(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)
__
Let’s talk about anything that isn’t this week’s Republican man-crush.
Tuesday Evening Open Thread
This post is in: Open Threads, Readership Capture, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Our Failed Media Experiment
Roger Moore
Is there anything else to talk about, except possibly for John’s latest baking experiment?
jeffreyw
Thread needs moar kittehs
Baud
Benen has had a couple of nice posts about Obama’s recent rhetoric, here and here.
jeffreyw
A hobby the whole family can enjoy! Birdwatchin!
SteveinSC
Can we talk about Buddy Roemer? He was just on Lawrence O’Donnell and said he’s running in the Republican race, but won’t take more than $100 per donation. He say’s the country is in trouble with SuperPac money and that liberals and conservatives should join to fight this. I think me an my wife will send him $50.
Cliff in NH
I’m making Pizza.
should be yummy, I took a set of all the details of the process for someone who just got a new peel.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64725711@N07/sets/72157627175778700/with/6050557627/
I’m about to decide on toppings.
JPL
I love Toles and must pass that one on to friends.
PurpleGirl
@jeffreyw: Awwww, cute sleeping kittehs.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
My 93 year old aunt died today. She was a great lady and lived a long and rich life. In the days leading up to WWII she lived in San Diego where her husband and my dad and his brother were all crew members of the USS Crosby. She knew all and the enlisted crew and legend had it she cooked for many of them.
scav
Here, a No-Knead Bread version my mother just passed on. With 4-year-old. My mother’s bread (unlike my own) is generally to be trusted. I’ve got a much wider variance of achievement.
JPL
@SteveinSC: A Fulton County, GA commissioner is trying to institute a law stating that businesses who donate more to $500.00 to a candidate cannot be awarded a contract for a year. It’s in the AJC which you might be signed onto so won’t bother with the link but here’s the relevant paragraphs.
Roger Moore
@jeffreyw:
Does he chirp when he’s birdwatching? I can always tell when a hummingbird is stopping by my feeder because Jake starts making a strange, strangling chirping noise, as if he’s trying to stop himself from meowing but can’t completely manage.
Jenny
Wow, I guess Tavis Smiley was right, blacks are furious with Obama
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05qt4VAf3ugxH/610x.jpg
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@JPL:Ha, rotsa ruck on dat.
JPL
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Stuck, sorry. The Greatest Generation.
hilts
I emailed Ben Smith regarding the contradiction that John highlighted in his post “The Balls On These People…”
I asked him “What’s the difference between “weird” and “awkwardness”?” and “How is your post Today in Mitt Romney awkwardness any different from what you have accused the Obama campaign of planning to do in the future?”
Ben’s response to me:
I sent a follow-up message to get further clarification from Ben
This is Ben’s 2nd response to me:
SiubhanDuinne
RIP, Raven’s aunt. She sounds like an amazing lady.
“legend had it she cooked for many of them.” There is nothing euphemistic here, right? You’re talking about cooking in the jeffreyw, TaMara, John Cole sense, I assume. (Not that there’s ANYTHING wrong with another interpretation.)
Sounds like a cool lady. Sympathies to you and all who loved her.
Phyllis
Speaking of Atlanta, Giants just tied it up with the Braves. Who are determined to break ny heart again this year, I’m afraid.
jeffreyw
@Roger Moore: Not that I’ve noticed. He squeaks when he tries to meow, sounds like a baby kitten.
JPL
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): girls gotta dream.
Can you access the NYTimes? If so read about Nancy Wake former party girl who while in Germany saw Nazi’s randomly beating jewish men in the mid thirties and it changed her life. The article is Nancy Wake proud spy and nazi foe. She just died at 98. link
The greatest generation indeed.
Villago Delenda Est
@hilts:
It wasn’t their planned line of attack?
OK, someone is confused. It’s not anyone here. It’s Village dumbass Smith.
General Stuck
Flickers of light in our long dark economic tunnel
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@SiubhanDuinne: Nope, she was straight as an arrow. You don’t get raised by Ingeborg to do no foolin around. And I’m surprised you’d say something like that.
