Morning All!

Morning!

egregious rocks the house!

good morning!

Wake Up Kitty strikes again….

Did anyone see this yesterday in the WSJ editorial? It’s from the Chairwoman of the DOT talking about a gas tax is a bad idea, among other things. I thought it was pretty disgusting, and just as disgusting was that this was the first time I had heard anything about it. Nothing in any of the papers.

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/01-…..ournal.htm

Three years ago Congress created two commissions to examine surface transportation policies and financing. Yesterday, one of those commissions, the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission, gave its recommendations to Congress.

Unfortunately, its report maintains a strong emphasis on status quo solutions at a time when the country needs an entirely new transportation policy. As a result, I and two other commissioners have declined to endorse the report’s central recommendations. Instead, we issued a chairman’s statement that’s available at http://www.dot.gov.

Among the most troubling proposals, the report recommends an up-to 40-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax increase over the next five years, with automatic increases every year thereafter tied to inflation. This would more than triple federal fuel taxes from current levels by 2018.

I notice you left all the rubbish about music discussed on FDL or what I call the dumbing down of the blogs by wasting time on pop music.

Music does have a place in our lives, for sure, but whay is it taking so much space on FDL?

Hey everybody! Congratulations PeteCO on the zed. How are you all doing this morning?

I find it a refreshing break myself.

Let’s forget about the fact that the world is going to hell in a handbasket and pretend it’s not.

Things now are really spiraling out of control. The planet is on a fast track to warm itself up, the world economy is being led down the drain by the US corporatist and we have a media campaign of a billion dollars.. the whore’s race to the white house.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned and we Ipod our lives away.

The three guys I was apprenticed to when I first started work, at age 16. Mick Hill, Bob Longhurst, Dave Crump. Not only taught me much about sheet metal, but a lot about politics, the media, and life in general.Blue-collar autodidacts in the finest British tradition.

Speaking of refreshing breaks–

I hear we have coffee, tea, and cocoa, plus french toast waffles with [duh] real maple syrup for breakfast. What about your choice of omelette?

https://www2.blogger.com/start

Morning Egregious et al,

One of the teachers who had the most impact on my life was Maria Harris in seminary She taught Religious Ed. but so much more. She greeted latecomers warmly as if it was an honor that they showed up at all, not minding that they were late. She set examples in so many ways.

Also, my first grade teacher, Miss Sanderson. We had an ongoing relationship with her for years—my brother also had her for 1st grade 2 years after me. We’d give her valentines candy every year. She sent birthday cards to us all the way through college. Then at some point my mother ran into her on the streets of Chicago and she got both of our addresses and sent us wedding gifts—picture books of Chi. so we would remember where we came from.

Both are now dead, alas.

Millinery, fine and dandy. I listen to music too, but I take my breaks off line and consider this site a political one… it was at the get go… but now there is too much taking the eyes off the ball and dancing or as you call it… a refreshing break.

There are millions of people who can’t take a refreshing break… and we need to think about them… all the time. Don’t you think?

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Every now and then people need to relax.

Anyone? This is the Chairperson of one of our biggest agencies saying that she needs less money.

Contrary to the views of the majority of the commission, we do not believe Washington is capable of spending billions more of Americans’ money wisely when it comes to transportation investments. Anyone who doubts that should review the more than 6,000 earmarks in the last transportation bill or visit the new Woodstock Museum in upstate New York.

Marion, no one(me) is denying what you say about “play”, but why is this site giving so much time to “play”. We are in some very troubling times and I think that we can play when some of the work is done and it is a long way from being done.

I have no problem with raising gas taxes to pay for research into alternative fuels. I think a better strategy would be to tax vehicles on their engine’s cubic capacity. A five-litre monster truck uses more resources, and pollutes far more, than a 1500cc Honda. Make people pay the true cost of their selfishness.

Over the past 25 years, the federal government has increased transportation spending by 100%, yet traffic has grown by over 300%.

Her view on this is that the spending increase hasn’t helped. My view would be that it’s 200% short.

This thing really pisses me off.

Music does have a place in our lives, for sure, but why is it taking so much space on FDL?

Here’s why I’ll allow it

Warning: egregious blogwhore

SanderO, you are kind of new here. Music has been a part of this community for a long long time. Many find it a helpful break, some come here just for that. If you don’t like it, don’t participate on those threads, there are lots others that are still running at the same time.

Her solution is “technology” and private funding.

David Cay Johnson does an excellent take down of what the problem is with our “democracy”. It’s become a feeding trough for the wealthy who suck at the tax payer’s tit. The dems and the repukes play this came of “enrichment” and that is why we don’t have a democracy, but a cleptocracy for the well connected and well heeled.

It’s all about the money.

egregious pulls up the chair!

What a beautiful picture, I’m going hiking up there later this afternoon :)

Ms. Peters is the secretary of transportation.

You’re going to the Smoky Mountains today?

Rev Deb, I am not new here. I was here when FDL started, thank you very much.

Well you can live without art of any kind, but my mentors were always music teachers. Music’s as much a part of FDL’s atmosphere as it is part of the human ability to express itself.

As twolf1 suggested. Start your own blog if you have a dislike THAT strong.

But yes, my choral teachers in general were the types i admired most. Highly intelligent to a tee, and oh my god the offbeat humor. *grin* Just a part of why the art of sound itself is so integral to me. Made me see the wider world in terms of music as well. How can you not when choral music notation is based in italian, latin is used many traditional choruses. The fun of roundelays as warmups(and relics of older time periods!). I was very open to music to begin with as a kid, but my last two choral teachers were the biggest influences in terms of really opening my eyes to the entire world of it. I mean come on? I’m betting there’s a handful(if that many) of cultures that exist that do NOT have some type of musical form.

Actually I had a different nick back then defjef… but what’s in a name, they say… specially on the blogs where people name themselves as often as they change their knickers.

Spouse just read to me a blurb from the Inky—sub-prime mortgage exec. killed his wife and then jumped off a bridge into the Delaware river, hasn’t been found yet. Left 2 sons, 8 & 15. Shades of the great depression. Really scary.

Apparently Cheney was egging him on on his Facebook page, saying that it would help the economy.

There have been so many. Mrs Shaw who told me in the 3rd grade she couldn’t stop what was going on at home(another age people, another age) but it wasn’t MY fault and she would always be there for me, and she was. Joanne that sweet lil hippie chick who spent over a year gently leading me back to the world of the living. Joe Bateman, a crusty old Marine who went in the second wave at Iwo who taught me how to cut glass and became the father I always WISHED I’d had instead of the drunken sadist that WAS at home when I was a kid. I just hope someone someday remembers me the same way I remember them.

I have a big problem paying higher gas taxes while the oil companies are still making record profits and still receiving government subsidies. Meanwhile Exxon has still not paid for the Alaskan oil spill.

then I’m not sure why you are complaining. You know music has been here for quite a while. Personally I don’t usually check in to the Spin threads, but that’s my choice. There’s more than enough politics here for me to keep up with. And from what I can tell most of us have stuck with the same names throughout.

Music is wonderful and I love it, listen to it and attend performances. I just don’t believe, (my opinion) that it serves any function in a political blog.

Imagine if the senate for example, stopped to discuss some piece of music or some artist (or some athelete for that matter). I would consider that they are wasting our tax dollars. We need them to address important issues. I would hope that they all like music, listen it it and attend performances etc. but not on my dime so to speak. Bidness is bidness.

I see a political blog the same. And many are. My opinion is that FDL is diminished because of this sort of distraction. If FDL wants to be taken REALLY seriously it need to stay on message. Dat’s my point.

Teachers
My grandmother, who would call me inside, wash my hands, and let me spank the rising bread. Even at 3 i saw the care she took, so that my hand touched the bread.
My first grade teacher, who, when I was demythologizing Santa, said to my friend and me to solve our dispute, “Well, it’s nice to think there’s a Santa, isn’t it?” satisying both of us, expanding possibilities.
My undergrad professor who challenged my freshperson sensibilites, “Where’d you get your bad taste in literature?” shocking me into thinking about thinking.
My grad advisor must have had a big impression. he introduced me to Heraclitus — and, look, it’s the name i’m using on FDL.
(formerly Ga)

C-Span 1 teevee has run the hearing on the subject several times since it was held (Thurs?) and I’ve heard parts of it; it was quite long and very interesting. Someone (pol ? member of panel) mentioned the fact that DOT had already had a knee-jerk negative reaction to the recommendations (maybe without even having read the proposal). Don’t know if you might be able to access it on the C-Span site.

eg -

Just came across another article about the #3 at State; if you haven’t seen it, will be glad to go get it for you.

You’re going to the Smoky Mountains today?

virtually ;)

I guess, but remember a few years ago when a gas tax was suggested, Republicans screamed it would kill the economy. No one would have ever proposed a gas tax that would have put gas this high.

