I can’t tell you enough what a good time Saturday’s Tour de Troit was, even though I rode all by my little lonesome, the other two-thirds of my family SO busy with THEIR lives they couldn’t be bothered to rise at dawn and take a three-hour bike ride with mom. But so what? I do lots of things alone, and found plenty of people to talk to among the 4,000 or so rolling along with me. The weather was perfect and the route was great — Detroit high to low, crack houses to manor houses, with a lap of Belle Isle and a crisp McIntosh apple thrown in. And lunch. With beer. None of which I drank, as it was 11 a.m. and I had a day of chores ahead. So I found a table of thirsty-looking guys, and gave them my final food and drink tickets.
I should have given my extra ticket to Dexter. He could have put one of his 37 specialized bikes into the van, driven up and rolled on out with me. Would have been a crazy early start for a night owl like him, though. Maybe next time.
I just realized what-all my week will entail, looked at my calendar and groaned. If I miss a day this week, don’t bother with search parties. It’s just me, exhausted and weeping, trying to make a 50-hour week run with five hours of sleep, nightly.
But so we can get it started in the same fashion it will likely end, how about a bunch of tossed-off bloggage?
We seem to be on a capital-punishment jag here, so one more, a column about what it was like to be in the crowd outside Troy Davis’ execution. Sounds a lot like the Tim McVeigh death carnival in 2001, i.e. a reporter-to-protestor ratio of about 10:1, and not much news to report other than, “it’s going to happen in two hours” and “it happened 20 minutes ago.”
It did jog my memory, however, to when my friend Ron French (with whom I worked at TimFest) covered an execution of a Michigan man in Florida, years previous. There’s a wire-service reporter at those things who, like the Atlanta reporter linked above, has seen more men lose their lives than an infantryman in a war zone. The protestors, pro and con, all know one another, shake hands and ask after one another’s kids. They keep their signs in their car trunks, and some of them are looking a little worn out.
The wire-service reporter told a story about how, back in the electric-chair days, the liner on the chair’s cap finally wore out, probably from overuse. It’s a sea sponge which is saturated in salt water before it’s fitted on the condemned man’s head, and aids in conducting the charge through the body. When it wore out, some genius at the prison, probably looking to save taxpayer dollars, replaced it with a common cellulose sea sponge. Which burst into flames during the event, upsetting everyone and very likely hastening the era of lethal injection.
A few of you have asked, in the past, what my problem is with Jennifer Granholm, who always looked so smart and presentable on “Meet the Press” while she was governor of Michigan. I think my Wayne State colleague Jack Lessenberry gets to the heart of it in his review of what seems to be her laughably awful memoir. A friend of mine suggested some staged readings might be fun to do, and with passages like this, of course I’m waving my hand in the air, volunteering to play Jenny:
Actually, the book, which is subtitled The Fight for Jobs and America’s Economic Future, is so appallingly bad it is weirdly fascinating, starting with the weird, stilted dialogue it claims were real conversations, mainly between husband and wife.
What they actually sound like are Ayn Rand characters who have learned a whole lot of psychobabble. (“His words finally pierced my hard, self-pitying armor. It was my ego that was sucking me down.” Finally, she told him “Thanks for caring so much.”)
Mark Bittman takes on the “junk food is cheaper than broccoli” canard and finds: No, it’s not. This is not exactly a state secret, which we’ve discussed here many times before — oh, my little smartlings, you make this job so rewarding — but I have to pull back at his solution, which is to turn Mickey D’s into the new Philip Morris. Just what the culture war needs: Another front.
Finally, one for Cooz: A chapter from North Carolina’s history of social engineering, i.e., aggressive sterilization programs for the poor, feeble-minded and, of course, promiscuous. The reveal is who presided over these programs for decades — one Wallace Kuralt, father of Charles the Beloved.
And now I must get moving. Happy week to you. As for me, I just hope to endure it, and make a few deadlines.
Peter said on September 26, 2011 at 10:00 am
That Mark Bittman story hit really close to home.
When we picked up our son from camp, we stopped at the Hardee’s in Rantoul (which is noted in one of the slides accompanying Mark’s story!). We had never been to a Hardee’s, so we figured why not give it a try. A few minutes into the meal, this was the actual conversation:
My lovely spouse: “What is that gelatinous substance oozing out of the bun?”
