Morning all.

Oh crap. What split-second timing. I'm reposting my comment from the bottom of the last kit, posted 14 seconds after Joel goes and posts the new kit:

'Morning, Boodle. Off to go put down more hardwood flooring soon. In the meantime, I note that Joel's piece is the lead item on the WaPo home page Outlook section box. Curiously, though, for an article titled "Red Meat Season," it appears to show a photo of a pork chop--the "other" white meat. Hmmmm. Must not have had any handy clip art of real red meats. Unless, I suppose, that's supposed to be a lamb chop. In which case there's an interesting subtext about the electorate being lambs led to the slaughter. Ewe be the judge.

I liked Carol Leoning's piece about 5 Myths About Scooter Libby. Well, four of the five. I still think Rove should have been indicted, too. And a "No s---, Sherlock" headline called "Bush Loosing Credibility on Democracy, Activists Say." No! Ya think? Really? Bush HAD any credibility left to loose? Where did he manage to find some? Did he borrow a cupful over the back fence from Rush Limbaugh? Then squander it? I'm amazed. "Bush's policy now appears 'inconsistent, contradictory and self-serving,'" says some Lebanese academic. Hard to believe, I know.

And there's a cute little story in the religion section about Bush having a conversation with the pope; seems they are both "worried" over the "situation" in Iraq. Couldn't bring myself to read it. I know it had something to do with their concern for those Iraq Christians who may be in harm's way. Puh-leeeeze.

12 hours and 21 minutes until "The Sopranos." But who's counting?

Posted by: Curmudgeon | June 10, 2007 08:41 AM

'Morning, Frosti.

Oh, ya gotta click on the link about steam about to "whistle from his ears."

Morning all! *Grover waves in a drum major outfit as the appropriate number of trombones strike up a tune for Martooni*

:-)

bc was in Baltimore yesterday? Really??? How odd, so were we...

A bit of backBoodling before diving into today's Kit -- Regarding the Va. parents jailed for providing alcohol, they apparently decided THEIR judgement was good enough for OTHER parents' kids, and apparently felt so secure in their judgement that they lied to the other parents about the alcohol (so sayeth the prosecution). "In loco parentis" sure takes on a different meaning here, eh? No sympathy here.

Pumpable meat, like cat food. I'm glad my cat is a dry food cat.

How do issues emerge? What is the role of the media and the government? Immigration became more of an issue when the Minuteman created a kind of media event. The first reaction to the MM was that they were racist, yaahoo, vigilatantes. But clearly there was a problem down there.

Now the issue is amnesty. But how do you let 12 million people into your country, let them serve you, underpay and exploit them, and then say "Ya'all have to go home now." It's a tad simplistic. These people were economic units. They served an economic purpose. They had no rights. But you have a huge group of Hispanics who do have rights, who probably will remember what happens.

Have we allowed Latin America their complete freedom? Did we not steal certain lands from Mexico, much as Saddam tried to steal Kuwait?

We would be better off if Mexico worked, economically. We would be better off if Black Americans were fully integrated into our society, producing weath and not filling prisons. Modo had a great column on Gays in the military. What is the purpose of discouraging people from doing useful and productive work?

I'm beginning to think all presidential candidates should take a turn being mayor of a small town. Population under 500 should be about right. Some advantages to this type of vetting process:

1. Pandering to the core is immediately apparent and produces a social and economic smackdown worthy of Jesse "The Body" in his pre-Gov. days. You can't continue to make a living if a few people love you and the rest won't patronize your business because of your extreme positions. Never mind how all these extroverts would manage the social shunning.

2. We'd have a chance to see how they deal with relative powerlessness. As the discussion in the last few kits noted the candidates can talk all they want about education-but it is at its heart a local and state issue. Let's turn the tables and see how they do where the only real power they have is over mowing the ditches and keeping the streetlights on. I'm not talking traffic signals folks, if the town has any of those it's too big.

3. Slick advertising would be of no use whatsoever. The town newspaper, if there is one, can't print in color and most people don't get it anyway favoring its companion free "shopper." Readers skip the big display ads and go right to the classifieds in the back and the auction notices. The only targeted TV advertising would be on the local weather channel which allows a slide show kind of display but folks know which minutes after the hour to avoid if they want to get a quick look at the radar before going out to bale hay. All the candidates would be forced to show up at the meetings where work is actually done-like the Fire Dept. dance prep sessions or the Pow-wow planning meetings. But they better not show up expecting to do more talking than listening and don't leave without taking some raffle tickets to sell or volunteering to make some "bars" for the concession stand. Oh, and they better not forget to take a turn cleaning the hall.

In recognition of their frailty we could spare them the long commutes to a low paying day job with no/few benefits.

Dreaming I know, nor vegan, but at least it wouldn't be all red meat all the time.

SCC: "nor vegan" should be "not vegan"

Good morning. Joel expressed so well my oft-repeated statement that the presidential campaign has begun too early. My question: can the media stop it? Perhaps all the major media outlets could collectively agree not to cover the presidential "race" until, say, 2008. No televised "debates". No profiles on candidates. No interviews. No spin. If these folks want to campaign, let 'em get out there and talk to people a la frostbitten. I know we can't control the blogosphere but I'm talking newspapers, radio and television. Let's see how powerful the Fourth Estate really is.

Ivansmom...

One word:

Ratings. *SIGH*

Useless ratings at that...

Good morning.

I was trying to catch up. So much to read! I'll have to finish after I post.

Sevenswans, if there were more people like you, the world would be much better. What generosity!

About the homeschooling debate, I've joked lately that my kids will go to public school to learn what NOT to do, and then I'll teach the rest on evenings and weekends. I know I do not have the discipline and organizational skills to homeschool. We'd be playing video games and Skyping people all around the world all day long.

Fortunately, my daughter's first year has ended without any glitches. She had the most wonderful kindergarten teacher. Which brings me to SciTim's comment about good teachers being those who can afford to teach. This wonderful teacher, who is retiring this week, falls into that category.

I agree that financially-secure people make better teachers. It is just that teachers who are financially secure are more able to take risks, take time to learn new things, and often don't mind spending some of their own money to supplement their meager budget at school to get better supplies.

I don't claim to be a great teacher, but I know there are times when I've paid my own way to benefit from professional development opportunities. I don't mind staying late at school working on whatever needs to be done because I can afford to keep my kids in an after-school program for a little bit until I get to them. If my husband didn't have the job he has, I wouldn't be the same teacher. And, not only that, I probably would have never given up marketing in exchange for education.

This also creates a problem. Financially-secure teachers have bargaining power. If given an unpalatable assignment, the financially-secure teacher will have no problem leaving the job at the end of the year. I've never done this, but I've said it before. The day my job is no longer fun is the day I find something else to do. So, I think those kinds of teachers are most often found in schools in affluent areas where the environment is "nicer". Maybe this is not true everywhere, but it is definitely true in my home county, as well as in the county where I teach. Kids in poor schools get the double whammy.

And now I'll go read today's kit

Reading Tom Ricks' piece-
Military Envisions Longer Stay in Iraq
Officers Anticipate Small 'Post-Occupation' Force
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/09/AR2007060901464.html

makes me wish a high profile journalist would write about what "permanent" and "temporary" mean in the military lexicon. For instance, the Honduran constitution doesn't allow other countries to have "permanent" bases but we've been sending people there since the early '80s, it's a PCS (permanent change of station)tour and they've been replacing the metal hooches with better (can't say permanent)housing. Is 2 decades + temporary?

We had already been in South Korea almost 40 years when I was stationed there and lived in a metal Quonset hut. That has since been torn down and replaced with family quarters, though some of the families are there while the service member is in Iraq. Yet, our presence there is not considered "permanent."

This is not to say we never leave anywhere, or that even a long term presence is by definition a bad idea, but-"permanent" bases do get closed and "temporary" bases can seem to go on and on forever.

