No, please excuse me, the best images where photos tell the tale and that gorgeous orange cat. That killer feline look in the last image is awesome, I won’t forget it.
She’s so cute! Maybe I’ll give cats baths tonight.
That won’t end well. A bath would be perfect revenge for my cats right now who are stressed out of their gourd because we just moved to a new house and my oldest cat is pee’ing on the carpets. We keep them closeted but they put up such a ruckus that we let them out but when we aren’t looking they let loose. bastards. I am not a happy pet owner right now.
it only took 1 writer. Huffington Post used 4 FUCKING WRITERS for their stupid article.
Who the hell do Huffington Post and Politico think they are? The Onion?
I realize every story idea can’t be run by Ariana Huffington, but can she at least hire editors who have a fucking clue and better news judgment than to publish something worthy of Weekly Reader or Highlights.
11.
schrodinger's cat
Tunch feels left out, he needs a bath too.
12.
Shell
Oh, dear, the expression in that first photo is like, “Hey, I didn’t sign up for this!”
13.
chopper
my sophie needs a bath. she’s also 70 pounds, strong as an ox and hates water. did i mention i live in an apartment?
I realized sometime last February that I was suddenly much better informed, in no small part because I no longer despised my President — and thus was no longer lunging to turn things down and/or off whenever the Commander in Chief opened his yap.
However, today I saw myself lunging not once, but twice, to shut NPR the fuck up — once, when they let John McCain do the talkin’, and once when it was Joe Lieberman. I will read what they said, but do not make me hear their fucking voices!
BTW, where is the master and commander? we haven’t seen his majestic visage in a while. Time for a new Tunch photo, or better yet live action TunchCam
-Tunch fan
@asiangrrlMN: Yes!! Yes!! That is the downside, isn’t it. And not just wingnuts — like, in addition to all of that additional mad, I’m also just thinking more often, and with more facts at my fingertips, about all the bad shit that’s out there.
I just recently blogged about this conundrum, even! I was told in no uncertain terms to visit Cute Overload more often, and there is more than a drop of truth to that.
25.
MikeJ
I know Lily is going to become neurotic if she can’t find some good smelly dead shit to roll in now.
26.
schrodinger's cat
@ellaesther:
Also try ICHC, it is my daily dose of sanity.
27.
abo gato
Dogs are SO funny about baths….hate them, hate them……then, when you’re done, they run around and rub their faces on the floor and jump on and off the bed and the couch……and then they stop and the look on their faces is always like the one Miss Lily has…..cracks me up. And they are so fluffy and cute when they just got dried off. Almost, ALMOST, makes me want to give one of ours a bath.
Nah. I’m gonna drink some bourbon instead.
Priorities, priorities, man.
28.
Comrade Mary
If you’re offering “wet dog” photos, can’t you at least make them scratch and sniff? (So cute! Who’s a pretty girl? WHO’S a pretty girl? Yes, you are! Yes, you ARE!)
If not, a lovely picture of His Tunchness will do in a pinch.
@ellaesther: Yup. It’s maddening because now I can see all the shit that goes into politics, and it really isn’t pretty. I second schrodinger’s cat in the recommendation of LOL cats. I visit it daily.
JC_Christian: Swiss to release Polanski, say there is little risk he will build a minaret
32.
Jennifer (formerly Molly)
Informal survey…I like my real name and want to use it, but I sense there are a lot of Jennifers, Jens, Jennies, or variants thereof. How many of us are there around the place?
33.
SiubhanDuinne
@John Cole 8:08 pm
She’s probably trying to outrun the nasty clean smell. Never mind, next time you take her Rails to Trails she’ll find some good dead shit to roll in and then everything will be right again.
@ellaesther: Nicely done. I struggle with that all the time because as I’m sure you can discern, my natural outlook on life is pretty grim. Reading all this shit doesn’t help. I actually stick to WaMo, TBogg, and BJ. I will read a link once in a while if one of these three links to it, but that’s it. I can only take so much of this bullshit without having my head asplode.
37.
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
I find Ta-Nehisi Coates to be wonderful for my mental health. Dude is always thoughtful, no matter what, and it restores a smidgin of my faith that we’re not completely doomed. Also, like Cole, he’s really great about admitting when he doesn’t get something right.
Willie (who looks a lot like Lily but with one less eye) had a bath yesterday, and I cleaned the bathroom this morning. The bathing involves quietly getting everything ready and then dragging her upstairs to the bathroom. When its warm I have to make sure she doesn’t know in time to crawl under the porch, since I can’t even look at the hose without her slinking away. I was walking her last week and a little girl came up to pet her. I told her Willie wasn’t very clean and she said “that’s okay, neither is our dog”. When I first moved here I gave her a shower in the basement and let her loose while I cleaned fur out of the drain. When I looked up she was curled up inside the cat box which was fortunately clean.
40.
ulee
I took a bath this afternoon. Some streaking, some singing. Nothing serious.
41.
MikeJ
40% staff reduction at Wash Times.
The other 60% will be married to each other in a mass wedding ceremony, and each household given one paycheck.
BTW, I suggested it last night, but I’ll throw it out there again since Cole was talking about supporting the site. I know I’d be willing to pay for a Balloon-Juice t-shirt with that balloon graphic at the top of the blog.
Yes, absolutely John should bath Tunch. Then we can look forward to the pictures of John running around the house and then returning to the drug store for more bandages.
46.
gex
@asiangrrlMN: The worst of it is that you know the bad guys want you to tune out. No matter how much I want to or need to for my own sanity, it feels like I am abdicating my duty as a citizen if I walk away.
I had a beagle-Jack Russell mix who thought water was the Devil’s brew. But he (and I’ll bet Lily) smelled like roses and seem to feel good about it at the stage of your pics.
Last week, I was sitting a yellow lab I took to a dog park one day, a 40 degree day in late Nov. in Chicagoland, and she was in the water within 5 minutes. And then did it again.
What are you going to say? She was having a ball.
49.
robertdsc
Lily is so sweet.
I add to the chorus desiring a shot of the Tunchinator.
@Betsy: That’s why I wish Elizabeth was my first name rather than my middle one. There aren’t a whole lot of nicknames that you can get from Esther and the ones that people come up with aren’t exactly flattering.
I add my voice to those wanting a Tunch pic.
53.
Marty
Jesus…clip those friggin’ nails too! I’m guessing you don’t have hardwood floors.
(owner of two marginally intelligent Golden Retrievers)
54.
Elie
Lily is wonderful. She has a face I wanna kiss. Tunch is also missed…give us some pics, John!
Bill my old guy cat has dreadlocks from not being able to groom himself adequately. I shampooed him not knowing what I was doing, and that cats need to be brushed dry, etc, so he ended up with these dreads. He absolutely hates the vet but she is coming over to clip the dreads off.
I feel so bad. He will have little bald spots where the dreads are. But its hard to really pet him cause these little knots exist all over.
There was shaking, barking, whining, yelping and streaking.
Hey, when did you put a camera in my bedr-? Oh.
Never mind.
Them claws could use a clipping tho’. Not sure how she’ll handle that. My cats are surprisingly easy to bathe, but clipping their nails requires nerves, and skin, of steel.
I’ve done some modifying. I haven’t watched news (unless you count TDS and The Colbert Report) or any political gasbag shows in quite some impressive time. I watch sports, and comedy, and movies. I’m actually able to laugh at McCain being on a Sunday show now, as opposed to watching him and wanting to spit in his face.
I’m trying to disengage with the stupid and calcified, and engage more (when I want news) in the far more eloquent and sophisticated blogosphere. This blog turned me on to Larison, a person very persuasive and sane to me.
59.
Svensker
Nothing’s cuter’n a frisky pup.
