PK sez "rie-sip" cause he read it before he really heard it. I say it right, but, can't spell it right.
1: Chamomile teabag, bit of Jim Beam, healthy slice of lemon, maybe half a tablespoon of honey, boiling water, a good stir, and then read about the debate. I think it's quite fungible, but I was going for simple and easy.
Oh, and not reading about the debate would probably help your heart rate.
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After watching a brief and shallow ESPN bio, I have a new favorite gay man: Sean Avery. Dirty fucking hoser hockey player, but he decides to spend the off season interning at Vogue. He's like a reverse Sarah Palin.
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3: You do not put Jim beam in sick tea. You use only the best liquor if you must use any. You want to tax the liver/excretory systems as little as possible. Using Jim Beam rather than maker's introduces all sorts of incidental toxins. That said, my recipe is eerily similar to yours, the only difference being that I replace Jim Beam with patron.
But you shouldn't treat any sickness with alcohol. It's a serious CNS and ANS depressant, and while that doesn't directly bear on your typical illness, it's basic enough that I'd worry about disrupting standard autonomic shit.
Use cask-strength scotch. There was one in particular that Dave Wondrich once recommended as the Hippocratic Oath in a bottle.
Also, you should fill the glass up with boiling water and let that sit for a bit before spilling it out, adding the booze & whatnot, and then adding more water; it'll stay hot longer.
I just make hot tea with milk and add a sloosh of whisky.
I don't pretend it's good for me, but it certainly makes me feel better.
If you put liver extract in your mixed drinks, you protect yourself from cirrhosis. Fact.
What's this tea shit in your whisky?
Whisky, hot water, sugar or honey, lemon. That is all.
Whisky, hot water, sugar or honey, lemon. That is all.
That's what grandma used to make. I used to fake colds at grandma's house.
Cask strength Scotch. That's all. Liver extract a few days later, if ever.
I was once in dire need of a hot toddy and had no sweeteners in the house but brown sugar, and that did me right well.
nattarGcM speaks the truth. A Chamomile teabag? You're sicker than you know.
14: Actually, I rather like Chamomile tea.
It's a little early in the morning to be missing alcohol.
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Minnesota's wacky Christian Congresslady Michelle Bachman received donations from wacky Christian criminal Frankie Viennes, who is an affiliate of the wacky Christian scam artist Tom Petters of Sun Country Airlines.
A totally unique billion dollar fraud apparently completely unrelated to everything else that's happening. A billion looks tiny in the context of the bailout, but it's pretty impressive for one guy.
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"I went through the agony of childbirth. I gave up booze for nine months. HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO YOUR MOTHER?"
20: It'll be longer than 9 months unless heebie is one of those horrible, selfish mothers who don't care enough about the brand-new life she's brought into the world to breastfeed her tiny, vulnerable baby.
"I went through the agony of childbirth. I gave up booze for five years. HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO YOUR MOTHER?"
At the hospital where my daughter was born, you could choose whether you wanted a glass of wine with your dinner, and everyone thought this was very civilized and sensible helping new mums relax and feed their babies. Needless to say, (a) they were right and (b) this was not in the United States.
I thought you could pump first if you wanted to drink? And then wait some recommended period of time?
Didn't know what you were getting into, eh?
I think it's just better to put the beer directly in the baby's bottle. But let it go flat first, because you don't want hiccups and colic.
I thought you could pump first if you wanted to drink? And then wait some recommended period of time?
From everything I've read and been told, you can totally have a glass of wine and breastfeed. Feeding before drinking would probably be ideal if you were paranoid about it. The main concern with drinking and breastfeeding seems to be that they don't recommend manipulating a baby while drunk.
Yeah, if you're planning on falling down the stairs later in the evening, don't be breastfeeding then.
Actually, I've heard the opposite, that some naturopaths recommend a home brew, because it stimulates lactation and has lots of vitamin B.
they don't recommend manipulating a baby while drunk.
Who's the one that loves ya, provides you everythin' ya got kiddo? Huh? huh? Yeah that'd be me. Yeah, right here, the broad you're lookin' at. And don' ever forget that. You owe me, big time. I dun it all for you. Not that lout you see around here sometimes, it's me whose sacrificin'.
Dude, you can totally drink and breastfeed. I wouldn't get smashed, because seriously drunk and babycare is a bad idea, but do the math. Say, the alcohol content of breastmilk is going to be comparable to your blood alcohol content at the time (probably not exact, but it gives you a reasonable approximation). Say you have two drinks, and your BAC gets up to 00.10% -- enough that you weren't legal to drive. Now think about what that means in terms of something the baby is drinking -- that's a small enough percentage of alcohol that it would be completely imperceptible in a beverage.
