Who said that?

Long day yesterday, followed by long night, followed by no blogging in the evening, so this will be short. However, when you wake up, open the paper’s website and are confronted by two headlines, this…

Detroit bus drivers seek bedbug relief

…and this…

Michigan officials fight drunk driving with talking urinal cakes

…I know you guys will have lots to talk about.

As it turned out, last night’s activity was the Detroit News’ Michiganians of the Year awards, and the editor, in his greeting remarks, mentioned the staffers left back in the newsroom to produce the Daily Miracle. Sounds like they might have had more fun.

Also, I recommend Stephen Colbert on the ACA ruling yesterday. Especially for the poster of John Roberts holding a pink gavel.

And I just looked at the forecast for the next week. Bleh. Better put nose to grindstone. So I can pay the electric bill, assuming the power doesn’t go out.

Posted at 6:59 am in Current events, Detroit life |
 

71 responses to “Who said that?”

  1. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 29, 2012 at 7:28 am

    Rolling brownouts are in the forecast . . .

    Brian, I did want to let you know that the broccoli count in the opinion as published? 12.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-393c3a2.pdf

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  2. alex said on June 29, 2012 at 7:52 am

    Talking Urinal Cake: “You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done! I’m melting! Melting! Aaaaaaa!”

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  3. coozledad said on June 29, 2012 at 8:37 am

    Career opportunities: Urinal cake dialog writer II. LA County, CA.

    Samples: “Jeez, Mel, can’t you cut that Crown Royal with some soda?”

    “Owww, Snoop! You are pissing stems and seeds for reelz!”

    “You again Mel? Been hanging with Snoop? Willie Nelson?”

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  4. brian stouder said on June 29, 2012 at 8:41 am

    And Alex wins the thread good and early, today!

    Jeff – I have found this whole turn of events reaffirming and reassuring; partisan politics is both legitimate in its place, and indeed, the Supreme Court is not where it belongs.

    Chief Justice John Roberts set aside Limbaugh/Scalia-style antics, and fulfilled his Constitutional role.

    Not to put too fine a point on it, but just before our worst national catastrophe, an earlier Supreme Court, and a ridiculous Chief Justice, got way ahead of the elected branches of government, and directly contributed to our Constitutional crisis and ultimate national breakdown.

    With all the political and economic brinksmanship that some public figures are so avid to engage in these days, I think (and hope) that Chief Justice Roberts’ overt recognition of institutional stewardship and institutional boundaries and prerogatives will lead other public figures to think twice (or even once) before doing some “what the hell” thing or other, that burns bridges and hardens feelings.

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  5. Jolene said on June 29, 2012 at 8:53 am

    It would be nice to think so, Brian, but, listening to Republicans on TV this AM, I’m not too hopeful. They are on TV predicting awful outcomes and emphasizing the possibility of repeal.

    Mitt Romney’s campaign reports receiving more than $5 million in donations after the decision. If you haven’t donated to the Obama campaign lately or to your Democratic Congressional candidate’s campaign, today would be a good day to do so.

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  6. brian stouder said on June 29, 2012 at 9:30 am

    Jolene, indeed, we will be sending our mite to the Obama re-election campaign, as we did four years ago (and that was the first such contribution I ever made).

    For one thing, you get pretty cool stuff in the mail, after that

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  7. Connie said on June 29, 2012 at 9:36 am

    Last week was the American Library Association conference in Anaheim. The big scholarship fund raiser was the final performance of the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock and roll band that includes Dave Barry, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Maya Angelou, Cynthia Heimel, Sam Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Joel Selvin, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Fulghum and more.

    In an email one of my friends reports: Mitch Album did an Elvis impression and then shimmied off his shirt to Jail House Rock. Wow, does he look terrific without a shirt!

    I knew you all needed to hear this on this steamy Friday.

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  8. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 29, 2012 at 9:39 am

    Grim reading of the political calculus, at least from within the Ohio GOP establishment: 14% of Ohioans are uninsured. Of that number, 4% are undocumented workers (aka illegal immigrants). Of the remaining 11%, 5 to 6% could be covered under current policies (SCHIP, Medicaid, VA) but for a variety of reasons have not enrolled. Ohio is currently spending $3 billion on Medicaid, and it’s generally estimated that we’re only covering 75% of those eligible.

