And so…it begins.
11:23: With wind chill, it’s 14 degrees. This is ridiculous. Enough with tradition. Move elections to March and have the inauguration to May. Everyone has to be freezing their áššëš off because 200 years ago George Washington didn’t feel the cold?
11:26: Shots of the outgoing First family, walking away while trucks load up their stuff. May I say on behalf of everyone: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Rest of comments below the cut line.
11:28: Well, at least people aren’t booing Laura Bush or Lynn Cheney.
11:31: Michelle looks a bit underdressed for 14 degrees. I hope she doesn’t regret not wearing a heavier coat.
11:32: They’re running 16 minutes late, according to NBC. So since Bush’s term expires at noon, that could mean that for 16 minutes, from 12 to 12:16…what? Nancy Pelosi is in charge?
11:35: “Hail to the chief, he’s the one we all say hail to.”
11:36: Has Ðìçk Cheney ever looked more like an evil mastermind than when he’s being pushed in a wheelchair? He just needs to be stroking a white cat.
11:37: Kathleen says that if people are booing, he can be told that they’re actually just cheering, “Boooosh!”
11:41: Want to have an idea what the crowd looked like the last night of “The Adventurers Club?” Check out the crowd on TV. I don’t envy them.
11:39: I like the thumbs up from Biden. Maybe we can call him “Joe the Thumber.”
11:41: I like all the introductions. I keep waiting for him to say stuff like, “…and the Rockettes. The Muppets. The Nelson Riddle Orchestra.”
11:43: Barack H. Obama. I was wondering how they were going to finesse that.
11:46: I wonder how many people are actually there on the National Mall. Anyone have a count?
11:48: Oh definitely let us pray.
11:49: Separation of church and state. Don’t make me laugh.
11:53: The song’s name is “America.” Sheesh. Love the hat, though. Only Aretha could make that hat work. Well, her and Eddie Izzard.
11:56: Freedom’s ringing. Could somebody answer it, please? I’m watching this thing.
11:57: It’d be interesting if, out of reflex, the supreme court tried to put Bush in just out of habit.
11:58: So he used Biden’s middle name. Let’s see if he says “Barack Hussein Obama.”
11:59: It’d be cool if he kicked Cheney out of the wheelchair.
12:00: The Freedom Clock just started counting upwards. I wasn’t expecting that for some reason.
12:01: Of course Yo Yo Ma is playing. He played on “The West Wing.”
12:05: He said his middle name. Good.
12:06: I think Obama got distracted by the ambulance for a moment.
12:07: Woo hoo! Party at the Obamas tonight!
12:07: They’re shooting! Quick! Get him–oh It was planned. Never mind.
12:07: I wonder if he’s got a teleprompter or if he’s memorized it.
12:08: We’re at war with FX?
12:10: “Sapping of confidence.” That’s as apt a description I’ve heard of the last eight years.
12:11: I’d love to see them cut to Bush when Obama is talking about how out of whack our priorities have been.
12:13: We have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again? There’s a song lyric to live by, from the film “Swing Time.” Perhaps we should also consider making our national anthem a silly old ant because we have High Hopes.
12:16: The country cannot prosper long when it only favors the prosperous. Good line.
12:17: even better, the line about not tossing aside our morals as a country in the interests of safety. I was waiting for him to quote Ben Franklin.
12:19: Which is an eloquent way of saying, “Osama bin Laden, you can suck it.”
12:20: “Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not on what you can destroy.” Well, they haven’t so far, but it would be a nice change of pace.
12:23: That’s the first TV angle I’ve seen where you can clearly see the bullet proof glass around him.
12:24: “The knowledge that God calls upon us to shape an uncertain destiny.” Nice.
12:24: “A man whose father, sixty years ago, might not have been served in local restaurants can now take this oath.” So true. And let us also remember that sixty years ago in many states his father would not have been allowed to marry his mother. Thank God such unreasoning restrictions against marriage don’t exist in…what? Two states? Three?
12:26: Good speech. Not too long. Hit some high points. Nothing that was “Ask not what your country can do for you,” but then JFK did set a pretty high bar.
12:33: This guy is…interesting.
