Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

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

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

White supremacy is terrorism.

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

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Reader Interactions

176Comments

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Hey! I voted for Bitsy early this morning. Why should I deprived of seeing a picture of Tunch and/or Lily?

  3. 3.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Already voted. Open thread with no animals and no youtubes? Slacking on the job, JC.

    Although I have to say that the NFL thread (320 comments) was a fascinating mid-day discussion, and one of the reasons I enjoy the commentariat here so much.

  7. 7.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @khead:

    I am no Limbaugh fan. Not only is he infamous for ugly remarks, but he is a practitioner in the politics of hate. But — and here I write as someone with a special interest in the First Amendment — Limbaugh is being banished for essentially exercising his right to speak. *Perhaps the difference between Limbaugh and Vick and Stallworth is that the latter two, at least, professed remorse. Limbaugh is unrepentant* — and that’s the reason I would have enjoyed seeing his team get trounced.

    Perhaps? Jeez. No mention of the fact that Vick and Stallworth served time for their transgressions and lost untold millions in the process, while Limbaugh goes about his merry way spewing his filth.

    Limbaugh is not being banished for essentially exercising his right to speak. He’s being banished because he’s a dick who will cause harm to the brand. It’s business, goof ball.

  8. 8.

    khead

    I posted – first post ever @ Wash Post – because I just could not believe the “and here I write as someone with a special interest in the First Amendment” line.

    Someone with a “special interest” in the first amendment should fucking know this is not a first amendent issue. That person should be shot.

    Edit: Khead +3

  9. 9.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Limbaugh is not being banished for essentially exercising his right to speak. He’s being banished because he’s a dick who will cause harm to the brand. It’s business, goof ball.

    This.

  10. 10.

    arguingwithsignposts

    So I just noticed the comments are at 1403409. There have been 1.4 million comments here? Can that be right, JC? How many posts total?

  11. 11.

    Midnight Marauder

    @Ned R.:

    I now envision your site logo as you shouting at Balloon Boy stealing your craft…

    You know, thank goodness the kid turned out to be alive, but there is not a chance in hell he will ever escape the nickname/albatross “Balloon Boy.” Friend, foe, family–doesn’t matter.

    Not.a.chance.in.hell.

  12. 12.

    RedKitten

    You want pictures of cute critters, click on this link and vote for Bitsy.

    Or click on my URL and ooh and ahh over my tiny tank of a kid. ;)

  13. 13.

    calipygian

    What the fuck does Limbaugh not being able to participate in an owners group for a football team have to do with the First Amendment? I didn’t know the First Amendment protected the right to free speech, free religion, free assembly and association and right to own a football team.

    The invisible hand of the free market has spoken, bitches, and it told Rush to fuck himself.

  15. 15.

    New Yorker

    Just to get away from Rush for a moment:

    news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_us/us_boy_in_balloon

    This is just one of the most absurd stories I’ve ever read. Every detail, from the delays at DIA to the fact that the parents are crank pseudoscientists, is nuts. EVERY. DETAIL.

    Obviously, it’s good the boy is OK, although I don’t know how well he’ll do in a house where his parents think rotating thunderstorms create their own magnetic fields (I wonder what the meteorology department at Oklahoma U. thinks of this “theory”?).

  16. 16.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    Everytime the tag Burkean Bells is used in a post, I have the mental image of the Balloon Juice gang singing a parody of Silver Bells called “Burkean Bells” as a Christmas carol.

    And no, I am not high.

  19. 19.

    Anne Laurie

    @Midnight Marauder:

    You know, thank goodness the kid turned out to be alive, but there is not a chance in hell he will ever escape the nickname/albatross “Balloon Boy.” Friend, foe, family—doesn’t matter.

    I’m wondering whether he told his older brothers he was taking off in the balloon & then chickened out, or whether they were trying to get him skyborne and didn’t know he’d scarpered before they undid… I mean, before the tiedowns failed. Mmm, yes, I do have younger brothers, why do you ask?

  20. 20.

