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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

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

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

He really is that stupid.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

We still have time to mess this up!

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by John Cole|  March 7, 20116:54 pm| 106 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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I have stuff to take care of tonight, so you are on your own.

BTW- the difference between the chamomile I got today and that crap you get in bags is pretty alarming.

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Previous Post: « Look out here comes the master race
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Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    Studly Pantload

    March 7, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    Then I shall consider myself duly alarmed.

  2. 2.

    Comrade Mary

    March 7, 2011 at 6:59 pm

    So you won’t be using it as a fragrant add-on to the household litter box?

    (At some point, a picture of TUNCH! and the massive bag o’ chamomile would be much appreciated, she said.)

  3. 3.

    jeffreyw

    March 7, 2011 at 7:00 pm

    If it’s Monday, it must be Mexican.

  4. 4.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    March 7, 2011 at 7:02 pm

     

    BTW- the difference between the chamomile I got today and that crap you get in bags is pretty alarming.

    See folks, this is what happens when you turn away from the simple homespun conservatism of real America. You end up with: Rum, Romanism and Rebellion. And Tea-Snobbery.

  5. 5.

    stuckinred

    March 7, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    @jeffreyw: Aye Chiuaua

  6. 6.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 7:04 pm

    Get REAL Green tea, and your brane will work better. I get mine from Japan as ground Macha, very finely ground and I make iced tea from it. No bags, or straining it. It simply dissolves in a half coffee cup of hot water. Add sugar, or sweetener. vigorous stirring, and pour into a gallon of distilled h2o, and you’re good to go.

    I also chew the stuff mixed with Cherry Skoal, but that is only for internet tough guys. The rest of you wimps would probly turn green and puke your guts out.

    It is 60 mph windy out today in the high desert,

  7. 7.

    piratedan

    March 7, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    as a sports junkie, it’s great to see all of the college hoops games on leading up to this year’s tournament.

  8. 8.

    Irony Abounds

    March 7, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    So now Cole’s a tea snob. I’m finding it harder and harder to believe he actually lives in West Virginia.

  9. 9.

    Walker

    March 7, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    Just got confirmation from GameStop that my copy of Dragon Age has shipped.

    However, the snow today cancelled classes for the second time this semester. So I have to spend tomorrow night delivering a make-up lecture rather than playing the game.

  10. 10.

    BGinCHI

    March 7, 2011 at 7:10 pm

    Any idea if this texter might be Cole?

    http://damnyouautocorrect.com/5902/mans-best-friend/

  11. 11.

    beltane

    March 7, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    We had two and a half feet of snow fall last night and today. While it was mildly entertaining watching the snow plow get stuck in what once was the driveway, I’m looking forward to seeing grass which will maybe happen by Memorial Day.

    Oh, and after giving it some thought, I’ve decided we should all buy a copy of David Brooks’ craptastic novel. If he’s successful as a novelist, maybe he’ll give up his columnist job like Anna Quindlen did. He would then be replaced by the type of conservative that our centrist parents wouldn’t dream of taking seriously.

  12. 12.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    March 7, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    You know when I was a spotty teenager (literally) my great aunt said to me “what you need is elderflower tea” after an inquiry by me she meant as a lotion on my face, not drinking it. Best acne cure EVER! I bought the elderflowers, brewed them and religiously swabbed my forehead with it every night. My skin became acne free within a week. No chemicals just elderflowers. It was then I embraced my inner witch and I have never looked back. I believe that chamomile tea has similar healing powers.

  13. 13.

    Svensker

    March 7, 2011 at 7:16 pm

    @jeffreyw:

    Oh, God, that looks fantastic. California girl here, homesick for that there stuff. Drool drool slurp.

  14. 14.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 7:16 pm

    @beltane:

    I’ve decided we should all buy a copy of David Brooks’ craptastic novel.

    Let’s don’t and say we did. Brooks will last blogging maybe a month, until he shuts down comments, or quits it altogether, with a snooty missive about potty mouth liberals and their lack of civility and grace. And he won’t even know they are all likely one person, who shall remain u·nan·i·mous.

  15. 15.

    beltane

    March 7, 2011 at 7:19 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I use chamomile tea on my hair in the summer, it really does bring out blond highlights. I never drink the stuff though as I am mildly allergic.

  16. 16.

    stuckinred

    March 7, 2011 at 7:20 pm

    @Svensker: You ever see this Rites of Passage?

  17. 17.

