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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.
Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?
It’s the corruption, stupid.
Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.
Infrastructure week. at last.
If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.
T R E 4 5 O N
We still have time to mess this up!
The willow is too close to the house.
A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.
The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.
My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.
Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.
Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.
And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.
I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.
Nothing worth doing is easy.
This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.
When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.
Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity
I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.
Second rate reporter says what?
“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”
Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?
Steeplejack
I’m two episodes behind. Plan to watch the one about losing the wedding money in a little bit, maybe carry on if the momentum builds. Waiting to see if the Twins-Red Sox games catches fire.
Neil
I can’t wait for someone to start a band called Barry Soetero and the Birthers
OzoneR
Don’t tell Joe Beese
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAYS_IN_MILITARY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-09-19-29-55
mcd410x
If the Mississippi River flood overwhelms the Old River Control Structure, the Mississippi could jump to the Atchafalaya River channel (Dr. Masters at Wunderground will have more soon):
“In the aftermath of the huge floods that would cause the main flow of the river to jump to the Atchafalaya River, aside from the cost, anxiety, tragedy, and aggravation of dealing with massive amounts of water being in the wrong place, there would be lingering issues that would change the way of life on the lower Mississippi. Instead of 70% flow down the lower Mississippi and 30% flow down the Atchafalaya, the percentages would probably reverse. … Morgan City would have to be relocated, as would other communities and many businesses, possibly including the massive infrastructure of the offshore oil and gas industry. Fisheries would be altered measurably all across the delta. It would probably take two decades to adapt to the new environment around present day Morgan City. Additionally, pipelines, bridges, and the like that cross the Atchafalaya would be destroyed or rendered unsafe. The ruptured natural gas pipelines would place stress on fuel supplies for energy companies, but they would quickly change to more costly fuel sources and have little or no interruption of service. “
Comrade Mary
I just spent 2 hours half-cleaning my garage. I got to my dust threshold and stopped. If deadlines hold off, I can finish cleaning it by the weekend.
Roger Moore
@mcd410x:
Nasty. Anyone who wants to know a lot about this should read John McPhee’s excellent “The Control of Nature”, which talks about the Old River Control Structure (as well as Iceland’s fight against a volcano and Los Angeles’s debris control structures). It’s fascinating and scary.
Anoniminous
@mcd410x:
Only a matter of time before the Mississippi ventures forth, once again, a new route to the Gulf to plow. When it does the entire Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio river complex goes ker–ppfffttttt as a transportation system. Among other things, it will cause about a 5 to 10 percent reduction in US GNP for a couple of years.
jeff
My late grandfather was an engineer from Louisiana. I didn’t know him well, but one of the few things I do remember is that he would say every Thanksgiving that the Mississippi levees were totally a mistake. There were amazingly smart people from that generation, no matter how parochial they were in some regards. He called the 9th ward disaster 20 years before it happened.
RedKitten
Loved the Star Wars references in tonight’s ep. There were a lot of neat little in-jokes (like when Linda Hamilton was doing the chin-ups in the jail cell.)
PurpleGirl
@RedKitten: You’ve changed some of the pictures at your flckr link — cool. SamKitten must be a handfull now — running, not walking?
Joel
I have to admit, I’m an ageist. Under 5 and over 90, can’t trust that you haven’t pooped your pants. Examples of both on my bus right now…
Loneoak
@Roger Moore:
Mad love for McPhee.
MazeDancer
Boehner has announced the Repubs opening bargaining position in the debt ceiling vote: Trillions in cuts, or no raising the limit.
Article in NYTimes about his speech in NYC launching the Repubs opening salvo: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/us/politics/10boehner.html?hp Boehner wants to seize the opportunity.
Hoping that the President announces: No negotiating with terrorists. It is still my humble opinion that this should not be a negotiation at all. That once any discussion opens, the Republicans win as their willingness to let the nation default is legitimized. Instead, the Dems should just say: no negotiations. This is not a discussion. This is about whether or not America has a future. And if the Republicans decide that America does not, then they’ll let the nation default.
Martin
@MazeDancer:
Obama: So you still want us to eliminate Medicare?
Maude
@Martin:
We could start by cutting off the utilities at the capital.
Then we move onto their pay and benefits.
Roger Moore
@Maude:
No, let’s start with the big stuff. We’ll cancel all military procurement except supplies and parts for existing equipment. Then we’ll end farm subsidies. Then we can start looking at symbolic cuts.
jeffreyw
Thread needs kitties (slight reprise).
Martin
@Maude: Just keep tying the GOP back to their desire to cut Medicare. Never let them off of that vote. Every time they want to cut, the Dems need to talk about the GOP cutting Medicare.
