Archive for July, 2011

The Important Things

by John Cole

Mark Knoller, who has secured his role in the Beltway media’s village of the damned as the idiot savant Rain Man type, but without the wit and charm of Kim Peek, spending his time counting things like the number of times Obama has golfed, how many press conferences he has had, etc., while always managing [...]

July 31, 2011 · John Cole · 155 Comments
Posted in: Assholes, Our Failed Media Experiment

Everything Old Is New Again

by John Cole

The Washington Times: The U.S. Secret Service does more than protect Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. — the agency also pays him rent. Since April, Mr. Biden has collected more than $13,000 from the agency charged with protecting him and his family for use of a rental cottage adjacent to the waterfront home he [...]

July 31, 2011 · John Cole · 18 Comments
Posted in: Assholes, Our Failed Media Experiment

Open Thread: Send In the Clowns

by Anne Laurie

Because I couldn’t find a clip of Collins singing You can’t win, and you can’t break even You can’t get out of the game; You shouldn’t stay, but you ain’t leaving ‘Cause your luck… could change again… And besides, who doesn’t love Muppets? Speaking of which, I am not quite the target demographic for Elizabeth [...]

July 31, 2011 · Anne Laurie · 44 Comments
Posted in: All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Movies, Music, Open Thread

What it looks like so far

by Kay

I think it’s too early to tell what this will look like at the end, but this is the NYTimes on the current state of the deal. I pulled out the sections that appear substantive: There seemed to be broad agreement that any deal reached would include at least $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over [...]

July 31, 2011 · Kay · 500 Comments
Posted in: #notintendedtobeafactualstatement

Pit bulls and greyhounds

by Kay

I don’t have anything political to talk about, but I read this article this morning, and I know you-all know a lot about dogs: For any animal, a stay at a shelter or dog pound is often a harrowing experience. But for one type of dog, the “pit bull,” admittance to a government-run facility in [...]

July 31, 2011 · Kay · 142 Comments
Posted in: Open Thread, Uncategorized

All Your ISP Are Belong to U.S.

by John Cole

This is horrifying: Internet providers would be forced to keep logs of their customers’ activities for one year—in case police want to review them in the future—under legislation that a U.S. House of Representatives committee approved today. The 19 to 10 vote represents a victory for conservative Republicans, who made data retention their first major [...]

July 31, 2011 · John Cole · 155 Comments
Posted in: Both Sides Do It!, Science and Technology, Security Theatre

Open Thread – Hey, Teacher! Leave our tags alone

by Sarah Proud and Tall

And for the love of fucking christ, can you other front pagers stop making stupid fucking categories you only use once? I don’t know what you’re so grumpy about, Mr Cole. Isn’t the world a better place for the #notintendedtobeafactualstatement tag category? And “Sweet Fancy Moses!” makes me laugh every time I see it. But [...]

July 31, 2011 · Sarah Proud and Tall · 201 Comments
Posted in: Open Thread, Rare Sincerity, This is not where you come to do your madness!

Watching the Detectives

by mistermix

Brian Oliver at the Guardian has an interesting piece about Norwegian authors whose protagonists face neo-Nazi hate groups in their fiction, starting with Norwegian Jo Nesbø’s The Redbreast. Oliver concentrates on Norwegian authors, but also mentions Swedes like Henning Mankell, who wove far-right extremism into Return of the Dancing Master, as well as some of [...]

July 31, 2011 · mistermix · 68 Comments
Posted in: Books

Death Match: Constitutionalist v Partisan

by mistermix

I think this paragraph by Alex Knapp at OTB gets Obama’s attitude towards policy making about right: I think this [the Treasury deciding whom to pay] is worrisome. But on the other hand, it goes to a trend in our politics that has been escalating since the 1960s. More and more, Congress has been willing [...]

