 99% of her/their entire presentations were created and scripted by more talented ‘minions’ employed or associated with the seminar’s organization (or their behind-the-scenes supporting organizations).

    Just another part of Wingnut-welfare World.

  37. 37.

    asiangrrlMN

    @WaterGirl: I’m so sorry to hear that you are having such a hard time with the passing of Quiver. However, give yourself a break. It’s only been three weeks. Sending comfort and sympathy your way.

  39. 39.

    Comrade Dread

    Just brushing up on my Mandarian in the likely event that our new overlords will soon tire of the endless stupidity of our government and appoint a provincial governor.

  41. 41.

    BGK

    @Third Eye Open:
    Every time the local (Fort Myers) paper runs a story related to the cold snap, the tea-tards flood the comments section with global warming denial.

    Truly, we are the Saudi Arabia of Stupid.

  44. 44.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @Malron:

    “As the amount of data captured by these sensors grows, the difficulty in storing, analyzing, and fusing the sensor data becomes increasingly significant,” the report concluded. It cited Massachusetts Institute of technology defense expert Pete Rustan, who complained that “70 percent of the data we collect is falling on the floor.” […]

    IIRC, back in the late 90s there was a story about how former East German citizens could make a request to get the file the STASI had been keeping on them, so this guy who had been an actual honest-to-God underground anti-Communist activist, working to try to undermine and overthrow the govt pulled his file to see what they had on him. Turns out that the STASI had a pretty good idea what he was up to, but never acted on it because that information was hopelessly lost in the immense amount of bullcrap their informers were generating regarding pretty much everybody in the country. They knew everything about everybody, and yet couldn’t recognize an actual threat to them, because it was lost in the noise.

  47. 47.

    bob h

    Are not the two terror attacks under Obama just a reflection of the way he is taking the fight to Al Qaeda in the form of drone attacks, taking a heavy toll on them? Aren’t these two attacks, assuming Ft. Hood was terrorism, exactly what one would expect from an enemy being hammered, and not a reflection of “softness” about terrorism? Why don’t Republican yobs mention that Obama and the CIA are in fact drawing serious blood against Al Qaeda, and that what we are seeing is just expected retaliation?

  48. 48.

    Violet

    @MichaelR:

    I hope you don’t believe that Palin (or most of the other speakers) created their themes and presentations all by themselves.

    Oh, heavens no! Sarah Palin doesn’t do work. She loves power and the trappings of a “title,” but she doesn’t do work. She’d never sit down and create a presentation. That’s hard work!

  50. 50.

    Crashman06

    I know there were some fans of Southland here last season. Remember, TNT has picked it up, and they’ll start running the original 7 episodes, plus the 6 that NBC didn’t air, next Tuesday at 10 PM. If you liked it, watch it again! A good showing might convince TNT to order a new season.

  51. 51.

    South of I-10

    @Third Eye Open: I know! It is supposed to be 24 tonight and 18 tomorrow night! I do still live in S. Louisiana, right? My hibiscus are toast. I covered them, but I don’t think it will be enough.

  53. 53.

    BenA

    I hate video, especially when I’m looking for actual information. It drives me nuts when I click on an “article” and it’s a video. I can read a page in a couple seconds and see if it has any information I actually want… or if it’s just fluff… with a video I have to wait two or three minutes on it just to figure out if it’s worthwhile or not.

  54. 54.

    R-Jud

    @Violet:

    People think she’s accomplished a lot, for whatever reason.

    Because she is on the teevee.

    I have done work for a lot of “life coach” types who run seminars like the one described in that flyer. They are all well larded with self-importance, but short on actual accomplishments. Many of them are also adherents of the shallow “prosperity Gospel” version of Christianity. Whether this is because they actually believe it, because it jives with their inflated self-worth, or because it provides lots of sales leads, I can’t tell.

    Anyway, Sarah! fits right in with them.

  55. 55.

    Incertus

    I took a run at the upcoming NY Times Magazine piece on the Charlie Crist-Marco Rubio throwdown happening here in Florida. I really hope the teabaggers get close to upsetting Crist, so close that they push for Rubio after the primary’s over and wind up with a three-way race.

  56. 56.

