Cause and effect, bitches: So, yes, this sucks and it’s going to alienate some people from the museum. But if you’re angry because the Art Institute isn’t free, or as cheap as the Louvre, blame the man my brother-in-law spotted outside the museum on his last visit—the one wearing a T-shirt that said “Taxes are stealing.” A. Continue reading ‘Taxes Are Stealing’
David Vitter seems bent on disproving that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and the TSA seems ready to lend a hand. That said, prominentState Democrats don’t seem to be in any hurry to take up the challenge–to date the only serious candidate to hint at a run is theeven more appalling Tony Perkins (I’ve got nothing againstStormy Daniels and would probably vote for her if these were the only choices; however, on a more serious note, I believe Ms. Daniels is less running for office than she is promoting herself.) Sigh. Not to gripe too much, but this … Continue reading Marching to a Different Beat
DougJ asks: What is it about religion and sexual abuse? The answer is nothing. It’s not about religion and sexual abuse. The priest sex scandal was not about sex. It was about the abuse of power by the bishops and archbishops and cardinal archbishops and the Vatican hierarchy to deny and conceal sexual abuse, pressure abuse victims to retract their claims, and protect the abusers above all else. It’s not about sexual abuse. It’s about power abuse. When this thing became known as the “priest sex scandal” that’s when I knew it wasn’t going to lead to either the downfall … Continue reading It’s Not About The Sex
This is it, guys. This is the culmination of it. This is the apotheosis of the asshole dude we all know at the party, sitting there sure that if all the imaginary undeserving dicks in his head just disappeared he’d be king of the fucking mountain. This is the entire GOP argument of the past 40 years, that the reason we are always vaguely and sometimes explicitly screwed up as a country is that somebody out there is getting what you deserve and even though you don’t know who that is, hey, you should be really fucking pissed off! (And … Continue reading Their Entire Argument In One Easy, Yelly, Loud, Obnoxious Brain Fart
Nooooooooo. A. Continue reading Don’t Leave Us, Michael Steele!!!11!
They will OWN YOU: The students held a sign reading “Figs Doom Nations” and planted themselves across the street from the WBC, drawing from a Biblical passage in which Jesus disparages a fig tree. “If you need scanty biblical evidence for anything, we’ve got it,” said fourth-year Carmel Levy as he handed out flyers containing biblical citations that read: “Jesus rebuked the fig as an evil abomination” and “God Promises Terrible Vengeance Upon Any Fig-Loving Nation.” “We just wanted the world to know that God’s vengeance doesn’t just fall on the gay, but also on the fruit,” said fourth-year Max … Continue reading People. Do Not Screw With College Kids.
Swiped fromOliver. A. Continue reading Killing Journalism One Blog At A Time
Here. A. Continue reading What Phila Said
And all I got was this lousy T-shirt. Rot in hell, Hearst: Despite The Hearst Corp.’s statement Tuesday morning that it hasn’t decided whether to sell or shut down the Seattle P-I, clues emerged later in the day suggesting that Hearst plans to close the 146-year-old paper shortly and will continue operating a Web site. Staff members learned Tuesday afternoon that boxes and bins are scheduled to be delivered to the newsroom later this week — some for materials to be taken home, others for notes that require shredding. Employees were told to file promptly to be reimbursed for their … Continue reading Greedy Scumbags Killed A Newspaper
Week before last I flew to Chicago for a few days to celebrate a friend’s 50th birthday. She’s someone I’ve known for 23 years, though we don’t see each other that often. Now this particular person does happen to be one of those people that you can just pick right up with, no matter how long it’s been since you last saw them, but the internet has played a significant role in our keeping close. In fact, years ago, for reasons best left back there, we stopped speaking for a few years but became close again via email. That was … Continue reading Bridges
Ouch: If we need to wear impossible-looking shoes I’d like them with little engines and wings and possibly coffee-making facilities. I actually find them more attractive thanthese things, though: I mean, have we now honestly progressed to the point where shoes and socks can no longer be picked out and put on separately? We have to purchase them as one so as to get it right, or save a step, or something? For $151.00? I don’t understand. A. Continue reading Fashion Hell
