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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Too Hot To Blog Open Thread, plus bonus Kitteh, and the obligatory link to Charlie Pierce

Too Hot To Blog Open Thread, plus bonus Kitteh, and the obligatory link to Charlie Pierce

by Tom Levenson|  May 26, 20124:45 pm| 93 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Ponderous here in the Hub of the Universe.  Hot, humid — summer in May.

I’m trying to recover and get a bit done while the munchkin naps.

But as I make my move, what do I find at my desk?

This:

I’m guessing Tikka is saying “Don’t even think about working today.”

Not bad advice, actually.

As for the ritual nod in Charles Pierce’s direction…Charlie has written a truly fine Memorial Day piece.

A sample, his conclusion:

On Memorial Day, when I visit the family plots in the old cemetery in Worcester when they’ve planted my forebears, I always wander over to one of the older sections where lie interred the veterans of the Grand Army Of The Republic, row after row of those round, generic tablets, each of them weathered and indistinguishable now from all the others. Memorial Day, after all, is a product of their war. Abraham Lincoln presaged it in the peroration of his magnificent Second Inaugural Address:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

After Lincoln’s murder, the spirit of his remarks took hold in curious ways. On May 1, 1865, freed black slaves gathered to honor the Union prisoners who’d been buried in unmarked graves at the Charleston Race Course in South Carolina. Elsewhere, in the South, what was first known as Decoration Day became essential to the Lost Cause mythology that became so destructive to the descendants of those freedmen who’d honored the Union dead in Charleston. Supporting The Troops always has been a more complicated business than applauding at the ballpark.

The whole essay is more than worth your time.

With that — it’s all yours. What’s on for your holiday weekend?

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Reader Interactions

93Comments

  1. 1.

    floridafrog

    May 26, 2012 at 4:50 pm

    Looks like we will be bulls-eyed by Beryl tomorrow. Just a nasty sub-tropical storm so far but I’m trying to figure out how to protect the tomatoes, cukes and peppers. Suggestions would be gratefully received. Maybe put up the storm shutters over the skylights also, too.

  2. 2.

    dp

    May 26, 2012 at 4:51 pm

    Winding up our first-ever attempt to make hot tamales, Louisiana-style. Don’t know how they’ll taste, but they smell great.

  3. 3.

    Mnemosyne

    May 26, 2012 at 5:00 pm

    I meant to get out and do stuff today, but it never happened. A nap, a shower and going out to dinner is the sum total of my ambitions for the rest of the day.

    Tomorrow, work in the morning, then buying some nice grass-fed ground beef so we can make burgers on Monday.

  4. 4.

    rikyrah

    May 26, 2012 at 5:02 pm

    sorry Cole, but your animals sort of creep me out.

    I never get ‘ warm and fuzzy’ from your pics.

    I get ‘ horror movie animals take over’ vibes from your pics.

  5. 5.

    gaz

    May 26, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    i made a blog. woohoo. I was sort of coerced. it has nothing to do with party politics – and intersects with politics only as it applies to privilege, queer life, and identity, thank god.

    I’m not sure what I’ll do today. I’m waiting for my spouse to get out of bed, and then we’ll see.

    =)

  6. 6.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 5:04 pm

    My late cat Udamm looks exactly like yours, and was just as intrusive. His buddy Willy Dachshund still lives but with a lot of gray around the muzzle and hard of hearing. I visited an old cemetery in Astabula OH, sometime back and saw a gravestone marked “killed at the Battle of Atlanta.” Wow! My Ol’ man finally received a medal from our dear Congress for being a participant in the Normandy landings. Nice of them since he’s been dead for nearly 50 years. Nobody should glorify any war as a “good war”, and we know nothing of the true costs based on Hollywood and “Greatest Generation” bullshit. When you see a man hanging from a tree with his intestines waving in the breeze, you get a different perspective of what war really means. It really sux, and needs to be avoided at all costs. Fkg Bush and his Iraq crap. We have definitely been betrayed.

