Will the Old Country approve marriage equality by referendum? I don’t know. I hope so!
The Beeb says polls are now closed and turnout was high. Time to go have a pint and await the outcome. What are you up to this evening?
by Betty Cracker| 144 Comments
This post is in: Gay Rights are Human Rights, Open Threads
Will the Old Country approve marriage equality by referendum? I don’t know. I hope so!
The Beeb says polls are now closed and turnout was high. Time to go have a pint and await the outcome. What are you up to this evening?
Comments are closed.
Goblue72
It’s 2:30 out West. So I’m working.
Ruckus
This weekend? Staying off the road as much as possible. At all if I can arrange it.
Diana
Got a new Imac and a new printer, taking advantage of the recent drop in prices.
Any suggestions re Adobe Pro? Is it better to buy a program (which the job I used to hold did for the old machine) and load it or to rent it for $20 a month?
Baud
Have the Irish forgiven the gays for causing the Famine?
Germy Shoemangler
I posted this below but what the heck, I’ll bump it up.
The Causes of the Depression from 1931, an early satire from British Pathé. By one of Jon Stewart’s comedic influences.
Valdivia
Ran some errands, worked on my syllabus and then cooked while watching The Great British Baking Show which I heard about here last night. Now having a glass of wine in the balcony and taking the most amazing spring day in. This weekend I am working but I will sneak in a swim and maybe even a photowalk.
Germy Shoemangler
Shamwow Guyanese version. A humorist from Guyana dubbed his own voice over a classic infomercial.
Tree With Water
I’ve got to laugh when I think of my Irish Catholic altar boy father and this referendum, as he was a man who turned his back on the church upon attaining the age of reason. Were he alive and wanting an update on what had happened since he left, it would probably rank among the first things I’d tell him, after first (and foremost) informing him that the President of the United States was a black man named Barack Obama.
srv
I’m not sure if I should fuck an irishman or fuck with one.
raven
Last day at the beach. I went on a 6 hour out of Wrightsville Beach, nothing great but enough for a few meals. Absolutely beautiful here, high in the upper 70’s. These weeks always go so fast and I’m not looking forward to the drive home but we’re in no hurry and still have 3 days off.
Capt Seaweed
Anybody but the Rangers. It will make Pee Air sad, which makes me happy…
WereBear
@Diana: I’d rent it. By the time you pay for it, and get hit with updates, it works out roughly the same, but doing it online means you only worry about your browser, not the whole operating system.
Last time I crunched the numbers, it worked out that way.
WereBear
Just got back from emergency photo session and grabbed enough groceries for us to stay in all weekend.
We can sit out on the lawn, and walk across the street to the lake, even have a picnic. But drive? Not when I saw the traffic just coming back from the grocery store.
MazeDancer
@Diana:
Not sure that Adobe actually sells any software anymore. You can buy old versions of Acrobat Pro, if that’s the Pro you’re talking about. But don’t think Adobe will sell you one.
Adobe has put everything in the cloud, since they basically have a monopoly on creative software, there are a vast number of fields where you don’t have much choice except to rent it from them. 52 bucks a month for every Adobe software there is. Plus TypeKit for “free”.
You can also get most programs “a la carte”. (Acrobat Pro is one, but I never use it anymore so can’t offer comparisons for you, sorry.) But if you’re in a field that uses two or three programs (Say InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator) costs are such, that you might as well get them all.
Betty Cracker
@efgoldman: Yeah, I gotta admit hockey is as foreign to me as cricket. That said, Go Bolts!
raven
@MazeDancer: You can buy a freestanding Lightroom.
Germy Shoemangler
Is an occasional dab of butter a good hairball remedy (for our cat)? Is it better and safer than the commercial hairball preparations that contain CeilingCat knows what?
raven
Man I have this new flickr thing and it is scanning every picture on my machine. It has 17,000 to go but it hit this of me when I was just starting out!
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
The accounts payable system decided yesterday that I am no longer worthy of using it, so I don’t have much to do while the IT folks try to figure it out. If it turns out to be the delivery address I had to add for a specific order, I will add it to the long list of reasons that vendor has pissed me off.
