I realize I have been really slacking in the blogging department, but really, how many times can you say THE REPUBLICANS ARE FUCKING CRAZY? Plus, I’ve been really into cooking and experimenting with different things. Made something simple tonight, though- crab cakes, some roasted new potatoes with butter/garlic/parsley, sliced tomatoes, and for some reason I was craving beets, so I made some pickled beets and put them on a spinach salad. Just had dessert, which was a scoop of vanilla ice cream with Barenjager poured over the top and a little cinnamon and some walnuts.
Not sure what I am going to do with myself. I had some coffee at around six or so (have I talked up the folks at Kona Comfort lately?), so I am not at all sleepy, so I guess maybe it is time for some On Demand. I’m behind on White Collar, Suits, and Alphas. Not in the mood to read, so I guess the boob tube it is.
Southern Beale
I realize I have been really slacking in the blogging department, but really, how many times can you say THE REPUBLICANS ARE FUCKING CRAZY?
No shit, I’m so over this crap you have no idea. I need a new fucking issue.
MikeJ
For the past two weeks I fall asleep at 10pm, wake up at 1am, fall asleep at 11am, wake at 2pm. Grrr. Coffee, liquor, doesn’t matter. Three hours is my max sleep time. Fucking yurpians (fick dich) making me wake up in the middle of the night keep screwing me up.
Mark S.
I liked it better when Cole didn’t have a life and would write 30 posts a day.
I don’t think this new lifestyle is healthy for you, John.
MikeJ
@Mark S.: In the fall school will start and he’ll have more stuff to avoid and reason to post.
Little Boots
yes, you have, however you are honest and true, and eschaton is annoying me, so hi, John. hope you are well.
seriously, I admire your whole thing. I went through a right to left conversion but it was pre-Internet, and I was never so brave. you are impressive. you really are.
Ty Lookwell
If you can get it On Demand (it should be available), then rent James Gunn’s 2010 film Super, starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page (she’s so amazing), Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon, and Nathan Fillon. Probably the best, smartest, most-amazing-saddest most-violent-funniest-most-moving film I’ve seen this year. I can’t stop thinking about it since I saw it a few days ago. “Shut up, CRIME!”
ulee
oh my god–get a job.
Punchy
On a Friday or Saturday, go with Forensic Files. Show is tits.
So now that Reid just boned Boner’s bill, does Johnny just give up or actually try to pass the bill via House Dems?
Arclite
Hmm, no energy for WoW?
Also, if you have Netflix, you really owe it to yourself to watch the Masterpiece Mystery! Sherlock Holmes. It’s Sherlock imagined for the current day, and it’s absolutely sublime, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Dr. Watson. Great dialogue, acting, script, pacing, and action. IMDB rating is a 9.0, for example, so it’s highly regarded.
General Stuck
No shit. Been asking myself the same question. If it wasn’t for the fact they have the power to maybe end civilization as we have known it, I’m sure I’d have better success at ignoring them.
I’m on a cooking adventure myself of some sort. With making a variety of crock pot made stews and beans to freeze in plastic packets for instant meals via the microwave, got a batch of lima beans with chopped onion to get the ball rolling, and will keep at it all weekend.
Cat Lady
Beets. The best meal I ever had was here. Pan seared scallops with a puree of beet that had been piped from a pastry bag into hot oil so that it made a crunchy beet filigree cage over the perfectly cooked scallops. Earth, sea, sweet, salty, chewy, crunchy. Ming Tsai FTMFW.
Mark S.
@Punchy:
I don’t know. Also, does Reid’s bill have to get 60 votes?
beltane
I’m going to have to ask DougJ to take a long break from the Bobo posts. He is starting to remind me of my grandfather, and all those Sunday mornings my cousins and I were forced to listen to his critiques of William Safire columns.
Yes, I know there hasn’t been a Bobo post in a few days, but you just know Brooks is about to churn out something especially awful, and that we will have to discuss it. Instead, someone should find out how much David Brooks gets paid, and then ridicule the people who pay him.
