Have been thinking about this. Empathy just makes me angrier, because there’s nothing I can do to help. Or improve.

Sometimes, as Candide said, we must simply cultivate our garden.

Keeps me from trying to off myself at any rate. (The Prozac also helps.)

Answer a fool as his folly deserves, Lest he be wise in his own eyes (Proverbs 26:4-5)

Goldberg is just a court jester for our corporate overlords.

His job, whenever some courtier naively attempts to bring up real problems in the kingdom, is to start farting loudly and yelling, “The real problem is people like YOU, Mister Smartguy!”

It’s a pretty well-paid gig, especially for someone who is too fat, ugly and stupid to be a serious corporate cocksucker like George Will.

Doughy Pantload is Cheetos dust and residues of Mountain Dew in a cup brought to life, like that movie were Godzilla fights the Smog Monster.

Take your own advice and leave us libruls on this snark blog alone, Pasty Goboy.

Hey, trollfart, a bunch of idiots deliberately making racist remarks so that a black person can hear them is called BULLYING.

The fact that you either can’t or won’t understand this says a lot about you, and a lot about conservatives in general.: Sociopaths with no empathy or compassion….

Go fuck yourself.

That’s “Mr. Stupid Trollfart”.

Dennis said,

P-UNEy,

For the 5th time this morning.

It would be wrong to suggest that the solution is to sacrifice Goldfart to the Gods.

Really. It would be naughty. And bad.

So I say just laugh at ’em.

I assume that the future will be like the seventies all over again. Layoffs, union busting, outsourcing, energy crises and corduroy pants for decades on end. On the upside, conversion vans sporting airbrushed Frank Frazetta murals will once again roam the highways selling weed to stoners everywhere. On the downside they will only roam when they can get gas or when the solar cells on the roof are done charging the batteries. Funk will return. Disco will return. Crappy ass Eagles sound-alike bands will rule the airwaves that aren’t being used for CB 2.0. The good life will be out of reach for an increasingly large fraction of the US population. And jackasses at major news media outlets will blame it all on Carter or the Democrats.

Crappy ass Eagles sound-alike bands will rule the airwaves that aren’t being used for CB 2.0

I thought the internet was CB 2.0?

I feel that at least the ancient Greeks understood how to live in a world like this: make sacrifices to the capricious, sociopathic gods and hope they didn’t decide to kill you this morning.

This is the story of a time long ago – a time of myth and legend. When the ancient gods were petty and cruel, and they plagued mankind with suffering, only one man dared to challenge their power – Hercules. Hercules possessed a strength the world had never seen – a strength surpassed only by the power of his heart. He journeyed the Earth – battling the minions of his wicked stepmother, Hera, the all-powerful queen of the gods. But wherever there was evil, wherever an innocent would suffer, there would be Hercules!

Government hands off of my Medicare!

Dennis said,

March 18, 2014 at 16:28

6th time is the charm.

Provider; All is not lost. We gain ground, we lose it. Try to keep our place in history in perspective. We all want all humans to act with civility and kindness, but many among us are just completely incapable of it.

But remember this: A great deal of people alive today saw the Jim Crow days in the South. Some people were alive before women had the right to vote and hold public office. We were all alive when no state recognized same sex marriage–that was less than 10 years ago.

I know how you feel, I feel despair about the state of things too–especially when the party that’s supposed to represent the left is politically stationed about where Bob Dole was.

Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is that you’re now living in an era when things are getting much better, despite the spasms and desperation tactics from the Right, things are gradually improving.

Bleh. Dennis can post (albeit momentarily) but the interwebs are eating my foolery. Mods: if you have any power to do so, restore the one (of three) with the special treat at the link. I guess I’ll go [shudders] work.

How did Provider seek out bigotry in the diner? Your comment, as usual, makes no sense whatsoever.

According to his blog post, there was no bigotry before he interceded, DA.

In response to the graybeard who suggested that Obama was gonna put a white woman in every bed of a black man I was forced to say something and I told both the greybeard and the idiot he was speaking with that they were both fools as I made my way to the register.

Nope, sorry, you’re wrong, as usual.

In response to the graybeard who suggested that Obama was gonna put a white woman in every bed of a black man I was forced to say something and I told both the greybeard and the idiot he was speaking with that they were both fools as I made my way to the register.

Yep, that was a legitimate criticism, for sure.

If sacrificing Goldberg is wrong I don’t want to be right.

Yeah, there was the totally non-racist comment about Obama putting a white woman in every bed of a black man…

You have the maturity of a Special Ed thirteen year old, fartbreath.

Get back on the short bus and fuck off.

No bigotry. Just two guys grumbling about Obama, which to you, and apparently everyone else here, is racist.

Grumbling about a ‘plan’ to ‘give’ white women to black men, there’s nothing racist about that at all. It’s as legitimate a criticism as anybody could make about a President.

Thanks for clearing that up for the rest of us librul morons here.

is it racist and bullying to criticize this president within earshot of an African American?

Yeah, complaining about handing out white women to black men within earshot of an African American isn’t racist or bullying at all.

DA, for the tenth time, that comment about white women came after Provider jumped in, and it was a reactionary comment.

Rilly?

When my suggestion that Obama was simultaneously the source of all malevolence in this world and a blithering idiot was met with un-ironic assent I bit down on my tongue.

In response to the graybeard who suggested that Obama was gonna put a white woman in every bed of a black man I was forced to say something and I told both the greybeard and the idiot he was speaking with that they were both fools as I made my way to the register.

Sorry, but your continuing war with reality has lost yet another battle.

Better luck next time, boychik.

Here’s a dissimilar anecdote.

On a few occasions in SoCal, I frequented a certain diner. Gay-owned, with a rainbow flag out front, but catering to a general crowd as well.

One day I went there alone and sat at the bar. The place was about half-full of all types of people. At the other end of the bar sat a big, muscular, bear-type gay guy, eating breakfast and talking on his cell phone …

Mr. Bear decided to have a bit of fun, or make some obscure point. Loudly, pointedly, and at length, he described a number of raunchy gay acts, throwing in some drug references for good measure. The place was relatively quiet, except for him; an elderly hetero couple sat at the nearest booth, eating silently, in obvious discomfort …

On realizing this was gonna continue, I considered saying something, but I noticed the owner behind the bar, going about his business. If he saw no problem, what sense would there be in me speaking up? …

Mr. Bear proceeded to describe his plans for the evening — a group of men would be stretching out another’s asshole, and he wanted to go first, on account of having the smaller penis. Then he’d pee on the guy. Etc. Finally he paid and left. I heard the old lady quietly tell her husband that was awful.

And it was. It was bullying, among other things, and unforgivable.

Just keep it small. Spend your empathy on the people you can actually touch.

Oh, and fuck you, WordPress.

If sacrificing Goldberg is wrong I don’t want to be right.

i think this is something we can all get behind…

You have the maturity of a Special Ed thirteen year old, fartbreath.

Get back on the short bus and fuck off.

not. cool.

I wouldn’t call that bullying, CRA, just pure douchenozzleism.

You could be right — bullying is the narrower category.

Bullying, like rape, racism, sexism only occurs in a downward direction as a show of power. The victim/target is always the one regarded as socially inferior. That is why reverse racism is such a non-starter. In Provider’s situation, the white guys saw him as a legitimate target. In the Gay Bear situation, he realized he was in control of the situation but virtue of size and the amount of noise and discomfort he could cause others.

but = by. Sorry.

Well put.

“Put white women in Teh niggers’ beds” is not criticism. Twatwaffle.

While completely naked, Pennis spouted the following:

Seriously, is it bullying, or douchebaggery, to criticize Obama within earshot of another African American in a small-town diner?

If one’s criticizing him for something completely imaginary and born solely out of one’s own racist fears, and which any intelligent, aware person would know to be completely imaginary and born solely out of racist fears, then it’s douchebaggery at the very least. How much are you being paid to actively refuse to understand this no matter how many times the intelligent, aware people explain it to you, Pennis? Because if you’re doing it for free, you’re being robbed.

I apologize for my comment above, comparing Dennis to thirteen year old Special Eds rudeness, which I now realize was insulting to theorem year old Special Ed students, and hoo boy, did I have some dandies during my teaching career.

anyway, revenons a nos moutons… Dennis: Eat shit and die,

And you eat shit and die, too, iPad spelling gremlin…

We did?

I miss Troofy.

What part of “eat shit and die” do you fail to understand?

The mental illness is strong with this one.

No wonder OBS has so little time to comment at my blog.

Hah. Nicely played, moderator.

No wonder OBS has so little time to comment at my blog.

The Zardoz was a nice respite.

Also too, CRA’s story:

Mr. Bear decided to have a bit of fun, or make some obscure point.

Reminds me of the time in Morocco when Joe Orton decided to gross out some American tourists, as related in his diary and reprinted in several books about him (notably John Lahr’s critical biography Prick Up Your Ears):

Nigel said quietly, ‘Those tourists can hear what you’re saying.’ ‘I mean them to hear,’ I said, ‘they have no right to be occupying chairs reserved for decent sex perverts…’

Bleh. Dennis can post (albeit momentarily) but the interwebs are eating my foolery. Mods: if you have any power to do so, restore the one (of three) with the special treat at the link. I guess I’ll go [shudders] work.