    Betsy

    Redkitten, soooo cute!!! And those adorable sweaters – were those handmade?

    I just got done eating a fabulous mushroom barley stew that I made. SO SO GOOD. Esp. since it’s going to be in the 30s (!!!!) already tonight.

    For the pet-deprived:
    In which my cat picks a fight with, and loses to, an empty tissue box.

  22. 22.

    dmsilev

    @khead:
    Yeesh

    and here I write as someone with a special interest in the First Amendment

    Did Congress pass a law prohibiting Limbaugh from investing in a group bidding to buy the Rams when I wasn’t looking?

    -dms

  23. 23.

    beltane

    It’s only October 15 and I’m already sick of winter. Way too early for hats and gloves, but brrrr.

  24. 24.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @MikeJ:

    I’ve carried a torch for Betty Boop like foeever/

    Marge Simpson however, just doesn’t do it for me.

  25. 25.

    RedKitten

    @Betsy: Yes, my friend Stephanie knit those — she’s incredibly talented.

    Those pics of your cat are priceless. It appears to be quite content in its loss to the tissue box, actually. :)

  29. 29.

    Betsy

    @Demo Woman:
    When I saw that story, my jaw about hit the desk. I could not BELIEVE that man. I guess it’s refreshing that he’s not trying to claim that he didn’t really do it and they’re the racists, or something. I hope he loses his license posthaste.

  30. 30.

    MikeJ

    @General Winfield Stuck: Didja check the second link? Related joke:

    Mickey Mouse is at his attorney’s office where his lawyer says, “So you want a divorce because you say Minnie is insane?” “No, I said she was fuckin’ Goofy!”

  32. 32.

    Betsy

    @RedKitten: @TEL:
    Thanks. :) It was truly one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. We’d partially flattened the box for recycling, and out of nowhere the cat just dove at it like it had called her mama ugly. She’s never done anything like it before or since. I was lucky I had my camera at hand!

  35. 35.

    freelancer

    quick update:

    My grandfather is doing much, much better today but he’s not out of the woods yet and won’t be for a while. Thanks for all your messages last night. I know they’re only words on a screen, but they do mean a lot.

  36. 36.

    schrodinger's cat

    No animal pics tonight.

    oh noes, Tunch deprivation continues, day elbenty. We want Tunch and we want him now.

  39. 39.

    lamh31

    A radio sportcaster here in DFW was complaining about how gleeful some other sportswriter was that Limbaugh was dropped from the group. He said it was because of jealouly, and what not.

    Whatever!! I was damn gleeful, and it’s not because of jealousy. Let’s put aside the fact that I’m African American, cause it’s not about race although I consider Rush, Pat BuchKKKan, Hannity, Beck, Dobbs, and the like to be “racial arsonist”.

    I’m gleeful, cause even if I didn’t already believe in karma, this would make me a believer, cause what did Rush do for the better part of last year? He tried to make Obama own the words of Rev Wright, not words Obama himself spoke, but the words that Rev Wright spoke. And here it is, not a year later, and Rush is being hoisted by his own pertard, for the racist and incendiary words he spoke from HIS OWN MOUTH!!!

    So hell yeah I’m gleeful. If my ankle was recovering from a sprain, I mighta danced a jig!!!

  40. 40.

    Violet

    I’ve voted for Bitsy every day this week! Go Bitsy!

    @beltane:

    It’s already October 15th and we haven’t had our first real cold front of the season. Temps in the 90’s today – setting records. It feels like the summer that won’t end. Add 70% humidity to those temps. Wanna trade weather?

  43. 43.

    Demo Woman

    How stupid are our elected officials? This stupid?

    The Hill ran with an eye-catching statement from Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR)–the chair of the Blue Dog’s health care task force who recently announced he doesn’t support a public option. “I — speaking only on behalf of myself — suggested one possible idea could be that instead of creating an entirely new government bureaucracy to administer a public option, Medicare could be offered as a choice,”

    I saw this at TPM.

