Month: December 2010

Athenae, Diary3 Comments

Given the Chance, We Will Help Each Other

In trying to get my professional shit together, at the age of 35 which is kind of hilarious/pathetic, I’ve been doing a lot of looking at what I tend to write about here. Besides John Kerry and the cock jokes, I mean. And between the journalism and the politics I realize what I write about most is the fact that we are better than we almost always think we are. Kinder, more generous, with an almost fathomless capacity for work and fierce tenacity when something matters to us. And I write about that when I see us underestimating ourselves. Giving … Continue reading Given the Chance, We Will Help Each Other

Athenae, Diary7 Comments

Friday Ferretblogging: Claire’s Sweater/Leash Edition

Claire’s so tiny that a regular ferret leash won’t fit her. She slips right out of the one we have for Riot and Bucky, so Mr. A went back to the pet store and got her a guinea pig harness. It looks like a wee sweater, with a bell and an elastic leash attached. Generally our ferrets on leashes are kind of useless. It’s either like walking a water balloon (Bucky) or a seriously disobedient puppy hopped up on coke (Riot) and either way, you go where they want to go and not the other way round. Claire, however, is … Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Claire’s Sweater/Leash Edition

Adrastos, Books, Stupid Republican Tricks8 Comments

Thanks, Gore

Peter Adrastos Athas

Not the former Veep but his distant cousin (and my favorite writer) Gore Vidal.Apparently the master’s “snottiness” made Michelle Bachmann a Republican. Genetics made her an idiot: I was a reasonable, fair-minded Democrat. And another secret you need to know: My husband and I met in college. We worked on Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. It’s true, it’s true. This is like a 12-step meeting here today, you know that. Because I am here to admit to you, I’m a Minnesotan who had “DFL” – that’s what we call Democrats in our state — stamped on my birth certificate, worked for … Continue reading Thanks, Gore

Athenae, Immoral Values4 Comments

‘Dead cats on the lawn’

God, Haley is a solipsistic prick: In the Weekly Standard profile, Barbour marvelled at the fact that Yazoo City’s schools were desegregated without violence, unlike in many other towns in Mississippi. But for Mangold, whose parents were both physicians in Yazoo City, another local institution is in the forefront of his memory of that era: the hospital. Continue reading Built in the mid 1950s with federal assistance, the Yazoo City hospital was, at the insistence of the local White Citizens Council, a whites-only facility, Mangold says. As a child, he had the nighttime assignment of answering the back door at … Continue reading ‘Dead cats on the lawn’

Adrastos, Film7 Comments

True Grit

Peter Adrastos Athas

I love the Coen brothers. I even like the movies that other people don’t: I’m a sucker for TheHudsucker Proxy, a fiend forBarton Finkand even like the unnecessary remake ofThe Ladykillers; mostly for the black church lady who ranted about hippety hop music. I also love Jeff Bridges and Westerns soTrue Grit is right up my street. I usually dislike remakes but this one hews closer to the novel than the original and has Matt Damon as LaBoeuf instead of Glenn (Rhinestone Cowboy) Campbell. (A digression: about 15 years ago we went to a benefit concert in NOLA that was … Continue reading True Grit

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media9 Comments

WikiLeaks is Wrong Because Those Sickos Enjoy It

The Wall Street Journal basically plays a big game of“my kink is a fetish, your kink is porn” with this piece: Mr. Ellsberg himself has recently denounced the “myth” of the “good” Pentagon Papers as opposed to the “bad” WikiLeaks. But the real myth is that the two disclosures are the same. The Pentagon Papers revelations dealt with a discrete topic, the ever-increasing level of duplicity of our leaders over a score of years in increasing the nation’s involvement in Vietnam while denying it. It revealed official wrongdoing or, at the least, a pervasive lack of candor by the government … Continue reading WikiLeaks is Wrong Because Those Sickos Enjoy It

Athenae, Economy4 Comments

‘After the cuts, the department’s average age will be 40’