I think I brought it back from limbo.

I think I brought it back from limbo.

Thanks. I will toast you with a decent beer this evening.

It’s always fascinating to read the Pennis palimpsest that is all that remains after a brisk housecleaning. The evanescent quality of his posts is what makes them so delightsome, like cherry blossoms on the breeze, or a fart in a windstorm.

Like a shartle in the wind,
knowing who to turn to
when the mods came in

Thank yuh, thank yuh verrimuch.

Now eat shit and die.

But seriously… When I was a teenager back in the day, there was a lot to be depressed about… The Vietnam War, the assassinations of MLK and RFK, the election of Nixon, the shootings at Kent State… it seemed like the world was hurtling toward catastrophe, thanks to the rightwing shitwads.

But somehow we got through that shitstorm, and my acne even went away and the war finally ended and the world got better, at least until Bonzo was elected.

Dealing with rightwing shitwads, alas, is a lifetime commitment. Sometimes you just have to look back and say, well, it’s fucked up now, but it was even worse in the past…

Like the Civil War, can you imagine actually having to fight a war against rightwing fuckwads?

Like the Civil War, can you imagine actually having to fight a war against rightwing fuckwads?

Sadly, I can imagine it. What I can’t imagine was how it must have felt to be a veteran of the civil war, or the widow or orphan of a civil war soldier, watching the treasonous leaders of the confederacy live out the rest of their lives in comfort.

and hoo boy, did I have some dandies during my teaching career.

were you a special ed teacher? or a teacher? the daughter is special needs, so always glad to make friends with another person who gets it…

Nixon wasn’t a right-winger.

Hee hee hee. Pull the other one, it’s got bells on.

I wasn’t a Special Ed teacher, I was an elementary French teacher here in Canada, where I’ve lived for the past 43 years.

So I taught the Special Ed kids French for one period a day. Which was quite a challenge…. Sort of like going to a party and trying to make everyone there learn Swahili, whether they wanted to or not. French is a compulsory subject in English Canada for grades four to eight.

There were some real sweet kids in these classes, but just a few juvenile delinquents were all it took to turn each day’s class into a zoo.

It would’ve been nice to just teach the kids who actually wanted to learn French, but that wasn’t an option… I remember one parent night where the dad told me “I don’t want my kid to speak French. I want him to speak Canadian!”

Butch Pansy said,

March 18, 2014 at 21:09

It makes one wonder what it thinks it is getting out of the interaction. I mean, hardly anyone sees the comments in question, it has to re-post them over and over again, it’s always the same talking points and insults…

It must take a fair amount of time, and not one thing to show for it. No wonder it’s with the rage and the lashing out.

Oopsie, in typing my previous novella I forgot to apologize for my previous inadvertent slight against your daughter or special needs kids in general. Most of these kids were just regular kids doing the best they could with the cards they’d been dealt.

I was delighted to learn from a friend that her adopted daughter had been in a special needs class when she was young, and went on to become a registered nurse.

I don’t care who you are, this is just plain cool. The short video in the article is a must watch.

I was delighted to learn from a friend that her adopted daughter had been in a special needs class when she was young, and went on to become a registered nurse.

i will always be grateful to the early childhood teacher who realized that our daughter was more than just ‘a little behind’ of her peers…she noticed some of the traits of cerbral palsy and encouraged us and walked us through getting a diagnosis…and she always said, ‘you know, she could still grow up to be a doctor…’ which was heartening that the special ed program wasn’t just going to give up on her or just let her put in her time until she was 21…i still think theres some un-tapped potential, but she’s 28, productive, social and pretty well-adjusted and taken care of…

i’d be interested in comparing canuckistan and minnesota’s programs…

whoa…that is pretty cool, obs…i have become addicted to ‘cosmos’ and neil degrasse tyson is my new favorite person ever…

“If this is true it’s a moment of understanding of nature of such a magnitude that it overwhelms,” Linde said. “Let’s just hope that it’s not a trick.”

neil was saying something on this order last night…for as brainy as they are, some are still humble enough for doubt…

I don’t care who you are, this is just plain cool.

It was–and there is your unified field–at least in fractions of a second past the Big Bang. Pretty amazing stuff.

Nixon wasn’t a right-winger.

K. I suppose Reagan wasn’t either.

K. I suppose Reagan wasn’t either.

Well, he DID raise taxes over and over again.

GWB certainly wasn’t a right-winger either.

The utility of the No True Scotsman defense can NOT be overstated.

i’d be interested in comparing canuckistan and minnesota’s programs…

Sadly, our Ontario neocon government from 1995 to 2002 made a bunch of cuts which fell rather heavily on the Special Ed kids, since their classes were smaller and thus more expensive.

There used to be special classes all the way through the system, but after the ax fell the special kids all got mainstreamed after grade six… a sure fire recipe for disaster. The school boards’ response was an elaborate pretence that one teacher with a class of over thirty could magically accommodate every special need… Sort of a Potemkin Village approach.

I hope that this foolish policy has changed since my retirement, but I couldn’t say for sure…i

Sadly, our Ontario neocon government from 1995 to 2002 made a bunch of cuts which fell rather heavily on the Special Ed kids, since their classes were smaller and thus more expensive.

yeah, that sadly is the case a lot of times…or they just don’t get enough funding to begin with…

here, it’s mostly the parents that choose to mainstream and i’m a huge proponent of it, if it’s appropriate and the mechanisms are in place for non-special ed teachers to be able to teach all students…and not all kids are able to or should be in the larger classroom setting…all in all, we were pretty lucky with the daughter’s teachers, the school system and the special ed program…

zombie rotten mcdonald said,

March 18, 2014 at 22:01 · Edit

it’s been a right treat, i tell ya…

Forgot to say… The situation is not quite as bleak as I painted it for the low-normal kids. They are withdrawn from regular classroom to get support several periods a day from Learning Resource Teachers in small groups, and for most of them this seems to meet their needs.

but the kids who are really low need more than that level of support, and to the best of my knowledge they no longer get it.

I’m glad to hear that your daughters needs are being addressed.

Yes, that Andrei Linde, video was great.

I just wish my late dad, who was a physicist, could’ve seen it… He actually looked a lot like Andrei Linde,, come to think of it, so do I!

The situation is not quite as bleak as I painted it for the low-normal kids. They are withdrawn from regular classroom to get support several periods a day from Learning Resource Teachers in small groups, and for most of them this seems to meet their needs

yeah, we have that same thing for the ‘low normal’ kids…it’s pretty easily abused though and i know several kids who used it, while there were some that really could have used it…

but the kids who are really low need more than that level of support, and to the best of my knowledge they no longer get it.

whoa, that is really sad…i expected better from canada!

Well, he DID raise taxes over and over again.

The utility of the No True Scotsman defense can NOT be overstated.

No True Scotsman would ever call out a logical fallacy.

whoa, that is really sad…i expected better from canada!

Don’t expect better from anyone. That austerity/fundamentalist/right wing mentality is ruining shit for people all over the world, at the moment. Even Scandinavian countries are tinkering with “fiscal responsibility”.

While completely naked, Pennis spouted the following:

RICHARD NIXON: AMERICA’S GREATEST LIBERAL

‘Nixon was more liberal,’ ‘Freebie’ Obama says

With links to The Hill, which I gather wants to be Tiger Beat on the Potomac Politico when it grows up. I am reminded of the late-eighties/early-nineties comix critic who wrote “Neil Gaiman’s work is in danger of becoming a pastiche of itself.”

yeah, carpet-bombing Cambodia was long a leftist dream….

Seriously, you dudes let this ignoramus dictate the conversation? He’s no Gary Ruppert, that’s for sure.

True, Nixon did start the EPA. That was in the days when GOPers had to pretend to give a shit about non-crazy train issues.

No, I’m not a huge Obama fan, but unlike Nixon, he’s not a criminal.

The sad truth is, the president of the US could be Jesus F Christ on roller skates and he’d still be tied up in knots by the military industrial complex, the banksters, the NRA crazies and the billionaire tax dodgers.

But the thought of Grandpa McCain or Willard McBillions in the White House makes him look pretty good by comparison.

But why am I wasting my time talking to a complete asshole?

But then, the EPA was going to go forward with or without Nixon. The fact he signed it was strategic, not ideological. If he could have scuttled it, he would.

RICHARD NIXON: AMERICA’S GREATEST LIBERAL

That was the quote it used. Seriously, the own goaling is hilarious. And then it resorts to name calling so quickly.

Man, the quality of trolls has gone downhill over here.

No, I’m not a huge Obama fan, but unlike Nixon, he’s not a criminal.

Republican presidents have specialized in various forms of criminality since then.

Bored now.

Seriously, you dudes let this ignoramus dictate the conversation?

No, but if people want to comment on Nixon, after anybody (even Dennis) mentions him, I think that’s fine. Then he’ll do his tedious thing, and we can choose to keep on discussing Nixon, or not; but in any case, he won’t be conducting the ensemble. He may occasionally make a point, but in such cases it’s not his point (or mine, or God’s): it belongs to the world, as all real points do. It doesn’t give him the conductor’s baton. Nor does having or feigning a concern. Only a myopic narcissist could think otherwise.

