Opera Glasses and Popcorn
A flamingo drinks water at Erfurt zoo, central Germany Picture: AP
From another sweet animal gallery at Telegraph, including a minute hedgehog, a new born…rescued by a care shelter called…. St Tiggywinkles.
There is a religion, with saints called Tiggywinkles, that I could get behind.
An Opera Glasses and Popcorn view of Politics and the Assembled Multitude...
Marisacat -
- Real independent observations on current events with a particular fondness for the follies of the Big Box Blahgers.
Deflates bloated egos like a champion fencer in a balloon warehouse.
- Alan Smithee
Marisacat -
"...polish on a mud wallow"
- Meteor Blades [May 24 at Mcat]
Marisacat -
"... doyenne of donkle deconstruction"
- Who is IOZ [January 2 2007]
Marisacat -
"... hardened professionals and their primary strength lies in their being completely unconflicted."
"... the primary difference is that on the level of criticizing other blogs and bloggers, they can actually do some damage."
"... Not what I look for in a liberal blog product."
- peeder - MLW, Daily Rant [3.24.07]
Democracy NOW! / Amy Goodman Electronic Intifada / General Content Press TV / Middle East News Press TV McClatchy Headlines The Real News Reuters / Politics
on one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.
If you click on La Louche the picture or the words, it leads to the Amazon PayPage, a way to ... oh let's say help with the cat can deliveries.
Thanks to all who made the very kind suggestion.
Marisacat 
Microwave weapon will rain pain from the sky
Democratic Senate hopeful: Keep abortion funding ban
He’s a church black. I used to have a vague soft spot for him as I was watching Cspan when Rumsfeld testified before first the senate then the house. His last questioner at the end of the day was Meek… and I thought I detected racism coming ot boil in Rummy, in fact I htought it would boil over. that this young black man DARE question him.
But he is so happy lately to step right up for the pro lifers. Slap happy!
Screw all the electeds.
It’s so bad it’s funny!
Meet the Press: SecState Clinton for full hour
This Week: Sens. Conrad, DeMint. Roundtable with David Brooks, Donna Brazile, Arianna Huffington, Paul Krugman, George Will
Face the Nation: David Axelrod, Rep. Cooper, Gov. Jindal and Douglas Brinkley
Fox News Sunday: Gibbs, Sen. Kyl. Roundtable with Brit Hume, Mara Liasson, Bill Kristol, Juan Williams
State of the Union: Axelrod, Pelosi, Sen. McConnell
We will always be at war with Easteverywhere:
geesh.. I am pretty sure we have treaties or agreements with India about war. I mean we gifted them with da bomb, after all.
But hell, a master’s voice, from the Great Enclave in Washington.
Ousted Zelaya on Honduras Border, Criticizes U.S.
😳 Sorry you r two were caught in moderation, out now!
Seal of approval for that amazing birdface, too. Photo taken at a research center swimming pool in Logy Bay, also Newfoundland. (At some point, I just quit asking about these names.)
Can’t stand watching national politics much anymore, either, personally. It’s all so fucking predictable, on the grand scale, and meanwhile the super-close-ups seem to take all my available energy.
Grateful to you all for keeping watch. (Adds to chorus of special kudos for Marisa, and extra thanks to BHHM for reliably hilarious commentary on recent, er, sweep! On behalf of New York State, may I also thank New Jersey? )
🙂
Can’t stand watching national politics much anymore, either, personally. It’s all so fucking predictable, on the grand scale, and meanwhile the super-close-ups seem to take all my available energy.
ain’t it the truth!
Water is like a jewel in that shot, eh?
the water is very beautiful in the photo…
Jeez, just checked out the hedgehog! They don’t waste no time, when it comes to their spines, do they? Hold off just enough to get themselves safely born, it looks like?
Is it wrong of me to think someone should spoof a right-to-lifer protest brigade with a counter-picket featuring photos of that?!
Wear nun’s habits and monk’s robes, and tell the press you’re from the Sacred Order of St Tiggywinkles!
Truly inspired, IB. And just in time, because tomorrow would be the perfect occasion for it.
Jesus Fucking C.
SOMEBODY’S got to match these people for heavy-handed DRAMA.
Oh, that sounds like fun.
Sheesh.
Oops. I was wondering where everybody was! I left a couple of comments in the last thread.
yeah I just left you a comment reply to come on over!
