• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This fight is for everything.

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

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

I really should read my own blog.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Second rate reporter says what?

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

T R E 4 5 O N

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

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / I Brake for the Rapture: Open Thread

I Brake for the Rapture: Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  January 24, 20151:25 pm| 98 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Television, Sweet Fancy Moses!

FacebookTweetEmail

I’ve been binge-watching “Six Feet Under” lately and came across this scene last night. SO not safe for work (just the first part):

I think I read a joke with this premise quite awhile back, but kudos to the SFU peeps for committing it to celluloid (back in aught-three).

Please feel free to discuss whatever.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Shelly
Next Post: You’ve got questions, I’ve got something »

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  1. 1.

    Yatsuno

    January 24, 2015 at 1:28 pm

    It’s RedKitteh’s Birfday today! Maybe we can get her to peek over to congratulate her or something.

  2. 2.

    RedKitten

    January 24, 2015 at 1:34 pm

    @Yatsuno: Dawww! You’re just the sweetest!

  3. 3.

    Yatsuno

    January 24, 2015 at 1:35 pm

    @RedKitten: I just don’t know where everyone went…

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    January 24, 2015 at 1:39 pm

    @Yatsuno:
    I’m here, working on my Spanish and following Liverpool at home to Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup. Feliz cumpleaños, Redkitten!

  5. 5.

    hitchhiker

    January 24, 2015 at 1:39 pm

    thank you, Betty Cracker!

  6. 6.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    January 24, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    @Yatsuno: I’m going to St. Cloud. So is Schlemezal. Does that count?

  7. 7.

    Howard Beale IV

    January 24, 2015 at 1:42 pm

    Hmmm….AVN awards are held in Vegas, and the roadkill’s plates were from California.

    Just sayin….

  8. 8.

    Yatsuno

    January 24, 2015 at 1:42 pm

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Just remember: If you don’t know where you’re going you might end up somewhere else.

  9. 9.

    jayboat

    January 24, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    I miss that show…

    no linky, but some of you may remember the video by Ugly Kid Joe, I Hate Everything About You… 8-]]]

  10. 10.

    Peale

    January 24, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    I’m off to see Louis CK tonight but until then, I’m hiding from the snow. I plan to use the tried and tested “wait until spring. It will melt” method of clearing the driveway.

  11. 11.

    Mustang Bobby

    January 24, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    Wow, do I miss Six Feet Under. I remember the first time I saw it, sometime in the second season, and I wasn’t hip to the teaser being the corpse du jour, so it took a while to figure out that the dead guy wasn’t part of the storyline other than as a prop later on.

    The final moments of the last episode made me laugh/cry uncontrollably.

  12. 12.

    Peale

    January 24, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: St. Cloud ain’t nowhere. But if you go a few miles out of town, might as well be nowhere at all. I think it would make a good place to achieve zen enlightenment. May you be free from the roots of suffering.

  13. 13.

    JPL

    January 24, 2015 at 1:50 pm

    @RedKitten: Happy Birthday! Did Sam make you a cake?

  14. 14.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    January 24, 2015 at 1:52 pm

    @RedKitten: Hey Happy Birthday!! Samkitten is how old now?

  15. 15.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    January 24, 2015 at 1:58 pm

    Peter Krause. I liked him a lot, and after SFU sought out Sports Night and The Lost Room to watch.
    I hate TV but I make an exception for him. Interesting actor.

  16. 16.

    marindenver

    January 24, 2015 at 2:01 pm

    The hubbie and I loved that show. The “stiff of the week” opening was always the best part. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall where the writers discussed what they were going to do this time.

  17. 17.

    buddy h

    January 24, 2015 at 2:04 pm

    @Yatsuno: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” – George Harrison

  18. 18.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    January 24, 2015 at 2:09 pm

    @Peale: All I care about is the Gophers winning and no one getting injured.

  19. 19.

    raven

    January 24, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    In 1965 was taking the bus from Hawthorne to Manhattan Beach when I saw a woman just like the one in the video dash out in the middle of the boulevard with people racing after her. I have no idea what it was about but I have never forgotten it.

