Gimmie a solid #7 pick for my fantasy draft. Starts in 90 minutes. Grassyass.
2.
bedtimeforbonzo
Punchy: Go with D’Angelo Williams.
3.
handy
Somebody on another thread mentioned tauren pallies. Please don’t do that again.
4.
AnneS
Need more Tunch!! Tunchity Tunch Tunch Tunch. The Tunchinator! Beloved kitty. (Biscuit, Goblin, Charlotte, Oyster, Miss Callie and Muffin share da love!)
5.
bey
I always thought the tauren might have regretted their choice. Especially when standing next to an undead cannibalizing.
Go tauren pallies!
6.
bedtimeforbonzo
Off-the-beaten path TV recommendation: “Three Sheets” — a travelogue/drinking show which takes you to different countries where the host, Zane Lampley, ties one on with the locals. I used to watch it on an obscure cable channel called Mojo and, thanks to a blurb in Entertainment Weekly, rediscovered it on FLN (Fine Living Network).
Speaking of fantasy drafts, I think I will regret taking Eli Manning in mine.
7.
General Winfield Stuck
Man I’m bored with politics. I turn on the teevee and hear the same ole cycle of shit of spin , rinse, repeat.
We need another wingnut sex scandal. Maybe Mitch MCconnell and Boy George. Or, Boehner getting ass raped by a Sea Crab. Something, anything.
8.
Ash Can
Is this the thread where we can come to escape the flaming paper bags of dog shit in the other threads?
9.
plaindave
I want every poll to include a question about the age of the Earth and see that included in the breakdowns reported.
10.
Betsy
@General Winfield Stuck:
I swear I’m not trying to be the uptight humorless speech police (UHSP), but I would be grateful if people could try to avoid casual rape jokes. Even about men getting raped. For rape survivors they can often feel like a punch in the gut. Thanks.
So, here’s my exciting, slightly healthcare related day. A year ago, my glasses broke, and I was running out of daily disposable contact lenses (which I’ve been using for over 10 years). Having just switched jobs, I learned that my vision insurance was not as good as it used to be. Instead of covering a pair/supply of contacts or glasses each year, my new plan only provided $100 towards hardware every two years. I live in an expensive major city, and I get paid literally peanuts so I couldn’t spend a lot; turns out that monthly disposable lenses were a lot cheaper than daily lenses, and I don’t like the way I look in glasses, so I went with the monthly disposables and bought a year’s supply, figuring that I’d pony up and get a cheap pair of glasses a year later.
Fastforward ahead almost exactly a year. My right eye starts hurting yesterday. This morning it’s really in pain, very red, and watering so I tape up my broken glasses and head to the eye doc’s office at lunch. I think maybe I have pink eye, or something. Nope! I’ve got an ulcerated cornea in the right eye, which is infected, and signs of a developing ulcer in the left one so I get sent immediately over to an opthamologist who checks me out, puts some drops in my eyes, and gives me a prescription for some more with a $50 copay. I need to put drops in my eye every hour I’m awake until Thursday morning when I go back to get checked again. Luckily, he said, we caught this early before it made me blind, and hopefully the ulcer won’t scar and mess up my vision. But he doesn’t want me using contacts again in the future, and I’m too brutally nearsighted for surgery, so it looks like I may be stuck with glasses from now on.
I guess my eyes are just very crappy overall, because I knew people in college who would wear their weekly contacts for months on end, and sleep in them, and nothing ever happened to them. I never slept in mine, and am usually very careful cleaning them. This is a very minor and stupid problem, especially compared to people out there who have real health problems, but damn have I been wishing for my old health insurance so I could have bought daily disposables a year ago.
12.
robertdsc
How I wish some liberal Dem Senator or Representative would blow up and get in a Gooper’s face about the lying. I know it will never happen, but to hear Al Franken or Russ Feingold tell Tom Coburn or John Kyl to their faces that they’re lying to the nation would be priceless beyond measure. Hell, I’d be even happier if the President did it in one of his press conferences.
Other than that, I second the request for more Tunch. Can’t get enough of the Tunchinator.
President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.
14.
Alan
@bedtimeforbonzo: That was my favorite show on Mojo. I wish someone would bring it back to HD.
I am unhappy because last night our local Dem HQ, in Denver, was attacked by a couple guys who broke all the windows in the building. Things have been growing uglier for a while, and I know everyone here knows that. Here in Colorado we definitely have our white supremacy groups around (they’ve left flyers in my neighborhood before), but with the Republicans and cable talkers encouraging the nuts, where will it end? It all worries me.
Gimmie a solid #7 pick for my fantasy draft. Starts in 90 minutes. Grassyass.
7th pick overall? Steve Smith, Thomas Jones, Roy Williams all should still be available. Williams is a solid pick and could blow up this year (or not! Fantasy is fun!). If Jay Cutler is still around at QB, might not be a bad pick, but wait a few rounds.
I know it will never happen, but to hear Al Franken or Russ Feingold tell Tom Coburn or John Kyl to their faces that they’re lying to the nation …
Never say never. I can see Franken doing that someday. Maybe not while he’s still a freshman, but someday. He’s done it in the past, I think, to Gingrich while he was still Speaker of the House.
.
22.
harlana pepper
Woohoo!
23.
General Winfield Stuck
And thank you Betsy. I had been doing well with not cussing so much and with general crudeness, until all the Health Care madness came on. I am going to crawl back up on the decency wagon for another try. I’m not being snarkish.:)
24.
Keith G
@freelancer: Thanks, cuts pics – even if I had to sully myself.
25.
Skepticat
@Crashman06:
I’m having sympathy pains, even a slightly scratched cornea is verrrry painful. Thank goodness you got treatment rapidly–it makes all the difference.
I have fragile retinas, and when one detached two years ago, the doctor told me I had several thin spots that probably would tear at some point. That emergency surgery and follow-ups cost me minimal co-pays; now that I’ve lost my health insurance, I live in terror of losing my vision, too.
@Betsy: Yeah, I’m with you. Thanks for bringing it up.
I needz Tunch, Cole. Please? I just read the entire Morissey thread, and I am pretty demoralized on the whole torture issue. I need some humor right about now.
Great story (not on my blog) about an artist who took a chunk out of a record company’s ass for once.
30.
Max
Not sure how many people are watching, but Randall Terry and his anti-choice terrorist group is causin’ a scene at the Dean Townhall in Virginia. It’s on CSPAN.
Some people look at the world as it is and ask, “why?” I look at the world and ask, “who wants another round of margaritas?”
32.
Joey Maloney
I’m watching a health care town hall on C-SPAN in Virginia with Rep. James Moran and Howard Dean. There are actually people chanting “Don’t Let Him Speak”.
Randall Terry was just escorted out after doing his best to disrupt the event. I’m not in favor of police brutality, which is why I hope that it’s private citizens that administer a sound beating in the parking lot to that worthless waste of skin.
@Joey Maloney: I’m not in favor of police brutality, which is why I hope that it’s private citizens that administer a sound beating in the parking lot to that worthless waste of skin.
Sometimes it’s tough to stay on the moral high ground. Sometimes more so than others. This is like hanging onto a moral high ground made of glass while being hit with Katrina-force winds.
seriously, john, if you’re not going to allow comment editing, at least allow for a preview, so i actually spell the joke punchline correctly, thus allowing for the laugh.
38.
eric
Democracy allows all opinions, but we need not treat them equally. too many people think that they because they have a right to an opinion, that opinion is by definition unassailable. The irony is that the same people that express this extreme form of relativism are moral absolutists. So, in reality, they are anti-democratic to the core because the will of the majority can never trump the Truth. See Aquinas, Thomas; see also King, Martin Luther.
@Skepticat: Thanks. It’s not as painful since I started the drops. I’m fairly young and healthy now so I rarely have need of my health insurance, but it scared me a bit when the doctor said this could have blinded me. Don’t know what I’d do without insurance. I will keep my fingers crossed for your retinas, and hope you can get coverage soon.
@asiangrrlMN: From your mouth to the FSM’s orecchiette.
(Please note: This joke is stolen, ripped off, lifted entire, from my buddy savejinger, from elsewhere on the tubez. All royalty payments to her, please).
(But other than that: Please God!)
43.
IndieTarheel
I swore off all evening newscasts (and the Tweety repeat) in favor of walking. It’s early, but I think it’s having an effect – I haven’t thrown anything at the TV in a week, and my headaches have lessened.
44.
Comrade Mary
I didn’t know I needed those pics so badly until I saw them. Thanks, Ahab.
1. People in Virginia aren’t bright (at least the one’s at this townhall). They’ve asked Rep. Moran at least three times the same question… would you put your family on the public option and he said “yes” everytime.
2. The hate Howard Dean.
3. Obama supporters are more polite than the others.
4. Rep Moran made Randall Terry an offer to have the first question and then STFU and Terry decided to continue to shout and was escorted out. He was just there to shot down the meeting and yell “we won’t pay for murder” and “baby killer”.
