I’m resolving to read more this fall and winter – for pleasure, not work, which means books, mostly novels. In the last five years or so, I’ve amassed a decent-size library of e-books, which I read on the iPad with my Kindle app, but I’m thinking I’m going to throttle back. E-books, I’ve concluded, don’t really work for me.
Things I love about them:
* See a book you want to read? Click, click, click and it’s in your hands. Thank you, Amazon and those of you who buy through the Kickback Lounge — thanks to you I usually have at least $50 or so in my kitty, and it’s a snap.
* Traveling? Take your iPad, and you take a library.
* Reading something you might be embarrassed for the rest of the world to see? With an e-book, no one knows you’re a fan of erotic fetish fiction. (I’m not, I hasten to add. But I have read some.)
Things I don’t love? Let me count the ways:
* I wonder if I got any email in the last five minutes.
* Have I checked all my social networks lately? It’s been 20 minutes? Better check again.
* Who is this character again? Let me flip back and…dammit. Lost my place. Wait, where did this chapter start? OK, I’ll just enter the name into the search function and…have I checked my email lately?
* What’s the forecast for tomorrow? Fire up the weather app.
* Why can’t I touch the screen without turning a page? Dammit, lost my place again.
* Hey, that’s a nice turn of phrase. I’d like to screen cap it. Wait, I can’t? But I can highlight it? How am I supposed to share that with my social networks? Speaking of which, have I checked them all recently?
You get the idea. Like many people, the internet has so destroyed my attention span that it’s really better for me to read novels in a place where the internet has to knock like everyone else. I’m sure there are still going to be texts that go better onscreen — PDFs, some books for work, shorter pieces that really should be $3 (I remain hopeful for a return of the novella and Kindle Single-type short fiction), and, of course, erotica if you’re into that sort of thing. But “Fates and Furies,” the book currently on the nightstand, is positively wonderful, and my progress in it is terribly slow, in large part because I’m reading it onscreen.
I’ll tell you one book, or set of books, that are ideally suited for e-booking — the Game of Thrones pile, although I admit I quit halfway through book three and am perfectly happy letting HBO handle the storytelling from here on out. With their casts of weirdly-named thousands, I can tell you right now that if I didn’t have a search function, I’d have gotten mired in Westeros at least a book earlier. Why do so many authors of successful series become such bloated messes by book three? I never could get into Harry Potter, but I’m told by my less-enamored fans that it was like wandering through Overwritten Forest after the fireworks of success detonated. Same with Game of Thrones. Fortunately, one of my friends’ teenage sons is totally into it, and can answer any question about it at all. They call him the Maester. I’m going to put his number into my speed-dial.
So. I came upstairs today, after meticulously making my bed this morning, to discover Wendy had, once again, jumped up there and unmade it. She does it from time to time, usually if one of us is gone, and the other has done some terribly offensive thing like getting in the shower. Or, alternatively, she’ll do it when left alone in the house, although then, sometimes, she will also pee on it. Needless to say, this is why we leave the bedroom door closed when Wendy is alone in the house. It doesn’t seem to be any behavior she wants to change, so it is what it is. Shelter dogs come to us with biographies we usually know nothing about, and it’s probably just as well we don’t. But maybe you dog whisperers can explain this behavior. The bed-digging I figure has to be about our scent, as that’s where it’s strongest. So she jumps up there to, what? Reassure herself that we’re still about in the world? I’m a little baffled.
Good bloggage today. This is a good dive into the mindset of many voters in the red states, angry and resentful and wondering why they aren’t prospering and no one in Washington seems to care. My answer — that they’ve been carefully squeezed since the Reagan era by a set of economic policies designed to benefit the rich and cut the legs out from under people like them, all engineered by a party with a familiar, three-letter shorthand moniker — seems not to have occurred to them.
The Lewies and Veldhovens share a visceral dislike for President Obama, and much of their animosity for Washington seems entwined with their ill feelings about the president. The state of the nation, in their eyes, was at an all-time low.
“I think we’re at the bottom,” Ms. Lewie said. “It’s everything. Taxes, the economy, the government.”
“Our money is being wasted, wasted, wasted,” she added. “And now we’re paying more and more, and our debts are going up and up, and we need to stop the debt. We have to find someone that’s going to actually take control and say, ‘Stop spending.’ ”
Her husband said, “I don’t think it could get any worse.”
“The government is taking 39 percent now,” said Mr. Lewie, a little morosely, referring to the top income tax bracket. Not for the first time during the meal, he worried that high taxes would discourage the wealthy from producing jobs. “If they want 45 percent, they’ll take that and spend more. If they want 60 percent, they’ll take that and spend more. How much is enough?”
The Lewies haven’t settled on a candidate. But they know that their choice would probably be someone who had never worked in Washington.
They’re opposed to “regulation,” but seem blind to what too often happens when industries regulate themselves (hello, exploding China). They fret over taxes levied on the very rich, as though the crumbs from the table might not fall quite so quickly. And always, always, they assume that the answer to an incompetent political class is to sweep them out and elect another bunch of incompetents, who have no idea how to craft policy or compromise with one another to get it passed. Because if someone botches your knee operation, the obvious answer is to hire someone with even less experience to try again.
And of course they never make this connection, either: 158 families have provided half the cash in the presidential campaign so far. Never.
The next shooting war will be between Leaf owners, at least in Cali. We have these charging stations in Michigan, but they’re few and far between and I rarely see them being used.
So. No update tomorrow, most likely. A friend and I are going to a reading/Q&A with Patti Smith tonight in Ann Arbor. I had to have my arm twisted; while appreciative of her work, I’m not in the slavering hordes who greet her every utterance, scribble and doodle as Art. But my friend is a superfan, so that’s where we’ll be going.
In two days, then. Happy Monday, all.
basset said on October 12, 2015 at 12:22 am
Separation anxiety, sounds like. The dog, I mean.
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Dexter said on October 12, 2015 at 12:50 am
When the beloved P-Dogg passed on July 12, 2009, we had one dog, the Jack Russell Terrier, Noellie. She never peed in the house…ever, not once. In March, 2011, daughter brought to me Pogo, another Black Labbie like P-Dogg. Pogo peed on the carpet after a few days. The past four years, she’s done that at times. We wore out one carpet cleaning machine and bought another. After Pogo pees, Noellie marks it too sometimes. I began increasing daily walks, and now we rarely get a spot, but if we do all hell breaks loose as we scramble ala DEFCON 1 and fire up that scrubber.
Noellie does not tear up bedding, but she scratches the carpet underneath our bed where she prefers to spend the night. I put a little doggie bed under there which she ignores…she’s a carpet-sleeper.
Pogo moves around all night; she crawls up on the foot of the bed for maybe ten minutes, then down and out to another room, then back again later…all night long repeating this cycle.
