Open Thread – Dying Light
This was one of those sunsets where each minute you thought to yourself that this must be the absolute peak of color and light. And then another minute would go by and it would get better. Ultimately, though, I went with the shot from the last bit of dying light. It looks as quiet and breathtaking as it was.
Did any of you pups catch this titbit on “The Dish” on SWMNBN?
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/01/how-scared-is-fox-ctd-1.html
DD
Oh wow!
AKM, when you watch a sunset, you add another day to your life, when you share it with the world, you will live forever.
Slainte’ little one and thank you
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120123/NEWS/301230022/Joke-sours-worker-who-poked-fun-kids-resigns?odyssey=mod|mostview For any of you who have ever worked with troubled children,in or out of state run facilities, the state home for these children in Toledo,Iowa produced a Christmas video using the children as props and the butt of some jokes. One official has resigned and I hope there will be more fall-out. The video is slow loading and the one slide shown is pretty indicative of the rest of the content.
That made me cry. I can’t imagine anyone I worked with or for doing something like that and keeping their job. I did with with a couple of people with this attitude. They were history very, very quickly. Thank Ipthar.
Abortion world wide
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2012/0123/Roe-v.-Wade-anniversary-Study-says-unsafe-abortions-on-rise/What-are-the-rates-of-abortion-around-the-world
Isn’t it interesting that where the laws are least restrictive, the abortion rate is low.
Why is that, red states?
Could it be because contraceptives are also inexpensive and easy to access?
Could it be because these societies value women, so they have lower rape and incest rates, and have husbands that respect their wives?
Is it because women are taught how to take care of themselves and men are taught that birth control is also something they are responsible for?
Hmmmm?
I got an e-mail from some dear friends today,saying Obama spent 500 thousand dollars and removed the American Flag from AF and replaced it with nis campaign symbol,which has part of the flag in it. These people are screaming that O bama is a traitor and if he gets re-elected the whole country is lost. If I love the flag I’m supposed to pass the e-mail around to everyone. I hardly know where to start the rebuke. I guess these friends think everyone is rw.
False alarm. I read a Snopes article that claimed this issue was raised in 2008 with Obama redoing AF1 for his campaign plane. AF1 and 2 are 747s and Obama’s campaign plane is a newer 757 which was rented and could be outfitted any way the campaign wants as long as they pay for it. I sent this to my friends and probably won’t be welcome any time soon. I get so tired of all the Obama is a traitor crap.
Mike,
you thought the smell of that skunk was bad. Just wait until the main event with the super PACs spending the really big bucks, then all the tomato juice in America would not stop the smell of the anti President Obama crap.
M. Paul
I think it has started. I woke up at 6 A.M. today with an even worse stench in the house. My landlord called a friend to set a kill trap for said rw skunk job yesterday and I do believe the skunk is toast. However he apparently emptied every molecule of Eau de Skunk perfume and the even worse oil mixed with it. My goodness is this stuff strong! My nose is cherry red and the neighbors are gonna think I started drinking again.
I’ve always feared someone like Palin and now Gingrich at the top of the ticket because the American electorate often votes against their own best interest–they vote for ‘change’ more often than not when life isn’t going well. And with the slow growth of the US economy (in large part because of the obstructionist nature of the GOP) Obama remains vulnerable (also in large part because of the obstructionist nature of the GOP). This piece sent shivers up my spine but it’s worth a read to realize that Gingrich is a danger to the country if progressives do not step up:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/23/opinion/fleischer-democrats-gingrich/index.html
Yikes – now “It’s Hell to be poor” is even more so:
http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/the-wealth-and-income-movements-of-those-at-the-bottom/
Time to run some plundering piratical pigs through the tax wringer, all right.
An easy read, but with some trenchant arguments:
http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/unpacking-newts-south-carolina-win-food-stamps-apocalypse-and-zombies-candidates/
Food stamps, zombies, and apocalypse, oh my!
I made sense out of what happened. Gingrinch=nothing X South Carolina=nothing so breaking this formula down to its least common denominator-nothing X nothing=nothing. See,nothing happened.Just depends on your perspective.
hey Mike! i think we need to strip South Carolina of of it’s star and citizenship. that ‘ll learn ’em. …or maybe not.
a few of the things Republicans say to about Black uh…i mean Blah people. these candidates are stupid people saying stupid things,
http://jezebel.com/5876956/shit-republicans-say-about-black-people
what fools these Republican be.
I believe they proposed that themselves on December 20, 1860. We didn’t let them.
I wonder what would have happened if we had let them?
I’d love to see a real scholar’s look at what our 2 countries would be like now if we’d broken up. Thank we would have eventually kissed and make up? Think we’d have had presidents from Texas?
