Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

We’re not going back!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

A norm that restrains only one side really isn’t a norm – it’s a trap.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Democrats are back in array!

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Fight them, without becoming them!

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

This blog will pay for itself.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Let there be snark.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

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90Comments

  1. 1.

    Both Sides Do It

    I applied to a job at a bar once and I asked if they had a dental plan. They did. “Cheap bourbon and loose women.”

    Can’t say how effective it is, but worth a shot.

  5. 5.

    The Dangerman

    Clove oil for toothaches; it works.

    Also, I got a new crown a couple months back; instead of gold, it was a carbon fiber composite (not sure of the main material, called a matrix; anyway, supposed to more closely match natural tooth characteristics). As a former Aerospace guy (for which advanced composites were developed), gave me a little extra pleasure (as I was writing the check, VERY little).

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    Yep, that happened to me last month. I had to have a root canal on the tooth. The procedure itself didn’t hurt, but my jaw was sore for at least a week. They can drill right through the crown and then they do a filling in the crown.

    The dentist was really debating whether or not that tooth needed a root canal when he first did the crown, so it wasn’t a surprise that it eventually went bad.

  12. 12.

    Hal

    My crown is in it’s 15th year. The dentist who did my root canal was so good I didn’t feel a thing, and when he took the tools out of my mouth I asked him when he was taking the nerve out since everyone told me I was going to feel like I was being tortured when he did that. He told me he already removed it and to come back in a few days for the crown.

    Very enjoyable root canal.

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    As for being exhausted, for some reason today everyone I know feels totally exhausted and fatigued, me included. It’s not super hot with debilitating humidity the way it was, but everybody is just dragging.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    Slow, slow Friday. Couple of news stories which caught the eye:

    1) 19 on buses massacred in Pakistan’s Babushar Pass

    …Gunmen killed 19 Gilgit-Baltistan-bound passengers after establishing their identity as Shias through their national identity cards on the Babusar Pass mountains in the Mansehra district early Thursday. The Darra Adamkhel chapter of the TTP through its spokesman, Mohammad, had claimed responsibility for the attack on the three buses carrying passengers to Gilgit-Baltistan. He had claimed that 25 Shia passengers were killed in the attack.
    __
    Meanwhile, the Northern Areas Transport Company (Natco) has suspended the service between Rawalpindi and Gilgit-Baltistan.  Source

    2) Neat-o.

    The US space agency NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity will make a wide detour to explore a “cool” geographical hot spot on Mars, scientists said Friday.
    __[…]
    Scientists said they chose the name Glenelg because it is a palindrome — a word read the same way backward and forward — and the rover will need to travel back in the same direction to head toward Mount Sharp.
    __
    The Glenelg trek will be the rover’s first “moderate duration drive target,” Mars Science Laboratory project scientist John Grotzinger told reporters, explaining the decision to risk traveling off the planned route.
    __
    “It looks cool,” he said.  Source

    Kind of wondering if someone at the project has connections to Scotland or else might be a history buff (Lord Glenelg).

    Glenelg is one of only two names of high political office holders which are palindromes, so far as I can recall. A virtual Brass Figlagee with bronze oak leaf palm (h/t: jean Shepherd) to anyone who can name the other.

  16. 16.

    mechwarrior online

    Worst crown story I have is a doozy.

    I got a crown in the Navy, and part of the “cheap” care in military healthcare is that you get fresh out of school dentists and can be forced to get care. So I got a “preventative” filling on a tooth before I was deployed.

    Well, the damn dentist had sealed in cotton, which rotted and prompted the need for a root canal. Though by this time I was out so the military said fuck me and I ate the cost. Turns out the infection was so bad later that my jaw swelled up like a golf ball and I had to have it drilled out to drain the rotten bone. Of course it’s an emergency and the few specialists qualified for this work who don’t suck in the area don’t take any insurance period. After that was done, had to get it filled up and crowned again.

    I hate the dentist.

  18. 18.