😳
Did the poor fellow expire from being shot at with a cannon full of veteran’s day poppies, once he decided to open up publically about pacifism, at age 100?
😆 Could be!
about 8 years ago I saw some very heart breaking encounter… forget where now, some battle site from WW One… of two quite natty old dears… one German one English. Both in wheel chairs… I suppose one was Allingham perhaps… or this one. They both reached out from under their blankets, held hands and shed tears they had been forced to fight. And for what.
It was so the opposite of all the war memorial crap we get handed.
From catnip from last thread (my error think I forgot to post a forwarding thread link)
Defying Hillary, Zelaya returns to Honduras border.
Hillary will no doubt return fire in the morning on MTP.
She gets a full hour? WTF?
She started some low level pot shot taking on Ob a couple of weeks ago, rat a tat tat… and the WH is blocking her attempt to bring on Sid Blumenthal as an aide de camp at State…
he has returned fire indicating she LOST the health care debate. yeah she did, Big Time…, but sorry to say so will you bud. And I assume Bill’s sudden conversion (yeah really, I so believe it!) on gay marriage ws a salvo too. I’d love it if the two perps the Democratic party put up in ’08 fought it out, low level street battles.
So her appearance might be interesting. And she is now so doctrinaire in the foreign stuff… like listening to a soviet meeting or something. snooze as we lose and die.
and the WH is blocking her attempt to bring on Sid Blumenthal as an aide de camp at State…
I missed that news.
Yes, there’s definitely a pissing match going on with that dysfunctional menage a trois. I’m surprised Obama is allowing her so much press time since he likes to be the face of absolutely everything that goes in in his administration.
he likes to be the face of absolutely everything that goes in in his administration
Icarus flew for a while, too!
I’m surprised Obama is allowing her so much press time
Using up your own national sacred facial indulgences risks losing your right (and power) to block out another’s, eh wot?
Hoagland, who I cannto stand had an interesting column, think it was a Sat (menaing this Sat) column on some aspects of it … he felt her hurry up speech (not planned for weeks as the PR said) at CFR was a response to a column of his remarking on her sidelining.
I dislike Hoagland but there were tidbits in therre.
Allocate weapons, assign seconds and let them go at it in the streets.
sorry to say so will you bud
I’d love it if the two perps the Democratic party put up in ‘08 fought it out, low level street battles.
Double Snork!
Cambodian baby elephant with foot prosthesis, Giraffe Manor hotel in Kenya, and the Sundarbans tiger release photo are the best!. (Yes, yes, Leo the lamb with Alice the Kitten break the cute-o-meter, for what that’s worth, too.)
I loved Alice the kitten’s outstretched posture… and it looks like she is in a hammock. HE looks like a toy he is so perfect….
I have seen several docs and short segments on that Giraffe Hotel.. over the years… I would have loved to have gone there.
Leo and Alice are ab fab, no doubt about it!
And Giraffe Hotel was brand-new to me – what a riot!
But the tiger’s expression, upon release into the river, just takes my breath away.
I loved that one two… and the rather simple direct way of it all… soft rope net… and just let her go from the boat. Works for me
Exactly! Just let HER do it . . . make herself free!
I read the story about that clouded leopard cub in Bangladesh recently. They thought those leopards were extinct there since no one had seen one for years. They let the little guy go back into the wild after his photo shoot, iirc.
Love that giraffe!
oh I am glad to reead they released him to the wild… the look on his face was haunting…
Yes, catnip, thanks for saying.
He was sadder than Buckley, the puppy who’d lost his ears and tail … because despite what he’s been through, Buckley looks happy now. The cub’s eyes peering through the mesh of the cage looked so forlorn. I’m glad he’s not still there.
Here’s the story.
More popcorn! House to consider resolution demanding Obama apologize to Crowley
Gah. … they push it the Cambridge cops will release the damned tapes. As it is this will never die. We will hear of Gates arrest for ever. And ever. All the white and black factions have lined up.
AND Zeleny let it drop on the Gwen Ifill show that yes indeedy, Obama WH knew the question was there. And the answer WAS scripted, tho Zeleny would not cop to “stupidly” being fully scripted.
What an affair of putzes in a co mingled hump effect.
Gates will push it as long as he can while Obama tries to run away from it. “Moving forward”, as he calls it. Gates may end up finding himself under Obama’s bus.
planning a PBS docu on thr trials and perils …
Everything is working out so well. But look on the upside, the 28 acre expanse on Martha Vineyard that the Obs have taken at a supposed 50k a week has a vegetable garden. So perfect!
