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Thursday Night Open Thread

It's the finale of Project Runway. The guest judge is L'Wren Scott (who is also the long-time girlfriend of Mick Jagger.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    Don't walk Run to Richard III (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by oculus on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:42:04 AM EST
    In San Francisco now. Coming to B.A.M. I say this as a person who was sad to miss game 6. Curran Theater. Kevin Spacey. Directed by Sam Mendes.

    I passed thru Istanbul (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by observed on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 04:01:34 AM EST
    on the way to Astana, and saw notices that Spacey would be bringing that performance to Istanbul.

    Parent
    I'd rather be in Istanbul (5.00 / 2) (#21)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 09:46:07 AM EST
    Cuz Spacey ain't nevah evah comin to Enterprise Bama

    Parent
    on the other side (none / 0) (#22)
    by CoralGables on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 09:54:17 AM EST
    you'll never get LSU/Bama in Istanbul

    Parent
    Istanbul is sobbing (none / 0) (#26)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:09:00 AM EST
    Hey MT (none / 0) (#87)
    by observed on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 11:14:21 AM EST
    i have a private question for you.
    If you have JeffinAL's address, you can get mine from him.

    Parent
    Do you know when it will be at BAM? I'm up for it! (none / 0) (#49)
    by ruffian on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:07:55 PM EST
    Jan 10-Mar 4 (none / 0) (#50)
    by ruffian on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:09:39 PM EST
    If you're in, I'm in... (none / 0) (#52)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:24:59 PM EST
    it's our spot!  But if there is a next time we must schedule some rock-n-roll as well, and show Oculus how our people do culturally:)

    Trade in your listening device for some earplugs Oc!  I see we got Johnny Winter, The Smithereens, Lemonheads, and Umprhey's McGee in town in Jan.

    Parent

    That would be great! (none / 0) (#54)
    by ruffian on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:40:49 PM EST
    I will let you choose the music and venue. I have utmost faith in your judgement!

    Parent
    Soon it'll be Mardi Gras time... (none / 0) (#56)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:47:34 PM EST
    so don't forget The Big Easy. Songs like Tipitina and others like Marie Laveau, and then good jazz, like This, even at funerals!

    More from The Second Line...here.

    and after the burial, time for Didn't He Ramble!

    Time to study up, pirates... Remember Jean Lafitte had his Baratria Bay outpost!

    Parent

    I do need to spend some time... (5.00 / 1) (#61)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:17:26 PM EST
    Down South in New Orleans...so many places, so little time, and even less money:)

    Parent
    Oakland Protester, Iraqi Vet, in Critical... (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by ScottW714 on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 09:55:20 AM EST
    ... condition after being injured by Oakland PD. Shameful

    To survive a war to spread democracy, only to be put near death by Oakland PD for exercising a Constitutional right is... ironic to say the least.

    Oakland PD just cost the taxpayers a fortune in medical bills alone, not to mention the impending lawsuits.  They have made the Oakland no safer, if anything all the cash and man hours diverted to 'sanitation' has most certainly made Oakland unsafer.

    "upgraded from critical to fair condition (none / 0) (#34)
    by me only on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:45:38 AM EST
    overnight"

    Parent
    Fooey (5.00 / 1) (#41)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:23:18 PM EST
    Expecting 5 to 8 inches of snow out this way Saturday.  Meanwhile, I'm making a pan of tyropita today for us, and a pan of spanakopita tomorrow for church on Sunday- we're having a speaker, and providing a luncheon.  This assumes, of course, that they have the roads cleared by Sunday morning so I can get off the mountain.  And if I can't, then we'll be eating both typropita and spanakopita for a week.

    Uhmm, what's your address again? (5.00 / 0) (#44)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:45:14 PM EST
    I'm about to have a Yogi Bear moment.

    Parent
    LOL... (5.00 / 1) (#45)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:49:24 PM EST
    Zorba better be careful, she's gonna have more TL refugees seeking liberty and greek delicacies than she can handle!

    Parent
    Better hurry! (5.00 / 1) (#47)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:04:31 PM EST
    Snow's supposed to start tomorrow morning, forecasting a rain/snow mix changing to all snow by afternoon.  Although, at our elevation, it may be all snow, or snow/ice mixture, in the morning.

    Parent
    Isn't this just a kick in the teeth? (none / 0) (#53)
    by Anne on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:34:13 PM EST
    Here's the National Weather Service warning for my area:

    WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON...

    • PRECIPITATION TYPE... RAIN AND SNOW.

    • ACCUMULATIONS... POTENTIAL FOR FIVE OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW.

    • TIMING... RAIN WILL CHANGE TO SNOW SATURDAY MORNING AND CONTINUE THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

    • IMPACTS... HEAVY WET SNOW WILL LIKELY ACCUMULATE ON TREES. WITH FOLIAGE STILL ON TREES... THE SNOW MAY LEAD TO BROKEN TREE LIMBS AND POWER OUTAGES. HAZARDOUS TRAVEL ON SNOW-COVERED ROADS IS ALSO POSSIBLE.

