Perhaps the only thing in the world more savagely stupid and regrettable than Tim Hardaway's freaky homophobic outburst regarding John Amaechi is Townhall.com writer Michael Medved's truly bizarre justification for it. From Salon's War Room:
"Tim Hardaway (and most of his former NBA teammates) wouldn't welcome openly gay players into the locker room any more than they'd welcome profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women. I specify unattractive females because if a young lady is attractive (or, even better, downright 'hot') most guys, very much including the notorious love machines of the National Basketball Association, would probably welcome her joining their showers. The ill-favored, grossly overweight female is the right counterpart to a gay male because, like the homosexual, she causes discomfort due to the fact that attraction can only operate in one direction. She might well feel drawn to the straight guys with whom she's grouped, while they feel downright repulsed at the very idea of sex with her." — radio host and film critic Michael Medved, on the recent homophobic comments of former NBA star Tim Hardaway.
Uh, "notorious love machines of the National Basketball Association"? Michael? Uh, Mr. Medved? Could you stop sniffing that jock strap and pay attention for a moment? We're trying to figure out just what the fuck you're talking about here.
Wait, let me wipe teh stoopid off my screen and read that again and see if it makes any more sense the second time around.
There.
Okay.
"Tim Hardaway (and most of his former NBA teammates) wouldn't welcome openly gay players into the locker room any more than they'd welcome profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women.
Wow. The staggering misogyny of this premise frankly deserves its own post. I mean, it's downright breathtaking how many of his own personal issues Medved lays bare with this analogy. Apparently to him the only thing as repulsively un-fuckable as a dirty faggot is a fat woman. As if fat women are somehow the antithesis of desirability because they don't look like a bunch of pole-dancing blow-up dolls. Ah, the NeoCon mind, where no matter what time of the day or night it is, somewhere in there, a monkey is washing a cat.
But, Mikey, you were saying:
I specify unattractive females because if a young lady is attractive (or, even better, downright 'hot') most guys, very much including the notorious love machines of the National Basketball Association, would probably welcome her joining their showers.
Um, is this something you think about a lot, Medved? GODAMMIT! I said put the jock-strap DOWN. It's disgusting! You don't know where it's been! Here, give it to me, I'm throwing it away. No, NOW! Jesus Christ, you're a nasty little man.
The ill-favored, grossly overweight female is…
…probably married to some tight-assed right wing closet-case like yourself, Mikey. What's with that Magnum, PI moustache of yours, anyway? It makes you look even gayer than you already are.
…the right counterpart to a gay male because, like the homosexual, she causes discomfort due to the fact that attraction can only operate in one direction.
And those Gentleman Cassanovas of the NBA would just be heart-sick to know that they have inadvertently caused unrequited lust to flower in the bosom of anyone. It would be more than their sensitive constitutions could bear. They'd lose all their "game" just from the sadness of causing another living creature pain. I see it all so much more clearly, now, Mr. Medved!
Except that I don't.
She might well feel drawn to the straight guys with whom she's grouped, while they feel downright repulsed at the very idea of sex with her.
Oh, those poor, gentle giants of pro sports. They just can't stand to have someone around who might look at them and feel something stirring in their pants, which is why all pro athletes are going to boycott every strip club in America from now on, forever and ever, amen. To a man, they will henceforth desist in all patting of the asses of waitresses, female bartenders and flight attendants, and never, ever, ever whistle or make lewd comments at an attractive woman ever again.
Because they know the pain of being wanted by someone who they are not attracted to. They know it intimately. A gay man loose in a locker room could look right at them and it would, what? Hurt? Cause them deep, permanent psychological damage? Decrease their earning potential? Give them cooties?
Well, welcome to the world of every single stripper you ever tipped a lousy buck, Tim Hardaway. For women, the entire world is this deadly, dangerous locker room you're referring to where people look at you and objectify you and don't give two shits how you feel about it. But I'm so glad that you understand this now and will never, ever again ogle a woman and make her feel like a piece of meat.
Unless of course, you are gay yourself and this entire intemperate outburst of yours is just an elaborate smoke screen you are throwing up to shield yourself against speculation about your own orientation. It's like the classic "gay panic" defense, i.e., "Your honor, he made a pass at me and I was so turned on freaked out by it that, well, I just had to kill him."
I wish I could harness these all-powerful Gay Black Magick super-powers that Right Wingers seem to think are my homosexual birth-right. I mean, who knew that one closeted gay man in a locker room full of mighty, manly American athletes could pose such a threat to a team's collective strength on the field? Ditto the military. You let one homo through and they'll gay-ify the whole damn place in nothing flat!
The same thing goes for marriage. If we allow people of the same sex who love each other to have all the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts, why, straight marriages all over America will start collapsing, poof!, just like that. As soon as another American state affords human and civil rights to gays in love, by golly, it'll do more damage to the institution of marriage than could be done by an army of Britneys and K-Feds, more damage than would be done if Anna Nicole Smith rose from the grave and married that parasitic handler of hers, Howard K. Stern, over and over again for all eternity.
For you see, Teh Gay, it's as contagious as Bird Flu. It'll jump on you faster than you can say, "I heart Mr. Sulu!" and the next thing you know, you'll be as gay as John Rocker FOR EVAAAAAARRR!!11!!1!
But should you find yourself struck gay, NBA players, do not despair. Just do what I've always done in the locker room, which is look straight at the goddamn floor. The last thing any gay man wants to do in a group of scantily clad straight guys is, you know, show external signs of arousal and give away his position to The Enemy, which is pretty much how I suspect John Amaechi spent his entire pro athletic career, looking at the floor and thinking about happy fluffy bunnies or something, anything other than the naked men on every side.
But you don't have to hide, anymore, John Amaechi. And hooray for that. You're free.
And that's all I have to say about that, which is why I'm going to stop typing now and just post a photo of Amaechi's beautiful face:
Sigh.
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This is so TEXAS- that I couldn’t resist sharing it (I lived there for 15 years or so).
WACO — On the eve of hearings on six of the 11 coal-burning power plants that TXU wants to build in a hurry across the state, a judge in Austin ruled that Governor Rick Perry never had the authority to fast-track permits for the new plants in the first place.
It is unclear whether Goliath will stay dead. But at a rally of nearly 1,000 opponents of the TXU plan at the Waco Convention Center Tuesday night, a local rancher who filed the lawsuit that led to the temporary injunction got a long standing ovation.
“Here we are, a little old group from Riesel, Texas, and we sued the Governor and won,” said the rancher, Robert Cervenka. If the new plants were built, “I’d have four right around my house.” They would also double CO2 emissions in Texas, which already emits more of the greenhouse gas than any other state in the country.
“I feel like a pyromaniac who lit the spark that started the blaze,” Cervenka exulted, and pulled a copy of the late afternoon ruling by District Court Judge Stephen Yelenosky from his coat pocket.
Almost immediately after it was issued, though, the Republican Governor’s spokesman suggested that “a single liberal Austin judge” was not the ultimate arbiter in the case. Both TXU and their opponents still plan to show up for the scheduled hearing on the permits in Austin on Wednesday.
For once, the little guy is definitely bringing the bigger guns: Houston lawyer Steve Susman – named by Who’s Who Legal as the leading commercial litigator in the world last year – is representing TXU’s opponents pro-bono. He said that’s because “I do believe the greatest threat to mankind, not just for our grandchildren but for us, is climate change.”
He previewed his opening argument in Waco, where farmers and business people, Republicans and Democrats, seniors and students – a few of whom were dressed as trees, and waving a sign that said “Perry is a Fairy” — came out to protest what they see as TXU’s race to build plants with the oldest, dirtiest available technology before the new Democratic Congress can pass legislation aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
Many in the crowd wore T-shirts that said, “Face it: Coal is filthy.” They mentioned a slew of worries – mostly health concerns – and said mercury emissions and acid rain cannot be good for fish, livestock or the local economy, either. Cities that cannot comply with federal clean air standards not only have trouble attracting new development but stand to lose millions in federal funds.
“I’m a Republican, but the reason I don’t want the coal plants is I live here,” said Zach Crohn, a college sophomore. “Baylor is very Southern Baptist conservative Republican, but this will affect all of us, no matter what you believe in politics. It would be a different story if it was a different area.”
Perry’s opponents often point out that his decision to fast-track the permits in 2005 closely followed a TXU donation to his re-election campaign, while allies argue that after Hurricane Katrina temporarily knocked out natural gas production in the Gulf, Perry was understandably concerned about
fitz!!
Fitz!
Oh damn.
Fitz! TRex!
Medved is a shallow douchebag.
I don’t often buy the “straight guy who’s really just dying to experiment” line, but to me that statement just screams “Fuck me, big guy! Fuck me!”
Most normal people avoid making such generalized statements about such things.
Trex! What’s chompin’ tonite?
I forget which current NBA player said this, but it went along the lines of “as long as he doesn’t bring his gayness on me…” WTF?!
Breathtaking in its stupidity, arrogance, and insult to not just women but thinking people everywhere.
Michael Medved is a top-notch asswipe. It’s a wonder he hasn’t scored better ratings in competition with the likes of Loofah Bill and Rush Limpdick.
I but a powerplant in just west of Austin. It was Natural gas fired though. It was rather exiting hauling the five hundred thousand pound generator across the Colorado River on a truck and trailer with 266 tires on the ground.
The bridge was high–a long way to the bottom where the river was.
Two questions for TRex.
it’ll do more damage to the institution of marriage than could be done by an army of Britneys and K-Feds
shouldn’t that be K-Lo’s?
I love George Takei for so very many reasons.
But this one just jumped to the top of the list…
Better look out, Tim, you sexxay chocolate mountain of manflesh…
pause
Well, now I need a shower. And lots and lots of salt scrub…
Damn. I read the wrong post. Sorry to miss by such a wide margin there TRex.
Leave it to Medved to weigh in on something about which he knows virtually nothing, and about which he will never, ever know anything.
Too bad that Medved’s cock is in his throat….
Still have two questions for TRex. Will not ask them till Mr. Rex responds.
montag @ 16
That’s only because he has his head up his ass.
Isn’t that what all the Right Wing men are ultimately saying every time they start to freak out about gays in sports?
Oilfieldguy @
17
Fire away, but I reserve the right to plead the Fifth.
Mr. Medved seems to be a professional hater. He obviously is an insecure s.o.b. who is scared he might be loved only by an overweight woman. Ann Coulter is more his type in mind and body.
EvilDrPuma @ 11
He’s gunning for his own cable news show and he’ll probably get it. Glen Beck comes to mind. Trex, you’re absolutely right. I’m 100 percent heterosexual and I totally agree with you. Nice writing – bien diche.
First question for TRex.
Will you be at ykos this year?
The pathologies of the far right are simply busting out all over the place.
Medved is one of those sanctimonious tools like Rev. Jimmy Swaggart.
With his cheesy Ron Jeremy stache, Medved looks like he went down on it and came back up with it.
So Mr. Medved, care to speculate on the shower room antics of Jeff Gannon, Mark Foley or Rev. Ted Haggard?