I’m just listening to some Irma Thomas and feeling that soul. Uh huh. Sing it. Lose your blues. Uh huh.
We left Fargo out of his kennel while we went to work today because it was pouring rain. He stayed in the yard, bless him., but when we got back he was muddy up to the eyes. We’re talking terra-cotta puppy here. So it was bath time. For some reason, the little guy is terrified of towels, so let’s just say it did not go well.
@schrodinger’s cat:
I do, but I can still only do one nail at a time, and then only if she’s sleepy and her reflexes are slowed down.
67.
Karen
I had to make my husband install a hot & cold hydrant in the back yard to give my 80 pound German shepherd a bath. She will not go into a bathroom that has a tub in it. (She is a rescue & we have no idea how or what the original owners did her to make her terrified of a tub.) She streaks like that through the back yard.
Cole, Lily needs a pedicure. Take her to your vet’s office for them to do it, if you can’t. Don’t go to the “take your leashed pet shopping” stores. Their grooming centers are too rough with dogs.
68.
CynDee
Well, I had to go run it again. I keep it bookmarked. “Terrier Puppies Drying Themselves”
“Oh, my God!”
69.
Ming
@Betsy, and asiangrrlMn, and ellaesther,
yes to Ta-Nehisi and Balloon Juice.
Also, too.
70.
schrodinger's cat
@Betsy:
I have become quite adept at this, you have to hold them a particular way, so they can’t fight back. My kittehs are resigned, they no longer even put up a fight and I give them tuna afterwards as a reward.
How about a t-shirt with a group photo of David Gregory, Mark Halperin, Wolf Blitizer, Anderson Cooper, Campbell Brown, et al bearing the caption This Is Your Brain On Drugs
74.
gwangung
@Ming: Quadruple down on Coates. He belted at least three out of the park today. Extremely thoughtful and nuanced.
How about a t-shirt with a group photo of David Gregory, Mark Halperin, Wolf Blitizer, Anderson Cooper, Campbell Brown, et al bearing the caption This Is Your Brain On Drugs
It would only come in XXXXL, because there are too many pundits to put on it.
78.
Brick Oven Bill
Let us chronicle the ascension of Wealth and Birth. To avoid a breathalyzer:
1. Ted had to book it away from the sinking car and seek refuge in a remote hotel room to sober up (1969).
2. Ted’s son Pat had to be ushered away by the Capitol Police after plowing into the building at 3:30am to show up for a vote (2006).
3. Tiger, after plowing through a fire hydrant and into a neighbor’s tree, just went home and then sent the police away (2009).
Chappaquiddick occurred six years after national SAT scores peaked, and four years after Kennedy’s immigration reform.
79.
CynDee
See, there’s still a lot of hope in a country where, somebody gives a someone a bath and tells about it on line and within an hour 70 people have commented about this little someone getting a bath.
Of course, it ain’t just Somebody and Someone, it’s John and Lily . . .
Nice towel, by the way, and is that a sofa she’s on? Following family tradition . . .
It would only come in XXXXL, because there are too many pundits to put on it.
I was thinking of a group photo comparable to the Sgt Pepper album cover. You could fit a lot of pundits’ faces on that type of layout.
Re: Dick Cheney
If God existed, Dick Cheney’s perp walk would take place on the same day that Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zarahiri were taken into US custody.
84.
Demo Woman
Miss Moxie was adopted in 2002 from the cat lady. A rescuer of cats would pick up dogs that appeared unlikely to be adopted from kill shelters. The vet guessed she was two or three when I was fortunate enough to find her.
The first six years she was pretty well behaved and new that there were limits that she had to adhere to. Well, about 1 1/2 ago she and I moved to new home that I’m fixing up, (slowly) and she adapted to her surroundings a tad to much. We had company for Thanksgiving week and she whined if they sat in her chair. Unfortunately, she whined if they sat anywhere because she thinks all the chairs and the sofa are hers. Whoops! Cesar Milan would not be happy.
85.
charles johnson
“December 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 pm Reply to this comment
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
I find Ta-Nehisi Coates to be wonderful for my mental health. Dude is always thoughtful, no matter what, and it restores a smidgin of my faith that we’re not completely doomed”
Would that it were so. I would list some of the very bad ecological problems we’re causing, but which dozen should I pick? The human race does not seem to have the ability to think intelligently about long-term problems. Look around. We can’t even think intelligently about the next generation. Put it to a vote in your county–money enough to buy paper for the elementary school kids down the street, or a $17 cut in property taxes. I can tell you right now which wins. Now imagine that kind of incompetent, short-term thinking applied to way more abstract, distant problems like a century-long process of ocean acidification. Result: we’re totally boned. We’ll be lucky if humanity sees the year 2200.
“@asiangrrlMN: The worst of it is that you know the bad guys want you to tune out. No matter how much I want to or need to for my own sanity, it feels like I am abdicating my duty as a citizen if I walk away.”
You don’t have to tune out, but you don’t have to tune in, in certain ways. You can read the smart sites (Washington Monthly, NYT, Washington Independent, TPM) for an hour a week and be informed about the serious issues enough to write congress. Shit, the NYT’s Week in Review on Sunday will tell you basically everything you need by itself. You can spend an hour on competing candidates’ websites and learn enough to vote for the intelligent person with the best values.
It’s not hard to inform yourself about the serious stuff, and it takes very little time. All the time spent watching Hardball, or This Week, or CNN is just time wasted. Balloon Boy, the gate crashing couple, a train wreck in East Consonantstan, that stuff not informative. It’s worthless. Worthless. Actually, worse, because of opportunity cost. It steals from you the things you could have been doing instead.
I’ve made progress on that. I never watch This Week or MtP or Hardball etc. But I still go to too many websites. It’s been hard for me to completely break from the worthless crap, because, face it, we like getting outraged and venting. That, in fact, is what Balloon-Juice is about. Getting all pissed off at some rapist-apologist, some dipshit news anchor who repeats what Cheney says, some jerk columnist’s false equivalency, and getting all righteous about it. I don’t say that to be rude, but I realized the other day that I don’t really get anything from BJ except indirect exposure to things to be indignant about, and the comment sections were just heaping piles of indignance. And I admit, I like participating. But it’s not really doing anything positive for me. I don’t learn much of anything, and it doesn’t improve my mood. So I’m going to try to come here much less in the future, use it as a guilty pleasure rather than a daily fix.
86.
schrodinger's cat
@Demo Woman:
All your chairs are belonging to me, says Miss Moxie
87.
Betsy
@schrodinger’s cat:
And by “holding them a particular way,” I can only assume you mean “with one’s entire upper body wrapped in Kevlar.”
88.
jeffreyw
We use the kitchen sink for small jobs, have a utility sink in the basement that gets a workout. Some jobs require prep with a garden hose outside. We find that a leash is usually required for that.
That, in fact, is what Balloon-Juice is about. Getting all pissed off at some rapist-apologist, some dipshit news anchor who repeats what Cheney says, some jerk columnist’s false equivalency, and getting all righteous about it. I don’t say that to be rude, but I realized the other day that I don’t really get anything from BJ except indirect exposure to things to be indignant about, and the comment sections were just heaping piles of indignance.
I heartily disagree there. The community here is much more than just getting indignant. Sure, we vent. But we also laugh, and share music, and pick each other up when we need it (and FSM knows I’ve needed it before). We talk trash about football, and breathlessly await Tunch updates.
In short, you’re not seeing the forest for the trees, my man.
92.
schrodinger's cat
@Betsy:
Don’t forget the chain-mail and the helmet. Seriously, it is not that hard, do this when they are sluggish, be quick, the key is to be done before, the little tyrants realize that you are taking away their weapons of targeted destruction.
