Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

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

Everybody saw this coming.

Not all heroes wear capes.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

This fight is for everything.

We will not go back.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

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

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

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Reader Interactions

275Comments

  1. 1.

    Corner Stone

    Mark Kleiman is Shrill:
    “All of that said: This is a total disgrace. It shouldn’t be happening in this country. You can’t be unaware of this, Mr. President. Silence gives consent.”

  6. 6.

    Svensker

    @Corner Stone:

    That makes me so angry and very sad.

    On a completely different and dumb note:

    Is anyone else having problems at imdb.com? Page is all screwed up on two diff computers, and on Firefox and IE. Anyone know anything or have solution?

  7. 7.

    Chuck Butcher

    Ohio? FauxNews personality = Gov?

    I was raised there. I don’t remember it rising to this level of stupid, not quite – anyhow. I was gone before “Rust Belt” was applicable.

  8. 8.

    Maude

    @Svensker:
    I went over there and it was fine. I use K-Meleon.
    I have a slow connection speed and it’s a faster browser. You can block junk too.

  9. 9.

    Phyllis

    Making chili and watching All About Eve. Not paying attention to politics this weekend.

  12. 12.

    Mike in NC

    Will John “Bomb Iran” McCain be on 2 or 3 Sunday TV talk shows tomorrow, demanding American military intervention in the civil war in Libya?

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    @Corner Stone: If you had almost three-fourths of your population still living in squalid poverty, you’d be doing something about that too. Especially since there’s a perception in China that wealth equates to no consequences. We need to stop exporting all our ideals.

  14. 14.

    Mark S.

    Doug alluded to Charles Lane last night, but Christ the guy is a fucking idiot:

    This isn’t about whether public-sector workers are over or under-paid – a how-many-angels-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin question if there ever was one.

    No, that isn’t a how-many-angels-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin type of question. Next sentence:

    Plainly some are under-paid and some are over-paid, but as long as unions are in control of salaries, hiring and firing government agencies will find it difficult to compensate employees according to relatively objective indices of merit, rather than seniority.

    I thought how much public sector employees should be paid was an esoteric, waste of time question like how-many-angels-can-dance-on-the-head-of-a-pin, but now you are saying “relatively objective indices of merit,” which for a lot of jobs, is bullshit.

    The rest of the column is about dick pills, with lots of double entendres that wouldn’t make Beavis and Butthead laugh. Lane says the cost of these dick pills for 10,000 employees is around $200,000. I would imagine insuring 10,000 employees (and their families) costs somewhere around $100 million. So who the fuck cares?

  18. 18.

    JGabriel

    Politico via Rachel Maddow/HuffPo:

    GEORGE WILL PESSIMISTIC ABOUT GOP IN 2012 — Sunday column: “[S]ensible Americans … must … be detecting vibrations of weirdness emanating from people associated with the party. … The most recent vibrator is Mike Huckabee …

    Worst. Sex Toy. Ever.

    Seriously. The remainder bins at Adam & Eve’s are chock full of Mike Huckabees.

    .

  19. 19.

    gnomedad

    @Corner Stone:

    Even China is more concerned about wealth inequality than we in the States are

    Of course the dirty commies are more concerned with wealth inequality than we are.

  23. 23.

    Montysano

    Mrs. Monty and I are gearing up for John Prine and Emmylou Harris tonight. We like them both, but would have never paid $80.00 each for tickets. However, some well-to-do friends decided to stay home, and gave us their tickets. If I can hear a few songs from Wrecking Ball, I’ll be a happy camper.

  24. 24.

    jazzgurl

    I am having a ball as it is Carnival time in Trinidad and Tobago. Parties,food, drinks galore, and, I shall be one of the revellers out on the streets dancing in costume on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, out tonight, Sunday for Dimanche Gras and to the beach to cool down for ASH WEDNESDAY.
    Yep,I am enjoying the fun ,sun and masquerade in T and T.
    Enjoy the weekend everyone!

  26. 26.

    RossInDetroit

    Crummy weather. Snowing again, as well as melting. I’ll just quote my wife here:

    ya KNOW…NOT that I’m complaining, & YES, it could be worse, it could all be ice, but it’s Pretty Danged Bad when the water on the sidewalk has a CURRENT.

  27. 27.

    khead

    This muralis awesome.

    The guy also painted the water tanks in my hometown. My wife and I took picsof the tanks a whike back but I have no idea how to post them…

  28. 28.

    Mark S.

    I’m picking up good vibrations
    Huck’s giving me excitations

    Yeah, that’s just disgusting.

  29. 29.

    Svensker

    @RossInDetroit:

    it’s Pretty Danged Bad when the water on the sidewalk has a CURRENT.

    We walked into town (love doing that!) to see Adjustment Bureau and spent the first half hour of the movie warming up our wet long johns and soggy feet. Positively dripping.

    Good movie, though.

  31. 31.

    Mike Kay (Chief of Staff)

    Gawd, the Firebaggers are having a major freak meltdown on this page. Did they get their cars towed again for expired tags?

    Guys, chill. You’ve reached peak venom. Start conserving your hate, you’ve got a long ways to go. Obama still has 6 more years in office. That’s a lot of expired tags and towed cars.

  33. 33.

    Yutsano

    @RossInDetroit: I don’t recommend relocation to Seattle then. That sort of thing happens quite frequently here, and I’d just as soon not contribute to the divorce rate in this country.

  36. 36.

    RossInDetroit

    @Svensker:

    My wife took Doglius Maximus out for walkies. He’s in his shaggy winter coat and absorbs slush like a little white sponge. Loves the outdoors, hates the bathtub.
    It’s been an ugly day. Heavy overcast and temp hovering around freezing. Plenty of snow coming down to keep the dirty remnants of the last blizzard company.
    I’m staying in, TYVM.

  42. 42.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: U no haz the chillins. They won’t take you seriously unless you’ve been married for decades and haz the chillins.

    Oh wait. This is a mad money kind of thing huh?

  45. 45.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Yutsano: You and I are adopting. I realized late in life that I really wanted to be a mother, and there are so many needy children out there.

    No. My plan is even more nefarious, but you will have to wait and read all about it in my next blog post.

  49. 49.

    srv

    @Tim:

    Kind of wondering why this has hardly been mentioned on BJ the last couple of days. Are the Obots cool with this?

    The juicerati was pointing out all the material Obama has to read, all that economic and FP stuff we’ll see no action on, so he doesn’t have any time to read up Padilla Jr.

