Braaaains.

Every year around this time, my friend Connie, who curates a monthly short-film fest, devotes one month’s program to zombies. Tonight was Zombie Night, and I went. One hour and 40 minutes of splattering, moaning and head-smashing. And that was just the audience. Ha, a joke. But seriously — making a film might make you a filmmaker, but it doesn’t make you a good one. I grew very weary of guns and guts, although there were some nice moments — a couple playing bedroom games, a little girl who cooks a meal (or ten) for a visiting ghoul. The point is, some people simply love zombies. And for that, many makeup artists will have long careers.

But I am weary. And I would like to go to bed. So here is a link or two, eh?

Best restaurant review I’ve read since maybe ever, of Guy Fieri’s 500-seat Times Square hog trough. I don’t want to spoil it for you — just read.

One of my former neighbors in Fort Wayne is a tattoo artist, emphasis on the artistry. Although I’m never going to get one myself, his work always seemed a cut above to me. The shop he co-owns with his brother has a new website, and as good as Dominick’s work is, his brother’s is amazing. If I could be assured my skin would never stretch or sag in any way, I’d consider getting that Bettie Page somewhere. And that’s the highest praise I’m capable of.

Time for bed. Night, all.

On edit: I forgot to include this appalling story, about a woman who died in an Irish hospital for want of the D&C that would have cleared the doomed, 17-week fetus she was in the process of miscarrying. I know the election’s over and the idiots lost, but let’s be reminded once more that these things happen all the time, and to refuse a woman in this position is the most repulsive sort of “pro-life” advocacy.

Posted at 12:47 am in Same ol' same ol', Uncategorized |
 

93 responses to “Braaaains.”

  1. David C. said on November 14, 2012 at 6:34 am

    It seems to me that all tattoos should be of balloons or parachutes. Things that get naturally saggy as you finish using them.

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  2. Deborah said on November 14, 2012 at 6:40 am

    I enjoyed the restaurant review in the spirit of Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Zombies never appealed to me. I considered getting a tiny tattoo of my own design once, but thankfully thought better of it.

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  3. alex said on November 14, 2012 at 6:50 am

    Obviously the NYT can afford to alienate one potential advertiser. It’s quite unusual, though, to see a mediocre restaurant get so thoroughly trashed. Sounds like Guy’s business model is Planet Hollywood—an overhyped tourist ripoff where the dining experience and food will be memorable, to say the least.

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  4. Connie said on November 14, 2012 at 7:37 am

    My best friend just got a lovely little tattoo and her 70plus mother had a fit, is still having fit. In the discussion of this my brother tells me that our mother, dead these 20 years, made him vow to never get a tattoo. So he feels eternally obligated to never get a tattoo. He pointed out that she had never made me vow. True.

    I do not ever expect to get a tattoo but should I change my mind it will be of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

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  5. coozledad said on November 14, 2012 at 8:25 am

    I wonder why there’s never been a zombie movie that’s based on its historical origins in North American slavery. The slaveholders apparently used the threat of “becoming undead” as a kind of psy-ops against enslaved populations, exploiting Dinka animist beliefs about death and spiritual return.
    It might be interesting to pair it with a retelling of any one of the slave revolts in the 19th century US, whose aftermaths were orgies of eurotrash savagery.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811_German_Coast_Uprising

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  6. beb said on November 14, 2012 at 8:26 am

    Clearly Guy Fieri rubs some people the wrong way. I haven’t read such a nasty review since Twonstant Wreader Thwowed up.

    Zombie also make me throw up, but I think we worked that vien to death yesterday.

    It’s interesting to note the number of bloggers who find the FBI’s ability to rummage through people’s email accounts a little frightening. It would be nice if Congress or the courts were to rule that emails share the same protection that snail mail does.

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  7. nancy said on November 14, 2012 at 8:35 am

    I just added a link to the post that y’all might want to chew on today. Cooz, isn’t the very origin of the zombie myth in the slave stories of Haiti?

