Saturday morning WTF?

Tulips. In January.

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Posted at 10:23 am in Detroit life, iPhone |
 

43 responses to “Saturday morning WTF?”

  1. caliban said on January 7, 2012 at 11:31 am

    Tulips in January in Detroit? Not a good sign.

    Privatizing services performed best and properly by government is a GOPer scam for getting their greedy hands on your hard-earned tax money. Why have social services run efficiently by government entities when crooked bastards like Rick Santorum and John Erlichman and G. Gordon Liddy, and Chuck Colson (Prison Ministries! for God’s sake) can make fortunes by contracting to provide services and taking the money while providing no services at all. Gutdom, that’ll surely maximize profits. That’s exactly what’s happening at the taxpayer-funded Santorum cashcow in this story, and it’s aptly describable as child abuse for hire. It’s astounding that GOPers want to shut down Medicare when they are so successful at stealing money from the program.

    There will be a story like this at least daily with Santorum. But really, the dead baby brother story should be enough to turn the electorate’s collective stomach. How does a reasonably sane individual do that to his kids?

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  2. alex said on January 7, 2012 at 11:50 am

    Just took a stroll around the grounds and found that the irises are busting out already during this brief respite from gloomy skies and shitty weather. They’ll probably get fried and remain dormant for the season. Sure hope the other bulb plants don’t wake up yet. The abundant tulips on this property are one of its finest features. They say to divide them every so often or they’ll die out, but I’m afraid to fuck with them because they come back so magnificently year after year and there are so many different waves of them beginning in March and petering out in early June. The previous owners were superb gardeners and left behind some great stuff. I’ve been here seven years and the only tulips that have failed to return in greater abundance are those that I planted.

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  3. alex said on January 7, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    Another anomaly, unless I’m misremembering, is primrose foliage that never disappeared and remains lush and green. I’m also seeing beefsteak begonias indoors that are flowering, which is something I don’t remember either.

    The Rapture is nigh. Michele Bachmann warned us.

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  4. beb said on January 7, 2012 at 12:11 pm

    Those tulips will be sadly disappointed come March when the temps drop below zero and remain there for a month….

    I don’t see it as global warming so much as the seasons slipping back farther each year. This year fall is just extending into January, therefore the traditional January cold freeze will come in March. As for coming to the beach on Memorial Day… only if you’re a member of the Polar Bear Club.

    Points off to Caliban for bringing in unrelated politics on the first post!

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  5. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 7, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    Caliban, and anyone else who cares – I understand that Santorum has used this story politically, and so has opened himself (and his family) to criticism on that score.

    But let’s go easy on generalizing about what that action was. I’ve seen families/couples/individuals handle a late miscarriage/stillbirth in a variety of ways. I am personally not convinced there is any one best way to do it. Those of us who have been through it know that self-second-guessing is one of the worst parts of the whole event. Their way of saying goodbye and clarifying for the family may not be your way, but let’s not say it’s everywhere and always stupid.

    Just yesterday I was talking to a woman who is in no way a Santorum supporter – at all – and she said that she took the opportunity to hold and talk to her stillborn child, and then asked that the hospital handle the remains however they might normally do so. She didn’t regret not “burying” the child, but she said that, after that, she could see what the Santorums intended: her eight year old, who had spent eight months expecting a sister, kept asking “what happened to the baby?” In retrospect, she thinks if it happened again, she would have her child come into the birthing room and see the child, and explain that way, but wasn’t sure.

    I have no idea what I would recommend if asked, but I have and will support whatever a woman or couple says they think they should do. It is a tragic minefield of emotion whichever path you take forward.

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  6. JayZ(the original) said on January 7, 2012 at 12:23 pm

    We used to be able to predict the weather by the calendar, but that has not been the case for the last several years.

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  7. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 7, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    Oh, and my wife and I were horribly disappointed by the new Sherlock Holmes movie. It redeems itself a bit with the last sequence (a chess game on a balcony, twinned with action within), but the middle two-thirds is a classic modern action movie attempt to stun and numb the senses with blurred, frantic action, incoherent character reactions largely in the key of hysteria, and pounding, ear-drum creasing sound with little real relation to the narrative. Wait for the DVD, watch the beginning through the train sequence, then skip to the Switzerland conference. Or wear ear plugs.