93.
jeffreyw
@asiangrrlMN:
Mrs J keeps all the claws on the kittehs in good shape, she started them early and their attitudes are good, no squalling or clawing. We have a clipper designed for the task, works well.
94.
Comrade Kevin
You know what really grinds my gears right now? This goddamn obnoxious AT&T ad for their TV service that is running about every ten minutes.
95.
Demo Woman
@arguingwithsignposts: seconded. I find Balloon Juice and the commenters informed and knowledgeable about world events. The most important aspect of this site though is that you can exhale and I mean that in the nicest way.
It’s not hard to inform yourself about the serious stuff, and it takes very little time.
Try Democracy Now with Amy Goodman, GritTV with Laura Flanders, Free Speech Radio on Pacifica Radio, the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, Consortium News, and The Media Consortium for starters.
@jeffreyw: I have the clippers. I get them while they’re sleeping. I can usually get one paw done before they realize, and then usually, they just wait for me to finish. It’s only if they wake up before I get the one paw done that they get freaked out.
That’s a lot of dog for the kitchen sink! I wouldn’t dare give Mitzi the WonderLab a bath inside. I also have a hot and cold faucet outside for baths. She’s very good about it, the hardest part is getting her dried off and inside before she finds something dirty to roll around in. Winter-time baths mean a trip to the vet, but she gets a very snappy bandana to wear afterward.
Add me to the chorus re: clipping Lily’s nails. She needs a mani/pedi for sure. Just don’t let ’em put any polish on her nails. Tunch would mock her forever.
LOL, I guess Chucky hasn’t undergone a full conversion just yet.
Reading the quote though, I got the strange and indefinable impression Mr. Johnson gets indignant about the same things, which is kind of weird considering what I perceive to be his point.
I second the value of reading Ta-Nehisi Coates. Also Steve Coll, Hendrick Hertzberg, David Sirota, Norman Solomon, and Thomas Frank. There are many good voices out there doing their best to combat the stupidity of the wingnuts.
102.
Jennifer (formerly Molly)
My sweet baby of a Yellow Lab, the one that allows the 4 year-old to drag her around by the tail and/or ears, will not let nail clippers near her. It’s surreal.
She’s too big to wrestle. I take her to the vet and they do it.
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
h/t William Blake
104.
charles johnson
“In short, you’re not seeing the forest for the trees, my man.”
No, I see that, but all tribes need an Organizing Principle, and that aforementioned indignation is Balloon Juice’s. And it’s nice to share recipes and look at photos of the product of a cat having mated with a blue whale, and hear about some jock morons getting crippling brain damage, but, for instance, 11 out of today’s 14 posts so far have been centered on the indignation theme or at least touched it. 11 out of 14 is most of the trees in the forest, by my count.
@BethanyAnne: Not only did you suggest a blog that I have forgotten to go to for too long, for which I am grateful, and then say a nice thing to me, for which I am also grateful — you quoted who I think of as Xeni Boing Boing! I do love Boing Boing.
And yes indeed, she’s right! Anything that involves dismissing a woman because of/by way of her looks just furthers a social blight that really should be stomped out. Say I!
My sweet baby of a Yellow Lab, the one that allows the 4 year-old to drag her around by the tail and/or ears, will not let nail clippers near her. It’s surreal…. I take her to the vet
Wish I could take our human baby to the vet to have her nails clipped. My mom and I bathed her tonight, and neither of us could get her to hold still to let us cut her fingernails. She’s like Howard Hughes or Lady Deathstrike at the moment. I tried cutting them while she was sleeping just now, and she woke up and threw the damn clippers at me.
107.
charles johnson
“LOL, I guess Chucky hasn’t undergone a full conversion just yet.
Reading the quote though, I got the strange and indefinable impression Mr. Johnson gets indignant about the same things, which is kind of weird considering what I perceive to be his point.”
I’m sure it’s unclear, John O, but I’m not *that* charles johnson. Anyway, It’s not weird, I do in fact get indignant at the very things. I agree with 80% of the indignance here. What I’m saying is, that’s not a productive way to spend a large fraction of my time, and so I need to spend a lot more time doing other things which’ll benefit me. Just gettin’ all pissed off and feeling righteous and whatnot every time some dip-tard on a Sunday show turns to Karl Rove for penetrating insight? What am I going to gain by getting pissed off at that for the 873rd time? I understand I should choose to do more productive and beneficial things with my time than stew in righteousness, I’m just having a hard time taking the necessary steps of making myself do other stuff.
But don’t you, Charles, feel a good bit of indignation, even if some of them are about different ideals?
I’ll bet the far left and far right are far more in line than has been reported, as one example, on the Wall St. bailouts.
It doesn’t matter, because the “left-right” thing is sold to us chumps like so much cotton candy. The real deal is going on between haves and have nots.
@schrodinger’s cat: Yes. I can’t figure it out. I’ve never cut the quick or their pads, and I’m really quick about it.
They.
Just.
Fucking.
Hate.
It.
Infinity.
I think they know it means they can’t put down roots when they leap on us.
Ah, sorry. I figured no one here would post under that moniker, given that we all figure he’s seen the posts/links.
It would be better if all us indignant folks quit our jobs and spent all our time on productive solutions to our indignation.
And you might not have seen it earlier, but I’ve checked out of political or even news-y teevee quite successfully.
Somehow I sense the power of the blogosphere, even in terms of indignation, has made a difference. I doubt C. Matthews would’ve apologized for his “enemy camp” remark 15 years ago. (Stipulating that he never would’ve said it 15 years ago.)
@charles johnson: In defense of BJ it sounds like you got your environmental fatalism from me. Could be that perspective gets around these days, but I’ll just mark that as my positive contribution to the world.
On the plus side, not much short of a K-T boundary event will wipe out humanity. Generalists do pretty well, historically speaking, and I don’t think that 2200 will be much of a problem for the species.
Civilization we will probably have to learn to live without. It grew up in a 10,000 year epoch of extraordinary climate stability that I doubt that it will outlive for long.
And it’s nice to share recipes and look at photos of the product of a cat having mated with a blue whale, and hear about some jock morons getting crippling brain damage, but, for instance, 11 out of today’s 14 posts so far have been centered on the indignation theme or at least touched it. 11 out of 14 is most of the trees in the forest, by my count.
On one day. These days, there’s a lot to be indignant about. It is a political blog, after all.
But without the others (crippling brain damage, WTF?), we’d all go insane.
Gotta check in on Crooks and Liars and Think Progress every day, awsp.
If you’re not doing so, you’re not doing it right. :-)
115.
Jennifer (formerly Molly)
R-jud, I am so glad I’m not wrestling with my sons when it comes to cutting their nails. Even now, they shriek and wince and complain bitterly, looking for any signs of blood after each snip. But, they’ve been nipped enough times to know that too much movement is risking a fingertip wound. They sit still.
That was my first thought upon seeing these pics. Hopefully we’re getting into the season where the dead shit she likes to roll in so much stinks less and less.
@arguingwithsignposts: And, it’s a good way to vent. Many people here do other things to voice their indignation (like emails and letters and phone calls), but it’s nice to have a community in which you can just say, “Yeah, that fucking sucks.” In addition, I like the different perspectives I get from BJ because it broadens my thinking. And, bottom line is, when I have had enough of politics, I skip out for a few days.
It’s not really doing anything positive for me. I don’t learn much of anything, and it doesn’t improve my mood.
Your link to that Tiger Woods game offers a mother lode of positive vibes. I learned so much from it that my mood can only be described as euphoric. Thanks for putting your money where your mouth is.
120.
charles johnson
“@charles johnson: In defense of BJ it sounds like you got your environmental fatalism from me. Could be that perspective gets around these days, but I’ll just mark that as my positive contribution to the world.
