I walked home from the bus stop in withering heat, then walked the dog in withering heat, then sat in the blessedly cool a/c with the ends of my hair dripping onto my shoulders and thought, I’m feeling a bit grumpy. It passed. A/C makes heat-based grumpiness pass, I’ve found.
On the other hand, there was so much to be grumpy about.
I haven’t read the SCOTUS opinion, of course, but it’s always been my understanding that one’s work-provided health insurance is a form of compensation, and this ruling essentially says that, in this one area, your employer gets to decide what you’ll spend your salary on.
I look forward to hearing that my no-doubt-inevitable knee replacement, should my employer decide it’s something they want to pay for. It might offend someone, who knows.
Also, this:
But let us look also at the religious discrimination embedded in the Court’s logic. There are established religions in this country—Jehovah’s Witnesses, to name one—that forbid their members to accept blood transfusions and to resist vaccinations. These are not small things. They are the basis for Christian Science. There have been religious objections to compulsory vaccinations going back to a movement among some clergy in Boston in the late 18th century. Until such time as a Jehovah’s Witness owns a multibillion-dollar scrapbooking empire, and thereupon declines to offer blood transfusions to the employees of said company, and until such time as someone pushes that case all the way up the ladder, it looks very much to me like the Court, in limiting today’s finding in this way, has decided to define what are acceptable religious beliefs and what it considers to be merely weird ones.
Right now we have five Catholics, or five conservative ones, and this is called religious freedom. Five Muslims, and it’s sharia. We really are two Americas now; 30 years ago, I’d never have believed there were a significant number of Catholics who even objected that seriously to others using birth control. Well, I’ve been wrong before and I expect I will again.
On to a cheerier subject: Guns! Check this fun time out:
A homeowner in Wyandotte, Oklahoma is awaiting damage assessments after an artillery shell entered his home.
It was fired at the Oklahoma Full Auto Shoot and Trade Show on Saturday, around 3 miles away.
…The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department says the shell came from a historic artillery canon fired at the gun show.
The gun range owner says the weapon was fired safely by professionals at a downward projection.
“It was not on a level plane, but on a downward trend, pointed downhill in the bottom of a valley,” said Mike Friend, Owner of Fast Machine Gun Shoot. “For that thing to rise and go far northwest of the range, it’s just unheard of.”
I like that: “Fired safely by professionals,” he says, after they hit a house three miles away with an artillery shell. Which sort of gives the lie to your statement, one would think.
But of course, the real dark comedy is in the comments, where one reader jeered at the stoopid reporter who doesn’t understand how artillery shells are sized:
UM You need to learn before you write. A shell is described by its DIAMETER, not length. Muggles. It’s a three inch shell; fourteen inchers were battleship caliber, and ceased to exist after WWII.
I was pleased to see that the sane ones were starting to outnumber the insane, after a few days. I wonder what a “full auto shoot” gun show is, otherwise.
Maybe I don’t want to know.
Don’t have much bloggage tonight, but there’s so much of it floating around, there’s plenty to read.
Good Tuesday, all.
Sherri said on July 1, 2014 at 12:53 am
Wonder no more what a full auto shoot gun show is, here’s someone who took a field trip to that very show, as part of his Firearms Friday series: http://www.ktok.com/onair/lee-matthews-44000/fire-arms-fridaya-field-trip-to-12511147
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Jolene said on July 1, 2014 at 1:13 am
Two Americas, indeed. In my America, people don’t have lists of guns they always wanted to shoot, as the fellow who went to the full auto shoot gun show did. Sheesh.
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Dorothy said on July 1, 2014 at 6:07 am
While I’m thinking of it – if/when you get a knee replacement, make sure to get a four-legged cane beforehand. I didn’t buy mine until a few days after my knee replacement and ended up only using it for about 10 days. I got it on Amazon for about $35-$40. I lent it to a co-worker whose husband had both knees done at the same time in March. I just got it back yesterday (she’s been driving around with it in her trunk for two months. Yesterday I suggested she drop it off at my husband’s office, which is on the same street as her office.) It’s definitely your go-to piece of equipment after you’re done with the walker. Oh and you’ll need a raised toilet seat for a few weeks. I borrowed one from my knitting teacher.
Isn’t getting older F-U-N?!
