Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

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

We won’t go back.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

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

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

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

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

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

You are here: Home / Music / Friday Evening Open Thread: Kick It

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  1. 1.

    Hal

    Tons of hand wringing over at Dkos regarding Kerry’s SOS nomination. A whole bunch of folks basically already throwing in the towel because Scott Brown is just absolutely going to win, they already know, and how dare Obama do this “to us.” So I guess the chicken little sky is falling folks are back in full affect.

  2. 2.

    The Other Bob

    My mind is clearly in the gutter. Instead of reading that video heading as “Portland Irish Dance Academy”, I read: Irish Poledancing Academy.

    I am just a sad dirty old man.

  3. 3.

    Citizen Alan

    I will be drinking heavily tonight. After beating out about a 100 applicants for my dream job and making it to the final five who got interviews, I just got the rejection email this afternoon. Which means that 2013 will start off even more depressing and financially precarious than 2012 has been.

  4. 4.

    Liquid

    Thanks Anne! Between the tractor and the ladies my afternoon is booked solid!

    Wait it’s almost 3 in the after- where the hell did the last 10 hours go-

  6. 6.

    srv

    Well, my employer was going to send me to DC for an emergency. Alas, a Christmas Miracle will prevent me from joining John McCain’s SoS celebration.

  12. 12.

    Schlemizel

    @Citizen Alan:

    I had the same sort of deal happen to me 3 years ago. I was able to move on & probably have a better place to work (though not as great a job it is more secure and I don’t have to put up with as many assholes). Over all I got a better deal I wasn’t expecting. My wish for you is to have that kind of good luck in 2013.

  14. 14.

    Anya

    @Hal: I don’t know why they’re panicking about Scott Brown? I am really baffled. Do they think the whole state of Massachusetts cannot find a viable democrat who can take on Scott Brown?

  15. 15.

    jl

    OK, got a problem that might take all night to figure out here.

    Somebody in the office, presumably well-intentioned I give her the benefit of the doubt, just gave me a chocolate Santy Clause.

    Now, if I start in on that sucker by biting the head off, is that War on Christmas, or a devout Christian strike against pagan Nordic adulteration of the holiday?

    Well, never mind, too late.. dang, that is one tasty fine chocolaty solid chocolate Santy Clause, bit off at beard level I got now.

    OK, next problem is how I retain my slender girlish figure.

  16. 16.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Movie, maybe. Not sure which one. Anything to get out of the house, really. I think I need professional help.

  18. 18.

    Liquid

    @jl:

    Take your chocolate advice from Sally Forth — Eat the head, dispose of the rest.

    Emotional damage not withstanding.

    Or was that Halo?

  19. 19.

    Geoduck

    @Anya:

    I don’t know why they’re panicking about Scott Brown? I am really baffled. Do they think the whole state of Massachusetts cannot find a viable democrat who can take on Scott Brown?

    I’m not panicking, but after seeing that schmuck kicked firmly to the curb, facing a good chance that he’ll bounce right back into the senate for two more years (or whatever) pisses me off.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @jl: As with Easter Bunnies, I believe the most humane approach is to bite off the head first; that way, they don’t suffer and it’s over quickly.

  21. 21.

    Anya

    @Geoduck: We’ll just defeat him again, then. It will be that much sweeter and once he’s defeated twice, he will not run for governor.

  22. 22.

    J. Michael Neal

    I’m contemplating writing. I’m just not sure what, yet. I could work on Chapter 5, or I have two different short stories that I could start.

    I applied for a temp job last Thursday. The person at Accountemps said she’d call me the next dayabout it. I never heard from her. Two weeks after applying for that internal auditor position I haven’t heard a thing. It’s still posted, though.

  24. 24.

    JustAnotherBob

    @Hal:

    over at Dkos

    A cesspool.

    If someone would set up a parallel site which had the software features and police the crazies away I suspect DK would spiral down to a small pocket of hate in short weeks.

  28. 28.

    Gex

    Trying to regroup.

    My partner was diagnosed with cervical cancer last fall. In early November her treatments ended, and we just had our follow up visit. Cervix looks great, so that’s good. But there are spots on the liver that need to be treated. So we have four more months of cancer treatment to deal with.

