• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

This fight is for everything.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Let there be snark.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

So many bastards, so little time.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by John Cole|  July 25, 201111:30 am| 198 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

Exciting morning at my parent’s house today. They let Ginny and Guesly out first thing in the morning, and they went absolutely apeshit on the back porch near the grill. I don’t know if you have ever seen or heard two Jack Russell terriers when they are on the scent, but they can make an amazing ruckus (Ginny in particular- she is this tiny little thing but sweet jeebus is she loud). Dad went out to investigate, and this is what he found hanging out in the grill:

They are disgusting, disease-ridden foul nuisances, but damn baby raccoons are cute. Somehow, they managed to get them in a container and took them off the premises and released them before dad went on an all morning cleaning binge to rid the porch of the filth of unwanted vermin.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « How do you like your blue-eyed boy now?
Next Post: Big Proposed Changes to Military Retirement »

Reader Interactions

198Comments

  1. 1.

    The Moar You Know

    July 25, 2011 at 10:57 am

    Whoa. What the hell happened to the formatting?

  2. 2.

    R-Jud

    July 25, 2011 at 11:32 am

    It all went radically centrist for me for a while there.

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    July 25, 2011 at 11:35 am

    Wolverines!

    In bandit masks!

    (anyone else remember the Cheeto Bandito?)

  4. 4.

    Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal

    July 25, 2011 at 11:36 am

    i love racoons like a fat kid loves broccoli.

  5. 5.

    dr. bloor

    July 25, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Had a raccoon raid a couple weeks ago, but our tenants’ Corgi was nice enough to let them know they were not welcome.

    Also, too, Benen has been enfuego with his coverage of the Debtcapades.

  6. 6.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 11:37 am

    They are disgusting, disease-ridden foul nuisances…

    Yeah, but who isn’t?

  7. 7.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 11:38 am

    Last summer we kept encountering a family of eight and their madre while walking our dawg in the park. The Boberman went into full baying hound mode each time, and we were so busy hanging on to her that we could hardly admire them. But they are seriously cute.

  8. 8.

    Violet

    July 25, 2011 at 11:39 am

    Oh my gosh! So cute! And so terrible. Glad they found them and got them out of there before they caused any major damage. Raccoons can really tear things up.

    And your dad now has even more ammunition for that Supremacy of Jack Russell Terriers argument he’s been tossing around re: the lovely Lily.

  9. 9.

    dmsilev

    July 25, 2011 at 11:40 am

    They are disgusting, disease-ridden foul nuisances

    You had an infestation of RedState posters? My condolences.

  10. 10.

    jeffreyw

    July 25, 2011 at 11:40 am

    Jack got into a tussle last night with a coon. Mrs J managed to call him away before he was hurt. She said the coon was winning. We will take steps.

  11. 11.

    BGinCHI

    July 25, 2011 at 11:43 am

    Wait, it was the Frito Bandito.

    Never mind.

  12. 12.

    CatHairEverywhere

    July 25, 2011 at 11:43 am

    We don’t have raccoons around here, so I can safely admire their cuteness, especially the one peeking over the propane tank.

  13. 13.

    The Moar You Know

    July 25, 2011 at 11:45 am

    Just occurred to me that WRT Mr. Breivik, the right wing finally has the martyred, blue-eyed, blond, conservative, murdering parody of Christ that they’ve been trying to turn the real Jesus into.

  14. 14.

    Alex S.

    July 25, 2011 at 11:46 am

    And now for something completely different: Sully has been on a bit of a roll lately. Here he makes up for his former misogyny (NSFW). I believe that insecurity of straight male researchers is to blame for the ignorance of this phenomenon. Gay researchers (and bloggers) are able to approach it with scientific curiosity.

  15. 15.

    ruemara

    July 25, 2011 at 11:47 am

    Cute! The closes I get to raccoons is these dark circles under my eyes from an extra long day in front of the computer. I guess that also makes me a disgusting, disease-ridden, foul nuisance.

  16. 16.

    vtr

    July 25, 2011 at 11:48 am

    @#3. I believe he was the Frito Bandito, and for some reason Hispanics and Latinos found the character an insulting stereotype, like Bill Dana’s “Jose Jimenez.” Fortunately, we no longer make those ethnically insensitive errors.

  17. 17.

    Comrade Mary

    July 25, 2011 at 11:48 am

    We grow raccoons the size of Buicks in Toronto, but they are still agile enough to climb onto my garage roof and give me the stare-down through my office window.

  18. 18.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 11:52 am

    I lurves racoons. They are some smart little buggers. I had one that was very tame & wanted to come in the house. I didn’t let him, of course…but he would come right up to the door and if it was cracked open, stick his nose in and sniff around. There aren’t many of them around here the last few years…some kind of parasite or fungal infection wiped out a lot of them in our area.

  19. 19.

    Ash Can

    July 25, 2011 at 11:53 am

    SQUEEE! Yes, baby raccoons are some of the cutest critters ever. I even like grown-up raccoons. But I also agree that they have their time and their place. I recall back when Bottle Rocket was about 4 years old, we had a couple of baby raccoons hanging around the yard. And they were bold enough to come within about four feet of me once when I was out gardening. They made little purring noises and were just drop-dead adorable — and that made me go in the house and call animal control on the spot. I realized that the 4-year-old would most likely see these little cuties and immediately want to go play with them, and, well, we couldn’t have that. At all. The little raccoons were sent off to a forest preserve, and Bottle Rocket was none the wiser.

  20. 20.

    Jeffro

    July 25, 2011 at 11:54 am

    I will gladly take those raccoons off of his hands if he’ll whisk away the occasional skunk that strolls through my development…

  21. 21.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    July 25, 2011 at 11:54 am

    Raccoons are smart, tough, hardy little creatures. As much as I don’t want them digging about in my grill, their intelligence and survivability make ’em pretty neat to know in my book.

  22. 22.

    RossinDetroit

    July 25, 2011 at 11:57 am

    We had raccoon babies that would climb a tree and get on our roof. So adorable, but the dog absolutely lost his mind every time. I cut the limbs back to remove access to the house and they vacated.

    The pair at Cole Sr.’s house probably smelled food in the grille area.

    Extra cute: baby chipmunks playing on a rock pile.

  23. 23.

    Punchy

    July 25, 2011 at 11:57 am

    When I was a wee tot, me and a friend tried catching raccoons in homemade traps. We learned two things quickly: they’re completely unafraid of (smaller) humans, and they are insanely smart. We had to modify the trap over a half dozen times, since they continued to invent ways to escape.

    And the few that didnt escape were angrier than any animal I’ve ever seen. Made us scared to release them….figgy’d they’d turn on us and attack.

  24. 24.

    Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen

    July 25, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    Don’t care for them. I’ve been feeding a pod (squadron? herd?) of feral cats for several months but the coons have started to scare them away from the feeding station.

    And then there was the giant assed critter that nearly stomped over my feet as it crossed the back porch early one morning. I may be the only man to hit a pure High C.

    And getting down off the roof after I jumped up there was a bitch. [Palinwinkyemoticon]

  25. 25.

    Svensker

    July 25, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    @ComradeMary

    We grow raccoons the size of Buicks in Toronto, but they are still agile enough to climb onto my garage roof and give me the stare-down through my office window.

    Tell me about it. I had no idea. We have about 3 families in our immediate neighborhood, one mother has 8 kids. This is in a high density block with row houses. We filled in the little pool in our backyard, so at least the hooligans are not hanging out back there and pooping constantly. But the city really is wrong-headed about this issue with their “we need to get along with our wild neighbor” shtick. Reminds me of the “oooh, Bambi!” folks in NY/NJ who won’t deal with the deer overpopulation.

    These raccoons need some predation.

  26. 26.

    MobiusKlein

    July 25, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    You can post pictures of raccoons, but can’t fixed the blasted Reply button AFTER I SENT YOU THE CODE!

    Ob. raccoon story.
    In San Francisco, we have raccoons. I you have a cat door, they get in. So naturally, one time we got the momma raccoon and two babies in, and they got separated from each other in the house. And getting in between momma and babies is never a good idea. So had to scare the babies out of one room to the other, then scare them all out the door again to finally get a night’s sleep.

  27. 27.

    Ash Can

    July 25, 2011 at 12:04 pm

    @Jeffro: One of the cutest things I ever saw in our back yard was about a month and a half ago. A mother skunk was nosing around for bugs in the grass, and had two babies with her. And they stuck so close to their momma — whichever way she turned, they were practically under her feet, running along to stay right by her side. I was ded from teh cute — and stayed very quiet and still on the back porch as I watched, so I wouldn’t also be ded from teh stink.

  28. 28.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Svensker

    Damn right and the Whistle Pigs around here need the same!

