I think at least for 2014, September 4th is in the running. A quick recap:
1.) BP found grossly negligent and fined 18 billion.
2.) Gay marriage ruled constitutional in Indiana and Wisconsin.
3.) Bob McDonnell and wife found guilty and could spend a good hunk of time in the big house.
4.) Early voting changes that restricted ballot access blocked in Ohio.
5.) DC Republicans are so freaked out about the Kansas Senate race they are taking over on the ground.
6.) Obamacare legal challenge by shitburgers overturned.
7.) St. Louis County Executive apologizes for Ferguson episode and seems genuinely sorry and intent on making change.
8.) Thousands of fast food workers take to the street to demand a fair wage.
9.) Rand Paul, Ron Paul and Mitch McConnell’s wingnut tea party clown, Jesse Benton, has been subpoenaed in the Iowa bribery case.
If that isn’t enough for you, the NFL is back with opening night tonight, and because I love you, I give you this:
Brian R.
Great day, great pic.
boatboy_srq
WOOT!
ALTHOUGH: maybe it’s just me and my twisted vision, but I’m pretty sure that T-shirt has a very unfortunate fold…
Scratch
@boatboy_srq:
Yes, yes it does.
beltane
@boatboy_srq: Yes, I looked at the woman’s shirt first and did a double take.
AkaDad
It took me a few seconds to figure out why you posted that pic, then I lol’d.
Yes, I am an adolescent trapped in a 48 year old body.
MattF
The Seventh Circuit decision was no surprise, given Judge Posner’s ‘benchslaps’ during oral argument:
http://abovethelaw.com/2014/08/judge-posners-blistering-benchslaps-at-the-same-sex-marriage-arguments/
jl
Yeah. And Cole calls this a ‘full service’ blog. My fat (and it kind of really is) wide ass.
What about the Jamin’ Jerry ‘got it on lock-down’ Brown versus ‘weak-sauce’ Kashkari CA gubernorator debate?
That is tonight. Where is that on the list? Huh?
burnspbesq
BP hasn’t been fined anything yet. The $18 billion figure is an estimate.
All that today’s opinion does is establish the degree of the company’s culpability.
The fine will be $4,300 for every barrel that the court determines was spilled. There will be a next phase in the trial, which IIRC will start in January, to determine just how much was spilled.
BP has said it plans to appeal the decision on liability. I’ll defer to the litigators around here for their take on whether that appeal (which would be interlocutory at this point) is likely to be allowed to proceed before there is a hard number on damages.
jl
@burnspbesq: Thanks. See. Brown-Kashkari slugfest bigger news. Obvs.
beltane
@MattF: It seems Judge Posner did not like the “Burkean” argument in favor of discrimination.
Mnemosyne
Okay, I’m going to TRY and update my Pre-Code blog tonight so I can talk about Friday’s movies on Sunday. I have to pick which one I want to talk about in-depth (probably either Night Nurse or The Divorcee, since I’ve already seen both of them). There is a serious embarrassment of riches here, people.
burnspbesq
@jl:
Doesn’t it take at least two sluggers to have a slugfest?
Kashkari, IMO, did a fantastic job during his time at Treasury, and might be a decent Governator if he ever got the job, but Brown is going to mop the floor with him.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
Me watch Packers now.
Janet in Virginia
Love you too man. Thanks for the an al. And the summary of the day. it is a big f***ing day.
jl
Also, to be a bummer and to harsh mellows, a certain CA utility, sometimes referred to by commie ruffians as Peculation Greed and Explosions, is going to appeal a weak-ass CA PUC fine, which was half of what pretty much every other stakeholder recommended, for blowing up 38 homes and killing 9 people in San Bruno because they don’t see why they should keep track of what kind of junk gas pipe they put underground. I think the fine was something like 1 billion instead of 2.4 billion dollars.
burnspbesq
Holy moly. The seventh circuit panel opinion in the Indiana and Wisconsin marriage equality cases came out NINE days after the oral argument.
Anybody else think it was mostly written in advance?
