Blue Gal

Breaking for a yarn post

2012-02-28T16:28:00.000-06:00

I've been doing a lot of knitting since the new year, and today I un-procrastinated, and kool-aid dyed two lovely skeins of Cascade Ecological Wool sent to me by a very generous blog reader.

I didn't like the blue lemonade, so I added the strawberry for a mauve result. The blue lemonade was too light, and the lemon aspect of it probably compromised the depth of color. Will probably resort to acid dyes for real blue yarn in the future, though I have no intention of ever knitting a Tardis garment, ever. Never.

This was very fun and I recommend it as a non-toxic activity for kids. Middle child enjoyed it. As the yarn soaks in the Kool-Aid solution the water turns clear as if by magic. It must be wool or other protein fiber to work.

Under the Desk has very thorough directions. There are also several YouTubes of the process out there.

Give that lad Santorum some mental help.

2012-02-27T17:34:00.002-06:00

Nice try, Rick, but nobody is going to vote for an incumbent Democrat thinking "orgy!"

And the comment thread in the related post is funny. Lots of gay folks there think Santorum needs an de-closeting intervention, some porn to call his own, or at least some mental help.

The Professional Left Podcast Ep 116

2012-02-24T17:09:00.000-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We had file corruption issues this afternoon -- if you downloaded the podcast and only got 3 minutes or so, please download it again -- we re-posted it at Buzzsprout.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Why does Rush Limbaugh feel the need...

2012-02-22T16:38:00.001-06:00

..to insert himself into the birth control debate?

It's Politico, promoting discussion of their own story, but still:

The conservative radio host was prompted by a recent POLITICO story headlined, “2012: The year of ‘birth control moms’?” which examined whether the issue of contraception will have women voters swinging left to back President Barack Obama’s reelection bid.

Limbaugh argued that Democrats are accusing Republicans — presidential candidate Rick Santorum in particular — of wanting to ban birth control in an effort to turn voters against the GOP. ... “This is a totally manufactured issue.” He added, “They do not have the economy, they do not have one thing in Obama’s record they can point to and say, ‘You want four more years of this? Vote for us!’ So they have to gin something up, and they have done it here. And so now they’re going drum up this ‘birth control moms’? Isn’t that kind of contradictory? A birth control mom? How do you become a mom if you’re into birth control?”

Rush, the people who pay your ginormous salary overestimate your worth and your political acumen. A smarter man would know when to totally, utterly, shut the fuck up.

Actually, Mike Huckabee, we're all feminists now.

2012-02-19T13:45:00.000-06:00

Keep it up, Rick. You are actually doing us all a great favor.

The latest in his war on families making informed choices regarding family composition is his objection to amniocentesis. No, really.

He's saying that when a woman is aware that she is carrying a Down's syndrome child, that information ENCOURAGES her to seek an abortion. Well, he's right about that. 92% of couples who discover their child has Down's do make that decision in the privacy of their doctor's office.

Rick Santorum thinks it's better we should be uninformed, because then we all have the opportunity to be Sarah Palin and bring our mentally retarded, Down's Syndrome embryo to term. Then we can all get seven million dollar book deals to afford the care for that child for the rest of his life, and pray that seven million dollars WILL BE ENOUGH.

Or maybe we can just ride airplanes from Texas to Alaska while leaking amniotic fluid. That's a good choice, too. It might bring about God's will for us without having to make a moral decision that would lose us the Republican Base. Or it might not.

It's another war on couples making a choice on how they want their families to function. Again, 92% of families who find out their unborn child has Down's syndrome, choose to abort. A LOT of those women already have kids and know how hard parenthood is with a child who does NOT have medical needs. Prenatal testing checks for all kinds of abnormalities that will affect the delivery of a healthy child when the parents decide to have the baby. It's a medically accepted practice and Santorum is being ridiculous using this as a wedge issue against Obama. Also, he's going to lose, and women are having their consciousness raised way beyond what the right wing should want, ever.

Pair all of this up with Santorum's statement that moms should just not buy an iPad if they want to afford their child's medications. He is anti-family, the end.

Milking someone else's personal tragedy and incredibly difficult choices for political gain, financial reward, or eternal salvation will fail in the end, Rick. Be warned.

The Professional Left Podcast Ep 115

2012-02-17T13:47:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Links for this episode:
Lawrence O'Donnell on Santorum and the debate with conservatism.
The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Podcast-able moment, just sayin'

2012-02-17T08:06:00.001-06:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Aspirin?!?

2012-02-16T19:13:00.001-06:00

Santorum's sugar daddy billionaire funder has suggested "aspirin between the knees" as a "cheap" contraceptive.

An aspirin-sized brain and a big mouth is no way to go through life, asshole. Also, your taxes are too low by about a billion percent.

Ep 114 The Professional Left Podcast

2012-02-10T13:12:00.000-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Links for this episode:

The Final Edition (Satire): "Roger Ailes: 'Fuck It, I'll Just Be President Myself'"

Obama-Bush meet re automaker bailout, 2008

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Visiting "The Final Edition" Today

2012-02-09T12:57:00.001-06:00

I've always thought that if I had a million dollars I'd like to get my freak bloggers together and buy the "SPY Magazine" name and put something big online. It turns out some SPY people are now doing The Final Edition and were kind enough to accept my submission for its lead story today.

As I wrote back and forth to the editor, I brought up the subject of payment.

"I assume I'll be paid in the universal currency of blogging known as Arianna dollars?"

And it was so.

I understand if you get a million of those greenbacks, Ms. Huffington her own self will bring you ziploc-bagged leftovers from her Davos buffet.

Note: The Final Edition is not affiliated with Huffpo, obv.

Good Lord, who let Kathryn Jean Lopez on Twitter?

2012-02-08T20:38:00.002-06:00

Crooks and Liars shares the above image; even on Twitter Lopez can't stay away from the C-word.

Here's what I wrote in 2009...
_________

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Why I Care

Back in November of 2006 I noted this quote from National Review Online's Kathryn Jean Lopez:

"Passing out contraception without any deeper context or conversation is degrading and disrespectful — to men and women. Tell me I'm crazy."

Oh honey. By the time I got your invitation, that show had opened on Broadway:

Now it turns out she's at it again, via Sadly, No!:

I may be delusional, but I think the American Revolution still trumps the urban dictionary in much of the country.

And my question isn't why she thinks the American Revolution trumps the Urban Dictionary in much of the country. Honestly, that ship has sailed.

She may be a victim of her own political lunacy, but in terms of her whole "call me crazy" "maybe I'm delusional" rhetorical, um, flourish? Maybe she thinks it's self-effacing. Maybe it's a cry for help.

Kathryn: speaking as one committed plump brunette leading political blogger to another, what it is, is bad writing. Take a good hard look at your NRO official keychain and just. stop. it.