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coozledad said on July 1, 2014 at 7:00 am
Not just two Americas, two Americas with two armies: one bombarded with right wing indoctrination daily, and one fascist to the root. The volunteer army idea was bad enough, but Bush and company figured out how to make it even worse.
http://wonkette.com/553090/blackwater-employee-in-iraqs-foolproof-job-security-plan-threaten-to-kill-people-who-wanted-to-fire-him
Freebooters inevitably strangle the state stupid enough to pay them. The use of contractors signaled outright that we were there to steal anything we could get our hands on. The volunteer army was just there to lock it down while Blackwater and Halliburton worked that grift.
Nazi trash. Fuck the Hague. Try Cheney, Bush and Bremer at Nuremburg. I’m sure the Germans would be happy for the millions of tourist dollars it would generate. And there wouldn’t be any need for caveats like Operation Paperclip, because you know the perps in this instance were not rocket scientists. Not even close.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 1, 2014 at 7:28 am
If your church is looking for a simple, needed, rewarding ministry for community outreach, a medical loan closet is a wonder. Even if it’s just one day a week and one room — lots of four-legged canes, raised toilet seats, commode or shower chairs, walkers, and if you have room, wheelchairs, all just sitting in people’s homes. Give your community a place to take them and a place for folks to come to that don’t have $35-45 bucks handy, and everybody is happy. Net cost is volunteer time (anyone can staff it), cubic footage (which many churches have to burn), and enough donations to pay for antibacterial wipes and some Simple Green spray.
http://www.newarkcentralchristian.com/medical-loan-closet.html
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 1, 2014 at 8:07 am
Gotta share this; the stripe for Appalachian, in my opinion, should color the southeastern corner of Ohio . . .
http://harvardpress.typepad.com/hup_publicity/2014/06/the-marginalized-voices-of-a-marginalized-place-amy-clark.html
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beb said on July 1, 2014 at 8:30 am
The Blackwater story is truly amazing. A government contractor fends off being audited by threatening to kill the auditor. And nothing is done about that. This is why they hate us – not because of our freedoms but because of our lawlessness. Meanwhile the slippy slope of Viet Nam seems to have eluded the President who has sent another 200 “advisers” to Iraq. (And apparently he’d already doubled the initial 300 advisers since the report said the 200 more brings the total up to 800. The future looks so bleak
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Sue said on July 1, 2014 at 8:31 am
As Jezebel says, ‘corporations are people, my friend. Women? Not so much.’
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jcburns said on July 1, 2014 at 8:33 am
Hi Jolene, continuing the tech support from yesterday. Your added description gives me the pretty solid impression that you’re “doing it wrong”–that is, at the moment you successfully pop up the menu that says “dock” or “undock” you need to keep your finger in contact and slide it “up the menu” while maintaining contact. Take your time. If you’re “doing it right” the word “split” will highlight in blue…good, keep going, keep moving your finger up toward “dock” and when THAT WORD turns blue (or more precisely a blue rectangle appears around the word “dock” in white letters), take just a microsecond to bring your finger to a stop and, with it still highlighted, lift your finger then and only then. If the word “dock” is not highlighted in blue at that moment, it will not dock, simple as that.
If you can’t get the blue highlighting to happen, it’s possible you have a dead spot on your screen…and there’s an easy workaround for that too. Rotate the whole iPad 90 degrees and repeat the procedure above and this time your finger will be on different real estate.
By the way, you can’t use two fingers. If you poke at the menu with a second hand while holding your first finger on the keyboard icon, the menu won’t highlight (turn blue) and no instructions will be passed on to dock or undock.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 1, 2014 at 8:47 am
You are a mensch, JC.
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coozledad said on July 1, 2014 at 8:52 am
beb: They’ll need a thousand just to secure and evacuate the embassy/freedom mall. This is a rearguard action. The place is going to be a sump of sectarian recrimination, but with tons of unsecured former US armaments to help the belligerents slaughter each other. An economic, human, and environmental catastrophe that will pull state and nonstate actors in for generations. They ought to bundle every cheerleader for this clusterfuck into a black maria, stuff them into shipping containers, unload them onto the tarmac in Kuwait and parachute them into Mosul, naked.
But they’re still on the TV and in the papers, jacking their dicks.
