From commentor Bill D (wmd):

Here’s a picture of RC (Rodent Control) Gizmo. He’s a year older now, still likes to sleep on the seat of my motorcycle, but alas the economy will take it away as soon as I find a buyer for the bike.

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Let me state for the record that I’m glad Beck’s “I Have A Scam” gathering was a giant snoozefest.

Also, that the burgers from the Blue Ox in Lynn are every bit as good as their reputation.

And finally, this gets my vote for headline of the week:

When John McCain Comes Riding on His Flying Unicorn to Save America,
David Broder Will Have a Bag of Carrots for the Unicorn

I find the notion that the Glenn Beck teabaggers somehow are carrying on the King legacy so repulsive, disgusting, preposterous, and obscene, that this will be my only discussion of the matter.

It’s enough to make you vomit. The balls on these people.

For those of you who were shut out of the first league, good news from the commisioner:

Wow, Balloon Juice does like football! I didn’t expect the fantasy league to fill up at all, but it did so in about an hour.

For those left out in the autumn rain, a second league has been formed: the BJFL ‘Murrican Conference – just like the old AFL. The conferences will play by the same rules and their individual champions will meet at the end of the NFL season in a Balloon Juice Super Bowl!

Sign up here:
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/621589

Or go to Yahoo > Fantasy Sports and look for league 621589. The password is alsotoo.

Please indicate your B-J nickname in either your team name, or your Yahoo nick – so we know who you are! More conferences are possible if this one fills too.

Get to it.

Got nothing to say but it’s okay.

This piece on the Catholic Church in London Review of Books is great.

One of Palin’s political consultants posted a long paean to the glory and wonder of unions on her Facebook page, titled “Union Brothers and Sisters, Join Our Commonsense Cause!” Here’s the nut of the argument:

In the past there were many great union leaders who courageously defended the rights of workers. Unions were founded for all the right reasons! They were to give working men and women the clout to negotiate fairly with their employers and to fight for decent pay and working conditions. The unions of old would often end up fighting big government on behalf of the little guy. Today’s unions seem to be big government’s most enthusiastic supporters. It’s turned into some nonsense when union bosses back the government takeover of the car industry, and the mortgage industry, and the entire health care sector. And with the help of big government they aim to push through card check legislation that some characterize as being unfair to workers, and even un-American, because of its insistence on stripping workers of their right to privacy with a secret ballot. And that’s not just me voicing concern over card check – ask current union members how comfortable they are with what some of their leaders are saying about the legislation.

I know she spouts this kind of crap all the time, but this one verges on comedy, combining the crazy idea that government hasn’t done shit for unions, and the insane notion that there’s a place for unions in today’s Republican party.

From commentor Chris S:

So, we’ve had Jack home for five days and he’s doing well, I think. I’m a little anxious – OK a lot anxious. In preparation for getting a dog, I’ve read a bazillion and three books and articles regarding training the perfect dog. He’s a good dog to start with. We haven’t had an accident yet and he makes it through the night in his crate without whining or barking and he walks exceptionally well 75% of the time. He does whine and bark when we leave the room, or go upstairs or leave the house and he’s a jumper/hugger/kisser. So he’s doing very well for such a tumultuous little life, but we (mostly me) are not. I don’t get it other than that I have unrealistic expectations after reading a bazillion and three articles regarding the perfect dog (I know lots of friends that have very imperfect dogs), which is causing me stress. Plus I want the cats to adapt and be happy. So after less than a week, I’m fighting feelings of regret. After being an animal lover all my life, having pets (at least through my childhood) and cats for the last few years, and reading inspriing stories of man’s best friend, I feel guilty for not being ecstatic at now having a puppy as an adult. So, Tara is helping me along and with a little bit adaption on my part maybe I’ll get over myself, let him be a dog and let myself love this cute sonofagun.

Figured we needed one.

Know I have linked this a bunch of times before, but it just seems more and more relevant every day:

Have at it.

Also, we are opening up a second fantasy football leaugue. First one filled pretty damned quick.

