Great article regarding ACORN:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2008/oct/13/election-acorn-voter-fraud

I have to say, I am so fucking sick of our BBQ media--I can't take it anymore. Bullshit right wing TP's WALL TO WALL, and glaring omissions of truth and fact--I honestly think liberals and progressives need to start pushing back and making this an issue--I never hear anyone really talking about this on TV--not even RM and KO.

Right now, our corporate BBQ media is doing their level best to delegitimize and Obama Presidency--

I particularly liked the end of that article. mAnn Coulter was trying to have it both ways, keeping a ghost address ("to escape her many stalkers") while voting. It's the best known case of voter fraud in America, but it still hasn't been prosecuted.

"The national media has written us off". --McCain

No sir, the voters are writing you off. Long may they write.

HA! Keith just asked if Palin was secretly working for the Democrats!

And did a tribute to Herblock. I have one of his books somewhere from decades ago. Killer 'toons. Must find.

ceu: it does make perfect sense except that no one could be that wonderfully creative.

And apparently there's a new story brewing with Palin. KO's hinting at it so there are no details, but it seems to involve a contractor who built the Wasilla sports complex also doing work on Palin's home for free... Hmmm...isn't this one of the things that Ted Stevens is on trial for? And it's the reason why John Rowland had to resign as CT's governor and was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison...

Please tell me she's going down for this. PLEASE let something stick. Within ethical bounds? Where do they draw the damned line up there?

Okay - house built before complex, no permits (none required), same contractor for both, same contractor is one of Todd-boy's snow machine racing sponsors, architect was son of local GOP boss who happened to be Palin's mentor. AND Todd-boy told Greta van Sustern that he built the house himself, with some of his contractor buddies.
Maybe nothing wrong, but it sure smells like impropriety.
Don't we already have too much experience with admin. officials giving contracts to their buddies??

Oooooh, professional God-wrestling coming up! Five bucks on the Hindus!

Not sensational enough. Shit. Hope they keep digging. How old was Todd when Hoffa disappeared?

In the media's eyes, she is only guilt of one thing--ROCK STAR MAVERICK. When Obama wins, her political career will be over though.

The fact that the media isn't DEMANDING a presser on Troopergate is astonishing. Meanwhile, William Ayers' name is mentioned every 5 seconds...

JG, no kidding on Troopergate/Ayers/Ayers/Ayers. That's what makes it so sickening.

Richard Lewis, wonderful as usual.

HA! Rachel said "frost heaves". Does the rest of the country know what those are?

'Fraid not, ceu. Enlighten. I'm lucky to get 2 snows that last 2 days per year. Shuts down the whole state. And the odd 5-day ice storm with no power is a relatively new thing.

What Bob said above--McDope really said it. They have us right where they want us. I'm skeered.

Is John McIcky squatting behind RM's desk? I just saw a white head back there. Not drinking.

Barbara Boxer is made of awesome.

Hey..what was the context of Rachel talking about frost heaves? And coming from New England, my car and I are very familiar with them (and not in a good way!)

Infrastructure and how it might be a good thing.

I do know about those dry heaves. Waitin' for someone to 'splain frost heaves, assuming they are different except for body temp.

*owe Palin a "g"*

Respect my ass, McFuckhead.

Frost heaving (or frost heave) occurs when soil expands and contracts due to freezing and thawing. This process can damage plant roots through breaking or desiccation, cause cracks in pavement, and damage the foundations of buildings, even below the frost line. Moist, fine-grained soil at certain temperatures is most susceptible to frost heaving.

DontPanic, when the weather is very cold for a long time, the road surfaces contract, giving a washboard like effect. Frost heaves. They crack & when the snow plows go thru, they scrape the tops off the heaves. When the thaw comes, the road flattens out again, leaving holes where the asphalt was scraped away. Pot holes. They can be wide, they can be deep, and they can be both. If you hit one the wrong way or too fast, you can wreck a wheel or break an axle or smack the bottom of the car and lose the muffler. Repairs can be very costly.
That's one public works project we could use - road repairs, pot hole filling, and R&D to develop new road surfaces that aren't susceptible to frost heaves.

And have I mentioned that I hate typekey?

Having experienced both...I would say dry heaves are way worse than frost heaves.

I cheated ceu...i just got my definition from wikipedia. i like yours better.

and what CM said.

