.
No matter how relentlessly mundane your Saturday night prospects, console yourself that you’re not gonna be stuck boogeying with Grover Norquist. Dave Weigel reports on last night’s CPAC festivities:
… Dennis Lennox, a Michigan Republican activist and fan of bespoke suits, crashed the press area of the ballroom to hand out invitations to his party, “By Invitation Only.”
“Do you want a picture?” he asked. “I bet there’s no one else at CPAC wearing tartan pants.”…
By Invitation Only grew out of a schism between a few young conservative strategists who’d held CPAC parties in the past. Lennox had his party; Ali Akbar had his National Bloggers Club and its annual Blog Bash, co-sponsored this year by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Rick Santorum’s PAC. For weeks there had been rumors that left-wing activists would terrorize the event, literally. Four security guards were hired to protect the venue. They ended up protecting it from a confused guy with a digital camera, who was assiduously recorded by wary bloggers, until they got bored and got back to partying. Sen. Ted Cruz gave a 3-minute tribute to bloggers for taking down Dan Rather and creating a world in which Walter Cronkite no longer determined the headlines.
It went on for hours, dueling piano players bringing the crowd into sing-along renditions of “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Poker Face.” Those who survived were ready for a gauntlet of Friday parties, sponsored by political PACs who’d occupied ballrooms and given them themes. First up: The Zombie Party…
A smaller group, mostly media, were invited to an off-campus party up the road in D.C., put on by Breitbart.com and Newsmax.com. The walk-up was decorated by Mexican flags; to the right, as soon as one entered “the embassy,” was a full, blaring mariachi band…
More photos and details, for the strong of stomach, at the link.
What’s on the agenda for those of us in the Reality-Based Community, and also Balloon Juice?
Baud
My god, CPAC sounds dull.
Probably just going to rent a movie and veg.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Looking for the story about Orly Taitz protesting being excluded from the Breitbart shadow CPAC organized for Islamophobes like Gellar and Gaffney, I found this. Guess who…
JPL
What’s not on the agenda are rifles and racks. This morning I went to a big box store (HD) and purchased a washer and dryer with some of my half the the HD option money. The ex was an employee and had to cash out options this year. This afternoon I pulled weeds, and weeds and more weeds. Now I sitting outside with a glass of wine enjoying the 77 degree weather.
Maude
AL, are you going to start Sunday garden posts soon? I’ll put up a hanging basket this year over the roof. The white stone roof gets to hot to put potted plants on. I want tomatoes.
Baud
Wasn’t Chris Hayes invited to speak at CPAC? I’m glad for his sake he declined.
JPL
Question.. Does Preen work? The weeds are horrific under my rose bushes with poison ivy mixed in. I wear long sleeves and gloves but still get the poison ivy rash all over. Last time I had the prescription steroids and a steroid shot which leads to several hyper days where you can’t sleep or focus.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I didnt realize that my governor of the fine state of GA was attending.
Mike in NC
They damn well had better have been able to produce their Green Cards.
srv
St. Patty’s Day Parade, of course. Just finished.
Mr Stagger Lee
Watching Ohio St-Michigan St Big Ten Seminfinal, they showed the selection committee that will decide who goes in the NCAA tournament. Interesting observation of the committee, they looked like they may have come from CPAC. All White, all male,I guess African-Americans are only good for playing ball, shades of Jimmy The Greek and Al Campanis.
Chris
One evening reading at Barnes & Noble, probably followed by “Oz the Great and Powerful” at the theater next door. Both alone, but that’s not such a bad thing.
Looking forward to “Olympus Has Fallen” as well; since it looks so blatantly like a Die Hard movie and the last one was fairly shitty, I kinda hope it’ll work as a consolation prize.
Maude
@JPL:
Preen is great. Get some and follow the directions. It’s the best.
I’m jealous of your washer dryer and I hate you.
Pooh
@Chris: if you haven’t seen it yet, Jack and the Giant Slayer is far FAR better than Oz
Chris
@Baud:
You have no idea how fucking happy I am that it no longer happens on my street, or even within the borders of DC proper. Even though I don’t actually live there anymore. My people deserve a break.
Pooh
For me, College hoops all day, got invited to a new card game tonight.
Slight dilemma, the game is completely non-meaningful stakes, should I tell the other players (most of whom I don’t know well) that I played professionally for several years? On one hand, it’s douchey to make that kind of claim, on the other, I’d hate for people to think I “hustled” them (especially for ‘pizza money’)
ruemara
Made some St. Paddy’s Day rolled Irish stew… things. They’re just chilling in the fridge, absorbing the butter mustard glaze until I pop their chilled dough carcasses into the oven. I feel like I should make cookies though. I can’t stop watching the trainwreck of the guardian feed of CPAC. This is 2 parts bizarre, 5 parts evil in a giant stupid wrap.
Phylllis
Roasted salmon and sauteed asparagus for supper, then 2001 on dvd.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JPL: Chris Christie. I think the strain of keeping his inner Cartman in check is wearing him down.
I would contribute to a fund to send Charlie Pierce to CPAC next year.
Chris
@Pooh:
Why’d you say that? (I haven’t bought any tickets and am not married to Oz as the evening movie).
JPL
@Mr Stagger Lee: I wonder how many folks on the site had to google Jimmy the Greek. CPAC proves that Racists still live all around.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
Hasn’t it been gorgeous today? I went to the opera but it is still so wRm and lovely. Windy, but that just makes it refreshing!
IowaOldLady
Weird moments in professional achievements: Someone recently wrote an article tracing the history of tech comm scholarship by following the development of my work. She interviewed me and everything. I’m told the article she wrote just won the best article of the year award. Which is lovely. I’m very glad for her.
So why can’t my agent sell any of my novels? /whine
Pooh
@Chris: they are kinda similar movies (the wife and I happened to see both this week) and Oz just doesn’t work, partially because of Franco partially because of the script. Jack isn’t GREAT, but you can eat popcorn to it, if that’s makes sense.
Violet
Apparently Rand Paul won the CPAC straw poll. Those Paulites never give up.
