And whilst you’re on line voting for Bitsy, please consider giving a click at http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com and its companion sites. Your clicks give at no cost to you.
3.
geg6
Thank the FSM for CBS Sunday Morning. An island of sanity in the vast sea of msm drivel, paranoid rantings, and hysterical shoutfests. Why computerized medical records will make health care better, a cool fall movie preview, kids reciting poetry, and the death of the oldest soap opera, Guiding Light, which I used to watch with my mom while she ironed sheets, my dad’s boxers and handkerchiefs, and pretty much everything else as women did in the early ’60s before wash and wear was invented. I love this show.
4.
JGabriel
Village reaction to the teabaggers should make for an amusing topic on the Sunday newsers today. I’m honestly curious as to whether the villagers will praise or be appalled by the wingers who came in and trashed the place yesterday. And it wasn’t there place!
@geg6:
Those kids were amazing. It made me happy to see them performing.
7.
4tehlulz
@JGabriel: That POS Pawlenty was on This Week; basically wants to turn the health care system into an arm of the INS.
I don’t see how that would adversely affect public health in any way, shape, or form. Not at all.
8.
debit
Smiling Tim is my governor. Only Minnesota could produce such bland evil.
9.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betsy
@geg6
Yeah, and two of them were reciting Kipling’s “If.”
I feel slightly redeemed after being taken to task þhe other day.
(And entirely O/T, but the word above that is supposed to be “the” came out with that letter that looks like “p” but not quite. I don’þ know why that happens. There it is again! I’m obviously hitting some key combination on the BlackBerry when I mean to type “t” but I’ve never been able to figure out what.)
10.
General Winfield Stuck
Joe Wilson is on FNS right now putting on a performance of weaselery that would will Malkin sqee with delight.
highlights
I was right
I felt so “provoked”
I already apologized. And won’t again. Yes I broke house rules but dems are playing politics.
I won’t be silenced
I had 1500 peeps at my townhall and they agree with me
It was a “Townhall Moment” at presnit Obama’s speech in joint session of congress.
etc//// etc/////
11.
geg6
Betsy and Siubhan Duinne: Isn’t Garrison Keiler a national treasure? I hope he’s doing well after his stroke. There is no one else who does what he does and it will be terrible to lose that if and when he goes.
12.
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6
From what I have read and heard, Garrison Keillor is recovering very well from what was apparently a “minor” stroke last week. He’s out of hospial and will start the new season of PHC in a week or two.
Yes, he is indeed a treasure. Sending good vibes his way.
13.
Rey
@geg6
I have the same memories of watching Guiding Light with my Grandmother, she would be ironing, doing her household chores and asking me to pay attention to what the characters were doing, I was a human VCR!! those were such sweet and innocent times….
I have not had the stomach for cable news this week-end and my blood pressure has returned to normal. Garrison Keilor is the best, heard he had a stroke, hoping he gets well soon, we need him.
We should start a pool as to which Republican politician will grab the mike and unapologetically call Obama a n*****r first. They want to, we all know they want to, they do in private, so it’s just a matter of time.
Joe Wilson gets my nod. He looks like he’s getting primed for his close up.
I could only watch Will and Cokie long enough to see them both eye roll and tut tut punishing Joe Wilson on the floor of the House. There must never be consequences for anything done by Republicans.
No. I do NOT want to see Ratface Pawlenty as a primary shaker and mover in the next presidential election. I know I have no say in the manner, but I just had to throw that out there.
I want it to be Boehner to snap first. Why? Dunno. Because his unhealthy tanned googly-eyed face annoys the hell out of me.
P.S. I do not like Garrison Keillor’s act, but I wish him well. Yes, I know, it’s unMinnesotan of me to say that, but so be it.
21.
MazeDancer
It looks like Bitsy made Top 30 last week. (While being much cuter than the other 29, so this is clearly a popularity, not issues-driven election – with considerable “special interest” impact as well.). But the site doesn’t reveal how many votes each of those dogs got after the week is over. So you can’t compare unless you’re following the day before they take down the votes. And there a lot of dogs up there.
Does anyone know how many votes the weekly winners usually have to get? How close is Bitsy getting to winning? Have Bitsy voters been increasing or decreasing? There must be some dog loving voting pattern experts in the Bitsy fan base.
From Clinton to Obama, with 8 blissful years of Christian forgiveness in the middle, the inmates at Arkham Asylum have perfectly come full circle.
23.
Comrade Jake
The video of the wingbat the Think Progress guys found yesterday is really something to behold. He’s got a poster of some kind of a Democratic horse riding a white baby.
They’ve also interlaced his words with Beck’s pretty effectively. It really does have to be seen to be believed.
24.
Max
It seems to me that the only thing these teaparty/Klan rallies are going to do is to chase the Independents totally away from the GOP. I think the Republicans are going to have a real problem controlling the Frankenstein monster they are creating.
