Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

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

This really is a full service blog.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This fight is for everything.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Saturday Night Open Thread

Saturday Night Open Thread

by | 116 Comments

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I finally feel like a human being again. Can breathe out my nose, I no longer ache, and the earache is completely gone. The first thing I noticed when I woke up was I was hot, and that was because I had turned the heat on to 68- a sure sign I am sick is if I am cold. Turned that baby off and have the house at a comfortable 62 again.

Now that I can breathe, though, I was horrified with the house. Soup bowls everywhere, empty glasses of diet ginger ale, trash cans full of tissues. My kitchen looked like something out of Restaurant Disasters and my bathroom smelled like a truck stop. Got all that tidied up, and I will save the animal hair everywhere for tomorrow for a vigorous pre-Steelers game sweeping. it’s kind of horrifying the damage I can do in a simple three day tussin haze while sick.

How are all of you?

Reader Interactions

116Comments

  2. 2.

    Violet

    Glad you are better. My household is fighting either a virus picked up on a recent trip abroad or allergies. Apparently ragweed is really bad. Not sure yet which it is.

  4. 4.

    JGabriel

    John Cole:

    The first thing I noticed when I woke up was I was hot …

    You’re still hot, John, don’t let the haters tell you any different.

    .

  8. 8.

    soonergrunt

    Doing well here, all things considered. We’ve been getting a pounding from thunderstorms and rain the last couple of hours, but we’ve needed the moisture, so this is a good thing.

  9. 9.

    General Stuck

    Glad your feeling better. I’m okay, just enjoying the wingnut heads explode over Obama pulling the plug on the neocon Warcrack in Iraq. Lot’s of butthurt to go around, but Obama just says hey, can’t leave troops without immunity in a war zone.

    The president essentially ended US involvement in two wars in one week. How often does that happen? The future for both Iraq and Libya is fraught with problems and may well turn to shit down the road. But for now, might as well enjoy ending wars, instead of starting them.

    and also a first, never thought I would link to an American Spectator article, but it is spot on, I think, with the truth of the politics involved with quitting Iraq.

    Then there is the epic hissy fit being thrown by big butt neocon Fred Kagan,

  11. 11.

    Moonbatting Average

    Baseball needs some kind of challenge system for bad calls (e.g. that BS “safe” call on the Rangers’ double play). Instead, we get the all-star game deciding World Series home field, and another expansion of the playoffs in 2012.

    Fuck Bud Selig.

  12. 12.

    Evolving Deep Southerner (tense changed for accuracy)

    Boy, Tennessee is getting their ass handed to them now, but in that first half, what else can you say except “Good onya, Tennessee.”

  14. 14.

    Ella in New Mexico

    Soup bowls everywhere, empty glasses of diet ginger ale, trash cans full of tissues. My kitchen looked like something out of Restaurant Disasters and my bathroom smelled like a truck stop. Got all that tidied up, and I will save the animal hair everywhere for tomorrow for a vigorous pre-Steelers game sweeping.

    Welcome to my world for approximately the past 15 years, thanks to the three teenage boys and their friends “hanging out”. The only time our house DOESN”T look like that is when company’s comin’.

    My hubby and I know we’ll miss them all when they finally leave us, but we secretly long for the day when we have one of those pristine “powder rooms” where there are no tipped over bottles of hair gel forming a polymer on the tile, no stuck on-toothpaste-spittle in the basin, and no more crystalized yellow crust accumulating like rock candy in the space between the toilet seat and the tank.

    Gotta love boys, though. :-)

  15. 15.

    lamh34

    Glad ur doing well now JC.

    Today I did some cooking. I bought an Asian cookbook ’bout 2 years ago and never cooked anything. I made 2 new recipes today, one is a dish I had in India called “Butter Chicken” a co-worker of mine brought me some of the harder to get Indian ingredients from home and I got all the other things I needed on Thursday, had just been enjoying my 5 days off to much to cook…lol. The 2nd dish is a simple Beef, spinach and onion stir fry with a homemade Asian marinade that smells great. I just finished cooking both dishes about 1 hour ago.

