Mabel Normand– Raggedy Rose (1926) (:54)

Say anything you like, but don’t say I love to work. That sounds like Mary Pickford, the prissy bitch.

Normand was one of the early female greats.  In addition to acting she wrote and directed too.  When she died at 37 in 1930 her popularity was on the decline due to her association with Fatty Arbuckle and scandals of her own related to her cocaine addiction.

Raggedy Rose was co-written by Stan Laurel.

Harold Lloyd– Grandma’s Boy (1922) (1:00)

Harold Lloyd “is best known for his ‘Glasses Character’, a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with 1920s era America.”  In 1919 he suffered a crippling prop accident when a bomb he thought was a smoke pot exploded in his hand as he was lighting a cigarette.  It took his forefinger and thumb which he disguised with a prosthetic glove and scarred the side of his face and chest.

The Great Debate

Overture

Part 1- Firing Big Bird

Part 2- You’ve done a great job

Part 3- Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman

He’s not pitching at Coors Field Al.

Our regular featured content-

• On This Day In History October 5 by TheMomCat
• Punting the Pundits by TheMomCat

And these featured articles-

• No Dancing XVIII by: ek hornbeck
• Quantum Leap is a really good show. by: ek hornbeck

We’ll also be offering special coverage of the MLB Wildcard Sudden Death games starting at 5 pm.

Write more and often.  This is an Open Thread.

Happy Birthday Bugs.  Originally posted June 20, 2011.  Braaaaains!

TheMomCat suggests a new drinking game- when Obama says “I agree”, drink.

Arsenic and Old Lace

This a drink with a lot of interesting liquors and subtle variations.  What’s common to all of them is Gin and Crème de Violette.

Gin is a lot older than you think and involves re-distilling neutral spirits with juniper berries for a piney flavor.  I’m terribly allergic to juniper so I can’t drink it.  The recipe calls for a Dry highly distilled modern clear Gin.

Crème de Violette is actually made from flowers and has the scent and deep purple color of its namesake.  Based on brandy or neutral spirits it’s not easy to find, but you don’t need a lot.

It is pretty clear that this is just an Atty cocktail renamed in favor of the Kesselring play and subsequent movie.  You might create a distinction in the substitution of Pastis for the temporarily unavailable Absinthe of the original.

Either one contributes a strong anise flavor that can also be found in the ‘London’ variety of Gin and compliments it.

Finish with some Dry Vermouth if you like it (and I happen to).

The color ranges from a clear purple to a faint opalescent green depending on the substitutions and quantities.  If you use one of the ‘milkier’ recipes you can serve it ‘on the rocks’ in a short (Old Fashioned) glass and the melting ice will create lacy streamers.

Taz’s first appearance.  Originally posted June 10, 2011.  Zombified, though you may not notice.

I’m sure you’re all looking forward to this with the same breathless anticipation I am.  Stop holding your breath, you’ll turn blue and pass out.  What about…

The Hypnotoad

"Television is a vast wasteland"

• CW– Supernatural
• MyTV– Numb3rs
• A&E– American Hoggers (premier, Season Finale premier)
• ABC Family– Dirty Dancing
• AMC– Apollo 13
• Animal Planet– The Blue Planet
• Bravo– Top Chef (Season Finale), After Top Chef (premier)
• Toon– King of the Hill, American Dad
• Comedy– South Park (premier)
• Discovery– Sons of Guns, How Booze Built America (premiers)
• Disney– My Babysitter’s A Vampire, Phineas and Ferb
• Encore– Batman Forever, Excalibur
• ESPN– Red Sox @ Yankees
• ESPN2– Orioles @ Devil Rays
• Food– Restaurant Impossible (premier)
• FX– Grown Ups, The Waterboy (I’ve never watched an Adam Sandler movie)
• History– American Restoration, Cajun Pawn Stars (premiers)
• IFC– The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Teeth
• Spike– The Last House On The Left (They re-made it?  Why?)
• Turner Classic– Mystery of the Wax Museum, Doctor X (Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray night)
• USA– NCIS (marathon)
• VH1 Classic– Nirvana: Live at the Paramount

Jon hosts Rand Paul, Stephen has Kenny Rogers.  More programming at Zap2it.

