Open Thread
By driftglass Thursday Dec 04, 2008 8:30pmThis Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.
Open Thread below...
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This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.
Open Thread below...
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Should Obama scale back his inauguration celebration? What do you think?
Hell No!
as a non-drinker,I worry about all the boze around messing up a great event.
to allow bars to be open 24 hours for two or three days, too.
I worry about some kind of an attack.
Please more info. When I lived in D.C. (left in 2001) the alcohol laws were tighter than a tick! There must have been some BIG changes in D.C. gov to see this happen, even for the inauguration.
Maddow has had it on her show for a couple of days now. They can stay open 24 hours from the 19th through the 21st. Then it's back to normal.
D.C drivers are lousy when they're sober! Add the possibility of ice and/or snow and we've got a circus. My bro lives 35 miles outside of D.C. but has decided to conveniently come down to FLA to vacation during the inaugural. Let's see: estimated 1.5 million visitors + bars open 24 hours = OMG!
Up to 5 million.
I had heard the 1.5 million number too. 5 million people in DC? That is going to be quite a stretch. The whole bloody place is a swamp to start with...it is going to sink into the mucky waters.
WHAT? Seriously? Too much for me.
Go to Boston and Norfolk, VA to see really, really shitty drivers.
When I lived in VA, they never had two car accidents...it was always 10, 20, 30 cars. Those people cannot drive worth a shit. Must be because they are from all over. Boston drivers just don't pay attention. If you don't drive defensively there, you get smashed.
...when I said D.C. I meant the metro area. I lived in N.Va. and it was crazy. Woman drove OVER the hood of my car once. (Long weird story. Police report helped with insurance who thought I was crazy!) But, yeah, I-95 in Va is noted for some spectacular smashups.
Do tell, please!
I'll use short sentences so as not to be Michneresque.
Off work cause sick. Cabin fever. Go to porn store for "diversion". Man walks in. "Anyone own a green Honda?". I raise my hand. He gestures to follow. I fear the worst.
See car outside from rear. No damage. He beckons me on. I follow around to passenger side. Still nothing. Then I see the hood of the car. Looks like a giant cat has made two huge scratch marks. Mouth drops open.
I turn to see an older model car nosed up against the brick wall of the shop. Two Middle-eastern ladies; one sitting on pavement, head in hands; the other running toward me yelling, "We can fix! We can fix!"
As explained to me, my Good Samaritan followed this car out of the bank next store when it turned right into the road, took off like a shot, jumped the curve, over the sidewalk, up the embankment, over my car, to rest against the wall of the shop. One of the ladies was teaching the other how to drive — in busy, rush-hour traffic. Go figure.
$1500 damage and I'm left to explain it all to the insurance company. Moral to story? If you're well enough to go to work, stay the hell out of the porn store! God is watching!!
Another lesson to be learned.
Excellent!
Don't give up on porn...it's a single person's best friend (aside from ones own appendages). ;-)
As I tell people, "Never be ashamed of masturbation. It's having sex with someone you love!"
The safest sex ever!
Oh well, I will die clean. Perhaps not with the smile on my face I desire, but healthy, at least. :D
It is illegal.
Lighten up people it is time to celebrate the end of an error!
I enjoyed that. Words are amazing things and books are such a key part of life. I like the dreamy and haunting music that accompanies the video.
Thanks, dg, for that nice change of pace.
i think obama should show his inaguration balls off for the general public to enjoy!
THAT was an image I could have lived without. :-)
heh heh!
They are big!
got pictures?
Just for you.
(covering eyes, fingers in ears, singing LA LA LA LA LA)
Some things are better left unsaid and unseen. This would be one of them.
I like Obama a lot, but I don't need to see (or envision) his skinny ass. Ugh, brain bleach, please. (And someone give that man a sandwich! :-) )
A picture speaks louder than words.
thats why i asked if thier were photos ,seeing is believeing!
I thought you just wanted to see them.
well i figured barack sent you an autographed copy of them for your scrap book,
You got me tyree. LOL!
im the old master painter from the far away hills!
