Fixed.

Every time we have computer trouble, I find myself both irritated (haven’t we reached the point in the internet that it should just flippin’ work?) and — if I solve the problem — amazingly satisfied. Problem-solving has never been my most marketable skill, so it feels good to do deductive reasoning from time to time. Is it this? Let’s take it out of the chain and see what happens. Is it this? Yes.

It was the router, the ugly-ass Cisco that wanted me to install all its stupid software, added a Guest network and couldn’t find the damn printer until J.C. passed through town and brought it to heel.

The new one’s an Apple. Yes, I paid the premium. My reward? I plugged it in, and it worked. The lagniappe? It’s pretty. Good enough for me.

So, on Wednesday I experimented with what the urban planners call “last-mile” bike commuting. That’s where you ride your bike to the bus stop, put it on the rack on the front of the bus, commute to the urban center, take the bike off and ride to your office. It worked swimmingly both ways, unless you are the sort who would be bothered by the raving homeless guy who lingered at the downtown stop for a time. Bonus: I had a bike for lunch, and a friend and I rode down to Eastern Market for a slice at Supino’s, the best pizza in this or many other towns. The crust is so thin you can eat it entirely without guilt, because they don’t lard the cheese on, either.

And then it was back to the office, passing between a major-league baseball park and the housing project where the Supremes grew up, now abandoned and undergoing demolition. All under china-blue skies. That is what I call a lunch hour.

The only potential sour note in this is the lack of a rack at my office building, and the management’s refusal to let me bring it upstairs. I can’t even lock it in the vestibule, which meant I had to secure it to a parking meter outside the front door. I invested in a bomb-ass lock, but nothing works all the time. That’s when I rely on my time-honored strategy of never having the nicest stuff. Today, a woman rode past me on a racing bike that looked like it had been imported from the 23rd century. If I recognize her blond ponytail, she’s a local amateur racer and probably needs it, but I wouldn’t want to leave it anywhere without a 50-pound anchor secured to, I dunno, maybe a car.

OK, so bloggage for the weekend?

Here’s the WashPost Wonkblog thing I posted in comments Wednesday, for you non-comments people. It explains why ophthalmologists are among the highest-billing Medicare doctors out there. Spoiler: Pharmaceuticals.

I guess some people won’t be watching Stephen Colbert when he takes over for David Letterman.

And then Jesus said, “Take my wife. Please.” Can’t wait to see how this plays out.

Great weekend, all. And happy birthday, J.C. Burns! You make this thing happen every single day.

Posted at 12:30 am in Detroit life, Same ol' same ol', Television |
 

53 responses to “Fixed.”

  1. MichaelG said on April 11, 2014 at 1:13 am

    Left from yesterday’s comments. Sorry to be a damp hanky but I was referring to the procedure. I’ll get the results next Thursday when I have an appointment with my oncologist. We already know pretty much what the results will be and chemo is scheduled to start on the 21st. The doc doing the biopsy noted that the spots were very small and that the biopsy was difficult because of that. Good. Anyway, I have a week off. First time since I retired. This being sick stuff is a full time job. Once again, all praise to Kaiser and thanks to the wonderful health plan I have. The biopsy cost me $15. I’m out of pocket somewhere less than $200 for three or four CT scans, an MRI, a PET scan, two biopsies, a major operation including three days in the hospital, innumerable consultations, two chest X-Rays, a two hour class and God knows what else.

    The lung biopsy involved forty five minutes of CT scan time (what does that shit cost?) as the doc moved me in and out lining me up for the ultimate stab of the core sampling effort. The happy juice in the IV and the local anesthesia made for a painless procedure. The concern here is that since the thorax is punctured and the lung penetrated, there may be a partial lung collapse. That apparently happens about 30% of the time. They require you to remain for two hours in the recovery room to ensure that no collapse has occurred and at the end of the time they take a chest X-Ray to confirm that all is well and it was with me. Then I was good to go. My wonderful neighbor Patricia was my driver as usual. Kaiser requires that you have a driver for this procedure and they want to see the driver live and in person before they will allow the procedure to go ahead and they want the driver’s name, address and phone. Afterwards, Patricia and I went to a sushi place for lunch. I protested that the happy juice hadn’t really affected me but after the third time I dropped my sushi into the wasabi/soy mixture and with Patricia unable to control her mirth I had to admit that maybe I was a tiny bit under the influence.