And yes, good beer is good for breastfeeding. Hops stimulate lactation.
I thought you were supposed to have Guinness while breastfeeding. Or, what LB said.
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in; it's a thread about drinking and breastfeeding. LB's quite right, and so is Ben about warming the glass.
I thought you were supposed to have Guinness while breastfeeding. Or, what LB said.
That's what my grandmother always said. Grandma apparently thought alcohol was a universal panacea.
I'll go further. You can drink while pregnant. The entire human race did this for thousands of years. Europeans definitely did it during the golden age of Western civilization. Like, don't you think Michaelangelo's mom and Leonardo da Vinci's mom had a glass of wine with dinner? Haven't you noticed the pronounced lack of Renaissance-level geniuses in our culture lately? There could be a connection.
Truthfully, fetal alcohol syndrome only comes into play when the mother is pretty much an alcoholic and is knocking back a fifth a day. Even modern medical authorities, when they're honest and not alcohol-paranoid, do admit that a glass of wine a day is actually fine.
35 - not to mention that if that glass of wine helps mom chill out it's probably a net win for the baby. A tiny bit of alcohol vs. being pickled in stress hormones.
So Heebie, cut down to the equivalent of a pint of 86 proof a day and you're cool.
Not everyone can drink like a Minnesota Scandanavian, Emerson.
LB's quite right, and so is Ben about warming the glass.
Warming the breastmilk is correct, but if your child is drinking from a glass it's probably time to wean.
The Germans are the champs. The Catholic Church around here thought Prohibition was anti-Catholic and basically sanctioned moonshining as a form of civil disobedience and an exercise of religious liberty. It wasn't just the communion wine they were talking about, either. A tinsmith at St. John's Abbey provided technical help, and Minnesota moonshine was higher quality than that from elsewhere and had brand names.
If you put the beer in a tippy cup the toddler wastes less.
Haven't you noticed the pronounced lack of Renaissance-level geniuses in our culture lately? There could be a connection.
No, the Renaissance-level geniuses are still around, they're just wasting their time reading blogs, or zoned out in front of a television.
I'm generally on-board with the occasional drink while breastfeeding approach (back in the day, whatever authoritative source I dug up said any alcohol in the breast milk from one drink would be gone in four hours -- so, naturally, I would enjoy my drink right before, after or while nursing and keep a religious eye on the clock).
On the other hand, anecdotal observation, if you continue to nurse while pounding margaritas all night and the baby seems especially cranky the next morning, you might want to consider cutting back. (True story -- the mom in question then refused to take any Tylenol the next morning for her hangover, because she was nursing... ) Of course, the kid is perfectly healthy and exceptionally bright these many years later, so no (long-term) harm, no (long-term) foul.
Even modern medical authorities, when they're honest and not alcohol-paranoid, do admit that a glass of wine a day is actually fine.
More importantly, there's no basis whatsoever for the teetotal position - no reliable studies* have been done showing the effects of varying amounts of drinking. So all they know is that alcoholics have damaged babies, and teetotalers don't. In France they actively advise women to drink wine while pregnant (while avoiding lettuce - apparently for fear of e. coli).
* I think that it's difficult to get reliable participants - "OK, you have exactly 2 drinks every day, you have one a day plus three on the weekends," etc.
44: Yeah, if you want to get reassured about this stuff, Dan Savage's book on adopting, The Kid, has a good chapter on their reaction when they found out the pregnant woman who's baby they were planning to adopt when it was born had been drinking: initially terrified, and then after some research not worried at all.
39 - Especially if your child is drinking from a champagne glass.
In America, jogging during pregnancy is very healthy but having a glass of wine is totally irresponsible. In France, it's the other way around. In Australia, both are a good idea.
Jogging pregnant while drinking wine strikes me as too many things at once.
Use cask-strength scotch.
My scotch drinking buddy asked me to try some Macallan he had just bought, but neglected to tell me it was cask strength. When it was time to go home, I stood up and found I could barely walk.
My wife had some trouble breast feeding, and the doctor recommended beer.
49 - I doubt if you could do it, John.
The French don't drink while jogging. They smoke.
I could do two of the three, I think.
No one better take away my jogging.
Are you totally reveling in your newfound permission to exercise? Make the most of it, because you don't have that long before "incredibly clumsy" sets in. Having your center of gravity move around the way it does when you're pregnant really threw me off balance.
