Sunday Random 10

It's Sunday again! We don't have a question again! (Well, we've got one but not enough time to write it up.)

Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

The Beatles - This Boy
Nick Lowe - Man That I've Become
The Beatles - Roll Over Beethoven
The Beatles - What Goes On
Dusty Springfield - Stay Awhile
Girlyman - Joyful Sign
The Cure - Friday I'm in Love
The Rascals - I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore
Gear Daddies - Party Stomp
The Rascals - Love is a Beautiful Thing

3404 songs and we get three tunes from the Liverpool lads and a couple from Felix and the boys, but we aren't complaining.

Hey, number 11 just popped up the live version on Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home", so here's a This Week's Discussion Question for ya:

Why wasn't "Get Out of This House" a monster hit?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Couldn't people just buy Shawn Colvin records and we could forget about finding another American Idol?"

Discuss.

Sunday Random 10

It's Sunday! Let's...hit...shuffle!!!

Todd Rundgren - You Cried Wolf
Crowded House - Private Universe
Stevie Wonder - Jesus Children of America
Rhett Miller - Haphazardly
Patty Griffin - Go Now
Wilco - Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again)
Marshall Crenshaw - Little Wild One (No. 5)
Dusty Springfield - Just a Little Lovin'
Jonathan Rundman - Sick of Eric Blues
Mark Mallman - The Fool on the Hill

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

That Toddlin' Town - 08 & 09-01-10

When in Rome, or Chicago...

08-01-10
1. Interstate highways between Columbia Heights and Chicago were way, way, WAY clearer than anticipated. Major props to DOT workers in all three states.
2. Pretzel buns on the burgers at Charlie's Ale House on Clark.
3. Discussing atonement theology on the El.
4. Finding Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren on vinyl at the Reckless Records outpost in the Loop! Also, EW&F on vinyl and Ivy, Kristina Train, XTC, and Beatles Anthologies 2 & 3 on CD.
5. A subdued hootenanny at Casa Oscar Romero.

09-01-10
1. Ann Sather cinnamon rolls.
2. Ann Sather cinnamon rolls.
3. Ann Sather cinnamon rolls.
4. Ann Sather cinnamon rolls.
5. Ann Sather cinnamon rolls.

Oops...

1. Ann Sather cinnamon rolls.
2. Leftover breakfast bruschetta at a beautiful rest stop near the Dells. (Complimented one of the workers on how great it'll look when it's done.)
3. See "Interstate Highways, Clear", above.
4. Turned off the Wild/Blackhawks tilt in disgust when the Hawks were up 4-1 and appeared to be simply toying with the locals. Later, down in the young man's place, he flipped the game on as the foghorn went off to signal the tying goal with about a minute and a half left in regulation. Watched the Wild steal a win in an eight round shootout.
5. Bed & pajamas.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Sunday Random 10

Happy New Year, faithful blogreaders! (Remember blogs? Back before Facebook?)

Let's see what the little green nano shuffled up this week:

Son Volt - When the Wheels Don't Move
Miles Davis - Freddie Freeloader
The Avett Brothers - Tin Man
Joe Henry - Stations
Jonathan Rundman - Gospel Verses
Jonathan Rundman - Second Language
7 Worlds Collide (John Stirratt, vocal)- Over and Done
Dana Thompson - Golden Nightlight Lullaby
Joshua James - Coal War
Marshall Crenshaw - Our Town

There were really 11 tracks this week because after the Son Volt tune, it ironically pulled up a track with Garrison Keillor chatting with his former Uncle Tupelo bandmate Jeff Tweedy of Wilco on A Prairie Home Companion on 10/03/2009.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Sunday Random 10

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Here are the ten the Nano shuffled up this week:

Van Morrison - I'm Confessin'
Nick Lowe - 14 Days
U2 - Get on Your Boots
Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over
Gear Daddies - Drank So Much (Live)
Nick Lowe - Indian Queens
Wilco - Comment (If All Men Are Truly Brothers) (Live)
The Hold Steady - Citrus (Live)
Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground
Van Morrison - Warm Love

New and old bookends from Van the Man, a pair of later Nick Lowe tunes, some fresh U2, one of the best songs of the 70s and what mightbe the best song from the 80s.

See you next year!

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

I bought a crap detector...

Had Meet the Press ("THE Place to Go to Get Your Message Out!") on this morning and as GOP shill Ed Gillespie opened his yap, the teevee started buzzing, Ed lips moved silently, and a green bar appeared at the top of the screen, scrolling white text and we thought we had been gifted with This Week's Discussion Question:

Hey, when did they implement the Early BS Warning System?!?!

Unfortunately, it was just a test of the Emergency Broadcast Warning System, so we'll have to go with the alternate question:

How great would an Early BS Warning System be?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Heh. Fox News Channel would only need to broadcast an audio signal for the commercials," or "Not that Glenn Beck has any advertisers left, mind you."

Discuss.

Sunday Random 10

It's Sunday again, so Let's...Hit...Shuffle!

Bob Dylan & The Band - Million Dollar Bash
Jonathan Rundman - Out Behind the Old Hotel
Todd Rundgren - I Went to the Mirror
Old 97's - Designs on You (live)
Jonathan Rundman - Every Town's the Same (live)
The Pogues - The Battle March Medley
Fountains of Wayne - The Senator's Daughter
This Train - A Million Years
Jonathan Rundman - Ambassadors
Los Straitjackets - Christmas Weekend

Couple of nice Christmas tunes in there. One's obvious, one not at all but it's one of our favorite Christmas songs. Plus, there are two, maybe three tracks from our list of Desert Island Albums.

Merry Christmas, faithful readers.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Sunday Random 10

It's Sunday again, so Let's... Hit... Shuffle!:

The Beatles - You're Gonna Lose That Girl
Fairground Attraction - A Smile in a Whisper
Son Volt - Atmosphere
Elvis Costello and the Attractions - I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down
Aretha Franklin - Respect
Them - Gloria
The Suburbs - Monster Man (R.I.P. Bruce C. Allen)
Over the Rhine - Goodbye Charles
The Coasters - Bad Blood
Old 97's - The Other Shoe

Wow. Very, very cool mix today. As a bonus, we've linked to a great post on the craft of a Help! "throwaway" song and an obit for the 'Burbs guitarist who passed this week (he also designed the cover of this).

