Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

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

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

This blog will pay for itself.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Let there be snark.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

This fight is for everything.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

We still have time to mess this up!

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

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84Comments

  3. 3.

    Trainrunner

    Today she had a long apologia/explanation/wingnut word salad flourish about her Sputnik/Pudpack remarks.

    Imagine how we’d all feel were she in charge right now.

    Palin’s imaginary statement:

    “Egyptians have been saying for years–for decades–‘let my people go.'”

  8. 8.

    lamh32

    I’m gonna post this article in the open thread. I think it’s a good one for people like me who have a sub-par knowledge of Egyptian history, aside from “The Ten Commandments” “Cleopatra” and the Bangles.

    Five Things to Understand About the Egyptian Riots

    I’m really interested in the stuff going on in Egypt because after going to India last April, my friend suggested Egypt as our next trip. I remember telling her that i don’t think Egypt would be a good thing right now even before this happened.

  10. 10.

    Kryptik

    Someone needs to make a site mocking all the things that the GOP has gone and stated is unconstitutional. The latest, via Duncan Hunter, Rep. from CA?

    Bike paths. Because they’re recreational, compared to highways. No, seriously. Bike Paths are unconstitutional.

  11. 11.

    lamh32

    @dmsilev:

    I doing my own personal protest and not discussing Palin with anyone in any real way.

    Heck, I’ve been boycotting TLC since they decided to show her Alaska show (I really only watched two shows anyway “What Not To Wear” & “Say Yes To The Dress”)

  12. 12.

    Southern Beale

    My husband, who works with a bunch of rabid right-wing Tea Bag types, came home and told me the RWNJ party line: people are protesting in Egypt because “no one respects America internationally anymore.” i.e., these are not democratic protests of people yearning for freedom, but rather some kind of scary rebellious thing.

    Having followed the Twitter tubes all day, I realized immediately that this was the Fox News line. Which I find fascinating. Of course, if the rebellion spreads to Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi’s own the majority of NewsCorp … well of course. But also, more to the point, it’s just the immediate, knee-jerk partisanship of the Fox/Rush echo chamber: if there’s a Democrat in the White House, then anything that happens has to reflect negatively on that person. If Bush or McCain were president, widespread revolution in the Middle East would be seen as proof that Iraq’s “freedom movement” was spreading democracy across the Middle East.

    So really what all of this confirms for me is that Fox News is less relevant than ever. I mean, we all know that it’s the GOP media outlet but really when a major international event like this is happening, I really just proves how unimportant they are in the big picture. I have zero interest in debunking any of their bullshit, reading what Media Matters has to say debunking their bullshit, you name it. Fox News is a GOP mouthpiece and therefore anything they say is irrelevant and colored by partisan politics. And what’s happening now is way bigger than that.

    I dunno. Just sorta mouthing off here.

  15. 15.

    lamh32

    ok,

    so Lawrence O has an old Clintonite on who’s saying that the Obama Admin’s statement fromt he pres is a little late, and should have been done earlier.

    Damn it was 48 HOURS AGO that the protest shit hit the fan. Yeah it took what 1 week for the obama admin to get it’s footing during the Iran revolts. It took 48 hours this time. Uh what good would it have been for them to release a statement before then?

    this is ridiculous. is EVERY former Clintonite back-stabbers? Damn, I commend HRC as Sec of State, but damn I’m tired of the minions who are NOT apart of the admin and probably not in the loop coming on MSNBC every damn time.

    I’m sorry, but I like that the Obama admin doesn’t just go “all in” and “balls to the wall” like BushCo would. If Bush was here, we’d have troops in Georgia, Tunisia, Egypt, Iran…I like a little contemplation before excess action.

  17. 17.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    There is nothing the US can do, hell in Afghanistan Der Kreig ist Verloren, Iraq? please!!! The Middle East is in a revolution, that we saw in Latin America back last decade, they are breaking from Uncle Sam, Hey Saudi Royal Family better get those Swiss Chalets ready. Israel you better get your stuff ready.

  18. 18.

