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

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

T R E 4 5 O N

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You are here: Home / Music / Songs from the veal pen

Songs from the veal pen

by | 82 Comments

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I’d like to interrupt the hippie-punching and firebagging and Journolisting, while continuing the blogospheric navel-gazing, by saying that I think this excellent song (via reader blog The Spectral Obelisk) could serve as an anthem for this place:

I was pleased to see that the Murkowski name appeared nowhere on The Spectral Obelisk, btw.

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  4. 4.

    angler

    aww quit kidding us. You love it! I want to know why FDL keeps ignoring the challenge. BJ is nowhere on its front page. firebaggers.

  5. 5.

    Paula

    No seriously, it soooooooooooooo matters that people are ARGUING on a BLOG because that’s where the really important things NEED to HAPPEN.

  8. 8.

    Mark S.

    I had to read thru about 70 comments on another thread to figure out what “veal pen” meant (and I’m still not sure), and now this:

    I was pleased to see that the Murkowski name appeared nowhere on The Spectral Obelisk, btw.

    ?

  9. 9.

    JITC

    Love this song. Just got out of the car where the radio station was playing the clean version “Forget You.” Just doesn’t work – not the same emotion and that extra syllable doesn’t fit right.

    Could they have used “Eff You” and avoided a fine? Would have worked a lot better.

  15. 15.

    Jager

    @JITC:

    The Christian Family Values, Think of the Children and Republican Jesus Society would surely complain about “Eff You”. They would e-mail and write letters to the FCC like the mad men (and woman) they are!

  17. 17.

    ItAintEazy

    @MikeJ:

    This. To be honest, I literally spent almost two months having no ghost of an idea what was with the “Also. Too.” at the end of every other comment.

  20. 20.

    stuckinred

    By: Jane Hamsher Friday August 7, 2009 2:21 pm

    Tuesday, Common Purpose held its weekly meeting where lobbyist Erik Smith and a comm person from the White House tell liberal interest groups what they should be saying that week. Then if anyone gets out of line, they kick their asses. Along with Unity 09 and the 8:45 am call, they exist to form a solid left flank and keep the White House immune from liberal criticism. I like to call them collectively “the veal pen.”

    http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/08/07/rahm-goes-apeshit-on-liberals-in-the-veal-pen/

  24. 24.

    jacy

    Wow, a blog shout-out. Thanks, DougJ! I’m not worthy.

    (and I’m trying to teach the kids to sing the “clean” version, but I don’t think it’s taking. I’m a bad, bad mother.)

  27. 27.

    Left Coast Tom

    @Mark S.:
    I waded through all those comments about Veal Pen and still have no idea what it means – the explanations seemed like words that didn’t really connect to a meaning. I suspect I’m happier that way. Well, with that and my +3 status.

    I did immediately get the obelisk comment, though.

  29. 29.

    beltane

    I’m listening to David Bowie “Station to Station” right now. Songs from the Veal Pen will have to wait-too much noise.

    Speaking of veal pen progressives, Jake Tapper just tweeted that Rahm Emanuel will be gone by the end of the week. Who will take his place in forcing progressives to eat shit sandwiches? Who will be there to stab us in the back and throw us under the bus and call us mean names? Rahm was always there for us, will his replacement be?

  34. 34.

    Jager

    Mrs J will be home soon and since I’m a delusional “Boomer” I’m going to suggest that she dress as “hot, fecund, christian warrior woman” on Halloween, I’m sure her reponse will be the title of Cee Lo’s song!

  35. 35.

    Keith G

    On the topic of joy, I opened a 2x2x2 appliance box, flipped it on its side and I now am watching two kittehs play ninja box attacks.

  36. 36.

    eemom

    @Keith G:

    A nice way to begin the wind down.

    Tee hee. Yeah, I’ve been waiting in vain for a “chill the fuck out” post, lo these last 8 hours.

    Not that I’m complaining, mind you……I luvs seeing our guys so feisty.
    If Janie doesn’t pony up a Fatwa soon, she’ll be the laughingstock of the whole innertoobz.

  37. 37.

    rootless_e

    My response is that the government targeting someone for death and refusing to explain why is so broadly offensive to me that I don’t give a shit about the legal arguments. I may be pigheaded and wrong, but that is where I stand.