Also, the Over the Rhine track is from Snow Angels, their terrific Christmas album from a couple of years back, and if you shuffled that tune in with the rest of Vince Guaraldi's classic A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, not many people would notice.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Sunday Random 10

The Nano shuffled up a lot of the Fab Four this morning:

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night
The Temptations - Get Ready
Throw Me the Statue - Ancestors
The Beatles - Don't Bother Me
Bob Dylan - Shake Shake Mama
Stevie Wonder - All in Love is Fair
The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon
The Beatles - Dig a Pony
Sam & Dave - You Don't Know Like I Know
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Leave

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Sunday Random 10

Here's what the iPod shuffled out this week. Let's see if it grabs anything from this week's additions (Cachao, Peter Case, Fairground Attraction, Midnight Oil, and Van the Man from the Thanksgiving week pilgrimage to the amazing Reckless Records in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood; and Los Lobos, the spanking new Tom Waits live, the Dan Zanes and Friends Broadway album, and this month's Paste Magazine sampler that were in the mailbox when we got back into town):

The Rascals - See
State Radio - Calling All Crows
Elvis Presley - Kentucky Rain
Bruce Springsteen - Backstreets
Nick Lowe - High on a Hilltop
Jonathan Rundman - Calm the Storm
Los Lobos - Sabor A Mi
Crowded House - Private Universe
The Wild Tchoupitoulas - Indian Red
The Beatles - Birthday

None of the new stuff (the Lobos tune was from a different record), but that last one's really interesting because today's my brother's birthday! Hey Don, we really had a good time. I'm glad it's your birthday. Happy birthday to ya!

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Chapter and Verse(s)

Heard about these Psalm 109:8 bumperstickers the other day on the radio:

During the last few days, Psalm 109:8, a Bible verse in the form of a "prayer for Obama," has topped the Google trends chart: "May his days be few; may another take his office." Evidently, a bumper sticker emblazoned with this verse has popped up in various parts of the country. It is a sort of right-wing Christian equivalent to the old "01.20.09" stickers looking forward to the end of the Bush era.

It was, most likely, intended as a joke. But it isn't really very funny. Especially since the next verse reads, "May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow."

Rather than being horrified by the subsequent verse, they actually printed up bumperstickers and coffee mugs and whatever else Cafe Press prints junk on, so here's This Week's Discussion Question:

What the hell is wrong with these people?

Please keep the discussion civil and do feel free to wander off into "What the hell ever happened to context?" or "01.20.09 bumperstickers are most certainly not equivalent. Never, not for a nanosecond, did we wish President Bush or Vice President Cheney harm. Impeached? Absolutely. Hauled up on charges at the International Criminal Court? We'll buy their one-way tickets to The Hague. Shunned by decent society, ashamed to show their faces in public? You bet. But dead? No, not ever. Never. Also, 'it isn't really very funny', is an incredible understatement. It ought to earn someone a visit from the Secret Service."

Discuss.

Sunday Random 10

Greetings faithful readers! Thanks for getting off Facebook for a few minutes to read a blog, any blog!

TWDQ HQ was recently assimilated into the Apple Borg, and after years of railing against the silliness of the shuffle button on a CD player--Do you know how long the band spent sequencing that album so it flows properly?-- we're in love with shuffle on this device.

Sunday mornings are usually pretty quiet around TWDQ HQ, so we're proud to present the inaugural edition of Sunday Random 10.

To borrow a phrase from the gang down at the Xcel Center, "Let's hit SHUFFLE!":

Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
The Beatles - Martha, My Dear
Laura Nyro and Labelle - The Wind
St. Dominic's Trio - Home on the Range
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Adam Raised a Cain
Yonlu - I Know What It's Like
The Swell Season - This Low
Matthew Sweet - Sick of Myself
The Beatles - There's a Place
Wilco - We're Just Friends

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Going, Going, Gone

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to acknowledge America's newest author (and boy, do we use that term loosely):

Rogue, schmogue, whatever. As long as you go.

Oh yeah, you're going.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

This is Easy

This Week's Discussion Question comes from Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes Glenn Beck:

Can you imagine what America would be like if we didn't have Fox News?"

Glenn suggests that progressives would think it'd be utopia. (We'd settle for a populace that's better informed less disinformed and less afraid.)

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Holy crap, he's finally right! It would be utopia! "

Discuss.

It was twenty years ago today...

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question (and will step out of the third person) for a bit of personal reflection.

A co-worker and I were chatting yesterday about The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", an album he'd just listened to for the first time in a long time while driving to his uncle's funeral. His uncle succumbed to cancer at 56 and it reminded me that it was 20 years ago today that my dad lost his battle with lung cancer at the much too young age of 58.

20 years. Twenty years! The then-youngest grandchild, who'd just turned two, graduated from college in May. The now-youngest grandchild, born nearly 10 years after his passing, just turned ten.

And I'm now six years shy of 58 and I am reminded of what a gift each day is. Recently, I asked a former pastor how she and her husband were enjoying retirement, she said simply, "We're doing the things we want to do and not doing the things we don't want to do."

Yeah. Do the things you want to do. Don't do the things you don't want to do. Savor each day. You never know how many you're gonna get.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress. Heck, we don't even remember what the current question is, but feel free to wander off into "Should I get the Stereo Box set, the Mono Box set, or the individual Beatle albums?"

Breakdown Dead Ahead

Look at this and when you're done shaking your head, take a whack at This Week's Discussion Question:

How long before Glenn Beck completely melts down?

Please keep the discussion civil and shame on you if you're watching Beck for the impending flameout. Also, shame on you if you're watching Beck thinking he's got some insight to share. To borrow a line from the great Fredonian philosopher Rufus T. Firefly, Beck "may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you: he really is an idiot."

Discuss.

School's Out

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to say that if you object to this, the only acceptable note that ought to be accepted to excuse your kid from watching it/coming to school that day (Who knew Fox News was pro-truancy?) would read:

Please excuse (kid's name here) from class today because her/his parents are morons.

Also, we'd like to remind you that even though Van Jones resigned, it doesn't mean that Republicans aren't assholes.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

This Is How We Do It

Bill Moyers hit one out of the park Friday night:



Here's This Week's Discussion Question:

Is PBS an example of a government-run agency outperforming the private sector?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "If you added Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity's intellect to that of Crazy Michele and Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods [1] how many hammers would you have to take out of the bag to make it competitive?"

Discuss.

[1] h/t Charles Pierce

Idiot Wind, Pt. 949

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to bring you yet another gem from TWDQ's former congressional representative. (Have we mentioned that getting out of her district was the best side benefit of last summer's move? We have? A couple of hundred times? Oh, well.)

Here's Michele!:

"They want to make sure no women, no woman becomes president before a Democrat woman," Bachmann said, "and so they're doing everything they can to, I think, sabotage women like Sarah Palin, perhaps women like myself, or similarly situated women, to make sure that we don't have a prominent national voice."

Damn it, kids! She's onto us!

Okay, you've sussed us out, Congresswoman. We just want a "Democrat woman" in the big chair before you or Sarah get a turn.

Doesn't have a thing to do with the fact that the two of you are dumber than a bag of hammers. (And that's the two of you combined vs. a single bag of hammers. And it's not a large bag.)

