Saturday morning market.

Been holding off on these; they just don’t taste like anything but cool weather to me. Alas, their time has come. Four bucks per stalk.

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Added: A terrible photo of a typical street-vendor item. I see this stuff everywhere. Every so often I read a column by some earnest doofus, wondering why African Americans don’t vote Republican more often. Really? Really?

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Posted at 10:05 am in Detroit life, iPhone |
 

76 responses to “Saturday morning market.”

  1. Prospero said on October 6, 2012 at 10:14 am

    I loves me some brussells sprouts, a shot of olive oil, balsamic and serious salt and pepper, steamed for a nonce? World’s greatest vegable.

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  2. Scout said on October 6, 2012 at 10:16 am

    Brussels sprouts are one veggie I never developed a taste for, although one time I was served some that were caramelized and they were pretty good.

    Andrea from yesterday’s thread – just saw you asked me about where I’m from in PA – born in Lancaster, raised in Mt. Gretna. My parents still live there so I visit every year, but I’ve lived in Phoenix AZ since ’83.

    So Deborah, are you on your way to Santa Fe? Happy travels!

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  3. Little Bird said on October 6, 2012 at 10:50 am

    Roast those sprouts with some bacon grease and when they are halfway done add some sliced shallots. Mmmmmmm!
    Oh, and roast them until the outsides are crispy and brown.

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  4. coozledad said on October 6, 2012 at 11:20 am

    Being a cracker myself, I wouldn’t know, but my impression from being a local politics dogsbody is that blacks don’t vote Republican because the Republican party has gone from being completely dependent on the votes of racists, to a racialist party from the top down. It’s elected representatives praise the institution of slavery. They suggest a former editor of the Harvard law review is “a school boy”. They see the politics of resentment scrawled across every teacracker’s furrowed little pink skull.
    Finally see a party exploiting the desperation of people who have nothing to commend themselves but a genetic haplotype, the same party who from the Reagan years on, has been screwing crackers to the wall and going through their pockets, and see that forfeiture of the last traces of human dignity as something of a minus.

    This is pure speculation on my part. I was raised by people who permitted themselves to be caught up in every racist panic from ’68 on. I can tell you that even as a kid, the reactionaries struck me as mushrooms sporalating off a piece of rehydrated shit, or premature corpses doddering around waiting for the benevolent hand of nature to put them in a box.

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  5. coozledad said on October 6, 2012 at 11:22 am

    I do miss that edit function.

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  6. brian stouder said on October 6, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    And before any of my fellow residents of the cheap seats here at nn.c rise to argue with Cooz, and continue this perpetual human argument about prejudice and fear on the one hand, and judgement and hope, on the other – please allow me to stipulate a few things:

    The Democratic and the Republican parties of the United States are not churches with unchanging orthodoxies that reach back to their founding, wherein one party has always had the angels on their side, while the other has always been the focus of evil.

    Both of these party labels are essentially worthless and valueless through time; they will generally default to saying and writing whatever seems to draw them the most voters.

    So, setting the party labels aside, the questions that always arise are: what are you afraid of?, and, what are you proud of?

    One vexing little thing that I politely point to (when friends who remember when I called myself a Republican ask me how I can possibly vote for the Democratic ticket) is the somewhat astounding 180 the Republican Party did with regard to Latino outreach. They totally ditched an effort that was not only absolutely essential for any future success they may seek, but that was also bearing fruit!! They made inroads; they were drawing votes!

    But – to keep that up, they would have to find real solutions for the millions of undocumented people who liove and work in this country…and this is something that the Republican party’s primary voters nationwide simply was not willing to do. Governor Perry actually sounded like a human being on this subject, and was summarily frog-marched off the debate stage (and indeed, he had other problems…ooops!….but we digress). And isn’t this crazy? There are millions of votes to be had, socially conservative and fiscally conservative Latinos could be lining up for Romney, except that they know – from that guy’s own mouth!! – that Romney doesn’t even have enough respect for them to hate them, as (for example Newt does); he simply takes his red pen and crosses ALL of them right off his list of concerns! They are simply “entitled victims” that are worth exactly zero to him.

    The Republican Party seems to have made the calculation that if they espouse realistic positions on immigration reform or marriage equality or other issues regarding tolerance – that their party will split. The angry white/angry right will split off….and the Republicans may be right about that.

    What is it about humanity that consigns us to this sort of calculation?

    Why not tell those people “go to hell”?

    Indeed, what have you won, when you win with this sort of stuff?

