Month: June 2012

Athenae, Geek Cred, Television10 Comments

I Remembered, I Run A News Division: Newsroom Thread

Allison Hantschel

Mchale

I mean it, it’s different this time. It’s really special. You wouldn’t understand.

I’m going to take a page from Aaron Sorkin’s book and tell you why smarter people than I am are absolutely wrong.Pierce:

Cronkite did his famous “We are mired in a stalemate” in 1968, which was about six years at least after said stalemate was obvious to people like Neil Sheehan. A year after Cronkite’s broadcast, a solid plurality of Americans polled were still in favor of “total military victory,” whatever the hell that meant, and the war groaned on for four more years, more than 20,000 more dead Americans, and god alone knows how many more dead Asian peasants. Murrow certainly contributed to Joseph McCarthy’s downfall, but not as much as Joseph Welch did, and Murrow did it while still hosting a show where he had to ask Liberace when he was planning to get married. Sorkin is so attached to his own personal Great Man theory that he applies it retroactively to events most of his audience is old enough to have lived through, and, at those moments, he seems to be relying on the general American historical amnesia so many of his characters spend so much time decrying.

Spoilers within.

Continue reading “I Remembered, I Run A News Division: Newsroom Thread”

Adrastos, Law/Justice, Political Crack5 Comments

Scalia: Get off my lawn, Barry

Every time I hear wingers say that they love judicial restraint and hate judges who legislate from the bench I think ofBush v. Gore, which was perhaps the most overtly partisan opinion ever issued by the Supremes. We have a new entry in Justice Scalia’s lone wolf opinion/rant in the Arizona immigration case. Nino’s mind is apparently boggled by the Obama administration. Guess it boggles easily but *my* mind is boggled by the ad hominem and intemperate language used by Scalia. The Supremes are most respected when they float loftily above the politics of the day but Scalia seems to … Continue reading Scalia: Get off my lawn, Barry

Stupid Republican Tricks, Tommy T7 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Strange Ofays edition

tommyfd

Good morning, gentle people!

This whole Romney / Freeperati thing has taken a bizarre turn – they hate him so much that they’ve all turned into DFHs.

Think I’m kidding?

Prepare yourselves for –I can haz war, plz?

Mitt Romney Says He Could Wage War on Iran Without Congress’ Approval
The Alatnic ^ | June 20th, 2012 | Conor Friedersdorf

Posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 8:59:50 PM by Mozilla

On Face the Nation on Sunday, Mitt Romney said that if elected president he wouldn’t have to get congressional permission for a military strike on Iran.

To quote him directly (emphasis added):

I can assure you if I’m president, the Iranians will have no question but that I will be willing to take military action if necessary to prevent them from becoming a nuclear threat to the world. I don’t believe at this stage, therefore, if I’m president that we need to have a war powers approval or special authorization for military force. The president has that capacity now. I understand that some in the Senate for instance have written letters to the president indicating you should know that a containment strategy is unacceptable. We cannot survive a course of action which would include a nuclear Iran we must be willing to take any and all actions.

All those actions must be on the table.

1 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 8:59:57 PM by Mozilla
Now you know down deep in their hearts, these assholes never met a sending-someone-else-to-die they didn’t like, right?
Right?

To: Mozilla

Yeah Willard

send those 5 boys of yours at the front of the line…

2 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:01:50 PM by Tennessee Nana (Why should I vote for Bishop Romney when he hates me because I am a Christian)

JawDrop

To: Mozilla

Some times ya just need to keep ur mouth shut.

5 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:04:26 PM by TribalPrincess2U (Criminaliens or Crimigrants…0bamao’s people? Answer: Evidently yes.)

So it’s OK to intend to start another war in the Middle East, as long as you lie about it to get elected?

To: Mozilla
Well, we all know that arguing with idiots doesn’t work on the basis of our experiences with our neighbors and co-workers.

Having said that; if we start up another war in the Middle East, we may very well run out of soldiers and armament.

I say let those people over there argue over whose god is the real god and which zombies and prophets are right about the universe until they wipe each other out.

I personally would not care if the entire Middle East was reduced to a sea of glass with no inhabitants.

9 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:10:18 PM by elkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)

I have no words.

To: Mozilla

Oh great. Now we have our own candidate to be king.

Now some folks can run him on the ‘My king is better than your king” platform.

Armour and chain mail will be handed out at the jousting tournaments this fall.

Maybe we could cooperate with the other side to make sure their two armors are oppositely charged. The first time they make a pass, they’ll merge into one big glob of king juice and we can start over.