Once again, they are looking to “win” the short term news cycle, but aren’t looking long-term.
I didn’t see it mentioned on this site, but did anyone watch Obama’s rally in MN yesterday? He was on fire. It was great. I saw a great Tweet about it that said something like “no wonder the march in dc is so white, all the diversity is in MN rallying with the President”.
Just, wow. That’s Exhibit A to DougJ’s point that they can only make sense to each other now. Wingularity appears to be nigh.
26.
Francis
Speaking of animal rescue, a beautiful white husky mix female 10-week old abandoned puppy is getting adopted today! (by me). Now, as I am about as inept with computers as humans get, I need help. How do I get my iphone pictures onto my Vista-running computer?
27.
Deborah
Any chance God will tell Sanford and Bachmann to both run for president? I think that would be helpful.
Yes, thank you! “Thorn” — I knew there was a name for it. But I still don’t know how to make it if I want to or what I’m doing to make it when I don’t. (I believe I can find CharMap coding for it when not on the ‘Berry — it’s only on the handheld that it’s an issue. And not a big issue as issues go.)
“We should start a pool as to which Republican politician will grab the mike and unapologetically call Obama a n*****r first.”
My bet will be on Wilson. He won’t do it on purpose. He’ll be excited, caught up in the moment, talking to one of his cronies in the House or maybe Jim DeMint and he’s going to blurt it out and it’s going to be caught on tape. And it won’t make a bit of difference because we already know who these men are.
I started watching Stephanopoulos this morning, but his “panel of heavyweights” seemed disproportionately stupid and right-wing. Let’s see, there was Global-Warming denying George Will representing the early 19th century, the BoBo-in-Chief, smarmy David Brooks representing the 1950s, representing the smugnuss of the Beltway elite was Cokie Roberts who thinks the problem with Democrats is that they constantly threaten the status quo and don’t give as many good dinner parties as do the Republicans, and Sam Donaldson who represents “how it used to be” whenever that was. I’m not sure which point of view the boy wonder, Stephie, represents, but he annoys me greatly.
I did not watch the show, preferring instead to read pithy blog posts by people’s whose opinions I value so very much more.
31.
Brick Oven Bill
Now this is a kick-ass dog. If I lived in southeast Wisconsin, I would definitely Teabag with Raydene’s MeetUp group.
I do not like Garrison Keillor’s act, but I wish him well. Yes, I know, it’s unMinnesotan of me to say that, but so be it.
I have to say that I agree with you about Keillor. His faux-folksiness never quite masks his smarminess.
I hope that Keillor won’t need a wheelchair to get around or he won’t have access to half of his Cathedral Hill bookstore, if he can find the unposted accessible route to the basement (I work with ADA issues every day so his bookstore shocked the hell out of me on first (and last) visit).
@gbear: Oh, thank goodness that I am not the only Minnesotan who doesn’t like his smarmy, faux-folksy shtick (which, oddly enough, is exactly how I think of it). I do hope he fully recovers, though.
P.S. Really? His bookstore is that unfriendly to people in wheelchairs? Boo!
35.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@22 jurassicpork, read the site you linked. The title is perfect. I wish I could say it’s over the top, but I’m afraid it’s all too real. Think it’s time to watch a nice old-fashioned English mystery and hang out with my dogs.
@asiangrrlMN: The store is split between two levels with no ramp from one to the other. The Blair Arcade is an incredibly cool old building and the main level has been made totally accessible, but the elevator is really hard to find and there is no signage whatsoever as to the location of the elevator or even which door to use to get to the store without using the old stairways. It’s incredibly thoughtless. The only reason for putting a store in that space was to fulfill some kind of novelized notion of what a bookstore should be.
I was very happy to hear this from Obama this morning (from the 60 Minutes interview that airs tonight I believe):
“I have no interest in having a bill get passed that fails. That doesn’t work. I intend to be president for a while, and once this bill passes, I own it.”
It’s so *@#%@!# weird to have an adult in the White House.
I’m not sure which point of view the boy wonder, Stephie, represents [. . .]
He’s the son of the company owner who is temporarily parked in Marketing to give some semblance of credibility when they promote him to a do-nothing V.P. slot.
I did not watch the show, preferring instead to read pithy blog posts by people whose opinions I value so very much more.
And then of course the next thing I see is Brick Oven Bill.
45.
Tiparillo
I wanted to bring this Life Stories on Mary Catherine Lamb that ran in today’s Oregonian newspaper to Balloon Juicers attention. Her story, and the response of folks here, really touched me.
We should start a pool as to which Republican politician will grab the mike and unapologetically call Obama a n*****r first. They want to, we all know they want to, they do in private, so it’s just a matter of time.
It’s not going to happen anywhere but in the wingnut fringe. The GOP no doubt has sent email and talking points on how to play up the idea of Obama’s illegitimacy, using the standard BS about Muslim (a group which can be denigrated without fear of backlash), fascist, Hitler, Stalin, Communist, etc.
