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Saturday Night Open Thread

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So, what’s on your mind? Got any links you want to share? Stories that need a plug? Requests to make?

War in Russia Georgia? Olympics? Bernie Mac’s untimely passing? Lingering interest in the Edwards affair?

The floor is yours….

Comments

  • phoebes in santa fe

    says:

    Did Bernie Mac “pass” or “die”?

    Why do people use that term? It’s almost if denying the finality of death by using “pass”.

  • kindness

    says:

    Since McCain and his merry band of punksters have been hard at work this last week, I am seeking a group consensus. I want to quantify just how sucky & ugly the new Rovians are and the level McCain has reached thus far in his campaign.

    Who wants to begin?

  • PeteCO

    says:

    I was just reading the “Tale of Two Affairs” post from earlier today. What really jumped out was the David Gregory quote;

    On the August 8 edition of MSNBC’s Race for the White House, host David Gregory baselessly suggested that former Sen. John Edwards’ (D-NC) disclosure of an extramarital affair has some relevance to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Gregory opened the show by saying, “Tonight, more on Edwards and the fallout from his admission today about a sexual affair: Is this another skeleton in the Democratic closet that Barack Obama must struggle to overcome?”

    How moronic can this get? My opinion of Gregory just dropped several more notches.

  • PeteCO

    says:

    Kindness @#4,

    I was going to say lower than a snake’s belly, but that’s an insult to snakes’ bellies.

  • RLH

    says:

    The only story right now is the McCain/Obama contest. Keep it clean and keep it simple, I say. Obama has a long reach, he can counter-punch, and he’s patient.

  • SaintZak

    says:

    “Is this another skeleton in the Democratic closet that Barack Obama must struggle to overcome?””
    WEll if this DOES become an issue that bleeds into the Obama campaign then the gloves have to come off and McCain’s own past needs to come up front and center.

  • joey

    says:

    #2..”…Why do people use that term? It’s almost if denying the finality of death by using “pass”.

    Because so many believe you pass from one world to another…that death is not the end but a transition. Spiritualists refer to it as “crossing over”. The other spiritual world is 3ft above us in dimension and spins so much faster that spirits voices sound like the chipmunks….separated by a thin veil where people move about with their dream state bodies(in our dreams we normally act as if we’re 28-30yrs old in perception)…but I digress.

    I’m very concerned about the Spoonamoore(spelling?) interview videos at youtube. He comes right out and explains how our votes are stolen and flipped by Diebold. Points out the mysterious “clock fix patch” in Georgia before the last election (which the CEO of Diebold personally carried to oversee installation) which he examined and said it was no clock fix. The votes flipped in Ohio and he tells how. Claims the fix was in and is still in. He’s a lifelong republican but claims there are “some” lowlife republicans who are out to steal elections and he wants it stopped. He calls Diebold liars and has the expertise to know. How are we to trust our elections where these machines are in place and purposely produce no paper trail. The eight short videos he released are extremely informative and demand our attention. Tapping, spying, lying, cheating and stealing with the RNC being a major part of the deception will only get worse if we don’t get rid of electronic voting machines.

    btw…a republican operative who claims to hate the democratic party is who was contracted to set up the congressional computer systems. The fix may be in but we can prevent it from being successful and them getting away with it. Awareness is the first step. I urge you to watch the videos at youtube. (they were at DU but are at youtube for sure).

  • Steve in Sacto

    says:

    Please Steve, I urge you to read my comment here and reconsider your thinking on whether and how Obama should confront ridicule, mock and belittle McCain’s lies false foundation of straight talk. Thanks.

  • The Answer is Orange

    says:

    JurrasicPork, you escaped from the NSA!

    It was a sad day when I tried to check out your blog and it was gone. I’m glad I didn’t take your name of my blogroll. Sort of like Queen Victoria keeping Prince Phil’s writing desk. Only.

    Um.

    Forget it.

    I’m glad to see you’re back.

  • PeteCO

    says:

    “Sort of like Queen Victoria keeping Prince Phil’s writing desk.”