There's an interesting article in The Atlantic contending that the longer primary cycle benefits voters by allowing more time to road-test the candidates.

Since I can e-mail this article to people, I assume it's okay to post here. This link will expire in 3 days.

http://www.theatlantic.com/r/3QBXGBLlYwE%3D%0A

a bea c writes "This also creates a problem. Financially-secure teachers have bargaining power. If given an unpalatable assignment, the financially-secure teacher will have no problem leaving the job at the end of the year."

Very insightful. I would add that in struggling schools and failing school systems the administration often becomes more authoritarian and punitive in an attempt to clean things up. The first teachers driven out are the good ones who can go elsewhere but haven't in the past because they were able to create little pockets of excellence in their own classrooms.

Frosti, I love your post. Little pockets of excellence, indeed. One of my very best teacher friends recently received an award for excellence in Foreign Language Education. This woman sings, dances, paints, cooks, you name it, all in the classroom. Her students LOVE her. And she's thinking of going to another school to get away from gangs. And, from the assistant principal who seems to think all teachers at her school had better be Christian.

Oh Frostbitten, I like the idea on small town politics to test big time politicians.

Scotty, you're so right about ratings. The race for ratings is driven by the desire for advertising revenue, mostly corporate advertising. So let's get the corporations on board. Convince them not to advertise in media outlets which cover the extended presidential "race". They can give directly to prospective candidates if they wish (or are compelled) to do so, but no media advertising to prop up the 2007 "campaign". Corporations would save money - bonus! - and may reap the gratitude of a spin-weary consumer populace. Fourth estate plus corporate clout might equal something.

Just watching Ben Stein blather on Morning about "we" are too concerned with Paris Hilton and Hollywood, when other bigger things are happening. I could not help but notice that he, Stein, was on TV talking about Paris Hilton. He has met the enemy and it is him, not us.

The illegal immigration matter will probably be an important if not THE important issue highlighted in '08. I just started Robert V. Remini's "Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars" and it's reminding me how willing we have beeen to do our own ethnic cleansing historically. Once again we are in need of a time machine to go back to the '90s and make the government do what it was supposed to do then, as opposed to waiting until now, when uprooting families really does become extreme to an extent.

But why don't we just have Pre-Presidential Primary Runups 24-7 every year, all the time? Then our elected leaders can do nothing at all forever, and my leveraged purchases of foreign currency will come to fruition that much sooner.

Joel writes:
Tom Tancredo, come on down! Tancredo, a Republican congressman from Colorado, ... said Bush has governed as a liberal and opined that McCain's immigration bill raised the question of "whether or not we will actually survive as a nation." On Planet Tancredo, we're just one bilingual classroom away from total destruction.

It would be wise for Tancredo to review a bit of Colorado's history before he continues to spout off:

The southern one-third of Colorado, roughly along the drainage basins of the Arkansas, Rio Grande, and Gunnison Rivers, had close contacts with the Spanish-speaking inhabitants of the well-organized, well-populated settlements of northern New Mexico, making this area of the state a not too remote outpost, well within the territorial influence of Santa Fe.

While the Anglo population east of the Mississippi was still sublimely ignorant of the area, or, later, considered the territory of Colorado to be a desert wilderness unfit for human habitation, the southern part of the state was populated by Spanish-surnamed people, speaking he Spanish language, locating themselves with reference to geographic features and places bearing Spanish names (interesting list), and considering themselves to be, without reference to ethnic origins or national allegiances, native-born occupants of the soil on which they lived and from which they drew their sustenance.

The records of early political activity in what was to become the state of Colorado reveals an interesting, but extremely sketchy, story of participation on the part of Spanish-named individuals. As the territory was defined and moved toward the organization of a system of counties and electoral districts around the population centers, Spanish-surnamed people were active in the various councils and legislative bodies that led to the establishment of the Colorado Territory and finally to statehood in 1876. The tier of counties along the southern border of the state was populated mainly by the Spanish-surnamed, and they filled most of the county offices and a few of the state offices originating in and from these counties. Among the names of the legislators in the territorial government of 1861 are J.M. Francisco from La Veta and Casimiro Barela from Trinidad.

Despite Senator Barela's many years as an active political figure, his tenure was accompanied by a continuing attrition in the number of Spanish-surnamed state legislators. In the legislative assembly of Jan. 3, 1876, there were 12 Spanish-surnamed legislators in addition to Barela: Manuel Lucero, Clemente Trujillo, Felipe Baca, Lorenzo A. Abeyta, Mariano Larragoite, John Manzanares, Pedro Raphel Trujillo, Jose A. Velasquez, Donaciano Gurule, N.D. Jaramillo, Mauricio Apodaca, and Preenciseo Sanchez, all representing constituencies in the southern counties. By 1921, there was only only one Spanish-surnamed representative.

Hw did Colorado become settled? The Spaniards traveled north from outposts in the province of New Mexico, while the Anglo-Americans pushed from the midwest on trapping and fur-trading expeditions which eventually extended into the Spanish settlements. Since Anglo-Americans are more interested in western movement of the own frontiersmen, most Anglo-Americans are more concerned with the exploits of these men than with the history that predates the American ocupation of the Southwest. As a result, there is the impression that American frontiersmen, known variously as mountain men, traders or trappers, discovered an unknown land. Such expressions of primacy as "the first white man to cross the Rocky Mountains" and "the first white baby born in the west" overlook the long period of Spanish history of the southwest.

Last week, I mentioned hiking twice--on Saturday and Monday last, I mentioned six mile hikes each day in the new state natural area quite close to our home. The hike last Monday was on a very historic trail--and there is some historical humor to the time period when this road, now trail, was established. Perhaps I can tackle the story tomorrow.

Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head.

I think the phrase shows up sooner in Google if it's on multiple webpages, not just one.

Mudge, ask me all your questions about hardwood floors and I will answer them all.

I am trying not to use the expression "Last of the Mohitos." I'm trying, Ringo, I'm trying real hard!

Here's a tip I really ought to share: forget about limes for a second, and when you open that purchased salsa, add four or five tablespoons of orange juice, and add some fresh chopped cilantro. It will add huge zing to the salsa for very little effort.

Frostbitten, excellent idea about making them run a small town. That's one reality TV show we could actually benefit from.

Nice post by Mr. George Sears up there. We should be doing all we can to restore our reputation and influence in South American. Plus I heard you can live like a king on $100k in Lima. For ten years. I'm looking to do a little reverse migration. That's fair, isn't it?

At the moment I'm softening myself up for the chiro with a Bloody Mary, and then it's a fine racing afternoon on Fox at 1pm, of all places. Enhanced by a new grill, sausage with peppers and onions, etc etc. If you've never seen a Formula One race give it a try. They're in Montreal today, great course.

And I, or one, am not going to give in the pressure to repeat this silly line about "Dick Cheney is a doo-doo head".

Congressman Tancredo represents Denver's outer suburbs, where I suppose everyone is anglo.

When I was an intern on Capitol Hill in the summer of 1975, one of the regular events scheduled for us was hearing the candidates for the 1976 Democratic nomination. The field was huge.

According to Wikipedia, this is the field that election season...

• Birch Bayh
• Lloyd Bentsen
• Jerry Brown
• Robert Byrd
• Jimmy Carter
• Frank Church
• Fred R. Harris
• Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson
• Terry Sanford
• Milton Shapp
• Sargent Shriver
• Adlai Stevenson III
• Morris "Mo" Udall
• George Wallace

I remember seeing Bayh, Bentsen, Udall, Shriver, Carter and Brown. I'm sure we heard others but they didn't impress me I guess.

Carter was the total unknown. It was fun watching him rise throughout the year.

I also went to an Allman Brothers concert that fall in Roanoke and they had a huge bedsheet hanging behind them with these words spraypainted on it...

