That caption is full of win, Clif.

Does Lisa Schiffren want to interfere with the workings of the Free Market where the heroic entrepreneurs know which products customers want and thus democratically supply the product to fit consumer demand?

Maybe Schhhiffffffrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn would prefer the intervention of a heavy-handed Socialist Authority to make sure that the poor, democratic-minded, entrepreneurial small business vendors on the street are FORCED to carry John McCain caps so that they can laugh when Socialist Big Government interferes with the Free Market by requiring a product that no consumer wants?

Why not now force McDonalds to sell ‘alternative’ Big Mac’s with patties made out of John McCain T-Shirts instead of their current vaguely similar to some sort of meat patties?

Why not force all the TV networks to provide a John McCain channel which would show the two or three occasions in his entire career in which he didn’t do something corrupt or break his campaign vows or flip-flop on an issue?

You just can’t trust these Socialist Big Government conservatives. They hate the Free Market and the magical workings of the laws of supply & demand.

But you would think that some of these children of God would carry “McCain” caps or t-shirts, if not in recognition of his support for them, then merely because some people might buy them. Market principles dictate that. And you would be wrong.

“…some people might buy them. Market principles dictate that.”

Uh….why would some guy want to try to peddle something he already knows the majority of New Yorkers don’t want? I think “market principles” actually indicate that you offer what people want to buy. That’s how you make more money.

In short, the Doctor Missus is correct…that photo caption is perfect.

(And WTF is up with “if not in recognition of his support for them”?? Did McCain do some barn-burning speech on our friendly West African immigrants and how their enthusiastic entrepreneurial zeal was like sweet, sweet rain falling upon a dessicated, dry earth – and I just missed it? WTF?)

“If not in recognition of his support for them, then merely because some people might buy them”

I think she’s got a point, a McCain baseball cap would make a nice chamber pot for some of NYCs less fortunate immigrants. They practically sell themselves. “If you don’t have a pot to piss in try a McCain hat.”

I think “market principles” actually indicate that you offer what people want to buy.

In the real world, yes. In Free-Market-Fundieland, the magical Market constantly offers everything every consumer might want, at every imaginable price, instantly and simultaneously. That’s how they’re able to “simply choose” things like lower-cost health insurance and why the price of oil must be right, because people are paying it.

The Invisible Hand of The Marketplace ought to just smack Lisa Schiffren upside her head.

Is this the ugly face of Conservative Communism rearing its head again?

Really shorter Schiffren:

A free market just doesn’t work. It’s unfair.

Why does Lisa Schiffren hate the free market? And America?

And WTF is up with “if not in recognition of his support for them”?? Did McCain do some barn-burning speech on our friendly West African immigrants and how their enthusiastic entrepreneurial zeal was like sweet, sweet rain falling upon a dessicated, dry earth – and I just missed it? WTF?

Well, he hasn’t accused them of pursuing Hitlerian plots to take over the world and he hasn’t threatened to send in the 82nd Airborne to knock over their stands, so that’s kind of positive by McCain’s standards.

Longer NRO cover:

That uppity Obama looks down his nose at “us”.

…he hasn’t accused them of pursuing Hitlerian plots to take over the world…

Yet. He’ll get to it after he meets them, possibly. He’s waiting for the flak jacket, helicopters, and division of soldiers to accompany him for a visit to this market.

Just tell her that there were twice as many McCain caps and even though they were priced twice as much they all sold out.

Lisa Who now?

“West Africans, most of whom are here illegally.”

How would a lot of people get here from West Africa illegally, do you think? I suppose one could get a legal visa and then overstay and therefore become illegal, but getting that initial visa is REALLY freakkin hard if you come from a poor country and do not offer up substantial property as collateral. If you are a poor African and you want to go emigrate without a visa, Europe is a much easier destination due to proximity.

I would bet good money that most of these people she is talking about are refugees. And it takes a real asshole to attack somebody whose whole life was torn apart by war and now they are scraping by hawking stuff in the street. Just assuming thay are illegals because they talk funny. Charming.

And it takes a real asshole…

Also Known As a republican.

Mcain has done a lot for black children. He is like a father to them. Or a father to one of them anyway. That is, he fathered one. But yeah, that is about all he has done.

McCain is such a victim of Illegal Alien Small Business owners that he needs government subsidies?