5. Rep Moran is a trooper and he’s hanging in there. I would have bagged this whole thing and gone for a stiff drink.
47.
bey
I recommend the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee site to anyone who is jonesing for some Tunch and/or needs a rest from despair.
She fosters litters from the Tacoma area Humane Society until they’re big enough to adopt out. Great photos.
Not to offend anyone here too much, but if you frequent Hullabaloo’s site: what is up with the comments? Literally 20 people posting the same 20 ideas to every post? And they alternate it so it’s a cycle of the same 20 over a comment thread of 80.
(Also, those comments are mostly of the “pat myself on the back-you all fail at being progressive” variety that pretty much dooms any kind of formation of a popular progressive movement that actually achieve progressive reform. I mean, Digby actually tried to ask constructive questions about why there was such a gap in enthusiasm over health care reform. And with no ounce of self-reflection or self-awareness they went on about how the Democrats provided no leadership, despite the fact that 1) “progressives” have been pretty adamant about declaring progressives’ independence from “Democrats” in the past and 2) about how it would be “the progressives'” job to hold Obama’s feet to the fire when he came to office. Well, they and whose army? Did they think calling their Congresspeople would do the trick given the massive amount of money and disinformation amassed by opponents in the past? What have they been doing in the name of health reform for the last 6-8 months? The last 6-8 weeks? Also, did the words “single payer” ever pass their lips more than once or twice between 2006-2008? Whence the enthusiasm for the Clinton/Edwards mandates?) /end rant
50.
Glyph_2112
Is it just me or is the difference between the Left and the Right is that the Left was critical of Bush and the Republicans based on their actions (or inactions). The Right side is critical of Obama and the Democrats based on some undefined action that they may take or are somehow trying to take.
Even when Bush was in office, it was always, “thank god it wasn’t Gore, or Kerry”. Even though they was absolutely no way to know what actions either of them would have taken.
51.
Max
I gotta say, if you have access to CSPAN, you gotta watch this townhall – it is wild!
Howard Dean just asked everyone who wants to give up their Medicare to raise their hands. Not too many takers.
I gotta repeat that they HATE Dr. Dean in Virginia. He would have never turned Virginny blue if he were running for President.
52.
JK
The poison planted by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and Michelle Malkin continues to bear fruit. The people who booed when McCain said that Obama respects the Constitution are pure, unadulterated scum.
as a fellow sufferer of near-sightedness who wears contacts, I sympathize with you and hope things get better. One thing I cannot for the life of me get is how eye care and dental care are not part of HEALTH care, since without the glasses and the dental checkups, our health and quality of life deteriorates significantly.
My old eye doctor didn’t believe in disposable lenses so he gave me these shitty ones that I’d have to take out every night and throw away every week. They were hard to put in and really hard to keep clean. After a while, I just said fuck it and wore my glasses.
@Paula: I seem to read Digby only through RSS, so I rarely see the comments. But from the few times I’ve checked them, I seem to remember that they were all a little weird.
BTW, Why the hell can’t CSPAN have a better video stream/player than windows media or real player? Every major network uses flash streaming and it works fine. CSPAN’s streams suck on a mac usually. hell, they could even use Ustream or something if they want.
and yes, I did just hear Howard Dean defend Big Pharma. Wonder if Megan McArgle-Bargle will mention that sometime?
The right side of politics in this country has always had a innate tendency toward being overly reactionary. What we are seeing now is a distilled party of ideologues, that are out of power completely, and in complete reactionary mode.
To a degree, this is normal for opposition parties. But the compulsive obsessive attention to the dumbest of details by our wingnuts is not, err normal in the least.
It should also be noted that “boos,” which are in the lower register, sound louder and therefore more prevalent than cheers, which are in a higher register. That doesn’t mean they are more prevalent.
65.
Paula
@
Um, that people would take offense @ MY comment ABOUT Digby’s comment threads. Did you take offense? Because I try to go over there and read what’s going on and the comment threads always ruin my experience over there. Yes, I do try to stay away most of the time, but curiosity get the better of me sometimes.
C-SPAN is the greatest idea to come along since the wheel and sliced bread.
BookTV is to public affairs programming what The Sopranos The Shield, and The Wire are to entertainment programming. Washington Journal is 1,000 times better than the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Early Show, Fox Fuckheads and Friends, and Morning Douchebag combined.
Brian Lamb is to public affairs programming what Jimi Hendrix is to guitar playing.
President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.
One can hope that he wrote that on his phone while waiting for his turn inside a stall in a Minnesota airport bathroom.
cain
72.
Alan
I turned to CSPAN prompted by your post. The guy does a great job. Heck I was one of those RW jerks who used to make fun of the guy. Frankly, I now wish the guy won the nomination and the Presidency in ’04.
And, if you’re still watching, Dean was right about the drug companies reducing time for recovery–for profit. I have a friend who sells an excellent operating room treatment that reduces healing time significantly.
73.
Corner Stone
@arguingwithsignposts: I hate to tell you this – but I read your post and checked the author because it sounded an awful like something BoB would’ve posted.
It just lacked a “structural feminist” here and a dash of “metal exposure” there…
74.
Herb
Having recently re-watched The Wild Bunch, your “why not?” makes me want to go confront the general, try to rescue our buddy Angel, or die trying!
@General Winfield Stuck:
Thank you so much for your graciousness on the issue. I never want to come across as a scold, and I never assume it means anyone is a bad person/misogynist/etc. It’s so deeply ingrained in our culture; almost everyone (including me) has made those jokes from time to time. I think that most people don’t realize that it can make people feel so bad, and once they understand that, they try to stop.
Thanks again. :)
Changing direction (in an Open Thread? Can that be done?)
How the heck is it that I’ve never heard Neil Young’s “Rust Never Sleeps” before? Goodness gracious, this is excellent.
80.
Brick Oven Bill
Tonight, I gambled $20, and got 3 expensive beers in exchange for my $7 dollar loss. On the way home, I decided to get a ‘roader’, for the private gravelish portion of the trip, in tonight’s case a Mike’s Harder Lemonade, which is pretty good. I stood in line behind an overweight black man with an earing, who bought a 40oz Miller High Life and two packs of Kools.
How can you even compare my comment with this: @Brick Oven Bill
83.
Xenos
Here is a question – have the comment pages at Politico always been overrun by birthers and birchers? I know they are right-of-center, but they make the redstaters look sane these days.
I just realized I picked the same week to go to Massachusetts as President Obama. Gee, I hope he doesn’t think I’m stalking him. I really hope Mrs. Obama doesn’t think I’m stalking him!
I’m lucky to have many places I feel comfortable to call ‘home’ and it is nice to be home in Boston tonight. And to celebrate I’m swearing off politics for the week. Must. Not. Read. Other. Threads.
85.
Corner Stone
@Brick Oven Bill: High Life and Kools?
You’ve never actually seen a black man have you.
@Brick Oven Bill: I think I’d choose the 40 of High Life over the Mike’s.
87.
JK
FUCK CNN AND LARRY KING
The country is going to hell. The economy is in the toilet. We’re fighting 2 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thugs are disrupting town hall meetings and spread lies.
So what does Larry King discuss tonight? He interviews Kate from Jon and Kate plus eight.
CNN should be fined $25 million for journalistic malpractice and Larry King should be fires ASAP. This trivialization and bastardization of journalism is far more offensive and objectionable than the exposure of Janet Jackson’s breast.
Anyone who cares about journalism and this country should contact CNN by phone, fax, email, or snail mail and tell them in unambiguous language to GO FUCK THEMSELVES.
88.
Demo Woman
Thanks all for the updates about the town hall meeting. I have no idea why I can’t stream cspan.
89.
Betsy
@Corner Stone:
Sure he has. The skeery ones on the teevee.
90.
Corner Stone
@arguingwithsignposts: I am totally fucking sorry about the sloppy miscarriage of justice there.
It’s not that your post was wacky enough to qualify, just that it started out with the tonal note of how boos could register in different ways to the audience.
That seemed like a classic baseline from where BoB usually launches his crazy shit. Your post just seemed like a primer for the kinds of things BoB spews on about.
Maybe I can ship you a spiral cut ham as penance?
@Xenos: Very frequently, Politico is linked to by Drudge. Hence the wingnutters.
93.
eric
@JK: I have to disagree, respectfully of course. We would all be better off right this minute if every news show focused on trivia rather than the birthers and deathers.
In the abstract, i would certainly prefer unbiased, thoughtful, and objective reporting and commenatary. But, if i cant have that, i would rather have trivia so that the dolts dont rally to the detriment of the country and her ailing peoples.
(some snark intended, but sadly i think mostly straight on commentary as to my feelings)
I’d rather see cable news boring people to death with facts and details than pandering to the lowest possible denominator with garbage like Jon and Kate and Michael Jackson.
Cable news should be sacrosanct when it comes to programming. With 100 channels to choose from, plus the Internet, people who give a damn about Jon and Kate or Michael Jackson have many sources to get their fix. There’s no excuse for execs at CNN, MSNBC, and FNC to be polluting their airwaves with tabloid entertainment bullshit.