    I guess I’ve got some “chefs” in my blood I guess, my butter chicken came out pretty good. at first I wasn’t sure that it was gonna taste any good, but then, after Iet it settle and sit for a minute so the sauce and spices could congeal together…IT.WAS.FABULOUS!

    I also made beef and spinach & onion stir fry too.

    I wish I woulda took a picture, but I aint’ got no good china…just paper plates…lol

  18. 18.

    TrishB

    Just count yourself lucky that the animals don’t crave used tissues. Bad cold + 4 schnauzers = lots of shredded tissues emptied and eaten from small wastebaskets + potential for undigested tissue thread-like stuff to be. . . well, yeah nevermind. That’s my evening, so far.

  20. 20.

    Mike in NC

    Had to work today (software testing) and will again next Saturday. Watching “Office Space” right now to compensate.

  21. 21.

    Linnaeus

    Reading about Joseph Banks, watching the Wisconsin-MSU game, and cooking my pork chops in apple juice. Apartment smells nice. Thanks for asking.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mark S.:
    I definitely couldn’t. 62 degrees Fahrenheit is about 17 degrees Celsius (had to do the conversion), a little too cool for this tropical person. At about that temperature, which can happen in some offices and shopping malls, some people here (e.g. me) put on a sweater.

    @jo6pac:

    not sure why I should care about your miner health problem?

    How do you know that John Cole works in a mine?

  24. 24.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @lamh34:

    “Butter Chicken”…”Beef, spinach and onion stir fry with a homemade Asian marinade”

    OMG for some reason I am DROOLING—Don’t need pictures at all, just

    Recipes please!!!!

  25. 25.

    Palolo lolo

    Livin’ in Honolulu,staying warm,switching between the World Series (horrible non-call at first) and the Wi-Mi St game. On the exercise bike,recovering from total knee replacement16 days ago.

  27. 27.

    piratedan

    dunno, had a wickedly fun musical conversation with OO, handy, Little Boots and burnsie last night. The linkage was fast and furious and educational. ;-)

  29. 29.

    S. cerevisiae

    Pretty good baseball game if you are a Cardinal fan so far, but both teams are hitting the ball hard. Still anyone’s game, 8-4 bottom of the fifth.

    ETA: Make that 8-5 with the bases loaded, nobody out and Cruz batting.

  30. 30.

    Larkspur

    Oh, very pleasant evening here in northern California. The spaniel I was house-sitting nearly took off my arm early this morning when I took him out for a pre-dawn potty trip. He saw a deer in the park across the street, and he does not have even the slightest hint of impulse control, so suddenly he becomes a deer hound. I was ready for it, though, because I know this little boy very well.

    Also, I feel very intelligent fortunate after reading the following in my local police department’s weekly report:

    A resident of the 500 block of Tamalpais Drive reported that he ordered some gold through EBay and when he received the package, it was full of screw drivers. The loss is $6000. A report was taken to document the Fraud and he was advised to contact EBay for follow-up.

    Maybe he should cc Glenn Beck as well? I mean, really.

  32. 32.

    Southern Beale

    Gorgeous day today. Walked dogs. Got fresh air.

    So, first of all NPR fires Lisa Simeone from her documentary show Soundprint because she was involved in the Occupy DC protests. But they couldn’t fire her from World Of Opera where she was a host, because NPR does not produce that show. They distribute it.

    So NPR dropped World Of Opera. Yes, folks, THAT is how scared NPR is of looking liberal.

    Assholes.

  36. 36.

    sfinny

    The last week was strange, no flu or cold but my sinuses and eyesight went kablooey. Couldn’t wear my contact lenses for days and made do with glasses. Unfortunately my cat appears to be afraid of my glasses and won’t come near me when I wear them. This was unforeseen, as I haven’t worn glasses for more than a night for years.

