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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Night Open Thread

Sunday Night Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  April 3, 201111:02 pm| 61 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Clown Shoes

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(Sacks cartoon via Gocomics.com)
__
What boots are going to be hitting the ground in your neighborhood this week?

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Reader Interactions

61Comments

  1. 1.

    clussman

    April 3, 2011 at 11:06 pm

    Anne, can you link back to the source for the cartoon? That should be SOP, just like when y’all excerpt portions of an article.

  2. 2.

    kindness

    April 3, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    Did you see the report about the dog in Japan who had been on a house roof at sea for 3 weeks? Was rescued yesterday:

    It’s pretty heartwarming.

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    April 3, 2011 at 11:14 pm

    Been watching the news intently. I think Ryan shooting his mouth off like he did may have poisoned the well for getting anything budgetary done. Forced vacation here I come!

  4. 4.

    BethanyAnne

    April 3, 2011 at 11:16 pm

    Carpet cleaning! We had a local guy come over this weekend, and 30 bucks a room turned into 90. We thanked him for his time, and gave Sears a call. Pretty sad if Sears is more honest, but we’ll give it a shot.
    Other than that, work in the day and Minecraft at night. I finally got a good mine down to the bedrock level, and have been searching for more diamonds.

  5. 5.

    4jkb4ia

    April 3, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    The Knicks are in the playoffs–a feast and a holiday

    Didn’t even read that concern trolling about the death penalty. They stuck it on something like page A14. /grumble

  6. 6.

    Arclite

    April 3, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    Racism and Sexism in the NCAA basketball coverage.

    So, I’m watching the VCU-Butler game yesterday, and boy did the announcers talk up Matt Howard, “pride and joy of whatevertown” and all sorts of other superlatives. All the other great non-white players? Not so much.

    Now today, I’m watching the Women’s NCAA UConn-Notre Dame championship. WHat comes on at halftime? The Final Four Fashion Bracket. Would we EVER see such a thing at ANY men’s halftime??? The equivalent might be some halftime swimsuit competition on the men’s side. Ridiculous.

    BTW, I’m a white guy, so if I’m noticing this shit, you know it’s got to be bad.

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    April 3, 2011 at 11:18 pm

    Boots Onna Ground ™ !!

  8. 8.

    Yutsano

    April 3, 2011 at 11:27 pm

    And apparently my kitteh doth not care for larb gai. Even though it’s chicken. Oh well, more for me!

  9. 9.

    Hermione Granger-Weasley

    April 3, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    Egyptian boots!

    US and Egyptian special forces have reportedly been providing covert training to rebel fighters in the battle for Libya, Al Jazeera has been told.
    __
    An unnamed rebel source related how he had undergone training in military techniques at a “secret facility” in eastern Libya.
    __
    He told our correspondent Laurence Lee, reporting from the rebel-stronghold of Benghazi, that he was sent to fire Katyusha rockets but was given a simple, unguided version of the rocket instead.
    __
    “He told us that on Thursday night a new shipment of Katyusha rockets had been sent into eastern Libya from Egypt. He didn’t say they were sourced from Egypt, but that was their route through,” our correspondent said.
    __
    “He said these were state-of-the-art, heat-seeking rockets and that they needed to be trained on how to use them, which was one of the things the American and Egyptian special forces were there to do.”
    __
    The intriguing development raises several questions, about Egypt’s private involvement and what the arms embargo exactly means, said our correspondent.
    __
    “There is also the question of whether or not the outside world should arm the rebels, when in fact they [rebels] are already being armed covertly.”
    __
    Our correspondent added that since the rebels appear to be receiving covert support in terms of weaponry and training, it is not surprising that they are not inclined to criticise NATO openly.

  10. 10.

    cat48

    April 3, 2011 at 11:37 pm

    @Yutsano:

    I worked for the Feds when Newt had his 2 shutdowns. Basically, they told me I was nonessential & sent me home. Then they paid me in full anyway. Not bad really.

  11. 11.

    jeffreyw

    April 3, 2011 at 11:38 pm

    @Yutsano: It’ the chili paste keeps kitteh away.

  12. 12.

    jeffreyw

    April 3, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    Trying a batch of Creole mustard. I don’t have Steen’s cane syrup-I subbed corn syrup. I’m sure to go to hell.

