Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The revolution will be supervised.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

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

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

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84Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodinger's cat

    Moving is quite stressful. We feel your pain. One small benefit to moving, every time I move I seem to lose between 5 and 10 pounds, must be all the physical effort.

  3. 3.

    chrome agnomen

    didn’t seem to affect tunch any. not that anyone would notice a paltry 10 pound loss…

  6. 6.

    Martin

    Well, it’s shaping up to be 1993 all over again.

    An FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force has conducted a series of raids on a Christian militia group called ‘Hutaree’. Seven have been arrested so far and will appear in U.S. District Court in Detroit tomorrow.

    From the article:

    Sources have said the FBI was in the second day of raids around the southeastern Michigan city of Adrian that are connected to a militia group, known as the Hutaree, an Adrian-based group whose members describe themselves as Christian soldiers preparing for the arrival and battle with the anti-Christ.

    I wonder who they think might be the anti-Christ?

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    Can’t say I blame you. After moving this past summer, I was drop-dead exhausted for about a week. Not really doing all that much heavy lifting (book boxes slide nicely on wooden floors…), but just the accumulated stress takes a lot out of you.

    -dms

  8. 8.

    whatsleft

    I haven’t seen anything from anyone on Jeb!’s latest adventure – stripping teachers of pay for seniority or advanced degrees, and basing pay half on “student achievement”, half on principal’s evaluation. It whizzed thru committee and the Senate in a matter of days, “fast-tracked” by Jeb!’s hand-picked puppet, Thrasher, who stood on the Senate floor and declared that the only people he had heard against the bill were “teacher unions and whiny, incompetent teachers”.

    This’ll really fix our schools (we fund our students at about $7000 per, when national average is well over $11,000 per).

  9. 9.

    madmommy

    @burnspbesq:

    That was not exactly what I expected from Duke. Baylor gave them a game right to the end. I’m glad Duke won, if only to salvage the wreckage that my bracket has become, but I think WV is going to be hard to get past.

  10. 10.

    Carrie

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    I guess i’m in the minority when i say i love moving.
    The getting rid of old crap, finding new places to put my treasured crap…organizing, labelling….very enjoyable.
    But then again, i’m a gemini. We’re weird that way.

    Mind you, i’ve never done it while recuperating from a broken wing though.

  11. 11.

    Incertus (Brian)

    @whatsleft: I’m seeing a lot about it on Facebook right now, largely because I live in Florida and a lot of my students are Education majors. The fucked up thing about it is that the FCAT is universally loathed by parents, teachers, students and administrators, but the legislature is going to tie teacher raises to FCAT scores. That’s fucking brilliant. Teachers are going to start cheating like nobody’s business, and I can’t say I blame them.

  12. 12.

    p.a.

    Adrian-based group whose members describe themselves as Christian soldiers preparing for the arrival and battle with the anti-Christ.

    if (when) this becomes more prominent and makes it onto the msm radar, i can’t wait to see how they turn it into a he said/she said proposition, and push the expected republican meme that liberals were asking for it by nominating and electing the antichrist.

  14. 14.

    PaulW

    Q: now that Obama has his Health Care Reform package, what will be the next thing on the list he can use to make Republicans look bad?

    1. Immigration reform?

    2. Job creations package?

    3. Issuing a commemorative stamp honoring the 1985 Chicago Bears?

  15. 15.

    CynDee

    @John Cole: Thank you for the beautiful pictures of a beautiful kitty who is loved and admired by and who fascinates thousands of people night and day, apparently.

    Tunch has never looked more wonderful, and we are so happy that he is loving his new environment and wider view of the world.

    Oh, by the way, we hope your shoulder is better and better.

    Congratulations to you and Tunch as you settle in, and your little dog, too, that “living doll” Lilydog. Has there EVER been a sweeter face?

  16. 16.

    Chat Noir

    I don’t follow basketball much any more but this Michigan State alumnus is pleased to see the Spartans head to the Final Four again. Maybe they can win the whole thing like they did in 1979 and 2000. I remember the 1979 game like it was yesterday.

  18. 18.

    schrodinger's cat

    @PaulW: Immigration reform. Even if it fails to pass, the rhetoric from the Republicans and their supporters will alienate a significant part of the electorate.