    That leaves about 5% of the state, and the electoral math is that this population is so marginal to the voting population that they can count on regular, consistent voters (read older, whiter Ohioans who still live in the home they bought 30 to 50 years ago) to have little contact with this population, and less willingness to see costs and expenses go up on everyone else to pay for extending coverage to them. This is not pretty, akin to the GOP’s willingness to accept all the Dixiecrat refugees from LBJ’s Civil & Voting Rights Act push. It changed the party, winning elections for president but eating a hole in the soul of the party far beyond the area initially effected.

    Not sure how this calculation will play, but I do think Democrats and progressives are ill advised to keep pushing the “if you get Medicare you’re on socialized medicine” meme. They’re pre-inoculated to that argument, and highly resistant to it — you might get them extra motivated for repeal if they get the idea it’s an either-or thing.

    What’s important in the next few months is what many have been doing here: telling the stories of those who are benefiting from the ACA provisions beyond the tax/mandate issue, the 25 year olds with health problems that limit their employability, the pre-existing conditions that keep workers from moving between jobs, the older workers who want to be entrepreneurial but don’t dare leave a large corporate employer with good benefits. Tell those stories, and keep the wider family connected in the narrative, how parents and grandparents and adult siblings are affected, and I think you start to make some difference in those who need to understand. You just can’t convince people they are “paying” now for these situations in the economy, nor that they could or will lose their coverage . . . until they do.

    But the math behind “there’s so many people affected, and if they and their families vote, we’ll re-elect and sustain what’s started” isn’t good. That’s what GOP committees in many states are banking on. For what it’s worth.

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  9. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 9:52 am

    GOPers would need 60 in the Senate to repeal. Fat chance of that happening.

    Two funny solecisms in the bedbug story (eats, shoots, and leaves variety):

    Any buses reported to have bedbugs will be cleaned and fumigated, Freeland said. If that doesn’t kill them, the maintenance crew can put the vehicle in a paint booth and kill the bugs with heat.

    What did the buses do to deserve to die? Aren’t they victims here?

    Once in a home, the bugs hide in beds or other furniture, feed while people are sedentary and reproduce.

    Damn bugs are eating and having sex at the same time? Sounds like Limbaugh. Sorry for that image.

    Roberts may well have intended damaging the Commerce Clause by a backdoor attack as much as anything else, which amounts literally to attacking 7-1/2 decades of precedent. Still out to negate the New Deal and refight the Civil War.

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  10. alex said on June 29, 2012 at 10:06 am

    Jeff, the problem that Obama and the Democrats have faced from the start was Republicans telling the haves that the have-nots will be taking something away from them and now they’re going to double down on that line of bullshit. Some are mischaracterizing ACA as the “biggest tax increase in American history,” a line that we’ll no doubt be hearing parroted endlessly by low-information voters who swear by Fox News. (As I’m sure you can tell, I’ve lost all patience with such folk and find myself provoked into telling people to get out of my face with their ignorant-ass shit.)

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  11. adrianne said on June 29, 2012 at 10:11 am

    The Repubs are talking a good game on repeal, but they don’t have the votes. It will be stopped dead in the Senate and go nowhere.

    The Tea Party congresswoman from the Hudson Valley is about to be kicked to the curb in November, as well as a few others in New York. Hang tight.

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  12. coozledad said on June 29, 2012 at 10:15 am

    Alex: A few of the goobers are even calling for armed rebellion. Sometimes I’d just like to see some of these twits dumped into that alternate universe where they get what they ask for.

    Civil War II Electric Boogaloo- now with more steaming heaps o’ dead white trash!

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  13. nancy said on June 29, 2012 at 10:16 am

    One of the armed rebellion guys is a Michigander, for what it’s worth.

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  14. coozledad said on June 29, 2012 at 10:23 am

    “Unedited work product”? I can think of a few uses for that phrase.