Late Late Nite,

Where most of the music happens in the thread itself? Is all part and parcel of the ‘wind down’ part of that time of day. Got a problem with it? Don’t follow the thread. We have to kick off our shoes some days. Being Very Very Serious pretty much leads to more stress than necessary. Political blog or not, you need the detox time even as a group. Take it up with the owner for that policy at that too. SanderO. Bosslady determines content overall, it’s her real estate here.

Morning EG. Thanks. You have awoken very happy memories of an english teacher I had at boarding school. We called him “chunts” though why I do not remember. He was the person that stoked my reading engine. He always carried a book that he was reading and every free minute you could find him with his head buried in it. I carry a book with me everywhere I go these days so even if I have a five minute traffic tie up I can read. I first met Chunts when I was 12 years old and 53 years later I still think of him very fondly.

I must admit that I also quite often listen to music while reading which would no doubt send SanderO nuts *g*

At least it made it to Cspan. Sure, I’d appreciate that article, if you have a link. Thanks.

I had log in probs so I was forced to change the nick. No biggie.

I pass by the SPIN thing as well, but also think that for those who need such “distractions” (I don’t mean to diminish the arts as “distractions”)…. they can find them elsewhere.

“Distractions” were added in after the get go here and my view is that they muddle and diminish the message. I think the “owners” of the site have made a mistake by going “there”, but that is their decision. I only present my opinion.

RevDeb,
I liked you story about your professor who greeted the latecomers warmly. It’s lessons like that makes life good.

I prefer action to help instead of thinking about helping.

Late Late Nite’s posts didn’t depreciate this place’s value during the Libby Trial. It REALLY didn’t do that at all. *shrugs and grins*

and with that? I’m off to work. I’ll check back up on this after i get back home around 4pmish.

Waccamaw,

Sure, would be interested in that link, thank you.

My 2nd grade math teacher: Mrs. Berg. Not so much for any single thing she ever did or said, but because of the simple charm she showed every day. She was happy to see us learning, and creative in the ways she challenged us: reciting multiplication tables while skipping rope (something they’d never try today) and then pushing us to be the first class to ever finish the book at the end of the year.

She took my brother under her wing two years later. We’re polar opposites – math major and artist.

Absolutely. They should be given the choice of paying punitive taxes to pay for their war, or diverting 90% of their profits into R&D for oil alternatives. They would benefit in the end.

I’m in a “Nationalise the Commanding Heights of the Economy” sort of mood this morning.

I, on the other hand, might define “distractions” as persistent attempts to hijack my lovely Saturday morning post by demanding that FDL discuss or not discuss certain topics.

Europe has a robust economy and they pay 2x what we do at the pump. Obviously it has little effect on their economy.

What it did was discourage big gas guzzlers, better public transport and so forth. See.. they made the correct policy decisions. We (our pols) are binded to them.

Americans love conspicuous consumption. It’s as american as apple pie.

I have advocate direct action for years and most blogs are just chat sites.

Chat may inpsire people to act, but that is where change will come… action. Good for you!

I had a professor who had an amazing impact on my life. When I started studying art I had no idea what it really all about. She was close to my age, she just had finshed her graduate work and her stint at this college was her first jobs.

She opened my eyes to a whole way of life that I chose to make my life about. I haven’t spoken to her in a very long time, and now that I’m applying to grad school it seems like our paths will cross again.

It should be interesting to see how that will works out.

IIRC, I’ve read that the vision that Jane and Christy had when the departed Dkos to found FDL was that they wanted to build, not just another political blog, but also a community. I really think that exchange of menus and music tips helps in building that sense of community as do some other traditions such as the Saturday Morning Pull Up a Chair that we are enjoying right now.

That said, like you, I’m a bit of an obsessive politico and tend to focus on the political exchange. But the overall vision seems to be working very well.

I miss the GeorgeWBush.org forums

Also, Mr. Peel, my history teacher through most of high school. He had the gift of making subjects that were superficially dry on the surface (to a teenager) become interesting. History is still my favourite subject, 30 years later.

I won’t! ;)

Elliott @ 38 -

We’ll take you anyway we can get you here. LOL

George @ 42 -

Repeatedly it’s been run and I do hope you get a chance to see it….lots of meat there for thought.

P.S. the article below was intended for eg; (iirc) she knows the guy at State personally. But you’re most welcome to it as well. *g*

eg @ 47 -

http://www.theledger.com/artic…../801190600

I once heard a senior professor says to his graduate students: “The purpose of graduate students is to teach their professors.”

One student shot back: “Then what’s the purpose of professors?”

“To prevent burnout among you hardworking student,” he replied.

Did anyone hear how the fund raising went for Edwards yesterday?

Thanks Waccamaw!

Thank you Waccamaw!

Hmmm
Where to start, should I talk about the gym teacher who coached all the girls sports at my little bitty high school?
She managed and coached the field hockey team, the basketball team, the softball team and then she started the track team.

We had a strong county-wide system for girls sports, something I took for granted way back then; I assumed all the schools across all the land had leagues for girls sports. But not so, and what we had was no doubt due to the hard work and efforts of my gym teacher and her sisters across the county.

Thanks to her, thank to them I get to act big sometimes and say that we ran in the Penn Relays. Couldn’t have done that by myself, though could I? And that’s a lesson right there. There are things that take a team with leadership to accomplish –and that’s what we have here imo.

Good Morning everyone. Hmmm, how will we know how much Edwards raised yesterday?

That’s an interesting visual, running the relay race. We can’t win alone.

Hi eg! (I figure it’s always good to be polite before going OfT:)

Indiana takes a brief respite in its continuing effort to become the northern-most Southern State:

A proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in Indiana likely was dealt a fatal blow Friday when a key lawmaker said he would not give the issue a hearing.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/p…../301190002

“This is an issue that jumped the shark,” Pelath said, using a common phrase for an idea that has come and gone.

heh. Pardon me for a while as I go wade into the “Comments” section, which will not be pretty.

FYI, this was a proposed amendment to the State constitution that would have disallowed not only gay marriage, but denied “all incidents of marriage” (no civil unions, survivor benefits, etc) Truly Draconian.

Hey Indiana – yay! (with a small “y”)

I had a professor who had an amazing impact on my life. When I started studying art I had no idea what it really all about. She was close to my age, she just had finshed her graduate work and her stint at this college was her first jobs.

She opened my eyes to a whole way of life that I chose to make my life about. I haven’t spoken to her in a very long time, and now that I’m applying to grad school it seems like our paths will cross again.

It should be interesting to see how that will works out.

wow, funny how life does that sometimes, isn’t it?

Speaking of influencing people. My son, who played high school basketball (in my itty-bitty town) convinced a talented classmate to start calling the games. It had never been done before but the 2 of them went to the PTB and got permission to do so. It was a big hit. The announcer was funny, spot on with his remarks and added a new dimension to the games. This student went on to major in television and radio. Got accepted into the Syracuse U program (which is a big deal here in CNY) and is now working at a local tv station. He credits my son…..but if he doesn’t move up soon, he’ll curse my son’s name.

solai -

What’s ETA for MB? If your spring break is around the usual time, I should be back in that patch by then. Easy drivin’ distance to MB…..but only if you can meet up on the north side of town. *g* Traffic in that place is so far past insane that I swore never to go back.

A couple years ago I decided to look up my favorite teachers in order to thank them. Found a surprising number of them, and I think they appreciated hearing that their efforts were worthwhile.

“One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests.” –Thomas Paine

Relatively late in my career as a General Contractor I decided to gain a Certificate in Const. Management at Golden Gate University. There was a law instructor there who was a total marvel. Prior to gaining his law degree, Mike had been a Union Carpenter working on the highrises and docks of San Francisco. He was, to say the least, a colorful orator with a lot of funny stories.

One day he showed up in class and was in a particularly jovial mood. This was the early 1990s and it was an age of fantastic invention in finance, accounting and legal theory. Mike was marveling at the utter creativity of an opposing lawyer who worked for the Bank of America and was attempting to figure out a way to screw Mike’s clients out of about $3 MM. A general contractor had gone spectacularly belly up on a huge condominium project and had stiffed the subcontractors as he headed for Brazil. The Bank still held about 90% of the funds owed to the subs, and was in a mood to renege on them. Mike’s job was to get the bank to disgorge. That morning, the opposing attorney proposed that the judge in the District Court issue a temporary restraining order on… wait for it… the mechanic’s liens on the property. In the 100 year established history of lien law, no one had ever tried to pull this stunt. It took some time, but Mike prevailed and the case proceeded.

The lesson that he drew from this and shared with us? The distillation was delicious:

“Construction, boys, is an argumentative business.”

