Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

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

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

We still have time to mess this up!

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Everybody saw this coming.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

You cannot shame the shameless.

This really is a full service blog.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Not all heroes wear capes.

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Reader Interactions

284Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Mary

    I first read that as “Tunch’s mug”, and thought this was your way of letting us know that he finally developed thumbs.

    I’m a little sad now.

  2. 2.

    mclaren

    Better than Tunch drinking it out of a Tunch mug.

    …Or maybe not, actually.

  5. 5.

    YellowJournalism

    Ikea

    I noticed a lot of complaining over the WalMart ad lately. (Dont’ see it, for some reason. Thank God.) There’s a lot of pet lovers on here, why not get some kind of pet products sponsor?

  6. 6.

    Mark S.

    currently drinking scotch out of a Tunch mug

    That’s why we love you, man.

    As for glassware, I got nothing. The last set we bought were so goddamn fragile that of the sixteen we bought, we’re down to seven. It’s really hard to find sets that don’t give you a bunch of rocks glasses. Sorry, I’m not drinking gin and tonics; I want something to hold a 12 oz soda and some ice.

  8. 8.

    Michael D.

    I finally unsubscribed from BarackObama.com and the DSCC. I swear. 10 emails a day – all with cryptic subject lines that you only open to find out what it means. Today’s, subject link ICYDK, was it.

  9. 9.

    Cathy W

    Ikea, if there’s one nearby, has some inexpensive, but fairly substantial, glassware with a reasonably masculine styling.

  10. 10.

    tt crews

    “Inexpensive” is a relative concept. However, I like Crate and Barrel for glassware that is not flimsy and goes with anything.

  11. 11.

    Ash Can

    For glassware (and lots of other stuff) I highly recommend estate sales (a.k.a. tag sales). If you live in or have easy access to a large urban/suburban area, that’s best, and pay particular attention to listings in affluent neighborhoods. It shouldn’t take too long to find plenty of good glassware for very cheap.

  13. 13.

    Svensker

    May I recommend the Duralex Picardie tumblers? Amazon has them in a buncha sizes.

    They a) come in a buncha sizes so you can customize or mix and match; they b) are virtually indestructible (although when they do break it’s pretty amazing, but they break into pebbles rather than shards); c) are easily stackable and take up very little space; d) are fairly cheap; and lastly e) they are attractive and classic.

  15. 15.

    Brachiator

    RE glassware: I’ve been drinking straight from the bottle for years.

    More seriously, I agree that Crate and Barrel has some good stuff. Might be some reasonable stuff on amazon, as well.

    OT: I saw this little bit on the web, indicating the degree to which Apple is calling the smartphone shots now:

    Apple’s 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference has sold out in only eight days, according to an update on the event’s dedicated website. Dates for the conference, to be held June 7-11 in its traditional venue of Moscone West in San Francisco, CA, were announced on April 28; John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that last year’s event took a month to sell out, despite the fact that it included a number of Mac OS X and IT sessions that are not being offered at this year’s WWDC. In addition to providing developer sessions, Apple has for the past three years used the event’s keynote address as a venue for iPhone-related announcements, revealing the launch date for the original iPhone in 2007, introducing the iPhone 3G at the 2008 event, and unveiling the iPhone 3GS in 2009.

  16. 16.

    RSA

    I lost mine in the move, and am currently drinking scotch out of a Tunch mug.

    Shopping for liquor over the years, I’ve accumulated a number of glasses that were packaged with the bottles, and I often drink out of those. This has all the class of drinking out of jelly jars, but what the hell.

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    My parents got a set of stemware from Trader Joe’s a few years back which they’ve been pretty happy with. Nothing fancy, and fairly cheap if memory serves.

    dms

  18. 18.

    burnspbesq

    Drive up to Pittsburgh for a Pirates game, get all your beer or soda in souvenir cups, and save them. Problem solved!

    Edit: of course, that means you have to sit through a Pirates game, but still …

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @El Cid: Dear Lord. Coverage from the local rag here.

    Also, if you feel that you have to commit suicide, please do so in such a way that you don’t give some poor train engineer nightmares.

    Nygren said the engineer spotted Pagano about five to 10 seconds before impact. Pagano was standing in the middle of the tracks, facing the front of train, and the engineer braked but could not stop in time.
    __
    “The engineer looked right into the eyes of the man,” Nygren said.

    dms

  21. 21.

    asiangrrlMN

    @dmsilev: Agreed. In general, if one is determined to kill oneself, one should do it completely by oneself. I’m not endorsing suicide, of course, but why shift your burden to someone else before you die?

  22. 22.

    HRA

    I bought the latest bunch from Big Lots. I don’t know if they are local or national. Classy looking in they have a clear glass pebble look and are sturdy. It’s also a plus in having them wide enough to be able to wash them easily.

    Have a good time, John.

  24. 24.

    Mike Kay

    How does Wal-Mart remain in business — they’re giving away $1000.00 gift certificates every other minute?

  25. 25.

    burnspbesq

    It would be totally in keeping with the capricious nature of existence if John were to go to this party and meet a woman who is utterly fantastic in every way – except that she’s a devoted Firepup.

  26. 26.

    Walker

    I like crystal for my glassware, as it is much hardier than lightweight glassware. That Target stuff will shatter if you lightly knock it over on the coffee table,

    I find that Macy’s has the best bang for the buck with regards to crystal.

  27. 27.

    burnspbesq

    I don’t want to start any blasphemous rumors
    But I think that God’s got a sick sense of humor

  30. 30.

    fourlegsgood

    I like crystal too, but it’s only good if you have a dishwasher that has a fine china/crystal cycle or are willing to hand wash it.

    I also really like my Tervis tumblers, but I’m annoyed that they no longer make the ones with fun confetti inside. And you have to have glass or crystal for whiskey. Acrylic just doesn’t cut it. kaithxbai

  31. 31.

    t1

    Glasses: Libbey duratuff.

    You can get them from Amazon by the dozen.

    Very durable.

    Not bad lookin’.

    And

  33. 33.

    James K. Polk, Esq.

    THE place for cheap (and good) glassware:

    Ross (The clothing store)

    Also, Amazon. Use the link on the side of your blog for recursive goodness.

  35. 35.

    spudgun

    Tarjay or my absolute favorite, Cost Plus — do you have Cost Plus in WV? It’s like a cheaper version of Pier 1 Imports.

    Love me some Cost Plus…

  37. 37.

    BruceJ

    Find a restaurant supply place that sells to retail customers, and get real bar-grade glassware. It’ll last a long time. Most of the places I’ve been to are happy to sell to civilians, but have minimums, like $25 or $50 minimum.

  39. 39.

    PhoenixRising

    The place for everything you lost, broke or got tired of: Ikea.

    Watch out, though. A few years ago we walked out with a new kitchen, everything but the sheetrock, which arrived on a truck before we finished the demolition of the old kitchen.

  40. 40.

    Davebo

    Seriously?

    Glassware?

    Freaking Glassware?

    It’s time for you to re-evaluate your life when you turn to this comments section for suggestions on glassware.

    That said….

    If you have Tuesday Mornings in hicksville that’s a good source.

  41. 41.

    Mayur

    Second Ikea. Super-cheap and the quality is surprisingly good.

    If you want ultimate utility, though, you should go the professional route and order Libbey glassware. A simple Google search will uncover numerous places that will deliver. The nice thing about the Libbey stuff is that the “SafeEdge” rims really do work; I haven’t had a glass chip on me yet.

    Crate and Barrel stuff is, IMHO, overpriced relative to quality.

    Not Target. Sorry, but the Ikea stuff is both better and cheaper.

  43. 43.

    Gregory

    I desperately need ti find some decent and inexpensive glassware.