My wife had some trouble breast feeding, and the doctor recommended beer.
i would recommend a millet porridge, i don't know why it helps lactation, but it helps
when i told that to my chinese coworker he was so surprised and was like repeatedly exclaiming, millet? people eat millet? we feed it to cows something
my not very warm feelings towards Chinese got like several degrees down
I've heard oatmeal (porridge) recommended here -- I never had supply problems myself, but people I knew swore by it. Possibly whatever it is in millet is the same as in oatmeal.
Also fenugreek (which you get from your local hippie-dippie healthfood herbal remedies store.) Same deal -- never needed it, but heard it recommended from personal experience a lot.
Millet: a grain, which in China is generally given to cows, but in Mongolia appears to support the people.
(which you get from your local hippie-dippie healthfood herbal remedies store.)
Or from your grocery store, with the rest of the spices.
Millet/Chinese-food story. Not that it has anything to do with anything, you just reminded me.
In Korea, the canonical cure for breastfeeding difficulties is seaweed soup. You're supposed to eat it immediately after childbirth, to restore your strength, and it also stimulates lactation.
Of course, the kid is perfectly healthy and exceptionally bright these many years later, so no (long-term) harm, no (long-term) foul.
Still, I think it is odd that Rory like salt around the edge of her milk cup.
56: Oddly, millet was the most important grain in the earliest Chinese records. It had a ritual importance and a big God dedicated to it. But that already was ancient history 2000 years ago.
it's actually pretty tasty with milk butter, sugar, i like it better than rice porridge
maybe he was just genuinely surprised and maybe even tried it to feed his wife who was having trouble to breastfeed his newborn daughter, i didn't follow it then
otherwise he was pretty gentle and nice, good humored guy, he used to argue with another Japanese researcher about politics all the time and they never agreed on anything, it was so funny to listen
Some friends of ours referred to the breast milk baby got after mom had a couple beers as "the sleepy milk." They can get enough alcohol to feel the effects in their tiny bodies, but its all pretty mild. If you are drinking moderately, they are drinking moderately, and drinking moderately is good for you.
also, to have a good sleep is very important i recall for the prolactin release
Thanks for the advice, Mineshaft. Seeing as the kids in question are now nine and eleven I may have some difficulty explaining to their mother the change in diet.
If they're not sleeping well, have a few extra beers.
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I more or less believe it. There are lots of whoremongers in NYC.
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If they're not sleeping well, have a few extra beers.
A bold choice. Even if they are sleeping well.
Spitzer must have been a member of the wrong eating club at Princeton, or he would have been in on the plan.
55: Couldn't she swim? And then post about it?
It's funny to see this thread on the same week that I have chased around to three different stores trying to buy millet. Fie on you and your fancy menus, The Flexitarian Table!
I love millet. For about a month in 2005, I lived almost entirely on a mixture of millet, quinoa, and beluga lentils. Yum.
70: I kind of believe it too. While I'm generally not crazy about arguments of the form "It can't have happened that way, he wouldn't have been so stupid," the way Spitzer got busted rang funny to me. I don't know the details of what triggers an investigation in terms of moving money around, but Spitzer should have known that stuff cold, and seemed to have been conscious of it in what he was doing, which makes having screwed that up, particularly, surprising. (If he'd gotten caught because he'd talked to people, or been seen, I wouldn't blink an eye.)
I don't have the specific knowledge to opine, but it had the feel of someone looking for dirt on Spitzer and finding something, rather than Spitzer's name coming up in the course of normal investigatory practices.
I vaguely know some self-righteous wingers who would rant about Spitzer interfering with our glorious financial markets. I want to stab them to death right about now.
76: You recall the potential Roger Stone connection don't you? I forget all of the exact timelines and details, but even apart from the possible Stone invovlement to me it was manifestly clear that this was definitely not picked up as a matter of routine oversight. (And not surprisingly.)
There was massive applause on the floor of the NYSE when the news about the prostitutes hit the wires.
But realistically, don't a huge number of these white-collar or "victimless" crimes get discovered when someone tips off the police, rather than by getting "picked up as a matter of routine oversight"?
Spitzer got a real kick out of playing serious hardball against powerful enemies, and left a huge opening for them to get him back.
79: Oh, sure. But what Spitzer did (hiring a prostitute) isn't a white-collar crime, and is very rarely prosecuted. Not saying it shouldn't be, just that it mostly isn't. If Spitzer weren't politically interesting, the conventional prosecutorial response to being tipped off that "Businessman X has sex with hookers" would be to ignore it, or maybe to prosecute the hookers, but not to prosecute Businessman X, or even to bring him into it publicly beyond the minimum necessary to prosecute the prostitution ring.
