Bend Over …

God’s honest truth, I swear I thought the bankruptcy relief would stay in.

I also believe in the Tooth Fairy.

(And it’s nice to see Big Shitpile together again with its Creator.)

@nojo: Working today – we’re all lawyers here, and we thought it would stay in as well. If this doesn’t people into the streets, what will?

And yesterday the Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits for a longer period of time and increased funding for food stamps.

@SanFranLefty: I think you mean the brave Republicans came out against rewarding lay-abouts for laying about and giving more lollipops to welfare queens, right?

— p.s.- how’s your hand?

@BRB: Yes, those welfare queens sucking the government teat with their $150/mo in food stamps and WIC formula and milk. Can’t reward their bad decisions.

It hurts like a motherfucker, and that’s saying something because I have freakishly high pain tolerance. Going to the doctor in a few minutes. Friend reports that the pupster has been mopey and sad all day….he (the dog) was attacked last week by another dog and has (obviously) been a little jumpy since then.

@SanFranLefty: I hopes you feels better.

My sister was one of those working-class people, no welfare queen, who was on Medicare and is still on WIC. She works full time and went back to work only a MONTH after having her child.

My dad, who has a supervisory job at a manufacturing plant in South Carolina, is in severe danger of losing his job.

My mother is a county government employee who doesn’t make a whole lot, and her insurance premiums are going up.

So are mine. And I’m in risk of being furloughed — which I cannot afford.

This shit is getting personal, real fast, real quick and I was so incredibly tempted to get a baseball bat and go apeshit on the county GOP HQ.

I saw something on the AP yesterday where Obama was urging Dems not to let the mortgage relief measure screw the deal, so I was not shocked. THe Republicans had the Dems by the ball and they knew it — as you can tell by the smirking bastards in the photo above. ONe of those times when it pays to be the minority. Dems — I’m lookin’ at you, Unicorn, and you too, Pelosi — damn well better get out there and shout up the fact that the GOP forced them to drop that provision. Of course, if they hadn’t been allowed to destroy the bankruptcy laws in the first place, it wouldn’t be such an issue. But you’re right, rptrcub, it is gonna get real personal when people who are smug right now about “the poors” suddenly find themselves unemployed and unable to pay their bills. Maybe then they’ll realize that the bankruptcy courts aren’t just for silly people who bought too many useless toys on their credit cards. I sat in enough 341 hearings as a paralegal to know that the #1 reason for bankruptcy is medical bills.

@Mistress Cynica: And my father, until recently, said he’d vote for the Geezer (he did in 2000 back when McMaverick was actually one. He can’t stand W.). I think he’s changing his mind now. As well as my sister, who said she voted for Bush in ’04 because Kerry’s statement of a “world test” frightened her (I did not speak to her for several months).

@rptrcub: Now that the Gators done choked, all I can hope for is that Bama beats the dawgs.

@Promnight: Uh, considering I spent the best 3.5 years of my life (I actually graduated early thanks to not wanting to go home to Macon, Ga. in the summer) in Athens G-A, I’ll ignore that remark.

However, thanks to the gas crisis which I’ve been reporting on (and which has kept me trapped 23 miles away from sane people in town), there may be a serious problem with fans getting back home. The UGA police warned them not to come if they couldn’t get there and back in one tank.

Athens: Beyond Thunderdome.

@Promnight: @rptrcub: Photos of shirtless men with letters painted on their chests are not acceptable for publication.

@nojo: It depends on the shirtless men.

@rptrcub:
I’m curious rptrcub, why is Georgia trying to reenact Road Warrior? What puts Georgia on the oil short bus?

@ManchuCandidate: A) Ike and Gustav. B) Damage to the Colonial pipeline. C) Low-sulfur gas as mandated by the EPA, which is more unique and rarer than the standard polluting variety. (We got a waiver, but it’s going to be weeks before it comes through.) D) People panicked the fuck out two weeks ago and now caused the current shortage problem.

People are getting into fist fights, and I’ve seriously considered carrying a switchblade or an aluminum baseball bat to the gas station. That is, if I can find it.

