Happy Blogiversary, Driftglass

To a terrific friend in the blog world. So glad to know you f2f, too.

We said in the podcast last week that you were six but you're only five. Must be you're tall for your age. :)

Here's to the next five, Sir.

Folks leave your good wishes over at his place. Thanks

Blog Against Theocracy is this weekend plus CONTEST!

Just a reminder that this weekend, April 2-4, is Blog against Theocracy Weekend. Details on how to participate are here.

Related items:

In honor of BAT, Tengrain is holding a "Pin the Tail on the Theocrat" CONTEST.

Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State has an article on the Faith Based Initiative issue at Huffpo.

Darkblack has a nice image for ya, too.

GOP pole dancer mug available

You guys are a hoot. LOTS of people wanted this. You can order one here, and sticker and t-shirts available, too. Thanks for the support!

The new GOP Logo

Chat salon tonight 9-10 Eastern Time

9-10 Eastern at

http://tinychat.com/bluegal

No camera, microphone, or email registration. Just pick a username and login for progressive blogger chat.

Hope to see you there!

Reminder: Rachel #Maddow has a birthday on Thursday

The picture at her blog holding a bunch of bitters bottles (say it five times fast) came in very handy.

We're using the hashtag #Maddow on Thursday to make her name a trending topic on twitter.

Apparently, I need to "go meaner" with the Michael Steele strip club party photoshops.

Darkblack calls them meanieshops. And the earlier one was not meanie enough.

PHOTO(shop): Michael Steele at the Hollywood Sex Club

Like Steele himself, I could not resist.

Minus Mister Steele, that is an actual publicity image from Voyeur, btw.

A Lil' Sumpin for the Sunday Morning Show Junkies

click image for larger.

Saturday Song

Driftglass and Blue Gal's Friday Podcast

If you like these, feel free to drop five bucks in our podcast hat. We really appreciate the help to defray the cost from the podcast service.

Oh jeez, look who wants a "Tea Party Without Nuts."

[Click image for bigger and better.]


Sorry Tom, that just isn't on the menu.

To the censors who say you can't mention "vagina" in a tampon ad

Why on earth you would want to mess with me at this particular time...

Richard Adams at the Guardian:

For years, advertising for tampons and "sanitary products" have been shrouded in nebulous euphemism. So what happens when a US tampon-maker drops the coy messaging and goes straight for the jugular (so to speak)? Its ad gets banned by the major US television networks for mentioning the word vagina.

Even when the company substituted "down there" for vagina, two of the networks still wouldn't run the ad, so the company was forced to drop the idea altogether.

Don't get me started on all that FDS vagina stink spray stuff.

I call bs on this, a black box with texting-like "U" on the cover, and an ad designed to get the big bad censors' panties in a twist? So it goes viral and is decryed on, oh, you know, feminist blogs? Ruh roh.

Wacky Vice President say what?

Vice-President Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney


Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller gestures to a reporter during the 1976 Republican National Convention.


Big Fucking Deal. [link]

Podcast has over 12 thousand listens. THANK YOU.

Apparently, @mymatedave10 couldn't handle a woman like me. (Best Personal To Me Tweet Ever.)

Democrats will cut your Obamacare!

I think 2012 is a little soon; they have to attempt to repeal closing the donut hole for America's seniors first...

But I've been saying what this cartoon does better since the bill passed.



My congressman is John Shimkus. He's a coal guy, and even though I don't like his quoting the Bible in congressional hearings to contradict global warming...



So even though he's, well, kinda nuts and a dangerous theocrat, he's pretty typical back-bench House GOP Christian white guy. And since the laptop on which I type is currently powered by a coal-burning power plant, I get that he has a vested interest in promoting an industry which is owned by those who pay his re-election bills.

I don't get the logic of how he is going to go about "repealing" the health care bill. How he's going to tell the seniors who voted for him that closing the donut hole is somehow going to give them more "freedom" "America" and "no death panels."

Even in their own twisted mindset, it makes no sense. He could play the deficit card, but betcha he voted for the handout to pharma with Medicare part D, so that's a crock.

I wrote about reimportation at DG's and I'll cut and paste with a bit of editing here:

The reimportation issue is a gift to the pharmaceutical companies, in that it completely dodges the real issue of patent reform. The Canadians set prices on drugs and we should, too. Instead, we subsidize the Canadians (and every other industrialized nation) with a patent system that lets pharma charge Americans whatever the hell they want for seven years. (I never understood why the anti-immigrationists didn't jump on this. Essentially paying for foreigners to have cheap drugs.)

