ellaesther - June 28, 2010 | 6:48 pm · Link

Congratulations on the official absorption of Rosie into your family! Resistance, as I believe you knew all along, is futile.

Also, too: I finally remembered today to place an Amazon order through your link. So, you know, have a piece of gum on me!

frankdawg - June 28, 2010 | 6:51 pm · Link

The wingnuts have been cackling all day about how the media would never mention Bryd’s membership in the KKK a hundred years ago & this would be the ultimate evidence of their liberal bias.

Since every story I have seen or read about him has included this fact do you suppose the wingnuts will consider the possibility they are wrong? STILL

General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 28, 2010 | 6:51 pm · Link

so I guess she is official now

Absolutely outstanding!!

DBrown - June 28, 2010 | 6:55 pm · Link

Please don’t put the Go* Damn chip in her until you research the issue – a few years ago I read in a science mag that the rate of cancer in dog’s with implanted chips was huge (haven’t followed since but the friend I told it to at the time had his dog chipped (is that even a verb?) and it is now being treated for cancer.) I don’t see how it is possible but you had better check (and don’t ask a Vet – like most MD’s, they don’t know their own as* from a hole in the wall.)

freelancer - June 28, 2010 | 6:58 pm · Link

Just capping off a priceless 4 day weekend. I can’t even describe how perfect the last few days have been for me. I don’t even care what I missed, politically speaking. How are y’all?

I’m up in the woods.
I’m down on my mind.
I’m building a still
to slow down the time.

Congrats JC, for the new addition to the family.

Ash Can - June 28, 2010 | 7:00 pm · Link

And this was all because you went out to get some bed linens. Think of what could have happened if you had gone out for a mattress and box spring.

WaterGirl - June 28, 2010 | 7:09 pm · Link

@WereBear: My two kitties came with microchips, so the BJ comments about microchips in this thread sent me right to google. What I read worries me – I am wondering if I should consider having them removed. Any thoughts from our resident cat expert? Others?

Violet - June 28, 2010 | 7:12 pm · Link

@Bob Loblaw:
But all the states make their own laws as to how to deal with a vacancy. If you’re suggesting it be standardized with a federal law, that won’t go down very well with the individual states. Although I do think some measure of consistency in how its approached would benefit the country as a whole.

Keith G - June 28, 2010 | 7:18 pm · Link

@Bob Loblaw: @Violet:

But, but…what about the laboratory of the states?

Bob Loblaw - June 28, 2010 | 7:22 pm · Link

It isn’t “the law.” The state is penalizing politicians from both parties for not filing on time in 2010 for an election that wasn’t on the ballot yet. It’s a good thing Robert Byrd didn’t die a month ago or else the people of his state might have gotten to vote for his successor for the next two and a half years. But this is America and we wouldn’t want that.

Joseph Nobles - June 28, 2010 | 7:24 pm · Link

@frankdawg: Not only will they recognize they are wrong, I guarantee you that Glenn Beck will state tomorrow that Fox was the only media outlet to bring it up. Well, maybe not. Jon Stewart did thrash him about that tendency just recently.

Violet - June 28, 2010 | 7:26 pm · Link

@Mark S.:
Draft John Cole! Cole for Senator!

John Cole - June 28, 2010 | 7:28 pm · Link

@Bob Loblaw: And they’ll probably fix the fucked up law now that this has happened. But you don’t just get to not follow the law.

Besides, I’d have more faith in your argument that we would be bitching if Republicans were doing this if many Republicans weren’t actively courting a repeal of the 17th amendment.

Zuzu's Petals - June 28, 2010 | 7:32 pm · Link

@Bob Loblaw:

Well, it isn’t a “loophole found by the WV Democratic Party,” it is (as others have pointed out) state law. I think the WV Sec. of State explains it pretty clearly:

“Section 3-10-3 states that for terms with more than two years and six months remaining, such as this one with Senator Byrd, the Governor will appoint a replacement who serves the unexpired term until a successor has been elected.

“But that election will not be the 2010 General election. Part of this same section of code, requires the candidate to have filed during the filing period. That filing period has already passed. There was a legal case in 1994 decided by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals that up held that position of requiring candidates to file during the filing period.

“That means the election for the unexpired term would be the next election cycle which would take place in 2012. Candidates will be nominated in the primary and elected in the general of 2012.