Many pixels are due for slaughter this weekend to note the ‘anniversary’ of the Katrina disaster, which drowned a still-disputed number of our fellow Americans, the day-to-day lives of a great many more, and (from its instant enshrinement as a media trope) any last mutual illusion that most of us, most of the time, shared some common goals if not common interests.

To start the discussion here, I asked commentor lamh32 permission to front-page what she wrote last night:

Hope this is not a downer, but I’ve had visitors for the past 2 – 3 weeks. My cuz was here last week, my sister is here til tomorrow.

I planned to go home to NOLA tomorrow, cause my Aunts an Uncles are having a party. I was wishy-washy for a minute, but then I’m just now watching the HBO documentary by Spike Lee “If God is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise”. Being in DFW, away from Nola since Katrina, I missed all the damn corruption that occcurred. The documentary is 4 hours long, but it is worth your time to watch it. It’s illuminating! It seriously almost made we weep a number of times.

All I can say is damn It’s a truth, that many don’t wanna see now, and didn’t wan to see then.

Spike Lee did good!

I gonna go home after I drop off my little sister. I’m gonna drive home. I’m gonna pray and let God lead me back safely. But I’m going regardless.

One guy on the doc, said, that people from New Orleans, who may now be living somewhere else, even if where they are now has less crime, less poverty, higher income, they would all still if they could, pick up and move back to NOLA, if they could keep all the good! That is definitely true.

Parents are off to an anniversary dinner (their 42nd!), and I have Ginny and Guesly. No rest for the wicked.

*** Update ***

We have our own official Balloon Juice Fantasy Football league:

Hey all you Juicers! I like football. Who else likes football?

NFL week 1 is coming up fast, and I thought it’d be a kick to have a fantasy football league for regulars at Balloon Juice. With the blessings of our host I’ve created the B-J.F.L. A little competitive action to spice up football Open Threads throughout the season!

Totally free to join and play – all you need is a Yahoo ID. If you’ve never played Fantasy Football before, here’s a primer:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/sports/fantasysports/football/rules/frules-01.html

If that sounds good to you, or you already know what fantasy football is and want to get in the mix, sign up here:
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/b_jfl

If the direct link doesn’t work for you go to Yahoo and find their Fantasy Sports page, and look for League # 616924

The password to join is “alsotoo.”

I think the limit is 20 teams, and the league draft will be Tuesday evening. You’ll be able to draft your players online, or let Yahoo do it for you.

A quick word about me, your Commissioner. I’ve been a regular lurker and sometime commenter for years, using the handle “mattt.” I’m no football expert and don’t plan on posting lots of commentary, but have run fantasy leagues before and thought some of you all might get a kick out of one here.

Because if there’s one thing we’re short of on this blog, it’s trash talk!

My team is Tunch’s Furballs.

I apologize in advance, both for another link to the Sullivan collective and for more wankery about conservatism versus liberalism, but I think this discussion is fairly telling. Somebody named Cletus wrote in to the Sullivan collective to brag about how he’s too busy with “intellectual growth, creativity, dedication, openness to new experiences etc.” to be envious and to condemn everyone who’s ever noticed that life is sometimes unfair. The idea is that if you think someone has something they don’t deserve, it just means that you are an emotionally stunted, envious inferior who doesn’t know the meaning of talent or hard work.

Personally, I am not very envious either, not because I care about intellectual growth and the like, but because I think that life is sad, life is a bust, no matter how great your job and six figure aquarium set-up are. But I’m not willing to play along with the delusion what we live in an awesome meritocracy where all success is earned. And I’m even less comfortable with the obvious corollary that the poor and unemployed deserve to be poor and unemployed.

I think this goes to the heart of the difference between liberals and conservatives. Liberals tend to believe that our system is imperfect, that the rich aren’t so deserving that we shouldn’t tax them, that the poor aren’t so undeserving that we shouldn’t give them a decent safety net, and that a fancy position may be the result of nepotism, system-gaming, or luck. Conservatives tend to believe either that our system is fair and societal status equals virtue or that our system used to be fair before the soshulists broke it (depending, of course, on whether Republicans or Democrats control the federal government at the time). Intellectual conservatives may not believe this but believe that it’s important the masses do believe it, in order to maintain traditional societal values.