  50. 50.

    Dee Loralei

    I bet you couldn’t pull it off with a straight face either. Hell, Yutsy won’t be able to stop snickering as you sashay down the aisle. Y’all will be crying and snorting as you say your vows. There won’t be a dry eye in the house!

    God, please tell me I can come!

  52. 52.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Dee Loralei: You forget, my dear Dee Loralei, that I was an ACTOR in my previous life. I could SO pull it off. And, of course you are invited. All Juicers are!*

    *BYOB ‘coz I know how you Juicers drink. Yutsy is an ebbil gubmint, yes, but he needs to keep me in the manner to which I’m accustomed.

  55. 55.

    asiangrrlMN

    Oh, fuck you, Word Press. I did not say any of the naughty words.

    @Dee Loralei: I acted in a former life. I could do it. And, all BJers are invited!*

    *But there will be drink cap. Yutsy is not made of money, you know, and he has to keep me in the manner to which I’m accustomed.

  57. 57.

    JPL

    @Tim: My problem is what to believe. If the latest is true, then that’s obviously torture but I haven’t heard any comments from his lawyer. Do you have any links?
    Certainly not first hand information but I’ll repeat what I heard some think he could have endangered more than agents.

    Edit..He should not have been sent overseas. He probably wasn’t healthy enough for the service..imo..

  59. 59.

    soonergrunt

    I know if Manning’s current situation is as his lawyer describes it–and I’ve got no reason to doubt his truthfulness in the matter–then it is wrong morally, and most likely legally, too.
    And no, Obama can’t comment on Manning’s case at all. There’s a concept in military law called Unlawful Command Influence, which essentially refers to any effort by the Accused’s chain of command, or the appearance of such effort, to influence the outcome of a Court-Martial preceding. UCI has been referred to as “the mortal enemy of the military justice system.”
    Due to the inherently political nature of the President’s position, just about ANY position he takes with respect to a Court-Martial is, or can be UCI.
    The proper people to question about Manning’s treatment is the Commander, MCB Quantico, and his/her superiors in the Brig Commander’s chain of command.

  63. 63.

    Dee Loralei

    @asiangrrlMN: Oh goody, now I’ll have to find something as fervently patriotic and nationalistic to wear to the nuptials.

    Is the wedding march going to be something by Sousa? First dance to Lee Greenwood? Apple or Cherry pie wedding cake? Will the groomsmen have swords or six shooters? And what of the bouquets? True Blue flowers are hard to find. How about sparklers being lit instead of candles? ( Though, no eternal flame with sparklers)

    As you can see, I am so alllllllll over this idea LOL.

  70. 70.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Dee Loralei: The wedding march will be the most patriotic song ever, this song. This will be the wedding cake. The colors will be red, white, and blue, obs, and the bridesmaid will wear red while the groomsmen wear blue.

    You hear that, Yutsy? Plus, he has Marine friends, so maybe he can get some guns and shit from them.

  73. 73.

    soonergrunt

    @Yutsano, 65 and Temp Max McGee, 66:

    There is a forensic psyciatrist available for consult within 24 hours, which is what the Navy’s regulations require. This current thing has been going on for three days now.
    The problematic part is that his current level of surveillance seems to be the full suicide watch without dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. I suspect (personally, with no visibility other than the news) that the full suicide watch hasn’t been declared because that would trigger a mandatory inspection by the forensic psychiatrist, who would presumably say that whatever else Manning may be, he’s not an immediate suicide risk.
    Having said that, I note that there was an Accused in pre-trial confinement last year, a USMC Captain, who killed himself in his cell by forcing toilet paper down his own airway. Manning is the most famous PTC in the military, and his mental stability is at issue. I can’t imagine the screaming and carrying on that would take place if he were hurt or were to harm or kill himself.

  76. 76.

    BGinCHI

    Michael Moore was at the Madison rally today.

    Anyone go??

    Fucking weather is terrible today.

  80. 80.

    asiangrrlMN

    @wolvesvalley: Evelyn gave this update at the end of the thread. Then, on the FB page, she updated with this:

    Lady Bassett had her surgery this morning. All went extremely well! No connection to muscles, so her recovery will be much the same as regular spay (which was done also)She will be picked up this afternoon by an experienced and caring foster til time to go to rescue. THANKS to all!

    So, things went very well!

    @Yutsano: By the way, I am expecting a certain onyx ring as my engagement ring. Just sayin’.

  82. 82.

    Dee Loralei

    @asiangrrlMN: That song is hideous. I could only listen to about a minute of it before my ears started bleeding.

    This is going to be the most tastefully sublime wedding ever!

  85. 85.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Dee Loralei: Every time I need to find it, I just type in “Worst Patriotic Song” into Google, and it’s in the top ten links.

    I think I’ll make my bridesmaids dress as the Statue of Liberty. Drink of choice? Four Loko, of course. Man. this is gonna be awe-sum!

    Yusty, pull out your checkbook.

  88. 88.

    soonergrunt

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Coombs is the Defense Counsel. He’s supposed to do everything legal and ethical to provide his client with the most aggressive defense possible. This is a good thing.

    Considering that more charges, including Aiding the Enemy (referred NON-capital) have just been added to his client, he’s got to work pretty hard at this point.
    The Aiding the Enemy spec is interesting. I (non lawyer that I am) presume that the Trial Counsel intends to introduce evidence that the Taliban killed one or more of the Afghan people named in the reports that were released by Wikileaks and that Manning had substantial reason to believe that would happen. To date, according to the Army, as reported in the Army Times, there are over a hundred people whose names were in the publicly released reports who are now missing. The Army has offered to shelter or move over a thousand people, according to the Army Times.

  89. 89.

    asiangrrlMN

    @stuckinred: Heh. Very funny. OK. Swords or whatever. This is gonna be the Most Patriotic Wedding(TM) ever!

    @Yutsano: Yes. We are having a traditional/patriotic wedding here. Hm. Maybe you should dress up as Uncle Sam.

  90. 90.

    Yutsano

    @BGinCHI: I’m trying to figure out where I fit on that chart, since I’m a DFH and a baseball fan. Maybe it’s too much for me to grok.

  93. 93.

    stuckinred

    One of the charmers at the Yorba Linda hate fest, a real badass:

    This is one of the charming elected officials at the event. There is no great scum than a phony vet in my opinion:

    Congressman Gary Miller:
    “In June 2010 facts came to surface and were made that Miller inflated his military service, stating that he had served from 1967–1968 and implying he served in Vietnam when he only spent 7 weeks in boot camp and then was discharged.”