Re: when Dennis comments on DA (or vice versa): Nobody should take that ball and run. It’s not a fun-ball, it’s a big, round turd. Let them play with it. See, the difference here is the subject — remember Nixon? That’s still in our court, just don’t adopt some shit-ball framing.

revenons a nos moutons
Some Guy is a New Zealander??

it’s funny, CRA, we’ve seen the “Nixon is more liberal than Obama” shtick come from both sides. And it’s always been a load of crap, a fart-ssillade from the Butt Ensemble if you will. It has been shredded in many locations, but I know how this goes: if there’s a link to a debunking, the source will be unacceptable, and then the goalposts get moved, and then a large strawman gets demolished and then it’s all time for the personal insults!

If only he would add a prediction that could be bookmarked….

Smut Clyde apparently has a new name:

Or should we call you Mr. Frostnova?

Are you familiar with the term Opportunity Cost, Dennis? Addressing your concerns is a poor investment. Any concern of actual importance would be better addressed in some other context than “debating Dennis as we know him.”

Are you familiar with the term Opportunity Cost, Dennis?

No.

Merely one of the many, many things with which it is unfamiliar.

I know how this goes: if there’s a link to a debunking, the source will be unacceptable, and then the goalposts get moved, and then a large strawman gets demolished and then it’s all time for the personal insults!

“Goalposts” is, like, the word of the century where our conservatives are concerned. They move ’em, the world should jump! Sadly, No: goalposts CAN move. You guys just aren’t doing it right. There’s another team on the field (or several) and unless they agree that these posts have moved, there’s no point insisting. They don’t have to be your buddies, they just have to agree where the fucking posts are, so we can kick ass with words. It’s fundamental.

Didn’t Thers at WhiskeyFire used to have an animated gif of a goalpost scuttling back and forth for these kinds of events?

Didn’t Thers at WhiskeyFire used to have an animated gif of a goalpost scuttling back and forth for these kinds of events?

Dunno, but I hope so — sounds useful.

As the topic broadens out in my mind, I grow glum. Scientists and other thinkers spend time nailing down concepts and relationships. These processes are brutal and lengthy. Meanwhile a world of dipshits raps loosely about a world they’d prefer. Nobody hits the mark, but the serious people make progress; however, their communiques are increasingly indecipherable (to non-specialists) and lack rhetorical force, in direct proportion to their mirroring of reality, given that most audiences have no acquaintance with reality.

No acquaintance with reality other than their direct experience, which is sadly mediated by what amounts to a pile of shit. It’s a gold-to-bullshit conversion.

whoa…that is pretty cool, obs…i have become addicted to ‘cosmos’ and neil degrasse tyson is my new favorite person ever…

He’s as nice as he is smart, a genuine prince of a man. I’ve met him on a couple of occasions.

The fact is, liberals are always the stupid ones. We, the Tea Bag Revolution, are the smart ones with partiotism and what we need to take back our country with facts and logic. All you have are insults and hate and things that dont make sense and you are also dumn

I’ve now apologized for my comment, which was insulting to Special Ed thirteen year olds.

Unlike you, they don’t deliberately pretend be mentally challenged just to get attention.

Dennis is a racist sh*t-brained idiot. And those are his good points.

Troll shit alert! Cleanup in aisle five!

Keep up the nym-jacking, Short Pennis, it adds so much to your credibility around here, you racist moron.

Since I’ve been nymjacked, I won’t be posting as “Some guy” any more.

So if you see any postings from “Some guy” you can safely assume they were made by Fartbreath McShortbus.

That’s “Fartbreath McDummy”, A.

@tsam, @some guy and provider–

thanks this helps. (And to Peztopiary as well).

Sometimes it just gets so awful, you know? In the last few months I have been going back and forth with my father a lot. He gets annoyed at me when I rant out about how the world sucks and it seems like everything he fought for is going to be destroyed.

Maybe it’s a failure on my part. Unlike my parents who found a community of people in social justice movements I was never able to connect with anyone that way.

I still believe in the things I do, that my parents did, that my grandparents did. Shit, I am gearing to enter a profession with the premise that teaching is worth doing.

And I know that I am in a relatively privileged position compared to most of the population. In fact, it’s precisely because i am conscious of that which makes me wonder what the hell is going on.

But it still gets rather lonely sometimes, feeling like a voice in the wilderness.

Sometimes you just need someone to tell you things will be okay.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled snark. 🙂

CRA skrev:

Re: when Dennis comments on DA (or vice versa): Nobody should take that ball and run. It’s not a fun-ball, it’s a big, round turd. Let them play with it.

And let them get a room, or at least a bucket. (“If you hate it so much, why don’t you marry it?”)

Unlike my parents who found a community of people in social justice movements I was never able to connect with anyone that way.

Well, you’re here now, right?

Don’t worry, sooner or later you’ll find yourself in a real-life group of like-minded folks

I’m judgiing by your comment that you are just beginning a teaching career?
.
It was my experience that the teachers I worked with in my little dinky don’t area of Southern Ontario were mostly an uninspiring group who had never gone anywhere or done anything other than going to teachers college

However, once I started taking summer courses with teachers from all over Ontario, I met some wonderful people.

Being part of a community of like minded people is going to be key to your happiness over the long haul. For your age cohort, it won’t be at all like my generation. But through the magic of the Internet, you will eventually find those like-minded people, they are out there, and you don’t necessarily have to be part of an actual social justice organization to find them.

I highly recommend swing dancing as a way for young people to have fun and make friends, but hey, whatever turns you on is the way to go… Bicycling… ? veganism…? Ukulele…? Watercolour painting…?

@????? — I am actually gearing up for a second career, trying to make myself marketable (I hate that word) as a teacher. I applied for the fellowship program here in NYC. Didn’t make it in, so given that I was unemployed and working as a freelance writer (doing OK but I need some stability) I took classes and am soon to finish up a physics degree I started 20 years ago. (Nobody needs teachers in English, even with a Master’s, but the sciences are more in demand and my thought is that more places will “float” me as I get my certs in, STEM stuff being in demand).

So I am in my 40s. That’s part of the reason things can look bleak, I guess; I can remember the hope that went with the end of the Cold War — finally liberals wouldn’t have to be answering for the USSR all the time.

My lack of connection was partially a function of my job — journalists tend to be an itinerant lot. And some was just being a socially awkward person. Politics of any kind tends to reward those who can get along with people well. Nerdy types (at least when I was young) had as many problems dealing with SJ movements as with anyone else, I think. Anyway, I never made strong friends with people via that avenue and my attempts in college were pretty pathetic. I went to marches and stuff like that but I never felt it the way my parents did.

Meh. The upside to the one-way ticket we’ve all purchased with AGW is that no matter how hard the RW fights to institute their “Jeebus on Earth” Talibangelical-fascist dreamworld it’s all going to be swept away by the extinction of our species.

Can’t filibuster the burning drought and the rising ocean, yo. Not that that’s stopped wingnutz from trying:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/03/us-usa-northcarolina-idUSBRE86217I20120703

In other news, Charlie Pierce has some advice for Bill Kristol, and it’s a joy to read:

You and the rest of your cowardly cohort helped prepare the ground for the worst geopolitical mistake the country has made in 30 years. You fought the battle of the Green Rooms and the think tanks while other people’s sons and daughters died for your fantasy of how the world would work if you really were the pimply, adolescent Zeus you see when you look in the mirror every morning.

but as the kids say, read the whole thing:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bill-kristol-war-weariness-031814

Really? On the discomfort scale, I’d rank him somewhere between a cabbie’s halitosis and a poorly placed underwear seam.

Yeah, and even then it is ephemeral discomfort. You leave the cab, you adjust your shorts, you scroll past a couple of comments. And then the mods remove the comments, and the discomfort is past; it disappears, like tears in the rain.

As we witnessed with bbkf and Some guy yesterday, a liberal can be a bigot and a comets asshole, and liberals here will still love you

Nope, but what we did witness was you standing up for a couple of bigots that Provider talked about encountering. That’s what people remember about you, not your little petty childish grievances against me.

Tears in the Rain.

Pennis, as was so aptly stated before, why don’t you fuck off as far as you can, rest up a bit, then fuck off some more?

As we witnessed with bbkf and Some guy yesterday, a liberal can be a bigot and a comet ‘ s asshole, and liberals here will still love you

as always, punctuation is important to context…

and dennis, get over it…he apologized for being ‘inarticulate’ as ryan would say…sure, it wasn’t an apology that was up to your standards, but nothing here ever is…so, why do you continue? and you think we’re the weird ones…

he apologized for being ‘inarticulate’ as ryan would say

As I count, he apologized at least twice. And since it seemed to be a rhetorical blurt, I didn’t see it as antagonistic.

That’s what people remember about you, not your little petty childish grievances against me.

uh…no, that’s not quite accurate…we DO remember the petty childish grievance WHICH YOU BOTH CONTINUE TO PERPETUATE…what this ‘did not! did too! you’re a poopy head! no, you’re a poopy head!’ slapfight does for you two, i’ll never know…i almost beginning to hope it’s some form of perverted foreplay…that’s a little easier to understand than why two grown men continue to goad each other…oh, wait…’grumpy old men’…or as is the case here, ‘pathetic middle aged men’…

Boy-o-boy, I am way late. There was no ‘new thread’ flag, so I keep checking back in to previous one.