If only we had stuff we could just spend money on: Gary fire officials hope 34 city firefighters who have lost or are losing their jobs are granted a last-minute reprieve. Four of the firefighters were laid off Dec. 18, and Friday is the last day on the job for the other 30. Fire Chief Jeff Ward said there still is a chance the department will get a federal grant that would allow the department to bring back the laid-off firefighters, but he isn’t sure when, or if, the grant will materialize. The layoffs would slash the city’s firefighting force … Continue reading ‘After the cuts, the department’s average age will be 40’

Adrastos, Music2 Comments

Gloom and Toon

Peter Adrastos Athas

Gloom and doom is how some dimmer critics have long described Richard Thompson’s music. I never bought it; not only is RT a brilliant guitarist and songwriter but he’s pretty damn funny. Trust me, I know from funny and Richard is funny. Here’s a tres cool animated video from the rag end of the glory days of the rock video. It features the animated adventures of Richard Thompson singing an chirpy ditty about a guy who just got out of jail. Continue reading Gloom and Toon

Athenae, Happy Democrat Photo3 Comments

Happy Michelle Obama Photo

Our First Lady is awesome: Austin Futch, 10, from Memphis, Tennessee, said he quizzed the first lady about a few things on his mind concerning life in the White House. He wanted to know how it felt to be surrounded at all times bySecret Service agents — not too bad because they are nice guys — and if it was hard being married to the president. “No, he’s a pretty good guy,”Michelle Obama told him, according to a transcript of the calls released by the White House. “I mean, it’s a tough job and sometimes you want to do everything … Continue reading Happy Michelle Obama Photo

Athenae, Congress8 Comments

Let’s Cut Stuff! Why? Because Let’s Cut Stuff!

Once again, the only reason anybody cares about the deficit is that Republicans are screaming that they should care about the deficit, so that they can break unions, decimate public education, ruin most major centers of the educated populace and drive power into the hands of the mouthbreathing teawads who elect them.That’s what’s behind all these oh-so-necessary spending cuts: Cutting non-security discretionary funds by $100 billion means a 21% annual reduction in the part of the budget that includes funding for education, health and human services and housing and urban development, among other things, according to the Center on Budget … Continue reading Let’s Cut Stuff! Why? Because Let’s Cut Stuff!

Adrastos, Film5 Comments

The King’s Speech

Peter Adrastos Athas

Since I work nearly every Sunday, Dr. A and I don’t get to the movies as much as we used to. Also, movies for grownups are getting rarer and rarer all the time: the best dramas for people like us have gravitated to cable teevee. Mercifully, it’s the holiday season so there are actually several flicks worth checking out. So, we started withThe King’s Speech. In a word, this film is great. Yeah, I know that I’m a notorious Anglophile but I’m also a small-r republican so I don’t automatically swoon for a story about the British royals. (Dr. A, … Continue reading The King’s Speech

Jude, Law/Justice15 Comments

Plans For The Year Ahead

AK-47 is the tool. Don’t make me act a motherfuckin’ fool. I have some advice for all good liberals in the upcoming year. If you don’t already, buy and learn how to use a weapon. Seriously. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of all the right-wing maniacs being well-armed and our side being outgunned. Those people are scared of everything–let’s give them a real reason. You may not have noticed, but the big money party just won some big victories, and they are going to do everything they can to fuck over anyone who’s not already rich. It’s … Continue reading Plans For The Year Ahead

Athenae, Faith20 Comments

Not Reception

THIS: The book states that, for him, the worst moment of his presidency was, not 9/11, or the hundreds of thousands he killed or maimed, or the millions he made homeless in Iraq and jobless in the United States, but when the rapper Kanye West said, in a fundraiser for Katrina victims, that Bush didn’t care about black people. West was only half right. Bush is not particularly racist. He never portrayed Hispanics as hordes of scary invaders; Condi was his workout buddy and virtually his second wife; he was in awe of Colin Powell; and he was most comfortable … Continue reading Not Reception

Stupid Republican Tricks, Tommy T6 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – “Wha hoppen?” Edition

Good morning everyone – the Freeperati have been getting callouses patting thenselves on the back for their recent run of good fortune – but lately, somehow, it’s all gone terribly wrong.