Me: “I think it’s called sauce”
Spouse: “Sauce? That looks like something the nurses would send to the lab after they changed your bandages”
Long pause
Spouse: “You’re going to finish that thing? After what I said?”
Me: “What can I say? I lived in a college dorm. I worked summers at a camp. This brings back memories”
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beb said on September 26, 2011 at 10:06 am
You seem refreshed and content after the Tour De troit. Good for you.
The quote from the Granholm autobio seems to challenge my belief that anyone can write … adequately. I guess some people really can’t write.
For reasons best not explained I bought a Micky D’s lunch on a rainy afternoon. Discovered that the sacks their meals are stuffed in have the consistence of tissue when wet. Biodegradable is an admirable goal but packaging should have some resilience for at least the first day. The other discovery was that their Quarter-pounder was rubbish. A Whopper from BK has more lettuce, onion and tomato around their patty. It makes me wonder if nutritionally we should distinguish between McDonalds and everyone else.
I think people eat McDonald (or whatever) because they don’t want to cook, not because cooking is expensive.
Agressive sterilization programs… can we apply that to the NYT editional page?
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Laura Lippman said on September 26, 2011 at 10:07 am
You know I love me some Bittman — how many novelists have created a character who talks to him as she putters in her kitchen — and I love to cook when I have the time. “When I have the time” is key. I think it’s really hard to try and persuade people that cooking isn’t a chore because it kinda is. A creative chore where one can take pride in the results, but a chore that creates more chores. It’s not necessarily an issue of time, as Bittman argues, so saying the average person watches 90 minutes of television a day doesn’t get at the problem. (Personally, I watch television in my kitchen. A lot of women my age do. It explains why there are so many middle-aged women who are familiar with The Family Guy, because it seems to be on around dinner-preparation time in every US city.)
I have a hard time telling people with few resources to cut out the junk food, I just do. As much as I love roasted kale, it’s a pain in the ass to prepare, relative to opening a bag of potato chips. Even making baked sweet potato strips, which go a long way to satisfy a french fry craving, is more of a hassle than going to McDonald’s, which is a half-mile from my house. And no sweet potato fry has ever tasted as good as that first McDonald french fry. Granted, the second fry never tastes that good and once no long hot, they don’t taste good at all, but still . . .
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beb said on September 26, 2011 at 10:14 am
Laura, your description of eating that first McDonald French Fry is exactly how I feel about the doughnuts made at the Franklin Cider Mill. Cooked in a deep fat fryer, the first bite is ambrosial, but once they get cold, you can taste the lard a mile away.
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Snarkworth said on September 26, 2011 at 10:31 am
Spouse: “You’re going to finish that thing? After what I said?”
Me: “Yes, I am. And when I’m finished, I’m going to divorce you.”
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alex said on September 26, 2011 at 10:47 am
On the rare occasions that I partake of fast food, I’m always appalled at the price. There are plenty of restaurants where I could sit down to far better fare and leave a tip and pay the same or less.
Peter, I’m sure I’d have a fabulous time breaking bread with your wife. I typically take lunch while working, and my work involves reading about MRSA infections, cottage cheesy candidiasis, secretions and phlegm that look like key lime pie filling, necrotic extremities of people with uncontrolled diabetes and pretty much whatever incidentally gross stuff appears in medical charts.
Here’s betting if you swabbed a Hardee’s burger it would come back as resistant to three-quarters of all known antibiotics.
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Sue said on September 26, 2011 at 10:53 am
It rained all weekend here, with just a short break which nicely coincided with a trip to the farmers’ market. We found a lovely sweet yellow watermelon and the nicest poblanos this side of a Rick Bayless restaurant, and grapes, and raspberries on sale. I was surprised to see so much summer produce this late in the season at the sites that didn’t have suspicious empty boxes tucked under tables that said California and Florida on them.
We made chiles rellenos yesterday, with the watermelon an excellent summer-fall bridge meal, and not too expensive even if the produce used was fresh and wonderful.
