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About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Recent Posts
- Day 14: Louisiana Senator Approvingly Compares Trump to Stalin
- Day 13: Elon Musk Flexes His Muscles
- Day 12: While Elon Musk Takes Over, We Podcast With Driftglass and Blue Gal
- Day 11: Harm of Fascist Regime’s Foreign Aid Freeze Comes Into View
- Day 10: The Fascist Regime Blames a Plane Crash on Nonwhite People
I am going to watch the Emmys — delayed three hours — so I can’t look at the news! (I know, it’s silly … but it’s fun too.)
Darcy and I checked Tom Shales yesterday to see which new fall shows he likes. He is fond of “Everyone Hates Chris” — about Chris Rock. I think it’s on Tuesday night. And Shales likes that Geena Davis show — she becomes president. The previews looked awful, but if Tom says it’s cool, i’ll check it out.
I watched the show off and on earlier. I didn’t know Hugh Laurie was British. That was bizarre.
And tomorrow night is the season premiere of Arrested Development. Charliz Theron is guest-starring as Jason Bateman’s love interest. 🙂
I want to see what E-Ring is all about. I watch CSI LV and love it…call me a fool but I just do…
Cranky customers! That’s what’s on my mind tonight. Must remind myself not to give my home phone to customers. GRRRRRR Half the time I feel like I’m being stalked by crazed, self absorbed freak babies who need me to change their pampers for them. WAAAAA WAAAAA
watching the weather to see if rita [possible the next hurricane, I think she is called] is going to hit the gulf coast again. I too am watching the awards. what can I say..what will happen next week with with all that has happened. GRRRRRRRRRRRR Guess I sound a little disgruntled, dont I??!! Trying hard to be optimistic….really I am…
Brenda, I like to watch parts of the awards … I like to look at the gowns, and all that. Always have since I was a little girl. The glamour of it all. + the fashion disasters 🙂
It’s okay. I listened to BookTV all day so I can indulge.
Speaking of which, last night Norm Stamper. the former Seattle chief of police, was on BookTV. He has a book out about his life as a cop and police chief. It’s stunningly frank.
He talks about David Braim (spelling?), the Tacoma chief of police who, in front of their kids, shot his wife in the head and then himself… after his abuse of her came out in the news. Stamper admits that he was verbally abusive to his first three wives.
He wants to legalize drugs.
He apologizes for WTO … he says he thinks that globalization is one of the worst things that’s happened to the world.
He talks about dirty cops. He talks about killing a man.
Just stunning. And he’s an emotional, powerful speaker. I was spellbound. I hope booktv.org airs it again or puts up the video on its site. I wrote to them to request that they do so.
I looked it up in The Seattle Times, and they rave about his book. And they said that he’s likely to be the least popular person in the U.S. among police chiefs of other cities.
He lives now on the San Juan Islands with another wife. She is a psychotherapist and, he said, demanded that he get intensive therapy before she consented to marry him.
You know funny you mention this very thing. As I hope you know that my son is a street cop in Memphis. I have seen his attitude change so much in the years he has been there. I am detecting a change in his thoughts on things that make me as his mom want to have a talk with im in the worst way.
The life of a cop is a hard life. I see it and know it. I just wished there was a way I could change it for him and others…so much divorce and abuse…He is not abusive, but I can see why they are that way. The stressors are tremendous.
Want to finish this with you too..He has started back in college and is going for his masters in pshycology [major] and minor in crimealology [sp]. Maybe I do not have anything to worry about but I just do..you know how moms are….:o)
I know about those stressors- it is so difficult for cops–I dated two in a former life and it was very hard for me to get anywhere near their state of mind.REALLY hard to get comfy with a guy with a gun in an ankle holster- just kinda kicks romance in the ass. Not to be flippant- but dear gawwd they always had to have their backs to the wall– it got to me. So I can’t imagine how it gets to you-as a mom.
On another more important topic I’d like to point you guys to this post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/a/diebold-insider-speaks-_b_7539.html
at Huffington Post by Brad Friedman of Bradblog regarding an apparent Diebold whistleblower who is stating how easy it is for election results to be manipulated.
I think it’s big. What do you guys think?
oops
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/a-diebold-insider-speaks-_b_7539.html
It should be big- but it probably won’t be.
I was wondering what kind of boatwork you do,Supersoling, since that is what hub does also and of course,my first love is boats- sail, of course.
This kind. Though this isn’t one of mine. I still have all the pictures of my work locked up in my old, crashed computer. I have to find a techie to retrieve them. In fact, that reminds me that when I was in Austin with Adastra, he said he could help me with that if I sent my CU out to him.
I have one now that should be finished in another week or so and maybe I’ll post a picture of it in the cafe when it’s done.
