Watering Hole: Tuesday, September 4, 2012 – Good to be back home

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Happy to say that nonewhere and cats are back home again.  We had a few “Gong Show” moments on our trip and now we are safely at home with our cats.  Even though the kitties were getting loving care from others while we were gone, they seem to not be able to get enough of us now that we have returned home.

We loved Oregon.  It is America’s best kept secret and when our house sells, we will be moving there.  Until then, gee, it is good to be back home, again.

Some observations:

  • Saw one Romney sign on a person’s lawn in Sammamish, WA.
  • Saw several Ron Paul lawn signs in Wyoming, Idaho and Iowa.
  • Saw only ONE Romney bumper sticker and that was in PA.
  • Saw several Obama “2012″ bumper stickers throughout Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

I was surprised by the absence of Romney lawn signs and bumper stickers.

This is our Open Thread.  Feel free to Speak Up!  There is plenty to talk about.

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274 thoughts on “Watering Hole: Tuesday, September 4, 2012 – Good to be back home”

  1. The Romney lawn signs and bumper stickers are made in China.
    They probably got delayed going through customs for an EPA issue .

  2. Today’s not Monday. Today’s not Monday. Today’s not Monday…

    Today’s not Monday. Today’s not Monday. Today’s not Monday…

  3. The congressional district next to mine is represented by a Mr. Hurt. George “Macaca” Allen is running for the Senate. All the R’s have signs that say Hurt Allen. It sounds like a good idea.
    Back to reality after a long weekend on the river.

  6. “I was surprised by the absence of Romney lawn signs and bumper stickers.”

    Now why would it surprise you? They’re all behind 12′ wire topped security walls around the Manse!

    • That’s about right. Who would want to openly admit that they supported an nonPatriot like Romney? It is patriotic to pay taxes. We encountered a lot of road work and bridge work in our travels. This work is paid for by our taxes and Romney wants to enjoy the benefits of our socialized roads WITHOUT paying taxes.

  7. Jared Bernstein breaks down the basis for Romney’s promise to create 12 million jobs:

    “That’s about what you’d expect in terms of job creation in a normal American job market over four years. It sounds great right now—and “normal” would be great—given the job losses in the Great Recession and the slow growth since. But if you just run a typical macro model under the assumption that the economy is back to its normal growth path, regardless of who’s in the White House, that’s about what you’d get.”

    That’s about right. Romney believes the global economic climate is basically the same as in the 1980s. Hence his inability to support anything but a repeat of the policies that existed at the time – including soaring debt by slashing taxes and boosting defense. When a politician knows only dogma, he knows nothing pertinent to the job he has to perform.

    http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/a-forecast-that-sounds-more-impressive-than-it-is/

    • On the contraire, with Rmoney’s FU Pol Ryan plan of cutting spending to the bone, the nation will be back to bleeding off 700,000 to a million jobs a month from both public and private sector.
      WuckFits.

  8. From TPM:

    ‘As for the DNC, deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter says “there won’t be a chair, no. No gimmicks.” ‘

    Damn.

    • I think it would be funny for there to just be an empty chair on the very back of the stage. Always there, but no one ever acknowledging it.

    • An empty suit hanging where it is just visible on the side of the stage that everyone pointedly ignores would be fun.

  9. I’m glad you and nonewhere are home safely, Cats! It was awesome to meet you. :)

    I haven’t seen a single Romney sign anywhere in my travels over the summer, and still none now in WA. I’ve seen one Romney bumpersticker, and a bunch of Ron Paul signs, which isn’t surprising since there are a lot of teabaggers and Birchers in this area.

    I’ve seen loads of Obama signs and stickers everywhere!

    But this same thing was true in 2008; I didn’t see McCain yard signs until October. Although I saw lots and lots of Palin signs and stickers. These people are nuts.

  10. I don’t think I’ve seen any lawn signs at all, but it’s probably too early. Portland is due for a good mayoral fight in November, so I expect to see a lot of those eventually. Not expecting much in the way of Rmoney signs, however, because this is Portland. Probably going to be lots of them south of here along I-5, which was the pattern in the gubernatorial race two years ago.