BillinGlendaleCA
No, just no. It doesn’t matter how competent or intelligent a Republican a person is, they should never, never be given the keys.
jl
link for PG$$$$$$$$$$$$$$E story
PG&E Intends Appeal of $1.4B Fine for Fatal Blast
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pge-plans-appeal-14b-penalty-deadly-blast-25236293
KG
@burnspbesq: I don’t know what to make of Kashkari after his stunt of being “homeless and looking for work in Fresno”
But at least he wasn’t doing it in San Diego
Kay
Doesn’t $691 seem like a lot? Don’t they have anything lower than “disorderly” in Milwaukee to charge them with? Some kind of “obstructing traffic” ticket or something?
boatboy_srq
@beltane: Just making sure my twisted sense of humour is properly calibrated….
Reminds me of the Walmart tee.
Mnemosyne
@burnspbesq:
It’s not like the gay marriage opponents are coming up with new and novel arguments for every jurisdiction. I’m sure that when judges know that those groups are going to use the same arguments they’ve used in their previous 10 lawsuits, you can pretty much pre-write your decision.
KG
@burnspbesq: I still don’t get why appellate courts bother with oral arguments in 89% of cases. I like what they do in Riverside with tentative rulings and then giving the parties the option to argue
And I say this having argued multiple appellate cases
jl
@burnspbesq: Kashkari is probably a very good big government/corporate bureaucrat. Not sure where he thinks he is going with the social liberal/libertarian small government lower the taxes geekhead supply side stew he’s cooked up. Maybe he figures he is young enough to live until the current GOP is extinct, or this is a practice run for next open CA Senate race?
Edit: but he may become bitter and turn into the next Newt.
Edit2: that was an awful mean thing to say about Kashkari, I apologize.
Linnaeus
Ale’s what cures ya.
Iowa Old Lady
@Kay: For minimum wage workers, that’s a big fine.
Botsplainer
So a shitbag anonymous book reviewer at The Economist decided to minimize slavery and the economics of the antebellum South while ripping a solid work of economic history, and this happened.
http://fortressamerica.gawker.com/lets-look-at-these-slavery-inspired-economistbookrevie-1630770888/+gabriellebluestone
jl
@KG: If you are GOPer in CA, you have to make up for massive disses Whitman dished out to various localities in last CA gubernator contest, particularly Fresno. Probably Kashkari was desperate and thought up something that didn’t make any sense after a little too much booze.
MikeInSewickley
I miss checking the news and blogs for one day and all this happy-happy… happens.
Makes a lousy day better and the picture is a bonus.
Culture of Truth
But how can we be disappointed in Obama and the Democratic party today??
raven
Oregon dog eats 43 socks, vets remove every single one
Bohdi steals socks but he doesn’t eat them.
Mike J
And I have dinner reservations downtown. Happily the game has already started and will be over by the time I need to drive anywhere Still hate the traffic it causes though.
raven
@Mike J: Aw poor baby. It’s noisy too!
Mike J
Bad link on the Benton story.
Another Holocene Human (now with new computer)
@raven: That is good news.
beltane
Ha, I’ve just been polled by Gallup for their weekly opinion poll. My observation: both the format of the questioning and the questions asked make me wonder if many people who aren’t elderly wingnuts answer these things.
KG
@jl: oh, as a life long Californian, I get how screwed the GOP is out here. But this just feels too much like a stunt
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
Kuhn!
David in NY
@@KG: KG:
I think the rationale is this. If the argument is important at all, it should be heard before the judges have gotten together to decide on the outcome. Because that process of decision will tend to prejudice them in favor of their joint views — it will, essentially, put the burden on the “losing” party to overcome their decision. It’s the same reason we don’t allow jurors to discuss the case until they’ve heard all the evidence and the summations, it’s likely to cause prejudging of the issue. As it is, the judges in the federal circuits don’t actually know the views of the others on the panel until argument, so some interesting questioning, and counter questioning can occur, with judges trying to bring out emphases of the parts of the case they think important, in an effort to convince the others. I think that if they’ve all gotten together, you lose some of this process, that may keep their minds open to be persuaded by you or their colleagues.
I really don’t see why a lawyer would want the judges to decide a case without hearing from her first, if she could avoid that.