But I will bet good money that there is a directive to avoid any direct use of racist words. This is why the GOP invented the dog whistle.
The Republicans could not defend the open use of a racial epithet. It would not allow them plausible deniability.
All Free Library of Philadelphia Customers,
We deeply regret to inform you that without the necessary budgetary legislation by the State Legislature in Harrisburg, the City of Philadelphia will not have the funds to operate our neighborhood branch libraries, regional libraries, or the Parkway Central Library after October 2, 2009.
Isn’t Garrison Keiler a national treasure? I hope he’s doing well after his stroke. There is no one else who does what he does and it will be terrible to lose that if and when he goes.
Don’t write that. Don’t say it. Don’t even think it. It’s too awful to think about.
I think all that concern Republicans used to have about not offending polite discourse, etc. went out the window with Obama. The dog whistles were to keep the rubes happy while their pockets were picked by the Nice Polite Republicans (TM). Now, the policy makers have changed, and the polite discourse train has left the station. Dog whistles have been traded for bullhorns.
Village reaction to the teabaggers should make for an amusing topic on the Sunday newsers today.
Bob Schieffer: “An angry nationA mob of racists, cranks, mouthbreathers, rednecks, and morons came to Washington stunk up the nation’s capitol this weekend”.
Village reaction to the teabaggers should make for an amusing topic on the Sunday newsers today.
Bob Schieffer: “An angry nationA mob of racists, cranks, mouthbreathers, rednecks, and morons came to Washington stunk up the nation’s capitol this weekend”.
Fixed it for you, you fatuous asshole.
52.
sweetgreensnowpea
wtf? it’s 1:36 edt and bitsy only has 131 votes??!!
where is everybody?
“The Republicans could not defend the open use of a racial epithet. It would not allow them plausible deniability.”
I’ve already heard some of my more rabid relations in Louisiana using the most blatant of all racial terms when referring to President Obama. When people like Wilson and DeMint start hearing it, they’re going to slip and say it. They might as well put a sign up on one of the exits off the freeway in Charleston that says “train wreck ahead.” It’s going to happen. It’s not an “if” but “when.”
I think all that concern Republicans used to have about not offending polite discourse, etc. went out the window with Obama.
This is true, and the fear, anger and resentment is worse than I imagined. But the GOP is happily stoking the fires of racism without resorting to the explicit use of racial epithets. There is not much to be gained by going for full-on racism, when indirection is working so well in keeping the hardcore fringe engaged.
But we will see what happens next.
58.
jwb
@Max: You’d think. Unless, the independents decide that the crazy is a sign that the Democrats can’t effectively govern.
P.S. I do not like Garrison Keillor’s act, but I wish him well.
I agree, actually. I loved a Prairie Home Companion when I was in college (I think it reminded me of being a small child and it playing in the background while my mother made dinner). But I feel that recently his schtick has gotten a little too cranky, a little too smug. Hard to put my finger on what it is. I don’t know if he’s always been that way and I’ve only just noticed, or if he’s gotten crankier/smarmier in his old age.
Nonetheless, I absolutely wish him a speedy and complete recovery.
63.
srv
FreedomWorks and Malkin caught claiming pictures from other protests showed the teabag event:
And your site actually has a poster who called the person who said this a “hero”:
“Glenn Beck is an actual terrorist, and the people attending his rally in DC tomorrow are al-Qaeda in America.”
So, your site not only endorses calling its political opponents Al Qaeda members but doubling down on it? Is that what “conservatives of conscience” say now? My my, you’ve come a long way John! You really are the true cream of the fucking “conservatives of conscience” crop now, eh John?
I’ve got some news for you though John, and it’s not good. You were a dead ender for the Bush administration and you’re headed towards being a dead ender for this administration now too John. At least that means you’ve got experience! Maybe you can put that on a resume or something…
2010 is going to be a bitch John. Even Nate Silver is starting to realize your new liberal friends are about to drop a doozy of House and Senate seats all across America.
And no doubt you’ll be there to lie to your new liberal friends about how “everything is fine” up until the very day it happens. But why you do have to lie to YOURSELF John? You really don’t believe the shit you peddle these days, do you John? Does Media Matters send you some Cheetos coupons for those crazy nights in Massachusetts with Sullivan or something John?
@phil
yikes! i’d rather have a toke with sullivan than a beer with you!
bitsy only has 200+ votes so far today, there was one day last week she had more than 600!
@steeplejack, i vote with 2 e-mail accounts, can’t seem to get the third to work.
and, @Skepticat, thanks for the rescue site! i can do that, too!
69.
sweetgreensnowpea
hey, why aren’t my @s blue?
70.
Shell
Re: Phil. Oh dear. Another, “We’re gonna take our country back in 2010! The tide is turning. Can’t you feel it?”
