Purple Avenger Beshits Self
The Purple Avenger, a relief blogger for Ace of Spades, has taken on Attorney General Eric Holder over a legal issue, even though the Purple Avenger’s only legal training consists of sitting as a juror on a 45-minute shoplifting trial, skimming a couple of chapters of a John Grisham novel while taking the Greyhound to Chattanooga, and reading part of the Wikipedia entry on the Second Amendment. The masked purple man takes issue with this statement by Holder
I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under Heller.
To which our Purple Perry Mason of Peoria retorts:
Ahem, the existing law about bullets…27 CFR 478
478.37 Manufacture, importation and sale of armor piercing ammunition. No person shall manufacture or import, and no manufacturer or importer shall sell or deliver, armor piercing ammunition …
If my memory serves correct [sic], this sort of law has been in place since about the time of [sic] Bush V1.0 was in office…which would be just under 20 years ago. Enough time for the AG to familiarize themselves [sic] with it I would presume…unless of course the AG has the mental capacity of a turnip.
Now before Mr. Rutabaga Head goes all snarky and says Holder has turnips for brains, and before he titles a post “Holder beclowns1 self,” it’s probably a really good idea for a guy wearing purple tights to make absolutely sure that he’s right so that he doesn’t wind up, well, beshitting2 himself.
Oh dear, Mr. Avenger, there’s something brown and foul-smelling running down the leg of your purple tights. I think that’s probably because you didn’t realize that the regulations have a definition of “armor piercing ammunition” which doesn’t include all armor piercing ammunition. It only includes ammunition that can be fired in a handgun. It only includes ammunition of a certain composition and doesn’t include other ammunition that can actually pierce body armor. Oh, and another thing, your stain is getting bigger because the “ban” isn’t really a “ban” either. It only applies to manufacturing and importing ammunition and has no effect on private ownership, use or transfer of armor-piercing bullets.
This is why there have been legislative proposals introduced to close these loopholes and is certainly what Holder was referencing. Here’s Senator Kennedy discussing such a proposal:
On this last issue, at the Judiciary Committee’s meeting on March 6, I offered an amendment to close the loopholes in the federal ban on armor-piercing ammunition. Current law lacks a `performance based’ standard for handgun ammunition that can penetrate body armor. Even more important, there are no restrictions on armor-piercing ammunition used in centerfire rifles. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, nineteen law enforcement officers were murdered in the last decade after bullets penetrated their armored vests. Fourteen of these officers were killed by bullets fired from .223 caliber rifles or 7.62 caliber assault weapons–and armor-piercing bullets for these weapons continue to be marketed on web sites today. Because it has no place in our society, I offered an amendment banning all such armor-piercing ammunition. The Committee defeated my amendment by a vote of 10-6, with three members not voting.
Now, Purple, go clean yourself up and put on a clean set of tights, okay?
1I thought “beclown” had jumped the shark sometime ago, even among the juice-box and jammies set.
2 Sadly, No! officially-approved substitute for “beclown.”
I’m not sure I understand how these guys are planning to outlaw standard 30-06 rounds, that are above the manufacture’s rating for body armour normally warn by police officers. Most cops wear body armour that may stop a .45ACP if they are willing to wear the extra weight. But not a full size rifle round…
So is Kennedy and friends actually seeking to outlaw rifle ammunition?
I can empathise with the intent. But it does not seem practical.
Facts? The Purple Avenger don’t need no stinkin’ facts! The Purple Avenger shoots from the hip!*
* and blows his foot off…
Bang bang!
You shot me down.
Bang bang!
I hit the ground.
Bang Bang!
That awful sound.
Bang Bang!
Ol’ Tintin shot me down.
Don’t look at me; it was the brussels sprout.
I’ve eaten turnips that were more articulate than the Purple Penis Easter.
Purple Penis Eater.
Sorry, the UPS guy showed up yesterday with an ash cross on his forehead and I still have Catholic holidays on the brain.
Avenger, phooey. That guy is sic, sic, sic.
Hey Purple Avenger guy — avenge me!!!!!!
I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under
HellerHitler.fixed.
Just getting out in front on the Wingnuts.
I almost went the whole day without knowing that it was Ash Wednesday. I’m more interested in Fat Tuesday, personally.
Purple Penis Easter is the worst holiday ever.
We had a “Purple Avenger” at summer camp when I was a kid. He’d sneak into a bunk full of sleeping boys and squirt toothpaste on their pillows or dip their hands into a bowl of warm water.
This “Purple Avenger” sounds somewhat less sophisticated.
Purple Penis Easter is the worst holiday ever.
Interesting bonnets, though.
I almost went the whole day without knowing that it was Ash Wednesday. I’m more interested in Fat Tuesday, personally.
That’s the best thing about leaving the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church… all the feasts, without the churchliness.
A couple of years ago, a old friend of mine and his fiancee went to an all-you-can-eat Brazilian churrascaria on Ash Wednesday, after receiving ashes, and proceeded to gorge on grilled red meat to the consternation of everyone else there.
He’d sneak into a bunk full of sleeping boys and squirt toothpaste on their pillows
SNYG, that weren’t no toothpaste!
I recommend replacing [sic] with [hic] as some wingnuts, like Purple, seem to be perpetually drunk.
I recommend replacing [sic] with [hic] as some wingnuts, like Purple, seem to be perpetually drunk.
In both cases, adding a “k” would be appropriate.
How long before one of these rightards writes a post praising Timothy McVeigh? Yeah, I know Coulter had her little joke a few years back.
only legal training consists of sitting as a juror on a 45-minute shoplifting trial
Umm, I gotta admit that you have nailed, on the head, my legal qualifications. Srsly.
Of course, I eschew the wearing of purple tights (except on *special occasions) and I have enough sense to let experts be experts, so I guess that sorta, kinda ruins my wingnut blogging career.
SNYG, that weren’t no toothpaste!
If yours smells like mint and has a blue swirl running through it, you’d better see a doctor promptly.
But Grover, you told me you liked it!
Sorry, the UPS guy showed up yesterday with an ash cross on his forehead
How odd. The postman here turns up with the letters ‘Emet’ written on his forehead.
beshit
beshitting
beshatted?
beshat
had beshat?
damn, I can’t conjugate shit no more
Ban this gun.
Ban that bullet.
Ban some other magazine.
You’re tinkering around the edges. What problem are you seeking to solve?
One would hope it would be primarily the horrendous toll gun violence was taking on our (mostly) urban communities.
You really think you’re going to save a kid in Chicago or Oakland or Hunter’s Point or Compton by banning a high-velocity teflon round that costs $9.00 or a rifle with a “Thumb-hole stock”?
Let’s start hearing some real ideas about a way to reduce the NUMBER of guns in the hands of kids and gangsters. It’s a REAL hard question, I agree. But ridiculous, meaningless “symbolic acts” that protect cops that have guns themselves and tend to shoot many unarmed people and do nothing to solve the problems of our communities.
If you think this is a worthwhile issue, great. Ban some more bullets. How many plain old 115gr FMJ 9mms does the kid downtown have in his dresser drawer?
mikey
damn, I can’t conjugate shit no more
But would you decline atequila?
Purple Penis Easter is the worst holiday ever.
Now I have a mental image of the Purple Penis running around with his big bag of dicks, hiding them in the garden.
From reading Roy Edroso over the long term, I get the distinct idea that NYC’s handgun ban has worked pretty well.
running around with his big bag of dicks, hiding them in the garden.
That vinegar-based dye must sting like a bitch.
The Purple Penis doesn’t seem that intimidating but that gum he brings us is awful.
Oh no. No. Now see what I’ve gone and found.
Oh the stories I could tell about PeeJ.
Oh no. No. Now see what I’ve gone and found.
That’s quite an Easter basket.
Where Have You Gone, Bill Casey?
By Paul Kengor
“We win and they lose.”
-Ronald Reagan, January 1977
As an unprecedented, colossal “stimulus” package was passed by, literally, 100% of Congressional Democrats and 1% of Republicans, something rather extraordinary slid beneath the public eye: Leon Panetta was confirmed as our next director of central intelligence — i.e., as head of the CIA.
Personally, I had a unique inside angle on this political theater. Here at Grove City College a couple of weeks ago we hosted Herb Meyer, who in the 1980s had been the right-hand man to President Reagan’s CIA director, Bill Casey. Meyer was one of those behind-the-scenes, unsung heroes of the Cold War, who worked with Casey to take down the Soviet empire through numerous means ranging from economic warfare to aiding anti-communist forces from Krakow to Kabul. He was the subject of our third annual Ronald Reagan Lecture. (Watch the video here.)
As I arrived at Meyer’s room to pick him up, I was greeted by a genial, pleasant man who was worked up over what he was watching on television. Meyer was enduring C-SPAN’s coverage of Panetta’s confirmation hearings for CIA director. Something really insidious was on display at those hearings: a curious consensus that if American intelligence — God forbid — knew there was a ticking bomb in a major city, and had in possession the terrorist who knew the bomb’s location, that it would be wrong to “torture” the suspect to disclose the location.
This is where the unceasing hatred of George W. Bush has finally brought us: bloody irrationality. In truth, everyone in that Senate room knew it would be imperative to use whatever time-tested techniques to prevent, say, two million innocents from morphing into a mushroom cloud over Manhattan. Of course, if such a scenario ever develops, every senator in that room — plus the New York Times editorial board — would urge Panetta to begin water-boarding the suspect immediately.
Yet, at this point in the sad state of the republic, none of the gentlemen could dare make such an untoward claim. “Can you believe this?” Meyer shouted at me and the TV as we observed this political spectacle.
No, I could not. Or maybe I could.
That’s just one illustration of the new man in charge and the new mindset at the CIA.
But the crisis is even more acute. One of Herb Meyer’s most crucial reminders is the thing that made Bill Casey’s CIA different, and what made Ronald Reagan’s presidency different: it was the objective to win, to win the war, the Cold War — and to think creatively, outside-the-box, to make that happen. As Meyer emphasizes, Casey was a maverick, and a maverick was needed to win the Cold War, just as one is needed now to win the War on Terror. To win today will require the right CIA director (like a Casey), the right president (like a Ronald Reagan), the right head of the National Security Council (Bill Clark), the right secretary of defense (Cap Weinberger), plus an Ed Meese, a Jean Kirkpatrick, and the unappreciated folks in the shadows, individuals like Roger Robinson (at the NSC) and Herb Meyer at the CIA.
