An unseasonably warm Election Day here in Michigan, with morning fog that’s in no hurry to leave. We had a similar fog period last November, about four days of murk that stayed all day and only thickened at night. All my east-side Detroit friends posted tweets and status updates about the weather, while the west-siders remarked on the bright sunshine they were enjoying over there. I had an errand one day that took me west, and coming back on the freeway, I could see the fog bank lurking ahead, and then I was in it, the lights went out, and it was back to London.
I guess this was a reminder that the east side is just a few feet lower in elevation. According to the usual unreliable source, i.e. Wikipedia, we’re at 577 feet, and Royal Oak, on the other side of Woodward, a lofty 663. The difference between the two? Fog.
I should live in San Francisco. Next lifetime.
I’m a little foggy myself this morning. This being a school holiday, I indulged myself in a little extra sleep, aided by my OTC sleep aid. The NYT noticed this on their Sunday Styles front the other day, one of those NYT ON IT stories they do from time to time. As usual, it was framed in such a way to be patronizing to women; sleep aids are the new “mother’s little helper,” etc. And also as usual, it was one duh statement after another:
Sleep-medicine practices are overwhelmingly dominated by female patients. Dr. Nancy Collop, director of the Emory Sleep Center in Atlanta, said three out of four insomnia patients at the clinic are women.
Duh.
Many believe that sleep deprivation among women has worsened. In the “Women and Sleep” study, 80 percent of women reported being just too stressed or worried to turn out the proverbial lights.
Duh.
Dr. Collop points to the persistent creep of technology into the after-hours, a time once reserved for physical and psychological winding down.
You’re kidding! Duh.
“My brain is just going, going, going,” said Erica Zidel, a mother and a founder of a baby-sitting company in Boston, who takes melatonin to fall asleep. “It’s so active that I can’t slow it down.”
And so on. For those of you keeping score at home, women (and yes, men too) are now expected to work full-time (and be grateful for whatever job they have, where they’re most likely working 30 percent harder than they did a decade ago), run the household, take responsibility for everyone’s laundry, cook a meal or 10 during the week, shop for groceries, “support” everyone and turn their constantly morphing to-do lists off at 11:05 p.m. for six to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Maybe when monkeys fly out my butt.
Until then, I have my personal media criticism to keep me drowsy. It’s amazing to me how, on a fast-moving story like the Penn State scandal, newspapers manage to be both out of it and, in their continuing embrace of their hoary old customs, almost so far out they’re back in. Here’s the Harrisburg Patriot-News’ front page today (and if you’re seeing this on any day other than Nov. 8, you’re not going to see what I’m talking about — I’m using the Newseum’s today’s-front-pages site to link to). It’s their editorial calling for something that, on day three of this tawdry affair, seems like the bare minimum of decency — for both Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier to resign or be fired — and yet, it is presented in a way to put it on a par with the Magna Carta. The entire front page is all words, no photos, no graphics. BEHOLD THE POWER OF OUR RINGING CALL FOR JUSTICE, etc. The byline is the traditional one newspapers use in these cases: “by the Patriot-News editorial board,” which the average reader knows precisely nothing about. (My newspaper started putting bylines on editorials some years ago: “By Writer’s Name for the editorial board.” It was by far the most popular change they adopted, ever.)
WE SPEAK AS ONE, AND WIELD THE SWORD OF TRUTH, this page says. BOW DOWN BEFORE OUR GRAPHICS-FREE CONDEMNATION. READ THESE WORDS, AND TREMBLE. And so on. So I did. It’s only the university president who has to go immediately, the editorial board opined as one; Paterno can finish out the year “with the honor and admiration he has earned since taking over as head coach in 1966.” Oh. Well. It’s just a couple more games. I’m sure the retirement parties will be no fun at all.
OK, the hour is growing late, and I want to get in a bike ride before the rain comes, the wind changes and more seasonable temperatures arrive. Until then, don’t forget to vote.
EDIT: If you want to read something about the Penn State case written with the more flexible Fencing Foil of Truth, Lawyers, Guns and Money has been doing some nice work.
Bitter Scribe said on November 8, 2011 at 10:55 am
I have never seen or even heard of a newspaper devoting its entire front page to a single editorial. Wow. No matter how much you agree with the sentiments expressed, Nancy’s right*, it sure does come across as pompous.
The only partially saving grace would be if this were one of those “wraparound” front pages, with the real one underneath. Even still, jeez, get over yourselves.
*as usual
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Sue said on November 8, 2011 at 11:04 am
“when monkeys fly out my butt”
That’s an hallucination, Nancy, brought on by sleep deprivation. Ignore it.
I didn’t read the article – did it mention the other obvious reason for a woman’s sleep deprivation? They should ask these women if their husbands snore, then get the husbands in for sleep apnea studies. That should take care of the skewed women/men ratio. Trying to sleep next to someone who snores like a roaring beast tends to ruffle delicate feminine sensibilities.
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alex said on November 8, 2011 at 11:09 am
Election day here should be interesting.
The Republican candidate (whom Nance once described here as an “empty vessel, a fish that attaches itself to bigger fish for a ride across the ocean”) has waged one of the ugliest local campaigns ever to hit the airwaves. She had the Republican state auditor do an ad where he declares that Fort Wayne is in a dire fiscal meltdown and that it’s all the current Democrat mayor’s fault. Of course, his assertions are entirely false and the city is in great financial shape despite the sputtering economy. In another ad, she point-blank calls the current mayor a liar.