  20. 20.

    22over7

    January 24, 2015 at 2:13 pm

    My favorite stiff was the guy at the breakfast table, droning on and on about his lousy job, until his wife smashed his head with a cast-iron pan. Not that I’ve ever thought about doing that myself…

  21. 21.

    Howard Beale IV

    January 24, 2015 at 2:14 pm

    @buddy h: In the inside album cover from the KBC Band was a picture of a road and sign that said the following:

    Life is a test. Had this been a real life, you would have been told where to go and what to do.

  22. 22.

    Gene108

    January 24, 2015 at 2:15 pm

    Anybody have dreams that are very vivid, but are so weird it is hard to explain?

    I have been having a lot of those lately.

  23. 23.

    raven

    January 24, 2015 at 2:16 pm

    @Howard Beale IV: I always liked this a little better

    Think of the times you have sat by yourself
    And wondered
    Just what it was that compelled you to be
    What you are
    You came into this life unsheltered and all alone
    That’s how you came and for sure that’s how you go out.

    Nice piano

  24. 24.

    raven

    January 24, 2015 at 2:17 pm

    @Gene108: If they are not hard to explain they ain’t dreams.

  25. 25.

    Randy P

    January 24, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    @Gene108: Oh yes. I love those. I hate dreams where I was at work with the usual work people. I wake up from those saying “How could my brain waste precious dream time with WORK?”

    Last night’s dream was kind of Stephen Kingish actually. The world was sort of ending. It involved just kind of going white and disappearing. But only in one direction. The other was fine, temporarily. But there were these little tiny monsters swarming in the air…

  26. 26.

    Howard Beale IV

    January 24, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    @raven: Ah, yes: “Thats For Sure” from Dragon Fly.

  27. 27.

    HeartlandLiberal

    January 24, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    Friend just sent me this YouTube video to help get ready for watching the SuperBowl in proper human fashion.

    John should watch it.

    “Cat Teaches Kitten the Game Plan for the Superbowl ”

    http://cheezburger.com/68143617/dear-kitten-regarding-football-funny-cat-videos

  28. 28.

    gogol's wife

    January 24, 2015 at 2:26 pm

    @Randy P:

    Last night I had a dream about a name of a student on my classlist for a class that doesn’t meet until Monday. His name was in the dream the name of my cat, who was Orson Welles’s long-lost son for whom he was searching.

  29. 29.

    WereBear

    January 24, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    @RedKitten: Happy Birthday!

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    January 24, 2015 at 2:29 pm

    @Gene108: That’s my “normal.” :)

  31. 31.

    Suzanne

    January 24, 2015 at 2:29 pm

    @RedKitten: HAPPEH berfdeh!

    We have a family membership to the Desert Botanical Garden (one of the best things in PHX–check it out if you’re ever here), and they had a Dogs in the Garden event. So we took our Luna! I’ve been a bit wary of taking her to events with lots of other dogs, but she was awesomely behaved and we all had a great time. So much fun seeing everyone’s dogs!

  32. 32.

    raven

    January 24, 2015 at 2:31 pm

    @Suzanne: And then go up to the Weavers Needle.

  33. 33.

    Trentrunner

    January 24, 2015 at 2:43 pm

    @raven: I know it’s probably just a metaphor and a pose, but it’s factually untrue that we are “born alone.”

    In the vicinity, usually:

    A mother
    A health care worker

    And if you are here reading this, you had some help immediately thereafter, whether from
    mother
    father
    midwife
    wet nurse
    sibling
    babysitter
    pediatrician
    nurse
    et al.

    You may die alone (also difficult, but technically possible), but it’s horseshit to say “you’re born alone.”

  34. 34.

    raven

    January 24, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    @Trentrunner: Oh well Lah-dee-fucking-dah.

  35. 35.

    opiejeanne

    January 24, 2015 at 2:46 pm

    @RedKitten: happy birthday! We miss you.

  36. 36.