12:35: I wonder if anyone on the dais–the politicians, poets, ministers, anyone–are tempted to say something to the effect of, “We live in dangerous, uncertain times, and it’s THAT GUY’S FAULT RIGHT THERE! BUSH! HE SCREWED IT UP!”
12:40: Play ball!
In the words of the greatest president ever: Okay, what’s next?
PAD
• 
In fact, Obama NOT picking a woman as a running mate truly shocked me, since it would have emphasized his “change” theme more and made the press even more gaga about it’s historic nature.
I disagree. he would have had to pick Hillary and that had the potential for real drama. At the very least, events would have been out of his control. Too risky.
And if he picked another woman the Hillary fans would have totally lost their šhìŧ. Would it have split the party? Probably not…probably…but again, a risk.
Obama likes to keep things under control. Even the executive orders that people are making a big deal out of come with a huge gaping loophole: from newsweek–Publicly at least, President Obama has made a clean break with his predecessor’s controversial counterterrorism policies, but in private the new administration is leaving itself some wiggle room. A day before Obama signed executive orders closing Guantánamo Bay and banning torture, the White House’s top lawyer privately indicated to Congress that the new president reserved the right to ignore his own (and any other president’s) executive orders. In a closed-door appearance before the Senate intelligence committee, White House counsel Gregory Craig was asked whether the president was required by law to follow executive orders. According to people familiar with his remarks, who asked for anonymity when discussing a private meeting, Craig answered that the administration did not believe he was. The implication: in a national-security crisis, Obama could deviate from his own rules.
(The administration said the remarks were “mischaracterized” but did not exactly clarify how.)
Obama is not a guy who paints himself into a corner and choosing either Hillary or a woman not Hillary would have been one hëll of a gamble. Biden’s a joke but he did him no harm, which proved to be enough.
In the last 6 weeks of campaigning, McCain was forced to deny he had been for the deregulation he had been quoted vehemently championing 6 weeks before the financial collapse. Palin told Couric she would get back to her with examples in which McCain had championed regulation, and we never got that example.
The remaining virtue of the republican party is theft. It’s obvious to anyone who the basic facts of the situation have demonstrated hasn’t been living a lie.
I “singled you out” because it was the comment that caught my eye
No, you singled me out because you’ve decided to make a habit of it.
You obviously don’t like me or my posts, so I suggest you ignore them from now on.
Craig,
“No, you singled me out because you’ve decided to make a habit of it.”
“You obviously don’t like me or my posts, so I suggest you ignore them from now on.”
And I suggest you deal with whatever issues you are projecting. From someone you “makes a habit” of bashing certain people and groups, adding sarcastic things to your answers like “insert eye roll” you would think you would have a thicker skin.
You made a comment I felt was extremely uninformed and incorrect. I then explained why I thought that was so and cited several examples.
If and when it happens again, I will do so if I feel I have something to say. That’s what message boards are for.
If all you want is to read posts from people who agree with you, I’m sorry if you are disappointed, but life is full of disappointments.
And please don’t presume to know my reasoning or intentions when I have already stated them.
Thank you.
Careful Jerome, or he may threaten to beat you up next.
Careful Jerome, or he may threaten to beat you up next.
You still need a healthy dose of common sense, Mr. Let’s Call People Terrorists.
Thank you.
No, thank YOU for once again showing that you have some weird personal interest in what I have to say, compared to the dozens of others who post here and you don’t single out.
I probably don’t want to know why you have this vendetta, but it’s plainly obvious that it exists, as evidenced by this thread.
Time to move on, Jerome.
Some more stuff for Jerome’s post:
Reagan signed MLK Day into law, but only reluctantly: he apparently opposed it based on cost (according to Wikipedia), and it was passed in Congress with a veto-proof majority. So he signed instead of forcing a second vote he couldn’t stop.
In the end, my comment and thus my problem with the GOP also extends to some of those who used to serve, such as Jesse Helms of North Carolina, who basically opposed racially equality via the law at every step of the way. It also extends to the way some states, particularly those in the south, where things would still not be equal if they had the choice.
Yes, the Bushes did make some progress with some of their appointments, and they should be commended for it, even if I don’t like some of those picks (like Alberto Gonzalez).
