Urban explorer.

The weather gave us a break the last couple of days. All my friends were making jokes on Facebook about that odd glowing orb in the sky. Ha ha. I took advantage and did my usual one-hour cruise from my house to Mariner Park in Detroit and back. No one was exercising their pit bull in the field, but the fishing plaza was full, as usual. Someone had their car parked with the doors open, playing old-skool:

You can see why it’s a popular place. The marina to the northeast is in Grosse Pointe Park’s Windmill Pointe Park, for my money the best of the six residents-only parks in the GP. I can’t go there without an invitation — when they say residents-only, they mean it — but I’ve been there enough to get, y’know, a feel of the place. It includes a pool, fitness center, movie theater, etc. Mariner Park doesn’t even have a bathroom, but I have never visited when people weren’t having a good time. People bring hibachis and coolers and sometimes cook the fish fresh out of the water. Hard to go wrong with that.

That whole area down there is great to explore. Much of it is standard dilapidated Detroit ghetto, but even here, it’s location, location, location, and there are many hidden gems down there. I gasped when I first saw this one, a little bit of Newport Beach in the frost belt. It’s on Harbor Island Road, a one-block stretch that is indeed an island, surrounded by canals, reachable by one bridge. The residents could probably gate it if they wanted. Most of it is far more modest housing than this, with a community garden at the end.

This city, it is a complicated place. Not everything is as it seems. I was pleased to get out and see a bit of it yesterday. Today it’s rainy and overcast again. Balls.

But get out I must, so I will leave you with some bloggage that will tie you up all day:

Nearly 100 fantastic pieces of journalism from 2010, much of which you probably missed. I know I did. Who can keep up with the information barrage? And still, somehow Kim Kardashian pushes her way through. Go figure. Anyway, quality stuff there. You’ll like something in it, I promise.

Is there actually a restaurant in Los Angeles called Pink Taco? And people eat there? Ew.

I didn’t watch the GOP debate last night. Did you? What did I miss? I’m intrigued by this frame grab; are they all pledging allegiance, or what?

That’s it for me, today. Sorry. Friday morning is as busy as Mondays lately. Have a great weekend.

Posted at 9:15 am in Current events, Detroit life |
 

68 responses to “Urban explorer.”

  1. coozledad said on May 6, 2011 at 9:24 am

    Re: The frame grab.
    Chris Wallace was asking the participants to raise their hands if they’d ever owned the “Days of Future Passed” album.

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  2. Jolene said on May 6, 2011 at 9:34 am

    I think they were answering a question about whether they’d have released the OBL death photo, but, who knows? Maybe cooz is right. What a pitiful lot.

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  3. Julie Robinson said on May 6, 2011 at 9:36 am

    Is that when they were asked to raise their hands if they would have shown the bin Laden photos?

    From yesterday’s thread: Major Pettigrew was a major win for me too. Right now I’m revisiting early Tracey Chevalier, and I found one I’d missed, Remarkable Creatures. You can’t go wrong with anything she writes.

    Our son Matt opens in Godspell this weekend. If your’re around town the Sunday matinee is half off.

    edit: Jolene beat me to the punch.

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  4. Mike said on May 6, 2011 at 9:40 am

    Re: The frame grab,

    They were pledging allegiance to waterboarding any and all; because it works so well.

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  5. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 6, 2011 at 9:45 am

    Yep, because Cain was the only one to say “Nope, wouldn’t do it.” The parts I heard, Cain made more sense than the others, but the bar was low.

    “Little Shop of Horrors” at Granville High School tonight and tomorrow if you’re in town! Tonight I’m MCing open mic night at Church in the Mall if you want to perform – we get everything from garage grunge middle schoolers to a couple doing Joni Mitchell & Old Crow Medicine Show on two guitars. Spring, and the local arts are blossoming.

