Crashing on a deadline tonight, so here’s some linkiness for you today:
I love interactivity: See if you can find Benghazi on a map. (I got within 200 miles. Thought it was farther inland.)
When I die, hell will look like this: The Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nev.
The author of “The Looming Tower” has some thoughts about ISIS. Worth reading.
See you tomorrow.
Dexter said on June 18, 2014 at 1:43 am
“You were 38 miles away. You’re a geography wizard.” I think I watch too much cable news.
Nice, the Clown Motel. For two years I was a clown, as Ed Hamman, owner of the Indianapolis Clowns travelling baseball club decided that for the first time in about 15 years he’d put some white players on the “College All-Stars” , the team that was supposed to lose to the Clowns every night. My second year I was promoted to the Clowns proper. A few years after I left that life for the military draft, a guy wrote a book about that team, that life.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71zsmSNntWL.jpg
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 6:59 am
Seeing as how it’s an open thread, and still not a lot of nibbles on my rental property, here’s a shameless plug. I’ve been informed that a group of three college students is interested. Let’s see, I remember when I was in college. Usually one roommie would be stuck with a bunch of unpaid utility bills and back rent after the others trashed the house and bailed. Isn’t that how that usually works?
Of course, it could be worse. A friend with a rental on Fort Wayne’s south side is bearing witness to the rapid deterioration of what had been a stable middle-class neighborhood. His tenant fell behind on rent a couple of months ago. The community association called him to advise that the tenant had vacated and gangbangers were squatting there. He sent the police, who discovered that the tenant hadn’t actually vacated, she just happens to have a bunch of unauthorized people living there whom the neighbors say are dealing drugs out of the place. The tenant says she, and they, will be out by Friday this week.
I’m about to receive an application from a family that has seen the place but looked a bit rough on the surface. Only a hunch, but I suspect their enthusiasm might be dampened if they knew they’d be living right next door to their landlords. Who are gay. I suppose I should ask them what they think of that and see if their facial expressions betray any alarm.
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coozledad said on June 18, 2014 at 7:31 am
Usually one roommie would be stuck with a bunch of unpaid utility bills and back rent after the others trashed the house and bailed. Isn’t that how that usually works?
Yes. It’s also a good summation of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.
A few months ago, the Republicans were talking about bombing Iran to stop their nuclear program. Now thy’re talking about air support for an Iranian military intervention in Iraq.
Do their voters notice these stupid inconsistencies, or is it just how the new Manson Family rolls?
The Iranian government’s credibility problems with its people are still partially attributable to the Iran Iraq war
and the WWI levels of casualties it produced. The current government might be unwilling to commit the resources for a large military operation that could end up either putting either the zealots back in, or giving secularists a better shot at control.
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coozledad said on June 18, 2014 at 7:54 am
More background from Juan Cole:
ISIS, having gained fighting experience and a taste of urban administration in Syria, expanded its cells back in Fallujah, Ramadi and Mosul in western and northern Iraq. Last January it took over Fallujah and parts of Ramadi west of Baghdad. Last week it took over Mosul and most other towns in Ninevah Province. This was not primarily a military conquest but a coordinated urban uprising against Iraqi security forces, in coordination with other Sunni groups, including secular ex-Baathists. ISIS also tried to advance into Salahuddin and Diyala Provinces, though it seems to have been checked there by the Iraqi army and Sunni tribal and urban allies. At the moment, ISIS is a force in al-Anbar and Ninevah Provinces, which are mostly Sunni Arab. But they are demographically vastly outnumbered by the Kurds and Shiites, who could well riposte militarily.
http://www.juancole.com/2014/06/iraqs-sunni-arabs.html
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Snarkworth said on June 18, 2014 at 7:58 am
Alex, as a landlady, I’d counsel you to take your time and hold out for the best tenants you can get (assuming you can legally reject applicants). Nothing worse than terrible neighbors who owe you money.
House looks delightful, by the way.
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Jeff Borden said on June 18, 2014 at 8:47 am
I completely understand that Saddam Hussein and his crazy sadistic sons were absolute motherfuckers, but given that Iraq is a false construct stitched together after the fall of the Ottoman Empire by Americans, Brits, French and Italians, a strong man apparently is what is required to hold together groups who literally loathe each other. We might’ve noticed what happened to the former Yugoslavia when Marshall Tito left, but paying attention and learning from the past is beyond the understanding of our leaders.
Sane people, of course, would not have invaded Iraq and certainly not without some idea of how to hold it together when the glue –however brutal and arbitrary– was removed. Our feckless leadership did nothing and oh how it galls to see one of the major architects, Dick Cheney, lambasting Obama and Clinton.
America managed quite a feat. It took a steaming, festering, hate-filled part of the world that already was a mess and made it worse by a factor of, what, a million?
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Deborah said on June 18, 2014 at 8:54 am
Lovely place, Alex.
