This is the time of year I really start to feel divorced from my fellow man. Evidently there’s a basketball tournament going on now? I dunno. I watch the comments go by on my Twitter feed and it’s like watching a game played on another planet.
So, how was your weekend? I took a yoga class for the first time in at least a year. It was the same as it always is: It feels like nothing more than a lot of stretching until the next day, when it feels like you have hamstring cancer. I hit the market. Made cookies. Made macaroni and cheese. Made chicken. Made a salad with the leftover chicken. Slept late (clear til 7!) and watched the news of all the same-sex marriages going on until the court of appeals issued its stay. Watched “Nebraska.” And little by little the weekend slips through the fingers, and here we are at Monday again. Oh, look, snow flurries on Tuesday. But! Almost all the snow is gone from the yard and now it’s…well, it’s still frozen mud. But little by little, the earth thaws.
If only it were happening a little faster.
What did the weekend’s news sources cough up for bloggage? Let’s get started:
Here’s a lovely piece by Brian Dickerson at the Free Press, about how the judge in the SSM case found himself becoming acquainted with the world of gay families — in his own office. It’s a very human story, but don’t read the comments, because many of them are horrible and hateful.
Don’t read the comments on this story, either, about changes in the food industry pushed by the first lady. Where does the world find these people?
This story on Upworthy will make you vomit. It did me, anyway. Metaphorically, of course.
Time to watch “Girls” and see what the week brings.
Dexter said on March 24, 2014 at 12:56 am
One of my favorite character actors, the marvelous James Rebhorn (late of playing Clare Dane’s character’s father in “Homeland”), has passed away and I didn’t even know he was ill. This report says he has been battling recurring skin cancer. Lots of older people we all know have beaten that scourge. Some haven’t. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20799560,00.html
That basketball tournament has been a real treat this year, up until Sunday, when there were a few blowouts. In between games I channel surfed and stopped at an espn station that was showing the story of Wes the high school basketball star from Fennville, Michigan, who keeled over dead at age 17 three years ago during a game, enlarged heart, that silent killer. Horribly sad documentary. I know, I could have skipped to another station, but it was compelling.
Showtime’s “Shameless” continues to be slack-jawed “OMG!” viewing on Sunday nights. It’s worth a Showtime subscription just for that one show. “Cosmos”…sorry, I tried watching that show three times and fell asleep each time. It must be the music in the background. zzzzzzz. It’s 16 degrees. nance, too quick on storing the parka.
God bless you folks who can watch Lena Dunham getting fucked on Sunday nights. That show, “Girls”, is my least favorite HBO show, maybe ever. There seems to an immense army out here of Lena haters, but I guess she will stick around on HBO…I hear she is from an influential family that has a lot of pull with HBO executives. Please let that be a stupid rumor. http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1192850!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/dunham27n-4-web.jpg
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 24, 2014 at 7:50 am
If they’re still writing on sticky giant flip chart pages while “brainstorming” with the group, using big markers they lift to their nostrils and sniff from time to time, I cannot take them any more seriously than any other mainline Protestant congregation having a visioning meeting in a church basement. Of course, we’re probably a big part of Upworthy’s target audience, so . . .
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beb said on March 24, 2014 at 8:20 am
I had no idea what Jeff was talking about untuil he mentioned Upworthy at the end. I didn’t follow that link. Vomit is the most unpleasant smell imaginable so I have no interest in something vomit inducing. But where do these people come from? The one’s complaining about the first lady. I think most people reach a certain age when they realize that hard work and following the rules and doing all the other things that society tells us to do still leads to getting shit on the face by our lords and masters. The world is made to rip off the 99% but instead of focusing their anger on the people who take from them they pour their anger on the first lady for trying to keep our kids from getting fat or us from stroking out. It’s easier to blame Obama for not giving you a raise in ten years than your boss.
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Linda said on March 24, 2014 at 8:32 am
Where do those people who spew hate in the comments come from? They come crawling out of places where they can get their own, handpicked pieces of bullshit from Planet Misinformation. I just saw a Facebook posting from an ex-inlaw that said that, “if you live in a country where you can get arrested for fishing or hunting without a license, and can’t get arrested for being here illegally, you may be in a country run by idiots.” I posted a link for about a nanosecond that shows that deportations have doubled in the last 5 years, so you damn well can get arrested for being here illegally, then I thought, nah, let ’em stew in ignorance. Nobody pays attention to facts anyway–not when you can get your own truthy bullshit.
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Jolene said on March 24, 2014 at 8:55 am
I just saw a posting that contained a picture of Air Force One with lettering that said, “Why couldn’t this plane have gone missing instead?”
As I have said before, I just do not get the hate and contempt for the Obamas. Disagreement, yes. Disappointment, yes. But they seem like the least hateworthy people on the planet.
