Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

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

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

After roe, women are no longer free.

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

We still have time to mess this up!

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

People are complicated. Love is not.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

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Reader Interactions

206Comments

  5. 5.

    TenguPhule

    Fie on Thee!

    I claim this thread in the name of the Liberal Broccoli Jihad!

    Death to the Unitarian Brussel Sprouts, Splitters!

  6. 6.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    I don’t know about anyone else but I am getting war weary, I mean damn. I feel like the only way I can stay sane is to go over to the Jewelry boards at E-bay or sit and watch the Eagles. My last resort is clips from Glee on youtube.

  8. 8.

    bk

    All morning long, the sports talk guys were saying that “This year’s George Mason” is George Mason. Well, no. But VCU and/or Richmond? Yeah!

  10. 10.

    gopher2b

    Each cruise missile costs $680,000. We fired 110 last night for a cost of about $68,000,000.

    I’m so depressed.

  14. 14.

    kdaug

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    My last resort is clips from Glee on youtube.

    Step away from the computer, Brit. Seriously. There’s no need for anyone to get (further) hurt here. Just go have a nice pint in the kitchen. We’ll work it out.

  15. 15.

    Bruce S

    I’ve put together a “Common Sense” Guide to the Great Deficit Debate, to help activists get basic background and facts to fight the hysterics generated by Tea Partiers, Koch apparatchiks and GOPer neanderthals:  
     
    A PDF download – and related commentary, links & resources – available here:  
     
    http://titanicsailsatdawn.blogspot.com/  
     
    Hope this is useful to some of you – and spread it around if you are so moved.

  17. 17.

    J. Michael Neal

    Wisconsin applied a big time beatdown to Boston University this afternoon. The final score was 4-1, and it was only 2-1 after two periods, but BU was extremely fortunate that it wasn’t a lot worse. Carolyne Prevost hit the crossbar on a breakaway in the second, and a couple of minutes later couldn’t lift a backhand on another. The Badgers outshot the Terriers 18-4 in the period, and there were long stretches where BU couldn’t get the puck out of their zone at all. All told, Wisconsin hit the pipes four times in the game.

    BU played better than BC did on Friday, despite losing by a bigger margin, but Wisconsin was just a much stronger team than anyone else in Erie this weekend. They didn’t lose a game after late November against Duluth, and hadn’t tied one since late January against the Gophers. It’s a case where I’m proud that my team finished 1-3-1 against someone, particularly since two of the losses were so close.

  18. 18.

    Suffern ACE

    @gopher2b: If we would fire those at :Las Vegas, we would go a long way towards easing that city’s housing overhang. Once people thought it safe to move back, we might be able to stabilize housing prices.

    @Litlebritdifrnt: If things are looking dim for you, you can always take solace in the fact that there is little chance that I will have a major role to play in any actual policy making group.

  20. 20.

    mr. whipple

    I’m getting a Town Hall GOP primary poll ad on this page, but they don’t have a pick of Alan Keyes. I demand Keyes!

  21. 21.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    anyone else come to the conclusion that there is more desire to debate libya, than there is things to debate.

    if we don’t send in ground troops, i am good with it, i mean don’t send in groud troops like ever, the costs of running the shock and awe show off broadway is fine.

    we need to learn how to fuck them without marrying them some time this century…

  22. 22.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: And I thank you for that. I also renounce the broccoli mandate, while declaring Brussels sprouts to be the spawn of Satan. I must not forget to renounce Lenin as well.

  23. 23.

    Bruce S

    Dennis – thanks. Screaming is warranted, but I’m trying to help build a counter-narrative to the GOPer crazies and almost absurdly timid and incompetent Dems. The Dems are “my people” but they make me scream almost as much as the GOPers, they are so afraid to take on the ginned-up deficit hysterics by the actual source of the problem, such as it is.

  26. 26.

    Ben

    #justanobservation: it’s really odd that Keith Olbermann has not said a thing about the Libyan intervention.

