This is a Rangoon creeper vine that grows beside our garden gate:
Its blooms have a lovely scent, and they are supposed to attract hummingbirds, but I haven’t seen any yet. “Rangoon creeper” sounds like a Bela Lugosi film.
Open thread!
Reader Interactions
70Comments
Comments are closed.
Baud
Just in case there are any progressives left who support Rand Paul.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/29/us-usa-internet-neutrality-idUSKBN0NK21620150429
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Were there ever any progressives or liberals worthy of the label who supported Paul?
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: The Blue Blooded Libertarian is a very rare species. Most sightings turn out to be the Yellow Billed Grifter which is somewhat similar in appearance and has a call that is identical to the BBL but differs quite a bit in behavior.
TheMightyTrowel
@Betty Cracker: i mean there were always a few dude-brogressives who were
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Very nice pic to lead the post Betty. Beautiful.
Mustang Bobby
Or Little Shop of Horrors. “Feed me!”
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I was curious, so I googled. Here are some of the top hits.
How Did Rand Paul Become a Liberal Hero?, which mentions Michael Lux, co-founder of Progressive Strategies, a political consulting firm, and David Sirota, as saying positive things about Paul.
I’m a Liberal Democrat. I’m Voting for Rand Paul in 2016. Here Is Why., by H.A. Goodman.
Liberals should proudly cheer on Rand Paul, by David Sirota.
So the answer appears to be no, no one worth the name supports Rand Paul. In fact, most of the hits I got were articles saying why it was stupid for progressives to support Rand.
It’s comforting to know that Rand’s support among the left is just as shallow as his support among Republicans.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I tried to answer your question with too many links and am now in moderation.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
To be fair, being anti-regulation is pretty libertarian. No matter what Paul actually talks about on the stump, the two greatest oppressors of freedom for libertarians are taxes and regulation. Anyone who thinks a Paul presidency would be about anything else is a fool.
Elmo
@OzarkHillbilly: clapclapclapclap
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Rand Paul is not against regulation. He is against regulation he doesn’t like. Which makes him just like everybody else.
Major Major Major Major
Can’t sleep, bed’s on fire.
Not literally obviously. But I’ll just double up on the shameless plug: #6 is up for my serial The Fish
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
True.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, he’s all for freedom except for women and their ladybits and Teh Gayz with their marryin’ each other. Ick.
Baud
Another interesting story
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: I think most of them were Ron Paul fans who basically projected their own antiwar, anti-imperialist attitudes onto Ron Paul because in some election cycle he was most prominent candidate daring to say antiwar things. They’d politely ignore all the crazy, extreme-right-wing and racist stuff Ron Paul was into because they saw this as issue 1.
Then they tried to transfer all those feelings about the father onto the son. But Rand Paul has larger ambitions than Ron, so he has to act like an ordinary Republican more of the time, which makes it harder.
OzarkHillbilly
Offered with out comment:
Greek court gives dead man six-month suspended jail sentence
and
New Zealand man accused of pulling women’s teeth out with pliers
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Thanks to a couple of people here (I think they were Violet and Water Girl, but I’m not going back to check) I am running a promotion at my Kickstarter: make a pledge before the end of Monday and receive access to one of my stories, “Peaceful, Colorado.” Those who have already signed on will also receive it.
Valdivia
My joy of the morning was seeing Javad Zarif own Tom Cotton after he went on Twitter yesterday to declare himself the mas macho of all US Senators.
ThresherK
@Baud: From the Reuters:
Reuters is a better agency than most, but I gotta fault them for this hanging chad of a sentence. There are two sides to the issue and this doesn’t make clear what side “many regular Americans” are taking with their comments to the FCC.
And if I were Rand Paul, this would be the way I’d like net neutrality described: “Even the accurate Reuters news service says it’s restricting internet providers!”
Baud
@Valdivia:
I can’t get past the “Ur.”
Valdivia
@Baud:
I think it was only yesterday that our Village betters were telling us how Rand! was going to get up to 25% of the black vote because of his commitment to prison reform. Then he comes out with his ‘absent fathers’ routine re Baltimore. His charade could only be sustained in a vacuum where real life events don’t interfere.
@OzarkHillbilly:
exactly. There are some regulations he likes, mostly having to do with womyn parts and the rest of the GOP agenda.
Baud
@ThresherK:
I like the “regular Americans.”
Valdivia
@Baud:
:)
As a language nerd I have a hard time too but after seething for hours last night after seeing Cotton’s tweets (which were really schoolyard level idiocy) I was really glad to see him answer back in this way.