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  8. coozledad said on November 14, 2012 at 8:43 am

    Nancy: Yup. This piece has a good summary:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/opinion/a-zombie-is-a-slave-forever.html

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  9. nancy said on November 14, 2012 at 8:48 am

    Right. Interesting how the story morphed from “you are a slave forever” to the staggering-ghoul model of “Night of the Living Dead,” followed by the fleet-footed brain-eaters of “28 Days Later” and now? I just saw the trailer for “World War Z,” and it appears they’re fleet-footed anthill-moving…somethings.

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  10. Mark P said on November 14, 2012 at 8:54 am

    I would like to see the demographics of zombie fandom. There are tons of zombie books available for the Kindle; everyone seems to be writing a book. I read “World War Z” (there’s a movie in the works with Brad Pitt starring — what’s with that?) and at one point a character talks about how some survivors relish the role of LMOE, Last Man On Earth. Does a fantasy of being LMOE appeal? Do zombie stories have the same appeal as first-person-shooter video games?

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  11. Mark P said on November 14, 2012 at 8:57 am

    Nancy, you posted your comment right as I was posting. Apparently there are some purists who think the World War Z movie will be too different from the book. And fast zombies do not conform to the conventions of zombie movies. Dead people can’t run. That’s the rule. The “28 Days Later” species are not really zombies.

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  12. 4dbirds said on November 14, 2012 at 9:00 am

    OMG that poor woman. Her dying baby trumped all her rights. I say once again, if a woman doesn’t have the right to total control over her body she is cattle.

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  13. 4dbirds said on November 14, 2012 at 9:01 am

    Wasn’t sure to use cattle or chattel but I think it is all the same thing.

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  14. brian stouder said on November 14, 2012 at 9:13 am

    Cooz – thanks for the link to the fascinating and superb Amy Wilentz article; thanks to it, today I learned something.

    (and not for nothing, but Amy’s brother Sean is no slouch, either. His book about the rise of American Democracy from Jefferson to Lincoln is really good stuff)

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  15. nancy said on November 14, 2012 at 9:16 am

    The twin-sister Kardashian manqués at the center of the Petraeus mess both do that thing where they tilt their heads to one side when they get their pictures taken. Just sayin’.

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  16. coozledad said on November 14, 2012 at 9:23 am

    What gets me is that kneejerk, freeloading, grift-running Republican hubris. The best part is, the wingnuts pulled this gun out and shot themselves:
    http://wonkette.com/489797/a-shady-charity-millions-in-debt-and-diplomatic-inviolability-tampas-good-time-kelley-sisters-are-perfect-republicans

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  17. Judybusy said on November 14, 2012 at 9:52 am

    Cooz, thanks for that NYT article–and the Wikipedia one. Love knowing more things than when I woke up.

    Sadly, I fear the whole Petraeus scandal will be a great diversion from other issues. I’m already tired of it. OTH, if it helps expose the Republicans as the grifters they are, that could be fun to watch. And what IS an “unpaid social liaison?”

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  18. Bitter Scribe said on November 14, 2012 at 10:02 am

    I’d like to see those fetus fetishists carry around pictures of that poor dead woman.

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  19. Mark P said on November 14, 2012 at 10:04 am

    I have one question about the NYT article on zombies: when did business jackets, top hats and dark glasses appear in traditional Voodoo belief?

    “Baron Samedi, the lord of the cemetery and one of the darkest and most complicated of the religion’s many complicated gods… is customarily dressed in a business jacket, a top hat and dark glasses.”

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  20. Jolene said on November 14, 2012 at 10:09 am

    The NYT has a piece that describes the social scene in Tampa. Hard to say who is more revolting–the hangers-on who wanted to bask in the reflected glory of the generals or the generals who allowed themselves to be flattered into ridiculousness.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/us/tampa-social-scene-at-center-of-petraeus-scandal.html?hp&_r=1&

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  21. Peter said on November 14, 2012 at 10:29 am

    Judybusy, I think in these parts an “unpaid social liaison” is called a slut. Unless there’s a quid pro quo involved, which may elevate that person into a courtesan.

