Ned! Redd!

Christy!

Me!

Oh, alright, since I’m numero 3, FDL!

Go Blue!

Peanut!!!

all the best to you and Peanut, Redd and to the Mr.
My thoughts exactly. Let’s enjoy this weekend, sleep late and eat well. And then get ready for the fight of our lives that begins on Tuesday if not before. Ten weeks of arming ourselves to the teeth with the truth and the courage to keep pressing the battle until we see that the congress has enough good people in it to actually hold Bushco to desist from it’s madness and destruction.
Thanks for your leadership, Redd.

EPU’d.

Paul Hackett, Ned Lamont, Rocky Anderson, Jane and Christy at FDL, Crooks and Liars, Keith Olbermann, John Tester.

We’re not gonna take it, anymore.

-GSD

CHS, coffee, cinnamin rolls and left-over potato soup for the afternoon!

Good Mornin’ Christy,

sorry to hear about the Peanut, long sigh, just one of those things you have to go through for a while per yesterday’s morning thread (although it took some effort to keep from asking the well intentioned commenters to quit awready with the childhood illness horror stories – sometimes, that isn’t what we need)

without the volume up on the work teevee, did see your Mountaineers on the screen while they were clearly talking about contenders – state of the nation/world has distracted me from my usual anticipation of college football season, guess I could google pre season rankings and see what’s up

Good Morning Christy, sorry to hear about the Peanut’s infection.

I feel the same about fall, that it’s odd that I’m not starting new classes. Over here, everything is self-directed now. This week I figured out a new calligraphy hand Rustic Capitals and it seems to have helped my other scripts. (The example is not as wonderful as I’d like, but it’ll do, since it was an emergency request)

Boy do I remember those strep throat days when I was a kid. I got it twice a year – when summer turned to fall and when winter turned to spring. It was like clockwork. It happened every year until I hit high school. Yuck.

I miss school too. I can almost hit the rat a tat tat of the chalk on the black board. I think there might be one company that makes chalk boards now. Everyone just used the VAP boards or whatever they call them now. Before you just had to worry about chalk dust. Now you get high off of the markers if you sit too close to the front.

Ernesto just ran through DC last night. Our back yard soaked up that water and is asking for more.

Hope everyone is doing great today.

I just thought I’d share a weekend getaway suggestion. My wife and I spent last weekend in Berkeley Springs in West Virginia, and did the sauna and massage thing there. Very relaxing, historic as well (George Washington liked the spring baths there). There’s another nice park – Cacapon – about 9 miles away, and also Coolfont Resort, which was a throwback to 70s resort visiting. If you find yourself in WV, Western or Central Maryland or Pennsylvania, you might want to check it out.

Lisadawn, thank you for reminding me to check the weather for today. I’m actually heading out into it (eep!)

My best to you and Peanut.

That said, I don’t get football.

cbl @
9

Good Mornin’ Christy,

sorry to hear about the Peanut, long sigh, just one of those things you have to go through for a while per yesterday’s morning thread (although it took some effort to keep from asking the well intentioned commenters to quit awready with the childhood illness horror stories – sometimes, that isn’t what we need)

without the volume up on the work teevee, did see your Mountaineers on the screen while they were clearly talking about contenders – state of the nation/world has distracted me from my usual anticipation of college football season, guess I could google pre season rankings and see what’s up

The “Neers have the easiest road to the National Championship game. Oh the humanity!

I have been working very hard in the belly of the beast, my coworkers. Some very frank and hard-hitting plitical discussions have taken place. I can’t say I definitely have converts, but the authoritarian cult is showing signs of wear. I am always on attack and the kool aide boys try to defend. Of course they cannot, so it makes them think. They seek me out when Falafel boy or ED limpbaugh gives them shiny new talking points. It’s getting easier for me than a canned quail hunt.

Redd; I really hope the peanut gets well soon, she must be feeling miserable right now, but it will pass and she will be her happy self soon.

Whiskeytown. Ahh, yes, it is just over the mountains (the Trinity Alps) from where we live, and there is an old abandoned mining town nearby. As you descend down buckhorn mountain from the Trinity Alps you can see the lake threading its way to the east.

OT, but important. The collaborative investigative research on last night’s thread was astonishing. I think this form of collaborative research is organically emerging here at FDL, and it is very good.

Hobbies: My main hobbies are playing music, making musical instruments and building electronics projects.

Education: I spent my entire adult professional life in higher education, and I always looked forward to the students coming back, and one of my favorite times was to don my robes and hood and march into the graduation hall with the graduating students. When I retired it was a difficult transition, but I learned to shift to a less social life, and life is mostly good punctuated with aging related health issues.

Finally, I want to say again how impressive the research was on last night’s thread.

Morning all. Christy, hope Fiona gets better soon and the antibiotics kick in quickly!

BookTV is having a bit of a marathon with lots of goodies being offered this holiday weekend.

Eric Boehlert will be on @ 5pm today with Lapdogs.

9am tomorrow Thomas Ricks and Fiasco

7pm- Pat Buchanan ranting about immigration but also covering the wars…

8am on Monday– Peter Galbraith and The End of Iraq

10am– Vali Nasr on The Shia Revival

530pm– Noam Chomsky on Failed States

8pm– Ron Suskind One Percent Doctrine

Tuesday at 5pm– Stephen Kinzer with Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq

Much more here:

http://www.booktv.org/schedule…..chedID=448

Found in my email box this morning a request from the Ned Lamont campaign to help out Chris Murphy against Nancy Johnson. I’m glad to find that Democratic candidates can help out one another.

(By the way, I just moved to Takoma Park, Maryland: It’s a great town, but its farmer’s market is Sunday morning. Since I’ve been a kid, I have been going to farmer’s markets Saturday mornings. Those trips typically included buying a baked good, so your talk of cinnamon rolls is driving me crazy. I may have to do some baking myself!)

“Something else that could be infinitely useful for this group: are your local Democratic or DFA or whatever political group to which you belong doing any activities that might translate well to other areas of the country?”

This isn’t exactly what you wanted Christy, but courtesy of DemFromCT at tnh, I linked to this new site on the prior thread too: Pollster.com. It contains colored graphs of polling data from all over the nation for November.

Some FDLers have mentioned that there is no shortage of posts on one Senatorial race. IMO, Pollster.com provides a nice spring board for anyone to educate us about any aspect of any race that they know about. It also allows FDLers to use the polling data as a foundation from which to ask specific questions about a specific race.

sofistic,

Research is my achilles heel on these here innernets. Those folks last night absolutely rocked! I have no doubt that someone will pickup on all that info, pin their ears back and scald some folks. The bogus incubator claim made me feel like I had really been punked back when it happened. These same guys are still in business.

CHS –

Good luck with your daughter’s strep — that’s a tough one to give any comfort.

I’m so ready for fall! Ernesto brough much cooler temperatures to DC, as well as just enough rain. We opened up the windows for the first time in weeks!

My work forces most of my learning choices these days, but the DP and I are doing some study of the Lake District and London prior to our trip to England in September. That and reading Umberto Eco’s The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, which is yet another tremendous puzzle piece of a novel.

I’m on the West Coast. My husband’s still asleep. Even the cats are sacked out on the floor of our office. I’m enjoying the quiet and the “snap” in the air of fall.

I hope the Peanut will be feeling better, sooner than later.

My latest obsession? I’ve started writing again. It feels good. The book I worked on most of this year is sitting on an editor’s desk in NYC; I hope they’ll want to print it.

-S

For those who like to get their news from headlines alone, try this from this morning’s Google News:

Pentagon: Country ripe for civil war Toronto Star

Pentagon sees no civil war in Iraq Washington Times

Missing going back to school, long ago:

I buy school supplies every September, makes me happy to pick out new stuff. Also a good time to think of resolutions and changes, compared with the dark of January.

It’s the new academic year! Let’s get started.

Oilfieldguy @ 21

sofistic,

Research is my achilles heel on these here innernets. Those folks last night absolutely rocked! I have no doubt that someone will pickup on all that info, pin their ears back and scald some folks. The bogus incubator claim made me feel like I had really been punked back when it happened. These same guys are still in business.

Yeah, my job in Higher ed was to do “Institutional Research” so this collaborative research last night was mighty impressive to me.

Morning Christy/Peanut ((((hugs))). Frozen cinnamon rolls is cheating, and you should be ashamed. I make ‘em the old fashioned way, from scratch, using the Pillsbury dough boy toobz. The hard part is spreading the icing on from the can, without burning your fingers on the rolls just out of the oven, but I’ve got it down. Years of training.

Thanks for that Twisted,

apparently that road will go through JCASPER South Bend (%@#^#%%!!)

btw,
per Christy’s question about new hobbies/obsessions – mine is apparently collecting Martini glasses – maybe someday soon I can afford some of those beauties I caught over at your site

that said, better get going off to work to earn some cash

progressive love and antibiotics to all Firedogs

Strategerie at 7:15
Fiction or nonfiction?

“Fall” means “winter.”

That makes me not happy.

Pessimist? Me?

.

“But stagnation is never a good thing…”

It isn’t? Oh oh…I’m gonna be in twouble now. *g*

Thanks for the good NOLA/Gulf coast links this week. Scout should have more postings next week with stuff she brought back. Don’t forget us.

Other than that, we have a good month at least until we feel fall. And I confess most of us here want to feel something old and familiar – new has lost its shine – or perhaps I should say it is mold covered.

Enough whining. There is a farmer’s market calling – and I just figured out a cool geek trick for work that will make next week better

scarecrow @ 26

Morning Christy/Peanut ((((hugs))). Frozen cinnamon rolls is cheating, and you should be ashamed. I make ‘em the old fashioned way, from scratch, using the Pillsbury dough boy toobz. The hard part is spreading the iciing on from the can, but I’ve got it down. Years of training.

You know, I can cook just about anything in just about any cuisine, but bread making totally intimidates me. My wife says it is easier than most things, but it still scares the hell out of me.

