Open Thread
By bluegal Wednesday Jan 07, 2009 8:30pmAnother C&L staff favorite: Newsradio, when Jimmy has his poorly selling autobiography, Jimmy James: Capitalist Lion Tamer, translated into Japanese, the book becomes a hit. Thinking it's in the translation, he has the Japanese version translated back into English, resulting in Jimmy James: Macho Business Donkey Wrestler.
We were thinking the translator should write Bush's farewell address.
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Bollywood mocks Bush.
of Family Guy. One of the best episodes, IMHO. Has the classic line, by Peter, after hijacking a circus for Stewie's party:
"Look, the two symbols of the Republican Party--an elephant and a big fat white guy threatened by change."
Call me easily amused, but that line always makes me laugh.
A must read.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/010709a.html
I read that Pelosi got something through yesterday which surprised me. It disallowed one rep to put the kabash on proposed legislation. I was pleasantly surprised.
I still have hope...
Nothing would make me happier than to see Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush et al in a courtroom docket and to have the rule of law in this country restored.
Freda Payne rocks out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU0qdbcHmpw&fe...
Plus check out this brave Palestinian woman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQyIKyd2gqA
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090108/ap_on_go_...
I'd be in favor of a review of some cuts in the bloated military budget too. I'm still hopeful...
he will have the voters after him, if he messes with the MIC, he will have them after him.
I call it the OBSCENELY bloated 'defense' budget. That budget does not even include the two 'wars' which are disguised as 'special appropriations'.
The American sham accounting at its most refined level.
The voters will ONLY throw him out of office. The MIC could throw him out at 35,000 feet. Lots of Fat Cats feeding at that trough.
About a year ago, I wrote a safety/operator's manual for a luxury yacht that was being shipped to Spain. The manual had to be translated into Spanish.
It was a little funny when it came back from the translator.
Toilets on boats are, as many know, called "heads."
"Head" has several meanings, one of which is "Leader" or "Main."
The translated chapter on the toilets identified them as the yacht's "Principle Systems".
"Congratulations on the purchase of your ten-million-dollar floating toilet!"
that mount to the car bumper and supposedly emit a whistle to startle deer that might be on the road and (hopefully) cause them to jump before hitting them head-on.
Of course, they were made in China, and the apparent translation of "startle and scatter the deer from the roadway" from Chinese to English was "Watch deer tapdance in front of your car."
a sharp eye out. I don't think the American deer can read Chinese either.
about a year later...
Did it do a tap dance?
Have you folks ever checked out Engrish.com? It's pretty funny. Kind of along the same lines.
language is sometimes hard to interpert. When the right wing accuses the President of Iran saying he wants to wipe Israel off the map, that is not misinterpertation, it is to create a lie to misrepresent what he really said. He said that the government of Israel needed to be removed. Just a tidbit for you all to think about.
Translate some text from english to X then back to english, can be very funny.
Years ago, I was living with this really cool German Frau over in Germany and she didn't speak very good English.
She was really into learning English from me so she always had a dictionary with her and would try to talk in English.
One day she comes home from the doctor. She tells me that she has something to tell me. Then she said, "I have mushrooms".
She had a yeast infection. A yeast infection is a form of fungus. A mushroom is also a form of fungus. She looked up the German word for fungus in the dictionary and the dictionary said mushroom.
Super Karate Monkey Death Car...
It just sounds right.
Great clip. What an excellent idea, having that translator write dubya's Farewell Address. Think of the fun to be had!
Gawd knows, we've all been had! Big time.
how the un perpertrates the palestinian refugee problem
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1231205866425...
interesting comment by the chief of staff to abbas
Obama's approach to Homeland Security. Venezuela cares more about heating for poor Americans than Bush. The Army finally apologized for forgetting the names of the troops it's supposed to support. Pakistan's leaders hate reality as much as Bush. Cali sues over the 2007 SF Bay oil spill. People who still don't have coupons for digital converters might be SOL. And the pink slips keep on comin'! Wall Street isn't doin' much better. The deficit will hit $1.2 trillion in '09. Salmonella hits 42 states, but only Ohio is willing to 'fess up to it. Why Americans aren't getting any older.