    Gregg Easterbrook’s TMQ column yesterday had an interesting take on the affair – he thinks the question people ought to be raising is why Ms. Broadwell is being mentioned at all. What she did may be considered immoral, but she did nothing illegal: it was Petreaus who breached security and became a risk, not her. On top of that, he argues, one reason the FBI monitors people who are in sensitive positions is to make sure that they can’t be blackmailed and compromise security; but now that the cat’s out of the bag, how can you blackmail anyone in this mess?

    And if I may be sexist, General Allen’s daughter shown in Nancy’s link is one mighty fine looking filly.

    Being serious for a second, that Irish Times story is just sad. The part that gets me upset is how the article just shows that whole mindset – even though the fetus is doomed, you can’t do anything because it’s God’s will. You would think there would be a doctor who would check the pulse chart and just announce that it looks flat to him, let’s get this procedure over with.

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  22. MarkH said on November 14, 2012 at 10:31 am

    Nance @15 — Hard not to notice that from the very beginning of this. Classic case of poseurs who never fail to offer such a pose.

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  23. Bitter Scribe said on November 14, 2012 at 10:39 am

    Remember when Petraeus was this untouchable military icon, and Moveon.org or some other lefty group got trashed for criticizing him? Who knew.

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  24. Prospero said on November 14, 2012 at 10:39 am

    Nancy, you could hire Basil Hallward to paint your portrait. Nothing would ever stretch nor sag.

    I think Baron Samedi is more likely dressed in formal, not business, attire:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX3wGWHRlXQ

    Best sentence in Jolene’s linked story about Tampa:

    Business deals are often made in the plentiful strip clubs and steakhouses.

    No wonder military contracting is so FUBAR.

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  25. MarkH said on November 14, 2012 at 10:43 am

    ON EDIT — In addition, Nance, in most of the photos of the twins, and some of Ms. Broadwell, there is the sudden arched-back shot, where it’s clear it’s not just about good posture so much as the public being aware of the serious rackitude going on here.

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  26. del said on November 14, 2012 at 10:43 am

    Zombies are big with kids. A popular video game for the 9 + crowd is Plants vs. Zombies.

    And zombies are big with adults too. On my Facebook Feed the other day was a poster of a rifle-toting t-shirt wearing redneck with a description, “Everyone Makes Fun of the Redneck — Until the Zombie Apocalypse.”

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  27. Mark P said on November 14, 2012 at 10:49 am

    Business deals between contracting companies may be made in strip clubs, but military contracts are not given there. There is a process that military contracts, in fact all government contracts, must follow. The process is the epitome of bureaucracy. There is certainly some dirty dealing in government contracting, but people go to jail for it. To suggest, or allow a reader to infer, that government contracts are routinely let that way is just sloppy writing, unless the writer knows of a specific instance. And if the writer knows of a specific instance, that should be the story.

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  28. MichaelG said on November 14, 2012 at 10:49 am

    I’m not the biggest fan of tattoos on women. Part of it seems to be because so many women seem to go out and get any old thing plastered on their – self. Then they get another one and another and before you know it they look like a graffiti spattered wall. Plus, so many tattoos have become stupid me too clichés. Take the tramp stamp. Please. Then where will you be in ten years when fashions swing and tattoos are out? I think this is a case where a little thought, shopping and planning would go a long way. I’ve seen few well designed, well thought out and well placed tattoos.

    The case of that woman in Ireland is beyond appalling. How could supposedly educated and compassionate people torture someone to death that way? The hospital spokespeople didn’t seem to care at all. And all in the name of religion.

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  29. jcburns said on November 14, 2012 at 10:52 am

    It’s not just that this Guy Fieri uh..guy..is an acquired taste. I think the review was trying to make the point that if Fieri delivered anything in the ballpark of what he promotes (i.e. great, flavorful high-fat fried food) then it’d be one thing. Clearly he signed on the dotted line and agreed to have his name placed on a restaurant run by the absolute worst managers Times Square has seen, and there are a lot of mediocre places in Times Square.

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  30. Sue said on November 14, 2012 at 10:58 am

    “I know the election’s over and the idiots lost”
    No, they didn’t. This is still a big issue on the state level and that’s where they got the traction to begin with. Ohio’s heartbeat legislation push started up again right after the election like nothing happened, and, well, Kansas.