    Svensker

    March 7, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Lavender water for me, but elderflower sounds nice.

    Is there, however, any cure for a hubster who watches Elvis’s “Clambake” and not only likes the songs but sings along, knows all the words? Help.

  18. 18.

    beltane

    March 7, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @General Stuck: It will be more than one person. Doug is a gentleman compared to PZ Myers who will certainly show up at Bobo’s place making fart noises in the comments (the only proper response IMO)

  19. 19.

    kdaug

    March 7, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    You end up with: Rum, Romanism and Rebellion.

    Suppose it beats rum, sodomy, and the lash.

  20. 20.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 7:25 pm

    @beltane:

    The BJ front pager DougJ is a gentleman, Dougj the spoof can be , and has been many things.

  21. 21.

    JPL

    March 7, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    @beltane: I don’t know Anna Quindlen but I read and loved her columns, and David Bobo is not Anna. He’ll never leave until.

  22. 22.

    Svensker

    March 7, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    @stuckinred:

    You ever see this Rites of Passage?

    No! Wow! Just skimming through it, the guy knew a bunch of people I knew, too. He’s a bit older than I, but gack, too freaky. Thanks! Lotsa fun reading — and weird memories — ahead.

  23. 23.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 7, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    @jeffreyw:
    Indeed! I am in the process of making tostadas, Spanish rice, refritos and guacamole (With fresh cilantro).

  24. 24.

    beltane

    March 7, 2011 at 7:38 pm

    @JPL: I also loved Anna Quindlen’s columns back in the day (I was in high school). It was extremely upsetting to me when she was replaced by the eternally awful Maureen Dowd, who has managed to not gain any wisdom with the passage of years. But the thought of novelist David Brooks not appearing on PBS or NPR is an intoxicating one. With enough flattery maybe he will go away.

  25. 25.

    asiangrrlMN

    March 7, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    Hi. More on my upcoming nuptials to Yutsano, and a brilliant idea concerning Stephen Colbert can be found in my latest post at ABL’s place.

  26. 26.

    nestor

    March 7, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Don’t forget the yak butter.

  27. 27.

    Mike Kay (True Grit)

    March 7, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    Slow day on BJ.

  28. 28.

    Woodrowfan

    March 7, 2011 at 7:41 pm

    OT: Does anyone else here, when they see the dork in the “What Would Reagan Do?” T-shirt think “probably drool on himself.”???

  29. 29.

    JPL

    March 7, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    @Woodrowfan: I personally hadn’t thought of that before, but certainly will now. Thanks for the image.

  30. 30.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 7:47 pm

    @nestor:

    Afradeeziyak

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    March 7, 2011 at 7:47 pm

    OC climate deniers are facing a small quandry–sink or build:

    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-newport-sea-levels-20110306,0,3772522,print.story

    Think of what that does to property values.

  32. 32.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 7, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    @Woodrowfan: I always thought the answer was grin fatuously, mutter an inane platitude, grin, and hold “Mommy’s” hand. I think my image is creepier.

  33. 33.

    The Dangerman

    March 7, 2011 at 7:49 pm

    …and that crap you get in bags is pretty alarming.

    Finally realizing that teabagging is wrong?

  34. 34.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 7, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    @The Dangerman: I don’t think that one should condemn a sexual practice conducted by consenting adults. One might not chose it for oneself, but that doesn’t mean that it is wrong.

  35. 35.

    Delia

    March 7, 2011 at 7:55 pm

    @JPL:

    During her Newsweek days Quindlen wrote a column about her aging dog called Good Boy, Beau. Stay. It had me in tears. After he died she expanded it into a short book.

  36. 36.

    Mike Kay (True Grit)

    March 7, 2011 at 7:58 pm

    Palin says Obama doesn’t have enough executive experience to be president.

    someone should buy her a new calendar, the 2008 one on her wall is stale.

  37. 37.

    Delia

    March 7, 2011 at 8:01 pm

    @trollhattan:

    OC climate deniers are facing a small quandry—sink or build

    That is SOOOOO Orange County. Do nothing until it threatens your property values.

  38. 38.

    Chad N Freude

    March 7, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    @asiangrrlMN: Read your post at ABL and was amazed to learn that you are flamboyantly funny. But your Judith problem was the result of inadequate Judaeo-Xtian beatings by nuns. Judith was not of Holofernes, she was the slayeress of Holofernes. Which would have been problematic to put on a “Hi, There” label but a lot funnier.

    You can see multiple views of her in the act in these Biblical era equivalents of videos.