Apparently, Obama’s health care plan is modeled after Larry King:
I thought an IMAC was a computer….
ugh.
The two women on with Moyers, one said that it seems clear that Medicare will be moved to 100% privatised, with the poorest and sickest shuffled to whatever is the New [Wretched Horrible Bare Bones] Government Program.
Welcome to America, a little apocalypse at a time.
Yes everything is going so well. Maybe the Pak of AfPak just needs a homey community vegetable garden. Then all will be “OK”.
It has been interesting listening to KGO call ins over the past few days… with the exception of a hideous closet racist (his vote for Obama and his months of gush for Ob, covers that closet door) who thought Gates should apologise to Crowley (geesh!)… the difference between GatesGate… and the death of poor Oscar Grant shot in the back at the Fruitvale BART station early Jan 1 2009 is about from here to the moon.
Soft slobber for Gates (who of course is an issue for the Democratic party, to be blunt, and a personal issue for Obama) vs hideous racism, masses of presumption and screawming and diatribe agaisnt black callers during the Grant weeks.
I have noticed since an East Bay judge, in a hearing to be bound over for trial for Mehserle, the BART cop who shot Grant and then resigned, since the judge called what happened “murder” and utterly discounted, again from the bench, the ”story” of thinking he was using his taser AND the release in court of a new never seen video that discounted what ohter Bart cops said to support Mehserle… well KGO has shut the fuck up about the Grant killing.
Zipped lips.
But slobber all over Gates.
I think Obama would rather slit his eyes open than wade into that one.
While nobody’s paying attention: White House eases stimulus lobbyist restrictions
what a fucking joke his admin is.
Sheesh. Hillary talking about her relationship with Obama. Going on about how “the president sets the policy” and it’s her job to carry it out. So, congress has no role in foreign policy? Sounds like a monarchy to me.
At the close of This Week (a dismal display of stuttering idiots!) but they listed 24 KIA service people from Iraq and Afpak.. “since the last airing”. Meaning a week ago.
Way to go Obama. Claim the mantle. You earned it.
gawd that panel was painful.
ikt was horrible… tho even Ditz Queen Arianna nailed it, Only Begotten Son will sign anything. ANYTHING… just to get “health care” passed.
They all deserved each other. And Krugman sure di dnot eat his Wheaties this morning. Was he about to SOB?
I think Krug’s surrendered.
I’m catching up on the Moyer’s I recorded. We are so skarewwwwww’d.
the two women are great. Theyhave their hands on the bleeding heart of this mess. And the segment on shock jocks declaring open season murdering whomever is excellent.
The Health-Care Sacrifice:
What President Obama needs to tell the public about the cost of reform
When Jake Tapper asked that question of Obama at his presser last week, the kossacks pulled out the torches and pitchforks. How dare he ask such a question!
Lobbyists the silver lining in health care storm?
Krugman nails it in a simple piece:
Military Weighs Private Security on Front Lines
Same shit. Different president.
Breakout the spare – no – expense.
Solid Gold Dildo Award.
(Mahogany Base or select hardwood of your choice)
(Financing Unavailable)
some mainstream media outlet is declaring it over. I forget who, USA Today or one of the news mags, Time Newsqueak…
hmmmmmmmmm. It ain’t over out here.
it’s Newsweak … cover story.
It ain’t over out here.
And that’s the thing, isn’t it? Our Bank of Canada guy came out last week with the same declaration – that the recession is over. But the way that’s looked at by those in the world of economics compared to those of us on the ground is definitely at odds.
Frankly,
they don’t even have the econometrics to describe what is happening. No matte for “bourgeois dad” . The intentional con of preferring economic narratives and framing this collapse compels such blibber….
It is Class Warfare courtesy of the collusion between Democrats and Republicans alike. What’s astounding is this fellow (the media and the upper middle class are full of them) …they hold forth cluelessly, and as far as I can tell , actually still believe in the system.
If there isn’t a run on brokerage accounts after the Times stories on Goldman Sachs this week it will be a small miracle.
thanks for the tip… will remember to go read TIME… or do you mean NYT? I must have missed them.
NYT
oh now I remember that piece… you linked to it a thread or so back. Sorry it slipped my mind.