July 31, 2011 · mistermix · 282 Comments
Posted in: Decline and Fall

Open Thread: Sunday Garden Chat

by Anne Laurie

From commentor Raven (formerly Stuckinred): Here’s a close up of the raised beds with flowers, herbs and vegetables. The fencing is “Double Loop Ornamental” fence. You can see the shape at the top, at the bottom it is looped twice to make a very secure barrier against critters. You can also see the rose arbor [...]

July 31, 2011 · Anne Laurie · 46 Comments
Posted in: Black Thumb, Open Thread

Late Night Open Thread.

by John Cole

I’m off to bed, but I thought I would leave you all with a picture of the new and improved Rosie. All I have to say is “who is ready for bed time,” and she runs to her crate. She gets her treat, I go to bed, and no one bites me in my sleep. [...]

July 30, 2011 · John Cole · 131 Comments
Posted in: Open Thread

Saturday Night Open Thread

by John Cole

Since I have had the reply button fixed, I feel comfortable showing my face again. My friend Brian is in town for a visit (better known to you all as husband of Tammy and father of Sam), and we did our usual cook and drink and gorge routine. every couple of months we get together [...]

July 30, 2011 · John Cole · 135 Comments
Posted in: Open Thread

Elizabeth Warren, Still Fighting the Good Fight(s)

by Anne Laurie

NYMag’s Daily Intel has the text of Professor Warren’s “classy” exit note to her colleagues at the newborn Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (” ... I leave this agency, but not this fight. The issues we deal with — a middle class that has been squeezed and business models built on tricks and traps — are [...]

July 30, 2011 · Anne Laurie · 65 Comments
Posted in: All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, C.R.E.A.M., Excellent Links

It really is a war on workers. All workers. Of any kind.

by Kay

ProPublica has a good comprehensive piece on why parts of the FAA are shut down: While lawmakers deadlock over long-term deficit reduction plans tied to the raising of the debt ceiling, one federal agency—the Federal Aviation Administration—has been in partial shutdown for nearly a week. Last week, Congress adjourned on Friday without reaching an agreement [...]

July 30, 2011 · Kay · 47 Comments
Posted in: All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Assholes, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell

Open Thread

by John Cole

Alright, we are working on fixing the reply button. What else is pissing you off that I need to fix?

July 30, 2011 · John Cole · 326 Comments
Posted in: Open Thread

• « Older Entries

• Contact

  • Anne Laurie
  • Dennis G
  • DougJ
  • John
  • Kay
  • Mistermix
  • Tim F
  • Tom Levenson
  • Zandar

