(Scott Meyer’s website)
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The Blogmaster will yell at me for using too many precious front-page pixels — assuming some pismire is already racing to complain — but sometimes a thumbnail just won’t cut it.
What’s on the agenda for the rest of this hump day?
burnspbesq
Jeez, this is so fucking priceless, it’s worth linking to Politico.
http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/dick-armey-freedomworks-president-clashed-over-book-deal-84599.html?hp=l12
Ash Can
Given how often the Blogmaster shows up around here these days, I’d say you could live-stream the entire Star Wars movie series and he’d be none the wiser.
Brachiator
Congressional Republicans continue to try to pretend that there is no Obama presidency.
There are banana republics with more effective and responsive governments.
I’m going to try to watch Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter tonight. I’m told it is an incisive political biography of the 16th president, and the acting performances are all Oscar caliber.
Punchy
This is pretty much par for the course in Idaho. I love the idea that there’ll be 3500–5000 families (read: ~9000 — 12000 drivers) with only one gate/road in and out of the castle. The Mother of All Traffic Jams in complete BFE Idaho backcountry. That’s funny, yo.
Ash Can
@burnspbesq: I figured it was a squabble related to money, but I figured it was a matter of Armey wanting a bigger cut than the rest of the outfit was willing to give him. I didn’t think that any actual principles entered into it.
shortstop
Waiting for an actual reason to be constantly resentful has never been your style.
burnspbesq
@Ash Can:
Yeah. I assume that the irony of Dick Armey standing up for adherence to principle and strict compliance with IRS regulations is not lost on anyone.
Scott S.
Too many front-page pixels? No, seriously, make the pictures big enough to read. Makes it easier on the reader, makes the post more likely to be read.
kay
@burnspbesq:
I couldn’t be happier that they’re all grifting and bleeding the donors. Really. Good news. More books and more buy-outs, please. Just keep the donor money circulating among a small group of crooks.
shortstop
@Punchy: I dunno. It’s weird and all, but their HOA rules and regs seem attractively simple and succinct. Ours include such pips as a ban on the wearing of pajamas in common areas and potential fines for not picking up your Tribunes on a timely basis, as if anyone actually paid money for that rag. I’m living in a nanny condo! Let me fire a gun and be done with it!
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Brachiator:
That’s because if all the bananas are left just sitting out on the dock rotting in the hot tropical sun while the Senate plays a sad song on tiny violins, nobody gets paid.
It’s six foot, seven foot, eight foot BUNCH!
Daylight come and me wanna go home
steve
what’s up for me is reposting what i posted in another thread because it’s too awesome:
Did anyone see Adam Gopnick, in a New Yoker last year, thoroughly destroy Tom Friedman? Here’s an excerpt. No linky available, though if you want, you can all probly find it by going through your public library website. It’s from the Sept 12, 2011 issue. Here’s the relevant excerpt:
A Ghost To Most
http://m.washingtonpost.com/opinions/toles
Toles latest made me laugh
JGabriel
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Anne Laurie @ Top:
Why? Is there a bandwidth issue? I thought Balloon Juice was getting enough ad revenue at this point that it could cover its own expenses.
.
Brachiator
Kibbe sounds like a high-class moocher. Republicans sure are funny when they are being hypocrites.
Sly
@burnspbesq:
To quote Atrios, “Grifter Mad At Other Grifter Grifting His Grift”
burnspbesq
@Sly:
In other news, the Seattle Mariners are doomed. They have reached agreement on a contract with the biggest albatross in the history of major league baseball.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8717356/jason-bay-seattle-mariners-agree-one-year-contract-report
Southern Beale
Guess who is rumored to be moving to Nashville.
There goes the neighborhood.
Felonius Monk
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@steve:
Milton put it best: they would rather reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
BGinCHI
@Brachiator: Enjoyed it, actually.
Smarter than it has a right to be for, you know, a historical vampire movie.
Comrade Mary
@Ash Can: No! Stream A New Hope from Star Wars Uncut!
Or Topher Grace’s prequel edit, if you can get it.
gene108
@burnspbesq:
It’s a one year deal. That’s not really dooming yourself in any major sport.