Blog #AgainstTheocracy - Bigger and Better than Ever!

2012-02-08T12:39:00.000-06:00

Actually, South Park Jesus, it's over a month away, but I want to get the word out.

Blog Against Theocracy is an annual blogswarm dedicated to the separation of church and state. It takes place Easter weekend, (this year that is April 6-8) only because that is one time we can depend on the mainstream media to cover the religion beat.

It is not a blogswarm against religion. Bloggers who believe in religion and those who don't are equally welcome here. What we share is a common commitment to the First Amendment to the Constitution and, paging Teabaggers, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the current and former denizens of Komen, its guarantee of church-state separation.

Everyone can choose their own topic concerning anti-theocracy. My theme this year is simple. Like the most famous unwed pregnant girl of all time, I stand with Planned Parenthood.

And as I said when I first published this photoshop:

...before anyone goes all "Sacrilege!" on my ass, I believe with my heart of hearts the Mary is the mother and sister and companion to every frightened girl who enters a Planned Parenthood clinic for HELP. And I know for a fact that not every pregnant woman who enters a PP clinic gets an abortion. Many of them go there so their babies will be born HEALTHY. And in many parts of the country, it's the only place many women CAN go for prenatal care. Think about that, fundie mofos.

UPDATE: This from Tengrain, which we both agree is over the top and totally called for.

In the artist's studio with Blue Gal and Newt and Callista Gingrich

2012-02-07T19:21:00.001-06:00

A funny thing happened on the way to photoshopping Newt Gingrich musical record albums.

Stephen Colbert has been having a lot of fun with those, but this photo was not a photoshop. It was just add the text and bingo, you've got country-Newt in his pensive solo period:

Photoshopping Newt and Callista Gingrich as Tammy Wynette and George Jones should be a natural fit, right?

Take this:

Mix in summa this:

Give it a soft focus, and voila:

Except, so what? It doesn't look that different. I think Newt and Callie and George and Tammy (yeah it does sound like Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice but that's another photoshop) have something in common. Artistically, they are their hair. Or, in other words, without her hair, Callista Gingrich is nobody.

Anyway, I didn't want the photoshops to go to waste, but sometimes it's back to the drawing board.

Thank the good lord my 13 yo son is not alone.

2012-02-07T09:49:00.001-06:00

Pizza is a GameStop accessory for the Nintendo Wii.

And this from a blog called "Ninjas, every goddamn day."

We have found his tribe. Praise be.

And keep the young man in your thoughts today he's getting braces.

Welcome to the Culture War

2012-02-06T12:13:00.000-06:00

There are three reasons I will willingly give up sleep: to care for a sick child, to have sex with my husband, and to watch Up with Chris Hayes. This weekend Hayes featured four (four!) women panelists to talk about Komen and birth control. Enough said. I highly recommend watching the whole show online if you are cable-free or not a morning person, but for me this moment was the money shot of this weekend's offering:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There's so much here, (I love that we are calling out "witchhunt" and "bullying" when it comes to PP) but particularly Chris Hayes's statement that "This is the Culture War."

None of us can be neutral in the culture war over Planned Parenthood.

What we are confronting here is that defending Planned Parenthood on the "nice pink" issue of breast cancer screening DOES MEAN defending Planned Parenthood on the not-so-pink issues of contraception and yes, abortion. There is a direct link between the Catholic Bishop freak out on health insurance to cover contraception and the Komen brouhaha. It's women. And it's women in a very "Wake Up White Women!" way.

We priveleged white women with educations and laptops and smart phones and wide access to the twitter streams of our congressmen, can't be neutral or even silent.

We can't say "I would never have an abortion but don't want to restrict access for anyone else" and stand aside while state legislatures around the country restrict access for everyone else.

We can't wear a pink ribbon and attend Estee-Lauder sponsored Pink Events, and say we're doing our part for women's health, while being silent about the bullying of Planned Parenthood by the Dallas denizens of Komen. The Komen brand must be taken out, primarily because they are a corporate tool for advertising as "pro-women" while blindfolding consumers to the environmental and behavioral causes of cancer. And while Komen and Virginia Slims alike would never have enough audacity to put pink ribbons on cigarettes...

...I doubt Komen's lawyers looked carefully into the not-at-all-subtle pink ribbons throughout the model's sweater and thought about spending their half-million in attorney's fees on suing big tobacco. There might be some Phillip Morris heiress who'd love some fashion show tix.

not a photoshop

And about the Catholic Church and this whole birth control / health insurance issue. First up, Melissa Harris-Perry is right, this is a huge argument for single-payer health insurance: get the employers out of the picture. And the Catholic Church has since its inception cast a very wide net for membership, allowing for ethnic and other cultural differences under the big umbrella of Catholicism (Italian and Irish Catholics alike take the same communion).

The bishops have also made a bargain with their female parishioners -- come to church, pay your tithe (ha), and take communion, and we won't ask about your IUD. Get married in the Church and we won't ask about your premarital sex. Baptize your kids and we won't ask why you only have two and they seem "spaced" contrary to biology.

And then they let Newt Gingrich become a member.

But as I said in 2009:

But it's not just that Gingrich doesn't realize that people can look up what he said five years or five minutes ago on the internet tubes. Newt has become a Catholic, I believe, because old-style Catholicism buys into what he (and Republicanism) have believed all along: that you may not be perfect, but you are always forgiven, provided you profess loyalty and devotion to the ideology involved. So as long as you SAY you believe in the Holy Catholic See/Grand Old Party ideology, no matter how much you lie or how big a hypocrite you are, the indulgences will come at you fast and easy.

From Wikipedia, which in this case is a pretty accurate rendition:

An indulgence, in Roman Catholic theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution. The belief is that indulgences draw on the storehouse of merit acquired by Jesus' sacrifice and the virtues and penances of the saints. They are granted for specific good works and prayers.

The Republican Party and the 24 hour news cycle (that apparently needs them to fill up 'fair and balanced' programming minutes) doles out indulgences all the time. That's why compulsive gambler Bill Bennett and Christian Right/Gambling benefactor Ralph Reed can appear on CNN as Republican analysts and Wolf Blitzer doesn't bat a eye. It's why Newt Gingrich himself is allowed into the green room at This Week any Sunday morning he likes, whether Paul Krugman sits next to him or not.

It's why despite his horrible record and affairs and total hypocrisy he may be the standard bearer of his party, the party of family values, in 2012.

And notice, John Edwards won't.

So apparently (and this is none of my business), you can be a birth-control using woman and also a Catholic.

