Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Let there be snark.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

This really is a full service blog.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

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

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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

Second rate reporter says what?

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

You are here: Home / Music / I’m going way down south, way down where I can be free

Reader Interactions

244Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Grover Norquist thinks “Hey Joe” is pro gun, I think I see the problem with him.

  5. 5.

    linda

    Because nothing is more pro family than shooting your old lady. How else can we preserve family values, ‘lesson we shoot hussies?

  6. 6.

    OldDave

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Grover Norquist thinks “Hey Joe” is pro gun

    Not to mention pro-family. Grover talks a lot but apparently he doesn’t listen very often, especially to song lyrics.

  7. 7.

    Ash Can

    Saw this last night. The responses he got were excellent. Looks like there are a bunch of folks who probably didn’t realize he was a sociopathic schmuck before, but certainly do now.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    Was this just general Grover-abusing, or did he say something specific? Google’s no help.

  11. 11.

    Gorgon Zola

    C’mon. “Pro family, pro 2nd amendment” is a joke. And it’s funny! Grover knows that.

  12. 12.

    pseudonymous in nc

    “Creepy Grover is a man / who eats tuna from a can / in a wingnut welfare office.”

    Seriously, he is weird and creepy and dangerous and we’ll probably find out about all the weird, creepy shit he’s done when he finally jumps in the tidal basin leaving a note that says “I’m sorry about the attic.”

  13. 13.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    I wonder if he likes Saturday Night Special by Lynyrd Skynyrd, as song you don’t hear too many rebs(or at least the ones I know) like.

  14. 14.

    Shrillhouse

    “Hey Joe” is ‘pro-family’?

    It’s a song about a guy who shoots his wife after she is unfaithful, and then flees to Mexico to avoid the consequences.

    I thought conservatives were all about personal responsibility…

  17. 17.

    raven

    Rut ro:

    Ghana’s extraordinary build-up to their final group match against Portugal has escalated, with two players, Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng, suspended indefinitely for disciplinary reasons.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    Citing an African-American and a woman (both of whom are incapable of response) as calculated, preemptive shields against criticism ain’t gonna fly this time, Grover.

  22. 22.

    Morzer

    @raven:

    Klinsmann has written a letter to every employer in America urging them to give workers the day off to support the USMNT:

    http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/26/jurgen-klinsmann-usa-world-cup-germany-group-g

    The note, which can be printed out and filled in individually, urges employers to excuse supporters from work on Thursday. “I understand that this absence may reduce the productivity of your workplace but I can assure you that it is for an important cause,” it adds. Klinsmann’s letter also urges line managers to take time off to watch the game themselves.

    The United States National Soccer Teams website is publicising the note and has a reserve plan for those whose Klinsmann-aided request for time off is still turned down. “You can just do what most of us will do: play hooky,” it suggests.

    I don’t know whether the US is ready for this soccer-soc.ialism.

  24. 24.

    NotMax

    @raven

    Reminded of the punchline from the old joke about the piano tuner with the memorable name who always refused to schedule a return visit:

    Opporknocketty tunes only once.

  25. 25.

    Morzer

    @Svensker:

    What I’ve been striving for in this space since the Iraq War began is a way to think about the world that is less about ME and to grasp the realities of global politics in a way that is less about US. What I pray for is an America that is “well-adjusted.”

    No solipsism or egotism in that statement, no sirree!

  26. 26.

    Morzer

    @Valdivia:

    It is hugely disappointing – and it seems to be largely about a coach losing control of a squad that doesn’t appear to be overly fond of him at the best of times.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    @Morzer

    Idle silly musing at 3:10 a.m. –

    If people from Canada are called Canadians, why aren’t people from Ghana called Ghanadians?

  28. 28.

    Morzer

    @NotMax:

    Speaking of people from states with odd accents:

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/robert-monroe-voter-fraud-wisconsin

    A supporter of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has been charged with over a dozen counts of election fraud — though he reportedly claims a form of temporary amnesia has left him unable to recall his actions.

    In an indictment filed in Milwaukee County court on Friday, Robert Monroe, 50, of Shorewood, Wis., was charged with 13 felony counts of election fraud, each of which could carry up to three and a half years in prison, or a $10,000 fine, upon conviction. Monroe is accused of registering to vote in more than one place, voting where he didn’t live, voting more than once in the same election, and providing false information to election officials.

    The indictment said that Monroe, a health insurance executive, “became especially focused upon political issues and causes” in 2011 and 2012, and was particularly invested in the recall elections that followed the state’s fight over public employees’ collective bargaining rights. Monroe allegedly cast at least two ballots in three elections (an April 2011 Supreme Court election, an August 2011 state Senate recall election, and the 2012 presidential election) and cast five ballots in the state’s June 2012 gubernatorial recall.

  30. 30.

    RSA

    @Gorgon Zola:

    C’mon. “Pro family, pro 2nd amendment” is a joke. And it’s funny! Grover knows that.

    Yeah, Norquist is evil but not stupid.

    On the other hand, middle-aged Republicans have not shown much familiarity with popular music. (I’m thinking of Born in the USA and Won’t Get Fooled Again.)

  31. 31.

    SRW1

    @Morzer:

    The next coach of Ghana (and Cameroon as well) will be assigned the title condottieri in recognition of his real task.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    @Morzer

    Uh-huh. Total blank on driving hundreds of miles on election day to also vote in a second state. (IIRC correctly, Indiana.)

    I believe the Latin legal term for that defense roughly translates as “pull the other one.”

  33. 33.

    boatboy_srq

    @Alexandra: Ditto. Good to have you back, DougJ – you’ve been missed.

    @OzarkHillbilly: @OldDave: Comprehension of anything more complex than Rand was never Norquist’s strong point. And if he stopped listening to (new) music circa 1970 that fits in nicely with his consistent refusal to see the consequences of his ideas in action.

    @Shrillhouse: Of course it’s pro-family. Joe’s property chattel wife didn’t behave stay home with the kids honor her husband. And it was Joe’s personal responsibility to tame his wife deal with the situation. (/snark)

    @Gorgon Zola: The man has a sense of humor? First I’ve heard of it. He’s usually about as funny as Rmoney jokes about Teh Poors.

    OT: Collins has come out in favor of SSM. But only after the HRC endorsed her. Humph.

  34. 34.

    RSA

    @Morzer: Nice. Also:

    The indictment states that Monroe received an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2013, and has expressed interest in attending law school.