  21. 21.

    Max

    @schrodinger’s cat: I hope its Immigration. It will send the GOP/TeaBaggers over the fucking falls.

    I would love to see a bunch of Fired Up! Ready to Go! latinos and latinas on the tv going at the over-priviledged white men of the GOP.

    Si Se Puede!

  22. 22.

    KG

    @PaulW: rumor has it that immigration reform and financial regulation are up next on the docket. Both provide new and fun ways for the Dems to make the GOP look like a ship of fools.

  24. 24.

    RedKitten

    Tired.

    I hear you. Moving is very, very draining. I still can’t believe the crazy schedule we had when we moved into this house.

    Dec 19th: move all boxes and furniture into new house
    Dec 20th: clean old apartment
    Dec 21st: unpack all stuff into new house.
    Dec 22nd: clean new house, put up and decorate Christmas tree and decor.
    Dec 23rd: parents arrive for a 4-day stay for holidays.

    And this all took place while I was battling constant first-trimester nausea and fatigue. I still have no idea how the hell I did that, or what the hell we were thinking having Christmas dinner for 14 people at our place that year.

  27. 27.

    Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist

    Tonight’s menu: fajitas! I made a new batch of fajita powder and goofed and put in double the amount of red pepper as normal. Tasty, but ow.

  28. 28.

    Something Fabulous

    Oh geez you-all. I just typed a long whiny thing that made even me want to throw up, so deleted it.

    So: Am home for just the weekend, packing for next week’s business trip, and am just hating it. So tired and anxious and somehow sad, most of the time. I’d like to be excited: about working again and meeting new people and going new places and so on, but am just kind of tapped out instead. It’s only going to be for a few more weeks, but I am homesick already!

    Feel like this makes me ungrateful and therefore guilty. Any business travelers out there? If anyone has any helpful tips for keeping the spirits up, would love to hear them…

  30. 30.

    RedKitten

    @schrodinger’s cat: He has a bad cold, poor little man. So his sleep has gone all to hell. He was awake last night from 1 – 2:30am, and then up again at 7am. I really hope he gets over this cold before I start work next Tuesday, or I’ll really be in a pickle.

    Other than that, he’s doing well, though. He’s got the commando crawl down pat, and is having a great time crawling towards anything that he’s NOT supposed to touch.

  32. 32.

    Chat Noir

    @p.a.: But does the antichrist look good in a bomber jacket? You betcha!

    Good lard. I saw that poll last week that said 24% of Republicans polled think Obama is the antichrist. I mean, really, WTF?

  33. 33.

    Mike in NC

    Today’s WaPo had a piece on that bastion of decency and decorum — the US House of Representatives:

    1856: Furious about attacks against pro-slavery Sen. Andrew Butler (D-S.C.) by abolitionist Sen. Charles Sumner (R-Mass.), Butler’s relative, Rep. Preston Brooks (D-S.C.), went onto the Senate floor and beat Sumner senseless with his gutta-percha walking cane. When other senators tried to aid Sumner, they were stopped by Rep. Laurence Keitt (D-S.C.), who brandished a pistol to keep them away. Sumner was unable to return to the Senate for more than three years; Brooks survived an expulsion vote in the House, resigned his seat and was reelected to it that November.

    Who’ll be the next Congressman to wave a gun in the face of a critic?

  36. 36.

    Svensker

    @KG:

    rumor has it that immigration reform and financial regulation are up next on the docket. Both provide new and fun ways for the Dems to make the GOP look like a ship of fools.

    Everybody says that. But what would NOT make the GOP look like a ship of fools, answer me that. I can’t think of a single thing where they could be coherent and not bug-fuck insane. Am I wrong?

  37. 37.

    Stephen1947

    furioso ateo at 17 asks: “Have they ever put God on a postage stamp before?”

    I don’t know about grown-up God, but Baby Jesus makes it onto stamps just about every Christmas.

  39. 39.

    mr. whipple

    Immigration reform. Even if it fails to pass, the rhetoric from the Republicans and their supporters will alienate a significant part of the electorate.

    I’m not so sure that IR is a winner in the middle of 10% unemployment, even among Democrats.