    Since yesterday the lenses seem to be OK again. But for some reason, this Saturday night became the time that I must replace my rug mats. Two down, three to go.

  37. 37.

    MikeJ

    @Southern Beale: NPR doesn’t produce Soundprint either. NPR didn’t fire her from that job, and I may be wrong, but I’m not sure NPR even distributes Soundprint.

    Yes, NPR is full of shit. Soundprint Media is also independently full of shit.

  40. 40.

    Galileo126

    Ginger ale… I dunno if it worked, but my Ma always gave me ginger ale when I got sick. Cold? The ale. Flu? The ale. Broken leg? The ale.

    John, I’m laughing at your reference. Hope your better!

    Now drink your ginger ale, dammit, or I’ll tell Ma.
    – G

  41. 41.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The first thing I noticed when I woke up this morning, was that I had turned into a giant cockroach.

    But this TIM PADGETT asshole is a bigger cockroach
    Birtherism Redux: The Right and the Left Overreach On Marco Rubio’s Origins
    By TIM PADGETT
    Read more: http://swampland.time.com/#ixzz1bZHyIwRK

  46. 46.

    Yutsano

    @lamh34:

    my butter chicken came out pretty good. at first I wasn’t sure that it was gonna taste any good, but then, after let it settle and sit for a minute so the sauce and spices could congeal together…IT.WAS.FABULOUS!

    Any butter chicken recipe should have a marination of 30 minutes to an hour written into it. But dude, once you start using garam masala, you’ll never stop. :)

  47. 47.

    ruemara

    Trying not to feel shitty. Birthday was yesterday, party is tomorrow. I’ve been cooking and cleaning my butt off, my celebration yesterday was chores and buying a very large round of supplies for the local shelter. The mate has not yet wished me any sort of greetings nor do I even have a card. And it struck me that I’m doing all the work to make sure I even have a decent b’day. Now I’m rather furious. Check that, I’m quite furious. I’m just tired of being the nice one that needs zero maintenance.

    OTOH, glad you’re feeling better, sucks to be sick.

  48. 48.

    sfinny

    @PeakVT: That map was interesting. Being just outside metropolitan NYC means that we don’t get a good view of the night sky. One of the surprising effects of Irene and the following power outage was an incredible view of the stars. Along with many neighbors, we went out to the parking lot one night and just marveled at the view.

  49. 49.

    lamh34

    @Southern Beale: I’m on record as having liked it alot.

    For my money, Melissa McCarthy is/was the stand-out. I now just love her. I loved her in Gilmore Girls and I actually do watch her on Mike & Molly, and she has been one of the few “new” host of SNL other than someone named Martin, Baldwin or Timberlake. I would say that in the current era of SNL, Melissa McCarthy may have been one of the better female host.

  51. 51.

    Anya

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: So people commenting on Mr. Rubio’s embellishment of his family’s migration from Cuba to America is equivalent to birthism? Is there an award for false equivalency because this dude wins it, hands down?

  52. 52.

    lamh34

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I read that too. I read Swampland blog almost daily and I haven’t responded in a bit, but even I had to respond to that blog post it was a load of crap.

    my response:

    I believe that Rubio is a citizen, but it’s not about citzenship, it’s about the narrative that Rubio would rather have about his faimily history and how it plays in the GOP.
    If Rubio’s family came before Castro overthrew the gov’t, then like million of immigrants stories in America, the family prob came to America in hopes of having a better life for their family and themselves, yes to be free of Communism, but that makes it no different than immigrants from other communist nations. But this is NOT the narrative Rubio wants, cause that narrative would make him no better than the million of “anchor baby” immigrants that the GOP like to rant against and that Rubio always seem to get out of talking about. The narrative that his parents left Cuba because of Castro makes his story one of
    political persecution and is a more “accepting” view of immigration for GOP (I’ll add though, that this narrative didn’t/doesn’t apply to Haitian immigrants, but whatevs).