-GSD
I’m trying to imagine who Medved thought he was convincing with that giant turd of a column. Not homophobes, who don’t need analogies to believe that a gay man in a locker room is utterly terrifying. Not anyone who thinks Hardaway’s homophobia is appalling — is there any such person who wouldn’t be equally appalled at Medved’s “think of an ugly fat chick instead — now do you see?”
Or is it just an attempt to help the homophobes feel better about themselves?
Trex, it’s not just women who suffer from the excess testosterone in the atmosphere, but girls as well.
When my daughter was about 12 and not “mature” for her age, she was shocked by the way some men’s attitude towards her changed.
All these men who are squeamish about getting too close to teh gays (or heavens, unattractive women) are suffering from several delusions.
One, they are irresistable, two, they have no choice in the matter, three, their lustcrazed groupies can’t tell when someone is just not that into them and finally, that the attraction goes only one way.
The biggest problem that I see is that they think they are irresistable. So irresistable that even when someone says no to them, they really mean yes.
I guess it’s all about their rape fantasies and being forced to enjoy receiving anal sex. I’ll bet they get all tingly if they think about for more than a minute.
Oilfieldguy @ 23
Signs point to ‘yes’.
TRex @ 18
Check my response at 25.
They sure seem to think about it a lot. Like, more than me.
Bionic @
7
Oh, God, yes. He is just ASKING for someone from a hardcore queer activism group to follow his every movement, isn’t he? “As God is my witness, I only lured him into the telephone booth to tell him about the Lord!”
Second question for TRex.
What kind of watch(es) do you have.
TRex: If you haven’t seen this already, I’m almost afraid to alert you. Joke Line is still at it…
Do not read the updates. Really. You won’t like them…
Phoenix Woman @ 29
707!!!!
“I bought the crack, but I threw it away.”
Phoenix Woman @ 30
Tee hee ;-)
But wouldn’t gay people on the bridge of the Enterprise have distracted the massively heterosexual crew during Klingon attacks? I mean, doesn’t the same logic apply?
Fear the ‘Stache!
Michael Medved and Ron Jeremy: Separated At Birth?
MarkC @ 35
Hate to tell you this, but Captain Kirk was compensating…big time.
TRex @ 20
No Jeebus, that’s Deadeye’s Defense. Remember? You’re supposed to use the Memory Defens…oh right, you forgot.
GSD @ 24
You are sharp as a razor, GSD. Its all about sanctimonious, ass-clenching, hypocrisy and appealing to the base instincts of a dumbed down red-state voting bloc. Nary a peep will be heard from Medved or any other RW Gasbag about their colorful cast of characters.
According to Mr. Medved, it is reasonable for a heterosexual to feel uncomfortable in intimate quarters with homosexuals, just like women and men have discomfort or problems dealing with the “overwhelming potency of human sexuality.” Men and women should not share a locker room; therefore, straight and gay men should not share a locker room. Does that mean that gays and lesbians need separate but equal facilities? Perhaps the NBA showers just need dark curtains. Maybe it is time to replace all urinals with individual stalls.
Mr. Medved blithely obscures the point. Mr. Hardaway’s comments are not the product of prudishness, but genuine fear and loathing. It is hate speech. While Mr. Medved appropriately condemns the “harsh” words, he condones the underlying bigotry.
TRex @ 29
I agree. This conversation never seems to just “come up” amongst my oilfield buddies.
Although I did get angry with my doctor after my proctology exam.
He didn’t even tell me I was handsome or anything.
Oilfieldguy @ 31
I have a beautiful Gruen watch that my brother gave me for my birthday in 2005, right after I broke up with my husband, who stole the Swiss Army Watch he’d given me when he was moving his things out of our apartment.
Yes, he was a total dickhead and I never should have dated him, let alone stayed with him for seven years.
I love this watch my brother gave me, though.
It’s perfect.
Go Sulu!!! I find it ironic that the most manly men behave like shrinking violets when confronted by the possibilty that they can be objectified by other men. Of course, most of the biggest homophobes wouldn’t have a snowballs chance in hell of getting that kind of attention anyway…
Phoenix Woman @ 36
In this case, afterbirth.
Melissa at Shakespeare’s Sister did an excellent, insightful job on this, and I’ll bet the Feministing girls, Amanda at Pandagon and Feministe will be on it by tomorrow if they haven’t already hit it hard.
bonkers @ 32
Oh, no one cares what he says. He’s only talking to himself and the cyber walls at this point.
He no bother me. He’s too insignificant.
And remember, this is by no means limited to NBA players–Medved is also the guy who’s deathly afraid of gay penguins too…
Wow. Misogyny, homophobia, and racism all in one blitheringly obtuse paragraph.
Truly amazing.
I can’t believe I forgot about the gay penguins.
Good enough TRex. See you at YKos.
Blue UU @ 45
The Rude One is on the case, too, in his own…er, idiom.
Pachacutec @ 44
Vuurp!!
Did anybody catch the story about the vinyl lunchboxes?
urizon @ 48
Michael Medved: a hatemonger for all seasons.
Ah, well, neither Hardaway nor Medved have improved with age and experience. They’re made for each other.
John Amaechi was interviewed on Real Time with Bill Maher a couple of nights ago. He was all class.
montag @ 55
A lid for every pot. Sad for me though…
EvilDrPuma @ 51
I would say the Rude One makes his point very nicely, Medved is a dick-head.
Eureka Springs, AR @ 56
Gosh, is that on YouTube?
I really am nursing a fairly insidious crush on Amaechi.
“The ill-favored, grossly overweight female is the right counterpart to a gay male because, like the homosexual, she causes discomfort due to the fact that attraction can only operate in one direction. She might well feel drawn to the straight guys with whom she’s grouped, while they feel downright repulsed at the very idea of sex with her.”"
W. O. W.
Last time I checked both beauty and ugly are highly subjective concepts, in other words they are in the eye of the beholder. I have known many obese women who ended up with some really hunky virile men because the men were really attracted to such. I have known really hunky men that stayed with a woman that by societal standards was quite homely because her personality and heart was what he found attractive. Apparently though in this “person’s” world he has never encountered such everyday occurrences. And this is not even starting on the rampant homophobia running throughout this bilge.
Reading things like this and knowing how widely accepted they are in American society is one reason why I and my wife are very glad to be Canadians. This is especially true since we are both bi, and could have just as easily found our life partners in someone of the same sex as the opposite sex. In our country we can marry our own gender as easily as opposite these days because it is recognized that human beings need to be bonded to another human being more often than not and that such relationships need to be protected, which is why marriage is more than about children despite the attempts of some to claim otherwise.
We are first and foremost all human beings and anyone that is unable to understand that and feels a need to dehumanize anyone is someone to be wary of, for they will persecute those they deem different/unfit.
However, this shower business is particularly idiotic IMHO. I wonder how many people have done skinny dipping coed, showered coed with others without there automatically being sexual overtones? I have known many that have, and I suspect that is true for many here. Yet the idea that a gay man in a shower means he is automatically checking the others out because they are all athletes?!? Wow, the stereotypical thinking that is both built upon and playing to is so disconnected from reality it would be frightening if it were not so much of a piece with the entirety of movement conservativism from what I see.
Nice post TRex, you have my sympathies for having to endure such as an accepted majority POV, that at least is not true up here anymore although if our current PM stays in power for too much longer that could alas change given who his inspirations are (Luntz, Reed, Norquist and that gang).
Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m moving there as soon as I cast a ballot in the 2008 elections.
Is the Michael Medved a man or a woman? He/She dresses in the masculine but listening to Her/Him one gets the profound sense one is listening to a female especially as He/she gets more passionate in its discourse.
We are first and foremost all human beings and anyone that is unable to understand that and feels a need to dehumanize anyone is someone to be wary of, for they will persecute those they deem different/unfit.
Bravo, Scotian!
Most top atheletes are usually admired by the fans both men and women, for their abilities. Hardaway seems to obsessed by this and the idea that other men would find him sexually attractive must cause is dick to shrink up. His mind seems to have followed his dick.
OT, but I have to point out that this has reappeared on my ticker approximately every other day since Saturday. Because recycling old stories makes Bush trustworthy and his policy proposals something besides a plutocrat’s wet dream, I suppose. Or something.
Written by Deb Reichmann, naturally. I don’t know how she does it. (Type or dictate while deep-throating Der Shrubbenfuhrer, I mean.)
Note that sneaky use of the word “private,” which is code for “my way or the highway.”
I just thank the sweet lord that if Teh Gay ever touches me, I can follow the example of Revd Haggard and get myself cured.
As a straight female, am I allowed to lust after you and Pach for your brilliant writing? ;-)
AZ Matt @ 64
Since both organs are in the same anatomical region, it’s easy for them to stay together. Kind of a buddy system.
EvilDrPuma @ 65
What is funny to me is that will the Shrub is President he gets the best health care public money can provide.
TJ @ 67
Seconded….
TRex @ 46
How right you are. It does warm the heart though to see people calling him Joke Line in the comments!
Aemichi was on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday evening, and made an interesting observation: every time he noted his teammates in the locker room tweezing their eyebrows and moisturizing their legs, he got to thinking, “And I’m the one who’s gay?”
EvilDrPuma @
54
Why Michael, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. But for WorldNetDaliy?
TRex, you left out one thing.
All those homophobic shrinking violets who shared a locker room and a shower with John A probably haven’t slept much since he came out. They’re busy replaying every shower they ever shared in their minds, worried about what was going on. “Oh, what was he thinking when he looked at me that one day in Philly?”
Great post!
TRex- I will add one of many offensive paragraphs in that Medved’s “commentary”:
“In this sense, the reluctance to team (in athletics or the military) with announced homosexuals isn’t bigotry, it’s common sense. The recent “Astronaut Love Triangle” provides a pointed reminder of the way that even disciplined military careerists can be diverted, even ruined, by attraction, eroticism and romance.”
This is truly nutty. WTF? I am a straight female, but if IF I was ever in the military, I could certainly name a whole cadre of homosexual females I’ve worked with that I would rather have along side me, and protecting my back, in preference to some of the straight dim wits. And, of course, I am not excluding the heterosexual females who I feel the same way about- those I would want along side me, and protecting my back.
The idea that “sex” (sex as Medvev sees it) trumps all one’s judgment and ability to appreciate and recognize who is “on your team”, in the most profound sense is just so totally perverted.
I am so so so happy today. Finally, Fitzgerald came out and said that it’s Cheney who’s behind the whole vindicative leak that ousted one of our most important Iran analysts at the CIA. These people, the Bushites, are on a massive disinformation campaign that has no limits. They are against truth, peace, knowledge, rational discourse, and morality. I hope that these bastards will get kicked the hell out of power before our democracy goes even more to ruin.
We’ve had “Friends of Bill” (FOB)
We are now “Enemies of Bush” (EOB)
Carville and his ilk who support “Hi-DLC-llery” can now be called “Friends of Clinton”
or (FOC’rs)
LoudounLib @ 70
Ladies, ladies, please! There are perfectly suitable candidates for your esteem all around us. Ezra Klein, for example. Matt Stoller. David Sirota, Tim Tagaris, a million other good looking lads who like the ladies.