“Reagan didn’t play to lose,” says Meyer. “He played to win. And that’s what made him different from every other president.” Meyer puts it this way:
“Ronald Reagan was the first Western leader whose objective was to win. Now I suggest to you that there is a gigantic difference between playing not to lose and playing to win. It’s different emotionally, it’s different psychologically, and, of course, it’s different practically…. Now, sometimes defense is the right thing to do. It was Reagan’s judgment that the time had come to play offense — that they [the Soviets] could be had. When he made that decision … it flowed from a decision to play to win.”
And Reagan needed Bill Casey at the CIA to achieve this. As Casey’s special assistant, and as vice chair of the National Intelligence Council, Meyer observed the full scope and brunt of the Reagan strategy. That strategy, said Meyer, citing the tandem of Reagan and Casey, was “very dangerous … very gutsy…. And there were a lot of people who said, ‘Oh dear, you’re right, the bear is wounded. Don’t poke sticks at a wounded bear.’ But the Reagan-Casey approach was: ‘Hey, my enemy is on his knees. It’s a good time to break his head.'”
They broke the head of the bear through a multi-pronged approach, with a ball-bat protruding with a dozen nails, from “peace through strength” to economic warfare, carefully and successfully calculated to avoid armed conflict and nuclear war — to win peacefully. As Meyer described it, they launched a systematic campaign to identify Soviet economic weaknesses. “What we realized is that the CIA had been monitoring Soviet strengths,” said Meyer. “It was not looking at Soviet weaknesses.” Casey began conducting Soviet vulnerability assessments. With Reagan’s backing and urging, they searched for weaknesses that they could exploit to accelerate the Soviet collapse.
Casey’s bold, risky steps to win, from Nicaragua to Afghanistan, earned him the enmity of the American left. The only group that despised Casey more was the Soviets. Hatchet-job profiles of the maverick DCI ran throughout the Soviet press. They used the classic tactic of the left — class warfare — given that Casey had risen from childhood poverty to make himself a wealthy man prior to running the CIA. In the phony, lie-filled pages of Pravda, Casey, a New Yorker, was referred to as the “Queens Gangster,” alternately as a mafia-type crook or filthy capitalist, a “rich lawyer” and “Wall Street millionaire” — “Casey the untouchable.” Casey joined Reagan, Cap Weinberger, and Bill Clark in the honor of being one of the most trashed names not only in the American press but the Soviet press.
One of my favorite examples of this was the Soviet reaction to a fire-and-brimstone speech by Casey in San Antonio, where the CIA director colorfully (and correctly) exclaimed that Marxism-Leninism had unleashed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: famine, pestilence, war, and death. That particular blasphemy sent unbelieving Soviets into a rage. Soviet propagandist Vitaliy Korionov wrote this mocking “rejoinder” in the pages of Pravda:
“In recent years the world has grown used to hearing speeches from Washington full of malice toward everything progressive. However, CIA Director W. Casey, speaking at a ‘World Council of Industrialists’ the other day in San Antonio, Texas, evidently decided to outdo other Washington figures. The United States is threatened by unspeakable danger, Casey stated, voice atremble. ‘The Marxist-Leninists have unleashed the four horses [sic] of the apocalypse — famine, plague, war, and death.’ Are you not scared, reader? Even the director of the main U.S. espionage department is beside himself with fear.”
One can forgive the officially, militantly atheistic Soviets for describing the four “horsemen” as the four “horses.” After all, the only Bibles they saw were the ones they kept shut as they confiscated and destroyed them, sacrificing them right alongside the priests, nuns, and millions of believers in the gulag. But they did know famine, plague, war, and death — and the apocalypse. And it was four men: Reagan, Casey, Clark, and Cap, who deliver the communist apocalypse at the Kremlin door.
We stand at a similar threshold today, but with no prospect of a solution in sight. The pieces that spell victory are not in place. Certainly, we do not have the players we need.
We need people today who are not concerned with being politically correct, who will take risks, who will think outside the box, who, first and foremost, will play to win. “We win and they lose,” as Ronald Reagan had put it in January 1977, four years before he was inaugurated president, as he watched his fellow Americans hand the helm of the ship of state to Jimmy Carter.
Bill Casey did not care what the press thought about him, nor the encomiums of the kind of senators who postured before the C-SPAN cameras to demonstrate their humanity before Leon Panetta. Casey did what he did for the right reasons, to change history for the better, and not for himself or his career. It was mix of bravado and creativity, of breaking the mold. It was exactly the opposite of what we have just sworn in — at the White House and at the CIA.
Please remind me again why we’re still listening to asshats like John Bolton, Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, Tom DeLay and Herr Karl Rove?
In case you didn’t catch it, Rove’s screed yesterday in the WSJ is a masterpiece of Orwellian doublespeak. Unfortunately for him, I have issues with it. Lots of issues.
Copypasta troll self-outed on Teabag thread. Forgot to switch nyms.
Stupid copypasta troll is stupid.
Scroll-troll gets scrolled by.
Kengor stomp Tokyo! Stomp, stomp, stomp!
Hey libs! If OBL got capture tomorrow, do you think the bastard should be tortured? Why not?
Answer that!
And I don’t mean waterboarding, dumbasses. Waterboarding isn’t torture, it is merely discomfort.
Copypasta/acronym troll knows from discomfort. Mom refuses to change his crusty sheets anymore.
Hey, Osama, buddy — there’s some geek on the internets talkin’ ’bout you. Wanna see? Okay, finish fucking the twins first. It can wait.
Thank God that Reagan (or is that backward?) had the guts to choose to actually win when it came to killing Central American and Southern African civilians.
And that brilliant strategy of hiring an army of fundamentalist Muslim war lord drug dealing terrorists in Afghanistan sure came in handy when Reagan II (Bush Jr.) wanted to let all our defenses down so Reagan’s former jihad buddies could blow up the World Trade Centers and 1/5th of the Pentagon.
Man, but Ronnie was a winner!
Beclown!
Beclown!
All the world loves beclown!
Oh no. No. Now see what I’ve gone and found.
PeeJ, come and see me in my office, sir!
I don’t see why we need torture. The scroll-troll revealed his true identity while we were using only snark.
Also, I have long since realised that I don’t need my Force-Lightning powers to make these wingnuts shit themselves.
It’s actually just one word, not two. A Purple Peniseaster is a relative of the White Cotoneaster. Both rhyme, appropriately enough, with “disaster”.
So I stood there on the corner of 21st and Vine
And said, “Please, Purple Penis Eater, don’t eat mine!”….
I think that trolls, once captured, should be tortured. And not just waterboarded, I mean ah hah hah (slurps chops) REALLY TORTURED! bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Osama bin Laden should be given multimodal therapy at taxpayer expense in a shamanistic center in San Francisco, then released to teach kindergarten to poor white children in Alabama.
After Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday comes Lye Soap Thursday.
And I don’t mean waterboarding, dumbasses. Waterboarding isn’t torture, it is merely discomfort.
Then I guess we owe the Imperial Japanese Army a big apology since we tried their officers for war crimes for using it.
Hey libs! If OBL got capture tomorrow, do you think the bastard should be tortured? Why not?
Answer that!
“Italy would survive the loss of Aldo Moro. It would not survive the introduction of torture.” – General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
Look it up.
After Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday comes Lye Soap Thursday.
LOL
that is all
Copypasta is the traditional starch dish served at a formal Purple Penis Easter supper.
Then I guess we owe the Imperial Japanese Army a big apology since we tried their officers for war crimes for using it.
Were they convicted and punished, or thanked and given medals for preserving Freedom From Terror™?
Copypasta is the traditional starch dish served at a formal Purple Penis Easter supper.
We are aware of all Purple Penis Easter traditions.
After Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday comes Juden-Fett Thursday</i.
Update: apparently, the “Jew soap” stories have been discredited. Carry on.
If you spend $1 million, EVERY SINGLE DAY, since JESUS WAS BORN, you still would not reach $1 trillion.
Obama’s budget is WAY more than $1 trillion.
Nuts. Just crazy.
Update: apparently, the “Jew soap” stories have been discredited.
Yes, but it never stops being funny!
But I told George W. Bush to start that illegal, unprovoked, unjustified trillion-dollar-plus war in Iraq personally.
(Reluctantly opening can of troll food…)
No, he shouldn’t. He should be dragged in chains to the World Court at the Hague and be publicly tried for crimes against humanity – IOW, he should get the Nuremberg treatment. He can’t be hanged by the World Court, but that would be counter-productive from an anti-terrorism POV anyway – it would only make him a martyr to the cause, which is exactly what his followers would want.
No, he needs to be captured, tried, convicted and sentenced to living out what’s left of his pathetic life in prison, like his would-be predecessors who tried to hit the WTC before him. Ever hear of those guys anymore? No. They’re on the ash-heap of history, where they belong. For a public enemy like Bin Laden, that’s a fate worse than death.
Because that’s how civilizations do it. It’s what makes us different than them.
We were so disappointed during our visit to Auschwitz/Birchenau several years ago. They had no ashtrays for sale in the gift shop.
“No, he needs to be captured, tried, convicted and sentenced to living out what’s left of his pathetic life in prison,”
You know, there’s a chance he could still escape then. Or say, some terrorists hijack Air Force One and hold the President hostage, demanding his escape. What then?
The only safe way to dispose of scum is the death penalty, in an AMERICAN, not some pussy European court!
yaaaaaaawwwwnn
You know, there’s a chance he could still escape then. Or say, some terrorists hijack Air Force One and hold the President hostage, demanding his escape. What then?
Incredibly stupid angry deranged troll has seen many, many incredibly stupid angry deranged Bruce Willis movies.
That’s no place to learn foreign policy, peanut.
Hey, Osama, buddy — you ain’t never gonna believe what that goober’s sayin’ now!
More Chex mix? Sure.
You know, there’s a chance he could still escape then. Or say, some terrorists hijack Air Force One and hold the President hostage, demanding his escape. What then?