My desk chair collapsed last week and it was trashed. The neighbors moved out and hauled half their stuff to the curb for Big monthly trash pick-up. They threw out a perfectly good desk chair, hydraulics intact, perfect condition. Guess who just saved $150? 🙂 I ain’t proud. I can use the savings for a new blower motor on the ancient van tomorrow. This is the time of year when blower motors, heater cores, and radiators give up the ghost.
Patti Smith. I am a long time fan, but not a superfan either. I love to hear her being interviewed, I love to hear her sing. She is a true icon of rock. Here’s an interview she gave. http://ronbenningtoninterviews.com/?s=Patti+Smith
Cheap Trick has been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. About time.
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Sherri said on October 12, 2015 at 1:15 am
The distraction factor is why I like to use an ereader for my ebooks. I turn off all the social networking “features” in my Kindle books, and so my Kindle is just for reading books.
Right call on stopping Game of Thrones in book 3. I’ve read all of them, but after book 3, the whole thing gets out of control. The HBO series is doing a much better job of cutting out extraneous story lines that just don’t add anything.
Americans always seem to think that politicians and teachers can be replaced by any schmuck off the street.
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Brandon said on October 12, 2015 at 3:35 am
hoards
hordes
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Jolene said on October 12, 2015 at 5:46 am
I am so tired of people complaining about Obama. There is nothing in what he’s done to make life worse for these people. If their stupid government had agreed to accept the Medicare expansion under the ACA, there’d be millions of dollars of additional healthcare spending in the state and, thus, more jobs for nurses, medical technologists, physical therapists, and all the other health-related occupations, both skilled and unskilled.
Now that the state has been wrecked by storms, there’ll be lots of federal money and lots of clean-up and construction jobs. Will those new resources compensate for the losses? I dunno.
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Linda said on October 12, 2015 at 6:28 am
Also tired about people complaining about Obama. People who haven’t pried a rise out of their cheapskate bosses in the last dozen years are bitter, but admitting that trickle down doesn’t work is too painful for them.
Also, it’s too painful to admit they voted for politicians on a state level that screwed them, like Snyder lowering the rate on the top tax brackets, draining money from the gas tax to the general fund, and then…raising the gas tax, thus shifting the tax burden to the lower brackets. Lots of the screwed over people would vote for him all over again. Or, in Ohio, cutting state taxes and then cutting revenue sharing to localities, this making Kasich a hero, but forcing local governments to raise taxes or cut services. Again, you have to pay attention to know, but most people don’t. Do that.
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David C. said on October 12, 2015 at 6:32 am
Why is it so easy to plant an alternative reality in these people? I’d like to think it’s just because they’re stupid, but I know a lot on them and they’re not stupid. At least not by any classic definition of stupid. They function in society, pay their bills, get educations, hold down jobs, the whole none yards. How can you get someone to believe reality when they believe that if the European Jews had a couple of shotguns in the basement everything would have been OK? Never mind that it took assloads of money and tens of thousands of lives to defeat Nazi Germany. Why, if Chaim was packing none of this would have happened. I’m just flummoxed.
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ROGirl said on October 12, 2015 at 6:55 am
I don’t get it either. But it’s easier than thinking about complex issues in a non-judgmental way that looks at all of the factors that come into play when trying to solve problems. That would require people to change their mind-sets and get beyond the easy answers offered by pandering scare mongers who feed into their fears and prejudices. How to change that? I’m not optimistic that will happen.
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Jolene said on October 12, 2015 at 7:29 am
David C., Carson’s nonsense re Jewish resistance drove me crazy too. It also prompted lots of interesting pieces that popped up here and there pointing out the idiocy in more detail. One cited a piece on the Holocaust Museum’s web site that provided some interesting data on the size of Jewish populations in pre-war Europe. I hadn’t realized how small the Jewish population of Germany was–only .75%–or that most of the people killed were from Eastern Europe (Poland was 9.5% Jewish.) and the Soviet Union. There were also several pieces on Jewish resistance; various resistance efforts had some minor success, but, generally, those efforts just led to more people being killed to quash the resistance.
So, yeah, how do you get people to pay attention to simple facts? I dunno, and, on many topics, it drives me to despair.
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alex said on October 12, 2015 at 7:45 am
Separation anxiety, I agree. My old rescue doberman did the same thing. She couldn’t be trained to stay out of my bed or off of furniture. She also was in the habit of dribbling pee, which the vet told us was common in spayed females, but I think it was probably about marking. They gave us some medication that dried her up.
The NYT article confirms a lot of what I’ve observed anecdotally in my own red state. There are a lot of otherwise not-so-stupid people who nonetheless buy into trickle-down economics and the bundle of contradictions such belief entails, and they assume that a black president by definition is there to redistribute their share of the crumbs that fall from the table to his own kind.
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coozledad said on October 12, 2015 at 7:51 am
People who identify as members of a racist death cult behaving stupidly? Nooooooo!
We’ve just had a couple instances of them spraying up schools and churches, and all Joey Scar and Wolf Blitzer want to discuss is whether magic peppermints are stored in Paul Ryan’s asshole. Your country is fucked.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 8:27 am
People who haven’t pried a rise out of their cheapskate bosses in the last dozen years are bitter, but admitting that trickle down doesn’t work is too painful for them.
You know, this caused me to remember a newsclip from eons ago, wherein a smiling Hubert Humphry stated that, rather than ‘trickle-down’ economics (wherein incentives and breaks are poured onto upper classes), he preferred ‘percolate-up’ economics –
and it made sense
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beb said on October 12, 2015 at 8:28 am
Talk Radio. The country stated going insane around the time Limbaugh rose to prominence. He spends his day telling lies about people in Congress and the President. He’s driven people crazy with his paranoid fantasies.
Curiously, in my morning blog-reading I came across the note that Jeff Bezos has personally banned dinosaur erotica from Amazon. There were, supposedly dozens of stories in this genre, though I wonder why any woman would think sex with a T.Rex would exciting. Or physically possible. But to each his own. I think ebooks would be the best way to read Jackie Collins and the like — smutty, low-life tales of the rich and famous.
I’ve often wondered if there are bookmarks in ebooks. This seems like an important deal in any book-reading experience.
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coozledad said on October 12, 2015 at 9:00 am
The modern Republican party is rooted in the nullification movement of the mid-nineteenth century, and its amoral outlook might be traced to the architect of its principles:
http://www.headstuff.org/2015/06/james-henry-hammond-pro-slavery-padeophile-politician/
This is why Arkansas pedophile ring candidate Mike Huckabee is on TV instead of whacking off in solitary. They’re a slaver party, in every respect, and the whole concept of consent eludes them.
