With FSM as my witness, I opened this post with the intention of writing something, and then the dogs barked, I went outside, came back in, and had completely forgotten what I wanted to talk about.
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Villago Delenda Est
Don’t worry, John. Happens to me all the time. I walk into the kitchen, open a door, and forget what it was I was about to take out.
We’re both going senile. No biggie.
What were you talking about anyways?
Antonius
Perhaps folly? The madness of crowds? Khan?
Groucho48
Something about mustard, I think.
trollhattan
Something to do with delicious mustard?
ETA Grrroucho!
Josie
You are much too young for that sort of thing, John. I find that when it happens to me, however, if I retrace my steps prior to the forgetting, it generally comes back to me (if that makes any sense).
wmd
@Groucho48:
Definitely mustard, perhaps with diamonds and rust.
Suffern ACE
Sex. It all has to do with sex. Or the workings of gnomes. Or both. One way or another, you were about to turn the conversation that way.
sb
That’s okay, John. I just turned 50… and I “forget” to exercise almost every day. :)
Yatsuno
@wmd: The mustard is a lie. Tunch has it until he gets his ahi. Every night.
PsiFighter37
You’re probably distracted because of your sudden hunger, only to realize your pets ate your immaculately prepared dinner.
I just came back from a 4.5 mile run. Goddamn I hate running in NYC during the summer…way too humid. Unfortunately that half marathon in 2.5 months ain’t going to run itself.
Speaking of which…SEATTLITES! Who is around on July 13th or 14th? No promises that I can do this (I’m traveling with a buddy of mine, and I don’t want to cramp his style), but if I am free, what are thoughts of doing drinks at Pike Brewing Company? Holler back at me at [email protected] if there’s potential interest.
Comrade Mary
Menopause. Next, you lose your nouns.
Josie
Sort of OT, but has anyone else noticed the vast amounts of irony in the headlines from Newsmax today? I mean I know they are always fairly ridiculous, but today just really takes the cake, particularly the ones from Cardinal Dolan and Jeb Bush.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suffern ACE: Why do you mention sex and gnomes so close together? Is there something you want to tell us?
geg6
@Comrade Mary:
Heh. So true.
Villago Delenda Est
@Josie:
Another pair of maggots whose heads would look much better on pikes than on their shoulders.
Suffern ACE
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m just trying to guess what Cole might have been thinking about before he got distracted. I’m no good with empathy, but I try.
Yatsuno
@PsiFighter37: Things shall get arranged and frontpaged. Let me check the calendar and see what we can do here.
A Saturday-Sunday tends to be good timing for the meet-up things. I’ll do some plotting and coordinating with an FPer. Pike Brewing is a decent spot to pick. I think we got this one dude.
jeffreyw
Mmm… BELT
Botsplainer, fka Todd
Everything positive about Snowden is collapsing under the incompetence of Glenn Greenwald.
It would be funnier than shit if he transits to Cuba, and Raul Castro shoved his ass through the gate into Guantanamo.
JWL
Don’t you see? The dogs were warning you not to embarrass them (by extension) yet again.
And this time, it worked.
different-church-lady
@Comrade Mary: “The idea is to make it somebody else’s problem.”
Words to live by.
schrodinger's cat
You were going to post a Live Action TunchCam.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
@Suffern ACE:
1) I love my pets
2) I hate you commenters
3) tell me what to watch on TV
It’s not that hard.
Rob_in_Hawaii
I was gonna say something snarky like, “Maybe you left it outside!” But I think Josie is right, if you do go back outside you might just find it by putting yourself into the same state of mind — your surroundings at the time of your thought might unlock that door to your memory.
PsiFighter37
@Yatsuno: Good stuff. Even if my availability is slight, it’s literally across the street from where I’m staying (Four Seasons) – so can pop in at the very least.
Someone should bring green balloons, that worked much better than my ‘I’m not awesome, I’m drunk’ t-shirt identifier in LA.
different-church-lady
@Botsplainer, fka Todd:
Sure, except for the bits that Snowden is crushing on his own.
Here’s hoping he’s revised his opinion of who ought to get shot in the balls. I’m pretty sure Putin wouldn’t turn down the job at this point.