If he’s that dangerous, why did Bush lose interest in him entirely?
How does torturing anybody help with any of that anyway? You’re just bloodthirsty, or painthirsty, or loony, or piefilter.
If you spend $1 million, EVERY SINGLE DAY, since JESUS WAS BORN, you still would not reach $1 trillion.
But WAIT, it gets WORSE!
If you put only TEN CENTS into a savings account with a 2% fixed APR when Jesus was born, then by 2000 the INTEREST ALONE would be over $317 TRILLION DOLLARS!!!
Stupid libs.
Or say, some terrorists hijack Air Force One and hold the President hostage…
If it was President Obama? You’d be cheering for the terrorists.
some pussy European court!
I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter (fap, fap, fap, fap, fap, fap….)
Because I am a mad rider on the edge of oblivion, I gooogleoogled The Purple Avenger. He wasn’t some tights wearing superhero swinging down onto parliament buildings but a 40-60 feet tall gorilla whose best friend was a truck driving beagle and whose catchphrase was saying his name twice.
you can look it up in the toonopedia
The posting makes more sense in that light.
He wasn’t some tights wearing superhero swinging down onto parliament buildings but a 40-60 feet tall gorilla
I couldn’t fuck a GORILLA!!!!
If it was President Obama? You’d be cheering for the terrorists.
In that case yes because a Socialist president would be no better than an Islamofasist. But then Biden would be next in line, so Bin Laden’s henchmen would have to kidnap him and that Socialist Pelosi for it to be worth the trouble of “cheering for the terrorists,” as you so smugly put it.
If you spend $1 million, EVERY SINGLE DAY, since JESUS WAS BORN, you still would not reach
$1 trillionthe amount repigs spend on avoiding jail.I think we have a guy shopping a script for “Die Hard 5” or “Rambo 8” or something here.
Mom thinks I’m down here playing Guitar Hero! Boy, she’d be pissed if she knew I was really trolling the internet and fucking the dog.
You libs are mean and I hate you and I’m leaving the internets….
I mean it! I’m really going there’s no stopping me…
Just watch.
You’ll be sorry.
It’s a done deal this time it’s for real.
Okay, here I go…
Help me! For the love of God, please help me!
What part of “make Bin Laden a martyr to the cause, which is exactly what his followers would want” do you not understand?
Bang bang bang, went Tintin’s gun!
He shot me down, Lucille!
The only safe way to dispose of scum is the death penalty, in an AMERICAN…
Having Rush Limbaugh swallow him would do the trick, definitely.
Except El Rushbo is no longer an American, since he criticized the President during a time of war, so the secret Bush Laws go into effect and make him fair game for extraordinary rendering (and there’s plenty of lard to render!)
Tintin’s gun is filled with non-lethal shot.
Maybe we could have a Celebrity Deathmatch™ between Osama, The Crusher, The Penis Avenger, and Reagan. We could phone in votes to change teammates, and we could do it all on Pay-per-View™ The winning team goes on to fight “Barkin’ Mad” Rush, “Bathtub” Norquist, Doughy “Jonah” Pantload, and Tickle-me-Elmo. The winners (and losers) are then sacrificed to Ahuizotl.
What do you libs think of the 1980s?
boring troll is boring
boring troll is boring
There really is only so much you can say about how much you like pie.
Man, I bet that Purple Avenger would know what to do about the Joker’s boner!
What do you libs think of the 1980s?
Video killed the radio star, I’m told.
Furthermore, it was hip to be square in the ’80s but you had to fight for your right to party. And a young Christopher Cross taught us how to love.
And shoulder pads. Lots of shoulder pads in jackets and shirts in the ’80s.m
Let’s start hearing some real ideas about a way to reduce the NUMBER of guns in the hands of kids and gangsters.
Move the kids to Canada. (You can keep the gangsters).
Video killed the radio star, I’m told.
You got nothin’ on me. I was acquitted.
DAMN YOU Xecky!!!!
Just because I had to take Vasco out to check his pee-mail, and then to check on the laundry, then to see how my meat-a-balls were coming is NO FUCKING REASON for you to deprive of an easy shot. Bastidges.
\
Also DAMN YOU TO ETERNAL FUCKING HELL WP!!!!
Lots of shoulder pads in jackets and shirts in the ’80s.
Oh yes, and ribbons and polka dots. And huuuuge T-shirts off one shoulder worn with electric fuchsia tights.
I remember it all very well, especially now that the kids are starting to wear stuff like it all again.
Actually, you know what I think of when I think of the 1980s? Country singers with perms wearing sweaters. Any video of Conway Twitty or Charley Pride after, say, ’84 or so, and both of ’em must have the same fashion co-ordinator.
And seeing “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair and “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes wrassle for almost a full hour in a gym in Saltillo, MS. Add in the Atlanta Braves sucking to an unholy level each and every summer, and that’s pretty much my childhood.
…is NO FUCKING REASON for you to deprive of an easy shot. Bastidges.
Pardon. But there’s still plenty of room left for making fun of that goofball comment.
Hey libs, thinking about torture makes me feel kinda funny inside, know what I mean? Kinda . . . I dunno . . . funny.
Hey libs, do you wanna see my collection of snuff films?
The 1980s were when we started wanting a new drug during a total eclipse of the heart. At night, there was wang chunging.
We learned that Billie Jean was, indeed, not Michael Jackson’s girl; Madonna was not a virgin, but she felt like one because girls just wanted to have fun and get footloose. Also, fame.
During the eighties, drum sound sucked on everything. And we’ve never recovered.
btw, men will suffer fire and brimstone while women will merely have demons stuffing hot pokers up there …somethings…
No, I’m not kidding
Also, what were the 80’s? Old as I am, I must have lived through them but I can’t remember a fucking thing.
What do you libs think of the 1980s?
It was truly a golden age, with the great Reagan shoveling money at the very men that liberals now worship – Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. Who knew that Reagan would be such a friend to the Liberal Agenda?
Why should it matter what any of us thought of the ’80s when Ronald Reagan himself didn’t remember very much of the decade even when while he was President (“Nancy tell me again that great story…what did I say to Gorbachev again, ‘Ich bin ein Berliner?’ Well, we sure won one for the gipper”).
Okay, I’m probably going to burn for that.
Also, you might have though Ric Ocasek was crazy to hang around with you.
During the eighties, Saint Reagan started the War on Drugs by successfully invading Drugistan and destroying the problem at the source: dirty brown people who want to sell us drugs. Thanks to Ronald Reagan, America just said no and today there is no drug problem in America. Only a shortage of prison space.
Yes, and who can we blame for that? The intolerable Phil Collins.
“who can we blame for that? The intolerable Phil Collins.”
Hey, he tried to tell you there was something in the air.
Also, you might have though Ric Ocasek was crazy to hang around with you.
Nah, I thought he was lucky to have something to do.
Err, someone – Paulina Porizkova.
Very good, Johnny. Lemme guess he also told me you can’t hurry love so take take me home?
so take take me home?
Hm … I don’t remember.
“Lemme guess he also told me you can’t hurry love so take take me home?”
Yeah, Phil’s an easy lover. But if you’re Philip Bailey, you know that already.
I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under
HellerHitler.Hold up. If I’m not muchly mistaken, there was gun control in Germany pre-Hitler through the influence of the Allied nations. Laws which Hitler and the Nazi’s loathed, because, well, they were who they were; in fact, they actually overturned gun control laws in 1938 and subsidized at least one ammunition plan for the stated purpose of rearming the population, as befitted a martial nation of Ubermen, etc. etc.
Many of you guys and gals are better versed in history than I. Am I, in fact, completely off-base here?
Follow-Up: Is that the joke in passage quoted above, and I’ve too thick a stick up my bum to see it?
And before you know it you’ll be on your knees.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Yes, and who can we blame for that? The intolerable Phil Collins.
Nah, technology. Triggered drum machines and synthisizers gave too many producers the idea that actual human drumers weren’t needed. Of course, I understand the urge to get rid of any and all drummers, but unfortunately, whenever a bit of tech makes something the least bit easier, humans tend to go a little crazy with it. Witness: ProTools.
What do I think of the 80’s?
Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her that she’s uncool
Cause she’s still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1985
The ’80s, when Springteen reminded us what Dylan taught us and what Cobain would tell us again: even a guy with a mouthfull of marbles can be the voice of a generation.
I just might want to shoot a deer. I mean, what does this do to my chances of shooting a deer? Of at wolves from a helicopter? My freedoms are at stake, and that bastard Kennedy is trying to do us all in. That’s it, tomorrow I’m going out and shooting up a bunch of deer and not just the one, dammit!
You know, with what I generally do online, coming to this sites is the virtual equivalent of taking a shower…..AHHHHH…
Nah, technology.
Au contraire. No “human” drummer could do justice on this timeless classic.
Besides, it’s more fun blaming Phil Collins.
You know, seriously, I don’t know why it’s so hard to say that if there were a ticking nuclear time bomb, complete with cool LED readout, sitting in the middle of Manhattan inside a nursery school full of frolicking children, ticking down the seconds toward armageddon, and that some terrorist mastermind who knew how to disarm it were caught and held in one of those basement rooms with a single overhead light source…I don’t know why it’s so hard for some of us to say, “Yes, torture him! Do whatever’s necessary to save civilization!”.
You know why it shouldn’t be hard to say? Because none of that shit will ever actually happen outside of a movie. And probably a shitty movie at that.
I miss Bruce.
Of course, I understand the urge to get rid of any and all drummers
No, no, no, a drummer is a musician’s best friend.
Per Martin Mull, who used to put that on all his album covers (one of them, for sure).
80’s? Drums? One word BEOTCHES! So it’s three/four words, sue me.
*One of the few things that made the 80’s worthwhile.
Also and such as.
Johnny Pez, how can you just walk away from Phil?
I have to apologize for my relative, he got his birth name from his skin color
5 minutes after he was born.
If he wasn’t an Avenger, he would’ve grown up riding the short bus to school, if you know what I mean…………
OTOH, the 80’s was somewhat odd.
ah, teh 80’s,
The Smiths, REM & Japan.