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  6. Dorothy said on May 6, 2011 at 10:24 am

    We did Little Shop last summer for our musical Jeff, and had pitiful audiences. It’s a darn shame – we lost so much money on that production. Hope the high school does better. They’ve got a guaranteed audience with parents and other students I guess. Our group actually voted last Saturday not to do any musicals for the next couple of years. We face very stiff competition from another local group who pulls out all the stops and does a bang-up job with their shows. They just cast for this summer’s show which is “Cinderella.”

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  7. Julie Robinson said on May 6, 2011 at 10:37 am

    Dorothy, I think that’s why the Civic does Joseph every two or three years. All those kids in the choirs bring in lots of family members. They run three weekends and use a different choir each weekend. It’s always packed.

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  8. Judybusy said on May 6, 2011 at 10:50 am

    Julie, if you like Chavalier, you might also enjoy The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott. It takes place in 1815 and involves elements of early evolutionary theory, Napolean, a brilliant and mysterious woman (the thief) and the catacombs of Paris. Stott knows her science, too: she wrote a delightful book about Darwin’s work with barnacles. Really, sounds dreadfully dull but she made it fascinating! She wrote another novel, Ghostwalk, which I have but need to get through The Warmth of Other Suns first, as there is a wait list. BTW, Remarkable Creatures is her last published novel. Hmmm, can a new one be one the way? Her website is quite fun, too.

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  9. hexdecimal said on May 6, 2011 at 10:56 am

    The Pink Taco here in Scottsdale closed down about 2 years back. Besides it’s name, the place had nothing to offer that was different from any of the other 1000’s of taco joints in Scottsdale. In case you want the oddball details check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Taco

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  10. LAMary said on May 6, 2011 at 10:57 am

    Of course we have a restaurant called Pink Taco. Harry Morton, son of the Harry Morton who owns Morton’s owns it. He is also the founder of all the Hard Rock Cafes and Hotels and all those places I will probably never go. Harry is another fine alum of University of Denver. So that makes Harry, Paris Hilton’s dad, Christy Yamaguchi, Condoleezza Rice and me. Go Pioneers.

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  11. coozledad said on May 6, 2011 at 10:59 am

    That animal they spray painted for the Pink Taco promotion is already showing other signs of maltreatment. It’s crestfallen, which means its feet are probably also in hell shape. They probably don’t have it out on grass, and just give it a bunch of feed corn. Assholes.

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  12. Julie Robinson said on May 6, 2011 at 11:10 am

    Thanks for the tips, judybusy. Chevalier is currently writing a book that may interest many here. I’ll let her describe it: “The new novel is about an English Quaker woman who emigrates to Ohio in the 1840s, settles in a fictional community near Oberlin (where I went to college, by the way), and ends up working on the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves escape to Canada.”

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  13. Dorothy said on May 6, 2011 at 11:27 am

    Thanks to one of you lovely ladies for sending along the tip about Wendy McClure. My favorite section of http://www.candyboots.com/wwcards.html so far is the small print/disclaimer at the bottom of the page about Weight Watchers.

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  14. moe99 said on May 6, 2011 at 11:30 am

    Mary Russell has a new book out too: Doc which is a retelling of the Wyatt Earp-Doc Holliday narrative. I’m on the list at the library for that one.

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  15. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 6, 2011 at 11:46 am

    Val Kilmer. He’s the only picture I have now of Doc Holliday in my head, inaccurate though it may be. Hope Mary Russell took that into account, ’cause I’ll surely read that book.

    “Tombstone” took a critical shellacking, but I thought it was pretty good, and Kilmer was riveting.

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  16. Connie said on May 6, 2011 at 11:57 am

    Just checked Russell’s Doc out myself. But nothing she has done since comes anywhere near The Sparrow.

    My grad student daughter got home late Tuesday night and left this a.m. for Detroit Metro. Sometime early tomorrow she will arrive in Frankfort for 6 weeks of classes, two weeks free to bum around, and then six weeks at Oxford. I am a dog foster parent for the summer. I even have a power of attorney that says so. Not sure why I needed the POA.