ETA: What John said @26.

stuckinred - June 28, 2010 | 7:35 pm · Link

Washington (CNN)—Ten individuals have been arrested in the United States on charges of being Russian agents, the Justice Department announced Monday.

The 10 were “trained Russian intelligence operatives,” a Justice Department spokesman said.

WereBear - June 28, 2010 | 7:40 pm · Link

@WaterGirl: This is the first I’ve heard of it. I did some googling, and concluded:

The chip is implanted in the back of the neck, where vaccination shots are also administered. There could be some confusion as to cause, since vaccinations have been implicated in the past, and now they are recommending every other year, or as needed.

I’ve run across enough cases of vaccination related cancers that I’ve taken a holistic approach and don’t vaccinate very often. But then, my cats are indoors only. Dogs, and outdoor cats, would be different.

I’m also under the impression that it’s not that the chip emits a signal, like a cell phone. It’s passively waiting to get “pinged,” which wouldn’t happen very often.

Also, even in rats, it was something like 1%. Is that significant?

Also, I don’t know how many people chip their pets. I’ve been doing it for a dozen years now, with probably ten pets all told; haven’t had any problems, but that’s a small sample.

Glad to be corrected on any point.

Randy P - June 28, 2010 | 7:41 pm · Link

@stuckinred: Huh. In Cold War days the FBI didn’t typically arrest them, they’d just keep an eye on them. Actually arresting or deporting the spies usually resorted in an equal number of known US agents being deported or arrested in Russia.

Wonder why the arrests? Are we mad at Russian intelligence for some reason?

Randy P - June 28, 2010 | 7:43 pm · Link

@WereBear:

I’m also under the impression that it’s not that the chip emits a signal, like a cell phone. It’s passively waiting to get “pinged,” which wouldn’t happen very often.

Yep, it’s what is called RFID. Doesn’t emit a signal on its own. Same technology as in an EZ-Pass toll collector if you’re familiar with that.

Cain - June 28, 2010 | 7:47 pm · Link

Since it is open thread, I was watching some stuff on PBS on the media and whether it is doing journalism properly. It wasn’t bad but I couldn’t pay full attention.

Then there was some other show kinda like the McLoughlin group but less irritating. Charles Krauthammer (sp?) was in it and he was spouting some seriously stupid ass shit about how we wasted our time doing health care when really we should be going to war with Iran. I mean really…. that was just clear bullshit.

Just about everybody was all over him on that. It was refreshing watching people recoil from this ass hat. The dude wouldn’t give it up, he started talking shit and at least one person was going “Oh Charles..”

That guy is an ass of epic proportions.

cain

edit: the first one was the “future of news” and here is the link it’s the one with Dan Rather about citizen journalists. Good stuff.

Can’t find the second one though.

Bob Loblaw - June 28, 2010 | 7:50 pm · Link

@stuckinred:

I have a crippling weakness for liberal goo-goo principles, my bad. I must learn how to be a better partisan.

WereBear - June 28, 2010 | 7:55 pm · Link

@Randy P: Thanks! for the confirmation.

I didn’t realize the UK has chipped 3.7 million dogs without apparent incident. This article is a position statement on the subject.

Makes me feel better, since all three of my cats are chipped.

Dogs should have collars, but in cats, they have to be able to get out of them. So what’s the point?

jeffreyw - June 28, 2010 | 7:57 pm · Link

Congrats on the new addition! I’ve been too busy even to mow. Eye doc appt, then shopping at the Asian market. Been all afternoon making daikon and carrot pickles. There is a huge lasagna in the oven right now.

General Egali Tarian Stuck - June 28, 2010 | 7:59 pm · Link

@Violet:

Seems we have some new ghosts in the WP machine. Nothing can be trusted anymore, it’s every minion for his/her self.

Anne Laurie - June 28, 2010 | 8:05 pm · Link

the friend I told it to at the time had his dog chipped (is that even a verb?) and it is now being treated for cancer.

There are a LOT of pets being treated for cancer these days, unfortunately. Part of the increase, no doubt, has to do with the many many toxins and stresses common to our daily lives, human and animal both. But an even larger part has to do with the fact that companion animals are no longer considered fungible by many people. A generation ago, even a beloved pet cat or dog wasn’t expected to live more than 10 years or so at best—if it didn’t ‘disappear’ on an unsupervised outing, or get hit by a car, or just become a nuisance and get ‘given away’. When age or illness struck, the conventional wisdom was that it was “kinder” to put an animal to sleep and replace it with another pet, especially since there wasn’t very much most veterinarians could offer in the way of treatment.