    Your real problem is that you trusted Greenwald, you fucked up. They provided a clear justification – it might not convince you, but it’s a justification. FDL even has the fucking brief
    http://static1.firedoglake.com/28/files/2010/09/100925-Al-Aulaqi-USG-PI-Opp-MTD-Brief-FILED.pdf
    Here are two key quotes.

    Anwar al-Aulaqi is a dual U.S.-Yemeni citizen and a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a Yemen-based terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for numerous armed terrorist attacks against American, Saudi Arabian, Korean and Yemeni targets since January 2009. See Public Declaration of James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Exhibit 1, ¶ 13. As set forth by the DNI, Anwar al-Aulaqi has recruited individuals to join AQAP, facilitated training at camps in Yemen in support of acts of terrorism, and helped focus AQAP’s attention on attacking U.S. interests. Id. ¶ 14. In addition, since late 2009, Anwar al-Aulaqi has taken on an increasingly operational role in AQAP, including preparing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his attempt to detonate an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. Id. The United States has further determined that AQAP is an organized armed group that is either part of al-Qaeda, or is an associated force, or cobelligerent, of al-Qaeda that has directed armed attacks against the United States in the noninternational armed conflict between the United States and al-Qaeda that the Supreme Court recognized in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557, 628-31 (2006).

    and

    Third, even if the plaintiff were to have standing, the particular relief he seeks— declaratory and injunctive relief that lethal force not be used unless a threat was imminent and no reasonable alternative existed—would require the resolution of clearly non-justiciable political questions. In particular, plaintiff’s requested relief would put at issue the lawfulness of the future use of force overseas that Executive officials might undertake at the direction of the President against a foreign organization as to which the political branches have authorized theuse of all necessary and appropriate force. Specific decisions regarding the use of force frequently must be made in the midst of crisis situations that can arise at any time, and that involve the delicate balancing of short- and long-term security, foreign policy, and intelligence equities. The Judiciary is simply not equipped to manage the President and his national security advisors in their discharge of these most critical and sensitive executive functions and prescribe ex ante whether, where, or in what circumstances such decisions would be lawful. Whatever the limits of the political question doctrine, this case is at its core.

  39. 39.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Personally I prefer the Lily Allen “Fuck You” the lyrics are so much more on point:

    Look inside,
    Look inside your tiny mind
    Now look a bit harder
    Cause we’re so uninspired,
    so sick and tired of all the
    hatred you harbor

    So you say
    It’s not okay to be gay
    Well I think you’re just evil
    You’re just some racist who
    can’t tie my laces
    Your point of view is medieval

    Fuck you (fuck you)
    Fuck you very, very much
    Cause we hate what you do
    And we hate your whole crew
    So please don’t stay in touch

    Fuck you (fuck you)
    Fuck you very, very much
    Cause your words don’t translate
    And it’s getting quite late
    So please don’t stay in touch

    Do you get,
    Do you get a little kick out of
    being small minded?
    You want to be like your father
    It’s approval your after
    Well that’s not how you find it

    Do you,
    Do you really enjoy living a
    life that’s so hateful?
    Cause there’s a hole where
    your soul should be
    Your losing control of it and
    it’s really distasteful

    Fuck you very, very much
    Cause we hate what you do
    And we hate your whole crew
    So please don’t stay in touch

    Fuck you (fuck you)
    Fuck you very, very much
    Cause your words don’t
    translate and it’s getting
    quite late
    So please don’t stay in touch

    Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you
    Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you
    Fuck you

    You say,
    You think we need to go to war
    Well, you’re already in one
    Cause it’s people like you
    That need to get slew
    No one wants your opinion

    Fuck you (fuck you)
    Fuck you very, very much
    Cause we hate what you do
    And we hate your whole crew
    So please don’t stay in touch

    Fuck you (fuck you)
    Fuck you very, very much
    Cause your words don’t
    translate and it’s getting
    quite late
    So please don’t stay in touch

    Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you (repeat)

  40. 40.

    Joseph Nobles

    Veal pen – as you may or may not be aware, calves being raised for veal are kept restrained in small pens, because too much movement toughens the meat. Most veal calves are also kept in the dark and not fed iron for reasons having to do with the aesthetic quality of the end product. What the metaphor is saying is that Veal Pen Liberals are kept restrained from all normal liberal desires, kept in the dark, and let out only to produce a vote for their Washington masters, the end product.