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  15. Sue said on June 29, 2012 at 10:29 am

    MMJeff, another good point to continually make is one that I think Colbert mentioned yesterday: Mitt’s response to the ruling included the promise to ‘replace’ ACA with something that includes things that are already in ACA. He basically is promising all the goodies with no information on how to pay for it. That’s not the Republican way.
    All this talk of convincing the other side with stories of how this is helping actual individuals won’t work with the large number of people who have been trained into terror of all things Democratic. My in-laws benefitted from closing the doughnut hole; my niece has a pre-existing condition. My SIL had her house saved by Obama’s mortgage program. And nothing, absolutely nothing will convince any of them to vote Dem, under any conditions.
    edit: Maybe it was Jon Stewart who mentioned Mitt’s response.

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  16. Bitter Scribe said on June 29, 2012 at 10:34 am

    Sue: It was Jon Stewart. (Although maybe Colbert, whom I don’t watch, picked up on it. Those two often joke about the same things…how could they not?)

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  17. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 29, 2012 at 10:38 am

    Alex is right, and Sue, Mitt is a centrist, which is why it was so hard for him to get over the top in the primaries. From the POV of many on the right, centrist = moderate = squish = a worse enemy than the opposition.

    I think the “trained into terror of all things Democratic” is exactly that, a trained response, and one that can be overcome. It doesn’t go that deep. Full disclosure: my congregation is almost perfectly split Dem & Repub, and while they lean socially conservative, they aren’t even remotely interested (ok, maybe half a dozen of 350 members) in gay-bashing or praying on abortion clinic sidewalks. They also aren’t, in sum, interested in being “open & affirming” and are willing to send a modest amount of regular support to our local Heartbeats, but mainly because of and for their direct aid and support for expectant and new mothers. Centrist, I’d say. If I tried to remove the flag from the sanctuary altogether, they’d be very unhappy, but they love the understanding of why it’s on the auditorium floor and not up on the platform. And so on.

    But the six hyper-conservatives are the most vocal. And we’re used to that too, just like on some blogs you get used to certain commenters and just scroll past, occasionally wrangling with them when it gets so over-the-top you can’t stand it. But if you dropped by an elders or board meeting, and claimed to gauge the congregation’s views from the questions that get asked, and not what we do (or even how we basically ignore most of those “why don’t we send money to the IRD?”), you’d walk out saying we were right-wing as all get-out. But we aren’t.

    I tend to project that onto the community at large, and it usually fits the evidence.

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  18. Sue said on June 29, 2012 at 10:45 am

    “and one that can be overcome. It doesn’t go that deep”
    Hahahahahaha. You’ve never met my inlaws.

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  19. coozledad said on June 29, 2012 at 10:49 am

    The republicans need to hustle their dudes into that re-memeing boot camp pronto. First Bobby Jindal goes on about “Obamneycare” and now it’s Rick “Dilaudid with a side of Chardonnay” Perry.
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/06/thats_not_the_way_to_get_the_veep.php?ref=fpblg

    You love Romney, motherfucker!*

    *”Love and Death” reference. Can’t find relevant clip.

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  20. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 10:52 am

    That “biggest tax increase in history ” shit is basically hilarious, since the President responsible for the real thing was actually Ronald Reagan, so go frack yourselves you idolatrous lying twits:

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/article1237768.ece

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  21. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 11:03 am

    Somewhat cruel, but Jeanne Schmidt is a Grade A Prime asshole, so, too bad. Someone should tell her that Marines don’t have loud orgasms in public.

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  22. Jolene said on June 29, 2012 at 11:16 am

    Atul Gawande, who always has smart things to say about health care, has a new (and short) article in The New Yorker re healthcare being a “wicked” problem and the challenges that lie ahead.

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  23. Jeff Borden said on June 29, 2012 at 11:35 am

    My dinner with my teabagging cousin went fine last week. In fact, it was quite enjoyable as we refrained from mentioning politics in even the most trivial way. He still posts loads of anti-Obama stuff on Facebook, however, and remains convinced that the best way ahead is to keep rewarding the 1% with ever more tax breaks. I really don’t get it. How can anyone who is NOT among that uber-wealthy population NOT ask them to pay a little more? There’s a shit sandwich on our plate and we all have to take a bite, but our plutocrats refuse to do their fair share.

    I can’t deny that yesterday felt good. Liberals and progressives have had so little to celebrate over the past few years that a victory, even if it still leaves millions of our countrymen without coverage, is a tonic. And just like Obama’s deft handling of the immigration question, this maneuver really fucks over Romney, which is a beautiful thing to see.

