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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

In my day, never was longer.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

“But what about the lurkers?”

The revolution will be supervised.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

He really is that stupid.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / LGBTQ Rights / Gay Rights are Human Rights / Feewings, Nothing More than Feewings… (Open Thread)

Feewings, Nothing More than Feewings… (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  March 26, 20152:33 pm| 164 Comments

This post is in: Gay Rights are Human Rights, Open Threads, Religious Nuts 2, Assholes, General Stupidity

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I’ve only been to Indiana once, and that was an accident. I was on my way to the Kentucky Derby with a friend, riding shotgun and playing navigator as we drove from Nashville to Louisville.

I dozed off not far from our destination and awoke to my friend’s cursing a missed exit as we prepared to cross a large bridge. The sign on the bridge said “Welcome to Indiana,” which prompted me to exclaim, ‘WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!?!?!?” because my sense of geography was so fuzzy back then that I imagined Indiana was hundreds — if not thousands — of miles away from Churchill Downs.

But as it turns out, it’s right across the river, so we made a U-turn on Indiana soil and then high-tailed it back to Kentucky for the Derby. We sat in the infield, which was like going to a concert with no band. I don’t think I saw a horse all day. But I saw lots of mint juleps and big hats.

Anyhoo, Indiana. As a citizen of the much-maligned and boycotted open-air insane asylum known as “Florida,” it’s a relief to see people heaping deserved derision on another state, and thanks to Governor Pence’s signing of the “Act to Protect the Extra-Dainty Feewings of Homophobic Bakers and Florists” law, Indiana now deserves it.

If I ever make it back to the Derby when that law is still in force, I will drive so we don’t get lost and wind up in Indiana.

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164Comments

  1. 1.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 2:41 pm

    You know, Indiana isn’t a bad place … except Amish country (ugh, don’t get off the highway there unless you like to eat shit like souse and white bread) and … Gary … that was obligatory, my peeps are from the IL side.

    But they’ve gone more and more GOP deathcult since 2008.

    My friends who live there … my poor friends … they drive a car but even they are like “Why is the crazy lege widening the highway? It’s not crowded. What about some rail transportation?”

    Last time I went to visit them they said, no, no, meet us in Chicago.

    GenCon was something they looked forward to every year.

    I feel bad for all the people in the northern rim of the state and the liberals at the state colleges held hostage by this ideological rampage.

  2. 2.

    Brachiator

    March 26, 2015 at 2:41 pm

    The Indiana BS has me feeling alternately outraged and sad. Compounded by the tragedy of the German plane crash.

    In other news, however, there are some bright spots (not really). Your new Congress, when it is not trying to attach anti-abortion riders to all kinds of bills, at least understands that they need to defy Obama and do something to help the little guy. So, the Ways and Means Committee wants to repeal the Estate Tax. Never let it be said that this Congress is not concerned about the average taxpayer. A little analysis is in order:

    “Ways and Means ranking member Sander Levin, D-Mich., denounced the estate tax repeal bill, pointing out that new analyses from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) indicates that repealing the estate tax would cost $269 billion over 10 years. He highlighted the fact that the JCT noted that, in any given year, fewer than 5,500 households would benefit from a repeal of the estate tax, with 75 percent of the tax cut going to inheritors of estates valued at more than $20 million. Levin called the measure “irresponsible,” charging that the legislation amounts to a “massive” tax cut for a small number of the wealthiest households. “Americans already overwhelming believe that the tax code is stacked in favor of a select few,” added Levin.”

    And when you hear some BS about, “well let’s at least help people save the family farms,” the plain fact is that nobody in the last 50 years or more has ever lost a family farm because of federal estate taxes.

  3. 3.

    jharp

    March 26, 2015 at 2:41 pm

    Sadly I live in Indiana.

    And folks are pissed. Really pissed.

    This might make 2016 very interesting with Hillary at the top of the ticket.

    Pence is beatable and we have an open Senate seat due to Dan Coats retiring.

  4. 4.

    Tree With Water

    March 26, 2015 at 2:42 pm

    You could have starred in Dumb And Dumber (“I thought the Rockies would look bigger. Those look like the hills back east..”).

  5. 5.

    SatanicPanic

    March 26, 2015 at 2:43 pm

    I kind of wish I had plans to visit these places so I could boycott

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 26, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    Pence has to kiss up to the ignorant, bigoted base, no matter how much it costs Indiana in terms of actual dollars…which will be counted in the millions.

    It is indeed fortunate for Pence that such blatant stupidity is not a capital crime in this country, because he’d be in front of a Death Panel faster than you can say “Captain Jack Sparrow”.

  7. 7.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 26, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    @Brachiator: Also, too, Jefferson wanted an estate tax to prevent the accumulation of wealth over generations, which he saw as the cause of so much misery in Europe. He didn’t want the United States to make the same mistake.

    Yet the usual fuckheads are bound and determined to make that mistake.

  8. 8.

    schrodinger's cat

    March 26, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    I have been to India, but not Indiana. What’s story behind the name?

  9. 9.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: Yeah my parents live literally on the IL/IN border. I love southern Illinois and southern IN (where I have spent more than a fair amount of time) is pretty similiar.

    As for Amish country, well I am a fan :). There is a small community over the Wabash River from my parents. They make these egg noodles that are so good I often have my parents buy them for me my the box load.

    But right now they are starting to look pretty bat shit crazy.

    Oh and that going from Nashville to Louisville you ended up in IN is LOL freaking funny.

  10. 10.

    Tenar Darell

    March 26, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    @jharp: I heard GenCon has contract for convention until 2020. I wonder if they want to sell memberships to break the contract? Does that even make sense?

  11. 11.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 2:47 pm

    @Tenar Darell: That is what I read as well. 2020.

  12. 12.

    Bobby B.

    March 26, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    I’d like to catch P Heaton commenting on this on her Twitter, though she’s usually careful to hide her nuttiness for the sake of the show.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 26, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    @SatanicPanic:

    Actually I am looking at how to rework my route to Chicago this fall to minimize (if not avoid altogether) my time in Indiana. It can be done but it will put more miles on the itinerary.

  14. 14.

    Cervantes

    March 26, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    I went to Indiana once for an American Public Health Association convention. I stayed at a crummy truck stop hotel outside of town. The first day I went to breakfast there was a fat guy sitting there with the Big Breakfast – a stack of 16 pancakes, 3 eggs, sausage, bacon, buttered toast, maybe a suckling pig — and a pitcher of beer. He finished the pitcher and the waitress said, “Would you like another pitcher, dear?” Sure enough.

    At the Planet Hollywood that night, a guy bent over to pick up a dropped pack of cigarettes and his gun fell out of his shirt pocket and discharged, sending a bullet through one woman’s wrist and into another woman’s side. The next day, the chief of police announced he would not be charged because “He had a p’mit for the weapon.”

