Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

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

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

The only way through is to slog through the muck one step at at time.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

This blog will pay for itself.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The National Guard is not Batman.

When we show up, we win.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

You are here: Home / Music / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Happy (Belated) B’Day, Leonard Cohen

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Happy (Belated) B’Day, Leonard Cohen

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This is the first Leonard Cohen song I can remember hearing, when it first came out, so I would’ve been 12 or 13. What’s a day late, after so many years?

From Songfacts ( http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=14129):

Cohen penned this song as a tribute to two girls that he shared a hotel room with during a snowstorm in Edmonton, Canada. In the April, 1993 issue of Song Talk, he explained: “That’s the only song I wrote in one sitting. The melody I had worked on for some time. I didn’t really know what the song was. I remember that my mother had liked it.

Then I was in Edmonton, which is one of our largest northern cities, and there was a snowstorm and I found myself in a vestibule with two young hitch-hiking women who didn’t have a place to stay. I invited them back to my little hotel room and there was a big double bed and they went to sleep in it immediately. They were exhausted by the storm and cold. And I sat in this stuffed chair inside the window beside the Saskatchewan River. And while they were sleeping I wrote the lyrics. And that never happened to me before. And I think it must be wonderful to be that kind of writer. It must be wonderful. Because I just wrote the lines with a few revisions and when they awakened I sang it to them. And it has never happened to me like that before. Or since.”…

Julia Felsenthal, at Vogue (http://www.vogue.com/13350897/leonard-cohen-birthday/):

… Last year, the week of his 80th birthday, Cohen released his 13th studio album, Popular Problems. The coincidence of dates “was a happy accident,” he said to journalists at a listening event, as reported by the Associated Press. “In my family, we have a very charitable approach to birthdays—we ignore them.” His only plan to celebrate the beginning of his ninth decade, he said, was to start smoking. “But quite seriously, does anyone know where you can buy a Turkish or Greek cigarette?” he asked the crowd. “I’m looking forward to that first smoke. I’ve been thinking about that for 30 years.”

Today Leonard Cohen turns 81. Wherever he is, we hope he’s found some European cigarettes and a light. And—uncharitable as it may be—we’d like to wish him a very happy birthday.

**********
Apart from remembering all the long years, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

168Comments

  1. 1.

    Morzer

    Interesting little bit of news from the popular culture front:

    independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/christopher-moot-poole-sells-anarchic-imageboard-…

    4chan, the dark, anarchic imageboard credited with giving birth to countless internet memes, has been sold to Japanese businessman Hiroyuki Nishimura, the owner of 2channel.

    In a post on 4chan, the site’s founder, Christopher ‘Moot’ Poole, announced that Nishimura had taken his place, following his January announcement that he would be stepping down as the site’s sole administrator.

    In his post, Moot described Nishimura as “the great-grandfather of 4chan”, saying it was his creation of 2channel in 1999 that sparked a wave of similar anonymous online forums in Japan, which eventually ended up inspiring the creation of 4chan in 2003.

  4. 4.

    RK

    From Sisters of Mercy:

    Well, they lay down beside me, I made my confession to them
    They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem
    If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn
    They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem

  16. 16.

    Baud

    Hey AL, here is a welcome back gift, since I know you are a Hillary supporter:

    Hillary Clinton’s lead in the Democratic presidential primary race has grown — and if Vice President Joe Biden decides to stay out of the race, her numbers would rise even higher, a new CNN/ORC poll shows.

    It’s early, one poll, statistical noise, and all the early caveats apply, of course.

  18. 18.

    Schlemazel

    First Cohen for me was Suzanne, on Judy Collins album. The lyrics really hit me so I looked who wrote it and found more of his stuff. I bet Shreck turned a lot of people on to him. I know many people that heard hallelujah for the first time then.

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    re the mess at VW:

    “The US Congress also confirmed it is investigating the scandal. The House energy and commerce committee chairman, Fred Upton, and the oversight and investigations subcommittee chairman, Tim Murphy, announced that the oversight and investigations subcommittee will hold a hearing…. and during these hearings we will explore the ways in which industry is being hounded into bankruptcy due to excessive regulatory oversight by agencies like the EPA.”