  29. 29.

    Butch

    July 25, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    Funny; we had a fairly sleepless night because something kept setting the chickens off, which would in turn set the four dogs off, who wouldn’t leave us alone until we let them out to inspect….never did figure out what was causing the ruckus, but there’s plenty o’ wildlife here in the UP.

  30. 30.

    Jman

    July 25, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Late in the year I have to check the yard at night before I let the dogs out. Our 6-foot fence does not stop thirsty racoons. The dogs would go into full attack mode and probably get hurt. What a pain!

  31. 31.

    Eric S.

    July 25, 2011 at 12:14 pm

    When I was a kid a group of 3 or 4 raccoons got into the neighbor’s back yard. They had a big, mean, badass dog. IIRC it was half Shepherd and half Malamute. The raccoons didn’t survive the encounter and it was several weeks before they knew if Duke would.

  32. 32.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 12:16 pm

    Somewhere in the black mining hills of Dakota. . .

  33. 33.

    hilts

    July 25, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    With its Sarah Palin documentary “The Undefeated” increasing its playdates by 40 percent this weekend, only to watch box office revenue decline by more than 63 percent, distributor Arc Entertainment announced Sunday that the film will soon be available on pay per view.

    h/t http://news.yahoo.com/palin-doc-headed-ppv-ticket-sales-plummet-001216822.html

  34. 34.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    @MobiusKlein:

    You can post pictures of raccoons, but can’t fixed the blasted Reply button AFTER I SENT YOU THE CODE!

    Maybe we can get those smart little buggers to fix our reply button for us. I wonder where Cole’s parents ended up leaving them.

    ETA It’s interesting how the Reply button issue once again demonstrates the failure of the free market economy. I mean, we all have the means of acquiring one by now. And while some of us have already done so, the decision of others to not do same has a pronounced negative impact on the community. Maybe Cole is just proving a point about the importance of good governance.

  35. 35.

    Jeffro

    July 25, 2011 at 12:21 pm

    Raccoons are cute (and Ash Can, the skunk babies sound adorable too!)

    Now…can we get back to the sweet, sweet ironic squawkings of Pam Gellar’s “NO guilt by association for ME, that sh!t is for Muslims only” defense? I am making it my Water Cooler Conversation of the Week.

  36. 36.

    abo gato

    July 25, 2011 at 12:21 pm

    Sounds like my house. Our two JRTs completely lose their shit when there are raccoons in the back yard. Or on the front porch. Whatevs. But geez, our little 12.9 pound Jambon (Jammy) can make more noise than any other three dogs put together. I never had such a racket come out of a small package.

    Raccoons are better than skunks though. But not by much.

  37. 37.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    I wouldn’t mind seeing some skunk babies from a distance. I have never, ever seen a live skunk, only roadkill. :(

  38. 38.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 25, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    Is a coon in the cooker as bad as a bat in the bedroom?

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    Cute racoonettes are cute. Given enough time they’d have turned on the gas and caused real havoc.

    I know they rove our ‘hood and have cleared out everybody’s fish pond but ours. I don’t know why we’ve been so lucky, but I’ll take it. The most common night critter are the rats (ugh) and the occasional possum and skunk. Ample neighborhood cats make zero dent in the rat population–looters and parasites not earning their Tasty Vittles!

  40. 40.

    jwb

    July 25, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    Shit, what just happened to the TPM site? That’s one hell of an ad wrapper they put around the content.

  41. 41.

    dexwood

    July 25, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    You just can’t trust creatures with thumbs…

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    @37.shortstop – July 25, 2011 | 12:23 pm · Link

    I wouldn’t mind seeing some skunk babies from a distance. I have never, ever seen a live skunk, only roadkill. :(

    Several times I’ve come very close to hitting skunks dashing in front of my bicycle. I can’t express how uninterested I am in not missing one.

    FWIW they waddle (very unsophisticated critters) and some are brown rather than black. It’s interesting how much you remember after a giant adrenaline dose.

  43. 43.

    gwangung

    July 25, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    For those of you who are theatrically inclined and in the Pacific Northwest, a video teaser for the upcoming show I’m producing.

  44. 44.

    liberal

    July 25, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    Since my toddlers like to eat dirt, I did some googling to see if there were any risks. Overall it sounds like a good thing (challenging the immune system, hygiene hypothesis, blah blah blah). But one (albeit pretty rare) danger: raccoon crap is pretty likely to have a roundworm that, if ingested by humans, can lead to death or severe neurological deficits (it likes to chew our brains up, I guess).

  45. 45.

    hilts

    July 25, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    John Bolton Goes Out Of His Way To Distance Norway Bomber From Right-Wing Extremists
    h/t http://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-bolton-raises-doubts-norway-bomber-worked-alone-or-has-right-wing-connections

  46. 46.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    Actually, racoons and cats can co-exist fairly peacefully. Mostly that’s because cats are smart enough not to mess with them. When I used to get regular visits from the racoons on the back porch, the cat would just get up on the patio table and watch them. I’ve seen racoons and feral cats sharing a dumpster before and ignoring each other while they fed. Apparently if the food supply is adequate they’re happy to live and let live.

    I have several good racoon stories. Once, when I was still in my rent house that didn’t have central a/c and had the back door open for air, one of them tried to open up the kitchen screen door. I was in the living room and heard the door scraping on the porch floor; thought someone was breaking in, jumped off the couch, grabbed the broom on my way down the hall so at least I’d have some type of weapon, and rounded the corner to the kitchen only to see the screen door standing open a few inches. Going to the door and looking out into the back yard, I see a racoon shagging ass back to the alley.

    A few years later, after having moved into my current home, I was up late one night reading in the living room when someone rang the doorbell, which really freaked me out because it was about 1:30 in the morning. I jumped up, switched on the front porch light and looked out the window, only to see the tail end of a racoon hustling down the front porch steps. He must have been attracted by the light on the doorbell and climbed up on the chair adjacent to investigate.

    Also, the folks who lived here before me told me they had had some problems with the racoons getting into the detached garage where they stored the dog food. They were leaving the door open because it’s a small one-car garage, so to stop the racoon predation, they moved the dog food into the house. This pissed off the racoons, who then climbed up onto the seats of their Jeep and crapped.

    Scary smart they are. And they have hands, too.

  47. 47.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 25, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    @liberal:

    But one (albeit pretty rare) danger: raccoon crap is pretty likely to have a roundworm that, if ingested by humans, can lead to death or severe neurological deficits (it likes to chew our brains up, I guess).

    Cue Martin to tell us how raccoon shit is actually good for you.

  48. 48.

    eemom

    July 25, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    that baby is to die for. Look at those itty-bitty little fingers.

  49. 49.

    liberal

    July 25, 2011 at 12:42 pm

    Just Some Fuckhead:
    Heh.

  50. 50.

    stuckinred

    July 25, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    Fucking land carp.

  51. 51.

    mistersnrub

    July 25, 2011 at 12:50 pm

    Glenn Beck: Youth Camp Attacked In Norway “Sounds A Little Like The Hitler Youth”

    Talk about filth…

  52. 52.

    MattR

    July 25, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    Not sure if the raccoons are better or worse than the pigeon that flew into my apartment in NYC many moons ago and then couldn’t figure out how to get back out.

    @mistersnrub: I could’ve sworn I recently read about a Tea Party/Ayn Rand type camp. But I am sure that is acceptable indoctrination to Glenn

  53. 53.

    TaMara (BHF)

    July 25, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    @46 Jennifer: When the raccoons ring your doorbell, it is time to move.

  54. 54.

    Linda Featheringill

    July 25, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred):

    Rocky! Yea!

  55. 55.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    July 25, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    “Foul, disease-ridden?” Not that I’m aware of.

    Are they bastards to deal with? You betcha.

    When we first moved here to East Bumbfuck, a mama and her 8 babies lived under the porch. I went out one night to find them parading on the porch. I thwapped her in the face with a broom. All she did was back up and give me the stink eye. They moved out.

    Next year, I borrowed a gun and shot one of the bastards.

    Ever since, we have a raccoon season here where they overrun the back yards and tear everything up. So, I humanely trap them, then relocate them 12 miles from my house across a BIG river so there’s no chance they’ll come back. And yet, we get a new crop every year.

  56. 56.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    MattR

    Flying carp.

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    July 25, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    @shortstop:

    I have never, ever seen a live skunk, only roadkill.

    They’re surprisingly elusive considering how slow and bumbling they are. They’re mostly nocturnal, and quite shy considering their fearsome defenses. The have a tendency to run away as soon as they realize a person is nearby but outside their spraying range.

  58. 58.

    dmsilev

    July 25, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    When the raccoons ring your doorbell, it is time to move.

