I’m busy, so you are on your own.
BTW- One of the weird things about running a blog is how you see names come and go. Whatever happened to Max, and J. Michael Neal, and a Mom Anon, and others? Just weird when people are around for a while, then drop off the radar.
Face
So the Pac-10 wants to gobble up six Big12 teams? Holy Jeebus. Then the B10, I assume, would grab the Missouri and Nebraska, and pretty much the B12 is toast.
Jason Bylinowski
It’s okay, John Cole, I’m still here. Just busy lately.
God, get off me.
MikeJ
Don’t complain about commenters disappearing. We lost a whole front page poster after GOP history month was over.
Redshirt
The intertubes are large, and contain multitudes.
djork
Can we get a thread on the nastiness going on the SC Governor’s Race? Plenty of snarkworthy material there.
Chat Noir
Hey, John, congrats on your one year anniversary with Lily! Saw your post the other day about it. Agree with you completely that all pets should be spoiled (or just taken care of properly).
Mark
J. Michael Neal used to comment on some other blogs I frequented. Dude’s story is pretty shitty these days – I think he’s been unemployed for a really long time.
arguingwithsignposts
He was here recently as That’s Master of Accountancy to You (JMN).
R-Jud
…. yeah, what AWS said.
Crashman
@djork: To paraphrase another liberal blogger (can’t remember who it was): This story is great because we get to watch the Republicans eat their own.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Mark:
I have a friend who’s been unemployed for a year and a half. He just swapped out his cable for directTV and is gonna get an HDTV. How does he afford this? He’s burning thru his 401K.
He’s an idiot. He’s also a good friend who is now our group’s Leading Economic Indicator, ie., if he finally lands a job, that means the economy has turned itself around.
Of course it doesn’t help that he won’t move and the St Louis job market is crap. And he won’t work for less than a certain salary which is waaaaay more than his edumacation and experience warant. The 40s have not been good to him.
Third Eye Open
FOX wants to know: Is the World Broke?
But I find the opaque, contributing factors at the bottom of the picture far more interesting: Corruption…Overregulation…Bailouts…Entitlements
I can’t read the first word under the panhandling cup of a hobo-Earth, but I assume its Democrats or ACLU. We report, you decide!
demo woman
I haven’t seen mom anon in a while. Hopefully everything is okay. School has been out for a few weeks here and a teenager and a rescue dog can keep you busy.
Roland Garros online has a radio feed of the Soderling/Berdych match. It’s been sloppy.
Soderling won in 5
SiubhanDuinne
@R-Jud:
Huh, funny, I was just last night thinking I hadn’t seen you in a while! And here you are :-)
Crashman
John, you’re a well regarded, well trafficked blogger… Anyone ever asked you to go on TV to offer your opinion?
Morbo
Damn, ObWi is really making me miss Hilzoy lately.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Crashman:
He could ask Calamity Jane Hamsher how to go about getting the contacts to do it…on Faux “News”.
R-Jud
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve been so, so busy since mid-April. Which is great for my bank account, but not so great for the web commenting.
Plus, lots of light over here this time of year, so I’ve been outside a lot.
Rosalita
Hey lookee, more trouble for BP. Sock it to ’em.
twiffer
from my experience, people post more when they have less to do. personally, i tend to only be at a computer for work and so wind up posting only when it’s slow and i have some time to kill.
when life gets busy, blog commenting suffers. a tragedy, but there it is.
Ejoiner
Hey! I started visiting here around 2003 or so and used to post semi-regularly (-ish) a while back and then dropped out for several months. You didn’t mention missing me. I’m not feeling the love, John. (Or am I the internet version of Sue Heck?)
Seriously, there’s life and then there’s the internet and sometimes the twain shall not meet. I found things just got way busy and that my political anger – stocked by fine sites such as this – interfered with doing my job. I teach in a South Carolina high school and it’s difficult to relate to a child if you’re constantly in a rage because of their outspoken support for the most harmful and broken political movement ever created. I figured I needed to take a chill pill from the outrage de jour and focus on the little things. I’m healthier and happier now and ready to get back on board.
On a related note – living in SC I can tell you that none of this Haley stuff will matter. We will still elect some bug nut crazy “liberterian” type who will actively work to dismantle public education in the state. Except for urban pockets most of the people I’ve meet in SC are extremely uninformed and always looking to make the worst political and economic choices possible. There’s a reason we continue to score at the top of all the wrong assessments among the states.
cintibud
Unrelated note – Obama “not angry enough”. I am expecting Saturday night live to pick up on this. I can see them having James Carville coach Obama on how to get angry, despite his protests that “you won’t like me when I’m angry”. But Carville will finally prevails and the world will be treated to Ba-HULK Obama who will dive into the ocean and stop the oil leak by filling it with _______ OK, I can’t predict what they will have him fill it with. Suggestions?