100.
SiubhanDuinne
@ freelancer/ 8:06 pm
I would bet everything I own that this phrase has never before been used in the entire history of the universe: “Bonus anteater after the jump.”
@ arguingwithsignposts/8:49 pm
A few years ago, a fairly routine eye exam quite possibly saved my life. The optometrist found a slight abnormality and after a series of specialists and MRIs and CATscans an otorhinolaryngologist discovered I had a couple of tumours growing on my salivary glands. No other symptoms, no discomfort, no disfigurement. He removed them surgically. They were benign thank FSM but could have become nasty in a whole lot of ways if they hadn’t been caught in time.
@ BrickOvenBill/9:17 pm
Please tell us more about your evening! Don’t leave out a single detail, okay?
I’d rather see cable news boring people to death with facts and details on important issues than pandering to the lowest possible denominator with garbage like Jon and Kate and Michael Jackson.
Cable news should be sacrosanct when it comes to programming. With 100 channels to choose from, plus the Internet, people who give a damn about Jon and Kate or Michael Jackson have many sources to get their fix. There’s no excuse for execs at CNN, MSNBC, and FNC to be polluting their airwaves with tabloid entertainment bullshit.
@AhabTRuler: Oh my goodness! Momo Sprout was so dang adorable. Now, she’s simply beautiful! Thank you for brightening my day (especially as Cole is slacking off on Tunchie duty).
103.
Brick Oven Bill
The pizza guy back east made a bunch of 18” pizzas, thin crust, and then, after you pay your $2.50, would re-heat the slice in his natural gas oven. I kind of worried about the cheese but never got sick.
He had a Russian wife, pregnant. He was fat and from New York, and he failed. Boxing was on the TV. We talked boxing. There was a Ms. Pac Man machine. In my opinion he failed because I observed him spitting on the ground in the front of his restaurant.
If you cannot respect your own food establishment, do not expect the neighborhood to do the same. I also once got a bad onion at this place. How much does a fresh onion cost?
In contrast, I like the Asian Indian guy who owns the package store that served up the 2 packs of Kools to our black neighbor. The package store owner bitches about the government fees too. $500 last month for some inspection. We are friends.
My re-heated pizza is better than dip-shit’s re-heated pizza.
104.
eric
@JK: You go to political war with the cable news you have, not the cable news you want. :)
105.
JK
@JGabriel:
Fox News is far and away the most dishonest news organization in America. Their programming is a super sized, putrid, steaming pile of excrement. Fox News is the most virulent and malignant carcinogen afflicting journalism in this country. Hannity, Beck, O’Reilly, Van Susteren, etc are a rogues’ gallery of hate mongers, fear mongers, and liars.
I guess my eyes are just very crappy overall, because I knew people in college who would wear their weekly contacts for months on end, and sleep in them, and nothing ever happened to them.
I knew people in college who could party till 4am five nights a week and still pass their classes, and yet today if they stay up past 11pm they’re sub-optimal for the next two days. Our eyes, like so many other body parts, become less resilient with age, which means it’s easier for them to be injured & also harder for them to overcome the resulting infection. I’m glad you made the choice to go see your eye doctor right away, rather than trying to tough it out!
@JK: I agree with you. I don’t have cable in part because so much of it is just plain shitty. You would think there would be ONE FUCKING CHANNEL devoted to wonky policy. Is that really too fucking much to ask?
The package store owner bitches about the government fees too. $500 last month for some inspection. We are friends. My re-heated pizza is better than dip-shit’s re-heated pizza.
Has BOBill passed the Turing Test? He’s not self-aware yet is he?
@Betsy: Aw, what a sweetie! She is sooooo dang cute in her bed. Hm. I should upload a few of my boys so I can show them off.
@SiubhanDuinne: Could be too many links. Three is usually safe, but who knows? Moderation may be extra-cranky tonight. Or maybe, it’s anteater.
116.
Skepticat
@Linkmeister: Perhaps you missed Neil Young the way I missed Leonard Cohen until fairly recently–a ripple in the time/space continuum, I think–but this is definitely a better-late-than-never situation. I’m spending a lot of time making up for lost time with LC’s music.
@Anne Laurie: Thanks Anne. Glad I didn’t wait too, but it looked pretty bad so I felt like it was warranted. I only make the reference to those college friends because it was only a handful of years ago. Called one of them this evening, who still sleeps in his contacts, to warn him about what happened to me!
@Skepticat: I’ve got about a dozen early NY albums, but in the 1980s I stopped listening to the radio, so I lost almost two decades of popular music. I didn’t miss much, but some of my favorite artists kept working, so I’ve been catching up on them.
Leonard Cohen writes wonderfully. I think his singing, on the other hand, is kinda like latter-day Dylan; an acquired taste.
@Brick Oven Bill: BoB, you often seem somewhat crazy to me, and I can’t say I agree with your ideas, but I’d love to learn one of your pizza recipes. I can’t seem to get my crust right.
120.
geg6
JK: FOXNews would be vastly improved if they went with 24 hour coverage of Jon and Kate and Michael Jackson. Just sayin’.
I’m sorry that Paddy Chayefsky isn’t alive to see 24 hour cable news. The film Network remains as vital, relevant, and important as it was back in 1976. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9wCAQz73tA
News and public affairs tv programming today is Dickensian. C-SPAN is the best and cable news with a few exceptions such as Olberman, Maddow, Schultz, Zakaria, and documentaries from Christianne Ammanpour is the worst.
Bachmann: Prayer and fasting will help defeat health care reform
I would be more than happy if Bachmann restricted her obstructionism to prayer and fasting. I’d even let her pray and fast on the floor of the Senate, as long as she didn’t get in the way of the sane people trying to get decent health care for more Americans. In fact, if Bachmann and all her most enthusiastic fellows were to end up hospitalized for an excess of prayer-and-fasting, I would chip in for a nice sympathy card. I wouldn’t chip in much, maybe a nice shiny nickel, but that would be five cents more than Bachmann has ever chipped in towards useful policy.
@Anne Laurie: Agreed! If my own personal batshitcrazy winger wants to restrict herself to praying and fasting, I’m all for it.
By the way, the idiot said that the rabble-rousers had to keep attending town hall meetings and keep telling government to keep its hands off their bodies. That’s right, Miss Rabid Anti-Choice tells the gubmint to git when it comes to making choices with HER body!
contemplating going +2
130.
Max
Looks like Obama is about to bring peace (talks) to the Middle East.
I wish Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann would donate their brains to science. I’m dying to know what special wiring exists within their brains that enables them to be so delusional and demented.
I’ll throw in a shiny nickel too. But not a penny more.
I’m sure there are quite a few praying and fasting on the other side of the debate as well. Let’s just leave invisible sky dwellers out of the whole think, Rep. Bachmann, okay?
134.
Rosali
I have a crush on Howard Dean. I show my true political geekness when I don’t care for any rock stars but would love to have a drink and conversation with Dean.
@asiangrrlMN: We have to be grateful for Olbermann, Maddow, Shultz, Zaakaria, and C-SPAN.
@geg6: The ONLY WAY Fox News would be vastly improved would be if it went off the air.
@Skepticat: @Linkmeister: I like Leonard Cohen a lot but not as much as Dylan and Young.
Linkmeister, if you think Leonard Cohen’s singing voice is an acauired taste what would you say about Tom Waits. I think listening to Tom Waits sing should qualify as a form of enhanced interrogation
Oooh, Grapevine. It’s kind of hot in North Texas this time of year, isn’t it? (at least it was when I lived in Cowtown). Enjoy the trip. I’ll be stuck here in the midwest working.
I’d bet Tester before Franken at least til Al’s second term.
144.
Anne Laurie
@Skepticat: If you haven’t seen the DVD for LEONARD COHEN: LIVE IN LONDON, it is well worth looking for. Brilliant performance, amazing instruments, and a track that lets you flip from the individual songs to the full lyrics & back. I think it would be a great introduction to Cohen for the uninitiated, but it’s also a must-own for those of us who’ve been listening to his stuff since the 1970s.
P.S. In the spirit of brutal honesty, my early introduction to Cohen was through singers like Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. He may be the second-most “Great Songwriter Better Appreciated Via Others’ Interpretations”, right behind Bob Dylan and somewhat ahead of Tom Rush or John Prine.
145.
gbear
I went out for dinner tonight. An expensive SUV with leather seats pulls up and parks in front of the restaurant. The smarmy driver and his buxom young companion then proceed to have a highly controlled ‘I have nothing but contempt for you’ style fight in the vehicle. Lots of hand gestures that looked like they wanted to turn into slaps, totally oblivious to the fact that they’re parked in front of a crowded restaurant (they seemed like the kind of couple who just doesn’t see or acknowledge other people anyway). They did manage to pull it together enough to come into the restaurant to have a delicious dinner.
I was parked behind the SUV. As I left I noticed they had a Norm Coleman bumpersticker on one end of the bumper, and a McCain sticker on the other end.
