Friday, December 31

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left




links for this episode

Jon Stewart article in The NY Times.

Brian Williams says people "lost interest" in BP Gulf disaster coverage.

Batocchio's round up of best posts of the year by the bloggers who wrote them.

The button above is available in my Cafepress Store.  The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Wednesday, December 29

Worst Editorial of the Week.

Is this one in Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal.

Its sidebar notes say

The left won't admit that Sarah Palin had a point about rationed care.

then the editorial is about how Sarah Palin sensationalized a very positive aspect of health care reform, end of life counseling, and that the WSJ had already called her on that, because end of life counseling is actually a good thing that private insurance overwhelming provides...

...but you know, when everyone wants health care and sees it as an entitlement there won't be enough to go around so people will die.   Which means Sarah Palin was right all along and people who believe in Death Panels are crazy like a FOX.

Wha?


PS.  Screw "adult conversations" about cutting entitlements.  The GOP has lost all credibility about deficits when they held the nation's agenda hostage for tax cuts for millionaires.

But we do really need to have an adult conversation about death.   Because the grim reaper is going to get all of us.  Even the WSJ made a joke about 100% mortality rates in Americans over the age of zero.

Universal insurance coverage is the right, sane, compassionate, and cost-effective thing to do.  It does not mean that people won't die.  It means that people have health insurance.  That's a good thing.  People with insurance are healthier and live longer.

There are plenty of people who have insurance who are afraid or too busy or whatever to seek care when they need it.  People find out they have cancer too late, for instance.  The Ad Council stays really busy with PSA's attempting to convince people to see their doctors.

Arguing that under universal health insurance plans, people will die anyway, is stupid distracting bullshit.

PSS Karoli tells me NewsCorp is looking to hire an "Online Community Manager."   Yeah. 



 

Tuesday, December 28

Art and Chaos Day at Blue Gal

It's high time once again that we take a break and look at some art.  I'm visiting my parents and at my dad's studio hangout, Artists Image Resource of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, they've done amazing work with...the cement floors.




These masks are silkscreened directly onto the cement floor of the workspace, and it is as cool as it looks.  

Monday, December 27

A friend writes [about his dog]


Dear BG & DG:
I know you do not run an advice show, but I do not know where else to turn, and frankly you are both somewhat responsible.  Here is my problem.
My wife’s dog, Karma, is very smart.  Our son taught him to growl whenever he heard Rush Limbaugh’s name or voice.  The dog taught himself to shit anytime he heard Glenn Beck.  (Bad Karma!  No!  Not in the house!)
I am a relatively new iPod convert and only recently discovered how to download your podcasts.  I have taken to listening to your show early in the mornings while I walk the dog.  Karma and I used to go outside, he did his business, and then we’d quickly return to the warmth and comfort of home.  However, lately, I have kept him outside walking while I finish listening to your show.  Extending these walks has created significant tension between the dog and me.
I am afraid that an unintended consequence of your podcast is our formerly progressive dog is becoming more conservative.  Karma is probably already a Blue Dog Democrat.  The other day I caught him dry-humping the television when CNN showed a clip of Mitch McConnell.   For a brief moment I thought that he had devolved into a rabid Republican, but then I discovered that he had simply snatched the toothpaste off the bathroom counter, again. 
My wife and I are at a loss on how to retrain Karma.  When he’s bad, should I swat him with the Wall Street Journal?  Should I get him his own iPod so he can enjoy your show at his leisure?  Should I force him to watch Old Yeller and warn him to get back with the program or else?  Any advice you can offer would be appreciated. 
Happy Holidays and thank you for your insights, information and humor.

I believe in ipods for dogs, if they're permanently tuned to our podcast.  That said, I'm afraid I couldn't improve on Driftglass's answer:

A vexing question indeed.


I know of many Rescue Dog programs that purport give new purpose and direction to older dogs who have developed bad habits.  Perhaps Karma could be trained to sniff out and retrieve Liberal values from beneath the massive piles of Centrist shit under which which they routinely get buried?


Best,
dg

Friday, December 24

In the other, better Universe...

CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER

...Sheriff Harry Reid gets word from Mister Al that Joe wants a meeting to discuss becoming a Democrat again, and gives him a warm reception:




There ain't no whore's gold, Mister Lieberman.  Not anymore.

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left




I wish I could tell you exactly how to deal with the conservative you will invariably have at your Christmas table, if you're lucky enough to have family with you this holiday. That's right, consider the alternative. Also, as the hymn says,

Love more for every hate, and fear no ill, for God is good....

Merry Christmas.