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 7, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    @Delia: Damn you.

  40. 40.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    Sheee’s back. While not as nutty sounding as Palin or Bachmann, usually, she is still a tin plated wingnut. If not for the fact that she just might win, I welcome Heather into the race, and with her entry, a fuller airing of her douchebaggery with the firing of USA David Iglesias, among other shady bullshit coming out in the open from this fruit loop.

    Now that former Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) is throwing her hat into the ring for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), expect a nasty, bitter race and plenty of ghosts turning up from Wilson’s decade-long Washington career.

    I sure hate to see Jeff go, a finer Senator there isn’t imo. NM is a funny state, and went winger in 2010, like a lot of states from a low turn out election. Obama is still popular here, but Bill Richardson’s name is dirt, or he could easily win this seat. I don’t know much about Heinrich though, or any other dem that is or might run.

  41. 41.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 8:07 pm

    @General Stuck:

    link for above comment

  42. 42.

    Calouste

    March 7, 2011 at 8:12 pm

    @Mike Kay (True Grit):

    Tell me again what executive experience Palin has build up since the 2008 election. I’m sure it won’t take long.

  43. 43.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 7, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    @General Stuck:

    …but Bill Richardson’s name is dirt…

    I’m not the most attentive soul. What happened to Richardson?

  44. 44.

    Evolved Deep Southerner

    March 7, 2011 at 8:23 pm

    Why Obama Must Intervene in Libya,” by David Frum.

    God damn. Last time I go there. Fuck that shit, I don’t care if his commenters are, almost to a person, ripping him a new asshole over it. If that’s him trying to troll his own blog, well, he’s shit and fell back in it.

  45. 45.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 8:23 pm

    @Dennis SGMM:

    Various corruption probes, mostly centered around excessive cronyism, especially hiring practices. Set with the backdrop of a bad economy. Bill could be a little dictator at times, such as making some pol appointments and state hires give him a letters of resignation before they started working for him or the state.

    I think he was a good governor, but a bit of a control freak, and some loose dealings, but as yet no indictments. He got rid of sales tax for foodstuffs, and other policies geared toward helping the poor. His job approval when he left office was like in the 20’s percent, or near so.

    I suspect mostly from general hard econ times.

    edit – me saying his name was dirt was a bit harsh on my part. So I will change it to very unpopular.

  46. 46.

    Evolved Deep Southerner

    March 7, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    “Why Obama Must Intervene in Libya,” by David Frum.

    God damn. Last time I go there. Fuck that shit, I don’t care if his commenters are, almost to a person, ripping him a new asshole over it. If that’s him trying to troll his own blog, well, he’s shit and fell back in it.

  47. 47.

    Sentient Puddle

    March 7, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    @General Stuck: I like Heinrich. He’s an unapologetic supporter of Obama, and between his two elections, it’s clear he’s a strong campaigner. He seems like an obvious candidate to me.

  48. 48.

    Evolved Deep Southerner

    March 7, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    I tried that “open the editing function in a new tab” thing and, yes, it lets you edit the comment. And then it posts it twice, the fucked-up one and the corrected one.

  49. 49.

    Evolved Deep Southerner

    March 7, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    @stuckinred: How are things in the Classic City, brother?

  50. 50.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    @Sentient Puddle:

    That’s good to hear. I am in knuckldragging Steve Pearce’s district, and don’t pay a lot of attention to other districts.

    Pearce is currently on the war path
    over the Forest Service closing off a bunch of roads in The Gila to protect the environment. Which are always the magic words to go full wingnut for him now to play the Egypt card.

    “You look at the people of Egypt and how they were speaking out against a government that had gotten too strong,” Pearce said. “President Obama got their message; and he might not have gotten our message just yet but he will. The message of this meeting will reverberate back to Washington D.C.”

    A sack of hammers has a higher IQ.

    And my fav

    “And you don’t go camping out in the wilderness so you can hear people talking in the tent right next to you,” Pearce said. “You go to the forest for solitude, to be alone, to find the peace of mind that you can’t find in the everyday.”

    Nothing says solitude like a bunch of roads with four wheelers and Texas trucks whizzing by. I guess that is what the wingnut considers solitude.

    Next he will start up with how the Mexican Grey wolf we have down here is gobbling up white wingnut babies like a snack bar. The fact that wolves hate humans and there is no record of one attacking a human in this country, will not matter one whit.

  51. 51.

