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  1. 1

    That Rush Marcus piece was cloying and condescending. What an ass. Gotta train the kids to do as they’re told early, and smack down the independent ones hard.

  2. 2

    How did the Intelligent Designer come up with that seed dispersal strategy?
    Praise Jesus.

  3. 3

    Saw this on LO’s Rewrite last night, from a 1995 Gail Sheehy piece on Gingrich in Vanity Fair. The link is worth saving for future reference.

    Kip Carter, who lived a few doors down from the couple, saw more than he wanted to. “We had been out working a football game –I think it was the Bowdon game– and we would split up. It was a Friday night. I had Newt’s daughters, Jackie Sue and Kathy, with me. We were all supposed to meet back at this professor’s house. It was a milk-and-cookies kind of shakedown thing, buck up the troops. I was cutting across the yard to go up the driveway. There was a car there. As I got to the car, I saw Newt in the passenger seat and one of the guys’ wives with her head in his lap going up and down. Newt kind of turned and gave me his little-boy smile. Fortunately, Jackie Sue and Kathy were a lot younger and shorter then.

    Gail Sheehy Article (via PBS, see page 4)

  4. 4

    In fairness I think I came around to your viewpoint on extended primaries at some point during the ’08 campaign.

    I think the six-week dead zone between Ohio/Texas and Pennsylvania, during all of which time Clinton was mathematically mostly finished but could claim “momentum”, drove me the most nuts.

  6. 6

    Senate Democrats yesterday introduced legislation — as they’ve been promising to — that would extend a soon-to-expire payroll tax cut, and pay for it by implementing a surtax on income above $1 million. Republicans, of course, are opposing the plan, reviving their false claims that taxing the very wealthiest Americans will hit small businesses and job creators.…

    The surtax would impact around 345,000 taxpayers, roughly 0.2 percent of taxpayers, or one in 500 of them. Those people would pay on average an additional 2.1 percent of their overall income, or just over 1/50th of that overall income, in taxes.

    Allowing the payroll tax cut to expire at the end of the year would hit middle-class families with a $1,000 tax increase, providing a substantial drag on the economy. In fact, according to Macroeconomic Advisers, allowing the payroll tax cut to lapse “would reduce GDP growth by 0.5 percent and cost the economy 400,000 jobs.” Other estimates are even worse, with Barclays’s estimating that a payroll tax increase could say 1.5 percent off of GDP growth.

    http://thinkprogress.org/econo.....x-numbers/

    Heh. Republicans, of course, are all for raising taxes – just NOT on rich people.

  7. 7

    @6 Republicans won’t give up until rich people are paying NO taxes and workers have NO safety net.

  8. 8

    # 3: That’s quite a chilling article. Being printed in Sept. 1995, it forecasts quite a few things about Gingrich’s strategy over the next few years.

    For one thing, he was keeping his options open for a Presidential run in 1996. “If there were a large enough vacuum, then obviously I’m willing to consider it”. Well, you can’t have a bigger vacuum in the leadership of the Republican party than the one which exists right now, which explains his current run.

    But you can see how the wheels are turning. He divorced his first wife while she had cancer, because he decided that she was too old to help him get anywhere in politics (she was his former high-school teacher). He marries Marianne, but as the 2005 article demonstrates, she was adamant that she did NOT want to become the First Lady – especially after seeing how she was being treated (with Gingrich leading the pack). Somewhere within the next year Gingrich was carrying on an affair with his younger intern, while he was making plans to divorce Marianne.

    It’s pretty clear that Gingrich is ambitious enough to do anything, or run over anybody, in his personal quest to become President. His ideology, his marriages, everything about him is just a temporary strategy to accomplish that goal, which could be changed overnight, like a dusty set of clothes. The really scary part is that he is willing to due irreperable damage to the U.S. political system in order to accomplish that goal.

  9. 9

    Central Banks Intervene To Save Global Economy

    Stocks are soaring this morning — up nearly 400 Dow points — on news that the world’s central banks, in a globally coordinated action, are injecting massive amounts of money into the failing European banking system to prevent another worldwide credit seize-up.

    It’s not surprisingly, really, given that it became apparent last night that a run on European banks had started and all of those institutions were going to fail. A 1930s-type economic collapse in the Eurozone was just around the bend.

    Free-market freaks will hate this massive interference by government financial regulators with the “workings of the market.” They don’t believe in taking guns away from children, either. They want to let nature always take its course.

    While investors are cheering what they interpret as a “solution” to Europe’s debt crisis, this actually ought to scare the bejeezus out of them, because it doesn’t solve the underlying problem. The market’s reaction is akin to a patient throwing a celebratory bash after the doctor tells him he has cancer and puts him on chemotherapy, because now he knows why he’s been feeling so lousy. The patient doesn’t realize he’s about to feel a lot worse.

    This is calling out the fire brigade, kiddies! This is what central bankers do when they find themselves staring at Armageddon. How can that possibly be interpreted as good news?

    But we knew all along it was coming, didn’t we? Because Roger Rabbit has been saying so for months.

  10. 10

    9 – The central banks are doing their job being the lender of last resort and injecting liquidity into the system.

    However, I think they have to follow through and impose conditions on the troubled countries of the Eurozone. Reform or you’re on your own.

    Canada is an interesting case in point. In the early nineties they were facing a debt crisis and made drastic reforms and ran in the black for many years. The result is that Canada has weathered the current economic storms quite well. It also helps there’s strong worldwide demand for the commodities Canada produces.

