Faking a little blogging.

One of my neighbors has outdoor speakers, and is enjoying them now. I’d never before noticed how lame the great American songbook can sound when given the full attention of a certain sort of cocktail pianist — the kind who plays as though paid by the note. “Someone to Watch Over Me” is a lovely song, but less so when you can practically see the performer energetically tickling the ivories. Every one of them. In glissando.

Oh, well. It beats the Shirley Bassey/Barbra Streisand/Steve and Eydie compilations I sometimes hear coming from that direction. I didn’t know Shirley Bassey had a career beyond singing the “Goldfinger” theme until I met one of my boyfriend’s mothers, who was exactly the sort of woman Mike Myers immortalized in Linda Richman. She loved Shirley Bassey. So do many people, evidently. Something I didn’t know before today: She’s Welsh, like that other great interpreter of James Bond movie themes, Tom Jones.

Welcome to the week, after a lovely weekend. Saturday was stiflingly hot, but I guess I’ll take it. And yesterday was better, but Sunday is really the beginning of my work week, so meh. I did take a little time to run bike errands. Went to Lowe’s, in the mall near beb’s and CrazyCatLady’s house, which Grosse Pointe mom-scuttlebutt says is LIKE TAKING YOUR LIFE IN YOUR HANDS OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WENT THERE. Two years ago, I got an email with approximately 7,000 forwards in the address field, from a woman who claimed she had her purse snatched there. I don’t doubt it; it happens. Someone else had added, along the way: “And I know there are frequent forcible rapes in the parking lot.” This I do doubt, but what can you do? People will believe anything if it confirms already-existing fears. But I needed some Dishwasher Magic, and it wasn’t going to buy itself. It’s a straight, bike-friendly shot west from my house, through Harper Woods, a middle/working-class suburb, and the route takes me down a street with towering oaks and deep, enormous lots, even though the houses on them are fairly modest. You can get a glimpse, here and there, of fabulous gardens and, yes, the occasional above-ground swimming pool. (I always want to ask if that’s the InstaRust model or the Skeeter Breeder.)

Then there’s the mall, and Lowe’s had Dishwasher Magic, as well as one of the local police chiefs, dressed in weekend shlump-wear, with no apparent sidearm. He must feel safe there. But as I was already warmed up and in the mood, I rolled farther down Old Homestead Road, to St. Sabbas the Sanctified, surely one of the weirder things to sit smack in the middle of a middle-class residential neighborhood around here. I’ve written about this Russian monastery before, part of the “patriarchal Bulgarian archdiocese of America, Canada and Australia,” although I haven’t been back since. I was interested to see whether the brothers have expanded their footprint at all — I think they’re on about six lots now. Couldn’t tell. It being Sunday, I assume they were at prayer. A hired tree guy was taking down a sizable maple limb wrenched loose in a recent storm. I remembered my main takeaway from my first visit — women must cover their heads, lest they arouse demons — turned around and pedaled home.

Some bloggage today, much of it excellent:

Brian Dickerson on the Kevorkian problem, i.e., yes, he did it wrong, but how often does the clumsy person who does it first ever do it right?

For “Game of Thrones” fans, a map of Westeros. Click to enlarge.

Don’t think that just because this story is about how Anna Nicole Smith met her elderly husband, you don’t want to read it. I was hooked here:

It began—all of it, really—when an old, sad man decided to give his life one last go.

J. Howard Marshall II was sitting in the backseat of his Mercedes sedan one afternoon in Houston in October 1991. He was 86 years old and in the throes of a terrible mourning. He was, his staff worried, suicidal.

Dan Manning, Marshall’s friend and personal driver, was particularly concerned.

“J. Howard,” Manning said, looking up at him in the rearview mirror, “I’ve been thinking.”

There was a pause. “Go ahead.”

“I’ve been thinking maybe it might be time for a new young lady.”

J. Howard looked at Manning in the mirror. He said, “You might be right.”

The GOP’s unyielding orthodoxy — no new taxes. An examination of what it’s gained and lost.

And is that it? I believe it is. Time to take the morning’s breakfast out of the oven — a spinach-and-garlic frittata — and see if it was worth the trouble. Happy Monday, happy week, all.

Posted at 9:11 am in Popculch, Same ol' same ol' |
 

58 responses to “Faking a little blogging.”