Rosali
Life happens.
burnspbesq
@Face:
Looks like Iowa State and Baylor end up out in the cold if this scenario plays out in isolation Or this could trigger a wholesale realignment that includes the dismemberment of the Big East and the expansion of the ACC, SEC, and Big 10 to 16 teams each.
One possible outcome:
Pac-16
Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Arizona State, Arizona, USC, UCLA, Cal, Stanford,, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State
Big 16
Ohio State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Indiana, Purdue
Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota
ACC
Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, Maryland, Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Duke,, Wake Forest, Clemson, Georgia Tech
SEC
Georgia, Florida, Miami, Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi
Mississippi State, Arkansas, Baylor, Kansas State, Tennessee, Kentucky, LSU, South Florida, South Carolina
In this scenario, Northwestern and Vandy end up out in the cold. That probably leads to the creation of the Ivy Wannabees Conference, consisting of the service academies, Northwestern, Vandy, and Rice. Duke, Wake, and Stanford would be logical fits in such a league, but I don’t see them bailing from their current affiliations. Georgetown would be a logical fit in such a league, except that it doesn’t play football.
The Big East returns to its original form as a basketball-centric league of mostly Northeastern Catholic schools. If it plays out that way, it would make sense for the Big East to poach Xavier and possibly Temple from the A-10.
Michael
AEI fluffs for its paymasters again in an article taking Obama to task on trying to throw big talking, nicely suited white guys into a jail cell.
http://www.american.com/archive/2010/june-2010/how-washington-just-worsened-the-gulf-oil-spill
At AEI (where the words “ni55er, ni55er, ni55er” are never far from their lips while they’re railing about Obama), it never has dawned on them that the threat of an imminent stay in “pound me in the ass” prison might be a motivator for a well-connected, well-educated, well-born piece of shit to actually display some competence at fixing up his cocked-up disaster in order to mitigate his culpability.
Cat Lady
I miss Stuck (and Charlie). Haven’t seen JK either, cuz I miss him bringing the Yankee hate.
IE on Vista (ugh) still isn’t working with the text strings running outside the margins. Also.
Poopyman
@twiffer:
Exactly right. I disappeared from the intertubes most of the winter when work got really hectic. Nowadays yinz are stuck with me.
Also, tastes change, people get burnt out on rage and go away, or life suddenly makes other plans for them. Hopefully the last is very rare around here, as that is mostly unhappy news that we would never hear about.
@Crashman: I have a certain image of Cole in my head, and I’m not sure I’d like that replaced by reality. Bloggers, like most unseen people, seldom look like we think they should.
gogol's wife
I can’t speak for others, but when I comment, I get too addicted. Plus I’m too old not to get hurt when people say nasty things. But I’m still faithfully lurking and following the adventures of Lily and Tunch, and all the great commentary here. Happy Lily anniversary!
gwangung
@R-Jud:
I think that’s a trade for you that we’ll take ANY time.
That, too.
Michael
@cintibud:
Teabaggots and pundits.
ColeDBiers
Remember this name.
It’s stupid
Just like me
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@cintibud:
Barack Obama turns into The Rock Obama when he is angry.
John Cole
@Cat Lady: Stuck has completely lost it. He calls me a Glennbot PUMA Obama hater on his blog on a daily basis.
I have no idea what I did to him, but he hates me.
Rommie
It’s funny how the Big-10 started to talk about adding 5 teams, instead of 1, and then decided they would take their time about doing anything, because they are the Big-10, in the “I’m Rick James” style.
The Pac-10, not bowing with the proper deference, decides that, hey, maybe we can get Texas with the lure of a Pac-10 Network, but with a stronger regional focus for the 8 non-west-coast teams.
I think the Big-10 just screwed themselves out of ever adding Texas by dragging their feet. Make no mistake, Texas was the real prize the Big-10 was after with the idea of going to 16 teams. They were offering the Big-10 Network, and buckets of $$$, to overcome Texas’ hesitation of being outside the core Big 10 area. Now, Texas will get good offers from the Pac-10 and the SEC, both of which are better geographic fits. They could even bring together a Big South and be the big fish in their pond and TV Network.
