Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

In my day, never was longer.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

So many bastards, so little time.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

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

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

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

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

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Reader Interactions

150Comments

  2. 2.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    70+ comments on a Miley Cyrus thread, something must be fucked up.

    Wait, there’s Stuck at #1. Must be fixed.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    It seems to be created by unmatched hyphens. Two hyphens on either side of a word or phrase creates strikeout text; one lone hyphen seems to create strikeout which never ends, which somehow breaks the rest of the comment layout.

    dms

  6. 6.

    JMY

    Don’t know if this was posted:

    http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/04/internet-commentary-and-the-nominations-process/

    Not intended to be a GG bashing post, but I thought he made a good point about one of GG’s complaints about Kagan:

    I think I can illustrate the point, even to Greenwald’s satisfaction. He holds out Dawn Johnsen as the ideal progressive Obama Administration nominee. But Senator Hatch subsequently asked Johnsen (in a wonderful Senatorial version of the children’s game “telephone”) whether Johnsen agreed with Kagan’s answer that Kagan agreed with Holder. She responded: “Yes, I do agree with Dean Kagan’s statement that under traditional military law, enemy combatants may be detained for the duration of the conflict. That is what the Supreme Court said as well in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507 (2004). . . . As indicated above, I do not believe that release or criminal prosecution are the only possible dispositions for detainees.”

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    The miracles of the modern age… Was talking with my parents yesterday morning, and we somehow got on the subject of family history. My mom knew a bit of information about how her grandfather immigrated to the US; in the space of about 20 minutes, I was able to pull up the exact date of arrival, the passenger manifest, several paragraphs of information on the tiny town in Poland where he came from, etc.

    It didn’t even require any obscure search tools, just a combination of the Ellis Island immigration database, Google (to get the modern spelling of said tiny town), and Wikipedia.

    Fun conversation.

    dms

  12. 12.

    Tom Hilton

    I was getting display problems (the sidebar superimposed on comments), but it’s not really a problem anymore because now when I try to open the Whine thread it (consistently) crashes my browser (IE7).

  14. 14.

    YellowJournalism

    @freelancer: I hold Chuck akin to a date night, since hubby and I are so busy, so this rerun stuff bums me out. Lost doesn’t exactly inspire snuggling on the couch like a heartfelt speech from Chuck to Sarah.

  15. 15.

    Yutsano

    @freelancer: Thank you so much for making our host cranky. Then again I ain’t much of a happy duck right now either. If you wanna know what I’m talking about, try not talking for two weeks. Two. Fucking. Weeks. Top that off with the biggest idiot doctor on the planet, and yeah, I’m just a touch on the moody side. At least I’m getting Italian food for dinner and possibly a two week forced vacation from work, so life ain’t all bad.

  16. 16.

    Violet

    I’ve noticed that hyphens seem to cause problems, so I’m avoiding using them on this website. I use Firefox and don’t have any problems with it, but I checked it out one time in IE and it was awful. Figure it’s the least I can do for the good of those on IE.

  17. 17.

    jl

    Someone or something is posting under Cole’s name.

    Is that really Cole, or Tunch starting the cover-up?

    Any more pics of the wild animals tearing down Cole’s new house?

  18. 18.

    demo woman

    @freelancer: I don’t get the Chuck rerun thing. I read that last weeks was suppose to be the final episode but with the uptick in viewership they made six more episodes. I want my episodes now!!

  19. 19.

    jl

    @Violet:

    in Explorer, problems started today with an apparent unclosed strikeout tag, and hyphens sometimes seem to turn into unclosed strikeout tags in Explorer, which messes it up.

    Lord have mercy on blog owners like Cole who have to worry about such stuff.

    Firefox has no problems.

  20. 20.

    demo woman

    I’m not sure which of Borowitz’s tweets I like the best
    http://twitter.com/BorowitzReport
    Goldman Sachs isn’t content to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge – they also bet on the bridge to collapse

    Burning Documents Create Giant Smoke Plume over Goldman Sachs

  21. 21.

    RedKitten

    @freelancer: I know. That irks me. Mind you, the last episode was so perfect that I’m still basking in the glow.

    I made a completely frivolous purchase with my first paycheque now that I’m off of maternity leave. Some of you might remember that I had decided to look for a proper, complex, grownup fragrance, instead of my usual one note Body Shop stuff. Well, after trying a dozen samples or so, we’ve settled on Prada Infusion d’Iris as a winnah! It just smells amazing…a little flowery, a little spicy, a little citrusy, clean, but earthy…I can’t stop smelling my own wrists. I highly recommend it.

    (Edited to remove hyphens, just in case. I overuse the damn things anyway.)