LB and I watched a scary movie last night. I never do that because I don’t sleep well as it is.
Yesterday I drove Little Bird down to Albequerque to see a neurologist at UNM. She went to a neurologist here in Santa Fe and he knew nothing about her condition, neurofibromatosis, so her Dr referred her to the one at UNM. Statistically there are only 27 people in Santa Fe with NF and in Albuquerque only 165, so I can understand why neurologists around here don’t know much about it. The new neurologist admitted that her condition was on the edge of his knowledge but we know he is the best there is in NM.
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Julie Robinson said on June 18, 2014 at 9:04 am
To me, Deborah & Little Bird, that’s what’s really scary, feeling like you know more than the doctor.
Alex, your place looks lovely, and from our one and only experience as landlords, I can only say that if they can’t put the utilities in their own name, you need to run away.
Rather than feel overwhelmed by the news today, I’m going to just be happy that there are six tomatoes on one of our plants. They’re small and green and weeks away from being ripe, but I’m already tasting them in my mind.
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Jolene said on June 18, 2014 at 9:17 am
Jeff (tmmo) asked a couple of days ago what Tom Ricks, former WaPo Pentagon reporter and author of two great books on Iraq, thought about what’s happening now. Here’s a short piece on the topic.
http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/06/13/iraq_why_is_everyone_so_damn_surprised
Interestingly, part of what he says could have been taken from Jeff B.’s remarks above, e.g., don’t invade countries you don’t understand, don’t displace whoever is in charge w/o figuring out what you going to do next. About the future, he is not hopeful.
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Judybusy said on June 18, 2014 at 9:19 am
I love all the huge windows in the house, Alex. I hope you find good renters! I would definitely let any prospective renters know you are gay. If they aren’t cool with that, you don’t need them as renters and neighbors.
This was ages ago, in 2000, and I had a similar situation. I’d finally got up the nerve to divorce my husband and come out. I needed a roommate to make things comfortable. I had a good roommate for nine months, and then had to interview several people to replace her when she moved to a different city. One brought her pet ferret to the interview, thinking if I saw how cute it was, it wouldn’t be a problem. NO. I had really wanted a female roommate, but they were all a bit wacky.
I decided to give a guy named Caesar a try. He was from Mexico, adorable, 22, and had great shoes. I came out to him during the interview, and he said it would be no problem. He lived with me and then my partner and me on and off for a few years. He is like a little brother to us. He was able to make his status legal, got married, has two great kids, and is set to get his bachelor’s degree in engineering this December. We just got together for dinner last night, and as always, it was wonderful to see him. Wheever people start yammering nonsense about immigration, I always think of him, and if I think it will help, tell his story. It’s situations like this that remind me that sometimes the American dream can pay off, and I am glad to have played a part in making it happen for him.
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 9:30 am
Julie, I’m already eating ripe cherry and grape tomatoes. Orange day lillies are beginning to flower a little earlier than usual. Pepper plants are a’poppin’. Perhaps it’s because I water from the lake which was full of dead fish this spring following the severe winter. Nature’s answer to Miracle Gro.
Snarkworth, legally I’m on safe ground if what I’m scrutinizing is creditworthiness, or if I find any material misrepresentations in their applications. If all of the applicants look like bad risks, I can hold out for one that isn’t.
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 9:35 am
Judy, thanks for confirming that it’s better to get it out in the open. And what a great story.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 18, 2014 at 10:01 am
Ricks is saying what I thought/hoped he’d say about airstrikes. You can only do so many overflights before Murphy sets one of them down even before a MANPAD does. And then we do . . . what? SEAL teams & Force Recon can only fix so much, especially in a place like Tikrit.
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Joe Kobiela said on June 18, 2014 at 10:42 am
Alex,
How would you feel renting to a right wing conservative Christian?
You wouldn’t discriminate would you?
Pilot Joe
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coozledad said on June 18, 2014 at 10:45 am
HA!
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2014/06/iggy-pop-for-amnesty-international.html
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Judybusy said on June 18, 2014 at 10:46 am
Joe, I feel that is really just baiting Alex, and that you’re looking to pick a fight. Please be decent. You seem to be doing this more and more often, and it’s just shuts down the conversation.
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Jeff Borden said on June 18, 2014 at 11:06 am
I might rent to a conservative Christian, but I’d never rent to a Cheney. Buncha fucking deadbeats, that family.
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coozledad said on June 18, 2014 at 11:07 am
You don’t want to rent to a bunch of god-bothering teabag trash. They’ll just use your house to cook meth, as a staging ground for a Wal Mart shooting, or drag their asses across the carpet like Dana Rohrabacher and his sprog.
http://wonkette.com/537020/congresslout-dana-rohrabacher-missed-getting-on-hoarders-by-this-much
It takes forever to get the odor of stupid out of a house.