The slave states should never have been readmitted to the Union, except as a farm for bullet sponges.
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Suzanne said on October 12, 2015 at 9:17 am
I only read books on my iPad when riding the stationary bike or traveling. Otherwise, I do prefer a real book for reasons already mentioned. I can check out ebook so from our library. It makes me almost enjoy the stationary bike. Almost.
Thing with the red state voters is that they truly believe any new blood that enters politics will bring their sorry butts along with them. The rising tide, you know lifting all boats. Never occurs to them that if they support these non-politicos (non, because they say they are-Walker, Ryan, career politicians), their rising tide will sink their little, rickety row boats. I don’t get it either, but look at history & it happens over & over.
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Connie said on October 12, 2015 at 9:31 am
I looked into putting a charging station in the library parking lot. It would cost to put it in, and unless heavily used would continue to cost. And then the Director at the Novi Library (just down the street) told me theirs had not been used yet in two years.
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dull_old_man said on October 12, 2015 at 10:12 am
I have had a soft spot for Sonic Smith since the ’60s, and so I relented on my disdain for Patti Smith’s New York, celebrity-based arty rock when they got married. It is sad she was a widow so young. The reviews of her autobiography made it seem that the love of her life was Mapplethorpe–even more New York celebrity art, and I stopped keeping track of her.
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Deborah said on October 12, 2015 at 10:17 am
I think it’s propaganda and sheltered living that keeps people believing in their alternate universe. Take my sister for instance, I always thought she was smart, but somewhere along the line she stopped reading, except for books that back up her beliefs. That and Fox News running 24/7. She lives in a small town. She sees other people at church, where they all have the same beliefs. She only reads rightwing blogs and news on the Internet. She doesn’t know any black people or gay people (at least none that are out of the closet). Everyone she associates with is just like her. It’s her normal.
I’ve quit buying ebooks, I never got into it. But I find myself reading books less, which I’m trying to rectify. The Internet is hard to shake.
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Paul Woodford said on October 12, 2015 at 10:17 am
I tried reading with the Kindle app on my iPad and had the same distraction problem, and in addition found the screen too bright and the tablet too heavy to comfortably hold in one hand. I’m happiest reading on an old Kindle. It doesn’t have extra features to distract, the text on the screen really does look like ink on paper, and it doesn’t weigh anything — I can hold a book and turn pages with one hand. All in all, I now prefer reading on my Kindle to reading ink & paper books, though my actual reading is about 50/50 — there are books I want to read that I don’t care to spend money on, so I still check out plenty of real books from the library.
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Jeff Borden said on October 12, 2015 at 10:39 am
While you are listening to Patti Smith, I expect to be suffering from bleeding eardrums at Wrigley Field, where I will watch the Cubs and Jake Arrieta try to take down the bastard St. Louis Cardinals. The volume levels at home games in September were similar to those at a Blackhawks game, which is probably the loudest crowd I’ve ever heard at a sporting event.
For your amusement, Raw Story has a piece about a bunch of University of Texas female students who have launched a “Cocks Not Glocks” campaign on campus. Since the state now allows guns on college campuses, the ladies intend to “open carry” brightly colored dildoes on campus, which they reason will not only protect them from attack, but can be used for recreational purposes. The gun fondlers are apoplectic and have flooded the group’s Facebook page with the kind of fetid sewer slime you pretty much expect from ammosexuals these days. I love a clever response to stupidity and hope the women of UT have a fine old time emasculating the gun nuts.
And to Deborah’s point, don’t we all live in bubbles? My wife and I get out and about a fair amount, but we know zero evangelicals, zero gun fondlers, zero tea partiers, zero conspiracy theorists, etc. We know and love some Republicans, but they are not the Cruz, Carson, Trump, Jindal types. . . I image the poor fools in the NYT story would tell a similar tale about how they never interact with people like us, so their worldview is constantly supported by their peers.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 11:19 am
I think what we’re running into is the myth of the ‘melting pot’; or more to the point – the human inclination toward apartness and coldness, rather than togetherness and warmth.
The impulse is to say – ‘be separate if you must, and be happy’ – but the problem is separateness tends to breed more fear and mis-understanding among people.
Two human lifetimes ago, common people – such as Cooz (of NC) and me (of IN) had a very real possibility of lining up on opposite sides of a farm field, and then working to slaughter one another.
How did it ever come to that, the first time? – and indeed, when the slaughters were over, had anything in the human heart changed?
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Jeff Borden said on October 12, 2015 at 11:27 am
I keep coming back to that old Mark Twain quote about how the greatest threat to prejudice is travel. When we get to know others, even just a bit, we are more inclined to be sympathetic to the differences between us. We saw this play out in one of those anti-Islam demonstrations, where Islamaphobes marching outside a mosque were invited in to observe the ceremonies. Most chose not to, but a guy wearing a “Fuck Islam” T-shirt turned his inside out and accepted the offer. When he emerged from the mosque, he was a changed man, talking about how moved he had been by the ceremony and the acceptance of those inside.
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Sue said on October 12, 2015 at 11:27 am
Exploding China?
Exploding Texas: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a38512/texas-price-freedom-regulations/
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Deborah said on October 12, 2015 at 11:29 am
You have a point Jeff B, about living in bubbles. But I have friends and acquaintances of many ethnicities, religions etc, we probably are closer in our political beliefs though.
I’m also sick and tired of people complaining about Obama. My sister is always groaning that all he does is play golf. Where does that come from?
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 11:34 am
Deborah, I think older righties are still put off by all the negative press regarding W’s many, many (many) off days and golf dates.
President Obama is nowhere near W in off days and golf games – but that doesn’t matter
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 11:39 am
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/aug/23/who-took-more-vacation-george-w-bush-or-barack-oba/
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 12:17 pm
Here’s a peak at the hive, over at Fox News. The following headlines were copy/pasted from their front page, just now:
Powerful conservative Republican caucus open to Ryan as next speaker
MEDIA BUZZ: McCarthy rumors a journalistic failure
Obama blames ‘politics’ for outcry over Clinton email server ‘mistake’
OPINION: A ’60 Minutes’ interview with an unserious Obama
VIDEO: Starnes: Obama military honors traitor, punishes hero
Falling gas prices means no Social Security increase
And forward goes their acolytes, for another day of telling their work colleagues and in-laws the real truth
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Charlotte said on October 12, 2015 at 12:18 pm
Run do not walk to the NY Review of Books where President Obama and Marilynne Robinson (all hail MR) are in conversation!!!!