  47. 47.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @MikeJ:

    Yep, Better not show that on the cover of Playboy, Probly make the wingnut preachers go nukular.

    1967 was a very good year BTW.

  48. 48.

    Chad N Freude

    Let’s compile a list of First Amendment idiocies, so that people who need to feel wounded about being criticized for saying something won’t have to work so hard to whine. I’ll start.

    Someone saying “Shut up” is a violation of the first amendment.

    He told me to shut up, so I’m suing him for infringing on my First Amendment rights.

    My employer prohibits offensive or obscene language in the workplace. This is a violation of my First Amendment right to free speech.

    Parents who tell their kids “Not another word,” are violating the children’s First Amendment rights.

  49. 49.

    Laura W

    @Betsy: My cat will see your cat’s foo foo empty tiss-you box and raise her one La Croix Cranberry/Rasperry box. (This was even before she mixed the Ketel One with it, so you can imagine what transpired after the shoot.)

    She’s never done anything like it before or since. I was lucky I had my camera at hand!

    My camera is never more than one room away from me. Trust me…this is a harbinger of very ominous entertaining things to come.

    More stuff to look forward to.

  50. 50.

    CalD

    No. George Will in fact will not give the increasingly tired and threadbare notion of a Republican “Wave” in 2010 a rest, despite the rather notable lack of any particular evidence to support or even suggest the possibility, and you can’t make him… because shut up, that’s why.

  51. 51.

    gogol's wife

    My husband (who is not actually Gogol) writes me a poem every night for me to read in the morning. This morning I was thrilled to find that he had worked Tunch into the poem (rhyming with “lunch,” naturellement). My husband does not read blogs, so I guess I must talk about Tunch sometimes.

  52. 52.

    Notorious P.A.T.

    Limbaugh is not being banished for essentially exercising his right to speak.

    Don’t know if anyone has brought this up, but First Amendment law says that just because a person can say anything they want doesn’t mean there can be no consequences.

  54. 54.

    MikeJ

    @Chad N Freude: “Nah, I don’t want to go to that club, I don’t like that band.” There’s a violation. Not only do they have a right to say what they want, you have to listen and even pay for it or you hate the way jeebus wrote the first commandment.

  57. 57.

    Laura W

    @MikeJ: You made a quip in an earlier thread that was my best LOL of the day. I’ve just spent 10 min. trying to find it but I can not. Too many threads.

    I thought it was early on in the thread. I thought it was about Rush. And I thought it was a very pithy reference to a song that was worked in beautifully.
    Surely you remember your work? It was definitely today. Of this I am certain.
    Can you link me back?

  58. 58.

    South of I-10

    Thanks for all the good wishes last night. Unfortunately, my stepfather-in-law didn’t make it, he passed away shortly after arriving in New Orleans. My new definition of suck involves having to explain this to a 5 year old.

  66. 66.

    MNPundit

    Whoa it says really cute Asians but just goes to the IBKC. Huh.

    I guess Hwang Mi Hee remains my secret. Oh well. It’s fine, slipped in anyway.

  67. 67.

    Midnight Marauder

    @Anne Laurie:

    I’m wondering whether he told his older brothers he was taking off in the balloon & then chickened out, or whether they were trying to get him skyborne and didn’t know he’d scarpered before they undid… I mean, before the tiedowns failed. Mmm, yes, I do have younger brothers, why do you ask?

    I started watching during my lunch break (and the madness was already in progress), and stuck around to the see the landing and subsequent reveal (TA-DA!) that there is no spoon boy. I happened to be watching on CNN and my co-workers and I kept noticing that Kira Phillips would continuously say something like “And again, we believe the boy is probably in the balloon.”

    Probably? PROBABLY?! You dedicate over an hour to tracking (what turned out to be) an empty homemade “experimental” balloon, and you can’t even confirm that the boy is actually in the balloon?! How do you not lock that information down before you fucking go on air? “Is there a boy in the balloon” is a pretty fucking fundamental question to answer before rushing to the airwaves with BREAKING NEWS.

