I think Caliban was asking the other day what an orthodox Catholic was. Here’s a perfect example, methinks, an Indiana legislator who is covering my former hometown with glory:
INDIANAPOLIS – A Fort Wayne lawmaker has refused to sign on to a resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, calling the group a “radicalized organization” that supports abortion and promotes the “homosexual lifestyle.”
Rep. Bob Morris, R-Fort Wayne, sent a letter to his fellow House Republicans on Saturday explaining why he would be the only member in the House not to endorse the nonbinding resolution.
He said he did some web-based research and found allegations that the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, allows transgender females to join and encourages sex.
Follow the link to his Indiana House site, and learn that Morris has been married 12 years and has six children. That sounds about right — one every two years, spaced via extended breastfeeding and natural family planning, which leaves Dad lots of time to scan the internets, where this entire story appears to teeter on a single source, i.e. a Washington Times column. Which is of course of indisputable integrity.
I can’t stand it. I hope the blowback — and let me tell you, there will be blowback, especially at cookie time, and the Limberlost Council is an active, high-quality group — singes this idiot’s eyebrows off. I hope there is not even a hint of apology from anything or anyone associated with the Girl Scouts. Because if this nonsense isn’t nipped in the bud, you just ask for more of it.
Related: A fairly smart piece on the sexual counter-revolution, which lots of people aren’t even aware exists.
Eh, this nutter leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Let’s move on to Downton Abbey. What did I think of the finale? Eh. This is what I think. The gap between the first and second season was as yawning, in the end, as the one between the first episode of “The Killing” and the last. I keep trying to find that light place where I can let the bad part slide away and the good part stick, but I think my patience is paper thin. By the final moments, I didn’t give a fat rat’s gluteus if Matthew and Mary would get together, because if they didn’t, some other guy with bandages wrapped around his face would lurch onstage and set off another crisis that would be cleared up in 20 minutes or so.
“Mad Men” it is not. But then, neither is “Mad Men.”
At least I can bid the drawing room farewell for another year or so. “Eastbound and Down” is my new Sunday-night destination.
Which is another post. I’m interested in how far you can push the boundaries of frat-boy grossness. If it’s just right, it’s funny. But just wrong is so, so close.
So, do we have any more bloggage today?
A ghastly shooting in Detroit over the weekend.
The president’s “radical Islamic policies.” Yup.
With that, let’s take a bite out of Tuesday, eh?
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 21, 2012 at 7:08 am
With all due respect to the Proprietoress, who is allowed to like and dislike anything she wishes — there’s a general tone about “oh, Downton Abbey: no one goes there anymore, it’s much too crowded.”
Once too many like it, all the folks who praised it to the skies assert “it’s not what it once was.” But between the Titanic and dead Turks in the bedroom, and proposals in the snow juxtaposed with jailhouse hand-holding, I don’t see a major shift in any direction from early to (currently) late.
And with Shirley Maclaine chewing the scenery along with Dame Maggie, I say bring it on. Plus Lady Edith is really growing on me, though my heart will always be with Mrs. Patmore.
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beb said on February 21, 2012 at 8:09 am
The problem with Christian Dominionists is that they don’t get out enough. All these claims about Girl Scouts are patently silly is you’ve ever meet them. Or — God have mercy on them — worked on a cookie sale. Girl Scouts don’t have time to worry about sex or whether someone is gay or transgender. They’ve gotta move those cookies. At 25 cents profit per box it takes a lot of boxes to pay for the clubs activity.
Actually I think it is an outrage that the GS get so little from the price of a box of cookies but the cookies themselves have always been a mighty temptation. They are good.
The President’s islamist policies… Since winning a couple of non-binding caucus ballots Santorium has been emboldened to unleash his inner theocrat. In addition to his spokespersons misstatement he is now claiming that denial of climate change is found in the Bible. There’s still a week before Michigan votes on the Republican primary. I wonder if that’s enough time for Santorium to alienate more “R”s than Romney?
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Linda said on February 21, 2012 at 8:12 am
Don’t worry about blowback on the crazy–the country is ready to blowback in a big way. Conservativism is kind of where the left was in the late 70s–people are mostly silently revulsed by the crazy, and the crazy are really loud and proud, and superficially in charge, but most people are stampeding for the exits. That will become really clear in the next few years. Occupy Wall Street pointed out the capitalist emperor with no clothes, and the Planned Parenthood dustup is a harbinger of things to come on the cultural front. Conservatives make a big deal about most people labeling themselves “conservative,” but when you poll people about individual issues, it’s clear that they have picked this label for themselves awhile back and not questioned it much, the way people habitually wear clothes that are just a *little* snug for them, and no longer in their prime. The blowback is underway.
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 8:23 am
There are between 65 and 80 million American Catholics and a large number of ex-Catholics. As I’ve pointed out, the views and dictums of faith held by that Indiana Rep goober characterize a small percentage of Catholics: Opus Dei hairshirt self-flagellators, Tridentine followers of Mel Gibson’s loony da, Latin Mass fetishists, fringe reactionary political groups, and, unfortunately, the Bihops.. None of these have much in common with regular American Catholics, and current Church statements and strictures regarding birth control and even abortion are not settled dogma (whence orthodox), and a huge majority of American Catholics do not feel bound by them. Here’s a more representative opinion:
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/sexandgender/5713/contraception_furor_v._catholic_realities/
Anyway, the idea that some “elusive Catholic Vote” is going to boost the fortunes of the Party of destroying the social safety net AND the environment over McConnell’s and Boehner’s birth control bullshit is a simplistic GOPer pipe dream, and pretty much political auto da fe.
