Re: Disgusted

1

Yglesias ...like everyfuckingday.

But the moral here is precisely that the struggle for justice won't be waged by a team of enlightened white dudes.

Well then, guess I'll go walk the dogs and watch some anime. Y'all apparently don't want me to help.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:01 AM
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Florida is also planning to start charging everyone on Medicaid a flat-fee premium without regard to income. ER visits will cost $100.

Several people at my office, a human services agency, are in favor of all of this. The reasoning is that a lot of private employers do drug tests, and we don't make a lot of money but we have to pay for our insurance and about $150 for a trip to the ER. Never mind that there aren't afte-hours clinics. Our lives--health insurance particularly--so why shouldn't theirs?

One person actually thought that better universal coverage would be desirable, but that's just not the way it works here. Bah!


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:09 AM
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Rick Scott only became governor to make more money by forcing everyone to use his medical facilities, but now he's doing all this other racist stuff so he can at least have a small base of supporters.

Well then, guess I'll go walk the dogs and watch some anime. Y'all apparently don't want me to help.

Fuck off.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:13 AM
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Maine hasn't exactly been awesome, either. What's with the Eastern corners?


Posted by: Annelid Gustator | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:16 AM
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What's Maine doing right now?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:18 AM
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Well, among other things, this.


Posted by: Annelid Gustator | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:19 AM
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It isn't just offensive. It's ineffective and very expensive and will just serve to funnel tax dollars to drug testing labs. But really, who could be surprised at that?


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:25 AM
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1: bob, why do you take these things so personally? No one thinks of you as "enlightened".


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:26 AM
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On the plus side, those young activists are inspiring and give much hope.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:27 AM
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#1: la luta continua, I guess.


Posted by: dsquared | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:33 AM
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5: Don't you remember the Maine?


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:53 AM
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Me, but now it just seems stupid.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:53 AM
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Wasn't Florida already the most disgraceful state in the US? Mississippi and Alabama and South Carolina are up there, I guess, but at least they have a certain Southern charm.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:55 AM
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12 to 5.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:58 AM
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bob, why do you take these things so personally?

The bigger question for me is what a Matthew Yglesias quote from a post about a Ta-Nehisi Coates column on the new X-Men movie has to do with anybody here, much less with Rick Scott's tenure as governor of Florida.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:59 AM
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Wasn't Florida already the most disgraceful state in the US?

We're trying as hard as we can, goddammit, but South Carolina keeps jamming us when we try to pass them!


Posted by: OPINIONATED ARIZONA | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:01 AM
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It's happening everywhere. I sat in a meeting yesterday listening to policymakers talk about not wanting to give "booze money" to poor people. "They've got food stamps, what more do they need?"


Posted by: emdash | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:02 AM
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15: Well, bob would be leading the struggle against the injustices in Florida (and everywhere else), but Yglesias hurt his feelings by suggesting that white men wouldn't fight for justice, so the fight for justice in the world will need to find a new champion.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:03 AM
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I think we need to give booze money to middle class people.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:04 AM
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I gave $18.95 plus sales tax to the middle class guy who works at the ABC store just yesterday.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:06 AM
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The middle class people are more likely to savor the booze. An extra $100 in booze-allocation to the middle class increases the general utility of society by sixteen masturbated mice compared to only nine for the same money given the poor to buy booze.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:06 AM
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the ABC store

"Always Be Consuming."


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:07 AM
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Always Be Chugging.
Another Bad Coctail.
Angry Bird Chowder.


Posted by: Annelid Gustator | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:09 AM
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21: Research results from your unfinished dissertation?


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:17 AM
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15,18:Okay, I wrote a comment earlier, but deleted it.
You don't see the connection?

Since MY and the Democratic Party have declared white males, especially white working class males, their explicit enemy;and have over the last thirty years actually hurt white males (check out employment and wages); and under the first black President, have come close to destroying white males and show every intention of going after middle-class social programs that benefit us...

...and since Democratic concern for the poor is total bullshit but actually used as a tool to benefit elite women and minorities at the expense of the poor...check out the numbers and the reality...

