Thursday Open Thread
It snowed last night! Why do you hate us Weather Goddess? In other news, it’s actually Thursday and the week is more than halfway over! Are you ready for your open thread?
But he seemed like such a nice, moderate guy:
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell wasted little time overturning an order by his predecessor, Tim Kaine, that protected the state’s gay workers against discrimination. McConnell signed a non-discrimination executive order that left out the specific protection that was included when Kaine was governor. It was signed on February 5, but not reported until five days later.
I guess we know what Governor McDonnell’s priorities are now, in case you were wondering.
Have you ever wondered why ski jumping is the only sport without a women’s category?
It seems the issue is a hot topic this year and via this MSNBC.com video I finally have my answer. Although some very thin and lame excuses have been floated around, what it seems to boil down to is that the European men don’t want to be shown up by a bunch of girls, one of whom holds the record on the actual ski jump used at the Vancouver games.
Yes that’s right, Lindsey Van beat the men’s record on the exact same ski jump the men will be sliding down to claim their Olympic medals this week. I ask you: how fucked up is that?
This quote cracked me up:
In 2005, Gian Franco Kasper, FIS president and a member of the IOC, said that he didn’t think women should ski jump because the sport “seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view.”
Gee thanks for looking out for ski jumpers’ lady parts! Women are just too stupid to make these kind of decisions. The IOC must be somewhat embarrassed by the attention:
Even worse is IOC member Dick Pound, who withdrew his head from his ass long enough to utter this asinine warning to the women ski jumpers:
“If in the meantime you’re making all kinds of allegations about the IOC and how it’s discriminating on the basis of gender,” he warned, “the IOC may say, ‘Oh yeah, I remember them. They’re the ones that embarrassed us and caused us a lot of trouble of trouble in Vancouver, maybe they should wait another four years or eight years.'”
Tags: Open Thread
Even worse is IOC member Dick Pound…
Those washed-up porn actors are the worst.
There has been a plane crash in Austin TX. A small plane crashed into the Echelon (?) Building on Highway 183. Eyewitnesses say it sounded as the plane was going full throttle. The building houses offices of the IRS and FBI. MSNBC is providing excellent coverage.
You mean you DON’T ride side saddle UI?
All I can say is anyone who is gutsy enough to traverse down real mountains, canyons, and cliffs like an Olympic skier–I hardly think the line is drawn in the snow of such an “uncomely, physical, catortionist excercise” as ski-jumping. Move over Europe…or get jumped over.
Dick Pound.
Update on Austin plane crash – FBI offices were not hit, are in another building in the complex, but the IRS offices were hit. Appears that the plane was fully loaded with fuel based on the fires that have broken out in the building.
Police have said that the pilot set fire to his own home before he left for airport and took off in his plane.
MJ will you please stop with these updates, we want to talk about Dick Pound and you are a buzzkill.
Just kidding. The Austin thing seems like it is as bad as it sounds.
The plane was out of Waco. Just sayin’.
Let me get this right…for the dinner table tonite. European men are fine w/ acknowledging spandex, rhinestones, fur, organza, sequins, pocketbooks (manbags), and chiffon for male skaters and esteem stays in check–but unitard ski-wear and duplication of stated event draws from some deep resevoir of sexualization that is not to be breached. My cultural literacy is forever a process.
Just to kill Anon’s buzz – witnesses say the pilot came in low and appeared to aim for the building. Pilot temporarily identified as Joseph Stack, a mechanical engineer. Wife and daughter are safe from the house fire. Airplane left Georgetown (TX) Municipal Airport this morning. One person is missing, 2 are hospitalized.
Correction – the missing pilot is a software engineer. The plane was stolen from the airport this morning.
We now return to our Olympic coverage. USA! USA! USA!!
MJ–Let me be the first to thank you for not making me move my lazy, white, milky thighs not used for skijumping, to have to get up and listen to the news. You did a fine job..now back to Whistler Mountain. 🙂
Joanne – curling is the bomb.