    The prognosis is very good, and the treatment for this will be easier than the treatment for the cervical cancer.

    The work of being the caretaker of a cancer patient is unchanged. I’m trying to figure if it is even possible to dig in deeper.

    I am sure it is, I just need to regroup.

  29. 29.

    Comrade Jake

    I’m watching Max and Ruby with my 2 year old. Let me tell you something, that Ruby is a fucking Nazi.

  30. 30.

    SatanicPanic

    @JustAnotherBob: I’ve always wondered if the format is at least partly responsible. Certainly the rec list is a source of some catty behavior. And all the hand-wringing about hide-rates is just tiresome. But I wonder if it’s just too big to really function as a community. I’d like to see someone run your experiment though

  31. 31.

    gogol's wife

    @Hal: @Anya:

    My husband said exactly what Anya said when I started my own private freakout.

    As for fun tonight: Ernst Lubitsch night on TCM.

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gex:

    Okay, this may sound a little weird, but Julia Sweeney wrote a really funny book about the year her brother had Stage IV cancer and she found out partway through his treatment that she had cervical cancer. It’s sad, and funny, and it may at least help you laugh about it a little.

    It also comes in a movie version of her one-woman show if you prefer movies to books.

    It’s really, really funny. Especially when one of her ovaries goes on vacation after surgery.

  34. 34.

    Corner Stone

    @Comrade Jake:

    Let me tell you something, that Ruby is a fucking Nazi.

    There’s never been a more fiendish “children’s” TV show than Max and Ruby. I despise it so much it’s impossible to put into words.
    They should put that piece of shit Max into an asylum now, before they find him twisting the heads of neighborhood cats, or stuffing m-80’s into raw meat and feeding it to stray dogs.

  36. 36.

    ruemara

    hmph. I just took a pill, but I can’t remember if I took both pills I usually take, or if I should take the other pill now. This confusion should be good for at least several hours worth of amusements until I get to the next point I’m supposed to take pills at. How do old people deal with this bullshit?

    @Comrade Jake: Shush, I love Ruby.

  39. 39.

    Liquid

    @Comrade Jake:

    It’s a long way to Tipperary,
    It’s a long way to go.
    It’s a long way to Tipperary
    To the sweetest girl I know!
    Goodbye, Piccadilly,
    Farewell, Leicester Square!
    It’s a long long way to Tipperary,
    But my heart’s right there.

  40. 40.

    gogol's wife

    @ruemara:

    They get these little plastic boxes with compartments for each day. I haven’t gotten there yet, but I know about it, and I’m fixin’ to get one soon.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    @ruemara:

    I think they make charts. It’s probably not a bad idea for you, either. I hope you get things under control soon. :-(

    @Gex:

    The book has a framing device that’s not in the movie, FWIW.

    “So what we’re looking for is the anatomical equivalent of Florida?”

  42. 42.

    Gex

    @ruemara: Complicated pill boxes. I’m only 42 and already our household has pill boxes with slots for each day. One has slots for AM and PM each day.

    It’s process control.

    @Mnemosyne: I was thinking of asking if the book is different enough to be worth getting. Now I know. Thanks again.

  45. 45.

    magurakurin

    @Hal:

    Jesus Christ. Of all the outrage explosions, that one has been the dumbest of all time. To all the meatheads who believe that Obama “caving” on the Rice “nomination” will lead to the completion of the Republican plan to take Kerry out of the Senate…..pull your fuckin’ heads in. Kerry was original slated to go to the DOD. Kerry was leaving the Senate anyway.

    Kerry wants to be in the cabinet. He’s served long and well in the Senate. He deserves a cabinet post if he wants it. He isn’t going to be in the Senate forever no matter what.

    And to further the mystery, I don’t understand why the guy who got his ass kicked by Warren is a shoe in to win, hands down, guaranteed. Why is that? Even Martha Coakly is polling something like ten points ahead of Brown. Mass Dems dropped the ball once. Do we know have so little faith in them that John Kerry must be barred from finishing his political career in a cabinet post?

