Every time I take a mini-break, like I did this weekend, I think I should do it more often. Sometimes you get to feeling like a mule on a towpath, dragging the same load down the same road day after day, and that’s no way to live. You have to shake up your head from time to time. And so when, talking to my old friend Adrianne, wondering if we were ever going to actually see one another in the flesh again, I threw out the idea of a girls’ weekend in a third city — Washington D.C., where we’d wander the Mall and see people we both knew there, and maybe some others.
And that’s what we did. Just in time for an October nor’easter.
We escaped the snow, but Saturday was all about a chill, driving rain that relocated everything indoors. It turned out that was OK, as the activities mainly consisted of going from one loud, yakking restaurant or bar table to the next one, catching up and/or getting acquainted with friends old and new. Hank Stuever picked me up at the airport Friday, and we went from there to lunch to a driving tour of the city, which was really more of a sitting-in-traffic tour, but who cares? We talked and talked and talked, moving from there to a bar near Union Station, where we met Adrianne (aka Mrs. Lance Mannion) and an old colleague of hers, and an old colleague of ours, and that was another 90 minutes of talking, before Hank peeled off and the rest of us headed into Chinatown for dinner, and two more hours of blah-blah and when I tell you I woke up with a sore throat on Saturday, believe it.
I also wished I’d written everything down, especially that one story about Somebody Really Famous, but as I recall, that was on a doesn’t-leave-the-table-basis anyway, so it’s just as well.
Saturday we slept late and headed off to the National Archives, there to gaze upon the charters of freedom, as they were called. Fun fact to know and tell: All of the guards in the chamber whose voices I heard had the lilting accents of the Caribbean. “Note the typo in ‘Pennsylvania,'” he said, and it kind of made my heart soar a little. We are a nation of immigrants, after all.
From there it was on to the National Gallery, because it was close, and a surprisingly nice lunch in the cafe there with Barbara, whom you all know as 4dbirds. Then some Warhol, then home to treat the barking dogs and prepare for dinner with Roy and Kia, at some tapas joint near the Verizon Center, for another two hours of talk and alcohol, and then on to one of those yuppie brewpubs for more of the latter, and even though my throat is really sore now, it was a wonderful time. Roy fell on the considerable dinner tab with the energy of a future posthumous Medal of Honor winner covering a hand grenade, and I really wish we had fought him harder for it. But special occasions and all that, right? The only thing that could have made the weekend more memorable was if I’d perhaps stolen a horse from the outdoor stabling at the National Horse Show, which we passed on our walk back from the restaurant.
As Alan drove me to the airport Friday, I reflected that so much of what I found jaw-dropping about Detroit when I first moved here is now simply part of the scenery, and while I still see things that blow my mind fairly regularly, when you stop seeing your own town, that’s when it’s wise to travel. D.C. is thriving, and has apparently not been informed we’re in a recession. There are so many high-rise cranes at work, you’d think you were in Dubai. Hank says he and his partner couldn’t buy the equivalent of their two-plus-den apartment in their neighborhood for less than $700,000, even though it appears whole buildings full of new condos are going up everywhere. You heard it here first: THE TEA PARTY IS RIGHT. UNCLE SAM IS A VORACIOUS BEAST.
My only regret is that I forgot my goddamn camera, so the only picture I took was of the Exorcist steps, with the iPad. Oh, well. We have our memories.
And now it’s Monday, Day of Suck, but fortunately, being away from the ‘nets for most of the weekend, I got a little bloggage:
Gene Weingarten considers the Online News Association conference, where the keynote speaker was the founder of I Can Has Cheezburger. A taste:
I love journalism, and frankly, even in this bewildering new form, I’m just glad that it’s still alive. My newspaper, for one, is actually hiring. I am looking at a new office-wide job posting for “an experienced, hands-on designer to help create Web-based and mobile applications … for various non-news verticals.”
Huh.
I’m sure you’ve all seen this by now, but Joe Nocera got his mitts on some Halloween pictures from a law firm that specializes in foreclosures, and you should not be surprised by what they show. In Gawker’s comment thread on the subject, however, I found this jaw-dropping entry from something called the Irvine Housing Blog, about HELOC abuse aided and abetted by Countrywide, and at least partially corrected by you and me. Talk about a scare for Halloween.
On a lighter note, Jim at Sweet Juniper has made another fantastic Halloween costume for his son – Rocketeer.
This and that: Seeing Roy this weekend, I was reminded of one of my favorite pieces of his, The Ballad of the Reverb Motherfuckers. That link is to Part 1. You want the rest, Google ’em yourself.