I wanted to share a cake that my Mom has been making for years. Every other holiday here she comes walking up to the door with her baking pan. She created the recipe from a recipe that her mother gave her. Nana used to make hers with chocolate cake and chocolate pudding folded into the Cool Whip. But my mom is not a chocolate cake person. I am not a Cool Whip person. To me it tastes fake. When prepared in the recipe that follows, I love this cake frosting! It’s very easy to make. It always tastes best the second day. The pineapple gets more absorbed into the cake…

Pineapple Whip

Box of yellow cake mix
Med. can of Crushed Pineapple
Small container of Cool Whip
Small package of Instant Vanilla Pudding

Bake cake as directed on box in a 9×13 baking pan. Let cool. Take a fork and puncture holes in the cake about an inch apart. Pour the entire can of crushed pineapple, including the juice, covering the whole cake. Try to level it out over all the holes.

Next, make the pudding in a medium size bowl and according to the box directions. Open the cool whip and gently dump it into the pudding bowl. Gently fold into the pudding mixture. DO NOT STIR OR BEAT. Simply fold it. Next, cover the top of the cake with the mixture. Cover the cake and refrigerate overnight. Best cake and easy.

cbl @ 27

Thanks for that Twisted,

apparently that road will go through JCASPER South Bend (%@#^#%%!!)

btw,
per Christy’s question about new hobbies/obsessions – mine is apparently collecting Martini glasses – maybe someday soon I can afford some of those beauties I caught over at your site

that said, better get going off to work to earn some cash

progressive love and antibiotics to all Firedogs

Keep checking the site, we are still in beta mode. We have found a great artist who handpaints them in Hawaii, and they will be added once we go live. Thanks for the love!

And you’re dreaming about the Domers!

Prof @ 23

For those who like to get their news from headlines alone, try this from this morning’s Google News:

Pentagon: Country ripe for civil war Toronto Star

Pentagon sees no civil war in Iraq Washington Times

Same story in NYT: “Iraq casualties are up sharply.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09…..r=homepage

Christy,

Sorry to read about the Peanut. Ear aches are the worst. May I recommend Silver Kare brand colloidal silver, a pre 1938 antibiotic (pre FDA) It works by blocking the offending organism’s ability to use oxygen. SilverKare.com makes a really effective brand that is always kept at a safe 30ppm and is used in hospitals. It’s easy and works on all aerobic bacteria, candida, heals burns…etc.

spork_incident @ 29

“Fall” means “winter.”

That makes me not happy.

Pessimist? Me?

.

Take up snow skiing and you will look forward to winter from now on.

OfT: cbl, I swear, it’s not my fault.
It came with baptism. I’ve grown to loathe the pope, but I can’t shake the Irish thing, even after they fired Willingham. I know what a really violent sport it is, basketball is a contact sport, football is a collision sport. I just can’t help myself, kinda like FDL.

Charlie Weis is a scary good football coach. However, he’s got a freshman starting at right tackle and linebackers are very suspect. Corners aren’t that great and no proven depth at running back.

I only use my oven when my dryer is broke.

Hobbies;

I make synthetic furballs for ceramic cats.

good read this am in the wapo by a father of one that is imprisoned at Guantanamo:

How many more deaths and years of injustice will it take before the United States ends this violation of both human rights and U.S. law, and either formally charges the detainees with crimes or sets them free? If the Bush administration truly wants to close Guantanamo, it should first work to apply a fair legal process to separate the guilty from the innocent.

The writer founded the Kuwaiti Family Committee four years ago to secure the legal rights of foreign nationals imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01535.html

Oilfieldguy @
37

spork_incident @ 29

“Fall” means “winter.”

That makes me not happy.

Pessimist? Me?

.

Take up snow skiing and you will look forward to winter from now on.

Yes, but it involves *snow*.

(I should move back to New Mexico.)

.

I did ceramics for years. It was so relaxing. I had kilns, molds, and paints all over the house. I used to love popping the vase molds open and using an exacto knife, making neat designs and cutouts in the pieces. I miss that a lot. Donated all of it last year to the local high school when they refused to fix the art class kiln.

almost finished with my school clothes shopping! (still need a few new colorful shirts)… my computer lab is on the kindergarten wing in the school… I love it because there is lots of singing in kinder! and the first weeks of school are such a very big deal when you are 5… we start back next Wednesday… (and I must soon turn my thoughts to getting that lab running at full speed)

Many wingers I work with are ready to toss out the Geneva conventions. They complain that we are the only ones who abide by them. Now I have a shiny new talking point, thanks to Keith Olbermann. “What country do you confuse America with?” And I’ll add, why do you hate America?

Wow…Whiskytown. I remember it being very hot, though it was nice on the lake. My 7-year-old brother was bitten by a rattlesnake there. While my parents were at the hospital our next-door campsite neighbors taught my sister and I how to waterski as they had a boat. Nice folks. That was 40 years ago. (My brother made it through just fine BTW, though an allergic reaction to the horse serum they gave him kept him in the hospital for two weeks.)

sofistic 32: They used to sell frozen bread dough that you just popped in the oven — when it came out, the smell of freshly baked bread was wonderful. 8th wonder of the world. You see the idea in pre-made frozen pizza all the time, but I haven’t seen the bread loaf thingies in years.

bet they are the same wingers that demonize the UN, the Kyoto protocol, and the International Criminal Court, OFG. I know those nuts too– those who really and truly believe that we are “morally superior” to all people and above reproach.

Great catch angie!

The initial website is pretty backward unfinished, but it links to this one, which looks real good.

A related site, Project Kuwaiti Freedom

From the website

CONTACTS FOR THE KUWAITI DETAINEES IN GUANTANAMO

For more information on the Kuwaiti detainees, or to discuss what role you might play to help end this injustice, please contact:

Katie Foster
kfoster@levick.com
Phone: 202.973.1313
Fax: 202.973.1301

Robin Scullin
rscullin@levick.com
Phone: 202.973.1300
Fax: 202.973.1301

I’m going to email them and tell them I support them.

Everyone smile for the NSA.

I remember an old episode of Rescue 51 where some kid came home and his mom had put two loaves of bread dough out to rise. The kid wolfed down the two small loaves, which continued to rise in his belly. They found him groaning in pain on the floor.

gotta go plant some bedding plants before it gets to 100 degrees today (dogs running through mud – oh no!), if you get a chance to read thru late night, Hadassah and the HK company connection prove interesting and ET and the Alaska hijinks are fabu…

I guess this qualifies as an obsession (that you asked about). I am still thinking about the collaborative research from last night, and looking for some way to display connections among people, organizations and timelines in an easy to comprehend way, so everything, every action, every interlocking directorate, every congressional action and every executive-branch decision is layed out and correlated for everyone to see.
/obsession

angie @ 47

bet they are the same wingers that demonize the UN, the Kyoto protocol, and the International Criminal Court, OFG. I know those nuts too– those who really and truly believe that we are “morally superior” to all people and above reproach.

I try to educate them in the advance of civilization. Part of the pay for soldiers used to be a three-day sacking of the conquered village. Rape, pillage and plunder. I think it was Constantinople that was particularly hard to conquer, and the soldiers requested, and received 5 days to plunder.

As we have become more civilized, we have learned this is unacceptable. Rules were formed as were coalitions of civilized nations that punished those who violated those rules.

If anyone wants to read the actual Pentagon report (including some fascinating data and graphs, such as the happy news that 80% of the population have their own electrical generators, and the unhappy reason that the nationwide electrical system is still far from providing reliable electricity around the clock), it can be found at http://www.defenselink.mil/pub…..ug29r1.pdf

I made a fresh strawberry-peach pie (with a pinch of nutmeg) yesterday.

I live in Gatineau so this weekend its a sky full of mongolfires. I am close to the airport and the more rural part of Gatineau, so at 7am its me, on my deck, my cuppa Terrazu, looking up at the wonderful sights. No need for binoculars because they sail the sky so low I can see the smiles on their faces as they float by.

http://www.ville.gatineau.qc.c…..frm_en.htm

spork_incident @
41

Oilfieldguy @
37

spork_incident @ 29

“Fall” means “winter.”

That makes me not happy.

Pessimist? Me?

.

Take up snow skiing and you will look forward to winter from now on.

Yes, but it involves *snow*.

(I should move back to New Mexico.)

.

OFG, I’m with you. Being from the Islands I like it warm. Unlike you I am skinny, no natural insulation. I can live without snow for the rest of my natural life.

Anyway, this morning brings us more news from the Rummy front. He is showing how much grit this man really has. Two days after calling everyone who disagrees with him “fascist,” he is responding to pushback by blaming the media for misinterpreting his remarks. Somehow I find it difficult to misinterpret it when someone calls me “fascist.” I would call this a fine examle of “cut and run.” Had he any real guts he would stick by his original remarks.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200….._democrats

BTW, did you folks know that your preview is “live”? That means you can click on a link in your preview and it actually takes you there. When you come back (via left arrow), your comments are still intact. Great way to test your links before you post. Props to WP.

But for the really big news:

Trump Fires Carolyn

John Casper– Tom Wilner is a largely unsung hero in this whole debacle and I have actually corresponded with him and he is passionate about this entire travesty. He works with the Kuwaiti Family Committee.

Here’s just one article about him — if you google him there’s lots.

Tom Wilner has impeccable establishment credentials. A schoolmate of Al Gore’s at Washington’s prestigious St. Albans School. A fraternity brother of George W. Bush’s at Yale. A highly regarded international trade lawyer with a blue-chip firm, Wilner once lived two doors down from Teresa Heinz Kerry in a six-bedroom colonial home in Georgetown.