  94. 94.

    drkrick

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):

    “Pfc. Bradley Manning’s civilian lawyer, David Coombs, said in a blog post that his client’s clothing was taken away at night after Manning commented that if he wanted to harm himself, he could do it with “the elastic waistband of his underwear or with his flip-flops.”

    Listening to Roy Buchanan, which gives a bit of different spin to jailhouse suicides. I doubt they’re really worried about Manning though, this is clearly another excuse to bust his chops.

    If he’d ever seen this, he’d have known better than to make that observation:

    http://xkcd.com/651/

  97. 97.

    matoko_chan

    This is an open thread right, John Cole?

    I’m so sorry, but I just cant resist this.
    Where is my hattip, you useless glibertarian wanker?

    Do you want to see how its done?
    Behold how a glibertarian turns Heckman’s social justice for early childhood poverty premise into More Glorious Free Market Solutions.

    Education is an investment, and it pays off in the long run. The more money we spend on education now, the less we spend on prisons later. A more educated populace makes more money, uses fewer government services, and pays more taxes. They also invest their money in private companies, buy more goods, and spend more money overall. Every dollar spent on education translates into two dollars of savings in prison costs alone [pdf].
    __
    It’s time to make universal pre-K education a reality. We can start small, working from the poor neighborhoods out. We could allow private preschools to become charters, and we could fund the creation of public preschools as well. The money spent now would be a generational stimulus, saving our kids billions of dollars down the road. It’s a shame the political will for this sort of investment is simply nonexistent.

    “Fix the schools” is a free market solution. That can simply never work, because the problem is parental SES and parental involvement.
    And the only fix for those problems is social justice.

  102. 102.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @drkrick:

    Haven’t made it down to soonergrunt yet, huh?

    Having said that, I note that there was an Accused in pre-trial confinement last year, a USMC Captain, who killed himself in his cell by forcing toilet paper down his own airway. Manning is the most famous PTC in the military, and his mental stability is at issue. I can’t imagine the screaming and carrying on that would take place if he were hurt or were to harm or kill himself.

    Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

  103. 103.

    stuckinred

    Listen to this shit, he did 7 weeks of basic and went home:

    “It has been a tremendous honor to have served in the U.S. Army,” Miller wrote in a comment that accompanied the section about him, which said he was a private in 1967. “The American people owe their freedom and liberties to those who serve in the armed forces. They are indebted to those who have made the ultimate sacrifices for their country in previous world conflicts.” He added, “The leadership skills which I experienced in the U.S. Army allow me to take the lead on issues which promote a stronger defense.”

  104. 104.

    Mike in NC

    @stuckinred:

    “The American people owe their freedom and liberties to those who serve in the armed forces. They are indebted to those who have made the ultimate sacrifices for their country in previous world conflicts.”

    Didn’t John Boehner do a couple of weeks in Navy boot camp and then got out due to some complaint about having a bad back? Does he call himself a vet as a result?

  105. 105.

    burnspbesq

    @Tim:

    Are the Obots cool with this?

    Not hardly. But understand that Bradley Manning isn’t your best choice for poster boy. He disgraced his uniform and fucked his country in a big way.

  106. 106.

    soonergrunt

    @stuckinred: Exactly what leadership skills did he learn in basic training? 7 weeks isn’t even graduating basic.
    The only things I learned in basic was to keep my head and eyes forward and level and my mouth shut and if you do enough push-ups in a short enough time followed by enough sit-ups in a short enough time, you will vomit more material than you thought possible, farther than you thought possible, for longer than you thought possible.
    But I fail to see how either of those things are leadership skills.
    If he washed out of Basic Training in the late sixties, with Viet Nam going on, and the Army having a desperate need for warm bodies, that should tell you quite a lot about him. He was either a criminal, or mentally ill, or of sub-normal intelligence to the point that he was untrainable.

  107. 107.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    It is noticeably brighter out despite the snow. Some spring birds in the park and the kingfisher was announcing his return all around the pond. A few little diving ducks I did not recognize.
    Plus, backyard rabbit gets serenaded with Ace Frehly’s “Snow Blind.” Adapted: I’m Snow Bun/I can’t see a thing/I’m Snow Bun…

  108. 108.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I will wear this.

    That looks like the dress my granddaughter wore when she married Mitt Romney’s youngest son Craig. He wore a matching tuxedo, with the blue stripes down his legs which made him seem taller and which camouflaged his leg braces very well.

    Of course it was a Mormon wedding, so she had to put her dress on after the ceremonial parts of the wedding, so she didn’t get pig blood on it.

    Unfortunately the marriage didn’t last. It’s so disappointing to get to your wedding night and find out that your husband only has a carefully moulded plastic bump, rather than operational genitalia.

  109. 109.

    burnspbesq

    38 minutes until we roll into Chapel Hell and drink the Tarholes’ milkshakes.

  110. 110.

    JGabriel

    @Zifnab:

    Not one for “I love Huckabees”, I gather?

    Heh. Love the film, primarily because I love Isabelle Huppert.

    But when you prefix Huckabee with Mike, suddenly it loses all its attraction. Like how burn is all sexy’n’shit when prefaced with Katherine Hep or Audrey Hep, but not so much when it’s prefaced with Rug.

    .

  112. 112.

    BGinCHI

    @soonergrunt: When you lead with your mouth from the rear you really don’t need anything other than self-righteousness.

    And maybe corporate funding.

  113. 113.

    matoko_chan

    @BGinCHI: I wanted to see if there was any reaction to Anne Lauries post.
    EDK is studiously ignoring it at both Forbes and the LoOG.
    Like he ignored DougJ’s epic trolling of the LoOGies with “Two Questions for Conservatives”.
    Except I’m certain that is where he got the idea to spin Heckman’s work into another Awesome Glibertarian Free Market Solution.
    He wouldn’t dare try it here.
    I have gutted far better arguments at the Glibertarian Hivemind (TAS).
    Like I said….EDK is no Jim Manzi.

  115. 115.

    stuckinred

    @Mike in NC: “Graduating from Moeller in 1968, when U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War was at its peak, Boehner enlisted in the United States Navy but was honorably discharged after eight weeks because of a bad back.”

