Quiet night in the blogoverse.

Indeed.

Yo ES, too quiet.

I’ve got the dishes done and everything else put away ‘cepting for this cake I have to frost. Has to cool down, so I’ll get loud for a while, mkay? :)

Gabby Young and The Other Animals – gotta love the presentation

Hey, What kind of cake?

Sitting here with a glass of wine basking in the light of a roaring fire. It’s unofficially the first (cold) night of winter in my neck of the woods… though we averted our first promise of snow.

I made my fourth annual English fruit cake, and am dousing it with Famous Grouse. Still have three weeks to douse!

It’s a wonderful video.

Did you guys know, Politico did a big piece on Jane? Aravosis has a snip on his front page, and the full article is here:

Hamsher Leads Left Away from WH

Chocolate; it’s a birthday cake for belch’s brother Eric. Made the frosting already. It’s chocolate too, with some orange zest and Grand Marnier in it.

My people are chocolate FREAKS lemme tell you.

O good LARD, yer a glutton for punishment ain’t ya? [grins]

Jane and Glenn covered all the bases – fundraising the Veal Pen, the bullshit avoided by simply not genuflecting to the powerful…
On balance, nice piece.

So am I… Though these days I opt for a little good chocolate.. Lindt makes a good one with orange in it.

I fraking hate politico.

This is really great fruitcake — my pal Marsha and I double the recipe. Five pounds of fruit and nuts…and so on. I’ve used rum, light and dark. But now I love Scotch for it. My 85 year-old mum loves this.

I thought so too… any reminder Rahm has a thorn in his left side is fine by me.

I never read it without major prompting (link) from someone I trust.

And paints a big target on the players. Again, the most important part of the piece for me was the flat and irrefutable insistence on NOT playing the same game as those ‘trapped’ in the pens. They are there out of weakness, and it’s not about keeping the goals in front of you, but by having the right goals in the first place.

Al Jazeera is the only place i found an attempted report on war protests after last nights speech..

The protesters spent most of the night in a bar. /s

Hey ES and all,

Probably just a drive-by. This is an extremely late reply to your question last week regarding Rare Visions and Roadside Revelations. It is a TV show produced by KCPT (Kansas City Public Television) and distributed to PBS stations. I don’t think it is still in production. Kind of a folksy show featuring three guys from KCPT who drive around the country looking for outsider art. There are a few videos available at YouTube.

None of the segments I would really like to see again are at YouTube but this one is worth checking out, although it leans more toward craft than art.

Agreed… It’s a new day.. What are you doing now.. and what will be done now or in the very near future if I contribute time or money to the cause.

@newtonusr I thought so too, except it paints the bullseye on her for later when there’s a WH fail and Rahm get’s all flipped out a-la “Are you fucking STOOPID?!?”

@ES I know that stuff! It’s yummy. Didja ever have one of these? Guilty pleasure at Chrimmistime for me.

@spocko You’re a Vulcan, so you are naturally disgusted by Politico. That’s logical.

@CE Love you to pieces, but you can’t sell me on a “really great” fruitcake. Uh uh. Nope. ;]

From the Politico piece…

“What makes Jane so unique is that she not only lacks a need for Beltway access, but she affirmatively disdains it. She doesn’t need Rahm Emanuel to approve of what she’s doing,” said Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald, another independent on the left and frequent White House critic, in an email.

Thanks ratfood.. I watch quite a bit of PBs… must not have aired on Springfield, MO station (closest to me in NW Arkansas)… which is not surprising.

I’ll keep trying until forever.

[waving at r-food!]

It makes me wonder – how many entities (like NARAL and Planned Parenthood national) can be brought back into advocacy roles, pried away from the pernicious money-grabbers they have evolved into. They had missions once, and were lured away. Surely it didn’t happened solely because of a lack of character on the part of their progenitors. There has to be a way to refocus them.

That post by masaccio the other day.. on Robert Wood charitable trust, may explain much of it… They (the big manipulative donors) simply pay large chunks of money for them to become ineffective.