    And then the balloon lands, and all of a sudden, a bunch of people just start beating the thing with shovels! I mean, there has got to be a better way to deflate a balloon, even a homemade one. And Rick Sanchez (after being deflated–HA) over the news that the boy isn’t inside, starts speculating as to whether he fell out of the balloon, and if so, how high up he was when he fell. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, CNN?!

    And the kid was at home. In the attic. In a fucking box.

    Too bad CNN didn’t leave it there this time around.

    EDIT: and glad to hear about your grandfather, freelancer.

  69. 69.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @me:

    There is so much that Sadly, No! has missed over the last two days, it’s almost a federal crime that their snark is not activated yet.

  70. 70.

    lamh31

    Quote Of The Year
    from Ta-Nehisi Coates

    Keith Bardwell, Louisiana justice of the peace explaining why he refused to grant a marriage license to an interracial couple…

    “I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way,”

    Of course Bardwell isn’t a racist. There aren’t any racists in America.

  71. 71.

    burnspbesq

    @RedKitten:

    Ooh. Aah.

    When I saw the last photo, the one captioned “I haz a sad,” the first thing that came to mind was “how can a kid that young be a Leafs fan already?”

  72. 72.

    James K. Polk, Esq.

    Hope everyone else had a better day than me. Gonna go curl up with my cat and fuzz the day away…

  75. 75.

    linda

    it’s depressing to see olbermann cover this balloon story.

    re cnn — i happened to catch some of msnbc’s coverage and it was just as appalling. constant speculation; comments about the family. onething that cracked me up was all those deputies standing around that deflated balloon trying to figure out what to do.

    hours of coverage of that nonsense.

  76. 76.

    Ned R.

    Apropos of nothing, wasn’t it about a year ago that we were all first exposed to the embodiment of wit and wisdom that is Joe the Plumber?

  79. 79.

    Chad N Freude

    @MikeJ: I like this. Not going to a club or concert or play or movie violates the performer’s/writer’s rights. [Mr. Burns’s voice:] Excellent!

  82. 82.

    Laura W

    @MikeJ: BINGO!
    I knew it was Beatles. That was so good. I got a huge laugh in the moment and meant to post a thanks but was just driving by fast.

  86. 86.

    gnomedad

    @Demo Woman:
    If you’ll forgive me in case someone doesn’t click through, Andy Borowitz reported that Balloon Boy’s parents “said that they were relieved that their son was all right and that they were pushing forward with their plans to build a giant child-operated flame-throwing robot.”

  87. 87.

    ellaesther

    @South of I-10: Oh honey, I am so, so sorry. That is terrible news. Thank you for coming back to tell us, and good luck, both with the boy, and with your whole family. I hope that you are all surrounded and wrapped in love and support right now.

  89. 89.

    SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta

    @Jay in Oregon: Beautiful dogs Jay. I like the soulful expression in the first photo. As for the 2nd, I love me some yella lab. We had one named Jones but nicknamed “the Colonel”. He always pooped in a bush or plant, and even when the other dogs came out of the woods wet and covered with mud, he was immaculate. Quite the gent.

  91. 91.

    South of I-10

    Thanks for the love y’all. Of course, reading the article about the idiot JP in Tangipahoa Parish just sent me back for another glass of wine.

  92. 92.

    SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta

    @freelancer: Thanks for letting us know. And I believe they are much, much more than words on a screen. Glad he is doing better.

  96. 96.

    Demo Woman

    @South of I-10: Sometimes there is just not enough wine. Tears help though. Being the naive sort, surely the JP will get fired and then he won’t have to worry about who uses his f**king toilet.

  98. 98.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ned R.:

    Apropos of nothing, wasn’t it about a year ago that we were all first exposed to the embodiment of wit and wisdom that is Joe the Plumber?

    A huge shiny thing, said to be hiding something special and precious, that captivated our entire newsmedia before it was exposed as a lot of hot air towing an empty box? Is Regnery Press going to give Falcon Heene a book contract, too?

