Every now and then, I hit a wall. There comes a point in every political blogger’s life, I think, when you’ve soaked up as much Bush idiocy, rank incompetence, duplicity, deceit, and downright dumb-assery as you can reasonably stand. I am saturated with Teh Stoopid.
This makes it especially difficult for me to swallow this latest PR line about how actually our Toddler in Chief is an unsung genius, whose keen and canny intelligence and practicality are obscured by his “scruffy charm”. “Scruffy Charm” here being shorthand for a grown man who chews with his mouth dangling so far open that scraps of food fall freely from his maw.
“He’s read 87 books this year,” sigh the fawning press releases.
Right.
Okay, let’s get something straight here, gang. Listening to books on tape while you’re pulling your pud on the stationary bike or jogging around some underground track at Quantico is not reading, especially given that The Decider has the attention span of a brain-damaged gnat and doubtless tuned out every other word while he was daydreaming about, oh, I dunno, a giant robot replica of himself that roams the desert outside Vegas and shoots lasers from its eyes.
President Bush no more held 87 books in his hands and read every page than OJ Simpson broke into that Vegas hotel room with a gun over the weekend because he was still trying to catch The Real Killers. Get real. The Commander Guy’s head is so pointy he can’t even read a “No Smoking” sign without asking Josh Bolten to help him sound it out.
Watching this Robert Draper interview on Bill Maher is an interesting exercise. Draper, the author of Dead Certain, seems to be trying to have it both ways, to encourage us to somehow find it in our hearts to see the Everyman in the president, but he can barely keep his own upper lip from curling into a sneer of open disgust at the jumped-up Rich White Trash parvenu currently taking up space in the Oval Office.
But just for shits and giggles, as they say, here are some excerpts from Draper’s book:
He was edgy that day. Earlier that morning, Bush had decided that a major address slotted for next week was going to have to wait another month. The subject was Iraq, and he was, frankly, unsure of what to say on the subject.
Frankly, I find this amazing, since Bush only ever gives one speech, as I wrote here:
It can’t be easy to be a speechwriter for George W. Bush. In fact, to my thinking, it’s right up there with Superfund toxic cleanup worker, Saddam Hussein body double, and cat-food taster in the running for Worst Job Ever. Given that Preznint Pustule only ever makes one speech, it seems like it wouldn’t be that hard of a job, but the devil’s in the details, of course. Anyone who’s ever tried to write a poem with one of those magnetic poetry kits will understand just how mind-bendingly difficult it must be to write a speech for Dubya.
I’m guessing it goes a little something like this: You go to the White House break-room refrigerator and take the square that says, “9/11″ and line it up with the one that says “terror”, drag over “NOOK-ya-ler”, “cut and run”, and “tax cuts”. You’ve got to fight the urge, these days, to use “stay the course” since Karl Rove kicked it under the fridge. (Of course, Rummy and Joe Lieberman keep trying to dig it back out, blow off the lint and dog-hairs and stick it back up there, but then Ken Mehlman flounces through and throws it on the floor again.)
And so forth and so on. But back to Dead Certain…
His hot dog arrived. Bush ate rapidly, with a sort of voracious disinterest. He was a man who required comfort and routine. Food, for him, was fuel and familiarity. It was not a thing to reflect on.
“The job of the president,” he continued, through an ample wad of bread and sausage, “is to think strategically so that you can accomplish big objectives. As opposed to playing mini-ball. You can’t play mini-ball with the influence we have and expect there to be peace. You’ve gotta think, think BIG. The Iranian issue,” he said as bread crumbs tumbled out of his mouth and onto his chin, (Ewwwwwwww-ed.) “is the strategic threat right now facing a generation of Americans, because Iran is promoting an extreme form of religion that is competing with another extreme form of religion. Iran’s a destabilizing force.”
Oh, that’s rich. Here is the man who charged headlong into Iraq in spite of the fact that he knew full well that there weren’t any WMD’s there, disbanded the army and the government, and has presided over the biggest foreign policy cock-up since the Crusades, a disastrous invasion and occupation that has left a once sovereign nation a burning, abandoned husk, and he’s calling Iran a destabilizing force.
And that’s where I have to bail before I become so angry that I punch a wall and turn my fist into a maraca. It find it frankly amazing that the DC Dems think it’s okay to leave President Turnip-Head sitting there in office until the end of his term. “Impeachment wouldn’t be worrrrrrth it,” sighs Grandma Pelosi from her perpetual state of frozen ennui.
Does it not occur to anyone within the incestuous confines of the Beltway that having a president who makes Terri Schiavo look breathtakingly astute on foreign policy issues is a terrible danger to everyone in the country and by extension the world? How stupid are we all going to look if Bush and his pro-apocalypse BFF’s like Joe Lieberman actually get to launch their strikes against Iran? Or what if there’s another huge hurricane? Or a massive West Coast earthquake? Are you all okay with Bush and his appointees presiding over a major disaster? What about a terror strike?
I don’t get it. Why is he still there? Why, God, why?
Related posts:
- Late Late Nite FDL: Real Kind Of Thing
- Obama to Congress: Stay and Work
- G. Gordon Liddy Thinks Women Should Stay At Home Until Menopause
- Petition Drive: 28,000 People Want Congress to Stay
- Late Night: RACISM ALERT!11! Rush Limbaugh Not Allowed to Own Football Team Because He Belongs to Oppressed Minority Class (i.e., Rich Screechy White Twits)





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Good Evening, Pups!
hey TRex!
uno!
zeddy?
TRex forevah!
zedly?
pfft. not even two or three.
Not even close-and now to read.
yet another great darkblack image
Trexitude, dude.
Evening all. So what do you have against brain damaged gnats, TRex?
He’s still there, TRex, because our congress is ignoring their constitutional duty to impeach.
From that description of Shrub’s table manners, it seems that he missed out on some home trainin’.
Former Mexico pres. calls Bush ‘cockiest guy I’ve ever met’
http://politicalticker.blogs.c…..-ever-met/
If Bush is taking up space in the oval office, what is taking up the space between his ears?
TexBetsy @ 12
DING!!!!
darkblack!
DrDick @ 11
Clearly, you do not live in Georgia, gnat capital of the South.
No dive this evening Suzanne? I brought extra towels just in case of oversplash ;0)
LoudounLib @ 13
From any description of any characteristic of der Chimperator, it is fairly obvious that teh Babs is and was a lousy mother
madmommy @ 19
You bring your own towels? Cool! I just use Suzanne’s.
Evening, folks! And just for the record, I may neverget the image of the idiot in chief “pulling his pud” out of my head. Anybody got a good brainwashing soap?
DrDick @ 20
And it’s worked out very well for her!
Grrrrrrrrrr…I’m still mad about Kerry…GrrrrrDrDick @ 20
Eating a hot dog, and food falling out of his mouth….I’m not surprised. Bonehead.
Hi guys, I know this won’t be a popular opinion, but on the issue of Kerry and student, if you listen to kathleen’s link at 95 last thread (second link), Kerry does say right at the start, hold on, let me answer his question.
You read my mind tonight. I am just so fucking fed up, sick and tired of this asshole and his criminal antics.
TexBetsy @ 21
Always prepared, that’s me!
madmommy @ 19
nope, i’m still doing stuff backstage and haven’t even changed into my dive outfit
TRex, ya nailed it again. I am saturated with Teh Stoopid to the point of numb misery. Maybe i’m elitist, but shouldn’t there be a minimum IQ level for Prez? Three digits would be nice. Hell, at this point i’d even settle for the top 25% of 2 digit range.
you’ll excuse me for repeating this from the earlier thread, but I really, really, REALLY do think this bears major outrage:
a protestor at a John Kerry townhall meeting in Florida was dragged away and tased AS THE AUDIENCE WATCHED AND SMILED. Kerry did nothing, merely went on with his inane drivel.
article and video at:
http://www.starbanner.com/arti…..AKING_NEWS
it’s effed up, y’all. major outrage…
Loo Hoo. @ 25
And that’s all he does, as the student gets tasered, while laying on the floor surrounded by 6 cops. Way to step up, Mr. Kerry.