    What I’d do, in order of preference:

    1) Costco

    2) Pier 1

    3) Target

    ETA:

    Crate and Barrel stuff is, IMHO, overpriced relative to quality.

    Generally I’d agree, but we recently got a set of all purpose glasses made of recycled green glass that were both decent and reasonably priced. And yes, they could be used from everything from milk to water to whiskey to wine.

    I wish we did have an Ikea in Indianapolis, but so it goes.

  45. 45.

    wrb

    After smashing crates of “glassware” I mostly use canning jars.

    Sur La Table does carry some tough, affordable stemless French glasses.

    I’ve bounced their bee glasses off our concrete floor many times with few losses.

  46. 46.

    Svensker

    John goes to parties, and we’re hanging out here talking about glassware. Sigh.

  48. 48.

    Violet

    Ikea. Their glasses are remarkably robust. A restaurant I go to uses the same ones I’ve got. Figure that’s a good recommendation. A restaurant wouldn’t go with Ikea stuff unless it can stand some abuse.

  51. 51.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    John, John, John, I have told you a million times (okay once or twice) go to the local thrift store in town, they will have a ton of glassware that you will like, at rock bottom prices and you are doing the earth a favor by recycling in the best way possible. Never buy new unless you can help it, buying new just encourages more production, which in turn encourages more energy use, more use of resources, more everything. BUY USED! I can’t save the planet on my own John, you got to work with me here.

  52. 52.

    John Arbuthnot Fisher

    My girlfriend and I are headed to Pittsburgh in late August for an extended weekend spent mostly at PNC Park where the Pirates take on my beloved Mets. As it turns out, PNC has amazing seats for about 80% less than equivalent seats at Citi Field.

    Anyway, I’m hoping for some recommendations on accommodations and site seeing? I’d love to visit the Warhol Museum. I also remember my uncle telling me about Primanti’s about 15 years ago, but I’ve read it’s been commercialized to all hell.

    +4

    If you have the equivalent of four shots in one slightly oversized vodka tonic, it counts as +4, right?

    Also, “After the Gold Rush” on your porch, 65 degrees, sunset over the river is something after a long Friday.

  55. 55.

    Jim, Once

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    A. Men.

    I’ve gone from spending top dollar on everything from kitchenware to clothing to linens to kids’ toys, to now buying almost everything from thrift stores. It’s such fun, and I find such great stuff.

  56. 56.

    Calouste

    @Svensker:

    I wouldn’t say Duralex glasses are virtually indestructable (that would be the plastic glasses I saw at university that you could drop a beer keg on top of and you would end up with a dent in the floor instead of a broken glass), but having them break into pebbles instead of shards is a good feature (also well appreciated at university).

  60. 60.

    Paula

    OT and old:

    Re Obama’s Jonas bros./predator drones joke @ WHCD:

    You know, I found this joke offensive and in poor taste coming from POTUS, but I would have thought that bloggers and their ilk would have used this as an opportunity to shed light on why exactly predator drones are such complicated things to excise from the military, legal, and political perspectives and not an excuse to call someone a sociopath a million times.

    I think it’s illegal from the perspective of Geneva and obv in a general human moral sense. But the issue gets complicated once you throw in the idea that the Pakistani gov’t have a kind of tacit acceptance of them because they help contain terrorist cells in the outer regions of the country. It might be nice for “reporters” to update us on whether this is/was true. Or whether India’s fear of a destabilized Pakistan also comes into play here, given that PM Manmohan Singh has publicly called on the US @ least a couple of times to continue to be vigilant about counter-terrorism in Af/Pak. Is that still something that he wants? Is the threat of Pakistan’s collapse still a conventional wisdom that people are relying on to make decisions about military strikes? If it is, is the fear warranted?

    But hey, it was a bad joke at a dinner w/ the president acting like a moron. I’m sure emphasizing his stupidity is way more important.

  62. 62.

    jnfr

    I’m very fond of these stemless wine glasses which are big enough for all kinds of drinks. They are quite beautiful, and made by the U.S. glass company that my high school was named after. Go, go Toledo! Glass capital of the world.

  64. 64.

    MikeJ

    @Paula:

    I think it’s illegal from the perspective of Geneva

    Fourth Convention? Which article? Is AQ a signatory?

  66. 66.

    LuciaMia

    Yeah, gotta chime in with Crate n’ Barrel. Good prices and they ship fast.

  70. 70.

    Paula

    @MikeJ:

    That is what is up for debate, innit?

    I mean, the drone’s purpose of “targeted” killing, which is an argument used to defend its use against combatants even if it sometimes involves civilians, is a function of what is assumed to be its advanced technology, but there’s a certain amount of hazard in claiming this loophole and then later having the possibility of our own civilians being targeted by what is purported to be “better, smarter bombs”, right?

  74. 74.

    burnspbesq

    @Paula:

    and then later having the possibility of our own civilians being targeted

    Say what, now?

  75. 75.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Jim, Once: If I have to break down and buy something “new” it is a sad day in Brittyland. I always say to the volunteers at my favorite thrift store

    http://www.woeom.com/

    If you are patient enough you will find everything you ever need here. It is the thrill of the hunt that gets me. I will get into my head “I need a new toaster oven” and sure enough the next time I go to the Hem there is a toaster oven for $5.00. I have a bread machine, I also have a bread machine in the garage as a reserve for when I kill the one I am using from over use (they were never meant to be used, they were meant to be bought as gifts and looked at). My DH has gone down two sizes in clothes since I put him on a strict after heart attack diet, I would be in a boat load of trouble if it were not for my local thrift stores. Recycling at its best!

  76. 76.

    burnspbesq

    @zmullls:

    What freelancer said. You are going to LOVE season four. It is the bestest yet. Thanks for reminding me it’s on tonight.

  78. 78.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @burnspbesq: I don’t know enough about any of the possibles to make an informed judgment. But I was highly pleased with Obama’s pick of Sotomayor, so I will trust his judgment. I hate guilt by association nonsense, like with GS, and the scorekeeping of her hires at Harvard and their color is creepy to me. Especially since most believe she did a very good job there. And she is combative and no shrinking violet which I want in a dem SCOTUS justice, and also only 50 years old.

  81. 81.

    freelancer

    @burnspbesq:

    I don’t know if it’s the BEST, because you’re never gonna out do what the show did in its first season, IMHO. However, it’s easily my second favorite, and the arc they take the season out on, is just flat out smart and ballsy.

  82. 82.

    Ruckus

    @Mike Kay:
    How does Wal-Mart remain in business—they’re giving away $1000.00 gift certificates every other minute?

    Walcrap made 4.6 BILLION in the 4th quarter 2009 alone.

    I think they can handle it.

  84. 84.

    eemom

    Let me just say that I would have preferred Diane Woods. But this witch hunt against Kagan is pure bullshit.

    Does anybody really think that a smart Jewish lesbian from NYC is a fucking racist??

  85. 85.

    Anne Laurie

    Given Tunch & Lily, my best advice would be: polycarbonate. We have these because the Spousal Unit wanted a big tumbler he could fit his hand inside for scrubbing purposes, and they have survived any amount of getting knocked over, bounced down the stairs, stepped on/kicked, dropped on the concrete, being forgotten in the yard for many days, etc. without scratching or clouding much less breaking. And the dogs & cats bang them around occasionally, too. These are not flimsy disposables with seams that leak after the first few uses, they are good-looking drinking utensils that happen to be very, very sturdy. Amazon carries a bunch of different brands, and the local big-box kitchenware stores should have some you can check out ‘live’ if you’re super-fussy about how it feels in your hand or whatever.