Time to get the day underway. I feel refreshed and rejuvenated, or maybe I’m still just a tad drunk.
coozledad said on October 31, 2011 at 10:24 am
I hate I wasn’t along for the barhopping. Sounds like Drinking With The Stars.
Man, is Herman Cain getting his ass shot out of the water today or what? When the Republican establishment doesn’t have any more use for you, it gets nasty right quick.
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 10:31 am
Nancy. You’ve made me think about the Erie Canal.
http://www.ptny.org/canaltour/
Those assholes making fun of people fucked over on mortgages, my fists their faces. It was not Fannie or Freddie. It was not CRA or ACORN. It was a buncha greedy fucks like the guy in American Psycho. And they were GOPers without a doubt.
Best American band ever (many years later):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgw9R2kzG3Q&feature=autoplay&list=AVGxdCwVVULXerhjIsh65KRkemTLgZ9JJs&lf=list_related&playnext=13
Or it was Credence.
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Joe Kobiela said on October 31, 2011 at 10:39 am
Welcome back. Every pilot I know loved the Rocketeer.
Pilot Joe
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Deborah said on October 31, 2011 at 11:00 am
Sounds like a fantastic trip with great people. Little Bird and I have eaten lunch at the National Gallery cafe and I agree, it’s surprisingly good.
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mark said on October 31, 2011 at 11:08 am
Nice trip for you, Nancy. Glad you got away. DC is fabulous and worth two or three weekends every year.
Thanks for the mortgage loan link. One of the many difficulties in unwinding the housing mess is the various ways in which the baloon was inflated. The “California situation”, where the assumption of 10-20% annual appreciation was treated as fact, is very different from what happened in Fort Wayne or Detroit. Thre one common factor though is the role of mortgage brokers/originators, a generally corrupt lot with financial interests increasingly divorced from the lenders for whom they acted as agents.
Huge fees were paid, regardless of the strength of the underlying loan, and the broker was often “gone” by the time the loan blew up. A fax machine sand a business card was all that most states required to set up shop as a “broker”.
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 11:08 am
Cooze, You know when the GOPers had to kick Hermanator to the curb, it would be Mandingo. The fact that these aholes are trying to pin this on Dems is hilarious. I mean, it’s another lynching. Are these accusers tubby white lady teabangers or gorgeous, well-educated black women?
That was one great movie, Joe. Indie for flyboys.
Listen to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgw9R2kzG3Q&feature=autoplay&list=AVGxdCwVVULXerhjIsh65KRkemTLgZ9JJs&lf=list_related&playnext=13
The “Looks so fine” descant harmony by Steve and Neil is heartbreaking. As are Stills’ beautiful guitar fills. Seems like they decided to spotlight Richie’s songs.
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Joe Kobiela said on October 31, 2011 at 11:25 am
Mr Cain has BOTH the right and left scared to death. The right because he isn’t the right pick by the upperclass muckety mucks and the left, because he is a succsesful self made black man. I would put a bit more into the acusation except for the fact as in most of these cases on both sides no one will actually give a name. Its always anomouse. Best flying movie? The Blue Max or The Great Waldo Pepper, with a shout out to Strategic Air Command, with real life b-24 combat pilot Jimmy Stewart.
Pilot Joe
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 11:37 am
Holy shit, Joe? Self-made? Yeah. tell that to the interlocoturs in the Koch Bros. Kriminal Konspiracy. Locked, bought, and sealed. Pure D Astroturf. Give me a fucking break, and while you’re doing that, explain how shitcanning all those Godfathers employees recommends you for the Presidency. The guy is the KochBros nincompoop. So, yeah, that’s scary. The asshole is unconscionable.
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alex said on October 31, 2011 at 11:47 am
The ladies who accused Cain were given cash settlements and signed a legal contract barring them from ever talking about it, Joe, so it’s not like they are “anonymous.” It’s a fact that they complained to their employer and got paid to shut up and leave. This much is known.
Even Cain acknowledges that there were such allegations against him. He just wants us to believe that these women were liars.
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Bitter Scribe said on October 31, 2011 at 11:59 am
Eric Zorn at the Chicago Tribune resurrected this golden oldie from a year and a half ago. It’s a screed from some Wall St. asswad: “What’s going to happen when we can’t find jobs on the Street anymore? Guess what: We’re going to take yours.”
