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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Friday Morning Open Thread

Friday Morning Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  October 23, 20156:27 am| 116 Comments

This post is in: Dog Blogging, Open Threads

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This dog LOVES a big fat pile of leaves so much, you guys!

My dogs would totally do that, if we had piles of dead leaves in Florida, which we don’t. Poor critters have to roll around on piles of fallen retirees from the Midwest instead.

I can’t believe it’s Friday already. Any big plans for the weekend?

[H/T: Jezebel]
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Previous Post: « Late Night Open Thread: Insulting Their Religion
Next Post: Doctor, Doctor, Can’t You See I’m Burning, Burning »

Reader Interactions

116Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    October 23, 2015 at 6:32 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

  2. 2.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 23, 2015 at 6:37 am

    Poor critters have to roll around on piles of fallen retirees from the Midwest instead.

    Or cold iguanas.

    Got a big car show going on Sunday at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens in Miami with over 100 cars in the garden. Stop by.

  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    October 23, 2015 at 6:41 am

    @Mustang Bobby: I love that story from a couple of years back about the cold snap in South Florida that stunned the iguanas. Some maroon loaded a bunch of them into his car, and as he was driving down the road, his heater revived them and they started crawling all over his vehicle.

    ETA: Found the link to the frozen iguana story! [video]

  4. 4.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 23, 2015 at 6:43 am

    I’m thinking of visiting Mt. Hollywood again if the skies are clear enough. I’ve got a polarizing and IR filters for the camera and I’d like to try some experiments.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    October 23, 2015 at 6:48 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: Did you see that report claiming there’s a 99.9% chance of a magnitude 5 or higher earthquake in LA in the next three years? Opinions differ. Anyway, be safe!

  6. 6.

    raven

    October 23, 2015 at 6:50 am

    Bye week as we wait to be murdered by the powerful Gators. We were so close to being done with the addition when we decided to have the entire house (as opposed to just the addition). We had to move everything off of both porches and now the house is totally trashed again. The may finish today but we’ll have to go the weekend before we can move stuff back. Here’s a foggy shot of the bedroom.

  7. 7.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 23, 2015 at 6:50 am

    @Betty Cracker: There are stories about people being hit by falling iguanas. Apocryphal, probably, but I’ll bet it hurts.

    Re: the dog enjoying the leaf pile, one of my memories of growing up in Ohio was making a huge pile and jumping into it. Our dogs really got into it, especially when we hid from them and then popped up “Bazinga!” style to startle them.

  8. 8.

    Rob

    October 23, 2015 at 6:54 am

    @Betty Cracker #3:
    That iguanas in the car story is too too much. And the piles of fallen retirees cracks me up too.

    In weather news, Hurricane Patricia off the coast of western Mexico has become the strongest hurricane (i.e. Atlantic & East Pacific Oceans) on record, with winds estimated at 200 mph and central pressure measured at 880 mb. It is expected to make landfall sometime later today somewhere between San Blas and Punta San Telmo. It might strengthen slightly before it comes ashore. YIKES.

    I’m going to get together with my family on Sunday, and try to be outdoors all day on Saturday.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 6:55 am

    Poor critters have to roll around on piles of fallen retirees from the Midwest instead.

    I hope they have all their shots.

  10. 10.

    Gindy51

    October 23, 2015 at 6:58 am

    Are the retirees as crunchy as the leaves?

  11. 11.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 23, 2015 at 7:01 am

    @Rob: They had a story about Patricia on the local news, I made a comment downstairs about it.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 23, 2015 at 7:03 am

    @raven: Spacious.

  13. 13.

    Mike J

    October 23, 2015 at 7:04 am

    Foreign Policy Magazine:
    Whiskey-5 Hotel: The 6 biggest points of bullshit being peddled about Benghazi

  14. 14.

    Rob

    October 23, 2015 at 7:06 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA #11:
    I missed your comment. I am at best a casual lurker and didn’t look at the overnight threads.

  15. 15.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 23, 2015 at 7:09 am

    R.I.P. Marty Ingels, comedian and husband of Shirley Jones. I remember him from a sitcom in 1962, “I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster” with John Astin. Funny guy.

  16. 16.

    Soonergrunt

    October 23, 2015 at 7:11 am

    @Rob: So a storm the size of a hurricane and the power of an EF-5 tornado?
    Lovely.

  17. 17.

    Nemo_N

    October 23, 2015 at 7:13 am

    CNN doing its best to make something out of the Benghazi nothingburger.

