Saturday Afternoon

Here we go again.

Comments

[Frau Regenmantel]

Home at last! Yesterday we sat for 3 1/2 hours, trapped with *no* escape, in a traffic jam in Madera, CA. All exits were blocked off due to ongoing road repairs. Thank goodness, it was not on our 112th wedding anniversary which is today. The celebrations will be subdued until we have recovered somewhat. We are hoarse from singing "99 Bottles of Beer" while waiting.
Oh, did I mention that the storm had destroyed a covering to our camper's roof and let rain pour in?

[Danube of Thought on IPad]

112th? Way to go, Frau.

[Jim Ryan]

Can we make this a birther thread now, please? Like in a horror movie, when you know the monster is going to get the guy and you just want it to happen right away because you can't stand dreading it any longer.

[maryrose]

Frau:
All the modern scientific advances and they still can't figure out a way to unclog a traffic jam.
Hint: Just move the cones or drive over them or drive on a shoulder.

[maryrose]

Jim Ryan:
As clarice would say, Shut yo mouf!

[hit and run]

Happy 112th Frau!!!

And tomorrow is a big day. A really big day.

I don't usually spoil the surprise early, but I'm making an exception here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLARICE!!!

And you know what that means...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS HIT AND RUN!!!

It's her 40th.

Like I said, a big day.

Anyone who would be so inclined is invited to email her well wishes . . . If you know my yahoo email, you can send it there. If you don't but would like to email a birthday greeting, you can send it to jomhitandrun @ gmail . com

I'm signing off because we've got a big date tonight.

I'm getting gussied up.

C-ya.

[maryrose]

clarice: Happy early birthday.
H&R; Happy birthday to Mrs. Hit and Run!Have fun tonight.

[Danube of Thought on IPad]

Happy birther day.

[Captain Hate]

Happy 112th Frau; sometimes it seems like I've been married that long. Not that I'm complaining...

I'll hold off on the BD wishes until tomorrow morning.

[Jim Ryan]

Happy Birthday, Clarice and Mrs. Run!

I'm rereading what DoT posted over and over and I know it's a birthday greeting but I can't help thinking he packed something about birtherism in it. God help me! I'm losing my mind!

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Congratulations Frau.
Think I'd rather be stuck in Lodi again than Madera although there is a nice heavy equipment dealer located right next to the freeway.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Can we make this a birther thread now

I'm gonna be rich!

Happy 112th Frau - 150 is just a wink away! HB Clarice and Mrs Hit.

Was anyone here before Clarice?

[narciso]

Happy birthday Clarice, and mr and mrs. hit, crikey how did I 404 on that.

[Threadkiller]

Jane, you will not get rich this way. The antagonists are too chicken to bet their own dough.

Happy Birthday Clarice!
Happy Birthday Mrs. H&R!

[Clarice]

Happy Anniversary , Frau. Happy early birthday Claire Hit. And thanks everyone. I actually forgot it is tomorrow.

Space and time aren't my"thing".

[Frau Regenmantel]

maryrose, ever been to CA? - Cones? Surely you jest ...CA uses large concrete barriers that make a continuous fence. We are not trusted with cones.

And...there were NO shoulders left to use. We were trapped like cattle to the slaughter house, creeping forward with the hopes of getting out alive at the other end or at least reaching Fresno by evening. Would cc have responded to a loud "Kaaaay-rooo"?

We were lucky. Some were trapped for four hours due to a gas line cut. Can you imagine going out to grab a loaf of bread and not returning home for hours?

[Frau Regenmantel]

Ah, Lodi...
Years ago, we camped in Lodi to get away from the noise on I-5. We found a delightful place and got settled for the night. Around eleven, the night shift began at the unmarked tomato processing plant across the way. I had never considered the tomato noisy before that hellish night.

[Danube of Thought on IPad]

Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again....

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Was anyone here before Clarice?

Loaded question on the eve of someone's B-day. I was referring to JOM.

[Frau Regenmantel]

DoT, from their cries amid the clanging machinery, those tomatoes did not go quietly into their cans. Lodi is seared, seared in *my* memory.

[rse]

Good one Jane.

Glad I wasn't there Frau. My kids are quite convinced I know my way around all traffic jams.

One of the advantages to driving vehicles FOREVER is my kids totally miss videos in the car. And I have no GPS except in my head.