Maybe some people just get the feeling there is not so much “there, there”, Jeff. Lady Edith is a sadder sack than is Bates, and the crispy critter cousin was straight out of the Susan Lucci playbook (or whoever that woman is that’s so famous for never winning an award). We’ll be watching when Season 3 begins, mainly hoping to see Thomas the wicked footman get his just deserts. And didn’t Anna have a look of animal satisfaction and concupiscence on her face lying in the big bed with Bates on the morning after the consummation? Lord Grantham’s transgressions with the maid were egregious, and I was sure Lady Cora was a goner. And it’s nice that Daisy can get some relief from her anguish. I’ve been afraid her face was going to freeze that way.
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coozledad said on February 21, 2012 at 8:32 am
Linda: I hope so. I don’t know how long a series of execrable choices someone would have to make before they feel comfortable with that hateful-ass tribe, but you get the distinct sense that their feelings of persecution are related to unsavory acts. Bob Morris might be innocent of anything odder than shoving range balls up his ass, or he might have a crawlspace full of dead drifters: to go all Black Hand on the Girl Scouts is basically daring the authorities to come have a look at his skeleton collection.
It’s like one of the commenters at Roy’s said yesterday: with the personhood laws, they’ve literally become the party of fucksticks.
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Suzanne said on February 21, 2012 at 8:40 am
I live amongst these Santorum-ite types and interact with them frequently. I hope there will be blowback, but I don’t know. These people truly and honestly think like him. They truly believe that they are doing the work of the good Lord and that someone like Santorum is not in the least bit looney. They believe that God truly does see the US as a shining city on the hill and that the only way it will ever regain its place in the universe is to follow the laws that God set before us, or rather as they see these laws.
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Julie Robinson said on February 21, 2012 at 8:52 am
Bob Morris runs a “health food” store. I’m thinking he got some bad herbs.
Really, the state is crumbling all around us, and this fool spends his time on creationism and finding fault with the Girl Scouts. THE GIRL SCOUTS.
Around here they get 50 cents a box. But the girls also get credits that they can put towards camp, where, no doubt they will be introduced to more radical ideas.
Is it any wonder we’d rather talk about Downton Abbey?
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ROGirl said on February 21, 2012 at 9:05 am
Thinking about Downton yesterday, I came to the conclusion that it was a soap, a high class soap, but a soap nonetheless. Matthew’s miraculous cure, complete with clunky misdiagnosis explication, the temptation of Lord G, the convenient death of dreary, faithful — how will they ever get rid of her? I know, the flu — Lavinia, the Dowager Duchess reduced to Wildean witticisms, the sufferings of Bates and Anna, etc.
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Peter said on February 21, 2012 at 9:45 am
I must admit that when that story ran on Tribune Online yesterday, it was pee in your pants funny. “After doing a little research on the internet”…well friend, wasn’t it Abe Lincoln who said you can’t trust everything you see on the Internet?
Actually, the far right has been criticizing the Girl Scouts for some time; if I remember, the NYT had an article noting the drop in membership levels, and part of that is due to conservative groups forming their own version of the scouts.
But more important – Beb, you’re right – 25 cents a box is pretty bad. I’m in charge of the community popcorn drive for the Boy Scouts, and one of my main tasks is to talk reluctant troop leaders into having the kids sell the stuff. Several leaders won’t touch it because the council gets a large share and the troop’s margin is too small – but with incentives a troop can earn 37 cents on the dollar. I tell them that the local Girl Scout council gives 30 cents per box of cookies – if they had the Boy Scout’s margins their local troops would get $1.85 a box.
On the other hand, I always thought that the Girl Scouts should just drive a semi full of cookies up to a college dorm during final exams – they would sell out within the hour.
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Jolene said on February 21, 2012 at 9:59 am
I’m impressed w/ how difficult it must be to write a long series w/o introducing ridiculous elements like the burned stranger in Downton Abbey. Whether it’s The Killing or L.A. Law, it seems inevitable that you end up with too many characters and too many plot twists that do little more than take up time.
It’s a long time since I’ve read anything by Dickens, though my book club is about to start Our Mutual Friend, but, as I recall his long serials had the same attributes–lots of characters doing improbable things, especially at the end as minor characters must be dispatched in various ways so that the central figures can get their just deserts.
Somehow it’s easier to overlook these shortcomings when they appear in the context of Dickens’s humor or, as in the case of DA,everyone speaks in English accents and wears gorgeous costumes.
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 10:10 am
The rampant criticism of Downton Abbey all over the interwebs is humorous, considering how much of it is spouted by people that take The Voice and Idol and Dancing for valid subjects for critical discussion.
Santorum has proved with his “phony theology” comment that religious intolerance is a more despicable refuge for a scoundrel than patriotism, despite what Samuel Johnson said. Why Rick Frothy can stick his alleged “theology” up his ass.
Or when Dickens concocts something like Miss Havisham’s wedding cake, Jolene.