    “Prince Albert, actually,” he said pedantically. Phil still alive and well and married to the current incumbent, Liz 2.

  • OkieFromMuskogee

    says:

    If my math is correct, the sentence that Osama’s driver is now serving will be complete in early January 2009. Bush and Cheney leave office (I hope) on Jan. 20. Is this a coincidence, or were the jurors making a statement?

  • Chris

    says:

    I just read a statistic that progressive talk radio logs in at 254 hours per day while conservative talk radio logs in 2,570 hours per day. In other words, conservative radio tops progressive content by 100-to-1.

    Just another factor illustrating how the deck is stacked against us (“us” being the whole country).

  • Goldilocks

    says:

    Pass the die and throw a snake eye.
    Curious. Niggling.
    Every day can be your last and one certainly will.

    Then what?
    For me? For everyone else?
    Others die. Do I?
    She walked out of the room. In 27 years she passed. From that room she died, 27 long years past. And yet, for me, she lives.
    Strange.

    “I’ll be back.” Oh, yeah — what will be back?
    “You’ll be back? You’ll be born into my room again? How nice.”

  • JW

    says:

    “Lingering interest in the Edwards affair?”. Nope. However, I’ve a renewed interest in McCain having cheated on his disabled first wife while they were still married. Let’s talk about that!

  • Georgette Orwell

    says:

    Kindness @ 4:

    Lower than whale poop on the bottom of Yokohama Bay. (An old Lambda Chi Alpha line from the late 60s, so dated but still relevant. Like McCain, sans the relevance,)

  • pixie

    says:

    I just want to say I am shocked that Elizabeth Edwards allowed her husband to continue to pursue the Democratic nomination knowing what she knew and that it could explode at any time. I don’t get it–I thought she was smarter than that.

  • libra

    says:

    I found this article about McCain and his campaign:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/us/politics/10mccain.html?hp
    totally fascinating. In part, because it’s written by Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg (with Michael Cooper contributing). They all probably try to maintain an objective facade but, if you read their pieces regularly, after a while, you get an impression that Nagourney and Cooper are pro-McCain, while Rutenberg is, essentially, pro-Obama.

    Now, task the two together with crafting a single article, and you get both biases peeking out, with both sides trying to spin. It’s like looking down into a washing machine: swish-swish, first in one direction, then in the opposite one. Tick-tock. See-saw. Fun.

    Another reason I found the article fascinating is this little snippet, in the opening paragraph (which, basically, tells us that while McCain may be a ‘puter-illiterate, he’s no technophobe; he loves his cell-phone):
    […] his tendency to adopt the last opinion he has heard […]

    Remember the stories about Bush’s advisers — Condi and Powell in particular — and how they’d try to see and talk to him *after* Cheney had? For the *very same* reason: whoever poured the latest bit of advice into Bush’s pale-coral ear-shell was the most likely to have Bush regurgitate it to the public. We keep talking about how McCain is McSame on Bush’s policies. But it seems that it’s more than just policies; the basic psychological “mold” is the same, too. And McSame’s “take” on decision making? It’s ‘dentical same too.

    Do read the article.

  • The Answer is Orange

    says:

    Lower than Larry Craig when he’s trying to squeeze under a bathroom stall.

    I just want to say I am shocked that Elizabeth Edwards allowed her husband to continue to pursue the Democratic nomination knowing what she knew and that it could explode at any time. I don’t get it–I thought she was smarter than that.

    You know what I find shocking?

    That more women don’t buy grenade launchers and make the next trip to the mall a bit more exciting.

    Whenever a married man has sex with a woman (or man) who isn’t his wife, people start screaming about what his wife should have done. OMG! She should have left him, she should have stopped him … she should have kept him in a cage and only let him out for walkies twice a day!!

    People need to learn the difference between WIFE and MOTHER. People who are confused about the difference … should probably avoid family gatherings until they figure it out.

  • grandma vicki

    says:

    Will someone please explain why Mark Halperin at The Page is now referring to Obama as The Land of Lincolner. There are several references on today’s blog and I just don’t get it.