http://www2.nybooks.com/articles/s3/2015/nov/05/president-obama-marilynne-robinson-conversation.html
One of Livingston’s great charms is that it’s still quite a mixed population — I know TeaBaggers, Evangelicals, (mostly former) cult members (Church Universal and Triumphant) old Labor railroaders, rich people, writers, artists, hunting and fishing guides — there’s some inevitable Old Livingston/New Livingston bullshit, but for the most part, all the kids still go to public school together so we all still mix. No charter schools, one Montessori but it’s small, a couple of Jeesus schools — but they mostly all go to our quite good public schools. Together. And hence, the parents mix as well.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 12:18 pm
(peek)
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Jakash said on October 12, 2015 at 12:53 pm
I’m by no means an anti-vaxxer, nor a “natural” absolutist, so I’m more than a little disconcerted by what I’m about to relate. Don’t know if any of y’all have experienced this, or even heard of it. I hadn’t, but I realize that this is a pretty knowledgeable group, so I thought I’d throw it out there. Anyway, I got a flu shot several weeks ago. I thought it was odd that the nurse made the injection way up on the top of my shoulder, instead of right into the main part of my arm, as I recall from other shots, but what do I know? I’ve gotten many flu shots and never had any bad reaction of any kind, other than it hurting for maybe part of a day at the site of the injection.
Anyway, as I said, it’s been weeks now, and I’m having quite a bit of pain in that arm — not where the injection was, but in the whole upper arm, such as I’ve never experienced before anywhere. It comes and goes — sometimes not there at all, sometimes extremely bothersome. I have to frequently change positions in order to sleep at night — oddly, sleeping ON the arm seems to be the best, for me. Others seem to avoid that. Ibuprofen can help — or not.
At first I was freaked out, but, upon doing a bit of googling to reassure myself that I wasn’t in the midst of some kind of emergency, I found out about SIRVA, i.e. — “shoulder injury related to vaccine administration”. This blogger’s post, and especially the many corroborating comments that follow it make me think this may not be as rare as the medical community would like folks to believe. (I know nothing about the blog, FWIW.) I really don’t know, and maybe it is very rare. I just know it happened to me, and it annoys me that they’d come up with this idea of administering the shot in a new way which has resulted in an ongoing problem for me which I’d quite possibly trade for a bout with the flu, if given the choice. I thought the catchphrase was supposed to be “First, do no harm.”, for crying out loud…
http://www.amommystory.com/2014/01/went-flu-shot-got-shoulder-injury-instead.html
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nancy said on October 12, 2015 at 12:57 pm
I’ve never heard of that, but the explanation makes sense. I’m getting mine in the next couple of days. I won’t let them go too high.
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alex said on October 12, 2015 at 1:10 pm
I’m surprised they don’t do it in the ass. The nurses in my doctor’s office are always wanting to give me injections there.
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Connie said on October 12, 2015 at 1:51 pm
My doctor’s nurse once told me she was going to give me a shot in the hip. My hip, your ass.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 1:56 pm
Connie – that looks a very great deal like Thread Win!!
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Dorothy said on October 12, 2015 at 2:08 pm
I got my shot at the office on the first of the month (a Thursday). My arm felt sore for a few days but I’m pretty sure by end of the weekend it was not hurting anymore.
I have a question to throw out to the group. Do any of you use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea? I am going to do a sleep study next month but it was not brought about because of snoring or any other sleep-related complaints. I was diagnosed with early stage glaucoma last month, and my eye doctor wanted me to do the sleep study. I asked how in the world that connected to glaucoma and she explained it thusly: if you’re sleeping and you stop breathing for moments, the brain recognizes that it’s getting oxygen deprived, and it will go out and look for oxygen elsewhere to “rob” another body part. The optic nerve is one of the first places it will go. This was astonishing to me. And today I had my first appointment with the doctor in the Sleep Center. He praised my eye doctor (whom we love already) for being maybe one of only two doctors in our area who know about this connection to glaucoma diagnoses. My husband says I rarely snore, so I think I’m going to be really surprised if I turn out to have sleep apnea. I’m anxious to have the results but I don’t do the test until the week of Thanksgiving. And – the test will be done at my home. I’ll take home equipment and have a lesson in how to hook up the monitors correctly. The doctor said this is 1/5 the cost of an in-hospital study. The advantage of an in-hospital test is they can measure brain waves and you will also be observed. He said he keeps those limited to very serious cases – perhaps for heart attack or stroke victims, or someone who is having seizures at night. He was very reassuring about the CPAP machine. I told him it sounds like torture to me, but he said he found out 8 years ago that he has sleep apnea, and he LOVES his CPAP machine now. He sleeps much better now, his energy is greatly increased, and he became comfortable sleeping on his back. (I’m a stomach sleeper and the doc said he used to be, too.)
So if any readers of this website have some input about CPAP machines, or glaucoma in general, let me know. I’ll be avidly awaiting comments. (I started using Lumigan eyedrops on that first day when I saw the eye doc, and I haven’t missed one yet. My mom was diagnosed at the age of 71 with glaucoma, and she’s 93 now. Her eyesight has gotten much worse in the last 3-4 years. That’s the part that upsets me if I think about it too much. The possibility of losing my eyesight does not sound like something I’ll get used to.)
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nancy said on October 12, 2015 at 2:11 pm
Upside: I will help you get medical marijuana here in Michigan, and will even drive it down to you.
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coozledad said on October 12, 2015 at 2:13 pm
It has now become dogma among the GOP that the Jews bear the responsibility for the Holocaust. It’s a position that occupies a middle ground between their former embrace of Holocaust denial and their even earlier endorsement of the Holocaust as a German Jobs for Germans! program.
It remains to be seen whether the American public is sufficiently disgusted by the racist presumptions of the Republican cult:
http://wonkette.com/594771/why-did-anne-frank-hide-like-a-coward-instead-of-killing-nazis-dead-like-a-real-man
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Connie said on October 12, 2015 at 2:30 pm
I have used a cpap machine for sleep apnea for about ten years now. I had it in the hospital with me back in January and the residents all made fun of my antique machine.
What really struck me about the sleep study results was the level of oxygen. Your pulse ox should run consistently around 95 or higher. In the middle of night my pulse oxygen was as low as 64. And I just don’t need to have my brain starved of oxygen.
They are probably sending you home with a full face cover your nose mask. I highly recommend the Swift for Her mask, and am currently using it with the Bella ear loops instead of a head gear.
I hope this all makes sense to you.
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alex said on October 12, 2015 at 2:46 pm
I got started on a CPAP machine over a year ago but fell out of the habit because it was so dang difficult to get used to. I felt like I was suffocating on it more than benefiting from it. I think my sleep problems are more than likely attributable to a shitty old mattress and having cocktails before I turn in. No sign of glaucoma at my most recent eye exam.