You can't be a woman who wants to continue to use birth control and vote Republican. They are after your birth control, and the days of being neutral in the culture war are over. Katha Pollit totally gets it:

First they came for abortion, but I didn’t care because abortion was for sluts. Then they came for sex ed, but I didn’t care because the kids can learn all they need to know at home. Then they came for birth control, but… Wait a minute! Birth control? They’re coming for birth control? I need that! For nearly a decade prochoicers have been warning that abortion foes were gearing up to go after contraception, but the possibility of losing birth control was too far-out for most people to take seriously. And you know prochoicers—they’re always crying wolf. Well, wake up, sleepyheads, it’s happening.

Driftglass often says "never bet against human nature." Human nature works first and foremost toward economic ends. This is why women in ancient Rome limited family size with contraception, and women who can afford it have done so before and ever since, regardless of church edict.

But contrarily, this neutrality thing over women's health is exactly about human nature -- it is human nature to want to protect our daughters from the dangers and heartbreak of a bad (in any way) sexual experience. We don't want to think about our daughters having sex, at all. We WANT to think of them as pure as the driven snow, because they are our little girls. I think it's Dave Barry who tells the story of how awful it is to announce to your in-laws that your wife is pregnant, because your father-in-law has to actually acknowledge that his daughter has had sex...with YOU.

So in this argument let's assume that your 23-year-old daughter is a virgin on her wedding night. Let's just assume that. The question becomes, do you want Rick Santorum and the Council of Catholic Bishops determining for your sainted daughter and her chaste husband, the number and spacing of your totally legitimate, only conceived in wedlock, grandchildren? Regardless of whether they have worked long enough to save for a house or even have moved out of your basement? IS THAT OKAY WITH YOU?

Because you have to decide that, now.

Today.

There is no neutrality in this culture war any more.

And in exchange for your enlistment, WE WILL NOT MENTION that a very large part of Planned Parenthood's constituency is sexually active young women who don't want their parents to know they use birth control.

PS. We're going along with the wedding-night virgin myth, even though it wasn't even true for Grandma. Enjoy this no-premarital sex song from the thirties. Because it's a lovely song, but even in 1938, Bob Hope knew it was a joke.

An Open Letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Sec of HHS

2012-02-04T10:46:00.000-06:00

As read on this week's podcast.

Dear Secretary Sibelius:

Thank you for all you are doing to improve access to healthcare for all Americans. I am writing you regarding the shortage of ADHD medications nationwide.

This past Monday I attempted to fill a prescription for my child for 30 mg. capsules of Focalin, a medication that has helped my ADHD child function in school. I understand that this medication is often abused by college students and others, because it is, to use the common term, “speed.” So I and a great many other parents do what is required by law to help control fake prescriptions and abuse, and each month I drive to my pediatrician’s office and pick up a paper prescription for this medication, as required by State and Federal law, and drive it to the pharmacy by hand.

The pharmacy I normally use, which happens to be a Walgreens, did not have enough of the capsules to fill my prescription this past Monday.They did have ten capsules in stock. They informed me that if they provided me with those ten capsules, my entire prescription for thirty capsules would be voided, and I would need to return to the pediatrician for another prescription.

The math did not add up to me. Nearly all prescriptions are for a month, thirty pills, why would they have only ten? “Because the manufacturer provides them to us in bottles of one hundred.” I was told.

I followed, to use the words of a former vice-presidential candidate, “common sense conservative solutions,” and presumed that if this Walgreens had ten capsules left over from filling three prescriptions, there must be at least two other Walgreens in my hometown ALONE with ten pills on the shelf. Could those bottles be combined so at least one Walgreens pharmacy could fill one prescription for one desperate parent, ESPECIALLY since there is a well-documented nationwide shortage of this medication?No, I was told. The pharmacies would be required to fill out a DEA form to transfer this medication from one pharmacy to another, and that is just not done. (cc: Walgreens corporate HQ).

What if I, as a desperate mother attempting to get a medication for which there is a documented nationwide shortage, agreed to relinquish my paper prescription and drive to three different Walgreens to pick up ten pills at each? The pharmacy could fax the prescription and even a photocopy of my valid drivers’ license to each of the pharmacies so my identity and validity of my prescription would be known ahead of my arrival to pick up the pills? The pharmacy technician suddenly caught on to my creativity. No, but I could go to my doctor, get three prescriptions for ten pills each, dated ten days apart, and fill them every ten days for a month. I would owe a separate co-pay, if any, for each of the ten-day prescriptions. But by the end of the month I would definitely have my thirty pills!

Is this any way to manage prescriptions for a much-needed medication for which there is a documented nationwide shortage? Okay, now I am reaching a delusional state, but wouldn’t it make sense for the taxpaying mothers of ADHD children to rise up and demand a regulation from the Secretary of Health and Human Services that pharmaceutical companies bottle their pills in 30 pill increments?

I was going to suggest a law passed by Congress, but I’m not that delusional.

Also too (Sarah Palin is a GIFT, I tell you!) perhaps you as Secretary could also apply your considerable intelligence in this area to the HUMAN-MADE obstacles that exacerbate a documented shortage of needed medications.

Thank you again for all you do.

Yours in Christ,

Ep 113 The Professional Left Podcast

2012-02-03T13:40:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Link for this episode: From The New Yorker -- Homeschooling mom supports Newt Gingrich but is unaware of his three marriages.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Newt gets a visit from his old business partner. [Photoshop]

2012-01-28T20:05:00.000-06:00

click for larger

Ep 112 The Professional Left Podcast

2012-01-27T13:58:00.002-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Link for this episode:

Five things you probably didn't know about food stamps.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

PS the photo I shared with my mom is here.

A response to Newt's "response"

2012-01-25T20:41:00.000-06:00

Ep 111 The Professional Left Podcast

2012-01-20T13:27:00.000-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Links for this episode:

Religious Right is About Patriarchy, Not Family Values

Andrew Sullivan claims he's been blacklisted by Fox News

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Starting to worry about @Stephenathome

2012-01-18T21:04:00.001-06:00

But actually I'm much more worried about the future of political photoshopping. Just let me say that when Buzzfeed says re Callista's hair, they can do it for free? Oh honey, even Callista knows, you get what you pay for. (click image for larger)

A debate on MLK Day? On FOX? Yer kidding.

2012-01-16T14:13:00.001-06:00

My Second Grader Talks about Martin Luther King's Vision

2012-01-16T13:28:00.001-06:00

She's white and nearly all of her friends at school are Black. Thank you, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ep 110 The Professional Left Podcast

2012-01-13T13:20:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

You totally need to buy Girl Scout Cookies this year, Liberals.

2012-01-13T12:56:00.001-06:00

Podcast up next, but first....You need Girl Scout cookies! Because the right wing has their panties in a real twist about teaching girls to have enough self-esteem to take care of themselves, and be accepting of others regardless of how they might be different. Because teaching intolerance is much more Christian? I'm not going to use the eff word in a post about the Girl Scouts.

