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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

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

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

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

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

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

The lights are all blinking red.

“Look, it’s not against the rules anywhere, but a black woman with power was dating and there has to be something wrong with that.”

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

In my day, never was longer.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Thursday Evening Open Thread

Wednesday Thursday Evening Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  November 20, 20139:15 pm| 194 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Stupidity

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@RepJackKimble "Our enemies never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." - George W. Bush

— billmon (@billmon1) November 20, 2013

Yes, “Jack Kimble” is a parody account… I think.

What’s on the agenda tonight?

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Reader Interactions

194Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodinger's cat

    November 20, 2013 at 9:18 pm

    Sleep is on the agenda for both me and this kitteh.

  2. 2.

    MikeJ

    November 20, 2013 at 9:19 pm

    Thursday?

  3. 3.

    Baud

    November 20, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    @MikeJ:

    It’s a slow time at Balloon Juice. This thread will probably be the last one until tomorrow night.

  4. 4.

    Hill Dweller

    November 20, 2013 at 9:21 pm

    Maddow is interviewing Elizabeth Warren right now.

  5. 5.

    Aji

    November 20, 2013 at 9:21 pm

    Homemade pizza. “Homemade” including the crust and sauce.

    Oh, you said agenda. Sorry; I have “menu” on the brain.

  6. 6.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    November 20, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    lol

    Great comeback.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    November 20, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    No. In about 2 minutes. She just did that NFL thing where she came back from commercial for 5 seconds and then went right back to commercial.

    I hate that.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    November 20, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    @MikeJ: It’s Thursday in Europe already.

  9. 9.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 9:24 pm

    An old and venerable parody account, that has fooled more than a few Serious journalists.

    I joined a writing site called Scribophile, where you can only submit writing if you take time to critique other people’s writings and an algorithm matches you up with people whose critiques are as detailed as yours once you’ve written enough, so it rewards putting time into your work and helping other people, which sounds good. I’ve taken a look at some of the works available for critique, though, and I’m getting a little inkling as to why editors seem to be such bitter people. Not that I’m morally opposed to ripping into lousy writing, I just want to build up a good reputation of my own first so it doesn’t look like I’m just randomly trolling.

  10. 10.

    MikeJ

    November 20, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    @dmsilev: But not Thursday evening.

  11. 11.

    Aji

    November 20, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    @efgoldman: Send me the plane tickets . . . .

  12. 12.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 9:25 pm

    See, this is how detached from reality I am. I didn’t even notice the ‘Thursday’ to make a ‘I slept through Wednesday?!’ joke.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    November 20, 2013 at 9:26 pm

    @Baud

    Blame it on the FCC, which quite some time back mandated a maximum length for commercial breaks.

    So the commercials thence became interrupted by a few seconds of programming to skirt around the limitation.

  14. 14.

    MomSense

    November 20, 2013 at 9:27 pm

    @efgoldman:

    I’m watching Doctor Who right now so I’m all for a little timey wimey here at B-J.

    Ok, so I sold my first knit wear design today. I was full of doubt about trying my hand at design but I did it anyway. Now I’m onto my next project and enjoying the dreaming and planning stage. This will never be a money maker for me because it takes time to do the knitting but it is a lot of fun.

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    November 20, 2013 at 9:28 pm

    @Hill Dweller: Squeeee! Both my lady crushes in the same frame!

  16. 16.

    jeffreyw

    November 20, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    Practice run for T-Day dinner.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    November 20, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    @NotMax:

    They got rid of those rules in the 80s.

  18. 18.

    MikeJ

    November 20, 2013 at 9:30 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee: I only noticed because I have dinner reservations for Thursday and panicked enough to check.

  19. 19.

    Peregrinus

    November 20, 2013 at 9:31 pm

    I actually used to regularly tweet/DM with the guy. From what I remember he’s some kind of public school activist in NJ – he referred to there being very little daylight between Cory Booker and Chris Christie on school issues and, when I told him I had sent pizzas to the Madison protesters, he said he’d probably be needing one soon.

    Of course, he never once broke character, and it was a beauty to watch him twist reality into pretzels to do so.

  20. 20.

    schrodinger's cat

    November 20, 2013 at 9:32 pm

    @jeffreyw: How is our Homie?

  21. 21.

    ? Martin

    November 20, 2013 at 9:33 pm

    This is a very good read on what likely happened with the healthcare.gov rollout.

    It’s not particularly favorable to this administration, but I would argue it’s not so much a critique of this administration but of government in general. Yeah, we expect Obama would do better, and he didn’t in this case, but there’s few areas of government (and not many areas of the corporate world) where this critique doesn’t apply.

  22. 22.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 9:33 pm

    Catching up on stuff on the DVR. Been running low on space and need to make room.

  23. 23.

    Hill Dweller

    November 20, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    As expected, Elizabeth Warren was fantastic. She has a populous economic message that all Dems can use to win elections.

  24. 24.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 20, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    No he’s real, Jack B. Kimble. Won in a squeaker against Jack B. Kwik.

  25. 25.

    dmsilev

    November 20, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    Sigh. Quality time this evening with some CAD software. The ever-fun job of figuring out how to squeeze too many objects into too small a space.

    And no, ‘hit everything with a hammer until it fits’ is sadly not an acceptable answer.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    November 20, 2013 at 9:35 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    She is a natural. Did you see where she was about to say, in describing the GOP’s philosophy, “I got mine, fuck you”? She checked herself, however.

  27. 27.

    jl

    November 20, 2013 at 9:35 pm

    I’ll be sure to watch for a profile of Kimble from California’s Fighten’ Fifty-Fourth on the Colber Repor.

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    November 20, 2013 at 9:36 pm

    @Aji:

    Homemade pizza. “Homemade” including the crust and sauce

    Sure, but did you make the cheese and toppings, also, too? And yes, I have made pizza with all homemade ingredients, including cheese and toppings. I even raised the crust with home-started sourdough./oneupsmanship

  29. 29.

    Aji

    November 20, 2013 at 9:38 pm

    @Roger Moore: Not the cheese. No percentage in it for me, since I have a nasty little [big] dairy allergy. His half has local organic mozz on it.

    I do do most of my cooking from scratch, though. Healthier that way.

  30. 30.

    Hill Dweller

    November 20, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    @? Martin: FWIW, during the WSJ CEO forum yesterday, PO talked about the antiquated procurement process, especially when it comes to IT, at the federal level. He also admitted they underestimated the difficulty of setting up such a big system.

    Unfortunately, PO said nothing about sabotage at the state level.

  31. 31.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 20, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    From 2010:

    Washington Post Writer Falls For Fake Congressman Twitter Account

    (“Rep. JackKimble” tweeted) “Why have the wars cost so much under Obama? Check the budgets, Bush fought 2 wars without costing taxpayers a dime”.

  32. 32.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 9:42 pm

    @Baud:

    “I got mine, fudge you.”

  33. 33.