I also do more traditional paintwork and varnish work on regular powerboats and sailboats and although most of what I do is like the pic above, I actually own a Soling Olympic class racing sailboat. At least they were Olympic class up until the last Olympics. I wasn’t able to launch our boat, the Kindred Spirit, this year because of all the work I was doing and then the passing of my Father who is/was the one who taught me how to paint beginning when I was 15. I miss him terribly.
This is a Soling:
OMG ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM- HAHAHA
So that is what the soling means- I was wondering.
Cause that was tickling my memory–knew it had some connection- but didn’t quite compute.
I began sailing on a Allied Princess,we have had a Flicka, and a Pearson since, but the Princess was my first love.
I’ve been in and around the water all my life, mostly in it. Wanna see my gills? :o) As for sailing, I didn’t get into that till later but always wanted to. That big racey boat above is nice to look at and exciting to ride in (once went 115 mph in one just like above) once or twice, but anyone can stand behind a steering wheel and push the throttles down and go fast. In a sailbot though, especially a racing sailboat like mine, ahhh now there is a challenge to make it go fast. There are no throttles, only your sails, the wind, the tide and the telltales. The speed of the boat is only as good as the sailor’s ability to read the water and the wind. When I’m sailing I feel like I’m as one with my environment, tuned in, not something on top of it. But I guess you already knew that didn’t you? :o) I’m guessing Gooserock feels the same.
Did I mention I lived on a sailboat as a teenager?? Sailed from the Gulf of Mexico up the East Coast.
Now I paddle…
Yep! Just now :o)
I lived on a boat too when I was 12-13 but we mostly stayed close to home. I can only imagine what a great experience it was for you to make that trip. When I was a kid, I dreamed that someday I’d own a big ocean going schooner and I would sail around the world, stopping to do odd jobs for money and supplies and meeting people you only read about. I still dream about that. Maybe someday the dream will come true :o)
So your Father was the one who taught you how to fair out the varnish? HAHA My dad taught me that too.
My Dad taught me all he knew about painting and from there I went on to different kinds of painting like the custom boat above. It’s more than painting, it’s art. It’s a way for me to express myself in a BIG way! But none of that would have ever happened if it weren’t for my Dad who was an artist in his time. I’m so grateful to him for that, and even though he’s gone now, a part of him and who he was is carried forward inside me and in the knowledge and talent that he passed to me.
60 Minutes just had a very good segment on the people of Iraq and how they are suffering due to the occupation … especially hard to watch after all the deaths recently, incl. this weekend and the insurgents’ control now of parts of Baghdad.
Susan, what with this that you mentioned and all the death in Africa and other nations plus our own nation, I feel so bad…I am really down about the whole thing tonight. I have read too much today. :o( I just feel so overwhelmed
That’s why I wish you’d come over, and we could critique all the gowns and jewelry and hairdos! That’d be such fun, especially with you!
I’ll make us tea … and I’ll heat up the bread pudding I made.
ok..be right on over…let me warm up the batmobile…:o) I love hot tea…bread pudding is one of my favorite things…do you serve it with lemon sauce?
I really thought they all looked rather modest tonight. Considering everything involved. The hair was not too outragous. I thought things really worked out well for the most part…Ellen D did a great job MC’ing it.
but will switch to the Emmys when they start in about 10 minutes. Late dinner again in the Scribe household — tuna melts and tomato soup, light but yummy. Wondering what the week will bring as well.
Oh, and I thought the previews for “Commander in Chief” looked very cool, Donald Sutherland makes a very creepy Speaker. 🙂 I know the Right wingers are probably seeing this as paving the way for Hillary in 2008, but I’m looking forward to the show…just hope it doesn’t totally suck… 🙁
I will hit your house first for the food then head on over to Susans for the final course….:o) I love tomato soup…with anything…tuna melts sounds good YUMMMMMMMM
Appropriate to nothing: I finally started reading the new Harry Potter novel, year 6. Rowling has one more book to go, year 7. Does anyone believe that she will abandon her original plan and produce subsequent books (and subsequent cash)? Does anyone care? 😉
maybe she will go for it and do more. I know the money is bound to be great for her.
according to my bone, which hurt tonight, I think it will rain here again tonight. Gotta head off to bed so hugs to all and have sweet dreams ya’ll
I succeeded in getting the family I’ve been helping out of the convention center and into their apratment. They are there, their stuff is there, they have a BOATLOAD of food, air matresses, and a few kitchen things (we are looking forward to those boxes shycat!!). We picked out aliving room set and will get it and the matresses delivered tomorrow, go open bank accounts and take a trip over to Austin WorkSource…
I AM going to write a diary about all of this and my bankruptcy adventures some day….
‘night all!
EXCELLENT!!! good for all of you!
Boxes on way tomorrow but who knows what the postal service is up to!GRRRRRRR
Glad to hear you reconnected with them and I’m looking forward to updates about the experience.
