Please vote for me if you haven't already!

Sorry to go all Princess Leia on you, but the top three vote getters get an automatic Netroots Nation scholarship, and I'm currently in a close race and fifth. Your vote will make a difference. Thank you so much.

HELP! (And thanks!!!) [leaving this post up top for a few days]

HELP SEND THE PROFESSIONAL LEFT TO NETROOTS NATION 2011

I am applying for a Democracy for America Scholarship to help defray the costs of sending your favorite podcasters/bloggers to Netroots Nation.

Click here to vote for Blue Gal. And thanks!!!

Photo above from West Virginia Blue's Flickr Stream

Sunday Shows Respond to Bloggers: "What shirt?"

big hat tip to Tosh.O

Call and Response - Wisconsin

Call:

Warning: This video will break your heart.




Response:




And as a comrade on twitter said,

It's on, Scott Walker, you piece of shit.

Blog Against Theocracy is April 22 - 24 #NoTheocracy

Actually, South Park Jesus, it's over a month away, but I want to get the word out.

Blog against theocracy is an annual blogswarm dedicated to the separation of church and state.It takes place Easter weekend, only because that is one time we can depend on the mainstream media to cover the religion beat.

It is not a blogswarm against religion. Bloggers who believe in religion and those who don't are equally welcome here. What we share is a common commitment to the First Amendment to the Constitution and, paging Teabaggers, its guarantee of church-state separation.

And the theme this year is "Because Sinclair Lewis was right."

Sinclair Lewis, to whom is attributed the quote, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”

We'll be using Twitter again to promote the blogswarm. Tag your posts #NoTheocracy.

Someone did this image of Palin and I made it into a lulz; if you know who did it please let me know in comments:

Here are my photoshops.

Fifteen More Votes and I WIN. Please click for me! And RT!

Top three vote getters are guaranteed a scholarship!  You guys are awesome!  Thanks!

If you haven't voted yet, do so here.  (It's free.)    This helps Driftglass and I defray our costs to Netroots Nation.  Thank you SO much.

Newt and Callista in Iowa - pure Green Acres

Click image for bigger and better

Happy Birthday, @JohnAmato!

Today is the birthday of the fabulous John Amato of Crooks and Liars.

Glad to be on your team, and thanks for all your support of the podcast.

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:

And don't forget to vote for me (meaning, us) for a Netroots Nation Scholarship. Thanks!

SUCH a bargain!

For the low, low price of $8.25 per month, the Republican Party of Texas (real link) promises not to mail you anything or to call you on the phone during dinner. (yellow emphasis mine).

A letter to my state senators

I got one of those AFL-CIO email your State Senator forms today, and I edited it to read as below.


Dear State Senator:

As you may have heard, the Wisconsin state legislature just passed a bill that strips Wisconsin state workers of their rights to bargain collectively.

Some commenters see this as a "bombing Cambodia" moment. A time when the war against workers, in this instance, finally went too far so that the silent centrist majority of Americans have to pick a side, and side with the workers.

I see this more as a "Life of Brian" moment. When the Catholic Church told people they shouldn't see a comedy movie, everyone went to see it.

The plutocrats and Kochs want to tell the American People that they "can't" meet as a group to negotiate with their boss on wages, benefits, and working conditions. Oh, really? Watch workers now insist that this be the case. I forsee an EXPANSION of unions, especially as young people have begun to realize that unionizing is their ONLY hope of having a middle class life.

The Republican party I once knew has been hijacked by racists and billionaires. It's disgusting. You used to be able to count on the GOP to be the party of fiscal responsibility and strong defense. Now they are the party of tax cuts (not the same thing as small government when you give no-bid contracts to Halliburton!) and making billionaires richer. I'm sickened by what this means for America.

When times are tough, Americans rise to the challenge. Elected officials must work FOR their constituents, the people mowing their lawns in our neighborhoods. The hijacked GOP is working for billionaires, period.

I respectfully request that you respond to this letter and let me know where you stand on this critical issue. The future of the GOP is at stake, and without a strong two-party system based on FACT, not plutocracy, our nation is doomed.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[signed]


I still believe in a two-party system in this country, but it's dying really fast. Not only has the GOP been hijacked by the astroturfed tea party, but the Democrats (h/t Cokie Roberts) are as bounded by corporate and moneyed interests as anyone else. So is most of the media. Thank God for UNPAID bloggers who get a few bucks in the hat from their readers and listeners. Please support their independent voices, folks. And thanks.

Remembering David Broder

We wouldn't have "vituperative, foul-mouthed, bloggers of the Left" if it weren't for the Dean.

Of course, we wouldn't have this horseshit, either.

He also said, in 2007, "...it's wise to take Newt Gingrich seriously."

Rest in peace.

My 3000th post.

When I started blogging in 2004, there was no YouTube, no twitter, the few early-adopters of podcasting were giving it up after a dozen episodes. Remember when blogger used to crash several times a day? Shout out to you, old skool comrades.

