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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Evening Open Thread

Friday Evening Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  July 8, 20115:07 pm| 38 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

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(Ben Sargent via GoComics.com)
__
So, I’ve been off the news grid for the last couple days… anything worth paying attention to happening?

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Previous Post: « Why We Can’t Win Any Messaging Battles
Next Post: Friday Night Open Thread »

Reader Interactions

38Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    July 8, 2011 at 5:11 pm

    Ehh…not so much.

  2. 2.

    4tehlulz

    July 8, 2011 at 5:13 pm

    Short the world economy before Monday.

  3. 3.

    Cris (without an H)

    July 8, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    anything worth paying attention to happening?

    I think we’re all giving Libby dating advice.

  4. 4.

    TreeBeard

    July 8, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    Someone please send the ambulance to K-Thug’s house. He’s about to pop a vessel or two, or at least seemed like it till he posted the concerto video.

    I can’t even imagine what it must be like in his head – to be proven right time and again by the facts and yet be completely disregarded by all those who should be listening to you.

    I’d have gone mad.

  5. 5.

    Martin

    July 8, 2011 at 5:21 pm

    The GOP is serious this time about cutting the deficit!

    The measure, approved 336-87 in the Republican-dominated House, would raise the Pentagon’s base budget for the 2012 fiscal year beginning on October 1 by about $17 billion over current levels, despite intense pressure to slash the $1.4 trillion U.S. deficit.

    How serious?

    She introduced a last-minute amendment to reinstate the cuts and won by forcing a roll-call vote on Thursday evening, leaving the military with $200 million to spend on more than 200 bands with 4,600 musicians and staff.

    Yes, they voted to cut the military budget for bands (yes, musicians) by $120M to a mere $200M. How will they manage?!

    The military maintains 200 bands with that $320M, which is approximately 183 bands and $319M more than America’s public schools.

  6. 6.

    TreeBeard

    July 8, 2011 at 5:23 pm

    Also, if anyone invokes “belt-tightening by the government” or “[America] has maxed out its credit card” or any such variants, I will fart in their general direction.

    After eating a bowl of kidney beans, no less.

  7. 7.

    Cris (without an H)

    July 8, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    Do note that the military gets top-notch bands for that money. They waste some of their talent on Sousa marches, but it’s still good talent.

  8. 8.

    Breezeblock

    July 8, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    No.

  9. 9.

    stuckinred

    July 8, 2011 at 5:26 pm

    Cris (without an H)

    I remember seeing the Air Force Band in the 70’s. The lead singer was no beauty but, damn, she had serious pipes!

  10. 10.

    MikeJ

    July 8, 2011 at 5:27 pm

    @Cris (without an H): Some years back the right wing father of a girlfriend invited us along to see one military band or another in a concert. Things went well until I started raving about how I loved federal funding of the arts.

  11. 11.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 8, 2011 at 5:28 pm

    @TreeBeard / 4: There’s kind of an important different between being right about things and having the means, or a theory of the means, by which the things that you’re right about might be accomplished. Krugman, perhaps because he’s an academic, appears to think that being right, then talking clearly and firmly about the reasons why you’re right, tends to carry the day: you win the argument! I don’t think it works like that in politics. You can be provably, demonstrably right, but the people to whom you air your rightness might still say, “Too bad, fuck you.” Then what?

    (Actually, Krugman ought to be familiar with that dynamic. It’s quite common in faculty meetings.)

  12. 12.

    Thoughtcrime

    July 8, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    Pelosi, Frank and Geithner all shovel dirt on the GOP’s wish to have Obama ignore the debt limit so that they can tag him as “Dictator”:

    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/pelosi-on-obama-ignoring-the-debt-limit-aint-gonna-happen.php?ref=dcblt

    Love this comment by “Sniffit”:

