An end-of-year wrapup worth your time

For some reason, the end of the year always brings with it, along with the obligatory 'best of" lists (and I'm still mulling over whether to do one), the "Who We Lost" recaps. This year's "Lives They Led" in the New York Times magazine section is more interesting than usual, compiled as it is by Ira Glass and focusing on some people who left us this year of whom many of us had never heard. The Times does this sometimes; there was a lovely remembrane of Steve Gilliard a few years ago -- a surprising inclusion of a blogger in a publication that was back then still clinging to its Gray Lady status. But in reading about the contributions of some of the less-heralded people, these people become part of the collective memory by becoming part of ours. It's actually kind of refreshing. I mean, do we really need yet another remembrance of Steve Jobs?

But some people warrant more than a one-shot remembrance, and one of these is Al Wiesel, a.k.a. Jon Swift, who left us in 2010 at the too-early age of 46 and whose loss is still keenly felt. Two bloggers have taken it upon themselves to assume the mantle of generosity that Al demonstrated towards his fellow bloggren. Skippy coordinates Blogroll Amnesty Day, which is coming up in Februrary, and Batocchio has taken on the Herculean task of compiling the The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves.

Here's what Al/Jon said in 2007 about this project, remarks that perfectly encapsulate his wit and his generosity:

Just as nobody anticipated the levees breaking in New Orleans, according to President Bush, I don't think anybody anticipated the overwhelming response I would get when I asked the members of my very extensive and eclectic blogroll to send me links to their best posts of the year. Not even Condoleeza Rice could have predicted the shock and awe you will feel at the sheer magnitude of the talent out there, of which this is just a small sampling. These posts were not chosen by a panel of experts or TV viewers, but by the bloggers themselves as each blog's best work of 2007. There are posts on politics by liberals, conservatives and moderates, posts on movies, music, television, books, economics, health care, science, sports, religion and history, personal stories and slices of life, poetry, prose, pictures and video. Some are very funny, some are quite serious, some will make you angry and some will make you say "Huh?" Go ahead and click on a link that sounds intriguing or from a blog you haven't read before or check in with an old favorite. You may not agree with what someone has written, but contrary to popular belief, there hasn't been a single documented case of anyone's head exploding from reading a post he or she disagrees with. I certainly don't agree with everything that is linked to here, but I do believe, like a real conservative, in the marketplace of ideas, in letting 1,000 flowers bloom (as Chiang Kai-shek once said), that more discussion is better than less, and every one of these posts is worth reading. So come back anytime and check out what these bloggers have to offer because they all deserve your support. I think this round-up reflects what is best about the blogosphere -- that it gives so many talented people a chance to express themselves and makes it so much easier for the government to know who to arrest first in case of a national emergency.

And here is the 2011 list, in memory of and in honor of the man who started it all, and with thanks to Batocchio for taking on this massive endeavor. Now grab a cup of tea or cocoa and, as Christy Hardin Smith used to say over at FDL, pull up a chair...

Around the Blogroll and Elsewhere: Back to the Same Old S**t Edition

BlueGal: Time Magazine isn't taking any chances that you'll look at what's going on around you and start asking questions. They're telling you flat out that getting screwed over by the oligarchy is GOOD for you.

The New York Crank has a dinnertable discussion with an investment banker on Thansgiving. (Are you starting to get the impression that "Fannie and Freddie" is becoming right-wing code for "uppity ni---rs" the way "Dodd-Frank" is becoming right-wing code for "fa--ots"?)

Bruce Schmiechen on the Too Big To Fail doctrine.

This says about everything there is to say about Thanksgiving (via Elayne)

Sherry ventures into Outer Wingnuttia to see what they're saying about the Infamous Halal Butterball Turkey Fracas.

At The Political Carnival, there's a cool list of referrals for gifts for EVERYONE on your list. (Here at Casa la Brilliant, we succumbed to the Siren Song of Cupertino by taking the bait so we can tentatively dip our toes the Cult of Mac via a Mac Mini. Discounted Apple products? Steve Jobs is already spinning.)

These gals just don't post enough. Margaret and Helen put forth their Thanksgiving Rules.