No, dear. What most americans can feel/hear from your side is unbalanced screeching and screaming, fear and paranoia, and absolutely no ideas for the future. Think the country is gonna vote for that? And Glenn Beck as an actual terrorist? I’d say, terrorist by proxy. Suggesting that the only way to save America is to have another terrorist attack like 9/11 is irresponsible at best, almost criminal if you think too much about it.
***********
Now on to the important things. Bitsy’s votes. Yes, SGsnowpea, I noticed the same thing. Over 500 votes yesterday. Today, 236? What gives? Did some dastardly hacker get into the Cutest Dog Competition?
Fuck!
71.
Laura W Darling
@Shell: @sweetgreensnowpea:
Thanks for caring about Bitsy! The voting week ends at midnight Sat. Starts all over 12:01am Sunday. I think it’s good she’s got so many already in the first day of week 7. We are totally gonna get her first place one of these weeks. She does seem to be picking up momentum every week we pimp her here. She was in the top 30 for week 5. I’m waiting to see if she made it there last week. When you realize there are 44,000+ dogs, top 30 rocks! But not quite enough, yet.
The goal is to make her one of the 12 semi-finalists. We have 6 (my math stinks?) more voting weeks so keep voting (with multiple email accounts, thanks!).
Sweetgreen: are you clicking the gray arrow to the very right of the time stamp to turn your @s blue?
72.
sweetgreensnowpea
@Laura W Darling:
didn’t realize the votes were totals for the week…i read BJ everyday, assumed JC had enough fans Little Bitsy could pull in 600 votes/day!
with more than 44000 contestants, i guess that’s not bad (sorry i didn’t hear about it sooner).
i want you and Little Bitsy to WIN!!
73.
Laura W Darling
@sweetgreensnowpea: I think if JC TRIED HARDER he could certainly get Little B. 600 votes/day!
I kid.
And it’s not for me. She was one of thousands of rescues over a 50 year period by one single woman who I know because she rescued my youngest cat, Annie. (See ads in left sidebar). She’s finally decided to set up her own 5013c so that she can accept grants, give donors tax deductions, etc. Heretofore, she’s been funding all of her rescue work from her day job, selling real estate. So….this is just a way of trying to raise funds for her org. and her angelic good deeds.
Because I was copied in, and have loose lips, here is Evelyn’s email to John on 9/8:
John,
I am Evelyn Bridges in Brevard, NC who found Little Bitsy on side of road and was able to rescue her. Sylvia and Barney Evans who work with me at Steve Owen and Associates volunteered to foster her and then decided to adopt her! And now she lives in a wonderful, caring, loving home with them and their 3 other rescued dogs and 4 rescued cats. And of course, Little Bitsy is Top Dog..
I cannot thank you enough for featuring her on your delightful Balloon-Juice..
The outpouring of support for animal rescue and welfare has been overwhelming with help from you and your friends..Little Bitsy did not win week 5 of the Cutest Dog Contest but was in the Top 30 out of thousands and thousands of cute ones.
We will keep voting for her daily through all 12 weeks and keep saving the animals one at a time…
With gratitude…
Evelyn Bridges
Congratulations on expanding your family. Look forward to the non-Mac folks giving you advice so we can all see pic.s
75.
sweetgreensnowpea
@Laura W Darling:
oops, i think i read that, but came to associate your name with L.B.
i do know it’s for a good cause.
i applaud all those who rescue animals (you with your Annie, John with his dear LiLy, and Francis above).
at one time i had 10 “death row kids”…
76.
Shell
“one time i had 10 “death row kids”…”
You do know you are going to Heaven. ;-)
77.
Shell
Oops, meant to add a comment about poster ‘Phil’ above. Noticed he posted the exact same diatribe in the upper thread.
Geez, Phil. Dogs are more subtle when they feel like ‘you’re not paying attention to meeeee!!”
78.
sweetgreensnowpea
too bad someone can’t “rescue” Phil. (the phils?)
don’t know anyone who would volunteer…
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BDeevDad
RIP Norm Borlaug
Skepticat
And whilst you’re on line voting for Bitsy, please consider giving a click at http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com and its companion sites. Your clicks give at no cost to you.
geg6
Thank the FSM for CBS Sunday Morning. An island of sanity in the vast sea of msm drivel, paranoid rantings, and hysterical shoutfests. Why computerized medical records will make health care better, a cool fall movie preview, kids reciting poetry, and the death of the oldest soap opera, Guiding Light, which I used to watch with my mom while she ironed sheets, my dad’s boxers and handkerchiefs, and pretty much everything else as women did in the early ’60s before wash and wear was invented. I love this show.
JGabriel
Village reaction to the teabaggers should make for an amusing topic on the Sunday newsers today. I’m honestly curious as to whether the villagers will praise or be appalled by the wingers who came in and trashed the place yesterday. And it wasn’t there place!
/snark
.
JGabriel
@JGabriel: their place, goldurnit.
Sigh.