Also, I'm not going to mention how many camp counselors were, um, tomboys at my daughter's Girl Scout summer camp last year. It has ALWAYS been that way, yes, even in the fifties. ESPECIALLY in the fifties. Check out Smith College or any other majority-woman institution. They are where the girls are, and that's not predatory, it's just human. Lesbians and the transgendered are not a threat to our daughters, get over it.

Anyhoo, if a Girl Scout Troop is not available to you and you would like to buy some cookies, email me at bluegalsblog AT gmail and I will hook you up with some delicious self-esteem building tolerance cookies. Apparently there are also websites and even an iPhone app for cookie finding. And several of the cookie varieties are vegan, which, I hear, are very popular with you commies.

You're welcome.

The Future of News Magazines (Satire?)

2012-01-11T21:47:00.000-06:00

A Professional Left Joint.

My mom is an artist.

2012-01-11T08:39:00.001-06:00

Actually both my parents are artists. And yesterday Dad sent me some artwork by my mom, including this:

There are portraits of each family member in charcoal. They're not photographic likenesses, they're better than that. Thanks very much, Mom.

And PS I'm reading a letter on the podcast this weekend, to my mother on the subject of politics. Watch this space.

Nevermind your cancelled show, gimme that bowl of fresh eggs, Martha!

2012-01-09T09:36:00.000-06:00

Time Magazine opines that Martha Stewart's show on Hallmark Channel was cancelled because viewers can no longer "aspire to a lifestyle that seems absurd in this economy." And I was going to make up some fake current-economy Martha Stewart topics, like

"Combining Your Moved-In Relatives' Food Stamps for the Perfect Dinner Party"

"Paper Crafts for Up-cycling Your Resume"

"Cleaning Jewelry for Top Pawn Shop Dollar"

But it turns out Amy Sedaris has already written "Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People."

Hey, at least Martha still has her magazine, complete with her monthly PLANNING calendar.

I realize that in the world of satire Martha Effing Stewart is low-hanging fruit. But in this economy, the only person I want to see add to their Outlook Calendar "Bring a BOWL of fresh EGGS to OFFICE." is John Waters.

RIP, Tony Blankley

2012-01-08T16:12:00.001-06:00

I'm sorry to see anyone die of stomach cancer, and I will always remember Tony Blankley from the October 7, 2011 episode of KCRW's Left Right and Center on the topic of Occupy Wall Street, where he pushed the Occupy Wall Streeters being violent paid anarchists, and the President offering words of encouragement to attacks on police. Transcript from me:

Blankley: I was a little appalled if not surprised that the President seemed to speak words of encouragement to demonstrators that have attacked police, and are calling for, I think, unlawful activity against corporations...I find that wrong.

Host, Matt Miller: What unlawful activity? I hadn't heard that. What are they calling for?

Blankley: Haven't they said rude things about bankers? Suggestions that retribution is in order?

Robert Sheer: [scoffing] I've been saying rude things about bankers for years on this show, Tony!

Blankley: I've seen the news, they sound like they're shouting...

Sheer: That's not a calling for violence! It's an exercise of our democratic rights!

Blankley: [sighing] As long as they're not calling for any violence against people, then they're welcome to lawfully say whatever they want. I'm curious about the origins and the organization. I saw that there was a statement that some of them were paid. I don't think this is a spontaneous demonstration, but I don't know anything about it. We'll have to see how it further develops, but it was odd to hear the President speaking encouragingly about it.

Rest in peace.

Ep 109 The Professional Left Podcast

2012-01-06T12:42:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Don't Anyone Say Newt Gingrich is a "Victim" of Citizens United

2012-01-03T18:26:00.002-06:00

As a billion North Koreans go hysterical.

There aren't a billion North Koreans, they aren't hysterical, and "Any ad which quotes what I said is a falsehood."

By the way, on the unlimited funding of Mitt v. Newt, don't let anyone tell you Newt is a "victim" of Citizens United.

Citizens United is a producer of nearly every video Callista puts out. They PAY her to make "documentaries" like

TOTALLY NOT A PHOTOSHOP.

So if we go back to the original premise for the Newt Gingrich for President campaign, which is to increase the profile and sale-ability of Callista Gingrich books and videos, the media assertion that Newt Gingrich is the "first victim" of the Citizens United decision is total bull. That he can leave the race claiming to be a victim gives him even more of what he wanted, a claim to relevance. The Citizens United decision just seals the deal on politics as a complete racket.

photo h/t Bildungblog, also totally not a photoshop.

Awesome New Year's Resolution!!!

2012-01-01T11:04:00.000-06:00

Awesome Canadian Blogger RossK wrote us this morning:

Happy New Year Blue Gal et al.--

We just received our transnational ProLeftPod Notepad*** in the mail....

Inspired us to make our first New Year's Resolution.

It's what we all have to do, Ross! Thanks very very much.

*** We send notepads as thank yous to those who donate $15.00 or more at one time to the podcast.

A David Brooks Photoshop for Driftglass

2011-12-31T17:51:00.003-06:00

Because as much as I love Charlie Pierce (they are not the same person thanks for asking) "The Husband" gets first dibs. Apparently David Effin Brooks wrote something 800 words long about how neighbors taking care of neighbors is

is part of a communitarian conservative tradition that goes back to thinkers like Russell Kirk and Robert Nisbet. Forty years ago, Kirk led one of the two great poles of conservatism. It existed in creative tension with the other great pole, Milton Friedman’s free-market philosophy.

So tight communities are a form of the good conservatism we (we?) lost sight of in our pursuit of Milton Friedman profit margins. Oooh kay. Still not sure if DG is going to write this one up, but still.... Has Brooks taken a really CLOSE look at the co-stars of his drama?

CLICK FOR LARGER

Hillary for Vice President?

2011-12-30T20:04:00.000-06:00

I call bullshit. This is to remind everyone, particularly middle-aged "independent" women, that Hillary is in Obama's cabinet. Vice-President would be a huge demotion for her. She's seriously changing the world on a daily basis in her current job. Plus, she really likes to travel.

It's not likely she wants to preside over the Senate. I mean, would you?

"Naah."

Ep 108 The Professional Left Podcast

2011-12-30T12:56:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Links for this episode:

Batocchio honors Jon Swift with the Blog Posts of the Year.

Andrew Sullivan searches for "the real bigot" in the GOP.

OMG OMG OMG yer kidding!

2011-12-26T16:09:00.001-06:00

CNN: Newly released documents contradict Gingrich's version of first divorce.

And no, I don't expect anyone reading this blog needs to click on the link. shrug.

Professional Left Podcast Ep 107

2011-12-23T13:37:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

One more Callista Gingrich photoshop

2011-12-22T14:43:00.002-06:00

A Question I Haven't Heard Asked of Newt Gingrich

2011-12-20T19:16:00.002-06:00

His affair with Callista lasted six years; and he also cheated on Wife Number One with Wife Number Two. He was in Congress from 1979 to 1999. Divorced Wife Number One in 1981. You can say the past is past, but Newt Gingrich lied to his own constituents during re-election campaigns regularly.