    For awhile this summer, various websites had Oregon as something of a toss-up for president, which struck me as bizarre. I’m not seeing anything but blue now (although vast swaths of the state will be red–just not where there’s any population).

    • The vast swaths of Oregon that are red are similar to the vast swaths of Pennsylvania that are red. Hardly anyone lives there. If people show up to vote, then the blues win over the reds. Since Oregon has vote by mail, there is probably a higher voter “turnout”. It’s a challenge to vote in Pennsylvania as one must be registered at least 30 days before the election and there is only one day voting at the polls from 7am until 8pm. There are many restrictions on who can receive absentee ballots. Now we have the voter ID piece of shit law designed by criminal GOPers. Harrisburg, state capitol, is overrun by crooks. Just one look at our governor, Tom Corbett, tells you how corrupt Pennsylvania is.

  11. Clive Crook unloads on WaPo “fact-checker” Glenn Kessler:

    “The other day I said I thought Paul Ryan’s convention speech was politics as usual—evasions and misdirections rather than outright lies. Once, I’d have said the same thing about Romney’s speech too. I’ve changed my mind. I’m convinced that Republicans have crossed a line and are trashing the reputation politicians previously had for honesty and plain speaking. People are angry about this and I see now they’re right to be. From here on it’s zero tolerance for dishonesty wherever I see it. And I promise to amp up the indignation.

    So I’ve got just one thing to say about Glenn Kessler. Fire his ass.”

    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/glenn-kesslers-shameless-lie/261891/

    • Hey! Did I tell you about the time I ran a 2 and a half minute mile?!
      Or about that six pound Perch I caught!!

  13. Braindead media is now on the “Are you better off…?” question. Personally yes, I am. A bit of luck and a couple of good choices. Could have been a lot worse. I have other friends who are not so lucky.

    But its an idiotic question – its like asking the homeowner after the firefighters have finished putting out his house fire “Is the house better now than before the fire? Really?”.

    That’s what passes for journalism in this country ….

    • I can’t understand why they aren’t asking the several thousand dead American soldiers killed in Iraq…Are you better off now?

    • The media is asking the wrong question. Rather than asking if we’re individually better off, they should be asking if WE (as in the whole country) are better off.

      Considering the state of things in this country four years ago, the only answer is YES.

  16. ?tw_i=242285246798778369&tw_e=details&tw_p=tweetembed

  17. QOTD:

    “Obama has done more damage to Iran in four years than Bush did in eight years,” – Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst and co-author of The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran.

  18. 35 years later, Voyager 1 is heading for the stars

    Thirty-five years after leaving Earth, Voyager 1 is reaching for the stars.
    Sooner or later, the workhorse spacecraft will bid adieu to the solar system and enter a new realm of space—the first time a manmade object will have escaped to the other side.
    Perhaps no one on Earth will relish the moment more than 76-year-old Ed Stone, who has toiled on the project from the start.
    “We’re anxious to get outside and find what’s out there,” he said.

  19. Paul Ryan Secret Service code name is reportedly ‘Bowhunter’.

    Ryan is so phony his code name should be ‘Bowfinger.’

  24. They’re Just Not That Into You QOTD:

    “Romney is the opposite of conservative, with a plan that is fiscally reckless and a foreign policy that is unnecessarily militant. Obama has done about the best that could have been done, considering the united GOP opposition in Congress. My questions about Obamacare and my disappointment that we are not already out of Afghanistan are not enough to make me embrace a candidacy that even George W. Bush would have been repelled by—and, having had time to reflect on his own record, perhaps is.” — Wick Allison, former publisher of National Review under William F. Buckley, current publisher of The American Conservative.

    • I think i would have smacked the little bitch. Then I would have probably called his wife a bad name while the SS was taking me into custody.

      BTW. I would love it if everyone who saw this video would call his office and ask for an appointment “like everyone else”. My guess is that he would grant exactly as many personal meetings as Jesus.

    • That was really good. They shouted the truth about Ryan right behind people watching the parade. Ryan looked uncomfortable and didn’t have the balls to speak his mind. All he and his Stepford wife could say was it was about his family and the parade. What an empty suit.

      • That grin/grimace from the Stepford wife says just about everything one needs to know about her. Just smile and wave and hope the world goes away.