I thought it was quite interesting news that a D.C. journalist discovered that Fort Wayne is leading the nation in job growth, which rips a big hole in Paula Hughes’ phony claims that things here totally suck and it’s the incumbent mayor’s fault.
I hope the voters give her the landslide defeat she so richly deserves. I’ve heard Republicans saying they’ve lost respect for her and it doesn’t surprise me.
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Julie Robinson said on November 8, 2011 at 11:14 am
The mud-slinging has gone both ways. I’ll be holding my nose today in the voting booth, and stepping carefully to avoid the s**t.
Not all snorers have sleep apnea, and in those cases the treatment can be a guessing game. The best solution can be finding a separate sleeping place.
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MarkH said on November 8, 2011 at 11:25 am
OT —
Caliban, just for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ANF1mpvvBo&feature=share
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Peter said on November 8, 2011 at 11:30 am
Bitter, I think (and think is the operative word) that the Tribune had a front page editorial saying that Nixon should resign.
The Penn State situation is beyond sickening, if for no other reason than in so many ways it’s just a replay of the church scandals.
For me, there’s two depressing aspects:
1. You hope, you want to hope, that getting caught in the act would finally be enough for the person to realize that they have to check themselves before they wreck themselves, that admitting to a problem is the first step in recovery. The cheating spouse, the pilfering employee, the office drunk, the office horndog (that’s right Mr. 9-9-9), you want to believe that getting caught would FINALLY have them face the facts and fly right, but as the church scandal sadly showed, it doesn’t stop them at all.
2. It’s the Old Senile Coot Who Doesn’t Know When To Retire Syndrome – oh, the stories I have of partners, senior architects, engineers, who stayed on way too many years after they should. Some say it’s because they need the money, some say they stay on because they still have it, but let’s face it, they don’t. Mummified figureheads like Joe Pa can’t stand the thought of being retired in Fort Myers or glad handing at donor events, but at a certain point that’s all they’re good for. As repulsive, illegal, and just plan wrong as it is, I could see Joe Greatgrandpa acting like that, because who needs trouble when you have to watch your sugar level?
I guess it disturbs me because I can see myself one day as a doddering old fool who stayed on too long – in fact, if you ask my coworkers, that day was a few years ago.
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LAMary said on November 8, 2011 at 11:30 am
“For those of you keeping score at home, women (and yes, men too) are now expected to work full-time (and be grateful for whatever job they have, where they’re most likely working 30 percent harder than they did a decade ago), run the household, take responsibility for everyone’s laundry, cook a meal or 10 during the week, shop for groceries, “support” everyone and turn their constantly morphing to-do lists off at 11:05 p.m. for six to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.”
This is my life. This plus the snoring aspect Sue mentioned. I did three loads of laundry last night, walked all three (two at a time, then one alone) dogs, made roast chicken with nice fresh vegetable side dishes and did the dishes all after working nine and a half hours. I was answering work emails this morning at 6 am. I made the coffee and made oatmeal for everyone. Dropped off the carpool at the high school on the way to work and got here before anyone else.
But three things made me feel good this morning:
I saw a very cool looking mutt, probably a mix of Lab, Great Dane and some Australian Breed prone to light eyes. She was very sweet.
I found a bottle of perfume I forgot I had and now I’m wearing some and I really like it.
I parked next to the executive chef here at the hospital, someone I not only have never met but didn’t know we had, and I asked him about the knife roll he was carrying. We had a good conversation about knives, places to get knives sharpened, and raising omnivorous children as we walked from the parking structure to the hospital.
So life is exhausting but it’s good.
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Connie said on November 8, 2011 at 11:39 am
When I started snoring like a roaring beast my husband told on me to my doctor and I ended up in the sleep lab. Yup. Love my CPAP machine. My sleep problem, like so many, is turning off my churning brain.
My stay at home husband does laundry, dinner, dishes, dog walking, love you, big guy.
Day 23 of quitting smoking against my will. Truly feel better. Start car, look for cigarettes. Pick up book, look for cigarettes. Answer phone look for cigarettes.
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Bitter Scribe said on November 8, 2011 at 11:42 am
Peter–Yes, but the Trib didn’t devote the entire front page to that editorial.
The Trib opining on the front page is nothing new. Usually, like last Sunday, it takes the form of a summary and referral to something on the editorial page.
Even that seems excessive to me. (Maybe because I’m getting increasingly annoyed with the hectoring tone the Trib has been taking for years with regard to Illinois’ finances. I don’t know why they think we would be so anxious for financial advice from the representatives of a company that is in its third year of bankruptcy, with no end in sight.)
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Jeff Borden said on November 8, 2011 at 12:05 pm
I hope all the Buckeyes who visit here are voting to put John Kasich, the Koch whores and all the other union-busting, minority vote-denying trogs on notice that they cannot take away the rights men and women fought and died for by fiat.
As much as the GOP field resembles a bad clown car act, let us not forget that the conservative movement is not only prepared to fight dirty, but it has oceans of old white rich guy money to put into action. Efforts to deny the elderly, students and, of course, those nasty non-Herman Cain minorities from voting easily are overtly designed to deny President Obama a second term.
I truly believe my parents –solid, middle-class Republicans– would weep at what their party has become today. They may have favored lower taxes and a stronger defense, but they had no interest in denying rights to minorities, greasing the way for the ultra-wealthy, demonizing gays or working to combine government with Christianity.
Will this political party right itself? Or are we faced with a future where only insane people or polished cardboard cutouts can aspire to higher office under the GOP banner?