    All I know is, if an R comes along on the national stage that addresses these things in a better way than the D – then I’m there.

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  7. alex said on October 6, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    The reason there used to be some pushback in the GOP against latino xenophobia was that pols from states like California and Texas and Arizona, like Reagan and Dubya and McCain, had rallied latinos as constituents and couldn’t afford to throw them under the bus. You can see how it cost Perry this time around, his other deficiencies aside. Much harder to talk out of both sides of your ass when the teabaggers are holding you accountable. Although in the run-up to the presidential election, they’ll probably forgive Romney for pretending to be a flaming liberal in the home stretch if it gets the black guy out.

    I occasionally see local columnists like Leininger expressing astonishment that black people don’t see the sense in voting Republican, apparently oblivious to his own offensive typecasting and the sort of hateful blather that is endemic around here that he no doubt abides as part of the conservative social sphere. When I moved back to Indiana from Chicago I was taken aback at how freely people let the N-bomb flow from their lips in these parts and how eagerly they latch onto rhetoric about abuse of the social safety net being a black thing. When I hear all of this populist anger about freedoms being taken away, I ask people what the hell they’re talking about. Smoking in restaurants? That was your Republican state legislature, you tool. I think it’s one of those things that’s more coded and implicit—the freedom to express bigotry and intolerance with impunity.

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  8. Danny said on October 6, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    Well, we are going surfing in about 50 minutes, so not much time to add to the never-ending argument*. But I will point out that every time there is a black conservative, they are roundly, and vilely ridiculed by the left as “Uncle Toms” and “House Niggers.” So I guess one would have to climb a long way to claim the high road from that vantage point.

    *Funny, I am fairly politically agnostic in person, but the trenchant partisanship on display by a few on this forum just brings out the contrarian in me. In real life, Cooze and I would probably have a nice chat over a beer.

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  9. alex said on October 6, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    Politically agnostic my ass.

    Black Republicans—and likewise gay Republicans—get berated because they are more than happy to carry the water for people who are openly hostile to the interests of large swaths of society. They’re willing to sell out for the honor of being in a showcase of freaks. There aren’t epithets vile enough for them, thank you very much.

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  10. coozledad said on October 6, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    Brian: It’s no coincidence the Republicans have adopted Niall Ferguson as an r- challenged spokestwit and ideological compatriot. Niall’s embrace of Hohenzollern militarism and the “pax Germanica” that would have resulted from victory in WWI are pretty much on par with the Republicans’ desire for a neoconfederacy.

    Perhaps as an indirect consequence, the Republicans have a counterfactual candidate. He’s the biggest liar they’ve had since Nixon.

    Plus, they’re all eating that Jack Welch shit with a spoon, same way they bought his bible for hopeless ass crawlers.

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  11. Jolene said on October 6, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    Black Republicans—and likewise gay Republicans—get berated because they are more than happy to carry the water for people who are openly hostile to the interests of large swaths of society.

    Amen. Just recently, Barney Frank, whose upcoming retirement I greatly regret, was recently chastised for referring to the Log Cabin Republicans as Uncle Toms. But he was having none of it. The LCRs argue that, by sticking w/ the party, they can improve it from within, but the GOP becomes less tolerant of gays and less supportive of gay rights with every passing year. Few voted to end DADT, and support for same-sex marriage is out of the question. As on so many issues, they are simply afraid of change.

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  12. nancy said on October 6, 2012 at 1:46 pm

    If I’d had something other than my phone to compose this entry, I would have written much of what Alex said, and now that I have my full keyboard, I’ll add this:

    I don’t think most of us who are white fully understand what a titanic event Obama’s election was in the black community. That night in Grant Park felt like the lifting of a curse on this country, and even those who didn’t vote for him must acknowledge that, for a short while at least, it seemed like we’d actually achieved something.

    What I wasn’t prepared for, but probably should have been, was the tide of public racism that followed. If it were merely from the cranks and loons, you could ignore it. But recall how many of those hilarious email forwards — pictures of the White House lawn strewn with watermelons, Photoshopped pictures of Obama shining Sarah Palin’s shoes, etc. — came from county GOP party chairmen and other so-called respectable types. I really, really wanted to see pushback from within the party, but they were too busy dog-whistling to the rising Tea Party movement. “I take him at his word,” yelling from the audience at the State of the Union, etc. I really thought we were past that in this country. That was the curse I thought had been lifted. God, was I wrong.