• Categories

  Select Category Beer Blogging #dickwhisperer #notintendedtobeafactualstatement #OWS 59-41 Senate Minority Absent Friends Activist Judges! Africa All we want is life beyond the thunderdome An Unexamined Scandal Assholes Bachmann Turner Diaries Overdrive Balloon Jobs Because of wow. Black Jimmy Carter Black Thumb Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell Bleg Blogospheric Navel-Gazing Blood Drive Books Both Sides Do It! Bradley Manning Bring on the Brawndo! Burkean bells C.R.E.A.M. Cat Blogging Clap Louder! Clown Shoes Cooking Corrections Crab Bucket Politics Crazification Factor Crock Pot Craziness David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute David Brooks is a dickhead Daydream Believers DC Press Corpse Decline and Fall Democratic Cowardice Democratic Stupidity Did You Know John McCain Was A POW? Dog Blogging Domestic Affairs Don’t Mourn, Organize Education eh Election 2008 Election 2010 Election 2011 Election 2011 eh Election 2012 Energy Policy Enhanced Protest Techniques Even the “Liberal” New Republic Ever Get The Feeling You’ve Been Cheated? Excellent Links Fables Of The Reconstruction Flash Mob of Hate Food Fools! Overton Window! Foreign Affairs Free Markets Solve Everything Fuck The Middle-Class Fuck The Poor Fucked-up-edness Fucksaw Gamer Dork Gay Rights are Human Rights General Stupidity Get off my grass you damned kids Getting The Band Back Together Glibertarianism Going Galt Goldman Sachs Good News For Conservatives Green Balloons Grifters Gonna Grift Guitars Not Guillotines Gun nuts Hoekstroika hoocoodanode Hoot-Smalley Humor I Cain’t Fight This Feelin’ Anymore I Can No Longer Rationally Discuss The Clinton Campaign I Can’t Believe We’re Losing to These People I Hate All of You I Read These Morons So You Don’t Have To I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own I Smell a Pulitzer! I wish a motherfucker would! IOKIYAR Jump! You Fuckers! KMBA Kochsuckers KULCHA! Lies, Damned Lies, and Sarah Palin Lindsey Graham’s Fee Fees Lizard blogging Looks Like I Picked the Wrong Week to Stop Sniffing Glue Mainstream Media’s McCain Mancrush malkinfreude Manic Progressive Massa Massage Media Memes/Quizzes Midnight Confessions Military Movies Music My Own Theological Premises About The Nature Of Sex NANCY SMASH! Nixonland Nobody could have predicted OBAMA IS WORSE THAN BUSH HE SOLD US OUT!! Open Thread Other Our Awesome Meritocracy Our Failed Media Experiment Our Failed Political Establishment Outrage Overton Window Party Like It’s 1998 Peak Wingnut Was a Lie! Perry-tinnitus Pet Rescue Photo blogging Pink Himalayan Salt Politics Popular Culture Post-racial America Proud to Be A Democrat PUMA = Propping Up McCain’s Ass Rare Sincerity Readership Capture Recipes Religion Republican Crime Syndicate – aka the Bush Admin. Republican Stupidity Republican Venality resveratrol Rick Perry Presents “Rick Perry” RIP Romney of the Uncanny Valley Rumormongering Schadenfreude Science and Technology Security Theatre Serenity Now! Seriously She Has The Electrolytes We Need Shitty Cops Show Me On the Doll Where Rahm Touched You Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You Show Us Your Countertops Since We Have A Category For Everything Here Is One for Insomina Site Maintenance Sociopaths somebody should do something Somewhere a Village is Missing its Idiot Spectering Sports Starbursts Starve the Beast Stuff About Black People Written By a Black Person Sweet Fancy Moses! Tax Policy Teabagger Stupidity Technically True but Collectively Nonsense Television The Al Franken Decade The Brown Enemy Within The Decadent Left In Its Enclaves On The Coasts The Dirty F-ing Hippies Were Right The Failed Obama Administration (Only Took Two Weeks) the Great American Bubble Machine The Math Demands It The Money Party The Party of Fiscal Responsibility The teabagger’s apprentice The War on Your Neighbor, aka the War on Drugs The Wingularity This is not where you come to do your madness! Time for a Blogger Ethics Panel Tire Swinging is so 2008 Torture Travel TWOC Uncategorized Vagina Outrage Vote Like Your Country Depends On It Vouchercare War War on Terror aka GSAVE® Warren for Senate 2012 WATB We Are All Baader-Meinhof Now We Are All Mayans Now When Everything Changed Where’s my Moore Award? wine blogging Wingnut Christmas Wingnut Event Horizon World’s Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It) WTF? WWJBD- What Would Jenna Bush Do? Yes We Did

• Archives

  Select Month January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002

• Balloon Juice Store

  

• Pet Calendar

  

• Pages

  • Balloon Juice Lexicon (A-H)
  • Balloon Juice Lexicon (I-P)
  • Balloon Juice Lexicon (Q-Z)
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
• 

• Standard Blogads

  
  Your ad could be here.
• 
  

• Recent Posts

  • Who Do They Think You Are?
  • It’s difficult to judge, but I feel Obama made her do it
  • It’s A Bit Too Late For That, Ruben
  • TRESemmé Mucho
  • Late Night Open Thread
  • Why? Because He Can.
  • If I Had Known It Was This Easy
  • Not Just a River In Egypt
  • Here I Come Again Now Baby, I’m Like a Dog In Heat
  • Open Thread