  121. 121.

    stuckinred

    @JGabriel: Best Isabelle line ever from the Amateur :

    Thomas: How can you be a nymphomaniac and never had sex?
    Isabelle: I’m choosy.

  124. 124.

    Corner Stone

    @soonergrunt:

    Having said that, I note that there was an Accused in pre-trial confinement last year, a USMC Captain, who killed himself in his cell by forcing toilet paper down his own airway.

    I’d like to read more about the circumstances surrounding that event. I’ve tried a couple quick googles but nothing relevant except for Andy pimping it at crooksandliars.
    Could you suggest a source I can read more?

  125. 125.

    matoko_chan

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall: I always wondered, how do you get pig blood out of that itchy Mormon underwear?

    Because I had some good riding buddies that were Jack Mormons, and their Dad was an Elder in the Church, and one time after a cattle drive they all rode their horses into the Cowboy Bar in Jackson Hole and Brigham’s horse got a little spooked from all the bar glass and reared and smashed his poll against Brigham’s nose….and it bled out a gusher all over his chest.

    Of course some bloodstains on a shirt are very cowboylike, but that mormon underwear with all the bloodstains on it scared all the local working girls so bad that they started to call him the Ripper, and he wound up not being able to get any dates at all.

  126. 126.

    Svensker

    @burnspbesq:

    But understand that Bradley Manning isn’t your best choice for poster boy. He disgraced his uniform and fucked his country in a big way.

    I disagree, but he could be Attila the Hun crossed with Quisling and in the American system — whether government or military — he should be treated with dignity. The accused’s likability has no bearing on his treatment.

    If they believe he is a suicide risk, then they should do the proper things to address that risk. If not, he should not be forced to stand naked in front of other humans.

    Americans now consider humiliating prisoners as a good — or at least neutral — thing. For shame.

  129. 129.

    stuckinred

    @Svensker:

    “now consider humiliating prisoners”

    Uh, prisoners have been getting humiliated ever since there were prisoners.

  131. 131.

    soonergrunt

    @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): and following from my last, it is appropriate to refer to Mr. Coombs as Mr. Coombs in this context. He was hired as a civilian by PFC Manning.

    I don’t know what will happen if Mr. Coombs’ Annual Training period comes up during the trial timeframe, but I’m assuming that with military lawyers, they’ve run into this before, so there’s a work-around or accommodation built into the system at this point. Perhaps he’ll wear his Service Dress, and not charge Manning for those two weeks, but since his reserve billet is as an instructor, and not as Defense Counsel, I assume that they’ll shuffle his AT around.

  132. 132.

    matoko_chan

    @burnspbesq:

    He disgraced his uniform and fucked his country in a big way.

    Not according to anyone but you and soonergrunt.
    I think he is a hero.

  134. 134.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @asiangrrlMN & Mr asiangrrlMN aka Yutsano: I have a solution to your adoption problem. You can adopt one of my basenjis. They are bright, charming and authentically African american (Shiva is from Poinette WI! Go Union!).

    As a bonus they are not Kenyan! Congolese. Their anti-colonial animus is directed solely at the Belgians. Most Americans, I would bet, don’t even know what a “Belgium” is. So you’ve got that going for you.

  137. 137.

    Triassic Sands

    @Mark S.:

    “relatively objective indices of merit,”

    You know, like the employees the boss likes most. What could be more objective than than?

  138. 138.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Yutsano: Hell. No. That would ruin the line of my purty wedding dress. It’s MY day. Sob sob. It’s all about memememememememmememee!

    This will be the “Just Got Married” song.

    @Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Dude. Keep up. I’m trying to be all ‘Murikan here. A Congolese dog who hates the Belgium simply will not do. I will have to adopt an English bulldog.

  139. 139.

    Triassic Sands

    @khead:

    What the hell happened to edit? Hello?

    I’m wondering the same thing. On several occasions recently I have tried to edit a comment and all I got was a blank black screen. (I’m using Firefox.)

  140. 140.

    Anne Laurie

    @soonergrunt:

    The only things I learned in basic was to keep my head and eyes forward and level and my mouth shut and if you do enough push-ups in a short enough time followed by enough sit-ups in a short enough time, you will vomit more material than you thought possible, farther than you thought possible, for longer than you thought possible.
    __
    But I fail to see how either of those things are leadership skills.

    The self-styled Masters of the Universe have their ‘frat rush’ to develop those very same skills, I’m told.

    If they make the advanced Skull & Bones level, they also practice the shamelessness about sexual perversity that has become essential for modern Republican political office.

  142. 142.

    stuckinred

    @Triassic Sands: Right click on the edit thang and go to open in new window. Do the deep and it will tell you when it’s complete. Close the window, refresh browser.

  146. 146.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @matoko_chan:

    I always wondered, how do you get pig blood out of that itchy Mormon underwear?

    Bathing in bleach, apparently.

  147. 147.

    Yutsano

    @stuckinred:

    Do the deep

    Ya know, I went to my friend’s wedding in Atlanta, and I never heard this turn of phrase down Georgia way. :)

  149. 149.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @asiangrrlMN: What could be more ‘Murikan than my melting pot of barely contained basenji resentment?

    And talk about “sense of entitlement,” these guys wrote the book. Always with the “we’re hungry, we’re thisty, pat us! pat us!” They’ve never worked a damn day in their lives.

    @BGinCHI: You will never pass as “most americans” with your fancy fries and beer.

  150. 150.

    scav

    Right click and open in a new tab or window is practically a rotating tag line by now.

    ETA: We could use it and FYWP as password and countersign in case of emergency.

  151. 151.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @asiangrrlMN:

    You’re British!

    I was born in the Jersey Islands, but moved to the United States shortly after that when my father was transferred to the British Embassy in Washington during the Hoover administration.

  152. 152.

    JGabriel

    @stuckinred: Also a big Hal Hartley fan. I’ve always been kind of surprised that he hasn’t been more successful in this country. Hartley gets by comfortably enough, I’m sure, but he never seems to get either the popular or critical recognition he deserves — not the way Demme, Soderbergh, and PT Anderson have, for example.

    .

  159. 159.

    asiangrrlMN

    @stuckinred: The Bohdi is not an American Eskimo Dog!

    @JGabriel: DUDE! ALL BJs welcome! Er, you know what I mean. I just have to decide what the most Americanist city in the country is and book a Megachurch. Can you mix music?

  160. 160.

    BGinCHI

    @stuckinred: Ort will do anything to get someone to talk to him.