  1. coozledad said on June 6, 2011 at 9:30 am

    J. Howard Marshall should have just sucked it up and stuck his head in an oven instead of using that poor stupid creature as a sex doll. Apparently dignity doesn’t mean shit to old rich guys.
    Shades of John D. Rockefeller and his wet-nurse.

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  2. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 6, 2011 at 9:52 am

    Garlic is always good for what ails one; Cooze, did you mean Nelson & his fur-coat wearing assistant Megan, present at the departure (if awkwardly situated), or is there a story I don’t know about John D.?

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  3. Dorothy said on June 6, 2011 at 9:54 am

    Over Memorial Day weekend we got to visit both sides of the family and had breakfast with Mike’s cousin on Sunday. Nora’s hubby Tom made a spinach and shrimp frittata which I loved. I passed on the bacon/cheese/mushroom one cuz I don’t do mushrooms, but I heard it was also fab.

    As of 30 minutes ago we have air conditioning once again in our house, after a week without. Thanks be to the A/C gods since this week is going to be even hotter than last was. Fingers crossed for dry weather on Friday (although the forecast says otherwise) – we have tickets to see Alison Kraus in Kettering.

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  4. coozledad said on June 6, 2011 at 9:58 am

    National Lampoon used to run a segment of little known facts about historical persons. John D., in addition to having a wet-nurse, would have his driver stop off in poor neighborhoods, where he’d mime distributing coins from a bag. The bag actually contained mostly chestnuts.

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  5. Mindy said on June 6, 2011 at 10:04 am

    I buy Dishwasher Magic at Meijer, so if you shop there at all look for it in the laundry aisle. It was a buck off last week. Also get some Disposer Care while you’re at it. Once again I’m the go-to source for all your drain care needs…

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  6. alex said on June 6, 2011 at 10:59 am

    Never heard of Dishwasher Magic until just now, so googled it. So I’ve been rinsing my dishes in filth all these years, eh?

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  7. Suzanne said on June 6, 2011 at 11:17 am

    I learned about Dishwasher Magic from this blog and it is fabulous! My dishwasher, due to our well water, looked pretty sketchy, but after a dose of the Magic, looks bright and shiny. Now, if only there were some magic to get the rest of the family to load and unload the dishwasher without me asking…

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  8. prospero said on June 6, 2011 at 11:49 am

    So the guy from the Weakly (sic) Standard picks out tax breaks for solar panels, rather than international corporations that get money back from the government in the tens of millions, or oil companies. What a maroon. Republicans are so full of shit, they’re wrong even when they approach right. Grover Norquist is a malignant, anti-social narcissist, that should probably be drowned in a bathtub. Republic economic policy is anti-democratic nihilism, and for all their Jesus protestations, it is antithetical to anything their Lord and Personal Savior ever taught. And Nancy, is there something in that story that identified something gained by that anti-social behavior?

    Palin should approach every interview with a boombox playing Peter Gabriel. She will literally say anything, no matter what sort of bullshit she has to make up.

    Palin’s new campaign theme. More grating and obnoxious than her voice. She got that Paul Revere bells crapola from some cartoon. Palin version of Paul Revere, sans bells.

    Another total asshole Republic. This is an unquestionably flagrant violation of Federal law by Vitter, but it’s fairly well-known the law does not apply to Senator Whoremonger. But holy shit, what stunning arrogance. Shouldn’t somebody at the Justice Department be drawing up the indictment? As they say on L&O, this is black letter law.

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  9. basset said on June 6, 2011 at 12:13 pm

    the “Royal Eagle” link off that monastery site looks interesting, a little pricey though.

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  10. Sherri said on June 6, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    Since I’ve complained about Seattle weather here, I should share our good weather too. Saturday we had our first day above 75 since last September! Sunshine all day long, which this time of year means almost 16 hours of it!

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  11. alice said on June 6, 2011 at 12:36 pm

    An “awww” moment from $he Who’s World Winnebago Tour (sponsored by Viagra). The 10 year old, Warbler Mangrove, told reporters “thank you for ruining our vacation!” as if the whole thing isn’t just an extended photo op/coffer refill, but REAL family time. Bless your little heart. Even grifters were innocent once.