  22. 22.

    Yutsano

    @RedKitten: The real question of course: does SamKitten approve?

    @jeffreyw: If you lightly saute the tomatoes and basil in olive oil that makes a fantastic light pasta dish as well.

  25. 25.

    RedKitten

    @Yutsano: I assume so. The little fart doesn’t sit still long enough to smell my perfume, I’m sure. He’s too busy commando-crawling through the house, looking for computer cords to try to chew on.

  26. 26.

    RedKitten

    @jeffreyw: Mmm….tomatoes, basil and feta. That just looks absurdly good.

    I tried a recipe the other day for a salad, and it was really, really good. You cook up a cup of shelled edamame. Then, you take a cup of asparagus tips and boil them for a couple of minutes, and then rinse them under cold water. Add them to the edamame along with a teaspoon or so of chopped fresh mint, some olive oil, sea salt and fresh pepper to taste, and some freshly grated Parmesan.

    It was AMAZING.

    Not a dish to bring to the office, though, if you get bad asparagus pee and can’t use air freshener in the washroom due to a no-scent policy.

  27. 27.

    Yutsano

    @RedKitten: I suppose you will have to settle for dazzling the husband with the fantastic scent. Maybe when he gets a touch older he’ll be saying proudly to the other schoolkids, “My mommy smells pretty!”

  30. 30.

    Violet

    @RedKitten:
    Was shopping a few weeks ago and the perfume ladies were giving out sample spritzes of Prada. I really liked it. Is that the same as yours or are there several Prada perfumes?

  32. 32.

    Politikal Kabuki (or something)

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    Otay – I has to fess up – probemz are from me peeing into the airhoz. Youz know – Back in Phi Betta Fellatio we uze to be able to take the jokz. Probemz with u liberal $ociali$tz – alwayz too damned $eriousZ. Georgii Porgie Bushess would unnerstand. There’zz brother could to$$ them back. gallonZ at a time no problem. alwayz Zober. (hee hee) Bwah ha ha ha ha. Whoz the bitz now. $hut up Dick. Eight year$ your hand up my A$$ is enuff.

    Okay – Nice men in white suits want to take me off to some wonderful place called “FEMA Camp” now – I’z so happy – See magical unicorns there I hopz

  35. 35.

    RedKitten

    @Violet: There are a few different kinds. The newest one is Eau d’Ambree, so that’s probably what they were giving you.

    I tried a few different kinds, and some of them were just way too overpowering. Fracas was a huge FAIL. Joy was all right, but I didn’t understand what the big hoopla was about. I liked Shalimar, but my mom is a huge fan of oriental, spicy scents, and I didn’t really want to smell like my mom. (I gave her the sample, though, and she loves it. So now I know what to get her for Mother’s Day.)

  36. 36.

    Yutsano

    @RedKitten: Mmm…edamame. I went to dim sum when I was in Arizona and they had a whole plate of them. I immediately snatched them up and wolfed them down (my dining companion wouldn’t touch them). Of course I didn’t feel like pointing out edamame is a Japanese word in a Chinese restaurant.

  37. 37.

    MikeJ

    @Violet:

    I’ve noticed that hyphens seem to cause problems, so I’m avoiding using them on this website.

    It’s a shortcut for strikeout, like * is a shortcut for bold. If it’s s plugin,I’d suggest Mr. Cole disable it, since a) they’re undocumented (here anyway) and 2) they seem to cause more trouble than they’re worth.

  38. 38.

    Mark S.

    @JMY:

    If GG prefers Wood over Kagan, fine. But when he says Kagan would move the Court to the right, like she’s going to vote very often with Scalito-Thomas, that annoys the shit out of me.

  39. 39.

    Comrade Mary

    @RedKitten: Yay for paycheques! And yay for such a great description of a scent!

    Can you get Prada Infusion d’Iris at The Bay or other easily accessible stores? I need to check it out myself, as I haven’t loved a fragrance since an old Crabtree and Evelyn men’s cologne that I haven’t seen or sniffed since the 80s. This review especially intrigues me.

  40. 40.

    mr. whipple

    @dmsilev:

    DMS:

    “The miracles of the modern age… Was talking with my parents yesterday morning, and we somehow got on the subject of family history. My mom knew a bit of information about how her grandfather immigrated to the US; in the space of about 20 minutes, I was able to pull up the exact date of arrival, the passenger manifest, several paragraphs of information on the tiny town in Poland where he came from, etc.”