But any time you want to go shopping or whatever, Pach and I are available.
SubwaySerenade @ 77
Or maybe FOCwits? They are pundits, after all.
I am sure Medved got chubbed-up when he saw Chimpy doing his aircraft carrier-codpiece dance.
All of the closeted winguts went wild…Matthews was agog and G. Gordon Liddy wanted to fellate Bush on the spot.
Bush exudes about as much sexual energy as Richard Perle and Condi Rice put together.
-GSD
i couldn’t believe this was serious at first – i thought medved was sending up characters from Big Momma’s House…he used to be a not-totally-awful tv movie critic long ago. can’t imagine why anyone would take him seriously, especially when it comes to straight taste….the more i learn of rightwingers, the more i prefer dogs. they are all, all, it seems sexually dysfunctional – and that includes the ladies. sigh…
GSD @ 80
If I remember correctly, that is the expected outcome when you multiply fractions.
Thinking about that makes my tummy quesy.
The codpiece accomplished. . .eeew. I don’t know about teh gay, but that photo, well, just eeew.
EvilDrPuma @ 79
I’ll write a book, “The FOCwit Papers”.
TRex @ 59
Sorry we dial uppers don’t get around on youtube, so I have no idea. (can’t check while downloading the update from the last thread)
TRex @ 78
Note to self: book a shopping trip with TRex and/or Pach! ;-)
TRex @
78
When I win the lottery, I’ll buy you a Ulysse Nardin automatic wristwatch, OK? ;-p
TRex @ 78
In your opinion, which one, if any is “Better Than Ezra”?
TRex @
78
I have to confess, smart is sexy in anyone. The whole FDL crew has me excited, lol.
Hey Scotian! You’ve gotten into delurking, in a big way! Great to have you here.
Uh, would that be ’cause Medved’s a total sexist dick? (No offense to dicks).
Misogyny abounds amongst the reichwingers, sorta like Big Dick Cheney’s thinking that the way to refute Joe Wilson’s fact-finding mission’s facts was to thinking that if the little woman sent him to Niger, that means his facts are crap . . . how weird is that? Uh, very. Nearly as weird as thinking “trip to Niger” = “fun junket.” Slept through geography, did he? No wonder Cheney dropped out of Yale.
Agreed, TJ – I go for smarts every time…
bonkers @ 89
Shhhhhhhh.
Tim Tagaris.
Smart.
Tough.
Ex-Marine.
Sweet, full lips.
Sigh.
And he will never love me back.
Okay, heading home. See you kids in a bit.
No Blood for Hubris @ 92
Even as a legacy admission, Bush could maintain a low “C” average. Cheney fell by the wayside.
What does that say about just how fucked we be until these two dweebs are finally gone?
Isn’t that the shits? Bush may actually be smarter and harder-working than Cheney?
No Blood for Hubris @
92
The sad part about this is, there are people who would buy into this spin.
montag @ 95
He had “other priorities.”
Ask not for whom the bone bones, it bones for thee.
Okay, I admit I’m still a bit of a newbie around here…would someone please tell me how to insert partial quotes from a previous post? Thanks so much!
Memo to John Edwards: Do not hire the Rude Pundit.
The pieces on Hardaway is one thing, but that piece on McCain… I felt that.
All of this reminds me of a brief conversation I had with a young Marine circa mid 90’s (the era of don’t ask/don’t tell.) He was spouting some diatribe about “those f-ing fags better not touch me or I’ll kick their asses,” when I looked at him and said: “Look, women don’t find you attractive, what makes you think men would?” The look he gave me was priceless, as the light of comprehension slowly grew brighter. An unkind put-down, I agree, since he was an otherwise decent human, but sometimes conscienceness raising can be brutal.
TRex @ 59
… and you call me incorrigible.
James Robinson @ 99
The Rude One lives up to his name.
Kristine @ 100
Aw, gawd, why do I find that sooooo funny? :)
James Robinson @ 99
I am a huge fan of the Rude Pundit. Bush with the Squirrel Monkey is a RP classic.
The 46 million “uninsured” do not need health insurance, they need health care.
The funniest part of the Cheney smear on Wilson was the Cheneyesque notion that nepotism was a bad thing.
Cheney, the man who’s whole family is or has been on his campaign staff.
Funny.
-GSD
TeddySanFran @ 105
Well said. Clearly, you hate America as much as I do.
Scotian @ 60
First of all, TRex, I hardly know where to start on the above, besides telling you how sick to my stomach the quote makes me.
Do these homophobic and bigoted imbeciles have the slightest idea that those they purport to find so repulsive (today, it’s gay men and overweight women,) have no interest in them, sexually or otherwise, in the first place? Truly. As long as the verbal vomit spewing out of their mouths continues, it’ll be a thinking-person-free zone for them. As a plus-sized woman, I can’t think of many I find less appealing than Mr. Medved, unless we start naming the entire hierarchy of the Republican Party.
I’m sure Mr. Medved convinces himself daily that we’re all pining away with our one-sided fantasies about him.
In the meantime, maybe it would be a good thing to find out who syndicates his little World o’ Hate and write them a letter, enclosing the quote you used at the beginning of your post. He obviously learned nothing from the career interruption of Dr. Laura Schlessinger over some of the same issues.
-S
Strategerie @ 108
I think the only fella with a Michael Medved jones is Ben Domenech….
LoudounLib @
98
You have to be able to unnest the blockquote tag. You can try it using Preview.
LoudounLib @ 98
If the comments are still open from the previous post, hit “quote this comment” to put the comment in the “leave a reply” box. Copy the whole mess, move over to the current thread and paste it in that thread’s reply box. Edit out what you want to cut, and put in a little “from a prior thread” note at the top.
If you really want to impress folks, go back to the original comment in the first thread, right-click on the big number on the right (opposite the “so-and-so says” on the left) and “copy link location” into your clipboard. The big number is the permalink to that comment. Then return to the current thread, highlight an appropriate phrase from your little note, and turn it into a link to the copied location of the original comment.
By the way, was it Captain Kirk who initiated the don’t ask/don’t tell policy on the Enterprise?
-GSD
I’m so sorry but what self respecting gay man, even a major pig of a gay man would give a shit about a bunch of straight guys in a locker room? Okay, the pigs of gay men possibly but anyone with a brain would not be in pursuit of such folly. I like other gay men, not sports-bob for dickheadsville. Call me a prude… I’m not insulted by Tim Straightaway’s comment nor am I surprised by it. This is Bible-onia, get used to it! And to think that we have such thin skin in this day and age. Sure it’s no excuse for this retard but did you expect a sports world biggot homophobe to suddenly grow wings and espouse the teaching of tolerance and true beauty? Welcome to reality.
-Wilma
OT
TRex – you’ve got me all excited – about fountain pens. Since that post the other day, I’ve dug out my old pens and cleaned them up and I’ve been practicing cursive script. Maybe I could write a real letter! I might even try some caligraphy!
I’ve known for decades that I am quite disgraphic. When I’m printing letters – b,d,p,q,g get all mixed up. Turns out though that this rarely happens when I write cursive.
On topic
It is considered a cause for ridicule among the (straight) guys to be seen with a bulge in the pants even, if inspired by a cute female. I’ve always thought that this was rather strange. Shouldn’t it be something to be proud of?
Humans are peculiar creatures.
montag @ 109
I have fantasies of him all the time…going somewhere far away. All by himself.
GSD @ 112
If you ask Medved, it was a Klingon plot.
Kristine @ 115
I have a hunch that your fantasies are his reality. If you catch my drift.
LoudonLib @ 98
(Continued)
And if the comments are already closed on that old thread, just copy the text out of the comment box, paste it into the new thread’s reply box, and add your own reference note. The only downside of doing this is that if there were any links in the old comment, you have to manually reinsert them into the new thread – the links won’t copy, just the text.
montag @ 95
Plus three DUI convictions between them. The sanctimonious hypocrites. And many gays working for them in teh administration. If Dubya got a degree, his daddy bought it for him. Its obvious that he didn’t learn nothing. Maybe Dick’s dad didn’t want to buy him a degree.
True Story:
One middle aged millionaire dad says to the other, “Hows your [dimwitted] boy doing at Stetson University?”
“Oh, he’s doing alright…I wish he’d hurry up and graduate, though. I’m getting tired of putting up buildings for them.”
TJ and Peterr, thanks – actually I should have clarified further: how can I insert a partial quote from a previous comment in the current thread, instead of hitting “quote this comment”?
hackworth @ 119
I know it’s true. I worked for the son of one of them once…. Daddy was a former head of the NYSE and it took a big endowment to get him out of college….
LoudounLib @ 120
You can use
and copy the comment you want between them.
note that they have to have the greater than and less than signs around them to be tags.
peterr’s tricks for the poster’s name and post number are then applicable.
Whenever I hear of or run into someone who is rabidly homophobic I just have to wonder if they are a closet-case themselves who can’t come to terms with it. People who are comfortable with their assigned sexuality are generally at peace with other people’s sexuality. I’m just sayin’…………….
Rushton @ 123
He who beats the drum the loudest inevitably has the most to hide.
Thank you TJ!
uh, attraction that “can only operate in one direction” happens all the time in the heterosexual world.
it’s called men putting unwanted moves on women, or, in laymen’s terms, just being a woman in a sea of pigs.
As a large size woman, Medved needs to shut the fuck up and kiss my big fat ass!
Unfortunately his bigotry echoes most elitist stereotypes about weight. The fact that he so casually and openly loathes obese women, comparing his disgust to gays, enforces hatred and prejudice towards both groups as being socially acceptable behavior. But it isn’t acceptable, it’s chauvinistic bigotry. It is a form of slander that should be against the law just like it is against the law to hate or smear someone based on their race or religion or gender.
The opinion that a large size woman is just as disgusting as gay man shows his complete and total ignorance. I see a lot of obese women walking around with a kid on one arm and a husband on the other. Considering the huge number of American women that struggle with their weight, and considering the current population explosion, I think it is safe to say that there are a hell of a lot of large women out there getting laid on a regular basis…and I know the average gay male’s sex life is seeing a lot more action than Medved will ever get, or be able to pay for, in his lifetime.
Medved should think twice before placing himself within the raging pathway of a mob of angry obese women! He will eventually be crushed by that kind of shallow intolerance. He needs to take his homophobic, fatophobic out-of-a-date mustached ass-face and go straight to idiot hell before the masses of fags and fatties bust his chops!