Oh, fudge. I just noticed that the previous comment is bbfk castigating the creature. Please go away.

zrm, have i told you it’s good to have you back?

And since it seemed to be a rhetorical blurt, I didn’t see it as antagonistic.

oh, you have much to learn about it’s ways…

what this ‘did not! did too! you’re a poopy head! no, you’re a poopy head!’ slapfight does for you two, i’ll never know

We should start a blog just for them. They could argue back and forth about ‘who killed who’ and who is the bigger poopyhead, for ever and ever…

it’ll be like that old Star Trek episode where the two Lazaruses who can’t stop fighting even after both their civilizations are destroyed, eventually being locked into the dimensional vortex, to fight and fight on and on while the rest of the universe just goes on living.

oh, you have much to learn about it’s ways…

No, I was talking about some guy’s comment that you objected to and his subsequent apologies.

I think I have a good handle on the troll/trolled dynamic here. Not that much to it, actually.

zrm, have i told you it’s good to have you back?

THAT’S ALL I EVER WANTED.

No, I was talking about some guy’s comment that you objected to and his subsequent apologies.

oh, i know…but dennis doesn’t get that…he’s in high dudgeon all. the. time.

THAT’S ALL I EVER WANTED.

well, you can now go to your grave a happy man…or zombie…wait, zombies don’t have graves, do they?

Bullying, like rape, racism, sexism only occurs in a downward direction as a show of power. The victim/target is always the one regarded as socially inferior. That is why reverse racism is such a non-starter. — Suezboo

This.

(((Also, it’s good to see teh Zombie visiting Ville du Sadly again!)))

Zombies come right out of graves. They don’t much like going back to them.

Also– shit. I got nothing.

wait, zombies don’t have graves, do they?

Sure we do. We just don’t use them anymore.

oh, i know…but dennis doesn’t get that…he’s in high dudgeon all. the. time.

yeah.

I was more talking to you and some guy, though.

If dennis needs a dungeon, perhaps he should check out his local BDSM scene? It does seem as though he’s a bottom who is acting out.

If dennis needs a dungeon, perhaps he should check out his local BDSM scene? It does seem as though he’s a bottom who is acting out.

well, now you’ve done it…you will be taunted with being homophobic AND kinkophobic for the rest of your days…and that could be a long, long time…

No True Scotsman would ever call out a logical fallacy.

Applause for tsam.

Re: when Dennis comments on DA (or vice versa): Nobody should take that ball and run. It’s not a fun-ball, it’s a big, round turd. Let them play with it. See, the difference here is the subject — remember Nixon? That’s still in our court, just don’t adopt some shit-ball framing.

See the rest of CRA’s superfine explanation of troll-handling at 4:18.

correction: CRA at 4:38. Srsly, worth re-reading.

If your organization or firm must give me a free, branded ball-point pen, take care that it’s not the shittiest pen on my desk.

First this fucker won’t retract and then it falls apart. I think this reflects poorly on Company X

Thank you, Fenwick. I was drunk at the time, so I got involved, but I’m glad something good came of it.

Really? On the discomfort scale, I’d rank him somewhere between a cabbie’s halitosis and a poorly placed underwear seam.

It’s not a fun-ball, it’s a big, round turd. Let them play with it.

these two turns of phrase tickle me so…

Perfect distillation of reichwing ‘argumentation’:

If there’s a link to a debunking, the source will be unacceptable, and then the goalposts get moved, and then a large strawman gets demolished and then it’s all time for the personal insults! — Zombie

I can remember the hope that went with the end of the Cold War

Remember the ‘peace dividend’? HaHaHaHaHaHaHa !!!!!

I like having ZRM here cause his place berks my browser.

At least the past had a future. The light at the end of the tunnel is , indeed, a fast freight.

Sorry I am having a bad day.

Which makes everything look bleaker and feeds despair. Noodle around with yer bass, Provider. The blues were invented for getting through bad days.

Life is sad. Life is a bust.
All you can do is do what you must.

a fast freight train chooglin’ on down to New Orleans

berking the browser…

I like having ZRM here cause his place berks my browser.

your browser is trying to save you from all my angsty whining!

But you miss all the Mekons posts.

Also, robots.

Life is sad. Life is a bust.
All you can do is do what you must.

Sounds like Bokonon.

But you miss all the Mekons posts.

i really need to listen to some mekons…you rave of them…as does b^4 i believe…

Peeeeeeyoooooo, mang it’s stinky in here.

At least the past had a future.

Yeah, but it involved silver jumpsuits, atomic powered dirigibles, and pneumatic tubes.

Peeeeeeyoooooo, mang it’s stinky in here.

Sorry. Zombie, yanno.

I like having ZRM here cause his place berks my browser.

Hmph. He won’t even let me in.

No matter how crappy anyone is feeling about anything, Marcel the Shell with Shoes on will make you feel better. It’s unpossible not to laugh.

i really need to listen to some mekons…you rave of them…as does b^4 i believe…

I’d be careful. Either it won’t resonate for you, in which case you have wasted your time, or you will be drawn in and then where will you be? Trying to find a place to see them on their rare and brief tour appearances, that’s where. It’s really sad.

The thing about them is that they’ve been through so many different aesthetics in their time, you can’t pin them down as a particular genre, other than ‘alternative’ which covers a lot of ground.

That works for me, but I am a special case and have admitted that I have a problem.

I don’t think BBBB has ever seen them, though, even though they have played his beloved Bell House a couple of times, as well as the City Winery.

Hmph. He won’t even let me in.

Wait a second. did you make an initial comment? The first one is moderated.

I do have one person and one rodentoid on permanent moderation, but you are neither of them.

Try again. try the updated link in my nym.

I do have one person and one rodentoid on permanent moderation, but you are neither of them.

I know the rodent in question, and I think I have an idea of who may be permabanned (lo, if only such things could stick here, life would be so much simpler), but I’m not sure. It’s a fun mystery.

I know the rodent in question, and I think I have an idea of who may be permabanned (lo, if only such things could stick here, life would be so much simpler), but I’m not sure. It’s a fun mystery.

i know who neither is, although i have fond wishes…and yes, if only there were a gigantic banhammer! but (as the saying goes) sadly, no!

At least the past had a future

The future was much cooler in the past.

I particularly liked the cars with atomic reactors located just behind the passenger compartments.

No matter how crappy anyone is feeling about anything, Marcel the Shell with Shoes on will make you feel better. It’s unpossible not to laugh.

marcel is super cute…but a chimpanzee riding on a segway! always cheers me up…

I particularly liked the cars with atomic reactors located just behind the passenger compartments.

I think modern life, she is like this kind of car, no?

“I’ve Got My Future on Ice” is the only Hank jr song I’ve ever covered.

I remember when the future was so bright that we had to wear shades.

If has the name “Some guy” and it smells like troll shit, caveat emptor…

The future was much cooler in the past.

Not a fan of post apocalyptic dystopias? Cause Mad Max is closing in on 40 years old at this point.

I particularly liked the cars with atomic reactors located just behind the passenger compartments.

Out in the alpine desert west of Idaho Falls, ID on the site of EBR-1, the world’s first breeder reactor and first to power the lights of a city, sits two nuclear-powered aircraft engines. Marvels of engineering and materials science, engineers were able to shrink an atomic reactor from 1,500 tons down to 100 tons. If you bound together 3 railroad tanker cars and set them on end, you have a good approximation of the engine’s dimensions. In person, they are wonders to behold.

The planes were meant to stay aloft for months at a time, if need be. However, it became blindingly evident that radiation from the more-or-less unshielded reactor would toast the crew much earlier than that.

Some things just don’t lend themselves to nuclear power. Cars, planes, fault zones, to name but a few.

Been a while since Days of Future Passed was released.

how did scrooge win the football game?

Some things just don’t lend themselves to nuclear power. Cars, planes, fault zones, to name but a few.

This got me thinking about trains. I thought maybe The Silver Streak featured nuclear powered train, but apparently not. There was a brief (9 ep) series in 1979 called Supertrain that I have no memory of – maybe it ran during midterms. But while I was searching for nuclear powered trains, I turned this up:

http://io9.com/nuclear-powered-vehicle-concepts-from-the-mid-20th-cent-1154385972

The pictures accompanying this are pretty awesome.

This won’t quite fit in an airplane, but the modular nature and safety design is still pretty innovative. Even if it is “safe” I’m on the fence about whether a future filled with everlasting radioactive waste is better than a coal-and-oil-powered global warming apocalypse or not.

The pictures accompanying this are pretty awesome.

I sent that article to the proprietor of This Day In Science Fiction, which I linked upthread. He’s used a couple of the illustrations.

As ludicrous as some of the ideas are, we really get off on the illustrations of the future done in days past. These guys made the future look so COOL.

Now, everybody wants to make the future look dirty. We’ve lost something…..

Making the future look cool is modern. Making it look shitty is post-modern.

I like how the illustration of the atomic train includes a helpful arrow showing the direction it’s moving. No shit? You mean that isn’t the all-important caboose end?