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Peter said on July 1, 2014 at 9:23 am
Jeff, that was a great suggestion, and I’m forwarding it to our church’s scout troop – maybe one of the tykes will do it for an Eagle Scout project. I can’t help but think that nursing homes and their ilk throw a lot of that stuff out when a person leaves, and then sells new ones to the incoming patients.
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jcburns said on July 1, 2014 at 9:38 am
An auto shoot gun show sounds like those events they used to have in Michigan and Ohio where a radio station would bring in a japanese car and the mob would destroy it. Because that would, of course, bring manufacturing jobs back to our shore.
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Julie Robinson said on July 1, 2014 at 9:42 am
Jeff, I’m also forwarding this to our daughter as it would be a perfect fit for her church. You too are a mensch.
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Jolene said on July 1, 2014 at 9:56 am
Hooray! The extra discussion was just what was needed. My keypad is back in its rightful place, and I am happy. Thanks so much, JC.
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jcburns said on July 1, 2014 at 10:04 am
Now I can go have lunch with my 88 year old father and…continue his iPad lessons. (He just, y’know, pokes the thing too hard or not hard enough.)
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Jolene said on July 1, 2014 at 10:34 am
I hope I have someone like you around when I’m 88, JC. In my defense, I think the “sliding finger to the right option” trick that solved my problem is a bit unusual. Seems like most other places where you have to choose an option or enter info the choice just sits there until you choose or add the required info. The answers I googled didn’t mention the “slide your finger” trick either. But, whatever. Thanks again.
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brian stouder said on July 1, 2014 at 10:36 am
Jolene – you’re a much more patient person than I am.
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Charlotte said on July 1, 2014 at 10:53 am
Jeff — we’ve got one of those medical equipment loan closets here in town — so fabulous. At the senior center, natch. One good thing about a former-railroad town, those old union types know how to organize stuff. We have a lot of low-budget social services, most of them not run through churches even.
And Nance — the only Catholics left in the One True are the zealots and the grumpy old men who want to stop the slutty slut slut sluts (and the gays, but really, mostly the sluts) who are Ruining Everything. The rest of us all left. I’ve been telling my bourgeois friends who vote Republican for their wallets (and my “I’m not a feminist but…” friends) for decades that the right was coming for our birth control and they all say “no! that’s just hyperbole.” Well. Take that then.
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jcburns said on July 1, 2014 at 11:17 am
For anyone else with tech problems, I recommend this time-honored approach.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 1, 2014 at 12:04 pm
Fabulous Eagle Scout project idea, Peter!
Charlotte, I’ve noticed that as the union locals fade and close around here (as plants close and their membership dwindles or outright vanishes), those laborers in whatever vineyards end up shifting their work over into church spaces. Not a good thing in sum, I’ll grant you, but it does show that churches are relearning outreach and mission in the local context, and as for the economic justice issues unions aren’t addressing, it’s old retired shop stewards that are some of our most committed and vital volunteers — but we need to be doing more to build up the new generation that’s thinking beyond their own career path and prospects. Unions, at their best, did that very well.
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brian stouder said on July 1, 2014 at 12:24 pm
Good stuff, jc!
And, I read Nancy’s “Fired safely by professionals” link, which was pretty jaw-dropping, all around!
Talk about an incident that cries out for the Cooze-treatment!
Why did these nimrods need to actually fire a projectile? Why wouldn’t they have fired a blank?
And indeed – where the hell is the sheriff (which some of them no doubt consider superior to any other guh-mint official)?
Shouldn’t some arrests occur – for criminal negligence, if nothing else?
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Judybusy said on July 1, 2014 at 1:44 pm
I was looking for another story related to the SCOTUS decision, but found this instead. The VA sent a letter to a vet who died in 2012 telling him they’re ready to see him now.
I don’t have time to search for the story that I heard on NPR today. Part of it was commenting on how things have changed regarding contraception. Eisenhower and Truman were both on the founding board of Planned Parenthood. EVERYBODY loved contraception back in the day. The story went on to add that about 1/2 of pregnancies are unplanned (!) and that not having readily avaialble birth control increases the number of abortions performed. But you knew that.
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Judybusy said on July 1, 2014 at 1:45 pm
jc, please tell me what the heck I’m doing wrong with my HTML so I stop torturing people here. Thank you.
