There Will Always Be An England

Having peeked at the Olympic opening ceremonie in London, I will hazard that if the Brits last a thousand years men will still say, this was their weirdest hour:

The noisy, busy, witty, dizzying production somehow managed to feature a flock of sheep (plus a busy sheepdog), the Sex Pistols, Lord Voldemort, the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a suggestion that the Olympic rings were forged by British foundries during the Industrial Revolution, the seminal Partridge Family reference from “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” a group of people dressed like so many members of Sgt. Pepper’s band, some rustic hovels tended by rustic peasants, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and, in a paean to the National Health Service, a zany bunch of dancing nurses and bouncing sick children on huge hospital beds.

People who do this sort of thing will revel in a comparison of the 2008 Beijing "Power Rising" ceremony and the 2012 "Power Fading" response from the West: From the Times in 2008:

Any Olympic opening is a propaganda exercise, but Friday night’s blockbuster show demonstrated the broader public relations challenge facing the Communist Party as China becomes richer and more powerful. The party wants to inspire national pride within China, and bolster its own legitimacy in the process, even as leaders want to reassure the world that a rising China poses no danger.

That has not been an easy sales pitch during the tumultuous Olympics prelude, in which violent Tibetan protests and a devastating earthquake revealed the dark and light sides of Chinese nationalism.

But for one night, at least, the party succeeded wildly after a week dominated by news of polluted skies, sporadic protests and a sweeping security clampdown. Across Beijing, the public rejoiced. People painted red Chinese flags on their cheeks and shouted, “Go China!” long after the four-hour opening had concluded.

“For a lot of foreigners, the only image of China comes from old movies that make us look poor and pathetic,” said Ci Lei, 29, who watched the pageantry on a large-screen television at an upscale downtown bar. “Now look at us. We showed the world we can build new subways and beautiful modern buildings. The Olympics will redefine the way people see us.”

Comments

[hit and run]

Captain Hate:
His blatant dishonesty in how he frames this makes me willing to crawl over broken glass and used cat litter to get to the polls in November to vote for Romney.

True that. And I have to catch myself being so disgusted by that POS that I don't make my true feelings known in less than politic ways in front of people I know are on the fence or former Obama voters who are persuadable.

The condemnation here of people who don't like Romney saying of Obama "He's a nice guy, but...." notwithstanding, there are many, many instances where that is exactly the right approach amongst my friends and neighbors.

[Captain Hate]

O/T Kasich still has some dead wood to clear out in Clodumbus. I just got a notice from the state department of taxation that I didn't pay my 2011 amount due. Trouble is I can find the cancelled check at online banking that shows that exact payment. Idiots.

Maybe Jennifer Brunner landed there.

[Captain Hate]

Yes hit; there are many good reasons that Romney's running for President and I'm not (although I'd be awesome imo).

[hit and run]

Absolutely. I may not want you as a candidate, Captain, but you would seriously kick ass in office.

[Sara]

Costas loves the sound of his own voice. He is a terrible interviewer, IMO, because he never listens to the answers to his questions, just barrels ahead with another one, ignoring the answers.

[rse]

Just a heads up but Stanley Kurtz's new book is out on Thursday, August 2. Apparently it details just how much Obama plans to stick it to suburban areas.

Jane-I think that will make for some interesting dialogues even in classic Blue states. Good tidbits for the radio show I would imagine.

Just ordered my copy.

[pops]

Can't wait for the 2024 Olympics in Chicago when the Americans who have had their feet needlessly amputated and Asthma suffering children with their breadthalyzers will march around a giant Obamacare sign!!

[Danube of Thought]

Bullshit. The men's 400 IM wasn't available live on any "platform." or maybe I don't know what a platform is. And frankly, my dear, I don't give a shit.

[Frau Sicherheitsnadel]

pops, there will even be cheery hologram messages from departed elders who voluntarily submitted to the Death Mercy Panels.

[hit and run]

Not sure DoT. Check here.

[Frau Sicherheitsnadel]

Couldn't take the ceremony much and jumped ship early on; however, I kept disputing my husband's remarks on the socialism--healthy,bucolic England ruined by evil one-percenters in top hats--and thought the remarks were Matt Lauer's. It hit me this morning, Lauer doesn't have any of his own and was blathering the talking points he received. The games, at least in recent opening ceremonies, have been spoiled by politics.
Pfui.