  • MsMuddled

    says:

    You know what I find shocking? That more women don’t buy grenade launchers and make the next trip to the mall a bit more exciting.

    And then we’d all be sent to Gitmo and waterboarded.

    Sometimes it sucks being a girl.

  • Screamin' Demon

    says:

    The man was worth millions, and yet he couldn’t shell out a few bucks to get a pneumonia shot. Probably thought he’d live forever.

  • The Answer is Orange

    says:

    And no, I don’t care if Jesus did say people who pray in public and tell everyone they’re fasting are offensive to God. You should absolutely not pray for hailstorms in DC next weekend.

    Hey, I heard that! Cut it out!

  • Taritac

    says:

    Bernie Mac will truly be missed. He seemed like family, for real. He’s been ill a long time, and I guess, eventually his body just gave out. He was funny as hell and made me just cringe and giggle at his inappropriateness.

    Which makes me wonder why the Obama camp had him entertain his supporters a few weeks ago. Haven’t they seen “Kings of Comedy”? He is not in the least bit politically correct. They should have known better.

  • LorenzoMagnifico

    says:

    I think we should all use the “seed blogger/commentator” idea that McCain has given us. I plan to visit many of his suggested right wing blogs and enter McCain’s talking points vebatim. Unless, of course, sometimes I am not such a good typist so the meaning can be messed up.
    You know, like when you intend to type “McCain has a an infalible grasp of important the issues” but, instead, you accidentally type “McCain failingly grasps important issues”.

  • libra

    says:

    One of my favourites — Bob Herbert, whom I never find boring even though I’m a “lefty” — sums up, with his usual grace and clarity, l’affaire sTinker:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/opinion/09herbert.html?ref=todayspaper

    Crissa, @35,

    In “real time”, South Ossetia *isn’t* all that much different from Kosovo (or from Chechnya, for that matter), except “geographically speaking” — Kosovo is somewhat removed, Ossetia is on Russia’s doorstep (the better to swallow you up, m’dear). Like Kosovo, Ossetia wants independence. The difference is who it wants to be independent of, and why.

    Kosovo — no friend of Russia — wanted to uncouple from Serbia (Russia’s good buddy). Russia didn’t like the idea, resented the West for supporting it, but swallowed the bile with barely a warning rattle.

    Ossetia is a — Russian-leaning — province of Georgia. Russia had had a hard time stomaching *Georgia’s* uncoupling from the erst-while Soviet Union (ditto for every other erst-while Soviet Republic) so, when Ossetia expressed its desire for independence, Russia was supportive. Needless to say, Georgia was not amused; it claims that it’s an internal, *Georgian*, problem and nothing to do with Russia.

    As for why Russia might be “in the wrong” here… Suppose that Canada was *not on the North American continent, but in Europe*. Suppose that Quebec wanted to break away from Canada (as it does, every few years). Suppose that Canada said “no, we’ve had vote after vote on the subject, the separatists never got a majority, it’s our internal business, stay out of it”. *And then suppose* that France says: “eff you, Canada; like it or not, we’re going in, in support of our neighbouring buddy’s right to independence. And we’re gonna shell the shit out of you in the process”. Would you have thought France was on the right side of the issue?

  • libra

    says:

    You know, like when you intend to type “McCain has a an infalible grasp of […] — Lorenzo Magnifico (Sforza?), @41

    Silly me… I read it as “McCain is an inflatable gasbag”, even without your unintentional typos…

    TAIO, @38,
    You got a deal. Denver on Aug 28, but *not* DC on the 15th.

  • libra

    says:

    BTW, on the Russia/Georgia conflict…
    Lots of coverage in NYT but this one — more of an analysis than a report — is interesting:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/world/europe/10diplo.html
    You might notice, in passing, that a) Russia is *still* “Putin’s country”, Medvedev to the contrary and, b) that Putin — unlike Bush — believes in “personal management” when it comes to foreign policy. He showed up at the opening of the Games, delivered his smile to the press and then flew right back to the “fire zone”, while Bush kept patting contestants’ behinds and grinning like the arsehole he is…

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    From The Rag blog in Austin – The author suggests circulating it widely.

