Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZARDBREATH!

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Happy Birthday, Elbee!


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 10:50 AM
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Happy Birthday!


Posted by: soup biscuit | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 10:51 AM
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Soon you will be a grownup, LB, and will be able to do grownup things.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 10:53 AM
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Happy Birthday, LB.


Posted by: mike d | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 10:55 AM
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5

LB is only about 18 in lizard years


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 10:58 AM
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5: All you other Lizards? LB is finally legal!


Posted by: oudemia | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 10:59 AM
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The Tuatara is a very unusual lizard-like reptile. The Wiki is pretty garbled.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:02 AM
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Happy Lizardbirthday!


Posted by: Magpie | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:03 AM
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Aitch bee, Elbee!


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:04 AM
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Aw, thanks. This makes up for feeling all agéd.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:04 AM
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Happy lizardbirthday, whippersnapper. (I'm going to be 42 at my next...)


Posted by: Jesurgislac | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:07 AM
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Hey, happy birthday!


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:09 AM
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Tuatara, who would definitely regard LB as jailbait. Happy birthday.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:11 AM
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14

Land Crab attack


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:18 AM
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Happy Birthday, youngin.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:25 AM
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14: What are you trying to say, Emerson?


Posted by: Sir Kraab | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:29 AM
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Happy Lizard, Birthday Breath!


Posted by: jms | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:32 AM
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Everyone needs to see a land crab attack. No deeper message is implied or suggested. It was on the same page as the Tuatara.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:32 AM
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Happy birthday to you/Happy birthday to you/Happy birthday deeeaaaarrrrrr Liz-ard Breath....happy birthday to yoooouuu!

(Be very glad you are not close enough to have heard that.)


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:33 AM
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I just picked up the mail. In it was, I kid you not, an offer of life insurance from the AARP. I'm going to start drinking now.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:33 AM
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Happy Birthday, Lizard Breath.

It is also my brothers birthday, and the 34th Anniversary of Nixon's Resignation. You must have had a fine 3rd.


Posted by: bend | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:34 AM
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||

No more masturbating to Bernie Mack.

|>


Posted by: zadfrack | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:35 AM
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I'm going to start drinking now.

Mimosas for the birthday girl!


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:39 AM
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re: 20

Yikes! I started getting AARP stuff once I turned 50. Getting it at your tender age is tough.

Drinking does seem to be in order.


Posted by: Idealist | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:39 AM
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Cake for LB! Cake!

I recommend the tres leches.


Posted by: Wrongshore | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:40 AM
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As for the original post: Come to California for hope. Not only do we sue the EPA for not letting us implement our anti-global warming, but our intrepid, unsinkable Attorney General Jerry Brown wanders about the countryside suing whole counties for not having addressing climate change in their general plans. The Bushies' EPA will wrap up business soon, and then the rest of you can so-goes-the-nation.


Posted by: Wrongshore | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:44 AM
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26: So you're saying you like the phrase "Supply Side Environmentalism"? Me too.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:51 AM
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Happy Birthday LB! Someday you'll look back at this birthday and think, "How young I was."


Posted by: mcmc | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:56 AM
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Come to California for hope, LB. And for the cake I would bake you and the bonfire I would throw for you, which I would carefully arrange for maximum LB fun.


Posted by: Megan | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:58 AM
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our intrepid, unsinkable Attorney General Jerry Brown wanders about the countryside suing whole counties for not having addressing climate change in their general plans

And he works out at the gym Magpie and I belong to!


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:59 AM
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the bonfire I would throw for you

She's a little young to need a funeral pyre, don't you think?


Posted by: Josh | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:59 AM
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I have long thought that "individual virtue" solutions to environmental problems are bullshit. Sure, we can recycle individually, but what if the whole manufacturing process was retooled to presuppose recycling? And the list goes on. The only major contribution to environmental degradation that is under the control of individuals is emissions from cars, but again, that's fundamentally a systemic problem (although people shouldn't be so fucking stupid about buying SUVs, etc.).

Sadly, there appears to be some kind of block in the American psyche that prevents the acknowledgment of systemic problems. It looks like we'll be blue-baggin' it all the way to environmental collapse.