Biscuits
Yay for our team!!!
raven
Rachel goes fo da troat.
rikyrah
not a bad day at all.
thanks for the list, Cole.
KG
@David in NY: most trial courts issue tentative rulings (at least that I’ve practiced in). And in all honesty, the vast majority of cases, even at the appellate level don’t involve new or novel concepts. All the arguments: the facts, the law, the analysis; are in the briefs and can be culled from the trial court record. In my experience, you can usually tell where the panel is going by their questions
ETA: also, in my experience, judges don’t like hearing new arguments at oral arguments. That’s what the briefs are for
rikyrah
I had to watch Rachel Maddow tonight. I knew her opening segment would be on McDonnell and the verdict. She reminded me of something I had known, but forgotten.
McDonnell was offered a plea deal of one felony count, and would have spared his wife being charged.
He declined the plea deal.
Kay
@Iowa Old Lady:
SEIU says they have spent ten million in the last two years on Fight For Fifteen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they have the money (they need it) and I’m glad they’re spending it on this. The other side will spend way more than ten million fighting them. Anti-labor groups spend ten million on ONE senate race.
But I don’t think fast food workers are going to be paying those fines :)
Iowa Old Lady
@Kay: Then that’s further good news. :)
David in NY
Too many of those are just librul court opinions, by judges, and you know what SCOTUS thinks of them.
On the other hand, nos. 5, 7, 8 and maybe 9, are really quite nice, for they show sharp work by the good guys to foil various tycoons, wingnuts or the like or constitute decent actions by a public official. So two cheers for the day.
jacy
Wow, almost makes me sorry that I’ve sworn off the news for a bit. ‘Bout time everything in the world wasn’t horrible.
(And as I mentioned in an earlier thread — oncologist says 85% chance I don’t have invasive cancer, and I’ll be cured with surgery, and might get to have less invasive robotic surgery if she thinks it’s feasible after endoscopy. And I, for one, welcome our new robot surgeon overlords. Surgery on the 15th at 7AM)
raven
@jacy: good
David in NY
@KG: If you’re writing arguments off, I think you’re doing your clients a disservice. I’ve convinced judges at oral argument (not incredibly often, but sometimes) and I don’t give up the chance to do that lightly. I don’t claim it’s as important as the briefs, but often the parties have not recognized problems with their arguments, and answering a court’s doubts about yours is your one last chance. Briefed arguments are rarely perfect, and the argument gives you the opportunity to make clear why you’re right. Take it.
Kay
@Iowa Old Lady:
I’m to the point where I’d much rather hire 200 organizers at 32k than pay media companies to run ads. Is there anyone in this country who isn’t sick of political ads? Some of the ads were mystifying in Ohio in 2012. I still don’t know what the cliffs with the big clanging chisel and ominous music was about. Chipping away at our… gun rights? Give me a clue. Something. I know it’s very, very bad but WHY? :)
Elizabelle
@jacy: Good luck to you, jacy. Keep us posted. Rooting for you.
saysomething
It’s a good day for politics. Sad day for American entertainment with the loss of Joan Rivers.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@David in NY: Antonin Scalia is an overweight smoker in his late seventies, with rage issues.
Not that wish ill health on anyone.
raven
@saysomething: That horse has been beaten to death.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@jacy: That’s the best news of the day.
Central Planning
“Anale”? Is that italian?
SarahT
And some more good news:
http://www.kpho.com/story/25039302/phoenix-mom-who-left-kids-in-car-regains-custody-of-sons
http://abcnews.go.com/US/ferguson-police-federal-investigation/story?id=25250595
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
Good luck! I’ll be drinking clear liquids only that day to prep for my colonoscopy the next day, so we can both bring some drugged-up loopy comedy to the threads on the 16th.
pluege
doesn’t Michael Sam being picked up by the Dallas Cowboys rate? So-called ‘America’s Team’…yeeeeHaaaa. (Or is there less there than meets the eye? Good enough for a wingnut evangelical flipped out.)
John Cole +0
@jacy: Woah- what kind of cancer?
lamh36
@rikyrah: I love that too.