    Paula

    So, is it pretty much between a rock and hard place for the US re Egypt? I know that reformers and dissidents over there want (and have wanted) Obama to issue a stronger POV on Mubarak than he’s given, especially since the US has been financing the regime for decades. On the other hand, after watching Bush II “promote democracy in the Middle East” for eight years, I’m pretty much done seeing the US sticking its hand where it don’t belong.

    So IMO, threatening an aid freeze on Mubarak and then shutting the fuck up is the right thing to do. It would be even better if we got confirmation of the aid freeze, but that ain’t ever happening, so …

    Related: the US Men’s National Soccer Team is scheduled to play a friendly w/ Egypt in Cairo on Feb. 9th. AFAIK it hasn’t been canceled, and the players are set to start landing there on the 6th.

  19. 19.

    The Dangerman

    Palin’s “Presidential” Statement:

    Just as the Red Sea parted and the Red Army parted ways in Afghanistan, so too have I read all the newspapers on this matter in Jordan. It IS Jordan, right, because I’m a big Jordin Sparks fan and I fear for her singing the anthem in after the liberation of the liberators that are copying our exceptional liberty.

  21. 21.

    Bob Loblaw

    @lamh32:

    Have you considered not whining endlessly about the Obama administration’s treatment in the press in thread after thread? Why don’t you just stop watching MSNBC?

  24. 24.

    Suffern ACE

    @lamh32: It’s easy to see why that particular Clintonite hasn’t been invited back. Did he decide what exactly should have been said yesterday when no one knew what the heck was going on? And who he should have addressed?

  26. 26.

    Nerull

    I had never heard of Spudnuts, so I looked it up.

    It was a chain of over 600 donut shops in the US, and 170 in Japan. The company went out of business, leaving a few individual shops running on their own. There are 35 left.

    I’m not really sure this story means what Palin thought it meant.

  28. 28.

    Cat Lady

    No one knows anything about what this Egypt situation means, and that’s what’s so great about it. We’re all – and I mean everyone on the planet- is treading on terra incognito. The reporters who are now able to report again are saying that it’s fueled by the secular educated youth, tapping into the entire country’s frustration. This is truly an internet hive mind phenomenon, and there’s more of this to come. Wheeeeee!

    If you had told me when I was in high school that I would witness the fall of the Soviet Union, the collapse of apartheid, and the Berlin wall literally being smashed to pieces before I was old, I would never ever have believed it. Of course, I never would have believed that a 2nd rate actor named Ronald Reagan could ever be taken seriously as a politician, either. We live in interesting times.

  35. 35.

    General Stuck

    @Cat Lady:

    If you had told me when I was in high school that I would witness the fall of the Soviet Union,

    yup, having been virtually weened on duck and cover and fallout shelter drills, never knew anything else. Somehow i suspect, the fall of the autocrats in greater Arabia will not happen as smooth and painless as Perestroika and Glasnost. But fall they must, at some point, might as well be now. There is an old sway back mule that lives across the road, I been wondering how many miles to the gallon it gets.

    edit – though none of it will compare to the fall of Sarah Palin, when Lowry barricades himself inside nro and threatens to masturbate himself to death.

  36. 36.

    shecky

    Can’t vouch for the truthiness, but this HuffPo story made me laugh. It appears Ayn Rand might also have wanted the government to keep its hands off Medicare. And Social Security, too.

  38. 38.

    beltane

    I’m still waiting for Tommy Friedman’s pearls of wisdom. So far, crickets. I must say I’m enjoying listening to someone on Al Jazeera English translating Egyptian protest graffiti; none of it is of the usual “death to America” variety, which must make the AEI folks very sad.

  40. 40.

    lamh32

    Okay, last Colin Firth clip. But for my money, the best flim version of “Pride & Prejudice” is the BBC television version with Colin Firth as “Mr Darcy”. For anyone who hasn’t seen it or for anyone who has seen the updated one with Kiera Knightley (a much sub-par version IMHO), you’ve got to see the Masterpiece Theatre/BBC TV version.

    Pride & Prejudice (BBC TV version)

  41. 41.

    JCT

    @General Stuck:

    edit – though none of it will compare to the fall of Sarah Palin, when Lowry barricades himself inside nro and threatens to masturbate himself to death.

    Boy I hope no one talks him off that ledge…

  42. 42.

