A friend of mine sent this to me a few weeks ago. This is the real deal. I don’t care what Tom Friedman says, the Chinese aren’t producing stuff like this.
Consider this an open thread.
by DougJ| 112 Comments
This post is in: Music, Open Threads, Good News For Conservatives
A friend of mine sent this to me a few weeks ago. This is the real deal. I don’t care what Tom Friedman says, the Chinese aren’t producing stuff like this.
Consider this an open thread.
Comments are closed.
Brachiator
Any iPad early adopters out there?
Arkon DougJ
@Brachiator:
I’ll check one out on Saturday.
Brachiator
This just in:
This has got to be a spoof. Otherwise it is the most … tasteless ad campaign since the dawn of humankind.
Video ad can be … sniffed out … here.
jharp
I’ve spent one year in Hong Kong and China.
And you are exactly right. They produce nothing even close. And they love our performers.
I’ll never forget crowds of people on the streets of Hong Kong crowded around to watch a Made in U.S.A. movie being shown right on the street. Middle of the day. And simply because it was free and they love it.
Kind of ironic that the wingnuts hate the group in the one industry that we lead the world in.
IndyLib
@Brachiator:
Nope, they’ll have to pry my kindle from my cold dead hands.
Laura W.
HOT DAMN!
That was just what I needed tonight before retiring.
I think this needs a revisit too. It’s the Double Dose version. You need to front page it some night, DougJ:
Sometimes I just fold my arms and I say, hmmmmmm….
Arkon DougJ
@jharp:
They hate all the stuff we’re good at — movies, music, science, diversity, you name it.
Violet
@Arkon DougJ:
Aren’t we good at bringing the Jebus and telling other countries what they should do? I thought wingnuts ate that stuff up and asked for more.
Arkon DougJ
@Violet:
No, they hate that too, they call that appeasement.
Brachiator
@IndyLib:
I also am a confirmed Kindle user. But I find it very interesting that amazon is promising an app for the iPad and the mac. Best of both worlds?
Violet
@Arkon DougJ:
Not if we tell other countries what to do by invading them. That’s bringing freedom!
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Since canceling my XM a week ago, I’ve been looking for a good alternative folk/Cafe music station to stream, and found one in my own state that I just love. It’s called Radio Free Santa Fe and is locally owned with an odd eclectic mix of music. Not for everyone’s tastes, but maybe a few Juicers.
And also an solid and fast stream and high quality.
demkat620
Arkon DougJ? Is that your Hutaree name or rank?
jharp
Anyone here listen to Dr. Dean Adelle(?)
I’m still an A.M. Radio guy tough I don’t listen much.
And I really like Dr.Dirt’s (a weekend radio guy in Indianapolis) call in show about gardening, trees, weeds, and other stuff.
We need more like them on the radio.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@demkat620:
My dyslexia reads that as Akron Dougj, like some kind of desperado from North East Ohio.
Luthe
Jon Stewart was on fire tonight. “Skull-fuck” has been redefined as “grass-roots GOTV efforts in difficult districts.”
I wonder how the kittens feel about this.
Arkon DougJ
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
There’s a Townes Van Zandt song about that, you know.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
@Arkon DougJ: Didn’t know that.
jharp
I’m getting out of town for awhile but something I’d like to share.
Anyone who knows kids, has kids, or talks to kids. Please tell them to never ever dive headfirst into any water. And that means swimming pool, ocean , lake, river, pond or anything else.
Please. Please. Make it clear to any and all.
My son’s friend was in a diving accident in the last few days. It was in the ocean. And it’s looks very grim. Most likely a quad. Yet maybe some use of his arms.
Please do your part to do all you can to prevent the next one.
It’s just devastating to so many of us.
Martin
@Brachiator: Amazon is a retailer – they know they’ll never win against someone like Apple on device development, so they’ll do it only to steer the retail channel in the direction they want. Their primary goal is to sell books, preferably without shipping.
arguingwithsignposts
There will be smudge! (posted twice already, but threads are rolling so quickly these days)
tc125231
That’s swell. here’s the problem –the economic well being of Chinese has increased steadily –although it remains a very poor country.