I idea that Bob McDonnell ran on the perfection of his Conservative marriage.
Then when offered a deal which would result in no jail time for him or his wife and even no charges for the wife, instead he decides to go with the my wife is a crazed, emotional, possibly philandering shrew who wasn’t satisfied with his love and money!
In that context, this verdict is SUPER SWEET!
raven
@pluege: He’s on the 10 man practice squad. It’s ok but it’s week-to-week as far as pay.
raven
Huh, Bohdi has to go in for a tooth extraction so I got booted to the couch!
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The former wannabe actuary in me says “Hey, now.”
lamh36
Governor Patrick on Potential White House Run: ‘Maybe…’
PhoenixRising
@David in NY: My friend is a well-regarded attorney who reviews and edits briefs for other lawyers when they intend to convince the appellate courts in her state of anything. What she’s firm about, and I’ve seen one oral argument in front of her state’s highest court to confirm, is that beyond the trial level judges/justices really DO expect your best arguments to be summarized in the way most favorable to your client in the briefs.
Because otherwise you’re risking what the AAGs of IN and WI experienced in the oral argument in front of the 7th. ‘Train wreck’ would dignify a land-based transit disaster.
Another friend of mine, who argues appellate cases in WI and witnessed it, described the hearing as ‘simple assault. Posner beat those guys like rented mules because their briefs actually DID contain their best ideas and he just couldn’t believe they came all this way for nothing. Mocked them for watching the timer light in hopes of being saved by the bell.’
Hearings are good. Outstanding briefing skills are good too. And when your best arguments are pathetic as well as repugnant, pounding the table is all you’ve got.
satby
@jacy: Best of luck jacy, those are pretty good odds! Sending healing vibes.
AliceBlue
@jacy:
It’s about time you got some good news!
Sir Laffs-a-Lot
and lastly, another thing that making today a red letter day: our beloved bloghost, JC, has (despite his own best efforts) survived to enjoy/endure/be enraged by another NFL season. Thanks for having us all in, John.
lamh36
People were talking about the SI Cover curse in regards to MoNe Davis being on the cover.
Today people should be talking about the State of Reunion Response Curse during the Obama era.
To a person, all of the “up and coming” GOP chosen responders to Obama have either fallen out of favor or there political capitol has collapsed or are completely out of political all together.
McDonnell, Jindal, Rubio, Bachmann, Paul Ryan…geez. At this point, no elected GOP official will want to do the response to Obama at all.
Drunken hausfrau
Great day… But where are the celebritory critters? Lily,,Rosie, Steve. Represent!
jl
@raven: Thanks for additional good news for today. I see the dog is a Great Dane. I figured it must be a big dawg with a trunk about the size of a large clothes hamper. Otherwise how could it have survived long enough to get the socks extracted?
jl
@Sir Laffs-a-Lot: I for one hope that Cole does not have to refer to his team as the pissburgh steelers too often. Just often enough since I am out on the west coast, and know that the Pittsburgh Steelers are evil, the work of the devil and must be destroyed. But not so much that it gets Cole down in the dumps over the football sporting contest festivals.
Sir Laffs-a-Lot
@jl amen to that.
burnspbesq
For those who dig instrumental virtuosity, the new Edgar Meyer/Chris Thile album (due out Tuesday) is streaming at WNYC.
http://soundcheck.wnyc.org/story/check-ahead-chris-thile-edgar-meyer-bass-mandolin/
Elizabelle
From WaPost comments on the McDonnell conviction:
(commenter Interstate 36)
Anne Laurie
@jacy: Good news! And I most sincerely hope all further updates are equally upbeat!
jl
@Elizabelle: That is GOP outreach rebranding I can get with. Maybe after Perry goes down and more putrid carcasses bubble to surface of the news in the Christie scandal, somebody can start selling souvenir orange GOP jumpsuits. Customer gets to choose the name stenciled on the thing.
We can have olde tymey black and white striped ones for honorees who were never formally charge and convicted, but maybe should have been. Lil’ Newtie comes to mind.