  11. 11

    During the Bush administration, we became aware that our food supply is full of tainted and dangerous products. Today we learned the FDA lied to the public about the safety of many popular fruit juice brands. And, as always, a principal source of arsenic-laced fruit juice is China.

    http://abcnews.go.com/US/arsen.....d=15053583

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Why do we buy anything from China? Read the labels, and if a label has “China” on it, don’t buy the product. That’s what we do. Our experience, without exception, has been that anything from China is crap.

  12. 12

    Heh. A month or so back I linked to a post by economist Dean Baker.

    He said all the ECB had to do was buy bonds to keep the bond vigilantes in check but they were held back by this Germanic fear about holding inflation to under 2 percent.

    All countries have their manias.. Germany does so many things right but they’re scared to death of inflation and radiation. So what do we see? They’re closing down their nuclear power plants whose carbon-free energy will have to be supplanted by fossil fuel plants and the Eurozone’s financial problems have to go to the brink before there’s consensus on action.

    Why am I singling out Germany? There’s the biggest kid on the block in the Eurozone.

  14. 14

    # 9: When I heard the news, I was reminded a lot of the attempts to finance the American Revolution be first issuing paper (unbacked) currencies, known as “Continentals”, then by having the government engage in for-proft import/export business, then by issuing a series of bonds (notes, in their parlance of the time) which sought to replace the prior Continentals and provide additional financing by kicking the can a bit further down the road. Each note/bond issue was a bigger than the last, and claimed to be backed by loans first from France, then by private Dutch investors.

    By the end of the war, there were still Continentals circulating at a fraction of their previous value, bonds issued to various investers to raise cash, notes given to suppliers of the army and the navy as a promise of future payment, and a huge number of scripts issued by Continental officers who had commandeered privately-owned goods needed for the war effort.

    At one point, it was proposed that the U.S. sell it’s land west of the Appalachians back to Britain in order to pay off the debt – sort of a reverse Louisianna Purchase. This never came to pass as public policy, but after the war investors sought to purchase land claims in the lands west of the Appalachians and then make a profit by negotiating disputed titles with the Native American tribes, then selling them in parcels to British investors. But the French Revolution and the rise of Napolean sapped up all the available funding in Britain and Europe, and the value of the land holdings crashed – causing quite a few prominent figures (including some signers of the Declaration of Independence) to end up in debtor’s prison. Among those financially ruined was Light Horse Henry Lee, father of Robert E. Lee of Civil War fame.

  15. 15

    The lizard story reminded me of why it is so hard to get rid of blackberry vines. First of all, they reproduce by dropping the berries into the soil around them. They also send out “shooters” which will bury themselves into the surrounding soil, to pop up again in another location – sometimes quite a distance further away. Finally, you have birds eating the berries (and the seeds contained in them), then flying off to poop them out a considerable distance further away.

  16. 16

    @15
    I’ve found that the best way to get rid of them is to cut them down to soil level, let them regrow to maybe 6 inches high, them mow them again and cover the area with black plastic. This lets the rhizomes expend any energy they’ve saved up and lets the seeds sprout and then kills them off from the lack of light.

    I’ve sprayed them as well, but black berry killer only seems to work on hot sunny days when the plants are really growing.

  17. 17

    Herman Cain’s a victim! Or maybe, he’s just an asshat.

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50.....gainst-me/
    Herman Cain said Wednesday that recent accusations of a 13-year extramarital affair were part of a “character assassination” against him – and that, as such, he could not say “unequivocally” that “somebody else may not come up” with additional allegations against him.

    Cain, in a 20-minute interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, said he was still “in the process of reassessing” whether or not to stay in the Republican presidential race, but pledged to have an answer within the “next several days.”

    “It means I’m reassessing and that’s the same as the terminology reevaluating,” Cain said, when asked if he was thinking of quitting the race. The candidate said the allegations’ impact on his family were the “number one priority” in his evaluation, but that he would also consider feedback from supporters and donors.

    If the man had any real balls he would have skipped over Fox news and been interviewed by Bob Costas

  18. 18

    Or maybe Cain’s a head case.

    “I don’t think that it is the Republicans that are trying to knock me out because they want Gingrich to be the top of the ticket,” he added. “I happen to think these attacks are coming from the other side – because once I moved into the top tier, I think they became threatened. My star was shining and rising too fast… they wanted to take that shine away.”

    “I was trying to help her as a friend financially, because she was in deep financial problems,” Cain said.

    In other words he was trading money for sex. Yes, they were friends and it was all friendly, but was an “arrangement” nonetheless. Normally, I wouldn’t care about such things, but with all the other crap Cain’s done and how clueless he is I care

  19. 19

    # 16: That’s a good idea, I wish I could use it.

    My problem is that the neighbors seem to love blackberry bushes in the small wooded area behind their house. The problem is, it borders on the fence to my back yard. I’ve asked the neighbors if they want to get rid of them, but they just shrug, and say the blackberry bushes don’t bother them.

    Legally I can’t go on their property and destroy anything growing there without their permission. But I can spray blackbery killer on any vines which climb over the fence, or a shoots coming up on my side of the fence. If done during the spring/summer, it does retard the growth a bit.

    But it’s a constant battle – every summer I still have to cut and dispose of a huge mass of blackberry vines which ascend almost fifteen feet high into the tree branches, then drop down on my side of the fence. That’s at least three or four Saturdays every summer out of my life that I’ll never get back.

