The Watering Hole: May 11 — Small and Big

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Carl Sagan’s The Pale Blue Dot shows us our vulnerability, our uniqueness, the importance of understanding that this is our only home, and we — all of us — our only family…as well as our relative insignificance.

A mere point in a vast encompassing cosmos…a mote of dust, suspended in a sun beam.  The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.

But really, we are big.  Neil DeGrasse Tyson reminds us that we — all of us — are made up of the guts of the universe.

The universe is in us.

Once we know a thing, we can’t unknow that thing.  We have to do something with it.

This is our daily open thread — Happy Friday, everyone.

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205 thoughts on “The Watering Hole: May 11 — Small and Big”

  1. Magnificent!

    [I miss WaltTheMan. When NASA/Space/The Universe comes up I still expect to see a comment, from him, expounding on and enlightening us]

  2. Irony Alert

    Lobster Hostilities Lead to Boat Sinking in Maine

    Friendship, Maine

    Someone this week sabotaged two lobster boats moored in Friendship harbor, causing them to flood with water and sink.

    Investigators say they don’t know if the sinkings were spurred by a personal vendetta or a territorial feud.

    • Oddly enough, I hadn’t thought of Biff at all, and the other day, a coworker’s phone ‘rang’ in his pocket. His ringtone was the ‘What are you looking at, butthead?’ line from the first movie.

      • “Hello McFly, anybody home?” is popular in my house.

        And “What the fook are you looking at?” and “Do you fooking want some?” are two of a small number of questions in an ‘Essex Pub Quiz’ . There are apparently no correct anwsers to those questions – at least according the ‘Roger Mellie’s Profanisaurus.’

  5. If Mitt Romney’s memory of things that happened in high school is so bad, why would we want him as a President? The only other explanation of why he can’t remember is that these type of events were so frequent, he can’t recall specifics?
    I think he’s too old to be President if his brain cells are starting to fail, not that everyone his age has that same problem.

        • “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ” — George Santayana, “The Life of Reason, vol 1″

  6. Early morning thoughts….

    Is there a need for a website that documents the stuff Romney has done over the years – mittshit.com maybe.

    If a gay gene were ever discovered would certain folks change their minds about abortion?

    Is there a need for magic Mormon Depends?

  7. Video: Walker Says His Bill ‘Opens The Door’ To Right-To-Work | TPM2012

    A newly released video in Wisconsin could potentially have profound effects on the state’s recall election: Republican Gov. Scott Walker shown telling a wealthy supporter in January 2011 — before he introduced his legislation to roll back collective bargaining for public employees — that it was part of a “divide and conquer” strategy to take down organized labor, and potentially turn Wisconsin into a right-to-work state.

    I’m sorry but that donor needs to be slapped. “Completely red state.” Sounds communistic to me.

    • Commies, “Reds”, and Republicans. I’ve long enjoyed the irony in those labels and have even called them out on occasion, when appropriate. Pissed my cousin off first time I tried it, so I’ve continued.

      On a more ‘intellectual’ note, I know there are philosophical differences between, say, Stalin’s brand of communism and today’s conservative ‘American’ conservatism, but I’m not sure that when it comes to the imposition of tyranny, philosophical differences and aberrations make much of a difference to the common man, to the oppressed. Seems to me the differences between the extreme right (Fascism-Nazism) and the extreme left (Communism-Stalinism) become moot once imposed on any given population.

      Abuse of power is abuse of power. Period. I think a new law demanding, say, an ‘intracranial ultrasound’ of the would-be power monger might be a good ‘drill’. Sotospeak. How about it, Mitt? Wanna? You won’t have to watch — you can always close your eyes!

      • I’ve long felt that Soviet communism, while claiming to have its roots in Marxist doctrine, is no more communist or left than Nazism was Christian despite the Hitlerian claims. Both were totalitarian dictatorships, driven by money and controlled by the military. I don’t think the world has seen a real communist country yet.