JPL
@Groucho48: Scalia mentioned something about the next shoe dropping. Maybe the Mr. mustard found a better match..
different-church-lady
Speaking of Glenn, apparently he’s thinking that now that we ain’t got a DOMA he might return from overseas and start trolling us directly from US soil again.
Yatsuno
@PsiFighter37: We can figure out timings and such as things evolve. But for now we’ll tentatively say the 13th at Pike Brewery. Good news is there’s lots of parking around there available so that won’t be an issue.
Violet
Since it’s an open thread, Governor Rick Perry has called a special session of the Texas legislature starting Monday. The abortion issue will be back on the table.
Spaghetti Lee
I’m pretty sure you were going to write about how lovable and intelligent all us commenters are, and how you’d never wish hot bloody death on any of us.
lojasmo
@Yatsuno:
Since we’re on the topic of seattle and meetups, wifey and I are thinking about a weekend trip to seattle later this summer/fall.
If there’s anything shaping up, hit me on facebook so I can book appropriate tickets.
Botsplainer, fka Todd
@different-church-lady:
Where’s he planning to find clients? Everybody knows that if you say “incompetent douchebag dilletante lawyer” into a mirror three times, Greenwald appears to call you an idiot who doesn’t have the constitutional knowledge that he does.
Just Some Fuckhead
How long until we find out John Cole was in the pr0n bidness?
Mike in NC
@Josie: Bush #41 was an idiot and Bush #43 was a disaster/dry drunk/fucking war criminal, but the media will go out of its’ way to build up the next member of the Bush crime family.
Yatsuno
@lojasmo: I’ll have to look up when Bumbershoot is when I get home. I think that could be quite the blast for you two. Then we can figure out meet-up type locales at that point. There’s a German beer hall on Capitol Hill I’ve been dying to try.
Violet
@Yatsuno: Isn’t Bumbershoot always over Labor Day weekend? Just checked, and yes, it is.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Violet:
Fucking brilliant….and it’s likely that another epic filibuster like on Tuesday will be allowed. Nope, gotta outlaw abortion NOW NOW NOW FUCKING NOW….if the GOP put as much effort into actually helping the fucking economy as they did wanting to ensure women only had the rights to be incubators, we wouldn’t have a fucking financial crisis.
Baud
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Not long enough.
Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)
ADD anyone?
I can’t tell you how much more sense my whole life makes since my wife made me go get psychoeducational testing and I found out I have ADD. Ladybigs are cool. Did you know some ladybugs are black with red spots? It’s true. Ladybugs eat aphids. I think they eat other things, too, but I don’t know what. I’m in the mood for some watermelon. I think I’ll go have a big old chunk of watermelon. It’s best when it’s cold. Looks like my wife painted her toes lately. Ah, well, I need to get that watermelon.
Yatsuno
@Violet: If so that definitely works for me since that’s also a furlough weekend (so far, they might pull one back) and I can be around to play and stuff. The other event I was thinking of was the Bite of Seattle.
Suffern ACE
@different-church-lady: it’s too late for me now to switch sides. I was on the fence about snowden. One day liking him the next hating him. But David Gregory’s behavior on Sunday has flipped me for good. I hope GG and his husband move to DC next to David Gregory and piss on his steps every morning.
lojasmo
Has Ted & Helen been around to gaysplain about how rejoicing over the SCOTUS decision makes us center-right douchebags?
lojasmo
@Yatsuno:
End of August/Early September.
ranchandsyrup
I’m down in S. Cackaclacky for bizness. Things went well. Been really enjoying the town (Greenville). Had some good BBQ and caught a minor league game.
Today at lunch the restaurant had the Trayvon Martin case on the teevee. This prompted some loud racist comments from the next table. I scoffed a little too loud and had to endure the rest of lunch under withering racist stares. Oops. Forgot where I was. Didn’t get jumped but I checked my 6 a few times when leaving to make sure.
Comrade Dread
Ah, John, you’re older than a… than a… ah, hell, what was I saying?