  27. 27.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Bruce S:

    A few weeks ago I was diagnosed with high blood pressure so I’ve been trying to chill out. Having said that, when I hear people who should know better mention Social Security and Medicare in the same breath as components of the deficit it is close to maddening.

  28. 28.

    edmund dantes

    Damn. The worse I’ve seen the Irish play all year. Just a horrible show at this point. Their only hope is that they find the box in the locker room where they left their game.

  30. 30.

    Bruce S

    Dennis – I’ve been taking a combo of a beta-blocker and a diuretic. Also quit eating carbs and lost 30 lbs.

    Just saying…

  31. 31.

    Joel

    runny nose, dry cough, exhaustion and now back pains.. should have gotten the shot methinks.

  32. 32.

    Parallel 5ths (Irish Steel)

    Who said this?

    Can Anyone Answer Any of These Questions?

    Why is Balloon Juice poking me in the chest today?

    Next up: Anne Laurie

    Who’s Going To Adopt This Fucking Cat?

  33. 33.

    Omnes Omnibus

    FWIW I woke up this morning with the worst hangover I have had in years. I met up with a college buddy I hadn’t seen in nearly 25 years. Much drinking ensued. Fun was had.

  34. 34.

    Earl Butz

    AND I SAY EMPIRE TODAY, EMPIRE TOMORROW, EMPIRE FOREVER

    From the Halls of Montezuma,
    To the shores of Tripoli;
    We fight our country’s battles
    In the air, on land, and sea;
    First to fight for right and freedom
    And to keep our honor clean:
    We are proud to claim the title
    Of United States Marine.

    Our flag’s unfurled to every breeze
    From dawn to setting sun;
    We have fought in every clime and place
    Where we could take a gun;
    In the snow of far-off Northern lands
    And in sunny tropic scenes;
    You will find us always on the job
    The United States Marines.

    Here’s health to you and to our Corps
    Which we are proud to serve;
    In many a strife we’ve fought for life
    And never lost our nerve;
    If the Army and the Navy
    Ever look on Heaven’s scenes;
    They will find the streets are guarded
    By United States Marines.

  35. 35.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Bruce S:
    Ah, the Golden Years (I’m 62). I’m taking BP meds and Zoloft for depression. Turned out that I’ve suffered from it all of my life but in earlier times I could cover it up with pot, work, women, booze, etc. I was actually suicidal for a while and I was fortunate enough to have a moment of clarity and see a very good doctor – even though Guys Don’t Talk About Their Feelings.

  36. 36.

    srv

    Bobo is going to be here in a few days. All the local wingnuts are too fat for my Ronco suicide vest and my tailor is suspicious.

  37. 37.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    How about a little drawn humor?

    @Parallel 5ths (Irish Steel):
    Or, as kdaug noted in one of those threads:

    You know, it would be awesome if we had a kind of rotating headline for what people are actually talking about it the damn comments.
    __
    Anonymous Arab League comment to Vietnamese diacritical marks in a cigar box? Really?
    __
    Keep this up, and we’ll be a pack of vitriolic jackals with whiplash.

  38. 38.

    Shoemaker-Levy 9

    Quick question for college basketball fans from east of the Mississippi: watching ridiculously overseeded Big East teams embarrass themselves year after year in the Big Dance enhances our viewing experience, how?

  44. 44.

    junebug

    Domestic politics aside, Libyans have been asking for help for a few days now. This deliberative action on their request is the right measure. Those demanding to know what the endgame is beforehand are just being foolish. You all don’t demand that of other things.

    I take this action by the French and the British and the Qataris as proof we have moved beyond Gulf Wars I and II. Unlike Althouse, I think that when three women say go you go. Working from old templates will confuse you. Especially if you thought Lindh was a terrorist.

    Open thread about something done right? Questions about the plan? Oh yes, let John Cole bellyache about that.