Getting Notre Dame without Texas is a poor consolation prize for the Big 10 – ND is nowhere near the value they had in the 70s and 80s. The Longhorns were the partner the Big 10 wanted to dance with, and now their dawdling means they won’t get to swing without a whole lot of buckets of $$$, more than they likely can afford. That it could be the Pac-10, only slightly less arrogant than the Big-10, that poaches Texas is Teh Win!
Chad N Freude
Says it all.
twiffer
ha! now we really know how BP is trying to cap the leak. should have guessed this was the plan all along.
FormerSwingVoter
Then there are some people who consider ignoring politics for a month or two because it’s simply not healthy to be filled with rage all the time.
In fact, I’m getting there myself. I doubt I’ll be able to hold out more than a few days, though ;)
Poopyman
@John Cole:
Or he found a way to drive up traffic on his blog.
Anyway, it’s my priceless opinion that if a blogger doesn’t drive some people to hate him/her, they’re not doing their job well.
Cat Lady
@John Cole:
Just….. wow. The only thing I remember him getting really torqued about was Corner Stone (IIRC) saying mean things to him about Charlie, so since it’s your blog, it’s your fault. Or something. Which doesn’t make you any of the things you’re being accused of. Is this high school?
Nick
Could liberals be MORE stupid?
On a day when the jobs report showed the biggest job creation in 10 years, most of which comes from the government, every liberal commentator is towing the right-wing “horrible jobs report” line.
This could have been the moment where liberals stand up and say “If not without the government hiring Census workers, where would you all be? The only way for us to create jobs is for the government to hire people, because the private sector isn’t doing a damn thing, even with all their profits over the last six months.”
But nooooooooooo, instead they’re doing what they do best, undermining their own leaders and their own arguments.
No wonder why liberals always lose.
slag
@Mark: That’s a drag!
FWIW, everybody I know who has experienced a change in employment circumstances has benefitted heavily from going independent and taking a few clients on their own. Either it’s given them a bit of extra cash temporarily or they’ve found a “calling” of sorts and kept up with it. People find themselves surprised that they can earn money using their skills and without having to rely on an employer.
Rosalita
I’m lucky, part of my job is to keep up on the news and what’s going on, since I work for a cultural anthropoligist–so it’s perfectly legal for me to be here during the work day. I try to take a break on the weekends, but check in anyway, have to keep up with the Tunch/Lilly threads.
maye
And where is the guy/girl who lives in Switzerland? The name starts with der-something. I’ll be in his/her country next month, and I have some questions.
twiffer
@Cat Lady: the internet is not high school. it’s jr. high (or middle school, depending on the school district).
Rosalita
Okay, so once you comment, the margins get blown away
edmund dantes
Possibly because most people realize this job report is smoke and mirrors of temporary hiring. Just wait till the next month or two when those numbers crater because the Census is over.
It’s a fucking horrible jobs report for any signs of the economy recovering.
On another note. In what world does it make sense that you have Friday/Saturday Off during the NBA Finals with the series staying in LA, but only have one day off for a travel day. If you are going to stretch the Finals out (which the NBA is atrocious in this regards) shouldn’t you make the long breaks for travel?
Anya
@djork: It’s the weirdest political scandal ever. Two unappealing guys claiming they had an affair with an attractive smart woman. Aside from the possible political reason for the claim, I am not sure if it’s not their fantasy at work.
D-Chance.
The best thing that ever happened to Armando Galarraga was the blown 27th out. Had the ump made the right call, he would simply be the “third in a month”. Now, he’s in a story immortal, all by himself. The guy who pitched the “28 out perfect game”.
And, call it coincidence, since the retirement of the ‘roid monsters and the crackdown on substance abuse, the pitchers are suddenly dominating again…
Maude
@Rosalita:
I’m on Xp and K-Meleon, a Mozilla browser. No probs at all.
I have Firefox. but it’s slow.
The only time I use IE is when I have a clean install and need to download Firefox.
eemom
hey John, you ought to do an “Invitation to Delurk” post!
That’s what Lady Jane always does when an insufficient number of people show up to kiss her ass.
Not that you would have such motivation, but it does make for some interesting comments.
Xenos
@Nick:
Please, Nick. You know how often liberals get allowed onto news shows to make that sort of argument… like, never.
cintibud
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Ha, I forgot about that. But we need superpowers! Or at least actual rage!
Morbo
@twiffer: It is Hell.
Rosalita
@Maude:
I try to use IE at work because it’s what they want us to use, however, I jump over to Chrome when this happens and it works just fine. No worries with the Safari at home either.
fraught
lurking happily.
roshan
@Nick:
Dude, not having a job is a real condition. There is nothing to crow about while the unemployment is 9.7%.
