From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Only 3 weeks 'til Netroots Nation
With the Netroots Nation convention only 21 days away, we hope your to-do list (get haircut…pull tuxedo tank-top from bottom of laundry pile…bribe Adam B for pub quiz questions…find out way to San Jose) is getting pared down. Here's your weekly update on the big event:
• And the opening night keynoter is…
Greetings! I'm Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley. If you've been to Netroots Nation before, we've likely met. If you haven't been before, I hope you'll join me in San Jose, where I'll be kicking off Netroots Nation as keynote speaker for the opening program on Thursday night. I first attended Netroots Nation in 2008 as a candidate for Senate and I knew immediately that I was among friends and allies. Since that first visit as a candidate, I've been back to Netroots Nation twice as a Senator. Netroots Nation is an amazing gathering of the people who help give me a louder voice in the Senate.
If one of you could please remind Senator Merkley at the convention that Oregon is
way past due on paying its rental fees for borrowing the name Portland, we Mainers sure would appreciate it. The current balance is…[
clackity clackity clack]…two trillion dollars.
• The Netroots for the Troops blogathon is nearly 80 percent of the way to our goal of $15,000. That money will go toward the supplies needed to pack 100-150 care packages for our troops in forward outposts in Afghanistan who really really really appreciate getting them. Please help us make it over the top by clicking here and going to the NFTT donation page. Packing day is Saturday, June 22 at Netroots Nation. If you're going, make a note to come assemble a box or two---it's a very cool experience.
• Yes, Virginia, there is a C&J dinner. Michael and I won’t be at Netroots Nation this year, but Navajo has graciously taken up our slacker slack and is coordinating this year's traditional C&J dinner---Wednesday, June 19---and combining it with the SFKossacks and New Day folks:
TIME: 5:30 PM
LOCATION: The Brit (Britannia Arms), 173 W. Santa Clara St. (walking distance from Conv. Center)
RSVP to Navajo via kosmail.
Navajo also has additional NN13 news and information in her
New Day posts, so check 'em and rec 'em.
• NN13 wants YOU…to volunteer! From Linda Lee:
We still have a few slots we need to fill. They are 1) Set-up, 2) Registration Bag Stuffing, 3) Registration, 4) Staffing the Netroots Nation booth and 5) tech savvy folks to help with the livestream video. We have shifts of about 3-4 hours on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you're interested, email: volunteers [at] netrootsnation.org.
• Have you seen the list of panels and sessions yet? You can
check 'em out here. Please note that the time and place of the panel called
Stealth Tactics: How to Infiltrate Rival Campaigns Without Being Seen or Heard has a new location and time. It's taking place five feet away from you right now.
• Important hotel availability update:
The Marriott and Hilton are basically sold out of Netroots Nation rooms. However, until May 30 [TODAY!], anyone who cancels a room at the Marriott or Hilton in the NN block will open up a spot for another attendee to get the group rate. So we advise calling the Hilton and Marriott directly (rather than online) to see if anyone has dropped any of their rooms. And, please, if you’re holding more than one room or likely to cancel so you can share with someone who already has a reservation, cancel it sooner rather than later, so other can have access to it before the cutoff date of May 30 [TODAY!].
• To register for the convention,
click here.
• Follow NN13 on Twitter here and on Facebook here.
Meanwhile, Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, May 30, 2013
Note: We'd like to thank the Pope for suggesting that atheists can still get into heaven when they die. In return, atheists would like to suggest that popes can still get into nowhere when they die. There will be a group hug at noon. --Mgt.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Labor Day: 95
Days 'til the Gettysburg Festival: 9
Rise in durable goods orders in April: 3.3%
(Source: Commerce Dept.)
Years since the last Xbox system was introduced (Microsoft released new Xbox One last week): 8
Year by which New England employment is expected to return to pre-recession levels: 2015
(Source: New England Economic Partnership)
The last year that Kentucky's coal-sector employment was as low as it is today (13,109): 1950
(Source: USA Today)
Today's expected high in Portland, Maine: 85
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
Look, all of law is a process of drawing lines on slippery slopes. The difference between misdemeanor theft and felony theft is one penny. The difference between misdemeanor and felony drug possession is one gram. For that matter, the difference between a pig and a hog is one pound. We're always drawing distinctions, and it is necessary to do so---hunting rifles, OK; .50 caliber rifles, don't be a fool.
---May, 2005
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Puppy Pic of the Day: A petition is going around to let Ray Charles drop the puck at a Bruins game. I support the effort, but only if the puck is made from Alpo beef and liver chunks.
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CHEERS to Michele Bachmann Theatre. A future Tony-winning play in two acts:
I wonder if Streep is available.
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ACT ONE
Michele Bachmann stands center stage in front of a bank of microphones. Her eyes are googly. It is noon.
Bachmann: You have a choice, America! Either Barack Obama goes, or I go!
Curtain
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[Intermission]
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ACT TWO
Michele Bachmann stands in front of an American flag in her basement. Her eyes are still googly, only now you can see in them the reflection of her husband Marcus watching a gladiator movie on TV. It is midnight.
Bachmann: I'm going.
Curtain
Harvey Fierstein, eat yer heart out.