And the lesson I learned? I was out of da bidness in 4 years, and never looked back. ;’)

We’ll arrive late Friday nite, April 11. We’ll be there for a week. Staying at The Palms.

Speaking of influencing people. My son, who played high school basketball (in my itty-bitty town) convinced a talented classmate to start calling the games. It had never been done before but the 2 of them went to the PTB and got permission to do so. It was a big hit. The announcer was funny, spot on with his remarks and added a new dimension to the games. This student went on to major in television and radio. Got accepted into the Syracuse U program (which is a big deal here in CNY) and is now working at a local tv station. He credits my son…..but if he doesn’t move up soon, he’ll curse my son’s name.

what a great story of initiative! Go for it!

I was a suburban teenage punk. Folks divorced when I was 11 and I lived with my old man in Chicago while my mom, sis and brother were in LA. I stayed in trouble in school until the “authorities” had enough and gave me the choice between the Army or jail on my 17th birthday. I had a teacher, Mr Cook, who hung with me, encouraged me as much as he could, and wished me the best when I left. He ended up the assistant basketball coach at Iowa State but I have never been able to find him. I really wanted him to know how he impacted me and I especially wanted him to know that I earned a doctorate. Darn.

Interestingly, the majority of comments are applauding throwing out this legislation, and stating that it’s time the legislature work on issues that really matter.

Anecdotal evidence?

Re:

I notice you left all the rubbish about music discussed on FDL or what I call the dumbing down of the blogs by wasting time on pop music.

Say, you might try getting out of the other side of the bed, eh? :)

Else, stick with the decaf.

Or, ahem, I hope the hangover isn’t too severe.. (grin)

Thinking of meeting up with Waccamaw reminds me again that I wish there was a pin we could wear to identify ourselves as readers of liberal blogs.

As a former teacher, you have absolutely no idea how much that effort meant to them!

For those of you with fond memories of special teacher(s), go and do likewise. *g*

“If FDL wants to be taken REALLY seriously it need to stay on message. Dat’s my point.”

I have to run and don’t know how to put this in a really friendly way.

Step back a bit. Man telling women, who are extremely successful in what they do, ‘how to be taken seriously’

The taking seriously starts with us men. What has your advice been to Kos and Josh?

Take a deep breath and forgive my bluntness.

Joelmael

No shit.

“If FDL wants to be taken REALLY seriously it need to stay on message. Dat’s my point.”

Seriously by who? What a joke.

Re:

Nero fiddled while Rome burned

Funnily enough, I’m using Nero to burn Colbert on my other computer right now.

You haven’t found your teacher-–yet. Google? Write the school?

What about US Flag lapel pins, upside-down? ;)

YES! Puttin’ it on the calendar.

How can we get in touch? Don’t do facebook & e-mail address is *way* too close to identifier.

I’ve gone way deeper than that. I’ve found guys from my outfit in Korea and the Nam, high school friends, all kinds of stuff but drilled dry holes on Mr Cook.

You haven’t found him–yet. Google? Write the school?

maybe we can help you find him, that would mean the world to him to know what an impact he had on your life. And if he’s no longer with us, it would also mean a lot to his family.

Nice. lol.

Raven -

Back from the coffee shop already? Does the furry child do caf or decaf?

Hi Marion,

Re:

Every now and then people need to relax.

Exactly, just look at how much vacation time Dubya has had and how he still had time to effectively destroy a nation (well, maybe three of them). I’d hate to think about what might have happened if he were a hard-charger.

She chews chews chews, we are trying everything to figure it out, we will be patient.

I really went after this, tracked down the last place he taught, talked to people on the phone, everything I could think of. I was able to track down a sister I had from a relationship my old man had with a woman in the 50’s so I’m pretty good at this.

‘Morning, egregious!! Nice to see you here at the helm on a Saturday morning! Hope Christy’s getting a good sleep-in today.

Mentors: I’ve had good ones and bad ones. Surprisingly, it’s the bad ones I learned more from that I can use almost every day.

One taught me that apologizing — even if it was for something you didn’t do — costs very little but it can yield enormous benefits.

Another one, a pain-in-the-ass lawyer with an ego the size of Montana, explained that in spite of conventional wisdom, life IS fair — everybody’s heart gets broken.

Yeah – that’s weird. Guess the serious bigots aren’t awake yet. Based upon past experience, I can pretty much guarantee that the tone will change soon.

Last week, a homeless guy who had been at my corner for years, and who always only said “You have a wonderful day now!”, and *never* asked for money, died. David was a lovely guy, and probably knew more people than the mayor (the corner was just across from the City-County Building, where all the courts are). That comment thread was positively revolting, with people who never met the man jumping in to applaud the death of “another bum”.

and the comment thread when Rep. Julia Carson died was so despicable that I’ve since begun watching all comment threads there as a sort of sociological experiment.

This is not a pretty place.

Oh, and I left my own little preemptive nugget at around comment #56 – not my best work, but I’m far from fully caffeinated. Yet.

What a useful insight about learning from bad teachers. One of my kids spent a year overseas working as a volunteer teacher in a poor neighborhood, in a program with terrible management. I told her she was learning a lot about how to be a good manager from that.

Crikey, dudes. This got off track in a hurry, didn’t it? I sat back in my chair, expecting a leisurely entry to the weekend when I saw the name “egregious” as the author of the post, and found snark enough for two full days with a Republican. Pass the antidepressants, please.

My Dad was my hero and best teacher. He was passionate about his work in the law, could spout poetry like a fountain, gave a wonderful social history lecture about the Civil War whenever we were near a battlefield (which was on most Sunday drives), and wrote me letters when I was at school during the Nixon era that I still re-read for inspiration today. When we ran into the slings and arrows of small business after I married, he’d slip a twenty into the butter dish before he left after a visit, and he made sure my kids always had plenty of reasons to believe in Santa. He came up the hard way himself, and never lost his faith in liberal politics, the absolute requirement for oversight in government and the obligation to stand up for what we believe in.

Nice

It’s really great fun doing the tracking….I must have worked at one of those “find a missing person” companies in a former life. *g*

jayt @ 93 -

So sorry to hear about your friend….people with the reactions you describe were born with no souls. :-(

One taught me that apologizing — even if it was for something you didn’t do — costs very little but it can yield enormous benefits.

Works with estranged relatives too.

Yes, bad management can be a WONDERFUL learning experience — although best when viewed by hindsight.

I worked for a company that was insolvent; the employees were forced to shut it down when the owner, who suffered from cancer, became incompetent as the cancer spread to his brain. We had to minimize the losses to the lowest paid workers by laying them off first, then had to shut the doors while in the hole to the tune of 5 weeks pay ourselves.

Years later I can smell business trouble from several miles away now, have a finely tuned sniffer for the trouble I couldn’t detect when I took that job.

“We bark for attaboys!” :)

OK, there was an awesome collective at UCSF called “Outdoors Unlimited” and they have an outstanding whitewater kayaking school. The honcho was a fella named Bo Barnes and he was about as charismatic as they come. Bo had a nature grace and a good joke about everything in life, which he found to be a joyful experience in spite of being one of the most underpaid people in San Francisco.

As I say, the teaching of kayaking at OU was a collective experience with about a 1:1 ratio of teachers to pups and everyone became an instructor as soon as possible to keep the organization vibrant and bring in as many newbies as possible. The waiting list was always twice the size of the classes we could accommodate.

We’d have grand trips on all the holidays. After I got very comfortable in the boat we took a trip down to the Kern River for a Memorial Day weekend. What an amazingly different experience from any of our other destinations. Instead of pristine wilderness runs, it was sort of like kayaking down Sunset Boulevard in flood, at least from the crowds along the rio. We did have some fun with the locals, who seemed to treat us as trained seals. Lots of folks would ask us if we could do the Eskimo roll. We said sure, as long as you can toss us a beer. So there we were, the well lubed entertainment…

“We Roll For Beers!” :)

The husband is painting the kitchen today. He wants to know if I plan on helping him at all. Hmmph. Guess I have to go pitch in. See all later.

It’s really great fun doing the tracking….I must have worked at one of those “find a missing person” companies in a former life. *g*

Yea, I looked for my sister by tracking her mom’s name in the Boston area. I turned out that she had been adopted by an aunt and lived 10 miles from my dad in Chicago. He asked me to find her but I spoke with her at length and she did not want to make contact with him so I never told him I found her.

Wow! We are having our cabinets painted and have to get ready too!

Re:

A five-litre monster truck uses more resources, and pollutes far more, than a 1500cc Honda. Make people pay the true cost of their selfishness.

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, ‘well there you go again, trying to make sense.’

As soon as I saw the word “Teh”…..

I read more of the comments. One said Indiana is “behind” in not enacting an anti-gay marriage law. Another said we should give all the gays their own land and after a generation they’d all be gone.