Gringo Pie @ 14
That was before Fox looked in Junya’s codpiece.
conniptionfit @ 22
Its a really little pud.
Suzanne @ 10
Smokin’! ‘Rich White Trailer Trash’ is more apropo…!!! Bonne Soir, Ma Cheri!!!
newdealfarmgrrrlll @ 29
The bottom 2% of the double digit range would be an improvement.
Isn’t it funny how the same Beltway Pundorks that attacked Bill Clinton for being a REAL Southern boy who worked his way to a Rhodes Scholarship and the presidency are making every damned excuse they can for Chimpy McFlightsuit?
Hey Madmom, can I sit next to you? Just in case?
Suzanne @ 28
There are costumes involved? I always just figured a basic one piece swimsuit.
howdy trex! long time no see….
Liberty Lover @ 15
Lead?
Loo Hoo. @ 25
Loohoo, I understand where you are coming from. The students were crying out to stop. He should have been the adult and said STOP. This is not the Kerry of the past. This was his call, and he was flaccid in the face of police abuse. This was his gig. He dropped the ball.
marymccurnin @ 33
It’s not so much pulling as tweezing.
TexBetsy @ 37
There’s always an extra deckchair handy!
Suzanne @ 28
Ooh, can I help…??? ;-)
madmommy, i don’t wanna get my scottie dog plaid flannels wet
But apparently the lure of OJ is just toooo much to ignore.
As Twain(?) Mencken (?) said “you get the government you deserve” and crap! after watching Britney, OJ, and all the other diversionary shiny objects I’m afraid it’s true…
And then I come here. And I’m reborn :)
DrDick @ 42
Laughing Laughing
Phoenix Woman @ 36
Washington insider elitism at its finest. They hated Clinton because he was a working class boy who made good. They suck Dubya’s ass because he is an aristocratic prick and they want an invitation to the club.
LS @ 41
amen. my take is that he ought to simply resign from public life and service, immediately. he obviously has no concern for the public. go make more SkullyBony bucks somewhere and just go away.
DrDick @ 35
improvement over current occupant for sure. “Attention span of a brain-damaged gnat” indeed. If only he had life span of said gnat.
Suzanne @ 45
Ooohhh! I was at Target today and saw the new Nick & Nora jammies are in. Still too hot to wear them but I hear tell that it will cool off at some point.
madmommy @ 38
Swimming with swimsuits?…I thought…oh, oh…all I brought was this tiny facecloth…ahmmm…loincloth.
CTuttle @ 40
I’m thinking organic bovine fertilizer.
Loo Hoo. @ 25
Good on you dear Loo Hoo – facts are what matter on this indispensable site – woo woo!
newdealfarmgrrrlll @ 29
I’ve said this or years. You have to pass the bar to practice law, the boards to be a doctor. Hell, the DMV to get a friggin driver’s license. What’s wrong with a Presidential exam?!
I ask that same question everyday. And another fabulous pic from darkblack, as always.
good night folks, gotta work again tomorrow. Have fun!
Suzanne @ 45
Fala!
marymccurnin @ 47
Yet cringing at the mental image that I will never get rid of…not enough brain bleach in all the kingdom.
CTuttle @ 44
No.
Loo Hoo. @ 25
Exactly. And it sounds as if the cops freaked out — though Meyer didn’t exactly make it easy for them, according to at least one witness.
From the article:
He is there because our Congressional leadership is hopelessly compromised by NSA taps of themselves, their intimate moments, and their financial transactions — or those of their loved ones. They cannot fight BushCheneyCo without these materials being released.
This I believe.
Why do you suppose we still have no Senate Intelligence Committee Part Two Report on Iraq Intelligence? Why have the Congressional subpoenas of Rove, Bolten, and Miers not been enforced? Why is a major American city allowed to rot until it is ready to loot? Why is the cradle of civilization ruined caastrophically and its people starved and made ill by our neglect and our weapons?
That is why.
TRex,
Your rage inspires me to no end…why IS he still there? Great post.
I know, I know! It’s because Karma is balancing 200 years of good fortune with 7 years of Bush.
CTuttle @ 40
I wish.
Night LL.
Loo Hoo. @ 25
It was a police riot, and Kerry was pretty lame.
DrDick @ 53
Heh, I’m an organic wingnut, do we have a big enough shovel… some heavy lifting is needed!!! ;-)
TeddySanFran @ 62
DING!
Look at our foreign policy since the end of WW2.0. Look how it pillaged the third world.
We have the guminit we deserve.
Nothing more, nothing else.
valletta @ 55
sounds good to me.
TeddySanFran @ 62
Under the circumstances, I’d like to believe that I’d just say “fuck you, release it, I’m doing the right thing.” This isn’t much more than a variant on Congressional cowardice.
LoudounLib @ 57
Nite, LL!!!
if there’s another terrorist attack or natural disaster, it won’t be congress critters who suffer. it will be regular americans, especially poor americans, muslim americans. maybe they just don’t care.
like the kerry video. i’m pretty sure kerry would have cared if it had been his kid getting tasered… but someone else’s kid? who cares.
jared diamond, in Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Survive, describes how dangerous it is when elites aren’t affected by the choices they make on society’s behalf… they can end up making destructive choices.
conniptionfit @ 22
How about three years of the same treatment that Jose Padilla got? That’ll empty your head of those images (and everything else).
Suzanne @ 60
:P
Hey Teddy. Enjoy all the birthday celebrations?
Loo Hoo. @ 25
Well yeah, but stays silent as it all starts going down, then makes a joke about the kid (”too bad he can’t come down here and swear me in as President”), and then tries to keep talking (not about wht the kid asked) over the screams until it got too loud, and then silence again.
I don’t find this defensible. A simple and strong, neither of which are his strong points, “Hey, HEY! It’s OK. Let me answer, then I trust he’ll let others get some questions in.” or something like that would’ve sufficed.
Pathetic and really says alot about him, the police state, and many of our fellow Americans.
Phoenix Woman @ 61
Spin. He could have said STOP. This is a college student asking a legitimate, passionate question.
First they put you in leg irons for poster pasting, then they destroy your ligaments/tendons as they tackle you, because you want to watch the Petraeus hearings, then they tasar you for asking very legitimate questions. All 3 videos tell the story. There is nothing to conjecture there. It is police abuse. It is wrong.
LoudounLib @ 57
good night, LL! I should be a good ndfg & follow your example, but what the hey, that’s what extra strong coffee is for. As my Swedish great-aunt used to say as she lifted her cuppa, “Swedish gasoline!”
burnspbesq @ 74
Makes you proud to be a lawyer, don’t it Burns? These assholes corrupt everything they touch. I’m just glad they have no use for anthropologists.
DrDick @ 81
YET !
DrDick @ 81
Of course. What use do they have for information about how societies work?
Phoenix Woman @ 61
what was the question?
did kerry answer?
if so,what was the answer?
No need for anthropologists since the world was created – what, 4,600 years ago or some such according to the creationists.
Dan Froomkin told us today about some (Right-wing, natch) bloggers who visit the White House to bask in the glory of der fuehrer, er, um, The Leader, and one female blogger relates that:
Now, I thought, is this “insight” really necessary?!?! Do we really need to know that? Then I realized “Well, yes, because it tells us where the mind of the average Bush follower really is.”
Kerry just stood by while that student got tasered, just like he stood by ineffectually in 2004 when the Republicans stole Ohio. That is everything you will ever need to know about John Kerry in a nutshell, standing by with his hands in his pockets while regular Americans get brutalized by authoritarian regimes.
Hey, Senator, thanks for fucking nothing! Now go the fuck back to Boston and sleep in your hyperbaric chamber or whatever, you rich white sop.
EvilDrPuma @ 83
Exactly, why would they want to make one work…!!!
May: you should really watch the video. there’s a link at #30.
