Hello from up here.

I’m in northern Michigan again, with very unreliable wi-fi and all the rest of it. But I have enough to tell you I heard the news of today’s SCOTUS decisions entirely via Christian/talk radio, and may I just say: Boy, that was different. If you are, like me, pretty much all-NPR-all-the-time, you should give it a try sometime.

Their take: It’s the end of the world as we know it. If I were a Secret Service agent, my hair would be gray by now. The focused hatred of the president is hard to fathom. Also: Alex Jones makes Glenn Beck sound like Eric Sevareid.

Back when I can be back.

On edit from McDonald’s wifi: I’m having a problem in which all comments, even from trusted regulars, are going to moderation. (And the obvious spam is not being auto-spammed.) Might be a delay or two in today’s discussion, but I’ll keep up as I can.

Posted at 12:30 am in Current events |
 

72 responses to “Hello from up here.”

  1. David C. said on June 27, 2013 at 12:20 am

    I worked at a place that had Christian radio on all the time. It’s a funny old alternate universe they have there – one where they speak English, but the words seem to have different meanings. The only way I was able to keep my sanity was to think of myself as a sort of Margaret Mead character studying an unfamiliar tribe.

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  2. Brandon said on June 27, 2013 at 12:39 am

    We used to have Rush on the radio until last year, when the Hilo station pulled his show for his Sandra Fluke comments. But I listened to him today on a Honolulu station carried by digital cable. What particular programs did you listen to?

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  3. coozledad said on June 27, 2013 at 12:40 am

    They’d hate the president if he was white, if he also happened to be a Dem. Anybody who deters the hair gel class from its vast Amway bible humpathon, really.

    Guess Rick Perry’s going to get one of them seven thousand dollar Rolexes, too. Wonder what they’ll etch on the back- ” To Cookiepants. For all the leather masks we didn’t have to buy you.“?

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  4. Kim said on June 27, 2013 at 12:46 am

    Hoo boy, I am with you on the Christian talk radio, which I turned to yesterday on the drive from SC home. (I found the NPR coverage very meh, too repetitive.) Strong was the temptation to phone in to say, ya know, if the Roman Catholic church’s turning a blind eye to pedophilia and even enabling it (see the recent Chi Trib stories on the safe haven for known sex offender priests) didn’t cause the world to end this won’t do it either.

    Scary, though, how the Christians hold Obama accountable.

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  5. Suzanne said on June 27, 2013 at 12:58 am

    I have a very eclectic group of Facebook friends and this DOMA ruling has made for equally eclectic comments. The religious among them were moaning and praying, the progressives were cheering. One very, very conservative friend, though, surprised me by being happy that her son, if he finds that special someone, could now be recognized as married. I guess when it hits home…

    I used to listen to talk radio fairly often until the commentators started veering more and more into lunacy. Sadly, though, many of my very religious friends and family members listen to absolutely nothing else (everybody else tells lies, you know) and so have no sense of any other view but their own, which is sponsored by the fine advertisers on talk radio.

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  6. nancy said on June 27, 2013 at 1:12 am

    I’m not sure who-all I was hearing yesterday, as many went long minutes between IDs. The first group were locals, I think, who called themselves “Your Steadfast Fathers,” or some such. Then Alex Jones, who is simply nuts. The ads on his show were all for Miracle Cures the FDA Doesn’t Want You to Know About, or How to Protect Yourself Against the Government’s Superbugs, or Stock Up on Enough Food to Keep You Through the Coming Instability, etc.

    And always, on all shows, the constant drumbeat of hatred for the president, or as they called him, “Barack Hussein Obama, Muslim Communist.”

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  7. Mark P said on June 27, 2013 at 1:46 am

    cooz, they would hate the President if he were white, but not as much as they do because he’s black. And the fact that he’s way smarter than them really makes it burn.

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  8. alex said on June 27, 2013 at 1:49 am

    And these people whine about their free speech rights being trampled? They’re abusing those very rights in the extreme.