Roger Moore
I’m still at work (West Coast and all) but the big event for me this weekend is going to be an Open House at the new light rail maintenance yard- excuse me “Operations Campus”- in Monrovia. They just completed it, and it’s going into operation as soon as it’s handed over to LACMTA, so this is about the only chance the public will have to see it. I’m very excited about the light rail- it will have a stop right across the street from my work- and this is a big step. Unfortunately, the rest of the rail isn’t scheduled to start service until early 2016.
Mike in NC
Chilling out with cocktails by the poolside after an enjoyable visit to the waterfront in Saint Petersburg, FL. Kicking around dinner ideas right now. Maybe a boat ride tomorrow.
srv
@raven: You need to work on your focus and depth of field.
Also, too, try the iphone in landscape mode.
Rob
According to this story
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32835572
the referendum votes won’t be counted until tomorrow (Saturday).
eta: An irregular lurker here. I’m enjoying some DC Brau “The Corruption” India pale ale along with a nice salad and spaghetti with pasta sauce and andouille sausage.
Betty Cracker
@Mike in NC: Christ, please be careful and only go out if you’ve got a highly experienced skipper! We never take our boat out on MDW because the dumbest, drunkest mofos who ever boarded a craft are out in force…
Tree With Water
@efgoldman: No, I do not. In fact, as a young man he attended St. Mary’s college (located in the San Francisco east bay), and his respect for the Jesuits was genuine and abiding. He used to argue with them as they attempted to reel him back to the flock, in fact, and always recollected those days with affection. It’s an interesting question, however, albeit one that has never once crossed my mind. Which on reflection kind of surprises me- but it never did.
Chris
Bernadette Devlin had a wonderfully blunt and no punches pulled quote about what a disaster Mother Church had been for Ireland, which I can’t find now. (I have no Irish heritage, but Catholic, yes: I relate).
Here’s hoping the voters agree with her assessment of Church teachings, at least on this.
Mike in NC
@Betty Cracker: We got to ‘enjoy’ sitting in pre-holiday rush hour traffic in Tampa this afternoon. Worse than the DC Beltway.
Peale
I’m going to a place tomorrow where access to the Internet is going to require much work. A week the the parents who sit in a mobile dead zone with no hope for anything but dial up if I bring my own modem.
Please try to be entertaining this evening as this may be my last memories of this place.
rikyrah
Beginning of a 4 day weekend.
went to see the new Avengers. – loved it.
Now watching redbox movies while eating Mexican food.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker @ Top:
I hope so, too — but I would be remiss if I didn’t add that I still think it’s wrong to be putting people’s rights up for popular vote.
WereBear
@Germy Shoemangler: Yes. And they like it.
Tree With Water
@Peale: Hopefully by the time you get back we’ll have this mideast mess straightened out.
ruemara
@Diana: Wait… what> What portions of Adobe Creative Suite?
Howard Beale IV
Speaking of rainbows, Delta Airlines latest safety video brings back Double Rainbow Guy along with a metric shit-ton of other internnet memes.
Delta has had a history of being somewhat cheeky with their safety videos, but this one pulls out all the stops. Ok, it isn’t the Virgin America Safety Video, which is just so in your face, but still…
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
Not all of them. My cat has shown little or no interest in butter or other fat, unless it’s cooked fat from a piece of meat. He absolutely adores the hairball medicine, though, and will come running over to get some if he sees me pick up the tube.
geg6
Gonna eat some pizza, drink a little wine, probably switch back and forth between the Pirates game and the Friday night USA Modern Family marathon. And hoping Cole posts the updated photo I sent him today of Koda and Lovey relaxing in the sunshine. Lovey is still tiny next to Koda, but she’s growing like a weed. And very strong, probably from wrestling with Koda. We are probably going to need a new collar and harness in a couple of weeks.
WereBear
@Roger Moore: Well, cats. Most of mine like coconut oil.
MomSense
Wine, leftovers, and French TV.
I have a lot of readying the house for sale chores to do tomorrow. Tonight I just want to relax and do as little as possible.
Hope Ireland voted for love.
Mike J
Boat coaching beginner sailing class this weekend, possibly in club’s new, more weight sensitive boats. Hoping I don’t wind up swimming.
Poopyman
I may try this “sleep” thing everyone is talking about(*). I hear it is highly rated.
[(*)But only if the cats allow it.]
dogwood
@Valdivia:
How are you accessing TGBBS? I don’t have cable and pbs only has clips posted.