    I think John wanted to personally fuck John Lindh up the ass when he started this blog.

    There are some things that you can’t run away from. They stick like glue.

  48. 48.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    @Suffern ACE: THE David Broder is dead. But the HEAD David Broder clearly is still alive, as the media is riddled with his converts.

  51. 51.

    Dennis SGMM

    @junebug:

    Those demanding to know what the endgame is beforehand are just being foolish.

    Because not knowing what the endgame is has worked out so well in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  55. 55.

    Blue Carolinian

    Fun fact: Richmond, VA will have as many teams in thr sweet sixteen than the entire Big East.

  57. 57.

    Corner Stone

    @Barb (formerly Gex): A Sarah Palin typo on a tweet I believe. It then was made an official word by the poobahs somewhere.
    Personally, I love the word “refudiate”. I think it’s a perfectly cromulant word.

  58. 58.

    mr. whipple

    I also renounce the broccoli mandate, while declaring Brussels sprouts to be the spawn of Satan.

    And okra gets off unscathed? There is no justice.

  68. 68.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Roger Moore: Hey, now, rutabagas are delightful. Parsnips, I can take or leave (and would not foist upon children) but rutabagas are a root to behold, and superior, really, to the common turnip.

  69. 69.

    TenguPhule

    Won’t somebody think of the children?

    GOP House Member “MMMM, Children!” /Homer Simpson

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    And everyone ignores rutabagas.

    When I was a kid, I thought Rue de Bagas was a street in Paris. Or the lounge singer, Rudy Vegas.

  71. 71.

    junebug

    I’m sure you all know your blog host here. You must also know that he railed against someone who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and has come to Jebus about somethings but never about John Lindh. You can look it up for yourselves.

    And that leads me to say that John got it wrong — following Sully — for a long time and is now doing the same thing.

    I heard Libyans calling for help, did anyone you not? I know it’s not just because I work with Libyans.

    You all are just playing into the norm. Libyans asked so eloquently for help. I’m glad that our government has, with a good number, answered that call.

    Only looking at memorandum will make you think things are different from what they are. You should balance it out with something other than HuffPo.

  72. 72.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    I only met Gaddafi once, at a cocktail party that that lovely Joseph Palmer held for Gaddafi’s birthday in June 1972. My husband, Keith, had been doing some “freelance” regime change contracting in Ghana at the start of the year, and we got sent to Libya for six months as punishment.

    An entire country built on camel shit, camel spit, sharia law and egomania. Not a decent bar in the entire country.

    You can imagine that things were a little strained between Ambassador Palmer and the Leader and Holy Guide of the Glorious Revolution. Palmer was always trying his very best to calm things down, but all the time Dick Nixon kept sending angry telegrams ranting about how Gaddafi was a “fucker” and the US could have troops in Monrovia in two hours if he didn’t pull his head in.

    (Dick had apparently moved onto his Dexedrine period at that point. Yes, he was erratic, but it was much better than the months where he was mixing scotch and Haldol.)

    Palmer had organised a cake the size of a table in the shape of Libya, dancing girls, coke especially imported from Columbia – the whole shebang.

    Gaddafi’s eyes lit up as soon as he hit the room. He managed to hoover up three lines before Palmer had even managed to say “Happy Birthday”. When I shook his hand, he was swaying like a pendulum and he told me my breasts were like camels around a limpid pond.

    Just the way to get a girl – compare her to a bunch of bad tempered shit and spit machines.

    By the time the cake cutting rolled around, Gaddafi was trolleyed. He had a bottle of Glenfiddich with a straw in it in one hand and a naked 12 year old in the other, and he kept singing the third verse of the Libyan Anthem over and over again.

    “Say With Me Woe To The Enemy:
    And God is Over The Invader Egotist…”

    We should probably have seen that as a subtle hint, but we’d all been drinking and doing blow for three hours by that point, so you can’t really blame us.