    Cacti

    November 20, 2013 at 9:43 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Sure, but did you make the cheese and toppings, also, too? And yes, I have made pizza with all homemade ingredients, including cheese and toppings. I even raised the crust with home-started sourdough./oneupsmanship

    Well, I raise and slaughter my own pigs, and make them into pepperoni and sausage in the smokehouse out back! I also, grow, harvest, and brine my own olives, and press others for olive oil. I also own my own tomato patch in San Marzano, Italy, where I travel to make the sauce and bring it back with me.

  34. 34.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 9:43 pm

    Houston, Texas takes a step forward. Good for them:

    The city of Houston will offer health and life insurance benefits to all spouses of legally married employees, including same-sex couples, despite a voter-approved 2001 charter amendment that had banned the practice, Mayor Annise Parker announced Wednesday.
    …
    Parker said the language is plan in referring to legal marriages. Same-sex marriages conducted in any jurisdiction where the act is legal, including foreign countries, 17 states and the District of Columbia, will be recognized, she said.

    Of course same sex marriage isn’t allowed in Texas, but good for them for recognizing marriages that take place elsewhere.

  35. 35.

    Betty Cracker

    November 20, 2013 at 9:43 pm

    @Hill Dweller: She was terrific. I’m so jealous of Massholes! They get Warren, and I’m stuck with Rubio and fake astronaut Blue Dog Nelson. Pppfffttt.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    November 20, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    That would have been hilarious. I think it was something like: “The GOP’s view is ‘I got mine [short pause], the rest of you are on your own.'”

  37. 37.

    FoxinSocks

    November 20, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    What sort of writing do you do? I do YA fantasy myself.

  38. 38.

    Tommy

    November 20, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @Violet: Same here and Modern Family.

  39. 39.

    schrodinger's cat

    November 20, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Plus no cockroaches!

  40. 40.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @Cacti:

    I invented pizza.

  41. 41.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    November 20, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    @Cacti: Marry me, beautiful.

  42. 42.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 9:45 pm

    @Cacti: Ha! I make my own sun and rain.

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    November 20, 2013 at 9:45 pm

    @Cacti:

    If I had pigs or cows, I would be a vegetarian. Pigs, in particular, got some personality.

  44. 44.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    @FoxinSocks:

    I guess that’s what I’m working on right now, although I’m trying to avoid the perception of crapdom that that genre’s picked up post-Meyer. A set of adult characters who are just as important, for one, and teenage protagonists who aren’t intended to be reader ciphers.

  45. 45.

    Comrade Jake

    November 20, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    What’s the status of Reid threatening to nuke the filibuster this evening? Or is that so yesterday?

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    @dmsilev:

    some CAD software.

    What package are you using?

    Fitting 10 pounds of shit into a 5-pound bag used to be my middle name stock in trade, so I guess it’s semi-professional curiosity.

  47. 47.

    gbear

    November 20, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    @dmsilev: The offices I’ve worked in usually just use the note ‘PTF’ – Pound To Fit. The other good all purpose note when existing conditions aren’t quite clear is ‘FOOS’ – Figure Out On Site. That’s my favorite.

    I once put the note ‘Remove Dead Bat From Sink’ on the demo plan for updates to an old chapel. I later took it out but my boss put it back in for the final issue.

  48. 48.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 20, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    Looxury! We used to have to burn our own house down to smoke the pepperoni.

    Oh, we used to dream of having a “smokehouse”.

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    AL –
    Shoulda stuck to your guns on the Thursday thing, tell the naysayers to “sod off.”

  50. 50.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I once heard someone say ‘When I became a vegetarian, the last meat I gave up was chicken, because chickens are assholes.‘ (Apologies, Betty C.)

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    November 20, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    The Richmond cheetah cubs and mom are still awake. Tucked in, but babies aren’t sleepy yet.

    So now we have a Wednesday Thursday evening open thread.

  52. 52.

    Elizabelle

    November 20, 2013 at 9:50 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Too funny. What did those chickens do to him/her?

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    @gbear:

    I always liked RODPMF – “Regardless of Dimensions, Parts Must Fit”

    And when I worked for a military contractor, we’d sometimes spec out MIL-T-FPS. (Make It Like The Fucking Print Says)

  54. 54.

    Howard Beale IV

    November 20, 2013 at 9:52 pm

    @? Martin: The cold hard reality is that large IT projects that costs 9 figures or more will fail in multiple domains-always has been, always will be, due to the nature of the work.

    Outsourcing (whether you’e government or private industry) is admitting that you can’t do the work or are too cheap to do the work, and gives your a convenient scapegoat if shit hits the fan. healthcare.gov isn’t the only government IT project that shit the bed in recent history.

  55. 55.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 9:52 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Monty Python have (almost, supposed to happen tomorrow) announced a reunion performance.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 9:52 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    Funny, I wouldn’t have pegged you for a Yorkshireman.

  57. 57.

    Howard Beale IV

    November 20, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    @Elizabelle: 5 Cubs!

    That’s gotta be a record and one tired momma.

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    They get Warren,

    Now if Ed Markey would follow her lead, that would be even awesomer. (He’s a good guy, but not quite in her league.)

  59. 59.

    jeffreyw

    November 20, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Bad blood ‘tween Toby and Homer. For some reason Tobe has become very possessive of all the kitty chow and Mrs J has all she wants keeping them apart.

  60. 60.

    schrodinger's cat

    November 20, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    BTW Andrew Sullivan is now an IT expert, he was commenting about the number of lines of code that healthcare.gov needs. This from a guy who can’t calculate percentages. Bet he can’t write something as simple as a Visual Basic Macro to save his life.

  61. 61.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    @SFAW: So funny that Warren is now the Senior Senator from Massachusetts.

  62. 62.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 9:56 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    IIRC it was in the context of an article about how chickens shit constantly, and everywhere, fouling up their own nests and water supply and such, and how roosters in particular are territorial MFers who will rape any hen/try to kill any other rooster they see. As a non-farmer I wouldn’t know if chicken shit/behavior is markedly worse than other animals, but I thought the quote was funny.

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    November 20, 2013 at 9:56 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    It was an embarrassment of riches.

    She’s a really patient mom. Cubs are thriving.

  64. 64.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 9:56 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Is there anything that Andrew Sullivan isn’t an expert in? According to him, I mean.

  65. 65.

    schrodinger's cat

    November 20, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    @jeffreyw: I hope they figure it out soon. Serious Kitteh fights are no fun.

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    @Violet:
    Yeah, I noticed that right after Kerry took SecState. With any luck, she’ll be here for a long time – at least until she wins the Presidency.

  67. 67.

    Betty Cracker

    November 20, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee: Chicken slanderer! Actually, they ARE assholes to each other.

  68. 68.

    Mike in NC

    November 20, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    That Bush quote needed to be chiseled into the front of his vanity project library, the one that holds all of his coloring books.

  69. 69.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 20, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    @Violet: Oh I saw that fly by somewhere and meant to read it and forgot.

    Edit: Okay now I’ve read about it, cool. You know though, and I sort of hate to say it, but over the years I’ve decided that Graham Chapman really was the driving genius behind that group. As a group. I’m using the word genius almost in the ancient sense, it meant something like the spirit of the household (related to the word “genie”) back then.

    A remarkable collection of talents, but I think he’s what made them them.

  70. 70.