Ultimately, I wonder if we all, including children of former slaves, would have been better off if we had let them secede and let slavery die naturally.
i will never forget the film Glory. what a wonderful performance by Denzel Washington. most people don’t realize that Black people were not only slaves. we were soldiers, explorers, nurses, master builders among many other things. slavery was never going to be over. never. some 40,000 Black men died defending the Union so as to free their people. freedom wasn’t given to us we fought for it. we will fight again when they come for us.
it is one thing for a State to secede . it is quite another to take their star and their rights to American citizenship while taking away the Black people who live there so they will not be at the mercy of an intransigent, racist majority. let them see what it is to do everything for themselves. let them live without a dime of Federal monies.let them live with without a navy. let them live without world class medical centers or roads or airports. nobody goes in. nobody comes out except an occupying military.. i am sick to death of these prison states and the ignorant, ungrateful folks who infest them.
Thanks for that, Bubbles.
What’s your opinion? Where in the US are things actually the best for minorities? I’m thinking education, opportunity, incarceration rates, and so on.
The places I’ve lived, the people have all seemed not only tolerant of each other, but genuinely friendly. But at the same time, I’m not always sure there was institutional/governmental tolerance if they could get away with being otherwise.
this is for you dear Dozen. enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiMb45BSLQ8
Thanks, Bubbles!
But how much better would the picture have been with a bunch of snared grizzlies striving to escape. Maybe put an airplane or helicopter in the background with door gunners chasing wolves and bears. Plenty more red color splashed across my sensibilities would surely be the icing on the cake for those Alaskans who don’t appreciate the beauty of all Alaska and its wildlife,simply for its aesthetic appeal. For some red(blood) is the new green(money).
It would be even better with a skunk in the basement.
The think the fumes are getting to you! 🙂 Do you have to wash down the basement with tomato juice, now?
one of the guys at work had his German Shepard get “skunked” this past week- he found out on the net that dishsoap and hydrogen peroxide was the remedy… 1/2hr in the shower with the dog and she no smelly-smelly no more !! forgot to ask him if the dog was now a blonde from the peroxide.. …:)
I read somewhere that Marilyn Monroe was a heavy user of peroxide for color control. She had such lovely blonde hair. I wonder why she died the roots black?
🙂
Norma Jean was a ginger. Those roots were red.
As usual, you chose the perfect photo to start the day, AKM. Much appreciated.
benlomond-
when you get here to look at AKM’s lovely pic, here’s another for you and your lovely wife :
http://juneauempire.com/local/2012-01-23/photo-frozen-falls
no playing in the water today! 🙂
oooohhhhh!!! Great Shot Pi !! I know y’all told us about it freezing up in the winter, didn’t think I’d get to see a pic of it !… Now… I expect to see a follow up pic of you, Bear Woman and Firecracker all perched halfway up the falls with campions and ice picks !!
Those on the Mudflats are bound..in so many ways..and one would be, the appreciation for the natural beauty, grandeur ..to be noted..in each and every day. That beauty, those colors..are found in any day we stop..pause..and open our ears..for the rising sound of duck wings..from the lower orchard..or the scent of wet tree ferns..during ..Firsthike. Can we ..taste..color..sound? Only..if we remember..as this picture..’reminds us’..to accept these moments as sweet lessons..in truely..Living.
Beeyooteefull.
gorgeous.
What a wonderfully peaceful scene with which to start the day. Thanks, AKM.
That helps a lot because I am listening to Newt talk about how wonderful he is and many wonderful things he can do in D.C. Getting hit with that much BS this early in the morning is jarring, so truly, the photo is appreciated.
Have you been following Guv Brownback’s rule that takes food stamps away from anchor babies because their parents are illegal?
Would that include anchor babies like Willard Mittens Romney?
one can only hope.
Here’s a song for Newt, courtesy of Mac Davis and the Muppets. I’ll let you guess who’s playing Newt in this little sketch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-07_2DWfEmQ
too cute. LMBO.
I think of Newt as being more like the giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters – big and blindingly white and mushy, with a head that could fill a football stadium.
And, like the SPMM, at some point in this nasty campaign I fully expect him to explode in anger at something, spewing all over the people in attendance. Glad I won’t be at any of those debates…better pack an umbrella if you plan to go!
I’m surprised, shocked actually, that there isn’t any snow on the trees. It looks like a spring or summer evening. Beautiful shades of purple and magenta.