Josie
What a beautiful south Texas day. I washed the car and pulled weeds, among other outdoor pursuits. I wish we could just keep this weather and not move on into the sweltering heat of April, May, June, etc……
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
@SiubhanDuinne:
Heh, non sequitur if ever I saw one. What I meant to say was, I spent the afternoon indoors watching the Met Opera, and missed the lovely Atlanta weather, but when I emerged from the theatre it was still warm and lovely and I am appreciating it.
? Martin
Cooking corned beef. Yeah, it’s a day early, but this way I won’t be hungover at work and I have an early meeting.
Chris
@Pooh:
Thx!
@Violet:
So, the person who continually wins the CPAC straw poll is the fringe lunatic who never gets anywhere near the nomination in real life… What does that say about the relevance of CPAC?
(Admittedly, this is Rand, who’s a big more accepted, not Ron, but still, Ron won all these straw polls in the previous years…)
Anne Laurie
@Maude: Did one last Sunday, plan to do one for tomorrow morning!
@JPL: The Spousal Unit, who is violently allergic to poison ivy, has successfully used the extra-strength Roundup formulation, painted on with a brush, to destroy the shoots that creep into our yard from the neglected scrub (commercial property barrier) next door. He also covers as much skin as possible, takes off all his clothing as soon as he comes in, and uses Tecnu just in case. I can attest that Tecnu also works for accidental exposure… that’s why my poor allergic hubby is doing the removal, he quite rightly doesn’t trust my judgement to remove every last leaf to the root!
Cermet
Tomorrow, I crank up my half million volt power supply (a Villard voltage multiplier ladder) – either it works or burns out. The current would be luckly to hit a few micro amps for a few micro seconds, so not exactly any real danger – just a big bang if the circuits fails. If it works, then onto 1/2 MeV protons!!!
Maude
@SiubhanDuinne:
We have pretty snow falling and melting on the ground.
Gin & Tonic
@JPL: Won’t be seeing 77 up here for quite a while, but I’m also deathly sensitive to the poison ivy. I wear double shirts and double gloves – a long sleeve thermal undershirt under my work shirt, and surgical gloves under my garden gloves, making sure the thermal undershirt’s sleeves are tucked into the surgical gloves. That way when I’m undressing, I still have the surgical gloves on as a last layer of protection. Then my entire outfit goes directly in the washing machine on hot. Really cuts down on the rashes and ER visits I’ve had.
srv
@Pooh:
If they’re Republican/libertarian, it’s a free market, level playing field and they all of course already have perfect information.
If they’re Democrats, you’re already a 1%’er in their minds, so you might as well fuck them over too.
Pooh
@srv: mama needs a new pair of shoes!
Haydnseek
@Pooh: You don’t need to tell them a thing. The key phrase here is “non-meaningful stakes.” As you know far better than I, in a low stakes game you won’t be able to bluff. When it’s cheap to stay in, people do, hoping to catch the card(s) they need. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played at low stakes tables in card clubs and been torched by someone who had an absurdly weak hand but was willing to pay a pittance to see “just one more card.” Of course, over thousands of hands they lose, but that’s not how they think. This is just one night. Be cool. Have fun. Make friends.
SiubhanDuinne
@Maude: Are you in Canada? My Ontario cousins emailed something similar not long ago.
Gin & Tonic
@Pooh: My father used to tell me that stupid people shouldn’t play cards. If some do, it’s not your obligation to look out for them.
Kirk
@Pooh: Tell the spouses. Better yet have your spouse tell their spouses.
Mnemosyne
Just got home from riding my bike around town doing errands. Bought a couple of Drunken Irish cupcakes that only got slightly squished in my bag. I really need to figure out how to prevent that from happening whenever I go over a large bump.
Trying to decide if I want to try and go out for some Irish food tonight since we’re going to be eating vegan tomorrow (having dinner with my best friend and her family, who went vegan en masse in January).
? Martin
@Anne Laurie:
My stepfather was as well. So badly that when the poison ivy bloomed, he’d break out from the pollen – on his face and around his mouth and nose from inhaling it. Fortunately for him, I am not allergic at all. I can yank it out with bare hands. Hell I can eat the stuff. Guess what my household chore was for ¼ acre of wooded yard.
But he underwent a procedure to reduce his sensitivity to it. It took a while, and I forget what was involved, but he’s now just normally allergic to it. Might be worth asking an immunologist about that.
JPL
@Gin & Tonic: Only one time did it get in my blood stream so I guess I’m lucky but that’s why the dr. prescribes the double pack of steroids and a shot. I use gloves and wash them in hot water. It’s never affected my breathing though and I’m careful which is why I asked about Preen. I have no problem using round-up on the suckers if they are out in the open. I had a pine tree ground up rather than hauled away and the mulch was filled with poison ivy which I didn’t know. I wear sunglasses so I don’t inadvertently rub my eyes.
PurpleGirl
@Maude: It’s doing that here in Woodside. Light flakes which look nice coming down but the aren’e sticking, even on grassy areas.
Pooh
@Haydnseek: you’re 100% right about the dynamic, but my concern isn’t that I’ll have an advantage (I obviously would if I was to “play seriously”) it’s that people I don’t know that well won’t understand this and might feel cheated, and worse be mad at the host for inviting me.
Ironically, the more money involved, the less I’d feel inclined to bring it up.
bemused
Among the many excellent reasons I am not a Republican is that hanging out with them sounds like an excruciating bore.
Spaghetti Lee
Sen. Ted Cruz gave a 3-minute tribute to bloggers for taking down Dan Rather and creating a world in which Walter Cronkite no longer determined the headlines.
I find it bizarre how many right-wingers think the media’s out to get them. The media bends further backwards to accommodate their bullshit than any sane media would. Erick Erickson and Michelle Malkin are on CNN, for God’s sake, and I’m sure there are more.
Anyway, it’s nice to see they’re still butthurt about a guy who left the TV business in 1982.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: What theater do you go to. They use to have the opera piped in at one near North Point but not sure they still do. I’ve been tempted to try it but instead rely on listening to it on air.