JPL
@Phyllis: As of this date in August the top four teams are Phillies, Red Sox, Yankees and Braves. The Braves unfortunately share the same division with the Phillies. As I type though they are 5 games up for the wild card which isn’t bad.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m cat-sitting a pair of lovely guys this week for a new colleague who was called away suddenly for family stuff. It’s been a few years since I’ve had a cat of my own, but I’m falling in love again. I had planned (hah!) to hold out until I’m retired, but I’m beginning to think about rescue moggies. Not wanting to move too fast on this. But there’s been a hole in my life since Bessie went off to lap at the creamy edges of the Milky Way a few years ago.
tdd
I need a little help naming our rats.
poll
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@JPL: I read that in the Sunday Times. Have you ever seen “Plenty” with Streep? She plays a similar person who just can’t reclaim the excitement of combat after the war. Tracey Ullman is in the film as well and it is quite interesting.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
I meant nothing untoward. I have the greatest respect for her.
scav
Vatican’s trying to bribe the cool kids back to the church by confess an abortion get absolved free deal. So who’s exactly the indulgent society now nominally celibate guys in dresses?
Mustang Bobby
Watching the Tigers play Minnesota at Comerica. “Watching” means I’m viewing it via Gameday, which is sort of like watching it in stop-action Wii.
Tigers ahead 7-0, Verlander pitching.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Phyllis: Apparently you fell asleep last night huh?
Mark S.
Happy birthday, Elvis! Oh, whoops.
Just think how awesome this blog would be if we had twenty posts a day about Paul Ryan running for President. It would at least break up some of the Perry posts.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@SiubhanDuinne: No problem.
JPL
@Mark S.: The news media already tossed Bachmann overboard when the latest cowboy entered the race. The Elvis gaff was funny though.
SiubhanDuinne
@Phyllis:
Ah, another fan of “The Green Fields of the Mind.”
We are almost at the 20th anniversary (August 26) of my becoming a forever baseball fan. a day to remember.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Sorry about your loss. That was indeed a great generation. How is mrs. stuckinred’s ankle healing?
SiubhanDuinne
@tdd:
No “Pinky and Brain” option?
Roger Moore
@tdd:
You left out “Pinky and The Brain”. Yes, I know they’re actually mice, but it’s a classic pairing for rodents.
ETA: @SiubhanDuinne: Damn, just a bit too late.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Hey, Brain. What we gonna do tonight?
MazeDancer
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Many condolences to you. Sounds like her wonderful presence can never be gone. May we all have at least 93 richly full years.
Loneoak
@tdd:
I voted for Stringer and Omar, but realized that those dudes would never be rats. I love the Wire, but you just can’t name a rat Omar.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Thanks! She’s back to the 2 mile hike in the mornings so the train is on time!
Roger Moore
The same thing we do every night @SiubhanDuinne: try to take over Balloon-Juice.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@MazeDancer: Roger that.
Yutsano
Thread needs moar SamKitteh. Just sayin’.
JPL
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): gotta say I just broke my week long no swear rule. Good catch though.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@JPL: Where’s the chalk?????
Darkrose
The Giants have clearly pissed off the Baseball Gods. Six guys hurt in the last couple of days and now Sanchez sprains his ankle? Seriously, we need to pack our remaining starters in bubble wrap; this is ridiculous. Only good thing is that at this rate, Bochy will have to give in and start playing the rookies. Lord knows they can’t do much worse than his beloved veterans.
Splitting Image
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Sorry to hear that. My grandmother passed away at 90 a couple of years ago and I had similar feelings at the time. As sad as it was at the time it was good to think that she had had such a good run of it for such a long time.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Splitting Image: Yea, that’s the way I feel. I’m a bit bummed that I missed a family gathering a couple of weeks back but my sibs and their kids made it so that’s good. Living in Georgia when everyone else is in California is a mixed blessing.
Sorry for your loss too.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@scav: I can’t wait until two angels kicked out of heaven try to have their abortions absolved.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Poit!