"Be Smarter, Vote Carter."

The guy I was with said "Who's that?"

[This was the post-Nixon 94th Congress elected in 1974. The new wave of Democrats was so big that there were lots of members of congress who later became powerful but in the summer of 1975 were in little teeny closet-like offices at on the top floor of the Cannon Building--the lowest spot on the congressional totem pole.]

The interns were also invited to the White House, where we were greeted by Gerald Ford and treated to a fine reception. My main memory of the event is that it was incredibly hot in the White House ballroom. I actually found this today, his speech to us (he mentions the heat!)...

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=5098

Come to think of it, Congressman Tancredo's constituents, being largely from somewhere elsee, may not even realize their state's settlement by people of European heritage started from the south.

The immigration issue looks as though it'll be settled the way Florida "settled" fireworks safety concerns. The legislature mollified safety advocates by restricting what's sold:
http://www.fireworksafety.com/laws.htm
But all sorts of fireworks are permissible to frighten birds feeding on your crops. All you have to do is sign a sheet of paper. Furthermore, the legislature recently forbade local governments to restrict the sale of "bird frightening" fireworks.

I assume that Congress will make some symbolic moves to show that it disapproves of undocumented people living in the US, while doing essentially nothing to legalize or remove them.

About compromise... we're watching last night's SNL, which originally aired last fall. One great line from the Weekend Update...

"President Bush, on Wednesday, held a news conference where he vowed to work with the new Democratic majority. Which, if true, can only mean one thing -- the Democrats have a nuclear bomb." --Amy Poehler

That would be nucular, wouldn't it?

hi Yoki!

*Grover waving... [oops..] ...spilling coffee*

Good morning, all.

*Grover saddles large dog and gallops off into the sunshine, arms waving.*

I think the Pope was performing a secret exorcism on Bush, Mudge. Unfortunately it's not gonna work.

TBG,
By going to college in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, I encountered two of those 1975 candidates.
• Milton Shapp, Pennsylvania, showed up at the Penn State campus when it was widely believed that students would eat politicians alive, if given the opportunity. Maybe even fight over the liver. He seems to have been an effective governor.
• Terry Sanford, if I remember, made the inspired choice of putting Skipper Bowles (father of Erskine) in charge of promoting North Carolina's economic development. By the early 70s, the state made great progress in income and decent housing. Impressive, considering that just 15 years earlier, NC had been nearly as poor as Mississippi. Sanford later did good as president of Duke. I suspect he would have made a fine president for the country.

I think it great fun to point out the inconsistent statements of our so-called, suppos-ed "leaders"--whether they are presidential candidates or not. Maureen Dowd has two of these observations in her op-ed in today's NYT:

Peter Pace:
Peter Pace, whose job as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff became a casualty of Iraq on Friday, asserted in March that homosexual acts "are immoral." Yet in May, he wrote a letter to the judge in the Scooter Libby case, pleading for leniency for the Cheney aide. Scooter always looked for "the right way to proceed -- both legally and morally," General Pace wrote of the man who lied to a grand jury about the outing of a spy, after he pumped up the fake case for the war that has claimed the lives of 3,500 young men and women serving under the general.

John McCain:
At the memorial for Mark Bingham, the gay 6-foot-5 rugby player who was on Flight 93 on 9/11, John McCain said he might owe his life to the young man who helped fight the hijackers, bringing down the plane aiming to crash into the Capitol.

But Senator McCain wants gay troops to stay closeted. The policy, he said, is "working." But it's not. The Army in Iraq is like that exhausted nag Scarlett O'Hara whipped on to Tara. Yet Republicans surge on, even as they expel gays.

Let me add a bit to my earlier post about Senator Tancredo of Colorado, since Dave of the Coonties referred to it in his post.

Long-time Hispanics in Colorado are neither immigrants in the United States nor the descendants of any such immigrants. Colorado has been their homeland for many years before anyone ever heard of the United States. Father Angelico Chavez commented, "only the aboriginal Indians can rate them as alien newcomers. Whatever trace of their Hispanic language and culture that may have survived is their very own since it grew up apart from that of Mexico and from that of Spain itself."

Old Main in the University of Colorado was built by these first settlers. In 1959, when the main tower in Old Main was reinforced, it was found that the instructions written on the beams were all in Spanish. On one rafter it red: "Estamos a quince millas al sur de Leon." Leon here is, of course, Lyons. By some peculiar coincidence in pronunciation, they thought the name was Leon, which in Spanish would have been pronounced somewhat similar to Lyons ("leon" in Spanish means "lion"). We have to remember that most of these people did not know English. The only system of pjoenetics they had was Spanish.

Spanish also was the "lingua franca" of most Indians, and you can be certain that this was the language generally used in Bent's Fort. Even in Kit Carson's home (he was married to Josefina Jaramillo) the language that was spoken was Spanish. Spanish remained, along with English and German, the official language of the state until 1900. Sone of our early polical figures, such as Casimiro Barela (mentioned in my previous post) had a very limited command of the English language. Much of the early education in Colorado was bilingual. Interestingly enough, Colorado, the name of the state, although of recent vintage, is also Spanish.

Source for this information: "The Hispanic Contribution to the State of Colorado," ed. Jose de Onis, published under the auspices of the University of Colorado Centennial Commission, Westview Press, Boulder, Colo.,1976.

From Wiki:
Lyons is a town in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. ... The town of Lyons, Colorado was founded in 1880 by Edward S. Lyon. He purchased 160 acres from H.F. and Isabelle Sawyer, noticed the potential to quarry out the red sandstone, which had easy access due to the outcroppings. He platted the town in 1881. The town was incorporated in 1891. The town's name has an "s" added to the end of it, with no verified reason why.

The cornerstone of the building that would become Old Main was laid September 20, 1875. ... The sandstone used in the construction of nearly all the buildings on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus was selected from a quarry in Lyons, Colorado.

Wanted to float the Rio Frio on tubes today but Loomispouse has a cold, which he says he was just beginning to come down with as he boarded his flight TO North Carolina. Rats!

I have trouble with the "Why are we getting rid of gays when we need people?" line from folks who support their open service in the military. It strikes me as "We need cannon fodder, let's let the retards and them queer boys in."

How about getting rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell because it's not only the right thing to do but has served its perhaps unintended purpose of transitioning from the dinosaurs to military leaders who think-"Women and gays, why ever not?"

Hi, everyone.

Joel's column was rather thought-provoking to me, I'l try to post something to the 10thcircle on that later.

Scotty, you're funny.

bc

A depression era white meat campaign featured the slogan "a chicken in every pot" and it seems in a red meat campaign era that "a steak on every grill" would fit the consumerism mode quite well. Alternately, "a share of the pot for everyone" may work, except for that doo doo head dick cheney.

P.S. frostbitten: I remember those quonset huts - 7th Division, Korea - and the coldest winter of my life.

An old friend of ours came by yesterday. The conversation inevitably turned to Iraq and the Bush administration. Our friend said the only candidate that appealed to him was (wait for it) - Ron Paul! He likes Paul's economic plan - all I know about it is that he wants to go back to the gold standard (not quite sure what that means, but it sounds very 19th century). Turns out that our friend is socking away gold bars.

"And who's Ron Paul? Why doesn't he have a last name?"

He has raised $4-$5 MILLION.
He is a 10 term Congressman.
He has won every GOP poll since this "Red Meat Season" has started.
And he will be the NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!

I have to post this link to the Institute for Figuring - they have some intriguing links (a bit scary for this math avoider) - what caught my eye was the crocheted coral reef:
http://www.theiff.org/main.html

"...you shall not crucify mankind on a cross of gold." -William Jennings Bryan, presidential candidate 1896

Bryan favored the silver standard and lost. Ron Paul (Last name here) wants to return to the gold standard and a metallic, rather than Metallica, basis on which to peg monetary value. I propose that in an era of microchips and global warming a mineral basis monetary standard is more appropriate, and as some may have already guessed, prefer a Lithium Standard.