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  31. del said on November 14, 2012 at 11:01 am

    You’re right about the poseurs MarkH. Seems to me that those woemen angle their heads too much, its too obvious — too much of a pose. Be natural. There’s something appealing about a slight tilt of the head, call it the come-hither look. Maybe it reflects a self-awareness, confidence, I dunno. I’m partial to the slightly tilted forward look (Ingrid Bergman at times in Casablanca) myself.

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  32. Deborah said on November 14, 2012 at 11:10 am

    I’m sorry but Jill Kelley looks 47 not 37.

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  33. Sue said on November 14, 2012 at 11:28 am

    More on my comment @30:
    http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/11/14/1187721/tragic-death-ireland-denied-abortion/

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  34. Prospero said on November 14, 2012 at 11:37 am

    Holy shit, I’m pretty sure that is the first ad hominem restaurant review I ever read. That guy Pete Wells seriously resents Guy Fieri, and Rachael Ray better never open a restaurant anywhere Pete can get to. Guy Fieri is obnoxious, I think, sort of the Brian Bosworth of the Food Channel, but that isn’t really a restaurant review, either.

    Any idea why it tastes like some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde? I don’t think I’d trust anyone’s opinion on food that actually knows what that tastes like.

    Wanna bet this Red-Stater would like to memory hole this snide comment on General Betray-us.

    I always thought the great Petraeus “surge” strategy was a fraud, that involved buying off warlords and tribal leaders with $millions$, more than actual military strategy.

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  35. Mark P said on November 14, 2012 at 11:49 am

    I’m sure Petraeus was a bright, shining star in the military intellectual firmament, but that’s not saying very much. The media got quite dreamy-eyed about him. It was kind of the way they talked about Paul Ryan as a really smart conservative, so deep, so thoughtful, so far-seeing.

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  36. Bitter Scribe said on November 14, 2012 at 11:57 am

    Anyone who bleaches his hair like this Guy Fieri does deserves all the snark he gets.

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  37. Icarus said on November 14, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    Thanks for the link about the woman in Ireland. I will definitely use it as ammo against one of my closed minded bigoted friends on FB.

    I wrote on my blog that the next trend in Zombies will be the Voodoo created ones, not the pathegen created ones. If I had the Anne Rice gene, I’d write a series about it before someone else did.

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  38. alex said on November 14, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    The Irish hospital story is going viral. Good. This should draw attention to the fallacious argument put forth by people like Paul Ryan that there’s no such thing as a medically necessary abortion.

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  39. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 12:31 pm

    On Dominick’s portfolio page, the tat in the third row, far left, looks exactly like my dog Max. Right down to the stripe on his head.

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    • nancy said on November 14, 2012 at 12:37 pm

      Well, he was a rescue, right? Maybe he spent some time in the Hoosier State before making his way to Cali.

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  40. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    Possibly. I’m his fourth owner if you count the person whose dog gave birth to him.

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  41. Prospero said on November 14, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    Some women look fine with tattoos.

    Mary: Admit it. The dog owns you. I would sure like to see a picture of that giant hound.

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  42. Dexter said on November 14, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    Petraeus is quite a nimble old guy, eh?
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/sex-under-a-desk-cia-chiefs-1429853

    “I walked with a zombie…last night.”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcGb24n9hvM

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  43. Jolene said on November 14, 2012 at 1:07 pm

    That story about the woman in Ireland is about as sad as anything I can imagine. And Ireland’s law permits abortion to save the life of the mother. You’d think that an evident miscarriage in progress would be a clue to any halfway competent obstetrician. Once the sac containing the amniotic fluid has broken, a woman is at high risk of infection.

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  44. Dexter said on November 14, 2012 at 1:09 pm

    The trailer:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6SWz27OXac
    “I Walked With Zombie”

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  45. Dexter said on November 14, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    “Never magic so black!”
    The White Zombie
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOzgz1Ddmz8

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  46. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    I sent two photos to our hostess. I don’t have a flickr account, or at least an active one, so I don’t know how to show Max photos any other way. If you indulge in Facebook I think I have all the dogs’ photos there.

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  47. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 1:36 pm

    Oh, you can find me in facebook by looking for my first name and my last name is the same name as the city in England with the deepest harbor.