    Tom Levenson

    January 24, 2015 at 2:48 pm

    @Trentrunner: My particular grievance is that just about my first human interaction was some stranger slapping me in the ass. Trust issues begin early.

    #grumpyashelltoday

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    January 24, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    @Tom Levenson:
    Fifty-plus years is a long time to hold on to a grievance. Let it go, man.

  38. 38.

    max

    January 24, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    but kudos to the SFU peeps for committing it to celluloid (back in aught-three).

    If it hadn’t been for the Bush administration, the early part of the 21st century would have been pretty good years.

    max
    [‘Whereas these days, if it wasn’t for the Obama administration everything would be truly awful instead of pretty awful.’]

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 24, 2015 at 2:57 pm

    @Mustang Bobby: The final moments of the last episode made me laugh/cry uncontrollably.

    Yeah, that was great. I thought the last couple seasons were weak– how the hell do you manage to make Rachel Griffiths’ character from the first season evolve in to boring?– but the ending was terrific. I was reading a TV blog the other day, and someone said Justified and Mad Men are the two shows of the new golden age that have a chance to “stick the landing”. I liked the end of Breaking Bad, and didn’t hate the end of the Sopranos, but I think SFU would be a tough finale to beat. The Wire’s was pretty good too.

    I think I watch too much TeeVee

  40. 40.

    Pogonip

    January 24, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    @RedKitten: Happy birthday!

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    January 24, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    @Trentrunner:

    In the vicinity, usually:

    A mother

    I would say that a mother is an “always” part of a birth, not a “usually”. That said, dying alone is at least moderately common. I’ve known one person I know for sure died alone, and I can’t imagine it’s that rare.

  42. 42.

    raven

    January 24, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    Better?

    You know Tyrannosaurus Rex was destroyed before
    By a furry little ball that crawled along
    The primeval jungle floor
    He stole the eggs of the dinosaur
    CLOSE YOUR EYES & CREATE THE SOUND
    OPEN YOUR HANDS & REBUILD THE GROUND
    We are egg snatchers –
    flashin’ sunshine children

    Bunch of diamond thieves

    You unleash the dogs
    of a grade-B movie star governor’s war
    While you sit in the dark –
    insane with the fear of dying
    We’ll ball in your parks
    – insane with the flash of living

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    January 24, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    @raven:

    Better?

    Not at all. We now know that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteor impact, not by competition from mammals.

  44. 44.

    scav

    January 24, 2015 at 3:16 pm

    @Roger Moore: I suppose we could dance out on the edge of “from her womb untimely ripped” and allow for for few cases in which the mother is technically dead. In which case, a health care worker (or at least person handy with a knife) is inevitably nearby. Hi ho McDuff. Dying alone, sure, and sometimes even unnoticed for a few years, and that’s just in cities. Car crashes. All depends on where one draws the line for “alone”.

  45. 45.

    tybee

    January 24, 2015 at 3:18 pm

    @raven:

    sunrise.
    surprise.
    civilized man…

  46. 46.

    raven

    January 24, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    @Roger Moore: :)

  47. 47.

    WereBear

    January 24, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    @scav: I picked a fine time to read Between a Rock and a Hard Place, about the hiker who had to cut off his own arm when he was trapped in a remote canyon in Utah.

    Not that’s alone.

  48. 48.

    Chopper

    January 24, 2015 at 3:20 pm

    Weather’s nice in ATL today so I ran a half marathon.

  49. 49.

    raven

    January 24, 2015 at 3:20 pm

    @tybee:

    hand me my pistol
    I said three round balls
    I’m gonna shoot everybody
    I don’t like at all

  50. 50.

    ThalarctosMaritimus

    January 24, 2015 at 3:21 pm

    @Roger Moore: Whether the mother’s in the vicinity or not can vary widely, depending on the species.

  51. 51.

    Caprice

    January 24, 2015 at 3:21 pm

    Haiku from my friend Rabbitearz:

    Our next president,
    Jeb Bush is just Dubya with
    a gut and pig snout.