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Dorothy said on October 12, 2015 at 2:59 pm
Connie I have heard no terminology at all yet about the CPAP so everything is new to me. The doctor said he’s had his machine for 8 years – are you able to “trade it in” and get newer equipment? Is this insurance-driven (isn’t everything?!). Could you get a new CPAP if you wanted one? Doc said the advances in machinery make for a much better experience these days. All of this is, of course, tentative until my diagnosis. I too am anxious to hear about my oxygen levels at night.
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Bitter Scribe said on October 12, 2015 at 3:01 pm
I wonder what Carson would say if anyone suggested that if only black people had been armed, they wouldn’t have been enslaved.
I too have been sick for years of hearing nonsensical complaints about Obama. He is beyond question the most unfairly maligned president of my lifetime.
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coozledad said on October 12, 2015 at 3:06 pm
wonder what Carson would say if anyone suggested that if only black people had been armed, they wouldn’t have been enslaved.
Republicans and facts do not get along.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1811_German_Coast_Uprising
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 3:10 pm
I think President Carter was also treated quite unfairly; but on the other hand he won the office specifically because of the implosion of the other party.
I’ve heard President Carter ascribe his loss to the catastrophe in the desert of Iran…and indeed, if Reagan’s Beirut debacle was covered the way Carter’s Iran debacle was, he’d have been a one-termer, too.
But RWR’s survival of the bullet into his chest made him unbeatable, I think. That was his Teflon
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Sue said on October 12, 2015 at 3:14 pm
David C., Jolene, Cooz, Bitter Scribe: Know what else would have saved Jewish lives in WWII? An enlightened and compassionate immigration policy on the part of the United States, and politicians of both parties brave enough to pass the necessary legislation to make it happen.
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jcburns said on October 12, 2015 at 3:33 pm
Nancy, today’s post was as wonderfully crafted as any column in any newspaper in these United States. Fine, fine writing.
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Colleen said on October 12, 2015 at 3:37 pm
I’ve used a CPAP machine for several years now….it was a game changer. After the first night I felt better. The newer ones hardly make any noise at all, though my husband says my machine makes a rather soothing hissing sound. I have a nasal mask, not a full face mask, and my only complaint is that I have the kind of skin that gets marks from the straps really easily. So sometimes I leave the house with strap face. It didn’t really take much getting used to for me, and I fall asleep much more easily when I have the mask on than when I don’t.
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Bill said on October 12, 2015 at 3:52 pm
CPAP user for about 20 years. Like Colleen, I use a nasal mask and sleep very well.
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Deborah said on October 12, 2015 at 3:59 pm
Bitter Scribe at 41 runs a close 2nd on the thread win with his Carson remark about if slaves had guns.
Since this seems to be the medical worries thread, I’ve got some spots on my forehead that I’m pretty worried about. Thank goodness I’m on Medicare now so I can go back to my good Dr in Chicago. I grew up in Miami, FL way back when no one heard about sunscreen, and I was a sun worshipper as a teenager when we used to slather ourselves with baby oil mixed with iodine before we sat out in the sun for hours on the beach. I am fair skinned and had blond hair back in the day before it turned white. And for heavens sake I spend a lot of time outside now in NM gardening and walking. I wear hats sometimes and sunscreen most of the time when I remember to put it on. I’m probably doomed to have skin cancer in some form or another, hopefully not the lethal kind.
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Connie said on October 12, 2015 at 5:15 pm
My opinion is once you try nasal pillow there is no going back. My machine works fine but is bulky, and a hassle to fly with. My sleep study is ten years old, I fear the insurance company would make me go back to the sleep lab.
Colleen, I am wearing the Swift, but with the Bella ear loops instead of the standard headgear. All vinyl, very light, and one can purchase fleece cheek strap covers. All available without a prescription at cpap.com.
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Colleen said on October 12, 2015 at 5:27 pm
Thanks, Connie. Will check them out…
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alex said on October 12, 2015 at 6:11 pm
I went through nose pillows like there was no tomorrow. My skin’s so oily it dissolves rubbery CPAP face gear. That is when it even stays in place.
I think Bitter Scribe raises a perfectly good question and kudos to the first interviewer who has the presence of mind to raise it. It should be noted that Carson has done nothing so far but cheapen both slavery and the holocaust by invoking them inaptly every time he needs an analogy. Ordinarily this would be political suicide for any dolt running for any lesser office, let alone the presidency. If this were happening even a few years ago the RNC would be censuring him and demanding he withdraw from the race immediately. And all he does is double down on it.
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David C. said on October 12, 2015 at 6:43 pm
I don’t know how anybody sleeps with a cpap. My dentist suggested I wear a mouth guard when I sleep. It felt like I was trying to sleep holding a sandwich between my teeth. I couldn’t get used to it.
As I was thinking about what makes people believe as they do, I was thinking of my wife. She believes anything of a certain medical bent, namely that doctors are stupid, that there are miracle cures that the drug companies are keeping secret because they are natural and can’t be patented, and the wheat is killing us all. She’s a good person, and has nearly as much of a science background as I do, but she believes all this crap. I don’t know where it comes from. She used to talk about her gardens and everyone thought it was delightful, because it was. Now she seems to alienate people by telling them how they should eat. It’s two sides of the same coin and I wish I knew how to turn it off.
I’ve been getting flu vaccinations for probably twenty years and it’s always administered high up on my shoulder. I think because the bigger the muscle, the less pain. I haven’t tried the nasal vaccine, but that may be a better choice for those with the problem.
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Deborah said on October 12, 2015 at 6:54 pm
Me too, David C, I was supposed to wear a guard at night to keep me from grinding my teeth. I ended up throwing it across the room in the middle of the night and never wore it again after that. The thing that stopped me from grinding my teeth at night was leaving my husband, that was nearly 30 years ago and I haven’t had a teeth grinding problem since.
Little Bird and I just returned from a relaxing soak at a spa here in Santa Fe called Ten Thousand Waves to celebrate my 65th birthday yesterday and her finally having completely healed after complications from surgery over a year ago. It was heavenly, our tub had an adjoining tiny sauna and a cold plunge tub too. I feel like a wet noodle now. This is my last full day here in NM, I go back to Chicago tomorrow. I’m not excited about the travel day but I am looking forward to being back in the hustle and bustle of the big city.
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ROGirl said on October 12, 2015 at 7:21 pm
The crazies already believe that Obama wants to take their guns and ammo away AND they equate him with Hitler. Carson’s rhetoric is for their support.
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Julie Robinson said on October 12, 2015 at 7:30 pm
Dorothy and Deborah, I’m so sorry to hear of your medical woes and hope for good outcomes. Losing my sight scares me too, well, who wouldn’t?
Did anyone else see this? Sandy Kennedy is out: http://www.journalgazette.net/news/local/City-Clerk-plans-to-resign–attorney-says-9319510. Friend of our proprietess Mark the Shark is the attorney of record. Sounds ugly.
