Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

White supremacy is terrorism.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

The lights are all blinking red.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

T R E 4 5 O N

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

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

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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101Comments

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    So what’s it all about? The answer, of course, is that the GOP never cared about the deficit — not a bit. It has always been nothing but a club with which to beat down opposition to an ideological goal, namely the dissolution of the welfare state. They’re not interested, at all, in a genuine deficit-reduction deal if it does not serve that goal.
    __
    And everyone who has preached bipartisanship, who has called for a meeting of minds on the subject, is either a fraud or a chump.

    ~Kthug
    Phony Deficit Hawks

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    Also, too. I’m a little confused on the “Falling Skies” on TNT.
    This alien force destroyed every soldier, airmen, etc. and is now harvesting young children for some nefarious purpose?
    Survivors walk in column strength down roads in open daylight but have to sneak into food stores in the dead of night.
    The aliens have bombs that can take out city blocks but in their bipedal suits the fire some form of modified bullet.

  6. 6.

    lamh34

    So I’m watching the first Transporter movie with Jason Statham and even after I’ve already seen it, I STILL cannot figure how or why Jason Statham got to the point where he was shirtless and greased up with motor oil and fighting a bunch of bad guys. Not that I mind really, I love me some shirtless hot guys, but it puzzles me every time I see it.

  7. 7.

    Timothy Trollenschlongen (formerly Tim, Interrupted)

    And everyone who has preached bipartisanship, who has called for a meeting of minds on the subject, is either a fraud or a chump.

    This. Including the fraud and chump Barack Obama.

    Krugman is a god. Along with Greenwald of course.

    (BTW, why do Bots freak out when someone accidentally puts two R’s in Obama’s first name? Is there some secret meaning to “RR?” Seriously.)

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack

    @Cole:

    And here I am to utilize it. Thanks!

    DVR Alert!

    Out of the Past on Turner Classic Movies at 8:00 p.m. EDT tonight. Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, directed by Jacques Tourneur. One of the great film noirs–arguably the best, but certainly my favorite. Tight script, good acting, amazing cinematography. Lots of light (Lake Tahoe and Mexico) for a noir. Highly recommended.

  11. 11.

    Pontiac

    hes a tortured artist
    used to be in the eagles
    now he whines
    like a wounded beagle
    poet of despair
    pumped up with hot air
    hes serious pretentious
    and i just dont care
    don henley must die
    dont let him get back together
    with glenn frey
    don henley must die

  12. 12.

    Yutsano

    And here I am to utilize it. Thanks!

    There are implications here, but I shall demur from pointing them out.

    EDIT: Dawg sighting. I’ll be awhile.

  13. 13.

    cleek

    And everyone who has preached bipartisanship, who has called for a meeting of minds on the subject, is either a fraud or a chump.

    i know this will seem like a wild and radical and utterly impossible notion to people here, but the American public (as opposed to people on blogs who think they represent the public) are actually worried about the deficit and about spending. poll and poll shows this. for example.

    no, that doesn’t mean they agree with the GOP’s advertized way of handling the issue, but they do, actually, forreals, care about it.

    it’s politically smart for Obama to at least pretend to care about this issue, despite what the perma-outraged left thinks.

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    @cleek

    but the American public (as opposed to people on blogs who think they represent the public) are actually worried about the deficit and about spending. poll and poll shows this

    Is it any wonder? They have leaders in both parties telling them the debt/deficit is going to KILL THEM ALL!!
    When no one in leadership is making the case that jobs are more important than some arbitrary number on a balance sheet what do you think they are going to say is important?

  16. 16.

    burnspbesq

    @ cleek:

    The perma-outraged left cares less about the merits of any particular issue than it cares about having something to be outraged about. The Congressional arithmetic is neither a feature nor a bug; it’s irrelevant. Perfect is not only the enemy of good, it would be found wanting if it were ever achieved.

    And in case you’ve forgotten, Obama promised that we would all have unicorns that piss beer and shit chocolate ice cream.

  19. 19.

    cleek

    When no one in leadership is making the case that jobs are more important than some arbitrary number on a balance sheet what do you think they are going to say is important?

    nobody builds support by telling people they’re wrong and stupid.

    seems better to just act like you care and do as little damage as possible.

  21. 21.

    burnspbesq

    @ Corner Stone:

    There’s a difference between saying that deficit reduction isn’t the most important thing today and saying that deficit reduction doesn’t matter. That difference seems to be lost on far too many people.

  22. 22.