    Comrade Jake

    November 20, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Well, in his defense, what some actual IT experts are saying is not encouraging:

    http://apmblog.compuware.com/2013/11/04/diagnosing-obamacare-website-heathcare-gov-still-lacks-basic-optimizations-before-it-can-mature/

  71. 71.

    MomSense

    November 20, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    AL caved to the linear time scolds.

  72. 72.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    @SFAW: I hope she doesn’t run for President but starts what turns into a new trend of kickass progressive and populist Senators. We need plenty of those too.

  73. 73.

    FoxinSocks

    November 20, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Oh, YA is a wonderful, rich, and varied field and the community is amazing.

    Here are some links for you:

    Verla Kay aka the BlueBoard – http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php

    AbsoluteWrite Forums – http://absolutewrite.com/forums/

    These are great resources and you can commiserate with your fellow writers, get critiques, etc. I’ve been writing YA for about 7 years now. Not published yet, but maybe one day.

  74. 74.

    Comrade Jake

    November 20, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    A snippet:

    Since we did our first deep dive session on healthcare.gov we wondered if anything had changed that now makes it easier for US citizens to shop for new health insurance plans. We know from personal experiences that problems are not yet resolved. The website even went down last week again which probably led to more war rooms that could have been avoided.
    In the first analysis blog we highlighted the massive usage of 3rd party components, the lack of basic Web Performance Optimization (WPO) best practices; process intensive JavaScript and some very slow server-side AJAX requests. The question is whether any of these recommendations have been implemented yet. Spoiler Alert: NOT A WHOLE LOT HAS CHANGED :-(

  75. 75.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    @Violet:

    Person X: “You know, Andrew, between us, we know everything there is to know in the whole world.”

    Sullivan: “Really? How’s that?”

    Person X: “You know everything there is to know, except that you’re a fucking asshole, and I know that.”

  76. 76.

    Mike E

    November 20, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    @Violet:

    So funny It’s awesome that Warren is now the Senior Senator from Massachusetts.

    FTFY

  77. 77.

    Aji

    November 20, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Also, too, cannibals. Bloodthirsty little beasts. [We have four of the little feathered monsters.]

  78. 78.

    Anne Laurie

    November 20, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    @SFAW: Week’s been long enough already, without starting any more firefights!

  79. 79.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    November 20, 2013 at 10:03 pm

    @Elizabelle: If God didn’t want us to eat pigs and cows, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat.

  80. 80.

    Southern Beale

    November 20, 2013 at 10:03 pm

    Wow it appears Mike Allen’s been doing a bit of pay-for-play in his “Playbook” … so much for journalism.

  81. 81.

    Anne Laurie

    November 20, 2013 at 10:06 pm

    @Violet: Va-jay-jays. Even thinking about them gives him a case of the vapors, so he’s always eager to outsource. I mean, admit outsourcing.

  82. 82.

    Tommy

    November 20, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    Just thinking out loud. I keep hearing commercials for the Amercian Music Awards. They promote Miley Cyrus will perform, then the host says, “a night anything can happen!” I bet they hope she does something over-the-top. Off-the-wall that the Internet gets all “mad” at her.

    I don’t watch these kind of shows but it seems since the one where she pissed off so many folks she has been on everyone since.

    Either she is really smart. They are really smart. Or it is all a racket and rubes are getting played. Not sure which.

  83. 83.

    Betty Cracker

    November 20, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    @Aji: What sort do you have? We have 4 reds and 3 Australorps.

  84. 84.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 20, 2013 at 10:09 pm

    @SFAW: You’re right. 90% Irish. Including the passport.

  85. 85.

    schrodinger's cat

    November 20, 2013 at 10:09 pm

    @Elizabelle: They has a sweet!

  86. 86.

    Howard Beale IV

    November 20, 2013 at 10:09 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: I already laid into Sully on the LOC bullshit metric via email.

    You ain’t a real programmer unless you program z/Architecture assembler at ARCHLVL 9, and run Hercules with MVS 3.8J or MTS of your cellphone.

  87. 87.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 10:10 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim: I think the official announcement is tomorrow, so I guess we’ll find out then what they’re actually planning.

    @Mike E: Yeah, that too, for sure. It’s just funny that after Ted Kennedy had been there forever, it took so little time for the second elected Senator to become the Senior Senator. Didn’t Cosmo-boy Brown get Kennedy’s old office? Does that mean Liz Warren has it now? It was a huge office, I think.

  88. 88.

    max

    November 20, 2013 at 10:12 pm

    ‘So Why Are Republican Congressman Attacking Random People?’

    max
    [‘No need to ask if Andrew Sullivan is panicking. The question is, is when will he endorse Chris Christie? (Because LEADERSHIP!)’]

  89. 89.

    dmsilev

    November 20, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    @SFAW: Autodesk Inventor. It’s very good for this sort of problem, since the basic workflow is to roughly sketch stuff to be more or less what you want, and then start filling in dimensions to nail down the exact values. Makes it easy to try something to see if it will work without needing to spend the time to input a whole raft of numbers that are just going to get tossed when the answer turns out to be “no, that arrangement won’t work”.

  90. 90.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 10:14 pm

    @Anne Laurie: He considers himself enough of an expert to tell women how to manage their uteri, so maybe it’s just the vagina that scares him. Once past that fearsome monster, he’s full of opinions on the rest of women.

  91. 91.

    Violet

    November 20, 2013 at 10:16 pm

    @max: Are we taking bets on when Andrew Sullivan will endorse Chris Christie? I’ll take summer 2015, somewhere during the Iowa state fair timeframe.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    November 20, 2013 at 10:17 pm

    Could care less what Andrew Sullivan is saying about IT and healthcare.gov, especially since he never pointed and laughed at McMegan but —

    happy news — Sully just adopted a new beagle. 18 month old girl beagle named Bowie, who is missing a back leg from being hit by a car.

    You can find the story under his “keepers” column on right of his blog, but a very sweet story and sweet little dog. 3 cheers for Andrew and Bowie.

  93. 93.

    Aji

    November 20, 2013 at 10:18 pm

    @Betty Cracker: We have a Silver-Laced Wyandotte, a Cherry Egger, a Dominique, and a Barred Rock. We had two Australorps, but one didn’t make it more than a day or so in infancy – wry neck – and the other got grabbed by a weasel last year. So I envy your Australorps, although I understand that they’re even bigger assholes than most of the others.

  94. 94.

    Mike E

    November 20, 2013 at 10:22 pm

    @Violet: In NC, we get to be excited about Dems like John Edwards and Kay Hagan. I could do with awesome right about now.

  95. 95.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 10:23 pm

    @dmsilev:

    I have an old version (like, 10 years old, give or take) of Inventor loaded on my (old) workstation. Currently I mostly use SolidWorks (when I actually do design work), but I also have DesignCAD and a few other design (as opposed to “glorified drafting,” such as AutoCAD) programs loaded. I used to use Pro-E from time to time, but it’s kind of a pain in the … uh, neck.

    You work with some fairly small stuff, if I’m remembering correctly, yes? Bigger than quantum, smaller than a breadbox?

  96. 96.