  20. 20

    @19
    If it were me, I think I might just accidentally get my spray a few feet over the fence…

    I’ve got a vacant lot next to my house that has black berries growing on it that I have to spray those every year to keep them from taking over my yard. The ass hat that owns the lot wont maintain it. The city wont force him to maintain it and the city wont let him split it into two lots (I’m all for this, it’s a 16K sq ft lot in middle of town) so that he can make what he wants to make on the sale of the lot. So, the lot sit empty year after year growing blackberries and the occasional bag of trash.

  21. 21

    # 18: It’s a common tactic among both harrassers and abusers. They don’t prey upon victims who are strong and resilient. They look for those who are vulnerable, either due to their age, insecurities, or financial circumstances. They use these vulnerabilities to control and manipulate their victims.

    So is it any wonder that every one of Cain’s victims would have suffered from financial difficulties, either before, during, or after the incidents? He figures it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement – he gets what he wants, and she gets some temporary financial benefit. He can’t understand why it’s wrong.

  22. 22

    # 20:

    “If it were me, I think I might just accidentally get my spray a few feet over the fence…”

    Well, I will confess that on some occassions, I do spray when the wind is a bit too high and sends a cloud or two in the general direction of his yard…

    But I don’t want to kill the trees, so that limits what I can do.

  23. 23

    A note to our HA hosts.

    A significant political/economic/business event happened today. It deserves its own post.

    Boeing announced that the next generation of the world’s most successful airframe EVER would be built/manufactured in our nation’s most productive and profitable manufacturing facility, Renton.

    Now, I tend to believe that the Boeing 1%ers on the board of directors were motivated by the 737MAX’s launch customer’s, American Airlines, declaration of bankruptcy and felt that that risk was large enough to the 737MAX program and the Boeing bottom line, that shopping the nation for government handouts to build a new manufacturing plant only to suffer all the risks of trying to find workers half as good as the International Association of Machinists (IAM) laborers in Renton was just too much for their union hating hearts.

    Cudos to the IAM!
    Cudos to Renton!
    Cudos to Governor Gregoire and her team for not offering Boeing huge unsecurable handouts!

  24. 24

    # 23: I saw the press release. It’s a big relief to Boeing workers, Washington State, and the governor deserves a few moments of applause, also (she put the task force together to keep the 737 MAX program in the state).

    But I should note that the Boeing press release indicates that Boeing’s decision is dependent upon entering into a new agreement with the IAM. Since the existing agreement expires next fall, this is being read as a call for the IAM and Boeing to enter into early negotiations for a new contract which would be agreed to within only a few months time.

    I think the IAM is willing to be cooperative, as long as Boeing doesn’t throw in “clinkers” like it did last time, trying to take away the Union’s right to strike, asking for unfettered discretion to assign union jobs to non-union contractors, etc. I’m hoping that this is the start of a new cooperative relationship between Boeing and the IAM.

    In the long run, Boeing’s employees want Boeing to be profitable, they want to be proud that they are building the best commercial airplanes in the world, and they want to do so in the Puget Sound region. They want to work the rest of their careers at Boeing, and they want their children to have the option of having a lifetime career there, as well. There’s nothing there which is inconsistent with Boeing’s stockholder’s interests. If both parties are cooperative, they should be able to enter into an agreement.

    One point, however. I expect that Boeing will insist that the IAM drop it’s Federal NLRA case against Boeing for opening the Charleston plant. If Boeing also insists on having an option to transfer much of it’s work to Charleston, this could be a sticking point in the negotiations.

  25. 25

    @24 rhp6033,

    Boeing and the IAM have already reached a tentative deal.
    http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....max01.html

    It is a deal Boeing could have reached at any time as the IAM has never asked for as much as they deserve.

    I say this because the IAM in Renton has doubled production while simultaneously reducing staff by nearly 50% over the past decade.

    The labor disputes Boeing has had with the IAM have always been about Boeing wanting to take away, usually while the 1%ers on the Board were realizing larger profits.

    Regarding the IAM’s urging the NLRB to drop the case, that was on the table from the IAM from the git go.

  26. 26

    Eric Prince, the founder of Blackwater, has his lawyer threatening Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill, with defamation when she called for a Congressional investigation of Mr. Prince and Blackwater’s financial dealings with the government and the conduct of it’s employees in Iraq.

    The problem is, Rep. Schakowsky made the comments from the floor of the House of Representatives. Congressional priviledge applies, she can say anything she wants from the floor of the House and she can’t be sued for it. You would think Mr. Prince’s lawyer would have checked up on this.

    By the way, anybody wonder how this former Navy Seal was able to expand his “security training service” into a major government contractor within only a year or two? He married into one of the families which was the founder of the Amway business, and was introduced to friendly investment bankers. He’s as conservative, in a really right-wingnut way, as they come. He does, however, seem a bit ticked off at the Bush administration throwing him and his company under the bus when he got too much attention for his company’s conduct in Iraq.

  27. 27

    @23
    “Cudos to the IAM!
    Cudos to Renton!
    Cudos to Governor Gregoire and her team for not offering Boeing huge unsecurable handouts!”

    how come you didnt give any kudos to Boeing? Kinda makes you look like a douche-bag prick.

    why do you hate them so much? remember who writes the checks asshole.

    From what I understand, the offer from Boeing to the IAM was EXTREMELY generous…so much so that the union has stated as such….of course you wont comment on that.

    hatred of corporations….its a progressive thing.