Oops.

Regarding my snark about the 82nd Airborne – it wasn’t McCain who proposed sending them into Georgia, it was the panic-stricken Newsweek columnist John Barry. Not that this has anything to do with Lisa Schiffren being laughed at by ungrateful foreigners.

I must have coffee.

Were there any Ron Paul shirts? I think that true free market principles demand a quota of Ron Paul shirts.

I must have coffee.

No, no! Don’t say that. Say “This only strengthens my argument.”

How would a lot of people get here from West Africa illegally, do you think?

Really long snorkles?

Hey, I’ve been all up and down the street looking for a McCain cap and nobody was selling them.

Anybody know where I can buy a McCain cap?

Dammit…

mikey

I think her real point is that those ‘West African’ street vendors are stealing the jobs of hard working white Americans.

I’ll bet she found out they were ‘West Africans’ by wandering down the street asking them randomly if they were related to any Nigerian government officials who want to fund an orphanage with the $10,000 she fronted them.

“But you would think that some of these children of God would…”

Can anyone help out an old guy here? My hearing seems to be going out, what imagined slight is “children of God” enunciating?

I haven’t seen a McCain hat, mikey, but I’ve got a McCain campaign song for you.

Dammit WordPress!

I thought you were supposed to learn, or something.

If they really wanted to be good Americans, they’d be selling knockoff Toughskins and Grranimals. And autographed copies of Liberal Fascism: Hamper Pickles Barnaby Jones Lint Snickers Barf

Why do illegal West African street vendors hate America?

#SamFromUtah said,

August 16, 2008 at 18:26

I must have coffee.

No, no! Don’t say that. Say “This only strengthens my argument.”

The truth is, this is central to my point.

You know, of course, that if she saw these guys selling McCain caps/shirts/suspenders she would be having a fit about how they’re unlicensed knockoffs and how the McCain campaign is being deprived of an important source of funding.

Three word Schiffren:

“Uppity commie niggers!”

OT, but today my town is being patrolled by a B-25, along with other assorted WW-II era aircraft.

All of which are younger than John McCain.

Maybe there could be some kind of incentive program whereby if you sell a certain amount of McCain caps and other gear you will be allowed to post positive talking points on various select liberal blogs or something like that. What do you guys think?

Capitalism will sell us the baseball caps with which we will destroy them.

Are they really unlicensed? I have a hard time believing that. In Boston you have to get a license for a cart or kiosk or fruit stall. When Macy’s bought out Filene’s and launched a major construction project on the old flagship store, the city made an effort to relocate the vendors in Downtown Crossing so that their business would not be disrupted.

Not all sales are made behind a barrier of guards, glass doors, pyramids of cashmere, soothing music, and perky salespeople; that doesn’t make them illegal.

stryx said,

August 16, 2008 at 18:52

OT, but today my town is being patrolled by a B-25, along with other assorted WW-II era aircraft.

All of which are younger than John McCain.

Sometimes I’m miffed that they airbrushed clothes on the nose art on some of those planes, because often times they do a lousy job of it. Briefing Time is an obvious example.

That should be “. . . positive McCain talking points . . ” of course. How many times do I have to tell you, proofread first, THEN post. Now get off the net and do something more productive.

Could someone please…for the love of god…make these wingnuts watch a few episodes of Project Runway? Lisa here has managed to look both dowdy and slutty at the same time in that travesty of an outfit. Michael Kors can cure that.

Wow, Fats Durston, that’s some picture of Obama. I expect any day now NR is going to Photoshop a bowtie and glasses on him.

BB, of course that’s the one here now.

pedestrian said,

August 16, 2008 at 18:57

Are they really unlicensed? I have a hard time believing that. In Boston you have to get a license for a cart or kiosk or fruit stall. When Macy’s bought out Filene’s and launched a major construction project on the old flagship store, the city made an effort to relocate the vendors in Downtown Crossing so that their business would not be disrupted.

I think this is particularly true in NYC. One of the first things Giuliani did was crack down hard on unlicensed vendors, and I’m sure Bloomberg suddenly decided to drop that policy. And something tells me that if you’re an illegal alien, you can’t easily get a vendors license.

…err, I meant Bloomberg didn’t suddenly decide to drop that policy.

I need to drink another mimosa.