  52. 52.

    tybee

    January 24, 2015 at 3:26 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    i was in the omni, 1974, on halloween for the Dragonfly tour.
    there were some really freaky people there that night.
    fleetwood mac opened for starship.

  53. 53.

    Chopper

    January 24, 2015 at 3:40 pm

    Happy birfday RK!

  54. 54.

    Pogonip

    January 24, 2015 at 3:41 pm

    @Roger Moore: My cousin died alone; he choked on a tough broccoli stalk. Now I only eat the florets, and save the stalks for soup where they’ll become harmlessly soft.

  55. 55.

    Redshift

    January 24, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    I saw an SUV with a George P Bush sticker. It didn’t even have Texas plates.

    Shoot me now.

  56. 56.

    Redshift

    January 24, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    @Tom Levenson: I got a birthday card for a friend once that read “congratulations on the anniversary of the first time you were hung upside down naked and spanked!”

  57. 57.

    trollhattan

    January 24, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    @tybee:
    Worse Bay Area offshoot band: Airplane to Starship, Santana to Journey?

    Discuss.

  58. 58.

    ellie

    January 24, 2015 at 3:52 pm

    That scene from the show is the only one I have ever seen.

  59. 59.

    Roger Moore

    January 24, 2015 at 3:55 pm

    @WereBear:

    Not that’s alone.

    But not dying, at least in his case.

    @ThalarctosMaritimus:
    Since we’re talking about people, I didn’t think the species was in doubt.

  60. 60.

    Pogonip

    January 24, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    @Yatsuno: Cole’s probably watching the puppies.

    Mrs. Cole! Mrs. Cole! John’s hogging the puppies!

  61. 61.

    Howard Beale IV

    January 24, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    @tybee: I went to the Jefferson Airplane tour in 1989-got third row seats at Pine Knob. Caught the panda the Grace Slick threw in the the audience. I still have it. Kaukonen and Casday played their acoustic act on the side of the age where were are sitting.

    When compared to live acts, CD’s suck.

  62. 62.

    Howard Beale IV

    January 24, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    @trollhattan: Tossup, but’d lean more twords Starship losing their grip-when Journey got Steve Perry it was Game Over. But then again, different times and all. Both bands are seminal in their own ways.

  63. 63.

    opiejeanne

    January 24, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    Can someone from California tell me how the high speed rail project is going? I found this: http://www.cahsrblog.com which is some help, but I’m wondering if those of you who live here have some insight.

    I’m in the San Bernardino mountains and the guy doing some work for us on the cabin went off on the subject, about how it’s not ever going to be faster than what we have now, and that there is no more money because the Republicans in Congress have said so (big surprise), and only a very short section of it in the central valley will ever get built, etc. I dug around and discovered that what he was talking about came from Breitbart and from a ridiculous op-ed by a far-right Congressman from the Fresno area. Almost word for word. (I don’t understand why this area is such fertile ground for tea party idiots, but that’s another issue.)

  64. 64.

    opiejeanne

    January 24, 2015 at 4:08 pm

    There is no snow in the mountains in SoCal, at least not at 5280 feet. This is January 28, there ought to be snow. It’s in the 60s and sunny, and a bit windy, but no snow.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    January 24, 2015 at 4:18 pm

    @Pogonip: Jesus, that’s awful. If that’s the way I gotta go, please Jeebus let it be a cannoli or chocolate croissant!

  66. 66.

    trollhattan

    January 24, 2015 at 4:20 pm

    @opiejeanne:
    Don’t happen to know anyone working directly on the project, but certainly know it’s the End of Civilization in RW circles. Presumably because brown people will be allowed to use it.

    Here’s the official web site. IIRC some budget is from bond financing, some from federal matching funds, some from carbon tax, but there are probably others.

  67. 67.

    trollhattan

    January 24, 2015 at 4:21 pm

    @opiejeanne:
    Welcome to drought year #4. You’re soaking in it.

  68. 68.

    Tommy

    January 24, 2015 at 4:33 pm

    I think that first year of Six Feet Under, where the focus was on the actual funerals was maybe the best season of television ever made. Just saying.