    Scrawled on the dumpster by my garage is the poetic:

    Lionel Ritchie

    4

    Evuh

  163. 163.

    soonergrunt

    @Corner Stone:
    From the Marine Corpse Times:
    Feb 4, 2010:

    A Marine captain awaiting a court-martial for defrauding the government was found dead from an apparent suicide Sunday in the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., brig, base officials said…

    His name was Captain Michael Webb.
    The tidbit about swallowing toilet paper I picked up from somewhere recently and cannot confirm it through independent research–I shouldn’t have put it in. I haven’t found out how Capt Webb killed himself.

  164. 164.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @asiangrrlMN: Gah! He’s too cute. I want two.

    Pro-tip: Maybe call him David Duke (white power, geddit?). A dog whistle that is itself a dog..

    ugh. too post modern. think i’d better lie down.

  167. 167.

    soonergrunt

    @matoko_chan: Actually, I think he’s merely charged with acts that disgraced his uniform and fucked his country. The Trial Counsel has to prove that in court.
    As to your assertion that he’s a hero, stupid people said the same thing about William Calley. Color me unimpressed.

  169. 169.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @Yutsano: Say what? I thought the bride’s fam had to pony up.

    If this is the way it’s going to be you’d better get an iron clad pre-nup.

  171. 171.

    soonergrunt

    @Corner Stone: It seems I got the story of the Navy Petty Officer in PTC crossed up with Captain Webb’s.
    On another note, when I clicked the link you provided from huffpo on the navy guy, there in the middle of the story, was a picture of John Boehner with a really creepy expression on his face, right in the middle of the story about the guy killing himself.
    That just wasn’t right, man.

  177. 177.

    Anne Laurie

    @soonergrunt:

    Having said that, I note that there was an Accused in pre-trial confinement last year, a USMC Captain, who killed himself in his cell by forcing toilet paper down his own airway.

    Can’t address the specifics of the incident you mention without further details, but I’m compelled to note that “suicides” of troublesome prisoners are a standard tactic of authoritarian regimes, and doesn’t even require direct instructions from above. If some doubleplusungood nonperson insists on making trouble even when humanely restrained for his own and the public’s good, can the humblest jailer honestly be blamed for over-enthusiastically enforcing compliance?

    Of course, if the enforcement later becomes politically unpopular (so fickle, the larger public!) that same humble jailer makes an excellent scapegoat in turn… see Lynndie England for one example.

    Whatever you think about the “crime” for which Manning has been incarcerated, it’s pretty clear he’s being made into Jose Padilla Jr, partially out of the same governmental ineptitude that permitted someone to release those files to Wikileaks in the first place, partially out of ‘patriotism’, and partially as the method of public-awareness education the Chinese call “kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys“. On my more Eeyorish days, I foresee a date shortly after Obama’s second inaugural when it is announced that half-a-dozen PfCs have been charged with grossly mishandling their assigned duties in the matter of the late Bradley Manning, and that further pursuing this unfortunate incident would only endanger our brave troops in the ongoing war against Eastasia.

  181. 181.

    JGabriel

    @stuckinred:

    I saw him in the ATL for his “Pay The Rent” tour.

    I’ve seen Thompson several times, always solo. The best shows were probably in Central Park, and at The Bottom Line, where Dave Alvin, and someone else — maybe Yo La Tengo (acoustic circa Fakebook) — opened for him.

    .

  184. 184.

    Jim, Once

    @Montysano: Omigod. I am so jealous. I’ve seen Prine live nine times now – but NEVER with Emmylou. We did see Dropkick Murphys last night, however. They dropkick ass. And it’s kinda fun going to concerts like that when you’re 65. All the youngsters ask questions like, “How did you ever manage to show up here?” or make statements like, “Gosh, I hope I’m like you when I’m old.”

  188. 188.

    soonergrunt

    @Anne Laurie: That’s one of the more paranoid things I’ve read in a long time.
    There’s really no answering it, because there is no common frame of reference.

  190. 190.

    JGabriel

    stuckinred:

    I didn’t quite get No Such Thing.

    What’s not to get? It’s a modern fairy tale about a monster who wants to die and the innocent who helps him. Admittedly, it goes off the rails a little bit during the mid-section in NYC, but the parts set in Iceland are all beautiful.

    Plus Julie Christie, Helen Mirren, Sarah Polley, Annika Peterson and Erica Gimpel. What’s not to love?

    .

  191. 191.

    stuckinred

    @JGabriel: That’s why I was disappointed, I wanted to but just didn’t. It’s like unions, I want to like them but I just don’t!

  192. 192.

    Jim, Once

    @BGinCHI: Yeah, son, wife, and one-year-old daughter. Got the pictures – still waiting on the opinion of Moore’s speech.

  195. 195.

    wolvesvalley

    @asiangrrlMN: Many thanks! I saw Evelyn’s update at the end of the thread saying that BJers had chipped in enough (and more) to cover the surgery, but I didn’t see the Facebook report on the outcome. I’m so glad to know that Lady will be all right.

  197. 197.

    JGabriel

    @stuckinred:

    It’s like unions, I want to like them but I just don’t!

    Hmm. (Determines to shun stuckinred going forward.)

    How can you not like unions? That’s like kicking puppies or praising billionaires.

    .

  198. 198.

    asiangrrlMN

    @stuckinred: I’ve never seen it! I’m behind in my Dame Mirren watching. I’m trying to get her and Alan Rickman to host the Oscars next year. That would be awesome. For me.

    @wolvesvalley: No problem. Many of us were on pins and needles for sweet Lady.

  199. 199.

    stuckinred

    @JGabriel: I know, we had a big tussle about it the other day. I said I supported what was going on in Wisconsin. It’s a visceral reaction rooted in the right-wing-rah-rah pro Vietnam war stance of big labor. Some shit I just can’t let go.

  200. 200.

    WaterGirl

    Wow. Someone last evening posted the Act Blue link to Recall the Republican 8 and mentioned they had raised 25,000 in one day. By the time I read the post a couple hours later and went to donate, they had already raised 35,000, and now they are up to 49,000 of the 80,000 they are aiming for.

  201. 201.

    RedKitten

    I’m trying to get her and Alan Rickman to host the Oscars next year. That would be awesome. For me.

    I’m trying to get Alan Rickman to come over to my place in his pajamas and watch the Oscars with me.

  203. 203.