  28. 28

    http://news.firedoglake.com/20.....ettlement/

    Boeing/NLRB Dispute Likely Ends With Machinist Union Settlement

    By: David Dayen Wednesday November 30, 2011 2:15 pm

    The Machinists union reached tentative agreement on a new four-year contract with Boeing, in a move that probably ends the dispute over moving a factory from Washington State to South Carolina, which prompted action from the NLRB against what they saw as an illegal labor violation:

    Yay…chalk a rare one up for the good guys!

  29. 29

    27. Shaolin Monk Max spews:

    @23
    “Cudos to the IAM!
    Cudos to Renton!
    Cudos to Governor Gregoire and her team for not offering Boeing huge unsecurable handouts!”

    how come you didnt give any kudos to Boeing? Kinda makes you look like a douche-bag prick.

    why do you hate them so much? remember who writes the checks asshole.

    From what I understand, the offer from Boeing to the IAM was EXTREMELY generous…so much so that the union has stated as such….of course you wont comment on that.

    hatred of corporations….its a progressive thing.

    11/30/2011 at 5:39 pm

    Here’s the amoral and intellectually vapid emperor max-minidick (aka Kaiser bun the first) weighing in on labor realations…his favorite subject:

    You know what’s sad…sad is that this leach…this parasite this emperor max-minidick, who plays to win and just wins, baby…who brags about making his BIG-ASS SIX FIGURE income off his BIG CONNECTIONS with job killing Multi-Nations Corporations that pit worker against worker in an economically depressed area of our state:

    http://www.thestand.org/2011/0.....-so-angry/

    http://www.thestand.org/2011/09/092311-links/

    That’s what’s sad about this slimy scab 1% motherfucker. That’s a real stand-up guy right there. THAT’S what the protests are about…”emperor max-minidick”.

    So the slimy scab thinks that that the union-busting assholes deserve props, huh.

    I guess I would deserve props for paying a fine when I got caught red-handed vioalting a law.

    Somehow I don’t think you should get credit for being forced to

  30. 30

    27. Shaolin Monk Max spews:

    @23
    “Cudos to the IAM!
    Cudos to Renton!
    Cudos to Governor Gregoire and her team for not offering Boeing huge unsecurable handouts!”

    how come you didnt give any kudos to Boeing? Kinda makes you look like a douche-bag prick.

    why do you hate them so much? remember who writes the checks asshole.

    From what I understand, the offer from Boeing to the IAM was EXTREMELY generous…so much so that the union has stated as such….of course you wont comment on that.

    hatred of corporations….its a progressive thing.

    11/30/2011 at 5:39 pm

    Here’s the amoral and intellectually vapid emperor max-minidick (aka Kaiser bun the first) weighing in on labor realations…his favorite subject:

    You know what’s sad…sad is that this leach…this parasite this emperor max-minidick, who plays to win and just wins, baby…who brags about making his BIG-ASS SIX FIGURE income off his BIG CONNECTIONS with job killing Multi-Nations Corporations that pit worker against worker in an economically depressed area of our state:

    http://www.thestand.org/2011/0.....-so-angry/

    http://www.thestand.org/2011/09/092311-links/

    That’s what’s sad about this slimy scab 1% motherfucker. That’s a real stand-up guy right there. THAT’S what the protests are about…”emperor max-minidick”.

    So the slimy scab thinks that that the union-busting assholes deserve props, huh.

    I guess I would deserve props for paying a fine when I got caught red-handed vioalting a law.

    Somehow I don’t think you should get credit for being forced to

  33. 33

    @30

    I work for a union company you dumbass loser.

    Kudos should go to EVERYONE involved, including the state of washington, who I am sure helped out behind the scenes.

    anytime you wanna shot at the world championship rujax, you just let me know.

    little girl.

  34. 34

    BTW, did you or your parents ever keep track of how many times you got your ass kicked after school while growing up?

    it sure does explain a lot.

    keep hiding behind that keyboard, mary.

  36. 36

    33. Shaolin Monk Max spews:

    @30

    I work for a union company you dumbass loser.

    Kudos should go to EVERYONE involved, including the state of washington, who I am sure helped out behind the scenes.

    anytime you wanna shot at the world championship rujax, you just let me know.

    little girl.

    11/30/2011 at 5:57 pm

    34. Shaolin Monk Max spews:

    BTW, did you or your parents ever keep track of how many times you got your ass kicked after school while growing up?

    it sure does explain a lot.

    keep hiding behind that keyboard, mary.

    11/30/2011 at 5:59 pm

    Oh…that’s RICH!!!

    Here’s the amoral and intellectually vapid emperor max-minidick (aka kaiser bun the first) outing himself as a management thug.

    AWESOME.

    Anti-worker pig fucker…nice.

  37. 37

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....via=blog_1

    Wed Nov 30, 2011 at 08:26 AM PST.

    CEO likens union contract to cancer in American Crystal Sugar lockout+*

    by Laura ClawsonFollow for Daily Kos Labor.

    Share187

    permalink

    20 Comments / 20 New

    Workers at American Crystal Sugar remain locked out after four months—and a recording of company CEO Dave Berg speaking to shareholders on Nov. 7 demonstrates very clearly what the workers are up against.

    Berg describes a friend who was feeling unwell and, after going to the doctor, had a 21-pound tumor removed. He continues:

    I’m not saying a labor contract is cancer, but it affects you, it will drag you backward, you can’t do what you need to do. And I’m not saying we’re trying to get rid of the labor contract, we are not about union-busting. Take that one home with you, we are not about union-busting, but we can’t let the labor contract make us sick for ever and ever and ever. We have to treat the disease and that’s what we’re doing here.

    (The recording was made available by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union.)