Every. Time.
Joel
Only the Bulls (should they survive) can stop the NBA’s equivalent of Paul Ryan from reaching the finals this year.
Roger Moore
@jeffreyw:
Squeeeee!
South of I-10
Re the Mississippi: all of you go and find yourselves a copy of Rising Tide by John Barry. Very interesting history of the flood of 1927 and the corps. I sure hope those levees hold, but I really don’t have a lot of faith in the corps.
ksmiami
Open thread comment – the GOP insane clown posse running for 2012 is starting to make me ill. Hate filled, greedy jerks representing the worst of America… Frankly, I am not sure the Republican party will survive their own insanity – I thought it was bad under Clinton, but now everyone knows who these people are…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ksmiami: Erik Erikson has announced he will never vote for Huntsman, which is good news for people who love bad news for VSP-favored Republican candidates.
and that asshole teacher in Texas who made a little girl of Arab descent cry about the death of her “uncle” bin Laden was shit-canned.
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Unpossible! It takes years to fire a tenured union teacher, even if they’ve murdered one of their students and confessed!
MazeDancer
@Martin:
Good point about there probably are no Repub “trillions” in cuts without axeing Medicare.
And, also, too, one assumes they still want trillions in tax cuts for rich people.
BattleCat
How come you guys don’t talk about cats?
I know this sweet cat that falls over when I rub her on the back.
She claws me if I rub her stomach, though.
Joe Beese
FREE AT LAST! FREE AT LAST! THANK GOD ALMIGHTY, I AM FREE AT LAST!
gnomedad
@mcd410x:
Fascinating stuff; thanks! Learned a new word: “distributary”.
Martin
@MazeDancer:
Even if there were, you keep suggesting that their cuts include Medicare. Make them deny it every time they get a microphone in their face. The GOP has been pushing ‘tax and spend’ for 30 years straight. Even when Obama cut taxes, the tea party went out to protest the tax increases. Repeat something often enough…
ruemara
@OzoneR:
Not a bad development at all, but I do not like this “if” language. I want it to be “when the Defense Dept, yadda”
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yay!
I feel bad for him since he lost his job under really bad circumstances he caused, but I hope he learns not to be such a bigot.
gogol's wife
@BattleCat:
You have to be very careful with the belly rub. I find that it works best if you approach from behind. If you go for the belly while facing the cat you will end up with a bloody hand.
James E. Powell
@gogol’s wife:
I cradle my cat in the football hold. He lays on his back and purrs while I rub his stomach. I feel like Vito Corleone in the opening scene of The Godfather.
gnomedad
Via @pourmecoffee:
NRA-backed Florida bill makes it illegal for physicians to ask patients about guns in the home.
Xantar
OH NOES! Please, don’t kill Sarah!!
Oh wait, she’s alive in the previews.
That’s some high quality work, NBC promo monkeys.
Jeffro
OMG, Richard Cohen had something worthwhile to say today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-myth-of-american-exceptionalism/2011/05/09/AF2rm0bG_story.html?hpid=z3
For realz!
handy
@Jeffro:
What the hell is this, did Rove give him a wedgie at last night’s cocktail party or something? Tim Kaine stop giving him backrubs?
Suffern ACE
@Martin: What I’d like them to do is propose to pay off existing debt at .75 on the dollar…just because I’d like a little turmoil for Memorial Day….
Jeffro
@handy: @handy: Nah, I think he’s just lining up for the Very Serious Campaigns of Huntsman or Daniels…
..that or the stopped clock thing…
J
Loved the Death Cab for Cutie song in tonight’s ep, but can someone explain how that phoney baloney DNA weapon thingy is supposed to work?
Elie
Just watching Steve Schmidt (repub consultant) on MSNBC on O’donnel’s Last Word show.
Lordhavemercy, the man has no blink response. His eyes look like they are painted on a blank pink mannekin. HOW does he do it? Are his eyelids stappled to his frontal bone?
He said some nice things about Obama so I give him some pass, but its amazing how his eyes look.
Chuchundra
Oh come on with the preview complaints, does anyone seriously think they’re going to kill Sarah? Really really?
Sorry to see Ray Wise get killed, but he was mostly wasted anyway.
RossInDetroit
Made it through the day’s threads and I’m off to bed. I didn’t want to do yard work on my day off but it was nice to find a dozen morel mushrooms growing in the yard. I do like an exotic mushroom omelet. I left a few little ones in the ground to see if they get bigger.
Cheers!
fhtagn
The Tea Party shows what makes it really tick. Hint: NOT fiscal issues….