MomSense
@raven:
Awww, you were a cutie.
Roger Moore
@WereBear:
Maybe he’d like butter better if I smeared some on my finger so he could lick it off.
MomSense
@efgoldman:
Slow, however my neighborhood seems to do well. I’m the smallest house but have sun all day (when it’s sunny) so we’ll see.
Rob
@Mike in NC:
“We got to ‘enjoy’ sitting in pre-holiday rush hour traffic in Tampa this afternoon. Worse than the DC Beltway. ”
Oh wow. I live near DC so I feel your pain.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Checked out the light rail when I moved to Pasadena as I live about a block away from a station. Thought I might take it to work. But if I take the new line it only takes me about 3/4 of the way to work. If I ride into Union station and then east on Metrolink I miss about an hour of work. Might work fine in the rain.
JCJ
The Beeb? What does Justin Bieber have to do with the referendum?
Denali
Just got back from a trip for a reunion so will be stickimg around home. The Smokies were glorious, as always.
WereBear
@Roger Moore: I can be sneaky and put a dab on their paw. Gotta lick it off.
Tree With Water
@Roger Moore: While I watched her from a couch, my late, great little feral cat once slept through an earthquake that shook for a good 10 seconds. To think of all I’d heard up till then about the vaunted sensitivity of animals to impending quakes, and she didn’t so much as twitch.
Betty Cracker
@Rob: Luckily I’m well-supplied, then! ?
@raven: You look like my little bro!
@rikyrah: I also liked it. Found the critiques about Black Widow-Hulk wildly misplaced.
@JGabriel: True dat.
Valdivia
@dogwood:
I found a bunch of seasons on YouTube (which I then stream on a roku stick to the tv)
I will find the link and put it here.
ETA: Here your go: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7rCOg_tCAC7-I6fTZdxJMw
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
Cat talk reminds me that Keaton has a return engagement with the vet on Tuesday because he has earned himself the new nickname of “Mr. Poops
On The Floor.” The new prescription food does seem to have helped with his constipation, but I think he still has some discomfort in the litter box.
BubbaDave
@Tree With Water: The earth was purring for her.
shell
Looks like the Duggars and their reality show got the boot. Oh well, Learning Channel can always replace them with classy repeats of ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.’
‘
WereBear
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Poor guy! I hear pumpkin helps with that.
And switching to all canned.
JPL
@shell: Why did they cancel it? It was a learning experience on how to be scammed.
trollhattan
@Diana:
Am getting by on CS6, which is the last Creative Suite Adobe will sell on disc; it’s strictly monthly leasing now except for Lightroom and a few dribs and drabs they’ll still sell to the consumer.
You basically pick which CC package you want and wait for one of their promotions offering it at a discounted rate, although they’re just like the cable company and revert to full price at some point. Or take a class somewhere to get student rate (which is what I did). Finally and also, too, look at non-Adobe equivalents–depending on which programs there can be a lot to choose from, nor not much.
sharl
Via British doctor and medical/scientific fraud buster Ben Goldacre comes this fun story of an Irish emigrant living in Edinburgh, who learned at the last moment that he WAS in fact registered to vote. So he made a supreme (and successful) effort to get back home to vote, with a bunch of folks on Twitter cheering him on. Many pints have been promised to @kDamo.
ETA: There was some mild, good-natured criticism:
trollhattan
@JPL:
Frank Luntz probably told them it’s not testing well with focus groups. Plus sponsors were pulling out.
shortstop
Warning: Big huge large-ass sweeping generalization ahead. Ima prolly get nailed for this and I’ll take my medicine, but I gotta get it off my chest.
I have known about 15 Marine veterans at levels ranging from reasonably well to close relative. (I’m not counting casual Marine acquaintances.) Regarding these 15 or so, I’ve been almost uniformly astounded by the appalling lack of honor they practice in civilian life. The relative is a domestic abuser and embezzled funds from his workplace. Several past work colleagues went on to run distinctly shady businesses and laughed over their successful bilkings; one went to prison for it. One former neighbor was a child molester (yes, I get that he was very ill). And on and on.