    Ailuridae

    March 7, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Doesn’t Bingaman poll at like 55 or 60% for approval?

  52. 52.

    General Stuck

    March 7, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    @Ailuridae:

    Oh yea, highly popular senator, and would have been a cake walk for reelection.

  53. 53.

    sukabi

    March 7, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    @Evolved Deep Southerner: if you close the new edit window AFTER it’s done saving, and then clear out the comment box on the main page, you should be fine…

    there are buggy bug bugs in the edit function since the last rebuild of this site… :-(

  54. 54.

    Redshirt

    March 7, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    I’m now CNN/MSNBC/ABC News/Hill Street Blues free for over 3 months now! I feel so much better. I’d advise any and all to give up all cable news – all of it. You’ll feel free.

  55. 55.

    arguingwithsignposts

    March 7, 2011 at 8:49 pm

    @Evolved Deep Southerner:
    The stupid. It burns.

    I still remember Frum’s commentary on “Marketplace” when he talked about Obama’s handling of a “peacetime” recession. The man is an idiot. Pure and simple.

  56. 56.

    Gravenstone

    March 7, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    John Ensign is retiring, but it’s not the ongoing ethics investigations, nosiree.

    Any takers on the Sharon Angle crazy train taking another stab at that open seat?

  57. 57.

    gogol's wife

    March 7, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    @Svensker:

    This is the same husband who loves the Archies, right? That said, my husband and I watched “Clambake” and thought it was one of the greatest films ever made. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

  58. 58.

    Chuck Butcher

    March 7, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    G Will tosses Bachman, Palin, Huckabee, and Newt overboard while leaving in the boat Pawlenty and Barbour as adults. Barbour and Pawlenty aren’t “weird vibrators?” But then I do consider Will to be an idiot of the lowest denomination.

  59. 59.

    arguingwithsignposts

    March 7, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    @Chuck Butcher:

    Barbour and Pawlenty aren’t “weird vibrators?”

    I could get the T-Paw take, but Barbour? Really? WTF G-Will? Maybe the lack of baseball has warped your already pea-sized brain.

  60. 60.

    Svensker

    March 7, 2011 at 8:53 pm

    @gogol’s wife:

    This is the same husband who loves the Archies, right?

    You have a dangerous memory, ma’am.

    And, yes, the Archies and Clambake. Apparently he has good company on part of it.

  61. 61.

    Ailuridae

    March 7, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Just looked it up – he’s top five or ten with in-state popularity. Wilson should get better advisors

  62. 62.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    March 7, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    @Gravenstone: Some thinks she’ll run for the house seat of whatsisname instead. On a similar note matoloko choke fatigue — I haz it in the previous thread. kthnxbai.

  63. 63.

    Ailuridae

    March 7, 2011 at 8:56 pm

    @Gravenstone:

    I highly doubt we’ll see Angle again. But I also expect the Democrats to pick up that seat pretty handily.

  64. 64.

    Delia

    March 7, 2011 at 8:56 pm

    @Evolved Deep Southerner:

    I was listening to the BBC NewsHour on NPR today and the Brit newscaster was interviewing a couple of bright young Americans from different foreign policy think tanks (and I use the word “think” advisedly). Anyhow, they were both rattling on about what a super idea it would be to launch surgical strikes in Libya and create no-fly zones. And when the interviewer pointed out that Libya was about the size of Alaska and most of it was desert and the no-fly zones and surgical strike business hadn’t worked out so well in, say, Iraq; well, these guys said this was completely different and it would go great this time.

    And I started thinking that this whole military intervention thing is an addiction. Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t work? Wow, let’s invade Iran; they’ve got an evil government. Start getting a lot of flack about that. All of a sudden, here come the people of Libya, working hard to get rid of their own bad guy dictator; things are getting a little rocky. Hey, we Americans can send in the Marines, help ’em out, blow a little democracy their way; doesn’t hurt that they have a bunch of oil wells just sitting around. What could possibly go wrong?

    Is there a 12-step program for military interventionists?

  65. 65.

    arguingwithsignposts

    March 7, 2011 at 8:59 pm

    @Delia:

    Is there a 12-step program for military interventionists?

    Apparently not.

  66. 66.

    Chuck Butcher

    March 7, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    @Delia:

    Is there a 12-step program for military interventionists?

    Um…
    Step One – pitchforks and torches
    2-12
    repeat as needed

  67. 67.

    arguingwithsignposts

    March 7, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    @Delia:

    Is there a 12-step program for military interventionists?