    MikeJ

    You proly never heard of the Chickasaw Mudpuppies.

    Saw ’em a few times at the Antenna in Memphis back in the day. Ask them about the worst shithole they ever played and that club might be named.

  23. 23.

    gwangung

    nobody builds support by telling people they’re wrong and stupid.

    I think this is a newsflash to some people.

    (And it’s the progressive’s version of the religious right rants about being immoral and unGodly).

    (Not that I don’t think their positions are wrong and stupid, but saying that usually doesn’t persuade them….).

  24. 24.

    stuckinred

    MikeJ

    I’ll ask Ben tonight. I’m interested to see if they are going full bore with the stage setup.

  25. 25.

    burnspbesq

    @ Corner Stone:

    No sensible person is cool with it. Tell me how Obama gets more stimulus through Congress now, and then tell me how Bernanke gets QE3 through the Open Market Committee. If you have no answers to those questions …

  26. 26.

    Corner Stone

    Why would I have an answer to a question they aren’t even asking? They pivoted away from even bothering to make the argument 18 months ago.

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    There’s a difference between slapping people upside the face with a 2 day old mackerel, and making a reasoned case to support initiatives.
    I think this is a newsflash to some people.

  29. 29.

    Elizabelle

    Did you all see this NYTimes article about post-college 20-somethings working 3-4 jobs?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/business/26work.html?pagewanted=all

    Comments allowed, and it will be interesting to read them once they’ve accumulated for a few hours.

    Welcome to the working world. No health insurance, few benefits, reduced future.

    (And naturally, Obama is personally and totally responsible for all of it. Although a few NYT readers are sneering at the grads for not having gone to engineering school or something productive.)

    PS: I admire these folks for their enterprising nature and for wanting something more than a stultifying 9-5 existence.

  32. 32.

    stuckinred

    Elizabelle

    You know I never wanted to go all “back in the day” but I didn’t get my first “straight job” until I was 29, ten years after I got out of the army. None of us gave a fuck about health insurance, social security, buying a house, ir fuckin a’s or any of that shit.

    The future’s uncertain
    and the end is always near
    let it roll baby roll

  33. 33.

    JPL

    Earlier today

    me – June 25, 2011 | 11:43 am · Link

    OT: Apparently Justice David Prosser assaulted* one of the female Wisconsin Supreme Court justices in her chambers last week. (*grabbing around the neck, unless friendly, sounds like assault)

    Besides all of the Wisconsin Papers, Huffington and liberal sites, no one is talking about this.. Forbes did pick it up though and said

    While Prosser has been unwilling to either confirm or deny the report, the matter has allegedly been turned over to the Wisconsin Judicial Commission who is charged with investigating incidents of judicial misconduct.According to the investigations, Justice Prosser and Justice Bradley were having an argument in her office at some point before the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s release of their controversial collective bargaining rights decision last week (it remains unclear as to when the alleged argument precisely took place). At a point, the sources reveal that Justice Bradley asked Prosser to leave her office – whereupon the allegations state that Prosser grabbed Bradley around the neck with both hands.The report also suggests that there were other Justices present when the reported altercation took place.

    link

    I’m sure the female justice will apologize soon. BTW..IMO..this was linked because when she called security and then turned it over, nothing was being done.

  34. 34.

    Dhouda

    @burnspbesq:

    My reactionary farming relatives would never vote for a progressive environmentalist because Fetus! Gay wedding! Eve Ensler teaching kindergarten! They’d absolutely back a referendum of some sort banning or severely limiting hydrofracking, though, because their livelihood is at stake.

  36. 36.

    Amir_Khalid

    Cars 2 is showing an unprecedentedly low Rotten Tomatoes critics’ rating — 34%! I find it hard to believe that Pixar could have forgotten how to make a good movie, so soon after a masterpiece like Toy Story 3. Especially since the audience rating is 73%.

    I missed the first one; now I’m curious to see if the sequel is really as bad as all that.

  37. 37.

    Timothy Trollenschlongen (formerly Tim, Interrupted)

    @ cleek#12:

    it’s politically smart for Obama to at least pretend to care about this issue, despite what the perma-outraged left thinks.

    Hi Pretzel-Person!

  39. 39.

    Timothy Trollenschlongen (formerly Tim, Interrupted)

    @cleek#18:

    nobody builds support by telling people they’re wrong and stupid. seems better to just act like you care and do as little damage as possible.

    Change we can believe in !

  40. 40.