Do you want a copy so you can paint it?
copy of what?
Holiday sales are the lowest since Reagan's first term. Milwaukee's trying to break Wal-Mart by encouraging residents to buy local through local currency. Couples who hate each other are stuck together in this economy. From yesterday: A record number of Americans are on food stamps. One in three toys are toxic. The GOP's desperately looking for a new Dem target. Zimbabwe's screwed. The Dems are blaming Obama for not acting sooner on the Bush non-economy they enabled. Johnson only wanted to end the Vietnam War so that Nixon wouldn't win. Those idiots who let that kid shoot himself are finally going to prison. Will the Blackwater terrorists do jail time?
So much to take in.
I love the town in WI going after Walmart, especially since WI is suing Walmart for their ponzi scheme and not paying their state taxes. Fuck them. I hope that everyone buys local!
The toxic toys reminds me of the story you posted the other night about parents feeling that they had to keep up with the Joneses so their kids wouldn't feel like they didn't get the same number of toys their peers got.
Blackwater and jail time. Talk about an orgasmic fantasy. I need a cigarette now.
I thought I was the only smoker. Trying to cut down enough that maybe I can quit though.
It's a bad habit , whatever, but, I have no plans to stop.
I would weigh 800 lbs if I quit. I'll take smoking.
No one will take my addiction and relegate it to the level of an idle tick. I'm as good as any heroin user, thank you!
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/p...
It is really quite good. Thanks for the link!
I love, as the guy on Maddow says, there's your proof that Jesus is Black.
How are you? Good to see you!!
As busy as a one armed paper hanger but that's alright. How and where are you?
Spent the day returning from San Fran (sigh). I would love to live there. It is so lovely...if you can ever see it. Fog rules the western coast.
And I am well, thank you.
Heading out to Delaware on Sunday.
wanted to visit San Francisco. Maybe next year. Right now I'm going to chain myself to my desk and ain't nobody going to make me go anywhere. Travel is a giant pain and it's getting worse.
A challenge! I love challenges!! ;-)
Let's see...what might I tempt you with? (snicker)
silk ties are highly thought of as restraints and probably a hell of a lot more comfortable.
Balance the silk with some feathers and ice. ;-)
if you've heard this. But do you know the difference between kinky and perverted?
Do tell.
using a single feather. Perverted is using the whole chicken.
Minus the head.
And Palin (and what she does with it [shudder] I do not need to know!)
A feather is kinky?? Wow...I must be a total freak! ;-)
Noted for future reference anyway.
It's nice, except for the expense. I lived there about six years, until Imgot screwed by the corporate media again, and was made penniless. Now back in my home state of Texas, which just sucks now. I tell you, there's nothing like living in a city of liberally people, and not having to hide your views. With wingnuts, I always had to tiptoe on eggshells, and then when I didn't I got hell to pay. I really miss SF.
ain't bad. I've only been there twice but I liked the tone of the place.
Went on up to where Hitcock filmed the Birds. Can't remember the name off hand.
is that Austin is quite a different animal from the majority of TX. A bastion of liberal thinking in what was a pretty red state.
I wonder how much longer it will be red.
> ... Austin is quite a different animal from the majority of TX. ...
Actually, I think it's mainstream Texas. For instance, Austin is *ME* (and I'm native Houstonian.)
...has a liberal core. That's what keeps me going here. "We don't really consider ourselves Aggies," says one of my professors here Texas A&M-- Commerce. But we have great poetry open mic nights.
It is that much more difficult to leave.
I was working in Houston during the election (and totally bumming about being in TX on election night). I was quite surprised by the number of dems in my class (I do training). The entire class was for Obama.
I was pretty shocked.
My republican neighbor just wanted to forget all about the election and go on a picnic and enjoy the day. I ask him, "How do you like my new fence?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kxpafpsKLg
Don't tase me, bro!
Now there's an ad for fireobama.net on this site. I know its a google ad, but it's just getting ridiculous. Do the wingnut sites get tons of pro-left, anti-Palin, pro-Obama, etc ads on their sites? It just seems a bit overboard here.