I'm still here, though my attention is often on the podcast or over at the big blog, where this week I am responsible for making sure three posts a day get put on the front page.

But Blue Gal, the blog, 3000 posts later, is still here. And Blue Gal, the blogger, hasn't gone anywhere either. I still wake up in the morning, every morning, and see what is bloggable.

I'm so grateful to you, my readers. Thank you for continuing to visit this corner of blogworld, and for reading and supporting me as the next 3000 posts get written, recorded, photoshopped, and giggled over.

And I just got reminded that blogging landed me 'the big account.' :D

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:

And still another #TCR Colbert Portrait Challenge Entry

colbert mona scream
Originally uploaded by flangum

Click for larger

Another #TCR Colbert Portrait Challenge Entry

miss colbert nation
Originally uploaded by flangum

click for larger

Weekend Photoshops

Come with me...
And you'll be...
In a world, of pure imagination.

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:

Look what Rachel Maddow MADE me do.

She said the reason Governor Sam Brownback wouldn't be interviewed by her in Kansas (and please, if Rachel Maddow comes to Kansas you've got to go!) was he was washing his hair or something.

I guess he was using "Never Rachel" shampoo.

Sure he was.

Scott Walker is still more evil than stupid.

And thanks to @TomTomorrow for the idea.

Oh gee, Blue Gal, tell us what you REALLY think!

I'm so mad about this anti-abortion juggernaut, I could just spit at every single GOP congressperson, and the Democrats who voted with them.  

On the other hand, these are the last unwavering members of their base that they can depend on to send in the checks, no matter what.  This is an anti-women, anti-sex contingent of a dying party.   They too shall pass.  

Yes, I'm furious.

Another So-Be-It Propaganda Poster

click image for larger

Photoshop invite: Boehner's "So Be It" propaganda poster.

You're all invited to do a propaganda poster based on Boehner's "So Be It" job destruction motif.

Like Tina Turner, I do things easy and hard:

Easy, via ObamiconMe:

And hard, via the now defunct Soviet Poster a Day blog and actual Photoshop Elements.   And Driftglass says it's from the SO-BE-IT UNION which is why I love him.  :

click image for larger

Feel free to make your own and blogwhore in comments. I'd love to see what others come up with.

Hey at least the cakes are ordered.

Right up there with the Celine Dion headpiece. However, the imaginary groom's cake is shockingly NOT a photoshop. Click image then click again for full size:

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast.  Thanks for your listenership and support!  We really appreciate it:

Happy 75th Birthday to my Dad

...who would appreciate that I had to post the Stripper Soaker 6000 first.

Me with my dad in 1969.

Happy Birthday, Dad. xoxo

Debbie Schlussel's Day Job (NSFW)

Tosh.0	Tuesdays 10pm / 9c
20 Seconds on the Clock - Stripper Soaker 6000
tosh.comedycentral.com
Tosh.0 Videos Daniel Tosh Web Redemption

Thanks be to G-d Debbie Schlussel filled her ass with race hate and sprayed her delighted fans with the typical anti-Arab enema juice she calls commentary. Via The Atlantic, and regarding the rape of journalist Lara Logan on the streets of Egypt:


So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows. Or so we'd hope. But in the case of the media vis-a-vis Islam, that's a hope that's generally unanswered.

This never happened to her or any other mainstream media reporter when Mubarak was allowed to treat his country of savages in the only way they can be controlled.

Now that's all gone. How fitting that Lara Logan was "liberated" by Muslims in Liberation Square while she was gushing over the other part of the "liberation."

Hope you're enjoying the revolution, Lara! Alhamdilllullah [praise allah].

Yay! Tuck an extra five-spot in Debbie's drippy funnel for me, just for making Pammy Atlas look like a UN Peacekeeper in a chastity belt.

Teabagger Boehner LOLcat

Um, it's not a foot you put in your mouth when you're teabagging, Mister Speaker.

A new verb. "To Grapefruit." for @Lawrence

Who definitely grapefruited Bill O'Reilly on The Last Word last night.

Thanks much to Crooks and Liars for the video:



The last line is cut off. "...if you're as afraid to accept my challenge as I think you are, if you don't even try to provide fact to back up what you said about me, no one watching this show is going to be surprised, Billy, because they will know that you will have proved everything that I just said."

Weekend Photoshop

John Bolton and Bill Kristol judged the Miss CPAC 2010 competition, and in a surprise outcome, Miss Mubarek beat out Miss Grifty Reload McQuitter in the "Grifting," "Quitting," and "Self-Serving Word Salad" competitions.

Thanks to everyone who sent such kind words to me and Driftglass. We're very grateful and happy. We're not living together until the wedding sometime in August and we're still waiting for some "way open" on specifics. One thing I've ruled out is a change in this blog's title:

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left

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 website's graphic (The ring above is from here.) 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.

