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Friday Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Fri Sep 16, 2005 at 04:35:26 AM EST
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Summer is definitely over. I have court at 8:30 and again at 2:00 and yet again at 3:30. On the plus-side, the weather in Denver is perfect, even driving from court to court is a pleasure and I have the best day job in the world. Also, my latest post is up on Huffington Post, and maybe TChris or Last Night in Little Rock will be around.

On the minus-side, I don't have a Blackberry or other means of posting when I'm away from my desk, so feel free to keep each other up-to-the-minute with news and your views. I'll be back tonight.

If you need something to get you started, check out Bill Maher, speaking to President Bush:

"On Your Watch, We've Lost Almost All Of Our Allies, The Surplus, Four Airliners, Two Trade Centers, A Piece Of The Pentagon And The City Of New Orleans”...

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    Friday Open Thread | 30 comments (30 topical)
    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#1)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    Giving embryos's the vote? Embryros?? Jeeze, Bill! Don't give Bush any ideas... huh? The only people who support him now are those without fully developed brains. If the Repungnantins can figure out how to sign up the unborn we're all lost! Tongue planted firmly in cheek

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#2)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    If I remember correctly Maher lost his last job by telling us that the cowardly terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 were brave, or something along those lines. Haven't watched him since. Won't watch him in the future. To heck with him.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#3)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    From Maher's rant.
    I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side.
    I agree. If Bush was in charge of AQ, they would have self-destructed by now through mis-management.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    Jim: I know you have a sense of humor well hidden under that rhino hide! I know you do... ;-) Have a good friday! What the hell, you might as well! NO point in having a bad one, right?

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#5)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    well, wait a minute here! to be fair, they weren't all bush's fault. hmmmm, ok, as i think about it, um, i guess they were. on the plus side, he's gotten rid of one heck of a lot of brush on the pseudo-ranch in crawford!

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    (9/16)Toon of the Day:KARL F*ING ROVE ?

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    Shorter PPJ: "He isn't worth anything because he got fired once, and he's MEEEEEEEEEEAN to my sacred, beloved leader who nose I'm not worthy to pick." What he said, PPJ, was that it wasn't cowardly of the terrorists to die in their mission, but that it is cowardly to shoot missles from a distance that makes retaliation impossible by the other side. Bravery isn't a moral virtue as such(if bravery is the opposite of cowardice), if you think about it. Was the Clanton bunch brave because they didn't run away from Earp and his men at the "Shootout near the OK corral"? Of course, it's funny how PPJ can't address the truth or falsity of Maher's remarks, then and now. Thanks for the laugh, PPJ. edger: PPJ reminds me of some of this quote:
    "Mac, I knowed long ago thot the milk of human kindness hed curdled in yez. An' yez hev no brains."
    Link

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#8)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    Maher gets in some good rants here and there. But I think he's still a moderate. I mean the other day it was Anderson Cooper on RT and Kurt Vonnegut on TDS. Come on. And TDS is on basic cable. Another reason why HBO sucks.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    You all still think Bush is responsible for 9/11, 7 months after becoming president, a storm coming to NO,and the preperation that came before, and holding your dear democrat leaders in local and state government hands to tell them to evacuate their own city, because they are not smart enough to see a cat 5 hurricane coming and say hmm we are all going to die what should I do. Oh yeah you dont agree with killing the people who want to kill you and live only to die killing you, and they fine tuned this after Billy boy was president that odd the president of love and lobbing missiles and then turning tale and running.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#10)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    Wow, I vote tanderson the first Bulwer-Lytton Contest nominee of the year;-)

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    Bush’s prime-time "Katrina Comeback" address was designed to help him, and not the Gulf States, recover from his administration’s disastrous bungling of the Katrina response. He turned to the same old page in his political playbook: offer to shower money on the devastated South, but hold no one accountable for the past and shun independent oversight of the rebuilding. Truest to form, the Free Lunch President refused to ask the American people to pay for it. For the full story, see: "Bush's Katrina Cop Out"

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#12)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    check out Hunter's rant at daily kos. It would be more funny if it were not true. Spot on. Here is a bit:
    That's it. I'm done. You might as well kill me now, because it's the Apocalypse. All life on this planet is no doubt mere days away from coming to an end, because really -- mankind couldn't possibly get any stupider. Not possible.
    Hunter

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#13)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:53 PM EST
    Tanderson: ..and they fine tuned this after Billy boy was president that odd the president of love and lobbing missiles and then turning tale and running. embryos ?? :)

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#14)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Squeaky: From Hunter: ..reflect back on how great the universe was, back when it actually existed.. Ok, Fine... ;)

