I'll Take Them Seriously When They Do

Yesterday the Times headlined an ominous story about the next medical crisis:

Threat Grows From Liver Illness Tied to Obesity

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR  JUNE 13, 2014 

Despite major gains in fighting hepatitis C and other chronic liver conditions, public health officials are now faced with a growing epidemic of liver disease that is tightly linked to the obesity crisis.

In the past two decades, the prevalence of the disease, known as nonalcoholic fatty liver, has more than doubled in teenagers and adolescents, and climbed at a similar rate in adults. Studies based onfederal surveys and diagnostic testing have found that it occurs in about 10 percent of children and at least 20 percent of adults in the United States, eclipsing the rate of any other chronic liver condition.

There are no drugs approved to treat the disease, and it is quickly becoming a leading cause of liver transplants around the country.

Doctors say that the disease, which causes the liver to swell with fat, is particularly striking because it is nearly identical to the liver damage that is seen in heavy drinkers. But in this case the damage is done not by alcohol, but by poor diet and excess weight.

Although sugar is mentioned a few times withojut any conviction there is no emphasis on fructose. This despite past guest pieces by Gary Taubes and columns by their own staff noting the probable link between fructose and fatty liver disease. That omission is especially puzzling because the Times readership can be relied upon to revel in a high-fructose corn syrup basher.

Comments

[Jack is Back!]

New Post by Frederick. We are in Kusadasi, Turkey. Its humming.

[Captain Hate]

Maybe Carlos Slim's paid chimps can give a laundry list of all the new, purportedly eradicated through vaccination, diseases this flood of illegal immigrants can be expected to grace us with. How 'bout it, Flathead?

[Miss Marple]

The comments to the article are very interesting. Lots from doctors, a vet, references to studies, etc.

The article might have given little attention to high fructose corn syrup, but the readers sure didn't. Also mentioned was prevalence of Tylenol usage in young kids, processed food, sugars, genetics (particularly Hispanics). Haven't read all of the comments, but if you are interested in this topic they are well worth reading.

[AliceH]

I can understand that "fatty liver" is a risk indicator for serious diseases eg Cirrhosis (a disease)or Cancer (a disease). I don't see how that makes "fatty liver" itself a disease.

[Captain Hate]

A fellow Moron has told me that the questions on FNS show a deep denial about the Cantor firing. That's not exactly shocking because Ailes is so wedded to the GOPe they probably give each other anniversary gifts. I'll report in detail through gritted teeth shortly, I'm sure.

[pagar]

Happy Father's Day to all the JOM fathers.

[Captain Hate]

Mike Rogers is pretty good on what's going on in Iraq.

[AliceH]

In the right sidebar to this NYT article is a link to "Pistachio linzer cookies with orange marmalade" and other health food recipes.

[Captain Hate]

Jane Harman continues to shill for 404 although she agrees with a lot of what Rogers said.

[Jane]

Canter was just on ABC. I tuned out because he was boring.

But boy they cast absolutely no blame on Obama for Iraq, even as Martha Raddner broadcasts from Baghdad.

[Rick B]

"processed food, sugars, genetics (particularly Hispanics)"

Miss Marple,

Our general scientistic pignorance is unlikely to be relieved pending the passing of our current crop of Latter Day Lysenkoists. The refusal to incorporate the knowledge gained through the Genome Project to develop the screens which would facilitate individualization of treatment options based upon known genetic differences has nothing at all to do with science. The EPA would be enlarging the Endangered Species list regularly were they to focus on humans.

BTW - "Hispanic" has nothing to say, genetically. Amerinds and Asians process sugar differently, just as they do alcohol. I've wondered whether the ketosis induced by the Taubes diet is appropriate across the board due to genetic differences in metabolic function but I don't anticipate an answer any time soon.

[Captain Hate]

Chris Wallace with the questions that the Cantor defeat shows that the "hard right" is taking over the GOP. Must be his Father's Day gift.

[Captain Hate]

Wos, Chris Wallace just nailed Jane Harman when she said that Mike Rogers is retiring because of the "hard right" turn of the Repubs (which is a hot steaming pile) with a "why did you retire?"

[Thomas Collins]

So the NY Times article may understate fructose as a factor in fatty livers, but it appears that, whatever the contributing factors, a commonsense diet and moderate exercise are big helps in combatting fatty livers. What a surprise. How would we ever live our lives without scientific studies?

