Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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

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

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

The revolution will be supervised.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

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Reader Interactions

167Comments

  2. 2.

    robertdsc

    I’m happy to report that I found a job! My first day is next Tuesday. Yay!

    I’m making less than I did at my previous place but I’m glad to be working again.

  3. 3.

    lamh32

    Hope ya have a good time at party.

    Now for some racial humor courtesy of Time magazine…/snark

    The “Hilarious” Xenophobia of Time’s Joel Stein

    I want to applaud Joel Stein for his hilarious account of Edison, New Jersey in his Time magazine article this week, “My Own Private India”; it is as unique and groundbreaking as Thomas Alva himself.

    Were it not for the intelligent, fresh sense of humor of individuals like Mr. Stein, the world may never know about Americans who happen to be of Indian descent. Gags about impossibly spicy food? I’d never heard those before! Multiple Gods with multiple arms? Multiple laughs! Recounting racial slurs like “dot-head”? Oh, Mr. Stein, is too good! I don’t know how he comes up with such unique bits. (I was worried that he’d missed an opportunity to joke about Dr. King’s predecessor, Gandhi, but I see that he got to that hilarity on Twitter. More never-before-heard satire!)

    Growing up a few miles from Edison, NJ, I always thought it was hilarious when I’d get the crap kicked out of me by kids like Stein who would yell “go back to India, dothead!” I was always ROTFLMAO when people would assume that I wasn’t American. He really captured the brilliant humor in that one too!

    Critics might call Mr. Stein’s humor super-tired or as played out as the jokes about that cheap Jewish car that stopped on a dime to pick it up, or that African American kid who got marked absent at night school. Although unlike Stein’s Indian American piece, in 2010 those other jokes don’t show up in mainstream media like Time Magazine. I wonder why that is…

  5. 5.

    Violet

    @robertdsc:
    Congrats! Excellent news!

    Cole, you’re quite the social butterfly. Impressive. Cole and his bitchez, on the town.

  8. 8.

    demo woman

    Maybe later Cole will show us pictures of two happy pups sitting on his lap. I’m dog sitting a pup 5 or 6 times the size of Miss Moxie. She discovered that when she used her don’t step on me yelp, she can keep him at arms length. It’s quite obnoxious really.
    Congrats robert for the new job.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @robertdsc: Excellent news! Big congrats! When do you start?

    ETA: Ah, I see you already answered that. Tuesday it is!

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @demo woman (and SIA if she’s around):

    Happy 4th! Anyone getting up early to watch the Peachtree on Sunday (I assume — why, I don’t know — that we’re not running it)?

  13. 13.

    Cain

    @lamh32:

    Growing up a few miles from Edison, NJ, I always thought it was hilarious when I’d get the crap kicked out of me by kids like Stein who would yell “go back to India, dothead!” I was always ROTFLMAO when people would assume that I wasn’t American. He really captured the brilliant humor in that one too!

    Wow, really? I’ve never been treated that way in any part of the country while growing up. But then again, it is the east coast. In Indiana, I was treated same as anybody who was 4’11 in the 9th grade. :)

    But then again, nobody even thinks of me as an Indian. I would say I’m different than even the indians growing up here. (not many Indians for instance go to Science Fiction conventions, or play TinyMUCK or IRC, or listen to Rush) I have more things in common with people from India than I do with Indians here. I can go between my two identities at will. I’m sorry that you experienced such crap.

    cain

  17. 17.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    So here in downtown Oakland, California, we’re getting ready for the holiday weekend by boarding up the windows on shops and banks so the Revolutionary Trustafarian Armed Resistance can come down and celebrate whatever happens in the trial of a former transit cop for killing Oscar Grant last year. Having been here for the previous round of festivities, I’m a little burned out on this scene and plan to bail out of Oakland and back to the other side of the Bay the second there’s a verdict. I guess I’m just too old to enjoy a good riot anymore.

  18. 18.

    demo woman

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ll watch the Peachtree and then watch Byrdich beat Nadal in the finals at Wimbledon. Unfortunately that means I’ll miss McCain, Liarman and I’m not gay Lindsay on the morning shows.

  19. 19.

    lamh32

    Okay,

    not for nothing, but I’m watching
    “Highlander”, and I forgot how much I liked this movie. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I guess Sean Connery was kinda slumming in ala Lawrence Olivier in “Clash of the Titans”. Still I loved this movie as an 8 year old sci-fi geek, I literally just loved to stare at Christopher Lambert and hear him talk, that it until the tv show came out and after that, I was ALL about Adrien Paul.

    and yes, before ya’ll ask, I have seen ALL the Highlander movies, and yes, I’d probably go see any other new one they might make…sad but true.