  40. 40.

    kay

    @Martin:

    Daily Telegram
    Posted Mar 28, 2010 @ 12:56 PM
    Last update Mar 28, 2010 @ 07:58 PM
    DOVER TWP., Mich. —

    FBI agents raided a Dover Township residence Saturday and remained on the scene well into Sunday afternoon.

    FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said Sunday there were “law enforcement activities” in Lenawee and Washtenaw counties.

    “The federal warrants are sealed, and we cannot comment further at this time,” she said.

    Neighbors near the residence at the southwest corner of Sword Highway and Tomer Road said three helicopters with spotlights circled the area during the night and police swarmed the area. Early this morning several military-style Humvees arrived on the scene. A Michigan State Police bomb squad and an armored personnel carrier were also on the scene. State police troopers manned roadblocks on both Sword and Tomer.

    Agents also conducted operations on Saturday in Ohio and Indiana.

    FBI spokesman Scott Wilson in Cleveland said agents arrested two people Saturday in Ohio. A third arrest was made in Illinois on Sunday, a day after raids in Indiana.”

  42. 42.

    burnspbesq

    @madmommy:

    Hell of a game. Baylor was a handful. But at the end, we made plays and they didn’t.

    Of course, we have to play Baylor again tomorrow night, with another trip to the Final Four on the line. Hope the Dog Gack Orange fans decide to show up and root for us; after all, we haven’t beaten them in three years (since the night we opened the game with a 19-0 run on their floor), and Baylor hammered them two days ago.

  43. 43.

    Ty Lookwell

    I never realized how loathsome Candy Crowley was until I caught her show today on CNN. Her big problem with all the violence, abuse, death threats, racial slurs and the rest coming from the right over the past week was that some democrats mentioned it in fund raising appeals. So, in Candy’s mind, the democrats were “fanning the flames.”

  44. 44.

    Mary

    Tunch looks simply splendid. I’m so glad he’s doing well with the move and likes his new place.

  46. 46.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Svensker:

    I can’t think of a single thing where they could be coherent and not bug-fuck insane. Am I wrong?

    Hmm. Here’s the best I can do:

    They’re wrong, but coherent, on drilling for oil. Note that they’re bug-fuck insane on _energy_, because of all the weird denier crap and know-nothing-ism about climate change because of snow in DC and Al Gore’s waistline. But the drilling part sounds deceptively reality-based.

  47. 47.

    madmommy

    @burnspbesq:

    I picked Duke to win this game, but have to admit I was pulling for Baylor. I do love a scrappy underdog story. Even though Baylor’s a 3 seed, Duke is formidable. FWIW, I have WV winning the next game :)

  48. 48.

    Carol

    @ mcc:

    Went to militia site, and apparently it’s been taken down, or has been crashed…either way its gone, and I’ve doubtless have been spared an aesthetic horror. Somehow groups with terrible ideas usually have equally atrocious websites-ugly minds make for ugly sites. And it ‘s not a matter of money-Free Republic could certainly afford a web designer at this point, but perhaps lack of real taste.

    Tunch looks lovely sitting in the window of the new place. I love to see cats in a serene pose.

    I’ve lost interest in basketball once Xavier was booted out, and have yet to revive my spirits for baseball.

    http://www.concentric.net/~Cosmas/indcath.htm

    There’s an independent Catholic Church Movement. I ran into it by accident trying to see if there was something like it out there. I thought it would be just a single church or two like Pope Pius X near where I live, but apparently there’s whole denominations of these churches. Most of the websites haven’t changed all that much since I last encountered them, which is a surprise because there are plenty of people who while fed up with Ratzinger and his moldy crew, would want to still live a spiritually Catholic life with all of the sacraments and social justice teachings. Perhaps once people start investigating the idea of real schism more thoroughly, there could be a real migration to these churches for those who don’t want to leave religion entirely or become Protestant.

  49. 49.

    schrodinger's cat

    @mr. whipple: Agreed the strategy is not without risk. Instead of taking up comprehensive reform, they could shelve the most controversial part for later, after elections (i.e legalizing the illegal immigrants) and reform the broken system which leaves even legal immigrants in limbo for years.

  50. 50.

    Max

    @Cat Lady: Great Pics!

    BlackwaterDog at the GOS has a great photo diary on the rec list.