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  17. MichaelG said on May 6, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    Crudity and poor taste are one thing but animal cruelty is something else entirely. Somebody needs to go to jail for what they did to that poor donkey.

    There used to be a restaurant named “Squid’s” in San Francisco. It was all pink decor and served guess what and only that. Too bad if you wanted a burger. The food wasn’t bad and they lasted a year or two. No vertebrates were harmed in the production of their meals.

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  18. Mr. JoodyB said on May 6, 2011 at 12:14 pm

    Interesting that the only good journalism comes from New York with a passing acknowledgment of Texas. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to go to work every day.

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  19. beb said on May 6, 2011 at 12:22 pm

    Re the frame-grab. Perhaps the question was: ‘have you ever kissed a klansman?’

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  20. nancy said on May 6, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    I’m sure the National Review’s list of great journalism would contain a little nosegay of Lileks back-page pieces, Mr. JB. Something uproarious about the dog, maybe.

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  21. nancy said on May 6, 2011 at 12:34 pm

    Perhaps because I spent most of my riding career around well-kept horses, I’ve never seen one that was literally crestfallen, Cooze, but you’re right — that donkey is, indeed. Is it related to foot health? (Dumb question; every malady in the equine body eventually presents in, or is otherwise connected to, the feet. Putting hundreds pounds onto a few square inches of feet will do that.)

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  22. Jolene said on May 6, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    Did you all hear that the OBL Seal team included a dog? Jennifer Frankel has been posting weekly articles about “war dogs” on Tom Ricks’s Best Defense blog on the Foreign Policy web site. Now she has a longer article about the various ways the military and law enforcement are using dogs.

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  23. Jeff Borden said on May 6, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    I saw one of those article, Jolene, including one that said the dogs are outfitted with titanium teeth at a cost of $2,000 per tooth. Those choppers can slice through combat body armor. The Seals guy said its like being stabbed simultaneously four times with those powerful jaws.

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  24. coozledad said on May 6, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    Nancy: Andy had “Jellyneck” when we got him. The fattening and laying over of the neck is also a symptom of founder.
    They were kept in a small pen, and fed lots of grain to pacify them.
    I don’t think they ever get completely over it, but Andy’s neck has a lot less jelly in it. He resents me because it means he doesn’t have free access to oats.

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  25. Mark P. said on May 6, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    Slate has a piece on “Cats of War”

    http://www.slate.com/id/2293232/

    I especially like the photo of cats that work with paratroopers.

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  26. DellaDash said on May 6, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    ‘Remarkable Creatures’ has been a fav this last year…been touting it..

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  27. basset said on May 6, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    Not so sure about those teeth:

    http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/no-navy-seal-dogs-dont-have-titanium-teeth/

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  28. Scout said on May 6, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    My caption for the screen grab is “Raise your hand if you hope the Bin Laden raid was a distraction from Obama long form fake birth certificate released last week.”

    The Cats of War piece at Slate was hysterically funny.

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  29. toney said on May 6, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    I love that house on Harbor Island. I actually pruned those trees in your picture a couple years back. Can you imagine what that property would be worth in Chicago, Boston, New York, etc. This city boggles the mind sometimes.

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  30. Jeff Borden said on May 6, 2011 at 2:01 pm

    Bassett, this is what I get for not checking Snopes, lol.

    It’s been fun to watch some of the old Bushies furiously rewriting history. My favorite so far is Condoleeza Rice, a spectacular failure as both National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. Lawrence O’Donnell kept pressing her on the decision to invade Iraq and ignore the hunt for bin Laden to the point where she threatened to walk off the set. And then John Yoo, the moon-faced prick who masterminded the legal approach to using torture, is hilarious as he says the killing of bin Laden is a terrible disaster for Obama. He says bin Laden should’ve been captured alive and pumped for intelligence.

