Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

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

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Everybody saw this coming.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

This blog will pay for itself.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

The willow is too close to the house.

We still have time to mess this up!

The revolution will be supervised.

This fight is for everything.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

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126Comments

  5. 5.

    Politically Lost

    Day eleven at 800 calories.

    The fun part has been the…shall we say…the waking “wet” dreams that I’ve had the last few days.

    Hey, HEY, HEY! Get your minds out of the gutter. The daydreams cause the salivary glands to overproduce when I start thinking about food. Like a meatball sandwich. mmmmmmm….meatballs.

  6. 6.

    AliceBlue

    It’s been a gorgeous first day of spring here in west central Georgia. The trees around our house are covered with wisteria and it smells heavenly.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    So I think the GOP’s strategy is to get the Democrats to start fighting among themselves about which group of people the Republicans hate more.

    I give it a 15% chance of succeeding.

  11. 11.

    srv

    atomic works better for the new ipad, no more 403 errors telling me to email John Cole.

    But scrolling is wierded depending on which browser I identify as using (atomic lets you do that)

  12. 12.

    cathyx

    Ok, my mom passed away last week, after trying for over 20 years to kill herself with alcohol. She finally was successful.

  14. 14.

    BDeevDad

    Idaho Senator wants to make sure women were really raped.

    “Rape and incest was used as a reason to oppose this. I would hope that when a woman goes in to a physician with a rape issue, that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it truly caused by a rape. I assume that’s part of the counseling that goes on.”

  16. 16.

    mrmike

    Yet another instance of “local law is better… unless we don’t like it”

    New Fracking Law in PA

    Local communities can’t pass laws that are more stringent than the state law and must provide for “reasonable development of oil and gas”

  18. 18.

    BethanyAnne

    I mentioned yesterday that it was about time for Suli. I just put her down. She had maybe a couple of days left, and might have had seizures or something else awful at the end, so I went with the euthanasia. She was calm, and pretty out of it today. I still feel guilty. Kingsland Vet in Katy, TX btw is amazing. I can’t see how any vet could have cared more for anyone than they all cared for Suli.

  21. 21.

    Politically Lost

    @danimal:

    You figgerd me out…

    @Ben Franklin:

    My reaction has been a bit different. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what would be the most satisfying.

    The best I’ve come up with is from my favorite Mexican place. They have a carne asada soft taco with a side of rice and beans. The tacos have just the right amount of cilantro and onions with a generous splash of their home made hot sauce and a squirt of lime. The beans are just the very best I’ve ever had.

  24. 24.

    Clime Acts

    @cathyx:

    Ok, my mom passed away last week, after trying for over 20 years to kill herself with alcohol. She finally was successful.

    Wow, cathyx, I am really sorry to hear that. Especially about the last 20 years.

    I quit drinking eleven years ago, after 33 years of alcohol being my best friend, so I have an idea what you–and she– must have been thru along the way.

    At least that part is over.

    Alcoholism is a real mean son of a bitch.

    Good energy to you.

  27. 27.

    Jennifer

    cathyx – sorry to hear about your mom – moreso for the 20 years of suffering she went through and probably put you and perhaps others through as well. Still it’s not easy to lose a parent.

    BethanyAnne – sorry to hear about Suli. That’s not an easy decision to make and I too have dealt with that guilt (on top of the grief).

  29. 29.

    BDeevDad

    Caught in moderation hell, so if any women want to be really pissed off, google Idaho Senator Chuck Winder.

  31. 31.

    Raven

    @BethanyAnne: Aw sweet kitty. Be good to yourself, you did the second best thing you can do for an animal companion and you’d obviously done the first for a long time.

    We who choose to surround ourselves
    with lives even more temporary than our
    own, live within a fragile circle;
    easily and often breached.
    Unable to accept its awful gaps,
    we would still live no other way.
    We cherish memory as the only
    certain immortality, never fully
    understanding the necessary plan.
    — Irving Townsend

  33. 33.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    Last March I was sitting out back in my winter gear playing fetch with my old dog. Today I was raking out back in shorts while the new dog was eating who knows what in the grass.

  34. 34.

    scav

    @BethanyAnne: People pray for a good death, so I wouldn’t feel guilty for arranging the best and easiest you could manage for Suli. Grieve, yes, but you acted out of caring as much as the vets, so appreciate yourself too.

  37. 37.

    Tonal Crow

    @Politically Lost:

    Day eleven at 800 calories.