Awww, poor Medved
He’s probably ticked that the movie “Happy Feet” did very well at the box office, he’s probably even more ticked that his nutty homophobic review of the movie didn’t strike a mighty blow at all those secular humanist Hollywood values, like kindness, compassion and family loyalty apparently
Medved’s such a willfully ignorant slut/media whore that one debunks him at their own risk of being overwhelmed by his always stunning stupidity
Amaechi on Real Time was terrific. Not on YouTube as far as I can tell. Also not on Bill Maher’s HBO website, but might be at some point. They did have this quote from the interview:
On the NBA
“Sometimes you can be in a locker room, a professional locker room, and it’s like watching a flock of peacocks preening themselves and looking at each other. And I would sit there sometimes while a teammate might be painting his toenails seasonally and another teammate might be tweezing eyebrows or something and I’d just sit there and think, “And I’m the gay one?” – John Amaechi
montag @ 121
A few years later, after the boy had finally flunked out anyway [he was immovably determined to fail and dumber even than Dubya], his father told me that it was high time that his son learned about the real world…So, he bought him a factory.
Karma @ 127
Karma, you RAWK.
-S
EvilDrPuma @ 117
Ah, yes, it must bEvilDrPuma @ 117
Karma @ 127
Most eloquently put.
he he he. you said, “hard.” he he he.
Rushton @ 123
I dunno. I think there are people who react strongly and negatively to the subject who do so reflexively, especially those who do not know any gay people and who also have profoundly authoritarian views.
This is sort of borne out by some of Bob Altemeyer’s research. People in his research pool who polled very negatively toward gays before knowing any personally did not poll as negatively after knowing one or more.
The dominant theme of the right today is directed toward keeping gays in the closet–making them fear public scorn or retribution–because familiarity breeds acceptance. :)
when can i meet the foc’rs?
This reminded me of my favorite post from the Fitz rebuttal thread.
montag @
103
Uh, the same reason I do, because it’s hilarious.
I am so sick of people like Michael Medved. This small minded dickhead reminds me of one of my most despised former employers. I used to work at a nightclub with a manager who thought he was God’s gift to women who used to get pissed at me and would fuck with me about my weight in front of customers.
I would just get on the mic as DJ and “playfully” embarrass the holy shit out of him in return which just angered him even further. He eventually won and convinced the owner to fire me. Oh well, he lost his job soon after when a number of waitresses threatened to file sexual harrassment suits against the club because of him.
TeddySanFran @
101
so you’re easily incorriged?
I’d pay REALLY good money to see that!
LoudounLib @ 120
Well, if the comment you’re quoting isn’t huge, it’s probably simplest to “quote this comment” and then delete the parts you don’t want (just don’t delete the outermost “blockquote” HTML tags.) Actually, if you want to have the link to the comment you’re quoting, that’s probably the only way that doesn’t involve a lot of cutting and pasting.
However, if you don’t care about getting the “name @ comment#” link, you can cut-and-paste the text you want, then select it in the comment box and click the “quote” button, which will put the appropriate tags around it.
OMG!!
That’s the REAL reason NBA-ers don’t want gay guys in the locker room, because we’ll see what vain, prissy BITCHEZ they all are!!
Newest Bill Maher isnt on YouTube yet
As a rule, I tend to avoid relationships with men who spend more time on their appearance than I do on mine. I have learned the proper disposition for them is filed under T for Trouble.
I’d pay good money to participate!
My brother-in-law spends huge amounts of time drying his little bit of hair. I’ve always wanted to peek and see just what he’s doing with it.
Karma @ 145
FETCH ME MY ROLLING-PIN!! WE’RE GOING IN!!
hackworth @ 130
montag @ 134
IIRC, there is also a theory that states that most humans fall somewhere betweeen being 100% straight and 100% gay. That is, there is a certain amount of gay (or straight, if you prefer) tendencies in all of us. (which, naturally, would support the idea of bisexuality.) Perhaps Mr. Medved is further down this sliding scale than he would like to admit. Keeping all gays in the closet is a metaphor for keeping that part of him he doesn’t want to confront also locked away. I would not be surprised if there is a certain degree of self-loathing in all of this. I’d also be interested to know if there are any plus sized women in his life (wife. mother, etc.)
EvilDrPuma @ 65
And it’s always amusing to see him try to continue with his usual definition of “cooperation,” which is “let’s all agree to do what I say.”
Well, this whole weight thing is totally noxious. Growing up and then even in my 40’s I was skinny and flat-chested. Given the era I grew up in, this was a major cause for poor self-esteem. “Too bad you’re so flat-chested, or you could be Miss America” said my mom. Given this history, I was SO delighted to put on some weight, and finally have “boobs”. Discrimination re: women’s physical shape has a long, long and rather shabby history. Oh, yeah, there’s the “binding of women’s feet” thing. Even worse.
p.s. edit- for all the xx’s out there, no matter what your shape or weight, was my comment meant, in sisterhood.
(waving to VG) signed the papers – officially “for sale”
I’m another plus-sized woman. I always THOUGHT my husband is straight, but I guess he must be close to teh gay, by Medved’s logic.
When my sons were in dramatic productions in high school, I spent quite a lot of time in the boys’ dressing room, since
a.)none of these guys had any idea how to apply stage make-up and
b.) they needed constant costume repair.
Curiously, I never felt the urge to grope any of these young men, and they’d strip down to their shorts with me in the room. Obviously they didn’t have Medved’s insight, or they’d have been more obviously repulsed.
Time for bed, and dreams of guilty verdicts.
It’s been lovely waiting it out with you all.
mutzali @ 152
Medved really deserves a hard knock to the sensitive parts for this one.
Medved really deserves a hard knock to the sensitive parts for this one.
I’ll hold him for you.
Suzanne @ 151
Waving to Suz. Suz- I am still trying to write a lecture for tomorrow on “toad vision”. I will be more chatty later. (edit- like tomorrow or the day after!)
He HAS sensitive parts? I figgered they’d have shriveled up and fallen off from disuse or self abuse.
This is quite the jumpin’ thread, gang! Whoo-hooo!
TRUE CONFESSIONS DEPT:
When I wake up and see that my post broke three hundred comments in the night, it makes my heart swell to twice its normal size and almost come leaking out of my eyes.
GSD @
80
Oh, man … there isn’t enough alcohol in the world to scrub those images from my consciousness. Thank you so very much for that.
So do we have a pool going on how long it takes Bush to pardon Scooter?
mutzali @ 157
Hmm. I got thrown out of study hall in high school for suggesting the same of some twit at the same table I was at. I mused that his parts had atrophied from disuse and it cracked up a few others, and I was gone….
Now I have support for the theory. :)
I keep humming an altered Dylan tune….
And its a hard, its a hard, its a hardaway gonna fall..
TRex @ 158
TRex- I hope you also count things like “TRex, this is another great post. I don’t know how you do it, nite in and nite out.” You have my total admiration.
Michael, is that a ballpoint pen in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
You’re just biased because you’re my friend.
Hardaway’s statements are disgusting indeed, but do you really expect professional basketball players to speak and behave with high levels of emotional and social intelligence? Sports “personalities” are paid to extend their adolescent behavior pattens as far as possible into adulthood. Most of them are going to do just that. Only the exceptions are worth noting.
Ralph @ 166
I’d still punch an old lady in the eye for a date with John Amaechi.
Amaechi spoke and behaved with a very high level of emotional and social intelligence on Bill Maher’s show. Quite a gentleman.
Let me see if I understand this. Because Tim Hardaway is proudly homophobic, *all* NBA players are therefore necessarily hypersexed, shallow pigs, looking to have sex only with women somewhat more appealing than the “profoundly unattractive, grossly overweight” female (who mysteriously is chasing down NBA players). And everybody, including John Amaechi, should just be understanding.
The logic here really escapes me.
How does Michael Medved know that NBA players are “notorious love machines”?? Methinks he pays too much attention to their sex lives.
OOH, before I forget, I found something cool to share with music loving Firepups. I’ve been looking for the perfect music oriented social networking site for a while and I had very picky standards for the site I was going to choose:
1) It had to have a way for me to share the tunes I actually listen to on all the different players that I use on my computer (don’t ask, I use a multitude of players for different reasons that make sense to me alone)
2) It had to have a way to easily find other users with similar musical taste so I can see what they listen to in common with me and so I could discover new music they are listening to
3) some sort of built in player functionality so people could hear at minimum some 30 second clips of what is in my recently played list
4) some sort of blogging or note posting function that allows me to rant about new artists I find and love
I finally found the site that meets those criteria at http://www.mog.com and I signed up. You can view my Mog at http://mog.com/finifinito/
Blue Dido @ 169
Umm, Medved pays attention to very little in life. That’s his forte. That’s why the right wing likes him.
Reasons to jump for joy, No. 987,654:
NEW TORI AMOS ALBUM IN MAY!!
If a genie appeared and offered me three wishes, No. 1 would be tickets, a plane ticket, hotel, etc. for Tori’s gig in Florence, Italy on my 39th birthday, May 30. And backstage passes.
(Aspiring TRex sugar-daddies please take note. This would go a long way toward winning my eternal love and devotion.)
Montag @ 171: then how does he come to “know” any of this stuff? He writes like some kind of expert, at least in his own strange and stupid opinion.
you might as well dream big, TRex
front row ticket
first class plane tickets
unrestricted backstage pass
i would have asked for a new outfit to wear but that’s just me.
Did someone here put Gannon and Rev. Ted in the same sentence? Rev Ted spent a lot of time at the white house..ya think Gannnon came by to do him?
This post reminds me of the comedy routine with Chris Rock doing the skit about the guy who walks up to the lady outside the supermarket and offers to carry her grocery bag… but what he’s really thinking?… Want some dick?
People like Michael Medved are afraid of one thing: That their penises won’t measure up to expert scrutiny. Gay guys are such a threat because: They. Know. Penises. Medved’s big fear is that a gay guy will look at Medved’s crotch in the locker room some day and frown slightly, or worse: gag, or even laugh. Medved would never be able to live that down.
No matter how it goes, a gay guy in the locker room is Medved’s worst fear. In Medved’s imagination, either the gay guy won’t like what he sees — or WILL like it and try to cop a feel.
TRex @ 165
No, TRex. No, for several reasons. 1) I couldn’t do your late nite gig. 2) I am very good at recognizing good evocative writing when I see it. 3) I have read 99% of your posts and comments, ever since you first made your presence available at FDL. I have a good memory.
Maybe you first won my heart because of your “science geek” persona? Or your wider range of knowledge on so many topics? Or your ability to make me laugh? That is what friends are for!
TRex: YGM
Blue Dido @ 173
None of the right wing are experts at anything but creating public dissent. When it comes to basketball, Medved wouldn’t know a hook shot from a bullshot. But, his subject isn’t basketball. It’s creating hate. That he knows how to do.
Madam, you do me a disservice with so much praise. When people start saying such things to a person, it’s really just a short ride to shaving your head on a Friday night in front of God and the paparazzi.
But, thank you.
TRex- you are most welcome. I’ll have to watch carefully to see if I have the impulse to shave my head on a Friday night. Not so far.
TRex @ 172
I’m looking forward to the new B-52’s cd myself (Gawd-allmighty, it’s been a long time coming).
This is the year of the 80s bands coming back. I for one, love it. I’m trying to figure out where I want to go see The Police.
Suzanne, somehow I don’t think you will be moving any time soon since you signd your papers during mercury retrograde. Maybe a door opens for you between the two eclipses in March. What were you doing in March 1988? Did you buy the house then?
