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From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Netroots Nation Auction Gathers Stuff, Gathers Steam
Next Wednesday, Netroots Nation Development Director Karen Kolber will open a briefcase handcuffed to her wrist in an undisclosed location, push the red button, and launch the annual Netroots Nation Fall Auction which will run through Tuesday the 25th.
Items in this year's auction will include a signed copy of The Green Collar Economy by 2012 NN keynoter Van Jones, Goldri's world-famous Gooey Butter Bars, a front-row table at Netroots Nation 2013 in host city DoYouKnowTheWayTo, a Keith Olbermann talking---okay, bellowing---bobblehead, political collectibles, art, jewelry and, hopefully, something donated by you!
Netroots Nation
wants YOU!
To donate an auction item: make a note (a notepad works great for this purpose) to rifle through your stuff and find things that'll make people go "Oooh!" and/or "Ahhh!" but preferably not "Gaahhh!" (Do
not go through other people's stuff unless you're absolutely sure you won’t get caught, especially if you're taking conspicuous items like blimps or one of Mitt Romney's mansions. We can't emphasize this enough.) Think political memorabilia, books, clothing, pink flamingos, jewelry, trips, services (must be legal in at least a handful of states), games, electronics, small islands, etc.
Then click on this link to easily upload details about your donation. You'll be asked to provide information and, if you have them, pics. Netroots Nation will contact you once they've reviewed your items.
If you'd prefer to have Netroots Nation do it for you, or if you have any questions, just e-mail Karen Kolber at: Karen [at] netrootsnation.org. Then, when the auction starts, let your friends know via Twitter, Facebook, text, email, odd grunting sounds that only they can understand, and/or banners pulled by migrating geese.
All the proceeds allow Netroots Nation to bring you top-notch programming at the annual national convention---only 280 days away---and regional conferences as well as the well-received New Media Mentors program.
Thanks for lending a hand. Which reminds me: please, no body parts.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, September 13, 2012
Note: This month the 13th falls on a Thursday. Lucky you.
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By the Numbers:
Days `til Atlantic hurricane season ends: 78
Days 'til the Dallas, Texas Pride Parade: 3
Percent of all ballots cast in 2004 and 2008, respectively, that were cast early: 20%, 30%
(Source: MSNBC)
Amount that ex-banker Bradley Birkenfeld got from the IRS for blowing the whistle on overseas tax cheats: $104 million
Fine that Swiss bank UBS AG paid as a result of Birkenfeld's actions: $780 million
(Source: AP)
Cost of an Andy Warhol Campbell's Tomato Soup can print in 1962: $100
Price of the same print today: $9 million
(Source: Fast Company)
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
[See "Just One More…" below for today's Molly.]
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Gives new meaning to the phrase reconstruct the defect by means of a plate and a scaffolding that contains bone morphogenetic protein, amiright?
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CHEERS to not-so-little ups and downs. The ups include poll numbers that show President Obama holding healthy state-by-state leads over (romney), higher numbered of Americans with health insurance, and happy days for the stock market. The downs include slightly lower poverty numbers versus previous years, and a certain tax hike that is literally saving lives:
What a waste of a perfectly
good pair of lips
President Obama signed the tax hike---the biggest to take effect in his first term ---on his 16th day in office, reversing two vetoes by President Bush. The federal cigarette tax jumped from 39 cents to $1.01 per pack on April 1, 2009, to finance expanded health care for children. Since then, the change has brought in more than $30 billion in new revenue, tax records show.
Result: The tax hike has helped restart a long-term decline in smoking that had stalled in recent years. About 3 million fewer people smoked last year than in 2009, despite a larger population, according to surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. … Teen smoking immediately fell 10% to 13% when the tax hike took effect, says researcher Jidong Huang of the University of Chicago at Illinois.
Holy shit! If only that worked with teabaggery.
JEERS to hell on earth, Part 1. Boy, is there plenty of stupid to go around this week. The idiots who produced and promoted that stupid anti-Muslim video…the idiots who believe that their prophet's fee-fees are so tender that he can't handle a little mockery (Jesus takes it all in stride, why can't your guy?)…the idiots who went berserk and killed members of our diplomatic corps…the idiot Republican candidate on the sidelines who made stupid public statements that directly interfered with the White House response...the idiots in the GOP who supported that idiot candidate's idiotic statements... My god, if stupid was money we'd solve the debt crisis in an instant. And guess what? There's more stupid to come, you just know there is. Oh, and thanks for dredging up memories of a similar event that happened a few decades back. But one Iran was enough, if you please.