    • TEMPERATURES... HIGH TEMPERATURES SATURDAY WILL BE IN THE MID TO UPPER 30S... BUT TEMPERATURES WILL FALL INTO THE LOWER 30S SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

    • WINDS... NORTHEAST AROUND 5 MPH SATURDAY MORNING BECOMING NORTHWEST AT 10 TO 20 MPH SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

    Hey, there are worse things than having too much Greek deliciousness to feast on, like maybe having to do it in the dark?


    Parent

    We're projected to get more (none / 0) (#55)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:43:01 PM EST
    snow than you, I think.  Seems to be worse the farther west and north you go.  Snow before Halloween- for pity's sake!

    Parent
    I had a feeling... (none / 0) (#60)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:14:42 PM EST
    autumn was gonna be invisible this year...indian summer straight into winter.

    Parent
    And I'm not happy (none / 0) (#63)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:52:57 PM EST
    about it.   :-(

    Parent
    Yogi laughs at snow (none / 0) (#92)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 08:24:19 PM EST
    Did I Hear Extra Greek Food ? (5.00 / 0) (#48)
    by ScottW714 on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:04:40 PM EST
    I'll send ya my FedEx account number, can't have that going to waste.

    Parent
    Well, I was only going to make (5.00 / 1) (#51)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:12:12 PM EST
    spanakopita, for our church luncheon, originally.  When Mr. Z. saw the phyllo and the cheese in the fridge, he asked "Tyropita?"  I said, no, spanakopita, for church.  (He really prefers the tyropita because he doesn't like spinach, poor man.)  He gave me those "puppy eyes," so I'm making a pan of tyropita for here.  I really ought to figure out how to start an online business, selling "Zorba's Greek Cooking," but it would be such a pain in the butt.  Mailing food involves insulated containers and frozen chill packs, to keep it safe.  Plus overnight shipping.  Making the food's not that big a deal, but wrapping and shipping it sure is.

    Parent
    Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, (5.00 / 3) (#57)
    by Anne on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:54:48 PM EST
    the plans being put forth by the Dems on the SuperCongress Committee are deemed to be farther to the right of, and more draconian than, those of the Simpson-Bowles Committee and the Gang of Six.

    The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

    The new deficit-reduction plan from a majority of Democrats on the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the "supercommittee") marks a dramatic departure from traditional Democratic positions -- and actually stands well to the right of plans by the co-chairs of the bipartisan Bowles-Simpson commission and the Senate's "Gang of Six," and even further to the right of the plan by the bipartisan Rivlin-Domenici commission. The Democratic plan contains substantially smaller revenue increases than those bipartisan proposals while, for example, containing significantly deeper cuts in Medicare and Medicaid than the Bowles-Simpson plan. The Democratic plan features a substantially higher ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases than any of the bipartisan plans.

    Here's a chart comparing the plans.

    More from the CBPP:

    The Democratic plan has $200 billion in Medicare beneficiary cuts, a level that exceeds the beneficiary cuts in Bowles-Simpson (the Gang of Six is not specific on this point) and is eight times the level of Medicare beneficiary cuts in the budget plan that President Obama released on September 19. Since half of Medicare beneficiaries have incomes below about $21,000, it would be extremely difficult to secure $200 billion in savings from increased Medicare beneficiary charges without requiring significantly larger out-of-pocket payments by beneficiaries with incomes as low as $12,000 or $15,000.

    I shudder to think how much worse it gets when the GOP throws its usual temper tantrum and Dems start trying to be more accommodating.

    At this point, the best we can hope for is that the whole thing fails; who would ever have thought the automatic cuts that would be the triggered are the better of the options?

    Anne, maybe i'm just to used to shyte (5.00 / 2) (#58)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:00:20 PM EST
    rolling downhill from my Army days and many layoffs, but I don't feel any surprise at being sold out by the corporate Democratic party. Shees. I wasn't a big Mondale fan, but I wish he still had some voice in the party. I even wish for Gravel now... simply because they weren't the white-bread corporate gray-boy honky men with fancy suits and rimless glasses.

    Hell, half of them look like Beria, and the other half imitate Beria. Even Stalin would be disappointed by their relentless support of failed policies. So the next five year plan? As Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys put it, Kill the Poor.

    Parent

    2011 World Series Champions! (5.00 / 1) (#78)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:31:07 PM EST
    Cardinals!  Cardinals!  Cardinals!

    Congrats to Zorba, MO Blue and any other (5.00 / 1) (#80)
    by caseyOR on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:57:57 PM EST
    Cardinals' fans hanging out at TL. Your guys won the World Series fair and square.