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  13. alex said on October 6, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    Condi Rice made the same unconvincing argument about changing things from within. And she also talked about how the GOP helped her parents’ generation gain voting rights—of course it was a much different party then and the neoconfederate yayhoos were all Dems at the time and the Republicans were the liberals, as Brian alluded to earlier.

    I can tell you from a completely objective standpoint that I could not vote Republican because the party doesn’t speak to me. Racial and religious animus aren’t part of my makeup and when that’s the hook—which it most certainly is—it’s a huge turnoff. Apologists like Danny know fully well that it’s so and are evidently gleeful about the fact that it works so well.

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  14. Jolene said on October 6, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    There are GOP pols who push back against the xenophobia in genuine ways, notably, Jeb Bush, but, as others have pointed out, up to now such people simply get chewed up and spit out. To win re-election to his Senate seat, McCain, who had championed comprehensive immigration reform, had to become a “seal the borders, build a fence” fanatic.

    Some of Mitt’s staffers have been quoted saying that this is the last time anyone will try to do what they are trying to do, i.e., win a national election drawing only on white voters, so it’s not that they can’t count. People in leadership know that they have to change (note all the GOP Latinos who appeared on the stage at the RNC), but having made their bed with racists all these years, it’s pretty hard to start celebrating ethnic diversity.

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  15. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 6, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    Martin Luther King’s party registration in the 1950’s was Republican; I believe he changed to independent after 1964, but he didn’t get to vote in 1968, so we’ll never know. That says quite a bit right there: African Americans were monolithically Republican through FDR’s terms. It took another twenty years for the cultural norms to shift, but the warm acceptance of the Dixiecrats helped cement the new monolith into place.

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  16. Jolene said on October 6, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    Edit: Xenophobia isn’t really the right word. It’s just being different in any way than some 1950s idea of what a model American family is like.

    Last night, I watched a report on The NewsHour by Gwen Ifill about the McCaskill vs. Akin senatorial race in Missouri and was astonished to see a thirtyish woman supporting Akin. How could anyone support him? Any woman? Anyone under 70? Apart from being a jerk, he’s an idiot. In fact, the woman said that part of his appeal is all the abuse he’s taken from “outside.” Another “we just want to stay here in our cocoon” reaction.

    Nancy, here’s the latest of the enlightened GOP state officials you mentioned, someone who thinks slavery was a blessing in disguise.

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  17. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 6, 2012 at 2:08 pm

    Contrary to how Disney tends to portray it, a curse is a hard thing to lift. You don’t expunge it all at once. And as Christianity tries to depict, conversion may be sudden, but transformation is an arduous, long-term project. Paul spent years in Arabia and around Cilicia after his Damascus Road experience, before his public ministry began. Repentance is simply turning, but maintaining the new direction can take some time, and many false starts.

    That’s all coloring how I read this discussion, that and a bus ride to the band’s performance last night at a football game, talking to another band dad who’s also a fellow treatment & recovery professional in our area. No one has the golden ticket that works for all comers; if a treatment approach for addictions/compulsions works consistently 15-20% of the time, it’s really pretty good. And anything that might do more like 30-40% is only for fairly discreet populations, and then is likely to work 10% or less for differently formed groups (i.e., male v. female, ethnicity, etc.).

    So to transform a society, a nation: that’s even further out there as an art form with little reliable performance measures to track. You can see the turn, the repentance begin, and you can see the backsliding and recursion happen, but what means a people have changed? All we know for sure is that we aren’t there, yet. Are we heading there? I don’t think any result of this next election will tell us, either way.

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  18. Jolene said on October 6, 2012 at 2:12 pm

    African Americans were monolithically Republican through FDR’s terms.

    You’re off by a bit. Blacks voted for FDR by substantial majorities and also for Truman and Stevenson, but it wasn’t until 1964, after passage of the Civil Rights Act, that the black vote became essentially monolithic.

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  19. Dexter said on October 6, 2012 at 2:20 pm

    I have a decades-long affinity for John Lewis; he belongs in the montage.

    I had some brussel sprouts this past week…I love ’em. Roast them like Little Bird instructs.

    Jack Welch is just an old guy who was popping off…don’t pay him no never-mind, as Grandma used to say.

    After our morning romp in the park, the dogs nd I went for a little drive just outside of town to see the blazing yellow maple trees in Pulaski, a little kind-of burb of Bryan. Fantastic color.