  13. 13.

    cat48

    April 3, 2011 at 11:44 pm

    @Hermione Granger-Weasley:

    Egypt has been training them & supplying arms before we decided on a NFZ. Good thing too since Richard said they were shooting missles & they were going the wrong way. They frightened Engel. They gave Engel an M16 to have while he slept at a hotel! Evidently, Egypt just dropped some srms off the first time with no training.

  14. 14.

    lol

    April 3, 2011 at 11:44 pm

    Breaking News: We have boots on the ground in every country! Curse you Fartbama!

  15. 15.

    Yutsano

    April 3, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    @jeffreyw: That makes sense, especially since I go for warmer rather than cooler with these sorts of dishes. And I haz lots of leftovers too.

    Side note: forgot to order rice, and realized the only actual rice I had was arborio. Also didn’t have the wherewithal to make risotto, so I just made the arborio the old fashioned way. It actually worked, in fact it has a very interesting slightly chewy texture that is quite pleasant in the mouth.

    @cat48: Oh my union will make sure we get paid I’m confident of that. It’s just how long this goes on for. If they don’t pass a continuing resolution this week (and the news says it’s not on the table) then it’s budget or nothing.

  16. 16.

    Mark S.

    April 3, 2011 at 11:50 pm

    Why do we get so many ads for right wing shit (I count four of them on my screen right now)?

  17. 17.

    jrg

    April 3, 2011 at 11:50 pm

    @lol:

    Breaking News: We have boots on the ground in every country! Curse you Fartbama!

    czars, too, I hear.

  18. 18.

    Roger Moore

    April 3, 2011 at 11:57 pm

    @Mark S.:
    I think it’s because this is a political blog and the right wingers are throwing a lot more money at web ads than the left wingers are. I do find it amusing that there’s an ad for a city in Nevada, but if any poster should mention a cas1no or g@mbling without disguising their words somehow they’ll get stuck in moderation.

  19. 19.

    lol

    April 4, 2011 at 12:02 am

    @jrg:

    Fartbama has more czars than the Soviet Union! How do you like THAT, comrade?

  20. 20.

    debit

    April 4, 2011 at 12:06 am

    I laughed when Cole bought a Furminator. Well, with four cats the cat hair problem is out of control so out of desperation, I bought one. Not only does it work, Rufus will bowl over other cats (and the dog) to get Furminated. He loves it. Seriously. They all like getting brushed and combed, but Rufus has a serious love for that thing.

    And with that, I have to go to bed. Night all.

  21. 21.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    April 4, 2011 at 12:10 am

    @lol:

    just wait til he starts naming tsars to work with the czars, then after that csars, which will be unprecidented, after that comes ceasars, which means we are an empire in decline. WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!

  22. 22.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    April 4, 2011 at 12:10 am

    .
    .
    I look forward to President Obama’s reasonable and conciliatory compromises with his good friends on the other side of the aisle.
    .
    .

  23. 23.

    Anne Laurie

    April 4, 2011 at 12:13 am

    @clussman: Thanks for the reminder — I fixed it.

  24. 24.

    Anya

    April 4, 2011 at 12:25 am

    So CIA agents are “boots on the ground”? If so, then we have boots on the ground in every freaking country in the world. When we talk about boots on the ground, we’re talking about combat units, not 22 CIA agents.

    All the experts agree that we don’t have enough information about Libyan rebels, so isn’t it a good idea that we have CIA agents collecting intelligence? Although I am not sure about how competent they are at this collecting intelligence thing.

  25. 25.

    Roger Moore

    April 4, 2011 at 12:39 am

    @Anya:

    All the experts agree that we don’t have enough information about Libyan rebels, so isn’t it a good idea that we have CIA agents collecting intelligence?

    Are they collecting intelligence though, or are they engaged in (no longer so) covert operations? If it’s the latter, it’s plausible to classify them as boots on the ground. IIRC, we’re also supposed to have some special forces in there doing training, who could certainly count as boots on the ground; remember what happened to our “military advisers” in Vietnam.

  26. 26.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    April 4, 2011 at 12:46 am

    Hmm…old friend from hometown just e-mailed me, asking for my address for a wedding invitation. He doesn’t know I’m trans, or that my name is different, etc. Thinking of appropriate response.

  27. 27.

    Hermione Granger-Weasley

    April 4, 2011 at 12:47 am

    @cat48: i didnt know they were giving them katyushas tho.
    Maybe we don’t need to arm the rebels. Let the Egyptian SF give them Mubaraks sweet American stockpile that he got for making nice with Israel for 30 years.
    Poetic justice.
    ;)

  28. 28.