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Jeff Borden said on July 1, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Judybusy,
This is what always galls me about the right-to-lifers. They demand an absolute end to abortions, but they often also are against contraception. This seems crazy. If prophylactics, IUDs, the pill, etc. prevent pregnancies, they also prevent abortions, right?
Doesn’t this all come down to the view of many of our fellow citizens that sex for fun is just plain wrong? That the pursuit of a pleasure many reject because of their religion becomes immoral when practiced by someone else and it must be stopped?
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LAMary said on July 1, 2014 at 2:07 pm
I guess the right to lifer anti contraception team only wants viagra for procreation. No fun, just making babies.
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coozledad said on July 1, 2014 at 2:13 pm
The aim of Republicans and their fake advocacy groups is to keep babbling hate monkeys coming to the polls on off year elections. In North Carolina they used an anti gay marriage bill to get the shitfingered and the recliner bound out to defend their loveless aberrant state sanctioned spunk slopping against the queers.
The Hobby Lobby bullshit is the same. Hobby Lobby had no qualms about paying for employee contraception until the Democrats got the White House back. The reason the ruling is narrow and doesn’t permit corporations to opt out of other health insurance mandates for blood transfusions, etc. is because the five justices who voted with the majority are Republican party operatives, and the ruling was a sop to Republicans. Their history of narrow rulings in favor of Republicans (Bush v, Gore)shows they are transparently political.
Alito’s argument:
“A corporation is simply a form of organization used by human beings to achieve desired ends….When rights, whether constitutional or statutory, are extended to corporations, the purpose is to protect the rights of these people.”
Can legitimately be read as a dismantling of corporate liability (The only reason the god damn things exist) or an extension of the corporate personhood to its constituent persons.
So the next time you care to visit a Hobby Lobby, look for a wet spot on the floor to bust your ass upon, and take the fundamentalist whorejobs who “closely hold” that corporation to the fucking cleaners, because that’s what that numbnuts papist brickbat just unconsciously opined.
Dumbfuck Bush cronies can’t even fuck up anyone else without getting their own dicks in their mouth.
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Jolene said on July 1, 2014 at 2:46 pm
This is what always galls me about the right-to-lifers. They demand an absolute end to abortions, but they often also are against contraception. This seems crazy. If prophylactics, IUDs, the pill, etc. prevent pregnancies, they also prevent abortions, right?
More precisely, they are against forms of contraception that they consider abortion. Apparently, Hobby Lobby actually covers most forms of contraception, but doesn’t want to cover the IUD or morning-after pills. Whether these forms of contraception are, in fact, abortifacients is a matter of debate, but it’s not true that these organizations don’t cover contraception.
What we still have before us is cases involving church-related organizations that do object to contraception and the compromise that was set up when the ACA was passed, in which the cost of contraception for those employees was to be born by the insurance companies rather than paid for by the employers.
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Sue said on July 1, 2014 at 2:57 pm
I wonder why there has been so little coverage of the only part of this ruling that might give some hope, the assumption that ‘someone else’ will be providing this option to women (another accidental step toward single payor?).
Chapter 2 could get interesting.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/30/little-sisters-of-the-poor_n_5544960.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
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Sherri said on July 1, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Actually, it’s not a matter of debate whether IUDs and morning after pills are abortifacients; they aren’t. That some right-to-lifers keep moving the goalposts as to what constitute abortifacients doesn’t change reality.
If I’m not mistaken, the Catholic position on contraception is still articulated in Humanae Vitae, which calls contraception intrinsically evil. Sex is for procreation, period.
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Jolene said on July 1, 2014 at 3:04 pm
Indeed, Sue, this case demonstrates how ludicrous it is to have employers involved in healthcare. It really should be a relationship between government payers, patients, and health care providers, with decisions based on medical and economic rationality rather than individual beliefs about morality.
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Jolene said on July 1, 2014 at 3:14 pm
Sherri, you’re right, of course, about the Catholic position. That’s why I mentioned the cases we still have before us, which are the cases Sue refers to in her post–the cases involving church-related organizations that don’t believe the current compromise sufficiently distances themselves from paying for contraception.
As to the scientific status of IUDs and such, it’s a matter of debate if people are debating it, which they are. Doesn’t mean that all sides have a scientifically grounded case.