I’m thinking Red Sox/Yankees last day of the season pre-play-off Baseball followed by How Booze Built America, so we can certainly chat about that.  Of course if you want to talk politics I’ll ask you to step to the back of the bar and try not to disturb the other customers.

This is a respectable joint.

My Mama done told me…  First posted here June 09, 2011.

Johnson: Presidential Politics Trumps Jets’ Fate

By LYNN ZINSER, The New York Times

October 1, 2012, 2:34 pm

(Jets owner Woody) Johnson, in a statement likely to irk Jets fans unhappy with the team’s 2-2 start, said: “Well, I think so you always have to put country first, so I think it’s very, very important, not only for us but for particularly our kids and grandkids, that this election come off with Mitt Romney and Ryan as president and vice president.”

…

In that statement, Johnson stepped back from throwing more fuel on a debate he has played a role in fanning in the past. While at the Republican National Convention, Johnson said in an interview with CNBC that, “I think you can never have too much Tebow,” despite Sanchez being acknowledged as the starter and the team trying to keep a quarterback controversy from breaking out with every Sanchez incompletion.

Colin Kaepernick of 49ers beats Jets’ Tim Tebow at his own game

By Matt Wilhalme, Los Angeles Times

October 1, 2012, 1:02 p.m.

Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback, had the best game of his career in the team’s 34-0 blowout of the Jets, and looked more like how New York Jets fans might have envisioned Tim Tebow would be after their team traded with the Denver Broncos for him.

On five carries he rushed for 50 yards and scored on a 7-yard touchdown run from the wildcat in what would be the game-winning score in the second quarter.

Kaepernick’s only pass attempt of the day was an incompletion.

…

Tebow, on the other hand, connected with Dedrick Epps for a 9-yard pass — his first completion of the season — who subsequently fumbled the ball to the 49ers.

Tebow’s two rushing attempts of the day went for a combined total of 0 yards.

Heh.

Tar Sands Blockade: Why are they so frightened of us? (#NoKXL)

By: Benjamin Franklin, Firedog Lake

Monday October 1, 2012 8:49 am

When I remember what happened, I remember the beauty first. The blue sky, the soaring hawk, the oak sapling mangled by the backhoe we’d stopped. That oak was very inspirational to us as we awaited our fate. By surviving TransCanada’s clear-cutting, it symbolized our own plans to weather the forces marshalled against us.

It was Tuesday, September the 25th. I was anchored to the back of heavy machinery with someone I’d just met. We’d both travelled to East Texas to help derail TransCanada’s massive tar sands pipeline. Climate change is a global problem, but this terribly destructive project was coming right to our backyard; how could I sit idly by?

…

It started with the arrival of TransCanada’s senior supervisor. The regular employees became scarce as the supervisor called for a huddle with the police. The huddle broke and a phalanx of officers marched on us to announce that we were under arrest. Failing to unlock immediately was resisting, which would result in additional charges and justify the officers’ use of “pain compliance.” I suppose TransCanada had grown tired of waiting.

They started like schoolyard bullies – taunting us while twisting my arm behind me, and jumping on my back to put me in a choke hold. The lieutenant asked, “Is your goal just to go to jail? You can go to jail without the pain; it’s your stubbornness that’s making us do this.” I had to stop myself from replying, “I wish this cup would pass me by.” I didn’t say it because I was sure they would misinterpret it as blasphemously casting myself as Jesus, but I meant it; I wished there was another way to accomplish our goals. I wasn’t looking forward to what my time with the ACLU led me to expect they would do to us. But I don’t believe in giving in to terrorism; to follow one’s moral compass in spite of extreme challenges is the way we move forward.