  69. 69.

    JCT

    January 24, 2015 at 4:46 pm

    And my youngest just bought his first car (with a little help from us) – I feel *really* old. Sigh.

    And Happy Birthday RK. Enjoy those little ones before they get big on you!

  70. 70.

    opiejeanne

    January 24, 2015 at 4:46 pm

    @trollhattan: yes. We noticed the dying pine trees last year, and there was hardly any snow here lat year.

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    January 24, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    @scav

    One time whilst playing Charades, the phrase on the slip of paper I pulled from the hat was “Macbeth was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped.”

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    January 24, 2015 at 4:53 pm

    she can build her own phucking list.

    just sniffs of that ENTITLEMENT doesn’t it?

    ……………….

    Obama, Clinton tensions build over email lists ahead of 2016

    Getty Images

    By Amie Parnes and Niall Stanage – 01/24/15 06:02 AM EST

    New tensions are emerging in the relationship between allies of President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

    At issue is the fate of the political equivalent of gold dust — the enormous email list, comprised of many millions of supporters and donors, that the Obama team has compiled over the course of his two presidential campaigns.

    The Clinton camp would dearly love to get its hands on the list, but there is no promise as yet that the president’s aides will comply.

    There are “large concerns” about the lists among Clinton supporters, one Hillary ally told The Hill.

    To the Clintons and their friends, it’s near unthinkable that a Democratic president — who has plenty of reasons to want a member of his party to succeed him — would withhold such a valuable commodity.

    But Team Obama has long believed that the president’s support is built upon the bedrock of his personal qualities rather than mere party identification. His people are loath to be seen as treating the passion of his supporters in a cavalier fashion.

    “There’s a lot of data — voter data, massive email lists — that Obama built and there are a lot of people who want to make sure that he spreads that wealth,” the Clinton ally said. “They want to make sure he doesn’t take it in a suitcase back to Chicago and move on. No one wants to see it disappear or have it used just to build a library.”

    http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/230622-obama-clinton-tensions-build-over-email-lists

  73. 73.

    MattF

    January 24, 2015 at 4:56 pm

    Guess who is expressing interest in 2016:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/01/24/palin-say-shes-seriously-interested-in-2016-campaign/?hpid=z2

    Hey, if Romney and Bush can do it without exploding from humiliation…

  74. 74.

    Tommy

    January 24, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    I just love start-up companies. Oh and stellar customer support. I also happen to be something of a coffee snob. I spend money on coffee the way some spend money on fine wines. I signed up for this service, Bean Box, where they send me coffee each month. But as anybody that likes good coffee knows, getting those beans right after roasting is key. So the monthly package of coffee beans was almost a month away.

    I go out to check the mail today and I find this waiting for me:

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/webranding/16170409438/

    They sent me a gosh darn care package with candy included. Oh and tea with a note to enjoy. How freaking cool is that!

  75. 75.

    opiejeanne

    January 24, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    @trollhattan: thanks.

    Up here they had a heart attack because CalTrans was about to put in a signal on 18 at a big, scary intersection. Boy, were they mad! It was going to destroy the sanctity of the mountains, etc. who cares if someone dies because it’s foggy and there’s no traffic control om 18. They were ranting about how CalTrans should be privatized and expected us to agree with them. Uh, no, because we understand how both taxes and CalTrans work. Dave worked for them for several years in the 70s and went on to work in both public and the private sector on public works projects.

  76. 76.

    scav

    January 24, 2015 at 5:01 pm

    @NotMax: Clearly taken from a modern re-interpretation of the play, where the inevitable self-defeating mindset of the individual psyche was deeply explored, problematized and embodied. Original sin, Catholic guilt, the rhetorical conflation of hand washing and baptism all blah-di-blahed . . . That would indeed have been a Charade to watch.

  77. 77.

    trollhattan

    January 24, 2015 at 5:06 pm

    @opiejeanne:
    Heh. So predictable, so confused, so wrong. It’s little wonder they evacuate to the hills to be around people “just like them.” No cognitive dissonance in the whole county!

