Open Thread – Thursdays in the Mud!
Well it’s been a few Thursdays missing from my usual appearance on The Shannyn Moore Show for the segment “Thursdays in the Mud,” but today I’ll be back from 1pm-2pm Alaska time! You can hear Shannyn every day from 11-2pm Alaska time on KOAN 1020am in Anchorage, or on 95.5fm in Anchorage, and 1330am in Juneau. If you’re not in those areas, tune in for live streaming at 1020koan.com
New topic,
A shout-out to all Fairbanks mudpuppies. What is happening in way
of protest of the visit of John Yoo, Bush Jr’s. torture memo lawyer?
He will be in Fairbanks May 4 and 5th, speaking to the Alaska Bar Association.
This will be at the Riverside Inn. I’m trying to get a group of folks to
come to Fairbanks with me from Anchorage. I would love to hook up
with a Fairbanks group. It burns me to the core thinking that the
visit of this war criminal would go unopposed. Leave messages at my blog.
Thanks all.
For those of you who have not yet seen Stephen Colbert’s segment about the false claims being made about Planned Parenthood, this is a must see. Even he, the master of the deadpan, can’t keep a straight face talking about the absurdity of the Republican lies.
For those of you who HAVE seen the clip, check out the comments he’s been making ever since on Twitter.
The man is simply hilarious!
http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/b222567c05/colbert-jon-kyl-planned-parented-not-intended-to-be-a-factual-statement-video?playlist=featured_pictures_and_words
I’m sooooooo lucky – we had a second, bigger Walgreens built in our town a year ago; I guess they were anticipating this current crop of sat-bhit insane Republican/Tea Party yahoos in ‘leadership’ rolls. 😉 beth.
(And yes, I debated Rolls/Roles… the former won out because the players are such a pasty, doughy bunch. b.)
I’ve liked her from the start, but I’m really starting to LOVE my Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand.
She addressed Congress yesterday as one of several women Democrats speaking about the assault on women’s rights. Her entire speech was eloquent but this comment was the best:
“For my friends and colleagues, this is a factual statement. Current law already prevents federal money from paying for abortions. This has been the law of the land for over 30 years. ”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/14/gillibrand-takes-shot-at-_n_849253.html
Isn’t she great? Wish she was mine 🙂 It’s so nice when politicians actually understand the laws and constitution.
i talked to the senator last week in nyc. as always she was delightful. it’s been a pleasure to have been a supporter and admirer of hers from her first senatorial campaign days.
I do like Kirsten Gillibrand – I’ve heard her interviewed several times. And I’ve been proud of my Senator, Patty Murray, through all this.
Yep, Patty Murray is great, I didn’t mean trade her- but the more intelligent politicians we can get, the merrier 🙂
i wholeheartedly agree Leenie. she is a grand lady and i am so proud of her.
Some possible good news today from my homefront-Ioway. The state’s new re-districting plan puts nutjob Steve King and a lesser nutjob rethug Tom Latham in the same new district. Iowa loses one congressional seat and has a chance to get rid of Bachman-Palin clone King,a whack-o who is prone to say something splendidly silly at any moment. So far neither political party has officially adopted Decorah’s eaglets-yet. Mother Nature tends to march to her own drummer-a fact which can be testified to any day or night. Despite all of Man’s attempts to destroy all natural wonders, MN still puts on the most beautiful displays of natural light and color and themes. With all that which is beautified comes the darkside of Nature. Many of Nature’s best examples of beauty are the most dangerous to human beings. Insects and animals-great and small can be deadly. Weather can be spectacularly glorified and then kill with little warning. Unlike Humans-Nature is not at all particular when it comes to killing. No prejudice here.BTW- Iowa is not immune from the ills of America. A popular high school cross country runner who battled anorexia for years and was thought to have some control over it,lost her battle for life. A young girl was attacked by two pit bulls and severely injured in Akron,Iowa. A three year old was killed by her baby-sitter’s Rottweilers near Iowa City this Winter. Babies are abandoned at hospitals,kids commit suicide,schools have drugs and the list goes on.
I know there are MASSES of Pebble Mine naysayers on this site. Apparently, Mitsubishi has pulled out (after NRDC delivered over 100,000 signatures on its anti-Pebble petition). Now, it’s time to shame Rio Tinto and Anglo American into doing the same. Toward that end, NRDC is looking for donations to run a full-page NY Times ad. The text is here:
http://www.savebiogems.org/bristolbay/pebble/nrdc-redford-pebble-mine-ad.pdf
Please do what you can, whether it’s a signature or a donation. Thank you.