SuperHrefna
@jacy: Good Luck! Those are excellent odds, and I’m rooting for you to get more good news after your endoscopy.
lamh36
Ooh, I’m already salivating over the possible performances at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors…Al Green, Sting, Tom Hank, Lily Tomlin and ballerina Patricia McBride.
2014 Kennedy Center honorees announced
mai naem
Ugh, I’m watching the Brown/Kash n’ Karry debate and Kash n’ Karry is definitely coming across as hungrier. Jerry better step up his game or Krazy Eye Kash n’ Karry is at least going to make it competitive.
SiubhanDuinne
@jacy:
Yay! That is the best possible news on an already good news day!!
Belafon
@pluege: He’s on the practice squad, which means he still has a chance, but isn’t starting. But it’s the cowboys, they might need him just because at some point.
WaterGirl
@jacy: That’s great news, and we’ll hope for even better news when you go in for surgery.
I second Omnes from the other thread – this definitely belongs on the list of good news for today. Maybe Cole can edit and put your news at the top.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh36: Sting? I am now a Firebagger. Obama has betrayed me and everything I hold dear! Not a dime’s worth of difference. Thanks a lot, “Barry”!
(anybody else just get that Superbowl-ish commercial for Chuckie Todd’s first MTP? an interview with Obama. I now forgive Obama for honoring Sting, because anyone who has to talk to Chuck Todd for an hour as part of his job has suffered enough.
Mnemosyne
@John Cole +0:
Since it looks like jacy may not be back anytime soon, IIRC it’s ovarian. Which is why we’re all so relieved that the doctor is giving good odds of it not being malignant.
gogol's wife
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
But it’s pretty cool about Tom Hanks. I picked him out for stardom back when he was on Bosom Buddies.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@gogol’s wife: also, too, Lily Tomlin. We all like to quote her on the impossibility of being cynical to keep up. I always thought Ernestine’s line about the phone company, “We don’t care. We don’t have to.”, should’ve been the unofficial motto of the Bush/Cheney administration.
WaterGirl
@John Cole +0: It’s an ovarian cyst the size of a football.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
You got to the thread before I did! I was just about to comment on our lovely dinner, and what a real pleasure it was to get to know you and Mrs. efg (not to mention her beautiful a capella rendition of “Exsultate Jubilate” in the parking lot).
It wasn’t originally planned this way, but I’m so glad this is turning out to be such a Balloon-Juicy trip.
Edit: In case I had failed to mention, I had a fun time in Alexandria Old Town the other night with Elizabelle, Seabe, and (all too briefly) Sean.
SarahT
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The President doesn’t choose the Kennedy Center nominees, but Sting ? Yeah, ugh.
KS in MA
@jacy:
Those sound like really great odds. I’m betting on you, kid! Please keep us posted … I know this whole thing is no fun, but you will make it.
SarahT
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: But maybe the Prez will sing a duet w/Al Green. I’d even sit through Sting to see that.
Mnemosyne
Shorter and more vulgar Jill Scott: All of you all criticizing my body can go fuck yourselves.
lamh36
Love Tom Hanks and Lily Tomlin both.
I of course LOVE Al Green. Of course POTUS does too, Who will EVER forget this –> Obama Sings Al Green
I like Sting too, sorry.
I’m just trying to imagine in my head, the lineup of performers for both of them.
Now that’s a perfect thread for DougJ to start, covers of songs by both artist and which versions are the best.
First up: Tina Turner – Let’s Stay Together
JR in WV
@jacy:
Oh yeh, that’s all good. What a good day! We’re pulling for you, too.
aimai
@efgoldman: I’ll try to make it if I see the deets in time.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Wait, isn’t there a Hawks game tonight?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@GHayduke (formerly lojasmo): That’s the way it seems to be working out. The Seahawks are scary good.
Tommy
@lamh36: just watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb0r4auE7eU
jacy
@John Cole +0:
Yes, ovarian cancer. 4 weeks after my husband left me for another woman. Because I’m that special!
(sorry it took me so long to answer — drilling South and Central American countries into the kid’s head for big test in Spanish tomorrow — terrible for someone like me who is a dunce at geography….)