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Joe Kobiela said on June 18, 2014 at 11:21 am
Judy,
Sorry you feel that way, but I hope Alex knows it’s just a joke.
But it does bring a up a good point don’t you think? You being gay, want laws passed protecting you from discrimination and that’s fine, but what if the shoes on the other foot? Shouldn’t a conservative Christian have the same protection as yourself?
Pilot Joe
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 11:38 am
They already do, Joe. The law says you can’t discriminate based on religion. The law doesn’t offer any protection to gay people, however.
As a landlord I can’t discriminate. I can, however, tell prospective tenants what I’m all about and if they don’t like it they can choose to look elsewhere for a place to live.
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nancy said on June 18, 2014 at 11:40 am
Alex, which south-side FW neighborhood is falling apart?
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Bob (not Greene) said on June 18, 2014 at 11:43 am
Joe, what the fuck are you talking about? Did Alex ever imply such a thing? You are making shit up for what purpose exactly?
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Judybusy said on June 18, 2014 at 11:44 am
Joe, it can be hard to tell when people are joking. Conservative Christians, unlike gay and lesbians, people of color, the disabled, and women don’t have a history of being killed, fired, redlined, assaulted for just being who they are, so I don’t think they need the level of legal protection needed by truly oppressed people. That’s a canard that’s been floating for along time–poor oppressed Christians–but I think it’s a tactic to distract people from the real issues. Also, if the theoretical conservative Christian in question had a good credit rating and references, and would be cool living next to a gay neighbor, sure I’d rent to them. My mom, brothers and sister fit that description. They probably wouldn’t be invited for supper, but they’d be very nice over the fence. But if they were going to be a complete jackass like my father, no way in hell. And no, CCs don’t have the corner on being jackasses.
Speaking of fairly conservative Christians, I had the nicest conversation this weekend. The background: seven years ago, we met two couples from Iowa at a B and B. We hit it off so much we’ve returned to the same B and B every Father’s Day weekend. We’ve been to Des Moines to visit several times, too. They are all about 20-25 years older than us. As we were at dinner last weekend, the more conservative of the couple, who are Catholic, told us it had been really great getting to know us, and helped change their mind about gay people. They just didn’t have any in their circle. It means so much to me. The Father’s Day weekend is very comforting to see them, as I love being around good dads (including the B and B owner) when mine is such a piece of work.
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 11:50 am
Lafayette Place, Nance.
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nancy said on June 18, 2014 at 11:53 am
Is that the place by the old hospital, where the fabulous houses are? Where the Cafe Johnell family lived?
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Joe Kobiela said on June 18, 2014 at 12:09 pm
Judy,
As I’ve said before, my daughters maid of honor at her wedding was her best friend, a gay man, I have no problem with that, if your gay fine by me, what right do I have to judge you, how ever I would like the same respect and right now in this culture, I don’t think I’m being heard. If I question something the current President does I’m a racist, if I question Hillary, I hate woman, if I ask Alax a question I’m a homophobe.
I just wish everyone would lighten up a bit, the people in Washington on BOTH sides have got this country so fucked up that we can’t even have a joking casual conversation with out some one getting there panties in a wad. I wish we could just flush them out and start over.
Let them fight it out over in the dessert and deal with who ever wins, fuckem, secure the damn borders with Mexico, sorry we can’t afford to take you in, go home. Fly the oil sheiks over the Midwest in September, and tell them the oil flows at a decent price or we keep all this food.
Lighten up people
Pilot Joe
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 12:14 pm
No, it’s a neighborhood quite a bit further south and a little bit to the east. Lafayette Esplanade is the main drag, has a big park in the middle of it, interesting mix of 1920s-era homes that were on the higher end in their day.
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Jeff Borden said on June 18, 2014 at 1:05 pm
You continue to assume America calls the tune globally, Joe, but that’s just not true. We are widely despised in much, maybe most of the world, for our arrogance, our short-sightedness, our stupidity on matters beyond our borders. We think nothing of killing dozens of innocents in drone attacks so long as we get one bad guy, which is pretty much the rules followed by Chicago street gangs in drive-by shootings. We betray our allies when it’s in our interests, as the Iraqi Kurds will be happy to tell you in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War. We lecture the world on how it should behave –get your economies in order, Greece!– but ignore those rules when it comes to our country.
Military might is what gives us influence. And as we have seen over the past couple of decades, that might can be negated by something as simple as a roadside bomb or a hijacked commercial aircraft. Conservatives think we are seen as a mighty and powerful force abroad. . .a fearsome death-dealing machine. They are, as usual, incorrect. We are seen as a global bully who can be stymied.
The oil sheiks likely would tell us, “Fuck you. We’ll get our food from South America. And we’ll charge whatever the fuck we want for oil because your country is too weak, too hobbled by political infighting, too enamored of a fossil fueled lifestyle, to do anything but accept what we charge.”