    OzoneR

    April 4, 2011 at 12:48 am

    @lol:

    Fartbama has more czars than the Soviet Union!

    Technically the Soviet Union didn’t have czars, pre-Soviet Russia did.

    As a matter of fact, that was sorta the joke back when the Republicans were attacking the czars…”What do Michele Bachmann and Lenin have in common?”

  29. 29.

    OzoneR

    April 4, 2011 at 12:51 am

    @Roger Moore:

    Are they collecting intelligence though, or are they engaged in (no longer so) covert operations? If it’s the latter, it’s plausible to classify them as boots on the ground.

    No one’s really sure, but we’re also deluding ourselves if we don’t think there were CIA agents in Tunisia and Egypt, or Somalia, Sudan, even the Ivory Coast, or in Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Baltic States during the late 80s, or in places like the Philippines, Indonesia, South America, Africa during the Cold War.

    And we’re deluding ourselves if we don’t think they conducted covert operations there too…I mean we KNOW they did in Chile and Nicaragua.

  30. 30.

    OzoneR

    April 4, 2011 at 12:55 am

    @Amanda in the South Bay:

    Hmm…old friend from hometown just e-mailed me, asking for my address for a wedding invitation. He doesn’t know I’m trans, or that my name is different, etc. Thinking of appropriate response.

    be honest. Maybe he has a clue about it. I’ve never been invited to a wedding for a friend whom I haven’t spoken to at least relatively recently.

  31. 31.

    Mark S.

    April 4, 2011 at 12:56 am

    I keep thinking Boots Onna Ground would be a cool band name.

  32. 32.

    Anya

    April 4, 2011 at 12:57 am

    @Roger Moore: I though the Brits sent special forces in there to train the rebels. At this point it’s only speculation, so we don’t know whether they’re doing covert work or collecting intelligence. But I think comparing Libya to Vietnam is a bit of a stretch.

  33. 33.

    OzoneR

    April 4, 2011 at 12:59 am

    @Anya: The Vietnam comparison makes more sense at the moment for the British or the French.

  34. 34.

    Joseph Nobles

    April 4, 2011 at 1:05 am

    Put me down for not considering CIA or even laser targeting teams Boots Onna Ground™. If you can’t imagine someone singing “shores of Tri-po-li!” to it, it’s not an occupation force.

  35. 35.

    eemom

    April 4, 2011 at 1:32 am

    @Joseph Nobles:

    wtf WERE the Marines doing on the shores of Tripoli in that song, anyway? Or the halls of Montezuma for that matter. Ignorant minds want to know.

  36. 36.

    Mnemosyne

    April 4, 2011 at 1:32 am

    @Roger Moore:

    If that’s your criterion, then we had boots on the ground in Vietnam in 1954 and earlier.

  37. 37.

    Yutsano

    April 4, 2011 at 1:34 am

    @eemom: Protecting American business interests. Plus ca change and all that.

  38. 38.

    eemom

    April 4, 2011 at 1:38 am

    well, there’s this explanation

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marines'_Hymn

    kind of uninspiring though, imo. I like the “Green Beret” song better.

  39. 39.

    MikeJ

    April 4, 2011 at 1:39 am

    @eemom: Battling pirates who hijacked American ships and kidnapped US citizens.

  40. 40.

    eemom

    April 4, 2011 at 1:45 am

    @MikeJ:

    oh. Well, that sounds fairly noble.

  41. 41.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    April 4, 2011 at 2:01 am

    @eemom:

    better yet berber rug munching barbie pirates!

  42. 42.

    Mark S.

    April 4, 2011 at 2:03 am

    @eemom:

    Definitely more noble than why they were at the Halls of Montezuma.

  43. 43.

    Arclite

    April 4, 2011 at 2:05 am

    @Mark S.:

    Why do we get so many ads for right wing shit (I count four of them on my screen right now)?

    Because you’re a closet winger who sneaks out to LGF and Powerline when we’re not watching?

  44. 44.

    Mark S.

    April 4, 2011 at 2:07 am

    @Arclite:

    I guess you haven’t been to LGF in a while. It’s changed a bit.

  45. 45.

