Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

A consequence of cucumbers

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

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Let’s finish the job.

This fight is for everything.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

He really is that stupid.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / In Birmingham They Love the Guv-nah

In Birmingham They Love the Guv-nah

by | 96 Comments

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IMG_0071.JPG

I’m up in Alabama visiting my old granny, who is out of the hospital and doing better. Heading back home tomorrow, and I’ll swing by and visit my other old grandma on the way home, maybe take her out to lunch or something.

What are y’all doing to wrap up the holiday weekend? Is anything interesting or appalling happening in the world? I haven’t seen any news whatsoever since Friday. Please feel free to discuss whatever.

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    So Rick Perry’s VERIFIED twitter account tweeted a meme pick about the Dem DA lady he tried to get to resign.

    It was pretty juvenile and re-tweeted alot.

    Welp, Perry deleted the tweet and tweeted this:

    A tweet just went out from my account that was unauthorized. I do not condone the tweet and I have taken it down.

    If you want to see the original tweet, here it is.

    https://twitter.com/Green_Footballs/status/506259920250216448

  6. 6.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    Well, at least I’m not cleaning a litter box. Porch repair – replacing the lattice on the sides, pulling off some of the aluminum some Tin Man sold one of the previous owners, heat-gunning the flaking paint, repainting the original wood. In truth, I should write a check and get a new porch built, but there’s that whole “writing a check” issue.

  12. 12.

    Jay C

    @lamh36:

    So what’s the supposed story here? Governor Goodhair left his cellphone on the table when he went to take a leak, and one of his asshole aides just happened to pick it up and unauthorizedly tweeted stupid insulting BS??

    And this is the guy Texans preferred over Kinky Friedman??

  13. 13.

    Ella in NM

    Speaking of Governors, my 23-yr old had a “Brush with Greatness” with our own illustrious governor Susana Martinez today at the Lowes where he works part-time. She was buying stuff with a couple of her assistants following her around when my son’ a coworker got all excited and gushed “Im

  14. 14.

    TaMara (BHF)

    After two days of a constant stream of emails from OFA, DNC and President Obama, Joe Biden, et al, I’ve had it and unsubscribed from all of them. Do they really think they are doing themselves a favor with 5 emails a day? If I did or didn’t donate after the first email, do they really think 4 more (x 3 different organizations) are going to persuade me?

    Also, too, get off my fucking lawn. /rant

  15. 15.

    Botsplainer

    After initial whining, I’ve fallen in love with the Netflix serialization of From Dusk Till Dawn, filling in all the backstories while coursing through the tale. There are some changes, and everything is a lot more directed and less random, but the thing is solid and modernized.

    Robert Rodriguez is heavily involved.

  17. 17.

    Ella in NM

    helping the Governor!!!!!!” My kid looked right at her and blurted out “the Governor? BFD!!” He said she gave him “the I smell poop” face. So proud of that one. :-)

  20. 20.

    FlyingToaster

    @TaMara (BHF): I ended up chewing out both OFA volunteers and the Watertown for Warren and Watertown for Markey local coordinators in 2012 and 2013.

    Look, I’m a reliable D voter, haven’t missed an even year election since 1980, haven’t missed a primary since ’92. Calling ME every day and flyering my door 3x in one day is a waste of money, time, and is just plain STUPID. Also, I know Watertown is small, but putting your coordinator in Newton is really not appropriate. For either Watertown or Newton.

    Call someone who doesn’t always show up to vote; call them once a week, flyer them twice a week, and move on to the next not-so-often voter already. Quit spending money on trying to get the votes you’ve already got.

    This year has been significantly less crazy; I’ve hung up on the robocalls, I’ve picked my candidates now (last week I was still reading position papers and voting histories), and I can take my week of getting WarriorGirl started in first grade before the primary on the 9th.

  23. 23.

    El Caganer

    @Jay C: And Kinky did really have the best slogan for one of his campaigns, “How hard can it be?” Given the type of goobers that haunt the halls of power in Austin, the answer would seem to be “Not very.”

  24. 24.

    El Caganer

    @TaMara (BHF): Yeah, I don’t get it. I’m not a Democrat and I don’t send them money, so I have no idea why they’re pumping out gazillions of emails a day to me. At least in this modern age, they’re not wasting the cost of postage, so I guess there’s that.