Although, they still got beat to the punch by Pelosi when it comes to getting a woman closest to the presidency, as she currently sits third in line. 😉
And here’s to hoping Palin doesn’t run in 4 years. Not because she’s a woman, but because she’s an imbecile.
Craig said:
“It also extends to the way some states, particularly those in the south, where things would still not be equal if they had the choice.”
Right, Craig, which is why so many in some states are all in favor of “State’s Rights”. If each state had the right to make its own laws regarding everything, some of those states would become “separate, but equal” states, which we all know are not about equality.
Nice to know reading comprehension is STILL beyond your skills Craig-y
>I just wish that someone like Rice got a fraction of the love from the media and the masses for being an intelligent, groundbreaking pioneer as Obama and Hillary have gotten.
If Rice had been remotely as intelligent and competent as Obama, maybe this would have been the case. But, remembering that she was hired to straighten out the inter-agency rivalries between the security types – and then saw the new York attacks occur during her watch, I’d say that was a disaster. And the, having failed, she was promoted to Secretary of State where … but, here, have a read and it’s no wonder not many people took her seriously.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17351284/
Nice to know reading comprehension is STILL beyond your skills Craig-y
And simple respect toward another person’s name is far beyond yours.
But then, as I’ve pointed out before, I’m not the one making fun of the names of others. And I’m the one who has the balls to use my real name when posting here.
So, what does that really say about you? No, you don’t need to answer. We already know.
It means I value my freedom of speech regardless of what my employers, present or future think.
Google anyone’s name and you’d be amazed at what’s out there…
It means I value my freedom of speech regardless of what my employers, present or future think.
Google anyone’s name and you’d be amazed at what’s out there…
Local talk radio did a segment on people who’s MySpace and/or Facebook pages (most common example pages) led to problems with resumes or current employers.
Google anyone’s name and you’d be amazed at what’s out there…
This is true, but it’s also a little late for me anyways, as I’ve used my name on e-mails to public mailing lists that are archived back more than a decade. The handle I use on many sites I’ve been using for nearly as long can easily be attached to my name as well.
Listen, I don’t blame you for not being public with your name. Seeing some of the stories about people and employers’ doing internet searches, it’d be nice to have a ‘do over’, should I ever become concerned about this myself.
So, maybe it’s just me, but I think comments carry more weight if you’re willing to back them up in name, and not handle. See the John Gabriel Internet Dickwad Theory. 😉
That, and trying to use my name in an insulting manner is rather childish. Not only have I heard it since I was a kid, but I’ve gotten far worse out of my usual internet handle, so you’re not being very creative, either. 😉
I think this thread is winding down, so I’ll fulfill my earlier promise to go off topic with a story about phrase etymology.
This last election, we regularly heard some people accuse journalists of being “in the tank” for one politician or another. Does this phrase come from army tanks? Someone who is in an army tank is doing a lot of destruction but only has a little peephole, giving him very little point of view. One could even point to movies or real events where a crazy guy got in a tank and went on a rampage. It makes sense if you want it to.
However, that’s not where the term comes from, I made that stuff up. It might be plausible, but plausiblity isn’t all there is to etymology.
Several decades ago, people referred to swimming pools as tanks. So “going in the tank” was literally the same thing as “diving in the pool.”
Most of us have probably heard the expression from boxing, “taking a dive.” Well, at some point boxing commentators connected the two different expressions and starting saying that a boxer was “going in the tank” when he looked like he was taking falling down on purpose.
From there, the expression got expanded to so that “in the tank” meant that you had already agreed to fall over for someone, taking a dive in a figurative sense. So this is a term that went from diving to boxing to politics.
My point in telling this story is that just because a particular origin story for a phrase makes sense, that doesn’t mean it actually is the origin. You have to find the first time someone used the term *figuratively* and look at what they were referencing. When people talk about the Merry Pranksters giving people acid mixed in Kool-Aid, they’re talking about literally drinking Kool-Aid. We can’t prove that was the source of the phrase until we can find someone who was referring to that incident when he figuratively accused someone of drinking the kool-aid.
PAD stated that “probably half the people using it think it’s a Jim Jones reference.” Well, I went searching for the etymology of that phrase and as far as I can tell, it’s not half, it’s everyone. I couldn’t find one source that thought it was derived from anything other than the Jonestown massacre. Some of them had read the book PAD mentioned, but still traced the phrase back to a particular person referencing Jonestown.