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Dexter said on September 26, 2011 at 10:57 am
The host of “The Ron and Fez Show” , XM 105, Fez Marie Whatley, has this ongoing thing where if he feels like he is going to have a bad show (he “freezes up’ and cannot talk , and begins a crying jag frequently) he buys show producer Pepper Hicks (nee Chris Stanley) a carry-in breakfast, usually from BK or McDonald’s . However, Hicks is always busy and rarely has time to eat it for several hours. Hicks says it gets better as it ages on his desk. He’s also 27 years old. I also worked with a guy about the same age whose lunch box usually contained McD’s fries and a sandwich, which he ate maybe six hours after he bought it.
As Laura tells us, that first fry is fantastic, but by the middle of the little bag or giant cardboard carton of fries, they taste really horrible.
My daughter bought an “Arch Card” for me because I drive past a McD’s every day on the way to the dog-walking park I frequent, and once a week I stop for a $2.50 biscuits and gravy. Saturday I had hotcakes and sausage instead…the pancakes are the factory-made kind and are more suitable to frisbee to my dog than to eat, but the sausage is good if you only eat it occasionally.
Of course, I have ridden bicycles in Detroit a few times, but never a tour like Tour De Troit. Like nance says, maybe next time. Maybe I could convince my brother from Chicago to drive over for it, too. He will be 65 then, but he has a helluva lot more bike-stamina than I have now.
Here are some shots he took at “Bike the Drive” in Chicago this year.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1726799@N22/
He rode the Paris-Brest-Paris ride in 1987 and again in 1991, and for about eight years he was a very active ultra marathon bicycle racer, riding over 300 miles in a day more than once. yep. 300 miles in a day’s time.
http://www.detnews.com/section/videonetwork?bctid=1170551657001
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Linda said on September 26, 2011 at 10:58 am
I read the Bittman article, and he lightly touches on the issue of “food deserts,” rural and central city areas that don’t have fresh food within miles. But he assumes they could get the gumption to get that unprocessed food. Hell, if you get car rides, or have to take the bus, you save those rare opportunities, and don’t have them all the time. Many people in the downtown area I work don’t have cars, and the markets don’t have fresh food–they don’t have the resources–and food turnover–to keep such highly perishable stuff. Auto transport is something that middle classed people assume exists for everybody, and it doesn’t. On the other hand, there’s fast food everyplace.
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coozledad said on September 26, 2011 at 10:59 am
Nancy: Wow. Hadn’t heard about that. The only Kuralt I knew was the one who owned The Intimate Bookshop while it was on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. I think he was Charles’ brother. As I recall, he was a bit of a hippy and smoked a lot. He gave the distinct impression he was a family outlier.
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baldheadeddork said on September 26, 2011 at 11:14 am
You may have seen this, Nance – but I stumbled upon (via Balloon Juice) the Voice of San Diego new reporter guidelines this morning and what a breath of fresh air. (My favorite part: “We’re not someone’s goddamn transcription service.” If only someone could pass that along to the Times and WaPo…) VoSD backs it up, too. They’ve done some terrific reporting over the last few years.
http://pressthink.org/2011/09/if-he-said-she-said-journalism-is-irretrievably-lame-whats-better/#aftermatter
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LAMary said on September 26, 2011 at 11:45 am
There is a big discount supermarket that caters to Latino and Asian customers within walking distance of my house. If you can’t put together a fabulous meal of fresh ingredients from that place for less than fast food costs, you’re not trying. Still I see shopping carts full of sports drinks, Lil’ Debbies and frozen chicken nuggets in line every time I go there.
What is it with sports drinks anyway? Why do people buy cases of colored sugar water thinking it’s good for them? Truly, it’s junk and it’s pretty expensive for what it is, but I see shrink wrapped cases of what looks like Windex without the sprayer, going out the door so much of the time.
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Suzanne said on September 26, 2011 at 11:49 am
I don’t have the energy to comment on anything. I listened to Mitch Daniels being interviewed by Diane Rehm all the way to work this morning and it ruined my entire day. Probably ruined my entire week.
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Holly said on September 26, 2011 at 11:54 am
Green seems to be the theme with me and hamburgers. Freshman year in high school I stood in line and got my hamburger. Sat down and started eating it. I ate about half when I noticed that the inside of the burger was green. I started bringing my lunch to school from then on. Several years later I was at a hamburger joint and got my food. If I did not look at my burger I would have eaten a boogie that was on the bun. Don’t mean to gross anyone out. After that I always examine my food when I eat any place but home.