Brinnaine! I am so glad you made it happen .. it was hard on you and yet you came through for them. What an example to your boys you are.
It was so cool, I took Ethan and Quinn with me (’cause the hub needed a break after being left alone with them for 6 hours straight) with me when I went back and brought them the air pump and some plastic utensils and tinfoil and such — they wanted to meet the baby (he is soooo cute, 5 months old) and met mom and dad and just generally were very excellent all the way around — they brought him a matchbox car and a ballon animal that their dad had made for them earlier that day.
Today I took mom to cash her FEMA check and got their furniture delivered and got them the noon-food items they needed at Target — we went to Wal-Mart yesterday for their food and though I was trying not to impose myself, I had to tell her that being in there made me ill (and why, of course, but hell she’s only 20, something else I found out yesterday…I knew they were young, but 20 and 25, that’s about 8 years younger than I was thinking).
Thanks for the support Susan!
Booman. I missed the ealier threads. A wedding. And football. And basking in the hangover of a Spartan victory and undefeated season, thus far.
All poor excuses. But enjoy another year.
Hey, longtime lurker, not much of a commenter, but I wanted to do some Emmy/Deadwood analysis with Susan –only to find she is on a 3-hour Emmy delay. OK, won’t give anything away…
I’m sorry we missed a chance to chat last night! And I’m tickled you “came out” of lurking!
Deadwood didn’t win anything, did it … sigh. The choices in the categories in which it received nominations were — ummm — dumb.
James Spader is a fine actor but that character is SO over. I stopped watching the new legal series after two episodes…. it just wasn’t written as well as his guest appearances on The Practice.
Hugh Laurie is a wonderful actor who carries “House MD” on his back. It’d be a failure without him.
As much as I adore Ian McShane, I was willing to concede the Emmy to Laurie. But not even that happened (!).
Why does Deadwood get so little respect from the Emmys? Even Doc (Brad … last name) didn’t get nominated again, altho his parts weren’t as rich this past season. And what about the actor who plays Charlie Utter, and on and on?
Lost? I couldn’t get through the first episode, and that was that for me. Although I taped it all season for my daughter, who digs it but ALSO agrees that it’s nothing compared to Deadwood, which she is hooked on 150%.
and not so subtle warmongering about Iran in the next couple of weeks. The spin machine is already working in the aftermath of Iran President Ahmadinejad’s speech to the UN. the NYT has a piece here and WaPo here.
Reading the text of Ahmadinejad’s UN speech, much of his rhetoric is embarrasingly juvenile, somewhat like an adolescent bully who thinks he’s a lot more powerful than he really is. He is, though, a certifiable religious wingnut, much as our own Pat Robertson and Falwell are, so his attempts to intimidate are predictable.
Having said that, on substance a lot of what he says is accurate, (read the text of his speech here and compare it in your mind to what you read in the NYT, WaPo pieces), and despite the idiotic spin emanating from our own government, Iran’s position is legal. Additionally, Iran has powerful trade partners in Russia and China and India who will not be so easily persuaded to vote against them in the UN.
The danger of the Bush regime’s pathological pursuit of aggression against Iran is that it will create a rift between much of Europe and the US on one side, and russia, china, and the rest of the non-alignedcountries on the other.
No good can come of such a rift. Cheney and his neocons may want to start WW3, and this Iran situation may be their biggest catalyst yet, if they can get away with it.
Tonight I was burnt out- and hub was too- so we watched ‘Big Wednesday’, if some of you don’t know about surf flicks- this is THE classic. Hubbo started surfing when he was 11,that would have been in 1963,on a rented board, got his first board in 65, and hasn’t stopped since.
A sad story- when he was 18- he got a brand new board for his birthday–lent it to a stranger on the beach and never saw it again.This was a custom board– it broke his 18 year old heart.
AWWWW- but anyway Big Wednesday is pretty fun for us old surfergals too-nostalgia and a lot of BOOHOO- and AWESOME WAVE action.
A little history on our history 🙂
CBC started the evening with 2 half hour reruns of fast-witted comedian Rick Mercer’s “Talking to Americans.” It included the scene where he got presidential candidate GW Bush to say thanks for the endorsement of Canadian Prime Minister Poutine [french-fries-and-gravy].
I never saw Columbine, so now after The Takeover it seems so antique to be worried about a generalized societal fear climate and too many guns.
Did you catch the segment on Hullabaloo Goose? I live across the river from those Hullabaloo-ians… I mean, those H people :o)
George Galloway debating Christopher Hitchens with Amy Goodman moderating, was on BookTV CSPAN2 from 12-1PM CST today. Venue was NYC Baruch College on 9-14-05. Topic: Iraq/Afghanistan, of course. Lots of cheers for Galloway and boos for Hitchens.