As far as I can find, the kool-aid expression is traced back to people referencing Jim Jones. It may make sense for it to come from the Merry Pranksters, but that doesn’t seem to be what anyone has ever been referring to when using the phrase figuratively.
Source:
slate.com/id/2203028/
Actually Craig, I like your posts and find them often snarky and highly entertaining.
You kinda got stuck with the “Caraigy” nickname because the first time I used it it got such a “Ries” out of you.
Besides, isn’t “Craigy” alot nice than “çûm-guzzling gutter šlûŧ”? 😉
You kinda got stuck with the “Caraigy” nickname because the first time I used it it got such a “Ries” out of you.
And just for the record, you’re one of the 4 out of 5 people who would mispronounce my last name when saying it aloud. 🙂
Going back to the Babylon 5 issue… I really think there’s a story to be fleshed out more. President John Sheridan, takes oath. Where’d did he come from? Why.. wasn’t he the terrorist that split from the good ol’ United Feration of Planets (yes, I know I am mixing my sci-fi… it’s just an example) abnd supported those OTHERE terrorists on Mars? Didn’t his Security Cheif go on to be the Public face of those Martian Terrorists? His first wife was a spy for the KGB? AND THEN HE MARRIED A NORTH KOREAN!??? Errrr…
In the meantime, you’re nurturing a taste for blood that you have to strap-down in the presence of people who can attribute what you say to your name. You’re living a lie for the sake of a pretense of invulnerability. It’s trading away a dollar of personal freedom for 3¢ of privilege.
I’m guessing it’s actually “rEEs”, or “rEEse”, but the spelling and looks are just so close…
🙂
No Mike, unlike you, I live in reality, the real world. I know who I am, and that’s all that really matters. You on the other hand…well, frankly I’m amazed the orderlies let you near a computer, much less anything sharper than a crayon….
With regard to Obama’s race, it is significant that he’s become president when a mere 50 years ago he’d have been refused service in restaurants in some parts of the country, because of the color of his skin. He’d also have faced hassles– and often downright intimidation– if he’d tried to vote in parts of the nation. The election and inauguration of a man who would’ve endured all that just a half century ago is worthy of celebration by anyone who believes in civil rights.
That being said, I hope that when the time comes to write the history of the Obama presidency that the assessment be about his accomplishments (or lack thereof), and that his race be a footnote. In short, “President Obama succeeded in this, that and the other areas, but he failed in these areas. Oh, and by the way, he was African American.”
I don’t believe Obama was elected because of his race, though some people obviously voted for him for that reason- just as some people vote for any president based on certain “surface qualities.” I believe he was elected because the majority of the voters believed he was the best person for the job.
Rick
Your taste for blood doesn’t have to be unreal to make what I’ve said true.
Mike (Last Name Withheld): “In the meantime, you’re nurturing a taste for blood that you have to strap-down in the presence of people who can attribute what you say to your name. You’re living a lie for the sake of a pretense of invulnerability. It’s trading away a dollar of personal freedom for 3¢ of privilege.”
Wow, Bladestar, did getting gummed by a deranged attack poodle soak your socks too badly? I mean, that criticism is made pretty much meaningless when it comes from a guy who doesn’t post using his last name and removed the link to the site with that name because it’s an ethnic last name and he was worried about the reprisals and reactions that name would cause by this board’s “racist” posters.
Posted by: Mike at November 22, 2006 09:40 AM: “Now I don’t list my name because as a racist you are threatened by ethnic names. I would rather incite you with the plainly observable truth of your actions.”
Gee, Bladestar, just tell him that you have an “ethnic” name (Hey, aren’t they all really?) and he’s got nothing to complain about anymore.
I explicitly asked you to waive the privilege of posting my personal contact info, and you refused.
If you try to intimidate me, I’m not particularly ashamed if I have to talk through being shaken.
24 months, Jerry, you’re still living with a post from 24 months ago. When you bully me, good for me if standing up to you stays with you.
“I explicitly asked you to waive the privilege of posting my personal contact info, and you refused.”