Suzanne @ 85
Everything anyone needs to know is in that museum up in Kentucky. The one with Adam and Eve walking with dinosaurs. Feh!
TRex @ 87
Don’t hold back, TRex.
LS @ 41
Thing is: If this guy had been a Republican and a Swift Boater who had grabbed the microphone and refused to let anyone else near it, and then spent the next five minutes resisting arrest, how many of us would have cheered when he was finally Tasered?
Be honest, now.
No, the cops shouldn’t have Tasered him. Tasers are nasty weapons and can kill (and have).
But Kerry had no way of knowing the cops would be so stupid as to Taser a guy in that situation. As far as he knew, they were just removing someone who was refusing to let anyone else near the microphone. The Tasering didn’t happen until well after he started resisting any and all efforts to make him stop hogging the mike — including AFTER when the mike was turned off. (And I say this as someone who backed another candidate in the primary.)
may @ 84
There were several questions. Why did he concede so quickly after the 2004 election, when there was evidence of possible voter fraud per Greg Palast. It was when he asked about whether Kerry had been a member of Skull and Bones at Yale, that the police attacked him. (But…you can see in the video, that the cop behind him takes out the stun gun earlier). Makes me sick.
TRex @ 87
Amen. Time to get the fuck out of the way and give somebody a chance to save this country.
Just found the link to what y’all are talking about. There’s also a video.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..64789.html
Trex…again, what pisses me off is that the audience sit there and smile at the proceedings. why didn’t someone at least go over and try to calm the situation? cops will do what cops always do, as long as we keep letting them.
TRex @ 87
What T-Rex said!!!
TexBetsy @ 95
That’s not grounds to pull out a taser. Fuck this fucking shit.
Chimpy McFuckingstupid has read 87 books this year.
Simple math reveals this to be about ten books a month.
Copy editors for Penguin don’t read ten books a month.
English majors at elite universities don’t read ten books a month.
English majors at state universities don’t read ten Cliff Notes a month.
How about a shred of credulity?
TeddySanFran @ 67
And exactly what, pray tell, would you have had Kerry do?
Suzanne @ 91
The RNC servers served the official State of Ohio’s vote processes…!!!
TRex @ 87
As Malcom X pointed out, we cannot expect our oppressors to liberate us. None of these children of our gilded elites will ever make any effort to seriously reform the system. They gain far too much from it the way it is. The only real argument in the American elite is between the bread and circuses clique (Democrats) and the iron fist faction (Republicans).
SPfftpfftbwhahaha…
spew alert!
Oh shit – Grandma Stolid is my Congresscritter….
reality alert!
Waaaaaaaah. Teh stupid, make it stop…
My BIGGEST complaint against Kerry was the quick concession. I never did hear an explanation for why it was done instead of fighting for Ohio.
burnspbesq @ 100
Kerry, of all people, should have shouted out: STOP, NOW!@!
burnspbesq: do burnspbesq @ 100
um, do we really need to enumerate the things he could have done? there are many. he did nothing.
How many books are there in the My Pet Goat series?
comsympinko @ 99
Exactly!
And i don’t WANT my president reading 10 books a month. Until he’s retired. I want him to PAY FUCKING ATTENTION TO WHAT’S going on in the world, you know….it’s HIS JOB!!!!
Game over. Yankees win. THUUUUUUUUUH YANKEES WIN!!!
How did the Boston game turn out?
(As if I didn’t know.)
comsympinko @ 99
Actually, I read more than that and have done so since I was 13.
TexBetsy @ 95
watch this angle of whole thing, and decide if the above report is accurate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqAVvlyVbag
If you’ve ever been to a public Q&A, there was absolutely nothing unusual or long about the kid’s questions. He was being interrupted quite a bit while trying to ask his questions.
FOR SHAME on all involved!!!
comsympinko @ 99
Yea but did he retain any of them?
burnspbesq @ 100
Stop participating until the questioner was freed.
Walk down to where the uniformed thugs were and ask them to let the citizen finish his Petittio for Redress of Grievance.
Just grow a pair for the Constitution.
(and the novelty)
BigMitch @ 109
Yeah, 3.5! :P
TexBetsy @ 103
To me, that’s a huge complaint. Anything that happened in Ohio could happen in any state; by not fighting for the integrity of the vote in one state, Kerry sold us all out. It wasn’t even about who won…it was about whether each of our votes count. And Kerry couldn’t be bothered. Fuck him sideways.
valletta @ 108
My personal favorie was the Brian Williams interview durring the Katrina anniversary last year when Bush said he read “5 Shakespeares” over the summer. I nearly fell off the couch. Williams just let it slide.
TeddySanFran @ 62
Just curious.
Do you have, or are you aware of, any evidence that supports this belief or yours?
He is there because there are not 67 votes to toss him out. It really is just that simple.
valletta @ 108
Um, 87 divided 12 is 7 1/4.
Cleanup on 105. (I can’t tell you how I’m fighting the urge to do a little feeding tonight.)
BigMitch @ 109
Said it before, will say it again..
FTFY
CTuttle @ 114
3 in the loss column.
LS @ 93
Sounds like if he was rattling off all those questions, he wasn’t really looking for answers. At least, not there.
It will be interesting to see how the press handles it. Chances are that they won’t take his questions that seriously, and write him off as a crank (especially with him bringing up Skull and Bones). Which is a pity, because at least some of the questions needed to be addressed.
refresh and troll be gone….
lets not play whack a troll tonight :)
EvilDrPuma @ 120
Heh, You and I, both…!!!
Suzanne @ 85
That would be Sunday 23 October 4004 BC as the big day.
Phoenix Woman @ 123
None of what he said or did deserved getting tasared. None of it.
Suzanne @ 124
Thanks. I know you don’t need it, and I am in an unspeakably bad mood tonight.
EvilDrPuma @ 120
You’ll hate yourself in the morning if you do.
Suzanne @ 125
Spoil sport. I was just lubing up the Louisville Slugger. ;-)
madmommy @ 121
Mahalo, MM!!!
Phoenix Woman @ 123
When I was at YKos2 there was a brunch on the last day where people from the audience could ask questions of the panelists (including Jane, Kos, Amanda Marcotte, etc.). Nine of the first ten people gave speeches rather than asking actual questions. This young man was no different.
How come you are tasered but not rifled?
start_beating_around_the_bush @ 126
Actually, it was on the Hebrew calendar. And Thursday was the birthday. of the universe. Age 5768.
Suzanne @ 124
Aah, Spoil Sport!!! *g*
Feeding trolls will cause your comment to be moderated also.
DrDick @ 110
Ditto, but not having a tv in the house … a book or good magazine is always preferable to tv in my pop-culture-impaired brain
I just had to bring this here, hope I don’t seem too OT.
I’ve been helping one of our local statehouse Democratic Party candidates put together a rudimantary website, and in the process of sending me some of his material, he included some notes from his campaign efforts so far.
Keep in mind, this is one of the reddest US Congressional districts in the nation, we have state legislative district after district that were comepletely abandoned by the state Democratic Party over the past few years, with no opposition candidate for at least a decade. And now that some courageous Democratic Daniels are climbing into the lion’s den, the partisan fear and loathing factor has become glaringly apparent. Again and again, the evidence of a long-term “anti=Democrat” brainwahsing is rearing a very ugly head. This is just one of a few such tales, here’s the conversation… and keep in mind, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP! (The names and places have been changed to protect the innocent from the guilty)
“A Long Way to go on the Campaign Trail”
From Joe Jones
State Legislature candidate from somewhere in Kansas
June 28, 2007
As I was reading my local newspaper the front page covered the Wheatville Bash happening in Wheatville, Kansas on July 3rd and 4th in celebration of the fourth of July. I decided I would check in with the camber of commerce to inquire on booth space for their event. After all they are in my district and I am running for the House of Representatives.
Driving the three blocks of main street I could not find their Chamber of Commerce. I stopped at city hall to ask where I may find it. I was told they didn’t have one. I was given two names to contact who were in charge of the event.