    Speaking of Willard, when do you think he’ll ever actually, you know, discuss what he’d do in the White House? Aside from his right-wing boilerplate, has this empty husk put forth any vision of his domestic agenda? His foreign policy? His economic viewpoint? Yeah, we know you don’t like the O-man, Willard, but beyond that, perhaps you might explain how you’re going to create all those jobs. . .cut all those taxes. . .lavish hundreds of billions more on the fucking Pentagon. . .and reduce the deficit all at the same time.

    Until recently, I hadn’t felt the kind of visceral dislike/hatred of Mittens that I’d had for Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann and Santorum but the more I see and hear of him, the more negative I feel. He’s a coward and a liar of enormous proportions, but the supine media ignores his bullshit while Fox brays it to its army of angry old white men.

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  24. Scout said on June 29, 2012 at 11:37 am

    I finally watched the big CNN “scoop” from yesterday morning, where they were honking and flapping about how the Supremes striking down the mandate was a death blow to Obama and his re-election. On and on and on about how terriblehorribleawful for Obama. Blitzer was practically having a big O. And afterwards, once the “liberal media” had chance to regroup, what do we hear? The Supremes upholding ACA is a death blow to Obama and his chances for re-election because the right is now ENERGIZED!!111!!! Woohooo! So which is it, huh? They want a horse race so very badly they’ll say anything to get one.

    Last night on facebook, one of my (way too many) ignorant friends said this: “I cannot believe this Obamacare has passed and is FORCING people who already cannot afford to purchase health insurance. They would if they could. I would accept a jail penalty over that. Forget you Obama, you have lost my vote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I wanted to respond, but really just didn’t know what to say. Isn’t she the very demographic that will be helped by this? If she is so low income, aren’t there provisions in the bill for people like her?

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  25. Jolene said on June 29, 2012 at 11:46 am

    If she is so low income, aren’t there provisions in the bill for people like her?

    Very likely. Depends on how low her income really is. But subsidies of some level will be available to people with middle-class incomes.

    But, really, lots of people just want to have opinions about this issue. They don’t want to learn the facts.

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  26. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 11:46 am

    Well, Mike Pence says the ACA decision was Just like 9/11:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/28/1104085/-Rep-Mike-Pence-compares-Supreme-Court-ruling-to-9-11

    Who the hell votes for idiots like this guy, and why are they allowed to continue voting?

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  27. brian stouder said on June 29, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    Scout, check out the superb article that Jolene linked, about the wickedness inherent in dealing with our healthcare challenge; it’s very good stuff.

    And the Michigan guy who advocates “armed rebellion”? He needs a “healthy dose” of public shaming, and he seems to be getting it. And indeed, if the tea party folks want to do the spittle-flecked outburst at ‘town hall meetings’ yet again, I may never complain about these stupid phones with video cameras (etc) embedded in them, ever again.

    They played that card for all it was worth before, and I believe the shock-value/newness of it is long gone.

    President Obamacare will deftly flatten Governor Romneycare, everytime Romney tries to attack “Obamacare” while defending “Romneycare” and simoultaneously pretending that he can “replace” Obamacare – somehow – with something that people will like and which will work.

    As Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, the president’s brief address at the White House, regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold essentially all of “Obamacare”, was precisely and exactly right; he delineated what the program will specifically DO for people.

    Rinse/repeat/re-elect/relegate Romney to the remainder bin/good day.

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  28. Charlotte said on June 29, 2012 at 12:08 pm

    Oh Colbert, you own my heart, although my keyboard now has tea all over it. “You. Suck. At. News.”

    And Mark H. — Pray is still for sale — the biggest offer she got was $350K, which is really all that 5 acres on East River road with several not-historic buildings and a post office whose lease is about to expire is worth.

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  29. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    Boehner holds his breath and cries simultaneously.

    The President’s comments on the SC ACA decision:

    http://front.moveon.org/see-obama-see-obama-talk-about-obamacare/?rc=daily.share

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  30. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    Obama’s comments on the ACA decision:

    http://front.moveon.org/see-obama-see-obama-talk-about-obamacare/?rc=daily.share

    A breath of fresh air.