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Dorothy said on March 24, 2014 at 9:01 am
We began an ivy pulling campaign until we couldn’t do it anymore on Saturday afternoon. At our age, that means about 90 minutes. We still have SO MUCH to do. And we saw The Grand Budapest Hotel yesterday, which was very pleasant and so lovely to look at. Now starts my week from hell so I might not be surfacing much.
Oh and … basektball?! It’s awfully cool to be working at a University that busted so many brackets. GO FLYERS!! I’m going to be dead on my feet come Thursday but I’ll rally enough to watch the boys play at 7:15 that night. From the comfort of my living room, I hope.
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brian stouder said on March 24, 2014 at 9:07 am
I am heartily unhappy with President Obama about education policy/Arne Duncan/Race to the Top.
And I am heartily in support of President Obama’s “Less War is a GOOD THING” foreign policy, among many other things.
If it was President Romney in office, I’m sure I’d have things I liked and disliked, but under no circumstances can I see putting my name on a post wishing for the death of Romney and/or his family
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coozledad said on March 24, 2014 at 9:25 am
LAMary: LBJ said it best:
If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.
Well they’ve emptied their pockets alright, and traded their jobs and security, the right to a decent education, the birthright of being afforded the decency owed to citizens, just to be able to point and spit their brain-damaged filth at everything this president has done.
I always thought this class of people was destined to be isolated in the swamps of Florida, or one of the other mosquito infested hells of the dry sunken cunt* that gave us the Civil War.
But it’s spread nationwide now. It hitched up its sharty drawers and moved west and north after being given the Nixon/Reagan seal of approval. These people voted for an Ayn Rand fanboy who’s never worked for anyone but the government. He was going to be veep to a lying sack of offshoring shit who believes in the planet Kolob. The only thing any of these creatures have in common is their affinity with every pseudoscience crank from Count Gobineau to Charles Murray.
It’s occurred to me on more than one occasion that we have a duty to help these people on their way to hell; to actively help them empty their goddamn pockets and get them out of the way for good. Fill the for-profit jails with the trash and never let it see daylight again:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/22/ca-gop-candidate-for-governor-is-a-registered-sex-offender-commited-manslaughter/
*Ezra Pound’s description of the holy land.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 24, 2014 at 10:02 am
LBJ was not saying this was his strategy, or his sentiment; he was explaining to Bill Moyers the rationale behind the racist graffiti that they were seeing in Nashville, and how Southern politicians were using race as a policy wedge. He was speaking in the voice of those he was explaining, and I don’t think the context or his overall record supports that this was his own view. Lyndon always thought of the South as separate from Texas and vice versa. He didn’t think Texas was without racism, but both he and Moyers had seen it used very differently there to divide groups and win elections.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 24, 2014 at 10:07 am
See “LBJ: Architect of American Ambition” by Randall Woods; it’s a bit shorter than the Caro treatment, but eminently fair-minded all around.
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coozledad said on March 24, 2014 at 10:13 am
“I found the Lord when I got arrested for picking up the prostitutes,” Champ said. “I was like most people, ignorant in the darkness, in the very dark. I had no peace, had no love, had no joy. And now I do. Praise God for that…. I’ve grown considerably since I met Christ.”
Champ called the voluntary manslaughter case a “tragic accident.”
In my hour of darkness, in my time of need
Oh lord please parole me, I’ll join the GOP
Once I was a young man
drove through a parking lot
Some guy got beneath my car
but I was not at fault
who’d have ever thought they’d think I’d manslaughtered him
Or try and get my old pink self some barely legal quim.
in my hour of darkness, in my time of need
Oh lord please parole me, I’ll join the GOP
A similar young man would strum his
pecker at a bar
in front of people everywhere
Reince Priebus said “A STAR!”
but he was just a country boy
Whose crimes would not confess
And what he would call “petting” most folks would call incest
in my hour of darkness, in my time of need
Oh lord please parole me, I’ll join the GOP
then there was an old man, in robes upon a bench
and he read a riot act at me, and threw a monkey wrench
and one day I’ll be governor
and I will be his boss
and me and my sweet Jesus will nail him to a cross
in my hour of darkness, in my time of need
Oh lord please parole me, I’ll join the GOP
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brian stouder said on March 24, 2014 at 10:40 am
And we have a winner!!
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Charlotte said on March 24, 2014 at 11:28 am
Okay — here’s a really sweet piece about a big lunk of Michigan State player (from Dayton) who bonded with a tiny little girl with cancer — they’ve become best friends. http://club937.com/the-story-of-michigan-state-star-adreian-payne-and-princess-lacey-is-bigger-than-basketball-video/?trackback=fbshare
Cheered me up as I launch into another week …
(And as always when he writes us lyrics, Cooz for the win!)
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Scout said on March 24, 2014 at 12:46 pm
Yay cooz! Making Monday bearable.
I read the Upworthy piece and wondered if the people being written about knew how annoyingly smug they were going to come across in the final product. I, being of the uncool-grandparent-on-Facebook demographic the Upworthy hipsters deride, will certainly think twice about ever again taking their click bait.