Knowing the coupons have a short shelf-life, I figured waiting was best, so I applied online this past weekend. What I didn't count on (but should have) was the long government shipping schedule--three weeks plus to fill the order, plus a week for shipping. Wouldn't have been a problem necessarily, but since I'm moving before the end of the month, looks like they'll go to the dead letter office.
Oh well, looks like I'll just leave the TV behind...
It's hard to tell at this resolution, but porn star Rod Jeromy is in the audience for Jimmy's book reading.
For my $, Newsradio is the greatest comedy ever to come out of Hollywood.
It never made it over to the UK, or if it did it was not promoted.
Way back in 1986 there was 'Hot Metal' about a news paper, and also around that time 'WKRP in Cincinnati', then 'Drop the Dead Donkey' (1990) about a syndicated TV news channel.
And if you go back far enough 'Front Page' (1931) the very humourous and cynical Hollywood movie about a newspaper and it journalists and the coverage of an innocent condemned man and the shennigans by the local politicians and the farce with the execution planned a day before the election.
Saw the movie on TCM the other week, 1931 was in the brief free period before the Hayes Act (censorship) crippled Hollywood.
The Pentagram doesn't think PTSD merits a purple heart. An Alabama sheriff starved his prisoners. Macy's goes down.
I wish you wouldn't call the Pentagon that. Military Witches have been trying since 2000 to get the pentagram accepted for those of us who've died in battle.
The Pentagon has approved something like 200 symbols for tombstones, including one for atheism (?), but won't accept Pentagrams.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I assume your refering to Wiccans. If that's the case, you might be interested in these links I found with a quick Google search.
http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,1413...
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/funeral_info...
This deserves the attention of DOJ. Personally profiting by saving the State money (through starvation, nonetheless!) should be a federal offense.
On January 3rd the Red Cross requested access to a group of wounded Palestinian civilians in one of Gaza's neighborhoods. It wasn't until January 7th that the Israeli army granted them access.
All the while Israeli soldiers posted a mere 80 meters away refused to lend the wounded civilians any medical care.
The Red Cross team found 4 children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses. The children were too weak to stand up on their own.
One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up.
In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html...
That's the face of the 'compassionate' occupier. The same occupier that does NOT target civilians. What a farce.
Your rite joe news radio was one of the funniest shows ever to come out of hollywood never missed and episode to dammed bad that crazy wife of phil hartmans took him wayyyyyyyyyy to soon. he will be missed
11 Days until the United States of America joins the 21st Century....
Climate Change Threatens Pacific, Arctic Conflicts: by Rob Taylor - http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNew...
Climate change and rising sea levels pose one of the biggest threats to security in the Pacific and may also spark a global conflict over energy reserves under melting Arctic ice, according to Australia's military. A confidential security review by Australia's Defense Force, completed in 2007 but obtained in summary by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, said environmental stress had increased the risk of conflicts in the Pacific over resources and food.
But the biggest threat of global conflict currently lay beneath the Arctic as melting icecaps gave rise to an international race for undersea oil and gas deposits, it said.
We need to lead the 21st century, not fall into the same 20th Century abyss...
Why 'Clean Coal' is BS: Coal ash spill reveals risks, lapses in waste regulation - http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/591...
Some coal ash is recycled into products such as cement or placed in secure landfills, but much of it ends up in gravel pits, abandoned mines and unlined landfills — or in ponds like the one that burst in Kingston, Tenn., on Dec. 22. In the Tennessee incident, 5.4 million cubic yards of sludge laced with arsenic and other toxic materials poured over 300 acres — making it one of the nation's worst environmental spills.
The EPA in 2000 decided that coal ash wasn't hazardous waste and left regulation up to the states. Now, however, environmental activists say the Tennessee spill shows the need for federal standards for how coal waste is handled at the coal-fired power plants around the nation.
"Clean Coal is an oxymoron" - Dennis Kucinich
Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/us/07sludge...
Numerous studies have shown that the ash can leach toxic substances that can cause cancer, birth defects and other health problems in humans, and can decimate fish, bird and frog populations in and around ash dumps, causing developmental problems like tadpoles born without teeth, or fish with severe spinal deformities.