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alex said on September 26, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Looks like Daniels may be preening to enter the GOP race at the eleventh hour as the party’s savior. He’s a relatively bland conservative who would tout the privatization of everything from public highways to entitlement programs as an economic panacea. Just you wait. Not only will the teabaggers be well appeased, but a lot of otherwise mainstream voters will fall for this simplistic plan without understanding any of its ramifications. He’s probably just waiting for the right moment to burst onto the stage and play hero. Ya think?
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 26, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Coozeldad, according to Wikipedia: “Kuralt’s younger brother Wallace, who died in December 2003, was also well-known in his home state, having been the owner of The Intimate Bookshop on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill for many years.”
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Sue said on September 26, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Alex, I thought Mitch already decided against it because he wanted to spend more time with his family/has something interesting in his past.
Or is that someone else? I need a scorecard.
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Randy said on September 26, 2011 at 1:19 pm
I read somewhere that the major burger places are using sawdust in their burger to make them appear more… robust? Substantial? The FDA does not consider cellulose to be harmful to people, even though it’s not very digestible. Yikes, I was only worried about all the cow poop in my burger…
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brian stouder said on September 26, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Gov. Mitch will be in Fort Wayne Wednesday, at our beautiful Indiana University-Purdue University Auer music hall, as part of their Omnibus Lecture Series (and of course, to hawk his book).
I may well buy a copy, as the lecture is free, and it affords the opportunity to say a word or two to him, and get his John Henry.
I don’t think he’s going to run for the presidency, but I do think he would accept a VP nod. Then, he can supplant Palin on the political author/speaker circuit after President Obama gets done knocking the stuffing out of whichever festively decorated piñata ultimately wins the R nomination
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moe99 said on September 26, 2011 at 1:35 pm
In keeping with Holly’s sentiments, I offer the following from cakewrecks.com:
http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2011/7/22/the-search-for-the-worlds-most-disturbing-shower-cake-ends-h.html
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Jeff Borden said on September 26, 2011 at 2:00 pm
I’m still thinking Mitt Romney gets the nomination, but I shudder to think of who he will choose as a veep because he’s going to need someone to play to the teapeople and the evangelicals and the social conservatives. McCain plumbed the depths and look what happened: He unleashed one of the most irritating grifters to come along in years on an unprepared populace. Would Romney consider a loon like Bachmann, who might be a reasonable consolation prize for those who worship Our Lady of Wasilla? Or would he try to trump Obama’s blackness with Herman Cain?
There’s increasing buzz that Chris Christies of New Jersey might ride to the rescue, but he’ll never pass muster with the teapeople. He favors civil unions and isn’t mean enough to immigrants. Plus, he’s not nearly as popular among Jersey voters as is commonly perceived. (Neither is Rick Perry, who is below 50% approval in the Loon Star State.)
I will never feel confident about this coming election, though. The hatred of Obama on the right is truly something to behold and we have scores of plutocrats willing to spend millions to bring down the black man. Some of those commercial messages will work. And we are going to continue to struggle with a lousy economy, which will mean a significant number of people will be voting with their wallets.
The one thing Obama does have going for him is an almost comically weak and ineffectual field of opponents. But again, if Romney can win the nomination, he will pick off independents with all his “job creation” bullshit, even though the firm where he made his fortune specialized in stripping companies to the bone and reselling them.
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MaryRC said on September 26, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Sue, it was Mrs. Mitch Daniels who had something interesting in her past.
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Jean S said on September 26, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I suspect Mr. Bittman has heard plenty of feedback about food deserts and fatigue (among other issues) by now.
And Kessler’s book is very interesting–once you read about addiction to salt/sugar/fat, you look at french fries in a new light.
As for me, I spent what seemed like The. Entire. Weekend. in the kitchen, dealing with a glut of tomatoes and bell peppers. A lot of work, but come January and February, I’ll be thrilled.
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ac jones said on September 26, 2011 at 2:48 pm
I heard Mitch on NPR this morning and he seemed gracious and reasonable to me, but I am in the tiny minority here (some call us trolls). I think Romney will be the nominee, and I pray for Rubio as the V.P–Mitch would be okay too. The racist accusation against republicans is goofy considering some of the top candidates, but that is all too often the sentiment on this blog. Brian, I will be in the audience on Wednesday night. see you there.