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Bitter Scribe said on February 21, 2012 at 10:21 am
Girl Scouts? They’re slagging on GIRL SCOUTS????
Oh, lizard shit! These people aren’t even pretending to be sane anymore.
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MichaelG said on February 21, 2012 at 10:45 am
That Indiana guy is right. The girl scouts are absolute loaded with ten year old transexuals.
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Judybusy said on February 21, 2012 at 10:46 am
I’ve enjoyed DT immensely–yes, at times, it’s over the top, but I am glad they didn’t drag out the Matthew/Mary will-they-or-won’t they drama for more than two seasons. I have engaged in some eye-rolling but compared with a lot of what’s on TV, it’s grand. We’ve also enjoyed catching “Nature” for the hour before. Sundays evenings have been so wonderful. I do hope they show how Sybil and her husband are getting on!
Bitter Scribe, thank for so eloquently expressing my reactions so precisely. The Girl Scouts had a very positive impact on my three nieces; I credit them with helping the oldest one overcome the unfortunate outcome of parental inability to say no and stick with it. She is now a very nice person.
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Deborah said on February 21, 2012 at 10:57 am
We had a design project for the Girl Scouts headquarters for this region, here in Chicago. I went there a number of times and spoke with the folks who run the place and I will say that they were the most caring and committed people I have ever met. We wanted to do a few things that were a little too far out for their volunteers (not far out at all), and the organization was very responsive to them. I didn’t see them as a liberal organization at all, not one bit. But not far out crazy conservative either.
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Dexter said on February 21, 2012 at 10:59 am
I see Paczki Day has no interest here, just as well for me, because I went to our local donut stand where they bake on site, and the paczkis were small and only had a tiny bit of filling inserted. Yeah, a paczki is supposed to be huge with plenty of filler, not a tiny jelly roll. Sheesh.
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Sue said on February 21, 2012 at 11:00 am
MMJeff, I have to disagree with you regarding your take on DA. Starting the show with the Titanic was pretty smart if you ask me – a true incident that affected lots of rich folks on both sides of the Atlantic and that tied in nicely with the use of the ‘bought title’ backstory that explains Cora, the American wife. And Julian Fellowes has said that the Turkish diplomat story is based on gossip about an incident from the time. So the bones of the series are pretty strong, I think.
The series started out well with both ideas and atmosphere and degenerated as it appeared that Julian and company got to the point that they were just throwing anything against the wall to see what would stick. Some things eventually worked, like the Daisy story, but it seems to me that there’s a mild case of J.K. Rowling here, an inability to self-edit and maybe no one to tell them they should.
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MaryRC said on February 21, 2012 at 11:25 am
I lean more towards Tom and Lorenzo’s view of Downton Abbey, i.e. it went off the rails for a while but has been redeemed by the final episode. But I can’t summon up high hopes for the 3rd season. The major romances are all wrapped up and I’m afraid Edith and Sir Anthony won’t set the screen on fire. I suspect the addition of Shirley McLaine is going to be camper than a row of tents and I do not look forward to seeing her exchange zingers with Lady Violet. And I’m sure we’ll miss Sir Richard. Although he practically turned into Snidely Whiplash by the end, at least, like Lady V. and Isabel, he said what was on his mind.
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Joe K said on February 21, 2012 at 11:27 am
Dexter,
This Pollock loves paczki.
Hard to get them though.
Polska Pilot Joe
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MaryRC said on February 21, 2012 at 11:30 am
Bob Morris should have done a little more “web-based research” before he insulted the FLOTUS:
Morris also said the fact that First Lady Michelle Obama is honorary president “should give each of us reason to pause before our individual and collective endorsement of the organization.”
The incumbent First Lady has been the honorary president of the Girl Scouts since the Hoover Administration.
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Deborah said on February 21, 2012 at 11:34 am
Will someone please tell me how to pronounce paczki, is it really punch-key? Is that correct?
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alex said on February 21, 2012 at 11:36 am
So, the CBS News brass doubtless thought that putting Charlie Rose on its perennially unpopular morning show would give it some credibility. Well, guess again. This morning I watched Rose play softball with both Newt Gingrich and Pat Buchannan, who were making claims even more outrageous and false than that embarrassing local pol who’s got a hard-on for the Girl Scouts.
To his credit, Rose didn’t let them talk over him and he did try to challenge what they were saying, but h would have been perfectly within his rights to pull an Edward R. Murrow and ask “Have you no decency, sir?”
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velvet goldmine said on February 21, 2012 at 11:37 am
Dexter, Don’t feel lonely — we’re big paczki fans at my house. They were even my husband’s birthday dessert last week, when they got their head start for their mini-season. For whatever reason, our local chain, Big Y, is a huge booster of the treats, so it’s never very hard to come by them. I’m sure they’re not the most authentic version around, but they are day-um good.
I will have to read T&L’s review of DA, because I have a feeling they are in line with my view. (Why challenge myself?) I do think the last episode redeemed the series immeasurably, and set up season 3 very nicely.
I hope the coming of Shirley next year not only gives Maggie Smith more to do, but Elizabeth McGovern as well. I suspect that the spark most people are missing this time around has a lot to do with the somewhat mesmerizing way she delivered her dialogue, even in those endless “But Mary cannot inherit Downton” discussions during season 1.