The economic well being of Americans has been –in the same period –at best, stagnant, and probably slowly deteriorating. Meanwhile, our military expenditures continue to increase each year, adjmusted for inflation.
Great concert huh? Have some more bread and circuses?
IndyLib
@Brachiator:
So far I like the app for my Mac. It could use a few added features, it’s pretty basic at this point, but I like being able to download a book on both platforms.
Keith G
@jharp:
Sorry man. Tell the folks prayers are being said.
Comrade Mary
The kittens are not laughing.
jl
Sirens.. Red Alert… Steele Stripper Story May Have Legs.
It can walk!
Did not your humble Balloon-Juice correspondent (ie, me) say earlier that this was an attempt to recruit virile youths into GOPicanism who had Steele-style street cred?
Yes, he did. Behold:
The Real Frat Boys Of Orange County
by digby
An Orange County Republican blog reports that the RNC booze and bondage party at Voyeurs was actually a big event to lure youthful donors:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/real-frat-boys-of-orange-county-by.html
All I have to say is that the Democrats sucked big time compared to this when I was a potential youthful donor. Losers.
mr. whipple
They don’t have female entertainment groups with a manager that beats one of them and takes the money?
mr. whipple
“I don’t care what Tom Friedman says, the Chinese aren’t producing stuff like this.”
And how long ago since we did?
Night all.
Keith G
@jl:
I just wonder if there is any security camera files showing a sloshed Karl Rove at the club in leather pants, dog collar ’round his neck, shoving a fist full of $20s toward towards transexual dancers simulating lesbian bondage.
carlos the dwarf
So I just had a cringe-inducing seder with a guy who’s very recently gone full wingnut. He’s hosting a fundraiser later this year for Eric Cantor. (We don’t live in VA–this is all arranged by AIPAC, who this guy seems to be blindly following.) I can probably finagle my way in without actually giving to his campaign–how should I troll it?
Mike Kay
Damn StraighT!
Our faux-LA-lesbian-dominatrix strip clubs are better then Beijing’s faux-lesbian-dominatrix strip clubs.
Mark S.
@jl:
One of the comments at that Red County post:
Hmmm, missing element that might make this Erik Brown fellow look good? I can’t wait.
Mark S.
@carlos the dwarf:
If it’s not going to be at a lesbian bondage club I wouldn’t bother going.
jl
When I was in HS and college, stupid county democratic committee gave us free pizza, and sammiches.
I wuz robbed.
MattR
@carlos the dwarf: There’s got to be some way to work in the Cantor random shooting.
Mnemosyne
Who was looking for a pedometer iPhone app that wouldn’t distort the music coming from iTunes? I just got Fitaide Lite and the music seemed to play just fine while I was walking and the pedometer was running. (And it was a very accurate pedometer, too — I measured out a route that was 1 mile and it came up with 1.05 miles.)
I don’t have terribly sensitive ears so it’s possible there was some distortion I didn’t hear, but there definitely weren’t any hiccups or stalling out of the songs while I was listening.
JGabriel
Mark S.:
I read somewhere that it might have been a GOP “Young Eagles” event. It might “exonerate” Brown to some extent, though if it does, that kinda leaves the RNC hanging again.
I didn’t think there’d be much long-term impact on Steele, but now I’m honestly beginning to wonder if Steele will make it out of this one with his job intact.
.
Martin
@Mark S.: @jl:
Interestingly, I went to a college that wasn’t far removed from being a lesbian bondage club.
Protip to 17-year olds: When your friends laugh at you for going to a college with a 8:1 female to male ratio, just smile. For every lesbian, there will be 5 straight/bi girls looking to hook up.
Brachiator
@IndyLib:
Does it have an option to sync with a Kindle, or is it Kindle independent?
I have a Kindle, but I also use the Kindle for PC application. Depending on how the iPad Kindle app works, it might tip some users away from the 3G version of the iPad, especially that niche of device-happy people who might have a Kindle and also buy an iPad.
Martin — Amazon is a retailer – they know they’ll never win against someone like Apple on device development, so they’ll do it only to steer the retail channel in the direction they want. Their primary goal is to sell books, preferably without shipping.