You’re telling lies again, Mike, but everyone here already knows that.
“24 months, Jerry, you’re still living with a post from 24 months ago.”
The age of a post matters how when it still points to the hypocrisy in your remarks to Bladestar? No, never mind. You’re not worth the continuation of this discussion and you would have just ended up going deep into the strange world of Mikeness anyhow.
Actuallt Jerry, my last name is rather ethnic, Middle Eastern, although it’s techinically my adopted name, not an indicator of my biological background, but that’s another story all together.
Mike is just a fart in the wind who loves playing the victim… kinda like OJ whining when he broke into a hotel room and held the occupants at gunpoint claiming he wanted long ago stolen stuff back because he didn’t know what he was doing was wrong….
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/explicit
From the thread I didn’t even post in for its last 23 hours that Peter had to shut down: peterdavid.malibulist.com/archives/004917.html
24+ months, Jerry. The time matters because you can’t get over whatever it is you imagine me doing, and can never cite a subsequent offense.
Keep living the lie, Jerry, and hope your guilt goes away by itself. I’d just as soon deal with it by making up for what I felt guilty for, but whatever.
“, you’re one of the 4 out of 5 people who would mispronounce my last name when saying it aloud. :)”
What, they don’t know it’s pronouced “Reece”? (it is, isn’t it – at least that’s how I’d say it). Probably don’t pronouced “Rhys” properly either. Are they the same people who say the “th” at the end of McGrath, when in fact the “t” is silent?
LOL
Why are people talking to Mike?
I’ve given up asking.
What, they don’t know it’s pronouced “Reece”?
Most don’t know, no.
Many just think it rhymes with fries, unfortunately.
I still think Mike needs a hug.
Why is it natural to you to make affection shameful?
Does that mean all your shorter posts can now be referred to as “Ries’s Pieces”?
Does that mean all your shorter posts can now be referred to as “Ries’s Pieces”?
Let me know when you come up with something I haven’t heard a thousand times before. 😉
Peter. I haven’t visited your site since before the coronation, and noted you’ve installed a “freedom clock”. I know it’s not intended to show this point of view since you’re obviously a liberal and believe in the power of the state over the individual as such. But installing such a “freedom clock” to celebrate the coronation of President Soutoro (his legal name while he was an Indonesian citizen being Barry Soutoro) tends to indicate that you consider the march toward fascism as “freedom”. Not an intelligent reference at all.
Viva la revolucion comrade?
Nice troll attempt, but you’ve got a long way to go to catch up to Mike….
I haven’t visited your site since before the coronation, and noted you’ve installed a “freedom clock”.
Then you missed it counting down, what, the final 1000 or so days of Bush’s reign?
Speaking of the use of ‘coronation’, I guess the phrase “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” applies.
Fascism under Obama would still be better than freedom under Bush the Lesser.
Now, see, Craig, you’re one of the Riesons I come here.
(Sorry, had to try…)
to celebrate the coronation of President Soutoro (his legal name while he was an Indonesian citizen being Barry Soutoro)
Ah, the conspiracy trollers are back, I see. Lovely.
“Ah, the conspiracy trollers are back, I see. Lovely.”
Yeah, we haven’t heard much from them since Sarah Palin was killing and eating small children while she was trying to ban every book in Alaska.
I do wish the folks who insist on putting forward this ridiculous notion that The One is not Constitutionally eligible to serve would dry up and blow away. It’s a silly idea and a lost argument.
If you could abstain from keeping score, you wouldn’t be a victim.
I thought you were the whiny bìŧçh complaining about everyone ganging up on you, which is it Michelene?
Portraying someone as feminine to ridicule them is, by definition, misogynistic. Every day of the week, and twice on Wednesday. It was true ten thousand years ago, it’s true today, and it’ll still be true ten thousand years from now. It isn’t Rocket Surgery. No one can choose for you to change this, I can only call you on this behavior when you exhibit it.
I can’t haunt you if you don’t let me haunt you. I didn’t threaten to, like, beat you or anything, so I’m not quite sure what I’ve said that “scored” so widely against you that you can’t just let it go. You tell me what I’ve said that’s such a doozy. Or is it “braver” for you to take threats others make against you out on me?