    After many years of not really understanding the words, I looked up the lyrics and sang along to this song:
    http://youtu.be/R8M8R835Ck4

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  20. Jolene said on October 6, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    Jack Welch is just an old guy who was popping off…don’t pay him no never-mind, as Grandma used to say.

    But lots of people believe him. Steve Forbes, plutocrat extraordinaire, posted his agreement this AM, and there are plenty of lesser lights who share their view.

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  21. Prospero said on October 6, 2012 at 3:06 pm

    Jolene, but Steve Forbes has worse skin than anybody, and it warps his view of the world. Jack Welch actually said he had no factual basis for his bullshit. But it’s true on the internet. And I don’t see how you can be a lesser light than either of those two aholes. And what sort of measly slice of their incomes does Obama threaten? Zip. They dislike him because he’s successful and chocolate. I mean, what success does Jack Welch have in his background? Corporate tax evasion?

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  22. Prospero said on October 6, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    Everybody’s world if Mittens is elected:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVADkFxtqU8&feature=relmfu

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  23. Jolene said on October 6, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    Here’s the link to that story re the MO Sen race. Just popped up in my Twitter feed.

    http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec12/missouri_10-05.html

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  24. Catherine said on October 6, 2012 at 4:07 pm

    Possible reasons that Jack Welch said that even though he admits he can’t prove it:

    1. It’s what he would have done in Obama’s position so it makes perfect sense to him*
    2. He’s old and senile
    3. He’ll say anything to get Romney elected
    4. He’ll say anything to get Obama out of office

    None of them are very good reflections on his judgement, which, if you’re going to sell yourself as a business genius, should be balanced and fair, not to mention accurate.

    *My personal favorite. Cf GE Capital.

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  25. brian stouder said on October 6, 2012 at 4:14 pm

    The Missouri race that Jolene points to seems to encapsulate this discussion as much as anything. The ‘mainstream’ Republicans were willing to pitch Aiken over the side when the invincible ignorance of that imbecile became undeniable, and there was still the possibility of dumping him, and still possibly winning the Senate seat. But now, the choice is to either embrace the imbecile and possibly win the Senate seat (and maintain control of that body), or disavow his brand of fear and hate – come what may. This could be a genuine and BIPARTISAN “teachable moment” for voters all across Missouri; a “put your vote where your mouth is” opportunity for those who like to say “I’m not racist” or “I’m not sexist”….A person could proudly state “I’m a Republican who will not vote for a benighted candidate like Aiken” – and demand MORE of the primary process by which their fellow Republicans managed to nominate this nimrod. But instead, some large number of people will vote for a candidate – and financially support a candidate – specifically despite the candidate’s stated (and stupid) beliefs, and specifically FOR his party label.

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  26. Prospero said on October 6, 2012 at 4:23 pm

    Willard Windsock dogwhistle fracking stupidity:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/opinion/blow-dont-mess-with-big-bird.html

    That’s kinda less cash than the loopholes you claim you’re gonna cut, you mental midget. Even when you can pin the shitheel down, it still doesn’t make a lick of sense. Guy is talking out his ass.

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  27. Prospero said on October 6, 2012 at 4:25 pm

    brian, that is the current GOParty. What you see is exactly what you get, only worse in most cases.

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  28. Prospero said on October 6, 2012 at 4:31 pm

    Makers and takers:

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/paul-ryans-47-percent-takers-vs-makers-video

    What the frack did any of these aholes ever make? Capital may change hands, but the idea that that cash ever crosses the palms of working stiffs is fracking ludicrous, if you don’t count casinos.

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  29. ROGirl said on October 6, 2012 at 4:40 pm

    Chris Matthews really pushed back at Jack Welch. He got him to admit that he didn’t have any proof that the unemployment numbers were cooked, just that he was raising the possibility.

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  30. Jolene said on October 6, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    He got him to admit that he didn’t have any proof that the unemployment numbers were cooked, just that he was raising the possibility.

    Right, and Welch later said that it might have been a good idea to use a question mark in his initial tweet rather than presenting an assertion. Fortunately, there are plenty of non-lunatics among conservative economists who know how this work is done to rebut this nonsense, but, still, I think Welch and his hangers-on did a lot of damage.

    This speaking falsely and then retreating is getting to be a bit much. In the debate on Wednesday, R explicitly said that people w/ pre-existing conditions would be able buy health insurance under his program. Well, guess what? They won’t. Sixty million people heard R’s statement. I wonder how many heard the retraction.