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#15)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:54 PM EST
    Tanderson, as a recon marine, i'll just say that we never lobbed missiles and tucked tail.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#16)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    Jim buys into the idea that unless you parrot GOP Talking Points exactly, you are unpatriotic. That is the only explanation for his absurd comment on this thread. To call these suicide bombers "cowards" is to profoundly misunderstand the horrific gravity of what they did, and it is also a mindset that opens the door to foreign policy blunders like Iraq. Maher never expressed anything but outrage at what those murderers did to our, and his, people. He is a decent human being but, because he's intelligent and unafraid to ask questions, draws the ire of neocons everywhere. 9/11 hijackers: Despicable Murderers, yes, absolutement. Cowards, no. Look, Fred Phelps is many loathsome things, and whatever sufferings/humiliations that greet him in this life will be too few, and far toolenient. But one cannot but admit that it takes cahones to protest a military burial in the United States. Phelps is an idiot, he's a bigot, he's arguably the worst we have to offer as a society, but he's not a coward.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#17)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    Nice analogy Glanton...nail on the head. You can be brave in the cause of evil just as easily as in the cause of righteousness.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#18)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    Glan-Actually Phelps was a no show at his last protest because an angry mob was ready for him. He is brave except when there is a chance of him getting the sh*t knocked out of him.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:55 PM EST
    Apropos of the HuffPost, they've adopted a new, more restrictive comments policy. It's almost as bad as the nofollow tags used by this site and others. If you leave comments at HuffPost or here, you should read that post. You're basically working for free: building search-engine-friendly content and not even getting a link out of it. Also, Arianna Huffington and Al Gore were spotted being driven in massive Sierra Club-provided SUVs.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    Sailor:
    Wow, I vote tanderson the first Bulwer-Lytton Contest nominee of the year;-)
    Thank you sailor! Very apt. BTW, I heard Maher's comments last night and he was very funny too.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#21)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    billmon has a breakdown of the inner workings of political welare. The blame game only can go in one direction with the Chimperor and that is down.
    The man who has issued many critical reports about the mismanagement and security flaws at the Department of Homeland Security was told Wednesday night that he was out of a job.
    All the rest are success stories, pretty much. A good read, shortish w/links. billmon

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#22)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:56 PM EST
    Bush voter gets Patriot Act payback, possibly 30 years worth.
    Banach, a Republican who voted for President Bush, has become a poster boy for alleged government misuse of the Patriot Act.
    link via robot wisdom

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#23)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:57 PM EST
    glanton - Maher is,supposedly, an entertainer. That remark cost him a pretty good, and put a huge crimp in his career. He deserved it.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#24)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:57 PM EST
    ppj-Maher seems to be doing very well these days, do you have evidence that his financial situation is any less than great. He sure is popular. from wikipedia
    Although some pundits, including conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh [1], supported Maher, pointing out the distinction between physical and moral cowardice, companies including FedEx and Sears Roebuck pulled their advertisements from the show, costing the show more than it returned. The show was subsequently cancelled on June 16, 2002. On June 22, 2002, six days after the cancellation of Politically Incorrect, Maher received the President's Award (for "championing free speech") from the Los Angeles Press Club.... In late May 2005, Alabama Congressman Spencer Bachus sent a letter to Time Warner's board of directors requesting Real Time be cancelled due to remarks Maher made about low military recruiting numbers on the May 13, 2005, episode which Bachus felt were demeaning to the military and in bad taste. Maher's comment was "More people joined the Michael Jackson fan club. We've done picked all the low-lying Lynndie England fruit, and now we need warm bodies." Maher responded by reiterating his support for the troops and asking why the Congressman criticized him instead of actually doing something about the problem.
    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#25)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:57 PM EST
    Sorry, Jim, this is neither FNC or Rush's Open Mike Friday. Here, people can go back and read: 1)What you inititally said about Maher; and then 2)My response, which defended his comment substantively; and then finally 3)Your response to that, which simply ignored what I wrote and instead attacked Maher's remark again without saying why. Bottom line: Those who murdered our countrymen, Maher condemned, but to call them cowards is just plain stupid, even more stupid than saying "They hate us for our freedom." Plus, we got the benefit of watching Squeaky nail you yet again, which really never gets old. Real Time, only in its infant stages, is a highly successful program right now and only promises to pull in bigger and bigger audiences in the future. It is smart, it is funny, and its panels always bring together dynamic and articulate figures who represent several perspectives on issues.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#26)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:58 PM EST
    Squeaky, I just read your post about Phelps: point taken, perhaps Phelps is a coward as well, though the fact that he does it at all would seem to bring a certain amount of risk.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#27)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:58 PM EST
    Glanton-Phelps by all accounts is just plain nuts. I do not think his actions are reasoned so brave does not apply. Fred Phelps' website

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#28)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:58 PM EST
    Wow. I'd never actually been to his website before. The language actually reminds me of one of my favorite novles, Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg.

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#29)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:58 PM EST
    glan-I will check it and get back to you. it is online: Confessions of a Justified Sinner

    Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0) (#31)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:58 PM EST
    PPJ-"Law, honey, ain't I tell you 'bout dat?" replied the old darkey, chuckling slyly. "I 'clar ter grashus I ought er tole you dat, but ole man Nod wuz ridin' on my eyelids twel a leetle mo'n I'd a dis'member'd my own name, en den on to dat here come yo' mammy hollerin' atter you. PPJ, you are clever as a Brer Fox. "'I don't keer w'at you do wid me, Brer Fox,' sezee, 'so you don't fling me in dat brier-patch." Maher is laughing all the way to the bank, and we are laughing wit em. link Hat tip to DA

    Friday Open Thread | 30 comments (30 topical)