The best fight to win is the one you never have to get into. I’m not sure that amazon has to worry about “winning” against Apple. Some previews of the iPad have been a bit odd. They note that reading on the device is not as comfortable on the eyes as reading a Kindle, while praising Apple’s technology. To me, this is a bit like praising the exquisite binding of a book, while noting that the printed text is slightly blurry.
But apart from this, I agree with your point that amazon can sell books even if it sacrifices some Kindle sales. Apple wins by selling a device that is not limited to a particular book seller, even though this strategy may upset some companies who are developing iPad content in the hopes of partly blunting amazon’s general success.
Either way, it’s going to be interesting to see how this all turns out.
Late news: there are reports that the WiFi version of the iPad has sold out and new orders won’t ship until April 12. Those who pre-ordered will get their presents on time on Saturday.
Mike Kay
@mr. whipple: rest in peace, Ike. You sure had a strong pimp hand.
Mike Kay
@Martin: which college?
IndyLib
@Brachiator:
It syncs with my kindle account, same books, blogs, newspapers I have subscriptions for. You can download onto your kindle or computer or iphone or all of them. Everything I have on my kindle is in the archives on my Mac kindle app.
I like being able to read on my computer at times. My computer room doesn’t have very good lighting, so if I was going to read my kindle I always had to change rooms, now I can have whatever book I’m reading from kindle open in a window on my computer.
Sly
Nicholas Sarkozy has committed the double-sin of being both shrill and French:
Brachiator
@Mike Kay:
Ah, but no one beats the Japanese at this. Except maybe the Thais.
JGabriel
Seems Bluegal has the New RNC Logo, over at C&L …
.
freelancer
Damn, the posting frequency is like Cole said he was retiring or something.
Started a new beat over at my place. Hoping to capture a niche, though I’m betting I’m way late.
“Profiles of crazy”
A once a week thing where I post a vid uploaded by a total nutjob.
http://thegreatamericandesert.com/2010/03/28/this-man-claims-to-be-married/
and
the inaugural post, care of Wonkette:
http://thegreatamericandesert.com/2010/03/29/new-feature-profiles-in-delusion/
Mike Kay
Here’s a photo of one the lesbian dominatrix from the club.
http://snipurl.com/v5ob7
freelancer
@JGabriel:
I saw that, and emailed it to my friend. His response?
Brachiator
@IndyLib:
Interesting. I’m not sure that the Kindle for PC includes newspaper subscriptions. Maybe I missed something. By the way, newspapers and magazines on the Kindle are OK, but might be overtaken by a native iPad version if it promises better graphics, color and video.
Yep. Yep. I’m with you here.
Sly
@Brachiator:
In Thailand, “faux lesbian” takes on a whole new meaning.
Mike Kay
@Brachiator:
actually, the germans (fortunately or unfortunately) are the best.
Yutsano
@Brachiator: The Japanese have all sorts of sexual deviation down pat. Been part of their culture for centuries. Not even exposure to Kung Fu Tsu, Buddha, and Jeebus has managed to change that. The Thai are pikers next to the nihonjin.
Brachiator
@Mike Kay:
The Germans are coasting on their early 1930s reputation.
All the Germans I know fly to Japan or Thailand when they want genuine faux lesbians.
Very true. The Japanese add aesthetic to fetish to an extraordinary degree. But the Thais excel at a certain degree of compliant commercialization.
Martin
@Brachiator:
Ultimately, Apple’s market is going to be content. They know this. The rest of the market is out selling $400 devices on 5% margins and getting no other revenue from their customers. Apple is still getting away with selling $1000 devices and on top of that keeping 5% of a decent percentage of books, songs, movies, TV shows, and applications that people buy. If Apple’s hardware needs to drop to $400 to compete, they’ll still have that massive retail channel to fall back on.
arguingwithsignposts
@Martin:
Interested. Newsletter? Subscribe? LOL.
IndyLib
@Brachiator:
I don’t do much with newspapers or magazines on my kindle unless I’m traveling, I use the intertubes at home, so I personally don’t much care what the difference in graphic quality is.