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brian stouder said on September 26, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Ac – I’m looking forward to it! Mitch probably is the last Republican I voted for; he is the sort of Republican I used to be. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan – who I voted for four times (counting the primaries) – which is four MORE times than Rush Limbaugh ever actually VOTED for Ronald Reagan – I didn’t leave the Republican party so much as it left me.
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brian stouder said on September 26, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Here is how Texas-sized presidential aspirations crash and burn:
http://www.chem.info/News/2011/09/Plant-Operations-Texas-Refineries-May-Get-Back-135M/?et_cid=2141039&et_rid=44004269&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chem.info%2fNews%2f2011%2f09%2fPlant-Operations-Texas-Refineries-May-Get-Back-135M%2f
The lead paragraph:
Three commissioners appointed by Gov. Rick Perry may grant some of the nation’s largest refineries a tax refund of more than $135 million — money Texas’ cash-strapped schools and other local governments have been counting on to help pay teachers and provide other public services. The property tax refund would mean more pain for some communities after a year in which state lawmakers grappled with a $27 billion shortfall and slashed spending on public schools by more than $4 billion. Nearly half the refund would be taken from public schools, and those in cities where the refineries are based would be hurt most.
“We were already cut at the knees as it is, but more cuts? It’s appalling,” said Patricia Gonzales, a single mother of 13-year-old twins at Park View Intermediate School in Pasadena, a refinery town just south of Houston. Gonzales is president of the school’s new parent-teacher organization, formed this summer after the state budget cuts left the school lacking everything from pencils to paper towels.
And towards the end, the almost comically ridiculous Official Response:
“It’s not going to be a disaster,” said Day, the company spokesman. “I guarantee you, it’s not a surprise to the school districts,” he added. “Yes, they spent the money, yes we’re asking for an abatement on our pollution control equipment … but this is really no different than a homeowner appealing their property tax, just on a larger scale.” Parents, meanwhile, plan to hold fundraisers and boycott gas stations if necessary to fight the request. “We pay taxes every day. Small businesses pay taxes,” Gonzales said. “Why should big corporations get breaks?”
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nancy said on September 26, 2011 at 3:40 pm
I know many Republicans who aren’t racist, I grant you. But I also know hardly any who stood up against their own crackpots when those people were calling the president a Kenyan and emailing watermelon photos around privately. Actually, many of them weren’t crackpots, but county chairmen and women. It might be unfair to play the “I demand you denounce something” game, but one too many “I take him at his word” and you start to get the idea the core is rotten.
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MarkH said on September 26, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Daniels back in the race? After he displayed a hefty load of personal baggage as his ticket out?? Not a chance.
Brian – Limbaugh DIDN’T vote for Reagan? Hmmm. Did he actually say so?
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nancy said on September 26, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Thanks for the cakewrecks, Moe. That placenta looks like something cooked up by my friend the special-effects makeup artist.
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coozledad said on September 26, 2011 at 3:45 pm
The racist accusation against republicans is goofy considering some of the top candidates…
Having spent too much of my life being a sucker for many of the old racist dodges,as in “Why that ol’ Willie there works near as hard as one a’ us white folk! And listens real good, too!”, It would be the wiser course to let a veteran analyst offer the demur.
The Republican party has long been running token black candidates against liberals in North Carolina, hoping to exploit a (nonexistent) tendency for blacks to vote strictly on racial lines. This is another clear case of projection from the republican side, and transparently, cluelessly, racist.
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Sue said on September 26, 2011 at 3:46 pm
The first reaction I had to this article was ‘They let Republicans into Berkeley?’
Bad me.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64391.html
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Holly said on September 26, 2011 at 3:48 pm
Moe99, My daughter,Holly, is a pastry chef. She is very talented with her cakes. Some of the things she has done just amaze me. She does draw the line on what she will do. No boob or penis cakes. She wants to become known for wedding cakes. She does a lot of cakes for friends and family. The advantage to having a pastry chef in the family is that when she gets married on Friday the cake is being done by a fellow pastry chef who is a friend. Much cheaper.
