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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Thursday Evening Open Thread

Thursday Evening Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  December 15, 20116:06 pm| 68 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Romney of the Uncanny Valley

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(Jeff Danziger’s website)
__
This would, of course, be dreadfully offensive to my Wiccan friends, if only they’d had their sense of humor surgically removed as a condition of membership.
__
What’s chafing the shorts of the dominating monotheist practitioners or other victimology addicts in your area this evening?

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68Comments

  1. 1.

    Raven

    December 15, 2011 at 6:10 pm

    Tough day in Georgia, about 70 degrees, no humidity and a truckload of compost unloaded on the garden.

  2. 2.

    lamh35

    December 15, 2011 at 6:16 pm

    Really rainy here in DFW. It felt like I was back at home in NOLA.

    Anyway, the Obama’s released their new official White House family photo. The last one was in 2009. I believe I read somewhere that they decided on a new one because the girls have changed so much they wanted to capture the moment.

    White House Family Portrait 2011

    Here’s the 2009 pic: Offical photo: 2009

    That’s one handsome family. It’s interesting to see that the oldest daughter is as tall as FLOTUS already at 13 years old. And young Sasha has def gotten taller too.

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    I’m in Paris, staying at the best hotel in the city, right on the river. The weather is nice and later I’m having dinner with the young Catherine Deneuve. After that I really can’t say.

    Wait, no I’m not. I’m grading papers in my office. Must have nodded off there for a sec.

  4. 4.

    realbtl

    December 15, 2011 at 6:23 pm

    2 inches of snow in NW Montana and I just picked up a new scooter yesterday. Probably won’t be able to ride it until March or April grumble piss moan.

    Oh well, December up here is lousy for riding but great for buying. Any sellers are by definition desperate.

  5. 5.

    Raven

    December 15, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    @BGinCHI: Have you seen The Umbrellas of Cherbourg? I couldn’t believe I liked it!

  6. 6.

    Phylllis

    December 15, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    72 here today; supposed to be about that again tomorrow. One of my principals gifted everyone with ribeyes, so we’re gonna fire up the grill tomorrow evening. Tomorrow is a half-day, then two weeks off for the ‘winter break’–I like to call it that just to wind up the war on xmas folks who practically spit ‘Christmas break’ at me.

  7. 7.

    Bruuuuce

    December 15, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    Happening RIGHT NOW: Streaming online forum with Raul Grijalva and Keith Ellison over at http://rebuildthedream.com/american-dream-talks/

    Aside from that, it’s laundry day. See you there!

  8. 8.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    @Raven: Oh yeah. Likey.

  9. 9.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    December 15, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    TPM reporting Wisconsin GOP suing to stop Walker recall drive.

    Somebody seems a teensy bit worried.

  10. 10.

    Chat Noir

    December 15, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    @BGinCHI: I liked “Indochine.” I watched “The Last Metro” earlier this year and enjoyed that as well.

  11. 11.

    Redshift

    December 15, 2011 at 6:28 pm

    What’s chafing the shorts of the dominating monotheist practitioners or other victimology addicts in your area this evening?

    According to my friend who attends local Tea Party meetings to keep an eye on them, the guest speakers at their post-election meeting were “Hagee-type preachers” from downstate.

    But as our librul media keep telling us, the Tea Party are different from rank-and-file Republicans, because they’re just concerned about fiscal issues, and not social issues.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    December 15, 2011 at 6:29 pm

    That ‘toon is epic. Danziger is the closest we have today to Herb Block, which I only bring up because of this timely post.

    http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2011/12/if-you-had-any-initiative-youd-go-out-and-inherit-a-department-store

  13. 13.

    Mike E

    December 15, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    What’s chafing the shorts of the dominating monotheist practitioners

    Why, the War on Lil Baby Jeebus, of course…but when the calendar flips it’ll be teh geyz again. Also.
    @BGinCHI: I’ll have what you’re having! Not the ‘grading papers’ part…

  14. 14.

    Davis X. Machina

    December 15, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    Just bought a snowblower. This guarantees a green Christmas, and don’t get that season’s pass or lift ticket just yet.

    What color wax, or is it klister, does one use on grass?

  15. 15.

    R-Jud

    December 15, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    I got the PT’s blessing to start running again this morning. I only managed 25 minutes, slowly, but it was bliss. I’ve been happy all day.

  16. 16.

    cathyx

    December 15, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    I always get a little melancholy when I read the heading ‘Evening Thread’. It’s not evening here yet, but I feel like it is now and the day finished too quickly because it’s as if it’s evening already. And besides, I don’t like this time of day too much anyway.