And the rest of the world, at least in ATL, goes wherever GPS tells them.

[narciso]

I don't know who is more misguided, it's a tossup

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/report-hillary-prefers-kerry-over-rice-replacement_664309.html

[Jim Eagle]

Glücklicher Jahrestag, Frau

Happy Birthday to Clarice and Mrs. H&R

I have a friend who is a big time birthed but thinks the Orly Taitz, Leo Donofrio's and the others who keep pushing the rock up hill are giving the legitimate suspicions (think Cashill) less consideration. Me? I could care less since it is water under the bridge. The time to have raised all these suspicions was back in 2006 and 2007 when Obama started his pursuit of the Presidency. I don't remember any of that until he got the nomination. Perhaps I am wrong here but when did the first "birthed" arguments begin in earnest? Was it Corsi or others.

[narciso]

Oh, good lord, how many times can he fooled; I'm being rhetorical:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-a-close-call-on-susan-rice/2012/11/30/fbcd3316-3b23-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html?wprss=rss_david-ignatius

[Clarice]

Just when you think it couldn't possibly get more idiotic--from Popular Mechanics via Insty
"California-based Fisker Automotive has halted production of its plug-in hybrid Karma luxury sedan after battery provider A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. The automaker says it is suspending production until a buyer is found for the failed battery manufacturer.

The news, first reported by Bloomberg yesterday, is yet another setback to the fledgling automaker, which lost 300 European-bound Karmas during Hurricane Sandy and continues to delay production of its mass-market mid-size Atlantic sedan

Fisker will be waiting to see what happens when A123 is auctioned off on Dec. 6. Top suitors include U.S.-based JCI Industries and the Chinese Wangxing Group.

"Because we have no batteries, there’s no production right now. Inventory is starting to get a little low," Fisker CEO Tony Posawatz told Bloomberg. "We’d like to restart production as quickly as possible. We should know the outcome of the auction by the middle of December."

[DrJ]

Happiest of birthdays to Clarice and Claire!

And the rest of the world, at least in ATL, goes wherever GPS tells them.

People sometimes! My brother obediently follows His Garmin's Voice, human advice to the contrary notwithstanding. Once it took him through deepest darkest Oakland, in spite of my (different!) verbal directions.

[centralcal]

Oh, dang, Frau. You were probably no more than 20 minutes from my house!!! I haven't ventured out on Hwy 99 in over a month, had no idea Madera was clogged up. Glad you made it out in time for your 112th Anniversary though.

Happy early birthdays to Claire and Clarice. I am almost afraid to type "birth," it seems like an ominous thing to do on these threads anymore :)

[narciso]

Well that's it for any notions of liberty'

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/12/jefferson-is-a-proxy-target-in-the-modern-political-war/

[Spending cuts first!--jimmyk]

Can you imagine going out to grab a loaf of bread and not returning home for hours?

Traffic isn't usually that bad in NYC, believe it or not, except in in the all-too-frequent cases of parades, marathons, etc., usually Sunday mornings when you're not thinking about traffic. Once I went half a mile away to pick up a rental car at 9am on a Sunday morning, and got stuck for an hour and a half because of a triathlon. No way out.

[narciso]

Well they have a point, Tapper is the most assertive of WH reporters, what does that tell you

[DrJ]

My manners! Happy 112th Frau! May you have another 100!

[squaredance]

That is what they get for naming the car so.

Too funny.

Next up on karma-wise: The Obama voters.

[Spending cuts first!--jimmyk]

That is what they get for naming the car so.

The CEO Tony Posawatz's name is just begging for the CH treatment.

[marlene]

Jovan Belcher has a Maine connection.He played football at Univ.of Maine 2005-2008.As reported by the Bangor Daily,his degree was in child development and family relations. Very sad.

[marlene]

Happy Birthday Clarice! Happy Birthday Mrs.H&R! Welcome home Frau and Happy Anniversary!

[narciso]

It's a very tragic event, Marlene,

[Jim Eagle]

The irony in his matriculation and degrees is really sad. I wonder if his girlfriend was contradicting him on how to raise their daughter? Whatever, something slipped and we'll probably never know what it was.

[Agent J]

I have studied Bipolar-ism for years. My findings today reveled Jovan Belcher was at low cycle on the life cycle scale..this is just my finding.

