GOD, the DRAMA: And Vanity Fair reprints an email from “right-wing pastor and political activist”Lou Engle to Sarah Palin:“… I believe this is an Esther moment in your life. Esther hid her identity until Mordecai challenged her to risk everything for such a time as this. Your identity is “Sarah Barracuda”… I’ve been praying for five years for an Esther, with dreams of being a Mordecai to that Esther.” Dude, you need better dreams. A. Continue reading Dream Bigger
Since it is finally cool enough to bake again, I’m trying bread. I used to call up Grandma for bread-baking advice, because she knew how to do everything and would have gotten an A in home ec if she’d ever had to take home ec. In her day, taking care of a half-dozen younger brothers and sisters was what they called home ec. By my generation, school or the Girl Scouts had to show you how to sew and cook potatoes so you wouldn’t grow up naked and starving. (Incidentally, the only thing she didn’t make from scratch? Angel food … Continue reading Rising
What is the one sure-fire thing that, no matter what else is going wrong in the world, will make you happy? I had a crappy day the other day, came home, hauled Bucky out of the cage, petted him and tickled his ears and scratched his belly until he gave me kisses. Five minutes of that (an interminably long time for him to hold still, generous creature) and I couldn’t even REMEMBER what I’d been mad about. A. Continue reading Weekend Question Thread
Freshman ferret is way too much fun. Post away. A. Continue reading Saturday Blogwhoring Thread
The BS (Buffalo Springfield) mini-fest continues. Stephen Still has always been at his best in the context of a band. Here’s a track from his short-lived band Manassas’ first and best album. Okay so they only made two, so sue me. It features Chris Hillman as Stephen’s second banana. I think Hillman’s white boy ‘fro trumps Stills’s muttonchop sideburns. Hmm, that’s a lot of food references. Buffalo burgers anyone? p align=”center” class=”asset asset-video” style=”display: block; margin: 0pt auto;”> Continue reading Song Of Love
Malakatude comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s farcical but occasionally it’s something evil that oozes out into the light of day from a dark place in the human soul. That’s the case with David Irving. Irving started off as a respected World War II historian until he became the world’s foremost Holocaust denier.Irving is back in the news with another assault on human decency: Irving will be shadowed by thePolish secret service as he takes a week-long guided trip round various sites related to the German occupation of Poland, including a trip to the notorious SS-run camp Treblinka, where more … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: David Irving
There’s so much stupid to go around onthis Ines Sainz thing I almost don’t know where to start. First, no one deserves to be harassed at work, regardless of who you are or where you work. The situation noted here in which several NY Jet players made “inappropriate” (the word that works like paint primer: it covers everything and yet is perfectly bland) comments regarding Sainz is strange, in that Sainz seems unfazed by all of this. She didn’t complain to the Jets. It was another reporter who was disturbed on her behalf. (There’s another whole riff here about minding … Continue reading Dicks on Parade
Riot’s favorite place to be is anywhere he’s not supposed to be, which usually means the dining room table. He sits up at it like a little furry human until he catches one of us looking at him, and then he’s all, “NOT ME I WAS NEVER THERE DIDN’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT WHAT FERRET AT THE TABLE?” A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging
Well, not really, but she does have her paw on the Mayor’s picture on the cover of the Gambit Tabloid. Della believes in keeping politicians in line so she can do whatever the hell she wants. —– Continue reading Friday Catblogging: Della Street Meets Mitch Landrieu
I have a suggestion for the folks in Hollywood. It’s time to remakeOf Mice and Men with women cast as Lenny and George. Now she’s no Lon Chaney Jr. or John Malkovich, but Christine O’Donnell’s been trying out for the part of Lenny for years. Check out some ofher zanier comments on stem cell research: O’Donnell appeared in 2007 onThe O’Reilly Factor, to speak out against such research in response to the cloning of some monkeys. Then came her warning on human-mouse hybrids. “They are — they are doing that here in the United States. American scientific companies are cross-breeding … Continue reading Tell Me About The Rabbits, George
The Buffalo Springfield theme continues with Neil Young and Pearl Jam: p align=”center” class=”asset asset-video” style=”display: block; margin: 0pt auto;”> Continue reading Rockin’ In The Free World