    Oh and btw, the soundtrack by Queen was AWESOME:

    Princes of the Universe – Queen – Highlander

    Why the hell did I watch Braveheart, when I woulda rather wtch Higlander anyway?

  20. 20.

    lamh32

    @Cain:

    damnit blockquotes, the whole post other than the first 2 sentences are blockquotes from Kal Penn’s post at huffpo

  28. 28.

    PurpleGirl

    @lamh32: I live a short distance from what was the Silvercup Bread factory. Those scenes filmed there remind me of passing the factory on the Queensborough Bridge while riding the bus. (When bread was still being baked there. the aroma of fresh bread was great.) A few years after the factory closed it was turned into a movie/TV film studio center.

  30. 30.

    Max

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: Having left Oakland almost 3 months ago, I must confess, I do not miss it.

    Much more restful in the PNW.

    Congrats Robert! That’s 1 new job for the next jobs report.

    Happy holiday weekend to all BJ’ers.

  31. 31.

    David in NY

    @lamh32:

    You may appreciate my news of today. My son, in his third year of graduate school, is going this weekend to central NJ to visit the parents of his girlfriend of seven years, the daughter of Punjabi immigrants. For the first time.

    Some kind of breakthrough, I gather.

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @demo woman #18: I was actually (in a moment of extreme weakness, vulnerability, and uh weirdness) thinking about making a 45-60 minute drive into midtown to see maybe 30 seconds of the wheelchair races Sunday. They start at 6:45 a.m.

    That’s *a.m.* as in morning as in oh-dark-thirty. So, I don’t think so.

    I did go up to Cedartown earlier this week to watch the wheelchair qualifying races. Wonderful, amazing athletes. But I think I’ll be cheering them from in front of my TV screen. And then, yeah, strawberries and cream at Wimbledon.

  37. 37.

    harlana

    Okay, I’m watching Revolutionary War reenactment, can someone please tell me how these guys kept their tri-cornered hats on whilst blowing each other away? This has always bugged me, how the hell did any of these guys keep up with their hats? (also applicable to any past war involving hats, I’m serious, I know they just didn’t let them fall and not pick them back up again since it was part of their uniform)

    omigosh, right now I am seeing dead uniformed bodies lying on the ground with their hats still on

  41. 41.

    jacy

    @robertdsc:

    Yahtzee! Congratulations!

    And, Cole, you’re beginnning to cause the my dogs to wonder why they never get to go to the cool kids’ parties. Soon a few extra leftovers under the kitchen table is going to cease to pacify them.

  42. 42.

    Walker

    I was all set to smoke some BBQ this weekend. However, there is not a pork shoulder to be found in the entire Ithaca area. Wegmans is filled to the brim with brisket and ribs, but nothing for God’s BBQ. I think I am going to have to go to Syracuse tomorrow if I want some BBQ.

  43. 43.

    Yutsano

    @Oscar Leroy: And he just bred. I now officially weep for the future.

    @robertdsc: WOOOOOOT!! Awesomeness to the nth degree and congrats mucho! It’s much easier to adjust to less salary when the previous salary was, well, none. Enjoy from here good sir!

  47. 47.

    demo woman

    @SiubhanDuinne: ALTA used to have great wheel chair tennis. When my boys were young, I was the team tennis mom ( a job I would not wish upon my enemy) and at the end of the season rather that a tacky gift, I would insist on a donation for the wheel chair league. Some one asked why I would sit there and just say hmmm when asked an inane question and I finally responded that you are a fucking ass was not appropriate.

  48. 48.

    Yutsano

    @Max: Ssshhh! Remember the rules for living up here! This place sucks, it’s boring, it rains all the time, yadda yadda yadda. We do have a reputation to uphold after all!

    I am getting this tingly feeling in my spine that next week I find out if I get a job in a Seattle high rise building. I feel all so grown up at the thought!

  50. 50.

    harlana

    no costume history buffs here, i see, hmmmmm

    alright, thanks very much, i won’t even be able to sleep tonight now

    yes, this is my life or perhaps I should say “life”

  52. 52.

    Walker

    @AhabTRuler:

    I am a (displaced) Carolinian. My pulled pork is better than any Texas brisket I have ever had.

  53. 53.

    Max

    @Yutsano: Oops. You’re right.