    Stephen Fry is excellent as Mycroft Holmes (he was Jeeves to Hugh Laurie’s Bertie Wooster among other things), and the perfectly marvelous Moriarty is Jared Harris, the Brit from “Mad Men” these last few seasons.

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  8. nancy said on January 7, 2012 at 12:30 pm

    Jeff, exactly. While what the Santorums did was odd by my lights, it was well within the range of how people grieve these unique tragedies, as this wise WashPost column notes.

    What’s weirder, to me, was a story I remember about some prominent pro-lifer, a real nutter, whose pregnant wife was killed in a car accident. If I recall correctly, he asked that the fetus be surgically removed from the corpse, embalmed, and placed in its mother’s arms in the burial casket. That was ghastly, and, given what I know about the fragility of unborn fetuses, must have been a horrifying ordeal for all involved.

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  9. caliban said on January 7, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    My objection to what the Santorums did has to do with subjecting their living children to something terrible. This is not something I’d expect adults to do to children they love. I had a little brother that died when I was nine, and going to a wake and funeral was very traumatic, and bothers me 51 years later. Not my parents” fault. They were being managed by well-meaning relatives, because they were too distraught to make decisions. To this day, I don’t handle funerals well, and I will not attend wakes. I also think employing the story for political purposes is repugnant.

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  10. alex said on January 7, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    It’s tacky to pillory Santorum on a matter like this one when he has held himself wide open to ridicule on so many legitimate fronts. Liberals and Democrats, as aggrieved as they may be, should take the high road and diss this nasty piece of shit for the the things he says and does and the fact that his histrionics make him look like he was separated at birth from Mink Stole’s character in Serial Mom. There’s an uncanny resemblance and it no doubt is attributable in part to acting the part of a prude.

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  11. maryinIN said on January 7, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    Maybe if you mulch the tulips heavily you can protect them from the cold. Or, since bulbs need a cold period anyway, will a later freeze harm only these shoots and still allow more to develop later? I guess that depends on how much they develop further before the cold hits and stays, but as long as they haven’t flowered, perhaps they will have enough energy stored to start again when they “should”.

    I am in no way a fan of Santorum and can’t fathom him as the nominee, but on how to handle the grief over the death of a child (or any dearly beloved, for that matter): each person is entitled to handle such an event in a manner that is best for them. We may be puzzled by their choice, or even incredulous, but unless you have been through it personally you can’t possibly know how you would react. I assume that since this happened in a hospital, there were advisors or counselors present who could gently guide the family. Also, what were the variables? Was it a time of day when it would have been unfeasible to rouse sleeping children, then feed, dress and transport them to a hospital? Or would it have been easier to do what the Santorums did? I think the exaggerated description by third, fourth or more distant parties is what has people more upset than the actual event itself. All that said, to bring a such personal story forward for political or financial or reputational gain is dangerous because it does invite scrutiny and speculation. Of course others have made similar personal revelations to explain their passions or motivations and were criticized (or not): “my sister died of cancer” (Gore?). I think this is a rather modern phenomenon — we didn’t know much about JFK’s institutionalized sister Rosemary, for example, and the criticism of keeping it secret out of a sense of shame was just dawning.

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  12. maryinIN said on January 7, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    Caliban, Your latest post was up when I hit the submit button, so I didn’t see your reply about your brother. I’m sure that was a very painful experience and a long-lasting one, and I’m sorry you had to endure it. This is, in a way, illustrative of my point: People are all different in this regard and what fits one is not necessarily what is best for another. That makes the decision-making much harder for those that have to make them, especially under duress, and you may not ever know if you made the “right” one. When my father died, my sister and I allowed our children (8 and 9 year olds) to tell us how much they wanted to attend and be part of. One made it all the way through the wake, service and burial. Another went to the wake and part way through the service asked to go home with a kind neighbor who had agreed to wait with him if necessary. I think that was probably not as hard for a grandparent as for a brother, though.

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  13. Connie said on January 7, 2012 at 1:56 pm

    Bassett, I will add my recommendation to Schaumburg as a shopping destination, having done a couple of girlfriend weekends there. In addition to Ikea and Cabela,s nearby there is a huge mall and a great assortment of restaurants. I particularly like the Big Bowl, an Asian fusion place, and my friend always makes me go to the Cheesecake Factory.