    Parent
    And, Stan Musial (5.00 / 0) (#82)
    by NYShooter on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 06:32:20 AM EST
    is smiling down on it all

    As a crazed Mickey Mantle fan during Musial's hey days, even then I knew Stan-the-Man was a great, great, and most greatly unreported, ball player.

    And, from all I've read, as great a ball player that he was, he was an even greater man.

    So, join the cheers of the 2011 W.S. champs, you deserve it.

    Me, with no dog in the hunt, I'll just say, "thanks, Mr. Musial. We sure could use a few like you today."

    Parent

    what a game! (none / 0) (#1)
    by DFLer on Thu Oct 27, 2011 at 11:25:57 PM EST


    I second that! (none / 0) (#7)
    by Dadler on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:17:34 AM EST
    And I hate LaRussa.  And Texas (only because of Dubya and the shady money he made off that stadium deal).  But that was why you watch the playoffs in any sport.  That Freese kid has ice in his veins, pun intended.  Game 7, baby.  Nothing like a game 7, I don't care what ball, or puck, they're playing with.

    Parent
    Well, I'll be biting my nails tonight. (5.00 / 3) (#65)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:55:52 PM EST
    I love the Cards, but I'm not very fond of LaRussa, myself.  When my Dad was dying in the hospital, suffering from dementia and Sundowner's, and he didn't know where he was half the time, he would watch the Cards game on TV and scream "You stupid LaRussa!"  Baseball, he could follow.

    Parent
    Thanks a LOT, Anne! (none / 0) (#2)
    by NYShooter on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:12:49 AM EST
    Like I don't fret often enough about the fear of dementia creeping into my life. You know, how many times a day can one lose the TV clicker, car keys, glasses, etc?

    So, trying to get a grip on things tonight I figure, "nothing but reruns on the tube, my dog's asleep, the ice pellets are chiming off the roof and windows, let me click on TL and see if any insomniacs are on line, or have written any recent posts."

    Scrolling down the site I notice a couple of new entries on Jeralyn's "Wednesday Open Thread," even though it's Thursday. And, half way into the thread, there's my friend, Anne, surprisingly, not railing about the world's fetid condition, and not even lamenting how much better earth would be if the symbol, 99%,  represented the percentage of people who should've been flushed down the toilet at birth.

    So, there's Donna (Anne) Reed, impersonating Suzy Homemaker (not her true identity, Leona Trotsky) and flashing those two beautiful (unclench your fist please)........ words, near and dear to my heart: "Guitar," because I used to play, and "Woodstock," which is right next door to my house.

    Now, being after midnight, drowsiness & pre-dementia toying with my mind, the next words that popped out of the screen caused my palm to smack my forehead so loudly, my Doby woke up growling at the world.

    There it was, "As a fellow MD resident,"..........

    I can't believe it!! How many talents can one lady have?

    And, now, a Doctor??? When did this happen? You kept the secret so very, very well.

    Yes, yes, for a brief (well, not so brief) moment I felt like I was eavesdropping on a private conversation you were having with the sweet Lady Zorba about the trials and tribulations, and pressures of being a post-intern, Resident M.D.!!!

    So, bottom line: the next time I tweak, or gently critique one of your posts, please don't reflexively rip off my head as you seem so elated when doing.

    Be gentle, be kind, be considerate,

    Obviously, I'm not well................Doc


    MD resident = inhabitant of . . . (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by The Addams Family on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:15:15 AM EST
    Maryland

    Parent
    Thank you! (none / 0) (#9)
    by sj on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:56:33 AM EST
    I was totally baffled by that whole thing.  As a fellow MD resident myself I SO didn't put the pieces together.

    Parent
    YOU were baffled? (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by NYShooter on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:31:46 AM EST
    imagine where that puts me.

    But, it's no mystery. I was just, so called, "multi-tasking" which should have been my first clue as I have problems with "single" tasking. Anyway, out of the corner of my eye I just caught, "MD...resident" and those two words, in a vacuum, registered in my pea brain as "second or third year Doctor."

    Just a "Kafka" moment, or maybe, a "clockworld orange" moment.

    I think we should all just drop it....before we're all committed.

    (I'm so embarrassed)

    Parent

    Oh...what a treat to read this sub-thread, (5.00 / 3) (#16)
    by Anne on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 07:00:30 AM EST
    and get my Friday started with a laugh...thank you.

    For what it's worth, if I were in the medical profession, I'm pretty sure the term would have been "resident MD" as opposed to "MD resident," but what do I know - I'm not a doctor!  Although there was a time when I thought that's the direction I wanted to go, and I still have a great interest in all things medical.

    But, hey, of all the people whose heads I gently, or not-so-gently, er, rip off, yours is, I think, waaaay down on the list - maybe not even on the list anymore - since more often than not, we are mind-melding (this is not a medical term, by the way) on issue after issue.

    Probably the funniest part of your comment is the part about your trying to multi-task.  Keeping in mind that this is not a professional opinion, I just have to say that of course you had trouble multi-tasking: you're a man, and most men - not all, but quite a few in my experience, don't do that well, if at all.  So, no need to explain your hiccup - we women get it, trust me.