  18. 18.

    Mike J

    October 23, 2015 at 7:14 am

    I can’t believe it’s Friday already. Any big plans for the weekend?

    Race this weekend with forecast 4mph wind. Where are the Bond villains when you need them? Perhaps Ernst Stavro Blofeld wasn’t the nicest guy in the world, but I could get behind somebody with a weather control machine who could give us a steady 12 for a few hours on Saturday afternoons.

  19. 19.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 23, 2015 at 7:17 am

    @raven: That’s really nice. I love the double-hung windows.

  20. 20.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 23, 2015 at 7:18 am

    @Nemo_N: What did Morning Joe and the nutsery have to say about yesterday’s show?

  21. 21.

    Rob

    October 23, 2015 at 7:19 am

    @Soonergrunt#16:

    Yes. Between the high winds and the torrential rains, a good part of Mexico is going to be devastated.

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 23, 2015 at 7:19 am

    @Mike J: Something tells me the Benghazi! committee won’t be calling Malcolm Nance or Nada Bakos for testimony.

  23. 23.

    Patricia Kayden

    October 23, 2015 at 7:20 am

    @Mustang Bobby: Gowdy needs to investigate why you were popping up “Benghazi” style and terrorizing your poor dogs.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 7:21 am

    @Rob:

    Holy cow

    Only one Category 5 hurricane has ever been known to make landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast. That hurricane followed a path similar to that of Hurricane Patricia and struck near Puerto Vallarta in late October 1959, causing some 1,800 deaths.

  25. 25.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 23, 2015 at 7:23 am

    @Patricia Kayden: He’s going to have to apply some foundation and powder first to cover his schvitz. He looked like the Borg Queen under those lights.

  26. 26.

    Mustang Bobby

    October 23, 2015 at 7:25 am

    @Baud: But Al Gore is still fat so climate change is bullshit.

  27. 27.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 7:28 am

    Hahahaha GOP. Hating you is lucrative. NYT

    WASHINGTON — The petitions that started surfacing online over a year ago were as incendiary as they were urgent, begging recipients to sign up to “Boot Boehner,” “Dump McConnell,” “Drop a Truth-Bomb on Kevin McCarthy” and “Fire Paul Ryan.”
    Stories from Our Advertisers

    The calls to oust Republican leaders in Congress did not come from Democrats. They came from conservative websites and bloggers who have helped stoke a grass-roots rebellion to make Congress more conservative, a fevered continuation of the six-year Tea Party movement.

    But these politically charged appeals to conservatives around the country were often accompanied by a solicitation for money, and the ultimate beneficiaries, records suggest, are the consultants who created the campaigns rather than the causes they are promoting.

  28. 28.

    Gimlet

    October 23, 2015 at 7:32 am

    @raven:

    Looking good.

    http://cdn.freshome.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Hello-Kitty-House-in-Shanghai-1.jpg

  29. 29.

    Punchy

    October 23, 2015 at 7:33 am

    @Betty Cracker: Whats the danger of a category 5 earthquake? Broken picture frames? Fallen surfboards?

  30. 30.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 23, 2015 at 7:33 am

    @Rob: I wrote the comment as Betty was posting this thread :(.

  31. 31.

    WereBear

    October 23, 2015 at 7:34 am

    @Mustang Bobby: RIP, Marty Ingels. She needed a funny guy after Jack Cassidy, I’ll bet.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 23, 2015 at 7:36 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: She is just so rude! Cutting you off like that!

  33. 33.

    Rob

    October 23, 2015 at 7:37 am

    @Baud #24:

    Oh, no! I hadn’t seen that about the earlier hurricane.

  34. 34.

    WereBear

    October 23, 2015 at 7:37 am

    Today, a colleague and I are heading into the wilds of Northern NY to look for ghosts. A typical blog assignment this time of year.

  35. 35.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 23, 2015 at 7:38 am

    @Baud: Grifting in the GOP, say it ain’t so Baud.

  36. 36.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 23, 2015 at 7:40 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I guess I could copy and paste my comment from downstairs, men.

  37. 37.

    Gimlet

    October 23, 2015 at 7:40 am

    How does a storm like Patricia strengthen so fast and is the upper limit worsening with Global warming?

  38. 38.

    Tom

    October 23, 2015 at 7:42 am

    We’re going to the Steve Jobs movie, mainly because we’re both fans of Michael Fassbender and Aaron Sorkin.