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  48. mark said on November 14, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    “I’m sure Petraeus was a bright, shining star in the military intellectual firmament, but that’s not saying very much.”

    Really?

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  49. Dexter said on November 14, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    General Allen > Jill Kelley – 27 PAGES of emails daily for a l-o-n-g time, some flirtatious … 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails! Jill Kelley looks more like a Haitian zombie than some sort of beauty queen.
    Did you hear the audio or see the clip of Kelley complaining of cars parked too close to her fancy house? She threatened the cops that she was going to get the diplomatic force to get the cars moved if they didn’t. ha! She has some sort of “junior counsel” license plates, which in reality carry no diplomatic privileges, by the way.
    Obama can’t sweep all this bad publicity under the rug, can he? Allen is in the process of a huge promotion.
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2232860/Leon-Panetta-speaks-support-General-John-Allen.html

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  50. Sherri said on November 14, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    I’ve been using email regularly since 1984, and I don’t think I’ve produced 20,000-30,000 pages of email in that whole time. I suspect that maybe they dumped her whole computer or something.

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  51. Dexter said on November 14, 2012 at 3:04 pm

    Sherri: I would think she got a new computer at least every couple years…who would have the time for this, especially her, with all her socialite-life?

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  52. MarkH said on November 14, 2012 at 3:13 pm

    Sherri, Dexter – One story I saw this morning said there was not near that volume of actual emails and that this massive number was an accumulation of multiple, multiple copies of the emails in question. And not all of them from the individuals in question. This whole story is getting just too effing weird, by the hour.

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  53. nancy said on November 14, 2012 at 3:19 pm

    This is Max, side view.

    (That is, LA Mary’s dog.)

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  54. MaryRC said on November 14, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    jcburns, I picked up on that from the review too. I actually like Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins & Dives show. Yes, it gets a little same-y and his schtick wears out fast but his program celebrates people cooking with local ingredients and producing food with, dare I say, personality — instead of micro-waving frozen entrees that taste just like they do in the same franchise two states over. So why can’t he do that in his own restaurant?

    Speaking of tats, I hate seeing images of the singer Christina Perri. She looks as if someone scribbled on her with a ballpoint pen.

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  55. Mark P said on November 14, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    mark @48. I’m not sure what you’re asking. Are you asking me whether I meant to slander the military mind, or whether I think Petraeus was actually considered one of the brighter military minds? In both cases I answer “yes”. In my experience, the military mind is much like the mind of an engineer. They are practical, rigid, and given to following rules of thumb, not to mention orders. Their approach to a problem is often based on a simplified understanding of the underlying principles. General officers are given to giving orders, not just because of their rank, but because they think their rank makes them right. In general, they are not creative, free thinkers. Their ideas may be creative, but usually only within the constraints of an already well-defined system. They are extremely good at executing tasks, but their scope of action should always be determined by someone else. In the case of engineers, by scientists and business/government planners. In the case of the military, by civilians.

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  56. brian stouder said on November 14, 2012 at 3:40 pm

    Max is one very handsome dog! And, not for nothing but I love his blue-bone (I assume that is his vet tag, yes?). And if you click the pic, it’s large and detailed….a well turned-out dog, and a nifty bit of nn.c magic!

    Indeed, it’s somewhat ironic that the dogs in our unfolding horn-dog General scandal look like jowly yip-yip dogs (albeit with 4 shiney stars on their shoulders), whereas Max looks like he could walk into any room and assume command

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  57. brian stouder said on November 14, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    (blue bone or not!)

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  58. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 3:57 pm

    Since Max is one big honkin dog, you bet he would. He weighs around 135. He’s a little greyer in the muzzle now, but not much. Still a looker. He’s an idiot savant dog. Mostly not too bright, but he can open doors. Door knobs, levers, push doors, pull doors. I have to lock any door I don’t want him to open. He lets the cats out and the other dogs in.