        • Yep, I agree. Tyranny, by any name, is tyranny, and any philosophy based on hatred and fear by/for the many with goal of money and power acquisition by/for the few is an equivalent tyranny, regardless of label. Classic Marxism and classic Socialism don’t fall under that umbrella, they’re far too oriented toward the well-being of the many. But Stalinism, Hitlerism, and today’s American Republicanism, otoh, share those common tyrannical roots, regardless of fine point definition.

          • What Hitler and Stalin had in common wasn’t so much their Liberal/Conservative leanings as it was their Authoritarian/Libertarian leanings. if you’ve never visited it, the website http://www.politicalcompass.org explains ti well, as well as giving you a simple 10-minute test that will help you learn your scores on both of those scales. Mine tend to end up around 8 (of 10) Liberal and 8 Libertarian, which, because the scale is set as Liberal to the left of the origin and Conservatism to the right, and Libertarianism to the bottom and Authoritarian to the top, comes out -8.0/-8.0.

      • Spanish Civil War – the leftist party were called ‘Republicans’ versus Franco’s fascists…. confused will you be, young Skywalker.

  8. Horror of horrors, Elizabeth Warren is 1/32 Native American … and CLAIMS it, ADMITS IT!!! Jeebus, what’s next? The other 31/32s are automatically now in some sort of question? I mean, think of it! The potential horrors! I have a new slogan suggestion for Scott Brown: “Brownie’s doing a heckuva job.” Quoting a former president, no less. Gives him all the honor he deserves, fucking little demented dumbass punk that he is.

    In my world, Debbie’s great grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee, so that makes her 1/8 Native American. I suppose that’s why she likes so much to go camping, cook over open fires, sleep in tents, etc. Or maybe it explains her amazing intelligence and ethic? Maybe it also explains why she is not now, never has been and never will be a Republican?

    God, how I’ve come to DETEST Republiscums! Grrrr.

    • I’m certain Ms. Warren put her ancestry on some questionnaire, not to seek preferential treatment as Brownie says, but because the question was asked. I always struggle to answer the same questions for my child. For race, I sometimes put human and sometimes Native American (there’s never a Native Central American option). Some things like the census ask for a tribe so I fill in Cakchiquel Maya. Then there’s the whole issue of what a Hispanic is, I don’t think the Spanish penetrated much of the Guatemalan highlands. I can imagine Ms. Warren putting down her 1/32 Native American heritage out of sheer annoyance at the stupid questions.
      Back to cutting flowers for the Saturday before Mother’s Day market. :)

    • I’ve been watching Finding Your Roots on PBS with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (He of the having a beer with Obama after getting arrested trying to get into his own house fame). His focus is on African Americans, slavery and the civil war but it is always surprising where is subjects come from. An awful lot of right wingers would likely be very surprised at their true heritage. As time goes on, it will be harder and harder for them to find “pure Americans”. They, Warren, you and me are 100% human.

  12. Andy Borowitz
    ✔
    @BorowitzReport
    The only fair thing would be for a gay posse to tie Romney to the roof of a car and let a dog shit on his face.

    • I have to agree with Andy. But let me say I saw this a couple of hours ago and went off on a reading tangent. Thanks for sharing.

  13. Reid: Supporters of Filibuster Reform Were ‘Right,’ ‘The Rest Of Us Were Wrong’ | ThinkProgress

    If there ever were a time when Tom Udall and Jeff Merkley were prophetic, it’s tonight. These two young, fine senators said it was time we changed the rules in the Senate, and we didn’t. They were right. The rest of us were wrong — or most of us now anyway. What a shame. So here we are, wasting time because of the Republicans. … And then, to top it off, one of the finest members of the Senate we’ve had, ever, was defeated yesterday by a man, listen to this, Mr. President, who campaigned on the platform that there’s too much compromise in the Senate. And he’s going to come back here and not compromise with anybody on anything. Now that’s what we need in the Senate, more people who are willing to do nothing but fight.

    Duh!

    I have a feeling if the Republicans take the Senate they WILL change the filibuster rule to keep the Dems from thwarting their agenda.

      • Indeed, we must retain control.

        Here’s what needs to happen. Obama needs to get reelected. We need to get the house back. We need to retain the Senate. And we need to get rid of the filibuster. Then I think the next four years will have some hope.