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/tea-party-leader-well-take-the-debt-ceiling-hike-if-you-bring-back-dadt.php?ref=fpb
Evolved Deep Southerner
Something finally clicked with me tonight with regard to some of the messes that Obama has had to clean up in the wake of the Republicans’ disastrous turn at the rudder.
It seems like “tax cuts, two unfunded wars and Medicare Part D” seem to be the triumvirate of things most often invoked.
Tax cuts and two unfunded wars are one thing, but Medicare Part D … God bless the fuckers for bringing that to pass, unfunded or not. I don’t give a good God damn how it affected the deficit. My parents would be (more) broke without it, and in an ironic way, within that largesse lay the seeds of the Ryan plan’s doom – the seeds of any substantial change to Medicare’s doom, really, unless you’re talking about expanding it. The Republicans have found that it’s much easier to giveth than to taketh away. I know it was just a naked, shallow pander for votes, but by GOD if that won’t end up being the gimmick that just keeps on giving and giving and giving.
fhtagn
@Evolved Deep Southerner:
Right. Once a group has received an entitlement, you’ve got more chance of achieving peace on earth and goodwill to all men than you have of extracting from their clutches – provided they are largely white, vocal, and show up to vote if angered.
Rihilism
Can someone explain this or how to fix it? When someone responds to someone on a thread (i.e., Reply) I sometimes like to click on the @ link to see what/who they are replying to. So far, so good. Then, 200 comments later, I click on someone’s link and travel offsite. When I back-page, instead of sending me back to the last comment (the one with the link) I get scrolled back to that @ link I viewed 200 comments ago and am forced to scroll through the page to get back to where I left off. I use Firefox. Can someone help me stop this madness before it drives me bonkers??????
Thanks, I’ll shut up now…
Comrade Mary
Huh.
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
I don’t understand why President Obama has, by his actions, invited Iraqi Seal Team 6 to come to the U.S. to assassinate former President George W. Bush and dump his body into the sea for his unprovoked war crimes and hundreds of thousands of murders of innocent Iraqi civilians.
.
.
Suffern ACE
@Comrade Mary: Turns out, now that he’s retired, all he does is sit around the house all day watching TV, saying that he’ll get to fixing things “tomorrow,” and getting all testy when called on it. A few months of that will hurt any marriage. Also, after said that he was looking forward to Bristol Palin’s new reality show, something had to give.
Roger Moore
@Rihilism:
Normally when you use the browser’s back button, you’ll be taken straight back to the page as you last saw it, including your place. But the revised BJ web site has a little Javascript doohickey that automatically scrolls within the page to the comment mentioned in the URL. It looks kind of slick, but it’s annoying if you’ve scrolled elsewhere on the page.
The solution I’ve found is to click on the “Link” tag in the comment header (right next to the date and time stamp). That tells the browser that you’re interested in that specific comment. If you navigate away from the page and back or just hit the refresh button, it will now scroll you back to the comment whose link button you pressed. Of course you can also make life easier by following off-site links in separate tabs.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Comrade Mary: Is it wrong that I hope it gets ugly? I”ll never forgive that vile prick for his smug, smirking “economic girlymen”
Make him cry, Maria, and then write a tell-all
fhtagn
@Suffern ACE:
Well, even the most reasonable of women would lose patience after hubby comes home for the eighth year in a row and sheepishly admits that he didn’t quite get around to fixing California – but he’ll definitely do it tomorrow, as well as getting the gutters looked at and unblocking the toilet.
JC
Hey, is there ever a New Music thread around these parts?
Anyone listened to the new Arctic Monkeys album?
Is Vampire Weekend coming out with a new album soon?
MY always done some musical references. Is everyone on this site an old fart, never listening to any new stuff?
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Uncle Clarence Thomas:
This sounds like a great plan to me.
fhtagn
@Sarah Proud and Tall:
Needs more Cheney though, and a splash of Rumsfeld.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@JC:
Them’s fightin’ words.
fhtagn
@JC:
The Arctic Monkeys are like so yesterday, dude.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i know that a person being sentenced for attempting to distribute child porn, isn’t funny. but if the convicted is named vernon lee furby, the prosecutor was named soo c song, and he was tracked down at a boy scout camp and arrested(no homo!), i can’t help it, i lol’d.
Yutsano
@fhtagn: Think cooking instead of baking. Add in ingredients as you go until the mix looks just right. A wingnut here, a Bushie there…
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Yutsano:
Hello, youngster.
arguingwithsignposts
@Uncle Clarence Thomas:
Because you’re an asshole?
Yutsano
@Sarah Proud and Tall: Good evening m’dear Euvegenia. How goes the night east of the hills?
@arguingwithsignposts: And sadly uncreative. Also.
Joel
@Comrade Mary: I guess it means Arnold’s done with politics after all..