    Yesterday I signed two course development contracts so that makes three paid work projects in the pipeline after the one I’m currently writing (which is kicking my butt, by the way). It’s basically white-collar piece work but it lets me work from home and from time to time I get to teach a class as well.

  39. 39.

    Tommy

    October 23, 2015 at 7:44 am

    Little older now. But a pile of leaves. Maybe jumped in them and around them. Just saying.

  40. 40.

    Iowa Old Lady

    October 23, 2015 at 7:45 am

    That dog looks so happy. A dog knows how to abandon itself to fun.

    Woke up this morning still in a daze over how spectacularly much fail Gowdy and Co. achieved yesterday. Clinton was awe-inspiring.

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 7:46 am

    @Nemo_N:
    @Mustang Bobby:

    Morning Joke opened his show declaring it was a TKO by Hillary Clinton.

    Listening casually, sounds like the Morning Joke crew is pushing the theme that there is definitely something there about Benghazi! (Bingeghazi, to Trevor Noah), but the Trey Gowdy shitshow Committee is too unskilled to uncover it.

    Tom Brokaw surprised me, pleasantly, by pointing out there should have been Bingeghazi style investigations of why we went to war in Iraq, and mentioning all the dead Marines on Reagan’s watch, as well as Khobar Towers. Says those should have been investigated as well.

    Today’s shiny object is …… Ben Carson. He’s doing well among Iowa evangelicals voters. Imagine that.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 7:48 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Wow, they lost Joe. Epic fail.

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 7:48 am

    @Gimlet: Yeah.

    And too bad the Mexicans don’t have a rich neighbor to their North to welcome them after they get wallopped by a natural disaster.

    I hope we send a LOT of money and aid. Don’t see the welcome mat being out (as with the Honduras?? storm years ago that brought many refugees up on “Temporary Protected Status”).

  44. 44.

    Tommy

    October 23, 2015 at 7:50 am

    @Tom: Really like to hear what you think of the movie. I was an Apple Fan boy from 1987 until a few years ago when I did the reverse switch. Mac to Windows. I’ve read 4+ books on Jobs and I both like and dislike the guy. I got the book and read it this movie is based on. Wonder how it will work out. Just not a movie goer …..

  45. 45.

    Gimlet

    October 23, 2015 at 7:53 am

    In addition to playing in the leaves. Dogs used to “mark” each pile they passed.

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    October 23, 2015 at 7:54 am

    Found out I’ve been volunteered to provide dinner for out weekly group this Saturday, so major shopping trip Friday and cook-a-thon on Saturday.

    For those who like early movie history, TCM is re-airing Baby Peggy, the Elephant in the Room at 12:01 a.m. Monday, a one hour look back at and interview with the long forgotten first female child megastar of the cinema.

  47. 47.

    MomSense

    October 23, 2015 at 7:55 am

    I loved jumping in leaves as a kid and really enjoyed pretending to be upset when my kids ruined all my leaf piles by jumping in them. Sadly, this event has gone the way of hugs from sons in public. No more. My dogs have never jumped in leaf piles but they did love to catch clumps of leaves thrown in the air.

  48. 48.

    Iowa Old Lady

    October 23, 2015 at 7:58 am

    @Elizabelle: Apparently Carson beats Trump particularly among R women.

    Carson will be in my local B&N signing books on Saturday. The store is expecting a giant crowd.

  49. 49.

    raven

    October 23, 2015 at 7:59 am

    @NotMax: Do you watch Tired Old Queen at the Movies?

  50. 50.

    sparrow

    October 23, 2015 at 8:00 am

    Back from India & finally getting the diarrhea everyone warned me about. At least it came a day after I got back and not during the flights back (shudder).

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 8:01 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: What do you think about getting rid of the Iowa caucuses?

  52. 52.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 8:02 am

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    Carson is more popular than Taylor Swift!

    @sparrow:

    Welcome back. It’s definitely better at home.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 23, 2015 at 8:02 am

    “Let me tell you what I think the Clinton doctrine is,” Roskam said. “I think it’s where an opportunity is seized to turn progress in Libya into a political win for Hillary Rodham Clinton. And at the precise moment when things look good take a victory lap, like on all the Sunday shows three times that year before Gaddafi was killed, and then turn your attention to other things.”

    “Well sir,” Hillary replied, “I asked but Barack said no to landing a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier with a ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner in the background.”