On the plus side, not much short of a K-T boundary event will wipe out humanity. Generalists do pretty well, historically speaking, and I don’t think that 2200 will be much of a problem for the species.
Civilization we will probably have to learn to live without. It grew up in a 10,000 year epoch of extraordinary climate stability that I doubt that it will outlive for long.”
I could have, Tim F, but I didn’t. My fatalism comes from hanging around UNC back in the day and knowing lots of biologists, physicists, ag people, botanists, and ecologists. Knowing them informed me that we face a buttload of serious, capital-S Serious environmental problems, and reading about politics convinced me that we as a species are not capable of dealing with even short term problems like buying pencils for second-graders and so we’re just fucked.
I shouldn’t have made it sound like I meant extinction by 2200, what I actually expect will happen is a huge die-off in humanity, and by 2200, humanity will be a few hundred million people living in roughly afghanistan conditions.
@John O: And the bottom line is, it’s voluntary. If someone is not getting anything positive from it, then don’t type the URL in the address bar. It really is that simple.
Well, “Charles Johnson” (if that IS your real name) I’m on record as saying that Mother Nature will work things out, and if that means we’re a few billion short of where we are now, population-wise, and I think 200 years is on the outside of reality, so be it.
And I still don’t get why half of my blockquotes come out bold, and half don’t. FYWP.
127.
charles johnson
Wish I knew more chemistry. The one doomsday scenario I don’t understand, that geo-chem people i knew talked about was The Hydrogen Sulfide scenario, which they thought was an entirely possible extinction type event. I don’t really know what that refers to. Little help, Tim F? :-)
Right. I feel the same way about teevee channels and radio stations or any modern media.
I’m a firm believer in the prairie, self-sufficient ethic (dare I say, “conservative?”) that in this case can be summarized by, “I have the power to change the channel, or turn off the device.”
129.
pika
@abo gato: You’re referring, of course, to the “afterbath” (known in our house, after Eminem and Dre as the “millennium of afterbath).
By the end of this week, Chris Matthews will have made a half dozen other idiotic remarks deserving of an apology. I won’t hold my breath waiting for those apologies. I hope Matthews apologized to historian Steve Gillon for the disgusting, bullying tone he took when interviewing him about his book The Kennedy Assassination–24 Hours After.
It’s nice that Matthews apologized, but he’s still a malignant media carcinogen as far as I’m concerned.
Nelson my one eyed fixed tom is such, he has dreds all over, I just shave them off periodically and then he grows back a beautiful black coat which he then completely and utterly screws up by trying to groom himself with goo and creates more dreds. He is due for a shaving.
I really like Coates, and I used to read him regularly, but not so much after he changed the structure of his blog so that it’s all “reply to” threaded. It really breaks the flow for me, and it makes me appreciate all the more the Balloon Juice model: chronological posts with hyperlinks back to the comment being replied to–for those who want to go back. It’s voluntary, not forced, in other words.
Every time I think I’m being shallow or CDO (h/t AsiangrrlMN) and go back over there I can barely read a complete thread of post and comments. It’s too painful.
139.
Anne Laurie
John, I second (or sixth) the recommendation that Lily needs her nails clipped. Even if she doesn’t remind you every time she jumps on your chest, at least check her dewclaws & make sure they’re not curling back into the skin. We’ve had good luck (knock wood) taking our guys to the local big-box pet chain… since it’s a 10-minute job, max, we just show up and I wait / watch while the groomer cuts their nails (also trims the hair on their feet, since papillons grow their own hobbity socks & then slide around on the wood floors). Then we cruise around the store for a while, checking out all the good smells & maybe buying a treat. Even Sydney, who’s (still) fearful about everything, doesn’t freak out — our guys seem to conceptualize it as “Car ride! Toy store! (shite happens) Toy store! Kewl!” Unlike the vet’s office, which apparently does not smell of Happy.
Darkrose
But she looks gorgeous! All shiny and fluffy!
Just Some Fuckhead
I need to give Max a bath.
Mark S.
She’s so cute! Maybe I’ll give cats baths tonight.
On second thought . . .
Mark S.
@Mark S.:
There should be a “my” in there somewhere.
General Winfield Stuck
Great Photos Cole. The best so far IMO. Hi Lily, you little sweetheart.
paradox
It’s either the gym for me or a bath for the Pommeranian, it’s a good idea.
Corned beef in the pressure cooker (the only way to cook it), carrots & potatoes not-over-cooked on a side pot, milk.
Plus four pets and the teevee. Hmmmm.
paradox
No, please excuse me, the best images where photos tell the tale and that gorgeous orange cat. That killer feline look in the last image is awesome, I won’t forget it.
ellaesther
@Mark S.: Unless you’re just planning on going out and giving cats baths. You know, randomly, as a public service. Because they like it so much!
Cain
@Mark S.:
That won’t end well. A bath would be perfect revenge for my cats right now who are stressed out of their gourd because we just moved to a new house and my oldest cat is pee’ing on the carpets. We keep them closeted but they put up such a ruckus that we let them out but when we aren’t looking they let loose. bastards. I am not a happy pet owner right now.
cain
JK
Huffington Post tries to out-stupid Politico with this gem “Obama’s Use Of ‘Extraordinary’ Is Getting Pretty Ordinary” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/25/obamas-use-of-extraordina_n_371076.html
In defense of Politico, when they published this drivel “The White House’s unprecedented use of ‘unprecedented’” http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29896.html
it only took 1 writer. Huffington Post used 4 FUCKING WRITERS for their stupid article.
Who the hell do Huffington Post and Politico think they are? The Onion?
I realize every story idea can’t be run by Ariana Huffington, but can she at least hire editors who have a fucking clue and better news judgment than to publish something worthy of Weekly Reader or Highlights.
schrodinger's cat
Tunch feels left out, he needs a bath too.
Shell
Oh, dear, the expression in that first photo is like, “Hey, I didn’t sign up for this!”
chopper
my sophie needs a bath. she’s also 70 pounds, strong as an ox and hates water. did i mention i live in an apartment?
demkat620
Awwww! Hi Miss Lily. She looks so happy John.
ellaesther
Apropos of nothing:
I realized sometime last February that I was suddenly much better informed, in no small part because I no longer despised my President — and thus was no longer lunging to turn things down and/or off whenever the Commander in Chief opened his yap.
However, today I saw myself lunging not once, but twice, to shut NPR the fuck up — once, when they let John McCain do the talkin’, and once when it was Joe Lieberman. I will read what they said, but do not make me hear their fucking voices!
schrodinger's cat
Caption for Lily’s photo
I feel pretty, oh so pretty…
John Cole
She’s really frisky right now, running all over the place.
Mark S.
@ellaesther:
That kind of sounds like fun. I could be a door to door St Francis of Assisi.
asiangrrlMN
@Cain: Have you tried Feliway or Rescue Remedy? Poor stressed cats.
Cole, Lily looks so shiny and purdy. Now, ahem, how about one itty-bitty picture of Tunchie?
@schrodinger’s cat: I would pay money to see this.
ellaesther, I am better informed for the same reason, but that means I’m also more pissed off because I know just how crazy the rightwingnutters are.
ellaesther
Also, nao, I miss my childhood dogs….
schrodinger's cat
BTW, where is the master and commander? we haven’t seen his majestic visage in a while. Time for a new Tunch photo, or better yet live action TunchCam
-Tunch fan
valdivia
Oh she looks cute.
but where is Tunch?
Quicksand
Less booze? That’s your own fault!
ellaesther
@asiangrrlMN: Yes!! Yes!! That is the downside, isn’t it. And not just wingnuts — like, in addition to all of that additional mad, I’m also just thinking more often, and with more facts at my fingertips, about all the bad shit that’s out there.