Now the third baseman and I are embroiled in what might have been the first lawsuit of our lives with a contractor so crooked I can’t believe he doesn’t get struck by lightning every time he opens his mouth. (Yes, he came with great references from two trusted friends, but it turned out he’d been playing Ponzi with funds, crew and vendors, and it all came crashing down when we happened to be in the way.) I say we would have been in court, but he declared a no-asset business Chapter 7 and his clients, employees and vendors are flat out of luck to the tune of hundreds of thousands.
This is entirely anecdotal evidence, not data, I know, and I’m also cognizant that people of all demographics are human and regularly fuck up. The Marine angle is just really bugging me because these tools never stop with the ooorah-ing and death-before-dishonoring, As the contractor was taking our deposit, for example, we were treated to a long soliloquy on how he conducts his business with the same pristine ethics he employed on the battlefield. BARF. BARF. BARF.
How can these people lack so much self-awareness? They’re as bad as Christian fundies of a certain ilk. Semper lie, douchenozzles.
Helen
I agree, but one of the reasons they are voting is that it’s an amendment to their constitution.
They’re not just changing the law.
They did the same thing in 1996; passed the 15th amendment to legalize divorce.
Rob
@Betty Cracker: #58
I’ll wait until tomorrow for the results. Plus, I just finished my can of DC Corruption and since I aim to get up early to do some walking, I won’t be staying up too late.
Germy Shoemangler
@WereBear: What is it with Russian cats? This one learned to ring the doorbell to be allowed back in.
kdaug
Rainy weekend. Housesitting 3 dogs, a cat, a rabbit, and associated fish. Going to make a store run shortly for provisions, then get caught up on GoT
shortstop
@kdaug: Please to put us in separate room from feline before shopping. Thanking you, Assorted Fish and Bunny.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Walked to and from work (2 miles each way) in my new alpine climbing boots. Not as bad as I had expected.
Tiling the bathroom floor this weekend. Yippee!
Roger Moore
@Germy Shoemangler:
If you lived in Russia, you’d be willing to do anything to be let back inside in the winter, too.
Valdivia
This was surprisingly funny. I love how much all the actors of GoT and Coldplay hammed it up.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@WereBear:
Yeah, I think all canned will be the next step depending on what the vet says. We used to have an issue with him not finishing his once-daily canned food so I was reluctant to go all canned, but we seem to have finally found a brand he likes (Wellness Signature Selects) so now we may be able to do the switch.
gelfling545
@Germy Shoemangler: I don’t know if it’s “safer” but I have used it for over 30 years as a preventative & all my cats have lived to a ripe old age so at least not harmful plus they like it & hate the commercial stuff.
fuckwit
@Chris: http://izquotes.com/quote/50045
Germy Shoemangler
@Roger Moore:
Very true.
Here’s some more Russian cats. From Soviet Russia, before the collapse. Their party slogans are inspiring.
sharl
@shortstop: One of the best relatives I have – in my rather dysfunctional extended family – is a former Marine guy. He never talks about it, let along brags. I think that’s the key: it’s the bragging that should be the clue, just like going on and on about your christianity (or calling your firm “A Christian Business”), etc.
When I was growing up, my Dad said he would be ok with me going in the military, although he always said ‘I’m not sure I would recommend the Marines; they mess with your head.’ I always assume he formed that opinion through discussions with his brother.
Chris
@shortstop:
I tend to be skeptical of anyone who rubs the glory and honor and nobility of their profession in people’s faces. Be they cops, priests, or military.
NotMax
@Rob
Not to worry, the Villagers will churn out more.
;)
Chris
@Chris:
What I mean by this is – 1) obviously, the old “people who are really noble and honorable don’t feel the need to talk about it all the time” rule of thumb but also 2) people who are trying to impress you by claiming awesomeness by association with a big organization (military, police, Catholic Church) are people who can’t claim a lot of merit to themselves individually.
gelfling545
My daughter took a long weekend to rest up from our FL jaunt so today we visited a lot of plant nurseries in an area south of the city where these abound. My front hall is stuffed with annuals & tender plants to be planted tomorrow as the last frost is expected tonight. She has been messaging me pictures of her lovely container plantings which she, the lucky ducky, will keep overnight in her suburban garage. Being in the city, less that 1.5 miles from her, I have no garage so front hall it is. She is coming over to help be get my worm composting started tomorrow with worms from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm and, yes, that is an actual thing.
shortstop
@sharl: @Chris: Y’all raise an intriguing point. Maybe I actually know many dozens of Marines and am unaware of it because the noble ones don’t discuss it! Hmmm.