BethanyAnne
“A player on the Cleveland Browns was arrested for ‘attempted’ murder, proving once again that the Patriots are better at everything.”
h/t https://twitter.com/GuyEndoreKaiser/status/350060233646809088
Suffern ACE
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: I think the rules for the next filibuster are different. I thought I read it needs to be a different person and last longer. Eventually they will run out if folks to filibuster and it will pass. But I hope they can keep it up as long as possible.
beltane
@Botsplainer, fka Todd:
I’m not sure why, but this reminds me of some advice I got from a friend’s father back in high school which was to never look in a mirror while on LSD.
Spaghetti Lee
@BethanyAnne:
If a guy on the Bears tried to murder someone, it would go great til he got about halfway through then he’d suddenly trip over his own dick and let the victim get away.
mdblanche
Barbara Buono has a new ad out. Let’s just say the theme isn’t party unity.
Spaghetti Lee
@ranchandsyrup:
Never heard ‘Cackalacky’ before. Wonder how you get from ‘Carolina’ to that, linguistically speaking.
And you’re totally right to be scared of South Carolinians. Those people, you know. Predisposed to violence. Yep. Read it in a science book.
eemom
here, lemme help you:
was the post title.
PaulW
You wanted to talk about how great it is that civil unions and marriages are open to all.
You wanted to talk about Mandela’s impact on history.
You wanted to talk about the seriousness of the Trayvon Martin trial and how trivial and foolish it seems that Zimmerman’s defense opened with a knock-knock joke.
You wanted to talk about the failure of government to maintain and ensure voting rights for all, not just with a stronger VRA that a conservative SCOTUS couldn’t overturn but a full-on amendment spelling out in no uncertain terms that every American has a right to vote.
You wanted to talk about the shattering of the conch shell and the… okay, I’ll stop.
mdblanche
@different-church-lady: That’s funny; I always thought people fled away from police states.
ranchandsyrup
@Spaghetti Lee: I heard it in hip hop lyrics. Here’s a linky that attempts to explain: http://www.word-detective.com/2010/09/cakalacky/
muddy
@efgoldman: Best of all they showed it on the CBS Evening News, surprising me. It would be great if the SCLM figured out that there is scandal and controversy galore in ripping on Republicans for a change.
Gwangung
Ghah. I’m producing a show in July…weekends are shot….unless folks actually want to meet AT the show…..
Comrade Mary
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.): Watermelon. (Wait for it.)
Yatsuno
@efgoldman: Bah. That CBS article isn’t digesting on the work computer. I’ll just have to see what I can opine on when I get home.
muddy
@Josie:
I read recently why that happens. Apparently you go through a “doorway” in your mind as well when you leave a room etc, your mind puts a separation there. Then you have to go back to the prior loading point if you are not paying a lot of attention. The one I hate is when I forget what I am talking about mid-sentence. You can tell if you need to remember it by the eagerness of your audience to help you recover. :-)
Regarding nouns, what is it with them? First proper nouns, and then ridiculous ones. “You know, the wood thing, you sit on it at at the table…” “CHAIR?” “Right, chair, thanks.” derpety derp I never forget verbs. Is there a brain study on that?
different-church-lady
@Just Some Fuckhead: One thing you can say about that Greenwald: he sure does know how to pick quality people to team up with!
A Ghost To Most
@lojasmo:
You are not to say Voldemort; then he can find you
Suzanne
So one of my friends posted this as his Facebook status:
“In honor of marriage equality, when I masturbate tonight, I will imagine I am married to the guy.”
I have nothing better to say that that, like, EVER.
I have to get a root canal tomorrow. Still don’t know if I passed my test.
different-church-lady
@Suffern ACE: Why on earth couldn’t you come around to the idea that both Greenwald and Gregory are awful?
Botsplainer, fka Todd
@different-church-lady:
If you notice, they tend to be odd right wingers.
Linnaeus
Dude, if my head weren’t already screwed on, I’d have lost it long ago.
Yatsuno
@efgoldman: OT no. Night differential yes. Tell me how this makes any sort of sense. And oh yeah we MIGHT get offered OT because we’re so short-staffed that we have extra labour units to use up. Yeah, I don’t get that maths either.
beltane
@different-church-lady: Like Jane Hamsher and Grover Norquist. It’s the whole enemy of my enemy is playing me for a fool ethos.
max
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS) says:
1) I love my pets
2) I hate you commenters
3) tell me what to watch on TV
It’s not that hard.