It might yet make it to your station. Maybe let them know if you’re interested.

Bonne nuit!

Waving back (look, no hands!). :-)

Niters CE…

There has to be a way to refocus them.

Yep – and one of the ways besides money is called “Shame.”

People who are being shamed really change their behavior. They get all squirmy and shit because they know they are not doing the right thing, and that’s why they FEEL the shame.

That’s one good thing about the Politico article. “Veal Pen” shall become coin of the blog-realm, and when Rahm or whoever else goes apeshit on her, Politico will have handed her both her defense as well as the bullseye on here.

g’nite CE

I’ll send an email. If it’s no longer in production… probably not much chance.

Nighters CE!

Assuming they are capable of feeling shame.

Yes, that piece is what I had in mind.
Admittedly, groups like this can’t survive on $10 and $20 donations. The media climate so polluted that it’s hard to know if they can be threatened by those they purport to lobby for.
And worse, perhaps only a calamity will shake those supposedly being lobbied for into recognition that these groups Do.Not.Have.Their.Backs.

This ending is suggestive of new beginnings…

“Are we on the same side?” she asked. “They’re on the side of the Democratic Party. We’re an independent political force.”

They ARE!

They often, scratch that USUALLY have giant blustering egos, like Eshoo does. But yowza, look how Eshoo bristled! She wouldn’t have done that if she hadn’t felt shamed.

They masquerade it as outrage or pouting and such. But it was shame. They hate to be pricked like that, so prick them ye must! Prick prick prick!

I can’t tell if it’s still in production but at the very least there are several seasons already available to stations who elect to buy the package. Since the show is (mostly) about art it never really becomes dated.

I am all for shame, and heaps of it.
But I redirect you to: Senator John Ensign, Senator David Vitter, Gov. Mark Sanford. Gov. Sarah Palin, and a big room fulla those who read that Rove Manual on taking-blame-for-shit-and-throwing-it-back-in-the-faces-of-your-accusers school…

Way too often, this miscreants survive because they are bold, and without shame. It is a skill that can be learned, and taught.

I noticed a substantially different reply a couple of weeks ago.. on small blogs when I mentioned the fact NARAL was not a good place to contribute if one were upset with passage of Stupak. Several people agreed and said so. That would not have happened at all a year ago.

Even folks I would have never guessed were up to speed… mentioned “the veal pen” this week.

It’s changing… slowly. We are on the tip (we are the tip), so it feels slowest to us.

I guess you and ES do have a point.

Humans feel shame.
Psychopaths don’t, and in fact, can’t.

Did the squirrels get into your stock pot? More importantly, did you get the lid back on before they got out?

I prefer beef or chicken myself…

Squirrel stock! Mmmmm Mm good. /s

Actually squirrel makes a fine gravy.

Sociopaths can’t. Psychopaths might.

Well, well. I’m sure you’re right – a year ago most “liberals” would have looked at you like you were nuts. Apparently some are actually paying attention.

Kelly, did you have a group already up and running when signed up for Choice calling today?

I bet I will have to join a group far from my area… which is fine.

Yup.

I don’t even think they are psychopaths.
I think they are not in public service FOR public service, but for riches and cred.

Who thinks Mark Sanford or Sarah Palin have the nad to actually do their jobs? Or the brains? What I think they are are is students of that school, and when threatened, they are thrown a survival raft – this is what the raft looks like.

Like Ensign’s defense,or Sanford’s, or Palin’s – get in the face of your detractors and make people think that accusations are without merit, because: Who else would be so publicly redirective of accusations, but the innocent? Who would say something so inflammatory in the face of such obvious criminality or malfeasance, except someone wrongly accused?

Look! Look! My outrage is bigger than yours!

Ahhhhh, that explains the unusual plague-ery of trolls today.

Squirrel Free! [so far] Heh, I was just out there checking it.

Right-o you are! Got may psych-babble mixed. But you know what I mean.

No, they’re aren’t any in the Front Range. I really thought there’d be one in Boulder.