    Well, I forgot to mention that PNW people are unbearably rude, there’s nowhere to get a cup of coffee and the beer sucks… (wink wink)

    P.S. fingers crossed 4 u

  54. 54.

    AhabTRuler

    @Walker: I am not interested in regionalism; a well prepared smoked brisket is a thing of sublime beauty. A well smoked butt is also awesome, but it’s not necessary for me to prefer the one to the other.

  55. 55.

    Cat Lady

    @robertdsc:

    Congratulations! Everyone I know who have lost their jobs since Teh Crash of ’08 and have become re-employed have had to step back in salary, including myself. It’s the new normal, and it suckety sucks.

    That said, I’m wrapping up a week of vacation in Santa Fe. I had left my heart here some many years ago (not in the other SF), and have found it again in the pinon and the hills and the color of the sky. The Land of Enchantment, indeed. I just wish I had a dollar for every !Obamanos sticker left over from the election and I’d have a free plane ride home. Also.

  56. 56.

    demo woman

    Have a great weekend all.. Time for me to grill some steaks and I’m going to try some grilled peaches from the Minimalist. I’m not sure about grilled peaches with barbecue sauce but it’s worth a try.

  57. 57.

    debit

    @demo woman: That actually sounds really good. Let us know how they are.

    @robertdsc: Congrats!! My current job pays half what my previous job did. After 6 months unemployment, I took it without much quibbling. It keeps the cats in litter and the dog in kibble, so I can’t complain. Much.

  58. 58.

    Josie

    @Walker: I was just watching a show about BarBQ places today and they said that North Carolina preferred pork shoulder to our typical Texas brisket or ribs. Then I had to leave and tend to some other business and didn’t get to see how they did it. How do you prepare yours?

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    everybody calm down

    ABC just assured me that they have an exclusive interview with John McCain on Sunday, just in case you were afraid you wouldn’t hear from The Man Who Picked Palin until Tuesday

  61. 61.

    Cain

    @lamh32:

    damnit blockquotes, the whole post other than the first 2 sentences are blockquotes from Kal Penn’s post at huffpo

    Doh!

    cain

  62. 62.

    Cain

    @lamh32:

    damnit blockquotes, the whole post other than the first 2 sentences are blockquotes from Kal Penn’s post at huffpo

    Doh!

    cain

  63. 63.

    Yutsano

    @demo woman: I’d honestly skip the barbecue sauce and just grill the peaches right on the grill then make a drizzle of Greek yogurt and honey. I could see maybe a peach barbecue sauce, but peaches have enough wonderful flavor on their own there’s no need to gild it to death.

    @Max: Don’t forget we’re terrible drivers, there’s no good places to eat, and housing is just atrocious. Why anyone would want to live up here is beyond me. I can keep this meme going for hours.

    BTW how is Max settling in to the new digs? And has he finally accepted the new addition to the household?

  64. 64.

    Corner Stone

    @Walker:

    I am a (displaced) Carolinian. My pulled pork is better than any Texas brisket I have ever had.

    You sir. Fields of honor at dawn.

    Actually, I’m with Ahab on this. I don’t need to disregard any kind of awesomeness when it comes to various treatments for meat.
    As long as it’s tasty, I want to cram your meat down my throat.

  70. 70.

    Cacti

    On this Independence Day weekend…

    26 percent of Americans can’t identify from whom we declared independence.

    But I’ll bet close to 90% of the above could tell you who won the Super Bowl, or if Bella chose Edward or Jacob.

  72. 72.

    Yutsano

    @Gina: I shall be sending you my therapy bills with haste. But damn if some of that wasn’t funny.

    @jeffreyw: I would suggest overnighting some to geg6. It’s my favorite recipe for anytime someone is ailing. It’s the Jewish grandmother in me.

  73. 73.

    lamh32

    To all who read my post…

    I was attempting to post a rant from Kal Penn (ie. Kumar of Harold and Kumar fame, and of late Obama admin employee) from HuffPo. He is the one who was responding to the article in the Times.

    I am not from India nor am I an Indian American, I’m African American, so I can feel Kal’s “pain” here.

    Sorry for the mistake, also, as an aside in the interest of cultural enrichment, when responding to POC (people of color) in response to their being a little upset by your perceived racial bias, please don’t say that you’re sorry to have offended, but “you don’t see color” cause first of all, your lying, and 2nd of all even if you are delusional enough to believe that you truly don’t see color, we POC won’t believe you anyway.

    Case in point: Kathleen Parker in today’s WashPo responding to AA readers who took exception to her calling Obama the first “female” president in her column this week!