    So far I haven’t heard anyone going off about yesterday’s decisions other than our local congressman, Stutz the Putz, who echoed La Bachmann’s incoherent screed about how the Court has usurped God’s powers because only God can grant marriage. We had an opportunity to elect someone of intelligence and good will to replace the embarrassment that was Congressman Mark (doin’ it in the park) Souder, and here we get stuck with a dweeb who makes that fool look like Albert Einstein by comparison.

    While I’m glad that things went the way they did, I’m disheartened at the prospect of spending my future in a state where elected officials will be actively agitating against my interests for the foreseeable future. It’s enough to make me want to leave and never come back, even though I love my home and family and friends here.

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  9. beb said on June 27, 2013 at 1:55 am

    I avoid listen to talk radio of all varieties but especially conservative ones and the religious one. I don’t think Jesus intended for Christians to hawk their wares on radio, or go door to door and all that. I’m not even sure what he thought about going to church since that was pretty ostentatious for a guy who said we ought to close ourselves up in a to pray…

    Contra Coolezedad, I think the right is especially motivated in their hatred of Pres. Obama be because he’s black. If he were white they’d be making stuff up about womanizing, or using drugs or being a prick, or something. That he’s black short-circuits them straight to the Id-monster.

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  10. BigHank53 said on June 27, 2013 at 2:18 am

    I listened to a fair amount of Christian talk radio the last time I was in Texas. The locals in Waco were congratulating themselves for keeping Planned Parenthood out of the city, even though the organization had promised to never perform abortions at the potential clinic site. (Dallas is only about ninety minutes away.) I surprised none of the men (and it was only men) on the radio sprained anything, given how hard they were patting themselves on the back.

    I also passed through West, three days before that fertilizer plant blew up, demonstrating that Texas seem to be pretty keen on keeping all varieties of health and safety far, far away from its citizenry.

    I’ve run out of patience with jeezus-squeezers who keep sniffing for brimstone ’cause they can’t wait for the End Times. It’s another escapist fantasy for people who are unable or unwilling to deal with today’s real problems. I’ve nothing against self-indulgent wankery, having engaged in years of it myself, but I never asked for any constitutional amendments to make me feel better about it.

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  11. coozledad said on June 27, 2013 at 2:43 am

    Yeah, the blackness definitely put the icing on the hate cake. That and Obama’s the product of miscegenatin’ academic types.
    But a white would have caught something similar, because he or she wouldn’t have been a member of the tribe. Clinton was always black to them.
    The Republicans I talked to during the Clinton years openly wished for a Bush monarchy (although they referred to it as a dynasty).

    They don’t have the vaguest idea of democracy, constitutional government, history, or their own hideous, misshapen selves. It’s a life in utter darkness, a mole rat’s nest of ouroboric ass-sucking.

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  12. Deborah said on June 27, 2013 at 2:56 am

    I used to be fairly religious, but I don’t remember it being as hate filled as it is now. I never listened to Christian talk radio, no one I knew back then did either. My ex and my former inlaws, my sister too have turned into raving maniacs about abortion, gays, Obama, the Democrats, Muslims etc. It’s all out of proportion now. I’m so glad I’m not in that world. I’d have killed myself if I’d had to stay there.

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  13. Mark P said on June 27, 2013 at 3:06 am

    What I don’t understand about some Christians is how they can so easily ignore the teachings of the person they consider to be a god. Didn’t Jesus say that the entire law and prophets boils down to love god and love your fellow man as you love yourself? Oh, wait a minute. Now I understand. Those haters are filled with self hate, so they *are* loving others as they love themselves.

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  14. brian stouder said on June 27, 2013 at 3:15 am

    You know, one thing I really don’t believe in anymore is the idea of genuine “human progress”.

    Our kind has a mean-streak that cannot be refined. Different societies default into accepting whatever degree of cruelty (often dressed up as “culture” or “tradition”) as their ‘normal’, and then only very grudgingly move off of it, and even then lament ‘the old days’ (see Paula Deen).

    They don’t have the vaguest idea of democracy, constitutional government, history, or their own hideous, misshapen selves

    I don’t think a truer statement could be made; Oxy-Rush and Shit-for-brains-Sean (et al) never doubt for a second that the “the Constitution” (for example) always agrees with every prejudice they have, every day, period.