  100. 100.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Too much estrogen in this thread. Think I’ll go chop some wood or something.

  101. 101.

    Demo Woman

    @gnomedad: He’s hilarious. I actually think he could give Jon Stewart some competition, although I’m not sure that America is ready for two extremely bright witty personalities making sense of our insane world.

  107. 107.

    South of I-10

    @Demo Woman: JP’s are elected, but I can’t believe the La Supreme Court will let that pass.

    @RedKitten: Oh trust me, I have a drama queen. She tells me she is going to be a scientist/first girl POTUS, but I see some serious acting skills! Those might come in handy as President, who knows?

  108. 108.

    Seanly

    Why is Wolf Blitzen spending so much time with the oddball Heene family? So coulda-been-in-a-balloon boy is the new missing white girl?

    Questions: why did this family have a filled balloon in their backyard? I understand wanting to do your own oddball science, but who has a ready-to-go balloon in their backyard?

  109. 109.

    MikeJ

    who has a ready-to-go balloon in their backyard?

    Not me yet, but it would be pretty fucking cool. To make it really blend with the Pacific Northwest, I’d tether it to a bigfoot log carving.

  116. 116.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    Just for those who aren’t familiar, here was the “Enlightenment” lyrics I was referring to:

    Chop that wood
    Carry water
    What’s the sound of one hand clapping
    Enlightenment, don’t know what it is

    Every second, every minute
    It keeps changing to something different
    Enlightenment, don’t know what it is
    Enlightenment, don’t know what it is
    It says it’s non attachment
    Non attachment. non attachment

    Caravan, too. Awesome.

    Personally, I’m partial to “Days Like This.”

    But I’m partial to all the VM with the horn section.

  117. 117.

    General Winfield Stuck

    Holy smokes, Rachel was pissed at that guy.

    Will have to catch the rerun. Ratigan thoroughly destroyed some health insurance industry weenie this morning over ending the anti-trust exemption they enjoy.

  122. 122.

    Flappy McScrotum

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    To paraphrase part of the interview:

    Rachel: As a lobbiest you defended the practice of having Chinese sex slaves in the Mariana Islands. Do you regret that?

    Guest: No. besides, the sex slaves got free Bibles!

    Rachel: You are a human turd stain.

  123. 123.

    Demo Woman

    Fortunately, I don’t have cable. I say fortunately because I did not waste hours on balloon boy. Now all these folks are talking about Rachel’s show and I’m jealous. I can catch it online in a few hours or you could share more.

  128. 128.

    Svensker

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    five year olds are just at the edge of understanding death and dying.

    My son was 3 when his grandma died. He was a little sad, but didn’t seem affected by it much. Then one night, about 3 months later, he woke up in the night crying and crying. I asked him what was wrong and he said, “The universe seems like a big empty place, Mom. I’m scared to be alone.”

    Nothing like existential angst in your 3-year-old — never underestimate kids.

  130. 130.

    Little Macayla's Friend

    @donovong:
    Further evidence for the Obama Recession / Bush Recovery here:
    msnbc.msn.com/id/33312701/ns/business-eye_on_the_economy/

    Only four metrics apparently, categories are their system, but covers 14 years, and interesting to start at 2007 and click the play button.

    Just happened to see the above link a couple posts back when someone linked to the benevolent overseer not-a-racist Mr. Bardwell story (and here @lamh31: )

    Whenever there is a discussion of whether someone is a racist for saying something, I think whether or not it would be red meat to a racist I grew up with, not whether it’s projection / it’s an accident / it’s a figure of speech / he’s actually a nice guy / etc.

  136. 136.

    Tx Expat

    @lamh31:
    My favorite quote from that judge was:

    “I have black people in my house all the time. I let them use the bathroom.”

    We had a saying growing up that’s apt here:

    “That’s mighty white of you.”

    Racist fuckwit.

    South of I-10 – so sorry to hear of your loss. My thoughts are with you and your family.

  137. 137.