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Judybusy said on November 8, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Yesterday, someone said they could understand the grad assistant not doing anything when coming upon the sexual assault, as this person was assumed to be quite young, perhaps 20. In reading the article today, he was 28, waaaay old enough to know better. I can not fathom why he didn’t at least shout out to interrupt the rape. This really sickens me; the effects of this abuse are pretty awful. I can’t say anything else that’s original in this case, so I’ll leave it at that. I do come down on rather liking the front page. Better than the story being buried, or not reported at all, which was the case for far too many years with sexual abuse.
Regarding sleep-deprived women: I don’t know if things on the homefront will ever be equally shared for straight married women. It can take so much energy to change that dynamic, and I imagine many women just do and do to save their energy for doing rather than arguing. One of the many reasons I chose not to have kids was the incredible work involved. I know the ankle-biters bring a lot of joy, but it just wasn’t for me.
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Dorothy said on November 8, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Kasich can suck it, Jeff. I can’t stand the bastard. Really hope he’s one and done when it comes to the next governor’s election. I voted at 7:20 this morning and was happy to do so. My kitty got a clean bill of health at the vet’s this morning, and now I’m sending a BIG round of applause towards Connie for trying to quit smoking!
I have to find a way to get outside for at least a half hour this afternoon. The weather is splendiferous.
Breaking news re Paterno:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-said-to-be-planning-paternos-exit.html?smid=tw-nytimes&seid=auto
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John G. Wallace said on November 8, 2011 at 12:28 pm
@Connie, keep up the good work even if it’s not by choice. I am a huge believer in AVRT or addictive voice recognition therepy where other and better known methods haven’t worked for me.
Tell that VOICE that is asking for a smoke that if you still feel the same way tomorrow you can have one. Tomorrow never comes. I always wonder if that’s why Joe’s Crab Shack failed in Fort Wayne. The sign outside promising free crag legs tomorrow was likely a matter for debate and I always pictured them turning away people who were camped in the parking lot at 11:59 with those plastic lobster bids and wet wipes.
I’ve been thankful this week as I’m on board with a well known Newspaper chain doing very varied stuff for their local daily as a freelancer. I can’t complain about the money – but it’s ruined one of my other hobbies – complaining about that publication. It’s been a long road back to the business and part of the journey was achieved exactly through the advice I offered above, although cigarettes have never been my thing.
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Bitter Scribe said on November 8, 2011 at 12:30 pm
I wonder if that little boy, while he was being raped, spotted that grad assistant backing off. I hope not, although I guess one more little betrayal probably didn’t even matter at that point.
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MichaelG said on November 8, 2011 at 12:42 pm
No election here today.
So what if they make Paterno retire? He’s a hundred and fifty years old. I’m sure they’d let him sit in the pressbox to watch the games which is all he seems to do anyway. Cutting his pension and bennies and all ties to the university would do it. I simply can’t fathom how it could be possible for him not to know about Sandusky’s proclivities. He says he thought they were just taking a shower together. Even if true why did it not seem odd to him that a sixty year old guy was taking a shower in the locker room with a ten year old boy?
I always thought that creep Brent Musberger was the only one who called him JoePa. On second thought, Musberger doesn’t have enough imagination to dream that one up. He had to have gotten it from somewhere.
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Sue said on November 8, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Judybusy, one of the things that kept me going through the several hundred years it took me to raise my kids was the idea that someday, someday they would be all grown up and I would be able to sleep. And the sleep would be wonderful, starting out with a leisurely read before bed followed by hours of blissful unconsciousness.
And now my kids are grown up and trying to make it in a world where the rules are changing on what seems like an hourly basis. They’re working their butts off and are some of the lucky ones because they have full-time jobs with insurance. But what little they have can be taken away arbitrarily by people who might decide tomorrow that they aren’t contributing enough or shouldn’t have control over their reproductive decisions or aren’t associating with the right people or have chosen a profession that doesn’t deserve livable money or respect. I know people say that you never stop worrying about your kids, but I don’t think this is what they meant.
I don’t have sleep problems because I’m worried about my future although heaven knows there’s enough to worry about there. I’m scared for my kids and that’s no fun at 4 a.m.
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Deggjr said on November 8, 2011 at 12:52 pm
Ouch, Bitter Scribe, that’s a hot button. The Chicago Tribune has been hectoring the teacher’s union to work a longer school day without a pay increase, while firing columnists (Sam Smith and Melissa Isaacson come immediately to mind) and reducing the overall content. Frequently the Monday Tribune would barely line a bird cage. If the union followed the Tribune’s example the school day would be two hours long.
Yesterday the Tribune front page carried the story that the State of Illinois didn’t investigate 85% of hospital complaints. Why would the government confiscate money from the productive 53% to hassle the job creators? Let the choice built into free market drive the poor hospitals out of business. What, that won’t work for hospitals? It might not work for schools either, another frequent Tribune hectoring topic.
There, I feel better.
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Sherri said on November 8, 2011 at 12:57 pm
I wasn’t so much defending McQueary as pointing out that he was in a more difficult situation than perhaps some people understood. That doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t have protected the child, just that he was risking more to do so. He wanted a career as a college football coach, and he wouldn’t have had that if he confronts Sandusky; college sports programs don’t tolerate whistleblowers. My major point is that Paterno, as the head coach and the self-appointed moral center of college football at Penn State (and everywhere else) had a much high responsibility, and one he failed utterly.
Now, Paterno can’t even face the press: he’s cancelled his regular Tuesday press conference.