Lisa Wines takes down No-Bullshit Guys in Politics.

And finally...go visit Monkeyfister for a video that tells it like it is about turkey. (A bit late for Thanksgiving, but if you're one of those people that thinks a turkey dinner should be re-run at Christmas during the Lockup:Raw marathon on MSNBC, it might be useful. As for me, I already have the traditional Christmas ham. Because nothing honors the birth of a Jewish baby like pork products.)

Blogrolling In Our Time

There are a number of reasons why I like to link to my blogroll every now and then. Some of it is sheer laziness, though clicking through and reading often takes more time than writing an actual post. Some of it is killing two birds with one stone -- linking while reading. Part of it is my ongoing participation in the tribute to the late, great Jon Swift, who would blogroll anyone who asked. I'm not quite as nice as he was, but that point brings us to reason #2, which is that linking to other blogs tends to bring in THEIR readers, and this brings in their blogrolls, and so on. Most of the bloggers I've linked to lately either have come in from Paul Krugman's comment section, or else, as today's new entry does, over the transom from a link post. So say hello to The Polygon, whom we just encountered today.

Around the Blogroll and Elsewhere: Catching Up

For those who don't already know, we were part of the over a million people who lost power during last weekend's snowstorm. We were down until Wednesday, so of course my reading (and writing) were severely curtailed. We were comparatively lucky; our new generator at least allowed us to have heat, to let the water in the water heater get warm enough for showers, to run the furnace and fridge much of the time, to make coffee (with the fridge circuit turned off) have a light on in the living room, and charge up the cell phones. Now at the time we had this setup installed, I didn't even think about putting FiOS on the circuits, because I keep forgetting that FiOS phone lasts only eight hours on battery power, so our land line was down and we had no internet, which as you know, makes Jill something something.

So I've been remiss in reading the work of the good people who populate our blogroll, but we can remedy that quickly by posting some links to make it easy for you to read them too.

Ramona's Friday Follies starts with musings on the Fall of the House of Schuller, and runs from there.

There is ongoing fission at the Fukushima nuclear site. Did you hear about it? I didn't.

Karen Garcia on New York's Shrillionaire Mayor. (Editorial Note: Bloomberg's third term is showing that maybe he should have quit while he was ahead.)

I know, he's an easy target, but Susan of Texas takes on Ross Douthat. (Does it make me a bad person that I really, really wanted to refer to him as "Rose Douchebag"?)

If you've suffered serious financial problems (credit card issues, mortgage problems, etc.) and you live in central and northern New Jersey, Matt Taibbi wants to hear from you. Bonus Taibbi: Winning and cheating are not the same thing.

The New York Crank muses on who ratted out Herman Cain.

Tom Degan walks up to the 2012 electoral counter and orders the shit sandwich.

Some laughable Republican Stoopid from Thump and Whip.

And finally, using the LinkedIn network model, we link to This Week in the Slacktiverse over at Slacktivist.

Blogrolling In Our Time

Say hello to Fukushima Diary. Then go read what is going on at Fukushima these days. It's bad, and you'll never hear about it on the news here.

Blogrolling In Our Time

Grab a blueberry scone and say hello to amigoingsomeplace. After all, we old crones gotta stick together.

Around the Blogroll and Elsewhere: Is It Friday Yet? edition

Well, I've already run over Maggie's tail with the chair casters, so today's not off to a great beginning. And to make matters worse, she insists on sitting on the floor in the same place. Life is like that around here sometimes as Maggie heads into her dotage, one that finds me trying, far too belatedly, to correct her incessant yowling before she get senile and it never stops.

So what's going on?

A week without Driftglass skewering David Brooks ls like a week without sunshine. (WARNING: Some seriously disturbing Photochopping to be found at the link.)

Once upon a time, two nice young men had a blog called Pandagon. Ezra Klein may have gone on to Pundit Stardom, but the OTHER original Pandagonist, Jesse Taylor, does a nice job of pointing out how Herman Cain's Say No Three Times in German plan will make people more expensive to employ. Can we say "Job-Killing Tax CUTS" now?