Wilner’s is not exactly the resume of a firebrand, but in the three years since he agreed to represent several Kuwaiti men held at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that’s precisely what he’s become. At fancy dinner gatherings, Wilner, 60, by his own account bluntly compares the partying to Germans’ living it up while Jews died in Nazi concentration camps. When a federal judge told him that family obligations might delay a hearing for one of his clients in Guantanamo, Wilner scolded her in open court. “Guantanamo is one of the most important cases of a lifetime,” Wilner says. “The fact that anyone can ignore it astounds me.”

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/n…..wilner.htm

sofistic @ 51

I guess this qualifies as an obsession (that you asked about). I am still thinking about the collaborative research from last night, and looking for some way to display connections among people, organizations and timelines in an easy to comprehend way, so everything, every action, every interlocking directorate, every congressional action and every executive-branch decision is layed out and correlated for everyone to see.
/obsession

Yes. Months ago, when [one of] the big stories was still Abramoff/corruption of congress, someone suggested we need easy to grasp diagrams that followed the money/infuence from corporate donations to Pac-linked charity to PAC to congresscritter or family to funded trips to earmarks to tax-payer funded authorization for non-competitive contract and back to corporation. Follow the money. The NYT attempted something like this for an example or too, but I haven’t seen this lately.

Hi Christy. Hope peanut gets well soon. I’m not much of a cook but here’s my recipe for microwave scrambled eggs…. :)

You break a bunch of eggs
into a microwave bowl
and then wisk them real good
until they’re yellow as sol
then add some milk
and stir it up a-gin’
’til they’re Easter chick yellow
and then the cookin’ begins

So you microwave ‘em for
about a mint, ya see
In the meantine ya look for
a few slices of cheese
When it beeps, you stir it
so it doesn’t turn green
add another mint
and peel the cheese cellopheen :)

At the second beep, stir
an’ add two more mints
chop the cheese in little squares
and find the bacon bints
When it beeps you add
the cheese and bacon bints
stir it up some more
and nuke it 2 more mints

When it beeps again
stir it up and see
if it looks too runny
add some time and be-
gin to make some toast
then call the fam-i-ly
by the time they get there….

it will be cold

ForcedRhymesRUs

I’m taking a course in Irish from the Hibernian society. I need some distraction from the elections, since I am having dreams about Ned and Joe and my husband says I’m getting obsessed.
I remember the misery of a sick child. Like my mother used to say, ” This too shall pass”

what is this “fall” thing of which you speak? is that one of thse so-called seasons you have up north? here in Florida we basically have summer and not-quite-summer.

orangejumpsuit,

I like the way these guys show their ass, and when everyone is outraged at seeing their shiny hiney, they say we have misinterpreted what we saw. The non-detraction detraction. Just like the macaca dude and Dubya claiming no one in his Administration ever linked Saddam to 9/11.

I don’t miss the actual going back to school because the feeling of it never diminishes. To me this has always been new year’s.

I’m back to songwriting which I haven’t done in ages. My first opus, in honor of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, is called Suck My Gavel.

I’ve switched from Pinot Grigio to green tea and from cigarettes to air. Still doing my little morning run but now weights too. I think I’m feeling great if slightly apprehensive that such insane healthiness is bound to explode my nihilistic & depressive head.

sofistic @ 51

I guess this qualifies as an obsession (that you asked about). I am still thinking about the collaborative research from last night, and looking for some way to display connections among people, organizations and timelines in an easy to comprehend way, so everything, every action, every interlocking directorate, every congressional action and every executive-branch decision is layed out and correlated for everyone to see.
/obsession

Mother Jones has a Timeline machine called “Lie by Lie” that tracks the WH lies, but it is limited to the war in Iraq and is a work in progress. But it does demonstrate the potential for what you are talking about.

http://www.motherjones.com/bush_war_timeline/

The Times went after Fitzy this morn, those bastards…

Jack

Speaking of Fall and Winter, last night in Denver the drizzle had some ice crystals in it — and it feels like it’s cold enough to snow today.

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a tree killing storm in September, but this might be the year . . .

John Casper @ 28

Strategerie at 7:15
Fiction or nonfiction?

Hi John,
It’s fiction. Believe it or not, I’m one of those craaazy contemporary romance writers. I’ve written two, and I have three more lined up. I have ideas for two non-fiction books as well.

Do you write as well?
-S

Furniture making is somewhere between hobby and therapy. It’s fascinating to open drawers in old chests and look inside, just to see how the earlier craftsmen solved a problem — and wondering how they did it without a whole fleet of Sears power tools.

And sanding/finishing is next to godliness. Let the hands work while the brain sorts through and recovers from all the other stuff in life.

Here in NY it feels like mid October.

I got up early this Am and kept checking FDL to see if there was any sign of Christy. The TV weather said ernesto was going right through W.V., I was worried about all the Reddhedd family.

Glad to know you are all OK (except for germs).

The cool weather got me in the cokking mood too. I made a gigantic batch of pecan waffles (from scratch) andd will freeze then for littleprop to have for breakfast next week when school starts.

I suspect there may be a pot of beef barley soup to make this afternoon. Maybe some fresh bread.

Jack Walsh @ 64

The Times went after Fitzy this morn, those bastards…

In the news section, or the editorials? On what basis did they attack him?

lhp —

A mittens update?

cleter @ 60

what is this “fall” thing of which you speak? is that one of those so-called seasons you have up north? here in Florida we basically have summer and not-quite-summer.

Fall is a feeling you get when you know time is passing by, and you don’t know whether to fret or rejoice.

You guys in Fla. have “muggy” and “not so muggy.” ‘Cept for hurricanes.

Sharkbabe @ 62

I’m back to songwriting which I haven’t done in ages. My first opus, in honor of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, is called Suck My Gavel.

Sharkbabe, I hope we’ll all get to see this one!

-S

We have another author in the house! Go Strategerie!

Jack Walsh @ 64

The Times went after Fitzy this morn, those bastards…

Jack

I saw that, too.

The article actually is not THAT bad. it’s the freakin headline that is just indefensible.

(Photo of the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area from the NPS website. Gorgeous photos. Anyone been there?)

My Dad’s buried there. When he remarried he moved up th Lake Shasta. Whiskeytown was somewhere I spent many a summer vacation as a kid. Interesting chioce Christy, cause I call this conservative part of Northern California , “The Ozarks of the West”.

COLD and RAINY here in rural NY state.

I had to laugh at CHristy’s saddness over not returning to school. I am , at 51, back in school and dying under the work load and the changes in my abilites…….
sigh…..
but I do check in here daily for my fix

Last summer our local Dem Party’s booth at the county fair really drew favorable attention (Republicans hated it, but that’s fine).

They had a large US map at 2400 small American flags. Passersby were asked to place a flag at the hometown of one of our troops killed in Iraq (they had a list of names and a rough hint as to where to put the flag.

They have pictures online from the fair so you can see how it looked.

This year we talked about, but couldn’t coordinate fast enough, an ‘adopt a soldier’ program. One of my relatives is in a unit from WI that suffered their first KIA as they were crossing into Iraq from Kuwait about a month ago. National press coverage asking what kind of training they had received was common at the time.

Anyway, we were going to have pictures of the members of this unit with tags people could take to pledge to send pillows/lip balm/powdered drink/etc. to personalize the war as well as really support our troops. I’ll be organizing something similar at our school once we start school. It will be my 6th drive since the Afghanistan was invaded.

Ck,

On the front page, did he properly exercise his “prosecutorial discretion”? is the way they frame the question…
If Pat does a presser he will set those nay sayers straight…

Jack

Oilfieldguy @
56

But for the really big news:

Trump Fires Carolyn

…and replaced her with his own daughter, which is why they call this “reality TV”.

I expect Ivanka to be elevated to Vice-Chairman before the month’s out.

Here’s a line for you Sharkbabe;

Gavel knots on your head faster than you can rub them.

Not that you need any help, or even that I’m being helpful ;)

Ck-

The article was on the front page of the NYTimes.

Mittens is a furniture eating,shoe destroying, big dog torturing menace.

Cute as all get out and looks like she may have show dog quality, but a menace.

Brownandserve:
You just reminded me of pasta carbonara. Yum. What a nice breakfast. Here is one of the many recipes. Uses bacon instead of italian sausage.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0…..99,00.html

Tim Rutten, media commentator/critic at the LA Times published another good essay today, focusing on GOP political rhetoric, specifically the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld attempt to reframe the Iraq confict as a battle between agressively countering (the GOP vision of) facism or (Democrats) cowardly appeasing the islamofacists.

He quotes Eric Umansky in the forthcoming Columbia Journalism Review,

“Reporters and news organizations deserve enormous credit for exposing the abuse and torture of detainees during the U.S. war on terror, more than other institutions or individuals. Without [a handful] of reporters, we might well never have learned of the abuse and torture that have occurred in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.” However, “when the record on torture coverage is examined in detail, an ambiguous picture emerges: in the post-9/11 days, some reporters offered detailed accusations and reports of abuse and torture, only to be met with skepticism by their own editors. Stories were buried, played down or ignored — a reluctance that is much diminished but still bubbles up with regard to the culpability of policymakers.”

Umansky notes that the media’s tentative and frequently timid approach to covering the Bush administration’s adoption of torture as state policy began with senior editors’ reluctance to accept the evidence of their own reporting and was abetted by “long-standing journalistic shortcomings; for example, the tendency to treat both sides of an issue equally, without regard to where the facts lie.”

The essay’s well worth reading. Rutten finishes by indicting the media, as a whole, for being so willing to be used as a tool–

The confusion between callous indifference and evenhandedness is a form of moral blindness that begins in the fog of euphemism. You cannot recognize things for what they are when you’ve forfeited the ability to call them by their real names. As Umansky’s report clearly documents, much of the American press was so cowed by the Bush administration and so crippled by its unexamined inhibitions that it badly failed in its obligation to report this government’s embrace of torture.

