Oh, look: Christine O’Donnell was on the record back in the ’90s claiming Bill Clinton needed to be tried for the “murder” of Vince Foster. As Talking Points Memo helpfully explains, the Murder of Vince Foster was to the ’90s what the Kenyan Birth Certificate is to the oughts.
But that’s not all — she also claimed “scientists” have created “mice with human brains.” “Fully-functioning” human brains, no less.
Well, that’s good. My own feels little Swiss-cheesey at the moment; I could use a donor that comes without moral baggage. Although, I dunno. I’m trying to cut back on cheese.
The thing is, I know these people. I do. Not well, but I know them. They were seemingly half the population of Indiana back in the day, and would occasionally call me up to gnaw on my ear about Vince Foster, among other things.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but could I show you some literature about another candidate?” one called to me as I made my way into my polling place on election day. “It’s Bo Gritz. Rhymes with ‘rights.'”
Oh yeah, that guy. He’s still out there. My measure for Crazy back then was whether the lunatic in question had a radio show available on shortwave; many of their natural constituency lives far off the grid in Unabomber cabins and need that extra service. Nowadays, the internet serves for everyone, and I guess they do their reading at the library when they come to town for more 50-pound bags of rice.
But Vince Foster was a biggie, even with mainstream crazies. Was it Dan Burton who restaged the shooting (using watermelons) in his back yard, before concluding yes, yes, it was MURDER? He was a Hoosier. I don’t know why Christine O’Donnell didn’t relocate to Indiana when she was looking for a launch pad for her political career. She’d fit right in. She’d be mainstream.
Speaking of which, I guess everyone has heard by now of the twin Comedy Central rallies planned for D.C. next month. If I could, I would so totally be there:
Think of our event as Woodstock, but with the nudity and drugs replaced by respectful disagreement; the Million Man March, only a lot smaller, and a bit less of a sausage fest; or the Gathering of the Juggalos, but instead of throwing our feces at Tila Tequila, we’ll be actively *not* throwing our feces at Tila Tequila. Join us in the shadow of the Washington Monument. And bring your indoor voice. Or don’t. If you’d rather stay home, go to work, or drive your kids to soccer practice… Actually, please come anyway. Ask the sitter if she can stay a few extra hours, just this once. We’ll make it worth your while.
That’s the Jon Stewart side. Over at Colbert’s end of the Mall, it’s the March to Keep Fear Alive:
America, the Greatest Country God ever gave Man, was built on three bedrock principles: Freedom. Liberty. And Fear — that someone might take our Freedom and Liberty. But now, there are dark, optimistic forces trying to take away our Fear — forces with salt and pepper hair and way more Emmys than they need. They want to replace our Fear with reason. But never forget — “Reason” is just one letter away from “Treason.” Coincidence? Reasonable people would say it is, but America can’t afford to take that chance.
I like that line about reason and treason. That’s worth stealing.
I’ve got a meeting in 45 minutes that’s a 25-minute bike ride away. Should I? Of course I should. I’ve been staring at a screen all week, and it’s time to remind my body it exists below the level of its burning eyeballs. So, a skip to the bloggage:
New York City hit by a tornado-like storm. It’s always strange to think of New York as even vulnerable to weather at all.
Madonna is “a director.” Ha. The project is “W.E.,” allegedly about Wallis Simpson. Terrific — another Madge-branded project on a strong woman who is simply ahead of her time and cannot be grokked by the squares. Can’t. Wait.
The new Kickstarter I’m backing — the Mower Gang. They go out with lawn mowers and weed whackers and reclaim city facilities from nature. The video is recommended — last summer they found, and reclaimed, a velodrome. In Detroit! They’re currently trying to raise $600 to make a labyrinth and maze in some overgrown grass. Chip in if you feel like it.
Onto the bike, and outta the door.
Pam said on September 17, 2010 at 9:09 am
They also come to town for 50 lb. bags of Dog Chow.
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4dbirds said on September 17, 2010 at 9:19 am
Since I live in the Virginia suburbs of D.C. there is no way I’m missing either Rally on Oct 30. I can’t wait.
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coozledad said on September 17, 2010 at 9:45 am
Them mice with human brains speak French. And they’re coming to deconstruct our symbolic capital, along with making a mess of the kitchen.
Bo Gritz is Barry Sadler without the theme song. If Barry hadn’t got himself shot in the head running guns and child prostitutes in Guatemala, he’d be a tea party candidate today.
