Open Thread
I think I speak for everyone when I say that at times like this, when there is a serious crisis overseas, I thank Allah for Sarah Palin’s facebook page.
January 28, 2011 8:07 pm
Posted in: Open Thread
84 Comments
84 Responses
Jules - January 28, 2011 | 8:09 pm · Link
and Spudnuts….
Malron - January 28, 2011 | 8:11 pm · Link
She kicked my Spudnuts offa there months ago.
Trainrunner - January 28, 2011 | 8:11 pm · Link
Today she had a long apologia/explanation/wingnut word salad flourish about her Sputnik/Pudpack remarks.
Imagine how we’d all feel were she in charge right now.
Palin’s imaginary statement:
“Egyptians have been saying for years—for decades—’let my people go.’”
cathyx - January 28, 2011 | 8:12 pm · Link
No link? What prompted this?
Violet - January 28, 2011 | 8:13 pm · Link
@Trainrunner:
“Just as Moses stood with the Egyptians, so we in America support them.”
Elizabelle - January 28, 2011 | 8:14 pm · Link
Will Balloon Juice try to go Palin free for February?
dmsilev - January 28, 2011 | 8:15 pm · Link
@Elizabelle: Give up Palin for Lent, maybe?
dms
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 8:15 pm · Link
I’m gonna post this article in the open thread. I think it’s a good one for people like me who have a sub-par knowledge of Egyptian history, aside from “The Ten Commandments” “Cleopatra” and the Bangles.
Five Things to Understand About the Egyptian Riots
I’m really interested in the stuff going on in Egypt because after going to India last April, my friend suggested Egypt as our next trip. I remember telling her that i don’t think Egypt would be a good thing right now even before this happened.
Violet - January 28, 2011 | 8:15 pm · Link
@Elizabelle:
Heh. I read that as “Pain free.” Same thing, right?
Kryptik - January 28, 2011 | 8:18 pm · Link
Someone needs to make a site mocking all the things that the GOP has gone and stated is unconstitutional. The latest, via Duncan Hunter, Rep. from CA?
Bike paths. Because they’re recreational, compared to highways. No, seriously. Bike Paths are unconstitutional.
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 8:19 pm · Link
@dmsilev:
I doing my own personal protest and not discussing Palin with anyone in any real way.
Heck, I’ve been boycotting TLC since they decided to show her Alaska show (I really only watched two shows anyway “What Not To Wear” & “Say Yes To The Dress”)
Southern Beale - January 28, 2011 | 8:20 pm · Link
My husband, who works with a bunch of rabid right-wing Tea Bag types, came home and told me the RWNJ party line: people are protesting in Egypt because “no one respects America internationally anymore.” i.e., these are not democratic protests of people yearning for freedom, but rather some kind of scary rebellious thing.
Having followed the Twitter tubes all day, I realized immediately that this was the Fox News line. Which I find fascinating. Of course, if the rebellion spreads to Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi’s own the majority of NewsCorp … well of course. But also, more to the point, it’s just the immediate, knee-jerk partisanship of the Fox/Rush echo chamber: if there’s a Democrat in the White House, then anything that happens has to reflect negatively on that person. If Bush or McCain were president, widespread revolution in the Middle East would be seen as proof that Iraq’s “freedom movement” was spreading democracy across the Middle East.
So really what all of this confirms for me is that Fox News is less relevant than ever. I mean, we all know that it’s the GOP media outlet but really when a major international event like this is happening, I really just proves how unimportant they are in the big picture. I have zero interest in debunking any of their bullshit, reading what Media Matters has to say debunking their bullshit, you name it. Fox News is a GOP mouthpiece and therefore anything they say is irrelevant and colored by partisan politics. And what’s happening now is way bigger than that.
I dunno. Just sorta mouthing off here.
Southern Beale - January 28, 2011 | 8:22 pm · Link
@lamh32:
I was a big “What Not To Wear” fan but I couldn’t find it anymore so I just gave up. Haven’t watched TLC since “Trading Spaces” dumped Paige.