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Sherri said on July 1, 2014 at 3:31 pm
Jolene, I would disagree. It’s not a debate anymore than there’s a debate about global warming. One side is not debating; they’re declaring a revealed truth. You can’t debate that. They aren’t interested in facts.
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alex said on July 1, 2014 at 3:45 pm
Amen, Sherri.
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Sue said on July 1, 2014 at 3:59 pm
I wish the whole discussion, everywhere, would keep one very important aspect of this front and center:
Companies are not ‘paying for’ birth control. They are not ‘paying for’ viagra or prostate cancer treatment. Or for the costs of pregnancy or birth. They are offering insurance as part of a compensation package that is earned by employees. It is a benefit, designed to attract applicants, but it is still earned as part of overall pay.
They offer the insurance, employees decide what they need at any given time to remain healthy and well. This latest basically allows an employer to root around in your wallet and decide if you are spending your pay in a way that’s acceptable to them.
Vacation is a benefit but you still earn it. It’s part of your overall pay package. How would you like your vacation pay to be doled out only if your vacation is a religious retreat? No paid Christmas holiday unless you show your hand stamp from the Christmas service of an acceptable denomination? Ridiculous? You bet, but not much more so than 5 men deciding that one small but very important aspect of your (or maybe your wife’s) health care, which is part of your salary, can be overseen by your employer.
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brian stouder said on July 1, 2014 at 4:00 pm
What Alex said.
I’ll say this much –
as worked up and crabby and frothy as Oxy-Rush sounded during the 3 minutes I gave him on the way home for lunch today, I think even the flying monkeys know they over-reached on this one.
I think winning knocks those sons of bitches off their pins, moreso than losing. (winning just kills their whole poor misunderstood too-good-for-this-world ‘martyr’ schtick)
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Deborah said on July 1, 2014 at 4:06 pm
Sue, excellent point.
Here’s a tear jerker for you, maybe this made me cry because this kid has the same condition my daughter has http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/viral/dream-come-true-chronically-ill-boy-becomes-honorary-marine-n145486.
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Jeff Borden said on July 1, 2014 at 4:11 pm
You are correct, Brian. The greatest need of the American conservative Christian is the desire to feel persecuted.
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Deborah said on July 1, 2014 at 4:26 pm
Only in New Mexico, an image of Jesus shows up on an apple a guy in Albuquerque bit into http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/viral/new-mexico-man-reportedly-finds-image-jesus-apple-n141951
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Jolene said on July 1, 2014 at 4:35 pm
Nice, Deborah, but I prefer my images of Jesus on toast.
Sherri, we don’t disagree. I was pointing out that people do argue (or make claims about) this point, not saying they have credible arguments.
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beb said on July 1, 2014 at 4:56 pm
I prefer images of Cthulhu on my toast.
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LAMary said on July 1, 2014 at 5:09 pm
There was a tortilla with the image of Jesus’ face in New Mexico a few years ago. It’s a state known for food with deity images.
Sort of on the same subject, we had to buy yet another coffee maker (I use the Chemex. The rest of the house uses electric drip ones that die every few months) and I was reading reviews online. There was a Krups that got great reviews and was on sale in Macy’s. The only negative review said that the large circular light blue light on the front looked like the Eye of Sauron and was disturbing. I laughed that off. I should not have. Everyone gets a little freaked by this two and a half inch bright blue light that’s always on. The Eye of Sauron, right there in the kitchen.
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LAMary said on July 1, 2014 at 5:11 pm
http://www1.macys.com/shop/product/krups-km740d50-definitive-series-stainless-steel-coffee-maker?ID=771630&CategoryID=24733#fn=BRAND%3DKrups%26sp%3D1%26spc%3D6%26ruleId%3D27%26slotId%3D2
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LAMary said on July 1, 2014 at 5:33 pm
It’s Debbie Harry’s Birthday. She’s 69 today.
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susan said on July 1, 2014 at 5:42 pm
Jolene @40…Here ya go.
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MichaelG said on July 1, 2014 at 5:49 pm
Nance and others, check with your insurance provider for things like canes. Kaiser gave me a brand new walker when I had my leg operated on. I used it once and still have it. I feel good these days, by the way, and my hair is starting to grow back. I have a bit of fuzz going. An X-Ray last week says that things are stable for the moment and not advancing.