You forgot ‘4) I injured myself’ and ‘5) Where’s the mustard?’ … which should be a tagline in a new Wendy’s commercial.
@different-church-lady: Speaking of Glenn, apparently he’s thinking that now that we ain’t got a DOMA he might return from overseas and start trolling us directly from US soil again.
I assume he’s either planning on being arrested or assuming his journo status protects him. Interesting theory.
max
[‘That would not be a wise move on his part, but he apparently assumes bad things don’t happen to nice people or something.’]
lamh35
Liberal fanboys fav Jersey boy guv’nr does NOT agree with equality for all. Whocoodanode?
Christie says court’s ruling on DOMA “was wrong”
Chris
@lamh35:
Ladies and gentlemen, behold the face of what nowadays passes for “a moderate/reasonable/Very Serious Republican.”
Josie
@muddy: You are reading my mind! Seriously, I used to worry about it. My mother is in late stage Alzheimer’s, so I get worried about winding up like her. But I understand this type of forgetting is very common later in life and not the same kind of forgetting as Alzheimer’s. It can be very embarrassing in conversation with people you don’t know well. My boys are used to it and finish my sentences without a second thought.
Patricia Kayden
@Botsplainer, fka Todd: LOL! But you know that will never happen.
Patricia Kayden
@different-church-lady: Wouldn’t that be nice. He’d be blessing us with his extra special presence.
Suffern ACE
@different-church-lady: there are at least 112 things horribly wrong with this country and GG is somewhere around 217, which means on a good day, he’s not a danger to himself or to others. Gregory on MTP would be 43.
Baud
@lamh35:
Good. I hate when people think they can find a “reasonable” Republican they can work with.
Chris
@efgoldman:
Either that or they’ve all become reasonable Democrats.
different-church-lady
@Suffern ACE: Using star magnitude as an analogy, Gregory is a constant 4 or so, whereas GG is an eruptive variable anywhere from 12 to -2.
However, he may have just gone supernova.
ranchandsyrup
@efgoldman: I know a lot of people that think they are reasonable republicans. They eschew Fox and the GOP as a whole and think the neocons and Tea Party went too far. But still agree with the stances of Fox, neocons and the Tea Party. They’re just embarrassed GOPers.
beltane
@efgoldman: It’s true. I also live in New England and the charming cemetery down the road is full of over a century’s worth of reasonable Republicans. There may still be a few left in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The rest of them have mostly lost their minds.
Baud
@Chris: @efgoldman:
The contortions some people go through to avoid supporting a D are mind-boggling.
Suzanne
My Facebook feed is saying Nelson Mandela passed away.
Suffern ACE
Chris Cuomo and Bristol Palin on TV are about 95 on the list, although he will pass her soon. Seriously, GG is not half the problem that Chris Cuomo will be, even if GG were to link the secret codes to the our nuclear subs so that Hamas could take control of them using basic cable remote controls.
SiubhanDuinne
@muddy:
I’ve told this story before, but you remind me that when my stepmother was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, she told my dad that whenever she couldn’t remember a word, instead of fumbling for it she would just say “farmer” and continue with her sentence. This worked well for many months.
One night the phone rang. My father answered, talked for a few minutes to the family friend who had called, and hung up. “Who was that on the phone?” asked stepmom. “It was Susan Farmer,” my dad said. Without missing a beat, my stepmother said, “What’s wrong with her? Doesn’t she know her own name?”
lamh35
@Suzanne: I’ve been hearing the same thing, but nothing official or confirmed since the “life support” update.
I think it’s short for time, but damn, I sure do hate how people seem to want to rush the info. At least for once the MSM isn’t rushing to declare anything.
burnspbesq
@Yatsuno:
Labor Day Weekend. Death Cab for Cutie on Sunday. I’m dropping the kid off at school the previous Thursday, and toying with the idea of sticking around.