Lisa here has managed to look both dowdy and slutty at the same time in that travesty of an outfit. Michael Kors can cure that.

She reminds me of that televangelist woman on Absolutely Fabulous, Edina’s second husband’s third wife – but fatter and with neater hair.

Lisa here has managed to look both dowdy and slutty at the same time in that travesty of an outfit. Michael Kors can cure that.

She reminds me of that televangelist woman on Absolutely Fabulous, Edina’s second husband’s third wife – but fatter and with neater hair. My youtube link got eaten but you can find her.

The truth is that those West African-American street vendors are at the mercy of the Hat Wholesalers who are racketeeringly connected to the Chicago Hat Mob. They are forced to sell Obama hats, and the good people, the hat buying public, are restricted in their choices of hat decals. The vendors are probably unionized as well.

…dancing with mysell-elf…

I’m really disappointed that Chief Inspector Schiffren isn’t investigating the Muslim angle.

I mean, is there any clearer evidence yet discovered of the nefarious Islamo-Communist alliance?

After all, most of the West African street vendors are Senegalese Muslims, part of the large, transnational Mouride sufi network that extends back to Africa. They are loyal to their marabouts, not to the U.S. of fuckin’ A. Further, these sufi brotherhoods practice a form of “mutual aid” which certainly sniffs of socialism.

Come on Lisa, if you are going wingnut, don’t go 75% – push that shit to 110%.

(In all seriousness, Paul Stoller’s “Money Has No Smell: The Africanization of New York City” is a great book.)

You’d think I’d eventually wise up, but no way Jose – giving in to my inner masochist, I clicked.

I daresay you’ve erred on the side of kindness. Even saying she’d ATTEMPT long-division is giving her too much credit – like saying a bandicoot would attempt calculus, or a tenrec would attempt to calculate ‘pi’ to 70 decimal places.

Someone should follow her around, & every time she emits another asinine talking-point, hold up a bigass sign that reads “AND YOU WOULD BE WRONG” – preferably one that lights up.

dadanarchist said,

August 16, 2008 at 19:37

I’m really disappointed that Chief Inspector Schiffren isn’t investigating the Muslim angle.

I mean, is there any clearer evidence yet discovered of the nefarious Islamo-Communist alliance?

After all, most of the West African street vendors are Senegalese Muslims, part of the large, transnational Mouride sufi network that extends back to Africa. They are loyal to their marabouts, not to the U.S. of fuckin’ A. Further, these sufi brotherhoods practice a form of “mutual aid” which certainly sniffs of socialism.

Come on Lisa, if you are going wingnut, don’t go 75% – push that shit to 110%.

…and if she were to go even further, she’d throw in “female circumcision” genital mutilation and tie it to the swarthy Muslims.

How would a lot of people get here from West Africa illegally, do you think?

That was my first thought. What did they do, cross the Atlantic in rafts made of baseball caps?

Exactly who is this stupid person?

The fact is, liberals, for using the thug tactics like Stalin and Mao did, do not deserve free speech since they abuse it and use it to twist the minds of impressionable, and the young, hence there stramglehold on education. They should be silenced especially during this time of war for sabooutaging our war efforts and supporting terror instead of teh USA. Here in teh heartland, we support USA. My comments are censored here, but at Amy Alkon’s site, free speech, even for you disgusting liberals, is permitted.

“Exactly who is this stupid person?”

The author of this absolutely amazing piece of wingnuttese:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=9722

“stramglehold ”

Awesome.

Feel the wrath of my stramglehold!

Wait, I figured it out! The Chinese manufacturers of cheap knock-off Obama baseball caps send the ship to West Africa first, where they load the shipping containers with a couple of uppity negroes per, then send them back to NYC, thereby delivering both the illegal merchandise AND illegal immigrants to sell it.

The mercantile savvy of the Great Yellow Peril is amazing.

Gary, you’re no fun anymore.

We’ve all been Alkonized!!!

HoosierX:

Exactly who is this stupid person?

Lisa Schriffen. Schiffren is the same idiot who argued that Obama must be a red diaper baby, because only Commies married interracially in 1961.

Seriously, that was her argument.

Schriffen lives on the far side of wack.

.

More USA POWER!!!1!11!!, sweet Gary.

And s’more homonym substitution wouldn’t hurt.