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brian stouder said on October 12, 2015 at 7:47 pm
Julie – yes. And our local republican machine – pretty much as mechanized as a damned armored unit of the wehrmacht – is shocked; shocked that politics takes place at City Hall!
Anyway, I got to shake hands with Mayor Henry at the school board meeting this evening, and Mark the shark was absent. Apparently he is a new grandpa to a fine young grandson named Soloman, and couldn’t make it (but it was a tremendously interesting meeting nonetheless)
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alex said on October 12, 2015 at 9:03 pm
Julie, it’s a fact of life in municipal employment that you’re out of a job when the new boss is a member of the opposing party. I’d say this was probably more casual office banter than “politicking,” although if any of those people in the office have any brains it should go without saying. (Pat Kennedy knows her own staff better than we do.) The real politicking will happen when the Republican gets elected and fires everyone and places her own friends and family in all of their jobs.
It’s gotcha politics in the age of easy video. Here’s hoping we see some tit for tat in the days leading up to the election. There’s a few people I wish I’d captured blurting stupid things.
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MichaelG said on October 12, 2015 at 9:33 pm
Happy Birthday, Deborah!
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Jill said on October 12, 2015 at 9:37 pm
Dorothy, I’ve had glaucoma for close to 10 years now (I just turned 55) but daily drops have kept the pressure under control. There’s a strong genetic component. Since my great-grandmother and my father both had/have it, I wasn’t surprised when I was diagnosed. My father is 77 and although he now uses two kinds of drops, his glaucoma is under control too.
As for the mouth guard, it took me a while but I’m used to it now. Every now and then I go to bed without it and something just doesn’t seem right.
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Heather said on October 12, 2015 at 9:58 pm
I wear a nightguard and it did take a while to get used to, but now I feel weird if I don’t wear it. Maybe every month or so I take it out in my sleep for some reason, but that’s uncommon.
I think I used to wake up a lot in my sleep (I snore too) and then I was diagnosed with asthma. Ever since I started taking meds for that (and they are a lot of meds, which I’m not thrilled about–but on the other hand I haven’t had another asthma attack), I started sleeping better too. So allergies are another possibility.
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Sherri said on October 12, 2015 at 11:50 pm
It really is from his mother’s basement: http://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/vanderbilt/2015/10/11/secrets-out-football-show-actually-teens-basement/73132414/
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Dexter said on October 13, 2015 at 1:34 am
About a month ago I had my regular check-up at the V.A. The doctor was adamant, “…today you’re getting a pneumonia shot and a flu shot.” I didn’t even put up a defense, but I have never had either. Jakash, my damn arm has been sore as hell ever since; at first I thought I tore my rotator cuff loading some awkward heavy items into the van, and maybe…but maybe not, ya know? The nurse told me on my follow up appointment two weeks later that it most likely was not the shot. Like your pain, mine comes and goes. Damned mysteries, I do not need them.
Good news, no reaction at the shot site nor did I get sick in any way.
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Dexter said on October 13, 2015 at 1:47 am
MichaelG, you still in The Crescent City, listening to jams? Go check out Frenchmen’s Street for music and take a gander at the statue of Ignatius J. Reilly on Canal Street, near where the fictional D.H. Holmes Department Store clock was in the classic book by John Kennedy Toole, “A Confederacy of Dunces.”
Four straight days of driving are looming, to Toledo for B-12 shots at the V.A. clinic. Now I know how nance felt when she was ramming that Volkswagen Passat wagon to Lansing all the time.
“Fargo”, season 2, premiered on FX. My kind of show…EPs are the Coen brothers, and Jessie Plemmons and Kerstin Dunst star. Ted Danson plays a deputy sheriff too…an odd roll I thought, but he nails it
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 13, 2015 at 7:44 am
Here’s an article that hews along the lines set up by Nancy in the main post; I would disagree on a number of points, but there is a growing consensus that print is in no way going to vanish entirely — the interesting debate, whose end is still very much open to ongoing developments, is over how e-media will change, and how it and print will work together and change each other. If online news turns all newsprint output into USA Today-ish colorful bullet points and short personality profiles, that’s bad, but I think our reality is going to be more complicated than that.
http://aeon.co/magazine/technology/why-have-digital-books-stopped-evolving/
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David Edelstein said on October 13, 2015 at 9:29 am
Gotta speak up for books AND Kindles. 1) You should not poop where you eat, meaning in this case read a challenging book read on the same device you get your e-mails. Too distracting. Fates and Furies is a SUPERB book (I’ve been mulling it over for weeks) but it’s full of lurching gear changes and you really need undivided attention. (I read it on paper.) 2) Kindles (that are just for reading) are great for those of us who primarily use mass transit and don’t want to lug around too many bricks–or are flying and don’t want even more to carry. I like that you can adjust the brightness and print size in bed since my spouse is unusually sensitive to light.
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Dorothy said on October 13, 2015 at 10:04 am
Thanks to each of you who responded about the CPAP and glaucoma issues. Jill you’re right about the glaucoma genetic connection. My eye doc told me to let my siblings know so I emailed them all soon after I was diagnosed. And of course now my kids know they should let their eye doctors know. Also, I started grinding my teeth last year – a likely consequence of losing my job a little over a year ago. I got a mouth guard made and didn’t mind it too much at first. But then I started drooling with it in, and subsequently choking from the drool leaking down my throat. (Isn’t that a lovely picture?!?!). I stopped using the mouth guard and I don’t think I’m grinding my teeth anymore. A new job is likely the reason why.
I recently started reading “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” on my iPad and iPhone. It’s good so far. Writer is a Kenyon grad. I think I bought the sequel in paperback – I’ll have to check the stack in my front room at home. I need to quit my job to get more reading done, and knitting. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.
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MichaelG said on October 13, 2015 at 10:11 am
In New Iberia today. Back to NOLA tomorrow. Tomorrow is also my birthday. Number 71. I feel pretty good considering. Next week I have a PET scan and an appointment with my oncologist. Fingers are crossed.
Cajun country is a different world. The landscape, the people, the food, the architecture, all of it. It’s fun and charming but I guess I’m just a California boy at heart. Don’t even think of ordering a glass of wine here. People’s political and social beliefs are … well … I mean folks are nice and all that.
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coozledad said on October 13, 2015 at 10:27 am
Why in the fuck isCNN having Cheryl Crow sing the national Anthem at the debate? As my wife says, it’s not some fucking football game.
My prediction is that CNN will be looking for some Republican daddy dick, and tomorrow morning they’ll be all “Who is this Jim Webb? He’s positively Reaganomic and right suckable!”
