Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s finish the job.

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

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Republicans don’t trust women.

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

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

This blog will pay for itself.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

T R E 4 5 O N

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  1. 1.

    Cacti

    Speaking of dentists, took my almost 4 year old to get his first ever fillings today.

    Even while sedated and with the nitrous mask on, when the novocain made his mouth numb, he freaked.

    Not fun.

  2. 2.

    R-Jud

    @Cacti:

    Even while sedated and with the nitrous mask on, when the novocain made his mouth numb, he freaked. Not fun.

    Bleagh, I’ve had so much kid-related medical crap this week, I’m REALLY not looking forward to when she’s got cavities in her teeth.

  8. 8.

    Brachiator

    A little tax season trivia. The California Franchise tax board loves to make an example of delinquent filers. They are not always who you expect might be the greediest plutocrats.

    With the deadline for filing income taxes loming, the state Franchise Tax Board has published its annual list of the state’s 250 biggest delinquent taxpayers, with a new leader – San Francisco high-tech businessman Halsey Minor.
    …
    The FTB says that Minor, the founder of CNET, and his wife, Shannon, owe $13.1 million in personal income taxes….The FTB list of the state’s deliquent taxpayers includes an extraordinary number of doctors and other health care providers.

  9. 9.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    On our walk today, Charlie got a twig lodged in the back of his throat and seemed to be choking, I saw it when I pried his mouth open and reached in to grab the about 2 inch stick/ I did not pull it out but unstuck it so he swallowed the thing. He seems ok now, but it scared the living shit out of me. I guess he will pass the thing out in his poop, at least I hope so.

  10. 10.

    ellaesther

    @Cacti: Oy, poor mite! I’m very sorry to hear that. And sorry for you!

    Our family’s dentist is on a certain level really unpleasant — really chatty, but not in a good way, and politically rather to the right of me — but on another level, he’s a god, because he fills teeth at a positively lightening pace, and the kids like him. So, yeah. We’ll keep going.

  11. 11.

    MikeJ

    @ellaesther: I love the fact that the associated videos are all cat videos with french titles. Because people only want to watch cats in their own language.

  14. 14.

    daryljfontaine

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: Keep an eye on him, it’s too easy for animals to have major problems from swallowing things like that (punctures, blockages, etc.), and Charlie’s way too awesome of a little guy to suffer.

    D

  15. 15.

    Josie

    @Comrade Mary: The kitty is too funny. I sent it to my kids and titled it “Waiting for Godot.” It’s really unforgivably obvious, but I couldn’t help myself.

  19. 19.

    Mnemosyne

    We invested in the Best. Toy. Ever. and got a cheapo $3.99 laser pointer. Charlotte will play with it until she starts panting like a dog. It’s a little scary how much she loves it.

  20. 20.

    ellaesther

    Ok, just to bring down the room a smidge:

    With the Holocaust being a political football and a slur and a threat and a bogeyman these days, I tend to sometimes forget that, oh, that’s right – six million of my people were killed for the blood in their veins. And I need to honor them, for they are mine, and their deaths are a horror that must not be forgotten. And the efforts to turn them into a political football and a slur and a threat and a bogeyman are disgraceful and sully their names.

    I wrote about it today: http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/holocaust-day/ and it would be terrific if you would come read.

    (Yes, that’s right, the Jew went all Holocaust on your asses. Whut?)

  21. 21.

    daryljfontaine

    @Mnemosyne: I used to accomplish something similar before they made cheapie laser pointers widely available, by bouncing the afternoon sun off the face of my watch. Cats go just plain nuts chasing the ephemeral mousie. My favorite part is when they “catch” the light, then freak out because what the HELL that thing is so FAST how did it get on TOP of my PAWS???

    D

  25. 25.

    WereBear

    WereBear needs help, badly. (Gaming quote; I actually need good help…)

    Our office is switching from the PC to the Mac, one machine at a time. I’ve been a holdout because I do all the office databases. So we’d have to switch from Access to FileMaker.

    We don’t do a lot of math; it’s primarily things like “who signed up to get our fishing email” and “how many people from the different DMAs signed up at the website this month.” I have a system of relational databases that rely a lot on the Pivot Table to Excel function for monthly reports.