    There’s a huge memorial downtown depicting soldiers standing on the necks of conquered Indians. Also, the word for restaurant in Indianapolis is “steakhouse.” It’s very difficult to eat a vegetable there.

  15. 15.

    Belafon

    March 26, 2015 at 2:52 pm

    @Tenar Darell: We were talking about this at Daily Kos. This might be grounds for breaking the contract if they want to pursue it.

  16. 16.

    jl

    March 26, 2015 at 2:53 pm

    As a Californian, I do sympathize with the confusion caused by too many little itty biitty states all crammed together, so it’s hard to keep track of which one your are in at the moment. I sometimes refer to the eastern half of the US where half my family comes from as ‘the Old Country’.

    Pence is another example of how the GOP keeps getting worse and worse. He used to be an example of the worst the GOP could produce. And in some ways he is, as his signing of a nasty bill allowing discrimination shows.

    But I heard on the news this morning he OK’d an emergency needle program for part of Indiana that is having a bad outbreak of HIV/AIDS due to drug use.

    Surprising contrast and ideological inconsistency that I doubt would be seen among the likes of Walker, Scott and others.

  17. 17.

    Belafon

    March 26, 2015 at 2:53 pm

    @SatanicPanic: If you get bored, you could call businesses and say you were planning on visiting, but decided not to now.

  18. 18.

    indycat32

    March 26, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Indiana – land of the Indians (though not any more, we killed them all). Sadly I too live in Indiana. My family moved from Kentucky to Milan, Indiana in 1955 which is were I grew up . Sadder still, I moved back to Indiana from San Diego I’d leave but I’d want to live someplace warm, and the only warm state that isn’t batcrap crazy is California and I can’t afford it.

  19. 19.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    March 26, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    Don’t feel baf, Betty. As a lifelong resident of Kentucky, I did the same thing. Taking the kids to the Museum of Science and missed the last exit before the bridge.

  20. 20.

    skerry

    March 26, 2015 at 2:57 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Everyone is sticking this on Pence. I’ve heard very little complaints from my Indiana-bound family or high school Facebook friends about their state legislators or how they need to be replaced. Pence signed the legislation, but it didn’t get to his desk by magic.

    /s/ Recovering Hoosier

  21. 21.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 26, 2015 at 2:58 pm

    My name today is Kafka.

    I needed a passport. Filled out the application. Drove to the Post Office to be photographed and to pay. Check engine light came on.

    Post office said my birth certificate would not be accepted because my parents’ names aren’t on it. This is a new rule.

    Also we changed our name. So my parents’ name doesn’t match mine. The documentation I had for this was a copy. Couldn’t find the original.

    I was born in a different state. Called the state for a new birth certificate. On hold, was told to leave number, they never called back. I tried and tried, finally got through.

    To get a new birth certificate, need copy of drivers license. Because we moved, drivers license has old address. (back of drivers license has a little sticker with new address written on)

    I KNOW if I mail a copy of the drivers license, they will mail the birth certificate to the old address on the front of the card. I just KNOW this. So now I must go to DMV for updated drivers license.

    To get a replacement name change document, must drive one hour from here to county clerk. Check engine light makes me reluctant to do this. Must get car checked first.

    On top of this, I had minor surgery today, to remove a tiny questionable skin thing.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    March 26, 2015 at 2:58 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I have been to India, but not Indiana.

    I’ve been to paradise, but I’ve never been to me.

  23. 23.

    Betty Cracker

    March 26, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    @jl:

    As a Californian, I do sympathize with the confusion caused by too many little itty biitty states all crammed together, so it’s hard to keep track of which one your are in at the moment.

    Don’t even get me started on the square states!

  24. 24.

    Tom Levenson

    March 26, 2015 at 2:59 pm

    @indycat32: New Mexico isn’t batcrap crazy and has affordable bits. Beautiful as all hell, too.

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    March 26, 2015 at 3:01 pm

    @indycat32:

    and the only warm state that isn’t batcrap crazy is California

    If you’re young enough, that will eventually change. Just make sure it’s inland.

  26. 26.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    @Cervantes:

    Also, the word for restaurant in Indianapolis is “steakhouse.” It’s very difficult to eat a vegetable there.

    LOL. Grew up in Southern Illinois (very similar to much of IN), but after college almost 20 years in DC before I moved back. I love me my meat, but don’t have to have it with every meal and good veggies are good veggies.

    Now don’t get me wrong I am stunned that people order a nice steak and want fries as a side. But more than anything I can’t get fresh, locally grown food/veggies by me. That stuns me. I’ll drive to a place to eat, past farm fields for as far as the eyes can see, ask the waiter where this or that came from and they don’t know or it was shipped in from someplace far away.

    I am always like WTF people!

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    March 26, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Don’t even get me started on the square states!

    Yes, yes, you’re a real hep cat. All reet, Daddy-O!

  28. 28.

    MsInformed

    March 26, 2015 at 3:02 pm

    @jharp:
    Glad to hear people in Indiana are pissed. I have friends and family there that I know don’t support this bigotry running under cover of religion.

  29. 29.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 26, 2015 at 3:03 pm

    @jl: little itty biitty states

    Hey!

  30. 30.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    March 26, 2015 at 3:05 pm

    @Tommy:
    You ain’t heard nothin yet. An administrative assistant messed up some reservations for some coworkers of mine. From here in South Central Kentucky the nearest airport is Nashville. She was supposed to get them a flight to Cleveland, but made it for Cinncinnati. So, they drove from Kentucky to Tennessee, flew to the Cinncinnati airport, which is across the river in Kentucky, then rented a car and drove into Ohio and most of the way across it to get to Cleveland.

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    March 26, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    @indycat32:

    Sadder still, I moved back to Indiana from San Diego I’d leave but I’d want to live someplace warm, and the only warm state that isn’t batcrap crazy is California and I can’t afford it.

    There’s always Bakersfield. Its (deservedly) cheap.

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    March 26, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Don’t even get me started on the square states!

    They aren’t square; they’re rectangular!

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2015 at 3:06 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: If the engine is running fine, don’t worry about the check engine light, just make an appt at your convenience. Probably just a sensor anyway.

  34. 34.

    SatanicPanic

    March 26, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    @Belafon: lol, I might just do that for funsies

  35. 35.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    @indycat32: The town I live in has kind of a “strange” name. It is the name of the tribe of Indians that used to live here. Our school mascots are the Indians. I am stunned most people that live in my town are not remotely aware of this. I am more stunned when I note that I bet they’ve never met an Indian from that tribe, cause the Germans in the 1840s kill them all when they took their land. Or I hate to admit it some think it is funny. I don’t think it is remotely funny!