Bubblegum Tate - January 28, 2011 | 8:23 pm · Link
@Kryptik:
Jesus, it’s like that SNL sketch where Bush (Will Ferrell) kept adding things to the Axis of Evil. “Don’t listen to what the economists say. Why? Because they use math, and math is very much a part of the Axis of Evil”
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 8:28 pm · Link
ok,
so Lawrence O has an old Clintonite on who’s saying that the Obama Admin’s statement fromt he pres is a little late, and should have been done earlier.
Damn it was 48 HOURS AGO that the protest shit hit the fan. Yeah it took what 1 week for the obama admin to get it’s footing during the Iran revolts. It took 48 hours this time. Uh what good would it have been for them to release a statement before then?
this is ridiculous. is EVERY former Clintonite back-stabbers? Damn, I commend HRC as Sec of State, but damn I’m tired of the minions who are NOT apart of the admin and probably not in the loop coming on MSNBC every damn time.
I’m sorry, but I like that the Obama admin doesn’t just go “all in” and “balls to the wall” like BushCo would. If Bush was here, we’d have troops in Georgia, Tunisia, Egypt, Iran…I like a little contemplation before excess action.
Jules - January 28, 2011 | 8:30 pm · Link
@Malron:
Me too!
Sarah did NOT like the comments I left…
Mr Stagger Lee - January 28, 2011 | 8:34 pm · Link
There is nothing the US can do, hell in Afghanistan Der Kreig ist Verloren, Iraq? please
The Middle East is in a revolution, that we saw in Latin America back last decade, they are breaking from Uncle Sam, Hey Saudi Royal Family better get those Swiss Chalets ready. Israel you better get your stuff ready.
Paula - January 28, 2011 | 8:34 pm · Link
So, is it pretty much between a rock and hard place for the US re Egypt? I know that reformers and dissidents over there want (and have wanted) Obama to issue a stronger POV on Mubarak than he’s given, especially since the US has been financing the regime for decades. On the other hand, after watching Bush II “promote democracy in the Middle East” for eight years, I’m pretty much done seeing the US sticking its hand where it don’t belong.
So IMO, threatening an aid freeze on Mubarak and then shutting the fuck up is the right thing to do. It would be even better if we got confirmation of the aid freeze, but that ain’t ever happening, so …
Related: the US Men’s National Soccer Team is scheduled to play a friendly w/ Egypt in Cairo on Feb. 9th. AFAIK it hasn’t been canceled, and the players are set to start landing there on the 6th.
The Dangerman - January 28, 2011 | 8:37 pm · Link
Palin’s “Presidential” Statement:
Just as the Red Sea parted and the Red Army parted ways in Afghanistan, so too have I read all the newspapers on this matter in Jordan. It IS Jordan, right, because I’m a big Jordin Sparks fan and I fear for her singing the anthem in after the liberation of the liberators that are copying our exceptional liberty.
JPL - January 28, 2011 | 8:37 pm · Link
@Trainrunner: LOL…
Bob Loblaw - January 28, 2011 | 8:49 pm · Link
@lamh32:
Have you considered not whining endlessly about the Obama administration’s treatment in the press in thread after thread? Why don’t you just stop watching MSNBC?
mr. whipple - January 28, 2011 | 8:50 pm · Link
@Southern Beale:
Tuesday night, now. Watching an episode on dvr.
JPL - January 28, 2011 | 8:51 pm · Link
Does Bachmann tweet.. She’s funny also,too
Suffern ACE - January 28, 2011 | 8:51 pm · Link
@lamh32: It’s easy to see why that particular Clintonite hasn’t been invited back. Did he decide what exactly should have been said yesterday when no one knew what the heck was going on? And who he should have addressed?
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 8:53 pm · Link
@Bob Loblaw:
fuck you. that is all.
Nerull - January 28, 2011 | 8:53 pm · Link
I had never heard of Spudnuts, so I looked it up.
It was a chain of over 600 donut shops in the US, and 170 in Japan. The company went out of business, leaving a few individual shops running on their own. There are 35 left.
I’m not really sure this story means what Palin thought it meant.