    Jim, Once

    @stuckinred: Get over it . Let it go. Listen to my little granddaughter sing “Union Maid.” Well … I can’t post it here … but just imagine an 18 month old doing that.

  205. 205.

    JGabriel

    asiangrrlMN:

    You said Helen Mirren. I’m there!

    Have you seen any Hal Hartley films before? They tend to be an acquired taste. Not violent or anything like that, just very formalistic and mannered. Godard is an obvious influence.

    @stuckinred:

    That’s why I was disappointed …

    BTW, it’s better on a second viewing. Of course, if you’ve already seen it twice and still don’t like it, that’s fine too. It certainly isn’t Hartley’s best film, but I think it’s a little underrated.

    .

  208. 208.

    JPL

    @Anne Laurie: It appears that Manning was having problems before he was arrested. His situation is horrific but I don’t really know what happened.
    I also don’t know what type of risk he is to himself.

  209. 209.

    stuckinred

    @Jim, Once: Sorry, nevah hoopin GI. It’s in the gut. Just like Jim Webb, I don’t give a fuck about 90% of his votes. It’s personal.

  210. 210.

    stuckinred

    @Corner Stone:

    abor history’s missing pieces are particularly obvious. Over the years the field has produced countless fine studies of relatively small unions operating in out-of-the-way places. But there is still no book on the largest labor organization in American history, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (afl-cio) of the 1950s and 1960s, nor is there a scholarly biography of its immensely powerful long-time president, George Meany. The problem is largely political: labor historians love militants, and Meany’s afl-cio was about as conservative as a labor organization gets. Edmund F. Wehrle’s Between a River and a Mountain begins to fill the gap by exploring one key example of the afl-cio’s conservatism: the federation’s unstinting support for the American war in Vietnam.

  212. 212.

    stuckinred

    More

    The biggest single factor in the latter perception was AFL-CIO president George Meany’s support for Lyndon Johnson and his war policies. Labor spoke with a monolithic voice. Worse, Labor spoke with a Neanderthal voice. In May of 1965, Meany declared that the AFL-CIO would support the war in Vietnam “no matter what the academic do-gooders may say, no matter what the apostles of appeasement may say.” He further argued that those who criticized the war were “victims of Communist propaganda.” (20-21) From organized Labor, no other voice was audible.

  213. 213.

    Jim, Once

    @stuckinred: Well…I’m with you on the Webb thingie, but unions? My husband hated unions, just like you, back in the late sixties/early seventies, until I managed to convince him that as a member of the National Education Association, he was a union maid himself. He fought it for a long time (“I belong to a PROFESSIONAL association, dammit!”), but now could not be a bigger union supporter.

  216. 216.

    stuckinred

    @Corner Stone: What can I tell you? There are some things I’ll never let go of but you really have no idea what I have let go now do you? I guess they have a app that you can run so you don’t have to read what I write.

  217. 217.

    JGabriel

    @stuckinred:

    It’s a visceral reaction rooted in the right-wing-rah-rah pro Vietnam war stance of big labor.

    Ah. I’m just young enough, mid-40’s, to have missed out on the anti-hippie variant of unionism that was prevalent in the late 60’s. By the time I hit my mid-teens, unions were just groups of people binding together to protect their wages and benefits, Reagan was president, and they were already on the wane.

    .

  218. 218.

    El Cid

    There’s always a danger that it will be the ultra-right which moves to economic populism versus the liberal-left. Danger, in that it brings along the ultra-right, rather than just the economics.

    And it’s about scams. But I worry that people will hear about the house occupations and not what these hucksters are all about.

    FBI: ‘Sovereign citizen’ cases on the rise
    __
    Federal authorities are seeing an increase in the number of foreclosed and unoccupied homes in metro Atlanta being seized by members of an anti-government group.
    __
    “I’m not sure I can connect it with the economy, but we’ve seen a surge of these in the last year, in particular,” Stephen Emmett, special agent in the Atlanta field office of the FBI, said Saturday. Emmet said federal and local authorities increasingly are running into confrontations with members of a sect known as “sovereign citizens.”
    __
    “They’re expanding throughout the Metro Atlanta area,” Emmett said…
    __
    On Friday, Clayton County SWAT was called to a foreclosed home near Riverdale where a couple had been living illegally. SWAT members surrounded the house after getting reports the people inside had threatened violence against anyone who approached the house.
    __
    Gideon Israel and his wife, Deborah, had been living illegally in the bank-owned, gray stucco house on Stimson way near Riverdale in the northwest part of Clayton County for a while and had submitted reams of fraudulent paperwork to county officials to try to block the eviction, according to Major Jeff Mitchell, who heads the enforcement division for the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office.
    __
    The Israels were not charged and left without incident. Shortly after, cleanup crews for the bank put furniture and other belongings on the lawn and boarded up the house.
    __
    Mitchell said the Riverdale couple is believed to part of the sovereign citizen sect. County law enforcement had a similar incident a month ago of a man living in a home who claimed to be a member of the sect. Last year county police stopped a guy claiming to be a sovereign citizen and found more than $300 billion in fake bonds in his car.
    __
    “We’re trying to identify other sovereign citizen cases in the county,” Mitchell said, noting local law enforcement is working with the FBI to target group members.
    __
    Emmett said sect members believe they are above the law, as evidenced by the shooting death of two police officers in West Memphis, Ark., last year. Officers there were making a traffic stop.
    __
    Group members don’t believe courts have juridisction over them. They don’t believe in paying taxes or having driver’s licenses or car tags.
    __
    They do, however, believe abandoned properties are ripe for the taking. They often use quit-claim deeds to take over properties and as soon as they move in post trespassing signs warning people to stay off the property…
    __
    …The Riverdale incident is among at least two dozen area incidents of home takeovers by the sovereign citizens, including a $1 million home in south DeKalb County seized by the sect last year.
    __
    Authorities say the sect has taken over 20 metro Atlanta properties, including a shopping center. The group believes banks can’t own land or property and that any home owned by a bank — including the thousands of foreclosed properties throughout Georgia — are theirs for the taking. Emmett said he also knows of cases where sect members have taken over homes being refurbished.
    __
    The FBI has listed Sovereign Citizens as a domestic terrorist organization. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which also tracks the group, estimates the sect numbers more than 300,000 nationwide in such places as Georgia, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia.

    The ultra-right is about a lot of stuff — but they’re also about making money from anyone they can take it from.

    They make fake paper money and bullshit ‘certificates’ and ‘buy’ land or whatever from poor saps who accept their fairy fake currency.