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  14. Deborah said on January 7, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    A good friend of mine had a baby who died of SIDS, it was horribly traumatic. The child was about 3 months old. They had a wake with an open casket and I could not bring myself to go, I agonized over it because I knew it would mean a lot to my friend but I just could not do it. I went to the funeral which was closed casket, that tiny little casket. Both of the parents spoke during the service and there was not a dry eye in the place. I tear up even now when I think about it. Another friend had told me that during the wake someone had brought a little jacket that they had meant as a baby gift and for some reason they felt it was appropriate to give it to the grieving parents then. Apparently my friend went over to the baby in the casket and put the little jacket on him and he was buried with it on. That was one of the saddest things I had ever heard.

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  15. Dexter said on January 7, 2012 at 2:46 pm

    Deborah, I concur with your emotions. Baby funerals are just so real and shocking…I admire your courage in going; I would have had a hard time doing that.

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  16. Dexter said on January 7, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    More on-topic, Tahoe upside down, record ice cream sales in January, only artificial snow way up high, mountain bikers claim the mountains way too early in the year.
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/07/MNMD1MLGS7.DTL

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  17. Runner said on January 7, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    Nancy, that happened here in Minnesota. It was Allen Quist.

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  18. Charlotte said on January 7, 2012 at 4:49 pm

    I’m in Montana, and it’s been so warm that yesterday I turned over a garden bed, put up the hoops and plastic, and planted some spinach. We’ll see what happens … if it stays in the 40s and 50s like it’s been, I should have greens in a month or so. Of course, with no snow, we’re all going to burn up next summer …
    As for dead brothers — everyone does it their own way. When my youngest brother died (I was 8, middle brother was 6) my mother only had a memorial service. No tiny coffin. She thought a tiny coffin was too brutal to inflict on people. So for 30 years I had a nagging sense that he wasn’t really dead, had just taken off somewhere. When my middle brother died (I know, I know, it sounds overdramatic, like Lady Bracknell’s line), I insisted on seeing his body. I just needed to know that it was him, and that he was really dead. Unfortunately, yes on both counts. People do it differently, one family I knew had a huge, open-casket funeral for their 10 year old, and videotaped it, then forced the siblings to watch it every year. That wasn’t such a great idea, which they realized eventually, but it took the mother that long to get it into her head that it was real. Basically, my feeling on funerals, is that we’ll get it fatally wrong for someone, so you can only do what you think is right for yourself and your immediate family. Anyone gets judgy, well, f*ck them, aren’t they lucky for the luxury of not having to have had to make those decisions …

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  19. Joe Kobiela said on January 7, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    Tulips on the organ beats flowers on the piano, any day.
    Pilot Joe

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  20. brian stouder said on January 7, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    Deborah – Pam and I went to an equally heartbreaking funeral a few years ago. One of her close friends had just selected a new daycare for her infant son, and – boom – he was dead. (Apparently the daycare provider had anger-management issues, and slammed him into his crib, which ended his life)

    We went to that funeral, just north of Indianapolis, and it was held in a brand new church on a sunny day. I’ll never forget walking down the corridor to one of the classrooms, where the visitation was; the excruciatingly small casket was open.

    Sunlight was streaming in the windows, near where the little casket was located, and the baby was absolutely beautiful.

    The whole place smelled like “new house”; fresh paint, new carpet, clean and unmarred; all in all, disconcertingly like a waking nightmare.

    Then, we all went back down the corridor to the main church sanctuary, and the little casket was carried in, and we sang several songs including “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know”, and everyone in the place wept, including me. At the back of the church, the Indianapolis Star reporter cried, too, and then we headed outside; the TV news people (and others with cameras) were out on the street, where they were asked to stay.

    Anyway, this issue of how one deals with the death of an infant is genuinely awful, and I’m with Alex – Santorum is plenty ridiculous quite apart from anything to do with dead babies. In fact, I fully expect that we’ll have at least two or three flatly ridiculous things to hash over from tonight’s debate, since two guys are flatly desperate (Perry and Gingerich), and both of them are bomb-throwers even on their best days.

    Edit: And Pilot Joe Kobiela swoops in and wins the thread flat-out, and then throws in a wing-waggle as he flies on!

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  21. beb said on January 7, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    I hate going to funerals, which, mercifully, have been few.

    I’m with Caliban that what the Santorums did following the death of their infant was on the creepy side and undoubtedly traumatic to their other children. I jusr would rather talk about the poor deluded tulips who think it’s spring already.

