Sorry this is late. There were 410 entries into the thread, and the number that came up from http://www.random.org was 302.
Congratulations to Btom89! I’ve sent you an email at the address attached to your comment with instructions. If you don’t get it, you can contact me directly at [email protected] with name and address, and I’ll ship it out to you via first class mail.
Also, too, open thread.
American Soldier dies saving Afghan girl — SGT Dennis Weichel, run over and killed by US combat vehicle saving Afghan girl from that fate.
Spike Lee Does The Right Thing — makes payment to Florida couple for tweeting their address as George Zimmerman’s.
Woman booted from Emergency Room Dies in Police Custody — Woman arrested for loitering in ER (where she was seen for sprained ankle) dies from blood clots in leg in jail.
Warren Terra
You seem to have spelled my pseudonym and comment number incorrectly. Oh, well, I’ll just hope you got my email address right.
Raven
Spent a little time at Andersonville today. That gives one pause.
Clark Stooksbury
Another victory for free market healthcare. Also, too Bill Quick race-baiting asshole.
Egg Berry
I posted this earlier today, but I hope to get the sense of some military types, so I’ll post it again here: Here’s something related to the Sgt Bales story: Sympathy for an accused murderer: What war will do to you. I don’t agree with the sentiments expressed in the column. Seems she’s missing some self-reflection gene.
Gin & Tonic
Some Afghan children who survived the Bales shooting are saying he wasn’t alone – that there were other American soldiers there wearing headlamps. Not looking for him later, but there from the beginning.
Omnes Omnibus
@Raven: We went out there during OCS. Talked about Calley and My Lai while sitting there. It does make you think.
Schlemizel
@Raven:
Have not been there in 40 years – do they still have the monument from the Daughters of Treason blaming the whole mess on the Union?
Schlemizel
Well, the book is just one more thing I never won. The universe can make them all up to me though tomorrow night. Just need to win the MegaMillions & I’ll call us even 8-{D
Exurban Mom
Watching Sheldon Adelson on Rachel Maddow tonight, say that he likes Gingrich because he’s a “Bold decision maker.” Adelson’s problem with Mitt Romney? “Every time I talk to him about something, he says ‘I’ll look into it’.”
Awesome.
Raven
@Schlemizel: Ha, I didn’t read the fine print but I was surprised not to find an Illinois monument and one dedicated to Tennessee Union troops.
Steve
Good to see Spike Lee man up like that.
Raven
@Gin & Tonic: The very first reports said “troops”. I posted it and got zip.
Omnes Omnibus
@Egg Berry: Among the many problems with that column is that, to me, there is a difference between snapping in the heat of the moment and going out and apparently deliberately slaughtering a group of people. If, in the Pattonesque sense, he had just put his hands in a pile of goo that used to be his friend’s face and had gone on a rampage, I would, while still condemning the action, have more sympathy for him. He could offer a defense of temporary insanity. At this point, from what I have read about the massacre, that situation does not apply.
That being said, it can be argued that long and repeated exposure to war can cause people to do things, both heroic and horrible, that they would never have done otherwise.
NotMax
No particular comment about it; just something which struck me as noteworthy of mention.
porter
Oh well, maybe next time.
btom89
In case Soonergrunt is also monitoring this thread, I’ve gotten your email and responded to it already. Thanks for letting me know and thanks for the book! I can’t believe I won!
some guy
Tomorrow is Land Day, this year’s celebration is a global March on Jerusalem.
worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10907912-global-march-to-jerusalem-israels-borders-on-high-…
gex
I’m glad to see hospitals are picking up on the “no right to healthcare” meme and allowing it to trump the law requiring they treat people.
I will be very glad when the hospital and the police have to give her kids a metric fuck ton of money.
And,here’s where I find myself in a violent rage towards libertarians – because they are all for the “no right to health care” portion of this story. The part they hate is the legal recourse a private citizen has against governmental or corporate entities.
John Cole
Good for Spike.
gex
The Spike Lee thing reminds me of a news story I heard a while back, which would be a good thing to keep in people’s minds a lot.
Guy was murdered in NC (I think). His family, thinking they knew who did it went out and murdered that guy. Except, of course, he wasn’t the guy. Now that entire family has committed murder, not vigilante justice.
I have the same problem with the NRA’s cowboy “everyone can be a cop” attitude towards dealing with situations in public. We’ll be seeing all kinds of this crap as older white Christian conservative men lose their damn minds.
Gin & Tonic
@gex: I’m not so sure we’re ripe for an epidemic of these things. The Bernie Goetz case was almost 30 years ago, and there hasn’t been much (anything?) similar since in NY, AFAIK.
BGinCHI
btom89, hurry the fuck up and read that book so we can have another giveaway. If we do this long enough I might get it.
Like the Stanley Cup, it’s meant to be shared.
gex
@Gin & Tonic: Really? We are actively debating, as a nation, whether a white man who chases down a black man and kills him is operating in self defense. I think we absolutely could get there.
I mean, conceal and carry has swept the nation, and stand your ground laws are getting popular.
There are definitely people who are agitating for a race war. What makes you think they want to be on the sidelines forever? Thirty years ago, the minority majority wasn’t causing these guys to crap their pants.
WaterGirl
@gex: I read the story at Soonergrunt’s link, and all I could think of to say is “What the fuck is wrong with this country?” How did we get here?
Edit: I will now attempt to calm myself by reading the recipe thread and any pet thread I can find. (Except my eyes will start to hurt from the new format, then I guess I will have to go rock myself in a corner.) I find the supreme court & ACA thing so discouraging I can’t even bear to read any of the stories.
Gin & Tonic
@gex: You didn’t live in NY 30 years ago. Plenty of people were agitating for race war. White guy shot four black guys on the goddamn subway and he was a hero. Race war never came.
Call me stupidly optimistic.
Soonergrunt
@btom89: :)
It will be on the way tomorrow!
Jerzy Russian
Here is an “article” on CNN.com discussing how Sarah Palin would have won the nomination by now had she run:
cnn.com/2012/03/29/opinion/stanley-sarah-palin/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
__That piece could go straight to the Onion and fit right in.
__I have two questions for everyone here: why do I keep reading CNN, and how can I stop?
Comrade Mary
I’m glad Spike stepped up.
samara morgan
Republican Brain shipped monday for pre-orders. Im enjoying it very much.
The official release date is April 10.
I think it it should be required reading for juicers….praps a book club entry.
;)
THE
@samara morgan: Put a book review of it on your website, and I’ll link it on mine.
When you finish reading it of course.