The button above is available in my Cafepress Store.  The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Wednesday, December 22

Julian Assange's future is assured.


Julian Dahlink, from now on, all your Asian groupies are 'made in China,' since you're revealed to be such an adorable sweetheart of a love muffin in this interview [WARNING - link goes to autoplay]

He said he believed the most probable explanation for the allegations was that two women "found out that they were mutual lovers of mine and they had unprotected sex and they got into a tizzy about whether there was a possibility of sexually transmitted diseases.".

MUTUAL LOVERS!?! Just under the wire, it's the euphemism of the year!

And "tizzy"? Oh don't worry about the misogyny, Monsieur Assange, you won't have to be in proximity to a real woman again, um, ever.

To be clear, "mutual lovers" does not tranlate into "victims" of anything other than truly dickish behavior on the part of a free speech hero who is also a cad.

Also, reading the European press on the issue (which is really important h/t Susie Bright, always worth the listen) it's clear the charges are complicated by laws different from ours.*** The women involved may or may not have a case against Assange in a European court of law, and definitely do in the court of public opinion, but any debate about "rape charges" requires figuring out what Sweden thinks that is, and that will be played out in the courts, not the blogs.

***By the way, feminists should stop linking MoFo Wapo without a warning, and certainly not as their "evidence" that this is all about rape. Find some serious journalism or don't blog about it.

Tuesday, December 21

The End of Zappadan, Day Zero


Once again it's time to break out Alicia Policia's yellow snow cupcakes, which unlike the yellow snow, you are supposed to eat in honor of Frank Zappa's Birthday.

I hope everyone had a very happy Zappadan.

Friday, December 17

Our Weekly Podcast




We had problems with Skype and had to record this in four different segments, but we persisted! I'm grateful for the free programs I use to put this together and the programmers who made them, and to Driftglass for his patience with me as I channeled my bitchy sound editor.

The button above is available in my Cafepress Store.  The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

gifts for the kid's teachers

Knit while listening to Al Franken books on tape.

mitten 1

mitten 2

mitten 3

These are designed as intentionally wild and crazy to be worn on the playground or during car / bus rider duty. Knit from yarn I already own, so they're less expensive than homemade cookies, even. Frugality plus creativity FTW!

PS the top photo... mitten number two is in the works but DS doesn't have last day of school until next Wednesday.

Wednesday, December 15

From Congressman Shimkus's Congressional Newsletter

Congressman Shimkus reminded me that December 15 is Bill of Rights Day:

“With all the overreaching and unconstitutional legislation coming out of this Congress, its more important than ever for We The People to know what the Constitution does and does not empower Congress to do.“

Apparently Congress is empowered to make billionaires richer, but nothing else, especially if we're interferring with God's disposal of the environment.

Monday, December 13

How Country Music is Sarah Palin willing to go?

This cracked me up:

It was an unscripted moment on Sarah Palin's tour to promote her new book, "America by Heart." As hundreds of Palin's fans filed inside a cordoned off area of a northern Iowa Walmart today, this CNN crew popped the question asked of countless potential White House contenders: "Are you any closer to an announcement on running for President?"

The country music that Palin's handlers had blaring at the signing station presumably to drown out such questions suddenly stopped. We asked the question again.

"Am I doing interviews?" the former Alaska governor asked. "I thought I got to talk to the nice people. And where's our music and where's our good enthusiasm?" she persisted.

A WALMART?  IN IOWA?  And they have to ask the question?  She wants the blaring country music and only talk to the nice people!

But how country music is she willing to go?

Where's my country music and enthusiasm? 
"The Best Little Bore-House in Texas"

Careful Quitty!  Newt is willing to go full Porter Wagoner on your ass.



PS.  While we're still keeping count, she also lied to Barbara Walters, who asked her about critics accusing her of losing the Senate for the GOP.  I'm not talking about the "impotent and limp" thing, either.  Hey, if her instinct tells her to talk about cock to keep people interested in her I can't argue. 

But the Grifter has to be careful when she says they're mostly anonymous critics who say things against her.  Congressman Spencer Bachus (who said the "she lost us the Senate" statement on the record), Joe Scarborough, and Karl Rove are not anonymous critics.  Neither are the majority of Republican primary voters who think she's not qualified to run their PTA meeting. 


Friday, December 10

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left




The button above is available in my Cafepress Store.  The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Thursday, December 9

Irony


The GOP is gonna have that fabulous Reagan tribute at their 2012 convention after they've shit all over his START treaty.   Human KIND should have been his business.  And theirs.