We are taking their money for naught. It pays for the site and we get to laugh at them for the insipid stupidity.
"FireObama.net: 2012 Starts Here." Heh. A lame forum for the GOP losers.
i left frisco kate swinging on that golden gate when kansas city kitty married me, judy canova!
Give one of the best and priciest inauguration views to the poor, tired, and huddled masses.
Tequila, thank you so much for that video. Bless these people.
to have some blog time I've got yet another early day coming so GNA. See y'all later. Figuratively speaking,of course.
Good night Peter.
Sweet dreams!
the incredible documentation about C&L's transfer from WordPress, written by C&L's programmer. I'll remember to search for that if/when my blog (tbsn.thesequencers.us) ever gets near as big as C&L ... :-)
We give $700 billion to those fucking LOSERS on Wall Street and $34 billion is to much to ask for those in Detroit. Fucking crazy. If anyone here thinks those shitsuckers in NY are worth what we gave them then the whole fucking world is nuts.
Listen, I have been a Auto Mechanic for 28 years and I know automobiles pretty well(at least underneath them). I couldn't tell you what motor came in what car, in what year, or model. And I don't know what grill and headlight combo they had in a 69' Z-28 either. See, that never mattered to me as long as I could repair them. Never mattered to my customers. Never mattered to my boss. I have repaired 10 of thousands of cars over my time. I should also tell you that my Dad was a mechanic for all of his life as well so I have spent 43+ years around this industry in one form or another. One thing I do know though, regardless of the product they currently sell(and INCLUDING it to some degree), no other car(s) on the planet beats an American made car. NONE.
Speaking strictly from someone who has worked on every make, model, and year from early 1900's to the present, both foreign and domestic, I have seen far more foreign cars/crap in the shop under repair than what is or has been built in this country EVER. That tells me that American engineering for what it is, or has been, is far superior to anything anywhere in the World(and that includes the Germans as well). In fact when someone would ask me which car I would recommend buying all I had to think about is which car or brand I saw less than any other as a whole. In other words, which one did I work on less. By far that was American. While some GM/Ford/Chrys. models suck, that doesn't mean every model they build/built did. There was a reason Ford Ranger was the best selling small truck on the market for years and it wasn't because they could do anyting more than foreign ones could. It was engineering IMHO. Hell I bought a 90' Ranger which at the time was still being built by Ford and not Mazda and proceded to put 190 thousand miles on the original spark plugs. I then sold it to a friend and he drove it another 10-15 thousand miles before parking it. It still runs great today but it's just beat all to hell from my wilder days. In total cost of repairs I've spent less than $3000 on it in the 16 or so years I owned it. I can hardly beleive a foreign one would have pulled that off.
While I won't deny the need to build more fuel efficent automobiles, and something worth buying, which the Big 3 either failed to see or refused to do because of the bottom line, their product is and has always been solid as far as I'm concerned. Their vision for the coming future not so much. That doesn't mean the CAN'T change with a proper plan in place. We are the party of Change after all. Whether they do is up to Us as consumers and Congress as stewards. One things for sure, if they disappear they can't change. Given a choice of Change or Death I think they will choose Change.
Those of you that would say that I'm partial to American cars or America in general just don't know me that well. I have nothing to gain by promoting any one of these compianies(Big 3), so that's off the table. As far as America goes that's still up in the air about how I feel. Only time will tell. I'm only speaking from the experience of many years of having to repair nearly every car on the road more than once and that my friends goes a long way in my book.
Certainly I'm not the only one who has seen the correlation between the continued demise of the middle class and the fall of the Big 3. And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the failure of just one of these companies is a failure of epic proportions and just a continuation of the epic failure America has become. Give them the money. Thanks.
P.S. Sorry about the long post. I don't get to speak from this level of experience often.
People that knock American made cars are the ones that don't own one. You can't make an honest judgement without trying one out. My Ranger is 10 years old and the maintanence is minimal. I used to sell them.
Experienced perspectives are always appreciated here.