Blue Dido @ 169
I’d bet good money that Medved’s “knowledge” of this is based entirely on having heard of Wilt Chamberlain’s claims, and assuming that all those guys are like that.
I think my brother may be doing some tech stuff on that record.
More as I find out.
spiderpaws, March 88 is the month I got pregnant with daughter #2. does that count? i bought this november 03
TRex @ 172
Will she play her harpsichord on it?
…oh, well, then, you will probably resolve something with her or her father.
dang… thanks spiderpaws
AZ Matt @
21
No worries. We have better taste.
spiderpaws, while you are here, i had a question
re cheney. now the focus is on him – anything like the scales of justice in his future?
These eclipses refer back to that time in March ‘88 (most of you were probably little kids then : ) What was going on for you folks during that time, if you’re old enough to remember.
boadicea @ 190
But of course.
TRex @
29
Well, yeah.
You know what it’s like. They have to trust their sordid imaginations…
spiderpaws – so the eclipses give us a chance to resolve something created during the last eclipse?
spiderpaws @ 192
With the exception of 2006, 1987 was by far the most turbulent year of my life. The smoke had just cleared in March of 88 for me and life was finally turning back toward normal. I hope the same goes for now too, I’m starting to hit a decent stride right now.
hpschd @
188
Hm. I have to confess that her harpsichord playing on “Boys for Pele” didn’t knock me out. That whole record gives me a headache. Ditto “The Beekeeper”, but for entirely different reasons.
I am hoping that this album is more in the “Scarlet’s Walk”/”Under the Pink” mode. Something involving a full orchestra.
Ooh, spiderpaws, you stillhere? Shez was saying Feb 28 veddy veddy bad. Any elaboration on that?
spiderpaws @ 193
March of 88, I was making big breakthroughs emotionally, making plans to move away from my home town to Athens, where I have remained pretty much constantly ever since. I was feeling happy and alive for the first time as an adult and was subject to all manner of wild enthusiasms and outbursts of emotion.
I think I had just been accepted by UGA.
Not Knowing, Prease @
62
Did you intend this to be as insulting to women as it comes off?
Once upon a time having a fat wife was a source of pride. Because it meant that you were prosperous and could afford to provide plentiful food.
On another note my local paper had this in last sunday’s commentary
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld…..727789.htm
Can anyone say eugenics?
I didn’t know what to make of that comment either, so I ignored it. Not a name I recognize.
Valley Girl @
75
Give him a break. He hasn’t had it that often.
sophonisba @
81
It’s like Frank Rich without the talent.
The big difference between Michael Medved and Ron Jeremy is that Ron Jeremy is well hung.
montag @
95
Nope, he just had a bigger allowance with which to buy grades…
boadicea @ 204
Fixed.
Goddamn.
I keep looking at that picture of John Amaechi and it makes my tummy hurt in a weird way.
God knew what he was doing with that one.
He is eye candy, TRex.
TRex @ 208
You know, he kinda looks like a prettier version of Shaq. Or Shaq with Rick Fox’s eyes.
boadicea @
207
Unfortunately, the people who supported them will not be gone. Nor will their worldview.
Suzanne @ 210
I’ve looked up his birthday, now. When I compare our birthday profiles, it says this:
I only have cheney’s 06 solar return (born on Jan 30th) and the woman who does the good solar returns died recently so I’ll have to do some digging.
February 28th will have a saturn/neptune opposition and the energy of the nearing eclipse (3/3) And then we have uranus conjunct the sun and opposite the moon, a sure sign something unexpected will happen that could change lives, immediately. Doors could slam shut, keep your toes out of the way
thanks, spidey. finally started raining down here – high wind gusts too
TRex @
198
Her harpsichord playing is very much like her piano style. I would prefer a more idiomatic technique, but heck I’m grateful as hell that she uses a harpsichord at all.
Spidey, when does Mercury go back out of retrograde?
Ralph @
166
Yes. I expect them to be fucking human beings.
When they’re not, I reserve the right to point that out.
And, on occasion, point at their crotches and snicker.
…yeah, the tin roof on the shed just lifted up and crashed down…rain intermitant…the rats must know something, I can hear a whole gang of them in the attic
Mercury goes direct at 8:45 PM pacific on march 7th…it will be sitting still all night so wait til the 8th to start anything new.
TRex @ 203
Thus, my inquiry. I don’t like to jump to conclusions. However, that was just ODD.
It just sounded like she was sorting wire hangers with a lawn mower to me.
Now, I heard a lovely harpsichord tonight. I played the Bach Concerto in D-Minor for Two Violins. Trevor Pinnock playing the harpsichord and he’s very, very good. He makes the harpsichord sound like a great, bushy sheep dog leaping joyously in a pile of leaves.
That Concerto is so wonderfully just…you know, wine and autumn leaves and joy and light. I have loved it for years and I’m glad to have a job that has enabled me to find out what it’s actually called.
You can get it on this CD.
spiderpaws @ 213
Libby flips on 3/3? Can’t help but seeing this through the lens of the libby trial.
TRex
YGM
FiniFiniTOOBZ! @ 208
707. Thanks for the assist.
spiderpaws @ 220
I am knocking wood, here, but so far this Mercury retrograde seems to be going fairly easily. As a Gemini that rises in Gemini, I think I tend to feel it pretty keenly when Mercury starts flying backwards through the sky.
And I’m still trying to figure out how to dress a brain.
[/obscure reference to a comment thread with spidey long, long ago]
…either that or he gets his ass put in jail between these two elcipses. This lunar eclipse marks the end of a chapter in our lives, closes off the past and makes us let go of old habits. Revising dreams in light of current realities is one way to look at this.
Suzanne @ 215
spiderpaws @ 219
wow – this is causing me a serious case of rain envy….
here in SF’s Richmond I can smell the pineapple express on the southwset wind…
but the pineapples are dry :(
[snif]
I’ll see if I can send you some rain, Kurt.
I have good kung fu.
…sorry about the bad spelling…Trex if you have Gemini rising then Pisces is at the top of your chart and that is where mercury would be retrograding maybe back into your 9th house…but don’t count your chickens, there is still almost 16 days left of this one, the worst one I’ve had in years happening in my house of domestic affairs…everything that can possibly go wrong at my home is doing just that.
well you’ve got the fog over there, what more do you want?
TRex @
222
What a delightful sound/picture.
I will try to build that into our next instrument.
spiderpaws @ 227
i really really like this.
kirk, got 75 inches of rain last year – only at 19 7/8ths so far this year. i’ve been jonesin for some rain myself.
Something that seems to not have been mentioned much in the various articles and counter-articles on this issue is that some people (despite what Medved thinks) are able to be professional and ignore whatever attraction they might have towards their co-workers. (Heterosexual) male doctors are able to have female patients without having sex with them, or letting their “attraction” (which probably doesn’t happen anyway) get in the way of their professional judgement. The same would be true for gay basketball players or gay soldiers. Their collegues simply are not potential sexual partners. It’s fairly easy for sane adults (whatever their secual orientation) to determine when (and with who) it’s appropriate to be aroused. I doubt John Amaechi was aroused by his teammates any more than I am aroused by a statue of a bare-breasted “Spirit of Justice” or Venus de Milo.
…know what you mean, change is good, even if painful
Puma @ 234
Well I don’t get aroused by a statue of Justice but I sure as hell get fuzzy when she goes streaking through a courtroom. Especially when its a Prettyman court room, ya know?
…don’t doubt statue arousal Puma…remember Ashcroft had lady liberty covered with an $8000. blue drape to cover her nakid breasts…and we paid for it.
spiderpaws,
1988 was awful. My dad had Alzheimer’s and we brought him from NM to Ohio. Well, it was good in that way, because I hadn’t gotten to see him much. He was funny and instead of being eccentric and short-tempered like he always used to be, he was mellow. He thought he was in the state of his youth, Oklahoma.
But he died in one year, almost exactly.
Sleep eludes me. Would someone explain YGM?
Yiddish?
That Concerto is so wonderfully just…
It was actually written for an orchestra leaving the realm of the “just” and the “mean” for the realm of the “well-tempered.” I’m glad you love JS Bach, though.
Never seen Michael Medved show up as a theme here before, but TRex picked the right moment. What a homophobic misogynistic asshole. Not you, sauropod.
Mike Medved caught the eye of Alex Ross, the New Yorker’s classical music reviewer, after Medved’s book _Right Turns_ came out. Ross noted – he didn’t buy the book, merely thumbed through it at a bookstore – that Medved claimed to have worked with composer Lou Harrison on an opera scenario. Medved fails to describe the opera or any details of the work he did with the California master. My friends who studied with or knew Lou Harrison say Medved’s 100% full of shit.
TJ @ 239
You Got Mail
YGM is you’ve got mail
hey fini, what did you decide re the chicken?
and here I was thinking they were lines from a personal ad, lol.
Margot, I know what you mean. In the last year of his life, my dad sometimes thought I was his big sister, and was going to give him a ride to high school. He seemed happy enough, throughout his dementia, and never got obnoxious or angry (unlike back in the day when he could command his faculties). Even when he couldn’t speak coherently (word salad), he was pleasant. He died in 2003, in Oklahoma.
I’m glad you brought this topic up.
TJ @ 239
Alt explanation for comedic effect: You Goyim Mensch
Suzanne – sorry to have fallen off the radar – our old dear pooch Sophie gave us quite and we rushed her to the vet. She was revived by rehydration IV’s in our vets hospital she survived and mr. brat would never leave her side & they came home a couple of hours ago. They are both blissfully asleep on the bed and am gonna join in a minute. Will email you with the picture of Frances when we come up for air.
Eureka Springs – you have mail.
Thanks T-Rex & fellow firepups for letting me go so off topic to a shameless bulletin board. Too red-eyed and pooped to be very functional. Nite all.
Suzanne @ 243
I had a last minute interview for a podcast I’m doing later this week so I punted that to tomorrow and ordered some chinese in for dinner. I think I’m going with the cream of mushroom recipe with some pasta as a side.
Puma @ 235
It’s a really good point. It’s also possible to think, “That’s a sexy guy,” without anything more than appreciation.
glad to hear sophie (and you and mr brat) are home safe and sound.
…one last thing before I head into the bath tub (more than you wanted to know?) Uranus is the dominant planet now and in the coming year. All bets are off on everything…surprises all the way…shocks even.
Does anyone see the Mysterious Gray Square of Obscurance in the middle of the page besides me?
TRex @ 253
was there ever anything there?
TRex @ 252
No but thanks for adding to my list Great Titles for an Album.
No, but that’s usually a hint to restart my computer.
TRex @
253
If you mean the missing video clip – YouTube is offline for maintnance.
TRex @
253
are you talking missing graphic? Cause the Politics TV feed is missing from down below too. Makes me crabby. I wanted my EW Hairdo fix.
grumble. I know YouTube is doing maintenance but the clips are even missing from the Politics TV website.
Not me.
William @
113
Is it William, or is it Wilma? Or Both?
enjoy, spiderpaws and thanks
I think Marcy should let her hair grow a couple of inches longer.