The Austin plane crash is terrible news. I hope everyone comes out o.k.
As for ski jumping, I agree with the author of the post I highlighted that probably the real reason is the men don’t want to be shown up by the ladies.
I AGREE MJ–and my son says they are not showing it this year!!! True? It’s the one Olympic sport I think I really can do–like sweeping the front porch right?!!!!
I’m sure this is just a lone nut and not a part of a of right wing movement of retarded maniacs who are starting to believe their own violent nonsense .
DITTO–just wait to see what that group is planning:(!!!
Police now report that the plane crash appears that it was intentional. They suspect that the IRS and/or FBI were the targets.
Curling is currently being shown on the USA Network, live.
I’ve got a dollar that says our pilot might have mumbled, “allahu akbar.”
Hmm tower to pilot–that was e-file, not e-fly…..
Thanks MJ–now to figure out which is USA Network…..
we get it on Comcast 41
2/18
Shucks no Comcast here in the swamps. I’m looking…I’m looking…Rachel Ray, Clean Shark, Get Ripped in 90 Days…geez, maybe I should just go into work today.
Is the pregnant chick curling?
LifeNews.com ^ | February 18, 2010 | Steven Ertelt
Canada Curling Team Member Just Third Pregnant Athlete in Olympics History Vancouver, Canada — The Winter Olympics isn’t typically a place where pregnant women are involved in competitions, but the 2010 games in Vancouver is an exception. Kristie Moore, an alternate on the Team Canada curing team, is just the third pregnant athlete to compete in the modern-era Olympics.
I found it! I found it! 242 on DirecTV–can I get my son out of school–maybe we can use a webcam:)!!!
romeo-I’d rather her curling than hurling.
chick, Romeo? Are you living in the 1960’s? Alex Trebek is on the phone for you with a clue.
psst MJ–your clue should have been the name “romeo”…..be kind to our elders.
This purports to be the Austin pilot’s suicide note/manifesto (unverified; be on hoax alert):
http://embeddedart.com/
MSNBC is now reporting that according to it’s sources at DOJ and law enforcement, the plane was not stolen and that the missing pilot, Joseph Stack, owned the type of plane that crashed into the building. Only two injuries – one with serious burns who has been transferred to San Antonio.
Now, how about the Norwegian curling uniforms.
Joe Stack had a grievance against the IRS. He also set his own home on fire before he flew his plane. So, it sounds like he was committing suicide and wanted to take some IRS people out with him. I have no information on his religion.
Other news:
Bernard Kerik was sentenced to 4 yrs. in prison.
Rep. Brad Ellsworth is the pick to run for IN-Sen
Marco Rubio read Obama-teleprompter jokes off of a teleprompter at CPAC
Cheney!
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/81915-cheney-says-obama-will-be-one-term-president-in-surprise-cpac-speech
Don’t let Dick Cheney be the face of the GOP, and please don’t throw me in that briar patch!
I don’t think this guy sounds particularly right or left wing. Just nuts.
But for those of you that don’t know, Austin is the Berkeley of Texas. What do you expect of a place that has as its unofficial motto “Keep Austin Weird!”
And John — Dick Cheney is my first choice for GOP nominee in 2012. Strong on national defense but anti-DADT — just like me. Generally correct on economic and social issues. We could do significantly worse.
Cheney strong on defense? You have got to be kidding. Cheney has weakened our military preparedness more than anybody I can think of.
Not to mention putting our troops in greater risk by instituting official torture.
I beg to differ on all points of your reply, anon — including whether the policies of the last administration allowed for any activities that legally constituted torture.
mj, don’t get your panties in a bunch, hon. I’m cool with the olympic babes. no need for them to be shoeless and chained to a stove.
Cheney and his allies are weak on terror. They want to get less information from potential terrorist and try them in unconstitutional military tribunals, which set 2 of 3 detainees free. We’ve gotten more info from undie bomber and Obama’s captured more Taliban than Bush ever did.