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ac jones said on September 26, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Can’t stand any racist implications, although inferences are quite a different thing. All racist comments against the president are ugly. Could we comment on Elizabeth Warren’s forgotten income amounts and sources? backtracking going on today.
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brian stouder said on September 26, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Uncle Rush has stated that he never voted – at all – until the early ’90’s.
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coozledad said on September 26, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Warren scares the shit out of them. Gotta take them directives from uncle Rush!
Or would you care to cite an independent source?
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Suzanne said on September 26, 2011 at 4:16 pm
I voted for Mitch the first time but never again. He was gracious on NPR, or at least the part I heard, but I live in the state and see what he has done to libraries, education, and anything else he couldn’t privatize or sell off. I lost a job because the state funding the organization recieved was taken and given to a state agency in Indy, thereby saving taxpayers not one lousy dime, but giving $$ to Mitch’s cronies in Indy. Most of the young people from our area that go to college have not come back home because they cannot find jobs in the state. We rank near the bottom of the US in education and income levels. His assertion today that raising taxes on the rich wouldn’t be a drop in the bucket and therefore useless was laughable since he and his tax slashers always want to cut public radio, public television and almost any arts type funding, which are even more of a drop in the bucket.
As I pondered the “Let him die” mentality of the recent GOP debate, I nearly spit out my coffee when Mitch said that giving the rich Social Security and Medicaire money had been seen as a way to keep them invested in the system but he didn’t think that was necessary anymore. Those who could afford their own retirement and health care surely are good people who want only the best for everyone, he thought they could be trusted to keep funding these things even when they received no benefit from them.
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brian stouder said on September 26, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Gotta take them directives from uncle Rush!
Yes – apparently Rush was crowing about the Republican takeover of Weiner’s Brooklyn congressional seat, as a great portent of how well the GOP will do; and how nothing of the sort has befallen the Republicans….conveniently “forgetting” about a congressional seat that was rock-ribbed Republican, and the one that my old fave-of-faves Jack Kemp held in New York State, but which went Democratic for the first time in many decades last year. (as far as that goes, I think a can-do Republican like Jack Kemp would be a Democrat in 2011, if he were alive)
And while I’m ranting about over-weight right-wing radio lip flappers who say stupid things all the live-long day, let me say that last Saturday evening, we ventured to beautiful Kendallville, Indiana, for a rain-delayed band contest.
The contest was beautiful and the astro-turf football field was a very impressive setting (despite the deluge that it weathered, there was no standing water out there); and indeed, Grant’s Green Machine marching band from South Side had their best finish yet (second place), so it was all good.
EXCEPT – the PA announcer? It was none other than our local DOWARWLF*, out moonlighting (and howling at the moon)…and of course, he couldn’t resist at least one wince-worthy foray into social commentary/politics-land, amidst the pageantry and precision of the high school band contest – which flatly turned me off.
it was a genuine Blech!!! moment.
*de rigueur overweight white angry right wing lip flapper
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Deborah said on September 26, 2011 at 4:32 pm
“Could we comment on Elizabeth Warren’s forgotten income amounts and sources? backtracking going on today.”
Am I missing something? What’s this about?
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ac jones said on September 26, 2011 at 4:49 pm
this: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/64306.html
but it’s all good.
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MarkH said on September 26, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Brian, it appears you are correct, see item #6:
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2009/03/06/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-rush-limbaugh
I defer to you on all things Limbaugh.
Cooz, I may defer to you on all things southern racist, but I really think you need to get out of there if that’s the prizm you use to view the rest of the country.
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brian stouder said on September 26, 2011 at 5:04 pm
AC, I read and re-read these two sentences from your Politico link, and I think I finally get it (with emphasis added by me):
Warren filed her Senate candidacy on Aug. 19, but she has not released a financial disclosure form required of all House and Senate candidates. Candidates are required to do so within 30 days of formally entering a congressional race. Warren, a highly respected lawyer and Harvard University professor, submitted financial disclosure reports with Congress from 2008-10 for her role at the TARP oversight panel.