    (Edit: We have been using our 17oz Glacierware tumblers for almost 10 years now without scratching or clouding them, and the Spousal Unit uses their beer mugs to microwave his morning tea, but we don’t have a dishwasher so I can’t comment on that angle.)

  86. 86.

    eemom

    @Paula:

    yeah, yer right. If Politico is right that she’s the pick, next week is gonna be a zoo.

    And it won’t be complete till we get the ‘Zilla over here chastising us for being members of the wrong cult.

  87. 87.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Ruckus:

    And yet they bitch and complain when I hand over a coupon. The registers pulls up a Customer Service Rep request every time I shop there (okay so I am giving them a coupon that makes them pay me money to take stuff out of their store but that is their fault for pricing their stuff so low). Case in point, I have coupons for $3.00 off five cans of Mighty Dog dog canned dog food, they sell the cans for $.57 a piece. Bascially they are paying me $.15 for every five cans I take out of there. But damn if they don’t make you stand at the register like an idiot holding everyone else up in line while the CSM comes over and clears the register. I have to admit to a slight guilty pleasure in doing that :)

  88. 88.

    Corner Stone

    @burnspbesq:

    Nobody “better” than Kagan is remotely confirmable.

    Well, as long as you’re on board with that then I guess everything’s copa eh?

  89. 89.

    freelancer

    Okay, so I’d recommend Iron Man 2, but I’m going to have to go see it again. The whole movie was being monosyllabically commented on by an elderly white gentleman about 10′ to my left. And his commentary had me on the fence as to whether he was “special” or not.

    Robert Downey, Jr said something snarky.

    WHA-HUH-HUH! THAT WAS FUNNY!

    Scarlett Johanssen makes her appearance in the movie.

    OHHHHHH! SHE’S PRETTY!

    Later in the film, she kicks a bunch of ass.

    WOW! SHE’S GOOD!

    Oh, fer Christssakes! You motherfucker! I want to stab you so badly that my hands get callouses where I’m gripping the knife. You are killing me, Smalls! You are ruining this fucking movie and you don’t even know what an asshole you are. I fucking hate you, and I hope you get ran over by a train in front of your fucking kids.

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

    I feel better now.

  90. 90.

    Zuzu's Petals

    @spudgun:

    Me too. But I’ve still got a houseful of Cost Plus classics. And more glassware than I know what to do with…it’s just fun stuff.

  91. 91.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @eemom:

    Absolutely, the same way that Barack Obama, the half white, half black son of a Kenyan student and a white American is a racist who hates white people. In wingnut world that is completely normal.

  93. 93.

    NobodySpecial

    @eemom:

    What part of that disqualifies them?

    Is it the smart? William Shockley was a racist.

    How about the Jewish? David Horowitz?

    Or the lesbian? Andrea Peyser for one.

    You or I don’t know if she is or not, because we don’t live inside her brain.

  94. 94.

    WereBear

    @freelancer: At least he was reacting to the movie. I once sat in front of some teenagers, and one of them had read the book, and was filling in her girlfriends on what was going to happen next.

    Heck, I’d read the book, but I wasn’t about to ruin anyone’s experience. Which I conveyed to her in a few hissed sentences, and finally got silence.

  96. 96.

    Corner Stone

    @freelancer: Why do you have a knife on you?

    “Smokey, you know I ain’t the smartest man in the world, but, from back here it look like you’re takin a shit. “

  97. 97.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @freelancer:

    I hate it when that happens. Luckily, or not, I now live in Bumfuck, Middle of Nowwhere and the closest real Cinema is maybe a hundred miles away. Some religious wingnuts put a projector in a Quonset Hut a few miles away, but they only show G Movies and reruns of The Passion of Christ every so often.

  98. 98.

    Corner Stone

    @burnspbesq: I have a problem with no one ever even bothering to try.
    Just because you’re ok with swallowing the load, that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to grease up our gullet.

  103. 103.

    Corner Stone

    @NobodySpecial: Actually, the mantra is obviously, “Nothing can be done. And you’re all fucking ridiculous for demanding we consider the possibility!”

  105. 105.

    burnspbesq

    @NobodySpecial:

    You or I don’t know if they are or not, because we don’t live inside their brains

    That’s a complete cop-out, as you well know. Point us to one thing that Kagan has ever written, said, or done that a reasonable person would conclude is racist. If you can’t, take your bottle of weak sauce and GTFO. And take Corner Stone with you. Y’all deserve each other.

  106. 106.

    eemom

    @NobodySpecial:

    but Elena is all three, plus from NYC, where the average citizen experiences more diversity by age 5 than Digby likely has in her entire life.

    Name me a smart Jewish lesbian New Yorker who’s a racist, and then we’ll talk.

  108. 108.

    Shell Goddamnit

    @Svensker:

    I absolutely 2nd this recommendation. These things are the best. I have a pretty good chunk of a set left after some 15 yrs or so.

    With anything you buy you gotta be careful about the circumference of the rim. I basically threw away a whole set of cheapware cause I woulda had to hire a six-yr-old to wash them for me; course, now I have a dishwasher. Still, I’d like to be able to wash them by hand if I had to.

  111. 111.

    kay

    @eemom:

    No. I don’t think she’s a racist.

    This is unfair (I admit it!) but there’s an “ass-kisser to the powerful” aspect there that I am not thrilled about. The whole “got along wonderfully with everyone at Harvard” and her sort of groveling before Justice Kennedy, in that intro that Greenwald printed.

    Maybe it’s unfair, but at this particular time in history do we need a prestigious-school dean who sat on Wall Street boards?

    I just feel as if really influential and powerful people have plenty of representation. I think their voices are heard. I wanted someone who wasn’t afraid of offending them. I got an “in it but not of it” outsider feel from Sotomayor. I’m not getting it here.

  113. 113.

    South of I-10

    I am way too late to recommend glasses. Little South and I have been watching Schoolhouse Rock videos. She can almost sing the Preamble to the Constitution, so I am certain she now knows more about the Constitution than the majority of teabaggers. Not bad for 5 years old, right?

  114. 114.

    Mike in NC

    I now live in Bumfuck, Middle of Nowhere and the closest real Cinema is maybe a hundred miles away. Some religious wingnuts put a projector in a Quonset Hut a few miles away, but they only show G Movies and reruns of The Passion of Christ every so often.

    Howdy, neighbor! But I exaggerate somewhat…

  115. 115.

    eemom

    I’m not sure Diane Woods wouldn’t end up being confirmed…..but it would be a protracted, high profile, ugly battle with the anti-abortion fuckwads that would be politically stupid to engage in right now.

    It’s that durned REALITY again — that nasty, unclean thing with which Greenwald and his lofty ilk will never deign to soil their dainty hands.

  116. 116.

    WereBear

    @jeffreyw: That would be a Maine Coon.

    Funnily enough, I was on a forum where a woman displayed the pic, her cat. Several years ago.

    My Maine Coon boy (mix) is three and already 17 pounds.

  117. 117.

    eemom

    @kay:

    now that is a fair point.

    Like I said, she’s not my first choice either. However, I have a gut conviction that she’ll turn out to be a fine progressive justice.

    For one thing, she’ll never need to kiss ANYBODY’s ass, ever again.

  118. 118.

    Paula

    @eemom:

    It’s that durned REALITY again—that nasty, unclean thing with which Greenwald and his lofty ilk will never deign to soil their dainty hands.

    Well, if the (relatively paltry) earnings of Accountability Now! are to be believed, they have as hard a time dealing w/ reality as every other self-proclaimed progressive does when fighting entrenched centrism.

    Damnit eemom, you started it again!!!!

  119. 119.

    Shell Goddamnit

    @wrb:

    oooh I like the looks of those bee glasses very much.
    still – duralex is most excellent

  120. 120.