    OK, I added that last part but really, do Republicans think anyone is going to buy the idea that they are upset by VW’s actions here? More than once in these hearings I fully expect some numbnut from Tennessee or Alabama to opine about how this sort of thing (and the evil unions) is exactly what is destroying American jobs.

  20. 20.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Joe Scar is very upset that non of the Republican candidates have the balls(his word) to stand up to the demigods that are spouting off(tRump and Carson).

    Hey Joe, this is the party that you and your “nice” conservatives have built. Y’all were fine with it when it just a dog whistle, now that someone is saying out loud(with a bullhorn) you’re offended. Fuck off, asshole.

  24. 24.

    Schlemazel

    @raven:
    Caveat, he is 10 years removed from the country. My son read the NYT story and called bullshit. I have no idea but he says he doesn’t believe the reporting. Given the recent history of the gray liar, er, lady I believe my son

  26. 26.

    raven

    @Schlemazel: I saw that you mentioned that yesterday. The only thing I wonder about is that there were lot’s of installations and maybe somewhere he wasn’t?

  27. 27.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven: Just got there, sure the President knows about everything that goes on at every base. Sure, Joe and Ron.

    And Ron says this would be a bigger deal under a Republican. Words fail.

  32. 32.

    Schlemazel

    @raven:
    He got around a lot because of his job and spent a lot of time with chieftains and even some Karzies. Still it would be possible but he thought some of the statements were just garbage.

    I hope it is not true and I know he doesn’t want to believe it so keep that in mind too but we need more evidence.

  38. 38.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    They had an interesting report on the local news about a nuclear meltdown that occurred a few miles west of the San Fernando Valley in 1959. Seems to be a cluster of cancers over in the West Valley. They also used to test the Saturn 5 rocket engines over there.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    And even if it were, Trump and Carson are front runners in the deep bench that is the GOP field, while Chaffee to most Democrats sounds like a condition you see your doctor for.

  40. 40.

    Gimlet

    @Patricia Kayden:

    If the Pope were only a Christian! – Rep Gosar

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/18/1422666/–Proud-Catholic-Rep-Paul-Gosar-to-boycott-Pope-s-address-condemns-socialist-leftist-policies

    Many believed, like I did, that this was an opportunity for the Pope to be one of the world’s great religious advocates and address the current intolerance of religious freedom. An opportunity to urgently challenge governments to properly address the persecution and execution of Christians and religious minorities; to address the heinous and senseless murders committed by ISIS and other terrorist organizations. An opportunity to address the enslavement, belittlement, rape and desecration of Christian women and children; to address the condoned, subsidized, intentionally planned genocide of unborn children by Planned Parenthood and society; and finally, an opportunity for His Holiness to refocus our priorities on right from wrong.

    Media reports indicate His Holiness instead intends to focus the brunt of his speech on climate change–a climate that has been changing since first created in Genesis. More troubling is the fact that this climate change talk has adopted all of the socialist talking points, wrapped false science and ideology into “climate justice” and is being presented to guilt people into leftist policies.

    If the Pope stuck to standard Christian theology, I would be the first in line. If the Pope spoke out with moral authority against violent Islam, I would be there cheering him on.

    If the Pope urged the Western nations to rescue persecuted Christians in the Middle East, I would back him wholeheartedly.

    But when the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one.

  41. 41.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally “boy play,” and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records.

  42. 42.

    Keith G

    @Schlemazel: Maybe so. Still, I have to give some credence to guys who were there and are willing to go on the record and say these very explosive things.

    Also, the response of the brass does not seem overly convincing. Sort of saying, “Yeah, that stuff was going on, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

  49. 49.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I know “boy play” was a plot point in the novel “The Kite Runner.” Practiced by the Taliban in the book, it was presented as a long-known fact of life.

    ETA: Isn’t this basically the boy-equivalent of taking child brides?

  50. 50.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Gimlet:

    But when the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one.

    Then he must really be pissed about all that “love thy neighbor as thyself” and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” leftist crap.

  51. 51.

    Patricia Kayden

    So this morning on GMA, Ms. Davis claimed that the marriage licenses that she has altered may not be valid. I’m waiting for Judge Bunning to put her behind back in jail for violating his order not to interfere with the licenses. She’s not fit to hold a public office since she only answers to God.