    On second thought, I do know of one. It’s called anything having to do with Africa that’s darker than an Egyptian. cf. Rwanda.

  68. 68.

    Zuzu's Petals

    March 7, 2011 at 9:06 pm

    Best chamomile ever:

    Da Cha Teas

  69. 69.

    Dennis SGMM

    March 7, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    @General Stuck:
    Thanks. I thought well of Richardson but then I don’t live in NM.

  70. 70.

    hilts

    March 7, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    Robert Samuelson gives Charles Lane a run for his money to claim the title of biggest douchebag who writes for the Washington Post with this entry

    Why Social Security is welfare
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/06/AR2011030602926.html

  71. 71.

    Tunch

    March 7, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    Cole’s staggering around blasted on chamomile.

    And he’s too damn stingy to get me any damn ‘nip.

  72. 72.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    March 7, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    I haven’t been able to drink chamomile tea since 1984 when I was a judge on the Miss Alaska beauty pageant.

    Being something of a specialist in the art of deportment, I was asked to spend some time with all the girls in the days leading up to the pageant. You would not find a nicer group of young ladies – fine, salt of the earth women – with the exception of young Miss Palin.

    I knew when I first saw her that she was a climber who would claw her way over the half-dead bodies of her parents if she thought it would get her mug on television. She had that same cold, mean urgent look in her eyes that Ayn Rand always had – as if someone else had dropped a dollar in church but not noticed, and she wanted to scrabble about on the floor to find it, and the only thing holding her back was the thought that God might notice.

    Sarah used to make chamomile tea for all the judges. She’d make a big pot, enough for perhaps ten or fifteen people. Then she’d portion it out into little cupfuls of smarm, and bat her eyelashes and say to me “Oh, Mrs Howard, I have some chamomile tea to spare, and I thought of you.”

    However, she never gave any tea to any of the other girls. They’d ask and she’d say “I’m afraid I don’t have any to spare”, and then hide that teapot (which just you knew was still half full) under some towels as if giving away some hot yellow water was going to ruin the Palin family fortune. Oh, she was as mean as a rat with a chocolate truffle.

    Then, the day of the pageant, she suddenly started doling out that tea to the other contestants as if Jesus himself had come down for the weekend to check on how generous people were being. None for the judges, but even if one of the girls said they didn’t want any, she’d say “I’ll just leave a cupful for you here in case you change your mind.”

    It’s funny. Even with a large majority of the contestants that day showing clear signs of having been doped with cheap crystal meth – one poor girl absolutely freaking out on stage convinced the doves from her magic act were trying to kill her, another sitting staring at her own feet and blubbering about the “terrible claws” – Sarah still only managed to come third.

    I mean, really, did you see that flute performance? In that cheap lace blouse and the Margaret Thatcher hair cut, she looked like a cut price Detective Mary Beth Lacey without the fashion sense, the comic timing and the ability to shoot a gun properly.

    We gave her Miss Congeniality, of course, because none of us wanted to wake up with a moose head in the bed next to us.

    She’s much slicker now, I admit, but if you look in her eyes you can still see the young girl in the ugly blouse who thought that everyone else in the world was stupid and would never see through her tricks.

    Cheap trash can become rich trash, but mean and stupid is forever.

  73. 73.

    gogol's wife

    March 7, 2011 at 9:26 pm

    @Svensker:

    You do have to give your husband credit for liking “You Don’t Know Me.” Great song, and Elvis’s performance is superb. (The other songs are worthy of the Archies.)

  74. 74.

    Poopyman

    March 7, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    @Delia:

    Is there a 12-step program for military interventionists?

    Yes, make ’em a Pfc in the infantry. That oughta cure ’em, one way or another.

  75. 75.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    March 7, 2011 at 9:29 pm

    I haven’t been able to drink chamomile tea since 1984 when I was a judge on the Miss Alaska beauty pageant.

    Being something of an expert in the art of deportment, I was asked to spend some time with all the girls in the days leading up to the pageant. You would not find a nicer group of young ladies – fine, salt of the earth women – with the exception of young Miss Palin.

    I knew when I first saw her that she was a climber who would claw her way over the half-dead bodies of her parents if she thought it would get her mug on television. She had that same cold, mean urgent look in her eyes that Ayn Rand always had – as if someone else had dropped a dollar in church but not noticed, and she wanted to scrabble about on the floor to find it, and the only thing holding her back was the thought that God might see.