Our Conversation:
Joe: Hello. My name is Joe Jones and I am representing the Democratic Party and had some questions on booth space.
Judy: Wow, never been asked that question before.
Joe: Really?
Judy: You’re not coming over here to make trouble are you?
Joe (in a stunned voice): no
Judy: We are Republicans over here and I support George W. Bush completely about fighting in Iraq to keep our nation safe.
Joe: I was a Republican too until two years ago. But I would still like to see the Kansas National Guard back in Kansas because ….. (Thought most of our equipment is in Iraq)
Judy (cutting me off): Oh that Sebelius you can’t trust her. She made a big thing over nothing in Greensburg. We have plenty of National Guard and she just…
Judy: Well we just don’t want any liberals coming in. We’re Republicans.
Joe: So getting back to my question regarding booth space.
Judy: What will you be doing at your booth?
Joe: Meeting people, handing out literature, things like that. I can assure you that their won’t be any problems because I am one who is coming.
Judy: Well, I’ll have to ask our committee about it. Our Republican committee.
Joe: That’s fine. And if they want to setup a booth beside us that will be just fine.
Judy: None of those liberalists
Joe: Oh, you mean the Libertarian party?
Judy: They are even worse.
Joe: Well, there are only 72 registered in our county.
Judy: That’s 72 too many!
Joe (reeling her back in): Okay, you check on what I can do and here’s my phone number: 000000000. Thank you Judy.
Judy (3 hours later): Joe this is Judy.
Joe: Hi Judy
Judy: I talked with our committee and:
We Don’t Want to Mix Politics with the 4th of July.
Joe: I completely understand. Thank you Judy.
CTuttle @ 131
back at ya CT-how’s life in paradise?
Phoenix Woman @ 92
no fucking way would i have cheered to see someone tasered…. the only way i’d approve the use of a taser is if it was obviously the only way to stop someone from doing greater harm.
and i don’t think violence was used because the kid was “hogging” the mike…. i think it has to do with the content of his quesitons.
hasn’t everyone here seen someone (possibly a bit unbalanced or just pissed off) be disruptive during a public meeting? it’s usually not hard to intervene non-violently… but in this case we saw the opposite response.
completely fucking unacceptable.
p.s. have you seen the video?
burnspbesq @ 100
Ah, how about telling them to “STOP! I want to answer!”? You ever been to a rock concert when security starts roughing up an over zealous fan, and the band tells them to knock it off? Something like that.
As someone who attends many public hearings, this sort of thing happens frequently. When a speaker gets challenged, they can usually handle it without police roughing up the questioner. This was pathetic!
Ugh.
Can we not talk about sports tonight? I couldn’t care less, frankly. It’s the “circuses” part of “bread and circuses”. It just makes me even more irritated with Americans. “Who cares about the war? There’s BASEBALL!! Droooool, *hic!* I am soooooo easily distracted…”
selise @ 75
Ah, good ole Jared’s Diamond. I haven’t read that one in quite a while.
TRex @ 142
Man, you are absolutely reading my mind tonight.
marymccurnin @ 112
As much as i love Captain Underpants series and Hank the Cowdog series, i don’t count them as books read unless you’re age 10 or under. At that, the humor in those books would probably be too subtle for da Chimpenfuhrer to grasp.
BigMitch @ 135
Blasphemer! How dare you contradict the good bishop. More precisely, I think it was at 9:30 in the morn. I wonder if it was before or after tea?
TRex @ 142
THANK you.
TRex @ 141
Thank you
BigMitch @ 134
To be exact, Thursday was the birthday of Adam and Eve. The universe ITSELF is 5 days older than that.
madmommy @ 138
Nice Tradewinds blowing, the better half is spending one-on-one time with my son watching ‘The Simpson’s Movie’ at the dollar show!!! I’m tending to my 15 going on 25 daughter with her posse…!!! *g*
selise @ 139
Yes, I linked to that on an earlier thread, and it had been viewed 215 times then. I saw now that it’s over 25,000 viewings. Hope this thing gets legs and people can see what’s been happening to our country.
TeddySanFran @ 62
Amen.
CTuttle @ 148
teenagers…not there yet thank goodness
(hope epu is OK with comments # > 100)
kirk murphy @ 241
GSD @ 200
What law enforcement did in public to that student is despicable and beneath contempt – as was Kerry’s characteristically limp respose.
Law enforcement did this – quite deliberately, poltergiests didn’t make ‘em do it.
And they did it in public in front of a US Senator.
Last week the Capitol Police viciopusly assaulted the people’s (and Jesus’) servant, a minister.
For the crime of coming to the people’s hearing room in the people’s Branch of the Republic – the Congress.
From eleven years of working with civil disobedients (as an arrestee and medic) -
welcome to the outrage.
We medics and EarthFirst!ers and Mountain Justice Summer types and all have been feeling kinda neglected here, and you are welcome.
Please bring your friends. Soon.
In front of the Goddess and everybody, law enforcement Tasered the citizen daring to challenge The Powerful.
In front of the Staples Center in 2000, teh LAPD shot the NLG attorney and law professor on site.
Like all the NLG folk, she was wearing fluorescent chartreuse vest and cap.
And the LAPD shot her in the forehead outside of a permitted concert.
Why? Some “anarchists” at the opposite side of the concert allegedly threw two bottles at the LAPD.
So the LAPD shot the law professor 400 yards away from the bottles – and made the concert between the two spots a free fire zone.
[The shooting was with “non-lethal” projectiles and chemical weapons.
“Non-lethal” except when they kill.
Like the deadly “non-lethal” Tasers kill.]
With rare exceptions, US law enforcement now routinely use physical violence against non-violent progressive citizens simply speaking out at and/or merely observing public events.
Chemical weapons painted on the eyes – recorded by the Humboldt County Sheriffs who did it..as a training film.
That was 1997 (6?).
In 1999 60,000 people and an entire American city were subjected to two days of chemical warfare.
For the crime of sitting in downtown streets.
If Russia attacked 60,000 Americans with chemical weapons, we’d start WW III.
When our own law enforcement did it, we had a commission to decide if it was a problem.
The cops who Tasered the citizen Petitioning the Senator for Redress of Grievances did it on camera because they can – and they know it.
And they want the civilians to know it.
And the (pitfully few) tens of thousands of the uber-wealthy and uber-politicians who sit atop the pile don’t mind reminding us – as often as they feel scared.
Recently, that’s has been increasingly often.
Our paramilitarized law enforcement are at war.
With us, the civilians who buy their guns and shiny toys and big scary boots.
When we successfully challenge power with massive non-violent change, law enforcement comes to beat us, gas us, taser us, and – if that fails – kill us.
And we’re winning – and they’ll fail.
To protect and to serve….
the megacorps and the Money Party.
“A Republic, if you can keep it”
Together, we’ll take it back.
Think what you want about shrub, they have made off with trillions of your tax dollars.
This hokum about Bush the novel devourer is just the work of asshole Rove trying to turn the clock back on the ‘charming hayseed’ Bush who ‘didn’t read them Washington insider newspapers’ myth and all.
It is a pile of shit and no one believes it except Bush and a gaggle of Astro-Glided rightwing bloggers.
I am so tired of the endless spin about Bush. Remember he was supposed to be the anti-Clinton guy and he makes Clinton look like a piker when it comes to media handlers and ideological mind melders.
He’s a rancid pud.
-GSD
madmommy @ 152
Heh, one hopes they mellow with age… Hah!!! ;-)
DrDick at 110–
Wow, you’re a reading superhero since you were 13.
Gainful employment must elude you.
burnspbesq @ 100
I hold no brief for John Kerry — I was really pissed at how his campaign (at the direction of Michael Whouley) used robo-calling and other cheap-ass tricks to win the Iowa caucuses in 2004. (Then again, Whouley was the guy who pushed Gore to fight for a count in 2000 and Kerry to use 10,000 lawyers to contest Ohio in 2004, so he’s not all bad.)