    Anyway, thanks for the Friday morning chuckle!

    Parent

    I got so confused by (5.00 / 2) (#20)
    by Zorba on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 09:39:11 AM EST
    NYShooter's comment above.  I'm thinking "Wait, what?  Anne's not a doctor!  Where did he get that idea?"  And then I realized- the MD part.  "Physician" would never have entered my head, but maybe because we both frequently talk about being Maryland residents.
    And as for multi-tasking- I had a long discussion with a friend the other day about the differences between males and females when it comes to multi-tasking.  Suffice it to say, we came to the conclusion that men and women truly are different.  

    Parent
    To Anne, Ms Zorba, and all the rest (5.00 / 3) (#81)
    by NYShooter on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 11:27:20 PM EST
    If there is an empathy chromosome divided among all who tried to make sense of a post authored by a (very) tired guy who failed to heed the advice, "go to bed," last night, utilize it now.

    Thank you

    Just picture in your mind, if you will, and see a giant, fat tipped Flair pen writing an ...X...on yesterday.

    Thank you again

    oh.....:)

    Parent

    After being baffled ... (none / 0) (#62)
    by cymro on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:23:30 PM EST
    ... by what seemed to be a stream-of-conciousness, completely without contextual anchors, I gave up and concluded that the whole thing was a continuation of a private conversation I had not seen. It may even have been posted in the wrong thread, by mistake, I thought.

    And now that it's been "explained," my opinion has really not changed much!

    Parent

    If you live near Woodstock (none / 0) (#4)
    by Dadler on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:58:44 AM EST
    Make sure and check out some work by my friends at The Woodstock Players (LINK).  My old lit professor and friend Carey Harrison (son of Rex) and his wife Claire Lambe run the show, and their company put up mostly new work (a few by Carey recently), but are rehearsing Mamet's AMERICAN BUFFALO right now, with Carey acting in it.

    Good theatre, great people. Check it out if you can.  

    Parent

    Also check out... (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 08:47:12 AM EST
    a Midnight Ramble over at Levon Helm's studio barn Shooter...no performance like it in rock-n-roll Americana music...so intimate, a medicine show for the soul.

    Hopefully hittin' the New Years Eve Ramble this year...might have to make a week of it in the beautiful Catskills and check out your buddies gettin' their Mamet on.  Not a bad start to the last year of life as we know it.

    That's some multi-task even a half-baked Y chromo can handle:)

    Parent

    ditto to you too, city dog (none / 0) (#79)
    by NYShooter on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:36:46 PM EST
    oh, and btw,

    if I'm around, I got a big house, isolated on 50 acres of pristine foerest land, on a bluff on top of the hudson River that's yours for the asking.

    (that is, if you don't mind deer, coyotes, bears, and all their friends, staring at you through my windows)

    Parent

    You may live to regret that... (5.00 / 1) (#88)
    by kdog on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 11:21:39 AM EST
    gracious offer friend:)

    The annual summer trip we do some camping, but if we do NYE you might have Band-heads knockin' at your door looking for warmth.  Sounds like a sweet spread!  Absolutely love it up there, speaking of America's beauty.

    Next time your down NYC/LI way I'd be honored to buy you a drink...seriously. My email's in my user profile.  Oculus will be in town end of Nov...keep it in mind.

    Parent

    I don't make offers (5.00 / 1) (#91)
    by NYShooter on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 11:54:14 AM EST
    To make myself feel good. All I ever ask is a little lead time. Friends banging on my door at 2,3,4,&5 in the A.M. went out a couple of decades ago. And, more than a few of those times, I was the one doing the banging.

    But, I live alone, except for "Storm," my doby, so that "sweet spread" may not be that sweet. Whatever it is, what's mine is yours. I ain't the best homekeeper, but something tells me you wouldn't rat me out. And, even if I'll be away. I'll let you know where the key is, so go knock yourself out.

    Just gimme a couple day's notice.

    Oh, and you know what, I may just take you up on that NY offer. I got to visit my cousin soon (been promising for months) She lives on 78th St, on the west side.

    I'll keep it in mind. Thanks.


    Parent

    sounds good (none / 0) (#77)
    by NYShooter on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:31:01 PM EST
    I will

    check it out, that is......thanks

    Parent

    Whoa (none / 0) (#17)
    by jbindc on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 08:25:04 AM EST
    So confused since I started with this post and not the ones below. I thought Anne worked in a law firm.

    Thanks for everyone clearing up the confusion and for the chuckle!

    Parent

    First snow! (none / 0) (#3)
    by observed on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:48:18 AM EST
    Astana has a very pretty light dusting of snow today. The temperature is  just below freezing. Lovely day.