    Does anyone know just how much I’ll regret the move?

  26. 26.

    Mark S.

    North Korea’s longest running comedy show, It’s So Funny, is still delivering the big laughs:

    It opened with the man soldier saying to the woman soldier he feels better and looks more handsome because he has been taking medicine made from beans. “If we soldiers see beans, we become happy,” he said and laughs. “If we farm in the way the General tells us, we will become happy,” she said and laughs.

    I have a really odd fascination with North Korea. When it eventually falls apart, the reunification with the South will make German reunification seem like a walk in the park.

  27. 27.

    Bad Horse's Filly

    @Comrade Javamanphil: Beat me to it. I was going to suggest Big Bang.

    Comrade Mary: Okay the Standing Cat is hysterical!

    I just finished my first day out on the Kangoos – I usually do an indoor routine with them, but it’s too nice outside. I’m almost dead, all different muscles engaged. Between that and riding this weekend, I’m so healthy my muscles are about to form their own tea party and protest my exercise so ci alism and my nazi tendencies.

  29. 29.

    Elisabeth

    @Mnemosyne:

    Mine couldn’t care less about the laser. Let the silverware flash on the ceiling or wall, though, when I’m doing the dishes and she’s a streak of brown/black trying to catch it (and she doesn’t move fast for much of nothin’).

  30. 30.

    Shalimar

    If you had just done what I did and DVRed them all to watch later, you would have six episodes of Chuck in a row you could see for the first time whenever you wanted.

  31. 31.

    Skepticat

    @WereBear: Mac runs Windows and there are Mac versions of Office, so you ought to be able suffer through. If you do regret it, we’ll probably get a very long and emotionally intense thread out of it.

  33. 33.

    gwangung

    @Skepticat: Ah, no. Mac Office does not have Access.

    And, sorry, WereBear…I don’t know enough about Excel to suggest an equivalent function in FileMaker Pro. FM is a good, easy database, powerful enough to mimic most of the functions of Access, but I don’t know if that function can be duplicated.

    Maybe a trip to the Apple Forums or the Mac Rumors forums?

  35. 35.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    While the teahadists are screaming blue murder, Rush Limbaugh is claiming daily that “the world is laughing at Obama” and has taken to calling the administration “the regime” Obama is quietly, and seriously becoming BFF with Prime Minister Medved (scuse the spelling) who today all but called GWB a buffoon. Getting Ukraine to rid itself of Uranium, coming to an agreement with China over sanctions for Iran, and generally doing his level best to make the world a safer place, and all before dinner with the wife and kids! I know I am an Obot but great googly moogly!

  36. 36.

    WereBear

    All the databases are in Access.

    I just know there will be something perfectly simple in Access that will require knowledge of organ transplantation in FileMaker.

  37. 37.

    MikeJ

    @WereBear: I feel for you. Not kneejerk anti apple-ism, but switching a process that sounds like it was accreted more than designed (and I have accreted far more than my share of such systems) is always a pain to change.

    The good news: You’ve no doubt said to myself, “well if I were starting from scratch knowing what I do now I could build a much better system.” Now’s your chance!

    The bad news, unless you run windows on your mac you’re probably going to totally redo every process you’ve got in place.

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    @daryljfontaine:
    @Elisabeth:

    I thought that Keaton would become bored with it once he figured it out — yes, it took him about 5 minutes to figure out that the little red light was coming from something in my hand — but he still seems to be enjoying it. It helps that all three cats are young (4, 3, and 10 months) so they’re still willing to play with anything and everything available. Once they’re senior cats, they’re not going to be quite so amenable.

  42. 42.

    WereBear

    @gwangung: Hey! That’s good to know.

    Reviews have been absolutely no help in this instance; geez, people, I know it stores dates. I’m not going to be playing Qbert with it…

  44. 44.

    slag

    @WereBear: In which case, I’d be more concerned about the migration itself than the feature changes you’ll need to adjust to. Especially since it sounds like you have multiple dbs. I’ve never migrated between the two but it’s always sounded like a drag.