    Violet

    @South of I-10:
    Make sure you water them thoroughly. That can help the roots. Are they close to the house? They’ll get some protection and warmth from that, if so. Depending on how old they are and how strong the root system is, they might get nipped with the freeze, but still be okay and come back once it warms up some.

  57. 57.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @John PM:

    I need to figure out how to make a Pinewood Derby car for my 6-year old. Any suggestions on the third topic would be appreciated.

    I hated Pinewood Derby with a passion because 80 percent of the dads would make the cars themselves using professional grade power tools, to a finishing standard where you would think that serious money was at stake, and then try to pass them off as “Yeah, my 6-7-8 year old did that!“. Un-huh, suuuure buddy… I’m sure your kid who still has velcro tabs for his shoes laces produced that 1:150 scale replica of the Batmobile using only a hand saw.

    You can tell the cars that are actually made by little kids – they are the ones that barely make it to the end of the track.

  62. 62.

    Mike Kay

    @Will:

    Stupak is trying to pass the health care overhaul, he insists, not sabotage it, and predicts that the legislation will ultimately collapse for reasons apart from abortion.

    Everytime some screaming-hamsher-loon-wannabe yells “the bill is a giveaway to the insurance industry” I laugh. If it was a giveaway, then why would Stupak and Nelson pull every guerrilla maneuver to sabotage the bill.

  63. 63.

    Third Eye Open

    @South of I-10: This happens the same week that all the students are back. I can only imagine the road-horrors that will be unleashed by slick roads and South Florida teen drivers. I am stocking up on New Belgium’s ‘2-Below’ and a great organic amber ale I found this weekend in West Palm Beach, called ‘Monk In the Trunk’. I think its time to put on a fake cough and stay in for a day or two. Stay warm

  66. 66.

    HRA

    @PanAmerican:

    Merry Christmas to you, too.

    @John PM:

    All I can say is it’s not easy. TG I had teens who helped with finishing it. Just a thought – maybe googling pinewood derby may be of help?

  69. 69.

    Socialist Health Care

    WTF? Rethuglicans have been all in our face for the past year about the evils of Government Run Health Care. So one breaks his ankle and instead of gnawing his foot off instead of becoming a socialist what does he do? Wait, this happened Christmas Day? Why does Mike Coffman hate the baby Jesus?
    When is this moderate patsy running again? I’m sure the Tea Baggers already have his replacement all picked out.

    http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/07/coffman-health-care/

  70. 70.

    Gordon, The Big Express Engine

    I have the something. The best sports quote of the decade:

    “You’ll be in this position someday. Watch what I do.” – Vince Young to redshirt freshman Colt McCoy with 2:09 left in the 2006 Rose Bowl after stuffing USC on 4th and 2.

  72. 72.

    Third Eye Open

    @Incertus: D00D, the scary part is just how invisible Meeks is, even in Tally, a relatively liberal bastion of porkchop-ville. It could turn into a shoot-out, but I have a sinking suspicion that Rubio pulls out a squeaker when the RPOF tells its people that it is more desirable to get the half-loaf, than nothing at all. Thank gods that I only have to live here through graduation.

  73. 73.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @John PM:
    …anyway, If you really want your 6 year old to do most of the work of cutting and shaping a Pinewood car by hand, then I recommend going to a woodworker’s supply store and getting a small Japanese hand saw, either single edged or one of the double edged saws that have both rip and cross-cut blades (and look really cool to a 6 year old). The nice thing about them is that Japanese saws cut on the pull stroke, which requires less strength than Western saws which cut on the push stroke, and that makes it much easier for a little person to do the work.

  75. 75.

    grass

    @Mike Kay:
    Catch-22 – if conservadem senators support it it’s a giveaway to the insurance industry and must be stopped at all costs, if they oppose it it’s a half-way decent bill that wont pass.

    Either way Hamsher gets to moan.

    The only way to get the half-way decent bill to pass is to persuade Obama to insult and threaten those conservadems until the crumble in the face of his bully pulpit. And if they don’t then it just means he’s not being LBJ enough.

  76. 76.

    Chat Noir

    @Crashman06: We’re going to watch it. I remember John Cole talking about it, and since John Wells is involved, I’m game.

    I really like Ray Romano’s new show “Men of a Certain Age.” It’s drama and comedy — really well done. Andre Braugher is fabulous, as is Romano and Scott Bakula.