    • Harry Reid needs to let some other Dem run the Senate in the future. He lives in a dream world, and pays more attention to the way he thinks things ought to be, than the way they actually are.

    • Mayhaps they will have one more chance in 2013 to get this done right and give our government a chance to govern in spite of the intrasigent Rs.

  16. frugal, I’ll be heading out your way this weekend. Check your email.

  17. I have to be honest and mention that I am tired of the Mittens and the Dog story. Sure it’s great fun to make fun of Mitt but I think the actual story is incomplete. I had read somewhere that what actually happened was that the dog was inside the car and then started shitting all over the place. The solution was to put him in the kennel on the roof. Now, I wouldn’t have done that and I’m sure not many would. But the premise of the jokes is that the dog was put on the roof right from the start of the trip.

    There are many things that Mittens should be ashamed of, but this one isn’t necessarily one of them.

    • Now I have tried to find where I read that bit about putting the dog on the roof AFTER he started shitting but I can’t find it. So I am putting myself in the dog house!!

      • It was probably one of Mitt’s flip flops.

        If the dog was originally inside the car, there would be no reason to have a crate, and no room for one either.

        • My nephew uses a crate inside the car. He says it keeps the car a little saner with his two girls (6 and 3 years old). We used a barrier instead because 1) Jake couldn’t help but come into the front and get in my way and 2) it’s much safer in case of an accident (I proved that to be correct on one occasion!)

          • I agree that it’s safer for dogs when riding in the car, but we’re talking a station wagon with a family of seven and their luggage inside. A crate that large would take up most of the back of even the biggest old station wagon. That dog was never inside on that trip.

            • Five boys, two adults. :)

              I remember riding across country in a big old station wagon when I was a kid. The room was sufficient for three girls, but add two more? It would have been a friggin’ nightmare. The back was full of our stuff. The dog was inside, on the floor, since we were still small enough for our feet not to reach that far.

            • Oh for crying out loud! 5 kids, one moron and one robot. I stand corrected. Time for a lunch break!

            • Back in the summer of 67 my family drove the familiy’s 1960 Chevy station wagon out to DC and back. Two adults, 5 kids and 1 dog. We fir everything but the tent into the car. I suppose I should mention the dog was a Toy Manchester terrier.

            • dycker, the animal lover in you wants to believe Mittens would do the very best for his dog companion. Unfortunately, from his actions, he does not seem to hold the dog in high regard – thus a piece of luggage to be slung on top of the car.
              Willard has no compassion for “man nor beast”.

            • Ebb, you nailed it. Jake once shat in my car and I immediately went to a dog park, through out the mat, cleaned what I could and gave him some time to “finish”. Then I went home and cleaned up more thoroughly.

          • What you don’t read about too often either is conflicting report that the dog either ran away when they arrived at their destination or that Ann Romney gave the dog away after that.

            • I’m sorry but I’m just imagining the discussion. ” Willard, either the dog goes or I do and the dog can’t do blow jobs.”

    • She can say all that horrific nastiness, but has to spell out the word “penis?”

      That woman needs medication and a straight jacket.

    • Certifiable! “Whitney Houston was found naked in a bathtub.”… WTF?
      This woman is mad…completely mad.

      “Jesus was kissed by Judas, a homo, who tried to sabotage Jesus’ kind ideas. Do you choose Jesus, a celibate, or Judas, a homo? You have to choose!”

      • Oh come on, Jesus hung out with 12 other single dudes, when a hot girl washed his feet for him and gave him a massage he didn’t bat an eyelid …. Jesus was probably one too…. put that in your collection plate there!

      • She said “every corpse found without clothes has a partner that did away with them”, did away with what, the person or the clothes.