If we want cheap drugs, we need to make pharma have a decent but reasonable profit without gouging just because they will make no profit after seven years. There is no reason that a six-year, 364 day old drug should cost $53.00 a pill but that same pill at six years, 366 days old costs 53 cents.

Why should we have to sneak Canada's reasonable drug pricing policy across the border when we can have one of our own?

Extend the patent time to ten years, require pharma to charge costs plus 15 percent if they want that patent. And ban pharmaceutical advertising outside of medical journals.

Reimportation covers up their greed and doesn't fix the real problem.

As a result of last night's vote,

[My mashup of the Katie Abram interview - made August 2009]

Katie Abram's son's insurance will not be cancelled if he gets sicker. And if she changes policies she cannot be turned down because of her son's pre-existing condition.

I'm happy for you Katie.

Worried still about the individual mandate. Will those mothers whose children lost their health insurance because the vicious fucks in the Arizona state legislature cancelled their kids' SCHIP insurance, be forced to buy insurance? Will they get subsidies? I thought they HAD subsidies.

This vote is reported to lose Arizona some 42,000 jobs.

This is not a spending problem, it is a "no taxes ever" selfish evil immoral mindset. Republican Governor, Republican Legislature. Party line vote.

Arizona is a cheap-ass state which pays their legislators $24,000 a year. That's it. If you refuse to raise taxes ever, pay your legislators next to nothing, and basically deride any effort to pay for a decent society, you should have your Social Security check cancelled forever.

I'd be doing some major effigy burning outside the State House if I were Arizonian. The fact that the Republican legislature there found it easier to cancel medical insurance for children than to raise LIQUOR taxes? They can go to hell.

Shorter President's Executive Order on Abortion

It's like I said.
The Hyde Amendment is in force,
like we always said,
from the beginning,
abortion neutral,
the end.

All that grandstanding will hopefully cost Stupak his seat. And for what?



As I said in an earlier post:

Doncha just love it when pasty white guys grab a cold Bud, don their USA star headband antennae, and straddle the bouncy unicorn of righteousness so they can tell women what kind of health insurance they can't buy?

Saturday Night Song

Driftglass didn't just get linked by James Wolcott. James Wolcott let Driftglass speak for him.

DG may never speak to us little people ever again.

To quote Morrissey, aah ha ah hahaha ha hahahaha oh hohoho....

(Congratulations, big guy.)

Driftglass and Blue Gal Podcast

We'll have to pay another podcast bill in two weeks, and when we start having guests it will probably require a software purchase. So, if you could help us make that possible with five bucks in the hat, we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Okay, Progressives, Stop Fighting Amongst Yerselves and Gape at Sarah Palin's New Hairdo

Ripped from Fox, that link goes to FoxNews. Okay, I'm going a little Wonkette with the title, but how could you not, given that this is NOT A PHOTOSHOP, and even the plastic necklaces are real.

h/t Rumproast, who compliments Doctor Quit, Medicine Woman's 'Frontiere Flowbee' hairstyle. Perfect.

New Panties -UPDATED

Background: Lizz Winstead and Joan Walsh (goddesses) were tweeting back and forth about Rielle Hunter, John Edwards' baby-mama, who reportedly "did not know" that the GQ photographer would include her bare legs in the shot where she's only wearing a shirt and pearls.***

Memo to my gal pals at the Mensa Ladies' Auxiliary Lunch: Next month I'm nominating Rielle for the Palin Award.



Okay, so Rielle has never watched Revenge of the Nerds where Booger tells the boys to "pan down"?



Anyway, far be it from me to interrupt two people tweeting I barged in and told Lizz and Joan that if my agent ever LET me appear on The Ed Show I would be wearing these, please don't tell anyone.



They told. Hilarity ensued. Thanks, you guys.

***I claim blogger bonus points for covering the Rielle story without one Huffpo link. Just saying.


UPDATE: For Joan Walsh, who is on Hardball this afternoon, by request:

Tell it to the kid with the pre-existing condition.

Markos promises to primary Kucinich if he votes against HCR. Jane Hamsher threatens her wrath if he votes yes. I left a comment at Guys from Area 51, who did a photoshop of Markos as Scarface.