Everything else sucked
Bruce, hell, I miss Kevin. Who, sadly, has given up & turned into a vegetable blogger. (May explain his desire to mow the lawn all the time.)
This thread made me happy.
ah, teh 80’s,
The Smiths, REM & Japan.
Everything
elsesuckedNo charge for repair, it’s still under warranty.
When Bobby Pyn killed himself, the party was over & the world’s never been the same.
The 80s? Ooh, ooh, I know that one: I could cut a long story short, and tell you we were mental ans anything. Still, we tried to live it up, and we got to see Ignatius Jones put his ankle behind his neck (and you thought Joan Collins was the only one who could do that).
We even had some help from our trans-Tasman cousins. Ahhh, the 80s. One of my favourite decades. My knees never hurt then, no matter how much crazy dancing I did. Good times, good times.
Ecstacy was legal in the 80’s.In Austin TX. Where I Ilived in the early 80’s. I seem to recall having some sort of concession outside the latest hottest (not)gay(but c’mon, who you kidding?) bar. Truly, I remember very little. Except the coke – I know I did a shit load of blow. And something about…,umm,….nope, can’t recall.
Rats. FYWP, I meant Mental As Anything. With bigger nips.
By the way, for any fans of the Mighty Reg Mombassa, he’s becoming quite the Aussie/Kiwi icon – he’s even designed a set of stamps. Bless him. He’s such a sweetie.
I can only say that I am sorry for you youngsters who had to take the drugs of the ’80s. Or even the late ’70s. Everything was better in my day, except the reefer, which has improved.
When Bobby Pyn killed himself, the party was over & the world’s never been the same.
had to look up BP, and am still none the wiser.
The 80’s were my teenagey years, and I am envious of those a little older, at least you had the 70’s. Admittedly, most of the 80’s did suck, music wise, particularly the post punk bollocks and really, really shit heavy metal at the start of decade. New Romantics did suck balls generally, but there was some honorable exceptions (and no i don’t mean you, Duran Duran). However, as time moved on in the decade, things did improve. Could pick a few names, but The Fall emerging from bizarreness was one issue.
Legal MDMA is one of the best drugs ever, in any time period. Actual, real, non-adulterated MDMA is magical. Sorry. Psilocybin is great, but it gives me a queasy tummy.
There was also a lot of great music from the 80’s, but everyone likes to look down their noses at it now.
The Cramps
Butthole Surfers
Smiths
The The
PWEI
Einsturzende Neubauten
New Order (and Joy Division)
Bauhaus
Love and Rockets/Tones on Tail
This Mortal Coil
Cocteau Twins
PIL
They Might Be Giants
Mano Negra
Wire (yes, I liked their 80s stuff)
The Fall
Negativland
Happy Mondays
Sonic Youth
Replacements
Violent Femmes
Dead Milkmen
Nice Strong Arm
Scratch Acid
These are and were many of my favorite things. Sure, I turned into a 90’s raver and an 00’s retro-hippie, but damn it – them was good fucking times.
Well, I was being a smartass (as if I need to say that) by using Darby Crash’s first pseudonym.
Some of the other Bobby Pyns from Googly-Moogly™ may have mislead you.
7 December, 1980. The day the music died. Also the next day, sort of.
Hell, MrX, I saw The Germs & the Fall on the same bill at the Olympic Auditorium in ’79 or ’80. Also appearing, X & Suburban Lawns, if memory serves. (Which, of course, it seldom does.)
Jindal’s a carbon copy of the Page from 30 Rock. (I swear I thought this before I googled the Page’s name and discovered others thought the same thing.)
Not surprising though. I hope this clown gets LOTS of air time.
You know, seriously, I don’t know why it’s so hard to say that if there were a feckin’ drum synth, complete with cool LED readout, sitting in the middle of Manhattan inside a nursery school full of frolicking children, ticking down the seconds toward armageddon, and that some techno mastermind who knew how to disarm it were caught and held in one of those basement rooms with a single overhead light source
Fixilated.
OTOH, the 80’s was somewhat odd.
I still have the complete works of Martha & The Muffins on vinyl.
What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? – Homeless.
Oregon Guy, a couple of those on your list are faves of mine, although Joy Division only just made it into the 80s (Ian Curtis died in May 1980, so they then became (a) New Order, and (b) massively successful).
And TMBG – how could my life have continued without Istanbul?
And Smut, I’ll see your Martha and the Muffins and raise you New Boots and Panties on vinyl. Well, I think it’s special, anyway. Plus a couple of fairly rare old Tyrannosaurus Rex albums that I tracked down after many years of searchin’.
Like I said, libs, we can’t allow Bin Laden to live because he might kidnap the president on Air Force One. Then we’d have to send in a squad of SWAT guys, with their hard, steely eyes, their manly, calloused hands and their taut, rippling, oiled…
Excuse me, I just have to go to the bathroom for a minute…
The rules around firearms and ammunition, it seems to me, will always be somewhat of a mess, given the subject matter, the 2nd amendment, and just plain problems in defining various terms.
However, this should not stop us from creating and spreading false rumors of upcoming Obama plans to take all the white peoples’ guns, and then spreading them around the right-o-sphere.
I wanted to chime in on this subject, and did so in previous thread, but mikey and the first reply basically get to the crux of the issue.
Violent gun crime has almost nothing to do with rifles, ballistic ammunition, rifle accessories (yes, they’re really called that) or private gun sales. It has everything to do with young people with shitty .25ACP or 9mm handguns, most likely stolen, and a will to use it. Banning hunting rounds and expensive rifles doesn’t address this.
That’s a de facto ban, and we all know it.
Now, let’s take a closer look at Holder’s comments:
This fails the logic test in two ways:
1.) The need to ban firearms here in order to reduce crime in Mexico. My heart goes out to everyone in Mexico affected by the negative aspects of our War on Drugs, but our laws are meant of our country.
2.) The idea behind this is that dangerous firearms are crossing border into Mexico, and then are used against Mexican federal agents. This is wrong from an engineering standpoint. A semi-automatic rifle from the United States cannot be turned into a fully-automatic rifle in Mexico without the help of a milling machine, and if someone in Mexico has a milling machine, why should they buy firearms? They can just build them; it’s not like parts diagrams for AK47’s are secret or something.
What is most likely happening is that Mexican drug gangs are buying automatic rifles and grenades from Norinco, the Chinese arms manufacturer that was busted doing the same thing with ganga in L.A. in the 1990’s, and was subsequently banned from importation.
Additionally, the idea that American firearms are responsible for violent crime in Mexico is incorrect, and the exact opposite is true. DEA drug busts in the gulf and elsewhere almost always include busts of weapons caches.
So, in conclusion, I really hope the Obama administration tackles the important issues of the day, and places this idea on the backburner. When Nancy Pelosi thinks new gun legislation is a bad idea, you just know that there are more pressing issues to deal with.
I don’t know why people have such a hate-on for 80s muzak. Sure there was dreck, but name me one decade where that isn’t true. Please allow me to point out that Celine Dion’s Anglophone debut was in 1990.
Even the biggest names in the 80s – Wacko Jacko and Madge – well their 80’s incarnations are a helluva lot better than the weird ass shit they’ve been pulling since.
Case in point.
Oh wait, we’re back on topic. Umm, something about guns. Guns and the 80s.
When my job goes away I’ll have to sell my guns anyway.
Yes, and who can we blame for that? The intolerable Phil Collins.
Actually, Collins ‘borrowed’ that from Peter Gabriel. That gated reverb drum effect was first used on Peter Gabriel’s “Intruder.” It just so happened that Phil Collins was helping Gabriel out as a session drummer while that song was being recorded, and Collins liked the effect so much that he used it on “In the Air Tonight.”
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
/music nerd
What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? – Homeless.
What’s the difference between a drummer and a pizza? — A pizza can feed a family of four.
One would think he would have the decency to finally be mated with his massive coffin by now.
That’s pretty low even by troll standards.
I don’t even like Ted Kennedy all that much except for the way he makes wingnut’s heads spin around like Linda Blair in The Exorcist.
Deffo, TinTin, he beshitting himself now.
Damn, I don’t know what to say.
Nah, I thought he was lucky to have something to do.
Err, someone – Paulina Porizkova.
You were right the first time, if her acting is any indication.
The 80s?
Spacemen 3
Now watch this drive.
The 80s?
That was a decade?
Damn, I missed it.
(Reluctantly opening can of troll food…)
Don’t lie.
These days it seems like SadlyNauts like nothing better than looking for trolls displaying like purple-assed baboons and then trying to play their Max Hardcore rape fantasies on them.
Paul Simon’s Graceland and Kenny Loggins’ ‘Danger Zone’ were high points, as was Repo Man; sadly, they had to go and make that facepalm movie with Crazy Scieno Man for which ‘Danger Zone’ was the theme.
Ah, yes, the ’80’s… I have only vague memories of them, having been born after they were half over…
FYI, the “Danger Zone” episode of Yacht Rock is the shit.
I realise the gun control problem in the US is extremely difficult due to the sheer number of guns around, and the moronic culture that makes owning firearms a patriotic thing to do that makes your penis bigger, even if you bloody well KNOW you have no conceivable use for the damned things.
But what is wrong with imposing some standards on the quality and safety (as far as any gun can be safe) of newly made firearms? Imagine if laws were so stringent that only high quality guns could be sold? Then add a whopping great tax on gun sales. Anything to make the cheapest gun more expensive. This should help keep them out of teenagers hands, and dissuade all those suburban rambos from buying guns they never shoot, never carry, and only own to compensate for their tiny penis and middle class paranoia.
Guns that end up used in crimes are mostly not bought new. That means that somewhere along the line, the first or second or third owner, disposed of the gun in an irresponsible manner. Either it got stolen because they didn’t lock it up safely, or they sold it to someone dodgy, or simply to a dealer who sells at gun shows, or sells via other loopholes that avoid checks and records. Any laws aimed at improving record keeping of sales can only help. Even private sellers can ask for ID, and write down the buyers details. I’m sure sensible people do that anyway. The problem is people who DONT have any sense.
Cars come with registration documents. You can’t drive a car without the right bits of paper. Why on earth should guns be any less well regulated?