  41. 41.

    rootless_e

    the big question about veal pens is whether they are kept under the bleachers or near the bully pulpit. But the answer is “I’m a victim”

  42. 42.

    Left Coast Tom

    @stuckinred:
    Did you post it under a different nom-de-plume, because there’s no ‘stuckinred’ in the “Just for Fun” (veal pen) thread, and the closest I could find was @51 in that thread (from wmd). But what she meant, per that explanation, bore little resemblance to reality (certainly not your fault, or wmd’s!) – my mind may have exploded with the idea that the Sierra Club enabled BP.

  47. 47.

    stuckinred

    @Left Coast Tom: You mean on the FDL thread that I posted? I did not use stuckinred over there, I changed when I came over here because I wanted a clean break. My handle was raven back there.

  49. 49.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    @RSR:

    Cee fucking Lo does not work, no. And that’s to his credit.

  50. 50.

    eemom

    @stuckinred:

    is “stuckinred” because you live in a red state?

    Totally cool if it’s a state secrets kinda thing…….just got that idea in my head and wondered if it was right.

  57. 57.

    asiangrrlMN

    OK. I am going to dissent. I do not like the song. To me, it’s about a guy who never got up the nerve to ask out the girl he liked, so he decides that she’s just a bitch. Maybe the girl liked the other guy because he actually talked to her!

    I know, I know, heresy. There you have it. And, I didn’t make it to the end of the song so perhaps it gets better. That said, it does fit BJ pretty well.

  58. 58.

    Joseph Nobles

    @MikeJ: They taste best to the Powers that Be when kept anemic and restrained in the dark for most of their short, ignorant lives. Best yet are the ones who you only need to throw a hippy-doll in for them to punch so often.

  60. 60.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Omnes Omnibus: Like I said, I didn’t get very far, and the video rubbed me the wrong way with the little boy and the little girl. So, you probably got it right, and I probably have it wrong.

    Update Eleven Billionty-and-One: I heard it for the first time when I saw the video, so that colors my interpretation.

    P.S. How is the game going? And, aren’t both the Bears and the Pack 2-0?

  62. 62.

    Comrade Mary

    @asiangrrlMN: The lyrics-only video had me thinking this was a self-mocking, self-aware song, where the singer was completely aware that he was acting like a WATB. (I mean, the why? WHY? WHHHHYYYYYYY? in the middle eight is not the most dignified thing in the world).

    But the official video pretty much sets up Cee-Lo as a Nice Guy (TM). Pity.

    Luckily, I can still listen to the song as long as I pretend that I don’t understand English.

  64. 64.

    asiangrrlMN

    @kommrade reproductive vigor: Well, I didn’t hear the lyrics very clearly, and as I said, when I saw the vid, it pretty much disgusted me as it started with him as a little boy saying fuck you to a little girl. Again, I only watched about a third of the video before turning it off.

    ETA: And he could have been with her in his mind. Maybe she smiled at him a couple times or grabbed a coffee with him once or twice. We don’t know.

    @Comrade Mary: OK, I can see that. As I said, I bailed when he reached high school (in the official video). I am not a ‘fuck you’ type of gal to exes, so the whole song rubbed me the wrong way.

    @Omnes Omnibus: Huh. So maybe that’s the difference. Interesting.

  74. 74.

    eco2geek

    If the teabaggers can haul off and form their own “party,” why not disaffected Democrats? Of course, trying to mix the “Civil Liberties” crowd with the “Firebagger” crowd and the “Repeal DADT Now!” crowd and the “Universal Health Care” crowd and the “_______” (insert name here) crowd could get…interesting.

    All the same, I wonder why no one on the “professional left” has suggested it.

  77. 77.

    SciVo

    @rootless_e: Some people just want Strong Daddy to take care of all of their problems for them; the rest of us demand that the executive branch make its case first when there’s time to do so. That’s what judicial warrants and trials (in their absence if necessary) are for.

  79. 79.

    stormhit

    @silentbeep:

    Amazing how you got that exactly backwards. The “response” is nothing but straight up mean, whereas the meanness of the original intentionally ends up coming off as forced and insincere.

  80. 80.

    rootless_e

    @SciVo: thanks for the witless condescension, but if you take the time to read the US constitution, you will find that the judiciary is not required to vet every political act. I suggest you read up on Jefferson’s war with the Barbary Pirates for an insight as to contemporary understanding of the division of powers.

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