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Julie Robinson said on June 18, 2014 at 1:06 pm
Joe, as a Christian myself, following Jesus means showing love to everyone and treating them as I would like to be treated myself. Mean jokes are not part of that. In fact, I think jokes should really only be for people who you know well, and know you well enough to understand your meaning. Even then, kindness is never inappropriate.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 18, 2014 at 1:14 pm
Picking Ohio on this, I keep ending up somewhere between Lima and Fort Wayne. Give it a spin!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/06/17/where-your-ideology-says-you-should-live/
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 18, 2014 at 1:15 pm
For Indiana, I get a spackle of unincorporated towns between Wakarusa and Goshen.
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MarkH said on June 18, 2014 at 1:21 pm
Julie, well stated and a nice antidote to some of the testiness hereabouts.
Off-topic, but the weather here has been pretty unseasonable this month, ie, cold. It’s 11:20 AM, 37 deg. and I’m watching this rolling off the Tetons right now. Enjoy your warmth wherever you are.
http://www.weather.com/safety/winter/montana-snow-june-20140616
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Jolene said on June 18, 2014 at 1:31 pm
My choices, Jeff, indicated that I should live exactly where I do–or, perhaps, in one if two nearby Zip codes with an even higher percentage of communists.
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 1:37 pm
I get either East Chicago or Gary, even when I exclude or disagree with a preference for urban living.
Jeff, I’m guessing you must be a climate denier if they’d stick you between Wakarusa and Goshen.
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Scout said on June 18, 2014 at 1:47 pm
As a landlady myself, I am very picky about potential tenants. They must fill out an application and we do run a background check and a basic yes/no credit check. We tell every applicant that there are people ahead of them even if it’s not true. Anyone who balks at the application fee is immediately disqualified, and we will not rent to people who can’t pay the security deposit and first month rent. No checking account is a big red flag. First impressions do matter and if a prospective shows up in a filthy car and is unkempt we likely won’t rent to them. We will wait as long as we have to in order to place people into our investment property.
We are quite open that they are renting from teh gay, and even our hard core Mormon family, who recently just moved after 4 years with us, was accepting of that. So no, we do not discriminate on the basis of religion either. And yes, I too thought that was a turd stirrer of a question, Joe.
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MichaelG said on June 18, 2014 at 1:57 pm
I was off by 163 miles for Benghazi. I knew it was on the coast and near Egypt but still missed.
The where should I live thing puts me in San Francisco, specifically in the Castro. Not sure how it picked that neighborhood.
I’d love to read that Tom Ricks piece but they have it protected by a firewall.
I don’t think there is anybody who plays the victim better than fundamentalist Christians.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 18, 2014 at 2:02 pm
I neutraled on that one, Alex.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 18, 2014 at 2:09 pm
MichaelG, fundamentalism makes sense if you remember that it’s a response to modernism. Or Modernism, if you like. Fundamentalism in a Christian context, which does have certain elements in common with Islamic fundamentalism, is an attempt to hold tightly to a key set of intellectual positions, or fundamentals, in the face of a rising tide of modern understandings of the world, the cosmos, and our place in it. So a certain beleaguered sense of standing on the Goodwin Sands as the tide comes in is built into the picture.
I also think scientism (Scientism?) is a tide, which will go out at some point, because its explanatory power is deep, but very narrow. As a mildly conservative evangelical Christian, I see myself and my co-religionists more standing along the Dover coast, and the fact is that the cliffs of chalk are not everlasting stone, but are themselves steadily eroding . . . so standing in one place is not as stable a stance as some seem to think.
Which way to shift, though, is a crucial decision. Don’t go over the cliff, but stay in sight of the ocean. Travel light, set up camp, but know that you’re on your way to Canterbury, not setting up shop for the long haul in your tent and bivvy bag.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 18, 2014 at 2:10 pm
(Re: the Goodwins – http://www.doverseasafari.co.uk/page16/page17/ – if that allusion was too poetic for practicality.)
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Deborah said on June 18, 2014 at 2:22 pm
As a renter in Santa Fe with the apartment above us is empty and looking for a tenant, I can say I don’t give one wit wether it’s a Christian or atheist or whatever who moves in as long as they’re respectful of the property and the neighbors. I don’t have to be their friend. Previously there were students from St. John’s (a fine school here) that were marginally ok as neighbors. They had a menagerie of pets which were not allowed by their landlord but the management company didn’t do anything about it. Now there’s a new management company so hopefully they will be more vigilant. The previous next door neighbor was a very young single mom with two seriously bratty young boys that I’m happy no longer live here. They wrecked everything they touched and their mom was not good at controling them, at all. That place is occupied by a very quiet young, single woman now. We have done a lot of gardening and other improvements to the place on our own dime even though we don’t own. Our landlady loves us because of it, as well she should.