  26. 26.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @TaMara (BHF):

    I just counted through my inbox. Since yesterday morning alone I have had 27 money-begging emails from POTUS, FLOTUS, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter campaigns, Bold Progressives, OFA, DNC, DCCC, etc. etc. and so forth — and I expect another two or three before midnight. I suppose this approach must give them an effective ROI, but they are turning me right off.

  31. 31.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @TaMara (BHF): I take it you haven’t also donated to the “Red to Blue” collection of 28 House candidates, have you?

    ;-)

    Yeah, the e-mails are a little annoying. They’re a little fun too, I think. “What horror story is it now??”

    I understand why they do it – it costs them almost nothing to send another e-mail and apparently someone at one time responded. I don’t mind it – I simply delete them without reading them unless I’ve already decided I’m ready to donate.

    What burns me up is their insistence on having a phone number. I’ve told everyone who will listen that we do not like getting phone calls at home. We do not give to phone solicitors – if you want something, put the pitch in an e-mail or USPS. But, they call anyway. So, rather than asking, yet again, to be taken off their calling list, I’ve taken to hitting the “Talk” button, waiting 2 seconds then hanging up.

    I’m sure it’s frustrating for the campaigns not to be able to talk to donors like me, but badgering people who have tried to make their wishes clear doesn’t help their cause. I give what I can when I can. Them talking to me isn’t going to change that.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (Who wonders what new “innovation” they’ll come up with for the 2016 cycle…)

  34. 34.

    Violet

    @lamh36: Went to check out Rick Perry’s Twitter feed because of your post in the previous thread. Saw the new updated “Someone else is responsible” tweet. But underneath that is this one:

    Two Haskell County boys @ #mclanekickoff Coach Briles has done heck of a job for Baylor. Well done Art! http://t.co/Tq5Q6Akh8R— Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) September 1, 2014

    Heck of a job. Too bad the guy’s name isn’t Brownie.

  36. 36.

    Yatsuno

    @trollhattan: If I wanted that could be a very real possibility. I’ve qualified for several open positions down there but after visiting the place twice now going with Hell and No. I’d rather try Ogden first.

    @El Caganer: I will say this: Fresno is the only place so far where I’ve found a drive-thru sushi stand. Seattle I am disappoint.

  38. 38.

    Jay C

    @El Caganer:

    I still have some T-shirts from Kinky’s 2006 campaign – and every time I wear them, I wonder if The Kinkster regrets finding out the answer to his question…..

  41. 41.

    NotMax

    So have now seen three cars with a large sticker saying “America Bless God.”

    No idea what they are trying to convey.

    @trollhattan

    And then you had to take it all the way back to recover the deposit?

    Chester A. Riley put it best: “What a revoltin’ development this is!”

  43. 43.

    PsiFighter37

    9 days until I move apartments, 13 days until I get married. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to stepping on a plane the Monday after the wedding and leaving everything behind for 3 weeks.

  44. 44.

    srv

    Obama destroys The Mall

    Have you been to the mall lately? It’s a heavy scene: Anchor stores sit empty and once-prominent chain stores are gone. Meanwhile, dental clinics and for-profit colleges have opened in their places. Malls are dying; the one-two punch of the recession and the rise of e-commerce have turned America’s shopping centers into half-empty vestiges of their former selves.

    Even stranger though, is the lack of teens…

    It gets worser. He not sure that’s because of lead, sex ed or pornography.

    Lamestream Media: No Editors In Our Base!

  45. 45.

    Chickamin Slam

    A friend of mine went to school in Birmingham. He was a semester or something away from completing a degree. The Alabama Slammers played a season of hockey in nearby Pelham. I picked up a jersey of theirs. We still see hockey games … just not in Alabama.

  47. 47.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Bixby went to a neighborhood get together yesterday and was a perfect gentleman. He let kids push and pull on him, teaching him to “sit”. He played tug and chase and never got too rough. Was respectful to both dogs and cats.

    And my favorite thing he does pretty consistently, when he sees someone new, he goes about halfway to them and then sits, waiting until they ask him over or approach him. I had nothing to do with that, except for praising him profusely the first time he did it.