Nice people. I heard Indiana is the biggest marijuana-producing state in the US. I’m dubious.

My goodness, how damned sad

Good for you, glad you were able to hone those tracking skills AND navigate the pitfalls that came with discovery.

Listen, I live in Indiana and although I’m rare, you should know that we’re not all racist, homophobic, misogynist, greedy republican bastards…

It’s hard enough living in this state, without being lumped in together with all of the rednecks. And yes, there has been an influx of southern people into the state in, say, the last seven years…when 9/11 happened, and the emotions were high, there were people in Ford F150’s with huge flags (like those on corporate flagpoles) propped up in the truckbed…sort of like the Dukes of Hazzard would have. It was the first time in my entire life that I had seen such a bold reference.

And you must also be careful not to stereotype southerners, as well. I am sure there are those, like me, who feel trapped in a red state.

Indiana had extensive hemp farms, hence the herb reputation.

I attended Mt Vernon High School in Alexandria, VA back in the day when it was right on Route 1, across the street from a Virginia State Police office and an old-fashioned coffee shop. My stepmother and her siblings had attended in the 1940s and my principal, Melvin Landes, had taught some of them. Anyhoo, there was a history teacher who taught World History to sophomores, US History to juniors and Modern European History to seniors. Bert B Cohen was a short, rotund man who drove a red MG TD. Mr Cohen loved to teach but tolerated no nonsense. You had to be approved by him to attend his classes. The reading assignments were heavy and not doing the reading would get you an F. I had him each of those years but my senior year was the most enlightening. William L Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” had just been published and it satisfied the reading requirement for the entire year. I decided to tackle it, all 1100 pages. It was quite a tome (still is) but I had read the unedited “Count of Monte Cristo” so I figured it would be a breeze, not realizing the amount of information contained therein. He also arranged a field trip for seniors each year, not required, and the excursion that year proved to be a turning point for me. Born and raised in DC I knew the town like the back of my hand. I’ve walked all over DC, day and night, and loved it. In the spring of 1961 Mr Cohen had arranged for us to visit the National Mosque to get a first hand view of Islam. I walked from the AB&W bus terminal to the mosque. I had passed it many times in my travels. There’s a little alcove off to the left of the main part of the mosque for non-believers and that’s where the imam talked to us about Islam on that chilly Saturday morning. It wasn’t Friday so there weren’t the normal holy day activities. During the service there was a commotion at the entrance to the building and Mr Cohen went to see what was going on. He returned and said that we would be treated to a very special guest after the service. When the service was over a small, handsome man came over, accompanied by a number of other men. Mr Cohen introduced us to the young king of Jordan, Hussein. King Hussein sat and talked with us for about two hours. I had long ago decided to join the Navy to see the world but this episode sealed that decision. Bert Cohen taught us that the world is full of different people, different cultures, different ideas. I consider myself to be extremely lucky having been exposed to this jovial, brilliant man. My life would have been oh so different had I not had to opportunity to study under him. I also blame him for turning me on to sports cars, leading to my racing them around Europe for a couple of years. I still love to learn and still dream of those hours spent behind the wheel of an MG B, Austin Healy, Triumph, or Jaguar. Thanks, Mr Cohen.

Yea, my sister’s husband is an orphan and she encouraged me to do the search but felt it was crucial to let the woman make the decision and I respected that.

Your state gave birth to Larry Bird and probably other people.

David Letterman

That’s totally far out. Great story.

Nice people. I heard Indiana is the biggest marijuana-producing state in the US. I’m dubious.

It’s a bit of semantics. In northern Indiana, there were lots of hemp fields. Planted during WWII, as I understand it, for making rope. Well, those old plants are still reproducing, way out in the country, and every fall, people come from all over the country to find some of those old plants, late at night, to bag up and take home.

I worked for about a year as a public defender up there, and the courts there give out *serious* jail time for this bit of pettiness. Ridiculous, but there you go.

It always helps to leave a link.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/jour…..ofile.html

Excellent interview of D.C. Johnston by Bill Moyer.

I think you meant that reply for somebody else, since I haven’t mentioned Indiana at all in thread.

However, since you brought up the topic…I have two kid brothers who live in Indiana. My folks used to live there.

Unfortunately, the whole state is not Indianapolis, more like Lafayette, or Marion. Marion has the dubious distinction of being the site of the last public lynching in America.

I worried often about my father and adopted brother, who are not white, while they’ve lived there. I would have felt better if they’d lived in a metropolitan area than in a more rural area. My other brother has become a dreadful bigot while living in IN; I’m embarrassed by his insensitivity, in spite of his own mixed racial heritage.

Let’s just say the record is highly mixed. Not everybody is a bigot in Indiana, but the ones that are certain hurt us. That could be said about nearly every state, yes?

They’re obviously not smoking it.

Talk about OT! How do you like this Sandergrump?

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia football legend Herschel Walker is expected to reveal in an upcoming book that he has multiple personalities — a revelation that surprises the man who coached the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner.

“That’s all news to me,” former Georgia coach Vince Dooley said. “All I know is whatever personality he had when he had the football was the one I liked.”

And are easilly spotted and corralled.
3o years ago, the locals just looked at it a revenue enhancement and free eradication aid.
(or so I have heard)

Excellent idea!

Come to Colorful Colorado, the state that’s trending blue!

Your state gave birth to Larry Bird and probably other people.

Famous Hoosiers

One of Al Sadr’s spokesmen says the Mahdi Army ceasefire, due to expire next month, is in serious jeopardy of not being renewed.

This will of course allow for the amping up of rhetoric against Iran too.

I find the departure of Nicholas Burns a rather ominous turn of events.

If he quit, is it because he see’s the writing on the wall and doesn’t want to be part and parcel of the Third Bush War.

If forced out is it because he doesn’t want to be part and parcel to The Third Bush War.

-G

Glad you were able to find your sister, even though she didn’t want a relationship with your father.

After my mother died, I found out I have an older half-sister that my mother had given up for adoption before she met and married my father. There’s a believe that this sister may have tracked my mother down with Mom not responding positively. I tried to find her but I guess my tracking skills are not as well honed as yours are.

I did manage to track down about half of my high school graduating class though. Not that big a feat since there were only 30 in the class. Six have already died. But since it was a small military school and we were from all over the country, it was a chore.

And as for the topic of the thread, with my mother being a teacher and librarian and teachers on both sides of the family, there are far too many influences over the years for me to even begin to try to designate anyone of them as most influential. Most every teacher I had at every level was able to give me something positive to take frorm their classes.

I heard Indiana is the biggest marijuana-producing state in the US. I’m dubious.

A friend of mine managed a very large government owned “hemp” farm in Missouri. He had to grow many different strains of “hemp” for gummint experiments. As I was not employed by the gummint I did not, of course, experiment.

I drove through Indiana once and all I saw was corn, corn and more corn. Is the hemp disguised?

I remember Brother Donald and Brother Rosario and Brother Benedict, and Professor Pollack and Professor Meade, but my most important figure was Sister Alice in fifth grade. I was really bored in grade school, especially by arithmetic, and a several of us just quit paying attention because it was so easy. One day Sister Alice caught me reading a book under the desk during arithmetic class, and grabbed me and the book and embarrassed me to death. A couple of days later, she took me and a couple of others aside and gave us workbooks with material from seventh grade, and told us to do them in arithmetic class instead of the drills the rest of the class was doing. We taught ourselves how to do the problems, and spent the rest of the year in that class doing what seemed great. I now have a copy of the book I was reading, Men of Iron by Howard Pyle. I never thanked her…

Off to run errands in case the predicted snow materializes…..thanks for another great thread, eg.

Go well, pups.

Yea, and the great movie Hoosiers was much more like the Illinois team, the Cobden Apple Knockers

The year was 1964.
Lyndon B. Johnson was president, a Hershey’s candy bar sold for 5 cents and the Beatles topped the record charts.
In Illinois, a significant event was taking place that would capture the hearts and spirits of basketball fans for years to come.
The Cobden Appleknockers, a high school team from a town of only 900 people in Southern Illinois, was the name on every basketball fan’s lips.
The team had made it to the Illinois state basketball tournament, beating rivals that had more people in their high schools than Cobden had in its entire town.
Just to put this into perspective: This was before high schools were divided into classes based on school enrollment.
Dubbed “the Pride of Southern Illinois, ” “the People’s Choice” and “the Amazing Appleknockers” the boys reached the state tournament in March 1964. The team lost 50-45 to Pekin in the final game.
But a curious phenomenon happened over the years.
Chuck Neal, a player on the 1964 team who is now an airline pilot, regularly runs into people who remember the Cobden Appleknockers.
They’ll often refer to Cobden as “the tiny team that won the state tournament in 1964.”
“I used to correct people,” Neal said, “not anymore.”