    Our local lip flapper had some pastor as his guest, and by the time I got from work to home, they had concluded that this was really and truly The End (think Jim Morrison).

    Their concept of “liberty” never seems to include just letting people be.

    (by way of saying, I believe I understand the discomfort Alex has expressed, especially with regard to the camera crew that stopped him on the sidewalk)

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  15. Judybusy said on June 27, 2013 at 3:19 am

    Well, in other news, I’m just filled with joy for a whole ‘nother reason: my wife passed her nursing board test!

    I think I’ve said this previously, but a huge reason we won marriage equality in MN was the coalition of religious leaders and the conversations we had with voters. There were specific phone banks for Catholic and Lutheran outreach. The Jewish community was also very engaged. At the rallies, it was primarily religious leaders speaking! Also, most of my gay and lesbian friends are active in one church or another.

    Now, onto fighting for expansion of marriage equality, the protection of voting rights, anti-bullying, anti-poverty work etc, etc!

    Alex, if you ever seriously consider moving, the Twin Cities are amazing. If you ever want to dip your toes, get in touch via Nancy and I’ll happily squire you about!

    Wow. There are many exclamation marks in this. I’m leaving them, because I’m just that happy.

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  16. Julie Robinson said on June 27, 2013 at 3:28 am

    This Christian is thrilled by the decision because God’s love has no limits. And I never, ever listen to so-called “Christian” talk radio. If it spews hate, it’s not Christian. The end.

    We’re in Dearborn now with the family for Sarah’s ordination. They want to go to Belle Isle. I’m trying to lower their expectations.

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  17. Julie Robinson said on June 27, 2013 at 3:29 am

    And congratulations Judy, to your wife!

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  18. adrianne said on June 27, 2013 at 3:30 am

    Best reaction on the marriage equality news, after La Bachmann hyperventilated about it:

    “Who cares?” said Nancy Pelosi, to laughter.

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  19. Jolene said on June 27, 2013 at 4:23 am

    I’ve said before, here and in other forums, that I’m mystified by the demonization of Barack Obama. He’s such a middle-of-the-road normal good guy–faithful husband, engaged father, sports fan, smart, well-educated. You have to really work hard to come up with any evidence to justify the fantastic claims people make about him.

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  20. Jolene said on June 27, 2013 at 4:31 am

    Am writing from my easy chair in the Infusion Clinic. Second chemo treatment running in. Takes several hours, so, all in all, a boring day. Have lost almost all my hair, but am not finding my status as a bald person nearly as traumatic as I thought it might be.

    I feel very lucky, actually. Saw my doctor yesterday, and she said that, one I’ve completed the chemo/ radiation regimen, I’ll have a less than 10% chance of recurrence. Meanwhile, there’s a 45-year-old mother in the chair next to me who’s been in treatment for colon cancer for nearly a year. Life is a decidedly mixed bag.

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  21. Deborah said on June 27, 2013 at 4:55 am

    Good for you Jolene, great attitude. Thinking of you.

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  22. Deborah said on June 27, 2013 at 4:56 am

    And Judy Busy congrats to your wife! With an exclamation point!

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  23. brian stouder said on June 27, 2013 at 5:24 am

    Jolene, as a bald guy, I had the luxury of balding incrementally instead of all at once; and it could not have been pleasant to deal with such a change all at once.

    Still, I’ve no doubt that you’re as beautiful as ever to all your people, with sparkling eyes and 87 things to talk about.

    Aside from hope and optimism, you KNEW this was coming, right?:

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/06/27/rand-paul-bestiality-comment-sarcasm-office-says/?hpt=hp_t2

    In a Rand Paul interview conducted by Glen Beck, the moronic Mormon heads right for polygamy, because – of course! ….

    Sen. Rand Paul’s criticism of Wednesday’s same-sex marriage ruling, which included a rhetorical question about bestiality eventually being made legal, was sarcasm, the Kentucky Republican’s office says. Speaking to conservative radio host Glenn Beck, Paul delved into the question of whether or not lawmakers should imbue legislation with their own morals. Beck set up the statement by wondering whether the court’s ruling – which found a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional – could logically lead to polygamy becoming legal.