Baud
@efgoldman:
I didn’t mean you. I’m talking about people in general.
Suffern ACE
My good friend’s son gave him some bad news. He wants to go to college in New York and is excited about the New School or NYU. We are assuming that he plans to bankrupt his father and end up in the poorhouse himself.
Botsplainer, fka Todd
Incompetent.
Abrasive.
In debt.
Glenn Greenwald. :D
Baud
@efgoldman:
My treat.
different-church-lady
@Botsplainer, fka Todd: I sooooo want to join this pig pile, but it’s starting to seem indecent. Like kicking a guy in a wheelchair.
mdblanche
@lamh35: Alternatively, you can Stand with Rand™ as he steps in some santorum.
Suzanne
Is anyone else having the experience of their anti-equality acquaintances/friends/family/colleagues being VERY QUIET today? I am certainly not suggesting that homophobia disappeared, but at least it seems to now be considered shameful and backward to be open about it in mixd company.
Botsplainer, fka Todd
@different-church-lady:
His fifteen minutes are done. For Glenn, it’ll be hours of getting kicked in the junk, the kicker using cleats.
Next up, they’ll track his former business partners to debunk his spin.
Flying Squirrel Girl
RIP Nelson Mandela.
Paddy
I sent this along to Cole because of pic #4, but the link is full of win. Unusual Cakes
GregB
Cole, are you entering your Fred Thompson selling reverse mortgage stage of senility?
Suffern ACE
@different-church-lady: well if you don’t want to be accused of shooting the messenger, perhaps you should keep your gun on the rack.
The “snowden said something different online in 2009 and once a gold bug always a goldbug” and “GG isn’t a good businessman” aren’t really cutting it.
You know that Ellsburg fellow was seeing a shrink?
Keith
Just got The Prisoner in the mail today. One of the coolest series ever made. Weird as hell, but one of my favorites. Since I’m not as hooked on True Blood as I was, it’s nice to have something to keep me occupied for the next few days.
different-church-lady
@Suffern ACE: Oh believe me, neither of those two needs my help shooting themselves in the foot.
BethanyAnne
@Spaghetti Lee: Heh.
Yatsuno
@burnspbesq: Ye should. That’s a furlough weekend plus nothing says we can’t do something huge with a few visitng folk that weekend as well. Only thing is I might be doing my walk-through and may need a lawyer somewhere handy. And there is the slight possiblity you could meet my mom. :)
Odie Hugh Manatee
I have to admit that the SC ruling DOMA as unconstitutional and the Prop 8 plaintiffs had no standing today has affected me even though I am a hetero. While watching the news regarding this and listening to the winners in both cases, I find that I am happy for them.
So yes, it has affected me personally. :)
A guy on LO’s show referred to his departed gay big brother as “my big gay brother”.
Made me lol.
Suzanne
@Odie Hugh Manatee: That’s because you are not a douche.
I am consistently amazed how not being a douche is still an insurmountable obstacle for so many people.
beltane
@Suzanne: Yes, I have been waiting all day for my few evangelical acquaintances to post their usual stuff on FB but so far nothing. Perhaps they are all planning to emigrate to a godlier country like Saudi Arabia.
Redshirt
Cole was thinking about True Blood, some stupid shit like “What if a vampire and a werewolf had a kid and then THAT kid had a kid with a witch, and then that kid married Sookie and had kids, what would those kids be like?”
Felonius Monk
Cole, I wanted to say something to you, but um . . . um . . . I forgot what it was!
MikeJ
Pittsburgh trails Seattle 0-0 in the top of the 4th,
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Suzanne:
Thanks, I’m trying to get over not being a douche but it’s tough. ;)
@MikeJ:
I think you mean that Seattle is trailing Pittsburgh 0-0 in the top of the fourth.
sparky
@Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.): This is your mind on drugs.
Another Halocene Human
M.I.A. Bring the Noize is the new hotness.
Another Halocene Human
@efgoldman: Sargent was a Republican? Hot damn.
Jebediah
@mdblanche:
I’d prefer to stand on rand, preferably in some quicksand. But in honor of his concerns and today’s ruling, I am going to ask one of my dogs if they want to get opposite-married to me.
kindness
John, they’re called ‘brain farts’. Happens. More to stoners and old Deadheads but, uh….oh, yea. Never mind.