    Hal

    Also, has Soledad O’Brien always been this awesome, or is she taking some kind of kick ass juice lately?

    http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/soledad-obrien-calls-out-rep-chaffetz-saying

    Let’s keep to the facts that President [Barack] Obama did take $700 billion out of Medicare,” Chaffetz told O’Brien. We’ve now had this conversation 15 times at least,” O’Brien noted, shaking her head. “As you know, it’s not taking money out of Medicare, right? It’s a decrease in spending over time and it’s a decrease that you yourself, I assume, voted for, right? In Paul Ryan’s budget in 2011 and 2012, he had that same number in his budget. Didn’t you vote for that?”

    “It’s not exactly the same number,” Chaffetz replied. “I did vote in favor of the two budgets.”

    But now you’re criticizing something that you voted for twice, right?,” O’Brien observed.

    It’s a totally different approach,” the Utah Republican maintained. “For instance, the Independent Payment Advisory Board — IPAB — is not something that I support, but is something that takes that $700 billion that Obama took and puts it into the control of these bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”

    At the end of the day, that same number crunching was voted on by virtually every single Republican in 2011 and then again in 2012. That is fair to say,” O’Brien pointed out, adding that both Romney and Ryan had promised to “save” Medicare by turning it into a “voucher program.”
    “No, it’s not!” Chaffetz objected.

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Hal: We talk a lot about The Village being unaccustomed to Democrats fighting fire with fire; I imagine the shock of a GOPer having their rhetoric challenged on CNN is at least as great.

  21. 21.

    Anya

    Someone posted a clip of Ann Romney tsk-tsking at peasants who dare ask her husband about his taxes on my facebook wall. All I can think about is how gigantic Ann Romeny’s head is. Does botox make the head bigger?

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @Hal:

    This was my third root canal with this particular endodontist (this is what happens when you go without dental insurance for 10 years). The first time I saw him, I wanted him to give me nitrous oxide, but he wouldn’t do it because there was no one to drive me home.

    I said, “Then can you give me as much novocaine as humanly possible?”

    He flipped through my chart and said, “Sure, no problem.” I ended up being numb up to my eyebrow, but I didn’t feel a thing during the procedure!

  23. 23.

    Hal

    OK, I officially suck at block quoting, but I’m kind of liking the bottle neck in reverse effect.

  24. 24.

    General Stuck

    What tangled webs we weave/wingnut

    Mitt Romney may have breached state ethics laws as Governor of Massachusetts by holding a stake in a company that did lucrative work for his administration and was linked to the family of Paul Ryan, a Daily Telegraph investigation has found.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    Missed out on the thread which mentioned the death of Joe Kubert earlier on this week, but it reminded me of possibly the Worst. Casting choice. Ever.

    This was back in either the late 80s or maybe the very early 90s. There was quite some buzz about Hollywood planning to make a movie of Sgt. Rock. As in so many such cases, it fizzled out, but not before the prospective producers announced their one and only choice for who should play the lead role…

    …(wait for it)…

    Arnold Schwarzenegger.

  27. 27.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Hal: If you take the spacing out from between paragraphs, I think you can get that all in one block quote.

    @Mike in NC: Why are you attacking Mrs Mitt! She’s very popular and likeable you know.

  28. 28.

    Violet

    @Hal: Wow. That post is a thing of beauty. How did you get all those quotes to nest like that? Amazing.

    And no, Soledad O’Brien hasn’t always been this awesome, but she has been this past week. It’s very welcome.

    Sorry about your tooth, Cole. That sucks. Hope it gets better.

  29. 29.

    hildebrand

    Started making Julia Child’s Cassoulet today. I know, summer in Deep South Texas seems a silly time to make such a winter weather comfort food dish, but Sunday is my birthday, and I am hungry for a good bit of peasant fare. Did the beans and salt pork today, will do the meats tomorrow, and then put it all together on Sunday. Yum.

  30. 30.

    ding dong

    I am listening to After words on CSPAN with Hans Spavorsky and John Fund. The chick who is interviewing them does not know her sheet and I hate their guts. Assholes.

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    @mechwarrior online:

    I got a crown in the Navy, and part of the “cheap” care in military healthcare is that you get fresh out of school dentists and can be forced to get care. So I got a “preventative” filling on a tooth before I was deployed.