Sarah Palin is coming to Wisconsin this weekend to rally with Teabaggers.
what say you Wisconsin?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/14/sarah-palin-wisconsin-tea-party_n_849303.html
One of the commentators on the HuffPost site referred to Sarah as “Sniper Spice”. I am a constituent of Gabrielle Giffords, and altough I found this new title a little jarring, I have to approve of it!
Well, spring is certainly on its way (correct non-use of an apostrophe, by the way!).
The annual battle for domination of the top of my roll-up patio awning has begun. Each spring the determined and creative sparrows begin their energetic nest building on the royal blue fabric under the garage eaves. Think about that – poopy bird babies, doting bird parents and royal blue fabric – NOT a good combination. Not to mention that, once the next is occupied, I can’t use the awning until the last chick has fledged. Obviously a new addition needs to be added to my To Do list for this weekend – pull the foam pool noodles out of the garage and block off access to the awning. Sigh…
There is an article in the newspaper today about the impending arrival of black bears to our area. It’s something we’ve only had to deal with here in Rochester for the last several years. Yayyy for the increasing population of healthy bears, not so good for the suburbanites who are clueless about what to do in case of an encounter.
Bunny has made an appearance in the yard for the first time this season and is politely removing some of the early weeds in my lawn. Thank you ever so much!
Question for anyone who might know – Why do robins (of which there seems to be a booming population this spring) INSIST on flying across the road in front of my car a mere foot above the pavement? They’re BIRDS, and they can easily fly safely over my car roof. Why do they seem intent on imbedding themselves in my front grille?
They’d certainly get around faster embedded in your grille. Choice of shopping trips would be the left up to your discretion as Robins can’t talk. They fly low because they will land shortly to look for food and their territories are small in size. They are very territorial and feisty. In the late summer on Iowa’s gravel roads we have an influx of young barn-swallows that sit in the gravel and are easy to run into your grille.
Robins would get around faster embedded in your grille,their choice of shopping trips would be left to your discretion as Robins can’t talk. Actually, Robins fly low because they will be landing quickly to look for worms and because their territories are small. Very territorial and feisty.
Robins know they can get where they want to go faster in your grille,they haven’t got the embedded part figured out yet. My opinion is Robins fly low because their territories are small and Robins are very territorial. They also land every few feet to look for yummy worms. On the farm Robins always seemed to disappear in late summer. If you drive county roads early in the morning you see them come out of the cornfields where they roost at night. I suspect they hunt corn-borer worms on the ears during the daytime.
Please read this great rant from Jesse Ventura:
http://weaintgottimetobleed.com/
pretty interesting— with 992 comments! People are reading it.
The 992 comments are apparently a compilation of all comments to his entire website. If you read on, it is a lot of Ron Paul supporters. There is a lot of “throw the bums out, back to the constitution, we are the greatest military nation” stuff that I just cannot get behind. I like the idea that people know the corporations are in power but the big question is how to get people of all stripes to take this stand without getting into the populist Tea Party mode.
Oh did he mention polluting our environment? Everyone needs to be taught about Hydraulic Fracturing and how it is polluting groundwater in 28 states. Halliburton does it and there is no regulation of it- courtesy of Dick Cheney. We’ve been “dicked” again.
I got an email today, asking me to contact my local supermarkets to persuade them to stock more fair trade items. Well, none of the listed supermarkets are local to me (with the sole exception of Whole Foods, and I don’t shop there more than a few times a year). So, I include this link for those of you who’d like to see more fair trade goods in your locales:
http://www.greenamerica.org/takeaction/supermarkets/
Thanks for the link. I did find some places where I shop or that are local, so I signed it. One of my favorite places to shop is Trader Joe’s and they do have a lot of Fair Trade items – and besides, my daughter and son-in-law work there. 🙂
I’m going to be devilish, because I can’t resist. Looking at all the news reports, I don’t think Palin has had a good day. 🙂
I guess I’ll have to go look at the news reports. Is there something specific or is it just that she isn’t getting her name in the news very much and when she does, it is anything but positive. I think I may have missed something while I’ve been rewatching Downton Abbey.
It is not positive.
I did look, and no, there was nothing postive. Seems someone is trying to turn the birther tables on Ms. Palin. And with a lot more compelling evidence. I won’t repeat it here, since I know AKM stays away from it, but there was actually one thing I hadn’t heard before. If she’s smart (but we know she isn’t), this would be the time for SP to stop talking.
Not to ne a “dog in the manger”,but now Quitty and I have something in common-oh horror of horrors. It seems to me that neither Quitty or I received invitations to Jimzmum’s child’s wedding in St Louis. I would not be so personally miffed if I was in better company.If I ever get that way again,you are all cordially invited.