    Another aside, just cause you have a distant relation to the current President on his white side does not mean, you are exempt from saying stupid things….

    I’m not even gonna link to kathleen’s post, just google it.

  74. 74.

    lamh32

    Don’t know if anyone else is watching So You Think You Can Dance this season, but here is reason # 999,999,999,999,999 why ya’ll should be watching So You Think You Can Dance this season….2 words: ALEX WONG!!!! Dude is a ballet dancer, and he can do shit like this:

    Alex Wong and Twitch (Allstar)

  75. 75.

    Yutsano

    @lamh32:

    I am not from India nor am I an Indian American, I’m African American, so I can feel Kal’s “pain” here.

    Thank you for the clarification. I thought you had identified yourself as such in the past, so my brain stalled in the middle of the paradigm shift.

    @lamh32: Speaking of paradigm shifts…the Asian dancer eats the lunch of the other guy with a vengeance. Fun stuff. I always love stereotypes getting thrown onto the dustbin.

  77. 77.

    Gina

    @Yutsano: Is it bad that I want to make a chocolate raspberry one (inspired by one of the more subtle designs) and enter it in the county fair?

  79. 79.

    Josie

    @Keith G: I think you might have gotten more rain than we did. The wind blew and it rained all night and then it was over. Very weird. My son says with the extra from last night we got about 9 inches. I live in a high area and so it was no problem. Low lying areas were hit harder. How much did you get?

  81. 81.

    bemused

    @Sentient Puddle:
    Perfect. I must send that one to those who have been sending me over the top patriotic emails today.
    At first I thought your link was about the Glen Beck University online courses on Faith, Hope and Charity. That guy is always thinking of ways to separate his fans from their money.

  82. 82.

    Cacti

    @Walker:

    I am a (displaced) Carolinian. My pulled pork is better than any Texas brisket I have ever had.

    Lived in Carolina for 11 years myself, and I kid you not…

    The consistently highest rated BBQ joint in my current home of metro-Phoenix area is run by a family of transplants from Winston-Salem.

    Go figure.

  85. 85.

    lamh32

    @Yutsano:

    It was a thing of beauty Yutsano. But actually, other than the fact that Alex Wong was a ballet dancer, him being Asian was just a side point.

    In New Orleans, and I suspect in many African American neighborhoods, especially the more urban, culturally diverse areas; Asians (particurly Vietnamese, we had/have a large Vietnamese community in NOLA, see Rep Joseph Cao) and AA are intertwined together. In my neighborhood, mostly all of the “corner stores” were own by Vietnamese or Middle Eastern people for a decades maybe centuries. In fact, it is not uncommon to go the the Vietnamese area of NOLA and seeing and hearing hiphop music blasting from speakers, hiphop-type fashion, and yes even hiphop slang spoken as a 2nd language among the Vietnamese youth. I kid you not, nothing is more disconcerting as an AA adult of a certain age, and hearing a bunch of Asian kids calling each other “dawg” or my “n-word”. It’s something I’m still not used to.

    Also, don’t know if ya knew this, but Hip Hop music is pretty big in some parts of Asia, esp Japan

  86. 86.

    Keith G

    @harlana: Former teacher of history here.

    They didn’t. Movies and TV make us much more fashion aware then they were. Remember that Continentals usually had no uniforms. Officer’s wives and families provided their kit.

    If you were a “grunt” and alive after a victorious engagement, your battle dress might improve based on what was laying around.

    If you were a Brit, image mattered a lot more. As I recall, their head gear had chin straps.

    There wasn’t a lot of jumping around though in a non fortified battle field. Line up and fire three or so volleys at 50 yards then charge. If you survived the charge and were missing your hat, there were other around.

  89. 89.

    IndyLib

    I’m not grilling this weekend, because I am actually sick of the site of my grill, I have used it just about every day for a month.

    So I am making Mexican food and trying valiantly to reproduce the flavors I grew up eating in southern Colorado. On the menu – carne adovada, chicken enchiladas, cheese enchiladas, refried beans, spanish rice, guacamole. I am doing everything from scratch except for the tortillas.

    I seeded and stemmed 1 1/2 lbs. of ancho, guajillo and arbole chilis, soaked them in hot water, then simmered them with cumin, mexican oregano, onion and a crap-load of garlic. This mass of yummy, chili goodness is cooling as I speak. When it cools I will zap it through the blender and then strain it and I will have a couple quarts of homemade sauce that I will marinate the pork in (from tonight until early Sunday morning), for the carne adovada and it will double as red enchilada sauce.

  91. 91.