    I can’t get particularly exercised about the Jesus and his wife thing. He was 33 years old and a virgin when he died? And people wonder why I can’t get worked up about religion.

    2273 chars

  2. Dexter said on April 11, 2014 at 1:53 am

    Every year at this time we are treated to Jesus as he really was, mighta-been, or never was. It’s always good for a laugh or a read, and you know what? This shit does not faze hardcore Christians one little bit. Trust me. They just say “believe or call Jesus a liar” , meaning you damn-well better believe in the gospel of the New Testament or else just go to hell.

    nance, after I had my bike stolen after it had been chained to that city light pole on Plum Street, right beside Tiger Stadium 18 years ago, chained with a heat-treated chain and an industrial super-strong, huge Yale lock, I have the bad feeling your bike and you will soon surely part company. I noticed in Columbus a few years ago that a downtown parking garage had an area where folks locked up their bikes under the auspices of the attendant, probably lessening the chances of theft. It’s a fucking shame your company doesn’t allow you to bring your bike inside. On the street, you’re not only tempting whole-bike thieves, but pickers as well, like the 12 year old boys in Cleveland , right outside the Galleria, who I caught stealing my saddle and seat post. I was an antique bike and they couldn’t remove the post or seat-saddle, but they tried.

    1230 chars

  3. Deborah said on April 11, 2014 at 6:15 am

    Happy Birthday JC and thanks for your expertise. And thank you Nancy, for what you do every day here. I don’t say that enough. Reading this blog and comments is a big deal to me, it would seem strange not to have it be part of my day.

    234 chars

  4. Basset said on April 11, 2014 at 7:11 am

    My workplace, a government building in Nashville, has a bike rack built to resemble a banjo.

    92 chars

  5. alex said on April 11, 2014 at 7:15 am

    No surprise, then, that the biggest Medicare beneficiary (if you will) in our town is an ophthalmologist, and he makes over $2 million a year from it. Also on the list is the notorious pain doctor who appears to be little more than a drug lord with a diploma. I’m acquainted with one of his patients who got a contaminated hip injection from him resulting in a severe infection of the bone; she now has an artificial hip at age 40. Very seldom do they perform hip replacements in patients so young, but in her case it would have been pointless to lead a life of misery and incapacity until age 60 before having the procedure.

    MichaelG, I can’t believe I misread your comment yesterday. Despite all my years as an analysand I still have that danged human propensity for wishful thinking.

    The idealized notion that Jesus wouldn’t fuck is just another example of Western culture’s sexual hangups. He probably didn’t shit or piss either and was anatomically smooth like a Barbie doll. There, that’s my blaspheme for the day.

    1141 chars

  6. Deggjr said on April 11, 2014 at 7:27 am

    … some people won’t be watching Steven Colbert … hey, Ben Shapiro is doing Steven Colbert’s (old) act!

    114 chars

  7. Deggjr said on April 11, 2014 at 7:28 am

    Stephen … I’m a big fan

    25 chars

  8. Jolene said on April 11, 2014 at 8:01 am

    Here’s a link to a set of clips and articles in which Colbert is himself rather than his character. Haven’t been through all yet, but I recommend the second Letterman interview, the tribute to his mother, and the Fresh Air interview.

    233 chars

  9. Jolene said on April 11, 2014 at 8:02 am

    Whoops! Forgot the link.http://www.vox.com/2014/4/10/5601432/17-times-stephen-colbert-has-dropped-his-act-and-been-himself

    122 chars

  10. coozledad said on April 11, 2014 at 8:08 am

    So now comedy, an art form for which Republicans can fashion only the crudest simulacra from the baling twine and sticks, is equivalent to blackface?