.
Betsy
@geg6:
Those kids were amazing. It made me happy to see them performing.
4tehlulz
@JGabriel: That POS Pawlenty was on This Week; basically wants to turn the health care system into an arm of the INS.
I don’t see how that would adversely affect public health in any way, shape, or form. Not at all.
debit
Smiling Tim is my governor. Only Minnesota could produce such bland evil.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betsy
@geg6
Yeah, and two of them were reciting Kipling’s “If.”
I feel slightly redeemed after being taken to task þhe other day.
(And entirely O/T, but the word above that is supposed to be “the” came out with that letter that looks like “p” but not quite. I don’þ know why that happens. There it is again! I’m obviously hitting some key combination on the BlackBerry when I mean to type “t” but I’ve never been able to figure out what.)
General Winfield Stuck
Joe Wilson is on FNS right now putting on a performance of weaselery that would will Malkin sqee with delight.
highlights
I was right
I felt so “provoked”
I already apologized. And won’t again. Yes I broke house rules but dems are playing politics.
I won’t be silenced
I had 1500 peeps at my townhall and they agree with me
It was a “Townhall Moment” at presnit Obama’s speech in joint session of congress.
etc//// etc/////
geg6
Betsy and Siubhan Duinne: Isn’t Garrison Keiler a national treasure? I hope he’s doing well after his stroke. There is no one else who does what he does and it will be terrible to lose that if and when he goes.
SiubhanDuinne
@geg6
From what I have read and heard, Garrison Keillor is recovering very well from what was apparently a “minor” stroke last week. He’s out of hospial and will start the new season of PHC in a week or two.
Yes, he is indeed a treasure. Sending good vibes his way.
Rey
@geg6
I have the same memories of watching Guiding Light with my Grandmother, she would be ironing, doing her household chores and asking me to pay attention to what the characters were doing, I was a human VCR!! those were such sweet and innocent times….
I have not had the stomach for cable news this week-end and my blood pressure has returned to normal. Garrison Keilor is the best, heard he had a stroke, hoping he gets well soon, we need him.
Cat Lady
@General Winfield Stuck:
We should start a pool as to which Republican politician will grab the mike and unapologetically call Obama a n*****r first. They want to, we all know they want to, they do in private, so it’s just a matter of time.
Joe Wilson gets my nod. He looks like he’s getting primed for his close up.
General Winfield Stuck
@Cat Lady:
When his deification is complete and he is crowned St. Wingnut of Martyrs, I wouldn’t bet against him being first.
The man is so stupid, it makes my teeth hurt/
Cat Lady
@General Winfield Stuck:
Agreed. The support he’s getting from the rump is about them standing behind him egging him on, daring him to go all the way there. I think he might.
JGabriel
@Cat Lady:
My guess is that it will be some hitherto unnoticed House winger, much like Wilson, seeking attention.
.
Cat Lady
@JGabriel:
I could only watch Will and Cokie long enough to see them both eye roll and tut tut punishing Joe Wilson on the floor of the House. There must never be consequences for anything done by Republicans.
Augustine
@SiubhanDuinne:
I believe it is known as a ‘thorn.’
asiangrrlMN
@Skepticat: I second this. I click on http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com every day!
No. I do NOT want to see Ratface Pawlenty as a primary shaker and mover in the next presidential election. I know I have no say in the manner, but I just had to throw that out there.
I want it to be Boehner to snap first. Why? Dunno. Because his unhealthy tanned googly-eyed face annoys the hell out of me.
P.S. I do not like Garrison Keillor’s act, but I wish him well. Yes, I know, it’s unMinnesotan of me to say that, but so be it.
MazeDancer
It looks like Bitsy made Top 30 last week. (While being much cuter than the other 29, so this is clearly a popularity, not issues-driven election – with considerable “special interest” impact as well.). But the site doesn’t reveal how many votes each of those dogs got after the week is over. So you can’t compare unless you’re following the day before they take down the votes. And there a lot of dogs up there.
Does anyone know how many votes the weekly winners usually have to get? How close is Bitsy getting to winning? Have Bitsy voters been increasing or decreasing? There must be some dog loving voting pattern experts in the Bitsy fan base.
jurassicpork
From Clinton to Obama, with 8 blissful years of Christian forgiveness in the middle, the inmates at Arkham Asylum have perfectly come full circle.
Comrade Jake
The video of the wingbat the Think Progress guys found yesterday is really something to behold. He’s got a poster of some kind of a Democratic horse riding a white baby.
They’ve also interlaced his words with Beck’s pretty effectively. It really does have to be seen to be believed.
Max
It seems to me that the only thing these teaparty/Klan rallies are going to do is to chase the Independents totally away from the GOP. I think the Republicans are going to have a real problem controlling the Frankenstein monster they are creating.
Once again, they are looking to “win” the short term news cycle, but aren’t looking long-term.