    Anyway, Palmer had (foolishly as it turned out) arranged for Dick to call through live to wish Muammar his best wishes. Dick got on the line, and he was ok at first, even though you could hear he was thinking about his next pill. Pitty Pat was there as well and she mumbled something about carpets through her schnapps-haze. Dick wished Gaddafi well, then asked him if he would like to cut the cake.

    Gaddafi went off about the invader egotist slicing up the Jamahiriya just like their imperialist cake. He threw the cake on the floor. Dick started screaming that Gaddafi was a “fucking camel-fucking fucker” and that he was going to fuck him up, and the evening went downhill from there.

    Five months later, Palmer was withdrawn and Gaddafi was more popular with his people than he had ever been.

    What’s the lesson? Only this. As he swept out the door clutching a big hunk of cake, Gaddafi gave me a huge wink and smiled a smug smile like a 2 year old who has just done a poo on the carpet, but has managed to both shift the blame to the dog and make his parents have a screaming bottle-throwing row over it.

    The more things change…

  73. 73.

    TenguPhule

    but rutabagas are a root to behold, and superior, really, to the common turnip.

    Elitist.

    When Turnips are outlawed, only outlaws will wield turnips.

  76. 76.

    TenguPhule

    You all are just playing into the norm. Libyans asked so eloquently for help. I’m glad that our government has, with a good number, answered that call.

    Now if only they would stop calling collect.

  79. 79.

    brucds

    Dennis – I probably wouldn’t know who I was without my depression. It intensified on January 21, 1981. Sort of like the Great Deficit/”I want my country back!” Hysteria of January 21, 2009. I obviously have a lot in common with our brothers & sisters of the Tea Bag cohort.

  80. 80.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall: How nice to see you back> I was hoping that you’d met the Colonel back when he was young and handsome and bugfuck crazy. I always thought we should have twigged to the bugfuck part long ago, but what do I know?

    I’ve been kind of hoping you had some memories of that recently departed David Broder fellow that you could share. I’m sure you moved in some of the same circles. And perhaps you have strongly held opinions about brassicas and assorted root vegetables? Or punctuation?

  85. 85.

    DPirate

    The black guy hosting CNN LIVE is going to get a talking to for calling Libya “the war”. He recovered well, though, instead using “conflict” a few seconds later.

  92. 92.

    junebug

    you all have a Sully addiction, despite the fact that others tell you that he types bullshit.

    That our blog host had such a hard on for john lindh is just an example that he was wrong and never ever said how he was wrong.

    The Libyans asked us to help. Yeah, it took a while.

    Why are you all so wedded to Sully since he called you all traitors back in the day. As did John. If you look back to his entries about John Lindh and look at his posts about Manning, then you see how I come to where I am.

    John is a newcomer, as is Glenn. Why you all now worship one or the other baffles me.

  94. 94.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Thanks, my dear.

    I went to school with a Jemima Fuckhead. A horsey girl – one of those people who has to move her head from side to side to see you with both eyes. Too many teeth. Had to drink everything through a straw.

    She married a French count, I think, or maybe a viscount, although of course he turned out to be a penniless Brazilian on the make, and they ended up having to move to Rhodesia to avoid his creditors.

  96. 96.

    Mark

    My mom starts a new job tomorrow. She’s 61, and she’s been unemployed for 22 of the last 24 months. I am incredibly happy for her, and I only wish that everyone else in her situation could find work.

  99. 99.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    She married a French count, I think, or maybe a viscount, although of course he turned out to be a penniless Brazilian on the make, and they ended up having to move to Rhodesia to avoid his creditors.

    it is surprising how often that happens.

  104. 104.

    junebug

    Sully doesn’t like what is going on and so John doesn’t like it either. Is there no other explanation? I don’t see one.

    It’s just the same thing over again. You all who just follow John by the nose then agree with him on who is right.