I hope they have a miserable night.
146.
gbear
Not sure how many people are watching, but Randall Terry and his anti-choice terrorist group is causin’ a scene at the Dean Townhall in Virginia. It’s on CSPAN.
Wonkette was going to that Townhall. That should be a fun read tomorrow.
@Fulcanelli: Snicker. You said foreplay. Any true winger knows there’s no such thing.
151.
Fulcanelli
@asiangrrlMN: As long as there’s plenty of cake, we lefties will never go hungry in our ownership society.
152.
gbear
Damico’s on Grand Avenue. I had the turkey with dried cherries (and pecans) pasta salad. Seems like half the places I go are on Grand. I live just down the hill in the poorer part of town. Did you say you’re in the northern suburbs?
One of my absolute favorite lunches is an open face grilled chicken and red pepper sandwich from a place called Taste of Scandinavia up at Hwy 96 and Hodgson Road (SW corner of North Oaks). You never want the aftertaste to go away. Everything about it tastes wonderful.
@gbear: I think I’ve been there once. I can’t quite remember. I guess I’ll have to go again!
@freelancer: I am watching Keith right now, but I haven’t gotten to that clip, yet. I gotta say, your description made ME cross my legs, and I don’t even have a dick.
I know, I lowballed it, and I was thinking, “Jesus, What would Taibbi say?” And I still fell short of the mark. I guess there can only be one Highlander.
Whoever posted a link to Taibbi’s review of Friedman’s newest book earlier, thank you. That was a work of art, and I felt embarrassed for Friedman, which was a new emotion to me.
He wasn’t a hero of mine, his brothers were. We’ll all now stand in awe as the Right Wing graciously defers to offer a long time servant of this country a respectful memorial and burial.
“Okay, now THAT was verging into BoB territory too.”
As you noted earlier, if it were BoB, the couple would have been lesbians with hairy armpits, and Al Franken would have been in there somewhere too (probably with his hand on BoB’s khyber).
Wingers (Limbaugh first) claim Obama had Teddy snuffed out a la Vince Foster because he was losing the HCR debate, and he could cynically use Kennedy’s corpse to muster enough votes for it to pass.
180.
JK
Fox News was the last of the 3 cable news channels to report Ted Kennedy’s death. MSNBC had them beat by about 5 or 6 minutes. CNN was also reporting the news before Fox. Fox was busy rebroadcasting airhead Greta Van Susteren interviewing scumbag John McCain. It must have broken the hearts of the excs at Fox to have to pull away from that raging maniac and warped frustrated Arizona senator.
#1 message today from Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, O’Reilly, and Dobbs will be that the evil Democrats are going to exploit Ted Kennedy’s death to get a healthcare bill passed which will be bad for America.
If you think I’m being hyperbolic about Kennedy being assassinated for political reasons, you’re wrong.
From the Obama Derangement Syndrome, the tyranny paranoia already in place, they will anomaly hunt and link the fact that Teddy died in Cape Cod, and that Obama is currently vacationing in Cape Cod (plenty of excuses for his black helicopter Evil-team-of-evil to finish the job.)
Oh, and COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC: Doesn’t Andrew Sullivan vacation near Cape Cod? Andrew supported Obama. Andrew is currently on vacation. Hmmm….
Punchy
Gimmie a solid #7 pick for my fantasy draft. Starts in 90 minutes. Grassyass.
bedtimeforbonzo
Punchy: Go with D’Angelo Williams.
handy
Somebody on another thread mentioned tauren pallies. Please don’t do that again.
AnneS
Need more Tunch!! Tunchity Tunch Tunch Tunch. The Tunchinator! Beloved kitty. (Biscuit, Goblin, Charlotte, Oyster, Miss Callie and Muffin share da love!)
bey
I always thought the tauren might have regretted their choice. Especially when standing next to an undead cannibalizing.
Go tauren pallies!
bedtimeforbonzo
Off-the-beaten path TV recommendation: “Three Sheets” — a travelogue/drinking show which takes you to different countries where the host, Zane Lampley, ties one on with the locals. I used to watch it on an obscure cable channel called Mojo and, thanks to a blurb in Entertainment Weekly, rediscovered it on FLN (Fine Living Network).
Speaking of fantasy drafts, I think I will regret taking Eli Manning in mine.
General Winfield Stuck
Man I’m bored with politics. I turn on the teevee and hear the same ole cycle of shit of spin , rinse, repeat.
We need another wingnut sex scandal. Maybe Mitch MCconnell and Boy George. Or, Boehner getting ass raped by a Sea Crab. Something, anything.
Ash Can
Is this the thread where we can come to escape the flaming paper bags of dog shit in the other threads?
plaindave
I want every poll to include a question about the age of the Earth and see that included in the breakdowns reported.
Betsy
@General Winfield Stuck:
I swear I’m not trying to be the uptight humorless speech police (UHSP), but I would be grateful if people could try to avoid casual rape jokes. Even about men getting raped. For rape survivors they can often feel like a punch in the gut. Thanks.
Crashman06
So, here’s my exciting, slightly healthcare related day. A year ago, my glasses broke, and I was running out of daily disposable contact lenses (which I’ve been using for over 10 years). Having just switched jobs, I learned that my vision insurance was not as good as it used to be. Instead of covering a pair/supply of contacts or glasses each year, my new plan only provided $100 towards hardware every two years. I live in an expensive major city, and I get paid literally peanuts so I couldn’t spend a lot; turns out that monthly disposable lenses were a lot cheaper than daily lenses, and I don’t like the way I look in glasses, so I went with the monthly disposables and bought a year’s supply, figuring that I’d pony up and get a cheap pair of glasses a year later.
Fastforward ahead almost exactly a year. My right eye starts hurting yesterday. This morning it’s really in pain, very red, and watering so I tape up my broken glasses and head to the eye doc’s office at lunch. I think maybe I have pink eye, or something. Nope! I’ve got an ulcerated cornea in the right eye, which is infected, and signs of a developing ulcer in the left one so I get sent immediately over to an opthamologist who checks me out, puts some drops in my eyes, and gives me a prescription for some more with a $50 copay. I need to put drops in my eye every hour I’m awake until Thursday morning when I go back to get checked again. Luckily, he said, we caught this early before it made me blind, and hopefully the ulcer won’t scar and mess up my vision. But he doesn’t want me using contacts again in the future, and I’m too brutally nearsighted for surgery, so it looks like I may be stuck with glasses from now on.
I guess my eyes are just very crappy overall, because I knew people in college who would wear their weekly contacts for months on end, and sleep in them, and nothing ever happened to them. I never slept in mine, and am usually very careful cleaning them. This is a very minor and stupid problem, especially compared to people out there who have real health problems, but damn have I been wishing for my old health insurance so I could have bought daily disposables a year ago.
robertdsc
How I wish some liberal Dem Senator or Representative would blow up and get in a Gooper’s face about the lying. I know it will never happen, but to hear Al Franken or Russ Feingold tell Tom Coburn or John Kyl to their faces that they’re lying to the nation would be priceless beyond measure. Hell, I’d be even happier if the President did it in one of his press conferences.
Other than that, I second the request for more Tunch. Can’t get enough of the Tunchinator.
freelancer
Fuck Dick Cheney:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/08/cheney_statement_on_cia_docume.asp
Alan
@bedtimeforbonzo: That was my favorite show on Mojo. I wish someone would bring it back to HD.
Keith G
Please: Pictures of puppies, kitties, ponies?
It’s Tuesday and I already hate this week.
smiley
Gators, yeah nor not. If not then who?
jnfr
I am unhappy because last night our local Dem HQ, in Denver, was attacked by a couple guys who broke all the windows in the building. Things have been growing uglier for a while, and I know everyone here knows that. Here in Colorado we definitely have our white supremacy groups around (they’ve left flyers in my neighborhood before), but with the Republicans and cable talkers encouraging the nuts, where will it end? It all worries me.
General Winfield Stuck
@Betsy:
I thought I was safe with the Sea Crab kind.
How about Skull Fucked?
Cole add the R word to the moderator gods. It is a now banned word.
freelancer
@Keith G:
I linked it in another thread, but this might cheer you up.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/08/i-am-blogger.html
JenJen
@Punchy:
7th pick overall? Steve Smith, Thomas Jones, Roy Williams all should still be available. Williams is a solid pick and could blow up this year (or not! Fantasy is fun!). If Jay Cutler is still around at QB, might not be a bad pick, but wait a few rounds.
JGabriel
@robertdsc:
Never say never. I can see Franken doing that someday. Maybe not while he’s still a freshman, but someday. He’s done it in the past, I think, to Gingrich while he was still Speaker of the House.
.
harlana pepper
Woohoo!
General Winfield Stuck
And thank you Betsy. I had been doing well with not cussing so much and with general crudeness, until all the Health Care madness came on. I am going to crawl back up on the decency wagon for another try. I’m not being snarkish.:)
Keith G
@freelancer: Thanks, cuts pics – even if I had to sully myself.