    Sigh… missed opportunities.

  54. 54.

    Kay

    October 23, 2015 at 8:03 am

    Chafee has arrived at the DNC but won’t comment on possibly ending his bid. Spokeswoman says a release will go out at 8:30a.

    Well, you jackals chased Linc out of the race. I hope you’re happy.

    Now we’ll never get the metric system.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 23, 2015 at 8:06 am

    @MomSense:

    the way of hugs from sons in public. No more.

    Personally, I never accepted that from mine, but no matter, they will return.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    October 23, 2015 at 8:07 am

    @Elizabelle:

    Listening casually, sounds like the Morning Joke crew is pushing the theme that there is definitely something there about Benghazi! (Bingeghazi, to Trevor Noah), but the Trey Gowdy shitshow Committee is too unskilled to uncover it.

    Of course they are. There are no unsubstantiated allegations. There are only crimes that aren’t yet uncovered.

    They could never, ever admit they spent 2 years chasing their own tails. That’s unimaginable. They weren’t wrong, they just haven’t yet been proven right.

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 8:09 am

    From AP story:

    MANZANILLO, Mexico (AP) — Residents of a stretch of Mexico’s Pacific Coast dotted with resorts and fishing villages boarded up homes and bought supplies ahead of Friday’s arrival of Hurricane Patricia, a monster Category 5 storm that forecasters say is the strongest ever recorded in the Western hemisphere.

    With maximum sustained winds near 200 mph (325 kph), Patricia is the strongest storm ever recorded in the eastern Pacific or in the Atlantic, said Dave Roberts, a hurricane specialist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

    Patricia’s power was comparable to that of Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,300 dead or missing in the Philippines two years ago, according to the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization.

    In Mexico, officials declared a state of emergency in dozens of municipalities in Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco states that contain the bustling port of Manzanillo and the posh resort of Puerto Vallarta. The governor of Colima ordered schools closed on Friday, when the storm was forecast to make what the Hurricane Center called a “potentially catastrophic landfall.”

    …. The Hurricane Center in Miami warned that preparations should be rushed to completion, saying the storm could cause coastal flooding, destructive waves and flash floods.

    “This is an extremely dangerous, potentially catastrophic hurricane,” center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen said.

    Feltgen said Patricia also poses problems for Texas. Forecast models indicate that after the storm breaks up over land, remnants of its tropical moisture will likely combine with and contribute to heavy rainfall that is already soaking Texas independently of the hurricane, he said.

    “It’s only going to make a bad situation worse,” he said.

    …. The Hurricane Center said Patricia was expected to bring rainfall of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches in some locations. Tropical storm conditions were expected to reach land late Thursday or early Friday, complicating any remaining preparation work at that point.

  58. 58.

    Tommy

    October 23, 2015 at 8:13 am

    @Elizabelle: Please. Yes. I almost live within feet of Iowa. I like the darn state but can’t wrap my mind around both the caucuses and how the state has gone far, far right. I am in Illinois and we’re pretty blue. Not sure how Iowa went another way.

  59. 59.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 23, 2015 at 8:15 am

    @Elizabelle: Yeah, I’m trying to figure out where my son is; he was spending the week traveling the Pacific coast there with his girlfriend. Earlier in the week they were in Oaxaca, and from what I can see that’s pretty far south of the affected area, but it wasn’t clear where they were heading from there.

  60. 60.

    Patricia Kayden

    October 23, 2015 at 8:17 am

    @Elizabelle: Good for Tom Brokaw. And he’s so right. There are so many investigations that could have been conducted by Democrats when Republican mess ups caused the deaths of Americans. Didn’t happen because Democrats aren’t about exploiting deaths for political advantages.

  61. 61.

    Peale

    October 23, 2015 at 8:20 am

    @Elizabelle: the president should use the war slush fund to “rebuild Mexico” after the hurricane and send a note to South Carolina that tge reason no one wants to help doesn’t stem from an ideological fight over the proper role of government. No. We rally just don’t like them.

  62. 62.

    Patricia Kayden

    October 23, 2015 at 8:20 am

    @Kay: Did Chafee actually do anything to further his bid for presidency? I’ll give O’Malley props for at least making campaign stops. Chafee and Webb appear to believe that just announcing that you’re running is sufficient to generate support. Strange folks.

  63. 63.