It’s weird. It’s like a cyber glitch that happens when we get more than 200 or so comments. It’s a gray square of blankness and it’s currently hovering between comments 250 and 252, completely obscuring whatever 251 says.
I know I’m not hallucinating this.
The ghost of Fitzmas Future?
Suzanne @
251
Thanks – you seemed to have had quite a busy if not intense day too. Jeeze I sure hope my fatique hasn’t caused the odd little blank lavender colored highlights showing up on the screen. Good thing there are so many tube wizards here at late night. Will hang out as long as I can in case I’ve screwed here at my end.
TRex 251 is (on my screen) a comment from me to newspaperbrat
Don’t worry, TRex, Medved is a raging closet case, so odds are he won’t be looking at a woman like that, NEVER.
FiniFiniTOOBZ! @ 255
Yeah. Sounds way new age, though.
TRex @ 263
walk into the grey squareness, babe.
Maybe I shouldn’t have taken that fourth peyote button.
newspaperbrat – you mean the pinkish bar that highlights only the your name part of the comments that you write? that is so you can find your comment fast – or is there something else?
I think she sees it, too!
Ed*ard Teller @ 267
Like a Tangerine Dream album.
Well, I’m going to leave you kids to figure out what this mysterious apparition is. I’m headed for bed. Juan Carlos is waiting.
Good night!
FiniFiniTOOBZ! @ 273
The “Thief” soundtrack still sounds fresh.
TRex @ 273
Goodnight, dear arbiter of the Mysterious Grey Square of Obscurance!
g’nite trex
may the grayness be with you
TRex @ 274
The “Thief” soundtrack still sounds fresh.
Great movie, even better soundtrack. Possibly my favorite Michael Mann movie after Heat. But yes, that soundtrack was groundbreaking. They’re still shoveling aside dirt broke from that session.
Suzanne @
271
I thought that meant your comment was being ok’d by the mods. If you refresh the whole page, it turns gray.
Jacqrat @ 269
Oh yikes – mea culpa – the square and borders between posts show up as lavender color ever since I posted that comment for Suzanne and Eureka Springs.
Sorry I’m such a tech maroon and am standing by if you dare trust me to follow some tech help. aghhh – so sorry gang.
TRex @ 275
That’s one of my alltime favorites
I always thought it was for being able to find your comment – I do know that when you refresh the entire page, those highlights do go away from previous posts.
Newspaper, go to bed. you need your sleep. let the techs deal with it in the morning :)
and that’s it for me tonight, folks. g’nite.
spiderpaws @
193
Um. I was obsessively playing with cassette players at that age. *grins* And already reading myths and legends like they were going out of style. I was 10.
Listening to Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs” with Copland accompanying William Warfield. I’m going to be accompanying “Simple Gifts” and “I Bought Me a Cat” from that set in concerts Friday and Saturday.
Youtube still under maintenance….
kirk, it’s begun raining here in San Jose, and the clouds seem to be moving north.
Just spent the last hour helping my son’s friend rescue a stray dog which got chewed up by something. He found him wandering on the street, skin and bones, and called me to help him get the dog to the shelter. Then dealing with the stupid bureaucracy of “was he in San Jose or Campbell or the unincorporated area in between? We can’t accept him here, go 20 miles down to South San Jose and turn him in.” All the while this poor pooch is wheezing in my back seat. Finally got to the Emergency Vet Clinic who said they’d try to put his face back together. They think he was a “bait dog” for a dog fight. I’m still gagging. Thank God I have some good whiskey here.
hpschd @ 280
Mine too. I grew up on Tangerine Dream thanks to an eccentric musician older brother who was an early adopter of synth based music. My early childhood listening was filled with Tang. Dream, Kraftwerk, Walter/Wendy Carlos, Dr. Moog and other electroweirdness. Its why I play synths and compose now.
Suzanne @ 271
The square shows up almost obscurring 3/4 of the comment & on my screen it shows up as lavendar and from there on down the Leave a Reply, the tool bar also sport the odd lavendar color though the words/letters are readable. The up & down bar is blue on this comment – about the only normal.
It seemed to have gone bizarre when I posted that dual comment to you and ESprings.
newspaperbrat @ 286
Are you on a Mac?
TRex – So glad you mentioned the Mysterious Gray Square of Obscurance . It has been around forever for me, on mac/firefox here. It pops up around 273 most of the time. I have to highlight copy and paste the text in text edit if I want to see it all.
weird
newspaperbrat – So sorry to hear about your vet visit. I hate vets more than people hospitals. Is that awful?
Don’t blow away spiderpaws, please.
Suzanne @ 282
OK – with head bowed and profound apologies to all. xo
I think its some sort of weird Mac issue. I will send RGB a note and ask him about it.
FiniFiniTOOBZ! @ 288
Yes – a miniMac and fairly new and perfect until now.
I have reported the issue to RGB, the FDL Toobz Plumber. Did it start around 250 in the comment thread for you as well?
We’ve got a few more comments left to go to make TRex’s 300 comment euphoria.
ET – Man you are just the pied piper buffet up there.
Sure am glad we share eagles and blogs…)
anyway I am off to count guilty verdicts.
g’nite firedogs
P.S. Fini – it covers all of #266 on my screen. Thanks for sending in a notice.
FiniFiniTOOBZ! @ 293
On my screen it looks like it started at 249 cause that is the comment that is so obscurred nearly completely with the odd lavender color – 3/4 from left to right is completely covering the text.
4 more comments to TRex’s magic number!
Am I the only one here to get there?
I’m still here, lol.
We’ll make it.
y’all are funny.
Ta Da!
Yay! I got the zed 300!!
FiniFiniTOOBZ! @ 297
No thanks to me – god I hope TRex achieves his magic number. FiniFini would it help if I just shut down or would that complicated things more. I usually just put my little Mac on sleep when I sign off but am standing by for any and all suggestions.
Now I can go back to visualizing the jury delivering the guilty verdict.
newspaperbrat @ 303
I think it might be a Mac browser thing. If youre going to bed, just put the machine in sleep mode. Its a FDL Wordpress thing. It will get fixed, dont sweat it.
Mine eyes have seen the back of my eyelids. Gnight pups!
FiniFiniTOOBZ! @ 307
Me too, nite.
You’re too kind – will put my Mac to sleep immediately and with red face and promise to find a night class for idiots without fail – and I just remembered my kids call my computer an iMac – hope that helps. I’m outta here and thank you all for your tolerance & and kindness. xo d’brat
mutzali: what is now going to happen to the dog? Do you need help with it?
Interesting video!
good lord! 307 comments?
it’s heartening to see so many others consider medved to be such an exquisite dickhead.
I’m a bit late to the party, but I can’t help but chime in — I read the take on the Medved article by Shakespeare’s Sister earlier tonight and I enjoyed reading your take on it, darlin’ TRex.
One quick correction, though – you said:
As a woman of abundant physical substance, I must assure you that I wouldn’t be caught dead married to a tight-assed, right wing closet-case with a Magnum, PI mustache. Or even an unshaven tight-assed right-wing closet case, for that matter.
What I find alternately hilarious and horrific about this article as a whole is that is is obvious that Medved is fighting a losing battle against what he can’t control – his repressed homoerotic desires, sure, but also most definitely the positive shift in our cultural acceptance of gay men that requires Medved to so desperately and lamely attempt to “re-educate” his readers about how gross teh gay really is. He’s freaking out because people aren’t as freaked out as he is, so he grasps at something, anything, that he can use as an analogy to desperately, desperately try to convince people that teh gays are really repulsive and scary. That’s the funny part.
The horrific and part for me beyond that little chuckle is the widespread general acceptance of the idea of fat women as the epitome of ugliness and undesirability. Even you, dearest TRex – and you know I think you rock – verbally consigned women of my size to be married to This Mustachioed Monstrosity as a fitting punishment to him. :-)
On a related note, a (skinny) friend remarked to me recently that it’s more acceptable in our culture nowadays to see two men or two women kissing each other on TV than to see a fat women kissing anyone or getting kissed by anyone.
Of course, I’m totally psyched about same-sex physical affection being depicted more positively and frequently in the mainstream media nowadays.
I just wish people could also see images of larger people in any settings other than weight loss shows, headless anonymous fat person footage to accompany the latest “obesity scare” story in the news, and “before” pictures. We large women do get love, too. :-) In fact, I’m happy to say there are still some circles in which I’d be considered far more attractive than Ann Coulter. Thank God.
Well, this may be a record breaker for TRex, in terms of # of comments. I would like to see it so.
It’s been a long, long while since I have “pulled an all nighter”, but yea gods, Lecture 3 on Toad vision for tomorrow has me really challenged.
Send me some “buck up bucky” and FDL luv, please.
p.s. I am in ET, it’s really late here!
…well I’m off to bed since nobody answered my question about the dog who lost his face in San Jose. I’ll check in tonight to see if mutzali is looking for help. He can leave a message for me here.
Seems like I rounded off the comments to 315!
VG – Good luck with your lecture, but, tell me please, what is toad vision? Is it how toads see or something more weird and wonderful?
They have classes on toad vision? Cool, I knew I should have taken biology instead of rioting 101 at Berkeley.
petedownunder @ 314
Thank you so much for keeping me company! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it! Lecture has to do with how how toads determine what is predator, and what is prey. But, this is only a small part of the course on animal behaviour.
Looking back on those times, me post-grad at UCSC, I probably should have gone for rioting 101. But, the UCSC campus was specifically designed to prevent large gatherings, of the Berkeley sort. Truly. It took UCSC a few decades to even have a “student union” in real space.
Tim HARDAWAY?
Hell, even his name sounds like a queer joke.
Medwed has been carrying water for the Far Right’s “Culture War” for decades. The rank hypocrisies of his ravings would kill anybody’s sex drives for anything.
It’s morning on the East Coast and I want to thank you, TREX for linking to the video, My Whole Family Thinks I’m Gay. Drop dead, love this wonderful kid, gay rights is worth the work, funny.
Medwed? well… TMI
I wasn’t going to comment, but since TRex is jonesing for numbers…but I’ll post something substantive I haven’t seen explored. (and I have to agree with Maura @313 on her observation – would we of size be married to a Medved for our punishment or his?)
Anyway, my experience has been that I had unexpected amounts of attention from men – but not really anything of a good kind. The attitude was more “she’s fat, she can’t possibly attract anyone, naturally she wants me.”
This would result in treatment anywhere from behaving awkwardly if you initiated conversation (you could practically read “She wants me” scrolling across foreheads – No fuckhead – my saying ‘nice day’ doesn’t translate to flirting) to outrageous come-ons in bars (most notably hard-on to buttcrack based solely on fleeting eye contact in the bathroom line) to stalking (after fighting him off in a bar parking lot, he kept calling, not believing I ‘really’ wanted him to leave me alone) to acquaintance rape (again, practically presumed consent “I know you want it; I know you’re not seeing anyone.”)
I’ve nearly always been fat, but not unhealthy or nonathletic. (I hate “overweight” “obese” etc, because all presume that there is a “normal” from which to measure those terms. There is no “normal” other than on the dryer – those numbers come from insurance companies, don’t they?)