Read this to understand what folks are going thru while being unemployed.
The liberals are not joining the wingnuts to hurt Obama on this issue. They want him to understand that this is a serious issue and if this continues his party is going to be toast in November.
Nick
@Xenos: Yes, that’s true, but they’re not even making that argument to themselves right now.
Huff Post is absolutely beside itself. Robert Reich says double-dip recession! The world is coming to an end…or something.
Svensker
@John Cole:
Really? That’s a shame. I liked Stuck. Oh, well, sic transit, etc.
bemused
Maybe sometimes people just need a break from becoming overwhelmingly demoralized reading about the daily insanity in this country.
I was off having a fun day away from all news yesterday. I came back & in 15 minutes on the internet, I was back in the land of ludicrous & outrageous.
Texas lobbyists are frustrated with having to go through security lines at the Capitol several times a day to get to their jobs. One stated it is easier to enter if you have a concealed handgun license & gun. Wow, express line for gun carriers & slow line for everyone else. This should work out well.
Glenn Beck went off on Saudi Prince Bin Tatal accusing him of being money guy behind 911. Beck doesn’t know that Bin Tatal is the 2nd largest shareholder of Fox after the Murdoch family? I wonder how Rupert is going to react to Beck’s rant.
South Carolina R senator says on local radio show that our president is a raghead & don’t need another one (Nikki Haley) in governor’s seat. He then says no slurs were intended.
And then there are the photos of suffering oil covered birds that are so heartbreaking I have to turn away plus the mind numbing stupid & self-serving comments on this catastrophe by bp talking mouths & southern republican assholes.
djork
It’s gotten uglier. Yesterday, a state senator (from the county I grew up in) said something to the effect of, “We already have a raghead in the White House, we don’t need one in the Governor’s Mansion.” He later tried to walk it back by saying he was just kidding, natch.
I hate the GOP and I’ve heard this chick is much like Sanford ideolgically, but I really hope she wins now. The GOP will take the seat regardless, so the tears of the good old boys would be sweet if they get their comeuppance.
Redshirt
I want to quit following politics very much now, but I don’t feel like I can, because I KNOW that’s precisely the response the wicked Repugs want – they want people disgusted, fed up and ready to tune out. They want to dominate all aspects of communication, and that includes non-communication.
So just like I wanted to take off my Obama 08 bumper sticker after the election, I’m keeping it on now and forever to remind people. And I won’t stop following politics because I want to be the guy who’s aware of what’s going on, and can possibly correct misinformation when I come upon it.
Jeff
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
I’m not that far away from him in some ways–
but let’s not get TOO judgemental
maybe he can’t move because his mortgage is underwater
or he has ties to the area that can’t be broken immediately
or he’s in a profession that is oversupplied
and maybe he needs his high-speed internet to look for work
maybe we should be living in tents and reading cereal boxes for entertainment but then we would still be out of work, and miserable to boot.
Citizen_X
@djork: Well, here’s a bit of nastiness: an SC state Senator, Jake Knotts of Lexington, who is apparently opposes (Indian-American) Haley, said
Of course, he later said this was just a “joke.” Ha ha fucking ha, Senator.
Edit: Ah, I see you’ve heard of this already.
Betsy
I’ve definitely cut back my blog commenting in the last several months. The health care poo-flinging fights just did me in.
Also too, I decided my life was in danger of resembling xkcd a little too closely.
dianne
John Cole, TPM And TBOGG seem to attract the best comments of all the blogs I read. I love the wit and knowledge of all you guys and most of you even know the difference between your and you’re – unlike those characters who comment on AOL and such. Like many of you, I’m on line at work depending on how busy it is and take breaks on weekends. Mostly, I just lurk unless something really strikes me and I feel compelled to say my piece. Have so enjoyed John’s pet stories and Tbogg’s basset stories – a welcome break from politics all the time.
Max
I’m here! I still read you guys repeatedly through out the day.
In the last 6 weeks, I moved from the Bay Area to Vancouver, WA and started a new job, met a guy on my 4th day here, fell immediately in love and he moved in with me. I’m still unpacking the never ending supply of boxes, Max the Wheaten is having jealousy issues with the new roomie, it’s rained for 20 days fucking straight up here, yada, yada, yada.
The boyfriend is a WOW person, so I’m a widow to that on Friday nights when he has a “raid”. I don’t understand a fucking thing about this game and honestly, when he tries to explain it to me, it’s not sexy.
You guys have been keeping me sane this past month.