Here in New York City, as is well known, our officials never prosecute illegal aliens. Nor do they prosecute — or even discourage — people running veritable businesses selling stuff on the sidewalks.

The veritable businesses get a special Red Ribbon of Veritability.

Gary Ruppert:

The fact is, liberals, for using the thug tactics like Stalin and Mao did, do not deserve free speech since they abuse it and use it to twist the minds of impressionable, and the young, hence there [sic] stramglehold [sic] on education.

I’m sure Gary will assert that his misspellings and grammatical errors only strengthen his argument.

But, given the context, they’re still funny as all hell.

.

This is just an extension of the Liberal Media Conspiracy argument. If McCain loses it will be because nobody could buy a McCain hat from those biased street vendors.

Don’t tell me I’m not the only WW2 aircraft geek at Sadly, No !

Also, I think we need “Heartland” caps.

My FM1 uses a 1830cu” double row radial and I’m having problems with the two-stage supercharger. Any WW2 geeks have spare parts? Heartland!

They’re brown, they’re foreign, they laughed at Lisa! They must be breaking the law!

“Cletus von Clausewitz” is my favorite name. Sorry, Sarcastro.

You don’t know what it’s like; you don’t have a clue — if you did, you’d find yourself doing the same thing too.

In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for a brown person to laugh at a non-brown person.

Or is that stepping on their shadows? I forget. Anyway, waaah!

Can’t help with the supercharger. Got any glycol for my Merlin ?

What with K-Lo, the Pantload, Sowell, Diana West and D’Souza, the category of really, really dumb conservative commentator is getting awfully crowded, but based on the evidence presented here, I don’t see how we can exclude this ninny.

Stramglehold!1one!

She’s trying to do mental arithmetic? I’d have sworn she was about to tuck into a large, large sammich on a trencher just outside the frame.

I wish I had a merlin. Or a meteor at any rate. They are ideal for slapping 4 or 6 turbochargers on and cramming into a car.

I think the dumbening of the reich-wing is due to the fact that the smarter rats have all jumped ship. All we have left are the ones that were chewing on the lead shot.

You don’t know what it’s like; you don’t have a clue — if you did, you’d find yourself doing the same thing too

At least you’re not out of work and down.

Gary Ruppert wrote:

My comments are censored here, but at Amy Alkon’s site, free speech, even for you disgusting liberals, is permitted.

Since Alkon revealed that Sadly, No is part of Gary Ruppert’s online empire, this can only mean that Gary is engaged in some kind of devious self-censorship to flummox his bolshevik foes.

Those National Review caps have been selling like hotcakes, though!

If only they were selling McCain caps and didn’t laugh at her party’s candidate, Schiffren could forgive them. Well, not really, and they better not try to live near her home.

Jesus, I just clicked the link. I guess this cinches the illegal West African vote for Obama.

Heartland !

This is the only major serving bomber to have begun service production before John McCain.

John McCain is older than everything after a Martin B-10.

He is, however, 1 year younger than the Social Security Act of 1935.

There’s flummoxing?

I’m not prepared for that!

She looks as if she’s salivating over a leftover order of roast baby Karl Rove has pushed in front of her.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

My guess. The one’s selling stuff to Republicans already got deported.

In recent days, around the city I have noticed a new addition to their wares: rows of baseball caps with an “Obama” logo. No McCain caps — ever. If you ask, they laugh in a none too friendly way.

Ah, yes, the unfriendly laughter of illegal immigrant selling things illegally on the street. No doubt they were recklessly eyeballing poor Lisa as well.

I think the dumbening of the reich-wing is due to the fact that the smarter rats have all jumped ship. All we have left are the ones that were chewing on the lead shot.

That caused me to do a spit-take.

Wait, I figured it out! The Chinese manufacturers of cheap knock-off Obama baseball caps send the ship to West Africa first, where they load the shipping containers with a couple of uppity negroes per, then send them back to NYC, thereby delivering both the illegal merchandise AND illegal immigrants to sell it.

The mercantile savvy of the Great Yellow Peril is amazing.

Give Joe Max a pundit job on Fox News, stat. I mean, the craftiness of TGYP is so…um…crafty that I’m watching the women’s trampoline competition from their workers paradise while I surf the Intertubes, that’s how insidious they are!