That failure began when the news media uncritically adopted the government’s vague new labels for what it was doing to its prisoners. If the administration now is allowed to recast the critical debate over the war in Iraq into a spitting match between farsighted anti-fascists and cringing appeasers, it will be worse than tragic.

al-Scooter @ 79

Oilfieldguy @
56

But for the really big news:

Trump Fires Carolyn

…and replaced her with his own daughter, which is why they call this “reality TV”.

I expect Ivanka to be elevated to Vice-Chairman before the month’s out.

Cronyism is the new credentials.

Jack Walsh @ 78

Ck,

On the front page, did he properly exercise his “prosecutorial discretion”? is the way they frame the question…
If Pat does a presser he will set those nay sayers straight…

Jack

I think maybe part of the reason they picked this week –in addition to most of the Wahington insiders being out of town–was because he was supposed to be off somewhere this week and may not even know this is going on.

Nice, what he will come back to? eh?

check out the picture here and the story on the Alaska scandal– priceless!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09…..ref=slogin

-ck- @ 69

Jack Walsh @ 64

The Times went after Fitzy this morn, those bastards…

In the news section, or the editorials? On what basis did they attack him?

Nah. The story, “New Questions about inquiry in CIA leak case,” by David Johnston, is merely the latest embarrassing effort by an uninformed reporter to reveal how little effort he makes to understand the story he’s covering. Didn’t want to be outdone by the WaPo editorial page.

I love the crispness of fall mornings, too. And, I love to buy school supplies each year — at least a few new items — even tho they become home office supplies. Last night, I even came home with a old-fashioned cigar box for my desk pens and pencils courtesy of the wine store.

I enjoy learning like everyone else who frequents FDL. I’d like to study more about peak oil and the dollar connection to the Iraq and ME wars. If anyone knows of good blogs or resources, please share. (And, yes, I’ve read the FDL posts).

Strategerie @ 66

John Casper @ 28

Strategerie at 7:15
Fiction or nonfiction?

Hi John,
It’s fiction. Believe it or not, I’m one of those craaazy contemporary romance writers. I’ve written two, and I have three more lined up. I have ideas for two non-fiction books as well.

Do you write as well?
-S

*****************

Yes, stratergie, often and always badly, but thanks for asking.
I’m really no help on the fiction side. I’ve always heard that non-fiction is easier to sell.

After I read your post, I looked for a web site, author dot com, but I couldn’t find it. They would charge $50 bucks to post a chapter or so of fiction or non-fiction. Literary agents would review your work and then contact people, if they were interested. It’s also a good chance to see what the competition is doing.

Good luck strategerie on your book..
Romance is good…

Jack

10 in the morning already 82 degrees here in South Texas. I anxiously await winter.

David johnson is usually pretty good. The piece itself is not so bad when you compare it to the Investor’s Business daily editorial which essentailly calls for Fitz and Comey to be strung up by their thumbs.

It’s the headline (which is all that many folks will ever read)and the placement that cheeses me off

orangejumpsuit @
55

spork_incident @
41

Oilfieldguy @
37

spork_incident @ 29

“Fall” means “winter.”

That makes me not happy.

Pessimist? Me?

.

Take up snow skiing and you will look forward to winter from now on.

Yes, but it involves *snow*.

(I should move back to New Mexico.)

.

OFG, I’m with you. Being from the Islands I like it warm. Unlike you I am skinny

OK, that’s creepy.

no natural insulation. I can live without snow for the rest of my natural life.

Anyway, this morning brings us more news from the Rummy front.

He’s rather forgetful, y’know.

.

cspan 2 showing this now.

11:05 AM EDT
1:07 (est.)
Forum
Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen?
Politics and Prose Bookstore
John Conyers Jr., D-MI
Joel Bleifuss

You think we ought to call the unraveling Alaska scandal Northern Exposure?

BTW I really loved that show. Almost perfect cast, funny story lines, Rob Morrows apex, downhill since then.

Cronyism is the new credentials.

OFG, I’m on my way out the door, but your five words cover a whole lotta territory. Unfortunately.

I loved that show too, ojs. Watching it was like taking a mini vacation– everytime.

HopeSpringsATurtle @ 91

10 in the morning already 82 degrees here in South Texas. I anxiously await winter.

Give me your home address and I’ll ship you my snow.

(Shovel included.)

.

Gavel knots on your head faster than you can rub them.

heh

Curious in Central Texas @
88

I love the crispness of fall mornings, too. And, I love to buy school supplies each year — at least a few new items — even tho they become home office supplies. Last night, I even came home with a old-fashioned cigar box for my desk pens and pencils courtesy of the wine store.

I enjoy learning like everyone else who frequents FDL. I’d like to study more about peak oil and the dollar connection to the Iraq and ME wars. If anyone knows of good blogs or resources, please share. (And, yes, I’ve read the FDL posts).

theoildrum
I think FDLer Hugh linked to this site first???. It doesn’t address exactly what you’re looking for, but it might have some better links, that do.

John Casper,

Keep writing John, you’ll hit.
I got lucky hooking up with another experienced
writer and we published two baseball books,
Pack your Bags – Baseball Trade Secrets (Masters Press) and Baseball Good Guy’s – The True Heroes of the Game by Sports Publishing…
Never made much money but it was a blast…
We’ve got a third cooking in the oven … Baseball Manager’s?
but I’ve been so lazy…

Jack

Sorry about Peanut. Is she under age one? Funny, the grandparent in me kicks in and I want to hold her and comfort her while you enjoy your coffee and rolls.

All the writing about Fall seems strange to me. My elecytric bill arrived yesterday, and told me that the average high temperature between July 28 and Aug 29 was 101 Degrees. The $477 bill certainly reflects that. The same period average high was 97 degrees in 2005.

Then the paper this morning says the average daily average temperature in August was 89.8 derees, 5.4 degrees above normal – but that was only the fifth hottest August on record. Three of those five were inthe last seven years, though. This morning is 82 degrees, cloudy and sprinkling. Nice for a change. But this is north Texas amd we’re in the second year of a drought.

So for fun I have been learning a few guitar chords and trying to figure out how to get decent sounds out of a cheap eBay violin ($5 plus $40 parcel post – warranty gives me my money back if it fails in a year. That’s without the shipping, of course.)

I also miss the opening of school. The social life totally changes then. But I’ve been retired for a couple of years, and instead of being social around school, I am reading history and science and actually learning stuff. Norman Davies wrote “Europe: A History” which is great after reading so many histories of smaller political units (like Imperial Spain, or Churchill’s History of the English Speaking People.) Norman Davies also wrote “The Isles” about the British Islands. Both are sweeping histories and a lot of fun. Recommended. As is “A History of India” by Stanley A Wolpert which is a sweeping history from the beginnig of South Asia, India and the surrounding nations.

With the temperature below a hundred today, I may read less and go outside with the dogs more. We have a great dog park here in Fort Worth.

sofistic says:
September 2nd, 2006 at 7:40 am

Maybe flowcharting software?
I’ve also heard of stuff that can take notes (like writing them on file cards) and rearrange them in the computer for better showing of connections. I’ll have to track that one down, can’t remember the name.

Lisadwan, you can use grease pencils (china markers) on whiteboards. One of my teachers did that to avoid getting high. The front row appreciated it too.

looseheadprop @
92

David johnson is usually pretty good. The piece itself is not so bad when you compare it to the Investor’s Business daily editorial which essentailly calls for Fitz and Comey to be strung up by their thumbs.

It’s the headline (which is all that many folks will ever read)and the placement that cheeses me off

Thanks lhp. It brings to mind emptywheel’s comments at DKos about the relationship between blogs and the TM. If the TM would use the blogs to keep themselves informed on legitimately complex stories, it wouldn’t be so damn simple for Rove and others to spin them.

It would be nice if we could get the NYT’s and the WaPo to ask Ted Wells why he hasn’t asked for the case to be dismissed.

looseheadprop @ 68

Here in NY it feels like mid October.

I got up early this Am and kept checking FDL to see if there was any sign of Christy. The TV weather said ernesto was going right through W.V., I was worried about all the Reddhedd family.

Glad to know you are all OK (except for germs).

The cool weather got me in the cokking mood too. I made a gigantic batch of pecan waffles (from scratch) andd will freeze then for littleprop to have for breakfast next week when school starts.

I suspect there may be a pot of beef barley soup to make this afternoon. Maybe some fresh bread.

oooh, LHP, you’re brilliant, beef and barley soup sounds ideal. Thank you. I’ll make that up tonight, and let it simmer for tomorrow.

Thanks Jack at 8:14.

orangej, I loved Northern Exp too. Especially laconic Marilyn and Ruth the general store lady. Oh and Ed the filmmaker. And the dj. What a great collection of characters. Oh, and Maurice’s uber-butch cop girlfriend.

And that’s not even getting to Janine Turner’s dreaminess.

Oilfieldguy @ 73

We have another author in the house! Go Strategerie!

Thank you, OFG. I’ll do my best. I have big shoes to fill here, that’s for sure!

-S

Good morning FDL’ers….Christy my empathy to you and the Peanut and hubby for all you’re going through with the “build up immunity” rite of passage; been there, done that with our two boys ~ 21 and 28 now….truly, this too shall pass. Eldest ended up with the “tubes” finally; I was reluctant at the time, but they were effective. Our youngest didn’t have to go the pre-school route; and never did experience the chronic infections that Marc, who out of necessity had to be in pre-school/day care, did ~ I suspect there’s a connection there.

I wanted to share my latest endeavor; because it has made me think of all of you here more than once as I begin it. I’m writing a book, about inspirational pilots; not only profiling some of their amazing flight adventures, but almost more importantly, probing their spirits; what makes them tick…and what lessons we could all learn about life from them.

In doing some research prior to beginning interviews, I have just finished reading an amazing book “My Secret War” by Richard S. Drury. Any “closet” flight enthusiasts out there would LOVE this book. It’s the story of his flying A-1 Skyraiders for the Air Force out of Thailand into Laos in 1969; the insight into the military – the war – not to mention the descriptive writing that puts you in the cockpit with him, is outstanding. And I’ve found more than a few analogies to be found between then ~ and now.