  7. 7.

    Tom Levenson

    May 26, 2012 at 5:05 pm

    @rikyrah: My cat, Tikka (AKA Kitten Tikka Masala) would be most surprised to learn that he has been translated from Greater Boston to West Virginia. I am similarly out of countenance to discover that I have suddenly become a misanthrope who seems to feed multitudes around my house in the country, instead of the north-eastern city kid I thought I was.

    Just sayin.

  8. 8.

    BigSouthern

    May 26, 2012 at 5:07 pm

    Attempted vegetarian lasagna for the first time. I loved it, but mom thought it had too much spinach. Next time going to try fresh spinach instead of the frozen stuff and see if it makes a difference.

  9. 9.

    Davis X. Machina

    May 26, 2012 at 5:10 pm

    I wouldn’t mind Memorial Day so much if the head of our local VFW didn’t always use it as part of his never-ending attempt to guarantee a never-ending succession of FW’s, thereby producing the above-mentioned V’s. 9/11’s in September, dude.

    And the kids at the high school with the Confederate battle flag decals in their rear windows need to look hard around the cemetery. Something like one adult male in 9 in this small Maine town went off to war in 1861-65, and never came back.

    Still, I guess it all pisses off the liberals, and isn’t that the whole point?

  10. 10.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    I was just being pissed off when something reminded me of the inscription on the plaque on The Apalachicola (FL) Vietnam War Memorial. Apparently these fuckheads only honor people from what the fuck ever the “south” is that were KIA in Vietnam. Fucking morons. I wrote a nasty email to them when first saw if a few years back but had forgotten about it until today. Happy Memorial Day Yankees.

  11. 11.

    TaMara (BHF)

    May 26, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    Kitten Tikka Masala: “What laptop? I see no laptop. I believe you’re mistaken pink hairless one. Now go outside.”

  12. 12.

    Mnemosyne

    May 26, 2012 at 5:16 pm

    @rikyrah:

    I’m pretty sure all cats want to rule the world. They’re just too busy napping to get around to planning it.

    Don’t read “A Dream of a Thousand Cats,” or you’ll get even more freaked out.

  13. 13.

    jeffreyw

    May 26, 2012 at 5:19 pm

    Heading out to the big picnic soon. Dread the heat, Vicodin for the knee. Tomato, mozzarella, basil, black olive salad in a red wine vinaigrette. I will eat pork bbq and potato salad and bear up as best I can, it’s the least I can do for my country on this day.

  14. 14.

    TaMara (BHF)

    May 26, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    @jeffreyw: Hmmm, I just stopped over to our blog. I see no pictures of picnic food. How’s the stray?

  15. 15.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 5:23 pm

    @efgoldman: Local TV news conflates the two, so Monday some idiot reporter will say “we’re honoring those who served…” and in November another will say “we’re honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice…”

    And she is exactly right. Veterans day is for the living.

  16. 16.

    Mnemosyne

    May 26, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    @jeffreyw:

    My go-to picnic dish is Caesar Potato Salad (though I usually chicken out and don’t use the anchovy paste). Always gets a big response.

    (Sorry, no pics — it’s been a while since I was invited to a picnic.)

  17. 17.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    @jeffreyw: Watch your topknot pilgrim.

  18. 18.

    jeffreyw

    May 26, 2012 at 5:25 pm

    @TaMara (BHF): I have a few pics in the can, waiting to conclude the day’s activities before I do a post on the picnic. The stray has strayed, haven’t seen him for several days now.

  19. 19.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 5:28 pm

    @efgoldman: It’s like the coverage of possible snow here, they could run the same footage of people buying bread and milk at the grocery store and generators at home depot!

    Or the lottery when the powerball goes to 100 gazzilion. Or tax day at the post office.