    Sinking in yet? Is everyone starting to get the picture from the past couple days? The people who you would initially expect to be searching for a safety/release valve in case the GOP forces a default HAVE OFFICIALLY STATED THAT THERE IS NONE AND THAT CUTS WILL NOT HAPPEN. Rope rope rope….
    …
    First, a magic anonymous leak from the WH aides that suggests Obama might agree to SS and Medicare cuts. This is followed by a predictable freak out from Pelosi and the rest of the Dems in the House, who say cuts to bennies are an absolute deal breaker. Then Obama PROMISES last night to veto any debt ceiling deal that doesn’t extend the debt ceiling through at least 2012. Then today the General Counsel for the Treasury releases an opinion letter saying the 14th Amendment release valve the GOP thought would allow them to pin the epithet of “dictator” on Obama is a Constitutional no-go. And now, Pelosi makes an unqualified statement that this COLA nonsense that the “news” media has been batting around like a slightly retarded kitten has been a dead mouse all along. The GOP is feeling the noose tighten…I guarantee it. Kabuki theater indeed. Watch now as the GOP commits seppuku.
    …
    I’m now pretty close to going out on the limb to say we’ll have a clean debt limit increase on or about Aug 2nd. Not quite there yet…after all, Obama and the Dems gave the GOP just enough to save face with the budget deal, so there’s still the possibility of some token exchanges. We’ll have to wait and see.
    …
    In the meantime, KEEP YOUR FREEKIN MANPAMPERS DRY.

  13. 13.

    Draylon Hogg

    July 8, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    Murdoch’s ninja army lost the battle for his extinct volcano base off the coast of Wapping. He’s still got the satellite fortress and moonbase however.

  14. 14.

    ruemara

    July 8, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    I’m thinking Chinese. or Sushi. Or…these drunken tofu burgers. And it seems we’re all hacks now.

  15. 15.

    wobblybits

    July 8, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    Holy laughing my ass off. Newt is over on Google+ talking about how he and his staff are looking for input from folks how to best use the google ‘hangout’ feature. He then announces his first hangout and hilarity ensues in the comment section.
    If the ability to ridicule and mock a politician to his face is a feature of Google+, I’m a fan. (Yes, I know it’s probably is some unpaid intern and not really Newt typing away on the Google)

  16. 16.

    Thoughtcrime

    July 8, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    Cris (without an H) – July 8, 2011 | 5:24 pm · Link
    …
    Do note that the military gets top-notch bands for that money. They waste some of their talent on Sousa marches, but it’s still good talent.

    The best musicians in the military don’t necessarily play in their bands:

    http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2011/05/10-musicians-who-served-in-the-military.html

  17. 17.

    Steeplejack

    July 8, 2011 at 5:58 pm

    Night shift checking in (early). Worked a rare day shift today and was back home in the man-cave by 4:40 p.m. Slightly disconcerting. What do you people do with all this free time when there’s still daylight outside?

    Just had dinner and will decompress for a bit. Day shift again tomorrow, then I have my usual Sunday-Monday weekend, punctuated by a (probable) root canal on Monday morning. Ugh.

    ETA: Feels like Thursday. Can’t shake the feeling that it is really Thursday.

  18. 18.

    jo6pac

    July 8, 2011 at 6:03 pm

    Just business as usual everything F*&^*&

  19. 19.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 8, 2011 at 6:03 pm

    Is Nancy Grace’s head still exploding?

    I hope so, because if anyone needs to have a constantly exploding head, it’s Nancy Grace.

  20. 20.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 8, 2011 at 6:04 pm

    Jesus Steep, you got me yawning already. I hadda check the clock.

  21. 21.

    srv

    July 8, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    anything worth paying attention to happening?

    We must give in to the wingnuts on the debt ceiling, surrender on any hope of jobs creation and think that we can break that cycle sometime in the future as the economy gets worse and more tbags get elected.

    A real strategy of WIN.

  22. 22.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    July 8, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    If only Nancy Grace’s head would explode continuously on her own separate cable channel so we could have the option of avoiding that one completely. Call it the HEN (Head-Explodey Network, duh) and stick all the shouting, raving TV rantheads there together. Bill O’Reilly, Jim Cramer, Glenn Beck, Neil Cavuto … I don’t watch nearly enough TV to know who else belongs on the HEN channel, but I’m sure they could fill up 24 hours a day with no trouble.

  23. 23.

    lacp

    July 8, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    No, nothing actually happened. Didn’t stop anybody from blogging about it, though.

