I’m so glad Ron Fournier of the National Journal is our freedom of the press watch dog, you guys. Otherwise, we might not have learned how the media has been leashed by the Obama White House.
Fournier alleges mainstream press photographers have been chained up while official White House photographer Pete Souza gets to play top dog. Via Gawker, a shocking example, in Fournier’s own words:
When the Obama family adopted Bo, media photographers were allowed to take pictures of the dog. Not so when Sunny arrived. This photo [above] was taken by the official White House photographer – a small sign of how far the White House is moving to push independent photographers out of the picture.
Ron Fournier: Yappy little ankle-biter? Or Fox Terrier of Freedom?
Cervantes
Lesson: Never ever think they can’t sink any lower.
gogol's wife
I’ve been locked in furious battle about the New York Times crossword puzzle today! The clue for 53 down was “President whose initials ‘stink.'” The answer? OBAMA. When some people complained in the comments on the crossword blog, the person who constructed the puzzle appeared in the comments to say that his clue for that answer was “Pierce:Lincoln::Clinton:_____.” The editor changed the clue to the one above. Can they get any more petty?
Davis X. Machina
Ron Fournier… feh.
On my RSS reader, I can pick his stuff out from just the headline and first couple of sentences. I don’t even need to see the National Journal bug, or his byline.
Elizabelle
Wait, they have another dog?
I haven’t been paying enough attention to my libtard messiah, hmm?
Yatsuno
@Elizabelle: You have shamed us. You will turn in your Obot card at the nearest OFA office.
Elizabelle
@gogol’s wife:
five letters:
rude, and also strangely adhesive
scav
course the little yappy journo-mutt is. cheap too.
schrodinger's cat
Watchdogs are so 20th century, this new era needs a media watchcat
Tommy
@Cervantes: Wait they are pissed they didn’t get a photo op with Obama’s dogs. I mean really this is just embarrassing. If I took photos for a major media outlet and I was offered a photo op with a freaking dog I’d actually then be pissed.
I can just see them in a job interview. Yes I am a serious photographer. No none of Obama. The Ninth Ward after Katrina. The G8 Summit. Folks standing in line to vote for hours in 2012. But I got pics of Bo.
srv
Ron has to live through a Obama-holocaust every week. Until you walk in his shoes, you should not judge.
LanceThruster
Mangy mutt – Um Tut Sut!
raven
@schrodinger’s cat: I apologize for saying your question was dumbass but don’t tell anyone, it’ll ruin my rep.
max
When the Obama family adopted Bo, media photographers were allowed to take pictures of the dog. Not so when Sunny arrived.
OH. So they decided that constantly being pawed by strangers was too traumatic (and illness inducing) for the puppy and decided to keep that shit to a minimum.
WHO DOES THAT DOG THINK HE IS?! HE’S GETTING PAID TO BE A PROP BY THE TAXPAYERS OF THE UNITED STATES!*
max
[‘Issa will be right on top of this, you betcha.’]
* and presumably killed and eaten at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Because Ron Fournier deserves only the best.
dmsilev
@gogol’s wife: God. I saw that when I did the puzzle (last night; I’m compulsive that way). What the Hell was the editor thinking?
Karen in GA
Pissy Purse Dog of Patriotism.
bemused
I had to check to see if this was an onion type thing but no. Pathetic. Worse than junior high school kids.
@gogol’s wife:
Well, that was mature.
dmsilev
@Elizabelle:
True story: When dog the second was acquired (this past spring, I think), Tucker Carlson’s pathetic excuse for a website ran a story accusing the Obamas of racism because …both of their dogs were black.
Keith G
While I don’t give a crap about the dogs, there has been an ongoing trend that reporters and camera people spend less and less face time with administration officials. The thinking is probably along the lines of it being to the president’s advantage to tightly the control images emanating from the White House.
It may seem like a small detail, and in and of itself it probably is, yet it is just another increment in the separation between the people and their leadership.
Amir Khalid
If a photographer were to complain to his editor that some other photographer was hogging all the best camera angles, the editor would reply, “So why didn’t you think of some other picture to get?” The same would go for complaints that the White House was keeping the best photo ops for its own photographer. Doesn’t Fournier realise how childish and petty these complaints
make him seemprove he is?raven
@Karen in GA: Hey, my buddy here in Athens can teach the kind of banjo you are interested in.