    Hmmm. here in sweet home Alabama it's (none / 0) (#46)
    by jeffinalabama on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:50:49 PM EST
    77-80, breezy, with partly cloudy skies...Definite VFR conditions. I'll take it.

    But if I had a job in Astana, I'd be talking 'bout how nice the first snow is!

    Oh, my, today would be a lovely day to be flying NOE (nap of the earth for the non MilitaryTracey's) in a little bird at about 100 mph...

    Parent

    GREAT game 6 (none / 0) (#6)
    by The Addams Family on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:15:51 AM EST
    & my choice won Project Runway!

    Very surprised she won (5.00 / 2) (#10)
    by Dadler on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:17:14 AM EST
    I thought sure they were giving it to Joshua. But I loved Anya, she never talked trash, seems like she could probably, in addition to winning the whole thing like she did, win nicest designer ever on the show.  

    Parent
    Oh no (none / 0) (#8)
    by sj on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 01:55:10 AM EST
    I can't watch until tomorrow. I'm going to have to avoid all kinds of things.

    Parent
    oops, don't read my post below (none / 0) (#11)
    by Dadler on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:17:57 AM EST
    sorry.

    Parent
    Really? (none / 0) (#28)
    by sj on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:16:38 AM EST
    I can't read an open thread?  You are a bad, bad boy.

    Parent
    Occupy Phoenix Veterans with AR 15s (none / 0) (#15)
    by Wile ECoyote on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 05:55:48 AM EST
    OH......who are these guys? (5.00 / 1) (#25)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:07:56 AM EST
    Wiley, I've been with protesting Vets and uh.....these guys look like a wingnut militia.  I mean check that $hit out.  No marks or wear on their soldier of fortune uniforms.  His patches are brand new.  My husband's patches, during movements, the velcro accidentally grabs the embroidered borders and it starts shredding them.  They get ragged and I have to get a lighter out and burn off the ends and cut the ends off or his uniform won't look appropriate or pass an inspection, and those patches are expensive so we try to get as much wear out of them as we can.  This guys patches are brand new perfect.  This uniform hasn't been worn by anyone.  It has been sitting in a closet waiting for militia practices, which look like they have been precious few.  These aren't protesting Vets.  They are some freaky militia and they may actually be demonstrating with the protesters but you have just as much of a chance of them being wingnuts trying to "create" a photo op that would rile people up and actually ratchet up police violence.  Don't worry, we'll find out who they are, we always do.

    Parent
    Tracy (none / 0) (#29)
    by ScottW714 on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:21:13 AM EST
    He clearly stated he was a Veteran, but some others aren't.  He mentioned that he took his oath and that it didn't end when he got out.  He also states that he wasn't wearing the, I forget the term used.  But basically he is protesting tyrants and the government or the government.  It would make no sense to wear the uniform of the people you are against.

    Did you listen to his rhetoric, he's militia, but he clearly mentions that we should be working with Mexico, not against them and the how the government is arming them and how many Mexicans died because of America selling weapons to Mexico.  He's no wing nut.

    He's on not a liberal for sure, but his goals are mine in regards to tyrants/government.  I like the guy and I love what he is doing.

    Parent

    Smells really super funny to me (5.00 / 1) (#30)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:33:53 AM EST
    When your protest is getting traction, often the wingers will show up with an agenda of saying they stand with you but the plan is to damage the integrity of the protest or have the protest declared too dangerous to allow it to continue.  I've been through just a little bit of this protesting stuff.  I watched the video but I'm extremely skeptical.  Most soldiers also freely rattle off their name, they are proud.  He's uhhh.....he's a little bit sketchy and if he is a vet why not wear his Veteran gear that makes him very credible in that department? Something's wrong around here :)

    Parent
    I'm a Vet and I Have Never Owned a Fatigue... (5.00 / 1) (#59)
    by ScottW714 on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:09:29 PM EST
    ...well unless the shorts I got a couple years ago count.

    I have no reason not to take the man at his word, and of course his actions, which so far are admirable. and I never rattle off that info, I think maybe two people here(work) know, and I have been here 10 years, and if you look at my posts here, it's only mentioned to battle your ever reaching extension and name dropping of service that you wear so proudly.  Which is fine, but you don't know, you know from a perspective that is closer than most, but certainly not from the inside.

    And as I have mentioned several times, I am anything but proud of what my country is doing.  I wasn't when I was in, and I am not now.  I never really tell what really happened, because there is this aura of admirablity that I simply did not see not see my 3/8 years.  Which invariably leads to people calling me a liar.

    And if I recall you called me out as a liar in regards to my service because apparently my... whatever didn't meet your standards.  That's why I don't relay the true stories of my experiences, because no one wants to hear how I watched people ripping of kittens and puppies out of kids hands and tossed them overboard as they exited evacuation helicopters.

    You would probably have a heart attack if I truly put what I witnessed and what I think the military is.  But I'll let you keep telling us they are so awesome and how they deserve all this respect.  