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  12. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 6, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    Thanks, Coozeldad, I did not know the Rockefeller foible you mentioned; reading about it was eerily like reading the Anna Nicole Smith story, which is very well written along with being depressing enough to ruin a sunny day.

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  13. MichaelG said on June 6, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    Thanks for yesterday’s compliment, Dexter.

    What is this “stiflingly hot”? What is this A/C? Yesterday it almost reached 70. Sunshine? It’ll only be a little cooler here today.

    The quality of our representatives in DC and in the Statehouse, Rs and Ds both, has got to be the lowest in history. This has, particularly, to be true given the broad scope of things these creeps control and the effects on everyday life. I despair.

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  14. Peter said on June 6, 2011 at 12:57 pm

    “Thank you for ruining our vacation!”??? Well, thank you for trying to ruin our Republic!

    OMG Cooz, is that true? I thought I heard that he used to hand out dimes to the urchins, or do I have that confused with the time Will Rogers gave JD a dime at a funeral and Rockefeller kept it?

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  15. Joe Kobiela said on June 6, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    N,
    Is there such a thing as unforcible rape!!
    Heading to Danbury C.T. Then flying all over the North East till Thursday.
    Pilot Joe

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  16. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 6, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    Odd and intriguing as to the dimes & chestnuts.

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  17. Bitter Scribe said on June 6, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    Re: cocktail pianists: The old Saturday Night Live once had a hilarious short film consisting entirely of three or four lounge pianist/singers doing “Misty.” The humor was in the editing: It was cut so that we saw each of the hams doing the same phrase in succession. It went that way through the entire song, right down to the “Thank you, thank you very much” at the end. It probably doesn’t sound so funny in description, but I was practically suffocating with laughter by the end.

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  18. Little Bird said on June 6, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    @ Pilot Joe, Yes. There is. It generally involves roofies.

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  19. prospero said on June 6, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    Republicans, in rare fit of candor, admit they don’t give a goddamn about the USA, or, apparently anything else but getting a white person back in the White House ASAP. No matter what anybody says, there are lear differences between Dems and Republics.

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  20. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 6, 2011 at 2:21 pm

    You mean, Goneril and Regan differences? I’d prefer the Cordelia party, but they’d get crushed at the ballot box, just like at the probate hearings.

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  21. Deborah said on June 6, 2011 at 2:27 pm

    Today in Chicago will be near 90 and the next few days in the low 90s. In early June! Yesterday was thankfully glorious. We had a picnic on the esplanade of our building looking out over the lake and it was actually chilly, after having been horribly hot and sticky on Saturday, it was heaven. We keep having these ups and downs. I dread to think what it will be like in August. The old saying goes you can only take so much off in the summer, and there’s the sweat. Gross. I’d much rather experience February in Chicago than 90 degrees with high humidity. Of course in real February I’m whining and complaining like mad.

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  22. Deborah said on June 6, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    Prospero, your “don’t give a goddamn” link took me back to nnc?

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  23. Jeff Borden said on June 6, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    Deborah,

    I am with you which is why I never regretted fleeing North Carolina after my four years and change at the Charlotte Observer. Yes, the spring and fall were absolutely magnificent and the winter easily palatable to a born Midwesterner. Yet I never really adapted to the incredible blast of heat and humidity that arrived in May and stayed through September without a break. As you noted, at least Chicago gets the occasional big-time weather front that scrubs the air, lowers the humidity and gives us a chance to catch our breath.

    Meanwhile, I am sitting here today a man without a prostate. A low level cancer (Gleason 3) was found last summer during a biopsy when my PSA spiked and I finally dealt with it by undergoing robotic surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Friday evening. This meant a total of five incisions in my abdomen rather than the old-fashioned open-style of surgery, so my recovery should be much quicker. My illness was caught early and compared to some of the far more significant medical issues folks like Moe and others at NNC face, this was the proverbial walk in the park.

    That said, I am reminded of the old saying that if men were the child-bearing gender, the human race would’ve lasted one generation. I hurt. My stomach feels like it took several punches from Mike Tyson from the incisions and the air they blew into my abdomen to give them room to move. And what spawn of hell created the catheter? It’s like something Dick Cheney might think up. So, I tip my hat to all who have given birth in whatever manner. I think, finally, at age 60,I have just a tiny inkling of what you went through to bring life into this world.