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Peter said on February 21, 2012 at 11:43 am
Deborah, I’m not Polish, but around these parts I’ve heard it as Putch-kee.
Gladstone Bakery, RIP, won’t be dishing them out any longer – but there’s plenty of places on North Milwaukee that will be knee deep in them.
Personally, I’m not into them – like my wife, if it doesn’t have chocolate why bother. Now if they have chocolate covered ones, well, that would be a different story. Although with those fillings I’d probably wind up in a sugar coma and start babbling like a presidential candidate.
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mark said on February 21, 2012 at 11:48 am
The statements by Bob Morris are really stupid and worthy of ridicule. Using those statements to slam “orthodox Catholics” is equally stupid.
Which of the first 50 articles appearing today under a google news search for “muslim violence” should we use to insult all of the Islamic world?
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MichaelG said on February 21, 2012 at 11:50 am
“absolutely”
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Rising gas prices? Maybe it’s the sanctions on Iran. I think it has more to do with American Wall Street speculators that want to torpedo President Obama, but this Pepe Escobar opinion is also interesting. Dead-ender neocons bear as much animosity for Obama as the Wall Street terriss. After all, he made both cadres look bad by bailing all of their unpatriotic, incompetent asses out.
That GSA shit is a classic example of kids having more common sense and basic human sensibility than adults that frack things up for them so thoughtlessly. Kids don’t hate anybody until they are taught to by adults.
Re:Paczki, sounds like a winner for Fat (Shrove) Tuesday, but all things in moderation. And I’m wondering whether some Santorum has a hanger-on primed with an eyeliner pencil to make that Ash Wednesday smudhe stand out in the TV lighting at the debate tomorrow night, and whether Newtria will even remember it’s Ash Wednesday.
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Sue said on February 21, 2012 at 12:02 pm
velvet goldmine, the obvious storyline for Shirley MacLaine would be to have her constantly sparring with Violet, but I think it would be more fun to script them as a mutual admiration society. That dialogue might be harder to write but much more fun to watch, and a couple of supremely confident and excessively witty elderly ladies working together to wreak havoc would certainly open up some plot points.
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Sherri said on February 21, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Attacking the Girl Scouts fits in well with the rest of the GOP attacks on women this season. After all, if you let girls develop confidence and a sense of self early, they’ll probably think they should have agency and autonomy, and reproductive rights.
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Good thinking Sue. The writers could watch Steel Magnolias repeatedly to get into a dialogue groove with scenes from Maclaine and Olympia Dukakis.
The basic idea that there is some sort of monolithic Catholic vote is delusional, but if Catholics are moved to vote one way or another by the contraception heehaw, it will be in the direction of current behavior, which involves entirely guiltless use of contraception. I’d bet the farm that most American Catholics, exposed to Santorum’s stands on social issues, without knowledge of his religious affiliation, would figure him for a pentecostalist snake handler, or some other fundygelical flavor, and wouldn’t give him the time of day in the voting booth.
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MarkH said on February 21, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Alex — Murrow didn’t say that. Judge Joseph N. Welch, counsel for the Army, did, when he publicly denounced McCarthy during the Army/McCarthy hearings. Wikipedia has the entire exchange here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_N._Welch
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Little Bird said on February 21, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Deborah, the store I ordered mine from has printed on the order form (poonch-key) as the pronunciation of the word.
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adrianne said on February 21, 2012 at 12:36 pm
And now they’ve come for the Girl Scouts…this idiot from Fort Wayne is getting a lot of play nationally. No Thin Mints for you!
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Republican nightmare: Eisenhower with George Meany and Walter Reuther. What up, Mitch Daniels?
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MarkH said on February 21, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Correction to #31 – Welch was not a judge. Many people assume this, as he did play one in Anatomy of a Murder, 1959. Figured it was the only way he could be called a judge.
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beb said on February 21, 2012 at 12:47 pm
“Oh. Lizard shit!” — I think Bitter scribe wins the thread.
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Jeff Borden said on February 21, 2012 at 12:49 pm
As one of the resident lowbrows around here, I am unprepared for any discussion of “Downton Abbey,” but can ask, Is anyone enjoying “The Walking Dead?”
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 21, 2012 at 1:01 pm
Sue @ #28 – Or both!
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Jakash said on February 21, 2012 at 1:02 pm
Dexter,
Paczki Day is going strong in Chicago. At the bakery we traditionally go to (Dinkel’s, for those scoring at home — not exactly Polish, but they do a MAJOR paczki trade), there were more people in line than I’ve ever seen, by far. A 35 minute wait, which is egregious and stupid, I’ll concede. I don’t normally wait in line for “trendy” things, but today’s the day — what’re you gonna do? (Not that paczkis are trendy, but they must have gotten some extra publicity somewhere this year to bring out those hordes.
Deborah,
I would second Little Bird’s pronunciation as the closest to what I say and have heard, but another version to consider: pawnch-kee.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/paczki
Peter,
They had chocolate as well as custard-filled with a chocolate icing at this location, among the sixteen varieties.
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alex said on February 21, 2012 at 1:16 pm
MarkH–
I stand corrected. Blame it on brain cells. I’ve become one of the have-nots where those are concerned. Didn’t Murrow call booshit on McCarthy, though?