I really, really, really hate to link to anything at HuffPo, but this is a good one (and Amanda Terkel DID used to be with ThinkProgress): Scott Brown may have plagiarized his web site from Elizabeth Dole, but Herman Cain may have lifted his from Sim City. (More on this from Southern Beale.)

Michael J.W. Stickings blogs even earlier than I do, this time on Rush Limbaugh's War On Romney.

Laffy sets the record straight.

CheezWhiz: The Occupy movement need look no further than FDR's 1944 State of the Union address.

Some "Elsewhere" from the You Can't Make This Up file: The son of the late Bo Diddley, who carries his father's name, was arrested last night as part of Occupy Gainesville (FL), in Bo Diddley Park.

Rick Ungar on Congressional Republicans' relentless drive to kill women.

And on that same subject, I'll leave you with Congresswoman Jackie Speier from last night's Rachel Maddow Show, telling it like it is on the Republicans' war on women:

Blogrolling In Our Time

Throw some nice berries on top of that granola and yogurt parfait for Republic of Gilead.

Blogrolling In Our Time: Special THIS is the message edition

This, and only this:

We Are The 99 Percent.

(If you, like me, were born between June 22 and July 21, and your first answer to "How can I help" is always "Feed them!", Liberatos Pizza (yes, by sheer coincidence, that's the place's real name, and the owner's name is really Telly Liberatos) has an online ordering system that you can use to order pizzas to donate to feed the protesters. Just tell them to deliver to anyone at Zucotti Park. They know what to do.)

Around the Blogroll and Elsewhere: State-Sanctioned Murder and Other Reasons to Despair edition

What does one even say about a country that seems perfectly OK with actively ending the life of an in-all-likelihood innocent man; one that professes to be pro-life but will not listen to anything that might change its already-made-up mind?

Oh. Right. The Tea Party drives the agenda these days, I almost forgot.

Tom B at They Gave Us a Republic asks, "How did we beget a generation of people who war for money, cheer at the number of people Rick Perry has condemned to death, shout out that people without insurance should simply be allowed to die, spew racial and religious hatred as if it were mainstream thought, put likely innocent (black) people to death while letting likely guilty (white) people go free or... who would deny their neighbors basic help in times of catastrophe and the myriad other examples of hatefulness, selfishness and greed we see on open display today unless there's something in it for them?"

Driftglass revisits Billy Budd.

Driscoll at Addicting Info on The Party of Death.

While we're being death-centered, how about a look at William Saletan's article about how Rick Perry's End-times "support" for Israel is a big gift wrapped package handed with a smile over to Islamic extremists.

Jess has had it with America.

A-1, first-class We Are Screwed rantin' from DCap.

Blogrolling in our time

Hack off another coupla slabs o'bacon for Greendayman at Salmon Alley.

Around the Blogroll and Elsewhere - special Wussy-Ass Democrats and Shamelessly Racist Republicans edition

Here in the Land that We Wish Irene Had Forgotten, the cleanup continues, with gawkers and scavengers haunting the neighborhoods of those still putting their ruined belongings out by the curb and the usual post-disaster scams cropping up already. Meanwhile, another storm is starting to look like it's gong to have to do a 90-degree turn soon if it's going to miss us, my electrician is I'm sure going to charge a multi-thousand dollar premium to get a wired generator setup in here before she hits, and I'm starting to think all this is Mother Earth shaking us off like a dog with a really bad flea infestation -- our just reward for treating her so shabbily.



Today I was in Springfield, NJ and took a side trip to World of Tile, a place I've gone past many hundreds of times in my life, most of them as a child, returning from a trip out to Route 22 to Harmony House to buy records, and perhaps a side stop at the Dairy Queen for a Buster Bar. World of Tile is out on that stretch of Route 22 in Union County that is now a sea of strip malls and megastores like you see on every other highway in the universe, with a few remnants of my childhood and businesses that advertised on AM rock 'n' roll radio still standing, like the Flagship (which is now a P.C. Richard store) and, yes, World of Tile -- a store I hadn't even thought about until I read about it on Retro Renovation. So the extra black wall tiles that I had hoped to get in case I want to replace the American Standard Ming Green bathrub with a shower pan are $12 each, because they are the original 1950's tile, so it's better to just either leave the tub alone or use the Home Depot tiles. But in one of the "showrooms" in the back, it's a cornucopia of retro bathroom floor tile, even an almost exact duplicate of the hideous green quasi-checkerboard pattern that all 1950's bathrooms have. And they have it in many, many colors, at $12.99 a square foot (though why anyone would want to replace one of these floors with the same thing, I have no idea). I was, however, happy to see that they have white 1" hex tile sheets and also black hex tile so that it's possible to do borders and flowers and other cool things with hex tile, and I will definitely go see them again after we recover from certain Generator Sticker Shock, assuming you can get near the place, because now that it's been linked in the New York Times Style section, this quirky little retro store in Springfield is going to become the hottest thing around.