  36. 36.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 26, 2015 at 3:08 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: I needed a passport. Filled out the application. Drove to the Post Office

    Years ago when I needed an application for a renewal I called the main post office. Yes, they had them. Could you please mail one to me? No. But you’re the post office. Sorry.

    Anyway, now I do this at my town clerk’s office, which I drive past at least twice a day to go pretty much anywhere.

  37. 37.

    Villago Delenda Est

    March 26, 2015 at 3:08 pm

    @skerry: Pence could have vetoed this raft of shit.

    But he did not.

  38. 38.

    SatanicPanic

    March 26, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    @Tom Levenson: Nevada isn’t so bad either. well it is and it isn’t.

  39. 39.

    jl

    March 26, 2015 at 3:11 pm

    @Betty Cracker:
    @Gin & Tonic:

    I apologize for my regional chauvinism. Some states like Jersey try to compensate: they get themselves a big guv.
    “Out west where the states are square” is something you Easterners can use to slam us. I think it’s from Thomas Wolfe.

    @Cervantes:
    ” There’s a huge memorial downtown depicting soldiers standing on the necks of conquered Indians. ”

    For Tippecanoe? Or some other battle? Or just to commemorate the Indiana Indian removal and the string of treaties that the US broke?

    Edit: on Native Americans, California is just as bad. I remember seeing a map of a treaty from the 1850s. Turns out I grew up smack dab in the middle of what was supposed to be, by treaty, a huge reservation for Central Valley Native Americans. Never happened somehow.

  40. 40.

    Tree With Water

    March 26, 2015 at 3:14 pm

    12:13 PM PST

    I just saw a UFO in the sky above Sonoma county, Ca. I’m not contending it was alien, simply that it could not possibly have been an aircraft.

  41. 41.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:14 pm

    @jake the antisoshul soshulist:

    So, they drove from Kentucky to Tennessee, flew to the Cinncinnati airport, which is across the river in Kentucky …

    How is that possible? Is that even an 80, heck 60 mile flight.

    People not from the midwest might get/know this, but pull out a map. Illinois, MO, Kentucky, Indiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee at either their most Eastern or Western points are pretty close to each other.

    I am too lazy to Google it but there is a tourist site where five of the above states state lines all come to a single point.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    March 26, 2015 at 3:15 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    They aren’t square; they’re rectangular!

    Only because the dudes drawing them up flunked geometry. They could have squeezed in a whole other state or two.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    March 26, 2015 at 3:16 pm

    @Tree With Water:
    “X-Files” promo?

  44. 44.

    Mike J

    March 26, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    @Tenar Darell:

    I heard GenCon has contract for convention until 2020

    I’m guessing the contract has any number of ways to break it. If a hog rendering plant opened next door to the convention center, the contract would probably be void. The whole of Indiana is now a psychic hog rendering plant.

  45. 45.

    Tree With Water

    March 26, 2015 at 3:19 pm

    @jharp: “And folks are pissed. Really pissed”.

    That’s refreshing to hear. I tend to think of Indiana as North Alabama.

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    March 26, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    @Tommy: Ummmm no. They don’t.

  47. 47.

    Betty Cracker

    March 26, 2015 at 3:22 pm

    @Tree With Water: Picture?

  48. 48.

    jl

    March 26, 2015 at 3:25 pm

    @Tommy:

    I think you’d have to drag IL and IN about 50 miles southwest to make that five stater meetup happen.

    I think for jumbled up state borders, hard to beat area between Cumberland and Hagerstown MD. The northern branch of my southern kin are around there, leaking up just above PA border.

    Next, in my personal experience, is area around Wilmington DE.

  49. 49.

    jharp

    March 26, 2015 at 3:27 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    “I have been to India, but not Indiana. What’s story behind the name?”

    The Naming of Indiana (as presented to the Wayne County Historical Society in 1898)

    http://www.masson.us/blog/the-naming-of-indiana-as-presented-to-the-wayne-county-historical-society-in-1898/

  50. 50.

    PaulW

    March 26, 2015 at 3:27 pm

    Betty, I don’t think Floridians or even other southerners understand just how redneck-y and racist Indiana can get. Hint: the KKK had its largest enrollment in the 1920s in Indiana, around 250,000 (roughly 3 out of 10 Indiana whites were Klan). There’s a reason why a lot of non-southerner Republican a-holes are from Indiana. I mean, I *know* we got crazy Republicans in Kansas and Ohio and Wisconsin, but by God none of them can hold a candle to Indiana GOP f-ckery.

  51. 51.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 3:28 pm

    @Brachiator: Not true, back in the 1990s there was a big old dairy farm in Montgomery County, MD, where DC is metastasizing, and developers wanted it. Old man was too cheap to hire a competent tax attorney and just sold the property to his son for a dollar. IRS took it.

    Now it’s houses AND the loss off the greenspace caused Rockville’s stormwater system to fail catastrophically. So it ended up costing the public a lot of money.

    If you find this unbelievable just think about the fact all those federal offices are there, all those employees live somewhere, brush elbows with other people … people with agendas … VA and MD are always getting special treatment. DC is different, no vote, and a bunch of rubes from the hinterlands who love talking down to Blah people.

  52. 52.

    pseudonymous in nc

    March 26, 2015 at 3:29 pm

    The sign on the bridge said “Welcome to Indiana,” which prompted me to exclaim, ‘WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!?!?!?”

    We actually did that when in Louisville, albeit deliberately, to add one to our list of states visited. We visited the ‘Sunny Side of Louisville’ welcome center, turned around, and went back.

    That’s where the casino boat is.

    @Tommy:

    Oh and that going from Nashville to Louisville you ended up in IN is LOL freaking funny.

    It really is just one missed exit on I-65 (at a crazy multi-interstate intersection). Far too easy to do.

  53. 53.

    jl

    March 26, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    As long as BC brought up the topic of confusing state boundaries, what is the deal with that little piece of the NW shore of the Lake of the Woods that MN got?

    Did we fight a little micro-war with Canada over that?

  54. 54.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    So off topic but today has been a wonderful day. I am 45. About 8 months ago I found it was getting hard to read really small type. Went in and found out I needed glasses for the first time. But also told my sight at a distance was a little “off.” They suggest bifocals.

    I don’t know why, cause I am never that guy who buys “cheap” anything, but I bought super cheap glasses. They never worked for me, but kept them for whatever reason. About a month ago my cat knocked them on the floor and I rolled over them with my office chair.

    I decided to get “good” of not the “best” glasses I could get.

    I can’t believe I will admit this, but paid $612 for one pair.* Long story, but took almost five weeks to get them. Without any glasses had to move my head, step back to read things, was getting headaches. Not a “happy camper.”