Well that makes sense. Thank you, cminri. We get the expansion/contraction thing on cement roads (of which there are fortunately few) where there are built in cracks. The tar they fill it with in winter bubbles up in summer (ka-thump, ka-thump), but that's as bad as it gets here to my knowledge. Our plants and buildings don't seem to suffer but our temps rarely get below the 20s F. Not enough cold to effect the soil itself. Unless you ask an undertaker, perhaps.

@dontpanic - i tried to keep the definition of frost heaves "clean" seeing as this is a family blog.... baaaaahhhhaaaaa!!!

Thanks also, ceu. I now feel plumb damn educated in the roads of the cold states. And I'd rather have the dry heaves than have to pay for car repairs.

And I think you've mentioned Typekey once. Or twice. Per thread. I get crazy on live-blog nights when it does that.

So cminri you didn't give me the X-rated version? Give!

Having experienced both...I would say dry heaves are way worse than frost heaves.
Posted by: cminri

Replacing concrete foundations is tougher than replacing last night's tavern special.
Just sayin'.

Re: ACORN, Palin and media fuckwittery...

http://cousinavi.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/palin-cites-acorn-dems-trying-to-steal-election/

What's unreal (sometimes) is that if one of the congresscritters earmarked $$ in a bill to help pay for road repairs, it would be called pork. McCain vowed to veto that pork...

@Avi: How in bloody hell do you get italics and boldface and such in these things?

On my way to Cousinaviland...

Shit. David Frum just equated Rachel's show to the chants and shouts at McCain & Palin rallies. Rachel's trying to pin him down - "are you saying that my talking about the Keating 5 is equivilent to shouting 'terrorist' and 'off with his head'?" He's not happy with Rachel's coverage. (too fucking bad, Frum. We love it) Rachel looks incredulous.

I have nothing major to contribute - I just want to point out how fucking awesome Rachel is tonight.

Go Rachel. Don't stoop to his level. (Frum)

@Avi: I want the good Dr. Thompson BACK checking registrations (and writing). Since you brought him up, FIX that please.

"...proof that the scary, left-wing fuckers (read Democrats) are out to steal this election by cheating!" --can they not shut that woman up when she fucks up? Is she THAT stupid? Or is she serving a purpose and they let it go? I thought even the old non-evil McFuckityface that might still be in there somewhere would do more than tell one supporter that Obama is "decent"--but not "not Arab". It's Palin's shit that is stirring up all this crap but McCain seems to sit back and grin. Anyway the media knows damned well that a few on both sides are putting the Daffy Duck registrations in so why can't they get her to stop saying it's all Democrats, which many morons and "low info" voters are eating right up. sorry, ranting.

@Amaraya - I don't think I've had anything to contribute either. But I sure have learned the difference between dry and frost heaves. I somehow feel a little better about the world for that.

Bob! You should start the evening awesome several hours before KO like a few nights ago. More people come in during those hours and, as a perk, you don't have to see such a large percentage of me.

The more I see this stuff about Palin just stating the opposite of what the report says over and over like she thinks she's a Jedi, the more I get creeped out. This is why they tell people to hate the media. "Just listen to us. Don't listen to the news if they tell you different - they're all in the tank!"

I just saw Maddow smack frum down like the child he is. He talked about adult discussions and then when called on for his weak "Democrats are dangerous in when it comes to foreign policy he cant help but cut her off and start yelling when swats it down. Its a shame shes only been on the air for month.

You can get all kinds of information on this Goddamn Awesome Blog..everything from deep political discourse to frosty dry heaves! You cant get fucking shit like this anywhere else! (kids are in bed..time to let the F bombs fly...)

I watched dancing with the stars so i missed everything live, I'm catching it KO now and will watch Rachel at 11 :)

I second the motion that Rachel Maddow is on fire tonight.

Yep, this blog and Maddow are both Goddamn Awesome, cminri. And I'm glad you can let 'er rip with the kids in bed. Speaking of...g'night guys. It's been goddamn awesome. But I think I'm coming down with frost heaves.

I third, forth and fifth that Rachel is awesome, and just one of the reasons is because she always tells the TRUTH. I guess that is offensive to Frum (ex-BUSH speechwriter) because he would want her more like Fix News who "report" lies 24/7. Frum trashed his party, but in order to kiss-back-up to it, he had to TRY (and fail!) to trash Rachel!

FRUM - the other four letter word starting with "F."

Sen. McCain Stood With ACORN Rally In 2006

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/a_lifetime_ago_sen_john.php

Yeah live and direct...