But really, Kerry’s not a mind-reader. He didn’t know that the cops were going to Taser the guy. What was he supposed to do when the guy wouldn’t let anyone else speak, but just shot off question after question after question, even after the mike was turned off? Should he have let the guy just take over the entire event and shut it down?
And again, if this guy was a wingnut who’d rushed the microphone, how many here would have cheered to see him Tasered?
TexBetsy @ 147
I have often wondered, and have never gotten an answer that makes sense: Adam and Eve had Cain, Abel and later Seth. Who did the 2 surviving sons marry if Adam and Eve were the only people?
kirk, yes, epu is ok after 100 comments :) thanks for asking
madmommy @ 90
made by experts for idiots.
bonkers @ 150
it was probably your link i saw. thank you. i needed to see that (as do most americans and every single one of us in MA)… although i’m so pissed off now this will probably be night #4 of insomnia.
CTuttle @ 157
They do, but in your case, not for another decade or so.
re: sports–it’s not just sports, either. the best damned Sam Seder Show (and today’s subbing for Hartmann was that) ends, we go to commercial, and then it’s off to a joke with Randi about OJ Simpson.
we have the attention span of a gnat, and not having a media to help focus discussion keeps it that way.
bonkers @ 150
Not unrelated: the powers that be at the University of Iowa are currently staging a little kabuki “conversation” about arming campus police. Not even tasers–we’re talking bullets. It has been infuriating to me to see that the whole “debate” is a dog and pony show around a decision that the university administration has already made.
And this incident, ladies and gentlemen, this is why that debate should be more than just a showpiece.
I’m headed home to cook up a late late niter.
See you guys in a bit.
I just watched the video. How many times did the cops taser him?
kirk murphy @ 153
Sh*t, we need to keep Blackwater over there…!!! 8-(
Big Mitch at 118–
Um, only nine and one half months have passed in 2007.
You’ll find 87/9.5 is shockingly close to ten books a month.
comsympinko @ 158
Nope. It is in fact a large part of what I do for a living. I am a college professor. In graduate school I routinely read four books a week for classes and two for fun.
I’m out. There is waaaaay too much anger and intemperance here tonight.
Be well, everyone. See you soon.
PhoenixWoman–sorry, but I wouldn’t cheer any citizen at a public townhall being tasered, even a wingnut. being escorted out, maybe.
BigMitch @ 109
Heh. My team was eliminated last month. ;-p
(Then again, my team’s owned by Carl the Tightwad Pohlad, the richest owner in baseball and one of the stingiest. We’re going to lose Johan Santana because Carl won’t shell out for hitting to give him run support.)
burnspbesq @ 171
Maybe you’re wrong. Maybe there’s not enough anger the rest of the time.
DrDick @ 163
My eldest, not mine genetically, is 25 attending Grad School, as I type… 1 down 2 to go…!!! *g*
***gentle reminder***
if you wish to respond to a lengthy comment, please do not use the quote this comment button – refer to the name of the commenter and either the comment # or the time, please
thank you
madmom — unnamed sisters. it wasn’t forbidden back then.
EvilDrPuma @ 174
ayep. it don’t have to be blind, unthinking anger, in fact it’s best not. but we have to stay angry.
burnspbesq @ 171
Aah, Burns, I’m sorry to see ya depart so soon…!!! 8-(
Phoenix Woman @ 159
PW, THAT analysis alone solidifies the very reason this is the only blog I read. Kerry didn’t know they were going to Tasar him, he was resisting arrest, and if it was some 5′8” 215 lb overweight, hair-thinning Young Republican up there spouting off and got Tasared, a standing O would have ensued. Let’s keep our eyes on the ball. The cops did go overboard, but it was campus police. And campus police fall into two categories: (1) the ones who partied with me on the weekends and let us sneak booze into the dorms/quad, or (2) jerk-offs who loved to bust snot-nosed smart-ass momma’s boys.
Phoenix Woman,
I kinda get the impression that the crowd around here aren’t the type to ‘cheer on’ taserings. Even tazerings for wingnuts.
-GSD
annagranfors @ 179
Cold, hard, focus anger is always the best and most effective.
Phoenix Woman @ 173
Hmmm… will he be a Red Sox or a Yankee…?!!! ;-)
DrDick at 169–
So what did you do before your grad school years?
Didn’t your chemistry homework get in the way?
(1) the ones who partied with me on the weekends and let us sneak booze into the dorms/quad, or (2) jerk-offs who loved to bust snot-nosed smart-ass momma’s boys.
As a former security officer I started out as a # 2 and progressed to a # 1.
-GSD
EvilDrPuma @ 166
Ya know, I really wonder how many people under 40, or over for that matter, know Neil Young’s “Ohio” by heart, but don’t know what it is REALLY about.
Jeezus, what they hell is goin on here?!? What happened to “United We Stand” after 9/11? Yeah, I know..Shrub happened.
I also pinched weed from the evidence locker.
But don’t tell Christy.
-GSD
CT, you want TRex twacking ya with his tail?
annagranfors @ 178
This is why I often make a distinction between anger (blind, unthinking) and outrage (directed, motivating). Tonight, I am just pissed off to the bone to see so little effort outside the blogosphere to do something about this insane, criminal administration. I am sick and tired of waiting for Congress to grow a backbone. It’s even worse than when Bush was coasting with a 70 percent rating and we were all whistling into the wind. Just how much is fucking enough?!?!
Time for me to turn in as well everyone. I hope everyone has a good rest of the evening and a better tomorrow.
As regards the sports thing, my take is that everyone needs a way to relax and let off some steam. For some it is sports. With all the crap going on I just need to take a break from the non-stop anger or I will have a stroke. One of the things I like most about the lake is that there can be several conversations going on at once, sometime on related topics and sometimes vastly different. Just my two pennies.
comsympinko @ 185
Nope. I am a fairly fast reader and always read a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Averaged about a book every two days in high school.
GSD @ 181
Hey, what’s good for the Goose, is certainly good for the Gander…!!!
GSD @ 181
It’s a very dangerous weapon. I know that several people, at least, have died in Cali from being hit with one.
sleep well madmom
Good evening, everyone.
I can tell you this: I lived in Gainesville, within a mile of UF, for 14 years, and the GNV as well as UPD cops are famous for this kind of thing. I got my first taste of totally unnecessary tear gas at an anti-apartheid rally there in ‘84, and you have never seen more police overkill. Frat parties become riots. A NORML rally was the scene of a police riot some years ago, and I once had a drunken UPD cop tell me that he and every other officer on the force carried a “throw-down”, so they “could do what they needed to do”. I loved living in Gainesville, but it’s a bad place to run afoul of the cops.
Phoenix Woman @ 158 –
but, PW, that kind of question/comment (and much worse) happens all the time in public meetings. there was no need for the police to be involved at all – they should have waited to be asked to remove someone if the speaker and audience couldn’t handle it.
there’s a gazillion things kerry could have done..
for example, kerry could have just said that he’d like to address the issues that the questioner has raised and then give someone else a chance to ask their question.
when the police jumped in, kerry could have said “hold on, i want to answer this gentleman’s question…”
when the police wouldn’t let the guy go, kerry could have said “stop! no need to go over board here… let’s all take a deep breath and stand down… or better yet, sit down. i’d like to answer the question”
the issue is not that he didn’t do exactly what i wanted.. the issue is he did NOTHING. unacceptable.
and p.s. i think you are out of line to say i’d be ok with seeing someone i disagreed with get tasered. again – no fucking way.
EvilDrPuma @ 174
I’m outta here. Not enough anger.
CTuttle @ 191
since when did you start thinking like a republican?
TexBetsy @ 176
That’s what I figured but the inbreeding would seem to be somewhat problematic for generations to come. Plus, ick.
And now, really, to bed.
Twain @ 193
Exactly so. And yet campus police departments want us to believe that this thing is some harmless pop-gun that officers should be allowed to use as a first resort. It’s insane. The thing is a weapon, and it is misused and it is overused.