SatanicPanic
@gene108: No more doomed than they probably already were anyway
shortstop
@Southern Beale: I was hoping it would be Mitt. Not because I have anything against Nashville, but because capturing the terrified expressions on his face every time he’s offered a Southern dish would become the photography Olympics.
fleeting expletive
I don’t know if this has been discussed in these parts, but I’m sure you read in the last few days about an Oklahoma judge who sentenced a teen driver whose passenger was killed when thrown from his truck–sentenced him to go to church for ten years. The alternative was 4 years to life in prison.
I know the judge, practiced in the 80’s in that community, well before he was a judge. He’s not a nut at all, in fact is a nice guy. I didn’t even know he was a Baptist. I think what it was was that he just didn’t want to have to hand down that draconian sentence; i.e., brain fart on the First Amendment issues.
Steeplejack
I saw an awesomely good movie today, Searching for Sugar Man, which I recommend to all, especially music hounds. It’s a documentary about a musician named Rodriguez who recorded two albums in the early ’70s that sank like a stone but inexplicably became hugely influential hits in apartheid South Africa. Years later some fans decided to track him down.
The movie is really well done, works on a lot of levels and has a damn good soundtrack. It had me close to tears about half the time. Trailer here.
JPL
This months picture on the BJ calendar makes me. Beth really did a good job and I can’t wait until the 2013 version.
The Golux
@Felonius Monk: I’m actually digging the appearance of “pismire”, a word my father used to use, and I had forgotten. “Pissant” gets thrown around a lot these days, and I never knew it was the same thing.
MikeJ
@steve: 1,000 words of year old copypasta has to go in every thread?
jl
@burnspbesq: Thanks interesting article. I read Armey got an $8 million severance package, or almost 25% of the groups total take this year (not sure I understand the numbers). But at any rate the package is big, showing why Armey is down on new folks horning in and turning this corporate teabagger astroturf outfit into a personal cash cow. (less for Armey)
This passage surprised me from some bigshot at the front group:
‘ Brandon said. “We work hard to be process-oriented so the system can deal with changes. We read Deming. We’re close to 50 employees so someone is always coming and going.” ‘
Deming was kind of commie pinko. Demings ideas on worker relations from his key principles of management:
“Drive out fear”
“Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor ”
“Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. ”
“Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement”
Maybe if they take Deming more seriously, this astroturf bunch can make some good policy recommendations… maybe…
W. Edwards Deming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
Felonius Monk
@The Golux: It sounded very familiar to me also. Can’t remember who used to use the term but it is kind of a refreshing change from pissant.
Redshift
@burnspbesq: It wasn’t hard to guess that for Dick Armey, the definition of “principles” was “money.”
And since you made me click on a Politico link, I got to see their wonderful pop-up ad with pictures of teachers and firefighters, asserting that “whether you answer a school bell or a fire bell, everyone agrees that we have to fix our debt!” I wonder if there’s a word in German that means “a lie about a lie.”
Brachiator
@BGinCHI:
Oh, I’m not complaining. Not yet. It’s a playful bet with my sister, who still likes all kinds of horror movies. I told her I would rent this movie if she went to see Lincoln (which she was probably going to do, anyway).
I’ve seen most of the major films still playing in theaters that I am most interested in, so I figured this would be a good time to check the Vampire Hunter out.
JCT
@burnspbesq: As a Met fan, my condolences. One of our worst free agent signings ever and that’s for a team that is still paying off Bobby Bonilla.
lacp
@Steeplejack: Yes, but the fact that it’s considered award-worthy when there’s another movie out there that’s all kinds of awesome has given somebody a major sad.
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/05/dinesh_d%E2%80%99souza_blames_oscar_snub_on_liberal_bias/
steve
Well, MikeJ, I was going to leave it at two threads, but now that you mention it….
lamh35
Hey guys, just wanted to thank everyone for their advice on my big move next month. I talked to my apartment management office and I do have an early termination policy in my lease. It’s basically 1 month’s rent (with no discounts) plus a pro-rated amount for Jan (I’ll be moving out on the 11th, so 11 days pro-rated), plus any discounted amount on rent that I was given for the time I stayed on lease (7months). That still is a good chunk of change, but still basically 1 full paycheck (luckily I have like 3 more coming).
Still that’s good news. I still had like 7 months left on my lease and 7X my rent is way more than 1 paycheck. So I came out of this good. No need for sublet and no bad things on my rental history/credit report (at least nothing new…smh I’ve kept it clean for awhile now waiting for things to drop off if at all possible).
I also scheduled services cancellations for the major 3 things I had to: cable, electricity and appliance rentals (I didn’t want to buy a washer and dryer and lug it around, so I opted for renting those 2 appliances.