Nope, not a thing.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Odds 'n Sods

No, we didn't forget about this blog once we got on the Facebook thingy. Been a busy summer, but the graduate is now off to Chicago for a year with Lutheran Volunteer Corps, so after a great summer, things are quieting down around TWDQ HQ once again.

(Speaking of Lutherans, here's a big shout-out to the ELCA, which voted last week to allow openly gay clergy to serve churches. As a result of another of vote last week, the ELCA is now in full communion with our brand, which, sadly, is not yet as enlightened on this issue.)

As such, we thought we'd dump out some random thoughts that have crossed our minds over the summer, so feel free to discuss them if you'd like.

Quotes of the summer:

Michelle Cottle, on the theory that the Obama Administration's program of soliciting tips about health care disinformation so they could fight the b.s. was really encouraging "informants" to help them build an "enemies list":

"I have given up hope for a loyal opposition. I'd settle for a sane one."

Next, Minnesota Twins first base coach Jerry White, who also works with the outfielders. LaVelle E. Neal first related this story in his blog, but here's the tidied-up version that ran in the dead-tree edition:

The MLB Network aired a replay of the 1981 National League Division Series between the Dodgers and Expos. Since Jerry White played for Montreal at the time -- he hit .313 with a homer in the series -- the clubhouse television was turned up.

"Hey, Jerry, did you play in this game?'' Carlos Gomez asked. "I just wanna know if you did anything in this game.''

Gomez asked the question again, and White couldn't resist.

"I hit the cutoff man!'' White fired back, "I know that for sure!''

Jon Stewart, who, after running clips of Glenn Beck moaning about his rectal surgery ordeal to his tiny CNN Headline News audience and how the U.S. health care system nearly killed him, juxtaposed with his Fox "News" cheerleading for the totally excellent U.S. health care system, summed it up:

"I'll tell you what really doesn't speak well of our health care system: That in those 16 months, the hole that they stitched up in Glenn Beck's ass hasn't healed enough for him to stop talking out of it."

And we'll close by saying that we're pleased that Eric Holder's taking baby steps toward doing the right thing on torture. Here's dday, with the most hopeful paragraph we've read in a long time:

We know that none of the torture here happened by happenstance, but through a directed policy emanating from the top. Instead of prosecuting "bad apples" who were young MPs on the night shift in Baghdad, we're talking about mid-level career CIA. They aren't dupes, and they know how to shift the attention up the chain of command. I don't think these interrogators will live with being the scapegoats. It may take some time, but we really could see some legitimate accountability here. And I hope so - because otherwise this will remain a black mark that can never wash out.

We hope so, too.

More soon...

Messing with My Head

Went to the Twins game last night and saw The Great .400 Hope Joe Mauer bang into four ground outs to the second baseman, one of which became a 4-6-3 double play. Today, he whiffs four times in five hitless trips to the dish, bringing us to This Week's Discussion Question:

Can you screw up your swing before being in the Home Run Derby?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "I sure hope the left field fence is low," or "Weekly, huh? Been about nine weeks, dude."

Discuss.

Reason #50809 Why Baseball is Better...

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to bring you yet another reason why--despite one of its biggest stars being booted for 50 games for testing positive for a female fertility drug--baseball is still the Best. Game. Ever.

Pioneer Press beat writer Phil Miller had this excellent item in his ugly road trip wrap-up blog post this morning:

-- Speaking of (Manny) Ramirez, (Michael) Cuddyer was generous with his time in talking about the case, and about how careful players have to be to protect themselves. And it led to a pretty funny moment. In asking him about how much players really know about what they're taking, I pointed to a bottle on the shelf of his locker. "How sure can you be that that's safe?" I said, pointing to the bottle. Cuddyer laughed, and said, "Pretty sure, since I only put that stuff on my glove." Good answer.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Is This Thing Working?

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to note that after reading this fine piece of "journalism", we breathlessly await Politico's upcoming pieces in the series, "Does human trafficking work?" and "Does genocide work?"

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Drift Away

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to reassure Minnesotans that Senator-in-waiting Al Franken doesn't stand a snowball's chance of snaring the title of "America's Most Embarrassing Congressperson" when there's competition like this, kids. (And it's not Crazy Michele this time!)

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Update: Giant Blooming Pansies!* This dim bulb thinks he outwitted the Nobel Prize-winning Secretary of Energy.

*We saw that on a florist's sign this weekend and are trying it out as a catchphrase.

Sunday Morning Comin' Down

One of the great things about participating in a community of faith that worships at 5 p.m. Sundays is that you can sleep in a bit, then lounge around in your bathrobe on Sunday mornings. The downside is that if you have the teevee on, you can frequently catch something that'll make you spit your Cheerios across the room.

Like when Serious Person Peggy Noonan said this to George, George, Cokie, and Sam about the decision to release the OLC torture memos:

"It's hard for me to look at a great nation issuing these documents and sending them out to the world and thinking, oh, much good will come of that."

Now here's Charles Pierce checking in last Friday, chez Alterman:

I have now lived through three major episodes in my life where the political elite have told me quite plainly that neither I nor my fellow citizens are sufficiently mature to suffer the public prosecution of major crimes committed within my government. The first was when Gerry Ford told me I wasn't strong enough to handle the sight of Richard Nixon in the dock. (Ed. note--I would have thrown a parade.) Dick Cheney looked at this episode and determined that the only thing Nixon did wrong was get caught. The second time was when the entire government went into spasm over the crimes of the Iran-Contra gang and I was told that I wasn't strong enough to see Ronald Reagan impeached or his men packed off to Danbury. Dick Cheney looked at this and determined that the only thing Reagan and his men did wrong was get caught and, by then, Cheney had decided that even that wasn't really so very wrong and everybody should shut up. Now, Barack Obama, who won election by telling the country and its people that they were great because of all they'd done for him, has told me that I am not strong enough to handle the prosecution of pale and vicious bureaucrats, many of them acting at the behest of Dick Cheney, who decided that the only thing he was doing wrong was nothing at all, who have broken the law, disgraced their oaths, and manifestly belong in a one-room suite at the Hague. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm sick and goddamn tired of being told that, as a citizen, I am too fragile to bear the horrible burden of watching public criminals pay for their crimes and that, as a political entity, my fellow citizens and I are delicate flowers encased in candy-glass who must be kept away from the sight of men in fine suits weeping as they are ripped from the arms of their families and sent off to penal institutions manifestly more kind than those in which they arranged to get their rocks off vicariously while driving other men mad.

Hey, Mr. President. Put these barbarians on trial and watch me. I'll be the guy out in front of the courtroom with a lawn chair, some sandwiches, and a cooler of fine beer. I'll be the guy who hires the brass band to serenade these criminal bastards on their way off to the big house. I'll be the one who shows up at every one of their probation hearings with a copy of the Constitution, the way crime victims show up at the parole board when their attacker comes up for release. I'll declare a national holiday -- Victory Over Torture Day -- and lead the parade right up whatever gated street it is that Cheney lives on these days. Trust me, Mr. President. I can take it.