    Keith G

    @Josie:

    How much did you get?

    Not nine, but hope lives. Actually about six, but we are so flat and expecting more til Sun midday. Glub. Glub.

  93. 93.

    Dr. Squid

    @Yutsano: Don’t worry, it’s not like it’s still alive.

    I smoked up a brisket a few weeks ago. Not bad for a first try, and because I had to abandon using the grill for an oven braise when the obligatory midwestern springtime thunderstorm popped up.

    It did not last long once it got done.

  94. 94.

    Tattoosydney

    Yay for the weekend. Busy day, so just popping in to say hello, to give congratulations to robertdsc, and to share with you all a picture of a small furry creature having a nice nap in the sun.

  96. 96.

    jwb

    @ellaesther: That’s a wonderful little essay you wrote. Rohan when Theoden is under the influence of Wormtongue is one moment when Tolkien allows the opacity of the modern condition to appear, but you are certainly right that the appeal of the books (as with most mythology, most popular culture) lies in the way they present a clarity that is simply not of this world. (And it’s not a human mythology that Tolkien intended in any case, but an Elvish one—something I think many commentators miss.)

  97. 97.

    Chat Noir

    July 4th fireworx starting already. We’ve heard several booms thus far. The neurotic Wheaten Terror is NOT happy but the cats don’t mind.

    @Tattoosydney: Beautiful picture. Koalas are so cute.

  98. 98.

    Violet

    @lamh32:
    Meh on Alex Wong. He seems like a nice guy, but I prefer watching Kent and Jose, although neither of them are as good of a dancer as he is.

    SYTYCD is not just about how good a dancer you are objectively, it’s also about connecting with the audience, both live and TV. For me, Kent and Jose do that, while Alex just…doesn’t. Although I loved, LOVED that dance with Twitch. I don’t vote, so no worries with me keeping any of them around longer than they should be.

  99. 99.

    jwb

    @Chat Noir: Too wet here tonight for fireworks. Otherwise I’m sure it would sound like a war zone (as it usually does on the Fourth of July weekend).

  102. 102.

    lamh32

    @Comrade Mary:

    Wow, is Alex a “ringer”…lol, cause he is dancing his azz off to single ladies. I especially like the video of him doing single ladies at the charity thing.

  103. 103.

    Max

    @Yutsano: Max loves it. We took him to the coast last weekend.

    He and the boyfriend have bonded quite well. He (Max) races around the house looking for him (boyfriend) if we (Max and me) beat the boyfriend home.

    @lamh32 – I’m about to watch the episode on the DVR. I’m a WOW widow this evening.

  104. 104.

    eco2geek

    @Yutsano: We Oregonians agree that you Washington drivers certainly are atrocious. But we envy your higher speed limits.

    As far as the weather goes, it’s been a weird year. Lots of rainy days this spring. We got maybe a week of sunny weather in May, and maybe two weeks in June, and today it’s back to rain again. But, they’re forecasting that it’s going to be in the 90s next week, so maybe we’ll have a summer after all. (I blame global warming.)

    Good luck with your new job. Hope you get a nice view in your Seattle high rise.

    Oh yeah – don’t move to Seattle if you drive a car with a stick shift. It’s way too hilly for a stick shift.

  106. 106.

    demimondian

    @eco2geek: Um…yeah. That’s right, Seattle is a terrible place to drive. We’re rude, unpredictable, and the roads are terrible. It’s an awful place to raise kids, and there’s no night life, so it’s a dreadful, dreadful place to be young and single. All the mid-lifers are paired off, so it’s a terrible place to be middle-aged and single.

    Is there anything else I can add?

    — demi “and don’t get me started on the East Side, OK” mondian

  107. 107.

    demimondian

    @robertdsc: Congrats! I’m glad you’re working, although I’m very sympathetic about the salary haircut. Been there, done that.

  110. 110.

    stuckinred

    @Dr. Squid: I see you got all huffy back on the soccer thread. I misread your post and said it was silly, when I realized it I went back and took out the silly part. Not much else I could do.

  113. 113.

    MikeJ

    @eco2geek:

    We Oregonians agree that you Washington drivers certainly are atrocious

    We former Bostonians agree. My plan for improving the quality of Seattle drivers: two weeks driving in Boston, survivors get to return. Green means go! You don’t have to wait for a quarter mile separation between the car in front and you before you go.

    Jesus Christ, I hate these people when they drive. Too fucking polite. I want to kill them all.