  79. 79.

    South of I-10

    @Violet: I did, and it is raining right now. I guess I will have to wait until spring and see what happens. They were still blooming right before Christmas, I would hate to lose them. Some are a few years old, but I put in several new plants and shrubs in the spring and they are probably not going to survive.

    @Third Eye Open: I am hoping this rain dries up before the freezing weather gets here. I have discussed before the horror of anyone down here (including myself) driving on ice. There is actually a wind chill advisory for tonight – wind chills in the single digits?! I got several emails yesterday from friends who work for local organizations who provide assistance for the poor and homeless. They were begging for space heaters – there are so many people who have no means to heat their homes and leave the oven on.

  80. 80.

    ellaesther

    @asiangrrlMN: Uh…. Yes. The husband just told me that they’re expecting windchills of -52 in North Dakota. Which, you may recall, is next door to MN. Take some echinacea just in case!

    Also: Good travels, and… you’re done! Yay!

  84. 84.

    Brick Oven Bill

    I get the sense that things are becoming desperate at the White House. In the midst of all of the reporting of Obama’s promises to televise the health care legislation debate on CSPAN, and then to only allow the cameras in for one scripted hour, is not a move that a man controlling his agenda would make.

    People can understand this one, and do not like to be this openly lied to.

    http://www.seiu.org/2009/08/boycotting-fox-news-glenn-beck.php
    Check out the comments on SEIU’s own web-page attempt to smear Glenn Beck. ‘The Masses’ that Obama had surely imagined would rally behind him just aren’t there.

    My theory on why the millions of SEIU members do not appear to be politically active is that the membership is largely dim (‘I like Obama money and cigarettes‘), having a lower level of intellectual activity than Teabaggers, who continually demonstrate the ability to self-organize (‘I honor the Principles and Values of the Enlightenment, as Unleashed by the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences‘).

  85. 85.

    pcbedamned

    Since everyone is here now, I will ask my question here rather than the thread it belonged in (the one about minimum wage-again I am late to the party…)
    What is the average minimum wage in the U.S.?

  86. 86.

    Mike Kay

    @grass:

    That’s another thing to laugh about, the flower child-hippies who spit on LBJ in 68 and saw him as a baby killer, now put him on a pedestal.

  88. 88.

    Sanka

    IOT, our virtuous (read: not Republican) leaders are bowing at the altar of Goldman Sachs really stickin’ it to those greedy fat-cats on Wall Street:

    Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by Timothy Geithner, told American International Group Inc. to withhold details from the public about the bailed-out insurer’s payments to banks during the depths of the financial crisis, e-mails between the company and its regulator show.

    AIG said in a draft of a regulatory filing that the insurer paid banks, which included Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA, 100 cents on the dollar for credit-default swaps they bought from the firm. The New York Fed crossed out the reference, according to the e-mails, and AIG excluded the language when the filing was made public on Dec. 24, 2008.

    Thank goodness we swept those Repubiclans out of office. Douches.

  97. 97.

    MichaelR

    @Brick Oven Bill: I get the sense that things are becoming desperate at the White House.

    I think the West Wing passes on these types of posts every morning to Rahm and Obama, to give everyone a good laugh and put them in a positive mood for the rest of the day.

  98. 98.

    pcbedamned

    @WaterGirl:

    Hey darling. I have been wondering about you. I am sooooo sorry about Quiver. (if I missed the post about his passing, I am sorry-been busy and haven’t gone through all of the threads).
    It will get easier. But 3 weeks is still a short time, so don’t be so hard on yourself. Losing a beloved pet is like losing a ‘human’, and NO ONE would expect you to be ‘over it by now’. Take the time that YOU need. It is different for everyone and you will heal on your own time, in your own way. We are always here to listen, as many of us have lost our pets, and know what you are going through. Hugs sent to you♥

  99. 99.

    Brick Oven Bill

    The Democratic Party, and the Republican Party, to a lesser extent, are attempting to impose the Central American (SEIU) model of government on the US, asiangrrlMN. This is called an oligarchy.

    ‘I am doing God’s work.’.

    In order for an oligarchy to be achieved, the IQ and the awareness of the electorate must be lowered. This is exactly what has been going on since 1920. SEIU is a perfect example of what Goldman Sachs envisions for the entire US, which is highly concentrated wealth for a protected ruling class. They will, of course, fail.