[Captain Hate]

Here's the inside story all of us have missed:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-dont-read-any-tea-leaves-about-cantors-loss/2014/06/13/d59a9062-f337-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html

[Thomas Collins]

I just did the treadmill and some weightlifting this morning. Then I played some pool. Treadmilling, walking, weightlifting, swimming, playing pool and doing chess problems are favorite activities of mine (not to mention scotch with a cab chaser). Let's say a study came out concluding that I would live longer if I cut these activities out and spent the time doing yoga. I find it laughable that it would even occur to anyone to advise me to do that. Similarly if a yoga aficionado read a study that swimming is better.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

But we got Governor Palin's emails....they were no problem to dig up. (how old were they?)
And they were put out by the WaPo!...requesting reader help in going through them.

How bout we do that with Lerner's email? and emails from the EPA?

[AliceH]

The most maddening element of these stories, to me, is the point where the individual is forgiven or absolved from all responsibility, eg:

“I eat healthy, then not healthy — pizza, McDonalds, the usual. My doctor told me I have to quit all of that. But it’s cheap, and it’s always there.".

First of all - grow up and take responsibility for yourself. Every pizza and every McDonalds meal you buy is on you.

Second - Even without including the serious health consequences and costs of care, it is simply not true that fast food is cheaper than hundreds and hundreds of better, healthier home made foods. Why does this false excuse continue to go unchallenged?

Health care providers and policy types are constantly arguing the need for better education on nutrition etc for the masses. Tell you what - you can't educate someone on healthy vs unhealthy choices if you simultaneously undermine and obscure all sense of personal responsibility and accountability for the choices made.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Here - Palin's emails were from 2006-2008. They were released to the public in 2011. So 5 yrs. old. http://www.washingtonpost.com/palinemails/
Lerner's IRS emails from 2009 - 2011 are supposedly 'lost'. What liars.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

We even got to read the emails exchanged between Governor Mark Sanford & his Argentinian girlfriend!
How did THAT happen!?!

[glasater]

I have been dealing with healthcare personnel more than a person should have to do - and I'd say that seventy percent of the women are severely overweight. The men not so much. Here these women know or should know the health risks they're incurring but it seems to make no difference to them.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Here are Sandord's emails - http://www.thestate.com/2009/06/25/839350/exclusive-read-e-mails-between.html

Maybe we could hire some Argentinian computer hackers to get Lois Lerner's emails?

[narciso]

Curiously Janet they weren't interested in the content of her emails, because they showed her a capable civil servant,

http://www.inquisitr.com/1298237/sarah-palin-calls-out-president-obama-says-he-is-orchestrating-humanitarian-crisis-of-immigrant-kids/

Parker has long since removed all doubt

[Captain Hate]

Maybe instead of whining about poor Eric, the party of Rockefeller ought to be trying to do what Iowa did and find a candidate acceptable to both the Tea Party and the GOPe. I'm sure there are some out there.

[narciso]

The Times jumped the sharknado, they had the traitor Bradley Manning write an op ed

[MarkO]

War is hell. Ally ally oxen free.

The poor boy was upset. So misunderstood.

The focus on this deserter keeps us from blaming Obama for the release of dangerous men. So dangerous that they were chained in GITMO for years.

[narciso]

they were respected, among the detainee community, according to chief interrogator
Paul Rester,

[clarice]

If you aren't afraid of developing diabetes from overindulging in sweets, check out the WaPo's style section account of Hillary's book signing at the Arlington Costco.

Justice Sotomayor just happened to show up, too.

If you recall when Bush was president they had at least 2 stories of how rich people were being forced to buy their groceries there by rising costs. HEH.

[narciso]

there isn't enough ipecac in the world, as captain would say;

http://therightscoop.com/former-gitmo-officer-bergdahl-five-are-very-dangerous-would-pass-trophy-photos-of-beheadings/

I saw that expensive paper weight, Capital, at my local Costco

[Happy, happy, joy, joy Ignatz]

I'm a lot more concerned with fatty brain disease. Seems especially prevalent at places that worry inordinately about what's best for the rest of us.
In the absence of available brain transplants mightn't prophylactic brainectomies for the busybodies be a good start?
Or this;

[Marlene]

Just catching up after driving down from the cabin. Chilly and cloudy today. When I opened my mailbox,I had e-mails from a dozen or more JOMers. I had to laugh,because I couldn't open JOM using the Kindle with the hot spot(at the cabin). I said to hubby,OK,I've had it using the hot spot! I'm getting wifi on the sat dish! It didn't occur to me that JOM might be down.
Happy Father's Day to the JOM Dads! This is my first Father's Day without my Dad. Dad was an avid reader.I still catch myself thinking, Dad would like this book when I'm searching on Amazon for books.