    They arrived yesterday and put them on. My gosh I could see. And with the “Progressive” lenses I didn’t have to “train” my eyes as I was told with my other glasses they just worked.

    And best of all when I went outside and my glasses turned to sunglasses and I could see clearly (I spend a lot of time outside) my eyes started to leak a little. The world was clearer!!!!!!!

    Lesson learned, don’t skimp on glasses. I will never do that again.

    *More bizzare, looking at frames for like 45 minutes, I got Nike frames (and kind of the “geeky” fool

  55. 55.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    @jl: @OzarkHillbilly: I heard that back in college. Must have been high (no I know I was). My bad for the bad info.

  56. 56.

    jharp

    March 26, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    @Tenar Darell:

    “I heard GenCon has contract for convention until 2020.”

    That is what they are saying.

    And I’d give GenCon money or join to see them back out of the deal.

    And clearly Governor Pence and the Republican legislature are fucking with the wrong people.

    Also, SalesForce.com, who recently bought Indianapolis based Exact Target for $2.5 billion, has stopped sending anyone to Indiana to do business.

  57. 57.

    PaulW

    March 26, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    @trollhattan:

    THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE.

    I am bringing back my Senseless ‘Shipper Surveys a blog entry at a time. Who wants the web address?

  58. 58.

    donnah

    March 26, 2015 at 3:32 pm

    Sigh. I live in Ohio, Indiana’s neighbor. I expect our legislators will see this as a gauntlet thrown and will do their darndest to one-up them. Your move, Ohio Teaparty!

  59. 59.

    Punchy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    @Tenar Darell: They claim they’re going to honor their contract thru 2020. I say there’s NO WAY the convention is held there in 2016. This law is going to blow up Indiana’s (already terrible) rep something fierce. This law is repealed in less than 6 months, IMO.

  60. 60.

    indycat32

    March 26, 2015 at 3:33 pm

    @PaulW: The Klan ran Indiana in the 1920s. The governor and many of the legislators belonged to the Klan. Their downfall came when the grand dragon was convicted of rape and murder.

  61. 61.

    jharp

    March 26, 2015 at 3:34 pm

    @PaulW:

    “Betty, I don’t think Floridians or even other southerners understand just how redneck-y and racist Indiana can get.”

    Indiana is a border state. Not the south and not the north.

    Keep in mind that Indiana is the place where Lincoln suspended the right of Habeas corpus.

    I’d compare it to Missouri. Or at least parts of Missouri.

    And yes. It is very rednecky and racist.

  62. 62.

    trollhattan

    March 26, 2015 at 3:35 pm

    @Tommy:
    Congrats! Folks who’ve never had vision issues have no concept of what it’s like to suddenly see, as in really SEE one’s surroundings. Having had glasses since kidddom this was my reaction upon finally getting contacts as an adult. “Holy crap, why didn’t I do this twenty years ago?!?”

    At some point contacts and glasses swapped places in cost–contacts can be literally throw-away items and good, not even fancy glasses can cost several hundred bucks. I can’t begin to guess why.

  63. 63.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    @indycat32: Wasn’t the “Capital” of the KKK not far from Princeton, IN for many years in the 1920/30s?

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    March 26, 2015 at 3:36 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Also, too, Jefferson wanted an estate tax to prevent the accumulation of wealth over generations, which he saw as the cause of so much misery in Europe.

    Yep. In this, little Tommy J cited another rascal, Adam Smith:

    “A power to dispose of estates for ever is manifestly absurd. The earth and the fulness of it belongs to every generation, and the preceding one can have no right to bind it up from posterity. Such extension of property is quite unnatural.” Smith said: “There is no point more difficult to account for than the right we conceive men to have to dispose of their goods after death.”

    And yet, too many Americans don’t see the okey-doke BS here, and think that Obama wants to prevent them from doing what they want with their own hard earned money after they die.

  65. 65.

    Pogonip

    March 26, 2015 at 3:37 pm

    @Baud: I’ve never been to Spain, but I kinda like the music.

    Don’t worry too much about the silly law. Even if no court overturns it, I have been to the Blueberry Festival in LaPorte, along with the entire population of Indiana, several adjacent states, and probably a small country or two. None of the vendors were inquiring into customers’ personal habits before taking their money. This law still makes me a bit uneasy because of the precedent it sets, but overall, I am confident greed will triumph.

  66. 66.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 26, 2015 at 3:38 pm

    @Tommy: I lose/misplace reading glasses all the time. Can’t remember the last time I spent more than $3.99 for a pair.

  67. 67.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    March 26, 2015 at 3:38 pm

    @Tree With Water:

    Writer David Sklar once saw a strange aircraft hovering over him late at night. But he knew it had to be a human-created aircraft, because he could see the red and green landing lights on the bottom.

  68. 68.

    Tree With Water

    March 26, 2015 at 3:39 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Nope. I happened to be looking up, and it was visible for inside of 10 seconds.

    The last time I saw anything like it was 20 years ago in San Francisco. It was the famous constellation of lights that was photographed above Mexico City a few years before, and it traversed the sky from east to west, stopping and hovering as it did. Years later, it dawned on me the lights must have been lasers of some sort, fashioned and controlled by the militatary from either a satellite or ground control. After 30 minutes of reflection, I’m guessing what I saw was the sun’s reflection on the B-1000, or whatever that bomber we most recently unleashed on Bagdad is called. The angles that aircraft can fly on the drop of a dime are incredible, and would account for the weird trajectory of whatever it was I just saw zip across the sky.

  69. 69.

    liberal

    March 26, 2015 at 3:40 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    I like hte estate tax, but let’s be honest—the truly rich don’t really pay much. They wrap the estate up in “insurance” to exempt it for the tax.

  70. 70.

    dexwood

    March 26, 2015 at 3:41 pm

    @Tom Levenson:

    We are not batshit crazy. . . yet. If left to our governor, some legislators, and Albuquerque’s mayor we would be.

  71. 71.

    brantl

    March 26, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    I’ve only been to Indiana once, and that was an accident.

    Betty, I lived 5 miles over the Michigan border, and the only (and few) times I went to Indana, I had a feeling that if I put it into words, that quote would be it.

  72. 72.

    Pogonip

    March 26, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    @Tree With Water: When my dad and his troops saw that UFO in the Mojave, their best guess was it was some sort of fancy new fighter.

  73. 73.

    geg6

    March 26, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    @skerry:

    He didn’t have to sign it. So it’s on him.

  74. 74.

    liberal

    March 26, 2015 at 3:44 pm

    @indycat32:

    …and the only warm state that isn’t batcrap crazy is California…

    Yeah, except for that old Prop 13 thing which pours money into the pockets of landowners for doing nothing, yeah, everything is peachy keen there.