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  24. Connie said on June 6, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    Well Jeff, you missed the reward that makes you forget all the pain.

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  25. alex said on June 6, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    Well Jeff, you missed the reward that makes you forget all the pain.

    You mean the epidural shot?

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  26. Connie said on June 6, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    Well in my case it was the shot of synthetic morphine directly into my IV tube that made me say wheee! when I was in labor. Actually what I said was “”whee, give everyone some of this and we’ll have a party!” Had my lovely baby girl an hour or two later. And in reality you know I meant the baby. Now 23.

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  27. Jeff Borden said on June 6, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) is admitting he did send texts of his member and blames the usual bad judgment. He’s refusing to resign. Screw him. He’s now an enormous distraction the GOP can use as cover for its ongoing efforts to screw the common man. Bag it and quit, Tony.

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  28. moe99 said on June 6, 2011 at 4:49 pm

    What is it about elective office that tranforms the winners into dicks who think with their other head? This is truly a bipartisan disease, though it seems to be mainly found in those with the ychromosones.

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  29. mark said on June 6, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    Jeff B-

    That can’t be the case. Tens of thousands of collective hours on left-leaning blogs have been devoted to proving, definitively, that nasty Republicans are responsible. Obviously, Weiner is lying, probably because of some Breitbart extortion scheme or with his wife held hostage and threatened with physical violence.

    Glad your bit of cancer was disposed of so readily.

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  30. Rana said on June 6, 2011 at 4:53 pm

    Sending healing thoughts your way, Jeff.

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  31. Jeff Borden said on June 6, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    Maybe it’s all those people telling them how wonderful they are so they’ll do the bidding of the complimenters? This really hurts because Weiner is one of the few Democrats who likes a good scrap and can give as good as he gets. Gawd, but the GOP will have a field day with this at a time when they desperately need to distract America from its plans. That’s why he has to go.

    If we’re going to demand morality from shitheels like Gingrich and Ensign on the right, we need to demand it from the Weiners and Edwards on the left.

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  32. Jeff Borden said on June 6, 2011 at 4:58 pm

    Mark,

    Brietbart is as loathesome an individual as exists these days, but as my grandpa used to say, even a blind hog will dig up an acorn once in awhile. We need to get Weiner out as quickly as possible –no way a conservative would ever win in his district– rather than allow him to distract us from the battle to preserve the nation we know and love from those who are quite actively seeking to change its very nature.

    Plus, see above. Democrat or Republican, you fuck around, you get burned.

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  33. nancy said on June 6, 2011 at 5:03 pm

    Borden, sorry to hear about your prostate, but glad it’s troublemaking days are over.

    Meanwhile, I estimate I devoted five minutes of my life, total, to Anthony Weiner’s dickpix story. And now, behold! It’s over! And I didn’t have to fret about it!

    I need to try this low-information thing more often. I’m currently ignoring Sarah Palin’s bus tour. AND LIKING IT.

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  34. mark said on June 6, 2011 at 5:09 pm

    Your restraint has been noted Nancy. And I’ve always thought you are at your best when you leave the low-hanging fruit for others.

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  35. brian stouder said on June 6, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    Jeff – here’s wishing you and yours well.

    And, despite following upon Weiner’s troubles, I can’t really call the following a palate cleanser; it’s just a very strange news article, from a quirky chemical news website.

    http://www.chem.info/News/2011/05/Safety-Hollywood-Suicide-Points-to-Chemical-Danger/?et_cid=1640278&et_rid=44004269&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chem.info%2fNews%2f2011%2f05%2fSafety-Hollywood-Suicide-Points-to-Chemical-Danger%2f

    The lead:

    The suicide of a young woman in the Hollywood Hills might have seemed just another sad Tinseltown story but for large notes plastered on the window of the car in which she died: “Danger! Chemicals Inside! Call 911.” Police and coroner’s investigators had seen this before — three or four times in the past year — and they knew the danger was real to them and the neighborhood. Had the chemical cloud escaped from the car with people nearby, many others could have died, according to authorities…..Equally troubling was the fact that directions for the chemical suicide method, first publicized in Japan, were obtained from an easily accessible website through which the woman formed a suicide pact with a stranger who backed out at the last minute.

    Apparently the site has a “suicide chat room”.

    Huh.