    It’s all over the intertubes, so it must be true. Roberts was intimidated by the mean Democrats. I may stop laughing by bedtime. Tomorrow night. Nobody knows intimidation like the jackbooted NRA thugs:

    http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/craven-17#comments

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  31. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 29, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    I know the NYT is tightening the ratchet down to 10 a month, but this is a good one, at least to me, because it so perfectly and horribly defines the mental health edge of this debate that still is barely on the radar screen — replace “dad” with “my kid” and you’d have a day in the life here in the Happiest Place on Earth. You wouldn’t hardly have to change anything else . . . but we’re not likely to see that story told because the privacy issues are quintupled in juvenile court & mental health matters. You’d never get a coherent story like this even with full parental consent; but trust me, it’s barely a dime’s worth of difference when you have a dangerously depressed and/or out of control youth in your household, and it triggers stresses and employment crises and major complications all through an extended family unit.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/magazine/when-my-crazy-father-actually-lost-his-mind.html

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  32. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    Actually, Roberts epilepsy meds made him do it:

    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/06/29/508761/conservatives-claim-roberts-upheld-obamacare-because-of-cognitive-problems-due-to-his-epilepsy-medicine/

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  33. alex said on June 29, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    Another good NYT story today was the one about the Atlanta drug dealer turned police informant turned snitch on dirty cops.

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  34. Charlotte said on June 29, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    RE: Michigan cherries — article asking “what does artisinal mean” uses Herkner’s cherry topping as an example:http://www.sfweekly.com/2012-06-27/news/artisanal-food-hand-crafted-food-pickles-preserves-farming-hanna-raskin/

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  35. Dorothy said on June 29, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    Hey Fort Wayne folks – are you getting rain storms right now?

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  36. brian stouder said on June 29, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    Dorothy – we appear to be about 15 minutes away from the arrival of a lovely line of T-Storms…I have to go back and continue the rain-dance, to be sure it gets here!

    Meanwhile, Rachel Maddow despises Politifact, so with that in mind, this is a pretty good response to the meme that “Obamacare” represents the largest tax increase EVUH!

    BZZZZZT

    http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jun/28/rush-limbaugh/health-care-law-not-largest-tax-increase-us-histor/

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  37. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    Rachel Maddow despises Politifact because that publication has made it its own higher purpose to always find equivalencies between outrageous GOPer lies and fudging or minow inaccuracies on the left. This is a character flaw inherited directly from WaPo. This sorry assed excuse for Journalism started up in earnest when WaPo treated Bush’s AWOL history as somehow equivalent to the unsubstantiated Swift Boat lies about Kerry’s record. It’s despicable, but it does not prevent some astute analysis by Politifact.

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  38. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    The extent of the tax aspects of ACA expressed in numbers of real people actually affected is slightly larger than the infinitessimal numbers of actual vote fraud. Serious question: How does a self-respeting American of reasonable intelligence maintain an allegiance to a political organization whose stock in trade tactic no matter what the argument or issue is to just lie they ass off?

    Who will pay a mandate “tax”:

    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/28/508062/fact-check-mandate-tax-hike/

    Hardly anybody, actually. Members of Congress, for their Cadillac health plans, one would hope.

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  39. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    Who will pay a mandate “tax”:

    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/28/508062/fact-check-mandate-tax-hike/

    Hardly anybody, actually. Members of Congress, for their Cadillac health plans, one would hope.

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  40. alex said on June 29, 2012 at 3:33 pm

    Wow, and what a line of storms it was. Breaking news with no link to it yet says 60 people are trapped inside the D.O. McComb Funeral Home on Lake Ave. Winds were reported at 91 MPH. Sure looked like one wicked mess from my ninth floor office with pieces of roofing flying everywhere and the telltale pink and blue glow of transformers going zzzzztttt. Tornado warning is in effect for the southeast portion of our county for another 15 minutes.

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  41. brian stouder said on June 29, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    What Alex said; definitely a very fast moving storm, with lots and lots of wind and bombast.

    Hadn’t heard about DO McComb, but Pam is stuck at a WalMart, and Grant called to say he moved himself and his little sister to the bathroom in the interior of the house…so, it was exciting!

    http://www.wane.com/dpp/weather/storm-hits-fort-wayne

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  42. Judybusy said on June 29, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    Jeff, that article is really heart-breaking on so many levels. I screen people for commitment for a living, and I’m just horrified that the family couldn’t get help. In one of the cases, she mentioned that the process doesn’t take into account what family members say. Here in MN, we do. I can’t tell you the number of times the information from the family has made the difference between going forward with the process, and not being able to.