Actually, I should have seen that coming. My dad was in (REDACTED, but it was a particularly horrible barrage) in Korea. About two-thirds of his company died. He could never even watch M*A*S*H when I was growing up. When guys used to run around town in their VFW and Foreign Legion hats trying to get jovial drinking-and-reminiscing vet nights going, my pop would roll his eyes.
Mike in NC
@JPL: Have no idea of who these Duggars are or why they are celebrities in some circles.
Germy Shoemangler
Josh Duggar poses with his important pals.
Hint: they’re all GOP.
dogwood
@Valdivia:
Thanks, you’re the best! I don’t know why I didn’t think about YouTube. I stream it all the time from my roku.
shortstop
Who has the more punchable face?
Ruckus
@shortstop:
Long, long time ago but I worked for an ex Marine drill sargent for a bit while in HS. He was not like your description at all. And I’ve known a reasonably large number of Marines over the years. As @sharl: said, it’s most likely the ones with the cover up bravado that is the problem.
Rob
@NotMax #83:
Yay!
Roger Moore
@shortstop:
I think this is a deep question that can only be resolved with some experimentation. How are you supposed to know how punchable a face is if you’ve never punched it?
shortstop
@Roger Moore: I like the cut of your jib.
Valdivia
@dogwood:
you’re so welcome. Some of the episodes are no longer available but most of season 3 is there. I am sure there are other ‘channels’ that have it. If I find it I will come back to this thread and drop the link.
Cckids
@WereBear:
Mine don’t, which makes me sad. I tried it, as they’re getting older, but you’d think I peed on the food, rather than putting a tiny bit of coconut oil on it. AND heating it. One sniff & they turn & run.
Sigh.
Ruckus
@shortstop:
That’s a toss up, what with the sap not falling far from the tree in either case.
Mike in NC
@shortstop: All of them, Katie!
gogol's wife
@Mike in NC:
You obviously don’t read People magazine. I read it while on the treadmill because it stays open and USED to be not too inane. But the Duggars are on the cover every other week.
Chris
@shortstop:
There are no actual dirtbags in my family (e.g. on the level you’re describing), but it’s never escaped my notice that the guy who’s the worst about talking his head off about the honor and nobility of military service was only ever in it in peacetime and never saw combat. Whereas the relative who was an enlisted man in Korea – I never even knew he’d been in the service until years after I’d grown up. Not traumatized or anything, that I know of – just doesn’t talk about it much.
For whatever it’s worth, that last one was a Marine, and not at all like the guys you describe.
Pogonip
How is Soonergrunt doing?
My landlord is FINALLY trapping cats! I’d have been willing to trap them myself but no one would take 15 feral cats (I called around), I couldn’t afford to have a vet put them all down, and putting them down myself here in town did not seem like a good idea. I did tell my neighbor about Alley Cat Allies, which some nice person here recommended, but I recently learned she’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s which is probably why she never mentioned it, she probably forgot. I’m praying they catch the tom. The females would be no problem without him around.
Pogonip
@Chris: My dad was in the Korean War. He does watch MASH but virtually never mentions the war.
I would say anybody who goes around bragging about being a Marine is like somebody who goes around bragging about being a Christian–not a very good example of either!
If I am looking to hire a local business, I check the Blue Pages, which is like a Yellow Pages of phony Christians. If the business advertises in the Blue Pages, i proceed with extreme caution.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Has he been hanging around Charles C. Johnson(the Ginger Avenger)?
Baud
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo):
Uphill both ways?
Kropadope
@Chris: I was away and didn’t get to answer your question the other day regarding why Republican fostering dependency on churches, employers, and other businesses is different from dependency on the family.
Having people enthralled to business entities empowers those businesses. Dependency on the family, even a father in a rigid patriarchal scenario, weakens the family. It may empower the father within the family, but the family unit as a whole has more mouths to feed, presumably without any additional moneys.
Baud
Uphill both ways?
Mike in NC
@gogol’s wife: Wife subscribes to “People” but it doesn’t interest me. I gather the Duggars are white conservative religious fanatics who breed like rabbits? MSM loves folks like that.