    Can you imagine his application essay? “As a 50-year-old amnesiac under indictment for election fraud, I have considerable interest in the law…”

  35. 35.

    Anton Sirius

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Grover Norquist thinks “Hey Joe” is pro gun, I think I see the problem with him.

    Did you not read Grover’s further tweets? He was engaged in mockery!

    Of course, that then forces one to wonder who or what, exactly, was being mocked…

  37. 37.

    hoodie

    @raven: Want Portugal to win, but not by a lot, and this is going too far towards that. Ghana has lost two of its better and more experienced midfielders and their defense was already shaky, on top of which the Ghana needs to win convincingly and will be pressing forward. All of which bodes ill when facing Cristiano Ronaldo. Could be a wipeout. Regarding the US game, the Germans are not going to phone it in. Time to put the big boy pants on and not look at the scoreboard. Could be miserable or glorious.

  39. 39.

    mai naem

    Grover Norquist looks like the stereotypical pompous prick rich kid in the John Hughes movie who gets a nice big fat punch in the face towards the end of the movie by the smarter poor kid.

  42. 42.

    Citizen_X

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    we’ll probably find out about all the weird, creepy shit he’s done when he finally jumps in the tidal basin

    You think that bathtub of his was only for drowning the government?

  44. 44.

    Morzer

    @RSA:

    “My passion for election law and civic engagement began when I voted 37 times in my high school’s mock election….”

  45. 45.

    Ash Can

    @Anton Sirius: Typical right-wing humor. Makes other RWers laugh, and makes the rest of the population say “dude, that’s just fucked up.”

  47. 47.

    Mike in NC

    No novelist would be capable of creating a character who was such a complete asshole and sociopath named “Grover Norquist”.

  50. 50.

    WereBear

    @Morzer: In an indictment filed in Milwaukee County court on Friday, Robert Monroe, 50, of Shorewood, Wis., was charged with 13 felony counts of election fraud, each of which could carry up to three and a half years in prison, or a $10,000 fine, upon conviction. Monroe is accused of registering to vote in more than one place, voting where he didn’t live, voting more than once in the same election, and providing false information to election officials.

    This doesn’t make any sense… his vote could not have possibly change the course of events.

    However, as an example of True-Believerism, where he believed so passionately in the cause he broke the law… that actually makes more sense.

  51. 51.

    Mike Adamson

    The older I get the more I realise that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

  53. 53.

    raven

    Rain in Recife threatens delay

    eta
    Fifa’s press conference has started, by scotching rumours that USA v Germany may be postponed. “There have been heavy rains, but the match will go ahead as scheduled”

    eeta

    Fifa’s statement on Suárez: “Suspended for nine matches and banned for four months from any football-related activity”

  54. 54.

    NonyNony

    @Gorgon Zola:

    C’mon. “Pro family, pro 2nd amendment” is a joke.

    Well, yeah – a joke that would be told by a liberal. Where the sarcasm couldn’t be missed and the mockery targeted at conservative political tropes could also not be missed.

    When it’s told by a conservative lobbyist … it doesn’t work.

    And it’s funny!

    Funny to us. Try telling it to a gun nut or a wingnut with the proper level of sarcasm in your voice. They won’t find it funny because you’re making fun of them and they’ll know it.

    Grover knows that.

    Grover’s a grifter, so probably. But a good con artist isn’t supposed to let the rubes know that he’s laughing AT them behind their backs.

  55. 55.

    NonyNony

    @WereBear:

    However, as an example of True-Believerism, where he believed so passionately in the cause he broke the law… that actually makes more sense.

    Actually I’m fairly certain that it’s an example of Talk Radio and Fox New convincing him that it must make a difference.

    After all – voter impersonation fraud is a big deal that stole the 2008 and 2012 elections for Obama. Clearly it must work or else those elections wouldn’t have been stolen the way they were. So if the “bad guys” are going to do it so should the “good guys”.

    The fact that false ballots didn’t have an impact on ’08 and ’12 might be objective fact in the real world, but to the Talk Radio / Fox News crowd those elections were stolen. Via the most ineffective form of ballot stuffing possible.

  56. 56.

    Amir Khalid

    @raven:
    @Morzer:
    That whole France soap opera in 2010 was such a ratings hit, FIFA had to designate another team to do it this year.

  58. 58.

    Belafon

    @Anton Sirius: I suspect he “knew that” after a lot of people started mocking him. My 9 year old is going through that phase, of knowing something after you tell him. I have almost fixed it. Tells you how old Grover is emotionally.

  60. 60.

    Amir Khalid

    Meanwhile, FIFA has suspended Luis “Fangs” Suarez for nine matches (presumably internationals) and from all football for four months, meaning he misses the start of the Premier League season again. So sayeth the Beeb.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @Belafon: Hah! My niece went through that when she was 7. Even if she had just asked you to explain Einstein’s theory of relativity, after you explained it she would say: “that’s what I thought”.

    It was funny, until it wasn’t. That’s a tough one, glad to hear you’re almost at the end of the tunnel.

  62. 62.

    magurakurin

    @Morzer:

    like anything matters. The US and Germany are going to play for a draw, aren’t they? I mean, the US coach would be guilty of mismanagement if he didn’t, wouldn’t he? Park the bus as the futbol fans say, right? Not a knock on soccer (and lord knows I love doing that) but it seems like playing for the draw is the smart move and the right move for the US. And wouldn’t Germany be happy to lie back and protect their goal as well rather than risk an injury? Is this just non-soccer fan thinking on my part?

  65. 65.

    magurakurin

    @raven: well, that goes without saying, but I am genuinely curious what real soccer fans think. To me it seems like the smart move, but I really, as you say, don’t have any earthly idea…you are most correct in that.

  66. 66.

    Valdivia

    I just can’t with the recess appointment decision. I guess a black president can’t do anything the other guys were allowed to do. Sigh.

  67. 67.

    Morzer

    @magurakurin:

    I think Germany will want to win and win well, so as to go into the next round with maximum confidence. They might decide just to soak up pressure and hit the US on the counterattack to start with, but I suspect they’ll win the game fairly confidently. I am less sure about Ghana and Portugal, because Portugal have looked feeble thus far, although Ghana have apparently decided that today is self-destruction day. I guess on balance Portugal to squeak out a win. Sorry to be a downer.

  70. 70.

    Tripod

    @raven:

    One of the benefits of qualifying in CONCACAF is fun stuff like playing futbol ankle deep in Sawgrass and water.