Who is the Texas Republican, Goldwater conservative, anti-socialized medicine physician who held the seat later occupied by Tom Delay, is known as "Dr. No" in Congress, favors a gold standard monetary policy and has no apparent last name?

Come to think of it, the Lithium Standard Dollar (LSD) has a certain cachet in this brave new world of politics. And before you know it, we will have a candidate who uses a glyph, grapheme or symbol in place of a name.

long time no boodle. Hi all -- so nice to read all the familiar imaginaries.

As a Coloradan, I am saddened to see someone like Tancredo emerge. I went to school with folks (they were chicanos then) whose families had lived in my small town for generations. Luceros, Lopez, Gallegos, Manzaneres, etc.

I want to believe the whole, ugly scare on immigration "debate" will somehow mature. Tancredo will fade from the limelight, Lou Dobbs will stop peddling imaginary fears about leprosy . . .

The whole of Outlook today, from Ted Gup's piece on secrecy, to Joel's fine, meaty take on the absurdity of the primary season -- geez. What a country!!!

TBG -- I was a freshman in college in '76. All during that primary season and general campaign I was still busy finishing off my high school partying. I have vague memories of ridicule of the peanut farmer from Americus. I didn't become politically conscious until I was in college.

Come to think of it, I may not have become conscious again until college (after a misspent high school career!!) :-)

this is a hit and run. May try to check in later. Have been struggling with health. I miss you all tons!

Sorry, Frosti. I was one of those people, but my intent was not to imply we need cannonfodder. Merely that highly qualified personnel could (were) being dumped from positions which would benefit by their tenure. I thought even die-hard dadt believers would have trouble arguing with that.

I used to date an AF Col. who's still a good friend. It's been interesting to watch his opinion change from the early 90s when we were in grad school ("No Way"--actually, that's a polite version) to now ("Why is orientation/sex a problem?"). He was also disturbed by the # of promotees who gave testament to their religious faith at the last promotion ceremony.

dbG-No need for apology dbG. It just rankles a bit that when standards are being lowered vis a vis education and criminal records. Talking about the need for more people as a reason for allowing the open service of gays could also be construed somehow as a lower standard rather than just one more sensible and just move.

Don't get me started about references to religious faith at military ceremonies. Mr. F is one of just a few people I know who has never thanked/referenced a deity at any military ceremony.

SCC-...a bit that when...

please take out "that"

But if we make it so all the gays in the military are no longer blackmailable, how are the foreign agents supposed to subborn our military?

from shiloh:

//And before you know it, we will have a candidate who uses a glyph, grapheme or symbol in place of a name.//

We could have "the vice president formerly known as al gore" represented by a symbol of his choosing. Al is already ten steps ahead of the pack. He's a shoe in for the first politician to follow Prince.

Welcome PROUD AMERICAN to the Boodle. Be prepared for ridicule and personal attacks, but come primary time we will be RECKONED with.

We can base our currency on gold, silver, beryllium, silicon, OR DIE-LITHIUM, but until we free ourselves from the worthless paper that RED (and not state) Nixon gave us, we will be at the mercy of the CHICOMS and their magical fixed currency as they trade us cheap trinkets for OUR VITAL FLUIDS at WalMart. Sam Walton sold out our country for his wealth. He was YET another Arkansan (I'm looking at you BILLARY) determined to destroy our great country.

RON PAUL (no last name needed) explains why we need MALICIOUS PETALS:

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2006/cr021506.htm

I dare you to dispute these TRUTHS:

"Since printing paper money is nothing short of counterfeiting, the issuer of the international currency must always be the country with the military might to guarantee control over the system."

"It now is common knowledge that the immediate reaction of the administration after 9/11 revolved around how they could connect Saddam Hussein to the attacks, to justify an invasion and overthrow of his government. Even with no evidence of any connection to 9/11, or evidence of weapons of mass destruction, public and congressional support was generated through distortions and flat out misrepresentation of the facts to justify overthrowing Saddam Hussein."

"The dollar's importance is obvious, but this does not diminish the influence of the distinct plans laid out years ago by the neo-conservatives to remake the Middle East. Israel's influence, as well as that of the Christian Zionists, likewise played a role in prosecuting this war. Protecting "our" oil supplies has influenced our Middle East policy for decades."

The Libtarded Media tries to make Paul sound like a CRANK, but in every debate he has been the voice of SANITY on the podium. If you want our nation disgraced by torture and unjust wars, support any other Repugnican, but if you want COMMON SENSE, vote Ron.

Seriously, how does one encounter a word like abominate? Does it come up and introduce itself politely through scholarly readings, or do you have to go searching for it as if it where a rare coin?

No need to shout, Pop Socket.

Hi, nelson! Glad you could drop in - we miss you! It was nice to see CowTown the other day too. Haven't heard from the other Coloradon, Random Commentator, for awhile either. *Grover waves*

Ok now, libtarded media made me laugh.

Frosti- you're on a roll...really good posts.

Jumper - your 2:10 made me laugh too. You just summed it up so nicely-this whole gays in the military debate is just so STUPID!

Sorry for SHOUTING. I get excited about Ron Paul and can't help it. I know that when I use ALL CAPS people think I'm just another dreaming schizohead and ignore my SHINING WIT.

I'll try to do better.

Hi nelson!

I think "abominate" leaps right out at you, or perhaps taps you on the shoulder from behind and says "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head"! [The new "ooga-booga!"]

I prefer beryllium to dilithium crystals. Given our new craze for biofuels though, perhaps we should switch to the Switchgrass Standard.

Good afternoon, friends. Just got in from church. We celebrated our 99th anniversary with good preaching and good food.

Hi, nelson, so glad to hear from you.

I can't believe JA coining the word "pandering". If I remember correctly that is the same word I used to describe the Republican debate.

And if we're going to talk "red meat", I don't see how that discussion can take place without race entering that conversation. Of course, this is the Republican party so that probably doesn't matter. And I suspect all of us know why we're talking politics so early, three guesses, and the first three are right. People can hardly wait. I've only felt this way about one President, and he's dead and gone. Most people loved him and still do, but not me.

And we all know that the folks from Mexico are just a new group to abuse. That's why it's so hard to come to a compromise about immigration. I told a woman that one time and she got fighting mad. The truth does hurt sometimes. I will never in this life or the one to come, think that those that run this country did not know these folks were coming here in numbers that have been quoted.

Well, I'm stuffed and ready for a nap. I think I will read instead. Hope your Sunday is beautiful. We're looking like rain here, but still hot.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ. Peace.

Sock Puppet: //trade us cheap trinkets for OUR VITAL FLUIDS at WalMart.//

Excuse me! I trade my vital fluids for expensive trinkets!

On further consideration, as switchgrass has a negative value at the moment we might not want to tie our currency to it. Ivansdad suggests Soybeans and Sugar Beets, both of which are currently used for biofuels.

Good point, Cassandra -- they're all out there running for president now because everyone is so eager to get past Arbusto. Are you referring to Reagan about the other president? I never loved him.

Nelson, good to year from you! Hope your health issues are resolving.

Cassandra, if you're stuffed from the 99th anniversary, I shudder to think what the 100th will bring. ;-)

We were in Raleigh last night and got in the middle of a lovely thunderstorm. No rain at home, of course. We attended the wedding of a cousin of my husband's. The bride, God bless her, sprained her ankle last week. She walked down the aisle on her father's arm, but used crutches (nicely decorated with tulle and flowers) to walk out. We enjoyed seeing the family; most of the cousins were there. Like many families, we don't get together much any more except for weddings and funerals.

*I* think calling Dick Cheney a doodoo head is being polite.