Who could have guess that piss-in-your-pants in terror was the wrong policy?
Former Delawarean R. Crumb encapsulated The Greatest Generation’s eager establishment exemplar in his depiction of Whiteman.
http://www.stat.pitt.edu/stoffer/whiteman.gif
Whiteman listened to WJBR before it dropped Mantovani, drained highballs at the Columbus Inn, loved Ryne Sandberg and thought George Schultz was a “damn sound thinker.”
Whiteman loves Dick Cheney. In fact, all sorts of folks professed respect for Dick Cheney. But even before the Iraq disasters, torture memos, Plame scandal, liquored-up Harry Whittington shooting, and massive second term unpopularity, Josh Marshall figured out that Dick Cheney is, at heart, a well-connected bumbler:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0301.marshall.html
Strike Two, Romeo.
And there’s face-painting at curling. A USA fan has his face painted beautifully in Red-White-Blue with a star.
Democrats do more to protect US against terrorists – we’ve captured two more Taliban leaders – http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/world/asia/19taliban.html?hp
Here’s a video of Marco Rubio reading a teleprompter joke off of a teleprompter:
“And John — Dick Cheney is my first choice for GOP nominee in 2012. Strong on national defense but anti-DADT — just like me. Generally correct on economic and social issues. We could do significantly worse.”
Cheney already WAS president. his puppet was the front man, but make no mistake. they were is failed policies
face painting and curling… getting read for a big night out?
hair and make-up – check
cabfare incase the date ends badly – check
you kids have fun, but remember to be safe!
Geez MJ-how come Pops can’t understand us? It’s enough to drive us to drugs, or a KISS concert if we can’t get those curling tickets :)!!
“But for those of you that don’t know, Austin is the Berkeley of Texas. What do you expect of a place that has as its unofficial motto “Keep Austin Weird!””
what the FUCK does that have to do with anything? that because it’s more liberal than the rest of texas it’s obviously full of sick/sad/crazy people? or that they deserved it because they like being different?
the hell?
“Palin Supporter Crashes Plane Into IRS Building – Palin Shrugs Off Crash As An Act of Satire”. I just read that guys manifesto and I am predicting tomorrow’s NY Post headline
Just read the guys suicide note. He seems pissed at being a 1099 employee. Personally, I am pissed that Real Estate Professional refers to a professional property manager and not a Realtor.
NY Post? More like “IOU to IRS-Another Sarahtire”. C’mon Jason.
The police say this guy is not a terrorist. Which apparently means that he isn’t a Muslim.
LOL, J! You are a bad boy! 😉
anyone get a look at this wingnut’s website?
anti catholic, anti corporation, tax the rich, communist… he’d fit right in here. is he a relative of your jason?
Liberals don’t bitch about taxes.
Not at all sure you could count him as communist. He definitely has anti-Catholic tendencies. Anti-corporation is a teabagger standard. Tax the rich, I’m not sure.
He seems to be a libertarian of sorts, which is not uncommon with computer guys.
he was anti government, anti tax you pathetic piece of crap. sounds like a teabagger all the way. is romeo the new fact-free retard around here?
Not a pure teabagger either.
I’m not comfortable labeling this guy, a.
Jinx, LG! You owe me a soda!
Actually, pandora, they often do — that theirs are too high and that anyone who earns more than they do doesn’t pay enough.
neither am I pandora, unless more facts come out the only thing he can be labeled is angry and destructive. If we start screaming Teabagger we’re no better than RWR talking about the “obama professor” over in the regular folks thread.
also a. cut it out with the “retard” business. you were pretty active in that thread about how it wasn’t acceptable.
what the FUCK does that have to do with anything? that because it’s more liberal than the rest of texas it’s obviously full of sick/sad/crazy people? or that they deserved it because they like being different? the hell?