Posted by: Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:00 PM
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I've heard that Jerry Brown does curls with 50 kilos on each arm.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:00 PM
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I have long thought that "individual virtue" solutions to environmental problems are bullshit. Sure, we can recycle individually, but what if the whole manufacturing process was retooled to presuppose recycling?

Let's promote Supply Side Environmentalism! It's the newest thing, and everyone's doin' it!


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:02 PM
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Some kind of block in the American psyche that prevents the acknowledgment of systemic problems.

Individualism -- methodological, ontological, political, and ethical. Rational choice theory. Takings laws. Libertarianism. Neo-classical economics. Sacredness of property rights.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:03 PM
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Kotsko, I've always been generally sympathetic to your point of view, but I liked the Pollan argument here, which suggests that acts of "individual virtue" in a democracy constitute a constituency, signalling to leaders that attempts to impose stronger regulations will be well received.

"Supply Side Environmentalism" is henius, geebie.


Posted by: Wrongshore | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:06 PM
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Sadly, there appears to be some kind of block in the American psyche that prevents the acknowledgment of systemic problems.

Except when acknowledging the systemic problem suffices to ensure that no individual action is necessary. (Tire gauge!)


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:08 PM
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38

Happy birthday, LB!

36: "henius"=heinous genius?


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:22 PM
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39

Happy birthday, LB. I hope you have a wonderful day today.


Posted by: ari | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:25 PM
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38: "My opponent, as Reverend Spooner might say, is a shining wit."


Posted by: Wrongshore | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 12:27 PM
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Happy Birthday, LB -- many more!


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 1:00 PM
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Many happy returns LB. Welcome to your late thirties.


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 1:21 PM
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HBLB!

Individual environmentalism gives the evangelist a specific target. And the moralizer a specific victim.


Posted by: Nápi | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 1:23 PM
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Happy Birthday, LB!


Posted by: Lunar Rockette | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 2:38 PM
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Lappy Birthday, Hizard Breath!


Posted by: pdf23ds | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 2:49 PM
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¡Feliz cumpleaños, Aliento de Lagarta!


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 3:38 PM
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Happy birthday, LB.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 3:47 PM
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Happy Birthday, Lizard Baby! You are scarcely a hatchling! You have many many birthdays to come before the Ancient and Exalted Society of Crones even takes notice of your impending eligibility.

I suspect that AARP is getting in touch with people ASAP, what with that hadron collider going online in a month. Oh noes! Hadrons!


Posted by: DominEditrix | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 3:47 PM
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Happy Birthday, LB.


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 4:09 PM
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50

Thirty seven? Scarcely a hatchling indeed. Happy birthday.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 4:17 PM
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While there are far, far too many people in the world, I make an exception for LB. I'm glad she was born. Or sprang fully formed from the brow of a flight attendant, whichever the case may be. Happy birthday.


Posted by: Michael H Schneider | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 4:26 PM
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5: LB is only about 18 in lizard years

Hmmm, and 37x18= 666!!

What are you saying Emerson? Can she not just shuffle off to the AARP in peace?


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 4:37 PM
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LB, crones don't need teeth. You'll save 300+ hours a year of useless brushing, plus dental bills, plus toothpaste.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 4:43 PM
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Happy Birthday, LB.

On a related topic, I have somewhere between a cup and a pint of fresh red currants. Any ideas? Are the pips edible?

OK, not strictly related, except that, were LB here, I would surely make her a red currant-studded dessert.


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 5:02 PM
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Happy birthday, LB.


Posted by: David Weman | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 5:59 PM
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the bonfire I would throw for you

She's a little young to need a funeral pyre, don't you think?

So LB turns 37, and now she's Dido?! So very, very sexist...

(Happy Birthday, LB.)


Posted by: NickFranklin | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 7:04 PM
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LB, happy birthday. Listen not to those who suggest you're old; you know it's ridiculous.

To the topic of the post:

Wrongshore at 36: I liked the Pollan argument here, which suggests that acts of "individual virtue" in a democracy constitute a constituency, signalling to leaders that attempts to impose stronger regulations will be well received.