Thanks again, all, for the good vibes!
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah, I’m clear liquids only on Sunday, plus some delicious-sounding Citrate magnesium. I’ll be sure to attempt to text while I’m on a morphine pump, even though I can barely use my phone as it is. Should be hilarious!
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Seahawks are still the team to beat. But Green Bay seems a bit sloppy and out of sync in this game.
beltane
Why is it that we hate Sting? I don’t remember.
Scamp Dog
@jacy: Good news! At the 85% level, at any rate. Here’s hoping all goes well for you.
Jay C
@PhoenixRising:
Funny how that stuff works: most court arguments against same-sex marriage – at least those that get published in the media – have tended to fall into two categories: lame, and lamer. We saw this with the fight against California’s Prop. 8: despite the haters’ blithering over the “standing” issues, what they were left with to argue (in a high-level court) was, IIRC, right-wing-blog level arguments (i.e. disreputable or discredited pseudo-sociology), and huffy sputtering about “the will of The People”. And it doesn’t sound like the arguments have gotten any more cogent since…
Anoniminous
@beltane:
For enabling and abetting this rotten piece of garbage & abomination of an abortion of a Science Fiction classic.
jacy
@beltane:
I love Sting — sorry. And Billy Joel. And old Barry Manilow. And Huey Lewis and the News. (which all make me sound like a terrible square — but I also listen to hip stuff too. Honest.)
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Baud: GB really needed a few drives like that last one. They might have left it too late.
Anonymouse
@PhoenixRising: Well of course that’s always the aim, sometimes achieved, but not always. Funny how, at least in my Circuit, where I’ve argued a couple hundred appeals, the judges sometimes come up with problems in a case that neither side really anticipated. Not usually, but more than you might think. That’s really when oral argument is important. Most judges will say that most of the time it doesn’t affect the outcome, but you don’t want to waive argument in a case where it might, which might be any case unless you’re infallible.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Yep. They looked really good on that drive.
MomSense
@jacy: @Mnemosyne:
I’ll be a couple days behind you on the clear liquids. That is going to be quite the week for us.
Jacy, we are all sending positive and healing energy your way until we get the signal that you are totally cancer free! We will be rooting for you.
I helped my son with an essay tonight which means I dashed off to staples about 5 minutes before closing to buy a new ink cartridge. I swear I just bought a cartridge. Tonight I heard all about the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches his teacher keeps in the classroom. He brought them dog kibble from home to feed them today. I don’t mind hearing about them but we are definitely not volunteering to watch them during school vacations.
gian
@Mnemosyne:
isn’t that kinda what happens with the photo leaks? didn’t the thieves call it “the fappening”
MomSense
@lamh36:
Should be great! I love Patty McBride and looked up to her when she was still dancing and I was a student. She is a beautiful person and dancer.
Anonymouse
@KG: If you’re talking about trial practice, I don’t necessarily disagree. I don’t see that what you’re saying has any application to appellate practice, which is what I thought you were addressing. By the way, of course you can’t raise new arguments at oral argument, but if asked probing question you often have to come up with new ways of supporting the arguments you’ve already made to address the court’s concerns.
Birthmarker
@jacy: Good luck Jacy!!
On another note, some on my FB feed think ISIS is about to come into their subdivisions and start the beheading.
The Outrage of the Week keeps getting sillier and sillier the closer to the November elections we get.
Ruckus
@jacy:
Glad things are sounding better. Hope they just keep heading in that direction.
Mandalay
@beltane:
Well I don’t hate him, but he has his faults. He loves scolding the world about green issues, yet his carbon footprint is enormous. And he rants about human rights, but cozies up to Assad.
Of course, whenever those who champion the underdog are successful, there is a backlash (e.g. Michael Moore), and Sting is certainly a victim of that syndrome, but he is a bit of a sanctimonious phony.
Burt Hutt
Is anyone else amused that Mr. Badger was one of the plaintiffs challenging Wisconsin?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Burt Hutt: I am now that I am aware of it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@beltane: I was half-trolling, half-joking, I actually like quite a bit of Sting/Police music, but he radiates douche.