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MarkH said on September 17, 2010 at 10:15 am
Child prostitutes? You want to source that, Cooz? Barry Sadler is indeed ultimately a sad figure from the Vietnam era, but the only google hit I got when I put those terms together was your entry today.
Although he was convicted of manslaughter in 1979, and he did live his last years in Guatemala, where he was shot in the head while in a taxi, the reason for it and much of his time there is a mystery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Sadler
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LAMary said on September 17, 2010 at 11:01 am
Fighting soldiers from the sky…
I had a teacher in college whom I may have mentioned here before. He told us John Wayne based his character in The Green Berets on him, and indeed, he’s in the credits as a consultant. The snarkier students in his poli sci classes used to sing that Barry Sadler song quietly in the back of the room sometimes. Well, it was pretty much me and my friend Ed singing, actually.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 17, 2010 at 11:12 am
“Fighting soldiers from the sky,
Fearless men who jump and die;
Men who mean just what they say,
The brave men of the Green Beret”
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basset said on September 17, 2010 at 11:22 am
Barry Sadler’s grave is in a veterans’ cemetery on the north side of Nashville, just a few miles from where I sit right now. Might make a good road trip if you add a visit to the country singers’ graves in the public cemetery across the road.
House update: moved back in Tuesday night, turned in the apartment keys this morning, it all gets better from here.
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nancy said on September 17, 2010 at 11:28 am
Walking back into the house after my morning appointment, I twisted my ankle on a fucking ACORN and fell all the way down, losing my glasses and skinning my knee. That’s it — work is over for the day. I’m in bed with an ice pack, two books and a big fuck-you-too to the rest of the world.
This is the second time this has happened since we’ve lived here. Acorns. I ask you.
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coozledad said on September 17, 2010 at 11:29 am
Mark H: I don’t have an unimpeachable source. For one, he was a childfucker. Two, he’s dead now. The Europa Bar, the Contras, and Guatemala city under Rios Mont are synonymous with child prostitution. I’m sure Barry was a stand up guy, as his friends at Soldier of Fortune will be happy to attest, but I suspect if he was living in comfort in Guatemala city under Mont, and part of Reagan’s sub rosa arms shipment scheme, he would have had to compartmentalize in the extreme to ignore the human trafficking component of Mont’s war against the peasantry. Forgive me for going with horse sense here.
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4dbirds said on September 17, 2010 at 11:31 am
I thought the conservatives got rid of ACORN. So sorry Nancy. I hope you get better soon.
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Tom M said on September 17, 2010 at 11:38 am
The wine lady picked the part of the New York story where the guy walking on the sidewalk got to say fuck you to Madonna. You get to utter a generalized one at sort of the same time, so I guess that puts you in rare company today.
Acorns, well, squirrels gotta eat, too. My wife twisted her ankle in similar fashion. Hope yours is just a mild one.
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moe99 said on September 17, 2010 at 11:38 am
Oh, Nance, I hope the rest of your day is better. This falling stuff is scary.
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LAMary said on September 17, 2010 at 11:40 am
I fell over a dog dish about a month ago, flat on my face on the kitchen floor. I had a swollen nose for a week and felt way stupid.
OMG. I just this moment got an email from Amazon.com saying the Oprah book club pick this month is Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. The end is near.
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velvet goldmine said on September 17, 2010 at 12:08 pm
LAMary — It IS? Why would either one of them want to revisit The Awkward? I wonder if today’s show is the announcement. I might even have to watch.
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alex said on September 17, 2010 at 12:17 pm
I live under a canopy of oaks and every two years it’s as if my yard is ankle deep in marbles. No boo-boos yet from that, however.
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LAMary said on September 17, 2010 at 12:21 pm
VG:
My email from Amazon
Dear Amazon.com Customer,
“Customers who purchased past Oprah’s Book Club selections from Amazon.com might like to know about her latest pick: Jonathan Franzen’s “Freedom” is a wrenching, funny, and forgiving portrait of love, marriage, and family loyalty.”
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bobolink said on September 17, 2010 at 12:31 pm
I am often off the curve of “popular” books so I am not surprised to finish Freedom with a big “so what”. Not a compelling character in the bunch, meandering, … plus, mid-book he changes his references to a character from first to last name and then, later, switches back. I am unfamiliar with this technique (I refuse to label it “literary”). Just plain disconcerting, to me.
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MichaelG said on September 17, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Hope your ankle is better quickly, Nance. Enjoy the rest.