Tastes JUST Like Possum!!

Oooops, Just read an email… We need to own microsoft exel for phone banking… Geez.

I wish it were unusual. BT’s afternoon thread often draws them like flies.

Just read the Politico article. I suppose it’s okay in a bland Politico sort of way. The following sentence struck me.

She’s a frenetic operator of the mainstream media, the blogs, and the email lists that power semi-official Washington.

“Frenetic” is a very odd choice of adjective, since it implies a sort of mental instability/hyperactivity. From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: fre·net·ic

Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English frenetik insane, from Anglo-French, from Latin phreneticus, modification of Greek phrenitikos, from phrenitis inflammation of the brain, from phren-, phrēn diaphragm, mind
Date: 14th century

: frenzied, frantic

Think I’ll head out. Splendid evening to all.

Heh! The damn Flying W! You ever been there?

Night ratfood.

You can convert from Excel to the google spreadsheet app. See here:

http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=50092

Then you can just e-mail Marta or whoever the link to your results.

We have a cafe in ES (Road Kill Cafe) which serves possum.. I kid you not.

Very nice,Kelly!
Make sure you blast that out all over the place!

Oh.. we should toss that link in a few Marta threads over the next few days/weeks.

I owe ya a coke…)

The Politico does suck in their obvious anti-progressive bias…

But Hamsher’s sharp elbows haven’t prevented her from being a central, and effective, player on the left, with a distinct agenda: To reclaim the “narrative of discontent” from Tea Party activists and other conservatives who have seized it from a neutered progressive movement.

Steeping in their snooty access-binged stupor, they overlook what has changed since the ReBushLickens were run out of town on a rail. They conveniently forget that this is the sort of crap FDL has been fighting from the get-go…

Vice President’s Office Keeps Travel Expenses Under Wraps

“The Office of the Vice President is not an ‘agency of the executive branch,’ and hence the reporting requirement does not apply,” wrote Addington, who this month replaced I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby as Cheney’s chief of staff.

Things are dicey, sure, but there has been progress. You wouldn’t know it by reading the Pool-Boy Gazette.

@ES & @ Newtonusr

I’ll send Jane a note about this. A lot of people won’t have Excel, and we don’t want to turn anybody off from doing the phone banking.

In fact, they should probably use google docs, and let people work in Excel IF they have it and want to!

Nope. It’s famous on Youtube, though.

I hear that Possum Song on a bluegrass/newgrass stream I favor, love it.

That’s a bad recording with all the laughing and such, but hey, it’s the song.

How’s the foodie trials, you got it handled so far?

N if the STOCK POT goes outside, then you can grill, too.

Primary Blanche Lincoln

http://twitter.com/primaryblanche

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Primary-Blanche-Lincoln/165928034841?v=wall

G’nite, ratfood.

Did you read any of the comments? I should have known better – but it was, um, interesting?, to see how misogynistic and sexually hostile so many of them were. And at least one of our trolls used the same posting name there to make a really nasty comment.

De-pressing.

Hi person… welcome.

ES, is there a Primary Ben Nelson organization yet?

I swear that man is just demonstrating that he is really a Republican every time he opens his mouth.

So far, so good. They all start showing up tomorrow, and I am ready!

I’m just pooped though.

He’s really mad these days isn’t he? But there are a dozen D senators just like him.

If you start a primary Ben nelson group on fb and twitter… I’ll join!

In fact, I better go to bed.

Cheers to all you good people! I’ll be back on the air in a couple days; Sunday, maybe Monday.

Keep the Torches Lit and your Pitchforks Sharp and at the ready!

Nite Kelly… save some cake for meee.

nite kelly
nite pups

We got his address, right, didn’t we?
Party starts tomorrow, his place!

*G*

That boy’s havin too much fun, dang it . . .

Well, time for me to step away, also . .

Nite ES, thanks for all you do . . . nite Pups one and all . . .