Our BBQ media cannot bring themselves to really criticize McCain--unbelievable. After McCain and Palin have poured gasoline on their base, and questioned who Obama is, the media is now PRAISING McCain for telling that hooplehead that Obama is not an Arab--ummmmm, shouldn't that be the bare minimum of what someone running for President should do?--and isn't it the kind of campaign that he has run that causes that ignorance and hate?

Have you all been hearing the latest trash talk all over the nutwing blogosphere? That Obama is a former member of the radical socialist "new party" of chicago? i can always count on my nutty relatives to spew the latest.

I think it started at politicallydrunk.blogspot.com, but it's everywhere now.

I'm just concerned this is gonna get some crazy traction.

Yeah, if I'm Rachel Maddow I'm hitting Frum in the berrypouch with "Oh, Mr. 'Axis of Evil' wants me to elevate my discourse and be more adult about the tone of political discussion in this country? MR. FUCKING AXIS OF EVIL? You write a speech for THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD that is the geopolitical equivalent of NANNY-NANNY BOO-BOO STICK YOUR HEAD IN DOO-DOO and you dare lecture me on tone and civil discourse? How's this for tone, Frum: Fuck your mother, you shitheap."

That's how I'd roll if I were Rachel Maddow. Also, I'd renounce my wayward lesbianism, seek out Elvis Dingeldein, and make sweet, sweet wonky love to him, huzzah!

@jalemairliha - I'm not too worried about that. The GOP nutcases are still circulating the freaking Obama is a Muslim nonsense and eating it up while refusing to look at snopes.com which the current version of the slime email even encourages them to do. It says, "We were told this was checked out on 'snopes.com'. It is factual. Check for yourself." Which is like the typical GOP slacker that makes something up in a comment thread and says Google it for yourself as they're too busy to provide a link. Marketing to these folks is so easy...

My take is they're grabbing at anything to give them some strange kind of hope for four more years of Bush. Which makes no sense to people outside of the 20% that think GWB is doing a good job.

Rachel steps up and clocks Frum, which is just something I would have gladly paid for on late night CineMax to begin with, but then she pulls out the big bat and shoves it all the way up his False Equivalency Chute!! OH YEA!!!

I was only 1/2 watching when I heard Frum come on and dismiss Rachel's show as "unfortunate" within his first 10 seconds. It suddenly became obvious what's going on. The RNC is gonna try and flood the zone on MSNBC and CNN with asshats and hoopleheads as a last gasp grasp for the undecideds or easily swayed (note to RNC, you kinda just blew your meme that MSNBC is insignificant - might as well stop cooking the ratings reports now).

Rachel did us all proud. I hope to hell she rides this Wolfowitz invitation HARD and often, and presses Pat and Joe to make it happen.

I saw something tonight that I didn't think was possible. There was an open, direct and unyielding dissection of Neo-Con philosophy, and it was conducted by the voice of the people, laying bare for all to see the putrid entrails that have posed as piety for a decade. The truth was unleashed tonight. Rachel is either gonna be off the air in less than a week, or she's gonna be a broadcasting legend and icon that will inspire us all for the rest of our lives. Old White dudes, meet justice.

I believe that Rachel can take on any of the wackos on the far right and shove their idiotic words right back into their face. Bring on Wolfowitz! Bring on the squealing pig known as Rush Limbaugh! Rachel is no lightweight. We need her media presence to keep us all sane.

Rachel Maddow showed why her show is the best on cable news--The segment with Frum was amazing--no shouting, cutting off, etc. Just debate--I hope he comes on again. She is amazingly smart and talented--her respectfulness, I think will encourage more GOPers to come on to finally have the debate the American people need.

Rewinding and reviewing Frum's comments. Truly astonishingly cynical. He claims there has been an "intensification in the ugliness of tone", and lays the blame at Rachel's feet. Dude, she's "been at this for what? Like, 5 weeks?" Fox has a NETWORK dedicated to the generation of "tone" that's been perfecting the definition of ugliness for YEARS!!

What we are witnessing today has a parallel:
(and apologies if this comes out a bit rough)

The feelings being surfaced today by the conservative base and Republican power bloc appears to have a parallel with the feelings and rejections of reality that must have been experienced by the Confederate leadership. "How dare they interfere with our god given rights?" "Our superiority is self-evident" "We will not surrender our beliefs, nor extend our respect to those undeserving of it"

Things are gonna get a lot more ugly. Power, especially on the scale that has been amassed by Cheney/Bush, is rarely ceded without a battle.