Anyway, it's Labor Day weekend in a country that has been doing whatever it can go eliminate the protections and benefits that 100 years of organized labor brought us. I'm sure that out in the flyover states, where they worship people like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin and Rick Perry, they're going to fly flags and grill hamburgers and "celebrate" Labor Day and shake the hands of their legislators who are gutting unions in a state of complete cluelessness as to what it really means.



So let's take a trip around the blogroll for some perspectives on some of the fresh horrors that this week in Year Three of the American Racial Freakout saw.



Karen Garcia gives a well-deserved smack to that shandeh far di goyim Eric Cantor.



How does this differ, really, from Obama's allegedly proposed "worker training program"?



If you were hit by Irene, maybe you'll start listening to Kindly Old Uncle Bustednuckles, finally.



Katherine Haenschen at Burnt Orange Report has the top Google searches for Rick Perry.



Cool historical Labor Day stuff at Ramona's Voices.



Driftglass: The Big Jobs Fuck.



You'll never hear about this on your local network news, but Oil is resurfing again not far from the location of the BP Macondo Well.



Gossip or truth? Go read this at Mudflats and decide. I'll tell you this much: whether Sarah Palin runs for president or not, she is definitely going to have a very hard time when the looks start to go -- no matter how much botox or surgery she has. Time bows to no surgeon. We're seeing it already. You could almost feel sorry for her if she wasn't such a bitch.



Helen Philpot, as always, cuts to the chase.



The Perry Platform is the new Shit My Dad Says.



And now I'm going to go pay some bills and wonder if I'll be able to get fresh corn tomorrow. After all, what's the point of making a quinoa salad with summer vegetables if I have to use frozen roasted corn from Trader Joe's?

Around the blogroll and elsewhere: Fox, henhouse, etc.

If you read one thing today, makie it Matt Taibbi's blistering expos&eactue; on how the SEC has been covering up Wall Street crimes for over a decade.



Al Franken hasn't forgotten where he came from.



Can Bustednuckles remain the Ornery Bastard we all know and love after he's quit smoking and drinking and made an honest woman of Nasty Girl? Inquiring minds want to know.



Driftglass takes a stroll down memory lane and reveals the true origins of the Tea Party.



In The Book of Mormon, Andrew Rannells as a Mormon missionary in a crisis of faith sings of believing that God's plan includes him getting his own planet. Ebay co-founder Peter Thiel doesn't go quite that far; he just wants to found his own libertarian country. And Roy Edroso has some things to say about that.



Digby points out the obvious -- that if you're looking for Democrats to protect the social safety net, guess again.



Evita Mooselini didn't succeed in taking attention away from that other girl that the captain of the high school football team has been eyeing, so she's taken her dollies and dishes and gone home.



OK, now I'm sorry I linked to Politico.



Lynn explains Michele Bachmann.



Arthur Silber on the riots in England.



DCap is making movies again.



I need another life-killing project to put me on 80 hour weeks again so jurassicpork starts posting here again. Meanwhile, he puts it all together over at his place. Don't tune him out just because he "goes there." He's not Alex Jones.



But just because I'm working a normal workweek now doesn't mean I don't have to show up. So it's time for me to get ready to hit the salt mines. Talk to y'all later.

More Blogrolling In Our Time: The Heretik Returns

At Man, Are We Screwed.