        • He’s not in Washington for them, he’s there for himself, and he’s never had anyone call him on it before, apparently.

          I really thought he’d be smooth enough to handle this sort of thing, so it’s shocking to me that he behaved this way. Shouldn’t be, of course.

    • I am glad that the people confronting Ryan were polite. But Ryan looks damned uncomfortable – it is clear he doesn’t have an answer and isn’t used to being called to account for his actions.

      That being said, He was with his children (using them as props)… and I think people forget that.

      It was telling that there were many people that didn’t support him on the sidelines besides the protestors following him.

      • I could always explain my ideology to my children, starting very young. I could have defended my point of view politely, right in front of them.

        • So can I and still do. My daughter is now 17 and although she won’t be able to vote this year, is still curious about the race.

          I find it very telling that Ryan couldn’t have a polite discussion with his constituents.

          What I meant was that the angrier protestors should have remembered that he was with his children. I am glad they voiced their opinions though and let Ryan know that not everyone is for him.

    • It’s pretty clear that Ryan made a tactical blunder by putting himself in a hostile environment. His district.

    • I just looked at the date on this video, and it’s from Labor Day, 2011.

      It’s still shocking, but it’s not VP candidate Ryan fucking up, it’s just him.

      • I think that makes it worse. These are the people he is supposed to be representing and the closest he comes to even acknowledging them is “why don’t you make an appointment”.

    • Support desk badge ID # 329, looking up, how to clean up puppy barf on the microfiber couch…

    • Hey there… republicans paid for a twitter account called #AreYouBetterOff that is “trending” (B/c the repubs paid for it to trend) if you want to go tweet something…

    • Not to spoil the fun, but the pained look on the puppy’s face is not the result of some distasteful doggerel it may be reading, but because it is being held there.
      If the pooch were sporting itself upon the page, the front legs would not have that droopy crooked position, they would be splayed out.. Also if one looks they can see the end of a finger, complete with dirty fingernail directly below the point of the right ear.
      Cute is cute, contrived cute is just makeup.

    • Why would anyone go through everything he’s gone through over the last 4 years, if he didn’t fucking love this country!?

      • That’s true. He always seems so self-controlled. I wonder if he bitches about his job over a beer with Michele in the evenings.

      • I like that Soledad said that saying something like that seems that it is code ofr something….

        uh huh

      • Two words. “Drone strikes”.

        President Obama has taken his job so seriously that he has become, arguably, a murderer. Short of killing by his own hand, sacrificing his life, or sacrificing a family member I can’t think of a sterner test of loyalty if not love. One can argue the necessity and legality of killing perceived enemies by remote control but the fact is that he has done things most of us could not bring ourselves to do.

    • I so agree with her. We need this President who loves his country, as opposed to RmONEY who loves his Cayman and Swiss bank accounts.

  32. Pete do you have any of these striking creatures?

    via Mola Mola:

    Lionfish / Pterois / Pez León

    They are well known for their ornate beauty, venomous spines and unique tentacles / Ellos son bien conocidos por su belleza, adornadas espinas venenosas y tentáculos únicos

    • I no longer have a lionfish but i had one for about 15 years before it died during my most recent move. He was a real pet in that he would take food from my hand, play hide and seek among the rocks, and would spit water at the glass aquarium cover when he thought I should drop everything and feed him. They are very personable and simply gorgeous but anything less than 2/3 their diameter becomes a meal so the choice of tank mates is a bit limited!

      When I first got mine, named Herbert because he sucked things up like a Hoover, I put the 2 inch fish in a tank with about 60 baby black mollies. I figured they would provide live food for awhile because they could hide. I was wrong. He got them all within a couple hours and was so stuffed that his belly turned black and he laid on his side for about another 8 hours as he digested the meal. Then he doubled his size in about two days as he assimilated all that protein!

  33. Nate Silver eyes Friday, a very big day:

    “Mr. Obama’s fate could hinge on the last three months of jobs numbers — including the report on Friday, which will come the morning after his speech to the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C.