By the way Reagan lover Jim DeMint thinks unemployment insurance payments should come in the form of a loan to encourage people to go back to work.  No, really.  Because of course unemployed people aren't  borrowing enough money for food.  

Are there no workhouses? 

Wednesday, December 8

It's like waking up next to a stranger?



Or kissing a frog, and finding out...it's a frog?

So you wake up next to your partner, the one you helped through college, suffered and survived the first couple years, and this morning you find out he SOLD YOUR CAR and gave the money to Rich Uncle Dick.

WHAT?

"Well, yeah, Uncle Dick is a really difficult family member, and he was going to disinherit everybody if I didn't give him some big money, so I sold your car and gave him the money. He'll be nice to everyone now. It's not the deal I really wanted, but it's the best we can do."

WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THAT'S TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!

"Okay, get all sanctimonious and be right about everything, like you always do. See where that gets you with Uncle Dick."

UNCLE DICK DOESN'T WANT YOU IN THIS FAMILY!!! HE'S NEVER BEEN COOPERATIVE WITH YOU! WHAT THE HELL!

"Well, obviously, you don't know what it's like to actually get things done."


We've now hit a really bad spot in this marriage, Mister P. And you're not even following rules of proper engagement.

Monday, December 6

What would make me feel better about the tax cut deal.

Is if the checks looked like this:

FRONT


AND BACK

And if you have Direct Deposit it says on your bank statement "YOU'RE WELCOME. BARACK OBAMA"

Since this White House will get no credit for anything good that comes of this deal whatsoever, I don't even know why he didn't come out swinging instead.  But then again, I'm part of the problem.

Obama's problem is that he's a Socialist liberal Marxist out to destroy America.  Hey, since he's gonna do the time, he should do the crime.

Friday, December 3

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left




DG mentions Anderson Cooper's interview with a Texas Birther, which is here.

The button above is available in my Cafepress Store.  The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registraion at Professional Left.

Wednesday, December 1

A modest proposal on "needs" testing Medicare

I'm waking up to NPR these days.

And this morning's story on Medicare cracked me up.  "Health policy analyst Jeff Goldsmith, who has studied the boomer generation" had this to say about the boomers coming on to Medicare this year:

"I think the baby boomers do not have the same type of emotional, almost galvanic skin response to Medicare politics that their parents did, because I don't think the typical baby boomer has thought for more than five minutes about the effect of Medicare on their lives, because they're not old," Goldsmith says. "And Medicare is perceived as something for old people."
The boomers are not old!  And NEVER WILL BE!  That's why they keep electing congressmen over and over again into their 90's.  As long as your Senator is, say, 20 years older than YOU, you're young!  You're young!

Infographic:  Your Congressman is Old.

So here's my modest solution.   Medicare begins a Alternative Program.  Call it MediYoung -- for younger Medicare recipients!   That'll get 'em.

And here's the deal:  It's a $250.00 copay per incident plus a thousand dollar deductible for anything beyond annual checkups and screenings -- but it covers Botoxic and Duvajerm and anti-aging hypnosis whatever up to three times a year.   So the terminally vain get a little discount on their vanity surgery and the taxpayer gets a big discount on anything else that happens to them.    And once they sign up, they can't switch out of it, ever.

But this is such bullshit.  Does that analyst know how many 50-64-and-eleven-months Americans are COUNTING THE DAYS until they FINALLY have single payer, not for profit health insurance?  Because now they have NONE?  Give me a break.

__________

Speaking of vanity, I notice the Kardashian's predatory lending debit card for Princesses has been discontinued.   Here's the deal:

First there are the upfront costs. For a six-month card customers pay $59.95, or $99.95 for a 12-month card. (The median fee for similar, non-Kardashian-festooned products is $10.) After those six or 12 months, there is the $7.95 monthly fee to keep using it. Users pay a $1.50 fee to withdraw cash at an ATM and a $1 fee to check their balance. They pay $1.50 to speak with a customer service representative. If they lose their card, they have to pay $9.95 to replace it. If they want to cancel their card, they have to pay $6.
Wow, how stupid do you have to be to look rich?

But thanks Kardashians! I always love an opportunity to pull out these babies:

The Karl Marx Mastercard:

The Che Guevara Visa:

And my personal favorite, the Emma Goldman mugshot Discover Card ("The Card with Payback tm")

Tuesday, November 30

The Pimp Daddies of the GOP

Cokie Roberts is at it again.