  71. 71.

    Tripod

    If the field is seriously wet, it will be difficult to play for anything other than a 0-0 draw.

  73. 73.

    magurakurin

    @Morzer: Isn’t a Portugal win better for the US? They are -4 in goals from what I can see, so they would have to win 5-0 and the US lose like 2-1, is this right? Don’t really care too, much. I’m just happy Japan lost, because the intense media coverage of those dickheads on the Japanese team was getting unbearable. It was a real pleasure to watch those crybabies cry this morning on tv. I have some serious issues with the way the Women’s team was treated by the JFA, the JOC and the men’s team in general when the women went to the Olympics. The JFA sent the under 25 men’s Olympic team first class while they let the World Cup Champion women ride in coach. Honda and others should have chartered the women a jet when they heard, but they couldn’t have cared less, the selfish pompous assholes that they seem to be. end rant

  74. 74.

    jimmiraybob

    @Shrillhouse:

    There’s no mention of a wife in the lyrics. Joe shot his “old lady” down. Down to the ground. So, even if GN meant this – the family values part – as a joke, it doesn’t work. And the response to Joe, presumably Jimi’s? “Huh! And that ain’t too cool.” Of course, Joe’s also facing the hangman’s noose. The song does not endorse a 2nd Amendment solution to relationship problems.

    I resent his, GN’s, open ignorance and slandering of Hendrix. I can only hope that GN’s wife kicks him in the man parts as a corrective.

  75. 75.

    Phil

    @Gorgon Zola: It is funny, but he stole it from Futurama, kind of –

    Nixon’s head: Hello, Morbo. How’s the family?
    Morbo: Belligerent and numerous.
    Nixon’s head: Good man! Nixon’s pro-war and pro-family.

  78. 78.

    D58826

    SCOTUS has come out with the recess appointment decision. It was 9-0 that the NLRB appointments were invalid since the Senate was technically in session. That really isn’t surprising since it seemed like the Administration was invoking the quantum mechanic uncertainty principle in that it all depends on when you look.

    They did decide 5-4 (usual suspects) that the recess appointment power is valid as a general proposition when congress is not in session. The hoot is Scalia the original constructionist, just read the words and obey them. In his dissent he said ‘

    lScalia argues that recess appointments are an anachronism, so there is no reason to bend over backwards to make them broadly available.

    If you believe as Scalia claims to believe that the words are the words and they can’t be changed or ignored then his opinion makes no sense (hardly a surprise).

  79. 79.

    GxB

    While I’ve seen little evidence of Grover having a sense of humor, if it exists I’d suspect it is as sadistic and twisted as the rest of his psyche. So I’d go with he’s being ironic here and making a joke, but who’s to say? Congrats G-dog, you’re the Stephen Colbert of the right in that we honestly can’t tell if you’re being serious or not – well played.

  80. 80.

    magurakurin

    @Amir Khalid: I was reading about that 1982 match today. I had remembered hearing about it years ago as well. Personally, I don’t see any disgrace in it at all. The rules are what they are, and a draw benefits both teams. The goal is to win the World Cup, isn’t it? It is a bit phony for FIFA to set up a system that creates such possibilities and then act shocked and offended when a team or team uses it to their advantage. If you don’t want such a scenario then make the World Cup like NCAA Basketball finals. The champion is the team which never lost. But, yeah, the whole world likes it this way, I know, I know…what can I do?

  81. 81.

    Morzer

    @magurakurin:

    I love watching the Japanese women play soccer, although the German women are looking like a very formidable team these days as well. The Japanese men were .. unimpressive.

    The goal difference might be enough in itself to save the US even if the results go badly, but I fear that Germany is fully capable of putting 4 goals past the US, especially if Thomas Muller has been practicing on his springboard.

  82. 82.

    Morzer

    @Amir Khalid:

    I imagine we shall now move to the “That wasn’t actually Suarez on the pitch against Italy”defense. Or maybe there will be another round of “Chiellini photoshopped his injury while rolling around on the ground with the world looking on”.

  86. 86.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I’ve always gotten the impression that a very large number of people, maybe most, only pay a little attention to the lyrics of songs. They seize on a verse or line they like, decide that’s the meaning, then run with it. Kinda like how Fundies treat the Bible.

    @NonyNony:
    They also convinced him that it’s easy to get away with. Turns out, not so much.

  87. 87.

    Morzer

    More detail on Sulley Muntari’s rage against the machine:

    http://allsports.com.gh/football/teams/black-stars/thrilla-in-brasilia-muntari-squares-off-against-moses-parker-at-height-of-appearance-fee-row-id2943946.html

    Muntari squared off against the Medeama SC owner and Black Stars management committee member at a meeting between the players and management where both men exchanged punches before storming Parker’s room where he smashed a MacBook Pro, destroyed phones and property in the room at the Brasilia Palace Hotel the official was staying.
    Parker was all along held up on the balcony of the room, protected from the raw rage and anger of the player by other players and officials.
    .
    .
    The meeting room with management members and players all in attendance had become utterly chaotic as security officials and players attempted to hold back both men. Some officials took Parker up to his room on the second floor of the hotel while others blocked the door so Muntari will not follow up. So charged up was Muntari that he floored at least two security men detailed to the team, brushed off Felix Ansong and pushed all before him.

    Maybe Ghana should consider renaming themselves the Roid Rage Rhinos?

  88. 88.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    That second tweet is obviously snark. I can tell because it uses a snarky font.

  89. 89.

    D58826

    @Valdivia: Actually I think the 9-0 portion of the decision is defensible. The Senate was in session, even if it was only just long enough to say they were. Its Congress that decides when it is in session not the President. If I remember correctly the Democrats used the same pro-forma stunt during the last 2 years of W’s term to prevent recess appointments.

    The 5-4 portion of the decision is more in line with if Obama does it its wrong no matter how may times a Republican has done it. I believe Breyer appended 54 pages of examples of prior recess appointments that no one objected to. It also makes it obvious once again that ‘original intent’ is only a fancy dodge for conservative judicial activism.

  92. 92.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    From today’s NYT.

    Two Iraqi advisers to Mr. Maliki said there would be more than 1,000 American private security guards coming to Iraq to protect the 300 military and intelligence advisers that will be here to help the Iraqi government fight ISIS, far more Americans than previously acknowledged. One adviser said the number of private guards would reach 1,700.

    Just, damn..

  96. 96.