Well, egregious, you know of course you and the FDL ladies are about as high as it gets on my list of mentors. Jane and Christy have shown all of us how we can find our own voices…and make them be heard. I wonder how many blogs and bloggers they’ve inspired to launch their own sites.

A lifelong reader and writer, I’ve been percolating a piece [not yet written] on the three Annes who I would call my Muses: Annie Dillard [Pilgrim at Tinker Creek], Anna Quindlen [her nonfiction…can’t wait to pluck her Good Dog. Stay. from my TBR pile] and Anne LaMott [Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life]. I hope that they help me temper my own writing so it’s thoughtful, not just a screedy rant.

And I’m ever mindful of this wonderful quote from the writer Jean Rhys: “All of writing is a huge lake. There are great rivers that feed the lake, like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, and there are trickles, like Jean Rhys…. I don’t matter. The lake matters. You must keep feeding the lake.”

Whether we are trickles or great rivers, this lake matters. Thanks for this topic that lets us tell you so.
Now back to catch up on the comments….

Thank you! My life forming teacher was also a history teacher. And, re Hoosiers, it occurs to me she had at least studied at Indiana U.

Re:

I’m in a “Nationalise the Commanding Heights of the Economy” sort of mood this morning.

OK, you nationalize the Heights, and I’ll nationalize everything else.

Socialist, Unite! All we have to gain is a nation!

Here’s the local example of why we should nationalize everything:

http://wsws.org/articles/2008/…..-j18.shtml

“In the 25 years from 1980 to 2005, the top 1 percent of Oregon households enjoyed an increase in their average real income of nearly $580,000 to $862,334, accounting for inflation. Meanwhile, since 1979, the bottom 20 percent lost 15.1 percent.”

Not at Trot? Try this: http://www.themilitant.com/index.shtml

What was I thinking?….

Well, that’s news to me, Pete. I heard that Colorado was almost as bad as Indiana. How are the job prospects out that way?

Thank you Prairie. Best of luck with your new blog, hope it inspires other people here to start their own writing their own.

Re:

I have advocate direct action for years and most blogs are just chat sites.

You planning anything for the Ides of March? It’s the 5th anniversary of Bush’s Folly. I understand something else happened that day in history…

“I drove through Indiana once and all I saw was corn, corn and more corn. Is the hemp disguised?”

Yes. As corn.

I enjoyed your anecdote about the experimental hemp you never experimented with.

If they hadn’t made the movie Hooisers, they could have picked a couple of schools from Kentucky and done a similar film. They could have called one variant Cuba which was the small school out of the mountains, that played on an outdoor court and didn’t even have standard uniforms until they went to the state tournament (assuming I’m remembering the legend correctly). This was in the fifties.

Too bad Indiana quit having the all comers/everyone plays same level tournament system. I think Kentucky may be the last state doing this. They got around the “small schools don’t have a chance to win” problem by starting an in-season tournament for the small schools called the “All “A” Classic” where the small schools play each other and have a champion each year. Of course, there are also small schools making it to the state tournament and even to the championship still so they stand a chance of competing and winning.

Well, egregious, you know of course you and the FDL ladies are about as high as it gets on my list of mentors. Jane and Christy have shown all of us how we can find our own voices…and make them be heard. I wonder how many blogs and bloggers they’ve inspired to launch their own sites.

Include commenters, as a group, who teach us about their special areas of expertise, but also how to maintain civil discourse on issues of mutual concern and positions of mutual difference.

Let’s hear it for the Lake!!

Nigerian rebel group seeks assistance from George Clooney, who was appointed as a goodwill ambassador.

They want to prevent the region from descending into a Darfur style war.

Rebels appeal to Clooney.

Links to Al Jaz*era

-G

I’m jumping down here in case the thread is about to end. I’m 56 and move back and forth between full time and part time teaching at a university (officially, I’m a lecturer). About 5 or 6 years ago, I had a young office mate, age 26. She discovered her husband was having an affair, lying about it, not intending to quit the affair. She moved towards a divorce. At the same time, my daughter, a freshman at college, had a complete breakdown and had to be brought home, a huddled lump of weeping and despair.

My young office mate, though she didn’t say this at the time, made a deliberate decision not to get lost in her own misery, but gently involved herself in my daughter’s life, being a mentor who helped led us all through those dark days.

My young office mate has had some real challenges in her life and she hasn’t handled them all perfectly. But it is an honor to watch how she has so often cut through the weirdness and made such fine and brave decisions. I’m honored to be reminded and taught by her.

My son has a mentor through the church who has been vital to a teenage boy whose father was overseas. We are rich indeed.

Good list of famous Hoosiers. Best thing -> “Birch” Bayh is listed; son “Evan” Bayh -> nope. heh.

However, I must note that Twisted Martini, finifinito, and yours truly are *not* yet listed. Must call Number One Son, to see about hacking the Wiki… *g*

I enjoyed your anecdote about the experimental hemp you never experimented with.

Aw shucks

Re:

What was I thinking?….

Hopefully about how Hugo Chavez has pulled it off. :)

Good list of famous Hoosiers. Best thing -> “Birch” Bayh is listed; son “Evan” Bayh -> nope. heh.

What a dreadful disappointment he is. Is his term finished anytime soon. Is there another candidate that could viably challenge?

As a native Kentuckian, it very often pains me to admit that the two greatest basketball players (IMNSHO) of my lifetime are natives of Indiana.

Of course, we keep the hemp hidden from you nosyparkers driving through…you see, the corn is on the outer perimeter, while the green stuff is in the center…:D

I’m jumping down here in case the thread is about to end.

Will be here for quite a while, not to worry. Good to hear from you.

Thank you Prairie. Best of luck with your new blog, hope it inspires other people here to start their own writing their own.

and egregious as blog mentor
-I linked to my very favorite entry-

Europe has a robust economy and they pay 2x what we do at the pump. Obviously it has little effect on their economy.

European interest rates stay relatively high to keep inflation under control.

European inflation is half the inflation rate in the U.S..

Bob Herbert nails today. As usual. The Rethugs, the DLC, and their fellow travelers have desroyed so much of the bargaining power of working people. This pathetic “stimulus” package is ridiculous. Why are we hearing so much about the BS such as why HRC cried or the “perfect” Romney sons and less talk about reality. I’m disgusted.

As a native Kentuckian, it very often pains me to admit that the two greatest basketball players (IMNSHO) of my lifetime are natives of Indiana.

I believe that McHale is from Hibbing Minnesota not Indiana

do you have link, please?

I thought Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn.

*g*

Depends on your line of work, like everywhere.

Politically, Dem governor replaced GOP, Dem legislature after 2006, one Dem senator (allegedly) and the other seat is open this year. I’m not sure about the house caucus. (Sue me) I know it improved but I think it’s still majority GOP. I don’t come across the real rabid lunatics. Most people I work with I think are GOP, but moderate. Denver is the liberal hole in the suburban GOP doughnut, but the burbs are more disengaged than militant. The nutters are in Colorado Springs.

My favourite quote about Colorado is that it’s the state where membership of the NRA and the Sierra Club are not incompatible.

There is an excellent public transportation system all over Europe. It is not expensive and one can get from a street corner bus stop in Plymouth to Rome without having to be searched by armed dimwits and sniffed at by dogs every step of the way. Traveling in this country is expensive and it sucks. If public transportation were universal and efficient in this country you could double the price of petrol with taxes and “force” people to use mass transit thereby cutting oil consumption. Traveling in and in and out of this country is truly a shitty experience.

She also taught not to preach/teach with our back to the world. I keep a globe on the pulpit in front of me at all times. She also taught about looking at what is NOT included in the curriculum—what is intentionally left out. That would be lots these days thanks to the idjuts in the WH and their minions. A Great Great lady was she.

For Peterr and nomolos, I will state the obvious:
Oscar and Larry. MJ seems to have been marketed better but I find the two I name as just more complete all-around basketball players than MJ. And McHale would not have been as good without Larry getting the ball to him.

As I said, just MNSHO.

Doing an archive and reinstall to get back to Tiger. The new Leopard has screwed up my Newsfire which is making me crazy! fun things to do on a Sat. morning. Temporarily on spouse’s laptop while he’s out.

When is Obama going to call out the Clinton campaign for using Bill as Mister Nasty to HRC’s Mrs Nice? He’s on Scarborough, misrepresenting Obama’s comments on Reagan.

Obama needs to man the f*ck up (Thanks, Ari Gold) and point out that even Shrub didn’t have the old man going round stumping for him like this.

She also taught not to preach/teach with our back to the world.

that’s a good lesson, not with our backs to the world.

Best. Teacher. Ever.