  114. 114.

    gwangung

    @AhabTRuler:

    I am not interested in regionalism; a well prepared smoked brisket is a thing of sublime beauty. A well smoked butt is also awesome, but it’s not necessary for me to prefer the one to the other.

    Though it might be necessary for ME to have a bit of both…(am hungry again).

  115. 115.

    eco2geek

    @demimondian:Everything you said about Seattle goes double for Portland. Except it’s a smaller town, so it’s more boring. And more economically depressed. So, you really wouldn’t want to move here, either.

    (Although we are better drivers.)

  116. 116.

    Corner Stone

    @MikeJ:

    Jesus Christ, I hate these people when they drive. Too fucking polite. I want to kill them all.

    There is nothing worse than a timid driver. Nothing.
    I’d rather have 100% of people on the road with some place to actually go.

    But. I advise you not actually attempt to kill any of them.

  117. 117.

    Little Boots

    Did everyone read Michael Steele’s pensees? Did everyone mock and belittle.? Well okay, then.

    And by the way, fucking Illinois bastards are the worst.

  118. 118.

    Johnny's mom

    @John Cole: I think you’re, dare I say, happier? since you adopted Rosie. Honestly, I come for the doggy/garden blogging, and sometimes pick up a little news along the way. From what I’ve seen, e.g. “group hug”, you’re acting kinda pleasant. You’re freakin’ me out a little. In a good way.

  119. 119.

    Little Boots

    Actually, there is truly nothing worse than an obsessive tailgater. Fuckers should kill themselves, which they probably will, sooner or later.

  120. 120.

    Cat Lady

    @MikeJ:

    Co-sign. Lifelong Boston driver here, learned at my lead footed mother’s right knee.

    WTF is up with not getting on with getting to where you’re going? If there’s a car length between cars, then ur doin it wrong.

  121. 121.

    lamh32

    @stuckinred:

    It’s interesting how “soul” music is treated with more “reverence” if that’s the right word, everywhere else but where most of R&B music originated here in the states. One of the best documentaries I have seen about Soul music in the US was actually done by the BBC and then broadcast on PBS.

    Add to that the fact that “back in da day” if an AA artist wanted to make it big, they went overseas, cause at least overseas they weren’t the breath of whites only/colored only venues that there were in America at the time.

    Some of the best live performances by many soul performers of that era were filmed out of the states, with the occasional foray onto Ed Sullivan, by the most “non-threatening” performers. For example, check out the difference between marvin gaye on sullivan et al, and marvin gaye live in a less “restrictive” venue.

  123. 123.

    demimondian

    @MikeJ: As my middle child just joined the ranks of “LegalSeattleDriavers”, I would prefer that he be cosseted by excessively polite drivers for just a few weeks. Can you deal with that?

  125. 125.

    MikeJ

    @demimondian: We have Bostonians here. Send your child east! I still remember freaking out a visitor when I was confronted with a wrong way one way street, and I did what reasonable people do: pull onto the street facing the right way and proceed in reverse for two blocks.

    This is the sort of ingenuity that Seattle drivers need to learn. They would never survive the pre-big-dig Storrow Drive to Charlestown bridge crossing of four lanes of an interstate in 100 feet.

  127. 127.

    Bnut

    One thing that unites us as human beings is our ability to believe we are all above average drivers.

  128. 128.

    Corner Stone

    @Little Boots:

    Actually, there is truly nothing worse than an obsessive tailgater

    Bullshit. I can get the hell outta their way and let them be happy.
    The timid driver fucks everyone else up on the road.

  129. 129.

    jl

    Ha! Boston? We talking Boston drivers? Lunatics!

    Pedestrians too.

    I seen things in Boston.

    Unbelievable things.

  130. 130.

    Corner Stone

    @Bnut:

    One thing that unites us as human beings is our ability to believe we are all above average drivers.

    Honestly, I disagree with this. Anyone who has driven on freeways on a regular basis will tell you that a good 1/3rd of them are scared to death to be on the freeway. They lean forward, clutch the wheel with both hands, and can not bear to look left nor right.
    You can feel the fear radiating off of them.
    It’s IMO that they will not admit to being above avg drivers.

  131. 131.

    Little Boots

    Bullshit. I can get the hell outta their way and let them be happy.
    The timid driver fucks everyone else up on the road.

    Honestly, when you can, I agree. but the one lane road, fuck off bitches. and back off a few feet. It won’t kill you … or it will kill both of us.

  132. 132.

    Max

    @henqiguai: Yes, World of Warcraft.

    Friday night is the agreed upon night for him to “raid” or some fuckery like that.