Those idiots who fired the 105MM field piece in OK should be prosecuted. A range where you fire rifles and shotguns and even machine guns and the like is not a place for firing artillery. The OK jerks were not professionals almost by definition. The only professionals are in the military. The result speaks for itself.
I couldn’t see anything other than a yellow smear on that apple.
Mary, I bought a Mr. Coffee 12 cup coffee maker for $14.95 at Target. It lasted for five or six years. Then I bought another one for $17.95. It has no clock or timer or any other features. Just put coffee in the filter in the basket, add water and push the button. It’s basic but it works.
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susan said on July 1, 2014 at 5:49 pm
Sue @35– Not only have the employees earned their benefits, those benefits are a tax write-off for the employer. So, Hobby Lobby gets the tax benefits for denying their employees whatever they choose to deny.
Hulk smash. Hulk smash smug Supreme Court assholes.
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Sherri said on July 1, 2014 at 5:55 pm
I’m seeing the image of Jesus in goal in Salvador, Brazil. Tim Howard Saves!
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Deborah said on July 1, 2014 at 5:56 pm
When we were moving one time I hadn’t cleaned the bathroom floor for awhile and a smudge showed up on it that looked exactly like president Kennedy’s face. I mean exactly like it, it was eerie. This was in the 90s way after his assassination. I brought people into the bathroom to observe it. Everyone was impressed.
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Kirk said on July 1, 2014 at 6:02 pm
Yes, MichaelG@46, that is one lame claimed Jesus image. I’ve seen him in pictures of pieces of toast, and that apple has nothing. Maybe you have to have a psilocybin milkshake before he appears.
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Deborah said on July 1, 2014 at 6:14 pm
I hadn’t even watched the video when I first commented, I didn’t notice that there was one, also I was wrong he didn’t bite into the apple the “image” is on the skin, but I also don’t see it, it’s very vague.
People see what they want to see. Today we were walking across the street on our way back from the plaza and right in the middle of the crosswalk was a rosary just lying there. Of course we picked it up and brought it home and hung it in the garden where we also have a Buddha and a Ganesh figure. So what do you think that means?
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Deborah said on July 1, 2014 at 6:19 pm
They have a big screen set up on the Railyard for the soccer game and we can hear the fans screaming. Something just happened?
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LAMary said on July 1, 2014 at 6:39 pm
I think the USA lost 2-1 in overtime, Deborah.
I have a Ganesh in my garden too. Personally I think it’s essential.
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Scout said on July 1, 2014 at 7:04 pm
MichaelG – so glad to hear you are doing well. That is truly great news!
Sue @ 35: Yes. Exactly. And I just want to copy and paste your words all over the place.
I hope this whole HobLob SCOTUS thing is a hollow win for the Christianist wingers and that it serves to mobilize lefties to get out the vote for midterms. I never shopped at Hobby Lobby before and now never will. Since the majority of their clientele have ladyparts, I hope they feel their ‘victory’ where it hurts.
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Little Bird said on July 1, 2014 at 7:12 pm
Sue @35, I copied your comment and shared it on Facebook (giving credit to you) and most of the replies are along the lines if “Thank you!” And “Well written!” Right up until one of the few people I’ve friended that I’m related to. But to this my mother say “Sour Grapes”.
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brian stouder said on July 1, 2014 at 7:26 pm
LA Mary – Deborah Harry being 69 is fairly amazing.
I remember when I first heard of her (and Blondie) for “Call Me” – and I thought she just flat-out smokin’ hot.
So I cheated and asked Uncle Google when that song was released, and found out it was 1980. I was 19, had lots and lots of hair, and worked at a supermarket…and, doing the math, she was 35 THEN!!
Which goes to show that the old canard about how men look better as they age, and women don’t, just ain’t true.