    Could it be that the Libyans are right and the French are right and that we know these people because they are the diplomats who have represented in places of power? They might even be people who the French and the Portuguese recognized diplomatically?

    No, let’s just go with Sully and his asswipe brownshirt take sides crap.. Yes, let’s.

  106. 106.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    One thing I’ve always noticed is how John ALWAYS agrees with Sully.

    /snark

  107. 107.

    Shoemaker-Levy 9

    If there are any Big East fans still awake I’ll make a deal with you; we’ll expand the basketball tournament to 76 and every fucking Big East team gets an automatic bid. In exchange you give up your BCS slot.

  109. 109.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    How nice to see you back.

    I had my internet privileges taken away after I google-bombed the New York Times website when David Brooks kept erasing my comments on his blog. Who knew Davey Pissy Pants was so sensitive?

    I was hoping that you’d met the Colonel back when he was young and handsome and bugfuck crazy. I always thought we should have twigged to the bugfuck part long ago, but what do I know?

    Castro was hot when I met him. Even though he smelled like a sheep, the sex just oozed out of him. Three times in one night, if my memory serves me correctly.

    Mubarak was cute when he was young too although, of course, I didn’t sleep with him. Too much crying and self flagellation for my taste, and I’ve never liked yoghurt.

    I’ve been kind of hoping you had some memories of that recently departed David Broder fellow that you could share.

    Broder? Broder. The name is familiar. I kid. I met him a few times when he was covering the 1960 election. All I can really say is that my only real memory of him is of a prevaricating blur in ugly glasses. Boring, boring man. Little dick, bad sex. So bad.

    brassicas and assorted root vegetables?

    I can’t eat starch or cabbages. Particularly starch AND cabbages. Constipation and chronic wind makes me blow up like Haley Barbour on a cheese binge.

    Or punctuation?

    Misuse of apostrophes should be a hanging offense.

  113. 113.

    Parallel 5ths (Irish Steel)

    @junebug:

    You all who just follow John by the nose then agree with him on who is right.

    Are you sure you’ve got the right blog?

    And can you diagram how “following by the nose” is done?

  115. 115.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @Parallel 5ths (Irish Steel):

    Walter Cronkite was a nice man. And insatiable.

    “What sort of day was it?”

    A day like all days, filled with lubricant and uppers and poppers and those other things that alter and illuminate our times… and I was there, usually with a sore yingyang.

  117. 117.

    junebug

    Barb, did you not hear the Libyans ask so very graciously for help? No? Then you must not have heard them because you were reading Sully — the guy who called you a traitor — instead of the Libyans themselves.

    John is always following Sully, just look back. Sure now he claims to be Independence, but he is just following sully.

    John has been wrong in ways that change lives. Contributing to animals is one way to walk it back, but human lives were lost . . . ruined.

    You all need to step back.

  121. 121.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    Misuse of apostrophes should be a hanging offense.

    I thought it was. But then I’ve occasionally been accused of being the secret love child of Miss Manners and Rita Mae Brown, with the Y chromosome material donated by Philip Roth following a week’s worth of acid, with a side of peyote. It’s a vicious rumor (though I am a love child; I attended my parents’ wedding, with a date).

  128. 128.

    DPirate

    @Parallel 5ths (Irish Steel): lol

    @junebug: The Qaddafi supporters are asking for help now. Civilians are being killed by the air strikes. We have to help them! Damn the torpedoes! Kim Jong Il, Ahmedinajad AND Hugo Chavez sent a cable saying WE GOT TO HELP> That’s three! Count em, 3! For three is the number to which you will count. Five is right out!

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall: I suppose it was in 86 when, discarding yet another boring letter from the Queen, I was called to the window by a beautiful voice.

    “Excuse me, sir,” called the young Libyan. “The Colonel requests your presence at his ‘country plantation’. We have a helicopter standing by, and a camel… what suits you best?”