Looks like she’s basically honest, but, alas, they mishandled the official paper shuffle
If this is their best shot against her, then the Ds are “in high cotton”, I’d say
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coozledad said on September 26, 2011 at 5:04 pm
You’ve got to do better than an exchange between Warren’s campaign director and that Republican transcription organ. It’s Politico’s business to do mushy hit pieces on liberals, then cough up their journalistic malpractice later.
http://gawker.com/5366058/politico-apologizes-for-being-politico
Warren got paid. Are you upset because she didn’t get it from the Heritage foundation or Exxon? Perhaps you think women shouldn’t be paid for a job that should have gone to a qualified male with a working knowledge of banks; a bank executive, perhaps, or a shareholder, like Phil Gramm.
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brian stouder said on September 26, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Mark H – that was pretty good! If I was making a list of ten things about him, the the hairy wart (or whatever) draft-deferral would have made the list…
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ac jones said on September 26, 2011 at 5:24 pm
cooze, everybody should be paid on merit including females such as i am
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coozledad said on September 26, 2011 at 5:38 pm
A Southern racist is just the same as every other racist across this great land. Particularly after the Klan became the Tea Party of the 1920’s and swept from Mississippi and Alabama up into Ohio and Indiana. The Okies carried it with them into rural California. I’ve been out plenty, and everywhere I go, the dogwhistles are the same. And the first thing out of every racist’s mouth is always “I’m not a racist, but…”.
Go read a book about Nixon’s Southern strategy. Or read something by the guy who developed it, and then tell me your party isn’t flatout racist. That all its electoral aims are wealth consolidation for the top 1% with the windowdressing of good ol’ days horseshit and “stop the babykillers!”misogyny. Or Gay Marriage is ruining my third het marriage!
The Republican party has extended demon status to so many groups now it can hardly figure out which hole to spray shit from. I thought they’d wait more than ten years to go after firefighters, after humming them so lovingly and deeply following 9/11.
That’s the thing about the politics of exclusion: Eventually most people learn the hard lesson that they’re not in the tiny group of unexcludables.
I will venture I probably have a slightly better idea of what feudalism looks like than you, and am a little more appalled that people would want it after being exposed to the benefits of a strong social democracy. Sucking up to the rich every day rots people. It turns them into acquiescent, cowardly shits.
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coozledad said on September 26, 2011 at 5:43 pm
ieverybody should be paid on merit including females such as i am
Then tell me how she failed to perform her job. Seems the banks were very frightened she was performing it too well.
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Bob (Not Greene) said on September 26, 2011 at 10:31 pm
Prospero must have fallen off his bike again.
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Crazycatlady said on September 26, 2011 at 11:19 pm
The only decent thing at McDonald’s is their $1 large unsweetened Iced Tea. I never eat anything they cook there. But I loves me some iced tea.
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Dexter said on September 27, 2011 at 12:21 am
Crazycatlady: I wish I had a nickel for every “Icy Cold Diet Coke” brian stouder has purchased at McD’s this past hot summer.
Years ago when I lived in DeKalb County, Indiana, Judge Harold D. Stump issued an order which was very controversial, and herein described as “monstrous and illegal”…
“United States Supreme Court ruled, in 1872, that judges were immune from any damage suits for any “judicial acts” that they had performed – regardless of how wrong, evil, or unconstitutional those acts may have been. When clothed in judicial authority, judges can do no wrong. Period. Recently a case of an errant judge has come up again – because his action as a judge was considered generally to be monstrous and illegal. In 1971, Mrs. Ora Spitler McFarlin petitioned Judge Harold D. Stump of the DeKalb County, Indiana, Circuit Court to engage in a covert, compulsory sterilization of her 15-year-old daughter, Linda Kay Spitler. Although Linda was promoted each year with her class, Mrs. McFarlin opined that she was “somewhat retarded” and had begun to stay out overnight with older youths. And we all know what that can lead to.
Judge Stump quickly signed the order, and the judge and mamma hustled Linda into a hospital, telling her it was for an appendicitis operation. Linda was then sterilized without her knowledge. Two years later, Linda married a Leo Sparkman and discovered that she had been sterilized without her knowledge. The Sparkmans proceeded to sue mamma, mamma’s attorney, the doctors, the hospital, and Judge Stump, alleging a half-dozen constitutional violations.