It was fkg PRICELESS. Basically a no-holds-barred debate. I’d like to have a copy of that one and watch it once a week. No one I can think of could best Galloway in debate. I’m actually amazed Hitchens was brave enough to tackle Galloway in public. Hitchens was obviously sweating, and needless to say, had a couple dozen new A holes by the end of it.
My favorite Galloway quote directed to Hitchens, “You’ve fallen out of the gutter into the sewer.”
I’m looking forward to getting a copy of Galloway’s book, “Mr Galloway goes to Washington”
He’ll be at the Sept 24 in DC, other appearances Here
Repeat of Galloway vs Hitchens on BookTV CSPAN2 Monday, September 19 at 5:30 am (EST)
You may have to set an alarm for this one. Or, come at it from this side of the night time.
I have spent the last several hours trying to write a letter to my daughter’s principal. Apparently, some girl complained of a death threat involving “witchcraft and voodooism”, so the Principal decided to call in all Pagan students and interrogate them. Not only was my daughter interrogated about her religion, she was asked to identify other Pagan children, and was told she could not discuss Paganism outside of Social Studies. Of course, other kids can talk about their religions, and I find it hard to believe she would round up all Christian or Islamic students and interrogate them.
Ugh. How does one be polite while incensed?!?
to your local ACLU chapter…
Thanks, but at this time, I am operating under the assumption that the Principal was just totally ignorant. I just want to get it on the written record and see how they respond first. Since she wasn’t punished for being Pagan, I don’t think there is any kind of legal action, but should she be singled out in the future, having something on record will help.
having something in writing for your child’s school file, and perhaps doing a bcc: (blind carbon copy — boy, that’s a dated term!) to the local ACLU. It’s not just for your daughter — if this principal has problems with kids in the future who have “non-standard” religious beliefs, it might help determine a pattern and reveal if it is just ignorance or if something more insidious is in effect…
Blessings and peace to you and your offspring…
If I were you,I would instruct my daughter to say ABSOLUTELY nothing.It is nobody’s business what her –or your religion is.
First they vote Bush into office twice (allegedly), then they vote for Donald Trump and Megan Mullally for “Emmy Idol” for totally disemboweling the theme to “Green Acres”. (I hope the ghosts of Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor make their sleep very uncomfortable this evening…)
The American people officially suck…
[And thanks to tape delay, half the American people couldn’t make their voice heard…just like the Presidential elections…)
N Korea has agreed to give up its nuclear weapons program
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See my comment ::
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“Bos wins, Balkenende decides,” was the headline in the Volkskrant newspaper. It is difficult to argue with the Dutch daily’s conclusion.
Purple coalition of Socialist PvdA – VVD Liberal Democrats – D66 Green Liberals was equivalent to German Stoplight coalition Socialist SDP – FDP Free Democrats – Green Party of Joshka Fischer. After two full terms of reign by PM Wim Kok, the Socialist Party lost the following election by a landslide to the Christan Democrats CDA of PM Balkenende.
However, the circumstance of a major new party of Pim Fortuyn LPF and his assassination on the eve of the election, gave an unstable new government. An early election was won by CDA and PM Balkenende with a single seat difference in parliament, over their main rivals the Socialists party of Wouter Bos. A stalemate was reached, very similar to the outcome of the German election on Sunday.
Balkenende formed a new coalition between CDA – VVD and the small party D66 Green Liberals. Although not expected to be in leadership for an extended period, the new government did have a profound concern over the poor economic situation in the Netherlands and the need for reform and a cut in expenses by the administration. The polls dropped to all-time lows as the policy effected all levels of Dutch society and consumer spending. However, during recent weeks, the expectation for economic growth in 2006 has been upped to 2.5%, a lot better than the zero growth over the last 4-5 years.
For Germany’s economic health, it seems necessary for a GRAND coalition or perhaps the Jamaica coalition of CDU/CSU – FDP – Greens to run an administration of economic and social reform. Reforms that Chancellor Schröder did not manage during his 7 years reign.
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Forwarded by Susan T in Michigan who’s going to D.C. as is JPol, whose diary about Judith Miller is front-paged:
I see the KOS has talk like a pirate day today.
think Boomann can have ,talk like Millers Crossing day?
And give w the high hat, the grifter…….
I HAVE NOTICED THAT ROVE HAS BEEN MADE THE “UNOFFICIAL” CZAR FOR REBUILDING THE GULF COAST, ESPECIALLY NEW ORLEANS. I WISH I COULD REMEMBER WHOSE WEBSITE I WAS ON TO GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR THIS– WHAT QUALIFICATIONS DOES ROVE HAVE? IS HE A CITY PLANNER, CITY ENGINEER? LETS DRUM HIM OUT LIKE BROWNIE. AND FOR GOODNESS SAKE LETS GET AN AUDITOR ( SOME ONE NOT CONNECTED TO REPUBLICAN PARTY” TO MONITOR ALL MONIES.