Tone in DC
@gogol’s wife:
The Times is past petty. I’d be tempted to use that hard copy crossword puzzle for toilet paper.
Maybe, if we can get the Acme company on it, we can find a meteor with very selective aim. A smart asteroid, or such. Those guys at Acme make interesting rockets and slingshots.
Point the smart asteroid at 15th and L Streets NW, first though. Maybe R. Cohen, K. Parker and C. Krauthammer are having lunch at some swanky place upstairs, and collectively gagging.
Then go after the Times building.
jl
Like, is a new dog something a normal person, or as close to a normal person as we’ve had as prez since Ford, would even notice as a reason to have a big presser photo op? I guess the WH press people are paid to notice, in which case some other pundit would write up a think piece on the futile attempts to distract from the latest make-or-break mega-crisis with cute pets. (Using innocent dogs like that, they have no shame do our administration overlords!?).
The Obama kids are too old for keeping ant farms, or toads, or lizards in glass terrariums. Too bad, since then everyone would think of calling the corporate press in for some PR.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: The Internet is forever.
Tommy
@dmsilev: LOL and you are correct. I recall that story. If I adopted a child I would notice the color of their skin or where his/her parents were from. Getting a dog or a cat (I am a cat person myself) thinking about their color would literally be the last thing I would think about.
I mean I am thinking about the color of my cat for the first time just now posting this. What color/race is grey and black :)?
raven
@Gin & Tonic: I ain’t that worried about it.
Tone in DC
@Keith G:
After the last five years, would YOU want the M$M people to have significant access to you, if you were Obama?
Ash Can
Telling someone to “get a life” generally strikes me as puerile and unimaginative, but this is one instance where it really does fit. Ron Fournier needs to get out into the real world and broaden his horizons considerably, or he’ll be stuck at age 14 for the rest of his life.
scav
@Keith G: I’m not about to keen and ululate about the current crop of gatekeepers, especially if I have to use their intervening existence as evidence as “closeness to leadership”. There are doors, there are windows, ventilation ducts, all sorts of alternatives to the traditional golden (and increasingly whiney) gates of keeping.
MattR
I didn’t say it earlier because I knew she was going in for an ultrasound the next day and I didn’t want to jinx the results, but now that I know it is just a little particle buildup in the bladder causing irritation and traces of blood in the urination, and not something like cancer, I can celebrate the fact that Ellie turned 10 on Monday. Her present is that she gets to be put on a new diet that should help prevent those particles from becoming stones. And bacon. And lots of loving. I think she would trade it all for a lawn like that to play on.
Citizen_X
Happy with your tyrant now, Obots? INPEACH!1!!
schrodinger's cat
@raven: Apology accepted and I won’t tell anyone, your reputation is safe.
Chyron HR
@Keith G:
Weird how you switched from the White House shutting out the right-wing media to an alleged “separation with the people”. I’m sure it was just an accident, though!
Elizabelle
@gogol’s wife:
I’m thinking the last puzzle that person constructed had Justin Bieber in the middle and spaces big enough for crayon.
Thinking he or she is heading back to the minor leagues.
Can’t wait to see what the ombudsman says about this.
schrodinger's cat
@Tommy: Apparently there is prejudice against black animals when it comes to pet adoption. Especially, black cats, they seem to be the last to get adopted.
Elizabelle
@schrodinger’s cat:
Especially when they’re posing under ladders.
Betty Cracker
@Keith G: I haven’t made a study of it, but the gist of the Gawker piece is that they get plenty of photo ops, just not pride of place from which to shoot.
shortstop
Or embarBOes them. HAW.
Tone in DC
I misspell enough words to chuckle at this.
I can definitely picture some Freeper Keyboard Commando telling the other Erick fans to INpeach.
While railing against executive infarctions, the perverse behavior of homo sapiens, the sanctity of filiblusters, and dinosaur riding Pharisees near the Sea of Galilee.
Tommy
@schrodinger’s cat: Now you say that about black cats I have heard/read that. Of my three cats I’ve had, two were all black. I guess it is the whole black cat crossing your path or something else equally as stupid ….
gogol's wife
@Elizabelle:
No, it’s not the constructor — it’s the editor. The editor actually changed the clue to that one. It’s almost unbelievable.
mdblanche
@Keith G: The flaw here is conflating the media with the people. I feel much more alienated from my media than from my leadership.