    As to how Filemaker’s features compare to Access’ features, they each have their different strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I haven’t found any great (inexpensive) tools for reporting from databases, but Access, Excel, and Filemaker all seem fairly comparable to each other. They all suck in their various ways.

  46. 46.

    Cain

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    @daryljfontaine: Yea, I am going to keep an eye on him. He drank a lot of water when we got home, so that was good and should help him pass it. But he is a small dog with small innards. Fingers crossed.

    Speaking of hydration and pets, my little one has one of those issues where she can’t pass urine and it is very painful. She’s been on a tear peeing everywhere and usually at night. I’ve spent quite a bit of money cleaning up after her including a full room stanley steamer special. Bleah.

    I’ve completely switched her to wet cat food and trying to flavor her water with something to get her to drink more water. Usually I see a lot of clumps (which apparently is the problem, she goes a lot at night) this time I didn’t see any. I don’t know if that is a good sign or not. I hope she can still pass urine. Anybody else have this issue?

    cain

  49. 49.

    Mnemosyne

    @Cain:

    If she’s not peeing, get her to the vet immediately. Not to freak you out, but it is potentially life-threatening.

    Our boy gets some urinary problems — especially when he’s under stress — and wet food and a cat fountain helped a lot.

  50. 50.

    SIA

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Your comment is very timely to me. I have been watching that relationship with interest.

    The press, and the majority of the DC political establishment, have no fucking idea what to think/write/say about the president. He’s light years beyond them. Who can possibly fill his shoes when he leaves in 2016? :)

    /Obot

  51. 51.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @Cain:

    I wonder if pets can’t get kidney or bladder stones like humans do. That could cause the kind of symptoms your kitty is having. Having been a sufferer of Kidney stones I drink nothing but distilled water and haven’t had a problem in ten years now. Charlie gets distilled H20 also. Something maybe to consider, but I am no vet doc.

    edit – what Mnem. said.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    There’s no possible way this could end badly: Oklahoma tea partiers and legislators are teaming up to create a legal militia to battle the “encroaching” federal government.

    I so wish I were joking.

  54. 54.

    SIA

    @Cain: I’m always posting this link for animal issues – Apple Cider Vinegar (organic):
    http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/cystitis2.html
    Hope this helps – and as someone said, you might want to take your cat to the vet ASAP, and use the vinegar as a maintenance measure. The only way I can get my cats to take it is if I mix it in with fancy cat food – just a tiny bit, maybe 1/4 of a capful, but it does seem to work. I drink a large glass of ACV/honey daily and it’s very beneficial.

  58. 58.

    Svensker

    @Mark S.:

    I have a really odd fascination with North Korea.

    My hub does, too. He’s always reading NoKo books and watching youtubes of marches, etc. It is a really strange place.

  59. 59.

    Svensker

    @Mnemosyne:

    Oklahoma tea partiers and legislators are teaming up to create a legal militia to battle the “encroaching” federal government.

    Erm, what exactly do they envision happening? When the man from the Dept. of Ag shows up, they’re going to stop him at the border with the militia? Arrest the federal judge at the courthouse in Oklahoma City and escort him to the border? WTF? And then what?

  60. 60.

    ProudCynic

    Off topic (maybe–is there really a topic in an open thread?) but a commentator by the name of Spearmint posted this hilarious comment at a post by Slacktivist in response to a comment about the WV mine disaster:

    That is true, but…mining is very risky. Always has been, always will be.And yet somehow the unionized coal mines don’t explode! Apparently unions have magical healing properties, like little Bolshevik unicorns.

    http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2010/04/niotorg.html?cid=6a00d8341c582a53ef0133ec902c4e970b#comment-6a00d8341c582a53ef0133ec902c4e970b

    Personally, I think we need more magical Bolshevik unicorns.

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ellaesther #20:

    Thank you for that very moving post on Yom HaShoah. When I was in Israel in 1980 I saw several older people with numbers tattooed on their forearms. Very disturbing yet strangely comforting : the fact that people who had undergone such horrors could live so normally with a constant reminder of their enslavement and humiliation and terror to be seen whenever they bathed or changed clothes.