    Check them out and let the swooning commence.

    O-bot. Meep meep.

  51. 51.

    Martin

    @Svensker: Obama should introduce legislation making gun ownership mandatory. The collective “Fuck, now what do we do?” from the wingnuts would be priceless.

  52. 52.

    Martin

    @FlipYrWhig: Actually, it isn’t from a national-security standpoint. If somewhere down the line you need oil to run your war machine and you’ve pumped all the stuff you control out of the ground, you’re fucked. Better to use up everyone *else’s* oil now while you develop alternatives, and then for the things that you can’t make effective alternatives (there will be some) you’ll have control over your own resources.

    Shit, anyone who’s played Starcraft, etc. should be able to figure that one out.

  55. 55.

    mcc

    @Ty Lookwell:

    So, in Candy’s mind, the democrats were “fanning the flames.”

    Exact same words Eric Cantor used.

    I wonder if Frank Luntz thought that one up.

  56. 56.

    furioso ateo

    @whatsleft: That actualy sounds pretty awesome. You won’t even miss the beach, and I’ve heard New Zealand can’t be beat for nachooral splendor. Just make sure to call them Kiwis and not Aussies. That’s a good way to get punched in the face.

  57. 57.

    Chat Noir

    @Max: It still feels weird that I think the President is teh hawt. But dayum! It’s the combination of brains and that smile.

  58. 58.

    Skepticat

    @Carrie: Could you swing by here, please? I’ve been in this house for thirty years and I’m a packrat, so the thought of what I’m facing if it ever does sell (looking questionable given the current market) makes me want to crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head, and weep.

  60. 60.

    Max

    @mcc: Candy was also riding the Obama snubbed Bibi train.

    From The Plum Line

    It’s good to see that CNN’s Candy Crowley is working hard in her new gig to uphold high standards of journalistic objectivity. She just asked David Axelrod an extraordinary question:

    Publicly, this week, you pretty much snubbed Prime Minister Netanyahu. No picture with the President. No dinner with the President. Netanyahu was here for four days. He was pretty much treated like a third-world country leader at this point. Is insulting him really the way to go?

    Bitch.

  62. 62.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @Carol: I went there earlier today just long enough to get nauseous, took about 3 seconds. Not long after Obama announced his presnit candidacy, I decided to really dig into the online militia movements for an education on what they were about, and spent about a week following the links down that rabbit hole to hell.

    I will never ever do that again.

  63. 63.

    SIA

    Anyone else watch Candy Crowley’s State of the Union? I watched about 30 mins of it assuming she couldn’t be worse than John King. Jeebus, every one of her questions was slanted to the right wing.

    “Senator Alexander, the Democrats are assholes for raising money off racial & homophobic slurs shouted at them by protestors. Are the Dems as terrible as I think they are?

    Someone said earlier that CNN is angling to become FoxLite. Candy is leading the fucking charge. I thought she’d be a little more subtle.

    Grrrrrrr.

    BTW Congrats on the new digs.

  65. 65.

    SIA

    @Max: & mcc – OK it’s not just me. Candy Crowley is putting it all right out in front. Won’t do any good, but I’m back to my boycott of CNN and will write and tell them so.

  67. 67.

    Max

    @SIA: No, she’s horrible.

    I’m almost 39 and I read the PUMA’s tell my generation how we don’t support feminism or woman’s rights, blah blah blah. Obama hates women, etc.

    Well, if supporting women means more of Candy’s ilk on tv, I say no fucking way.

    I’ll take David Shuster over any of them, any time.

    They can have my feminist card, seriously.

  70. 70.

    Fern

    @Carrie: You’re not the only one! Not much fond of packing, but unpacking and finding new homes for things is great. And getting rid of stuff is good too.

  71. 71.

    Nellcote

    @mcc:

    Exact same words Eric Cantor used.

    I wonder if Frank Luntz thought that one up.

    Considering the whole “fire Pelosi” surrounded by flames at the official RNC site, it seems more Rovian. I mean are you really gonna believe yer lyin’ eyes?

  73. 73.

    Cat Lady

    @furioso ateo:

    OK, it took me a little while, but I just figured out that you meant, like, at Baghram, today? Holy fucking shit. WIN.