    Why do you say that? Maybe they just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar.

  59. 59.

    MattR

    July 25, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred): We called em “rats with wings”

    This commerical seems appropriate for the thread.

  60. 60.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    July 25, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    Hmmmmmmmmmm………Raccoons…..

  61. 61.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    @shortstop: The only skunk I’ve ever seen in person had its head stuck in a Yoplait container. A broomstick eventually ended up helping to free the little fellow. But at that point I realized that plastic containers really are a bitch for our thumbless brethren.

  62. 62.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 1:10 pm

    When the raccoons ring your doorbell, it is time to move.

    I actually made a private joke to myself about that incident, which I won’t repeat here because it involved a racial term I heard in my youth. I can’t help what the ol’ brain comes up with but I’m at least evolved enough to know that I should be ashamed of myself for thinking it up.

  63. 63.

    Martin

    July 25, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    Cue Martin Al Gore to tell us how raccoon shit eating cheeseburgers is actually good for you climate change.

    Sorry if I’m fucking up the purity narrative guys.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    @58.dmsilev – July 25, 2011 | 1:01 pm · Link

    When the raccoons ring your doorbell, it is time to move.
    __
    Why do you say that? Maybe they just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar.

    Clearly, it’s only a matter of time before she’ll answer, only to be confronted with a flaming bag of poop–as we now know, DEADLY RACCOON POOP. (Or Cartman in costume.)

  65. 65.

    David Fud

    July 25, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage You are probably getting a new crop from the humane folks on the other side of the river, returning your favor. Sort of a whack-a-coon game, as it were.

  66. 66.

    Walker

    July 25, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    These things are still not as bad as deer. They should have open season on those rats all year long.

  67. 67.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    I’d prefer raccoons ringing my doorbell to these two miniature (seriously, they’re like 4’8″) old ladies in excellent hats who keep knocking on our door and pleasantly inviting me to prayer meetings. They’re very good about graciously going away when I politely decline through the door, but I can’t figure out who’s letting them in the front door of the building. Perhaps one of my neighbors is sending me a pointed message.

  68. 68.

    janeform

    July 25, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    We have tons of skunks in our neighborhood, so we walk our dog every night before bed instead of letting him out in the yard. Learned that from hard experience. (I hope you all know the peroxide and baking soda remedy for de-skunking — the oxygen produced from the reaction deactivates the stinky skunk molecules and the smell magically disappears.) I used to be afraid of skunks, but after I read that they are shy and spray only if they absolutely have to, I really love the little critters. Raccoons give me the creeps, but I respect them.

  69. 69.

    Walker

    July 25, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    @shortstop

    I have never, ever seen a live skunk, only roadkill.

    They are all over the Smokies, and people have (unfortunately) fed them in the parks. This means that you can be sitting at a park bench and a trio of skunks come up to you, mafia style, begging for some food.

    Are you going to deny it to them?

  70. 70.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    Clearly, it’s only a matter of time before she’ll answer, only to be confronted with a flaming bag of poop—as we now know, DEADLY RACCOON POOP.

    Laughing immoderately at this.

  71. 71.

    Trollenschlongen

    July 25, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    OK, am I seeing in this pic a large raccoon hanging upside down from underneath the burners of the grill? WTF?

  72. 72.

    eemom

    July 25, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    skunks are deadly little mofos. My doggie got the business end of one right in the face last fall and it literally took us months to get the smell out of her. GOD that is a horrific stench.

  73. 73.

    RalfW

    July 25, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    Guardian today: A “special committee” at the Wall Street Journal has criticised the News Corporation paper’s coverage of the phone-hacking scandal at its parent company, calling it too slow, and slamming the paper for an interview with Rupert Murdoch it characterised as not being tough enough.

  74. 74.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    This means that you can be sitting at a park bench and a trio of skunks come up to you, mafia style, begging for some food. Are you going to deny it to them?

    And at this, too.

  75. 75.

    Mandonna (formerly trollenschlongen)

    July 25, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    Changed my name, folks. I know you are all terribly interested in why…for some reason BJ would not post my comments. After ascertaining that I had not once again been banned to the fiery and delicious horrors of ABL’s basement, I opted to change the name and see if that worked.

    Here goes…

  76. 76.

    Mandonna (formerly trollenschlongen)

    July 25, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    testing…testing…

  77. 77.

    Han's Big Snark Solo

    July 25, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    Raccoons would be a nice break. Here in Austin I have no problems with Raccoons, I have a problem with opossums.

    Now those are some foul, nasty creatures. My dogs love to kill them and they are too slow to escape. When attacked, they secrete a substance from their anuses that smells like rotting meat. And good lord are they ugly.

  78. 78.

    Yutsano

    July 25, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    It’s storming in Seattle. And I’m still wearing shorts to work today dammit. I do lurves me some boomers though.

  79. 79.

    RalfW

    July 25, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    It’s interesting how the Reply button issue once again demonstrates the failure of the free market economy. I mean, we all have the means of acquiring one by now.

    Indeed the market seems not to grasp that people want their products not to require a bolt-on device to make it work right.

    In 1970, my dad bought a Dodge with literally a bolt-on A/C unit that was like a little black and chrome window unit that hung under the dash. It dripped cold water on my mom’s feet in the passenger seat, the fan was wimpy so the front seat was cold and the back seat roasting.

    But yeah, hundreds of BJ users can each go and bolt-on a reply button. Or one person can fix the damn code. Cripes.

  80. 80.

    RossinDetroit

    July 25, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    We get a few transient ‘possums here. They dig around under the bird feeder for bugs or whatever. The dog haaates them! We call them the evil rat-pigs. Now he knows that name so we can’t say it or he freaks out!

  81. 81.

    MonkeyBoy

    July 25, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    @slag:

    It’s interesting how the Reply button issue once again demonstrates the failure of the free market economy. I mean, we all have the means of acquiring one by now. And while some of us have already done so, the decision of others to not do same has a pronounced negative impact on the community. Maybe Cole is just proving a point about the importance of good governance.

    Cole may just want to be demonstrating the failure of the free market. Sure, there is a market based solution caused by demand, but some users may be mentally incapable of adopting it (e.g. by switching browsers).

    It is sort of like people who complain about the stink of their outhouse or shitting in the woods but refuse to install indoor plumbing. Such lack of action pollutes the entire community.

    [PS. I found a Stylish like extension for Safari but I don’t know if I can recommend it because my test run with Safari might have caused the browser to crash maybe an hour after I installed it. I think it is even worse with an iPad because it appears that Apple in their control freakishness doesn’t allow iPad Safari users to install extensions.]

  82. 82.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 25, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    Speaking of skunks… When I was a young army officer learning artillery things at Ft. Sill, a group of my fellow students and I had a skunk walk across our stomachs while we slept. We were out on an exercise and chose to sleep under the stars, everyone sort of lined up their sleeping a bags in a row and bedded down. In the middle of the night, I awoke feeling little feet on my stomach. Lifting up my head, I found myself eye to beady eye with a skunk. I, slowly and calmly, lowered my head back down so as not to spook the not so little bugger. After a few seconds, he walked off of me and onto the guy next to me. He simply moved to down the row of people and then wandered out in the the wastelands of Oklahoma. I was, and continue to be, quite proud of our coolness and poise in a perilous situation.

  83. 83.

    Ash Can

    July 25, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    @RalfW: Either the folks on the “special committee” are prepared to move on to new employment elsewhere, or Murdoch is weaker than I thought at this point.

  84. 84.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    Hans – we have possums too. One of them crawled up under the house last winter and died. Fortunately, the only way I learned of it was when the termite inspector came back to the door and told me about it – said it smelled pretty bad under there, but the smell never made it up into the house. I was, however, getting a fly per day somehow making his way up from under the house – like dead possum ambassadors.

    I consider myself extremely lucky that the estimated time of death of said possum was sometime in late December – late January, when it was pretty cold here. Had he chosen the crawlspace as his final resting place in June, July, or August, I have no doubt I would have known about it long before the remains were discovered by the termite guy.

  85. 85.

    Mandonna (formerly trollenschlongen)

    July 25, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    testing…

  86. 86.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    @RalfW: Either the folks on the “special committee” are prepared to move on to new employment elsewhere, or Murdoch is weaker than I thought at this point.

    Not necessarily. The committee goes on to rave about what a wonderful job the Journal is doing on this issue now, and expresses great confidence in their paper not being touched by this scandal, while urging all to remain alert to any signs of future corruption, of course.

  87. 87.

    Ash Can

    July 25, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    @shortstop: There’s always gotta be a catch. Oh well.