Ah well, teh gays and the Fat Chicks always end up together, don’t they – just not so much fun when it’s about to what level you inspire revulsion in the deranged.
joanne g murphy @ 317
Yeah, pretty rich from someone who only ditched his nickname of “Penny” not that long ago…. maybe that’s why he’s so sensitive…
Interestingly, I think the one obvious reason for Hardaway and Medved’s blathering, and those that agree with them, is a fear that hasn’t been discussed yet. I don’t like the stereotype that those who are homophobic are closeted–quite frankly, I think it’s too easy an out for their bigotry. Rather, this is not fear that they might be “teh gay” or otherwise tainted by alternative lifestyles but the fear you experience when you learn that the world isn’t as it seems (think, “why, oh why, didn’t I take the blue pill”). Amaechi pretty much embodies everything that (I assume) many men would envy: he’s attractive, talented, a professional athelete for fuck’s sake! His coming out is a challenge to Hardaway and Medved’s ilk and all their preconceived notions about what gay men look like, how they act, what they do for a living and their false version of reality is crumbling before their eyes. That’s where their fear and bigotry comes from—because if a kick ass, macho athelete can be gay, well then hell, anyone could be gay–and they don’t know what the hell to do about that.
Good morning, pups. Gray and cloudy and misting rain here, but that’s just fine because we’re not freezing. Today the NYT serves up Bobo with guidance for you if you want to win the Publican primary (at least he says he’s not writing a book). Then Bob Herbert discusses the shape of the MSM news. It ain’t pretty…
http://mgpaquin.blogspot.com/
The coffee (Columbian today) and tea are ready, and toast yourself an English muffin. I was in the supermarket yesterday and the strawberries smelled so good I couldn’t help myself. They’re in a bowl in the fridge if you want some. Sweet enough they don’t need sugar…
Mornin’ All!
Morning Marion and twolf. I have been up all night writing a lecture on toad vision. I have finally finished that. I can’t believe that I pulled an all-nighter for a lecture.
So, should I try to take a short nap, or get the beans in gear? I really would like some conversation, if a nap is a bad idea…
Morning Valley Girl,
All-nighters, it’s like being a kid again! I’m sort of in the same boat. I have an all-day workshop today (carving an acanthus bracket), starts at 9:30 and I got maybe three hours sleep. I was here for post 300.
How much time do you have? And are you a nap person? I’ve always been a marathon sleeper, naps just disorient me, so when I all-night I refresh with a shower instead.
And I would have thought that a toad wouldn’t have a lot of predators, being nasty-tasting and all.
VG, it depends on how you do with naps. Sometimes 45 minutes or an hour work like a tonic for me, but sometimes it makes me feel even more tired. So do toads identify predators (saw your post earlier…) by shape or movement or something like that?
VG – for me, naps usually end up making me feel very groggy, worse than b4 the nap began. How much time do you have before the lecture?
HotFlash, you’re right about the restorative powers of a shower. Particularly if I use my yummy Aveda rosemary and mint shower soap and shampoo.
Hot Flash, Marion- I’m not sure about the nap thing at this point. I will decide after I have something to eat.
Marion- toads identify predators by shape and by movement. But, they also identify prey in the same way. Mostly, prey will be the issue today. ;)
…leave enough time after the nap for two cups of coffee.
twolf1 @ 326
3 hours before I have to get out the door and arrive. So, it is very iffy, calling the nap/ shower balance! I have never done this for a lecture, at least in recent memory. But, the material is so complicated.
I guess, in the best Marcy/ Fitz tradition, I wandered a bit too much into the weeds.
Back later. I’ve got to shut down and reboot to get some new security download to operate.
Thanks, Marion, for the hidden newspaper people. Are you up for a few questions about MSM?
It seems that almost everyone in MSM is painted with the same brush.
VG – with only 3 hours left and shower/coffee/food?/commute all inside that 3 hours, for me, I would say the nap is out.
Good morning. I have enjoyed reading everyone’s take on Medved, who is one of the crazier wingnuts.
On the humor front, several days ago I saw a big logo on the back mirror of a pick up truck which said “WINGNUTS”. I looked harder and it had a picture of a ‘nut’ (i.e, mechanical, not Medved) with wings.
And I thought WOW, a new republican sticker, but no, in small letters there were the words “Wingnut tattoos”. Ummmm, what a business.
VG, I’ve been reading FDL for awhile and thought toads were code for something.
For once, toads are actually toads.
Valley Girl,
There is a yoga technique called sun and moon breathing. My yoga teacher (decades ago) said that it is an effective sleep substitute in an emergency. She claimed that a half hour is as good as 6 hours sleep. IANAY, but I do still use this technique when I need to sleep and don’t have time or am too worked up. There is a description here, they don’t seem to do a half-hour’s worth, but it’s very refreshing, calming and centering.
twolf1 @ 333
Thanks for the company, twolf1. I’ve decided to go horizontal and close my eyes for 20 mins. Meanwhile, I put the kettle on low.
Wingnut caller on CSPAN says something on the order of… “…and by the words that are coming out of the dems mouths, I’m worried I’m going to be wearing a burka before I die.”
Valley Girl @ 338
Good luck with the nap!
VG – for mea one hour nap is always a good thing. First eat, then lay down on the floor or couch and set a loud alarm clock. Then when one feels groggy upon waking, do three cups of coffee. Within an hour or so, I feel better and I really notice the difference by early afternoon.
without a nap, I would be able to do the morning, but would be absolutely useless for the afternoon. The nap makes the afternoon possible.
At least for me. But if all you have to do is a morning lecture and then go home and sleep forever, then no nap to keep the brain functioning.
HotFlash @ 336
Hotflash! Thanks for the link. Don’t have time to learn all this right now, but it did remind me of similar techniques I have learned.
GJ- I will def. set a loud alarm. NIte all, or morning all– as the case may be! xxoo
OK, cats fed, FDL read. One more coffee and then I’m hitting the shower and packing up my chisels. I can do some sun-and-moon on the streetcar (way cheaper than a day’s parking downtown).
If anybody see Mrs K8 today, give her a hug for me and ask her how she and the pupster are? Haven’t heard how the accident thingy shook out.
Also, if you’re lurking, {{{{{{{{{ PeppermintPatti }}}}}}}}}}
Good Morning Firedogs,
good morning Ms. VG – personally, I’m in the 90 minute nap crowd – Recently found myself up all night talking with a houseguest niece as she prepared a lecture on Hyena Dentition – hope the day goes well for you : )
Good Mornin’Citizen Grandmaj and the Firepup Patriots:
Who has Thirsday in the FDL Scooter verdict pool…I hope we can celebrate a verdict today.
KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T LET THE BASTARDS INTO YER YARD!!!
Hyena Dentition – I’ll be thinking about that for awhile.
cbl, do you want to take a shot at talking with me about the mainstream media?
Bob Schieffer is talking about the necessity of free press.
Extra-special cat has 26 toes
Grandma J @ 342 – Is it the nap that make afternoons possible or those three cups of coffee. Sh*t if I drank those 3 cups in the afternoon I would be falling asleep until 3am.
Bob Schieffer is talking about the assault on the independent press that is the Libby trial.
Bullpucky. The Libby trial has shown just how UNindependent the press is.
Thanks Prairie Sunshine. I’ve tried a number of times to talk about the press.
I do not think that all of the press is bad, or in some kind of conspiracy with the White House.
As a matter of fact,
I do not see how Tim Russert could possibly have conceived of the amoral, unethical set up that Mary Matilin, Scooter Libby and the Vice President cooked up for him.
Who would see that they were willing to out CIA agents leading to their deaths?
Honestly, FDL, I thank you for your coverage of the trial. It was wonderful and I will not forget the experience of being there.
But I have tried to ask this question and I can’t get a response.
Is there some kind of Kool aide I haven’t drunk?
NorskeFlamethrower @ 347
Hey Flame, whaycha think of Walter Reed? Big surprise huh?
Lee Casey – Bush apologist on CSPAN just said about Gitmo prisoners “…even legitimate POWs don’t have the right to trial in the US.”
–now he’s twitching as yet another caller bashes the Chimperor.
. . .that dog and pony show about Iranian weapons killing US soldiers in Iraq hmmmm . . .
Compare
and Contrast
Boston 1775 – not sure we have the bandwidth to sally forth on the Media – after all, here we have a usually reliable Bob Schieffer covering their collective ass
Lap Dogs – by Eric Boehlert
and regular visits to Media Matters would go along way
and some blogger™ named Emptywheel has written a rather revealing look ; )
Uh, Boston1775, this thread is nearly 400 comments long. And it was started late last night, so there probably wasn’t anyone around to answer your wee-hours-of-the-morning query.
Whatever your question was, it probably just got lost in the shuffle. Sheesh.
On edit: And I agree with cbl — you need to visit http://www.mediamatters.org, which was founded by David Brock, who used to be a key ad well-paid cog in the GOP/Media Complex, until he found out he couldn’t sleep at night.
Other things to read: The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton (Joe Conason and Gene Lyons), as well as Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater (Gene Lyons).
I think Bob Schieffer is taking the long view.
Helen Thomas Moving Back After 46 Years Down Front
raven -
suspect Norske would remind us of an obvious but easily overlooked point
Walter Reed is DOD and is for active
VA is for discharged
which makes the current expose of WR all the more pointed in that it is one more example of zero, zip, nada planning – and contractors getting all the $$$ while uniforms and their families suffer
Thanks Phoenix Woman, I did not mean on this post. I started at about 6EST. I mean on other posts.
By the way, I got schooled pretty good on Tom Friedman and truly appreciated the education.
I’m just saying that the fact that some think that Tim Russert throws softballs does not equate with conspiring with the White House.
lisadawn82 @ 350
This only works if the nap AND coffee are in the morning. Coffee is only used as ’starter fluid’ in this instance — not the fuel for the day.
“Tim Hardaway (and most of his former NBA teammates) wouldn’t welcome openly gay players into the locker room any more than they’d welcome profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women.
I see, so association with a woman is based on her “usefulness.” Totally mercenary. May I suggest a blow up doll? It’s much more compliant.
New thread up top
Good morning, Boston. We’ve been waging this battle for twenty years or more. The words of the neocons stand on their heads…and they have access, bought and paid for by their wealth (a lot of which *I* think has been plundered from the U.S. treasury). They print and opine outright lies in newspapers and on TV. I have come to believe that the press is complicit, because it is owned by the wealthy. For starters, take a look at Who Owns What? at the Columbia Journalism Review. Clear Channel is a huge conglomerate made possible by the last telecommunications act that was passed in 1996, I think. Also, remember Judy Judy Judy’s reporting on the (non-existent) WMDs in Iraq which was printed in the so-called Paper of Record, the NY Times. The owner was a VERY good friend of Judy’s. Where were her editors? Where was the fact-checking? It’s not Kool-Aid. It’s years and years of experience. Maybe someone else can tell you where to start, but there is example after example…outrage after outrage…that has been shoved down our throats under he guise of “reporting”. And explain why, with such a serious trial going on, with Osama building his forces in Pakistan, with our children dying in Iraq, with IRAQ’s children dying in Iraq, with Great Britain pulling out of Iraq, with our Naval forces amassing in the Persian Gulf, with global warming threatening to destroy our civilization…why its wall-to-wall coverage of Anna Nicole Smith.
cbl @ 361
Your point is well taken and I don’t think either outfit is worth a shit. I finally got talked into going to our new local VA medical center, screwed around for a couple of hours waiting to fill out the paperwork. They called a week later and told me to come in for an appointment. When I got there they had lost it. Unlike many of the dudes sitting there, I am in a position becuase of my work that I don’t need their bullshit so I got to melt down in their waiting room. I could see that the other vets were really enjoying it so I got a little satisfaction.