    Harry Kawasaki

    Has anyone else noticed that:

    Jack Donaghy is the Bizarro Don Draper and

    Kenneth is Peggy Olson and

    Tracy Morgan is Roger Sterling and

    Steve Buscemi is Pete Campbell and

    Judah Friedlander is Paul Kinsey…

  138. 138.

    geg6

    Rachel Maddow is the single best political journalist on the teevee. Hands down. That was fucking awesome. You were Jack Abramoff’s buttboy. Who underwrites your organization? Is Fmr. Gov. Allen, your featured speaker, a paid whore…er, lobbyist…for the healthcare industry? And on and on and on in great detail about specific sleazy shit this dude and his buddies do. And dude would not answer with anything but the most transparently nonsensical bullshit. For two entire segments. I need a cigarette.

  139. 139.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Demo Woman:

    Goddamn, whiskey tango foxtrot? Do these people have nothing to do with their time? Aren’t there papers to grade or something? Fuck these fuckers. AAARRGGHHH!

  140. 140.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Svensker:

    I was 21 when my grandmother died. I still miss her, and I’m in my 40s. I remember people looking at me funny when I cried at her funeral (and my great-grandmother). Pure, unadulterated love was what they gave, and what we lose when we force our elderly to slave away because their retirement savings have been stolen by wall street (not bitter much, there).

    I’ll never forget when I heard she had died. I’ve got one grandparent left, and she’s going to be gone before long. But that first grandparent leaving was really hard. Doesn’t matter the age, when you lose your granny.

  141. 141.

    Demo Woman

    @arguingwithsignposts: These are my favorite lines..The award of the peace prize to a sitting president is not unprecedented. But Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson received the honor for their past actions: Roosevelt’s efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War, and Wilson’s work in establishing the League of Nations. Obama’s award is different.
    Excuse my ignorance but who is this guy..Ronald D. Rotunda is distinguished professor of jurisprudence at Chapman University Law School.

  142. 142.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Flappy McScrotum 9:56 pm

    Yeah, that’s pretty much what she said. Good paraphrase. She also ripped him a new one for his role in the infamous 2002 commercial equating Sen Max Cleland with Osama bin Laden.

    She was purely pissed and very assertive about making her points but unfailingly polite. I like that in a cable host. Makes for a refreshing change.

    And I have to admit, the guy from AFP also concluded on a civil note. He deserved everything she threw at him but he wasn’t hateful. I give Rachel full marks for bringing out the decency in people by treating them decently, yet never (well, rarely) compromising her own beliefs.

    @South of I-10: Let me add my condolences to you and your family on your sad loss.

  144. 144.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    but unfailingly polite

    that is rachel’s genius, IMHO. She can stand tall and ask really tough questions without being an asshole. I don’t think KO could do the same. I always hearken back to her interview with Blago as an example of how an interviewer can do a tough interview with grace and style. I wish there were more who were up to the challenge.

  145. 145.

    Ash Can

    @South of I-10: Oh dear. So sorry to hear that. Here’s wishing you and yours the best under the circumstances.

    @RedKitten: Those pictures of Samuel crack me right up. The “I Haz a Sad” reminds me of something Bottle Rocket would do when he was that age. He’d screw his face up something fierce, like he was going to blow sky high and take half the building with him, then he’d open his mouth and let out nothing more than a little squeak. It was hilarious.

    As for the kid not in the balloon, fuck the coverage, I’m just happy he turned up safe. I remember a time when Bottle Rocket was about 2. (OK, I’ve had a couple of beers and I’m on Bottle Rocket stories. So sue me.) He loved to just bolt outside when the fancy struck him, whether or not anyone was with him. Well, this was a freezing cold morning. I went to the john or something, came back out to the front room, and noticed the front door was ajar. I glanced around the front room and Bottle Rocket was nowhere to be seen. Cue the frazzled mother running halfway around the block in her pajamas in 20-degree weather at 7AM, yelling for her kid. No sign of the kid. I came back into the house ready to call the police, and Bottle Rocket pops his head up from a pile of pillows and blankets on the floor. It dawned on me that M-80 had left the door slightly ajar when he’d left for work earlier, and I literally collapsed on the floor in relief.