    I am sure your husband is different, and I mean that, but I guarantee there is plenty he doesn't tell you or you don't relay here.  Because for me, that institution was rotten from hear to toe.

    But I will say this, quit calling people claiming to be Vets lairs without anything more then intuition, because I can attest first hand, it's not real good.

    I don't know who the guys is, you may be right, but you have no right to call people out because you are related to someone in service whenever you don't like what hey have to say, or in this case, how they look.

    I respect you, but on this point it's not right, and me personally, it's fairly insulting to have my service questioned by a civilian.

    Parent

    His name is Jason Todd (J.T.) Ready (5.00 / 2) (#76)
    by Edger on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 08:44:05 PM EST
    A member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps as well as the founder of the prominent, Arizona-based nativist extremist organization Americans First, Jason "J.T." Ready advocates deadly force to stop Mexicans from crossing the U.S. border illegally. "I firmly believe in having a minefield across the border," he says in a widely distributed video. "This is 100% effective."

    The past president of the Mesa Community College Republican Club and current Maricopa County Republican precinct committeeman, Ready is deeply involved in mainstream conservative politics. He's also an outright neo-Nazi. Ready spoke at a rally put on by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement in Omaha, Neb., last September (where he was billed as an "Arizona Republican activist") and appeared at the neo-Nazi National Vanguard's "Winterfest" gathering in Phoenix last December. He regularly posts to white nationalist online forums, including NewSaxon, where last December he offered this charming observation on the root causes of illegal immigration: "The truth is that negroids screw monkeys and rape babies in afreaka [sic]. Then stupid white man who licks kosher jew rear lets negroids in. ... Stop Negroid immigration and integration now!!! Nature will take care of the rest."

    In 2006, Ready ran for Mesa City Council. He made headlines that March when he fired a pistol at a Latino man armed with a BB gun. Later, his campaign derailed when, shortly after Ready volunteered to act as master of ceremonies at the Mesa Veteran's Day parade, it came to light that Ready had been court-martialed and drummed out of the Marines.

    -- Southern Poverty Law Center

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    So he lied about his (5.00 / 2) (#83)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 09:29:44 AM EST
    "beliefs" about "working with" Mexico?  Or maybe he works with others a lot more differently than I do.  I liked how guns in Mexico (via the Obama administration of course since he so clearly named the scandalous event) cause problems but guns in the United States standing off with our police forces does not cause problems.

    There is just as much of a possibility that that nutjob is out there attempting to destroy the credibility of the protest and incite the police to use NOW JUSTIFIABLE FORCE and shut it down as there is that he truly cares about protecting anything.  If he cares about protecting them get yer phucking gun out of there.  Then if they clock one of us their show of force is clearly seen for what it is, and mayors apologize while the world chants SHAME SHAME SHAME because all they were protecting was the oligarchy and moneyed and  aiding further damage of the majority of society.  Put some weapons in there, and then it's just another war and the focus becomes about force and not about people!  Our police forces are US too, they need the open invitation and opportunity to cross "the picket line" and enter the protest as much as anyone else does.

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    I kind of get the impression (5.00 / 2) (#85)
    by Edger on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 09:34:36 AM EST
    that he's just using this as a way to get lots of media coverage for himself....

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    And that video (5.00 / 1) (#84)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 09:32:47 AM EST
    Completely staged!  Thank you for figuring out who he is Edger.

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    Oh My (none / 0) (#72)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 06:00:09 PM EST
    Well, I don't find the guy credible at all and that's my right.  There are all sorts of people who serve, even a few fruitcakes which if he did....I place him in that group.  And he is free to be whoever he is.

    This is a nonviolent protest though, and remember, part of what is "holding" the continued credibility and challenging the police assault of the protest is that nobody else is armed.  These guys are armed and doing so in order to be intimidating.  They are openly defying one of the few guidelines this protest has put out there that distinguishes them as a protest that cannot be justifiably attacked or reined in by the police.  The vets that I know would not be compelled to endanger civilians in this manner.  This is not about standoff with the police, and in fact many police officers have joined this protest.  

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    And also (none / 0) (#73)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 06:04:12 PM EST
    This guy doesn't seem to have a problem with "fatigues".

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    From what I got, they aren't standing out there (none / 0) (#35)
    by nycstray on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:47:41 AM EST
    as vets (not all of his group is) but as border guards/control. And the guy interviewing him sounded like he was from a similar minded group. AZ's a wacky place these days :)

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    The West is pretty wacky (none / 0) (#37)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 11:08:10 AM EST
    East coast neurotic....West coast psychotic.  But when I was a kid I really could spin donuts in a truck in a pasture until it ran out of gas, chug a pint of whiskey, and then try to shoot out the moon.  And nobody really cared, just don't shoot out each other you goofy kids....okay? :)

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    Trust your instincts. (none / 0) (#75)
    by Mr Natural on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 08:31:44 PM EST
    A relevant little factoid I ran across a few years ago... five times as many people claim to be Vietnam vets as actually served there.