Per my 8:17, better than Ted, ask Scooter Irving. If the whole thing is so over, why are we still having a trial?

Sharkbabe @
62

I’m back to songwriting which I haven’t done in ages. My first opus, in honor of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, is called Suck My Gavel.

Cool! That’s one of my hobbies also. I’m also in the process of building a small model railroad. I was actually thinking of building a model of the Kiss Float LOL.

HopeSpringsATurtle @ 91

10 in the morning already 82 degrees here in South Texas. I anxiously await winter.

And 88 degrees in Fort Lauderdale at 11:00… and yes, let’s not even talk humidity! [grin]

John @ 109

I find the CIA leak case so fascinating because
I know that Bush and Cheney are fucking guilty.
I’m just getting over my depression caused by
the Rove temporary escape… A future book about Fitzy would be tremendous…
I really admire that guy…

Jack

We’re remodeling our house.A 1970’s retro nightmare,lol.It’s looking pretty good,if I do say so myself.The exterior of the house was finished this week,the place has never looked better.(except the yard,which is a mess,mostly from neglect,since we wanted this part done before winter comes)

Until we bought this place,I really didn’t know how artistic and creative I am.My specialty turns out to be faux painting techniques(my lovely new kitchen is sort of an old plaster-fake-finish,colorwashed with various shades of terra cotta),who would have guessed?Not me,lol.I’ve really become quite the interior designer.

I’m also teaching myself to quilt.For the last few years,I’ve had my son draw things on light weight washable canvas squares with paint markers at the beginning of each school year,we now have enough of them to use in a quilt.I also have all the fabric saved up I need to make a maple and oak leaf quilt,in fall colors to match our newly redesigned living room.

I’ve learned how to hang drywall,patch drywall,lay laminate wood floors,and install cabinetry.I still don’t get along with power tools all that well,but I’m learning.

Next week I start re-doing my son’s room.I’m painting the ceiling to look like a cloudy sky at night,with the walls a blue/gray.Then I’m making a chinese dragon stencil(another thing I learned how to do,make my own stencils)and painting dragons as a border or random pattern on the walls in a slightly darker color than the walls(my son is still making up his mind about that one).My son’s zodiac sign is Aries,so the constellation for Aries goes on the ceiling too,in among the other stars.

Now that the outside of the house is done,there’s ALOT of yardwork and cleanup to be done too.I don’t mind that stuff too much,it’s pretty mindless work,so I use it as a working meditation thing.

I’m also saving up my money to take rock and roll drum lessons.I’ve always wanted to learn,maybe 46 is too old for that stuff,we’ll see,heehee.It’ll be fun to try,even if it turns out I’m no good at it.

Not quite OT, Teresa at Making Light has a couple of threads on Astroturf, both organizations and blog-posters. It’s enlightening and horrifying (especially the one that just went up). I’m sure the mods have seen some of these [censoreds] here.

HorseWoman at 108

Last night I watched “Why We Fight”. The documentary on the military in Iraq. I highly recommend it.

There are interviews with the two Air Force
F-117 stealth fighter pilots that dropped the first bombs on Bagdad, the opening salvo of this heinous “war”. Their comments are interesting and the outcome of their bombing, tragic.

I get so ashamed of our military sometimes and this film is indicitive of why.

I did a double feature, “V for Vendetta” and “Why We Fight”, no wonder I was so feisty last night.

Sharkbabe: I have been meaning to tell you about my old 1962 Jazzmaster and Bandmaster amp of the same vintage. I bought them new when I was a kid and still have them. Also, I used to collect guitars, and I had some that would make you drool. Like a Moserite, a Rickenbaker 360/12 (Fireglow finish), a Gibson Les Paul Special (black with white trim), and many others. Sadly, I sold most of them for some stupid reason, like dumping worldly goods or something like that.

John Casper @ 103

looseheadprop @
92

David johnson is usually pretty good. The piece itself is not so bad when you compare it to the Investor’s Business daily editorial which essentailly calls for Fitz and Comey to be strung up by their thumbs.

It’s the headline (which is all that many folks will ever read)and the placement that cheeses me off

Thanks lhp. It brings to mind emptywheel’s comments at DKos about the relationship between blogs and the TM. If the TM would use the blogs to keep themselves informed on legitimately complex stories, it wouldn’t be so damn simple for Rove and others to spin them.

It would be nice if we could get the NYT’s and the WaPo to ask Ted Wells why he hasn’t asked for the case to be dismissed.

What? and miss out on all those fat juicy billable hours during discovery. not to mention all the speaking invitations and media exposure that is bringing all that new business into the firm?

Are you crazy? LMAO

FishGuyDave at 111

Tell me about it…my sweat is sweating.

I’m also saving up my money to take rock and roll drum lessons.I’ve always wanted to learn,maybe 46 is too old for that stuff

Bullshit.

Have at it!

.

Oilfieldguy @
44

Many wingers I work with are ready to toss out the Geneva conventions. They complain that we are the only ones who abide by them. Now I have a shiny new talking point, thanks to Keith Olbermann. “What country do you confuse America with?” And I’ll add, why do you hate America?

Here’s another point for you, OFG:
If you want to live in a dictatorship, move to one. If our constitutional protections make you uncomfortable, go somewhere that doesn’t have them. But leave our country alone.

The Geneva Convention was ratified UNANIMOUSLY by the Senate. Unanimously. It was the Cold War, just a few years after World War II, memories of the Nazi atrocities were still fresh, and it passed unanimously. Bush’s grandfather, Senator Prescott Bush, voted for it. So did crazy-ass Joe McCarthy. So, if you oppose the Geneva convention, you are in a far-right den of crazy that even bat-shit Joe McCarthy did not want to enter. If you oppose the Geneva convention, you think McCarthy is a soft-hearted leftist. You are a nut. You are unfit for civil discourse. The Geneva convention, when it was ratified, was an obvious no-brainer that passed unanimously.

Also, the Geneva convention is a duly ratified treaty. That makes it the law of the land. It is not an option.

Why is it that these same people that oppose the Geneva treaty want to militarily enforce the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty on Iran? If those who do not abide by such international accords should be bombed–if that’s the standard–ask them how many bombs they’d be willing to endure for the privilege of breaking the Geneva convention.

HopeSpringsATurtle (*love* that name!) Thanks for the heads up ~ I will definately check it out. In “My Secret War” Richard Drury speaks eloquently, and so revealingly, about the underlying motivations both behind our gov’t…and the Air Force Command he had to deal with. Suffice it to say; so much has sadly NOT changed.

HopeSpringsATurtle at 117

Yeah, the hardest part is that I grew up along the southern shore of Lake Erie — it’s quite a change not having any winter, or fall for that matter. Although my wife claims that you’ll see seasonal changes if you spend enough time in Florida, I’m doubtful!

yeah, lhp, what was I thinking.

new thread: “Running on Spite”

HopeSpringsATurtle @ 117

FishGuyDave at 111

Tell me about it…my sweat is sweating.

Hope, I look forward to the day that you and Dr. Turtle can return to the Bay Area….

and if you can bring a bit of the interior high pressure dome to nudge the fog out of the Richmond, that would be just dandy…

First review of James Moore and Wayne Slater’s ‘The Architect: Karl Rove and the Master Plan for Absolute Power’ — due in stores on Tuesday, 9/5/06.

[note — registration required; review is from James Moore email]

By James Henson
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Saturday, September 02, 2006

“There is no more compelling subject in contemporary American politics, and perhaps in our country’s electoral history, than Karl Christian Rove,” James Moore and Wayne Slater write on the first page of their new book.

Though such hyperbole is unnecessary, it doesn’t detract fatally from “The Architect.” Moore, an Austin-based journalist, and Slater, senior political writer for The Dallas Morning News, paint a sharp portrait of an intelligent, ruthless and deeply cynical man. Though this is their second book on Rove (after 2003’s “Bush’s Brain”), there’s little overlap. “Bush’s Brain” focused on Rove’s rise and the development of his association with George W. Bush; “The Architect” focuses on how he pursued the creation of an enduring Republican hegemony.

In both books, Moore and Slater are careful to present evidence, but they make no bones about describing Rove as a man whose tactics range from the sophisticated use of up-to-the-minute campaign technology to the darker arts of rumor, innuendo, threats, stretched promises and the use of surrogates to maintain plausible deniability.

Much of what Moore and Slater write about will be familiar to anyone who follows politics in the daily papers. But they also cover ground that the mainstream news has tiptoed around, especially when it comes to the Republican Party’s exploitation of anti-gay sentiment. “The Architect” dedicates two chapters to the touchier side of this subject.

Chapter 5, “Not as I Say: Gay in the GOP,” discusses prominent conservatives who have been rumored to be gay and declined to confirm or deny the charge; particular attention is paid to Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman. The subject has already been grist for blogs and gay publications, but it has been handled gingerly and rarely in the mainstream media. Moore and Slater take care not to apply labels or draw clear conclusions, instead reporting on the reporting of others. They seem to conclude — reasonably, I think — that because Republicans have made gay identity a national issue, reporting such ambiguity is fair.

In Chapter 9, “A Few Simple Questions: What’s in Karl’s Closet?,” the authors draw on interviews with gay acquaintances of Rove’s stepfather, Louis Rove, as well as an interview with a circumspect Karl Rove, to reveal that Louis was openly gay after getting divorced from Rove’s mother. The chapter jabs hard at Rove, pointing out that Louis Rove, who was clearly Rove’s primary father figure, died in Palm Springs just as “his son was in the midst of launching the antigay issues campaign that was to lead to the re-election of George W. Bush.”

The authors quote Rove and friends of Rove’s stepfather to illustrate that Rove was close to him throughout his life, and seemed not to judge his sexuality. This, and Rove’s self-professed agnosticism, are major exhibits in Moore and Slater’s claim of hypocrisy. It’s hard not to wince at the invocation of such intensely personal material, but it’s a testament to the politics that Rove has helped create that it doesn’t seem out of bounds.