Skepticat
@Crashman06:
I’m having sympathy pains, even a slightly scratched cornea is verrrry painful. Thank goodness you got treatment rapidly–it makes all the difference.
I have fragile retinas, and when one detached two years ago, the doctor told me I had several thin spots that probably would tear at some point. That emergency surgery and follow-ups cost me minimal co-pays; now that I’ve lost my health insurance, I live in terror of losing my vision, too.
asiangrrlMN
@Betsy: Yeah, I’m with you. Thanks for bringing it up.
I needz Tunch, Cole. Please? I just read the entire Morissey thread, and I am pretty demoralized on the whole torture issue. I need some humor right about now.
Skepticat
Oh, and John? Just because.
asiangrrlMN
@General Winfield Stuck: Hey, don’t go changing too much, you hear? I like your general (hahaha) snarkiness.
Incertus
Great story (not on my blog) about an artist who took a chunk out of a record company’s ass for once.
Max
Not sure how many people are watching, but Randall Terry and his anti-choice terrorist group is causin’ a scene at the Dean Townhall in Virginia. It’s on CSPAN.
I really hate these people.
KG
Some people look at the world as it is and ask, “why?” I look at the world and ask, “who wants another round of margaritas?”
Joey Maloney
I’m watching a health care town hall on C-SPAN in Virginia with Rep. James Moran and Howard Dean. There are actually people chanting “Don’t Let Him Speak”.
Randall Terry was just escorted out after doing his best to disrupt the event. I’m not in favor of police brutality, which is why I hope that it’s private citizens that administer a sound beating in the parking lot to that worthless waste of skin.
ellaesther
@KG: I do. And I don’t even drink.
skippy
because nowhere in the constitutio is an open thread provided for, you commie loving kenyan socialist public option provider!
Incertus
@Joey Maloney: I’m not in favor of police brutality, which is why I hope that it’s private citizens that administer a sound beating in the parking lot to that worthless waste of skin.
Sometimes it’s tough to stay on the moral high ground. Sometimes more so than others. This is like hanging onto a moral high ground made of glass while being hit with Katrina-force winds.
asiangrrlMN
@robertdsc: Barney Frank. I bet my money on Barney Frank.
skippy
seriously, john, if you’re not going to allow comment editing, at least allow for a preview, so i actually spell the joke punchline correctly, thus allowing for the laugh.
eric
Democracy allows all opinions, but we need not treat them equally. too many people think that they because they have a right to an opinion, that opinion is by definition unassailable. The irony is that the same people that express this extreme form of relativism are moral absolutists. So, in reality, they are anti-democratic to the core because the will of the majority can never trump the Truth. See Aquinas, Thomas; see also King, Martin Luther.
eric
Crashman06
@Skepticat: Thanks. It’s not as painful since I started the drops. I’m fairly young and healthy now so I rarely have need of my health insurance, but it scared me a bit when the doctor said this could have blinded me. Don’t know what I’d do without insurance. I will keep my fingers crossed for your retinas, and hope you can get coverage soon.
AhabTRuler
For those that need a little feline relaxation, here’s one of Momo having a moment of extreme catuousness. A good shot of her Galting out, too.
Demo Woman
@Max: I tried to stream it online but it’s not connecting. Can you give an update?
ellaesther
@asiangrrlMN: From your mouth to the FSM’s orecchiette.
(Please note: This joke is stolen, ripped off, lifted entire, from my buddy savejinger, from elsewhere on the tubez. All royalty payments to her, please).
(But other than that: Please God!)
IndieTarheel
I swore off all evening newscasts (and the Tweety repeat) in favor of walking. It’s early, but I think it’s having an effect – I haven’t thrown anything at the TV in a week, and my headaches have lessened.
Comrade Mary
I didn’t know I needed those pics so badly until I saw them. Thanks, Ahab.
asiangrrlMN
@AhabTRuler: Thanks, AhabTRuler. Seeing Momo always makes me feel better.
Max
@Demo Woman:
Sure….
1. People in Virginia aren’t bright (at least the one’s at this townhall). They’ve asked Rep. Moran at least three times the same question… would you put your family on the public option and he said “yes” everytime.
2. The hate Howard Dean.
3. Obama supporters are more polite than the others.
4. Rep Moran made Randall Terry an offer to have the first question and then STFU and Terry decided to continue to shout and was escorted out. He was just there to shot down the meeting and yell “we won’t pay for murder” and “baby killer”.
5. Rep Moran is a trooper and he’s hanging in there. I would have bagged this whole thing and gone for a stiff drink.
bey
I recommend the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee site to anyone who is jonesing for some Tunch and/or needs a rest from despair.
She fosters litters from the Tacoma area Humane Society until they’re big enough to adopt out. Great photos.
http://www.theittybittykittycommittee.com/
Alas, I’ve forgotten how to link.
bey
@AhabTRuler: what a beautiful girl!
Paula
Not to offend anyone here too much, but if you frequent Hullabaloo’s site: what is up with the comments? Literally 20 people posting the same 20 ideas to every post? And they alternate it so it’s a cycle of the same 20 over a comment thread of 80.
(Also, those comments are mostly of the “pat myself on the back-you all fail at being progressive” variety that pretty much dooms any kind of formation of a popular progressive movement that actually achieve progressive reform. I mean, Digby actually tried to ask constructive questions about why there was such a gap in enthusiasm over health care reform. And with no ounce of self-reflection or self-awareness they went on about how the Democrats provided no leadership, despite the fact that 1) “progressives” have been pretty adamant about declaring progressives’ independence from “Democrats” in the past and 2) about how it would be “the progressives'” job to hold Obama’s feet to the fire when he came to office. Well, they and whose army? Did they think calling their Congresspeople would do the trick given the massive amount of money and disinformation amassed by opponents in the past? What have they been doing in the name of health reform for the last 6-8 months? The last 6-8 weeks? Also, did the words “single payer” ever pass their lips more than once or twice between 2006-2008? Whence the enthusiasm for the Clinton/Edwards mandates?) /end rant
Glyph_2112
Is it just me or is the difference between the Left and the Right is that the Left was critical of Bush and the Republicans based on their actions (or inactions). The Right side is critical of Obama and the Democrats based on some undefined action that they may take or are somehow trying to take.
Even when Bush was in office, it was always, “thank god it wasn’t Gore, or Kerry”. Even though they was absolutely no way to know what actions either of them would have taken.
Max
I gotta say, if you have access to CSPAN, you gotta watch this townhall – it is wild!
Howard Dean just asked everyone who wants to give up their Medicare to raise their hands. Not too many takers.
I gotta repeat that they HATE Dr. Dean in Virginia. He would have never turned Virginny blue if he were running for President.
JK
The poison planted by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and Michelle Malkin continues to bear fruit. The people who booed when McCain said that Obama respects the Constitution are pure, unadulterated scum.
McCain Booed By Arizonans For Saying Obama Respects Constitution
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/25/mccain-booed-by-arizonans_n_268531.html
FUCK Jim Cramer
Jim Cramer: Glenn Beck “A Nice Guy,” Advertisers Will “All Come Back In The End”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/25/jim-cramer-glenn-beck-a-n_n_267988.html
FUCK Michele Bachmann
Bachmann: Prayer and fasting will help defeat health care reform
http://minnesotaindependent.com/42612/bachmann-prayer-and-fasting-will-help-defeat-health-care-reform
@freelancer:
Yes indeed. Fuck that malelovent scumbag Dick Cheney.
@robertdsc: @JGabriel:
Never going to happen. The US Senate is a fraternity in which that kind of direct confrontation would be strongly frowned upon.
General Winfield Stuck
@Paula:
Why would we be offended by comments at Digby’s place?
Alan
@Joey Maloney: A tiger is nimble and light on its toes, my respect for Howard Dean continually grows.
arguingwithsignposts
@Crashman06:
as a fellow sufferer of near-sightedness who wears contacts, I sympathize with you and hope things get better. One thing I cannot for the life of me get is how eye care and dental care are not part of HEALTH care, since without the glasses and the dental checkups, our health and quality of life deteriorates significantly.
asiangrrlMN
Another progressive who could take on the GOP, but doesn’t have the gravitas yet–Anthony Weiner (NY). They grow ’em extra-ballsy out there.
freelancer
@Max:
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN_wm.aspx
Mark S.
@Crashman06:
My old eye doctor didn’t believe in disposable lenses so he gave me these shitty ones that I’d have to take out every night and throw away every week. They were hard to put in and really hard to keep clean. After a while, I just said fuck it and wore my glasses.
Crashman06
@Paula: I seem to read Digby only through RSS, so I rarely see the comments. But from the few times I’ve checked them, I seem to remember that they were all a little weird.
arguingwithsignposts
BTW, Why the hell can’t CSPAN have a better video stream/player than windows media or real player? Every major network uses flash streaming and it works fine. CSPAN’s streams suck on a mac usually. hell, they could even use Ustream or something if they want.
and yes, I did just hear Howard Dean defend Big Pharma. Wonder if Megan McArgle-Bargle will mention that sometime?