  75. 75.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:45 pm

    @trollhattan: Yeah my parents, who have more money than they can spend, mom uses those glasses you get at Wal-mart for $5. Not glasses, just + magnification. She pushed me to the “cheap” glasses.

    She was with me, in town for her granddaughters birthday, when I got the glasses I just got. When she heard what I spent she kind of laid into me (not that it is any of her business). Telling me I need to be careful with my money. That I might make a good living, but don’t throw money away.

    I called her last night after I got them and wanted to lay into her that I wasted that money the first time around on her advice. Told her I started to tear up a little when I could see clearly. Oh and they fit. Wanted to tell her that I lived 7-8 months of my life with either glasses that didn’t work for me or with headaches because of her advice, so as much as I love you, please STFU.

  76. 76.

    jl

    March 26, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    Where does Lady Cracker stand on the issue of South Florida secession?
    I guess if she lives on the Suwanee, she will be far away from he battle lines, which is good. But she will end up in the wrong state, ideologically.

    Does the idea of a state of South Florida make more sense than the crazy plans to split up California, or not?

    Amid Climate Change Woes, South Florida Official Threatens To Secede

    ” one South Florida official is continuing to push for the southern part of the state to secede over the state government’s failure to recognize and address global warming. ”

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/south-florida-secession-climate-change–2

  77. 77.

    Iowa Old Lady

    March 26, 2015 at 3:49 pm

    How can this be any more constitutional than refusing to serve African Americans?

  78. 78.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    @liberal:

    They wrap the estate up in “insurance” to exempt it for the tax.

    I’ve tried to educate people on this here and don’t think I have been successful. There will be a time in my life where I will inherit more money than I can spend in a lifetime. As the oldest male I get all the documents on the insurance policy my parents took out, which we call the “last to die” insurance policy.

    My brother and I will inherit many millions and not pay a SINGLE dollar directly in taxes.

    Pretty sure people getting many tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or billions have figured this out as well :).

  79. 79.

    MattF

    March 26, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    Got home about an hour ago from the first round of cataract surgery. Very minor discomfort, vision in the eye somewhat blurry. Surgeon said everything went well. Looks good so far.

  80. 80.

    Betty Cracker

    March 26, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    @jl: It’ll never happen, but I can certainly understand why the South Florida contingent would wish it. There’s a saying in Florida: The further north you go, the further South you are. Very true.

  81. 81.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    @jharp: 2016 is going to suck for the GOP no matter what they say.

    Rubio is going to be contested in Florida as well.

    I hope he crashes and burns.

  82. 82.

    NCSteve

    March 26, 2015 at 3:54 pm

    Was just reminded that there are few more revolting things to puke up than a mint julep (other than four or five of them in the hot sun in the Churchill Downs infield), especially one made with cheap bourbon and cheap creme de menthe. A drink that’s a tragic waste of good bourbon and a great way to make bad bourbon even worse.

  83. 83.

    Mr. Longform

    March 26, 2015 at 3:55 pm

    Hoosier = a gun nut from Kentucky whose car broke down on the way to Michigan.

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    March 26, 2015 at 3:56 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    IIRC (and IANAL), race is legally a “protected class,” but sexual orientation is not.

  85. 85.

    jonas

    March 26, 2015 at 3:56 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    What about some rail transportation?

    Because ever since Lenin stepped off the train at Finland Station, rail travel has been for communists. And pussies. Real ‘muricans drive a pickup with trucknutz if they need to go somewhere.

  86. 86.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 26, 2015 at 3:57 pm

    from rawstory:

    A conservative blogger claims that he has been “sexually harassed” by contentious rapper Azealia Banks because she sent him a photo of her genitals.

    Matt Walsh, a writer at Glenn Beck’s website TheBlaze.com, was so upset by the experience that he went on to write a 20-plus paragraph screed decrying “female privilege” and urging liberal “minority” women to “check their privilege” in arguments with conservative, white, heterosexual men like himself.

    Walsh was one of the many conservative commenters up in arms about her Playboy interview, writing a blog post titled “Dear Azealia Banks, Please Feel Free To Leave America And Never Return” in which he offered to personally buy Banks a ticket to leave the country.

    “It goes without saying of course that if your skin complexion were a few shades lighter, and your venom aimed at skin complexions a few shades darker, your comments would be headline news, there would be boycotts all over the country, and you’d be forced to apologize amid a sea of death threats,” wrote Walsh.

    “This country made you rich,” he fumed, “it protects your right to say even the most idiotic of things, and as a young black woman, if anyone breathes even the slightest suggestion of a thought that might be perceived as insulting to you, they will be condemned, silenced, and publicly flogged.”

    However, he said, “I don’t want you to be punished for your hatred the way any white person would be punished for the same. You have free speech, which is a patently American sort of thing. A thing codified into law by white guys.”

    Banks responded by tweeting Walsh a photo of her vagina with the caption, “If you guys look closely enough you can see the future.”

  87. 87.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 3:58 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: But we need REAL ID to fight the terrorists over here argle bargle ill eagles secure the border narf!

  88. 88.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 26, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    @jonas: And let the national highway fund keep the roads nice and smooth

  89. 89.

    indycat32

    March 26, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    @Tommy: don’t know about that. Stephenson started in Evansville, then moved to Indianapolis, where he essentially ran the state government through bribes and payoffs. You pretty much needed the Klan’s endorsement to get elected to office. There was even a “Klan Day” at the state fair. You should read the wikipedia article. It ain’t pretty.

  90. 90.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    March 26, 2015 at 4:01 pm

    @NCSteve:

    We served mojitos at our wedding and, being Midwesterners, some people were worried that they would be similar to mint juleps. Fortunately, rum is a much better partner for mint (and lime juice) than bourbon is.

  91. 91.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:02 pm

    @Tommy: I used to hang with some Eastern Massachusetts Indians*. They liked to go to a cafe in West Newton (some of the most expensive real estate in the country) and have a loud conversation about land claims.

    *fuck me, I can’t remember what tribe/band they were a part of

  92. 92.

    burnspbesq

    March 26, 2015 at 4:02 pm

    @jl:

    Before you ride off on that high horse, remember that it wasn’t too long ago that the Republican Party was relevant in California, and it can become relevant again if Democrats aren’t smart and careful.

  93. 93.

    Pogonip

    March 26, 2015 at 4:02 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: She’s sending those out for free? Silly girl. She can get good money for pictures like that.

  94. 94.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    March 26, 2015 at 4:03 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler:

    To be fair, it’s probably the first time he’s ever seen one.

  95. 95.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    @jl: California–they systemically ran the Indians up in to the hills, then went to killing and capturing everyone on the high ground as well.

    At the time, I think it was the love of gold that was the root of that evil. The whole process concluded about the 1910s? I’ve seen maps, it was ugly.