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Bitter Scribe said on November 8, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Deggjr–Amen. The Trib is all about accountability and financial responsibility, as long as it doesn’t involve higher taxes or the Trib’s own balance sheet.
As for the content, I can’t stand those huge, poster-size, inane graphics that take up half or more of almost every section front. Why not just create a big graphic out of the phrase “We got nuthin'” (maybe the Colonel holding up a sign?) and keep using it over and over.
I wish I felt better.
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MarkH said on November 8, 2011 at 1:12 pm
What Sherri said. As I said last night, McQueary’s future was bleak as soon as he walked in the shower, no matter what he decided to do.
Anyway, the train is leaving the station:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-said-to-be-planning-paternos-exit.html?_r=2&hp
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Sue said on November 8, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Judybusy, Sherri and others:
The thing I found most telling re the grad assistant is that his immediate reaction was to call his father, and if I read it correctly, it was an immediate action; he called his dad right away and they decided on what to do together, which was to go through correct channels. That tells me not that he was immature or trying to protect his position or any number of things, but that he could not process what he saw and instinctively turned to someone he trusted for help.
Note that he did not turn to any of the standard authority figures, in the school or in law enforcement. I see a man who at a deep level understood the system he was involved in, knew he needed to get help outside the system and went to a safe place to get it. Yes he should have intervened and it’s a shame that he had a safe place to go to for help and that kid didn’t. But do any of you think he was the first person who came upon this monster raping children in a public place? It seems he’s just the first or one of the first to at least try to do something about it. And look what’s happening to him or going to happen to him because he didn’t make the right decision and fly into heroic action upon seeing something completely unbelievable.
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Sherri said on November 8, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Here’s an article from a writer who grew up in State College as a contemporary of McQueary, that gets to what kind of place Paterno and Sandusky held in that community: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7205085/growing-penn-state
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MarkH said on November 8, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Well said, Sue. My sentiments exactly; what a position for McQueary to be in.
Anyway (again), it’s over for Paterno, when these guys weigh in:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/andy_staples/11/08/penn-state-joe-paterno-scandal/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a1
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Great video, Mark. Made my day. Charlie Rouse on the tenor is great on this piece, a seminal composition. And isn’t seminal equal to iconic for being deployed without understanding by people that like the way it makes them sound. It’s fitting for Straight, No Chaser, a signature Monk tune, with Round About Midnight (stunning Wes Montgomenry version.
I always thought the opening line of this Steely Dan song is “Thelonious, my old friend.” but apparently there is some internet argument about it. Sure sounds right, and would be a perfect example of Fagen/Becker obscurantism by unfamiliar pop culture reference for most rock music fans. And all that stupid crap about Steely Dan not really being rock ‘n’ roll, fools never heard Reeling in the Years, obviously, or Boddhisatva.
My bed partner is 5ft.-6in. and about 115lbs. soaking wet, and snores like a drunken longshoreman. She also suffers from bouts of bruxism, which I find more disturbing to my own sleep, because it seems like something with causes I should be able to remedy, so it’s particularly hurtful. I don’t know if its’s based in anxiety, but that sure seems likely. Two years ago, we bought a HEPA filter air purifier for the bedroom, and run it every night. (It’s dusty at the beach.)I don’t know if it’s the filters effectiveness, the marvelous white noise effect of the fan on medium speed, or a combination, but we both sleep much better with the machine running.
If Paterno were actually the great human being he’s always purported to be, he’d slink away and never darken the public eye again. I’ve never liked the guy, because of all of his complaining about Penn State not getting recognition in polls when they continued to carry Temple and Lehigh on their alleged bigtime schedule year after year, and never played good teams away from Happy Valley. Maybe they were avoiding outstanding warrants. That was outrageously dishonest and dishonorable whining. But, then, I actually care about football.
Sounds like congratulations are appropriate John G.
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Deborah said on November 8, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Sleep problems are my life. I use valerian root capsules (they smell terrible) and melatonin every night. It helps me fall asleep but doesn’t help me stay asleep. So I keep my iPad next to the bed and read when I wake in the wee hours. I love it that I don’t have to go to another room and turn on a light to read. last fall/winter when I couldn’t exercise my sleep problems were really bad.
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MarkH said on November 8, 2011 at 1:42 pm
Caliban, who’s on the drums in that video?
I never heard anyone credible say that Steely Dan wasn’t rock n roll.
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nancy said on November 8, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Sherri, good call on that Grantland piece. It could have been written about Columbus, East Lansing and any of a dozen or more football towns.
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Deborah said on November 8, 2011 at 1:54 pm
Sherri, great link to the Grantland article.
edit: Funny, I just hit the submit button and saw Nancy’s comment about the Grantlans piece too.
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brian stouder said on November 8, 2011 at 2:00 pm
So, I’m expecting good results from our Buckeye friends on Issue 2 (SB5), and from my fellow Summit City voters on our mayoral race. But, rather than watching the local media parse the returns beginning early in the evening, the young folks and I are running off to IPFW to catch a lecture by a media big-foot (relatively speaking), Martha Radditz. Her discussion will presumably revolve around the Arab Spring, and we probably won’t be home much before 9:30 (including a stop for a soda pop, or whatever), so let me just state – for the moment that we know SB5 has been rejected by the Ohio electorate- HUZZAH!! And when Mayor Henry graciously accepts Paula Hughes’ concession, DOUBLE HUZZAH.