    The Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences, in the minds of men who can understand and exercise them, are far more powerful than Blankfein.

  100. 100.

    matoko_chan

    @Brick Oven Bill:
    What “conservatives” don’t understand….is that Obama is not a “liberal” or a “centrist”……..he is a machiavellian pragmatist.

    The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
    Niccolo Machiavelli

    Half of the electorate is below the mean of IQ. These people are “natural” conservatives…ie “low information” citizens extremely permeable to demagoguery and fearmongering.
    Obamacare will pass…and then we can presume the teabaggers start wilin’ out on Obamnesty.
    I fully expect the teabaggers will so damage the conservative brand with latinos and hispanics that the GOP will remain in the wildnerness for next 40 years.
    ;)

  101. 101.

    tamied

    @jeffreyw: Looks like a red-tail to me. We have a bunch in my neighborhood. They are really cool. I know it’s hard to not root for the prey, but predators have a place in the circle as well.

  102. 102.

    Mike Kay

    @Sanka:

    Would things be better if AIG and goldman had collapsed?

    Even paul krugman (no friend of wall street) supported TARP, to avoid another great depression.

    Here’s Krugman’s exact quote on the situation:

    “This is DEFCON 4, whatever. This was the complete nightmare. I remember looking at the stress measures on, you know, middle of the day Monday and saying, “Gee, they’re looking kind of spiky.” And by Wednesday, you’d basically had a complete shutdown of the world capital market. No, this is actually terror. I’m sure that Paulson is sitting there, doesn’t strike me as the most reflective guy necessarily, but he must have been sitting there — everybody was sitting there saying, “My God, we may be presiding over the second Great Depression.” This is the utter nightmare of an economic policy-maker. You’re sitting there, and you may have just made the decision that destroyed the world. Absolutely terrifying moment.”

  103. 103.

    matoko_chan

    And…when conservatives cite polls like this one….they don’t understand that conservative does not mean republican.
    White christian conservative means republican.
    Black conservatives vote democratic at 97%.
    Brown conservatives vote democratic at 68%.

  106. 106.

    MikeJ

    @tamied:

    Looks like a red-tail to me. We have a bunch in my neighborhood.

    We have bald eagles that pass through, try to stop for a snack. The local crows will *NOT* allow this.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/12284440@N02/2538178686/

    (and a few other pics of the same there.) You have to look closely to pick out the eagle from the big mass of birds usually, but when you hear 50 or 100 crows screaming, you can be sure that when you step outside you’ll see an eagle, or at least a hawk.

  108. 108.

    Ed in NJ

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    Well, the Derby is supposed to be a team effort by mentor and scout, so I don’t think the expectation is that the kids will be using the power tools. But I agree some dads get carried away.

    Our troop has a day long workshop with all the power tools and supplies available to provide equal access to everyone in terms of the tools needed to make a good car.

    My 8 year old, for the third year in a row, will pick the design and help set the axles, sand and paint, and apply decals and weights, so he is plenty involved.

    Here is a good starter site:

    How to Build a Car

  111. 111.

    pcbedamned

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Ok, so I am comparing the American min wage to the Canadian, and I wondering what the fuss is about. We have far higher min wages than most states, and our economy didn’t fall half as hard as yours. Do those on the far-right really hate the average worker that much, or do they just have to complain about everything?!? As a Canadian Conservative, I find the right in your Country more fucked-up (sorry, but I don’t know how to say this any nicer) every day.
    And another thing, how the hell is anyone supposed to live and pay for health insurance on a minimum wage job in the U.S.?????
    My head hurts…
    ETA: Conservatism in Canada, is NOT like Conservatism in the U.S., so please DO NOT put me in the same category as your Conservatives :)

  113. 113.

    ellaesther

    @matoko_chan: I read that! I read that! Hell – I read it out loud to my husband!

    When I heard everyone calling him a seyyed, I thought, holy crap! That turns up the intensity notch quite a bit, doesn’t it?

    And then I read your “a reader” and I was all: Oooh. Even more than I had thought of on my own!

  114. 114.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Why does Goldman Sachs-Democratic Party want to increase the number of Hispanics in the US makoto_chan?