...what choice do we have but to go Hobbesian and screw everyone else, including the poor, in order to just survive? I would be willing to help, but I am not willing to cut my throat for people who despise me and have no real ideals or compassion.

Oh yeah, headline:Obama to help jobless by giving business a tax break on FICA payments. And I though the kids who thought Medicare and SS wouldn't be there for them were crazy. Democrats are killing it.

Sorry. I am going to have to steal and save every cent in order to postpone my death a couple more years. Breaks my heart, you have no idea, but there is a war, and I ain't dying for no rich black man.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:28 AM
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25: This is even stupider than my explanation in 18. I should know better than to try to parody you.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:30 AM
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Handing out sandwiches in the park is a way to get on the news but not much of a way to actually help the poor. The scraggly dudes in the park aren't starving. Meals are handed out to the homeless by a variety of places and I guarantee the guys in the park for a sandwich know where those places are.

Find the school in your area where most of the kids are on meal assistance. The food banks and health clinics that serve those families is where the real work is being done. Those are the people and children who are going to go to bed hungry because they're struggling to get along the best they can and their best just isn't enough, but they're not hanging out in the park hoping you swing by with some beans and watermelon.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:42 AM
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25. Bob has apparently joined the BNP.


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:48 AM
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Lenin was absolutely right about the soup kitchens, but Lenin had a chance of social revolution.

"Castorp" on the Yggles thread linked at 1 calls this the "pity-charity liberaltarian project"

And there is zero fucking chance in America of any kind of class-based politics. It's over, and resisted vehemently by those who consider Jill Abramson a progressive victory.

Those who can leave America should go. The rest of us should look out for ourselves and our families, because nobody else is really going to help. That means tax cuts and slashing of social programs, i.e., the Republican project.

I no longer have any reason to vote for Democratic liars and thieves, and there is no hopeful alternative. Ain't no longer any point in crying.

There will very soon be too many poor to help, as in tens of millions. We are going to become Mumbai, without the social resistance the Indians have the conscience to participate in.

Going all the way down. All you can do is protect yourselves. Umm, those who haven't already bought in to the oligarchy. I mean.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:57 AM
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The Black Man is always trying to hold bob down, while The Woman steps on his balls. Justice sleeps.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:59 AM
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You don't give the starving man a sandwich. You give him a gun, and show him where the food is.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:01 AM
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You give him a gun, and show him where the food is.

Kroger.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:04 AM
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and under the first black President, have come close to destroying white males

They haven't come very close to destroying white males, have they? I saw one just the other day.


Posted by: dsquared | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:14 AM
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The sky is falling!


Posted by: Annelid Gustator | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:16 AM
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bob gives good No Quarter.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:24 AM
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33: Yeah, but I bet he looked destroyed.


Posted by: AWB | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:25 AM
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30:The poor black and the working-class woman and the working-class white man are my at least potential allies.

It is the elite black and the elite woman who are my enemies.

TNC and Jill Abramson are not signing up for Revolution, but are signing onto oligarchy. And I really can't compete in the discourse with class-based arguments against them because the identity arguments are all that anyone listens to.


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:25 AM
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"Zero sum's just another two words for someone's got to lose."


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:29 AM
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You think we have it bad? We have to listen to this shit for like ten hours a day in order to get fed.


Posted by: BOB'S DOGS | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:37 AM
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It is the elite black and the elite woman who are my enemies.

What is it about them, as a class, that you get think doesn't allow them to grasp intuitively the prospects for fomenting a Leninist revolution by (i) trolling blogs with cut-and-pasted comments from other blos, (ii) being a good steward to one's pets, and (iii) watching a lot of independent cinema?


Posted by: Criminally Bulgur | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:44 AM
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27: It sounds like the point is to draw attention to the law. My guess is that the organization is well aware of food banks.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:57 AM
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Also, you are all violating the ordinance against feeding trolls in a public thread.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 10:57 AM
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Further to 41: Food not Bombs is an experienced group. The probably have a broad agenda for services they want for the homeless, and are using this to highlight the city's callous attitude in general. That's the way civil disobedience works.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:04 AM
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Kroger.

Regionalist.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:15 AM
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||
Has anyone linked to the transcript of Rep. Weiner's chat with the Las Vegas woman?