CHEERS to Sunday morning fodder served up cold. I don’t know how or why, but Politico is considered sacred catnip for those living inside the D.C. beltway bubble. So it was fun yesterday to watch tongues a' waggin' over the PolitiFact (another beltway orgasm producer) study showing that Republicans have a sociopathic addiction to lying. Or as Republicans call it: the study showing that Democrats have a sociopathic addiction to lying.
"Okay, I'm going to turn around and
count to three. When I turn back
around, that head better be back on
that man's body!" ---President Harding
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CHEERS to Ol' Marble Butt. On May 30, 1922---eight years after construction began---the
Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington, and immediately classed up the joint by 800 percent:
Lincoln's statue was sculpted by Daniel Chester French (1850-1931); plaster casts of Lincoln's hands and face were used to make the statue.
The statue is over 3 times actual size; if the statue could stand up, it would be 28 feet tall. The murals were done by Jules Guerin. The 36 Doric columns represent the 36 states of the Union at the time of President Lincoln's death in 1865.
You can go all panoramic at the
National Park Service site. Honest Abe weighs an astonishing 120 tons. It'd be a lot less if you tourists would quit feeding him chili dogs.
JEERS to turbulent times ahead. Enjoy the next 40 hours, all you gulf- and east-coasters. Hurricane season starts Saturday and the NOAA's forecast ain't pretty:
Prepare yourself for hurricane season
by repeating "Holy shit! Look at that!"
over and over and over....
For the six-month hurricane season, which begins June 1, NOAA’s Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook says there is a 70 percent likelihood of 13 to 20 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 7 to 11 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 3 to 6 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of 111 mph or higher).
These ranges are well above the seasonal average of 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.
As a refresher, here are the names associated with the Hurricane Class of 2013 in an easy-to-remember format: Andrea Mitchell, Barry Obama, Chantal Don't Play Dat, Dorian Gray, Erin go Brah, Fernand O'Lamas, Gabrielle Giffords, Humberto el Magnifico, Ingrid Bergman, Jerry Seinfeld, Karen Valentine, Lorenzo's Oil, Melissa Etheridge, Nestor Torres, Olga the Crusty Old Swiss Widow Who We Find Out Really Has A Heart of Gold, Pablo from
Napoleon Dynamite, Rebekah the Criminal Who Used To Work For Rupert Murdoch But She Got Fired, Sebastien the Crab, Tanya Tucker and/or Roberts, Van Wilder, and Wendy's Chili. Hey…you're welcome.
CHEERS to fresh ink. On this date in 1783, the Pennsylvania Evening Post was first published by Benjamin Towne in Philadelphia, PA as the first daily paper in the U.S. Coincidentally, it's also the 230th anniversary of the first "hint" from Heloise. (To this day we still rely on sprigs of lavender to deodorize ye olde chamberpot.)
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Five years ago in C&J: May 30, 2008
JEERS to John McCain: Worst Savior Evuh. Georgia GOP chair Sue Everhart recently compared John McCain to---ready to lose your appetite?---Jesus Christ. The Rude Pundit notes ten other ways that JM is the JC of our time. Among them:
"Go forth, my child, and bomb
bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran."
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1. Jesus Christ was born in a manger surrounded by livestock and wandering kings. John McCain was born the son of a navy officer with medical benefits that would last his entire life.
3. Jesus Christ told fishermen to cast their nets into the water, and they ended up catching over 150 fish. John McCain had workers build a lake in his backyard so he could fish in private.
4. Jesus Christ believed that the meek shall inherit the earth and that it's easier to squeeze a camel through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to get into heaven. John McCain wants tax cuts for wealthy Americans to be made permanent.
6. Jesus Christ turned water into wine so that a wedding would be a way better party. John McCain left his first wife, while she was receiving treatment after a bad car accident, and their three kids in order to marry his younger, richer mistress.
9. Jesus Christ got angry at the temple and overturned the tables of the moneychangers there. John McCain got angry when his wife mentioned that his hair was thinning and called her a "cunt."
If he wins the election in five months, the first words out of my mouth will be: "Got Rapture Insurance?"
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And just one more…
At last year's pride parade in Portland.
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CHEERS to two decades of pure domestic bliss (minus the wanting-to-rip-each-other's-throats-out parts). On May 30, 1993, my partner Michael---aka Common Sense Mainer here at DKos---and I ended up as Euchre (a midwest card game) partners at the local gay bar called
Bambi's in Saginaw, Michigan. Then a bunch of stuff happened and yadda yadda yadda (don’t get me wrong, I mean the
good kind of yadda) and long story short here we are on May 30, 2013 in Portland Maine, still together and speaking to each other on our centwentyal anniversary. Our gift-giving was a bit problematic this morning, though. Michael sold his pocket watch to buy me hair brushes, and I sold my hair so I could buy him a watch fob. Twentieth fucking year in a row that's happened. I swear, next year he's getting Yahtzee.
Enjoy your Thursday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Iktsuarpok (Inuit): You know that feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for Cheers and Jeers to show up at Daily Kos and you keep hitting F5 to see if it's there yet? This is the word for it.
---Mental_Floss
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