    Fuck em. Their votes weren’t needed in November. They won’t be needed in 2014.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gex:

    They’re very, very similar, but there are a couple of extra touches in the book. Plus, I like having books so I can flip to the one part I want to read again.

    It will probably make you want to rush out and rent I Know Where I’m Going!, which really is a great film.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @ruemara:

    How do old people deal with this bullshit?

    Haven’t you seen those “days of the week” pill boxes at the store? Those are for old people who have a bunch of different pills they need to take. They divide them up into the different compartments at the beginning of the week. Then, when it’s time to take their pills, they just open up the appropriate compartment and take whichever pills are in it.

  49. 49.

    trollhattan

    @ruemara:
    Not well, it doesn’t go well at all. Short-term memory is shot, eyesight is shot, and instructions are confusing (even though they have little wirelessly controlled dispensers and the whole nine yards.)

    My recommendation: crush them all, pour thm into a nice bottle of Armagnac, and have one shot every “N” hours.

    Here to help.

  51. 51.

    Mandalay

    @Citizen Alan:

    Speaking of people not having a job, this woman lost hers because her employer found her so attractive that he decided she was a threat to his marriage…

    The state Supreme Court has ruled an Iowa dentist was justified in firing a female dental assistant over worries by his wife about their relationship. Dr. James Knight of Fort Dodge hired 20-year-old dental assistant Melisa Nelson in 1999 shortly after she graduated from community college.

    Nelson worked for Knight for over ten years and during that time he sometimes complained that her clothing was too tight and distracting. They started exchanging texts about various things outside of work, but said they were not intimately involved.

    Knight wife found out about the texting and told her husband he had to fire Nelson because she was a threat to their marriage. Knight called Nelson in and told her she had done nothing wrong, and that she was the best dental assistant he ever had, but he was firing her out of a fear that their relationship could someday turn into an affair.

    Knight hired another woman to replace Nelson. Nelson sued, saying her firing was discriminatory because she was a woman. The district court dismissed the case saying Nelson was fired because of the threat to Knight’s marriage and not because she was a woman.

    http://www.radioiowa.com/2012/12/21/supreme-court-dentists-firing-of-assistant-to-save-marriage-not-descrimination/

    Whenever I think that we are making progress with women’s rights crap like this shows that we are still the Stone Age.

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    @Mandalay:
    Steve King’s district.

    My mother once worked in Ft. Dodge. Funny, I don’t recall the locals being batshit back in the day. I blame it on the water–you wouldn’t believe what they hose the crops with.

  54. 54.

    Citizen Alan

    @Calouste:

    It took the Dems in Massachusetts two tries to find someone to beat Scott Brown first time around.

    Or to look at that another way, Brown lost the first time he faced reasonably competent opposition. Or have we forgotten that Elizabeth Warren (no matter how much we all love her) was a carpetbagger egghead professor who went on to become the first female senator from Massachusetts. People who are afraid of Scott Brown seem to forget that he won under freak circumstances against a truly awful candidate.

  55. 55.

    jl

    @Roger Moore:

    ” Haven’t you seen those “days of the week” pill boxes at the store? ”

    And what good would those do? I can’t remember the ‘days of the week’ (which are only vaguely familiar to me anyway, I can’t remember the last Hday that came along), and I am not even old enough to be grandfathered out of the next social insurance cut.

  56. 56.

    Liquid

    @Gex:

    I remember spending junior year in high school living at my grandparents house as my mother was in the hospital for several months straight.

    First time they tried chemo (breast cancer) she started vomiting and I fled the room. I suppose it was cowardice but I just could not be there at that moment.

    It was one of the few times in my life that I felt utterly helpless, which was selfish but I was half my age then.

    This was back when inserting a port was only slightly more risky than today (infection nearly killed her two months later) and the insurance company was just as ‘iffy’ on covering treatment.

    None of that even comes close to what you and your partner must be going through.

    All my love/prayers/support/leftover karma go out to you and your partner, for what little it may be worth.

    And now I shall listen to the Mass Effect 1 intro/menu song as it’s really haunting and I’m pretty damn close to tears.