  17. 17.

    Davis X. Machina

    December 15, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    @Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn: There are no problems in a democracy that cannot be addressed by more democracy doing away with it altogether.

    Why are they called “Republicans” when they’re actually monarchists? Did they miss that unit on antonyms back in 6th grade language arts class?

  18. 18.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 6:33 pm

    @trollhattan: I’m still a big Tom Toles fan.

  19. 19.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 6:34 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: I assume they were either busy straightening their little clip-on ties in the bathroom or throwing smaller kids and girls into mud puddles.

  20. 20.

    lamh35

    December 15, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    Wait, there’s another debate tonight? Good Lord why!

    Anyhoo: POTUS on the GOP: ‘Anything that Obama’s for, we’re against’

    In an interview with ABC News’ Barbara Walters, President Obama accused Republicans of grinding the government to a halt over personal animosity toward him — as well as an inability to compromise.

    “You know, you never want to say, ‘It’s all them,'” the president said in a Yahoo!/ABC News interview, faulting the GOP for congressional and legislative gridlock. “But I do think that right now at least, in the Republican Party there are a couple of notions. Number one is that compromise is a dirty word. Number two, anything that Obama’s for, we’re against.”

  21. 21.

    Mike in NC

    December 15, 2011 at 6:39 pm

    What’ll cause the audience at tonight’s “debate” to start booing? I’ll go with someone observing that the war in Iraq is officially over.

  22. 22.

    Nicole

    December 15, 2011 at 6:39 pm

    Taking a break from work (I record textbooks on mp3). Reminds me of yet another reason I would never make it as a politician- after awhile I get sick of the sound of my own voice.

    But, on the bright side, I got word today the numerous tests done on our small, skinny 18-month-old have come back normal, indicating that most likely he’s small and skinny because, well, he’s just small and skinny. Big relief.

  23. 23.

    dance around in your bones

    December 15, 2011 at 6:40 pm

    The two oldest grandboys are completing levels on some incomprehensible iPad game. Why is the music for those games always so execrable?

    Also, can’t find my iPhone charger thingy. What’s that called again, Pasty People Problems or something?

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    December 15, 2011 at 6:43 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Agreed, Toles is wonderful and can make me laugh while also grimacing.

  25. 25.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 6:43 pm

    You know who never loses her iPod charger or loses a GOP debate or supports senseless wars?

    That’s right.

    Catherine Deneuve.

  26. 26.

    dance around in your bones

    December 15, 2011 at 6:46 pm

    @BGinCHI: heh heh heh you dog

  27. 27.

    Raven

    December 15, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    @Chat Noir: I enjoyed “The Lover”. It starts on the road in the delta where I drove convoy’s and it was an eerie feeling seeing that after all those years.

  28. 28.

    trollhattan

    December 15, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    You’re not premitted to make me think about “Belle du Jour”–are we clear?

  29. 29.

    R-Jud

    December 15, 2011 at 6:48 pm

    @Nicole:

    But, on the bright side, I got word today the numerous tests done on our small, skinny 18-month-old have come back normal, indicating that most likely he’s small and skinny because, well, he’s just small and skinny. Big relief.

    We had a similar thing recently. Our two-year-old flaps her hands when she’s excited, and a health visitor found this alarming enough to have her evaluated for autism and various other things. She was run through a battery of tests, at the end of which the pediatrician concluded: “I think she’s just very excitable.”

  30. 30.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    @trollhattan: But…she only comes in the afternoon.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJXLCYZMGQ8

  31. 31.

    Thoughtcrime

    December 15, 2011 at 6:53 pm

    @trollhattan:

    @BGinCHI:
    ___
    You’re not premitted to make me think about “Belle du Jour”—are we clear?

    How about me, then?

    http://pichaus.com/deneuve-catherine-belle-de-@7c99bb6af0461fedadae34977a468c49/

  32. 32.

    Suffern ACE

    December 15, 2011 at 6:53 pm

    If your shorts are chafing, you might want to buy some of these to change into. Also cures twisted panties.

    I had my office party tonight. Only 364 more days before the next meal on the company.

  33. 33.

    SensesFail

    December 15, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    A couple of mouth breathers in my office today were joking about how President Obama takes so many vacation days to play golf.

    I had a difficult time convincing myself not to go over to them and say, “NOW WATCH THIS DRIVE!” and then punch each of them in the throat.

    Anyone have any advice on how to deal with Republicans in the workplace? Do you ignore them, argue with them, or deck out your cubicle with Obama 2012 signs?