@ lebowski: You are wrong on the engineering front. Making a gun is quite a challenge for a small machine shop. It takes a lot of man hours, and very skilled work to build the entire thing from scratch, and turn out a decent product at the end of it all. However, modifying just one or two parts is so much easier. No need to worry about buying the right grade of metal, less quality control issues, and the number of man hours is much lower. With the right jigs, it might even be a matter of minutes to convert each gun, rather than taking a week to build a gun.
You you talking about my blog? In the Cyrillic alphabet, ‘Z’ (З) comes eighth, so compared to your Roman alhapbet, that makes me an H-List blogger. Pretty cool, considering ‘H’ is the only letter in english that requires “an” instead of “a.”
The more you know.
Well, at least Troofy admits that his idols are no better than Z-list bloggers…
F??? ???????? ?? ??? ???????!
OK liberals, I will now apologize to you. I am sorry I am such a douchebag. I am sorry I hate America. I am sorry that my breath smells like my cum. I am sorry that my greatest fantasy is being the narcotics supplier to Rush Limbaugh. I am sorry that my mother drops me on my head so often. I am sorry that my uncle raped me so often.
Now, will you please answer the questions i ask so I can ignore your answers?
PLEASE???
I made the points about manufacturing automatic weapons from scratch to illustrate how banning semi-automatic weapons in the states doesn’t stop Mexican drugs gangs from getting fully automatic firearms.
In reality, they’re probably getting them from Norinco, in which case the ban doesn’t do anything for the problem anyway.
You made the car registration analogy, but something like that already exists. Given a serial number, I imagine that it’s easy for the police to track who bought the firearm, from where, and all subsequent dealer-made transfers. Of course, criminals remove the serial number, in which case our current system, and the system that you suggest, is rendered moot.
The only problem comes from when a gun goes through several private sales (which, by the way, hardly ever happen at gun shows, where dealers are already required to do the NCIS check), but no law would be able to address this.
The “millionaire” Lebowski says:
Bullshit. Not when (a) you ignore the first point which is that the definition is based on selected sizes and alloys rather than armor-piercing ability and (b) even ammo meeting the narrow definition can still be, and is, bought and sold by people who don’t manufacture or import the ammo.
I’m also not really weighing in on the wisdom of these controls as much as making the point that Holder wasn’t ignorant of current laws when he suggested a complete ban on AP ammo, rather than the half-hearted legislation in place now.
Sockie#47,
That’s one way to help limit the number of firearms deaths and crimes in the country. You could add doubling the price of ammunition, or add a proviso to the purchasing of a gun that requires a certification course in using and owning a gun (you could amend the existing permit laws to include this so that you wouldn’t need a license AND a permit, altho that might not be a bad thing either).
You need a license to drive and a registration to drive the vehicle. The gun is the only product manufactured specifically for the destruction of someone or something and ought to be more stringently regulated than renting a car is.
One of my favourite albums of all time (and why isn’t it yours?) came out in 1985; that’d be Frankenchrist by the Dead Kennedys. My other favourite album of all time is from this decade, and hasn’t been released in North America that I know of…
Cool, well we’re in agreement then.
In any case, banning ballistic ammunition doesn’t stop kids with cheap handguns from killing each other, which is the real problem.
@Sockpuppet #47:
Actually, on further thought, the problem with private sales/transfers is thus:
1.) They are a common way for criminals to get firearms and
2.) They are a common way for relatives to give or “pass on” a firearm between each other.
The challenge is how to stop 1.) without impeding 2.)
I would suggest that all private sales of firearms between friends/family must take place via an FFL (dealer), and must happen at no charge. This would result in a transfer that is traceable (the FFL records the transfer), but doesn’t result in the people involved having to sell/re-purchase the firearm.
7 December, 1980. The day the music died.
Official beginning of the 80s, that’s for sure. Bigger signifier even than Ronnie Raygun’s election the month before.
Then again, there was (were?) Talking Heads.
2.) They are a common way for relatives to give or “pass on” a firearm between each other.
Is there a “pink slip” for each gun?
The day the music died.
I guess the 80s was a time when a lotta music died.
A quick peek at wikipedia yields the following (amongst others):
Ian Curtis (mentioned upthread), Jon Bonham, Bob Marley, Thelonius Monk, Glenn Gould, Muddy Waters, Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson – and that’s before 1985. Was the loss of Lennon a huge deal – yes it was, but I hardly think it defines the entire decade.
Is there a “pink slip” for each gun?
No. That would mean registration, which as every good NRA member knows is the first step to confiscation and shortly after that we’re all living in a Stalinist dictatorship.
Mind you I’ve been registering my cars for 30 years now and nobody’s showed up to confiscate one yet…..
Whoa, whoa. Let’s not be dismissing the ’80s. The ’70s had disco, after all. Just off the top of my head, the first three years of the ’80s had three of the five great DEVO albums. And you got Big Black, Killdozer, Scratch Acid, Minutemen… in ’88 you have Straight Outta Compton. Nation of Millions was ’88, but Fear Of A Black Planet was ’90. And all of this is just off the top of my head. The ’80s were just about as great for music as the ’70s.
Kong,
But aren’t the serial numbers of each new gun purchased logged somewhere? I’ve never owned a hand gun, so I’m naive when it comes to this stuff.
Speaking of conjugating, this thread had me beside myself. And now I have this nice chunk of Dragon-King flank steak.
Agreed, Djur.
See also, the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Pixies.
I just might want to shoot a deer.
Better hope the sumbitch ain’t wearin’ armor
But aren’t the serial numbers of each new gun purchased logged somewhere?
I’m pretty sure that sales by gun dealers are logged somewhere.
The big loophole is if you and I were to say meet at gun show and I sold you one of my guns. There would be no record anywhere of that transaction.
Why is it so hard for liberals to understand the plain meaning of the Second Amendment?
It’s a bet you put the “snap” in crocodile
“The big loophole is if you and I were to say meet at gun show and I sold you one of my guns. There would be no record anywhere of that transaction.”
So what? It’s freedom.
Was the loss of Lennon a huge deal – yes it was, but I hardly think it defines the entire decade.
Doesn’t “define” the entire 80s, but sure kicked it off, and symbolically a bigger deal than Reagan’s election IMO.
The big loophole is if you and I were to say meet at gun show and I sold you one of my guns. There would be no record anywhere of that transaction.
Unlike a car, where you would pass on a pink slip, so that in the event of an accident or crime being committed with your ex-car, the police could rightly find the current owner and investigate his involvement and not waste time harassing you.
Seems to me that gun owners ought to be clamoring for this kind of protection vociferously.
Now THAT’S freedom!
Speaking of conjugating, this thread had me beside myself.
You beshitting me?
So now, to know where all the guns are the government would have to spy on everybody.
Oh wait…….
Obama’s Busted Budget
By Randall Hoven
I wrote recently of the real state of the federal budget. In that article, I projected a “rosy scenario” budget. Now President Obama has proposed a budget of his own, which he titles, without irony, “A New Era of Responsibility”. Want to compare them?
Hoven
Obama
Spending 2012
20.4
22.2
Deficit 2012
2.1
3.5
Debt 2012
55.8
66.7
Spending 2016
21.9
22.4
Deficit 2016
3.6
3.2
Debt 2016
67.9
66.3
(All figures are given as percent of GDP. “Debt” is the federal debt held by the public. The source for Obama’s budget numbers was Table S-1 of his budget.)
As you can see, President Obama’s budget is less rosy than my rosy scenario throughout his first term. By the end of his second term, we are close.
When do deficits go below 3% of GDP in President Obama’s projections? Basically, never. Two years after his second term would end, in 2018, he projects them at 2.9%. But then they go back up to 3.1% in 2019, the last year of his projections.
Folks, 3% of GDP is considered high for a deficit. The European Union sanctions it members if their deficits exceed that level. Obama can’t even see his way to that low by 2019, much less a balanced budget.
And how does he expect them to come down even that much? By assuming that by 2012, the last year of his first term, revenues will exceed the average of the previous 25 years (indeed, the last 50 years) for every year from then on. In short, he assumes unprecedented revenues to start flowing in, year after year, from 2012 onward. He also assumes unspecified savings in those years way past his first term.
Concerning the short term, where numbers are more solid, don’t even look at his budget if you are at all squeamish. He puts the deficit at 12.3% of GDP in 2009. Throughout the Great Depression, whether under Hoover or FDR, the deficit never exceeded 6% of GDP. Under Reagan, with his inherited recession and his tax cuts, it never exceeded 6% of GDP. Under George W. Bush, with his inherited recession and his tax cuts, it never even got to 4% of GDP.
In fact, in only five years since 1930 has the deficit exceeded 6% of GDP: 1942-46. It has exceeded Obama’s 12.3% only from 1942 to 1945. That was World War II. Then, defense spending was about 40% of GDP. Now it is about 4%.
President Obama projects debt held by the public at 59% of GDP in 2009, and about 65% of GDP thereafter, as far as his projections go.
You have to go back to Truman to see debts that high. And Truman was paying off World War II costs. It’s been below 50% of GDP since 1957. For the first time since then, it will exceed that level this year, going from 41% to 59% of GDP in a single year.
This is a terrible budget. In Obama’s first term, it is even worse than my predictions. Into his second term and beyond, it is still bad, and held together only with rosy assumptions on both the revenue and spending sides. When things can be expected to get really bad, by 2020 and beyond, he makes no projections at all.
This is not what Obama fears; it is what he hopes. The reality will be even worse than his projections — after Congress, the real behavior of the economy, and who-knows-what in terms of future bailouts, hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, etc. are factored in.
In 1986 the art of the pop single achieved perfection
As a geezerette, I think of the 80s as the period when a lot of my fellow Boomers lost their way. Former granola-heads donned suits and started sitting behind desks selling whatever instead of looking for a way to “change the world”, and newly minted lawyers forewent the public defender’s office for the chance to represent insurance companies. The draft was over, the ERA went down in flames AGAIN, Raygunism kicked in, everybody decided money wasn’t so evil after all, and before you knew it we had Bonfire of the Vanities and the end of AOR and I don’t know what all. So in conclusion, that’s why John Lennon’s assassination by a nutball in NYC jump-started the goddam fuckin’ 80s.