Um, not wanting to sound like an elderly dinosaur, but I don’t have a FB account. I recently signed up for Twitter, but don’t have a modern phone, and don’t entirely understand how to follow, let alone all the other stuff.

As for twttering myself, I’m unemployed, spending my days on the web, cleaning house, trying to figure out how to get unemployed – nothing at all to tweet about myself.

I’ve actually been meaning to set up FB, but haven’t gotten around to it. Afraid it’ll be like my LinkedIn page – not a single connection. (everyone I look up to connect with isn’t on LinkedIn. Suspect many have retired, or are so close they don’t need LinkedIn. Sigh. I feel old.)

I think this is a key question. It’s not just about money it’s about maintaining power.

The behavior that they believe keeps them in power might not be the same behavior that moves them closer to their goal.But if the goal is really huge and abstract well the “You can’t win ‘em all” attitude and “keep your powder dry” attitude can become part of how the people running the groups maintain their balance. I’ve seen this in lots of non-profit groups. My friend who ran one said that non-profits attracted “saints and crazies” at first and when they become big and established they change, more professional, but less saintly and less crazy.

LOL. I don’t even know what linkln is. Don’t fret… you will join those other things if and when the time is right. If I were you I would definitely do fb first since quite a few firedogs are on it…. and chat and stuff.

Hope you find some employment though.

Here is something fun I wrote based on listening to “The Giant Pool of Money” show on This American Life.

We need a new bubble.

I’m going to do my part and suggest a new class of assets to build on, commoditize and then leverage it 30-1 to sell off to investors in the giant pool of money. (Of course commeditizing is funnier, but I digress)

WingNuts on Welfare Celebrities Index Fund or WOWCIF.

First, you should know that the math behind this is VERY VERY complicated and can’t be understood by humans. Vulcans created these and they are like 390 years ahead of humans in math. This will ensure that no one questions them, just like the CDSs.

The underlying assets in the WOWCIF are KNOWN producers. But the best part of this is that the producers can never fail. Even if they work hard to fail, like getting arrested for “doctor shopping” or taking so many drugs they lose their hearing, they are constantly propped up! As my friends in the UK might say, “They are safe as houses” (or at least the payments for the houses).

We would assemble all the WingNut welfare celebrities and package them to sell to Wall Street and the people running the Giant Pool of Money. We put some A list WingNut celebrities in the package with a bunch of B and C listers. Since even the lamest celebrities from the AEI and the Heritage Foundation are on TV and writing best selling books, there is a pretty big supply of these folks.

The very best part of this scheme is that like housing prices, these people’s careers always go up. They are the definition of failing up.

The rest is here.

Thanks. LinkedIn is specifically professional connections and job-oriented; if you’re not looking to move up or get clients or find a better job, you don’t really need it. doubtless why so few of my age cohort on it.
Did find an ex-bf from 20+ years ago – prob’ly because he was running for judge this fall. Too weird to contact him, though.

I know, I gotta do facebook – every time I’m about to, FB management does some outrageous breach of privacy and I back off again.
But at least, if firedogs will “friend” me, it won’t look as empty as my LinkedIn, huh?
And with that, I gotta go to bed. The perfect job may be unearthed tomorrow, right?
G’nite, all!

I’ll second the employment deal. Sometimes you can wait long enough to skip over a tech fad. I skipped GeoCities and MySpace.
I have a FB page but visit often.
Use what you like.

Ooh – thanks, spocko – also, I notice a typo – meant to say, trying to get un-unemployed.
Definitely bedtime for reals.

Excellent.

Absolutely.. Good night and good luck..)

Think I will turn in as well.

Good night firedogs.

I actually based the WOWCIF on the exact same premise as some of the financial instruments (based on the descriptions of them from the excellent This American Life show, the giant pool of money and the recent revisiting of it.

Of course it seems silly but then again think about it. The wingnuts have their own economy that rewards people based on their ability to push an idea. And even when normal people aren’t buying the ideas someone will pay them well to keep pushing them. It is a perfect bubble machine self referential and filled with liars who will do or say what their backers want.