Guess what: Bullshit. You can join all the guys who threatened to “go Galt.” Absolutely no one will miss you or want you for any kind of useful work. Stick to financial parasitism, pal, because there’s nothing else you know how to do.
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Pubic hairs on their koch cans, Blaming this on the so-called liferal MSM is just hilarious. Rove without a doubt, And given Hermanator’s idiot sureety, undoubdetly true. Guy is a self-important ahole.
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Bitter Scribe said on October 31, 2011 at 12:14 pm
It’s my experience that most companies and organizations talk a good game about not tolerating sexual harassment, but when a top executive and/or rainmaker crosses the line, most of them look the other way.
The NRA doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt in this regard. It’s there to represent the interests of the major fast food chains. Half their mission is ensuring their employees stay screwed, through efforts to stifle things like unionization and the minimum wage. (The other half is fighting efforts to restrict their marketing of sugary, fatty crap to children.)
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Judybusy said on October 31, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Sounds like a fantastic weekend! I’ve never been to D.C., but it’s on the list.
I heard this appalling story on NPR over the weekend: USBank suing forclosed homeowners for the balance on their mortgages. They often get served notice 18-24 months after the foreclosure, thinking the nightmare is behind them.
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Bitter Scribe said on October 31, 2011 at 12:23 pm
My neighbor across the hall, a Marine Iraq vet with five young children, was completely underwater on the mortgage for his condo. He lined up a buyer, but because she wouldn’t pay off the entire mortgage, the mortgage holder wasn’t interested. The guy had to do a strategic default to get the bank’s attention. The deal finally went through, for at least $20K more than the bank could possibly have made through a short sale. And all the homeowner had to do was wreck his credit rating to save the bank that money.
And these are the guys who are going to take our jobs or bring us to our knees by going Galt. Sheesh.
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coozledad said on October 31, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Judybusy: I don’t know anything about law, but doesn’t that open the door to a class action countersuit? (Strangely, I first typed that as cuntersuit. )
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Jolene said on October 31, 2011 at 12:54 pm
The deficiency judgment lawsuits seem to run counter to the logic of foreclosure. I thought that, if the bank gets the house back, the owners are free of any further obligation. Seems bizarre to lose your house, but, nonetheless be forced to pay for it by the courts.
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Judybusy said on October 31, 2011 at 12:55 pm
And of course, people are investing, making money on the misery of others: “I do know some private investors who are coming in and purchasing up bank loan packages and have been paying literally pennies on the dollar; just sitting on the paper, waiting for the right time to collect on it.”
Cooz, I don’t what the basis of the class action suit would be. My understanding is that it’s all legal in the states that allow it. In reading the article more carefully (I listened with half an ear yesterday) some people are finding out FIVE years later there is a deficiency suit against them.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 31, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Joe, Joe, Joe — what about “Only Angels Have Wings”? (And I have a soft spot for “The Right Stuff,” if only for Chuck Yeager’s cameo.)
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 1:17 pm
http://millercenter.org/president/jefferson/essays/biography/3
WhAT A CROCK.
Those are my mom and dad with my brother and his ex wife that I love to this day Miss Chris rules. One great lady.
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 1:23 pm
How ia it that smart people get wealthy on dumbasses backsds? It’s astounnding, Why you are all a buncha rich assholes
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Jeff Borden said on October 31, 2011 at 2:04 pm
I’ve enjoyed the antics of Herman Cain, but I haven’t really figured him out. On the one hand, he is generating a lot of buzz and interest among the right-wingers and he clearly knows how to sell retail politics. The 9-9-9 plan is ridiculous gobbledy-gook, but it fits on a bumper sticker. But he has yet to build the kind of national organization that even Michele Bachmann has built. The guy has next to no one on the ground in Iowa or New Hampshire, for example, so how serious can he really be?
Is Herman just the latest political grifter who has learned that running for president generates a lot of money if you play the game correctly? SheWho perfected that strategy and now pockets millions every year. Is he a truly unique candidate who has decided he can sidestep a lot of the common conventions of running for president? His popularity has been sustained for longer than Gov. Cowboy, who is truly running off the rails.
I agree that it is a right-wing political operation that has brought these details to light through opposition research not the liberal media. Pilot Joe is correct that the Hermanator scares both left and right, but at the moment, it’s the folks on the right who are most concerned. They want an electable candidate and a guy who “jokes” about electrocuting Mexicans, says abortion is unthinkable under all circumstances including for the sake of the health of the mother, who blithely admits he knows jackshit about foreign affairs and who was, by all accounts, a very mediocre business executive isn’t that candidate.