    Amir Khalid

    @magurakurin:
    Die Schande von Gijon was profoundly disgraceful. As a result of spontaneous collusion between the teams, the match was abandoned as a sporting contest ten minutes in. It was that collusion, not a proper match, that decided which two of three teams (West Germany, Austria, Algeria) would advance to the next stage. And it was seen as a disgrace even in the two countries whose teams benefited from it.

    Here’s the Wikipedia recap of the aftermath:

    This performance was widely deplored by all observers. German ARD commentator Eberhard Stanjek at one point refused to comment on the game any longer. Austrian commentator Robert Seeger bemoaned the spectacle and actually requested that the viewers should switch off their television sets.

    Likewise, many spectators were not impressed and voiced their disgust with the players. Chants of “Fuera, fuera” (“Out, out”) and “Que se besen, que se besen” (“Let them kiss, let them kiss”) were screamed by the appalled Spanish crowd, while angry Algerian supporters waved banknotes at the players. The match was criticized even by the German and Austrian fans who had hoped for a hot rematch of the 1978 World Cup match, in which Austria had beaten West Germany; one German fan burned the national flag in protest.

  100. 100.

    Punchy

    @Morzer: I’m getting the strong whiff of a fixed game for Ghana/Portugal. That much disfunction seems (to me) possible evidence that someone either agreed to fix, or uncovered a fix agreement, and someone wasn’t happy about it.

    African soccer clubs are infamous for fixing matches….This could go very, very, very well for Portugal.

  102. 102.

    Morzer

    @Punchy:

    I really doubt it. Boateng had refused to play for the national side for years and Sulley Muntari has a reputation for fighting with his coaches that goes back to 2004.

  103. 103.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Well, this windfall should help Erik pay the bills. If the report is correct we’re sending a battalion of private guards along with more than 300 advisers to prop up a corrupt and failed government that is involved in a sectarian struggle of its own making. This should work out well.

  105. 105.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Shrillhouse

    : I thought conservatives were all about personal responsibility…

    Personal responsibility is for the little people, for “those people”, not for anyone in their tribe.

    Wipe them out. All of them.

  106. 106.

    YellowJournalism

    Dumbstruck that the buffer zone decision was unanimous.

    So when are they taking down the 100-ft sCOTUS buffer zone?

  109. 109.

    Morzer

    @Shrillhouse:

    Conservatives are about personal responsibility – their personal responsibility to make everyone else’s life as miserable as possible while living in a fantasy world of their own.

  111. 111.

    SRW1

    @magurakurin:

    Germany will play ‘controlled offensive’, which is to say bring the ball slowly out of their own half, dominate possession and midfield play by pinging the ball around there endlessly and probing for openings in the US defense. If you have ever seen a handball game, that will be the style. I am afraid it’s gonna be quite boring. If it’s still a draw 15 minutes from time, the game will probably put everybody to sleep (except for the whistling from the audience).

  112. 112.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    ‘Why Not Just Fix It?!’: Cavuto Blasts Bachmann Over Obama Lawsuit

    Neil Cavuto took on Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN) over House Speaker John Boehner’s planned lawsuit against President Obama.

    Boehner is challenging the president’s use of executive actions, and said today, “This is not about impeachment — it’s about him faithfully executing the laws of this country.”

    Cavuto asked Bachmann why the lawsuit is coming now and suggested that Republicans are spiking the political football.

    “Why not just fix things that are very, very wrong now rather than dragging someone to court over whether they overstepped their bounds? It just seems to me like an enormous waste of time,” the Fox News host said.

    Bachmann acknowledged that the lawsuit may not go anywhere, but said that it reflects the frustration of many Americans.

    Cavuto responded, “It just seems to me that so much is wrong here, this finger-pointing, we’re going to drag your ass to court, we’re going to do this – just do something!”

  113. 113.

    burnspbesq

    @YellowJournalism:

    Dumbstruck that the buffer zone decision was unanimous.

    Why? Writing was on the wall. This is one of the rare cases in which the oral argument turns out (with the benefit of hindsight) to foreshadow the decision.

    This Court loves political speech. As it should. Political speech is the core of what is protected by the First Amendment.

  114. 114.

    japa21

    @YellowJournalism: The court pretty much gave themselves a ready made defense. Part of the reason the MA buffer zone was shout down was that it included sidewalks and roadways. The SC zone does not extend down tto the sidewalks. At least I am pretty sure that is the arguement they would use.

  115. 115.

    Laertes

    ffs they died when he was fourteen years old. I get that he’s got to play the fogey because that’s fashionable in gooper circles, but it’s just silly to claim that your musical taste stopped developing when you were fourteen.

  116. 116.

    D58826

    On the lioghter side, or ‘Darryl Digs to China’ – Issa has issued a subpoena for all of Lois Lerner’s e-mails back to 1986. Which is 8 years prior to the general availability of e-mail. I’ll tell you those Obama appointees sure do have amazing powers.

  117. 117.

    burnspbesq

    @SRW1:

    Meanwhile, Ghana has melted down. Boateng and Muntari sent home for some combination of verbal abuse and altercations with federation officials. Team refused to train on Tuesday because they wanted to be paid in cash (which the Ghanaian government fronted to the federation).

    All the grand traditions of African football must be observed!

  118. 118.

    burnspbesq

    @Laertes:

    it’s just silly to claim that your musical taste stopped developing when you were fourteen.

    This blog is a peculiar place to be making that statement.

  119. 119.

    Morzer

    Soccer must be going somewhere in the USA because another conservative has-been decided to get in on the action recently:

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ann-coulter-trolls-usa-soccer-fans

    Leave it to Ann Coulter to try and spoil the fun ahead of Thursday’s pivotal USA-Germany World Cup soccer match.

    After cautioning that she’d held off from writing about the beautiful game so as “not to offend anyone,” the conservative pundit dedicated her syndicated column to a rambling, point-by-point explanation of how “any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation’s moral decay.”

    Coulter cited some predictable criticisms, arguing that “individual achievement” is barely a factor in the sport and that “it’s foreign.”

    But she also laid out a few wackier gripes. Coulter took issue with the fact that a soccer player can’t use his or her hands in play, then made a bizarre comparison between the sport and the metric system that invoked the French Revolution and the guillotine. Basically, she argued that liberals’ adoration for soccer and the metric system runs deep because they’re both “European.”

  120. 120.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @D58826: I was using email back in 1986, but then I was in the Army, in the “high tech” 9th Infantry Division.