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  31. deb said on October 6, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    Anybody else see the Obama video created by a Family Guy/Simpsons animator? Brilliant and funny.
    http://gawker.com/5949557/watch-a-pro+obama-video-made-by-a-simpsons-and-family-guy-animator

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  32. Prospero said on October 6, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    Jolene, they are “Lying for the Lord”, because Moroni made it clear that a brown guy should never be President. In Missouri, the “legitimate rape” candidate.

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  33. Charlotte said on October 6, 2012 at 7:44 pm

    My friend Maryanne loaned me her ancient, yellowed proposal for Ghosts of Mississippi, since I’m trying to figure out how to write one. There’s a whole section where she describes Beckwith, and nearly every item she uses to show what a fringe lunatic he was, is now an actual GOP plank! I was shocked … on a good day I hope this is like a boil being lanced? Perhaps it’s the last eruption of a corrupt vein in American culture/politics/history? One can hope ….

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  34. Dave said on October 6, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    Meanwhile, I found this story today, so nice to know that Alan West isn’t the only nut in Congress. He’s on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, too.

    “ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Georgia Rep. Paul Broun said in videotaped remarks that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang theory are “lies straight from the pit of hell” meant to convince people that they do not need a savior.
    The Republican lawmaker made those comments during a speech Sept. 27 at a sportsman’s banquet at Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell. Broun, a medical doctor, is running for re-election in November unopposed by Democrats.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/congressman-calls-evolution-lie-pit-hell-175514039.html

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  35. redoubt said on October 6, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    Medium-long-time reader; will only say this: I am a black person, who does not vote Republican, because of stuff like this. And I can see a Romney administration making him a federal judge.

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  36. Jolene said on October 6, 2012 at 9:22 pm

    Frontline will be presenting a film called The Choice 2012 on Tuesday, 10/9. To lead up to that presentation, they’ve created a web site on which they’ve invited various writers to comment on artifacts that they’ve collected concerning the lives of R and O. I haven’t gotten through all of it yet, but there are some interesting elements. I particularly enjoyed a hand-written letter that O wrote to a friend as he was settling into his life as an organizer in Chicago. Lots of interesting details and reflections, very much the kind of observer and thinker we see him as now. There’s also a letter from R to his parents during the time he spent in France. He was a few years younger than O when their respective letters were written, but, even so, the differences in outlook are striking.

    An interesting way to spend an idle hour or two, both because of the artifacts and the associated discussions.

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  37. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 6, 2012 at 10:28 pm

    Jolene, yes, “to” rather than “through.” Hoover managed to burn bridges between the GOP and the African American community, and FDR was quick to open up some new ones to his side of the river. My impression is that it has to do with the federal response to the Mississippi floods of 1927, and Hoover’s role in it, so the break precedes the Depression per se. Again, I’m just thinking out loud in a hotel room typing on a laptop, too interested in the OSU/Nebraska game to actually look up details.

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  38. Deborah said on October 6, 2012 at 10:56 pm

    I am in country. Arrived in Santa Fe late afternoon then had a long session at the car dealership where we picked up our jeep. Arrived at the place where Little Bird had a giant pot of chili with all the trimmings waiting for us after a long travel day. This is where I’ll be until after Thanksgiving. It’s so nice to have a vehicle, since right now Santa Fe is not a great walking city like Chicago. I hope to work on that issue. In the meantime it will be nice to drive to mountain hiking trails to get exercise. Sorry to have to say that, but also how can you complain about having to take fabulous mountain trails for exercise? Monday we are going out to our land in Abiquiu to have a picnic and then on to Ojo Caliente, a natural spa that has hot springs soaks and all sorts of massages etc. This will be a splurge to celebrate both my retirement and my birthday Thursday. I’ll be 62. Yikes.

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  39. brian stouder said on October 6, 2012 at 11:43 pm

    Happy birthday, Deborah!

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  40. MichaelG said on October 6, 2012 at 11:51 pm

    Welcome, redoubt. We’d love to hear more from you.

    Happy birthday, Deborah! From what little I’ve seen, you are a lovely woman and I’m sure your husband more than agrees with me. I had lunch with my Ex yesterday and I marveled at how attractive she is. She’s about the same age as you. The key is that she’s also very active although on wheels rather than heels. Us older guys truly appreciate mature women. Don’t worry about the younger guys. I mean, I can’t imagine Kate Upton lusting after me any time soon.

    South Carolina cheated. That rat Spurrier.