FlipYrWhig
This summer sucks on a stick. Every other summer for the past five years I’ve had a big academic project hanging over me. Now it’s done. Aimlessness has set in.
Hal
Flipping channels and happened to catch Anne Coulter on Joy Behar’s show. Why do people keep inviting her on? Every response she gives is the same (Liberals are evil/stupid/destroying America/evil/stupid/hate america/evil/stupid…
Some days I’m convinced she’s a performance artist who’s going to reveal herself on her deathbed.
The I turned on Bill Maher where his panel was Eliot Spitzer, some Republican strategist, and the Freedom Works founder.
Which made me miss Ann Coulter.
Little Boots
this summer sucks for the whole nation. what the hell is wrong with us? seriously thinking we just need to split apart as a nation.
Little Boots
ann coulter used to piss me off so much. now she’s just sad. angry and bitter and sad. see this summer even sucks for her. it’s all so stale and stupid.
srv
The Beeb’s old House of Cards is back on instant now also for anyone pining away for hours of political intrigue.
And then watch some f*ing Luther.
If it weren’t for Breaking Bad, Dexter and Archer, I’d be done with the states.
Violet
I grew beets this year for the first time. Love, love, LOVE them. You can eat the greens (my favorite greens ever) and you can eat the roots. I cooked them every way I could think of. Roasted, steamed, cooked on the bbq, in foil, grilled plain, with garlic and herbs, or not. Just excellent.
MikeJ
@Arclite: New Sherlock starts in the fall. I can’t wait (and since I’m either over there or know how to use bittorrent I won’t have to.)
Mark S.
@Little Boots:
She used to piss me off a lot too. Then someone called her “the clown car of conservatism”, everything fell into place, and I stopped giving a shit about her.
PeakVT
@Mark S.: For cloture, yes.
Since our crisis is in a holding pattern for the next few days, what other crises should I catch up on? Norway? Greece? Syria? Libya? Phone hacking? Fukushima? FAA funding? So much nonsense is going on right now.
Cat Lady
@Violet: How can something the color of beets ever not be good, and good for you? They’re screaming out EAT ME!! In a good way.
cleek
@Cat Lady:
i make a kick-ass roasted red beet risotto.
chop 1 fresh into 1/2″ cubes. roast em 45 @ 400.
drop em into the start of a basic risotto.
maybe some vinegar.
comes out a wild scarlet color. and all rooty. yow.
awesome with smoky pork.
Cat Lady
cleek: Sounds amazing! Does the risotto turn hot pink though? That could be…. weird.
MikeJ
@Cat Lady:
Some years back the NYTs had a cocktail recipe called the Red Square. Roasted red beets in vodka. As much as I like the components, the combination was awful.
Little Boots
I love that Mark. but, yeah, at some point it just gets soooo tired.
Violet
@cleek:
That sounds awesome. I might have to give that a try.
JGabriel
@Mark S.:
We need to Yogi Berra this up a little bit. How about something like:
.
Arclite
@ SRV (nice account name, BTW, love that guitar player)
I’ll check out House of Cards, thanks for the tip. Waiting for Breaking Bad and Dexter to get on streaming, although I may just break down and order the disks for BB.
@ MikeJ
Yeah, I’ll just have to wait until they become available. :(
Mark S.
@PeakVT:
Well, shit, can they get that?
jwb
beltane: Bobo was off on Friday, so with any luck he is on his summer sabbatical for a couple of weeks.
Little Boots
I saw ann coulter on bill maher’s show, and now I totally understand what it means to phone it in.
but enough about her.
House of Cards is Teh Awesome.
Cat Lady
MikeJ:
Yeah. No. I’m from good hearty peasant stock, but that’s just wrong. Although if you’re going to drink a lot of vodka, that will probably get you through the winter. Add some cabbage and potatoes, and you’ve got your basic ingredients to survive a siege on Leningrad.