AhabTRuler
All the Momo fans should check out this pic, and then check out the picsthe linked in the description line.
General Winfield Stuck
@Glyph_2112:
The right side of politics in this country has always had a innate tendency toward being overly reactionary. What we are seeing now is a distilled party of ideologues, that are out of power completely, and in complete reactionary mode.
To a degree, this is normal for opposition parties. But the compulsive obsessive attention to the dumbest of details by our wingnuts is not, err normal in the least.
Joey Maloney
@Alan:
I’d go gay for Governor Dean, watch him on C-SPAN you’ll see what I mean.
Seriously, the man is brilliant.
arguingwithsignposts
It should also be noted that “boos,” which are in the lower register, sound louder and therefore more prevalent than cheers, which are in a higher register. That doesn’t mean they are more prevalent.
Paula
@
Um, that people would take offense @ MY comment ABOUT Digby’s comment threads. Did you take offense? Because I try to go over there and read what’s going on and the comment threads always ruin my experience over there. Yes, I do try to stay away most of the time, but curiosity get the better of me sometimes.
NoVa Commie
@Max:
None of these town halls are necessarily representative of the general population of the district.
Press coverage != reality
Paula
Sorry. Last comment directed @ Gen Winfield Stuck.
freelancer
RE: Dean Townhall
OMG,
Who could have predicted that the pudgy white conservative would have come across as a complete douchebag?
I mean his question is somewhat substantive, but gawd, could he have been more of a smug prick?
JK
@Max:
C-SPAN is the greatest idea to come along since the wheel and sliced bread.
BookTV is to public affairs programming what The Sopranos The Shield, and The Wire are to entertainment programming. Washington Journal is 1,000 times better than the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Early Show, Fox Fuckheads and Friends, and Morning Douchebag combined.
Brian Lamb is to public affairs programming what Jimi Hendrix is to guitar playing.
General Winfield Stuck
@Paula:
I could care less about comments at Digby or anywhere else.
I may have misread what you were saying .
Cain
@freelancer:
Fuck Dick Cheney:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/…..docume.asp
President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.
One can hope that he wrote that on his phone while waiting for his turn inside a stall in a Minnesota airport bathroom.
cain
Alan
I turned to CSPAN prompted by your post. The guy does a great job. Heck I was one of those RW jerks who used to make fun of the guy. Frankly, I now wish the guy won the nomination and the Presidency in ’04.
And, if you’re still watching, Dean was right about the drug companies reducing time for recovery–for profit. I have a friend who sells an excellent operating room treatment that reduces healing time significantly.
Corner Stone
@arguingwithsignposts: I hate to tell you this – but I read your post and checked the author because it sounded an awful like something BoB would’ve posted.
It just lacked a “structural feminist” here and a dash of “metal exposure” there…
Herb
Having recently re-watched The Wild Bunch, your “why not?” makes me want to go confront the general, try to rescue our buddy Angel, or die trying!
eric
@JK: QED
three hours with noam chomsky
http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1397933261.1251248436@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciadeiefgfdhmcefecekjdffidfgf.0&redirectFlag=&productID=RT_SPAN_030601
arguingwithsignposts
@Corner Stone:
Well, I didn’t mention anything about native cannibals, stalking women in the supermarket or the fact that men are better chefs than women, either.
Yikes, if I’m sounding like BoB, I need to lay down the keyboard for a while!
freelancer
Total DougJ Bait:
202.585.3885 (Republican Line)
C-span call-in line concerning Dean’s Town Hall
Betsy
@General Winfield Stuck:
Thank you so much for your graciousness on the issue. I never want to come across as a scold, and I never assume it means anyone is a bad person/misogynist/etc. It’s so deeply ingrained in our culture; almost everyone (including me) has made those jokes from time to time. I think that most people don’t realize that it can make people feel so bad, and once they understand that, they try to stop.
Thanks again. :)
Linkmeister
Changing direction (in an Open Thread? Can that be done?)
How the heck is it that I’ve never heard Neil Young’s “Rust Never Sleeps” before? Goodness gracious, this is excellent.
Brick Oven Bill
Tonight, I gambled $20, and got 3 expensive beers in exchange for my $7 dollar loss. On the way home, I decided to get a ‘roader’, for the private gravelish portion of the trip, in tonight’s case a Mike’s Harder Lemonade, which is pretty good. I stood in line behind an overweight black man with an earing, who bought a 40oz Miller High Life and two packs of Kools.
Supper tonight is left over pizza.
Betsy
@General Winfield Stuck:
Also, what asiangrrlMN: said.
arguingwithsignposts
@Corner Stone:
How can you even compare my comment with this: @Brick Oven Bill
Xenos
Here is a question – have the comment pages at Politico always been overrun by birthers and birchers? I know they are right-of-center, but they make the redstaters look sane these days.
Bad Horse's Filly
I just realized I picked the same week to go to Massachusetts as President Obama. Gee, I hope he doesn’t think I’m stalking him. I really hope Mrs. Obama doesn’t think I’m stalking him!
I’m lucky to have many places I feel comfortable to call ‘home’ and it is nice to be home in Boston tonight. And to celebrate I’m swearing off politics for the week. Must. Not. Read. Other. Threads.
Corner Stone
@Brick Oven Bill: High Life and Kools?
You’ve never actually seen a black man have you.
Crashman06
@Brick Oven Bill: I think I’d choose the 40 of High Life over the Mike’s.
JK
FUCK CNN AND LARRY KING
The country is going to hell. The economy is in the toilet. We’re fighting 2 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thugs are disrupting town hall meetings and spread lies.
So what does Larry King discuss tonight? He interviews Kate from Jon and Kate plus eight.
CNN should be fined $25 million for journalistic malpractice and Larry King should be fires ASAP. This trivialization and bastardization of journalism is far more offensive and objectionable than the exposure of Janet Jackson’s breast.
Anyone who cares about journalism and this country should contact CNN by phone, fax, email, or snail mail and tell them in unambiguous language to GO FUCK THEMSELVES.
Demo Woman
Thanks all for the updates about the town hall meeting. I have no idea why I can’t stream cspan.
Betsy
@Corner Stone:
Sure he has. The skeery ones on the teevee.
Corner Stone
@arguingwithsignposts: I am totally fucking sorry about the sloppy miscarriage of justice there.
It’s not that your post was wacky enough to qualify, just that it started out with the tonal note of how boos could register in different ways to the audience.
That seemed like a classic baseline from where BoB usually launches his crazy shit. Your post just seemed like a primer for the kinds of things BoB spews on about.
Maybe I can ship you a spiral cut ham as penance?
Betsy
@Bad Horse’s Filly:
Welcome. :)
Max
@Xenos: Very frequently, Politico is linked to by Drudge. Hence the wingnutters.
eric
@JK: I have to disagree, respectfully of course. We would all be better off right this minute if every news show focused on trivia rather than the birthers and deathers.
In the abstract, i would certainly prefer unbiased, thoughtful, and objective reporting and commenatary. But, if i cant have that, i would rather have trivia so that the dolts dont rally to the detriment of the country and her ailing peoples.
(some snark intended, but sadly i think mostly straight on commentary as to my feelings)
eric
arguingwithsignposts
@Corner Stone:
Hey, it’s all good. You can save the spiral cut for when I come visit some time. :)
And I can see how my random observation might have been seen as the beginnings of a BoB comment.
JK
@Linkmeister:
Neil Young is one of the all-time greats.
The Needle and the Damage Done is the first video I watched on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkncdk3cF8g&feature=related
JGabriel
Oh, this is good.
Krugman:
Bwahahaha!
.
Linkmeister
@JK: I’ve got more vinyl NY than almost any other artist, but somehow I missed this one. I should hang my head in shame.
Ah well. Now I’m on to Rosanne Cash’s “Interiors,” which is also dynamite; I might even like it better than “Black Cadillac.”
Mike in NC
Whatever medical and dental plan those two maggots have is too good. May they both die in a fire and someone adopt the poor kids. Octomom, also.
JK
@eric:
I’d rather see cable news boring people to death with facts and details than pandering to the lowest possible denominator with garbage like Jon and Kate and Michael Jackson.
Cable news should be sacrosanct when it comes to programming. With 100 channels to choose from, plus the Internet, people who give a damn about Jon and Kate or Michael Jackson have many sources to get their fix. There’s no excuse for execs at CNN, MSNBC, and FNC to be polluting their airwaves with tabloid entertainment bullshit.
SiubhanDuinne
@ freelancer/ 8:06 pm
I would bet everything I own that this phrase has never before been used in the entire history of the universe: “Bonus anteater after the jump.”
@ arguingwithsignposts/8:49 pm
A few years ago, a fairly routine eye exam quite possibly saved my life. The optometrist found a slight abnormality and after a series of specialists and MRIs and CATscans an otorhinolaryngologist discovered I had a couple of tumours growing on my salivary glands. No other symptoms, no discomfort, no disfigurement. He removed them surgically. They were benign thank FSM but could have become nasty in a whole lot of ways if they hadn’t been caught in time.