    I doubt if any of those emails are archived anywhere. Probably because they were deliberately destroyed for security reasons.

  121. 121.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @D58826:

    I’d laugh save for the fact that I don’t believe that the rest of Congress is any more technologically literate than Issa. That they are legislating on matters like the NSA or net neutrality is scary.

  122. 122.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Morzer: The most sure sign of the nation’s “moral decay” is that anyone publishes anything the Coulter harridan offers up.

  123. 123.

    Amir Khalid

    Germany and the USA will have a wet but playable pitch for their match. There are flash floods all over town, though. Per the Guardian live-blog, German TV channel ZDFsport tweets:

    Der Platz in Recife ist noch ok, aber drumherum schwimmt alles. #USAGER #WM2014

    “The pitch in Recife is still okay, but everything around it is floating.”

  125. 125.

    Belafon

    @Morzer: More American’s are watching the World Cup than watched the NBA finals. Soccer has become the most popular sport for kids. Next thing you know, the UN will be mandating that basketballs be shrunk down to the size of soccer balls so that kids won’t have to get used to different sizes.

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    If the report is correct we’re sending a battalion of private guards along with more than 300 advisers to prop up evacuate a corrupt and failed government that is involved in a sectarian struggle of its own making.

    Fix’d. I am still convinced the purpose of sending 300 (or 1,200) Americans back to Iraq is to facilitate an orderly evacuation, not to get involved in the fighting.

  130. 130.

    SRW1

    @Amir Khalid:

    Do your memories reach back to the ‘Wasserschlacht von Frankfurt’ between Germany and Poland at the 1974 WC? The players never knew were the ball was gonna hit a puddle and just stop in mid motion.

  131. 131.

    Morzer

    Apparently thinking conservatives have found another way to express their manhood:

    http://www.vocativ.com/culture/society/dicks-pick-trucks-meme-rollin-coal/

    In small towns across America, manly men are customizing their jacked-up diesel trucks to intentionally emit giant plumes of toxic smoke every time they rev their engines. They call it “rollin’ coal,” and it’s something they do for fun.

    An entire subculture has emerged on the Internet surrounding this soot-spewing pastime—where self-declared rednecks gather on Facebook pages (16,000 collective followers) Tumblers and Instagram (156,714 posts) to share photos and videos of their Dodge Rams and GM Silverados purposefully poisoning the sky. As one of their memes reads: “Roll, roll, rollin’ coal, let the hybrid see. A big black cloud. Exhaust that’s loud. Watch the city boy flee.”

  133. 133.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Mnemosyne:
    I hope that you’re right. I was uncomfortable with sending the 300+ advisers. The number of security guards, if true, just makes it more likely that we’ll become more involved. Between the Sunni, Shia and the Kurds, Iraq was a doomed state anyway. I’m just not happy with anything that looks like re-involvement with trying to hold it together.

  134. 134.

    ? Martin

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: Consider that Iraq will never get a non-corrupt government if Baghdad falls. Some form of stalemate is the desired outcome. It forces Maliki’s hand toward reform, while avoiding putting ISIS in power, and it keeps our embassy open and us involved diplomatically.

  135. 135.

    Morzer

    @SRW1:

    The ultimate highway enemy, however, are “nature nuffies,” or people who drive hybrid cars, because apparently, pro-earth sentiment is an offense to the diesel-trucking lifestyle. “The feeling around here is that everyone who drives a small car is a liberal,” says Ryan. “I rolled coal on a Prius once just because they were tailing me.”

  136. 136.

    Amir Khalid

    @SRW1:
    When you find yourself playing water polo rather than football, it’s time to abandon the match.

  137. 137.

    Tripod

    @Laertes:

    “Classic rock” is the approved soundtrack for the American white male. It’s not “crap” like dance & disco (too gay) or rap & hip hop (too brown).

  139. 139.

    D58826

    @Villago Delenda Est: I know that e-mail in some high tech/defense related applications goes back before 1986. I think it was called ARPANET. Was kinda the grandfather of the internet. The article was referring to the more generally availability to the public with AOL, etc,

  140. 140.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: This is an example of where Cavuto is a fuckhead. You don’t “fix it” because the next time a Rethug is in the WH, he or she will want to use it too against a Democratic Senate that refuses to confirm the appointments of fuckheads.

  142. 142.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @? Martin:

    PM al-Maliki has recently and repeatedly rejected the idea of a national unity government. I doubt that Baghdad will fall, ISIS thrives in Sunni areas, the ethnic cleansing that followed our invasion of Iraq has made Baghdad reliably Shia. Keeping us involved diplomatically? That’s worked out real well for the people of Iraq, hasn’t it?

  143. 143.

    catclub

    @Morzer: So how does it work? Are they adding a coaldust injector, kind of like an NOX injector for performance? Somehow detuning the engine to get incomplete combustion? Finding a special source for really lousy diesel fuel?

    I am curious.

  144. 144.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @catclub:

    You can just run the thing really rich on fuel. The computer control on diesels can be re-chipped to furnish a normal fuel/air mixture until you floor the the thing at which time it goes very rich on fuel.

  146. 146.

    kindness

    Hey Joe is good but it’s an altered cover of Robert Johnson’s ‘Crosscord’. Yea I know, most writing credits go to Billy Roberts but Johnson’s song had to have been the genesis of it. Read the lyrics and think for yourself.

    My favorite Hendrix cover is Monterey Pop Festival ‘Like A Rolling Stone’. After that even Dylan started playing it Jimi’s way. My favorite Hendrix original? OMG too many to really chose a favorite. Data overload>>Blue screen of death in my mental capacity.

  147. 147.

    catclub

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: I heard Dexter Filkins on the radio.
    He said that, in private, all sides would have liked to have US stay, because the US was the only trusted intermediary. So the nation building really only built up dependence on US involvement.
    Wonderful.

  149. 149.

    Cervantes

    @D58826:

    Issa has issued a subpoena for all of Lois Lerner’s e-mails back to 1986. Which is 8 years prior to the general availability of e-mail.

    1994? You may be thinking about general availability of web-servers and web-browsers.

    E-mail has been around since the ’60s, though not available to, e.g., the IRS until the mid-’80s.

  150. 150.