Little Boots
i wish we could do that in this country, but the Brits seem to be able to do truly evil government and yet not lose all touch with reality. We just sort of do it in real life, but they do it in fiction, which is so much better.
PeakVT
@Mark S.: Dunno. Assuming he doesn’t lose any Ds, Reid needs 7 Rs. Here’s today’s votes. You can make your own fantasy team of Sixty Sane Senators.
Little Boots
also love the yes, minister, yes, prime minister shows, if you want a lighter touch.
Steeplejack
@Cole:
Hey, here’s a wacky thought: maybe you could take five minutes out of your whirlwind lifestyle and fix the goddamn Reply button problem?! It’s a one-line code change, which has been pointed out to you repeatedly.
What does it take to dynamite you off your fat ass and get you pissed enough at your readers to have a rageaholic “fuck you all” meltdown, then later do your ritual apology and perhaps actually do something about a problem that affects every goddamn commenter on your fucking blog? (And has for a month.)
Jee-sus. At this point I’m with 13th Generation:
Violet
@Steeplejack:
I did that fix for Firefox that someone created and linked a few weeks ago and now I’ve got a working reply button. But yeah, I don’t understand why it’s taking so long to get it fixed for everyone. People who are reading Balloon-Juice at work might not be able to add code, even if they’re allowed to use Firefox.
Little Boots
anger has led to the dark side.
Little Boots
i do miss that reply button though. that was really helpful.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
I have implemented the fix for myself. What galls me is Cole’s complete refusal to say anything about what is happening with the problem and why it has not been fixed.
WaterGirl
@ Mark S.
I wondered that, too, at first. And then I realized that with the entire country watching, it would be a terrible PR move for them not to even allow a vote on this bill. So I think they would all have to vote for cloture, wouldn’t they? I think they would get badly burned if they didn’t.
Anyone – Does that make sense, or is it crazy and optimistic to expect them to show any sense as this proceeds?
M-pop
John, your post a week or so ago about making homemade pasta inspired me to borrow a pasta maker and try my hand at it! Hopefully my son will decide to help and it will be a grand summer memory, thanks to your post.
WaterGirl
@ VIolet
I use Safari, and I refuse to change my browser in order to get a reply button. It would be really nice t get the reply button back.
I wonder if Cole is not having good luck with his web programmer. There are a bunch of things we all ask for / complained about when the site was re-done, and as far as I can tell, most of those things still haven’t been fixed.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack: Did you, ummm, pare this response back a little?
Mister Papercut
Whenever in doubt with what to do with yourself, Cole, you can’t go wrong posting pics of your furry brood, just sayin’.
WaterGirl
@ efgoldman
I have completely been paying attention. Their actions tell me they don’t care abut the country, But surely they see how badly they will be tarred in political ads for not even allowing a VOTE on this bill.
I want to see all these stupid senate rules changed – up or down votes on everything, no secret holds, etc. The senate is pretty darn close to being a non functioning body and I think it’s crazy that they are hanging on to all these little “customs” from gentler times.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
I have the No. 5 leather bite-stick in my teeth right now. Grr!
Mark S.
@PeakVT:
What an odd collection of goopers who voted yea: DeMint, Graham, Hatch, Lee, Paul, and Vitter.
60 might be tough.
jwb
WaterGirl: Go back to first principles: what have the Goopers always done ever since Obama was elected: the most insane thing possible, right? Now ask again whether there will be a filibuster. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t happen, but I’m pretty sure it will.
This time a filibuster might even be kabuki to give cover to the House Goopers they need to vote for the plan. The Senate GOP filibusters for a few hours, hammers out a deal (that has already been hammered out—remember it’s just kabuki) to make it look like the Senate Goopers were able to extract a few more concessions, then back to the House, where everyone will pretend to hold their noses while they pass it.