How many "family values" campaigns did Newt Gingrich run in the Sixth District in Georgia while bopping a mistress?

By my rough count, he lied to his own constituents in that manner during at least four campaigns, possibly as many as six.

If Republicans want to forgive his affairs because he's too old to have one now, oh well. But people who vote for Newt Gingrich are proving they don't mind voting for proven liars one little bit.

I don't think Gingrich supporters want to beat Obama, nor do they have any interest in governing. They want to beat up Obama, with a stick, and Newt is the meanest stick on the stage, the end.

More photos of the global warming snowman cookies

2011-12-19T10:08:00.002-06:00

Directions here. I used something called "Duncan Hines Amazing Glazes", vanilla, instead of royal icing, and the cookies are break-n-bake, two cookies per snowman smooshed together on the cookie sheet.

Response to the queries about Callista's hair....

2011-12-16T17:14:00.000-06:00

responded on Twitter last night, but here it is in living color:

Christopher Hitchens is greeted by Saint Peter

2011-12-16T13:44:00.002-06:00

click for larger to see the look on 'is face, mate.

...who's been waiting for him for a looong time.

Professional Left Podcast Episode 106

2011-12-16T12:29:00.002-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

I can't watch "Meet The Press" anymore. Ever.

2011-12-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

"Reporting Newt's Controversies" is not the same as reporting the truth. I'm too appalled for words.

Oh, here. Thanks Jon Stewart. After the stoopid ad, fast forward to about 3:20.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

My entry in the Perry "Strong" Meme

2011-12-11T23:12:00.002-06:00

Ep 105 The Professional Left Podcast

2011-12-09T12:53:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Link for this episode:

Mika Brezinski asks T. Boone Pickens to be honest about his tax burden.

Ep 104 The Professional Left Podcast

2011-12-02T13:31:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Links for this episode: Driftglass's Twelve Days of Zappadan.

And our audiobook review at the end of the show is this book:

Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

End Welfare for the Rich Except When It Is NOT Welfare.

2011-12-01T18:09:00.001-06:00

A listener to the podcast writes:

Just found you guys two episodes ago. Love it!

I need someone todrive trucks through this.

End welfare for the wealthy by Tom Coburn

I hate this guy, but this seems to make some sense: I agree that we should end these ridiculous tax breaks for thewealthy, but if Coburn says it, I immediately become suspicious.

Short-time listener,

A.B.

Dear A.B.:

Sounds good to slam the rich in every event, right? The razor in the apple of that article is needs-testing unemployment INSURANCE and PENSIONS. Those are items that even millionaires paid for and deserve.

If you're a millionaire and lose your job, you are still entitled to collect on your unemployment insurance, because you paid into it and you have LOST that income due to job loss. That is INSURANCE that you paid for, not welfare.

Newt Gingrich needs to be slapped with that two-by-four as well. Sorry, Newt, it's not welfare to be on unemployment. You are collecting on insurance, just as if you got rear-ended by another car. You pay into unemployment insurance just in case the economy rear-ends your job. You don't have to go work for it, jump through massive hoops (except prove you're looking for work) or feel as if you are a welfare case in order to get it. You paid for insurance. If you make it needs tested, no wealthy individual is going to agree to pay for insurance they are forbidden from collecting if they lose their job.

Also, I like the idea of hitting Newt with a figurative two-by-four, just on principle. But I digress....

Retirement benefits are the same and moreso. It's BS to say that JUST because someone is rich, they shouldn't get the pension they worked for and are entitled to.

This is also Coburn's slippery slope to needs-testing Social Security. Betcha betcha betcha.

Once those basic social safety-nets, (paid for by the recipients!), are taken away from the upper classes, they CEASE to have a constituency that is worth one rat's ass in the Congress. Poor people do not have a lobbyist. And the big reason the New Deal included the upper classes was to make that program an absolute third rail in American Politics, and it has worked.

Thanks for writing! -- BG

More #Zappadan Art for Zappadan 2011

2011-11-30T13:41:00.001-06:00

...Which starts on December 4.

Those are St. Alphonso pancakes and a real poncho, natch. :DAnd a reminder from here in 2009, "Some people say" that the Miracles of Zappadan stuff is a buncha hooey, but I disagree. During the first Zappadan in 2006, John Bolton resigned. Then the year after that, Sandy Underpants went to the registry of motor vehicles during Zappadan and got a new license plate with no lines, no waiting, and free donuts.Expect Miracles.

Is anyone else just completely disgusted at this point?

2011-11-29T22:01:00.001-06:00

Reading RECENT articles about people shopping at WalMart at midnight on the first (which has been going on for years) and at exactly the same time the noon people on MSNBC were talking about NEWT FUCKWAD GINGRICH as if his candidacy is a real thing in the world. I broke down and cried for ten minutes. I have a real hate-love-hate thing with Chris Matthews, but dammit I owe Chris a thank you for saying what needs to be said at least on one day. I still expect Chris Matthews to fail us -- he'll cover this like a horse race no matter how big an asshole the horses are, for RATINGS. Look at how long he rode the Sarah Palin nag. I, too, am very very sad for our Republic.

Ep 103 The Professional Left Podcast - Thanksgiving Letters Episode

2011-11-25T10:04:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

#Zappadan Art for 2011 (or of course, make yer own)

2011-11-24T20:06:00.001-06:00

click image for larger -- also at flickr

A photoshop challenge: Michele Bachmann's "Core of Conviction"

2011-11-21T18:28:00.001-06:00

Yeah, the white background and black lettering make it pretty easy.

Or you could get creative and show how some other GOP personalities might react to it. Mrs. Palin got kinda jealous and stuff:

What have YOU got? Let us know with a link in comments, and thanks.

Photoshop Meme Overload!

2011-11-21T11:51:00.001-06:00

Click image for larger. h/t Paul Hinrichs

Ep 102 The Professional Left Podcast

2011-11-18T13:38:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Links for this episode:

Occupy Cal floats tents over campus.

Verizon Building in NYC gets its own 99%er Bat Signal

David Brooks yearns for that old time religion?

David Gregory's wife is a former Fannie Mae executive?

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again Marlene at ZMac Consulting and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.PS our listener Kevin H. made a podcast after dark video. Hilarious!

Bonus Podcast Content - Driftglass on the Radio

2011-11-15T11:54:00.001-06:00

Enjoy!

A certain blogger gets her artwork on the teevee.

2011-11-13T14:30:00.001-06:00

Thanks very much to @hrmelcher at UP with Chris Hayes for his interest, and to Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for the video. This is tonight's open thread at C&L; a compilation of these photoshops, from me and other 'shoppers, is now at Run Oprah Run!