What a gorgeous day and I think we deserve weather like this for putting up with the whackos that surround us.
Mnemosyne
@Pooh:
You could mention it in a self-deprecating way after the first hand is done (assuming you win, of course). That will give them the option to suddenly become extremely interested in the game on TV if they so choose.
I wouldn’t bother with pre-warning them, though. That would just make you sound like a douchebag.
Spaghetti Lee
I have a strange appreciation for CPAC. Sure, all sorts of horrible shit gets said there, but it’s interesting to watch. It’s like Woodstock for sexually-repressed, empathy-deficient fascists. They just gotta be themselves, man! And at CPAC they can let it all hang out.
? Martin
@Pooh: Tell them. You don’t need to make a big thing of it. We had a similar pizza money group with one guy that, well, not pro, but he once bought a car from winnings, so a shitload better than most people. And that wasn’t much of a fluke for him. He usually came home ahead, but he had a better day job.
It’s douchey if you make the claim and you really aren’t that good. But if you legitimately made a living doing it for a few years, then it’s an honest claim. Tell them what variants you didn’t regularly play (and have hand odds memorized) so they have the option of leveling the field a bit.
We made our friend start out with a 3 beer handicap. Worked well enough for everyone, including him. You can offer that too. :)
Just Some Fuckhead
@srv: Paddy’s. You should know better.
Haydnseek
@Pooh: Of course. The more money involved, the greater the chances of you sitting down with good players, (or the much larger number of people who think they’re good players) so no need to bring it up. The game you described sounds like a nickel-dime-quarter affair. Your skill will be largely negated by the fact that you won’t be able to buy many pots, players will continue to see your bets until the last card because they can afford it, and so few hands will be dealt that percentages are meaningless. Be a good guy. When the night is over, maybe you can teach these folks a thing or two to improve their games if they ever find themselves playing for real money. Cheers!
Baud
If you have an NBC app, they just sent a news alert that Rand won the CPAC straw poll.
That’s so lame.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I can’t imagine being so wrapped up in politics, even in hatred, that I would ask out a department store mannequin
from Jim Newell’s live blog
Maude
@SiubhanDuinne:
New Jersey. The Garden State.
Maude
@PurpleGirl:
Looks like magic.
Ben
Meet the new member of my family: http://www.orphansofthestorm.org/search/details/?id=D46901
dance around in your bones
Well, the first thing I am NOT doing is going to CPAC and partying with dweebs like that.
Say, did I ever tell y’all about living in Golden Gate Park (waaaaay back in the day) and wiping my butt with poison oak leaves? Then getting on a plane and meeting all my husband’s family and friends with poison oak stuff all over my hoo-ha, hands and face?
It was so special.
Maude
@JPL:
I read a long article on poison ivy. They said to remove your clothes and run shower over you with lukewarm water. Then use the brown soap, Octagon is the brand and wash.
That’s if there is any chance to oils got on you.
I’d hire someone to remove the poison ivy.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: None whatsoever. According to my detailed research (two minutes with Google) he won 3% of blacks 18-29. Since he also won only 8% of black women of any age, I don’t see how you can get to 20% here.
BruceFromOhio
Tired of this Gaia-damned weather (cold, rainy, occasional snow flake or three). Tonight is drinking heavily and watching something on NetFlix.
? Martin
Oh, yay. My stalker coworker is threatening me again, on Saturday no less. How come employers never acknowledge what liabilities some of their employees can be?
Oh, and what the fuck is wrong with people?
That’s all.
SiubhanDuinne
@srv:
I am intrigued by your philosophy and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: Yeah, that previous wasn’t clear. Romney won 5% of both black and Latino men. He won 4% of the Latinos under 30 and 3% of blacks under 30. So Ann is making shit up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@efgoldman: @Gin & Tonic: You think Ann Coulter is pulling things out of her ass? I find that hard to believe.
I have to say, I never thought Palin would have a long career, her looks are a big part of her schtick and she knows it (see today’s “I’ve got the rack” entendre and a half), but it looks like Coulter (who is shrinking herself, i think) is going to outlast her, which I woudln’t have thought.
BruceFromOhio
@efgoldman: Truth ain’t her strongsuit. I call bullshit.
@Gin & Tonic: That sounds more like it.
@SiubhanDuinne: Gosh, me too! That is some serious poker mojo going on there.
gogol's wife
Guests coming in 15 minutes. Sirloin tip crusted in brown sugar, coriander, cumin, and paprika; green beans; potatoes with rosemary. Then brownies with caramel ice cream on top (I made the brownies, not the ice cream, thanks, Edy’s). Wish us luck.
Mnemosyne
@Ben:
What a cutie — congratulations!
Maude
@? Martin:
I had a neighbor woman stalking me when I made her stay away from me by ignoring her. I continued to ignore here. She makes noise at night to wake me up, but no longer approaches me. Did tell landlord, landlord made excuses for her.
Any threats need to be reported to police.
Mnemosyne
Also, too, trying to get used to using gestures on my new MacBook Air. I keep doing something that takes me backwards in my browsing session, but I can’t figure out what.
Two-finger scrolling is cool, though.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL: There are three theaters that carry the opera, more or less equidistant from me, but I usually end up at the old Discover Mills (it’s called something else now) on Sugarloaf Parkway. For some reason, it began at noon today live/in theaters, but broadcast on WABE was an hour delayed. When I came out of the theatre, the radio was just going into Act 4.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini, with the incomparable Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role. Some gorgeous music, totally unfamiliar to me, but much influenced by Puccini, Wagner, Strauss. Luscious.
Suffern ACE
@Gin & Tonic: maybe her definition of what young is what is off. But most likely she heard that 1 in 20 voted for Romney and she decided that was 20 percent.
Gin & Tonic
@gogol’s wife: Uh, I’ll be there in 10. Just tell me where.