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Bitter Scribe said on October 31, 2011 at 2:24 pm
The thing about Cain and abortion is not that he considers it unthinkable in all circumstances. If only his position were that clear. He contradicts himself about abortion constantly, sometimes within the space of a few seconds. He’ll call himself “pro-life” and then immediately say it’s a decision for families, not government, which is exactly the opposite of the pro-life position. I can’t tell if he wants to have it both ways, like Romney, or genuinely hasn’t thought through his position. Either way, it doesn’t speak well for his leadership abilities.
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Jeff Borden said on October 31, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Bitter Scribe,
That was my understanding until recently. He HAS been all over the map on his viewpoints. But he must’ve made an appearance on a Sunday morning gabfest and doubled down on his pro-life stance. I was referencing a story online today where he said he would not countenance abortion even if the mother’s life was in danger, which is usually the one condition pro-lifers will allow. It goes without saying he believes a pregnancy from rape or incest also should be brought to term.
Meanwhile, the usual media-bashing suspects –led by the increasingly irrelevant Ann Coulter– are labeling the Cain story another liberal media smear. I await comparisons with poor, poor, poor Clarence Thomas and fully expect the Hermanator to relaunch the “high-tech lynching” rhetoric that worked so well for ol’ Clarence.
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coozledad said on October 31, 2011 at 2:36 pm
If you listen carefully on the special Republican crystal set, what Cain is saying on abortion is if you’re in a specific income group, i.e. “the Family”, it’s your decision.
Coathangers for the rest of you. This is a simple restatement of the Republican position as it’s always been.
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Jolene said on October 31, 2011 at 2:37 pm
Is Politico, the organization that broke the Cain sexual harassment news, such a right-wing rag? Seems to me its distinctive feature is its “insiderness”. I wouldn’t say it’s liberal, but it doesn’t seem particularly conservative either.
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Joe Kobiela said on October 31, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Caliban,
You really should take all your knowledge and get ahold of O’rielly and see if you can get on some time. With as much proof that you have against the Koch Brothers I am sure if you can prove any of the stuff You claim Alot of people would be interested in hearing about it. I say O’riellY, so you would have the biggest audiance. I know I’m just a uneducated country hick, but how is the acusations against Cain any different then the Paula Jones acusation against Ol Billy C? Jeff (tmmo) The right stuff is a great movie, I still get a chill when Yeager taxies out in the f-104 tells the towwer ” I’m just going to wring her out abit” and goes blasting down the runway. Bonus Question, Anyone know who plays Jack Riddley in the movie and what he’s famous for?
Pilot Joe
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Bitter Scribe said on October 31, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Jeff–Oh, that “high-tech lynching” stuff has already started. It’s just a shame that it took something like this to trip him up, and not the utter absurdity of his tax plan or other public utterances.
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coozledad said on October 31, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Jolene: There are a few documented instances of Politico reporters basically transcribing emails provided by Republicans, then issuing half-assed corrections a few months later. It’s difficult to say whose water they’re carrying at the moment, but it’s definitely not Obama’s. The Perry campaign might be desperate enough to get a nod for the veep slot to push this, or Romney might simply find Cain too much of a distraction for the imbeciles his party needs to make a showing.
The Obama campaign would likely have held onto that information until much later, and only if they believed they were going to be facing Cain in the general.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 31, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Ridley is Levon Helm of “The Band,” isn’t he?
“Ya got some Beeman’s? I’ll pay ya back.”
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moe99 said on October 31, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Joe, Cain’s employer paid off Cain’s accussers in exchange for a pledge of secrecy. That did not happen in the Paula Jones case. (btw I am one of the few who detest Bill Clinton as a result of the Monica Lewinsky crap–I have no respect for him and thought he should have resigned). I am sorry that, like the Clarence Thomas hearings, it has come to this and not to Cain’s manifest unfitness to hold public office.
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 3:48 pm
SERIOUSLLY, , WE HAVE THE http://millercenter.org/president/jefferson/essays/biography/3Monica Lewinski went there to pull a fast one, and she was so full of shit it was someething beyond bullshit,
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moe99 said on October 31, 2011 at 3:54 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZe75JSXhyU&feature=player_embedded
Maybe he could be the Fiirst Choir Director.
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Major lyiing sacK OF CRAP..
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Joe Kobiela said on October 31, 2011 at 3:59 pm
Jeff(tmmo) You are correct. I may have me a stick. I’ll pay ya back. Fair enough.