Finally off the kids' computer.

Laptop has a new hard drive, thanks to the generosity of my readers and listeners.  It's great not to be on the kids' computer any more .  Thank you so much for softening the financial blow there. 

Today has been spent reloading software and getting the podcast ready for tomorrow.  Heading the minivan north to Chicago tomorrow morning.  Kids and books-on-tape and avoiding ice on the road for a few hours, then Mommy gets a nice warm tub and a beer when we get there.

Pray for Egypt.  How is it Jon Kyl can retire but Hosni can't?

Thanks for bearing with me.

It could have been worse.

My laptop should be back from the shop tomorrow, provided I give them lots of money.  New hard drive, (I tell myself No, I am NOT buying yet another copy of Windows, I'm buying malaria nets via the Gates Foundation.), new copy of Photoshop (totally authorized and street legal!)*** and  guess what?  We recorded the podcast tonight and it sounded LIKE SHIT so we're re-doing it tomorrow night again for you the customer, AFTER I get a new microphone headset.

I must have had some power or magnetic surge because the headphone mic and hard drive appear to have blown out at the same time.

I really appreciate everyone who gave to my fundraiser.  It really cushioned the blow.  Thanks!!!

Podcast this weekend will TOTALLY be worth all of this BS,  I guarantee.

***Correction.  Photoshop Elements.  Regular Photoshop?  No, Adobe cannot have my house payment.

Last day of fundraiser - a paler shade of blue screen of death?

I'm typing this on my kids' computer (not fun) because yesterday morning I got this screen. Not the Blue Screen of Death, more like my hard drive telling me "Don't mourn me 'cuz I didn't die, I just went away." My regular laptop is in the shop this morning and I'll probably need to get a new hard drive and copy of Windows. This morning I get to clean out office drawers looking for my Photoshop disks.

So now I know where the fundraiser money is going! Yay!

So light posting this week while I (hopefully) put everything back together. I really appreciate the financial vote of confidence many of you have given this blog, and particularly the kind words which have accompanied those donations. It's very heartening to be told (by people you KNOW are smart and have other things they could be doing with their time and money) that what I do here in the internet world is of VALUE. Thank you very much. And back to regular programming as soon as I am off the kiddo computer and back on my own machine.

Today is the last day I'll post this button until next quarter. Thanks for your support of my work! I have the best readers in the blogosphere.

PS. My fundraising goal this quarter is to make one-one millionth of what Huffpo got from AOL. Really!

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left

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 website's graphic (graphic above by Driftglass) 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.

We interrupt this fundraiser to celebrate Blogroll Amnesty Day

There's plenty of time to celebrate Blogroll Amnesty Day this year. As a tribute to the late Jon Swift, we are running it for a week. Old timers know that this holiday has a rather sullen history, but now it is a happy occasion: On February 3, bloggers are invited to post links to blogs you like, that have smaller traffic than your own. It's a great celebration and a time to discover new blogs and link them and stuff. As I have said in previous years, "not to get all mushy here, but do you know how fucking great it is to be here in the blogosphere? Take a moment. Take it in." Spread some linky love.

Small and newbie bloggers please be aware of the ironclad rule that you are not allowed to make "hey no blog is as small as mine" jokes regarding Blogroll Amnesty Day. The rule is, straight from the queen of the indy blogs herself (ahem), that you are not allowed to complain or mention your blog's low traffic until you have been posting daily for a year. If you're little, link other blogs that are new or still growing their audience, and encourage them to practice their craft daily. Then, show them how.

Here are some blogs from my blogroll that have posted recently. (I haven't checked their traffic numbers because I rarely check my own). Enjoy:

Reed Writes

Earth-Bound Misfit

Hysterical Raisins

Bildungblog

And an art blog, Tom Moody.

Fundraiser and a word about PayPal

I had a great back and forth with a dedicated reader to this blog yesterday. This reader refuses to give money to me via PayPal because of the whole Wikileaks thing. I get that.

Driftglass and I are talking about getting a post office box for the podcast, which we would both use for individual blog contributions. What we are working on now, is whether to open a bank account for the podcast, use my real name on the account, or what. One cannot solicit checks made out to "The Professional Left" or "Blue Gal" or "Driftglass" without an ability to cash them. So once that is worked out you will be the first to know.

In the meantime, I hope that principled liberals who read this blog daily...

...will temporarily set aside their internet paypal boycott...
...on behalf of a man who spent Christmas as a guest at Ellingham Hall...
...presumably kid-free...
...and has bail money from Michael Moore...
...and a world-wide microphone any time he tweets.

...to send a five-dollar vote of confidence to a single mother of three school-aged children who can barely afford her monthly internet bill. An unpaid blogger who entertains their principles regularly without charge. A comrade.

THANKS! I really appreciate the support.

UPDATE: Possible Nobel Peace Prize Nomination for Wikileaks. Just when I was worried I was giving him too much attention. :D