I bought my kindle because I have too damned many books and my husband is getting tired of me hauling them from duty station to duty station every three years. I have 150 books on my kindle, which I figure equals at least 3 good-sized boxes of paperbacks, so I’m happy.
Not to mention how much I love being able to pick out a book and start reading it in minutes, that rocks.
Yutsano
@Brachiator: Thailand will be more for you if you’re more interested in just getting laid. If you’re looking to expand your sexual horizons, head right for Narita. This of course just means that Asians for the most part have a ton to teach us about sex. Damn Puritans.
@IndyLib: My SIL will be very happy to hear the mucho love for the Kindle. She’s a customer service specialist dealing specifically with Kindle issues so she knows all about them.
IndyLib
@Yutsano:
That reminds me of Shogun when Mariko offers Blackthorne a woman, boy or a duck.
And damned, some of the things sold in vending machines sold over there are illegal in a majority of Southern states.
Wile E. Quixote
OK, I’ve been looking at the Hutaree rank system and I think I have it figured out but I still have a few questions:
1) How many experience points do you need to jump from Zulif to Boramander?
2) Are Arkons allowed to use edged weapons?
3) Do you get a dexterity bonus when you jump from Lukore to Bronze Rifleman?
4) If you’re a half-elf, half-human Lukore are you allowed to cast spells? If so do you get a bonus when you’re rolling to determine damage?
5) Can halflings make it past Bronze Rifleman?
6) Are there levels within each rank, you know, like can you been a first level Rodok, second level Rodok, etc? If so how many for each rank?
7) Are any dice other than the standard d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20 needed?
Wile E. Quixote
@IndyLib:
I remember that. My Dad was reading that when I was a kid and he thought that scene was so funny that he had me read it. I’m laughing right now when I remember it. As I recall though they don’t really offer Blackthorne a duck, they just debate whether or not they should put one in the room for him and let him figure it out himself.
Yutsano
@IndyLib: Small quirk of Japanese law: psychotropic mushrooms are very illegal there (Japan has even worse drug laws than we do in some cases) UNLESS you market them primarily for use as food. Then you can buy them in just about any shop. As far as I know Japanese law hasn’t caught up yet with this nifty little loophole, especially considering the mushroom food culture there.
IndyLib
@Yutsano:
lol. New Years Eve Japanese TV on ‘shrooms. Hmmmm. That would be a trip.
MikeJ
@Wile E. Quixote:
In this case bonus damage is based in Wis, not Int, at least in the previous editions. I never bought the new books.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Sly: And realize that in France, Sarkozy is largely despised now for being so right-wing, to the point of Bush-like poll numbers, and the popular magazine “Le Point” has a cover story with his picture staring out from bus stops and newspaper kiosks with the title under it in large letters reading: “The Tragedy of Sarkozy” .
Just to show how far off the rails we are in the US, in the scheme of things.
Brachiator
@IndyLib:
I used to go out and buy a couple of Sunday papers and then go to a coffee shop, read and relax. Then my favorite news stand went out of business. When I first got my Kindle, I would load up a few Sunday papers (single copy only) and enjoy reading in bed for a bit before going out to get coffee, taking the Kindle along.
I prefer this sometimes to the Internet because I like saving some entire issues of a newspaper or magazine.
But sometimes the web edition would have a graphic or a chart that excellently illustrates a point brought out in a news story, and it is unfortunate that it’s not carried over into the Kindle (here I don’t know about the newer Kindle DX).
One thing that I thought might happen, that I notice with some Kindle using commuters I chat with, is that some people download an entire series of novels by a particular author. I don’t think that amazon anticipated this, but they are starting to capitalize on it.
And I see how a well stocked Kindle can make life easier when you have to move around.
Absolutely. And a couple of times I’ve done that thing where I’ve seen book in a hotel or airport gift shop when traveling, decided I wanted to read it and fired up the Kindle to buy it.