[Frau Sicherheitsnadel]

hit, for real safety, try a German safety pin. I even have some in manly black.

[hit and run]

I'm watching Women's Group B -- Norway play France in Handball live on the platform known as . . . the internet.

[Tom Maguire]

The men's 400 IM wasn't available live on any "platform."

The men's 400 IM was streamed live on NBC's website.

I nearly watched it live, but got to the site too late. I did see the 400 freestyle (a heat?), the drama of which was enhanced by my screen freezing every fifteen seconds or so to load more video.

I would use a phrase like"clown show", but that is not fair to clowns.

[Frau Sicherheitsnadel]

TM - a cartoon yesterday had a boy asking his father if there were three branches to the federal government. The father answered, "Yes, donkeys, elephants and clowns."

[hit and run]

LIVE EXTRA All 32 sports. All 302 Events. All LIVE from London.

Thank you Al Gore!

[Clarice]

I suppose the only way to end the farce that the Olympics have become is to make sure everyone involved loses lots and lots and lots of money until it becomes what is should be, a competition among amateurs who love the games.

[hit and run]

TM:
the drama of which was enhanced by my screen freezing every fifteen seconds or so to load more video.

You are famous for traipsing through the "land of the intermittent connection".

You at home?

My feed of handball is coming through flawlessly. I even have picture in picture.

[hit and run]

Frau:
hit, for real safety, try a German safety pin.

Heh.

News You Can Use: Size does matter.

[Rick Ballard]

"I would use a phrase like"clown show", but that is not fair to clowns."

I believe that's close to the definition of 'obamesque'. It lacks only the element of shear stupidity for perfection.

[hit and run]

Norway's losing, but they have some real cuties.

[JM Hanes]

rse:

"Hope NBC shows viewers the Banqueting Hall's inside so they can appreciate that greatest of all palaces."

The Banqueting Hall!

Among other Inigo Jones ephemera, I have a huge collection of stuff related to the Banqueting Hall, which first caught my attention as a model for the primary set in a Brit series called "Charles II: The Power & the Passion." Oddly enough, Jones' main claim to fame rested more on his genius as a set designer, than on his architectural skilz. Sarah Greenwood, the Chas II production designer, made some fascinating choices, which included completely covering the walls with murals of heroic proportions, while using as little furniture as possible throughout. I have searched the net in vain for pix of it in color, but maybe you can pick something up from the blurry b/w below. Eventually, I'll get around to taking some DYI snaps of the television screen.

The actual Banqueting Hall:

The Chas II set:

In another happy coincidence, the BBC production clearly inspired a later set used in "Restoration," another favorite film of mine, where it is also a mutli-purpose venue. I do have some screen-caps of that, but will have to put one in a second post (Typepad strikes again).

[Janet]

For Geithner, Rangel,...

[JM Hanes]

Greenwood talks about designing the Chas II sets,which were built in Czechoslovakia, of all places, in this PDF .

Here's the Restoration set:

I'm a sucker for big, lavishly produced, historical dramas. Someone once described Sophia Coppola's period piece about "Marie Antoinette" as "textile porn." That definitely struck a chord! It's a close second to architecture porn, chez moi.

[Ralph L]

The whole point of a safety pin is that it won't end up in your nose. Serve you right if you get an infection and end up like Michael Jackson, having to glue a falsey on every morning.

[Thomas Collins]

Little Rhody's rep, Elizabeth Beisel, took the silver in the women's 400 meter individual medley. It wasn't even close, however, as Shiwen Ye of China took the gold by what looked like multiple body lengths.

[Captain Hate]

O/T Courtesy of AoS, David Frum's car just can't catch a break: http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad81/rdbrewer/fat-car-1.jpg

[rse]

Oh I enjoyed that JMH.

Did you ever read Ian Pears' An Instance at the Fingerpost?

It is set in Cromwell's era but it is a magnificent book. So clever.

It would be such a shame to broadcast from the Horseguards parade and not show and explain the significance of that banqueting Hall.