Boston1775 @ 362
Boston1775, it doesn’t mean that all the reporters get a fact sheet everyday of what they will write about. But the ownership & mgmt of newspapers tends to focus on certain things as newsworthy and others not. The Libby trial showed some of how that works — Cathy Martin saying get the veep on MTP, that’s a good place to control the message, etc.
But the most useful thing is to look at the news that is reported and the news that isn’t reported. Why do we see Anna Nicole 7/24 and the only Scooter mentions are to bash Fitz and the Wilsons.
I grew up in a newspaper family. Even 40 years ago I had noticed that the few times I was in a newsworthy event the reports did not match my personal knowledge of the event. Reporting is a process. Skew the input and you will skew the output.
So, I guess my point is that it is not our job or intent to convince you of anything nor to do your research for you. Either the facts you know convince you or they don’t.
PS. The main reason I asked Norske is because the brother takes no prisoners!
Thanks Lindy, I’m thinking of Imus, Richard Engbert (sorry if I didn’t spell his name correctly) Judy Woodruff and for me, Tim Russert.
I can’t possibly see how he could have conceived of this plot.
I understand the disgusting Judy. I am afraid of how this happened at NYT. However, Bob Schieffer is not covering Judy’s ass or the NYT’s. He’s talking about the future of the free press.
Ann Coulter makes a fool of herself on Monday
wrt insufficient body armor for troops!
Faux News: Video at Politicstv.com
http://www.politicstv.com/
twolf1 @ 349
I love polydactyl cats. They look so cute with their xtra big paws.
Boston1775 @
370
Then that makes him the tool that Cathie Martin described in her testimony.
Please look into how much the mainstream media of the 1940’s knew and didn’t report.
ccmask @ 371
I could be wrong, but I think her stock is going way down.
Fresh thread, gang. Morning everyone.
How about the coverage of JFK? Does anyone think the real story got out?
Thanks for the insight on the powers of Teh Gay. Wow, the responsibilities that come with that kind of power that has big ole NBA guys shivering in their size 16’s.
A bigot is a bigot is a bigot….
For that matter,
Does anyone remember how the “Boston Massacre” was spun?
Boston1775 @ 379
That was befoe even *my* time. So, what is your point? “They all do it, they’ve always done it?” Yes, we know. Blogs, too.
My point is this: The fact that Cathie Martin pointed out that Meet the Press would be the best place to get the VP’s messaage out does not mean that Russert was in on the White House treason.
My point is that the truth has always been spun.
It is up to individual newspeople to interpret the facts for us.
FDL included.
We then look to the best newspeople we can find. They are fallible and they will not always agree with my outlook. But I am looking for a person with integrity working within the constraints of the medium.
And TREX, if I can find someone to discuss this with me, we’ll make it to 400.
Lindy, Do you honestly think that Tim Russert decided to conspire to commit treason?
Or do you think he’s a tool because he’s just dim-witted?
Does the fact that I feel compelled to talk about Tim Russert lead you to believe that I don’t appreciate Helen Thomas?
She is magnificent.
She is also part of the mainstream media. The fact that President Bush moved her out of her place show us who Bush is.
Do you blame her for the fact that she had to sit in a different seat? Was she complicit with the White House because she stayed, rather than quit?
Boston1775:
A skeptical press is a guardian of democracy.
It is not necessary for Tim Russert (or any other traditional media big name) to wake up in the morning and think “Who at the WH can I conspire with today?” to fail his duty as a guardian of democracy.
He is a practitioner of the one and only constitutionally protected profession because it is supposed to be skeptical and so at odds with government power-a protection he didn’t worry about when first interviewed by the FBI in this case, but squealed like a scared child and hid behind when he was called upon to testify in this case against a powerful administration figure. Which makes him a hypocrite in addition to a failure in his constitutionally appointed duty.
Russert also testified that his default mode in conversations with administration officials is off the record. That protection should only be invoked reluctantly by a skeptical press, and he blithely gathered it up and filed it in a black hole where the public who rely on him to do his job would never know if not for a stubborn, brilliant prosecutor and his team.
He wants to retire from the fray and reminisce about Big Russ, well, Dog bless and go forward.
But this is the Bureau Chief of a major news bureau in the capitol of our country, and he’s colluding to obscure and protect publically paid officials who outed a CIA agent and compromised the mission to prevent nuclear proliferation-not to mention possibly killing anyone who had come into contact with her and made the other side nervous enough to kill.
If he weren’t already on crutches, I’d be tempted to kick him in the shins to make sure he got the point. And the pain.
I need to get back to work, so I won’t be able to continue this conversation. I hope at least you’ll feel you got a full response to your inquiry.
This isn’t about koolaid.
It’s about poison and its antidotes.
One straight guy here who was never ashamed of or repulsed by gay fantasies (simply noted them objectively, considered acting on them, and decided not to), who many years ago when pinched on the bottom by gay men felt complimented rather than threatened, and in fact felt that way when approached desiringly by practically anyone (creeps of both sex excluded) but has nevertheless remained straight. I have to say though, while I am not repulsed by fat women, and have in fact had sex with fat women, I find prefer sex with skinny women. Is that wrong?
Back when he was writing about the “World’s Worst Movies” in general, and Edward D. Wood Jr. in particular, Medved’s younger (quite cute) brother Harry was hit on by Criswell.
Amazingly enough they weren’t taking a shower together at the time.
How is talking to the FBI, the first time, evidence of collusion?
Doesn’t that make the point that he understood, the first time, that he was called upon to do the right thing?
Again, TRex (got the caps correct), thanks for the link to My Whole Family Thinks I’m Gay.
God, that kid’s just great.
bodicea at 386, How can the fact that Tim Russert then called upon the press’s privileges be construed as “squealing like a scared child”?
Might it not more likely be that NBC had the great debate of press privilege versus duty?
Tim had already done his duty.
Boston – On Russert, it’s about the obvious questions he failed to ask on every show of his I have ever watched. Even in the times I was avoiding the news for the most part I found his schtick to be about as soft as any interview one would expect from a sit down with the Stepford Jr League.
He said in the trial that basically it’s not his job to be a journalist.
Look at how he and the network present him and his show. Look at who is paying (GE), who his advertisers are (ADM etc.), and how many millions he gets paid for nothing! Why do you suppose that is since he really has no ratings?
Lies are everywhere, nothing new there. I guess what has changed is the frequency and blatent acceptance of them no matter how exposed they are.
Boston1775 @
391
Talking to the FBI isn’t the collusion.
As for the confidentiality issue, if he meant to protect his source, it should have happened when he was first interviewed by the FBI.
What he wanted to do was not avoiding disclosing his source when he was interviewed, but testifying publically to it after he’d already breached the constitutional shield to save his ass from being accused of blowing Valerie Wilson’s cover to Scooter Libby. It was sheer self-interest and hypocrisy, not reverence for the First Amendment.
He talked big about journalistic integrity, but he really was afraid of being exposed as loose in the lips.
Hi boadicea,
Thanks for answering.
I do not think that talking to the FBI is collusion. That is duty to country.
He also happens to be Meet the Press. Thus, lawyers for press will get involved.
He’d made his decision concerning duty when he talked. Does anyone think he didn’t understand what all of this was leading to?
I can’t speak for him, but I am certain that when he spoke with the FBI, he knew that this was enormous and ugly.
If he’d called his lawyer and refused to speak with the FBI due to privilege, that would be obstruction.
Yet, that’s what you said about my comment.
Do you seriously think he did? What do you see his motivation as when he first disclosed, then tried to prevent the public from knowing he disclosed?
Yet, here you are doing just that. Check the testimony of Agent Bond.
You actually don’t have any idea what obstruction consists of, do you? There are lawyers here who can address this better than layperson me, but really, you could hardly be more off point.
Once a journalist has breached privilege themselves, refusing to testify to the facts they disclosed in the breach is ludicrous, indefensible, and much closer to obstruction than lawyering up on the initial questioning.
Russert was trained as a lawyer, and has been a practicing journalist for decades. He’s the Bureau Chief of NBC’s Washington office, not some neophyte just out of j-school.
He knew what was properly shielded and what was not.
Thanks boadicea,
If he knew what was properly shielded, as you say, why did he speak with the FBI?
I did not say that speaking with the FBI was collusion. In fact, quite the opposite.
Duty to country.
Career ending duty.
By obstruction, I mean it as a moral concept.
Obstructing the truth.
Versus obstructing the law.
You’re welcome, but I really do need to get back to work. You’re going to have to hit 400 on your own, Boston.
Your words:
are what I took to mean you thought I was saying the FBI interview was collusion. If it was not meant that way, you and I are in agreement on this point.
And obstruction is a legal concept with very real penalties.
As for why he spoke with the FBI, about the information he then claimed First amendment privilege for, that is a question for Timmeh.
And TRex, on behalf of family members I love and a particular teen aged nephew my son is growing up with…
THANK YOU
spiderpaws @ 315
Hi Spiderpaws.
I had to get to bed. The people at the Emergency vet clinic said they would see how deep the damage was, and if possible, stitch him up and get him fed, neuter him, and get him out for adoption when he’s well. Apparently they’re connected to the Humane Society for injured strays.
Thanks for asking.
too much koolaid?, apologies, but …..
[boston1775 = timmeh]
/tinfoilhat *sigh*
Thanks Adie,
I know you mean this as an insult and you probably think that I hadn’t anticipated it.
I appreciate Tim Russert: his work, who he seems to be as a person and the decision he made to talk with the FBI.
I am aware that this is not a popular position at FDL.
Believe it or not, I appreciate FDL enough to put myself out here.
Boston1775 at 403 — You know, I haven’t had time to read through this thread as yet, but please do not check out of the blog. ALL opinions are welcome here — despite the fact that some commenters occasionally step over the line in advocating their own — so long as they are presented in a polite and forthright way, which you have done throughout the trial coverage.
And I, for one, welcome you here. So, please stay.
And to everyone else — enough with running around and pointing the troll finger today. The moderators will take care of actual trolls, and they do their jobs very well under the guidelines that Jane and I have established for the blog. Anything above and beyond what they are doing is not something that either Jane or I have sanctioned, and it needs to stop. Capice? Leave the finger pointing to the jerks in the Administration who like to run around shrieking “unpatriotic.” Thanks.