    Howard Beale IV

    November 20, 2013 at 10:28 pm

    @Elizabelle: The very fact that Sully keeps quoting McMegan keeps reinforcing my belief that Ph.D’s know a lot about a tiny sliver and fail miserably with a wide pallet of true reality-based knowledge-and it’s worse for Sully, because he acts like a crypto-Ted Cruz as to who he quotes in his survey posts.

    Sully is like a blind albino squirrel-every once in a while he finds a nut. I’ve seen two in my lifetime.

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    November 20, 2013 at 10:32 pm

    @Aji: Sounds like a lovely little flock! One of my ‘Lorps is a bully and was boss hen, but it appears one of the reds has deposed her.

  98. 98.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Just did a quick scan over at Autodesk – do you use the basic package, Professional, or one of the Suites? I’m curious, because I might try to do the free-trial-thingy, figure I can’t do all three.

    Thanks!

  99. 99.

    Aji

    November 20, 2013 at 10:35 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Reds are tough broads. We finally had to put blinders on our Egger and our Wyandotte, because they were pecking the hell out of the other two so badly. The Barred Rock was especially pitiful-looking. I felt like such a horrible chicken-minder (chicken-tender?) putting those suckers on ’em, but it stopped the bullying cold and now they’re all thriving.

  100. 100.

    dmsilev

    November 20, 2013 at 10:35 pm

    @SFAW: Generally fairly small stuff, yes. The problem I was playing with this evening involved cramming several elements inside a 1″ ID tube. Now, one of the objects that is going into that tube is a chip with various lithographic elements; those elements are of course a hell of a lot smaller. But I don’t have to care about that; just need to know how big the enclosure which contains said chip is.

    (The chip is the point of the exercise; I’m designing a rig which will let us test its performance at 4 degrees Kelvin, so we can optimize various parameters without disrupting work on the system which ultimately will host said chip at 0.05 degrees Kelvin)

  101. 101.

    Betty Cracker

    November 20, 2013 at 10:36 pm

    Rep. Radel (R-Coke Bust) giving a presser. Taking a leave of absence. Donating salary to charity. He may be a Republican asshole, but he seems sincerely contrite.

  102. 102.

    Elizabelle

    November 20, 2013 at 10:37 pm

    Take it away, New York Times:

    Senate Democrats Poised to Block Nominee Filibusters

    A vote on eliminating the use of the filibuster against most presidential nominees would further erode what little bipartisanship exists in the Senate.

    That’s the copy on front page of the website.

    Story does convey what’s happening, though.

    Senate Democrats appear ready to take a step that members of each party have threatened for the better part of a decade, but have not taken, in part because of the political disruption it would create. But senators know this year’s majority could be tomorrow’s minority, yearning for the filibuster as a weapon.

    The problem, as Democrats see it, is that Republicans have effectively rewritten Senate rules to create a supermajority requirement for confirming presidential nominees. Filibustering cabinet-level officials, once extremely rare, is now routine.

    While Democrats filibustered their share of judicial nominees when they were in the minority under President George W. Bush, including people named to the powerful District of Columbia appeals court, what Republicans say they intend to accomplish goes beyond simply blocking a vote. Their goal is to reshape the nation’s most powerful appeals court by shrinking it to just eight full-time judges. By law it has 11 judges who regularly hear cases.

    Democrats said that was a step too far. The court is split with four judges appointed by Democrats and four by Republicans. But among the six semiretired judges who still hear cases, five are seen as conservative, one as liberal.

  103. 103.

    dmsilev

    November 20, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    @SFAW: I use the Professional suite, but I cheat because I’m an academic and Autodesk offers free .edu licenses for a lot of their software. For Inventor, you’re limited to assemblies with a max of 1000 (I think) parts and drawings get watermarked with “NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE”.

  104. 104.

    mclaren

    November 20, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    Why are the House Republicans the only ones making America’s impending destruction our top priority?

    Because they hate us for our freedom.

  105. 105.

    Elizabelle

    November 20, 2013 at 10:39 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m glad to hear that re Radel. It’s refreshing.

  106. 106.

    Betty Cracker

    November 20, 2013 at 10:40 pm

    @Aji: Did you have to leave blinders on for awhile, or was it a temporary thing? Never seen that done. I hope my two stop fighting so I won’t have to intervene.

  107. 107.

    mclaren

    November 20, 2013 at 10:40 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    The problem with any of these kinds of solutions is that the Republicans are basically Jacobins. They refuse to accept the rules. Their attitude is “rule or ruin.” You can’t deal with those kind of Trotskyite revolutionaries who refuse to accept the rules of your society by fiddling with Robert’s Rules of Order. Eventually, it comes down to civil war. If a group of people won’t accept the basic rules of your society, you must either expel ’em from your society, or kill ’em.

  108. 108.

    Yatsuno

    November 20, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim: That was inevitable, wasnit it? :)

  109. 109.

    mclaren

    November 20, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    The very fact that Sully keeps quoting McMegan keeps reinforcing my belief that Ph.D’s know a lot about a tiny sliver and fail miserably with a wide pallet of true reality-based knowledge-and it’s worse for Sully, because he acts like a crypto-Ted Cruz as to who he quotes in his survey posts.

    What’s really scary is that Barack Obama reads books by Tom Friedman.

    Whiskey tango foxtrot bang query bang query!

    Obama is a smart guy. Not only that, he’s got street smarts — he’s savvy at dealing with real people in the real world. What in the world could compel Obama to read sludge that Tom Friedman churns out and think it’s useful in dealing with observable reality?

  110. 110.

    Aji

    November 20, 2013 at 10:45 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Right now, it’s a permanent-ish thing. They’ve been on for about . . . three months, I think. And it’s amazing how much it calmed everybody right down. They say the color red is soothing to chickens; apparently so. The pecking ceased entirely; the bullying ceased almost entirely; and everyone’s egg production went way up again. Except now, ’cause they’re molting, and they’re sooooo not earning their keep.

  111. 111.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 10:47 pm

    @dmsilev:

    My wife’s in a Master’s program, maybe I’ll claim I know an academic, see if I can get it for cheap.

    Re: your design: the thermal issues must be fairly intense, since I’m assuming that they don’t start out at 4 K. Space application? Or you just like sticking electronics in liquid helium? (Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re not allowed to tell me.)

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 10:49 pm

    @mclaren:

    the world could compel Obama to read sludge that Tom Friedman churns out and think it’s useful in dealing with observable reality?

    Nothing, he’s just slumming.

  113. 113.

    mclaren

    November 20, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    [Elizabeth Warren] has a populous economic message that all Dems can use to win elections.

    Leading to the question: Why don’t they?

  114. 114.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 10:53 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Leave of absence as in resigning? If so, is that a winnable seat?

    ETA: Looks like that’s a no. How many other jobs out there can you get busted for dealing coke and you decide whether it’s time to quit or not?

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 10:54 pm

    @mclaren:

    Leading to the question: Why don’t they?

    The gom jabbar.

  116. 116.

    Howard Beale IV

    November 20, 2013 at 10:55 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Ya gotta be careful here: even though I have used (and recommend) Compuware products in the past they’re only looking at the customer-facing side of the entire system-there’s a whole shitpot ful of backend processes we’re not seeing which could be a key in resolving some of the front-end foilbles.