Today, people are willing to spend considerable sums of money to keep their pets alive, and the use of research animals to develop the vastly improved cancer treatments for people mean that vets have many more and better tools for treating animals as well. It’s by no means an easy or a universally available option; we spent something like $5K treating our dog Flicker for colon cancer, but the Spousal Unit doesn’t regret burning that hole in the family finances in return for an extra 16 months with his second-favorite redhead.

The key argument in favor of microchipping, to my mind, comes from the American Veterinary Medical Association:

A study of more than 7,700 stray animals at animal shelters showed that dogs without microchips were returned to their owners 21.9% of the time, whereas microchipped dogs were returned to their owners 52.2% of the time. Cats without microchips were reunited with their owners only 1.8% of the time, whereas microchipped cats went back home 38.5% of the time. (Lord et al, JAVMA, July 15, 2009)

If you’re 100% sure that your cat is an indoor-only cat, and will always be an indoor-only cat, then maybe you don’t want to bother with an extra vet visit and the $25/$50 cost of a microchip. On the other hand, to use a blog-specific example, Tunch is an indoor-only cat and not exactly a skittish little athlete—and he’s still managed to “escape” at least once, and nearly give John Cole a heart attack by doing so. And dogs, of course, almost always ranger further and more often than cats. I’d worry a lot more about giving myself a tumor by using my cell phone than I worry about giving my pets cancer by having them microchipped!

stuckinred - June 28, 2010 | 8:10 pm · Link

@Anne Laurie: Ditto, we spent $20+K on boo-boo’s cancer treatment. He made it 2 1/2 years which seemed pretty good. What we didn’t, and could not know until we lived through it with him, was what a toll the chemo/radiation/surgery took on the little fella. We say we wouldn’t go to that length again, just make them as comfortable as possible. That’s what we say now, ask me what we decide when push comes to shove.

He was chipped and this is the first I’ve heard of this issue.

geg6 - June 28, 2010 | 8:14 pm · Link

Well, looks like I’m about to get domesticated again. My John and I discussed living together again over the weekend. And very seriously this time as the deadbeat daughter has finally given notice that she’s moving in with her mother as of August 1. We have decided that I will have the studio apartment in the basement that deadbeat daughter lives in as “my space.”

Do I have a great guy or what? A bedroom (probably as a second guest room), a walk-in closet and another storage area, a bathroom, and a sitting area all my own! If you could see the size of my current apartment, you’d know how exciting that sounds.

Oh, and Cole, doesn’t WV do registration online?

kay - June 28, 2010 | 8:26 pm · Link

@Bob Loblaw:

I have a crippling weakness for liberal goo-goo principles, my bad. I must learn how to be a better partisan.

It’s state law, interpreted by the elected Sec of State and she relied on a state supreme court case from 1994.

I’m not sure why your personal interpretation would be any more valid than all that.

Anne Laurie - June 28, 2010 | 8:28 pm · Link

@WereBear:

I’m also under the impression that it’s not that the chip emits a signal, like a cell phone. It’s passively waiting to get “pinged,” which wouldn’t happen very often.
Also, even in rats, it was something like 1%. Is that significant?

Not very, especially when you consider that those rats were from lines specifically bred to develop cancer.

From what I can see on The Google, the “microchips cause cancer” stories got started with people who explictly wanted to discourage the use of RISD chips in things like grocery & gas cards, because they believe there’s a civil liberties issue involved. There are reasons to be wary of giving the government too much information, just as there are reasons to be wary of giving kids (and pets!) too many vaccinations, but hyping tiny statistical variations into ooga-booga friend-of-a-friend urban legends does not strike me as a net social positive.

Anne Laurie - June 28, 2010 | 8:32 pm · Link

@geg6:

A bedroom (probably as a second guest room), a walk-in closet and another storage area, a bathroom, and a sitting area all my own! If you could see the size of my current apartment, you’d know how exciting that sounds.

Congratulations! I know this is a big step for you, and I’m glad you’re feeling so confident & happy about it.

getsmartin - June 28, 2010 | 8:42 pm · Link

Jeebus… I dropped a comment on a friend’s FB page this weekend about the Gulf oil disaster (I live on the Miss. coast, btw) and the resident wingnut chimed in with this (claiming that the administration is preventing oil skimming operations):

“Oil on the beach makes it easier to implement his cap and tax marxist agenda with our energy policy “.