    It’s not my thing, but he likes it, so I watch the tv shows he won’t watch on Friday nights.

    Speaking as a new Vancouver, WA resident, I must say, it’s horrible here too. Lousy. Down right awful. Don’t anyone come here. Even to visit. Seriously.

    Although we drive better than Portlanders. :)

  133. 133.

    jl

    Hello. I am a below average driver.

    That is why I drive like a little old lady, even though I am a paunchy middle aged man.

    I am very glad to make your acquaintances. I am sure you all feel likewise.

  134. 134.

    lamh32

    @henqiguai:

    Ah-ha. that went so over my head. I’ve heard of WoW, never played it, and I’ve seen the abbreviation, but it didn’t register that time.

    thx for the lesson!

    I’ll return the favor, when walking thru the French Quarter in NOLA, if someone comes up to you and says “I betcha I can tell you where you got your shoes?” say “No thanks”, or answer the question yourself. It’s a scam!!!! He gonna tell ya “You got your shoes right here on xxxx Street” (xxxx=whatever street ur on) and boom you’re out of whatever money ya bet….

  135. 135.

    Corner Stone

    @Little Boots: Heh. I live in TX and have traveled to LA many a time to dabble in their [email protected]
    And one stretch of road is one lane for a bit. And those god damned rice/crawfish farmers have absolutely no place to go, and no intention of pulling to the side to let you pass.
    That shit ain’t friendly. And it doesn’t happen in any backwoods ass place in TX I have ever been.
    But in LA these mofos just hog one and a half lanes and fuck you if you want to get somewhere.
    Andrew Sullivan bless ’em, cuz I’d dynamite their ass given half a chance.

  136. 136.

    Corner Stone

    @Max: Max. I wouldn’t have done you like this Max.
    We could’ve spent the time talking about off season football and trips to Thailand.

  137. 137.

    Little Boots

    It’s an eternal war, CornerStone. I just don’t feel like going 90 on a 65 highway, or more likely 50 on a 35 road. It’s a dilemma. i’d say we could all meet in the middle, but that just sounds like a pileup.

  139. 139.

    henqiguai

    @jl:

    Hello. I am a below average driver.

    That is why I drive like a little old lady, even though I am a paunchy middle aged man.

    Yeah, you sound like one of them drivers that are a rationalization for mounted 50 cals.

    Tailgaters ? Ha ! Got a co-worker who waits until the tailgater is just bringing up that cup of coffee, then lights up the brake lights. Much hilarity (for him) ensues. Me, I just come off the accelerator unless I’m driving a manual transmission, in which case I down shift. But I’m evil.

  141. 141.

    lamh32

    @Corner Stone:

    What road are you talking about?

    BTW, when I went to India this year, the most interesting thing was riding along in the tour bus. Forget about the driving on the other side of the road, there were literally people on camels using the same highway as the cars, buses, trucks, etc. In Jaipur, it was nothing new to see people riding elephants not along the highway, but in the same lane as cars, motorobikes (the seemed to me, preferred mode of transport in India), buses, etc.

    Whenever I’m on the road and in any traffic, I intstantly say to myself it could be worse, “I could be driving in India…”

  142. 142.

    OriGuy

    Here in California, we have wide streets with left turn only lanes that start about 4 or more car-lengths from the intersection. I don’t know how many times I’ve been stuck in the leftmost straight lane, wanting to get into the turn lane, behind some idiots who need a car-length or more in front of them. I sit there watching the left turn arrow come and go before I can move up.

  143. 143.

    cathaireverywhere

    off topic gardening question here….

    So, I bought one of those small flamethrowers for weeding. Aside from the fun of using a flamethrower to weed, (mostly using it for the weeds in in the driveway) is there anything I should know? After some flaming, the weeds shriveled up, and look burnt, but the plant doesn’t necessarily look dead.

  146. 146.

    Little Boots

    Handsome? Well, in that case, you’re entirely correct about the whole driving thing.

    As is Lindsey Graham.

  148. 148.

    Corner Stone

    @Little Boots:

    It’s an eternal war, CornerStone. I just don’t feel like going 90 on a 65 highway, or more likely 50 on a 35 road.

    The get the F out of my way.

  149. 149.

    SIA

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Happy 4th to you to. All of the runners will have had brunch and gone home before I leave my slumbers tomorrow. But let me know how it goes! :)

    Spent the week working in FL then back to Hot ‘Lanta, and I feel I’ll never be cool again. Ugh.

  151. 151.