[narciso]

that 'blockbuster' New Republic piece,the Ewok was slattering, is about talk radio in Wisconsin, in other words, the only reliable source of information in the state

[Marlene]

Driving back,I had 70s on 7 on SiriusXM.The Casey Kasem countdown was playing and they interrupted the music with the announcement of his death. They're running a marathon now. The countdown was for the week 6/10/72-6/17/72. The exact week I graduated from high school! What a hoot listening to the songs.

[narciso]

David 'Abbott' Kirkpatrick, surprisingly missed this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/15/us-libya-violence-idUSKBN0EQ0F120140615

[Jack is Back! (But in Typhus Hell)]

Left Kusadasi for Rhodes about 2 hours ago for Rhodes. Turkish Delight night with lots of Gyros, yoghurt dressing salads, lamb kebabs, etc. Even a belly dancer.

Perhaps tomorrow in Rhodes we can get WiFi enough to catch up with our visit to St. Mary's house and Ephesus. Which by far is the most remarkable ancient site yet to visit. It was like Disneyland there today.

Great to be away from politics and such. Keep up the good work while the rest of us slave away in the Med.

[GMax]

Gallup puts the Liar in Chief at 40% approval among Adults today. Disapproval climbs to 55%.

Put a likely voter screen on that and you have a good old fashion shellacking in the making. I got a brush to help!

[narciso]

I'd never heard of that particular settlements, it was more significant than I had ever heard, in the Early Church

[narciso]

It's rare you see someone pie themselves so readily;

https://www.americarisingpac.org/hillary-american-political-system-brutal-world/

[Happy, happy, joy, joy Ignatz]

Let me modify my mantra after Hillary's unstoppable stream of unforced errors;

There is no way Hillary will ever be president.

[henry]

narciso, Althouse has another post on the TNR article which has the title: The a Unelectable Whiteness of Scott Walker. (TNR's title, not Althouse). She shows a page image which she claims is supposed to make us think Walker is gay. The progs are very afraid.

[Happy, happy, joy, joy Ignatz]

Relinking Wretchard's latest that DocJ linked previously.
He correctly pillories Barry's and W's policies as disasters.
The only quibble I have is, it isn't radical Islam we are at war with; it is Islam, period. The only Islam which is not radical is the secularized or nominal Islam of cultural, unobservant Moslems.
Read it.

[rich@gmu]

seems this book needs an update

http://www.amazon.com/Young-Guns-Generation-Conservative-Leaders/dp/1451607342

Enjoyed the Pieces his morning Clarice.

Happy Father's Day.

[rich@gmu]

him morning ... this morning ...

[Cecil Turner]

He correctly pillories Barry's and W's policies as disasters.

Sorry, not buying the Blame Bush™ moral relativism (in McCarthy's article seconded by Wretchard). Yeah, W wasn't perfect in conduct of the war--but most of the places he fell short, it was either cheered or directly caused by Democrat obstructionism--and he handed Obama a won war.

The President then proceeded to lose it, post combat ops, much like the Democrats lost Vietnam. Moreover, again like Vietnam, the loss appears to be at least partially intentional, attempting to wring a political advantage out of a war-weary populace.

The only good news is that politically, it appears to be backfiring.

[DrJ]

This Filkins article on Iraq and how we got here is also worth reading:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/04/28/140428fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all

It is in the New Yorker, of all places. Caution: it is long.

[rich@gmu]

what would the day be like without Katty Kathy to voxsplain things to us ...

"... trouncing by an academic, tea-sipping nobody ..."

"...the South needed one more anecdote to convince the rest of the nation that something seriously strange has contaminated the region’s DNA..."

someone needs a nappy change ...

[daddy]

Good Morning!

The headlines for these 2 stories at Lucianne.com, linked one after the other in the stack, has me scratching my head:

1st headline)
Michael Steele: ´A lot of Interest in´
Eric Cantor for RNC Chairman

2nd headline) Cantor says still unsure about
how he lost, but now focused on
future, advancing conservative ideals

So he spent 22 times more in ads than his unknown opponent and got clobbered, can't figure out why he lost, and now we want to put him in charge of our sides coffers and Campaign strategy.