I didn’t see it mentioned on this site, but did anyone watch Obama’s rally in MN yesterday? He was on fire. It was great. I saw a great Tweet about it that said something like “no wonder the march in dc is so white, all the diversity is in MN rallying with the President”.
Cat Lady
@Comrade Jake:
Just, wow. That’s Exhibit A to DougJ’s point that they can only make sense to each other now. Wingularity appears to be nigh.
Francis
Speaking of animal rescue, a beautiful white husky mix female 10-week old abandoned puppy is getting adopted today! (by me). Now, as I am about as inept with computers as humans get, I need help. How do I get my iphone pictures onto my Vista-running computer?
Deborah
Any chance God will tell Sanford and Bachmann to both run for president? I think that would be helpful.
Sloth
@Comrade Jake:
Wow.
SiubhanDuinne
@Augustine 11:11 am
Yes, thank you! “Thorn” — I knew there was a name for it. But I still don’t know how to make it if I want to or what I’m doing to make it when I don’t. (I believe I can find CharMap coding for it when not on the ‘Berry — it’s only on the handheld that it’s an issue. And not a big issue as issues go.)
Houston
“We should start a pool as to which Republican politician will grab the mike and unapologetically call Obama a n*****r first.”
My bet will be on Wilson. He won’t do it on purpose. He’ll be excited, caught up in the moment, talking to one of his cronies in the House or maybe Jim DeMint and he’s going to blurt it out and it’s going to be caught on tape. And it won’t make a bit of difference because we already know who these men are.
I started watching Stephanopoulos this morning, but his “panel of heavyweights” seemed disproportionately stupid and right-wing. Let’s see, there was Global-Warming denying George Will representing the early 19th century, the BoBo-in-Chief, smarmy David Brooks representing the 1950s, representing the smugnuss of the Beltway elite was Cokie Roberts who thinks the problem with Democrats is that they constantly threaten the status quo and don’t give as many good dinner parties as do the Republicans, and Sam Donaldson who represents “how it used to be” whenever that was. I’m not sure which point of view the boy wonder, Stephie, represents, but he annoys me greatly.
I did not watch the show, preferring instead to read pithy blog posts by people’s whose opinions I value so very much more.
Brick Oven Bill
Now this is a kick-ass dog. If I lived in southeast Wisconsin, I would definitely Teabag with Raydene’s MeetUp group.
demkat620
@Brick Oven Bill: Jeez BOB, not on a Sunday.
gbear
@asiangrrlMN:
I have to say that I agree with you about Keillor. His faux-folksiness never quite masks his smarminess.
I hope that Keillor won’t need a wheelchair to get around or he won’t have access to half of his Cathedral Hill bookstore, if he can find the unposted accessible route to the basement (I work with ADA issues every day so his bookstore shocked the hell out of me on first (and last) visit).
asiangrrlMN
@gbear: Oh, thank goodness that I am not the only Minnesotan who doesn’t like his smarmy, faux-folksy shtick (which, oddly enough, is exactly how I think of it). I do hope he fully recovers, though.
P.S. Really? His bookstore is that unfriendly to people in wheelchairs? Boo!
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@22 jurassicpork, read the site you linked. The title is perfect. I wish I could say it’s over the top, but I’m afraid it’s all too real. Think it’s time to watch a nice old-fashioned English mystery and hang out with my dogs.
Comrade Jake
@Brick Oven Bill:
You must be one lonely, lonely dude.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@ Francis, can’t wait to see photo of your new arrival! Congratulations and good for you!
linda
@Comrade Jake:
lordy… teh tsunami of tstupid on full display yesterday. i honestly wonder how that man navigated his way to wdc.
jeffreyw
@Francis:
try this
gbear
@asiangrrlMN: The store is split between two levels with no ramp from one to the other. The Blair Arcade is an incredibly cool old building and the main level has been made totally accessible, but the elevator is really hard to find and there is no signage whatsoever as to the location of the elevator or even which door to use to get to the store without using the old stairways. It’s incredibly thoughtless. The only reason for putting a store in that space was to fulfill some kind of novelized notion of what a bookstore should be.
The Other Steve
Bitsy is cute, but our Roxie is cuter.
TheFountainHead
I was very happy to hear this from Obama this morning (from the 60 Minutes interview that airs tonight I believe):
“I have no interest in having a bill get passed that fails. That doesn’t work. I intend to be president for a while, and once this bill passes, I own it.”
It’s so *@#%@!# weird to have an adult in the White House.
Steeplejack
@Houston:
Loved your thumbnail portraits.
I’m not sure which point of view the boy wonder, Stephie, represents [. . .]
He’s the son of the company owner who is temporarily parked in Marketing to give some semblance of credibility when they promote him to a do-nothing V.P. slot.
Steeplejack
@Houston:
I did not watch the show, preferring instead to read pithy blog posts by people whose opinions I value so very much more.
And then of course the next thing I see is Brick Oven Bill.