  19. Daily Kos: Mitt Romney, childhood actions and character

    So it’s not so much his behavior as a child that’s in question, it’s his lack of maturation and growth as a human being.
    It’s relevant because we see the exact same Romney on the campaign trail—mocking the ponchos of NASCAR fans, laughing at the cookies proud Ohioans Pennsylvanians had laid out for him at a picnic, talking about how much he didn’t give a shit about the poor, torturing poor Seamus on family vacations, “joking” to unemployed people how he—rich asshole—was also “unemployed,” laughing about Michigan auto workers losing their jobs, bragging about how much he loves to fire people, etc.
    He’s a dick. We suspected, sure, but now we know that he always was one. That he doesn’t remember the incident is just more evidence that for him, being a bully was normal, average, status quo behavior for him. And no one remembers an average day.

  20. From Thomas Jefferson’s famous Letter To James Madison…
    “What is true of generations succeeding one another at fixed epochs, as has been supposed for clearer conception, is true for those renewed daily, as in the actual course of nature. As a majority of the contracting generation will continue in being thirty four years, and a new majority will then come into possession, the former may extend their engagement to that term, and no longer. The conclusion then, is, that neither the representatives of a nation, nor the whole nation itself assembled, can validly engage debts beyond what they may pay in their own time, that is to say, within thirty-four years of the date of the engagement. ”

    Translation: Very small planet, each generation has a responsibility not to fuck it up for the succeeding generations.

    • Regard for the ‘next generation’ seems (to me) to be a recurrent theme/concern of Jefferson’s. I think he believed that the young generation should be the ones in charge, as opposed to 80 year old artifacts of the past.

      “But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times….”

      “…And lastly, let us provide in our constitution for its revision at stated periods. What these periods should be, nature herself indicates. By the European tables of mortality, of the adults living at any moment of time, a majority will be dead in about nineteen years. At the end of the period then, a new majority is come into place; or, in other words, a new generation. Each generation is as independent of the one preceding, as that was of all which had gone before. It has then, like them, a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes most promotive of its own happiness….”

      An excerpt from a letter from Thomas Jefferson on the idolatry of constitutions (“The Writings of Thomas Jefferson”)

  21. Just to expand upon my thoughts from an earlier reply.

    We need the following four things to happen for this country. Anything less than four won’t do. In no particular order…

    1) Re-elect Obama
    2) Retake the House
    3) Keep the Senate
    4) End the filibuster in the Senate.

    If all four happen we may be able to seem tangible progress start to happen in this country. Anything less than all four will see more Republican obstructionism, and may cause us to go backwards.

    • I can’t agree with #4. Using the filibuster was the only way we kept some of Bush’s most egregious judicial nominees off the bench. It serves a purpose in that it protects the minority.

      Having said that, the filibuster needs some major reforms. The repiggies aren’t using the filibuster to keep really bad bills from passing or keeping horrible judges off the bench, they’re abusing it to attempt to make Obama fail. That’s not what it’s meant for, but why would that stop repiggies?

      Some form of the filibuster must remain. We won’t always have the majority, even after the stupid shit repiggies have been pulling for the last four years.

      • I agree with some form of the fillibuster rule being in play, but in such a fashion that it can’t be invoked for the convenience of blocking all action. Perhaps a limiit on how many can be invoked by type of vote….

        • Or having to stand up, in person, on the Senate floor and explicitly spell out exactly why you are filibustering — under oath. Then the Senate can debate on whether or not they think it’s a legitimate reason, followed by another vote as to whether or not it should be allowed. There could even be various stages to go through, but having to get up and say why you’re filibustering is the key, since campaign commercials can be made out of that shit.

          • See “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” with James Stewart. That sort of mandated filibuster would work, most likely. Unlike the method commonly in use this day and age.

            • No, they can’t just get up there and read the telephone book. They have to address the reason why they are filibustering in about 15 minutes — tops. Then the Senate can decide the merits of his/her reasons.

    • I admire fellow Zoosters dedication to peaceful and lawful solutions. I’ll add my peaceful and lawful solutions

      5) Constitutional Amendment to deep-six Citizens United and the 150 years of ‘corporations are people too my friend’ (and I’m not your ‘friend’ c***sucker)
      6) Constitutional Amendment to direct popular vote presidential elections (the French model)

      But, I’m doubt that’ll happen and I think that there’ll be petrol bombs and street barricades first.

    • Another thing that needs to change is adding provisions to legislation that has no bearing on said legislation that puts lawmakers in a position where they can’t agree with the legislation because of the provisions.