But, the current dump an the Big Three by the government is a bit disingenuous. The government has done nothing to address the oil/gas issue when it first reared it's ugly head in the shortages of the 70's. And by "government" I mean Congress.
We would not be in this mess today if we had leaders who did what was best for the American people instead of pandering to populist viewpoints. You do what's right because it's the right thing to do, not because it's popular. MPG standards should have risen incrementally over the years — they did not. Congress should have lead the U.S. forward — they did not. But we Americans should have demanded better — we did not (well, some of us but who was listening to them?).
Sometimes people need hard lessons to change.
There was never a shortage. We have been played again. We do need to go to alternative sources of energy to take away the stranglehold that the oil corporations have on us.
... there was a shortage in a real or abstract sense — I don't know. But you're right, we were being played, by the cartel, by the government, by the oil companies — whomever. We should have been smart enough (as some other countries have been) to not be played anymore. Now we're all paying for being played. Didn't have to happen. didn't have to happen....
The oil companies are now woking on the alternative sources of energy. Now they have the funds to control them. Again, we have been played. Cost of all forms of energ will go up.
For many years now I have felt that there had been a hidden agreement between Detroit and Big Oil. Once Detroit had built enough gas guzzlers so that they were mainly what was on the road, as opposed to fuel efficent cars, then Big Oil would raise the price of fuel and everybody would make a killing. That worked for awhile but greed finally caught up with one of them. My assesment could be off a little but I don't think by much.
Big Agri convinced a whole bunch of farmers to switch to growing corn for ethanol production. Problems? Less food, less feed for animals, and corn is inefficient for ethanol production anyway. Hemp is a much better source (just one example.)
Another reason for the ride in food prices is, of course, the fuel to produce it, and deisel (for farm machinery) hasn't gone down as much as gasoline. We're still paying for the high price of fuel AND fertilizers on last year's crops... Fertilizer is another petroleum-based product. It's getting so that farmers are spreading manure instead as the cheaper alternative... imagine that!
In the 70's I was the operations manager of a transportation(trucking) company in Canada. During the period of time when there were lineups at gas stations and closed gas stations I was receiving a couple of calls a day from American truck brokers trying to lease tank trucks. The deal "our standard standing monthly rate" plus 250 miles a day, although the tankers were not going to moved for weeks at a time once they reached their destination. The tankers were needed in the south central and southwestern U.S. where they would be mostly just loaded and parked.
During the three weeks or so I got these inquiries I finally got one of the brokers to tell me that they had gas and oil in such volumes that they were scouring the U.S. and Canada for basically "
storage vessels". There was NO SHORTAGE, the oil companies were creating the shortage to increase the price to the consumer.
When North America ran out of "mobile storage vessels" the oil companies leased farm land in the booinies (well away from populated centres) and dug large holes, lined them with some kind of polymer and filled the holes with the gas they couldn't store anywhere else.
I'm making too many typos.
Sleep well.
That Blackwater story has an ironic twist, as those miscreants would be prosecuted under a law enacted under the War on Drugs.
They won't give up Utah to Bush without a fight.
Help!!!
My country has been hijacked by right wing ideologues. They are distorting the fundamentals of our system of government to inbed a right wing Reformist agenda. The same right wing government that used duplicitous lies against President Elect Obama during the primaries over NAFTA have locked down Parliament for 6 weeks too avoid certain defeat at the hands of a united opposition.
Our reformer in charge (Harperbole) considers suspending workers right to strike, gutting equal pay for equal work legislation, ending an ethical public financing system for political parties and selling off Federal Assets as a good starting point for negotiations. He has inflamed regional and cultural animosities and set a precedent Stalin would have approved of with this totalitarian move.
Please consider taking a swing a these guys (editorially of course).
will thier be represenatives of the lower class allowed to attend the opening of obamas balls in dc, and will the news people be allowed to take pictures of them?
I'm not a huge fan of advertsing, since it is normally in-your-face and/or sensory overload. I have to say, that was really good. Thanks for sharing this.
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