In fact, in only five years since 1930 has the deficit exceeded 6% of GDP: 1942-46. It has exceeded Obama’s 12.3% only from 1942 to 1945. That was World War II.
Which, as every conservative knows, is what ended the Great Depression so I don’t see the problem. Especially if we were to spend it on useful infrastructure instead of just building Sherman Tanks and shipping them to Europe so they can be destroyed. Not much “value added” there.
BTW, libs, total withdrawal from Iraqin 2012 on’t happen. We have complex weapons systems (e.g. F-15 fighters) being delivered over the next few years that will require lots and lots of training.
Remember, guys, the SOFA is amendable by the Iraqis at any time. It was basically a fig leaf for Maliki, so he could go back and (accurately) tell his people “See, we decide what the Americans do in our country.”
In any case, U.S. combat troops aren’t doing much fighting anymore, relatively speaking. This is now pretty much a training/overwatch mission now. Welcome to victory, brought to you courtesy of David Petraeus.
Just what we need.
An unstable Shiite-dominated government with F-15s. What could possibly go wrong?
It’s not unstable. It is a flourishing newborn democracy.
Hey Major Kong, you’re pessimism didn’t bring us to victory.
It could still unravel, but most of the players still relevant in Iraq (remember when Sadr was “the most powerful man in Iraq?” not anymore!) have a stake in the free democratic government.
For every comment a Troll posts, I’m going to donate a dollar to ACORN.
So far I’ve got 17:53, 17:54, 18:01, and 18:05.
Four bucks so far. C’mon Trolly – ACORN is the beneficiary of your spam.
18:09 and 18:10 – now it’s $6
As a geezerette, I think of the 80s as the period when a lot of my fellow Boomers lost their way.
Mortgages and kids will do that, Mz N.
Someday George W. Bush will get credit for me. Someday.
Amen, Major.
What people so quickly forget is that the idea of increasing spending on infrastructure and education during a recession isn’t a socialist idea, but was spearheaded by the folks who brought you the American System of capitalist economics back in the 1800’s. Tried and true.
Welcome to victory, brought to you courtesy of David Petraeus.
Even a chimp could have won Iraq. But I’ll give Petraeus credit for cleaning up Bush’s abortion.
When will libs admit I worked?
Remember, guys, the SOFA is
amendable by the Iraqis at any timeas close as I’ll ever get to the wars I cheerlead.g,
He keeps this up and ACORN can refuse the federal grants like so many Republican governors… *snark*
Now this is a good idea.
(‘Sofa’ is UK English for ‘couch’, by the way. Probably wasn’t the best gag if I had to explain it.)
Which is central to my point, hehe. Actually, my understanding that the whole effect happened by chance when somebody left a mixing board mic on. BTW, no hate on “Intruder” or the rest of that album, for that matter. Certainly my favorite PG recordings, even if parts today feel dated (the sax intro in “I Don’t Remember”–yikes!).
…symbolically a bigger deal than Reagan’s election IMO
Well, I guess we’re talking about “musically speaking” or possibly “culturally speaking”. And symbolically, it’s hard to argue against the shooting of Lennon as the signifier of the beginning of the 80s – but personally I think the real kick-off for the decade was in 1979.
Although, I’m now talking about stuff way over my head. Soon I’ll find myself between a rock and a hardplace, although with the wierd conjugation that’s goings on – this’ll make me 11 again.
This is what I am getting at with the car analogy. When you buy or sell a car, in most places anyway, buyer and seller have to fill out their details on the registration documents, and mail it off to a registration or licensing authority. The actual legal owner of the car doesn’t always need to be registered, sometimes, legally speaking, it is merely registered to the keeper of the car. Someone who takes legal responsibility for the car. If you sell a car without the proper transfer of documents, you may find yourself in trouble with the police for a driving offence committed by the new owner, so there is a big incentive for a seller to make sure the paperwork is done properly.
If a car is used in a crime, the police stick the numberplate into a database, and it spits out the name and address of the person who is responsible for that car. That person may not have committed any crime, but they are the person to go to, who should KNOW who was using the car at the time.
Proper registration would do a lot to get illegally owned guns off the street. How often do the police take someone in for some minor offence, find they are carrying a gun, and even though they have a bloody strong inkling it may not be legal, they have to hand it back because there is no way of proving it either way?
Registration ought to be a good thing for gun owners. It means that if you own a legal gun, you can PROVE it. If you can prove you are legal, you save yourself a lot of hassle. I imagine this isn’t an issue for most NRA types, but if you are a black man living in the inner city who owns a perfectly legal gun, having a bit of paper that says “piss off copper, I’m legal” could make life a lot easier. It also means that once you have sold a gun, you have proof of the sale, and officially wash your hands of it.
Or here is a suggestion which would end the recession: Mandatory gun insurance, just like mandatory car insurance. If you run someone over with your car, your insurance company pays out. Why not apply the same principle to gun ownership? It would make people reluctant to own guns they don’t need or use, because of the ongoing cost. It would also give every single gun owner a motivation to help lower gun crime, because THEIR insurance premiums are jacked up with every shooting.
g: Superb idea. I’ll match you on that — $1 to ACORN for every troll dropping here at S,N! Starting with this thread.
“but most of the players still relevant in Iraq … have a stake in the free democratic government.”
What about us, shit-for-brains?
Agree with DKW – the Fairlight enabled the ’80s, for good or ill.
You guys are ignoring my cultural and political impact.
Or here is a suggestion which would end the recession: Mandatory gun insurance, just like mandatory car insurance.
I thought about this, and then stopped myself from posting it earlier.
It occured to me that having someone else pay the money out for your negligence in a gun crime might make you less likely to be careful with it.
If I kill someone with my car, the presumption is that it was an accident (unless evidence to the contrary shows up). The presumption in a gun crime would probably be that you had intent, since you pretty much have to be spot on in aiming a gun, whereas with a car, a tire can blow, you can skid on wet pavement, and so on.
In fact, try getting a felony conviction for vehicular homicide in most states. It’s near impossible.
So I’m not sure any insurance company would touch these policies. Without really high prem–
Oh. Good point.
DKW: I was indeed speaking culturally — politically, socially, et cetera.
ACORN’s donation site:
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?id=36
Anyone here who’s been whining about Troothless & Co. (and I’ve been one of the whiniest), cough up some $$ for a good cause and help fumigate against troll infestation at the same time!
I always loved fundraising. tx g!
I’ll donate to SARAH PAC every time you donate to ACORN.
That must piss you off, lol.
You have to go back to Truman to see debts that high. And Truman was paying off World War II costs.
Hey, thanks for the great talking point!!!
“George W. Bush and the Republican Party – more costly than ending the Great Depression and defeating Nazi Germany and Japan.”
And speaking of ACORN, I am going to be doing some work for them, even having taken the other job. They’re working on so many things I’d like to be involved in that I offered them 4 – 6 of my “days off” per month, and they jumped on it. We’re going to work out details on Monday.
Funny thing about that satellite that crashed.
It was outsourced to a private company. So much for capitalism!
By the way, for me this includes Mr. Cut & Paste Trollypants’s leavings as well.
I’m fortunate and comfortable enough that this will in no way “bankrupt” me. It’ll just go into the 2009 charitable contributions file. Sweet.
Ha. Ha. Hahahahahahahahah.
SarahPAC believes the Republican Party is at the threshold of an historic renaissance that will build a better future for all.
Bookmark it.
(remember when Sadr was “the most powerful man in Iraq?” not anymore!)
It’s amusing to see what opinions people form when their only source for information is US Military press releases. I guess Muqtada al-Sadr has been defeated just like the Taliban was all those years ago.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KB25Ak02.html
Coach Urban Meyer’s been at CPAC:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2009/02/conservative-political-action-conference-2009.php?img=10
Who’s Susan? (lower right-hand corner of the photo)
Susan B. Anthony.
Viz.
Dennis Miller (yet another hysterically funny conservative)
I call parody Truth.
Simba,
Could be Susan B Anthony. They hold a pro-life forum called the SBA Forum each year.
A CO State Senator said HIV-infected pregnant women should have to watch their child grow up with AIDS as punishment for being promiscuous.
Naturally, he’s a Republican. Being douchey is in their genes.
Naturally, he’s a Republican. Being douchey is in their genes.
A douche-filled douchebag with douche topping.
Susan B. Anthony – a woman who never married or had children and who complained about Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s numerous pregnancies – por-life?
The bottom line is that we cannot possibly know what Anthony would make of today’s debate. Unwanted pregnancy was for her bundled up with a different set of issues, of which only one truly mattered: rescuing women from “the Dead Sea of disfranchisement.” In the 19th century, abortion often was life-threatening, contraception primitive, and a woman as little in control of her reproductive life as of her political one. The terms do not translate, one reason time travel is a risky proposition. No amount of parsing the founding fathers will reveal what they think of the war in Iraq, just as no modern chorus of mea culpas will explain away their slave-holding. To suggest otherwise is to wind up with history worthy of those classic commercial duos, Fred Astaire and his Dirt Devil, Paula Abdul and Groucho Marx.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/13/opinion/13schiff.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
I suppose Susan B. Anthony was pro-life ever bit as much as Galileo was a Creationist.
Ostensibly true, but in context, patently ridiculous.
SBA also was active in the temperance movement and on at least one occasion purposely broke the law (by voting “illegally”), for which she was arrested. She was aghast at how ECS’s six pregnancies and children took her time and attention away from the suffragist fight. These anti-choicers claiming to know how Anthony would have regarded reproductive rights today is about as appropriate as the usual wingnuts trying to stuff their ridiculous words into the mouths of Lincoln or Jefferson.
Differently-abled orangutan buttrapes fond childhood memory
D’OH. In other words what commie atheist already posted dang it.
Oh dear, Mr. Avenger, there’s something brown and foul-smelling running down the leg of your purple tights
Look out!!
That’s one of the Purple Avenger’s super powers!
The Shit Shield!
Mixed with his own saliva it hardens into an impenetrable shell.
NOTHING gets through The Purple Avenger’s Shit-Shield of Conservatism!
Differently-abled orangutan buttrapes fond childhood memory
Sigh… yet more whinging by celibates about their grandkids’ burdens.