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  22. Dexter said on January 7, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    it’s star-r-r-r-rting! butterflies in the gut, tension on the blood vessels, high level of concentration, twenty minutes to kickoff, twelve years since the Lions made it this far…and a feeling that the Lions just have to play better than the awful Cincinnati Bengals just did down in Houston.
    I haven’t been this fired up for a Lions game since they beat Dallas in January, 1992.
    I also see no way they can beat Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints tonight, but hope springs eternal and all that….
    I’d also like to see Wendell Pierce eat a little crow tonight…he’s been poppin’ off a lot this past week. Man, that dude loves his Saints!

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  23. MarkH said on January 7, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    I’m with Dexter. Watching the Saints-Lions. I do not care anymore who beats up whom in the debates. I will still say that things get better for Huntsman, maybe not to the nomination, but he’ll rise and get more attention before this is through. Hey, if Newt and Santorum can rise from the depths, why not one with common sense? Conservative dogma be damned.

    I refuse to pass judgment on anyone, Santorum included, when dealing with death and grief. And, I am one who will not avoid funerals of friends and loved ones. From personal experience, I know the bereaved need us there, difficult as it may be.

    Brian, as parents, we can imagine the pain in a story like that, if only. Horrible ordeal for the family and the friends, to be sure.

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  24. Jolene said on January 7, 2012 at 9:49 pm

    My parents had a baby who died at birth when I was about eight years old. We, the older children, were all taken to the funeral, where the casket was open. None of that seemed odd or traumatic to me at the time. It might have been worse if the child had lived to become part of our family, but, as it happened, we were fine.

    As Charles Lane suggests, young kids may be more likely to have questions than to be afraid. One of my sisters had polio as a toddler, and, although she’s basically fine, she walks with a limp. Every so often, a kid will ask her what happened to her leg, and she always answers simply and straightforwardly, which is generally satisfying to the child. Sometimes, though, the child’s parents will attempt to shush him or her, which just makes everyone feel awkward.

    Thanks for the link to the Lane piece, Nancy. Very touching and well stated.

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  25. brian stouder said on January 7, 2012 at 11:15 pm

    Speaking of well stated remarks from Nancy, if you go to the 42 North site, several bite-sized pieces are available there (including an interesting one on muskrat pelts, and the proper wine to serve with that entree)

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  26. Dexter said on January 7, 2012 at 11:59 pm

    The Saints are simply relentless and I see no one beating them this next month, all the way to NapTown and the Big Show Superbowl.

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  27. brian stouder said on January 8, 2012 at 12:17 am

    A review of the Republican debate in one word:

    Incoherent.

    Trying to follow their collective reverence for anything and everything that is “in the Constitution”, and then their absolute insistence on their own definition of marriage (which ain’t in the Constitution); or the conflict between what the Constitution plainly says about making war (ie – see Congress), and these guys’ oddly imperial (and in the case of Rick Perry, completely WILD*) view of Presidential war-making powers was enough to give me a headache and also induce me to muttering.

    I think the show is about over. Nobody kicked Romney, and Ron Paul got the very best lick in (albeit against Newtie).

    When Newtie insisted he was NOT a chickenhawk because his daddy served in the military – and besides, he never ASKED for the deferments that he got – Ron Paul succinctlty pointed out that he was married and had two kids when Uncle Sam came calling, and he went. Boom! Hope you enjoy that “Chickenhawk” tag Newtie, because now you have the matching tattoo across your forehead.

    So now it’s not even a clown-car. Romney is the acknowledged (if not yet formally and officially credentialed) nominee, and the others are only the sideshow; the under-card.

    *My God – My God!! I laughed out loud when Governor Perry – who seems to have gotten a trim and darkened his hair two shades, since last we saw him – vowed to SEND US TROOPS BACK INTO IRAQ!! That suit-and-tie secessionist sack of shit was on firmer footing when he couldn’t remember which three government agencies he wanted to shutter. I don’t know why he bothered to show up at NH, but his New England/South Carolina Second Act seems to have left comedy behind, and transitioned into tragedy

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  28. moe99 said on January 8, 2012 at 2:37 am

    And Mitt Romney’s favorite book is L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth.