    Sorry, but I’ll be damned if I’m putting any credence into any of the people who were on the watchtower when the nation’s worst external terrorist attack occurred.

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  31. Julie Robinson said on May 6, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    Raise your hand if you can’t wait for Band of Whiskers. *hand in air*

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  32. prospero said on May 6, 2011 at 3:04 pm

    I used to own the Days of Futures Passed LP, Cooz, but old skool to me means Fuck da police, and NWA. More recent rap is pretty much horseshit wannabes. And Chuck D rules.

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  33. prospero said on May 6, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    Seriously, Julie? Smelly hippies like Okkerville? Bad Neil Young imitators.

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  34. alex said on May 6, 2011 at 3:14 pm

    Raise your hand if you’ve never banged Ginni Thomas.

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  35. coozledad said on May 6, 2011 at 3:28 pm

    Alex: Or haven’t got her on call blocking.

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  36. brian stouder said on May 6, 2011 at 4:08 pm

    OK, I cannot resist, although I know I should.

    You know how the price of gas has jumped and jumped? And how the oil companies are pocketing mind-bogglingly large – and increasingly larger – profits? And how they – the oil companies – actually get tax BREAKS and public subsidies, so as to enhance their profits?

    That is to say – that all of us schmucks who work-a-day and pay our taxes, are granting subsidies to these firms that have oceans of cash already?

    Didja hear what Ms Palin had to say about this?

    http://chem.info/Multimedia/Video/2011/05/Plant-Operations-Palin-Says-Oil-Subsidies-Are-Nothing/?et_cid=1496324&et_rid=44004269&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fchem.info%2fMultimedia%2fVideo%2f2011%2f05%2fPlant-Operations-Palin-Says-Oil-Subsidies-Are-Nothing%2f

    “We’re only talking about $4 billion. Compare that to the $14-trillion debt that he, our President, has certainly contributed to. $4 billion is a drop in the bucket.” (emphasis added)

    $4 billion is “A drop in the bucket”?

    Huh.

    As one of the commenters points out, divide that sum by the number of taxpayers, and you get $3000. Dunno ‘bout you, but I could use MY “drop in the bucket” – and probably in a more economically stimulative way than the board of Chevron or BP (for example) will….

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  37. Jeff Borden said on May 6, 2011 at 4:33 pm

    Brian,

    It’s apparent that SheWho has the same masterful grasp of economics that she has of grammar and syntax. And where the hell did she get that $14-trillion number? I know she rides the short bus, but doesn’t this idiot have ANYONE check her stuff before she utters it?

    And, again, please remind me why anyone should give a flying fuck about the opinion of a failed vice-presidential candidate and half-term governor of a state with fewer than 700,000 residents who also boasts one of the most toxic approval ratings in American politics? Why, why, why is she in the news constantly?

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  38. LAMary said on May 6, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    She Who’s daughter had plastic surgery. She says she didn’t, but the chin implant, double chin liposuction and lower lip inflation are pretty obvious. I think she’s 20. They’re such a classy family.

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  39. nancy said on May 6, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    I saw that and considered saying something, but what’s the point? At first I thought she’d lost weight, but the full-length shot says no. I don’t think she got a chin implant, but she definitely hoovered out her double chin. Well, this typical single mom probably brought in at least half a mil last year; she can afford it.

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  40. brian stouder said on May 6, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    Half a mil? Eh! That doesn’t even qualify as a DROP in the bucket; more like wafting vapor

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  41. Sue said on May 6, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    I think all the Palins have crested the income trajectory, and the way down is going to happen a lot faster than the way up. They’re going to be more surprised than an eighth-grade clique-princess at how fast they lose their rightful place in the world.
    On a separate note, here’s some humor for a Friday. Apparently the guy who prank-called Scott Walker is at it again:
    http://www.janecorwin.org/

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  42. prospero said on May 6, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    How cool was this gig for a freelancer? That was really easy to stuff a sock and an\ct like like Mission Accompplished, Assholes, no sock stuffed in the crotch. But a real President, Shut up you maroons, It is difficult to deal with lying sacks of shtik. Scott Walker bought that call hook line and winker. He’s a fucking tool, a nitwit. Playing pocket pool, undoubtedly. Somebody is supposed to take these twat Midwestern governors seriously. Maroons and sadly stupid as shit. Almost Canadian, eh? Way dumb as shit. Nothing against Canada. But they never actually found it obnoxious the Brits claimed them as subjects. Too polite?