    When I was stationed at Bath Iron Works back in the 80s, I went sailing one time with some friends and got a horrific sunburn. After waiting hours to see a Navy doctor, his advice was “to stay of the sun” and I was given some gooey ointment to smear all over my body.

  32. 32.

    LanceThruster

    To anyone longing for the good old days I have two words for you – painless dentistry. ~ P.J. O’Rourke

  33. 33.

    JustAnotherBob

    Crown?

    A ticket to Thailand and a hundred dollars.

    Best dentist I’ve ever had put their fingers in my mouth.

  35. 35.

    SFAW

    @hildebrand: Me sainted Motherrr used to make cassoulet. Don’t know if it was Julia’s version, but I loved it.

    Peripherally-related: NPR did a piece celebrating Julia’s centennial (or whatever the proper name is). Had some sound clips from her first show, and a few others. She was pretty great.

  37. 37.

    handy

    Seriously in my nearly 40 years of living here I can’t remember such a muggy nasty summer as we’ve had in SoCal. This must be like the third straight week of 100+ degrees before heat index. How do you flyover people deal with this crap?

  40. 40.

    Steeplejack

    @Hal:

    Looks like you’ve got multiple nested blockquotes. Just put <blockquote> at the top, </blockquote> at the bottom and remember to put two underscores on each blank line between paragraphs.

  41. 41.

    Calouste

    @NotMax:

    Could also be Australia, Glenelg is a suburb of Adelaide.

    And the other palindromic high office holder is Kok, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

  42. 42.

    General Stuck

    @efgoldman:

    Is that supposed to be a surprise?

    It may not be a surprise, nor much of anything else. But it does tickle my innards. And that is good enough.

  45. 45.

    hildebrand

    @Josie: Edinburg.

    @SFAW: I loved watching Julia Child growing up – she was the dotty, talented Aunt for all of America. I learned so many things about world cuisine by watching that show, just because she loved the tastes and thought folks in the US should expand their horizons more than a bit. Her kind of easy inclusivity was one of those things that really struck me as vitally important. Plus, she loved butter, and how can you go wrong with a chef like that? (I grew up in Wisconsin, Grandpa was a cheese-maker – it all just seemed right.)

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    @Calouste

    That’s a third one, then.

    Name I was thinking of was Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol.

    But you get the award regardless. ;)

  47. 47.

    NotMax

    @Calouste

    That’s a third one, then.

    Name I was thinking of was Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol.

    But you get the award regardless. ;)

  49. 49.

    Kristine

    @handy: Temps have dropped here in far NE Illinois. 70s/50s expected well into next week. We had August in June, so I guess it makes sense that now we would have June in August.

    It’s been a horrible summer for allergies, though.

  51. 51.

    raven

    @efgoldman: Actually Cam Rahn was something. There was a big sandy field by the casual barracks. There were lots of guys rotating and had to smoke up all their shit. I remember being in this huge circle of dudes sparkin like there was no tomorrow. They had cherries walking guard duty and when they tried to challenge the group they got sent on their merry way!

  52. 52.

    Little Boots

    been a pretty nice summer in Wisconsin, however.

    and very few mosquitos.

    it’s weird, but somewhat … okay.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    @Calouste

    Response stuck in moderation or limbo. FYWP

    That makes three!

    Lon Nol was the one of whom I was thinking.

  55. 55.

    Corner Stone

    I’m not sure why I enjoy Kingdom of Heaven so much. With the exception of Eva Green (who you could cast as a vacuum cleaner sales person and I would watch), the entire cast is horribly miscast. Just wrong on so many levels.
    And yet I’ve watched all or parts of it at least 10 times now, and saddling up for number 11.

  57. 57.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @General Stuck: The family connection may make it enough of a human interest story for our political media to look at the shady goings-on.

    Speaking of Sweet Paulie Blue Eyes, now that he and Willard are gonna be campaigning together, could someone ask them about Romney’s proposed Constitutional FUcking Amendment requiring the President to have had three years experience working in something called “the private sector”.