    That’s amazing. Same thing in our family. My mom had got some info on our GGF, and within minutes we were able to do the same. Like you, my GGF was from s. Poland(Wetlina). Even more mindblowing, a few years ago wife and I were in Poland, and stayed at a village not 15 milesfrom my GGF’s birthplace, totally unknowing the above. Now we have to go back…not that it’s a problem, the place was wonderful.

  42. 42.

    Origuy

    Tomatoes and basil reminded me of this:

    Cheese makers in Italy have a problem:

    “Producers of Italy’s milky white, prized buffalo mozzarella, which is highly perishable, pondered their options. ‘In the next couple of days we have to decide,’ said Vito Amendolara, head of the farmers lobby Coldiretti’s office in Campania, the region around Naples famed for the cheese. ‘We cannot sell buffalo milk as it is, because it is too fatty and is meant solely for production of mozzarella. We will either have to throw away the milk or find alternative markets” by heavily promoting it locally.’”

    Too much fresh mozzarella! OMG! Caprese salad for everyone!

  43. 43.

    JMY

    @Mark S.:

    Either one would be fine by me. But the author made a point. Kagan is not as liberal as he is so because of that he insists that some how she is conservative or will pull the court to the right, which I don’t see. One of his arguments against her was her comments during her confirmation as SG about detainee detentions, but Dawn Johnsen said the same thing. So to me, that cancels out his argument against Kagan.

  44. 44.

    Cat Lady

    @Chat Noir:

    Yeah. No.

    OK, here’s the deal with Scott Brown from the perspective of one of his state senate constituents (me). He’s very handsome. He works very hard at campaigning. When he campaigns he calls people at home and actually speaks with them. When he meets you, he talks to you and looks at you in the eye. He’s Mitt Romney with actual warmth. He says the minimum about an issue because he (i) doesn’t know much about them; (ii) his constituents lean liberal; and (iii) he keeps his eye on the camera (think Zoolander).

    His MA State House staff followed his lead. They’re eager and ambitious too, and they don’t do the heavy lifting. They ignore phone calls and requests for assistance from the constituents until the deadline and then they show up in force in time to claim credit, hand out the citations and be in the pictures. Everyone knows that type.

    He charms. That’s what he does, it’s who he is, and he’s very very good at it. But, it is Massachusetts, and eventually the good citizens will demand results. Kennedy was a was a fierce advocate and a great campaigner, but he also took care of thousands of people one at a time. Scott Brown is no Ted Kennedy.

  45. 45.

    dmsilev

    @mr. whipple: I was amazed at how straightforward it was. For anyone interested in this sort of thing, and who had ancestors who arrived through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924, http://www.ellisisland.org/ is a very nice search engine that lets you trawl through the passenger manifests.

    dms

  46. 46.

    BombIranForChrist

    As TPM notes, it looks like Olympia Snowe is preparing for her Lucy and the Football moment with the Dems:

    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/04/snowe-softens-on-financial-reform-im-always-willing-to-be-the-only-republican.php?ref=mp

    Here’s how it works:

    1. Olympia intimates that she may be willing to think about compromising with the Dems.

    2. The Dems concede to all her demands.

    3. She refuses to support the Dem plan.

    Can’t we just tell her to fuck off at this point?

  47. 47.

    SIA

    I’m sitting on the porch and listening to the evening call to prayer from a nearby Muslim mosque. It’s so beautiful. Yes, in Atlanta.

  48. 48.

    LuciaMia

    So, did any of the gun-toting patriots who gathered in DC today manage not to shoot anybody? Or themselves?

  50. 50.

    Comrade Mary

    @PeakVT: Nice song!

    But I’ve always had a soft spot for this song that also mentions Stromboli (although this version starts with a lovely, rambling story about Woody Guthrie’s massive crush on Ingrid Bergman, complete with an affectionate slap at overexcited geology students and an extended riff on perfumes).

  53. 53.

    Yutsano

    @Comrade Mary: Hmm…if I can get it I may just have to order a stromboli tonight. Unless some other shiny object shows up on the menu and demands I eat it. Tends to not happen that way though, which is why it usually takes forever for me to order.

  55. 55.

    Mike Kay

    @JMY: The irony is gg supported the conservative “Citizen’s United” ruling.

    Who gets to decided who’s liberal or not. By general liberals standards, gg would move the court to the right given his support for corporatist cases like “citizen’s united”.

    See anyone can play, who’s more liberal than thou.

  56. 56.

    Politically Lost

    Went to the Tea Party protest in Santa Rosa on the 15th. I did an informal survey of a few ‘baggers’ to ask why now, and where were their spending complaints from the previous ten years.

    #1. “Take back America” sign: He said he didn’t want our descedents to have to pay for our debt. Why now? He directed me to listen to the speakers. A man listening to this question, wearing a “Stop the Fed” t-shirt and holding a sign talking about the gold standard, tried to explain how our money is worthless. I ended the conversation. No need to talk to a goldbugs.