It seems to me that the main business of our country is war, fear, hate and suspicion.(certainly takes precedence of over the needs of the people, here and elsewhere) Huge industries based on such, and our military presence throughout the world. This looks alot like the Roman Empire before it’s demise…maybe if we could base our economy more on life and sustaining issues, planetary survival, instead of greed and short sightedness…there could be a chance for us all…at least we could have more time to enjoy the miracle of life and diversity here if our focus was altered to see things as they are, to truly have reverence for all living things and systems, and not try to subdue everything and each other, to the detriment of all. Time for that quantitative leap of conciousness before it’s too late.
Citation for apostrophe misuse, one violation (“before it’s demise”): $10 penalty.
Reward for correct use of apostrophe, one instance (“before it’s too late”): wavier of previous penalty.
Citation for misuse of waiver: We shall let it slip(stream) THIS time. Sometimes, it’s wavier in your head than on the seven seas. 😉
Oops. Way totally embarrassed. Waiver. Waiver.
Waivering back atcha, slip 🙂
Ah, yes, the English language (as said language is -ahem- wrote)…
The apostrophe and “it”: it’s a word that can become a contraction if an apostrophe-“s” is added, but it’s one that can never show what ‘possessions’ are in its “it bag” (so to speak) through that addition; the addition of the apostrophe-“s” to “it”, totally defaults its meaning to what it’s not supposed to mean. A lot of people make that easy mistype in their whizzing across the keyboard. Alot. 😉 beth.
Nice visual, AKM. But Jasper Fforde’s books are also terrific reading. Don’t start with “One of Our Thursdays.” Start with “Well of Lost Plots,” which features this amazing scene:
‘Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish,
weren’t you working on this?’
Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. . . . ‘It’s mostly an
unlicensed usage problem. At the last count David Copperfield alone had had
had had sixty-three times, all but ten unapproved. Pilgrim’s Progress may
also be a problem owing to its had had / that that ratio.’
‘So what’s the problem in Progress?’
‘That that had that that ten times but had had had had only thrice.
Increased had had usage had had to be overlooked but not if the number
exceeds that that that usage.’
‘Hmm,’ said the Bellman. ‘I thought had had had had TGC’s approval for use
in Dickens? What’s the problem?’
‘Take the first had had and that that in the book by way of example,’
explained Lady Cavendish. ‘You would have thought that that first had had
had had good occasion to be seen as had, had you not? Had had had approval
but had had had not; equally it is true to say that that that that had had
approval but that that other that that had not.’
‘So the problem with that other that that was that–?
‘That that other–other that that had had approval.’
‘Okay,’ said the Bellman, whose head was in danger of falling apart like a
chocolate orange, ‘let me get this straight: David Copperfield, unlike
Pilgrim’s Progress, which had had had, had had had had. Had had had had
TGC’s approval?’
There was a very long pause.
‘Right,’ said the Bellman with a sigh.
—
/WC (always stretching the limits of “Open Thread”)
i personally find that that is a remarkable passage. i had had a similar problem in my earlier writings and often had had the same dialogue in my head. that that is the subject of fforde’s prose makes me just swoon in solidarity with the inane.
I find it rather frightening that I can pretty much understand that that is written above though I had had doubts that I would.
W/C- Open thread is alot like the word neighbor(s). Many people define it differently,I just don’t reckon anyone puts any limits on it.
This is the best sentence I’ve read on Paul Ryan’s draconian budget: “If you get your meals through an umbilical cord, the Republicans want to protect you; but if you have to eat groceries, you’re on your own.”
Gulp!
too true.
Well, we got the child married off. Wonderful, wonderful wedding. Held at the History Museum in St. Louis’ Forest Park. The weather was, oddly enough, totally perfect! Everyone had a wonderful time. We had such fun! Our daughter and son-in-law planned the most spiritual ceremony I have ever seen, ending with vows they wrote as the wedding party laid ribbons over their hands, then the Officiant knotting the ribbons around their joined hands. Whoof. What a fun time.
That sounds absolutely lovely! How wonderful for everyone involved.
I hope your feet survived! So glad to hear it all went well.
Cngratulations! Aren’t weddings wonderful – especially when they are well planned and then go as planned.
congratulations Jimzmum. glad the day was a wonderful occasion.
That sounds like a beautiful day. Best wishes to the happy couple and congratulations to all the parents!
Wish I could hear those. I’m working during your spot. I’m actually up early today. We had beautiful weather yesterday and I spent it mowing, weeding and other fun things. Today is promising to be a repeat so I thought I’d take advantage of that before I go work the closing shift.
What a pleasant surprise to see that book cover this morning. I’m reading it right now.