    I wish you luck, but is such a drastic diet a good idea? Is there a medical reason you must lose lots of weight immediately instead of gradually?

  38. 38.

    Politically Lost

    @jl:

    Medically supervised weight loss program. I’m about a 100lbs over what I should be. It took me more than 10 years to pack that on. I intend this to be a true lifestyle change.

  45. 45.

    jnfr

    @cathyx:

    I’m very sorry for your loss, which sounds like it started a long time ago. My mother killed herself with drinking too. It was kind of a relief by the end. I mourned for decades before she actually passed on.

  47. 47.

    Schlemizel

    I posted this at the end of the last open thread but I doubt many of you saw it. Ol Frothy’s Secret Service code name is “Steamer”.

    And all I could wonder was if the agents add “Cleveland”

  48. 48.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @Politically Lost:
    That sounds like the dreams I have of English food, I will wake in the middle of the night after having dreamed of eating a hearty portion of Fish and Chips, or a meat and potato pie, my poor body is trying to digest said food and I end up ten pounds lighter cause my body is digesting nothing.

  50. 50.

    cathyx

    Thanks everyone for the condolences.

    @jnfr: That’s it exactly. She didn’t even know my daughter, who’s almost 14 now.

  54. 54.

    Lojasmo

    @cathyx:

    Ah, sorry. I had a similar experience on 1/1/2010. Not sure how long I had been motherless due to alcohol. Certainly since I realized it after my son was born. Upon reflection, probably at least twenty years.

    Sucks, I miss her, though I don’t question my decision to steer clear during the last fifteen years of her life.

  57. 57.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @cathyx: Well you know I have been trying to do that for years, not to belittle your loss but this week I have a raging toothache and the check engine light on my car came on, I have not the funds to take care of either so what the fuck. A bottle of wine is cheap.

  60. 60.

    Larkspur

    Best of luck, Politically Lost. I do not know if you have posted about this in any other comments or threads, so forgive my ignorance. Eight hundred calories a day is severe, but I appreciate your goal and how you’ve basically drafted yourself into your own boot camp. It’s going to be so worth it. Have you been able to add in exercise like walking or swimming yet?

    cathyx: It’s always weird when a parent dies. With estrangement in the mix, the weird factor overwhelms the sad factor.

    @Schlemizel: Huh. I thought I read somewhere that his Secret Service name is “Petrus”, you know, like Peter, the Great Highjacker of Christendom. Sorry, Christians. I know I am obnoxious.

  64. 64.

    the fugitive uterus

    @BethanyAnne: my condolences – i had similar experiences with my vet and it helps. we must always weigh quality of life in such decisions, you did the right thing.

  71. 71.

    Larkspur

    @scav: Well darn, now I have to write to St. Peter for forgiveness, because you are right. I’m going to send the letter rather than wait to try handing it to him, on account of the suspense, plus it kinda got Santorum on it.

  73. 73.

    MikeJ

    @scav: Yeah, Peter was ok. Even acted human and did stuff he was ashamed of and JC said nah, it’s cool bro, we good.

  74. 74.

    Larkspur

    Maybe I can distract everyone by noting that Romney’s Secret Service name is Javelin.

  77. 77.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @MikeBoyScout:

    Santorum’s runner-up status in the 2012 GOP race makes him the de facto front runner for the GOP nomination in 2016.

    No. It’ll be ten years since he held political office, and he won’t have any kind of platform — beyond Faux News — for the next four years. At the same time, you’ll have GOP governors polishing their wingnutty resumes. I don’t think “next in line” holds for this one.

  78. 78.

    Egg Berry

    I’m sure the Secret Service’s REAL code names for all these GOP candidates is Rich Asshole, Sanctimonious Asshole, Pompous Asshole, and Senile Asshole.

  80. 80.

    Egg Berry

    @amk:

    did boner cry today ? he usually does when the cameras are on him.

    I don’t know. Does today end in a ‘y’?

  81. 81.

    handsmile

    Different kinds of loss on this thread…

    To Politically Lost: Congratulations on your courageous decision and on what you have achieved thus far! What you are doing requires enormous emotional strength.

    To cathyx and BethanyAnne: My condolences to each of you on the respective personal tolls you are grappling with, and kind wishes for solace.

  83. 83.