Baud
Test
JPL
@shortstop: Thanks for the link. The picture of Sarah in her flag shirt scared me though. It was pretty close to a boob shot.
fuckwit
@Germy Shoemangler: Those pictures need to be splatterd all over the media. Right now. All of them, Katie. It says more than anything about the Rethugs, that they’re all, every single one of them, welcoming an incestuous child molester into their campaigns.
That said, I wonder how fast those candidates will come out denouncing that vile turd? Will the corporate media even ask what them to?
Also, in the picture with the Palins, via the body language and facial expressions Sarah looks creeped out by the guy, but Bristol looks like she’s into being around him. That itself is pretty damn creepy.
Germy Shoemangler
@fuckwit: I read that Huckabee defended him. Said we all do bad things or something like that.
Considering the fact that Huckabee’s son killed a dog just to watch it die, I guess he WOULD say that.
Little Boots
need more omnes. have a question.
Zinsky
Enjoying some absolutely gorgeous weather on the deck with my wife after a very filling and satisfying Mexican dinner. Perfection!
Howard Beale IV
@fuckwit: If some of the Duggar’s incident’s occurred when he was 17, could he not be retroactively charged an adult, where the statute of limitations has a much longer run rate? After all, look at how far back the Catholic priest abuse scandal went back.
Little Boots
omnes, should be happy, cause, no reason.
JPL
@fuckwit: That’s what I thought.
mai naem mobile
@shortstop: hey I’ve gotten.screwed.by.contractors and it sucks. I don’t know where you live but if he was a licensed contractor you might be able to go to the licensing entity in your state and get some money. Even if he wasn’t licensed he’ll at least get in trouble and get fined some big $$$.
mai naem mobile
@Howard Beale IV: I think it said he was 14. I’m guessing Dugar Jr. now has a big bullseye on his sorry ass and girls/wimmen are going to be comng forward. I’m guessing there will be some kind od sexual assault/ molestation trial in the next couple of years. The wife will probably leave him. There’ll be lots of books because theres $$$ to be made. I just hope this puts this Quiverful crap out of business.
dogwood
@shortstop:
The is no one on earth with a more punchable face than Ted Cruz.
Tree With Water
@Germy Shoemangler: Huckabee defended Duggar in the same spirit as Rush Limbaugh sought mercy for his own hillbilly heroin addiction in a court of law, not long after having mocked Jerry Garcia’s heroin addiction in the immediate aftermath of the musician’s death.
raven
@shortstop: My cousin was a marine grunt 65-67 and he was at 881 and the Hill Fights. He has scraped by in life, done time for dealing, has lost two sons in car wrecks, and one did 7 years on a gun charge. He calls me “Weather Underground” and we laugh about it. I cannot fathom how someone like him if a fucking right -winger but he is.
shortstop
@mai naem mobile: Can you believe it — contractors don’t have to be licensed in Illinois unless they’re doing roof work. Thanks, Obama!
We are, however, turning Lisa Madigan’s Fist of Fury (Consumer Protection Division, and actually a good one as these things go) on him as much as possible. And looking into a few other things. We aren’t going to get a dime back, but there’s no way I’m going to let him reincorporate and continue to defraud others without at least getting a few official complaints registered for anyone who’s looking.
shortstop
@Pogonip: Excellent tip. Thanks!
shortstop
@mai naem mobile: I actually don’t think people will be coming forward — or at least no one in the family will, and four of five of the victims we know about so far are sisters. Anyone in that family, especially any female someone, has been trained to a fare-thee-well to close ranks and support the boys.
I’ve been wondering about Jim Bob, the father. Perhaps it’s unbecoming to speculate. But it’s a weird, weird coincidence that instead of marching his kid to the po-po after a year and a half of multiple incidents known to the parents, Dad instead made the boy have a heart-to-heart with a “family friend” state trooper who’s now doing 56 years for child pornography charges. Add to that the fact that molesters often (not always, of course) have been molested themselves and I’d really like to know what’s on Jim Bob’s computer.
A guy
Married 25 years to the same woman and I love her more today than 25 years ago. No homosexual marriage equals mine.
Tree With Water
@shortstop: Obama cannot escape culpability, true. But the rank and file also have a right to know where Hillary stood, too, while the great Illinois no contractor license required except for roofs debate raged.
Tenar Darell
Went to see Tommorrowland. Now at my fave Italian place. Asparagus, egg, prosciutto, parm appetizer, and a red Zinfandel yum.