11 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:10:51 PM by DoughtyOne (Remove all Democrats from the Republican party, and we won’t have much Left, just a lot of Right.)

To: Mozilla

Nope.

It was wrong when Obama did it in Libya, and it’ll be just as wrong if Romney does it in Iran.

3 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:02:55 PM by Yashcheritsiy (not voting for the lesser of two evils)
Isn’t anybody going to stand up for the time-honoured GOP policy of borrowing billions to bomb the browns?

To: Yashcheritsiy
It was wrong when Obama did it in Libya

Apples and oranges, my friend.

Libya was an internal matter and we should have stayed out. Iran wants to wipe another country off the map.

That was Iraq – and we did that for them. And not even a thank-you card in return!

That, cannot be allowed.

6 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:05:00 PM by The Iceman Cometh (Proud Teabagging Barbarian Terrorist Hobbit Son-of-a-Bitch!)
To: The Iceman Cometh
Apples and oranges, my friend.

Sorry, but I don’t buy that we have to go involving ourselves in every hot spot the world over.

Somebody please tell Romney that we don’t even have enough money left to operate that pirate ship in the Pirate’s of the Caribbean ride at Disney, much less launch yet another war in the Middle East.

15 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:12:32 PM by Yashcheritsiy (not voting for the lesser of two evils)
To: Mozilla

Where is dicator wannabe going to get the money for his war, I wonder. Dumb as a box of rocks.

26 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:18:55 PM by SaraJohnson

To: Sherman Logan

In all the “UN-declared” wars we have lost approximately 120,000 lives with close to 330,000 wounded.

For what? A draw, a loss, and the verdict is still out on the latest two – OIF and OEF.

And here we have yet another Neo-con boasting how he will bypass Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution once again.

Words simply escape me – that can be posted under Jim’s guide lines anyway!

51 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 11:13:12 PM by ImpBill (“America, where are you now?” – Little “r” republican!)

Alll we are sayyyyyy-ing – Is give peeace a channce!
Strange days indeed.
More scherzo for schizoids after the Turing Test.

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Strange Ofays edition”

Adrastos, Art, Books, Pulp Fiction6 Comments

Pulp Fiction Thursday: The Sioux Spaceman

Peter Adrastos Athas

I’m fond of Westerns and as I’m overly fond of saying they’re the root of most of today’s action genres. Edgar Rice Burroughs was one of the grandaddies of sci-fi and his books gave their heroes a space helmet instead of a stetson; other than Tarzan who was hatless except when Cheetah sat on his head. This week’s pulp cover takes that whole mixed hat thing to it’s logical extreme: Continue reading Pulp Fiction Thursday: The Sioux Spaceman

Athenae, Economy, Immoral Values, Kids Today1 Comment

Not Trying Hard Enough

Allison Hantschel

I’ll say: Mr Cameron said the existing benefits system was “sending out strange signals on working, housing and families”. He went on: “A couple will say, ‘We are engaged, we are both living with our parents, we are trying to save before we get married and have children and be good parents. “‘But how does it make us feel, Mr Cameron, when we see someone who goes ahead, has the child, gets the council home, gets the help that isn’t available to us?’ “One is trapped in a welfare system that discourages them from working, the other is doing the … Continue reading Not Trying Hard Enough

Athenae, Economy, Immoral Values, Kids Today1 Comment

Not Trying Hard Enough

I’ll say: Mr Cameron said the existing benefits system was “sending out strange signals on working, housing and families”. He went on: “A couple will say, ‘We are engaged, we are both living with our parents, we are trying to save before we get married and have children and be good parents. “‘But how does it make us feel, Mr Cameron, when we see someone who goes ahead, has the child, gets the council home, gets the help that isn’t available to us?’ “One is trapped in a welfare system that discourages them from working, the other is doing the … Continue reading Not Trying Hard Enough

Athenae, Economy, Stupid Republican Tricks5 Comments

The Country as a Whole

So everybody’s been piling on this guy, who richly deserves it: “I see a reporter here,” he said. “I just pray that you start writing about these issues. I just pray. Stop always writing about, ‘Oh, the person couldn’t get, you know, their food stamps or this or that.’ You know, I saw something the other day — it’s like, another sob story, and I’m like, ‘But what about what’s happening to the country and the country as a whole?’ That’s going to devastate everybody.” And I want to talk about this a little bit because it’s not just that … Continue reading The Country as a Whole

Stupid Republican Tricks, Tommy T7 Comments

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Strange Ofays edition

Good morning, gentle people!

