Well, a bit of an abbreviated post today. It has been a hellish day, one that has you cursing. Since the Contrarian is still taking meds for strep throat and is going to an farm auction tomorrow, I talked him into staying home while I trucked off to Independence for shopping. This in the end turned out to be a good thing, though at one point, it seemed to be a very bad thing.
Anyhow, I got my groceries and was putting them in the back of the Bronco when a man walked up and announced, “Ma’am, do you know you have a flat tire?” Well, no, and of course I scurried around to look, like perhaps he was playing some cosmic joke on yours truly. No such luck of course, the dang thing was flatter than the proverbial pancake.
Said manworthless person, asked if I had a phone. “No,” I said. No phone was offered. “Well do you have someone to call?” “No,” I lied still holding out the hope that said person would do the chivalrous thing and offer to change the tire. No such luck. “Well, just wanted you to know so you wouldn’t drive off with it flat.” Gee that was helpful I wanted to yell, I’d surely have driven 25 miles on the flat without that alert.
I rummaged through my purse and found four quarters the outrageous price of a lousy phone call, and prayed the Contrarian was not on the internet. He was not, but then, the phone barely worked. I could not hear him, all I could do was yell out my predicament. I faintly heard, “I’ll be right there,” and a click.
About 35 minutes later, with my ice cream no doubt in a bad state, said husband arrived. Half way there, he pondered whether I had gone to Independence or had gone to Cedar Rapids, but luckily, picked the right direction. After about ten minutes of cursing, jumping on the tire iron trying to release a lug nut, he announced, “Start moving the groceries into the truck.” Hmmmmm, this looked far worse now than anticipated.
“I’m sorry, I truly am.” “Not your fault babe,” he replied. “Just life.” A plan was hatched on the way home. We got the groceries inside, he called his closest friend and working buddy, and now both are on the way back up with more manly tools. Steve had four nearly new tires that we were thinking of buying, and so that deal was now struck. So I guess I’ll have brand new ones for Sunday and church.
Anyway, disruptions such as this always put me into a foul mood. I don’t like changes in my routine a lot, and we have had two major ones in a week. But, all in all, things could definitely be worse. The Contrarian dreams of the day when he has a flat and can call someone and dump the whole issue on them. I recall years of being single and facing this nasty problem more than once alone and at the mercy of some mechanic type who charged me a full months wages no doubt for the simple task. (NO I DON’T INTEND TO LEARN TO CHANGE MY OWN TIRES, SO DON’T ASK.)
As to the debate, I was hoping for a Palin melt down and a pretty much end of the election. Of course, I knew that would not happen, somehow that woman feels comfortable before millions and freezes up with a single human being interviewing her. She is still dumber than the dirt I shake off my shoes, and it appears she changed no minds for the positive. Those that liked her, still do, those that don’t still don’t. Biden was fine, and substantively beat the pants off her. If you like giggles and winks, and inane grins and slopping pronunciation, she’s your girl.
So on with the news I picked up during the week.
Let’s start off with something good. Baking Delights often gives us the best recipes, and today is a copycat one. Bennigan’s Baked Potato Soup. As the days and the nights continue that downward trend, this is just the thing to come in for after time outside cleaning up the yard. If you do that sort of thing, which I don’t, but hey, soup is still the best!
Another recipe that looked mighty good to me was this one from Coconut & Lime, Baked Ziti with Rapini and Chicken Meatballs. I think you can substitute out the Rapini if you can’t find it, with spinach say, and the meatballs can definitely be other meat as you desire. I love to make casseroles that just have to be popped in the over an hour or so before dinner. I’m definitely a morning chef!
At the debates, at one point, Obama claimed that Kissinger agreed with some level of negotiations without pre-conditions. McCain said he was wrong, and later, Kissinger backed him up. Both were wrong and Obama was right, as Factcheck.org suggests in the actual transcript of Kissinger’s remarks. Read it at Democrat Dave’s Weblog.
Episcopal Cafe reports that 33 pastors from the expected wingnuttery right have decided to actively urge their congregations to vote for McCain. In this, they are forcing a show down with the IRS which disallows political preaching in Church, especially endorsing candidates. It seems they think it a good idea given the current SCOTUS. Another reason Obama’s election is necessary, to stave off the reactionary appointment that a McCain win would almost necessarily bring.
