The neighbors.

Yesterday a flyer was pushed through the mail slot. Our neighborhood association will be having a residents-only trick-or-treat event “by popular request” a couple days before Halloween. Why? “To see our children and enjoy their costumes in a safer environment.” At the bottom, in small type: “This activity does not discourage participation in any other Halloween trick-or-treating traditions.”

Something you should know: We get lots of trick-or-treating tourists on Halloween. Of course it’s dangerous to make assumptions by the way people look and dress, I’d be willing to bet at least half of the kids who ring our doorbell are from either Detroit or other nearby, less-white communities. This bothers a lot of people. It used to bother me — back when it was the case in Fort Wayne — but I got over it. Essentially, all I really want is a costume and a smile. For this, you get a Reese’s Cup.

I read the flyer, and figured it out: Participate in the neighborhood t-or-t, then leave your porch light out on Oct. 31 and you can feel you served the local kids without having to serve the tourists. Alan read it, without me saying a word, and said the same thing. Kate read it, and reached the same conclusion. As it turns out, I have to be gone Halloween evening, and won’t be able to participate anyway, but now it’ll look like I’m participating in this stupid charade.

P.S. To my knowledge, no child — local or tourist — has ever been seriously hurt on Halloween since I’ve lived here.

This all comes as yet another kettle of shit bubbles in our local schools, over the question of “non-residents” sneaking into our schools. There are always a few caught and removed over the course of the year, although it’s usually a case of families moving in or out and being briefly, not chronically, in violation. This explanation never satisfies those who believe the district is crawling with illegals, so to speak, and starting this summer a group of these people have been insisting on tougher penalties. This plays into the hands of critics on the left and right, and frankly, makes the community look crazy and mean.

Which is my way of saying, sometimes I don’t like my neighbors very much. Not the next-door ones, but all the rest.

Getting ready to watch the de-bate — for some reason I feel like stressing the first syllable these days — and fixing a bowl of buttered popcorn. Ready for an extremely good and well-written, but utterly sad, story? It’s a 1995 flashback dug up by the Washington Post and pegged to the death this weekend of George McGovern. It’s about the death of his daughter, Teresa, of alcoholism. A cautionary tale, not recommended if you’re feeling fragile and sad today.

The Onion spoofs TED talks. And nails them.

Rest in peace, Russell Means.

Let me know how the debate went, eh?

Posted at 12:18 am in Current events, Detroit life |
 

50 responses to “The neighbors.”

  1. Sherri said on October 23, 2012 at 12:46 am

    McGovern wrote a book about his daughter Terry, which was much better than average for the genre: http://www.amazon.com/Terry-Daughters-Life—Death-Alcoholism/dp/0452278236/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1350967417&sr=8-2&keywords=george+mcgovern

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  2. Kaye said on October 23, 2012 at 1:20 am

    This edition of popcorn and politics was my favorite. Obama did well. I am feeling less anxious about the election outcome.

    Yay for the Giants! Looking forward to a great World Series. Just saw the last inning and a half, enough to see a home run, the rain, and several super-slo-mo shots. It was a little creepy seeing the muscles, tendons, veins and other assorted anatomy features at work in such detail.

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  3. Dexter said on October 23, 2012 at 2:01 am

    Kaye, the 3,000 frames per second camera is fantastic! It’s truly the best thing to happen to televised sport since the taped instant replay was implemented. The shot of Hunter Pence’s bat snapping and hitting the pitched ball THREE times with one swing was crazy, baby.
    I was so happy the Giants won. I had the diet grape soda and the David sunflower seeds a-goin’, and I made a small bowl of popcorn. I think I went through about half a large bag of sunflower seeds. The ending in the downpour was fantastic…we all saw the world champion St. Louis Cardinals flushed down and into the cove, and the World Series is on, finally, and the Tigers and the Giants are in it, and life is good.

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  4. beb said on October 23, 2012 at 8:06 am

    We stopped leaving the porch light on for Halloween the year after several groups of teen age boys showed up on at our door. Trick or treaters or home invaders? It wasn’t worth the risk. I appreciate malls which put on a trick or treating parade but its not really the same as going house to house And I can’t see bussing your kids to strange neighborhoods to get better treats. It really ought to be a community event. Your community, not someone else’s.

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  5. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 23, 2012 at 8:26 am

    Thanks for the link to the WaPo flashback. I’m glad Terry’s daughters had a father in the mix; too many Terrys have kids, her same problems, and only a grandmother and maybe a sister who sporadically will take over, but otherwise the kids keep having to navigate around a passed out mom in the living room to get ready for the bus . . . for 2nd grade.