    Sarah used to make chamomile tea for all the judges. She’d make a big pot, enough for perhaps ten or fifteen people. Then she’d portion it out into little cupfuls of smarm, and bat her eyelashes and say to me “Oh, Mrs Howard, I have some chamomile tea to spare, and I thought of you.”

    However, she never gave any tea to any of the other girls. They’d ask and she’d say “I’m afraid I don’t have any to spare”, and then hide that teapot (which just you knew was still half full) under some towels as if giving away some hot yellow water was going to ruin the Palin family fortune. Oh, she was as mean as a rat with a chocolate truffle.

    Then, the day of the pageant, she suddenly started doling out that tea to the other contestants as if Jesus himself had come down for the weekend to check on how generous people were being. None for the judges, but even if one of the girls said they didn’t want any, she’d say “I’ll just leave a cupful for you here in case you change your mind.”

    It’s funny. Even with a large majority of the contestants that day showing clear signs of having been doped with cheap crystal meth – one poor girl absolutely freaking out on stage convinced the doves from her magic act were trying to kill her, another sitting staring at her own feet and blubbering about the “terrible claws” – Sarah still only managed to come third.

    I mean, really, did you see that flute performance? In that cheap lace blouse and the Margaret Thatcher hair cut, she looked like a cut price Detective Mary Beth Lacey without the fashion sense, the comic timing and the ability to shoot a gun properly.

    We gave her Miss Congeniality, of course, because none of us wanted to wake up with a moose head in the bed next to us.

    She’s much slicker now, I admit, but if you look in her eyes you can still see the young girl in the ugly blouse who thought that everyone else in the world was stupid and would never see through her tricks.

    Cheap trash can become rich trash, but mean and dumb is forever.

  76. 76.

    jl

    March 7, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    @hilts:

    Wow. Thanks for that link to Robert (no relation to the late Paul) Samuelson. Robert Samuelson has become totally unhinged. Let’s start with this bit at the beginning, with my comments in brackets.

    ‘Here is how I define a welfare program: First, it taxes one group to support another group,’

    [so the young are taxed to support the old, and those young peoples’ young will be taxed to support the current young when they are old. That is not quite the same as whitey tighty affluent me being taxed to support some unworthy welfare king/queen of dubious ethnic background.]

    ‘meaning it’s pay-as-you-go and not a contributory scheme where people’s own savings pay their later benefits.’

    [So, all insurance programs, including life insurance are ‘welfare’?]

    ‘And second, Congress can constantly alter benefits, reflecting changing needs, economic conditions and politics. Social Security qualifies on both counts.’

    [I guess every law and program Congress passes is ‘welfare’]

    Later on, Samuelson raves:

    ‘The trust fund holds Treasury bonds; when these are redeemed, the needed cash can be raised only by borrowing, taxing or cutting other programs. The connection between Social Security and the rest of the budget is brutally direct.’

    [So, if you borrow money from me, and when the loan is due, I would like you to make arrangements to pay it back, your payments to me are “welfare’, is that right?]

    And then there is this big at the top of the column:

    ‘Exempting them from cuts – as polls indicate many Americans prefer – would ordain massive deficits, huge tax increases or draconian reductions in other programs. That’s a disastrous formula for the future.‘

    [My emphasis added. Samuelson thinks that the relatively small payroll tax increases needed to fill the 15 to 20 percen shortfall that may or may not occure 30 years from now will be ruinous? Or is he talking about raising taxes to pay back the loans the feds took out? I can’t figure it out].

    Yikes, Robert Samuelson has lost it. He’s really lost even trying to give the impression of being a competent reality based policy journalist. That is a really pathetic rant by this guy.

  77. 77.

    Cain

    March 7, 2011 at 9:34 pm

    We seem to have found a stray kitty.. who has taken to us. Of course it helps that we’ve been feeding it.. a cute little long haired girl with nice colors. She clearly was someone’s pet because she’s really affectionate and wants attention once the initial skittishness wore off. Treats are a big bribe..

    we haven’t allowed it in, but she stands guard outside our door just waiting for someone to pay attention to her. She has a croaking meow though.. sheesh. My other cat doesn’t mind her.. if it was our beloved KitKat it would have been chased out.. possibly. Definitely it was male it would. We plan on getting her to a vet and having her checked out… we might consider taking her to a couple of shelters. She deserves a home.

    cain

  78. 78.

    Valdivia

    March 7, 2011 at 9:43 pm

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    More clapping. Instant classic that on was.
    You have her dead to rights.