Yutsano
@Bill E Pilgrim: We’re (very slowly) moving away from the Calvinist concepts of predestination and complete self-reliance. Not to mention the slow un-twisting of the Objectivist philosophy. The fact that virtually the entire industrialized world woke up before we did only means we’ll have to work much harder to get to even. It fortunately was inevitable, but the death throes of trying everything else will be quite bloody first. And I mean that literally.
JackieBinAZ
Are they clad in fishnet stockings and knee-high stiletto boots? We can only hope.
Yutsano
I now get to go see what sort of interesting folks go to a 24 hour Walgreens besides me. If I don’t make it back, tell the kids I luv em.
Oh and maybe my comment will get unmoderated by the time I get back.
freelancer
@JackieBinAZ:
Hey, it’s major award!
IndyLib
@Brachiator:
I have a ton of series, mostly scifi/fantasy that I will eventually buy for my kindle, mostly because I have read them so many times that they are falling apart.
The one thing I don’t like about my kindle is a lack of option to display my library by cover. I’m very visual, and I can remember a book by the cover but not always by author and title, so I waste a lot of time loading the book to discover it’s not the one I was looking for and having to go back to the list to try to find it.
asiangrrlMN
@jharp: I am so sorry to hear this. Major positive vibes to his family that he recovers as best he can.
@arguingwithsignposts: I love that little girl!
@Yutsano: Um, the Thai are pretty crazy sexually, too. I’m just sayin’.
I love me some Tina Turner. I wrote a paper on her in college for my Psychology Through Biography Class.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Sly: From that article:
Note to conservatives: This is not a soc ial ist speaking. This is the man who defeated a soc ialist who ran against him partly by ridiculing soc ialism. This is the other side of the spectrum, this is how anti-soc ialist conservatives see the issue of health care pretty much anywhere outside the US.
Brachiator
@Martin:
But isn’t this also true of amazon, or Barnes and Noble with their $259 nook device?
Apart from this, I am a dedicated Kindle user. But I also buy DVDs from the Teaching Company (and also have an iTunes version of some of their courses). The iPad might be right up my alley if their Kindle app is good and if they can port over Teaching Company courses with DVD level quality and features.
I also think Apple has a winner by building in bluetooth technology. A portable device should easily accommodate a wireless headset.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Just–no. I don’t like some of the people who frequent my Walgreens during the DAY!
Brachiator
@IndyLib:
I am trying to fight the temptation to buy books I already own unless they’ve hopelessly fallen apart.
Something like iTunes cover flow seems to be what you are talking about.
I would like to see amazon and others offer better ways of organizing and archiving book collections. Again, there may be a Kindle tip I’m missing. It will be interesting to see how Apple deals with this, although I don’t think that the way they do music in iTunes is a total solution.
IndyLib
@Brachiator:
Exactly. I have all my audiobooks in my iTunes that way.
And my kindle app for Mac displays content by cover.
OriGuy
@General Egali Tarian Stuck: I’m a fan of KALW in San Francisco. Saturday afternoons are Celtic, folk, and eclectic world music. Plus BBC World Service.
@jharp: That’s tragic. I grew up in southern Indiana. There were accidents like that when kids went swimming in the limestone quarries.
burnspbesq
@Brachiator:
I pre-ordered and will pick up on Saturday.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Yutsano:
Well, France didn’t wake up from either Calvinism or Objectivism, the former since they’re essentially a Catholic country, as far as those things go, and the latter because Objectvism is pretty much unknown.
Though I get the point you’re making. France didn’t always have universal health insurance, that’s for certain, and has woken up from its own nightmares (note the timely word “Catholic” above), but the night terrors we’re trying to wake up from in the US are in many ways entirely our own.
The Catholicism for instance makes for an approach that’s fairly different from ours, good at hospitals (relatively) and bad (very) at prisons, just as two examples. Once you stray, you’re supposed to go to hell, but being poor isn’t a crime.
Very different core beliefs, in some ways.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Okay the guy in the decrepit Datsun truck outside smoking was more than a little disturbing. The clerk was nice for a graveyard worker though I must say. Oh and my comment didn’t get freed. I’m not gonna raise a stink about it, it just is interesting how using normal language will trigger the WP filter. Or, in short, FYWP.
burnspbesq
@carlos the dwarf:
Don’t troll it. Do live-blog it.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: Braggart. :)
Happiness is a contentedly purring kitteh on your lap.