    Tommy

    October 23, 2015 at 8:20 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Yeah, I’m trying to figure out where my son is …

    That might be the best line a parent has ever said about their child. I bet he is safe, but wondering around the world. Well that is cool.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    October 23, 2015 at 8:21 am

    @Elizabelle: I hope people are boarding up their homes, taking their supplies and leaving the coastal areas. This isn’t the kind of storm you can ride out.

  65. 65.

    Mike J

    October 23, 2015 at 8:22 am

    @Tommy: You can’t really complain about Iowa moving to the right when you’re discussing the Republican primary. We know crazy people are crazy. Obama won Iowa in 2008 and 2012.

  66. 66.

    Iowa Old Lady

    October 23, 2015 at 8:22 am

    @Elizabelle: I moved here after voting for years in Michigan, so I’m not emotionally attached to the caucuses.

    With the caucuses, there’s two separate questions. One is the whole first-in-the-nation crap. That gives a white, rural sparsely populated state much more impact that it should have.

    The second is caucus vs a voting booth. At the caucus, votes are cast by counting noses. So there’s no secret ballot and people who can’t be at their caucus site at 7pm on a Tuesday night can’t participate. That obviously restricts democracy, though they try to open things up more by having a table at the door where you can register to vote or change party affiliation if you want.

    OTOH, I like the two-round voting system at the caucus. You raise your hand for your favorite, and if that person doesn’t draw enough votes to be viable, you can move to your second choice. That lets people vote their heart, but then concentrates their choices. The Rs don’t do that at their caucus, and they use a paper ballot. They have a terrible record of predicting their party’s nominee.

  67. 67.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    October 23, 2015 at 8:22 am

    Mrs. Cisco is out of surgery, Doc says everything is 5 x 5. Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and prayers.

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 23, 2015 at 8:22 am

    @Elizabelle: I have friends who spend every winter in Yelapa (across the bay from PV, accessible only by boat). I have to wonder if they’re gonna make it there this year.

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 23, 2015 at 8:25 am

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Good.

  70. 70.

    amk

    October 23, 2015 at 8:25 am

    chaffee is out. poor guy.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/lincoln-chafee-drops-out-of-democratic-race-215101

  71. 71.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 8:25 am

    @Baud: Not sure they lost Joe, but he realizes a debacle when he sees one.

    Over here: Ben Carson and John Kasich! The carnival moves on.

    @Patricia Kayden: Some of those Republicans were clearly dragging the dead Americans out of the graves for political hay. A lot of the men, and that pissy woman who asked Hillary if she was alone all night, eliciting a laugh (OK, cackle, but genuine amusement) from the grillee. Pissy inquisitor Martha Roby stiffly informed she didn’t see anything funny because “our folks on the ground” were at risk.

    Here’s 2:30 video recap from The Guardian.

  72. 72.

    Patricia Kayden

    October 23, 2015 at 8:25 am

    @sparrow: So how was India? That’s one country I would love to visit. Love Indian food and would love to see the Taj Mahal.

  73. 73.

    khead

    October 23, 2015 at 8:26 am

    Shorter Bill Raney, WV Coal Association:

    Obama killed the coal industry, thus causing the people of WV to do drugs. He should probably check the crime rate back during those glory years of 2006-2008.

  74. 74.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 8:28 am

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah. Very concerned about the flooding potential. That seems to be the killer in hurricanes. Hope the residents can be evacuated, pronto.

    Has anyone heard if our military is helping out?

  75. 75.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 8:29 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: Thank you. Most informative.

  76. 76.

    Tommy

    October 23, 2015 at 8:33 am

    @Betty Cracker: I don’t think people understand. Years ago I lived in Baton Rouge and Andrew hit. Before the lady next to me was taping down her windows and putting water in every pot and her bathtub. I was a “yankee” and confused. She left me a key and I ended up drinking water out of her bathtub.

  77. 77.

    Iowa Old Lady

    October 23, 2015 at 8:37 am

    @Elizabelle: I should add that “viable,” as in “viable candidate,” is actually a technical term at the caucuses. Caucuses are by precinct, and each precinct sends 7 delegate the next level of convention (county, maybe?). To be “viable,” a candidate has to have 1/7 of the people in the room voting for him or her.

    In 2008, only Obama, Clinton, and Edwards were viable at my caucus. People who voted for Biden, Richardson, etc could then try to talk others into joining them, join another group, or stay where they were and throw their vote away.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 8:39 am

    @amk: From your Politico story on Chafee:

    “As you know I have been campaigning on a platform of Prosperity Through Peace,” the Republican-turned-Independent-turned-Democrat former governor and senator of Rhode Island will tell a Democratic National Committee gathering in the bowels of a downtown Washington hotel, according to his campaign.