[jimmyk]

make sure everyone involved loses lots and lots and lots of money

As long as governments are involved, it will be just the taxpayers who get fleeced. These international organizations are all corrupt through and through. The IOC is as bad as the IMF.

[Ignatz]

I haven't heard an explanation for why anyone would poke a safety pin through his nose and even if I did hear one I can't begin to imagine a satisfactory one, but I am always open to enlightenment.

[Extraneus]

Some great posts in this thread.

rse:

Once of the best ways to minimize the resurgence of evil in the world is to recognize that it has existed. And will recur without vigilance. It cannot be every waking thought but it has to be a recognized reality.

Clarice:

When my son learned about the holocaust he couldn't eat or sleep it was so upsetting to him.

I took my son to the FDR home, and he couldn't care less about anything there, but downstairs there's a section of pictures from the holocaust, which was the last thing we saw before leaving. After I explained what it was about, he just stood there looking at the pictures for a long time.

As for Bob Costas, I've always had a strange feeling about the guy. My mother had a serious crust on him.

[hit and run]

Ralph:
The whole point of a safety pin is that it won't end up in your nose.

It was the point of the safety pin that actually penetrated the inner membrane of my nostril.

Ignatz:
I haven't heard an explanation for why anyone would poke a safety pin through his nose

And NK hasn't heard a satisfactory explanation for why you should be allowed to purchase a 100 round clip.

[hit and run]

Ralph:
Serve you right if you get an infection and end up like Michael Jackson, having to glue a falsey on every morning.

Yes it would. It would also serve me right if God struck me down with lightning in the storm that is currently blowing through.

Neither has happened so far. And the infection hasn't happened the other dozen times I've stuck a safety pin through my nose -- but maybe this time!!!

I'll keep you informed should it happen because you seem interested.

[Ignatz]

--And NK hasn't heard a satisfactory explanation for why you should be allowed to purchase a 100 round clip--

I have tried to supply them.

Have you ever given an explanation?
Besides "because it's there", "but all the other kids were doing it", "I just drank a keg through a funnel" or "my wife/caregiver isn't home" I mean.

[hit and run]

Because it's there is the exact explanation.

[hit and run]

I'm not sure what your "besides...." was about.

Need there be any other explanation?

[Stephanie]

Touche re the 100 round clip analogy.

I realize that the games are available more fully on the nets, but I thought that the games were to be accessible to "the people" and lots of "the people" don't have the capacity for live streaming. I do, but I prefer to watch sporting events on the 46" TV not my 21" monitor. Besides, with DVRS and TIVO and on demand, why not show all the stuff live and then I can choose which I want to record to watch after the fact?

The 400IM is being embargoed on TV til the prime time for maximum viewage, but why bother when you know the results now unless you want to see for yourself how Phelps blew it. Funnily, the local news just came on here and they reported that Phelps swam, but 'tune in tonight to see how he did or if you want to know now the results are on our website.' That's news coverage?

[sbwaters]

Stephanie: "That's news coverage?"

Now, if we can get other people to ask the same question . . .

[hit and run]

Stephanie:
but I thought that the games were to be accessible to "the people" and lots of "the people" don't have the capacity for live streaming.

Is that a failure of NBC or the IOC that you thought that?

Besides, with DVRS and TIVO and on demand, why not show all the stuff live and then I can choose which I want to record to watch after the fact?

Why not indeed? It's again as if NBC doesn't see your wisdom.

[Janet]

Speaking of magic beans; I have yet to hear a satisfactory explanation of why our tax dollars fund PP, NPR, & PBS.

[Ignatz]

--Because it's there is the exact explanation.--

Good enough for me if it's good enough for you.
It was certainly good enough for George Leigh Mallory.
Of course he ended up dying on Everest, his body lost for decades, until just a few years ago when his dessicated, pitiful remains were found where he had died alone on the windswept frozen slopes.

[JM Hanes]

Stephanie:

"They have gotten so bad that at the last few Olympics it seemed to be more BS stories and less sports coverage."

Drives me nuts too. Ditto for the ADD coverage that's so obsessed with the 1st place tally that winning a silver or bronze medal only really counts as losing the gold -- unless the competitor wasn't even expected to place, or there's a U.S. sweep to celebrate. I ended up hoping that Phelps would walk away with 8 medals last time around, just so he wouldn't have to spend all his subsequent interviews talking about how it felt to miss his shot at glory by one. Superb athletes from other countries seem to get shorter and shorter shrift too.