  88. 88.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    It is sort of like people who complain about the stink of their outhouse or shitting in the woods but refuse to install indoor plumbing. Such lack of action pollutes the entire community.

    Well, no, it’s not. It’s sort of like a whole building full of renters asking the landlord to fulfill his responsibilities and fix their broken toilets, then being admonished to stop being so lazy and stupid and fix them all themselves.

  89. 89.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    @ 84: It would be like that, if by “renters” you mean “people who are living in the building rent-free.”

  90. 90.

    Svensker

    July 25, 2011 at 1:55 pm

    I’d prefer raccoons ringing my doorbell to these two miniature (seriously, they’re like 4’8”) old ladies in excellent hats who keep knocking on our door and pleasantly inviting me to prayer meetings.

    Print out your own weirdo spiritual stuff flyer and the next time they come, open the door, give them the big welcome and explain your cult to them very enthusiastically and loudly, while urging them to take several copies of your flyer to give their friends. They won’t come back.

    At least this works with Jehovah’s Witness infestations.

    (Not to insult J.W.s I’m sure they can be very nice people, but they seem to resemble raccoons and groundhogs — they won’t take the hint and they won’t take no for an answer.)

  91. 91.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    July 25, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    @65:

    I live in the country so it’s not really a “retaliatory suburban dumping” exercise.

    Plus, I take em to the Dept of Conservation boat ramp and turn em loose. It’s not terribly inhabited (with people) there.

    Of course the Dept of Conservation folks have written tomes about why it’s bad to relocate raccoons. It’s either that or wait up and night to shoot em and I’d still hafta purchase a gun to do that.

  92. 92.

    hilts

    July 25, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    “When the raccoons ring your doorbell”

    When the raccoons kick out your front door
    How you gonna come?
    With your hands on your head
    Or on the trigger of your gun

    The raccoons can crush us
    The raccoons can bruise us
    But the raccoons will have to answer to
    Oh, the Guns of Brixton

    h/t http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqcizZebcaU

  93. 93.

    quannlace

    July 25, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    some kind of parasite or fungal infection wiped out a lot of them in our area.

    Rabies decimated the ‘coon population in our neck of the woods.
    ***************

    know the peroxide and baking soda remedy for de-skunking—the

    And Massengil douche. Swear to God, thats what my vet’s office recommended. And the old standby of tomato juice. Everything helps a little bit, at least to the point you can let the dog back in the house. Until, if your dog is like mine, decides to roll in the skunk juice in the grass as if it’s fine perfume.

  94. 94.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    Jennifer @85: Sure, the imperfection of my analogy was not lost on me. It is, however, less imperfect than the person I was responding to claiming that we, as users of this free service, have the same responsibility for installing fixes that an outhouse owner has for his own property.

    If it bugs John enough, he’ll fix it (and if he’s ever publicly addressed why he hasn’t, someone please enlighten me). In the meantime, it’s a bit thick to tell hundreds of commenters that they’re “harming the community” by not bothering to do a workaround.

  95. 95.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    @ 86 Svensker – heh. Here’s what I’ve found works for JW’s: When they come to the door, say, “Oh, I’m so glad you’ve stopped by! Please come in and let me show you my fine line of AMWAY PRODUCTS!”

    This works because JW’s recognize that Amway is a bigger cult than theirs is.

  96. 96.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    @MonkeyBoy:

    Cole may just want to be demonstrating the failure of the free market.

    “Failure of the free market” is congruous with “importance of good governance” in my mind. Cole is using his own lack of governance as a cautionary tale. I get it. It’s very meta.

    And I, for one, make no judgments on those who either won’t or can’t enable the fix. Some folks are probably at work and can’t even change the time on their computers, let alone enable a browser plugin. Others, I’m sure, have other reasons. And yet the effects on the community are the same, nonetheless. It really is a good example.

  97. 97.

    Svensker

    July 25, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    @ MonkeyBoy

    Cole may just want to be demonstrating the failure of the free market. Sure, there is a market based solution caused by demand, but some users may be mentally incapable of adopting it (e.g. by switching browsers).

    Some of us old fartettes are just mentally incapable. I downloaded that Stylish thing (or whatever it’s called) but damned if I can figure out what to do next. Periodically I go look at the page and try to understand the next step, then I’m all like, “whatevs, dude, huh?” and I give up. In fact, you could use me as an example to libertarians as to why social safety nets are sometimes necessary, absent simple culling of the aged, infirm, and/or slow.

  98. 98.

    scav

    July 25, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    If it weren’t for the Reply button, there’d just be a different part of the site people’d be grumbling about.

  99. 99.

    Roger Moore

    July 25, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    @slag:

    Some folks are probably at work and can’t even change the time on their computers, let alone enable a browser plugin.

    Or are stuck behind a web filter that blocks access to userstyles.org. Or are forced to use IE, or some other browser for which there’s no fix available. There are lots of reasons why people might not get the fix.

  100. 100.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    @ 90: well, maybe I’m not incensed about it because I haven’t complained and thus haven’t been told to fix it myself. I don’t expect Cole to fix it because he won’t even fix the IE problem which pastes the sidebar crap all over the center of the page; the solution offered for that forever has been “don’t use IE, it’s a piece of crap anyway.” Which let’s face it, isn’t a solution at all, particularly when we’re talking about a problem that is ONLY a problem on his site. Seriously, this is the ONLY website that breaks when you open it in IE. The only one. Which makes that particular work-around even more ridiculous than the one for the reply button, which may be a pain in the ass in its absence, at least does not prohibit reading the content on the site. My fix for the “IE problem” is to just leave when the site won’t display properly, because it actually is quite unreasonable to demand that I log out and log back in with another browser. But that’s the way it is and I already know complaining ain’t going to prompt a change so…when it doesn’t work, I just leave.

  101. 101.

    Peter J

    July 25, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    @hilts:

    John Bolton Goes Out Of His Way To Distance Norway Bomber From Right-Wing Extremists

    John Bolton is tight with Pamela ‘the Harpy’ Geller, so I guess he’s close to the terrorist, who loves the Harpy, too.

  102. 102.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 2:08 pm

    Hmmm. Perhaps my visitors are JWs; I’ve never asked or let them go on long enough to find out. They are seriously barking up the wrong tree in this neighborhood, though; I live at the corner of Godless and Commie. Guess the old girls love a challenge.

    I used to get royally pissed off at this sort of thing, but the thumpers have gotten so fucking rude over the last 10-15 years that I’m now grateful to have someone who thinks I’m going to burn in hell speak to me civilly with “pleases” and “thank yous.” So I just can’t get worked up about it other than to wonder where they came from.

  103. 103.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    well, maybe I’m not incensed about it because I haven’t complained and thus haven’t been told to fix it myself.

    Not sure if that was for me, but I haven’t complained about it and don’t plan to do so. I really don’t care either way, other than to laugh at the suggestion that I’m having a negative effect on the community by not taking matters into my own hands.

  104. 104.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Or are stuck behind a web filter that blocks access to userstyles.org. Or are forced to use IE, or some other browser for which there’s no fix available. There are lots of reasons why people might not get the fix.

    Exactly. Just as there are lots of reasons why people may use toxic household cleaners or disposable towels for every purpose. And yet climate change still happens. These areas are where government is needed.

  105. 105.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    @shortstop:

    I really don’t care either way, other than to laugh at the suggestion that I’m having a negative effect on the community by not taking matters into my own hands.

    You can laugh. But the effect is negative. It’s unfortunate that you can’t put aside your unwarranted defensiveness long enough to realize that.

  106. 106.

    arguingwithsignposts

    July 25, 2011 at 2:15 pm

    In case you thought Casey Anthony being found not guilty, 90+ people being slaughtered in Norway, the US on the brink of a default, and News Corp.’s UK shenanigans would focus some of the news media’s attention on things that matter, CNN just spent a good 10 minutes now discussing Amanda Knox, some US girl in Italy being tried for murder.

    head/desk

  107. 107.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    You can laugh. But the effect is negative. It’s unfortunate that you can’t put aside your unwarranted defensiveness long enough to realize that.

    Bwa! Okay, slag. I own the harm I’m inflicting on all of you by blockquoting and @ #ing rather than installing a workaround to the reply button. I take full accountability for my injurious behavior.

  108. 108.

    scav

    July 25, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts: that’s ok, the current thread is conflating the importance of global warming and the loss of a reply button. Somebody just forgot to pay the perspective bill this month. It’ll get sorted.

  109. 109.

    Michael D.

    July 25, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    I’ve been waiting to hear this from some prominent right-wing nut. Turns out, it’s already been said:

    “Many facts are still unknown, but at this point it appears that a key ingredient in the tragedy was the fact that the killer had the only gun on the island… The outcome might have been very different if some of those adults had been armed.” — Time’s Blog of the Year
    MORE GUNS! The solution to EVERYTHING! Assholes.