  57. 57.

    magurakurin

    @JustAnotherBob:

    If someone would set up a parallel site which had the software features and police the crazies away

    Honestly, I think Kos was doing just that for most of this year. The quality really improved over there this year and the site actually became useful again. The comments, I can’t say, I’ll never wander back into there again, but I was finding interesting and useful stuff nearly everyday in the diaries. But as of late, as in since the election, I’ve noticed it slipping and the diary list is now filled with meta and pleas for civility. Kos personally posted about his putting the hammer down on the crazies early in this year, but I guess he’s just gone back to counting his money now…

  58. 58.

    Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)

    @Mandalay:

    crap like this shows that we are still the Stone Age.

    Why do you think they refer to them as ‘Cro-Magnon Man”?

  60. 60.

    Citizen Alan

    @Mandalay:

    It may not be discrimination in the traditional sense (firing one woman at the behest of another woman and replacing her with yet another woman) but I wonder if the fired woman actually has a claim against the wife for tortious interference with employment, which is a cause of action in some states, IIRC.

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Citizen Alan: I’m not in MA, but I’d be more nervous about Weld than Brown, depending on who the Dem is. I wonder how Weld plays to what Charlie Pierce calls the “Uncle Knocko” vote. Anybody know?

  62. 62.

    Citizen Alan

    @Mandalay:

    Also, I’m not actually unemployed per se. I’m a solo practitioner working out of an office in my home. I’m surviving but not really making progress, and the job that I applied for was a career federal clerkship in my area that would have paid six figures and full health benefits.

  63. 63.

    jl

    @Mandalay:

    TPM says there is fed court precedent for an employee being fired on the grounds of “being too hot for my marriage”.

    From what I read, I think that goofball dude’s Ahole approach to warning about appropriate clothing was enough (makes my pants bulge) to qualify as harassment, and should be enough to make him pay out. All he had to do was give everyone one at work some guidelines and tell them they had to dress accordingly, but noooooo he had to bring his dick into it.

    Yeesh, to think this dingbat is allowed to drill away and cut inside defenseless citizens’ mouths.

  64. 64.

    magurakurin

    @Citizen Alan:

    against a truly awful candidate.

    And Coakley, despite her flaws, was set to coast into the seat. It was really only one misstep that sunk her…dissing the “bloody sock” and the subsequent refusal to shake hands at Fenway. Retail politics…how does it work? Don’t ask Martha Coakley, she hasn’t a clue.

    I like John Kerry. I don’t have a problem with him getting the job at State at all. Personally, I thought Rice might have been a little young for that job, and Kerry probably deserves it more. Not my call to make, but I think Obama is doing the right thing. Rice at State wasn’t a hill worth dying on in my opinion.

  65. 65.

    Josie

    @ruemara: You make a chart and check it off when you take the meds. The worst was when I had the cataract surgery and had to put in eye drops – some three times per day and some four times per day. The chart was mind boggling.

  66. 66.

    slag

    @Citizen Alan: I don’t mean to sound glib, but quitting what should have been my dream job was one of the best decisions I ever made. Sometimes dreams are nightmares in disguise.

  69. 69.

    J. Michael Neal

    @efgoldman: That’s nice. What the fuck else am I supposed to do? I called her twice. That wasn’t enough to ever be sure she put me forward to the client.

    Let’s face it: I’m 44; I have a master’s degree in accounting but zero experience in the field in ten years; I’ve been unemployed for seven years and the job I held before that is probably a negative for anything I’m applying for now; and I have to lie whenever anyone asks me why I left my last job. I have no professional network to speak of and, thanks to being autistic, really have no idea how to create one.

    No one is going to hire me. I have about 800 cover letters that I’ve sent out over the last five years saved on my computer, and that doesn’t count the jobs that, for whatever reason I didn’t write one or didn’t save it. From those, I’ve gotten a total of four interviews and no callbacks.

  70. 70.

    LanceThruster

    Everyone else at work got to leave early but I get to work full shift manning the ramparts (answering calls telling them that everyone else got to go home early)

    xD

    I really like my new job (I hope they like me too).

    :-)

  71. 71.