    I really come down on the side of public and patient safety, in terms of where to draw the line. That said, I’ve also had many cases in which we know things aren’t going well, but the person just doesn’t meet criteria. those are the hardest, and the ones in which I hope nothing really bad happens before they get hospitalized again. Thanks for sharing the article.

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  43. alex said on June 29, 2012 at 3:55 pm

    The D.O. McComb story is breaking on another TV station. What haste–the headline reads “More then 60 people trapped.” Video wasn’t yet able to load last time I checked.

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  44. Bowditch said on June 29, 2012 at 3:59 pm

    I know it’s all ACA/Roberts Perfidy/Mandate=Tax today, but Katherine Eban’s investigative journalism in the week’s other Republican malfeasance story is worth a read. Prospero referred to it in comments yesterday, and the story has slow-burned its way into a somber counterpoint to the good political news of the week. I find it a telling chronicle of what happens when agencies fail to collaborate towards enforcement of the law, and when special interests (i.e., the National Rifle Association) interfere with lawful prosecution due to their ideological agenda. It’s particularly disgusting to view the raw political opportunism, at the expense of the dedicated work of committed government officials, that leads to character assassination, obstruction of justice, and, ultimately, the failure to put a stop to an illegal transfer of cartel money into the hands of lawless purveyors of weapons that are used daily to murder innocent people.

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  45. Dorothy said on June 29, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    At the tail end of the noon news here I heard them say we could be in for some strong storms in central OH later today, maybe early evening. I looked at radar and saw you guys were about to get hit. I hope it gets here. I just stood outside (I’m on a vacation day today) and watered the vegetable garden really well for the past 75 minutes or so. I feel like I’m about to dissolve into a puddle of bones and goo on the kitchen floor. I’mma going to go take a shower and put my feet up until it’s time to make sloppy joes for supper. Cole slaw and corn to go with. Nothing that involves too much effort on this hellacious day.

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  46. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    Charlotte,

    I get a kick out of things like artisinal lettuce and tomatoes. I’m predisposed to believe God is the artisan in the case of produce, but hydroponics and hoarding heirloom seeds is a far cry from artisinal. Artisinal pizza? Well there are undoubtedly machine-constructed pies.

    I’m not sure this is so, but it appears that some of Shrub’s “loyal Bushie” (their term, not mine)replacement US Attorneys were the Fast and Furious malfeasors, and certainly the NRA lobbyists for ensuring the US has the laxest gun laws in the world, this side of Iraq and probably the Stan-stan-stans, for refusing to take yes for an answer when DEA and ATF agents in the southwest brought them clearly prosecutable cases of Americans acting as straw purchasers for the Mexicartels, ensuring an uninterrupted supply of guns.

    GOPers that aren’t total idiot witch hunters are telling Issa to back his criminal ass off, because there is simply no evidence of wrongdoing nor incompetence by Holder’s Justice Dept. Issa was looking for something and announced it before he got the Chairmanship. He listened to this guy Dotson who is screwy as Cheney’s and Chalabi’s buddy Eight Ball, who obviously nursed a personal vendetta against his boss and sold himself to Issa as a whistleblower. When the truth sinks in, Issa’s political careeer will be down the four-holer and he’ll have to go back to the chop-shop bidness.

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  47. brian stouder said on June 29, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    Dorothy – the thing blew in and felt great, but it was also a bit scarey-dramatic.

    Pam was at WalMart, and the lights blinked and the store went into automatic lockdown, so that she couldn’t leave for 45 minutes*; but she got a free soda pop, so there’s that.

    Also, Fort Wayne is loaded with mostly-dead trees standing, and lots of them snapped and blocked roads and took out power lines.

    Still, now it’s past, and everything smells wonderful and the air feels great.

    Here’s hoping you get the rain, and that you DON’T get to see what my other favorite Dorothy saw, when Ms Gulch came to get her dog…

    *This gave me pause. I wonder if you could leave if you demanded to be let out; although I can understand WalMart saying something like “you’re safer here than out in the parking lot, if a twister comes”.