  110. 110.

    twiffer

    July 25, 2011 at 2:21 pm

    ugh. skunks. seems like every other week, some dimwit hit a skunk, somewhere along my morning commute. the stench can linger for up to 3 days.

    about, oh, 10 years ago, my folks had a skunk die under their pool deck. their dog found it after it had been rotting for a few days. somehow, i got roped into disposing of a huge, rotting skunk carcass. i have never smelled anything so foul in my life. even cleaning out my clogged sewer line was more pleasant, from an olfactory sense.

    i’ll take coons over skunks any day.

  111. 111.

    Roger Moore

    July 25, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    @shortstop:

    I own the harm I’m inflicting on all of you by blockquoting and @ #ing rather than installing a workaround to the reply button.

    You’re doing fine on the blockquoting, but you aren’t doing the @ and linking properly. At the very least your recent posts haven’t had any attribution, much less a link, which makes following the conversation difficult. It’s that difficulty in following the conversation that’s the source of alleged harm.

  112. 112.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    @scav:

    that’s ok, the current thread is conflating the importance of global warming and the loss of a reply button. Somebody just forgot to pay the perspective bill this month. It’ll get sorted.

    Yes. Just as John Cole is being conflated with the President of the United States. You realize that parallels can exist between issues of vastly different magnitudes, right? Or are you going to now start quoting Megan McArdle in saying that humans aren’t bonobos because humans aren’t bonobos?

  113. 113.

    arguingwithsignposts

    July 25, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    @Michael D.: Chill, dude. They say the same thing after every shooting incident, no matter where it is. I’m sure the Norwegians will take Assrocket’s advice into careful consideration before telling him to mind his own business.

  114. 114.

    janeform

    July 25, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    Hell, I might as well lay out the whole de-skunking procedure. I don’t want to start a tomato juice flame war, but it doesn’t work. It seems like it works in the short run, but the skunk smell comes back.

    As soon as possible after the skunking (immediately!):

    1. Get a bottle of peroxide (must be fresh and unopened), baking soda, dish soap or dog shampoo, a large plastic cup, and a towel. Put them in the bathroom. You should have these supplies on hand at all times.

    2. Remove everything from the bathroom (e.g., floor mat, toiletries).

    3. Take off your clothes (you don’t want to get skunk smell on them).

    4. Let the dog in and escort him or her straight into the bathroom, being careful that the dog doesn’t brush against anything on the way in. It helps to have another person assist you with this step, especially if your dog balks at going into the bathroom.

    5. Close the bathroom door and put the dog in the tub.

    6. Mix a cupful of peroxide with some bakng soda and a little bit of dish soap or dog shampoo. Mixture should bubble.

    7. Pour the mixture on your dog, targeting the areas with heavy skunk smell (usually near the face and neck). Be careful not to get any of the mixture in the dog’s eyes. I usually do 2-3 applications on the really stinky parts just to be sure. Put some on the rest of the dog and rub it in as if shampooing. You may need to make more mixture. Remain calm and praise your doggie.

    8. Rinse, and dry the dog as much as possible while still in the bathtub.

    That’s it. I have a 22lb. Sheltie. If you have a really small dog, you can do this in the sink. If you have a large dog, heck if I know.

  115. 115.

    scav

    July 25, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    @slag: somebody didn’t play the snark detecting bill either.

    ETA: although I will cop to the assertion that I find the sheer mass of attention devoted to a reply button rather odd.

  116. 116.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 25, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    @ slag

    Or are you going to now start quoting Megan McArdle in saying that humans aren’t bonobos because humans aren’t bonobos?

    Sure it’s a tautology, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

  117. 117.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    Roger Moore:

    You’re doing fine on the blockquoting, but you aren’t doing the @ and linking properly. At the very least your recent posts haven’t had any attribution, much less a link,

    Sorry for the confusion in my explanation; I wasn’t trying to link. Sometimes I just blockquote. Sometimes I blockquote and add the person’s name first. Rarely, I say “Roger Moore @111” (no link). In any case, I don’t find it difficult to follow the conversation here even now; do others really click back on every original comment when a reply is used? I never do unless someone’s response is interestingly cryptic plus I’m curious about AND don’t remember what was originally said. Linked or not, a blockquote’s more useful to me in quickly seeing what comment belongs to what. But I shall be sure to use the original commenter’s name from now on.

  118. 118.

    Fearguth

    July 25, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    “They are disgusting, disease-ridden foul nuisances.” I didn’t know you were such a misanthrope, John!

  119. 119.

    Tonal Crow

    July 25, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    “Let me be very clear. The United States of America will honor its obligations while I am President.

    “I have bent over backward to compromise with the House Republicans, even against my best judgement, because the very fabric of representative government is woven from compromise. But House Republicans are determined to hold hostage the full faith and credit of the United States unless I approve their radical plan to drown our government in a bathtub.

    “That I cannot and will not do. Voters entrusted me with the Presidency, Democrats with the majority of the Senate, and Republicans with the majority of the House. They did not, and do not, intend that any of us should put a gun to the head of the United States of America to force the others to accept our political preferences.

    “Therefore, under my Constitutional duty and power as President, under the powers Congress granted to me when it appropriated the current budget, and under Article 4 of the 14th Amendment, I have directed the Treasury to continue issuing bonds and bills, in the ordinary course of business, as necessary to finance the programs that Congress has authorized. We will pay our bills — all of them — as they come due.

    “I look forward to House Republicans carefully considering their role in our government, and their strands in the fabric of compromise upon which it is built. My door is open. It is time. Let us now work together to form a more perfect union.

    “Good afternoon, and God bless the United States of America.”

    It’s time for him to say it.

  120. 120.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Haha!

  121. 121.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    Speaking of foul nuisances, a squirrel just ran up the window screen two feet in front of my face and eyeballed me from an upside-down position. I nudged the Boberman, currently sleeping peacefully at my feet. She made leave-me-alone noises and went back to sleep. Why can’t she rise above it like that when we’re out walking?

  122. 122.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 25, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    @Tonal Crow: You need to go sober up.

  123. 123.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    @scav: And I will cop to using the lack of a universal Reply button as yet another mechanism to devote more attention to the importance of good governance, in all of its forms.

  124. 124.

    jl

    July 25, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    “cleaning binge to rid the porch of the filth of unwanted vermin.”

    The BJ commentariate will not be able to say they were not warned.

    BTW, I agree on raccoons. The filthy obnoxious little band I have had to deal with in the backyard also are guilty of a serious bad attitude. They won’t scare away, like a timid wild animal should. Last time I had to get so close yelling and banging a can lid before they ambled off with this ‘WTF is up with you?” glare, that I could have kicked the damn things over the fence, if I’d wanted to.

    On other hand, Cole says he vacuums every three days in earlier post? That’s crazy.

  125. 125.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 2:44 pm

    @ 124 jl – actually, I think he said that he hadn’t vacuumed for 3 whole days. Meaning he usually does it more often.

    Yeah, I know.

  126. 126.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 25, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    John, how do we know yer dad wasn’t planning on grilling those little bastards? Did you make sure they weren’t sprinkled heavily with Lawrys? They didn’t have little crab apples in their mouths, did they?

  127. 127.

    scav

    July 25, 2011 at 2:48 pm

    @slag: well, I no doubt speak for at least one in saying that I await with stunning indifference your box-set on the vital importance of toenail clipping and daily flossing to good governance in all its forms.

  128. 128.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    @scav: You and everybody else. Yet another failure of the free market system.

  129. 129.

    hilts

    July 25, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    @shortstop

    “Speaking of foul nuisances…”

    I thought you were talking about Eric Cantor.

  130. 130.

    Chukwu

    July 25, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    THE LOCKOUT IS OVER! THE NFL LOCKOUT IS OVER!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/sports/football/NFL-Union-Labor-Deal.html?ref=sports

    Strange. Political posturing and jockeying for approval in the press, followed by a quick resolution before anyone’s wallet is actually damaged? Seems like Boehner and co should take lessons from the NFL owners.

  131. 131.

    Gravenstone

    July 25, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    re. racoons; growing up we had an old widow as a next door neighbor. She lived exclusively downstairs in her rambling old famrhouse following her husband’s passing. When she finally passed on some 30 years later, they discovered that the upstairs had been overtaken by families of racoons. Apparently the feces were inches thick and had to be mucked out by hand. Bleh.

  132. 132.

    quannlace

    July 25, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    Speaking of foul nuisances, a squirrel just ran up the window screen two feet in front of my face and eyeballed me from an upside-down position.