  53. 53.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Gimlet: Rep Gosar doesn’t want a Pope, he wants a Rightwing puppet who will spew all the extremist Christianist crap that American Conservatives believe. In other words, he wants a Huckabee Pope.

  54. 54.

    Patricia Kayden

    @JPL: Yes and she answered that she’s always done a great job. She should just admit that she loves the $$$ and is not qualified for another high paying job in KY.

  55. 55.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Patricia Kayden: Guess these folk seem to think the “render unto Cesar and render unto God” only applies to taxes.

    ETA: Then again, they don’t much like paying taxes either.

  57. 57.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie: I think it is the equivalent of trying to reform/educate a medieval society. When we invaded Afghanistan these were exactly the kinds of practices we were going to face all the way across the societal spectrum. It is abhorrent and I find the article entirely plausible. I also can’t get too terribly upset. After all, look at the nonrights of women there. If we did not want to accept the horrors of such a place and the fact that there is very little we can do to change it, well then, just add this to the huge stinking pile of reasons why we never should have invaded.

  59. 59.

    NorthLeft12

    Good morning all! Not sure if this was asked or proposed by anyone else, but is it possible that Mr. Walker could get reborn as the VEEP candidate for whichever……..person gets nominated by the Repubs?

    Seems to me that Walker has pretty much completely trashed himself and offers nothing to a potential ticket. I was thinking the Kochs might push him onto the winner, but it sounds like even they are tired of their puppet.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly: I don’t think the problem was the decision to invade. The problem was that Bush starting lusting after Iraq and forgot about Afghanistan, so what should have been a relatively quick operation to get bin Laden became our longest war.

  61. 61.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @OzarkHillbilly: The BBC is reporting this morning that 11 M vehicles worldwide are affected.

    Volkswagen says 11 million vehicles worldwide are involved in the scandal that has erupted over its rigging of US car emissions tests.

    It said it was setting aside €6.5bn (£4.7bn) to cover costs of the scandal.
    VW added this would pay for “necessary service measures and other efforts to win back the trust of our customers”.

    The boss of Volkswagen’s US business, Michael Horn, has admitted it “totally screwed up” in using software to rig emissions tests.

    […]

    However, a European Commission spokeswoman said it was “premature to comment on whether any specific immediate surveillance measures are also necessary in Europe”.

    Elsewhere, the South Korean government said it would test up to 5,000 Jetta and Golf cars, along with Audi A3s made in 2014 and 2015.

    Its investigation will be expanded to all German diesel cars if issues are found.

    The White House in Washington also reportedly said it was “quite concerned” about VW’s conduct.

    If VW is to survive, they better be purer than Ivory Snow moving forward.

    This could be a world-changing event, if it is handled properly. Destroying VW isn’t going to help. The world needs to make sure that the corporate culture that let this cheating be implemented is changed so that it never happens again. (Or, never to a good approximation, anyway.)

    For those who were thinking about getting a VW – wait. It sounds like incentives are coming…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    NorthLeft12

    @Gimlet: That speech by Rep. Gosar was the most vile, hateful, and un-Christian rant I have heard in a long time……like maybe two weeks.

    It is Catholics like him [and the previous few Popes] that convinced me that I have no place in the Catholic church anymore. He is just an odious human being.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    @NorthLeft12:

    I love how he casually admits that the way to deal with left-wing politicians is to not listen to them.

    But if Obama had only invited Republicans to more dinner parties…

  67. 67.

    JPL

    @Patricia Kayden: According to TPM, Carson was on Hannity last night clarifying his remark about the possibility of a Muslim President.. He said
    “Now, if someone has a Muslim background, and they’re willing to reject those tenets and to accept the way of life that we have, and clearly will swear to place our Constitution above their religion, then of course they will be considered infidels and heretics, but at least I would then be quite willing to support them,”

    It sounds like the same should apply to Kim Davis.

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Bin Laden was gone long before the invasion of Iraq. The thing is the Bush Admin was never going to invest the kind of money necessary to make the invasion of Afghanistan a success. Never. Just look at how the invasion was conducted, starting with covert CIA agents and suitcases full of cash, sowing chaos where ever they went.

    Say what you want about how bad the Taliban are (and I could say plenty) the country was relatively stable under them (except for the north). I think it possible, and I could be wrong, that a bombing campaign and economic sanctions and possibly some other stuff that I can not imagine, might very well have persuaded the Taliban to turn over Bin Laden. And a more or less stable Afghanistan would have remained. Instead, well you know what we got.