I thought someone would mention this earlier...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/09/AR2007060901465.html?nav=hcmodule

If this tribe were in the United States, with 50K years of history, maybe we could convince our presidential candidates that Creation didn't occur 6K years ago. Then again, if that tribe were in the US, we would have traded their vital fluids for some Tupperware at WalMart.

Something for the pattern recognition peeps, a clever music video.

http://www.factoryfilms.net/pop.php?file=FuyijaMiyagi_AnkleInjury.mov

a bea c: Has anyone talked to the Hadzabe about franchising gambling casinos - or has the Jack Abramoff lobby already foreclosed that possibility?

"This is the season of the marginal candidate whose voice rises higher and higher until it threatens to reach a pitch that only a dog could hear. It's the time when candidates try on entirely new political ideologies the way teenage girls try on skirts at Abercrombie."

I think you're reading Ron Paul wrong here. You should look into this guy, when his campaign contribution info comes out in a few weeks everyone will realize that his support is real and it is broad. If every chooses to call it "spam" so be it, we'll spam his campaign coffers then we'll spam the election booths with votes for Ron Paul.

The revolution is, ironcally, coming from a Texan from the Republican party, a humble man of conviction named Dr. Ron Paul.

Ron Paul 2008. Please keep spamming Dr. Paul with $$!!!!

"This is the season of the marginal candidate whose voice rises higher and higher until it threatens to reach a pitch that only a dog could hear. It's the time when candidates try on entirely new political ideologies the way teenage girls try on skirts at Abercrombie."

I think you're reading Ron Paul wrong here. You should look into this guy, when his campaign contribution info comes out in a few weeks everyone will realize that his support is real and it is broad. If every chooses to call it "spam" so be it, we'll spam his campaign coffers then we'll spam the election booths with votes for Ron Paul.

The revolution is, ironcally, coming from a Texan from the Republican party, a humble man of conviction named Dr. Ron Paul.

Ron Paul 2008. Please keep spamming Dr. Paul with $$!!!!

>Something for the pattern recognition peeps, a clever music video.

dbG, that's a very cool clip!

lowercase baby :-)

PopSocket: I was pleased to see that Paul left the door open for the oil cartels to "...demand gold OR ITS EQUIVALENT..." (SHOUTING supplied). That's leaves the option available for Lithium and even precious bodily fluids.

I'm more concerned about the GOLD HUSTLE. The secret cabal got together and announced that gold would have an "INTRINSIC VALUE." They in effect hypnotized the world. So I don't trust those hucksters. I can't eat gold, and they know it.

Thus the sugar-beet- and soybean-based currencies make somewhat more sense. I myself use petrodollars and electrodollars in my accounting system. Because for example I can calculate my carbon footprint quite easily: it equals my salary.

Apostrophe violation confession.

Mea culpa. My advance apologies to the punctuation police.

Rob: I actually like some of what Ron Paul represents in his platform of sorts, but if his adherents begin to go the titlemania route, as did Herr Doctor Governor Howard Dean, M.D., the egomania will turn me off. BTW, this site offers equal opportunity for candidate spoofing.

nelson: after pondering your comment, I suggest that a conical helix or "gyre" as used by W.B.Yeats may be the appropriate symbol for the vice president formerly known as al gore. He and his running mate could use a double helix image on the ballot.

I'm sorry Slyness, but I do not think calling Dick Cheney a doo-doo head is polite. Granted, it is better than saying that "Dick Cheney is a *big* doo-doo head," but it is still terribly inappropriate for a boodle more accustomed to refined words like "Abominate."

Indeed, I am terribly remorseful that I ever introduced, purely for illustrative purposes, the phrase "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head." Oh sure, at first "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head," may have had some pedological value, but that moment as passed.

I fear that "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head," is simply becoming a hackneyed and overexposed cliché. Now, as I shall be in management class all this week, (Where expressions like ""Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head," are mercifully absent) I cannot be here to chastise all of you for using phrases like "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head."

So do behave.

RD, we could come up with better words.

Dick Cheney is, or has, a scatological head

Dick Cheney has a big coprolith for a head

Dick Cheney is a deplorable, abominable guano head.

Google testing reveals that "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" has not yet reached orbit. Maximum thrust may be necessary as RD illustrates.

Suggestions for metallic foliage - perhaps to be used as a monetary standard:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw06102007/2003734341_pacificplife10.html
Or not.

a bea c, now those are *impolite* terms for our (dis)esteemed vice president!

See, RD? That's what I meant. hehehe

Kim-still blushing from your 2:28, thanks.

Ivansmom-I was very excited about your sugar beet currency proposal until the intense olfactory memories of beet pulp in North Dakota's Red River Valley knocked me out of my socks. This means shortly after adopting the beet standard we'd have to convert to sugar or store our beets in the far northern reaches of Canuckistan. Double edged sword that. With no easy way for the lay person to distinguish cane sugar from beet sugar Brazil could quickly become the most powerful country on earth, or we'd have to really get handle on global warming before all our beets spoil.

This thought strikes real fear-the Abramoffs of the world could be replaced with the sinister "World Association of Beet and Cane Growers."
http://www.ifap.org/wabcg/Fargo04/speechE.html

Should the sugar beet currency candidate need a campaign song I nominate this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoWKWlPboY4

The logical choice for a currency standard is gold-pressed latinum. It can't be replicated and is easily contained in worthless gold. Besides, it's the only currency accepted at the dabo wheel.

Latinum is a faux opal. The only element superior to Lithium in contemporary utility is Ununquadium, atomic weight 114.

And I assume you've cornered the Earth market on that currency, Yello?

I was going to propose a Mr Stripey Standard, but that'd go rotten quickly.

While Ron Paul is correct on some things, such as the vulnerablity of paper to inflation, we mustn't forget that the Great Depression was actually caused by deflation-- there literally wasn't enough money to go around for economic exchanges.

I suggest a helium standard. We'll have to indulge in radioactivity or go to the stars to mine more once our supply expires. Annoying balloon pollution would plummet.

Besides, it's fun to think of billionaries showing off their wealth by talking like Mickey mouse instead of burning paper money in cigars.

thanks for the hellos -- I almost have forgotten how to fill in the "comment" section!

a bea c -- the very evidence used (genetic and archaeological as well as linguistic) for us to know the Hadzabe people have been a unit for 50,000 years is rejected by those who take Bishop Usher's 6000 year timeline to be the accurate measure of the earth's age.

It's a very tricky mental game to buy into the parts of science that help one (medicine, genetics, technological advances) and dismiss those parts that don't support one's worldview.

Methods for accurately assessing the age of archaeological finds (C-14) and much older geologic records.

I once read an article in the Atlantic about a creationist who actually got his Ph.D. from Harvard in geology, studied under S.J. Gould, the whole nine yards.

He started a creationist college in Kentucky, I think, and is trying to use his formidable knowledge of geologic processes to explain how the entire earth was formed in 6000 years. He even has theories about post-flood geology and such.

I felt sorry for the guy. To be so beholden to the creation story from Genesis that even a Ph.D. from Harvard can't shake his head loose . . .

It's a weird, weird world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadzabe

this link to wiki about the Hadzabe should work, I hope. Interesting stuff.

oh yeah -- I vote for Dick Cheney's head being a coprolite.

Fossilized doo doo. Most apt. Can be toxic if reconstituted.

nelson, it takes a very intelligent person to maintain that "tricky mental game." These people aren't dumb. I just think they're really scared.

The sugar beet song is best sung in French or German (the world's leading producers - the US is 3rd), but slights the third-world producers of sugar cane (After Brazil, India is second and the US is 10th).

"Scared" is probably right RD. With science taking pot shots at the underpinnings of fundamentalism it takes great intellect to maintain a belief system. Just recently we have learned from sharks that JC may have been a parthenogen who elected not to transmit a human genetic anomaly. (Kazantakis and the DaVinci Code notwithstanding)

Kazantzakis

The Grand Nagus gave me a system-wide exclusive license for a mere 93% royalty. He wouldn't try to cheat me would he? I've memorized all the Rules of Acquisition and everything.