    I think I remember reading about that in the Letter From the Birmingham Paddock Club.

    We know through painful experience that absolute economic freedom from taxes is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed and purchased at a discount through our legislative bodies. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a voter suppression campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who demand representation. For years now I have heard the words “Poll tax” They ring in the ear of everyone here at the clubhouse who is not on the wait staff or landscaping crew with piercing familiarity. This “poll tax” has almost always meant “Here they are again with the fucking Lester Maddox bullshit” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, Antonin Scalia, that “Justice is too long. Go fuck your sister.”.

    1014 chars

  11. Deborah said on April 11, 2014 at 8:12 am

    Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

    33 chars

  12. beb said on April 11, 2014 at 8:15 am

    Speaking of chaining your bike to a car… I saw pictures yesterday where a fire department was confronted by someone’s BMW parked in front of a fire hydrant… So they broke out the windows and ran the hose across the seat. I hope someone thought to call the police so they could issue a parking ticket as well.

    Thin crust pizza? May as well apply ketchup to a saltine. I like my pizzas with a nice thick crust.

    Just because the manuscript mentioning Jesus’s wife has been dated to be ancient, is no reason to assume it’s not a hoax. People back then were just as capable of creating a hoax as they are now. In any case it’s far more believable that Jesus was married than that his mother was a virgin at the time he was born.

    734 chars

  13. Jolene said on April 11, 2014 at 8:18 am

    And here is Hank Stuever’s take on the Colbert decision. Very good article. If you’re interested in the late night comedy shows, it’s worth searching the WaPo web site for Hank’s recent articles. He’s had several good pieces on new hosts Fallon and Meyers, as well as a piece on Letterman’s retirement.

    http://m.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/colbert-sans-colbert-a-shock-for-comedy-central-fans-but-a-smart-choice-for-cbs/2014/04/10/d8d80254-c0d4-11e3-bcec-b71ee10e9bc3_story.html

    490 chars

  14. brian stouder said on April 11, 2014 at 8:31 am

    Happy birthday, JC!

    And – here’s wishing for continued good stuff, MichaelG.

    Sherri – if you count the times I’ve flown, the total would be in the very low double-digits (maybe a dozen times?), and so it’s an exotic adventure with interesting things to see at every turn, etc etc.

    Even so, on our last Big Adventure, my fine young son and I missed the connector on the first leg of our outbound journey…and that caused ripples all the way to the end of the adventure.

    By way of saying – flying (the whole experience, really) still seems intrinsically fun to me, but I got a glimpse of the un-fun nature of it

    622 chars

  15. jcburns said on April 11, 2014 at 11:04 am

    Thanks youall. Warms my heart. Also glad you got a new router Nance. May your packets flow down as waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. (That is, apparently, me misquoting MLK misquoting the bible, but I saw it here first, at a powerful yet lesser-known example of Maya Lin’s work.) People here know she was born in Athens, Ohio, right? Right.

    And tomorrow, David Letterman turns 10 years older than me, as he always does.

    511 chars

  16. Kirk said on April 11, 2014 at 11:07 am

    Flying was sort of fun when I took my first commercial flight, in 1970, even though we all had to get off the plane after some moron funny guy made a crack about having packed a bomb in his luggage. But now it just sucks. And not just because of all the security stuff; you won’t hear me complaining about that. The only reason to fly is to get somewhere in a hurry.

    366 chars

  17. Dave said on April 11, 2014 at 11:29 am

    My first commercial flight was actually on a Ford Tri-Motor, on what was called, I think, Island Airlines, that flew flights from Port Clinton, OH, to Put-in-Bay, the island in Lake Erie. This was about 1965. That was an adventure I didn’t fully appreciate until I learned how rare the planes were later on.

    Next was Eastern Airlines in 1975, from Port Columbus to Tampa. Yes, flying was much more enjoyable then and Kirk is so right, it’s only good to get somewhere in a hurry. I confess to not being that fond of flying, always grateful to get back on the ground. I would guess I’ve made more flights than Brian but surely far less than some here.