    Also, Obama’s been no better on this. His “surge” was doomed from the gitgo for the exact same reason: We were never going to invest sufficient resources.

  77. 77.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I think it possible, and I could be wrong, that a bombing campaign and economic sanctions and possibly some other stuff that I can not imagine, might very well have persuaded the Taliban to turn over Bin Laden.

    I’m skeptical about this, but agree with the rest.

  78. 78.

    RK

    But if Obama had only invited Republicans to more dinner parties…

    I see you have lingering doubts about Obama’s effectiveness as a deal maker. I know I don’t. :)

  79. 79.

    WereBear

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: This could be a world-changing event, if it is handled properly. Destroying VW isn’t going to help. The world needs to make sure that the corporate culture that let this cheating be implemented is changed so that it never happens again. (Or, never to a good approximation, anyway.)

    I didn’t expect it to work this way… but I’ll take it, sure.

    Welcome Anne Laurie! That was a long time without Internet… without it being on purpose (shudder)

  80. 80.

    PJ

    @OzarkHillbilly: The Taliban was eradicated in Afghanistan by the end of 2001. It was never the intention of Bush or his policies to produce a stable Afghanistan bound by the rule of law, but rather to have a puppet state ruled by warlords who could do as they pleased, so long as they delivered “terrorists” to US forces to be interrogated and tortured. These “terrorists” could be anyone, whether it was a political rival, or someone who had worked in the Taliban administration (which had been the government of Afghanistan recognized by the US), or someone whose property or money the informer wanted. The US, by its liberal spreading around of dollars, and refusal to do anything about atrocities (including rape) committed by the allies/clients we supported and enabled, is directly responsible for this situation. So it’s no surprise that this produced an unstable country or that many supported a return of the Taliban, which, while deficient in many other areas, could at least provide law and order. I highly recommend No Good Men Among the Living by Anand Gopal for more on this subject.

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    Scott Walker’s Beltway boosting gives way to reality of low support

    Wisconsin State Senator Jon Erpenbach talks with Rachel Maddow about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker suspending his presidential campaign after lackluster debate performances, poll numbers approaching zero, and a string of gaffes that raised questions about how he ever got elected in the first place.

    msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/walker-fails-to-live-up-to-hype-drops-out-529771587834

  85. 85.

    Elizabelle

    Welcome back, Anne Laurie.

    How funny. TCM has counterprogrammed the Pope’s visit with … robots.

    9:00 a — just started: The Day the Earth Stood Still. Prescient, WRT anticipated DC traffic today

    10:45 Forbidden Planet. Shakespeare’s The Tempest set in space. Robby the Robot.

    12:30 p The Invisible Boy. Sequel to Forbidden Planet. Moar Robby the Robot, although TCM viewers says it’s dreary and boring and a missed opportunity.

    Later today: 2001. A robot gone bad.

    linky to schedule: tcm.com/schedule/

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Scott Walker’s Beltway boosting gives way to reality of low support

    It’s just gross how much they love people who hate labor unions. That’s what all these people they promote have in common.

    “Speak truth to power! Take that third grade teachers!”

  88. 88.

    WereBear

    @Elizabelle: Most awesome. Many favorites.

    Are they doing The Colossus of New York? Always liked that one. Ross Martin nailed it and added a poignant element to a B-movie science fiction film that I’ve never forgotten, decades after first seeing it.

    I was a pre-teen watching The Wild Wild West and I was a fan of Martin.

    And since praise of Ross Martin is too thin on the ground, may I add that in an episode of Ben Casey (in reruns) he played a surgeon with mysterious temper tantrums, and then they zoomed in on him in the cafeteria, sitting there looking like a classic myasthenia gravis patient (which is not easy, it’s subtle) and I was right, and so so so was he…

    Just an amazing Worker of the Craft.

    /admirer

  89. 89.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PJ:

    The Taliban was eradicated in Afghanistan by the end of 2001.

    Than, pray tell, who are we fighting there? Everything else you say, I agree with, but the Taliban were deposed, not eradicated.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    @WereBear: No, but thanks for the head’s up. Never heard of “The Colossus…”

    Other robot movies today are The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy, from 1965, at 2:15 p, and Westworld at 6:15 p. (Yul Brynner as a robot?)