Basketball. Living in AZ, I am inundated with Wildcat fever. I’m thoroughly sick of hearing “bear down.” Wassup with that? They’re cats not bears. I don’t get it. And my boss who is a KU Alumni is all depressed today.
Hey, so what do you all think about the whole Hobby Lobby stand against BC for their employees? My opinion is that if they get their way, they should pay higher premiums since they’re going to be paying for alot more pregnancies, child births and assorted related complications. Does their “religious freedom” stand also include not paying for Viagra coverage, I wonder?.
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Dexter said on March 24, 2014 at 12:57 pm
That big lunk is Adreian Payne and folks surely do make a big deal about his caring for the little girl. When he was learning to spell, I just know he asked his mom, “Adreian, Mom…really?”
I thought the most perplexing spelling of a baller’s name was Isiah, but Adreian blows Isiah out of the water. And I will boldly state this: If perchance M meets MSU in this tournament, Michigan will kick their green asses clear back to East Lansing. Unless Adreian is doing his thing at full speed. Then it shall be bad news for Ann Arbor’s pride.
Reince Priebus? Got me there. WTF?
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Julie Robinson said on March 24, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Coozledad, there’s no point in even trying to say anything clever when you’re in the room.
Someone who is distantly related facebook-ranted about having to pay taxes this year, blaming it on Obamacare. It’s not that they use it, mind you, but it’s a convenient excuse. It took a lot of self-control to not respond, but I realize it wouldn’t change their mind, and would damage our relationship. So I fumed a bit and moved forward.
Dorothy, I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t remember where you are now, but I’ll happily cheer your guys along unless they’re playing Michigan State (sister’s school) or Iowa State (parents’ school). Because otherwise, I don’t have much to interest me this year and I’m disinclined to watch unless I care even a little about a team. Hope your week from hell passes quickly.
Things are gong way too well at my desk for a Monday. All my numbers balanced perfectly, and I was successful doing complicated stuff on our brand new and spiffy printer. I feel like any moment someone will walk in with a big problem for me to solve!
Charlotte, I can’t watch video at work so I’ll have to wait, but I’m always happy to see good things about State, if for no other reason but to make my sis smile.
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Deborah said on March 24, 2014 at 2:46 pm
Good stuff at nn.c today. Of course I read the comments to those links and fumed for awhile.
At the theater that George R.R. Martin owns here in Santa Fe, they’re showing Back to the Future and the DeLorian will be there tomorrow and two days after. Then on the 29th the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones is going to be near there. Little Bird is going to get up early and get in line so she can get her picture taken sitting on the throne. Obviously she’s a huge fan. I guess I’m taking her picture, but I’m not standing in line, she’ll have to call me when she gets close.
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Dorothy said on March 24, 2014 at 3:01 pm
Julie we ‘re practically next door neighbors now. U live in Dayton now and work at UD.
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Julie Robinson said on March 24, 2014 at 3:28 pm
Thanks, Dorothy, I’ll try to remember. Hope you like your new town.
Charlotte, sweet.
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mark said on March 24, 2014 at 3:41 pm
Scout-
I think Hobby Lobby is destined to lose. However sincere the owners may be in their religious beliefs, the corporation has no religious identity. And if it did, it could change overnight upon change of ownership, management or directors. The religious views (and protections) of the current owners/management can’t be extended to the business entity.
The cases pertaining to the Catholic Church examine whether the teaching is central, long-held and defining. Those are tests that can’t be applied to GM or Tom’s BBBQ.
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Hattie said on March 24, 2014 at 4:52 pm
I do get tired of young people doing cute things and monetizing them.
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Sue said on March 24, 2014 at 5:12 pm
I hope you’re right mark. Seems to me several justices want this one bad for differing reasons and will be willing to ignore pesky stuff like your reasoning, along with their own previous rulings on related cases.
I really hope the stuff I’ve been reading about this is just overly pessimistic and your line of thinking carries the day.
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Deborah said on March 24, 2014 at 7:05 pm
Speaking of Hobby Lobby, my husband was in Santa Fe last week and he was looking for a particular art board that Little Bird said could probably only be found at Hobby Lobby. My husband’s response was that he wouldn’t go into Hobby Lobby for anything, he said he wouldn’t even take a dump there. That tickled me.
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alex said on March 24, 2014 at 7:59 pm
The media are spinning this ridiculous lawsuit into higher drama than it really is. Even Scalia would have to be embarrassed to endorse the flimsy legal reasoning of the plaintiffs. It’s nothing but a movement conservative sideshow to get the base all hepped up and hopping mad.
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basset said on March 24, 2014 at 9:42 pm
Akron. Road trip to Akron this summer. Definitely.
http://bensbiz.mlblogs.com/2014/03/21/fruits-booze-and-floats/
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