    #2. “No Soci@list Dystopia” sign. He admitted he didn’t know what the sign meant because he was holding it for a friend. He immediately began complaining about health care. Then said he was a 30 year vet of the air force and didn’t want health care shoved down his throat. I was curious, “do you have VA benefits?” Yes, but they ain’t any good. He then segued smoothly to the birth certificate. I politely ended the conversation. Birther.

    #3. I ran into a former student of mine who happened to be an organizer of the rally. She immediately began, almost literally, raving about communists in the white house. Van Jones was a prominent figure in the discussion along with other people in the white house. I there was more to the conversation but she continually kept returning to the communism theme. To which I said this just sounds like modern day McCarthism. She then gave me the conversation stopper. “Mccarthy was mostly right.”

    To recap: goldbug, birther, McCarthyite.

    Yup, just regular folks, angry about out of control government spending.

  58. 58.

    PeakVT

    @Martin: Those are some great pics. This video isn’t so vivid but it does have some aerial footage looking down into the active crater.

    @Comrade Mary: Thanks for the song. Originally, I was trying to find ‘Born to Love Volcanos’ by the Dead Milkmen, but there’s no video for it. The Presidents song is much better, anyway.

  59. 59.

    Mark S.

    @JMY:

    Yeah, it’s laughable to think Kagan could pull the Court to the right. There are four justices right now who are far to the right of William Fucking Rehnquist.

    What would really be interesting is if Obama got the chance to replace one of the conservative justices. That would be World Wars IV-VIII.

  60. 60.

    Mike Kay

    @BombIranForChrist:

    well, if she does, then she cuts her nose off to spite her face. The only way she her concessions get enacted into law is if the bill passes. She receives no concessions if she kills the bill that carries her concessions. She’ll be pulling the football from herself.

  62. 62.

    Yutsano

    @Mark S.: Personally? I think he should go for a more leftist now and when one of the others retires or drops dead (although none will retire until the darkie usurper is out of office I can promise you that) then he should put up Kagan and dare them to oppose her. I’ll make ten different kinds of popcorn for that show.

  63. 63.

    SIA

    @ stuckinred
    I’m an army brat and did some serious drinkin’ at the navy school back in the day. Right down the street from Allens as I recall.

  65. 65.

    BombIranForChrist

    @mr. whipple:

    Are we going to be able to get 60 anyway? Lieberman will surely vote against it, right? Cuz, he’s Lieberman. Will Blanche Lincoln vote for it? Doesn’t she need to punch a lot more hippies in order to get re-elected?

    I am surprised any of us think that this is going to pass with 60 votes. It’s just not going to happen.

  66. 66.

    The Main Gauche of Mild Reason

    @Mark S.:

    What would really be interesting is if Obama got the chance to replace one of the conservative justices. That would be World Wars IV-VIII.

    Forget the conservative justices. If he replaced the “swing vote” Kennedy with someone as liberal as Kagan we’d have an entirely new supreme court.

  68. 68.

    Mark S.

    @Mike Kay:

    why not do what the republican do, nominate a partisan who has little to no paper trail.

    As well as having no personal views on any subject.

  69. 69.

    Corner Stone

    I haven’t spent the time to study out their methodology, but for an easy high level at-a-glance overview, this demographics map is pretty nice and has several categories to sort.
    Webfoot Politics

  74. 74.

    Yutsano

    @jeffreyw: Waitaminute…Haven is still waiting for a home? I know they were going to set some pretty high standards for his placement, but I can’t believe that sweet boy doesn’t have a new home yet.

  75. 75.

    mr. whipple

    @BombIranForChrist:

    Are we going to be able to get 60 anyway?

    Sigh. What is it with progressives that make them unable to count?

    You need 60 to get cloture, which means if you want this bill you need at least 1 gooper. It’s really not that difficult of a concept, and it continues to baffle me why people constantly complain and whine about it.

    The dems will talk to certain goopers to try to get the 60, then, if they don’t get a single GOP vote the GOP will be forced to defend their actions against a popular desire for reform.

  76. 76.

    rootless-e

    @Mark S.:

    Something like this:

    Senator Sessions, I don’t want to pre-judge cases that may come before the court, but I can tell you that my judicial philosophy is a moderate one of simply following orders sent to me by Comrades Cloward and Pivens and to try to carry out the program of Chairman Ayers and also to fuck over whitey – especially ugly old klan whities like someone in this room from a southern state starting with A if you get my drift, which would be surprising since you as dumb as a meth head and twice as mean. Capiche?