Tiparillo
I wanted to bring this Life Stories on Mary Catherine Lamb that ran in today’s Oregonian newspaper to Balloon Juicers attention. Her story, and the response of folks here, really touched me.
Brachiator
@Cat Lady:
It’s not going to happen anywhere but in the wingnut fringe. The GOP no doubt has sent email and talking points on how to play up the idea of Obama’s illegitimacy, using the standard BS about Muslim (a group which can be denigrated without fear of backlash), fascist, Hitler, Stalin, Communist, etc.
But I will bet good money that there is a directive to avoid any direct use of racist words. This is why the GOP invented the dog whistle.
The Republicans could not defend the open use of a racial epithet. It would not allow them plausible deniability.
JenJen
Rest in Peace, Free Library of Philadelphia:
http://libwww.freelibrary.org/closing/
Montysano
@geg6:
Don’t write that. Don’t say it. Don’t even think it. It’s too awful to think about.
Cat Lady
@Brachiator:
I think all that concern Republicans used to have about not offending polite discourse, etc. went out the window with Obama. The dog whistles were to keep the rubes happy while their pockets were picked by the Nice Polite Republicans (TM). Now, the policy makers have changed, and the polite discourse train has left the station. Dog whistles have been traded for bullhorns.
Montysano
@JGabriel:
Bob Schieffer: “
An angry nationA mob of racists, cranks, mouthbreathers, rednecks, and moronscame to Washingtonstunk up the nation’s capitol this weekend”.Fixed it for you, you fatuous asshole.
Montysano
@JGabriel:
Bob Schieffer: “
An angry nationA mob of racists, cranks, mouthbreathers, rednecks, and moronscame to Washingtonstunk up the nation’s capitol this weekend”.Fixed it for you, you fatuous asshole.
sweetgreensnowpea
wtf? it’s 1:36 edt and bitsy only has 131 votes??!!
where is everybody?
asiangrrlMN
@Francis: Pictures! We demand pictures of said dog!
Houston
@Cat Lady:
“The Republicans could not defend the open use of a racial epithet. It would not allow them plausible deniability.”
I’ve already heard some of my more rabid relations in Louisiana using the most blatant of all racial terms when referring to President Obama. When people like Wilson and DeMint start hearing it, they’re going to slip and say it. They might as well put a sign up on one of the exits off the freeway in Charleston that says “train wreck ahead.” It’s going to happen. It’s not an “if” but “when.”
jeffreyw
@asiangrrlMN: damn tootin
jeffreyw
@asiangrrlMN:
maybe this will tide ya over
Brachiator
@Cat Lady:
This is true, and the fear, anger and resentment is worse than I imagined. But the GOP is happily stoking the fires of racism without resorting to the explicit use of racial epithets. There is not much to be gained by going for full-on racism, when indirection is working so well in keeping the hardcore fringe engaged.
But we will see what happens next.
jwb
@Max: You’d think. Unless, the independents decide that the crazy is a sign that the Democrats can’t effectively govern.
Steeplejack
@sweetgreensnowpea:
New voting week started today, I think.
And don’t look at me. I already voted.
D-Chance.
It’s Football Sunday, Week 1!
And, while it is a below-average commercial, FedEx has a new catchphrase to add to our daily language: “I’m sorry, Dick Butkus.”
asiangrrlMN
@jeffreyw: Awwwwww, so cuuuuuute!
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
srv
FreedomWorks and Malkin caught claiming pictures from other protests showed the teabag event:
http://www.osborneink.com/2009/09/teabaggers-lie.html
Onihanzo
Bored on a Sunday afternoon after cleaning the house. Decided to whip something up for the 9/12 folks.
Feel free to use it anywhere you like.
http://i26.tinypic.com/2co52ww.jpg
Phil
John Cole!
I see you’re still bending over to your new liberal masters – can’t say I’m surprised for a pathetic follower like you John.
Say John, are you still a “conservative of conscience”? Does that mean you get to do drugs with Andrew Sullivan?
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/12/dismissed_marijuana_charge_raises_judges_ire/
And your site actually has a poster who called the person who said this a “hero”:
“Glenn Beck is an actual terrorist, and the people attending his rally in DC tomorrow are al-Qaeda in America.”
So, your site not only endorses calling its political opponents Al Qaeda members but doubling down on it? Is that what “conservatives of conscience” say now? My my, you’ve come a long way John! You really are the true cream of the fucking “conservatives of conscience” crop now, eh John?
I’ve got some news for you though John, and it’s not good. You were a dead ender for the Bush administration and you’re headed towards being a dead ender for this administration now too John. At least that means you’ve got experience! Maybe you can put that on a resume or something…
2010 is going to be a bitch John. Even Nate Silver is starting to realize your new liberal friends are about to drop a doozy of House and Senate seats all across America.