    And Another Thing...

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: It looks to me like she participated in an annual public policy activity, for $10k…which is hardly selling your soul. She’s been out mixing it up with other public intellectuals.

    What are people looking for, somebody who’s been in a convent or a cave so that they’ll be pure?

    I’m wanting a nominee who’s going to be aggressive, experienced and persuasive when dealing with the resident neanderthals currently on the Court.

  122. 122.

    madmommy

    @South of I-10:

    Indeed. I bought that set for the madkiddies, which caused the little guy to run around for weeks singing “Conjunction Junction”. I made it through elementary math because I could sing the times tables I learned between Saturday morning cartoons, and I can still recite the Preamble verbatim.

    A childhood wasted in front of the teevee wasn’t a total loss :)

  123. 123.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @kay:

    Maybe it’s unfair, but at this particular time in history do we need a prestigious-school dean who sat on Wall Street boards?

    That depends. It is the hardest thing to guess how SCOTUS’s will react once they reach that pinnacle. Stephens turned into a flaming libtard and so did Souter from moderate gooperism. This is where Obama’s judgment comes in. I don’t care where she worked and who she hired. I want to know the intangible that is her basic worldview, and Obama’s judgment in these matters did not fail with his first pick, so he gets my trust on this one.

    I do not want any more patrician dems like Beyer and the liked but reserved Ginsberg. I want an ass kicker who is basically liberal in world view, but fair. An ass kicking intellect that can and will go toe to toe with Scalia and Roberts and the other wingers. Kagan seems to fit that bill, as does Wood, my first choice. But she is 60 and that is always an important consideration.

  124. 124.

    kay

    @eemom:

    It’s a great point, the secure nature of that job, must be freeing, and I don’t have any problem at all with ambitious people.
    I just don’t want to hear anymore about how much every powerful person in the country adores her, and how she brings them all together, from prestigious members of academia to powerful politicians to Wall Street titans!
    I’d like to see them all little nervous, honestly. I’d be happier if that crowd were all a little less buddy-buddy.
    Obama is not persuading me with that particular sales job. I don’t think we have a problem with powerful leaders in those three spheres not getting along.

  128. 128.

    madmommy

    @South of I-10:

    I don’t think it would hurt the intellectual capacities of American kids one bit to bring back that series on the Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. Basic English rules, science and American history presented in short, catchy tunes FTW.

  129. 129.

    NobodySpecial

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    No, it’s fucking REALITY.

    Are you a racist? If they put me on a stand and asked me to tell the truth, my answer would have to be ‘Fuck if I know. I never heard him say anything racist, but that proves not a goddamned thing.’

    Same thing with anyone else who I don’t know intimately. To pretend that her being one thing or another automatically means she can’t be a racist is to deny reality, though. Just because I don’t think she’ll be one doesn’t mean she can’t be one, though, and I wish continual anger prophets like eemom would stop with the fucking pronouncements against anyone even asking the question. If I wanted a lack of critical thinking, I’d be on the other team.

  130. 130.

    Montysano

    @wrb:

    bee glasses

    Very nice. I want.

    For fear of Bisphenol A, we’re trying to get off of plastic glasses, water bottles, and containers. It’s tough in the summer; I like my giant plastic tumbler of sweet tea.

    Are we being silly? I dunno…

  131. 131.

    kay

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    Where are you getting the “ass kicking”? Do you mean really, really smart? Because I’ll give her that. Absolutely. I just don’t see any evidence of “ass kicking” at all. Look, I know that this is a small, elite club she’s entering, and I wasn’t expecting a whole lot of range. I just wish I didn’t feel as if she has been in it for nearly her whole career.
    I had a lot of fun watching the Sotomayor hearings, because they were in a sense adversarial. She knows how to wrangle with them, but she’s not one of them, and she wasn’t going to let them get the better of her. I like how she talks so much, Stuck, because people at that level aren’t gregarious and talkative like that. You know what I mean? She is what she is. I like how the snotty Supreme Court reporters comment on that, how she won’t wait her turn in whatever bizarre pecking order there is there, and she asks so many questions.

  132. 132.

    Kobie

    I’m currently trying to figure out a way to reason with the right-wing kooks that occupy the off-topic subforum of a gaming board that I frequent. It’s proving to be impossible.

  135. 135.

    Brien Jackson

    @kay:

    1. To some extent, getting along with people, especially tenured faculty, is vital to being successful as an administrator in academia.

    2. Every lawyer that argues before SCOTUS is going to do a little kissing up to the justices. Especially the ones whose voters really matter.

  138. 138.

    chopper

    jesus, drinking scotch out of a mug with a picture of your cat on it. you’re like a drunk librarian at the end of his rope.

  139. 139.

    Corner Stone

    @kay:

    she won’t wait her turn in whatever bizarre pecking order there is there, and she asks so many questions.

    I have to admit, I like all the questions too. I like it that she just says F it, and gets her beef out there.

  140. 140.

    Corner Stone

    @chopper: Honestly? I did my level fucking best and could not come up with anything better than this.
    Thank you.

  141. 141.

    Ruckus

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    That’s part of the way they make all those billions. Cut costs everywhere. Employee wages,hours and benefits, products wherever possible, service, not so much in the lack of, but whenever it makes the buying inconvenient and adds money to the bottom line, like trying to make you stop using coupons.
    In other words, screw everyone and everything that does not add money to the bottom line.

  142. 142.

    Corner Stone

    @eemom:

    It’s that durned REALITY again—that nasty, unclean thing with which Greenwald and his lofty ilk will never deign to soil their dainty hands.

    Oh Heavens nosir!
    Let’s not let us deal with that in any way!

  143. 143.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @kay: She’s the Solicitor General. You don’t get that job from being a wallflower. So yeah, I say she’s an ass kicker.

    And you haven’t seen Kagan yet at her confirmation hearing, if she does get picked. There is no way to compare her with Sotomayor at this point. And she’s a lesbian. How does that fit into the old boys club? I say it will stir the shit in those stuffy wingnuts, just like I want.

    But like I said earlier, I don’t know a lot about her, but the crap about her racial hirings and very small work experience with GS is just pure bullshit. And cheap, coming from our prog overlords.

  145. 145.

    Corner Stone

    @burnspbesq: I’m curious. How do you type with so many peoples’ balls in your mouth?
    Can you see over them? Around them? Or is it just muscle memory.

  146. 146.

    eemom

    @NobodySpecial:

    continual anger prophets

    wow. WTF does that mean? I’ve been called a lot of things but that sounds downright Biblical. Do I get smiting powers?

    Speaking of names, it is my prophetic opinion that anybody who calls themselves “Nobody Special” has some serious DSM-IV issues. Also too.

  147. 147.

    Yutsano

    @Brien Jackson: And Obama is most likely going to get three bites at this apple. Why not save Wood for that third bite, when the wingularity will get even more meschugnah?

  148. 148.

    kay

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    And she’s a lesbian. How does that fit into the old boys club? I say it will stir the shit in those stuffy wingnuts, just like I want.

    I’m not talking about some 1950’s version of the “old boys club” Stuck. Condaleeza Rice was and is a powerful person. Hillary Clinton was and is a powerful person. Granted they may not be gay, but I just don’t think that’s an accurate portrayal of the world in 2010, that it’s old white men versus everyone else.

  150. 150.

    WereBear

    @Litlebritdifrnt: You know a smart jewish lesbian new yorker
    shit, did he hit every demographic or what? He is good.

    That cracked me up. She does sound like an ass-kicker, and there’s some asses on the court who are just plain begging for it.

    And another woman! I was hoping…

    There was something so sweet about President Obama and the First Lady on Day of the Woman… Michelle Obama was saying some introductory remarks, and she jokingly asides to him, “You should worship me today.”