      • Exactly. No more poison pills. The simplest measure would probably be to require that any amendment offered after a bill leaves committee would require 60 votes. Kinda like the current, screwed up, filibuster process.

  22. Joe Klein on the Cranbook Assault:

    “I’m still waiting for the moment when Romney actually tells the truth about something difficult.

    He could have said, “You know, I’ve been troubled by the Cranbrook episode for most of my life, and I feel relieved, in a way, that it’s come out now. I did a really stupid and terrible thing. Teenage boys sometimes do such things, and deserve to be punished for them. What I most regret is that I never apologized to John, and won’t be able to now that he’s gone, but let me apologize to his family and friends. Bullying is unacceptable under any circumstances. It is especially unacceptable when prejudice–against race, ethnicity or sexual orientation–is involved. If elected President, I will try to atone for my teenage behavior by campaigning against bullying all across this country. What I did back then should be an example of how not to behave. I hope we can all learn from this. I know that I have.”

    Instead, Romney has a near-perfect record of cowardice, obfuscation and downright lies. It shows enormous disrespect for the intelligence of the public.”

      • Indeed. I might even be able to consider a GOP candidate if he/she came out and said that invading Iraq was, arguably, the worst thing that this country has ever done and that he/she is sorry for any part they played in it and will devote their career to avoiding anything so horrible in the future. An admission that Bushco’s policies trashed the world’s economy would be another good first step.

        Of course, that cuts both ways. Any GOoPer who can’t make that simple statement, which is all of them, is beneath my contempt and I’m deaf to any sane words they may have to say.

  23. Developer plans 200-foot-tall cross in Missouri | Fox News

    Public symbols of Christianity are under attack around the nation, but not in Branson, Mo., where county officials have approved a 200-foot cross that will rival American icons like the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge, according to its developer.

    And they call this news. Public displays of Christianity aren’t under attack. It’s publicly FINANCED displays of Christianity that are under attack.

    If some one wants to build an attraction like this, with their own money, more power to them. And if people want to see it, and pay their own money to see it, more power to them. And I would encourage the other religions to build theirs right next door.

    All with private money. Not PUBLIC money.

    • Can’t wait for Detroit, which has a large Muslim community, to erect a 300 foot Star & Crescent, in a race to see which city can flaunt their religious symbols more blatantly.

      Then, of course Wall Street would have to erect a 400 foot tall $dollar$ statue.

      • According to the wiki The Creation Museum:

        The museum, which is said to have cost $27 million, is privately funded through donations to the apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis

        It’s great that a dinosaur greets visitors…yet they believe the earth is but 6,000 years young.

        • Wonder what they say about the moon being its own light as per Book of Gen 1:16

          Maybe something like this .Love the title ‘Reasons…’ – there is no reasoning there, none.

          ‘Wow, you Bible punchers are cuckoo for cocoa puffs’ – Book of Terry 1:1-2

    • Misogynist you’ve met your match! Attempting to demean women while speaking to a female reporter…

  26. Teens: Prom Chaperones Sprayed Lysol On Dirty Dancers

    Two mothers chaperoning the Manitou Springs High School prom are accused of spraying Lysol disinfectant on teens for dirty dancing and calling the girls “whores” and “sluts.”

    I was going to put this up a while ago, but my internet went out. What I want to know, is if the women showed up with the Lysol, or just grabbed it out of a janitor’s closet at the last minute?

    • That had to be premeditated, since the janitor’s closet is usually locked.

      Question: Were the “sluts” and “whores” dancing with each other? I don’t see any criticism or name-calling toward the boys.

      • Rockey’s attorney, told 7NEWS “there was no Lysol” and that their own investigation is still underway, exploring the possibility an air freshener was used to separate boys from girls.

        • Yes, but the boys must have been innocent victims of the girls, since they were “sluts” and “whores.”