One could say that because of his semi-violent occupation, it led to this undisciplined action.

Happy Everything to Everybody during the month of December..

[bgates]

Narciso links to a critique of an NYT column by some asinine law prof who has decided Thomas Jefferson is primarily to blame for the existence of slavery in North America.

Let's review.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton pointed out that while Barack Obama talked a lot (a lot), he had never accomplished anything. In response, he talked some more. He said,

“Don’t tell me that words don’t matter. ‘I have a dream.’ Just words. ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ Just words.

His meaning was that as Thomas Jefferson had risked his life and sacred honor in joining a rebellion against the British Empire, and had written things that were referenced during his own life as the United States acted to eliminate the importation of slaves and generations later as the United States conducted a war which led to the elimination of (de jure) slavery in the nation altogether, it was therefore illegitimate to claim that the pretty phrases David Axelrod had written for Deval Patrick before he wrote them for Barack Obama were empty.

And that's why "net spending cut", "if you like your plan you can keep your plan", and thousands of other strings of BS must be Gospel, because Thomas Jefferson's words had a real impact on the world.

Except now it turns out that the collected writings of Thomas Jefferson were just words after all - unless that asinine law prof's work was just words.

[Clarice]

Sad, what crap is being churned out in academia.

[Spending cuts first!--jimmyk]

Happy Everything to Everybody during the month of December.

When is Kwanzaa this year? I really don't want to miss it like I did last year. I hate when that happens.

[narciso]

It's runs from Christms to New Year's eve, jimmy,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa

Futurama, had amusing little aside, what will we do with a holiday that wasn't celebrated till 1966?

[rse]

Hard to miss it in ATL. The Diva who went to a Montessori preschool was quite concerned when she was younger that we were not being sufficiently respectful.

She also once quizzed her friends on whether my tendency to use the term "Black" in lieu of Af-Amer struck them as OK. I did not know of the poll until it was concluded and I passed. She and I had an argument over the terms. I told her I was quite sure it was OK.

Now I hear she has become quite fluent in Spanish from insisting Hispanic students talk to her in their language. Good grief.

I think she gets the best out of a diverse envmt but Mercy.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. The automaker says it is suspending production until a buyer is found for the failed battery manufacturer.

I actually reviewed the A123 bankruptcy filings and spoke to one of the bankruptcy lawyers this week. (One of my clients got a notice he was on the list of creditors - but he wasn't.) I read in one place they were being bought by a "Johnson, and in another they were being bought by "Wangxing". I guess that was just wishful thinking at this point. The list of creditors was endless so we certainly dodged a bullet.

It should come out of Obama's pocket.

[Captain Hate]

Oh, good lord, how many times can he fooled

Dipshit Ignatius seems oddly unconcerned that the film maker is still in jail for some ginned up parole violation for a non violent crime. I'm not sensing any considerations of the rights of the accused.

[DrJ]

Jane,

A123 originally was going to be acquired by a Chinese company (probably Wangxing) but at the 11th hour Johnson Controls provided DIP financing for the bankruptcy. They probably will get them.

[Captain Hate]

She and I had an argument over the terms. I told her I was quite sure it was OK.

Mrs H has used the AA term at least twice to Africans; I don't think they were pleased. It wouldn't have happened your (and my) way.

[narciso]

And this whole report, misses the point, spectacularly, it's like we're in some perverse ground hog day, complete with Tobolowsky's annoying weatherman

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2012/11/28/us-government-accountability-office-report-on-gitmo-detainees/

[Janet]

Happy 112th wedding anniversary, Frau! Wow...quite an accomplishment!

I'll save the HB's for tomorrow like Captain.

[DrJ]

Jane,

This article does a decent job of the recent A123 history:

http://www.jsonline.com/business/johnson-controls-bids-on-batterymaker-a123s-assets-mh78b15-174496191.html

Turn off the sound on your computer, though, as an ad forces your to listen.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Now we know how Barry was reelected, how socialists never run out of others people's money and how the DMV really is here to help: North Koreans discover unicorn lair.

[peter]

Happy Birthday, Clarice. May you have a day full of typos, pistolas, wolverines and pieces, and much joy.

[Captain Hate]

Turn off the sound on your computer, though, as an ad forces your to listen.