Tree With Water
Brandon Belt of the San Francisco Giants just crushed the baseball into the right field upper deck at Coors Field. It was one of those home runs that you only wondered how far it was going to go at the crack of the bat, not if it was going out.
Update: 475 feet, 4th longest home run ever at Coors.
dogwood
@Tree With Water:
Exactly. Hillary was a Goldwater republican during her Illinois days. No doubt she marched for the rights of contractors to be unshackled from the slavery of regulations that denied them their God given right to screw the little guy in the name of liberty. Oh, and something about jobs also too.
Tree With Water
@dogwood: That’s right. She took counsel of her presidential ambitions even then.
Aleta
@shortstop: I’ve noticed that most of the murderers in my family keep an extremely neat yard, put their Christmas decorations up correctly, wear crisply ironed shirts, and in general make the rest of us ordinary scofflaws look sloppy.
It sort of makes sense to me that some people who are hiding their dishonesty or their sexual attraction or corruption or ineptitude are driven to make a display of morality or their ‘normalcy’ or honesty.
But also, I’ve got some carpenter-contractors in my family, who do good work and are good guys, but they get in over their heads again and again. (They don’t bail on the customer, they just end up fixing mistakes and working for free for months after the job was supposed to be done.) There’s a reason most of them are working for themselves (ADD, depression, habits, PTSD).
For the Marine aspect, some guys I know joined the military thinking it would help them get straightened out,. (Wasn’t it accepted practice in the 40s-50s for a judge or family to push a delinquent into the armed forces?) I could see why that cure might not last once they’re out.
Tree With Water
I remember a time like this in America.
Hunter Thompson
Kingdom of Fear pg287
“.. We were younger, then. Me and the Judge. And all the others, for that matter. It was a different time. People were friendly. We trusted each other. Hell, you could afford to get mixed up with wild strangers in those days- without fearing for your life, or your eyes, or your organs, or all of your money or even of getting locked up in prison forever. There was a sense of possibility. People were not so afraid, as they are now. You could run around naked without getting shot. You could check into a roadside motel in on the outskirts of Ely or Winnemucca or Elko when you were lost in a midnight storm- and nobody called the police on you, just to check out your credit and your employment history and your medical records and how many parking tickets you had in California.
There were Laws, but they were not feared. There were Rules, but they were not worshipped.. like Laws and Rules and Cops and Informants are feared and worshipped today…”.
Tree With Water
@efgoldman: Well whaddya know? I thought I was. And “typical” is one of those funny words, isn’t it?
cthulhu
@Roger Moore:
I believe they are saying everything will be done by September.
Tree With Water
“There were a bunch of people, mostly young, who went the sex, drugs, rock & roll route”.
That sounds a lot like the owner of the Miami Marlins, at least as profiled by Deadspin.com earlier this week. Apparently he authored a book (circa 1967) that referenced the world of the Peanuts cartoon characters to illustrate how America’s youth could best avoid the siren songs of the dirty stinking hippies .
J R in WV
Wednesday was our anniversary, 44 years together. We got married 3 days after her graduation from the U. I was in the U S Navy at the time.
I’m not gonna set our marriage above anyone else’s marriage, because that would be arrogant and rude. So that’s how I feel about bragging, it is rude, so I don’t do much of it.
Diana
@WereBear: yeah, thanks for all the comments, but everyone seems to be in agreement, monthly rentals are basically all anyone can expect to get. Good old days of buying a machine, loading it up, and then using it for the next five years are gone forever.
We own nothing anymore. It’s all just a license that can be taken away at anytime.
Diana
@Kropadope: But that’s the whole point; the idea is not real strength but the strength of the patriarch at the expense of everyone else. Corey Robin wrote a few books about it, and Paul Krugman had suggested that he provides the best explanation for why wrong, wrong, wrong ideas continue to be so popular among self-styled patriarchs.
shortstop
@Tree With Water: @dogwood: Y’all made me snort happily. Feels much better than the fury with which I started this evening.
Autocorrect wanted me to say I started the evening with a furry. The reality is so much tamer.
And a very happy anniversary to the West Virginia sweethearts!
shortstop
@Aleta: I remember guys I went to high school with in the 1980s heading off to the Army after “unfortunate incidents.” Nothing judicial, just strong family pressure.