Oh and just because I can:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqnpeG–bkU&feature=related
Martin
@Brachiator:
Look at the iBooks tour:
http://www.apple.com/ipad/guided-tours/
Yutsano
Frum proving again that not all Canadians are intelligent:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/29/frum.gop.california.hope/index.html?hpt=Sbin
It’s entirely possible he’s just choosing to grasp at straws because he can’t bring himself around to the idea that conservatives are teh fail. Not to mention how any of these candidates get around the Tea Party contingent. But then again that would take, oh what’s that thing called, oh yeah, ANALYSIS. Keep the dream alive though Davey boy!
wasabi gasp
Vote Gimp
freelancer (itouch)
@Yutsano:
If you wanted proof of that, just watch “trailer park boys”. Brilliant show about dumbfuck Canadians.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Your link broken. You fix. Yeah, graveyard shift workers are usually pretty decent. I would say Frumm is intelligent–just painfully wedded to his stupid ideas.
By the way, peeps, I don’t have an iPod, an iPad, a Kindle, or an Amazon account. Does that automatically disbar me from the cool crowd?
IndyLib
@asiangrrlMN:
You are the cool crowd.
I started with Amazon when we lived in Japan and I had exactly one store to buy clothes from (try going through 2 pregnancies with a maternity clothes section the size of a postcard), the base NEX, and nowhere nearer than Tokyo to buy books in English. The day I discovered Amazon and Barnes and Noble was one of the happiest days of my life.
The rest are just gadgets. I love mine, but I could live without them if I had to.
Mike Kay
@Wile E. Quixote:
I hope it was a female duck. Cuz a boy duck would be preverted.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Link works for me. Dunno. Plus considering how long it took for me to get a cell phone I welcome you into the ranks of the neo-Luddites with open arms. I’d recommend the Amazon account just for the fact that linkage supports BJ. That and they really do have some cool stuff out around on there.
@Mike Kay: We need to have a serious discussion about your paradigm issues some day.
asiangrrlMN
@IndyLib: The cool crowd of one! Which, come to think of it, isn’t so much of a crowd.
@Yutsano: The link says it contains a malformed video ID. Oh well. And, I only got my cell phone because my family was carping on the fact that I live alone! In Minnesota! Where it snows! I never have it on, and I never use it.
As for Amazon, I started boycotting them because of the legal entanglement with the local Amazon bookstore (oldest feminist indy bookstore in America), but I’m over that now. Mostly, it’s because I don’t buy anything big, and I can get my books at half.com for cheaper.
By the way, Yutsy, are you shocked as I am that Ricky Martin came out?
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I almost never buy books on Amazon. It’s usually either kitchen stuff (although I’ve learned the harsh painful lesson one should never buy bowls without examining their size first) or various food things I can’t get here. I have a shit ton of arborio rice I need to find good uses for besides risotto. I know it makes great rice pudding, I’m still playing around with it though.
If by shocked you mean more amazed at discovering that Reagan is worm food, then yes. Otherwise not so much. Jeez coy denials only work for so long Ricky.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: See? See? See? I don’t cook. Thus, my need for kitchen gadgetry is, shall we say, limited.
OK. Gotta go finish my workout. Later, y’all.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I’m gonna go renew my relationship with my pillow. Night y’all.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Night, hon! And yeah about Ricky Martin. I was shocked that he waited this long to come out!
Martin
I wouldn’t normally bother with Amazon, but their tool store is hard to beat. Bought my table saw when we moved into this house from them – $400 cheaper than anywhere else and free shipping on anything weighing 600lbs is pretty sweet.
freelancer (itouch)
@Martin:
No kidding, considering I just sent 4lbs of valentines, st pats day, and Easter candy to eastern Europe for $30. to think, if it’s that much, then I’m too broke to have my friend to send me back a mail order bride. Oh, happenstance!
anna missed
They may not be producing Tina Turner today, but it won’t be long – probably about the same time we go through our own version of a cultural revolution.