    That morning I learned that there are circumstances under which 7AM is not too early for a double shot of bourbon. I can only imagine how relieved Balloon Boy’s parents were.

  146. 146.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Demo Woman:

    My question is where did they find these people? And why do they give them a megaphone? Did they seek them out? Did they pay them, because I wouldn’t give a nickel for that horse shite?

    Already 600 comments, and I can’t even wade through the first 20. Sad. Really, really sad.

  148. 148.

    South of I-10

    @Svensker: True. She understood when I told her. My parents’ dog, Duchess, died a few months back, and I really think that helped her understand. She knew Duchess was gone and wouldn’t be coming back. I well told her that Duchess was in doggie heaven with a yummy bone and a fun ball and if that makes me a bad person, I can live with that.

  149. 149.

    kay

    @Demo Woman:

    Senior fellow at the CATO Institute. Assistant to Ken Starr during the Clinton witch hunt.

    That was so breathtakingly insane I had to look him up.

  151. 151.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Demo Woman
    @arguingwithsignposts

    I saw that piece of unadulterated crap earlier (I think someone posted a link on another thread). Never heard of Chapman University before — I had to Google it. Apparently it’s in Orange County, CA. Why am I not surprised? (No offense to Juicers who have some connection with O.C.)

  152. 152.

    kay

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    It’s an amazing piece. I’m completely baffled by the inexplicable switch to Israel’s relationship with a Saudi prince in the last paragraph.

    Remember: this is the Washington Post.

    A member of their editorial staff believes Rush Limbaugh not buying a football team is a violation of the First Amendment.

    Tenth grade civics. They’d fail.

  153. 153.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    apparently only have 6,000 students total – grad and undergrad. That’s pretty small to have a law school. I’m thinking talibangelical, a la Regent, but smaller. And yet, with all the legal minds available, the WaPo chose him. face/palm.

  154. 154.

    freelancer

    Again, thanks for the regards.

    South of I-10, I am so sorry for your loss.

    And you tell your kids whatever you damned well please. If some pushy atheist (like I used to be) decides, because they’re a busy body, that you’re a bad person because you didn’t exactly tell your child what’s in your heart because it’s more comfortable than explaining a nuanced thing like doubt or whatever’s different, they can go fuck themselves.

  155. 155.

    ellaesther

    An Open Thread seems the perfect place to say the following:

    Ahem. /clears throat/

    Thank you, Balloon Juice and all you Balloon Juicers (-ees?), for being a place of relative calm and sanity (settle down, I said “relative”) in an internet gone mad.

    I once called a place that is now riddled with Oh-My-God-Teh-Dramz! my internet home. Today, I split my home three or four ways, but each is so delightful! Thank you, John Cole, et al!

    Also: Yay for Balloon Boy!!

  156. 156.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @arguingwithsignposts 10:23 pm

    I do enjoy Keith most of the time but I agree he would not have been able to pull off an interview like this. But then, he would never have invited that guest on in the first place. He’s entertaining, and I watch him most nights, but I don’t think he has much journalistic courage. His guests are either those he agrees with going in, or those who are anodyne or neutral.

    Rachel, in contrast, is utterly confident in her command of facts and passionate about her beliefs, but she also has the enviable ability to maintain a certain detachment. It’s a fascinating combination.

    Not sure how much of that comes naturally and how much is a learned skill, but it makes for one hell of an effective style.

  157. 157.

    asiangrrlMN

    Oh good god too many things. First, thank you for all the cat/dog/baby pics. I really needed them tonight.

    Second, that JP can kiss my flat ass. “I’m worried about the children.” Well, I was worried about the children of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, but that didn’t stop them from marrying and procreating, now did it? Talk about your fucking activist judge! I am fuming.