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  59. Prospero said on November 14, 2012 at 4:01 pm

    Here’s a book I’m really looking forward to. Remember the Robin Williams/Robert DeNiro movie Awakenings? I thought it was a good movie, if somewhat both corny and cheesy, as most of Mr. Williams’ movies are when he plays a bit down and normal. Anyway, good or corny, Awakenings served to introduce Oliver Sacks to the world, which is an undeniable mitzvah. Sacks is a grandly intuitive and spiritual scientist, that can explain both science and the way in which human nature and foibles interact with science in elegant prose. If you’ve never read Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, treat yourself. It’s like an excellent short story collection, but the stories are real. Sacks on the subject of the mercurial 12th century mystic and polymath Hildegard von Bingen is fascinating. Best story ever about a nun, I’d say.

    Private entities taking over public functions? The GOPer nocturnal emission. That is exactly what charter schools promotion is all about, and it is increasingly common. Consider Chris “The Magic Rat that Stole the Election” Christie’s ill-fated outsourcing of halfway houses in the NJ. (Scared the Nets all the way to Brooklyn.) Look how well Halliburton and Blackwater/Xe worked out in Iraq. No country wants any sort of US security presence anywhere near its women and children thanks to the psycho thugs those two outfits employed. Early on, some Bushco underlings actually wrote memos talking about the desirability of contractors immune to legal restrictions to indemnify both their employers and the US government. Some things cannot be trusted to for-profit sensibilities. We don’t need Dickensian debtors prisons in the USA. We sure as shit don’t want private armies. And I ‘d rather not have world affairs managed by corporate people too, my friend.

    Dex@49: Obama can’t sweep all this bad publicity under the rug, can he? Allen is in the process of a huge promotion. Who is going to raise a stink. Petraeus was the 2016 go-to guy for a huge number of Teahadist GOPers. I heard some Bullshit Mountain Network on a TV gas pump the other day, and the bimbo du jour was saying Petraeus is a stand-up guy that must have something to bury the Kenyan usurper with. Sadly for those twats, I’m thinking this was middle-aged bad judgement by a guy with a lot of power, or as GOPers labelled it when it turned out all the villagers with pitchforks and torches after Clinton’s scalp had pulled the same sort of shit, youthful indiscretion.

    And Max is a very handsome fellow. Does he ride on top of the car?

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  60. Bitter Scribe said on November 14, 2012 at 4:05 pm

    “Awakenings” was the most horribly sad, depressing movie I’ve ever seen that was not directed by Atom Egoyan.

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  61. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    When I first got Max I wish I could have put him on top of the car. He hated riding in the car and if I didn’t restrain him in some way he would bite me, not hard enough to break skin, but just bite me all over while I drove. And whine. Both of us would whine, actually. He got over this.

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  62. nancy said on November 14, 2012 at 4:09 pm

    He was trying to tell you he wanted to take the wheel:

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  63. Judybusy said on November 14, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    Max! What a guy! He weighs 90 more pounds than my Cora, and I find her a handful. Reading about his door-opening abilities made me chuckle, too.

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  64. Prospero said on November 14, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    Church music by Hildegard von Bingen. Eerily beautiful.

    Dan Burton, who called Clinton a scumbag, had his youthful indiscretion at 48. Saint Henry Hyde jumped the mudshark when he was in his fifties.

    Scribe@60: Never saw Cliff Robertson in Charly, I take it? Better to be alive and lose than never to be alive at all.

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  65. Prospero said on November 14, 2012 at 4:27 pm

    GOPer asshole Ken Cuccinelli shits the bed again. Unfortunately, the wrongfully imprisoned man isn’t preborn.

    This really reminds me of the story about Goober-nor Bush making fun of Karla Faye Tucker. How did anybody justif voting for that ahole after he did that?

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  66. Mark P said on November 14, 2012 at 4:48 pm

    And speaking of dogs, it looks like you might be able to control a bedbug infestation by taking the same ivermectin you give your dog for worms.

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/trending/2012/11/14/bed_bug_prevention_pill_stromectol_kills_bed_bugs.html

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  67. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 4:54 pm

    I think Max would be pretty scary behind the wheel. He’s easily distracted.

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  68. Jenine said on November 14, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Anybody else think that “Tampa socialite” is a hilarious pair of words? It rings really oddly to my ear. I’m guessing that Tampa is a pretty small pond for a socialite. But then they don’t invite me to their parties.