    Corner Stone

    I’m just not finding the freckly faced redhead in Transporter 3 all that attractive.

  41. 41.

    JPL

    stuckinred @ 37… I love cornish game hens but have never had them grilled. They are a little gamey though, so I don’t know how that would work with everything else that you have planned. Does this comment help, I think not. lol

  46. 46.

    Martin

    I find it hard to believe that Pixar could have forgotten how to make a good movie, so soon after a masterpiece like Toy Story 3

    The new Pixar division of Disney is having trouble saying ‘no’ to the bosses. They never had that problem as a separate unit.

  47. 47.

    Corner Stone

    Honestly, instead of a cornish game hen, I’d prefer to just buy a whole fryer chicken and roast it with a bed of yellow onions and other assorted root veggies.
    But, I guess you gotta step out once in a while with your game hens.

  48. 48.

    Timothy Trollenschlongen (formerly Tim, Interrupted)

    @CS#39:

    I’m just not finding the freckly faced redhead in Transporter 3 all that attractive.

    Sexist!

  49. 49.

    stuckinred

    I dunno, it seems like it got shifted to walnut bread french toast and frittata.

  50. 50.

    JPL

    meh @ 44.. lol, lol… thanks Remember to post it again when John is around. He definitely needs to see it.

  51. 51.

    stuckinred

    Corner Stone
    yea, I bought the hens on a whim but I’m backing off of them for brunch, kids are involved.

  52. 52.

    Corner Stone

    I do have to say, a friend and I stumbled on a brace of quail one time and ended up wrapping the breast in bacon, spiking it on sticks and roasting over an open fire.
    We had them with cast iron potatoes and chives.
    Pretty swanky for some poor boys in CenTex.

  55. 55.

    Corner Stone

    @Tim, I
    I just mean that if I could ditch the explosive wrist bracelet (god that’s not symbolic for anything) I would leave her to her fate in some mishagosh of Ukranian politics.
    Fudge. I just want an Audi. Is that so wrong?

  56. 56.

    Katie5

    Who thought we’d be ready for a prequel to the Planet of Apes but this looks pretty good.

    Could do with more primate food fights, though.

  57. 57.

    lamh34

    i haven’t seemn transporter 3.

    by the by…bill cosby’s classic comedy film from ’83 is currently on hbo

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    @ stuckinred

    Uou know I never wanted to go all “back in the day” but…

    I love that! May I steal it?

  61. 61.

    JPL

    Corner Stone .. My son drove a Civic for fifteen years and saved his money and bought a S-5. He never regretted it but I think it’s a little much. Although if I were to buy a lottery ticket and then won a lottery, I might but an A-4.

  62. 62.

    Corner Stone

    @JPL
    It was. A friend of mine’s grandfather owns a few hundred acres in a Central Texas location. He leased out sections every deer season for hunters but his grandson (and friends) had free reign of about 250 acres. We hunted that land, fished, camped out, all that noise.
    My mom saved up 3 years to afford a used 20 gauge Remington shotgun from Carter’s Country for me. I guarantee I didn’t miss many shots.
    Still have that gun after a lot of years. Going to give it to my son when he’s old enough.

  63. 63.

    askew

    So, why didn’t Justice Bradley press charges against Justice Prosser? Turning it over security is a good way to make sure nothing happens.

  64. 64.

    JPL

    askew..They were probably the closest security at hand and why was this all of a sudden leaked… I assume because nothing was happening.
    CornerStone.. What I neat story.

  66. 66.

    Corner Stone

    @JPL
    Ulllggghhhh (Homer Simpson donut noises)
    I have a friend who bought a manual shift RS4 convertible a few years back. Need a neck brace to ride with her.

  67. 67.

    stuckinred

    Corner Stone

    I have the single shot 22 that my dad bought out of the Sears catalog in 1932.

  68. 68.

    burnspbesq

    @Dhouda:

    Nobody’s asking for their vote, just that they hold their noses and work together on an issue where their interests are clearly aligned. And yes, I do understand how hard that can be. I’m of Irish ancestry. It took my Catholic cousins and their Protestant neighbors 300 years to figure out who the real enemy was.

  69. 69.

    Amir_Khalid

    @Corner Stone #39:
    Megan Fox has only herself to blame for getting fired. The silly girl compared Michael Bay to Adolf Hitler in an interview. When the exec producer Steven Spielberg heard about it, he ordered Bay to fire her.