    Talk about accidents of timing: Mr. Obama’s words in Charlotte are suddenly going to seem a lot more inspired if the next morning we find out that 200,000 jobs had been added in September. If the employment report is a dud instead, his speech will seem much emptier, both to pundits and to voters.”

    • Well?

      I haven’t made a head to head comparison but Rachel can talk pretty fast when she wants to. Or it could be an extra couple cups of coffee.

  36. Hey… touching tribute to Teddy Kennedy… with video footage of the Debate between Ted and Mittens and a screen shot of the results of that race. Nice.

    • Fucking drama queens.

      Emphasis on queen.

      Hell, we have “opposite marriage,” but no one can force me to marry another man. Get a clue “morans.”

    • Same way they can force Bobby Joe to marry Bobby Sue.
      They can’t.
      It’s all up to Papa and his 12 gauge.

      • I wrote a song based on that premise. It’s a simple 12 bar blues progression and here’s the chorus.

        (Like) A deer caught in the headlights
        A turtle on his back
        Another hapless victim tied down
        To the railroad tracks

        I’m standing at the alter
        A shotgun in my side (screamin’)
        Lord help me Jesus!!!
        Here comes the bride

  40. I think they use 9:00pm EST as primetime. Lihn was on just before that, but it’s probably a minor point.

    • Presently it’s primetime Pacific.
      I did very little today at work except play around on the computer, tell stories, take a long lunch and leave early.
      I’ve finished one beer and am heading towards another. :)

  42. FIRST FUCKING DOUCHEBAG TWEET OF THE NIGHT: (from Eric Erickson)

    Jonathan Larsen ‏@jtlarsen

    CNN contributor. To repeat: CNN contributor. RT @EWErickson First night of the Vagina Monologues in Charlotte going as expected.

  43. Rachel must not have discovered Doctor Who. If she had she wouldn’t have trouble understanding time.

  44. It’s a good thing I’m at home, because if I were anywhere else and listening to Lilly Ledbetter speak, I’d be instantly homesick!

  45. The “47th out of 50 states” job-creation number is pretty devastating. It cuts directly to Romney’s core message.

  46. I’ve already seen more people of color in the crowd than I saw in 3 entire nights at the RNC.

  51. “Swiss bank accounts never built an American bridge.” I’m not entirely sure of that.

    And, meh also too.

  52. The smart money might be on registering devalpatrick2016.com quickly. That could become valuable soon.

    That was one of the BEST speeches I have EVER heard. There were 2 or 3 times when he brought the crowd cheering to their feet from a calmer, seated position. He owned that crowd. I almost feel bad for Gov Martin O’Malley.

  53. If the rot-wingers have a problem with Hussein, what will they say about Mayor Castro?

  54. The best thing I’ve noticed tonight is the crowd cheering for POSITIVE messages, rather than wah wah wah, we deserve better.

  55. What a delightful way to take in the convention!

    The rest of my household has control over the TV, and are sufficiently engrossed in 2 and 1/2 men that I’m going to go burn something, and it’s not the steak… ;)

  56. I admit I didn’t watch every minute of the RNC Convention (hence, my eyes do not bear the scars of having been protruded by red hot knitting needles), but it seems to me that MSNBC is showing more of every speech, as opposed to “listening in” on RNC speeches and frequently talking over them. Am I imagining that?

    • Andrea Mitchell had to claim early on that the arena’s bowl shape makes the crowd seem louder than it really is. She knew this was coming.

      Hopefully, each night is a bit louder. I think they use a bigger hall on Thursday for Obama.

  61. Where I am, this is the current Twitter trending list. They always put a promoted one at the top, so ignore it.

    #AreYouBetterOff Promoted
    Julian Castro
    #sexyface
    Kal Penn
    #2012DNC
    Tammy Duckworth
    Deval Patrick
    #DNC
    Lincoln Chafee
    AL East

  62. hodgman ‏@hodgman

    Julian Castro is speaking. 8 yrs after young Hussein Obama spoke. Next convention I think the breakout speaker will be Esperanza Hitler-Borg

  65. The difference between the two parties could not be more obvious.

    The Democrats say “this is what we think we should try”.

    The GOoPers say “this is what we are going to stop”.

    • BTW. What the GOoPers want to stop is anything that has ever been tried, or approved or tolerated, by anyone to the left of Hitler’s right nut.