    I mean, I might “chat” about the weather, or whether Weiner can weather what will surely be a withering (and deserved) round of condemnation, etc etc.

    But a suicide chat room?

    Huh.

    edit: “Low hanging fruit”…!!! I think we see the thread winner, right there!

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  36. Deborah said on June 6, 2011 at 5:28 pm

    It’s hard to believe that Weiner would do something sooooooooooo stupid. What is it with these men? Do they think they’re not going to get caught, or do they just not think? I. Do. Not. Get. It. Period.

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  37. Deborah said on June 6, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    Jeff B.

    Hope you’re feeling better soon. A client of mine had that operation recently and seems to be doing fine now. This goes without saying surgery is no fun, even the non-invasive kind.

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  38. moe99 said on June 6, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    Deborah, I have had to restrain myself from cackling when I’ve seen the ex lately (at our daughter’s graduation for instance) since he’s got his own dirty laundry in the basement, so to speak….

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  39. LAMary said on June 6, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    Here’s a tune they COULD be playing from the outdoor speakers.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaRlW-jz1QQ

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  40. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 6, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    Grace and peace to you, Cousin Jeff. May you quickly enjoy the thought of a bicycle seat again!

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  41. nancy said on June 6, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    The dance of love!

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  42. nancy said on June 6, 2011 at 5:42 pm

    Here’s the thing about Weiner: By the time a man is 19 or so, he should have figured out that when a woman thinks of a man erotically, she isn’t thinking of his penis. She’s thinking of him in totality. If he wants to flirt or seduce over the internet or U.S. mail or whatever, he should write her a naughty couple of paragraphs, not send her a picture of his dick. I once saw a Craigslist classified: “Send me a picture of your FACE. I know what a dick looks like.” Right.

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  43. Jeff Borden said on June 6, 2011 at 5:42 pm

    Jeff TMMO,

    Thanks! I won’t be allowed to climb on my mountain bike for a total of TWO months, but that will still give me August and the fall, which are better months for riding. The hardest thing may be remembering not to lift, push, pull or carry anything over 10 pounds for four weeks. That’s the equivalent of just two gallons of milk, I’m told, so it’s not much to screw things up.

    Thanks also the everyone at the NNC community for the kind words.

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  44. ROGirl said on June 6, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    Deborah, they’re NOT thinking, except about their dicks.

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  45. moe99 said on June 6, 2011 at 6:02 pm

    Oh, and add my bestest wishes to your ever growing pile, Jeff B! Hope you are back on your bike in no time!

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  46. Jeff Borden said on June 6, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    Appropos of the original post, there’s a great version of “History Repeating” recorded by the Propellerheads with Shirley Bassey a few years back. The woman still has the pipes.

    I will bike again. Just not for awhile.

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  47. coozledad said on June 6, 2011 at 6:35 pm

    Borden; Damn. I guess I’d better take advantage of mine while I’ve got it. I hear you can take your finger and… never mind.
    If women actually were interested in seeing dicks, and social media were around back in my day, I would have had to use clip art. Like the man says, on the internet you don’t have to be good looking, rich, or smart. You only have to lie.

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  48. MichaelG said on June 6, 2011 at 8:18 pm

    Jeff B., your post made me shiver. Heal up quickly and get back on that bike. All us old guys are pulling for you.

    I simply can’t imagine what goes on in the minds of those politicos who do such stupid things. Is it arrogance, some kind of total pussy captivation, a self destructive impulse, what? Weiner and Edwards are not stupid guys.

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  49. alex said on June 6, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    Bill Clinton’s legendary prowess (and absence of photographic evidence) is a pretty fair barometer of how smart Edwards and Weiner really are. (Although he did flub the DNA test on the GAP dress.) If power is an aphrodisiac, the empowered certainly seem to be the most intoxicated by it.

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  50. Suzanne said on June 6, 2011 at 10:12 pm

    Honestly, as one of the fairer sex, I can say without reservation that a guy who tweeted his privates to me would be filed directly in the creepy loser category. I don’t get these guys and I don’t get the women that hang around them. I still have bad dreams about a certain not-even-good-looking congressman on a boat ramp…

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  51. alex said on June 6, 2011 at 11:34 pm

    Suzanne, you conjured once again the unthinkable, a woman putting out to Mark Souder willingly and in her right mind, so far as anyone knows. That one still counts as the eighth wonder of the world.