And if we lose on one or both of those results………………………………………………………………………(respectful silence, muffled sobs)
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Jolene said on November 8, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Ditto from me on the Grantland piece. I have friends at Penn State– a couple in which the man is a professor and the woman is a senior administrator who works directly w/ Graham Spanier, the university president. It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch, so I haven’t been sure whether to call or not. I can only imagine that they, like so many others, are in agony about this. They’ve lived there as part of the university community for nearly 30 years.
Not that their suffering is comparable to that of the actual victims. They are just more of the people who, like Weinreb, are now living in a completely different world.
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Dexter said on November 8, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Caliban: Thanks again for mentioning “Going After Cacciato”.
(It’s a novel by the magnificent Tim O’Brien).
I searched my library and damned if I didn’t have a copy in my paperback section. I must have bought it and then got sidetracked, because I can’t remember reading it. I start it today.
I voted. We had four separate school funding issues on the ballot. It’ll be interesting to see how many pass. We also had a highly publicized issue , Issue Two, dealing with union organizing, mostly. I am keenly interested in that one.
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Judybusy said on November 8, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Sherri, thanks for the link; it really does provide some perspective. I’m not the least interested in sports, so getting some understanding of the status of Paterno and Sandusky was helpful.
Sue, I really did laugh reading “During the several hundred years I was raising my children….” The rest, though is sad. What will it take to get us back on track? I was thinking about the falling standard of living and it occurred to me that most of what is written applies largely to white, middle and upper-class families. Native Americans, Asians, blacks, and Hispanics have struggled much more. Some things I’ve read observe that they are suffering more severely in the downturn, which doesn’t get too much reportage.
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 2:38 pm
The drummer on the Monk Quartet is a guy named Austin “Paris” Wright. Regular rhythm section for Wes Montgomery were Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums and his brother Percy on bass. Grady Tate, a great drummer, knew Montgomery from playing with Lionel Hampton’s band and they played on quite a few cuts together. Grady Tate was also the drummer for Paul and Artie’s band for the Concert in Central Park album. He also played on a couple of Pearls Before Swine albums, back in the day.
Mark, that slur on Steely Dan was a big deal when they won a Grammy award a few years ago. Like the metalheads that went berserk about Jethro Tull (admittedly with a more legitimate complaint. Even Ian Anderson thought that was strange.)
Sue, you mean those sentences don’t run concurrently?
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 2:56 pm
There’s a report from Italy that Berlusconi has agreed to quit, if he can become CEO of the National Restaurant Association.
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Rana said on November 8, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Caliban, I wouldn’t blame yourself for your inability to remedy your partner’s bruxism. I’ve been dealing with it since I was a teen, and it comes and goes, and has (as far as I can tell) very little to do with any specific anxiety; it’s more like a nervous fidget or a facial tic. The only thing that’s mitigated it for me is a combination of mouthguard and relaxation therapy, and that just reduces the noise level and jaw pain — I still grind my teeth just about every time I sleep with my mouth closed.
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Dorothy said on November 8, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Caliban I got to see the Heath brothers on stage here at Kenyon College earlier this year. What entertainers they were! The music department brought them in for a show. I’m so glad we saw them and bought some of their CDs afterward.
http://www.kenyoncollegian.com/arts/heath-brothers-quartet-connects-in-rosse-hall-1.2210344
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Jolene said on November 8, 2011 at 3:09 pm
Some good news on the healthcare front: Another court has upheld the Affordable Care Act, specifically recognizing the constitutionality of the individual mandate. Also, the judge who wrote the opinion is apparently well known for his conservative jurisprudence. Jonathan Cohn has the news and some of the reasoning.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/97209/obamacare-wins-another-round-in-court#.Trlv76A0fX8.facebook
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Peter said on November 8, 2011 at 3:19 pm
Sue @ 21 – I’ll second that. You can’t help but think that if he had gone to the police, they would have worked with the school to minimize the fallout and his career would have been toast from that moment onward. As opposed to this moment onward.
After all, there’s examples of South Bend/ND complicity in messy affairs.
Mark @ 20 – what’s really sad is if you read the comments on the NY Times article. According to some of the popular comments, poor old Joe is being the scapegoat for the board. Oy.
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Jolene said on November 8, 2011 at 3:26 pm
A couple of weeks ago, I got a new smartphone w/, of course, a touchpad keyboard. It’s been easier to get used to than I thought it might be (although the small size of the screen and my clumsiness do lead to more typos than I usually produce), but it has also resulted in one funny habit that I now have to conquer.
I can copy and paste a link from another page by pressing w/ my fingertip–first on the page I want to link to and again where I want to post the link. The funny part is that, between the copy and paste gestures, I have the sensation that the link I want to paste is stuck to the end of my finger–as if I had stuck my finger into a bit of sugar. Makes me feel as if I should type the message that the link will go into w/ another finger so as not to mess up the link that is “stuck” to my finger. Very bizarre, but, happily, I’ve almost cured myself of it.
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Kirk said on November 8, 2011 at 3:42 pm
I took a sleep test this summer, only to find out that I snore, which I already knew. Nice to know it isn’t apnea, but it cost me about $750 out of pocket, aplied to my deductible.
For the record, the president of Penn State, whose head is going to wind up in the basket next to Joe’s, is the one who canceled Paterno’s press conference today.
And it appears that the Borowitz Report deserves the credit for the Berlusconi line.
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Judge Silberman is not just a well-known and respected conservative jurist, his reputation is as the cconservative expert on the Commerce Clause. From the opinion:
The mandate, it should be recognized, is indeed somewhat novel, but so too, for all its elegance, is appellants’ argument. No Supreme Court case has ever held or implied that Congress’s Commerce Clause authority is limited to individuals who are presently engaging in an activity involving, or substantially affecting, interstate commerce. … To be sure, a number of the Supreme Court’s Commerce Clause cases have used the word “activity” to describe behavior that was either regarded as within or without Congress’s authority.