  20. 20.

    lamh35

    May 26, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    Speaking of Memorial Day, try to look at this picture and the history around it and not feel something! If ya don’t…YOU HAVE NO HEART!!!

    As Memorial Day Nears, a Single Image That Continues to Haunt

    “The photo, taken by The New York Times’s Todd Heisler, while he was a staff photographer at The Rocky Mountain News in 2005. The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the coffin, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her”

  21. 21.

    SectarianSofa

    May 26, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    @Tom Levenson:

    What kind of freaky teleportin’ demon cat have you liberals got here in this devil’s pit of blog?!

    @BigSouthern:
    Re: lasagna
    Hmm. Tricky. I used to find that cheese often made up for any imbalance. Though since I am trying to substitute out the cheese as well these days, I am failing at making good (faux-)Italian dishes again and again.

  22. 22.

    jeffreyw

    May 26, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Ack! I’m so glad you mentioned that! I made potato salad yesterday and nearly forgot to pack it into the cooler!

  23. 23.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    @jeffreyw: It your bride up for the picnic?

  24. 24.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    @efgoldman: Cool!

  25. 25.

    Maude

    May 26, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    @efgoldman:
    I have the same not quite a cold. It’s miserable. It’s hot and humid here, yek.
    A quart of bourbon would be a good substitute for the Nyquil.
    If you can find it, Better Than Bullion (sp) is great. Comes in a little jar near the regular soup mixes. It comes in chicken and is not salty. Throw in some cooked noodles and you have good soup.

  26. 26.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    @efgoldman: It’s the great spirit’s way of telling us to stop watching the Braves and do something constructive!

  27. 27.

    Nethead Jay

    May 26, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    Sitting here in my friend’s kitchen in Berkeley. It’s hot but there’e a breeze so it’s not too bad. We were out getting Emperor’s pancakes for brunch earlier (mmm, delicious) and then went by the farmer’s market downtown.

    Unfortunately, in addition to her kitty problems, she’s also got a bad back, so now she’s resting on the bed and I’m drinking tea and lazing around the internets.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    May 26, 2012 at 5:46 pm

    @Nethead Jay:

    Sitting here in my friend’s kitchen in Berkeley. It’s hot but there’e a breeze so it’s not too bad.

    I think you guys sent your weather down here to So Cal — it’s sunny but never got out of the mid-60s, which is unusual for late May. Especially in the Valley.

  29. 29.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    Mem’l Day my ass. Nobody here has any idea of what the costs were. Talk about your fkg weenie roasts and bullshit, but remember, people died, and horribly. Go suck a weenie or chew a burger. This is NOT what we are supposed to be remembering. Happy Memorial Day my fucking ass!

  30. 30.

    jeffreyw

    May 26, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    @Raven: She made pies and she will see them et, by god!

  31. 31.

    lamh35

    May 26, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    Memorial Day viewing: Red Tails on DVD or Tuskegee Airmen on TVONE either way, a good way to spend a day.

  32. 32.

    Nethead Jay

    May 26, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Yeah, that sounds unusual.

  33. 33.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: “Nobody here has any idea of what the costs were”

    Who the fuck are you asshole?

  34. 34.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:07 pm

    @efgoldman: Either way, fuck em.

  35. 35.

    Ruckus

    May 26, 2012 at 6:07 pm

    This was a response to vets day 2010 and I think it is appropriate for memorial day as well.
    Tom
    Thanks for the great posts.
    They stir up things in my head that I try to, if not forget, to try to diminish their brightness. These are not bad things on their own but they bring back memories of times and things I don’t normally feel the need to be reminded of. But every once in a while it is good to dust off the old internal history brain and remind oneself not just who and where we are but how we got here. Thank you for that. And all the commenters as well.