…

A taser is sold as a weapon-tool for halting controlled motion: to make someone stop. While the torture device was on, I was able to remain standing and silent, but the pain was intense. I could not have gathered the concentration required to detach the carabiner even if the pipe hadn’t twisted it out of my grasp.

I had a few seconds to clear my head, then he switched to my upper left arm – the arm where they had handcuffed me. It’s hard to describe. The world was pain, and I repeated Valerie’s quote from V for Vendetta to myself as I heard the lieutenant speculate to the TransCanada supervisor that my fat was insulating me, making it harder for the taser to “bite into the meat,” which is why it wasn’t hurting me as much as they were hoping. The pain was fluid, and by the fifth second, my left pectoral muscle was tingling. But like all things, it passed. The pain, like the fear, washed through. The taunting, however, continued.

The officers informed us that I was too “mule-headed” to be chivalrous and spare Rain pain I had just experienced. When they moved on to torture Rain, the young Wood County deputy who had been selected to taser her was reluctant. He asked if he really had to; he interrupted his count to ask if she was sure she wouldn’t let go.

…

As soon as we were fully in custody, the TransCanada supervisor thanked the Wood County lieutenant for “a job well done.” The lieutenant’s reply? “If this happens again, we’ll just skip to using pepper spray and tasing in the first 10 minutes.”

TransCanada Urges Texas Police to Use "Aggressive Pain Compliance Tactics&quot on Keystone XL Blockaders

By: Jane Hamsher, Firedog Lake

Wednesday September 26, 2012 1:23 pm

I spoke with Sprague today about the use of physical force against two protesters, Shannon Bebe and Benjamin Franklin, who handcuffed themselves to equipment being used to cut down trees so that the southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline could be built.

According to Sprague, Bebe and Franklin began their peaceful protest yesterday at 10:30 am, along with several observers.  Sprague indicated that the group’s interactions with the police had been amicable and peaceful until TransCandada representatives showed up and encouraged the police to “run off” the observers.

Once there were no cameras in sight, Sprague says that TransCanada officials huddled with police.  Shortly thereafter, the police commenced putting Bebe and Franklin in stress positions by bending their free arms backwards as far as possible and twisting their handcuffed hands backwards, and holding them there for 10 minutes.

…

Police then tasered both Bebe and Franklin.  Franklin was tased a second time, and the two relented when police threatened to keep tasering them until they did so.  Sprague said that because of a heart condition, one of the protesters feared for their life.  Franklin described the pain as “immense and almost physically unbearable.”

…

There is no way to classify the use of such tactics against people who cannot defend themselves other than torture.  Which the protesters indicate was carried out, by the police, and the specific request of TransCanada.

I do not have the words to fully express my admiration for what Franklin and Bebe were willing to do in order to stop this pipeline from being (literally) railroaded through the country, against the will of its citizens – especially those whose lands are being seized.  They are true heroes and their courage and conviction are inspirational.

Keystone XL Body Blockaders Need Help

By: Jane Hamsher, Firedog Lake

Wednesday September 26, 2012 7:49 am

Activists climbed 80 feet to set up “Tree Village” and locked themselves to critical machinery directly in the path of the planned oil pipeline. They have pledged to stay there until construction has stopped once and for all, but living in a tree or chained to machinery, exposed to the elements, is no easy task.

Work on the Keystone XL pipeline can’t continue until the Blockaders have been removed, so Firedoglake is sending supplies to help demonstrators stay in the way for as long as possible.

TransCanada Tarsands Blockade Call Reports

By: Jane Hamsher, Firedog Lake

Thursday September 27, 2012 12:16 pm

Today we launched calls into TransCanada’s offices protesting the treatment of Tarsands Blockade activists, who report they were tortured by police after a huddle with TransCanda representatives.

You can sign the petition demanding TransCanada CEO Russell Girling denounce the torture of the Keystone XL Blockaders.

…

Then call TransCanada’s corporate offices to demand immediate action.

The Loyal Order of Alley Cats Mouse and Chowder Club!  Originally posted June 7, 2011.