    There’s a wild cherry tree right outside my studio window. The squirrels gorge themselves on the ripe fruit, usually while hanging upside down as they strip the tiny fruit and stuff their mouths, and staring stupidly at me.

  133. 133.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    July 25, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    Jennifer

    I thought it sorta strange at first, too, but then I figured that with as much surface area is on Tunch, and that he ain’t getting younger,that there’s white cat hair everywhere, and Casa Cole probably looks as if it’s experienced a snow flurry every day.

  134. 134.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    Our long national nightmare is ovah.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/american_football/14284718.stm

    Also, too, Tunch gets his towel back.

  135. 135.

    Legalize

    July 25, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    We went to the moving pictures last night. Before the movie they showed an Allstate commercial where “Mayhem” played a raccoon destroying a homeowner’s attic. “I’ve had like four babies by now – protect yourself from mayhem, like me.”

    Those spots always give me a hell of a chuckle.

  136. 136.

    Ash Can

    July 25, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    @jl: One summer evening, the husband, son, bro-in-law, and I were sitting in the back yard after dark. A raccoon came walking out of the bushes on one side of the yard, gave us a “WTF are you doing here?” look as he walked across the yard, and headed down the neighbor’s driveway into the alley. The husband and bro-in-law were like, “Who the hell does he think he is?” The son was leery of a wild animal who would be so bold. I just laughed and laughed.

  137. 137.

    jl

    July 25, 2011 at 3:01 pm

    @113 But how often does Tunch move? He spends most of the time sleeping in the spare room he ‘liberated from the Man’, right?

  138. 138.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2011 at 3:04 pm

    @136.jl – July 25, 2011 | 3:01 pm · Link

    @113 But how often does Tunch move? He spends most of the time sleeping in the spare room he ‘liberated from the Man’, right?

    It must be the frequent “Furminations.” IIUC His Lard Lordship can’t be trusted outdoors so must be, uh, fluffed inside.

  139. 139.

    MonkeyBoy

    July 25, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    @Svensker:

    At least this works with Jehovah’s Witness infestations.

    @shortstop:

    Perhaps my visitors are JWs;

    Every time I’ve been bothered by JWs it has been pairs of old black ladies in their go-to-church cloths. One time after telling them I wasn’t interested I politely asked them not to ring my doorbell in the future since I had to climb 3 flights of stairs to answer it. To which one of the biddies replied that the Supreme Court gives them the right to ring my bell. I think her companion later straightened her out on her rudeness and I only got the Watchtower in my mailbox thereafter.

    In many locations I think it is legal to answer your front door in the nude, but I Am Not A Lawyer. At another place, I had a neighbor who did this and would occasionally find shaken JWs on my doorstep. I wouldn’t recommend this approach because the JWs could start dragging around young children just to complicate the legal situation of using your body as repellent.

  140. 140.

    Perspecticus

    July 25, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    “They are disgusting, disease-ridden foul nuisances…”

    Until I finished reading that sentence, I was certain you were referring to the Jack Russells.

  141. 141.

    jl

    July 25, 2011 at 3:06 pm

    @135 Ash Can: Raccoons with attitude seem to be a problem all across the country. What is to be done about it?

    Some nut Xtianist preacher recently declared that God revealed to him that we should kill all the bears. I might be more sympathetic if the crazy preacher man had said it was raccoons.

    Some commenter above asked whether Cole Jr. was sure Cole Sr. was not planning on ettin’ them critters. Which I took to be a vile slander up West Virginian hill billies. OK, not a slander but at least impolite to bring up.

    Notice, there has never been a post like this about squirrels or ‘possums. Has there? Another BJ blog scandal, in my book.

  142. 142.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 3:12 pm

    MonkeyBoy

    My bigger dog goes apeshit when someone knocks on the door and I think that keeps them away for the most part. When they do come up on the porch I open the door enough for them to get the idea.

  143. 143.

    slag

    July 25, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    @jl:

    Notice, there has never been a post like this about squirrels or ‘possums. Has there? Another BJ blog scandal, in my book.

    Ooooh! I like where you’re headed with this. I’ve been hoping someone would start talking John Cole impeachment. But scandal investigations are a good start. Has Cole filed his campaign disclosures yet? How much is he getting from Squirrels and Possums for American Rights?

  144. 144.

    Ash Can

    July 25, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    @jl: All I know is, it’s been a highly entertaining thread. :)

  145. 145.

    dww44

    July 25, 2011 at 3:16 pm

    Believe this is still an Open Thread, right? So, out of curiosity I clicked on the ad/survey over on the right, and won a bit, to see who was behind this “Who’s the Most Biased” with photos of 4 media folk. Aside from Rachel Maddow, which of the other 3 is truly liberal? I grant that Chris Matthews of late seems to be veering more left than his usual haunt, but Matt Lauer and Dianne Sawyer? Bet Rachel Maddow wins that “liberal bias” survey.

    Anyways, the survey is from a group called “The Media Research Center” whose director is the inestimable Brent Bozell. Now, there’s a guy who grates on my last nerve.

  146. 146.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 3:17 pm

    Ash Can

    4 hours is a bit much. It’s not like there is nothing else going on in the world.

  147. 147.

    bemused

    July 25, 2011 at 3:19 pm

    I love the video of John’s mom videoing the freshly bathed dogs rolling around on the furniture in the forbidden living room with background noise of dad vacuuming. I guess we know where the vacuuming gene came from. I can only imagine dad’s reaction to disgusting, disease-ridden, foul vermin hanging from his grill.

  148. 148.

    Carol

    July 25, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    Fischer: Bear Attacks Are “A Sign That The Land is Under a Curse”. I couldn’t believe this one, so I Googled it.

    Well, every nation has either bears, lions, or other large carnivores with teeth. Are we all cursed?

  149. 149.

    eemom

    July 25, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    Mormon proseletyzers are worse than JW’s, imo. They always send teenagers out to do it, which is downright creepy. Was sitting in my front yard one day when a couple of them wandered in pretending to ask for directions as a little ice breaker before they started laying on the Jesus. But I could see their icky little badges. UGH. Hate those people.

  150. 150.

    Geoduck

    July 25, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    I think it is legal to answer your front door in the nude, but I Am Not A Lawyer. At another place, I had a neighbor who did this and would occasionally find shaken JWs on my doorstep.

    I read once about a guy who had an outfit he’d slip into whenever he saw the religious-types coming to the door, along the lines of a long black robe, silver pentagram medallion, human skull clutched in one hand..

  151. 151.

    Ash Can

    July 25, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred): Meh. Absent any big headlines (and I’m not counting the NFL settlement), I chalk it up to the FPers having more important, RL things to do. (I’m procrastinating on dishes and laundry myself.)

  152. 152.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    eemom

    There is this group of Evangelicals in Atlanta that go to any and all large events. We were at a Ga Tech game and one started with me. I was polite and said “no thanks”, then started on my wife and she said the same. He wouldn’t stop so I went to crazy-ass motherfucker mode. He left. Next time I saw him was at a Santana show. He was screaming about Black Magic Woman! (but not at me)

  153. 153.

    Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)

    July 25, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    jl

    But how often does Tunch move? He spends most of the time sleeping in the spare room he ‘liberated from the Man’, right?

    Remember, this is the same cat who initiated the Great Wallet Caper. He’s probably dartin’ around the house like a cat on fire when Cole’s away. He’s probably runnin’ up the cable bill, too, ordering ppv kitty pron.

  154. 154.

    jl

    July 25, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    @145 dww44

    thanks for your brave investigation. I have wondered about those dingbat survey widgets, but too worried about ‘puter bugs, and getting on some damned email list to ever click on them.

    I don’t get the point of the thing. Maybe it is some super narrow casting demographics research. Like, maybe conservatives would get Shep Smith, Mornin’ Joe, Regis and Geraldo?

    Shep Smith would be the actual journalist, or closest approximation on Fox news.

  155. 155.

    bemused

    July 25, 2011 at 3:31 pm

    Carol,

    In Minnesota, mosquitos, no-see-ums and horse flies are currently tied with our Republican controlled legislature. The bugs will be gone by fall but we’ll be stuck with the R’s until the next election and hopefully no longer.

  156. 156.

    Laura Clawson

    July 25, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    So glad Ginny and Guesly didn’t get hurt. Raccoons are dangerous.

  157. 157.