SarahT
@MomSense: Got to see her dance several times – just wonderful
John Revolta
@beltane: I imagine it’s hard not to be smug and pretentious when you’ve got as much talent and smarts as he’s got, but really, I think he could try a little harder.
And I do like a lot of his stuff. Anyway, aren’t (shouldn’t) the Kennedy Center Honors reserved for American artists?
Violet
@jacy: Late to the thread, but that is excellent news! I think I mentioned my friend who had a massive abdominal tumor that turned out to be benign. Your situation reminded me of her. I hope the endoscopy brings good news!
Suzanne
@jacy: OOOOH, glad to hear from you. Question: how do they think they can get that football-sized thing out via endoscopy? My throat hurts just thinking about that shit!
God, I have just been absolutely GLEEFUL about the McDonnell thing. It’s not often that you get to watch karma work that quickly. Now, if Ted Cruz could be arrested for being a drug mule. Mandatory cavity search.
Jebediah, RBG
@AkaDad:
definitely not the only one…
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
This website had good prep information presented in an entertaining way. Also, several folks here recommended that I follow a low-fiber/low-residue diet for three or four days before the all-liquid day, which makes the colon calm and happy before you start trying to rapidly move things through it.
There was one other website with good advice (like, put a yoga mat or cushy blanket on the floor of the bathroom, because you’re gonna be laying there for a while) — if I find it, I’ll post it, too.
ETA: Also, too, I usually handle stress with inappropriate humor. If you’re not in the mood, just tell me — I won’t be offended!
Jebediah, RBG
@jacy:
fingers and paws will be firmly crossed here.
Seanly
In other good news, my lovely wife had her Day Zero for her blood stem cell transplant. Very little in the way of chemo or BMT side effects so far. I guess her body thought it gave her enough grief over the previous 8 months. (Yes, I did post about this in another thread)
Now, she needs to spend another 2 weeks in the hospital. Hopefully she doesn’t have moderate or severe GVHD sometime in the next 100 days. All this to hopefully finish off her acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment.
Before this phase got started they did say she was no longer positive for the Philadelphia chromosome. It was not good news when she was positive for it, but I never understood WTF that was exactly.
It will likely be a while before we follow the photo’s advice…
StringOnAStick
@beltane: Thanks for telling us you’ve been polled by Gallup; I have been meaning to ask if anyone here has answered any calls from pollsters this election cycle.
This is where I think polling was off a bit last time; how many people actually answer calls from numbers they don’t recognize? I don’t and I don’t know anyone who does. If the number came up ID’d as Gallup or whoever, I’d actually answer it just so I could hear what they ask and then mess with the results.
Anyone younger than, say, 35 doesn’t watch cable news, local or national and therefore they aren’t getting bombarded with Koch-funded ads. They don’t listen to much commercial radio either, so that route’s out. I strongly suspect that all the money that goes into political ads on radio and TV just serves to rile up the same 27%; it sure doesn’t make its way to the younger adults. However, we need to reach the younger potential voter and get them to actually vote.
Mnemosyne
@gian:
Apparently some of them found Scott to not be stroke-worthy. To which her reply (quite correctly) was Boo-Fucking-Hoo.
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
Found it!
Everything You Wanted to Know About a Colonoscopy But Were Afraid to Ask!
jacy
@Suzanne:
late back again — They’re going to look at the thing with a camera through a small abdominal incision. If she thinks she can maneuver the robot tools around it, they put a plastic bag in through the incision, shove the tumor into the plastic bag, drain the tumor while it’s inside the bag so no possibly cancerous cells leak out and then tie up the bag and pull it back out the through the small incision. So it’ll depend on if she can safely put the tumor into the bag, I suppose. (And they’ll take a sample to stage the cancer and make sure they don’t need to do anything else. ) She’s not sure it’s going to be feasible, but she said she’d check, so I singed consents for both robotic surgery and the full laporotomy. I guess I’ll just be surprised when I wake up.