I just recently blogged about this conundrum, even! I was told in no uncertain terms to visit Cute Overload more often, and there is more than a drop of truth to that.
MikeJ
I know Lily is going to become neurotic if she can’t find some good smelly dead shit to roll in now.
schrodinger's cat
@ellaesther:
Also try ICHC, it is my daily dose of sanity.
abo gato
Dogs are SO funny about baths….hate them, hate them……then, when you’re done, they run around and rub their faces on the floor and jump on and off the bed and the couch……and then they stop and the look on their faces is always like the one Miss Lily has…..cracks me up. And they are so fluffy and cute when they just got dried off. Almost, ALMOST, makes me want to give one of ours a bath.
Nah. I’m gonna drink some bourbon instead.
Priorities, priorities, man.
Comrade Mary
If you’re offering “wet dog” photos, can’t you at least make them scratch and sniff? (So cute! Who’s a pretty girl? WHO’S a pretty girl? Yes, you are! Yes, you ARE!)
If not, a lovely picture of His Tunchness will do in a pinch.
asiangrrlMN
@ellaesther: Yup. It’s maddening because now I can see all the shit that goes into politics, and it really isn’t pretty. I second schrodinger’s cat in the recommendation of LOL cats. I visit it daily.
ellaesther
@ellaesther: Oh what the hell, I might as well make this an actual-factual blog pimp, as long as I mentioned it:
Here’s me moaning about having too much access to distressing information: Bleak hauser.
John Cole
Tweet of the day:
JC_Christian: Swiss to release Polanski, say there is little risk he will build a minaret
Jennifer (formerly Molly)
Informal survey…I like my real name and want to use it, but I sense there are a lot of Jennifers, Jens, Jennies, or variants thereof. How many of us are there around the place?
SiubhanDuinne
@John Cole 8:08 pm
She’s probably trying to outrun the nasty clean smell. Never mind, next time you take her Rails to Trails she’ll find some good dead shit to roll in and then everything will be right again.
Betsy
@Jennifer (formerly Molly):
Well, I know there’s JenJen…don’t know about others.
That’s the good thing about my name being Elizabeth. There are a whole lot of us, but there are also about a million nicknames to choose from.
Betsy
@John Cole:
LOLsob.
asiangrrlMN
@ellaesther: Nicely done. I struggle with that all the time because as I’m sure you can discern, my natural outlook on life is pretty grim. Reading all this shit doesn’t help. I actually stick to WaMo, TBogg, and BJ. I will read a link once in a while if one of these three links to it, but that’s it. I can only take so much of this bullshit without having my head asplode.
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
I find Ta-Nehisi Coates to be wonderful for my mental health. Dude is always thoughtful, no matter what, and it restores a smidgin of my faith that we’re not completely doomed. Also, like Cole, he’s really great about admitting when he doesn’t get something right.
Mark S.
40% staff reduction at Wash Times.
KyCole
Willie (who looks a lot like Lily but with one less eye) had a bath yesterday, and I cleaned the bathroom this morning. The bathing involves quietly getting everything ready and then dragging her upstairs to the bathroom. When its warm I have to make sure she doesn’t know in time to crawl under the porch, since I can’t even look at the hose without her slinking away. I was walking her last week and a little girl came up to pet her. I told her Willie wasn’t very clean and she said “that’s okay, neither is our dog”. When I first moved here I gave her a shower in the basement and let her loose while I cleaned fur out of the drain. When I looked up she was curled up inside the cat box which was fortunately clean.
ulee
I took a bath this afternoon. Some streaking, some singing. Nothing serious.
MikeJ
The other 60% will be married to each other in a mass wedding ceremony, and each household given one paycheck.
asiangrrlMN
@Betsy: Yeah, I like him, too. I stopped reading him a while ago. I’m not sure why. I will check him out again.
arguingwithsignposts
BTW, I suggested it last night, but I’ll throw it out there again since Cole was talking about supporting the site. I know I’d be willing to pay for a Balloon-Juice t-shirt with that balloon graphic at the top of the blog.
khead
You folks should be watching Rudolph.
The Miser Brothers are on next week. Mark your calendars.
Annie
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yes, absolutely John should bath Tunch. Then we can look forward to the pictures of John running around the house and then returning to the drug store for more bandages.
gex
@asiangrrlMN: The worst of it is that you know the bad guys want you to tune out. No matter how much I want to or need to for my own sanity, it feels like I am abdicating my duty as a citizen if I walk away.
jnfr
@Jennifer (formerly Molly):
/raises hand
But I don’t post much.
John O
I had a beagle-Jack Russell mix who thought water was the Devil’s brew. But he (and I’ll bet Lily) smelled like roses and seem to feel good about it at the stage of your pics.
Last week, I was sitting a yellow lab I took to a dog park one day, a 40 degree day in late Nov. in Chicagoland, and she was in the water within 5 minutes. And then did it again.
What are you going to say? She was having a ball.
robertdsc
Lily is so sweet.
I add to the chorus desiring a shot of the Tunchinator.
John O
And while Big Tunch requires/needs far less blog-love, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve at least as much blog-love.
Just MO.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: I’m in! Put a pic of Tunchie, and I’m doubly there.
EEH
@Betsy: That’s why I wish Elizabeth was my first name rather than my middle one. There aren’t a whole lot of nicknames that you can get from Esther and the ones that people come up with aren’t exactly flattering.
I add my voice to those wanting a Tunch pic.
Marty
Jesus…clip those friggin’ nails too! I’m guessing you don’t have hardwood floors.
(owner of two marginally intelligent Golden Retrievers)
Elie
Lily is wonderful. She has a face I wanna kiss. Tunch is also missed…give us some pics, John!
Bill my old guy cat has dreadlocks from not being able to groom himself adequately. I shampooed him not knowing what I was doing, and that cats need to be brushed dry, etc, so he ended up with these dreads. He absolutely hates the vet but she is coming over to clip the dreads off.
I feel so bad. He will have little bald spots where the dreads are. But its hard to really pet him cause these little knots exist all over.
Next Thursday is not going to be a good day
ellaesther
@schrodinger’s cat: @asiangrrlMN: The LOLcats n’ dogs are at the very start of my every day!
It goes: xkcd, Doonesbury, Candorville, Cake Wrecks, then LOLcats/dogs, then a handful of strips at comics.com.
And then I have to face reality.
Annie
@asiangrrlMN:
Me, too…
kommrade reproductive vigor
Hey, when did you put a camera in my bedr-? Oh.
Never mind.
Them claws could use a clipping tho’. Not sure how she’ll handle that. My cats are surprisingly easy to bathe, but clipping their nails requires nerves, and skin, of steel.
John O
@gex:
I have the same problem.
I’ve done some modifying. I haven’t watched news (unless you count TDS and The Colbert Report) or any political gasbag shows in quite some impressive time. I watch sports, and comedy, and movies. I’m actually able to laugh at McCain being on a Sunday show now, as opposed to watching him and wanting to spit in his face.
I’m trying to disengage with the stupid and calcified, and engage more (when I want news) in the far more eloquent and sophisticated blogosphere. This blog turned me on to Larison, a person very persuasive and sane to me.
Svensker
Nothing’s cuter’n a frisky pup.
I’m just listening to some Irma Thomas and feeling that soul. Uh huh. Sing it. Lose your blues. Uh huh.
JD Rhoades
We left Fargo out of his kennel while we went to work today because it was pouring rain. He stayed in the yard, bless him., but when we got back he was muddy up to the eyes. We’re talking terra-cotta puppy here. So it was bath time. For some reason, the little guy is terrified of towels, so let’s just say it did not go well.