Pilot Joe
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coozledad said on October 31, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Moe: He should have gone with this one. Truer to his character.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N9LnkKQfuc
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LAMary said on October 31, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Levon Helm is brilliant.
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Deborah said on October 31, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Moe, watching Cain sing in that link made me super embarrassed for him.
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mark said on October 31, 2011 at 4:38 pm
“Both women received separation packages that were in the five-figure range.”
What does it mean to be “in the range of” five-figures? Sounds like a phrase I would have used if I wanted to make $85,000 sound like a little, or $8500 sound like a lot.
Pretty paltry separation packages for fired employees claiming sexual harassment. Lots of reasons for Cain to not be the Republican nominee. This isn’t one of them, yet.
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alex said on October 31, 2011 at 4:52 pm
From CNN:
“I have never sexually harassed anyone,” Cain said at the National Press Club on Monday, echoing comments made earlier on Fox News. “While at the restaurant association I was accused of sexual harassment – falsely accused. … it was concluded after thorough investigation that it had no basis.”
And I’m the second coming of Christ. Want to buy a bridge in Brooklyn?
Making such allegations falsely is an act of such malice that you have to wonder what sort of boss he was that he would have driven not one but two women to do so. That is, if you take him at his word. 😉
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coozledad said on October 31, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Shorter Herman Cain:
All I said to her was, “If I said you look like you were built for speed, like my wife, would you smear (substance) on my chest, like my wife? And then she coldcocked my ass. Like my wife.”
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MarkH said on October 31, 2011 at 5:10 pm
You know something the rest of us don’t know, Alex?
This may not prove anything, but NBC has just thrown the first nail in the coffin.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/31/8563824-nbc-confirms-one-cain-accuser-received-cash-settlement
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 31, 2011 at 5:52 pm
For what it’s worth, I’ve been involved in five “involuntary terminations” over the last twenty years as management across three different organizations, and in three of the five cases, as the handwriting on the wall (notice of deficit, poor performance reviews, etc.) got clearer, claims of “sexual harassment” were made. In two of those three, low five figure settlements were made to close the terms of employment on the advice of a professional HR consultant (non-profits, church or not, can’t afford an HR person on staff). It was very unpleasant to sign those checks, because I had a very high degree of confidence in our internal investigation, but as a labor relations lawyer would point out, “of course you would say that.” But they never exceeded three months pay, and that amount was less than it would cost to prevail in a full civil case or state civil rights commission process, so it was the course we followed.
I probably should also note I was never the party accused, but having watched this play out, and spoken to others who had to make the same choices, I’m not ready to throw Herman under the bus for even the worst of what’s been said (which is, detail-wise, still pretty thin). Throw him under the 18-wheeler for 9-9-9 and insisting it would work, I’m fine with that. But not this flimsy bit of reframing.
Now, if it turns out to have come from a GOP source — that’s the interesting investigation, I think.
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Deborah said on October 31, 2011 at 6:27 pm
OK this is weird, maybe not sexual but weird:
“There were reportedly more than one accusations in the complaint, but Cain said he recalled just one incident. “She was in my office one day, and I made a gesture saying — and I was standing close to her — and I made a gesture saying you are the same height as my wife. And I brought my hand up to my chin saying, ‘My wife comes up to my chin.’” At that point, Cain gestured with his flattened palm near his chin.”
I’m sorry, but if one of my bosses said that to me I would think it was a very strange thing to say.
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Major bigguthus dicketh weenie, Long Dong, he wishes. What a jackass. If the nitwit from pisspoint didn’t give black guys a bad name.
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coozledad said on October 31, 2011 at 7:02 pm
Deborah: Cain is attempting to reframe the actual context of his remarks. This is nowhere near what he said, and he knows it. It’s a remarkably lame path to take, because in doing so, he’s violated the confidentiality agreement.
We’ve already heard
1)Why ask me that? YOU ever been accused of sexual harassment?
2)Never happened.
3)I never heard of it.
4)Maybe they did pay a settlement, I don’t know.
5)If I did it, this is what I did.
6)I’ll sing this hymn for you while I depersonalize a little.
Others will come forward, and they’ll be called whores.
Poor men. Always the victim.
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brian stouder said on October 31, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Caliban – I FAILED miserably during the Halloween walk-around!!
The girls and I spent 90 minutes wandering the neighborhood and visiting all the houses with porch lights on (meanwhile, Pam held the homefront and passed out candy*), and we came across one neighbor who has an exceedingly beautiful malamute, which we have admired before, but whose name we did not know.