@Mnemosyne:
I’m always in the mood for inappropriate humor. Thanks!!
dww44
@BillinGlendaleCA: Exactly. Because once in office all those positive attributes count for nought as long as the party is controlled by big money and tea party conservatives. He wouldn’t have any ability to move his party towards the center.
Radio One
No, can’t say I’m in the happy camp regarding politics.The CW right now is so in the “get your war on” mode, that unless Obama is personally on the field in Syria directing troops to destroy ISIS this week, it won’t be enough to sway Chris Matthews and the rest of the derp troop.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: Even though I don’t have a colonoscopy planned, I looked at your links. I cracked up at the comment posed by a reader asking how far before the procedure she should stop snorting cocaine.
LMMFAO.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Radio One: How often has Obama followed the MSM drumbeat? I wouldn’t be too worried.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
I read that one, too. It’s moments like that where I realize just how sheltered I really am.
ETA: The ranty old man who wanted to kill everyone was good, too.
dww44
@lamh36: Another year and no Garrison Keillor on the Kennedy Center’s Honorees list. There was a write-in campaign a couple of years ago, but the effort went for naught. No disrespect intended, but why would the Kennedy Center not have had Garrison Keillor “honored” a long time ago? Someone who wields a lot of influence with the Kennedy Center must really have it in for Keillor.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Suzanne:
I didn’t go to the links. I’ll learn this stuff when I have to, but not before. But the cocaine question seems reasonable to me. Honestly. If you are a user and you want the procedure to get an accurate result (assuming coke use skews it somehow), you would want to know how far out you need to stop. They probably tell you when for food, booze, and other things.
Mnemosyne
@dww44:
Maybe he’s on the Mark Twain Prize list instead.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dww44: They have a height limit.
Radio One
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): not worried about Obama, just tired of the bullshit.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Um, coke goes up your nose. Not that I would know. If it’s coming out your ass, you need more than a colonoscopy.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Radio One: I quit watching TV news years ago. I have 110/68 blood pressure and a 54 bpm resting pulse rate. Correlation =/= causation, but still…
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Suzanne: I have heard of alcohol and other drug suppositories (official or unofficial). You have seen Trainspotting, right? Lovely soundtrack – it was odd to see how closely my musically tastes matched those of Scottish junkies in the mid-90s.
N.B. I can’t touch cocaine. For me, it makes everything perfect and wonderful and I want more. I did it a few times and noticed that fact. So I never touched it again.
Amir Khalid
@John Revolta:
Two years ago, the Kennedy Center honoured the surviving members of Led Zeppelin, who are Britons.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Amir Khalid: I blame Obama.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Trainspotting is a great movie and book, and the soundtrack is excellent. I have heard of suppositories, and of course being a mule, but that’s not what she was talking about.
I oddly had the same reaction to coke. And I am not a drugs person. But oh my God, it RULES. So I haven’t touched it since the Clinton administration.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Suzanne: Well, like I said, I avoided the links, so I am talking out of my ass, so to speak.
ruemara
Late to thread & I canna post the happy doggie pictures I took today but Happy Healing Vibes to Jacy & Seanly’s wife!
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): I don’t know why they just don’t go get a colonic and skip all the prepping misery.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Suzanne: I assume there are medical reasons. I refuse to pry. Polite that way, me.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
A colonic only clears out your lower colon (yes, even when they advertise it as a “high colonic”). The colonoscopy looks at the whole damn thing. So, yeah, sadly not gonna work as medical prep.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Mnemosyne: I don’t think that she meant it literally.
Manyakitty
@Suzanne: I had a grapefruit-sized fibroid removed robotically. They chopped the thing into manageable chunks and pulled those out.
chopper
@jacy:
I see what you did there.
shelley
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. “We haf vays of making you run!’
If that actually came to pass, all the dude has to do is say ‘Hey, don’t vote for me; pick the other guy.’
Wally Ballou
You had me up until the last paragraph. Couldn’t care less about the National Helmeted Slabs of Meat Crashing Into Each Other League.
CONGRATULATIONS!
It was a good day personally too, which I am beyond grateful for, because September 4, 2013 was one of the worst days of my life. We had to put our 15 year old lab down.
Glad the wheel can spin in the other direction.