Lily, OTOH, is lovely.
JK
@arguingwithsignposts:
How about a t-shirt with Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Beck, O’Reilly, and Hannity wearing dunce caps or Dick Cheney taking a perp walk?
schrodinger's cat
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
Do you have the nail clippers especially designed for kitteh claws? They make clipping claws much easier.
Ming
Lily!! Thanks, John.
Pls to add Tunch? (even an old photo would be better than nothing…)
Thanks!
BethanyAnne
@ellaesther: And http://thereifixedit.com/ :-)
BTW, ty for your Ann Coulter remarks the other day. Like Xeni Jardin said “Fuck anyone who thinks calling me a trannie is an insult”.
Demo Woman
@arguingwithsignposts: Me too! They’d make cute gifts also.
Betsy
@schrodinger’s cat:
I do, but I can still only do one nail at a time, and then only if she’s sleepy and her reflexes are slowed down.
Karen
I had to make my husband install a hot & cold hydrant in the back yard to give my 80 pound German shepherd a bath. She will not go into a bathroom that has a tub in it. (She is a rescue & we have no idea how or what the original owners did her to make her terrified of a tub.) She streaks like that through the back yard.
Cole, Lily needs a pedicure. Take her to your vet’s office for them to do it, if you can’t. Don’t go to the “take your leashed pet shopping” stores. Their grooming centers are too rough with dogs.
CynDee
Well, I had to go run it again. I keep it bookmarked. “Terrier Puppies Drying Themselves”
“Oh, my God!”
Ming
@Betsy, and asiangrrlMn, and ellaesther,
yes to Ta-Nehisi and Balloon Juice.
Also, too.
schrodinger's cat
@Betsy:
I have become quite adept at this, you have to hold them a particular way, so they can’t fight back. My kittehs are resigned, they no longer even put up a fight and I give them tuna afterwards as a reward.
WereBear
@Cain: Major bummer. Can you catch them at it, and closet them then? And a Feliway dispenser couldn’t hurt.
I am always remind the cats that I am suffering too. I’m not happy about it either!
demkat620
I’ve just discovered my dog likes popcorn.
Is that bad for him?
JK
@arguingwithsignposts:
How about a t-shirt with a group photo of David Gregory, Mark Halperin, Wolf Blitizer, Anderson Cooper, Campbell Brown, et al bearing the caption This Is Your Brain On Drugs
gwangung
@Ming: Quadruple down on Coates. He belted at least three out of the park today. Extremely thoughtful and nuanced.
arguingwithsignposts
@JK:
I’m holding out for the real thing.
Comrade Darkness
Someone Got a Bath Tonight
And if you really loved her, you’d give her a dead porcupine to roll around on…
arguingwithsignposts
@JK:
It would only come in XXXXL, because there are too many pundits to put on it.
Brick Oven Bill
Let us chronicle the ascension of Wealth and Birth. To avoid a breathalyzer:
1. Ted had to book it away from the sinking car and seek refuge in a remote hotel room to sober up (1969).
2. Ted’s son Pat had to be ushered away by the Capitol Police after plowing into the building at 3:30am to show up for a vote (2006).
3. Tiger, after plowing through a fire hydrant and into a neighbor’s tree, just went home and then sent the police away (2009).
Chappaquiddick occurred six years after national SAT scores peaked, and four years after Kennedy’s immigration reform.
CynDee
See, there’s still a lot of hope in a country where, somebody gives a someone a bath and tells about it on line and within an hour 70 people have commented about this little someone getting a bath.
Of course, it ain’t just Somebody and Someone, it’s John and Lily . . .
Nice towel, by the way, and is that a sofa she’s on? Following family tradition . . .
arguingwithsignposts
@Brick Oven Bill:
And so in comes the non sequiter hizzownself.
BTW, someone mentioned spellcheck in an earlier thread. At least in Firefox, any misspelled word is underlined in red for me.
Quaker in a Basement
There was shaking, barking, whining, yelping and streaking.
Yes, yes, I’m sure. But how did Lily take it?
asiangrrlMN
@gex: Yes. If they can get enough of us demoralized, it’s a win for them. Sigh.
schrodinger’s cat, I am half-adept at clipping kitteh claws. But, I always give them treats afterwards, so they are resigned.
JK
@arguingwithsignposts:
I was thinking of a group photo comparable to the Sgt Pepper album cover. You could fit a lot of pundits’ faces on that type of layout.
Re: Dick Cheney
If God existed, Dick Cheney’s perp walk would take place on the same day that Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Zarahiri were taken into US custody.
Demo Woman
Miss Moxie was adopted in 2002 from the cat lady. A rescuer of cats would pick up dogs that appeared unlikely to be adopted from kill shelters. The vet guessed she was two or three when I was fortunate enough to find her.
The first six years she was pretty well behaved and new that there were limits that she had to adhere to. Well, about 1 1/2 ago she and I moved to new home that I’m fixing up, (slowly) and she adapted to her surroundings a tad to much. We had company for Thanksgiving week and she whined if they sat in her chair. Unfortunately, she whined if they sat anywhere because she thinks all the chairs and the sofa are hers. Whoops! Cesar Milan would not be happy.
charles johnson
“December 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 pm Reply to this comment
Betsy
@asiangrrlMN:
I find Ta-Nehisi Coates to be wonderful for my mental health. Dude is always thoughtful, no matter what, and it restores a smidgin of my faith that we’re not completely doomed”
Would that it were so. I would list some of the very bad ecological problems we’re causing, but which dozen should I pick? The human race does not seem to have the ability to think intelligently about long-term problems. Look around. We can’t even think intelligently about the next generation. Put it to a vote in your county–money enough to buy paper for the elementary school kids down the street, or a $17 cut in property taxes. I can tell you right now which wins. Now imagine that kind of incompetent, short-term thinking applied to way more abstract, distant problems like a century-long process of ocean acidification. Result: we’re totally boned. We’ll be lucky if humanity sees the year 2200.
“@asiangrrlMN: The worst of it is that you know the bad guys want you to tune out. No matter how much I want to or need to for my own sanity, it feels like I am abdicating my duty as a citizen if I walk away.”
You don’t have to tune out, but you don’t have to tune in, in certain ways. You can read the smart sites (Washington Monthly, NYT, Washington Independent, TPM) for an hour a week and be informed about the serious issues enough to write congress. Shit, the NYT’s Week in Review on Sunday will tell you basically everything you need by itself. You can spend an hour on competing candidates’ websites and learn enough to vote for the intelligent person with the best values.
It’s not hard to inform yourself about the serious stuff, and it takes very little time. All the time spent watching Hardball, or This Week, or CNN is just time wasted. Balloon Boy, the gate crashing couple, a train wreck in East Consonantstan, that stuff not informative. It’s worthless. Worthless. Actually, worse, because of opportunity cost. It steals from you the things you could have been doing instead.
I’ve made progress on that. I never watch This Week or MtP or Hardball etc. But I still go to too many websites. It’s been hard for me to completely break from the worthless crap, because, face it, we like getting outraged and venting. That, in fact, is what Balloon-Juice is about. Getting all pissed off at some rapist-apologist, some dipshit news anchor who repeats what Cheney says, some jerk columnist’s false equivalency, and getting all righteous about it. I don’t say that to be rude, but I realized the other day that I don’t really get anything from BJ except indirect exposure to things to be indignant about, and the comment sections were just heaping piles of indignance. And I admit, I like participating. But it’s not really doing anything positive for me. I don’t learn much of anything, and it doesn’t improve my mood. So I’m going to try to come here much less in the future, use it as a guilty pleasure rather than a daily fix.
schrodinger's cat
@Demo Woman:
All your chairs are belonging to me, says Miss Moxie
Betsy
@schrodinger’s cat:
And by “holding them a particular way,” I can only assume you mean “with one’s entire upper body wrapped in Kevlar.”
jeffreyw
We use the kitchen sink for small jobs, have a utility sink in the basement that gets a workout. Some jobs require prep with a garden hose outside. We find that a leash is usually required for that.