    Yevgraf

    July 25, 2011 at 3:33 pm

    I checked out the author of the “Librulism is Sucking Our Vital Fluids” book that so frequently graces my Balloon Juice reads – Fred N Sauer.

    http://www.fredsauermatrix.com/58-About-Fred-Sauer.html

    Gosh, Fred is so very, very accomplished and all – he does some weird blog called the Fred Sauer Matrix, and got a job offer from CIA, went to Yale and Stanford and became a “Destroyer Officer” before going on to running a high falutin’ investment company that has a lame website that looks about as believable as Sir Allen Stanford’s investment portfolio.

    http://orioninvestmentco.com/index.php

  158. 158.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    I’ve gotten rid of proslytizers a couple of times by giving them the crazy eyes with a deadpan monologue. One older couple who came up one time when I was on the ground digging in the front flower beds were talking all about Jesus and did I “know him” and on and on…I fixed them with an intense look and said, “let’s just say he and I have…a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP,” delivered in the best Christopher Walken cadence I could muster. They hurried away.

    Another time I was accosted by a young fundie woman at Mardi Gras and asked something similar, and again did the crazy eye while saying something like “he and I have an…UNDERSTANDING.” Young fundie woman started backing up, gesturing wide with her arms and saying, “hey, that’s cool, that’s cool…”

    Out-crazying the fundies is always a good game plan. Whether it’s because they think you’re a Satanist or whatever – who really cares? It makes them go away immediately.

  159. 159.

    jl

    July 25, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    Speaking of bears, glad that the recent attack in AK was not worse. Sounds like they more or less knew how to minimize chance of attack.

    ‘ the attack occurred Saturday night in the Talkeetna Mountains north of Anchorage.

    (snip)

    Calling out to alert bears of human presence and give nearby animals a chance to flee is among the skills learned in the course.

    “The students say they were” doing that, Palmer said. ‘

    Richmond teen among Alaska bear attack victims
    By KTVU

    http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/san-francisco/richmond-teen-among-alaska-bear-attack-victims-165635323.html

    I was wondering where it was. Talkeetna Mountains? Hey, I wondered around those parts. Unless they were above tree line, where you don’t see too many bears anyway, yelling doesn’t cut it. Need to clang on something metal or shoot a signal gun. I forget the name, since been so long since spent time up there, but there are special signal shotgun shells that make a great big pop about a hundred feet after leaving the barrel. Need one of those when foliage is thick, and fruit starts to ripin which it is and which it does this time of year in that area, which is quite bear rich.

    Edit: and as a special bonus, the signal shot gun shells are fun to shoot.

    See, we should’ve killed all them damn bears by now.

    I will return later to press Cole on the new BJ blog coverup on WV hillbilly blogger game cuisine.

  160. 160.

    Jennifer

    July 25, 2011 at 3:43 pm

    Oh, and, BTW: here’s a tried-and-true method for breaking political deadlock. I really think we should give it a try.

  161. 161.

    Violet

    July 25, 2011 at 3:43 pm

    @eemom:
    I was visiting some friends over Easter weekend several years ago. On Easter Sunday around lunchtime the doorbell rang, and there were two Mormon missionaries trying to convert us. Not many people will be happy to have their Easter dinner interrupted. Dumb time to be out trying to convert. The friend I was visiting is not very tolerant of those pushing any kind of religion, so they got a real earful. LOL.

  162. 162.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    July 25, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    .
    .
    If there’s one thing I love more than the new Super Supreme Court, consisting only of Yours Truly, it’s waking up every day to the sound of Republicans crying and begging in public for President Obama to quit kicking their asses in these debt ceiling “negotiations”… Negotiations? It’s more like a Greek chorus of “How much higher, President Obama? How much faster? Anything else we can do for you? Anything at all?”
    .
    .

  163. 163.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 3:51 pm

    White House: Obama backs a proposal by Sen. Harry Reid to cut spending by $2.7 trillion, raise debt limit through 2012.

  164. 164.

    MikeJ

    July 25, 2011 at 3:52 pm

    We had some raccoons that looked like they should have been snapping their fingers while someone played brushes on a hi-hat and they sung about being a raccoon from your first cigarette to your last dying day.

  165. 165.

    HyperIon

    July 25, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    Evidently the coons are also destroying very old temples in Japan. Because years ago there was a cute Japanese cartoon about baby raccoons so many Japanese people just had to get one for a pet!?

    They quickly discovered the error of their ways and let the no-longer-adorable creatures out into the wild. And now the coons destroy old temples (made out of wood) and leave disease ridden feces that sickens those who attempt to reclaim and clean up places the coons have invaded.

  166. 166.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    HyperIon

    The revenge of the yankees!

  167. 167.

    Jade Jordan

    July 25, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    John, quit pretending you are not a country bumpkin. Raccoons=dinner in your neck of the woods.

  168. 168.

    jl

    July 25, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    @163 I think Reid’s plan, which meets all the stated GOP requirements has already been rejected by the House GOP (because their stated requirements are not their real requirements. The real requirements are fatal damage to social insurance, and deal that fatally damages Obama re election).

    @164: That is one bad ass looking gang of outlaw raccoons riding into to town with the definite intent of shootin’ up main street. They make the Wild Bunch look like kids at a lemonade stand.

    Edit: the one in front is Lee Marvin, except he was not in Wild Bunch, was he. OK, they look like whatever the gang’s name was in Man Who Shoot Liberty Valance(sp?)

  169. 169.

    Tom in NOLA

    July 25, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    Any of the front pagers working today? Some of us have a lot of time to kill here!

  170. 170.

    RossinDetroit

    July 25, 2011 at 4:06 pm

    Last September I looked up from my desk to see a ‘coon the size of a tugboat calmly trampling the bed of ferns right outside the window. Gods know what he was after, but he left after I got a few pix.
    The next night while driving home through a neighborhood a coyote ran right in front of my car. Close enough that I could tell it was a female. That’s pretty rare around here but not unprecedented.

  171. 171.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 4:08 pm

    RossinDetroit

    I’m surprised the Nuge hasn’t killed em all.

  172. 172.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    RossinDetroit: Was it your dad (or some other BJer’s) who hung a wreath of Indian corn on his porch and then deer sauntered up the steps and ate it? The third baseman and I are still laughing about that.

  173. 173.

    MattR

    July 25, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    @jl: Craziest bear story I’ve heard. Makes me slightly less annoyed at being pulled over in South Carolina a few years back on a road where a couple bears were recently killed, though I still think a big flashing sign that said “WARNING, BEARS!! Slow Down!!” would have been more effective than a cop pulling over the occassional driver.

    Two people were killed Monday when a car struck a bear on a rural Quebec highway and sent the animal crashing into a second vehicle.
    __
    A Pontiac Sunfire travelling east slammed into a black bear at about 10:30 p.m. on Highway 148, near the town of Luskville, said the local police from MRC des Collines.
    __
    The 200-kilogram bear was thrown into the air and struck a black SUV travelling in the opposite direction, police said. The bear smashed through the SUV’s front windshield and out the back window.
    __
    The driver of the SUV, a 25-year-old Ottawa woman, was pronounced dead at the scene, along with a 40-year-old Gatineau man later identified as Steven Leon, who was sitting in the seat behind her.

  174. 174.

    fordpowers

    July 25, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    glad ginny + guesly were spared from attacking.

    My dogs however. now have killed 4 possums and 1 cat that made its way into our backyard this summer. Needless to say – Im completely traumatized by it – but my vet said they are just being good doggies. little fuckers.

  175. 175.

    scav

    July 25, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    Warping back to our exeunt, pursued by Bear Market moment, this might be a sighting of same book-keeping bear as provided by the RSC.

    And, continuing to speak of records/bookkeeping coming back to haunt you. did NI & co really think someone would buy that they could only find a single little teeny tiny record of Glen Mulcaire’s association with them over the long haul? (Guard) Clearly in the race between evidence of solid management practices and covering James’s ass, James is ahead and ringing a bell warning he’s coming though.

  176. 176.

    normal liberal

    July 25, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    Two years ago, after suffering through many nights of skunks holding “see how far you can spray” contests under the bedroom window, we finally hired a state-endorsed Skunk Disposal Technician.

    In a couple of weeks, he had trapped and killed seventeen skunks in my backyard, plus assorted other wildlife that we released. It even made the local newspaper.

    His skunk bait of choice? Cheetos.

    Draw from this what conclusions you will.

    If someone has figured out the appropriate domesticated apex predator for all the yard critters, please share. I have groundhogs, intrepid survivor skunks, opossums, the occasional raccoon, a local troupe of feral cats that the neighbors feed, and an ever-growing contingent of chipmunks that eat the cherry tomatoes out of the garden. To say nothing of the squirrels and rabbits, who are legion.

  177. 177.

    Dr. Loveless

    July 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm

    In other news, Dan Choi goes Full Metal Firebagger.

  178. 178.

    Steeplejack

    July 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm

    What’s with the dearth of posting today? I’m off work and could keep up in real time, for once, but nada. Hmmph.