Sample:

HIM: dunno. make me an offer i can't refuse.

HER: to get us in the mood. first we watch back to back episodes of the daily show and colbert
report...then, to really spice things up we go deface all of my neighbor's sharon angle yard
signs...then when we are really hot we go to the bookstore and cover all of the glen beck
books with copies of "the audacity of hope!"...i do this about once a week (you can tell i am a
very exciting girl!)...or if this i not your thing, we can just get drunk and have mad, passionate
sex!

HIM: why choose? with me behind you can't we both watch daily show?

HER: Hhaha! see...you are always thinking! you are so right...aahhh the perfect liberal evening!


|>


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:17 AM
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I don't think FNB should disband just because there are other non-profits providing food aid. Their web site goes into some detail about why they think it's a better idea to serve food in public than in soup kitchens.

OFNB member Eric Montanez was arrested for violating the ordinance after two masked cops in a black SUV with tinted windows videotaped him ladling out stew 30 times. OPD used eight officers to apprehend this nefarious evildoer.


Posted by: neil | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:21 AM
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45: That's obviously made up. No one I know watches *both* Colbert and TDS. You pick one to be your favorite and then quibble endlessly with friends and family over which is superior.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:26 AM
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Oy. Somebody really needs to whip up a quick webinar on how to spot trolls and make it required reading for government officials.


Posted by: neil | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:28 AM
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45 reminds me of a scene from Parks and Recreation.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:30 AM
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Parks and Rec has surged ahead to become my current favorite show. I fucking love it.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:33 AM
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I often ask myself "Where has whatshisname who plays Ron Swanson been all my life?" The man is a comic genius.


Posted by: M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:36 AM
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30:The poor black and the working-class woman and the working-class white man are my at least potential allies.

It is little glimpses of self-awareness like "at least potential" in there that make it impossible to stay angry at Bob.


Posted by: dsquared | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 11:57 AM
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It's going to be kind of embarrassing if this thread is open when bob gets busted for spitting on the public library computer again.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:11 PM
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Also, hasn't Florida been horrible since roughly the 1920s?


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:18 PM
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27: Have you tried actually getting food assistance recently? It's not quite the walk in the park you paint it as. First off, a great deal of it is means-tested, so you have to provide a ridiculous amount of documentation (around here it's EIGHTEEN MONTHS worth of pay stubs to get food stamps) and you often have to wait a considerable amount of time for the paperwork to go through. Secondly, most of it is county-specific, so if you have a shaky living situation, it's often pretty difficult to prove what county you live in. Finally, a great deal of the aid is targeted at mothers with children. Not that it's a bad idea to feed mothers with children, but other men, women and teenagers need food too.

I think the Food not Bombs ideology speaks to a larger point as well, which is that it shouldn't be necessary to abase yourself before the majesty of the state in order to partake of the basic needs of human life. Obviously, not everyone agrees with that, which is why FnB members have to do their work on the margins of society, often risking police harassment and arrest and prosecution to do so. Wait till Bechtel privatizes the water system in the US, and you have to make a choice between breaking the law and giving your broke relatives some illegally siphoned water or watching them die of thirst. That will be a lot of fun.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:20 PM
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And another thing, viz this Florida business: where are the fucking priests and ministers and rabbis and imams? They should be lining up around the park to get arrested too. Is there a single religious person in this country who is not a cynical, money-grubbing hypocrite?


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:22 PM
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And further: Speaking as someone who's eaten quite a few Food not Bombs meals in his day, one of the things I've always appreciated about the Food not Bombs approach is that it explicitly rejects the segregation of homeless and food-insecure people from the rest of society. Foodshelves, county welfare offices, soup kitchens and similar locales are as much about stigmatizing and immiserating the poor as they are about helping them. When I sit down at a community gathering catered by FnB, it bridges the gap, to a small extent, between me and my neighbor who can't afford as much food as I can. That alone would be justification enough to support the project, in my opinion.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:29 PM
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Is there a single religious person in this country who is not a cynical, money-grubbing hypocrite?

This isn't fair. The Foods not Bombs people that were arrested may be religious for all we know.