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Yutsano:
I’m very well, thankyou dear. A little sad because Fuckhead thinks I don’t like him, but otherwise…
Marge is outside barking at squirrels and I’m trying to finish my story about Ronald Reagan.
How are your ailments?
Martin
@Sarah Proud and Tall: Fuckhead doesn’t think anyone likes him. It’s true, but he shouldn’t think it.
Yutsano
@Sarah Proud and Tall:
A warm cookie and milk would help there I expect. But he tends to think that of a lot of us.
The quest to turn myself bionic had a minor setback (couldn’t get in touch with a particular physician but I’ll try later) and I gave in and bought a parking permit downtown. Which promptly decided to malfunction on the way home. Supposedly on the morrow it gets healed.
@Martin: Just for the record, there is room for only one human in my brain. :)
Martin
@Yutsano: Well, if she’s going to just leave those gems lying out in the open, she shouldn’t be surprised when everyone shows up to pick them up.
Yutsano
@Martin: I do suppose that is the definition of low hanging mango. Plus this gives creedence to a comment I made earlier regarding commenting and the relative brainpower here.
Martin
@Yutsano: What? That it climbs as the day progresses? I would agree with that.
Yutsano
@Martin: More along the lines of if you have a thought type fast because odds are someone else will think of it and post it before you do. Then all of a sudden you’re owing a refreshing fizzy beverage.
EDIT: but the comments do get more halcyon as the day goes on. And teh night shift has no parallel in cyberspace.
Martin
@Yutsano: Indeed. I miss asiangrrlmn, though. Her ability to reference future comments is unparalleled.
scav
@Yutsano: Had to check that it meant what I think it meant and then I learned that this blog turns into a mythical kingfisher as the day wears on. Or did you mean more like a mythical kingfisher because I’m not sure it ever really gets serene.
Yutsano
@Martin: Wifey is still about, though I am waiting for her to eventually throw up her hands in frustration and just give in to her vampiric sleep schedule tendencies. It’s not making her any happier, and if it doesn’t improve that then I’d just as soon she go for happy.
@scav: This blog turns ineffable at night. Most folks just sleep right through it.
Martin
@Yutsano: She should just move to a proper time zone, rather than suffering through the permanent disaster that is CST. When you need a disclaimer for when all of your TV shows are on, that should be a clue.
Yutsano
@Martin: I tried to talk her int Whitehorse, but she seems to have an odd affection for MaryTylerMooreville. I suppose if I went and became ebil gubmint worker in Juneau that might work.
Martin
@Yutsano: I don’t like Alaska time zone. It’s greedy as it should be 3 zones. I’m quite fond of Newfoundlands – a half hour earlier than EST. That’s classy.
Yutsano
@Martin: If I thought wifey had tolerance enough for kids, I could totally see her being an au pair for teh Sam Kitteh. Plus I have to admit for purely selfish reasons I would LOVE to visit Nova Scotia. I think I could get lost there for about a week or two. The possibility of stalking Sidney Crosby is just gravy.
Appointment on the morrow, must dash. Keep the faith and fight the power.
scav
Here, cheap fun with time zones from the beeb. Play with their interactive globe. There are even some distinctly odd 15 minute offsets (I’m pretty sure) for Martin to play with and/or swoon over.
scav
whoa, weird day for time zones and the ilk, Samoa’s skipping a whole day and crossing over to the Australia side of the International Date Line. American Samoa is staying on this side. Weird wiggly line gets wigglier. Cartographers stay employed.
Steeplejack
@Rihilism:
I agree with what Roger Moore said: clicking the “Link” button by a comment will “pin” the current page to that position for purposes of going away and coming back.
But it is much, much better to open your discursions in different tabs. Just right-click the hyperlink and then select “Open link in new tab.” Then when you’re done you can close that tab and come right back here.
Rihilism
@Roger Moore: Thank you so much for your help! I will try both solutions.
Regards,
Rihilism
Rihilism
@Steeplejack: Ooops! Didn’t see your reply before I replied. Also, too, thank you very much for your reply and assistance.
Irregardless,
Regards,
Rihilism
Steeplejack
@JC:
Fleet Foxes’ new album is pretty good. And I like Lykke Li’s Wounded Rhymes. It’s like a ’60s girl group forced to attend an emo/goth reëducation camp.
JC
Steeplejack,
Thanks for the recommendations. Fleet Foxes seems pretty good. I added a Pandora station, based around them, some good tunes.
Fleet Foxes themselves, this year, are too ethereal for me. (Next year I may want a softer sound.) But some of the singer-songwriter stuff that showed up, Band of Horses tunes I hadn’t heard – I’ve enjoyed the station.