Years ago T, my ex, slipped and fell flat on her face in the kitchen. She ended up with a very nice shiner. At a party a day or two later somebody asked her what had happened. She pointed at me. “Asshole punched my lights out.” Talk about a conversation stopper.
For some reason I can’t remember, I was selected to attend a special showing of “The Green Berets” in Fayetteville, N.C. (home of Ft. Bragg). This was in ’68 not long before I got out of the Army. There were a few minor actors and some behind the camera people and a bunch of generals on hand. As is their wont, the generals gave speeches and handed each other awards before the screening. The movie sucked.
Off to lunch with T.
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Connie said on September 17, 2010 at 1:04 pm
MichaelG, Exactly one week after my wedding I gave myself a black eye with a broom, while vigorously sweeping dirt off the sidewalk after planting tulip bulbs. Quite the thing for a newlywed to show up to work with. I still remember laying on the sidewalk seeing stars.
My big fall this summer was off the edge of my friend’s patio, where I failed to get my arms up and landed on my nose in the grass. Bent my glasses all to bits and my nose throbbed for days. Plus 3 witnesses.
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Sue said on September 17, 2010 at 1:21 pm
I tripped over an ant, once.
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Bob said on September 17, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Maybe Danny Burton is on a quest to incorporate in a single political resume every kooky intellectual shortcoming that seriously pisses you off, Nance. He’s also the preeminent vaccinations-cause-autism delusional in Congress.
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Dorothy said on September 17, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Oh Nance. Sorry to hear that. I twisted my ankle on a pine cone down near the Athletic Center on campus a couple of weeks ago. That was supposed to be the beginning of me parking far away from my office and walking from and to my car each day, but the swollen ankle ended that. The 50’s are such fun, aren’t they?
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LAMary said on September 17, 2010 at 1:53 pm
I believe you can trip over an ant. Once I tripped over a white line. When you are professionally clumsy as I am, it’s a piece of cake.
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Deborah said on September 17, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Ouch Nancy. I hope you have better luck with your ankle than I’m having with mine. It’s been almost 4 weeks now, I just had an MRI last night, the X-ray that I got over 3 weeks ago showed nothing and the shot of cortizone in the ankle seems to have worn off. I’m mainly staying off of it. I’ve spent a small fortune on cabs to and from work these last 4 weeks. It has totally cramped my style. My usual commute to work is a brisk walk and I normally do all of my errands on foot too. I’ve got less than a month of still being in my 50s, I suppose it goes down hill from here.
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paddyo' said on September 17, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Nancy, just remember the adage, “Great aches from little acorns grow.”
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Dexter said on September 17, 2010 at 2:44 pm
nance: I was throwing my jeans into the laundry hamper and as I rolled down a cuff an acorn rolled out. They’re out to get us. Get well quickly.
Out the door, into the minivan and off to Columbus for football and birthday celebrations, ribs at a chain place, and then maybe an ice cream parlor in The Short North.
Leaving in twenty minutes and I am indeed chomping at the bit. I am taking my daughter’s childhood toys to her, a rare bicycle and her “Rosebud”-ish sled, and a bunch of her college days memories, photos and stuff.
You oughtta see this old van…we will look like Okies as we head down US 33.
Oh–the birthday boy is yerz troolie—61 on Saturday and headed for glory. 🙂
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Rana said on September 17, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Ouch. On this front, I side with squirrels.
I will shamefacedly admit to enjoying walking on acorns in my FiveFingers, which have those thin bendy soles. It’s like getting a foot massage. But in my sandals… yeah. Nature’s little marbles, yup.
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Julie Robinson said on September 17, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Happy birthday Dexter, happy move-in Basset, and happy recuperation, Nancy & Deborah. In total agreement about the 50’s and falling. Three years ago it was me on the ice, with a rotator cuff injury that still aches every morning. Between the shoulder, knee, and feet, I begin to understand the popularity of heavy duty pain meds. Most days it’s an hour of physical therapy just to keep mobile.
But on a happier note, it’s Friday and beautiful, and our shed is finally getting built this weekend.
Edit: our daughter just posted that she visited Aushwitz and is now in stunned silence. My little aches and pains are nothing.
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Jean S said on September 17, 2010 at 3:03 pm
acorns? ants? you people are scaring me…
get better, everyone!
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Sue said on September 17, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Chuck Todd and Evan Bayh, this morning:
TODD: Yesterday, the Census came out and said one in seven Americans are living below the poverty line. Do you look at that story today — you know, you open up your USA Today, right, and you see that story — and you see Washington is debating the tax rates for the wealthy, and you sit there and say, isn’t that a disconnect in America right now?