    It’s no great loss. I saw Transformers 2 and was not impressed by Ms Fox’s biker-mag model looks, or her small acting talent. I wouldn’t expect much different from any replacement.

  70. 70.

    burnspbesq

    Four hours til kickoff. I am normally not jingoistic, but where football is concerned, I want to see Mexican ass kicked early and often.

  72. 72.

    Corner Stone

    @stuckinred
    My mom’s older brother had no bullshit real deal six gun pistols from the Old West. Some of them he could legit trace back to Western Sheriff’s in towns.
    That is to say, my mom’s family is partially descended from the Apache, and has a strong culture of revering weapons and nature and all that.
    My dad was drafted in ’67 and when he came back he sold or gave away all the guns he grew up with. He just wasn’t that much for it anymore.

    I love that damn 20 gauge shotgun. Used to use it all the time, right into my 30’s, until I got to be too busy to do much dove hunting. Still strip it down and loob it up with my other artillery.

  73. 73.

    Martin

    @cleek:

    i know this will seem like a wild and radical and utterly impossible notion to people here, but the American public (as opposed to people on blogs who think they represent the public) are actually worried about the deficit and about spending.

    Debt service for 2010 was $413,954,825,362.17.

    If the intrest rates that the US government needs to pay on future debt go up (which is realistic since it can’t be much lower than it is now) then we could see interest payments nearing $600B per year.

    This year, interest on the national debt is expected to match the budgets of the Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA, the Interior Dept, Dept of State, NASA, Dept of Energy, Justice Dept, HUD, Dept of Transportation, and Dept of Homeland Security. Combined.

    In 2010, corporate income taxes brought in $156.741B, less than half of the cost of debt service. Only when you add in all excise and other tax receipts (basically everything other than personal income tax if we treat Social Security/Medicare as an independent unit) do we have enough revenue to cover the debt service – that includes gift and estate taxes, gas tax, customs duties, and earnings by the Federal Reserve.

    If the national debt is going up by 7% per year, and interest rates stay the same, then effective tax rates need to go up by 3% per year just to break even. If interest rates go up, it gets much worse very fast. Here’s the bottom line assuming that we can’t default on our debt. We need to do the equivalent of any one of the following over 2010 levels:

    + Get rid of all defense spending, as well as another $300B in spending.
    + Get rid of all social security/medicare spending as well as another $200B in spending (But these programs still bring in more than they pay out, so if we kill the revenues along with the spending, then we’re worse off, not better).
    + Get rid of all other federal government spending besides the two above (no White House, no Congress, no Courts)
    + Double income tax revenue
    + Increase corporate tax revenue 6 fold.

    Some of that is happening naturally, but there is no way that we can cut our way out of this. And with Congress throwing shit-fits over 3% increases in top marginal rates, they’re a million miles from the scale of the solutions we need.

    Another dynamic people are missing is that as long as we’re running deficits and need to borrow, the Fed’s hands are somewhat tied because any efforts to raise rates are going to spike the cost of that debt service and require bringing in more revenue to balance the budget. The debt service is no longer some little line-item on the budget that we can ignore. A BIG chunk of any tax increase that Dems might get aren’t going to go to education or medicaid or anything like that – it’s going to go directly to paying bondholders.

  74. 74.

    Yutsano

    (Not that I don’t think their positions are wrong and stupid, but saying that usually doesn’t persuade them….).

    Interesting little trap non?

    A BIG chunk of any tax increase that Dems might get aren’t going to go to education or medicaid or anything like that – it’s going to go directly to paying bondholders.

    Which right now is my TSP. Since it’s all government bonds because I haven’t messed with it.

  75. 75.

    Corner Stone

    @stuckinred #66
    Oh, and my friend with the family acres, he has a long barrel bolt action 22 his grandpa gave him that he still uses. I’ve seen him shoot a dove out a tree at a 100 yards with that damn 22.
    No telling how old it is but I’ve never seen one like it at any gun show I’ve been to.

  76. 76.

    stuckinred

    Corner Stone

    My sis’s husband’s dad was raised on a ranch near Bisbee and he left a lever action Winchester and a double action Colt, police model with the lanyard on the handle. I think they are going to give me the Winchester.

    I wasn’t into guns when I came home either. I have two 22’s and a japanese rifle with a big ass bayonet on it on a rack in the living room. They are all for display, not self defense.

  78. 78.

    stuckinred

    Corner Stone

    I guess he’s not using birdshot at that distance. We once killed a rattler in the Puente Hills and my old man, the joker that he was, cut the rattle off and left the carcass on the trail to thrill the tourista’s!