    I did not know Maya Lin was born in Athens.

    704 chars

  18. Sherri said on April 11, 2014 at 11:49 am

    I never did much business travel, so I was never a fly all the time person, but when you move across the country from family and then have a kid, you’re sort of compelled to fly. I definitely don’t miss the days of flying with a small child. My daughter took her first flight at 3 months, and after flying back for her first Christmas a few months later, I swore I would never fly at Christmas again, it was such an unpleasant experience.

    JC, happy birthday!

    462 chars

  19. coozledad said on April 11, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    I can’t wait for the Feds to torch this moocher’s shit shack:
    http://wonkette.com/546264/rightwing-media-stroking-nevada-ranchers-coming-standoff-with-feds-will-explode-with-delight-at-climax

    192 chars

  20. Kirk said on April 11, 2014 at 12:36 pm

    Just saw a TV news report on that one, Coozledad. Gun-totin’ “militia” goofballs from all over the country are showing up to do their duty against the tie-ran-ikle gubmint. Casualties seem inevitable. Townsfolk, naturally, are scared and wish they’d go home.

    258 chars

  21. jcburns said on April 11, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    Hey, as a kid, I flew Island Airways Ford TriMotor as well. I don’t remember too much except: we flew amazingly low and with the huge wings, seemed to float like a kite. And the walls of the plane–right behind my back–were made of flimsy corrugated metal that I could push on and bend.

    287 chars

  22. Charlotte said on April 11, 2014 at 2:00 pm

    Sherri — have to say, flying *on* Christmas day is fabulous. Everyone is relaxed, all the hysteria is over … we used to catch the 6am flight out of SFO to go to Chicago — got us in at noon — showed up at our mother’s in time for me to cook the Christmas dinner (sigh).

    I hardly fly at all anymore. For one thing, I live here, which makes it hard to want to go away, and I just find it more and more difficult to justify the carbon footprint. Doesn’t help that they’ve made it so unpleasant either. Nothing like a stranger patting down/sticking their fingers all up in your poofy curly hair first thing in the morning — or running their hands up the inside of your tights. Ick.

    686 chars

  23. Dorothy said on April 11, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    Happy birthday to JC!!! I just had a skinny slice of moist chocolate cake because it’s someone’s birthday on the fifth floor of my office building. Boy-o-boy it tasted yummy. No more sweets for me for a couple of weeks, though. That was enough!

    247 chars

  24. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 11, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    What everyone keeps missing in this story, regardless of dating or paleography: it’s not controversial to say Jesus has a wife. It’s in the Bible.

    “Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
    for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
    it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

    for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

    And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

    ~ Revelation 19:7-9 (ESV)

    The standard interpretation is that it is the Church that is the Bride of Christ.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/science/scrap-of-papyrus-referring-to-jesus-wife-is-likely-to-be-ancient-scientists-say.html

    851 chars

  25. Judybusy said on April 11, 2014 at 2:30 pm

    Happy birthday, JC, and thanks so much for what you do to keep the shop running!

    MichaelG, thanks for the update. I am sure you have done research, but chemo wreaks havoc sometimes with tastebuds, and it can be a challenge to get enough food. A nutritionist published a cookbook for people undergoing chemo. I kinda though it must have been aimed at a white audience, who just ate poached chicken, because it seemed to be all about “eat more international food, using spices such as cumin” to surprise your tatebuds. That said, I think she has a lot of good advice otherwise, as did people in the NPR comments.

    730 chars

  26. brian stouder said on April 11, 2014 at 3:20 pm

    Cooz – I totally missed the story you link to.

    I seem to recall when the whack-job blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City, that Uncle Rush spent the next month or two or three DENYING any blame for what happened there, or the anti-government nihilism.

    But if this whack-o goes all Waco, how will Shit-for-brains-Sean (et al) deny that they have blood on their hands?

    379 chars

  27. Dexter said on April 11, 2014 at 4:19 pm

    Happy Birfday JC. Thanks for maintaining.