The English woods are alive with the sound of oinking: If you go down to the woods today you may be in for a big surprise. Not from teddy bears, but from an army of pigs snaffling up a bumper crop of acorns. The mild spring and largely dry summer has yielded a glut of millions of green acorns, or oak nuts, in the New Forest in Hampshire. They are poisonous to ponies and cattle but not to pigs, which have for centuries been let loose to get to them before they harm otheranimals – a practice known as “pannage”. … Continue reading Piggies
They are. We should clean them up. Instead of handing out the welfare checks, we’ll teach people how to earn their check. We’ll teach them personal hygiene … the personal things they don’t get when they come from dysfunctional homes.” You have to teach them basic things – taking care of themselves, physical fitness. In their dysfunctional environment, they never learned these things. They’re gross, and they smell, and some of them are loud, and some of them are impolite. They’re standing on public street corners. They’re in public parks. They’re hanging around, talking in foul language. They hog the … Continue reading Poor People are Gross
FromAlbum3 Well, congratulations are in order all around on this one, history repeating as tragedy, then as farce, then asbride ofFrankenstein…so, first, let’s give credit–or blame–where it’s due, starting with the entire Republiclown establishment. In deflecting blame from blowing up the economy — and a fair bit of Iraq and Afghanistan — on Dick and Junior’s watch, they opted for a none-too-subtle extended hate fest of “Who’s Your Daddy Kenyan Usurper” over the last couple of years, assisted by their loyal media corpse, um, corps, who just can’t quit Newtie, Johnny McCain…and Sister Sarah (who, it should be noted, never … Continue reading And The Winner Is…
Since Virgo Tex posted about the one-offBuffalo Springfield reunion this morning, I’ve had a powerful hankering to hear this fine tune written by Richie Furay for Poco. It’s a live version that looks kinda crappy but sounds pretty damn good. Get ready for oodles of closeups of Timothy B. Schmit who was considered the cute member of Poco back in the day. p align=”center” class=”asset asset-video” style=”display: block; margin: 0pt auto;”> Here’s a two-part trivia question for y’all. First the hard one, what was the name of Schmit’s pre-Poco band? Second, what musician did Tim B replace in two, count … Continue reading Good Feeling To Know
At long last, the videos from theRising TideTreme panel have been put up. Many thanks to Crystal atSophielab for these and the rest of the RT video. Part One: p>PartsTwo andThree. I encourage you to watch the discussion, particularly if you are a fan of the show. At the time, Maitri and I both felt the panel was a bit on the low key side of the spectrum but on rewatching, I am impressed at how much ground got covered. Probably the best soundbite from the panel comes from Davis, re ifThe Wire isWar and Peace, thenTreme isAnna Karenina. As … Continue reading RT5 Treme panel videos up
THIS. God. What’s it going to take for everybody wittering on about Apple to pay some goddamn attention? “My experience is that if something is free and it’s convenient to get and whatever is in it is relevant to them, they have no qualms about printed versus non-printed,” said Kevin Schwartz, general manager ofThe Daily Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “A college newspaper, if it’s done right, is all of those things.” Every single college paper in this country should be OVERRUN with academics studying its relevance and function. Yet we continue to let … Continue reading The Internet Can’t Kill College Journalism
I wonder what J. Edgar Heehaw had on him: The grief-stricken aides photographed by Withers on April 4, 1968, had no clue, but the man they invited in that night was an FBI informant — evidence of how far the agency went to spy on private citizens in Memphis during one of the nation’s most volatile periods. Withers shadowed King the day before his murder, snapping photos andtelling agents about a meeting the civil rights leader had with suspected black militants. He laterdivulged details gleaned at King’s funeral in Atlanta, reporting that two Southern Christian Leadership Conference staffers blamed for … Continue reading American Stasi
Nancy Pelosi has a Republican opponent whose name I refuse to remember. He has no chance. It’s one of the safest and most Democratic seats in the country. But he’s posted a deeply obnoxious interweb ad depicting the Speaker as-surprise, surprise-the Wicked Witch of the West from theWizard Of Oz. The sub-text is that *those* people still worship Judy Garland and yadda, yadda, yadda. Yawn. Does anyone think people will give this bozo any money? Even in 2010, he’ll be lucky to get 30% of the vote. Oh well, at least he’s proving that he has his “man-pants” on. I … Continue reading Oh, Please
Oh dear. Look. Leaving aside the teawad nonsense and the political implications, this is just fucking stupid. We are simultaneously giving God a ton of credit and no credit at all with this. He’s so powerful he can track who is jerking off, yet he’s so completely unable to prioritize that he’s actually concerned about who’s jerking off? Can’t he triage somewhat? I get he loves us completely and is beyond time and space and shit, but there are plenty of sparrows for him to keep his eye on. He really doesn’t need to know what happens between you and … Continue reading About This Masturbation Thing