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Minnie said on February 21, 2012 at 1:16 pm
I made it through only one year of Brownies, during which time I sold GSA cookies, knocking on every door of the 1950s apartment project in which we lived (probably with my mother following along but out of my sight). It was a good step toward independence for an seven-or-eight-year-old. How could anyone even imagine GSA as a threat to the morals of this country? Think I’ll go down to the kitchen and nibble on a few trefoils. Husband already polished off the thin mints.
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Sue said on February 21, 2012 at 1:17 pm
MMJeff, I thought of that but I figure they would have met and been bitchy to each other at the beginning of the marriage, then found their friendship later on. Especially since there seems to be an acknowledged truce between Cora and Violet which must have formed over the years, not just when they put their differences aside in season 1 to become co-conspirators in trying to get Mary her inheritance.
It’s unlikely that Cora’s mother would have been a great friend of Violet at the beginning because there have been indications all along that Violet has never completely accepted Cora, just her money.
I could see the Cora’s mom/Violet friendship as something similar to what supposedly happened with Alma Vanderbilt and Caroline Aster, enemies (even as Alma worked toward social acceptance), then frienemies, then good friends.
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moe99 said on February 21, 2012 at 1:20 pm
I haven’t seen the end of this season of DA but I am hoping my view jibes with TLo as well. It’s been a wonderful diversion and caused me to go back and reread the Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. Amazing that it won the Nobel Prize in 1932.
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Dorothy said on February 21, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I can’t exactly state that I “enjoy” watching “The Walking Dead”, Jeff Borden, but we are following it at our house. I had to look away at one scene (guy on the fence) and I close my eyes when any zombie is whacked in the center of its face. I do wish they’d all hit the road again after spending so much time at the farm. Can’t deny that location has given them a nice respite from trying to find non-rancid food and decent shelter. Why is it I can watch that show but find “Shameless” on Showtime to be un-redeemable? (Is that a word?) My husband enjoys Shameless when I go to another room to read or knit. True Blood is another one I cannot stomach. Catching a glimpse here or there gives me bad dreams for the next few days.
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Jeff B.: The Walking Dead is at least as up and down as Downton. How is it possible for all of those people to be blind to the fact that Shane has turned into a sociopathic narcissistic personality disorder bomb about to go off in their faces. Bastard is haywire. He’s a rapist and a gun psycho. Barn Zombiegeddon was inspired, although I was pretty sure ahead of time Sofia was coming out that door. More than anything, it’s painful to see Darryl devolving back into a redneck jerk after realizing all of his personal growth while looking for poor lost Sofia was doomed from the start and always in vain. And what was Rick’s great crisis of conscience last night that caused him to let the guys outside know they were in the bar? Seemed kinda dumb to me. Maggie running straight to Glen right past Hershel was worthy of Downton Abbey.
While I enjoy Downton, the greatest costume soap of all time on PBS was unquestionably the story of swashbuckling Ross Poldark and his beautiful wife Demelza (Robin Ellis and Angharad Rees).
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MarkH said on February 21, 2012 at 2:06 pm
alex — no worse in the brain cell dept. than me(!)
And, yes, of course, Murrow did lay McCarthy bare during the hearings. Here is a good bit of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4LZsDqSSfk
A lot of this is McCarthy speaking his own words. He comes across as creepy at some points here.
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Today is Tricia Nixon’s 66th BDay. I once saw a photo of Tricia and her dad at a Senators game. Both were raining down vituperation, apparently on an umpire, and both were rabid and really scary.
Foster Friess is feeling better. Nice having Satan’s emissary on earth get your back. Alan Simpson is Screwtape.
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Deborah said on February 21, 2012 at 2:33 pm
I just got back from walking home for lunch. I had a paczki for dessert and my lord it was good, the cream filling was the best ever. Little Bird had ordered some, they are such in demand you have to order them ahead of time from this place. I’ve also heard it pronounced ponch-key now (as in the paunch I’m gonna have after eating it). Who cares, they’re delicious.
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Great public art.
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MarkH said on February 21, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Really, Caliban? You took that as an endorsement of Friess’ infamous comment by Simpson? Simpson may be his friend, but it’s safe to say he was as offended as any of us by the aspirin “joke”. Just don’t expect him to drive the bus Friess threw himself under.
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pamven said on February 21, 2012 at 3:54 pm
Nancy,do you remember back in the early 80s a group of wackjobs threw a picket line around 4 Seasons Flowers because they used the image of Rodins “The Kiss” in a Valentines Day ad??? Well apples and trees here..the leader of that group was Bob Morris’s grandmother. She also had a big campaign in the 90s to close all the strip bars. Ive always found it very odd he ran for office and won…he doesnt have the $$$..fishy pols at work again here in the Fort.
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Little Bird said on February 21, 2012 at 3:58 pm
I’m a little confused. How, exactly, do the Girl Scouts promote a “homosexual life style”?
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JWfromNJ said on February 21, 2012 at 3:59 pm
Paczki were widely available in Florida thanks to the multicultural selection at Publix. Pretty expensive place to shop but great subs, deli, and they have Chicago and NY style Italian bread. Great seafood too. There was a little scuffling this morning over Paczki but it worked out. Now if they would also stock fresh and assorted pierogi I could indulge my Polish cravings!