    @South of I-10: That makes you a wonderful person. I am so sorry about your loss. I am sending a white light to help your stepfather-in-law on his journey. My deepest condolences to you and your family.

    @freelancer: So glad to hear some good news today. I’m still sending strong vibes and a white light for your grandfather.

    We are all Balloon Boys now.

  158. 158.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @arguingwithsignposts 10:42 pm

    Ha! Liberty University is exactly what I was thinking too. Also.

  161. 161.

    Martin

    never underestimate kids.

    When my son was 7 and figured out there was no Santa he was pissed. (paraphrasing) “So you’re engaged in a global conspiracy to deceive children – to what ends? To make yourself feel powerful? Are all adults in on this?”

    I couldn’t stop laughing it was so funny (and true).

  162. 162.

    Martin

    Ronald D. Rotunda is distinguished professor of jurisprudence at Chapman University Law School.

    Well, John Yoo is a visiting professor there, if that affects the credibility of the opinions issued from the place.

  166. 166.

    Corner Stone

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    And I have to admit, the guy from AFP also concluded on a civil note. He deserved everything she threw at him but he wasn’t hateful. I give Rachel full marks for bringing out the decency in people by treating them decently, yet never (well, rarely) compromising her own beliefs.

    Whenever I see a pure scumbag, real dirty despicable POS, conduct him/herself in a civil graceful way I can never help myself but to think – it must be easy to take this kind of flack since they’re making millions of dollars being this level of evil.
    If you had no compunction, no active sense of right or wrong, wouldn’t you just be laughing on the inside when someone like Rachel was trying to trip you up?
    It’s kind of like me calling Jamie Dimon a fucking goatfucking scumbag if I passed him on the street. He’d just nod, smile a little bit and then go back to counting his bags O stash.

  168. 168.

    Corner Stone

    @Svensker:

    Nothing like existential angst in your 3-year-old—never underestimate kids.

    My son was a little over four yrs old when he asked me if God had ever lived, and then proceeded to tell me why he thought we (humans) had done it all on our own.
    It was at some point around that time that he explained to me why you couldn’t breathe in space, and how the moon circled us and we circled the sun.
    He may not know the literal difference between 15 minutes or 4 hours, but underestimating the things they really grasp is not a smart decision.

  169. 169.

    Corner Stone

    For anyone remotely tempted to watch the rerun of Hardball on MSNBC, may I suggest Robot Chicken on Cartoon Network instead?

  170. 170.

    burnspbesq

    Rotunda moved to Chapman from George Mason last year (Wingnut East to Wingnut West). He is also a Republican appointee to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

  171. 171.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    Rachel kicked ass tonight, her takedown of Phillips/AFP was a thing of beauty. Polite, fact-loaded, to the point and devastating, with the “You sir, are a parasite…”  delivered as the perfect wrap on the interview filleting. Damn I wish we had more journalists  who could conduct real interviews like this, the Republican party would be history if that ever happened.

    This. Is. How. You. Do. It. you media chowderheads. Don’t let bullshit talking points stand, challenge the fucking liars with their own words or actions that contradict them. Do some fucking reporting for once!

    I hear that Rachel’s Press The Meat  appearance produced some spectacular numbers, making President McCain’s show (Gregory is on as a sidekick or he fills in when McCain can’t be there, much like Ed McMahon with Johnny Carson)  the top show that Sunday. I am sure that MSNBC is noticing little details like that.

    Rachel rocks yet again.

  175. 175.

    Anne Laurie

    When my son was 7 and figured out there was no Santa he was pissed. (paraphrasing) “So you’re engaged in a global conspiracy to deceive children – to what ends? To make yourself feel powerful? Are all adults in on this?”

    Terry Pratchett explained, via his recurring character Death, that small children are taught to believe in little benevolent lies like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy as practice for believing in big important lies like Justice and Human Decency. HOGFATHER (as the jolly guy in red is known on Discworld) is an excellent introduction to Pratchett’s universe, and the BBC miniseries (which is available through Netflix) is a surprisingly close adaptation.

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