Gin & Tonic
@Suffern ACE: Well, I did more research on this than is good for me. And it turns out she’s right. Black men 18-29 went 19% for Romney. Black women 18-29 went 1% for Romney.
lol chikinburd
Someone asked Dan Savage to retweet a link to this petition, and he did:
Learned of this case for the first time today, and it freaked me out — my own dysthymia diagnosis came from a U of M psychiatrist in that same calendar year.
Ben
@Mnemosyne:
Thank you! This is our second dog from the same shelter–we lost our Buddy in October from cancer after just two years. He’s a sweetheart so far.
? Martin
@efgoldman: Nationally, Romney won 6% of the black vote and 36% of the under 30 vote. 20% isn’t impossible, but it’s unbelievably unlikely as it would suggest that young blacks are voting counter to both young people and blacks simultaneously. If anything they should represent the product of those two trends, not the inverse, which would put Mitts support of young blacks in the 2% range.
Maybe he got a 10x return on those votes through some kind of tax avoidance strategy.
Redshift
@Gin & Tonic: I hope they continue to be deluded enough to believe that. It’ll be just like “unskewed” polls, helping to sustain their belief that they don’t really need to change anything to succeed except “messaging.”
gbear
@Spaghetti Lee:
Can I revive the name that I used for one of the Tea Party desert bashes three years ago?
Galtamont!
Omnes Omnibus
@gbear:
Stolen.
@efgoldman:
No.
geg6
Gawd, CPAC is just a 15 car pileup that you just can’t help slowing down and gawking at, isn’t it? That the media take these assholes so seriously makes me tremble for my country.
As for what’s up on a Saturday? Heading out in about an hour or so to go get some Chinese and then a few drinks at the club. Maybe a pit stop after dinner at Petsmart. I didn’t get there this afternoon and we need a new leash. And some sweet potato bones. And some toys. And…
dance around in your bones
Just ran across a movie on the TV machine called The Good Thief which turns out to be A-OK. Starring the growly-voiced Nick Nolte.
Never saw it before. Sundance channel.
SiubhanDuinne
@gogol’s wife: I’ll be right over.
Mike in NC
@Gin & Tonic: Coulter’s career in a nutshell.
Middle of March and it was 72 today. Spent most of the day putting down 3 cubic yards of mulch. Now for a stiff drink.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: A horizontal two-finger swipe is forward or backward in the browser, so you’re probably swiping at enough of a diagonal angle that the system can’t decide whether to scroll the page or go back to the previous one.
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones: It is a decent remake of Bob le Flambeur. Also, it has a great soundtrack.
ETA: Plus, the girl is hot.
? Martin
@Maude:
Not quite that kind of threat (yet), but I have to start the process now. I go through this every few months. Knocks my productivity down immensely dealing with all this meta drama bullshit. They folks that handle this stuff are tired of seeing me, but it’s just a byproduct of the job, I suppose. It’s been mentioned that because I don’t react emotionally to this stuff, it tends to cause people to escalate, trying to get that rise out of me. But I’m not going to give them the satisfaction of emotion. When we arbitrate this stuff, they go in ranting and raving and I bury them in a pile of documentation.
Rinse and repeat. Just getting tired of it. A raise would help.
gbear
Today I’ve been opening the door to let my new kitty Edward have the run of the house while my old kitty Halley is ensconced in her favorite bedroom. I left the door open for two hours and Edward spent less than two minutes exploring the house. He came back into his room and started looking for new places to hide (like he hadn’t found all of them in the last two weeks). Introducing Edward is going slow because Halley needed emergency surgery three days after I brought Edward into the house (I didn’t need that tax return anyway :( ). Halley is OK now, but the vet doesn’t want the two cats to meet for another two weeks.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m finding it surprisingly good. I shouldn’t have said A-OK. Just one of those films I missed while out of the country.
Your knowledge of film is remarkable. I always learn stuff from you (in that Balloon Juice fashion).
eta: yes, girl is hawt. and I am a girl, though w/hetero inclinations.
MikeJ
@Baud:
I strongly suggest just buy the veg outright rather than renting.
gbear
That bartender photo at the top is Grover Norquist. I wonder if he was serving bathtub gin?
different-church-lady
Gentlemen, I implore you: the necktie and baseball cap combination is never good. I don’t care how bald you are. A flat cap. A beret. A pork-pie hat. Hell, a pimp hat. Anything but a baseball cap.
Central Planning
@geg6:
Try the Nutro Max Cat Adult Food!
Mnemosyne
@geg6:
Speaking of which, has the new doggie arrived? If so, I missed the news.
@dmsilev:
There is a little chart enclosed with the MacBook that explains all of the gestures, but I’m being lazy and haven’t dug it out.
I just managed to accidentally trigger the Dashboard. That was exciting.
hildebrand
Just finished our lamb-burgers with a lovely garlic aioli. Tomorrow, a nice beef-stew with Guinness.
JPL
@Ben: How adorable. You did good!
Omnes Omnibus
@gbear: I saw what you did there.
@dance around in your bones: Thanks. Nice of you to say that.
Chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Neither is much of a prize, but at least Coulter was never arrogant enough to believe she was qualified for public office. I’m glad Palin’s brand is fading faster.
Spaghetti Lee
@different-church-lady:
If he wore a porkpie hat or a flat-cap he’d look like a competitor in the Upper Class Twit of the Year contest. Funny for us, maybe not for him.
The only people I’ve seen wear that combo and pull it off are college-age fratboys, and most of them don’t. Once you’re past 30 or so it just looks tawdry.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne:
If you get frustrated with the machine, try not to give it a middle-finger gesture. That will hurt its feelings.
hal
Why is Marco Rubio constantly being touted as a GOP saviour? Wake me up when he wins his senate race one on one and someone actually picks him as a running mate.
scav
Speaking of par-tays to avoid, Carnival Cruise has spawned another technical issue, although this one’s among the less excrement rich. Didn’t know they were up to four in a month. Are mechanics now overhead to be thriftily pruned?