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    To each Occupy faction... (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 09:02:09 AM EST
    their own self-defense...I can't see that flying in Oaktown or the Apple, but if the police keep it up there might not be any choice, coast to coast.  You only have the rights you can defend.

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    Holy Balls !!! (none / 0) (#27)
    by ScottW714 on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:12:14 AM EST
    These guys have to making the police nervous.

    It's nice to see a gun wielding veteran with something to say.  Not making anyone nervous but the authorities should they determine the 1st Amendment doesn't apply to their city.

    To me this is what the 2nd Amendment is about, having a right bear arms to protect oneself, and their exercising that right to protect others 1st Amendment as well.

    How much more American can you get, normally people who sit on other sides of the fence coming together against tyranny and special interests and using the rights guaranteed in the Constitution in order to achieve that goal.

    Makes me proud to be an American.

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    Gun weilding veterans (5.00 / 2) (#31)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:35:13 AM EST
    who won't give their names don't make me proud, they make me afraid and skeptical.  And yes, they are making the police very nervous.  I'm certain of that.

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    So the 2A was put in so you can (none / 0) (#36)
    by brodie on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:52:37 AM EST
    blast away anyone you perceive is violating one of your or another person's other constitutional rights?  Who knew.  

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    That would be the 14A (none / 0) (#39)
    by Rojas on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 11:39:29 AM EST
    Makin' 'em nervous.... (none / 0) (#40)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:21:53 PM EST
    glad somebody is.

    I may have very little in common with your average anti-state armed militia type, aside from being down on the state meself...but I am sure glad they're out there to offset my unarmed by choice arse...I feel like we owe a shred of the shred of freedom we have left to them, and their heavy excercising of the 2nd amendment right.

    Dictators love unarmed peasants.

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    The Harry Belafonte documentary on HBO (none / 0) (#24)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 09:55:39 AM EST
    is amazing.  The film footage is astonishing.  You can tell me what it was like right before I was born and when I was a baby, but there is nothing like seeing it.  And can you imagine Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier having a little meet up on the road with the Klan in Mississippi shortly after the three activists bodies were found?

    Who takes risks like that these days just to say NO to haters and killers?  Well some of our soldiers do, but I feel like American society is largely divorced from such things now and when it does happen we attempt to shame those that do it from ever doing it again.  Accept how things are or you will not be accepted.

    Wasn't aware of the doc but (none / 0) (#32)
    by brodie on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:42:51 AM EST
    will look for it on repeat.  HB gave me some of my earliest musical sounds as a kid with his Carnegie Hall calypso concert.

    A few other memories:  in early 1963 he and other black civil rights notables meeting privately with AG RFK to express their extreme displeasure at the perceived slow pace of the admin on CR.  A few of the participants such as James Baldwin really lit into Bobby, who later complained that some in the  the room he'd thought were friends of the admin either joined in the pile-on against him or sat there and did nothing to stop what was apparently a very overheated meeting.

    I also recall the interracial touching brouhaha in 1968 when Pet Clark just put her hand on his arm during a variety show taping for NBC, which a rep for sponsor Chrysler objected to and insisted be taken out.  HB and Clark however managed to sneak it in to the broadcast anyway.

    Later that same year HB on The Smothers Bros Show sang an ironic Come to the Carnival calypso song while in the background violent scenes from the Chicago Dem convo police riot were shown.   Can't remember if it was LBJ or a CBS exec who took the initiative to censor that one.

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    The Smothers Bros happening (5.00 / 1) (#38)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 11:18:41 AM EST
    is covered with interviews, a lot of stuff, like HB show being too interracial and he refused to change it so it ended.  They have the final shot scene too, courageous people.

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    Ahem. Hundreds of thousands (none / 0) (#42)
    by Towanda on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:39:41 PM EST
    in Wisconsin not long ago, many of them not affected by the haters directly but standing for others who were hurt.  And others are all around us, but we're not supposed to see media reports on them, either, for reasons always discussed here.    

    Of course, there were not many media reports of so much of the work behind the scenes of Belafonte and others at the time.  So give it half a century or so for your kids to find out what we're not being told about today.

    I just read some more that still is emerging about another quiet hero of the civil rights movement, Hammerin' Hank Aaron.  He stayed under the radar then -- as he has since, so a lot still is not known -- to remain effective behind the scenes.  

    As soon as any became noticed as other than celebs, you can bet that no one in authority would take their calls.  But they'd take a call from a guy who might sign a baseball or record album for their kid.  

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    We celebrate all the wrong $hit (5.00 / 1) (#43)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 12:44:25 PM EST
    No wonder....no wonder we are this effed up right now.  WE MUST CHANGE WHO WE ARE ON THE INSIDE or being inhumane is the accepted norm.  Terry Jones is now running for President.  Let's see how much media coverage he gets :)

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    Short fiction by Dadler (none / 0) (#33)
    by Dadler on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 10:44:30 AM EST
    Fiction about non-fictional Disneyland.  Is that even legal?  Sue me now, Mouse.  Ahem.