I’m on the fence about whether a future filled with everlasting radioactive waste is better than a coal-and-oil-powered global warming apocalypse or not.

Back in the dim and distant past, I learned there are some coal fields that were selling their product as coal or uranium ore, depending on what got them a better price.

Speaking of uranium mining, I wonder what happened with all those waste lagoons (associated with uranium mining) in Texas. I was in the part of the TDH that tested environmental samples for radiation, and we’d get samples from outside some of them.

And, given the demonstrated cavalier attitude of the extraction industries and/or the nuke runners, my attitude is “don’t build any more until you have the waste problem licked” and by “licked,” I don’t mean “put it somewhere and hope no one notices until you’re long gone.”

Atomic train looks amateur night compared to Hyperloop.

I kinda prefer the “post-modern” skiffy. Golden Age stuff is way too conservative for me. Coupled with “Chosen One” rugged individualism triumphing über alles &c. Sure the grittier dystopian versions are also filled with heroes exemptions and other morally ambiguous bullshit but they are usually less easily connected to “Master Race” delusions.

OTOH, I like the older cozy detective fiction over the hardboiled police procedurals. On average at least. The best of the noir stuff is easily as good as the best of the tea and crumpets sort. But the mediocre or worse gritty pulp just leaves a bloody awful taste in my mouth. If that makes any sense.

DKW, I agree, but I was limiting my affection to the illustrations.

I also miss Art Deco architecture, so YMMV.

And, given the demonstrated cavalier attitude of the extraction industries and/or the nuke runners, my attitude is “don’t build any more until you have the waste problem licked” and by “licked,” I don’t mean “put it somewhere and hope no one notices until you’re long gone.”

Yeah, even if we ever can get to supposedly “safe to operate” reactors, the waste is a huge issue and needs to be solved. I fear that once climate change starts rolling along at an unstoppable rate (if it hasn’t already), those concerns will go out the window in the rush to try to find an energy source we can temporarily sustain our lifestyles with.

The planes were meant to stay aloft for months at a time, if need be. However, it became blindingly evident that radiation from the more-or-less unshielded reactor would toast the crew much earlier than that.

I am quietly confident that the Project Pluto nuclear ramjet will feature in some future Laundry novel.

There was a brief (9 ep) series in 1979 called Supertrain that I have no memory of – maybe it ran during midterms.
M. Bouffant is evidently familiar with it.

I don’t think BBBB has ever seen them, though, even though they have played his beloved Bell House a couple of times, as well as the City Winery.

They always seem to swing by in October, when I’m working seven days a week.

i really need to listen to some mekons…you rave of them…as does b^4 i believe…

I think Ghosts of American Astronauts is their most accessible song, it’s just pretty. The first song I ever heard by them is Never Been in a Riot, their humorous response to White Riot.

At least the past had a future

The future was much cooler in the past.

Hey, at least we can watch porn on our phones!

Hey, at least we can watch porn on our phones!

I don’t think that feature was ever shown on The Jetsons.

I’m on the fence about whether a future filled with everlasting radioactive waste is better than a coal-and-oil-powered global warming apocalypse or not.

When I was in high school, the popular theory was that we’d take all that nuke waste and launch it into space. Assuming the rocket didn’t explode or crash or hit something already in orbit, it should get it clear of the planet and pose no further threat. Sounds pretty expensive and a bit dangerous to me. But people forget that fissionable materials are a very finite resource, and that the energy required to manufacture the shit makes it a pretty crappy solution.

DKW: ever read Norman Spinrad’s The Iron Dream?

I also miss Art Deco architecture, so YMMV.

Elements of it are making a comeback in a big way here, thanks to one very large architectural firm. (At least that’s what it looks like to me–not sure if I know what Art Deco really is)

what firm, tsam?

the popular theory was that we’d take all that nuke waste and launch it into space
— because escaping from the gravity well is so energy-effective.
The “Dump-it-in-a-subduction-trench” idea was appealing for a while, but came up against the problem of Codename BLUE HADES.

http://io9.com/nuclear-powered-vehicle-concepts-from-the-mid-20th-cent-1154385972
The pictures accompanying this are pretty awesome.

I am disappoint. Not enough of those vehicles are bright red. Bright redness is a necessary condition for high-speed futuristic vehicles.

bbkf skrev:

i almost beginning to hope it’s some form of perverted foreplay…that’s a little easier to understand than why two grown men continue to goad each other…

See my earlier comment about buckets. Or put this on your shipping wall:

DA ? Dennis
DA ? S,N! ? Dennis

The “Dump-it-in-a-subduction-trench” idea was appealing for a while, but came up against the problem of Codename BLUE HADES.

Y’ha-nthlei plus radioactive waste equals best New England-set kaiju movie EVER!!!

escaping from the gravity well is so energy-effective.

7 miles a second, if I remember my Superman comics correctly……….

what firm, tsam?

NAC|Architecture Hopefully that comes up with the Northside Residence Hall at WSU–which is the project I just finished recently.

Y’ha-nthlei plus radioactive waste equals best New England-set kaiju movie EVER!!!

Except for the small problem that porcupines are allergic to raisins New England is the wrong ocean for subduction trenches.

Maybe a better example of my uninformed claims about Art Deco being a thing here

Except for the small problem that New England is the wrong ocean for subduction trenches.

The suspension of disbelief needed to overcome this is a lot less than that required to accept **REDACTED: SPOILER** that can **REDACTED: SPOILER** with **REDACTED: SPOILER** to produce **REDACTED: SPOILER** that **REDACTED: SPOILER**. Also too, shoggoths.

– because escaping from the gravity well is so energy-effective.

Dreaming big / Thermodynamics = FAIL.

We have a “waste to energy” plant here in Spokane that burns our garbage to drive turbines and create energy.

Bright engineers first decided it should go at the top of a 500′ hill (500′ vertical investment in energy to get the garbage to the site), and that site is directly west of town, which is where most of our wind comes from…meaning all that CO2 and other obnoxious and noxious shit goes right back down that hill into town.

I suppose it’s a bit of justice, to inhale the toxins from the garbage we produce…

Maybe a better example of my uninformed claims about Art Deco being a thing here

I blame Bioshock.

We have a “waste to energy” plant here in Spokane

We used to have one of those in Columbus but they shut it down because it was putting dioxins into the atmosphere.

We used to have one of those in Columbus but they shut it down because it was putting dioxins into the atmosphere.

WE DONT GIVE NO FUCKS ABOUT SOME TOXINS, K?

Bright engineers first decided it should go at the top of a 500? hill (500? vertical investment in energy to get the garbage to the site), and that site is directly west of town, which is where most of our wind comes from…meaning all that CO2 and other obnoxious and noxious shit goes right back down that hill into town.

They didn’t seem to think this one through.

We used to have one of those in Columbus but they shut it down because it was putting dioxins into the atmosphere.

They just need better waste.

They didn’t seem to think this one through.

I think the usual NIMBY politics drove the decision–or maybe zoning — it was built quite a while ago.

I think the usual NIMBY politics drove the decision–or maybe zoning — it was built quite a while ago.

I’d take Not in My Atmosphere over Not in My Backyard any day!

I’d take Not in My Atmosphere over Not in My Backyard any day!

Me too. Spokane, however, has made pretty big strides in the recycling dept. They use tiny garbage cans and huge recycling cans now, and they recycle almost anything. So there’s less and less garbage being weaponized every year.

Is it too soon to start up insane conspiracy theories about the missing Malaysian airplane?

Hijackers AND aliens.

Is it too soon to start up insane conspiracy theories about the missing Malaysian airplane?

There was a guest on TRMS a couple of nights ago, who seemed to be hinting at dirty work at the crossroads.

Is it too soon to start up insane conspiracy theories about the missing Malaysian airplane?

I’m sure there are folks out there fitting their tinfoil hats to ward off the plane killing space rays from (top secret) planet EpsilonThetaDelta27.3, but check out the comments on this article for a few pretty tame conspiracies.

Is it too soon to start up insane conspiracy theories about the missing Malaysian airplane?

I hope not.

What nefarious plot could these beasts be hatching?

I’m telling you–once a single cat grasps arithmetic, it’s all OVER for the human race.

I asked because I saw an article that basically said “NO, you can’t hack airplane flight controls, ya dummy.”

Be pretty difficult to hack a moving computer at 35,000 feet…but the thought of that is mortifying.

A friend just boarded a Malaysian Air flight to Burma. She’d be irresistable to aliens or terrorists, we’ll see what happens.

She’d be irresistable to aliens or terrorists

How do you figure? What’s so great about her? Do aliens and terrorists have certain tastes in common, or does she appeal to a wide swath of beings?

She’s a magnet for trouble.

How do you figure? What’s so great about her? Do aliens and terrorists have certain tastes in common, or does she appeal to a wide swath of beings?

Evidence shows that aliens and terr’ists both go after people who have buttholes.

Is it too soon to start up insane conspiracy theories about the missing Malaysian airplane?

IT WASN’T ZOMBIES.

A vegetarian junkie once told me he wouldn’t eat anything with a butthole. I found that expression clearer and easier to remember than lacto-ovo-vegetarian, or whatever people like my wife call themselves when “vegetarian” isn’t enough.