@ BrickOvenBill/9:17 pm
Please tell us more about your evening! Don’t leave out a single detail, okay?
JK
@eric:
I’d rather see cable news boring people to death with facts and details on important issues than pandering to the lowest possible denominator with garbage like Jon and Kate and Michael Jackson.
Cable news should be sacrosanct when it comes to programming. With 100 channels to choose from, plus the Internet, people who give a damn about Jon and Kate or Michael Jackson have many sources to get their fix. There’s no excuse for execs at CNN, MSNBC, and FNC to be polluting their airwaves with tabloid entertainment bullshit.
asiangrrlMN
@AhabTRuler: Oh my goodness! Momo Sprout was so dang adorable. Now, she’s simply beautiful! Thank you for brightening my day (especially as Cole is slacking off on Tunchie duty).
Brick Oven Bill
The pizza guy back east made a bunch of 18” pizzas, thin crust, and then, after you pay your $2.50, would re-heat the slice in his natural gas oven. I kind of worried about the cheese but never got sick.
He had a Russian wife, pregnant. He was fat and from New York, and he failed. Boxing was on the TV. We talked boxing. There was a Ms. Pac Man machine. In my opinion he failed because I observed him spitting on the ground in the front of his restaurant.
If you cannot respect your own food establishment, do not expect the neighborhood to do the same. I also once got a bad onion at this place. How much does a fresh onion cost?
In contrast, I like the Asian Indian guy who owns the package store that served up the 2 packs of Kools to our black neighbor. The package store owner bitches about the government fees too. $500 last month for some inspection. We are friends.
My re-heated pizza is better than dip-shit’s re-heated pizza.
eric
@JK: You go to political war with the cable news you have, not the cable news you want. :)
JK
@JGabriel:
Fox News is far and away the most dishonest news organization in America. Their programming is a super sized, putrid, steaming pile of excrement. Fox News is the most virulent and malignant carcinogen afflicting journalism in this country. Hannity, Beck, O’Reilly, Van Susteren, etc are a rogues’ gallery of hate mongers, fear mongers, and liars.
@Linkmeister:
It’s better late than never.
Betsy
@AhabTRuler:
What a pretty one!!
arguingwithsignposts
@SiubhanDuinne:
You just had to wind him (BoB) up, didn’t you?
SiubhanDuinne
Why am I being moderated? I didn’t use any of The Words, and I’ve seen lots of people be meaner to BOB than I was.
More Momo! More Tunch!
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
In case you need another hit (though she can’t compare with Tunch, natch):
http://picasaweb.google.com/Betsy.More/Chompers#5349860844130570866
Skepticat
@Bad Horse’s Filly: I have bad news for you, it’s illegal to swear off politics here in Boston. At perhaps, but not off…
Anne Laurie
@Crashman06:
I knew people in college who could party till 4am five nights a week and still pass their classes, and yet today if they stay up past 11pm they’re sub-optimal for the next two days. Our eyes, like so many other body parts, become less resilient with age, which means it’s easier for them to be injured & also harder for them to overcome the resulting infection. I’m glad you made the choice to go see your eye doctor right away, rather than trying to tough it out!
asiangrrlMN
@JK: I agree with you. I don’t have cable in part because so much of it is just plain shitty. You would think there would be ONE FUCKING CHANNEL devoted to wonky policy. Is that really too fucking much to ask?
freelancer
Has BOBill passed the Turing Test? He’s not self-aware yet is he?
Keith G
@Joey Maloney:
You speak as if that were a bad thing. Jus saying.
asiangrrlMN
@Betsy: Aw, what a sweetie! She is sooooo dang cute in her bed. Hm. I should upload a few of my boys so I can show them off.
@SiubhanDuinne: Could be too many links. Three is usually safe, but who knows? Moderation may be extra-cranky tonight. Or maybe, it’s anteater.
Skepticat
@Linkmeister: Perhaps you missed Neil Young the way I missed Leonard Cohen until fairly recently–a ripple in the time/space continuum, I think–but this is definitely a better-late-than-never situation. I’m spending a lot of time making up for lost time with LC’s music.
Crashman06
@Anne Laurie: Thanks Anne. Glad I didn’t wait too, but it looked pretty bad so I felt like it was warranted. I only make the reference to those college friends because it was only a handful of years ago. Called one of them this evening, who still sleeps in his contacts, to warn him about what happened to me!
Linkmeister
@Skepticat: I’ve got about a dozen early NY albums, but in the 1980s I stopped listening to the radio, so I lost almost two decades of popular music. I didn’t miss much, but some of my favorite artists kept working, so I’ve been catching up on them.
Leonard Cohen writes wonderfully. I think his singing, on the other hand, is kinda like latter-day Dylan; an acquired taste.
Crashman06
@Brick Oven Bill: BoB, you often seem somewhat crazy to me, and I can’t say I agree with your ideas, but I’d love to learn one of your pizza recipes. I can’t seem to get my crust right.
geg6
JK: FOXNews would be vastly improved if they went with 24 hour coverage of Jon and Kate and Michael Jackson. Just sayin’.
asiangrrlMN
@asiangrrlMN: Betsy, box! Box, not bed.
+1 Maker’s Mark
JK
@eric:
I’m sorry that Paddy Chayefsky isn’t alive to see 24 hour cable news. The film Network remains as vital, relevant, and important as it was back in 1976.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9wCAQz73tA
News and public affairs tv programming today is Dickensian. C-SPAN is the best and cable news with a few exceptions such as Olberman, Maddow, Schultz, Zakaria, and documentaries from Christianne Ammanpour is the worst.
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
Yes. Yes, you should.
Here’s one I just took the other day. I need a good lolcat caption for it:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Betsy.More/Chompers#5374086644284228466
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
But you were right, though!! That is where she sleeps, almost every night. She just loves that thing.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
@JenJen: Want to join my league? We love the dumb money!!!! :P
Anne Laurie
@JK:
I would be more than happy if Bachmann restricted her obstructionism to prayer and fasting. I’d even let her pray and fast on the floor of the Senate, as long as she didn’t get in the way of the sane people trying to get decent health care for more Americans. In fact, if Bachmann and all her most enthusiastic fellows were to end up hospitalized for an excess of prayer-and-fasting, I would chip in for a nice sympathy card. I wouldn’t chip in much, maybe a nice shiny nickel, but that would be five cents more than Bachmann has ever chipped in towards useful policy.
asiangrrlMN
@Betsy: I have a Flickr account. It’s just sheer laziness on my part. Your girl is a doll-baby!
SiubhanDuinne
@ arguingwithsignposts/9:50 pm
You know, I’m pretty sure BoB would have shared all that with or without any prompting from me.
@ asiangrrlMN: probably an te at er. I didn’t catch the hidden word earlier.
asiangrrlMN
@Anne Laurie: Agreed! If my own personal batshitcrazy winger wants to restrict herself to praying and fasting, I’m all for it.
By the way, the idiot said that the rabble-rousers had to keep attending town hall meetings and keep telling government to keep its hands off their bodies. That’s right, Miss Rabid Anti-Choice tells the gubmint to git when it comes to making choices with HER body!
contemplating going +2
Max
Looks like Obama is about to bring peace (talks) to the Middle East.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/25/barack-obama-middle-east-peace
But, hey, he’s just like Bush, right? /snark
JK
@Anne Laurie:
I wish Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann would donate their brains to science. I’m dying to know what special wiring exists within their brains that enables them to be so delusional and demented.
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
You are too kind.
@asiangrrlMN:
But that just can’t be right! Wingers wouldn’t dream of denying others the rights that they value for themselves!
arguingwithsignposts
@SiubhanDuinne:
You’re probably right.
@Anne Laurie:
I’ll throw in a shiny nickel too. But not a penny more.
I’m sure there are quite a few praying and fasting on the other side of the debate as well. Let’s just leave invisible sky dwellers out of the whole think, Rep. Bachmann, okay?
Rosali
I have a crush on Howard Dean. I show my true political geekness when I don’t care for any rock stars but would love to have a drink and conversation with Dean.
asiangrrlMN
@Betsy: Hahahahahaha, you are teh funny. You make me laugh. For that, you get a cookie! Or cake, if you prefer. But the cake is a lie.
Fulcanelli
@Anne Laurie:
Draino mouthwash works better Michelle, but watch the calories, wouldn’t want to spoil yer milfy figure…
Sigh.
Corner Stone
@asiangrrlMN: The cake is a lie.
JK
@asiangrrlMN: We have to be grateful for Olbermann, Maddow, Shultz, Zaakaria, and C-SPAN.
@geg6: The ONLY WAY Fox News would be vastly improved would be if it went off the air.
@Skepticat: @Linkmeister: I like Leonard Cohen a lot but not as much as Dylan and Young.