  34. 34.

    Raven

    December 15, 2011 at 6:55 pm

    @SensesFail: Fuck em if they can’t take a joke.

  35. 35.

    Violet

    December 15, 2011 at 6:56 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    What’ll cause the audience at tonight’s “debate” to start booing? I’ll go with someone observing that the war in Iraq is officially over.

    Good call. Ron Paul will make some comment about how we shouldn’t have troops everywhere in the world and he’s all for the Iraq War ending and the audience will boo.

    They’ll also boo something along the lines of Mitt attacking Newt. Newt will suggest it’s anti-Republican for Mitt to attack him, Mitt will protest and he’ll get booed. Or something like that.

  36. 36.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    @SensesFail: Have you tried cutting their brake lines?

    I saw it in a Matt Helm movie.

    Helps if your job is in Malibu.

  37. 37.

    Citizen_X

    December 15, 2011 at 6:57 pm

    What’ll cause the audience at tonight’s “debate” to start booing?

    I know that Whatever Horrible Things Republican Debate Audiences Have Done Now has become a depressingly predictable topic, but I do want to point out that in the last one, they actually cheered when Newt doubled down on the child labor thing.

  38. 38.

    Cap'n Magic

    December 15, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    So, what will YOU do if SOPA/PROTECT-IP passes?

    If it passes, the mother of all boycotts needs to happen.

  39. 39.

    dance around in your bones

    December 15, 2011 at 7:01 pm

    @SensesFail: You could always shove a potato in their exhaust pipe.

    Like, a liberal potato.

  40. 40.

    trollhattan

    December 15, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Remember “Mannix”? Dude must have had his brake lines cut every other episode. Caution: watch for a hurtling Plymouth!

    As to the vacation kerfuffle, make a “967” sign. That was Dubya’s vacation total over two terms.

  41. 41.

    Violet

    December 15, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    @SensesFail:

    Anyone have any advice on how to deal with Republicans in the workplace? Do you ignore them, argue with them, or deck out your cubicle with Obama 2012 signs?

    Depends who they are and how badly you want to keep your job. If they’re your boss and/or your boss’s boss, then I’d keep my mouth closed. Wingnuts are notoriously thin-skinned and I wouldn’t put it past them to see any comments you make as insubordination and use it as a chance to fire you. Perhaps I’m just sensitive because I live in a red state, but I keep my mouth closed in such situations.

    If they’re just your co-workers and you don’t care about annoying them or fear they can get you fired, my tactic would be to ask them direct questions regarding their opinions. “How many vacation days DOES President Obama take for golf? Have you seen any actual numbers?” [They will not have seen any actual numbers.] “Do you know how the number of his vacation days compares with the previous presidents, say Bush II, Clinton and Bush I?” [They won’t know.] “It sure would be interesting to know how many days our recent presidents have taken as vacation days. Maybe we should go look it up.”

    This sort of tactic will usually shut them up without making it look like you’re trying to get into a fight. Facts have a well known liberal bias, so if they go look it up, they’ll be surprised to see that Obama isn’t taking way more vacations than any other president.

    I talk politics with wingnuts quite regularly, but I try to keep it very even-keeled and keep emotion out of it. It’s fun to ask them questions because they generally don’t have answers.

  42. 42.

    dance around in your bones

    December 15, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    I am just finding it so funny that Repubpeeps are even TALKING about Newtie. Good gawd, if he wins the nom…

  43. 43.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    @trollhattan: It was the number one cause of death mayhem in 70s cop shows.

    Let’s hope it makes a comeback.

  44. 44.

    Violet

    December 15, 2011 at 7:11 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    I know that Whatever Horrible Things Republican Debate Audiences Have Done Now has become a depressingly predictable topic, but I do want to point out that in the last one, they actually cheered when Newt doubled down on the child labor thing.

    At least one candidate will mention the War on Christmas and audiences will cheer or boo, depending on how the subject is framed.

  45. 45.

    Chat Noir

    December 15, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    @Raven: The premise sounds interesting (checked it out on Wikipedia). Thx for the rec!

  46. 46.

    Egg Berry

    December 15, 2011 at 7:15 pm

    Salon’s Hack 30 lacks a certain McArdle. And David Brooks at 30? Really?

  47. 47.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    @Egg Berry: That’s 2010. Be patient, grasshopper.

  48. 48.

    lamh35

    December 15, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    This will prob not be mentioned on the Fox Debate, but Romney’s “poor Parisian mission”…BIG FREAKIN’ LIE!