[Clarice]

Goodness, JMF

[Stephanie]

My wisdom? That the local news has to tie itself in knots to not report the results that the radio and drudge and the Olympic site itself has reported just shows the idiocy of their coverage choices.

It's like they are trying to show the prime time on delay like it's 1972 and the paper hasn't reported them so the results are not widely known yet. They need to jump into the 21st century and show stuff live where they aren't scooped by the nets. Sux that our prime time is the middle of the night in England but thems the breaks. The Chicago Olympics coverage team will show all the "big stuff" in prime time, though, I'm sure.

Or maybe NBC will petition the IOC to only award the games to cities in our hemisphere. The Chinese can just deal with their prime time coverage at 2 am. Point being, it's a global event held at various spots in the world that aren't on our schedules and if we want it 'real' and not memorex, then we are gonna be inconvenienced as to the time they occur. Tough tooties. China, Australia, Europe all face this problem every two years.

Next we are gonna see CNN demand that all wars start in prime time, so they can get maximum ratings for 'shock and awe', too. Launching a war at 10 pm really sux for the ratings...

[JM Hanes]

"It's again as if NBC doesn't see your wisdom."

D'oh. That part is obvious. What's not obvious is why you're giving Stephanie shit for complaining about it.

[Ignatz]

Hey sbw,
My mind is a steel sieve so forgive this question but you had some health thing going on a while back right?
Are you doing OK now?

[Extraneus]

You wouldn't want to hear the explanation, Janet.

Imagine if a real manager had a huge projected deficit in some sort of business. The first thing he'd ask for is a listing of all programs in order of priority. PP. NPR and PBS could never survive if the US was even a marginally competent organization.

[hit and run]

JMH:
What's not obvious is why you're giving Stephanie shit for complaining about it.

Sorry, JMH. To get you to say "giving shit" makes me rethink everything.

My "shit" has to do with my impression that the correction to her complaints involve an intervention that would supersede the contract signed by NBC with the IOC.

I may be waaaay off on that.

NBC didn't sign a contract saying the games would be "accessible by the people", and NBC is under no compulsion to do anything other than meet the terms of the contract.

Complain away everyone!

But let's face it -- not everything we think would be best is borne out in terms of how a network makes money. For good or bad, making money is still the primary driver in network coverage of the Olympics.

[Ralph L]

What isn't obvious is why he doesn't have a plate in his lower lip.

[Extraneus]

Another tell, from David Maraniss's book, "Barack Obama":

Obama spent very little time in business, but he did have a job at a company called Business International for about a year after he graduated from Columbia University in 1983. The book contains new details about the future president’s brief stint in corporate America.

Obama was a low-level editor in Reference Services, working on reports describing economic conditions in various foreign countries. By all accounts, he disliked the work, not just because it was pedestrian and boring, but because it was in business.

“He calls it working for the enemy,” Obama’s mother, Ann, wrote after a phone conversation with her son, “because some of the reports are written for commercial firms that want to invest in [Third World] countries.”

[hit and run]

Ralph:
What isn't obvious is why he doesn't have a plate in his lower lip.

It's a mystery. Something I'll keep to myself to the grave.

[Chung]

"For good or bad, making money is still the primary driver in network coverage of the Olympics."

Jeez. Awareness is an increasingly scarce commodity.

Money drives EVERYTHING in America; most of the civilized world.

I guess there's nothing wrong with that, if Mammon is your God.

But 'The ecstasy of victory. The agony of defeat', is that sympathetic nerve that allows us to think something else is going on, for the sheer sake of belief.

Too bad it's only about mercenary motives.,

[Ignatz]

--Jeez. Awareness is an increasingly scarce commodity.--

Guess the price needs to rise.

[JM Hanes]

hit:

"But let's face it -- not everything we think would be best is borne out in terms of....."

.... most of the rest of the stuff we rant about around here, too. But hey, it's Saturday, so I wouldn't want you to over-think it either. :-)

Back to the opening ceremonies, what on earth was McCartney thinking when he picked a downbeat song like Hey Jude, anyway? I gave jamming some metaphorical square pegs into the lyrical round holes, but it didn't seem to make a bad song any better.