Between the aforementioned dude, and aliens, everyone’s covered. Coincidence? I think not.

IT WASN’T ZOMBIES.

Methinks the undead doth protest too much.

Maybe a better example of my uninformed claims about Art Deco being a thing here

That’s nice stuff, tsam, although I wouldn’t exactly call it Art Deco.

Art Deco was a decorated architectural motif that grew out of Craftsman and Art Moderne, and reflected the beginnings of a modern take on it that incorporated some machine aesthetic and streamlinism (FYWP that should be a word). It was terminated by the Great Depression, when nobody was building anything, let alone the sumptuous richness that Art Deco lent itself to.

The Chrysler Building is one of the most famous, but here is an image search:

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=art+deco+architecture&FORM=HDRSC2

A vegetarian junkie once told me he wouldn’t eat anything with a butthole. I found that expression clearer and easier to remember than lacto-ovo-vegetarian, or whatever people like my wife call themselves when “vegetarian” isn’t enough.

Don’t google ‘rennet’

zombie rotten mcdonald said,

March 20, 2014 at 2:05

d’oh. Damn tagfail. The day I returned to Sadly, No; wouldn’t you figger?

Rennet doesn’t have a butthole, and neither does gelatin. So there.

Nor does bacon. In fact, with a little paring, I can eat virtually anything on this diet.

“Sadly, No: Arguing with/about buttholes for several years!”

I need to give ’em a rest. My last anecdote featured them prominently. Time to take a deep breath and step away.

I need to give ‘em a rest. My last anecdote featured them prominently. Time to take a deep breath and step away.

Buttholes?

Sounds like Bokonon

Laughed, I did! Cat’s Cradle is one of favorite books. (My original nym here was Ice Nice.) The lines are acutally from Bob Dylan’s song Buckets of Rain on the Blood on the Tracks album.

You wankers can’t properly appreciate buttholes. iykwimaityd

Guilty as charged. Mekons either.

Guilty as charged. Mekons either.

No wonder your browser hates my site.

matthew mccaughnehey has redeemed himself in my eyes…

that’s some inventive spelling right there…

matthew mccaughnehey has redeemed himself in my eyes…

By thanking Jebus for the O’ scar?

zombie rotten mcdonald said,

No wonder your browser hates my site.

Weren’t that OBS? Aniweigh, I would attribute the browser’s behavior to the undeniable fact that your site is clock full of internettian hooliganism.

FYautocorrect. Chock. Chockfuckingfull.

that’s some inventive spelling right there…

I was gonna say….

Weren’t that OBS? Aniweigh, I would attribute the browser’s behavior to the undeniable fact that your site is clock full of internettian hooliganism.

Nah, OBS seems to have no problem.

But that’s an adequate description of teh Empire. It’s buttholes and Mekons, all the way down….

re: Iron Dream

I have not read it. It looks like an interesting read though. I’ll pick up a copy if I ever chance across one.

I have eleventy-seven problems but ZRM’s empire ain’t one of them.

DKW: I figure you might also like William Gibson’s short story “The Gernsbeck Continuum” (in Burning Chrome), which also poked fun at Golden Age sf (well, its aesthetics anyway).

By thanking Jebus for the O’ scar?

ugh, no…we just finished ‘true detective’…

SOMEONE’S not reading for comprehension again.

Or still, I guess.

Oh well, all just Tears in the Rain….

I have a dream that one day men will no longer feel free to air literally insane conspiracy theories about a black president putting a white woman in every black man’s bed where sane people might overhear.

Fixed that for you, Some Pennis. And when Barack Obama aired those criticisms, he didn’t base them, the way Paul Ryan did his, on the twisted mania of a “scientist” who believes that blacks are literally subhuman animals and who has dedicated his life to confirming that bias. So, to quote the people who’ve quoted me: Pennis, please fuck as far off as you can, rest up, and fuck off some more. And when you can’t fuck off any further, please eat literally all the shit and die.

over at dKos, the subject of Vincent van Goghs death by accidental shooting came up,

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/20/1286101/-Was-van-Gogh-a-victim-of-GunFAIL

…which reminded me of this excellent Sixty Minutes documentary from a few years back..

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-life-and-death-of-vincent-van-gogh-pt-1/

PS Just a reminder in case you are recently arriving—-

whenever you see a posting by “Some guy” it will just be troll droppings.

I used to post under that name but no longer do so because of nymjacking.

I am quietly confident that the Project Pluto nuclear ramjet will feature in some future Laundry novel.

Smut,
Charlie Stross already included them in his short story “A Colder War”

If there was only a “Whitesplaining Man” around to give me tips on how to behave. Sadly enough we simply do not have enough of these noble creatures around.

…

You wankers can’t properly appreciate buttholes. iykwimaityd

Breeders dig the butthole too, yanno.

okay, this bit of troll spoor was actually amusing…among a list of items:
or mom-jeans when African Americans are dining in this establishment.”

compare and contrast…blartfart claims:

Dr. Vivek Murthy’s nomination to be U.S. surgeon general was already troubled by his lack of experience or professional accomplishment.

tpm and other news outlets say:

Vivek Hallegere Murthy was tapped for the coveted role to serve as the federal government’s top spokesman on public health. He’s a uniquely accomplished physician — a physician-instructor at Harvard Medical School since 2006 and a co-founder of VISIONS Worldwide in 1995, a nonprofit group working to fight HIV/AIDS. He received a B.A. from Harvard, an M.B.A. from Yale School of Management and an M.D. from Yale School of Medicine.

tpm linky

If there was only a “Whitesplaining Man” around to give me tips on how to behave.

If it makes you feel any better, apparently NONE of us know how to behave. For example, when I read your diner anecdote, I simply assumed you were justified in your choices, since I trust you in such matters, and I wasn’t there. It didn’t occur to me to demand crystal-clarity, a transcript, and the other side(s) to the story, perhaps in the form of a notarized statement by the Whitemanistanis. But then, I am nothing if not small of mind.

Wingnut Congressman called on his crazy delusional bullshit…

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/19/1285855/-TeaParty-Rep-Brenner-Slams-DKos-Liars-as-a-Reason-He-Pulled-Sandy-Hook-Hoax-Conspiracy-Theory

I’ll give you a break, shit-for-brains—- arm or leg?

Quick, Henry, the Flit!

Happy spring everybody!

Art Deco was a decorated architectural motif that grew out of Craftsman and Art Moderne, and reflected the beginnings of a modern take on it that incorporated some machine aesthetic and streamlinism (FYWP that should be a word). It was terminated by the Great Depression, when nobody was building anything, let alone the sumptuous richness that Art Deco lent itself to.

Ok–I thought Art Deco was that 1950s style–the “modernist” type of thing (flat roofed houses…)

I love that Art Deco stuff–it’s like film noir style. I dig it.

Ok–I thought Art Deco was that 1950s style–the “modernist” type of thing (flat roofed houses…)

Art Deco is more 1920s and 1930s. You’re thinking “Mid-century modern”.

Yep, phelps was a model Democrat all right…

In 1996 Phelps and the Westboro church opposed Clinton’s re-election because of the administration’s support for gay rights. The entire Westboro congregation picketed a 1997 inaugural ball,[51] denouncing Vice President Al Gore as a “famous fag pimp” (Gore had changed his positions on gay rights since 1984). In 1998, Westboro picketed the funeral of Gore’s father, screaming vulgarities at Gore and telling him, “your dad’s in Hell”.

In 1997 (before the fall of Saddam Hussein during the 2003 Iraq War) Phelps wrote a letter to Saddam praising his regime for being, in his opinion, “the only Muslim state that allows the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to be freely and openly preached on the streets.”[52] Furthermore, he stated that he would like to send a delegation to Baghdad to “preach the Gospel” for one week. Saddam granted permission, and a group of WBC congregants traveled to Iraq to protest against the U.S. The WBC members stood on the streets of Baghdad holding signs condemning both Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as anal sex.

In Amurica, anyone can register as a member of any political party, even the Democratic Party. I find it highly amusing that some anencephalic thinks that’s worth mentioning in the case of Fred Phelps and the brand of hate he and his church peddled.

Art Deco is more 1920s and 1930s. You’re thinking “Mid-century modern”.

I see it now–feeling kinda silly about it, but then architecture isn’t my field of study–though I admire it when it’s more than utilitarian strip malls and chain restaurants and professional buildings.

I don’t care what affiliation Phelps was. He was vile piece of shit who should have died years ago of the most painful, debilitating disease known to man.

Also, DON’T fucking call me a Democrat. The life you save might be your own.