    ETA: This has somehow motivated me to start on a massive cleaning/makeover of the man-cave. Eek. I found some elk bones from three hunting seasons ago, and those pesky little Cro-Magnons apparently have been in here drawing on my walls again.

  179. 179.

    Violet

    July 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm

    Here’s a headline I just saw at the Google Finance page:

    TREASURIES-Divided Congress spurs selling in nervous bond mkt

    Followed by:

    Treasury looks to raise $99 billion through debt sales
    __
    Cost to insure U.S. Treasuries highest since Feb. 2010
    __
    Traders worry over US downgrade even if default averted (Changes lead, adds volume info, updates prices)
    __
    NEW YORK, July 25 (Reuters) – Investors sold U.S. Treasuries on Monday after bipartisan talks in Washington to cut the U.S. deficit and raise the legal borrowing limit fell apart and Democrats and Republicans set to working on separate plans.

    Looks like the uncertainty is hitting the bond market.

  180. 180.

    jl

    July 25, 2011 at 4:25 pm

    @176: Get two dachshunds. I had the chilling experience of watching a pair of those enthusiastically cold blooded little murderers operate on chickens, skunks, raccoons, ‘possum, and whatever was unfortunate or foolish enough to get into the yard on the farm.

    Unless you happened to close enough to actually grab one of the little assassins (which happened exactly once, as I remember), there was nothing to be done.

    The intruder was done, finished, ended, made not, before you could get to the yard.

    One cute lovable little dachsy would make a big fancy show of stalking in front of the prey. The other would circle around behind and wait at just the right distance, and then race in and nearly bite the poor critter’s head off from behind, as soon as the second the intruder was sufficiently distracted. Or they would triangulate themselves so one of them could race the critter down before it got to the fence. The dachshunds always seemed to know in advance when some critter would blunder into the yard, and would strategically pre position.

    Dachshunds are so damned cute, aren’t they?

  181. 181.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    July 25, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    Now would be a good time to see how big a thread can really be.

  182. 182.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    July 25, 2011 at 4:27 pm

    jl

    You get bred to kill badgers the rest of that is just practice.

  183. 183.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    July 25, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    jl
    So, they’re the velociraptors of the dog world. We have a dachshund-chihuahua mix, and I swear the only think keeping him from pulling a Planet of the Canine style takeover is lack of thumbs.

  184. 184.

    MattR

    July 25, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): Can he do this?

  185. 185.

    shortstop

    July 25, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    scav:

    Warping back to our exeunt, pursued by Bear Market moment

    Nice!

  186. 186.

    normal liberal

    July 25, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    jl @180

    Paired dachshunds, eh? I’ve been around them occasionally, but have never seen them in hunting mode.

    So they are low-to-the-ground versions of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park?

    I wonder if there’s a dachshund rescue group handy.

  187. 187.

    danimal

    July 25, 2011 at 4:35 pm

    I’ve been waiting for a good debt ceiling flamewar post, but haven’t gotten one in hours,so I’ll ask on the Open Thread…

    1. I know the deadline is August 2.
    2. I also know that a single senator (think Rand f-in Paul) can gum up the works for several days if he or she wants to stall.
    3. Given 1 and 2, what is the real deadline to get a last ditch bill through both houses. It seems like we have a lot less than a week before Armadebton hits.

    Any process geeks know the answer?

  188. 188.

    jl

    July 25, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    @187: If you go to Econbrowser blog and look through posts over last two or three weeks, there are some posts analyzing when cash is out, and gaps between bond maturity dates totally gums up Treasury bond sales and purchases without debt increase.

    Graph from one analysis shows not enough money happens sometime between Aug 2 and Aug 12.

  189. 189.

    cckids

    July 25, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    eemom @ ?

    Mormon proseletyzers are worse than JW’s, imo. They always send teenagers out to do it, which is downright creepy.

    Oh, yeah. My son was approached by a pair of them while walking our dog, listening to his Ipod. “you know that great feeling your music gives you? know what else will give you that feeling? GOD” and on, and on.

    It was a month before he’d take the dog out again. It is an ongoing family joke now–OMG MORMONS, RUN!

    So obnoxious. And, since we live in Vegas, they are quite numerous. Usually polite, tho.

  190. 190.

    trollhattan

    July 25, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    @180.jl – July 25, 2011 | 4:25 pm · Link

    Friends who live on the river with critters of all sorts visiting had Walter the JRT, who never backed down from anything and took out possums, squirrels, skunks, raccoons and yeah, even the occasional cat. I shudder to think what a brace of Walters might have done, given your description of the weiner dogs of doom.

    Walter proved no match for a minivan tire, however. (I was quite fond of the scruffy li’l guy, who kept humans off his “list.”)

  191. 191.

    4jkb4ia

    July 25, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    @130: Hooray!
    (Wait a minute, in early September I will just be grouchy about why I ever cared about football, as usual.)

    Got around to reading the NYT gay marriage story in the printed edition. The Larry Kramer quote was missing. Almost cried twice. You would think this would encourage someone to not take being married for granted, or something. Carry on.

    Vaguely related: I had to fend off two Mormon missionaries once walking down the street, and learned that Joseph Smith predicted the Civil War and various other things. My husband wanted to know why they were trying to convert someone Jewish as they are usually respectful.

  192. 192.

    RossInDetroit

    July 25, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    RossinDetroit: Was it your dad (or some other BJer’s) who hung a wreath of Indian corn on his porch and then deer sauntered up the steps and ate it? The third baseman and I are still laughing about that.

    That was my dad. I think they’re paying him back for the 1 or 2 of their kind he’s eaten every year since about 1950.

  193. 193.

    joel hanes

    July 25, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    jl @ 124 writes :

    The filthy obnoxious little band [of raccoons] … are guilty of a serious bad attitude. They won’t scare away, like a timid wild animal should.

    At close range, an industrial squirt bottle filled with household ammonia (aim for the critter’s hindquarters to avoid the eyes) works very well for most kinds of over-friendly mammals up to and including deer.

    If you really don’t like them, and know how to shoot, a BB gun at medium range is an effective deterrent.

    If you _really_ don’t like them, and don’t have pets,
    placing a field of conventional mousetraps, unbaited, in the area invaded by raccoons also works; the raccoons may lose a toe or two, so this is kind of a last resort.

  194. 194.

    ruemara

    July 25, 2011 at 5:45 pm

    You know, if you just bring up the lack of a soul that brown people’s had, up until recently, you can get the Mormons to leave you alone. Ditto if you bring up the divine marriage. Knowing their shit while being polite scares them.

  195. 195.

    Anne Laurie

    July 25, 2011 at 6:09 pm

    When I was a young army officer learning artillery things at Ft. Sill, a group of my fellow students and I had a skunk walk across our stomachs while we slept

    .There’s a lawyer/’professional courtesy’ joke lurking in there somewhere…

  196. 196.

    Allen

    July 25, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    I only have one skunk story but many raccoon stories.

    My one skunk story happened while rafting the Grande Ronde River in NE Oregon. We had gotten driven off the river by a nasty little thunderstorm. Shortly after we had eddied out, another couple eddied out where we had. The other couple had a Golden Retriever, that latter that night had an “experience” with a skunk.

    Talk about stink.

    The other couple decided to leave the dog and make the 10 hour trip to Troy, OR., get some t-juice, haul the boat out of the water, haul it back upstream, put back in and spend 5 hours coming back down to get the dog all t-juiced (we had said we would spend an extra day where we were camped, they left us the dog food.) What a stink.

  197. 197.

    Kathleen

    July 25, 2011 at 9:44 pm

    Disgusting, disease ridden, foul creatures indeed. Oh, wait. John’s post was about a baby racoon. I thought we were still talking about Boner, Ryan, and slithertarians. My bad.

  198. 198.

    Kathleen

    July 25, 2011 at 9:44 pm

    Disgusting, disease ridden, foul creatures indeed. Oh, wait. John’s post was about a baby racoon. I thought we were still talking about Boner, Ryan, and slithertarians. My bad.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - BarcaChicago  - Off the Gunflint Trail/Boundary Waters 6
Image by BarcaChicago (7/7/25)

World Central Kitchen

Donate

Recent Comments

  • Elizabelle on Open Thread: BRICS-A-Bracket (Jul 7, 2025 @ 2:58pm)
  • rikyrah on Open Thread: BRICS-A-Bracket (Jul 7, 2025 @ 2:58pm)
  • rikyrah on Open Thread: BRICS-A-Bracket (Jul 7, 2025 @ 2:57pm)
  • Elizabelle on Open Thread: BRICS-A-Bracket (Jul 7, 2025 @ 2:57pm)
  • Doug R on Open Thread: BRICS-A-Bracket (Jul 7, 2025 @ 2:56pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!