That better be a cash bar.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@hal: certainly strikes me as a loser, I definitely think he’s peaked, but Florida Dems apparently can’t even find somebody to make a credible run against Rick Freakin’ Scott.
Patricia Kayden
@Gin & Tonic: Thank goodness. I would be worried about the sanity of under 30 years old Black men if Coulter’s stats were correct.
? Martin
@geg6:
It really is the closest thing to the idea of putting a whole bunch of people with different personality disorders and mental illnesses into the Big Brother house just to see what happens.
Patricia Kayden
@Gin & Tonic: Dang! I find that shocking.
WereBear
@Ben: Congrats and blessings! He looks up for most anything you want to do, as long as it’s rowdy.
Mr WereBear has ordered a microphone so we can begin podcasting the cat blog. I did a test with my iPod touch memo recorder.
Now I’m writing a bit of a script. Will help me from wandering into corners.
? Martin
@scav:
Cost center. Must purge.
MikeJ
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’m happy to let them think that they’re getting through to voters.
Omnes Omnibus
@MikeJ: Of course, when 80% of a group vote against you that is a sign of strong support.
Ajabu
@efgoldman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I just did a quick poll among Black males under 30 (my 27 year old son, two nephews 24 & 29) and for good measure checked on my 59 year old brother-in-law as well.
Romney was 0 for 4 in this family.
Of course, if you count the entire family (male & female – all ages) he’s 0 for infinity.
I think the MSM pulled that 20% out of their asses as usual.
scav
@Ajabu: The two Frederick Douglass guys from yesterday plus your 0: 20%. See? Easy. It’s the new The Math™
? Martin
@Omnes Omnibus:
CPACified
Gin & Tonic
@Ajabu: Unfortunately, they didn’t. Check the link I posted earlier, to polling by Pew Research, generally acknowledged as objective and skillful.
Gin & Tonic
@Patricia Kayden: So did I. But Pew is usually very good.
Yutsano
@Ben: PUPPEH!!
raven
@Yutsano: Lil Bit got her spring doo.
Suffern ACE
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130315151044.htm
This will end with giant invincible frogs destroying Sydney.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE:
It’s not like those Aussie bastards don’t deserve it.
Suffern ACE
@Omnes Omnibus: yeah, but when it happens, GG will tweet that its no worse to die from frogs than from president Gillenbrand’s drones, producing a three Saturday postings on this blog. That’s what scares me the most.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE:
As well it should. But it will keep Ben Franklin and El Tib off the streets and out of trouble.
Lol
@Gin & Tonic:
It screams high MOE from small sample. I’d be surprised if it was more than 50 people.
danielx
Not snowing here and not 77 degrees, either, for which I am devoutly grateful. The local public radio station was broadcasting a program with four meteorologists this past week, at the end of which one of them reminded the listeners that last year at this time we finishing a week with temperatures in the 80s…in March. A harbinger of what was to come, unfortunately, drought-wise.
Not going out for St. Patrick’s Day, since it’s another edition of amateur night with roadblocks, etc.
I have derived enjoyment from the Senate hearings chaired by Carl Levin in the last couple of days – always
enjoyablean absolute delight to watch our Galtian Overlords getting turned on a rhetorical spit, even if it’s mostly theater and even if you have to listen the bankers’ attitude of you-don’t-understand-because-you-don’t-make-enough-money.The question becomes (yet again): why aren’t some of these people swinging from lampposts, much less rotting in a dungeon somewhere? This is all about supposedly clean and well-run JP Morgan Chase and golden CEO Jamie Dimon, mind you.
This is not difficult – as long as financial institutions and their managers are at no real risk of punishment for violations of law, per Eric Holder, they will go on doing it because the rewards for continuing the unlawful activities are so great. Not a mystery, especially when both DoJ attorneys and regulators
really don’t want to piss off past and future employers.
There is a club.
You are not in it.
Baud
@Suffern ACE:
I’d rather face the frogs.
danielx
note to self: reference to bankers swlnging from lamppost rather than hanging from lampposts will get your comment put in moderation. Unfortunate…
dance around in your bones
Damn, The Good Thief was a good movie.
Had to pause it a couple times to attend to grandkids, clean up the kitchen and etc. But, I liked it!
Also, Omnes – I thought Bob le flambeaur meant something like Flaming Bob. Imagine my surprise (and my poor grasp of French). I DO have a smattering of other languages (Dutch, Farsi and a fair bit of Spanish).
Viva BrisVegas
@Suffern ACE:
They will, except it will be by Cane Toad.
Damn you, global warming!!!
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud:
Why drag the French into it?
gene108
@lol chikinburd:
Link just goes back to the top of the page.
Looked it up on Wiki and it pretty much summarizes my state of being, since my late-teenage years, with a couple of episodes of major depression and a bout of being psychotic thrown in for good measure.
Good luck with your treatment.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Someone has to.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: You know, at one time our ancestors actually WON wars.
Baud
@Yutsano:
Doesn’t that end them?
Suffern ACE
@Yutsano: yeah. But what do they bring to the table against giant frogs? Garlic and a little butter, maybe. I hope it will be enough.
Spaghetti Lee
@Suffern ACE:
Jurassic Croak!
Yutsano
@Suffern ACE: Those are gonna be some mighty tasty frog legs. Just sit back and let me explore my Gallic culinary side.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: And they certainly aren’t afraid to get into them. Oddly, that was one of the reasons I was skeptical about the Iraq War- if a country a casually bellicose as France was saying “Hold on a moment,” it might be a good idea. Sort of like Keith Moon suggesting that you may have overindulged. It should give one pause.
smintheus
Newly released tapes from LBJ’s presidency prove that Richard Nixon engaged in treason in 1968.
20 years ago a friend who knew Clark Clifford well told me that Clifford had decided not to include this episode in his memoir. Clifford said that Johnson knew for a fact and could have proved that candidate Nixon had secretly scuttled the Paris Peace Talks by promising the South Vietnamese government a sweetheart deal if they pulled out of the talks and Nixon were elected as a result. These taped phone calls, now declassified, prove that was true.