Enjoy.
Villago Delenda Est
@lamh35:
Christie’s got to get his street cred burnished up for KlownKar ’16, you know.
RobertDSC-PowerMac 466
I’m dialing in an new/old Mac. Picked it up for $25. It’s a Power Mac G4 1.25Ghz DP machine. The sucker was filthy when I opened it up, so I had to clean and air it out. Then when I turned it on, it had kernel panics. The usual startup tricks didn’t work, so I attached a FireWire cable to it and my G5 Dual and installed 10.4 Tiger onto it. The updates are done and I’m about to start loading programs on it.
This machine, if it lasts, will be my backup machine. The G5 Dual is still the main Mac.
RobertDSC-PowerMac 466
And regarding today’s DOMA bit, I’m glad for my gay friends. It’s a bright spot after the fuckup yesterday with the VRA.
I hate the GOP so damn much.
Jebediah
@RobertDSC-PowerMac 466:
Kernel panic! I haven’t seen one of those in a long time. I always thought it was one of the funnier-named errors.
? Martin
@Paddy: Wow, cake #4 is really well done.
trollhattan
@Flying Squirrel Girl:
I can’t find any news on this; where did you hear it?
Another Halocene Human
@mdblanche: ooo, I think I need to dump some change in just to fux some shit up
Another Halocene Human
@RobertDSC-PowerMac 466: Agreed, but the VRA ruling was nothing like a fuckup. It was a deliberate, malicious assault on democracy and civil society.
handsmile
@Suzanne: @Flying Squirrel Girl:
Where are you finding this update on Mandela?
Just before typing this, I checked the Guardian, the BBC, and Al-Jazeera and none are reporting he’s passed. AJ’s latest update is that he is now on life support, and the Guardian is reporting that President Jacob Zuma has cancelled a trip to Mozambique after visiting with the critically ill Mandela today.
trollhattan
F*cking global warming; how does it work?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/26/196024443/after-drifting-for-hours-on-arctic-ice-floe-20-tourists-are-safe
Poopyman
@trollhattan: Boy, there’s some serious edit fail just in that excerpt you posted.
MaryJane
@trollhattan:
They woke up to find themselves floating away? Criminy, wouldn’t a huge chunk of ice breaking off underneath you make some noise?
Chris
@ranchandsyrup:
Yeah, I think that describes a lot of the East Coast Establishment of the GOP, and the voters from that area, not to mention many of the professional “centrists” and other Very Serious People. They don’t really disagree with the GOP, and will always side with them over Democrats. But they’re still embarrassed by the heartland voter base of the GOP, and look down on them to some extent. The heartlanders sense this on some level, but misattribute it to all these people being “liberals” and “RINOs.”
@Baud:
I know, right? I notice that even with a lot of people I know who left the GOP in disgust throughout the Bush years, but rather than crossing the aisle, chose to become apathetic, or professional centrists, or join some fringe loonies like Ron Paul. Admitting that they’re wrong is one thing, but admitting that the DFHs they’ve defined their entire political career by hating might have been right, that’s just too humiliating to contemplate.
RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual
@Jebediah:
It seems that there were two problems with this Mac:
1)it was the RAM
or
2) there were 3 aftermarket cards installed. I took all 3 cards out and am in the process of figuring out what RAM is good and what RAM is bad. This machine could be a keeper if it doesn’t melt down.
eemom
@handsmile:
The Mandela premature RIPs have been going on for days now, both on and off FB. Never seen anything like it. Effed up shit.
MikeJ
@RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual: Can’t you just boot memtest on it?
trollhattan
@Poopyman:
The what, reportedly, broke, what, where?
My mad editing skilz might still have market value, after all.
trollhattan
@MaryJane:
Must have been open bar that night. Come to think of it, they probably don’t have night right now so…continuous open bar!