Shalimar
Watching CBS Up To The Minute and there was a report on the dispute between insurance companies and Democrats over whether children with pre-existing conditions have to be covered this year and there was this sentence: “Republicans say Democrats botched the language of the bill in their rush to pass the legislation.” Really?
I’m not sure which Republicans are making that statement since that was the only mention of Republicans in the video, but it’s still beyond the pale. We’re talking about a serious issue effecting hundreds of thousands of children for potentially four more years and all Republicans can do is say “nyah nyah, you messed up?” This is not a human reaction. A normal person reacts to that news by saying “is there anything I can do to help fix this?”
Bill E Pilgrim
@Shalimar: Timely update from Huffpost:
After Sibelius read them the don’t-even-think-about-being-such-sleazeballs act:
And I agree, the Republicans are beyond shameless now, but then fanatic extremists always are. The caring about what anyone may think gets outrun by the fanaticism.
SiubhanDuinne
@Shalimar: why in the world did CBS think it was so important to put in a partisan line in such a story anyhow?
Oh wait.
NobodySpecial
Holy Shit.
Christopher Hitchens is going to be on Morning Joe talking about the Catholic Church?
Might be DVR worthy. Even though the drunk is a fool, no one mocks religion quite like he does.
Sly
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Most of that is post-war France. If you look at France before that, the revanchist ultra-nationalists (whose political platform could be summed up with the phrase “Hey everyone, let’s go kill some Prussians!”) would make the modern American Right look like a bunch of tree-hugging hippies in comparison. They probably wouldn’t be hard core enough for the Orleanists either. They certainly couldn’t hold a candle to the Vichy.
France, and Europe in general, got a good hard look at how far down the abyss far-right reactionary parties would take them, and they haven’t been the same since. Now the spectrum of mainstream political ideology goes from democratic socialists on the left to conservative liberals on the right. It’s basically Bernie Sanders vs. Bill Clinton, with the occasional Pat Buchanan (i.e. Jean-Marie Le Pen ) flare-up that tends to get people all riled up every once in a while only to die back down again.
demo woman
The President is going to be on the Today Show. The lead in questions were not encouraging. To paraphrase now that you are having to deal with the Wars, do you have a different view of Bush? If the health care bill is not bi-partisan, how can it be beneficial for all Americans?
demo woman
In the great words of our VP, Matt Lauer is a fucking ass.
Mr President how can you do anything else now that you passed such a contentious bill?
Mr President how can we trust the CBO numbers on health care when they were wrong this year on Social Security.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
DEATH PANELS!
Bill E Pilgrim
@Sly: Oh I agree that it’s post-war as I mentioned elsewhere here. Jean-Marie Le Pen hasn’t gone away at all by the way, though I also agree that the panic that “he almost won the election” was ridiculous, but it did have the effect of an unusual coalition of voters electing Chirac with a huge percentage.
In any case Sarkozy is very much considered the right here, and not anything like a “conservative liberal” (if those terms could be translated). The hatred for Sarkozy from anyone on the left is George W Bush level, he’s not seen even remotely like Bill Clinton.
It’s more that even the right here (excluding the ultra-right of Le Pen) wouldn’t question the right to health care as a basic part of being a citizen.
There are lots of differences, some subtle, there’s no way to compare anything straight across.
Lisa
Tina is so badass.
NameRequired
Arkon?, are you perchance the ruler of the Lyran Commonwealth?
Shalimar
@SiubhanDuinne: I like having news or sports on when I’m in and out of sleep, and CBS is the only tv channel that is tolerable from 1:05-5:00am. It isn’t close to perfect and they have their WTF moments but it’s still better than the alternatives. I miss the old pre-9/11 CNN Headline News, when it was 24 hours news reports and hadn’t become repeats of Nancy Grace and Larry King all night long.
Tax Analyst
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
Well, then at least I’m not the only dyslexic here. I read it the same way and so I found myself wondering “WTF? AKRON?. Then I paused and looked at it wth a little more focus.
Phoebe
@mr. whipple: I know! That’s what I thought!
Ok, I like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUcS_FTY9C4&feature=related