    Paul

    @Citizen Alan:

    Or to look at that another way, Brown lost the first time he faced reasonably competent opposition. Or have we forgotten that Elizabeth Warren (no matter how much we all love her) was a carpetbagger egghead professor who went on to become the first female senator from Massachusetts. People who are afraid of Scott Brown seem to forget that he won under freak circumstances against a truly awful candidate.

    Be careful. Brown beat Coakley in January during a non-Presidential year election. For whatever reason, Democrats do not vote in non-Presidential years. Warren, on the other hand beat Brown in a presidential year.

    If there is indeed a special election coming next spring, Brown most likely will be favored. It wasn’t just that Coakley was a bad candidate. It also had a lot to do with the fact that it was a special election in a non-Presidential year.

  73. 73.

    Hill Dweller

    @Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn: Nate Silver has a good blog post about those polling numbers.

    Brown actually had a higher favorable rating than Warren in the exit polling, but still lost by 7. Brown also had a 17 point advantage over Warren early in their race.

    As Silver points out, Massachusetts voters might like Brown personally, but they don’t like his politics nearly as much.

    Brown, like Christie, Ryan, Rubio, etc., flourishes in the beltway cocoon of “balance”, but put them up against someone that can point out their bullshit, and voters have second thoughts.

  75. 75.

    YellowJournalism

    @Corner Stone:

    They should put that piece of shit Max into an asylum now, before they find him twisting the heads of neighborhood cats, or stuffing m-80′s into raw meat and feeding it to stray dogs.

    I have a theory that he is the fluffy bunny version of Damien from the Omen, and the only reason we don’t see the parents is that he murdered them. Grandma and Ruby aren’t real relatives, they’re Satan worshippers. This theory also explains why his toys do exactly what he wants them to!

  77. 77.

    Raven

    @J. Michael Neal: I was 43 when I hit the wall, trashed my marriage and lost most of what I had. I went to school, got a doctorate and have been in my job and married for 13 years. You know all the bullshit, crisis=opportunity, one door closes another opens. FIDO, Fuck it and Drive On.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    @J. Michael Neal:

    Sounds like it makes you a natural-born professional writer. If you haven’t read Bird By Bird, you should — it should be easy to get from your public library. It’s not a “how-to” book, it’s a “how not to make yourself crazy” book.

  79. 79.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Raven: I’ve already done the “go back to school” bit. $25,000 later it’s gotten me exactly nowhere. I can’t afford to do it again.

  81. 81.

    magurakurin

    @eemom:

    battle of the hunks. Hmmm….we’d rather have John Wayne…

    but Affleck would surely be better than Brown. I think Mass can do better, though.

  83. 83.

    PurpleGirl

    @ruemara: If you’re still reading the thread — I take a number a pills, some in the morning, others during the day, one at night. The night time I keep by my bed to remind me to take it. The day time pills go into two different little plastic cups when I wake up and then I take them during the day from there. This way I know I put them out and I can see that I took them. The routine seems to work.

  85. 85.

    Mustang Bobby

    Jus’ back from a nice dinner with friends; nice local Japanese place that does amazing teriyaki BBQ ribs.

    It’s actually cool enough tonight in Miami that a sweater is welcome, and they’re saying lows tonight will be in the 40’s inland. That’s our idea of a white Christmas.

  86. 86.

    ruemara

    @RSA: This one! I have an am/pm m-s, but now I’m on 3-4x a day regimenes and if I do not focus, I haz confuze. we’re still at the “what meds and times do not make the patient long for death” stage. I think I may have worked it out. sorta. I call it pill roulette. less cost than the roulette wheel, more long term than russian roulette.

    @trollhattan:

    My recommendation: crush them all, pour thm into a nice bottle of Armagnac, and have one shot every “N” hours.

    I like your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  88. 88.

    JustAnotherBob

    @magurakurin:

    . Kos personally posted about his putting the hammer down on the crazies early in this year, but I guess he’s just gone back to counting his money now…

    Sounds to me that someone looking for a new career might want to take a pass at counting Kos’s money for him.

    The ability for anyone to write a diary and for the good ones to float to the top, I liked.

    I liked the ability to “like” posts, but I think the totals should be seen only by the comment maker. Give the ability to “hide”, but make the numbers invisible and the decision to bury to trusted mods. Get the competition part out of the process.