  78. 78.

    Corner Stone

    January 24, 2015 at 5:07 pm

    @rikyrah: God. Get the phuck over yourself.

  79. 79.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 24, 2015 at 5:13 pm

    If only we could get all of these god-bothered nutjobs to do what that woman did.

    The world would be a much better place.

  80. 80.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 24, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    @MattF: She’s just trolling the marks for more $$$.

    The stupid motherfuckers deserved to be separated from their money in this way.

  81. 81.

    Tommy

    January 24, 2015 at 5:22 pm

    I am watching The Nightly Show w/ Larry Wilmore from last night. He is ranting on Cuba. One of my best clients is a Cuban American living in Miami. He and his family have been very successful here. They lived the American Dream! And he is a raging liberal, so he has that going for him. For years we’ve talked about Cuba. I tell him time and time again I don’t understand why we have the policy we have.

    I called him, so not work related, to say hey dude we are normalizing relations with Cuba. He was almost in tears. He just kept saying he could go home without restrictions. He could go home.

    Seeing the quotes from Rubia on the Nightly Show makes me want to hit him. He ought to call my friend Mario and talk to him for a few. Maybe he’d have a different opinion.

  82. 82.

    Keith G

    January 24, 2015 at 5:23 pm

    @rikyrah:

    But Team Obama has long believed that the president’s support is built upon the bedrock of his personal qualities rather than mere party identification. His people are loath to be seen as treating the passion of his supporters in a cavalier fashion

    Dear god I hope that is a misquote. If not, it goes a long way in explaining some of the problems we have been having. It would be a fucking awful/shitty way for a PARTY LEADER to conduct business.

  83. 83.

    Jay C

    January 24, 2015 at 5:41 pm

    @opiejeanne:

    It seems to be political “given” in this country that even the vaguest mention of government support for anything to do with passenger rail triggers Pavlovian-style paroxyms of hysterical oppositionalism in most conservatives/Republican (dunno why, maybe it IS that “brown people” thing); but from from what I’ve read, it’s odd to hear it coming from a Fresno Congressman – Fresno is right at the center of the first-phase building for CA HSR, and is supposed to provide five-six years of jobs for the local area (farming country suffering from the effects of drought, IIRC): oh well: Republicans, what can you do…?

  84. 84.

    Roger Moore

    January 24, 2015 at 5:41 pm

    @opiejeanne:
    The future of CA high speed rail is very much up in the air. They’ve actually broken ground on the first segment and started serious planning on another, so the serious money spending phase has actually gotten started. That said, they haven’t actually built anything worth keeping on its own, so it plausibly could still be killed at this point. I think the opponents- and they aren’t all wingnuts by any means- are worried that it will be harder to kill the longer it stays alive. That’s both for institutional reasons- once there’s an established construction bureaucracy, it will have people fighting to keep their fiefdom alive- and because a partially completed system will invoke the sunk-cost fallacy and people will feel obligated to complete it in some form to avoid wasting the money that’s already been spent. That’s especially true if it can stay alive for long enough for Democrats to get some power in Congress.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    January 24, 2015 at 5:47 pm

    Does anyone else watch Grimm?

    I loved last night’s episode. The last 15 minutes completely rocked!

    All the frustration with leaving WU out has paid off. With him doing all of the investigations and finding all the stuff that just ‘ didn’t add up’ – once they told him, it was like full throttle!!

    Juliette…all I can say is…WTF?!?!?!

  86. 86.

    Roger Moore

    January 24, 2015 at 5:50 pm

    @rikyrah:
    I think Hillary is being presumptuous. If those lists are as valuable as they’re being made out to be, handing them over would give her an unfair advantage in the primary campaign. Until there’s an actual Democratic nominee, the lists should go to all candidates or to none. They certainly shouldn’t go to someone who is acting coy and refusing even to declare her candidacy.

  87. 87.

    Corner Stone

    January 24, 2015 at 5:57 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I think Hillary is being presumptuous. If those lists are as valuable as they’re being made out to be, handing them over would give her an unfair advantage in the primary campaign.