  96. 96.

    Alex

    March 26, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    @jharp: Maybe your friends are pissed, but they aren’t the majority of the state (if they were, the legislature and the governor wouldn’t have gotten elected).

    I’m a Hoosier refugee. From Carmel. My high school world history teacher taught us that gays in the military caused the fall of the Roman Empire. A science teacher, apropos nothing, told us students how disgusting the thought of two men kissing is. One of my track coaches (who I had a crush on until that point… I was 14, ok?) told us we looked like fags.

    I’m hoping they all changed, but I’m not holding my breath.

    Also too, where in the world did they come up with those “millions of dollars” that will be lost from tourism? Was there ever millions of dollars of out-of-state tourism in Indiana? Will enough of those tourists even know that this law was passed, much less be outraged and cancel their trips over it?

    I’d love to think that being against gay rights would come with material consequences, but all I’ve ever seen get punished is being openly gay.

  97. 97.

    Amir Khalid

    March 26, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    @Tree With Water:
    That’s exactly like the scene from the episode Deep Throat where Mulder and Scully sneak into Area 51 and see the UFOs flying overhead!
    /X-Files geek

  98. 98.

    SatanicPanic

    March 26, 2015 at 4:05 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: man, poor guy. can we light a candle for him or something?

  99. 99.

    MattF

    March 26, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): There was a tough old lady who was at my workplace around 20 years ago. She kept her purse in her girdle– and when she wanted to fetch some change she just hiked up her skirts. The first time I saw her do it I stared– and she said “If they’ve never seen it before, they won’t know what it is.”

  100. 100.

    SatanicPanic

    March 26, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    In your face other states!

    The chart above, released this week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, shows that in just one year, big solar jumped from 1.9 percent to 5 percent of the state’s total power generation. California isn’t just producing the most utility-scale solar electricity of any state; it’s producing more than all the other states combined.

  101. 101.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 4:07 pm

    @jonas: On the IL side from IN we are working on rail. In 2017 there should be rail from St. Louis (basically where I live) to Chicago at 110 MPH. Given that is nothing close to what Europe or Japan has, but what we near is the best of the best in our nation, the Amtrak Eastern Corridor.

    Here is a story from early last year, my county, St. Clair, putting up $500,000 of our own dollars to upgrade rail lines to keep the project going.

    St. Clair County wants high speed rail in East St. Louis, and Monday night officials put up a $500,000 carrot in hopes of getting it.

    My district is white but we have East St. Louis, not so much “white.” We are trying hard to get this line put in and we hope many other things.

  102. 102.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    @Brachiator: I had a coworker with barely two nickels to rub together who was dead set against the estate tax. I told her her heirs would NEVER pay it because of the exclusion limits, to no avail. I’m pretty sure she’s innumerate too. GOP base? (TBF I don’t think she actually votes GOP.)

  103. 103.

    Patrick

    March 26, 2015 at 4:12 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Well, the the multi-millionaires thanks her for doing their work for them…

  104. 104.

    mak

    March 26, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    @jharp: I’d also draw a distinction between northern (especially Northwest) and southern Indiana, say, below Indy. Not that there aren’t rednecks in the north, especially in the rural areas, but the further south you go, the more pronounced (literally) the difference becomes. While northern Indiana has certain linguistic quirks, the accents south of Indy can become downright southern.

  105. 105.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    March 26, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    @Tommy: From Nashville it’s a damn sight more than 80 miles to CVG.

  106. 106.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:16 pm

    @liberal: Then there’s the Alaska Trusts for the Robber Baron heirs.

  107. 107.

    ThresherK

    March 26, 2015 at 4:17 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: I’m not gonna click, but: Is that the same Matt Walsh from Upright Citizens Brigade? (UCB a.k.a. “the place that gave us Amy Poehler”.)

    Really hoping it’s just a common name.

  108. 108.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    @jl: You didn’t ask me, but that’s not a serious proposal.

    What is serious? The state is moving to pre-empt local laws that allow cities and counties to award a local preference in construction contracts.

    There’s been plenty of testimony that the law as it stands is very good and saves public money. Industry is divided on the issue.

    No matter, they are chugging along with it this year. Boom!

  109. 109.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:20 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: Hardly constitutional, Congress passed a law (which Rand Paul would like to repeal) and sexual orientation is not covered.

  110. 110.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:22 pm

    @jonas: and this is why Wabash Cannonball is a song … a myth … a legend

    Those other train songs were about actual trains.

  111. 111.

    Germy Shoemangler

    March 26, 2015 at 4:22 pm

    @ThresherK: No, different guy.

  112. 112.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 4:23 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: Tell her my millionaire parents support her. They’d pay less to UBS for their policy if others vote as she did and just did away with the inheritance tax.

    I get all those darn statements from UBS and also Hartford. Not opened one for 4-5 years.

    When I found out what they were, the first one I got called my dad and said I think they mailed it to the wrong address (my father and I have the exact same name minus one I). I got no desire to read a statement that is basically telling me the value of my parents today and what insurance is taken out on their lives and assets.

    People in this world are fucking crazy or shit or stupid. Maybe both.

  113. 113.

    Betty Cracker

    March 26, 2015 at 4:23 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: Me too. I despise that smarmy fuck.

    @NCSteve: But a GOOD mint julep (i.e., decent bourbon, chipped ice, mint and sugar and NO OTHER THING) is a joy.

  114. 114.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:24 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: groin shots aren’t cool but frankly, he started it

    “this country lets you say these things” irony meter busted

    “publicly flogged” wow, what a brave truth teller, opening his mouth to tell her off knowing he’s in for a public flogging

    will they sell tickets?

  115. 115.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:25 pm

    @Pogonip: Also, how do we know it was hers and not a meme that’s been going around?

  116. 116.

    the Conster

    March 26, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Wampanoags, most likely. Mohegans – Pequots or Nipmucs – in the alternative, but they weren’t quite as far east.

  117. 117.

    grandpa john

    March 26, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: But do you feel safer from terrorist know?

  118. 118.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    @Tommy: I hope the local support helps. Got word that rail to Rockford is dead for now.

    I think CHI-STL makes too much sense. But I heard one issue is that freight traffic is up so all those passing sidings are not sufficient. They really need to double track more of the line.

  119. 119.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 26, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    @jl:

    Fun fact: Twenty-five states lie, in whole or in part, north of the southernmost point in Canada.

    Mostly “in part,” I admit, but it’s still an astonishing kind of factoid!

  120. 120.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    @the Conster: that’s it, Wampanoags. My brain said “Waban” but that’s just a dude’s name so I know that wasn’t right.

  121. 121.

    the Conster

    March 26, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Like Reno is further west than LA. Try taking bets at a bar against that being true, and you’ll be good for the night.