    Cat Lady

    @beltane:

    There have been a couple of reluctant mentions on CNN of Obama’s Cairo speech possibly being a factor. Who knows, and I sure don’t, but funny what happens when you don’t wave your dick around and throw countries against the wall cuz you can.

  43. 43.

    Paula

    @General Stuck:

    I saw that. But … some reformers WANT Obama to manhandle Mubarak on human rights and freedom of speech abuses.

    They ask for this even while they understand that the USA’s rationale for paying a corrupt regime is based on his support for Israel.

    You can’t pick and choose how the US is going to behave in your country. Our involvement usually means bad things for everyone other than Europeans.

    I don’t understand the schizoid response here. When the Green (Twitter) Revolution was going on, most Iranians who had any sense were telling the US to stay the fuck out of it. With Egypt, the US is suddenly the bad guy for doing the exact same thing.

  44. 44.

    Alison

    @lamh32: Well, there’s really no such thing as too many Colin Firth clips, is there?

    And I agree with you 100% on his Mr. Darcy. He was uber perfecto and that version is my favorite.

  45. 45.

    Bob Loblaw

    @General Stuck:

    Actually, it shows that Obama = Bush in this case.

    Since, you know, the April 6 movement started in 2008 and apparently received covert support from both administrations. Which would fit with the Bush administration’s (failed) public call for democratic opening in Egypt starting back in 2005, after the abandonment of the neoconservative agenda post reelection.

    Careful readers would also have noticed that this information is thanks to Wikileaks, those vile criminals, who as we all know have never released any information of any importance ever before now…

  46. 46.

    beltane

    @lamh32: I agree. Colin Firth was the ultimate Mr. Darcy, so much so that I never felt the need to see the Kiera Knightly version of P&P. (Who played Mr. Darcy in that version anyway?)

  47. 47.

    lamh32

    @Alison:

    It’s interesting my love for Colin Firth started with P&P on Masterpiece Theatre. I was born a poor black chile in NOLA, and we couldn’t afford blockbuster cards, so I got all my movies from the library. At that time, the library wasn’t known for his stellar and up to date collection of VHS, but you could always count on them to have all those “for-run” from the UK and one of the first movies I saw was P&P.

    P&P is also how I found the Bridget Jones Diary series. My love for Colin has grown ever since…LOL!

  48. 48.

    lamh32

    @beltane:

    I saw it, and it was way too brooding for me compared to the TV version. Keira Knightly for me is just a poor man, skinnier, younger, with a real British accent’s Renee Zellweger.

    I honestly can’t remember who played Mr Darcy, I’d have to google that.

  49. 49.

    lamh32

    @Alison:

    I decree that there should be no limit on the Colin Firth clips.
    “So let it be written. So let it be done.”

    BTW, I realize that by posting this clip, we’ve now gone full circle back to Egypt…LOL. There’s no escaping it.

    Also BTW, does it make me a heathen, that whenever I watch the “Ten Commandments” movie, I always mesmerized by how much hotter Yul Brynner is in his “skirt” than Heston??? He’s legs are to die for!

    Am I the only who noticed that?? anyone…anyone…

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh32:

    If you haven’t seen “The King’s Speech” yet, it’s absolutely worth your $10 or whatever your local movie theaters are asking for a ticket these days. It’s not a romance, but your heart will break for him from the very first scene.

  51. 51.

    lamh32

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m off Monday, and I plan to go to my local independent theatre to see then hopefully.

    I’ve still not seen “A Simple Man”. I’m told that Firth was robbed when Jeff Bridges won for “Crazy Heart”.

    That’s going on my netflix list

  52. 52.

    J.W. Hamner

    Finished braising some pork belly in Golden Monkey, but am letting them rest over night in the braising liquid. Had a piece though, and damn is that some sinful stuff. My cholesterol probably went up a 100 points just looking at it.

  53. 53.

    General Stuck

    @Paula:

    It’s a schizoid situation. Everyone knows Mubarek is going to be gone soon, and there is a dual interest for obama and the US. While Mubarek’s iron fist rule has created a deep undercurrent of hostility, especially amongst Egypt’s 60 percent under 30 population, and inherent instability that has been brewing all those years, that we are seeing explode to the surface. Mubarek has also been an important, likely most important, factor in keeping ME peace intact regarding Israel. So it is a fine needle to thread for the US to support the reformer orgs that are mostly secular, as opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, who are a threat to that stability.