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Jeff Borden said on October 13, 2015 at 11:29 am
As CNN has continued its downward slide and tries to emulate the Calvacade of Dunces on Fox, it has become worthless as a news source. I cannot recall the last time I tuned into it. I generally shy from TV news altogether, particularly the piffle from the local stations. The NBC affiliate just bought a fancy new helicopter, so virtually every story is punctuated by a view from their expensive toy hovering overhead. God forbid they spend that cash on reporters or producers.
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2015 at 11:36 am
To be brutally honest, I’m hoping Hillary runs a circle or two (or three) around Bernie.
If HRC gets a pie-int-the-face, we could have VP Biden in the race by the weekend
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2015 at 12:24 pm
(and I certainly have no problem with Biden – so long as HRC flattens him!)
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Julie Robinson said on October 13, 2015 at 12:26 pm
We didn’t bother with the Republican debates but will be watching tonight*. But I have to think it’s a bit unfair of CNN to allow Biden to show up at the last minute and participate. How are the other candidates supposed to prepare? From what I’ve read it doesn’t look like it will happen, but still.
*And I just realized it’s on CNN and we don’t have cable. Anyone know if they’ll be streaming?
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alex said on October 13, 2015 at 1:04 pm
CNN will be streaming on the internet for free.
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Jakash said on October 13, 2015 at 1:12 pm
Dexter,
Sorry to hear about your arm, but I appreciate the reply. I agree about not needing the damn mysteries, but I’ve been wondering if maybe it’s a combination of the shot, followed by some activity that aggravated the situation. In your case, maybe if you hadn’t lifted the heavy items after the shot, nothing would have happened, but the shoulder was already somewhat affected and the lifting kicked it over the top. I also tried to figure out what I’d done to aggravate things, but hadn’t done anything that had ever caused any problems before, which is why I blame the injection.
“The nurse told me on my follow up appointment two weeks later that it most likely was not the shot.” Not surprising to me that the initial response was not: “Hey, maybe we screwed up! Sorry about that!” Given that folks like us complaining is just “anecdotal evidence”, and that there are so many confounding variables, I’m not holding my breath until this is more generally acknowledged as a problem by the medical community.
And, hey, we watched “Fargo”, too. Missed the first season, but liked what we saw last night and are hoping that it doesn’t go the “True Detective” route of a clinker second season after an impressive debut. I wondered if that was Ted Danson, but wasn’t sure if it was him ’til we saw the credits at the end…
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susan said on October 13, 2015 at 1:50 pm
And I hope Bernie runs many broad and tightening circles around HRC. And screw Biden, no friend of Labor, big friend of Big Credit, Big Crime Warrior. Oh, and don’t forget what he did to Anita Hill Ugh.
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Brandon said on October 13, 2015 at 1:57 pm
@coozledad: A while back you went on a tear about nineties music, including Sheryl Crow. So you didn’t even like Nirvana? Was there any music from that decade you did like?
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2015 at 2:42 pm
Susan – you and I may not vote for the same person in the primary (although our 20 year old will cast a Bernie ballot), but I suspect we will in the general
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Jolene said on October 13, 2015 at 2:55 pm
A follow-up to a post on the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives from a while back: About half of state Medicaid programs have introduced coverage for insertion of these devices immediately after childbirth. This policy prevents conception of a second child sooner than might have been wanted. Problems such as lack of transportation to a doctor’s appointment may interfere with implantation of these devices later, so doing it as part of the care provided at childbirth is better for the mother, the first child (who benefits from a delay in the arrival of a sibling), and state Medicaid budgets.
In Nancy’s previous post about these devices, the story was about providing them through a special, privately funded program for teenagers and young women who had not yet had children.
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Deborah said on October 13, 2015 at 2:59 pm
I really wish I could get behind Bernie but I just don’t think he can win the general election. I think he has helped force HRC into a more progressive place, at least for now. She’ll have to tone that down for the general though.
I’m on the train on my way to Albequerque to go to the airport. Really hate the long travel day. But nothing I can do about it. I will no doubt miss the debate, but I’m sure I’ll read all about it tomorrow.
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mouse said on October 13, 2015 at 3:08 pm
Dexter,I find that rather odd.I go to the VA in The Fort and they would never give me a flu shot and a Pneumonia shot at the same time.I had to wait 6 mos.between to get one or the other.Must be some reason for that.
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LAMary said on October 13, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Can’t stand Cheryl Crow.
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Jolene said on October 13, 2015 at 3:33 pm
To follow up my follow-up, here is the story of how the privately funded program mentioned above came to be and how it has now evolved into an enterprise that will make long-acting reversible contraceptives available at greatly reduced cost. This could be a huge development, not only in further efforts to reduce teenage pregnancy in the U.S. but also in efforts to make contraception more available and effective in the developing world, where it is still too costly and too hard to obtain for many women who would like to use it. The short version of this story is: Warren Buffett’s money made it all possible.
Not sure if anyone else finds all this as intriguing and important as I do, but there is, literally, nothing more important to increasing levels of education and income throughout the world, not to mention promoting freedom for women to choose the direction of their lives, than the ability to regulate fertility. I was raised by a woman who became pregnant both earlier and more often than she wanted to, and, though she ultimately had a pretty good life by most standards, she and, to some extent, her children, also paid a big price for those unwanted, ill-timed pregnancies.
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Little Bird said on October 13, 2015 at 3:37 pm
I have a nook e-reader, it has zero other functions so I don’t get distracted while using it. But I really only use it for travel, and it has 50+ books on it so I always have SOMETHING to read!
That said I just stopped by a local used bookshop that has a free bin….. I walked home with four books….
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coozledad said on October 13, 2015 at 3:41 pm
Nineties was too bropop for me. Too Hootie. Too Blowfish. Too Spin Doctors. Sting and Rod Stewart making buddy videos and people eating that shit UP.
This I like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obfwy6H-MOc
And here they are, demonstrating them skills live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndt2N5vSZQU
I still don’t want to hear them do the national anthem at a policy debate.
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coozledad said on October 13, 2015 at 3:49 pm
This is really good too. I can see the Beatles doing this in 65 or early 66. It’s got their energy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKk-pawc2mo
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Jolene said on October 13, 2015 at 3:56 pm
In other health news, Planned Parenthood will stop accepting reimbursements for retrieving and transporting fetal tissue. Presumably, they will have to make up for this lost income through their fund-raising. The article points to a “strong defense” of the use of fetal tissue in research. I’d like to have heard more of that defense. The head of NIH, which funds most of that research, has, as far as I know, been silent on the topic.
Meanwhile, Jeb Bush <a href=presented a plan today that will undo Obamacare, once again allowing insurance companies to choose whom they will cover and to offer policies that offer limited coverage.
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alex said on October 13, 2015 at 3:57 pm
I really wish I could get behind Bernie but I just don’t think he can win the general election. I think he has helped force HRC into a more progressive place, at least for now. She’ll have to tone that down for the general though.