There’s a non-twitter version of Cotton’s idiocy here.
Baud
@Valdivia:
Was it our Village betters? I thought it was the Rand camp making that claim?
Mustang Bobby
@Valdivia: Javad Zarif is a kinder person than me. My response would have been, “Yip yah, your dick works.”
ThresherK
@Baud: Well, not everyone can be as American as
Mitt Romney’s one-time in-lawordinary Michigan housewife Terry Rakolta.But I tries mah best.
debbie
@Baud:
Has the Celtic Tiger changed the rules in mid-course?
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I am not a “regular American”. I haven’t had a normal bowel movement in years.
debbie
@Mustang Bobby:
Or my favorite: “The bigger the swagger, the smaller the dick.”
Valdivia
@Baud:
the betters part was utterly sarcastic ;)
I am sure I saw a slew of think pieces this past summer & fall about the Libertarian moment (NYT), how Rand was the most fascinating politician (Time) and both of them touting how Rand actually went to Howard U to talk about his prison reform ideas. As you know the Village is always utterly credulous and dying to find a Republican they can promote.
@Mustang Bobby:
Totally agree. Last night I was my own version of Luther the anger translator about this.
What I found funny is that Zarif just called him out on the macho thing. Cotton’s utter immaturity came across loud and clear in all his tweets, but most of all, what one could see is that the only thing he knows is to posture and call attention to the fact that he was a soldier. He pretty much called Zarif a coward for not fighting in the Iran-Iraq war (something that the extremists in Iran do too according to the article I linked to above. Once again proving Cotton has more in common with their interests than he does with those of the US)
rlrr
“Summers in Rangoon…”
Baud
@debbie:
The article suggests that the EU may be changing the rules for them.
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: Did you hear about the constipated engineer? He worked it out with a slide rule. [rimshot]
ThresherK
Hey, I’m looking for a new carry case for my laptop (Dell 14″ with a battery bump out the back) after my wife’s cat peed in my old one.
My interest is in something in a messenger-bag or backpack which will really do the job of securing my laptop while I’m riding my bicycle or motorcycle.
Any pointers?
The old model was some ridiculously overbuilt thing from a famous name I picked up on clearance which would protect a laptop when climbing the Matterhorn. My last-ditch effort, after all the regular things, is to throw it in the washing machine.
Baud
@ThresherK:
Priorities, man.
Baud
@Valdivia: I know that Bill Maher has touted Rand, but Maher is a libertarian himself, so that make sense.
different-church-lady
@ThresherK:
From what I overhear, I think most Americans would be unequivocally in favor of restricting internet providers — with ropes, chains, and duct tape, preferably.
ThresherK
@Baud: Those priorities are already being addressed, the management can assure you.
different-church-lady
OzarkHillbilly
Texas is out doing itself. Again.
TX Gov Orders State Guard to Monitor Possible Military Takeover of Texas
“It is important that Texans know their safety, constitutional rights, private property rights and civil liberties will not be infringed,” Abbott wrote. “By monitoring the Operation on a continual basis, the State Guard will facilitate communications between my office and the commanders of the Operation to ensure that adequate measures are in place to protect Texans.”
Apparently, Texas is not too large to be an insane asylum.
Germy Shoemangler
Calling the cable company:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yxpw-Lqg8A
This was similar to my own experience, except for the murder/suicide
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK:
You’d be better off throwing it in a fire.
NotMax
An artifact of another age, much as Peking duck is.
Peale
@Valdivia: is it just me or does that article blather into speculation on potential responses that looks an awful lot like their horse race coverage…only now we’re horse racing Iran.
Jesus…maybe what he’ll say next will make him more popular with the fruit seller constituency…this is good news for Javad Zarif.
NotMax
@ThresherKBest carrying bag for a laptop (though not labeled as such) I ever stumbled upon was in the camera department at Kmart. Padded, light and enough room for the laptop and any accoutrements one might need. Same type was also in their luggage aisle.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
It didn’t take Greg Abbott very long to show his true self, did it?
Valdivia
@Peale:
yes I thought that too. Maybe the extremist there will do this, and maybe they will do that. I liked the article only because it did give a sense of the tensions within the Iranian system and gave a summary of the Cotton idiocy in article form. I think the New Yorker article it mentions is probably the better source on Zarif though.