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  48. Sue said on June 29, 2012 at 4:21 pm

    I can’t get the link to work, but have any of you read Charles Pierce’s bit today about Colorado Springs? Is that the place you folks were talking about yesterday or the day before?
    Behold the future, I guess.

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  49. Joe Kobiela said on June 29, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    Not gonna mention wife got to come along to St. Ignac today. Had a pastie for lunch, car show and parade at 7 right outside the hotel and its sunny and 73. Nope not gonna say it nope wouldn’t be nice.
    Pilot Joe

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  50. brian stouder said on June 29, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    Dorothy, here’s some pics of what might be coming your way –

    http://www.wane.com/dpp/weather/storm-hits-fort-wayne

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  51. alex said on June 29, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    41,000 homes reportedly without power here and the number keeps growing by the minute.

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  52. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    Brian, if you want out, you tell ’em your anti-psychotics are out in the car. Colorado Springs is home to the USAir Force Academy, where cadets that failed to display Christian enough attitudes have been hazed unmercifully. The fact it turns out to be a hotbed of intra-service rape and assault is sad.

    Here’s the link to the Fortune mag Fast and Furious piece. One must wonder, if this intrepid girl reporter could develop this kind of detail in half the time, what the frack was Issa’s committee doing for the last year? Burying the chairman’s criminal past?

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  53. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 4:50 pm

    The guy that did the actual “gunwalking” is the very same Agent Dotson that turned up on Issa’s doorstep and claimed it was his boss’s idea. Sounds like aan NRA provacateur to me, but they wouldn’t do that, would they?

    http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/27/fast-and-furious-truth/

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  54. Prospero said on June 29, 2012 at 5:04 pm

    Gunwalking story:

    http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/27/fast-and-furious-truth/

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  55. Dorothy said on June 29, 2012 at 5:08 pm

    It’s nasty in Columbus right now, Alex, and it’s getting very dark here, thundering. They said 82 mph winds in Columbus. Power outages expected in much of the storm area.

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  56. Dorothy said on June 29, 2012 at 5:11 pm

    It’s nasty in Columbus right now, Alex, and it’s getting very dark here, thundering. They said hurricane force winds are in Columbus. Power outages expected in much of the storm area. Lights are out in downtown C-bus.

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  57. Julie Robinson said on June 29, 2012 at 6:07 pm

    They reported a tornado here in DeKalb, Illinois and we also got heavy rain. Hubby at home has no power along with 57,000 others so it could be awhile.

    Here at Mom’s we saw the doctor and have cause for jubilation. No signs of Alzheimer’s, the brain shrinkage reported is average for her age, and she’s doing pretty well otherwise. He told her it’s time to move out of the two-story house. Yes, yes it is–thank you doctor!

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  58. Deborah said on June 29, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    At the Albuquerque airport after taking the train from Santa Fe with broken AC. Freezing my sweaty body now. Waiting for my flight to Chicago with a plane change in Las Vegas. I was notified via text that the plane would be delayed there so I should arrive in Chicago at 1:30am. Great.

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  59. basset said on June 29, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    Record heat in Nashville today, 107 at the end of the driest June on record. Yard is crunchy. Reasonable amounts of rain would be more than welcome.

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  60. MarkH said on June 29, 2012 at 7:43 pm

    Deborah, be happy you’re getting there. It’s commercial air travel in the 21st century. I just hope you get better treatment than this (hope the video works):

    http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/06/28/American-Eagle-Flight-Attendant-Goes-Nuts

    One thing for sure, Pilot Joe will never be out of a job.

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  61. Charlotte said on June 29, 2012 at 7:43 pm

    Yikes Julie — tornadoes in Dekalb? My 101 year old grandmother lives on our family farm in Leland (with my aunt, uncle, cousin etc.). I’d better call home.

    Big news here is our county commissioners put a fireworks/fire ban on the whole county. Hooray. Even my yard in town looks ready to spontaneously combust, and I’ve been watering.

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  62. Dorothy said on June 29, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    Our power went out around 5:30. Good thing dinner was alread cooked. Power is out in much of the county. We went out for a drive just so I could charge my cell phone with the cigarette light adapter charger.

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  63. Kirk said on June 29, 2012 at 9:07 pm

    140,000 or so out in Franklin County.