Go read ‘Turk and Taibbi and come back. Because Christ Almighty, let’s make a list of people who make too much money, okay? Two-thirds of Congress and everybody who works for them. Rick Santelli. The fatheads at talk radio everywhere. Bob Costas, Joe Buck, Bryant Gumbel, everybody associated with the Today show, and the literary estate of Norman Mailer. “Fundraising” consultants who sell nonprofits a foolproof system to make money — which IS their foolproof system of making money — like, go rob a liquor store like grownups. Bill FUCKING Maher, America’s college newspaper opinion columnist. The people whose gas … Continue reading People Who Make Too Much Money
Huge news of the “Hey, we’re getting the band back together” varietyannounced this week: Neil Young will reunite with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay for a pair of performances as Buffalo Springfield for Young’s annual Bridge School benefit concerts in Northern California, with lineups that also include Pearl Jam, Elton John and Leon Russell, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams and several other acts. The reunion of the influential country-rock band born in 1966 in Los Angeles will feature Young, Stills and Furay as an acoustic trio, given the Bridge School’s history of unplugged performances by all participants. The group’s other two … Continue reading WWTFUS: the event of the season
This is dedicated to everyone who doesn’t know when to shut up: p align=”center” class=”asset asset-video” style=”display: block; margin: 0pt auto;”> Continue reading Mouth Almighty
No, not my thoughts: Don Draper’s thoughts. I have mixed feelings aboutThe Summer Man. I’m glad that my prediction about Don bouncing back seems to be coming true but I wasn’t crazy about the voice over device. While the idea of Don the diarist is an interesting one, I don’t think Samuel Pepys or Edmund Wilson have anything to worry about. Onto some of my typically random and discursive comments since, likeDouble-D, I rarely write in increments larger than 250 words. Holy tweeter tube, Batman. Hmm, perhaps my thoughts are indeed a jumble; no surprise there: Betty was back and … Continue reading Mad Men Thread: My Thoughts Are A Jumble
The threads for this are going to be epic. Also even if you’re not into this, Sean Bean is being hot in the videos, in leather, so go look. A. Continue reading Game of Thrones: New. Hotness.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi recently survived a rebellion in his party and a no confidence vote. Another thing that survived is his status as ahuman gaffe machine and Europe’s crazy uncle: Putting politics aside, he then launched into a series of anecdotes and apparent jokes that promptly drew accusations of anti-Semitism and even mental instability from opposition politicians. The former cruise ship entertainer told a joke in which Adolf Hitler is begged by his supporters to return to power after they discover he is still alive. After resisting, Hitler says: “I’ll come back, but on one condition … next … Continue reading Europe’s Crazy Uncle Strikes Again
Corn sugar: The group plans to apply Tuesday to the Food and Drug Administration to get “corn sugar” approved as an alternative name for food labels. Approval could take two years, but that’s not stopping the industry from using the term now in advertising. There’s a new online marketing campaign at http://www.cornsugar.com and on television. Two new commercials try to alleviate shopper confusion, showing people who say they now understand that “whether it’s corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can’t tell the difference. Sugar is sugar.” Renaming products has succeeded before. For example, low eurcic acid rapeseed oil became … Continue reading Just Call It Something Else!
A dramatic story that gives me an excuse to do myCharles Laughton as Quasimodo shtick but, alas, you can’t hear it. Not even you, Esmeralda. Seriously, give this man asylum: A Saudi Arabian diplomat is seeking political asylum in theUnited States because he is gay and befriended a Jewish woman, and fears for his life if he returns, NBC News reported Saturday. The diplomat, which NBC identified as Ali Ahmad Asseri, the first secretary of the Saudi consulate inLos Angeles, reportedly told US federal officials that Saudi officials refused to renew his diplomatic passport and terminated his job after they … Continue reading Sanctuary
My Liberal Identity: You are aSocial Justice Crusader, also known as a rights activist. You believe in equality, fairness, and preventing neo-Confederate conservative troglodytes from rolling back fifty years of civil rights gains. Take the quiz atwww.FightConservatives.com Via the Balloon Juice comments.A. Continue reading Liberal Quiz