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/lincoln-chafee-drops-out-of-democratic-race-215101#ixzz3pOUiFetf

    Ouch.

    Wish Mr. Chafee well, and know he’ll support the Democratic ticket. Unlike another dude who dropped out this week, took his ball home, and lobbed it at those “extremist” Democrats.

  79. 79.

    Amir Khalid

    October 23, 2015 at 8:42 am

    @Elizabelle: For all anyone knew, Roby could easily have been leading up to a bombshell of a question: “Were you having an orgy while your husband was away?” I’m kind of disappointed that the next question didn’t go there.

  80. 80.

    WereBear

    October 23, 2015 at 8:43 am

    I would like to see if Republicans will next try tapdancing on the male organ in question.

  81. 81.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 8:43 am

    I think I have a good shot at getting Chafee supporters.

  82. 82.

    MomSense

    October 23, 2015 at 8:43 am

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):

    Glad to hear she did well. Hope her recovery is speedy!

  83. 83.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 8:49 am

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):

    Mrs. Cisco is out of surgery, Doc says everything is 5 x 5.

    You calling your wife square?

    Glad everything went well.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    October 23, 2015 at 8:51 am

    @khead:

    Our GOP attorney general disagrees with him. I attended an 8 hour conference on drug addiction in Appalachia. We were told that drug companies targeted that region for increased sales of pain medication. The rate of prescription pain medication use went up X nine over 10 years. It was a concerted, targeted, deliberate sales effort and it was aimed at vulnerable low income people in rural areas. The private sector did this, and they did it to make money. They then stuck the addicts and the public with the bill for all the parade of horrors that followed the sales push.

  85. 85.

    raven

    October 23, 2015 at 8:51 am

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Good news!

  86. 86.

    rikyrah

    October 23, 2015 at 8:51 am

    John HarwoodVerified account
    ‏@JohnJHarwood
    when Obama entered WH, U.S. economy was dragging others into recession. today: strongest major economy in the world: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/23/us/politics/on-the-economy-republicans-have-a-data-problem.html …

  87. 87.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 8:53 am

    @rikyrah:

    When I did the twitter thing more often, Harwood was the only Village journalist I followed.

  88. 88.

    Satby

    October 23, 2015 at 8:54 am

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Best wishes to Mrs. Cisco for a speedy recovery!

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    October 23, 2015 at 8:54 am

    No, Dear.

    It will be NON-WHITE women that will put Hillary over the top if she wins.

    If it had been up to White women, we’d have President Romney, Governor Cucchinelli, and why we have Governor Abbott in Texas.

    …………..

    D Wasserman SchultzVerified account
    ‏@DWStweets
    “It is women voters who will put our Democratic nominee over the top to become the 45th President of the United States!” -DWS

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    October 23, 2015 at 8:57 am

    Free market and all…no better for him.

    ……………

    Imprimis offers $1 alternative to Turing’s $750 pill

    A specialty drugmaker said it would sell for less than $1 a version of Daraprim, an anti-infective drug at the heart of allegations of “price gouging” involving Turing Pharmaceuticals after it hiked the price by over 5,000 percent to $750 a pill.

    The 62-year-old Daraprim is sold in the United States by the tiny Turing, whose controversial CEO Martin Shkreli has become the face of industry profiteering after bumping up the drug’s price to $750 from $13.50 a pill after buying it in August

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/imprimis-offers-dollar1-alternative-to-turings-dollar750-pill/ar-BBmlUI2?li=BBgzzfc&ocid=HPCDHP

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    October 23, 2015 at 8:59 am

    hmmmmmmmm

    Iowa Poll: Carson surges to 9-point lead; Trump slides

    Donald Trump is the biggest loser in the new Iowa Poll.

    The pious Ben Carson has plowed past the braggadocious New York businessman to take the front-runner crown, unseating Trump as the most popular choice for president among likely GOP caucusgoers, the new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll shows.

    Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, is the favorite choice for 28 percent — 9 percentage points ahead of Trump’s 19 percent.

    Even Carson’s most controversial comments — about Muslims, Hitler and slavery — are attractive to likely Republican caucusgoers. The poll shows just two perceived weaknesses: his lack of foreign policy experience and his research using fetal tissue during his medical career.

    http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-poll/caucus/2015/10/23/ben-carson-charges-9-points-ahead-of-donald-trump-iowa-poll-gop/74278414/

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 9:00 am

    @Baud: Indeed you do.