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  41. Crazycatlady said on October 6, 2012 at 11:58 pm

    I adore Brussels sprouts.I saute them in olive oil and fresh rosemary leaves and minced garlic until tender, then add fresh lemon juice and saute until the juice is gone. Add spoon full of butter and cook till it’s melted and enjoy. So delicious! I remember Brian said his mom boiled them till they were soft and mushy. This beats the hell out of that!

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  42. Dave Kobiela said on October 7, 2012 at 1:12 am

    Deborah @36, is your birthday October 11? If so we can celebrate together, in a NN.c sort of way. Congratulations on your retirement, and enjoy. I will be 60 next week, and as I was putting out my “Steelworkers for OBAMA” signs today, I thought about my staunchly Republican 54 year old brother. I have reminded him before that if his wishes came true and ALL the Republicans were elected, we would both be working in that hot, sweaty Dana axle plant until we were 70 years old, instead of enjoying our retirement after 30 years of service in a Union shop. Just sayin’…(as he likes to say).

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  43. Dexter said on October 7, 2012 at 3:20 am

    Dave K: I remember the day I applied for work at your factory, but of course they weren’t hiring, and eventually I got into the Auburn plant. The same week I was hired into Dana , Harvester called me. I guess it was the best choice I ever made to not go there.

    Deborah, 62 is a piece of cake, but 63? Oh the aches and pains! Really, I never thought I would feel even this well at age 63. Happy Birthday. Too bad you are missing the Chicago Marathon. My nephew’s wife is running. Her name’s on the wall.

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  44. Deborah said on October 7, 2012 at 3:57 am

    The marathon and a Bears game are going on in Chicago today, so they expect traffic to be a snarl. We are often in New Mexico during the marathon, probably the reason I haven’t ever gone out to watch it.

    Dave K, indeed my birthday is the 11th, so happy birthday to you too. Turning 60 was scary for me, but I’m getting used to being in my 60s now.

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  45. Bowditch said on October 7, 2012 at 4:21 am

    Some interesting background on GE’s Jack Welch that I learned this morning. Sure sounds as though Steve Forbes is on board with this particular program. I wonder if any other prominent Republican multimillionaires share admiration for Mr. Welch’s modus operandi.

    Recapitulating Brian’s compelling argument @6, “what are you afraid of?” I fear the polity that cloaks its intentions in dissembling, wagering the outcome on the credulousness of an uncritical audience.

    “What are you proud of?” I cherish a wealth of former students, now applying critical analytic skills nurtured in my classrooms and bringing tears of happiness to my retired eyes with their continuing friendship.

    I wish comparable satisfaction to you, Deborah, in the space of your retirement.

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  46. Linda said on October 7, 2012 at 4:34 am

    How ironic! It was cold yesterday, and I made the decision to make a last stand towards summer, and got the ingredients together for ratatouille. It was the bomb–a Julia Child recipe that makes it look like your kitchen exploded, lots of work but worth it.

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  47. JWfromNJ said on October 7, 2012 at 7:56 am

    I am guilty of calling Allen West an “Uncle Tom,” and a shameless carpet-bagger on the local daily’s website, well because he is. If the software would allow me to call him a HOUSE NIGGER I would. I hate that grinning motherfracker.

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  48. Deborah said on October 7, 2012 at 8:04 am

    Linda we have a friend in Boston who knew Julia Child and made ratatouille with her at her place on the Cape (our friend’s place has one of those fancy restaurant type stoves). It sounded very complicated. It’s funny because our friend Jane, kind of looks like Julia, I always thought that even before I knew that she had known and cooked with her. I have never made ratatouille, I hope to some day.

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  49. Joe K said on October 7, 2012 at 8:18 am

    Deborah,
    The marathon is today, but the bears have a away game.
    And as far as my dear brother goes, while I still don’t agree politically with you I can still wish you a happy birthday, I just hope Barack doesn’t have to make any big decision when he is in Colorado, high altitude and all, according to Big Al Gore.
    Just saying
    Pilot Joe

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  50. Deborah said on October 7, 2012 at 8:44 am

    Deb, that was an excellent animated video by the Simpsons/Family Guy animator. Very professional only they misspelled insurance.

    There’s an interesting article in the New Yorker about why the billionaires hate Obama http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/08/121008fa_fact_freeland

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  51. coozledad said on October 7, 2012 at 9:18 am

    Day one: Romney plans to take down Big Bird. Day two? Anyone “chillin’ with the mouse” will be doing it in a fucking morgue.