    There are some people involved in this movement in the spirit of separatist anarchism, etc. But that’s not who’s driving this. This isn’t even about people needing homes occupying empty ones — though there are a number of those.

    It’s about a religious fundamentalist, right wing anti-government movement which holds not only is there no government authority empowered to control them, but that they are sovereign enough to decide when, say, deadly force is necessary.

  219. 219.

    Anne Laurie

    @soonergrunt:

    That’s one of the more paranoid things I’ve read in a long time.

    Hell, I hope it’s paranoia, but then, Glenn Beck’s a multi-millionaire while you & I are spending our Saturday evening doing this for no money. At least neither of us are on POI watch… that I know of. (/tongue severely in cheek)

  220. 220.

    RedKitten

    @Jim, Once: He’s well. He was pretty sick all last week, poor little dude. Bad bronchial infection. Ate no solids, and hardly drank anything for about three days. He’s on antibiotics and a puffer, and is doing much better today. Husband and I are sick as well, and our dishwasher was on the fritz last week, so it was officially a Week From Hell.

  222. 222.

    soonergrunt

    @Anne Laurie: Considering that paranoia is what Beck sells, maybe you should tweak your message.
    The world I live in isn’t perfect. There are real problems, and some of the people charged with fixing those problems are causing them instead. But it’s also a world that’s not going to shit, either, and the overwhelmingly vast majority of people out there are trying to do the right thing, the right way, put some food on the table and save up for retirement, a new car, and a nice vacation every now and then.

  223. 223.

    Yutsano

    @El Cid: Those are the kinds of folks revenue officers drool over. Cause by the time we get a hold of them we can pretty much turn their lives upside down. I actually talked to someone like that, it was fun now that I think about it. I want him to call again just so I can REALLY get up in his grill.

  224. 224.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    @Anne Laurie:

    Whatever you think about the “crime” for which Manning has been incarcerated, it’s pretty clear he’s being made into Jose Padilla Jr, partially out of the same governmental ineptitude that permitted someone to release those files to Wikileaks in the first place, partially out of ‘patriotism’, and partially as the method of public-awareness education the Chinese call “kill a chicken to frighten the monkeys“.

    You’re leaving out military discipline, something you can’t ignore, especially when Manning voluntarily signed up. Did he think he was in the Peace Corps recruiting office?

  227. 227.

    Corner Stone

    @stuckinred: I’ve never seen anyone with such obsessive recall of things that happened pre 1980s. I’m serious, you should write a memoir.
    Call it, Get Yo Ass Back Here!: Shit that happened, you remember?

  230. 230.

    stuckinred

    @Corner Stone: Why is it obsessive. I have a good memory in many areas, sports, rock and roll (especially lyrics), what I have read, and most of all personal experiences. I can give you details of fishing in Mexico, hitchiking from Tucson to LA and then a trip back to Illinois in a 72 Pontiac Convertible drive-away car in 1974. I remember a lot of stuff, I am sorry it bothers you so much.

  232. 232.

    stuckinred

    @suzanne: Ha, my brother was a trainer at Mesa College when the big guy that passed away the other day played football there. He lives in Chandler too.

  233. 233.

    Jay C

    @El Cid:

    These “sovereign citizen” assclowns are scarcely a new phenomenon; I recall hearing for years about various nutbar groups/individuals (usually headquartered in California, for whatever reason) who’ve decided that all laws are illegal, all money is illegal, all governments are illegal, etc.; and would pull stunts like these “quitclaim occupations” – or “paying” for stuff with whatever funny-money they’ve printed up – typically appended with lengthy, verbose explications in small type about why their “currency” is the only valid one – at regular, if lengthy, intervals.

    I suppose it’s the scope and scale of the Great Real Estate Bust of the ’00s that’s brought these people out of the woodwork in larger numbers: when cities aren’t oversupplied with vacant/foreclosed/unoccupied properties, anti-squatter enforcement is an easier task.

  234. 234.

    stuckinred

    @Corner Stone: How bout the time I was in a bar in Negril drinking Red Stripe and eating conch chowder and a dude came on the radio and said “Elvis died”?

  235. 235.

    suzanne

    @Yutsano:

    Rome? Venice? Calabria? Torino? Sicily?

    All or any of the above.
    A good friend of mine is going to Italy in three weeks with his church choir, and they are performing in St. Peter’s for Papa Ratzi. My friend has a solo. He is practically jumping out of his skin with excitement, and was asking me today what he should do and see while he’s there. Giving him advice today was making me realize that I need to go back to Italy, like, five minutes ago.

  236. 236.

    stuckinred

    @suzanne: My mom got to do that with her church choir before she died and I think it was the highlight of her life.

  237. 237.

    suzanne

    @stuckinred: I live about ten minutes (on foot) away from the Heart Attack Grill. That fact is putting my memories of Italy into even sharper relief, heh.

    Is your brother one of the sane ones? We need sane ones here.

  239. 239.

    suzanne

    @stuckinred: He’s so excited he can barely stand it. He got in a pretty bad car wreck about a month ago and he’s been doing physical therapy for the pain, but nothing is keeping him from this. I’m really thrilled for him, and not just because he’s bringing me back some wine.

  240. 240.

    stuckinred

    @suzanne: He’s ok but his wife, a heavy duty cardio nurse turned pacemaker tuner-upper, is a batshit teabagger. He’s actually my half-bro and we were all so happy he found someone to marry that we do our best to avoid any contact with her.

  241. 241.

    WaterGirl

    @stuckinred: Maybe he meant “impressive”, that’s the word I would have chosen. In a good way.

    Edit: I wonder if it has anything to do with your zest for life? You, more than many of us, seem to live and treasure every minute and everything you do. It’s an inspiration to me to be more like that.

  245. 245.

    stuckinred

    @WaterGirl: I can never tell, CS dogs me a lot and then says stuff that might be construed as positive. That’s why I am so restrained in my responses.

  246. 246.

    suzanne

    @stuckinred: That sucks. Chandler has lots of batshit teabaggers, sadly. I had some living down the street, but I think I scared them away with my yard signs. Or maybe it was the transgendered kid who lives next door. Whatever. They’re gone.

  248. 248.

    stuckinred

    @suzanne: Well, I hope for the best for him. He’s raising both their kids and I think he’s doing a good job. I just hope he doesn’t get left high and dry.

  249. 249.