That language and logic take a large scalpel directly to the guts of the anti-mandate argument and leave them shredded. Does Cuccinnelli mean “kiss my ass” in Italian?
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Sherri said on November 8, 2011 at 4:13 pm
If you haven’t already read it, Taylor Branch’s Atlantic article on the corruption of college sports is long but worth your time: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/#
I’m a long-time fan of college sports, but I know for every feel-good story, there are ugly ones.
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Virtual San Francisco:
http://cams.exploratorium.edu:8010/1/control.html
City in space:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2011/10/cities-space/247/
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brian stouder said on November 8, 2011 at 4:34 pm
but I know for every feel-good story, there are ugly ones.
Indeed.
A fellow and I were talking about this while all the news began breaking yesterday, and he said this was like when Woodie Hayes and Bobby Knight imploded – and I disagreed with him.
This is more like when Rumsfeld was SecDef and ruminated about “known unkowns” and “unknown unknowns”. Egomaniacal coaches, who could go – in a fit of uncontrolled emotion – super-nova at anytime, are “known unknowns” (we know things will end ‘badly’, but not when); just as we know that sometimes players end up with new cars or walking-around cash, or whatever.
NCAA is adept at handling various ‘retail’ cheating scandles (and the like) with fines and probations and such….and even “death penalty” sanctions, when things are really out of hand.
But this terrible, still-to-be-revealed mess at Penn State is an unknown unknown.
If a school’s athletic program can be shut down over recruiting violations and the like, how severe would a just response to this orchestrated deal in State College, PA have to be?
I ask, because I have no idea. But I think it should very damned severe.
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MarkH said on November 8, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Kirk, what’s your take on the final vote for Issue 2?
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MichaelG said on November 8, 2011 at 5:22 pm
At Caliban’s Virtual SF you are looking at the Presidio with the GG Bridge in the distance. I used to live in close walking distance. My friend and airplane partner worked at the Explo and I spent many wonderful hours hanging out there. That was in the days when Frank Oppenheimer ran the place. He was a quiet, gentle man. The brother of J. Robert. Boy, those were the days.
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paddyo' said on November 8, 2011 at 5:27 pm
So, the Hermanator says he Cain’t remember Sharon Bialek. Big surprise, huh?
More interesting is that some solidarity may be building among his accusers: Slate.com is reporting that one of the anonymous ones who originally settled, out’ed today by News Corp’s e-tablet “paper” The Daily, is floating the idea of a group news conference to tell their stories together.
Here’s a link for both developments.
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 5:38 pm
J. Robert was also a quiet and gentle man,who was betrayed by his friends, his colleagues, his country, and mostly by the spawn of satan, Edward Teller, whose bloodthirsty inhumanity Oppenheimer did not share. Oppenheimer looked at the devastation of the Trinity Test Site, which he had named for a poem of John Donne, and described his feelings in this way:
We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” I suppose we all thought that one way or another.
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Kirk said on November 8, 2011 at 5:44 pm
MarkH, I think we’re expecting it to go down by 18-20 points.
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 6:11 pm
If a school’s athletic program can be shut down over recruiting violations and the like, how severe would a just response to this orchestrated deal in State College, PA have to be?
It’s beside the point, obviously, but it may not need to be the NCAA that brings the wrath of hell down. How is this going to be dealt with by Penn State athletic recruiters. According to a friend that went to Penn State, McQuearey is the program’s big gun HS recruiter. This is a mighty tough sell to alpha teenage males, not to mention their moms and dads. I know that’s meaningless in comparison to the enormity of this whole thing, but football Saturdays in Happy Valley in the coming years is going to be a wasteland.
It hasn’t really showed up in reporting on the Sandusky case, but PSU had a pretty sordid athletic department scandal just a few years ago, with some outrageous behavior by the women’s hoops coach alleged. Fairly astonishing this hasn’t come up. Seems years as a succsful women’s BB coach didn’t engender the same kind of protection Paterno and his minions were afforded.
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 6:40 pm
How do GOPers see overturning net neutrality when the economy’s in the three-holer basement as an electoral winner for them? No conceivable logical way. Serviices for pay.
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Sherri said on November 8, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Caliban, Rene Portland’s rules against lesbians were an open secret in womens’ basketball for years. She had plenty of protection for a long time, but federal lawsuits are a little hard to cover up. The kicker is, the woman she kicked off the team for being a lesbian wasn’t even a lesbian.
Brian, the NCAA is unlikely to do a thing to Penn State over this scandal. The NCAA doesn’t get involved in criminal matters. Give money to a recruit, trade a jersey for a tattoo, or even crash on a player’s couch if you’re a recruit, and the NCAA is right there to come down hard on you. Crimes are outside their jurisdiction.
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Judybusy said on November 8, 2011 at 7:45 pm
There is a great documentary about the Rene Portland scandal. It’s moving and sad. Just watching this trailer again is so hard. She destroyed so many dreams and lives, and for what?
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caliban said on November 8, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Psychopaths make up the 1%.
What has happened over the past 30 years is the capture of the world’s common treasury by a handful of people, assisted by neoliberal policies which were first imposed on rich nations by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. I am now going to bombard you with figures. I’m sorry about that, but these numbers need to be tattooed on our minds. Between 1947 and 1979, productivity in the US rose by 119%, while the income of the bottom fifth of the population rose by 122%. But from 1979 to 2009, productivity rose by 80%, while the income of the bottom fifth fell by 4%. In roughly the same period, the income of the top 1% rose by 270%.