That’s what they said about Barack Obama.
I like Hillary and think she would be a fine president, but she still comes across as a dissembling phony like most politicians.
If you really want change, don’t be afraid to support it.
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Jolene said on October 13, 2015 at 4:03 pm
Obviously, I screwed up the link for the Bush health care plan. Sorry about that.
I don’t want to hear the national anthem at a political debate either. I’m not certain, but I think one of the GOP debates might have included the Pledge of Allegiance. Next there’ll be an invocation and a benediction.
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Scout said on October 13, 2015 at 4:33 pm
I ditched my Kindle and went back to “real” books for all of the same reasons that you cited.
Our second car is a Leaf. We installed our own charging station in the garage. I love the car, but it would be impractical as one’s only vehicle because of the limited range. We use it as a town car only and take the Prius any time we are traveling further than about 40 miles.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2015 at 4:40 pm
Is “Valley Forge Americans” some dog-whistle phrase I’m unfamiliar with? Can anybody translate?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trent-franks-valley-forge-speakers
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Jolene said on October 13, 2015 at 5:07 pm
I couldn’t find anything definitional, Sherri, but found two articles that refer to “Valley Forge moments,” one referring to Barack Obama’s re-election and the other referring to last June’s Supreme Court decisions on same-sex marriage, Obamacare, and housing discrimination. Apparently, Valley Forge Americans are people who stick it out through tough times when it looks like the other side is winning.
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Julie Robinson said on October 13, 2015 at 5:12 pm
Well, not only do we not have cable, CNN will not stream on my laptop, and to top it off, the debate doesn’t start until 9:30 local time and we are too creaky to stay up late. Guess we’ll catch the highlights tomorrow.
Musicals from the 90’s? Definitely The Secret Garden and Rent. Oh, you didn’t ask about musicals. Does her best Emily Litella: never mind.
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Deborah said on October 13, 2015 at 5:18 pm
The Cubs game is on the TV at the airport, so I’m actually watching it.
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Deborah said on October 13, 2015 at 5:59 pm
If the Cubs win it’s going to be a crazy flight to Chicago.
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Sherri said on October 13, 2015 at 6:35 pm
James Fallows on how the Republicans have played the press in the BENGHAZI!!11!! “scandal”.
He gets a response from someone who points out that Congress held 22 hearings about the 9/11 attacks. There have been 20 hearings about BENGHAZI!!11!!, with at least one more scheduled.
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Julie Robinson said on October 13, 2015 at 6:41 pm
A friend posted today some signatures of Cubs’ players from the early 70’s. It totally escapes my memory, but some players came to our high school in Sycamore, Illinois, to play an exhibition basketball game against the high school coaches. She and three others put paper up in the girls’ locker room, where the Cubbies would be, and got the signatures of Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Jim Hickman, Phil Regan, Ken Holtzman, Ted Savage, and Vince Eiduke.
While I have no interest anymore in sports or the Cubs, it’s a great tale. I’m encouraging her to alert the media, as they say, because it’s a perfect feel-good story. One of the friends wrote back that her elderly father, who made her a Cubs’ fan, is just out of the hospital and eagerly anticipating tonight’s game.
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alex said on October 13, 2015 at 6:45 pm
Going out for yet another schmancy dinner tonight in celebration of my partner’s new job. He’s paying. Hope to make it back in time to catch the debate. He’s clean-shaven now. First time in his whole adult life save for his stint in the Air Force, he says. First time I’ve ever seen him sans facial hair and he’s pretty good-lookin’.
My biggest takeaway from watching the GOP debate occurred to me today: The term rocket scientist now stands alone as a sarcastic expression of derision.
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Suzanne said on October 13, 2015 at 7:06 pm
“My biggest takeaway from watching the GOP debate occurred to me today: The term rocket scientist now stands alone as a sarcastic expression of derision.” ~ Thread win.
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David C. said on October 13, 2015 at 7:52 pm
I think Bernie is good for the primaries, but he doesn’t have a chance in hell. He has very little minority support and the Democratic Party is majority minority, just like America soon will be. The only problem with him are his supporters. I believe too many of them are unreconstructed nattering nabobs of Naderism. I already read of them stamping their little feet and saying they’ll just stay home if they don’t get to vote for their Bernie. The difference, of course is Bernie has supported every Democratic Presidential candidate and that won’t change, because he’s too damn sensible to throw the election to whatever nut-job the GOP yacks up.
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alex said on October 13, 2015 at 9:44 pm
All of the Dems are impressive in their substantiveness. To call the GOP debate a clown show is an insult to clown shows. I like how they are deferential to one another compared to when it was Clinton and Obama playing bullshit gotcha stuff.
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alex said on October 13, 2015 at 10:33 pm
O’Malley turns out to be quite a good debater. I don’t know that he can steal Hillary’s thunder but he’s more impressive than I thought he’d be. Chafee doesn’t come across well. Webb either, and he’s too big a crybaby about not getting enough time. And too rehearsed about his accomplishments instead of answering the questions directly. Bernie is awesome.
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alex said on October 13, 2015 at 11:20 pm
Feeling the Bern, but not the Chafe.
I think HRC was stellar but O’Malley and Bernie were both impressive also. If she woke up tomorrow with brain cancer I wouldn’t be worried about any of the Republicans winning the next election.
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brian stouder said on October 13, 2015 at 11:25 pm
I thought Hillary R Clinton did precisely what she had to do, and she therefore won the evening.
I would grant Bernie the Best Line of the Night, when he said he’d heard enough about Hillary’s damned email! Got me laughing out loud!!
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beb said on October 13, 2015 at 11:33 pm
So much for MSNBC’s highly touted switch to hard news…
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/ouch-chuck-todds-new-daily-meet-the-press-loses-half-of-key-viewers-in-just-2-weeks/
But, seriously, Todd has been such a tool why would anyone watch him? It’s time for MSNBC to make nice with their only star … Keith Olberman. (and move Chris Hayes to 7 and bring back Ed Schultz at 6.
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Deborah said on October 14, 2015 at 12:33 am
Back in Chicago. Except for one flight attendant screaming briefly, whatever she said was completely indecipherable over the sound system, but because there was a mildly arousing cheer among the passengers I surmised that the Cubs won. I really was expecting more of a hullabaloo on the plane, it was mostly quite a sedate flight. The city is modestly lit up, some of the buildings in the loop and lakefront have blue lights and “Go Cubs” spelled out, but it’s not over the top. The Hancock building down the street and the Bloomingdales building on Mich Ave near us have pink lights on top for breast cancer awareness. So maybe the city is being cautious until it gets closer to maybe being a possibility. Who do the Cubs play next?
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