BAYH: It is a disconnect, Chuck. What we need to be focused on is growth, how do we create jobs, how do we expand businesses. That needs to be job one right now. And all these other issues involving, oh, fairness and things like that can wait.
Here’s my solution: If the rich deserve these continued tax breaks on the grounds that they create jobs, shouldn’t they be required to prove that they are creating jobs? And by ‘job creation’, does personal chauffeur and gardener count?
Why isn’t anyone doing the numbers on this, on either side? Why isn’t anyone even asking the question? If the whole premise of this is that these folks are somehow creating jobs and growth because they’re getting breaks on personal taxes, someone should be able to prove it.
Like hell fairness can wait. Not when we’ve got people like (1)Evan, in power, talking like this, and (2)Mike Hukabee, who announced today to those all-important values voters that people with preexising conditions should indeed be excluded from health insurance, egging them on.
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Dorothy said on September 17, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Not than any of you are capable of strolling down Mount Vernon’s Main Street and popping into the theater, but the play I’m directing opened last night and we got a pretty good review in the paper yesterday. Last night we only had 20 people but we ought to at least double that number tonight – it’s Friday after all!
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/10/09/16/thespians-goes-behind-the-scenes
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toney said on September 17, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Some friends at the above mentioned velodrome –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfq_5r7DKkM&hd=1
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MichaelG said on September 17, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Had a very nice lunch with T today at P.F. Chang’s in Roseville which is mid way between Sactown and Auburn.
She works for a very small company that does a lot of business with the State of California. They haven’t been paid in weeks now and things are getting difficult. To top things off, the Board of Equalization (they collect sales tax from businesses) wants their quarterly payment. T has an appointment to see them on Monday to tell them she can’t pay the taxes because the State hasn’t paid its bills but that she will be glad to pay B of E as soon as the State pays her what it owes. And they wonder why tax revenues are down. You can’t make this shit up. I wonder how many people our brilliant Gov and legislators are going to put out of business this year.
There are so many things the State could do to help ease the effects of the depression, but instead, it’s actively working to drive businesses under.
Happy birthday Dexter and happy house Basset!
It’s not so bad, guys. I’m more than halfway through my sixties and I don’t feel old or crappy or anything. Don’t worry about it. Just continue living as always. But it sure got here fast.
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moe99 said on September 17, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Dorothy, Break a leg!!
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Little Bird said on September 17, 2010 at 6:05 pm
I have been known to trip and fall over my own toes. Princess Grace, I am not. Yet somehow I have never broken a bone. I hope you mend soon Nancy.
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Julie Robinson said on September 17, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Dorothy, I hope the show goes well and the audience more than doubles. The play sounds like one a good one for community theatres. The one in my hometown is constantly on the search for funny and low cost plays. I think I’ll check it out from the library.
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beb said on September 17, 2010 at 8:50 pm
4dbirds @10: TRhat’s what I was going to say!
I stepped off a curb once and really messed up the wrist I landed on.
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Linda said on September 17, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Sue:
Notice how Bayh is moving that goalpost? When the subject is spending cuts, he is an unstoppable evangelist for budget balancing. Now, it’s about “jobs?” Not the budget? Oh, yeah, that’s because this is about the pocketbooks of the wealthy (tax cuts), and not the pocketbooks of the poor or middle classed. A much more important subject. God, if I spread my legs 24/7 and carried a mattress down Erie Street, I could not be a more shameless whore than these deficit hawks.
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Sue said on September 17, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Linda:
The last three days commenters here have provided some stunning mental images, but by golly you win for that last sentence!
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coozledad said on September 18, 2010 at 8:32 am
Yow.
http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2010/09/weekend-not-listomania-remnants-of_17.html
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Connie said on September 18, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Indiana Republican Pence wins Value Voters 2012 Poll: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/18/5135006-pence-wins-values-voter-2012-straw-poll-?ocid=twitter
Palin came in a distant fifth.
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brian stouder said on September 18, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Jeff tmmo – let me just say that the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial is a genuinely wonderful place. I spent Friday wandering the trails in the woods, where one can easily imagine how it was when Abe was a young feller wandering that same ground.
I didn’t stumble over any acorns, and very much enjoyed the 2 miles (or so) of trails; the weather was clear and blue and breezey, and the trees were whispering while some loud crows cawed at one another, near Nancy’s gravesite.