I'm in a weird rhetorical position on this one. Spitzer did something I disapprove of, and that is against the law. But if things went down the way I think they did, it was not only a politically motivated tipoff, but a politically motivated prosecution. And that's very, very, very bad -- you start using prosecutors to attack political opponents, and you stop being what I think of as a free country very quickly.
75 - how did you cook them? I'd love to find some genuinely wholesome and very simple foods to make and your list is intriguing. I really hate cooking and have no skills in that area, but I'm thinking about making some effort to fix that.
Businessman X has sex with hookers
But... Spitzer wasn't a businessman. He was a US prosecutor, NY Attorney General, and NY Governor. All of these (especially the first two) are immensely powerful positions with huge amount of discretion in how that power is exercised. Didn't Sptizer send people to jail for running prostitution rings? I know that a lot of his work as the NYAG took the form of "Hey there, Mr. Big Company Executive. You've done a lot of bad stuff. I'm going to bring criminal charges against you, or you could just not contest it have your company pay some huge fine."
To some extent prosecutors need this sort of power and discretion to be able to work effectively, but that means unethical behavior has to be kept on a really short leash. Sending madams to federal prison while patronizing hookers at the same time? No bueno.
That's all fine, WM, but what we're saying is that a.) Spitzer was really doing a good job, possibly the best in the country, and the finance and management problems we're talking about, and b.) we think that in some way he was set up. I think that the country would be much, much better off if Spitzer were still in office, whether that was because he was squeaky clean (the best option) or whether it was because he got away with it.
82 also misses the point a little. I'm not talking about justice to Spitzer, who did something bad, and I wouldn't mind if we lived in a world where patronizing prostitutes ("No, really, I think the pleather skirt looks charming on you!") was conventionally prosecuted. But this:
"Hey there, Mr. Big Company Executive. You've done a lot of bad stuff. I'm going to bring criminal charges against you, or you could just not contest it have your company pay some huge fine."
describes a prosecutor using threats of prosecution for law-enforcement ends. This can be done unethically (and can be done for political self aggrandizement), but the primary goal is to enforce the law (or to make oneself look good by appearing to enforce the law). That's what prosecutors are supposed to do.
What seems to have happened to Spitzer is that the USAtt'y (not whoever phoned in the tip, but the prosecutor who received it), conducted an unusual prosecution in an unusual fashion so as to destroy the career of a political opponent. The goal wasn't enforcement of any law, it was the infliction of political damage. When prosecutors are being used to take out political opponents, that's a very bad thing to happen.
80
... but a politically motivated prosecution. ...
Did I miss something? Has Spitzer been prosecuted?
83
... I think that the country would be much, much better off if Spitzer were still in office, whether that was because he was squeaky clean (the best option) or whether it was because he got away with it.
Spitzer was not being careful, the prostitutes knew who he was. Which made him subject to blackmail. Better he go than he stay as someone's puppet.
As far as I know, Spitzer hasn't been charged. The manner in which the prosecution of the prostitution ring has been conducted seems to be politically motivated.
Basically, what happened already is the worst that could have happened. No one is admiring what Spitzer did.
If his career was destroyed by publicity coming from the prosecutor's department, even though he wasn't prosecuted, that makes the setup look even more likely.
Misuse of prosecutorial and judicial authority is pretty common in NY. I can think of three other cases.
In other words, Spitzer's behavior was ill-advised, not because of something that might have happened, but for what actually did happen.
88
Basically, what happened already is the worst that could have happened. No one is admiring what Spitzer did.
You don't read enough spy novels. The worst that could have happened is the prostitution ring could have filmed Spitzer with prostitutes and used the films to pressure Spitzer into further wrongful actions all of which they recorded until he was totally in their power as he was elected President.
Ah, but you neglect to note that they could have achieved the same result by threatening his family even in the absence of any wrongdoing on his part. The only solution is limiting public office only to those not only of impeccable private morals, but with no close ties, or emotions of any sort. Cyborgs, maybe.
Come to think of it, Shearer, you ever think of a political career?
You read too many spy novels. I stand on what I said.
87
As far as I know, Spitzer hasn't been charged. The manner in which the prosecution of the prostitution ring has been conducted seems to be politically motivated.
A lot of prostitution ring prosecutions seem politically motivated (in the get the prosecutor's name in the media sense) to me.