    Josie

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I can relate – not to the toothache, but the car problems. My air conditioner is out on the car (and in South Texas, that is a big problem and will become bigger in the near future) and the check engine light came on in my son’s car. I have barely enough funds to fix one, but not both. Thus, the dilemma. Luckily my part time job, that it took me two years to find, will pay well this month and next, during tourist season, so maybe I will get lucky and manage both at some point. I hate this pinching pennies and scraping to get by, but there is no choice.

  84. 84.

    Raven

    @Josie: Go to one of the parts chains and have them run the code on the light for you. They do it for nothing and the problem well may be nothing as well.

  86. 86.

    Josie

    @Raven: Thanks. We did that and it’s the oxygen sensors. We are going to get an estimate on that next week. The estimate on the ac was $550. Ouch.

  88. 88.

    nellcote

    @Egg Berry:

    I’m sure the Secret Service’s REAL code names for all these GOP candidates is Rich Asshole, Sanctimonious Asshole, Pompous Asshole, and Senile Asshole

    I thought they were going with DogOnCar, ManOnDog etc.

  89. 89.

    jl

    @Politically Lost:

    Good luck on your weight loss program. Sounds tough, but if it is medically supervised, then the pros will keep things safe, I am sure.

    If any comfort to you, I read a news article earlier today that said people who can follow a diet and lose a lot quickly do better in the long run and tend to keep the weight off.

  90. 90.

    Yutsano

    @Southern Beale: Yesbut…you’re being uncivil and hurting their delicate fee-fees by pursuing this. Aren’t you supposed to be compassionate as a librul?

  94. 94.

    Josie

    @kdaug: Don’t know, but I will check. What effect does the air filter have? I am obviously illiterate on mechanical stuff.

  100. 100.

    JS

    IL -01 (D) Called for Rep. Bobby Rush

    I wonder if President Obama calls Rep. Rush to congratulate him out of respect?

  103. 103.

    cathyx

    @amk: I don’t want the show to be over. I want to see a brokered convention and all the candidates fighting each other for a long time.

  106. 106.

    Baud

    I keep hearing that Romney keeps losing the <$100K vote. I knew the GOP favored the rich, but are a majority of their primary voters really in the +$100K group. If so, that's incredible.

  108. 108.

    Egg Berry

    @Baud: It’s possible since most of the population of Illinois in in the Chicago area. I’d be curious what the percentages are in southern Illinois, which seems to be where there are more racists and talibangelicals.

  109. 109.

    amk

    @cathyx: Unfortunately, I don’t see sick rantorum or the other pilssbury fat punk having the cajones to take it up all the way to the convention.

  112. 112.

    Amir Khalid

    I don’t know if this has already been brought up, but the New York Times is marking the first anniversary of its “paywall” by halving the non-subscriber’s monthly free-stories quota to 10, effective April. Ass long as the paywall itself remains easy to get around, I don’t really care, of course.

    The new Rolling Stone with Jon Stewart interviewing Bruce Springsteen is the first print mag I’ve bought in a while. There are world leaders, not to mention Republican candidates for president, who can’t manage to be as serious and intelligent, or to present as coherent a worldview, as the Boss.

  115. 115.

    the fugitive uterus

    @cathyx: i’m thinking Adelson will start tossing $ Mitt’s way so Newt may have no choice but to drop out. wonder what his speaking fees will be by then unless he decides to step back, reflect and then shower us with his wisdom in a book.

  117. 117.

    amk

    @cathyx:

    He has to make a living some way, doesn’t he?

    This is exactly why the doughboy will drop out. The establishment has the power to choke him of off the money supply grffter route if he doesn’t fall in line.

  118. 118.

    kdaug

    @Josie:

    What effect does the air filter have?

    If it’s dirty, it can starve the cylinders of oxygen and set off the sensors.

    Cheap fix, ~$15 at any auto part store, and easy to replace and check to see if the light resets.

    If it’s the sensors themselves, well, that’s a somewhat more expensive proposition.

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    @BethanyAnne:

    I don’t know if this helps or not, but I don’t know of any pet owner who didn’t feel guilty after a pet died. You always feel like there was something else you coulda/shoulda/woulda done. I think it’s par for the course when it comes to making decisions for an animal that can’t express its preferences.

  126. 126.

    sneezy

    How are the various web site fixes coming along? The confusion over whether to serve the standard or mobile version is the one giving me the most trouble recently. Also, the “Switch to our desktop site” link is totally broken. What immediately follows the protocol specifier is a date in YYYY/MM/DD format rather than a hostname. I know you’re a busy guy, but really, this stuff is annoying and probably pretty simple to fix.

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