This whole Romney / Freeperati thing has taken a bizarre turn – they hate him so much that they’ve all turned into DFHs.

Think I’m kidding?

Prepare yourselves for –I can haz war, plz?

Mitt Romney Says He Could Wage War on Iran Without Congress’ Approval
The Alatnic ^ | June 20th, 2012 | Conor Friedersdorf

Posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 8:59:50 PM byMozilla

On Face the Nation on Sunday, Mitt Romney said that if elected president he wouldn’t have to get congressional permission for a military strike on Iran.

To quote him directly (emphasis added):

I can assure you if I’m president, the Iranians will have no question but that I will be willing to take military action if necessary to prevent them from becoming a nuclear threat to the world. I don’t believe at this stage, therefore, if I’m president that we need to have a war powers approval or special authorization for military force. The president has that capacity now. I understand that some in the Senate for instance have written letters to the president indicating you should know that a containment strategy is unacceptable. We cannot survive a course of action which would include a nuclear Iran we must be willing to take any and all actions.

All those actions must be on the table.

1 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 8:59:57 PM byMozilla
Now you know down deep in their hearts, these assholes never met a sending-someone-else-to-die they didn’t like, right?
Right?

To: Mozilla

Yeah Willard

send those 5 boys of yours at the front of the line…

2 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:01:50 PM byTennessee Nana (Why should I vote for Bishop Romney when he hates me because I am a Christian)

JawDrop

To: Mozilla

Some times ya just need to keep ur mouth shut.

5 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:04:26 PM byTribalPrincess2U (Criminaliens or Crimigrants…0bamao’s people? Answer: Evidently yes.)

So it’s OK to intend to start another war in the Middle East, as long as you lie about it to get elected?

To: Mozilla
Well, we all know that arguing with idiots doesn’t work on the basis of our experiences with our neighbors and co-workers.

Having said that; if we start up another war in the Middle East, we may very well run out of soldiers and armament.

I say let those people over there argue over whose god is the real god and which zombies and prophets are right about the universe until they wipe each other out.

I personally would not care if the entire Middle East was reduced to a sea of glass with no inhabitants.

9 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:10:18 PM byelkfersupper ( Member of the Original Defiant Class)

I have no words.

To: Mozilla

Oh great. Now we have our own candidate to be king.

Now some folks can run him on the ‘My king is better than your king” platform.

Armour and chain mail will be handed out at the jousting tournaments this fall.

Maybe we could cooperate with the other side to make sure their two armors are oppositely charged. The first time they make a pass, they’ll merge into one big glob of king juice and we can start over.

11 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:10:51 PM byDoughtyOne (Remove all Democrats from the Republican party, and we won’t have much Left, just a lot of Right.)

To: Mozilla

Nope.

It was wrong when Obama did it in Libya, and it’ll be just as wrong if Romney does it in Iran.

3 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:02:55 PM byYashcheritsiy (not voting for the lesser of two evils)
Isn’tanybody going to stand up for the time-honoured GOP policy of borrowing billions to bomb the browns?

To: Yashcheritsiy
It was wrong when Obama did it in Libya

Apples and oranges, my friend.

Libya was an internal matter and we should have stayed out. Iran wants to wipe another country off the map.

That was Iraq – and we did that for them. And not even a thank-you card in return!

That, cannot be allowed.

6 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:05:00 PM byThe Iceman Cometh (Proud Teabagging Barbarian Terrorist Hobbit Son-of-a-Bitch!)
To: The Iceman Cometh
Apples and oranges, my friend.

Sorry, but I don’t buy that we have to go involving ourselves in every hot spot the world over.

Somebody please tell Romney that we don’t even have enough money left to operate that pirate ship in the Pirate’s of the Caribbean ride at Disney, much less launch yet another war in the Middle East.

15 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:12:32 PM byYashcheritsiy (not voting for the lesser of two evils)
To: Mozilla

Where is dicator wannabe going to get the money for his war, I wonder. Dumb as a box of rocks.

26 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 9:18:55 PM bySaraJohnson

To: Sherman Logan

In all the “UN-declared” wars we have lost approximately 120,000 lives with close to 330,000 wounded.

For what? A draw, a loss, and the verdict is still out on the latest two – OIF and OEF.

And here we have yet another Neo-con boasting how he will bypass Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution once again.

Words simply escape me – that can be posted under Jim’s guide lines anyway!