I think your question would work better if you substituted "leader" for "person".



Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:32 PM
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58: Oops! Italics should be on the first sentence only.


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:33 PM
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44: But, there are no Krogers in my region. I'm cosmopolitan.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:33 PM
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That sounds like exactly the kind of law jury nullification is suited for. But it is Florida.

BTW, there's a very disturbing piece in Stars and Stripes (can't paste the link now but it's findable) about a soldier in Iraq who was persecuted by his superiors into committing suicide; all the officers and NCOs who did it are still being promoted despite being condemned by an official inquiry. I recently heard from a young ex-officer that eventual promotion to one-star general is now routine for those who choose to stay long enough. Not a good situation.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:33 PM
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eventual promotion to one-star general is now routine

It may seem like that in the US's armed forces, but no. There are over 11,000 O-6 officers (colonels and Navy captains). For all ranks above that (O-7 through O-10: all the generals and admirals) there are fewer than 1,000 officers.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:49 PM
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55: I think gswift meant other charities, not government assistance.


Posted by: Walt Someguy | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 12:51 PM
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||

NNM the Gingrich campaign.

|>


Posted by: chris y | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 1:03 PM
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Have you tried actually getting food assistance recently? It's not quite the walk in the park you paint it as.

I don't actually think we're disagreeing. Food assistance is horrible a lot of places. But IME the people served during food handouts in a park skew heavily towards your stereotypical homeless guy who hangs around the park. Those guys actually have an easier time getting fed than the people trying to get stamps and other assistance. They know where the food handouts are and don't have anything else to do. The bulk of people who are food insecure are much harder to spot. I know they're likely aware of that in Orlando. But I think their moment on the news there helps perpetuate the idea that the face of hunger in the U.S. is the wino in the park. The actual problem is much larger and more insidious and I think it's possibly actually counter productive to the cause to put a face on the problem that's easily ignored.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 1:04 PM
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Is there a single religious person in this country who is not a cynical, money-grubbing hypocrite?

Yes!


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 1:11 PM
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I think gswift meant other charities, not government assistance.

Yeah, maybe I'm not being clear on that. The food banks and such I'm talking about are such a lifesaver for so many people precisely because govt. assistance sucks. My quibble with FNB is more over strategy rather than goals.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 1:16 PM
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Is there a single religious person in this country who is not a cynical, money-grubbing hypocrite?

There are several right here on this very blog.


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 1:42 PM
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Speaking of Florida and grubby money.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 1:52 PM
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Are they single?


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 1:52 PM
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"They" is plural, but I use it as singular when I don't want to specify a gender because every other way of doing that looks stupider.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 1:58 PM
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71: So you're saying you'd prefer "Is they single"?


Posted by: Cyrus | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 2:03 PM
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Is they is or is they ain't?


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 2:11 PM
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"I saw 'they isn't' the same week the Democrats and others on the left virtually unanimously condemned all Republican attempts in state legislatures to pass legislation requiring voters to show a photo ID."


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 2:50 PM
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Once, back in the 90s, there was a memo sent out by the Minneapolis Police Department, to discourage people from giving money to beggars, that referred to the presence here of "an effluvium of social services". Damn straight.


Posted by: Natilo Paennim | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 2:52 PM
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||
Question for the hivemind. It is not too early to start scoping my pies for the contest this year. I've been drinking a lot of bourbon recently, so I was thinking of a bourbon pecan pie. My question:

Is chocolate-bourbon-pecan pie just too much? My thought is that the chocolate is just tacky, throwing too much into the mix. But, the winner is chosen by popular vote and my friend and I have noticed that the peasants tend to like chocolate instead of basil-cream-peach like they would if their palates were a little more sophisticated. From a pecan pie base, yes to bourbon? yes to chocolate? yes to bourbon and chocolate?

Thanks.
|>


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:04 PM
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||

As a theoretical matter, if someone has already started using vodka in crusts (to add moisture that burns off in cooking) and had good success, is there any reason that person couldn't switch to another high-proof liquor that would flavor the crust as well as moisture?

|>


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:07 PM
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chocolate-bourbon-pecan pie

I have in fact made this before. It was super rich and I thought a little over the top, but people seemed to like it.