Actually, V, it was meant to point out to those who assume that “Texas” means “righter than right” that Austin (probably our state’s bluest county) and they might want to consider that before assigning this guy to the extreme right. It is meant to point out that if the guy is from Austin it is very likely that he is on the left side of the spectrum, not the right. And as for the slogan, here is a quick history of it for you. — and I for the record, I was trying to relate it back to my Berkeley of Texas comment, not imply that the plane crash was deserved.
Sorry, RWR, that’s another fail. Liberals don’t complain about their taxes being too high. They will say that the rich don’t pay their fair share, but that’s quite different. But hey, I haven’t labeled this guy… but you did. You labeled him and Austin and the “Obama professor.”
it’s satire, V 😉 (i will stop now)
a.p.,
It only counts as satire if Sarah Palin thinks it’s funny.
Oh, and V — I was pointing out what we know from the media about the professor. She was apparently a big Obama fan, to the point of using her science classroom to sing his praises. Why point it out? To show the absurdity of the way the racist label gets thrown around by some folks around here. If Amy Bishop had been a Republican, we’d be hearing “Look, another racist Republican killing minorities!” But when we find she dwells on the Left, there is no similar outcry. In addition, I believe there had been a comment about the alleged propensity for violence of conservatives, and I wanted to point out that such a propensity for violence does not reside exclusively on one side of the political spectrum.
Then I misunderstood you RWR, I apologize. I’m actually one of the people that’s witholding judgment on the pilot and wasn’t making a judgment based on geography (I have friends in Austin and know Texas isn’t as diverse as some of us paint it).
But Pandora does have a point. I think this guy just may be mentally disturbed and sad. Much how I see the Professor/shooter.
and I was the one who said that the right tends to fuel more violence. I stand by it. It’s on both sides, I NEVER said it ws exclusive. But when you see specifically politically motivated attack (not some awful crazy peson who does soemthing, and then we find out on their facebook what they’re political background is) it tends to come from the conservative side. Militias, pro-life bombers etc.
because she was an Obama fan, and it OF COURSE means the shooting was Obama’s fault
The only thing I labeled him as is nuts (a reasonable opinion) — and Austin as liberal (a verifiable fact).
And I referred to Amy Bishop as a liberal (an established fact) Obama-supporting (again, an established fact) professor (make that a third established fact). I did not call her an “Obama professor” — that was someone else’s misquote of me.
It’s okay to label the professor because Republicans are trying to “even up” the violence count, V. They simply must have their “Liberals/Dems do it too” argument.
Hey watch those “nuts” comments RWR–we have a mental health community to be sensitive to around here:)
No, a.price, it doesn’t. I didn’t say it did. I was contrasting the stereotype perpetuated here of conservatives as individuals just waiting to violently lash out at others if they don’t get their way with a current news story about a self-professed liberal doing precisely that. in case you didn’t get it, I was trying to point out the absurdity of such assertions.
And given her history, I don’t think she is necessarily mentally disturbed. I think the proper word is EVIL.
i think people like Glenn Beck perpetuate stereotypes of conservatives. so does their long documented history of violent extremism and hate.
i think people like Glenn Beck perpetuate stereotypes of conservatives. so does their long documented history of violent extremism and hate.
And I think that Keith Olbermann does the same regarding the Left.
Keith Olberman is an angry blow hard but he uses solid facts and owns up to mistakes when he makes them. He also didn’t spend the 80s and 90s snorting and drinking his brain away like Glenny-poo.
Rude (often bawdy) place names from the UK — not for the easily offended.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7263112/Britains-rudest-place-names.html
It’s funny now that the stereotype of conservatives is now men who cry a lot and piss in their pants with terror at the thought of terrorists.
LOL!
they are all cowards. i wonder how much military service there is between Glenn, Rush, and Sean… not to mention folks like 5 Deferments Dick, or Rumsfeld… or coke head AWOL Dubya. at least Obama doesn’t pretend to be some military hardened “one of the soldiers”…. what is worse is how they throw away true heros like Powell at the slightest bit of dissent form their military Junta. these guys are cowards
Clearly the man was a leftist idealogue. He blamed everyone but himself for his problems.