Ep 101 The Professional Left Podcast

2011-11-11T13:19:00.001-06:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Links for this episode:

Congressman Walsh screams lies about the housing debacle.

Richard Eskow also thinks that America’s Bullshit detector went off.

NY Times: How a Financial Pro Lost His House

A Minor Edit to the Obama "Made in the USA" Mug

2011-11-09T11:00:00.000-06:00

So there's this Obama 2012 "Made in the USA" mug. Not subtle.

It's just missing one detail:

A new photoshop meme? (click all images for larger)

2011-11-05T22:46:00.000-05:00

Remember this meme? Well, there's a new one. Oprah Fire Walking with Tony Robbins. Or you can leave Tony Robbins out. I did the easy, obvious ones...

Ep 100 - The 100th Episode of The Professional Left Podcast

2011-11-04T13:26:00.000-05:00

The Professional Left App is available at the App Store.

Links for this episode:

Newt Gingrich lauded by Wapo!!!

Rachel Maddow on Paul Wolfowicz

The Pentagon double-dipping on weapons

The Perpetual War Portfolio

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Why I love Princess Sparklepony

2011-11-02T22:46:00.001-05:00

Because he analyzes the Fred Harger campaign so very well:

Fred is trying to become the "go-to Republican Gay™" for media appearances, etc. The problem with this, obviously, is that nobody wants or needs a go-to Republican Gay™.

To which I replied:

Well hyuh! If they needed one of THOSE, they could ask Ken Mehlman. Or Mark Foley. Or just call a GOP congressional office and ask the receptionist to put "the new staffer" on the phone.

At least the guy from Log Cabin Republicans doesn't pop his p's.

Today Is My Seventh Blogiversary

2011-11-02T08:52:00.003-05:00

My husband, who most definitely would not be my husband were it not for blogging, reminded me that my blogiversary is today.

When I started podcasting I had to make a decision -- give up writing daily or give my children to some public agency. And yet, my kids consider themselves lucky that this is not a Mommy Blog. And I know they are blessed by my activities -- they compete for mom's attention by seeing who can come up with the best Michele Bachmann joke. The youngest child often wins.

I'm still glad to be here after all these years. Thanks for being here, too.

Happy Birthday to my Husband, Driftglass

2011-10-30T21:19:00.001-05:00

Blogiversary video from a couple years ago....and honey? Thanks for coming to church to hear the girls sing and me read. ( And don't say I never link ya.)I love you. And Andrea can still eat her heart out.

The Professional Left Podcast Ep 99 (Percenter)

2011-10-28T13:24:00.000-05:00

The button above is available in the Cafepress Store.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Open Letter to the GOP Field - Take Bachmann Out.

2011-10-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

Perhaps it's because she's doing so badly and you think you kinda need a woman, any woman, on your stage.

Saying that as she sits on the House Subcommittee on Intelligence and she is very concerned that Hezbollah might install missles or training sites in Cuba (no, really, video is at the link) is just one in a long line of embarrassing and insane statements on her part.

There was another candidate, someone who was doing well in Iowa, back in 1988, who tried to pull the crazy shit switch regarding Cuba. His name was Pat Robertson. He said early in the campaign that the Soviets still had missles in Cuba from back in the Kennedy days.

As an aside, Soviet missles would be Intercontinental Ballistic Nuclear Warheads with a minimum range of Cuba all the way to Bachmann's district in Minnesota. On the other hand, the longest range Hezbollah missles are 45 Km, which, may I remind Congressman Bachmann, is about a 36 minute drive from Walker to Park Rapids, if the weather is nice.

approximate range of Hezbollah missile if placed in Walker, Minnesota

To make a long story short, both Jack Kemp and George H.W. Bush called Pat Robertson on his BS, told him to provide proof of his crazy or shut up, and along with the mainstream media, forced Robertson out of the race in a matter of days. It was the responsible thing to do for country and party. But the party of responsibility is dead now, isn't it?

Mormon much?

2011-10-25T16:03:00.001-05:00

Professional Left Podcast Ep 98

2011-10-21T12:59:00.000-05:00

Links for this episode:

Adventus: “People are Messy”

Herman Cain sold his own campaign 100K worth of books.

Occupy the Boardroom

Charles Pierce at Esquire channels Driftglass

I Am Now Officially the Mother of a Teenager

2011-10-21T12:24:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Junior Dude.

Off topic:

This DIY baby mask thing was designed as a cute way to greet your mother on Mother's Day morning. But my response would be....

Please children, you're creeping me out and making me think of the closing scene of Brazil.

Podcast is rendering. Up in a bit....

In Which The Professional Left Podcast Pulls a Scott Brown

2011-10-18T12:49:00.001-05:00

I'm working on the press release to promote the 100th Episode of The Professional Left Podcast, and I wonder if to save time I could just use the Scott Brown Summer Intern Trick and copy someone else's work. Would any one notice?

THE Internet, somewhere near a cornfield Illinois., Oct 11, 2011 (NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Professional Left Podcast, a pioneer in the development of swearing on i-Tunes known as "podcasting" and now a member of the liberal media cabal, celebrates 100 episodes of operation on November 4, 2011.

"The Professional Left Podcast has played a critical role in the development of many successful commercial, industrial and consumer cuss words early in the 21st Century," said Driftglass, chief executive officer of Professional Left parent company, DGBG Podcast. "The innovative swear words produced by company founders Driftglass and Blue Gal provide an excellent example to all liberal bloggers today."

The Professional Left started out as a small endeavor, producing such precision cuss words as "fucknozzle," "Loesch-lips," and "Brownback." By late 2010, the gearmotor was born when the company mounted a small motor to a miniature speed reducer to provide the display industry with a complete package. Thus the swear word, "You betcha, Palin!" was born.

During World War II, The Professional Left's facilities were, of course, converted to defense production. After the war, the podcast helped develop new automated methods that allowed family farms to be more profane and manufactured cuss words for the vending machine, cup dispensing and pinball industries.

While copying this press release, Blue Gal pointed out to Driftglass that "gearmotor tool," when combined with "fuck" or "dumbass" in myriad combinations, might be implemented by the podcast into any number of names for a GOP Presidential candidate or New York Times columnist.

The Professional Left global podcasting footprint includes Crooks and Liars, Netroots Nation Radio, and Changzhou, China, and they are celebrating their 100th episode with employee events throughout the year.

original here

Another Jobs Bill Email From My Congressman!

2011-10-18T09:43:00.002-05:00

Congressman John Shimkus (R, Coal) poses with

beneficiaries of his "Coal Ash Deregulation Jobs Bill"

Yeah yeah, it's a photoshop. Those kids were digging coal in 1938. Nothing similar between that year and today whatsoever.