    And the way he says, “I can do that.”

    It was great. He is a feminist. And that is awesomely progressive. Digby should get that, and it saddens me that she does not seem to.

  151. 151.

    kay

    @Brien Jackson:

    1. To some extent, getting along with people, especially tenured faculty, is vital to being successful as an administrator in academia.

    I know. That’s what worries me. It’s a great and valuable skill, in that job. Why has it become the overriding qualification for this one?

    “She is extremely good at building bridges”. To who? Justice Scalia? Why do I care if she gets along with Scalia? I’m not all that worried that they have comity or collegiality on that court. I just don’t care. I think they could use a little shaking up, quite frankly.

  152. 152.

    NobodySpecial

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    I’m sorry that in a world where NY Jews like Andrea Peyser can be racist fucks and where civil rights warriors like Jesse Jackson can spout off about ‘Hymietown’, that someone might ask a question about the hiring practices of a potential Supreme Court nominee. I wish that people would just grasp the glory of true thought that you and eemom and burns have embraced in knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that Elena Kagan as a SC justice is the greatest thing since sliced bread and must never have questions asked about them.

    Of course, your little rants might have some impact had I said I thought she WAS a racist or that I thought she should NOT be nominated, but you’re busy on your little purity hunt, and don’t have time for little things like differentiating between someone saying it’s OK to ask questions and someone saying they agree with the question being asked.

  153. 153.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @kay: We have Roberts, Thomas, Kennedy, Alito, and fucking Scalia. Do you really think they live in current times. They not only live in 1950, but would be just peachy to take us back to 1850. They live in a time warped bubble back to the gentility of white male supremacy, and Condy Rice and the 2000’s are the world outside that bubble. A feisty Hispanic woman made them squirm setting up shop in their world. I bet. A NY lesbian will bake their brains, if we have any luck.

    And I have no idea why this topic matters to me so much.

  154. 154.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @NobodySpecial:

    I wish that people would just grasp the glory of true thought that you and eemom and burns have embraced in knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that Elena Kagan as a SC justice is the greatest thing since sliced bread and must never have questions asked about them.

    Wow, that’s a mighty impressive strawman you’ve built there, NS. You should put that skill to good use sometime.

    Now back to the regularly scheduled poo-flinging.

    ETA: I haven’t honestly followed any of the potential nominees closely up to this point, and really only will after he announces who’s won the lifetime employment award.

  155. 155.

    NobodySpecial

    @eemom: Simple. You’re always pissed off at someone somewhere who dared challenge whatever you see as the conventional wisdom, and woe betide them, because you’ll go off all half-cocked on their ass. That’s your entire routine.

  157. 157.

    madmommy

    @WereBear:

    I really love the way that the President and his wife interact with each other in public. There’s a connection there that cannot be faked, and it gives me a happy. The First Family is the very definition of “family values”-people who genuinely enjoy being together, and it shows.

  158. 158.

    Yutsano

    @NobodySpecial:

    I wish that people would just grasp the glory of true thought that you and eemom and burns have embraced in knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that Elena Kagan as a SC justice is the greatest thing since sliced bread and must never have questions asked about them.

    Conflate much, signore? Who said Kagan couldn’t be questioned? Of course she should be scrutinized, that’s not the point. The point is no one, not even Glenzilla, knows exactly what her judicial philosophy is (we won’t either since SC confirmations are bland boring affairs lately) so everyone needs to chill the fuck out and see if A) Obama actually DOES nominate her (how quickly we forget, after all Wood was on everyones’ radar when he nominated Sotomayor) and B) what she says during the confirmation hearings come that time.

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: Most likely because Obama has a unique opportunity to remold the court in a much more progressive image, which will be critical when the health care law challenges hit the SC.

  160. 160.

    eemom

    I wish that people would just grasp the glory of true thought that you and eemom and burns have embraced in knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that Elena Kagan as a SC justice is the greatest thing since sliced bread and must never have questions asked about them.

    That’s not remotely close to what any of us said. Learn to read, Nobody.

  161. 161.

    NobodySpecial

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    eemom called someone asking about her hiring practices a ‘witchhunt’. Stuck called Digby’s post a ‘progressive meltdown’. How about you aim at everyone’s strawmen, instead of just one?

  162. 162.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Yutsano:

    (we won’t either since SC confirmations are bland boring affairs lately)

    Oh, I don’t know. The whole “Wise Latina” kabuki was pretty entertaining – wasn’t it Sessions who was such an ass on that one?

  163. 163.

    Yutsano

    @Brien Jackson: Fair enough. Honestly I’m not either. I just choose to have a little faith in Obama on this front since this is really one decision he’ll have single responsibility for in the future and he didn’t do too bad his first time around.

    @arguingwithsignposts: I think so, but compare what Sotomayor went through to the failed nomination of Robert Bork. She had a walk in the park compared to that.

  164. 164.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Stevens was the last protestant left on the SC. If Kagan is nominated and confirmed, there will be 6 catholics and 3 jews.

    Breyer: Jewish
    Ginsburg: Jewish
    Kennedy: Catholic
    Scalia: Catholic
    Alito: Catholic
    Thomas: Catholic
    Sotomayor: Catholic
    Roberts: Catholic

  165. 165.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @NobodySpecial:

    eemom called someone asking about her hiring practices a ‘witchhunt’. Stuck called Digby’s post a ‘progressive meltdown’. How about you aim at everyone’s strawmen, instead of just one?

    Okay, consider my laz0rs aimed. Happy.

    But I am a bit creeped out by this whole “racist” argument. Having been on search committees before, the idea that a dean is the only person who gets a say in a hiring decision, or that the applicant pool is always sufficiently diverse to satisfy some sort of racial quotas is a bit laughable.

  166. 166.

    kay

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    I know this is probably naive, but I was hoping for a little breadth of experience. Mix it up a little. A state legislator to a state supreme court or an AG. That sort of career. Prosecutor to public-interest defense to trial judge. I’m open.
    The judge can learn the case law. It’s not like they have to go in as a federal judge or a dean or solicitor general.
    I know this is IMPOSSIBLE (for some reason) and we have to limit choices to this prestigious national bar “five possible people in the whole country” but why do we have to do that? I’m not talking about a Harriet Miers situation. There’s a lot of qualified candidates in the huge gaping space between Ginsburg and Meirs.

  167. 167.

    NobodySpecial

    @Yutsano:

    Exactly. But Stuck is already on the ‘progressive meltdown’ thing simply because Digby dared ask if she was the best choice for a SC slot based on what we know standing on the outside! eemom declared that there’s no way she could be a racist because she’s a Jew! From NY! Who’s a lesbian!

    (Of course, we won’t mention that there’s plenty of people who fit into at least two of those categories who manage it. Or that there’s plenty of people who aren’t racist who manage never to hire a minority at their job. But whatever.)

    All I’ve said about it is that religion, geography, and sexual preference don’t preclude racism. And then got my ass jumped. Fuck the BJ Purity Police.

  168. 168.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @kay: You are entitled to wish for a certain background from a candidate. I am just razzed over the left attacking Kagan with hints of racism charges. Pisses me off is all. Not meaning to take it out on you. :-)

  169. 169.

    Jager

    @burnspbesq:

    I once met a woman who fit all my fantasies…we ate each other up…when we could stagger out of bed we hated each other! She was a staunch Republican and I, a DFH! Neither of us would consider changing our politics…her goddamned loss not mine!

  170. 170.

    Yutsano

    @NobodySpecial:

    Or that there’s plenty of people who aren’t racist who manage never to hire a minority at their job.