So other than getting off my duff and start packing, oh and turning in my resignation (which I’m doing tomorrow), I’m good to go. Unfortunately I start my 7 off tomorrow and so I only really have less than a few hours a day to do shit, but I’ll make it work.
PurpleGirl
@lacp: D’Souza seems to equate excellence of content with box office totals. I’d also like to know what the charge per patron was, so as to get an idea of how many idiots saw the thing.
Steeplejack
@lacp:
As the yoots would say: eww.
FlipYrWhig
@JCT: I always thought it was probably resentment at that Bonilla contract that got Barry Bonds to turn to the juice.
kindness
Where is the 2013 calendar anyhow? It is the gift giving season and all.
Raven
@lamh35:
Well, I thought I’d go out to Tulsa
And ride in a rodeo
Red beans and rice sure would be nice
Back where the Mississippi River flows
And it’s a long way back to Vicksburg
Mississippi River is muddy and wide
But it don’t seem like much
When sweet Louisiana’s waitin’ on the other side
‘Cause it don’t seem like much
When sweet Louisiana’s waitin’ on the other side
schrodinger's cat
@JGabriel: You forgot Tunch and his needs, John Cole is not made of munnies. Sushi grade tuna is not cheap, especially in WV.
Southern Beale
@shortstop:
Ha! I can’t imagine Ann allowing Mitt to move to someplace as corn pone and undignified as Tennessee.
Speaking of, does anyone find this recent spate of “Mitt’s just like you!” photo opping a bit odd? Mitt pumping his own gas? Mitt at CostCo with a shopping cart? I mean, this all strikes me as completely ginned up.
Methinks we are not done with Mitt yet. Someone decided to “humanize” the Mitt-bot in advance of … something. Perhaps another run for the presidency, who knows. I just smell bullshit wafting over Mitt’s CostCo shopping cart.
Baud
He would have to read his blog to find out, so you’re safe.
Steeplejack
@Raven:
Dude, you gotta see this movie!
lamh35
@lamh35: I scheduled a short 15min meeting with my Lab Director, Lab Manager, and Section Supervisor for tomorrow. They have been very understanding of my situation and I think I owe them for how easy they made it for me to be able to go home or in this case it’s them allowing me to work 7 on and 7 off that made it easy to go back and forth to NOLA and Cincy when my mom had her heart attack. The reason for the 7 on/off schedule was to make it easier to go back and forth to home. It was a blessing and a gift from the Lord cause no less than 1month after I started that schedule, my mom had her heart attack and I’m be back and forth every other week since. So even though my resignation letter is just a simple form letter, in this meeting, I will talk to them and explain what’s going on. I don’t think I’m going to tell ’em about the job (cause I”m paranoid/superstitious about most things and I just don’t want to jinx the new job), but I will update them on my mom and tell them all in person that I appreciate how easy they made everything. Plus, I’m giving them a 6 weeks notice instead of 2 (actually 3 weeks, because due to my on/off schedule, I only really work 2 weeks a month) and I’m working through the holidays so they don’t have to worry about scheduling when so many people are off for the holiday.
les
@Punchy:
There’s a typically hilarious and informative thread on this clusterfuck at Edros’s place.
WereBear
@lamh35: I am so happy for you to be able to go home… and have your mom there.
burnspbesq
@jl:
Not sure I’d wanna hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
Jay in Oregon
@Punchy:
Someone needs to wait until they’re all safely ensconced in their shiny new compound, then put up signs saying “FEMA Re-education Camp Idaho-01” and watch peoples’ heads explode.
Schlemizel
@kindness:
Had you not heard? Ain’t gonna need a 2013 calendar, world ends 2 weeks from this Friday
Schlemizel
@Southern Beale:
Senator from Utah ?
Maude
@lamh35:
You were smart to rent the washer and dryer. It will go smoothly. You are ahead of things and planning.
lamh35
@Maude: yeah, I did that cause I remember when my sister moved from apt to apt and finally back to NOLA, she had the damndest time with her washer and dryer unhooking everything and moving it all. I didn’t want that hassle, since I was always planning to move if not back to NOLA, then elsewhere. My mom’s illness made it easier for me to chose to move back to NOLA rather elsewhere.
MikeBoyScout
Um, at midnight TONIGHT marriage equality becomes law in WA state and to celebrate you can legally toke up.
How’s THAT for progress!