So here's This Week's Discussion Question:

What would you give to see Pierce at that table with Noonan, Roberts, and Will?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Man, it'd make yesterday's 14-run top of the second at Yankee Stadium look like a 1-0 pitchers' duel" or "Yeah! And wearin' Levi's!"

Discuss.

Update: Jon Stewart takes Ms. Noonan downtown in the last bit of this segment and Stephen Colbert just put Mr. Will's anti-denim nonsense through the wringer a few moments ago. Link coming...

Update: As promised, here's the Colbert link.

I'm Gonna D.J.

We're only five games into the new baseball season and we're pleased to present another Greatest. Sport. Ever. edition of This Week's Discussion Question:

We've heard of bench jockeying, but how cool is a sport where players are disk jockeying?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "The Cell? They call it the Cell?"

Discuss.

Houses of the Holy

Because we're sick of Crazy Michele and would rather think about Opening Day, here's This Week's Discussion Question:

Why do we have the feeling that no one will do anything like this for the Metrodome?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "$4 box seats? Last year a beer was $9" or "Yogi's right--it does get late early out there in left."

Discuss.

Idiot Wind

No, we didn't give up blogging for Lent. Crazy busy around here.

Speaking of crazy, we interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to exclaim yet again how glad we are that this piece of work is no longer our representative in Congress.

Go watch the video. (We especially love the fantastic double-take our former pastor does in the second part of the clip.)

Holy mother of pearl, if that wasn't the dumbest question anyone's ever asked in a congressional hearing, there was no doubt about it after the THIRD FREAKING TIME she asked it.

To think that there are people who'll think Minnesota will become a laughing stock when Al Franken finally gets his certificate of election.

Too late, kids. We already are.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Tinted Windows

Okay, it's fairly well-known that Fountains of Wayne are minor deities at TWDQ HQ. It's also no secret that Hanson was played heavily and enjoyed by everyone at what would someday become TWDQ HQ. Some of us saw Cheap Trick play live long before Budokan and shortly thereafter, and there's a copy of Smashing Pumpkins' best-of CD chez TWDQ.

So here's This Week's Discussion Question:

How did these guys get together and decide to form a band?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "What?" or "Huh?"

Discuss.

Naked

In the debate over the economic stimulus bill, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) said this:

"The emperor has no clothes! Somebody has to say it. I'm referring to this additional bailout, this spending bill that spends everything we've got on nothing we are sure about."

That prompts us to drop the veil from This Week's Discussion Question:

After eight long years of a petulant little dictator wanna-be preening and prancing around nekkid as a jaybird to the cheers of his fellow Republicans while flushing away trillions on a war we were lied into and tax cuts for the fabulously wealthy, are you joking, Senator?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Could we please have a lot more of that 'Whaddya think stimulus is?' snark?" or "We caught a bit of Rep. Mike Pence on Meet the Press Sunday and think that he and Crazy Michele could have a epic stupid-off. We hope Rep. Barney Frank didn't get some 'contact dumb' just from sitting next to him."

Discuss.

Don't Call Us, We'll Call You

In a Politico interview, former Vice President Cheney fired a shot (ba-dum-boom) across President Obama's bow, warning that we'll all die in our beds there's a "high probability" of a terrorist attack if we don't leave the Constitution in tatters Bush administration policies of illegal surveillance and torture in place.

Cheney said Obama would put the country at risk if he backtracked on Bush administration security policies.

"When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry," Cheney said.

Protecting the country's security is "a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business," he said. "These are evil people. And we're not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek."

And who would know tough, mean, dirty, nasty, and evil better than the former Vice President? But we digress. What we really came to do is toss out This Week's Discussion Question:

Who gives a damn what Dick Cheney thinks anymore?

Please keep the discussion civil and do feel free to wander off into "Dick, when we want to hear from you again, we'll send around someone with a subpoena--and we'll ensure that your rights are read loudly and clearly enough that even you might understand them."

Discuss.

Supernatural Superserious

This afternoon is an American High Holy Day, with just about everyone in the United States hunkered down in front of a television set pondering This Week's Discussion Question:

What'll Bruce play at halftime?

Please keep the discussion civil and feel free to wander off into "Pitchers and catchers report in 13 days," or "...One! Two! Three!...the highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive..."

Discuss.

Update: Cool. Couldn't have asked for a better set, outside of giving them an additional 2.75 hours. The great "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" with horns, The Anthem, a brief snippet of the title cut of the new album (which is growing on me slowly), and "Glory Days", with some terrific Bruce and Miami Steve interplay to wrap it up. (Some day we'll go on at length about the theology of two or three people leaning in to share a microphone.)

And if, from this day forward, the football/Hail Mary couplet replaces the baseball/speedball lines that kick off "Glory Days", it'll be okay with us.

"I'm goin' to Disneyland!"

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Now back to the guacamole dip...

Hope

We believe that you couldn't have picked a more apt piece of scripture to cite in an inaugural address at this moment in history than 1 Corinthians 13, proclaiming this is the time to set aside childish things.

With this in mind, here's the first Inauguration Day edition of This Week's Discussion Question:

Whad'ya say we all grow up?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander back into childish things. (Choosing hope over fear was a damn good start, America.)

Discuss.

Like grownups.

And on the other side, it didn't say nothin'...

I'm going to step out of the first-person plural briefly to say that I don't think I've ever been prouder to be an American than I was yesterday afternoon:



That said, this may get a run for its money tomorrow.

I got a timebomb in my mind, Mom...

During last week's confirmation hearings for Attorney General nominee Eric Holder, Sen. John Cornyn (R-watches too much "24") pressed Holder to answer a hypothetical question about what interrogation methods he'd approve to get the setter of a ticking time bomb to spill his or her guts in time to save "tens of thousands" of American lives. With a straight face, he asked this.

Holder did an admirable job of not telling him to turn the damn television off and take a long walk off a short pier. We're not so generous, ourselves, which brings us to This Week's Discussion Question:

How could anyone possibly think that Al Franken is going to make Minnesota a laughing stock while this clown is in the Senate?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Okay, forget that hypothetical. If Obama had to waterboard the Joker to save everybody on the..." or "Tuesday? Is it Tuesday yet?"

Discuss.

Good Old Boys

Last week, the Justice Department's Inspector General released a report on the partisan shenanigans in the Civil Rights division, with a lovely little tidbit in the middle:

In that incident in August 2004, Voting Section Chief John Tanner sent an e-mail to Schlozman asking Schlozman to bring coffee for him to a meeting both were scheduled to attend. Schlozman replied asking Tanner how he liked his coffee. Tanner's response was, "Mary Frances Berry style - black and bitter." Berry is an African-American who was the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from November 1993 until late 2004. Schlozman forwarded the e-mail chain to several Department officials (including Principal DAAG Bradshaw) but not Acosta, with the comment, "Y'all will appreciate Tanner's response." Acosta said that when he was made aware of the incident, he required Schlozman to make a written apology to him for his role in forwarding the e-mail and that Schlozman did so.