So according to the news Fred Phelps is dead. According to the news at one point he was a respected civil rights lawyer. And then something happened. Fred decided his mission in life should be to persecute gay people and to do it in the most offensive way possible in the US. I’m not reading one sentence more about that miserable old bastard, so I can’t and won’t confirm the rumor I heard that church he led for so many years has excommunicated him. So, he will very shortly find out if the behavior he engaged in for the last 40 or fifty years was casting the pearls of truth before the swine of unrepentant wickedness or pointless hateful outrageous misbehavior by people who ought to be ashamed of themselves for trying to make the tragedy of dying young worse for so many grieving families. (It’s the second one)

Fred isn’t going to face eternal judgement. There’s no such thing. He won’t go to heaven either, again, no such thing. He will turn out like a light and everything that was Fred will decay in earnest. Whether he’s buried or cremated, he will return to the carbon cycle and the atoms of which he is composed will be reused. Even faster than that, he will be forgotten. In ten years, his children and grandchildren won’t be able to picture his face without looking at a photo. In ten years, people will have to check wikipedia to see who he was when his name is mentioned. In one tiny little way, I’m glad he existed. He embodied religious intolerance. He put the lie to the stupid phrase that “God is Love” god isn’t love, god isn’t hate, god is whatever alleged holy men and women say he is. God is a giant invisible ventriloquist dummy, repeating, reflecting and magnifying the hopes and fears right back at whoever goes looking for answers in religion.

Some people argue that god isn’t the problem, that organized religion is the problem, that it takes ‘spirituality’ and harnesses it to the yoke of prejudice and oppression, that it takes the yearning to be part of something greater than ourselves and uses it to create petty tribalism. But as I have said before, wishful thinking won’t keep you warm. “God” as articulated in whatever form by the religions of the world, does not exist. But I’m not going to roll up to Westboro and shout that through a megaphone and surround the deathbed of Mr Phelps with a crowd of people delighted by his demise.

It would be cruel. His death is a missed opportunity. Not for any of us, but for him. He has run out of time to turn his life around. He can no longer even start to repudiate the legacy of hate he spent his entire life building. He will go out like he lived, as a bad example of a life lived in the service of bigotry homophobia and prejudice. Any work he did for civil rights, and any good he did at all, is more than overshadowed by the people whose suffering he intensified, and the loved ones he led down that same hateful path.

The Romans used to have a punishment for traitors, damnatio memoriae it was called. They destroyed every likeness they could find. they burned histories that mentioned them, they pulled down statues and they melted down coins. The goal was to unmake them completely so that the stain they brought to the honor of Rome and their families was completely erased. That is going to happen to Mr Phelps. Not deliberately, just by time, every record of his existence will fail. Newspapers will rot, hard drives will die, archivists will consign books and news stories to the trash. In a hundred years, one would have to be an archeologist to find a mention of him and in a thousand years, it will be as if he never existed.

denouncing Vice President Al Gore as a famous fag pimp

Thank god *somebody* gets that guy. Stuffed shirt, my ass. He’s fat, also.

condemning both Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as anal sex

Phelps runs off the rails here. When you condemn the Clintons, condemnation of anal sex is understood to be implied, and vice versa.

Nice work, Helmut. I see your name did not constitute a link to your new blog, which I enjoyed yesterday.

He crossed the line when he condemned anal sex.

The Dark God of Time, AKA DA® said, March 20, 2014 at 20:00

DA’s right. He wins.

They destroyed every likeness they could find. they burned histories that mentioned them, they pulled down statues and they melted down coins. The goal was to unmake them completely so that the stain they brought to the honor of Rome and their families was completely erased

This is a bad idea. Best to keep the memory fresh in peoples’ minds. Helps to counter the future whitewashing that people who like what he says yet pretend they don’t for the TV cameras. Believe me, there are lots and lots of right wingers who constantly say the same inflammatory bullshit Phelps did–they just don’t picket funerals yet.

Fred Phelps is now a Mormon, which means he is now gay- in every way, he has improved.

I love that “—– was a Democrat” construction, it’s lazy and dishonest, and perfectly displays the Conservatives’ Orwellian reliance on the “memory hole”. They’re only fooling themselves.

For example: Ronald Reagan. Lousy president, criminal. Sold weapons to an enemy nation, then diverted the funds to death squads in Central America. Every Republican candidate running for office at any level drops his name. What Reagan did was FAR worse than Watergate. Not as bad as bombing non-combatant nations in Vietnam, but Nixon is only really associated with Watergate when his criminality is discussed.

1950s style–the “modernist” type of thing (flat roofed houses…)

Here you go. There is a neighborhood in Columbus that was built by one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s acolytes in the 1950s and 1960s.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/204-E-South-St-Worthington-OH-43085/34019395_zpid/

I was seriously thinking about buying the house across the street from this one. I talked myself out of it because it was just too much money.

I was seriously thinking about buying the house across the street from this one. I talked myself out of it because it was just too much money.

I love the exterior elevations. I HATE that busy, crowded interior.

I HATE that busy, crowded interior.

One of the problems was: “Usonian” houses as Wright called them had much of the furniture built into the house. I was at a loss as to where to put some of our furniture.

The HVAC system looked like something out of the “Museum of Air Conditioning”. I suspect it was the original unit. Between that and all the single-pane glass I saw myself spending huge $$$ on utilities.

Plus the property taxes are much higher in that suburb.

All in all it just didn’t make sense.

It especially doesn’t make sense for a guy who travels as much as you do.

Oh you’re quite right. I don’t know what got into me actually.

I’m a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and I think it was the thought of living in one of “his” houses.

I can’t and won’t confirm the rumor I heard that church he led for so many years has excommunicated him
Sounds like the WBC succumbed to a coup, or a corporate take-over. The rank-&-file woke up one morning to discover that the system of voting on whom to hate next, and when, had been replaced by a central self-elected all-male Council. The Council kicked out the old boss when he protested about his daughters losing their vote, and an outside convert took over as the new spokeman. All quite Pauline.

I suspect it was the original unit. Between that and all the single-pane glass I saw myself spending huge $$$ on utilities.

Yes–not to mention the 2nd degree burns from sunlight through the window, and the condensation in the winter. No thanks. Of course, you could sink $50k into modernizing that stuff.

The built in couch, though, is a total deal breaker. So is the dinky little kitchen.

It turned out that any house I liked was over $300k and the ones that were in my price range didn’t do anything for me.

The built in couch, though, is a total deal breaker.

Wright was into that sort of thing. Last week I ran across a quote of him saying (IIRC) that every built-in chair, bed, or bench he’d created was a literal pain in the ass. (I have a bunch of Wright stuff on my desk for some reason.)

The Council kicked out the old boss when he protested about his daughters losing their vote

Hostile takeover! Seems like a gamble, nobody trolled for attention like Freddie “Kruger” Phelps.

Apparently I’m having a LOT of fun.

As the militant homosexual activists aggressively sweep through our society in their hostage-taking enterprise, they trample on religious rights — and numerous other freedoms — leaving only debauchery in their wake. Through their shameless “gay” gangland style thuggery, they defile and hypersexualize everything that they come into contact with.

Doesn’t that sound like a really really really good time?

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/barbwire-dont-negotiate-queer-terrorists

Pup, you’re hypersexualizing this thread.

Shameless and defiling thug.

I expect there to be debauchery at my wake.

I expect there to be debauchery at my wake.

At my wake I just want them to say: “Hey look! He’s breathing!”

Gangland style thuggery defiles and hypersexualizes? Huh. I thought it just killed people to death.

denouncing Vice President Al Gore as a famous fag pimp

Thank god *somebody* gets that guy. Stuffed shirt, my ass. He’s fat, also.

Was he the inspiration for South Park’s Big Gay Al?

Is it hot in here or is it just me?

Do you live in Worthington, Major?

Back in the sixties when I lived in Ohio I had a girlfriend who lived in that lovely neighbourhood near Rush Creek… Check out 503 Evergreen Circle where she used to live, it’s a real beauty…

Sounds to me like the place to be is in a gay thug’s wake.

So to speak.

Downbeat magazine has a “Blindfold Test” column. They invite a musician to listen to unidentified records, comment on them, and rate them. Here, for example, is Mingus. (I haven’t read it yet).

You could do something similar with Fred Phelps statements. Read ’em off, then ask folks who it is, how did he/she vote, or register, or run for office and lose, was he/she a liberal or a conservative or something else. I think we know how the results would lean. Unfairly, to a degree, but that’s a price the right chooses to pay.

I couldn’t be more comfortable with this state of affairs, even if everyone in the world heard the unexpected gotcha factoid.

You could do something similar with Fred Phelps statements. Read ‘em off, then ask folks who it is, how did he/she vote, or register, or run for office and lose, was he/she a liberal or a conservative or something else.

“Racism” was included on Phelps’ list of things God hates. Easy enough to find quotes of him denouncing racism & apartheid.

leaving only debauchery in their wake

I want the debauchery to be in front of me, not behind, altho the motorboatin’ wavy imagery is real nice.

That’s interesting, Smut. He must not have placed much emphasis on that plank, or we wouldn’t know his name.

I’m a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and I think it was the thought of living in one of “his” houses.

there is supposedly one of his houses in hooterville, but i’m suspecting it’s just a look-alike…also, too…i don’t think the kitchen in that house would have met your culinary needs…but it is pretty kick-ass…

I wonder if the Phelps clan ever picketed a racist’s funeral (specifically because the deceased was racist, as opposed to a serviceman, for example)

Do you live in Worthington, Major?

I have a Westerville address, but I pay Columbus taxes and have Columbus city services. I also have Westerville schools, although I don’t really care since I don’t have school-age children. I guess it’s a plus if I ever have to sell.

Moving to Worthington would have really pushed my property taxes up.