51 posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 11:13:12 PM byImpBill (“America, where are you now?” – Little “r” republican!)

Alll we are sayyyyyy-ing – Is give peeace a channce!
Strange days indeed.
More scherzo for schizoids after the Turing Test.

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – Strange Ofays edition”

Athenae, Geek Cred, Television10 Comments

I Remembered, I Run A News Division: Newsroom Thread

Mchale

I mean it, it’s different this time. It’s really special. You wouldn’t understand.

I’m going to take a page from Aaron Sorkin’s book and tell you why smarter people than I am are absolutely wrong.Pierce:

Cronkite did his famous “We are mired in a stalemate” in 1968, which was about six years at least after said stalemate was obvious to people like Neil Sheehan. A year after Cronkite’s broadcast, a solid plurality of Americans polled were still in favor of “total military victory,” whatever the hell that meant, and the war groaned on for four more years, more than 20,000 more dead Americans, and god alone knows how many more dead Asian peasants. Murrow certainly contributed to Joseph McCarthy’s downfall, but not as much as Joseph Welch did, and Murrow did it while still hosting a show where he had to ask Liberace when he was planning to get married. Sorkin is so attached to his own personal Great Man theory that he applies it retroactively to events most of his audience is old enough to have lived through, and, at those moments, he seems to be relying on the general American historical amnesia so many of his characters spend so much time decrying.

Spoilers within.

Continue reading “I Remembered, I Run A News Division: Newsroom Thread”

Athenae, Current Affairs1 Comment

Egypt Elections

Allison Hantschel

My good friend Erin is in Tahrir Square reporting. Follow her on Twitter here. From CNN: Egypt is set to announce the winner at 3 p.m. (9 a.m. ET) Sunday, according to the Supreme Presidential Elections Commission. Both candidates have already claimed victory. And hours before the announcement Sunday, both campaigns reiterated the claim. Former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik made the declaration on his Facebook page: “President Ahmed Shafik, Egypt 2012.” Mohamed Morsi of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, also declared on Facebook that “at 3:00 p.m., Morsi will be Egypt’s president.” The … Continue reading Egypt Elections

Athenae, Current Affairs1 Comment

Egypt Elections

My good friend Erin is in Tahrir Square reporting. Follow her on Twitter here. From CNN: Egypt is set to announce the winner at 3 p.m. (9 a.m. ET) Sunday, according to the Supreme Presidential Elections Commission. Both candidates have already claimed victory. And hours before the announcement Sunday, both campaigns reiterated the claim. Former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik made the declaration onhis Facebook page: “President Ahmed Shafik, Egypt 2012.” Mohamed Morsi of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, also declared on Facebook that “at 3:00 p.m., Morsi will be Egypt’s president.” The claims … Continue reading Egypt Elections

Economy, Immoral Values19 Comments

The Country We Deserve

southernbeale2014

Stories like this one fill me with so many conflicting emotions. Let’s just start at the beginning, shall we? SEWANEE, Tenn. – As Robin Layman, a mother of two who has major health troubles but no insurance, arrived at a free clinic here, she had a big personal stake in the Supreme Court’s imminent decision on the new national health care law. Not that she realized that.“What new law?” she said. “I’ve not heard anything about that.” […] Layman was hardly the only patient unaware that the law aims to help people like her, by expanding health insurance beginning in … Continue reading The Country We Deserve

Athenae, Do Something8 Comments

Do It For The Ponies

Allison Hantschel

Remember the official First Draft pony? Back a million years ago when Holden and I decided we needed a pony to symbolize Bush’s ever-diminishing hopes for a rise in his poll numbers, our pal Jay designed us our very own pony, Fluffit: You wouldn’t want to make Fluffit sad, would you? Jay’s competing for a small business grant so he can open a comic, toy and game store and spread fun and joy in the Milwaukee suburbs where fun and joy are in short supply. It’s called Nerdvana. Because that’s awesome. Youl don’t have to give any money.You just have … Continue reading Do It For The Ponies

Adrastos, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media2 Comments

Politico suspends reporter for telling the truth

Peter Adrastos Athas

We here at First Draft love kicking Politico around for their smug douchebaggery and malakatude. They enjoy strutting about telling everyone how impartial and unbiased they are, which is, of course, patent nonsense. They have now suspended an African-American reporter for saying this about the stiff from Massamichiutah: “Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him,” Williams said on Martin Bashir’s MSNBC show. “That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in some town hall settings, why he can’t relate to people other than that. But when he comes on Fox … Continue reading Politico suspends reporter for telling the truth

Diary, Doc5 Comments

45 years of marriage and counting

vffilak

“Marriage, is what brings us together today… that blessed arrangement, that dream within a dream…”
– The Impressive Clergyman, The Princess Bride

The main aisle at St. Fred’s church in Cudahy is a long one, paved with glossy stone that echoes with footsteps in the quiet of day. Row after row of pews, adorned with clips for men’s hats and wood rails worn by the clasped hands of prayer, separate the narthex from the altar.