    Other movie on my to watch list: Robert Wise’s “The House on Telegraph Hill” from 1951. Not on TCM, but read a little about it and it sounds great. Wise made so many exquisite movies. Will be on the lookout for more of his films.

  91. 91.

    WereBear

    @Elizabelle: You haven’t seen Westworld? I like it very much. A poorer actor would have just gone with “expressionless” and it wouldn’t have worked, but Yul went with “menacing and expressionless” and it did.

    The House on Telegraph Hill is a favorite! Enjoy!

  92. 92.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: Well, if we allow 3rd grade teachers to organize they might organize 3rd graders and then all hell would break loose, there would be no stopping them.

  94. 94.

    Tom

    I’m taking my wife to her hydrotherapy this afternoon.

    Apart from that, I plan on hacking around with Azure. I got a 12 month pass and I want to see if I can use it to deploy online course labs in the cloud.

    I also need to nail down the deadlines for the course I’m currently developing.

  99. 99.

    WereBear

    And this post has led to me to pull up my Leonard Cohen channel on Pandora; it’s still a work in progress, but I do like what gets put up when I’m not monitoring it, as well.

  104. 104.

    rikyrah

    This is why I have no sympathy for them.

    They voted for them…accept the consequences of their actions.
    …………………

    Independence hospital’s closing not enough to change Medicaid stance for Kansas conservatives
    Speaker Ray Merrick: Problem is Obamacare

    By The Associated Press
    A southern Kansas hospital’s pending closure, which administrators blame on the state’s reluctance to expand Medicaid, hasn’t been enough to persuade Gov. Sam Brownback to soften his stance on the matter.

    Mercy Hospital System plans to close its hospital in Independence, near the Oklahoma border, next month. Mercy spokeswoman Joanne Smith said expanding the program that provides health coverage to poor and disabled Kansans would have brought the hospital about $1.6 million in additional revenue.

    “And that’s very significant for a small hospital like ours,” she told The Wichita Eagle

    ……………………….

    Brownback said the hospital closure isn’t because the state won’t expand Medicaid. “They should blame it on Obamacare,” he said.

    With a population of more than 9,000, Independence will be the largest community in the state without a hospital. The closest alternatives are in Neodesha, about 16 miles away, and Coffeyville, 20 miles away.

    Rep. Sue Concannon, a Beloit Republican who is an outspoken supporter of expansion, said she worries that the Independence hospital’s closing is “just the tip of the iceberg.”

    cjonline.com/news/2015-09-21/independence-hospitals-closing-not-enough-change-medicaid-stance-kansas

  105. 105.

    MomSense

    Yay, the post is working now. When I looked earlier this morning the post title was above balloon-juice and there was no way to access comments.

    Good morning, AL. We’ve all missed you.

  107. 107.

    satby

    Politics in general has become overwhelmingly depressing to me lately, good thing becoming a new “mom” to two teenagers has kept me too busy to keep up. Because I just don’t want to live in the same country my fellow citizens who are Republican want to. And yet, here we all are.
    I’ll snap out of it soon enough for the campaign.

    Applying for a new job today, wish me luck.

  108. 108.

    maurinsky

    RE: Leonard Cohen – I thought I would share a remake of his song “Everybody Knows” (true then, true now) by the Canadian band The Duhks

    youtube.com/watch?v=lxHJL9e9l6A

    The banjo player for The Duhks is named Leonard Podolak, and he covered this song at a show of just Leonard Cohen songs, covered by other people named Leonard.

  110. 110.

    gelfling545

    @Schlemazel: Suzanne was the first I had heard of Cohen. It must have made the top 40 stations as I’d have had no other way to hear it. Then I went looking for more of his work & found it fascinating. This was considered quite odd in my social set at the time.

  113. 113.

    Keith G

    The WP has a news story up about White House plans for a more aggressive military campaign in Syria. We wight be enabling the Kurds to take more of the fight to the bad guys.

    Meanwhile, CNN is adding to the “Rape of Boys” reporting.

  115. 115.

    Paul in KY

    @satby: Best wishes on job interview. Remember to make eye contact & to be confident as you tell them why hiring you would be a win for the company/person.