Night MM. Sleep well and enjoy the young uns while they are small, before teh hormones turn them into raving lunatics.
Suzanne @ 188
Uhoh, what did I say this time…?!!! ;-)
madmommy @ 199
It’s our religious history. Not our scientific or historical history.
CTuttle @ 185
“Every time I think I’m out, they drag me back in again.”
Neither. Omar Minaya will carefully build a relationship with Santana, Pedro, Beltran, Reyes, Chavez, Gomez, Perez, and Feliciano will pitch in on the pitch, and in the end, Santana will be wearing blue and orange.
Unless he falls in love with Vladimir Guerrero’s mom’s home cooking and ends up in Anaheim.
Now I really am gone. Charlie Savage’s book awaits, and it won’t indulge in any ad hominem attacks on me based on my profession.
CTuttle @ 201
sp*rts
GSD @ 187
Don’t Bogart…!!!
Get Tough @ 180
I believe that NOT ONE Firepup would cheer
when another human was being tasered.
DrDick @ 183
I’m tryin’ Dr.D. — six years of heartache and downright fury do take a toll, and I’m just searching how to focus my anger and rage in the right way. My adult children and my husband step back, and tell me, “you are not the person I knew before Sept. 11, 2001.” And that is so true. Thank you FDL for helping me deal with so much anger.
Christine
NYTimes
It appears some Democrats are developing spines, but I’ll believe it when I actually see it.
Ex-spouses are not human beings, right?
Christine Edmonson @ 209
I know the feeling. I have been channeling the anger for 40 years now.
TheOtherWA @ 208
dare i get my hopes up… again?
Suzanne @ 205
…not recently? *g*
TheOtherWA @ 209
Leahy always had a spine. We’ll see if Reid can be bothered to back him up.
TheOtherWA @ 209
yeah, no kidding!
DrDick at 190–
I’m a neurosurgeon who doesn’t hype a PhD to call myself a doctor, and I am also a professor of neuroscience.
I don’t believe you.
If you really did spend the short time reading that massive volume of information as you say it is impossible for you to have retained a significant fraction of what you read.
bonkers @ 187
Yes, I am under 40 and know what the song is about. It was a tragedy what happened at Kent State, but to associate acts of overt physical action to get attention and practicing civil disobedience are not necessarily one and the same. We, in this Blog, are practicing disobedience. I don’t seem to recall Thoreau, Emerson or Whitman getting arrested for “the cause.” If you want to do that, great. But to insist that is the only true way to measure your sincerity in disobeying “the Man” is glib.
Mary, I hate to let you down, but I would laugh like hell at Alberto Gonzalez being tasered.
Sorry. It’s a character flaw.
TexBetsy @ 210
There is a difference between fantasy and really hurting someone.
burnspbesq @ 171
i’m sorry if my anger contributed to your discomfort. i just don’t know how not to be angry when i see something so wrong.
peace and sleep well.
CT, your 9:07 was after TRex made his comment.
RonD @ 218
I didn’t say anything about neocons not being tasered.
comsympinko @ 216
After four cakes last night, I think we’re in need of something a tad healthier. A selection of vegetarian indian food comes to mind.
I feel so behind on the day’s events because I’ve been offline doing stuff all day. But now I’m too tired to stay up any longer. This sucks.
Lots to do tomorrow too, so goodnight and sleep well.
Get Tough @ 181
Huh?!? He clearly says, “I’ve got two more questions…” and then quickly asks them. As soon as he finishes asking, they start roughing him up. We don’t live in a police state, in theory at least. Police need a reason. I would’ve fought back in that circumstance and I hope anyone else would’ve.
Within 5 SECONDS it was clear the cops were out of hand. Kerry could’ve and should’ve yelled at them to stop! Just like I’ve seen done probably a hundred times over the years at various public hearings and rock concerts.
I repeat, there was nothing unusual about what Andrew Meyer did there. NOTHING! In fact, more people should be doing that to our politicians, especially the press. Inexcusable on the part of Kerry, the cops and the crowd.
marymccurnin @ 219
You are correct and, in reality, I would probably object strongly.
The Lake has a pretty clear policy of not permitting comments that wish violence on anyone… even threats of wishes of fantasy violence…
Its really simple. They would have to start with the Vice Prez., then move on to Bush. And two impeachments in a row is more than this country has ever handled, politically.
Anything else just hands control to the evil dictator behind the s***-for-brains stool pigeon.
Suzanne @ 212
I tells ya, Leahy is not taking no for an answer, he wields serious power… It’s his committee to review all AG nominees!!!
night OtherWa
RonD @ 218
Well, I wouldn’t go so far to say it’s a character flaw…..
More like a creative visionary funny bone…
Suzanne @ 228
yes ma’am. i apologize.
EvilDrPuma @ 223
Where did this come from? I read about 4 books a week, sometimes more, and I am not a doctor, PhD or otherwise. Snotty attack, doncha think?
comsympinko @ 216
ComSymp, I’m none of the above,and I can read a 300-page book in the space of a few hours, and I also routinely read 4-6 books a week.
Dr. Dick is far more educated and intelligent than I will ever be, and I would point out to you:
Just because YOU can’t do it, doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
We can expect nothing less than rampant douchebaggery from the National Review.
They are proud to spend American blood and treasure to allow Iraqis to have their purple fingered voting rights, but they’ll fight tooth and nail to prevent residents of our own Washington D.C. the same rights.
-GSD
Stunning that Barbara Bush didn’t hire nannies who taught table manners. Guess she didn’t notice much about the kids at dinner.
TexBetsy @ 224
I am still enjoying my “lake” cake from last night. Thought about it several times today and it made me smile.
RonD @ 235
I live with two teenage speed-readers who retain large amounts of what they read. (And none of what they hear about cleaning up after themselves. Maybe I should present THAT in the form of a novel.)
comsympinko @ 217
Excuse me, but this seems to be getting a bit personal here. I have an earned doctorate the same as you and I am not “hyping” anything. The handle her is actually a bit of a joke. I cannot control what you believe, but am merely reporting what I do and have done. I do not claim perfect retention, but I do retain a great deal of what I read. I even have problems rereading fiction books I read years ago, because I still remember the plot details. I actually know people who read more than I do and do not consider myself exceptional. I have slowed down somewhat in old age, but still read about 2-3 books a week.
comsympinko,
You have been reading too many books on what is not possible. I could make more comments about doctors only believing what they have been taught but won’t cause I am a grown up.
Twain @ 234
My statement, which I accidentally embedded in the quote, was:
“On the other hand, if we’re down to personal attacks, maybe I’ll get the hell out of here.”
Since we’re down to people not even trying to figure out who posted what before they attack, I’m going to make good on that. Good fucking night.
GSD @ 154
It would have been fun if a reporter or two had asked him academic type questions about the books, but nooooo…
What’s the matter with Jane Hamsher?
It’s obvious! Truth! Honesty! and a passion for both! Well, that’s down right un-American, or at least that’s what some would have you believe.
AssMan @ 155
True, and I admire your handle, Assman.
Goodnight, EvilDocP.
Night EDP.
Night EDP
From the European Parliament’s Science and Technical Options Assembly’s invaluable study;
An appraisal of technologies for political control
(summary – non-lethal weapon introductions seem to increase State violence)
from Chap 5:
Innovations in Crowd Control Weapons
Get Tough @ 218
Who asserted that there’s one “true way” to fight power? I know there was a request to not talk sports, but that seems outta left field.
I was bringing up Kent State to remind people of what can happen with unfettered authoritarian powers, and how we can not accept that. I watch this video from Florida, and I think Andrew Meyer honestly just wanted an answer to at least one of those questions. I don’t think he went there to get arrested. He immediately realized that what was happening to him was wrong, and stood up to it.