Shorter entire wingnutosphere and a fairly large chunk of consevratives in general since Obama locked up the nomination:

“Holy shit! Black people are everywhere!”

Sockpuppet #47 said,

August 16, 2008 at 21:08

I think the dumbening of the reich-wing is due to the fact that the smarter rats have all jumped ship. All we have left are the ones that were chewing on the lead shot.

I think this started to happen around the time the 9/11 high wore off, and the smarter conservatives said, “Wait, why the fuck are we going into Iraq?”

William Buckley was one such conservative and often criticized the disastrous invasion plan (though he was vague as to whether or not it was a good idea to invade in the first place). He saw the entire movement he helped build devolve into a bunch of drooling idiots parroting the talking points du jour until the day he died. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer man.

Could you imagine that heifer wearing a baseball cap anyway? Even the homeless of NYC would consider that a monumental fashion faux pas.

Maybe a nice “I’m voting for Whitey” T shirt?

I think the dumbening of the reich-wing is due to the fact that the smarter rats have all jumped ship. All we have left are the ones that were chewing on the lead shot.

I think this is why we haven’t seen Coulter around much lately. Some folks expressed the opinion that it was because she had gotten too outrageous even for the right wing, but I say nuts to that! Coulter was many things, but I don’t think she was ever stoopid. She saw which way the wind was blowing, bundled up her wingnut welfare proceeds, and left the field to Malkin, who eats lead shot for breakfast and thinks it’s Wheaties.

Gross, Lisa’s not actually planning to pull that tongue back into her mouth, is she? Who knows where it’s been!

but you would think that some of these children of god would carry “mccain” caps or t-shirts, if not in recognition of his support for them, then merely because some people might buy them.

i thin i found the error in her logic.

i meant, “i think i found.” my bad.

i hate when typos spoil good punchlines.

but you just carry the guns. i’ll do the thinnin’ around here.

I’m trying to get into snarkin’ Lisa, but I’m afraid that after yesterday’s Amy Alkon affair, poor Lunkhead Lisa just doesn’t show me much. You’ve set the bar damned high, Clif.

Coulter continues to churn out her gibberish weekly in her syndicated column.

I think her abysmal showing on the Half-Hour News Hour may have a lot to do with her disappearance from more visual media. But she’s still going – wrong and strong – in right-wing rags across the nation.

If only there was some kind of incentive program whereby if you agree to offer for sale McCain caps and other gear you could earn points for every item sold. If you sell enough, you get a job at PJ Media or Clown Hall or some other wingnut outfit. Then you can get paid for writing drivel about immigrants not selling enough McCain stuff. If there is a flaw in this plan, I can’t see it.

Hoosier X, I wasn’t even really aware Ann Coulter had a column. I’m very fortunate in that our paper in Des Moines is sort of center left – although the wingnuts think it’s a rabid left-wing commie rag! – and most of the columnists they print are not raving wingnuts. (The main exceptions being occasional idiocy from Cal Thomas and Charlie Krauthammer.) The only other papers I read regularly are NYT and Seattle Times, online. Coulter just doesn’t seem to have made any big news splashes for a long time, but I don’t watch any TV except PBS and that only about once a week, unless I happen to be up really late and catch the BBC, and certainly I never watch FOX, so maybe she’s still banging away on the tube. I guess maybe my assumption of her demise was a bit premature. She just doesn’t seem to have any oomph anymore, though, thank FSM.

The rag I work for runs Coulter on Thursday. Since I have Tues and Wed off, I hardly ever have to read her drooling idiocy. Thank you, FSM! But she’s there.

But I do have to read the rest of the psychopaths: Sowell, Elder, O’Reilly, Rusher, Diana West, K-Lo, Cal Thomas, Kathleen Parker, Lowry, Jacoby, the Pantload and a couple of others.

For balance, we have Maureen Dowd.

Our readers don’t have a chance. I’m surprised they can tie their own shoelaces.

BASKETBALL JONES!!

I’se got a bassaball jones!

I gotta bassaball Jones, O baby
ooo wee ooo…

(Chris Schenckel, don’t say nothin!)

[repeat and fade]

/obscure
//FARK slashies not appreciated here

God, Hoosier X, that’s friggin awful! Do they run Ramirez cartoons too?