Breitblart is still wondering why conservative art isn’t popular, isn’t he.
Just to be clear, the past tense of “beshitting” is “beshat” right?
I beshit myself laughing at this. Good post!
And it never ceases to amaze me how many alleged “law-and-order” conservatives oppose gun controls that are supported by police groups, even though the laws could enhance officer safety.
What the fuck is with Colorado whingers? Wasn’t it a ColoPol that complained about the gays “besmirching the revered holocaust?” That’s a direct quote, I’ll link it if I can find it.
Also,
FYWP I haven’t posted since last night goddamn you to hell!
Authentic, don’t try to confuse the libs with things like “facts” and “reality”.
All they care about is the pathetic personality cult they build up around BHO.
The Shit Shield!
Mixed with his own saliva it hardens into an impenetrable shell.
Hey, I got it! We lure him to Amy Alkon’s shit moat, see…
As is readily apparent, The Shit Shield is the Conservatives favorite defense.
Or we could just have him spit on Troofie…
Hey, I got it! We lure him to Amy Alkon’s shit moat, see…
Not a good idea, Conservatives revel in their shit-moats.
Its how the Shit-Shield was originally discovered!
I think I’m up to $10 this morning already. But the thing is, troll, you may send your contribution to SarahPac, but it’s just one person’s contribution. If all the people you annoy here send a dollar per comment to ACORN, that’s getting into some change.
Anyway, SarahPac’s just going to spend the money on Naughty Monkey shoes and silk boxers for Todd. He’ll thank you for it!
Just to be clear, the past tense of “beshitting” is “beshat” right?
Yes.
owlbear,
I’m thinking one step ahead tho. We have him turn the shit moat into shit concrete and then we can just walk in and sit on her couch and drink her beer!
Apparently The Authentic’s computer needs an upgrade to Windows 95 Service Release 2.
I had such a laugh this morning, listening to NPR. I thought government spending never created so much as one job so it was quite a shock to hear Saxby Chambliss say that cancelling the F-22 program would cost 100,000 jobs.
I’m thinking Troofie is so conservative, he’s still booting DOS and running a telnet shell thru a UNIX hub.
LOL!
* ctrl-d’s, laughs nervously *
You haven’t seen the last of Bobby Jindal, libs.
Remember: Bill Clinton gave a terrible speech in 1988.
CO State Senator said HIV-infected pregnant women should have to watch their child grow up with AIDS as punishment for being promiscuous.
Hey, you know what? If government-funded medical research and health care makes it possible for that kid to actually grow up and live, I’m OK with that.
Of course, I know that’s not what the jerk meant – not only is he meanspirited and vile, but he doesn’t know much about how AIDS works, does he?
>I’ll donate to SARAH PAC every time you donate to ACORN.
>That must piss you off, lol.
Actually, I was kind of on the fence about the ACORN thing, but this clinched it for me. Count me in! How much are we up to now?
It makes me really hope they’re not parody trolls when they start crowing over whichever idiotic, uncharasmatic embarassment they’ve been told will save the Republican party this week.
it was quite a shock to hear Saxby Chambliss say that cancelling the F-22 program would cost 100,000 jobs.
You’re forgetting that the military isn’t part of the government – a wingnut article of faith that lets them avoid recognizing that the armed forces they idolize are our biggest socialized expenditure.
I had no idea that the F-22 program had 100K people working on it. I’d have figured an automated fund transfer system from the Pentagon to the Caymans was pretty much all there was to it, plus maybe a few temps they hire to look busy on the extremely rare occasion that anybody wants to check on progress.
I’m thinking one step ahead tho. We have him turn the shit moat into shit concrete and then we can just walk in and sit on her couch and drink her beer!
A SEAL team tried that back in ’98. Conservatives can readily turn their Shit-Shields into a Fecal Froth.
Lost some good men to learn that information…
My top picks for ’12:
*Palin
*Jindal
*Cornyn
*DeMint
*Coburn
I really hope it isn’t Crist.
See?
Adding $2 more to today’s ACORN whack-a-troll total just since I got back from lunch! Whee, this is fun. I’m at about $17 now. Jennifer, good for you for figuring out a way to do work for ACORN. They’ll get some new $$ or the trolling will fall off considerably. Either/both ways, win-win!
g stands for “genius.”
Oh — something loathesome somewhere upthread bloviated something about donating to Sarah PAC or some such thing? HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAA!! First of all, I’m so sure (wingnutz? donate? Uh-huh). Second of all, please do! Please! Send that organization ALL your $$!! HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!111111!!!!!!
I think I’m up to $13 now. I’m not counting the parody trolls that are funny.
Ooops, I better match MzNicky!
I’m thinking Troofie is so conservative, he’s still booting DOS and running a
telnet shelltn3270 term to aUNIX hubCP/M bbs.People are referring to SarahPAC in a serious context?
Damn, this guy’s gotta be a comedy troll.
“Maybe when we get power back, we’ll declare an emergency and grant 200 billion to buy every legal citizen a new gun, and declare that any illegals still here after delivery of the last gun is fair game. [That would] solve that little problem rather easily.”
It will happen!
Why are these people insane? Why??? 🙁
The Democrats will filibuster until bacon and playdoh are banned by an add-on amendment.
President Sarah Palin said
“It will happen
… when pigs fly out of Newt Gingrich’s butt!”
Fixinished that for ya!
Research suggest a Conservative will continue shit, spit, and smear for hours after the danger has passed.
I remember when the angry left said I could never become President because I was too stupid.
We took care of that for you, didn’t we, George?
“We took care of that for you, didn’t we, George?”
Not in 2004.
That’s where I came in.
The very mention of my name still makes you libs angry, doesn’t it?
Me too! I helped you, George!
I was such a horrible candidate.
The latest Republican Talking Point about the Stimulus Package fizzled almost immediately on launch –
Billions for Tattoo removal!
Ohmigod, now taxpayers will be footing the bill for Amy Winehouse to take her ex’s name off her chest!
Sadly, no….
[A] little reporting reveals that that this “tattoo removal” program is an anti-crime program in the San Fernando Valley that re-integrates reformed gang members and makes it easier for them to find jobs. Two Los Angeles law enforcement officials I just spoke to — one who identified himself as a “conservative Republican” — swore by the program for reducing crime and saving lives.
Rush Limbaugh’s popularity is due in large part on his ability to package his shit into bite-sized chunks.
Conservatives, set free from having to come up with their own shit having been constructing ever larger Shit-Shields ever since.
Via TPM, Tancredo At CPAC: Send Grover Norquist To Jail. Cannibalism at CPAC. Sweet sweet schadenfreude.
Tancredo is an American hero, one of the few people not afraid to call out the immigration issue for what it is–a foreign invasion.
These are the people with the literally fascist logo, yes?
The ACORN whack-a-troll program is pure win.
When my budgets are back on track, I am in.
#
George W. Bush said,
February 27, 2009 at 19:58 (kill)
I remember when the angry left said I could never become President because I was too stupid.
I believe we were saying that GWB shouldn’t become president because he was too stupid.
And we see how well that worked out, didn’t we?
And Dennis Miller is extremely funny. Too bad you folks are stuck with the humorless PC brigade.
Dennis Miller used to be funny, but he lost his edge and a lot of other things when the RNC had him spayed.
(the sax intro in “I Don’t Remember”–yikes!)
My copy has that listed as a separate cut called “Start.”
You haven’t seen the last of Bobby Jindal, libs.
I think we have, at least until he proves his alleged US citizenship.
Sauce for the Obama is also sauce for the Jindal.
I had no idea that the F-22 program had 100K people working on it.
Saxby must be including subcontractors, drycleaners and grocers in that figure, because I don’t think you could FIT 100K workers into the plant where they’re made.
Me too, George! You couldn’t have done it without me!
Nah, technology. Triggered drum machines and synthisizers gave too many producers the idea that actual human drumers weren’t needed. Of course, I understand the urge to get rid of any and all drummers, but unfortunately, whenever a bit of tech makes something the least bit easier, humans tend to go a little crazy with it. Witness: ProTools.
Hell naw — ‘0% Finance’ is the purest distillation of consumer debauchery. Evar. Underrated album.
Dennis Miller was funny, yes, until he went Full Metal Wingnut. Funny how having pantswetting petty obsessions is like Kryptonite to humor.
To be fair, just because everybody says George W. Bush is an idiot doesn’t mean he’s not an idiot.
So, want to own up to any other nyms, bud?
I’ve been developing an idea which I’d like to make a theory but it’s a long way to theory from here. (I overexplain for the benefit of the two(oofie) readers who don’t know what “theory” means.) We have noted many times the dearth of “conservative humor” that’s actually funny. I mean, intentionally funny. I’ve been poking through the interducts looking for conservative humor that’s funny and I can’t find any.
From the 1/2 hour news hour to Dennis Miller, it’s apparent that conservatives do not actually possess a sense of humor.
It might be biological or it might be due to environment or, most likely, it’s a combination of nature and nurture. Dennis Miller, for example, was somewhat funny at times, before he drank the Kool Aid. Even P.J. O’Rourke, who was once wickedly funny, has become dull, wooden, completely unfunny. I suspect those are cases of latent consevatism which, when it finally comes out, kills the brain’s humor center.
What, I wonder, is the connection? I believe this is a rich field for development in the neurosciences. I’ll toss the idea to V.S. Ramachandran and Dan Dennett.
Ah, I disagree, OBK.
You are, of course, free to do so. Doesn’t make you right.
If you listen to his radio show you’ll hear some very funny stuff.
If Dennis Miller was still funny, he’d still be on network and cable TV.
Of course, he broke with Liberal Dogma because of the all-or-nothing nature of liberal demands for allegiance.
Which explains why Rush’s TV show crashed and burned, right? GMAMFB.
Miller is also very smart,
Objection — assuming facts not in evidence.
which unnerves liberals accustomed to considering themselves the most intelligent of people.
Miller’s intelligence is the same kind possessed by pomos; the ability to make obscure literary or cultural references which may or may not be understood by most of his audience. Miller’s ace in the hole isn’t necessarily that he’s smart, because the relative obscurity of his references largely camouflage the meat of his comments. He relies on that obscurity to make himself *appear* smart; whether or not he actually *is* smart is still a matter open to debate.