    I never visited any of the concentration camps but I did visit Yad Vashem when I was in Jerusalem. It gives a tiny sense not only of the horrors inflicted by the Nazis but also of the heroism of the righteous.

    I realize writing this that on this single day I (a humanist/pantheist/nonbeliever type) have said “Insha’Allah” to a Muslim colleague; I have responded to a Greek friend’s greeting “Christos anesti” with “Alithos anesti”; and I am now discussing the Shoah with a Jewish friend I know only through pixels and ether. Extraordinary.

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    I ran across this news story, with photos, of the funeral of the actor Corin Redgrave, son of actor Michael Redgrave and brother of Vanessa and Lynn. He did suddenly last week at age 70, and his funeral brought out the family and a considerable contingent of the British acting community.

    A nice theatrical gesture: as his coffin was being driven away, the attendees gave Corin a standing ovation, with applause and shouts of “Bravo” for a life lived well and fully.

    What more could you ask for at the end of your days?

  65. 65.

    ellaesther

    @Linda Featheringill: and @Tattoosydney:

    I dropped that on the thread and then I had to run out! I hope you come back and see this…. Thank you! It meant a lot to me to write it — when I got to “false equivalency” (with all the echoes that phrase has in conversations about Israel/Palestine) I realized I’d gotten to something I’d never been able to fully verbalize for myself, and that felt right.

  66. 66.

    ellaesther

    @SiubhanDuinne: Thank you so much! Those numbers were something. I would get this cold shiver in the middle of my belly and just not know what to do with the eyes that had just seen what they had just seen. I couldn’t imagine it being part of my body, as you say, getting dressed, taking a bath.

    And I loved the description of your day! Extraordinary indeed! (Doesn’t it sound like “pixels and ether” should be the name of some kind of act? Hey gang, look, it’s Pixels and Ether, the internet comedy duo!)

  67. 67.

    Othertree

    @Loneoak: Loneoak, this is a GREAT speech. I just sent the link to everyone I know. Thanks for posting it. What Richard Trumka did for me in this Harvard speech was outline how I personally can fight the hatred and growing racism promoted by Glenn Beck & others. How did the AFL-CIO get such a great president as Trumka?

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    @WereBear:

    Is it critical that the databases be converted to FileMaker, or are you doing that just because the office is moving to Macs?

    If it’s just a hardware move, why not use one of the various software utilities that allow you to boot up Windows on a Mac? Then you could keep maintaining the databases in Access. Exporting your data to formats that could be read by FileMaker (or other Mac applications) would be trivially easy compared to redoing all your database apps in FileMaker.

  69. 69.

    Anne Laurie

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: Yes, please keep a sharp eye on Charlie — hopefully passing that twig will only give him some very, very bad moments as it re-emerges! But if he stops eating / drinking, or seems to be in pain, “guarding” his belly, you will need to get him to the vets ASAP. Dogs’ scavenging instincts are money-makers for veterinary hospitals… twigs, rocks, strings, needles & other crap can seriously irritate the digestive tract (“garbage gastritis”), cause a potentially fatal blockage, or even puncture / slice open the intestines. I really, really hope this doesn’t happen to Charlie, but if he seems to be having problems, you do NOT want to wait until he’s developed peritonitis or pancreatitis!

    Nor can you count on a dog who’s suffered for his perverse appetites to learn from the experience, unfortunately. I actually knew one Lab who’d been through a couple of emergency hospital enemas before he managed to swallow a life-sized plush duck toy (his owner was careful never to give him anything “bite-sized” but she assumed a football-sized plushie complete with wings & feet would be safe). Dumb dog required surgery to remove the toy, and when he came out of anesthesia, his owner playfully wagged the “evidence” under his nose to show him what an idiot he’d been… you guessed it, the dumb hound promptly grabbed & swallowed it AGAIN. (This is one example of why I do not have a high opinion of the intelligence of the modern American Labrador, or in some cases the owners of same.) But in any case, General, you will need to keep a sharp eye on Charlie in the future, and be ready to beat him to any tasty-looking wood products.

Comments are closed.