  116. 116.

    dedc79

    I think Cohen is up there at the top lyrics-wise, but, for many of his songs, I can’t get past the music he pairs those lyrics with. His “The Future” is an example of what I mean.

    A lot of people prefer covers of his music b/c they don’t care for his voice. I prefer covers, not because of his voice, but because it generally means the accompanying music will be better (less synth, less reliance on backing female vocals, etc…)

  117. 117.

    satby

    @Yatsuno: @Paul in KY: Thanks! Only submitting my application and resume today, but it’s an IT position that matches my skills pretty exactly. I tend to do well in interviews, since what I do in my current job is to teach people how to interview better. (And OMG, the stuff people have said that I have to teach them not to say!)

  122. 122.

    burnspbesq

    @Patricia Kayden:

    According to Marty Lederman at Balkinization, there are now at least two status reports on file with the court describing Davis’ apparent violations of the order that was entered when she was released from confinement.

    I expect shit will get real within a reasonable amount of time.

  126. 126.

    boatboy_srq

    Yeesh. Benen’s got a full plate today and it’s only 10 am:

    RE: Carson:

    “People in Iowa particularly, are like, ‘Yeah! We’re not going to vote for a Muslim either,’” [Carson campaign manager Barry] Bennett said.

    So much for freedom of religion… And funny thing is that in ’08 and ’12 probably not more than a handful voted for a Muslim either – but just try explaining that to the proverbial crazy uncle…

    RE: Kansas:

    The Affordable Care Act didn’t cause the hospital to close; the Affordable Care Act is offering the hospital a lifeline that could keep the facility open. Brownback, who really ought to know better, has the entire story backwards.

    The GOTea: enabling Ahmurrcans to experience the freedumb and libertee to die of preventable, treatable medical conditions since 2009.

  129. 129.

    PurpleGirl

    @Elizabelle:

    Westworld at 6:15 p. (Yul Brynner as a robot?)

    Yul Brynner was great as the robot in Westworld. One of his best portrayals. My personal favorite is General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine in Anastasia.

    Thanks for posting this film schedule. I now have my TV watching plans for the day.

    ETA: Although at 1 pm I’m going to the Seniors club at my development for a showing of Woman in Gold.

  131. 131.

    boatboy_srq

    @OzarkHillbilly: Interesting, no, how the GOTea is fascinated with warmaking – except when it comes to resource allocation to ensure the war can be won? It’s almost like the want a perpetual war footing, and underfund offensives so they won’t be successful enough to end anything.

  135. 135.

    Elizabelle

    @PurpleGirl: I loved “Woman in Gold.”

    You won’t be missing anything on TCM — I read that the Aztec robot movie is schlock’s schlock. And dubbed into English; can’t even listen for Spanish.

  139. 139.

    Paul in KY

    @OzarkHillbilly: They had a strategy, it’s just that it had nothing to do with capturing Bin Laden, etc. etc.

    The strategy was completely focused on a 1000 year Republican Reich.

  140. 140.

    Gimlet

    theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/22/gay-couples-want-kentucky-clerk-to-reissue-marriage-licenses

    Gay couples in Kentucky are questioning the validity of altered marriage licenses issued by a defiant county clerk and have asked a federal judge to order her to reissue the licenses or close the office down.

    when Davis returned to work last week, she confiscated the marriage licenses and replaced them. The new licenses say they were issued not under the authority of the county clerk, but “pursuant to federal court order”. Davis said this accommodation preserves her conscience while also granting licenses to same-sex couples.

    But on Monday, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union wrote that the validity of the altered licenses is “questionable at best”, and that the new licenses brought “humiliation and stigma” to the gay couples who receive them.

    They asked Judge Bunning to order Davis’ office to reissue the licenses. If Davis interferes, the lawyers say the judge should place her office in a receivership for the purposes of issuing marriage licenses.

    “The adulterated marriage licenses received by Rowan county couples will effectively feature a stamp of animus against the LGBT community, signaling that, in Rowan county, the government’s position is that LGBT couples are second-class citizens unworthy of official recognition and authorization of their marriage licenses but for this court’s intervention and order,” the lawyers for the couples wrote in a court filing.

  148. 148.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Gotta love Dire Straits.