We get him every once in a blue moon. But our editorial cartoons are generally pretty good. David Horsey from the Seattle P-I is the one I like the best.

We used to get Parker and Jacoby, but it’s been a long time since they’ve disgraced the Des Moines Register. They carry Richard Cohen (urk), Leonard Pitts, Eugene Robinson, Ellen Goodman, Froma Harrop, and we used to get the divine Molly Ivins. (Oh, how I miss her! ) I’ll take Cohen over most of your list.

There’s no reason to sell McCain baseball hats. That team’s not even making the playoffs.

I think Coulter has had it coming for a while. Newspapers have been dropping her for the past few years, she wasn’t invited to the last CPAC meeting, and about her only home online these days is ClownHall.

As for why she’s no longer on TV, I don’t think it has to do with Half Hour News Hour, as that flopped almost a year ago. I think what killed her TV career was when she endorsed Hillary on H+C after McCain clinched the GOP nomination. I haven’t seen her on TV since, and something tells me Fox News booted her ass over that.

No Ramirez, but we have a local guy who is WORSE!

And Mallard Fillmore.

Mallard Fillmore reads like it’s written by a mean liberal making fun of conservative idiocy. Last week he had Barack Obama acting as if he had never heard of Budweiser because he’s such an elitist.

Ha ha!

And obviously, a candidate married to the Budweiser heiress could never be an elitist, no matter how many houses they own.

Ah, yes, the unfriendly laughter of illegal immigrant selling things illegally on the street. No doubt they were recklessly eyeballing poor Lisa as well.

Why hasn’t Obama, himself an African immigrant, denounced the threatening leers that his supporters cast on this poor white woman? Would Obama have answered her with an unfriendly laugh? Can we be certain that HE has never sold goods illegally on the street? I’m not a racist, I just hesitate to support someone WHO WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT.

OT, but has anyone checked out NRO lately? At the top, they have an advertisement for Unchristian America by Michael Babcock.

Reveals a surprising truth: we’re living with a faith in a nation that was never under God.

I wonder how long it will take for the idiots over there to catch this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2769794508_4c3fd0d056_o.jpg

T Leonard Pierce:

Is this Leonard Pierce as in you? Because, if so, awesome — but you inexcusably forgot “Maggot Brain.”

Otherwise, there’s apparently another Leonard Pierce at the AV Club.

Tim (The Other One) said,

Don’t tell me I’m not the only WW2 aircraft geek at Sadly, No !

Some of us just hide in the shadows.

I am often been pleasantly surprised at the number of WW2 aircraft geeks who aren’t flaming Reich Wing Nut Jobs…

I’ve been surprised to find progressive minded military history nuts “who get it”… Of course the Reich Wing has defined the “center” so far to the right that Barry Goldwater is center left and Dwight David Eisenhower as a revolutionary Marxist.

The right-wingers’ baseball broke the Overton Window.

Jim in the Wild Western Suburbs of Chicago said,

August 17, 2008 at 5:40

I’ve been surprised to find progressive minded military history nuts “who get it”… Of course the Reich Wing has defined the “center” so far to the right that Barry Goldwater is center left and Dwight David Eisenhower as a revolutionary Marxist.

Seriously. If Eisenhower did his famous farewell speech today, the media and politicians would’ve brandished pitchforks and torches, and tarred and feathered him as he left the White House.

In the 70s Robert Ray, the only Republican my lifelong-Democrat mom ever voted for, opened up Iowa and put out the welcome mat for thousands of Vietnamese refugees, offering housing and state aid to get on their feet. He took a small amount of shit for it from the right wing, but stood firm because it was the right thing to do, and in they came.

If any governor, Republican or Democrat, tried such a thing now, I can’t even imagine the screeching, breast-beating horror the wingnuts would exhibit. They’d crucify the man or woman who tried that now, with, say, the Iraqui refugees.

Get your McCain “hat” right here.

Just back from America’s 2nd Shittiest Website . Apparently they’ve that discovered Obama’ s not just an angry-farleft- DFH-unamurikan-commie-elitist, he’s an angry-farleft-DHF-unamurican-commie-elitist-witch. …or something…

ARTICLES
Wicca Economics — by John Hood
The theory with a magic leader

Illegal immigrants selling, or not selling hats? C’mon ShorterLisa! You’re coasting. The other wingnuts are passing you by.