Posted by: CJB | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:08 PM
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I would also say over the top, but it does have to stand out from a couple dozen other pies. The background is already very sweet.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:09 PM
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Speaking of food, I had a Pad Thai for lunch in a fit of insanity and nonpaleoness. Is my feeling of nausea and that I'm going to die psychosomatic?


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:10 PM
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I heard Pad Thai can kill a man.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:11 PM
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chocolate-bourbon-pecan pie

This concoction is available from PDBS's premier purveyor of pies around Thanksgiving time, and it apparently sells well, to a resident population that is, at least in its own self-estimation, more sophisticated in its tastes than the average consumer.

Personally, I find it cloying and over the top, but I suspect your instinct to play to the cheap seats in the pie competition is sound.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:13 PM
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More cloying than a regular pecan pie? They're pretty damn sweet.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:15 PM
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Oh man, I was actually sick. Somehow, I blame Stanley.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:19 PM
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More nausea liveblogging: am starting to shake with chills.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:25 PM
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That's no good. Hope you feel better fast.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:28 PM
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Somehow, I blame Stanley.

I accept full responsibility and have slaughtered three (3) saber-toothed cats as a sacrifice to the cavegods on your behalf in hopes of a speedy recovery.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:36 PM
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Megan, you might be interested in this pecan-crust, chocolate bourbon tart.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 3:41 PM
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Halford, that sounds pretty extreme even for a massive sugar jolt. Not impossible, but worrisome. Pray post occasionally until you are either better or in the ER.

Pecan pie should be made with golden syrup instead of corn syrup, sallsino.


Posted by: clew | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:02 PM
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Is there a single religious person in this country who is not a cynical, money-grubbing hypocrite?

As a religious, person I'd have to say, "Probably not," and as a religious person I'd have to say that that's exactly why I need God.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:09 PM
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Wait. Halford, was this Black Metal Pad Thai? You might unknowingly harboring a demon.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:16 PM
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I had a chocolate pecan pie that I liked a lot. It wasn't as sweet as regular pecan pie or quite as gooey (while being plenty gooey.) I don't know about the bourbon, but this one chocolate pecan pie made by someone (a social-justicey Lutheran from Minnesota no less!) was delicious. I've had a restaurant version since that was not so good.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:17 PM
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Re 45: the transcript of Rep. Weiner's chat with the Las Vegas woman

I hadn't realized until this morning that his text exchanges as well as photos had been leaked, and after I mentioned this to my cow-orker, he decided to google for them; he spent half of lunch today reading them aloud to me. (NSFW doesn't really apply in my workplace.)

I was mostly interested in just how awful or condemning they might be, and whether I might change my mind on whether Weiner should resign, since someone on Diane Rehm's show this morning said they were "revolting." Strong word!


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:19 PM
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And Halford, do check in if you're still functional! We are one is concerned.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:21 PM
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More cloying than a regular pecan pie? They're pretty damn sweet.

Much less cloying, IME, so long as you're using dark chocolate. The bitterness of the chocolate kind of grounds the flavor, if that makes sense.


Posted by: Gabardine Bathyscaphe | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:22 PM
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93: My work e-mail is hosted by google, and we get these one line news headlines at the top of our inboxes. Today's described him as a slutrepreneur.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:23 PM
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I know I shouldn't be surprised, but still I end up finding myself feeling disgusted by the low level of writing skills on display in the personal e-mail/chat/etc. logs of the powerful and/or rich (except, of course, when the leaked stuff actually is written well,... lol).


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:42 PM
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98

The transcripts read like a mix of garden variety vanilla cyber and some weird (political) fetish thing. Or at least the parts I read. Cybersex transcripts don't make for fascinating reading material. In any case, disgusting? Not really, clearly consensual, pics being sent are wanted by the woman. Yawn.