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Dexter said on June 18, 2014 at 2:22 pm
Shaker Heights is where my fellows abide, it says…funny that, because my daughter the nurse practitioner lived there for a year and she is an Obama-hatin’ republican…maybe that’s why she only stayed there a year. When we visited them, they lived in a huge residential building predominately inhabited by older Russian immigrants who had a lot of spending dough and drove really high-end automobiles.
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Deborah said on June 18, 2014 at 2:23 pm
Lots of typos above, sorry about that.
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Scout said on June 18, 2014 at 2:40 pm
Deborah, we will be visiting Santa Fe from 7/8-13. We are renting a VRBO property in the Railyard Arts area, and on 7/11 we’re seeing Krishna Das at the Greer Garson Theatre. Seriously looking forward to it!
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Sherri said on June 18, 2014 at 4:02 pm
I understand fundamentalism just fine, Jeff(tmmo). I just find it hard to be very sympathetic to, when I’m a member of a group (women) fundamentalists want to marginalize.
I’m a Christian, too, and I believe I was created in the image of God every bit as much as they were, and so I don’t much appreciate that they don’t want to recognize that.
As far as closing the borders, if you want to close the borders, then let’s close the borders to everything! No capital or goods, either! Let’s have a real Fortress America! Self-sufficiency!
I’m tired of capital and goods being privileged over labor.
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basset said on June 18, 2014 at 4:02 pm
But being a conservative Christian is a choice, right?
Dexter, I read that book about the Clowns awhile back – and I still remember, every now and then, the quote from someone involved with the team about how he knew every tree along the highway and had “pissed up against most of them.” Now, that’s a road dog right there.
Missed Benghazi by 552 miles, that’s just slightly less than the distance from Nashville to Flint.
Meanwhile, this:
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/sandy-hook-the-agony-of-the-liberal-gun-lover-82964/
I would not call myself a “gun lover” and have never personally experienced any of the ostracism mentioned there; maybe my friends are not sufficiently polarized.
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Joe Kobiela said on June 18, 2014 at 4:03 pm
Jeff B@27
I know we don’t call the shots globally, I blame that on the present administration.
I think most the world has hated us since shortly after ww-2 unless of course they want our money or asylum, it seems anytime the USA shows weakness some one starts a war or bombs a embassy. I don’t think patting them on the head and saying don’t do it again works, you need to be firmer.
I had a good friend visit Israel a while back, his guide was a former commando type. My friend ask him about the problems on the border, he just smiled and told him when someone gets out of line, they would infiltrate into the leaders home and draw a Star of David above there bed, never waking them, just to let them know who was in charge.
Seems to work
Pilot Joe
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Dave said on June 18, 2014 at 4:05 pm
I also got Gary. I did Ohio and got Oberlin. I did Florida and got some place I never heard of, in deep south central Florida. At least it wasn’t in the panhandle of Florida.
I missed Benghazi by 315 miles.
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basset said on June 18, 2014 at 4:11 pm
That locality check would put me down around Tell City, Indiana… which is not all that far from where I was born & raised. That can’t be right, otherwise I would not have been in so much of a hurry to graduate and get the hell out of there.
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jcburns said on June 18, 2014 at 4:33 pm
I put in Georgia and the magic formula indicates we should be living one zip code to the west of where we actually live. In Michigan, we should be Kayakwoman’s neighbors in Ann Arbor, and if I enter Ohio I get Shaker Heights. Hmm. Two out of three.
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Deborah said on June 18, 2014 at 4:39 pm
Scout, how cool! Would love to meet you someplace for a drink when you’re here. We are not far from the Railyard. We’re kinda between the Railyard and the Plaza. You would be the first nn.c person I would actually meet in person!
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coozledad said on June 18, 2014 at 4:47 pm
They hate us for our dumbfucks.
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Scout said on June 18, 2014 at 4:55 pm
Deborah, maybe Nancy will share my email address with you and vice versa?
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jcburns said on June 18, 2014 at 4:55 pm
Gee Deborah, based on that geo point, we were at your Whole Foods last April. And if I were nominating a place for nn.c people to meet for a convention, Santa Fe would be high on my list. (And so convenient to Indiana and Michigan.)
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Deborah said on June 18, 2014 at 5:10 pm
jcburns, you shoulda let me know you were in town, I was here the first part of April last year. I probably was standing in line with you at that Whole Foods, I go there a lot.
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Deborah said on June 18, 2014 at 5:24 pm
I didn’t do so well on the locate Beghazi thing. I didn’t realize you could zoom in on the map and I located the pin unknowingly on Tunisia instead of Libya, so I was over 600 miles away.
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Jolene said on June 18, 2014 at 6:11 pm
Ta-Nehisi Coates, a favorite of several here, reaches a new level of fame–not just a writer who is published, but a writer who is written about.