This leads us to the long overdue premiere of the 2009 season of This Week's Discussion Question:

And that was IT? An apology to the boss and they let these moral midgets continue to work on Voting Rights and Civil Rights? Tanner and Schlozman and the DAAG weren't called into the AG's office and asked if they thought defending our most treasured and essential rights is a good fit for any of them? That the apology didn't go to everyone on the original distribution list with a blatant warning that if anybody that ever pulled anything as stupid as this again, they should start emptying their desk after hitting "Send"?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Well, police departments have a Vice Squad that tries to stamp out vice, so maybe Schlozman thought the Civil Rights Division..." or "Tuesday, man. Come on, Tuesday."

Discuss.

Poor Poor Pitiful Me

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had lunch with the Wall Street Journal recently and raised a couple of questions that have been nagging him. Well, questions are what we do around here, kids, so we're pleased to help out:

"What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?" he said during an interview Tuesday, offering his most extensive comments since leaving government.

Well, for starters, Al, let's go back to this handy chart. Your name's in the center, having had your fingers into the authorizing of:

• Warrantless wiretapping
• Coercive interrogation (we prefer the less polite term "torture")
• The CIA's destruction of tapes of "coercive interrogations"
• Hiring political hacks to fill the ranks at the DoJ
• Firing U.S. Attorneys who were insufficiently political
  

That was easy, wasn't it? (Here's a friendly tip regarding #2: Stay in the U.S.. For the rest of your life.) The next one's even easier.

During a lunch meeting two blocks from the White House, where he served under his longtime friend, President George W. Bush, Mr. Gonzales said that "for some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror."

You poor baby.

Alberto, this goes beyond disagreement. When you're formulating policies that are evil, such as torture, you get portrayed as evil. Comes with the territory.

Oh yeah, we had a question our own selves. Mr. Gonzales also mentioned that he's writing a book about his time in office, which brings us to This Week's Discussion Question:

How can someone who, while under oath, couldn't remember a damned thing, write a freaking memoir?

Please keep the discussion civil and feel free to wander off into suggesting a title for former AG AG's misty water-colored memories.

Discuss.

Beginnings

News of the passing of Mark Felt, Watergate's "Deep Throat", reminded us of how the TWDQ concept originated, so we thought we'd share that historic moment with our faithful readers. (We should really have the three of you over for dinner sometime.)

Shortly after Mr. Felt acknowledged that he was the character who surreptitiously fed Bob Woodward information that helped him and colleague Carl Bernstein unravel the scandal, we ranted to some close friends on YahooGroups. We remember it like it was only yesterday (rub chin, dissolve to flashback):

After catching a few episodes over the past few days of yammering pundits kicking about the ethics of Deep Throat's actions in a darkened D.C. parking garage in 1973, here's today's discussion question:

"If I take Chuck Colson or G. Gordon Liddy's opinions on Mark 'Deep Throat' Felt to my local coffee house, how much cash will I still have to come up with for a $1.60 cup of java?"

Please do not wander off into "When Vincent Bugliosi dies, will they go to Charlie Manson for his thoughts, too?" or "Mr. Colson, would you ask the president that 'Do the ends justify the means?' question you asked Mr. Ben-Veniste this morning, with reference to either Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, or the Downing Street Memo?"

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Update: Fixed the blockquote so IE doesn't splatter it across the screen.

Boom Boom

At this moment, Sen. Norm Coleman's lead over him, Al Franken, in the MN Senate recount has dropped to single digits--single digits that one could count on one hand--as the Canvassing Board plows through Norm's stack of challenged ballots. This doesn't bode well for the senator's reelection bid, so here's a "Senator Al Franken" edition of This Week's Discussion Question:

What kind of sound will Sean Hannity's head make when it explodes?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into, well, fits of giggling.

Discuss.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today's the third anniversary of TWDQ and we just happen to have a birthday-themed question to kick off the fourth year of This Week's Discussion Question:

What kind of idiot would decorate a baby's birthday cake with a swastika?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "When you name your kids 'Adolf Hitler', "Aryan Nations', and 'Honszlynn Hinler' (because it sounds like 'Heinrich Himmler' but that isn't quite appropriate for a girl, is it now?), doesn't that blow your claim to any kind of superiority?"

Discuss

Happy Birthday

I'm going to step out of the first person plural for a moment to mark what would have been my dad's 78th birthday.

One of the many gifts he gave me was a love of this artist, so here's a 78 for your 78th, Dad:

Lipstick Sunset

As the clock runs out on the reign of Bush the Younger, Karl Rove and Karen Hughes are apparently hanging out at the White House attempting to craft a glittering narrative for the past eight years, and we'd be remiss if we didn't honor this project with a fresh episode of This Week's Discussion Question:

Just how much lipstick can one put on a pig?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "I'll bet you hear more 'ummmm's in there than at a transcendental meditation retreat" or "I got your legacy right here, Junior"

Discuss.

My Favorite Things

This week at work, we were asked to complete a couple of forms to prepare us to discuss our career goals with our direct manager. After a couple of questions about what's important/what we value at work, one of the forms asked about our lives away from the job:

What's important to you/what do you value outside of work? (i.e. baseball, family etc..)

We think they meant "e.g." instead of "i.e." but in our case "i.e." fit like a infielder's glove, so we took off from there, answering:

Baseball, family (these aren't necessarily in order), music, silence, faith, doubt, love, grace, literature, dark coffee and dark beer.

The more we thought about it, we felt we ought to share that question with our vast readership as an edition of This Week's Discussion Question:

What's important to you/what do you value? (e.g. baseball, family, etc..)

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into any additional Latin abbreviations.

Discuss.

Me Talk Pretty One Day

We fear that Time's 2004 Blog of the Year (the blogosphere equivalent of Celine Dion nabbing an Album of the Year Grammy) is going to put The Onion out of business with stuff like this:

Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn't raise his standards, he will exceed Bush's total before he is inaugurated.

Now that we're done shaking our heads at that, here's This Week's Discussion Question:

How quickly would you be reaching for the Yellow Pages after learning your lawyer had scribbled a paragraph like that?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Here's a bit we call 'Great Moments in Presidential Speeches'" or "Cliff, what color is the sky in your world?"

Discuss.

Wise Up

We saw this headline on Yahoo News today and got rather excited:

Philips develops "intelligent pill"

Sadly, it's about a pill with a microprocessor, wireless radio, pump, and drug reservoir, that can release pharmaceuticals in parts of the body where they'll be most effective.