  54. 54.

    lamh34

    @PurpleGirl: the spices are so subtle too. When it really hot, the dish was okay, but off alittle, but I let it sit for a minute while I made the spinach and beef stir fry and when I went back to taste it again, it was heaven on my taste buds.

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh34:

    But this is NOT the narrative Rubio wants, cause that narrative would make him no better than the million of “anchor baby”

    I was thinking Rubio is trying to paint himself as the opposite of a “red diaper baby”, a Reagan Diaper Baby, a living rebuke to Castro, Elian Gonzales all growed up and hating us Commies who wanted to send him back.

    Nobody give Peggy Noonan the idea of Reagan Diapers.

  59. 59.

    Paddy

    @lamh34: I’ve been having a bit of a “discussion” with Jose Diaz Balart (himself closely tied to the Castro mythos) on the Twitter thing over this.

    I lived in Miami on and off for 30 years since the early 70’s and can testify on a bible that I have NEVER met a CA who did not tie their venture to the U.S. around some aspect of the Castro/Communist story. It is literally a rite of passage for your placement in the S Fl Cuban establishment. On this point, I do not condemn Rubio, more the whole “We were Anti Castro before Anti Castro was cool” hierarchy.

    Other than that, he’s a dick for his positions.

  60. 60.

    amk

    Here is something to cheer you up, cole.

    Dear reader,

    Please do me right now. On the kitchen table. In your bed. On the couch. Shoot, I’ll even take the floor in front of the T.V. I don’t care, I just need you to do me like I’ve never been done before.

    Sincerely, your homework.

  61. 61.

    JCT

    @Ella in New Mexico: I’m laughing, I only have *one* teenaged boy but when I returned home from a business trip last week he had eaten everything in the house except the cat food and the metal racks in the refrig. Every dish I owned in the sink. Clothes and wet towels everywhere. Not to mention the raggedy beard that I asked him to shave off because he looked like a hobo.

    For once he actually listened and went off to shave and then went out. And what did I find in the bathroom sink? Stubble and soap. Didn’t even rinse. HOPELESS. It’s empty nest time for us next year — might be fun.

    Tonight was a nice batch of martinis, a shrimp scampi with pasta with some hot peppers for heat and a Cal football win!

  63. 63.

    jwb

    @patrick II: It was special to see NPR double down on stupid, though. The day after having denied that they were trying to have Simeone fired, they drop the show. They take a bad situation and make it even worse. Fine management there. If it wasn’t for the fact that my local station does great work, I’d be celebrating when the GOP zeros out NPR’s funding.

  64. 64.

    Cacti

    @Moonbatting Average:

    Baseball needs some kind of challenge system for bad calls (e.g. that BS “safe” call on the Rangers’ double play). Instead, we get the all-star game deciding World Series home field, and another expansion of the playoffs in 2012

    If baseball had replay on close calls, the Cardinals win the 1985 World Series 4-2 over the Royals. 26 years later, Denkinger calling Orta safe at first still chaps my hide.

  65. 65.

    fleeting expletive

    My daughter is living with me until about March and she’s trying to go completely vegan. My best friend is reading a book, I think it’s called Eating Animals, and is seriously now about ready to go vegetarian. I’m not a huge meat-eater, but I haven’t disdained chicken or fish much, not too much on the beef and some bacon and whatnot.

    I cooked a steak tonight and could not eat more than a few bites. What is that telling me, huh?

  66. 66.

    patrick II

    @jwb: I guess DougJ’s Even the Liberal NPR is going to have to update his “update update” from yesterday.

    Update update. The NPR affiliate has reversed its decision. Excuse me for not thinking it’s awesome that they only temporarily fired her for working while liberal.

    Persistent asshattery is tough to keep up with.