Seriously. You think your approval ratings suck now? Try telling people it’s socialism for their kids to see a doctor. Try holding tea parties on every corner while their grandparents need surgery. Try that line for a while, see how popular it makesyou Rush Limbaugh. A. Continue reading Happy Howard Photo: Bring It, Bitches
In the first sentence, Maureen Dowd basically warned everyone that her recent column titled“Should Michelle [Obama] Cover Up?” was not fit to print. Like an idiot, I kept reading. David Brooks and I were sharing a cab to the British Embassy the other day to meet with Gordon Brown.…In the taxi, when I asked David Brooks about [First Lady Michelle Obama’s] amazing arms, he indicated it was time for her to cover up. “She’s made her point,” he said. “Now she should put away Thunder and Lightning.”…David brought up the Obamas’ obsession with their workouts.“Sometimes I think half the reason … Continue reading MoDo and BoBo share a cab
If you’re going down anyway, make it mean something: Well, now playing it safe isn’t working anymore. The question is whether there is anyone like Bellows still around to help newspapers renew their mission, possibly to resurrect the things, or if the people like Bellows have already largely left the field, leaving only a class of barely-adequate middle managers for editors, who will shuffle staff until they’re the only ones left to turn out the lights. I’m a huge believer in the need for newspapers, and of course as a former newspaperman, I have a sentimental attachment to them as … Continue reading What Scalzi Said
Not the Arrow of Athena, not the leader of the search, not the
harbinger of the apocalypse: just a girl. To exist. That is an
incredible amount of pressure. Kara’s smart enough to live through it,
but I don’t know that Boomer is. She hasn’t been so far. In order to be
the man or woman you choose to be, you have to know the moves and be
brave enough to make them.
Spoilers inside.
Continue reading “Nothing Matters When You’re Free: Galactica Thread”
Occasionally it becomes blindingly clear to me that nobody on this planet knows what the fuck they’re doing when it comes to what God thinks about anything: The row was triggered by the termination on Wednesday of twin foetuses carried by a nine-year-old allegedly raped by her stepfather in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. The regional archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, pronounced excommunication for the mother for authorising the operation and doctors who carried it out for fear that the slim girl would not survive carrying the foetuses to term. “God’s law is above any human law. So when a human … Continue reading Nine Years Old
(yawn, stretch)
Good Monday morning, everyone! My body chrono is completely thrown off by the time change, BTW.
As someone who wakes up every day at the same time (even on weekends), I can tell you that this whole DST thing is a crock. I haven’t been able to save evenone moment of daylight for later use. “Time in a bottle”, my ass.
This week in the chamber of horrors, we’ve got a lot of slime to wade through, so pull your ISO suits on and let’s see what floats to the top in the charnel-house of wingnuttery that is Free Republic!
First up –Freepers on the Jindal trainwreck:
Posted onWednesday, February 25, 2009 12:07:48 AM bylibertarian9
Conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians, Blue Dogs and yes, even PUMAs, deserve better than we got tonight.
If the Republicans are going to have a win in 2010 and 2012, we better
have people who are better than Jindal’s handlers tonight.
That’s not pessimism, it’s realism.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, Big Monkey, but thatwas the official GOP rebuttal.
So Jindal, who is Indian by descent, is demonstrating an example of “white guilt”??
Amazing. You need a scorecard to tell at any given time what these nutcases regard as “white”, I guess.
It wasn’t too long ago that people like Freepers were calling them “Wogs”.
Can’t add much to that one.
Don’t forget – Rush Limbaugh referred to him as “the next
Ronald Reagan.” Newt Gingrich called him “far and away” the best possible running mate for John McCain.
And Michelle Malkin has gone so far as to label him the “future of the GOP.”
See you guys after the jumperoonie..
Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession With The Freeperati – “What’ll we do now?” edition”
God, David Carr: No more free content. The Web has become the primary delivery mechanism for quality newsrooms across the country, and consumers will have to participate in financing the newsgathering process if it is to continue. Setting the price point at free — the newspaper analyst Alan D. Mutter called it the “original sin” — has brought the industry millions of eyeballs and a return that doesn’t cover the coffee budget of some newsrooms. Look, I’m not saying I’m adamantly opposed to paying some kind of premium for quality content provided said quality content is both, not to mention … Continue reading Internet Internet Blither Blather Blah
What’s the story behind your handle/username? A. Continue reading Weekend Question Thread
One of Michelle Malkin’s acolytes sends in an unintentionally honest despatch from the Tea Party front: There were families there, big tough guys in their local union# jacket, young college age people, grandparents, single people, everyone was represented, everyone was middle-class. It was great to see and also, to KNOW that for every person who showed up at this Tea Party, there were probably 500 that couldn’t make it…kinda like roaches! Like roaches. You know what, though? She’s probably right. If America is full of anything it’s full of people who couldn’t be bothered to get off their asses. I’m … Continue reading Self-Parody
Between the Vatican and the Freepi, we need some funny: DAY 36: Realizing there are 489 people working in the West Wing, Rahm Emanuel tells his secretary to stop buying cupcakes for everybody’s birthday. DAY 35: Negotiations between the House and Senate versions of the DC Voting Rights bill nearly break down when Senator Arlen Specter insists on keeping his doodle of a three-legged pony in the bill. DAY 34: During a difficult moment of a televised address, President Obama debuts the evil-looking sock puppet that will speak on all unpopular matters from now on. DAY 33: President Obama still … Continue reading Onion: Obama’s First 100 Days
In one of the more disturbing scenes of Roger and Me (no, notthe pets or meat moment) the people of Flint are being lectured to by a snake-oil salesman preacher who tells them that “just because you’ve got problems is no excuse to be unhappy.” During the montage shown over the top of this gasbag’s ranting, you see a program from the event with the phrase: “Flint’s attitude toward unemployment: Yes we can!” Not sure if this is what Obama had in mind when he picked his catchphrase, but the parallels are eerie. I thought of this even more when … Continue reading The United States of Flint
I’m asking: After a wife has respectfully appealed her spouse’s decision—a privilege she should not abuse—she must accept his final answer as “God’s will for her at that time,” Peace advises. The godly wife must also suppress selfish desires (for romance, a career, an equitable marriage), practice addressing her spouse in soothing tones, and maintain a private log of bitter thoughts to guide her repentance. “If you disobey your husband,” Peace admonishes inThe Excellent Wife, “you are indirectly shaking your fist at God.” The popularity of her audiotapes and books, translated into several languages and used as curriculum by Christian … Continue reading Is Joan of Arc Gonna Have to Start Breaking Fools?
Back when you had towork a beat: In response to such flummery, I had in my wallet, next to my Baltimore Sun press pass, a business card for Chief Judge Robert F. Sweeney of the Maryland District Court, with his home phone number on the back. When confronted with a desk sergeant or police spokesman convinced that the public had no right to know who had shot whom in the 1400 block of North Bentalou Street, I would dial the judge. And then I would stand, secretly delighted, as yet another police officer learned not only the fundamentals of Maryland’s … Continue reading David Simon on Police Reporting
The booster comes a bit early today, as we’re going toget screwed get our taxes done. To that end, enjoy the QTBS while I’ll be suffering through the indignity of getting depantsed in public… – Because nothing says, “Hey, we’re in Denver” better than a demonic stallion with a giant blue horse cock. – We need a new setting for Google Maps: CFS or Common Fucking Sense directions. In the options box, you can pick to avoid tolls and avoid highways, but that’s it. I had it print up directions for me for a recent trip when it sent me … Continue reading Quitting Time Booster Shot
Because of the amazing amounts of really vile spam we’ve been getting in trackbacks, I’ve disabled them. Nobody was using them anyway. If there’s really a thing where you used them and I didn’t notice I can put them back, but seriously, it was pretty nasty spam. For the same reason, after a couple of weeks all posts’ comments will close automatically. I realize this might put a damper on commenting to older posts, but for the most part after a few days most people are done talking anyway. Anything else about this place’s operation bugging you these days? I’m … Continue reading Housekeeping Notes
Sleepy Puck likes to be snuggled and petted and carried around, and because he is spoiled rotten, we oblige. A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging
Hey, this ain’t just filler. It’s been a damn fertile few weeks for new discs from old favorites. If you haven’t checked out M. Ward’sHold Time yet, you must. It’s smooth as silk. Written in Chalk is the latest from tour de force duo Buddy and Julie Miller, who bring Robert Plant, Patty Griffin and Emmylou along for the ride. And, finally, the diva her own self: Neko Case, withMiddle Cyclone Continue reading Significant and new tuneage