General Stuck - January 28, 2011 | 8:54 pm · Link
@Bob Loblaw:
Have you ever considered eating shit and dying in a fire?
Cat Lady - January 28, 2011 | 9:07 pm · Link
No one knows anything about what this Egypt situation means, and that’s what’s so great about it. We’re all – and I mean everyone on the planet- is treading on terra incognito. The reporters who are now able to report again are saying that it’s fueled by the secular educated youth, tapping into the entire country’s frustration. This is truly an internet hive mind phenomenon, and there’s more of this to come. Wheeeeee!
If you had told me when I was in high school that I would witness the fall of the Soviet Union, the collapse of apartheid, and the Berlin wall literally being smashed to pieces before I was old, I would never ever have believed it. Of course, I never would have believed that a 2nd rate actor named Ronald Reagan could ever be taken seriously as a politician, either. We live in interesting times.
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 9:08 pm · Link
Ughh! I know, I know Egypt is in turmoil right now, but Colin Firth was supposed to be on Piers Morgan tonight.
I LOVE COLIN FIRTH
From Bridget Jones Diary:
Bridget: Wait a minute, Nice boys don’t kiss like that.
Mark Darcy: Oh yes, they f(*in do
trollhattan - January 28, 2011 | 9:08 pm · Link
So, anyway, 25 years ago, today—one of those seared memories.
http://www.boston.com/bigpictu.....ars_l.html
robertdsc-PowerBook - January 28, 2011 | 9:08 pm · Link
As much as I enjoy looking at her, I am goddamned tired of Palin’s stupidity.
feebog - January 28, 2011 | 9:09 pm · Link
First Tunisia and now Egypt. The Suad family must be shittimg billy goats about now.
freelancer - January 28, 2011 | 9:11 pm · Link
Richard Engel coming up on Maddow, should be interesting to hear what he has to say.
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 9:14 pm · Link
@lamh32:
No really, I love Colin Firth
From Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason
Mark Darcy Tells Bridget He Loves Her
General Stuck - January 28, 2011 | 9:16 pm · Link
@Cat Lady:
yup, having been virtually weened on duck and cover and fallout shelter drills, never knew anything else. Somehow i suspect, the fall of the autocrats in greater Arabia will not happen as smooth and painless as Perestroika and Glasnost. But fall they must, at some point, might as well be now. There is an old sway back mule that lives across the road, I been wondering how many miles to the gallon it gets.
edit – though none of it will compare to the fall of Sarah Palin, when Lowry barricades himself inside nro and threatens to masturbate himself to death.
shecky - January 28, 2011 | 9:17 pm · Link
Can’t vouch for the truthiness, but this HuffPo story made me laugh. It appears Ayn Rand might also have wanted the government to keep its hands off Medicare. And Social Security, too.
Cat Lady - January 28, 2011 | 9:20 pm · Link
@General Stuck:
We’re all Mayans now!
You can throw onto the bonfire of history the Catholic Church. Also, too.
beltane - January 28, 2011 | 9:27 pm · Link
I’m still waiting for Tommy Friedman’s pearls of wisdom. So far, crickets. I must say I’m enjoying listening to someone on Al Jazeera English translating Egyptian protest graffiti; none of it is of the usual “death to America” variety, which must make the AEI folks very sad.
General Stuck - January 28, 2011 | 9:28 pm · Link
Once again. Obama worse than Bush
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 9:29 pm · Link
Okay, last Colin Firth clip. But for my money, the best flim version of “Pride & Prejudice” is the BBC television version with Colin Firth as “Mr Darcy”. For anyone who hasn’t seen it or for anyone who has seen the updated one with Kiera Knightley (a much sub-par version IMHO), you’ve got to see the Masterpiece Theatre/BBC TV version.
Pride & Prejudice (BBC TV version)
JCT - January 28, 2011 | 9:32 pm · Link
@General Stuck:
Boy I hope no one talks him off that ledge…
Cat Lady - January 28, 2011 | 9:32 pm · Link
@beltane:
There have been a couple of reluctant mentions on CNN of Obama’s Cairo speech possibly being a factor. Who knows, and I sure don’t, but funny what happens when you don’t wave your dick around and throw countries against the wall cuz you can.