92
You read too many spy novels. I stand on what I said.
Even neglecting more lurid scenarios this could have blown up at a worse time like after Spitzer was elected President. Although I suppose you could argue that was unlikely because Spitzer had already failed as Governor.
politically motivated (in the get the prosecutor's name in the media sense)
Yeah, that's really different. A media-hungry prosecutor can be harmless, or even good, if they're trying to get press by doing a really impressive job on big cases. It can be counterproductive or unethical if the prosecutor is making unprofessional decisions based on a desire for publicity, and that's a bad thing (Giuliani was awful about this stuff, and I've heard mixed things about Spitzer). But it's not using the prosecutorial power in a targeted fashion to take out political opponents, which is a much more significant evil.
I should reiterate that I'm suspicious, to the point of having formed a pretty firm belief, about what happened to Spitzer, but I don't have either personal knowledge, or the sort of general insider knowledge that would let me be personally certain about it.
(And I do have to differ from Emerson in saying that one can't possibly read too many thrillers. Although I can't think of many I've read lately that I'd call literally spy novels.)
95
... A media-hungry prosecutor can be harmless, or even good, if they're trying to get press by doing a really impressive job on big cases. ...
No media-hungry prosecutor is likely to pass up a case like this involving the Governor of New York. What do you think Spitzer would have done if he had caught Pataki in a similar situation? I know how I would bet.
My primary point is that it's too bad that Spitzer's out of action. My secondary point is that I suspect that he was was set up by political enemies, as often happens in New York. Nothing Shearer has said speaks against these points, but he seems to think that he's arguing with me.
His spy-novel scenario strikes me as far-fetched; under those circumstances I'm pretty sure Spitzer would have bitten the bullet and quit, the way he just did.
97: Possibly, in the sense that anyone who sees a wallet dropped on the street is likely to take the money out of it, but that would be serious misconduct. (And doesn't seem to be the explanation here. I'd have to look up the prosecutor's name; whoever it was didn't bask in the glory of having taken out a Governor much.)
There's also a difference in scale. You're right, Spitzer might have gone after Pataki if he'd had a similar opportunity out of personal ambition -- trying to knock out a rival for a job Spitzer wanted. (Maddeningly, I have an illustrative story in this regard that I can't tell for professional reasons.) That would have been serious misconduct on Spitzer's part if it had happened, but on some level not all that important -- stuff happens, and if you leave yourself open to attack, people will attack you, even wrongfully.
What I think happened to Spitzer, on the other hand, when you put it together with everything else we've heard about the Bush Justice Department, including the Siegelman prosecution, is that the Federal prosecutorial apparatus as a whole had been subverted to the end of damaging Democratic politicians that the administration perceived as threatening. If that is what was going on, that's a hugely horrifying deal.
96
(And I do have to differ from Emerson in saying that one can't possibly read too many thrillers. Although I can't think of many I've read lately that I'd call literally spy novels.)
Any recommendations?
Nah, I've been having trouble finding ones I like lately. I read all of those godawful Jack Reacher things (the author's Lee Childs?), and while they're good enough to make me buy the next one, they're not any better than that. And I have to stop every so often to crack up at the descriptions of the hero (I swear there's a moment where the author describes him as so broadshouldered he has to aim carefully to get through doors without running into the frames).
99
What I think happened to Spitzer, on the other hand, when you put it together with everything else we've heard about the Bush Justice Department, including the Siegelman prosecution, is that the Federal prosecutorial apparatus as a whole had been subverted to the end of damaging Democratic politicians that the administration perceived as threatening. If that is what was going on, that's a hugely horrifying deal.
Isn't this more or less what Spitzer was caught doing with respect to Bruno?
No, but I mayn't argue about that one.
Nah, I've been having trouble finding ones I like lately. I read all of those godawful Jack Reacher things (the author's Lee Childs?), and while they're good enough to make me buy the next one, they're not any better than that. ...
Apparently your tastes are even lower than mine. My brother recently gave me the first two Reacher books and while I finished them I didn't have any great desire to get the rest. Are you familiar with Michael Connelly or John Sandford .
Thrillers you say? I have been working my way through the entire corpus of morose Scandinavian ambiguous police detective novels.
Henning Mankell > Åke Edwardson > Arnalfur Indriðason > Helene Tursten > Kjell Eriksson > Håkan Nesser > Karin Fossum, so far.
CN's use of the more obscure heavy-metal letters is appreciated.
Nope, those are both new to me, but I'll look for them.