Nice little town, Westerville , I had some musical buddies there too back in the day. I haven’t been there since about 1969…

It used to be a few miles away from Columbus but I expect that urban sprawl has probably embraced it.

“Racism” was included on Phelps’ list of things God hates.

Were seafood, pork and kids seethed in their mother’ milk on that list?

Because God has gone on record with some very strong opinions about food.

Which is actually kind of funny because God never mentioned racism or slavery being sins… Guess He was too busy worrying about those poor food choices…

This is where I live:

http://littleturtle.org/

It’s right off RT 161.

And yes, the sprawl has been incredible even in the 20 years I’ve lived there. They’re building housing all the way to the other side of New Albany.

The kitchen at Fallingwater is tiny. Place doesn’t have many built-ins, IIRC. But it’s been many years since I was there.

Doug Mainwaring wants you to know that contrary to all appearances he is not self-loathing.

I’m gay and I oppose same sex marriage because it is not marriage. It is something else. I, too, am tired of being labeled a “self loathing gay” and a “hater.” I am not. But I refuse to be silenced by those who seek to manipulate and silence rather than enter into rational discussion.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/03/3_18_2014_15_41.html

That’s not the part I find interesting, Pupienus.

The most recent Pew Poll found that public acceptance of same sex marriage is now up to 54%. Does this really reflect an enthusiastic embrace of the notion of same sex marriage? — Or — Is a vast swath of the population just sick and tired of hearing about gays in the news day after day for the last few years?

Fade away? Don’t count on it. There is never an end to progressive ideology. Statists never have enough power and control. This will never end until the very institution of marriage is obliterated from human civilization, in which case, we will no longer actually have a civilization.

There’s alot going on here, but here’s a golf clap for the idea that a majority of people now support same-sex marriage because they’re tired of gay gay gay all the time.

I dunno, dude; I’m pretty sick of hearing about the evils of abortion and driving past billboards and shit but I’m not coming around or pretending to.

“Why bother? Just let them have what they want. Maybe then they’ll fade away.”

But I wanted to burn out cuz it’s better.

CRA quoted the ripest part of the American Stinker turd linked by Pup:

Statists never have enough power and control.

And people who unironically use the word “statist” never have any self-awareness or political savvy. (Chrome’s spellcheck doesn’t recognize the word “statist”. Then again, it doesn’t recognize “unironically”, “blockquote” or even, ironically enough, “spellcheck”.)

Rational discussion=agreeing with me.

I remember the hubbub when that Kirk and Madsen book came out * It was pretty controversial in the gay community which was sharply divided about the strategy.

Doug Mainwaring’s take on it in retrospect is kind of amusing. None of the things he cites happened because we planned them, they occurred organically. Or not at all in some cases where he gets there vapors.

Teh Ho likes meatloaf much more than I do so i try to play around with it. So tonight will be meatloaf using beef and pork. Imma add some curry powder and dried fruit to the mix then glaze with chutney Maybe some slivered almonds also too.

Pup, sounds like bobotie. Give it a try sometime – I swear it’s good eating for a quasi-meatloaf-cum-shepherds-pie.

Pollo Estilo Tehuántepec. Six guajillos and one large pasilla, stemmed, seeded and toasted, soaked in hot water 20 minutes. 8-10 cloves garlic, 1 t peppercorns, crushed, 3 cm cinnamon stick, crushed, 1 t Mexican oregano, 1 T kosher salt all in a whizzer with the soaked chilis and 3/4 cup of the soaking liquid, whiz to a fine paste. Marinate a kilo of chicken pieces (thighs or leg quarters) for 3-6 hours. Bake covered on a bed of chopped white onion for 45 minutes in a hot oven. Serve with rice and a light salad ( in the Isthmus that would be tomato, cuke, white onion and avocado).

Dryer and not as complex as food from the oaxacan Central Valley but still deliciously Oaxaqueñan.

sounds like bobotie. Give it a try sometime

I’ve made bobotie. It’s quite good.

Statists never have enough power and control. This will never end until the very institution of marriage is obliterated from human civilization, in which case, we will no longer actually have a civilization

It IS over-ripe, Austin. This Mainwaring fellow writes better than the typical “American Thinker.” I sorta enjoyed his paragraphs, however biased, about that book I haven’t read (but that Pup has). At the end of the day, however, gay or not — total wingnut …

It’s almost cute to see somebody write this way about the obliteration of marriage by “statists” as if it hasn’t always been, and will likely remain, a tool worth keeping. As if marriage is this thing that’s been going on outside of power relations, but now it’s a barrier to totalitarian socialism, and so the gays — confused as they are, some think they’re committed like real couples — are just useful idiots.

Only someone who thinks marriage was handed down from God could be worried about its ruination anyway. It’s changing, yes, but in encompassing same-sex unions, it’s drawing nearer to the good part of its timeless essence. The state, in allowing individuals’ bonds to be recognized equally, exerts LESS control. Progressives/liberals are LESS statist, in this regard, just as when they declare official disinterest in consensual acts that harm nobody. This is, obviously, individualism, not statism.

Good grief, why am I explaining this stuff. I have been trolled, albeit earnestly, by a self-hating queer. (Mainwaring: sorry, but it’s true.)

Also, DON’T fucking call me a Democrat.

Or me.

Btw, many thanx to the Volunteer Public Works heros for removing the trash from the thread.

Pup, sounds like bobotie. Give it a try sometime – I swear it’s good eating for a quasi-meatloaf-cum-shepherds-pie.

That egg-custard topping is reminiscent of the traditional moussaka topping.

God has gone on record with some very strong opinions about food

Okay here’s a thought experiment for the many, many Sadlytown cooks and chefs. Even though it is huge stretch for adamant atheists, pretend–just pretend–that you were starting an FSM church.

What Dietary Laws would you enforce on the faithful?

I wanted to burn out cuz it’s better

It’s better to burn out
than to fade away.
my my hey hey

My dietary law: NO COCONUT EVER

Also-forget fish on Fridays. Let’s change that to lasagne

Dietary law: no “quasi-meatloaf-cum,” ever.

The fish-on-Fridays business is the mark of a middle-aged religion, and so the Flying Spaghetti Monster Cult should have no part of such complications.

Just adopt Meatless Mondays. It’s a good idea and the precedent is obvious. The big religions do this sort of thing. You don’t even have to credit McCartney (?), if that greases the wheels for you.

Thank you, ladies and germs, that’s my set. Try the veal.

All in all it just didn’t make sense.

You know what makes sense? Hire an architect with a fair knowledge of Prairie and Usonian design, and the ability to work within modern housing standards to design one for you.

You know, if you happened to know anybody that fits that description…

yanno, for a zombie, I am kind of a whore.

Okay here’s a thought experiment for the many, many Sadlytown cooks and chefs. Even though it is huge stretch for adamant atheists, pretend–just pretend–that you were starting an FSM church.

What Dietary Laws would you enforce on the faithful?

That’s easy, old chum, spaghetti every meal! You can vary the sauces, to be sure, but spaghetti it is.

Thank you, ladies and germs, that’s my set. Try the veal.

But not on Monday!

Teh Ho likes meatloaf much more than I do so i try to play around with it. So tonight will be meatloaf using beef and pork. Imma add some curry powder and dried fruit to the mix then glaze with chutney Maybe some slivered almonds also too.

I was experimenting with alternate burgers and came up with one based loosely on Shanghai-style lumpia filling. I used a blend of ground pork and ground chicken, with ground-up water chestnuts and cooked shrimp, spiced with fish sauce, a hint of sriracha and bound up with egg. A similar recipe would work perfectly as a meatloaf.

What Dietary Laws would you enforce on the faithful?

I recommend Helmut’s dietary rule #1. Never eat anything that will eat you after you’re dead. No jackals, no vultures, no flies, no worms, no maggots, no cannibals, and most importantly, no fungus. For that matter, no fish or crabs either.

Beer with every meal. Duh.

No fungus? BLASPHEMY!!!

OK I’m back already.

I like fungi, I like eating fungi, and I can’t fault them for anything they do, so I’m adding a clause on their behalf.

I mean I’m combining several rules, and adding an out for the mindless ones, who’re so dear to my heart, and can’t be faulted for eating it — even now, if they can manage; I still have some game, so bring it if you can.

Rule: never eat anything that’ll knowingly eat your asshole after you’re dead.

Rule: never eat anything that’ll knowingly eat your asshole after you’re dead.

Even more important Rule: always eat someone who’ll eat your asshole while you’re alive. It’s the polite thing to do.

No fruitcakes (or simulcra thereof)

I also observe tsam’s No Coconut Ever dietary rule.

Also Lasagna on Fridays !!! Tsam’s taste be praised!

I’ll eat all the coconuts that tsam and Fenwick are eschewing. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth (my favorite pie is steak-and-kidney), but coconut is the one big exception. I believe that the Samoa is the Most Powerful Cookie in the Universe!

New post(s).

What Dietary Laws would you enforce on the faithful?
Breatharianism is anathema to my people. We do not bother executing the blasphemers, however.

Never heard of that SA meat pie thing so I lookeded it up.

Bobotie, also spelt bobotie,

Thank you wikipedia.

spelt bobotie
Made with heritage grains.

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