  79. 79.

    Southern Beale

    March 7, 2011 at 9:46 pm

    Memory Hole:

    Last June Glenn Beck thanked Charles Koch on the air for info he used to “debunk” An Inconvenient Truth.

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    March 7, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall: You seem to have met many well-known people. Do you do catering?

  81. 81.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    March 7, 2011 at 10:07 pm

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall: rat with a chocolate truffle, [email protected]Svensker: no, the best you can do is make them comfortable, and keep them away from televised shopping, televised religion, and any church that uses live poisonous snakes to make a point.

    its nights like this, i wish they hadn’t made beer into some big complicated decison, but all the micro options are about as yummy sounding as cherry skoal…

  82. 82.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    March 7, 2011 at 10:08 pm

    @Valdivia:
    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Thanks. I have met a lot of people – that tends to have happened when you are 92.

    I used to be a very good cook. I suppose I still am, except I’m not allowed access to sharp implements, or indeed kitchens since the unfortunate “bleach in the bundt cake” incident last year.

    ETA – I apologize for the double posting. My first attempt was thrown into moderation because I forgot that the word “specia1ist” contains the name of a drug. I asked for it to be deleted, but apparently not. Now I now why you young people say FYWP.

  83. 83.

    dukej

    March 7, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    that crap in the bags? floor sweepings — literally.

  84. 84.

    Valdivia

    March 7, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    Was the bleach meant for some of your co inhabitants in the hospital?
    Or figures of authority? Or was this pre hospital?

  85. 85.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    March 7, 2011 at 10:20 pm

    @Valdivia:

    I baked them for the last bake sale at the Shady Pines Home for the Violently Senile, hoping to knock off Bishop Cupich. I know he has a soft spot for bundt cake (and, entirely incidentally, being spanked with the handle of a feather duster).

    Unfortunately, he was sick that day, so I managed to put half the girl scouts in Spokane into hospital for stomach pumping.

    Live and learn.

  86. 86.

    Phoenician in a time of Romans

    March 7, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    You all might wanna keep an eye on international news, come this Friday…

    Watch for all the wingnuts supporting Saudi princes shooting people in the name of “democracy”.

  87. 87.

    Valdivia

    March 7, 2011 at 10:36 pm

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    Hope it was chocolate bundt cake :p

  88. 88.

    Delia

    March 7, 2011 at 11:16 pm

    @Cain:

    We seem to have found a stray kitty.. who has taken to us. Of course it helps that we’ve been feeding it..

    So you’ve been feeding her, huh? Congratulations. You’ve just won a new kitteh.

  89. 89.

    Scamp Dog

    March 7, 2011 at 11:19 pm

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall: Would you by chance be the widow of the late Jon Swift? Or at least a member of his circle? I detect a similarity in your outlook, and perhaps worldview.

    Yours Truly,

    S. Dog

  90. 90.

    Cain

    March 7, 2011 at 11:23 pm

    @Delia:

    So you’ve been feeding her, huh? Congratulations. You’ve just won a new kitteh.

    Indeed.. The demands have started, although not so much food. She wants attention, she was someone’s pet and she probably hasn’t had anyone give her any affection for a short while. She looks to be in good shape.

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    March 7, 2011 at 11:31 pm

    @Cain: You lost your beloved kitty, yes? But even though this one found you, you’re thinking of taking this one to a couple of shelters.

    This reminds me of my cocker spaniel from 20 years ago. I visited her for 2 months in the store in the mall, not willing to buy a dog from a place like that, but buying her toys and treats and trying to get other people to take her home. For 2 months!

    I finally brought her home when they were going to start shipping her from store to store for one week at a time for 8 weeks, and if she didn’t sell they were going to kill her.

    So I tell my vet friend (I worked at a university vet school at the time) that I brought her home, and he said “well, it’s about time”. He knew for that whole 2 months that I was going to take her home, and he never told me.

  92. 92.

    Svensker

    March 7, 2011 at 11:51 pm

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    the unfortunate “bleach in the bundt cake” incident last year.

    OK, Sarah P&T, you wear turquoise and orange, doncha? I waggle my ears in your direction.

  93. 93.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    March 8, 2011 at 12:06 am

    @Scamp Dog:

    That’s very kind, dear, but no. As I mentioned before, I’m just an old lady from Spokane with impulse control issues, not an Anglo-Irish satirist from the 18th Century.

    I know it’s easy to get those two mixed up.