    Be safe, and we’re glad you’re here. Keep commenting! Need. more. O-bots.

  75. 75.

    CynDee

    @Chat Noir: The 24% are those living in so much fear that religiositous superstition can grab and hold them.

    AND / OR most likely, it is very convenient to fulfill their racism to its fullest extent by whom they choose to be the antichrist. That way they will be blameless if some crazy person they have been egging on will do a bad deed.

    Don’t know why it is of prime importance to some folks that there be no one else in the country, world or universe who doesn’t look like them . . . what a thing to spend one’s life on–being eaten up by one’s own hatred.

  77. 77.

    burnspbesq

    With apologies to Lennon and McCartney:

    It was eighteen years ago today,
    Christian Laettner taught the Cats to play
    You’ve been hatin’ on us all the while
    And so all we do is win and smile
    So let me introduce to you
    The act you’ve known for all these years
    Mike Krzyzewski’s Final Four Club Band!

  78. 78.

    Cain

    @Martin:

    I wonder who they think might be the anti-Christ?

    Who did they think it was the last time? If they were wrong last time what makes them think they are right now?
    cain

  79. 79.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @burnspbesq: Cool song, Maybe Laettner will sing it out his ass, like he shoots a basketball.

    But I am glad Duke made it to the final four, now maybe it will loosen Coach K’s wired sphincter and he can get some relief.

  80. 80.

    burnspbesq

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    Hey, it’s not our fault that your guys couldn’t be bothered to guard anybody outside the three-point line yesterday, and couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean from the end of the pier.

    Butler, West Virginia, Michigan State, and Duke share one common characteristic: when plays needed to be made, they made them. The other 61 teams, didn’t.

  81. 81.

    Deschanel

    Hi. Open thread and all..

    Could someone tell Andrew Sullivan to put up or shut up about cutting ties to Mother Church already? Seriously, millions of ordinary Catholics have done it quietly. And Episcopalianism has all the smells and bells Andrew, AND they are accepting of gay people like ourselves.

    But no, Martyr St. Andrew is once again clinging to the wreckage of his beliefs in some big daddy belief system, in the most operatic , diva-esque style. It’s agony to him people, don’t you understand? He needs to try and understand what’s been in front of his face for oh, fifteen years or more, and relentlessly hash it out yet again, over and all over, beating his breast and declaring how the Catholic church needs reform. So let’s milk this with ten thousand posts about it until he can retire and die of old age, let’s let him keep flagellating himself with the cat o’nine tails in prayer for the Church. It’s Andrew’s world. Betrayed yet again by a patriarchal powerful institution in whom he believed unquestioningly! Who could have ever forseen the Republican party would stop being Thatcherite Tories with Burkean ideals?

    Quel the fuck with this man? Clear attraction to domineering institutions, he’s a pot-smoking gay man who – seems to me- loves the attention he received when he was considered young and brilliant, and now feels hurt and abandoned. This sounds awful, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some element of dominance and submission in his erotic life doesn’t inform his attachments to certain politics and parties . Andrew has definitely tried on a harness.

    I am just as Irish Catholic as Andrew, but knew the score long ago. Sinead O’Connor denounced the monstrous abuse 17 years ago on SNL, and I’d love to know what AS thought of that then. Did he denounce her as a fifth column?
    Probably not, he was RollerBlading around Georgetown charming magazine owners.

    Here’s my thing: I seem to have hit my limit of reading AS cry and moan about the Catholic Church. There will be thousands more posts by him “wrangling with his faith” ad infinitum, but I’m hugely bored already. I think he’s a good guy overall, but sometimes he seems willfully obtuse. He’d rather write about his suffering as an adherent of a church that loathes gay people like himself than fucking break it off and shut it down. No, this is his material, and he will keep it going forever. I’m sure he’s at church every Sunday too, where he cries, or whatever the hell. He will be complaining about it the rest of his life rather than getting the hell out. Because he needs to be a martyr. Total S&M sometimes with Sullivan.

  82. 82.

    thalarctos

    Since this is an open thread, I’ll just mention that there’s one more BJ lurker who’s back in the ranks of the employed.

    I had to move to England to do it, but I finally found my dream job. And, thanks to the NHS, I now have healthcare as well. Things are looking up.

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