Pandore – Libs constantly rant about taxes and how the “rich” dont pay their “fare share”.
LG he shared the left’s hatred of Banksters, there is no shortage of anti business sentiment on the left.
overpriced, you clearly haven’t bothered to read his manifesto/suicide note.
he ends his rant with the Communist Slogan “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” followed by slam on capitalism.
He is a 1990s style tax protester – sort of a proto-teabagger. You know – not the people are politically for tax cuts, but the people who stop paying taxes because they have some crazy rationalization why it is illegal for the government to collect their taxes. His manifesto alluded to trying to start some crazy church as a tax dodge and getting called on it.
lAs his story comes out we will see how tight he is (if at all) with modern teabaggers. He sure uses a lot of language in common with them.
a. price at 4:44–well done
anon @ 4:50–well said on the tax dodge
I mean he owned the fricking plane–pony up Mr..
Plane crash in Texas…..big news! Why are you not commenting on the Mossad and the assassination? Using stolen British passports, killing a guy in Dubai…and you guys got nuttin’. How lame and how telling.
romeo, have you been to a teabagger convention? The anti-bailout features prominently (until you tell them that they were mostly done by Bush…). The guy rails against all elected officials, just like teabaggers do.
Now, I doubt that this guy was either left or right. He seems like a disenchanted loner that bought a bunch of BS from a lot of people about a trick in the tax laws. Multiple times.
It’s like he kept falling for the tax avoidance versions of Sham-Wow.
Just Kiddin ….. Are you sure Mossad actually did it? Even if they did, it’s one less terrorist on this planet.
If this is still an open thread, I miss El Som and I hope his reporting of some new disability education legislation being introduced by Sokola and Quinn Johnson. This is a big one—financially.
JK – Hopefully I can get a satellite dish installed and then I can see the same news as you.
This is an open thread. If you see something that you would like to talk about (like a Mossad Assassination in a Dubai hotel) bring it up. But don’t come here being an idiot and act like it is our responsibility to talk about things that you want to talk about.
Besides LG is working at union scale:).
Strike Three, Romeo. You’re out!
LG,
no conventions for me, but anti-bailout does not equal anti business.
IT’s the looney left that views all corporations as evil and all wealth as stolen from the poor.
That fact that he was a commie doesn’t make him more or less culpable and it doesn’t make it Bush’s or Obama’s fault. (unless you ask jasson, then it’s Palin’s fault).
all in all it’s just a sad story about a guy who lost touch with reality and killed himself in an odd enough way to make the national news.
now sweetie, you’ll have to be more specific, which comment was “strike three”?
3:09, 3:37 or 4:46?
Conservatives like their bailouts hidden under the guise of subsidies.
JK, no sympathy for a terrorist operative. Hamas exists for the sole purpose of killing children. It is one thing ot advocate for a Palestinian state, it is another to defend terrorists. I guess you took issue with the punishment of the Munich killers as well. good riddance to the Hamas scum.
He was talking about this
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100215/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_dubai_hamas_slaying
it seems is wasn’t Mossad…. but it is typical a loony liberal would immediately attack Israel’s right to defend itself
Romeo – why do you insist on calling me sweetie?
A.Price – I agree with you. I guess Mossad was also wrong to capture Adolph Eichmann and bring him to justice.
after using chick, babe, hon and a BF&P reference I am running low of dated terms to tweek your humorlessness.
why do you insist on commenting like a baseball umpire?
There is no reason to be sympathetic to the terrorist, but it is not exactly kosher to steal other people’s identities to go assassinate somebody, either.
Amazing — a.price and I agree.
and as for this guy owning a plane — I had one prof in college who was an avowed Communist. He traveled to Cuba every year despite the ban, and met with Castro several times. He advised Daniel Ortega following the Sandinista revolution. Yet he claimed that there was no contradiction between his ideology and his owning a Mercedes and a house in the best part of town — after all, he was the vanguard of the revolution!