    Yutsano

    April 4, 2011 at 2:10 am

    @Mark S.: Charles Johnson seems to have had his Terri Schiavo moment. It’s been quite the transformation though I didn’t personally witness it.

  46. 46.

    piratedan

    April 4, 2011 at 2:11 am

    @Uncle Clarence Thomas: will that take place before or after they burn him in effigy over at Faux News?

  47. 47.

    Mark S.

    April 4, 2011 at 2:15 am

    @Yutsano:

    Yeah, I don’t know exactly when it happened either. It’s been a couple years.

  48. 48.

    Arclite

    April 4, 2011 at 2:20 am

    @Mark S.:

    I guess you haven’t been to LGF in a while. It’s changed a bit.

    Actually, I never have been out to LGF, but I get right-wing ads too. I think what happens is that the banner ad scripts look at your cookies and see that you visit a lot of “political” sites, but the granulation doesn’t go as deep as “left” “right” “liberal” etc., so you get fed both left and right wing ads.

  49. 49.

    Mark S.

    April 4, 2011 at 2:27 am

    @Arclite:

    Well, as long as it doesn’t know that I also go to a lot of “porn” sites.

    For purely research reasons.

  50. 50.

    Cain

    April 4, 2011 at 2:39 am

    @Mark S.:

    For purely research reasons.

    Hope you are learning :)

  51. 51.

    burnspbesq

    April 4, 2011 at 3:23 am

    @Arclite:

    Oh, lighten up.

    Matt Howard is a legitimate storyline.

    Kim Mulkey should be mocked for dressing like she’s going to happy hour at the lobby bar at the Hyatt.

    You probably think Jalen Rose was right.

  52. 52.

    burnspbesq

    April 4, 2011 at 3:31 am

    @Yutsano:

    Hey, guy. I’m probably less than three miles from you. Sitting at the Hilton on Sixth. The kid is visiting Cornish later today.

  53. 53.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    April 4, 2011 at 5:26 am

    @Arclite:

    how do i get back to the ad with the girl with the snorkel, i’ve looked at it enough, at this point i hope she is legal, or an artists rendering not based on an actual model. she has a pronounced mound and what appears to be a tuft, and she is a slight bit thicker than the usual bikini fare served up by our advertising industry. not that i miss her or anything…..

  54. 54.

    amk

    April 4, 2011 at 6:37 am

    That stupid little toon is a wanton and deliberate distortion what Obama said. But then hey, anything goes against black guy, right ?

  55. 55.

    Bruce S

    April 4, 2011 at 6:42 am

    Going online when you wake up at night is a fool’s errand. Just saw a headline about “radioactive water pouring into the sea…@ rate of 7 tons per hour.” Traded insomnia for nightmares!

  56. 56.

    Ash Can

    April 4, 2011 at 7:28 am

    That cartoon is dumb. We’d goddamned BETTER have CIA “boots on the ground,” in Libya and in every other hot spot around the globe. If we didn’t, we might as well shut down the whole damned State Department and run our foreign policy out of someone’s garage in New Jersey.

  57. 57.

    jeffreyw

    April 4, 2011 at 7:56 am

    @Mark S.: I go for therapy for my restless leg syndrome.

  58. 58.

    Suck It Up!

    April 4, 2011 at 8:45 am

    That cartoon is pure garbage. since when is the CIA the same as sending troops? if you have to exaggerate/make shit up/change the def of things to make a point then you pretty much have nothing to say.

  59. 59.

    mk387

    April 4, 2011 at 8:52 am

    Friggin’ anti-war idiots are just proving that you know NOTHING about the U.S. military whatsoever.

    “Boots on the ground” refers to sending in groud troops via the Marines or Army.

    Not the friggin’ CIA!

    Geez, get a life … or at least a clue!

  60. 60.

    Mnemosyne

    April 4, 2011 at 11:21 am

    I especially love the fact that, if having foreign agents in your country is the equivalent of invading that country with an army, then we’ve been invaded by hundreds of countries, including allies like Great Britain and (especially) Israel.

    However has the US survived with all of those “boots on the ground” from other countries?

  61. 61.

    NobodySpecial

    April 4, 2011 at 11:28 am

    Tuesday I have the fine choice between two School Board candidates: One who supports charter schools and school zones and one who voted against keeping the school for the disabled kids and who loves loves LOVES the incompetent piece of dreck we’ve got for a Superintendent.

    I think I’m writing in ‘meteors’.

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