    I don’t know about you, but speaking for me, when the CEO of a company that has locked out its workers and hired replacement workers despite safety problems starts off with “I’m not saying a labor contract is cancer” in the midst of comparing his company’s labor contract to cancer, his subsequent claim that “we are not about union-busting” starts to feel a little disingenuous. Particularly when in the same speech he returns to the cancer analogy, saying “At some point that tumor’s got to come out. That’s what we’re doing” and referring to the money the lockout was costing the company as an investment.

    Writing about the NBA lockout, Charles Pierce nailed it:

    [L]ockouts are, and will always be, things willed into being exclusively by management. They are not natural phenomena. They are never truly unavoidable. They don’t “just happen,” and they certainly do not occur because “both sides” are at fault. Lockouts occur when management believes that unions are too strong, and they occur when management believes that unions are too weak, and they occur when management doesn’t want a union to exist at all. Lockouts are not devices of economic correction. That’s just a byproduct. Lockouts are attempts by management to exercise control over their workers. Period.

    Illustrating how applicable Pierce’s analysis is to the American Crystal Sugar lockout, one worker writes, in a letter to the editor of the Crookston Times:

    Look at what this tumor did for the company last year, a record year for the company. The beet payment for the 2010 crop was $73.02 per ton. The union was a part of that record. […]
    We offered to continue to work under the old contract with a no strike provision until management and the union could reach an agreement instead we were given a final offer that everyone on both sides knew would be voted down.

    Lockouts are this year’s hot trend in labor relations, and it’s clear why. Just as Govs. Scott Walker and John Kasich went on the offensive against the public workers of Wisconsin and Ohio, many companies and professional sports leagues are taking advantage of a bad economy to preemptively blow up bargaining relationships with their workers and unions. It’s not just about rolling back wages, benefits, and working conditions for their workers; it’s about fundamentally shifting the balance of power even more in favor of the wealthiest and most powerful than it already was. As American Crystal Sugar’s Dave Berg said, to them it’s an investment: spend now to break the union for the future. It’s not just or even mostly about paying less for health care benefits and wages—it’s about stripping workers of the ability to even fight effectively for improvements.

    Hmmmmmm…..

  40. 40

    I see that Esquire Magazine’s “The Best of 2011” includes mention of the tens of thousands who donated to the late Rachel Beckwith’s charity. As someone who donated, I think they got it a bit wrong. I believe most all who donated would probably agree with me. It was Rachel Beckwith herself who was “The Best of 2011”, not those who donated to her charity.

    http://www.esquire.com/feature.....#fbIndex51

    I hope our president has the good sense to invite Rachel’s family to be in the gallery at the State of the Union. Who would deserve that honor more than Rachel? Our president could finally speak of hope and change made real, not by politicians, but by a selfless little girl’s birthday wish that kids less fortunate than her might have clean water.

  41. 41

    “keep hiding behind that keyboard, mary”

    “Anti-worker pig fucker…nice”

    Don’t tell the host, but I would pay for such wonderful entertainment.

  42. 42

    To #39: I like him. It sounds like he has a loving family.

    The only slight issue I have with same-sex families is that I think it’s important for kids to have both a father-child and mother-child relationship. That being said, if one of the women in a relationship can be a “father figure”, or if one of the men in a relationship can be a “mother figure”, I think that probably suffices.

    What’s really important is that the kids can grow up in a safe, healthy and loving home. I would much rather see a child grow up in a lesbian home with two loving and committed parents than I would in a dysfunctional heterosexual home where dad abandons the family.

  43. 43

    @42 Why not broaden your perspective a little and ask yourself whether two “mother figures” are less than a “father figure” plus a “mother figure?”

    My dear departed mother used to say this world would have fewer wars if there were no men in it.

  45. 45

    To #43: My mother used to say the same thing. Personally, if I had to choose between living in a world without men and a world without women, I’d stick with the women.

    But the fact is that we do live in a world that is oftentimes driven by testosterone, and I think it’s important for kids to be prepared for that.

    In my personal experience, I learned to be compassinate from my mom and assertive from my dad. And (living in the world we live in), I wouldn’t want to have one of those traits without the other. I realize those traits aren’t exclusive to either gender, but I think they are traditionally seen from one parent or the other.

  46. 46

    Lots of people getting shot this week. I guess that’s the new way to say happy holidays in America.

    BAY CITY, Texas — A man shot and wounded a woman and four children Wednesday at a home in Southeast Texas before apparently fatally shooting himself, police said.

    OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The father of an Oakland toddler who was shot in the head during a gun battle said Wednesday that his son remains in critical condition but is responding to touch.

    DETROIT (WJBK) – A triple shooting on Detroit’s east side has left two men dead and another injured.

  47. 47

    Bigotry Doesn’t Pay Dep’t

    Republican legislators in Alabama who passed that state’s anti-immigrant law are rethinking whether it was such a hot idea after a German executive visiting a Mercedes-Benz plant got thrown in jail because he didn’t have a green card. Mercedes is — or should we say was — one of Alabama’s largest employers.

    http://www.businessweek.com/ma.....32011.html

  48. 48

    “Republicans in the U.S. Senate want to cover the cost of extending a payroll tax cut by freezing federal workers’ pay through 2015 and reducing the federal civilian workforce by 10 percent …”

    http://www.businessweek.com/ne.....e-tax.html

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Now isn’t that just like a socialist, taking from people who have (jobs) and giving to those who don’t have (jobs).

    Oh, and their motivation?

    “The proposal counters efforts by … Democrats to expand the payroll tax cut and pay for it by imposing a 3.25 percent surtax on income above $1 million.”