If only our DemocratIC leaders would do the same.
bonkers @ 227
This is why I am an Obama fan more than anything else. It is simply because I see this whole, “let’s fight the man by getting attention, staging sit-ins, or die-ins, and re-live the 60s’” thing happening again. THIS BLOG is the perfect medium for civil disobedience. The MSM are shaking in their boots–they devote whole sections of their “news” broadcasts to “crazy left-wing” blogs. I love it, and the creators of the Lake deserve a ton of credit. No more resisting arrest to measure your heart or sincerity. Write it in the Blogosphere, like we are now, and get the message out. Staging die-ins and getting arrested is playing right back into the repubs hands. Please, leave Peter Fonda and the 60s revival to Time Life.
Twain @ 234
I agree … in high school freshman english we took a reading speed test, i tested at 400 words a minute, 2nd highest score was 200 words a minute, & my comprehension was also the highest in class. Of course, i spent 1-1/2 hrs a day on the bus, boredom unless i read. My parents didn’t believe in tv, they were college grads who encouraged reading. So practice helps. And not watching tv.
Remember, all, we do not attack the messenger – attack the message but not the messenger.
There will be no flame wars on threads I am moderating.
None.
The cops in Gainesville should be happy to get hold of one of these babies:
UF gets contract to develop non-lethal directed-energy weapons.
I found a flaming birthday cake in the pantry last night. Would that be OK Suz?
newdealfarmgrrrlll @ 253
I also read at about that level and always have. Not watching much TV helps as well. It is also an important part of my job and I read at work. Most of the people I work with read a comparable amount or more.
I know what is missing from this thread – the soundtrack. Anyone have a quarter?
Go for it Tex (just don’t burn down the place)
Suzanne @ 258
Here’s my quarter’s worth.
Have a flame
warcake if you dare!here’s Abu’s favorite section.
7. Interogation, Torture Techniques & Technologies
What do we find here?
Tasers.
Where do we find ‘em?
well – of course:
TexBetsy @ 259
http://www.xes.cx/pics/pingbday05-1.JPG
DrDick @ 257
And so much I read at work is journal literature, many a day in fact. So, how does one measure that? Dr. D. I’m with you.
Christine
And one last thing about the 60s revival kick: the 60s are dead, and if anyone believes that what is happening now, the shift back to the center/left is in anyway reminiscent of the 60s, then no one was paying attention at Woodstock ‘99.
O.M.G. dr (pause) dick – i luurv that song – sound so dirty – it gets played a lot on kpig’s dirty boogie saturday nights
*sheesh* this mere BA in PolSci/History, is able to fend for himself…!!!
CT you’re not a “mere” anything!
Suzanne @ 265
It sort of seems on topic tonight and was playing on the stereo a bit earlier (the CD gets heavy rotation around here, too).
Suzanne @ 257
(rummages in coin jar) here’s a quarter, & some newer music than last night’s thread. Filmed in Homer Alaska Brides of Neptune
kirk murphy @ 260
Kirk if you have a few minutes, there is a comment @245 on the last thread that I would appreciate your thoughts upon.
David
I used to read all of the time. But when I started making my living on the computer my ability to use my eyes that much suffered. I am also having attention and spelling issues. I was taking this stupid drug called neuronton and I was leaving out about 1/3 of the letters in each word. I also started rambling. Rambling rose. I wonder what for dinner. Laalaaalaaalaa.
CTuttle @ 266
Don’t ever sell yourself short boyo. Some of us are far less impressed with academic credentials than actual performance (there is a certain 15 year old who hangs around sometimes that could shame some of my graduate students).
love that line…’just sounds nasty’
marymccurnin @ 270
I also take neurontin. I take smaller doses throughout the day than what was originally prescribed. Helps with side effects.
newdealfarmgrrrlll @ 252
Geesh, all this book reading has gotten me very impressed….
When I was a sophomore in High School they did the same kind of test you describe regarding speed reading….
I remember reading the damn text four times over at least and practically memorizing whatever they handed out to me before anyone even finished it the first time over.
It’s not that big of a deal.
Also that summer my sister had this book by Herman Hesse called, “Narcissus and Goldmund” which I finished in about a day and a half.
Again, not that big of a deal.
But it did help when I went to college because of all the material they loved to throw on unsuspecting students….
Some people have that kind of talent to plow through material I honestly believe that the talent is innate sometimes….
Speaking of 15 year olds, here’s another slug in the juke box.
Suzanne @ 273
And it kind of is….
Get Tough @ 252
Well, I think it all has value. We need to attack the power structures from many different angles. This excessive worrying about how the media is going to portray this or that is one of the main reasons Dem Party has been so anemic for so long. Thankfully, Howard Dean is changing this.
I say everyone “fight the power” in any way they feel comforatable. It’s all good. I don’t consider belittling Peter Fonda and others from the 60s very productive. In fact, it’s rather insulting to people who did so much to help solve so many social problems that we benefit from today.
We’re all on the same team, and we can’t let the neocons’ “divide and conquer” strategy work anymore.
TexBetsy @ 266
Yes’m, I know…!!! ;-)
TexBetsy @ 273
I just take a little at night. I think that my memory issues are caused by stress and being 57. I have CRS. Someone out there must know what that is.
bonkers — you are so correct. More, please.
Christine
bonkers @ 278
Thank you, bonkers.
I think about tactics as diverse organisms in a range of habitats.
Some will thrive, some will wither – and we’ll only know where they grow best in hindsight.
So I wish all the tactics good luck, occupy the niches I find congenial, and watch what the other activist organisms do.
When I see a successful tactic in a niche I like, I’ll go over and join it.
Well, I’m off to bed. Another day of doing the impossible ahead of me tomorrow. 8-) Take care and enjoy the snark.
Sleep well Dr D.
mary spelled the word wrong and it did not get caught in the filters
tex spelled it correctly and did…
just so ya know… rx brand name drugs will get ya caught
sleep well, folks.
(speaking of that – are surgeons grumpy because of all the sleep-deprivation, or do grumpy people just like to work with scalpels?)
off to join the kitties….
good night…
Is this song about George W. Bush?
Dropping a quarter in the ‘ol jukebox.
(youtube link)
Suzanne @ 283
Any nibbles on your house? I hate selling houses – you have to keep them so clean and perfect.
neurontin?? You say neurontin. I say neuronton.
MOD NOTE: liberal use of the * will prevent your comment from landing in moderation
‘Night, DrDick. You are the man.
Twain @ 287
plenty of nibbles but no one has bit yet. i fucking hate housework *putting quarter in jar
The Bush legacy song.
-GSD
DrDick @ 271
I had field-grade officers ask my opinion on numerous occasions, what’s the battle field look like, after just walking out of a staff brief… often, much to the chagrin of my leadership…! Unvarnished truth…! I did cover for their okoles, tho, at crucial junctures…!!! ;-)
marymccurnin @ 269
the computer doesn’t ruin eyesight as such.it’s the fixed stare .always looking at something without shifting focus makes the eye muscles lazy,they seize up so to speak.
i read heaps and spend far too much time looking at this screen.
BUT
make sure that i look away ofen,shifting focus to near and far and if something is fuzzy,focus on the nearest sharp and work in towards the fuzziness.
eye muscles are like any other muscle.
as we get older,
it is use or lose it.
shifting focus often,keeps the muscles supple and responsive.
not trying to preach. excercise does work.
i know what you mean about spelling though.i used to pride myself in that area.now,i catch myself and go,weey!
get a grip!
Tex has been taking that damn med for almost 8 yrs now!
TRex @ 141
Thank you for this and another fantastic post, TRex.
I am not being defeatist because I have a whole lot of fight left in me.. but your post and TSF’s comment really put NOW in perspective. I mean a year ago we were right here, shouting facts, mocking the liars, and about to pull off a winning election for our party with our hard earned cash and 18 to 20 hour days of hard work.
A year later we are in much of the same situation.. begging for the truth to be exposed and used in unison with our Constitution as a basis for how we are all governed.