Blogrolling In Our Time: It was just my im-aggregation

If you, like me, threw in the towel on Huffington Post when Arianna Huffington pocketed a cool $40 million and started palling around with journalistic terrorist Andrew Breitbart, you might have felt a lack of a good news aggregator in your life. The always-reliable Buzzflash is still around, though it seems to have lost something since the sale to Truthout. Hoffmania threw in the towel on blogging a long time ago, and is now just a blog aggregator, but he pretty much just links to the usual suspects.

Recently I've been prowling the comments section of Paul Krugman's NYT blog, from whence most of our most recent blogrollees have come, and in the spirit of poaching Krugman's readers, combined with the fact that since "blog" is kind of a loose term, let's add Reality Chex to the mix, shall we?

Friday Big Blue Smurf Blogging: What They Said

I've alluded multiple times to this pathological need Barack Obama seems to have to try to ingratiate himself with those who despise him, but today's honoree Nicole Belle nails this fatal character flaw of his perfectly.

Money quote:

It is not farfetched to believe that Barack Obama has spent pretty much his entire 50 years trying to make people who find him fearful comfortable. Even his white grandmother admitted to being nervous if an African American male approached her, an attitude that could not help but affect him in his impressionable years. Add to that someone who appears constitutionally conflict-averse (his pre-politician career as a community organizer was to get people to work together, not fight it out), and you have the makings of a person ill-suited for the divisive environment of Washington and the full-contact political battles that have to be fought.

And we've seen that tendency manifest itself as a politician who is always willing to bend over backwards to those who will not trust him, whether from their own innate racism or from their own personal agenda. There's no question that racism plays a much greater role than liberal white America may have wanted to acknowledge, although our minority friends and colleagues would probably say "duh!". One little moment of expressed irritation will give rise to literally hundreds of thousands of reports in the media and right wing blogs/publications/foundations of the angry black man. So rather than play to those disposed to give him the benefit of the doubt, Obama rather tries to win over those who will never do so.

Do you know what I want in a president? I want for once someone who's worked on his childhood issues in a therapist's office instead of feeling he has to do it on a national stage.

Around the Blogroll and Elsewhere: Special What Democratic Party? Edition

If you haven't bookmarked Krugman's blog, it's time.

Sorry Tom, it's over.

The New York Crank has some good suggestions on what to cut first.

Bruce Schmiechen: Centrism in extremis: how serious people" handed the hostage-takers their weapons.

What Bustednuckles said.

Chris Floyd: If the Republic Had Not Died A Long Time Ago, This Would Indeed Be the Death of the Republic

DCap is about as dispirited as I am.

At least there's SOMETHING to celebrate: Margaret and Helen are back. And Batocchio celebrated his 6th Blogiversary this weekend.

While we're on the subject, happy 7th blogiversary to me. I completely forgot. I seem to do that a lot lately with birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Being sold out by the very people you put into office and working nonstop and then having to worry about your project deadlines while you're supposed to be on vacation will do that.

Blogrolling In Our Time

It seems like a good time to add Disaffected and it Feels So Good to the blogroll.

Wednesday Big Blue Smurf Blogging: What They Said

Today's honoree, who should have been on my most recent Around the Blogroll feature, is Driftglass, who scarily channels the late Mr. Gilliard (whose voice and wisdom I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I miss every damn day that we live in this nightmare that is America in the 21st century) with Only Nixon Can Go To Nixonland.

Money quote:

...it is long past time for that to change, which is why the Center must be destroyed: must be reduce to an economically uninhabitable no-man's land where it is no longer possible for the "Both Sides Do It" liars to ply their lucrative trade.

It is time for a new Pledge; a beneficent mirror-image of Grover Norquist's odious "Americas for Tax Reform" Party of God loyalty oath. A pledge where the signer promises they will not book guests on their radio or teevee show who are liars. Not link to websites that feature liars except to excoriate them. Will not buy from, advertise on or patronize media that hires and promotes liars. That they will not reference lying Centerists at all except to mete out to them the scorn they deserve.

Blogrolling in our time

Hack off another slice of that fantastic bread that we got at the farmer's market last weekend, dip it in some of that vanilla-tinged egg, and make a piece of French Toast for Wifely Person, who we found over in the New York Times comment section.