    The answer is that they assume that Hispanics can be more easily controlled by a protected ruling class (Central America-SEIU model of governance). The basis of this is the Islamic presence (masculine religion) on the Iberian Peninsula for seven hundred years ahead of the Iberian’s presence in Spanish America. Whereas Islam is a masculine religion, Christianity is a feminine religion.

    Masculine religions treat the Alpha males of conquered societies differently than feminine religions. De Tocqueville teaches us in his book Democracy in America:

    “The Spaniards pursued the Indians with bloodhounds, like wild beasts; they sacked the New World like a city taken by storm, with no discernment or compassion; but destruction must cease at last and frenzy has a limit: the remnant of the Indian population which had escaped the massacre mixed with its conquerors and adopted in the end their religion and their manners.”

    This is why Goldman likes Hispanics, at least the more meso-American ones among them. The Goldman assumption is that these people can more easily controlled as the meso-American DNA that tended to stand up and fight was largely removed from the face of the earth in the 1500s and 1600s by the Iberians.

  115. 115.

    tamied

    @GReynoldsCT00: I was watching a group of crows harass a hawk sitting on top of a telephone pole one morning and I noticed another bird attracting some of the crow’s attention as well. When the hawk took off, the second large bird also flew off but right before he left, he swooped at one of the crows. It was a peregrine falcon. Beautiful!

  118. 118.

    JD Rhoades

    From The Long War Journal:

    Al Qaeda has confirmed that the US killed the leader of the Lashkar al Zil, or the Shadow Army, the terror group’s military organization along the Afghan and Pakistani border.

    Mustafa Abu Yazid, al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan, said that Abdullah Said al Libi was killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan.

    So here’ s my question: When we shot down and killed Japanese Admiral Yamamoto in World War 2, it was front page news. Why do I have to read stuff about this in obscure war-geek blogs?

  122. 122.

    matoko_chan

    @Brick Oven Bill: it isn’t that convoluted Bill….the business class just wants cheap labor…they just don’t want them to organize or vote.
    illegal immigrants are the sweetest deal for the business class since slavery.

  124. 124.

    matoko_chan

    @ellaesther: I thot yours was spot on too…..Sully should have us guest blog instead of the bourgie conservative stunt doubles.
    Hes front-paged some of my Palinalysis too.
    ;)

  125. 125.

    El Cid

    Yeeeee-doggy! We’re #1! Souf gon’ rise a-ginnn!!

    The South has become the first region in the country where more than half of public school students are poor and more than half are members of minorities, according to a new report.

    But clearly this isn’t the sort of problem that can be cured by ‘throwing money at it,’ because that policy only works for banks and investment firms.

  126. 126.

    matoko_chan

    @Paul L.:

    A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.
    –Niccolo Machiavelli
    No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution.
    –Niccolo Machiavelli

  127. 127.

    Midnight Marauder

    @Gordon, The Big Express Engine:

    I have the something. The best sports quote of the decade:
    __
    “You’ll be in this position someday. Watch what I do.” – Vince Young to redshirt freshman Colt McCoy with 2:09 left in the 2006 Rose Bowl after stuffing USC on 4th and 2.

    That is beyond dope. And that takes a lot to say coming from a USC fan. Although, as a Houston native, I guess that makes it somewhat easier.

  128. 128.

    Mike Kay

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    you are aware St. Ronnie granted amnesty to 2.6 million illegal aliens in 1986. Was ronnie apart of the Goldman cabal? Don’t you guys know anything? I mean, you guys constantly squawk about how great ronnie was, yet don’t seem to know what he was pro amnesty, that he raised taxes, that he cut-and-ran from Lebanon, that he offered the Russians complete disarmament of nukes, that he was pro choice for most of his life, until he flip flopped to get the gop nomination.

  129. 129.

    ellaesther

    @matoko_chan: We could totally guest blog!

    Oooh – I seem to recall that he made some cryptic comment about them doing something to deal with the constant uptick in readership — perhaps the plan is to hire you and me!

    /crosses fingers.

  130. 130.

    AhabTRuler

    When we shot down and killed Japanese Admiral Yamamoto in World War 2, it was front page news.