    Do that. Set some limits.

    For example, put everyone on notice that the site is for “liberal” discussion.

    People are welcome to criticize and disagree with Democratic leaders, but it has to be done with respect.

    Right-wingers engaging in anything other than reasoned and respectable exchange of ideas will be instantly banned.

    Paranoids will be directed to a site where they can seek help.

    The overly-excited will be timed out in order for them to gain control of their emotions.

    —

    This is a great site in many ways, but major input is limited to a small list of people. And the lack of nested comments makes discussing weird.

  90. 90.

    Mandalay

    @Citizen Alan:

    I wonder if the fired woman actually has a claim against the wife for tortious interference with employment

    Well I knew nothing about “tortious interference with employment” until I googled it, and you may have a point although IANAL. Could she have just gone after him for sexual harrassment since he made comments like this?…

    …in the final months of her employment, he
    complained that her tight clothing was distracting, once telling her that if his pants were bulging that was a sign her clothes were too revealing, according to the opinion.

    He also once allegedly remarked about her infrequent sex life by saying, “that’s like having a Lamborghini in the garage and never driving it.”

    http://www.twincities.com/ci_22240466/iowa-court-bosses-can-fire-irresistible-workers

    Regardless, that dentist is icky and creepy.

  94. 94.

    Haydnseek

    @jl: No! Stop! Don’t bite the head off! This is strictly an Easter bunny thing. Anything else is just…I don’t know…wrong.

  95. 95.

    Paul

    @JustAnotherBob:

    It has become a site with no focus. Its mission is supposed to be “more and better Democrats”. Yet, their anger towards the Democratic President is sometimes more intense than what one would see on FoxNews. I stopped going to that site after the health care debate. Just like foxNews, it stopped being reality based. This eventhough the site took pride in being reality-based.

  96. 96.

    Mandalay

    @efgoldman:

    Also, what did the woman replacement look like?

    No idea, but I suspect his wife would have had veto power over any replacement he selected.

  97. 97.

    JustAnotherBob

    @Citizen Alan:

    It may not be discrimination in the traditional sense

    Discrimination against the overly-attractive?

    Affirmative action for the plainer of us?

  98. 98.

    sharl

    Regarding that creepy dentist, Josh Marshall wrote about it, and a lawyer responded:

    “Late Update: TPM Reader KM notes that ‘you’re so hot my spouse is threatened’ is something the federal courts have generally been okay with as a cause for termination, which is bizarre, but there you go …”

    That decision may seem surprising, but as someone who represents plaintiffs in sexual harassment cases, I can tell you that it is pretty consistent with federal decisions, including the New York-based federal appeals court. Firing an employee because your spouse is jealous (which seems to be what happened here if the AP report is right) has been consistently been held to be a non-discriminatory, lawful motivation. There’s little doubt that women get fired for this reason about a million times more often than men, but the courts don’t seem to factor that into the analysis. And, yes, that dentist is weird, but I’ve seen much worse in my practice.

  101. 101.

    Maude

    @Raven:
    You never know where something will take you. I don’t usually say things like that, but my life has had major changes and I go though the chaos of the onset fairly well. I only panic silently for a minute.

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne

    @J. Michael Neal:

    It doesn’t pay, until it does, and you have no way of knowing when or how it’s going to pay unless you do it. Follow John Scalzi — he has really good advice about how to get started and how to sell things even if you don’t live in New York or Hollywood.

    If nothing else, you’ll feel much better telling yourself, “I’m a writer,” than if you say, “I’m an unemployed accountant.” It may also help the stink of desperation go away (because you now have a Plan B) which ironically could help you find a new job.

    Ass + chair = book. Go do it.

  104. 104.

    JCT

    I’m on call tonight so no alcohol. Sigh. It’s a full week of 24/7 so I can’t do anything fun at all. At least my husband is back from traveling so I don’t straggle in at some terrible hour to find my kitchen trashed and a pile of dishes courtesy of the returned college kid. Come on Monday!