Linkmeister, if you think Leonard Cohen’s singing voice is an acauired taste what would you say about Tom Waits. I think listening to Tom Waits sing should qualify as a form of enhanced interrogation
My favorite Leonard Cohen songs
Suzanne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqo1HKKlkx8
Democracy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OETwbVBPI1U
Blue Raven
I vote for more Lily. Lilycam, too. More puppeh plz!
Corner Stone
@arguingwithsignposts: Well, I’m going to Great Wolf Resorts in Grapevine, TX next week.
Anyone want to join?
asiangrrlMN
@Corner Stone: There will be more cake, though. There always is.
arguingwithsignposts
@Corner Stone:
Oooh, Grapevine. It’s kind of hot in North Texas this time of year, isn’t it? (at least it was when I lived in Cowtown). Enjoy the trip. I’ll be stuck here in the midwest working.
Ailuridae
@JGabriel:
I’d bet Tester before Franken at least til Al’s second term.
Anne Laurie
@Skepticat: If you haven’t seen the DVD for LEONARD COHEN: LIVE IN LONDON, it is well worth looking for. Brilliant performance, amazing instruments, and a track that lets you flip from the individual songs to the full lyrics & back. I think it would be a great introduction to Cohen for the uninitiated, but it’s also a must-own for those of us who’ve been listening to his stuff since the 1970s.
P.S. In the spirit of brutal honesty, my early introduction to Cohen was through singers like Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. He may be the second-most “Great Songwriter Better Appreciated Via Others’ Interpretations”, right behind Bob Dylan and somewhat ahead of Tom Rush or John Prine.
gbear
I went out for dinner tonight. An expensive SUV with leather seats pulls up and parks in front of the restaurant. The smarmy driver and his buxom young companion then proceed to have a highly controlled ‘I have nothing but contempt for you’ style fight in the vehicle. Lots of hand gestures that looked like they wanted to turn into slaps, totally oblivious to the fact that they’re parked in front of a crowded restaurant (they seemed like the kind of couple who just doesn’t see or acknowledge other people anyway). They did manage to pull it together enough to come into the restaurant to have a delicious dinner.
I was parked behind the SUV. As I left I noticed they had a Norm Coleman bumpersticker on one end of the bumper, and a McCain sticker on the other end.
I hope they have a miserable night.
gbear
Wonkette was going to that Townhall. That should be a fun read tomorrow.
asiangrrlMN
@gbear: And of course, I gotta ask, which restaurant????
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
In that case, I want the cookie. Cookies never lie.
Fulcanelli
@gbear: I think that’s wingnut foreplay, gbear.
asiangrrlMN
@Betsy: That is true. You can haz two!
@Fulcanelli: Snicker. You said foreplay. Any true winger knows there’s no such thing.
Fulcanelli
@asiangrrlMN: As long as there’s plenty of cake, we lefties will never go hungry in our ownership society.
gbear
Damico’s on Grand Avenue. I had the turkey with dried cherries (and pecans) pasta salad. Seems like half the places I go are on Grand. I live just down the hill in the poorer part of town. Did you say you’re in the northern suburbs?
Anne Laurie
@Betsy:
“IMNSHO — that’s ‘in my not-so-humble opinion’ for you newbies — as someone who’s being blogging since we used punchcards to weed out the trolls… “
JenJen
@Gordon, The Big Express Engine: Oh, so you’re the guy with the Magic NFL No-Injuries-No-Busts crystal ball! I’ve been looking for you for years!
Rosali
Tuned to C-Span a little late and now they’re showing a town hall in Alaska. Lisa Murkowski is getting softballs from Palin-ites.
arguingwithsignposts
@gbear:
Okay, now THAT was verging into BoB territory too. (for those who don’t get the ref., see @Corner Stone)
KRK
Headline in my local paper tonight: “Man Shoots Self in Standoff with ‘Possum.” Seems appropriate for an open thread.
asiangrrlMN
@gbear: Great place. I love Grand Ave. Yes, I’m just north of the cities, so I do most of my nighttime activities in the cities.
Betsy
@KRK:
Since nothing can possibly top that, I’m heading to bed. Night everyone!
asiangrrlMN
@Betsy: Night! I was thinking, “Death panels! Let me tell you about death panels! In MY day….” for your LOL caption.
gbear
@asiangrrlMN:
One of my absolute favorite lunches is an open face grilled chicken and red pepper sandwich from a place called Taste of Scandinavia up at Hwy 96 and Hodgson Road (SW corner of North Oaks). You never want the aftertaste to go away. Everything about it tastes wonderful.
@arguingwithsignposts:
I was realizing that while I wrote it but I carried on anyway. If it happens again I’ll seek professional help.
freelancer
Okay, I’m anti-death penalty in principle (because we execute far too many innocent people, plus I consider it cruel and unusual),
But I could get behind legislation that makes white collar crime, and just shit like this, a capital offense.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32559705
If there were a God, Stephen Hemsley would have his dick chewed off by fire ants, yesterday.
Corner Stone
@freelancer:
It’s true. I’ve often times felt that once we get past 7 innocents in a 1 year period we should prolly dial it back a bit.
asiangrrlMN
@gbear: I think I’ve been there once. I can’t quite remember. I guess I’ll have to go again!
@freelancer: I am watching Keith right now, but I haven’t gotten to that clip, yet. I gotta say, your description made ME cross my legs, and I don’t even have a dick.
freelancer
and to lighten shit up,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czu4QISTykQ
and Wingnut European History:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1n3HQZoahs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6EBFyrdWaY
asiangrrlMN
@freelancer: You know what? You were being far too kind to this dickwad. He just fills me with contempt.
freelancer
@asiangrrlMN:
I know, I lowballed it, and I was thinking, “Jesus, What would Taibbi say?” And I still fell short of the mark. I guess there can only be one Highlander.
Whoever posted a link to Taibbi’s review of Friedman’s newest book earlier, thank you. That was a work of art, and I felt embarrassed for Friedman, which was a new emotion to me.
http://www.nypress.com/article-19271-flat-n-all-that.html
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Hello.
robertdsc
ABC is reporting that Ted Kennedy has died of brain cancer.
Clutch414
@robertdsc: MSNBC is reporting the same.
jack neoff
Yes Sen Kennedy is dead. I’ll wander over to free republic and see how ugly it gets
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
“There will be more cake, though. There always is.”
Cake has never lied to me yet. Except chocolate cake. Bastard.
SiubhanDuinne
Major sad: MSNBC just reported that Senator Ted Kennedy has died. SHIT
freelancer
@robertdsc:
RIP,
He wasn’t a hero of mine, his brothers were. We’ll all now stand in awe as the Right Wing graciously defers to offer a long time servant of this country a respectful memorial and burial.
Tattoosydney
@arguingwithsignposts:
“Okay, now THAT was verging into BoB territory too.”
As you noted earlier, if it were BoB, the couple would have been lesbians with hairy armpits, and Al Franken would have been in there somewhere too (probably with his hand on BoB’s khyber).
Tattoosydney
@freelancer:
“We’ll all now stand in awe as the Right Wing graciously defers to offer a long time servant of this country a respectful memorial and burial.”
Nope. I’m betting someone will break ranks and call him a murdering homosexual drunk well before the funeral.
Bastards.
freelancer
OTOH:
OriGuy
@jack neoff: You’re a braver man than I am, Gunga Din.
freelancer
Prediction:
Wingers (Limbaugh first) claim Obama had Teddy snuffed out a la Vince Foster because he was losing the HCR debate, and he could cynically use Kennedy’s corpse to muster enough votes for it to pass.
JK
Fox News was the last of the 3 cable news channels to report Ted Kennedy’s death. MSNBC had them beat by about 5 or 6 minutes. CNN was also reporting the news before Fox. Fox was busy rebroadcasting airhead Greta Van Susteren interviewing scumbag John McCain. It must have broken the hearts of the excs at Fox to have to pull away from that raging maniac and warped frustrated Arizona senator.
JK
@freelancer:
My Prediction
#1 message today from Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, O’Reilly, and Dobbs will be that the evil Democrats are going to exploit Ted Kennedy’s death to get a healthcare bill passed which will be bad for America.
freelancer
If you think I’m being hyperbolic about Kennedy being assassinated for political reasons, you’re wrong.
From the Obama Derangement Syndrome, the tyranny paranoia already in place, they will anomaly hunt and link the fact that Teddy died in Cape Cod, and that Obama is currently vacationing in Cape Cod (plenty of excuses for his black helicopter Evil-team-of-evil to finish the job.)
Oh, and COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC: Doesn’t Andrew Sullivan vacation near Cape Cod? Andrew supported Obama. Andrew is currently on vacation. Hmmm….
freelancer
@JK:
I’m not betting against you at all, but…
Okay, fine, I went for the Orly Taitz version, but a few cycles through the Puke Funnel, and this shit will be on Glenn Beck.
Tattoosydney
@freelancer:
“Andrew is currently on vacation. Hmmm….”
It would, of course, be irresponsible for us not to speculate.
Throwin Stones
@Alan:
Late to the party as usual, but I believe Three Sheets just began season 4, and is available on hulu.