Honestly, I’m not in the mood to engage assholes like that. It’s amazing they’ve really convinced themselves that this bullshit is true.

inkadu - June 28, 2010 | 8:46 pm · Link

@stuckinred: I guess I’m speaking for the skeptics. I guess religious people might be more unsure; but that would make them more likely to want to die. Except for the fact that without the prohibition against suicide, it would only be logical to do it to get to a glorious afterlife sooner.

inkadu - June 28, 2010 | 8:55 pm · Link

@WereBear: Thanks for that Werebear. Good stuff. You’re right. It’s most important to distinguish between our wants from the animals.

They should guardian ad litems.

stuckinred - June 28, 2010 | 9:01 pm · Link

@inkadu: Confusing ain’t it?

Iris DeMent puts it this way:

Everybody’s wonderin’ what and where they all came from.
Everybody’s worryin’ ‘bout where they’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done.
But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me.
I think I’ll just let the mystery be.

Some say once you’re gone you’re gone forever, and some say you’re gonna come back.
Some say you rest in the arms of the Saviour if in sinful ways you lack.
Some say that they’re comin’ back in a garden, bunch of carrots and little sweet peas.
I think I’ll just let the mystery be.

Everybody’s wonderin’ what and where they all came from.
Everybody’s worryin’ ‘bout where they’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done.
But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me.
I think I’ll just let the mystery be.

Some say they’re goin’ to a place called Glory and I ain’t saying it ain’t a fact.
But I’ve heard that I’m on the road to purgatory and I don’t like the sound of that.
Well, I believe in love and I live my life accordingly.
But I choose to let the mystery be.

Everybody’s wonderin’ what and where they all came from.
Everybody’s worryin’ ‘bout where they’re gonna go when the whole thing’s done.
But no one knows for certain and so it’s all the same to me.
I think I’ll just let the mystery be.
I think I’ll just let the mystery be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awmgpZFXHfk

eco2geek - June 28, 2010 | 9:12 pm · Link

Re the safety of using RFID chips in animals, from Wikipedia:

RFID chips are used in animal research, and tumors at the site of implantation have been reported in laboratory mice and rats. Noted veterinary associations responded with continued support for the procedure as reasonably safe for cats and dogs, pointing to rates of serious complications on the order of one in a million in the U.K., which has a system for tracking such adverse reactions and has chipped over 3.7 million pet dogs.

We once met this homeless guy, a vet, I think, at a park. He went everywhere on a bike, pulling a little trailer behind him with a tent on it for his posessions and his dog. Some time later, we were at the county animal shelter to give them a feral cat when the homeless guy showed up. He’d bicycled there, over 10 miles in the rain, because his dog had gotten loose and someone had taken it in. By the time the homeless guy got there, they’d already put a chip in his dog. We were going to give him a ride back to the part of town he usually stayed in, but he got in an argument with animal shelter staff about how the chip was a way for the government to track him. We decided he could find his own way back just about the time staff summoned a county deputy to the front counter.

debit - June 28, 2010 | 9:19 pm · Link

I feel odd saying this, but I am about to call Animal Control on my neighbors. They have two dogs that never stop barking. Never. The dogs are not mistreated; they just never stop fucking barking. I cannot go out to my backyard because the dogs will throw themselves against the fence (if they are out) or the sliding screen (if they are in) and scream-bark until I go back in.

The owner knows it’s a problem. He smiles sheepishly and says, mildly, “Now, boys, quiet down.” And is totally ignored by his dogs as they continue to scream bark and try to get at me through the fence. It’s a hundred times worse when I let Chloe out. To her credit, she ignores them.

But after two years of this, I simply cannot deal anymore. I cannot have a window open, because they bark. I can’t move about in my kitchen, because they hear me and bark. I can’t use my own damn backyard, because they froth like they are rabid. I honestly have just had enough.

OriGuy - June 28, 2010 | 9:23 pm · Link

So any speculation as to whom the WV Governor will name to the Senate? Anyone we know?

inkadu - June 28, 2010 | 9:24 pm · Link

@stuckinred: I’m not confused at all. And, contrary to Ms. DeMent, there’s no mystery in being a piece of meat. There’s really only one logical conclusion to life.

I did like the song when I heard it many years ago… but that’s Iris for you.