Paula - January 28, 2011 | 9:40 pm · Link
@General Stuck:
I saw that. But … some reformers WANT Obama to manhandle Mubarak on human rights and freedom of speech abuses.
They ask for this even while they understand that the USA’s rationale for paying a corrupt regime is based on his support for Israel.
You can’t pick and choose how the US is going to behave in your country. Our involvement usually means bad things for everyone other than Europeans.
I don’t understand the schizoid response here. When the Green (Twitter) Revolution was going on, most Iranians who had any sense were telling the US to stay the fuck out of it. With Egypt, the US is suddenly the bad guy for doing the exact same thing.
Alison - January 28, 2011 | 9:46 pm · Link
@lamh32: Well, there’s really no such thing as too many Colin Firth clips, is there?
And I agree with you 100% on his Mr. Darcy. He was uber perfecto and that version is my favorite.
Bob Loblaw - January 28, 2011 | 9:46 pm · Link
@General Stuck:
Actually, it shows that Obama = Bush in this case.
Since, you know, the April 6 movement started in 2008 and apparently received covert support from both administrations. Which would fit with the Bush administration’s (failed) public call for democratic opening in Egypt starting back in 2005, after the abandonment of the neoconservative agenda post reelection.
Careful readers would also have noticed that this information is thanks to Wikileaks, those vile criminals, who as we all know have never released any information of any importance ever before now…
beltane - January 28, 2011 | 9:48 pm · Link
@lamh32: I agree. Colin Firth was the ultimate Mr. Darcy, so much so that I never felt the need to see the Kiera Knightly version of P&P. (Who played Mr. Darcy in that version anyway?)
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 9:50 pm · Link
@Alison:
It’s interesting my love for Colin Firth started with P&P on Masterpiece Theatre. I was born a poor black chile in NOLA, and we couldn’t afford blockbuster cards, so I got all my movies from the library. At that time, the library wasn’t known for his stellar and up to date collection of VHS, but you could always count on them to have all those “for-run” from the UK and one of the first movies I saw was P&P.
P&P is also how I found the Bridget Jones Diary series. My love for Colin has grown ever since…LOL!
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 9:52 pm · Link
@beltane:
I saw it, and it was way too brooding for me compared to the TV version. Keira Knightly for me is just a poor man, skinnier, younger, with a real British accent’s Renee Zellweger.
I honestly can’t remember who played Mr Darcy, I’d have to google that.
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 9:56 pm · Link
@Alison:
I decree that there should be no limit on the Colin Firth clips.
“So let it be written. So let it be done.”
BTW, I realize that by posting this clip, we’ve now gone full circle back to Egypt…LOL. There’s no escaping it.
Also BTW, does it make me a heathen, that whenever I watch the “Ten Commandments” movie, I always mesmerized by how much hotter Yul Brynner is in his “skirt” than Heston??? He’s legs are to die for!
Am I the only who noticed that?? anyone…anyone…
Mnemosyne - January 28, 2011 | 9:57 pm · Link
@lamh32:
If you haven’t seen “The King’s Speech” yet, it’s absolutely worth your $10 or whatever your local movie theaters are asking for a ticket these days. It’s not a romance, but your heart will break for him from the very first scene.
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 10:02 pm · Link
@Mnemosyne:
I’m off Monday, and I plan to go to my local independent theatre to see then hopefully.
I’ve still not seen “A Simple Man”. I’m told that Firth was robbed when Jeff Bridges won for “Crazy Heart”.
That’s going on my netflix list
J.W. Hamner - January 28, 2011 | 10:03 pm · Link
Finished braising some pork belly in Golden Monkey, but am letting them rest over night in the braising liquid. Had a piece though, and damn is that some sinful stuff. My cholesterol probably went up a 100 points just looking at it.