From today’s WaPo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/with-atlantic-article-on-reparations-ta-nehisi-coates-sees-payoff-for-years-of-struggle/2014/06/18/6a2bd10e-f636-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html
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Jeff Borden said on June 18, 2014 at 7:05 pm
You’re hopeless, Joe. So, the blame for all I cited –largely if not exclusively the result of conservative, right-wing political activities– is laid at the feet of Barack Obama.
The president who helped us avoid another depression. The president who has allowed millions of Americans to obtain health care, a task once seen as impossible but is now successful at a scale beyond any projections. The president who saw to it that Osama bin Laden was taken out and who gave the go ahead for the capture of the man who orchestrated the Benghazi attack. The president who has tried to extricate us from the Middle East.
Yeah, that Obama is a real motherfucker. If only he were more like George W. Bush, we’d be rolling in clover, gasoline would be 3-cents a gallon, the entire world would blow us air kisses and all the children would be above average. Christ.
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David C. said on June 18, 2014 at 7:07 pm
I never knew Scientism was a thing Jeff tmmo. I guess if L. Ron can make his stupid books into a religion it’s not too far off to think someone can make science into a religion. I suspect though Scientism is like NAMBLA. It doesn’t truly exist as an organized thing, but it can be trotted out wherever convenient whipping boys are needed.
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Wim said on June 18, 2014 at 8:02 pm
Jeff Borden for the win!
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Joe Kobiela said on June 18, 2014 at 8:44 pm
Good for you Jeff you got it figured out, let’s make Obama a saint, kept every promise he made, nothing but sunshine and lollipops from here on out. Most transparent administration ever, Russia? No problem,Syria, eh, irs only went after those evil conservatives, then “we lost the e-mail” Benghazi long time ago dude, what’s it matter? Minority unemployment higher, record number of people leaving the work force, double gas prices, southern boarder over run, less buying power, family income down. Look Patton used to say, I’m a premadonna I admit it, Montgomery is a premadonna but won’t admit it, I know Bush fucked up I admit it, Obama fucks up and you won’t admit it. His foreign policy is shit, anything happens he’s caught by surprise, check his polls there in the toilet. So what do we do? Air power? Nothing? Do you really think Al- Qaeda is ever going to be a friend? Or do you think they would kill you if they had the chance? Wish it wasn’t a mean world, but it is, so I think were better off being the strongest, country in the world and right now I don’t think we are.
Pilot Joe
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Sherri said on June 18, 2014 at 9:26 pm
Pilot Joe, just curious, what country do you think is the strongest country in the world?
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coozledad said on June 18, 2014 at 9:27 pm
Have another drink, Joe.
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basset said on June 18, 2014 at 9:54 pm
“check his polls…”
Excellent measure of a President’s performance, to be sure.
Changing topics because this one is going nowhere… Joe, did you see my question about charter prices a day or so back? (Recap: Mrs. B just went to Michigan on Delta, booking experience was about like you’d expect, wonder what it would have cost to go Nashville-Flint then Traverse City-Nashville five days later.)
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 10:06 pm
Joe, your problem is you listen to exactly the sort of demagogues who make chumps and fools out of people and laugh at their expense behind their backs. I can’t understand why you’d want to carry their water for them when you should be throwing it back in their face. Boiling.
Weird storm we must have had here today. No leaves or twigs on the ground particularly. Crystal vase on the patio table with flower arrangement looking just as perfect as it did when I left this morning. Not far away, a fat old oak uprooted and lying broken on the hillside atop the shattered fence it landed on.
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Joe Kobiela said on June 18, 2014 at 10:18 pm
Sheri,
I think our country is strong but the leadership is weak,
Basset, about $5600.00 plus $350 a night for the overnights, love Travers but I would drive home then go back and get her.
Lots of wind Alex followed the storms to Port Huron this morning, miss Nancy looked they got hammered then just beat them home to auburn this afternoon.
Pilot Joe
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Sherri said on June 18, 2014 at 10:40 pm
Joe, you said
Wish it wasn’t a mean world, but it is, so I think were better off being the strongest, country in the world and right now I don’t think we are.
Which implies that there is a stronger country out there. Who is it?
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 18, 2014 at 10:48 pm
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick. Long may Duchess Gloriana reign (although she and Tully have to be getting pretty old by now).
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Deborah said on June 18, 2014 at 10:50 pm
My rightwing sister drives me crazy and sometimes I just want to stop communicating with her. But then I remember that she is the only person in the world who knows what it felt like when our mother died when I was 14 and she was 15. And for that reason, I will always love her and keep in touch with her. I have no choice.
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Sue said on June 18, 2014 at 10:55 pm
Several years ago a woman in the area got in trouble with the feds for placing an ad in the paper looking specifically for a Christian renter. Very likely she was just an old-timer without any bad intentions and she had a lot of local sympathy. The sympathy wasn’t because she had made a mistake, the sympathy was for her being picked on by the government when she should be able to rent to who she wants.