    There are many things in these posts to jog memories that I had not heard or read in a long time. Someone asked me if I would be celebrating Veterans Day and I said I normally don’t. Like many here who served in the military, I served my time during warfare and even though I wasn’t sent to combat I could have easily been. I went where I was sent, did what I was told. There is no honor in that, only duty. But there is much more honor in doing that then sending humans to wage needless war and far more honor than that in demanding that other people send humans to wage needless war that will never affect them directly. I did spend 2 months in a hospital with Marines who fought in Vietnam and the first person stories are as much warfare as I need. The look in the eyes of these men would tear out your heart. The words they spoke are even more haunting. Thinking about it affects me greatly just trying to type this and it has been almost 40 years. The average age of these men was probably 20-22 years old. I wonder what these decades of that pain has done to them? To their lives? To their families? I know what my limited contact to it has done to me. And I know why many vets spend their lives trying to forget the horrible things they know.

  36. 36.

    SarahT

    May 26, 2012 at 6:08 pm

    @lamh35:Oh. My. God.

  37. 37.

    Hypnos

    May 26, 2012 at 6:08 pm

    I don’t get it.

    I am not American, but I don’t get the “respect the Troops” thing.

    I am Italian. Italy joined the Iraq invasion (despite 70% of the population opposing it and 3 million people marching against it in Rome). Italy has an all-volunteer army. Furthermore, given the small size of the engagement (1800 men), those who were selected to go to Iraq could turn down the offer. If they didn’t, they got a substantial pay rise to sweeten the deal.

    Now, when 17 Italian soldiers died in Nassirya, I saw no point in honoring their deaths. They were not defending my country – if anything, they were endangering it. They were not brave – they had massive firepower superiority. They were invaders, occupiers of a sovereign nation, killing innocent people. And they had volunteered to be there. That made them responsible, as well.

    And as such, I had no more respect for them than I’d have had for the German soldiers defending Sicily during the Allied landing in 1943 – actually, at least the Germans were not volunteers, but conscripts.

    So explain to me, if you consider the Iraq war unjust, why do you honor the volunteers who fight it?

  38. 38.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    You see the catch this college kid made ?

  39. 39.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    @efgoldman: Jeebus H. Xmas on a tinker toy truck! Doesn’t anybody understand that this particular “holiday” is not a cause for celebration; It’s a cause for mourning? Fuk, send me a Hallmark card. And a few flowers. I am seriously pissed.

  40. 40.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    @Hypnos:

    This Party Just Took a Turn for the Douche!

  41. 41.

    Maude

    May 26, 2012 at 6:18 pm

    @Hypnos:
    English is your first language.

  42. 42.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: Take a cold shower and then go tell your pals in 6th grade.

  43. 43.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    @efgoldman:

    But when the shadowy sun sets on the one
    That fired the gun
    He’ll see by his grave
    On the stone that remains
    Carved next to his name
    His epitaph plain:
    Only a pawn in their game.

  44. 44.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    @Raven: Aw, geeze. Have I offended you? Is war such a lovely pastime that you think it earns some lovely interpretation? I have too goddam many related “warriors” dead in a local cemetery to tell me how glorious it was. Tell me how nice it really is.

  45. 45.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: You have no idea what you are talking about, none.

  46. 46.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    May 26, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    @lamh35: Oh. Oh, god. l could not read the entire article. Thank you, lamh35.

  47. 47.

    Don

    May 26, 2012 at 6:40 pm

    The best part of this post is the observation that Tom’s desk is just as full of random wiring as mine. And his cat looks just like mine, who used to perch on the very top of my old Sony monitor, back when those things existed.

    Not to mention his kudos to Charlie Pierce, whose style is just wonderful, and almost always pitch perfect. Nobody should take themselves as seriously as Paul Ryan does.

  48. 48.

    lamh35

    May 26, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    Oh Good Lord, what ever happened to good old fashioned down on one knee, I love you proposals. Dang things are soo elaborate these days. IDC if it makes me an ole foggie (at 35), but I kinda hate today’s “let’s film everything with my smartphone and post it on youtube for all to see mentality”

    Still this is cute.