    At least you acknowledge that that particular charge is pretty much bullshit. Remember they leveled the exact same charge against Sotomayor (under different circumstances) and it didn’t stick. Couple that with this factoid:

    the idea that a dean is the only person who gets a say in a hiring decision, or that the applicant pool is always sufficiently diverse to satisfy some sort of racial quotas is a bit laughable.

    and you can see I can relax about this noise for the time being.

  171. 171.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Also, as someone mentioned upthread, how many picks will Obama get? 3? 4? I’m guessing at least three (with Ginsberg being the next one out). Unfortunately, unless Kennedy gets out, I don’t see a lot of hope for Obama totally pushing the court to the left before 2012 at least.

  172. 172.

    WereBear

    @kay: I hear you, but this is a situation where the Republicans will pick nits that aren’t even there; I see the cream-skimming as blocking off attack potential.

    I might have missed it, but the R’s weren’t whining about Sotomayor’s lack of qualifications.

    Ironically, they are the hypocritical assholes who try to brand education and intellect as elitism, but I’m sure they would cheerfully slam any candidates like the ones you described.

  174. 174.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @NobodySpecial: I was predicting a progressive meltdown, based partly on Digby’s piece, who is usually level headed, buying into Salon’s shit on her hiring practices. I hope I am wrong about it, but we shall see.

    You, on the other hand, are a feckless twit. And that is a whole other subject.

  176. 176.

    Yutsano

    @WereBear:

    I might have missed it, but the R’s weren’t whining about Sotomayor’s lack of qualifications.

    They did, but it got lost in the “wise Latina” and racism due to the New Haven firefighter case.

  180. 180.

    kay

    @WereBear:

    They’re going to attack Kagan on trying to keep recruiters out. It’s going to be brutal. Did you read the account of her dealings with that issue? She essentially played both sides. She was joining amicus briefs while writing agonized emails. That’s a mediator kumbaya role, and like all of those roles, it’s more than a little compromised. I recognize she had to do that, but I just don’t feel as if a mediator is going to hold up well against charges of hating the troops. Because that’s going to be the line of attack.
    The difference, to me, is Sotomayor was completely comfortable with upsetting them. She was going to sit there and smile and give non-answers until they shut the hell up. I thought she was going to nod off at several points, because they’re such idiots they kept asking her the same question. She’s not freaking one of them and she knows it.

  182. 182.

    Corner Stone

    @WereBear: It may be just me – but IMO a feminist wouldn’t be too amped to sign a useless EO declaring one gender’s rights were negotiable.

  183. 183.

    Brien Jackson

    So I finally looked into the background of this Audit the Fed stuff…can someone please tell me it’s not actually all about the Fed going ZIRP? I’m going to be even more disheartened if the Netroots has actually sunk that low.

  185. 185.

    Mark S.

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Unfortunately, unless Kennedy gets out, I don’t see a lot of hope for Obama totally pushing the court to the left before 2012 at least.

    Exactly. They could resurrect William Douglas and the Court wouldn’t going to move to the left, because the Court is currently 3 moderate liberals, 4 reactionaries, and Kennedy.

  186. 186.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: You doddering illiterate fool, it was you that went PUMA when you forsook the Democratic party forever.

    Christ, you are a fucking pox on what used to be a fun and interesting comments section.

  190. 190.

    MikeJ

    @Paula:

    but there’s a certain amount of hazard in claiming this loophole and then later having the possibility of our own civilians being targeted by what is purported to be “better, smarter bombs”, right?

    Sorry so late to reply, I left to make dinner. Salmon. Mmmm.

    Anyway, we have clearance from the controlling authority where the combatants are, the government of Pakistan. So no, I don’t think that this is a slippery slope that leads to American citizens (or resident aliens) being targeted by foreign powers.

    Secondly, the people being targeted are in a lawless area. If a foreign power wanted a US person, they could act through the US court system and we would retrieve and turn them over or not. But there is a process. There is no process in Waziristan.

    The point of my original comment was that “Geneva Convention” actually means something. It refers to an actual sheet of paper with writing on that we signed and other people did or did not. It does not mean “something I don’t like” or even “something truly evil”. When I hear people people going on about how some action is “clearly” a violation of the Convention, I wonder how long they’ve studied international law.

  191. 191.

    arguingwithsignposts

    I realize the personal trolling is highly entertaining to some, but I’d personally be more pleased with some actual “issues” thrown in among the personal insults.

    inb4 – “fuck off, asshole”

  193. 193.

    Mike Kay

    only in the ivory tower of the blogosphere does the dean of harvard law become Hitler.

  194. 194.

    burnspbesq

    @kay:

    I recognize she had to do that, …

    Why isn’t that period full stop on that subject? I’d bet that you and I are probably pretty much on the same page with respect to the Solomon Amendment (horrible policy, and I think the Supremes made the wrong call on the First Amendment issue), but she had something akin to a fiduciary obligation not to cause Harvard to lose tens of millions of dollars of Federal money by picking that fight. Where I come from, not picking that fight looks a lot like sound judgment. But then, I’ve never been a big fan of glorious defeats.

    Which makes me a bad person in the estimation of some folks, apparently.

  195. 195.

    kay

    @Tithonia:

    Tithonia

    After the flower? I love Mexican sunflowers. I planted a huge hedge of them one time to block my horrible neighbor’s abandoned car yard and she complained because they were too tall.

    Which was the point.

  197. 197.

    Mike Kay

    when elena kagan has become robert bork, then the blogosphere has officially jumped the shark.

  198. 198.

    Brien Jackson

    FWIW, I didn’t think that post about Kagan by Digby was that bad at all. On the other hand, her (Digby) writing on FinReg has been depressingly ignorant.

  201. 201.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Mike Kay:
    Just out of curiousity (and only tangentially related to your comment), Bork was defeated, and Miers was withdrawn. Has anyone else been shot down since Bork? Any from a Democratic president?

    ETA: These days, we are all Robert Bork.

  202. 202.

    Mike Kay

    ya know, before William O. Douglas was appointed to the court, he was the of SEC. Today, bloggers would denounce his appointment, saying you can have a “corporatist” like Douglas on the court. Fucking nuts.

  203. 203.

    burnspbesq

    @eemom:

    Surely you’re not suggesting that these boys are acting out because they have self-esteem issues?

    Maybe if we give them a cute little trophy, they’ll be happy and go away. I’ll even throw in a bag of Reese’s Pieces.

  205. 205.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @eemom: I was here way way the fuck before you so don’t try to play that game. For all I know, yer every other “mom” posting the same mom shit here.

  206. 206.

    Corner Stone

    @Mike Kay:

    William O. Douglas was appointed to the court

    He was appointed in 1939 you fucking twerp.
    Some thangs done changed round heah!

  207. 207.

    eemom

    @Mike Kay:

    Actually it is the comparing of Kagan to Harriet Miers. THAT is a fucking outrage, and for that, may GG be damned to a hell wherein George Will and George Stephanopoulos are his eternal roommates.

  208. 208.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @burnspbesq: Self-esteem issues? Are you serious, clown? You can hardly get through a fucking thread without reminding everyone yer a lawyer.

  209. 209.

    kay

    @burnspbesq:

    Well, no, burns, I read the article and I agreed with her justification. I certainly know you’re not in agreement with the exclusion of gays from the military, and I think it’s safe to say she’s not either.
    Why do we have to pick a law school dean? What possible benefit does administrative experience bring to this job? Do SCOTUS justices even handle a budget, like county judges?
    I was hoping for someone with a different set of skills and experiences, because I, like President Obama, think that matters for judges.
    You guys are telling me you want this powerful intellect to persuade the Justices Left (well, Kennedy, anyway) , and go toe to toe with Scalia, and I’m not seeing any evidence of this person ever going toe to toe with anyone at all. I get the intellect. Where’s the rest?