    But where does Rand Paul head? Why, being a good Libertarian shepherd, he heads right for the herd, eh?

    “This is a conundrum, and it gets back to what you were saying …whether or not churches should decide this,” Paul said. “And it is difficult, because if we have no laws on this, people take it to one extension further. Does it have to be humans?”

    People say all sorts of silly-assed things, but this man is a United States Senator….he has one of only 100 votes – and therefore what he thinks is enormously consequential. And any minute now, one of my Indiana elected officials will upstage him

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  24. coozledad said on June 27, 2013 at 5:55 am

    Brian: An anarcho-capitalist pussywander will always fuck that chicken, given a dark corner and a little lard.
    Makes you wonder what rush was like at that hairpiece’s frat.

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  25. Prospero said on June 27, 2013 at 5:55 am

    States that choose to nullify Article IV, Section 1, Full Faith and Credit Clause should not be given a chance to secede, they should be kicked out. That bit of the Constitution is the basis for there being a United States of America at all. If you deny its clear intention and legal standing, you are not a valid part of the United States. GOPers since Nixon have alleged a belief in Fedeeralism. Without adherence to Article IV, Section 1, there is no valid federation. Even Thomas and the Scalito gang can’t finesse a way around the direct and specific language of the Constitution in this regard. The Section is utterly unambiguous.

    Maintenant Jolene.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1f3zk-sUnE

    Torn between Mouskouri and Baez versions, but no need to choose.

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  26. Charlotte said on June 27, 2013 at 6:13 am

    Hang in there Jolene — one thing that surprised my cousin when she went through chemo was that she lost *all* her hair, and the process itched! She called me laughing hysterically about furtively hiding in NYC doorways for while trying to alleviate said itch.

    Great blog, and blog post on the Paula Deen thing by a fascinating black, Jewish, gay, Southern food historian: http://afroculinaria.com/2013/06/25/an-open-letter-to-paula-deen/

    The Obama thing. Sigh. My mother, who fancies herself fallen aristocracy, dislikes Obama on these grounds: 1. he’s black, 2. he’s a black man, 3. he’s a black intellectual, 4. he’s an intellectual, 5. he’s an example of the meritocracy that she hates because, circle back not folks, she fancies herself fallen aristocracy. For her, it’s who you are, not what you do. As you can imagine, this is one of the things that makes our relationship so difficult.

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  27. Charlotte said on June 27, 2013 at 6:14 am

    That should have been “circle back now folks” …

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  28. beb said on June 27, 2013 at 6:19 am

    Jolene @19: To an extent I think the frenzy against Pres. Obama is precisely because it is so hard to find anything bad to say about him. In a way it’s like they way Rick Santorium and now Rand Paul responds to gay rights by talking about man-dog marriages. Where do they get this stuff? Probably because there’s nothing less radical to be said.

    Congrats to you do finishing up your chemo and to Judybusy’s wife for passing her licensing.

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  29. Prospero said on June 27, 2013 at 6:20 am

    Charlotte@26: That’s the Sidney Biddle Barrows argument. How dare they arrest somebody with Mayflower passengers for ancestors for something as sordid as pandering and procuring?

    The true Obama-haters are easily goaded into actually calling the President uppity, if they don’t strangle on their own bloated blue tongues first.

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  30. LAMary said on June 27, 2013 at 6:43 am

    The bestiality stuff was thrown around when laws forbidding interracial marriage were challenged, which was not all that long ago.

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  31. Mark P said on June 27, 2013 at 7:06 am

    That reminds me of my Latin teacher in high school. She was, or fancied herself, an aristocratic Southern lady. You could identify them because they pronounced the letter “r” as “ar-uh”. I don’t think you hear that much any more. Hopefully. She confided to her all white, all boy class one day how to identify someone with any black blood: look at the tongue; it will be blue. Sheesh. It makes my skin crawl to think about those days.

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  32. brian stouder said on June 27, 2013 at 7:20 am

    Roses are red;
    My tongue is blue;
    therefore – since we’re doin’ the prejudice thing – I must be hung like a gnu!