“I am often been pleasantly surprised at the number of WW2 aircraft geeks who aren’t flaming Reich Wing Nut Jobs…”

“I’ve been surprised to find progressive minded military history nuts “who get it”…”

Oh absolutely. So have I. There’s a reason it’s called the Dept. Of Defense. It ‘aint supposed to be the Dept. Of Offense.

They’ll be drawing a circle on the White Black House lawn, and jumping a bonfire on May Day if Obama wins Teh Preznitcy!

Hey! May Day will be the new July 4th, and we’ll make it a HUGE pagan/labor celebration. Wearing red will be mandatory.

Maybe we can change the stars on the flag to pentacles. I am dazzled by the possibilities. Change we can believe in!

Argh!- edit failure ! No “2nd” . Distracted by too many shiny wingnut objects . ;

Well, in fact it used to be called the Department of War. But most people — right wing activists and the liberal hawk / right wing punditocracy excluded — don’t always like War, so in 1949 it was easier to sell as a huge portion of the budget if it’s relabeled “defense”, particularly given that with atomic weaponry certain wars could be the last ones.

Change we can believe in!

You’d better believe , or we’ll voodoo yer ass…….or something . 🙂

I think the dumbening of the reich-wing is due to the fact that the smarter rats have all jumped ship. All we have left are the ones that were chewing on the lead shot.

I would like to remind the committee-at-large that it will be a long haul to the Greenland whaling station. A good, sturdy writing desk will be vital to documenting our progress.

I also suggest that we take along one or two of the smallpox victims so that we can closely monitor the development of their illness.

Yours, sincerely, etc.,

By mentioning the Franklin Expedition, you have DOOMED US ALL!

Cold. So cold.

Are there Franklin Mint plates of the Franklin Expedition that I could purchase ?

Are there easy payments or only hard ones ?

The Franklin Expedition

There are only hard payments.

The hardest

Holy Crap who what ?

Wow. Never knew about that. Ya learn sumthin’ blah blah….

Thanks Hoosier X (seriously).

How odd. Last thing I read in the paper before yesterday’s splenectomy:

Obama gear so hot stores can’t keep it in stock
The McCain bobbleheads were a dead giveaway.

The glass shelf had about a dozen or so of Sen. John McCain’s likeness. I noticed them right away as I wandered through the lobby gift shop at a five-star hotel in Washington, D.C., where I was attending a national convention.

I also took note of the piles of red, white and blue McCain buttons. Navy blue McCain hats. And stacks of patriotic-looking McCain bumper stickers. Lots and lots of them.

The selection of Obama merchandise was skimpy. No bobbleheads. Very few buttons. And only a slim selection of T-shirts that advertise Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign for president with words but no pictures.
[…]
I also noticed a lopsided stocking of campaign fashion in Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans and Las Vegas, all of which I visited this month.
[…]

And the first blog post I read post-surgery? This one. Something just doesn’t computee here.

PS – lil’ personal update ‘coz I know y’all have missed me: pretty serious motorcycle crash ’bout three/four weeks ago, various broken parts, ortho surgeries, spleen just finally gave up the ghost on Thursday. I think I’m gettting better now…. Just don’t make me laugh too hard, eh? Cause, you know, it hurts when I laff.

[From Wiki}
Unfortunately, the [canned food] was supplied from a cut-rate provisioner, Stephen Goldner, who was awarded the contract on April 1, 1845, just seven weeks before Franklin set sail.[15] Goldner worked in haste on the order of 8,000 tins, which were later found to have lead soldering that was “thick and sloppily done, and dripped like melted candle wax down the inside surface”.[16]

To cut to the case, the ideology of the time favoured the Free Market. Thus the Admiralty outsourced the supply of provisions to someone in the private sector who knew they could get away with cutting corners. Sound familiar?

There was also a suggestion that as well as contaminated with lead, the tinned meats were probably riddled with botulism, but I can’t be arsed finding a source.

I was just reading about the Franklin Expedition today in the newspaper. Apparently Canada is mounting a new search for the ships. Fascinating.

Search.

I don’t know who wrote the original “Franklin Expedition, Correspondence Subcommittee, Chair” comment, but I thought it was PRETTY GODDAM FUNNY.

