You don’t have to prove to me that you’re beautiful to strangers.
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.
Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.
We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.
Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.
Come on, man.
Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.
Republicans do not pay their debts.
The willow is too close to the house.
Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.
If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.
I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.
Tick tock motherfuckers!
Optimism opens the door to great things.
In my day, never was longer.
Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.
The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.
He really is that stupid.
Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.
Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.
The revolution will be supervised.
When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?
Hot air and ill-informed banter
In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.
I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.
MikeJ
Do I have to tell her I was fooling?
Yutsano
Oh I’ve never been to Spain…but I kinda like the music…
hilts
Thank God, it’s less than 1 hour till the season premiere of Breaking Bad
How to fight the power:
Banning Corporate Personhood: How Communities Are Taking the Law Back from Big Companies
h/t http://www.alternet.org/story/151646/banning_corporate_personhood_how_communities_are_taking_the_law_back_from_big_companies?page=entire
SiubhanDuinne
Waiting impatiently for different church-lady to show up. . . .
Waiting. . . .
Waiting. . . .
lamh34
What to do, what to do? Watch “True Blood” live or watch “Burlesque” for the upteenth time….
“Burlesque” it is. I seriously am beginning to love this campy ass movie. X-tina sounded great. Her love interest in it is tres’ hot. Cher is her usual “Cher-u-lous” self…lol. And the BEST part in two words: STANLEY TUCCI (my fav “gay for pay” actor who I wish really was gay and could somehow be my GBFF!!!)
scav
I’m assuming this was the designated sanity-enhancing thread, although it’s gone rather zen for those not entirely up on cultural references. Anywhere, here’s a kid, a candle and a cupcake for those in need of simple pleasures. Continues the underlying birthday theme.
wazmo
If the Mail’s report is true, Cameron is toast:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2015573/Rebekah-Brooks-vetoed-BBC-man-told-Cameron-No10-job-Andy-Coulson.html
Mark S.
What the hell is Carmageddon?
MattR
stuckinred
Mark S
10 miles of the San Diego Freeway were closed. It was similar to the 84 Olympics. They scared people so much about traffic that everyone stayed home.
different church-lady
Bless you.
So, remember a few weeks ago when someone was asking “Why does everyone hate on the Great Orange Satan so much?”
Please allow me to vent a bit.
I’ve been feeling all day like asking of the BJ crowd, “Are there any psychiatrists in the house? And could you help me never go to Daily Kos ever again?”
Because they’ve slipped off into a fantasy land, and nothing logical is ever going to come out again. And I don’t mean that as a figure of speech — I mean that as far as I can tell from these two diaries that showed up on their recommended list in rapid succession this morning they’re actually retreating into fantasy as some kind of coping mechanism for their impotence.
This disturbs me. Kos kept me sane through the Bush years. But now they’re going insane and now I can’t break the habit. They’re no longer reality based, in the sense that they can’t comprehend how the real world works, and that most voters don’t share their vision of liberal utopia.
burnspbesq
@ hilts:
It saddens me to think of all the time and energy that will be pissed away pursuing that strategy, which is never ever going to work.
The only way this gets solved is if the EPA and the Federal courts solve it.
MattR
@MattR: FYWP won’t let me edit my comment but I meant to say that it is a nice reminder that there are still folks who will go above and beyond to help out a total stranger.
different church-lady
@ SiubhanDuinne: sorry, all that took a bit of typing.
hilts
Mark S.,
Carmageddon is the title of a long lost novel by L. Ron Hubbard.
SiubhanDuinne
diff c-l:
No worries. I’m just trying to work up the courage to click the links.
robertdsc-PowerBook
I wonder if the President is re-elected and regains a Democratic Congress, will he keep to these stupid cuts and low taxes or try to undo the damage they’ll do?
jwb
robertdsc-PowerBook: It depends on the Democratic Congress that is elected, of course.
Lolis
Can anyone recommend a good olive oil? I’d like something really flavorful but affordable. I have access to Whole Foods and regular grocery store chains.