And how many American servicemen, and how many Vietnamese, died to promote Nixon’s personal ambition! The man was despicable.
And yes, I blame LBJ as well for not making this info public. Voters have an absolute right to know that one of their presidential candidates has stooped to treason.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ok, that was funny. Keith had a lot of fun in his life, brief though it was. Bravo for him!
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: I was about to mention that the French are intervening rather successfully in Mali. So they go, just carefully.
Suffern ACE
@Yutsano: ummm. We intervened rather successfully in Iraq and Afghanistan too during the first three months. Write me in year 10 and let me know how it’s going.
WereBear
I believe there was some discussion of evidence pointing that way in Nixonland. And now there is proof.
I thought I really really didn’t like Nixon. And then I read Nixonland.
Chris
@smintheus:
Grandpa was in Vietnam (three tours, career military, went on record saying it was a stupid war). Apparently, he met Nixon at one point when the man was doing a motivational visit to the troops (before he became POTUS, I think) and found him to be an enormously offensive human being simply in his way of relating to, well, other people.
He died in the late seventies (never met him, only heard stories), but I wonder if he ever knew the role Nixon played in prolonging the “stupid war” by five full years. Though I can imagine what he would’ve thought of it. When did Nixon’s shenanigans become public knowledge, anyway?
smintheus
@Chris: I’m not sure when they became public knowledge. I’d heard some talk about this, unsourced, in the late ’70s or early ’80s, so a decade before my friend told me LBJ definitely had the goods on Nixon.
raven
@Chris: Nixon visited the Nam in July of 69 and in 1953. There were few “troops” in 53 so he probably met him during the former. I remember that trip because they upped the sweeps all over country to keep shit tamped down. None of us knew specifically what the motherfucker was up to but we knew it was something.
Mike G
And creating the world they want, where Rupert Murdoch and Rush Limbaugh determine the headlines.
Baud
@smintheus:
Whenever I feel down about how things are now, I read a little bit of history and it reminds me of how much worse it used to be.
raven
@Yutsano: Yea, like they did in the first Indochina war and Algeria.
Omnes Omnibus
@smintheus: Yeah, the first I remember hearing about it was when people were drawing a parallel between Nixon’s actions and those of Reagan in regard to the hostages in Iran. So, early 80’s?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: Plus ca change, and all that. From Vietnam to Nixon’s pardon to Iran-Contra, especially Poppy’s self-serving pardons, and then a direct line up to Iraq. But we (they) impeached Clinton over blow jobs. I get depressed and angry when I see how Iraq and how we got there is just glossed over, but I guess that’s really nothing new.
Chris
@smintheus:
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks. At least Gramps probably died before finding out how badly Tricky Dick fucked everyone. And I agree with everyone here; if there’s a national medal for Biggest Scumbag of the Twentieth Century, Nixon might just take the cake.
Cacti
@smintheus:
If the right people had been in charge of Nixon’s funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin.
-Hunter S. Thompson
raven
@Cacti: And LBJ is right fucking behind him.
dance around in your bones
@Cacti:
Hunter S. Thompson is sorely missed. I used to read him in Rolling Stone back in the day when it was a folded newspaper-type thing (a bitch to read in the bathtub).
I also read a book of his letters to family and friends which revealed him to be a remarkably sensitive and often kind man, despite his public persona and subsequent treatment of family and wives.
Gads, I remember Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 just making me loathe Nixon even more. I was 18.
raven
@dance around in your bones: Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs is badass.
Mike in NC
@raven: LBJ and Nixon were in their own way insufferable scum. They cannot be rehabilitated in the current era, as evidenced that no effort was ever made to name Navy ships after those bastards, unlike Bush the elder and Geralg Ford, who also didn’t deserve the honor.
dance around in your bones
Also, how many hours does it take to get a new post?!
I’ma gonna email the Cole and complain. Ha!
dance around in your bones
@raven:
Read that when I was maybe…..13? (Precocious reader).
It scared me off of motorcycle gangs for the rest of my life, I think.
raven
@dance around in your bones: Freewheelin Frank and his pliers.
trollhattan
Amidst all the CPAC LOLs, LGM has been reading Malthaus. Good fucking gawd.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2013/03/also-washing-the-dishes-before-you-eat-off-them-again-is-worse-than-the-gulag
Maude
@raven:
#153
This.
AndoChronic
I’ve missed the good drugs… Welcome back! Fuck it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6P0SitRwy8
raven
@AndoChronic: How’s you find that?
Yutsano
@dance around in your bones:
Use all caps. He LIVES for that shit!
trollhattan
@Yutsano:
Also, too, tell him his pics be fuzzy and shit.
trollhattan
TBogg on gunrack laydee:
“Talking Boob Talks About Boobs”
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2013/03/16/talking-boob-talks-about-boobs/#comments
? Martin
@trollhattan: And fax him your credenza, so he knows to take you seriously.
dance around in your bones
@raven: Obviously we come from the same generational era. It was a good time unless you got sent to the ‘Nam. Sorry.
@Yutsano:
All caps AND a bazillion exclamation marks! He REALLY responds to that! I remember that time he said he had something like 6,000 emails in his inbox and just deleted them all.
raven
@dance around in your bones: Don’t mean nuthin.
Anoniminous
Little seen side of that fun loving & funky place: North Korea.
dance around in your bones
@raven:
I know, FIDO. But it still makes me sad for all the people I knew who got sent over there. Most of the boys (and they WERE boys for the most part, though I do know nurses who went there) I knew did everything they could to get out of the draft and I don’t blame them one bit. It was obviously a clusterfuck by the late 60’s.
I’m just glad you got home.
Gin & Tonic
@dance around in your bones: Pretty late jumping in, but Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail may be the best book ever written about 20th Century American politics. I made my kids read it when they were taking AP Government in high school.
raven
@dance around in your bones: It’s good to remember them. . .and you know who I’m talking about.
dance around in your bones
@Gin & Tonic: Good on ya, mate!
