well said Yankee!
I'd love to go to the Texas RU. Don't know how I'd swing it, but I think it'd be a lot of fun.
Water Cooler - 4
I am not good in crowds either and I hate malls. I avoid any event where I don't have a designated seat except funerals and weddings. I love small dinner parties, but hate the cocktail open house gatherings, unless I know the house really well and can find a nice cozy familiar spot to sit in and not move. I also don't mind them at my house.
I had to go to trade shows for years, but that wasn't bad because I had an agenda and a real need to plow through the crowds to get my work done. I am not a window shopper. I love auctions as I have a seat of my own, but not so good at flea markets.
On Congress term limits: House terms are to short, just one big election cycle. They get elected and just start running again the day they are sworn in. The Senate terms are too long. No chance to throw them out soon enough. Why not 4 years each, with elections every two years. I haven't done the math, but it seems like it would save a lot of money both in campaign expenses and the cost to hold the elections. TV wouldn't like it, not as much revenue or filling in the time slots with shows featuring talk heads (screaming heads) getting it wrong yet again. Plus not as much work for the pollsters.
I understand the need for lobbyist, but limits and full disclosure of the meetings must be made available to all. I want to be able to see what our elected officials are doing with our money and who they are discussing anything with while they are on our payroll. Their daily calendars should be complete and transparent. This is normal for any employer (American People) wanting to see what their workers (elected officials) are doing with their time. The idea that anything that goes on in the government is not my business is absurd. I may not need or should be privileged to some actual information, but I should be able to see who, what, when and where about any meetings either in the Oval Office or on a golf course or in the Senate chambers by any elected or paid for government worker.
In this day of computerized information, not being able to display this type of information is more than absurd, it is most likely criminal or certainly suspicious. Sunshine laws should be the norm.
I am more than a little concerned that the national parties have become mob like in their control of their minions. What happened to the public that elected these officials? Why don't we count. I would assume it is because they don't have to tell us anything about the behind the doors shenanigans, earmarks, pork bellies, arm twisting and just plain bribery. I am a little despondent about it all.
Victory for Victor mean Voice to the people. And no more Vice and Vicissitudes in our Government
Off my soap box. I hope I didn't violate any DG rules.
"Vade in pace". Patti
Maybe you broke the DG rule about using too many V's!
One final word on the subject - how about eliminating all polls and pundits?!! They have been dead wrong so many times in the past ten years - during the same time they brag about their sophisticated computer models! They make weathermen look like Nostradamus.
Victor, I view the polls and pundits like a sporting event. You go, you cheer, you boo, you go home. And once it is over none of what they said matters little in the end.
Maybe we should have pundit cheer leaders? GO Mathews, Russert, ,Sean, Colbert, Arianna etc. blah, blah, blah, blah ad infinitum. Bigcityal could design the outfits with killer shoes and snappy colors. No red and blue allowed.
But I am a pol-junkie. So as much as they are wrong, arrogant, loud and annoying, I still listen. Fool that I am. Patti
Polls and pundits are not only victims of group think, they affect the discussion and the elections.
Like Patti, I spend way too much time following politics. There is a big difference though between some of the coverage and analysis (which I like) vs who's in 1st today and did someones voice crack yesterday and will that tie cost him the election.
Another good reason for a national primary - there is a momentum phenomenon where people in the later states will for for a candidate simply because he or she looks to be the nominee.
I do largely believe the old addage about our goverment being a horrible system but unfortunately we haven't found anything better (it's better than that)
I greatly appreciate the peaceful succession of authority.
The entities which run the country don't get elected, they never loose power because they run the economy. They just get a new poster boy...☺
Dave47, whose voice cracked? I missed it and what color was the tie. I need to plug that in before the Nevada race. I am watching Colbert with guest gov. Huckleberry who is asking Colbert to be his running mate. Yes peace is good. But incompetence, waste, and bad government should not have to be tolerated no matter which side of the aisle you agree with. Patti
PS, I know the gov. real name, but I am a fan of yogi bear and Huckleberry hound so I couldn't resist.