Which we are, of course, having right now.
I can see why you are uncomfortable discussing him.
I’m not uncomfortable, and we are obviously discussing him right here, right now. Again you bat .000, troll.
Miller is also very smart, which unnerves liberals accustomed to considering themselves the most intelligent of people. I can see why you are uncomfortable discussing him.
Shit’s getting thin.
So-called “Purple Avenger” has no superpowers. He’s not even really purple, unless you count his chronic case of blue-to-the-point-of-being-indigo-balls.
I’m occasionally subjected to Dennis Miller’s radio show when I’m being driven to and from the airport.
He’s not that funny anymore. Too bad. I used to like him years ago.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to Dennis Miller: (1.) That he hasn’t been funny since buying a one-way ticket to Limbaugh Land, and (2.) That he was never funny or talented to begin with.
I subscribe to the 2nd school, myself.
Up to $20 for me now.
Dennis Miller – isn’t he the funny one who has that really popular TV show?
Oh.
Yes, we call that the Dennis Miller ratio.
It could be worse. The van driver in Reno likes to listen to Michael Savage and whatever local Rush Limbaugh wannabe comes on after him.
Dana Carvey ( who hasn’t been remotely funny for years) does a Dennis Miller impression that is and of itself funnier than Dennis Miller (who was sort of amusing @ 20 years ago.)
/conservative mode ON
Dead monkey = President Obama
Now that’s a great American thigh-slapper right there.
/conservative more OFF
But this is central to my point.
From the 1/2 hour news hour to Dennis Miller, it’s apparent that conservatives do not actually possess a sense of humor.
It might be biological or it might be due to environment or, most likely, it’s a combination of nature and nurture.
I go along with what Janeane Garofalo said on Olbermann yesterday: conservatives are mentally ill. By the time the sickness gets to the point where you believe all the bullshit that people like Rush spew, the humor center in the brain has shorted out.
My favorite Savage nee Weiner quotes:
“[We have] plant allies.” – from Plant a Tree: a Guide to Regreening America
“[Every state should] have a tree czar.” – ibid
“Dictators seem to like trees. Who knows what a benevolent, nature-loving tyrant might do for the retreeing of America?” – ibid
/conservative mode ON
Watermelon Patch on the White House Lawn
Now that’s a great American thigh-slapper right there.
/conservative more OFF
As a number of scholarly studies have shown – for real.
You haven’t seen the last of Bobby Jindal, libs.
But the first of him turned my stomach.
Young Americans for Western Civilization
Better known as “YAWC!!!!!
Sorry I missed the ’80s thread… ‘cos what would the ’80s have been without Ledernacken?
Ha Shaka! Ha Shaka!
Tancredo is an American hero
I think you misspelled “idiot”…
he broke with Liberal Dogma because of the all-or-nothing nature of liberal demands for allegiance.
And yet he stayed with a party that demanded loyalty oaths. Go fig.
Lamest excuse ever for betraying the Glorious Revolution:
Mortgages and kids will do that, Mz N.
Fucking stupid middle-class pig sell-out. Couldn’t keep it in your pants (or a raincoat) for the cause? Wanted to buy a house so you could get a mortgage deduction on your taxes?
Your kind will be drained of your blood before even the fascist trolls.
My copy has that listed as a separate cut called “Start.”
you see? Even PG was embarrassed by it…
HEY!
I didn’t get married and start a family til the 90s, M! Don’t count me into the 80s debacle!
Asking why conservatives arn’t funny is a bit pointless. You have to consider the context. Why are liberals funnier?
Liberals hate all the right people. People it is easy to mock. People who DESERVE mocking. This entire site is ample evidence of the truth of this.
Conservatives operate from a perspective where they sit in imagined dominance, spewing bile at everyone at the bottom of the ladder. They are the supermen, and us liberals are less than human. A person with that kind of complex is utterly incapable of being funny. You cant pretend you are better than everyone else and still tell a funny joke.
You cant be funny unless you can mock yourself too. Yourself personally, and your ideology, and your community and society. Conservatives cannot do this. All they can do is tell jokes about the communities they and their community has been stomping on for decades. That is why conservative “humour” comes so close to bigotry. Or indeed, often simply IS bigotry. It is just adding insult to injury, rather than hurling insults back at those that injure.
I think you misspelled “idiot”…
In the comment or the name field?
False dichotomy, Xecky.
you see? Even PG was embarrassed by it…
It was the 80s. Those fucking saxophones were everywhere.
“Liberals hate all the right people. People it is easy to mock. People who DESERVE mocking.”
Well, bullies don’t tend to be funny. You either identify with the underdog or with the one who holds the power. As Molly Ivins once said of Rush Limbaugh, it’s “profoundly vulgar” to laugh at people who are already downtrodden to begin with. To say nothing of it being stupid and mean. Most comics understand this. MST3K’s Mike Nelson (much to my regret) has come out as a wingnut of sorts in more recent years, but he has enough of a sense of self-preservation to (mostly) avoid politics in his work.
From the first moment I set eyes on Dennis Miller, I despised him, and politics had nothing to do with it. The man just gave off an aura of preening smugness that was so thick, you could have cut it with a knife.
For various reasons (mostly the pre-emption of Mike Malloy by L. A. Kings games on the local commercial commie station) I have listened to more than my share of Mr. Miller. (Oddly enough, his live-in-the-morning radio show is run from 1800-2100 here in the Southland. Says something about his popularity, huh?)
I found him fairly amusing pre-9/11 (Mostly as described above by OG Ken, obscure references & all) although by the time his HBO show came around, he seemed to have caught a bit of macho libertarianism (OMFG!! Taxes!!! Noes!!)
But he, as others, somehow lost it after 9/11, & whatever paranoid-security mom gene these fools have kicked in. I mean, he still screeches about all these evil men who want to kill us for our freedoms or something.
Say, has ol’ Dennis ever made a trip anywhere to entertain, amuse or otherwise distract AmeriKKKan baby-killers (some know them as “the troops”)? Unlike, say, Senator Al Franken (DEMOCRAT-Minn.)? I’d have to assume that if Miller had ever done anything like that, we’d never have heard the end of it.
Hey, who’s funnier? D. Miller or George Carlin? Just for example. (There are a million of them.)
Dennis Miller is simply riding the right-wing talk radio gravy train. Period. I’ve listened to his show a few times, and he talks like a man without conviction. Maybe because he has none. In between his allusions to “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” or “Peace of Nicias” or whatever somesuch he loves to sprinkle in his diatribes, he faithfully delivers the GOP talking points. But it always sounds like his heart really isn’t in it.
Another phony is that Michael Savage. As a matter of fact, I bet half the people in that industry could give a rat’s ass about most of the “issues” they yap about on their shows.
So good on you, trolls, taking your marching orders and getting your laugh cues from people who are leading you on for the cash. Glory be to capitalism.
Yes, you liberals are that shallow
Two words: Sarah Palin
Michael Savage is a parody troll. There’s no other explanation.
From the first moment I set eyes on Dennis Miller, I despised him, and politics had nothing to do with it. The man just gave off an aura of preening smugness that was so thick, you could have cut it with a knife.
Here he is at his absolute funniest, and the beginning is kind of funny if you’ve ever been frustrated by the cluelessness of your fellow airline passengers, but it doesn’t take long for him to go from mean but kind of funny to just plain mean when he starts in on flight attendants.
Miller is also very smart, which unnerves liberals accustomed to considering themselves the most intelligent of people. I can see why you are uncomfortable discussing him.
Actually, he isn’t. I’ve met him, and while he’s certainly by no stretch of the imagination stupid, he’s one of those very marginal, like, 2-IQ-points-above-average-type people who imagine that being slightly smarter than the other kids in their sixth grade class makes them de facto geniuses in the real world of grown-ups. It doesn’t.
As for how funny he is or isn’t, I can’t comment on that because it’s completely subjective. But personally (and this is just my opinion, so take it for whatever it is or isn’t worth) I honestly don’t think he went “full metal wingnut” so much as, like a lot of people post-9/11, just a little bit off his rocker, which is actually sadder to me than it is infuriating. And like a lot of people at that time, he was angry, frightened, vengeful and looking for a support group. He found one.
It’s interesting that one of the trolls above referred to the idea of “the all-or-nothing nature of liberal demands for allegiance,” because it always seemed to me that much of Miller’s increasingly right-wing rhetoric emerged out of a feeling of betrayal by his former audience. Like, “how dare they not find me funny anymore, just because I’m calling them all traitors and terrorist-lovers?”
I have really mixed feelings about Miller, because as someone who works in comedy (in only the most tiny, fringe-y, borderline kind of way, mind you), one of the things that really sickened me during the early years of the Bush regime was the fact that almost no one in the business — really, I can’t think of more than two or three people off the top of my head — had the balls to speak out and say what they were really thinking about it all. (Sorry, this is getting long, but) I kind of feel like that’s your job, as a comedian and, in a way, almost your moral responsibility. Comedy’s a pretty sweet gig, if you work it right. It pays well, there’s a lot of exposure, and aside from the travel (assuming you’re a standup) it’s not terribly difficult. You write twenty new minutes every six months (if that) and you’re basically set. It has most of the perks of being a movie star, or in a band or whatever, without actually having to learn to play an instrument or constantly starve yourself. So you kind of owe it to your audience — the people who handed you this rather nice life, after all — to speak up for them when things are bad. To be, if not Lenny Bruce, than at least Will Rogers, you know? And it felt like almost nobody was prepared to step up and show that kind of spine (I obviously exclude Jon Stewart from this, and maybe a couple of others).
And even though I think he went in totally the wrong direction with it, I do have a kind of perverse respect for the fact that Miller did, at least, pick a side and stick with it. Unfortunately, for comedic purposes, it was the wrong side, so now the poor SOB is reduced to going on the Daily Show and saying things like, “Boy that Nancy Pelosi sure blinks a lot doesn’t she? But you never hear the liberal media screaming about that, do you, chim-chim?” (By the way, if you missed it? He really did say this. I did not make that up.)
So anyway, sad, but oddly just.
Yo Just Alison, The Enz. Here to save the world.