    WaterGirl

    @stuckinred: I’m not sure what to make of corner stone, either, but i am not on his radar, so it’s not a personal thing.

    No need to reply, but I want to make sure you saw my edit.

  250. 250.

    suzanne

    @stuckinred: Well, warn him against eating at the Heart Attack Grill, that’s for damn sure. That place grosses me out. I still feel guilty about eating french fries from Five Guys last summer.

  251. 251.

    soonergrunt

    The word I have with respect to Mr. Coombs’ practice in the Manning case and his military commitment is that essentially, never the twain shall meet. He cannot serve as a reservist at any time that the trial, or pre-trial hearings, or any other such are occurring. This is primarily due to military regulations and federal law regarding conflicts of interest as well as Bar Association ethics rules.

  253. 253.

    stuckinred

    @suzanne: He’s a triathlete, ASU cross country alum and athletic trainer. Like I said earlier, he was a trainer at Mesa College when the fellow from the HAG that died this week was a football player. He eats well.

  254. 254.

    suzanne

    @stuckinred: Heh, I went to ASU and took a couple classes at MCC, too. Small world.

    HAG’s parking lot is usually full. It depresses me.

  255. 255.

    WaterGirl

    I accidentally clicked on a Maureen Dowd article just now. What’s the correct spelling of eewww?

  257. 257.

    Yutsano

    @suzanne: Nothing will beat teabagger central that is Scottsdale. And then all the Mormons out in Mesa. Tempe sort of makes the place livable, but otherwise yeah the greater metropolitan Phoenix area is a mess. I do know at least one avowed Communist there though, so not all hope is lost.

  258. 258.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @Yutsano: I want to heat more about crazy sovereign citizens. I can’t help but imagine that the NW abounds with them.

    Did you know income tax is illegal? (traditional opening gambit of stoner libertarians)

  259. 259.

    Yutsano

    @Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Oh yeah. I know this story. Apparently the Sixteenth Amendment wasn’t passed properly so therefore it’s invalid. Also the states are all sovereign nations that only loosely confederate under the Constitution so therefore they are only true citizens of their state and there really is no federal government authority. It’s how I discovered there is a Republic of Michigan. Whenever I hear a story of a tax protestor I giggle mightily, because that virtually guarantees a visit from a revenue officer.

  260. 260.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @Yutsano: It’s like having an argument about gravity. You may form any opinion you like, but you will still hit the ground when you fall and Uncle Sam will always get his share.

  261. 261.

    WaterGirl

    Technical question: Does anyone happen to know how to find the microsoft product key once you have installed the software? The key was displayed on a web page after ordering, and I lost the paper I had written the product key on. Microsoft says I have to contact them for a new one, but there must be some other way, right?

    Edit: I just found this utility at CNET: http://download.cnet.com/Product-Key-Finder/3000-2094_4-10694022.html

    Anybody have any experience with this or another utility to do the same thing?

  262. 262.

    Yutsano

    @Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Death and taxes…and not even death will save you from paying up. I hate calls from children of deceased taxpayers. They get way too damn whiny. I’m like, yeah, we’re gonna take part of the estate, they owed money while alive, get over it.

  263. 263.

    Sharl

    @WaterGirl:
    You should just be able to find your product key by opening one of the apps (Word, Excel, etc.), then look for “About {app}”, usually found in the ‘Help’ drop-down menu. That’s where I just found my PK in MS-2010 (Word) (took me awhile; I’m still new to this version, which looks a lot different from the 2003 version).

  264. 264.

    Svensker

    @stuckinred:

    Uh, prisoners have been getting humiliated ever since there were prisoners.

    Of course they have. But so far as I know it wasn’t official U.S. government policy until recently. It was always something done behind closed doors and absolutely denied.

    They’re still ashamed enough that they pretend it’s not happening, a little bit. But not too much. And there are plenty of folks, even here, who hurry to excuse it as no big deal, or the prisoner had it coming. As though the prisoner had anything to do with it. As though it is not a crime. As though it is not something to hang your head in shame over.

    This is where I go Christian on you. “For as you do to the least of these, you do to me.”

    For shame.

  266. 266.

    WaterGirl

    @Sharl: That’s the thing – i think they’ve hidden the product key in office 2010 – I search for quite awhile this afternoon and never could find “about’ in any logical place. I looked under HELP in Word 2010 and couldn’t find anything related to the product key. What did you click after HELP? (The computer is at the office so I can’t poke around right now.)

  268. 268.

    Sharl

    @WaterGirl:
    On mine, when I (finally) found it, it was by clicking on “File” (far upper left in my layout); then clicking on ‘Help’ on the list (along the left margin in my layout). ‘About Microsoft Word’* is a section in the right-most column, and ‘Product ID’ (which = Product Key) is the next-to-last item in that section.

    *assume this would also work in Excel, Powerpoint, etc.

    EDIT: I just looked for “Product Key” in MS-Word Help – it said it’s location would depend on how you acquired/purchased your copy of the sw. I got mine via our office IT guy, who has a group multiuser license. YMMV, as they say.

  269. 269.

    WaterGirl

    @Sharl: I’m with you as far as FILE and HELP locations. i will follow the rest of your directions as soon as i get to the office tomorrow. I looked for a long time today, but the new version is so different from the old one, that I must have missed it. I clicked on a bunch of links on the right, but maybe not on the far right?

    In any case, thank you SO MUCH for the information!

  270. 270.

    Svensker

    @stuckinred:

    Seen “The Long Good Friday” lately?

    The best. The scene with Bob Hoskins in the car at the end when he realizes it’s over… Brilliant. Great film.

  271. 271.

    Sharl

    @WaterGirl:

    Don’t know if you saw my edit/update – it looks like the fine folks at Redmond have made the procedure complex, as is their wont. Hopefully you have the necessary purchase/acquisition information to find the info.
    [I swear, Steve Ballmer is like that g-d bridge troll in Monty Python’s ‘Holy Grail’.]

  272. 272.

    WaterGirl

    @Sharl: No, I hadn’t seen your update, so thanks for pointing it out. It is a legitimate copy, and I just got it last week, so hopefully there’s a way to do this. Thanks for the tip on searching for “product key” in help. I have hated microsoft for decades, and this doesn’t help much!

  274. 274.

    soonergrunt

    @Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal: Well, he still has to do his committment. They just work around it. Reserves do that in a lot of cases, not just with lawyers. They schedule Annual Training in the summer generally so as not to interfere with college, for example.

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