    SIA

    @Chat Noir: Woofie, our terrier mix, is very nervous during thunderstorms or fireworks. Time to get out the Rescue Remedy for Pets. It seems to help.

    @robertdsc: CONGRATULATIONS! Must be a huge relief for you.

    @Yutsano: Been away a few days – how did the interview go, and did your brother behave?

  154. 154.

    Little Boots

    So why exactly do you have to drive crazy? Where do you have to be so desperately?

  156. 156.

    Perfect Tommy

    When I first saw the “BP is Burning Turtles Alive” blog posts, I immediately dismissed them as Internet rumors in the same vein as the breathless “Feds to Begin Taxing Email” messages that get forwarded around every few weeks. Not that I have any great regard for the ethics of BP, but this just seemed beyond believable.

    And then, tonight, this headline comes across the Reuters feed:
    “Deal struck to save turtles from Gulf oil burns”

    NEW ORLEANS, July 2 (Reuters) – Environmental groups, BP (BP.N) (BP.L) and the U.S. Coast Guard reached tentative agreement on Friday on measures to prevent sea turtles from being incinerated alive in controlled burns of spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

    What the hell is wrong with these people, that it takes a court of law to stop them from incinerating endangered wildlife?

  157. 157.

    fucen tarmal

    @Mark S.:

    if the payoff is, lebron james breaks cleveland’s heart, it will all be worth it. besides i am not an nba fan, haven’t watched since the oj chase, so it doesn’t affect me.

    other than hating cleveland.

    but the plus is the pens signed two good defensemen. even if our wings will be hot garbage.

  158. 158.

    cathaireverywhere

    Boiling vinegar? Really? I’ll definitely try it. Maybe I’ll use the flamethrower first, just because it is fun. It’s a little one- bigger than the kind one uses for creme brulee, but smaller than the kind one uses for…. whatever purpose ones uses a big flamethrower. It uses ones of those little propane canisters used for camping lanterns. I know some organic farmers use the burning method when they don’t want to add things to the soil, but this is just the cracks in the driveway, so the vinegar won’t matter. It’s hard being the only one on the block who doesn’t use chemicals and doesn’t have a gardener. My block goes like this: golf course, golf course, golf course, my house, golf course, golf course.

  160. 160.

    demimondian

    @MikeJ: Since I have, myself, done that particular Massachusetts Maneuver when I was teaching at BU, I realize that it’s entirely reasonable. However…

    (Ob Massachusetts driver joke: Boston pedestrians are essentially Puritan. There are the quick and the dead.)

  161. 161.

    Steeplejack

    @robertdsc:

    Congratulations! I will drink some champagne tonight in your honor. Coincidentally, I just happen to have some lying around, and this is an excellent reason to drink it. Cheers.

  162. 162.

    Steeplejack

    @lamh32:

    Highlander–the TV series–has a strange pull for me. (It’s on at 1:00 a.m. on weeknights on SyFy. Not back from holiday hiatus until Thursday the 15th, for some reason.) A lot of it was shot in France, and they used many interesting second-tier European actors as guest stars (emphasis on the hot femmes). For some reason I liked the series better than the movies. I like Sean Connery in anything, but Christopher Lambert usually creeps me out, and Adrian Paul was much better as Duncan MacLeod. It’s junk-food TV, but it’s tasty junk-food TV.

  163. 163.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Cat Lady:

    Um, there should be at least a car length between cars. If I have to stop suddenly, the car behind me goddamn better not hit me. I am a very fast driver, and I get out of the way when I can, but if I cannot move (say, when there are cars all around me), then I do not want someone up my tailpipe. I am not a good driver, and I realize this (despite or because I am a very fast driver) and that’s part of the reason I hate it when other people suck even more than I do.

    @Corner Stone: I hate timid drivers, too, but I hate tailgaters even more because if I have to stop suddenly, there is no way in hell someone less than a car length behind me is going to be able to stop. And, as I said above, I am not a timid driver at all.

    @robertdsc: Congrats! Good luck with the new job.

    Alex Wong is really good, and I do think being a ballet dancer helps him with the other dancing.

  165. 165.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Alex Wong is really good, and I do think being a ballet dancer helps him with the other dancing.

    I actually enjoy how, in the middle of his routine, he’ll throw in a classic ballet pose out of nowhere, then he’s back to the grunge/hip hop dance style. It throws the brain into a very entertaining cognitive dissonance, like Fosse on crack or something.

  166. 166.

    Kered (formerly Derek)

    @lamh32:

    So amazing. Alex is incredible. The girls from this season are pretty whatever, though!

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