It was autumn, 1969 and I was in my sophomore year at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. About every two weeks we were erecting barricades and shutting down arterials around campus. This has the uncanny effect of getting us tear gassed on a regular basis. Roving bands of peace activists, YIPPIES, and proto-revolutionaries were gathering at all hours and just about every day to answer the question, “What Is To Be Done?”

There was but one period when a lull would come over campus, and that was for a survey course on “The French Revolution“.

As you might expect, the revolution on the streets was having an impact on the overflow crowd for every lecture, presented by one of the greatest orators I’ve ever had the pleasure to hear. Though I cannot recall the professor’s name, I’ll never forget his fiery presentation about the radicalization of the French People who were encouraged in their revolt against absolutist royal rule by the inspiring example of the world’s newest and brightest nation, the United States of America. The full furor of the storming of the Bastille, the heady early days of success in creating the Republic and seizing power from the corrupt aristocracy and the craven clergy were described in mesmerizing detail.

Of course, the professor would from time to time draw parallels to the events of Paris in 1968, and our own campus experiences across America and especially in Madison. And there was even a contingent of students ready to carry our golden-throated orator out to the barricades to lead us with his rhetoric. Alas, it was not meant to be, for this fiery orator stood about 5′3″ and walked with a distinct limp. He said that he offered us his mind, and he was fully in favor of our rebellion against authority, but his body was not available for the battle. Alas, we understood and accepted his decision. But we never forgot his lessons as we faced the riot police, the intimidation, the helicopters hovering menacingly over us with searchlights illuminating us as targets for the young national guard gunner on the 50 calibre machine gun. We never forgot that we were part of history, and proud of it.

STOP THE WAR! END IMPERIALISM NOW!

A valued mentor in our corner of the world…Mike Berg, retired head football coach of Grand Forks Central High School is the NFL’s 2007 High School Coach of the Year. Look for him at the Super Bowl.

He was nominated by his student who now plays for the Minnesota Vikings.

Hey, thanks, eg, for the linky. Much appreciated!

We live in a neo feudal fascist state which calls itself a democracy. What a distortion! The power rests with the powerful not the people.

Wake up America. You can’t even travel without being searched!

Check points are coming soon to your neighborhood intersections.

Couldn’t agree more. Much better public transportation in all of our communities would solve some our most serious problems: dependence on foreign oil, global warming, pollution, trading top soil for stuff to put in gas tanks, et. al.. I’m guessing that it is ignored in most public discourse because it gores a lot of oxen and does not produce enough money for anyone to work on it diligently. And that points out the major systemic problem in our society: very little gets done unless somehow, some people make a lot of money from doing it.

The EU is a lot smaller than the US. There is no empty space like the great plains (I’m not including Russia in this, just the EU).Rail makes sense over shorter distances. It simply wouldn’t be economical to build a French-style TGV between say, Denver and Kansas City, when air travel is so much cheaper and more responsive to demand.

Having said that, a high-speed mag-lev across Kansas would be totally freaking cool. The economic Eight-Ball says”Not so much”, unfortunately.

Here is another one (not my find, so I can’t take credit): Hillary’s website has up that she considers Reagan as one of her model presidents. Scroll down to the bottom and it is there. How do we get this to be highlighted by the right people?

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/…..w/?id=4674

The NE is more dense than the EU and certainly could have the type of infrastructure that Europe has.

Of course there is a lot of low density land in america and that makes no sense. But why let the few drive the needs of the many… Oh I forgot .. states rights.

My drivers ed teacher turned me around in high school. Had fallen in with the wrong crowd and was heading down a deadend road. He took me under his wing, was a father figure to me at a time when I didn’t have one but obviuosly needed one badly. He taught me respect for self. I hear he has passed on and I never did get to thank him. Damn.

I hope someone looks into this transportation/infrastructure overhaul that they are “working” on right now, as the economy collapses…it was on CSPAN yesterday and last night…

They (Congressional Hearing led by Don Young) discussed the “corridors” North and South, East and West…they want to fund it by a 40 cent tax on gasoline plus tolls.

Folks, it is the beginning of the North American Union…They discussed ports…the whole shebang. They are up to no good, right under out noses and nobody is talking about it.

useless trivia: in the movie Hoosiers, the gym that was the home floor of the Hickory team is the gym where I played grade-school and junior-high ball growing up. I was out of town when the movie was filmed, but the extras in the stands are all local people – every time I watch that movie, I see somebody else in the stands that I know.

The economic Eight-Ball says”Not so much”, unfortunately.

Secrets of the Magic Eight Ball Revealed

I’m sure he read that, from wherever he is. ;-)

It’s all about corporations and THEIR needs. With their money they grabbed control of the government and now it serves their needs while it extracts revenue from the people and forks it over to corporations.

America is quite broke from top to bottom. It’s only a shadow of its former self as a place of liberty and justice for all… Oh I forgoet… it never was.

Of course, we keep the hemp hidden from you nosyparkers driving through…you see, the corn is on the outer perimeter, while the green stuff is in the center…:D

True, that.

Or so I’ve heard. Ahem.

Wonder how many teachers are gonna get phone calls, letters, and visits in the nursing home after today. We can never pay them back, but we can thank them and go out and teach others.

“Her list of favorite presidents – Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Truman, George H.W. Bush and Reagan – demonstrates how she thinks. As expected, Bill Clinton was also included on the aforementioned list.”

Thats a hello of a lot more damning than Obama’s perfectly reasonable and accurate observation that Reagan changed the direction of US politics. This needs to be out there. Thanks for that.

My beloved lady and I kinda love teachers. ;0)

PeteCO – Yes and what I find most despicable (and consistant with her) is that she then comes out and criticizes Obama for the Reagan comment. And, Bill and others turn it inside out in lies.

Do you know any way to get this out there?

That’s the one unifying force in Indiana, isn’t it. that transcends the racial divide?

My father was a regular at a diner in Marion; when he walked in, they’d fetch him his cup of tea and dry wheat toast along with 2 eggs over easy on hash browns. Never even asked him, they just knew. Occasionally when I went into that greasy spoon with him, I didn’t even see a waitress before I’d hear the bell ring, indicating my dad’s order was up. The walls of the joint were festooned with laminated pictures of local high school basketball players from over the decades; you could see the earliest pictures were of all-white teams and later ones mixed. There was always somebody in the diner yapping with other patrons about basketball, and they’d frequently ask my dad what he thought of the game last night or whenever. Basketball was lingua franca; even the waitresses were well-versed on who played, who was benched, who was injured, how many assists.

Obama said Reagan changed poltics. And that may be true. Did Obama also mention that Ronnie changed politics for the worse? ;0)

Thanks Rayne, that put a smile on my face.

Ronald Reagan’s poltics and policies were terrible, mean and stupid. And because of this, Mr. Reagan was a nasty piece of work.

That photo looks just like some art work I’ve seen recently on FB.

;)

http://cqpolitics.com/wmspage……0002657019

No to Obama. Not to Senator Clinton. No to the ‘Large Dog’. No to any of the Republicans. Yes to Edwards.

That photo looks just like some art work I’ve seen recently on FB.

;)

it does look like a margot doesn’t it?

I was thinking the same thing! :-)

I agree with you on Edwards, but Obama is way ahead of Clinton in my book.

Yep, I agree with Edwards. My son was in my camp but lately swung over to Obama; that is where all the hoopla is with the young kids in town. It is minus 2 with a windchill of minus 12 and the teenage son just got up, ate his eggs, and headed out to canvas for Obama. My, my.

I’m powering up my rhetoric to see if I can sway them all back to Edwards at the caucus on Feb 5.

The worship of Ronald Reagan is ridiculous. To say the minimum. “morning in a America”? Mr. Reagan helped usher in the age of American Fascism.

That’s the one unifying force in Indiana, isn’t it. that transcends the racial divide?

Short answer? – Yes.

Basketball is king here – and there are probably a lot of waitresses who could coach quite competently.

And I could most likely drive back out to my hometown today, sit down, and soon there would appear a cheeseburger, pickles on the side, french-fries (well-done), and a glass of water, without having to actually tell anyone what I wanted.

Small towns have their advantages.

I gotta say that Bill Clinton isn’t winning any goodwill points with me anyomre.

I’d rather see him hugging Poppy Bush for Gawdsake.

-G

Reagan – GHWB – Iran Contra

Why would one want to associate oneself with that…

hahahahaha

Pakistan arrests teen suspect in Bhutto plot
Saturday January 19, 2008 6:10 am
Source: Agence France-Presse
Published: http://afp.google.com/article/…..4cRjuiKm9g

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistani police have arrested a teenager who was allegedly part of a five-man squad in the plot to kill opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last month, security officials said.

The suspect, 15-year-old Aitezaz Shah, was arrested from the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan on Friday while planning a suicide bombing over the Muslim festival of Ashura, they said on condition of anonymity.