  68. 68.

    Southern Beale

    @patrick II:

    The NPR affiliate has reversed its decision…….

    Oh for fuck’s sake. What is wrong with those people?

    Which show was she not fired from? Soundprint or World of Opera? Or wait, last I heard they decided to drop World of Opera since the producers refused to fire her. Or some shit like that.

    I’m so fucking over NPR acting like a bunch of crazies as soon as some right wing asshole calls them liberal. Hey guess what: they’ll STILL call you liberal! So get over it.

  73. 73.

    amk

    Ohio straw Poll Results:

    Ron Paul 53.50%

    Herman Cain 25.47%

    Mitt Romney 8.88%

    Newt Gingrich 5.37%

    Rick Perry 2.80%

    Jon Huntsman 2.10%

    Rick Santorum .93%

    Michele Bachmann .47%

    Write-In .47%

    huntsman finally broke through that 2% barrier. yayy.

  74. 74.

    JGabriel

    @amk:

    huntsman finally broke through that 2% barrier. yayy.

    Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for Rick Perry to break through it in the other directeion.

    .

  80. 80.

    sacrablue

    @ruemara: Belated happy b-day. I feel your pain. My birthday was three weeks ago. Neither spouse nor son has mentioned it yet. Usually, it is only a couple of days before someone remembers. I guess they have decided that I am so old that I want to forget my birthday. That’s okay. Payback is hell.

    Apparently, today is my neighbor’s 50th b-day. Big party outside right now complete with DJ. Happy Birthday!

  81. 81.

    Southern Beale

    Hmmm….

    Former Alaska lawmakers plead guilty in bribery cases
    __
    Alaska’s former House speaker, Peter Kott, pleaded guilty to a felony bribery count Friday in the conclusion to the long-running political corruption investigation that has seen six state legislators convicted and helped unseat former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.
    __
    Kott, 62, admitted taking $7,900 disguised as payment for contracting work and $1,000 in cash along with the promise of a future job from oil services company Veco Corp. in exchange for helping push through new oil tax legislation that would have opened the door to construction of a multibillion-dollar gas pipeline in Alaska.
    __
    Victor Kohring, 53, another former Alaska legislator from Wasilla, pleaded guilty Friday to bribery conspiracy for his own relationship with Veco and its two top executives, CEO Bill Allen and Vice President Rick Smith, who have already been sentenced in the case.

    Wonder if Ted Stevens hadn’t died in that plane crash if he would have been sent to jail, too….

  83. 83.

    Cacti

    Okay, so to believe Rubio wasn’t lying…

    We have to accept that no one on the campaign staff of a candidate for US Senate did any due dilligence on his parents’ immigration history.

    Yeah, not buying it.

  84. 84.

    Helen

    Hey [email protected] 79 (the “link” thingee isn’t working for me) HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. I feel your pain. I am on the 13th. I just passed 49. 50 is next. A little girl whom I adore and who I taught to remember my birthday by adding 40 to her birthday got all confused tonight and thought I was 59. OMG did I freak? Oh yes I did.

  87. 87.

    S. cerevisiae

    Pujols hits another home run, ties Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson with three in a game.

    ETA: Cacti beat me, but wow is right.

  88. 88.

    amk

    @Nevgu: Oh, don’t flatter yourself. I’m sure if and when you do come out, you’ll still be like those self-hating logrepublicans.

  90. 90.

    msskwesq

    Hey, go to Ustream and watch live action from Occupy Chicago! Its getting heated and arrests imminent…

  93. 93.

    Triassic Sands

    Welcome back to the land of the living.

    Question: Did you really have the flu, as in influenza, or did you have the “flu” people always talk about having that has nothing to do with influenza.

    If the answer is you had influenza, then the next question is why didn’t you get a flu shot?

  94. 94.