While the material on gay Republicans and their families has earned the book some advance buzz, “The Architect” also offers an informative look at the nuts and bolts of political strategy that should prove interesting to readers geared up for the coming election season. The account of how Rove and his allies turned conservative Protestants and evangelicals, practicing Catholics and intensely pro-Israel Jews into active members of the Republican coalition is particularly insightful. Though this alliance seems obvious in retrospect, peeling off factions of these traditionally Democratic constituencies took strategic targeting and extended negotiations, which the book examines in interesting if overly Rove-centric detail.

Rove is credited as the brains behind all of this and more, so much so that the book’s relentless focus on his impact on American politics becomes essentially a dark version of the “Great Man” approach to history. But Rove might be better understood as the right guy in the right place at the right time. This isn’t to denigrate his intelligence or determination; someone less capable than Rove would not have recognized or responded so effectively to changes in the political system, such as the decline of the Democrats among white male voters. But other people helped create and implement many of the tactics and strategies Slater and Moore describe. The rise of Christian conservatives, for example, can be attributed to the work of Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed and many others, several of whom are discussed in “The Architect” but cast in supporting roles seemingly dependent on Rove.

It’s only toward the end that Moore and Slater acknowledge that The Architect’s “Master Plan” has not withstood the elements. Rove and Slater write of “a larger architecture . . . crumbling at the base” in the past two years. The stretching of the metaphor suggests the authors have similarly stretched the evidence of Rove’s omniscience. Rove clearly missed the wave of anti-immigration fervor among the Republican base in the South and Midwest , which has roiled his carefully built coalition. Similarly, he has been powerless to halt the plunge in the president’s popularity in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the quagmire of Iraq and skepticism about progress in the struggle against al Qaeda.

Perhaps Rove is more a ship’s captain than an architect — the latter metaphor, after all, suggests a permanence that is unusual in American politics. Right now, the sea is swamping the decks, the crew has turned mutinous and the ship’s hull is creaking ominously. If the winds continue to howl, the Skipper may find himself trapped on Abramoff’s Island with Ralph Reed, Katherine Harris and a handful of other castaways.

James Henson teaches in the government department at the University of Texas and is director of the Texas Politics project.

Oh….and at the age of 47 I have a friend training to climb Everest.

Limitations are only in our minds; rock on Angry Old Broad.

Just got back from a 2500 mile road trip to the east coast to visit friends in the DC area. Went to Gettysburg on the return leg; the last visit was (gag) 50 years ago. Standing on Little Round Top, and looking over the area where 150 thousand men shot the shit out of each other to resolve the issues of slavery and sovereignty was very sobering. For Bush and the rest of the scum to say that the Constitution is a piece of out-dated paper…I don’t know what else to say.

The CHS tourist board convinced me to see West Va. A beautiful state and the Bobby Byrd highway system made the drive in a little two seater a lot of fun. The GF and I really liked the New River Gorge and hope to return in the spring for rafting.

FishGuyDave@121
There are seasons in Florida, it’s just more subtle. In Ft Lauderdale, it would be extra subtle. Cypress trees sort of change color. Sort of. Some times the orange trees have blossoms. Some times they have oranges. Sometimes the oranges are green. Sometimes they’re orange.

OFG at 44 and Cleter at 119

GOOD stuff. I copied and pasted it for future use.

Thanks for the heads-up, cleter. I’ll try to be more observant this fall. I did notice that the cypress trees go kind of brown last year, now that you mention it. If all else fails, I can still tell the season by what fish species people are catching offshore!

kirk murphy @ 123

HopeSpringsATurtle @ 117

FishGuyDave at 111

Tell me about it…my sweat is sweating.

Hope, I look forward to the day that you and Dr. Turtle can return to the Bay Area….

and if you can bring a bit of the interior high pressure dome to nudge the fog out of the Richmond, that would be just dandy…

Kirk…me too. Its funny you say this, I have a friend who used to do a comic strip called “Higgity Hog Ranch”. She patterened her characters after people she knew. My character was called “Hurricaine”, cause I was always blowing around like some kind of natural force. LOL.

Angry old broad

Me too. Faux painting. When littleprop was really little she was fascintaed by the night sky and learning the constillations (at some bookstores you can get these beautiful illusstrated cards with pin holes in them for each of the constillations- I think is called “Box of Stars” or something like that. Every id should have a set. Most grownupsa too)

Anyway, when we moved into the current house (which is in th e woods) littleprop wanted to have her bed outside so she could sleep under the stars.

Instead, I got her a loft bed at Ikea. Painted her room to look like sunset and twilight. Starting magenta at the baseboards and working through the yellows as it went up till light blue darker blue then dark purple at the center of the ceiling. All done with transparent paint glazes and swirling like the sky.

I changed out the light fixture to one that looked like a full moon. I got this gigantic stencil from the Museum of natural History in NYC that had all of the stars and constillations in the Milky Way and painted them with glow in the dark paint. They only glowed at night.

I decorated her loft bed to look like a tree house and made these sort of roman shades that looked like tent flaps. I put a moss green tweed wall to wall carpet down and found a small through rug that looked like a clump of wildflowers.

It looked like camping out in a tree house and when you turned the lights out and looked up at night with only the glow coming inthrough the windows for illumination, you would swear you were looking at the real nigh sky.

A friend of mine said it was like the magic ceiling at Hogwarts.

Good morning everyone. Here in Minnesota the nights are much cooler and I have to shut the house up each night instead of opening it up to the cool night breezes. Needed a blanket to sleep last night. I am liking it.

I am in the process of selling my house (ugh for keeping it clean every. single. day.) and my daughter was over saying ‘throw this, throw that’ as I watch some old, but totally useless jello molds get donated. Sigh — moving on is hard sometimes.

For a new hobby, I am ‘trying’ to applique (hand sew little pices of fabric to other bigger pices) instead of usual machine piecing. I try to learn a new technique with every quilt. Keeps my mind learning.

And lastly, my diet is still going and I am 20 lbs from my goal (a temporary goal). When that is reached I promised myself I would ‘attempt’ to get on a horse again. First time in 15 years. With my handicap (neropathy) not sure what my numb legs will do, but my ‘rear end’ still works as do my hands and brain. So I am hopeful. But Christy, those rolls are making me drool as I sit here with Tomato Juice and a handful of raisins. :)

Horsewoman, 108:

Good luck on your very ambitious venture. A book on inspirational pilots would have to run thousands of pages. As a former pilot (soaring gliders) the idea of flight is a continual fascination. Confession: I hate jet travel, even before the current terrorism threat.

Unfortunately, the miracle of flight is two-sided. Along with all the wonders and benefits of flying machines, the ability to fly has presented mankind with a most potent tool to wreak destruction on each other, sometimes in very dubious and cowardly ways: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, Dresden, and most recently 9/11, and so on and so on.

I hope you will be able to weave in this theme in some way in your narrative. Good luck.

And I am sure you haven’t forgotten the gallant women who flew as ferry pilots in WWII, the WAF.

Grandma J…have you tried chiropractic or Osteopathic medicine? I have had great results with both. Congrats on your diet. Well done.

Left a tasty bit on the Hadassah Lieberman-H&K story at the end of the last thread. My mind was working on this all night, didn’t sleep well.

OJS — wow, second time this week I thought of Northern Exposure. The fictional Cicely AK is so much like my mom’s hometown in upper Michigan that it was like a trip “home” every week. Miss that show so much, loved counting on decent, quirky, zen every Monday.

Angry Old Broad — I’m going to be 46 this year, and the only thing I won’t try new is anything with spandex. Drums? Go for it. Report back soon with details.

if global warming goes unchecked by maniacs, you won’t be able to tell the season anymore by the fish species caught FishGuyDave. ;(

Sorry Peanut isnt feeling well Christy. Wish I had some advice, but I don’t, other than making sure you put your need for sleep high on the priority list.

Back to school time is kind of bittersweet, as it makes me think of the homeschoolers, like my rightwing TheoCon sister and her herd. She means well and is generally a good teacher, but I shudder to think what the kids are missing – especially when it comes to science – and what they are getting when it comes to religion.

I try to make up for it with The Kid. He’s not old enough for school, but he can’t wait to go next year. Meanwhile, we go to the aquarium in Monterey to get marine biology, the winery down the block for plant biology and vinticulture, over to the airport to watch the airplanes and learn about the wind and weather, and check out the Food Network for Home Ec and Discovery Channel for building things, breaking things, and blowing things up with the Mythbusters.

And we read Dr. Seuss.

There’s something about reading the good Dr. that just makes you want to write and snark and have a good time doing it! And you see things as an adult that you missed as a kid. (No, you didn’t miss them – he just snuck them in there so nicely that you didn’t realize what good lessons you were getting.)

That’s the new part for me – watching a very curious Kid soak in all the newness of the world. Makes me curious all over again!

Rayne just left you a comment on your site.

Personally, I hate this time of year. Give me the 4 months from April through July in a year-long cycle and I’ll be happy, thank you.

August through November is a grind between non-stop back-to-school-Halloween-Thanksgiving sales pitches everywhere you turn. The weather turns from too hot to too cold for me. With every day that hits 70 degrees starting September 1st you wonder if it will be the last. Leaves changing colors? Overrated.

December through March just plain sucks. Cold air, dead-looking trees, gray skies, howling wind, snow shovelling… blech.

Give me April through July 3x every year and I’d be perfectly happy.

Rayne sez:

OJS — wow, second time this week I thought of Northern Exposure. The fictional Cicely [,,,]

OMG…lesbians!

What will we do…what will we do…

[/karl malden /wingnut]

.