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  43. brian stouder said on May 6, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    Sue – that was marvelous

    Peremptory thread-win, at 41!

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  44. Bruce Fields said on May 6, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    “And where the hell did she get that $14-trillion number?”

    http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

    “As one of the commenters points out, divide that sum [$4 billion] by the number of taxpayers, and you get $3000.”

    Only if you think there are less than 2 million taxpayers.

    I’m no fan of Palin’s, to put it mildly, and comparing that subsidy (an annual figure) to the debt (a cumulative total) is dumb, but she’s right that 4 billion isn’t particularly big in this context.

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  45. prospero said on May 6, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    It’s not Bristol’s fault she’s an egregious asshole. She’s managed that all on her own. Good genes.

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  46. LAMary said on May 6, 2011 at 6:04 pm

    http://gawker.com/#!5798691/bristol-palins-face-looks-different-doesnt-it/gallery/1

    I still think she did have a chin implant. The distance from her lower lip to the bottom of her chin is longer. I think this gives her a headstart on having a funky looking jawline at 45. She will forever look worked upon.
    She might have had an eyelift too, or something done to the area below the eyebrow.
    I’m so fucking catty.

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  47. prospero said on May 6, 2011 at 6:43 pm

    NBA notes: Dirk will probably get tossed. David Stern rules more important than Jrdan rules. It’s a lock. And Celts win. Throwing out Piere, that was strange, and an astoundingly bad call. Stern seems to have lost his mojo. He cheats like a bastard. But holy shit, he’s just not on his manipulative game.

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  48. Jolene said on May 6, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    It’ll be interesting to see what Bristol is doing when she’s 30. This being a spokesperson can’t last forever, and I think we’ve seen enough to know that she doesn’t have a future as a performer.

    Compared to attending the WH Correspondents’ Dinner, going to college and beginning a career is pretty dull stuff, but having had unprotected sex isn’t much of a card to play once you’re actually seated at the table.

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  49. prospero said on May 6, 2011 at 6:52 pm

    LA Mary, homely to begin with homely foer good, but, you know, she’s a star. Hines seems like a natural, but really, you know he’d like to deliver a knockdown. That’s what he does, and he smiles when he pick your ass up. What he does. How are these people stars? How is the Trump horseshit stars? Who watches this shit? Meat Loaf? Guttdom that is bad excuse for music. Truly horrible.

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  50. prospero said on May 6, 2011 at 6:56 pm

    Meatloaf? Dashboard light. That is ridiculous, no matter how you look at it, Exceptionally bad, like a travesty, Big Bottom kinda stupidity.

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  51. brian stouder said on May 6, 2011 at 7:01 pm

    Bruce, I am guilty of compound errors!

    First, that I paid attention to Ms Palin at all, let alone when she threw around the “$4 billion” figure.

    Second, I credulously repeated the fuzzy math with decimal problems. $4 billion divided by 138,000,000 tax payers = about $29 for each of us. A Bloomberg article throws around a $40 billion number, but over a different time frame.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-10/house-democrats-target-40-billion-in-big-oil-tax-breaks.html

    Third, yes, I probably have oil stocks in my 401(k), as do most of us. Gosh – do you think they – the oil companies – will pay us a dividend? (Neither do I)

    LA Mary – stay catty!