“Your household garbage is managed much more consistently” than coal combustion waste, said Dr. Thomas A. Burke, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Contamination can be swift. In Chesapeake, Va., high levels of lead, arsenic and other contaminants were found last year in the groundwater beneath a golf course sculptured with 1.5 million tons of fly ash, the same type of coal ash involved in the Tennessee spill.
More than 1,300 coal-ash dumps around the U.S. pose dangers to public health. Instead of 'What's in your wallet?'...maybe you should be asked, 'what's in your water'?
Revealed: Obama Bumped from the 119 Taxpayer-Owned Blair House by Unpopular Australian Prime Minister Howard, Who Should Have Been the One Staying at the Hotel the Obamas are In. You Know that Bush Himself Signed Off on This Insult and Waste of Money.
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
Further confirmation that Bush is worth less than navel lint....
On January 20, the Obamas Will Move Into a House That Slaves Built -- A BuzzFlash News Analysis - http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/571
Venezuela reinstates free home heating oil for poor in U.S. - http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/59215.html
Empty offices are on the rise - http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090106...
Commercial real estate is the next big crash. Modern day ghost towns.
Eager to work, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) makes emotional return - http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/...
Stimulus Plan Just One Part of Obama’s Early To-Do List - http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docid=n...
Obama’s transition team is studying about 200 federal agency rules and executive orders that Bush implemented during his nearly eight years in office with an eye toward overturning some controversial policies dealing with issues such as energy and the environment and public health. Environmental advocates expect Obama’s team will overturn a Bush decision and grant California a waiver from the Clean Air Act so state officials can implement a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
The Obama administration also is weighing whether to have the Environmental Protection Agency issue an “endangerment finding” that concludes global warming poses a threat to Americans’ health and safety. The Bush administration declined to give the agency authority to require greenhouse gas reductions from power plants and other sources.
Contrary to right wingnut mythos/talking points: Private sector shed 693,000 jobs in December - http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWE...
Hackers take down ring of key progressive blogs - http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Hackers_take_do...
The right wingnuts are deathly afraid of the series of tubes/the Internets.....as long as their is Net Neutrality, it can't be bought and sold like the 4th estate has been....
Republican 'Great Economy' Update, More bad news: Stock Losses Leave Pensions Underfunded by $400 Billion - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
Ohio will give homeowners grants for wind, solar power - http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2009/01/oh...
This about sums it all up: Garrison Keillor calls Bush "one of the cheerfullest idiots you ever saw" - http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ch...
2009 budget deficit is estimated at $1.2 trillion. Based on Congressional accounting rules, at the end of his presidency Clinton reported a surplus of $559 billion. "Compare Amongst Yourselves."
- http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/A...
The Bush years -- then and now - http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/0...
Statistics that will shut up any right wingnut idiot....keeper...
This CAFE Is Closed, Bush administration is scrapping efforts to implement better auto fuel-economy rules. - http://www.grist.org/news/2009/01/07/bush_caf...
Are we approaching peak coal? Part 1, U.S. coal supply may last only 10-20 years. - http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/1/6/165...
Oh goody, so that means we can look forward to exporting yet another source of energy from other countries, IF, IF we follow the Denier/Extinctionist/'Skeptic'/Republican energy 'plans'....
Bush Administration’s Abysmal Environmental Record in Cool Interactive Graphic Form - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/bush-...
Seven Crazy Things 'Celebrities' Have Said About the Environment - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/seven...
Dan Quayle on Pollution: "It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
George W. Bush on Natural Gas: Austin, Texas, Dec. 20, 2000: “Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods.”
George W. Bush on Nuclear Energy: George W Bush, New Delhi, India, Mar. 2, 2006: “Obviously, nu-que-lar power is a, uh, renewable source of energy, and the less demand there is for non-renewable sources of energy, like fossil fuels, the better it off it is for the American people.”
Former Chrysler Chairman, Lee Iacocca, on Air Pollution: “We've got to pause and ask ourselves--how much clean air do we need?”
Spain buys over 6 Million Tons of Carbon Credits from Eastern Europe - http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/spain...
Political Irony: http://politicalirony.com/2009/01/08/late-nig...
http://politicalirony.com/2009/01/08/confidence/
This is a nightmare in the making, especially in cities and suburbia. Office parks, along with strip malls and condo complexes, sitting vacant or partially vacant, will be the new foreclosure-type headache, IMHO. No one wants to have the only open business surrounded by lots of other vacant ones. VERY difficult to get shoppers, clients to overcome the emptiness surrounding a lone business. Look for an increase of squatters, homeless to take to them as the economy worsens. I'd imagine that the private security guard business is a decided growth industry.