  24. 24.

    Martin

    July 8, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    What do you people do with all this free time when there’s still daylight outside?

    Get a wife. She’ll find a way to keep you busy – one way or another.

  25. 25.

    eric

    July 8, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    Bastille Day is coming soon. This isn’t just a French holiday it’s an international holiday and we progressives need to take possession of it. We should march, hold teach ins, celebrate it and put forth it’s ideals of the overthrow of corrupt tyranny of the oligarchy.

  26. 26.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    July 8, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    @eric: I’m up for it, as long as we can eat cheese and baguettes while we march. I draw the line at drowning counterrevolutionaries in rivers, though – I’m pretty sure that would violate the Clean Water Act.

  27. 27.

    Zifnab

    July 8, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    @Martin:

    The military maintains 200 bands with that $320M, which is approximately 183 bands and $319M more than America’s public schools.

    Didn’t some mayor up in Michigan try to get his school declared a prison so that he could claim all the money they spent on “inmates”?

    Perhaps he had the right idea. We just need to start calling schools “military bases” and go from there.

  28. 28.

    scav

    July 8, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: well, in PA, their decomposing corpses might actually improve the water quality. Hanging from light poles is also traditional, isn’t it?

    ETA: For clarity, I’m suggesting different disposal techniques for Frakked and non-Frakked watersheds. Defrakking Disposal Details? Something of the sort.

  29. 29.

    RossInDetroit

    July 8, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    I’m going to go to bed wishing for some of the mud thrown at Murdoch to stick to Fox News. Prolly won’t happen (requires making more than one mental association) but a boy can hope.

  30. 30.

    eric

    July 8, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    I would just concentrate on the commemoration and education to remind the world of the outcome of a top heavy economic situation. Marching in Jacobin clothing with a mock guillotine would be cool as a mild threat I think.

  31. 31.

    eric

    July 8, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    I’m going to go to bed wishing for some of the mud thrown at Murdoch to stick to Fox News. Prolly won’t happen (requires making more than one mental association) but a boy can hope.

    If they can stick Pres Obama with Rev Wright, Bill Ayers, The New Black Panther Party, etc. I say why not.

  32. 32.

    Brian

    July 8, 2011 at 7:23 pm

    Bankruptcy is a legal status of a person or an organization that cannot repay the debts it owes to its creditors. It is IMPOSSIBLE for a country that is sovereign in its currency to ever go bankrupt. Pet peeve of mine, and especially when the Left falls for it. We are not, and never will (under the current monetary system) be bankrupt. Period.

  33. 33.

    PIGL

    July 8, 2011 at 7:39 pm

    And today’s Internet King is MikeJ at comment 12 with:

    Things went well until I started raving about how I loved federal funding of the arts.

  34. 34.

    the Buhjaysus

    July 8, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    Hopefully they’ll fund some military band that’ll end up being ahead of their time the way the Monks were…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5iI0__9S1c&feature=related

    These guys were all stationed in Germany together.

    maybe it’s time to bring back the “monk cut” as a hairdo.

  35. 35.

    Suffern ACE

    July 8, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    @Brian – but but but we have 120 trillion in unfunded liabilities. We need to get rid of those. I’ve been thinking of declaring bankruptcy myself. Over the next 40 years that I hope to remain alive, I think I’ve got a few hundred thousand dollars of bills that I will need to pay. How do you expect me to pay for those?

  36. 36.

    Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)

    July 8, 2011 at 8:27 pm

    I can’t even imagine what it must be like in his head – to be proven right time and again by the facts and yet be completely disregarded by all those who should be listening to you.

    You do realize Krugman is a notorious “free trader”. Was K-Thug “right” about his wild, unqualified, enthusiastic support for NAFTA, CAFTA, and PNTR?

    Part of the reason the US economy is in the toilet is because ivory tower elitists like Krugman shipped the manufacturing base to China, brick by brick.

  37. 37.

    Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)

    July 8, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    Pet peeve of mine, and especially when the Left falls for it.

    its baffling how supposed well read leftys constantly mouth republican talking points. you would think with their scholarship that they would create their own.

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