Didn’t Sarah Palin’s oldest kid go to Iraq right after getting caught disabling the entire school district’s buses or something like that? This still goes on on some level.
Ruckus
@Aleta:
A friend had it suggested to him by a judge that a bit of time in the Marines could be useful to him. He spent 13 months in Vietnam. It was possible that it could have turned out to be a less than positive outcome, but he came home in one piece. Not sure it did him any good but it didn’t seem to do him any harm either.
Ruckus
@Diana:
GM and John Deere are trying to do that with their products. They are arguing that the software in the computer is their legal property and therefore only they can work on them. And as the vehicles don’t work with out the software the are not selling you the vehicle, only leasing it to you.
Feebog
Flew up to Seattle this afternoon. Took my sis and family out to dinner at the local Italian joint. Tomorrow we embark on a one week cruise up the inland water way and to Alaska. Will be celebrating my birthday on the way up.
Ruckus
Also a bit of health news. Waiting for my biopsy appointments to find out if I have cancer. The signs point to possibly so far. Of course it’s not just one possible cancer, they haven’t narrowed it down from the 3 it could be so far. Or it might not be. Could I be that lucky? I’m betting Las Vegas wouldn’t give me good odds.
FortGeek
I’m resting in preparation for another day of getting a used water heater adapted to the 50-year-old plumbing of my house.
It’s taken maybe 20 hours over the last week. If I were more able-bodied I could have knocked out days ago, but having a busted-up aorta kind of takes it out of you even after having some repairs to my own 50-year-old plumbing.
Could have gotten help, but where’s the fun in that? =)
Gvg
@Ruckus: I am sorry. waiting for new is hard. they said my tumor probably wasn’t cancer, was something else less scared. I believed them but I woke up to news it was and that I would have to start chemo as soon as I healed from surgery. chemo was not fun. other people have been saying lately how impressed with me they were while I was going through it and I remember how tired I was and trying not to whine to much. funny how different it looked to me. it felt like I was suddenly 20 years older overnight with joint pain and other mysterious new pains. All the different kind of cancers have different treatments so the info booklets are too generic to be useful. if you have to get treatment, try to arrange as little work to do and the most care of household. I hope you have good family. if you have a cat, someone else needs to scoop the litter box
Ruckus
@Gvg:
Thanks!
I have family history (some successful and some not so much) so I’ve been through this with others. You are correct it isn’t all that much fun. But I’ve already got chronic joint pain so I’m somewhat used to that (does one ever really get used to chronic pain?). The key here is that it’s early no matter what it is so that can be helpful. My real problem would be work. Or rather, lack of being able to.
Aleta
@Ruckus: what are the 3 possible types? Just heard yesterday from a family member that he is clear now, after bad odds, and inoperable. (He tried all kinds of things for several years, until a new treatment advanced far enough, and he decided to go for it and it has worked for him. ) Another friend, same type, extremely bad odds, now more than 15 years free.
I’ll be waiting to hear your results. Keep the faith.
john fremont
@Ruckus: Sorry to hear the news. I remember my own biopsy several years ago, the days were long waiting for lab results. Good luck to you.
J R in WV
My Dad was in his 70s when a chronic blood problem turned into acute leukemia, a very rare form 1 in 479,000 cases. He underwent very severe chemo and was in a sterile closed room for 30 days while they crushed his bone marrow as far as they could without killing him.
This was to enable him to meet the criteria for a clinical trial of a drug they thought might help. And it did. White powder in a clear capsule two twice a day, and the leukemia was beaten. Unfortuately the after effects of the chemo in the beginning got worse and eventually caused his death from COPD.
His disease is thought to be caused by exposure to dangerous solvents many years later resulting in the leukemia, and rare because most people are exposed as adults and then don’t live long enough to develop the disease. Dad worked in the family printing business as a kid, and back in the 30s and 40s they used things like benzene and carbon tetrachloride as routine solvents for grease and ink.
We know better now, here, but you can’t help but wonder about other hazards – like that benzene, which is in petroleum in the ground, and occurs in fracking as a hazard, and can be in drinking water wells after fracking. And I live in the oil patch, where we have a well.
Jebediah, RBG
@Ruckus:
Aw, fuck.
Fingers crossed here for good news.