    @Gex: Hang in there — it does get to be a marathon. We just found out that my husband’s leukemia is coming back, and the remission was darn short. Clinical trials are next. But we just keep focused on enjoying the present and try to keep good care of each other. Cancer is a team “sport”.

  106. 106.

    JustAnotherBob

    @Paul: I left there during the health care debate. Some of the people dominating the discussion were just out of control.

    I’d love a site which was focused on better Democrats or better liberal leaders, whatever. DK turned into a tear down those on our side.

    Sometimes the depth of knowledge in diaries just blew me away. But more and more it was like standing neck deep in the local sewage treatment plant trying to read the Great Books.

    We’re losing magazines and newspapers. What remain are going behind paywalls and most are largely garbage anyway. Too many people who earn their living by putting up stuff when they don’t have that much important stuff to say.

    Create a site where people who have something meaningful to say can have an outlet and let like minded people discuss the ideas.

    Set up an editorial board to screen submissions until someone builds a decent track record, then let they automatically post. You can always pull someone back if they wander.

    I don’t know if you read Deaniac at The People’s View. He posts very high quality analysis. A site where people of his quality can be gathered together could take us to a brand new level.

  108. 108.

    Corner Stone

    @YellowJournalism:

    Grandma and Ruby aren’t real relatives, they’re Satan worshippers. This theory also explains why his toys do exactly what he wants them to!

    Ruby may be the stupidest bunny who ever lived. But that Grandma, she’s clearly terrified of Max. She’ll talk a good game every once in a while but then he looks at her with those dead, soulless bunny marble eyes and she folds. She does her smiling bunny routine but it’s quite clear she knows what she’s dealing with.
    Ruby I think is allowed to live, for now, because she’s some kind of future sacrifice, or possibly the Grandma knows that when Max snaps he’ll kill Ruby first and that will be some kind of warning.
    Your theory on the parents intrigues me. WTF are they?

  109. 109.

    Roger Moore

    @sharl:
    One would hope, at least, that the poor woman won’t have too hard a time finding a job. Her previous boss apparently had no complaints- and plenty of compliments- about her ability, so she should have no trouble getting a recommendation. And IIRC, there’s a long-term shortage of dental assistants, so there should be some jobs available. So at least she has a decent chance of landing on her feet as far as the job goes.

  111. 111.

    The Dangerman

    @jl:

    Now, if I start in on that sucker by biting the head off, is that War on Christmas, or a devout Christian strike against pagan Nordic adulteration of the holiday?

    Coulda been worse … coulda been given:

    http://tinyurl.com/cddjlmv

  113. 113.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @slag:

    I don’t mean to sound glib, but quitting what should have been my dream job was one of the best decisions I ever made. Sometimes dreams are nightmares in disguise.

    In November 1987 I saw a want ad for a job that made my heart sing. I was very well qualified and it appeared a perfect fit in every way, including a salary twice as high as any previous job had paid. I had a great interview but ended up getting one of those “we hired somebody else but we’ll keep your resume on file” letters.

    A couple of months later they called me in to do a temporary contract assignment, which ended up (for complicated and irrelevant reasons) in a permanent offer. To do a job, I might add, for which I was unqualified, at least on paper.

    The job I originally wanted? Well, I soon discovered that I would have been bored out of my skull. Not to mention that the entire position was eliminated several years ago, so I would have been out of a job anyhow. As it is, I continue to learn something new nearly every day. And I’m about to celebrate my 25th anniversary on the job.

  114. 114.

    JustAnotherBob

    @Paul: Deaniac (Spandan is his actual name) is a young man who really impresses me with his analytic skills. He’s done a great job with the health care bill stuff.

    He used to write at DK, but left in discuss along with many others. There are good, insightful people who should be rounded up and displayed.

  115. 115.

    gelfling545

    @Mandalay:

    Regardless, that dentist is icky and creepy

    And if the case made their local papers I’ll bet he soon has a greatly reduced client list because – eewww.

  116. 116.

    JCT

    @Raven: Hah — poor sentence construction on my part. My responsibilities during on on-call week require that I can get to work very quickly, thus precluding anything fun that I can’t stop instantly or that takes me too far from the hospital.

    Puts a real damper on all sorts of fun!