  78. 78.

    El Cid

    Lieberman summons Obama administration over “cover up” of Fort Hood shootings.

    WASHINGTON — In a rare public dispute between a Democratic-led Congress and the White House, a Senate committee on Monday subpoenaed the Obama administration for secret documents and access to witnesses in last year’s mass shooting at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas…
    …
    T]he chairman and ranking Republican of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee have alleged that the administration is covering up critical details on the case, including whether the government had access to information that could have prevented the shooting.
    …
    “Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to avoid reaching the conclusion that the departments simply do not want to cooperate with our investigation,” wrote Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, in a letter accompanying the subpoena.
    …
    The Defense and Justice departments say that release of the disputed data would compromise the prosecution of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the disgruntled Army doctor charged with killing 13 people.

    Guess he’s still furious at Bill Clinton’s blowjob, and also that Obama wants to surrender all our nukes to Iran, of course.

  79. 79.

    Mike Kay

    @JMY: you don’t have google? type in gg and cu not only do you get the original post but when you scroll down, you get the rebuttles by Lessig and Kucinich.

  80. 80.

    demo woman

    @mai naem: Hannah Montana.. SATSQ (stupid answers to smart questions).

    She is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and the Disney network created a show around her called Hannah Montana. She’s only 16 or 17 but already a target of the right wing.

  84. 84.

    mai naem

    @demo woman: Who the hell is Hannah Montana? A mountain woman or something from Montana or is it some Native American woman? I don’t most pop culture crap from the last 5 yrs. There’s some Heidi woman who I see on the magazine covers who’s I gather has had a bunch of plastic surgery???? Who is she and why is she famous?

  85. 85.

    jeffreyw

    @Yutsano: There has been interest, some visitors have come to see him. Mrs J sez he’s settling in nicely. The staff are introducing him to other dogs to gauge his sociability and trying him around kittens.

  86. 86.

    Honus

    I was just looking at these two headlines, thinking about the irony:

    “Advocates carry handguns, rifles at Va. rally”

    “Gunman opens fire at Tenn. hospital; kills 1, self”

    Then one of my sisters called and told me that another one of my sisters, her husband, and their son (they are all nurses) were all at work at that hospital.

    The next “open carry” motherfucker I see better not say anything about “if only they had allowed guns in the hospital, this could have been avoided”

  87. 87.

    Yutsano

    @jeffreyw: Wifey and I both had the same reaction when we saw him: ME. WANT. Unfortunately I can’t afford to drive all the way out there to go get him (not in money but in time off work) and wifey I think is at her pet limit where she lives even though she is closer. He does look like a precious boy though, do you know how he is around cats?

  89. 89.

    Eric U.

    I always figured the best bet for the future of the country is if Thomas gets arrested by a racist cop and realizes the folly of his past decisions. I guess that’s unlikely, but wild shifts in a Justice’s political philosophy aren’t totally without precedent.

  90. 90.

    demo woman

    @mai naem: Hannah Montana is a creation of Disney. I have never watched the show so I have no idea. Tweens tend to like her though.

  91. 91.

    Yutsano

    @demo woman: I’ve never watched her show, although I do admit I did like “The Climb” on the radio. I have another confession: I’d like to say I don’t watch the Disney Channel, but I’m a Phineas & Ferb addict. I mean it’s bad. Real bad. Not quite choosing them over Southland bad, but pretty up there.

  92. 92.

    kay

    @El Cid:

    Collins and Lieberman did an absolute joke of an investigation on Katrina, but all of a sudden they’re crusading prosecutors on a mission to uncover the truth, calling Cabinet members.

    I watched a portion of the Katrina hearings. They bent over backward not to find anyone in particular responsible. They harped a lot about waste and fraud in the contracts that were put in place AFTER the massive Bush Administration failure. Weird place to focus an investigation.

    He’s completely repulsive, and so is she.

    Did they ever release anything on Katrina other than a 700 page “bi-partisan” report that concluded “mistakes were made”?

  93. 93.

    El Cid

    “Hannah Montana” is a TV show which is a marketing vehicle for Disney churning out wholesome (for a while) child and ‘tween’ TV stars / pop singers. She is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, who also stars on her show. It’s something about a kid who has a secret life as a famous pop star (‘Hannah Montana’) and then some other identity in which Billy Ray Cyrus plays her inspiring yet disciplining Dad, and her and her friends get into all sorts of hijinks.

  94. 94.

    rootless-e

    Greenwalds Citizen’s United argument involves two of his standard tropes:

    1) anyone arguing with me is unprincipled
    2) a particular mythical situation is the normal and should be restored/protected.