Can you do one with Jane Hamsher threatening Kucinich for SUPPORTING HCR?

Combined with the current lovely image, it would make a great two-panel depicting the A-list's totally undeserved self-importance.

Who the hell threatens people like Sanders and Kucinich? Are we burning our copies of Howard Zinn next? Defaming Noam Chomsky?

Will doing any of the above get me on The Ed Show? Ooooh really?

The sad fact is lots of people in this country are making money off of sick people, which has slowed reform until it hardly deserves the name and barely deserves the votes. I suspect some bloggers have found a gravy train of their own on this HCR issue; they certainly have in terms of air time. Good for them. Don't expect that it doesn't change you to have that particular kind of skin in the game.

And don't be complete doucheitudes and expect a return of your campaign donations when the vote doesn't go your way. You're admitting that you paid for a vote, and even Blago isn't that stoopid.

Speaking of Blago, I wouldn't be surprised to see all the contributions get returned and a certain blogosphere firebrand be forced to go apprentice with The Donald just to get any airtime on the teevee in three or four seasons. It's an arc, and it's a hunger, don'cha know. There but for the grace of Rachel Maddow go you, Ms. Hamsher.

Threatening the few actual liberals in Congress does not impress me. Neither does burning crops. Really? This is how you get reform? Sigh.

PS Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. I'm off the computer today. xo

Correction on the Liz Cheney thing.

Via Frank Rich, she's not McCarthy. She's Roy Cohn. Noted:

Knitting On and Salon Tonight

One of my favorite quotes is from the famous knitter Elizabeth Zimmerman, written during Watergate:

Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises.

No particular personal crisis prompted this post, just what we seem to be facing politically, if I obeyed Elizabeth's dictum I'd actually use up all my yarn this year, ha ha ha ha ha.

Salon tonight 9 Eastern at this URL

http://tinychat.com/bluegal

See you then!

A photoshop before and after

I found this lovely, campy French magazine cover from the 1960's online a few weeks ago and popped it in my "to be photoshopped someday" folder.



Today was the day....

Saturday Song

Driftglass and Blue Gal's Weekly Podcast

Usually, this podcast is not exactly work safe, but this time we've mixed things up. This time, this podcast is exactly not work safe. Enjoy!

A very important announcement from my six year old.

She is a quesadilla.

And yes, that is a "Keep your panties on, I'm blogging" nightshirt* she's wearing. I've also found one more reason to be grateful that Tom Tancredo is retiring this year.

*We're into fashion versatility here at Casa BG.

Countdown to Blog Against Theocracy

Tengrain did the Palin hand thingy. Thanks, Ten.

We're gearing up for Blog Against Theocracy. The website has been updated somewhat and I've also set up the carnival page where you can submit your posts.

In addition, this year we'll be using the Twitter hashtag #BlogAgainstTheocracy, which is admittedly long. My sense is if people use that with only a tiny URL to their post it should work fine. If we go shorter passers by won't know what's going on.

Great timing: AU Executive Director Barry Lynn has an excellent op-ed at AOL Opinion on Obama's faith-based mumbo jumbo. I consider this a main focus for our efforts this year.

I look forward to the blogswarm and reading everyone's posts!

Dear Blog Buddies: We need a new eff word.

Because saying the old eff word three thousand times at a deafening decibel level doesn't even come close to my reaction to the latest cover of Time Magazine, wondering why Washington is frozen while offering up Newt Gingrich's "Blueprint for Bipartisanship," in which he concludes:

Republicans have much less to lose [in the healthcare debate] than the President does. If they offer good solutions and work with Democrats to find areas of agreement, they will have met the country's test for bipartisanship. If they refuse to support Big Government, big-spending legislation, they will have a vast majority of the country on their side.

No, Newt. Here is the new meme on healthcare:

The Republican Party and certain Conservadems refuse to regulate the extremely greedy and bad-for-Americans insurance industry.

And fuck you. Sorry, that doesn't even begin to cut it.

To reiterate what the great Sandy Underpants has said:

There isn't a crock

in the country

big enough

to hold

all the shit.

He said it here.


UPDATE: I guess I could update this post endlessly forever amen, but this.

Salon Tonight and Dick better not need a real lawyer

Salon is on at

http://tinychat.com/bluegal

at 9 Eastern.

Photoshop work in progress

Click image for larger. Those right wingers are crazy, man....