  50. 50

    Yessiree, runaway hiring has bloated the federal payroll year after year …

    Executive branch employment (1000s):

    1962 2,485
    1963 2,498
    1964 2,470
    1965 2,496
    1966 2,726
    1967 2,968
    1968 3,020
    1969 3,040
    1970 2,944
    1971 2,883
    1972 2,823
    1973 2,781
    1974 2,847
    1975 2,848
    1976 2,833
    1977 2,840
    1978 2,875
    1979 2,823
    1980 2,821
    1981 2,806
    1982 2,770
    1983 2,820
    1984 2,854
    1985 3,008
    1986 2,966
    1987 3,030
    1988 3,054
    1989 3,064
    1990 3,067
    1991 3,048
    1992 3,017
    1993 2,947
    1994 2,908
    1995 2,858
    1996 2,786
    1997 2,725
    1998 2,727
    1999 2,687
    2000 2,639
    2001 2,640
    2002 2,630
    2003 2,666
    2004 2,650
    2005 2,636
    2006 2,637
    2007 2,636
    2008 2,692
    2009 2,774
    2010 2,776

    http://www.opm.gov/feddata/His.....ce1962.asp

  51. 51

    Shhh, don’t tell the trolls, but federal employment peaked under that arch fiscal conservative, Ronnie Raygun …

  54. 54

    To #51: I see that executive branch employment peaked under Reagan, but did the total number of federal employees peak at that time as well?

  57. 57

    yes rujaxoff, I have “outted myself” as a management thug……LMFAO….

    the term “loser” never fit someone so accurately as it does yourself.

    Keep on “managing” that broom….

  58. 58

    This is quite funny:

    The whole thing had the hallmarks of a scam, and it would be unremarkable except for the way that a supposedly Christian non-profit rightwing organization used a teabagger IQ test as a filter to find rubes stupid enough to fall for their con. If that doesn’t encapsulate the last 3 years of Republican politics, I don’t know what does.

  59. 59

    To #55: Thanks. I didn’t notice the numbers were listed in 1000s, so it wasn’t adding up for me.

  60. 60

    42 – I don’t consider you a troll. Maybe you were leaning in that direction at first but that’s certainly not the case now.

  61. 61

    42 – If you haven’t seen it yet, “the kids are all right” is a hilarious movie about a lesbian couple’s family.

    Many lesbians did not like the movie because one of the lesbian characters has a fling with the male sperm donor character. (No kids 99.99% of lesbians don’t find sex with men enjoyable and don’t sing the hallelujah chorus at the sight of an erect penis) – but they missed the point. The fling was a dramatic device and a sly poke at the expectations of a typically straight audience. The director of the movie herself is a lesbian and for all I know is a parent too.

    But I digress. The ultimate value of the movie for me is that after a while I saw this lesbian couple as just another two parents trying to raise teenagers and maintain their relationship. Having some trouble from time to time but their heart is in the right place and they’re doing the best they can. Just like any of us in the same boat.

    The ending of the movie is in the top five of all movies I’ve ever seen. I don’t see it being knocked off that list any time soon.

  62. 62

    To #61: I did see that movie. As a matter of fact, the two women in that movie kind of exemplified what I was talking about when I suggested it was possible for same-sex couples to take on traditional “mother/father” roles. In that movie, Annette Benning (I think that’s who it was) had some traits that you’d typically see a father display and Julianne Moore was a little more “mothering”.

    The biggest problem I had with that movie (as you mentioned) was the fling that the Moore character had with the biological father. I think it kind of made a mockery of the relationship the two women had, and it probably wasn’t very representative of what that kind of family would be like in reality.

  63. 63

    To #60: I appreciate that. I’m not sure that everyone here would agree with you, but I appreciate it all the same.

  64. 64

    Go Martha Coakley!

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/ha.....eclosures/

    Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is suing five major banks over alleged unlawful and deceptive foreclosure practices.

    Coakley’s suit against Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo and Ally Financial is another blow to the nationwide foreclosure settlement that’s being negotiated between the largest banks and dozens of state attorneys general.

    The suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, also names Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc.(MERS) and its parent, MERSCORP Inc., as defendants.

    “The AG’s lawsuit seeks accountability for the banks’ unlawful and deceptive conduct in the foreclosure process, including unlawful foreclosures, false documentation and robo-signing, MERS, and deceptive practices related to loan modifications,’’ the news release from Coakley’s office said.

  65. 65

    That’s one way of saying you’re done retrieving ducks for the day.

    http://www.gundogmag.com/2011/.....-buttocks/
    Dog Shoots Owner in Buttocks
    A Utah hunter’s dog went from man’s best friend to his worst enemy Sunday.

    According to KSL TV, Two men were duck hunting on the Great Salt Lake when one of the would-be duck assassins climbed out of the boat to either set or retrieve decoys.

    Unfortunately before plunging into the water, he forgot to unload his 12-gauge. The dog stepped on the shotgun, dispersing 27 pellets into the man’s buttocks about 10 feet away.

    The 46-year-old was still recovering Wednesday, and authorities said he only suffered minor injuries partly because he was wearing waders.

  66. 66

    Have yourself a China Free Christmas.