    I was pleased, proud and surprised, because he was a total hellion the whole morning with me and I was afraid it would continue at the event. Chased my cats, used my arm as a chew stick (when he knows better), raced around the house and flipped his full bowl of water over, got into about everything he wasn’t suppose to…

    Love him to pieces. And his ears grew noticeably this week. Everyone commented on it. He just woke up one morning with full grown Dane ears that he is now going to have to work to grow into. A. Dor. Able.

  48. 48.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Southern Beale:

    Here is a double dactyl about it.

    Grivelly gravelly,
    Jesus and Sisyphus
    Bartered a boulder
    Which Son-of-God owned.

    Stone on the third day
    Was rolled from the tomb door:
    Sisyphus labored
    While Jesus was stoned.

  49. 49.

    max

    @SiubhanDuinne: Since yesterday morning alone I have had 27 money-begging emails from POTUS, FLOTUS, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter campaigns, Bold Progressives, OFA, DNC, DCCC, etc. etc. and so forth — and I expect another two or three before midnight.

    {pauses} ONLY 27? You lucky dog.

    The sick part is I gave them some money, but the DCCC acknowledged I gave them money, sent me a link for a sticker, and then went back to insisting I hadn’t given them any money.

    max
    [‘Jerks.’]

  50. 50.

    CaseyL

    I’m “auditioning” for a job by doing a mock report. It’s a gorgeous report, with formatting and tables and embedded photos. I’m real proud of it, but I had conflicting info on what they wanted – a real report or a summary? – so I did both. I think that comes under the heading of “trying too hard.”

    If the potential boss looks at either/both and says “Nice looking, but not what I wanted; sorry,” I may cry.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    @NotMax:

    Yup, it wasn’t an especially elegant system, but s’pose it kept moar carts in their possession. Come to think of it, “Hey, my time is worth something here, Guess I just bought myself a shopping cart!”

  55. 55.

    Marilynd..so

    I’m getting a bunch of begging emails as well. It’s the end of the month, and everyone is trying to reach their fund raising goals Hopefully it will fade tomorrow. Meanwhile the Koch Bros are dumping a shit-ton of money into a cable ad campaign against Merkley. Monica Wehby is a wanna-Michele Bachman….far-away eyes and all. She’s a man-stalker and pediatric brain surgeon. She’s got no chance of winning, as Merkley is very popular. Guess I just have to smile and bear it, knowing the evil Bros are wasting money again!

  57. 57.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)

    @efgoldman: That’s actually a fairly standard ‘M’ around here, though the cause may be the University using it for more than a century and a half and other places in the area adopting it from them.

  58. 58.

    StringOnAStick

    @Southern Beale: Our old vacuum cleaner has become the de facto bug repository, spiders and Box Elder bugs mostly (one friend calls them “pumpkin bugs” since they seem to coincide with Halloween). I’ve never seen anything get back out again, but it probably depends on the model and if you keep it on long enough to entangle said bug in all the other crap in the bag or die from the heat generated by the vacuum. I wonder if a ride in that “cyclone chamber” on a Dyson would be entertaining?

    By the way, I love that bit of graffiti; perfect.

  59. 59.

    The Very Revered Crimson Fire of Compassion

    @SiubhanDuinne: Like this?
    Our host, John Cole
    Repents his unfortunate role
    In conservatism, with this excuse
    At least he provides us Balloon-juice

  60. 60.

    StringOnAStick

    My husband bought me a smart phone a few months ago, thinking that I could keep better track of my email that way. Thanks to all the political spam, I never even try to use my smart phone to read email.

    When I open my email program, I just run down the list, checking everything that isn’t from a friend for the delete button, so the excessive spamming has made me LESS likely to read what they are sending me. I’ve also gotten to the point where I am suspicious that every petition request I receive is just an email harvesting scam that will never be delivered, and I no longer sign ones with multiple sponsors because next you’ll be getting begging emails from each one of them. Oh sure, I’ll go on a jag and send unsubscribes to a bunch, but the remaining ones seem to be selling my email address. So, so NOT a way to win friends amongst your potential supporters….

  62. 62.

    Viva BrisVegas

    Beautiful spring day here, currently 73F. Expecting 81 tomorrow.

    For those that got into the conflict early, today is the 75th anniversary of the start of WW2.

  64. 64.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):

    Wasn’t Morzer moving to Korea? Which is kinda like Fresno except farther away.