Is it just me or has that become an increasing annoyance at a lot of sites recently. I'm about ready to mute my speakers and just turn them on in a "need to listen" session.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Happy Anniversary, Frau!

[Captain Hate]

Anybody watching the SEC title game? Nick Satan is in trouble.

[DrJ]

CH,

Forced sound from Web sites is one of my pet peeves. Usually I have my computer sound muted, but it annoys me that I have to do it.

[Captain Hate]

Glad it's not just me, DrJ. That it often features an ad just increases the irritation factor.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

A123 originally was going to be acquired by a Chinese company (probably Wangxing) but at the 11th hour Johnson Controls provided DIP financing for the bankruptcy

DrJ,

Nearly $600 million of taxpayers money between A123 and Johnson Controls. Unbelievable.

[DrJ]

Jane,

If it is any consolation, I reviewed one of A123's proposals for grant funding. I did not think it was very good -- long on politics and connections but short on innovation or good science -- and ultimately it was not funded.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

With this crew DIP should stand for Debtor in Prison.

[Captain Hate]

Speaking of Debtor in Prison, is Corzine ever going to have any sort of criminal penalty for his financial misdeeds?

Reports of the demise of Nick Satan's team were very premature.

[Clarice]

peter,what a grand birthday wish!

[Captain Hate]

The Crimson Tide is just bludgeoning Georgia now.

[DrJ]

Iggy,

With this crew DIP should stand for Debtor in Prison.

In fairness to A123 and their ilk, they were simply taking advantage of programs the Feds offered. That these programs should not exist is not their concern.

Heck, if I had something that would fit, I'd pursue it too!

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Happy Birthday Clarice and Mrs Hit, and Happy 112th Frau.

Dawgs come stormin' back. They better start tackling, though.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

DrJ in Prison! :)

[Captain Hate]

It's an incredible game, Jim.

[DrJ]

DrJ in Prison! :)

How's the food? :)

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

A stop and no penalty! That's progress.

[Captain Hate]

How 'bout them dawgs?

[Captain Hate]

Now the Tide with a stop

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

I am afraid this one's over unless Andy can emulate Matt Ryan.

[Captain Hate]

Yeah Jim, I'm afraid the dawgs are toast

[Captain Hate]

One last chance

[Stephanie]

What's the good word? Tohellwithgeorgia

Now for the ACC championship. :eyeroll:

[Frau Regenmantel]

Thanks for the anniversary wishes. The 112th is a tribute to my husband's tolerance for someone influenced by Spike Jones, Will Cuppy, Robert Benchley, Don Marquis, Jerry Colona, Looney Tunes, Amos and Andy, The Goldbergs, among other greats of yesteryear.

[Stephanie]

Wow. Redo of the Saints Falcons Thursday. Run out of time with an out pass and lose by the clock.

[Clarice]

I was just thinking of the Goldberg's and I remember Mama and such shows when I reflected on what a cesspool popular culture has become.

Yoohoo Mrs. Regenmantel

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

long on politics and connections but short on innovation or good science -- and ultimately it was not funded.

My guess is that an Obama bundler is a bigwig in the company. Just as in Solyndra. A lot of people have gotten very rich to the detriment of this country because of him.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

is Corzine ever going to have any sort of criminal penalty for his financial misdeeds?

More likely he'll be the next secretary of the treasury.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

Clarice,

Can we have a preview to a birthday Pieces?

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

We need to pass a law that every dollar that the taxpayer is taxed, the COngress is taxed $3.00

[centralcal]

sigh. No kidding, Clarice. Americans "back in the day" could relate with so many different ethnic and religious groups (a little different from their own, but oh, so, similar and familiar) and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It truly "melded" us together. Unlike today - where we are appalled or disgusted or fearful - due in large part to the popular culture that focuses on the deviant, the horrid, the bizarre, etc.!

[mockmook]

Happy B-day Clarice!!!

BTW, did the wolverine get loose on YouTube? ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOVFW687GUY

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

He came close, but couldn't quite pull it off.

[Captain Hate]

Now for the ACC championship. :eyeroll:

Please Stephanie; it's the Dr Pepper ACC Championship.

[Captain Hate]

Jim, he got closer than I thought he would only to have it fall apart at the end

[Clarice]

mockmock, I love that kid but she's not THe Wolverine.