    “Camels I have aplenty,” I declared, lighting up, flipping open my 1943 Zippo, the one scarred by schrapnel at Bastogne. “Inform the Colonel that I graciously accept his invitation… if you dare.”

    Arrived, the Colonel strode out of his fabulous tent to greet me. Splendid in his tribal robes, having dismissed his men, he grasped my hand in his and leaned in for a kiss. “But your emminence, I’m not gay.”

    He laughed curiously, as he ever did.

  129. 129.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Parallel 5ths (Irish Steel): Careful, there; we musn’t summon demons. Though it’s a bit too well composed, however ridiculous in its premise. Both “lucid” and “coherent” weren’t quite right.

  130. 130.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    But then I’ve occasionally been accused of being the secret love child of Miss Manners and Rita Mae Brown, with the Y chromosome material donated by Philip Roth following a week’s worth of acid, with a side of peyote.

    Sounds frighteningly like my second honeymoon.

  131. 131.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Mark: Message from a bunch of laid-off teachers*: Tell your mom to stop buying lottery tickets, if she ever bought them, because she just used up allllll her luck.

    *Seniority won’t save you when they axe the whole program.

  133. 133.

    junebug

    John knows what he wrote back in the day. He doesn’t need you all to protect him.

    If Sully is against it John is too. that’s all we need to know.

    John you have the protectors I wish I had, but I don’t need them. My blog is just my whim and at least I got to know that my friends in Japan were ok. I’m sure the commenters who denigrated me wished they knew someone somewhere outside of their lonely little S&M little small town entertainment.

  134. 134.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason (formerly frosty)

    @gopher2b: Gastritis got your calculator? More like $74,800,000. There’s an extra 10% in there that you rounded off. So you can be ~$7,000,000 more depressed.

  138. 138.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    @DPirate:

    That’s lovely. Although, it’s “eminence”, dear.

    Are you sure you have been taking your yellow pills every morning?

  139. 139.

    Yutsano

    @DPirate: No haz TV, so no idea who it was. There is an AA anchor for CNN in the mornings, though, whose name is also escaping me. It could be him.

  140. 140.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @Parallel 5ths (Irish Steel): True those. And I assume SPandT will applaud your nice use of “hectoring” here (as do I, of course). Also the smug touch of pettiness is similar to the absent demon, as well.

  141. 141.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    All I know is that if someone asks me a question graciously, no matter what they are asking or what the ramifications of complying, I always agree. What could go wrong?

  142. 142.

    Steeplejack

    Two songs for my father:

    Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, “San Antonio Rose.”

    My dad loved Western swing, and he loved Dixieland music. I remember listening to all his Al Hirt and Pete Fountain records, but the song I kept coming back to was “Stranger in Paradise.”

    Word came today that he died this afternoon. He had been in a slow decline for quite a while–he was 83–but about a week ago things took a turn for the worse. I made plane reservations to go out there on the 31st. That trip is still on. There doesn’t seem to be any use in rushing out there right away. One of my brothers lives there and seems to be coping well and taking care of our mother.

    On one level this wasn’t unexpected, but on another level it was completely unexpected, like a punch in the gut. I guess you can never be prepared for the actual moment.

    One of the things that I got from him is a love of music–all kinds of music–and I have been trolling through YouTube this evening and hoisting a few in his memory. Thought I would share these two songs with my on-line community.

    I am smiling now because the Bob Wills song reminds me that Dad was one of the last of that generation that could say “San Antone” in conversation and not have it sound weird. And I have good memories of our family’s time there in the ’60s.

    RIP, Skyjack.

  143. 143.

    Jennifer

    RE: the last thread: just be glad whoever it was didn’t mention guillotines.

    I understand Atrios is really sensitive to the word “guillotine.” Or at least he claims to be, when it suits his purposes.

  149. 149.

    Martin

    @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason (formerly frosty): Eh. The operating cost of one of our carriers is $160M. We have 11 in service right now. The military uses 200K barrels of oil per day. That’s at just over $100 bbl. $20M per day, just keeping everyone moving.