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  52. brian stouder said on June 6, 2011 at 11:38 pm

    The disgraced member (so to speak) of the United States Congress from Brooklyn should resign, and if he won’t resign he should be expelled.

    Andrew Breitbart might be like the rooster who cocka-doodle-doos and thinks he made the sunrise, but indeed – he was right, this time. We’ll dispense with just how Breitbart managed to become the cock of the walk in this particular barnyard spectacle, except to say that these internets offer approximately zero-privacy, and all who use the internet (not least of which including members of congress and other politicians) should realize this.

    And indeed, I cannot help but add my complete agreement to the puzzlement others have expressed, at just what the hell this guy thought was so “hot” about doing such a stupid, pointless, and genuinely repulsive thing.

    Surely the good people who live in his district can find someone else to represent them in Congress. Surely, if this guy really believes in public service, he will resign his office and make way for someone else to come in, and – you know – serve the public.

    But, I suppose not. Where would the fun in “doing the right thing” be?

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  53. Jolene said on June 7, 2011 at 12:06 am

    Monica Hesse had a funny and on-point piece re how women feel about getting pictures of man-parts. I loved it, and thought it was exactly right. One of the most heart-melting gestures a man ever made in my presence was an offer to vacuum.

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  54. Catherine said on June 7, 2011 at 1:23 am

    Apparently, Governor Jerry Brown’s dog has a little problem with tweeting body part pictures, too: http://twitpic.com/55qi6s

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  55. Dexter said on June 7, 2011 at 1:47 am

    JBo: courageous call. So far my PSAs and finger waves have indicated no problems, but as soon as my doc gets back from vacation it’s time to be tested yet again.
    So many people have battled it…Jonathan Alder, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, Sen. John Kerry, Don Imus, Dusty Baker (Reds manager) and more and more.
    You may know that upon the urging of his wife Dierdre, Don Imus fought his cancer holistically and last week his PSA was in check enough times in a row for him to be called cancer-free. Amazing. It took Imus down a road of strict discipline: no potatoes, no bread, no sugar, no dairy, no meat. Coffee was OK. Today his son Wyatt Imus brought him a cup of espresso to the set, live on the air. The machine wasn’t programmed right; Imus got a big mug with SIX shots of espresso in it. Damn…who drinks siz shots of coffee at one sitting?

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  56. ROGirl said on June 7, 2011 at 7:24 am

    I think the accumulated eruption of so many sex scandals involving public figures, especially politicians, is indicative of the disconnect in society as a whole between what’s allowed to take place in public and what actually goes on in private. More specifically, it’s reflective of how a lot of men are conditioned to behave and are rewarded for in the world, whether in business, politics, sports, or anywhere else. Winning above all matters, emotions and nuance don’t. Bosses/shareholders/voters don’t want to hear about problems, obstacles, doubts, gray areas, faults or mistakes because they reflect on their own support or beliefs in what has become increasingly a zero sum world. There’s public pressure to be flawless yet straightforward and sincere, positive in the face of reality and its subtleties and setbacks.

    I’m not trying to excuse any public figures for their stupid and hurtful behavior. Their sense of entitlement is out of control and their belief in their own power is narcissistic and selfish, and they have also been rewarded handsomely for reaching the positions they have achieved in their lives. Yet there’s a mutual dance between individuals and society. It’s become a game, a tug of war between expectations and reality, and it seems like people keep falling for the idealized images projected for public consumption and being disappointed by the human messiness and frailties revealed when the facades are shattered.

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  57. basset said on June 7, 2011 at 8:12 am

    >>The hardest thing may be remembering not to lift, push, pull or carry anything over 10 pounds for four weeks. That’s the equivalent of just two gallons of milk, I’m told, so it’s not much to screw things up.

    I believe a gallon’s eight pounds – “a pint’s a pound the world around,” y’know.

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  58. Dorothy said on June 7, 2011 at 8:23 am

    basset is right, Jeff. Just don’t lift anything that could remotely be too heavy. My husband was under the same restriction when he had his colon cancer surgery in January. Allow yourself the time to heal and you’ll be glad for it. I’m happy to know you came through so positively!

    For fans of The Wire, this was in today’s Post-Gazette: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11158/1151839-153-0.stm?cmpid=bcpanel1

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