  66. After the GOP all but ignored the war in Afghanistan or the vets from Iraq, we now have a military mom introducing Michelle Obama. This seems so far much more carefully planned and orchestrated than last week. Maybe the canceled first day scrambled the schedule. But this seems so much more professional than the GOP’s.

    • I think that’s because the GOoPers are really, brutally, stupid. Just about any two ten year old girls could arrange a better lemonade stand than the whole damned bunch of Reichwhiners.

  69. Must be damned hard to work while suffering from MS with no access to therapeutic riding.

  71. “Success is not about how much money you make, it’s about the difference you make in other peoples’ lives.”
    Yeah!

  73. She gives a better description of the men and women who founded and built this country than the R’s who claim to worship the founders.

    • The R’s worship images of those men, as they are printed on very durable, soak-able, waddle-able pieces of paper.
      They care not what those men were.

    • She also managed to paint a picture of a 20 year marriage founded on love and respect. These people share my family values.

  76. This was the perfect song for taking the convention down on the first day!!!!
    Dems know how to do it. Thursday will be bursting!

    • Nice Ebb…

      Out of curiosity, what was the opening night theme song for the republican convention?
      Perhaps something along the line of order and order and control?

  77. I wish I had seen the speech from the mother of the HLHS child. Without Obamacare children she’d likely be holding a bake sale in hopes of paying for the third operation.

  79. Okay that was a pleasent evening. The troika of Deval, Juan, and MICHELLE was heartwarming for this old man.

  80. I don’t even have a working TV and didn’t watch the DNC convention on line but..? While the RNC convention was going on, by this time of night, there were many stories recounting the GOP lies told by the speakers.

  81. Waahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111

    “On the first night of President Obama’s convention, not a single speaker uttered the words ‘Americans are better off than they were four years ago.’ Instead, there was a night full of tributes to government as the solution to every problem, even going as far as to say that ‘government is the only thing that we all belong to.’ But government belongs to the American people – not the other way around – and the American people will hold President Obama accountable for his record. Our country deserves real solutions and a plan to turn our economy around. Mitt Romney offers a clear alternative to President Obama’s record of disappointment and failure.”

    -Andrea Saul, Romney Spokesperson

    • The the crybabies are out in force. And what would that plan be, mittens? You’ve offered absolutely nothing concrete.
      Pool little mittens he’s lost his kittens…

    • ‘Americans are better off than they were four years ago.’

      This refrain is getting tiresome, from both sides; only being concerned about whether or not we are all “better off”.

      We got into a hole, the hole is getting bigger, and we have to find the courage and the stamina to climb out.

  82. Well Andrea, you lying bitch, you’re a lying bitch with no imagination, other than putting your disgusting words in other’s mouths.

  85. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz looks hot tonight! Her hair is classier, and she’s wearing more makeup than you normally see her with.

    • Honey is holding her own right now, which is amazing me, but I’ll take it. Her vagueness increases, but her appetite is still strong.

      The knee, amazingly enough is fine. I think that violent episode of popping actually put things back the way they were supposed to be, weirdly enough. It’s tender and a little achy, and definitely wobbly, but feels better than it has in a month. I’ll take it!!

  87. Early in the afternoon there was the smell of a grass fire that smelled like a “grass” fire.
    Nearly causing a contact high!

  89. Apropos of nothing: I have a great appreciation for Google’s translation site.

    At the moment, on my desk, is a document 153 years old. Now known to be the birth certificate of my great grandfather!
    It’s in German – all beautifully handwritten (fading of course). Born in 1859 he emigrated to America, from Austria, in 1888. Those documents are also among the papers!
    This treasure trove, along with numerous papers on my ‘great aunts’ – their SS cards (as part of the first wave to receive)…I’m awestruck, fascinated at piecing this all together.
    There appears to be scandal – a brother who ‘had to get married’.
    Six sisters – none married!
    They kept just about everything – maps; travel itineraries…they had a car during the war – as my ‘grandmother’ was a traveling nurse so the government gave her a tire and gas allotment that was a bit more than the average.
    (these were not blood relatives – yet they were ‘family’)

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