    I wish I understood better how to set up people as they head into treatment so as to improve their odds of taking it and making it, instead of bailing and flailing. And coming back to ask that their kids be returned to them. Would having custody of her kids have saved Terry? You can’t read this and wonder if it might, and you can’t avoid seeing that it could have ended up with all three of them in caskets.

    Yet sometimes, people lose their kids once, go through treatment, come back and are reunited without a stitch of family support outside of the home, and six years later are PTO president and run for school board. I’ve seen it, it does happen. And why she went up that path, and Terry ended up down in that alley . . . we just don’t know.

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  6. Scout said on October 23, 2012 at 9:15 am

    Our Halloween custom is to treat the munchkin crowd, the little bitties dressed as Superman and Cinderella, until about 8:00. Once it becomes kids taller than us, with little or no attempt at costume, the lights go out.

    President Obama crushed Rmoney last night. Sadly, Mitten’s supporters will never melt down like Obama’s did after the first debate. The overreaction from everyone was more a factor in the resulting Mittmentum after that one than the actuality of Obama’s performance. But, I’m still hopeful reason will win out. I am mailing my ballot today.

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  7. LAMary said on October 23, 2012 at 9:28 am

    I read the Terri McGovern story yesterday when you linked to it in Facebook. It’s painfully sad. I hope her daughters had enough people around them telling them it wasn’t their fault and they could not have saved or fixed their mother.

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  8. coozledad said on October 23, 2012 at 9:33 am

    Scout: I never saw anything different in Romney in any of the debates. If talking through other people is the Republicans’ measure of a human being, then let them have it. The charm of it wore off by the second debate, and by last night, he was sounding like just another prick backseat driver, insisting you take a shortcut that doesn’t exist.
    When they analyze the debates later, without the benefit of our failed press and its deep seated Reagan idolatry, they’ll see that the same Obama showed up to every one. He just had to crank the volume up a little to punch through the chatter of a bunch of old white men.

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  9. Scout said on October 23, 2012 at 9:42 am

    coozledad: Yes. Yes, and yes. The media wanted a horse race. They were bored with the narrative that the incumbent was so far ahead after the conventions. They created the idea that somehow Rmoney was “hitting his stride” or some such. Andrew Sullivan really really really pissed me off with his hysterics and pearl clutching and I took him off my blog list.

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  10. Deborah said on October 23, 2012 at 10:04 am

    I agree Coozledad and Scout, I too thought the after effects were the problem not Obama’s performance. I thought he did just fine in the first debate, he was up against a lying bully and the media went apeshit. And I agree about Sullivan, I still read the Dish but I stopped for a couple of days after that ridiculous over-reaction.

    I just can’t see why anyone would vote for Richie Rich, except for the R after his name, I suppose.

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  11. Icarus said on October 23, 2012 at 10:06 am

    ” I’d be willing to bet at least half of the kids who ring our doorbell are from either Detroit or other nearby, less-white communities. This bothers a lot of people. It used to bother me — back when it was the case in Fort Wayne — but I got over it”

    Interesting, Eric Zorn had an issue with this as well and as far as I know hasn’t “got over it”. I can only speak from the point of view of being one of those kids from a bad neighborhood whose parent took him to a nicer neighborhood to trick-o-treat. It wasn’t about getting better candy, it was about safety.

    Would love to hear the other side since we hopefully be in a position to have a porch light by next year.

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  12. Bitter Scribe said on October 23, 2012 at 10:08 am

    I couldn’t watch the debate. Not with the Bears-Lions and NLCS Game 7 on. I’m a responsible citizen, but I’m not made of stone.

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  13. Deborah said on October 23, 2012 at 10:11 am

    Having lived in high rises for the last couple of decades I haven’t thought much about trick or treaters. But this year I’ll be in Santa Fe on the ground floor. I assume there will be at least a couple, there are 2 kids next door (when they’re not at their Dad’s or grandmothers). We’re at the end of a dead end lane so we don’t expect droves. Will hand out Reece’s because I like them and will probably have plenty of leftovers.

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  14. Connie said on October 23, 2012 at 10:20 am

    We turned out the porch light on Halloween when we no longer had a kid to answer the door. We live on a small dead end street with 9 houses, only two of which have kids. I’d rather visit Nathan and Ethan and siblings with some goodies. Particularly since Ethan learning to ride a two wheeler has been a big part of our summer entertainment.