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  33. Prospero said on June 27, 2013 at 7:30 am

    Rand Paul is claiming today he didn’t suggest anything about interspecies marriage, and if he did and it offended anybody, he didn’t mean it. People are beginning to write seriously about this ahole running for President in 2016. He’s an admitted kidnapper, for God’s sake. Of course, so was Willard, and he impersonated a cop, not AquaBuddha to commit his crime. There are neither federal nor state statutes of limitations on kidnapping.

    Isn’t Leetle Rand’s fulminating against gay-marriage about as anti-libertarian as one could get? What say, AquaBuddha, how about kidnapping and rape of women by Gods? Rand probably went home and married his orbital sander after that kidnapping scheme failed to get him laid. Vile little weenie.

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  34. Dexter said on June 27, 2013 at 3:22 pm

    Cookie-cutter FM formats are boring, NPR solicits money from listeners then kicks huge percentages back to show hosts, and when Scott Simon’s super-sized salary was leaked some time back, that was it, except for Car Talk. I-Heart radio allows us to listen to many news and sports stations, but Sirius-XM is the way to go. Only costing about 6% of what I pay for cable internet + television, it’s a must-have commodity. It’s about 51 cents a day. Pennies.
    I record special talk shows from the XM boombox onto a little Olympus VN-7000 audio recorder, from Amazon, a refurbished one was just 19 bucks. Great entertainment and so cheap.

    On Sunday mornings if I am not quick on the clicker, I’ll see the start of a show featuring a guy named Jack Van Impe. He and his wife are a trip…she begins railing on Obama and in comes the old man a-thumpin’ that Bible like a madman. He has memorized the Good Book it appears, using varied scripture quotes to spew anti-human bigotry and hate. I dislike all those phony fuckers, and I shut off the TV as soon as possible when they appear.

    Yeah, it’s “Left” channel for me. Love the “Sexy Liberal”, Stephanie Miller. https://www.facebook.com/stephaniemillershow

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  35. brian stouder said on June 27, 2013 at 3:32 pm

    Ms Miller IS sexy;

    But, I’m still mad about Maddow!

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  36. Suzanne said on June 27, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    “And any minute now, one of my Indiana elected officials will upstage him”. Dang. That nearly made me dump the cat off my lap!

    And, sadly, as a fellow Hoosier, it is all too true.

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  37. brian stouder said on June 27, 2013 at 4:04 pm

    Well Suzanne, we KNEW one of ’em would, didn’t we?

    And it was just about right on schedule!

    http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/indiana/pence-defends-deleting-gay-marriage-comments

    two (completely unsurprising) excerpts, including the lead:

    INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is defending his staff’s decision to delete pro-gay marriage comments from his Facebook page that he says included personal attacks.

    And the (deserved) pie in the face, for our Bobby Knight-look-alike governor:

    A handful of gay marriage supporters had their comments struck from the governor’s Facebook page Wednesday and were blocked on Twitter. The comments were deleted shortly after the Republican governor said he would support adding Indiana’s gay marriage ban into the state constitution. However, screen shots provided by one of the commenters show one comment with no clear personal attacks was deleted as was another asking what economic impact Pence’s stance has on the state.

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  38. alex said on June 27, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    A handful? I just heard a little while ago that the pro-gay commenters were outnumbering the anti-gay commenters by about 12 to 1.

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  39. alex said on June 27, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    Well, well. Look who’s coming to darken our doorstep.

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  40. brian stouder said on June 27, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    Alex, wow.

    Y’know, I’d pay the $25 if it was her AND Lawrence O’Donnell (or some other credible counter).

    But – for jus her?

    Honestly, if it was free and they included food*, I think I’d still pass

    *this was the deal for the Harold Holzer lecture at the ACPL yesterday – free plus they feed ya! His flight was affected by weather, and he couldn’t make it, but we still got to see Ian Rolland and Sara Gabbard – who delivered a fine lecture herself

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  41. Sherri said on June 27, 2013 at 5:12 pm

    The Onion on Texas: http://www.theonion.com/articles/texas-abortion-opponents-to-cheer-selves-up-with-e,32973/

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  42. LAMary said on June 27, 2013 at 6:00 pm

    Jezebel has the video of Glenn Beck talking about Paula Deen. They refer to him as “sweaty cry potato, Glenn Beck.”