    And also, don’t forget that CPWR is a major player in the APM market.

  117. 117.

    Aji

    November 20, 2013 at 10:59 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee: Not even this job, except for Republicans. Try to envision a Dem surviving it. Yeah, no.

  118. 118.

    Betty Cracker

    November 20, 2013 at 10:59 pm

    @Aji: Thanks!

  119. 119.

    Howard Beale IV

    November 20, 2013 at 11:00 pm

    @mclaren: Since Obama won re-election he’s effectively a lame-duck, and can pawn off the custerfuck that’s healthcare.gov-especially since some yahoo in Colorado managed to register his dog.

    IMHO, Obama bet his political capital on healthcare reform, rather than financial services reform. And now, he’s paying dearly for that both directly (healthcare.gov) and indirectly (settlements vs prosecutions of Big Finance.)

    Short of another terrorist attack, things aren’t going to go the Dems way come 2014.

  120. 120.

    Jay C

    November 20, 2013 at 11:02 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    but he seems sincerely contrite.

    Yes, I’m sure he is very seriously sorry for buying that ounce of blow from an undercover cop. VERY….

  121. 121.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 20, 2013 at 11:03 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    For the record, people said that about Mark Sanford too.

  122. 122.

    Elizabelle

    November 20, 2013 at 11:05 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    I don’t agree. I think the website rollout has been awful, but people need the Affordable Care Act, and you will see a lot signing up as the deadline gets closer.

    I am so tired of the banshees in the media caterwauling.

    The Republicans got nothing but obstruction and cruel policies. People are wising up.

  123. 123.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 11:08 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    People are wising up.

    Would that it were so.

  124. 124.

    Suffern ACE

    November 20, 2013 at 11:22 pm

    @SFAW: yep. Collectively we are below average. I see from our newsmax source that the new claim is that 100 million will ‘lose’ their employer insurance next year. Well not actually lose, but will have employers switch plans in some way shape or form.

    My guess is “saving your employer plan” will bring em out in droves next year.

  125. 125.

    mai naem(mobile)

    November 20, 2013 at 11:26 pm

    I was watching the medal of freedom ceremony and wonder how Loretta Lynn, a pretty solid republican felt…if she was uncomfortable. To me she looked a tad uncomfortable but it could have been health issues. Obama had to assist her a little coming down. My guess is that every other awardee was liberal.

  126. 126.

    Cacti

    November 20, 2013 at 11:30 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    Short of another terrorist attack, things aren’t going to go the Dems way come 2014.

    Oh FFS.

    There’s a full year until the next election.

  127. 127.

    handsmile

    November 20, 2013 at 11:33 pm

    @mai naem(mobile):

    The term “liberal” has become so debased as to now be virtually meaningless, but at no time should Richard Lugar, former Republican Senator from Indiana, ever be described as one.

    For me, the more interesting question is whether Bill Clinton merits the label.

    ETA: and I expect others here would know of the political views of UNC basketball coach Dean Smith.

  128. 128.

    jl

    November 20, 2013 at 11:37 pm

    @Cacti:

    I agree, and expect the GOP has some very distracting but (I hope) not too damaging dog and pony shows to run into the ground before the next election. The GOP is getting ready for another showdown on a shutdown.

    If the ACA enrollment process gets better over the next two months, no one will remember it, Sort of like no one remembers BengSyirIRS gate, since things got worked out OK. I think same will happen with ACA.

  129. 129.

    jl

    November 20, 2013 at 11:43 pm

    @mai naem(mobile):

    You mean “now I got the pill” Loretta Lynn. I suspect if she seemed uncomfortable, it was frailty due to age.

    Loretta Lynn “You know I got the pill!”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DcdONaKSQM

  130. 130.

    Suzanne

    November 20, 2013 at 11:44 pm

    I have my next exam on 12/18. If I pass, this will be 6 down and only one to go. It’s been hard to study, though, as I am so overworked and understaffed that I’ve been pulling ten-hour days for weeks, and then the baby hadn’t slept the last two nights. I nodded off during a training session today.

    Just tired and stressed and needing a vacation,

  131. 131.

    Suffern ACE

    November 20, 2013 at 11:44 pm

    @handsmile: dean smith apparently has an activist streak of the liberal variety.

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    November 20, 2013 at 11:54 pm

    @Suzanne:

    I nodded off during a training session today.

    Please try not to do that when you’re driving. Don’t want any more “statistics.”

  133. 133.

    Cacti

    November 20, 2013 at 11:54 pm

    @jl:

    I agree, and expect the GOP has some very distracting but (I hope) not too damaging dog and pony shows to run into the ground before the next election. The GOP is getting ready for another showdown on a shutdown.

    The healthcare.gov rollout has been the first serious blunder by Obama where he really handed the GOPers a sword to gore him with politically. And I’m sure it’s been demoralizing to more than a few of his supporters (myself included). But again, we’re barely at the beginning of people signing up for insurance. Medicaid expansion has been an unmitigated success to date, and a website can and is being fixed.

    OTOH, I expect wall to wall dog and pony shows from the GOP for the next 12 months. Will be an interesting year.

  134. 134.

    Redshift

    November 20, 2013 at 11:57 pm

    @Elizabelle: I know I should be resigned to it by now, but the “both sides do it” creep is really tiresome. While it’s not technically untrue to say “Democrats filibustered their share of judicial nominees when they were in the minority,” items extremely misleading unless you intend to convey that Democrats’ “share” is a fraction of Republicans’. While that does seem to be a common belief among the political press, I doubt that’s what they meant here.

  135. 135.

    ? Martin

    November 20, 2013 at 11:58 pm

    @Cacti: Anyone remember the Medicare Part D signup problems? No? Nobody will remember this either.

  136. 136.

    burnspbesq

    November 21, 2013 at 12:01 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m stuck with Rubio and fake astronaut Blue Dog Nelson. Pppfffttt.

    Would you rather have Rubio and Connie Mack? Given the range of possibilities in Flo-dah, Nelson ain’t half bad.

  137. 137.

    mai naem(mobile)

    November 21, 2013 at 12:02 am

    @handsmile: lol I just saw a news piece and came to correct my post on Lugar who I completely forgot.. I guess what I was saying was Loretta Lynn has sung at RNC conventions so I figure she’s a right winger. I guess I shouldn’t bring politics into it and just hope she had an awesome time . Stevie Wonder got one of the awards from Dubbya. That’s got to have been surprising to him . Also, Dubbya the moron waved to him during the event.

  138. 138.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 12:04 am

    @? Martin:

    Anyone remember the Medicare Part D signup problems? No? Nobody will remember this either.

    I’m thinking that will depend on whether the Rethugs can implement their ACA-destruction protocol effectively. If they can’t, then I would agree with you. But we’ll just have to see whether the Dems have grown a strong-enough spine.

  139. 139.

    Spaghetti Lee

    November 21, 2013 at 12:04 am

    @Suffern ACE:

    Apparently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Smith#Political_activities

    It’s nice to see a sports figure who isn’t a political neanderthal.