    Chris from Arlington, VA

    For you Non-Western Pennsylvanians out there, “Sweeping” is Pittsburghese for “vacuuming.” A “sweeper” is a vacuum cleaner. And what he’s doing is “redding up” his haus.

    What? Quit lookin’ ‘at me like dat. It’s da rest ‘a yinz ‘at talk funny n’at.

  97. 97.

    cay

    It’s strange how reading that you are doing well makes me feel better. Is it the sign of a liberal? My bronchitis is abating…

  98. 98.

    Hill Dweller

    @amk: The quote from the Iowa politician at the bottom of the article’s first page is vomit inducing.

    Romney is a creepy guy who has never worn well with the public. He had a 35% approval rating at the end of his term as Governor. He is loathed in the Republican party, but we’re in crazy times, and the country is arguably as ignorant as it has ever been. Romney winning wouldn’t come as a surprise.

  102. 102.

    JGabriel

    @Nevgu:

    What a suck ass. What does Coles butt taste like?

    Don’t know, but I’d guess it smells like your breath, Ass-Munch.

    .

  103. 103.

    wilfred

    Muslims are being profiled in Michigan. Nothing new there:

    To learn more about the FBI program, its implications for civil liberties and the questions that remain unanswered, I spoke to Michael German, policy counsel at the ACLU’s Washington office and a former FBI agent.
    What is the new information that has come to light here?
    In 2008, the FBI’s guidelines were changed to create a new category of investigations called assessments, which required no factual predicate. The FBI’s policy in implementing those changes were released around 2010 and showed the FBI was engaged in a program called “domain management,” which included mapping and gathering intelligence on racial and ethnic communities.

    “Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life.” That’s Marx – the proof is above.

    http://www.salon.com/2011/10/22/racial_profiling_on_an_industrial_scale/

  105. 105.

    Mino

    @Southern Beale: The Republican AG/DA? did such a shitty job on the case that it would have been overturned on appeal. I rather think it was on purpose since they could not avoid bringing the case.

  106. 106.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @opal: Uh…

    Compared with the GOP’s field of reality stars, George W. Bush looks like Brando, Paul Ryan is as attractive as Robert Redford, and Chris Christie is Brad Pitt. So much for an audition process that leaves the audience, once again, aching for more.

    That is, uh, strange. Too bad he didn’t compare Shrub to John Wayne, though, that would have been *perfect*.

  109. 109.

    bob h

    and have the house at a comfortable 62 again.

    I also am happy with a cool house. If everyone could adapt, it would probably cause a big cut in greenhouse gas and energy imports.

  112. 112.

    RedKitten

    Glad to hear you’re doing better, John! 62 is frigging chilly, though. Jeez. You and my husband (4 years married today!) would get along like…(well, I was going to say a house on fire, but that would imply the house being HOT. And heaven forbid, right?)

  113. 113.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @RedKitten:

    Happy anniversary, RedKitten! I was just wondering about you yesterday and am glad to see you posting. Hope it will be more frequent.

    How’s the SamKitten? Just looked at the photo stream and it would appear he remains very cute :-)

  114. 114.

    cleter

    @Cacti: Also, EVERY speech he gives talks about his parents fleeing the communist tyranny and how he understands the terror of socialism at a very personal level because FREEDOM!

    It’s his version of Bill Clinton growing up poor/town called Hope thing. Imagine the right-wing outrage if Bill Clinton had turned out to not be from Hope after all, but was born in Beverly Hills to billionaire diamond merchants.

  115. 115.

    harlana

    I watched some of “Faith and Freedom” in Iowa last night and no symptoms thus far. As far as I can tell, brain is still intact.

    Glad you are better and back to your old neat-freak self. Remind me never to invite you over lest you go shrieking in horror out into the wilds of SC where I could not be responsible for your safety.

  116. 116.

    harlana

    @bob h: i like to sleep COLD buried under the covers – my room growing up was coldest frikkin room in the house – you could see your breath in there

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