Of course since then, in another state, Americans elected a man to represent them who thinks it should be ok for a business owner to deny service to customers based on the color of their skin.
Don’t think we’ve quite got a handle on this yet.
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alex said on June 18, 2014 at 11:23 pm
Sue, funny story I heard in the same vein…
I knew someone who worked in a law firm in Chicago where a powerful politician was made a partner as soon as he got out of office. This is sort of the midwest version of K Street. Said pol was also a notorious poofter married to a “beard.” Despite being an attorney and having held high public office, he was an incredibly jaded individual and thought nothing of running an ad for an assistant that read more like a personal ad than a personnel ad. He wanted a male at least six feet in height and blond with an athletic build. When HR got wind of it, they had a very awkward conversation with him about the legality of what he had just done. But he did eventually get his rent boy and everyone at Winston & Strawn lived happily ever after, said my friend.
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basset said on June 18, 2014 at 11:37 pm
Joe, we could have driven to Flint in the time it took to get her there commercial… about nine hours from airport dropoff to arrival, and of course routed through Atlanta. Round trip ticket just over $600, I probably would have driven her if I could have gotten off work.
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basset said on June 18, 2014 at 11:40 pm
And we could have gotten a tenderloin or five on the way, as I have mentioned before I have been unable to find a restaurant in Nashville that even knows what one is. We do have a Culver’s in an outlying area which provides a fast-food version.
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beb said on June 19, 2014 at 12:12 am
Always inreresting what days generates the most comments. Yesterday Nancy wrote a meaty post and got only 30-some comments. Today a little bloggage and over 70 posts. Of course there was a lot more quarreling today accounting for a lot of comments. I did that politcal/city thing for Indiana and was told I’d really like Gary. Only if it came with a gas mask!. In Michigan my views are best expressed in Ann Arbor… yeah but who can afford to live there?
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Dexter said on June 19, 2014 at 3:52 am
beb…I have always followed the general cost-of-living in certain places I might move to if I had even limited wealth. If I decided to live in New York, it would take a massive lotto win to afford the rents in Manhattan, and now that Brooklyn’s cheap rents are gone to gentrification and even Hoboken, right across the river from Greenwich Village, has very high rents even for small studios.
A tiny studio in San Francisco is $2,500 per month, and once I priced real estate in Half Moon Bay, a south of SF bedroom community and any nice small house will set you back just under a cool million.
Twenty years ago a friend got transferred to LA and he had a big family and wanted to build a new house, and in a middle-class neighborhood he was shocked to find no lots under 1.5 million. He ended up renting a too-small old house in Torrance and driving the 405 every day to his office somewhere near Culver City as I recall, for a year and he begged his way out of Cal and back to Ohio.
Ann Arbor is a place I spent a lot of weekends the past nearly 40 years, mostly on football Saturdays, sometimes just fun shopping and espresso trips, sometimes an hour at Zingermas. My buddy from the army, Frank, lived in Westland but always desired to live in Ann Arbor. He cut off all his old friends but when he passed away I read in the obituary he had been living in Ann Arbor for years. Good for him.
Somehow I ended up in Bryan, Ohio, where I have owned two houses, and previously I rented apartments and houses all over NE Indiana. I just kinda rolled with the flow.
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alex said on June 19, 2014 at 6:56 am
Basset, I know you were disappointed with my last recommendation for tenderloin but if you stop in Auburn again, I hope you’ll try Mimi’s Retreat. And you’ll have a wide choice of good craft beers to wash it down with.
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Basset said on June 19, 2014 at 7:12 am
We’ll try it, been wanting to spend a day at the museums for awhile and maybe we can this summer. Joe, what was that place we went to – the city cafe, town cafe, something like that?
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coozledad said on June 19, 2014 at 7:12 am
Strong leader lieder.
As you whipped your truncheon out at the luncheon
and thrust it up between my knees
I saw the look in your eyes, lookin’ into mine
and your hand in my dungarees
Darlin’ don’t say a word, ’cause I’ve already heard
you’ve set the waterboard up in the den
I’m tired of soft moves, I want a beatdown
And then I’ll want it again
I want a leader with an iron hand
A junior Hitler with an armored fist
I want somebody who will stomp my face forever
A sweaty jumped-up bug-eyed absolutist
I want somebody who will understand
I want to bottom for an iron hand
In a secret site, with your police flashlight
And a blanket wrapped over my head
You are swinging that thing, and my ears start to ring
with the fear I will soon be dead
Darlin’, don’t say a word, ’cause I already heard
You’re gonna put my ass in secret detention
If I want to balk you can make me talk
in your favorite Latin declension
‘Cause I got a fratwipe with a iron hand
A pasty fucker with an evil touch
I got a Slobodon Milosevic
burning off my dermis with a blow torch
I found somebody who will understand
I don’t want nothin’ but a iron hand
I want it all night please say it’s alright
slap that Mag light across my balls
You are my Stalin, I can feel you crawlin’
Up my sugar walls
I want a leader with an iron hand
A junior Hitler with an armored fist
I want somebody who will stomp my face forever
A sweaty jumped-up bug-eyed absolutist
I want somebody who will understand
I want a Cheney with an iron hand
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beb said on June 19, 2014 at 7:59 am
Happy Thursday… one day closer to the weekend. I see our Mistress is still swamped with deadlines. let’s hope she whips them into shaope.