    Isaac’s Live Lip-Dub Proposal

    On Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012, I told my girlfriend to meet me at my parent’s house for dinner. When she arrived I had stationed my brother to sit her in the back of an open Honda CRV and give her some headphones. He “wanted to play her a song”…
    What she got instead was the world’s first Live Lip-Dub Proposal.

  49. 49.

    Svensker

    May 26, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    Sent to me by a member of Grandmothers for Peace:

    As we pause to honor those in the military who have served the nation, let’s pay them the highest honor by reflecting on why we should stop sending them to war:
    1. “Old men declare war because they have failed to solve complex political and economic problems.” ~~Arthur Hoppe, columnist
    2. “After each war there is a little less democracy left to save.” ~~Brooks Atkinson, theatre critic
    3. “War does not determine who is right, only who is left.” ~~Bertrand Russell, British philosopher
    4. “We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.” ~~Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States
    5. “No nation ever had an army large enough to guarantee it against attack in time of peace, or ensure it of victory in time of war.” ~~Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States
    6. “War settles nothing.” ~~Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States and 1st Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
    7. “War in the end is always about betrayal, betrayal of the young by the old, of soldiers by politicians, and of idealists by cynics.” ~~Chris Hedges, American journalist and war correspondent
    8. “After victory, you have more enemies.” ~~Cicero, Roman philosopher and statesman
    9. “The best defense is no offense.” ~~Dr. Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace & Liberty at The Independent Institute
    10. “Probably, no nation is rich enough to pay for both war and civilization. We must make our choice; we cannot have both. “ ~~Abraham Flexner, American educator
    11. “I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.” ~~Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
    12. “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.” ~~Albert Einstein, father of modern physics
    13. “A state of war only serves as an excuse for domestic tyranny.” ~~Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, writer and Nobel Prize winner
    14. “Violence as a way of gaining power…is being camouflaged under the guise of tradition, national honor [and] national security…” ~~Alfred Adler, physician and psychotherapist
    15. “Today the real test of power is not capacity to make war but capacity to prevent it.” ~~Anne O’Hare McCormick, foreign news correspondent
    16. “All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.” ~~Alexis de Tocqueville, French political scientist, historian, and politician
    17. “Make wars unprofitable and you make them impossible.” ~~A. Philip Randolph, leader in the civil rights and labor movements
    18. “War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.” ~~Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and four-star general
    19. “The dangerous patriot…drifts into chauvinism and exhibits blind enthusiasm for military actions.” ~~Colonel James A. Donovan, U.S. Marine Corps
    20. “The failure to dissect the cause of war leaves us open for the next installment.” ~~Chris Hedges, American journalist and war correspondent
    21. “We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives…inside ourselves.” ~~Albert Camus, French author, journalist, and philosopher
    22. “No protracted war can fail to endanger the freedom of a democratic country.” ~~Alexis de Tocqueville, French political scientist, historian, and politician
    23. “We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security.” ~~Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States and 1st Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
    24. “Wisdom is better than weapons of war.” ~~Ecclesiastes 9:18
    25. “I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it.” ~~Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States and 1st Supreme Allied Commander, Europe

  50. 50.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 6:53 pm

    @Raven:Yah. I lost my father as a result of that war. I lost uncles and cousins in that war. But I know nothing. What’ve you lost, Raven? I would be really interested because I have no idea where you are coming from.

  51. 51.

    becca

    May 26, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I love anchovies. I eat them from the can. Really grosses some people out, so it’s an occasionally useful social tool, to boot.

  52. 52.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: Where do you see anyone here saying what you say you are so upset about?

  53. 53.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: Here’s one, you need more?

  54. 54.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 7:00 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: Want to see more about him?

    Want me to tell you about what a great gymnast he was? About his yellow VW convertible that we used to cruise in and drink rotgut? What else you want to know?

    I’m very sorry about your losing your dad but don’t make the mistake of thinking you are the only one.