    JOHN McCAIN RHYMES WITH PAIN

    4 more years of Bush Republican reign
    McCain rhymes with pain
    4 more years of Bush-Cheney disdain
    McCain rhymes with pain
    4 more years to drive our soldiers insane
    McCain rhymes with pain
    this time use your brain
    cause John McCain rhymes with pain

    John McCain rhymes with blood
    4 more years another war hawk dud
    McCain rhymes with blood
    forever linked with the Great American Flood
    McCain rhymes with blood
    years more of Karl Rove’s un-American mud
    and McCain rhymes with thud
    yes he profits from the foreign takeover of Bud
    and McCain rhymes with dud
    and John McCain rhymes with blood

    John McCain rhymes with taps
    4 more years of Bush intelligence gaps
    McCain rhymes with taps
    how many more wars to send troops into traps
    and McCain rhymes with craps
    don’t gamble on decades of financial collapse
    yes McCain rhymes with collapse
    quit being played for saps
    too much time has elapsed
    and John McCain rhymes with taps

    John McCain rhymes with rage
    waiting to explode on a worldwide stage
    John McCain rhymes with rage
    bottled up inside stab you with a tire gauge
    yes McCain rhymes with rage
    too set in his ways to turn any page
    and please don’t rattle his cage
    he has the mind of a man from another age
    we’re not dealing with a sage
    cause John McCain rhymes with rage

    John McCain rhymes with pain
    you’d get more years of Bush-Cheney hard reign
    McCain rhymes with pain
    how many more years of Bush-Cheney remain
    and McCain rhymes with slain
    how many more troops die how many go insane
    how about the ill-gotten gain
    while the cronies profit and people die in vain
    John McCain rhymes with pain
    it couldn’t be more plain
    yes McCain rhymes with pain
    John McCain rhymes with pain

    John McCain’s time has past
    he was a good G.I.
    and his honor will last
    no need to ask why
    but now life comes at you fast
    and it’s passed him by
    so we thank you John
    now make room for the other guy
    cause John McCain stands for pain

    L. A. Piltz, 8/9/08 (Creative Commons applies)

    Larry Piltz
    Indian Cove / Austin, Texas

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    Regarding Bernie Mac – the facts of his death are shocking. I have had pneumonia twice in my life – this past April-June, and 20 years ago (when I stopped smoking). At first, this last time, they diagnosed it as a virus, but when it didn’t go away in 4 weeks, I went back in. Took three weeks, four doctor’s visits, and a dose of antibiotics large enough and strong enough that my intestinal “agriculture” is still sorting itself out (Still can’t tell if it’s going to be a nice normal visit to the men’s room or “whoosh!” – more information than you likely needed), but the point is when you get that sick, you go to the doctor, and they have medicine that can save your frickin’ life! When I read about Bernie Mac today, my response wast WTF???????

  • jerry sweeney

    says:

    Excuse me for suggesting the Emperor has no clothes. But how will burning up all our oil today secure the nation’s energy independence tomorrow? The rest of the world has more oil than we will ever discover. When we have dry holes, they’ll still be pumping away. Moreover, if memory serves, some of those oil reserves exist in areas where the United States is not blessed with a plethora of friends. Are we so self-centered that we would compromise the future for momentary gains in the present?

  • Bruno

    says:

    The content of these sites is not controlled by the McCain campaign and may contain offensive material. Please use your discretion in visiting these sites.

    The above quote comes directly from McCan’s website where he encourages his devoted fans to visit a variety of websites and copy/paste his lies. He wants his fans to be aware that liberal websites may contain offensive material.

    Just think, McCain hasn’t realized that his site is the one with offensive material against truth and facts. That disclaimer certainly applies to his entire campaign.

    Especially considering when his base views his Sturgis video offering his wife for a topless contest. How offensive do you think that would be to the religious right and social conservatives?

  • Hannah

    says:

    Re Obama’s campaign and those who don’t think he’s hitting back hard enough, Chuck Butcher has some thoughts on his site:
    http://chuckfor.blogspot.com/2008/08/obama-and-hitting-back.html
    I think he’s quite correct, btw.