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i am doing good work in saving the economy and shit. i ordered my tv today, i am looking at whether to update my sound system, and trying to decide if i will want or need a 3d blu-ray with netflix streaming(they do 3d right?) also, i am not totally into the 3d, but the better tvs has it, ergo…
oh yeah and those 3d glasses cost almost as much as my oakleys did, back when i was young and foolish, its so nice to be old and foolish, and out of things like that.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
i am doing good work in saving the economy and shit. i ordered my tv today, i am looking at whether to update my sound system, and trying to decide if i will want or need a 3d blu-ray with netflix streaming(they do 3d right?) also, i am not totally into the 3d, but the better tvs has it, ergo…
oh yeah and those 3d glasses cost almost as much as my oakleys did, back when i was young and foolish, its so nice to be old and foolish, and out of things like that.
Gin & Tonic
@JPL: The Economist also has a very nice obituary of her. Don’t know if this link will work for non-subscribers, sorry.
gwangung
For those of you in the Northwest, some reviews of the show I’m producing….from the Seattle Gay News and from the Capitol Hill Times.
Also, some stories of when the playwright came to town.
Roger Moore
Are you pondering what I’m pondering, @SiubhanDuinne?
Linkmeister
I’m waiting for Garlic Focaccia dough to finish up in the bread machine.
me
Try #2, hopefully it’ll work this time. Kenosha County election results.
MikeBoyScout
@56 gwangung:
We’re Seattlites in our house. We’re straight and Caucasian (not that there’s anything wrong with that) but it looks interesting, so we’ll swing by in the next week.
Thanks for the heads up!
gwangung
@MikeBoyScout: Well, thanks. Hope you enjoy the show.
I originally got into theatre, because that’s where a lot of women were, and half the guys were gay, but somehow that plan didn’t work out…
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Narf!
MikeBoyScout
I can bitch and moan with a clever snark as good as any of you, AND I just BBQ-d some totally awesome organic chicken, summer squash and zucchini. My partner is a natural born expert with tossed salads of the European variety.
So despite all the political & economic sheeet thrown our way we enjoyed a fabulous meal in fabulous summer weather on the lake in the pacnorwest.
Eat sheet Rick, Crazy Eyes, Gold Bug, Santorum, Newticles…
MikeBoyScout
@61 gwangung:
That’s why I got in to theater in my younger days. :-)
jwb
@me: Looking a little worrisome.
Jeffro
Obama pats Perry on the head, LOVE IT:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/obama-on-perry-ill-cut-him-some-slack.php?ref=fpb
O-jitsu!
Loneoak
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:
I think just about every type of device on the planet now has Netflix streaming, although I’m pretty sure not every model of Blu-Ray has it yet. I think it’s LG and Samsung that have it.
Southern Beale
Anyone following the WI recalls this evening? I’m not familiar with the players in this week’s recall. Is Simac the R or the D?
me
@jwb: Steitz won Burlington (in Racine County) by 800 votes. Right now Wirch is ahead by 900 in Kenosha County so it looks okay so far. If most of the remaining votes are in Kenosha City, Wirch will get a blowout.
Martin
@hilts:
People who write for a living should not be so easily misread. It means they’re shitty at their job. But we already knew that.
Southern Beale
I don’t know what to think about this:
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Loneoak:
but does netflix stream 3d movies, i am trying to decide on purchasing those idiotically overpriced and plain silly looking googles.
me
Stick a fork in Steitz, he’s done.
The Dangerman
@Loneoak:
I’m really, REALLY happy with my Roku player from Netflix and other stuff.
Can’t compare it to Blu-Ray much except one Family machine which frequently had to buffer during play. In hours and hours of playing, Roku hasn’t buffered during play once.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeffro:
Wonderful! The only thing POTUS left out was a well-placed “Bless his heart!”
But maybe he’s saving that for the debates.
Little Boots
@Southern Beale:
ooohhh insidious.
Little Boots
sleepy time for the juicers. ah vell
Derf
Industrial output surged in July. Nearly double analysts expectations. Now why is there no breathless hand waving blog post about it from Captain Doom John Galt Cole? Hmmmmmm.
http://news.yahoo.com/housing-starts-fall-less-expected-july-123435387.html
Little Boots
though maybe not all.
cleek
OT, FYI : Name That Tune #19 is up.
cleek
@The Dangerman:
just the opposite here. our Roku loves to buffer, our BluRay, almost never.