Chris
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
Beyond what it does for gay people – it gives me hope in a broader sense. I’m 25; I came to political awareness during the Bush years, decades after the Southern Strategy and the destruction of the liberal consensus reshaped out landscape. The country’s been defined by conservatives for far too long on every issue… and gay marriage is the first time in my lifetime that I’ve actually seen the tide of public opinion change substantively on an issue, from liberal to conservative. Even five years ago, if you’d told me we’d ever come this far this quickly, I’d have said you’re on drugs; the best I would’ve hoped for would’ve been a repeal of DADT, maybe, during the next Democratic president’s last couple years in office when it was safe and sound.
I was wrong and am glad I was. If the “arc” can “bend towards justice” on this, maybe if can on other things too.
Mark B
@Violet:
The Texas Senate has had a tradition of requiring a 2/3rds vote to advance a bill to debate. They ignored this tradition for the first special session due to the fact that redistricting was teh only subject that was on the agenda and they traditionally ignore the 2.3rds rule for redistricting bills. Perry added the abortion bill to the session when the redistricting started to flounder about 2 weeks in. The absence of a ‘blocker bill’ is what allowed the abortion bill to get through the senate in the first place, since it would never have gotten more than 20 of the 31 votes. There are 12 democrats, but Lucio, who is pro life would probably vote for the bill since he is anti-abortion.
Lucio ended up working with the pro-choice faction, because he disagreed with some of the procedural moves that Lt. Gov. Dewhurst pulled to try and ram the bill through without respecting the rules and traditions of the Senate. Senator Van De Putte was attending the funeral of her father and Dewhurst attempted to use her absence to give him the margin he needed to have a 2/3rds vote to suspend the rules and ram the bill through without allowing the normal amount of time between readings.
When you add up the sleazy tactics, the willful misinterpretation of the rules, the fact that the members were not allowed to properly appeal the improper application of the rules, it was a complete clusterfuck for Dewhurst. He almost singlehandedly destroyed the tradition of the Senate, by not respecting the rules or the members. The institution lays in shambles now, and I don’t know if it will ever be respected again. Certainly not while he leads it.
But my point is, will the Senate respect their traditions and have a blocker bill for this next special session? If they do, and it takes a 2.3rds vote to take a bill to the floor, the abortion bill is D.O.A. I don’t think the republicans will allow that, but if they do not follow tradition with the blocker bill, then the institution will be further degraded. Texas politics has always been ugly, but this is bloodsport, and it’s vicious and base and disgusting.
RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual
@MikeJ:
I know much about building Power PC Macs, but I’ve never been able to master the Unix underpinnings. I’m doing the RAM test by pulling out and installing what I have.
I remember the first time I had a kernel panic on my oldest PowerBook G4. I nearly lost my mind as the machine spewed data across the screen and I didn’t know what was going on. It was very strange for someone who has spent most of their time in the Mac GUI, both under OS X and OS 9.
I took the aftermarket cards out and the machine was able to boot via FireWire. I have no real use for the cards, so I’ll just leave them out.
This is the fifth Mac I’ve brought to life since last December. 2 iMac G5s have crashed and burned (though I purposefully bought them in poor shape hoping to do a little workaround), an eMac G4 which my parents borrowed from me before getting their late 2012 iMac, the G5 dual processor, and now this G4 dual processor. I’ve also converted my old G4 466 into a file server with 500 GB of space inside. It stores my music and ripped movies. The Mac’s built in sharing software enables me to play the movie files anywhere in the house that is on the network.
MikeJ
@Chris: Remember when Obama annouced that he had changed his mind and was now in favor of marriage equality? The Republicans were quick to say, “he’s just doing it to get votes!”
Speaking out in favor of gay rights was viewed by Republicans as something that would appeal to more voters than bigotry. The war has already been won, even if it takes years more to get to a cease fire.
MikeJ
@RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual: This page will tell you how to run memtest. On a computer with intermittent problems I’ll just set it up to run overnight.
eemom
@Chris:
[headdesk]
Sheeyit. As your long lost great grandmother, I demand you stop wasting your time in this virtual nursing home and go out and do something I would totally go out and do if I could remember what it was after I left the house.
Suzanne
@handsmile: One of my friends posted a link from the Guardian saying that he was taken off life support and died, but now when I look at the Guardian’s page, it says he’s still on life support.