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Catherine said on February 21, 2012 at 4:22 pm
What Sherri @29 said, in a nutshell: “if you let girls develop confidence and a sense of self early, they’ll probably think they should have agency and autonomy, and reproductive rights.” Horrifying, right?
I’m a GS leader and in my council, troops get $.75 per $4 box, or $.85 if they forego the “incentives” (GS bandannas, cute nightlights, that sort of thing). The amount probably varies by council. My girls voted to spend some of it on a service project that addresses food insecurity, and the rest to go to Yosemite Institute this summer. I know, crazy liberal values we’re promoting.
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nancy said on February 21, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Just popping in with a Twitter dispatch from Indianapolis: Morris is the laughingstock of the legislature today, with other members handing out Thin Mints and Himself reportedly “pushing past” reporters asking for comment. Now they have police stationed outside the GOP caucus to protect his cowardly ass. The D’s Senate leader is tweeting, “Face the press, Rep. Morris.” Hilarious.
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Sue said on February 21, 2012 at 4:47 pm
I quit girl scouts in 7th grade because it was so godawful boring. Now I find out if I had stayed I would be a lesbian addicted to getting abortions, so, whew, dodged a bullet there.
The ‘recruit transgenders’ and ‘kama sutra master’ badges must have been introduced after I quit, because I don’t remember the requirements in the handbook.
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beb said on February 21, 2012 at 4:57 pm
No More Mister Nice blog has more on the right wing’s jehad against the Girl Scouts
http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2012/02/oh-theyve-been-yammering-like-this.html
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brian stouder said on February 21, 2012 at 5:00 pm
I heard that “The girlscouts is EVIL!” nutbag on Fort Wayne’s local lip-flapping fat-ass-on- the-AM-radio-show show yesterday, and promptly popped it over to Rock 104FM, as I muttered to myself.
So, a Fort Wayne-palate-cleansing non-sequitur:
last night Michele Norris visited good ol’ Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, and gave an interesting lecture about her family’s history, and more interestingly, the challenges she had to overcome to discover that history.
I had seen Ms Norris (an NPR anchor) on C-SPAN discussing her book, along with the author of The Warmth of Other Suns – who wrote about black Americans’ migrating north in the 20th century.
Ms Norris discussed her mother’s stint as an Aunt Jemima enactor/marketer, and the fact that her mother would simply never discuss those days (until her granddaughter asked, and then she would open up).
And she related that how it came to pass that her father was shot by a policeman in Birmingham, Alabama. It was early 1946, and her dad was fresh back from the (segregated) US Navy, and the second world war. He was attempting to enter a public building downtown*, and the cop was blocking him. Then the cop pulled his gun, and Michele’s dad’s buddy pushed the gun downward just as the cop fired, so that the round created a long flesh wound. Her dad never, ever spoke of this, and she only learned of it after his passing. And, of course, what happened to Ms Norris’s dad (and worse) happened to many other black veterans all across the nation.
It was enlightening stuff all around, and a perspective-refresher of the first order, amidst our current political agitation and scapegoating.
Next up, in three weeks, is Diane Ravitch – who I am very much looking forward to. She is a historian and an expert on public education and accountability. I snapped up 4 tix, and will share them amongst PTA members. I expect she will pack the house.
*Michele’s dad was attempting to get to a public meeting, wherein black citizens were brushing up on the US Constitution. This was an altogether practical thing to do, since Alabama had enacted various voting restrictions (which only applied to people who weren’t white), including pop-quiz questions on the US Constitution.
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caliban said on February 21, 2012 at 5:22 pm
When I first came across NN.com, and I first decided to claim to be
caliban, I was not fucking around. Caliban is the monster on Prospero’s perfect island.
caliban is capable, despite being a monster, of exceptional poetry:
Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me that, when I waked,
I cried to dream again.
That is as gorgeoous as Will Shakes ever wrote. What I sure as shit wish I could produce, and occasionally I get remotely close. I enjoy sometimes annoying y’all, and even mr striking a chord. So, I meant to be the monster on the island. Think I’ve sure as hell done that a few times. One of my brothers is a maniac Stratford Shakes loony tune. He is far more academically accomplished than I, and he’s just a better man. Whatever y’all think, I have cared a great deal about every one of you. Even the really sarcastic Nancy. In my mind, I find this idea of whatever we meant atrocious. My brother Matt died for no apparent reason.
there is no conceivable explanation for Matt’s death and these folks can kiss my ass.
;
;
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Bitter Scribe said on February 21, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Little Bird @52: I think they’re upset because the Girl Scouts refuse to follow the lead of the Boy Scouts in banning gays and atheists. “She who is not with me is against me,” and all that.
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Dexter said on February 21, 2012 at 6:08 pm
Dorothy, I am hooked on the antics of the Gallagher family from Shameless. Frank (Wm H. Macy ) is so whacked I must see what he will do next.
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Brandon said on February 21, 2012 at 6:08 pm
New Orleans has beignets, Chicago has paczki, and Hawaii has malasadas–and andagi.
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DellaDash said on February 21, 2012 at 6:11 pm
“On my honor
I will try
to do my duty to God and my country
to help other people at all times
and to obey the Girl Scout law”
The GS motto ‘be prepared’ is not a bad one to aspire to.