While this is very cool and has the potential to make lots of folks' lives better and all, we were hoping it was a pill that would make people smarter, which would make everyone's life better.

Well, everyone except the folks who get royalties from Adam Sandler's movies.

What Digby Said

After a campaign stuffed with disinformation and outright lies (to use a sanitized, family-friendly term) about who's gonna tax whom and how much and whether or not it's patriotic to settle up with the IRS, Digby (not at all surprisingly) nails it all beautifully.

Here's the conclusion, but go read the whole thing:

For those government helps directly, whether it's through educational opportunities or unemployment insurance or health care for their kids and elderly parents, the benefits are obvious. But there's nothing unusual about financially comfortable people also being willing to pay for a decent society in which to live and work and bring up their kids. The unnatural ones are those who think they can live a good life without contributing to such things. Apparently, they think they can live inside a castle and pull up the drawbridge behind them, leaving all the ugliness outside. And that is the perfect, time tested recipe for revolution. It's not exactly the smart move for the long haul.

Like we said, go read the whole thing. While trees die in vain so the dumbassery of Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer can regularly stain the New York Times and Washington Post op-ed pages, respectively, this woman is cranking out shimmering brilliance each and every day at Hullabaloo. If you're not a regular reader, you should be.

We'll leave you with a pair to kick around as This Week's Discussion Questions:

Isn't a broken clock right more often than Bill Kristol?

Can Charles Krauthammer milk four (eight!) more years out of nothing more than "You'll be sorry you voted for Obama! SORRY, SORRY, SORRY!"?

Please keep the discussion civil and feel free to wander off into "Is Obama President yet?"

Discuss.

After the Rain

From the futon in the TWDQ library, let's try some liveblogging! The bottom of the 7th is starting, so here we go!

8:06: Hey! No "God Bless America"! Woody Guthrie would be proud.

8:08: Note to Bud: It's one thing when the bench guys are wearing stocking caps, but when the ballplayers on the field are wearing caps with Elmer Fudd flaps, you might think about pulling the season in a week or two.

8:18: The "Rocky" theme again? Please...

8:23: Hey! Does anyone know if Jim Carrey's got a new movie coming out?

8:33: Jayson Werth, at 2 for 2, hasn't had "a good night", Joe. It's been "a good game" or a "a couple of good nights".

8:34: William Penn was cursing the Phils? Huh?

8:37: Any pitcher could throw a hanging breaking ball. Man, the things you can learn from Tim McCarver...

8:41: What the hell is up with the twin bathtubs in Cialis commercials? "A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, a pair a of bathtubs facing the beach, and thou..."

8:44: Around the horn! Let's show each fielder briefly! Why?

8:45: Joe Buck reads the media guide's history page. Wow.

8:46: Lidge's slider is so good it occasionally gets past the catcher? Hell, I have a slider that can do THAT...

8:49: Could we get a tighter shot of Lidge? I can still see the top and bottom of his head...

8:52: Once again, DirtCam sheds no light on a play...

8:53: Take that, William Penn! Congrats, Phils!

8:57: Well, we're going to go find us a drinkable beer (as opposed to one with "drinkability").

Hey, let's wrap this with a special Celebratory Man Love Edition of This Week's Discussion Question:

When has beer ever been hard to drink?

Please keep the discussion civil and feel free to wander off into "When's spring training?"

Discuss.

Change We Can Believe In

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to bring you some great news.

The airtime that Barack Obama has purchased tonight on Fox and several other networks will not delay the start of the resumption of the suspended Game 5 of the 2008 World Series.

It will, however, result in Fox cutting back on the pre-game show, so there will be less Joe Buck and Tim McCarver tonight.

That, my friends, is Change We Can Believe In.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

New Adventures in Stupid

Just when you thought we'd hit rock bottom, they get out the dynamite and blast down to a whole new level:

Conservative media figures allege Obama's Hawaii trip is about discredited birth-certificate rumors, not his ailing grandmother

Okay, Rush, you got us. The Hawaii thing's a ruse. He really IS from Krypton.

Oy.

Idiot Wind

Another benefit of the recent TWDQ HQ move was that we are no longer in this crazy person's Congressional district. (Our new Congressional representative is a *gasp*...Muslim!)

On the downside, we're not there to provide a few additional votes to help our former pastor show her the door. (Speaking of which, the blogosphere is an amazing thing, isn't it?)

Rest easy, Congresswoman. The two most dangerous anti-Americans in our government will be out of jobs three months from tomorrow. If that's not soon enough for you, Michele, you could start this ball rolling. Better late than never, we say.

We concur with tbogg, who recently wrote, "Seriously, and to paraphrase Paul Begala, if stupid ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want the drilling rights to Michelle Bachmann's head."

And, as the honorable Rufus T. Firefly remarked, "Gentlemen, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don't let that fool you: he really is an idiot."

Of course, when we mentioned "Did you hear what Crazy Michele said yesterday?" the college student, here on fall break, inquired, "Which Crazy Michelle?"

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Hanging on the Telephone

Bought a new over-the-range microwave oven for TWDQ HQ's kitchen and ran into an installation snag last night. Called the retailer's 1-800 number on the sheet of paper taped to the front of the unit in case you encounter problems with the appliance, but none of the three very pleasant people we were routed through--after an automated voice routed us--could hook us up with anyone technical enough to answer our not all that technical question.

Decided to call the store where we made the purchase. We repeat, the number for the local store. The conversation went something like this:

Voice Recognition Software Receptionist: "Thank you for calling (rhymes with 'beers')! Say the name of the department you're looking for or say 'department list' for a list of departments at this loca..."

TWDQ: "Appliances."

VRSR: "You said 'appliances'. Is that correct?

TWDQ: "Yes."

VRSR: "Good! If you're calling about a large appliance, like a refrigerator or a washing machine, say 'large appliance'. If you're calling about a small appliance, like a mixer or microwave, say 'small appliance'.

TWDQ: "Small appliance."

VRSR: "You said 'small appliance'. Just a moment, I'll transfer you.

Real Person at Local Store: "(Rhymes with 'beers'), how may I help you?"

TWDQ: "Is this Appliances?"

RPaLS: "Just a minute, I'll transfer you."

Real Person Selling Appliances: "Appliances. How may I help you?"

And here we are at This Week's Discussion Question:

What the hell good was that automated stuff?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Por Espanol..." or "Is this big or small appliances?"

Discuss.

Smart Girls (and Boys)

All in all, it was a pretty good Monday, and we're not even talking about Wall Street's rally or the Rays hammering the Red Sox.