ETA: The Obama administration is also quite eager to experiment with social media. The traditional media are ultimately middlemen, and like most middlemen the last thing they want is for somebody to bypass them and render them obsolete.
Ash Can
@Elizabelle: According to gogol’s wife’s comment, it was the editor who changed the puzzle creator’s original, utterly politically neutral definition to the juvenile cheap shot that GW quoted. The puzzle creator left a comment revealing this and busting the editor.
Tommy
@Betty Cracker: As somebody that took 4 photojournalism classes in the late 80s I learned it wasn’t the “spot” you were in. It was capturing a moment. I mean look at like the NatGeo or any other major photo contest (like Reuters). What wins?
People that capture a moment. Often in a situation where you wouldn’t think you’d get that pic. If with the technology we have today you can’t take a pic of two dogs to run in low resolution on a web site cause you don’t have the right “spot” you need to find another profession.
bemused
@gogol’s wife:
Who would have thought editors would mess with an innocuous crossword puzzle clue. I could understand changing a constructor’s clue if was potentially offensive but this was the other way around, for pete’s sake.
Ash Can
@gogol’s wife: I get a kick out of the fact that the creator busted the editor in the comments. Hilarious.
kc
Not really on topic, but, damn, those dogs are cute.
Napoleon
In case nobody said this up-thread, fuck Ron F.
kc
@gogol’s wife:
Probably a liberal media trick to make people think they’re not really liberal.
scav
I believe the omsbudmen at the NYT are chosen based on the size of their pompoms. Might be a trade-off between that and the size constraints mandated by their role as doormats.
Jebediah, RBG
@dmsilev:
SO ARE BOTH OF THEIR KIDS!!!11!!
WAKE UP SHEEPLE!!!!11!!
ranchandsyrup
BOTH DOGS DO IT! IF ONLY ONE OF THE DOGS WOULD LEAD!?!
Jebediah, RBG
@ranchandsyrup:
Will these dogs be able to salvage their term in he White House?
Karen in GA
@raven: Ah, hell. I just made an appointment for a lesson with someone in Pine Lake. Thanks, though.
Citizen_X
@Tone in DC: “Inpeach” is a Wonkette trope. Or a meme. I can never keep those straight.
Anyway, I am aware of all internet traditions, blah blah blah.
gwangung
@Jebediah, RBG: I’m sorry, but you owe me a keyboard that I just ruined with diet Coke.
Betty Cracker
I may be alone in this opinion, but I don’t find the crossword clue offensive and don’t get the consternation about it. Sure it’s juvenile, but that’s pretty typical, and the one it replaced was too easy and banal, so I can understand the rationale for changing it to something that passes for “clever” in crossword puzzle clues. I really, really, really don’t think they’re implying the president stinks.
Patrick
I think I just want to scream!
Fournier is upset about not being invited to take a picture of some dog. But God forbid that Fournier, AT LEAST ONCE could be asked to do some REAL journalism,. How about asking the GOP to explain their hypocrisy on people being kicked off insurance plans. They could care less before the ACA, yet now they care. Why, Mr Fournier?
And to be fair to Fournier, he is not much different than the rest of the pathetic press core we have in DC.
ranchandsyrup
@Jebediah, RBG: Yes, but not in a way that would satisfy the people alleging that it needs to be salvaged.
mdblanche
@Patrick:
I’m pretty sure real journalism is beyond Fournier’s talents.
Keith G
@Tone in DC: In a sense, it doesn’t matter if the president is Nixon, Clinton or Obama. Presidents of the United States ought to make themselves available to the give and take of the press and the public as often as practical. And, arguments about the quality of the press is just piffle. After all, it is widely held that persons who become president are highly accomplished individuals who should be able to handle the press matter how silly it/they might be.
I don’t want Republican presidents using a “stupid press” excuse, therefore I can’t accept Democratic presidents doing it either.
Tommy
@kc: Yes they are. I am a cat guy. Never had a dog. But I got so much house/yard house I am looking at a dog for the first time. Will get some rescue dog I am sure. Hopefully with some Shepard in them. Heck maybe even a German Shepard (what I really want), cause I hear and see there are a lot of them in the rescue places by me.