Shah told interrogators he had been part of a back-up team of three bombers who were tasked with killing former premier Bhutto if the original December 27 attack by two men had failed, the officials added.

Interior ministry spokesman Iqbal Cheema did not confirm the arrest.

“It is not in my knowledge so far,” Cheema told AFP.
*************
strains credulity……..they will say ANYTHING

Absolutely. But, he was effective in how he came in with a “vision” and carried it out, destroying lots of things in the process. It was the same with Thatcher in England, and it took years to repair the damage. Alas, Clinton could have put us on better footing, but went along with the Republicans.

“facts are stupid things”

trust me …it was NOT his vision

Re:

strains credulity……..they will say ANYTHING

No, no. They’ll never say he was the patsy.

I so totally agree with that. Maybe he’s showing his true colors or else he drank a bunch of koolaid. Actually, I think he’s always been a sort of cog in the wheel of what the chumps have been up to. He’s played the enabler for them…e.g., Nafta.

I guess that’s how waterboarding works.

I like solai’s pin idea. And even though it has been overdone, I kind of like the idea of a blue ribbon.

He’s played the enabler for them…e.g.

You rang?

eg

we are paying the price for his politics now….he also was a TERRIBLE father according to his kids…says alot imo

The absolute best teacher I ever had was Dr. Stephens, who I had for 19th Century British Literature course. He organized the whole course around what he called “the epistimological split” and showed how each writer or poet could be placed into one school of thougth or another on the subject of how man knows;,eg. a priori, observation, etc.. He also was able to explain how schools of literature reflected the same characteristics as schools of music, art, architecture. In a simplistic example, I remember him explainging, and showing examples comparing Romantic Literature with neo gothic architecture and music. He showed how the towers on one were compared with the points of interest or emphasis on another, in non symetrical repitition. It was an amazingly intersting and enlightening course.

As usual Digby puts the Obama/Reagan/Clinton flap into pitch perfect perspective.

Recycling old rightiwng talking points isn’t the path to change.

-G

I continue to maintain that I look upon an Obama presidency or a Hillary presidency with equal favor. And we just might be ‘fortunate’ enough to have these two on the same ticket come next November. Of course I might conceed that would perhaps be a winning combo. We, in this house will vote for our party’s nominee, regardless of how distasteful we might find that that Demoo contender to be..

True! I misspoke it was those around him, but, what was so sad was how effective they were at it, in getting so many people (many once part of the Democratic base) to buy into it.

lol

to LS…never foget who put him there WJC

http://www.ishipress.com/pamela-h.htm

google Brown Brothers Harriman and Presscot Bush

I would gently suggest that Bill Clinton STFU!

Bill Clinton was THE DLC guy. They guy that helped to push the Democrats into the right center in order to coopt the “Reagan Democrats” into his winning electoral coalition.

So the Clinton outrage over praise of Reagan is rather strained and feigned, if you ask me.

Obama is poised to be an agent of change, yet he seems to be hemmed in by many of the old paradigms.

Bold change is a new vision, it is not guided by hewing close to those who put the nation into its current predicament.

Obama needs to undergo the same transformation of thought that has brought John Edwards around.

-G

My sense is that if Clinton wins the primary, she will be seen as a very divisive candidate (Bloomberg has said that if she wins the primary, and the other candidate is Huckabee, he will run as a 3rd party candidate). If that happens I might even vote for him (:-( ). If Edwards or Obama wins the primary, I don’t see the same scenario. Many people just DO NOT want to see another Bill Clinton presidency (he is way over the top these days, and remember his jaunts around the world with Papa Bush trying to help the son Bushie Jr.). Hillary is seen to be equally fractious. I just don’t see that depth of feeling against Obama.

Richmond …it is so sad how we have been played and shuffled about by our media….the elite make SERFs of us all…we go quietly about our biz

True. And you probably recall that GWD indicated that R.R. was his hero.

True. But that is frankly who he is now. Both he and Hillary are in this because they want to resurrect the Clinton presidency, and both (now in big time for the money) will make a fortune. Imagine how much Bill will make as the unofficial palace lobbiest/speaker.

Absolutely and the one interesting thing about the Hillary victory in NH is I think that the MSM came away thinking, jeez if we attack candidates such as Hillary this hard (and viciously) it may back fire and help get them elected. Remember the public view of the MSM (esp news) is as low as that of the Preznit and Congress.

Let me be precise. I will vote for my party’s nominee no matter what, at this point. But as I Democrat I find HRC and Obama to be real stomach churners.

Re:

Imagine how much Bill will make as the unofficial palace lobbiest/speaker.

Exactly, and America can have its own “Mr. 10%”.

I respect you on this (and of course everything else) :-)

FWIW, I believe that I have read that if Senator Clinton is elected President, the former President Clinton has stated that he will NOT be receiving money for speeches or any other activities to purposefully avoid the conflicts of the type you are describing.

Ask yourself: Was it really necessary for Obama to bring up Ronald Reagan? And Puleeze, spare me the pundit rhetoric that Obama was courting the Cali and Nevada Reaganites.

Nuns & Jesuits. No complaints, really. No one really sticks out. Many had their moments of excellence. Maybe Konstantin Sawchuck who died way too young. A history teacher in college and friend of Zbigniew Bgzezinski (sp?). Taught a naive kid about realpolitik. I haven’t entirely bought into his von Clausewitzian approach. But I understand stuff better now.

Also, interestingly, as I went around the various political websites yesterday, I noticed one (open left?) that is listing the delegate count as it comes in. They are including the Michigan numbers in Hillary’s score. WTF? Those don’t count, and by putting them in I think they are trying to pressure the Dems to include them.

And by the way just Hillary’s refusal to remove her name from Michigan – going against party wishes says she is all about herself and not the party. It would be interesting too to know the back story on why (and who) pushed Florida and Michigan to insist on going earlier. Some how I think it was Hillary, and this back fired on her. Remember she went out a long time ago and hooked in all the key party people in the state in her favor (Cuomo in NY, Reid’s son in Nevada). I bet she did much the same thing in Florida and Michigan to try to get these state in the bag for her early. No wonder she hates Dean.

Perhaps I am wrong. If so I apologize, but I somehow think there is a big financial piece to this at play as well.

There may be for AFTER they are both out of office. But given all the crap that they went through on these types of situations in the ’90s, do you REALLY believe they are stupid enough to give their enemies that broad of an opening? I sure as hell don’t think so.

yup HUGE elderly Jewish population….she is very conniving

BOOK DEALS out the wazoooooooooooooooooo

Yup – to both your points!

I just sent an email to the Obama campaign. They need to know this.

In connection with the Clinton’s financial dealings, I refuse to mention Mr. Hsu or Ron Burkel.

I was kind of an odd one. I had other things than education on my mind as a youth. I could always pay half-attention and do fine on tests and was kicked out of high school for behavior. It wasn’t until I was in college that I learned how to learn with the help of a patient and learned teacher.

Let me attempt to be positive: Edwards for president.

Again, I may be wrong. And, you are right, they are careful. But, somewhere I think I read (maybe 5 years ago) that their financial situation has changed enormously since he was president. Part of that may be the books, however.

Thanks!

I might send it to Drudge (am I that low?) but I don’t want them having my email address.

somebody on KOS ,had a chart of her physical image the size of a pea,and grwth showing a mighty SURGE….ive been unable to find it…i shall keep looking……HILL/BILL are deeply emeshed with the OLIGARCHY

Post it in comment of dKos, it should makes the rounds from there :)

He was pointing out that this is a pivotal election, as 1980 was, and Reagan took advantage of the public mood. Tony Blair made a similar point about Margaret Thatcher in the run-up to the 1997 British elections. It didn’t hurt him any.

Obama’s actual comments here, with Digby’s commentary. H/T Greg B.

Lahoma is asking if I was thinking about going fishing for ‘cats’ down by the Red River (about two miles down the road). I wasn’t thinking about it, but I am now.

However, I must note that Twisted Martini, finifinito, and yours truly are *not* yet listed. Must call Number One Son, to see about hacking the Wiki… *g*

Yeah, I’m not on the list either *g*

Great comments on the IndyStar piece, Jayt. I was actually surprised at the number of commenters who agreed that the amendment should be scrapped. As a 5-year resident of this state, I’m often surprised the OTHER way.

I understand that there are some, even in the Democratic Party, who despise the Clintons and see the worst in everything they reportedly do or say. When she in one of the four remaining candidates for the nomination, and may well get it, is the point of constant repetition of anti-Clinton information intended to convince others on FDL not to vote for her in the primaries, or to obstain from voting for her in the general election if she’s nominated. Unless you think she would be worse than any of the Republicans, I don’t see the purpose of the sustained diatribe.