Mark S.
I know this is supposed to be a Goodhair-free zone, but apparently Karl Rove isn’t very fond of him. This could get interesting.
And I like the part in the article where Erick Erickson, who’s one shining political moment was urging his readers to send rock salt to Olympia Snowe, accuses Rove of being irrelevant.
Little Boots
@Mark S.:
as they once said on hill street blues: “where do you put the hate?”
Omnes Omnibus
@Southern Beale: Simac is the Republican. FWIW Holperin was recalled back when he was an Assemplyman; He survived it then too. It was during a controversy of Native American spearfishing rights under their treaties. Holperin supported the treaty rights and a bunch of redneck yahoos organized a recall. The region that Holperin now represents as Senate has a very large N/A population, who will remember that he stood up
for them in the past.
Results link, if no one has posted one yet.
ETA: I was out working on this one again, so i can’t talk a lot about it. I can say that in the Holperin recall, the trunout was good in all the polling places I visited.
tdd
@Loneoak:
These are beloved family members, not just rats. That’s why I couldn’t go with Karl and W. Even though the human versions are “rats”
tdd
@SiubhanDuinne: I thought about it but it seemed to obvious.
The Dangerman
@cleek:
Curious; must be download speeds then, I guess.
Little Boots
simac’s a loon, who is put back in her rubber room, at least for now.
Omnes Omnibus
AP called it for Holperin.
BruinKid
Yes! Both Wisconsin state senate seats up for recall tonight were held by the Democrats.
So out of the 9 recall elections in Wisconsin, Democrats won 5 of them.
Little Boots
now things get really interesting in the state senate,. one vote. with one Republican who actually voted against Scotty’s “reform.”
Omnes Omnibus
@BruinKid: Four, not five.
ETA: Out of eight, not nine.
eemom
It’s nice how so many WWII heroes and heroines — especially the low key civilian, ordinary folk ones — seem to live to an advanced age. For example Miep Gies, the Dutch lady who helped to hide the Frank family, who died last year at 100. Almost as though there really is some inscrutable, mysterious-ways-esq God who is trying to tell us something.
RIP, Raven’s Aunt.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
So, the newspaper titles for the votes in WI will read “Democrats only win two elections in first round, and Republicans only lose two elections in the second round.”
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@eemom: Or it could be that since most of Europe had to participate in the war, a large number of people who lived to be an old age had some type of heroic role in the war.
(Visions of Bayes’ theorem dancing through my head.)
SiubhanDuinne
@tdd:
Oh SNAP!
Jenny
President Obama’s response to Republicans’ use of the term “ObamaCare” to refer to the ACA: “I have no problem with folks saying Obama Cares. I do care.”
SiubhanDuinne
@BruinKid:
Can’t wait to see how the media make this a victory for the Republicans.
gnomedad
@Jeffro:
FTA:
Karen
@The Dangerman:
I am in love with my Roku. If it could get me pregnant, I’d let it. Not only do I get the Netflix but since I have an Amazon prime account, I get those streaming free too.
GregB
@SiubhanDuinne:
I believe the usual spin is:
They are conservative Democrats proving this is a center right nation.
Karen
Is it me or does John Stewart seem to be routing for Ron Paul? Tonight is the second day he mentioned him.
Violet
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Sorry for your loss. She sounds like a wonderful woman. Greatest generation indeed.
Steeplejack
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:
I have not seen anywhere that Netflix streams anything in 3-D. But I admit that I haven’t really been looking, because I am not a big fan of 3-D, especially not on a home TV.
(I did enjoy Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams in 3-D at the theater. Glad I saw it that way.)
I would say go with a good Blu-ray player and a big-ass TV and be done with it. The 3-D thing may or may not be a fad, but so far the movies that have really used it, and not just thrown it in as a gimmick, have been few and far between. I think that probably goes in spades for so-called “3-D TV.”
Steeplejack
@Little Boots:
GTFO! Night shift just checking in.