    Holiday shopping… I used to hate it. The crowds, the ghastly malls with horrible parking, the stress and pressure of it all. But then last year, I had so much fun challenging myself to do most of it by bike. This year, I swapped the bike for the baby and returned downtown with a new challenge in mind: buy everything local and made by artists in the community or from the small businesses dotting our quaint Main Street.
    I was in part inspired by a friend of mine who’s decided to have a ‘China-free Christmas‘ and have been looking to support local fare as much as possible. (If you don’t live in a town with a thriving ‘downtown’ that has shops selling independent and local products, check out Etsy for the online version!)
    http://simplybikeblog.com/?p=6200

  67. 67

    Sen. Susan Collins,

    “What I’ve been looking at is can you carve out those businesses from the surtax, and you can,” Collins told reporters just outside the Senate chamber, explaining that there’s a difference between working enterprises and idle rich.

    “There is already a body of well-developed law in the tax code having to do with active business participation versus passive business participation,” she said.

    “I think that’s the answer to this dilemma. I do not want to impose additional taxes on the employers at a time when our economy is very fragile and we want to encourage them to hire,” Collins said. “On the other hand, I do believe that multimillionaires and billionaires who are not running businesses could pay more of their income to help us deal with the deficit.”

    Nicely put, especially for a Republican.

    h/t to crook and liars

  68. 68

    The only slight issue I have with same-sex families is that I think it’s important for kids to have both a father-child and mother-child relationship.

    dude, you just dissed every single parent man or woman out there.

  69. 69

    “I suggested it was possible for same-sex couples to take on traditional “mother/father” roles”

    Fuck roles. I’m glad that I missed out on surrendering my individual identity by role-playing during early adolescence in order to win approval from role-playing parents, regardless of what their sexual persuasions might have been.

  70. 70

    62. Partyin’ Hard spews:

    To #61: I did see that movie…

    The biggest problem I had with that movie (as you mentioned) was the fling that the Moore character had with the biological father. I think it kind of made a mockery of the relationship the two women had, and it probably wasn’t very representative of what that kind of family would be like in reality.

    Somewhere around half of married people have flings while married. (Choose your survey, some surveys say more, some say less.)

  71. 71

    The only slight issue I have with same-sex families is that I think it’s important for kids to have both a father-child and mother-child relationship.

    What about grandmother-child and grandfather-child and sibling-child and uncle-child and aunt-child and furry-pet-child relationship? Why are they being excluded?
    (mock_outrage)How Dare You Sir!(/mock_outrage)

  72. 72

    To #68: I sure did. Although, I’m really dissing the situation more than I am the parent. I think (more often than not) that in a single-parent family, the parent that is still in the picture is not at fault. The person at fault is the parent who has abandoned his or her kid(s). The parent that remains in the child’s life should be commended.

    All I’m saying is that I think it’s important for children to have both a masculine and feminine influence in their lives. And as I mentioned, in the instance of a same-sex couple, I think that traditionally “masculine” qualities can be imparted by a woman, and “feminine” qualities by a man.

  73. 73

    So what ARE the attributes of a father-child or mother-child relationship?
    As long as one of the men in a gay relationship does all the cleaning in pearls and high heels like June Clever, does that count? If one of the women in a lesbian relationship acts like Andrew Dice Clay or Tim Allen, does that count?

  74. 74

    Nice article summarizing the short history (so far) of the Occupy movement. It’s also encouraging that we now have a lot more people out there who are willing and able to identify the people and tactics behind the Republican propoganda machine much more quickly than before:

    “…However, the Wall Street sector must really be feeling the impact of the Occupy protesters. A report from MSNBC’s Chris Hayes indicates that Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford (CLGC) created a shadowy plan to undermine Occupy Wall Street for the American Bankers Association for the substantial sum of $850,000.

    Essentially, the sixty day plan was to launch an all out smear campaign against the entire Occupy Movement, by character assassination on any high-profile leaders that may emerge from the protests. The leaked memo describes the various ways that the firm intended to attack the Occupy protesters, and to “undermine their credibility in a profound way” and “create negative narratives of the [Occupy Wall Street] for high impact media placement to expose the backers of this movement.”

    The document details plans to identify funding sources of the Occupy Movement, and produce analysis of ”OWS backers and funders, extremist leaders, policy positions, ad rhetoric for the development of strategic polling and messaging.” “Opposition research tactics” listed include records searches on “obtainable open records requests of leader’s histories including civil and criminal information, litigation history, tax liens, bankruptcies, judgments, and other associations.”…”

    The Occupy Wall Street protests scare the status quo enough to contemplate wholesale PR sabotage.

  75. 75

    Is it easier for a two parent family to raise kids than a single parent family? Usually.

    So by that logic, a polygamous family would usually have an even easier time raising kids. Split the work and the encouraging and training of traits and skills across not two people but three, four or more! Just think what 4 men and 3 women could teach their children.

    (BTW, I am not advocating for this, just playing with the logic. I’m still fighting for plain old vanilla one man and one man marriage.)

  78. 78

    I am very disappointed to say that it appears I have been banned from this site. I’m writing this message from a new IP address, but I imagine the administrators will be blocking this momentarily as well.

    I feel that I’ve been considerate with everyone here and have tried to reasonably debate various issues as respectfully and thoughtfully as possible. Based on some of the comments I’ve seen from other right-wingers, I’m a little unsure why I am being singled out, but I guess that’s life.

    I have very much enjoyed my interactions with a number of the people that comment on this site. You have given me a new perspective on some issues. I will miss participating here. Goodbye.

  79. 79

    Her name was Judy Lewis, and she grew up as the adopted child of movie star Loretta Young. As a girl, she heard rumors from schoolmates that she was Clark Gable’s daughter, and she looked exactly like him. Neither Young nor Gable ever publicly acknowledged that Judy was their child. To do so would have ruined their careers. Lewis was a native of Washington state; she was conceived here while Young and Gable were filming “The Call of the Wild.” She died last Friday at the age of 76. Gable’s only other child, a son, was born after his death.