  58. 58.

    raven

    @Little Boots: FNG’s, Fuckin New Guys. When they hit country and were waiting to go to their units they made them do all kinds of shot duty. Flankin was one of them. (Flankin was was we called dumb ass walking back and forth with a weapon axing people “halt, who goes there”!

  61. 61.

    Xboxershorts

    I went through the entire decade of the 90s without dental insurance. After starting several root canals…

    My teeth fell apart in my head.

    The pain was incredible and relentless.

    I couldn’t eat and I couldn’t sleep.

    I actually tried to die

    Health insurance as a job benefit is insane.

    Especially when it’s not mandatory to cover

    Welcome to my world John. I’m sorry it took you an extra decade to get there, but as long as you did.

    The Republican party hasn’t done a single goddam thing for this nation since Eisenhower.

    Fuck them

  64. 64.

    Little Boots

    @Xboxershorts:

    the whole damn system’s out of order!

    but really, it is. Obama did what he could, which wasn’t much, but damn, we are fucked up about health care, especially dental care.

  69. 69.

    handy

    Matter of fact I thought he was a miscast in Elizabethtown also. That fey elf thing on the other hand.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Nellcote: Well, I read the title. I hope media matters or someone is doing some kind of tracking on how much coverage this shooting gets compared to those brown people who wear turbans in Wisconsin.

  79. 79.

    Corner Stone

    @Little Boots: because God dammit!
    Who the fuck casts Orlando Bloom in this fucking movie? Who? Who, I ask you?!

    I mean for God’s sake, the fucking asshole priest who Balian shoved into the fire pit was cast as Michael Sheen! Michael Sheen could blow the doors off Bloom in any scenario you could envision.
    For fuck’s sake, the lady they cast as his dead wife had more pull than Bloom’s character did.
    Shit.

  81. 81.

    Little Boots

    @Corner Stone:

    that was a sad, sad moment in moviedom. it’s true. actually, that does seem like one of those movies that had a chance … and then … everything went terribly awry.

  83. 83.

    jharp

    And I ran over a bees nest with the mower today and was stung 3 times.

    To be honest it was fairly painful.

    Feeling pretty manly over the whole thing. No ice. No drugs. Finished the mowing. Saved the kids from getting into them.

    And I attacked the bees with chemical weapons tonight. Anxious to see how they are doing in the morning.

  84. 84.

    LanceThruster

    @Xboxershorts:

    I read a great peice on how preventative dentistry should be the model for preventative health care. Saves money by dealing with issues in a timely manner.

  85. 85.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):
    I have several crowns and learned the hard way(once!) to insist on the root canal every time.
    And I have one crown come lose twice. It seems to be OK now but the Dr. used some pretty strong epoxy the second time.

  86. 86.

    Ruckus

    @Xboxershorts:
    The Republican party hasn’t done a single goddam thing for this nation since Eisenhower.

    Sure they have. They’ve done plenty. All of it wrong, greedy, selfish, stupid, immoral, evil, and just plain shitty but they have done lots.

    So I agree with your solution.

    Fuck them. With rusty farming and lumberjack implements.

  87. 87.

    dww44

    @Hal: I, too, thought your post was very artistic. Almost worthy of framing. And thanks for the early morning laugh.

  88. 88.

    Anne Laurie

    @Anya:

    Someone posted a clip of Ann Romney tsk-tsking at peasants who dare ask her husband about his taxes on my facebook wall. All I can think about is how gigantic Ann Romeny’s head is.

    What I noticed most in that clip is that she’s developing Barbar Bush’s mouth. Apparently being a spoilt rich bitch turns you into a parrot fish as you get older.

  89. 89.

    Donald G

    Usually when I hear bad news like John’s toothache from a Mountaineer, my first instinct is to put on my best former governor Gaston Caperton impression and say,sounding like a smarmy funeral director, “Welcome to West Virginia.”

    Then good sense and empathy kicks in. Sorry, John, that really sucks. Here’s hoping that you can find relief.

  90. 90.

    J R in WVa

    My dentist doesn’t charge for working on things he installs, like crowns or partials. If yours does, look for someone who stands behind his/her work.

    You know how you know the tooth brush was invented in Boone county, don’t you?

    Otherwise it would be called a teethbrush!

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