    This whole story is a massive troll by TheHill.com.
    Do you honestly think it’s rooted in anything but fantasy?

  88. 88.

    Corner Stone

    January 24, 2015 at 5:58 pm

    @Keith G:

    rather than mere party identification

    You stopped your bold highlight a little too soon there, friend.

  89. 89.

    catclub

    January 24, 2015 at 6:20 pm

    @MattF: So being out of work for 6 years makes her more qualified than being out for only 2. Grift indeed. Will her competitors mention she was too scared to run against the black man. I will if they won’t.

  90. 90.

    catclub

    January 24, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    @Keith G: That second sentence DOES NOT FOLLOW from the first one.

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    January 24, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    @catclub:

    So being out of work for 6 years makes her more qualified than being out for only 2

    It gives people more time to forget how awful she was.

  92. 92.

    opiejeanne

    January 24, 2015 at 6:28 pm

    @Jay C: Whoops, his district is centered on Modesto. Jeff Denham. It was an op-ed in the Sacto Bee.

    When we lived in Castro Valley, east bay/SF area, people screamed when it was announced that BART was going to build an extension to our fair community, mainly because “those” people would come to our mostly white and Asian bastion of all that is good and holy. I hated that place and was glad to move to Orange County, which was surprisingly sane in comparison, but only that. We lived in Anaheim about two blocks from Carl Karcher’s house, so let that sink in.
    Anyway, the extension got built and we used it to go into SF and to Oakland A’s games and appreciated the heck out of it. Before that we had to drive a bit to get to a station, so this was a real boon.

  93. 93.

    opiejeanne

    January 24, 2015 at 6:30 pm

    @Roger Moore: It would if she hadn’t kept reminding us all these past years.

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    January 24, 2015 at 6:34 pm

    @opiejeanne:
    Jeez, yeah. How many decades was it between first approving BART and extending the line into San Mateo County and SFO?

    Morans.

  95. 95.

    opiejeanne

    January 24, 2015 at 6:51 pm

    @trollhattan: Yes! That was a really painful wait. We first rode BART in the 70s, and it didn’t go under the bay to SF yet.
    It was bad enough that you needed to take a shuttle into the Oakland airport from BART, but extending it to SFO took forever. I think they were working on that bit when we left. The extension south on the east side, the one that brought it to CV, was in the 90s. We loved it. I think the nearest station before that was in San Leandro which was kind of a pain, but we still used it.

  96. 96.

    RedKitten

    January 24, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): He’s five (“and a HALF!”) Can you believe it?

  97. 97.

    Corner Stone

    January 24, 2015 at 8:51 pm

    @RedKitten: It goes by way too fast. Way too fucking fast.
    Hold on tight, friend. Hold on tight.

  98. 98.

    JR in WV

    January 24, 2015 at 8:57 pm

    Regarding Grimm and Juliette, don’t forget the episodes where the floor in the front room (and other places) disappeared, and strange icy black diamondy things were flying down.

    I think she is some kind of fey creature that isn’t aware of her heritage, and such a rare fey that the Grimm people don’t have a clue what she could be.

    I missed the TV show, went to dinner and the orchestra concert. Worth it.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Recent Comments

  • kalakal on Thank the Trickster God It’s Friday Open Thread: Waiting for the Big Reveal (Mar 24, 2023 @ 12:15pm)
  • BigJimSlade on On The Road – BigJimSlade – Hiking in the Alps, Chamonix and Grindelwald 2022, Odds & Sods (Mar 24, 2023 @ 12:14pm)
  • Geminid on Thank the Trickster God It’s Friday Open Thread: Waiting for the Big Reveal (Mar 24, 2023 @ 12:12pm)
  • JML on Thank the Trickster God It’s Friday Open Thread: Waiting for the Big Reveal (Mar 24, 2023 @ 12:10pm)
  • trnc on Thank the Trickster God It’s Friday Open Thread: Waiting for the Big Reveal (Mar 24, 2023 @ 12:09pm)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!