    I have racked up a few miles I suppose in the couple hundred flights I have taken, outside of that violent out-of-control landing in Vietnam one time, the problems with planes I was on or scheduled to be on were resolved by landing safely at some airport I didn’t want to be , or just never being allowed to fly because of mechanical failure. The two most memorable situations were when were approaching buses to take us to Travis AFB for departure to Vietnam via Anchorage, a group of protestors were waving red flags at us and insulting us loudly. I don’t blame them, I don’t hate them; they did what they felt compelled to do and we , mostly, had simply been shanghaied into forced servitude by the agents of Uncle Sam under threat of penalty by imprisonment, which is how I viewed my personal conscription back then.
    The most joyous airport experience I had was at Chicago O’Hare, where I saw a large group of Hare Krishna dancing about, chanting, handing out literature.

    1028 chars

  28. Dexter said on April 11, 2014 at 4:35 pm

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA7C2uADjzk

    43 chars

  29. brian stouder said on April 11, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    Dexter, you are the man.

    I read about the weenie in Nevada (or wherever), who is ready to kill other US citizens because he thinks he deserves free rangeland (note – not because his property is being trampled, but specifically because his herds cannot trample public grounds for free) – and he’s the exact opposite of a man like you – who the government compelled to go into a warzone on the other side of the planet.

    It is actually astonishing how good some folks are, at dressing up their selfish wants as ‘sacred rights’, while many others (like Dexter) do their duty as best they can, including in very (very) high-stakes places like wartime Vietnam

    673 chars

  30. MichaelG said on April 11, 2014 at 4:45 pm

    It took less than a day to sell out over 100,000 seats at Michigan stadium in Ann Arbor for an Aug 2 exhibition game (match?) between Manchester United and Real Madrid. Guess they’s some footy fans in your area.

    212 chars

  31. Deborah said on April 11, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    Coozledad’s link had a great comment “..a rancher named Cliven Bundy..
    Is he related to Ted or Al?”

    That reminds me that cattle can graze all over the place in Northern New Mexico. There are signs all along the highways to watch out for cows on the sides of the roads and often smack dab in the middle, because they’re allowed to graze on the easements. We came across an accident that had just happened on Christmas night a few years ago. A young couple and their 3 kids were roaring down the highway (a 2 laner). Their car hit a cow, the cow landed up on the hood and smashed the windshield. The kids were OK but the dad had some cuts on his face, the mom who was driving just had tons of shattered glass in her hair. We stopped of course to assist with the people in the car and to stop oncoming traffic from plowing into the huge dead cow in the middle of the road. It was pitch black and no cell service. Scary. There are probably many places where cows are allowed to graze like that, but I hadn’t seen it before coming to this part of the world.

    1057 chars

  32. Kim said on April 11, 2014 at 10:21 pm

    MichaelG – that’s an International Champions Cup game. It’s part of the top flight champions’ series in the U.S. – that, according to my soccer freak youngest child, means the top teams from the top Euro leagues. The Man U vs. Real Madrid game is the game many want to see because it pits the team Cristiano Ronaldo is on (Real Madrid) against the one he used to be on (Man U), which has one of the other greats, Wayne Rooney.

    I have more facts but I don’t want to bore this crowd; several have previously expressed their feelings on “the beautiful game.” It’s a game I have grown to appreciate greatly for its athleticism, even as the fact it was over in two hours was the initial draw as a parent. (Anyone who has ever endured a youth baseball game will know what I am talking about.)

    789 chars

  33. Dexter said on April 12, 2014 at 1:57 am

    brian, you da man. South Side Archers rule! I mean, I have to have a soft spot in my heart for the place where I took my SATs or whatever they called pre-college exams back then, as well as being the place where I was a guest lecturer one day in a class room, topic was Vietnam and US involvement, and also being the school where Fort Wayne’s greatest basketball player of the 1960s, Willie Long played.

    406 chars

  34. Sherri said on April 12, 2014 at 2:16 am

    I’ve stood outside in 40 degree rains for youth soccer, but that’s not nearly as painful as enduring kid softball as I did for a few years before managing to steer my daughter in a different direction. Two and a half hours, and they don’t even get any exercise to speak of. Even though I’m a baseball fan, I couldn’t stand it.