  55. 55.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 7:13 pm

    OK, Raven. We are truly on the same side (normally) but I guess I just get a little hot about what Mem’l Day really means to me. I also have pix of the Ol’ man somewheres in France (Reims) and he did follow Patton as far as Dwight would let them towards Berlin. LOL If I have offended anyone here, let me apologize. LOL How’s that for ducking shit? But I tell you again and again and again, war is not for fools. We will be living the aftermath of W’s wars for decades. Damn him! And the poor bstds who have to live forever with the consequences. Goddammit!

  56. 56.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: It means the same to you as it does to me. My old man served on a destroyer in the Pacific from Guadalcanal until the end. He was lucky and he never forgot it. Same with me, I was way down in the Delta when Andy got killed and it changed me forever. I had never read the note on the bottom of this page but it rang true
    “I remember the day we all heard Andy was killed in action. His younger brother, Steve, was in my class of 70 and sister Betty was Class of 71. His older brother, Jeff, was Class of 64, I believe. They were some of the most popular and well-known kids in town. Everyone knew the family. Andy’s death really brought the war home to many of us who had not yet been touched by it.

    This was the beginning of the end of support for the Vietnam War in conservative Villa Park. I know it is small consolation for Andy’s family and friends, but Andy did his part to help end the war and perhaps save lives needlessly lost. God bless Andy Stein.”

    I don’t think any regular on this blog takes this weekend for anything but what it was meant to be.

  57. 57.

    blackfrancis

    May 26, 2012 at 7:22 pm

    Those look like Grado headphones. Excellent choice.

  58. 58.

    Hypnos

    May 26, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    @Maude
    No, it isn’t. Though I fail to see the point.

    @efgoldman
    I’m not critizing memorial day, and I immensely respect the American soldiers who died fighting for the liberation of my country, while I have only contempt for the Italians who died defending the fascist regime.

    And I also understand the plight of those who died fighting for wars they were conscripted into.

    But volunteers? They freely choose their line of work and knew what the consequences would be. I don’t respect their choice.

  59. 59.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    @Hypnos: Do you know what a “back door draft” is?

  60. 60.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    @Raven: “I don’t think any regular on this blog takes this weekend for anything but what it was meant to be.”

    I think, I hope, there’s a god somewheres who can reward them for the sacrifice. For all of them I bow my head in gratitude.

  61. 61.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 7:45 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: Funny, I chart my total loss of faith to the loss of Andy. I did have a resurgence years later when I got interested in the Buddha.

  62. 62.

    Mnemosyne (iTouch)

    May 26, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni:

    You probably don’t want to lecture a Vietnam vet like Raven about how he doesn’t understand war is bad.

    Just sayin’.

  63. 63.

    Yutsano

    May 26, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iTouch): Some lessons you teach them. Some you let them learn on their own.

  64. 64.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iTouch): I think it was a big misunderstanding.

  65. 65.

    Judas Escargot

    May 26, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    Probably in the minority here, but the Pierce piece –and the similar tone/memes I’ve been seeing in other circles like Facebook all of a sudden– smacks of ratfucking to me.

    Yes, let’s get all pacifist and soul-searching when there’s a Dem in the White House. In the most important election year since 1968. “Both sides do it”.

    Meh. I guess my slow, inexorable transformation into an o.bot is finally complete.

  66. 66.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    Biden said. “There will come a day — I promise you, and your parents as well — when the thought of your son or daughter, or your husband or wife, brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen.”

  67. 67.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    @Raven: “The Supreme Doctrine” by Hubert Benoit. A great outline of Zen. Don’t thank me. Readit. I was a student of Thomstitic philosophy, but taking St. Thomas’ premises, I deduced a bunch of premises re the concept of “time.” It seemed the only reality was “what is.” I can proceed with the syllogism, but I had a whole philosophy on the palm of my hands. It was a powerful moment in my life, I can tell you. I created a bunch of heretics on a lousy blackboard in one pre-class session. Eliminate time, which is a subjective observation not grounded in reality, and all is explained. Hahahaha I still have no idea what I was talking about, but it does make sense. My, lord, what makes sense?