I understand that. I watched Obama make his comments about Ronnie on tv. It was stupid of Obama to even mention Reagan. Give me a break, Obama. As I said, I don’t recall Obama saying Reagan changed politics for the worse (Because he most certainly did), or did I miss that? ;0)

thanks.

interesting today over at The IndyStar, huh?

Is this National “Bigots’ Day Off” or something?

idk, i, for one, would rather see scorched earth than another round of the clintons.

There is a 24 hour wait to post comments at Kos – please do it if you can!

Fair enough. When you state that, it becomes understandable.

(Both of my kids and their families live in Indy.) I am always amazed at the bigotry of those “Christians” who feel free to post such awful comments in the name of “God” and “Jesus” and “the Bible.”

I tend to chime in on economics, so here are my two cents worth. We are in an election cycle and the tax rebate give away that has been proposed is nothing more than providing a society addicted to spending yet another fix. This proposed rebate will do nothing to grow the economy and at best will allow many to catch up on a few overdue bills. That’s it. The best analogy to describe this give away is simple. Catch me a fish and I eat for a day. But teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.
The horse is out of the barn in the sense that we have thrown hundreds of billions of dollars into a rat hole called Iraq for less than honest reasons and no reasonable return on investment. Our ideology must change in a significant way. Rather than politicians giving away funds that we don’t have, such a methodology would have made greater sense by investing in ourselves such as funding new energy technologies that would produce returns in the form of high paying jobs and workers that are paying taxes. Infrastructure improvements that could put people to work. But no, politicians worried about either staying in office or hoping to get into office are willing to give us money that we don’t have while in turn fanning the flames of inflation to levels we have never seen. I can assure you the following. If we continue to go down this road, within two years we will have blasted past the recession we’re in and head straight to a depression.
There is no reason what so ever to think that the president, Bernanke and Paulson don’t know that the light at the end of the tunnel in an oncoming financial train wreck and we are heading to that point because our leaders cannot accept the economic pain that we must experience in order to wring out the excesses of living beyond our means. Companies grow because they reivest in themselves. Rather than policing the world, we might seriously consider doing the same.

And five years ago was after he had left the presidency and before she had decided to run (officially). I recall reading in I believe the NY Times that he was purposefully getting all the speech making money while he could, before he had to stop due to her presidential campaign.

Given the grief they received over a FAILED business deal prior to his taking office the first time, I am fully convinced that they know what NOT to do. Which means, they have been establishing their nest egg in these years since he left office in order to tide them over when he can’t bring in any money. After all, they’re still purportedly Democrats and it’s only Republics like Darth Cheney who can milk their investments and make sure their previous employers get enough sweetheart, no-bid contracts to pay for any moneys “owed.”

Sander… everyone needs a respite from politics and late at night is a perfect time as not much news wise, politically that is all bad news and the brain gets fuzzy… Our brains can’t run on adrenalin all the time! And if you look closely you might even see some protest songs or two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0jxHB3E710
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-og_MxjIrzg
and more, so don’t spoil our party…. please! OK??

Hey. it takes… i dunno exactly what. lotsa different stuff, I guess, to share such personal stuff like that. Thanks for having that… stuff.

and one doesn’t have to click on the music links. its easy. just keep moving on to the next comment.

Thanks egregious music is for the soul of mankind/womenkind… can’t be sexists:>)
Music has been along time from early times and continues to sooth the soul in trying times and these are trying times!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKvdPsnkPC0
Here is another reason as music can be very political!
Protest songs attract people of like minds to change the wrongs that are the bane of civil society!

Sounds like you learned some of life’s most lessons…I also had an uncle in the second wave at Iwo… he turned into a drunk… BUt he also taught me many things about cooking! Deep down he was a good man… but the horrors of war haunted him to his death.

Hey folks…just joined today. Hello to all.

I have an idea about fixing the economy…The first thing that should be done is tell the oil companies that the price of gas/fuel oil needs to be reduced to 2.00/gal effective Feb 1st. They doubled their price the minute we received the last rebate…any rebate given to us will mean gas goes to 6.00 a gallon. They owe the American consumer more than this of course but this is a good starter.

That is all we need to do…then we tell the food industry and all other industries..they are getting a big break on shipping, operating costs and all prices need to come down..and let all Americans know this is expected.

This costs us nothing and we all will save lots. More than a few rebate dollars that will be gone on ONE expenditure.

Then we work on some increases for SS recipient’s and help for the housing market…( I have two houses for sale right now so you know how much I am hurting).

This is the best and easiest and fastest stimulus that I can think of.

There are also many songs to up lift the spirit of the country:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMYCj3IJ_VQ
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvbuJKqIJ4Q
So you see SanderO why music is important for all occasions!

Elliot this one is for you! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKZpjoKqkGc

Have fun hiking and enjoying nature at her finest!

I’m sorry, but that just makes way too much sense.

I had one heck of an economics instructor at WCU

I am waaayyy EPU’d, but I really want to comment on this one.

In case she happens to be a reader of FDL, big kudos and thanks to my English teacher, Marie Petronchak Parks. She helped a timid bookworm of a girl deal with the taunts of classmates, the difficulties of living in an abusive home, and – through her iron fist and velvet glove manner – gave me the confidence to believe in myself.

Too many inspirational teachers to list (I’ve been incredibly lucky). Two that stand out right now – my second teacher at primary school,who somehow managed to pull me from the ‘Extra Slow Developer’ bracket (the then current euphemism for backwards)to potential scholarship kid; and my son’s speech therapist.

Sander O. – here’s another view: some of us feel more comfortable talking about politics with people with whom we can share other things to; even more so with political action. So it’s the reverse of a distraction – its a way of building a coalition.

Perhaps also this: we need some reminders of the things we find valuable, in order to have some sense of the sort of world we want to build. I do anyway. And its one reason why I like seeing the music posts and reading what people have to say, even though I rarely click on the You-Tubes

Apologies for the OT, eg. (and, I guess for violating the ‘don’t tell people what to do in their front rooms’ ethos by opining about this)

Hi egregious, Great question! Thought I might be too late to post a response, but noticed you’ve indicated you’re keeping the thread open for awhile. (Need to exercise in the morning…) I’m enjoying reading everyone’s responses.

I consider myself to be rich in one respect: having crossed paths with and learned from extraordinary teachers. There is one who impacted me the most. I transcribed one of his talks which inspires me to this day and probably will continue to the day I leave this world. I take it out and read it every once in awhile. I love this part in particular which blows me away every time. This is his response to a question about our responsibility to “have an impact” on the state of the world.

“It’s huge. The balance of the experiment that we’re a part of, the balance of this human life that we’re a part of. This undecided experiment that we’re a part of, the balance is very delicate…It’s hard to picture that this whole experiment could be so subtlely balanced but it is. And we can affect that balance…And 50 people…can affect the nature of the experiment. I know that you don’t really want to hear that because that might mean that the next time you were meditating and talking to yourself, you were fucking over 50 million people in some other part of the world, it wouldn’t be such a beautiful experience to talk to yourself while you’re meditating…not only is it possible, but I’m telling you that’s a fact that I know from my personal experience absolutely without a shadow of a doubt…that we in our dealing with each other, in our dealings with the living things round us, in our dealings with ourselves, we become finer, the motion of particles on different levels change around us and they’re not so limited as that they can’t disseminate into wherever the depressions are. So all your good vibes go around, they travel around the earth looking to even things out wherever there’s depression, they fill it in. Like water running across, they fill it in. Phantasmagorical, but it happens to be so. We have two possibilities here, we can become aware of what’s happening around us, we can be aware of what’s happening in other countries, in other places, in other cultures. We can pay attention and wonder is there any need for me to respond in this situation? Am I called upon to respond in this situation? Does this have something to do with me in terms of the situation? We can do that.

And the other thing we can do is to do whatever it takes to leave the weights of our consciousness behind and elevate, leave the lies and leave the fear, leave the future thinking, the past thinking, and the worrying and the considering of every possible detail, to be safe and careful and we can leave those things behind. Elevate in consciousness, rarefy the vibration so that some of those low points can be filled. What a great job! You’ve got two possibilities all the time to enrich the game of the experiment that we’re in.” JG

Beautifully done, billinturkey! I love how you respond not by criticizing and judging, not with put downs and heaping scorn, but by opening up and revealing yourself and your perspective. A gentle and fine teacher you are!

Peony: wow. Thank you for that. And yes, the Pull Up A Chair thread will be open until tomorrow morning, so please do comment, folks.

egregious,
I enjoyed your post and this thread so much — spent all afternoon reading the comments. There are some amazing people here, with incredible talents and experiences to share, and I thank you for it. My French teacher in Paris was funny and patient, she encouraged us to share our different cultures (in French, of course). After getting to know her, it turned out that she once lived in my U.S.A. hometown at the same time I was in high school. billinturkey is right — “its a way of building a coalition.”