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  52. Jeff Borden said on May 6, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    I never realized the there was a “grifter gene,” but the revirginized Bristol proves there is. The acorn does not fall far from the tree. The young lass, who has accomplished exactly nothing in her 20 years so far, banked more than a quarter-million last year for her work as a Candie’s abstinence spokesman. My dad, who served with honor for more than 3 years in World War II, gave up his dreams of college for family and conducted himself as a gentleman throughout his 86 years on this earth, never earned more than $31K in a single year.

    Only in America.

    BTW, I have never heard Bristol speak, since I refuse to watch those cheesy talent shows. Is her voice as irritating as mommy’s???

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  53. Suzanne said on May 6, 2011 at 7:30 pm

    Jeff
    God bless your dad. The Palins are even worse than I thought. Maybe Bristol and Mark Souder can get together and make an abstinence video. Then we can have two pots telling the kettles how they should live.

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  54. prospero said on May 6, 2011 at 9:26 pm

    Jeff, my dad was in the army, bur he was a doctor. I don’t think it was MASH but it seems like it was pretty close. My dad’s favorite army story had to do with the command: “mill around to the left, mill around to the right”, and something about oranges, syringes and ethanol. Somehow he ended up in upstate NY guarding Italian POWs. One of them painted a portrait, in oil. My idea is that they were friends. You couldn’t know my dad and not be his friend. Truly awesome man, and I will spend my life trying to live up to his example. The painting is a very good likeness. My dad read Thomas a Kempis Imitation of Christ, daily, and I believe that’s how he tried to live his life. Triumphalism over one man’s death would have stuck in my dad’s craw. He was way better than that. I hope I can feel that way, but
    Sirhan Sirhan? I’d disembowell that motherfucker, for leaving this country to

    milhous..

    Bristol? That hymen rejuvenation is probably on it’s last chance. Trailer Park People. Half of America deserves government run by Yahoos. Fucking morons, no shit.

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  55. Deborah said on May 6, 2011 at 10:24 pm

    I agree Brian, stay catty LAMary! I love it.

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  56. basset said on May 6, 2011 at 11:31 pm

    With The Donald out of the way for whatever reason, there could not be a better choice for this year’s Indianapolis pace car driver – AJ Foyt, four-time winner, participant every year since 1957, owner of two cars which will more than likely make the race this year, and America’s greatest race driver ever – only Mario Andretti comes close for wins and versatility but he’s Italian, came here when he was fifteen). Nobody else has won the Daytona and Indy 500s, the Daytona 24 Hours, and Le Mans.

    Just a little feller, too. Walked right past him in a hotel bar in Atlanta before I realized the short guy with a beer in one hand and a bag of popcorn in the other, rocked back on his cowboy boot heels, was indeed Super Tex.

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  57. Kim said on May 6, 2011 at 11:33 pm

    Meow, LAMary and keep it coming. Jolene – “having had unprotected sex isn’t much of a card to play once you’re actually seated at the table” – you, too. In fact, both of you sit by me, please.

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  58. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 7, 2011 at 8:43 am

    Mary, you’re not catty, it’s just sad. It’s marginally better than getting tattoos up your neck or across your cheek, but just barely — and as you say, won’t wear much better thru the decades.

    Remedial plastic surgery for youthful implants and skin art is going to be a growth industry. I should suggest my twelve year old look into it for job security. Can’t wait ’til we’re arguing over whether it should be covered under “Medicare Part E.”

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  59. coozledad said on May 7, 2011 at 10:47 am

    Totally OT, but I was googling “Art Linkletter/JFK assassination theories”* when I found an article chronicling a meeting between Linkletter and Nixon discussing marijuana vs alcohol. The money quote, from Dick Nixon:
    “At least with liquor I don’t lose motivation!”

    *Long backstory.