With that said my brother and his wife have a Labradoodle. Not what the Obama’s have, but they look a lot a like. Bet they are in the same “family.” They paid a ton for that darn thing, but my gosh Murphy (their dog) is one good looking canine.
gogol's wife
@Betty Cracker:
Do you do the New York Times crossword puzzle regularly? Political commentary is usually kept out of the clues. There were no clues of this type in the Bush era.
They also had “agency involved in scandal” as a clue for “IRS” at a time when that was the big right-wing talking point.
Presidents are usually referred to by three initials. He’s BHO, not BO. Associating him with body odor is also a racist trope.
Patricia Kayden
Fournier missed the much greater scandal — there are no white dogs in the White House. Kenyan Racism!
geg6
Fuck Fournier.
Meanwhile, can I just say I that absolutely adore those doggies? So pretty and they look like big friendly galoots. And I hear they don’t shed. Which means that my next dog is going to be a Portugese water hound, which is what these are, I think.
kc
@Tommy:
Labradoodles are cute as heck, too, but you’re right about the cost. After meeting one and falling in love a few years back, I Googled some local breeders, and couldn’t find anything less than $1,000.00. If and when I do get a dog to supplement my cat collection, it will probably be a rescue.
When you get your dog, you must post its picture here. It’s a rule.
Jebediah, RBG
@geg6:
A friend had one – apparently hypoallergenic and their coat is super soft.
Patricia Kayden
@Keith G: Please explain in details how President Obama has refused to engage with the “stupid press” or the smart press for that matter.
Keith G
@Betty Cracker: I recall reading an article few months back speaking about how this White House has further limited the occasions it has allowed pool photographers into an official event .
In a smaller event, that pool photographer would snap away then give access to the photographs to the wire services and other media. A concern was raised that at times Pete Sousa was the only photographer at some of these events and then the White House would distribute the images that they chose.
Betty Cracker
@gogol’s wife: I occasionally do the NYT and other puzzles. The fact that several people here are irked by it is evidence that it could be construed as offensive, but that seems like kind of a stretch to me. The mileage. It varies.
Roger Moore
@Tommy:
A lot of people care about that stuff. They definitely care about the breed of dogs, which is probably closer to our concept of race for humans than fur color. Heck, dog breeds might be closer to our concept of human race than actual human race is; we almost certainly have better pedigrees for most purebred dogs than for most allegedly purebred humans.
Betty Cracker
@Keith G: Maybe it really is a thing — I really don’t know. But if it is, it’s a shame Fournier is the boy who’s crying wolf.
scav
They must be auditioning for new NYT ombudspeople. Both sides do it? Ticked. Journos, including photographers at staged photo-ops as the last bastion of truth, justice and the ‘merican way of life and closeness of the people to the vital beating heart of presidential power? Ticked. Pompoms and horizontal control? Ticked.
Betty Cracker
@Roger Moore: I saw some NatGeo program on dog breeds the other night (via Netflix, I think). Fascinating stuff. They called it (the process of creating and maintaining distinct breeds) the longest eugenics experiment in history.
Keith G
@Patricia Kayden: Say what you want, this administration’s reluctance to engage the press is well known and well recorded. This does not mean that Obama is a bad or lacking president, it just means that on occasion he has made his job a little harder than it needs to be. That is something he has admitted publicly.
Trollhattan
WH photography changed forever with David Hume Kennerly’s stint in the Ford administration, where he had unprecedented access. Gerry Ford had his faults but in sum, was the last decent Republican to hold the office.
Little known fact: Dick Cheney had a personal photographer, but his identity has never been revealed, his cameras and all photos were destroyed in a volcanic caldera, and he was served, barbequed, at a Cheney ranch hoedown.
Keith G
@Betty Cracker: It fascinates me that folks get caught up in personalities. Sometimes our most favorite people make stupid points and sometimes the worst jerks say something that has a smidgen of truth.
Aimai
@Keith G: photographers are not the press. A staged photo op of the dogs is nit journalism. Good reporting on the government has nothing to do with white house access.
LanceThruster
@dmsilev: If they were both one gender would Prof. Carlson declare the Obamas sexist?
What a maroon!
Tommy
@Roger Moore: I get that hearing what my brother and his wife wanted. Also I guess myself I am less concerned about color/breed then personality and size. I mean I have a cat, I don’t want something to sit in my lap. I want something to jog, walk, hike with me.