    Its easier to personalize your approach when your target audience is so small.

    I wish you well, Baud 2016!

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    October 23, 2015 at 9:02 am

    @raven

    You’ve mentioned it before. His saying, while nattering about The Day the Earth Stood Still, that Anzio is in Korea was kind of offputting, to say the least.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    October 23, 2015 at 9:03 am

    @Elizabelle:

    That’s the only way I’ll win this thing: One centimeter at a time.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    October 23, 2015 at 9:05 am

    @Kay:

    tell that truth, Kay.

    Tell that truth.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    October 23, 2015 at 9:05 am

    @khead:

    I’ve never met a juvenile heroin user who didn’t start with “pain pills”. They steal them from parents and grandparents, or buy them from someone who steals them from parents and grandparents. Every single one. It’s an illegal drug problem that was caused by a legal drug problem. It’s absolutely bizarre.

    They actually created a market for heroin and this is just calmly laid out in power points in conference rooms and no one says “well, THAT was evil”.

    It’s like “they needed to increase sales and so they did X, Y and Z so let’s just work on solutions, shall we, and not play the blame game?” Mistakes we made.

  97. 97.

    NotMax

    October 23, 2015 at 9:06 am

    @Elizabelle

    And just when it seemed a majority of folks had learned to correctly spell his name…

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 9:23 am

    @NotMax: I know. For one f’s sake.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    October 23, 2015 at 9:23 am

    @rikyrah:

    Oh, they know. Bob Latta, who is in the US House, was sitting 3 rows in front of me.

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    October 23, 2015 at 9:25 am

    @Kay: Wow, that’s a story that could have legs.

    Didn’t pay too much attention to yesterday’s West Virginia conference — think Obama might have attended? But huge issue.

    Thanks for the update and please keep us apprised. Did you see any good reporting on the conference or topic?

  101. 101.

    rikyrah

    October 23, 2015 at 9:26 am

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):

    Happy to hear that. May she have a full recovery at her own speed. Positive thoughts and prayers to you.

  102. 102.

    PaulW

    October 23, 2015 at 9:37 am

    blog flog: the shortest version of yesterday’s 10-hour torturefest known as a Congressional mishap.

    Gowdy: Admit your a witch!
    Hillary: No.
    Gowdy: Dammit.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    October 23, 2015 at 9:48 am

    @Elizabelle:

    They’ve known for years, so probably not. There are a series of lawsuits by state agencies in those states winding their way thru courts:

    Over five years, out-of-state drug wholesalers shipped more than 200 million doses of two popular prescription painkillers to West Virginia, while turning a blind eye to suspicious orders from “pill-mill” pharmacies, according to the latest filing in a state lawsuit against the companies.
    The release of the pill numbers follows a bid by the drug wholesalers to toss out the lawsuit.
    Between 2007 and 2012, 11 drug distributors shipped 59.9 million oxycodone pills and 140.6 million hydrocodone pills to West Virginia, according to the filing by lawyers representing two state agencies.
    “That’s an extraordinarily high number of medications in a state with less than 2 million people,” said Delegate Don Perdue, D-Wayne, a retired pharmacist. “If I would have been the firm shipping those drugs or seeing those shipping records, I would have looked at that and said, “What’s going on here?’ ”

    I imagine it will be very difficult to prove.

  104. 104.

    PurpleGirl

    October 23, 2015 at 9:52 am

    @Kay: Longish story and old (circa 1972) but ties in with what you said. Elmer Holmes Bobst, was CEO of Warner-Lambert. He wrote a memoir, which I received a copy of at the opening ceremony for the Bobst Library at NYU. Anyway, in it Bobst wrote about drugs problems and addiction. He condemns people using drugs. What he doesn’t say is that Warner-Lambert over produced various drugs by the millions of capsules. Nor did he say how those drugs made their way to black markets to be sold without prescriptions. But people are bad for abusing drugs…

  105. 105.

    Hunter

    October 23, 2015 at 10:02 am

    Today’s project is to go see the red panda cubs at Lincoln Park Zoo, which made their debut yesterday. They’ve been named Clark and Addison. (For those not familiar with Chicago geography, the intersection of Clark and Addison Streets is the location of Wrigley Field — get it?)