• Recent Comments

  • Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal on Who Do They Think You Are?
  • grandpa john on It’s difficult to judge, but I feel Obama made her do it
  • CaptainFwiffo on Who Do They Think You Are?
  • The Sheriff Is A Ni- on Not Just a River In Egypt
  • Jon O. on Who Do They Think You Are?
  • auntieeminaz on It’s difficult to judge, but I feel Obama made her do it
  • Elie on It’s difficult to judge, but I feel Obama made her do it
  • Kilkee on Why? Because He Can.
  • twiffer on Who Do They Think You Are?
  • Chris on It’s A Bit Too Late For That, Ruben
  • Elizabelle on Who Do They Think You Are?
  • Benjamin Franklin on Not Just a River In Egypt
  • piratedan on It’s difficult to judge, but I feel Obama made her do it
  • r€nato on It’s difficult to judge, but I feel Obama made her do it
  • JGabriel on It’s difficult to judge, but I feel Obama made her do it
• 

• Blogroll

  • 538
  • American News Project
  • Amygdala
  • Angry Black Lady Chronicles
  • Atrios and Co.
  • August J. Pollak
  • Avedon
  • Barry Eisler
  • Bob Cesca’s Allegedly Awesome Blog
  • Calculated Risk
  • Can't Explain
  • Cleek
  • Critters by Britty
  • Crooked Timber
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Daily Kos
  • Dan Savage
  • Digby
  • Donklephant
  • Driftglass
  • Elias Isquith
  • Emily Hauser In Your Base Killing Your Doodz
  • Emptywheel
  • Eunomia
  • Evelyn DeHais
  • Ezra Klein
  • Fifth Column
  • First Door On The Left
  • Focal Point
  • Gin and Tacos
  • Glenn Greenwald
  • Greg Sargent
  • If I Ran the Zoo
  • Incertus
  • Jack and Jill
  • John Scalzi
  • Jonathan Turley
  • Kevin Drum
  • Kung Fu Monkey
  • Lawyers, Guns, and Money
  • League of Ordinary Gentleman
  • Mahablog
  • Main Street
  • Mario Piperni
  • Matt Yglesias
  • Nature Newsblog
  • Ned Raggett
  • No More Mister Nice Blog
  • Obsidian Wings
  • Oliver
  • Orcinus
  • Outside the Beltway
  • Pandagon
  • Pat Lang
  • Pharyngula
  • Photodude
  • Poliblog
  • Postbourgie
  • Prose Before Hos
  • Pufferfish
  • Real Climate
  • Roy Edroso
  • Rump Roast
  • Sadly, No!
  • Sarah, Proud and Tall
  • ScienceNOW
  • Shakes and Company
  • Skippy
  • Steve Benen
  • Stiftung Leo Strauss
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Talk Left
  • Talking Points Memo
  • TBOGG
  • The Accidental Environmentalist
  • The Booman Tribune
  • The County Fair
  • The Daily Howler
  • The Field
  • The Impolitic
  • The Moderate Voice
  • The Newshoggers
  • The Panda’s Thumb
  • The Politburo Diktat
  • The Political Carnival
  • The Poorman
  • The Raw Story
  • The Reaction
  • The Slacktivist
  • The Street
  • The World According to Meh!
  • This Modern World
  • Tiny Revolution
  • Tom Levenson
  • TRBC (Mark Kleiman and Co.)
  • Unqualified Offerings
  • Washington Independent
  • Way of Cats
  • West Virginia Blue
  • Wil Wheaton
  • Wonkette
  • Zandar Versus The Stupid

• Blogs We Monitor And Mock As Needed

  • Andrew Sullivan
  • Con. Yankee’s Beauchamp Bugaloo
  • Hugh Hewitt
  • Mark Halperin’s Drudge Report Wannabe
  • Michelle Malkin
  • Red State
  • The Corner (AKA K. Lo’s House of Crazy)
  • The Politico

• Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org
•