(at this point, I was about to go on and on about women of a certain age, and how astoundingly beautiful they are in general, but then I remembered a Jeffery Hart column I read a long time ago on the op-ed page of Nancy’s old newspaper, back when I thought I was a conservative of the old style. Hart went on and on about wome in their 50’s and 60’s and older, and their “flashing eyes” and glittery grace….and how creepy it made him sound)
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Sherri said on July 1, 2014 at 7:28 pm
The US did lose 2-1 in overtime, but they were down 2-0 late in overtime and scored a goal to get back within 1 just when the game looked completely lost. That was probably the screaming you heard. They had a few good chances after that, but weren’t able to put another goal in. Tim Howard, the keeper for the US, had a spectacular game to keep them in the game at all, which is the explanation of my earlier comment.
The US team did better than expected, but just weren’t quite good enough. It’s been a fun World Cup, though.
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brian stouder said on July 1, 2014 at 7:34 pm
I think someday I’ll be a soccer fan. The game has lots of grace and beauty, and no little bit of thinking and planning.
Anyway – one more Google-rific thing about Debbie Harry, which I thought was good stuff:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2672445/Debbie-Harry-68-Jerry-Hall-57-prove-theyve-got-lead-way-Glastonbury-2014.html
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 1, 2014 at 7:40 pm
So close.
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Deborah said on July 1, 2014 at 7:50 pm
I don’t think I’ve ever been to a soccer game, except for schools that my daughter went to. I have a friend in Chicago, a photographer from Northern Ireland who’s a huge fan. I love to listen to him talk about soccer, partly because I love his accent and partly for his passion for the sport. I like hockey and basketball, nor that I watch them much, if at all but I like sports that are all over the field or court. American football isn’t like that for me. I like to go to a Major League Baseball game at least once a year but it’s more for the experience than the game.
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Sue said on July 1, 2014 at 8:07 pm
Next!
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/supreme-court-consider-work-rules-pregnant-employees-n145351
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Sue said on July 1, 2014 at 8:11 pm
Wow – thanks, Little Bird.
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Sue said on July 1, 2014 at 8:16 pm
And susan, thanks for that extra information, I didn’t know that and will use it.
And Scout too, thanks, it’s good to have this nice feedback.
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Sherri said on July 1, 2014 at 8:51 pm
I went to a couple of World Cup matches 20 years ago when the US hosted, and rank those among my favorite sporting events attended. It was like a big friendly multicultural party in the stands.
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Kirk said on July 1, 2014 at 9:03 pm
Sherri@64: I had hoped for a similar-type experience when I attended the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis, but the year I went, the race was held 19 days after 9/11, which held down the crowd, especially the international fans.
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Dexter said on July 1, 2014 at 9:19 pm
I have never attended a futbol game, but after attending hundreds of baseball games, a few NFL games, an NHL game, a couple dozen NBA games, and about 140 NCAA football contests and about 50 NCAA basketball games over the years, I remember I got most excited and 100% “into it” when the stakes were high.
Baseball playoffs in Cincinnati, 1975, Chicago in 1983, Detroit in 1987, all those games remain in clear recall in my mind. Some very close Michigan football games had me going crazy in the stands.
All those games, and in only one did I go totally berserk, and that was in late March, 1976, when I ran out onto the Philly Spectrum court the moment Indiana defeated Michigan for the NCAA Men’s Basketball title, and all my friends at home saw me making a goddam fool out of myself. I was still an Indiana fan then. By the next season and forever more, I was a Wolverine fan. Bob Knight made me hate Indiana. forever. What an asshole.
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MichaelG said on July 1, 2014 at 9:24 pm
My (Ex?) wife was on a plane to Brussels today to visit her mother. The game was played while she was in the air so I don’t know if she heard the score before she landed.
I (and probably Tim Howard) think the US team could use a leetle more offense. The whole freaking game was played right in his face.
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Sherri said on July 1, 2014 at 9:32 pm
I don’t think even Cooz could make up something like this: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/lepage-maine-sovereign-citizen
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Kirk said on July 1, 2014 at 11:13 pm
Dexter, I ran like a wild man onto the field at Ohio Stadium in September 1976 after Missouri wrapped up a dramatic come-from-behind win over the shocked Buckeyes. A cop told me to get off the field; I dropped an F bomb and ran for my life. When our group regathered in the parking field (where I dropped a six-pack of beer I had bought at a nearby grocery store, breaking all but one bottle), we were a man short. A friend who had traveled in for the game from Missouri or California or somewhere wasn’t as fast as I. We finally decided to check with the city jail, where he was. We went down to bail him out and continued the celebration.
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