And no doubt you’ll be there to lie to your new liberal friends about how “everything is fine” up until the very day it happens. But why you do have to lie to YOURSELF John? You really don’t believe the shit you peddle these days, do you John? Does Media Matters send you some Cheetos coupons for those crazy nights in Massachusetts with Sullivan or something John?
The people demand answers John!
General Winfield Stuck
@Phil:
Hi Phil, Go fuck yourself Phil, Bye Phil
gbear
@General Winfield Stuck: no shit.
sweetgreensnowpea
@phil
yikes! i’d rather have a toke with sullivan than a beer with you!
bitsy only has 200+ votes so far today, there was one day last week she had more than 600!
@steeplejack, i vote with 2 e-mail accounts, can’t seem to get the third to work.
and, @Skepticat, thanks for the rescue site! i can do that, too!
sweetgreensnowpea
hey, why aren’t my @s blue?
Shell
Re: Phil. Oh dear. Another, “We’re gonna take our country back in 2010! The tide is turning. Can’t you feel it?”
No, dear. What most americans can feel/hear from your side is unbalanced screeching and screaming, fear and paranoia, and absolutely no ideas for the future. Think the country is gonna vote for that? And Glenn Beck as an actual terrorist? I’d say, terrorist by proxy. Suggesting that the only way to save America is to have another terrorist attack like 9/11 is irresponsible at best, almost criminal if you think too much about it.
***********
Now on to the important things. Bitsy’s votes. Yes, SGsnowpea, I noticed the same thing. Over 500 votes yesterday. Today, 236? What gives? Did some dastardly hacker get into the Cutest Dog Competition?
Fuck!
Laura W Darling
@Shell: @sweetgreensnowpea:
Thanks for caring about Bitsy! The voting week ends at midnight Sat. Starts all over 12:01am Sunday. I think it’s good she’s got so many already in the first day of week 7. We are totally gonna get her first place one of these weeks. She does seem to be picking up momentum every week we pimp her here. She was in the top 30 for week 5. I’m waiting to see if she made it there last week. When you realize there are 44,000+ dogs, top 30 rocks! But not quite enough, yet.
The goal is to make her one of the 12 semi-finalists. We have 6 (my math stinks?) more voting weeks so keep voting (with multiple email accounts, thanks!).
Sweetgreen: are you clicking the gray arrow to the very right of the time stamp to turn your @s blue?
sweetgreensnowpea
@Laura W Darling:
didn’t realize the votes were totals for the week…i read BJ everyday, assumed JC had enough fans Little Bitsy could pull in 600 votes/day!
with more than 44000 contestants, i guess that’s not bad (sorry i didn’t hear about it sooner).
i want you and Little Bitsy to WIN!!
Laura W Darling
@sweetgreensnowpea: I think if JC TRIED HARDER he could certainly get Little B. 600 votes/day!
I kid.
And it’s not for me. She was one of thousands of rescues over a 50 year period by one single woman who I know because she rescued my youngest cat, Annie. (See ads in left sidebar). She’s finally decided to set up her own 5013c so that she can accept grants, give donors tax deductions, etc. Heretofore, she’s been funding all of her rescue work from her day job, selling real estate. So….this is just a way of trying to raise funds for her org. and her angelic good deeds.
Because I was copied in, and have loose lips, here is Evelyn’s email to John on 9/8:
John,
I am Evelyn Bridges in Brevard, NC who found Little Bitsy on side of road and was able to rescue her. Sylvia and Barney Evans who work with me at Steve Owen and Associates volunteered to foster her and then decided to adopt her! And now she lives in a wonderful, caring, loving home with them and their 3 other rescued dogs and 4 rescued cats. And of course, Little Bitsy is Top Dog..
I cannot thank you enough for featuring her on your delightful Balloon-Juice..
The outpouring of support for animal rescue and welfare has been overwhelming with help from you and your friends..Little Bitsy did not win week 5 of the Cutest Dog Contest but was in the Top 30 out of thousands and thousands of cute ones.
We will keep voting for her daily through all 12 weeks and keep saving the animals one at a time…
With gratitude…
Evelyn Bridges
MazeDancer
@Francis:
Congratulations on expanding your family. Look forward to the non-Mac folks giving you advice so we can all see pic.s
sweetgreensnowpea
@Laura W Darling:
oops, i think i read that, but came to associate your name with L.B.
i do know it’s for a good cause.
i applaud all those who rescue animals (you with your Annie, John with his dear LiLy, and Francis above).
at one time i had 10 “death row kids”…
Shell
“one time i had 10 “death row kids”…”
You do know you are going to Heaven. ;-)
Shell
Oops, meant to add a comment about poster ‘Phil’ above. Noticed he posted the exact same diatribe in the upper thread.
Geez, Phil. Dogs are more subtle when they feel like ‘you’re not paying attention to meeeee!!”
sweetgreensnowpea
too bad someone can’t “rescue” Phil. (the phils?)
don’t know anyone who would volunteer…