Another Bob
You expect the Republicans to be liars and crooks. What’s made the current debate so exasperating is watching how on-board the Democrats apparently are with the “debt crisis” swindle. Listening to the Democratic leadership, you’d think government debt really was the biggest challenge the nation faces. Have any of them questioned the entire framing of this issue, calling it the bullshit that it is? No, for the most part, they’ve validated the entire line of reasoning. At a time when the tax rate is at the lowest point in about 60 years, they don’t even have enough of a spine to demand an end to tax cuts. This is a moment like the Congressional authorization for the Iraq invasion, where we get to see how many Democrats are willing to play along with an outright fraud.
fraught
Beets? White collar? Who is this John Cole character who’s so obsessed with his own ennui that he shows up once a day to tell us what he’s eating and how his BM was this morning? Get a fucking boyfriend, for Christ’s sake.
OzoneR
Well President Obama did for about three months last year.
Well for Iraq, it was only 39% of elected Dems in the House.
PeakVT
@Mark S.: That group voted to table for different reasons. I would expect that in a vote for a bill to raise the debt ceiling, only Hatch and maybe one or two others might vote yes. Who else could Reid pick up? Snowe, Collins, and Brown seem the most likely. Maybe he could pick up one or two lifers like Grassley, Alexander, or Lugar, who have voted to raise a thousand times before. Or maybe a youngster like Murkowski, Heller, or Kirk. It all depends on how deep the rot is over in the Senate. I haven’t paid attention to that body since after the 2010 election, so I don’t know how Rs who aren’t up until 2014 or 2016 are behaving.
Another Bob
@OzoneR
And now he’s arguing for a “balanced approach” that validates a bullshit Republican meme about government debt being a serious problem while not actually demanding any end to tax cuts. The Republicans have a majority in one house of Congress, and yet the Democrats are apparently powerless to stop them. They’re so busy offering up more concessions and deeper budget cuts that they can’t bother to question the entire basis for this phony “crisis.” It’s a huge fraud, just like the Iraq war was, and how disappointing to see how impotent and mute they are just when we need them the most.
BattleCat
Battlecat will fix your stupid goddamn reply button problem, for free, John Cole of Balloon Juice fame. Only because BattleCat finds it hard to Battle without it, though.
Email Battlecat, or furrocious fighters in jet-black helicopters will arrive at your door-step shortly.
binzinerator
America fucked –
Soon more pain, stillborn flower
More Teabagger joy
binzinerator
Can’t edit WP’s line break fuckup. Apparently a hyphen means ‘ignore the following line break’.
FYWP
Mnemosyne
@Another Bob:
That one house of Congress is the only one allowed to generate spending bills per the US Constitution. Do you perhaps see the problem now?
AAA Bonds
BOMB THE SHIT OUT OF LIBYAN TV TRANSMITTERS? YES WE CAN!
dan
You’re going to make someone a nice wife someday.
metalgirl
I’ve been on a cooking jag lately (so much fresh produce!) and am addicted to the website http://www.food52.com for great recipe ideas! The “editor’s pick” recipes and all the contest winners are well-tested and if you have a question, it’s easy to ask on their “foodpickle” service! Love it :) Happy cooking!
ET
I’m all for more pictures of Tunch.
Another Bob
@Mnemosyne
With the Democrats, it’s always a lot of excuse-making about how they don’t have the power to do this because they don’t have a veto-proof majority in the Senate, or they can’t do that because the President can’t pass legislation all by himself, or the Republicans have them by the balls because they have a majority in the House. Did George W. Bush operate like that? No, unfortunately for us, he made sure that he got most of what he wanted, and lots of Democrats went along with him. Regardless of the situation, the Democrats always let the Republicans walk all over them. The Republicans get most of what they want; in contrast, Democrats whine about not having the votes, or being powerless under the circumstances, or being forced by Republican intransigence, etc. What a bunch of ineffectual losers.