Honestly, when I read about it, the Trail of Twelve Stones sounded a little gimmicky to me. But it turns out that it is really quite interesting (I had feared it would be like that part of Survivor, where they wander from one contrivance after the next for all the non-surviving Survivor contestants). They have genuine stones from various phases of Lincoln’s life placed along a half mile loop-trail in the woods: a foundation stone from the first store Lincoln worked in, bricks from Mary Todd’s childhood home, a stone from the Anderson House at the Soldier’s Home, and a pillar from the Washington DC boarding house where he died, for example.
It was quite affecting, and indeed, walking alone amongst the native trees and flora that the NPS has taken the trouble to replace there over the past half century (after they were all torn out, many years ago) reminds one of being in a cathedral of trees.
Then, too, there were runners and joggers here and there (a regional high school is about two miles up the road, and their track team was utilizing the park’s trails), which lead me to snap (what struck me as) a funny photo. There was a large stone from the Washington DC Old Capitol Building, commemorating Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, and then in the leaves on the trail leading away from it, there was (what appeared to be) lots of white vomit, presumeably from one of the over-wrought runners. (and we bare him no malice)
Additionally, the working farm at the site where the Lincolns lived would be very kid-pleasing, and indeed I intend to take the young folks down there at some point. It’s within ten miles of the Holiday World amusement park and lake at Santa Claus, Indiana, and therefore would work as a family-friendly destination. (plus, at 70mph down I-69/I-65/I-64, one can get there from Fort Wayne in about 5 or 6 hours; and I-64 is a beautiful, beautiful highway)
It struck me as odd that the entrance to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial park is literally right across Indiana highway 162 from the entrance to the Lincoln State Park (an Indiana state park).
The upshot of that is that, if you are going to view Nancy Lincoln’s grave, and Sarah Lincoln-Grigsby’s grave (which might be a mile apart) one has to leave the Lincoln Boyhood Memorial, and cross the road into the other park.
I resolved that I’d pay the additional $5 to get into the Indiana State Park, in order to see Sarah’s gravesite at the Little Pigeon Baptist Church cemetery; and it turned out that the rangers at the gate of the Indiana State Park waved me through to go see Sarah’s grave for free.
Sarah’s gravesite was sad but also odd; she was buried with her newborn, although the newborn is not referred to on the headstone. Her husband remarried, and then he died a year later(!) – and they buried him next to Sarah(!!). I began to search around for his new (so to speak) wife, and she might have been there somehwere (there were many Grigsbys) – but wherever she was, she wasn’t next to her husband. I was struck (not for the first time) by how many of the headstones were for babies; children who lived for a day or two; or maybe a month or two. There must have been more than 10 markers of that sort, out of maybe 100 or so markers in the cemetery.
The Little Pigeon Primitive Baptist church (which has been rebuilt twice) still operates, and in fact was in the middle of a service when I was there earlier today (at about 2:30 this afternoon); the preacher was delivering an impassioned sermon about God’s Law with lots of vibrato in his voice, which one could pretty clearly hear outside the church.
The colloquium was quite good, and offered lots of political food for thought, as the theme was the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s election, and whaddaya know – we have a big national (although non-presidential) election looming now.
Congrats to Dorothy, Dexter, and Basset (& Mrs Basset), and peace to all the rest of y’all
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Rana said on September 19, 2010 at 12:39 am
Anyone want to bid on the Maltese Falcon?
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Connie said on September 19, 2010 at 8:54 am
Michigan State beats Notre Dame! Last week Michigan did the same! Sometimes having two alma maters is good.
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brian stouder said on September 19, 2010 at 10:50 am
Late addition to the ChrisÂtine O’Donnell kwaziness list: her laughing (almost in a flirty manner) references to her “dabbling” foray into witchcraft.
I saw this on the Bill Maher HBO show while in a hotel* in Dale, Indiana, and had to laugh. Apparently she made many visits to his show back in the day, and he promises many more videos.
So Delaware’s voters have to use Glenda’s line and sincerely ask Christine: “Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?” (and don’t forget the vibrato)
*I had an Ashley Judd/Bugs flashback moment; times being what they are, I pulled the bedding back and examined closely…and saw nothing
edit: Here’s what Christine said, from an article at msnbc
“One of my first dates with a witch was on a satanic altar, and I didn’t know it. I mean, there’s little blood there and stuff like that,” she says in the clip. “We went to a movie and then like had a little midnight picnic on a satanic altar.”