I’m coming back, bitches! Just in time for the new Top Chef season!
debbie
@ cintibud:
SNL’s done for the season. Their political skits (with the exception of Weekend Update) weren’t as sharp as the ones during the 2008 season, but that Rock Obama bit was pretty good.
Nick
@roshan: Look, I went through a year last year where I couldn’t even get a job interview before I finally scored a job.
The point isn’t to celebrate the numbers, the point is to use to them to make the argument for how we do better.
Liberals aren’t doing that. They might not realize it, but they ARE joining in the wingnuts to hurt Obama. While the wingnuts and even the moderates are arguing the deficit is causing the problem, liberals aren’t making any arguments at all, just “wow look how everything sucks!” and the GOP is picking up on that and saying “Yeah, it’s because of all the spending, deficits, etc.” and liberals aren’t fighting back, instead saying “everything sucks and no one is fighting for us”
There is a conscious belief out there that the deficit and spending is causing the problem and we need to control spending to create jobs. Liberals, as usual, are fucking oblivious to this and live in a world where they think everyone agrees with them and the government is just ignoring the masses.
Instead of spending every single day trying to hammer into the President that not having a job sucks, why don’t we come up with realistic ways to solve the problem and fucking fight back on wingnut bullshit? Because they’re arguments of “cut spending and give tax breaks to billionaires” is winning the day.
Elisabeth
MSNBC just reported that approximately 80 birds have been rescued along the coast … while 500, that’s right 500, birds have been found dead.
I am heartbroken.
Pastafarian
I was never a frequent commenter, but I’m still a daily reader. I still enjoy reading the front page and occasional comment threads, but personal/professional commitments preclude doing much commenting anywhere.
Keep up the good work!
debbie
@Jeff:
I’m in that boat, and I’m making due with dial-up. It’s not like my life is so busy that I need speed.
nic danger
@fraught: ditto…
eemom
@dianne:
many still haven’t mastered “it’s” vs “its” though. That one drives me f*****g CRAZY. : (
Citizen_X
@Crashman:
I think Mr. Cole values his privacy. Perhaps we could get Cole’s voice on TV, with a “TUNCH is watching YOU” graphic for the video feed.
MTiffany
Stunningly obvious prediction: On tonight’s Snoozehour’s ‘Shields & Brooks’ segment, David Brooks will mention Reinhold Niebuhr in reference to President Obama’s lack of emotional affect regarding the oil spill in the Gulf.
Nick
@Elisabeth: Suddenly the news cares about birds. Two years ago anyone who did was a “hippie treehugger liberal”
As horrible as dead birds are, we, as a country, asked for it.
Rosalita
@Nick:
what boils me is the BP is keeping the press off of ‘public’ beaches so they can’t take pictures of all the dead wildlife. I’d like to know how they get away with it.
jwb
@Nick: I’m not sure the politics play out exactly as you outline them. I agree that the Dems aren’t handling the numbers adeptly. But I’m not sure the Gooper response—”look how shitty these numbers would be if it wasn’t for all of the census jobs”—works either, because it tacitly admits that the government jobs are doing something. That message gets through despite the spin they are putting on it.
Nick
@Rosalita: They can’t, the press wasn’t even trying. If they want to, they could say “this is a public beach, you can’t force me off, only law enforcement can” but they don’t want to, because the press is lazy and they could just as well sell papers or get viewers by saying “mean old BP is keeping us off the beach!”
Nick
@jwb: and this is where liberals should pounce.
“The GOP thinks the numbers suck aside from the Census jobs. That’s true, but the Republicans think we should only trust private companies to create jobs. They only created 20,000. Our government created 411,000. Whom do you want creating jobs right now?”
Force the GOP to defend creating 20,000 jobs instead of 431,000.
I mean the end result of that will be the Republicans arguing more than 20,000 jobs would’ve been created if not for government spending, which is ridiculous, but the media will run with it, but at least make them argue.
Anya
@djork: I am rooting for her as well. I listened to her interviews and she is really smart. I am hoping that she is not as nut as Sanford and that she is smart enough to recognize her state needs major help. She is the best of the bunch and Dems are non existent in the political craziness that is SC.
Citizen_X
@Nick: Here’s a post by Yglesias emphasizing that “we lost 21,000 non-census public sector jobs;” presumably in the state and local public sector.
I think his post implies that there should be Federal stimulus aimed at shoring up state and local budgets; maybe we should be pointing that out.