Well, I guess I should go do my duty as precinct chief and remind my team we've got a primary on Tuesday. That, and the modified class schedule for the last week of school should keep me busy enough that I won't be able to visit here. Someone email me the results of the "doo doo" versus "coprolith" vote.

And here is a cool link for neat word fans...

http://www.etymonline.com

I, for one, yello, will not kiss the sceptre of a Ferenghi.

Nothing, alas, for abominate.

Okay, I take back all those snarky insinuations that "abominate" is an unreasonably obscure word. I see that on August 15, 2004 it was, in fact, the Word of The Day.

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/08/15.html

I must have been sick or something, cause I totally missed it.

Frosti - you're the boodler of the day in my book! The sugar beet campaign song--absolutely inspirational!

a bea c - I can't thank you enough for the whole coprolith angle. You're the best.

Nelson - I'm saving the Hadzabe link for after dinner. It looked very interesting.

RD - oh yeah, that's right, get everyone going on the whole doodoo head thing and then go on some management boondoggle. You are not fooling me.

Thou hast never learned about all the abominations of the Lord, thou physics pagan?

I abominate anybody who breaks the basic principle of science-- that if you want the answer to be X so bad, you're the wrong person to prove X to be true.

And I abominate anybody who dares say JC was a parthenogen a la shark-style. He'd be a woman in that case.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis

Whether, the Virgin Mary was a gynandromorph or a chimera instead-- well, just walk away, mate, is my advice. Not our business.

OK, 54 minutes until Sopranos. Who's gonna be here online with me for a live Boodle commentary as the slaughter proceeds? LEmme see a show of hands? Joel, you there? Gonna watch?

In the meantime, "Young Frankenstein" is on AMC--a fine way to pass the time until S-Day, in, uh, 51 minutes.

LTL-CA...

Thought of you when I saw this today...

http://cgi.ebay.com/RETRO-JAFFLE-MAKER_W0QQitemZ170119588750QQihZ007QQcategoryZ59906QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I'll try to comment Mudge, but the computer is backwards to the TV so it might be a problem. Can't wait to see what happens to T.

In case anyone feels that's a spoiler, Mudge and Bad Sneakers please e-mail me! I need to know! Thanks.

We're about to begin, so we'll have to put the "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" discussion on hold for an hour.

Go ahead Mudge, no HBO here. I'll probaby be with Mel and Gene and Fronk-en-stein.

Here's a great idea. Let's tie the US currency to a precious metal, silver, gold latinum, it doesnt' matter, and then wait for a couple of Texas siblings to try to corner the market on it. What could possibly go wrong?
When the States was tied to the gold standard I believe that only the government was allowed to posess gold. Doesn't sound very libertarian to me.
Tony is moving to Italy.

BTW. I've been invited to a turkey shoot in Troy NY and I just want to say that I don't think Dick Cheney is a big doo doo head. FREE SCOOTER!!!

After 5 please put the brain through the slot in the door.

Don't you just love that he used the abby normal brain?

So many great lines in that movie. Mel Brooks is my favorite producer.

The Bing is gonna be hit any minute. Wait til ya see.

Almost forgot the most important task of the day, one last thing before I sign off from the boodle for tonight. Ahem,

"Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head."

Off to join a chat about Lifetime's new series "Army Wives." It's horrible, but entertaining given the MST3K treatment.

Out.

This is all over the place, I'm having trouble keeping it all straight. Now AJ is going to join the Army -thot' he couldn't do that after the suicide thing. Or are they taking everyone now - except gays who know Arabic??

Something is very wrong. We're 40 minutes into it--and nothing has happened. Nothing.

OK, I take it all back. Phil just got wacked.

"S" says Phil made a very poor speed bump.

I just plain don't effing believe it.

They'll be talking about this ending for a thousand years.

That's fording it?

You got to admit, Bad, NOBODY saw this ending coming.

Tony joined the monastery, Mudge?

That's for sure Mudge. Chase has one weird sense of humor, doesn't he? I did like the cat tho'.

RD, you and that comment are going to come up on Google pretty soon, and everybody will be saying that phrase.

I think you've started something, RD. Of course, I suspect that was the intention?

Mudge, I hope Tony doesn't get whacked. Is the guy that wears the old timey hairdo and the boss rags still on there? I can't think of his name.

Well, I'm turning in. Good night, folks, good dreams.

Ivansmom, you are so correct. Child that I was I remember him offering to stand in front of the school house door to keep those that look like me out of the schools in one of the states lower than mine. It was reported on the evening news, and he was quite proud of that moment. In the end, I doubt if he remembered that proud moment or much of anything else. And when he decided to run for president, correct me if I'm wrong, he announced that candidacy where the Klan had their beginning.

And I am disappointed that they didn't whack AJ.

My take: leaves the door open for more.

Hey. Mudge, Is that what they call a dangling particple?

I guess Mudge went to bed.

Yes, loved the cat, too. Did you notice the cat plop down on the sidewalk in front of Satriale's, and was looking at Paulie? wonder what the hell that means?

OK, hate to post a spoiler for anybody who didn't see it, but it's going to be ALL over the media in about 10 minutes anyway. Here's what happened:

Nothing. (Yes, Phil got wacked about 42 minutes into it; he's dead.) Carlo "flipped" and went to the grand jury; Tony is almost certainly going to be indicted. AND NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED. The show ended in the middle of a scene; went to black. The final soung was Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." So there's your irony for you, and the final message.

Tony went to see Uncle Junior, who apparently no longer recognizes him. Or does he? Then Tony goes to a restaurant to have dinner with the family. Carmela walks in and sits down. Tension builds; is this a set-up? Most of the other diners seem innocent, but there's a guy in the corner. AJ shows up; he's talking about joining the Army and going to Afghanistan and working with the locals. Meadow is outside trying to park her car in a spot a little too small for it. Another guy enters the restaurant, and is sitting at the counter, and looking around suspiciously. Meadow gets the car parked. The guy at the counter gets up and walks down the aisle and goes into the men's room.

And the show ends. Cut to black. It. Just. Ends. Utterly amazing, utterly unprecedented in the history of TV or movies.

Sorry Mudge. Didn't realize you were typing.

No problem, bh. And yes, that is indeed on helluva dangling participle.

That cat will eventually cause Paulie to lose what little sanity he possesses. Or, the cat will grow long white whiskers that mimic Paulie's hair and they'll be a team.

The silence during the credits at the end was eerie. But what song could they possibly have played?

Cassandra, I was so young, I didn't know about that. But by his second term I became aware of political problems and the iran-contra scandal and other things.

This was the first political satire I ever saw-- Genesis' "Land of Confusion"-- that and Bloom Country kept me educated.

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2787630

You can guess a lot from the visuals (I never saw this with captioning), but here's the lyrics:

http://www.lyricsdomain.com/7/genesis/land_of_confusion.html

I sometimes wish Bloom Country had lasted until 1992 instead of petering out around 1989. I've always wondered how and if Bill the Cat would have run for president yet again against Bill the Human.

Big story with a cool photo about the Canuckistani comet explusion killing all the wooly mammoths 12,900 years ago, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/10/AR2007061000915.html?hpid=artslot Photo makes you wanna sigh, "Tusk, tusk."

Bedtime beckons. 'Nighty-night, Boodle.

The actor who I have really enjoyed this season is Phil's number two. Really slimy. His physical stature is not menacing but he just exudes the type that likes to cause pain.

SCC: Expulsion = explosion. Sigh. I'm tired.

Stephen Prothero on religious literacy on C-SPAN Book TV.