Boy Garrison Keillor is always good, but sometimes he is down right preacher, bible thumping good. Don’t miss his take this week at the Salon on the Wall Street mess and how McCain deserves so much blame. It’s a cutting and rip-roaring good read.
It is pretty much a political axiom that VP candidates in the end don’t matter. History News Network has a very detailed and interesting post on VP picks of times past and how those tickets did, and more importantly the impact of the second choice. It’s fascinating to see that, well maybe Sarah does matter. If she does, it assuredly won’t be good for McCain.
One thing is evident in the mess of the bailout. The Republican leadership leads nobody.That means Boehner has no authority, certainly Bush doesn’t and alas, poor John McCain has none either. But what is worse, behind the scenes Newt Gingrich was apparently playing both sides, publicly saying he was for the bailout, and behind the scenes working furiously to scuttle it. One can only surmise his purpose, but the Republicans are a mess as is their candidate.
There is evidence that some dinosaurs breathed like birds. This of course increases the likelihood that dinosaurs are related to birds, something that dinosaur investigators have been saying for some time. Turns out, much to my surprise, that birds don’t breath like mammals. Although they have lungs, they have these things called air sacs that somehow transfer air into the lungs without the usual in-out method that we use. This explains why birds can fly faster and higher than bats, I am told. Live Science has all the particulars to read further.
Fareed Zakaria is one of the smarter people on the block in Washington. His opinion is worth taking a look at. He has finally weighed in on the Palin effect.No doubt most people are sick of Palin and so I am tending to not put up that much new stuff, but Zakaria is a true journalist, one that is reasoned in the way of William F. Buckley and George Will. You won’t find better analysis than this.
If you haven’t had a chance to get to Out of Nowhere, you really should. Some very excellent writing. You may find this one particularly good. It’s on money and how we relate to it. How did Jesus? And if that one isn’t enough, another exceptional post is about the Gospel from last Sunday, the parable about the Kingdom, in Matthew 21:23-32. This one will be posted at Hear I Am Lord later this week.
McCain, meanwhile has been in Iowa. I don’t know why, since he has been far behind in the state for months now, and there is little if any possibility that he can win it. Nevertheless, he was here, and granted an interview with the Des Moines Register. By all accounts, it went badly with McCain getting pretty angry whenever his motives are questioned. Did ya know all his ads are 100% true? And don’t even suggest he’s wrong. He doesn’t like being told he’s wrong. There are some excerpts over at Political Animal, and linkage to a full video of the interview.
Meanwhile, again, Glenn Greenwald takes on the neo-cons and their penchance for well, rewriting history. Everything that has gone wrong is somehow the fault of liberals again. This given their near stranglehold control of the presidency and for six years Congress. Oh, yeah, right. It’s quite a nice little piece and I urge you to take a look and laugh.
In general, if you don’t already, skip over to the NRO. Even Kathryn Parker is backstepping a bit from her “resign Sarah” stance. Seems she got so much hate mail from the belligerent and vicious right wing rednecks that she’s at least willing to hope that Sarah does well. The thing about NRO is that their pundits change their mind about Palin like every other week. As soon as they criticize her, then within days they are back to trying to blame it on the “liberal” media. These folks are wingnuts of the first order.
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You probably heard this. Seems that some hardware store down Texas way offered Chimpy a job as a greeter. Said little out of work imp went to the joint, and while not taking the job, certainly brought laughter around by his appearance.
So far the Rethuglican plan is not going so well. I saw today on the crawl of GMA that Obama is getting about 68% support overall, and a nice 73% think he is reaching out to Repubicoots. Only a measly 34% think the Big Elephant is reaching out to the Democratic site of the aisle. 
You know my views on Johnny McCain. They ain’t good. He ran a filthy campaign, one of fear and innuendo. He thought the electorate stupid enough to buy into any woman will do in picking Sarah, I can see Russia from my window, Palin.
And Congrats all to Michael Steele, the new “face” of the Rethugs. Kindlier and darker!? Well, not so much it seems.
Existential Ennui 