            • Esp. rural Colorado. Oh, and Colorado Springs, of course (Manitou Springs is just a stone’s toss from C.Springs). Other parts of the state aren’t nearly so nutty. We do have a pair of Dem senators and a Dem governor, so it could be a lot worse. The good news is there are a LOT of Latinos here, and they have a big hand in tipping the balance toward sanity. Still, it’s scary to be anywhere that the margins are so slender between the sane and the nuts. But that seems to pretty much define the entire US these days, doesn’t it?

              Never thought I’d live to see the day. My one (and only) hope is that we’re as close to crossing the sanity line in the dark direction that we’ll ever get, that we’ll gradually swing back the other way, starting this year. I’ve decided to not hold my breath in anticipation, however.

      • You’re all so silly!
        Didn’t you know Lysol is a republican pheromone that exudes domestic obedience.

        • Would that official manifesto be:
          “Keep yer gummint hands off my Medicare!”
          or the Republican/FauxSnooze version
          “Lie your ass off”?

    • That tingling feeling you get from dancing closely is a SIN! God knows when you get it and he’ll punish you by making you uncomfortable with the opposite sex and turn you into a sexual deviant. Wait, that punishment comes from ignorant parents.

      • As I have said before.
        The people that complain the most about it probably ain’t gettin any.

  27. I know there are at least a couple of car enthusiasts here… Sad news…

    BREAKING: Legendary race driver and Shelby Cobra sports car designer Carroll Shelby dies at 89 -RJJ— The Associated Press (@AP) May 11, 2012

    • More on Carroll Shelby

      Shelby’s company, Carroll Shelby International, said Friday that Shelby died a day earlier at a Dallas hospital. He had received a heart transplant in 1990 and a kidney transplant in 1996.

      He was one of the nation’s longest-living heart transplant recipients, having received a heart on June 7, 1990, from a 34-year-old man who died of an aneurism. Shelby also received a kidney transplant in 1996 from his son, Michael.

      I’ve heard him joke about his transplants, that he’d live as long as they could get spare parts for him. But hey, 89 is pretty good for anyone who raced in the 50s and 60s, considering the mortality rate of drivers in those days.

    • I bet his coffin is bright blue lacquer with big white racing stripes. Or at least, it should be.

  28. Nobody tell Zooey but George Clooney had a party at his house last night and she wasn’t invited. Heads will roll!

    • Oh, I was just tired last night. I told George to just go on and have, and say Hi to Barack & Michelle for me. :)

    • This would may have been a deterrent for Z not being able to attend

      …each of whom paid $40,000 for the privilege…

  29. When I had a baby girl I named her Taylor because I didn’t want people to know if she was a boy or girl when she applied for serious jobs. And she wants to be a singer so it doesn’t matter. MSNBC has this talented pundit who ran for Congress and her name is Krystal Ball. How many votes did that cost her I wonder. Murphy’s law?

    • Probably not many, if she included a photo with her resume.

      No wonder Lumpy hates her — she’s smart AND gorgeous.

          • She was on Dylan Rattigan who wasn’t there today which is why I bothered watching. But his replacement and some RWer both said something about the Obama arena being empty when that was proved false. So I wasn’t paying too much attention to what it was about but heard her getting angry and she sounded good.

    • Krystal Ball always makes me recall Wm. Lear’s daughter, Chanda. What is it with some parents that do that to innocent babies? Idiots.

      • I know. People shouldn’t try to get too cute with a kid’s name. It isn’t fair.

  30. Off MSNBC this PM.
    Big banks go after 401k trillions
    Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are adding staff, creating easier-to-use technology and competing on fees in an effort to win a bigger share of the trillions of dollars in 401k savings plans.

    Gotta love this! WHAT could POSSIBLY go WRONG!?

    • Wells Fargo had my IRA. And then they decided that they were too big to be bothered with me, and wanted to nickle and dime me to death on fees. I left. I’ll never go back.

      • Now that’s funny. But Romney is full of shit and I don’t believe his anecdotes. And Mormon communities are different then the real world.

    • I didn’t see any tears – just him attempting to emote.
      Why wasn’t his niece working? Are they “government programs” assisting her child?
      Mittens tries and fails…big time! Sorry no sympathy from me.

      (it wouldn’t matter to me if she were able to use programs funded by the government. It’s the damned hypocrisy of Mittens that boils the blood.