Somehow I fell in with a troop when I was in 6th grade that had a driven yet canny leader who was orchestrating a long-term project for us which involved making 2 batches of fudge every weekend for the next 5 to 6 years; cutting the fudge into 2-inch squares; sliding, folding and stapling 3 pieces into wax sandwich bags, and taking turns riding shotgun with said leader as we delivered to establishments around the quad cities, and collected the change from our honor-system piggy banks. We also made sock puppets, wrote scripts and did birthday parties; as well as gathered and sorted donations for semi-annual rummage sales. All this enterprising activity, under the auspices of a non-taxpaying non-profit organization, raked in enough to fund a 3-month tour of Europe the summer we were 17-years-old…the largest trip any GS troup had ever taken at that time. We shipped out from NYC on the Nopel Rex, flagship of the Holland-America Line…bursting with hormones and eager to discard our sanctioned yet embarrassing altered-for-travel uniforms in a variety of ways. What an eye-opener that trip was! As a late bloomer and an innocent space-cadet…my head stuffed with romantic notions consumed from the likes of ‘Les Miserable’, ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, and ‘Ivanhoe’…I managed to keep a certain amount of enchantment alive, especially in Scotland and Italy, while embedded in a homegirl pack of whiners and complainers…all of whom (except one BFF-in-the-making) were endlessly pining for cheeseburgers and midwestern fare while en route through stunning scenery; and whose assorted behaviors, upon hitting whatever hostel was on our itinerary, provided the greastest expansion to my rather sheltered and naive world view. My own wine-infused, weak-kneed first kiss in the south of France with an irresistable exotic…interrupted before I could willingly melt into a compliant puddle right there on a fragrant terrace overlooking the Mediterranean…probably contributed to the eventual nervous breakdown of our doughty, daunted leader before the trip was over.
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Little Bird said on February 21, 2012 at 6:30 pm
I was kicked out of Girl Scouts because the Scout moms felt that my dad being the principal of the school somehow I was being given preferential treatment. I never did understand that one. THEY were the leaders. My dad just let them use the school for meetings and overnights. If anything, kicking me out lost EVERYBODY privileges.
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ROGirl said on February 21, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Off-topic, but still highly amused over the report on NPR this morning that DSK (remember him?) claimed that he didn’t know that the women he encountered at orgies were prostitutes. Les francais, ils sont droles, n’est-ce pas?
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brian stouder said on February 21, 2012 at 6:58 pm
ROGirl – that reminds me of the joke in the original “Arthur” movie where Dudley Moore discovers the woman he’s been gabbing with over dinner is a prostitute, and he says something like “Oh, hell! I thought I was really doing well with you!”
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Connie said on February 21, 2012 at 7:18 pm
The only thing I remember from my years of Brownies and Girl Scouts is that stupid brownie smile song.
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brian stouder said on February 21, 2012 at 8:11 pm
And by the way, if Franklin Graham truly is a “Christian”, then I am not, and cannot possibly ever be.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/21/franklin-graham-obama_n_1290657.html
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maryinIN said on February 21, 2012 at 8:44 pm
I’ve read myriad hopes and predictions for Downton Abbey Season 3 and I really can’t hold back any more — no one has mentioned my “obvious” candidate for a possible plot line. So here it is:
Sybil is living in Dublin, married to an intense Irishman, whom Lady Violet describes (sets up?), is “political” and just happens to have found a job as a writer.
This is the time frame: WWI is over, in Ireland the Easter Uprising (1916) has taken place (which our chauffeur mentioned to Sybil in his anger that his cousin was shot by an English soldier in the uprising). The Irish are negotiating a treaty with the British for Home Rule, and the Irish are fighting amongst themselves over membership in the British Union with Home Rule or being a Free State — real life names you may recall are Michael Collins, Eamon de Valera, Roger Casement, Erskine Childers — and the whole things descends into the bloody Irish Civil War (1922) attended by pamphleteering (writer, anyone?), gun-running, ambush and assassination, executions. Does anyone think our hot-headed Downton chauffeur will hold back from involvement?
In York, Bates may well avoid the gallows for his wife’s murder, but in Dublin trouble is likely pursuing Tom and Sybil. However, if I’m right, I’ll have a pretty hard time watching this story line.
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Deborah said on February 21, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Brian, I’m with you about Franklin Graham. Reading that link makes me feel physically ill. Isn’t there something in the Bible about casting the first stone. Jeff tmmo?
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MarkH said on February 21, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Yesterday, someone brought up one-time TV host Garry Moore because we have a garmoore posting here. This made me remember something I found a while back. It’s a clip from I’ve Got a Secret, hosted by Moore back in 1956. The video quality is not good, but you won’t believe the guest. A 96 year old man who, at the age of five, witnessed Lincoln’s assassination. Brian Stouder, this one is for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_iq5yzJ-Dk&feature=related
Samual Seymour died two months after this appearance.
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Kaye said on February 21, 2012 at 9:29 pm
What a great story Della.
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JWfromNJ said on February 21, 2012 at 9:34 pm
Was Caliban signing out?
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brian stouder said on February 21, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Mark H, interesting clip…and the fact that he died two months later ties in with yesterday’s tobacco trollery, but we’ll leave that one in the ash can!