    Morzer

    @catclub:

    This is all I have:

    The pollution pageantry has its origins in Truck Pulls, a rural motorsport where diesel pickups challenge one another to see who can pull a weighted sled the farthest. In order to have an edge, drivers started modifying their trucks to dump excessive fuel into the motor, which gave them more horsepower, torque, speed and a better chance of winning. It also made their trucks emit black smoke, an affectation that apparently won the hearts of country boys everywhere. Today kids will spend anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 modifying their pickups for this sole purpose; adding smoke stacks and smoke switches (which trick the engine into thinking it needs more gas), or even revamping the entire fuel system.

  152. 152.

    gene108

    @Morzer:

    So basically they are assholes because they can be assholes. Should be the slogan of the conservative movement: “I’m a conservative. I’m an asshole. Don’t you want be an asshole too?”

  153. 153.

    ? Martin

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: Well, as much as we have no interest in sending in troops, we also have no interest in seeing Iraq get worse. Diplomacy should be the US big stick, not bombs. Alas we’re a lot better at the latter than the former, but that’s no reason to reject the goal. If Obama leaves office with nothing more than the State Department as the stronger foreign policy lever rather than the Pentagon, then we all win.

    Keeping the embassy open (within reason) is a universal good.

  156. 156.

    Morzer

    Not sure what I make of this, but a conservative troll has apparently broken down in tears in Arizona:

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/john-huppenthal-crying-press-conference

    John Huppenthal, the Arizona Republican official who earlier this month confessed to being a prolific and nasty anonymous commenter on local politics blogs, apologized Wednesday for his bigoted online writings during an emotional press conference that ended with him walking out of the room in tears.

    “I am here today to apologize for my blog comments,” Huppenthal said at the start of the press conference. “There have been a lot of discussions in recent days, including today, on my blog comments. I don’t mind getting beat up, I’ve been in elected office for a long time, it comes with the territory. That doesn’t bother me. What does bother me, what really bothers me, is that my blog comments were hurtful. I’m here today because of those hurtful blog comments, my blog comments. I’m here today to repudiate those blog comments, I’m here to renounce those blog comments. They are not what is in my mind, they don’t reflect the love that is in my heart, and they especially don’t reflect the actions of myself and especially my employees in this agency over the preceding years.”

  157. 157.

    Tripod

    @gene108:

    What did you expect? “Welcome, sonny”? “Make yourself at home”? “Marry my daughter”? You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.

  159. 159.

    ? Martin

    @Morzer:

    They are not what is in my mind, they don’t reflect the love that is in my heart

    Yeah, that’s complete bullshit. You don’t write that stuff unless it’s in your heart.

  160. 160.

    flukebucket

    @burnspbesq:

    Off topic of course but what is your prediction on the Hobby Lobby ruling?

    Were you surprised by the recess appointment ruling?

  161. 161.

    piratedan

    @Morzer: HE’S A FUCKING SCUMBAG… and yes, caps were warranted. This guy is the primary mover and shaker behind dismantling any kind of teaching/education/program that illustrates any kind of positive ethnic education in Arizona schools.

    so… fuck him.

  162. 162.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    Oh for goodness sake, we have whole generations of white males who have found out that they’ve been screwed and there’s no way out. They can’t blame themselves or their white leaders so they blame everyone else and they lash out at anyone in their path. It’s going to get worse long before it gets better.

  164. 164.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Morzer:

    and they especially don’t reflect the actions of myself

    This is the point where the FBI’s lie detector explodes.

  165. 165.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I was teaching in an engineering college in 1986 and we didn’t have email for a couple of years after that. Then what we had was PINE.

    ETA: Mr IOL is a research engineer in industry and I had email before he did. Issa’s request if preposterous. But you knew that.

  166. 166.

    Mnemosyne

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    So we should just abandon all of the embassy and other US staff who are currently there — including the Americans — and say, “Sorry, folks, you’re on your own”? Or should we send troops there now to make sure there’s an orderly evacuation when it becomes necessary?

    This is what Obama is trying to avoid, and I think sensibly so. There’s not much that 300 or even 1,200 American troops are going to be able to do against ISIS other than protect and evacuate the Americans and allies who are there.

  167. 167.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    We exchanged FTP text messages over ARPANET before it became the internet. It wasn’t until 1982 that SMTP was proposed and over the next few years became widely deployed. That protocol was the one that enabled email as we know it.

  169. 169.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    @Morzer: Read that “article” and I call bullshit from top to bottom. No sources, no links, no nothing.

    “Rolling coal” has been a general term for driving a diesel pickup for decades. That much is true. The rest of it sounds like a caricature of redneck truck drivers written by someone who, well, drives a Prius. See? I can slander drivers based on no evidence whatsoever too!

    It’ll all be moot in 2019 when Elon Musk introduces the Tesla truck and people find out that the ultimate source of off-road torque isn’t a diesel, but an electric motor.

    DISCLAIMER: I do not own a diesel pickup. I own a regular one. Waiting for that Tesla truck, Elon!

  172. 172.

    Iowa Old Lady

    Also, the Supreme Court’s invalidation of the buffer zones around abortion clinics is just heartbreaking. What world do these people live in?

  174. 174.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    Ha! As long as you kept track of when to “put” and when to “get” it was just cumbersome. I remember being delighted by PINE. I was on some flavor of UNIX back then, BSD was yet to happen and Linux was just a gleam in Linus Torvald’s eye. Networking wasn’t included in the consumer level OSs of the time.

  175. 175.

    D58826

    @Mnemosyne: Some words of wisdom from Fareed Zakaris over at cnn

    So you could say Syria, Iran, all this extra complication could be an argument just for saying it’s such a mess, another reason we shouldn’t be there.

    Look, one very realpolitik way to look at this would be to say, a lot of bad guys are killing each other, that this isn’t entirely bad for the United States.

    Hezbollah, for example – a terrorist group that we really don’t like – is busy trying to support the Syrian government and perhaps even helping the Iraqi governments. The Iranians’ Revolutionary Guard is in there. All these guys are being distracted from doing all the bad stuff we worry about because they’re helping their friends. You know, at the very least, let some of this sort itself out before we jump in there, as I say, with our very different notions.

    And yes, if we’re going to have 600,000 troops and impose order, maybe we can remake this region. But otherwise, let’s just watch for a little while.

    Only part missing is the popcorn!

  177. 177.

    Mnemosyne

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    You’ve already said you didn’t want to send the 300 additional troops that were already announced, so I think it’s a valid question: if things get worse and people need to evacuate, how do you think we can get the civilian Americans and allies who are already there out without that additional military assistance?