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  52. coozledad said on October 7, 2012 at 9:29 am

    Day three: Bugs Bunny goes into the cell with R. Crumb.

    Day four: Romney gonna fuck Buzz Droopy with a pickle.

    And on the fifth day, he baptized them.

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  53. LAMary said on October 7, 2012 at 11:36 am

    This of for Deborah, Michael and Dorothy and any other birthdays I missed this week:

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

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  54. LAMary said on October 7, 2012 at 11:40 am

    One more birthday wish:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=uKYHYxTYxS0

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  55. ROGirl said on October 7, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    The billionaires have turned themselves into whiny victims who want respect from the White House, and if they don’t get it they’ll spend some of those billions funding opposition efforts and ads. They feel they have to be given reverence since they have been designated as the job creators, and higher taxes will interfere with their mandated roles. Mitt’s 47% riff spoke directly to that crowd.

    I loved the 3 Stooges video. My birthday is tomorrow.

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  56. beb said on October 7, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    To hell with politics today. How about some blue honey?
    http://boingboing.net/2012/10/05/bees-make-blue-honey-by-harves.html

    Beekeepers in a town in France were surprised to find blue and green honey in their hives this year. Turns out the bees were harvesting sweets from a waste disposal company that takes away waste from a local M&M plant. Sadly they are not going to sell the honey because I think it would be cool to have some blue honey, just the thing to go with the blue milk from Tatatoonie.

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  57. Danny said on October 7, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    It started off back in 2008 with people like Biden calling Barack Obama “clean” and “articulate.” Henry Reid saying Obama was someone who could talk “black” when he wanted. Then we had Bill Maher a few months ago saying how Obama is smart, but can also “fight like a black guy.” Now here in this humble little comments section, we have Alex saying that there are no epithets vile enough for black conservatives and JG confirming that Allen West is indeed an “Uncle Tom” and a “House Nigger.” And Republicans are the ones with a racism problem?

    Geesh, Nancy, who are you these people and how exactly is it that you can turn a deaf ear/blind eye to this and go even further as to be in agreement?

    Me, I am going to look at volcanoes, so today while I am gone, you all ponder this and I want full essays with apologies by the time I get back to the room with a glass of Shiraz!

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  58. JWfromNJ said on October 7, 2012 at 3:24 pm

    Hey Danny, you try to watch five minutes of Allen WEst’s crapfor every 60minutes of tv and not realize he’s an UNcle Tom house Nigger. I hate that MF and cringe whenever captain carpet bagger is on TV. My wife thinks I’m gonna punch the screen, taking out a nice HDTV. He is without a doubt the biggest asshole in congress and he only got there by offsetting and assuaging white people’s guilt over their hatred of Obama.
    I advocated for you in the past here, thinking we needed your opinions too, but npw I realize you are a shithead that we should drag out the back door and suffocate with Allen West mailers. I have a stack set aside for your mouth. Fuck off!

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  59. JWfromNJ said on October 7, 2012 at 3:25 pm

    ouch, that even hurt to type

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  60. JWfromNJ said on October 7, 2012 at 3:42 pm

    Oh Danny, the edit button is gone and I left out the shucking and jiving part about Allen West, who moved from a nice home in a district where the only way he could be elected would be for everyone to down a 1.75 litre of vodka, and he now shucks and jives for whitey at the cheap rental condoes at the PGA National golf course in Palm Beach Gardens. I’ve never cursed on NN’s blog and I defneded your first amendment rights more than once, but fuck off and I hope Allen WEst greases it up and rams your butthole.

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  61. Jolene said on October 7, 2012 at 4:06 pm

    JG confirming that Allen West is indeed an “Uncle Tom” and a “House Nigger.”

    You misread, Danny. I don’t think I said anything at all about Allen West. I quoted Barney Frank calling members of the Log Cabin Republicans Uncle Toms and explained why he said what he’d said.

    Enjoy your Shiraz.

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  62. Deborah said on October 7, 2012 at 4:07 pm

    Holy cow JW tell us what you really think. Seriously I couldn’t agree more about that Ahole West.

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  63. JWfromNJ said on October 7, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    danny stepped on my last nerve. I copied my new editor on that thread and she agreed to pretend she didn’t see it while she ran to the bathroom to piss and added NN.com to her favorites list.

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  64. MichaelG said on October 7, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    Happy birthday, ROgirl and Dave! Who else this week?