Back to your question about local Democrat activity. Here in the North Georgia Mountains, where all Democrats in the county know each other, we’re working on making saying the word ‘democrat’ not be synonymous with ‘traitor’ – and making some progress. There are no Democrats on the local ballot. In the recent primary election, the Party got a non-binding referendum put on the Democratic ticket. An amazing 20% of voters voted Democratic in the primary. Not much, but compared to 2004, it was an amazing groundswell of Democratic resurgence. In the general election, the Democrats have a very viable candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Jim Martin. If you know a Georgian, put in a good word. He’s a wonderful, experienced guy…

Who knows? By 2006, we might even come up with a local candidate to run for office…

Orangejumpsuit133 ~ thank you…and yes, I’m finding that inspirational flyers are coming out of the woodwork for me; where I was afraid I would have trouble getting them to talk to me, I’m now thinking after my interview process I may be overwhelmed with more inspiration than I’ll know what to do with – although trust me; I’ll deal with it! I have a CHP Copter Pilot, mountain flying expert, crop duster, ex ‘Nam jet fighter pilot, Flying Doctor ~ and ummm……don’t suppose you’d e-mail me??? :-) slterrel@earthlink.net. My criteria is pilots who “flirt with the edges of the air” ~ I would say soaring gliders would most definately qualify; not to mention it is something I would dearly love to do myself.

And GrandmaJ132 ~ you go girl! There will be little more therapeutic for a horse lover; than to be again…on the back of a horse. I know from past posting that you too have a passion for these amazing animals. I witnessed some truly inspiring transformations as a volunteer for a few years with a therapeutic riding program; you will ride again.

Fall means the start of opera season here: we start rehearsals for Aida next week. Last time we had an elephant, who stole the show. We have a fabulous singer coming in to sing the title role, and Verdi just loved chorus, so there is a lot of work for us.

I sang Mahler’s 2nd with another group here in our beautiful new Symphony Hall. The formal opening for the Hall is next week-end, Leonard Slatkin conducting a great program, which concludes with the 4th and 5th movements of the Mahler.

The sound in this hall is just marvelous. This is a world class venue, right here Music City USA.

HopeSat – No, I have not tried either. When I was diagnosed, they sent me out of the hospital after 2 weeks of rehab teaching me how to live in a wheelchair. At the point of entering the hospital, I had been totally bed bound for 4 months without a diagnosis. With home nurses no less. I had to call 911 to get into the hospital and fight like a wounded shebull to get rehab.

After said rehab they sent me home with my disability check and no other recommendation, to live my life out of a wheelchair. Well…

I had to pay for my own physical rehab at a local health club (they were very helpful considering my wheelchair and all) and now I can walk. Although I have no feeling in my legs, I can still move them generally. I have to be careful and usually use a walker for safety sake but walk I do. Kinda like walking on artifical legs I think.

Massage of my legs to help blood flow is the best I have found to keep the pain in my legs at bay. All pain all the time is the name of neuropathy. I was paying for massage for a while but it got expensive.

But I am living with it, and have gotten generally stronger, except for the weight gained by spending days laying or sitting around. Now it is time to remedy that.

Sorry for the personal expose of my health related problems. But I sooooo want to get back on a horse. I think if my legs don’t seize up too much it would be great therapy for my back and balance.

Starting Tai Chi next week.

I miss my fine point Pilot pens and those brand-new thick spiral notebooks……..

P.S. to my #145 –

… it would be great therapy for my back and balance, not to mention my mind and soul.

GrandmaJ ~ have you researched whether there are any Therapeutic Riding Programs near you? Where are you located ~ would be perfect for you.

An Angry Old Broad @
116

I’m also saving up my money to take rock and roll drum lessons.I’ve always wanted to learn,maybe 46 is too old for that stuff,we’ll see,heehee.It’ll be fun to try,even if it turns out I’m no good at it.

You’re only 46. Shoot, the way you talk I thought that you were in your 70s/80s.

ctbilly @ 140

Personally, I hate this time of year. Give me the 4 months from April through July in a year-long cycle and I’ll be happy, thank you.

August through November is a grind between non-stop back-to-school-Halloween-Thanksgiving sales pitches everywhere you turn. The weather turns from too hot to too cold for me. With every day that hits 70 degrees starting September 1st you wonder if it will be the last. Leaves changing colors? Overrated.

December through March just plain sucks. Cold air, dead-looking trees, gray skies, howling wind, snow shovelling… blech.

Give me April through July 3x every year and I’d be perfectly happy.

You might like my area – coastal so. calif.
Of course you’d have to get used to too many people and too many cars.

Grandma J

I would check with local chiropractors. Many practitioners have ‘plans’ where they advise so many treatments at a fixed price. My knees are super messed up and I have numbness, pain and swelling daily, but because of yoga and chiropractic (and motrin) I’m pretty ok most of the time. I have been laid up so many times following knee surgeries (7 to date) so I understand how you feel. Grandma J. please email me, I would like to be a resource for you in your recovery.

Horsewoman, 143:

I am certainly no inspirational pilot, never was. But I will drop you a line with some links where you might get in touch with others currently flying.

Essentially soaring is a sport, but more than that it is equally an art, and yes, quite Zen. Essentially it is staying airborne, the higher and longer the better, all the while dealing with controlled risk. As you say “flirt with the edges of the air,” very well put. Every second you have to calculate the tradeoff between staying aloft and crashing on some farmer’s barn or landing in a tree (in both cases count yourself lucky).

The pilot who has no fear is a fool Fear is your companion when you fly, keeps you cautious. Inspirational flying is flying with fear under control.

If you live anywhere NY there is a soaring field at Wurtsboro Airpoort, Ellenville. You can either get rides there or take lessons. Winter time is great, with huge blasts of icy lifting air coming off the Shawangunk Mountains, and you soar with the hawks, literally. Talk about thrills! Gotta stop now. I am crying.

HopeSAT – incoming.

OrangeJS ~ please? Write me….

I’m dining on fried green tomatoes (the movie that is) on this rainy Oklahoma morning. Seeing this flick for the first time today. Makes me be in awe. How in the world did I let this pearl slip by me? This one is a keeper. As I’m sure most everybody else in the world is most fully aware. On this one; where have I been?

GrandmaJ –

Vitamin B12 can help with peripheral neuropathy –

More nutritional peripheral neuropathy links.

OK kiddo– it is a truly wonderful movie.

New Thread — Steve Gilliard, Running on Spite –

Mornin’ Christy,
Hope all goes well with the Peanut, and that amoxicillin and hugs are the fix. My kids were the ear infection poster children.
I got a late start had to hunker down Ernesto’s coming by later today.
Although I’m not from WV I lived in Charleston for a time, my oldest son was born in there.
That was soon after Bowden left and Nehlan took over. This time of year I still get that Nehlan Feelin’ about the Mountaineers. He really put together some great teams.
Late October was the best we would ride ATVs from Sutton to Webster Springs making a whole day of it. One of the guys we used to ride with would take us places on top of ridges and mountains that were astonishing. He would say ‘Take a good look boys ‘cause it’s as close to heaven as some of us are going to get’.
He was right.
Enjoy the season.

Horsewoman – even tho there is a new thread, I will answer your question about riding places for the handicapped. Yes, there are many. I used to know personally some of the owners but that was waaaay back when I was still actively involved in horses.

I have often thought of contacting them to see about opportunities for older people. I am 61. My biggest fear believe it or not is getting on. My legs sometimes cramp something fierce if I try to push them too hard and standing on one leg and getting my ’slightly smaller’ body up and throw the other leg over is a bit worrying. Once I am up IF the legs don’t seize immediately I will be fine.

My daughter said her horse would do just fine but she will have to hold him. Will he allow a mounting stool? Will he allow for this large woman to hang on his left side long enough for me to pull myself up? I am doing some knee bends to strengthen the legs (hanging on to sometimes of course) to aid just this, but going to a riding therapy place where the horses are used to large mounting stands would be a great benefit. As my weight gets closer to my goal I will check some of them out.

Just once or twice to see if my legs hold before trying my daughter’s horse would help I think.

Afternoon, folks. Happy Saturday. Poor Peanut, Christy. How about giving her just a little bit of warm camomile tea with lots of honey and a bit of fresh squeezed orange in, to sooth her throat?

Oilfieldguy @
40

I only use my oven when my dryer is broke.

Hobbies;

I make synthetic furballs for ceramic cats.

OFG! 707!

Just skimming the threadz in a few spare mo’s, so I’m way past EPU’d, but here: I build harpsichords for fun and profit, new obsession is go-kart racing. I’m the fastest old broad on the track! Also the oldest old broad on the track *g*.

Oilfieldguy @ 38

spork_incident @ 29

“Fall” means “winter.”

That makes me not happy.

Pessimist? Me?

.

Take up snow skiing and you will look forward to winter from now on.

That’s it. You gotta play in the snow and then it’s a good thing. I’m right in the mountains, in what has always been the snow belt (though climate change has not been kind) and winter is long here. My son and I ski like bandits. The sweetest ski days are, of course, hooky days, mid week, with fresh powder. Those days all the skiers have that look of guilty pleasure on their faces – they’ve all slunk off the job to play in the mountains.

Several winters back we had so much snow – we got something like 7 feet in the first week of April – that my son could step onto the kitchen roof from the drift by our house. It was impossible to see out of any of the first floor windows. I have a photo of my dog standing outside. All you can see is his paws, right at the top of the window.

Weather like that, if you don’t play in the snow, I believe the alternative must be deep depression and heavy drinking.

Whiskeytown Lake is a treasure. Mostly devoted to sailboats, kayaks and windsurfing. Very few if any noisy speedboats or other motorized vehicles making waves or creating racket. Trees down to the shoreline, easy access, beautiful trails for hiking. My favorite lake close to home.

Must be the rain. Don’t feel very political today.

What is fall? It was not crisp this morning..it was 86 degrees.

spork? Is that what mushrooms do. No offense cause I love ’shrooms’. Just bein’ silly.

orangejumpsuit @ 97

You think we ought to call the unraveling Alaska scandal Northern Exposure?