  122. 122.

    John M. Burt

    March 26, 2015 at 4:31 pm

    Re UFOs, Air Force craft, maybe?

    http://www.odometer.com/lifestyle/9545/27-bizarre-aircraft-we-cant-believe-existhow-do-some-of-these-even-fly#slide/0

  123. 123.

    the Conster

    March 26, 2015 at 4:33 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Waban is also part of Newton – by Newton Lower Falls. I lived near Lake Cochituate for years, and visitors were always like lolwut? Actually it’s amazing how many of the tribal place names are still in use today here.

  124. 124.

    trollhattan

    March 26, 2015 at 4:33 pm

    @SatanicPanic:
    Being that hydropower production is going to remain rather off for the foreseeable future, here’s to even more of same. More wind please, also, too.

  125. 125.

    Amir Khalid

    March 26, 2015 at 4:35 pm

    @John M. Burt:
    Sure, that’s what they always say.

  126. 126.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:37 pm

    I used to live near their sacred meeting ground. It’s by the Boston town line so there’s a Jewish cemetery there now, a Catholic cemetery, what’s left of Brook Farm after the arsonist was done with it, and if you go a little further towards Dedham there’s the old Boston town dump, now redubbed Millennium Park.

    I grew up so close to the river our houses lacked the customary New England basements. You could walk in the woods to the river and make your way to Needham in one direction, Boston and Dedham in the other. Quite a lot of nature for a place so urban.

    Sadly, Aquinas College in Thompsonville sold their land and they built infill development. It was a nice little tree’d area in a very dense old suburb, now it’s even denser I guess.

    http://www.newtoncitizens.com/villages.shtml

  127. 127.

    Tommy

    March 26, 2015 at 4:37 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: That funding was for part rail but also stations in East St. Louis (mostly African American) and Granite City (mostly lower income white). Not heard about the Rockford issue. The line of the rail is clear and been approved for 3+ years when we got the funding, unless there are lawsuits (and of course I am sure there are many of them) I am not aware of.

  128. 128.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:39 pm

    @the Conster: I still think when the revolutionaries renamed King St in Boston State St (I’m looking at you, Alexandria, VA, with your King St, so counter revolutionary), they should have reverted the Charles River to its original name, the Massachusetts.

  129. 129.

    jl

    March 26, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    ” Fun fact: Twenty-five states lie, in whole or in part, north of the southernmost point in Canada.

    Mostly “in part,” I admit, but it’s still an astonishing kind of factoid! ”

    i just had to go look that up. That is an outrage and an insult to these, our great United States.
    US needs to conquer Middle and Pelee Islands to put a stop to that.

  130. 130.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:41 pm

    @the Conster: Wow, I never thought about it but it appears you are correct.

  131. 131.

    Mike J

    March 26, 2015 at 4:44 pm

    @the Conster:

    Like Reno is further west than LA. Try taking bets at a bar against that being true, and you’ll be good for the night

    And the time difference between (part of) Florida and (part of) Oregon is only one hour.

  132. 132.

    Iowa Old Lady

    March 26, 2015 at 4:45 pm

    The country’s acceptance of gay rights is rapidly growing. This kind of crap is going to make all kinds of trouble for the R presidential candidates a year down the line from now when things have presumably changed even further.

  133. 133.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 4:45 pm

    @Tommy: There are threats edit: threads on passenger rail boards about Illinois HSR all the time, check out the forums on railroad.net for example. That’s where I’m getting this talk about what is and isn’t going right.

    I know they have invested a lot on infrastructure on that corridor already including the approach to STL itself which was a big bottleneck. The Chicago passenger grade crossing closing projects seem to be on hold right now for lack of funding and I guess they say Rauner is pro rail but as I said, looks like Rockford’s been shelved. And nobody knows what’s going on with Quad Cities. Things would have been different if Iowa hadn’t gone wingnut. Killing these rail projects is just killing infrastructure which is killing economic potential. Most of these lines are shared use which means freight enhancements as well. My Kansas folks used to call that “cutting off your nose to spite your face”. (Kansas sucks, none of them died there, just saying.)

  134. 134.

    Gidy51

    March 26, 2015 at 4:51 pm

    @trollhattan: And here is why: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sticker-shock-why-are-glasses-so-expensive-07-10-2012/
    There are dozens of companies making contacts so there is a lot of competition. You can find glasses online for hundreds of dollars less than at the eye doctor with just as nice of frames and delivered to your door. All you need is a prescription and a computer.

  135. 135.

    Gin & Tonic

    March 26, 2015 at 4:51 pm

    @the Conster: I like how it takes a finely-tuned ear to tell the difference between Waban and Woburn.

  136. 136.

    Geeno

    March 26, 2015 at 5:01 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: I always thought of the Wampanoag as a RI tribe. The Pawtuxet and Massachusetts – who were warred on to extinction by the Pilgrims – were the MA tribes. But I’m a history hobbyist so the maps I’m thinking of were from colonial times. The Pequot are Eastern CT; they run a ca$ino out there.

  137. 137.

    Geeno

    March 26, 2015 at 5:03 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: I always thought of the Wampanoag as a RI tribe. The Pawtuxet and Massachusetts – who were warred on to extinction by the Pilgrims – were the MA tribes. But I’m a history hobbyist so the maps I’m thinking of were from colonial times. The Pequot are Eastern CT; they run a g a m b l i n g establishment out there.

  138. 138.

    trollhattan

    March 26, 2015 at 5:06 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:
    And Wabbit.

  139. 139.

    jharp

    March 26, 2015 at 5:09 pm

    @jl:

    I used to go to Pelee. Interesting place. Very dusty inland I remember. Have flown in and boated in.

    Used to fish around it. A ton a water snakes.

    Really brings back some memories.

  140. 140.

    jharp

    March 26, 2015 at 5:13 pm

    @mak:

    I agree and I lived in Ohio for over 35 years and it was the same thing.

    I used to pray that God would pick up Cincinnati and drop it in Alabama where it belonged.

  141. 141.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 5:15 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Between WAAAb’n and Woo-burn?

    How so?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ZvGwD6_qg

    btw, last one–Central Mass and Eastern Mass accents are different. Anyhoo.

  142. 142.

    jharp

    March 26, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    @Alex:

    The GenCon convention is $50 million is where I got the millions.

    And salesforce.com pulled out today. No more travel to Indiana.

  143. 143.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 5:17 pm

    @jharp: Isn’t Cincy full of Appalachian folk?

    I mean, yeah, white supremacy and genocide, I guess they have a lot in common with the jerks that live in the mountains in GA, actually.

  144. 144.

    J R in WV

    March 26, 2015 at 5:19 pm

    @jake the antisoshul soshulist:

    Sometimes people mix up Charleston WV and Charleston SC, even though they are like nearly a thousand miles apart, and in different states. (Thank Gawd!!)