Friday, as I motored down the highway, (and before Maher ran this video) Sean Hannity was in full Flying Monkey mode, attacking anyone who wasn’t 100% FOR O’Donnell’s side; he became incoherent on this term “RINO” – since the next breath after using that word, he proudly declared he’s a conservative first, last, and always – and THEN a Republican….which seems to make him a “RINO”.
Anyway, he (and the other flying monkeys of the right wing airwaves)presumeably will remain in loyal service to their witch, right up ’til Chris Coons melts her down.
Maybe, if it comes to pass that Christine has to make a concession speech, she’ll say this (from imbd)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/quotes
You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done! I’m melting! melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness? Oooooh, look out! I’m going! Oooooh! Ooooooh!
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basset said on September 19, 2010 at 11:59 am
Brian, if you were in Dale you were just a few miles from Santa Claus… when I was little the “Holiday World” amusement park there was still called “Santa Claus Land,” somewhere around here I have old b&w pictures out of the box Brownie.
the Lincoln birthplace near Hodgenville, Ky., is not all that far away, but there’s not a whole lot to see; big monument with columns, reproduction of the cabin, and the actual Lincoln farm is close by, you can walk the creek where they got water and go around the fields they worked.
if you don’t stay too long there, though, you can drive down to the Jefferson Davis birthplace southwest of Bowling Green and see both Civil War presidents’ natal lands on the same day.
gotta get off the computer and go hack at my overgrown yard, we were gone 4 1/2 months and the back part of the property down in the floodway has been sorely neglected.
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Connie said on September 19, 2010 at 12:11 pm
We’ve visited the Lincoln Birthplace several times, in conjunction with Mammoth Cave visits when we lived in southern Indiana and could do it in one long day. We found it very odd. This massive marble building with columns and grand steps. Then you step inside and the only thing in there is this tiny little log cabin that may not actually be authentic.
Brian, we did a family trip to that southwestern part of Indiana some years ago, and I would add Angel Mounds State Park and the old riverfront in Newburg. We crossed the river at Evansville and had a lovely day heading east on the Kentucky riverfront roads. Cross back over at Tell City to eat at the amazing Overlook Restaurant. http://www.theoverlook.com/
Update: Corrected Mounds to Angel Mounds.
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brian stouder said on September 19, 2010 at 12:37 pm
basset, I was tempted to roll into Kentucky and see the birthplace (I’ve never been there), but thought better of it.
Connie, I saw signs for the Overlook as I rolled down I-64, and indeed that looked like it had to be a great place, given how beautiful the whole country down there is.
The colors are only just beginning to come upon the trees, and it made the interstate lovely. The family will have to come with me to that place, and see.
Not to sound all chauvinistic or anti-cosmopolitan, but European or international travel isn’t very high on my list of priorities, considering how much there is right here in North America to see and experience.
For example, I’ve never been further west than Lincoln, NE (on business); I’d love to see Yosemite (where Pam’s mom and dad are); and flying doesn’t count – you have to experience the journey
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Connie said on September 19, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Brian, I have to agree with you about seeing your own country before Europe. I was lucky to see much of the west on a month long RV trip with my family at 14. Conferences have brought me to the wonderful cities of Seattle, Portland, Or, New York twice, San Francisco thrice, New Orleans twice, and finally and at last to Boston (you must take the tour of the USS Constitution) and to the not so great cities of Dallas and Atlanta. Except for Boston I’ve never been to New England, and except for a teenaged flight to Daytona and those trips to New Orleans and a former Cajun sister in law in Lafayette La, I’ve never seen New England or the south. And someday I will go back to the west, where I want to visit Custer Battlefield. And I am hoping to visit Philadelphia for the first time for a 2011 conference.
Yes, and then London, Paris, and Amsterdam, where my brother and his wife are currently vacationing, staying on a houseboat instead of in a hotel.
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Connie said on September 19, 2010 at 2:35 pm
She’s still Cajun, but a former SIL.
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Jeff Borden said on September 19, 2010 at 2:51 pm
The new breed of Republican candidate, exemplified by Rand Paul, Sharron Angle and now Miss Prissy Pants of Delaware, is incapable of handling anything but questioning from adoring media whores, which is why Miss Prissy Pants backed out of appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows. If they aren’t talking to El Rushbo, Hannity or some other lotion boy, they aren’t talking. Period.