    Didn’t watch the debate. Didn’t watch the baseball game. And didn’t get to watch Dancing With the Stars because Detroit ABC preempted it for a Lions pregame. They ran it at 2 a.m. instead. Went to bed early.

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  15. Connie said on October 23, 2012 at 10:22 am

    Nancy, I remember when you told us all you were buying a house in the Pointes and it turned out you had no idea what you were really getting in to. You’ve done a fine job of figuring it out and sharing.

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  16. Icarus said on October 23, 2012 at 10:25 am

    PS thanks to Pilot Joe for yesterday’s comment. As it was my first marathon since knee scope, i was pleased that the knees held out without any issues.

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  17. Prospero said on October 23, 2012 at 10:28 am

    Willard went fully inflated Windsock last night. On foreign policy, RMoney seemed determined to prove he has the courage of Obama’s convictions. In his rudest moment, the status of forces in Iraq discussion, Mitt so deliriously misrepresented the historic facts that he sounded less like he was lying his ass off and more like he had no idea what he was talking about. Status of forces was a negotiation with the Iraqi government of which the GOPers were inordinately proud four years ago, and the Obama administration sought to leave about 3500 troops in Iraq to stabilize and maintain any gains that may have been made in the situation since the invasion (I can’t think what those may be offhand, turning Iraq into the Irani Western annex?) Rmoney has said repeatedly that the Administration should have somehow bullied the Iraqi government into accepting 35,000 troops. Claiming the President agreed with his view was simply bizarre, and Willard did so in a bellowing manner that GOPers have been accusing Dems of since Al Gore. Major failure. Calling Syria Iran’s route to the sea? A Gerald Ford moment? Throwing Iraq under the bus? Not understanding that Iran has an extensive coastline (>1500 miles on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, +700 miles on the Caspian)? Embarrassingly fracking stupid. The future Lord God of Kolob got sliced and diced. The “horses and bayonets” line and the explanation of carriers and subs was pretty funny, and the undecided polls showed they hit home.

    Analysis of Romney contradicting his stated positions:

    http://www.juancole.com/2012/10/romneys-major-flip-flops-in-the-third-debate.html

    Mittens also said “if I’m president” and corrected himself to “when” several times. Lame-O, bud.

    Megatron Johnson dropped his second sure TD pass of the year last night. C’mon Calvin. It’s the NFL, not the dogass ACC. Right in his hands with 30 yards of wide open field. Cardinals were lunch when Cain almost took of the pitchers head with an RBI single, but I figured it was fait accompli when Giants beat Carpenter anyway.

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  18. MichaelG said on October 23, 2012 at 10:32 am

    Fun night! I was looking and switching between the Bear’s game, the debate and the (GO) Giant’s game.

    Romney’s smirk looked a little thin and strained to me and I still think he has a horrible hair cut. It looks like he was shorn by a GI barber Obama cleaned his lying ass clock.

    That super slo mo camera at the Giant’s game was way cool showing the multiple broken bat hits but the view of a fast ball pitcher’s arm seemed a little creepy. No wonder these guys all end up with arm and shoulder problems. That ninth inning in the monsoon was fabulous. I’ve never seen anything like that. The home plate ump was going to call anything that reached the catcher’s glove without a bounce a strike. Great game. I just hope the Giant’s aren’t too tired and that they don’t have a let down when they play Detroit.

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  19. coozledad said on October 23, 2012 at 10:34 am

    Bitter Scribe: I wasn’t going to watch the debate, but I wound up watching anyway, through a drinking accident.
    I imagine Terry McGovern’s life might have been salvageable, were there any way to proceed sanely through this world of bigots and fucktards without some kind of liquid crutch.
    Her dependency was clearly more than that, but I can’t fault that child for wanting to step off the earth. I’m sorry she pumped out kids before she did it.

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  20. Dorothy said on October 23, 2012 at 10:38 am

    The story about Teresa McGovern made me so sad. I had an uncle who was an alcoholic, but he stopped drinking before I was born (I think). He was my mom’s older brother, and she didn’t discuss it much. I know she was very proud of his recovery. I know it runs in families but as far as I know, I have no cousins who have the disease.

    I’m heading out shortly to hear Carl Djerassi speak on campus. He’s 90 this year, as was George McGovern, and my mother. 1922 produced some pretty impressive people!