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  29. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 8, 2012 at 8:02 am

    The non-Romney candidates were all running for ambassadorships, as far as I could tell. What are those well-paid consultants & advisers doing if they can’t help you come up with ways to jab at the front-runner without sounding mean & petty yourself? But they all unilaterally disarmed, other than to try to take each other out (Paul earned some love when he charmingly eviscerated Gingrich), and Mitt kept talking right into the camera as if he were running against Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. You don’t have to like him to be impressed with his focus on the task at hand. Other than Huntsman, there’s not another person on the stage whom I’d trust with planning a Cub Scout pack Blue & Gold banquet.

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  30. heydave said on January 8, 2012 at 9:23 am

    You people are tougher than me. I would flip into the debate no wand then, but was only able to linger a minute or so each time. I would feel myself getting dumber by contact and had to leave.

    Go Packers!

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  31. coozledad said on January 8, 2012 at 9:35 am

    heydave: I’ll only watch excerpts. If I want an Amway presentation I can always phone one of my shitsack relatives.

    EDIT:If you only read one thing about this assemblage of urine soaked, bedbug infested furniture, it should be this:http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/new-hampshire-debate-analysis-6634955

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  32. basset said on January 8, 2012 at 10:16 am

    Joe@19: (rimshot)

    Connie@13: I didn’t know Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates were so close… Southwest runs a $59 fare from Nashville to Chicago every once in awhile, that just might be the impetus for a weekend up there next time we get the chance. Staying away from Cheesecake Factory, though, haven’t even been to the one we have here. Might try to get into Ann Sather’s again, too crowded last time we were there.

    Deer season, by the way, has just ended and did not go well – got a small one during muzzleloader season and didn’t even attempt a shot during archery or rifle. Trying to get onto a wild hog hunt now, they are a nuisance animal here and you can shoot them year round, at night, over bait, however you can find them. Good to eat, too, from what I’ve been told.

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  33. beb said on January 8, 2012 at 10:27 am

    Romney’s favorite novel is “Battlefield Earth?!” That’s a book only a Scientologist would read. That means that Romney is a Mormon Scientologist! We have identified the anti-Christ!. Holy Shit!

    Shame about the Lions but at least they got into a play-off game instead of being eliminated weeks before.

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  34. Joe Kobiela said on January 8, 2012 at 11:23 am

    50 degrees @ the start. Finished 26.1 in 4:23.Not my best time but ok since I tore a hamstring in Oct and couldn’t train properly. Thanks for any good thoughts thrown my way this morning.
    Pilot Joe

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  35. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 8, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    Joe, you’re a better man than I. Your earlier aphorism was shorter than this, but I heard it on “The Writer’s Almanac” and thought it was a good response in kind —

    “A Description of London” by John Banks.

    Houses, churches, mixed together,
    Streets unpleasant in all weather;
    Prisons, places contiguous,
    Gates, a bridge, the Thames irriguous.

    Gaudy things enough to tempt ye,
    … Showy outsides, insides empty;
    Bubbles, trades, mechanic arts,
    Coaches, wheelbarrows and carts.

    Warrant, bailiffs, bills unpaid,
    Lords of laundresses afraid;
    Rogues that nightly rob and shoot men,
    Hangmen, aldermen and footmen.

    Lawyers, poets, priests, physicians,
    Noble, simple, all conditions:
    Worth beneath a threadbare cover,
    Villainy bedaubed all over.

    Women black, red, fair and grey,
    Prudes and such as never pray,
    Handsome, ugly, noisy, still,
    Some that will not, some that will.

    Many a beau without a shilling,
    Many a widow not unwilling;
    Many a bargain, if you strike it:
    This is London! How d’ye like it?

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  36. MichaelG said on January 8, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    Dexter, the problem with the unseasonable weather in the high country is far broader than the lack of snow for skiers. The snowpack is what much of California drinks. No snow, no water. We could be looking at problems later in the year. Fortunately, last year was a record one and the reservoirs are plump. Also with the sixty degree temps and the high winds we’ve been having, the fire people are very nervous and very alert. We need snow and rain very badly.

    The Saints will be in town (SF) Saturday against the 49ers. The 49ers have a very good defense but I, sadly, am picking the Saints to win for one simple reason. They have a quarterback and the Niners don’t.

    I agree that Cabela’s and IKEA are worth a visit. One could spend hours at either. There is also the Bass Pro Shop. It seems to be a clone of Cabela’s. There might be one near somebody who doesn’t have a Cabela’s in the neighborhood. I’ve driven past the one that’s off the 15 just above the 10 near Ontario airport and it’s every bit as big as a Cabela’s.