    But I do miss my Friday night scotch quite a bit.

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Maude:

    You never know where something will take you. I don’t usually say things like that, but my life has had major changes and I go though the chaos of the onset fairly well. I only panic silently for a minute.

    Funny thing is, when you look back on those changes, everything that has happened seems absolutely inevitable. No matter how painful or perplexing at the time.

  121. 121.

    PsiFighter37

    I’m drank.

    PF37 +2 Dogfishhead Raison D’etre, +2 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

    Might I also add that Wayne LaPierre (isn’t it ironic that the NRA mouthpiece has a wonderfully sounding white flag-waving French last name) is a fucking asshole? He is the absolute goddamn worst. At least Charlton Heston only went up on stage and shook a gun like it was a Shake-Weight.

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    @Maude:

    He’s only been writing for a couple of months and he’s already finished a few things — don’t let him slack off now. Now is the time to crack the whip.

    But looking for some freelance accounting work isn’t a bad idea, either. Taxes are usually easiest to freelance, but I don’t think that was JMN’s speciality.

  125. 125.

    1badbaba3

    @JustAnotherBob: I quite like the place myself. Deaniac is thorough, calm, and provides much needed balance to the proceedings. And he don’t play that “hair on fire” mess, so that is a *huge* plus. Heeyooj!

  126. 126.

    Citizen Alan

    @slag:

    I don’t mean to sound glib, but quitting what should have been my dream job was one of the best decisions I ever made. Sometimes dreams are nightmares in disguise.

    I know, and if I didn’t enjoy it, I’d have been fine with quitting after two years which would have been enough to pay off every bill I have and replace my 11-year-old car. It’s just that the last three years and especially the last 12 months have been really rough for me, and I’d really have enjoyed the unimaginable thrill of being able to go out to a nice restaurant once in a while without worrying about how much it would cost or, heavens forfend, maybe even taking my first actual vacation in three years.

  127. 127.

    YellowJournalism

    Knight hired another woman to replace Nelson. Nelson sued, saying her firing was discriminatory because she was a woman. The district court dismissed the case saying Nelson was fired because of the threat to Knight’s marriage and not because she was a woman.

    By that reasoning, he must not hire male assistants for attraction reasons.

    @Corner Stone: Ruby wont go first. That’s what her pal Louise is for. Ruby is like Max’s Renfield. If he has to, he will dispose of her, but overall she’s handy to keep around.

    If you’ve ever noticed, there is a picture of the parents on the wall in older episodes. They look like rejected bunny Deliverence cast members.

    True story: my MIL refused to let my nephew watch the show because she thought Max was a bad influence and the cause of all of nephew’s behavioural issues as a small child.

  128. 128.

    General Stuck

    Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), released a statement Friday night in response to remarks made by President Obama earlier in the evening on the looming fiscal cliff:

    Though the President has failed to offer any solution that passes the test of balance, we remain hopeful he is finally ready to get serious about averting the fiscal cliff. The House has already acted to stop all of the looming tax hikes and replace the automatic defense cuts. It is time for the Democratic-run Senate to act, and that is what the Speaker told the President tonight. Speaker Boehner will return to Washington following the holiday, ready to find a solution that can pass both houses of Congres

    We live in the fucking Twilight Zone.

  129. 129.

    Mnemosyne

    @Citizen Alan:

    Ugh. The only word of comfort I can give you is that if you were interested in the company and not just that one specific job, having gotten through that process once before will give you a leg up if something else opens up over there. Keep a close eye on their job listings (assuming they have one) for anything else that looks interesting, especially if you would be dealing with the same recruiter, and jump in as soon as you see something intriguing.

  131. 131.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @ruemara:

    How do old people deal with this bullshit?

    I tried to help my mom with this last summer and found it to be almost impossible. The packets of pills with dates and times on them were difficult for me to navigate — she found it impossible. Old people deal with this by having nursing care of one kind or another.

  132. 132.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Citizen Alan:

    career federal clerkship in my area that would have paid six figures and full health benefits.

    Wow. That sounds like something that they would want to use to promote from within. I applied for something similar at USGS, didn’t even get a callback, and yes, they did an inside promotion.

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