[Danube of Thought]

Only a German safety pin is truly natural born.

[Extraneus]

Yay!

'You didn't build that' remarks won't change Obama's strategy on the stump

“The attempts by the Romney campaign to make this into their rallying cry haven’t changed anything,” said a senior campaign official, adding that Obama “has done events without a teleprompter since then.”

The aide said even when Obama has prepared remarks in front of him on a podium, he “doesn’t always use them."

Hard to believe he'll be speaking from the heart anymore, but we can hope!

[Danube of Thought]

One of the innumerable joys of the upcoming election will be Romney's winning while having disclosed only two years' tax returns. The Progs will go ballistic with frustration, and there will be no end of impotent speculation. It will be their version of Obama's transcripts (or birth certificate, or SAT scores).

And I will laugh without mercy.

[Captain Hate]

Speaking of magic beans; I have yet to hear a satisfactory explanation of why our tax dollars fund PP, NPR, & PBS.

On the first day of my term I pledge to zero out funding for them by executive order, since the MFM doesn't appear to have any problem with the JEF using that to bypass Congress.

[hit and run]

JMH:
.... most of the rest of the stuff we rant about around here, too.

Oh, and I know I'm ranting*. It's all I've got.

I don't rant often. But when I do, I do it with an Escape Hatch growler from Asheville Brewing Company courtesy of Walter.

That's my excuse.

I Blame Walter!

But the "we rant" from you is suspicious. Because you can't not be here for months and expect us just to let you slink back in like you've been here all along. We miss you too much for that. I hope all is well and that things are . . . under control at the homestead.

------------------
*I love Stephanie. She's my favorite.

[Danube of Thought]

Read it and weep, Progs. Just read it and weep:

"Polls and the behavior of the Obama campaign show that the unceasing attacks on Romney's business record have not only failed to hurt Romney but have probably backfired on the President, hurting the only thing keeping him alive -- his favorability ratings.

"This has to be heartbreaking to Obama's Media Palace Guards, who have worked tirelessly to aid and abet Obama's mission to toxify Mitt Romney into someone the American people will not accept as an acceptable alternative to a failed president. All that work and all that soul-selling, it's Obama who ends up in even more electoral danger than he was before.

"Well, I have more bad news for the corrupt media. In a new poll released  yesterday, it appears as though the months-long push to make Americans incurably curious about Romney's tax returns has failed as hard as the Bain attacks:

"'[J]ust one-third of voters rate Romney’s tax returns as even somewhat important to how they will vote.

"'A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters think Romney’s release of his tax returns for 2010 and 2011 are enough. The identical number (46%) feels the Republican challenger should release more of his tax returns from earlier years.'"

[Ralph L]

firms that want to invest in [Third World] countries.
Making them wealthier through private investment = exploitation.
Making their governments even more corrupt with loans and gifts = virtuous.

[Elliott]

DoT, there should be an NBC app for the iPad to allow you to watch live Olympic events on that device.

[hit and run]

JOM Historical Fact: There have been five other times when a second-most-recent thread spent an entire day on a weekend as the most active thread for the day.

In an eerie coincidence, four of the five times also involved thread centered on sports being the most recent and ignored thread. The other time it happened the most recent thread was a diet thread.

I have no way of predicting if this thread will continue to be the active thread tomorrow (TM may [and should!] open a "Tradition Sunday Clarice's Pieces" thread tomorrow), but if it did, it would be unprecedented.

[hit and run]

I'm lying. I totally made that up.

[hit and run]

DoT:
Only a German safety pin is truly natural born.

I only trust safety pins bought from merchants who speak Austrian.

[Captain Hate]

I hope this was featured in the opening ceremonies: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9433565/Brain-dead-patients-could-be-kept-alive-to-harvest-their-organs-for-NHS.html

[Captain Hate]

I do it with an Escape Hatch growler from Asheville Brewing Company

Not finding that at Beer Advocate, hit. Could it be this http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/11597/73170 or this http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1847/66550 ?

[Dave (in MA)]

A leftie FB friend of mine wrote about his "twinge of England envy" when he saw the salute to healthcare last night.