    Come to think of it, there’ve been a fair number of zoo babies at Lincoln Park in the last couple of years — rhino, gibbon, a couple of gorillas, snow monkey, and the latest, a colobus monkey.

    Aside from that, I’m just going to hunker down and try to adjust to the fall weather.

  106. 106.

    Paul in KY

    October 23, 2015 at 10:22 am

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): Yay!!!!

  107. 107.

    Paul in KY

    October 23, 2015 at 10:24 am

    @Iowa Old Lady: Andrew smashed Homestead & Homestead AFB.

    Edit: Comment meant for Tommy at 76.

  108. 108.

    Paul in KY

    October 23, 2015 at 10:27 am

    @Kay: How do you meet ‘juvenile heroin users’? The alley behind the Save-a-Lot?

    Asking for a friend…

  109. 109.

    Paul in KY

    October 23, 2015 at 10:29 am

    @Hunter: Should have named them after the streets where White Sox stadium is. Boo Cubs!!!

  110. 110.

    Betty Cracker

    October 23, 2015 at 10:37 am

    @Paul in KY: I have a friend who was a reporter in Miami when Andrew blew through. I was visiting her a few weeks later and rode along when she was out in Homestead following up on a story, and I was astonished by what I saw. Houses reduced to piles of broken boards. Leafless, splintered trees. Cars overturned and the paint sand-blasted off. It’s amazing more people weren’t killed, especially since we hadn’t had a hurricane here in years back then, and people had become complacent (myself included).

  111. 111.

    Paul in KY

    October 23, 2015 at 10:52 am

    @Betty Cracker: I was stationed at Homestead back in early 80s. Visited it 3 years after Andrew. Whole neighborhoods (200 houses or more) completely vanished. All trees over a certain height dead. The base housing all gone. The golf course gone!!!

    Sure glad I wasn’t there when it hit.

  112. 112.

    Miss Bianca

    October 23, 2015 at 12:44 pm

    @WereBear:

    But do you ever *find* any ghosts?

  113. 113.

    J R in WV

    October 23, 2015 at 12:46 pm

    @Kay:

    And while the news is terrible about abuse of narcotic pain medicines, W Va has one of the highest injury rates among workers in the nation. Mining, old and poorly maintained factories and mills, timber, oil and gas drilling, these are how many West Virginians make a living. Rigs on a mountain top can explode into fire with no way to communicate with emergency services, if such even exist in some poor and rural counties.

    And injuries of these sorts often leave people with chronic pain for the rest of their life. Should they just sit in a room and moan softly while drinking bourbon? I think they need whatever pain relief is necessary to keep their pain under control.

    The population in West Virginia is also elderly, which means many people have arthritis or other degenerative diseases which cause terrible chronic pain, How should these folks be treated by local physicians and clinics? Left to suffer lest someone become addicted to their medication?

    I knew people who have suffered so much pain they felt forced to take all their pain killers with a bottle of whiskey, so as to end their pain and suffering with finality. Is that what we should do for severe chronic pain, encourage suicide to end the pain?

    There is more going here than just addicts enjoying their dope.

    We live in the middle of this. It isn’t pretty. People die from suicide because they can no longer tolerate their chronic pain from injuries or other diseases.

    The headlines about drug abuse make it more difficult for patients to receive the pain relief they need and deserve. Do we need to help beat those drums? Or will the “news media” take of that for us?

    I hope this pendulum doesn’t swing so far that people with legitimate painful disease can no longer be treated, but I fear that is exactly where we’re going.

    Again, there is more to this issue than junkies enjoying their buzz. The flip side is people suffering horribly, and they deserve appropriate relief.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    October 23, 2015 at 1:25 pm

    @J R in WV:

    Okay, but usage shouldn’t go up by 9X over 10 years and drug companies shouldn’t launch deliberate campaigns downplaying the risk of addiction.

    The state is suing to try to recoup some of their losses:

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/11/drug-companies-lose-wva-bid-to-toss-pill-mill-laws/

    It has nothing to do with judging the addicts. It has to do with holding private companies accountable for the cost of the misery they created by making many, many more addicts. The addicts are paying the biggest price- they lose their families, go to prison, die.

  115. 115.

    TheronWare

    October 23, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    Oh I love me some Labs!! Thanks for the video it made my day!

  116. 116.

    Paul in KY

    October 23, 2015 at 2:35 pm

    Video was cool to watch. Very pretty dog!

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