The few narrow windows begin almost a story in the air, with little in the way of natural light seeping in at the ground level.

A giant slab of pink and white marble, which vaguely resembles a large piece of uncooked bacon, hovers over the front of the church. It hosts a magnificent cross, adorned with a white stone carving of Christ. Atop the crucifix sits a small symbolic scene of two stags drinking blood from the bottom of a smaller cross, a referent to a long-forgotten passage of the Bible.

In this cavernous testament to God and faith, less than five years after the Second Vatican Council allowed for the use of an English-based mass, a pair of young 20-somethings joined hands and exchanged simple silver rings.

A four or five second utterance of “I do” that led to a 45-year expression of love.

June 17, 1967 was the day China successfully tested an atomic bomb, the Tigers and A’s played the longest double header in baseball history and my parents decided it was worthwhile to spend the rest of their lives together.

Continue reading “45 years of marriage and counting”

Adrastos, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media2 Comments

Politico suspends reporter for telling the truth

We here at First Draft love kicking Politico around for their smug douchebaggery and malakatude. They enjoy strutting about telling everyone how impartial and unbiased they are, which is, of course, patent nonsense. They have nowsuspended an African-American reporter for saying this about the stiff from Massamichiutah: “Romney is very, very comfortable, it seems, with people who are like him,” Williamssaid on Martin Bashir’s MSNBC show. “That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in some town hall settings, why he can’t relate to people other than that. But when he comes on Fox and Friends, … Continue reading Politico suspends reporter for telling the truth

Athenae, Economy, Kids Today11 Comments

Mindless Blare

Allison Hantschel

I worked in a bookstore in college, best job ever, and my boss used to deep-six rude customers who acted like dicks. One got thrown out collar-and-belt. His reasoning was that they weren’t there to spend money anyway, they just wanted to throw their weight around in front of powerless people, and we didn’t need them as much as we needed our dignity. I loved that boss and would have taken a bullet for him and every other employee felt the same way, and our customers were loyal because of it. Mitch Albom would have been kicked to the curb … Continue reading Mindless Blare

Athenae, Economy, Stupid Blue Dog Tricks2 Comments

A Country of Assholes Part 312

Allison Hantschel

Boy are we ever: Selective Enforcement“The Quinn administration is gearing up to hire a company to check the eligibility of Medicaid patients, a key part of a plan to cut $1.6 billion a year from the health insurance program for the poor,”Crain’sreports. Also, neither the Quinn nor Emanuel administrations are hiring companies to check the eligibility of tax subsidy and TIF recipients. They already know most don’t qualify. A. Continue reading A Country of Assholes Part 312

Athenae, Do Something8 Comments

Do It For The Ponies

Remember the official First Draft pony? Back a million years ago when Holden and I decided we needed a pony to symbolize Bush’s ever-diminishing hopes for a rise in his poll numbers, our pal Jay designed us our very own pony, Fluffit: You wouldn’t want to make Fluffit sad, would you? Jay’s competing for a small business grant so he can open a comic, toy and game store and spread fun and joy in the Milwaukee suburbs where fun and joy are in short supply. It’s calledNerdvana. Because that’s awesome. Youl don’t have to give any money.You just have to … Continue reading Do It For The Ponies

Athenae, Geek Cred

Nothing But LOLCATS!

Apparently it’s Be That Guy Who Deplores the Tone in the Room Day. Lucky me. There’s been a lot of talk in the navel-gazing media about the fact that theNew York Times is partnering with Buzzfeed to cover the conventions later this summer. Here’s what I don’t get with all the condescension towards Buzzfeed and Gawker: in what world is having your work featured beside Honey Badger mash-ups and side-boob shots more damaging to your journalistic reputation than kissing up to Joe Scarborough and Hugh Hewitt and Laura Ingraham? All these serious journalist motherfuckers (Tapper, Fineman, Halperin, Allen, etc.) are … Continue reading Nothing But LOLCATS!