  79. 79.

    Corner Stone

    @Captain Goto
    Surprisingly, none of us ever got injured, much less Cheneyed.
    Of course, we actually gave a shit that all of us came home alive.

    Ok, let me amend that. I cared I came home alive. The rest just got repeatedly lucky. Of course, I was always the best shot.

  81. 81.

    Corner Stone

    @Amir_Khalid
    I think we may be talking bout two different franchises. I was watching Transporter 3 with Jason Statham.
    But I must refute your negative views of my future ex-wife Megan Fox in the strongest of available dialect.

  84. 84.

    stuckinred

    Corner Stone

    20 shot tube fed, we bought that one in the 50’s in LA. You should have seen the gun stores then!

  85. 85.

    Corner Stone

    @stuckinred
    I just gotta tell you – it’s killing me you took a pic with the fourth slot empty.
    I’d need a garage floor to take a similar picture.

  87. 87.

    stuckinred

    WaterGirl

    this time next week. My pal shut down her Champaign Taste blog after 5 years, she needs a break but I am amazed at the places that are there now. We’re hoping to get there in time to catch the farmers market at Lincoln Square.

  88. 88.

    stuckinred

    Corner Stone

    It’s a placeholder for that Winchester! I could put the evil dagger my dad brought back from Corregidor in there I guess.

  89. 89.

    WaterGirl

    normally i would be at the farmer’s market, but I won’t be back from vacation until saturday night. if you can, you want to get there by 10, or maybe by 11.

    if you like toffee… the best toffee i have ever had is sold at the farmer’s market – look for a gray fake castle and a sign that says “A Toffee Tale”.

    they have made a bunch of rules for the farmer’s market, so it’s not as good as it used to be. first they said “only illinois”, so the blueberry lady from indiana (and others) had to stop coming. then they said “no regular businesses”, but they let some do it and not others, so you lost some people that way. then they said “you can’t make your stuff in your own kitchen”, so that lost some folks. then they said “no dogs”, so it’s not as fun anymore. so it’s still good, but a lot of the interesting stuff is gone.

  90. 90.

    stuckinred

    WaterGirl

    Huh, I had a fit when they banned dogs at ours. I went when I was up for the Red Lion reunion, five years I guess. It’s more just to look around since we’re not going to be cooking. I’m going to drive down 47 since that’s the old route and I want to check that out. I wonder if Forrest still has the “Egg Capitol of Illinois, and that’s No Yolk” sign?

  92. 92.

    WaterGirl

    I was bummed about the dogs, that’s new this year.

    I missed the whole red lion reunion thing – never heard about it until a week after it was over. too late, i definitely would have gone.

    great sign, if it’s still there, take a picture. that’s the kind of humor I was raised on. My dad’s favorite joke: If you steal a mink, it’s a mink stole.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    Mike has been at the market for years, but I haven’t seen him yet this year. I go pretty early, though, so it’s possible he gets there after I’ve gone. the kids love him.

  94. 94.

    stuckinred

    WaterGirl
    I would walk my dog, Ralphie to campus, leave him on the quad and go to class. I’d come out and blast a loud whistle and he’s come a runnin.
    See if you can tell where this shot of me and the bear was taken?

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    I so knew you when you were here. so many of your photos look familiar!

    that’s the side of the illini union, is it not?

    Edit: things were so different then. i am so glad we went to school when we did, when things were looser and easier.

    did you see the statue on the side of the union the year we put a bikini on her? (not “alma’ as we called her, but the one on the side)

  96. 96.

    stuckinred

    WaterGirl

    Yes, it’s the union. I think I saw those sculptures on a flickr album. My old man’s corny joke was that every time a virgin walked by the Alma Mater sat down!

  98. 98.

    WaterGirl

    first house we lived in after the dorms was on california street, really close to krannert. (now they have even gotten rid of that street!)

    anyway… one of my roommates had this crazy artsy manequin – she was named godiva, and we used to joke that godiva was the only virgin on campus. somebody in the house made that joke in front of someone else’s parents, and the whole room got quiet as we all panicked at the admission. we were so young!

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    we should have planned ahead and organized a BJ get together. jenJen lives here, jefferyw could have come up, arguing could have come over, lots of BJ people in the area, i think. maybe next time.

  101. 101.

    Dhouda

    @ burnspbesq

    Absolutely. I think I’m seeing them start to recognize this, although I hesitate to be optimistic about it.

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