Ricochet Rabbit and El Kabong have suitable experience ;)
Huckleberry Hound-bringing back memories from lonnnnng ago:
Augie Doggie & Doggy Daddy.
Quick McGraw & Baba Lu
Oh those days of maximum freedom & minimum responsibility!
And now I that I am all growed-up, I am subjected to 2.5 years of "campaigning"; actually it should be camPAINing.
I am going to be spending much time this year shielded by my ipod.
Won't be answering the phone a lot, either.
Do you folks get inundated by political phone calls?
Make mine a triple espresso. It's my ritalin.
This message was edited Jan 9, 2008 9:21 PM
El Kabong - wow! from out of the recesses of my memory...
But then, recess is good.
Hilary's voice. It was all over the media that it would end her presidential aspirations. Until the next day when it was cited as the reason for her incredible comeback.
Basically, nothing changed but the press had 2 big stories about it shifting one way then the other.
The tie I made up. But it's the same type of thing. Who cried when they attacked his wife? Who was too non-personal when asked about capital punishment if it related to his wife's murder? Who misspelled potato? Who looks silly hunting? Who dyes his hair but won't admit it? Who looks very funny in a tank? Who lusted in his heart? Who lusted everywhere else? Who brushed-up on his Latin because he was going to Latin America? (that one was actually too good to be true.)
BTW, I saw Gov. Huckleberry on Colbert too. He has a good sense of humor.
Dave - I look forward to hearing/reading your assessments, as they will be much more enlightening than the predigested pablum soundbites so typical of the media.
I am an ex-pol-junkie. But I do like to read a variety of opinions.
Carry on!
I think we're better off sticking with Quick Draw and Baba Lu! When actual names and parties start popping up, I think we may be treading too close to the forbidden zone. Don't want any controversy - especially after this week!
We're going to get a red flashing sign that says "forum under investigation during wartime!". Then we're going to get men with dark glasses and blackberrys come to our front door. hmmm, ...where's that goat thread when you need it... ☺
Does (the) Dave wear dark glasses?!!
Discovered some casualties of last week's cold today. I have a number of plants in my garage which were supposed to be in my newly enclosed porch. However, for a number of reasons, the porch is not yet done. I lost my jade, which I had many years and two birds of paradise look pretty bad. Never even got to see a bloom from then yet! Oh well - casualties happen.
Tooooo bad Victor. Those old jades can be like family heirlooms. Please accept my condolences on your loss. x, C
Victor, I have a jade for you. How big do you want it to be. Honest I have tons of jades. My DH is mad for them. We will bring one or two or three off island when we take the truck to Vt the next time, as long as it is above freezing, and then arrange to get it to you at some point. DS GF is at CIA and I go to Bedford, NY often so this is very doable, plus it would be one or more less Jades in my GH. Patti
Thank you Carrie. Thanks Patti - I appreciate that!
Patti, If you really have tons, and you're really coming to visit the Arboretum with me, hint hint. Actually, I have killed a few jade trees in my day, but they were from HomeDepot and had no personality. I heard a wonderful story about someone who moved to California from somewhere driveable, like Arizona, so he tried to take all his favorite plants with him in the U-Haul, but of course CA has such strict laws that he couldn't bring in the jade tree that had been handed down for generations or something. Years later, he moved back to whatever state it was he had left and a neighbor gave him back his old jade tree! When i heard it it was much more touching!
x, C
We were actually investigated by the Bureau of Investigation once, and they DID wear dark trenchcoats and mirror/sunglasses and one was tall and one was short and they did their best imitation of FBI agents but they were from the Bureau of MassHealth investigations - a little detail they forgot to mention when they hammered on the door. Luckily they just said don't do it again; these are the rules and we said ok, we won't, thanks for stopping by and have a nice day. We'd known we were getting away with something and that we would probably get caught eventually. It was just so strange with these guys doing their "we're from the (mumble) Bureau of Investigation." And it turned out to be the MassHealth B.I.! Thank God we didn't get in trouble.
xx, Carrie
Birds of Paradise! I had four I grew from seed a few years back but they got whacked with the cold too! It wasnt easy up here, they grow very slowly... ☺
These were growing nicely and I expected blooms this spring.