    I know that people who remember Vietnam are convinced that this is a new escalation, but realistically, it’s 1975, not 1967. In this metaphor, Obama is Ford, not Johnson, and I think he knows putting thousands more troops in would be useless.

  178. 178.

    Cervantes

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Also, the Supreme Court’s invalidation of the buffer zones around abortion clinics is just heartbreaking. What world do these people live in?

    A world in which ordinary women seeking medical help can be bullied and harassed but presidents with Secret Service protection honor the Constitution by keeping protestors caged in faraway free-speech zones.

    Next question?

  180. 180.

    Cervantes

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    Networking wasn’t included in the consumer level OSs of the time.

    Gursharan Sidhu’s AppleTalk came with every Macintosh from 1985 onwards (until it was superseded).

  181. 181.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate: Email existed in various proprietary systems prior to the IETF’s creation of the various RFC’s that led to today’s email. OffiveVision, anyone?

  182. 182.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Mnemosyne:
    You seem convinced, with no evidence to support your conviction, that the forces being sent to Iraq are being sent solely to evacuate Americans. I’ll believe it when I see them come home – all of them.

  183. 183.

    Origuy

    I first saw the PLATO system in 1973. It was developed at Illinois and used CDC systems with plasma-screen terminals. It had animation, email, group discussions, chat, and multi-user games. Many of the classes at U of I used it for instruction.

  184. 184.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    So how much of the Supremes’ decision on recess appointments dips into ‘Preznitin’ While Black’? Because from a first blush reading, it seems to technically preserve the idea of recess appointments but effectively makes them impossible long as the opposition holds a single house of Congress.

  185. 185.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @gene108:
    That is the current conservative mantra. It blends beautifully with racism.

    @Morzer:
    I don’t know what to make of that either. It’s not how trolls behave.

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:
    How is this? 1300 people aren’t going to make the tiniest dent in this war. Whatever they’re there for, direct military involvement can’t be it. Evacuation is a theory. Personally I think they’re a token ‘We take this very seriously.’ force that will be used for diplomatic security and not much else. It’s something that isn’t military escalation.

  186. 186.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Personally I think they’re a token ‘We take this very seriously.’ force that will be used for diplomatic security and not much else. It’s something that isn’t military escalation.

    I’ve been burned so many times…

  192. 192.

    WaterGirl

    @Origuy: I had forgotten all about Plato! (attended University of Illinois)

    Ah, Plato, you were fun while it lasted!

  193. 193.

    D58826

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: While I think the case would never have been filed if Obama wasn’t President, the constitution does say ‘recess’ and if the Congress is not in recess then your out of luck. It not that the other party controls one house
    but the fact of the recess. While not very likely the Democrats could control both Houses and as long as Congress was in session, however briefly each day, then Obama could not use a recess appointment. As a practical matter with Congress in session almost year round (even if they are out of town more than in) there isn’t a lot of time when they would be in a recess.
    The court did knock down the contention that the vacancy had to also occur during the recess.

  195. 195.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @D58826:

    Well, that’s why I tried to separate the technical merits of the decision and the likely tangible, practical results. It still feels like the results end up mostly a ‘Fuck You Obama’ ruling.

    It doesn’t help how I’m seeing bullshit about ‘SEE, SEE, The Supremes shitkicked Obama again, that just PROVES how totally lawless and super-tyrannic horror Obama is!!’ shit over these last few rulings.

  196. 196.

    Jebediah, RBG

    @NotMax:

    If people from Canada are called Canadians, why aren’t people from Ghana called Ghanadians?

    From now on, they shall be.

  197. 197.

    Mnemosyne

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    Frankensteinbeck said it better than I could, so I’ll leave it at that. As I said, looking at past history, Obama seems much more in the position that Ford was than the position Johnson was, and I think even the hawkiest hawks in the military know that a full escalation would be moronic. I could maybe see some kind of true international action (NATO or UN) but Obama would probably have the US step into the background as he did with the intervention in Libya.

    IOW, I see no signs that Obama wants to escalate. YMMV of course, but keep in mind that past experience with other presidents is not necessarily indicative of what this specific president will do.

  199. 199.

    Nerull

    @CONGRATULATIONS!: I’ve seen these people first hand, and you can easily find forums where they’re high-fiving each other for “smoking” pedestrians, cyclists, etc.

  200. 200.

    D58826

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Oh I agree it was a f-u aimed at Obama. I don’t think the case would ever have been filed under a republican president. As for the elephant echo chamber they would make it a big deal if it were a fine for a couple of over due library books. A couple of the non-faux headlines made it sound like it was a much broader ruling than it actually was. If Scalia had his way, the entire process would have been written out of the Constitution After all if the choice is original intent or screw Obama, the later wins hands down

  201. 201.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @D58826:

    The headlines are problematic for me, especially since you know ever little GOP win, ever inch they get granted, they manage to turn it into a mile, and while they occasionally get taken to task, it happens fucking enough that they still end up winning the argument (if not the debate), or at the very least preventing anyone else from actually winning it.

  203. 203.

    johnny aquitard

    @OldDave: This inability of conservatives to understand ‘what it means’ reminds me of how St. Ronnie’s campaign adopted Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”, the dumb fucks believed it exemplified Morning in America, USA FUCK YEAH.

    I just googled the song in the campaign and learned George Will was responsible for getting it adopted by the Reagan campaign. I am not surprised. Conservative dumb fuck, indeed.

    The right really lives in a bubble of what they want to see, hear and believe, where anything can be made into an affirmation their worldview simply by asserting it is so.

  207. 207.

    gene108

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:

    I thought it was only the Senate that mattered and Republicans refused to allow a Senate session to officially end. They kept one or two guys in session year round, just to not allow Obama the chance for recess appointments.

    It’s just another bit of nasty abuse of the system by Republicans, who will more than likely do away with all these checks on majority power the split second they ever regain a majority in the Senate.

  208. 208.

    SatanicPanic

    @johnny aquitard: I personally think that was by design. Bruce gets a massive hit, gets to loudly claim everyone is misunderstanding him. Conservatives get to claim the song, knowing full well no on listens to the verses (which is true, and Bruce knows this or he’s full of it). LIberals can claim conservatives are stupid for not getting it. Everybody wins!

    I’m not claiming Bruce was deliberately being a phony about the whole thing because I don’t know him personally, but I strongly suspect he was. I don’t blame him, he needed a hit and he got one.

  209. 209.

    cokane

    He’s the one
    Who likes all our pretty songs
    And he likes to sing along
    And he likes to shoot his gun
    But he don’t know what it means

  210. 210.

