Norwegianity

2011 in review

Wege — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:13:22 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Click here to see the complete report. – [Preceding courtesy of WordPress] Me: Yes, it’s amazing how things get better after you quit. Accept this in lieu of a New Year’s post as I am working my way up to falling down …

An Immodest Proposal

Wege — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:51:35 +0000

No, I’m not blogging again, but I’m putting up this guest post as a Christmas card for you and yours in this, the Second Age of Newt. On behalf of Prof. Snift, this is dedicated to Amy Koch, Michael Brodkorb, Newt Gingrich and XXXmas lovers everywhere! ——— An Immodest Proposal For creating new economic opportunities …

Remembrance of things posted

Wege — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 00:50:29 +0000

Timeless. Not to mention an apt image with which to shut down this blog. I’ve figured it out now and this is how it works: If I blog, I don’t work on the novel(s), but if I don’t blog but continue to read eight newspapers and several dozen blogs a day, I don’t work on …

O & SS

Wege — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:32:45 +0000

Jon Talton with more reasons to hate Obama: The Robert Rubin wing of the party, of which Mr. Obama is a member, has long wanted to welsh on the government’s obligations to younger workers, including by giving part or all of Social Security to Wall Street. As for the right, they are fervently in favor …

Sistah Souljah by proxy

Wege — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 23:45:26 +0000

Evening blogging sucks as I’m rapidly learning. I see some news in the morning, jot down a few notes and by evening all my notes are old news. Greg Sargent addresses Ray Sandoval’s “firebagger” diss in this Plum Line column. The Obama official, Ray Sandoval, circulated the email just after the debt ceiling deal passed …

Cameron Todd Willingham, RIP (RIck Perry)

Wege — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:14:35 +0000

UPDATE: Matt Taibbi has just ripped the lid off SEC corruption. MUST READ!!!! Is anyone else already sick to death of Rick “I Texecuted a man just to watch him die” Perry? He’s got the kind of sense of humor that would start a bar fight in 99 out of 100 drinking establishments conjoined …

Bachmann-Perry Romney drive

Wege — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:20:30 +0000

Politico’s Roger Simon thinks Ron Paul got shafted by the media’s bizarro coverage of the Iowa Straw Poll. To be sure, I found the media anointing of the first, sixth and seventh place finishers as the big three to be arrogant, but not out of line. The Iowa Straw Poll is a pissing match between …

Evening posts, my novel approach to blogging

Wege — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:37:38 +0000

I have been working on a book this summer, but until I put the blog on standby, I wasn’t making much progress so from now on, Norwegianity posts will upload in the evening, if at all. Paying customers and this book now own my morning hours and this blog will get sloppy seconds/thirds only. This …

Bridgefail buys distant 3rd in Iowa straw poll

Wege — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 00:03:57 +0000

Bachmann wins, Ron Paul a very close second and any Republican who might actually be able to beat Obama came in sixth through tenth. Never before has any American political party been so thoroughly determined to get their ass kicked. Weigel saw this one coming (as did everyone else who was actually there, but kudos …

Inside Scientology, + links

Wege — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:13:15 +0000

Based on a recommendation from the former Mr. Sponge, I’ve been reading Janet Reitman’s Inside Scientology. I did not think it was possible for me to hate this cult more than I already did, but now I do. Scientology sucks up to Louis fucking Farrakhan Scientology held their own members prisoner and treated many of …

Just Darling

Wege — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:57:02 +0000

Disappointing, that’s for sure. The few remaining Milwaukee precincts broke as more for Darling as Pasch, suggesting they were suburban precincts being held back like they tried to do with Waukesha. Too much money spent and not enough to show for it. The state senate will be 17-16 Republican now, but not the lockstep bunch …

Let the counting begin

Wege — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:43:18 +0000

Polls just closed in Wisconsin. Just the recalled Republican seats up today with the two recalled Dems up next Tuesday (buddy Jon voted absentee in one of those races today). TPM has an election scoreboard up and should have some results fairly soon but give the numbers a while to warm up because no one …

The root of all money

Wege — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:54:35 +0000

Weird. I took off about noon and the market was up a couple hundred points, came home and it was down a couple hundred then looked again just now and saw it closed up 430 points. More fun than going to an Indian casino, but it makes me glad I liquidated my portfolio and put …

On Wisconsin

Wege — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:13:39 +0000

ESL editing project scheduled for tomorrow morning, so here’s what I’ve got on the recall elections: Chris Bowers are why the races are close 7 things you should know about the recall elections Jessica King pulls ahead of Randy “I sleep with my staff” Hopper [more] Down to the wire If you live in Wisconsin …

Everything crash

Wege — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:33:56 +0000

Stocks down 243 points 296.99 points 279.92 points in morning trading. [The NYSE has declared Rule 48 in effect (i.e., they're doing everything in their power to stop the selling but gold is already over $1,700 an ounce).] UPDATE: As of 2:23 pm the Dow is down 493 points. The Dow Jones closed 634 points down. This …