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:47 PM
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99

Megan, I made this bourbon and orange and pecan pie for a Kentucky Derby party recently (hats, seersucker, a minute of horse-racing, and then lots of Southern-themed food). It got pretty decent reviews, and I bet you could tinker around with the recipe to make it even better. Chocolate-pecan-bourbon just sounds wrong.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:48 PM
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100

Oh, man. I'm suddenly wishing I hadn't read that. (I blame fake accent.) That was just pitiful. Have pride in your online encounters, Rep. Weiner! Do your country proud! Don't make us ashamed with your obsession regarding penis size and your inability to be creative.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:49 PM
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some weird (political) fetish thing

Okay, have we been reading the same blog all these years? Because I wouldn't call the bits of sexy-liberal chat "weird" so much as "silly" and "HuffingtonPost-ish."


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:51 PM
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102

I didn't actually read more than enough to learn that the chats were inarticulate and not particularly clean or dirty.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:55 PM
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103

I thought this was funny:


will u punch boehner in the head, please.


tony..where r u?


sorry, i was punching the speaker


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:55 PM
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104

You don't find the interweaving of cybersex and political joking a bit strange?


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:56 PM
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105

Today's described him as a slutrepreneur.

What I heard read aloud of the texts sounded like standard issue sexy-slutty talk. Kind of silly and formulaic, which doesn't mean it couldn't get people hot 'n' bothered. The portion KR excerpted upthread was downright funny.

It's odd-funny how the truth about how people talk dirty freaks so many observers out. It happened during Clinton-Lewinsky, when people purported to be shocked that blow jobs occur, and that such a thing as a cigar might be employed in activities.

I want to say that the perceived transgression is really that someone failed to keep these things private, not that they actually occurred, but there's so much shifting back and forth between "But he's married" and "It's all slutty, revolting" and "Office-holders should be beyond reproach, and this sullies the political institution as a whole, whether or not lots of regular Joes and Janes also do it" that it's difficult to say whether there's a single source of public discomfort.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:57 PM
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106

Hey, all I'm asking for is some better vocab.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 4:59 PM
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107

You don't find the interweaving of cybersex and political joking a bit strange?

Surely you are joking? You remember BitchPhD, right?


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:01 PM
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108

Oh, but yeah, 98 and 101 get it right on the silly vanilla flavor. The only thing that does make it interesting are the political jokes.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:05 PM
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109

There's a difference between talking about sex and politics at the same time and mixing politics into cybersex.


Posted by: teraz kurwa my | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:06 PM
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110

A significant number enforcement mechanisms instill bad intentions and punish charity, and seem designed to do so.


Posted by: text | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:09 PM
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111

Often in our political discourse "serious" basically means "I don't believe in good intentions." Or more specifically, "I don't believe laws intended to do good things can do them," or "I don't trust people to do the right thing on their own." And yet I don't think you can start from that position and actually be right about anything important.


Posted by: text | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:11 PM
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112

I can't find video of it, but here's a transcript of the Parks and Rec scene I was thinking of.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:17 PM
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113

My go-to pecan pie is actually a tart, with a really thin layer of filling (more of a glaze over the nuts), so not too sweet and goopy like most pecan pie, and with a drizzle of dark chocolate over the top. People like it.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:19 PM
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109: There's a difference between talking about sex and politics at the same time and mixing politics into cybersex.

I'm not seeing this. The female participant probably threw in the political talk to keep things interesting (and funny) You've never flirted this way?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:28 PM
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I'm not generally big on sweets or cakes, but oh man do I love some pecan pie.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:31 PM
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116

||

I laboriously and conscientiously watered the garden an hour ago -- laboriously because it was 105 degrees F when I left work, just under 100 when I did this -- and now it is raining! D'oh.

|>


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:32 PM
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61: You know what's really depressing? I tried to google the story, and the first story I found in S&S of a soldier committing suicide after being overstressed in Iraq from this week wasn't the one you were talking about. I found the one about the female surgeon (who didn't get anything like the harassment the kid in the story you were talking about did) first.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:36 PM
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118

Yes pecan!


Posted by: Barry O. | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:37 PM
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119

118 falling after 117 is rather unfortunate. Preview failure.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:39 PM
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120

Often in our political discourse "serious" basically means "I don't believe in good intentions."