And thank the Good Lord I got an email from Mr. Shimkus this morning letting me know that the House of Representatives is on the job, and the subject line of his email, I am not making this up, cut and paste:

5 Bipartisan Jobs Bills Pass the House

You betcha I opened that email. Again, here's a direct, cut and paste quote, emphasis mine:

Last week's passage of legislation to ease the regulatory burdens on the boiler and coal ash industries as well as passage of Free Trade Agreements with Panama, Columbia and South Korea were a major, bipartisan victory for American workers and job creators. I'm exceptionally pleased with all five of these jobs bills and look forward to their speedy passage in the Senate.

I also think Congressman Shimkus is being WAY too modest, not even mentioning all the abortion jobs bills the House is working on.

I guess it's nice for his coal lobbying friends that he got their amendment passed and for now the EPA can't count coal ash as a hazardous waste. I just wonder what kind of House of Representatives travel voucher my kids can get when their jobs bill employment moves them to South Korea.

Update, 9:58 am:

The good news for Michele Bachmann

2011-10-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

Iggy Pop's music will,

at long last,

reveal the full force of his anger.

The Professional Left Podcast Ep 97

2011-10-14T13:59:00.000-05:00

Links for this episode:

Driftglass has a tweet featured on MaddowBlog

Raymond’s resignation from Conservatism on Facebook

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left

2011-10-07T10:48:00.000-05:00

Links for this episode:

Michelle Bachmann’s bad lip reading dub (at Crooks and Liars Open Thread)

Susie Bright on the impact of Steve Jobs

We are the 99 Percent Tumblr blog

The button above is available in the Cafepress Store.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

There, fixed it.

2011-10-02T21:54:00.000-05:00

This image making the rounds at Tumblr Knitting needed a caption:

I'm fortunate -- I've never been so bitter that I would waste knitting time.

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left Ep 95

2011-09-30T12:32:00.000-05:00

Links for this episode:

Frank Rich channels Driftglass.
Paul Krugman channels Driftglass.
Greg Sargent at Wapo channels Driftglass.
Jay Rosen channels Driftglass.
“SPENT” game from Urban Ministries of Durham.
Bachmann warns of Hezbollah missile sites in Cuba.

The button above is available in the Cafepress Store.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

She never shrinks from a challenge....

2011-09-29T23:14:00.002-05:00

Because of this.

And because while it's never okay to make fun of poor people, white trash is always in season.

Please read this out loud for fun. But don't ask me to do any shackling photoshops. I save those for Callista Gingrich:

"Through my process of decision-making with my family and my close friends as to whether I should throw my name in the hat for the GOP nomination for 2012 – Is a title worth it? Does a title shackle a person?" Palin said Tuesday night on the Fox News show "On the Record."

"Someone like me who's a maverick? I do go rogue and I call it like I see it and I don't mind stirring it up in order to get people to think and debate aggressively to find solutions to the problems that our country is facing," Palin continued.

"Somebody like me, is a title and a campaign too shackling? Does that prohibit me from being out there and out of a box, not allowing handlers to shape me and to force my message to be what's going on, or what contributors or political pundits want it to be?" Palin said.

It is clear to me that she thinks of the Presidency of the United States as equal to representing Alaska in the Miss USA pageant.

Tough news.

2011-09-28T14:15:00.001-05:00

Driftglass got laid off this morning. Sigh. He's spending next week at the countryhouse... hopefully we can get his resume out to some outfits down here so ProLeft doesn't have to be long distance any more. In the meantime, the good news is that one percent (1%) of our podcast listeners made a $5.00 or more contribution to the podcast this week. That was our goal (up from point three three percent) and we're very grateful to each of you who threw some scratch in the hat. It makes a difference, not just to our bank account, but to our spirits. Thank you.

Spot the difference.

2011-09-27T09:59:00.002-05:00

To paraphrase Orwell, if you want a vision of the future, imagine a police state terrorizing a woman, forever.

Palin threatens to sue about the cocaine thing and the sex with a black NBA guy thing.

2011-09-27T09:19:00.001-05:00

So if she sues, McGinniss's lawyers get to search her personal records for findings to defend their client.

And she has to prove that he lied.

Also, in keeping with her narcissistic M.O., she threatens to sue all the time.

Very few people have defended McGinniss and his piece o' trash. And frankly, I don't care who Palin screwed (and yeah I don't think the euphemism "slept with" is at all accurate) or even what drugs she took back in the 80's. She's screwing the political process by abusing campaign finance laws with her stupid bus tour, and she's screwing the national political dialogue by pretending she has any qualifications to participate in it. Those issues are relevant. McGinniss's hatchet job is not.

And the lawsuit thing? How about we revisit that after we all stop laughing.

What's stopping us?

2011-09-24T09:37:00.002-05:00

click for larger

Click image for larger; text from here.

Our Weekly Podcast, The Professional Left Ep 94

2011-09-23T13:29:00.000-05:00

Links for this episode:

Scooter Libby ignored at the Tucker Carlson website launch party.
Jerry Brown dealing with a new Republican opposition in California.

The button above is available in the Cafepress Store.

The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

I am NOT Troy Davis. (click image for larger)

2011-09-22T23:48:00.002-05:00

click for larger

Text from here.

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left Ep 93

2011-09-16T11:04:00.001-05:00

Links for this episode:

David Gergen reports "offensive" debate behavior.

Lawrence O'Donnell goes full Driftglass

David Corn on liars at the GOP debates.

The button above is available in the Cafepress Store. The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

The GOP Jobs Bill Comix

2011-09-15T12:37:00.002-05:00

Via Our Future dot org, "Speaker Boehner to propose more tax cuts for the wealthy, call it a "jobs" plan, at 12:30 PM today, reports Politico."

The GOP Debate I'd Like to See....

2011-09-14T09:17:00.001-05:00

With all "due" respect to Wolf Blitzer, I'd like the next GOP debate to be hosted by Bridal Bling Blue Gal (TM) and Kathy Griffin.

BBBG: Welcome to tonight's debate. I'd like to start by picking up an issue from the last debate, the 30 year old uninsured guy in a coma who the tea party audience wants dead.

Kathy Griffin: I take it his last name isn't "Schiavo."

BBBG: Right. What if an uninsured 30-year-old accidentally fell off a bridge when, in an incident no one could have foreseen, the bridge in a Republican district collapsed underneath him because the Republican Congressional Delegation had cut taxes for billionaires so much, that no one could afford to maintain an existing bridge?

Kathy Griffin: I think the Congressional delegation was so busy de-funding Planned Parenthood they didn't notice the bridge was broken.

BBBG: But what if the uninsured 30-year-old's parents were Roman Catholic culture-of-life types and had purchased several hundred copies of Callista Gingrich's Pope Video?