So, after the fellow let the girls pet the dog, I asked him what his dog’s name is, and he said “Sadie, like from the Beatles White album”, whereupon he noted the blank expression on my face, and added “You know – ‘Sexie Sadie’?”; whereupon, I confessed that if he named the dog Eleanor Rigby, or Jude, or Lucy in the Sky – then I’d have picked up the clue!
*Pam is always irritated by over-aged kids that come to the door without even a costume…so she hands out Reeses pumpkin-shaped goodies to the little ones, and Whoppers (malted chocilate balls) to the undisguised teens. In Pam’s words – “nobody likes Whoppers”
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Connie said on October 31, 2011 at 7:38 pm
My husband loves Whoppers.
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Joe Kobiela said on October 31, 2011 at 7:49 pm
We gave out lots tonight, whoppers included some great cute costumes on the little ones, seemes to be a zombie theme this year. I’ll have to catch the rest on Mr Cain later I am off to Nashville.
Pilot Joe
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 31, 2011 at 7:49 pm
They always put lots of Whoppers in those multi-bags. About five Heath, six Almond Joy, a dozen Reese’s Cups, and a hundred Whoppers. But this year, more of them than usual had two, not three in the little sleeve.
Times are tough all over, I guess.
We had not one but two waves of hail, thunderhail even, leaving a half-inch of icy slush on the corners of the lawn and the chairs out back. Fortunately, the much despised municipal habit of making “Beggars’ Night” always be some date other than 31 Oct put our neighborhood festivities last Thursday. I went out and relit the pumpkins out front for tonight, just out of a sense of the occasion, and tradition. But the streets are bare.
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moe99 said on October 31, 2011 at 7:56 pm
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/herman-cain-sexual-harassment-103111
more connexions to Rove listed.
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alex said on October 31, 2011 at 9:14 pm
Jtmmo, I must say I’m shocked that this could be so commonplace. Perhaps I’m wrong to assume that that false allegations are seldom leveled at nice, normal people who are respectful of everyone with whom they associate. That’s just been my experience generally.
But in Mr. Cain’s defense, I have to confess that I worked at a gynormous nonprofit trade association at one time that gave such packages to a lot of people, some of whom I’m pretty sure earned every dime of their five-figure settlements and then some because I wouldn’t have fucked their bosses for anything. I used the stationery of one such woman as a foot rest in an office I inherited.
As Cain goes, I suspect there’s something to it, or he’d be renowned as a straight arrow who never does such things.
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brian stouder said on October 31, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Connie – I’m inclined to agree with your husband; those Whoppers are a little odd – but oddly good. (I think it’s a texture thing; very pleasing to the tongue)
But Pammy has her point of view, and if segregating out the candy made her feel that she added some balance to universal justice (we could go for Karma-caramel pun here, but caramel is definitely NOT a bitch!), then so much the better, I say, eh?
Moe – that was an interesting article. Jeff – I bow to your professional experience. I have had the same job for 25 years (this December), and where I work, the owner would fire a malefactor instantly, and if that person wanted to sue for whatever flavor of discrimination, the boss would fight it out to the end.
But indeed, I can see that the dynamic could be radically different in an organization that didn’t have a sole owner at its core.
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Suzanne said on October 31, 2011 at 9:28 pm
We don’t get any trick or treaters out here in the boonies, but my sister, who lives in a housing addition gets plenty. She said this year she was especially appalled by the parents who dipped into the candy bucket, too, and helped themselves.
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Connie said on October 31, 2011 at 9:45 pm
Io9.com has been doing a top 50 scariest movies countdown. Exorcist came in at 4. Number 1 is Alien.
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Jolene said on October 31, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Just saw Cain’s interview on The NewsHour. However serious the sexual harassment charges might be, Jeff is right in suggesting that he be disqualified on the basis of his ideas re economics and the budget. In particular, he claims that, in his first full fiscal year in office, he will be able to make the economy grow at 5% per year, as opposed to the current 1.5% (or thereabouts). He didn’t say that his strategy for achieving this involved pixie dust, but, as he didn’t specify any other method either, I can only imagine that he has some kind of magic in mind.
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Jolene said on October 31, 2011 at 10:07 pm
P.S. I *love* Whoppers. Am sorry I wasn’t around to get any of the “justice” Pam was dispensing.