Much like a child who has been enormously successful in finding where the ladder is stored, and finding just the right towel to tie around his neck for a cape, the Freepers have climbed to the top of the house, and are very pleased with how their “fly like Superman” plan has been going.

And then, in the last few weeks, they jumped, and reality / gravity took over.

Let’s suit up, open the airlock, and see what the landing looked like.

Jury Convicts Army ‘Birther’ Who Refused Deployment to Afghanistan
FoxNews.com ^ | 12/15/2010 | Staff

Posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:54:18 PM byOldDeckHand

A military jury has convicted an Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questions President Obama’s eligibility for office.

(Excerpt)

He’s probably going to get hammered at sentencing.
1 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:54:22 PM byOldDeckHand
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To: OldDeckHand

A hearty thank you must also be bestowed upon all the conservative talking bobbleheads who refused to discuss this issue in any manner whatsoever.

3 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:55:42 PM bystockpirate (Sen. Mitch McConnel (R) has betrayed the Nov. 2, 2010 voters w/his tax bill!)
You’re welcome.
To: OldDeckHand

Obama smiles.

8 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:59:03 PM byGene Eric (Your Hope has been redistributed. Here’s your Change.)
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Jesus wept.
To: Rational Thought
You just can’t question anything about this President’s past without ramifications.

Look at every political race he’s ever entered and see what happened to his opponents.

Well, one of them was punished by making her Secretary Of State.
Another was punished by keeping his seat in the Senate. Yet another was punished by being forced to become wealthy pandering to nincompoops and by getting her own reality TV show.
The fiend!!
Joe the Plumber dared to question him and we all know what happened to him.
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Not much, really. He was an unemployed asshole then, and he’s an unemployed asshole now..
Then there’s the Trinity Church gay murders.
So – don’t question Barry Soetro’s citizenship, or he’ll have you gay murdered.
And we just thought the death panels were only for his healthcare program. Heil Soetoro!
21 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:09:57 PM bybgill (K Parliament- how could a young man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
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Bobs-FuckingStupid
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To: wintertime

Wintertime,
Sheesh. You sound like a liberal on this thread. Those Democrats used the same nonsense in 2005 saying that President Bush presided over an illegal war due to wrong intel. We were beating the dems up for that. There were many soldiers who refused to go to war over it and when they went to jail we celebrated.

I know you are not a liberal that is for sure but you just sound like one tonight. Maybe you are tired.

62 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:49:22 PM bynapscoordinator
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To: Georgia Girl 2
Yes I feel really sorry for Lakin. Somebody talked him into a bad idea. They are going to make an example of him to keep others from getting the same idea.

Yeah, he’s like one of the suckers who listens to one of those goofballs who claims to have discovered a legal loophole that makes it possible to get out of paying taxes.

67 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:51:37 PM bytricksy
YaThink
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To: bgill
The usurper could have ended all of these court cases two years ago with a $10 bill.

Why on God’s green earth would heever want to end a spectacle that serves as such an embarrassment to his oppositions? If anything, his people are probably poking the Birther movement with a stick every time it shows signs of going into hibernation.

75 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 3:56:18 PM bytricksy
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They’re onto us!
To: xzins; OldDeckHand

“I’m hoping he gets to appeal or gets to simply choose retirement at his highest completed grade.”

I think Lakin is glad I’m a retired O-5, not an active duty O-6 on the CM.

“MAJ Dobson, the doctor who had to replace LTC Lakin on short notice, testified next. He recounted how two days after arriving in theatre, the unit suffered a mass-casualty attack, with sixteen wounded. He said that he was not, in his opinion, as well-prepared to deal with the attack as he would have been had he had longer to prepare for operations at the FOB. The defense suggested on cross that the deployment was probably a good career opportunity for the major personally.”

I’d be thinking maximum penalty right about now…and a Lt Col shouldn’t be as STUPID as Lakin.

169 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 5:46:14 PM byMr Rogers (Poor history is better than good fiction, and anything with lots of horses is better still)
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To: Tex-Con-Man; Drew68
The growing list of solid conservatives and patriots that have to be trashed in order to keep birtherism alive is stunning.