SiubhanDuinne
Okay, i read those GOS links. Makes me very glad I don’t spend much time over there. I usually check the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup each morning and occasionally stumble across something else, but my eyeballs are not very sticky over there and honestly, I wouldn’t feel at all deprived if the entire site disappeared tomorrow.
How sad to be both so rage-filled and so delusional.
Yutsano
@Lolis: The three big differences are Greek, Italian, and Spanish, each have slightly different flavor characteristics. What are you going to be using the oil for?
hilts
@lamh34.
Best Stanley Tucci film to check out is The Daytrippers. It’s a criminally underrated film from 1996 with a great plot and excellent cast including Liev Schreiber, Campbell Scott, Parker Posey, Hope Davis, and Anne Meara.
Aries Moon
Why’d you tell me this
Were you looking for my reaction
What do you need to know
Don’t you know I’ll always be your girl…
I love this song, and that was a fabulously random post.
AliceBlue
I’ve got loving eyes of my own … you belong to me.
freelancer (iPhone)
5 minutes til we find out what happens when walt goes Full Measure!
Lolis
@ Yutsano
I want some olive oil for a cold Mexican bean salad. I had bought some really cheap olive oil when I was in Croatia at a grocery store that was delicious. Everything I buy at the store seems lacking in that flavor.
PeakVT
@different church-lady: Practical advice: use a RSS reader instead of viewing GOS as a web page.
TX Expat
@different church-lady:
I’m gonna delurk for a moment to respond to your comment because I feel the same way about the diarists. The front-pagers I still like and read (it’s been great to have Hunter back), but the diaries are a little…out of touch.
To illustrate an even starker contrast, check out these dueling posts from Steve Benen and Digby concerning Obama’s talk to college students the other day.
Unlike the diarists at Gos, I feel exuberant. Maybe it’s because I’m nearing the end of studying for the bar (test next week) or the Murdoch business or starting a new job or whatever it is I feel more fired up than I’ve felt in a long time.
Here’s why: I think at long last we have an opening. The Republican governors and national Republicans have overplayed their hand and people are seeing what they are all about. It’s wonderful, because we no longer have to debate subtle dogwhistles, these R’s tell us in no uncertain terms what they’re about and what they’re gonna do to us. We even have concrete, real-time examples to point to in order to persuade voters that yes, indeed these Republicans are nuts. N.U.T.S. Unhinged, divorced from reality cretins.
And if this Murdoch thing gets legs over here, oh my goodness gracious I am going to be GIDDY because we will have a window of opportunity where their propaganda catapult will be broken. Sure, someone else will rush in but we’ll have some time to talk sense to our friends, co-workers, and loved ones who have been lobotomized by right wing thugs. It might not work, but at least we’ll have a chance!
Ok, sorry for the exclamation points and all caps, but I sincerely believe that this is our time to make some headway and that makes me very happy.
different church-lady
@ SiubhanDuinne (26)
At this point I’d consider that a blessing. The world might be better off for it. I honestly think they might have been killing my intellectual life dead because I’ve been so fascinated with their constant train wrecks over there that I can’t tear myself away and read anything normal anymore.
I picked up an old issue of the New Yorker today, and Surowiecki had something about Elizabeth Warren that said, “Warren is far from the anti-capitalist radical that her critics (and some of her supporters) suppose.” And I thought two things: (1) Boy do I know who he’s talking about and (2) holy cow, I’ve somehow trapped myself in a liberal blogsphere bubble and I don’t know how it happened.
And (while I’m pratting on), the thing that makes the two diaries I linked to so disturbing is that you read some of the things they’re saying and your reaction is to feel the deep need to debate about what reality is. And then you realize you can’t actually have that debate with the people triggering that reaction because they’re just gone, and you’re left sputtering and doubting your own sanity.
Trollenschlongen
Diff Church Lady: Perhaps you should consider the possibility that YOU are the one who has lost it.