Here's my email to rachel@msnbc.com:

http://livefreeordie08.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/im-so-proud-of-you/

I've shown you mine...now lemme see yours!

OK, sorry, but I can't help myself....

Frum says that we should raise the quality of the debate in our society. WTF??

The only thing I can come up with here is that the Neo-Cons know that the tide is changing, and they're not looking forward to being the Sub in the new world order. I imagine they're envisioning Abu Graib style piles of conservatives being dealt retribution for the dehumanization of Liberals that they've sown for the last decade. So, as an attempt at issuing themselves a self-reprieve from their anticipated fate, they've suddenly decided that respectful discourse is the new religion we all need to adopt. "We're all grown-ups here, right?" "No cause to ridicule, demean, dehumanize, imprison, or torture, right?".

Hmmm. Lemme think on that for a while. I'll get back to you sometime in late January.

Elvis: The Don Quixote of the left-bank blogosphere - tilting at Rachel Maddow.

Me? I tend to be rather more lowbrow (placing a bullet on the keyboard). "My work is done here. Hi Ho, Silver...AWAY!"

I went to bed and missed this (and other goodies):
"Rachel is either gonna be off the air in less than a week, or she's gonna be a broadcasting legend and icon that will inspire us all for the rest of our lives. Old White dudes, meet justice."

That was beautiful, Elvis.

Oh, and I still wish you'd tell me how you get italics, quote boxes and boldtype in here. Do you type it into Word or email and then paste? (a lightbulb goes on DP's head--that's a possibly way. *quit talking to yourself, dumbass*). That wouldn't explain the quote box, though. *scratches head* *does not have lice*

Thanks, Panic. Only I didn't say that, LiveFree did. He's been quite the chatty Cathy lately.

Apologies to LFOD for attributing your quote to ED. Have me beaten, OK? With the implement of your choice. I was reading both your entries as well as others and the italics/quote question hit me again and I went buggy. Many apologies. My subconscious must have known what I'd done because something made me come back an look.

Was just catching that, ED, dummy that I am.

I always hated that doll. She shares part of my real name.

Don't panic, DP.

All the fonty html codes will work
It's hard to show you here, because if I types'em right, they gets hid by being html code...but you can google 'em all all.
Italics is to begin and a to close (without spaces...and I'm wondering if that will work...if it didn't hie thee off to google "html codes"
Bold = B /B
Underline = U /U
Have fun, and use sparingly. If ingested, induce vomiting - preferably dry heaves.

No ain't that strange? They disappear, but the spaces make them impotent.
Bracket commands with >
i /i = italic
pfft. fuck this. take you five minutes on google to be an html expert.

*brain bleeding*

Only learned the most rudimentary of HTML and haven't had to use it lately.

or did that just come out bold. here goes.

ooops, it ALL came out bold. Not just the word bold. Hmmm. Yes, it disappeared.
try again

Damn.
Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I'm glad this is not an active thread.

I'm putting bracket, space, B, "my word", space, /B and end bracket. But "my word" is not there and everything after it is bold, even though I put the end-bold / after the word. I'm hopeless.

Thank you for the instruction. I'm afraid this old dog ain't getting it.

Oh Avi, did anyone ever tell you that you look like Dr. Cox on "Scrubs" (if you have curly hair under that hat, especially)? And assuming the pic on your blog is actually of you.

no spaces, Panic.
LESS THAN SYMBOL (pointy bracket)B(reverse pointy bracket) GREATER THAN SYMBOL

text you want bold

LESS THAN SYMBOL (pointy bracket)/B(reverse pointy bracket) GREATER THAN SYMBOL

BOLD TEXT

B /B - but encased in pointy brackets.

Oh, I somehow reversed that.

So...to make one word bold do this without spaces. Here we go. I even used to know this shit but that was 10 years ago and only enough to survive making a silly little tripod page I didn't like the templates offered.

If this works, thank you very much, CousinAvi who looks like Dr. Cox. If it doesn't work, I'm a hopeless basket case. Thank you, sir, either way.

Hmm, I tried to show off by putting "very" in underline. Didn't work. Figured if one did, the other would. If my words become erratic (like a certain politician) then you know I'm playing with this. I'll try not to botch a thread too badly or overuse it. But I can get OCD...you may regret this little lesson. *evil laugh*