I was stunned what they paid for the darn thing. But it was what they wanted and he HAD to be pure breed (I never asked why). I am just happy, cause I am not that far from MO (they got him in MO) and that is like the puppy kennel of the nation.
They checked a ton of references and went on two site visits.
Murphy rocks, although to be honest he has too much energy for me. They have a large backyard and don’t often walk him, so he is just so over-the-top. But I understand. They both work and they have a three year old.
Not a lot of time to take the dog out. Will spend a lot of time with him this holiday season and I’ll take him on a few long walks and jogs. As always he’ll be my friend :).
Villago Delenda Est
Sack of rancid dogshit.
Cervantes
@raven: See, I told you it was an aberration.
Tommy
@Keith G: Neither do I. I recall once fighting with a co-worker of mine 24/7. I mean we were at each others throats (that is very rare thing for me). Our boss pulled us aside and explained she didn’t know why we didn’t like each other, didn’t really care, but 95% of the time we agreed on how to help our joint client so deal with the personality issues. We did.
piratedan
if you simply connect the dots, it’s obvious that Sunny is the key to unraveling the Truth! about Benghazi, I’m just surprised that no one has seen it before, with all of these NSA and ACA distractions, keep your eye on the ball now people…. and fetch.
Tone in DC
@Keith G:
Uh… you DO remember how the M$M treated Bush Jr., right? They gave him every break they could. From 1999 until he left office. They forgot completely they were sometimes supposed to have an adversarial role.
This US American adds, such as…
What Aimai said.
Since 2008, they’ve been little but adversarial. Sometimes, blatantly fact-free in their drive to be idiots, like Chuck Todd.
Ericsmom
Ankle biter of course.
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Fix’d. This administration talks frequently to local newspapers in cities outside of New York and Washington DC. They talk a lot to the Spanish-language press. They frequently engage with the international press.
What they don’t do is engage with the White House Press Corps. So, again, you’re taking one very small group at their word and extrapolating that out to all of the press, which is simply not true.
NotMax
@piratedan
Do the conspiracy code math.
Bo = Barack Obama
Sunny = Sunni
/wingnut
Trollhattan
@NotMax:
Not to mention, shi’iting all over the WH lawn. QED.
drkrick
@Keith G:
Given the separation between the people and the courtier press, I’m going to have a hard time taking the idea the reporters have any role in bridging that gap seriously.
ruemara
@Keith G: I find this descriptor of reluctant to engage the press, very amusing.
kindness
That photo deserves an honorary shot in the next Balloon Juice calendar.
Keith G
@Aimai: As I said up thread, I wasn’t specifically talking about, or interested in, pictures of canines.
Most official event pictures are staged to one degree or another…all those smiling hugs, hand shakes, and pats on the back. And in all that, occasionally an interesting addition to the official narrative breaks out as news: Who can forget the famous Shrub back rub or the ice-filled atmosphere between a sitting Obama and Putin. I am glad that access to those events weren’t overly managed.
RaflW
Discarded maimed and slobbery squeaky toy.
Karen in GA
@Tommy: My understanding is that a Labradoodle isn’t a pure breed — isn’t it a retriever/poodle mix?
ranchandsyrup
Enraging me today: Girl with one eye is told by classmates that her appearance is “a slap in the face to god”.
Keith G
@drkrick: We have never have had the best press possible. In the past they have sucked up to both Roosevelts and JFK among many others. Still, the press, in general, has a very important role to play and there are those specific individuals and organizations within the press who play that role rather well.
And there are those who suck big slimy rocks, but I’m not about to throw out the babies with the bath water.
quickly edited
IowaOldLady
MSNBC’s website is screwed up. I blame Obama.
scav
@ranchandsyrup: Well, xians gotta x, it’s how they roll, right? Totally explains how Obamacare is the work of the debil though, as all health care must be a slap in the face of GOD’s intentions. As this is such a xian nation, waiting times in ERs should plummet for the rest of us.
ranchandsyrup
@scav: That young lady handled her “disability” and the way she is treated far better than I could even imagine doing. She’s the one following the teachings of Jesus.
scav
@ranchandsyrup: That does rather get to the nubbins of the issue, doesn’t it? What’s in the instruction manual and how it’s actually used by people with a personal agenda.
ranchandsyrup
@scav: true that. those kids didn’t spring from the womb with that sort of bullshit attitude.
rea
The President: These Republican leaders have not been content with attacks on me, or my wife, or on my daughterss. No, not content with that, they now include my little dog, Bo. Well, of course, I don’t resent attacks, and my family don’t resent attacks, but Bo does resent them. He has not been the same dog since. I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself … But I think I have a right to resent, to object, to libelous statements about my dog!