Relatedly, why do you folks who hate DK and FDL so much go to those sites and read their shit? Just to torture yourself? I am regularly accused of Firebagger-ism here at BJ, and I check those sites maybe once a week, and then just to skim the headlines. Masochist?
Yutsano
@Lolis: For a Mexican bean salad you should aim for a Spanish olive oil since that’s pretty close to a Mexican flavor profile. I don’t have any specific brands off the top of my head but just check the label for country of origin. And if you’re still in doubt, Spanish olive oils tend to look more yellowish.
different church-lady
@ PeakVT
Thanks, but no, I want to go cold turkey on them. There’s got to be better stuff out there somewhere.
@ TX Expat:
1) I agree with you that the front pagers are a different breed than the rec list diary stars. Sometimes I wonder if I’m seeking out and focusing on the dysfunctional stuff in some warped attempt to drive myself insane.
2) It’s amazing how divergent people are about the near future — some people think the GOP is about to bury itself, and others think the Democrats are slitting their own throats. And that’s just what liberals think.
3)
Yes, but the thing that disturbs me is I’m starting to feel the same way about “liberals.” Except they’re not cretins.
4) I appreciate your attempts to cut through the effects of the “gloom porn”.
Trollenschlongen
Different Church Lady:
I followed your link to the diaries you recommended at Kos. Could you specify exactly what it is about the “Imagine” post that you find so delusional and misguided?
The actions the writer imagines Obama to have taken after election seem to me to be solid progressive ways of approaching things.
Obviously you disagree, but how do you pretend that to imagine Obama taking such positions, to live up to the bold promise of his campaign rhetoric, is delusional or insane?
different church-lady
A similar question was asked of you yesterday. And to your credit, you answered it.
I am considering that as a possible explanation, yes.
Trollenschlongen
Ah…I enjoy a touch of the sweet, sweet switch from time to time myself.
different church-lady
@ Trollenschlongen (and trust me, it pains me to type that…)
Specifically the implication that the results of the 2010 elections would have been different had the descriptions given been reality.
It’s very nice to envision such things. It can be very positive. But it’s another thing altogether to create a narrative where delivering more of the things non-liberals are against makes them stop being against them and vote for liberals.
TX Expat
@different church-lady:
As to point 3, I think it’s important to distinguish between liberals. There are diverging opinions of “reality” on the liberal side of the divide, just look at the different takes by Steve and Digby.
It’s been especially hard for me to tear myself away from Digby,because she really helped me through the Bush years, but I can’t take this “everything sucks and we’re all gonna die” shit anymore.
I live in LA and I’m about to start practicing in a small governmental affairs firm (lobby shop and PAC management). There is so much work to be done in this state that I think it’s counterproductive to bitch, moan and whine about how Obama (or whoever) failed you today or engage in alternate realities.
And as to #4, thanks. I used to specialize in gloom porn, but I left that behind when I left Seattle for Louisiana 4 years ago. I think it may easier to be a fearmonger when you live in a solidly blue area. Down here, it’s….well, different. Obama’s right about getting out of your comfort zone and talking to people from different political persuasions. It’s definitely made me much more pragmatic and tolerant.
ETA: I don’t know that the R’s will implode necessarily, paving the way for a “new” party, but I do think there’s an opportunity to marginalize the extremists (again). Whether they take or not is the question.
kd bart
The wonderful thing about imaginary scenarios is that you can never be proven wrong.
different church-lady
And that’s precisely how I feel about DKos now.
Maybe once I’ve got a bit more fortitude I’ll read the Digby/Benen posts.
scav
Youpee, the NYT’s got a nice little corporate scum and hack spin on the Murdoch empire going here: Troubles That Money Can’t Dispel
Teasers
TX Expat
Start with Steve. He’s level-headed and has been my “safe space” for a while (well this place too). :-)
TX Expat
Start with Steve. He’s level-headed and has been my “safe space” for a while (well this place too). :-)
ETA: sorry for the double post. Not used to posting from the iPad!