    Romney’s Experience Of Poverty: Living In A Parisian Mansion

    Egads I hate that prick Romney. Ugh smug smiling lying ass.

  49. 49.

    Svensker

    December 15, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    Like, a liberal potato.

    LOL.

    Or an Alex Foley banana.

  50. 50.

    Hill Dweller

    December 15, 2011 at 7:20 pm

    The Daily Telegraph is calling bullshit on Romney’s claims of an austere life during his mission in France. Apparently he spent at least some of his time in a mansion with a chef.

  51. 51.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    December 15, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @dance around in your bones: I think it was Andy Borowitz who recently tweeted, “Man in coma since ’94 comes to, can’t believe Newt Fucking Gingrich is still leading the Republicans.”

  52. 52.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 15, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @Egg Berry:

    It’s early. Still more to go.

  53. 53.

    dance around in your bones

    December 15, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @Svensker:
    ♫ ♬ Banana-rama,yer face is a mess, banana-rama,I love you to death ♫ ♬

    That sounds pretty liberal ;)

  54. 54.

    Egg Berry

    December 15, 2011 at 7:21 pm

    @BGinCHI: Oops. I was following links provided earlier. The fact that David Broder was on the list should have been a tell.

    Edit: having found the 2011 list, WTF is Andrea Peyser?

  55. 55.

    Hill Dweller

    December 15, 2011 at 7:22 pm

    @lamh35: *shaking fist*

  56. 56.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    December 15, 2011 at 7:23 pm

    To be fair, guys, ‘Mission’ and ‘Mansion’ sound pretty close.

  57. 57.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 15, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    @trollhattan:

    That’s almost four times as many vacation days over an eight year period as anyone on active duty military service can accrue, and they’d have to use all but 60 of those days or they’d just go away.

  58. 58.

    BGinCHI

    December 15, 2011 at 7:24 pm

    @Egg Berry: He could be on there for years to come….

  59. 59.

    dance around in your bones

    December 15, 2011 at 7:25 pm

    @Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn:

    I get the Borowitz Report in my email every day. It really is un-fucking-believable; maybe I have been in a coma since 1990-whatever and didn’t realize it ’til just now. I better check.

  60. 60.

    Jerzy Russian

    December 15, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    Wait, no I’m not. I’m grading papers in my office. Must have nodded off there for a sec.

    Me too, including the nodding off.

  61. 61.

    harlana

    December 15, 2011 at 7:27 pm

    @lamh35: from a previous thread

    and can the media just put the rest all the concern-trolling about whether you should judge a presidential candidate by his past affairs/plural marriages just because we are talking about a fucking republican candidate here? are they fucking serious?? these are the assholes who started this shit. Newt started this shit. he should be hammered bloody with it. he should be beaten to a pulp with a picture of a beautiful, smiling Obama family.

    Thank you!

  62. 62.

    Amir Khalid

    December 15, 2011 at 7:28 pm

    @Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn:
    Ich bin kein Anwalt. But the grounds for a lawsuit seem frivolous at best. The recall procedure has been in place for decades, as the story notes. Ten days to challenge petitioners’ signatures has been considered enough time all this while. How does the state GOP expect to convince a judge that this time it’s not enough?

  63. 63.

    Hal

    December 15, 2011 at 7:47 pm

    Just looked at Netflix new dvd’s and noticed Atlas Shrugged. Rating from reviewers? 3.7 stars from 13000 reviews. I didn’t even know that many people saw the film.

  64. 64.

    Ailuridae

    December 15, 2011 at 8:02 pm

    @Hal:

    This has been going on for a while

    http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

  65. 65.

    Raven

    December 15, 2011 at 8:04 pm

    @Chat Noir: Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Maugerite Duras.

    “The solitude of writing is a solitude without which writing could not be produced, or would crumble, drained bloodless by the search for something else to write. When it loses its blood, its author stops recognizing it. And first and foremost it must be never be dictated to a secretary, however capable she may be, nor ever given to a publisher to read at that stage.” (from Writing, transl. by Mark Polizzotti, 1998)

  66. 66.

    Gus diZerega

    December 15, 2011 at 8:17 pm

    @trollhattan: I’m Wiccan and I approve this cartoon.

  67. 67.

    Paddy

    December 15, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: Hope you live close to me. Only problem is that it’s brown, shriveled and ugly out there. Kinda like my ex husband. Ba DUM dum.

  68. 68.

    Faisal

    December 16, 2011 at 3:56 am

    People talking about Hitchens’ death on Twitter wound up using a #GodIsNotGreat hashtag for their posts. It started trending.

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