Before I could answer with the appropriate snark, a friend of his replied "I noticed they didn't salute dental care".
Like

[Extraneus]

This has to be heartbreaking to Obama's Media Palace Guards

That almost brings a tear to one's eye.

[hit and run]

Captain:
Not finding that at Beer Advocate, hit. Could it be this ... or this

Yike! Good catch. Fire Escape (your first link) is the beer I used last weekend in the Cassoulet -- a beer seasoned with a jalapeno. This weekend I'm drinking Escape Artist (your second link).

I got the names confused. It's Walter's fault, not mine, of course.

It's good. Thanks Walter!

[Captain Hate]

Both of them look good given the paltry number of reviews they've gotten and no display of the bottle and label; must not be many BA aficionados down there and/or they don't bottle it for transport elsewhere.

[Danube of Thought]

Thanks Elliott. I think I'll just stick with what I'm doing, which is having the DVR record every minute on NBC. We'll just have to hope we see lots of good stuff, and try to avoid hearing results of the delayed stuff.

[Captain Hate]

As for me it's Bell's Oberon Ale, a nice pale wheat that's generally lighter than what I go for but an excellent summer beer, "I the Supreme" to read and "Sheer Hellish Miasma" on the stereo.

[Chubby]

the safety pin kilt pin:

((This kilt pin is based around the design of a Safety Pin. It is the ideal budget kilt pin that can be worn on non-formal kilts. It is also a multi use pin that can also be used on blankets and Sashes, as well as children's kilts [and pierced through large noses]. Available in two sizes.

http://kiltmakers.co.uk/products/highland-wear_pewter-kilt-pins/safety-pin-kilt-pins

[Frau Sicherheitsnadel]

Janet, think of PP, NPR, & PBS as safety pins through our noses:
Painful and useless.

[Ignatz]

What's PP?

[hit and run]

DoT (to me):
And frankly, my dear, I don't give a shit.

DoT (to Elliott):
Thanks Elliott. I think I'll just stick with what I'm doing

::sigh:: Elliott mentions an app for the iPad and gets a thanks. I gave you the actual link to get to the live coverage and . . . nothing. But then, TM didn't get any reaction to the same link he gave to you four minutes after mine either.

I blame me.

[hit and run]

PP = Planned Parenthood.

And a safety pin through the nose is quite painless.

Only those who have never done it would claim outherwise.

[Chubby]

I've been feasting on Charles Bronson movies on youtube. From Noon till Three, Valdez Horses, Rider on the Rain, and a bunch of others. Very enjoyable passtime.

[hit and run]

I should say "done it right".

[Frau Sicherheitsnadel]

rse, That was the only one of Ian Pears's books I really enjoyed. I'm sure you have read C.J. Sansom's Master Shardlake series. In the midst of all the carp around us, we still have good things to read, nicht wahr?

[peter]

I suppose the only way to end the farce that the Olympics have become is to make sure everyone involved loses lots and lots and lots of money until it becomes what is should be, a competition among amateurs who love the games.

Amen to that, Clarice, but I doubt it will ever happen in our lifetimes. Why should pros play in the Olympics?

[Captain Hate]

In the midst of all the carp around us, we still have good things to read, nicht wahr?

Not having anything good to read is a good definition of Hell

[JM Hanes]

hit:

"I hope all is well and that things are . . . under control at the homestead."

"Under control" might be a little over stated. More like a shambles, but the containment effort proceeds apace. Appreciate the good wishes though!

[Janet]

Extraneus's 6:58 link about Obama working at Business International is just another example to the total bullsh*t of Obama's life narrative. How in the world this guy is President of the United States is beyond me.

I went to look for that video clip of him chewing gum at the G20 summit this year. The first 30 seconds of the video are devastating to him. What a goof-head.
But on the way to finding THAT video (Google "Obama chewing gum G20") I find all these links to Obama chewing gum at the G20 summit in 2011 too.

"Unfortunately, pooler could not hear most of what was said. But there was plenty to see, including Obama, who was chewing gum throughout, "

"The last gasp: A young Barack Obama smoking in front his family's hut in Kenya, Africa before he quit around 2009"

I think that 2009 health exam is when Obama said he has quit, but he still smoked sometimes. Hah!