Mnemosyne
@ranchandsyrup:
It sounds more like they’re run-of-the-mill dickbags who wanted to find a way to bully her that wouldn’t lead to them being suspended — after all, they’re doing it out of “religious belief,” so the school can’t discipline them. Unless her school is swarming with Christian Scientists, I don’t think I’ve heard too many Christianists claim that surviving cancer is somehow thwarting God’s plan.
ranchandsyrup
@Mnemosyne: Dickbags, indeed.
David Koch
BoGate = Obama’s 18th Katrina!!!!!1!
David Koch
The more some thing change, the more they stay the same.
Villago Delenda Est
@ranchandsyrup:
Her failure to follow the teachings of the true gods of fundie “Christians”, Mammon and Moloch, has been duly noted.
SiubhanDuinne
@gogol’s wife: Seriously? Will Shortz? I am very disappoint.
SiubhanDuinne
@bemused: I have no trouble in theory with a crossword editor changing the clue to make it more or less challenging. The NYT puzzles go from easy on Monday to damnnearimfuckingpossible by Friday/Saturday, and it’s the clues that reflect the level of difficulty, not the actual words in the grid.
But this is just offensive.
Jay C
@RaflW:
How about just generic “son of a bitch”??
Memphisj
I’m late to the party on this one, but I do have a little bit of experience in this area. I was a staff photographer at several (3 actually) newspapers over the course of 12 years and this story makes me nuts. I left the newspaper biz about 16 years ago (thank goodness, wish I’d gotten out earlier) and while I went from a small paper in Utah up to a couple of mid-size metros I did cover a few national political events.
I covered the New Hampshire primary and both the Democratic and Republican conventions (1988) and saw the Washington press corps first hand. If anyone was responsible for this orchestrated photo op situation and the controlled “event” it was the DC/national press corps. I rode on one candidate’s bus in New Hampshire and was stunned to see staffers at various esteemed news orgs (including the one Ron Fournier used to work for) advise this particular campaign about where the candidate should stand in order to make for a more compelling photo. And then overhearing them congratulate themselves on the set-up while riding back to the HQ. Cry me an effing river, if these folks cared about real photojournalism they’d get all of their staff out of DC and into the country where the actual effects of administrative and congressional policies are being felt. This really disgusts me given the layoffs at papers all over the country, why they think any newspaper reader cares about this stuff is at the very center of what’s wrong with journalism in this country. End of rant……. for now : )
Pluky
@geg6: Portuguese Water Dog (or Cao de Agua Portuguese, if you will). As the owner of two, keep in mind a few things about the breed:
– They are working group dogs. As such they have a higher than average need for physical activity. If they are not run daily for at least two hours (or better allowed to swim) they get antsy.
– They are not cheap. Expect to pay about $2,000 for one.
– Because the breed was established from such a small foundation stock in this country, the breeders’ and owners’ association is hypersensitive to genetic faults. The contracts for almost all dogs sold as companion animals stipulate that they are not to be bred.
– Not shedding means they need to be groomed every 2-3 months at least. Think poodle care.
Pluky
@geg6: Portuguese Water Dog (or Cao de Agua Portuguese, if you will). As the owner of two, keep in mind a few things about the breed:
– They are working group dogs. As such they have a higher than average need for physical activity. If they are not run daily for at least two hours (or better allowed to swim) they get antsy.
– They are not cheap. Expect to pay about $2,000 for one.
– Because the breed was established from such a small foundation stock in this country, the breeders’ and owners’ association is hypersensitive to genetic faults. The contracts for almost all dogs sold as companion animals stipulate that they are not to be bred.
– Not shedding means they need to be groomed every 2-3 months at least. Think poodle care.
fidelio
@ranchandsyrup: What a lovely little group of special snowflakes. Young Miss Emily, however, rocks. Talk about making the most of what you’re given!