In the UK, the money earned by the poorest tenth fell by 12% between 1999 and 2009, while the money made by the richest 10th rose by 37%. The Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, climbed in this country from 26 in 1979 to 40 in 2009.
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Jeff Borden said on November 8, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Caliban,
Thanks for the link to a sad but fascinating story. I truly wish I had a nickel for every time some douchebag has told me how he worked his ass off for his success and wealth without mentioning being born into a two-parent, upper-middle class family with access to good schools, good health care, etc., not to mention the connections mommy and daddy offer up to help little Junior or Suzy get ahead.
When I worked at a business newspaper, it was always striking to learn how many children of board members found wonderful, high-paying jobs with the companies mom or dad helped guide. Sheer coincidence, of course! Like John Galt, these young masters and mistresses of the universe would have risen on their own because of their incredible talent, education and work ethic.
Our country is probably too fat, too lazy and too busy watching “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” to ever really do what is necessary to return us to the halycon days before Ronald Reagan, but even so, I tip my hat to the people who are at least trying with the occupy movements. They are actually putting some skin in the game.
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alex said on November 8, 2011 at 8:49 pm
Well, it’s official. The empty vessel went home empty-handed. Overall a great night for the city but sorry to see Karen Goldner ousted.
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nancy said on November 8, 2011 at 8:53 pm
It wasn’t even close, either. Such an ugly fight for such a relative blowout.
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Joe Kobiela said on November 8, 2011 at 9:08 pm
No dog in the Fort fight, but 1634 votes is a blow out? 4%, seems kinda close. Tom Henery was probly the best choice anyway.
Pilot Joe
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alex said on November 8, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Joe, this is one time we can agree.
In the last election, there were Republicans defecting and they had Republicans for Henry bumper stickers and yard signs. Paula’s not nearly as divisive as the previous Republican candidate, who lost by a much greater margin, but this is a Republican town and she might actually have done better by advertising herself as the nice person she is otherwise thought to be. Terrible campaign.
I should add, for those who take issue with Tom Henry’s ads, that she set the tone and he gave back almost as good as he got.
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MarkH said on November 8, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Victory in Ohio as well. Issue 2 down, SB5 dead. Even a better margin than Kirk’s call.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/11/08/1-issue-2-election.html
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Jeff Borden said on November 8, 2011 at 9:49 pm
Workers of the world, unite! John Kasich, sit your weeny, Koch-sucking ass down and have a few slices of humble pie. Maybe invite the other Koch sock puppet, Wisconsin’s soon to be recalled Scott Walker, over for a bite. He’ll be tasting it soon enough.
I’m way too old and way, way, way too cynical to read much into this, but man, it would be nice if working people started pushing back. It probably will not happen, but for tonight. . .it’s single malt time!
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MarkH said on November 8, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Borden, maybe you’ll get a kick out of one of my brushes with semi-greatness:
John Kasich’s first-ever campaign strategy meeting was held at my townhome in Upper Arlington, winter of ’76. One of my post-college graduation roommates was a good friend of John’s, and at the time Kasich thought he would make a good campaign manager for his first run at the state legislature. This, after Kasich left the employ of another disgraced Ohio politico, Cincinnati area rep. Buzz Lukens, for whom he was an aide. Well, that lasted about a week, as Walt realized he wasn’t cut out for such an endeavor. I have had no contact with Kasich since that night.
Actually this wasn’t Kasich’s first run for office. When I got to Columbus in the fall of 1972, he was running for student body president at OSU. The only election he ever lost, I think. Know who he lost to? Then-future Cleveland mayor Michael White.
There. That is all.
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Kirk said on November 8, 2011 at 10:20 pm
A law that just required state employees to pay a certain percentage of their health insurance and pensions could have withstood a referendum, but those dumbasses had to over-reach and try to bust the unions.
Meanwhile, the ridiculous fantasy issue that would purport to exempt Ohio from the federal health-care law is passing handily. They might as well have amended the state constitution to declare that Ohio owns the dark side of the moon.
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brian stouder said on November 8, 2011 at 10:42 pm
Well, HUZZAH! – indeed.
Aside from that, Martha Raddatz talk at IPFW was – I must say – surprisingly good (and Shelby, the 13 year old, agrees). And, whereas I thought she’d draw maybe a couple hundred folks, she pretty much packed the house, which was very, very good to see.
She gave a lively and engaging talk about Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, Israel, and Uzbeka-beka-beka-beka stan-stan…and it was probably fair to say that all of those hundreds of Hoosiers who came to the talk learned more, and were given more to think about, than Herman Cain has ever in his life seriously considered.
Also, whereas I have noticed that when Hollywood-types give lectures (thinking of Neil LaBute last year, or that guy from The Lord of the Rings, etc), they tend to wear sneakers and jeans (their work clothes, essentially); Ms Raddatz wore a plain black one-piece dress with a knee-length skirt and long sleeves with cuffs, and a collar; and black shoes.
Not a burqa – but one got the impression that she was wearing her ‘work clothes’, more or less. Plus, I noted that when she came out from behind the lecturn, she’d stand with her feet crossed – which was a look that worked for her. (Pam informs me that this is a standard slimming pose, but we digress!)