The military, the courts, all conservative media…the list goes on and on.

… and half or more of all Free Republic users. Boy, you nailed that one.The Birther Narrative has significant collateral damage.

299 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 10:33:00 PM byBuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I’m the other kind.)
CaptainObvious
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And now – the best post of the thread!
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To: OldDeckHand

Will Lakin have to show his BC to get into prison?

7 posted on Wednesday, December 15, 2010 2:58:03 PM byPA-RIVER ( POTUS is a dishonest disrespectful POS who can’t come clean with the Constitution)
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Ba-da-bump.
More after the jump..

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – “Wha hoppen?” Edition”

Athenae, Diary14 Comments

Christmas Question Thread

What’s your unbreakable holiday tradition? My family has very … not strict, specific… ideas about Christmas. You do not open presents earlier than Christmas morning. You decorate like there’s a contest and your life depends on winning it. You bake as if Martha Stewart’s coming for tea. There should be least one gift that was so ridiculously hard to find the story sounds like Shackleton at the Pole. And you do not have a fake tree. If you are concerned about the environment, you get a small real tree in a pot and donate it to somebody after Christmas, but … Continue reading Christmas Question Thread

Jude, LOL4 Comments

Dispatches From The War On Christmas

Happy Xmas. War is over. I have come into possession of a series of dispatches from the War on Christmas. I reproduce them here for the record. Day One: The predawn assault by the enemy’s reindeer brigade was repulsed with heavy enemy losses. The enemy general made the incredible tactical blunder of placing LT Rudolph in the front rank, alerting our gunners that an attack was imminent. Our soldiers inflicted an incredible 77.8% casualty rate on the assault element. We eat well tonight. Day Five: No matter how jauntily they wear their top hats, snowmen are no match for flamethrowers. … Continue reading Dispatches From The War On Christmas

Doc, LOL, Of Interest1 Comment

Season’s Heavings

Spending holidays on the road again with family and friends. The Midget managed to throw up in the car twice, which led to some frivolity as we cleaned her, the car and her car seat. Windex and blue truck-stop towels were flying everywhere. She even got vomit on her stuffed moose. I had to buy a bucket of caramel corn at this truck stop just so we could have the bucket (as no actual buckets were available) in case she hurled again. I bought a roll of paper towel, a bottle of Windex, the caramel corn and asked for four … Continue reading Season’s Heavings

Adrastos, Music

The Salvation Blues

Peter Adrastos Athas

Today on Adrastos’ obsession with the Jayhawks: It’s been a challenging year for me so I’m not filled to the brim with holiday spirit. But I believe in the power of music to keep you going when life is hard.The Salvation Bluesis the title track of Mark Olson’s finest solo album. The album is full of songs about failure, heart ache and redemption. Great stuff but I still keep waiting for Gary to start harmonizing: Continue reading The Salvation Blues

Adrastos, Immoral Values, Malakatude, Religion17 Comments

Malaka Of The Week: Metropolitan Seraphim Of Piraeus

Peter Adrastos Athas

This week’s malaka with other bearded dudes. He’s the one who talks loudly *and* carries a big stick. I like naming a malaka of the week who knows from malakatude. This week’s “honoree” is, in fact, a Greek Orthodox Bishop who is a real Greek and a bona fide bearded malaka, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus.I was raised in the American Greek Orthodox Church and the Priests I knew as a kid were mostly bleeding hearts who marched with Dr. King and against the Vietnam War. The Greek Greek Church is a different kettle of fish altogether. Exhibit A is Metropolitan … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: Metropolitan Seraphim Of Piraeus

Michael F1 Comment

Happy Holidays!

FromAlbum3 No prisoners will be taken in the War on Christmas…but Wikileaks is aware of some sort of list. More seriously, regardless of what you call it — Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, rite of Dinoysus, Saturnalia, here’s hoping your Winter Solstice is full of cheer. Also, I’d like to say thanks to Athenae and everyone else at First Draft for allowing me to contribute to the effort, and thanks to everyone who reads and/or comments. Again, cheers! Continue reading Happy Holidays!