I recall reading that Teddy Roosevelt, as a young boy, recalled seeing Lincoln’s funeral procession in New York City, from a window overlooking the street.
I believe both Jeff tmmo and I read a book about a very odd interlude after the 16th president’s death, when people actively planned on robbing his grave and stealing his remains. After nearly pulling it off (the grave robbers were stopped in the act), the president’s remains spent some time (a decade or two, if I recall the book correctly) in the basement of the memorial, covered with scrap lumber and so on.
When they refurbished his tomb, and finally and properly interred him, it was the early 20th century, and another little boy – the son of one of the cemetery care takers – skipped school to go and see President Lincoln’s remains (the folks didn’t miss the chance for one last look in the box before they interred the president); making that boy the last living person who saw the remains. He commented on how marble-white and preserved the president appeared to be – even 40 years after death. Apparently the embalmers earned their fee!
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Dave said on February 21, 2012 at 10:38 pm
JWfromNJ, that was what I was wondering, I’ve gotten so used to Caliban sometimes going completely off-topic in another direction, I read that post twice and wondered what brought this on? Did he indeed leave, things won’t be the same without reading his postings, on OR off topic.
Our daughter was a Girl Scout, what terrible thing did we let her do? Now, she’s within days of becoming a mother for the first time (and our first grandchild), what awful things will she teach our grandchild? Oh dear.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 21, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Franklin is no Billy.
I honestly think, in his day, Billy would have not gone there. He’s apologized (Billy/Dr. Graham) just a couple of years ago for his silent acceptance of some of Nixon’s anti-Semitic nastiness when personal phone calls came out, and a few “oh yes, you’re right Mr. President” rejoinders.
You’d think Franklin would have learned something from his father’s example in those ways, but apparently not. Enjoying the process of deciding who is in and who is out based purely on externals is something any pastor worth their salt should know to avoid, religiously.
In case you haven’t heard, a very senior advisory committee has recommended that the Southern Baptist Convention change their name while not changing it, keeping the legal SBC name while taking on the public title “Great Commission Baptists.” I’m waiting to see if this becomes identified as the “New Coke” moment for evangelicalism.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 21, 2012 at 10:49 pm
I don’t think that’s Caliban checking out, or so I sincerely pray; asking people to osculate his fundament is usually a sign of the day’s final coherence before he knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care, then rises up, restored and coherent.
May you rise up again, great beast of the Summer Isles!
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Bob (Not Greene) said on February 21, 2012 at 11:06 pm
JW that’s just it for tonight. No worries, our friend Caliban/Prospero will be back tomorrow.
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Catherine said on February 21, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Della, I bow down to your “doughty, daunted leader,” (and your storytelling!) and hope I will be remembered similarly by my girls. Little Bird, I’m really sorry those moms were so dreadful to you.
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caliban said on February 22, 2012 at 5:30 am
MaryinIN. Sounds good, but they should hire Roddy Dowle to write that, or maybe JP Donleavy. And MarkH’s post of the witness to Lincoln’s assassination reminds me I was up late and watching Howard K. Smith refuse to admit RFK won the California primary when Sirhan shot Bobby. When the USA died, in my estimation. Howard K. was the advent of Fux News. I was up late, and to this day believe Bobby was just about the last hope for the USA. And I’m not big on conspiracy theories, but I am pretty sure Sirhan was bought and paid for by Goldwaterites and organized crime. And JW, signing out. And God Save the President from gun nuts. They will be after his ass when he wins in 2012. End of civilization as we know it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PT28r3RWbM
Cracker nation is just around the corner. People in the US actually believe Wayne LaPierrs is a patriot, not a loony toon. Jack Kerouac’s toilet paper drivel lent a contributing rose on the grave. Pure horseshit. On the Road is the worst book I ever read. Huge passages just repeated, like a speedfreak, absolute drivej Another Roadside Attraction is a perfect mockery of that shit. Just roll that TP over Jack. From Lowell? not quite Brockton.
I’ve posted this before, but perfection is kinda unavoidable:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IScz-m4BD_0&feature=related
And it’s signing off.
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caliban said on February 22, 2012 at 5:34 am
Party of Lincoln isn’t remotely:
http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/446
Liars and poseurs. and Santorum isn’t even froth. He’s the shit factor.
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caliban said on February 22, 2012 at 5:48 am
JWfromNJ,
Outofhere, but maybe back with my real name. MJfromSC, Maybe not.
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caliban said on February 22, 2012 at 5:59 am
Jeff(mmo) Franklin is at the top o’ list as insisting that Catholics, although the originals, aren’t Christians, He is bangfracking loony on this subject. These people are nutcses like spiders devouring their mothers upon being born, They are whacko. And I am signed off. Whatever.
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caliban said on February 22, 2012 at 6:45 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mehrjwB-hVE&feature=related
Damn good band.
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caliban said on February 22, 2012 at 6:55 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mehrjwB-hVE&feature=related
Damn good band. What anybody thought? Way better. And I am out of here, and couldn’t care less.
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Dorothy said on February 22, 2012 at 7:55 am
Della I absolutely loved your story – you write with such flair and verve! I rarely peek in on the comments here after I get home from work so I just read the last 30 or so comments a few minutes ago.
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Bob (not Greene) said on February 22, 2012 at 9:01 am
The longest goodbye in history.
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