Yesterday morning Steve Inskeep hosted Cokie Roberts and her weekly "analysis" on NPR's Morning Edition, emphasis mine:
INSKEEP: Well, Democrats and Republicans may not be on the same side, but at least they'll be in the same room when President Obama meets some of the Republican leaders in Congress this week.
ROBERTS: And this is you know, you'd think that this was a summit meeting with the worst enemies, you know. This has taken so long to happen, with Republicans postponing the meeting and saying they felt that they were dissed when the president came to their retreat last year and all of that. So they're going to finally sit down and meet together. Whether anything comes of it or not, it's hard to say.
It's hard to imagine, because the conversation since the election has hardly been one where Republicans have been reaching out to the administration and to Democrats. Now the president has tried to keep his own rhetoric very mild mannered and to talk about working across party lines, but he's doing that in the face of a lot of opposition inside his own party. So this is just it's hard to see that anything is going to come out of this other than some picture-taking.

I love this "conversation since the election" BS, with no mention of TWO YEARS of obstruction from the GOP.

But she really gets her quill on when she blames the base for refusing to work "across party lines."  Really, Cokie?  Two words, Cokie:   Jon Kyl.    Really. 

Is it even possible that Cokie is unaware how thoroughly she is rewriting history?  The Republicans were not "dissed" at their summit last year, they were what is known as "pwned."  It's known by at least one commenter as the "Baltimore pistol whipping".  Obama remained a grown up while people like Mike Pence insisted on across the board tax cuts and Obama said pay for it and Pence and the rest of them choked on their own lack of reality-based thinking.  They were completely shown up, completely embarrassed, and they were NOT going to allow THAT to happen again.   PS, It was so devastating that Driftglass and I did a bonus podcast on it.  

Oh, I think I'll make that three words, Cokie.  "Bite my butt." 


Sunday, November 28

Caption this photo


You want I should toughen you up for what the tea party has waitin' for ya, Dick?
Cuz this fist here is tiny and pink compared to theirs.
You know what they got waitin' for ya, Dick?
My white mama used to make it for me in US State of Hawaii.
She called it a can of  "Pow. Bam. Boom." 

It's the primaries that have gotten small! [photoshop]

Friday, November 26

The Happy Thanksgiving Podcast




Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

The button above is available in my Cafepress Store (and keep listening later in the year for an opportunity to win one).  The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads at Professional Left.

Monday, November 22

The New Economy: Loss Leader Cooking

Recently I noticed that my grocery store's "coupon mailer" -- an advertising booklet with loss leader prices on laundry soap, lunch meat, and toilet paper, was expiring that weekend. I went to the store on the last day of the coupon prices. You would have thought 99-cent toilet paper was a $39.00 I-Pad, and today was Black Friday given the number of women (of course) who were there with nothing in their carts but couponed items.

There is a bargain-hunting feeding frenzy mentality that brings hoardes of shoppers into that kind of environment, but something tells me that the current economy is turning more of us into loss-leader eaters. Frankly, I don't want to think about number of families dining on Cheez-its (Two bucks a box instead of a regular $3.49) and Pop-Tarts (88 cents for six, cheaper than the store brand!) this week. And let's face it, whoever scheduled Thanksgiving and Christmas a week before the food stamp money comes in on the first of the month wasn't thinking "abundant feast."


I'm travelling sans kids on Thanksgiving so we had our Thanksgiving dinner last night.  Like last year, my children were not big on traditional Thanksgiving fare, so while they dined on "spaghetti with green stuff" - [pasta, butter, and Knorrs pesto powder], the adults had simple unseasoned turkey with a couple sides made out of end-of-the-aisle canned vegetables.   In addition to green bean casserole (secret - full-fat cream of mushroom soup - 49 cents a can - LIMIT 4),  I googled "corn pudding" and found a recipe, and in the comment section for the name-brand concoction someone had written this:

I use can of corn, can of creamed corn, box of corn muffin mix [Jiffy], 2 eggs, stick of soft butter, cup of sour cream, bake 35-40 mins @ 350 in casserole dish. S & P to taste. Have made this hundreds of times with always an empty dish leftover & lots of compliments.


Lemme tell you, it's really good.  So good you can nuke it for breakfast the next day with maple syrup on top.

And a Miles Standish Sammich for lunch.


Have a very happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Light posting while we put together our Letters from You Podcast.

Friday, November 19

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left




Links for this week:

Rachel Maddow's Lecture at Harvard's Kennedy School

Susie Bright: How will the mid-term Tea Party Triumph affect your sex life?

Rolling Stone Roundtable with Gergen and Taibbi

The button above is available in my Cafepress Store (and keep listening later in the year for an opportunity to win one).  The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:





Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registraion at Professional Left.