If I were the King of Going Postal

Wege — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:46:24 +0000

Tuesday’s looking pretty damned good, but if there’s one thing the Republicans have taught us, it’s that they don’t draw any lines when it comes to winning at any cost. The gang that can’t wait to bring back slavery won’t hesitate to call out the troops if they see a window of “opportunity.” [See Colbert on …

The United States of Crap

Wege — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:34:59 +0000

A cheerless editorial in the NYTimes this morning: The numbers are undeniable. The economy created 117,000 jobs in July, but at comparable points in the recoveries from other severe recessions, the economy was adding about 400,000 jobs a month. Even at that rate, it would be three years before the unemployment rate was down to …

It gets worse

Wege — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:11:32 +0000

I normally shop at Cub but a client gave me a Roundy’s gift card. A world of difference. I’ve never had other customers crowd all around me while I was in line at Cub. Not to intimidate me, but to hit on the guy ahead of me in line who was being checked out. A …

Stuck in the permanent underclass

Wege — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:50:29 +0000

Money. It’s funny how there’s more being made than ever, but less in circulation thanks to all the sticky-fingered skim jobs running the show. Krugman on how Obama and the ‘pugs keep doing it all wrong [more] Personal income at a 13-year low (and 13 years ago average income was distorted by the dot.com billionaires) Al …

512 points is actually pretty funny (if you don’t have any money in the market)

Wege — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:15:00 +0000

I know I shouldn’t, but each time the stock market votes on the debt ceiling, I laugh out loud. Which is rude, but on a personal level very gratifying. More: Yves Smith The Awl has charts ThinkProgress with another chart David Moberg on the debacle of it all David Dayen on Euro fears Gene Lyons …

Bring in the goats (there ought to be goats)

Wege — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:01:54 +0000

And, just like that, all the news is gone. Phtttt! Vanished along with Congress (on vacation), all the important (i.e., rich) people (on vacation), and our future (on permanent hiatus). It’s August, it’s hot and everyone leaves town except, of course, for the rest of us who get to eat that future while the vacationing …

The 5 stages of getting over Obama

Wege — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:49:20 +0000

I don’t really like the news anymore. You may have picked up on that. Most news stories annoy me to no end. Once I blog about them I don’t want to chat about them or even think about them again. Needless to say, if they show up in the news day after day after day, …

Language as a weapon of mass inculcation

Wege — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:13:59 +0000

The former Mr. Sponge talked me into reading Janet Reitman’s Inside Scientology, and this jumped out at me: Walter’s mind was slowly reshaped, though he wouldn’t realize it for many years. Later he’d understand that this as a byproduct of other, less positive effects of Scientology’s auditing processes and especially its particular use of language. …

I like Ike (now probably more than I did then)

Wege — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 01:59:40 +0000

(emailed to me by a reader) I also posted this at Canis Hoopus where the NBA strike is forcing basketball fans to argue about politics. • • • Politics: CNN viewers repulsed by GOoPer extortion over the debt ceiling Rachel Maddow’s new contract Herman Cain defends his Honduran-made campaign t-shirts The latest in Rick Scott …

Is Bradley Dean the biggest fucking villain known to mankind?

Wege — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:22:01 +0000

Answer: No, not even close. In fact, when I’m not actually writing about Bradlee Dean, or reading about him, I never think about him at all. Why would I? He’s a worthless, bigoted, homophobic piece of shit, and the only reason he’s suing Andy Birkey and Rachel Maddow is because they exposed him for what …

Full boil

Wege — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:18:34 +0000

(OK, I’m a tea drinker now and yes, I do brew my tea in an old Mr. Coffee carafe but no, that doesn’t excuse the mixed beverage messages Toles is sending here.) • • • After a long, media-drugged sleep, a nation groggily awakes and wonders why its ass hurts so goddamned bad. Why the …

Obama’s baby

Wege — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:32:39 +0000

Taylor’s got a quote from Tom Brokaw that makes me ashamed to admit I used to like him. Maybe it’s senility, but his going with the “both sides do it” meme screams to me of Tom having had way the fuck too much money for way the fuck too long. More and more I’m thinking …

Compromised

Wege — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:41:27 +0000

If you knew Denny from Cedar Rapids like I do, you’d know him to be an unrepentant punner of longstanding. He recently noticed that we have POTUSes and SCOTUSes, but nothing for Congress. His suggestion? COITUS, Congress Of Idiots, The United States. That works for me but now I’m stuck because I’m trying to figure …

Obama surrenders (over and over and over again)

Wege — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 02:11:41 +0000

I didn’t want to post today until a deal had been cut, but the more I read, the more I was hoping a deal wouldn’t get cut. Frankly, I’ve lost track of how many times Obama surrendered, then waited for the new demands so he could surrender again. But finally, despite all odds and not …

A post marred by gratuitous cursing and excessive alliteration (i.e., more of the usual)

Wege — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 22:09:52 +0000

Orange you glad Speaker Boehnerer decided to dabble in Newtian physics? Physic in the sense of a good laxative, and I think just about everyone’s agreed by now on who needs to be purged from our body politic. Boehnerer needs to go. The party of let’s-change-the-rules when we’re in charge needs to go. Eric Cantor …