A video blog I had to share.

...and it isn't even mine.



Jessica Bern at Bern This was one of the comedy panelists at BlogHer and I just love her. She is also looking for bloggers to send her videos of them singing "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" for a montage. I can't wait to see it.

Driftglass and Blue Gal's Friday Podcast

The podcast is also available on iTunes and the RSS feed is here.

We just paid the podcast bill for March. If you like these podcasts, please consider kicking five bucks into our podcast hat, and then please do it. We really appreciate the support.

Lieberman and Bunning (video mashup)

These xtranormal videos are making the rounds; I had to get this one out of my system.

A note from Barack Obama

Mr. Martel --

My daughter and I just finished reading Life of Pi together. Both of us agreed we prefer the story with animals.

It is a lovely book -- an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling.

Thank you.

(signed) Barack Obama


No matter what you think about his policies, I think it is going to take our society decades to accurately judge the impact, particularly on race relations in America, of having, as the executive power in the United States, an African-American man who reads contemporary fiction to his eleven-year-old daughter and wrote that letter to the author. This is something brand new to American History, and it's about time, particularly given the long string of completely disfunctional families from both parties that have occupied the White House in my entire lifetime.

The fact that he's Black doesn't make his intelligence or parenting special, but him being all that and President does make it historic. And it changes more perceptions than we know. I don't think we white liberals even begin to "get it" about that.

PS Yann Martel sends his own Prime Minister a book every two weeks and doesn't get this much personal response.

Rest In Peace, Jon Swift

We all wondered what had happened to him, particularly since he did not come forward even for his own baby, Blogroll Amnesty Day.

Jon Swift passed away on February 27. His mom left this comment at the last post to his blog:

I don't know how else to tell you all who love this blog. I am Jon Swift's Mom and I guess I'm going to OUT him. He was Al Weisel, my beloved son. Al was on his way to his father's funeral in VA when he suffered 2 aortic aneurysms, a leaky aortic valve and an aortic artery dissection from his heart to his pelvis. He had 3 major surgeries within 24 hours and sometime during those surgeries also suffered a severe stroke. We, his 2 sisters, his brother, his partner and his best friend since he was 9 years old were with him as he took his last breath. We have all lost a shining start who warmed our hearts, tormented us and made us laugh as he giggled at our pulling something over on us. He passed away on February 27, 2010. My beloved child will live on in so many hearts. I miss him more than I can say. If you are on Facebook, go to organizations and join "Friends of Al Weisel, Unite!" It will give you just a taste of how special he was. Farewell, Jon (Al)

3/02/2010 8:14 AM

Jon Swift was already terribly missed because he stopped blogging abruptly last March. He was not only a very talented blogger, he was a true blog citizen. He linked to all of us, cared passionately about the community of small bloggers, and was one of the best at giving the ones and zeros in which we bloggers interact some heart and soul. And he was very funny.

Love to his family and may he rest in peace.

Introducing Liz Cheney's Love Muffin!

Blocking his own front door,
Mister Amato rebuffed attempts to question the
'experienced State Department Deputy'
with a curt, "She's busy."

John Amato and I have had a little inter-office fake post duel going on under the Crooks and Liars radar. But he doesn't photoshop so the battle has been completely unfair. A memo linking me to Tim Pawlenty, John? Please.

When I sent this little concoction around the office cubicles, I kinda won.

And Amato (bless his heart) said it was funny enough to post at open thread tonight. Ha.

PS Yeah, we've heard all the 'I wouldn't do her with my father-in-law's tallywhacker' jokes, thanks.

She's had some work done.

...And it's paid for with the blood of five thousand US soldiers and many more Iraqi civilians.

Anyone who gives her a seat on their television show is twisting the knife on all that is decent and honorable about America.




The idea that her father's war profits...
pay for cosmetic surgery...
to make her look more telegenic...
so she can promote and defend the murder of innocents and the torture of any...
in order to "keep me safe"?

Liz Cheney, and the networks who give her a stage, make Jesus himself vomit.

More Cowbell Podcast, Salon Tonight

Salon tonight, 9 Eastern, here. No registration or special equipment needed, it's just typing chat with fellow progressives.

If you like these podcasts, please throw five bucks in the podcast server bill hat. We appreciate the help.

The RSS feed for the podcast is here. The podcast is also available via iTunes.