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  43. ROGirl said on June 27, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    This was as good as something from the Onion:
    http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/06/scalia-arrested-trying-to-burn-down-supreme-court.html

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  44. Prospero said on June 27, 2013 at 8:17 pm

    I’d pay $25 to see the Coultergeist if the price of admission included a tab of acid and a sack of rotten eggplants. Now that sounds like a good time, and it would be even funnier the next day coming down off the LSD and listening to Byron Glenn deBeckwith weep about how I infringed on the nag’s 1st Amendment rights. Actually, I’d like to see her try a public appearance with Franken, or even better, Snakehead Carville, although the latter pairing would scare the living shit out of kids and even many adults. Two Voldemorts in one place.

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  45. Prospero said on June 27, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    Wonderful comment on Justice Kennedy’s bizarre Jekyll and Hyde voting week. Too GD strange. Oldtimers for just terminal hypocrisy?

    The VRA vote is just codifying what Turdblossom has been telling GOPers for months. No chance in Natelections unless you double down on white resentment and rage and suppress youth and ethnic, oh and women, all at one time. The whole thing has gotten sideways, because GOPer vote suppression strategies aren’t as racist-based as they used to be. Now they just hate everybody that doesn’t vote knee-jerk GOP. Blow up the Constitution? Who the Hell cares? These fuckers are the terriss. Would it surprise anybody in the wake of Iran-Contra, if any of these mofos were willing to sell out the country and the Constitution?

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  46. Prospero said on June 27, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    And I have a question. I’ve read much of Jan Morriss’ travel writing. Sublime. Have any of y’all read her novel Hav. I want to buy it and I’m running out of book room in our condo. I’d appreciate any opinions. Ursula K. says it’s good, an Left Hand of Darkness is one of ther greatest novels ever written.

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  47. alex said on June 27, 2013 at 11:10 pm

    A newsflash from the Fort about someone who’s been the subject of discussion at NN.C more than a few times—and it doesn’t sound good.

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  48. Crazycatlady said on June 27, 2013 at 11:20 pm

    As a frequent visitor of the notoriously conservative Bible-Belt state of Indiana, I can tell you that every nut-case Christian with a show and a open pledge line has their own Special Non-God Agenda. Some are Creationist, some are God’s Gun-Nuts, some are Obama haters. Some hate public schools and tyranny. Yawn. It’s almost like they are daring each other to see who can get the lowest and get the most cash! Fear really rakes it in for these pond scum.

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  49. beb said on June 27, 2013 at 11:22 pm

    Alex – Only in Detroit.

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  50. Prospero said on June 28, 2013 at 12:16 am

    Alex, I hope that guy is OK:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNWR3OenaP

    I joined the gravedancer’s union. Great band you mind like. No joke about anybody having an opinion about Jan Morriss’ novel about an imaginary city. And CCCL, those people have nothing to do with Jesus. Anybody ever notice how TeeVeeangelists quot OT with nothing to do with the subject at hand. They claim Jesus and ignore everything Jesus supposedly ever said. Whited Sepulchers. And lying shits. Jesus wasn’t actually in the OT. And the idea that God dictated in Elizebethan in the OT and it wasn’t just Will Shakes and the well known catamite Kit Marlowe, how fucking dumn can these people be?

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  51. Prospero said on June 28, 2013 at 12:19 am

    Is somebody actually a fool that thinks God dictated in perfect Elizabethan poetic?

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  52. Prospero said on June 28, 2013 at 12:23 am

    Hard to deal with that sort of idiocy, especially when Marlowe was such a well=known catamite. Fuck you assholes. Will Shakes wrote the King James, you aholes, and he appproved of his friends catamitery. BFD, you morons. They were artists, you were bowdlerizers and morons.