The horrible decision by SCOTUS in Citizens United means this can and will continue. Candidates can hide from any hard questioning while the multi-billionaires fund advertisements and media buys to send out their messages. It’s a clever enough strategy –do the end run around the nasty media hordes– but its detrimental to the nation.
That doesn’t matter, I guess, when you’re in the business of demagoguery. But for people who are always invoking the Constitution and the Founding Fathers, these not-ready-for-prime-time Republicans appear to know little about the dynamics of democracy.
O’Donnell is going to go down like the Hindenburg. Already, some of the most outrageous things she said on the old “Politically Incorrect” show are in heavy rotation. She may be the nuttiest of all the teabaggers.
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Deborah said on September 19, 2010 at 3:02 pm
The only states I haven’t been in are Idaho, Delaware, Maine,Vermont, Hawaii and Alaska. I hope to get to the last four someday. Idaho and Delaware not so much. Although I’m sure there’s something worth seeing in each of them.
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coozledad said on September 19, 2010 at 3:27 pm
She had that Delaware-o-scare-o
Each time she opened up her mouth
She thought they treated her unfair-o
But they would love her in the South
She ruled the toads on Fox News Sunday
She ruled both Newt and Idaho
She warned the monkey-spankers, “Someday,
Your vital fluids will run low!”
She said she dabbled into witchcraft
Told everyone on Maher’s show
There was communion and an altar
with fizzy drank and a taco.
CHORUS:
She said “Your snake is your pet.
Jesus, don’t touch it yet!
It takes a whole quart of blood
just to make it spit!”
She wore foundation so thick you couldn’t see her skin
I told her,”Nice makeup, doll!”
But I couldn’t come in.
………………………………
But I was born to hump the crazay
and so I followed down the hall.
She talked about a mystic three-way
and how the government would fall.
She said she was a teabag-master
and all them homos got it wrong
or so she heard from her youth pastor
while he was nekkid on the phone.
REPEAT CHORUS
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Jeff Borden said on September 19, 2010 at 3:31 pm
You know, Cooz, it has a great beat, neat lyrics and it’s easy to dance to, so I’m giving it a 97. Thankyewverrymuch.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 19, 2010 at 3:41 pm
The second service lector where I preached this morning assured me that Dorothy’s play was very well received but neither of us made it to the production ourselves (apologies!); now that the run’s over, may I commend to your relaxation Robertson Davies’ “Tempest Tost”? It would have been less fun to read going into a production of “Thespians” than it will be coming out of it . . .
Brian, thanks for the description; I’ve not seen the 12 stone trail, and wd have had the same reaction to hearing about it second hand, but now I know I need to make the trip — every so often I get the chance to make a retreat at St. Meinrad which is right up the road, but have only done so twice: now I have more reason to do it again. Little Pigeon Baptist Church once hired young Abe as custodian, but he never joined; his parents were tried for the heresy of “Campbellism,” which is to say my denomination, but were found innocent. That experience no doubt helped convince Abe that he had no need of getting into such internecine squabbling, and never joined that or any other congregation throughout his life — but he helped contribute to the building of Baptist, Disciples of Christ, Catholic, and Presbyterian churches while a Springfield lawyer. Mary joined the Presbyterian church down the street in DC (can’t think of the name, New York Ave. Presby?), and Abe attended some, but most assuredly never joined.
Helping lead an adult class in Creation Care tonight and for 8 weeks, the evangelical version of environmentalism. Curious to see how the mix and questions work out.
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Deborah said on September 19, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Coozledad, you’ve really captured the kwazy. That woman is out-to-lunch, it kinda makes me feel sorry for Rove. Sort of.
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joodyb said on September 19, 2010 at 7:20 pm
i may not even have breached 50 when i missed the curb at a highly visible downtown intersection and fell literally headlong into a traffic sign post, ringing my bell but good and eff’g up my knee, but i have to say the biggest indignity was the cartoon afterpsyche of the bent eyeglass frame. there’s your sign. (sorry)
oh, and will someone make these damned doctors stop lying about the cortisone shots? they NEVER last more than 3 weeks.
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brian stouder said on September 19, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Cooz had a goodie, but I’m still thinking in terms of The Wizard of Oz; afterall, as we gaze at Christine O’Donnell it’s clear we’re not in Delaware anymore.
So, speaking of congress, and paraphrasing these guys –
http://www.rhapsody.com/the-chad-lawson-trio/dear-dorothy-the-oz-session/munchkinland/lyrics.html
The winds began to switch, and the House, to pitch; and suddenly the GOP became unhitched!
