August 2010 archive

Heh. “Technically Staten Island is a part of NYC”?

My ex-sister-in-law (I have a few) with whom I’ve remained friends despite that she is a Republican, Yankee Fan, born again and again Christian (no offense intended to anyone here present but I am a card carrying Wiccan. It even says so on my dog tags), sends me these forwarded a zillion times e-mails. Mostly I disregard them and delete. Last night I don’t know what possessed me but I opened this one. Get your tissues, it is sweet.

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Dana Milbank: On education policy, Obama is like Bush

The Education Department kicked off its first ever “Bullying Summit” this week with a speech by Secretary Arne Duncan about the need “to break the cycle of bullying.”

But if Duncan really wants to stop the biggest bully in America’s schools right now, he’ll have to confront his boss, President Obama. In federal education policy, the president and his education secretary have been the neighborhood toughs — bullying teachers, civil rights groups, even Obama’s revered community organizers.

Frank Rich: Angels in America

Courage and a sense of fundamental fairness sometimes flower in our country in the most unexpected quarters, even as the angrier voices dominate the debate.

TO appreciate how much and how unexpectedly our country can change, look no further than the life and times of Judith Dunnington Peabody, who died on July 25 at 80 in her apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York.

snip

But to quote Tracy Lord, the socialite played by Katharine Hepburn in the classic high-society movie comedy “The Philadelphia Story,” “The time to make up your mind about people is never.” In 1985, Judith Peabody, a frequent contributor to the traditional good causes favored by those of her class, did the unthinkable by volunteering to work as a hands-on caregiver to AIDS patients and their loved ones.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour a cup of your favorite morning beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

August 15 is the 227th day of the year (228th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 138 days remaining until the end of the year.

While there were many significant events that happened on August 15, the most delightful and happily remember is Woodstock. Not many of my Baby Boomer generation remember that today Emperor Hirohito announced the unconditional surrender of Japan or that East Germany began the building of the Berlin Wall or that Malcolm slain Macbeth, it was peace, love and Rock N’ Roll in the mud with a lack of sanitary facilities but lots of music from some of the best at the Woodstock Festivalduring the weekend of August 15 to 18, 1969. The site was a dairy farm in West Lake, NY near the town of Bethel in Sullivan County, some 43 miles southwest from the actual town of Woodstock in Ulster County. During that rainy weekend some 500,000 concert goers became a pivotal moment in the history of Rock and Roll.

Peace, Drugs and Rock N’Roll. Rock On.

PS I was in Viet Nam.

My ex-sister-in-law who is a born again and again Christian, Up-State NY Republican and die hard devoted Yankees fan with whom, somehow, I’ve maintained a friendship, sent me this e-mail.

When you need to relax and just get away from it all…..May I suggest a day at the beach in CHINA ‘

More

The F Word: Time to Declare Global War on Flooding, Laura Flanders & GritTV, August 13, 2010

Small world.  Gary Burghoff is from Bristol.  I’ve been many times and there are parts of it I don’t know at all.  When you get off I-84 at Exit 31 you make a right (if you’re coming from Hartford) and about the first things you see are ESPN’s antenna farm and the Otis Elevator test building.  Turn left if you want to visit Lake Compounce, North America’s oldest continually operating amusement park (sure, some years it was just the one day, but it’s the thought that counts).

To get to the A. Bartlett Giamatti Center you drive on Rt. 229 for what seems like a year until you get to Rt. 6.  It’s really much easier from Exit 38, but then you would miss the sights.  Good luck to the Fairfield All-Stars.

• Spike– The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi
• A&E– The Perfect Storm
• AMC– The Cowboys (Marion Morrison)
• Bravo– The 40-Year-Old Virgin x 2 (who do you think should replace Steve Carell)
• ESPN– Little League Baseball, New England Regional Finals and Northwest Regional Finals
• Food– Triple D marathon
• History– Top Shot marathon (finale tomorrow)
• FX– Ghost Rider
• Oxygen– Juno
• Lifetime– Something’s Gotta Give
• SciFi– Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island (not even as good as you think)
• Turner Classic– Leave Her to Heaven, Dragonwyck (Gene Tierney night)
• TNT– Ocean’s Eleven

Later-

• Spike– Aliens
• AMC–The Shootist (Marion’s finale)
• TBS– Drumline (I played in a Marching Band, what can I say?)
• Turner Classic– That Wonderful Urge
• TNT– Sahara

Adult Swim has Boondocks, The Story of Catcher Freeman and The Color Ruckus.  No Mobile Armored Riot Police, instead Bleach movies Memories of Nobody and The DiamondDust Rebellion.  I’m not into Bleach so much as I figure I have a large enough obscure Japanese Anime addiction.

I would like to say a few words about Aliens.  It rocks.

Yahoo TV Listings

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

1 Hong Kong film-makers aim to be first in 3D porn

by Peter Brieger, AFP

Sat Aug 14, 2:31 am ET

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

If it’s tomato season, it’s cucumber season, too – a time to think about light summer salads, garlicky chilled soups, even cooked cucumber dishes.

Their high water content makes cucumbers especially refreshing during the months when they’re at their best. Cucumbers also are a very good source of vitamin C  and caffeic acid, compounds that seem to help prevent water retention (which may be why cucumber rounds have long been favored as remedies for swollen eyes and sunburned skin). Cucumber juice also is used in natural skin care products because it contains silica, an important component of connective tissue and healthy skin.

Seek out unwaxed cucumbers, so you won’t need to peel them; the skin is a rich in fiber and a good source of potassium and magnesium. You won’t have to remove seeds if you’re able to use Persian or European cucumbers.

they will have a trojan horse hard nosed ‘democratic’ president in the oval office who has let George Bush and Dick Cheney and most of the previous republican administration off the hook effectively pardoning them for torture and all their other war crimes, continued if not expanded the overseas occupations the republicans started, given tens of trillions of dollars to wall street and other republican corporate cronies like the health insurance industry while ensuring the Military Industrial Complex remains the most corrupt and profitable racket in the history of humanity [1], and then falls all over himself bending over backwards to give the republicans anything and everything else they demand and more while conning the democratic base into supporting an ‘incremental’ bipartisanship with batsh*t crazy republicans fantasy to coopt that base into supporting republican policies across the board while insulting that base [2] at every opportunity and generally just screwing the working classes every way possible, while sending out scare letters [3] to that democratic base demanding money and votes because republicans are scary.

Who I’m sure hopes to guarantee himself a lucrative post presidential career continuing this good work for his constituents.