      • Mormons are supposed to be so into family ties, but who was out there helping the niece with the yard? Neighbors. :roll:

        I can understand why she wasn’t working. Special needs children can take up a lot of time, and with the husband gone, she’d have to be working all the time and the child wouldn’t get the help she needs.

        • I was channeling the Repugnant party…her Uncle Mitt, on the ‘working’ quip.
          He disturbs me to no end…the phony bastard!
          “Off with his head!” (both of them)

    • What a freak. Talking about compassion while he allowed his niece and grandniece to suffer while he sits on a couple-hundred million dollars.

  35. Not all of us were bullies in school. I remember tripping a bully going after a nerd when I was young. And some of us have always been sensitive to the underdog. We’re progressives. And some of us only care about ourselves and have no empathy for those in trouble. Republicans.

    • Not only is the seller of those targets a coward for trying to keep his identity secret, but the people who bought them should have their guns taken away before they kill a real person.

  39. Not all is lost here in Colorado:

    Colorado Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, state appeals court rules

    By Electa Draper
    The Denver Post

    The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that governors’ proclamations of a state Day of Prayer violate the Constitution’s provisions for religious liberty.

    When the state sponsors the religious practice of prayer, the three-judge panel found, it sends a message that those who pray are favored members of Colorado’s political community.

    “In doing so, they undermine the premise that the government serves believers and nonbelievers equally,” Judge Steven Bernard wrote in a 73-page decision.

    The content of six Colorado Day of Prayer proclamations, 2004 to 2009, is “predominantly religious,” lacking a secular context or purpose, and the effect is “government endorsement of religion over nonreligion,” Bernard wrote. Judges Alan Loeb and Nancy Lichtenstein concurred. [...]

  40. I made a Kindle cover for my son, by way of practicing sewing in zippers. I think it turned out well.

    • The addition of zippers to your sewing skills reminds me of a leather worker, Jacob, who was asked by his lifelong friend, Abraham, a mohel, to create something from the foreskins he had saved from the thousands of brit milahs he had performed over 43 years. What Jacob fashioned was something not much bigger than a Daytimer wallet and when he presented it to his friend Abraham looked at it and said, somewhat indignately, “So what is this little thing? This is what I get for 43 years, a wallet?”

      “Not to worry, my friend,” Jacob replied. ” You rub it real good and ot turns into a 3-suiter.”

  41. Woo-hoo! I’m back on solid food. Anyone who has been on a liquid diet for a day or two should be familiar with just how good those first few bites taste. In my case? A few popcorn shrimp along with a cup of homemade clam chowder. Pure ambrosia.

    • I’m on my second day of a liquid diet today, cheap Milwaukee’s Best Ice.

      • That’s wrong. Just wrong. I can force down cheap beer when someone gives it to me, just to be polite, but normally I can’t stand the stuff. Plus, one of the advantages of drinking stronger and more flavorful beers, “heavier” beer is less likely to be consumed by the swarm of vultures I call friends.

        • Given my budgetary considerations, 4 of these get me flying and a $7.41 12-pack lasts 3 days!

          • I’m lucky. My friendly neighborhood booze merchant has a local brewery’s products on permanent sale for $9.59 a 12 pack. They’re all good and vary from 5.5% to 7.3% alcohol. I’m especially fond of their India Pale Ale which, at 6.9%, usually does the trick with three bottles.

      • Thanks, Jane. One of the many things I like about my neighborhood is that a local bar-n-grill has an excellent cook who makes great soups. I could do as well but it’s silly for me to make a whole batch of soup just for me. Although I must admit that the bartender gives me a weird look when I pull out my pepper mill!

    • So do you find you get more on air from your pre-tweets or the ones you do closer to the segments?

      • I’ve only be tweeting ahead of the show for one day, so there’s not enough data to answer. But the night I got three of them on, I tweeted them during the commercial break right before the segment.

        I’ll tweet them again during the show. The playbook is up right now (Michael Eric Dyson is subbing), and they usually follow that for their show’s topics. (Hence, a “playbook”. :) )

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