It was a Monday bookended by hope. It began with news of Paul Krugman winning a Nobel Prize, wrapped up with Rachel Maddow schooling David "Axis of Evil" Frum (Note to Dave: It's not very bright to throw your first pitch behind the head of someone who can and will take you deep) and raises This Week's Discussion Question:

Is "smart" the new black?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Paul Wolfowitz? Really, Dave? The only guy who's been more wrong more often is Bill Kristol" or "Wow. Isn't there a ten-run rule for interviews?"

Discuss.

Who Woulda Thunk It?

Flipped over to CNN this afternoon after Tampa beat the Whiteys and reporter Dana Bash, outside the Washington University auditorium where tonight's Biden-Palin debate will take place, said that the atmosphere felt more like a prize fight, prompting this special visual version of This Week's Discussion Question:

A prize fight? Gosh, what would give anyone that idea?

Please keep the discussion civil and feel free to wander off into making up your own joke about using a "rope-a-dope" strategy.

Discuss.

I've Had Enough

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question for a few brief rants:

1) Clean off your batting helmets, boys. The Twins' highly-buffed helmets in the 80's and 9o's looked very cool. Those ugly gobs of pine tar obliterating your club's insignia are not getting you extra hits. Give it up. If you need something to mollify your superstitious side, talk to Jason Giambi and get some advice on picking out a nice gold thong. No, we don't need to see it.

2) Financial writers, get yourselves to a thesaurus and look up a new word to permit you to bury "roiled" for a while. Hell, write that the markets were "jumpy" or "all twitchy" but please, please, please don't trot out "roiled" again anytime soon.

3) White Sox fans, get yourselves some new teevee announcers. If we were Sox fans, we'd be ashamed to admit it.

4) Because of its impact on the post-season picture, Fox Sports picked up the local nine's Saturday tilt. On the upside, they used local color guy Bert Blyleven* and they didn't have time to bury a DirtCam in front of the dish. Unfortunately, they still brought along the Fox Sports Baseball Directors' Handbook (which was invaluable in writing this). There were 38,072 paying customers in the Metrodome and between pitches during the last three innings, we saw each and every one of them. Twice. Maybe three times. The division series haven't even started and this already has us yelling at the television.

*Okay, now THERE's a TWDQ for ya:

Why isn't the guy who spun the best curveball throughout the 70's and 80's, fifth in career strikeouts, with a pair of World Series rings to show for it, in the Hall of Fame?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Y'know, if A.J. Pierzynski did a cameo as a terrorist on '24', I might have to reconsider my thinking on torture," or "There's gotta be a provision in the Geneva Convention prohibiting extended exposure to Hawk and D.J.."

Discuss.

Give it Away

Been getting settled into the new TWDQ HQ for the past couple of months, so there's been precious little time to blog. We thought we'd fill the gap by offering up some of our world-famous free advice:

To the media: When someone says something that isn't true, it's okay to say they're lying.

To the cast of Camp Rock - "We Rock": No, you don't. At all. The idea that there could be a "prestigious" camp where you have to go to learn to be a rock star is completely antithetical to the spirit of rock 'n roll. (See Rock, Punk; c. 1977.) Cut it out.

To the media again: When someone says something that isn't true, especially when they deliberately and continually repeat something they either know or should know isn't true, it's okay to say they're lying.

To anyone who's posed the question "Is America ready for a black president?": What you really mean is, "I'M not ready for a black president." Go on, say it.

To John McCain: You'll need this if you'd like to see your last shred of dignity.

To the good folks at the Human Genome Project: Please identify the gene that causes Republicans to treat subpoenas like baby shower invitations. We need a cure now.

To Tampa Bay Rays fans: Your club's about to clinch a division championship. Show up.

To Barack Obama: Your campaign mantra needs to be "They think you're stupid." Because it's hard-hitting and effective, and, as the line goes, it has the added benefit of being true.

To the media yet again: When someone says something that isn't true, especially when they deliberately and continually repeat something they either know or should know isn't true, it's okay to say they're lying. As a matter of fact, it's your JOB to say that.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

So We Dumb This Down, Dumb This Down...

Having informed us that Sen. McCain was the choice of pet owners, AP-Yahoo once again brings the stupid:

Poll: Obama tops McCain as football-watching buddy

Here are some suggestions to the AP-Yahoo crew for future polls:

With which candidate would you want to hang out to end a war?


With which candidate would you want to hang out to fix Wall Street?


With which candidate would you want to hang out to Scotch tape the Constitution back together?

They're all yours, AP and Yahoo. Ask away.

Waffle Stomp

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question for a brief rant.

Just when you thought things couldn't get any stupider...

These were on sale at the "Values Voter Summit" this weekend, sponsored by the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council:



Anyone who thinks that is remotely funny needs to get their funny recalibrated. With a Louisville Slugger. That isn't political satire. It's classless, vile, deceitful, racist trash.

"Point box toward Mecca..."? You know, if you'd read that list of Commandments you all value so damn much and want to post everywhere, you might take a good, hard look at the one about bearing false witness. It's down there near the bottom, by the one about not cheating on one's spouse. (Hey, nice booking on that Gingrich guy.) Anyway, most folks these days tend to use its synonym: Lying. It's verboten. You could look it up.

Keep your values the hell away from my family, you racist creeps.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Boy with a Problem

We're back at the new TWDQ HQ after the ultimate back-to-school trip and here's your long-awaited episode of This Week's Discussion Question:

Why was this such an egregious character flaw four years ago, but isn't a big deal now?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "How come the Rockies can play a three-game set at home on the eve of the Democratic convention while the Twins have to clear out for two weeks before and during Elephantapalooza?" or "When you make stuff up out of whole cloth, isn't it supposed to get filed under 'fiction'?"

Discuss.

Robbery, Assault and Battery

...are about the only things missing from this interactive chart published by Slate last week and we concur with dday, who writes, "The very fact that you can make a rich media interactive guide is enough to make you vomit."

So cover your mouth and take an enhanced whack at This Week's Discussion Question:

Can we start holding some of these people accountable already?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "The bunch in the pink circle had better have done all the international travel they want to do," or "Why are so many people saying 'presumptuous' when they really mean 'uppity'?"

Discuss.

Movin' Out

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to thank everyone who helped us relocate TWDQ HQ to our new location. It wasn't exceedingly hot out, there were only a few very minor dish or furniture casualties, and everyone's still speaking to us. What more could you ask for?

Despite being ten miles shorter, the first day's commute took about the same time, but only because after about four blocks, we noticed that every house had a garbage can and recycle bin at the end of the driveway, so we went back to put ours out as well. After that false start, it took about 10 minutes.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Pet Sounds

Fresh off learning which candidate we'd rather go to a BBQ with, one of the top three stories leading the AP/Yahoo News page today is "Poll: Pet Owners prefer McCain over Obama" and this brings us to This Week's Discussion Question:

What the...?

We don't care if the discussion's civil or not, we're much too busy weeping for this nation.

Discuss.