  140. 140.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 12:06 am

    @burnspbesq:

    Better Bill Nelson than (mini-Pres) Ben Nighthorse Nelson.

  141. 141.

    ? Martin

    November 21, 2013 at 12:09 am

    @SFAW:

    I’m thinking that will depend on whether the Rethugs can implement their ACA-destruction protocol effectively.

    It’s too late for that. Within a month there will be more people tossed off of their insurance by repealing any part of ACA than will remain to be tossed because of ACA.

    And ⅓ of the people being tossed off their insurance are in CA, and there’s just no uproar about it here. We’ll see what Covered CA says about the new rule tomorrow, though.

  142. 142.

    Pink Snapdragon

    November 21, 2013 at 12:11 am

    @MomSense: So are you selling your pattern on Ravelry? How will we find it?

  143. 143.

    burnspbesq

    November 21, 2013 at 12:12 am

    @Howard Beale IV:

    (settlements vs prosecutions of Big Finance.)

    You get what you can get. Or have you forgotten that the Bear Stearns guys got acquitted?

  144. 144.

    handsmile

    November 21, 2013 at 12:13 am

    @mai naem(mobile):

    I had forgotten that C+ Augustus waved to a blind man, but let us be grateful that he refrained from dancing on that occasion:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvxKZRf8k2k

    Also too, imo, one should always bring politics into everything.

  145. 145.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 12:14 am

    @? Martin:

    I hope your optimism is borne out.

  146. 146.

    burnspbesq

    November 21, 2013 at 12:17 am

    @handsmile:

    I expect others here would know of the political views of UNC basketball coach Dean Smith.

    Yup. That loathsome Tarhole did more to advance the cause of racial equality in North Carolina that just about anyone, by the simple expedient of giving Charlie Scott a uniform (about four years after the first African-American player suited up for Duke, but I digress).

    I still wish the Dems could have convinced him to run against Jesse Helms. That would have been epic.

  147. 147.

    ? Martin

    November 21, 2013 at 12:18 am

    @SFAW: Look, most of the law has been implemented for years. The exchanges are one of the last big things to come in, and states like CA and NY are thrilled. The medicare expansion has already hit for ⅔ of the country. There’s just nothing left really to roll back. The fed exchange is already fixed up well enough that almost nobody is actively complaining about it any longer. Everything in politics is about momentum. So long as things are going in the right direction, most of the public will give you a pass. Healthcare.gov is definitely going in the right direction. The enrollment numbers are going in the right direction. So long as they keep doing this, the public will support it, and their support for Obama will return to what it was.

  148. 148.

    handy

    November 21, 2013 at 12:34 am

    A Web 1.0-era property is going bye-bye. Of course I was surprised to find out it had still been around.

  149. 149.

    handsmile

    November 21, 2013 at 12:34 am

    @burnspbesq:

    When I wrote “others,” it was simply because it had fewer letters to type than your nym.

    Thanks as well to Suffern ACE and Spaghetti Lee. Looking at that paragraph on Smith’s political activities and advocacy, I have to conclude that this is a man of considerable personal courage and integrity, and one with a really successful basketball program.

  150. 150.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    November 21, 2013 at 12:46 am

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Graham Chapman was the straight man, a vastly underappreciated role. Just in the movies, he was both King Arthur and Brian, the stable center of sanity around which all of the zaniness occurred, the only one who recognized how crazy everyone else was.

    It’s a role that none of the other Pythons can pull off nearly as well.

  151. 151.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 12:54 am

    @? Martin:

    I’m not particularly worried about NY or CA (or MA or etc etc), I’m worried about the states where the governors and leges are doing their damnedest to sabotage things. I agree things have improved a lot over 10/1/13, but there may be a significant difference between “a lot” and “enough.” If I had the time to spend reading the “tea leaves” on what’s going on, I might be more sanguine about 2014. But, given that the media seemed to be dominated by Fox-approved memes – well, maybe not dominated, but have their collective agenda(s) set by Fox – I am not convinced that the electorate will rise above the BS coming from the right wing.

    As I said, I hope you’re right, and I’m just worrying overmuch. I’ve been accused of that before – and sometimes I’ve been wrong, but sometimes I’ve been right.

  152. 152.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 12:59 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    the stable center of sanity around which all of the zaniness occurred,

    Or not.

  153. 153.

    piratedan

    November 21, 2013 at 1:00 am

    jaysus the concern trolling in here is damn near palpable… ACA is going to work, simply because I can’t name another government program that has ever been implemented of this magnitude that has ever been shut down, no thanks to the R’s for their attempts on Social Security, Medicare and the Post Office. Once the ball is rolling, it will continue to roll. People are signing up, The Prez has blunted the hysteria regarding the insistence that folks can keep their shitty insurance despite the willingness of the Insurance Industry to engage in some bait and switch. It will not be perfect, it’s an imperfect process allowing an imperfect industry to survive the actual alternative to nationalizing health care and for all the thanks he’s getting from Big Pharma, it’s obvious that they’re just as grateful as Big Finance.

    Unless there’s an actual coup, this thing is done, the Supreme’s mealy mouthed it with the states, but since they didn’t strike it down, it’s game over because people are gonna hear about how it’s working in Kentucky and New York and California and start asking, why can’t we have nice things and except for those being willfully ignorant (and we have a good many of those, thanks Obama), the tide will start to turn.

    Pull your undies from your crack and get ready to work in 2014 and kick these ignorant asshats that are busy trying to sell and subvert our government to the curb.

  154. 154.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 1:20 am

    @piratedan: This. God damn it, this. Could the website have been better? Of fucking course, it it could. Could Obama have said “The vast majority of you who have and like your insurance will be able to keep it, and those few of you who won’t will benefit from having actual, functional insurance for the first time?” Yep. The law still benefits shitloads of people and, most importantly, establishes the concept in the mind of a generic American that healthcare is a right. That is the victory; once people think that way, real universal coverage is inevitable.

  155. 155.

    gwangung

    November 21, 2013 at 1:26 am

    @Redshift:

    I know I should be resigned to it by now, but the “both sides do it” creep is really tiresome. While it’s not technically untrue to say “Democrats filibustered their share of judicial nominees when they were in the minority,” items extremely misleading unless you intend to convey that Democrats’ “share” is a fraction of Republicans’. While that does seem to be a common belief among the political press, I doubt that’s what they meant here.

    Because like most people these days, they’re fuckin’ innumerates and are too lazy to do the hard quark of quantifying it so that other innumerates can tell the difference.

    There are only three numbers in their world: one, two, many. And that’s all they can deal with.

  156. 156.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 1:32 am

    @SFAW: They needed someone to play either the sane person or the conventional person (not necessarily the same thing). Both Cleese and Chapman were very good at that. They also were/are great zanies. Examples of both from Chapman.

  157. 157.

    scav

    November 21, 2013 at 1:35 am

    Late night news from the UK, interesting in light of earlier thread. Forget just keys to shop and credit ratings in their own name, Wimminz took next step toward getting Anglican mitres: Church of England approves female bishops plan. The lord sometimes works at a geological pace to produce the obvious, but all the same. Equity in access to silly hats in certain venues is closer.