Davebo - June 28, 2010 | 9:26 pm · Link

And within the next month I’ll chip my new pony pretending to be a six month old Lab puppy.

Maybe I should think GPS, but then, I could probably spot him from Google Earth.

Just Some Fuckhead - June 28, 2010 | 9:27 pm · Link

@debit: My next-door neighbor rescues dogs and has a permit to shelter up to, I think, six at a time.

So not only do I get the non-stop barking but it’s always a different dog every other week with some hideous shriek bark that makes ya understand why someone tossed it out in the first place.

Nothing worse than an untrained, ill-mannered dog. Except an old lady that lets ‘em sit out back hackshriekbarking for hours.

inkadu - June 28, 2010 | 9:28 pm · Link

@debit: I’d guess the dogs have a lot of energy that’s not going anywhere. Do they ever go out for walks? Have you thought of introducing yourself to the dogs? Maybe throw them some food, too. Might not work, but you’re desperate.

stuckinred - June 28, 2010 | 9:31 pm · Link

@inkadu: whoop teee dooo

frankdawg - June 28, 2010 | 9:38 pm · Link

@DBrown:

(and don’t ask a Vet – like most MD’s, they don’t know their own as* from a hole in the wall.)

Who should we ask, Jenny McCarthy?

stuckinred - June 28, 2010 | 9:40 pm · Link

@frankdawg: Oh, I don’t know, we have people here that seem to know everything, ask them? :)

debit - June 28, 2010 | 9:49 pm · Link

@Anne Laurie: Heh. Those are the only dogs she ignores. She refuses to greet them, or engage in any way. They get the back. Okay, she’ll kick her poop in their general direction. But that’s it.

inkadu - June 28, 2010 | 10:21 pm · Link

@debit: Yeah. Those dogs are out of control—through no fault of their own. Their asshole owner is just plain irresponsible. Call the warden and report back. I’d be interested to see if anything is done.

I have a similar situation, though much attenuated. I have about three dogs caged up maybe 30 yards from my bedroom window. They bark a lot and they rarely go for walks. I go for walks every day and wouldn’t mind taking an extra one; but my girlfriend’s talked to them before, and she doesn’t think they’d go for it. In fact, they’d probably think it was downright weird.

debit - June 28, 2010 | 10:37 pm · Link

@JoePo: Poor little girl! Okay, I’m no expert, but I would suggest tethering her. That way you can catch her before the act, as it were. Or do leashes freak her out?

@inkadu: Well, I left a voice mail and will document my complaint. My next step will be to record the barking. And I don’t want them to lose their pets, or to even pay a fine. Just to deal with it. They can’t be happy living with them. God, I’d go insane.

debit - June 28, 2010 | 10:44 pm · Link

@JoePo: Then I’d try it, and praise the hell out of her when she does go outside. If she can’t cope with physical affection yet, verbal praise and treats should be your secret weapon. Good luck! And, um, pictures? And what’s her name?

debit - June 28, 2010 | 11:17 pm · Link

@JoePo: I am sure that if Anne Laurie is still checking the thread she’ll have some excellent advice for you; she’s been a great help to me with my rescue dog.

Maddy is an excellent name. Can’t wait to see pics and hear how she settles in.

And with that, ‘night all.

LiberalTarian - June 29, 2010 | 12:42 am · Link

The DMV here is a sometimes rotten experience, near the first of the month, particularly. The last year or so, since it has been closed in California 3 Fridays a month, it has been more so.

Now, those lucky duckies working at the DMV will only have one floating furlough day a month, and a 10% cut in overall pay.

And they are fine with it, because at least they have a job.

Yay. Hell in a handbasket. Now I know what it looks like.

asiangrrlMN - June 29, 2010 | 1:26 am · Link

@debit: Don’t feel bad. I live next door to a guy who always has an overweight red…wanna say retriever. When one dies, he just gets another. Each dog howls at me every time I go outside. He’s old, and he walked the dog maybe once a day. Couldn’t be in the house because his wife doesn’t like dogs. On the other side, the woman has a little yap dog that ALWAYS yaps at me despite her, “No, no, no”.

I don’t like the new Bobtroll as much as the old one (and I never read the comments of the old one, so that tells you something). I like pie much better.

DaveInOz - June 29, 2010 | 5:00 am · Link

@john_cole Now look what you’ve started! Australia Post have just released a set of stamps called ‘Adopted and Adored‘