There have been some changes like minimum wage increase and lobby reform… but I am still broke and my dollar buys less now than it did six months ago..and the swift-boaters are shoveling ridiculous amounts of money into any campaign coffer they can find, including our favorite candidates..
The only way we seem to have a chance to restore the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus appears to be bending over for endless war. At least that fellow with a passionate question for Kerry had an attorney after they tazed the bejesus out of him.
I don’t know where this is all going but it’s clear we are not going away. We will be hounding these people with facts and shreds of our founders words until we stop killing for empire and work to make this little blue ball a better place.
So pace yourselves folks.. your going to need a bus load of faith to get by.
Suzanne @ 290
Just curious: when the jar is filled, what happens to the contents? Could we donate it to MoveOn?
Wow, a sudden exodus, Nite Sleepers…!!!
I am going to go in the living room, get on the futon on the floor and watch stupid tv. Tomorrow I am going to Berkeley to have lunch with Amy The First Daughter and, then, to Sonoma for martini night with ten crazy women-all artists. Then on Wednesday I am coming home to start learning Joomla! Bye, yall. Take care.
burns, i’m on a fixed income so it is the same god damn quarter (fcc approved phrase by the way)
bonkers @ 278
And just a note: I am not belittling anyone with that statement. The 60s were fine and dandy-I especially like the fact that Upton Sinclair finally realized his dream, albeit he gets lost in the shuffle. He was a true progressive-but after the 60s came the 70s, and the Republicans took over from there. The conservative movement has been taking shape for the last 35 years, culminating in the Bushies. Staging sit-ins, going against the Man, and all of that garbage may conjur up fond memories of the 60s, and, yes, there were people who did make a difference. But, I tell ya, the Blogs are killing the “Republicans” right now–they don’t know how to handle them. And, as Obama has said repeatedly, I, too, do not want to witness the same drawn out fights that have been taking place since the 60s. Why do you think Bill O’Reilly is pining for Hillary? He just did it tonight with Wes Clark on his show. Because, inter alia, Hillary is a known commidity–a 60s generation gal. They can bring out the old playbook, not work at it, and get back to hacking golfballs and banging underaged Dominican Republic girls in their time off. The “movement” served its purpose (and allowed one of my political science professors at my small, liberal arts college in the East, walk around in barefeet declaring it was a revolution, not a movement). Let’s make it more difficult for them. The blogs do that. it’s late, I am rambling, goodnight.
GSD @ 290
Totally perfect.
(waving to all the sleepy pups)
enjoy your time with The First Daughter and friends
burnspbesq @ 286
Not sure, but this one definately is.
(very adult language)
Yeah, I’m angry. Maybe it’s the latest Democratic solicitation that did NOT mention impeachment.
Thanks for the blog, TRex. Having to interview the Unitary Monster eating fleshy tubes (that I would feed my dog) probably does entitle Draper to whatever perks and profits he can acquire. I don’t envy him.
The whole Iraq/Iran mess makes me wonder if war/money/power isn’t what it’s all about. Can anyone make this WH respect our Constitution? Will they just hand over the reins of government in 2009? Will their replacements make ANY DIFFERENCE???
may @ 294
Also, your eyes never really focus on the computer. They are trying to but the type is antialiased (not sharp, sort of)
Get Tough @ 263
I was at the march in DC this weekend, and accusing it of being a “60s revival kick” would put you in the company of the freepers, who greeted us with brilliant signs like “Hippies Smell” and “Go Home Commie!” I doubt you want to be in their company.
The 60s generation didn’t invent protest marches, and having marches or civil disobedience doesn’t mean we’re being nostalgic. We need to use all the tools at our disposal, and dismissing mass actions on the streets by declaring that we should all be working here on the blogs instead is no more useful than the people who pop up here accusing us of just sitting around talking to each other when we should be in the streets.
marymccurnin @ 279
Sure do! Stress, 56, and a head injury for me, its funny because i can remember things but not words. Like a movie with the sound track off. Authentic artistic ditz :-)
(MOD NOTE: BRAND NAME DRUG NAME USE WILL CAUSE YOUR COMMENT TO BE CAUGHT IN THE FILTERS – even if you are just quoting someone who used the term)
EvilDrPuma @ 72
You would think there would be at least one. This country could use a hero about now.
Northwood plus Dick Cheney equals nine-eleven…
Suz, I used to be an immaculate housekeeper. Even the garage was cleaned at least monthly. It was so important to me when the kids were little. Now they’re grown, and it’s lost it’s importance. I mean the place is clean, and by most people’s standards still probably white glovable. But now, I’d rather be here. My sheets can last two weeks, no problem!
Hey Betsy…let me thank you publicly for your shared items news page. It’s an awesome resource, folks….BTW, bonkers, thank you for the nice comment at my place.
I hear ya, loohoo – you are preaching to the choir – now that it is just me, i do it exactly as i like when i like – what i find objectionable is the ‘having to do it’ bit involved with selling the house.
if i wanted to be living in a perfect house, i would still be living with ex #2, the fundy, who demanded the house be white glove ready and perfect at all times.
RonD @ 310
It’s about to be transformed into an entire website.
Here’s my current anthem…!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs4y5si8DGs
marymccurnin @ 298
Have yourself a time, Mary! Sounds like good fun.
Get Tough @ 301
Yea, better get some sleep.
Here’s a lullaby for ya.
DrDick @ 256
Anyone have any suggestions for improving reading speed? I don’t read slowly, but I’m never as fast as I would like, and not as fast as some other people I know. And I still have way too much vocalization echo when I read.
I’ve tried speed-reading guides, and they’ve helped some, but not as much as I would like, though some of that is probably because I don’t practice as much as they tell me to.
Okay. I am hopelessly EPU’d, but a girl can dream.
Just the very idea that George W. Bush is getting a bit overly friendly with his bad self is enough to send me to the garage for the wire barbecue brush. Frankly, I’ll need to scrub my brain pan with it to get rid of the visual.
-S
Redshift @ 318
Cocaine? ;)
fresh TRex upstairs!
TexBetsy @ 227
In writing?
Redshift @ 318
When i was in jr hi i would practice speed reading the sports page because i didn’t give a #$@ if i remembered or understood, just let your eyes rush thru it, seeing words in groups, or letting your eyes glance off certain words, like the paragraph is a lake, & your eyes are the stones you’re skipping over the water.
bonkers @ 317
That video, by the way, I have hung out with Chuck D, makes my point–Marching, picketing, civil disobedience. That’s is acceptable, of course. I am a progressive. I don’t like the Bushies. But there is a revival of the 60s in the air right now–the Boomers want it more than anything. The 60s served its purpose. And, as true progressive who values competition, consumer rights, and secular values, I also value one’s right to opinions, and hold those who think there way is the only way, irregardless of political affiliation, as sanctimonious. Nighty night.
Using the term “Toddler in Chief” is an insult to all toddlers.
Does that mean he read the dog-eared, post-it-tagged and underlined cliff note version provided by pickles? Or I am just trying to rationalize the impossible?
87 matchbooks
RE: the student disruption of Kerry’s event –
Here’s a student account of what happened (emphases mine):
selise @ 74
What it also tells us is we are still a society run by the elite. We’re not yet a real Democracy and we’re dependent upon the Elite, the Rich to have some sense of serving the greater good and not just their own wallets.
What I fear most about our current times is that the Bush mafia have learned how to craft a plan which earns the submission or support of the Elite by finding some rationale for them (as I mentioned with regard to Greenspan). If our schools aren’t producing enough smart people amongst the Elite, then we had better get on with real Democracy, so we’ll have some chance of surviving.
Get Tough @ 217
I must have missed something. Who are we disobeying?
I’m an American citizen. I’m free (at least in theory). I don’t recall ever being told to do something (or told NOT to do something), so who is this *authority* you’re pointing to?
“We the People” are the sole authority of this country.
Actually, Thoreau DID get arrested for a cause. He refused to pay taxes which went to support the Mexican-American war and he spent time in jail over that.
The problem is that “the Man” isn’t obeying us the way he should.