    I can’t find a direct cite right off the bat, but no it was not. The information leading to his death was gained through decrypted Japanese communications. Allied forces went to great lengths to obscure the use of such info, and the actual attack was set up to look like happenstance. The information was not immediately released in Japan, and I would imagine that Allied authorities wouldn’t have said anything until it was announced in the Japanese press.

    ETA: Got it: According to Martin Gilbert’s The Second World War (p 420, w00t!) “To protect their secret code breaking exercise, the Americans made no mention after the attack of Yamamoto’s death, treating it as merely another aircraft clash. Only when the Japanese had brought Yamamoto’s ashes back to Tokyo on May 21, and publicly mourned his death did the Americans announce it, but not their deliberate part in it.

  137. 137.

    jibeaux

    Anyone going to try a diet and/or exercise plan in the new year? I could use a little peer pressure/group support/shaming/whatever you wanna call it.

  138. 138.

    gwangung

    Liberals hate Avatar because it is partly about god, and liberals can’t say the g-word, so they crit Avatar as racist, a childhood fantasy, and white guilt.
    Are those the two big taboos, Dr. Cole?
    conservatives cant talk about race, and liberals cant talk about god?

    Um, no.

    This lib disdains Avatar because of the tired white savior routine and the implication that non-white people can’t do dick to save themselves.

  139. 139.

    Elie

    @jeffreyw:

    I don’t think that is a red tailed hawk, but cant really see. Doesnt seem big enough

    Hawk would have probably wanted to surprise the squirrel from the air withs its talons outstretched ready for business rather than trying to do a ground assault..Squirrel wins that

    Just my guess anyway

  142. 142.

    ellaesther

    @gwangung: I think you’re responding to someone whose posts my eyes skip over like a long name in a Dostoyevsky book, but it also bears noting that lots of liberals talk about God all the time.

    I do, anyway. And I’m awful dang liberal!

    (Also, I haven’t seen and am not really interested in seeing Avatar, so really, I probably shouldn’t have even commented. But, well, I have. There it is).

  144. 144.

    Elie

    @ellaesther:

    Actually, I enjoyed it very much.

    It is not a perfect movie. Not sure that it has to be to be enjoyed however, and I don’t think having an expectation of perfection (must be the BEST movie of all time!!!) before you can enjoy a movie is necessarily fair. You are either along for the ride or not and judgement of its weakeness and lack of this or that is certainly up to each individual. Somehow, however, the barely suppressed resentment of what it does offer and the imposition of all sorts of standards from the righteous gets boring to me.

    I enjoyed it. Many have enjoyed it. Individual mileage and opinions may vary. To me it was as good or better than Star Wars, which also had its triteness, by the way.

  147. 147.

    Corner Stone

    @freelancer:

    Remember way back when like 2 weeks ago, when matoko_chan was all, “Avatar is gonna be better than Star Wars and LotR combined.”
    …
    yeah, about that…

    Like a lot of the things matoko prattles on about…
    Supposedly Avatar is an “all ur base are belongs to us” generation-mover that will capture the imaginations and creative spirits of little Republican teens and pre-teens.
    Or something.

  148. 148.

    Corner Stone

    @Mike Kay:

    Everytime some screaming-hamsher-loon-wannabe yells “the bill is a giveaway to the insurance industry” I laugh. If it was a giveaway, then why would Stupak and Nelson pull every guerrilla maneuver to sabotage the bill.

    This conclusion doesn’t make any sense to me. Isn’t it just as valid a conclusion to state they know the WH and Dem leadership are desperate to pass anything and call it a win? So they can shove anything they want in there and make them chew it and swallow?

  150. 150.

    Elie

    @Corner Stone:

    All of the arts – film, theater, music — are subjective and should be enjoyed by people who engage with them. If a person enjoys something, who am I to question? Some folks don’t like champaign and caviar but adore truffles and red wine. We are thankfully all free to chose and that is what makes us, ahem, liberals.

  152. 152.

    gwangung

    @ellaesther: Well, I have an idiosyncratic beef, given that I work in the arts and I have a lot of friends (non-white) who work within Hollywood….

  153. 153.

    JD Rhoades

    @AhabTRuler:

    Time Magazine, May 31, 1943

    When the name of the man who killed Admiral Yamamoto is released, the U.S. will have a new hero. Said one veteran of Pacific service: “The only better news would be a bullet through Hitler.