Comes with a handy spray.
Mike in NC
Guess they figured out how many Moonies it actually takes to change a light bulb.
bystander
@Marty:
Yep. Glad to see someone else notice that. C’mon, John. Those long nails put real pressure on the nail beds.
Otherwise, Darling Lily is perfect, and has the perfect human companion.
arguingwithsignposts
@charles johnson:
I heartily disagree there. The community here is much more than just getting indignant. Sure, we vent. But we also laugh, and share music, and pick each other up when we need it (and FSM knows I’ve needed it before). We talk trash about football, and breathlessly await Tunch updates.
In short, you’re not seeing the forest for the trees, my man.
schrodinger's cat
@Betsy:
Don’t forget the chain-mail and the helmet. Seriously, it is not that hard, do this when they are sluggish, be quick, the key is to be done before, the little tyrants realize that you are taking away their weapons of targeted destruction.
jeffreyw
@asiangrrlMN:
Mrs J keeps all the claws on the kittehs in good shape, she started them early and their attitudes are good, no squalling or clawing. We have a clipper designed for the task, works well.
Comrade Kevin
You know what really grinds my gears right now? This goddamn obnoxious AT&T ad for their TV service that is running about every ten minutes.
Demo Woman
@arguingwithsignposts: seconded. I find Balloon Juice and the commenters informed and knowledgeable about world events. The most important aspect of this site though is that you can exhale and I mean that in the nicest way.
JK
@charles johnson:
Try Democracy Now with Amy Goodman, GritTV with Laura Flanders, Free Speech Radio on Pacifica Radio, the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, Consortium News, and The Media Consortium for starters.
asiangrrlMN
@jeffreyw: I have the clippers. I get them while they’re sleeping. I can usually get one paw done before they realize, and then usually, they just wait for me to finish. It’s only if they wake up before I get the one paw done that they get freaked out.
madmommy
@jeffreyw:
That’s a lot of dog for the kitchen sink! I wouldn’t dare give Mitzi the WonderLab a bath inside. I also have a hot and cold faucet outside for baths. She’s very good about it, the hardest part is getting her dried off and inside before she finds something dirty to roll around in. Winter-time baths mean a trip to the vet, but she gets a very snappy bandana to wear afterward.
Add me to the chorus re: clipping Lily’s nails. She needs a mani/pedi for sure. Just don’t let ’em put any polish on her nails. Tunch would mock her forever.
John O
@arguingwithsignposts:
LOL, I guess Chucky hasn’t undergone a full conversion just yet.
Reading the quote though, I got the strange and indefinable impression Mr. Johnson gets indignant about the same things, which is kind of weird considering what I perceive to be his point.
charles johnson
http://www.break.com/games/tiger-woods-wife-outrun.html
JK
@asiangrrlMN:
I second the value of reading Ta-Nehisi Coates. Also Steve Coll, Hendrick Hertzberg, David Sirota, Norman Solomon, and Thomas Frank. There are many good voices out there doing their best to combat the stupidity of the wingnuts.
Jennifer (formerly Molly)
My sweet baby of a Yellow Lab, the one that allows the 4 year-old to drag her around by the tail and/or ears, will not let nail clippers near her. It’s surreal.
She’s too big to wrestle. I take her to the vet and they do it.
JK
@charles johnson:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
h/t William Blake
charles johnson
“In short, you’re not seeing the forest for the trees, my man.”
No, I see that, but all tribes need an Organizing Principle, and that aforementioned indignation is Balloon Juice’s. And it’s nice to share recipes and look at photos of the product of a cat having mated with a blue whale, and hear about some jock morons getting crippling brain damage, but, for instance, 11 out of today’s 14 posts so far have been centered on the indignation theme or at least touched it. 11 out of 14 is most of the trees in the forest, by my count.
ellaesther
@BethanyAnne: Not only did you suggest a blog that I have forgotten to go to for too long, for which I am grateful, and then say a nice thing to me, for which I am also grateful — you quoted who I think of as Xeni Boing Boing! I do love Boing Boing.
And yes indeed, she’s right! Anything that involves dismissing a woman because of/by way of her looks just furthers a social blight that really should be stomped out. Say I!
R-Jud
@Jennifer (formerly Molly):
Wish I could take our human baby to the vet to have her nails clipped. My mom and I bathed her tonight, and neither of us could get her to hold still to let us cut her fingernails. She’s like Howard Hughes or Lady Deathstrike at the moment. I tried cutting them while she was sleeping just now, and she woke up and threw the damn clippers at me.
charles johnson
“LOL, I guess Chucky hasn’t undergone a full conversion just yet.
Reading the quote though, I got the strange and indefinable impression Mr. Johnson gets indignant about the same things, which is kind of weird considering what I perceive to be his point.”
I’m sure it’s unclear, John O, but I’m not *that* charles johnson. Anyway, It’s not weird, I do in fact get indignant at the very things. I agree with 80% of the indignance here. What I’m saying is, that’s not a productive way to spend a large fraction of my time, and so I need to spend a lot more time doing other things which’ll benefit me. Just gettin’ all pissed off and feeling righteous and whatnot every time some dip-tard on a Sunday show turns to Karl Rove for penetrating insight? What am I going to gain by getting pissed off at that for the 873rd time? I understand I should choose to do more productive and beneficial things with my time than stew in righteousness, I’m just having a hard time taking the necessary steps of making myself do other stuff.
John O
@charles johnson:
But don’t you, Charles, feel a good bit of indignation, even if some of them are about different ideals?
I’ll bet the far left and far right are far more in line than has been reported, as one example, on the Wall St. bailouts.
It doesn’t matter, because the “left-right” thing is sold to us chumps like so much cotton candy. The real deal is going on between haves and have nots.
kommrade reproductive vigor
@schrodinger’s cat: Yes. I can’t figure it out. I’ve never cut the quick or their pads, and I’m really quick about it.
They.
Just.
Fucking.
Hate.
It.
Infinity.
I think they know it means they can’t put down roots when they leap on us.
John O
@charles johnson:
Ah, sorry. I figured no one here would post under that moniker, given that we all figure he’s seen the posts/links.
It would be better if all us indignant folks quit our jobs and spent all our time on productive solutions to our indignation.
And you might not have seen it earlier, but I’ve checked out of political or even news-y teevee quite successfully.
Somehow I sense the power of the blogosphere, even in terms of indignation, has made a difference. I doubt C. Matthews would’ve apologized for his “enemy camp” remark 15 years ago. (Stipulating that he never would’ve said it 15 years ago.)
Tim F.
@charles johnson: In defense of BJ it sounds like you got your environmental fatalism from me. Could be that perspective gets around these days, but I’ll just mark that as my positive contribution to the world.
On the plus side, not much short of a K-T boundary event will wipe out humanity. Generalists do pretty well, historically speaking, and I don’t think that 2200 will be much of a problem for the species.
Civilization we will probably have to learn to live without. It grew up in a 10,000 year epoch of extraordinary climate stability that I doubt that it will outlive for long.
arguingwithsignposts
@John O:
Wow. He apologized? I missed that. Damn, now I’m going to have to go listen to hardball on msnbc.com to see it.
arguingwithsignposts
@charles johnson:
On one day. These days, there’s a lot to be indignant about. It is a political blog, after all.
But without the others (crippling brain damage, WTF?), we’d all go insane.