@raven:
Oh raven I do, sadly. This is making me leak water out my eyes. Fuck war.
lol chikinburd
@gene108: Eek, don’t know what happened. Here’s that petition. Also, it would have helped if I’d quoted the nut paragraph, explaining the horrific case that brought this petition about:
Thanks kindly; hope you’re holding up well.
dance around in your bones
@AndoChronic:
Never partook of the poppy? It’s pretty cool (well, I guess until it kills you – I remember Courtney Love saying they just should of left Kurt alone – stomach problems – and let him keep on keepin’ on).
Hard to say.
gogol's wife
@Gin & Tonic: @SiubhanDuinne:
Sorry you couldn’t have been here! I’d love to meet you both.
The brownies came out best, I think. But people seemed happy.
Omnes Omnibus
@? Martin: The helicopters won’t be laughing.
MikeJ
Just finished the west coast feed of Nick Nolte le flambeur. Wow.
I know the original well enough to nitpick differences but it was so much fun I didn’t want to.
Gin & Tonic
Six hours no thread? Is everybody else drunk?
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I’m not. Yet.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ok, for anyone who doesn’t understand the reference (and can’t figure out how to use the Lexicon) here’s the link. Srsly, read the whole endless thing.
One of the most hilarious threads in BJ history. And I have no idea what ever happened to Michael Gass. Prolly embarrassed out of existence.
@MikeJ: I know, amirite? ‘Twas a good movie.
Anoniminous
@raven:
Amen to that.
And don’t forget that asshole McNamara.
Stupid fucking war.
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones: I wonder if he ever sent his docs to Cole.
Omnes Omnibus
@MikeJ: @dance around in your bones: I can’t believe you guys didn’t catch it years ago.
Yutsano
@dance around in your bones: That. Thread. Was. Epic. I doubt we’ll see its like around here soon, not with our current crop of trolls. Shame really. That was right after I got the huevos to start commenting.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
If he did, I’m sure Cole just hit the delete button. I mean, Jesus H. Christ.
Also, I’m trying to get drunk. Watching Amelie on the machine (Audrey Tatou!) with a kid playing on his iPad in my room.
Not the most ideal of circumstances for getting plastered.
Also Omnes, I was out of the country at the time of that movie with no access to TV.
arguingwithsignposts
@dance around in your bones: @Yutsano: I love that thread! Wish I knew what happened to Mr. Gass.
arguingwithsignposts
@Omnes Omnibus: A credenza would have cost a lot to ship. ;)
Gin & Tonic
@dance around in your bones: Oh, my son loved that movie when he was taking high school French. Or maybe he had a thing for Audrey Tautou.
Gin & Tonic
@dance around in your bones: Oh, my son loved that movie when he was taking high school French. Or maybe he had a thing for Audrey Tautou.
Mnemosyne
Watching “Father Ted” in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.
“Poor Father Jack. He could have been pope! But the feckin’ Jesuits have it all locked up!”
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones:
Me like. But then, I have a weakness for euro-ladies.
Gin & Tonic
FYWP.
Yutsano
@arguingwithsignposts: He did threaten to come back but never made it out of that thread. As far as we know. He could be just lurking about or even one of the resident trolls in disguise. I doubt it though.
@Omnes Omnibus: Quinze!
(You’ll get it. Unless I spell it wrong. Need moar vino!:)
Cal
Sounds awesome. Wish I didn’t miss it. I bought a ticket last moment but just wasn’t able to get out to DC. Work didn’t help lol.
MikeJ
@Omnes Omnibus:
A Nick Nolte remake of one of the best caper movies ever made never sounded that great. Now that I’ve seen it I enjoyed it.
handsmile
@Omnes Omnibus: , @dance around in your bones: , MikeJ
Neil Jordan, the writer/director of The Good Thief, has made some truly outstanding films in his career (don’t myself rank TGT among them). Just take a look at the filmography at his Wiki link; includes The Company of Wolves, Mona Lisa, The Crying Game, The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Jordan
He’s been largely MIA for the past decade though; I’ve never even heard of his most recent film, Byzantium (evidently another vampire tale). There must be an interesting explanation for his absence and hopefully not a grim one.
P.S. Is it safe to come out here again, i.e., are the Greenwald wars over for the day?
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
I do too, tho I am a hetero.
It’s a bit difficult trying to stay current with Balloon Juice (despite the lack of posts FOR HOURS NOW!) and trying to read sub-titles whilst typing (for the kid)’people playing minecraft – crunk craft?’ on request and trying to get drunk all at once.
Well, the little buggers are going to bed now.
(Srsly, I don’t get drunk while they are awake. Or very much at all).
Omnes Omnibus
@MikeJ: I didn’t know it was a a remake of Bob until I watched it. As a result, I had no expectations.
@Yutsano:
I am blanking right now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: @Yutsano: Aha! It took a little while.
Ruckus
@different-church-lady:
I say just be bald, or folliclly challenged, whatever. It’s just hair. Or not.
If you’re out in the sun, wear something to keep from burning but otherwise cut it so that you don’t look like Bozo or have a mullet. And for fuck sakes never, never, ever do a comb over.
/hair rant.
dance around in your bones
@handsmile:
I had forgotten all the good movies Neil Jordan made (like I said, I was out of the country for a good while/no TV/no $ for movies). Thanks for the reminders!
(I want a haircut like Audrey Tatou. My hair is down to the small of my back and a pain sometimes to take care of).
P.S. I think the Greenwald wars are over, and there is always the option of skipping those stupid threads. They are always the same, anyway. Read one, read them all.
Omnes Omnibus
Local public TV is about to start a Leonard Cohen concert. Woohoo.
Matt
Brought to us by the Department of Redundancy Department, since CPAC is basically an all-zombie(ideas/people)-all-the-time kind of affair. FFS, they had CARIBOU BARBIE speaking…
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
I love Leonard Cohen! Which local TV is showing this?
I guess I should just dial around.