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  69. alex said on November 14, 2012 at 6:08 pm

    Tampa socialites, eh? I suppose their couturier is the House of Sam Walton and they get chauffeured around in Crown Vics?

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  70. del said on November 14, 2012 at 6:29 pm

    LAMary, Max is a very handsome dog.

    MarkP, interesting observations about the military mind. A college acquaintance works in Navy black ops and claims that Navy Seals fit the psychological profile of criminals, which makes sense in some ways.

    Prosp, I just mentioned Oliver Sacks yesterday in a conversation with a friend. The friend had just been to Cape Cod and spoke of the Salem witch trials. He said the accused were probably suffering from mental illness and halucinations; on the other end of that spectrum, we figured, were Joan of Arc and some other religious mystics. Just saw something about Sacks trying to destigmatize halucinations. (He dabbled with drugs in the 60s too.) Anyway, I recommend Luc Besson’s movie about Joan D’Arc, The Messenger.

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  71. MarkH said on November 14, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    del, Prospero – Oliver Sacks was just on Fresh Air recently talking about the halucinations issue. Fascinating interview here:

    http://www.npr.org/2012/11/10/164817448/fresh-air-weekend-oliver-sacks-and-oddly-normal

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  72. Jolene said on November 14, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    Pros, thanks for pointing out the Montgomery case. I’ll check on where it stands tomorrow, and, if he hasn’t been released or scheduled for release, I’ll call the AG and the gov to express outrage. Not that I think I have any particular influence, but one more voice can’t hurt.

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  73. MarkH said on November 14, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    This Jill Kelley person is a piece of work. NPR hd a story earlier today on how she sought all the status he alledgedly has with the military. She named herself a “social liaison” and the folks at McDill AFB apparently they didn’t object. Also, she sought and received an “honorary ambassador” status with South Korea, complete with vanity license plates. It was on this basis that the 911 “diplomatic involiuty(?)” call was made. The story is not up on NRP’s site yet.

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  74. Suzanne said on November 14, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    I had an ex-military supervisor for about a year. What you all have said about the military mind sure rang true with him. He would get hyper-focused on some issue or another but it was obvious he really didn’t see beneath the surface. Thus, his solutions rarely worked, and usually caused more problems. He was also extremely secretive which I also attributed to the military’s “on a need to know basis” mentality. Unfortunately, he never seemed to get that some things, we really did need to know to do our jobs.
    He was eventually fired.

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  75. coozledad said on November 14, 2012 at 6:59 pm

    del: The navy/seals criminal profile thing is probably right. I had an uncle who went in the army at 17 in 1941, and was in and out of the brig until they found a use for his talents. After he died in ’62 of leukemia, one of the local newspaper guys found out he was a kind of paratrooper/ hit man. When the western front was falling in around the Germans’ ears he would jump behind enemy lines and do both targeted assassinations of garrison commanders and random killings just to terrorize them.
    The war apparently made him less of a social misfit, because he’d got a bellyful of mayhem and killing.

    I was just thinking about him last night, and remembering one of his contemporaries, a man who served as a warden at one of Orange County’s reservoirs. He’d been in the OSS at the close of the war and was also rumored to be an assassin who served in support of the Bay of Pigs operation. I bought fishing tackle from him. He was a tall, quiet, bluish man.

    One Fall morning during the Ford Administration he took a jon boat out to the center of the lake, anchored it and put a .45 handgun in his mouth.

    He might have worked a couple of weekend sprees with Gordon Liddy. Who knows?

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  76. Jolene said on November 14, 2012 at 7:04 pm

    Mitt Romney, gracious as always, says that Obama won by offering “gifts” to key constituencies. Others might say that voters supported the candidate who addressed their needs and concerns.

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/romney-blames-loss-on-obamas-gifts-to-minorities-and-young-voters/?hp

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  77. Jolene said on November 14, 2012 at 7:05 pm

    MarkH, Kelley mentioned “diplomatic inviolability” in her 911 call.