John O
@arguingwithsignposts:
Gotta check in on Crooks and Liars and Think Progress every day, awsp.
If you’re not doing so, you’re not doing it right. :-)
Jennifer (formerly Molly)
R-jud, I am so glad I’m not wrestling with my sons when it comes to cutting their nails. Even now, they shriek and wince and complain bitterly, looking for any signs of blood after each snip. But, they’ve been nipped enough times to know that too much movement is risking a fingertip wound. They sit still.
Morbo
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
That was my first thought upon seeing these pics. Hopefully we’re getting into the season where the dead shit she likes to roll in so much stinks less and less.
arguingwithsignposts
@John O:
After I typed that, I thought about C&L. Damn, that’s some serious apologizing by Tweety. Good on him, for once.
asiangrrlMN
@arguingwithsignposts: And, it’s a good way to vent. Many people here do other things to voice their indignation (like emails and letters and phone calls), but it’s nice to have a community in which you can just say, “Yeah, that fucking sucks.” In addition, I like the different perspectives I get from BJ because it broadens my thinking. And, bottom line is, when I have had enough of politics, I skip out for a few days.
JK
@charles johnson:
Your link to that Tiger Woods game offers a mother lode of positive vibes. I learned so much from it that my mood can only be described as euphoric. Thanks for putting your money where your mouth is.
charles johnson
“@charles johnson: In defense of BJ it sounds like you got your environmental fatalism from me. Could be that perspective gets around these days, but I’ll just mark that as my positive contribution to the world.
On the plus side, not much short of a K-T boundary event will wipe out humanity. Generalists do pretty well, historically speaking, and I don’t think that 2200 will be much of a problem for the species.
Civilization we will probably have to learn to live without. It grew up in a 10,000 year epoch of extraordinary climate stability that I doubt that it will outlive for long.”
I could have, Tim F, but I didn’t. My fatalism comes from hanging around UNC back in the day and knowing lots of biologists, physicists, ag people, botanists, and ecologists. Knowing them informed me that we face a buttload of serious, capital-S Serious environmental problems, and reading about politics convinced me that we as a species are not capable of dealing with even short term problems like buying pencils for second-graders and so we’re just fucked.
I shouldn’t have made it sound like I meant extinction by 2200, what I actually expect will happen is a huge die-off in humanity, and by 2200, humanity will be a few hundred million people living in roughly afghanistan conditions.
John O
@asiangrrlMN:
It’s always nice to find at least potentially kindred souls.
I agree with you all the way. It’s just a new form of “community.”
arguingwithsignposts
@charles johnson:
Well that explains it all. ;-)
asiangrrlMN
@John O: And the bottom line is, it’s voluntary. If someone is not getting anything positive from it, then don’t type the URL in the address bar. It really is that simple.
Brachiator
@JK:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright!
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Elin! Elin! burning bright
In the Escalade’s shining light,
What Tyger’s uncovered faithless fling
Could dodge thy golf club’s mighty swing?
John O
@charles johnson:
Well, “Charles Johnson” (if that IS your real name) I’m on record as saying that Mother Nature will work things out, and if that means we’re a few billion short of where we are now, population-wise, and I think 200 years is on the outside of reality, so be it.
So right on to you.
arguingwithsignposts
And I still don’t get why half of my blockquotes come out bold, and half don’t. FYWP.
charles johnson
Wish I knew more chemistry. The one doomsday scenario I don’t understand, that geo-chem people i knew talked about was The Hydrogen Sulfide scenario, which they thought was an entirely possible extinction type event. I don’t really know what that refers to. Little help, Tim F? :-)
John O
@asiangrrlMN:
Right. I feel the same way about teevee channels and radio stations or any modern media.
I’m a firm believer in the prairie, self-sufficient ethic (dare I say, “conservative?”) that in this case can be summarized by, “I have the power to change the channel, or turn off the device.”
pika
@abo gato: You’re referring, of course, to the “afterbath” (known in our house, after Eminem and Dre as the “millennium of afterbath).
JK
@arguingwithsignposts:
By the end of this week, Chris Matthews will have made a half dozen other idiotic remarks deserving of an apology. I won’t hold my breath waiting for those apologies. I hope Matthews apologized to historian Steve Gillon for the disgusting, bullying tone he took when interviewing him about his book The Kennedy Assassination–24 Hours After.
It’s nice that Matthews apologized, but he’s still a malignant media carcinogen as far as I’m concerned.
charles johnson
Brachiator wins tha intarnets.
JK
@Brachiator:
If anyone were to riff off of William Blake, I figured that it would, more than likely, be you. Very well played sir.
JK
Who’s watching tonight’s debut of Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura on TruTV?
charles johnson
Nevermind. Found it. This guy suggests 1,000 ppm CO2 levels could trigger a Hydrogen Sulfide environment in the oceans, and wipe nearly all life out:
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2008/03/peter_ward_qa?currentPage=2
Litlebritdifrnt
@Elie:
Nelson my one eyed fixed tom is such, he has dreds all over, I just shave them off periodically and then he grows back a beautiful black coat which he then completely and utterly screws up by trying to groom himself with goo and creates more dreds. He is due for a shaving.
Elie
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Ha,ha,ha and thanks for your experience…
I am considering leaving him alone with it. He still does pretty good getting up and down stairs and such — he can even jump up on some stuff still..
How old is your guy?
Brachiator
@JK:
Thanks much.
I think that the Tiger coverage has been typical media overkill, and feel for both Tiger and his wife.
On the other hand, I can’t resist a little humor. I also like this brief clip from Conan O’Brien on Elin’s way with a golf club.
charles johnson – This guy suggests 1,000 ppm CO2 levels could trigger a Hydrogen Sulfide environment in the oceans, and wipe nearly all life out….
Interesting clip. I wonder have CO2 levels risen at a measurable rate as suggested by Ward since the original article came out.
Steeplejack
@Betsy:
I really like Coates, and I used to read him regularly, but not so much after he changed the structure of his blog so that it’s all “reply to” threaded. It really breaks the flow for me, and it makes me appreciate all the more the Balloon Juice model: chronological posts with hyperlinks back to the comment being replied to–for those who want to go back. It’s voluntary, not forced, in other words.
Every time I think I’m being shallow or CDO (h/t AsiangrrlMN) and go back over there I can barely read a complete thread of post and comments. It’s too painful.
Anne Laurie
John, I second (or sixth) the recommendation that Lily needs her nails clipped. Even if she doesn’t remind you every time she jumps on your chest, at least check her dewclaws & make sure they’re not curling back into the skin. We’ve had good luck (knock wood) taking our guys to the local big-box pet chain… since it’s a 10-minute job, max, we just show up and I wait / watch while the groomer cuts their nails (also trims the hair on their feet, since papillons grow their own hobbity socks & then slide around on the wood floors). Then we cruise around the store for a while, checking out all the good smells & maybe buying a treat. Even Sydney, who’s (still) fearful about everything, doesn’t freak out — our guys seem to conceptualize it as “Car ride! Toy store! (shite happens) Toy store! Kewl!” Unlike the vet’s office, which apparently does not smell of Happy.
Little Macayla's Friend
@arguingwithsignposts:
I’m just repeating the IT guys around here, but don’t skip a line (pressing enter) above (and below?) the quote.
Testing for bold quote (skipping a line):
melathys
grab thyself a pedipaws or dremel and sand down those claws a bit!
Dog is My Copilot
Oh, my God – the look on Lily’s face says, “You bastard!” Dogs are so funny.
Pope Ratzo
Shaking, barking and whining, yes, but on the plus side, you now have a sweet-smelling dog to warm your bed on a cold night.
mclaren
What a lovely dog. Lily just look incredibly cute.