    There are some lovely waffles and quotes though.

    Despite the outbreak of peace, the archbishop of York was careful to sound a note of caution and warn against premature rejoicing.

    “Your generous magnanimity is palpable,” said John Sentamu. “However, may I bid us all that we should not open champagne bottles – or whatever drink we’re going to celebrate with – because we need to continue to walk together till the end. As Francis Drake said: ‘There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory.’ And until we all get together we need still to stick together and stay in the same place.”

    Can one get more Anglican? But wait!

    The bishop [of Rochester] said much of the credit for the result belonged to the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who has worked as a mediator and peace negotiator in some of the most dangerous places in the world.

    Which must have uniquely qualified him to work with a group that hesitates to even rhetorically equate the drink of celebration with champagne. Cake or Death!

    (yes, it’s really really late and I’m easily amused.)

  158. 158.

    piratedan

    November 21, 2013 at 1:37 am

    @Elizabelle: have to admit that it took a lot of balls to write that line:

    Senate Democrats appear ready to take a step that members of each party have threatened for the better part of a decade, but have not taken, in part because of the political disruption it would create.

    considering that the entire laws of the Senate have been continually abused by the Republicans who have taken the notion of “minority rule” to unheard of levels of abuse for doing the country’s business. And this guy thinks that the last six years has been “business as usual”, simply put… unfuckingbelievable.

    THIS kind of reporting is why Newspapers are dying and network News isn’t far behind. These fuckers can’t even TELL the fucking truth without spin, either by the reporter or the editor and this is why we have had a predilection of electing incredibly stupid and misinformed people thanks to our media keeping the voters and the reading public misinformed.

  159. 159.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 21, 2013 at 1:42 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Actually, to get unbearably meta (or metamucil perhaps, given the age of these guys now) some of the others thought that he was much more than that, that his sense of humor was the really unusual one. John Cleese said that Graham was always the best judge of whether something was actually funny or not.

    His particular sense of humor is apparent in sketches like the one with the two women chatting, and suddenly Chapman says “Burma!”, and when the other asks “Why’d you say that?” Chapman replies “I panicked”.

    It’s one of things that people either get or don’t get, it’s the farthest thing from predictable, which just speaking for me is what made them actually funny in a vast sea of mildly amusing.

    Or look at him at work here, not being much of a straight man.

    I think it’s the “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, so anyway…” that makes it.

  160. 160.

    Yatsuno

    November 21, 2013 at 1:43 am

    @scav: Scotland is about to allow gay marriage. If Maggie could think right now she’d have a stroke.

  161. 161.

    piratedan

    November 21, 2013 at 1:43 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: from everything I’ve read about the Pythons, it’s the team dynamic that suffered quite a bit, Cleese and Chapman worked as a unit for quite some time, as did Jones and Palin. Idle had his own stuff and was a semi-arbiter (and to a degree, so was Gilliam) that balanced and allowed the critique process to be less acrimonious. They all respected each other, the main downfall was apparently Chapman’s alcoholism and Cleese’s own statements that he felt that they were getting repetitive.

    Still, excited to see them being collaborative again and hope to be entertained once again…. because I find them all to be incredibly witty and sharp folks.

  162. 162.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 1:54 am

    @Bill E Pilgrim: @piratedan: The Exploding Penguin Sketch. It is brilliant. They are patient. The silliness builds, but it has its own internal “logic.” Burma!

  163. 163.

    Ripley

    November 21, 2013 at 1:58 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    It’s a role that none of the other Pythons can pull off nearly as well.

    Terry Jones shocked, ashamed, sheepish, ridiculous, vaguely complicit every(English)man comes to mind, though. Classic and hilarious; they could all do semi-stable absurdist pathos damn well. And wild fucking craziness too (again, Jones, as the rummy old tart who guffaws and wets her knickers, and guffaws about that).

    Love those guys.

  164. 164.

    piratedan

    November 21, 2013 at 1:59 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:” I panicked!”

  165. 165.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 2:05 am

    @piratedan: Possibly the funniest thing ever, but for this.

  166. 166.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 21, 2013 at 2:05 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    “Well of course this is the whole crux of Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Roads to Freedom””

    “No it bloody isn’t!”

  167. 167.

    piratedan

    November 21, 2013 at 2:09 am

    @Bill E Pilgrim: well my favorite skit is the “Upper Class Twit of the Year” :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSqkdcT25ss

    if only his father could understand…… indeed.

  168. 168.

    scav

    November 21, 2013 at 2:11 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: My god Cleese makes a good thundering British rose. I’d like to match her against Jeeves.

  169. 169.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 2:13 am

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Oh, fucking Christ, I am crying. The thing that I love about Monty Python is the mixture of intellectualism with pure absurdity. I don’t like the modern trend toward embarrassment humor. It seems mean to me. When the Pythons did embarrassment, the meanness wasn’t there.

  170. 170.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 21, 2013 at 2:23 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: I know. I lived with a woman for years back when they were still on TV regularly and she refused to watch because it was all just slapstick and physical humor. “All that British stuff, Benny Hill, Monty Python, it’s all the same, just tit jokes”.

    Argh. No no no! Just watch! Open your heart!

    I just gave up though. At one point it became a sort of litmus test, the person I ended up with for years after that was completely out of touch with popular culture, a serious language person who’d never heard of them, and she thought they were screamingly hilarious. Still does.

  171. 171.

    ? Martin

    November 21, 2013 at 2:28 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, we’ve pretty much turned into a nation who points and laughs at others. I hate it. I hate the talent shows that highlight the bad singers. I hate Honey Boo Boo, who will some day not be 7 and will be horrified to discover she can’t escape how she was exploited and caricatured and how we all laughed at her expense. I just can’t do any of it.

  172. 172.

    gwangung

    November 21, 2013 at 2:28 am

    I know. I lived with a woman for years back when they were still on TV regularly and she refused to watch because it was all just slapstick and physical humor. “All that British stuff, Benny Hill, Monty Python, it’s all the same”.

    SACRILEGE!!!!!

    I oughta know; my group’s the one that’ slapstick and physical humor. Or are merely amusing, instead of hilarious. Take your pick.

  173. 173.

    gwangung

    November 21, 2013 at 2:29 am

    @? Martin:

    Yeah, we’ve pretty much turned into a nation who points and laughs at others.

    Well, we ARE a center right nation. At least in this instance. Our humor is all into punching downward.

  174. 174.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 2:30 am

    @Bill E Pilgrim: The thing is that to get Monty Python one has to appreciate both high brow and truly low brow humor. Middle brow decorum is out of the picture except as a figure of mockery.

  175. 175.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    November 21, 2013 at 2:31 am

    @gwangung: Monty Python had plenty of slapstick and physical humor. The point was just that they had this whole other side that she never saw. In fact, I remember that every time she tried to watch, the start of that particular episode was a particularly slapstick part. Oh well. Fate was making the decisions, clearly.

    Whatever anyone might think of either Benny Hill or Monty Python, they were definitely not the same.

  176. 176.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 2:33 am

    @gwangung: No. All of our humor is encouraged to be that way. Not everyone is. To steal from Chuck D., don’t believe the hype.