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  21. Charlotte said on October 23, 2012 at 10:51 am

    Because we’re a rural county, we get tons of kids coming into town for Halloween — Yellowstone street is the main trick-or-treat drag and it’s really fun. All the parents mingle on the sidewalk, there are hundreds of kids wearing costumes (usually with parkas over them because even if it was 70 on the 30th, it’s nearly guaranteed to be 25 on the 31st, with snow). The best part is we’re also seeing more and more kids out here in the other neighborhoods — and my Chuck has a kind of spooky-looking house to being with, then he hangs his collection of Mexican papier-mache gargoyles and fawn skulls (they have these little spiky protrusions where the horns would go) — big fun.

    Best facebook post of the morning — my old college buddy Ben scored last-minute tickets from a friend who couldn’t make it, and took his ten year old son to the Giants game last night –joy joy joy ….

    (And one of the many things I loved McGovern for was his advocacy for mental illness and addiction issues. Lost an aunt to booze, my mother lived in a vodka bottle for a couple of decades, and have a friend here currently wasting away with cirrhosis. McGovern lived the reminder that no matter how mad you are at them, you still need to find it inside to be compassionate.)

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  22. 4dbirds said on October 23, 2012 at 10:57 am

    I have no problems, none at all with treat or treat tourists. We leave the light on for all although we don’t get too many teenagers. I would like to buy a cotton candy machine and give out cones of it to each kid. I just might do it.

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  23. coozledad said on October 23, 2012 at 11:04 am

    Dorothy: Just remember, Terry and her father got to experience the unfathomable joy of watching Dick Nixon step onto that helicopter and into fucking oblivion. That alone must have been poor man’s cocaine.
    God is stingy with that sweetass revenge.

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  24. Laura said on October 23, 2012 at 11:29 am

    I have no problem with Halloween tourists, and we have plenty. I give props to parents for giving their kids the full Trick or Treat experience, even if they can’t find it on their block.

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  25. Sherri said on October 23, 2012 at 11:50 am

    Maybe it’s a West Coast thing, but both here and where I lived in California we have/had lots of teenagers trick or treating. It’s never been a problem; they’ve always been polite. We always have lots of Halloween tourists; again, so what? They’re polite, they have a good time, and I think I can share for one night.

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  26. Prospero said on October 23, 2012 at 11:57 am

    So 4dbirds. When did you take up dentistry.

    GOPers are carrying on today with the apology tour bullshit:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/the-myth-of-the-myth-of-apologies/2012/10/23/f1cb4358-1d0a-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_blog.html

    I’m still waiting for somebody to actually point out an apology.

    My daughter was a Halloween tourist when we lived outside of Boston. Most of her friends lived on Beacon Hill as did her parents’ friends. We knew we’d get single malt and Finlandia from the freezer for treats.

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  27. Jan said on October 23, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    I live in Nancy’s neighborhood and it’s true we have a lot of “tourists”. Who cares? Every child deserves the ability to trick or treat in a safe neighborhood. In regards to the “illegals” in our school district. When I ask people how do they know these kids are “illegals” typically the response is that they “just know”. Hmmmm…I think the main reason is that they don’t look like us.

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  28. Catherine said on October 23, 2012 at 1:24 pm

    When we first lived here, we got lots of Halloween tourists. The sidewalks are wide and well-it, the houses are not too far apart and the residents are capable of generosity. Since then, crime has dropped, a degree of gentrification has taken hold in the less-cute parts of town, and as a result we have way fewer tourists. I miss the general air of excitement on Halloween, but I’m glad people feel safe going out in their own neighborhoods. And not once did I ever hear any of my neighbors complain when we did get crowds — more nostalgia for the crowds of the past.

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  29. Bitter Scribe said on October 23, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    About 15-20 years ago, some razor-blade-in-the-apple story went viral (or as viral as things could go in those pre-Internet days) and touched off mass Halloween hysteria. Hospitals offered to X-ray Halloween goodies, children and parents were warned over and over to accept only prewrapped treats, etc. Some overzealous mayors even banned trick-or-treating entirely. (As one helpfully noted, “We’re not banning Halloween, just trick-or-treating.” Gee, thanks. We’re still have Christmas, kids, just no presents.)

    Luckily, we’ve all seemed to calm down and get a little more rational about Halloween nowadays.

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  30. Carolyn said on October 23, 2012 at 1:47 pm

    Here on our West Palm Beach block we get fewer trick or treaters of any sort every year. Anyone who looks under 21 and comes to the door gets candy. I wish there were more.
    Recently, I learned that I live in the oldest Congressional district in Florida. Maybe I need to increase the treat age limit.