I came across the Franklin Expedition in 1840s newspapers when I was working on my master’s thesis. DAMN!

I also came across some stuff (in the 1850s) about how the Rothschilds were loaning money to the Turks to finance the Crimean War (They called it the Turkish War) and the Turks had put up Palestine as collateral and the Rotschilds were planning to use it for a Jewish state.

I love old newspapers.

Yeah, well I’m gonna ride my ’66 BSA on a club ride in the AM so PeeJ, I’ll be thinkin’ about ya.

Ride em’, don’t hide em’ and get well and back on it !

TW

I for one have missed PeeJ. We passed through Portland a few weeks ago and I hoped to get in touch.
Spleens are much over-rated.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations
Sicily
TV-PG (DL), CC

In Sicily, Tony eats some tripe at a local frittola stand in II Capo Market, a spleen sandwich with Sicily’s President…

Uhm, listen, PeeJ, do you mind if I ask what they did with your spleen once they took it out?

I first read about the Franklin Expedition in this book, which is full of epic weirdness.

Thanks, TW, but you’re better off thinking about the next corner…

And so sorry I missed you Herr Clyde – did you manage to catch any of the beer festings?

RWS – have no idea but the surgeon was tres amused when my Ho told him how we “assisted” at our puppies’ castration. Especially the part about storing them in a Kimchee jar.

WordPress, is that you? Fucker.

did you manage to catch any of the beer festings?
Alas, we went to Seattle first, then Amtrak down to Portland, and were two days too late for brewing festival. I arranged our itinerary around the availability of cheap airline seats, which goes to show that I am not a true hop-head. But I soon found my way to the Rogue pub, where every night is a beer fest.

Especially the part about storing them in a Kimchee jar.
It’s a long story, but I had to part with a testicle a few years ago. I wanted to bring it home in a jar of formalin and keep it by the bed-side — or plastinate it and make it into an ear-ring — but the surgeon insisted on sending it off to the histology department to be sliced up and examined. Bastard.

but the surgeon insisted on sending it off to the histology department kitchen to be sliced up and examined sauteed in a little olive oil and butter.

May I suggest a nice California sauvignon blanc to go with that testicle?

I am left aghast by the insensitivity of Rightwingsnarkle the entire S,N! commentariat.

It’s a long story, but I had to part with a testicle a few years ago. I wanted to bring it home in a jar of formalin and keep it by the bed-side — or plastinate it and make it into an ear-ring — but the surgeon insisted…

“And, we’ll just hold on to the other one until your bill is paid, mkay, Mr. Clyde?”

Joke if you must. But if anyone starts whistling the Colonel Bogey March, there will be violence.

#

Feel the wrath of my stramglehold!

I got that new Xbox360 title Johm Woo’s Stramglehold, but the canera amgles made it inpossible to play.

“stramglehold ”

Feel the wrath of my stramglehold!

Ted Mugent rocks!!

And, it goes without saying, but…

Wamgo Tamgo!

Here’s to a rapid and full recovery from surgery, PeeJ. Years back I had a hernia operation, and in the days after my dad and brother made a point of trying to make me laugh. I had to squat down like a catcher to reduce the pain.

Glad it tickled your funny bone, Hoosier.

I first noticed the Franklin Expedition when National Geographic, or one of that crowd, had an artist’s rendition of men pulling the boat sledge with a secretary’s desk. Caught my attention.

You know what would be worse? Having brought your own provisions and being the only person on board not suffering from lead poisoning.

Ripley said,

August 17, 2008 at 14:26

And, it goes without saying, but…

Wamgo Tamgo!

Tago Mago?

Can’s One More Night is one of the best songs ever.

As a long-time Franklin Expedition buff, I’d just like to put in a plug for Owen Beattie and John Geiger’s Frozen in Time, an account of the Expedition’s final days as reconstructed by the anthropologists who finally tracked down their remains, and Dan Simmons’ The Terror, a horror novel that covers essentially the same territory (one might think that a story that was already replete with madness, bureaucratic incompetence, scurvy, and cannibalism wouldn’t need the horror elements that Simmons adds, such as a “thing on the ice” picking off crewmembers, a mute “Esquimaux witch” who joins the expedtion for her own reasons, and a set-piece recreating Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”, but in context it works and isn’t any weirder than what (probably) happened anyway).