She has flown in excess of 100,000 miles this year, and had no end of interesting stories and insights. Also, she has nothing but good things to say about the United States military, which (one gathers) routinely are her only friends, once she’s at the end of her tether, on the other side of the earth, doing her job.
With 90,000 US troops still in Afghanistan, she reminded one and all that we’re there at least until 2014….and she pointed to Iran as the single largest challenge going forward from today.
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Linda said on November 8, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Yeah for the death of Issue 2! But better yet–the “personhood” referendum in Mississippi is dead, and Maine voters got their same-day registration back. Oh, and in a last-ditch effort, the American Future Fund, a conservative group tried to robocall people to tell them to vote tomorrow. Of course, one call went to a union office and the jig was up. They attempted to blame it on the incompetence of the phone vendor, instead, one presumes, of the pressure group.
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Kirk said on November 9, 2011 at 12:46 am
Batchelder is the Republican speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. What an arrogant dipshit.
“Batchelder said that sooner or later the public will become unhappy with Democratic tactics of putting referendums on the ballot to overturn GOP-passed laws.”
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Deborah said on November 9, 2011 at 5:55 am
Good for you, all you people in states who got what you voted for.
Brian, it is great that you take your kids to those lectures and I love when you tell us what they were about.
Pea soup fog out my windows, can’t see the neighboring buildings at all.
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Linda said on November 9, 2011 at 5:58 am
Ohio Republicans are a nasty piece of work altogether. See this lovely quote from Lou Blessing on why state workers should get pay cuts, but the General Assembly should not:
I guarantee you that most Ohioans feel I’m doing my job more than the inaptly-named Blessing is.
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Suzanne said on November 9, 2011 at 7:07 am
I was at the Raddatz lecture, too. Very interesting. She may have stood in a “slimming” pose, but sure didn’t need to! I enjoyed the lecture, although I left feeling like a huge underachiever in life. I would love to have been able to sit with here for a few hours and find out more!
I, a pro-lifer all the way, was glad the person-hood initiative in Mississippi did not pass. I heard one of its proponents interviewed recently, and he was scary. Under this law, I swear every pregnant woman would have to have feared every bit of food she ate, any physical labor she did, or any bit of cough syrup or ibuprofen she took. Any miscarriage would apparently have been suspected to be murder.
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Claudia said on November 9, 2011 at 7:26 am
I am married to a Penn State grad who also happens to be a big JoePa supporter. Even now. He became enraged last night when I asked him what he thought of Joe and the rest of the stuff going on out in “Happy Valley.” He thinks Joe did what he was supposed to do, and that it was enough. I think there are a lot of people who feel the same way about their beloved JoePa. After less than a 60-second “conversation” about Penn State, he and I have agreed not to speak about any of this because we are clearly on opposite sides.
I am heartsick and disgusted with the 28-year-old graduate assistant who didn’t intervene when he saw a child being raped. And I believe he called his father to work out the right career move, not that he was confused or devastated by what he saw. I am angry that not one of these men called the police. Not the campus police who might have some conflict of interests in this, but the outside police or the state police. I am disgusted by the people who saw this pedophile continue to bring children to football games even after he had been found out/banned/banished/whatever from Second Mile.
What kind of people are these when football/careers/egos come before children?
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coozledad said on November 9, 2011 at 7:31 am
It’s beginning to look like Herman Cain’s accusers and their attorneys may organize a joint press conference. What do you want to bet they’re going to need a convention center?
If I were Herman Cain’s lead attorney, I’d be looking into the pervert doppleganger defense.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 9, 2011 at 8:02 am
Ditto with Suzanne. The first three months from conception is a vexed time for making policy of any sort, with a sincere desire on one side to respect the development of a human life, which is distinctively present, and the sheer biological reality of how many foetuses in that stage do not continue. Trust me, women & couples don’t need more reasons to second-guess themselves when miscarriages and complications set in at that point. This is what makes the Mormon solution, so to speak, so intriguing, and a part of why Romney & even Orrin Hatch are mistrusted in the pro-life movement, because they affirm something called “quickening” based on a statement of Joseph Smith’s, that the foetus is “ensouled” when the mother first begins to feel the child move. From that point, in the LDS perspective, then it is a person and abortion is a moral wrong. Mormon or not, that just makes a certain phenomenological sense to many people across the board . . . and I think we saw that expressed in Mississippi.
So, journalists all along the bar here — how do you feel about this now-broken “gentleman’s agreement” to not report on Sarkozy & Obama dissing Netanyahu in terms that are, quite frankly, utterly unsurprising? Bibi probably laughed himself when he read the story. I’m still trying to get my head around whether Obama really meant it when he said “I have to deal with him every day.” Seriously? The POTUS talks to the President of Israel every day? Who’s calling whom, and wherefore?
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caliban said on November 9, 2011 at 9:49 am
Jeff, Obama was talking about the realities of American political life, in which a gigantic lobbying group with more money than Bibi is in full attack mode everyday. That would be AIPAC, and why US law allows such flagrantly excessive influence on American policy on behalf of a foreign government is beyond me.
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MarkH said on November 9, 2011 at 10:48 am
Jeff(mmo), and Suzanne, nicely played. I admit I was not as tuned in to the Mississippi “personhood” issue as I should have been until now. But I am glad it is appropriately shot down and behind us.
Claudia, I’ll still not judge McQueary as harshly as the others. The crucial incident occured 9 years ago, plenty of time for everyone to have come forward to authorities. However, his and his father’s trust in Paterno was misplaced. There was plenty of time for him to act on his own, do the right thing when he saw no action against Sandusky.
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