Be afraid of those economic terrorists!
"I owe you, you owe me, we're a happy family, with a great big finger from the government to you, won't you say you like it to"(sing to Barney's I Love You song)
was on the Daily Show last night!! Not bad. She's movin' on up! Too bad the interview wasn't longer though. No clip online yet:-(
She's rapidly becoming THE news person...no BS from her.
And she lets her interviewees actually finish their thoughts.
Which is refreshing.
During Matt Lauer's interview with Anne Coulter yesterday, she mentioned Rachel while complaining about her cancelation from a previous interview. The complaint was that Lauer bumped her for Tony Blair, Rachel Maddow and various gossip columnists. Did I detect a hint of jealousy in that shrill blackboard scratch Coulter uses as a voice?
Btw, excellant Daily Show. Loved the parts about the media frenzy over the Obama children's first day at their new school.
Associated Press:
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – A U.N. official in the Gaza Strip says Israeli forces have fired on a truck on a U.N. aid mission and killed the driver.
U.N. spokesman says the incident took place during a lull declared by Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.
He says the U.N. coordinated the delivery with Israel, and the vehicle and was marked with a U.N. flag and insignia when it was shot in northern Gaza.
The Israeli army said it was investigating.
-------- -------- ------ --------- ----------
(I wonder when the results of the investigation will be released [/snark]).
http://www.arcamax.com/mothergooseandgrimm
For my fellow Illinoisans who are following Blago...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ch...
A referendum to rewrite our Constitution made it to the Nov. 4 Ballot, but an amendment for recalling the Governor didn't.
Rewrite the Constitution.....$50,000,000
recall amendment.............$ 0
Something stinks and it isn't my feet.
when I voted, but you're right, nothing about recalling Blago.
Stinks to high heaven.
Whilst upon the throne, I read an interesting editorial in the Utne Reader...
Kinda summed up real nice, my thoughts on the whole Obama thing...
Basically he said, there's goin to be ups and downs, appointments that people aren't gonna like, and compromises no one thought of yet.
Kinda set my mind at ease about everything....for the moment anyway.
I will see if I can find a link.
http://www.utne.com/Politics/Editors-Note-The...
Jimmy James was about the best character on any sitcom I can think of.
I’m doing customer service at a call center for the world’s largest third party HR company here in Salt Lake City with all processing being done by company offices in India. When there is a problem with processing of an insurance claim we make notes that have to be sent to India for reconciliation of the five different programs we use. Yesterday I had a major screw up where documents had been split in one system, incorrect identification of claims on another, wrong account information on a third, a crashed program that did not allow me to record faxes documents on a fourth, and no way of using outlines to note the trouble for India. When I asked a supervisor what I should do to clarify the problem I was told to make the note as if I were writing to a seven year old with no understanding of adjectives, adverb, or even the most basic understanding of insurance. This is the way a large section of the American business is doing business now and it is not the least bit funny because, in this case, the information has to be properly processed for the claim to go through the system in the next three weeks or the caller will lose all the money in their account having reached a closing date for submission of claims and even if the fault is the company the caller will still lose $1800.00. And it is all because someone is doing something on the cheap, and it could be cleared up by hiring a staff of experienced people that are fluent in American English dialect.
Is it any wonder why everything gets screwed up in this country?
I've been laughing and re-playing the clip all morning. My wife just popped into the studio to say "DonkeyDonkeyDonkeyDonkeyDonkey," with a smile and a quick kiss.
You and Stephen Root have made my day!
well !okedokee the silence on obummers speach this morning on his jobs work package is puzzeling on here! whats the opinion on it? will he get it passed? will he get enough to do any good?? will it do any good when thiers little to buy thats made in america ? and since thier seems to be little interest in bringing back to america all thoes jobs that the corporations sent to china and every where else how long is it before the money runs out and were right back where we started? and since he said his goal was to get three million jobs going is that realistic since thier will be a thousand unemployed persons in line for every job thats open! so are happy days here again ? or what?
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