    So you’re right, we did wait til the Japanese announced the death. But they didn’t try to obscure our deliberate part in it.

  155. 155.

    ellaesther

    Re: Avatar – I feel the need to clarify! I’m quite genuinely just not very interested in it. I don’t know why, it’s certainly nothing knee jerk. I happen to be one of those execrable people who loved Titanic (!) and am a big Star Trek and Star Wars geek, so you would think that I might be smack in the target audience.

    It just hasn’t grabbed me, on any level. (And at this point in my professional history, if a movie doesn’t interest me, I am not giving it any of my measly dollars…!)

  156. 156.

    AhabTRuler

    @JD Rhoades:

    But they didn’t try to obscure our deliberate part in it.

    They didn’t try to obscure US involvement in his death, but the did actively obscure how deliberate deliberate was.

    It’s the difference between the bullet out there with your name on it and the thousands marked ‘occupant’.

  157. 157.

    Older

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    Our kids were issued partially pre-cut car bodies that bore no resemblance to any in the catalog linked by MichaelR. They were rectangular blocks with a cockpit and a front and rear curve on the top surface, and slots for the axles on the bottom.

    In several years of scouting, only once did either of our boys place in the top three. His design was completely counter-intuitive. He went for the art look, not the speed, with a “driver” called “the Martian Blob” and the entire car covered with sandpaper.

    And yet, he placed. So much for all thet newfangled “streamlinin’ “, eh?

  158. 158.

    AhabTRuler

    From the Article:

    The will of the late Admiral was well known: to smash the U.S. From boyhood, when his father told him of the American barbarians who had come to Japan to threaten the Son of Heaven, Isoroku Yamamoto hated Americans.

    There isn’t one thing in this paragraph that is remotely true. Well, he had a father and a boyhood, I suppose, but the rest is lies patriotic
    American propaganda!

  161. 161.

    asiangrrlMN

    @ericvsthem: So very cute!

    @gwangung: Ditto that. I saw the trailer, and I was instantly turned off. When someone here mentioned it was like Dances With Wolves in space, that sealed the non-deal for me.

    @pcbedamned: Yeah, you Conservatives in Canada are waaaaay to the left of our Blue Dawgs in America. Totally different animal.

    As to your question about the minimum wage, it’s part of the great con job the Republicans have done over the last eleven-billionty years of convincing the masses that it’s the poor who are bringing this country down. And, the increasing selfishness on the part of many people of our society. People are constantly worried that someone else is getting something they are not or, vice versa (in the case of gay marriage), getting something they consider to be rightfully theirs alone.

    Plus, we have the ever-pervasive myth of making it on your own merit. Thus, even a meager minimum wage such as we have in the Staes is seen as counter-American ideal.

    Or something.

  162. 162.

    matoko_chan

    @Corner Stone: lol, i do prattle on…sometimes on Sully’s front page. ;)
    1) Avatar is already the 4th highest grossing film of all time.
    2) Sequel in the works.
    3) I meant…umm…Star Wars has influenced culture for 30 years. One way it influenced culture was in defining what kind of movies hollywood made. Star Wars made hightech space warfighting cool. That made console games, tv shows, action figures, cartoons, books.
    Hollywood is verr sensitive to cost-viability. Extreme tech costs extreme bucks. But Avatar has ALREADY made a nice profit.
    That is good for technodroids like me.
    Ringworld, Snowcrash, Broken Angels, Diamond Age, Altered Carbon, Heretics of Dune…..just a few movies I’d relly like to see.
    Avatar is the knee in the curve of full immersion film technology.
    IMAX and 3D today, stimsuits and holodecks in the future.

    Now consider.
    The 13 year old that is watching Avatar today (PG-13) will be buying the dvd, playin the console game, watching Avatar II in 2012 and Avatar III in 2014.
    In 2016 our 13yr old will be a 19 yr old first time voter. Who will he/she vote for?
    Will Avatar make environmentalism and pacifism cool? Will it make genetic engineering cool? Will it make it make kids anti-military?
    Will kids be playing with sentient trees and flying dragons and dire horses instead of X-wing fighters and death-stars? Will they be watching Avatar cartoons instead of Star Wars and GI Joe?
    I dunno.
    interesting times.

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