4jkb4ia
@different church-lady:
If I could tell you how to get away from DKos, I could tell myself how to get away from this site. And Markos brought me back in by bringing DavidNYC on board. But once I had realized the insanity that was the rec list back in 2009/10, I wasn’t really interested in it anymore. (Team SSP has no interest in “Everything sucks and we’re all gonna die”, and there have to be other subcommunities under the DKos umbrella like that.)
What gave me the ability to leave DKos was that Open Left was there. Bowers has always been one of my blogging heroes and the collective IQ, except for Sirota, was so high. Open Left eventually realized that they were too small to pretend to be everything to everybody. So my advice is to try to find something new. All the generalist niches might be taken–but you might find some outstanding blogging where you learn something.
41 has good advice.
PeakVT
@different church-lady: Well then you’ll miss good posts like this one.
Elliecat
@ TX Expat
It also gives you some perspective, insight and maybe some compassion. Instead of just writing people off as assholes, you can gain some understanding of how they’re seeing or experiencing things and how that impacts on their opinions. It also helps by letting them see that liberal/progressives are humans too, perhaps even nice ones, who care about some of the same things they care about. That can help them be more open to different ideas or perspectives.
We can influence people a lot more by being part of a wider community than by sheltering in self-selected communities.
scav
Oh, and prolonged stress drives living entities crazy. How long have things really really not been going well, especially if you’ve got the brains to pay attention to what’s going on outside your imagination and presuppositions? I’m sometimes surprised we’re not all more like battery chickens by this point, pecking our own and our neighbors feathers off. So I’m in no way astonished to find formerly sane people acting entirely bonkers.
4jkb4ia
Even Kevin Drum has begun to partake a little of “Everything sucks and we’re all gonna die” because he is too sane to be dispassionate about the dysfunctionality we are seeing in our government. But Kevin Drum is saner than DKos any day.
FlipYrWhig
@ TX Expat : I’ve been off Digby since her co-blogger Tristero went on a weeks-long jihad about an advertisement for Nutella.
ChrisNYC
Editorial from WSJ on NI. Deplorable — there is a reference to the “liberal press.” Maybe next time they’ll go all the way and just say “lamestream media.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303661904576451812776293184.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
Interesting, though, that they are pushing back so so hard against FCPA investigation.
And News Corp shares down 6% in Australia. Yay. Lost 20% of their value since beg. July. Shareholder suits please.
Brachiator
Oh, yes, more of this. Republicans can’t complain when the Invisible Hand of the Free Market slaps Murdoch in the face.
ChrisNYC
Bloomberg has this nice scoop. News Corp directors looking to see if they can force a change in management. Led by Viet Dinh so maybe just window dressing.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-17/murdoch-struggles-to-control-news-corp-.html
Also could be board taking a showy “we didn’t know” stance in advance of the inevitable liability they face for rubber stamping while the Murdochs blithely destroyed $10 billion (!) in shareholder value.
alwhite
I get a kick out of people who read little Andy seriously but can’t take Kos any more. Thats hilarious.
I never have read the diarys there, stick to the front pagers. This place would be a swamp too if each of us could go on at length whenever we wanted. GOS is really an unregulated (largely) market place of opinions – and just like something else, everyone has an opinion & most of them stink.
Just because someone posts a diary (and has all their friends vote it up so it becomes, for a moment, recommended does not indicate that GOS has gone around the bend. The loonies, like the poor, with be with us always.
alwhite
@51 sounds like Nixon’s attempt at “limited hang out” in which he discussed tossing some loyals over the side in hopes of satisfying the media’s blood lust (in his opinion). It didn’t work for him. Lets pray it doesn’t work for the Troll of OZ either.
alwhite
@45
That explains why the wingnuts have absolutely no influence in the government today. They assiduously refuse to live in a world of sheltered opinions and always engage the wider world for input.