Prices have gotten way beyond SF level. Like $4.79. But people will pay it, if they have access to it. It’s like heroin.

@rptrcub:
Is the Colonial pipeline the only one that feeds Georgia?

I’m aghast that there would be only one damned pipeline to feed a state. There are two that feed Ontario (although they run parallel to each other.)

Why doesn’t Sonny pray for gas, too?

As for weapons suggestion, a kid sized aluminum bat is useful. Easy to swing and not as clumsy as a full sized bat. A 4 D Cell Maglight works just as well but won’t raise eyebrows. At least where I live, switchblades are illegal. Or if you can get your hands on a telescoping baton (don’t know about legality) which is easy to conceal and useful in close quarters.

I think the 4-D cell Maglight is probably the best option. Hits like a son of a bitch and is a good flashlight. Doesn’t raise eyebrows and you can say you have it in your car so it doesn’t look like you’re trying to provoke a fight (I don’t think you are the type, but I’ve been told cops and lawyers bring this up though so it doesn’t hurt to cover your ass.)

Shop Stinque first for your Survivalist needs!

@nojo:
Heh.

I worked out with a friend on hand to hand combat skills and read a few books on impolite hand to hand combat in my younger days when I was training to join the Army Reserves. Not that I’m a black belt (not even close) but I learned what was useful and what wasn’t.

Two handed weapons hit hard, but leaves you open to attack. Anything around a foot or little longer is about the right size to swing with one hand.

@rptrcub: $4.79?! Shit, full-service at the Shell on the corner of Market and Castro isn’t charging that much. ATL is at Honolulu prices without the ocean or the hot Asian men (paging Tommcatt).

Manchu has the right idea – a heavy flashlight is perfect. Or a big wrench, but that might raise more questions than a flashlight.

When are you going to move to downtown ATL or somewhere else with mass transit so you don’t need a car and a tank of gas? How can I help? And when can I stage a “Please don’t vote for McCain” intervention with your family?

@rptrcub: Ha ha! And how’s that SoCo treating you?

@rptrcub: Oh, geez! Mainline that SoCo, STAT!

Reverse TJ:

Fascinating excerpt over at TPM about what happened in Thursday’s White House Smackdown:

Obama then jumped in to turn the question on his rival: “What do you think of the [insurance] plan, John?” he asked repeatedly. McCain did not answer.

One Republican in the room said it was clear that the Democrats came into the meeting with a “game plan” aimed at forcing McCain to choose between the administration and House Republicans. “They had taken McCain’s request for a meeting and trumped it,” said this source.

“Trump” is close — lest we forget, Barry plays poker as well as hoops.

Ok, I’m sorry, this is terribly superficial in the face of devastating awful news, etc. But. The first thing I thought when I brought up this page:

Holy fuck, look at the rug on that guy!

@IanJ: And when he turns around, that’s when you see the racoon tail.

@nojo: Christ, that’s better than the thick umbilical cord running back to a 1984-era Cray SuperCouch I’d expect. I mean, look at the grin on that dude’s face. He’s getting fellated right as that picture is being taken. Maybe not in the literal mouth-on-dick sense, but he’s creaming his slacks in one sense or another. The only other explanation is HAL trying to get his simulacrum to demonstrate a human smile and getting real close.

@ManchuCandidate: Sonny’s too busy in Europe. And yes, I believe Colonial is IT and it takes 10 days for the oil to flow from Houston to Atlanta.

@SanFranLefty: I will be moving in January. I originally moved out here in BFE because my job, at the time, was only 2 mi away. During the week, I’m OK. Commuter buses run from here to downtown Atlanta very well during the week, during conventional hours. But getting elsewhere at other times out here on public transit is hard, if not impossible. And even intown, MARTA outshines Muni in its bassackwardness. Muni is utopia compared to here.

And the McPalin intervention will be proceeding in one week.

Aaaaand topping it all off, Comcast’s internets, of course, ain’t working at my house, so I’m over at a nearby university library trying to get my fix. (And to do some research into cyberwarfare for a paper in my grad. classes.) No searches for porn this afternoon for me.

@JNOV: Believe me honey, it helped.