Jezz, too bad... I never got to see mine bloom either, maybe next time I'll use GA3 to speed them up a little. ☺
You get that from Roger Clemens' trainer, correct?
Carrie, I will come loaded with jade.
FBI actually came to Nantucket looking for DH and me about 6 mo after 9/11. We had checked into a motel in Chestnut Hill/Boston on 9/10 for 2 nights, but at 8 in the morning on 9/11, I decided we could finish up our business by that afternoon and we could head back to Vt a night early, so DH went down and checked us out a day early. As we headed into the trade show, we heard the news and decided to go straight out of the city to VT. We then saw the pictures the next day about where they found a car we realized that the car on the news was the one the Boston group had rented and then left at a motel and it was the car that was parked next to ours at the motel the night of 9/10 and was still there in the morning when we left just a few minuets before we heard the first of all the terrible news.
DH was in the lobby with them when we checked in (pretty sure). They (several middle eastern men) asked about any bars near by to the clerk as DH was checking in. But what was weird was that it took the FBI 6 month to try to talk to us. The agent flew to Nantucket and got the chief of police to drive him to our house. We were not home, so he took him to the bookstore, but we were in VT. One of our staff called and said we were in big trouble as the FBI wanted to talk to us. We called the police chief and he laughed and said that he told the FBI that my DH looked like a terrorist but wasn't one. We later had a phone chat with the agent and we told him what we mostly didn't know. There were almost no guest there that night so it wasn't a big list to go through. Patti
lol!. No, I know a good supplier. ☺
My DH worked for British Airways at the time and knew the people that checked them in (I guess they flew London - Boston on BA). Naturally, he was laid off (along with almost everyone else in the airline industry) by a couple of months later,,,,,,,,,
Being in a wheelchair, I am ALWAYS hand searched when we fly, and since it's free, we fly frequently. It's remarkable, the difference between a small airport like, say, Albuquerque, and Logan, Kennedy, any big or even biggish city. In the bigger airports OF COURSE there are more people and more flights and more crowds and more hurrying and more rushing and less thoroughness and all the stereotypes are true, I'm sad to report. So I guess my conclusion is if you're worried about terrorists, you really ARE safer at a little airport where they have time to be careful and thorough about everything. On the other hand, there are a zillion ways a person (I think it would take people) could circumvent the system. Sock bombs! But I think if we let terrorists scare us, then they won.
And I'd like another cup of decaf, please? x, C
I managed to fly to Fla with a knife in my purse. I didn't find it until I was in Fla - it was in a lipstick tube. The "lipstick" should have been in my 1 quart bag, so the screener should have pulled my purse and gone through it. I had completely forgotten about having it - I was sad to leave it in Fla as it had come in handy once or twice. (The blade was maybe 1 1/2" long, so it wasn't much of a threat - but it scared the living daylights out of me when I realized what I had done.)
And then there are the times when they confiscate your favorite 3.1 oz. hand lotion... can't be too careful! :>) x, C
I never fly without my AK-47.
Patti, What a story. Talk about eerie.
Katye, Can't talk politics here. The generalities we have been discussing are fine. For example, I'm still around after posting the word Hilary, but an opinion would get me a warning.
Seems weird but I'm sure it avoids a million fights.
Oh I know about the no politics rule.
I just like assessments...topic can be whatever!
And if men come bearing blackberries, that will mean it's summertime...
Check out the Northeast Forum for a couple of new threads - big birthday day!! Eleanor
OH MY FREAKING GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12062007/news/regionalnews/invasion_of_the_giant_rats_49358.htm
Hey! No politics ;)