Randy P
@eemom: That’s a teeth-gnasher all right. But I think use of “loose” for “lose” is my number-one misuse peeve. I honestly don’t understand how you can confuse those two words. I’m not trying to be snotty, I just literally can’t comprehend it. To me, it’s like not being sure whether the water comes out of the sink or the stove. I can’t even understand the basis for the confusion.
demo woman
@Anya: I live in GA and politics are the same here. The one concern I read about Haley appears her lack of interest in public schools and tax cuts. That’s true of all the viable candidates though.
Poopyman
@eemom:
Meh. Its not a problem for me.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Nick:
The short answer is that 1937 was so great, we want to do that all over again.
Generational memory (or the lack thereof) is a harsh mistress. For anybody over the age of 40, we will always and forever be fighting the last war – in this case that means the Great Inflation of the 1970s and early 80s.
The Great Depression is nothing but a quaint story that Grandma and Grandpa used to tell around the fireplace while churning butter and cleaning the Giant Ball of Rubber Bands that they kept in the living room (because you should never ever throw anything away).
Traumatic events have a long memory, but they also take time for their lessons to sink in.
It took what, something like a dozen different depressions (or “panics” as they called them in the late 19th Cen) between 1865 and 1937 before Keynesian economics really stuck – which was then enough to last for the next 50 years.
Some lessons aren’t learned for good until they’ve been learned good and hard, and then 3 generations later that knowledge gets discarded by the yung’ens anyway, and we have to do it all over again.
Poopyman
@Poopyman:
Yes, I tweaked ya there, but to tell the truth its/it’s and there/their/they’re are like nails on a blackboard to me.
jwb
@Nick: I concur. It’s the wasted opportunity to use the numbers to political advantage that I find irritating. Of course, we can blame Obama for that as much as any of the other Dems. I certainly haven’t seen him out in front talking about how these numbers show the important role the public sector is playing (and needs to continue to play) in the recovery. That should be the message every Dem is reciting. Instead, Obama (at least in the reports I read) was simply trying to spin these numbers as wholly positive.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@demo woman: God damn it. I was recording that match, as many others do, so I could watch it after work, and now you’ve fucked that up for me. Use your fucking head – put “SPOILER” at the top of your post, or better yet, just shut up. This is not the first time this has been mentioned around here.
Hob
@Morbo: Me too. I started spending more time over here after she left (and also because I was getting really sick of the presence of B.O. Bill…. whoops. Hope I didn’t bring him over here). I still read it and there’s still gold in the comments, but the front-pagers mostly leave me cold.
Quiddity
@John Cole: Stuck hates you? For months I thought he was the Number One Balloon Juice Booster. Besides that, I found his tone to be highly offensive but didn’t call him out on it because this blog is not the place for flame wars (as tempting as that may have been).
Nick
@jwb: Actually he did make that argument this morning. He noted that while it’s another month of private sector growth, the real growth was in the Census hiring and said something to the effect of “when private corporations aren’t hiring, the government was there” or something. It just hasn’t gotten that much play in the media.
jwb
@Nick: Should have figured. I read a couple of news reports and they just quoted the fluffy stuff about him saying the economy was getting stronger by the day and whatnot. Did he say anything about this showing the need for continued public sector hiring and investment?
Chat Noir
@Max: There you are.
/waves
Was wondering how the new job and locale was working out for you and Max the Wheaten. Glad to hear you also found someone! Interesting about MtW’s jealousy issues; what’s the deal?
cat48
Sometimes I think Obama is just worn out & doesn’t feel anything but tired. He’s had a rough 500 days if you think about all the crap that has occurred. The villagers are definitely “all wee wee’d up” though about this spill. I think we all are, but they are starting to sound ridiculous. An anchor on MSNBC asked Ari Fleischer how Obama is doing emotionally this a.m. To quote Rahm,, that’s f’n ridiculous!
Crashman
@Citizen_X:
That would be totally awesome. With like a distorted voice too.
toujoursdan
CBC News had a good story on the Israel attacks and how public opinion is actively being moulded.
You Tube: CBC News: The National 6 June 2010
toujoursdan
Un-moderate my comment, SVP
Bad Horse's Filly
@John Cole: Wow, that’s too bad. I like/d stuck, but I don’t see how you’ve become any of those things.
I’ll admit it, when the politics/world situation gets me down, I screen my BJ for Tunch, Lilly and garden posts. The constant Obama-outrage is wearing. But it is nice to know I can come here for a rational discussion if needed.
Jenn
@John Cole:
I miss Stuck and Charlie too; I was wondering where he’d gotten to. If I remember correctly, he was one of the (several) folks you told to f-off during one of the highly impressive Glenn flamethreads, though, which may have stung more than he let on initially.
Chat Noir
@toujoursdan: Any sign of your lost kitty? I saw your post yesterday and it broke my heart. Hope all is well.
Bad Horse's Filly
@Max: That is the best story of the day, Max. Thanks for sharing. I think we’ll need some pictures of Max the puppy soon, too. Congrats on all the wonderful!
toujoursdan
Not yet, sadly. I’ve had a few strangers call and offer suggestions which really warms the heart but he’s still missing.
demo woman
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: Definitely should have used my head. Networks often will have tape delays of games and I should have remembered that.
Nick
@jwb: Because all the media cares about is private sector jobs, so the President focused on that for a good time in his remarks.
The reason for this is, of course, private sector jobs are “permanent” while government sector jobs are almost always temporary.
That’s why I laugh at the idea of another WPA, which a lot of liberals bring up. WPA, which btw never passed Congress and was only funded by Congress after FDR created it with a lot of strings attached, would be like the Census…even if it creates 990,00 of 1 million jobs a month, the media will focus on the 10,000 jobs the private sector created and wonder why more money isn’t being poured into the private sector or if the 990,000 government jobs are preventing the private sector from hiring and what happens when those 990,000 jobs are finished? And, oh look, we’re back on defense again and lost the message war.
Even during the WPA, things were done to drag out the jobs that no one would be able to get away with today. For example, the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut…a WPA job…every single overpass on the highway is different in design. This was done purposely so it would take longer to build and keep people working longer. Could you imagine if that was done today what a firestorm it would create?
catclub
@Michael:
If only we understood motivation better.
Heard on the radio: Give a list of tasks and sufficiently high
reward for doing them well, and you choke and do them less well. I suspect the same for sufficiently high threat for failure
works similarly – and unproductively.
Here’s another curiosity: Old man says he will pay young jerks $1 to yell and be annoying. Then stops paying them and they stop yelling and being annoying. Which was what they previously enjoyed doing for nothing.
jwb
@cat48: Not sure about being worn out, but I’m sure that he’s weary about dealing with the Gulf because it’s depressing, the options limited and none of them particularly good. He’s a very smart guy, and so I’m sure that he recognizes that the only sure way to stop the oil is a relief well that is still months away from completion, there is little that he personally can do to speed things along, and that he’s going to continue to pay a huge political price for not being Aquaman.
Bad Horse's Filly
@demo woman: And yet, telling you to shut up was a definite overreaction. Sheesh.
Jenn
@toujoursdan:
Oh, I’m so sorry — hope she comes home soon!
cat48
@jwb:
I’m probably projecting my tiredness on him. I’ve got to turn off cable I guess. It’s just extremely odd to see pundits expressing their concern that he doesn’t feel any empathy. How would they know that? I had not noticed that “he doesn’t connect” according to them. I always thought he connected well with most except for your typical bagger.
pcbedamned
As your resident Canadian Con commenter, I still check in every day to see what’s happenin’, but life has been reaaalllyyy crappy for the last few months, so not much to say without being all bitchy (and no one hear needs to hear that!)
Keep up the good work JC and congrats tomorrow on your Anniversary. Lily sure has come a long way from when we first heard and saw her. You are a wonderful ‘dad’. ♥
Max
@Chat Noir: @Bad Horse’s Filly:
Let’s just say that the new boyfriend came home to some “surprises” left by Max the Wheaten.
The story of me and the boyfriend and how we met/fell in love is straight out of a Meg Ryan / Tom Hanks movie, so I will wait until a heavily estrogened thread to share.
And so not as to ignore politics, I must add… I want Obama to be a President, not my daddy. I don’t need him to bite his trembling lip, or put on a show with a bullhorn.
Truly, I’d like to register my vote for 2012 for him right now, if that means I don’t have to listen to anymore pundits.
scav
well, I’m usually of the minority opinion, but the Census jobs, while useful, are not long term ones and don’t speak to the underlying reality of what’s going on longer term. So a nuanced, rather than knee-jerk partyflag-waving response is appreciated by at least some. Tricky finding the middle ground though. Granted, I’m also just bitterly tired of every single stinking thing in the world being used as a platform for electioneering. Vain hope.
jwb
@cat48: He connects fine, I think, and if his polling numbers are down, which I’m sure they are, that simply reflects the fact that most people understandably don’t like the idea of a gazillion barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf. Assuming they get it under control and some sort of rational regulations are put in place that ensure we have a plan for future disasters like this, I’m sure his numbers will come back up.
His basic persona seems to remain that of a professor, and the press especially seems intent on playing the role of low-achieving, smart-alecky frat boys in the class—exactly the kind who then blame the professor for their low achievement.
neil
@Rosalita: $$$$$$
Nick
@scav:
No, they don’t, what’s going on longer term is the private sector has no need to hire the 15 million unemployed Americans, so they won’t. What do you do to change that?
Nothing.
fucen tarmal
@burnspbesq:
keep in mind that the devil is in the details, also too, all of these cars will wreck into each other one by one, so projecting the end game in college football(other sports really but football is the driver) is made more difficult by the very effect of the previous link in the chain reaction…
funny and odd results will happen, when one looks back at it. remember this about notre dame, they know they have the power to jump up to top 5 elite status whenever they want, they just lower the admission standards for the football team, and watch the roster fill up with talent….and it isn’t all about the prestige of their history, when they want to, they have a lot to offer, and a lot for any recruit, family , hs coach, or gatekeeper to consider…
Frank Chow
I am almost certain Facebook is to blame.
scav
@Nick: and acknowledging the difficulty of the problem is apparently taboo. Fine, whatever, I largely don’t care anymore: have fun, clap, wave flags, orate, drop nukes on it.
Nick
@scav: did I not just acknowledge the difficulty of the problem?
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Bad Horse’s Filly: @demo woman: I’m sorry. You’re quite right, I flew so far off the handle I was pretty much in orbit. I will still have a second match to watch (I hope), and it’s only a game. And I will now use my head and withdraw from the Intertubes for the rest of the day so I do not either discover more results or rain excessive and unmerited curses on well-meaning fellow humans.
Brachiator
FYI – for some reason this thread is not displaying correctly under IE8 with most recent Compatibilty view update.
Don’t know if it’s been referenced in another open thread, but I really recommend Linda Greenhouse’s piece on Justice Souter’s Harvard Address in a recent NY Times piece (Justice Souter’s Class).
Souter has always been one of my favorite justices. And I love how he was a “stealth” nominee, with a modest record, who was opposed by some because they feared that he would be a doctrinaire conservative. Instead, he took Scalia to the woodshed a number of times, as he does here, puncturing the phoney idea of strict constructionism.
Souter also gently suggests what the Senate should be looking for as it considers the Kagan nomination. It will be interesting to see whether any Democrats (the GOP is hopeless) will pay attention.
Ab_Normal
@Betsy: Is it good or bad that I knew which xkcd your link went to before I clicked? :D
LiberalTarian
I posted a lot less when I had just gotten a new job–job not so new anymore, have internet at home again, will probably post more.
But, less motivated by political foolishness, so maybe it is a net.
Platonicspoof
To Cat Lady at 26, Rosalita at 45 and Brachiator at 122:
Maybe you’ve already read the Site Maintenance post from last night, but maybe this will apply to you in some way. In my case I’m so far getting 100% correlation between the text margins problem and blocking a googleads address.
Copy of my last post there:
@Peter J:
Thanks! That seems to be the problem for me; using IE 8 and XP SP2.
I went through IE properties, Security tab, Restricted sites zone, Sites button, and added the googleads address at comment 65 to the zone.
Then I refreshed this page ten times-no runaway text.
Went back and removed the googleads address from the Restricted zone, refreshed six times-runaway text three times out of six.
Added the googleads address back to the Restricted zone, and the text has been in the right place every time for this page and for a few other BJ posts.
Platonicspoof
After blocking it, there also seems to be a correlation last night and today between my comments just disappearing and whenever I include that address in my comment.
That’s why at 125 I only identified the googlead as “the address in comment 65” in the Site Maintenance thread.
But it’s only a correlation since WP and IE have completely destroyed my faith in the existence of cause and effect in this particular universe.
twiffer
@Nick: interestingly enough, stimulus funds are being used for the current work on those bridges over the merrit pkwy.
they may have stretched out the work, but they are damn fine looking overpasses.
asiangrrlMN
I took a self-imposed break awhile back because I was getting overwhelmed by the craziness. I think it’s healthy to go away now and again. And, sometimes, I just stick to the late-night threads or the animal threads or the open threads because it’s all I can handle.
As for Nikki Haley, she’s very to the right. Here, for example, is her opinion on universal healthcare. She gets a hundred percent from the pro-birthers, and she’s proud of it. She’s anti-immigrant as well. This is all from her website. I am disgusted at how she’s being treated over her alleged affairs and the double-standard thereof and for the raghead comment, but I don’t support her in any way shape or form.