  211. 211.

    Mike Kay

    @Brien Jackson: I’ve never been impressed by Digby. But fine, to each their own. But I have to say, when became a John Edwards apologist during the primaries (“john only voted for the bankruptcy bill because he had too..”) she lost all credibility.

  212. 212.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Mike Kay: I knew there was a Douglas in the name, but couldn’t be assed to look it up in the Google. But he withdrew his nomination, which isn’t like getting shot down like Bork, and was also a Reagan nomination, according to the wikipedia.

    I knew Lani Guinier was controversial nomination as Asst. Atty Gen., but fucking Scalia got on the court, so I’m sensing that whatever nomination battle ahead is a lot more Kabuki.

  216. 216.

    eemom

    @burnspbesq:

    and maybe they have tiny little peenies, like the TSA guy, and insulting invisible people in cyberspace is their form of “aggravated assault.”

  217. 217.

    burnspbesq

    @Mike Kay:

    Similarly, the resumes of Warren, Brennan, and (especially) Black would have been grounds for a Category 5 storm of protest. None of them turned out all that bad, as I recall.

  221. 221.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @eemom:

    Actually it is the comparing of Kagan to Harriet Miers. THAT is a fucking outrage,

    Yes, that would be an outrage. Harriet Miers was a freaking idiotic choice with no real background. I was wearing the GOP flag when that nomination was made, and it was akin the Schiavo-ing of the Supreme Court.

    Kagan at least has a number of bona fides.

    Greenwald is already getting shrill about a possible Kagan nomination, even deconstructing Larry Lessig’s defense of her.

  222. 222.

    eemom

    I thought I better leave you all a thread or things might get messy.

    tee hee. He’s gonna be so surprised when he gets home.

  223. 223.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @kay: And BTW, I said she “seems” to fit that bill as going toe to toe with Scalia. I have never so much as seen her speak on teevee, Only reading that she does well as a SG and not afraid to mix it up. You could end up being right, we shall see.

  224. 224.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Mike Kay:
    And here ya go:

    Even in the Age of Obama, where Hope and Inspiration reign, isn’t that asking for way more evidence-free faith than anyone in the (ahem) reality-based community should be willing to vest? Not even the Supreme Party Loyalists on the Right were willing to pledge that degree of loyalty to their President when Bush insisted that Harriet Miers would be a stalwart conservative. They insisted upon someone with an established written record so that they could assess the nominee’s approach to the law and Constitution using their own critical reasoning faculties; why would any progressive not insist on the same thing?

    He also apparently debated the point with David Frum on a bloggingheads.tv episode, but I’ll be damned if I’ll watch that shrillfest to see how close the comparison is.

  226. 226.

    Yutsano

    @eemom: Pfft. If he doesn’t know us by now then he’s in for a tough lesson. He does. I predict a pithy and curmudgeonly comment when he gets back and signs on. In other words, get the popcorn ready.

    @arguingwithsignposts: So his argument against her is…she didn’t write enough papers/legal decisions before she was a dean?

  227. 227.

    kay

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    I don’t want to beat it to death. I don’t know what she’s going to do on the court. HOWEVER, when I look at her career I feel as of she’s very accomplished and all that, but on a particular and deliberate track. It’s a big country. Can we have a supreme court that has something to do with the rest of it, outside this very small circle of people who all know each other, in government and academia and business?

  228. 228.

    Mark S.

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Scalia kind of lucked out. He was nominated at the same time Reagan nominated Rehnquist for Chief. The Dems decided to let him skate by and concentrate their fire on Rehnquist.

  230. 230.

    Yutsano

    @kay: That to me, kay, is a deliberate and reasonable argument. It makes me wish you weren’t the only one making it.

  232. 232.

    eemom

    @Yutsano:

    So his argument against her is…she didn’t write enough papers/legal decisions before she was a dean?

    Yeah. In other words, she didn’t give him enough ammo to smear her with, so he’s forced to resort to half-assed arguments like “she didn’t give me enough ammo to smear her with.”

  233. 233.

    Cain

    @South of I-10:

    I am way too late to recommend glasses. Little South and I have been watching Schoolhouse Rock videos. She can almost sing the Preamble to the Constitution, so I am certain she now knows more about the Constitution than the majority of teabaggers. Not bad for 5 years old, right?

    I always get emotional when I watch the Preamble to the Constitution school house video.

    cain

  234. 234.

    Mike Kay

    @kay: the stakes are too high to go with an unknown (that is someone you don’t personally know).

  237. 237.

    Zuzu's Petals

    At the risk of burying this at the end of a long thread:

    The AP is summarizing the report based on BP’s internal investigation.

    It reaches pretty much the same conclusion the professional mariner and driller boards have come to: methane gas bubble running up the pipe. Good diagrams and detailed descriptions here, for instance.

  238. 238.

    Mike Kay

    @eemom: what scholarship does glen have? none. what cases did glen win as a practitioner? none.

    by his own standards, he lacks the sufficient standing to pass judgment on any nominee.

    hahahahhahahhahahhahahhahahahhhah

  239. 239.

    burnspbesq

    @kay:

    “Can we have a supreme court that has something to do with the rest of it, outside this very small circle of people who all know each other, in government and academia and business?”

    I don’t have a problem with the concept, but implementation … hypothetically, let’s suppose that there’s a USD Law grad, who only got to go to UC Santa Barbara because she was a scholarship athlete and paid her own way through USD by working two jobs, who’s doing landlord-tenant law in a storefront office in Barrio Logan on a grant from MALDEF who is every bit as smart as all the folks who were on law review at national law schools, got clerkships, worked in BigLaw and DOJ and taught and got nominated to a circuit. How does she get on the radar, much less the shortlist?

  240. 240.

    fucen tarmal

    man, these threads are the best if you read them from the bottom up, start with the insults, and then relay them back to the points and counterpoints…@John Arbuthnot Fisher:

    as far as accommodations i recommend the renaissance hotel 6th st, cross the bridge and three blocks to the right is pnc. or walk the three blocks to walk the bridge that is closed to vehicular traffic(clemente bridge).

    food wise,primanti’s was never all that, meat on bread and its variants are a silly thing to advertise as a local specialty, plenty of fine restaurants, and not so fine, depending on taste and budget.

  241. 241.

    And Another Thing...

    @arguingwithsignposts: Interesting that’s Greenwald’s impression of the events. In addition to the question of whether she was conservative enough, my recollection is that the nomination crashed when people got a chance to see her written responses to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and that she didn’t do well in the requisite written interviews.. There was just too much evidence she was/is a lightweight. A lack of written record seems to be an asset these days.

  242. 242.

    Mark S.

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    They insisted upon someone with an established written record so that they could assess the nominee’s approach to the law and Constitution using their own critical reasoning faculties

    Jesus, I can’t believe that Greenwald’s argument. The reason people were worried about Miers were things like this:

    In an initial chat with Miers, according to several people with knowledge of the exchange, Leahy asked her to name her favorite Supreme Court justices. Miers responded with “Warren” — which led Leahy to ask her whether she meant former Chief Justice Earl Warren, a liberal icon, or former Chief Justice Warren Burger, a conservative who voted for Roe v. Wade . Miers said she meant Warren Burger, the sources said.

    Competency is not an issue with Kagan. She was dean at either the most prestigious or second most prestigious law school in the country. And presidents generally don’t appoint idiots to Solicitor General.

    Ugh, GG is such an uber-douche at times.

  243. 243.

    PeakVT

    For just plain everyday glasses, I bought a set of Libbey Vibe. They were cheap, and they have a heavy base, which is good for klutzes/pet owners.