    (Whoops, big error there – fixed.)

    If you guys are just now getting depressed about the cost of our military, you haven’t been paying any damn attention.

  151. 151.

    Suffern ACE

    @Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:

    anyone else come to the conclusion that there is more desire to debate libya, than there is things to debate.

    There really isn’t much debate going on, anyway. I mean, one side keeps saying “genocide” and “slaughter” so its rather difficult to argue that action shouldn’t be taken against such moral outrages. Another side wants to argue about procedures, and as long as they are followed we’re good to go. Once these adventures start, there is little point in debating whether or not they should have started. Reality has moved the debate forward.

  152. 152.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dennis SGMM:

    It’s so strange to me that people can look at women’s higher rate of being diagnosed with depression versus men’s higher suicide rate and decide that women are much more likely to be depressed. Who was the genius who made that determination?

  160. 160.

    Violet

    @Steeplejack:
    Very sorry for your loss. Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys made some fine music. An excellent way to honor and remember your father.

  161. 161.

    Blue Carolinian

    No, I’m a Tarheel. Fuck Duke and Coach Konstipation.

    It is a REAL pleasure as an ACC supporter to see the Big East go down in flames after listening constantly about how awful the ACC is this year and the Big Eas will dominate the tournament blah blah blah.

    Suck it! It eases the pain of my brackets falling apart if nothing else.

  162. 162.

    Mr. Upright

    @Blue Carolinian: Yeah, let’s just hope our gloating over the Big East FAIL doesn’t bite us in the ass next weekend.

    You know, with the disappointment of last season there was one big highlight for me: the Heels came here to Birmingham in the NIT and I got to see them live. First time since I left Chapel Hill.

  166. 166.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Mark: Good for your mom. That’s really nice to hear.

    @Steeplejack: Oh, I’m so sorry, Steepman. My condolences to you and your family on the loss of your father. Gentle hugs to you.

    @Yutsano: You still here, hon? How did being stuffed in a tube go today?

  170. 170.

    Brachiator

    In other news. Wikileaks has not succeeded in getting citizens to re-asses American foreign policy decisions or make Congress and the president more accountable.

    But it is certainly dirtying the foreign policy waters and making it harder for the Obama Administration to deal with allies:

    US Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual has resigned amid a row over leaked diplomatic cables in which he doubted Mexico’s ability to tackle drug gangs.
    __
    In his cables, released by Wikileaks and published by The Guardian newspaper, Mr Pascual questioned whether President Calderon could win his war on drugs, saying the various security agencies were often at odds.
    __
    The Mexican security forces, he said, were slow and risk-averse.
    __
    Mr Pascual, a Cuban-American expert in failed states, is a career diplomat.

  172. 172.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: No big deal, as predicted I fell asleep. Worst part was figuring out how to get into the building. It was actually a pretty open set-up, though the relaxing imagery on the wall and ceiling was a bit disconcerting.

    @TooManyJens: I think we should hold onto this particular card the next time there’s a Rosie rant. That could get fun.

  174. 174.

    Kathryn

    @TooManyJens: I am going to have to just walk away from the 2002 archives, because this is just blogcrack.

    I can hardly wait til the next Westminster Dog show.

  179. 179.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason (formerly frosty)

    @Martin: Just being pedantic on the numbers this time. What really bugs me is all tne non-defense costs in DoD. I was at Ft Benning last fall and saw the new Museum of the Infantry. Tell me why that’s in the Defense budget and not in the Park Service.

    This fetish for the military is costing us dearly when any congressman can get any fucking thing built in his district just by funding it through untouchable DoD instead of “unnecessary and wasteful discretionary spending.”

  181. 181.

    Vibrant Pantload, fka Studly Pantload

    @junebug:

    Your comments would be more entertaining if you’d at least switch out dead horses once in a while.

  183. 183.