    "A Kingdom No Longer Magic" (LINK)

    Thanks to anyone who reads and comments, any thoughts are always useful.  Happy Friday, y'all.

     

    Thought I was in for... (5.00 / 1) (#66)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:57:46 PM EST
    a strictly comedic horndog adventure, then it got heavy...you are full of literary surpises my friend.

    I really liked the last paragraph...excellent summation.

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    TY (none / 0) (#67)
    by Dadler on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 03:22:14 PM EST
    Hope it was an effective surprise.  Either way, you're a good man, Chucky Brown.  

    BTW. only two weeks until my opening night for college hoops at USF.  Go Dons!  Miracle run this year, please.  (You have no idea what the squeak of D-1 shoes at little War Memorial Gym in The City can do for a man.)

    Peace.

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    Doubly important... (none / 0) (#69)
    by kdog on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 03:36:09 PM EST
    with no NBA in sight.

    My all-new Johnnies are talking a good game, and laid a whooping on Div.II CW Post in a tune-up.  And we might be getting more of the stellar recruiting class becoming academically eligble by the time the Big East season gets hot and heavy.  Get well and do your thang molding this talented group Hollywood Lavin!

    See ya in the NCAA's D!

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    squeak squeak...squeak (none / 0) (#70)
    by Dadler on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 03:49:05 PM EST
    One of the USF players, Rashad Green, hails from Babylon NY, and as a senior is getting a game close to home.  Check out my Dons at Holy Cross on Thursday, December 22, if you got the inclination to scope out a little Catholic school team from across the nation.  Word.

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    winter is coming (none / 0) (#64)
    by CST on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 02:55:31 PM EST
    I wonder if the occupiers will make it.

    Boston gets ugly in the winter.  Really ugly.  Right now they are camped out in a very open, unprotected area that gets a ton of wind. New York isn't much better.

    Snow is one thing, you can make igloos out of that or something. It's the freezing rain/sleet/wind that will be the worst of it.

    The generators (none / 0) (#68)
    by jbindc on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 03:32:56 PM EST
    were removed from Zucotti Park in NY.  No electricity.

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    "Removed"... (5.00 / 2) (#89)
    by kdog on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 11:27:06 AM EST
    thats a nice newspeak way of saying stolen.

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    removal or generators/propane (none / 0) (#71)
    by oculus on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 05:49:35 PM EST
    tanks not confined to Manhattan. Also, Oakland mayor apologizes.

    France fightin' terrists (none / 0) (#74)
    by Edger on Fri Oct 28, 2011 at 07:03:58 PM EST
    PARIS - Paris police have arrested around 20 Christian fundamentalists who burst into a theatre and threw stink bombs to protest against a play featuring the face of Christ drizzled with fake excrement.
    [snip]
    After days of trying to get in, the protesters on Wednesday "entered the theatre and threw stink bombs into the auditorium, shouting: 'Enough Christianophobia!'" a police source told AFP.
    -- They were being sh*theads

    The irony of throwing stink bombs while shouting 'Enough Christianophobia!' stinks to high heaven, don't it? LoL.

    chilling (none / 0) (#86)
    by The Addams Family on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 10:18:22 AM EST
    Officers Jeer at Arraignment of 16 Colleagues in Ticket-Fixing Investigation

    A three-year investigation into the police's habit of fixing traffic and parking tickets in the Bronx ended in the unsealing of indictments on Friday and a stunning display of vitriol by hundreds of off-duty officers, who converged on the courthouse to applaud their accused colleagues and denounce their prosecution.

    [ . . . ]

    As the defendants emerged from their morning court appearance, a swarm of officers formed a cordon in the hallway and clapped as they picked their way to the elevators. Members of the news media were prevented by court officers from walking down the hallway where more than 100 off-duty police officers had gathered outside the courtroom.

    The assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues, in one instance grabbing lenses and shoving television camera operators backward.

    [ . . . ]

    "It is hard to see an upside in the way the anger was expressed, especially in Bronx County, where you already have a hard row to hoe in terms of building rapport with the community," said Eugene J. O'Donnell, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "The Police Department is a very angry work force, and that is something that should concern people, because it translates into hostile interactions with people."


    Funny how... (5.00 / 3) (#90)
    by kdog on Sat Oct 29, 2011 at 11:33:05 AM EST
    the police can excercise their first amendment rights without anybody busting their heads.

    That group appeared far more threatening than any of the occupy groups imo.  Though I still support their right to voice their grievances with the system.

    That being said, if I was the prosecutor I'd hire some bodyguards...we know how violent these cats can be.  Unfortunately the citizens of the Bronx will likely be on the receiving end of their ire...kick the dog strikes again.

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