    Yes, I assume Morzer’s in the process of moving. I’ve been to both Fresno and Seoul, they are quite different. First of all, as noted above in comments, they have audacity of speaking their own language. They have palaces in Seoul; if Fresno has any palaces, I missed em. Seoul has hills, Fresno is quite flat. Seoul has wonderful Korean food and drink; Fresno, not so much. Finally, Seoul has hot Korean women; Fresno, again, not so much. Other than that, they’re exactly alike.

  66. 66.

    Porlock Junior

    @efgoldman:
    Which provides a rare opportunity to say something nice about Ronald Reagan.

    After he was shot, while he was intubated in the hospital emergency room, he wrote a note quoting this. I’ve always thought that was pretty classy. Although rather a sad tribute to the vocation that he had so tragically abandoned in his mid-life crisis.

  67. 67.

    Porlock Junior

    @TaMara (BHF):
    No shit.
    Actually, I have pretty much every non-troglodyte politician in the country on my spam filter (those others mostly don’t try to raise money from me). With one or two exceptions; e.g., Elizabeth Warren, of course.

  69. 69.

    mai naem mobile

    We had dems come to our house in 10 and 12 . Both times I told them please dont waste your time coming to this house. Not only would my niece who was working on the Obama campaign ripped us a new one if we hadnt voted, but we always always vote in the “bigger” elections. What I admit not voting in is in primaries where I dont have a dog in the race(AZ is not known for scintillating Dem primaries) and the school bond kind of
    Stuff. I do the mayoral, city council, state and national elections. The Dem volunteers still kept on coming.Pissed me off because it was a waste of resources.

  70. 70.

    Chris T.

    @srv: Apparently whoever wrote that has not been to the malls in San Jose. I stopped by the “Great Mall of the Bay Area” not too long ago and it was incredibly crowded, with a wide variety of people (lots of kids, families with kids, etc).

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)

    @Chris T.: srv is a weird trollish person. Sometimes interesting, and sometimes just being an ass. One has to figure out which.

  72. 72.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Chris T.: The wife and I had difficulty navigating though both the Glendale Galleria and American at Brand(two local malls) on our walk tonight. Lots of families and young people.

  74. 74.

    Steeplejack

    Desert rat Steep checking in. Got up to 104° here today in Henderson (southeastern suburb of Las Vegas), but I wasn’t out in it until about 6:00 p.m. (But it’s still 93° at 11:20 p.m.) Ate at a pretty good low-down Mexican place called El Torito—the basics done all right, good margaritas. But the search will continue.

    The sighthounds have welcomed me as their new hu-mon overlord. The old whippet sort of remembers me from previous visits. The recently retired from racing greyhound has warmed up to me now that he thinks the serial-killer threat has abated and, purely coincidentally, he sees that I am the one dispensing the food. The greyhound sleeps on a dog bed beside the human bed in the master bedroom. The whippet sleeps on the human bed with me and wakes me up like clockwork in the middle of the night to be let under the comforter. Can’t start out under the comforter—that’s crazy talk—but absolutely must go under the comforter at some precise point in the middle of the night. At least she doesn’t want to press up against me and raise my body temp 20 degrees.

    Just realized today that my brother’s 20-year-old house must be built fairly well, and built for the climate, because I don’t hear the air conditioning come on very often, and when it does it is whisper quiet. All the windows have adjustable wooden shutters, and most of the rooms have high ceilings with fans. Easy to adjust things to let in ample light without a lot of heat. There is a “swamp cooler” system that gets used a lot, but I received only the remedial facilities-management course when I came out here, so I was told not to screw with it and just leave the air conditioner on. I wonder what his electricity bill is.

    After being here a week I am starting to get into something like a regular schedule, which is helping with my still wildly variable sleep patterns. And everything still feels slightly weird because of the time difference with Eastern time—football games starting at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., etc. Not to mention the circadian rhythms of Balloon Juice threads.

    I thought of Balloon Juice the other day, and Little Boots in particular, when my mother and I went to the buffet at one of the casinos and what should be playing on the Muzak but “Dancing in the Moonlight.” Heh.

  76. 76.

    Tommy

    @Steeplejack: I can’t beat 104. Just 97 with 89 percent humidity. But I can’t bitch. We’ve had a very mild summer. Days where it could be in the high 90s. Or 100. It was actually in the 70s.