BTW I really loved that show. Almost perfect cast, funny story lines, Rob Morrows apex, downhill since then.

Me too. One of the last tv shows I’ve ever watched regularly. Hard to pick the funniest character. I loved the female trooper who Maurice was smitten with. Maurice himself, was a good contender for most amusing.

And Stategerie? John Casper? Another scribbler here. Though hard to call myself that these days when I’ve allowed many demands, particularly paying jobs, to intervene.

Hobbies? This is a fine day to work on mine. Electric trains. Specifically, HO trains.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 174

Hobbies? This is a fine day to work on mine. Electric trains. Specifically, HO trains.

Same here (and same scale LOL)

GrandmaJ ~ please don’t let your concerns stop you from pursuing this. The program I was involved with had a special ramp, that brought the rider to the “back of the horse” level; mounting was extremely easy. More sophisticated programs also have actual lifts; that is NOT a limitation. I agree…there might be some issues with mounting your daughters’ horse at this particular time; although as you gain some agility and confidence, do not rule it out for the future?

See and feel riding again in your mind and use it as incentive for healing; for it will be. I shall hold the thought in my mind for you….blessings.

Angry Old Broad – the remodeling sounds great. Was there anything worse than the colors and styles of the seventies? Rust shag carpets? Gold refrigerators? Ugh.

Too old to drum? I think not. Go for it! I picked up TaeKwonDo a few years ago (I’m 47) and I gotta say, I love it. Yes, half the time I’m the only person over 20 in the class, sometimes the only female, but what the heck. Feeling physically powerful rocks!

After a morning of hosting a yard sale, I’m pleasuring myself with a dose of FDL! Greetings to all……..you’re always inspirational.

OldSow: Poor you. I know yard sales are a must at times, but the last one I had made me nuts!

Cleter re: Geneva Conventions – excellent points.

GrandmaJ – I’m rooting for you! What an excellent goal to work towards. Good luck.

Yes, Whiskeytown Reservoir, nice. Nice place to sail, swim, and examine endemic serpentine flora. Here’s a good one, I was there when President Kennedy dedicated it, this was about a month before he was killed. All of us schoolkids had a high old time when the Pres came to town, Redding was a little rural backwater then and this was huge big excitement. We were pretty devastated when he was assassinated.

Just finished looking at the BBQ scene near the end of “Fried Green Tomatoes”. Is this what is commonly called “just desserts”? O. Henry and Hitchcock are smilin’. A progressive’s dream. The bad guys get it in the end. The good guys win.

Strategerie @ 68

John Casper @ 28

Strategerie at 7:15
Fiction or nonfiction?

Hi John,
It’s fiction. Believe it or not, I’m one of those craaazy contemporary romance writers. I’ve written two, and I have three more lined up. I have ideas for two non-fiction books as well.

-S

Compadre!
I’ve been a craaazy historical romance writer (16 books), but I’m now changing direction and indulging my lifelong love for fantasy. Also dabbling in non-fiction-for-free on a group blog with five other authors. It’s fun, probably because it’s new. But I’ve discovered, in my non-fiction, a wholly uncharacteristic tendency to wax maudlin. Ick!

ccmask @ 179

OldSow: Poor you. I know yard sales are a must at times, but the last one I had made me nuts!

They are wretched affairs, neh? (My rule is that it NEVER goes back into the house,garage or whatever, so one way or another it works.) Still, yard sales are the best last stop before the pile of stuff on the highway that says FREE, which is always preferable to hauling it to the dump. And it slays me that folks who wouldn’t pay $.05 for something will scoop it up for free. Same crap. LOL

Way back upthread someone was wondering about orgainzing all the information that’s been dug up. My synapses finally worked together and said to me: HTML. D’oh!

Page for each name (person, corp, PAC) with linkies.
Linkies of the form ‘X gave Y to Z’ for donors and ‘Z received Y from X’ for recipients – that way you know which way it’s going.
Date and place can be added, which would allow timelines and location maps.
Straight text with tags, no graphics really needed at this point.
Create a boilerplate file for a template, find a hosting place (I have a friend who wanders through here from time to time; ‘arrangements can be made’) and you’re in business.

Everyone – long after this thread has become totally EPU’d, everyone is commenting and I am loving it.

And thanks to HopeSAT, Horsewoman, and the others (cbl?) who has offered help. I came down with neropathy in 1992 and it took 1 year before the neurologist even believed me. And gave me an EMG. Godawful test that one is. But after that he believed. I did not walk again until 1995.

B12 – I was taking B12 shots for a while and then just supplements. I have not been taking B12 now for a while but probably should get back to it. And I have avoided pain meds.

To Horsewoman, agree that trying the handicapped place FIRST would be my best bet with lots of knowledgeable people for my very first try. But considering riding is a great deal of mind, heart and hands – I should do O.K. :) I do have hope which is what keeps me on this diet. Altho by now I consider it a way of life. Luckily my diet now includes a meal out eating whatever I want about twice a week and it keeps me going.

Oh, also, Okla. kiddo – that movie (Fried Green Tomatoes) is a standard at my house for long winter days (MN don’t you know).

Oh just wait for the ending — you will be crying and smiling all at the same time.

To Christy Hardin Smith….
I’ve learned to cherish the memories of the quiet, slow downs that illness brought. My wild little boy suddenly quiet and resting near me, trusting and relaxed? A sweet memory as I look at his nearly six feet tall frame sprawled over whatever is near, his huge shoes scattered through our little house. So yes, I am so sorry that you daughter is ill, and I hope you don’t wish these quiet moments totally away.

I’ve also learned that it is important to harden our kids off before we send them into the world. That is part of why we are here, trying out another culture (which is a big learning experience for all of us). We wanted our son to take on some real challenges, to push him out of his comfort zone, to see how his character would respond. Too many kids arrive at college, to find that it is the first real testing.

Christy,
I’m learning about religion. Being religious but no fan or organized religion, my learning is up to me. I’ve been reading Karen Armstrong, a wonderful and brilliant writer who writes about religions in a very interesting and insightful way. Now reading “A History of God,” and then will move on to “The Battle for God” and then to her biography of Muhammed and her book on Islam.

She’s well worth reading. I’m learning a great deal from her.

I’m new to firedoglake. Sorry to hear about the peanut’s strep throat. But the meds for it usually work quite fast.

HI all,

Christy, sorry to hear about the peanut, wishing her a speedy recovery.

I volunteer in my girl’s classrooms and am looking forward to hanging out with the kids again. They’re going into middle school this year and were so excited about getiing trapper keepers and folders and all the different supplies that are required for middle school.

My nephew left for his freshman year at Princeton yesterday. Now that I would be very excited about. I went to Umass Boston, and though I enjoyed my time there, it’s a commuter school, and the campus is painfully dreary. It’s odd because it’s situated on a point right on the ocean and could have been so much better integrated into its environment. The quad (if you’d call it that) is surrounded by brick and concrete and you can’t see the ocean at all. Maybe they’ve made changes since I was there in the early 80’s. I certainly hope so, before I left the bricks and concret were crumbling and the outside walls were starting to collapse. There’s something about that Boston concrete…hmmm I wonder if Bechtel was the contractor for UMass…

Sharkbabe, can’t wait to hear the new song.

Steve @ 130, standing on Little Round Top was one of the most profoundly moving moments that I have experienced in my life.

GrandmaJ, hope you get up on that horse and Angry Old Broad, wow, you’ve been busy. Way to go!

GrandmaJ @ 187

Oh, also, Okla. kiddo – that movie (Fried Green Tomatoes) is a standard at my house for long winter days (MN don’t you know).

Oh just wait for the ending — you will be crying and smiling all at the same time.

Yep. I did.

Every year around this time, I feel at loose ends when I’m not heading to school, don’t you?

Never.

I hated school, from day one. I was always a year (or more) ahead of my classmates. I could read and write before I went to kindergarten. I read every book in my school’s library by the time I was in third grade. Encyclopedias, too. I hated the Mickey-mouse rote assignments.

The only time I liked regular school was when I had a history teacher who recognized a bored, unchallenged student. The rest of the class did the bonehead work. I got to take whatever we were learning that week and dig deeper, as deep as I wanted, as long as the report I turned in on Friday had something to do with that week’s time period. The one he liked best was the report about the French Revolution’s impact on fashion (those nightgowns pretending to be dresses didn’t occur by accident, y’know!); it was a perspective he’d never considered.

CHRISTY,

As a young child, I would get chronic, severe
EARACHES regularly.
My mother was worried at the time, and wondered if they would ever end.

They did.

I haven’t had an earache in 30-plus years.

I filled my quota at an early age, I guess.

Sounds like your kid is too.
================================================
WHISKEYTOWN is in one of the most beautiful areas of CA. I live in SoCal and have explored the state extensively.

But the best part is, it’s not too terribly far from Mount Shasta and the fabulous, incredible, phantasmagorical, unforgettable, LAVA BEDS NATIONAL MONUMENT—A wonderland of self-explored lava tube caves and spectacular formations–One of the best places to take adventurous kids that you’ll ever find in the continental U.S.

Anyone with a taste for exotic wiLderness who has the opportunity to drive around California should make sure not to miss LAVA BEDS.

I grew up near Redding, and spent many summers swimming at Whiskeytown. It is over-shadowed by the bigger and more well known Shasta Lake.

JFK dedicated the dam that created the Whiskeytown Lake, and I have a picture of my grandfather with JFK. Papa was a car dealer, and donated cars for transpotation, as well was an an active, life-long Dem.

I’m a bit late to this thread, but since I’m “moderated” maybe you’ll still see it, Christy.

Have you tried Similasin drops for your daughter’s ear ache? Homeopathic treatments for childhood aches & pains can be quite effective, if only for comfort, and you can use this one with antibiotics: http://www.similasanusa.com/pr…..relief.cfm