  95. 95.

    jeffreyw

    @Yutsano: They aren’t really sure yet, getting along with cats is something they are looking at, Mrs J sez she just doesn’t know yet. She doesn’t spend much time out with the big dogs, mostly she is in the main house assisting the vet.

  96. 96.

    Yutsano

    @jeffreyw: German shepherd mixes are somewhat touchy on that point, especially if they’ve never been around them while puppies. If he’s as good of a boy as you two say though I’m sure he could learn.

  97. 97.

    El Cid

    @kay:

    Did they ever release anything on Katrina other than a 700 page “bi-partisan” report that concluded “mistakes were made”?

    I’m pretty sure it took a court case to prove that the Army Corps of Engineers left the levees insufficiently reinforced.

    I’m sure Lieberman’s just patriotically doing his part to make sure that Obama’s Kenyan assassins are exposed for planning all the shootings at Fort Hood and the nation finally understands its true responsibilities to kill all Muslims.

  98. 98.

    Mark S.

    @rootless-e:

    The argument that annoys me the most:

    I tend to take a more absolutist view of the First Amendment than many people, but laws which prohibit organized groups of people — which is what corporations are — from expressing political views goes right to the heart of free speech guarantees no matter how the First Amendment is understood.

    That’s all Exxon is, an organized group of people, no different than a local Sierra Club chapter. How dare you try to silence them!

  101. 101.

    El Cid

    @rootless-e: Actually, Glenn Greenwald argued that he opposed any limits on money as a First Amendment expression, though there might be something to the argument that corporations should not be treated as persons or assemblages of persons.

    Personally I disagree with the “money = speech” trope in addition to the “corporations = person” nonsense.

  102. 102.

    mai naem

    @kay: The thing that pisses me off about Mary Landrieu is that she got fucked by Lieberman on the Katrina thing(she actually went and campaigned with him after he lost the Dem. nomination) and yet continues to support the prick.

  104. 104.

    rootless-e

    @Mark S.: well, glenn does appear to be a libertarian and complete ignorance of the operation of firms and their legal structure is mandatory for libertarians.

    You see if Jack wants to sell an apple
    and Jill wants to buy an apple

    that’s how it works, trust me!

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @mai naem
    @demo woman

    My great niece (note how conscientiously I avoided the hypheh there!) was a big Hannah Montana fan a couple of years ago. In her defence she was 10 at the time. She has lately transferred her affections to Taylor Swift. I guess that’s a good thing but can’t say for sure.

  106. 106.

    mikey

    Rumor on the block is that there are some errors popping up in the comments.

    Typically, it has been my experience that errors I make in the comments are the result of the consumption of an ill-considered volume of Laphroaig.

    Back in ’07, Disney paid me stoopid money to encode and build press access DVDs featuring Hannah Montana and High School Musical, so I’ll hear no disparagement now.

    Nah, screw it.

    Carry on…

    mikey

  107. 107.

    Yutsano

    @mai naem: Collegiality of the Senate and all that. I occasionally wonder if the Senate dealings don’t qualify under RICO the way they act against their constituents’ interests.

    @SiubhanDuinne: I used to work with an adorable gay Mexicano who absolutely ADORES Taylor. He was still at my work when the Kanye West incident happened, he seriously considered going down to LA and giving Kanye a good butt-whupping.

  109. 109.

    Slush Limballz the Turd

    @Chat Noir:

    Pleez – just add enuff vodka and anyone can talk like $cottzz Whoozi Whatizz. Captain Morgan rulez

    Alzo Tooz

    Plezz – think of the children – Thanks for reminding me. How much can we get for them?

  111. 111.

    SIA

    @mai naem: Well, maybe just some horrible, shameful public humiliation (other than what he provides every day by his existence), and I’d be OK with that. I despise the man so much. Slimy little prick.

  114. 114.

    Mike Kay

    @El Cid: This is true. But he does mock and attack people who disagree with him through out his post.

    For example: “All of the hand-wringing sounds to me like someone expressing serious worry that a new law in North Korea will make the country more tyrannical.”

    See, he just called you a “hand-wringer”. He doesn’t recognize you as someone with a legitimate disagreement, no, he calls you a wimp.

    That’s what I don’t get. If someone attacks and mocks his arguments, he and his supporters get indignant.

  115. 115.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Yutsano: I would have cheered him on! TS strikes me as merely inoffensive (and attractive in a generic blonde way) but I’m sure there are lots worse role models for gay Mexicanos and 12 year old girls (I *hate* not having the hyphen for that!). Most certainly my young great niece would have been right there kickin some Kanye ass with your friend. She was outraged. It was really funny and cute, she was so earnest and furious.