  77. 77.

    Origuy

    Resting up and recovering after two days of the Pleasanton Highland Games. I said before I’d be dancing on the Scottish Country Dance stage. We did quite well, I must say. Here’s the video.
    ETA I’m the one with the braid.

  78. 78.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Steeplejack: Since you’re here:

    A brief intro to scanners.

    There are two main types of scanners: reflective and transparency. The reflective is most common, found on printers, faxes, etc. It has a white back on the cover and uses light at the base of the scanner to provide light to the item being scanned for the scanner mechanism also in the base of the scanner. This type of scanner can be used to scan documents and photos. It CAN NOT scan film, slides or transparencies. The transparency doesn’t reflect light off the object being scanned, it shines a light THROUGH the item being scanned. Film scanners have a light in the bottom like the reflective scanner, but the scanning mechanism tracks over the item being scanned. Film scanners are generally more(sometimes much more expensive) and may be limited what may be scanned(say only 35mm sized film/slides). A scanner like my Epson(similar scanners are made by Canon, HP, and Nikon I believe) are reflective scanners; but the white area of the cover is removable to reveal a light in the scanner lid. The light shines down from the scanner lid through the item being scanned and is then scanned by the scanner mechanism in the base. These scanners will scan photos, film and slides.

    Things to look at in a scanner:

    Resolution: More is better. If you’re just scanning photos, 1200dpi to 2400dpi(dots per inch) is sufficient. If you’re scanning film or slides, higher resolution is necessary since the starting size is much smaller.

    Dmax: The darkest area that can be scanned and still reveal detail, the higher the better.

    Size of the media: Some film scanners will only scan a certain size or smaller of film. So if slides are 35mm and some are 120; a 35mm scanner won’t do the 120 sized slides(it will scan smaller sizes such as 110).

  80. 80.

    aliasofwestgate

    @Botsplainer: Yeah, RR called the series the novel to the movie’s short story. He’s relishing being able to really tell this story in a much better way than the movie. Which i was amused by in 1996 but it wasn’t my favorite. This format really helped it by a long shot. Better, stronger story, and the new cast pretty much blew it outta the water once things really kicked in.

    I’ll tell you this much. This is just the set up! They should be filming s2 come fall, and it will air in spring of 2015. :D 13 episodes to work with, instead of 10.

  83. 83.

    cckids

    @Steeplejack:

    Got up to 104° here today in Henderson (southeastern suburb of Las Vegas), but I wasn’t out in it until about 6:00 p.m. (But it’s still 93° at 11:20 p.m.) Ate at a pretty good low-down Mexican place called El Torito—the basics done all right, good margaritas. But the search will continue.

    Welcome to my world! This is actually kind of cooled down for August/Sept, BTW.

    If you’re still looking for good Mexican here in Henderson, try this place. We like it.

    Also, we just tried Bachi Burger last night. YUM. Cannot say that loudly enough. YUM.

    Link: http://www.bachiburger.com/

  84. 84.

    dianne

    When you are done with that, give “The Killing” a try. It’s one of the best series I’ve ever seen. We are plowing through “Damages” now but about ready to try something else. I’ll give it a look.

  87. 87.

    BobS

    Was the picture taken before or after the Russian armored column drove by, was or wasn’t destroyed, but remained unphotographed due to the invisibility paint?

  88. 88.

    R-Jud

    @Bill E Pilgrim: OI! Watch it, mate.

    Seriously, though, my daughter’s started to sound well Brummie: “Can we have roice with dinner?” I’m thinking we need to move before she’s seven and it’s baked in.

  91. 91.

    Steeplejack

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Thanks for the info. I will add it to my notes from the previous thread. Although I think my mother may have a trove of slides around somewhere, at this point I think I am going to get a cheap (but good) reflective scanner and concentrate on the photographs. She has put together two thick albums, and I know there are a lot of other photos in boxes. Will do what I can and scope things out for future trips.

  92. 92.

    Steeplejack

    @cckids:

    Thanks for the recommendations. Lindo Michoacán is on the short list I put together from Google and Yelp. Others are Jalisco Cantina, Coyote’s Café, Don Tortaco and El Herradero.

    And I will definitely check out Bachi Burger, too.

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