Oh I liked the "explusion", Mudge. You can just visualize all those Proto-Canuckstanis hiring Paul Bunyan to expel the comets out of Canada, in the process accidentally hitting all hairy pachyderms who didn't want to stop their grazing to wise up and get out of Toronto.

I'm the only straight man is America that watches the Tony show that doesn't include gangsters. The only nominated show we saw, A Chorus Line, got passed over for a Sondheim show. Sondheim is the 800 pound gorilla of Broadway shows. You don't win when Steve is in your catagory.

My favorite new show, High Fidelity (based on the Nick Hornby book/John Cusack movie), closed minutes after I saw it and didn't get nominated for anything. Right now I'm trying to figure when this summer we can sneak up to New York to see Spring Awakening and Les Miz.

TBG, a genuine jaffle iron! What memories. Thanks!

And to believe, I broke out our last bottle of 12 year old Aberlour thatwe brought from Scotland in 1984 to see the most hyped ending of a series' of the decade. It's like JR's brother coming out of the shower in a dream.
My bet in a couple of years we will have AJ back from Afghanistan on a stump leg teaching Farsi to the special forces.

Aach, now you can drink yer sorrows instead, bh.

Those of us who live in NoReceptionLand and have never seen a Soprano episode are quite mystified by vicarious living.

Shiloh... those of us in MuchReceptionLand who don't watch the Sopranos are feeling a little better now.

Thanks, TBG, it shows that there is more than one way to live, as Thoreau said, deliberately.

I'm not trying to sound holier than Sopranos watchers... I just didn't want to get hooked on yet another show.

I'll probably buy the DVDs and watch them one after another years from now when it's no longer cool.

We have our Tivo working overtime, don't worry.

And Netflix will offer the serial on DVDs for those of us not within cummute to a rental - but I will resist, as I have with other offerings of a serial vicariousness.

commute - interesting parapraxis

When I visited my sister recently, she was watching Six Feet Under on Bravo (it had been on HBO). A friend of hers had discovered it too and was excited about seeing it. I watched a couple of episodes and really enjoyed it - then poof - Bravo stopped airing it. It's on DVD, but so expensive. It has one of the great series finales, so I hear.

http://IHateRonPaul.com - see more steam come from his ears!

I was just watching W's speech with the Bulgarian leader and could have sworn he said "Git R Done". But then again it is 4 am and I have only had 2 cups of coffee.

Good Morning all!!

Monday already??? *sobbing*

So I guess we're going to see comparisons between the last "Seinfeld" and the "Sopranos" finale, hm? Sounds like Chase did the big tease in the pentultimate show last week.

*Grover waves while keeping my back to the wall and checking under the hood before I turn the key*

:-)

Hey greenwithenvy! I think that was the Bulgarian phrase for "Dick Cheney is a doo-doo head."

:-)

good lord you people get up early.

as for me, i'm off to bed...

Maybe so Scotty. I hear a lot of strange things things in the morning here.

Hey Hot pockets, I have been trying all weekend to give Ron Paul a shot, even checked out his profile. But all I can think of when I see the name Ron Paul is Ru Paul the drag queen. It is hard to take anyone seriously when I am giggling.

'Morning, Boodle.

Tom Shales, also liked the Sopranos' ending: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/11/AR2007061100025.html?hpid=topnews

Oh, here's a surprising bit of news: the lead story: "GOP Loyalists Often Get Immigration Judgeships" is the hed and the deck says: "Half appointed by Dept. of Justice since 2004 lacked experience in immigration law; one-third had insider ties to Republican party, records show."

What, only half had no competent experience? I guess that means the other half did. I guess it all depends on whether you are a "the glass is half empty" or "the glass is half full" kinda Decider-in-Chief.

And guess who shows up in the story? That's right. The two nut bgrafs:

"That year [2004] is when the Justice Department began to jettison the civil service process that traditionally guided the selections in favor of political considerations, according to sworn congressional testimony by one senior department official and a statement by the lawyer for another official."

"Those two officials, D. Kyle Sampson and Monica M. Goodling, have said they were told the practice was legal. But Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said that immigration judges are considered civil service employees who may not be chosen based on political factors, unlike judges in federal criminal courts."

I may not have computer access at work today, so if I'm unduly silent, you'll know why. Just know that somewhere I'll be gnashing my teeth and cussing the Arbusto regime. (I've never been so in favor of regime change in my life.)

First day at the new place, Mudge? Hope it goes well. In the course of my career, I had the pleasure of being part of an office move twice. The new digs were nice, but getting everything there was a pain in the bumpkus. Good luck!

I'm not eyeing the shop steward hat, really...

:-)

From the WaPo coverage of the finale...

"After HBO learned that Nathans, the Georgetown bar and restaurant, was offering fresh pasta dishes at a 25 percent discount on ' "Sopranos' Sunday," ' the premium cable channel cut off its feed to the restaurant and many other commercial establishments in the area.

'This particular action has nothing to do with "The Sopranos," and the entire feed of HBO is just not allowed to be outside of residential areas,' HBO spokesman Jeff Cusson said last night.

Consequently, said Joynt, who owns Nathans, 'you're not going to find anybody who does it unless they can find a way to bootleg the feed in. No restaurant would dare.' "

A broadcaster limiting distribution of a popular event? In America?

:-)

I'm going to blog about the Sopranos (though not sure how soon I can get it posted...maybe about 10 or so.) I'm eager to hear what people think. I thought it was a great final episode but have friends howling at the inconclusive ending.

I have a witness, insert totally Italian name here, to my quip that the series might end with a post-modern novel ending: nothing revealed about the future, just one last plausable and non-climax-ic scene.

I WAS RIGHT! I have never seen the series but I do read _The Godfather_ every summer alog with McMurtry's _Lonesome Dove. Said friend who is one quarter Panamanian (HEY MO!!!) is fuming, still.

In garden news, I am about to try a thirty- day stint as a garden blogger. I will link here. Frosti -- I have referred serveral to your NOSUING blog. One person misheard me, thinking it was a Chinese food thingie about NOT Suey.....

Picking up a thread from earlier regarding wedding excesses, this Yardley review is quite on-point:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/07/AR2007060701898.html

ONE PERFECT DAY: The Selling of the American Wedding By Rebecca Mead
Penguin Press. 245 pp. $25.95

One great line is:
But that admittedly is the view of a person who also believes that interior designers, personal trainers and personal shoppers are vermiform appendixes.

Wormlike unneccessary parts -- that is the image for the day. This may replace in part all the references to a certain Mr. C.'s cranium.

Mad props (as the kids say) to you, Joel, for getting the Outlook piece highlighted and quoted on "Washington Journal" on C-SPAN yesterday.

Appearing on television has catapulted you to a level of credibility that exceeds our fondest hopes and wildest dreams.

What's next? Colbert?

Ha, CP! I read Jon's review and may have to buy the book for elder child, who I hope will be in the wedding mode in the next year or so. (The boyfriend just moved into HER condo, he better get his act together soon!) She was in two weddings last fall that went the big route, and I fear she has the bug for that way. OTOH, a third friend is marrying this fall and opted to go small. My child was relieved not to be asked to be a member of the wedding party, given the costs thereof. So we'll see.

The wedding we attended Saturday was beyond large all the way to enormous, but it figures, since the bride and groom are both overachievers. My husband reflected on the contrast between this affair and the wedding of the bride's parents, which took place in the front yard of her mother's home. He remembered that all the men wore brown jeans. What a difference a generation makes.

Morning all. Recovering from live blogging with other imaginaries while watching Army Wives. No need to worry about getting hooked. This one won't last long. Haven't watched the Sopranos so perhaps the series will find its way to the Netflix queue.