    “We didn’t understand Iraq at all, and we understood Afghanistan even less.”

    -General Stan McChrystal

  149. 149.

    WereBear

    @boatboy_srq: It’s a struggle I have: some of their stuff is fiendishly clever in terms of bringing out the mayham them seem to seek… and yet every Republican public life is not nearly bright enough to pull this, and the ones I know in private have no power whatsoever.

    What windowless dungeon is hiding these sub-human geniuses?

  150. 150.

    Paul in KY

    @boatboy_srq: They want the companies that make/sell military stuff to do well. One of the reasons is that the owners & the employees are generally Republican & can return some of their lucre to the GOP in form of campaign donations.

  151. 151.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Elizabelle: “The Invisible Boy” isn’t a sequel to “Forbidden Planet”; the only thing it has in common is Robby.

    “Forbidden Planet” obviously had a huge influence on the look of Star Trek (along with “This Island Earth”, maybe best known today as the movie they were riffing on in the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” feature film).

    And, of course, the robot from “Lost in Space” was another creation of Bob Kinoshita, and has a clear family resemblance to Robby.

  152. 152.

    Paul in KY

    @Matt McIrvin: The robot was the best character in that show (Lost in Space). Dr. Smith really hammed it up, but after awhile was sorta unbelievable (after his 1st few nasty, cowardly actions you would have had to send him out the airlock to ensure mission success).
    ‘
    Did also like the ‘Crush, Kill, Destroy’ guys.

  153. 153.

    Gimlet

    @Matt McIrvin:

    And, of course, the robot from “Lost in Space” was another creation of Bob Kinoshita, and has a clear family resemblance to Robby.

    Clearly a distant relative of the Michelin Tire figure.

  154. 154.

    WereBear

    @Paul in KY: You HAD to have Dr. Smith. All the other characters were far too goody-goody to get into trouble, and thus create the conflict you have to have.

    And someone has to get in the way of easily getting out of trouble, as well.

    Dramatically speaking.

  155. 155.

    Paul in KY

    @WereBear: Can’t the ‘trouble’ come from what freaky planet they land on & the aliens they encounter there?

    Obviously, I am no Hollywood screenwriter :-)

  156. 156.

    WereBear

    @Paul in KY: Yes, you can have trouble by accident, and no matter what they do they can’t get out of it, until suddenly, they do!

    Which describes the world’s worst horror movies. No one finds that satisfying for long.

    There has to be levers to pull, and someone to pull the levers, and someone the audience just can’t stand who gets in the way.

    Or shows would last ten minutes, ya know?

  158. 158.

    Paul in KY

    @WereBear: OK, I guess they had to have Dr. Smith (grumble, grumble, the 2nd-in-Command guy coulda flipped out & provided all sorts of ‘conflict’).

  159. 159.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Paul in KY: Originally the show was trying to be serious science fiction, and Dr. Smith was the recurring villain, a saboteur who had stowed away on the ship and was trying to kill them all. When the show went to color it turned to intentional camp, and Dr. Smith became comic relief.

  160. 160.

    japa21

    @boatboy_srq: Actually, there is a convoluted argument Brownback can make to justify his statement that the hospital closing is caused by Obamacare.
    The government used to have support payments to hospitals that covered their losses from unpaid bills. This was dropped under the assumption that with Medicaid expansion these payments wouldn’t be necessary and was part of the way that any other increased governmental costs were covered.
    The fact that Kansas did not expand Medicaid did not change the discontinuance of those payments.
    So if the government was still using that support system, then the hospital would not have had to close.
    Therefore it is all the fault of Obamacare.

    At least that is the argument that could be made.

  164. 164.

    Paul in KY

    @Matt McIrvin: That’s why the captain would have had to have a summary courts martial (in black & white) and sent him out the airlock.

    True story: Was just in Krogers parking lot & was behind a Prius with this bumper sticker: ‘WARNING, driving under the influence of Leonard Cohen’.

  165. 165.

    Paul in KY

    @jurassicpork: In the People’s Republic of Kentucky, the new landlord can’t just ‘invalidate’ a lease because they want to jack up the prices. You have to ride the lease out & then jack em up.

  167. 167.

    gus

    That’s funny that you could go 30 years just waiting to start smoking again. I quite 13 years ago, and the smell now disgusts me.

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