I have a skunk in my basement. How do I know? Ask my nose. This skunk is patently offensive and a rethuglican. How do I know? He/She/It assaulted all my sensibilities with a single scrunch of glandular muscles and left me with a rotten taste in my nose and house. In typical rwnj fashion he barged in and has no plans on leaving. So,what’s with all the trees in Alaska. Us farmers like trees,just not all over the place. Hard on equipment if you run one through a combine feeder house or smack into one with a tractor. Sunset for farmers means that with the cooler evening air coming,farm tractors run stronger and are more fuel efficient. You can hear the radio much better at night,too still yet. Young Brian to mikey’s rescue. No,not the ungulate Brian. I mean the landlord Brian. He can deal with skunks and pols.
Sorry about the skunk. I worry about them when I let the dogs out late at night. With their beagle noses they could get into a lot of trouble very quickly with a skunk!
Needn’t worry about that. Your beagles can’t get into mikey’s basement. How do I know? There are two beagles from across the section that show up regularly to chase raggits and spook cattle. They can’t get into my basement,either.
Raggits? Are you inventinizin’ words?
A skunk would really ruin the taste of the snickerdoodles.
We kept skunks and other vermin from getting under our house by putting a couple of naphthalene moth balls under the house every month or so and leaving them for a day. The smell cleaned everything out–bugs, mice, rattle snakes–they all left. Then, we’d take the moth balls back out, so we didn’t get the smell in the house. Next, moth, we’d put them back to chase returning critters away again.
Solved the ant problem we had, too.
Next month, not moth. Though moth works, too. I guess. 🙂
Oh Mikey, so sorry to hear about your smelly invasion!
The side of my garage had a close encounter with one of those last year and the odor invaded the house and made the car undriveable for 2 days. I finally discovered that a combination of dishes of vinegar placed around the house and a bottle of extra-strength Febreze helped eliminate the smell substantially. I also heated up a little water with vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a mug in the microwave and carefully carried it around the house, letting the fragrant steam replace the eau de skunk.
I hold my nose in solidarity!
I could climb right into that photo ………..simply beautiful.
This is a great article written by Marianne Gingrich’s lawyer about Newt Gingrich’s character. While it will not surprise any reader here, it is worth a look and should be passed around to everyone we know:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/23/in-newt-gingrich-s-world-rules-do-not-apply-to-him-ex-wife-s-lawyer-says.html
I still look forward to your links. They lead to such wonderful articles. Thanks, OMG.
You are so kind. Thank you.
Victoria Toensing.
Remember her ? The lawyer that testified for Robert Novak that Valerie Plame was NOT a covert agent?
Good article. I’m not surprised. Hi whole professional career has been based on the fact that he is better then others(according to him).
Of course he does things that other people would not do.
Wonderful sunset. I love it when the sun lights the clouds underneath and you can see the pattern of the clouds.
Isn’t she married to Fake Noise Channel Judge Napolitano and I think she has been a guest there several times?
I remember all these things about Newt and I look at this man and I have to ask myself, What kind of woman would want to snuggle up next to that? Eww….
Maybe DAMAGED GOODS?
This one, from the same publication, really nails it:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/21/republican-debate-why-newt-gingrich-s-performance-should-disqualify-him.html?obref=obinsite
“But hypocrisy becomes mental illness when we seek to punish people for our own tendency to hurt other people. When Gingrich treats his wives worse than chattel and then turns around and attempts to demonize others for what he declares are their hurtful moral missteps; when his projections have the potential to cause harmful concrete consequences—that is a diseased relationship with the world that puts him on a par with every tyrant who ever wreaked his damaged personality on the society he governed.”
Excellent piece…thanks for drawing our attention to it
OMG and Zyx thanks for two great reads.
this man and indeed all the other candidates like Bachmann, Paul, Cain, Perry and Romney are so obvious in their separate pathologies. i am curious as to why so many people continue to be oblivious to these dangerous, malicious men and women.
i worry that our country is in the grip of ‘madness victorious’. even should we manage to re-elect a sane President they are not going to go away. sooner or later they will regain control of the White House then what?
“i am curious as to why so many people continue to be oblivious to these dangerous, malicious men and women.”
Perhaps, bubbles, because their complexions are so very different from the current inhabitants of the Oval Office and the living quarters of the White House. If they had their way, it would be the Whites Only house. Just one woman’s opinion.
Red Skies at night, sailors delight. I think that’s how the saying went. It’s supposed to mean good weather tomorrow. We’ll see what happens. Nice shot!
Red sky at morning, sailors’ warning- red sky at night, sailors’ delight.
I’ve found it to be true, weather-wise…
So have I, although my sailing experience is small. Some day I’ll have more time …
I am a landlubber, but the phrase holds true for land-locked Colorado, at least in my experience… 😉
And so it goes. A beautiful sunny day in Anchorage today. I guess those old sailors knew what they were talking about.
Beautiful!