[Frau Sicherheitsnadel]

hit, it's painful to think about and doubly so to a person close to my virtual heart. (I have a crust on you, sweetie pie...)

[hit and run]

Chubby:
the safety pin kilt pin:

Hah! I am guessing that only JMH and Strawman Cometh and Walter understand just how Scotish my neighborhood is. And even then...

I have a neighbor who is a native of Scotland. We had a neighborhood golf tournament several years ago in which he played in full kilt regalia, including the sgian-dubh (he left the dirk at home for a round of golf). Yes, he was appropriately not dressed in way a kilt-wearer is not supposed to be dressed.

That link is awesome.

[hit and run]

JMH:
More like a shambles, but the containment effort proceeds apace.

You do know, and if you don't shame on both you and me, that if there is anything an extra pair of hands could do to help . . . I have two hands that are readily available. And willing. And did I mention, there's two of them...

[hit and run]

Frau:
it's painful to think about

I'm sorry. I really am. It hurt you more than it hurt me. Though I must say, when I pulled on my shirt this morning, I wasn't thinking of the nose, so...that was a little sting.

I have more than a little crust on you.

[narciso]

This illustrates the mindset, that led to my last link, from the Daily Mail;

[sub][/sub]http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/27/why-ioc-will-never-memorialize-72-munich-massacre/?fb_action_ids=3698076404604&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%223698076404604%22:10150976090352883}&action_type_map={%223698076404604%22:%22og.likes%22}&action_ref_map=[]

Of course for every poignant piece, like this, there's some utter dross from NewsCorps inkind delegate from Marl Lloyd,
Sally Kohn,

Of course, the true absurdity was some Wash Po piece by someone named Dylan Matthew, which tried to rationalize 'You didn't build this, with an appeal to postmodernism
philosophy, that ended up like the 'Summarize Proust' competition.

[Captain Hate]

I have two hands that are readily available. And willing. And did I mention, there's two of them...

Speaking of which, today was a banner day because I successfully fixed a toilet in This Old House known as Chez Hate today. Granted it was something that probably any klutz could do, but rare is the time that I attempt any plumbing matters, no matter how basic, without making things significantly worse and requiring the intercession of extremely well paid professionals. That a cold front had blown through providing relief from the otherwise hellish conditions in cramped quarters was a message from above that things just might go positively.

[Clarice]

Oh, yes, by all means, JMH, invite hit and his chain saw to dinner,

I'm sure you won't regret it.

[Danube of Thought]

Hit, that wasn't directed to you. Or at least it wasn't about you.

[narciso]

What could possibly go wrong there, Clarice,
I'm surprised this contortion, didn't get enough play, it makes Obama's remarks even
more transparent;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/20/the-philosophy-of-you-didnt-build-that/

[hit and run]

I was hesitant to go from memory, but looking it up the Scotish version of "cheers" is "Slàinte mhath"

Shlange-vah is how I pronounce it. Often shortened to just "shlange". But I'm sure neighbor Doug laughs when I do so as much as I do when he tries to say "y'all".

[Captain Hate]

The attempt by the MFM to extricate Il Douche from his "you didn't build that" remind me of when the Rooskis had the torpedo double back on them at the end of "The Hunt For Red October".

[Frau Sicherheitsnadel]

"I only trust safety pins bought from merchants who speak Austrian.

You mean like Onkel Adolf?

[hit and run]

Captain:
Granted it was something that probably any klutz could do, but rare is the time that I attempt any plumbing matters, no matter how basic, without making things significantly worse and requiring the intercession of extremely well paid professionals.

I hear ya. hit and run jr inadvertently clogged up his toilet a few years ago. Flooded the house. Insurance paid to have the damage repaired up and downstairs. But his toilet hasn't worked since. I consider myself pretty handy -- but I went to fix his toilet and . . . it just plain leaked. I was in there for a couple hours trying to figure out what the hump was going on. I couldn't. So his bathroom has been locked and inaccessible for that time period.

I won't accept that it's something I can't fix, but I won't go back in there for fear of further failure.

Stalemate.

[narciso]

Yes, Captain Tupolev,

[Janet]

Exchanging Mexican Oatmeal Soup recipes at the Lowell Folk Festival -