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  53. Dexter said on June 28, 2013 at 3:07 am

    I just watched a movie titled “Take this Waltz”. It starred Michelle Williams as a frustrated married woman who becomes totally infatuated with a neighbor. I won’t spoil any plot lines, but one scene sort of baffled me…a group shower scene was included featuring a bunch of women of all shapes and ages. I just had never seen that before, and the stars, Michelle as well as Sarah Silverman appear in full bush…all the women were , as well. In this era where we hear how most women shave , in this film it’s the opposite.
    Link is NSFW, for real. Don’t click it if nudity offends you
    http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ_Ym35fAheKXjA7RvL-SsCArDWuWHRFanHqmoATIbOMB9JWVvy-A

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  54. nancy said on June 28, 2013 at 7:34 am

    I don’t think Charles Pugh is “missing” in the usual ominous sense. I think “in hiding” would be more accurate. This wifi is too impossible to lay it all out, but the chain of events this week suggests the cause is more embarrassment than foul play.

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  55. basset said on June 28, 2013 at 8:04 am

    I must find that movie.

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  56. beb said on June 28, 2013 at 8:49 am

    Re: Charles Pugh, they say the kiss of death for a politician is to be found in bed with a dead hooker or a live boy. Pugh looks to have taken the latter. He must be Roan because he caught the Catholic Disease.

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  57. coozledad said on June 28, 2013 at 9:37 am

    As the righties are so fond of saying, the IRS scandal has legs. But those legs are about to break themselves off in some Republican ass:

    Oh, and while all this shitfuffle is going on, Rep. Issa continues to fall over backwards over more and more lies. In an interview with CNN (per WaPo):
    “I’ve never said it came out of the office of the President or his campaign. What I’ve said is, it comes out of Washington.”
    Unfortunately for Rep. Issa, the rest of the world can go back and look at previous interviews where you said things like:
    “This was the targeting of the president’s political enemies effectively and lies about it [sic] during the election year, so that it wasn’t discovered until afterwards.”
    And it really sucks for Rep. Issa, because Legislative Badass Elijah Cummings keeps calling him out for being a sorry sack of awfulness, like in our still-favorite letter of almost all time.

    Read more at http://wonkette.com/521083/oh-look-darrell-issa-is-lying-again-part-one-million-seven-hundred-sixty-thousand-seventy-two#lmbJki2Q5Jpp7pJ7.99

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  58. brian stouder said on June 28, 2013 at 10:43 am

    Cooz – thanks for the entertaining link.

    As we head for the Fourth of July, I remain concerned about one issue with regard to the president – and that is the aggressive/in-your-face AP story.

    The screeching lunatics are way out in rightfield with the IRS non-entity, and the Benghazi black hole – but they could have made some serious progress on the civil liberties issues raised by the AP thing….if they cared about civil liberties, that is!

    To be honest, the 29 year old hacker story actually reassures me that I’ve almost certainly over-reacted to the AP story.

    Afterall, if the super-duper uber unshaven self-important 29 year-olds living in the world of wine and roses and Booz Allen (et al) really had all the super-duper snooping power that they tell us they do –

    then why the hell would the Obama administration bother with warrants and subpoenas and (worst of all) NOTIFICATIONS to the Associated Press?

    With a few warrantless key strokes (or mouse clicks? Or screen swipes?) they could have known precisely who at the AP was phoning or emailing with whoever else in the world, right?

    So the bottomline is – the Obama administration is playing serious hardball in the contest to identify and effectively combat our adversaries around the world – and they’re obviously attempting to remain within the law while they do it.

    That IS…..something

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  59. Judybusy said on June 28, 2013 at 10:53 am

    Shari at #41–that was really funny. ROGirl, Borowitz also had a bit about how Scalia announced how the court had now relieved Americans from the onerous burden of voting.

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  60. Deborah said on June 28, 2013 at 12:26 pm

    My husband sent me a text that there were 2 million people in the loop area for the Blackhawks parade.

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  61. brian stouder said on June 28, 2013 at 3:33 pm

    Well, let’s give our Bobby Knight look-alike governor 1 point for integrity:

    http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/indiana/pence-apologizes-for-deleted-facebook-comments

    Pence said Thursday he believed the comments had been removed because they contained “name-calling and vulgar comments.” But Pence said Friday that he had reviewed the situation and found that hadn’t always been the case, and some comments were in fact deleted because they ran counter to his position.
    The Republican governor said Friday he had instructed his staff to develop a policy that does not censor comments based on the opinions they express.
    “Hoosiers expect our public debate to be open and respectful and we will ever seek to live up to that standard**.
    [emphasis added by me]

    Woo Hoo!!