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Jolene said on October 31, 2011 at 10:17 pm
A little Halloween humor from Virginia Republicans, criticized, it must be noted, by other Republicans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/va-republicans-condemn-loudoun-gop-e-mail-with-image-of-obama-shot-in-the-head/2011/10/31/gIQA66DIaM_story.html?hpid=z3
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 10:23 pm
Jolene, Of course you love whoppers. Sorry but that is just wallking into one.
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brian stouder said on October 31, 2011 at 10:28 pm
My God – that Va Republican Party thing is beyond terrible, Jolene.
Aside from that obscenity, whenever the day comes that I get to visit DC, I’ll bring you a case of Pam’s justice
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 10:29 pm
They are shitheels on their own. Holy shit what assholes, Zombie shit
heels no doubt.
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Julie Robinson said on October 31, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Whoppers have chocolate in them, therefore they are good.
Justice would have been Smarties. Although I must confess I like them too.
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Deborah said on October 31, 2011 at 10:38 pm
I’m with your wife on the Whopper score, Brian. That is if I’m remembering correctly. Don’t Whoppers have a malted milk core? Not my idea of tasty.
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 10:38 pm
Send him to hell. Bad manager, Almost as bad as Joe
Torre, who positively sucked,
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brian stouder said on October 31, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Deborah – that’s it, exactly!
Biting into one is (to me) a little like getting a mouth full of drywall.
But if you gently suck the balls until the chocolate melts off, and THEN chew them, then they can be OK. (But I’m more of an impatient Whopper ball chewer than a patient Whopper ball sucker)
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Hard to imagine a worse manager. Sparky sucked, but he wasn;t really horrible, Just an idiot. Joe Torre, seriously bad manager. You do not get worse than that. That guy is atrociousd,Truly bad.
truly horrible./
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caliban said on October 31, 2011 at 10:57 pm
You cannot be woraw. Rhis ssholw zucka. ou cannot be more dogass mangerer, worst ever,;
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nancy said on October 31, 2011 at 11:00 pm
Jesus Christ, Caliban, GO TO BED. Time to knock off for the night.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 31, 2011 at 11:23 pm
I am so SICK of hearing GOP candidates claim that if elected, they can sprinkle magic pixie dust on the economy and cause 5% growth. And I’m a Republican.
Plus, I’m not even sure the American economy *should* be back at even 3.5% growth. It’s the assumption that consumer spending/GDP growth must be approaching 5% to maintain our “American way of life” that’s half the problem. OK, with that, I’ll concede I’m not a mainstream Republican, but still.
A true conservative says that the Office of POTUS has relatively little impact on the economy, anyhow, and that our concern should be with Congress to some degree, and the Statehouses and county courthouses and township trustees and school boards for the most part. This obsessive interest in the Executive Branch does no one any good.
But saying “vote for me, and I can pump up pointless spending on useless cr4p back to the 5% neighborhood” — meh, and double feh.
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brian stouder said on October 31, 2011 at 11:40 pm
Jeff, I hear you, especially on the notion that A true conservative says that the Office of POTUS has relatively little impact on the economy, anyhow.
And I heard the cheap shouts of “racism” on the part of those ‘damned Democrats and their media friends’, with regard to the “attack” on Cain; when in fact it is plainly obvious that if there is any invisible hand at work here, it would of course be Perry (et al), and not the D’s. (who is Cain hurtling right now? Only one guy, and that would be the incoherent Texan with the tall collars)
Let’s be blunt. Cain has no chance to win the presidency, because he is simply not equipped to even make a credible run, let alone conduct a successful presidency. And indeed, I resent these people who call themselves Republicans pointing to Cain as a sort of martyr, for the crime of being a national Republican who is black.
My old Republican party had Colin Powell, once upon a time. That man really could have been president, and he’d have been a damned fine one, and he was a black American, and a war hero, and a Republican. But Rush Limbaugh, et al, always detested him, and Powell was shunted and sidetracked.
Anyway – now I’m an old guy, and a happy Democrat, and the national Republican party and the flying monkeys of the right wing airwaves can just suck an egg.
Meanwhile, being an old guy, I was just finishing up laughing about Nance’s rap on Caliban’s knuckles, and progressing on a game of Free Cell, when the Fort Wayne police/fire traffic I have on (gotta love the internet) suddenly began crackling.
We apparently just had a Halloween mass-shooting at a bar up near Coliseum Blvd (called Mookies); sounds like one person is dead and four more are hit; half the city’s police are on the way there right now.
I think it is indeed time to call it a night.
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moe99 said on October 31, 2011 at 11:43 pm
worst halloween candy: candy corn and circus peanuts. Ack, ack ack.