  117. 117.

    mai naem

    @El Cid: Dish network carries CNN and Fox but MSNBC is considered a premium channel. Why? Why can NBC not force them to carry MSNBC with CNBC?

  118. 118.

    Church Lady

    @El Cid: I’m embarrassed for you that you know that much about the show. I’m hoping you have a daughter that watches it, thereby acquiring your knowledge in an acceptable manner. If you don’t, and actually watch that dreck, well, you just have excrutiatingly bad taste in television shows.

  120. 120.

    demo woman

    @Cat Lady: Greenwald has often written about his Libertarian leanings. Most of us are not Libertarian and that fact has little to do with the current President.

  122. 122.

    Linkmeister

    I am amused. In today’s mail was an official letter telling me my 2010 Membership Shield was enclosed.

    From the NRA.

    How can I infiltrate and subvert the organization?

  123. 123.

    Linda Featheringill

    @mai naem: Miley Cyrus is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, C&W singer. She has been the star of a TV show, “Hannah Montana”, for however long it has been on. I think it is on the Disney Channel.

    I believe that she is about 17 years old now and apparently ready to strike out and make a career for herself.

  124. 124.

    gillb

    @Comrade Mary: The Prada scents can be purchased at Shoppers Drug Mart and as a bonus you will get Shoppers points. I was thinking of getting it for Christmas and saw it there.

  126. 126.

    rootless-e

    @El Cid:

    That’s because Glenn takes an absolute view of the first amendment in opposition to the intent of its drafters, 200 years of legal decisions, historical usage, and the reality of how power is exercised – in other words, he is principled and rigorous and anyone who disagrees is unprincipled and sloppy, by definition. QED.

  127. 127.

    middlewest

    I’m probably late on this, but I thought this article is an interesting counterpoint to all the “Human Rights Campaign sucks!” opining I’ve heard, both in real life and online. Seems like they really did their job on hospital visitation.

  128. 128.

    PurpleGirl

    @El Cid: I think it should be on-line, they’ve been promoting it a lot. The show so far is interesting; they’ve had some clips of him talking but also other video about his background and youth.

  129. 129.

    mr. whipple

    @Linkmeister:

    Just join. I was a member back in the 80’s, and probably would have stayed one, except every month I’d get these hysterical letters from them begging for money. The problem, according to them, was that if I didn’t give them money Ted Kennedy was going to take my guns. So I sit in my little appartment in fear that at any moment Teddy’s limo was going to plow into my living room and he’d jump out and grab my guns.

    But when he never came I figured they were just full of shit, so I quit.

  130. 130.

    middlewest

    @El Cid: Any time someone claims that money is speech, I take a bill out of my wallet and attempt to have a conversation with it. So far, the experiment has been unsuccessful.

  131. 131.

    Mike Kay

    @rootless-e: See, under gg absolutist view, the “equal protection” clause could only be applied to race, and NOT to any other discrimination case, not gender, age, nor sexual orientation.

    In fact, under his absolutist view, he would have upheld the “separate but equal” segregationist holding of plessy v ferguson.

    I can’t think of any difference btwn the abolitionist view and the scalia view of original intent.

    yet, he believes he’s the paragon of liberalism.

  132. 132.

    El Cid

    @rootless-e: I consider myself a “First Amendment Absolutist,” such that certainly Oliver Wendell Holmes’ nonsense about shouting fire in a crowded theater could be used to jail Eugene Debs for advocating not serving in WW1 to slaughter in Europe was a worthless, contrary approach, but I guess you first have to agree upon your terms and your definition of who ‘persons’ are and what ‘speech’ is.

  133. 133.

    El Cid

    @middlewest: I would be willing to work to try and strike up conversations with many $100 bills in order to have an adequate sample size.

  136. 136.

    rootless-e

    @El Cid: if spending money to change opinions is speech and speech cannot be limited, why is bribery illegal? How can paying people to vote for you be illegal? If I pay people to have sex with you to get your vote, isn’t that just an exercise of speech? What about if I pay people to stand outside your window and sing Milly Cyrus songs until you vote for me? For God’s sake, why are the statist Obamabots locking us out of the libertarian paradise?

    If speech rights are absolute, why can the government prevent me from broadcasting over the frequencies the government has supposedly granted monopoly rights on?

    Absolute indeed.

  137. 137.

    El Cid

    @rootless-e: Like I said, I don’t think “money = speech”, and I think the equating of the two is absurd. Is there a degree to which the expenditure of money is seen as an individual right free of the interference of others? Sure.