    In other words, the US has an interest in real democratic reform, but at the same time attempting to give a hand up on the non Islamisists, I suspect. I doubt it will work though, because the only other org in that country that has the organization and infrastructure to govern is the MB. So if Mubarek’s government and party falls, some sort of MB involvement in governing the county would seem likely. It all depends if Mubarek goes hardcore, or not, and whether the military follows such a solution. He is likely finished there as is his party. The Egyptians public seem quite serious in getting rid of all things Mubarek.

    And what the military does will dictate the end game. Unlike Iran, they are respected, ever since the 1953 revolution when the country chose them over the MB to govern. The ruling class have really just been a sort of benign, or disguised junta anyways. since then.

  54. 54.

    Mnemosyne

    @lamh32:

    I’ve still not seen “A Simple Man”. I’m told that Firth was robbed when Jeff Bridges won for “Crazy Heart”.

    Firth is probably going to steal the Oscar back from Bridges this year, unless the Academy suddenly decides it’s Christian Bale’s year.

  55. 55.

    Paula

    @Bob Loblaw:

    So the US interfering in Egypt is categorically *bad*? Because the party line among the True Progressives(tm) (at least on the internet) says that Obama is being an asshole for not supporting the protesters as strongly as he could.

  56. 56.

    beltane

    @lamh32: We must have similar tastes in men because I always felt that way about Yul Brenner as Pharaoh. He came across as virile on his own terms; Charlton Heston needed tools like a staff or a gun. Meh.

  57. 57.

    lamh32

    @Mnemosyne:

    Bales is for Supporting Actor though right? I’m thinking that is is Colin’s to lose, unless James Franco is a dark horse for “127 Hours”

  58. 58.

    freelancer

    @lamh32:

    A Simple Man is a very good film, with a very expertly played performance from Firth, but in no way was Bridges robbed for Crazy Heart. That movie would have blown chunks with anybody else in the role of Bad.

  59. 59.

    General Stuck

    @Bob Loblaw:

    Bush didn’t give a major speech to the Arab world with these aspirations of democratic reform as one of his first acts as president.

    Careful readers would also have noticed that this information is thanks to Wikileaks, those vile criminals, who as we all know have never released any information of any importance ever before now…

    And I have never viewed Wikileaks as vile criminals, nor advocate they be viewed as such. My problem has been with their methodology, which has been completely controlled by Assange. They (Assange) have mostly changed their methodology, which is a good thing.

  60. 60.

    lamh32

    @beltane:

    As a young girl, it never crossed my mind. No matter how much I watched “The Ten Commandments” but I was always drawn to Yul Brynner’s Ramses. It wasn’t until I became a young woman and reached “sexual puberty” that I realized why I like Ramses so much. I was jealous of the chick who played Ramses wife…lol.

    I also love Brynner in “The King and I”. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Anna did just fall in love with the king…lol!

  63. 63.

    bago

    I believe these are the birth pangs of an omniopticon, a hive mind. People who make a living off of asymmetrical information are getting scared.

  64. 64.

    Bob Loblaw

    @Paula:

    Do I speak for True Progressives? When did this happen?

    I don’t have any particular problem with the Obama approach to the Tunisia/Egypt revolutions. I was just making fun of lamh32 for being so whiny about MSNBC. It’s clearly a complicated situation.

    I was just saying that I didn’t think it was surprising that the Obama (and Bush) administrations might not be super invested in the Gamal Mubarak era, and wouldn’t see regime change as all that awful an outcome if Israeli security and stable oil prices can be guaranteed a different way. I’ve always assumed the state/defense/intelligence agencies are running so many games and doublecrosses across the globe, they can barely keep them straight. I don’t think the US truly has allies, they have corporate interests and interests alone.

  66. 66.

    Hann1bal

    For the last hour, I’ve been arguing with some guy on Twitter, and he just cited Liberal Fascism as an argument to counter Nixonland. This is after suggesting I learn history from a FreeRepublic thread.