General Stuck - January 28, 2011 | 10:04 pm · Link
@Paula:
It’s a schizoid situation. Everyone knows Mubarek is going to be gone soon, and there is a dual interest for obama and the US. While Mubarek’s iron fist rule has created a deep undercurrent of hostility, especially amongst Egypt’s 60 percent under 30 population, and inherent instability that has been brewing all those years, that we are seeing explode to the surface. Mubarek has also been an important, likely most important, factor in keeping ME peace intact regarding Israel. So it is a fine needle to thread for the US to support the reformer orgs that are mostly secular, as opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, who are a threat to that stability.
In other words, the US has an interest in real democratic reform, but at the same time attempting to give a hand up on the non Islamisists, I suspect. I doubt it will work though, because the only other org in that country that has the organization and infrastructure to govern is the MB. So if Mubarek’s government and party falls, some sort of MB involvement in governing the county would seem likely. It all depends if Mubarek goes hardcore, or not, and whether the military follows such a solution. He is likely finished there as is his party. The Egyptians public seem quite serious in getting rid of all things Mubarek.
And what the military does will dictate the end game. Unlike Iran, they are respected, ever since the 1953 revolution when the country chose them over the MB to govern. The ruling class have really just been a sort of benign, or disguised junta anyways. since then.
Mnemosyne - January 28, 2011 | 10:07 pm · Link
@lamh32:
Firth is probably going to steal the Oscar back from Bridges this year, unless the Academy suddenly decides it’s Christian Bale’s year.
Paula - January 28, 2011 | 10:07 pm · Link
@Bob Loblaw:
So the US interfering in Egypt is categorically bad? Because the party line among the True Progressives™ (at least on the internet) says that Obama is being an asshole for not supporting the protesters as strongly as he could.
beltane - January 28, 2011 | 10:08 pm · Link
@lamh32: We must have similar tastes in men because I always felt that way about Yul Brenner as Pharaoh. He came across as virile on his own terms; Charlton Heston needed tools like a staff or a gun. Meh.
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 10:08 pm · Link
@Mnemosyne:
Bales is for Supporting Actor though right? I’m thinking that is is Colin’s to lose, unless James Franco is a dark horse for “127 Hours”
freelancer - January 28, 2011 | 10:11 pm · Link
@lamh32:
A Simple Man is a very good film, with a very expertly played performance from Firth, but in no way was Bridges robbed for Crazy Heart. That movie would have blown chunks with anybody else in the role of Bad.
General Stuck - January 28, 2011 | 10:11 pm · Link
@Bob Loblaw:
Bush didn’t give a major speech to the Arab world with these aspirations of democratic reform as one of his first acts as president.
And I have never viewed Wikileaks as vile criminals, nor advocate they be viewed as such. My problem has been with their methodology, which has been completely controlled by Assange. They (Assange) have mostly changed their methodology, which is a good thing.
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 10:12 pm · Link
@beltane:
As a young girl, it never crossed my mind. No matter how much I watched “The Ten Commandments” but I was always drawn to Yul Brynner’s Ramses. It wasn’t until I became a young woman and reached “sexual puberty” that I realized why I like Ramses so much. I was jealous of the chick who played Ramses wife…lol.
I also love Brynner in “The King and I”. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Anna did just fall in love with the king…lol!
General Stuck - January 28, 2011 | 10:12 pm · Link
@Paula:
And this also too. :-)
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 10:13 pm · Link
@freelancer: oh okay.
I probably read that on some colin firth fan site of which sadly i wish I was a member of…lol
bago - January 28, 2011 | 10:18 pm · Link
I believe these are the birth pangs of an omniopticon, a hive mind. People who make a living off of asymmetrical information are getting scared.
Bob Loblaw - January 28, 2011 | 10:18 pm · Link
@Paula:
Do I speak for True Progressives? When did this happen?
I don’t have any particular problem with the Obama approach to the Tunisia/Egypt revolutions. I was just making fun of lamh32 for being so whiny about MSNBC. It’s clearly a complicated situation.
I was just saying that I didn’t think it was surprising that the Obama (and Bush) administrations might not be super invested in the Gamal Mubarak era, and wouldn’t see regime change as all that awful an outcome if Israeli security and stable oil prices can be guaranteed a different way. I’ve always assumed the state/defense/intelligence agencies are running so many games and doublecrosses across the globe, they can barely keep them straight. I don’t think the US truly has allies, they have corporate interests and interests alone.