  177. 177.

    piratedan

    November 21, 2013 at 2:38 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: true, I have to admit that I find a lot of the current comedians to be sadly lacking, for every Chris Rock, there are 25 Dane Cook’s. Was happy to have grown up on Cosby, Pryor, Carlin as well as Monty Python. The first three are cultural, observational, whereas the lads demanded that you had to have a certain level of education in order to get the joke.

  178. 178.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 2:44 am

    @piratedan: Python certainly requires a Lib Arts BA or equivalent equivalent reading to understand completely.

  179. 179.

    Chris

    November 21, 2013 at 2:48 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Could Obama have said “The vast majority of you who have and like your insurance will be able to keep it, and those few of you who won’t will benefit from having actual, functional insurance for the first time?” Yep.

    “See! SEE! And who gets to decide what’s a functional insurance plan that you get to keep and what isn’t? OBAMA, that’s who! This is tyranny! Socialism! Death panels! Just like we said!”
    /wingnut

    I’m not at all convinced that throwing in all these caveats would’ve made it any easier. Probably would’ve made it harder to pass the ACA in the first place, a lot.

  180. 180.

    bmaccnm

    November 21, 2013 at 2:52 am

    I’m at work, all night long, in a very big hospital. A co-worker just now said that she was most concerned that the ACA website has no mechanism to transfer money “into the big pool after someone has enrolled.” I haven’t heard this voiced as a concern yet. Any idea what she’s talking about? Does she know what she’s talking about?

  181. 181.

    Omnes Omnibus

    November 21, 2013 at 2:53 am

    @Chris: Tossing in those caveats would have had no positive effect. That was my point.

  182. 182.

    Howard Beale IV

    November 21, 2013 at 3:44 am

    @burnspbesq: When the S&L crises hit; thousands of criminal indictments and convictions were handed down. The Great Recession wristslaps by that snivelling ferret-faced Breuer, did what, exactly?

    Made committing criminal acts just a deductible cost of doing business.

  183. 183.

    Origuy

    November 21, 2013 at 3:50 am

    @bmaccnm: I heard something about this on the radio. Apparently the mechanism to make premium payments isn’t working yet. Since premiums aren’t due for a while yet, I don’t think this is a big problem. The insurance companies have ways of getting paid, you can be sure.

  184. 184.

    Splitting Image

    November 21, 2013 at 4:03 am

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):

    Graham Chapman was the straight man, a vastly underappreciated role. Just in the movies, he was both King Arthur and Brian, the stable center of sanity around which all of the zaniness occurred, the only one who recognized how crazy everyone else was.

    It’s a role that none of the other Pythons can pull off nearly as well.

    I actually think Michael Palin was the best of the Pythons in the straight man role, as well as the most versatile of them in general. He was terrific in Grievous Bodily Harm, for example.

    My understanding is that Chapman ended up with the lead in both movies because none of the others wanted the job. Whoever played the main character had to play fewer roles, and they all wanted to play a bunch of different characters. Still, he did an amazing job in both roles.

  185. 185.

    dmsilev

    November 21, 2013 at 6:35 am

    @SFAW: (sorry for the late response; I ran out of steam and went to sleep early)

    Nothing secret about the stuff I work on, just highly abstruse. We need the low temperatures to make the chip in question work at all; it’s a SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device), which among other things can be used as an extremely low noise amplifier but it needs to be sitting at temperatures below about 8 Kelvin to work at all. Our goal is to use it to improve the measurements we’re making to study the properties of various sorts of exotic magnetic materials (things that go by names like ‘spin glass’ and ‘frustrated antiferromagnet’).

  186. 186.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 7:11 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’m not the one who needs convincing, you know.

  187. 187.

    Patrick

    November 21, 2013 at 7:41 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Could Obama have said “The vast majority of you who have and like your insurance will be able to keep it, and those few of you who won’t will benefit from having actual, functional insurance for the first time?”

    It wouldn’t have mattered one bit. Considering the GOP made up crap like the death panels, it didn’t matter what Obama would have said. The GOP would still have twisted it to something it wasn’t. And the media would still have been their willing lap dog.

    Furthermore, considering the GOP before the ACA NEVER cared one bit about people that were kicked off daily from insurance plans due to pre-existing conditions, who would have thought that the media would give them such an amazingly free pass from the charge of hypocrisy. A new low for our media.

  188. 188.

    Another Botsplainer

    November 21, 2013 at 8:11 am

    @Howard Beale IV: Exactly. The only people who actually understand what’s going on are the people working on it. The rest is pure speculation and guys like this looking at the presentation side.

    Don’t forget running VM/SP under itself. I once knew a guy who had VM running 10 levels deep. Pretty cool and extremely confusing.

  189. 189.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 8:13 am

    @dmsilev:

    You work on some cool stuff. (No wordplay intended – I was going to write “awesome shit,” but decided it sounded too … something-or-other).

  190. 190.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 8:18 am

    @Patrick:

    Furthermore, considering the GOP before the ACA NEVER cared one bit about people that were kicked off daily from insurance plans due to pre-existing conditions, who would have thought that the media would give them such an amazingly free pass from the charge of hypocrisy. A new low for our media.

    Yeah, it’s pretty appalling that no one – or not enough people – is/are pointing this out. It’s a variant of :

    “The food there is TERRIBLE!”
    “I know, and the portions are so SMALL!”

    The lack of lightning strikes taking out key Rethugs is clear proof that there is no such thing as a Just God. (But I would pay a LOT of money to see them struck down by a giant, Noodley Appendage.)

  191. 191.

    fidelio

    November 21, 2013 at 9:29 am

    You know, I’ve worked for 30 years in a branch of the Great Smothering Welfare Octopus. It’s true there have been people whose claims I’ve seen that were trying to angle for something they weren’t really entitled to have. There have been a lot more who were desperately ill, and sometimes dying. There have been people who were struggling with the effects of chronic diseases which were slowly destroying their bodies, people struggling to deal with a child’s devastating illness, people who have worked in spite of increasing pain and incapacity until they were no longer able to drag themselves in to the job. Since 2008, there have been a lot of people who shut up and worked in spite of the ills the flesh is heir to, and found out at 56, or 58, or 60 that age discrimination in hiring is a real thing, especially in a small town where there weren’t that many jobs besides the ones at the plant that just closed to begin with.

    People end up poor for lots of reasons. Shiftlessness doesn’t even begin to top the list, and neither does “welfare dependency”. Lack of non-crappy full-time work is right up there, though.

  192. 192.

    SFAW

    November 21, 2013 at 10:03 am

    @fidelio:

    This is the kind of thing that the non-27-percent-but-vote-Rethug group needs to read. About 100 times, until they GOT IT.

    Foolishly, it would be my hope that they’d have a collective epiphany, and realize that it’s the Rethugs, not the poors/browns, who are trying to destroy them.

  193. 193.

    Howard Beale IV

    November 21, 2013 at 10:14 am

    @Another Botsplainer:

    I once knew a guy who had VM running 10 levels deep. Pretty cool and extremely confusing.

    Now that’s just being cruel.

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