Interesting, and well-noted*. We all know that the US political system was set up as it is -- checks and balances -- in part in support of conservatism (read: inertia) with respect to change. That doesn't excuse corporate-controlled administration steps to hamstring the EPA, of course.

With regard to the desires of constituents being made known to lawmakers, it's not exactly a secret at this point that we vote with our pocketbooks. We don't have a robust enough means to communicate with our legislators (sans measures many find too onerous, e.g. phoning or emailing them) to let them know what we support. We can and do, however, go about our daily business and let statistics do the talking.

Do I have to say that the fact that many people are financially strapped means that they don't have the freedom to register dissent from the existing system? A plunder-and-control game has been in place for some time now. Control the food (and energy), control the people. Etc.

*Oddly, I read that Pollan article a while back, and didn't cast its argument in that way, though I see it there now.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 7:08 PM
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57: (sans measures many find too oneroususeless, e.g. phoning or emailing them)

Just a friendly amendment.

I've participated in phonezaps and sent emails and written letters and all that jazz. I don't see where any of it has done a lick of good. Those "Citizenletters" that Working Assets gulls people into paying for? They get delivered to the wrong place and sit in a pile in an empty cubicle.

Five minutes with a lobbyist who controls $50,000 in bundled donations is going to sway a politician more than 5,000 impassioned phone calls to his or her secretary.

Representative democracy just doesn't work.

What was the Nuyorkerisch experience of the car-free zones today? The state in all its plutocratic majesty does something that anarchists have been doing for years and suddenly it's not "dangerous" or "chaotic", it's just fun. Hmph. They take away your freedom and sell you past-due rights as compensation.


Posted by: minneapolitan | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 7:36 PM
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Without anarchy we wouldn't have birthdays.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 7:42 PM
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Happy birthday, LB.


Posted by: Mary Catherine | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 7:50 PM
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Minneapolitan, I am trying not to be all bitter and hand-wringy about this. You know perfectly well that there are good reasons for representative democracy. The fact that it's gone wildly astray doesn't yet constitute an argument for its abolition.

Those "Citizenletters" that Working Assets gulls people into paying for? They get delivered to the wrong place and sit in a pile in an empty cubicle.

Is this true?

What was the Nuyorkerisch experience of the car-free zones today?

What's that, now?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 7:53 PM
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Without anarchy we wouldn't have birthdays.

When I was a kid, I only got presents from the U.S. government. Fucking anarchists never gave me a thing.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 7:55 PM
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chuckle, gswift.

Happy Birthday Ms. Breath!


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 8:29 PM
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Happy Birthday!


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 8:31 PM
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Happy Birthday, LB!


Posted by: Biohazard | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 9:00 PM
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Happy birthday! Glasses are raised here in your honor.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 9:06 PM
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Happy Birthday!


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 9:27 PM
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Have the best of birthdays, L.B. Congratulations!


Posted by: Penny | Link to this comment | 08- 9-08 11:54 PM
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I am proud to be the first Unfogged commenter to wish you a happy birthday, Lizardbreath. And yes, you can put that on your resume. In fact, I insist that you do. Chop chop.


Posted by: M/tch M/lls | Link to this comment | 08-10-08 1:03 AM
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Belatedly, happy birthday, LB!


Posted by: Belle Lettre | Link to this comment | 08-10-08 1:38 AM
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I baked you a spice cake, LB! With chocolate-lime frosting.

If you don't get here before tomorrow morning, though, I'll need to take it into work to share out.


Posted by: Jesurgislac | Link to this comment | 08-10-08 5:17 AM
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Happy belated birthday, LB.


Posted by: Knecht Ruprecht | Link to this comment | 08-11-08 6:36 AM
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I'm late with it, but Happy Birthday! Awesome!


Posted by: Robust McManlyPants | Link to this comment | 08-11-08 10:16 AM
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Likewise late, but HB, LB.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 08-12-08 9:30 AM
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Hooray for birthdays and LB.


Posted by: washerdreyer | Link to this comment | 08-12-08 3:32 PM
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