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  60. MarkH said on May 7, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    Bassett —

    Check that on Foyt vs. Andretti. Missing from Mario’s victories: LeMans. Missing from Foyt’s resume: Formula One World Championship, which Mario won in 1978, after ten years competing. Foyt never competed in F1. Andretti won Daytona, both races, before Foyt, the 500 in 1967, and the 24 Hour in 1972. Foyt won the 500 in ’72 and the 24 Hour in ’83. In my, and many others’ book, Andretti was by far more versatile. However, a bit more glory is in Foyt’s camp with four Indy victories (Andretti only One) and that tremendous shove-it-up-Europe’s-ass triumph he shared with Dan Gurney at LeMans in ’67 in the Ford GT. By the way, that’s where the spray-the-crowd-with-champagne from the victory podium was started by Gurney.

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  61. brian stouder said on May 7, 2011 at 12:19 pm

    Speaking of Cooz’s OT reference to JFK – and conceding in advance the (unmistakeable) cheese-factor – Pam and I have been quite taken by the Reelz (ex-History Channel) mini-series on the Kennedys.

    For one thing, Greg Kinnear really pulls one in with his compelling performance; and Katie Holmes does it for me, even if her Jackie accent does come and go (entirely! and somewhat comically), as the critics say.

    http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie-news/9802/greg-kinnear-barry-pepper-talk-the-kennedys/

    Watching the show is a little like watching Jeopardy, as Pam and I kibitz all through it, about how much poetic license this or that scene takes, or whether the president would actually say this or that on a telephone call to his wife back at the Cape

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  62. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 7, 2011 at 11:13 pm

    I keep thinking of Walt Frazier yelling “Score!” when I see the footage of bin Laden dying his beard. Did Osama use Grecian Formula, or is that halal?

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  63. basset said on May 8, 2011 at 9:43 am

    MarkH, thanks for the response – usually my posts just sink without a trace. Mario is no doubt on Foyt’s level, but he’s not American; he was born in Italy and came to the US when he was fifteen.

    And, like AJ, he was a hell of a sprint car driver too, on dirt or pavement.

    Dan Gurney would be right up there too, F1 success as a driver and constructor, stock car wins at Riverside in a huge Ford Galaxie, the Le Mans win and many others. I know a collector-car dealer who had an ex-Gurney GT40 in his showroom a few years ago, with a bubble in the roof to accommodate Gurney’s height; I tried to sit in it and literally could not get myself into the seat, too tight. I’m a short-legged six-one and a lot heavier than Gurney, no way I could fit my legs under the wheel though and I don’t know how he did it.

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  64. Jolene said on May 8, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    Still another take on the Situation Room photo–this one from a newspaper that serves Orthodox Jews. Before you peek, guess how they might have modified it.

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  65. moe99 said on May 8, 2011 at 7:52 pm

    http://www.politicususa.com/en/texas-cheerleader-rape

    Just be glad we don’t live in Silsbee, TX. I’m sure I would have been run out on a rail by now.

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  66. coozledad said on May 8, 2011 at 10:49 pm

    This country’s been headed down that misogynist road forever. And it just keeps getting worse, as stupid gluttons like Stevie Tyler are forgiven their pedophilia. I always knew Aerosmith sucked. It was right there in the fucking name.
    Nabokov had to remind his American critics Lolita wasn’t pornography because it resembled some shit they were used to. Ultimately, he had to tell them it was about the destruction of a young woman between the machinations of two particularly ugly freaks.
    Steve Tyler and the anti-choice movement are freaks:
    http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/05/06/steven_tyler_national_review_abortion

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  67. Catherine said on May 9, 2011 at 1:39 am

    There is no reason to know about Pink Taco when Senor Fish exists: http://www.senorfish.net/

    And, can we just get all of Texas to secede? Austin is not worth the rest of that place.

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  68. LAMary said on May 9, 2011 at 9:32 am

    Love Senor Fish, but I miss the original one down the street from my home. Aside from great fish tacos and potato tacos, the rice and beans were excellent. My kids and I used to eat lunch there at least twice a week.

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