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brian stouder said on October 31, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Circus peanuts: genuinely inedible.
The only thing worse that you can get in your treat bag on Halloween is a Jehova Witness tract
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Jolene said on November 1, 2011 at 1:33 am
Candy, of the non-Godiva or other grown-up variety is, I think, largely about nostalgia. If it’s something my grandfather kept in his cupboard or in his voluminous barn jacket pockets or something I could sneak away from school to buy at the general store, it’s good.
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Dexter said on November 1, 2011 at 3:24 am
I seriously believe malted milk balls, or Whoppers, were my first true addiction. I remember craving them and thinking about them when I was miles away from them in my rural home when I was a mere tyke. When I finally got some, in those milk cartons they came in, I would fight for as many as I could get my tongue around.
Now…I don’t ever touch them. However, my lifelong craving for Baby Ruth candy bars marches on. And today I had business in Indiana and I found a Clark Bar in a gas station for a mere $1.09. I enjoyed it while barrelling up I-69 at damn-near 80 mph. Jolene is right. Clark Bars remind me of my grandma’s house because she usually kept them. Baby Ruths remind me of 1955 Indiana and having a Baby Ruth once a week from the gas station across the street.
Comment on life event changes: Mandatory transitioning from a work pension to Social Security is a major stress event. The company pension (which changes downward drastically when one becomes eligible for Social Security)has a much different deposit day than Social Security uses. A fella just has to be on his toes, that’s all. If some glitch disrupts my first check I will hit the fucking roof, though. I mean, SS says it all looks like smooth sailing, but geez…I watch the news and I just worry too damn much. Fuck.
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caliban said on November 1, 2011 at 5:23 am
Havta say. Whoppers were great for winging at the theater. I’ve got little Snickers in my desk drawers. Whoppers and root beer barrels. There are such things as generic Whoppers. I’ve no idea what they are called, but they also come in milk containers. Ruth? Ruth? Baby Ruth? reminds me of Sloth, and The Goonies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhm0uG1JUz4
One of the greatest movies ever made. Quotable. My mom’s favorite part. Fitty dorruh bills. Fitty dorruh bills. But how do people eat Three Musketeers. Blander than bland? Intentionally.
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caliban said on November 1, 2011 at 5:25 am
Jolene, wrong. Snickers rule, always will. Peter Paul Mounds too.
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caliban said on November 1, 2011 at 5:42 am
Colin Powell? I think not. Right there with Ollie North screwing over the Constitution to support them Freedom Fighters in Nicaragua, rape a few nuns and kill some Jesuits, shoot an archbishop at the communion rail, no regrets. SOA shithead. My Lai coverer up. Bigtime liar.
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caliban said on November 1, 2011 at 5:50 am
Ann Coulter says Our blacks are better than their half-black. Totally insane, and that is a very prominent Adam’s apple.
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basset said on November 1, 2011 at 6:36 am
Joe, let me know next time you’re headed to Nashville and we’ll go get lunch or something, Nancy can tell you how to get hold of me. I live about ten minutes from JWN, half an hour from BNA, forty minutes from MQY.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 1, 2011 at 6:37 am
Mike Allen of Politico makes the salient point on Morning Joe this am: they gave the Cain campaign 10 (tee-eee-ehn, ten) days notice on this story. What’s giving it legs is the general inability of Mr. Smokes-if-you-got-’em and his one or two other advisors, and the candidate, to come up with a clear, coherent, consistent response. That’s part of what we’re testing out in a campaign: can you and your closest team members deal with bad news fast and well?
I’ve still not heard a specific detail to convince me there’s any fire under all this smoke, but when the guy running for firefighter in chief and his lieutenants start running around in circles and flapping their arms on catching a whiff of smoke, they don’t make anyone want to give him the heavy hat and a braid.
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caliban said on November 1, 2011 at 6:52 am
Jeff (tmmo), If he’s Coulter’s pet Negroe, he is toast. Which one has a bigger dick? But Syrianly? How does a national candidate get away with 9-9-9? What sort of idiotic horseshit is that? Looney fucking tunes.
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caliban said on November 1, 2011 at 7:32 am
Really, the tax plan? What a flaming asshole. Surely, nobody with half a brain took that shit seriously. It’s 27% on the working class. Republican wet dream.
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Joe Kobiela said on November 1, 2011 at 8:34 am
Basset,
If I ever get there in the daytime I will. Got in to bna 00:12 and left at 04:48,figured that be a bit early.
Pilot Joe
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