    Suffern ACE

    @Martin: Y

    eah, the DOD is the mother of all slush funds for Congress. Would be nice to see that set right.

    Never gonna happen. We keep having these military enhancing events. And to think, 20 years ago, I was expecting a peace dividend.

  184. 184.

    Valdivia

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:
    So glad to see you back here. Was won ring just last night where you had gone to.
    You will have to tell us exactly what you tried to get through the NYT censor in the Brooks blog!

  186. 186.

    Yutsano

    @Valdivia: Auto-correct is tool of teh debil. Disable it if you can. I heard tell on some phone systems it’s not possible.

  187. 187.

    Elizabelle

    @Steeplejack:

    Very sorry. You and your family are in my thoughts.

    Your dad had great taste in music. Wondering if you could play some Bob Wills or Dixieland Jazz at his wake. Or after the funeral. Less about loss and more about celebrating having known such a cool guy.

  188. 188.

    Valdivia

    @Yutsano:

    You are right, devil’s tool it is!
    Must remember to turn it off specially late at night.
    Off to dream land crew.
    Hope you’re well!

  189. 189.

    Elizabelle

    @Kathryn:

    A classic John Cole comment from very next thread, circa February 2002:

    I saw Great van Facelift on Fox News and realized why I instinctively like dogs more than people. Dogs don’t talk.

  190. 190.

    Yutsano

    @Elizabelle: Ya know, if you go through some of that classic Cole stuff, it’s like there’s an inner DFH just waiting to come out. It just needed the right impetus. Terry Schiavo broke that shell.

  191. 191.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @gopher2b:

    Each cruise missile costs $680,000. We fired 110 last night for a cost of about $68,000,000.
    I’m so depressed.

    With cruise missiles it’s loose em or lose em.

    If they didn’t get used blowing up Libyan shit they’d just get put up on blocks out back of the Pentagon and eventually you’d have to pay the scrap guy $100 a ton just to cart them away.

    So I say win, win all round. Not counting Libyans of course.

  192. 192.

    kdaug

    @Steeplejack: Sorry to hear it, chief. Lost my dad when I was 21, I know what it’s like.

    83’s a good run, though. About as much as I would ask for.

  198. 198.

    joe from Lowell

    This has to be quick: another doctor’s appointment.

    1) I never wrote a single comment about the Arab League; I was responded to Ulubrious’ general point about John being overwrought.

    2) My point all along was about NATO, France and Britain – I point I actually did write comment after comment making.

    3) How are those ground troops coming, John?

    4) We’ve had all sorts of disagreements in the past, but it’s only now, when you know I’m too busy with a newborn to defend myself property, that you pull this shit. What a tiny, bitter little man.

  200. 200.

    Original Lee

    @Steeplejack: My sincere condolences, Steeplejack. You’re right – no matter how ready you think you are, it’s still a punch to the gut when it happens. Your dad sounds as if he was a pretty cool dude. I share the love for Al Hirt.

  201. 201.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @joe from Lowell:

    We’ve had all sorts of disagreements in the past, but it’s only now, when you know I’m too busy with a newborn to defend myself property, that you pull this shit. What a tiny, bitter little man.

    Hiding behind yer kid has to be the lamest duck I’ve seen yet.

  202. 202.

    Corner Stone

    @joe from Lowell:

    We’ve had all sorts of disagreements in the past, but it’s only now, when you know I’m too busy with a newborn to defend myself property, that you pull this shit. What a tiny, bitter little man.

    Fucking narcissism, how does it work?

  203. 203.

    joe from Lowell

    Hmmm…JSF…scroll scroll scroll…Corner Stone…scroll…scroll… scroll.

    The infinitesimal odds that I didn’t read the one post in which one of you said something remotely interesting is probably not going to keep me awake tonight.

  205. 205.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    How were you able to get an actual human being to breed with you, Joe? Did you threaten to invade her if she didn’t comply with your mandate?

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