Jane it's about the descent into the abyss and a few rays of hope in the face of such an appalling prospect of America's cultural and economic decline.

cc, at my 50th HS reunion, we all agreed that no matter what any kid in our class' background the rules and expectations of the parents were so similar our parents never were worried when we were at each other's houses.

[DrJ]

My guess is that an Obama bundler is a bigwig in the company.

Could be Jane. Contracts and loan guarantees are an area I don't know, and this where the insiders would help.

Not for grants, where the reviewers are anonymous, and would be pissed off if someone tried to influence their opinion. Ask me how I know!

[Captain Hate]

I just heard Rick Majerus died. RIP of course. Good coach and great interviewee.

[Jane - Mock the Media!]

it's about the descent into the abyss

Well what else could it be, really? I'll look forward to the "rays of hope". Today I read someone who said the tea party is going to come back 3X as strong. I dunno, I couldn't even drag myself to the last meeting.

I never thought I'd be glad to not be on the radio, but I really am.

[Stephanie]

Freaking tomahawk chop. At least they should have a mercy rule like in baseball so we can close our eyes and pretend its the Braves playing so we might have a chance. Only thing worse is Rocky Top played eleventh billion times.

[Clarice]

Gird your loins. The tea party tsunami is about to begin according to Wm Jacobson:http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/12/the-tea-party-tsunami-at-the-gates/#more

[Clarice]

Jane, good fights always take a long time and even when you win it's never permanent. Don't fold now.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Random thought of the day;
Hawaii the lush tropical paradise has two mountains over 13,000 feet.
Only six other states can match or exceed that.
Some that can't are Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

[Captain Hate]

[Guilty]I love the Free Shoes U warchant and chop *and* Rocky Top[/Pleasures]

[bunkerbuster]

``The federal deficit has fallen faster over the past three years than it has in any such stretch since demobilization from World War II.''

Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/blogs-capital-hill/112012-634082-federal-deficit-falling-fastest-since-world-war-ii.htm#ixzz2DqxYRP4o

Let's here what the "Republican math'' is on that. Let me guess:
1. Hey, look over there!
2. This is exactly why I don't read!
3. It's lies, lies, lies paid for by Soros, who's gotta plan to put us all in a Zimbabwe-style gulag
4. Obama had a beer with the uncle of the cousin of the father of the guy who INVENTED government debt. And he took his phone number!!
5. Benghazi!!!

[Stephanie]

I love the chop at Turner Field. At Bobby Dodd stadium or a neutral site not so much. Rocky Top is a great song the first ten or so times. The eleventy billionth and you are sitting next to their band- not so much. Particularly with their fans doing their Johnny Majors imitations slurring it at the top of their lungs.

[daddy]

Ohayo gozaimasu!

Yesterday, after a marvelous stint in the hot tubs and other related hydraulic fantasmagoria of a Japanese Hotel Spa, went down to catch the 6 PM bus into Narita and what to my delight but I bump into my very favorite of the usual suspects. A great benefit of this business is you'll work for a week or 2 with a guy or gal, then not see them for a year, and then unexpectedly you'll bump into them in Malaysia or the Mid East or Paris, and hilarity and good times ensue. We wound up being a gaggle of 7---The Seven Samurai! Off on a worldwind party fest went we.

First up, the Noodle Shop: Ramen Bayashi
Marvelous, marvelous joint. If I could take their Chili Soup Noodle recipe and recreate it back in the States I'd be a hated 1 percenter!
Yumm!

Double Yumm!

Then on to The Jet Lag. One of the boys had had both knees replaced and now both shoulders redone. Great comedy just to watch him walk, especially after too many Sapporo's. I had been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's" Team of Rivals", so I was spouting Abe Lincoln stuff all night. Winston was in great form; politics, the son in Flight School, the other kid in Annapolis, the Seattle Mariners...nobody is a finer critic of the Seattle Mariners than Seattle Mariner fans. The new bar gal thought we were twins. (We all look alike you know:) By the end of the evening "the German's were attacking Pearl Harbor", and we were all honorary Delta members of Animal House. Stupid, smelly, happy as could be. An excellent road trip. Wonderful night.

Very very much fun!

[Clarice]

I'd give anything to stow away on one of those adventures, daddy.