JEERS to hell on earth, Part 2. Says here that the U.S. just experienced its third-hottest summer on record (and, as usual the harder Rick Perry prayed for it to end, the longer it lasted). But that's nothing compared to what happened on September 13, 1922, when the mercury hit 136 degrees in Al Azizia, Libya. It remains the highest recorded temperature on earth. If, of course, you don’t count the heat under Mitt Romney's ass yesterday. (Saved by the fire-proof underwear---barely.)
CHEERS to the Fabulous Five! Just pure unadulterated good news story: the Kennedy Center Honorees were announced yesterday:
Said Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein: "Buddy Guy is a titan of the blues and has been a tremendous influence on virtually everyone who has picked up an electric guitar in the last half century; Dustin Hoffman's unyielding commitment to the wide variety of roles he plays has made him one of the most versatile and iconoclastic actors of this or any other generation; David Letterman is one of the most influential personalities in the history of television, entertaining an entire generation of late-night viewers with his unconventional wit and charm; Natalia Makarova's profound artistry has ignited the stages of the world's greatest ballet companies and continues to pass the torch to the next generation of dancers; and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant transformed the sound of rock and roll with their lyricism and innovative song structures, infusing blues into the sound of rock and roll and laying the foundation for countless rock bands."
Sorry, Chuck Norris, Kirk Cameron and Victoria Jackson. Maybe next year.
CHEERS to something new for E.T. to phone home with. The iPhone 5 came out yesterday, and apparently it's the shiznit because…
Instructions included
It’s the thinnest and lightest iPhone, at 7.6mm thin, and 112 grams. Schiller said those measurements make it the world’s thinnest smartphone. The iPhone 5 is also volumetrically smaller than the iPhone 4S. … New in the iPhone 5’s camera arsenal is Panorama. You hold the iPhone vertically and sweep your scene; the app tells you at what speed to move. “Even if you’re not perfectly stable,” or if movement artifacts are introduced, Schiller said, the software can compensate in the final image.
Plus a whole bunch of other features that'll give people something to play with while they start waiting in line for the iPhone 6. (Version 5 is sooooo yesterday.)
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Five years ago in C&J: September 13, 2007
CHEERS to Double Ds in Dixie. In about an hour, Virginia's Mark Warner will send out an email giving his supporters a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to running for the U.S. Senate in the hopes of succeeding John "For The Millionth Time We're NOT Related" Warner. If he runs and wins, then both of the state's Senate seats will be occupied by Democratic buttcheeks. I love warm and fuzzy visuals, don’t you?
CHEERS to TV repairers. They'll be busy tomorrow morning, since Bush is giving another bullshit address tonight (make sure all your loose bricks are safely stowed in a locked room). The Clifs Notes version of what he'll say: "Patience...Petraeus...making progress...Petraeus...al Qaeda clone factories...Petraeus...can't surrender now...Petraeus...stop playing politics...Petraeus..." And about five thousand "blah blah blahs." I think I'll pass and catch up on my TiVOs of Knight Rider.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the last Texas governor who had more than two brain cells to rub together. Why does it always seems like the heroes among us die more often than the jerks? Former Texas governor Ann Richards---whose reelection campaign was thwarted by Karl Rove's smear tactics ("I'm not saying she's a lesbian, but…")---died on September 13, 2006 at age 73. She mulled her epitaph back in '95:
"I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone,'"
As her headstone shows,
she got her wish. Molly Ivins and Richards became close friends, and you can read
Molly's tribute here. A snip:
We hope the Guv is haulin' ass
on the open road in the hereafter.
She was so generous with her responses to other people. If you told Ann Richards something really funny, she wouldn't just smile or laugh, she would stop and break up completely. She taught us all so much---she was a great campfire cook. Her wit was a constant delight. One night on the river on a canoe trip, while we all listened to the next rapid, which sounded like certain death, Ann drawled, "It sounds like every whore in El Paso just flushed her john." […]
Ann got handed a stinking mess: Damn near every state function was under court order. The prisons were so crowded, dangerous convicts were being let loose. She had a long, grinding four years and wound up fixing all of it. She always said you could get a lot done in politics if you didn't need to take credit.
We need more Ann Richardses down here on the third muckball from the sun.
Lots more.
Have a great Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
“Rogues and strumpets do not nightly traverse the deserted highways of Cheers and Jeers.”
---Patterson v. Barlow
1869
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