It is the cry baby victimology that marks him as a conservative.
castro is not a communist. communism and dictatorships are mutually exclusive. what the right trembles themselves to sleep every night over is not what they think it is. that is the most dangerous part about them, they don’t even know what their enemy is. and rather than find out, (since education is unamerican) they fear and hate everything.
Pricey, When you read the comments from Rymey, don’t you see someone who was grossly abused in childhood? I do. If he trembles himself to sleep every night it is clearly because he was deprived of maternal affection or beaten like a mule by his domineering father. I can see not having much pity for him, but why do you feel compelled to respond to these human defectives? Your attention is filling a whole in his heart that his mom probably carved out with a wire brush.
So who wants some good news today? New births at the National Zoo – http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/national-zoo-announces-the-bir.html?hpid=artslot
Romeo – you’re sexist language is offensive. And just so you know, I’m a guy and I find you offensive. I figured that since you were all man, you’d only understand sport lingo.
Hey, Jason, guess again. I’m someone who lived a happy life with loving parents.
That said, may I suggest that you get f*ck*d?
Spoken like someone who had his ass beaten everyday and twice on Sundays.
Jason, I believe you are exhibiting what psychologists call “projection.”
I just read Tony Wedo is not running for the House seat, http://de2010.com/us-house/two-men-out/
Looks like Carney is officially a Congressman, congratulations indeed!
he was also officially the governor. we’ll see what scott spencer can do.
De2010 has got game.
Looks like we won’t have Wedo to kick around any more.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/81793-businessmans-exit-leaves-gop-high-and-dry-in-del
(UI, try not to panic)
Army Investigating Poisoned Food Plot
February 18, 2010 – 6:35 PM | by: Justin Fishel
Fox News has learned that the Army is investigating allegations that five individuals attempted to poison the food supply at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Chris Grey, a spokesman for the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, told Fox’s Catherine Herridge that these are still just allegations, and so far “there is no credible information to support them”. Nevertheless, an investigation is ongoing Grey said.
Two sources at Fort Jackson revealed that the five accused individuals were detained in December, and all were enrolled in an Arabic translation training program, referred to in the Army as “Lima 09”. “Each of them uses Arabic as his first language”, one source told Fox.
****************
Looks like some part of the government has finally learned how to keep a secret… 5 terrorists arrested in December, news just breaking now.
what about all Obama’s secret right wing internment camps? they are keepin THAT one pretty well
if the guy is from Austin it is very likely that he is on the left side of the spectrum,
*
More to the point about Austin is that, in the one photo of Stack, it shows him with a guitar strapped to his chest. He is a musician. Which to anyone who knows anything about music, is the most likely reason he is living in Austin.
Although, I do admit that it boggles my mind when I hear wingnuts liking and exploiting rock music created in the Berkeley’s and other liberal urban centers of the world. When Dick Cheney hit the CPAC stage yesterday to the crashing sounds of a rock guitar, I puked a little.
De2010 has got game.
*
I haven’t been back in a while. What are the odds that DE2010 is an offshoot of the boys of Caesar Rodney Institute with a little free time on their hands?
a.price – Scott Spencer wont do much. Even if he pays his fee and makes the ballot, Carney will take 75%-80% of the primary vote.
Nancy – odds are against that. de2010 actually has a sense of humor, and seems to delight in going after the GOP, too.
MJ – Spencer won’t even get that much. I mean, we’re talking five percent at most. And he’s not going to even make it that far. It’s kind of sad.
“He is a musician.”
Well….. a bass player at least.
Glenn Greenwald on where Stack slots in the political spectrum:
“the complaints which Stack passionately voices are found as common threads in the tea party movement and among citizens on both the Left and on the Right”
I know it pains us all to agree with each other, but there you go.
nybdy chck wth Bll yrs fr cmnt?
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw
the vowels fell out 🙁