Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Cole, when it comes to calico cats, restraint is overrated.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

“Look, it’s not against the rules anywhere, but a black woman with power was dating and there has to be something wrong with that.”

Not all heroes wear capes.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

I was promised a recession.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Come on, man.

Let there be snark.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Cole is on a roll !

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

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

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

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Archives for February 2010

Open Thread

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Off to the doctor to hopefully have my sutures removed.

You know what that means, don’t you?

I WILL BE ABLE TO SHOWER! Not just turning the shower on and sticking my head underneath it with my body outside. Not washing myself with a combination of soap and washcloth and a bucket like you wash a car, no more alcohol sponge baths, no more baby butt wipes.

An honest to goodness shower. I can not tell you how excited I am.

*** Update ***

Foiled!

Sutures were removed, but I have to wait 24 hours to shower so the holes fill in. :(

I am healing nicely, and they x-rayed my knee (which had swollen up the last couple of days from the fall) and it is stucturally fine, but I damaged my bursa sac (sp?). Ace bandages and ice and it should be fine.

Good day.

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Late Night Open Thread

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Timothy Egan has another excellent essay, “The Grifter’s Tale”, up at his NYT blog:

Judson Phillips is a Tennessee lawyer, specializing in personal injury lawsuits, drunk-driving cases and men who get into trouble beating their wives. It was his idea to incorporate Tea Party Nation as a money-making venture and charge $349 to hear Sarah Palin talk about what’s wrong with America over steak and lobster this weekend in Nashville.
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Andrew Young is a North Carolina lawyer, specializing in John Edwards. The deceptions. The baby born to the mistress. It was his job to make sure the Diet Sprite never ran low. And when Edwards suggested that Young co-habitate with the senator’s mistress, to further an outrageous lie, Young set up the guest room and explained to his family that they now had new members.
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If there’s money to be made hitching your wagon to a politician trading in populism, well, who can fault these fine men for seizing the opportunity. They must know, the check is more reliable than the politician…

I was an Edwards suppporter in the 2008 primaries, and I still think it’s a sign of our national political immaturity that his crappy personal behavior is somehow considered to have invalidated his “Two Americas” proposals. But I have to admit that Egan has a good argument that Edwards and Palin are in some ways spiritual kin.

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If Someone Says the “R” Word In the Woods, To Whom Do They Apologize?

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This made me laugh out loud:

The Special Olympics is disputing the White House claim that its chairman, Tim Shriver, accepted Rahm Emanuel’s apology for calling liberals “retarded.”

Seeking to damp down the controversy over Rahm Emanuel’s reported, months-old use of the word, a White House official yesterday told me and other reporters that Emanuel had called Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.

“The apology was accepted,” the official said yesterday.

The vice president for communications at the Special Olympics, Kirsten Seckler, told me that this account of the conversation is “inaccurate.”

“Tim didn’t accept his apology,” she said. “Tim can’t do that. He can’t accept an apology on behalf of all people with disabilities.”

What about people who are so disabled they will not understand the insult or the apology? Does this mean Rahm’s apology can not ever be officially accepted? Or in those cases, will their caretakers be required to accept the apology? Ben’s post is then updated multiple times until it is decided that six apparatchiks from the Special Olympics do, in fact accept the apology.

We are really to the point that a Chinese takeover of this nation is in our best interests.

*** Update ***

I support this:

I think we ought to get it over with once and for all and ask all the people who are interested in banning words to get together and form their inevitable committee on word propriety. I think it would be a great thing if we could just get the list together ahead of time, along with what the committee feels the appropriate sanction is for each word. “Ho” we know is a fireable word, as is “niggardly,” but what about “snapper”? How about “curry muncher”? What is the appropriate punishment for a “What’s wrong, do you have sand in your vagina?” joke? I mean there are so many unknowns right now, nobody knows where he or she stands.

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The outsiders

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Harold Ford’s definition of “outsider” differs from mine:

Mayor Stephanie Miner won running as an outsider, enjoying the support of Senator Schumer.

On what planet can you be an outsider while being backed by Chuck Schumer? I suppose this is the same way that Terry McAulife ran as an outsider in the Virginia Democratic primary. Nothing against Mayor Miner, but come on.

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More Mavericky Behavior

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So apparently aging sociopath John McCain slapped a hold NLRB nominee Craig Becker back in October, and even though Becker has been a nominee for six months and answered 280 written questions, McCain never found the time to submit any questions. Al Franken comes to the rescue:

You’d think with his 20 some appearances on Sunday talk shows, he would have had enough spare time to ask even one question to get at why he had a hold on Becker. Apparently not.

McCain’s only principle is what benefits him the most at that very minute. That is why he is able to be so mavericky and switch his postion on everything- he simply doesn’t really believe in it, so why not change your mind if there is some immediate political gain and some camera time to be had.

Meanwhile, the worthless shitheels in our national media (I’m talking to all you McCain fluffers, and especially you Sunday show hosts- Mr. David Gregory, Mr. Bob Schieffer), continue to pretend that McCain is a man of honor and integrity, and a man who stands on principle. Rather than confess their sins and admit what they helped to create, they’ll sit idly by as a bitter geriatric makes them his bitch.

The suicide rate for j-school professors has to be astronomical these days. Are any of David Gregory’s professors still alive?

(video courtesy of the Jane Hamsher’s of the left)

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Abstinence also?

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Dan Savage has a good take on what that much-talked-about so-called “abstinence only” study really says:

…the abstinence-only classes in the Jemmott study centered on people with an average age of 12 and that unlike the federally supported abstinence programs now in use, did not advocate abstinence until marriage. The classes also did not portray sex negatively or suggest that condoms are ineffective, and contained only medically accurate information.

I would have to know more details to say anything conclusive here, but I wonder if it’s really accurate to call the classes in the study “abstinence only” rather than “abstinence also”.

I anxiously await Ross Douthat’s column on this subject. If Chunky Reese Witherspoon had been an abstinence only girl, she might be Mrs. Ross Douthat right now!

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The last hamlet of homophobia no more?

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I’m not one to make heroes of athletes but hats off to Scott Fujita:

On Sunday, Fujita will reach the pinnacle of his football career, playing linebacker for the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl. Fujita describes it as “this small moment in time where you have a platform to do some good things.’’ Last fall, that included speaking out in support of gay rights, a rare step in a professional sporting culture that often turns social stances into landmines.

Fujita, who is married, the father of twin daughters, and straight, pushes against the rising trend in sports to remain mum on cultural and political touchstones. His boldness, shaped by his unusual upbringing, makes him an uncommon and effective advocate for what he believes in.

“People asked me a question and I gave my opinion,’’ Fujita said. “People say, ‘That’s so courageous of you.’ To me, it’s not that courageous to have an opinion, especially if you wholeheartedly think it’s the right thing. For me, standing up for equal rights is the right thing to do.’’

[…..]

In his support of gay rights, Zirin wanted to tap into the sports world, which he said is often regarded as “the last hamlet of homophobia.’’

Zirin believed that dissolving that stereotype could empower the campaign.

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