Not about elections. Not about humor. I just committed to $20 a month, forever, to the World Food Program via the Letterman site (the head of WFP was on his show this week.) You can donate here. FWIW, 93% of what they raise goes directly to feed people. While you’re donating to Obama, donate to WFP. 25¢ a day feeds a child!
That is all. Back to your regularly scheduled political programming.
Comrade Fedorovich Stuck
You’ve now come full circle Comrade Cole. Never to return to the party of “I got mine, now fuck off”.
I’m perpetually hung up on our wounded vets coming back from Iraq and every extra penny goes to them. The World Food Program is an excellent choice for donation, though.
RoonieRoo
Except this post is from Michael, not John. Good for you Michael!
Michael D.
Comrade Michael D. wrote this post. :-) And Comrade Michael D. has always beeen a charitable person. He volunteers regularly at the Atlanta Humane Society and gives a good chunk of his paycheck to Atlanta Public Radio and other charities in Atlanta, including AIDS organizations and others.
Comrade Fedorovich Stuck
My apologies Michael D., and to Comrade Cole. The remedial reading classes could be going better, I guess.
Michael D.
Even in my “I’m a commited Republican” days, I knew people needed part of my paycheck more than I did. I’ve aways been like that. And I am quite proud to say I’ve done that, and quite happy, and no less better off, for having done so.
gbear
Your donation prevents this:
<img src=”http://ihasahotdog.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/funny-dog-pictures-fluffy-dog-kills-again.jpg”>
from ever happening again.
Be generous.
Halffasthero
And Comrade Michael D . often speaks in the 3rd person singular.
When he speaks in 3rd person plural we can start worrying about him. But maybe he will raise money for each personality he(they) sport. : )
Michael D.
Halffasthero: Step up! Click the link and donate!
Scrutinizer
I went away and came back to pretty. What happened?
A la lanterne les aristos
Gaaaah! WTF!?
littlesky
I like what you’ve done with the place, or what you’re in the process of doing with the place.
capelza
Oh! Nice…
Now I’ll have to learn what those thingies above the comment box are, I’m such a tech boob.
Glad the little dude with the balloon is still there.
Michael D.
Holy shitl What happened?
Lampwick
Who painted the walls?
Nice job.
Scrutinizer
But I don’t like the ten thousand tag thingys.
Halffasthero
Michael D (or one of his other selves)
Talk to John or whomever is in charge… If you notice, your charity link is impossible to see unless you hover over it.
Ned R.
It’s all DIFFERENT now! I resist change! I am a true conservative!
(I so lie.)
Great job. Looks stellar!
Jane Jug-Wine
oooooooooo…..the effete elitist part of me LOVES the new look.
Yum-my!
Scrutinizer
Doesthis work?
Eric
The Big Block of Tags is a little annoying. Other than that – not bad, not bad.
Karmakin
Niiiiiice.
Good font for the entry box too.
littlesky
littlesky
crap.
rekroc
Congrats on the makeover! Nice!
Stuck in the Fun House
Yea got borders now. Well done. I’m happy long as there’s black print on a light gray background.
PsiFighter37
Interesting browsing the archives circa Election 2004. My, my, how times – and people – have changed…
Steve H
Whoa! Soothing, modern…
Balloon Juice has gone big time. I like it.
littlesky
<img src=”http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l211/littlesky_2006/fireworks/DSCF0224-1.jpg”>
one more time
Comrade Warren Terra
The site all looks different, which of course frightens me, but it still works with my phone’s mediocre browser, so I’m happy.
Rosali
I like the new look and I like the comment borders. Maybe you can do a little tutorial on the tag buttons?
Ned R.
Actually thinking of that phone comment — the mobile version of the site went up a couple of hours back and I tested it on my iPhone. Nicely done!
gbear
Wow. Doesn’t feel like a bar any more. It’s actually quite nice. & now our clothes won’t smell like smoke when we leave.
JGabriel
GBear:
You say that like it’s a good thing. I beg to differ.
.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
Awwww, this is too cool! Usually I hate redesigns but this is a definite improvement.
Nice work!
Comrade Incertus
I’m with the others on the big block o’ tags on the side, but I like the new look otherwise as well. On the open thread note, if you’re a Floridian reading this blog, give us a hand in beating back Amendment 2. All we have to do is get to 40% to beat it.
FinalArbiterOnEverySubject
Why We Fight. A friend who works for a well known labor union sent this to me today:
Seems like this is an appropriate time to remember good ‘ole Joe Republican, as Palin (and the rest of them for that matter) seem to fall into that category:
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance – now Joe gets it too.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union.
If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.
Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads.
He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans.
The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.
Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”
FinalArbiterOnEverySubject
I dont totally hate this look, but what I do hate is the typeface in the comments. It is hard to read and looks like something out of an interior decorator’s business card.
Also, the comment header no longer retains my handle.
Okay I lied, I do totally hate this look.
jcricket
Ooh, redesign. Swanky.
Did anyone see this hilarious slideshow of Biden’s debate prep?
It’s awesome.
Wilson Heath
Wheras a vote for McCain still helps to diddle a child. In his NPR interview this morning he’s still railing on Obama for voting for a law that helps teach kids how not to get molested. Is he so screwed that he’s really going for the NAMBLA vote?
Delia
Delia
Okay how do you get the image to embed? Just using the image tab doesn’t do it.
Media Glutton
Michael, I just donated $10 a month, as well. You take full blame!
Comrade Nikolita
I would donate but money is a little tight right now. However, I do already pay $70 a month to sponsor two children (one in Thailand, one in Indonesia) through World Vision. :)
So I consider that my contribution, small as it might be.
Brachiator
I was pleasantly knocked over to see Letterman devote an entire show segment to this organization. Perhaps he wanted to follow in some way on the sentiments he expressed in his warm farewell to Paul Newman, who had always been a good friend to the Letterman show.
Putting things into perspective, the WFP guest noted that for $3 billion a year, every child on Earth could receive a cup of rice a day, along with a crucial few ounces of essential vitamins and protection against common parasitic ailments.
And $3 billion looks like chump change when compared to the $700 billion that Bush is seeking to bail out the financial markets.
Conservatively Liberal
I am posting in here because I can’t post in the newer threads. The bottom of the page is black, so it is a no-go situation for me. I am running the latest SeaMonkey browser and it works just fine everywhere else.
Fix your damn blog Cole! :)
Michael D.
Sounds like something we could add to the bill with nary a whimper!
jcricket
Think about what spending that as part of our foreign
policy would do for our standing in the world. If we focused one
tenth of what we spend on Iraq (or even 1/100th) on programs that
provided clean water, vaccines and basic food needs. If we killed
the conservative stranglehold on our family planning programs (i.e.
were allowed to discuss abortion, contraception, etc. openly and
honestly). I’m sure Libertarians will grouse about “moral hazard”
or something. The best thing I’ve read recently about moral hazard
is that, like risk homeostasis, it is plausible, but wildly
over-diagnosed. Risk homeostatis is that theory that when things
get safer, people become more risk-prone and keep the overall risk
level the same. Unfortunately, most examples people use are BS
(like ABS and airbags, which have reduced vehicle accidents
fatalities overall. They didn’t result in people driving so much
more crazily that it overcame the advantages). Most other
countries, btw, don’t spend their time jabbering on about moral
hazards in their healthcare systems – because it’s a stupid “only
valid in an right wing think thank” argument.
jcricket
Hmmm, blockquote all screwy. And that’s one thing I know I do
right.