• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

All hail the time of the bunny!

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

Republicans do not trust women.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

It’s the corruption, stupid.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

People are weird.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

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

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Give ’em enough thread

Give ’em enough thread

by DougJ|  April 18, 20101:37 pm| 15 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Going Galt

FacebookTweetEmail

Nothing exciting to say here. For some reason, I’ve been watching a lot of Captain Beefheart videos on YouTube. I think I like this one the best:

Consider this an open thread.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « As Always, Follow the Money
Next Post: Gregorian cant »

Reader Interactions

15Comments

  1. 1.

    mistersnrub

    April 18, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Good piece by Jay Rosen on David Gregory’s refusal to practice real journalism.

    Colbert, as usual, nails it:

    David Gregory has rejected this hare-brained scheme, saying quote “people can fact-check ‘Meet the Press’ every week on their own terms.” Thank you David! It is not a Sunday host’s job to make sure his guests aren’t lying, any more than it’s a party host’s job to make sure the food isn’t poisioned. (applause..) … The host is there to tell his guests when it is their turn to talk. That is why NBC is currently grooming Gregory’s replacement: a chess timer.

  2. 2.

    Bnut

    April 18, 2010 at 1:45 pm

    Sometimes the random playlist just spits out a line of good shit: Joss Stone, Zeppelin, Lupe Fiasco. And the comes the stupid Rodney Carrington stand up I always forget to delete.

    If anyone here lives near New Paltz/Poukipsee in NY, my cousin is holding one of her epilepsy drives soon. This girl blows me away. Overcoming a terrible health problem, and at such a young age doing so much for others. She even had a book written about her.

  3. 3.

    debit

    April 18, 2010 at 1:57 pm

    I worked my ass off yesterday doing yard work. Today, I bike.

  4. 4.

    Comrade Mary

    April 18, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    That song, from Doc at the Radar Station, tumbled me down the rabbit hole of Beefheart love. Good choice, Doug!

    EDIT: Yay for biking, debit! I’m on deadline for Monday, so no long rides for me today.

  5. 5.

    Bob K

    April 18, 2010 at 2:07 pm

    WTF? It’s the resident congress critter of crazy town. Shelly (Batshit Crazy Overdrive) Bachmann. “Ganstas?” Let’s see Obama is a socialist, elitist, arugula eating Gangsta from chi-town. This sounds like something Mikey Steele would say and should appeal to all those “brothers of another color” we want to vote for us. These are not to be confused with Wall Street “Bankstas” who need another helping hand from us to keep the mean socialists from taking over all the banks and enslaving us all with their so called “Financial Reform”. And here yet another new word from Bill Clinton -“Hatriot” Isn’t that special?
    Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — also a strong supporter of the Tea Parties — refused to endorse Bachmann’s “gangster government” rhetoric: When a southern Republican says you’re spouting Bull$hit what does that say?

    thinkprogress.org/2010/04/18/blackburn-bachmann-ganster/

  6. 6.

    Jason Bylinowski

    April 18, 2010 at 2:31 pm

    I’m Going To Do What I Wanna Do – Cpt. Beefheart

    The above is the title of the coolest live progrock/jazzrock album ever made. I don’t even like progrock in general, but I find some of this stuff to be just radical in a good way.

  7. 7.

    anna missed

    April 18, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    I was lucky enough to see the Beefheart band in a rock and roll club in Cleveland Ohio, must have been 71 or 2. It was a truly amazing show, revolutionary, even. My favorite Beefheart/youtube is this one, with just the C’ptn and Frank Zappa doing Orange Claw Hammer – a lyric masterpiece.

  8. 8.

    mr. whipple

    April 18, 2010 at 2:56 pm

    I never really got into Beefheart, the only one I own is TMR. But I can appreciate his place and creativity. It’s some really challenging listening.

  9. 9.

    benjoya

    April 18, 2010 at 3:53 pm

    the captain rules! “nowadays a woman’s gotta hit a man” is great. and “moonlight on vermont.” toally groundbreaking guitar playing, while still speaking the blues vocab. i play his tunes with a drummer who’s been playing for 40-some years. he says “now THIS is an education!”

  10. 10.

    gbear

    April 18, 2010 at 4:16 pm

    I ran across this story while looking around The Strangler site after DougJ’s link to the Dan Savage piece earlier. Forgive me for blockquoting so much of this story, but it starts out bad and just keeps getting worse and worse.

    Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.

    One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes. Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold’s “roommate.” The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold’s bank accounts to pay for his care.

    What happened next is even more chilling: without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold’s possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold’s lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.

    Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in the nursing home. Because of the county’s actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years. Compounding this tragedy, Clay has literally nothing left of the home he had shared with Harold or the life he was living up until the day that Harold fell, because he has been unable to recover any of his property.

  11. 11.

    Jeremy

    April 18, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    Thanks again for your great musical links & titles, DougJ!

  12. 12.

    WereBear

    April 18, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    @gbear: What a terrible story. Like something out of Kafka.

  13. 13.

    robert green

    April 18, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    beatle bones n’ smokin stones as covered by the fall (only available on the mega john peel box set, a must have anyway for people WHO LIKE THINGS THAT ARE GREAT) is truly one of the greatest songs ever. out-beefhearted beefheart!

  14. 14.

    debit

    April 18, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    @Comrade Mary: It was just an easy 25 miles, but I loved every minute of it. Well, except the bits where I had to ride downtown. I have to find a better route home.

  15. 15.

    Stephen

    April 18, 2010 at 9:48 pm

    Love the Captain Beefheart.

    Balloon Juice is like a combination of my favorite things: art rock & the internet.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - Captain C - Netherlands, September 2024 Part 11: Amsterdam Part 4
Image by Captain C (12/4/25)

2026 Pets of Balloon Juice Calendar

PLEASE REVIEW YOUR INFO ASAP

Recent Comments

  • Baud on Open Thread (Dec 4, 2025 @ 4:05pm)
  • Miss Bianca on Open Thread (Dec 4, 2025 @ 4:03pm)
  • Baud on Open Thread (Dec 4, 2025 @ 4:03pm)
  • Baud on Open Thread (Dec 4, 2025 @ 4:02pm)
  • Suzanne on Open Thread (Dec 4, 2025 @ 4:02pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
On Artificial Intelligence (7-part series)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix
Rose Judson (podcast)

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!