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  37. caliban said on January 8, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    Lions? I’m just remembering the first half, particularly the dazzling opening drive. Second half, Lions got 0-16 officiating while Saints still got the NFL Katrina bonus. Two first down spots were incredibly bad, and the quick whistle negating a TD was unconscionable. The alleged blow to the helmet call on the Saints’ non-TD was hilarious, couldn’t have drawn a flag in Little League 20 years ago. Still, slow LBs running in molasses in January and DBs that don’t catch balls thrown right to them , recipe for defeat. And I have to think, any defensive coach not on life support could get more defensive pressure from Suh and Fairley than did Gunther C. Who looks as if he’s being played by Martin Landau as Ed Wood. So Lions raid Bama and LSU for back 7 defensive players in the draft and come back to fight next year. Helluva good year, though. Lions comeback record better than Tebow, sans genuflections. Best passer/receiver combo going for years to come. Sorry Patty’s fans, Stafford can make throws Uggs Brady can’t conceive of.

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  38. MarkH said on January 8, 2012 at 4:37 pm

    As if Romney felt he didn’t have enough issues being a Mormon running for president, he had to endorse a scientology tome. moe is correct, although Romney did parse what is old news. I thought she was making it up, but here it is:

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/romney-favors-hubbard-novel/

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  39. caliban said on January 8, 2012 at 6:05 pm

    I once read a few pp. of an LRon book and I was pretty sure he was exactly the same guy as Clive Cussler. I would say that if I had a friend or acquaintance that put his setter on the roof of the Clarke Griswold wagon for a several hundred mile trip, I’d beat the shit out of him and ask him what the fuck he thought he was doing. This is not a normal human being. Clark Griswold made an honest mistake that any family patriarch on a vacation could make. Did Mitt forget what was going on when the terrified dog shat and pissed all over the car.

    And maybe I’m out of bounds thinking that Santorum did something exceptionally creepy bringing home his dead child and introducing him to his siblings. but the bastard is so calculating and crass, it seems obvious he did this to build a campaign narrative. It certainly seems to run head-on into his personhood logic. I mean, by his legislative logic, he should have let his wife die. When you arre an idealogue, it’s one way or another, Rick. And Romney the war monger? How ’bout them healthy boyos that don’t serve.? Shouldn’t they take up the cause like that great patriot, the cowardly John O’Neill, Nixons’s favorite. Who was alwaysone safe command after Kerry, but knows Kerry was making shit up? If you just lie your ass off, you probably get away with it. Lying creeps.

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  40. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 8, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    Oh, but MarkH, it gets worse. “Battlefield Earth” was five years ago; this past summer he was asked that same question, and he praised the “Twilight” novels. Bleccccchhhhhh.

    From bats to wurst.

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  41. brian stouder said on January 8, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    So I caught this morning’s New Hampshire Debate II, and noted that Huntsman made the point he SHOULD have made last night (when a president asks you to serve your country, the proper response is an affirmative one), and Newtie got some shots off, and Perry was still airy (and a little less scarey, as he didn’t repeat his pledge to re-invade Iraq), and Ron Paul remained obtuse, and Santorum went on an incoherent riff about not ever saying “middle class”; an evil term, apparently.

    Or maybe that was last night.

    It was like a party that stretches to the next day, and then nobody can keep straight what happened when…

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  42. Deborah said on January 8, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    Back home in Chicago, went out and got some provisions, walking down Michigan Ave, lights blazing. A whole different mountain range, tall shiney buildings instead of craggy rock outcroppings. The best of both worlds.

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  43. Dexter said on January 8, 2012 at 9:46 pm

    caliban: good catch…Gunther Cunningham DOES look like a character straight out of “Ed Wood”! Perfect!
    Tebow was fabulous tonight. Turned me…I never thought he possibly could do what he did tonight (he beat Pittsburgh and Ben Roethlisberger is what he did). Denver is just a lot better than I knew, because I never watch them during the season.
    MichaelG…stay hydrated this summer; I hope your water supply holds out. ( …fond memories creeping in of my swimming in the San Joaquin River {not a smart thing}, and the San Luis Reservoir, which was great fun. )
    Don’t worry, the game won’t be a blowout…New Orleans may not even prevail.

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