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 10:21 pm · Link
@beltane:
Thank the youtube Gods, for your viewing pleasure:
Yule Brynner as Ramses
My Lord, the nubmer of fan video of Yul Brynner in this movie is amazing
My fav Yul Brynner scene from Ten Commandments:
My lord when he flips the cape…vapors I tell ya…vapors!
Hann1bal - January 28, 2011 | 10:33 pm · Link
For the last hour, I’ve been arguing with some guy on Twitter, and he just cited Liberal Fascism as an argument to counter Nixonland. This is after suggesting I learn history from a FreeRepublic thread.
I’m rather stunned, actually.
freelancer - January 28, 2011 | 10:39 pm · Link
@Hann1bal:
:D
And Another Thing... - January 28, 2011 | 10:41 pm · Link
@lamh32: Oh yea, right on both Brynner & Firth. The nice boys don’t kiss like that, “oh, yes they do” line was very hot.
Svensker - January 28, 2011 | 10:47 pm · Link
@lamh32:
No you are not the only one. :)
lamh32 - January 28, 2011 | 10:52 pm · Link
I’m off to bed, now I’ve got to work on a Saturday…ughh, but I’ll leave ya’ll with my other fav Brynner movie scene:
Deborah Kerr & Yul Brynner – Shall We Dance
I’m always saying “Etc, Etc, Etc…” and people like my younger sister always give me funny looks…lol
Svensker - January 28, 2011 | 10:52 pm · Link
@beltane:
If you ever want to see Yul at his most teh hawt, get The Journey, 1959, in which he plays a Soviet major. Oh. My. Gawd.
@lamh32: you’ll like it, too!
Charlton Heston? No S.A. atall.
matoko_chan - January 28, 2011 | 11:01 pm · Link
@General Stuck: liar liar pants on fire.
Assange has not changed his methodolgy.
drip….drip…...drip go the diplomatic cables.
matoko_chan - January 28, 2011 | 11:03 pm · Link
Anonymous attacks!
Stuck is trying to weasel out of BEING WRONG!
muhahahaha
piratedan - January 28, 2011 | 11:04 pm · Link
just wanted to share this to bring a little sunshine into your lives in a “fair and balanced” sort of way:
http://memebase.com/2011/01/28.....good-news/
Cat Lady - January 28, 2011 | 11:05 pm · Link
@lamh32: @freelancer:
It’s A Single Man. Or A Simple Plan. Or A Man With A Plan.
fasteddie9318 - January 28, 2011 | 11:22 pm · Link
Here, I’ll write Palin’s Facebook comment for her.
/palin
freelancer - January 28, 2011 | 11:28 pm · Link
@Cat Lady:
You forgot A Serious Man.
Malron - January 28, 2011 | 11:56 pm · Link
@lamh32:
(raises hand in shame)
Jay C - January 29, 2011 | 12:07 am · Link
@General Stuck:
Wait a minute – I thought he’d already done that…...
Steeplejack - January 29, 2011 | 12:50 am · Link
@lamh32:
Boy, there were some heaving bosoms and flaring nostrils in that clip. They don’t make ‘em like that any more.
Jebediah - January 29, 2011 | 12:51 am · Link
@piratedan:
Did you read any of the comments there? We are apparently not a very bright country.
Cain - January 29, 2011 | 1:12 am · Link
@Jay C:
So then who is barricading themselves now? Rob Zombie?
cain
bob h - January 29, 2011 | 6:28 am · Link
In June, 2009, Obama gave his famous Cairo speech in which he warned Arab governments to “maintain power through consent”. And now we have this. Why aren’t people talking of an “Obama effect”?
Kirbster - January 29, 2011 | 8:58 am · Link
I always feel sorry for Keira Knightley when she stars in inferior remakes of classic stories. Jennifer Ehle was more convincing as Elizabeth Bennet, and it had to be a thankless task to play Lara Antipova in Zhivago, the miniseries remake of Dr. Zhivago, because Keira’s no Julie Christie.