  68. 68.

    Roger Moore

    May 26, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    @Hypnos:

    But volunteers? They freely choose their line of work and knew what the consequences would be.

    Many of them didn’t. A large part of what enrages the American left about the war is that it was launched on false pretenses. The lies that got us into the war were above all else a betrayal of the soldiers who signed up before the war started with the trust that they would only be sent to war on reasonable grounds.

  69. 69.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: A second with your hand on a red hot stove burner is like a lifetime, a lifetime with a beautiful woman is like a second.

  70. 70.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: I’ll pick it up, I liked Buddhism Without Beliefs, by Stephen Batchelor .

  71. 71.

    Judas Escargot

    May 26, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    @Raven:

    I liked Buddhism Without Beliefs, by Stephen Batchelor

    Sorry to butt in, but strongly seconded.

  72. 72.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 8:19 pm

    @Judas Escargot: Butt in! Come on down!

  73. 73.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    May 26, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    My cat, Tikka (AKA Kitten Tikka Masala)…

    Your cat’s name sounds like a dipping sauce.

  74. 74.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    @Raven: Eliminate “time” and all is explained. It belies belief, but what the hell is “time?” Einstein can’t explain it. We look at “reality” as a passenger onna train facing backwards. This is what we see. But is it reality? As I explained on the blackboard in my heretical exposition in a Catholic College, the date of your birth and the date of your death occurs simultaneously, should we accept St. Thomas’ definition of God as a “first cause” and unchangeable eternally. God, I explained, is not limited by our limited view of reality LOL.He sees it all, past, present and future, as one singular occurrence. I found the Zen explanation, years later, more into my own outlook.

  75. 75.

    Yutsano

    May 26, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: He named his cat after what could be considered the national dish of England. You could dip naan in it though. Yum.

  76. 76.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 8:47 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: I thinks I am too simple for this. Plus, I haven’t done acid in35 years.

  77. 77.

    Corner Stone

    May 26, 2012 at 8:53 pm

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: Holy shit. I’ve been saying this for decades.
    Every outcome that could possibly happen, does happen. All at the same time. Our tiny human brains are incapable of perceiving that reality so we concocted the small minded concept of time.
    The idea that God (et al) exists disproves the very idea that time exists. If a being can exist before time, and outside of time, then how can time exist?
    And if time is relative then doesn’t that by de facto mean it’s flexible based upon perception?

  78. 78.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 9:00 pm

    @Raven: LOL, So am I

  79. 79.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    @Corner Stone: My point (and benoit’s) exactly. “Time” is an illusion based on our limited view of reality. We cannot see forward. We can only see backward. Thus, Time. But the omniprescient deity can see it all, right? St. Thomas thinks it’s so. Well, I have no fukkin idea what’s right, but the Bhudist explanation makes a lot more sense. I don’t believe either of them, BTW.

  80. 80.

    Raven

    May 26, 2012 at 9:22 pm

    Here’s what I know about Time.

  81. 81.

    Ronzoni Rigatoni

    May 26, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Good Gawd! Maybe I should explain what I think, not that it matters much. The Ronzoni Creed:

    1. I believe I am an animal defined as a finite creature limited to the laws of biology

    2. That my very evolution as an “intelligent” being prepares me to be able to destroy the entire planet

    3. That I will by my own volition, render myself extinct.

    My hope is that squirrels will take over the mess. However, more optimistic views think cockroaches will inherit. They are probably right.

  82. 82.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 26, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    @efgoldman:

    I hate watching the news on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. Not for the reason you might think. Local TV news conflates the two, so Monday some idiot reporter will say “we’re honoring those who served…” and in November another will say “we’re honoring those who gave the ultimate sacrifice…” and in both cases, mrs efgoldman will yell at the TV, and be grumpy for hours.