    Once my Dad’s luggage went to South Carolina, while he came home to West Virginia!

    Could have been worse, I guess!

    I did a two week Firefighter School at Charleston Navy Base back in the day, I don’t know if that’s even still a place… I was there by myself, and didn’t click with any of the others in the class, and so went downtown on my own. Strange! Very strange!

    Have no urge to go back. Old South seems just a touch treasonous to me, and I can’t get over that feeling. I wonder how when I’m feeling abused how the black people around me might feel, if there weren’t a lot of white folks around them to react…

    Anyone who wants to fly a flag that flew over troops fighting the USA, well, you lost me.

  145. 145.

    jharp

    March 26, 2015 at 5:21 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Not sure it is so many Appalachians but there are plenty. It is a very conservative city. A blight on Ohio.

  146. 146.

    bemused

    March 26, 2015 at 5:22 pm

    @MattF:

    The girdles that I remember old ladies wearing were very tight, for a reason. I thought they looked like torture devices. How the heck did she possibly fit a purse in her girdle?

  147. 147.

    Another Holocene Human

    March 26, 2015 at 5:35 pm

    @bemused: a girdle wrought of gold like aphrodite?

  148. 148.

    J R in WV

    March 26, 2015 at 5:40 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    I have been told that there’s a city ordinance in Cincy that protects Appalachian folk from discrimination. You can’t call us Hillbillies, either!!

  149. 149.

    Tree With Water

    March 26, 2015 at 5:41 pm

    @burnspbesq: Democrats in California haven’t been smart or careful since Pat Brown was governor (and look what that got them). Democrats control the state offices in 2015 because California republicans lost their collective minds years ago. I don’t see the GOP regaining their mental health anytime soon, either.

  150. 150.

    Bigby

    March 26, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    So, if I go into a store in Indiana with a male friend and “Ol Eagle Eyes” the proprietor decides we’re Friends of Dorothy…is there recourse? Can I ask him to produce a comely lass I can have sex with on the counter to ‘prove’ I ain’t no homo?

    Also, too, isn’t this just a future Rethug victimization ploy? The SCOTUS will slap this down HARD, then Pence the the homophobic fundies assholes of North Alabama can whine about their “Religious Persecution” (and rake in $$$ from the rubes to “Stop DC from infringing on YOUR RELIGIOUS RIGHTS!!!! Eleventy!!!”)? I’m guessing they did a back of the envelope calculation that revenue losses by disgusted businesses would NOT overwhelm nationwide political brownie points, religious ragegasm, and perpetual whining victimization.

  151. 151.

    ms_canadada

    March 26, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Point Pelee National Park.
    http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/on/pelee/index.aspx

    Most southern point on Canada’s mainland.

  152. 152.

    bemused

    March 26, 2015 at 5:59 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    I then thought how big was that purse anyway. Probably a coin purse because there’s no way you could hide a purse the size older ladies usually carry unless her girdle was all stretched out.

    This is a very bad habit of mine, wasting my brain and time on trivial stuff.
    Funny story though. I’ve known a few of those tough ladies.

  153. 153.

    Brachiator

    March 26, 2015 at 6:16 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Not true, back in the 1990s there was a big old dairy farm in Montgomery County, MD, where DC is metastasizing, and developers wanted it. Old man was too cheap to hire a competent tax attorney and just sold the property to his son for a dollar. IRS took it.

    Sounds like there was a lot of stuff happening here besides federal estate taxes, especially with the developers skulking around looking for a sweet deal.

  154. 154.

    Brachiator

    March 26, 2015 at 6:29 pm

    @Tree With Water:

    Democrats control the state offices in 2015 because California republicans lost their collective minds years ago.

    Latinos make up 38 percent of the California population, but only 17 percent of voters, typically. Non-Hispanic whites make up 44 percent of the population, but 62 percent of likely voters.

    If Latinos become the majority of voters, they can make either party dance to their tune. This is one scenario in which the Republicans could regain statewide power.

    Also, of course, Republicans briefly came back when Governor Arnold was elected. As another poster noted, this was because the Democrats were perceived to have royally screwed up. You gotta be pretty stupid to screw up a good thing, but the Democrats have done it before and they can do it again if they become too complacent.

  155. 155.

    Tree With Water

    March 26, 2015 at 6:57 pm

    @Brachiator: Democratic politicians turned on Grey Davis like a school of mindless piranha, as he had done nothing to deserve being recalled. They should have lined up behind him, and expelled anyone from their ranks who refused.

    The GOP declared war on hispanic California in the mid-1990’s. It would take a team of Viennese psychiatrists to explain it, and even then I wouldn’t understand. Incidentally, I’m a native Californian honky. Blinded by bigotry, what republicans don’t understand is that all natives are parts and parcel of the hispanic culture that shaped the state under Spain and Mexico- I’m happy to say it’s in our bones.

  156. 156.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 26, 2015 at 7:02 pm

    @jl:

    When I worked for the Canadian Consulate and gave talks in high schools, I often used that as an audience-participation gimmick to start the conversation.

  157. 157.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 26, 2015 at 7:03 pm

    @the Conster:

    I know. It’s just so counterintuitive.

  158. 158.

    Tree With Water

    March 26, 2015 at 7:09 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: All the better for U.S. lines of supply come the day..

  159. 159.

    brendancalling

    March 26, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: are you KIDDING? Indiana is a toilet, devoid of culture. I’d sooner eat shit than visit that place ever again.

  160. 160.

    Michael C

    March 26, 2015 at 11:03 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: It’s not a mistake. They want misery for the masses.

  161. 161.

    opiejeanne

    March 27, 2015 at 4:25 am

    @Geeno: When you visit the Plimouth Plantation they talk about the Wampanoags, and the reenactors are Wampanoag, so I think they were from Massachusetts.

  162. 162.

    henqiguai

    March 27, 2015 at 7:59 am

    @schrodinger’s cat (#8):

    I have been to India, but not Indiana. What’s story behind the name?

    I’m sure it’s been answered but, Wikipedia is your friend – Indiana: Land of the Indians.

  163. 163.

    Rich

    March 27, 2015 at 8:40 am

    Indiana is a bizarre state. You really know when you’ve crossed the border, in any direction and it’s not just because the route number signs are different. It’s a backward looking insular place; more Southern than Midwestern in its conservativism.This doesn’t surprise me at all.

  164. 164.

    Ruckus

    March 27, 2015 at 1:55 pm

    @Alex:
    Well there are the Indy 500 and the MotoGP races. And a number of conventions are held in Indy. I have no idea why other than it’s probably cheaper than Las Vegas. It should be and yet that’s not an endorsement for Las Vegas.

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