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  65. Charlotte said on October 7, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    Wowza — baseball fans? Those were two *great* games against the As — as a former resident of the East Bay my heart leans their way, but the Tigers are playing such fabulous baseball that I want to see them keep going ….

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  66. coozledad said on October 7, 2012 at 5:27 pm

    I think the Republicans were willing to overlook Alan West’s race because of his resume. He’s a war criminal, and that’s the kind of experience that will make him a fixture in Republican politics. He and Romney can compare notes on how you deal with a victim who’s being forcefully held down by your accomplices, what kinds of snuff films they like, which uniforms are their favorite to dress up in… He’s what they would call an honorary white.

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  67. JWfromNJ said on October 7, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    did i ever mention that i love coozldaad?

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  68. Jolene said on October 7, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    Who else this week?

    Me. My birthday is tomorrow too.

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  69. Dorothy said on October 7, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    You’re sweet, Mary, but my birthday is 8/31. I loved the video anyway!

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  70. brian stouder said on October 7, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    Jolene – happy birthday!

    I treasure everyone here, and especially you; you’re our own Rachel Maddow – with you regular contribution of interesting links and fact-base comments. I think you are the one who linked that superb Atlantic essay by Coats, about the continuing challenge President Obama faces, regarding racial assumptions and prejudices and so on, with every public act he makes; which is only one example of stuff you have brought for us to sample, and which I’ve profited from immensely

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  71. basset said on October 7, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    >>fuck off and I hope Allen WEst greases it up and rams your butthole.

    damn, JW, calm down. I didn’t even know who Allen West was till I googled him.

    meanwhile, I have just been thrown off a deer-hunting forum for being too liberal. they said it was for bad language and being too combative, I got a lot worse than I gave though… the last straw was “I got your (rude name I had been called repeatedly) right here.”

    Can’t please everyone, I guess… there was some good information on there but it was buried in a rising flood of the usual Republican bullshit. Or “bullshiat,” as I put it, they didn’t like that either but it seems to work OK for fark.com.

    Meanwhile, muzzleloader season starts on Nov. 3. checked the trail cams (automated motion sensor cams out in the woods) this weekend and we had pics of deer, fox, coyote, possum, armadillo and otter.

    Birthdays… John Lennon would have been 72 next Tuesday, my mother would have been 83. I think of her every time 9/11 comes up, she went through the Blitz as a child in London and seeing the WTC falling and people jumping was really hard on her, in fact she was never quite the same after that. She had stories about hiding down in the subway station during the bombings and coming up to find whole blocks of houses gone, or row houses with one wall peeled away and everything in the homes intact… people walking around mangled and in shock…

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  72. Deborah said on October 7, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    Happy birthday Jolene and ROgirl we seem to have lots of early October birthdays.

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  73. LAMary said on October 7, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    Lots of folks have parents who had a happy new year.

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  74. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 7, 2012 at 10:02 pm

    Just got back from preaching an anniversary weekend for a congregation in a struggling neighborhood of Cincinnati that used to be an outlying village, up Mill Creek called Carthage. We were talking about the early evangelists bemoaning the local distilleries and “groggeries” (a new word for my lexicon) and taverns large and small back in the 19th century.

    The congregants, during the dinner after worship was over, told me that the Boehner family saloon was just a few blocks up Vine St., but they don’t own it anymore. Apparently a sister of Rep. John was still tending bar until a few years ago. The congregation is about a third African American and at least half Democratic, but they all get along very well, everyone agreeing that the Boehners were very public spirited, but not as much as a couple of other saloonkeepers they could name.

    They operate a community meal called “Heaven’s Cafe” on Fridays, with five congregations in the area all pitching in to make and serve, using the Carthage Christian Church fellowship hall and kitchen as the shared site. They say the crowd has been bigger the last two years, and aren’t sure what to do if demand gets any larger, but they’re girding their loins to feed whosoever comes.

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  75. Suzanne said on October 7, 2012 at 10:13 pm

    Can we go back to brussel sprouts? I always hated them until I discovered you could roast them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Wow. Tasty.

    I used to vote mostly GOP but the last 5 years or so, the GOP has been overtaken by the lunatic fringe and they scare me. I’m independent but leaning left now, just to get away from the asylum.

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  76. Jolene said on October 7, 2012 at 11:41 pm

    Thanks, Brian, for the kind words. I feel the same, i.e., that you are at the top of a list of treasured voices at nn.com.

    LAMary, I suspect you are right re New Year’s Eve. My folks always did like to celebrate it in a big way.

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