    But then…

    In agreement or disagreement, I respect the opinions and the freedoms of all the people of Indiana,” Pence said in the statement Friday.

    Uhhhh – unless he doesn’t approve of who you wish to commit the rest of your life with, ‘cause THEN b’god, he’ll modify the state Constitution to impose his damned opinion onto you!

    **that phrase “we will ever seek to live up to that standard” is just SO “Hunger Games”, isn’t it? And he IS the governor…and although he reminds me of Bobby Knight, he could do a serviceable Donald Sutherland…

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  62. coozledad said on June 28, 2013 at 3:57 pm

    How much is a piece of sweet, sweet evangelical Republican ass going for on the patent medicine lobbyist market these days?

    Ask Bob McDonnell. Just don’t ask him bout that watch.

    Also, given that closet case hairstyle, I wonder if that watch was initially presented to him via his colon.
    http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/mcdonnell-won-t-answer-questions-on-rolex/article_b4fabf2e-8429-5692-bdb0-96f97da93a16.html

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  63. brian stouder said on June 28, 2013 at 4:03 pm

    Rachel Maddow absolutely barbecued Governor Ultra-Sound’s ass over all his graft, last night.

    Apparently the tobacco pill guy took the governor’s wife on a shopping spree, and she quite overtly put the bite on him (so to speak) for the Rolex…so – although Rache’s report didn’t say this – the next shoe to drop (so to speak) may be a bit of a sex scandal (it’s hard out there, for a beard)

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  64. Julie Robinson said on June 28, 2013 at 4:13 pm

    Pence as Sutherland in the Hunger Games I can definitely see. The ruthlessness and surety of moral superiority are similar.

    As an aside, we just finished seeing the Detroit Institute of Art, and I heartily recommend a visit for those who are close enough. Lots of fabulous art, and even the building itself. We could have spent many, many more hours there save for aching feet. Now I understand what a treasure it is and why it’s worth fighting for.

    Tomorrow night is Sarah’s ordination, the reason for this visit. And, even better, there’s a church sounding very interested. Considering she is now unemployed and homeless, it’s very happy news.

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  65. brian stouder said on June 28, 2013 at 4:25 pm

    Julie – congratulations to you and yours!

    And indeed, your visit to the DIA sounds very cool. Honestly, when we get back that way, we’ll surely do Greenfield again, plus Rouge – which we missed last time.

    Lemme know if you eat at a particularly good place. This is ‘front-of-mind’ as a bunch of fellows and I tried a new place on West Main Street called Das Schnitzelhaus – and it was great!

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  66. Julie Robinson said on June 28, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    Alas, no restaurant recommendations since we have two along with health problems who have specific dietary needs. We’re in a hotel with a kitchen. Note that we eat healthy at home, but I’m guessing that after we drop them at the airport we’ll be headed towards some big juicy burgers!

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  67. basset said on June 28, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    And watch out for this guy on the roads…

    http://i.imgur.com/LAtI7MF.jpg

    caption on Reddit said the pic was taken on 75, looks from the road sign like he’s near Flint.

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  68. Linda said on June 28, 2013 at 7:35 pm

    Well, well, well. Apparently librarians have bigger balls than the NFL, which is refusing to spread info on the new health law because of GOP pressure. And I don’t mean pigskin ones.

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  69. Prospero said on June 28, 2013 at 7:46 pm

    SC legislature actually passed a law that makes ir illegal to impleneb=nt any aspect of Obamacare, Because, Obana.

    I thought we were all the human race.

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  70. Hattie said on June 28, 2013 at 8:46 pm

    Yeah, Alex Jones doesn’t bother with that wussy respectability stuff!

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  71. Julie Robinson said on June 28, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    Yikes, basset! From what I’ve seen around here, that guy wouldn’t last a minute. We’ve mostly been on 94, and it’s the wild, wild, west.

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  72. Sherri said on June 28, 2013 at 9:31 pm

    One of the few people who can talk about getting a National Security Letter: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/06/what-its-like-to-get-a-national-security-letter.html

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