Chris
@eemom:
About to climb a
mountainmild hill, only half an hour to go up, but it does afford a lovely view of the town. Hope that meets your approval, grandma! :DMsskwesq
@Comrade Mary: that is not a myth either, I had a hysterectomy at age 32 and noticed a real memory issue with nouns, esp names.
MaryJane
@trollhattan:
Heh. At least they have plenty of ice.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Chris:
If someone had told me ten years ago that we would have a black president, that DOMA would be ruled unconstitutional, that marijuana would be legal in some states, the same with same sex marriage, I would have told them to see a psych. Shit changes. Sometimes abruptly and with little warning. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Yesterday was a bad day (section 4 of the VRA ruling) and today was a very good day.
One aside: I don’t know why conservatives are worried about people marrying animals. After all, their spouses have married jackasses.
Ted & Hellen
Hey John, can we have a thread about the blatant perjury going on in the Zimmerman show trial?
aangus
@Suzanne:
http://guardianlv.com/2013/06/nelson-mandela-life-support-shut-down-as-respected-humanitarian-dies-age-94/
Guardian Express, not the regular(?) edition.
mclaren
Hey, Cole, thanks for tuning me on to True Blood. After reading your paean to it, checked it out, and now I’m hooked too. Good call!
dance around in your bones
Ok, I was going to post a really relevant comment in regards to Cole’s premature oldtimer’s, but I just noticed Galaxy Quest is coming on and I am compelled to watch it once again.
What?
max
@MikeJ: This page will tell you how to run memtest. On a computer with intermittent problems I’ll just set it up to run overnight.
Or just go for the bootable ISO at http://www.memtest.org/.
max
[‘They should all work from version 2.01 forward, but 2.01 will definitely work.’]
? Martin
@aangus:
It’s ‘Express’ because it’s from the future.
MikeJ
@? Martin: And is in no way related to the actual Grauniad. Some shit rag from Las Vegas.
Suzanne
@aangus: Yes, that’s the link I’ve seen being shared. But the regular Guardian page says he’s on life support.
aangus
@Suzanne:
MikeJ is, of course, correct.
Suzanne
@aangus: cool.
If you’ll notice, all I said was
TCG
@Ted & Hellen: Don’t worry. The near all white jury will let Zimmerman go and he can then go on to live his life in hiding Casey Anthony style. That is until Trayvon’s parents successfully sue him in civil court.
Suzanne
WTF. I hate this iPad site.
Anyway, I was just going to point out that I was merely reporting what I had heard but did not present it as fact.
Comrade Mary
@Msskwesq: And poor John has never had a uterus at all. He never stood a chance.
RobertDSC-PowerMac G5 Dual
@MikeJ:
Thanks.
After some testing, I found that the RAM that the Mac came with was OK. I added one extra set and now the Mac has 1.25 GB of RAM, plenty enough to run Tiger without any issues. My guess is that it was the third-party cards that was the culprit.
I’ve loaded all of my programs and desktop wallpapers and the machine is running OK right now. I’m glad because I got this thing for next to nothing.
Xenos
@Ted & Hellen: Have a link on that? I have not been following it and can’t find anything on it on google.
toschek
@John Cole –
I have to say that innate desire notwithstanding (and a bit of jealousy, I’d be embarrassed to admit, but I can’t hide it do there it goes). I adopted my girl approximately 3 years and 11 months from now. so she’s a 12 pound Chihuahua and dachshund mix she’s got a lot of energy and she’s really sweet but she’s also fearful scared and sad a lot of time. Her name was papaya at the shelter so we kept her name as pie, because it’s easy for her to remember — she’s smart and she gets into a lot of trouble but I’ll just have to say her name and she’s by my side.
Anyway, just backing up the big man here. Pie is a little lily type dog. She gets into silly little dog scrapes, but she adotres me and I love her right back in kind
Dogs are the best, not better than cats of course, but my pooch is the most important non-human entity in my life right now and I would be lost without her.
Zapruder F. Mashtots, D.D.S. (Mumphrey, et al.)
@Comrade Mary:
Yup. Worth the wait.