Just then, a witch, went riding on her teabag schtick, and Boehner got an itch!
And oh, what happened next was rich!
Bill Maher began to snitch, Hannity – to bitch; and Christine’s campaign began to lurch for the ditch.
(refrain)
etc
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MichaelG said on September 19, 2010 at 10:30 pm
It has been suggested that there is little reason to travel abroad as there are so many lovely sights to see in this country. There’s truth to this. After living for years in California I came to the conclusion that it was “God’s Country”. Then thirty some years ago I started traveling in this country for work. Each place I visited amazed me with the beauty of its forests, beaches, charming cities, historic sites and museums. Turns out it’s all “God’s Country”. There are many cultural differences to absorb as one moves from here to there in the U.S. Yet, while Los Angeles, Memphis and Miami, Marin County, Bexar County and Cook County are each very different, all are fundamentally American.
To travel abroad is to truly experience something very different. People, culture and language are all very different from what we are accustomed to here. Folks over there think differently, live in different kinds of domiciles and eat different and sometimes odd food. They get around differently, shop differently and remove the trash differently. All traveling is broadening but visiting a foreign country will open one’s eyes to new and strange things as well as providing another perspective on the way we live. Please don’t discount foreign travel.
That said, all travel is enlightening. Day trips can provide wonderful experiences. I know that foreign travel is expensive and that not everybody can trot off to Paris at the drop of a hat. But if you can manage it, a vacation in a foreign country is a wondrous experience. Canada and Mexico are nearby for some of us. Otherwise please spare the time and a few bucks and go down the road just a hundred miles. There’s a world of wonder to be seen a few miles away as I can attest and as Brian has so ably described. I live in Sacramento but San Francisco is 80 miles and a world away. Go someplace. It’s one of the best things one can do for one’s self and for everybody else.
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MichaelG said on September 19, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Reading over my comment above, it occurs to me that I’ve used up this blog’s allotment of the word “different” for the next two weeks. It also sounds kind of mawkish. Oh well. I may have had a little of what makes Prospero hum.
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basset said on September 19, 2010 at 10:47 pm
Well, I’ve been to Tijuana, Windsor, and Sault Ste. Marie… and lived for two years in Mississippi.
Connie and Brian, the Lincoln birthplace is indeed strange, big monument essentially by itself – and the cabin is definitely not authentic, believe some of the signage even says so. I have some photos of the farm from this past spring, if you’re interested get my address from the Proprietress and I’ll send them on.
We went to Angel Mounds this summer on the way home from the Jasper Strassenfest… most interesting.
Mammoth Cave reminds me of a tour guide there telling me the two most ignorant questions he’d heard from visitors… already told that one here, though. If you care to keep going past the cave and head for Jefferson Davis’ birthplace, the former Shaker colony at South Union, Kentucky, out in the country southwest of Bowling Green, would be a good place to stop.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 20, 2010 at 8:05 am
Kansas actually has more than you’d think until you got there and went off the interstate, starting with Cheyenne Bottoms Nat’l Wildlife Refuge & Ellinwood. Then there’s the Great Ball of Twine, Dodge City, etc.
Anyhow, Michael pegged it. “Turns out it’s all “God’s Country.””
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Dorothy said on September 20, 2010 at 10:09 am
Jeff I was very amused to hear you and Alex were discussing my play while preparing for your church service yesterday morning! That just cracked me up!
The playwright came to the show on Friday and thank goodness he did – that was the best night to be there! The biggest audience (all 40 or so of them) and the best laughs – it was a tremendously wonderful night and I’m still basking in the glow of the praise being delivered. A very satisfying experience all in all, and well worth all the lost sleep and aggravation of losing the stage manager half way through (but I got a much better one), losing one of the actors (ditto – got a better one as a result), and no producer (I ended up doing it myself). I would not have wanted it to go any other way. It all worked out beautifully.
Julie you won’t find a copy of this in the library or anywhere else. I asked Bill on Friday why he’s never had it published and he said he got turned down multiple times. It has a large cast (9) and three scene changes. He said publishing firms told him it’s too many strikes against it. Companies nowadays want small casts and only one set – doing shows as cheaply as possible is a constant request. It’s a shame, too, because this is one damn funny show.
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Harrison said on September 20, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Jon Steward said:
Think of our event as … the MilÂlion Man March, only a lot smaller, and a bit less of a sausage fest …
And also a lot more Caucasian.
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