Trying to lay off my loutish ways today,
I want to add a bit to this heeya “…they don’t even have the econometrics to describe what is happening.….
What is really Concentration Theory (of Wealth in economic terms , other uses in other disciplines…)
Concentration Theory (in Econ at least) is a term out of use, muddied over on many levels for obvious political palatability… yielding to bland reporting on Income Distribution, pay gaps, savings rates etc..
Academic quants are struggling still to define factors (LOL in acceptable terms) of this dynamic (on the move) accelerating (picking up speed) reality..(our SUCK)
Anyway’s™… from Leo Egge’s abstract in 92… worth a peek.
I’ll be glad when they describe in detail and can quantify the various sets of political actors, their corruption, rise and fall of relative strength. I mean how do you factor in Mistress Payments. Be they from Edwards or Ensign? How do you chart the cycle of wealth and political power transfer and its cummulative effect, with any accuracy or marginal utility, snerk ,of, say Orthodox Jews dealing in everything from counterfeit Gucci handbags to live vital organs?
How can they report it?
What? Kidneys are still Up!!?!! But Jews are down 20 Rabbis today in political trading???
Essentially all they can tell us is what we already know:
The Rich are getting Richer. At an alarming rate.
And they dare not tell us precisely how, and frankly not so much for differentials among certain protected sets….
The D=R/R=D would become patently apparent esppecially if they took the snapshot of family wealth ex-officio.
I call this Till the Last Shoe Drops
We took her Right one
Without Insulin for years
She has one foot left..
The Left one goes too
A matter of time… money..
Till the Last Shoe Drops.
Police Sodomize Man with Taser
Yes. Surely a sign of a Peaceable and prosperous Kingdom.
I’m sure their wrists will sting from the slapping for several minutes.
Quick! where is Ob to comment, then retract? Then hedge… then offer a beer to all involved.
Oh no Ogletree involved? Mentor and teacher to both Ob and Snob…and Martha’s Vineyard habitue… Shit. No Cambridge tree filled streets? And piss yellow houses? And door locks repaired by Harvard… well shit.
Won’t be hearing from obdumbstruck.
He only emails shocked assholes.
RFLMAO
Heh-
Glad to Oblige Mad-“That’s It You’re Banned” ,man in the Marketplace.
I pee’d myself with that blast from the past, seeing how you got under markos’ downy little chipmunk skin. Well done, sir, well done. LOL.
well the victim should have done what Gates did.. even before he supposedly offered up his ID. He dialed the Chief of Police in Cambridge. No evidence he got thru… and I am sure he was shocked as hell when a stage filled iwth cops to prove the Blue Line and call out a Pretzel.
Poor sod handcuffed on the ground with a taser up his ass could not dial. Otherwise I am sure he has all the access that Gates, a dancing courtier, has.
Well these are anomolies donchaknow..
abberations in this heeya best diss’d, er, Best-iss nation…
abberations we’re told among our finests. Our markets…Cop’s are UP!!
Surely the market will surely take care of ANY poor soul who can’t call for help with a high voltage, police state poker lodged up the ass…
The rollout of the Taser Ass Phone surely will be welcome news.
HA! the first place I saw a phone you could walk around iwth… albeit as long as you did nto venture too far from whatever line it was keyed to… was in Texas in about ’78. OF COURSE, it was red white and blue and was called a Freedom Phone. I mean, what else?
It was useful out at the pool, especially after we discovered his step mother had gone cold turkey, cleaned out all the wet bars, but we found the pool side bar and the pool house was still fully stocked. She never figured out why two pale people who barely could manage to float moved to the pool… 🙄
{admiringly}
Niiiiiice.
Nice Score.
The Old Liquor in the Poolhouse Trick.
Sorry StepMamma. Not even a contest…LOL.
Training one’s sphincter muscles to dial the thing is a bit awkward at first , not to mention VERY muffled reception but this is a burgeoning market, and otherwise, I think we’ll see this does a LOT for the Market. Back to you, Cramer.
Quick! where is Ob to comment, then retract? Then hedge… then offer a beer to all involved.
Ha! My first thought as well (after the shock of how bloody horrific that act was).
gnu thred….
LINK
…………… 😆 …………….
Do any of you know the artist of the painting on this page of the NYT? I clicked on the link but couldn’t find more info.
What a painting? IS that the right link.. I get an article on immigration ICE tactics in NYstate…
There’s a painting of a woman lying on the ground on the right side…