All of these people, in truth, had grossly violated Linda’s rights and aggressed against her. All should have been made to pay, and pay dearly, for their monstrous offense. But the federal district court ruled otherwise. First, it ruled that mamma, her lawyer, and the various members of the “healing professions” were all immune because everything they did had received the sanction of a certified judge. And second, Judge Stump was also absolutely immune, because he had acted in his capacity as a judge, even though, the district court acknowledged, he had had “an erroneous view of the law.” So, not only is a judge immune, but he can confer his immunity in a king-like fashion even onto lowly civilians who surround him.”
(Source follows:)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard233.html
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moe99 said on September 27, 2011 at 1:25 am
Not in Washington State, Dexter. We are one of the few states that permits actions against government employees and/or departments for negligence on up. It’s cost the state a pretty penny over the years.
Your story reminds me that my ex had a great uncle who was a German Reformed minister in Cleveland, OH. The ex’s mother lived with this family after she was orphaned. The minister and his wife had their only daughter lobotomized back in the 1930’s because she was had an artistic temperament and was prone to what they considered unbecoming behavior. So they got some doctor to do the deed and it definitely made their daugher more docile and biddable. I didn’t find out about this until ten years after my marriage.
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coozledad said on September 27, 2011 at 6:15 am
Awww. Another Bushie legacy. Right cute, ain’t it?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/27/occupy-wall-street-anthony-bologna
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alex said on September 27, 2011 at 6:34 am
Interesting interview with Mitch Daniels, in which he claims, essentially, that he’s unwilling to be the liar that it takes to be competitive in a GOP presidential primary these days. It certainly has the ring of truth to it.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 27, 2011 at 7:28 am
Dexter, the ground level version of that legal doctrine is often invoked in our hallways with the shrugging phrase “the judge wears the robe.” We can disagree, we can implore, we can sit and take a beating in the witness chair without a peep from the bench, but “the judge wears the robe.”
Contrariwise, we not infrequently (three, four times a year in my orbit, and I don’t deal often with the full-on charges/probation side) deal with a mother who has called police and/or filed unruly on their daughters. In caucus, they state they “want those depo shots in her arm.” They’re not quite sure what it is, but they want something from the county to ensure that said daughter won’t come home pregnant from one of her curfew breaking interludes. Plus she “just doesn’t mind.”
In caucus with daughter, mother is claimed to be erratic in her hours and returns home, and usually there’s grudging admission that after “sitting around that stupid house with nothing to do” they went to somebody’s house “but nothing’s going on. She just likes to think that, and goes on and on about it.”
We provide information about how birth control of a variety of sorts are available at no cost for low income families. We don’t know, but some doubtless go make use of it, while others show up again in our offices, or on the charges list for the offices in the Courthouse, or in lock-up, “with child.” If they are involved with the diversion office and any of us get a chance to ask, the answer will invariably be “we made a few appointments, but we just never got over there” or “we got started on the pills they gave us, but forgot to go back and get it renewed.” I don’t know enough about injectable birth control to assess the hazards and definitely don’t have the right, legal standing, or justification to specifically suggest, let alone order “durable” birth control, but it passes through my mind from time to time, especially when “those depo shots” are what is initially asked for. They are, I’m told, only given in “special circumstances” because they cost more. Oh, I think. And any form of female birth control carries health hazards, especially when smoking is involved.
I abhor the tales of sterilization and cavalier use of infertility as a cost-management tool for welfare offices, with or without obvious racism (it is no doubt always there). But I’m qualified in my condemnation of mothers and even judges who some decades back responded as they did to the options at hand.
As Facebook would say, “It’s complicated.”
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on September 27, 2011 at 7:31 am
And yeah, we’re talking largely 12 to 15 years old. 16 & 17 is kind of a different category, and their parents rarely file unruly complaints. They come in on charges more than status offenses, and other than truancy mediations, I don’t see many of them.
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Dexter said on September 27, 2011 at 10:02 am
Today is Tuesday, September 27, 2011 – Ancestor Appreciation Day.
When tracing our ancestors, we always come to a “Y”. We came from Germany or we came from Sweden. A side tributary to “the stream” indicated a possibility the main line may have come from England, which is what I was told when I was a kid, and all my life until everybody got computers and started digging.
This is all on Dad’s side…Mom’s side is so simple and even documented: From Bern, Switzerland with an infusion from Ireland.
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