    Bitter Scribe

    I’m going to go out on a limb and say Grover was being funny here. Or trying to.

  211. 211.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @gene108:

    On paper, I believe you’re right. In practice, House leadership has provoked the Senate minority into holding pro forma sessions in both houses before to tamp down on recess appointments before.

  212. 212.

    Cervantes

    @SatanicPanic:

    I’m not claiming Bruce was deliberately being a phony about the whole thing because I don’t know him personally, but I strongly suspect he was. I don’t blame him, he needed a hit and he got one.

    The album went platinum in the summer of ’84. Reagan started using the song, and Springsteen’s name, in the fall — after permission was withheld.

  217. 217.

    ellennelle

    oh wow; the obvious joplin pick for grover would have to be “oh lord, woncha buy me a mercedes benz? my friends all have porsches, i must make amends.”

    ;-)

  218. 218.

    danielx

    @OldDave:

    Not to mention pro-family. Grover talks a lot but apparently he doesn’t listen very often, especially to song lyrics.

    Hey, he’s a Very Serious Person. They don’t have time for pop culture fads.

    However, it is yet another confirmation that Grover Norquist is totally a doucherocket.

    Because something is happening here
    But you don’t know what it is
    Do you, Mister Norquist?

  219. 219.

    Trollhattan

    @Morzer:
    It’s certainly an improvement over the standard, “I’m here to say I’m sorry if feelings were hurt by what I said.” which always auto-translates to “I’m sorry I was caught.”

  223. 223.

    Gorgon Zola

    @NonyNony: Well you sucked all the fun out of that joke. I mean, you’re probably right but you sucked. The fun, I mean.

  225. 225.

    danielx

    @johnny aquitard:

    Kind of like when National Review listed the 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs, with Won’t Get Fooled Again at #1. I’m still sort of surprised Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend didn’t charter a plane and fly over here so they could take turns pissing on John J. Miller’s shoes…

    Note: there are no conservative rock songs written as such….period. (Ask Chuck Berry.) There are country songs written as conservative songs, usually draped in the flag. These songs suck, without exception.

  226. 226.

    SatanicPanic

    @danielx: No conservative rock songs? What about Kid Rock or Creed? How about Fear? How are we defining conservative anyway?

    Run for Your Life by the Beatles seems pretty conservative. Taxman. At best that Who song comes off as mocking people engaged in some very real struggles at the time.

  227. 227.

    Kerry Reid

    I totally had Grover pegged as a “drown the cheating ho in a bathtub” kind of guy.

  229. 229.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @danielx: Best example: the vile musical catastrophe that is “God Bless the USA”. I cannot express my loathing for that piece of aural shit adequately with words.

  231. 231.

    Kerry Reid

    Also, given that the NRA just came out in favor of letting stalkers and domestic abusers keep their guns, the timing of Grover’s “joke” is a tad unfortunate.

  233. 233.

    Mnemosyne

    @SatanicPanic:

    How are we defining conservative anyway?

    That’s where it gets tricky, though. Today’s definition of “conservative” isn’t the same as the definition of 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. Walt Disney was ultraconservative, but very pro-environment (and anti-hunting), so he would be drummed out of the conservative movement these days. In the days before women’s liberation, it was okay on all sides of the political spectrum to casually talk about beating/killing your wife or girlfriend for being unfaithful.

    Is “Revolution” a “conservative” song, or is it voicing genuine worries about the violent rhetoric of the 1960s?

  234. 234.

    SatanicPanic

    @Mnemosyne: That’s a tricky one. I think it was directed at the excesses of the 60s left- which did have some excesses and certainly made some dumb moves. It’s roughly the same song as Won’t Get Fooled Again, but since it’s coming from Lennon it’s a song I am more comfortable with. Won’t Get Fooled Again is by a guy whose politics we don’t know about and seems to be approaching the subject from the position of some out of touch rich rocker.

  235. 235.

    Mnemosyne

    @SatanicPanic:

    “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is cynical, but given the events of the ensuing 40 years, I’m not sure that cynicism was unjustified. How many times were people told that this revolution was totally going to work and certainly not simply create a new power elite to replace the old power elite? The Reagan Revolution replaced corrupt Democratic politicians with corrupt Republican politicians — big whoop. Thatcherism was going to fix everything and, of course, only screwed it up worse.

    But, then, I’m more than a little cynical about revolutions. Political change, sure, but I haven’t seen a lot of evidence that full-on revolutions change things for the better, at least in the short term. I think it was especially romanticized in the West, where it was easy to cheer on the bloody revolutions in Africa, Asia, and South America from the comfort of our armchairs.

  236. 236.

    SatanicPanic

    @Mnemosyne: I agree that revolutions are generally a bad thing, especially violent ones. My problem with the song is that there were some things that did change during the 60s for the better, mostly for non-white males and it seems like the guy who wrote Behind Blue Eyes is probably not the man to appreciate that. I don’t know if I’d call it a conservative song, but writing a song that’s explicitly apolitical does serve conservative interests.

    I think that’s the difference between Revolution and Won’t Get Fooled Again- Revolution says, “we all want to change the world” but don’t do something without thinking about the consequences. Won’t Get Fooled again is more like “why bother?”

  237. 237.

    Mike G

    @SatanicPanic:

    Taxman.

    The Beatles were complaining about a 95% income tax rate.
    They would have been ecstatic to pay the 40% that conservatives equate with Pol Pot.

  238. 238.

    The Lodger

    @Morzer: If these goons like modifying their engines so much, maybe someone should grab a cordless drill and “modify” their mufflers.
    I’m also in favor of playing Hide the Potato in the aforementioned vehicles.

  239. 239.

    Mnemosyne

    @SatanicPanic:

    You know that “Behind Blue Eyes” is actually a villain song, right? It’s like saying that “Viva la Vida” by Coldplay is glamorizing dictators.

    “Behind Blue Eyes” is a song of self-justification sung by a bad guy. You’re not supposed to buy the self-justification.

    ETA: Also, too, Who’s Next is mostly songs from an abandoned rock opera by Townshend. IIRC, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” was supposed to be the finale. And if Tommy didn’t make you realize that Townshend is cynical about religion and mass movements, I don’t know what else would convince you.

  242. 242.

    DuckmanGR

    Republicans only read, if they can, the first few lines, but never the last few lines. That’s how they avoid that cog diss problem.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks