Keeping CPACers Safe in Their Bubble
Jefferson Morley at Salon puts a brave face on Occupy CPAC’s Friday march:
The two Americas came face to face briefly Friday afternoon at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. While several thousand conservatives thronged the Wardman Park Marriott Hotel, several hundred progressive unionists marched up to the hotel’s entrance, banging drums, carrying signs like “CPAC: Conservatives Pleasing America’s Corporations” and chanting “We are the 99 percent.” As they were turned back by police and hotel security, conference participants watched, often with disdain.
“Get a job,” shouted one conservative. “I’ve got a job,” one long-haired demonstrator fired back. “I’m a farmer. I grow the food you eat.” The demonstrators, responding to an email message from the D.C. Metropolitan AFL-CIO Labor Council, came from a wide range of unions including the United Auto Workers, the Service Employees International Union, and the Sheet Metal Workers Union. They marched with members from the Fight for Philly community group, the New York Committee for Change, and veterans of the two now-evicted Occupy D.C. sites.
They were a theatrical bunch. One group of protesters dressed up in blue and white baseball uniforms emblazoned with the logo “Tax Dodgers” who posed for a picture with a giant baseball Mitt. (Get it?) Another man dressed up in a suit emblazoned with dollar signs and the Wal-Mart logo said he was running for president as a corporation. “If corporations are people,” explained Ben Waxman, “why not have a corporation as president?”...
Dave Weigel at Slate reports from the other side of the cordon sanitaire:
“Do You Want to Go to Jail?” The Occupy movement arrived at CPAC, a little late, building a line of protest in front of the hotel shortly after noon. Media interest, stoked for days, was high. CPACs interest was in stopping 1200 or so reporters from being distracted from the events they were putting on.
This was done by putting a line of police between the “occupation”—really just a protest, with some kitschy tents—and the conference attendees and reporters. Protesters moved towards the hotel, were ushered away by police, and settled back down the hill. Anyone approaching them, like conservatives with “STAND WITH [SCOTT] WALKER] signs or bloggers with cameras, was told that he would be arrested if he stayed. I filmed a few bloggers as they tried…
Video and more at the link.
And she really deserves her own dedicated post, but Quinn Norton at Wired’s Threat Level has the latest of her beautifully reported #Occupy stories, “Occupy DC Evicted from A Winter of Communal Discontent” up as a counterpoint.
February 11, 2012 5:55 am
Posted in: #OWS, Decline and Fall, Republican Venality
No Comments
Open Thread
Both piglets are sitting behind me giving me the “WTF DUDE, BEDTIME” look, so I will just leave you with this as I head off to spoon the PUPPEHS:
The videos are not unrelated. It’s been a good night, as I watched a couple West Wing episodes, got some shit off my chest, and I think I taught Rosie how to play catch.
Night folks. Stay classy.
February 11, 2012 3:25 am
Posted in: Open Thread
9 Comments
There Was Another Thing I Wanted To Talk About
You know, posting the picture of my fat mug a couple weeks ago was kind of quite liberating. It’s not like I have really been hiding anything- I’ve been pretty open I’m a fat, blonde haired, blue eyed, pasty skinned white guy. But for some reason I never posted a picture, because I guess I just feared the reaction or the inevitable photoshops. I guess I never realized that most of you are just as ugly and pudgy as me.
But that is neither here nor there, as there has been something else I have wanted to talk about for quite some time. I kept it a secret, not because it was the right thing to do, but because I guess I was scared I would be dismissed, or scared that maybe I was alone, or maybe because I just wasn’t ready to deal with it.
At any rate, a couple of summers ago, a few months after I got Lily, I started to have some really weird physical symptoms. I would have this really unnerving tingling sensation in my fingers and toes, and I would every now and then get these horrible sessions of just feeling panicky. I ignored it for a long while, because things were just going so well. I had Lily, and we were walking for 5-7 miles every morning on the rails to trails, my blood pressure was low, everything else was fine, and I went to the doctor and they said everything was fine and that I should keep on my current trajectory, as I was doing everything I was supposed to do physically.
But the tingling in the hands and toes persisted. And I started to freak out. I was doing everything right, eating right, exercising a ton, and Lily and I were walking for hours every day and I was hitting the gym. Plus, I had Lily in my life, and was really the happiest I had been in decades. I just love everything about that dog. She doesn’t do tricks, she isn’t a hunter, she has no real skills other than sitting on my lap and looking at me in a way that melts my heart, and every now and then sitting up and licking my face. Now, you all know I love Tunch, but my outlook on life just changed once I got Lily. She is without question the best thing to happen to me in my adult life.
So I couldn’t figure it out. What was wrong with me? Why were my fingers and toes going numb? I started using google and WebMd, trying to figure out why, in the peak of my happiness, I would be having numb fingers and toes and every now and then having these hot flashes. And I discovered a whole gambit of things that I could have had- MS, diabetes, you name it.
And then, inexplicably, things got worse. The numb fingers and toes were just a prelude, it seemed. Now I was getting spells of dizziness, with a shortness of breath, sweating, and an uncontrolled panic. I went to the doctor again, and told her- “I think I am losing my mind or something. I just keep freaking out. Why is this happening to me? Why do I just want to take a cold shower and hide under my comforter with Lily? Why do I keep feeling panicked like I am dying? RUN SOME TESTS, GOD DAMNIT!”
This went on for a while- maybe two months. And every day, the panic would build, and I would wonder what was happening to me and whether I was just going insane. I would lie in bed, in terror, thinking “Just make this stop.” I would self-medicate, drinking a ton to try to just go to sleep. It was awful.
Finally, my wonderful doctor, after all the tests had been run and I was not diabetic, I didn’t have MS, there was no brain tumor or anything else, just looked at me and said- “You are just having panic attacks. I want you to go talk to a therapist.” She tried to prescribe me drugs (I think it was Xanax or something), but I passed because I have a sister who is a heroin addict and other relatives who have pill issues, and I just don’t want to deal with that crap. I already drink way too god damned much and eat too much, I don’t want to add pills and other crap into the mix.
Long story short, I went to a therapist for a couple of months. It turns out I was having fairly typical anxiety attacks, very common, and we did a number of different things, including breathing exercises, and now, I am of course a completely fucked up individual, but no more than any of you all and I’m not having tingling fingers or toes. In fact, that was the weirdest thing of all- just two sessions with this woman, talking, and the numbness and panic attacks stopped.
But that isn’t the point of this story. The point is, that as it was happening, I confided in a few people- DougJ, commenters JSF and Laura W. and Genine, as well as my boss (my boss is the first person I told, because I am truly blessed in that my boss is probably my closest friend) and my parents and a couple of close friends (long time readers remember Tammy and Brian). But I kept it from you all. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed. I felt weak, like there was something wrong with me. I didn’t want people to know because I was afraid that it would be somehow used against me or used to discredit me.
In short, I was a coward. I’m not proud of the way I reacted, and I am not proud that I didn’t use this forum to educate others. I’m really not. I was a wimp. I guess maybe I was just focused on getting myself healthy, which really should be the most important goal. But I’d like to try to do it now.
There is nothing wrong with you, and we need to work to remove the stigma regarding mental illness. I was mentally ill- there is no other why to describe what I went through. It was horrible, it was terrifying, it was scary, and worst of all, it was lonely. You have no idea what it is like hiding under your blanket, crying, terrified, while you have to put on a pretty face for a blog and keep up a job. I would lie there, thinking to myself, “I wish these chest pains were just a heart attack and I would die.” You are not alone. You are not unique. Reach out for help, and get it. People will understand, and more of them than you realize have already gone through the same thing. Hell, in the world we live in, it is amazing that there are people who are not depressed, anxious, or having anxiety attacks.
I was wrong. I’m better now, I take no medication, and I realize that what I went through is something that while traumatic, is completely normal and completely treatable. I also realize that I was lucky. I had loving family members and friends, I had spectacular medical care, and I had what it takes to make it through what was for me a summer of hell. And everyone should have the same.
So that is that. I’ve kept it close to the vest for quite some time, but I’m just at a point in my life that I truly do not give a shit anymore. In short, I hope if you are depressed, or something is just not right, you won’t be embarrassed or feel guilty, you’ll talk to a friend or family member or doctor and take care of yourself. There is nothing wrong with you and no reason to be ashamed. Take care of yourself.
And one last thing- you all may think they are just snark artists, but you have no idea how genuinely good a people that JustSomeFuckhead and DougJ are, not to mention LauraW and Genine. If it were not for the people I met on this website, I don’t think I would have made it through the darkest hours.
February 11, 2012 1:53 am
Posted in: Other
113 Comments
Hands Down, the Best “It Gets Better” Video You Have Seen
You know, we talk an awful lot here about bad cops and the awful things they do. Here is something different for a change:
I’ll fess up. I teared up a little bit.
Even when I was a Republican, I was always pro-choice, in favor of gay rights (although I bought into the civil unions bullshit), and against the death penalty. I just don’t understand how a decent society functions telling people what to do with their bodies or telling their citizenry who they can love or supporting killing citizens. It just makes no sense to me. But like I said, we trash a lot of bad police behavior, so it was so nice, and so refreshing, to watch these guys come forward. And if they save just one kid, it was worth it.
Every time you get down on the world, remember that the good outweighs the bad. The prophets of hate are not going to win. And let the FSM praise Dan Savage for starting all this.
February 11, 2012 12:20 am
Posted in: Gay Rights are Human Rights
27 Comments
Site Rebuild
Just so you understand, I am not immune to criticism about the site performance. The thing is, I can’t immediately deal with every single complaint every single time one of you has it- sometimes, performance issues simply are not on our end, but rather, they are yours. Basically, I have to look at things in the aggregate, and look at a cost benefit analysis. Does it bother me that sometimes during high traffic nights, it takes you all a couple seconds more to load, or on rare occasions, the site simply hangs indefinitely? Yes, it does. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I really need to do anything, because from my perspective, a site that functions at top form 92-95% of the time is doing A work.
Now, none of this is meant to dismiss your complaints. I’m just saying that I look at this from a different perspective. When you are all “I CAN’T LOAD FUCK YOU AL GORE YOUR INTERNET SUCKS” and pissed about the site performance, I take a bigger view, and notice that several hundred other people were able to comment and thousands were able to access the website during the period you claim the site was unavailable.
Having said all that, I just talked to the blogmistresses, and at some point in the next few months we will be doing a site rebuild. One of our goals will be to streamline things so that there are not as many db calls, and that may include using fewer plugins. At this point, though, we are just looking at everything, and trying to make an informed decision on how best to keep this community ship floating forward without hitting any icebergs. So, while the redesign will not take place for probably a month to two months from now, keep in mind things you think make this site usable, and how we can make it better.
We’d like to make sure everything is rebuilt by June/July, so that we are ready to hit the nitrous and really cruise through the next election cycle with top-notch server performance. For now, though, we are in the planning/needs stage, so everything we do is tentative. I’d like to keep the look and the basic usability of the site as much the same as possible- I am a “dance with the girl that brung you” kind of guy. But if you think there are things we should definitely be doing better, we will give it serious consideration. And while I am at it, let me put in a word of support for the ladies at Hosting Matters and for Stacy at Sekimori. I’m big on supporting small business, and these women have been nothing but a real joy to work with the last 7-8 years. They have my unqualified recommendation, and if you ever need web hosting or site design, contact them. They’re good people, and I appreciate everything they have done for us.
This is the first of what will be a series of posts soliciting your opinion prior to us finalizing any decisions for the rebuild.
And criminy, that felt like corporate speak. I need to stick a bar of soap in my mouth. The things I do for you people.
February 10, 2012 11:36 pm
Posted in: Site Maintenance
87 Comments
Open Thread
What are we all into tonight? I’m watching some West Wing and trying to forget the CPAC rap.
I’m still crushing on Donna, and definitely think I need a Donatella Moss in my life, but CJ just rocks. I like how both of them give people a lot of shit.
February 10, 2012 10:12 pm
Posted in: Open Thread
137 Comments
Open Thread
I don’t have a lot to talk about, but I’m sure some of you all do.
February 10, 2012 10:12 pm
Posted in: Open Thread
14 Comments
I’ve Never Been More Ashamed To Be White
Looks like maybe I spoke too soon about CPAC not being as much of a freak show as it has been in the past:
Is there any way I can publicly renounce my whiteness and become an honorary black person? Something like a reverse racial draft?
(via)
February 10, 2012 7:45 pm
Posted in: Because of wow., Clown Shoes
198 Comments
This might have been helpful to have a week ago
I agree with ABL that Obama did good, but as I said earlier, I would have been grateful to him for trying had he failed. I listened to the debate closely, and I’m still convinced there was one person in this who was looking out for my interests, and oddly enough, it was the President. I don’t ordinarily feel as if the President of the United States is my one and only advocate, but I did this time.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I do think it’s important to set the record straight on what happened here. Information that might have been useful for the public to have was omitted or ignored for nearly a week, and that omission might have affected the outcome. The health care law is the biggest piece of domestic legislation many people are going to see in their lifetimes. Every single person in this country has an interest in it. Shouldn’t the debate about a piece of that law be more substantive than a weeks worth of screaming on cable? This context is important for people to know. The fact that the bishops were planning a religious liberty campaign for 7 months prior to the announcement of the rule. The fact that many of them are already complying with state law that tracks the rule. Would it matter to people? I don’t know. But shouldn’t they decide that?
Although Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York has been leading the national fight against requiring Roman Catholic hospitals, universities and charities to cover birth control in their health insurance plans for employees and students, some Catholic institutions in his own diocese and others throughout New York State have for 10 years been complying with state law mandating precisely that coverage.
Is the archbishop a big states’ rights person? Is that why he went absolutely crazy over a federal rule that tracks a state rule he’s been complying with for more than ten years? I know there is a difference on the federal case law on this issue, and that’s what conservative lawyers are seizing on, but what does that have to do with anything? Fact is, the lead warrior on this has been complying with an identical rule for a decade. Shouldn’t he have to explain what’s going on with that?
I’m going to “campaign school” in Cleveland tomorrow. It’s a workshop put on by the Ohio Democratic Party, and it’s for people who are involved with local campaigns. I think I’ll try to see what some actual Ohio Democrats think about the whole birth control war, and maybe find out how far the misinformation has spread.
February 10, 2012 7:32 pm
Posted in: Uncategorized
63 Comments
Song of the week
Hi everybody, thanks to DougJ for hooking me up with posting privileges. Here is your song of the week. Feel free to criticize, celebrate, suggest your alternative song of the week, or treat as an open thread.
Elvis Presley, “Blue Moon” (1954)
It’s about time the King made an appearance around here. Recorded in 1954 at Memphis’s Sun studios, with Sam Phillips producing, and Scotty Moore and Bill Black providing support on guitar and bass, this unassuming little thing almost always requires a twist of the volume knob. It sneaks in like one late to the curtain, and then somehow becomes the show itself. It was never a hit of any kind, though it showed up here and there often enough: thrown onto Presley’s first album along with other unreleased Sun material; then released as the A-side of a no-hit single in September 1956, a casual afterthought for RCA, busy by then spewing out Elvis product in every direction, and finally, 20 years later, on the Sun Sessions album. It’s really weird, but it’s good.
Update: Hmm, it doesn’t seem to want to embed for me. User error, no doubt. Here’s a link. I will get it figured out next time! Thanks for your patience…
February 10, 2012 7:01 pm
Posted in: Music
39 Comments
In Veritas vino
The seemingly endless transition from one Mitt-free alternative to another, and the increasing perception that the great dealmaker can’t close this deal, must be causing some epic hissy fits and the odd bit of alcohol abuse at Romney HQ.
Anne Laurie linked to Ewick, Son of Ewick’s CPAC post, but didn’t quote my favorite bit.
Along the way a funny thing has happened. Romney supporters are starting to be openly critical of him. The business whiz has failed to restructure his own failing organization. His support is a mile wide and an inch deep.And he has been replaced as front runner by the crowd. They are with Rick Santorum in heart, but also in money and votes. On the horizon looms a brokered convention.
Santorum is the new white. I expect the santorum slurping (which was already (if you will allow me to mix metaphors) bubbling away below the surface) will become unbearable, particularly now that everyone seems to want to talk about vaginas all the time. Every outlier poll which shows Santorum beating Romney or Obama will be touted throughout Wingnuttia.
Sadly, I suspect it will last about two weeks. Ricky will say something even more phenomenally stupid than his usual guff and everyone will finally get in line behind Mitt, the candidate that no one wanted.
I confess that Mitt scares me a little. He is just slick and rich and oily enough to fool the great unwashed into thinking him presidential.
Santorum, on the other hand (never a pleasant experience), is my dream candidate – a sanctimonious, unattractive and lumpish scold, with a face that cries out not only for a fist, but several carefully aimed feet.
See? Truly revolting.
You get his kind at every church. They proclaim their rectitude and their good works to any who will listen, but would snaffle the last cupcake from under the nose of an nun and proclaim it to be for her own good. They let the whole congregation see how much they put on the collection plate, but the muffins they bring to the bake sale are always store-bought and usually two days old. The only thing they value more than idle gossip is the feeling of superiority and outrage they get to enjoy after hearing it. They are, in everything, driven by a pinched anxiety that everyone they meet is either more moral or more sinful than them.
Rick Santorum once came to Shady Pines for morning tea. For a while I managed to avoid him by moving strategically from room to room. Eventually he almost cornered me, so I slipped out onto the garden terrace and hid in the janitor’s closet, only to find I was sharing it with the bishop, two nuns and a disturbingly sticky altar boy, who had also taken refuge in there. We were trapped for fifteen minutes, although happily fortified by the contents of my hipflask (although I did think the bishop offering some of my best scotch to little Billy Fortenberry was unwise).
Afterwards I had Marge Albrectson put one of her pet squirrels up Rick’s coat, so the last I saw of him he was running down the drive and screaming a high, ululating screech of terror, while a rabid ball of fluff tried to eat its way into his brain through his back.
Good times.
I hope Santorum stays in the race. I hope that his prissy mug is all over that Convention stage ranting about bumsex and rape babies and privileges and inalienable goods.
He is everything I would wish upon the Republicans.
February 10, 2012 6:50 pm
Posted in: Assholes, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, Where's my Moore Award?
31 Comments
And People Tell Me I Overuse the Word “Asshole”
Fact is, I don’t use it enough:
Wisconsin will use a chunk of its $140 million share of a national settlement over foreclosure and mortgage-servicing abuses to help the state budget rather than assist troubled homeowners, Gov. Scott Walker and state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Thursday.Walker and Van Hollen said the majority of the settlement amount earmarked to Wisconsin under a $25 billion proposed nationwide agreement announced Thursday still would go to aid consumers in Milwaukee and other communities struggling with the specter of home foreclosure.
This guy is a clear asshole. There’s just no other word to adequately describe him.
I’m so glad Russ Feingold, who could beat him in the recall, has decided to sit out the race and focus on more important issues- like whining about Obama using SuperPacs. STFU, Feingold.
February 10, 2012 5:50 pm
Posted in: Assholes, Sociopaths
60 Comments
Stir Crazy
You might not know it from the lack of news coverage, but this week is the annual CPAC freak show. What I find amusing about it is that in the past, CPAC was really a spectacle. It was the political equivalent of watching circus geeks bite the heads off chickens while the bearded lady swallowed swords. This is where Coulter called Edwards a faggot, they’ve had tier one wingnuts like Beck and Limbaugh speak, this is the go to convention for birthers and the WND crowd, and who can forget this freakshow:
But that was then, this is now. I’m scanning the google news headlines for anything interesting, and all I’m finding is a little gay bashing by Mitt and the crowd warming up to Santorum. That’s it. The freak show of the belly of the conservative beast has gone so mainstream that CPAC is now a yawner, because there just isn’t anything anyone can do short of shooting an abortion provider on stage that will be more horrifying than the candidates the GOP fielded this year. How do you get nuttier than Perry, Bachmann, Cain, and company? You just can’t.
A proud day for Republicans.
February 10, 2012 5:14 pm
Posted in: Clown Shoes, Republican Stupidity
77 Comments
Remember, The Pill is the Bigger Sin
Our moral betters:
Sealed documents filed in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy identify at least 8,000 instances of child sexual abuse and 100 alleged offenders – 75 of them priests – who have not previously been named by the archdiocese, a victims’ attorney said Thursday.Archdiocese spokeswoman Julie Wolf said she did not have enough information to respond to the assertion, made by attorney Jeffrey Anderson during a pivotal hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley. Anderson represents about 350 of the 570 victim-survivors who have filed claims in the case.
But Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests speculated that some are likely members of religious orders, such as Capuchins or Franciscans. Order officials do not typically make public the names of their accused members, and the archdiocese claims it is not responsible for them, though they have historically helped to staff its parishes and schools.
“This is a public safety crisis, a child safety crisis that needs to be investigated,” Isely said at a news conference on the federal courthouse steps, surrounded by fellow survivors and reporters.
“We need to know who they are and where they are. How can there be 8,000 crimes committed by over 100 offenders and there be no accountability?” he said.
Sure glad we spent the week hearing about their feelings and conscience.
(via)
February 10, 2012 4:52 pm
Posted in: Religion
54 Comments
Sunday get together
I called McGee’s and they said we should be fine near the bar on the first floor if we’re about 30 people or so. I’m a little reluctant to make a formal reservation anywhere since I don’t know how many people will come for sure (and I don’t want to make people RSVP or anything).
Can someone bring something Balloon-Juice distinctive so that we’re recognizable?
February 10, 2012 4:24 pm
Posted in: Blogospheric Navel-Gazing, Readership Capture
41 Comments