Bright Lights, Big City

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question for a little mini-vacation report. We spent the first part of the week in NYC to pay a visit to The House that Ruth Built before they shut it down at the end of this campaign, so here's what we learned during three days in the City that Never Sleeps:

• Boy, oh boy, do we love subways and commuter trains.
• The San Diego Padres are not a very good ballclub.
• Even if we commuted through Grand Central Terminal every day for a couple-three decades, we'd still look around that building in awe every single day.
• Guinness makes a nice beer.
• Transacting real estate business via cell phone while walking down 5th Ave. is kinda cool.
• Transacting real estate business via cell phone while under an elevated track outside Yankee Stadium is difficult to do while there's a train passing overhead.
• A semi driver may not always be aware that his trailer is slightly too tall to clear an elevated train track.
  
• A semi driver's trailer scraping the underside of an elevated train track as one is waiting for a "WALK" signal can scare the hell out of a guy.
  
• It appears that more than one semi driver may have made that miscalculation.
  
• We love seeing couples gently snoozing against each other on the subway.
  
• If you look carefully, you might see a garbageman wearing a Bluetooth headset.
• A guy can get some good eats in Little Italy.
  
• A guy can get some good eats in Chinatown.
• A guy can get some good eats in White Plains.
• The Iron Tomato ought to consider franchising.
• The Twin Cities would be an excellent place for an Iron Tomato franchise.
  
• With all due respect to the legendary Duke Ellington, taking the E train gets you to JFK a lot quicker than taking the A train does.
• It'd do Lou Dobbs's soul some good to ride the E train through Queens every day.
• Touring NYC with a native is the way to go.
• Touring NYC with a native whose brother tends bar at an Irish pub is an even better way to go.
• Mariano Rivera's stuff is so nasty it ought to be illegal.
• The old Yankee Stadium is an impressive ballpark.
• We're glad Monument Park is no longer in the field of play. Like Mickey Rivers, we wouldn't want to "play by those graves" either.
  
• The new Yankee Stadium looks like it will be even better.
  
• One hopes the new Yankee Stadium's seating will be numbered a bit more intuitively.
  
• The Chrysler Building is spectacularly beautiful at night.
• So is the full moon coming up over the upper deck in right field.

We now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Rocket to Russia

At TWDQ HQ we'll have the same This Week's Discussion Question for the next eight weeks:

What's shakin' in St. Petersburg?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "I can't be delivering pizza to the movers" or "Anything new from the realtor?"

Discuss.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to reaffirm the greatness of baseball.

One of the great things is that even if your club gets beaten like a rented mule, there'll be another game tomorrow. You don't spend an entire week rehashing crucial plays, whining about the officiating, or calling for the head coach's head or the offensive coordinator's head or the assistant left inside linebackers coach's head. You shake it off and watch 'em go out and get 'em tomorrow.

Another great thing is that in that fresh start tomorrow, they won't trot the same hurler out there.

We apologize for the interruption and we now return you to This Week's Discussion Question, already in progress.

Don't Talk

Blue Texan over at FDL asks a pretty good one today.

Right.

Discuss.

Face Down

Adam Everett just tripled to the gap in left-center and slid in to third base on his belly, raising This Week's Discussion Question:

With two players going on the DL in the first two months of the season because of head-first slides, why isn't Gardy fining guys who do that?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Does Nick Punto make enough to cover that?" or "One run in seven innings off of Sidney freaking Ponson?"

Discuss.

Update: Everett went on the DL today. Probably nothing to do with the slide, but bellyflopping with a bad wing is rarely a good idea.

And Sidney freaking Ponson went the distance, yielding only that one run.

Reason #50108 Why Baseball is Better than Football

This Gomez kid is something else:

Carlos Gomez has done some amazing things for the Twins this season.

Wednesday, he topped the list.

He put manager Ron Gardenhire at a loss for words. In an argument with an umpire.

...

With two outs, Gomez tried stealing third base with a 3-1 count to Joe Mauer.

"That was not a good play," Gardenhire said. "It almost turned into a good play. But it really wasn't a good play."

Gomez would have been out at third, had the ball not bounced away from Joe Crede's glove.

When Gomez sprinted toward home, Crede retrieved the ball in foul territory and threw a strike to catcher Toby Hall, who blocked the plate as Gomez slid.

Gomez did appear to touch home with his left foot before Hall applied the tag, but umpire Tim Timmons called him out.

Gardenhire went to argue, but his heart wasn't in it.

"I wanted to tell Timmy, 'I'm not really mad at you; I'm mad at somebody else right now,'" Gardenhire said.

This ballclub may not be very good, but boy, is it gonna be interesting...

The Phantom

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to mark the passing of E Street Band keyboard player Danny Federici on Thursday, April 17th at the age of 58, after a three-year battle with melanoma.

Springsteen's site has a great video up of Federici's final appearance with the band--playing accordion on the old favorite "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"--just a few weeks before his passing.

Bruce's touching and entertaining eulogy is also there, along with a video montage of Federici.

We're long-time Springsteen fans here at TWDQ. Bought Born to Run the week Bruce was on the covers of Time and Newsweek, without having heard a note of it and we were immediately captivated at the first few bars of "Thunder Road". Springsteen's at the peak of the TWDQ Hierarchy of Recording Artists* and though we've only seen a few E Street Band shows over the years (1980, 1999, 2004), they've all been terrific.

* The TWDQ Hierarchy of Recording Artists:

• You own one of their albums.
• You own several of their albums.
• You own their entire catalog.
• You own their entire catalog and buy their new albums on release day.
• You own their entire catalog and buy their new albums on your lunch break on release day (provided the shop's not running a midnight sale).**

** With the news that Joe Henry is collaborating with Rosanne Cash on her next record, we're contemplating adding a new category:

• You own their entire catalog and bribe one of the record store clerks for the truck delivery schedule and an early copy of the album.

Anyway, go watch the videos, read the eulogy, dig out your copy of The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, set the needle down on "Kitty's Back" and the aforementioned "Sandy" and enjoy a couple of Mr. Federici's finest performances.

Rest in peace, Danny.

Black and White

We're glad to hear we've not been alone in our profane sputteriness about this, but we think it may finally be safe to bring you another edition of TWDQ.

Pope Benedict XVI visited the White House today and the President's remarks included this statement:

"In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this dictatorship of relativism."

So here's This Week's Discussion Question:

How much relativism does it take to transmogrify "torture" into "enhanced interrogation techniques"?

Please keep the discussion civil and do not wander off into "Bitter? The President admits he and the Veep are war criminals and we're all abuzz about a presidential candidate thinking some voters might be bitter?" or sputtering profanities.

Discuss.

The Boys Are Back in Town

We interrupt This Week's Discussion Question to bring you the exciting news that after too long an absence, Fafblog is back!

And they're back to save the universe!

Giblets may be dissatisfied, but we sure aren't.