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones: Wisconsin. Pledge month and it is one of the only non-appalling things they have had on.
something fabulous
@Gin & Tonic: et al:
Isn’t it funny that this statistic would be *less* suspicious if it were just a bit higher? Like, say…
27%?
handsmile
@dance around in your bones:
Fortunately I was otherwise engaged for much of the day, but returning home tonight I was astonished to discover that a single tweet (plus later updates) from Greenwald had so convulsed this blog.
You might want to keep a look out for this new book about Leonard Cohen, written by his official biographer Sylvie Simmons: “I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen.” Here’s an unlikely appreciation by Ahmed Rashid, imo the best English-language journalist on Pakistan and Central Asia:
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/nov/15/why-i-love-leonard-cohen/
And finally, how is it that you know Farsi? (way cool!)
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, searched all around – no Leonard Cohen (there’s YouTube for that!) and ended up on Before Night Falls just because of Javier Bardem (sigh).
We’ll see.
dance around in your bones
@handsmile:
Lived in Afghanistan for some years (it’s called Dari there, but close enough to Farsi) and picked it up there. At least enough to get around in the market and insult some guy by telling him his dick was like a peanut – (he’d insulted me first).
This was back in the 70’s when life was pretty good there. No Taliban or terrorists, they still had a king and we could freely travel around the country.
It was a good place to live. My kid went to first grade there. The American Ambassador (Adolph Dubs) who lived right across the street from us got assassinated on Valentine’s Day ’79 and things went downhill from there.
Well, I guess you know the rest. Curfews, soldiers and tanks on every street corner; got too dangerous, had to take off with the kid.
It is so damn sad what has happened to that beautiful country.
mai naem
Nixon might have been a scumball but surely Cheney would be considered worse. At least Nixon formed the EPA and was for some form of National healthcare and he did preside over the end of the war versus Cheney for whom there is never a bad war.
handsmile
@dance around in your bones:
Thanks very much for your reply and for sharing that glimpse of a fascinating part of your life. Was your time in Afghanistan related to employment/partner/serendipity? (should you care to say)
Also, having read your commentary here for about two years, I must say it comes as no surprise to learn that not putting up with shit from men has long been part of your admirable character. :)
dance around in your bones
@handsmile:
My husband and I had a business importing carpets and artifacts from that area. We had lots of friends who did the same thing – and they came from about every country in the world. It was a very exciting time until it got too dangerous to stay there.
I got out with my kid just before the Soviets invaded; my husband got stuck there for over a year. I still remember standing in a Chinese import shop at the time (in California) and hearing (over some intercom radio)that the Soviets had invaded AFG. I remember thinking ‘this is NOT good’. Well, it wasn’t.
Still, I would not exchange that experience for anything. Life! You gotta live it!
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones: Write this shit down. In. A. Memoir. Damn. It.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, Omnes – I will. Some day. I appreciate you guys urging me to write it down.
To me and most of my (admittedly weird) friends it was just life as usual. I don’t think I have ever realized how weird/exotic it seems to other people.
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones: Well, I thought that, from my vaguely upper middle class/academic-bohemian background, I lived a reasonably interesting life, but I am a suburban accountant in comparison to you.
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
Everyone’s life is interesting in some way. It’s kinda like the opening lines to Anna Karenina.
Ruckus
@dance around in your bones:
That’s much better than thinking one’s normal, average, boring life is weird/exotic.
And telling everyone about it.
dance around in your bones
@Ruckus:
Oh gawd, I know some people who drone on and on and on about the most mundane things and expect me to be interested.
Still, I feign interest, just to be polite.
Ruckus
@dance around in your bones:
Occasionally there may be a point to be made with someone’s normal life experiences. Can’t think of any examples but still.
I usually just fall asleep. That shuts them up.
Ruckus
@dance around in your bones:
I find it strange that in the US so many can’t seem to understand there is a whole world out there with people who speak different languages and live in different time zones/hemispheres, let alone have lives that might be completely different than theirs. There really is a huge part of the US population that qualifies as the Ugly American. And we don’t even have to leave home to experience them.
dance around in your bones
@Ruckus: Well, that’ll do it.
I have this early conditioning that makes me try to be polite. Even if I’m bored to tears.
However, my family has always called me Loud Mouth Lime, so I guess I fail in that regard from time to time. Deal with it, suckers!
eta: I have said on here before that at least a year’s traveling after high school would benefit ‘Murkans so much. There’s a whole world out there, folks! Experience it!
Yutsano
@dance around in your bones: Do better: get a ghost writer. Then you have him/her get the stories down on paper (which can be the hardest part of writing) then you go back and edit from there. I bet even a couple of BJers would be willing to help you with that.
dance around in your bones
@Yutsano: You think?
I’ve always been told I’m a good writer. I just have a complex about sharing my stories, except with people I trust, and anonymously, like here.
Plus, there are issues with illegal – ahem – acts. I don’t need any alphabet agencies involved.
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones: Publishers will consult with lawyers to determine whether statutes of limitations have passed. If so, no prob. If not, leave it out.
Yutsano
@dance around in your bones: Most statutes of limitations are most likely long gone, so I think you’re good. Otherwise there are even ways of shading details to keep any law & order types from breathing down your neck.
And honestly if you’re not careful some BJer is going to novelise you. :)
dance around in your bones
@Omnes Omnibus:
I don’t think I need any lawyers to tell me what to leave out :)
I just have to self-edit and be careful what I spill in public. Or make it fiction, I guess.
@Yutsano – there are some statues of limitation that never expire. Now, see , I have already said too much.
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones: Off the top of my head, homicide is the only one. If that is a concern, DO NOT FUCKING POST AND/OR WRITE ABOUT IT. Just sayin’.
dance around in your bones
Just want to clarify that I have never murdered anybody or even inflicted bodily harm on a single living soul, in case y’all are worried.
I’m talking more about illicit substances. And that’s all I’ma gonna say about that.
Omnes Omnibus
@dance around in your bones: For that, the SOL has probably expired.
Tehanu
From the linked story:
These people have no self-awareness, do they? Also, was I the only person who noticed that the Table of Ties displayed the 20 or so most boring ties ever designed?