    I’m with mrs efgoldman on this one. And it’s not just local TV news that conflates Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day — or, as they were known when I was a kid, Decoration Day and Armistice Day, but I digress — I promise you someone on one or more of the major networks or CNN or MSNBC will pull the same thing.

  83. 83.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 26, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    @lamh35:

    Wow. I’m in tears.

  84. 84.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 26, 2012 at 10:05 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Of course, with the bug, she might sing baritone (she’s a natural lyric soprano, F above high C).

    Decades ago, I was a choral singer (alto, though) and also a heavy smoker. I had a lovely low tessitura, and often sang tenor when the guys were in short supply (as is so often the case with tenors).

    Quit smoking in 1993, and stopped singing in public long before that, but I still have a nice deep speaking voice. You know, for a woman.

  85. 85.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 26, 2012 at 10:18 pm

    @Raven:

    That was an amazing and wonderful and moving speech Joe gave.

  86. 86.

    Steve in DC

    May 26, 2012 at 11:15 pm

    Get that cat off that desk!

    Cat hair is the devil for electronics, gets in, screws crap up, all sorts of issues. My friend owns/runs a computer/electronics repair shop and most problems are related to cat hair inside or people smoking in their apartments. He doesn’t mind, takes under an hour rip apart and rebuild a laptop or PS3, of course you bill by the hour and the first hour is mandatory (you can’t just get 5 mins of work) so cat owners end up giving him tons of work that’s done in 10 mins and gets the standard $100 charge.

    With current HDTVs having fans (these really suck in the cat hair) to keep cool he’s been fixing a lot of those as well.

    Cat’s are almost as bad for electronics as water or a hammer is.

    Still remember when I got an $3000 custom carbon fibre laptop off someone for under a grand because it sounded like a dustbuster, reason…. cat hair in the micro fans! Sucker couldn’t fix it, half an hour later worked fine for me.

    Nice headphones though, Grado Labs?

  87. 87.

    rikyrah

    May 26, 2012 at 11:38 pm

    @lamh35:

    that was so moving, lamh

  88. 88.

    Steeplejack

    May 26, 2012 at 11:56 pm

    @lamh35:

    That’s a great story.

    This American Airlines ad from a couple of years ago always got to me.

  89. 89.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 27, 2012 at 1:15 am

    @Tom Levenson: Listen to Kitten Tikka Masala. He is a wise cat. And cute!

    I’m learning the Sword Form in tai chi. It is bad ass. That is all.

  90. 90.

    Soonergrunt

    May 27, 2012 at 8:45 am

    @Ronzoni Rigatoni: Umm, you are wrong with that assertion. For some of us, every day is Memorial Day.

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    May 27, 2012 at 11:58 am

    @Ruckus:
    I just looked at the link from @lamh35: and wanted to say that it is one of the most moving things I’ve seen. I’ll be 63 soon and have seen my(and more than that) share of suffering, from war. We all suffer, those left behind more so by far. My experience is that most serve out of a sense of duty at some level, because everyone needs that sense of belonging. Those left behind don’t always have that choice of risk of loss. They only end up with the loss. We should remember that always, not just this “holiday”.

  92. 92.

    mainmati

    May 27, 2012 at 11:26 pm

    @BigSouthern: Fresh-frozen, it’s not likely to make any difference in a cooked dish unless you end up using less spinach by weight. Basically, there’s not much difference between fresh and frozen spinach when incorporated into a lasagna. It’s probably the taste flavors of the liquid elements, especially in a vegetarian lasagna. Did you use ground nutmeg; that can make all the difference.

  93. 93.

    mainmati

    May 27, 2012 at 11:38 pm

    @efgoldman: Well, the draft actually started in the Civil War with the Union Army; there were riots over it too. WWI and WWII and Korea and Vietnam also were subject to the draft. So, there’s that. Not much volunteering until after 1980.

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