Kathy Griffin: Or what if the guy himself was a dominionist who didn't have money for health insurance because he gave it all to Pray Away The Gay Ministries?

BBBG: Or what if this bridge collapsed AFTER the repeal of Obamacare, and he didn't have insurance because the insurance company cancelled his coverage due to the pre-existing condition of...

Both: THE CRACKED BRIDGE!

BBBG: We'll just have to put an asterisk next to the repeal of Obamacare, so Republican Donor pro-life Catholic Anti-Gay Ministry types won't have to pay.

Kathy Griffin: They never do.

BBBG: We'll be back after the break, when Kathy and I will ask the candidates about balanced budgets and bringing more freedom to Wall Street.

Choreographed by Marcus Bachmann, Costumes by Reince Priebus and Ken Mehlman.

2011-09-12T16:13:00.000-05:00

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left Ep 92

2011-09-09T12:40:00.001-05:00

Note: I get a little emotional in this episode but my husband talks me down. :)

The button above is available in the Cafepress Store. The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

The Happiest Republican Tonight

2011-09-07T20:23:00.002-05:00

Apparently, the "you can't pray at a football game" omgomgomg email is going around again.

2011-09-06T20:19:00.002-05:00

My reply is below, as in, Reply All. And honestly, I don't mind not being on these email lists if people want to take me off. But don't wave this stuff in my email box if you don't want me to reply all, because I have a FIRM POLICY of doing so. This is being forwarded to people from church groups of which I am a part.

It's not illegal to pray at a football game. If the teams playing are at public, taxpayer funded schools, the ruling is that the Principal cannot MAKE students and players say a prayer, or use the public address system to announce prayers to the public school function. Public announcements of religion at these events is Satan's trick to get people to be lazy about their own piety and lack of repentance. Hey, if we're all praying in public, then my own sins are covered. Satan tricks people into thinking if public figures blab about Jesus, we as a nation are all set and don't have to look within at the evil in our own individual thinking. Satan's mission accomplished.

Taking it the other direction, football is such a religion in Alabama that students at the private Baptist institution Samford University can get convocation credit (religious service attendance) for ATTENDING a FOOTBALL GAME. Even if there is a prayer at the beginning, what a joke.

My own sins keep me busy 24/7/365. I'm either doing them or repenting them, and I pray the good outweighs the bad. But I won't be comforted one bit by anyone in a public office, from a school principal to a presidential candidate, giving lip service to Jesus Christ. They can't bring me closer to God than I already am, but they sure can distract me into thinking that by proxy, I don't have to worry about my relationship with my Lord and Creator. Get thee behind me, Satan!

Fran

The Bachmann Button - Photoshop

2011-09-04T13:15:00.002-05:00

Not very original, but someone had to make one, and it fell to me.

Our Weekly Podcast - Episode 91 The Professional Left

2011-09-02T11:47:00.001-05:00

Links for this episode:

Bernie Sanders and Lockheed Martin

US Taxpayers build an unnecessary Iraqi prison.

Daily Kos cartoon on Zip Houses with comment from Blue Gal.

Distribution of Wealth in the US (chart).

The button above is available in the Cafepress Store. The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

Where was Eric Cantor in 2003?

2011-09-01T19:16:00.001-05:00

The totally not gay party strikes again.

2011-08-27T17:15:00.002-05:00

Thanks to a commenter at Reddit. If you get a chance please vote this story up.

Our Weekly Podcast - The Professional Left Ep 90

2011-08-26T13:18:00.001-05:00

The button above is available in the Cafepress Store. The button below allows listeners to throw a contribution specifically towards the podcast. Thanks for your listenership and support! We really appreciate it:

Thanks again to Frank Chow for the graphic and Heather at Crooks and Liars Video Cafe for their help. And don't forget you can listen to our archives for free with no downloads or registration at Professional Left.

"My Supervisor Sends Me Kenyan Usurper E-Mails"

2011-08-26T08:55:00.004-05:00

I received an email from a podcast listener that his daughter gets "Michelle Obama is using my tax dollars to go on vacation" emails forwarded to her from her work supervisor. I replied:Her supervisor is using work time for this crap. In a perfect world, I would start a paper trail. Print it out, type at the top "I wish Blue Gal to use company work time to read this." and have supervisor sign it.That's why I'm unemployable. :D

Blogging for money? Are you kidding me?

2011-08-25T09:41:00.003-05:00

Time to bring back the panties, married lady blogger! :D Here's my comment responding to this article at Feministing, on the unsustainability of blogging and whether it's a "feminine mistake."

It’s not a feminist problem. It’s a generational one. Those of us younger than boomers were taught from the start of our careers that the top rung was already taken. Add to that the culture of free stuff that the internet insists upon, and the only way out is a trust fund or a day job. I’m on food stamps and living off of my kids’ child support. That said, podcasting is one way that participants in the liberal political dialogue seem to be happy to open their pocketbooks. We usually ask for five dollar contributions and occasionally get more at The Professional Left Podcast. But make no mistake, podcasting is really hard work, even once a week. I’ve had to abandon daily blogging to accomplish this, and there is no way I make minimum wage doing the podcast. That said, the community and lively exchange the podcast provides is amazing. But yeah, it does not pay for itself. As your post points out, the other thing our generation seems really bad at is self-marketing. We’re above it, and we really should not be. Have a contest that is ONLY open to those who contribute five bucks. Give away a t-shirt, buttons, etc. I mail out notepads to anyone who gives us over fifteen dollars. Again THAT IS WORK, and also requires leaving my house and laptop to go to the post office. Don’t tell me to take my smart phone with me. I can’t afford one. Thanks for the post and the opportunity to think about this stuff. I would not trade where I am for a corporate boardroom where I had to worry about my politics showing. Blessings.

The other problem, of course, is that boomer feminists with money are investing it in "the next generation," meaning preparing 25 year olds for leadership positions, entirely forgetting that there are women just a few years younger than themselves who are ready to run for Congress next year. I'm glad to see movements like The 2012 project getting it:

The 2012 Project is a national, non-partisan campaign to increase the number of women in legislative office by identifying and engaging accomplished women 45 and older from underrepresented fields and industries. These include finance, science, technology, energy, health, environment, small business and international affairs.

The 2012 Project does not have to be in conflict with the "lets mentor our granddaughters into unpaid DC internships" movement. Or does it?

The Rick Perry Republican National Convention has already been fully choreographed.

2011-08-23T20:53:00.000-05:00

And Dom Deluise from Blazing Saddles is in CHARGE. Take that, Marcus "sounds like steam escaping" Bachmann.

Too Little Too Late, Newt.

2011-08-21T22:12:00.002-05:00

Department of She Oughtta Know: Callista Gingrich explained to her Facebook friends [warning: ~~Republico~~ Politico link] that eating corndogs should be done in private.

But what if it gets you votes?