    I’m rather stunned, actually.

  68. 68.

    And Another Thing...

    @lamh32: Oh yea, right on both Brynner & Firth. The nice boys don’t kiss like that, “oh, yes they do” line was very hot.

  71. 71.

    Svensker

    @beltane:

    If you ever want to see Yul at his most teh hawt, get The Journey, 1959, in which he plays a Soviet major. Oh. My. Gawd.

    @lamh32: you’ll like it, too!

    Charlton Heston? No S.A. atall.

  73. 73.

    matoko_chan

    Anonymous attacks!

    Anonymous Goes Old-School, Attacks Egypt With Faxes | Fast Company
    __
    Anonymous is a loose organization of hacktivists best known for attacking its enemies—both corporate and governmental—via the Internet, by defacing websites or shutting them down altogether. But with most of the Internet down in Egypt, the folks at Anonymous are apparently resorting to a positively prehistoric technology: fax machines.
    __
    Members of the group are organizing to fax copies of the Egypt-related cables that WikiLeaks released today to schools in Egypt. The hope apparently is that if they can get the faxes into the hands of students, students will distribute them to other protesters. A source told Forbes the goal was to warn them that the police could not be trusted. The WikiLeaks cables, which describe human rights abuses and political arrests, “are just more proof of that,” the source said.
    __
    In a chat room used for coordinating activities, the group also discussed how to get information into Egypt about a French ISP setting up free dial-up Internet access for people in Egypt.
    __
    Earlier this week, as protesters in Egypt took to the streets and the government appeared to start blocking social networks, websites belonging to the Egyptian cabinet, the Interior Ministry, and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology were taken offline—presumably due to denial of service attacks launched by hactivists. But the group is apparently backing off from that tactic, in order not to tie up the few Internet pipes that are still open in the country.
    __
    Earlier today, a press release was posted to the group’s website, calling on “governments of the world to take action and show the world that you are on the side of the people and their fight for freedom and democracy.” Two days ago, an Anonymous press release said the group would attack government websites. Today’s press release simply said, “We will take sides. We will support people who strive for freedom of speech, assembly and communication.”

    Stuck is trying to weasel out of BEING WRONG!
    muhahahaha

  76. 76.

    fasteddie9318

    Here, I’ll write Palin’s Facebook comment for her.

    Tonight, watching the lamestream media cover these brave Egypters and their heartfelt driving toward the great embrace of freedom’s thighs, so moved, understanding the tensingness of the crisis and conveying our sorrowfuls to the families of those so afflicted by the bullets of oppression, hoping if they so choose to refaciliamate the howling winds of freedom that will placiate those who also too are in our prayers tonight. We must never forget the wisdom of the great statesman John Bolton, advising us in these turbiolament aspects to never disutilize the need to maybe nuke all these brown people.

    /palin

  78. 78.

    Malron

    @lamh32:

    I think it’s a good one for people like me who have a sub-par knowledge of Egyptian history, aside from “The Ten Commandments” “Cleopatra” and the Bangles.

    (raises hand in shame)

  79. 79.

    Jay C

    @General Stuck:

    though none of it will compare to the fall of Sarah Palin, when Lowry barricades himself inside nro and threatens to masturbate himself to death.

    Wait a minute – I thought he’d already done that……

  80. 80.

    Steeplejack

    @lamh32:

    Boy, there were some heaving bosoms and flaring nostrils in that clip. They don’t make ’em like that any more.

  82. 82.

    Cain

    @Jay C:

    Wait a minute – I thought he’d already done that……

    So then who is barricading themselves now? Rob Zombie?

    cain

  83. 83.

    bob h

    In June, 2009, Obama gave his famous Cairo speech in which he warned Arab governments to “maintain power through consent”. And now we have this. Why aren’t people talking of an “Obama effect”?

  84. 84.

    Kirbster

    I always feel sorry for Keira Knightley when she stars in inferior remakes of classic stories. Jennifer Ehle was more convincing as Elizabeth Bennet, and it had to be a thankless task to play Lara Antipova in Zhivago, the miniseries remake of Dr. Zhivago, because Keira’s no Julie Christie.

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