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  64. Prospero said on June 30, 2012 at 9:20 am

    A news story Willard RMoney does not want anybody to read.

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  65. Dexter said on July 1, 2012 at 1:38 am

    Our home air conditioner started blowing hot air, my wife’s car is making an ominous rattling sound, and my van was towed away as it cranked but would not start. It’s Sunday and we can’t get anything fixed until Monday.
    However, nothing can get me down because the Tour de France
    had the prologue and the racing starts in a few hours, and TV has it at 8:00 A.M. This is the greatest time of the summer. I love watching the French countryside roll by as the cyclists speed along. I am predicting a tour win for Bradley Wiggins of England.
    Oh…I am not in deseration mode…my daughter just bought a new SUV and she is letting me use her 1999 Chevy Blazer until my van gets fixed.

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  66. Jolene said on July 1, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    So how’s everybody doing? I’m feeling a bit guilty because, unlike so many of my neighbors, I haven’t lost power or had a tree fall on my car. Things have been a mess here, but are getting sorted out.

    Some pictures submitted by WaPo readers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/conversations/your-storm-photos/2011/02/02/ABs8NrO_ugcgallery.html?hpid=z2

    Pictures by WaPo photographers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-thunderstorms-knock-out-power-across-region-leaving-2-dead/2012/06/30/gJQAsw5jDW_gallery.html?hpid=z2#photo=1

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  67. beb said on July 1, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    We’re just hot ans dry in Detroit. Would have been nice to get some of that rain people to the south got.

    Went to visit the Henry Ford museum (It’s air conditioned) and noticed that outside was a car rally, apparently the end of the Great Race. Lots of very old cars and hot rods. A delightful treat for the end of the day.

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  68. Prospero said on July 1, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    Nancy brought up the Felix-Tarmoh tie in the women’s 100 m at the Olympic Trials the other day. Still waiting on a decision to run a match race or flip a coin to decide. Having run track in HS, it’s hard to see how either runner would be satisfied with a coin flip. Felix is on the team to London anyway, after absolutely smoking the field in the 200m. Sanya Richards-Ross pulled off something very unusual in the 200 m. She qualified third to go along with a first place qualifying run in the 400 m these two races are thought to be completely incompatible for women, like a 400/800 double for male runners. Meanwhile, my fellow UGeorgia alum, Hyleas Fountain won her fifth national title in the heptathlon, the distaff version of the decathlon with throwing, jumping and running events, with a PB score. Fountain took silver in Beijing, and has a shot at gold this year. These trials have provided extremely compelling reality TV. Truly gifted people doing things very well.

    Felix and Tarmoh are good friends and actually train together, so the drama of their decision is palpable, like Lochte scratching out of the 100 freestyle to make a place on the team for Lezak (fastest 100 split ever), who swam the anchor in the US’s winning 4×100 free at Beijing that got Phelps his eighth gold.

    A great Olympics swimming story from today’s NYT:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/sports/olympics/swimmer-and-young-writer-inspired-each-other-in-1976.html?_r=1&ref=sports

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  69. Julie Robinson said on July 1, 2012 at 6:29 pm

    No power at our house but no big limbs down so it seems petty to complain. We visited some friends this afternoon and used their washer and dryer, but their internet/cable were out. Catching a few minutes of internet at a coffeehouse before we go search for more ice.

    We had church in the natural light with just a piano. It was hot but it was a great service, and our pastor promised us all gold stars.

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  70. Deborah said on July 1, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    Exhausted in Chicago. Got back in town around 1:30am Fri after flight delays, and after waiting for a cab I got home by about 2:30. then the next morning after our usual breakfast at xoco I started cleaning Little Bird’s old place, it took 8 hours, way longer than I expected. If we don’t get every penny of our deposit back I will be so pissed. That place is way cleaner now than when we got it. I’m still really sore, I feel like I’ve worked out in some extreme boot camp.

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  71. Dexter said on July 1, 2012 at 9:46 pm

    We had very little high wind but enough to break up a big maple tree and yes, send it crashing down atop my house. Sunday. No help available. Big damn half-a-tree on top of my house. Shit.
    I tried to get a tree service to cut it down two years ago but no, they said it was a fine tree and was OK…right. I have had three maple trees crash onto my truck and my house tha past 18 years. I hate maple trees.

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