  94. 94.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    March 8, 2011 at 12:09 am

    @Svensker:

    Are you suggesting I dress like a Spanish hacienda?

    Ashes of roses is more my thing, and a much more flattering color for a flannelette dressing gown with built in incontinence protection than those awful blues and oranges.

  95. 95.

    Anne Laurie

    March 8, 2011 at 12:11 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    I still remember Frum’s commentary on “Marketplace” when he talked about Obama’s handling of a “peacetime” recession. The man is an idiot. Pure and simple.

    Frum is the man who went home and bragged to his wife that he was responsible for inventing the “axis of evil” line.

    He was fired as a WH speechwriter, after his equally noxious wife email-bragged to every address she could spam about it. And then there was some discussion among the Very Serious Pundits about whether Frum actually did come up with the phrase, or if it should be credited to someone higher-ranking, such as the C-Plus Augustus his own self.

    But imagine being the sort of humanoid who struts home from a long day at the cubicle farms and announces, “The line about the ‘axis of evil’? Honey, that was ME!”

    Walter Mitty’s worst nightmare couldn’t compare…

  96. 96.

    Anne Laurie

    March 8, 2011 at 12:19 am

    @Delia:

    Is there a 12-step program for military interventionists?

    I believe Step #1 through 11 would be “reinstate the draft, both sexes this time, no exemptions except for community service”.

    If you’ve been following the Nixonland discussions, nothing turned proud Heartland Americans anti-interventionist faster than a low draft number for themselves or their loved ones.

  97. 97.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    March 8, 2011 at 12:21 am

    @Scamp Dog:

    Heavens, I got confused. It happens every now and then. You weren’t suggesting I was an Anglo-Irish satirist from the 18th Century.

    You were suggesting I was the widow of an Anglo-Irish satirist from the 18th Century.

    No, I’m not her either, dear.

  98. 98.

    Cain

    March 8, 2011 at 12:30 am

    @WaterGirl:

    @Cain: You lost your beloved kitty, yes? But even though this one found you, you’re thinking of taking this one to a couple of shelters.

    We aren’t ready for another cat.. and I still miss my other one. He was one of a kind. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of him several times. He was a blessing.

    We have a lot of places that will take this one. Plus we have a nearly 90% adoption rate for cats and this one is clearly a lap kitty.

    cain

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    March 8, 2011 at 1:01 am

    @Cain: Believe me, I know about not ready. i lost my 2nd dog and I thought I would get a brother for Bailey as soon as I was ready, maybe in the fall. Well, maybe in the spring. Well, maybe in the fall. it will be 3 years this summer, and i am apparently not ready yet.

    The kitty I lost a year ago in December was my kitty soul mate, and there’s no replacing that, is there?

  100. 100.

    asiangrrlMN

    March 8, 2011 at 1:12 am

    @Chad N Freude: Why, thank you. I have been inspired as of late about my upcoming run for prez.

    I know Judith slew Holofernes, but I always thought she was also Judith OF Holofernes. No? The Googley is wrong? OK, I will change it.

  101. 101.

    Mnemosyne

    March 8, 2011 at 1:23 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    You forgot the funniest part of that — Frum didn’t even come up with the whole line. He only came up with “axis of” and someone else stuck in “evil.”

  102. 102.

    Steeplejack

    March 8, 2011 at 1:43 am

    @Chad N Freude:

    Thanks for that! Nothing I like better than some Judeo-hottie slaying action. Mmm . . . slaying.

  103. 103.

    Steeplejack

    March 8, 2011 at 1:49 am

    @Redshirt:

    What news were you getting from Hill Street Blues? “Veronica Hamel still hot”?

  104. 104.

    Cain

    March 8, 2011 at 2:03 am

    @WaterGirl:

    The kitty I lost a year ago in December was my kitty soul mate, and there’s no replacing that, is there?

    No there isn’t it.. sometimes the perfect companion shows up just at the right time. Mine I think got caught by a coyote. I really hope he is loved by someone. He deserves it. I wish he had died of old days, he had a lot of years ahead of him.. he was only 8 years old.

  105. 105.

    Svensker

    March 8, 2011 at 9:21 am

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    Heh. Busted.

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    March 8, 2011 at 11:53 am

    @Cain: i don’t know if you will see this, but my boy was only 9, which only made it worse. i thought we would have a whole lot more years together. So I hear what you’re saying.

    I think that losing yours the way you did has to make it so much harder, which is almost unimaginable, because I cried every day for 2 months as it was.

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