Laurence Block? I like the Matt Scudder books, and, and he had a couple more about a hit man lately that weren't terrible.
And yes, my tastes in this regard are embarrassingly primitive. They're very specific, but I'm not sure quite how to quantify what I'm looking for, except that I toss aside a lot of thrillers as not being what I'm looking for at all. The Reacher things are, annoyingly, squarely within the niche of the kind of tripe I enjoy, just particularly dumb examples of it.
Out of all those authors, I think Mankell and Eriksson are probably the most Thrilling. No niche letters in their names though.
What do you think of the Wahlöö/Sjöwald books, CN?
I dön't knöw. Have been sticking with bööks less than 15 years öld, sö far.
107
Laurence Block? I like the Matt Scudder books, and, and he had a couple more about a hit man lately that weren't terrible.
I have read most of those. I liked the Scudder books ok although the later ones include an Irish gangster friend I could do without.
I suppose you have tried Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald . I mostly liked the Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe) books but they may be outside your niche.
What I think happened to Spitzer, on the other hand, when you put it together with everything else we've heard about the Bush Justice Department, including the Siegelman prosecution, is that the Federal prosecutorial apparatus as a whole had been subverted to the end of damaging Democratic politicians that the administration perceived as threatening. If that is what was going on, that's a hugely horrifying deal.
I guess it depends.
Siegelman is horrifying, because as near as I can tell he did nothing wrong and actually went to jail. I can't tell if the DoJ set up a task force to find something to nail Spitzer with, or if Roger Stone's prostitute told him her friend was getting paid for unprotected anal from Spitzer and he called up the DoJ and said "guess what I just heard?"
I'd be bothered in the first case, not really bothered by the second case (which is what seems most plausible to me), and if something like this had happened to Giuliani I'd be cheering.
Not to be heavy-handed, but this kind of thing doesn't seem to happen to Giuliani, but he or someone in his administration has done stuff like that. And Scott Ritter's sealed NY court file was briefly unsealed to discredit him at a key moment. And a NY Republican Senate candidate was caught doing thar kind of thing.
Hey, LB. Do you like Donald Westlake/Richard Stark?
Alas, you are probably not here anymore.
Stuff published as Donald Westlake is mostly comic (or blackly comic, like The Ax, which is becoming topical again); the Richard Stark books are almost all about his great-white-shark of a armed robber Parker, and are mostly terrific. (Point Blank, the Lee Marvin movie, is an adaption of the first.) You've got to love a book that opens "When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."
I just read The Friends of Eddie Coyle for the first time, but it's a little un-thrilling for what you want. Good, though!
re: 107
Have you read any Michael Marshall?
[Not his literary quasi-SF stuff -- which isn't really SF much at all -- that he publishes as Michael Marshall Smith]
104. Michael Connelly nails the geography of LA. None of this turn right at Malibu and you're in Hollywood crap.
Nero Wolfe, absolutely. And Donald Westlake, although while I've liked what I've read, for some reason I've never exhausted his backlist -- maybe I should do this. I did like The Ax a lot. Never read the Stark books. And never heard of Marshall, but if that's a recommendation, I'll look into him.
113:
not really bothered by the second case (which is what seems most plausible to me),
I'm not sure if you're disagreeing with me or just not following me. It's not about the tip, it's about what the prosecutor does with the tip. "Mr. X is getting unprotected anal from a prostitute" isn't something that a federal prosecutor has any interest in from a law enforcement point of view. It's only interesting if the prosecutor's motive is to screw with Spitzer, particularly, for political reasons.
Having a prosecutor going after people for political reasons is a real problem, regardless of whether they're pure as the driven snow or not. Politically motivated prosecutions are very,very scary.
re: 121
Marshall's thriller stuff under his name is vaguely conspiracy thriller/quasi-supernatural stuff. But fairly hard-boiled. Like Westlake or someone with a slight overlay of the occult /X-Files.
There's three novels in a vague series (The Straw Men), and a fourth (The Intruders) which is distinct and which I wasn't quite as keen on.
He writes really well, though. His quasi-SF stuff, which is more literary I suppose, is also really well written.
I'll add Mark Mills. I read Amagansett after seeing it touted at Crooked Timber. Very good.
123: Sounds like it's up my alley. I'll look for them.
Eric Ambler. I think I made this recommendation in another thread.
Who cares if he wrote 50 years ago, he's still good.
My mom has been reading a lot of Patricia Highsmith recently and has the highest praise.
126
I liked some of Ambler's books a lot.