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  31. coozledad said on October 23, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    From the annals of entitled prickdom:
    “I can’t believe you haven’t returned my call,” Romney said on one of the voice mail messages, according to [Gold Star Mother] Stephany Kern, speaking at her Westerly, Rhode Island home this past Saturday. “Here I am making a second call; I haven’t heard from you.”

    Kern did not save the messages. This is the first time she has spoken publicly about them.

    Kern’s son, Marine Lance Corporal Nickolas Schiavoni, was killed by an IED explosion in Iraq on November 15, 2005. […] Mrs. Kern says that many officials, including Romney and Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy, left messages for her the day after her son died. She felt unable to speak to anyone in those initial days. “I didn’t listen to any of the calls,” she says.

    Only Romney, she says, complained in a second message that she had not called back.

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  32. Dorothy said on October 23, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    We haven’t had one trick or treater at our house since we moved in. This will be our fourth Halloween in our new house. I really miss seeing kids in costumes.

    Wedding glory from this past weekend: http://www.flickr.com/photos/truvy57/sets/72157631832357362/

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  33. Prospero said on October 23, 2012 at 2:06 pm

    Ann Coulter’s offensive comment on last night’s debate. Sorry, there is no excuse for this bitch.

    Carolyn: Could you see the RMoney blimp go down in Boca from West Palm Beach?

    http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/romney-blimp-crashes-florida

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  34. Prospero said on October 23, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    And how does Coulter not get grief from $Palin for her crass “retard” remark. And who made the horrible mistake of telling Couldter she was smarter than others when she was, as Sam Axe would say, a “bitchy little girl. Harpy is a more descriptive word for Coultergeist. Or Gorgon, like her sister Nancy Grace.

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  35. Hattie said on October 23, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    Squeamish racism from your neighbors, flat out racism from Ann Coulter. How do your neighbors feel about having a black president? I can’t believe that there is any other reason Romney is running so well in this campaign.

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  36. Sue said on October 23, 2012 at 3:05 pm

    Love, love, love Halloween.
    Love Trick or Treaters of any age. I always make a fuss over the middle- and high-schoolers, in costume or not. Sometimes it makes them squirm but mostly they go along with it in good humor.
    Love to see the moms and dads out with their kids. There are often whole groups, multiple parents and kids, the parents sometimes in costume themselves, and oh yes, often with drinks in hand (this is WI, after all).
    In my opinion, if I don’t see pumpkin carnage in the streets the day after Halloween, the youngsters haven’t been doing their job.
    When my kids were little, Bitter Scribe, it wasn’t the razor blade in the apple that was concerning everyone, it was the satan-worshipers we were all going to turn into if trick or treating wasn’t banned. It is one of the reasons I have an unfair prejudice against homeschoolers, I’m sorry to say. Though not entirely successful, they did manage to – how shall I say it – put a pall on things.

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  37. Dexter said on October 23, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    MichaelG: Normally fans would be screaming at the umps and at Bud Selig that the ninth inning in the cyclone-monsoon at AT&T Park was a travesty, but it was a glorious moment…I’ll not soon forget Marco Scutaro opening up his arms and his mouth and letting the rain hit him out there at the second base position as the game was drawing to an end.
    What a sweet taste that left compared to the bitterness coming from my wife’s mouth as she screamed at the other TV , telling Romney to shut up , just shut up. Make no mistake, I want the Tigers to win, but these Giants are certainly deserving as well.
    What a Series we have coming up!

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  38. Mark P said on October 23, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    @Hattie – I have thought about it and have come to the same conclusion: most of the Republicans I know will vote for Romney because Obama is black. It’s clear that Romney does not truly support the things they support, despite his flip-flops occasionally landing him on one. They know that, but they would never admit it because it allows them to rationalize their support for Romney. Of course I live and work in the heart of racism, but I suspect it’s true for many who live in other parts of the country.

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  39. Sherri said on October 23, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    Dexter, the best part was that despite the monsoon, they went ahead and did the trophy presentation on the field in the rain!

    I don’t think anyone, even on the Cardinals bench, wanted to stop that ninth inning. If you’re on the Cardinals, you’re down 9-0, it’s the 9th inning of the 7th game, you’ve blown a 3 games to 1 lead, do you want to hang around the clubhouse waiting for the rain to end to play a lousy half-inning? And that’s what you’d have to do, because baseball rules during the postseason require a full nine-inning game, no shortening the game due to weather after 5 innings. I’m just surprised Gary Darling’s strike zone didn’t double in size; I wouldn’t have been calling balls unless they rolled to the plate.