Thanks for pointing out the Yardley review CP. It was worth the read just for this:

It all puts me in mind of a song by the gifted Lucinda Williams, from her new album, "West." The subject matter is diametrically different, to be sure, but the sentiment is the same: "Some think a fancy funeral/ Would be worth every cent/ But for every dime and nickel/ There's money better spent." Ditto, in spades, for fancy weddings. ·

Temps are supposed to be near 90 here this week and I am thinking about going over to the dark side and buying an air conditioner. A very small window unit would do the job in this 900sf cabin, but I haven't decided if it would be capitulation to Mr. F who doubted the strength of site selection, shade, insulation, high efficiency windows, ceiling fans, and lake breezes or acknowledgement of global warming. It just plain gets hotter here than it used to.

Capitulate, frosti. . . how else can you be frostbitten in 90 degree weather?

You can always turn it off when the outside cools down.

Frosti, tell Mr. F that you have a rep to uphold. Besides, look at dbG's elegant command: do it.

I second the motion. And will hum the tune cootie while biking to week two of Summer Session I:....lifetime of emotion, I second that emotion.....Smokie Robinson and the Miracles? Aretha?

My wife and I were drinking overpriced milkshakes at OtherBigBoxOfBooks and she was looking hard at One Perfect Day. She passed because it looked too pricey for a hardback that is basically a long tirade. I have put it on reserve at the library.

I forget how much we spent on our wedding back in '86, but it was in the low 4 digits and my father-in-law gave us the difference between what we spent and what he thought it would cost. That was the last time I was truly debt free.

We tried to spend a lot of money, but there were things I couldn't justify in my head. We hired a DJ instead of a band. We had a friend take the photos and give us the negatives. We did our own wedding album. The reception was buffet instead of sit-down. If you've seen my blogpost on it, it was a wonderful wedding if I do say so myself.

http://livebythefoma.blogspot.com/2006/09/going-to-chapel.html

Even after adjusting for inflation, we spent less than half of the cost of the last couple of weddings we went to.

On the other hand, I have driven 500 miles too often to go to a dry reception in a church basement. It's a party, give me some booze!

I never saw even one episode of the Sopranos; for which I apologize.

On reading the comments about the finale, though, my English-major brain (somewhere in the limbic region, I think, along with other primitive autonomic functions) interpreted the last scene like a poem. If I'm right, the suspicious character did in fact whack Tony; the 'going dark,' no music, nothing, seems to me a perfect way to end the series from Tony's point of view.

Discuss.

I, too, have never seen a Sopranos episode (This past week, I got cable TV for the first time in my life. I didn't particularly need TV, but poor DSL Internet service made cable look like a good idea.

I did get around to seeing all six hours of an Italian TV miniseries, "The Best of Youth." I probably had an advantage from watching plenty of Italian movies with subtitles (I think you get used to some of the routine words and such), but the whole thing was emotionally engaging.

Yoki;

I'm conflicted on the ending as described (didn't actually watch). Given the show's graphic depictions of other major characters' deaths, it would seem out of place to use such a metaphorical device. But I did have that same thought about "going dark."

Yoki, way to go on getting through without watching a single episode. Me too. There should be awards for diligent avoidance. The more its hyped, the less likely I am to avoid it.

I am another one in the club of never having watched a Sopranos episode, I preferred Six Feet Under, dark humour but not gory.

Unbelievable weekend here, warm and cloudless skies, hope everyone else had a nice weekend.

Thanks dr. I can't claim any special virtue for not watching; I've certainly fallen for hype in other matters during my life, and from I read, The Sopranos was an example of what TV can be, should be, and is *for.*

No, in my case it is simply that I'm getting old and on our cable the show came on at 10:00 pm; just too too late for me. I'm usually out by 9:00 - 9:30 and no program on earth could keep me awake that late on a Sunday night.

The other night my wife was hogging the computer so I watched a couple of old Sopranos episodes on A&E. The 60 minute shows get about 20 minutes added by commercials.

They say a lot of words that can't be used in the boodle. Some of the milder stuff (that still would have gotten my mouth cleaned out with soap) gets through but they "do" lot of "freakin'" on basic cable.

Hard to watch that singing group "The Sopranos" if you don't get HBO.

Best way to cool off when the temps hit 90 is to hit the water. We changed our minds yesterday, got a late push, and made the 190-mile roundtrip to the Rio Frio (cold river). The Guadalupe River was far, far colder several weeks ago and running much faster. We had a nice picnic lunch and swam twice. Big swath of green river with ancient, towering cypress trees on both sides of the banks (these trees must be to Texas what the redwoods are to California), with tall limestone bluffs topped with vegetation just beyond.

Lots and lots of people, many on all sorts of floatation devices and on two different types of paddlewheel craft. Many were out recreating on the river, and not only at the state park, which was our destination. At its deepest, the river came to my eyeballs.

We talked about going back to the park once school resumes--if the river level holds--and renting a cabin for a week. The park seems so remote, it truly is like "getting away from it all."

Did manage to peek at a few minutes of the fourth quarters of the last two Spurs games.

SCC, the more hyped it is the more likely I am to avoid it. Coffee, where is my coffee.

Yoki, there is much truth in what you say. Going to bed interferes with all sorts of tv events for me. It takes too much energy.

I feel conflicted about wedding costs, considering that we are currently paying for one. Its a small wedding, and so far I've been able to close my eyes and ears.

A "small" wedding? I'm reminded of Stanley Kubrick's movie, Barry Lyndon, where the lead character's first encounter with 18th century combat is one of the more frightening things I've seen at the movies. The narrator complacently notes that it was a "small skirmish" or something of the sort, but enough . . .

Weddings must be like that.

Just laughed at this article, a couple won the lottery here (30M tax free), and what are they going to do, pay for their kids to each have a "proper Greek wedding".

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070608/koddities/ottawa_jackpot_winners

I have to confess I too, have never seen the Sopranos. I don't get HBO because there's just not much there I care about, and by the time the show had gotten its halo I was already well behind.

Besides, I *live* in New Jersey. My stepfather's name was Joey D., and he hung out with Sal and Carmen, and Billy B. and Ant'ney making book and drinking champagne Saturday afternoons in the 'Burg. He grew up across the street from the ice house where we did the seven fishes at Christmas until the grandmother passed and the kids all moved to the 'burbs.

When hungry, he'd ask Mom to make him a "sang-wich". We pronounce "capicola" "gob-a-gul", ok? I've had people grab my hands to see if I could still talk with them immobilized. And I'm not even Italian.

Maybe I'll get it on DVD now that's it's done. But they've got to get in line - I have another volume of The Addams Family to get through.

In the story about Canadian comets killing cold-weather critters, I love that the first quote is from a fellow named Firestone. A dandy aptonym for this topic.

Good morning, everyone. Sorry I'm late. Who has photos of the latest BPH. Wasn't it last Thursday or Friday? And mo, I was in your old stomping grounds (NYC) a couple of weeks ago. What a great town!
Here's my question for the group: Will the great masses of independents and moderates remember the shameless pandering of the primary candidates when they eventually become General Election Candidates? I worry about our collective short memory regarding such things. It will be interesting to see the YouTube clips of Candidate Guliani spouting venum about the omnipowerful terrorists hiding under everyone's bed. Will such outside-the-MSM sources serve to frustrate candidates' ability to shift positions "to the center" without being noticed? Sorry if I'm not making a lot of sense. Typing furiously between phone calls. Good day, all.

Gomez!

"Lopez!"
- Mark McKinney, standing outside the mobile home.

Tish!

Good morning, everybody.

Didn't watch "The Sopranos," and probably never will watch all of it. My family comes from Sicily, and, well, some of that stuff is a little too close to home for me.

I liked the episodes I've seen of "Six Feet Under," well enough though.

I just don't watch much TV, either.

I hope to follow up on Joel's Red Meat item at some point today.

bc

Mammoths are neat, but what of the poor ground sloths and glyptodonts?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/3005.shtml

new kit

New kit. And it's staring at Christofuh.

Dick Cheney is a big doo doo head.