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  78. MarkH said on November 14, 2012 at 7:23 pm

    Yes, that makes more sense, Jolene, though I’m not sure Kelley knew how to pronounce it, so it was not clear in the audio.

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  79. Sherri said on November 14, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    Gifts, eh? Because preferential tax treatment of carried interest and capital gains and high incomes isn’t a gift, it’s preserving the natural order of things.

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  80. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    I’ll pass along the compliments to Max. He’ll appreciate them. He likes being told he’s handsome.

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  81. Catherine said on November 14, 2012 at 7:52 pm

    Max is handsome indeed and his door-opening abilities are impressive. Can he open refrigerator doors? I ask because my business partner had a Lab mix who could open the refrigerator. One year the dog pulled the frozen/defrosting Thanksgiving turkey out of the fridge and dragged it out to the back yard, where all the dogs proceeded to maul it. They couldn’t really eat it because it was still frozen. The family had the sides that year and no one really missed the turkey.

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  82. Prospero said on November 14, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    This report says Dr. and Mrs. Kelley are in financial trouble. And how in hell are the Bullshit Mountain Network jokers going to maintain their claims that this was all hushed up to protect the President through the denouement of the campaign when the only politician with any part in or knowledge of it was snot-nose Eric Cantor?

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  83. Jolene said on November 14, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    Exactly, Sherri. People on Twitter have been having lots of fun w/ Mitt’s statement. For instance, Matt Yglesias said he’d been hoping for an iPad mini, but was forced to accept guaranteed access to healthcare.

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  84. Prospero said on November 14, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    Shirtless guy exposed.

    Catherine@81: Was that a family named the Bumpuses that owned that dog?

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  85. Sherri said on November 14, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    At least that explains why Dave Reichert was involved; shirtless Fibbie was stationed in Seattle previously, and Reichert is a former KingCo sheriff. He’s not exactly a mover and a shaker as a Congressman, so it was strange that someone had gone to him.

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  86. Deborah said on November 14, 2012 at 9:27 pm

    Regal looking dog LAMary. Nancy that commercial with the driving dog is hilarious.

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  87. LAMary said on November 14, 2012 at 10:39 pm

    Max hasn’t opened the fridge yet. I think the handle on my fridge wouldn’t accommodate his nose, which is what he uses for door opening. Max likes it when I whisper in his ear. He gets a look on his face like he’s mesmerized. I whispered all the remarks about handsomeness and regality and he is very pleased. The golden retriever mix, who thinks Max is a little silly, is giving him side eye.

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  88. Dexter said on November 14, 2012 at 11:03 pm

    coozledad…one man who makes my skin crawl every time I see him on TV is Bob Kerrey. This man’s actions in Vietnam were reprehensible. I read the entire report years ago and it made me shudder. I have no proof, but the whole story makes me believe that what we know is the tip of the iceberg. Kerrey was a sneak-in-the-night cold blooded assassin, and I’ll leave it up to you to decide about the mass-murdered label.
    http://www.thenation.com/blog/166531/bob-kerrey-mass-murderer#

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  89. Brandon said on November 14, 2012 at 11:36 pm

    http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/14/15164593-tragic-savita-case-reignites-abortion-debate-in-ireland?lite

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  90. MarkH said on November 14, 2012 at 11:41 pm

    Looking at Kerrey today is scary enough. I don’t know if his jaw and chin are shrinking or his skull is expanding. In any case, he’s looking more and more like Exeter from This Island Earth.

    http://kneb.com/news/index.php?more=82j8yrm7

    http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsM/12421-19402.jpg

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  91. whosear said on November 16, 2012 at 2:07 am

    I’m hooked on, “Walking Dead”. The gory stuff is not my prime interest. I’m more interested in, “how does one survive in such circumstances?”

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  92. whosear said on November 16, 2012 at 2:16 am

    I accidentally tattooed myself in second grade: I stabbed myself in the palm with a pencil. It became great fun when I taught high school Spanish and when I provoked the subject, I heightened their interest and curiousity, and when it reached the peak that I wanted, I thrust out my palm and said, “Here it is!!!”

    They looked confused and bewildered, then betrayed and molested. I would move my palm over to the overhead projector to show them.

    One of the few times I got their attention.

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