    Okay, there is a bit of haziness since there’s this recognition of the value of a ‘free press’, and you could analogize that to any business, and certainly any ideologue who wanted to has always been able to launch a newspaper, circular, or TV show. And then you have to define a ‘press’ which does not constitute merely another definition of any business.

    But in my view, would it be harming to freedom of speech to impose strict controls on campaign expenditures? No. Nor would putting in place an absolutely rigid public campaign financing system.

    On the other hand, would this in any way control the existence of, say, an entire TV network committed to air partisan propaganda 24 hours a day (i.e., FOXNOOZ)? Perhaps not.

  138. 138.

    rootless-e

    @Mike Kay: you only disagree with him because you are a paid agent of the Mossad assigned to operation ObamaRahma.

    UPDATE 1: Typical for paid agents of ObamaRahma, you will deny it to your last breath.
    UPDATE 2: I’m a lawyer. Step back.

  139. 139.

    El Cid

    @rootless-e: What’s funny is that in this country, our authorities have been willing to enforce the notion that the content of what we say can be regulated without 1st Amendment violation, while the form in which we say it must be observed.

    So, there are things you just can’t say, such as Eugene Debs advocating that soldiers not go to fight in WW1. Hunky Dory.

    And if you’re a fan of President George W. Bush you can be allowed in a ‘town hall’ but if you’re protesting George W. Bush you have to stand in your ‘free speech zone’ ghetto.

    But the form of free speech must be protected when it comes to the types of ‘free speech’ used by the right — such as spending vast sums on advertising.

    If you’re yelling on a street corner about cops harassing the locals, you can be taken in for not having a permit or disruption etc. If you’re paying $35 million to sponsor ads to lie about global warming, well, we’ve got to protect your rights.

  140. 140.

    rootless-e

    @El Cid: what annoys me about Glenn’s absolutism is that (a) he ignores the exceptions such as the abortion gag Lessig noted and (b) he ignore disparities in power. If I use my money to deprive others of their ability to communicate with their fellow citizens, then actual speech gives way to the glib notion of money as speech.

  141. 141.

    HRA

    I watched part of the McVeigh show moments ago and had to leave it. I can’t put a human label on someone ( a murderer) who took innocent lives. I saw the fireman carrying the child out in real time (not the photo) and I was devastated by it. Anytime OC is mentioned, I see that scene again.

  142. 142.

    SIA

    @Sly: That is very interesting. Wasn’t WVA one of the few states Obama didn’t campaign in? Although I remember seeing/reading about some of the mountain people who were open to him, because things were so bad in some parts of the state.

  143. 143.

    SIA

    @HRA: I tried to imagine for a minute what that must have felt like. 35 years later I still see the image of a dog that was hit by a car. It must be horrible. And the likes of Timothy McVeigh are being subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) promoted by the GOP and Teabaggers. These are the moments when I feel that, as DougJ says, well, we’ve had a good ride.

  144. 144.

    Mike in NC

    Ed Dionne at the WaPo had a brutal piece on the teabagger movement today. Hundreds of outraged replies and death threats followed, just as night follows day…

  145. 145.

    Randy P

    Totally completely off-topic but I’m kind of burned out by the religious threads. Has this story hit the national press at all or is is just a local Philly story? There’s something so very… Philly… about this assault by bodily fluids at a baseball game. On an 11-year-old girl (and her dad, a cop).
    http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/36595019/ns/sports-baseball/

    Somehow thought the BJ crowd would get some mileage out of this story.

  146. 146.

    HRA

    @SIA:

    What I saw of this program tonight made me feel as if they are giving excuses for McVeigh’s dastardly act that day. Personally, I think if you don’t like this government then you have plenty of other ones to choose from to live in.

    After reading Karoli’s writings at C&L about Comcast, I think these teabagger parties are seriously being funded by big business. This program smacks of promotion.

  147. 147.

    Pseudonym

    @John Cole:
    If you need someone to look into WordPress issues, seriously, feel free to let me know. I have a fair amount of experience in web 2.0 nonsense and am somewhat familiar with WordPress itself. Plus my job at the moment is sitting around waiting for Hadoop to hapoop and get off the toilet.

  149. 149.

    asiangrrlMN

    @jeffreyw: Nom nom nom. That looks absolutely delicious. And, yes, Haven is a doll baby. Looks like he has a bit of chow in him.

    Hannah Montana…oh, the horrors. My niece loves her.

  150. 150.

    Steeplejack

    @Yutsano:

    Have to (belatedly) second the Phineas and Ferb love. I checked it out because someone here said it was the only Disney Channel show that didn’t drive her nuts, and I found it to be quite good. If I had kids, I would be happy to watch this show with them. And the songs are often quite good.

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