    Something to note: at this point Stevens is the only justice who didn’t attend an Ivy league school (though Chicago and Northwestern are pretty similar). All of the others either received both their BA and JD from an Ivy League school, or attended Stanford and received their JD from an Ivy. Wood has degrees from UT-Austin and UT-Law, Kagan has degrees from Princeton and Harvard, and Garland has degrees from Harvard.

    ETA: I see that this has been addressed while I was typing my post. Oh, well.

  244. 244.

    Mike Kay

    @And Another Thing…: she fell through because she wasn’t sufficiently anti-choice, and the wingers didn’t want another surprise pro-choice vote like Kennedy and Souter. her lack of legal knowledge was just a window dressing to withdraw her nomination. I mean really, the party of palin doesn’t care about intelligence and policy acumen.

  245. 245.

    Yutsano

    Onto another subject, has anyone else heard anything about Charles Grassley possibly being in trouble? Apparently he’s started polling below 50%, and his Democratic opponent is only eight points behind. Is it even possible Iowa is in play?

  246. 246.

    Mark S.

    @Mike Kay:

    That’s true. I wonder if you asked Palin who her favorite Justice was, would she say “All of them”?

  247. 247.

    burnspbesq

    @Mark S.:

    Greenwald is right a good part of the time – but when he is wrong, he can be spectacularly wrong. And he desperately needs a good editor.

  248. 248.

    burnspbesq

    @Mark S.:

    I wonder if you asked Palin who her favorite Justice was, would she say “All of them”?

    I reallllllllllly hate you for the image you just planted in my head.

  249. 249.

    Mike Kay

    @Mark S.: I always thought a great question would be to introduce the fact that she has a degree in journalism and then ask her to list history’s greatest journalists.

    “all of them”

  252. 252.

    Mike Kay

    I would just like to add, and this is the god’s honest truth, in that katie couric interview, she asked palin who was her favorite vice president and she said, Geraldine Ferraro. Katie reminded her that Ferraro never became vice president and was only a nominee, at which point, after a long pause, she switched her answer to Bush Sr. when asked why, she said, because he became president.

    Katie ask Biden the same question, and he crisply answered, LBJ, along with a good rational.

  253. 253.

    burnspbesq

    It’s going to be a multiple-eargasm weekend. A brand-new seven-disc set of duets between Stan Getz and Kenny Barron, recorded live over four nights at the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen. Plus new Melissa Etheridge, New Pornographers, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Haydn sonatas played by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.

    Yeah. This will be good.

  255. 255.

    Brien Jackson

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    For someone who thinks he’s the smartest guy in every room, Greenwald sure doesn’t know very much. I was deep in the wingnut movement during the Miers nomination, and I can attest to the fact that the outrage over Miers was more about the fact that she wasn’t a pre-vetted pick with the Federalist Society stamp of approval than it was that anyone wanted to use their “thinking faculties” to evaluate her judicial work. Wingnuts aren’t into reading much beyond a Mark Levin or Ann Coluter book.

  256. 256.

    Mark S.

    “Sarah, who is your favorite gay porn star?”

    “Oh, all of them. You betcha!”

  259. 259.

    Steeplejack

    Where are you, Laura W? A song for you. (Not a great performance, but I know you like the live clips.)

    In a bit of a maudlin mood tonight.

    I never had a damn thing but what I had I had to leave it behind
    __
    You’re the hardest thing this old boy ever tried to get off his mind
    __
    Always something greener on the other side of that hill
    __
    I was born a wrangler and a rambler and I guess I always will

  260. 260.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack: I always thought this was a good maudlin one. Apropo of no one special:

    I’m a thousand miles from nowhere,
    Time don’t matter to me.
    ‘Cause I’m a thousand miles from nowhere,
    And there’s no place I wanna be.

  261. 261.

    asiangrrlMN

    Holy crap. You all went postal. I am withholding comments on the SCOTUS pick for now. I would like to say…

    @jeffreyw: Thank you for that heartwarming story. I love it when animals find good forever homes. In addition, your seafood rice looks scrumptious, as usual.

    @Yutsano: Thanks for being a voice of reason, Yutsy. I appreciate your comforting bass tones rumbling over the roiled waters.

    @Steeplejack: Steep Man! Long time no see!

  262. 262.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    How you doin’, girl?

    My work schedule has been so fucked lately that I feel completely out of it. I try to keep up with the Balloon Juice threads, but I’m usually a day behind, which is maddening when I want to comment on something. Skipped to the front of the line, though, after digging on the “Resistance Is Futile” thread.

  264. 264.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Steeplejack: My sleep is fucked, so I’ve been around at odd hours, too. I do the same thing–skim some of the threads, then jump to the head of the line. I leave comments on dead threads just because. Is your schedule gonna settle down any time soon?

  265. 265.

    Steeplejack

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Work schedule has been screwed because a department manager had to go back to the old country (Serbia) a week or so ago because of a family emergency. So I have been basically covering her job and working around other stuff. So a really screwy schedule: some opening, some closing, even some mid-shifts–all in one week. Really crazy. My circadian rhythms are shot, because there’s no consistency at all.

    She’s supposed to come back around May 14, so my schedule should get a little more normal then, but I have to say that it has been slightly off since the holidays. I think I am being used as human spackle to fill in gaps in the schedule.

    Anyway, I closed tonight and don’t have to go back until 3:00 p.m. tomorrow, so I’ve got a late night and long morning ahead. Perfect for catching up on Balloon Juice, drinkin’ and snackin’.

  267. 267.

    Corner Stone

    @Steeplejack: I like DY ok, but the This Time CD for some reason really stuck with me.
    One of the very, very few country-esque CD’s I completely enjoy.

    This time,
    Is the last time

    yeah right.

  280. 280.

    Mum

    @Svensker:

    I appreciate the recommendation, even if John doesn’t! My husband is handicapped and frequently drops glasses, which break into shards, which can cause problems with the wheelchair. Plastic glasses (isn’t that an oxymoron?) are not an option, so I plan to look into your recommendation. Thanks.

  281. 281.

    TuiMel

    @kay:
    I like your questions. I was having a hard time determining why Elena Kagen as nominee left me feeling less-than-thrilled. Ithink you have articulated part of it for me.

  282. 282.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Bigoted against fools like you that think they can start their own fucking blog in someone else’s comments.

    Wow! This is so cool. Like in Three Days of the Condor, where peeps set up another CIA inside the real CIA. Someday I will publish my memoirs and explain how I did it.

  283. 283.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @John Arbuthnot Fisher: We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Southside — next to a up and coming neighborhood with nice restaurants, lovely morning walks across the bridges, near the inclines. But probably not convenient to the ball parks. Restaurants — Lidia Bastianich’s in the Strip district was wonderful. The Pittsburgh Aviary is not far from the Warhol and lots of fun — there is a raptor show where owls fly over your head and you get to feed parrots. Also recommend the Duck Boat tours — great view of the city coursing through the city and rivers.

  284. 284.

    litbrit

    Oh my, I am very, very late to this party (or rather, the glassware-recommendation/supreme court discussion in lieu of the actual party our host is/was attending).

    But I had an idea that would satisfy both Mr. Cole’s need for transparent drinking vessels and his readership’s shared need for More Tunch: design some Tunch glassware for the Balloon Juice store (if there aren’t some already, that is). The profits made on the sold glasses will pay for Mr. Cole’s own set(s).

    Others upthread mentioned jelly-jars and liquor company promo glasses and mason jars. I could totally see a set of chunky tumblers with the Tunch is Watching You logo on them. Something between a highball and a lowball, or maybe do both. Plus little Tunch shotglasses for those late Friday afternoons when all you want is freezing cold vodka.

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