1. Slate* published "How To Be 'Morally Serious' " in August 2001:

From this sample, it would appear that neocons have cornered the market if not on moral seriousness itself, then certainly on use of the term "moral seriousness." Hence, it is morally serious to want the state to dictate when life begins, but morally frivolous to want the state to refrain from deciding when a criminal's life should end. To contemplate the evils of communism is morally serious. To contemplate the shortcomings of capitalism is morally frivolous. To abhor anti-religious prejudice is morally serious. To abhor racial prejudice is morally frivolous (though it used to be morally serious back in Martin Luther King's day). To worry about the effects of excessive taxation is morally serious. To worry about the effects of excessive pollution is morally frivolous. And so on.

2. David Brooks once described himself, on the PBS NewsHour, as "comfortable with inequality," which I hope wasn't exactly what he intended to convey.

* I can't remember whether the Internet hates Timothy Noah. I assume it does.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:43 PM
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121

It's not normal for realtors to talk at length about shitty their options are and then fail to return a phone call or send an email they promised, is it? This is making me grumpy. Why do people not want me to pay them money for things?


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:45 PM
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122

+how


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:45 PM
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116: A slug (or maybe a fox) ate all of our parsley and our sunflowers. Left the eggplant and basil.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:52 PM
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116: You're lucky if you're just getting rain and not the thunderstorm with intermittent power outages I'm getting here. Lights just blinked again! At least the wireless kept going that time.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:55 PM
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But at least tomorrow will be ten degrees cooler than today, when it was barely tolerable to be outdoors for five minutes.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:55 PM
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126

121: Yes, it is.


Posted by: Moby Hick | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 5:59 PM
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127

The female participant probably threw in the political talk to keep things interesting (and funny)

A former advisor, when I asked about putting Clarissa on my orals list, got all misty-eyed and mused that he had last read it twenty years ago, out loud (and I presume in bed), with his late wife.

Hottt. And so specifically nerdy.

The referents of your sexy-talk will be the referents of your shared culture--especially between people who pretty much only know each other through that specific interest.

If I wanted to sexx-chat with Anthony Weiner for some reason, what on earth would I have to say? "Oh bay-bee, you can filibuster my appointment any day?" "I'll run to grab your microphone, IYKWIM, AITYD." "If you second the motion, I'll let you just pass on in..."

I'm sure that apostropher can come up with much better.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:01 PM
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128

120 is good, especially since I have no idea who Timothy Noah is. And David Brooks has been an apologist for something nobody's quite clear on for some time now. David Brooks: not morally serious.

To Natilo's complaint upthread about why we aren't hearing more from faith-based leaders about, or against, a variety of conservative-inflected public policy moves: I don't know. That Catholic university in DC spoke out against Boehner, but then retracted somewhat. I really don't know.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:03 PM
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128.2: Well, there's Jim Wallis of Sojourners, but I speculate that a non-negligible reason we don't see or hear more from anti-right-wing religious leaders is demographic: the mainline liberal Protestant denominations have been shrinking for decades, with their potential consituents diffusing not necessarily to megachurches with indoor soccer pitches but to the growing "not religious/not affiliated" class, where they aren't in the audience for a moralizing, politicized religiosity.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:11 PM
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127 gets it right. Also! The Weiner sex-chat sounds like what people do as beginners. (I mean, I don't know what people do at advanced level.) But it's all pretty awkward, and it's likely that some people revert to formula -- is your pussy tight and wet? is your dick thick and hard?

Obviously, boo. But it seems so innocent and almost charming, in a way.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:11 PM
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130: Perhaps in phone sex originality counts for less than style. Consider how much one can get out of even an old chestnut like "What are you wearing?"

One hears.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:14 PM
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Obviously, boo.

Awww. Parsi called us her "boo".


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:15 PM
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I like Timothy Noah.


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:23 PM
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129: Okay, but those leaders of mainline liberal Protestant denominations would not be speaking to their hypothetically shrinking number of constituents, but to the public at large.

I speculate that at least some things religious leaders may be doing are simply not covered by the press, which is to say that the former don't engage in civil disobedience, which was Natilo's complaint. And I don't know why that is.