@Baud: yeah I had forgotten about him. And I am sure the Sunday shows were also full of pundits echoing this Rand! has cross-aisle appeal but sicne I never watch them I couldn’t link to any!
Cervantes
@Valdivia:
Tom Cotton, showing us all how not to use Twitter.
Punchy
Where are the crabs in that Rangoon?
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: In his defense, he is pandering to his constituency. It IS Texas after all.
rikyrah
@Baud:
where are all the dudebros?
Southern Beale
Tom Cotton called the Iranian foreign minister a coward on Twitter. Because under the Tea Party, the “world’s greatest deliberative body” is now nothing more than a schoolyard full of bullies, pigtail-pullers and name-callers. Slow clap, Teanuts.
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
So true. He’s all in favor of regulation that would have folks all up in my uterus. He has absolutely NO PROBLEM with those kinds of regulations.
chopper
@ThresherK:
first go buy a jug of nature’s miracle and soak the bag in a bucket of it. you may save the thing.
ThresherK
@NotMax: A camera bag, by design? Hmmm.
@OzarkHillbilly: I have another, smaller, bag similarly afflicted (also a waterproof synthetic with some padding, non-leather & non-canvas) which has done promisingly by this method.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK: I had a tent that my cat found. The fire treatment worked with perfection.
“Fire is the surest disinfectant.”
ThresherK
@chopper: “Just for Cat Pee” version, I take it. And the gallon size?
Germy Shoemangler
@OzarkHillbilly: You’d be better off throwing it in a fire.
The carry case or the cat?
Germy Shoemangler
@ThresherK:
My wife’s cat … I’ve found myself using the same terminology. Whenever people visit and find her ruling the roost, I always refer to her as my wife’s cat.
But then after the guests are gone and I’m getting the full purr and kneed treatment, she’s my little girl.
ThresherK
@Germy Shoemangler: Nooooo, this one is a mama’s boy by any definintion of the term.
He’s very jealous of my relationship with my wife (even though we were together 17 years before he was born). When she gets home from work he ups on his hinders, front paws reaching at her like a two-year-old trying to hug your knee. He even does this when she’s on the phone! When she settles down in her chair or to sleep he is always there. Any time we begin talking he takes it as a signal to get closer to her than I am.
My cat is attached to me but not to this degree. (Then again, my second cat before this, now there was a daddy’s little girl.)
Germy Shoemangler
@ThresherK: I can relate. Our cat will stare at my wife while she head bumps me, purrs and kneads me.
She’s basically telling my wife “Back off, bitch. He’s mine”
Tenar Darell
@ThresherK: I have no idea about preventing kitties from peeing in the bag, but I seriously love my two moopshop.com bags. Mine are both made of waxed canvas and lined with recycled bottle fabric with one or two leather bits. They’d probably clean easier than what you’ve got now. They don’t have chest straps though.
Gvg
Try washing the carry bag using carpet cleaner fluid for removing pet odors.
boatboy_srq
@different-church-lady: That’s Reagan Creeper, a varietal of Rangoon creeper spawned in Liberty U’s biology department.
boatboy_srq
@OzarkHillbilly: The last Yellow-Billed Grifter I saw had just taken over a Pinkslipped Wingnut’s nest. The Wingnut – true to form – was chirping loudly (from a safe distance). I can never remember if Grifters raise Wingnut chicks as their own, or simply knock the eggs to the ground.
MoranBird watching can be so entertaining.@Mustang Bobby: Chris Christie is beginning to look like plant food to me…
@ThresherK: REI has some good choices. There’s an Osprey that looks good for how you’ll use it.
chopper
@ThresherK:
I dunno if you’d need a gallon, but you’re better off using a good amount. and hell, it never hurts to have the stuff around for cleaning up cat barf and what not else.
Steeplejack
@ThresherK:
I’ve had good luck with cheapo Case Logic bags from Micro Center. Good protection, look pretty nice. Briefcase here, backpack here. (Neither is the exact model I have; these are just a starting point.)
Tree With Water
I held to three criteria when I planted my new garden- that it be drought tolerant, bird/bee/and butterfly friendly, and low maintenance. Everything was finally planted just a few weeks ago, and the varieties of critters that have already made an appearance continues to increase. Already some mourning dove-looking birds peck away at the new soil like they’re chowing down at a hofsbrau. When I spook them they’ll fly away a short distance, perch on a wire or fence, and give me the snake eye for disturbing their meals. I’ve got to saying to them, “hey, I live here too, you know”.
Plantsmantx
They smell like Kool-Aid to me.