Update. Cleek has a good example of the conflation of “ultrarich” with “best and brightest” from moderate Muslim Reihan Salam.

If someone is Islamic and describes himself as moderate, it goes without saying that he is immediately required to condemn each and every bad thing that any Muslim person has ever done. But even that is not enough in a way that I’ve had a hard describing. Larison nails it:

As far as I can tell, what Rauf’s critics want is not merely someone who is a moderate Muslim, which presumably means someone moderate in his interpretation of Islam as a religion. What they would apparently also like is someone who has no sympathy for the political causes or grievances of any other Muslims in the world. If moderation is defined in that unreasonable way, there probably aren’t very many moderate Muslims after all.

And the truth is that having no sympathy for the political causes of any other Muslims in the world probably wouldn’t be enough either. Rauf is being subjected to a conservative show trial. The charges can be made up as the trial goes along.

It was, according to New Jersey’s governor, a $400 million mistake. The state was drenched in recriminations on Wednesday as Gov. Chris Christie said a clerical error by a midlevel official had caused the state to lose out on $400 million in federal school reform money — an error that caused its Race to the Top grant application to fall short of the 10-member winner’s circle by just three points.

“That’s the stuff that drives people nuts about government, and that’s what the Obama administration should answer for,” he said. “When the president comes back to New Jersey, he is going to have to explain to the people of the state of New Jersey why he is depriving them of $400 million that this application earned them, because one of his Bureaucrats in Washington couldn’t pick up the phone and ask a question.”

But federal officials released a video on Thursday evening showing that Mr. Schundler and his administration had not provided the information when asked. Mr. Christie, asked later Thursday about the videotape in a radio interview, said he would be seriously disappointed if it turned out he had been misled.

Christie fired Schundler, so that’s good.

But, shouldn’t Chris Christie explain to the people of New Jersey why he didn’t pick up a phone and ask a question before pointing at Obama, because that’s what people hate about bureaucrats, how they won’t do that?

Too, is it ordinary to videotape a competitive grant process? I’m glad they did and do, or I’m sure there would be all kinds of false charges, but is that what’s been done in the past?

Excellent news:

Fire departments around the nation are cutting jobs, closing firehouses and increasingly resorting to “rolling brownouts” in which they shut different fire companies on different days as the economic downturn forces many cities and towns to make deep cuts that are slowing their responses to fires and other emergencies.

Philadelphia began rolling brownouts this month, joining cities from Baltimore to Sacramento that now shut some units every day. San Jose, Calif., laid off 49 firefighters last month. And Lawrence, Mass., north of Boston, has laid off firefighters and shut down half of its six firehouses, forcing the city to rely on help from neighboring departments each time a fire goes to a second alarm.

I bet most of them are just union members sucking at the government teat.

So Sullivan did not come back from vacation because of Mehlman coming out or the news that circumcisions have dropped, but I’m betting that Levi’s retraction of his apology might just do it.

Clowns:

With the economy rapidly weakening, some senior Democrats are having second thoughts about raising taxes on the nation’s wealthiest families and are pressing party leaders to consider extending the full array of Bush administration tax cuts, at least through next year.

This rethinking comes barely a month after Democrats trumpeted plans to stage a high-stakes battle over taxes in the final weeks before the November congressional elections.

The Bush tax cuts are set to expire in December. Republicans are pushing to extend them all, while President Obama has forcefully argued that the country cannot afford to keep tax breaks on income over $250,000 a year for families and $200,000 a year for individuals.

But a growing cadre of Democrats – alarmed by evidence that the recovery is losing steam and fearful of wounding conservative Democrats in a tough election year – are advocating a plan that would permanently extend tax cuts benefiting the middle class while renewing breaks for the wealthy through 2011, senior Democratic aides said.

Awesome strategery, Democrats. Extend tax cuts that do nothing to stimulate the economy and de facto cede the argument about tax cuts helping the economy, get blamed for the deficit costs of those tax cuts as more evidence of the free-spending liberals, continue the growth in income inequality and the distribution of wealth concentrated at the top of the tiers, leave less money available to engage in worthy projects, and demoralize your base while throwing a bone to people who are NEVER EVER EVER going to vote for you.

I hate being a Democrat.