  80. 80

    Personally, I think parents owe it to their children to tell them who they are, no matter what it costs the parents. No kid should have to grow up wondering where he/she came from.

  81. 81

    @78 “I am very disappointed to say that it appears I have been banned from this site.”

    Sure looks like it, or I’d be reading this!

    “I feel that I’ve been considerate with everyone here and have tried to reasonably debate various issues as respectfully and thoughtfully as possible.”

    Dude, Goldy’s fucked up software respects no one! It randomly liberal stalwarts and tinfoil-hat trolls alike, without premeditation or malice aforethought.

    When this site doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, period!

  82. 82

    I have posting trouble all the time. This site does all sorts of crazy shit. That’s why I always copy my comments before clicking on the “Submit Comment” button. It’s a fucking lottery: you never know where your comment will go. Venus? Mars? Pluto?

    The only fucking thing I can be sure of is that I’m not being fucked over by the fucking software because of any fucking thing I wrote in my comment. It’s just whatever the fucking software feels like doing that day.

  83. 83

    Disregard… I feel like an idiot.

    I had been trying to post a comment for over an hour and it wouldn’t let me, giving me a message that said “commenting wasn’t allowed” (or something like that. Then I switched to a different device with a separate IP address and it posted just fine. I guess it must have just been bad timing.

    Thanks for the info at #81.

  84. 84

    Herman Cain is a shitty candidate and a worse liar. The man needs a new damage control consultant.

    “Herman Cain said Thursday that he repeatedly gave money without his wife’s knowledge to Ginger White, the Atlanta woman who alleged carrying on an affair with Cain for 13 years.

    “In an editorial interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO said Mrs. Cain ‘did not know that we were friends until [White] came out with this story’ [here comes the oh-shit moment] and he regrets not telling her sooner.

    “Cain acknowledged sending White money for ‘month-to-month bills and expenses.’ … Cain justified his described behavior as nothing out of the ordinary, saying, ‘I’m a soft-hearted person when it comes to that stuff. I have helped members of my church. I have helped members of my family.'”

    http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com.....es-consent

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: The swine still won’t admit he was nailing her. How many guys give money to women, and hide that fact from their wives, who aren’t getting something on the side? If he wasn’t, he’s the biggest sap in the universe.

    When absolutely no one is going to believe your denials, you might as well be guilty of what everyone believes you did, so you don’t look like a complete fool.

  87. 87

    # 83: I’ve had the same problem before, and it is usually only temporary. I can usually go back the next day and it works fine. It takes an awful lot of work to get banned from this site, I think only one, or perhaps two, have been banned over the years. So I don’t think it’s directed at you, personally – it’s just a system malfunction.

  88. 88

    # 84: I really don’t know how these guys get away with this stuff. My wife knows where every penny goes, and she checks it online.

    Apparantly the guys who try this stuff have complete control of their finances, and give their wifes an allowance, not access to the financial info.

  90. 90

    # 85: Did you hear about the Kentucky church that just voted that interracial couples could attend church, but they couldn’t become members, sing, or speak during the services?

    It wasn’t a hypothetical situation, it arose because the church secretary’s daughter brought her fiance to church, and he happens to not only be black but African as well.

  91. 91

    # 83 (again): Goldy’s site works better than a lot of others because it isn’t a “me two” chorus. There’s no fun in preaching to the choir. That’s one of the things which distinguishes his blog from some of the local conservative ones.

    This site works best where there are smart conservatives with which to cross swords. That’s why he doesn’t ban people just becuase they disagree with him.

  92. 92

    Somewhere, Huntsman is looking deeply into his beer, and saying to himself:

    “I was a governor! I was ambassador to China! I even learned Mandarin! I have executive experience! How is it I can’t get past 2% to 5% in a primary battle against THESE idiots???!!!”

  93. 93

    @91 And then there’s the self-loathing loon. Myself and others have had enough of his tired act and have voiced our desire to see him banned.

  94. 94

    @92 I think he knows the score. I kind of admire the guy for running against all odds and for bringing a touch of sanity to this campaign circus. If the GOP was a party capable of supporting a person like that, we’d all be better off. But they’re not, and we’re in deep shit for it.

  95. 95

    I’ve been wondering if Huntsman’s staying in it to make sure he’s got a good job coming up for him in 2012?

    I like Huntsman and have spent some time in Utah, other than the ghastly sprawl around SLC, it’s always struck me as a well run place.

  96. 96

    68. Blue John spews:
    The only slight issue I have with same-sex families is that I think it’s important for kids to have both a father-child and mother-child relationship.

    dude, you just dissed every single parent man or woman out there.

    its not a diss…its a fact. Children do better in an intact, stable family with a mother and a father – all thing being equal.

    That doesnt mean single parents cant and dont do great jobs, but it certainly is not the ideal situation.

  97. 97

    (CNN) — Presidential hopeful Herman Cain told a newspaper Thursday that he never told his wife about another woman he befriended 13 years ago and helped out financially.

    Gee, ya think. “Gonna be gone for a few day on business and I’ll be flying in that other woman I’m fucking, hun.”

  98. 98

    Herman Cain says someone is paying that woman lots of money to say those things about him. Then he qualifies it by saying that this is just speculation because he has no facts to back it up.

    Meanwhile that woman is scheduled to be on MSNBC’s Last Word @ 7 pm for an extensive interview.

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