    Re the Olympics, I wish NBC would quit showing us the mug of President 28%-Approval Rating. Who cares if he’s there, it’s RUINING the viewing for me. They should put up a warning on the screen “We are now about to show you Bush” so I can cover my eyes.

  • Wild08

    says:

    Please help spread the word and donate to the Accountable America. We have to fund and help with their efforts.

    Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions.

    “We want to stop the Swift Boating before it gets off the ground,” said Mr. Matzzie, who described his effort as “going for the jugular.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/us/politics/08donate.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1218351965-wMzfK5ijxuz6vmevOKsK8Q

  • joey

    says:

    McCain is self destructive. The more he talks the more his irritating fruit personality comes out. He can’t remember what he is supposed to say about his own policies and so when he resorts to reading them comes across as ignoprant as if he wouldn’t know what to say unless someone wrote it down for him. When he tries to “rile the audience up” he gives an embarrassing performance…and that is what he is…a performance…and a very bad one. Obama’s challenge is with a complicit media waiting for anything they can jump him for.

    McCain offers up all kinds of gaffes giving Obama so much material to work with and the funniest part is that even the MSM cannot cover up for McCain, even as much as they try McCain always manages to make an ass of himself.

    McCain has an irritating personality, no good policies, no understanding of policies he does herald and cannot mask his repressed anger well enough. He might fool some elderly people and of course there are the 20%ers who shut their ears long ago and just hate dems and liberals so cheer loudly for him…but the rest of the country is not fooled. McCain represents alll the same crap we are trying to get rid of permanently.

    Obama’s plans and policies are sound and express good judgment and he has an admiral personality. I say he’s smart in allowing McCain to self destruct before our very eyes.while he focuses on his plans for America. Treating McCain as a pathetic desperate has been that we tolerate out of sympathy…as an embarrassment of his own desperation is very effective. Why would anyone wanna vote for that guy is becoming the McCain reaction. Keep him talking…keep him angry…and keep pointing out the truth about McCain and it becomes obvious that he really is not a viable candidate for president, that he really is self destructive, that he really is McCain: Wrong On Everything…And Lying About It. “Taking pride in being ignorant” is a good start.

    Remember, Obama is not “the One”…he is “the Right One” at the right time and in the right place. McCain’s way of doing things is over, No more Bushies. No more McCains. No more Cheneys.

  • phrith

    says:

    #1 on the NYT nonfiction list this year is another one of those Swift-Boat yuk fests. What gets me is how it ends up as #1 its first week out. Then you notice that it has a note that there have been bulk orders. My conclusion is that a bunch of Lucianne Goldberg’s minions have been frantically placing orders, so as to assure its spot up there. I mean the idea that there would be that many people who actually would want to read it makes my head swim.

  • Steve

    says:

    The spooky-ooky part of the whole Georgian/Russian dust-up is the film that’s coming out of Russia—kids young enough to be in a college classroom, riding atop troop carriers and tanks, waving Soviet flags? And no, they aren’t old brigade pennants, either—these are big 5-foot-by-8-foot, bright red, with gold hammer-n-sickle emblems, factory made. A couple of the pics are so clear you can still see the crease-lines from being folded in the boxes.

    Some of these kids even have the old “cockade” insignia on their field caps:

    http://www.russianarmysurplus.com/military.php?gid=26

    You’ve got to wonder—do they even know what they’re playing at; what they’re pretending to be? Or is it too much, given that Putin is hardcore KGB?

  • JS

    says:

    Apparently ABC has deleted all references made by Edwards about John McCain’s infidelity, once again trying to censor anything that might not be in his favor, I have sent an email of complaint to them, please everyone do the same, we must keep after the and let them know they will lose viewers etc, now they cannot be trusted.

  • Fahrenheit 451

    says:

    Actually; the thing lower than a snakes belly is the ground it crawls on. I like snakes and I like the earth. We need to get over our Victorian puritanism and get real! We have far more serious issues to deal with than than Edwards private life. Grow up America!