    326 chars

  35. Dexter said on April 12, 2014 at 2:17 am

    basset: Jesse Winchester died Friday, age 69, cancer battle lost. The list is nearly endless of the people he wrote songs for, and many covered the songs Jesse himself sang.
    Jesse was a Vietnam war resister, so long ago he ended up in Canada, where he stayed a long time, finally returning to the USA and he lived in Charlottesville at the end.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb7e-aj2ZAo&list=ALGLx1orRGw4WIk-EXJmv0foyfTR3JBC1R

    438 chars

  36. Basset said on April 12, 2014 at 5:49 am

    Sorry to hear that, I was aware of him but didn’t really know his music… surely I have heard some of the covers though.
    Sherri, going to those games might have been an inconvenience but it’s important that you did, been nearly fifty years since I played Little League baseball but I still remember my parents only showing up once.

    333 chars

  37. beb said on April 12, 2014 at 12:14 pm

    You may have heard that the file-serving company Dropbox has appointed Condi Rice to their board of directors. Naturally this is created a lot of controversy. I was reading the comments at Slashdot about it this morning and – wow! – I haven’t heard that much name-calling since elementary school recess. People were being called racists and sexists for opposing her appointment as her failures as National Security Adviser and Secretary of State had nothing to do with it. Pres. Obama got drawn into it. It was an ugly mess. I was dismayed by her appointment because I think the senior members in the Bush ought to be ashamed of what they did and stay out of the public spotlight for the rest of their lives.

    And speaking of flying cars…
    http://www.gizmag.com/at-black-transformer-first-flight/31597/
    It’s got wheels and helicopter blades so, yeah, someday it will evolve into a flying car. Then just wait for traffic accidents to skyrocket as people who have trouble navigating in 2-D try to travel in 3-D.

    1015 chars

  38. Minnie said on April 12, 2014 at 1:50 pm

    Sorry to know that Jesse Winchester is with us no more. Had heard he was ailing. I’ve listened to his music since 1970 when his first album came out. He seemed like a good man.

    176 chars

  39. brian stouder said on April 12, 2014 at 2:40 pm

    Dex – I used to live on Drexel Avenue, just a block or two north of McMillan Park, and Willie Long’s family lived 4 doors down from us, and my dad always marveled about how great a player he was.

    ‘Course, my dad was an Archer, too (class of ’49); he grew up on Home Avenue (a few blocks north of West Rudisill, off Broadway)…

    And it only just recently occurred to me that when my dad went to South Side, the school was only 20+ years old – a genuinely proud, relatively new edifice in Fort Wayne (his dad had attended old Central High School)….something our somewhat smug suburban parents might also stop and consider

    628 chars

  40. MichaelG said on April 12, 2014 at 2:44 pm

    Thanks for the info, Kim. I don’t follow European soccer and know very little about it. I did once take a subway train in Milano that was packed with AC Milan fans. They were a polite and friendly bunch but this was on their way to the game.

    244 chars

  41. coozledad said on April 12, 2014 at 3:47 pm

    They need to go Kent State on this trash:
    http://wonkette.com/546372/bundy-ranch-insurgents-physically-fight-federal-agents-in-dispute-over-cows-video#more-546372

    Love the harpy with the “You’d better not touch me, I’m pregnant!”

    Of course you are, honey. And it’s your brother’s baby.

    292 chars

  42. Dexter said on April 12, 2014 at 4:40 pm

    brian, my old work pal Earl Hamilton of Fort Wayne was in the last graduating class at Fort Wayne Central High School, The Tigers. He’d go to reunions and come back wearing the reunion tee shirts with the big tiger emblazoned on the front. Black folk love their reunion tee shirts! Perhaps your dad told you of the great 1960 Central Tigers team that played so well in the high school state finals. T.C. Williams, J.C. Lapsley. Fort Wayne schoolboy legends that old timers still talk about. They only lost to the great state champ team by one point. East Chicago Washington’s 62-61 win against Fort Wayne Central was in the afternoon.