I'm not familiar with whatever hierarchies may be in place among the Protestant denominations. Is there pressure on rank-and-file ministers not to alienate potential constituents by taking political positions?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:24 PM
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The Robert's Rules of Order website has all kinds of material about the regulations for motions, large and small assemblies, agreement vs. consent vs. compliance, confidence & friendliness & conflict, and, of course, how best to phrase a request for recusal.

Surely helpful for your politically erudite sexx-chats, anyhow!


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:34 PM
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Oh, there's going to be a rider attached, alright.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:37 PM
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125: But at least tomorrow will be ten degrees cooler than today, when it was barely tolerable to be outdoors for five minutes.

Totally, man. We did have the rolling-through thunder, and some big winds, and I ran around opening all the windows -- fresh air! -- but it seems to have died down now to a still. Drat. No power outage, tho' I did fear it.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:41 PM
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it was 105 degrees F when I left work, just under 100 when I did this

Heh, around 65 here right now. Cool, breezy, scattered clouds. Rained a bit this morning. Might get all the way up to 76 tomorrow.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:45 PM
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I'm not familiar with whatever hierarchies may be in place among the Protestant denominations. Is there pressure on rank-and-file ministers not to alienate potential constituents by taking political positions?

Not that I have ever heard. Some organizations seem paralyzedly stuck in the '70s, "working" trips to Cuba and kibbutzes and all that, but I have not heard of top-down dictates if that sort. My father used to complain about bad, thoughtless administration and a lack of imagination, but people's hearts tend to be in the right places, although I might feel differently if I were a woman or not heterosexual.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:48 PM
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but people's hearts tend to be in the right places, although I might feel differently if I were a woman or not heterosexual

Or poor, or black? As I said in the other thread the other night, I don't know anything about Congregationalists.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:51 PM
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141

When trying non-germane amendments, make sure you've already agreed on a motion to reconsider.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:52 PM
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(If your lobbyist-supplied bill remains under consideration for more than four hours, consult your parliamentarian.)


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 6:54 PM
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Continuing to be way off-topic, does anyone with experience in the Boston real estate market know what the hell is going on when I find ads from several different real estate companies all of whom appear to be showing the same apartment?


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 7:03 PM
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Further to 140: I should be clear that I'm not attacking you, your faith, your father. I just am wondering whether political activism is considered a necessary part of various faith-based practices, and if not, why not.

On the other hand. We do practice a separation of church and state around here.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 7:05 PM
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Ime, religious people on the left are roundly and routinely ignored by the media because they don't fit into an established narrative. Even though the greatest figure in the history of the American left was also a great minister, but whatevs.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 7:14 PM
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I like the Reverend Horton Heat, but don't you think that's a bit much?


Posted by: k-sky | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 7:22 PM
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I hear you, Halford, even though I'm an atheist. And glad to hear you're okay.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 7:31 PM
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145:Robert Drinan or Daniel Berrigan?


Posted by: bob mcmanus | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:14 PM
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73 was a real classic.


Posted by: yoyo | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:46 PM
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"As a theoretical matter, if someone has already started using vodka in crusts (to add moisture that burns off in cooking) and had good success, is there any reason that person couldn't switch to another high-proof liquor that would flavor the crust as well as moisture?"

Well, i think it won't 'fail', but probably not be worth the extra expense of good liquor. The most important flavor in most liquor (besides actual alcohol) is the vanillin from the oak barrels, and though i don't know about the flavors in liquor, actual vanilla-bean vanilla evaporates just like the ETOH (hence adding vanilla at the end of cooking). THough if you got it into the icky white topping, that might work.

Are you adding chocolate because it tastes good, or because judges know that they like chocolate, and so if they taste chocolate they'll think 'hey, thats that chocolate flavor I like. Umpteen megapoints!'


Posted by: yoyo | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 8:59 PM
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144: No, I understand, but the poor and the black, and efforts to aid them, have always been regarded highly, in my experience. I mentioned women and non-heterosexuals because I think the shortcomings in liberal Protestantism have tended to be those of vision, rather than seeing-what-is-in-front-of-you, and liberal ministers and congregations were not absent from the right side of the conflicts of the '50s and '60s. Also, to be fair, the ordination of women has been commonplace for a couple of decades now.


Posted by: Flippanter | Link to this comment | 06- 9-11 9:09 PM
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