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  40. Deborah said on October 23, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    In Santa Fe I think I have only seen 1 Romney sign, most of the signs around here say Obamanos. I do not personally know anyone who is voting for Romney except for my sister and at least 2 of her 3 daughters in Minnesota. I guess I live in a bubble, both here and in Chicago. I used to think Santa Fe was very republican, but the longer I’m here, I think not. Little Bird’s dad and his brother and sisters will probably vote for Romney but I don’t claim them as people I know personally anymore. Little Bird’s dad actually voted for Obama last time around.

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  41. coozledad said on October 23, 2012 at 4:31 pm

    Hattie, Mark P: part of it is the racism, part of it is they want the Bush administration back. They never got tired of him, and would camp out in his ass if they could.
    I got used to the clowns around here talking about a “Bush Dynasty”, and a Romney presidency would give them the closest thing to it. He’s already got the world’s stupidest foreign policy team assembled from the previous cast of war criminals, and he doesn’t know where the fuck Syria is, thinks Iran is landlocked, and thinks we need to build up our dreadnought fleet. That’s W grade stupid there, on full display.

    Republicans don’t just need full psychiatric examinations, they need volunteers on standby to put socks in their mouths to keep them from chewing the goddamn tongues out of their own heads.

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  42. Crazycatlady said on October 23, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    I’m working on Halloween this year. It is the one day a year I go to work in a ‘complete’ uniform. I wear my Nurse’s cap. My elderly patients adore it, it gives them a smile and a comfort. It’s a huge ghastly thing that no nurses ever wears anymore. And it has a certain ‘shock’ value. It kind of looks like ‘The Flying Nun’!

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  43. MichaelG said on October 23, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    Dexter, the ninth inning was (visualize ‘was’ in italics) a travesty, that’s the great thing about it. The game was over by the time the ninth started. The Cards knew it, the Giants knew it, the TV people knew it, the crowd knew it and the umps knew it. The strike zone was as far as Posey could reach. Everyone was happy that the umps simply let the thing play out. You saw no protest from the Cards. They were as happy as anybody to see it end. I loved it. It will be talked about for years.

    All the people in my neighborhood are happy that Obama is president. ‘Course I live in the hood.

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  44. Bitter Scribe said on October 23, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    I’ve seen MLB playoffs in pouring rain before, with the score tied, never mind 9-0. It’s like they never want to call a playoff game for anything short of a hurricane.

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  45. Sherri said on October 23, 2012 at 8:37 pm

    The schedule is tight in the playoffs, especially now that they’ve added more games. Delaying a game in one series means screwing up the schedule in the next series, and that means screwing up the TV schedule. TV is the driving force of all professional (and quasi-professional) sports.

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  46. Dexter said on October 23, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    Remembering a different Sparky.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK_CuMJJLwg&feature=relmfu

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  47. Dave said on October 23, 2012 at 9:28 pm

    Not the topic but maybe, he’s finally gone and said something to wake up enough people. Alex, what do you think?

    NEW ALBANY, Ind. — Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said Tuesday when a woman is impregnated during a rape, “it’s something God intended.”

    Mourdock was asked during the final minutes of a debate whether abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest.

    He replied: “I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that’s something God intended to happen.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/richard-mourdock-abortion_n_2007482.html

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  48. Brandon said on October 23, 2012 at 11:36 pm

    Various thoughts: A Romney presidency would have the worst traits of those of George Bush and George W. Bush.

    Will a mediocre white candidate prevail over a decent black one?

    Is anyone here considering a vote for a third-party candidate?

    Arlen Specter and George McGovern: They sure don’t make them like that anymore.

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  49. Brandon said on October 23, 2012 at 11:43 pm

    10.Deborah said on October 23, 2012 at 10:04 am
    …I just can’t see why anyone would vote for Richie Rich, except for the R after his name, I suppose

    @Deborah: Yes, but I’d like to point out that Richie Rich was kind and had a sense of noblesse oblige. Romney is a grown-up version of Richie’s bratty cousin Reggie Van Dough.

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  50. Rana said on October 24, 2012 at 1:20 am

    A response to Ann Coulter’s vile tweet – this is what generosity of spirit looks like: http://specialolympicsblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/an-open-letter-to-ann-coulter/

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