    641 chars

  43. coozledad said on April 12, 2014 at 5:26 pm

    Bureau of land management comin’
    We’ve finally got our chance
    dog gone and bit Joshuazekial
    four stitches and shit in his pants

    Got to git suckin
    on that sweet Federal tit
    hay prices are high, dont’cha know
    what if you knew her and she’s carrying your sprog
    She’s your own sister, my bro.

    304 chars

  44. brian stouder said on April 12, 2014 at 7:20 pm

    So here’s an article on a Fort Wayne news site, that reports that the government is actually easing up and trying to de-escalate the situation –

    http://wane.com/news/national/feds-abruptly-end-cattle-roundup-in-nevada/

    and here’s the first comment, which I copy here because – what is there to do, but laugh?

    Amazing how many sheeple take the guberment’s word on everything because Harry Reid made backdoor green energy deals to kick Americans off American soil then takeover the land outlined by the UN enviro-nazis in ‘Agenda 21’ and hand it over to Chinese communist corporation ENN group for a $5 billion dollar solar farm… just came to an end?

    So the guy is amazed that “the sheeple”* are believing a fairytale – and then he goes plunging off the edge of any sort of believability with at least 5 or 6 different right-wing memes which he (apparently) assigns 100% credibility to?

    I’m tempted to repeat Prospero here, and say something like “this guy should be DQ’d from voting” – except my pessimism isn’t quite to that level yet!

    *the term “sheeple” seems to be one of those totem words that conspiratorialists love love love. It is like when you go to school-board meetings, and the loopy people go on and on about those evil school buses…sort of the lightening rod of the breed

    1318 chars

  45. coozledad said on April 12, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    More Republican projection: Nothing like being a governor of a state where your grotesque child can hang a dog and beat it to death and you can finish your term and get a radio gig to boot. Sounds like North Korea to me, or Hungary under the Bathorys:
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/huckabee-more-freedom-north-korea

    I can remember a time when Fundies and Mormons correctly regarded each other as slime mold. All it took was a black president to help them see they were running the same transparent grift.

    I still think Manson got the idea of Helter Skelter when he was loading up the dune buggies with guns and mescaline and driving around the child-bride territories of Mormon country. The White Album just gave him a catchier name than the polygamists had for it.

    781 chars

  46. Bob (not Greene) said on April 12, 2014 at 11:06 pm

    Hey Cooze,

    http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/21486b.htm

    76 chars

  47. Deborah said on April 13, 2014 at 12:03 am

    Speaking of Texas, I don’t know what to think of this http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/texas.html I found this link on the Twitter feed of Esther Dyson, someone I found out about recently, she’s my age, a real go getter entrepreneur in tech companies and recently in health initiatives. I have no idea whether this Texas crisis in the link is legit? Have any of you heard of this before? Or is this out of la la land??

    429 chars

  48. susan said on April 13, 2014 at 12:36 am

    Uh, Deborah @47, did you happen to note the date on that article?

    65 chars

  49. Deborah said on April 13, 2014 at 5:24 am

    Oh brother, I got duped. Yep.

    29 chars

  50. coozledad said on April 13, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    White gun fondler trash feels empowered. They have too many enablers in government and hate radio. The US is eventually going to have a shooting war with this dreck. Might as well get it over with now:
    http://gawker.com/shootings-reported-at-2-jewish-related-sites-in-overlan-1562788851

    287 chars

  51. Minnie said on April 13, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    Each of us is personally under threat. Who among us could not be construed as “other” by, in Cooz’s words, gun fondlers.

    120 chars

  52. Deborah said on April 13, 2014 at 9:34 pm

    Good for the judge for making this part of the guy’s sentence http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/bully-sign-sentence

    115 chars

  53. Sherri said on April 13, 2014 at 10:12 pm

    Nice graphic illustrating one of the difficulties of finding MH370: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/the-depth-of-the-problem/931/

    141 chars