From Talkingpointsmemo.com
Carney was asked about the opinion piece, in which Cheney declared “rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many,” …
“Which president was he talking about?” Carney said with a straight face, drawing laughter from reporters.
In other WTF news – a county in Utah has voted to refuse to acknowledge the authority of the Bureau of Land Management. I wonder what sort of response the Federal Government should take in response to such scofflaws. Personally I’d like to see the FBI swoop down and arrest all those secessionists. But that seems a little too bloody-minded.
Compared to NYC or SF, A-squared (AA), is very affordable.
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alex said on June 19, 2014 at 8:13 am
Cooze, I humbly bow before you. If I were putting together a cabaret act, I’d want you as the lyricist. And ASCAP would have to go fuck itself because all of the covers would be classified as fair comment under the law.
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Joe Kobiela said on June 19, 2014 at 9:16 am
Bassett, the town tavern.
Sherri, right now with the current leadership, Russia, Syria, are two that come to mind, not so much that they could whip us In a war, but the current administration gave both a ultimatum which was ignored, and then did nothing, or to put it another way, we drew Aline in the sand they crossed it and we did nothing, if that isn’t weakness I don’t know what is.
Pilot Joe
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coozledad said on June 19, 2014 at 9:39 am
Quick-someone ask Joe how much a charter flight costs to “chill with the mouse” or some such bullshit.
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alex said on June 19, 2014 at 10:21 am
Joe, it wouldn’t matter who was president, the U.S. is powerless to do anything about Russia invading Ukraine. Europe isn’t about to back us up in that fight because they are 100 percent dependent upon Russia for their natural gas. A Republican president would have done exactly the same saber-rattling without any action to back it up. Without allies to make sanctions stick, there’s really nothing the U.S. can do, and it has nothing to do with Obama or with weakness. You really think John McCain or Mitt Romney would have gone to war with Russia over this?
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Jeff Borden said on June 19, 2014 at 10:58 am
Joe,
Barack Obama is no saint. I am very disappointed in large swaths of his tenure, most notably his embrace of the Wall Street and banking elites. Gitmo is still open. He’s not nearly liberal enough for me.
But compared to W., he’s Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Lincoln rolled into one.
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Joe Kobiela said on June 19, 2014 at 11:23 am
Good question Alex, we won’t ever know, but personally the weakness of the present administration is a green light for these smaller terrorist organizations to try stuff because they think the USA will do nothing about it, different president who knows.
And Jeff I find it ironic that the very people that mr Obama vilifies, Wall Street for example are doing the best economically, and the people that elected him are for the most part worse off.
Although I guess they have there Obama phone and you and I are paying there medical bills.
Pilot Joe
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coozledad said on June 19, 2014 at 11:28 am
Although I guess they have there Obama phone and you and I are paying there medical bills.
Racist dirtbag.
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nancy said on June 19, 2014 at 11:31 am
OK, stop. New post coming up shortly.
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Minnie said on June 19, 2014 at 11:44 am
And not much of a speller.
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alex said on June 19, 2014 at 11:58 am
sofa king we todd it
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Sue said on June 19, 2014 at 12:06 pm
Reagan phone!! IT’S A REAGAN PHONE!!
http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/cellphone.asp
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brian stouder said on June 19, 2014 at 12:08 pm
I’m late to the party* – but don’t miss the Lawrence Wright piece Nancy linked to at the end of the post.
That guy writes tremendously enlightening stuff – and I hope he will write (or maybe he’s already written) about the implosion of al Qaeda, and the scramble amongst the other nihilists to pick up the banner
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brian stouder said on June 19, 2014 at 12:09 pm
*Grant graduated from South Side High School last weekend, and the party is this weekend at Franke Park’s pavilion…so Pam and her family and I have been running hither and yon getting prepared
btw – you’re all invited!
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brian stouder said on June 19, 2014 at 12:11 pm
(regarding Wright writing the right stuff – I meant to say I hope he’s righting another meaty book)
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Sherri said on June 19, 2014 at 12:12 pm
Interesting definition of strength, I guess. If a loud, posturing leader is all it takes to be strong, then can we cut back defense spending so we’re only spending as much as the next, oh, 5 countries combined instead of 10?
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basset said on June 20, 2014 at 10:06 pm
“Chill with the mouse”… if I can last for the rest of my natural life without ever going to a Disney property it’ll be fine with me.
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