Kane
@Karen: I think it’s a message long overdue. The Republicans have plagiarized Ron Paul’s platform and co-opted the Tea Party, and much of the media has looked the other way instead of calling the Republicans out for their hypocrisy.
askew
@JPL:
Thanks for the link. What an amazing woman.
asiangrrlMN
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Sorry for your loss, Raven, but she sounds like one helluva woman.
MikeJ
@Steeplejack: Night shift has just barely finished dinner. Post meal coffee hasn’t even finished brewing. Although I bet I’m asleep before 10pm and awake before 1am. Bah.
Steeplejack
@MikeJ:
Lay off the coffee, then, bro’.
eemom
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
whimsical sentimental semi-God-believer-wannabe BUZZ KILLER.
Karen
@Kane:
So all that other Ayn Randian stuff Ron Paul believes in you’re on board for? I always thought that the Tea Party was made of Dick Army’s people and John Birchers.
scav
Apparently mentioning once or twice without obvious spittle is the new (low) bar for endorsing everything the one mentioned ever said. I can see why some are concerned.
Kane
@Karen: No, I’m not on board on any of teh crazy. And I don’t think Jon Stewart is either. He’s simply doing what he usually does, pointing out the hypocrisy in politics and media where he sees it, and mocking them for it.
Ash Can
@jeffreyw: Squeeee! Babies!
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Condolences to you and your family. She must have been a great lady, with terrific stories to tell.
eemom
here’s another one
fasteddie9318
What did Ed Doltz do on his show tonight that got Cole riled up on twitter?
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: You do know where he lives, amirite? Might as well ask him to stop breathing.
@asiangrrlMN: Hi hon. Crazy ass folk at work tonight. I survived though. And salmon shall be cooking soon.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Steeplejack:
i would be inclined to agree with you. but in my research, both in the back alleys of online tech geekdom, and in person, the thing that may make 3-d less gimmicky is the adjustable third d. i don’t like things jumping out at me, but some well done, and conservatively implemented depth, could enhance future productions. particularly hockey.
Comrade Mary
Not this week’s Republican man-crush: a squirrel eating a lemon.
Also: a cat licking a lemon.
scav
Alas, old age is merely evidence of old age. Johannes Heesters is a nicely ambiguous figure (Hitler’s favorite actor?) and he’s apparently still going strong, well, as strong as 107 can manage. Just quit smoking though, in Dec 2010.
licensed to kill time
goddamnit just opened a new gallon of milk to make hot cocoa and the whole frackin’ thing is sour and too late to go out and buy more.
GRRRRRRR……….I want my cocoa, life sucks.
Yutsano
@Comrade Mary: SQUIRREL ATTACK!!
Elie
@Jenny:
Yay!!!!
Elie
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
I’m late to the thread but my regret for your loss…
My Dad died four years ago today, making this a special day for me too. He was 83 at his death — a WWII veteran of the Pacific theater…I still remember his wonderful laugh from better days and know that your Aunt will live on in similar memories — its the only thing that speaks to me about what eternity means …. May she have eternity in your memories and heart —
Steeplejack
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:
Go with God, my son. To this point I have not seen anything that would make me want to sit in my own living room with goofy, expensive glasses on just to watch TV. And get off my lawn.
Elizabelle
Saw a great flick — Buck, about a horse whisperer type, Dan “Buck” Brannaman.
http://www.buckthefilm.com
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
ETA: You should get off my lawn. In case that wasn’t clear.
FlipYrWhig
@Kane: I dunno. I’m not going to forget Jon Stewart’s hopeless mancrush on John McCain, which lasted for years. I would not be at all surprised if he has a libertarian streak. He’s definitely been sympathetic to writers who disparage (allegedly) excessive regulation, and IIRC he was very soft on the Pete Peterson crowd.
FWIW, I think “small government” is senseless bullshit, but it was a pretty good line the other day when Stewart said that Michele Bachmann wasn’t really a “small government” proponent, she was “Moral Majority in a tricorn hat.”
Tugg Romney
The Big O is a bit late with the angry bus tour. A bit like the Patriots up big in the 4th quarter, and the hapless opponent gets a couple of cheap, meaningless scores after the game has been settled.
It’s a long season, of course. But I’m sure that when next week comes it will be deja vu all over again.