Brilliant.

[pagar]

"searching on Amazon for books."

For those who enjoy actual paper in your books,
Better World Books . com was running a clearance sale 6 books for $15 with free shipping. You have to find the ones marked clearance. I haven't been on the site today, but it was still going on on Friday.

[lyle]

Top. Men. daddy. Top. Men.

[Rick B]

Daddy,

Think of it as Bourbons lining up for the free haircuts...

[miss Marple]

Well, if anyone has the inside scoop on the RNC, Michael Steele would be the guy, especially since he went to work for MSNBC.

You may imagine me rolling my eyes here.

[Happy, happy, joy, joy Ignatz]

Most of the world calls the game football. We call it soccer.
I propose a compromise that satisfies both camps and truly catches the essence of the sport as practiced by its rugged players; Flopper.

[daddy]

Another juxtaposition:

As you know if you have tried, enter "New York Times Lois Lerner E-mails" into google, and the results will be zero. The New York Times has not yet printed a single word on the 2 years worth of missing Lerner E-mails.

Yet in this story from the NYTimes Public Editor, Margaret Sullivan A Paper Boat Navigating a Digital Sea, we get these 2 opening paragraphs, about how important it is to Times reporters to get names attached to stories so that readers can access the Times digitally:

IT’S Wednesday morning and 39 editors have filed in to the 10 a.m. meeting in The Times’s third-floor conference room, some carrying laptops and smartphones, others with pens and notepads.

The meeting, which until recently concentrated on the printed newspaper, now emphasizes a different discussion: journalism on the digital platforms of The Times. There was praise for headlines that had contained the right words — both “Eric” and “Cantor,” in this case — to maximize online search results; a query about whether a story would be accompanied by a video; and talk about how to give a political package more weight on the home page.

So I enter "New York Times Eric Cantor" into google and it is nothing but tons and tons of NYTimes story on Cantor's defeat from all the usual suspects.

Yet enter in "NYTimes Lois Lerner e-mails" and not a single NYTimes story appears.

Ms Sullivan finishes her story on the necessity of NYTime reporters getting out digital info this way:

In order to thrive, The Times needs radical change at an accelerated pace. At a company so heavily reliant on print for revenue and on digital for the future, that won’t be easy. But it’s crucial, because for readers what’s essential is Times journalism — not its form but its survival.

New York Times Delenda est.

[Captain Hate]

Somebody on the FNS panel remarked how Boehner won his primary "handily". Four out of every ten Republican primary voters cast his/her ballot for a young, underfunded person who nobody previously even heard of against the House majority leader who had the backing of the Southwest Ohio party machine. Those numbers seem pretty underwhelming to me.

[Happy, happy, joy, joy Ignatz]

--Yeah, W wasn't perfect in conduct of the war--but most of the places he fell short, it was either cheered or directly caused by Democrat obstructionism--and he handed Obama a won war.--

He handed Obama a quiet war and an unworkable country. Had we left a large force there for decades we could have kept it quiet but to what end? The rest of the ME was not cowed by troops tied down in Iraq. The strategy was, in the long run, unworkable for the reasons Wretchard and McCarthy outline.

That Barry made a bad situation much worse only speaks to his mendacity and foolishness not Bush's wisdom. The ethnic, sectarian, national and tribal divisions combined with Islam's inherent hostility to freedom, especially as Islam is practiced around its birthplace, make nation building a fool's errand. Nation destruction as often as necessary has a much better chance of protecting us and our interests.

[daddy]

Turkish Delight night

Hi JiB,

Tell Frederick to be careful who he accepts his Turkish Delight from

Here's a hint:

[daddy]

I don't know why we're making noises about being upset with Hamas for kidnapping those Israeli school kids.

Instead I think we should be praising Israel for allowing those illegal aliens to cross Israel's borders without having to show proper papers or proper documentation. That's encouraging. That's heartwarming. That's the positive story I think we ought to be taking away from this incident.

Here's the current argument going on in Israel about should they trade terrorists to get the boys returned or not: Right remains steadfast in opposition to releasing terrorists

[Beasts of England]

Does little Ricky Fowler get assessed one penalty strike per hole for wearing an outfit the same color as Boehner's face?

[Jeff Dobbs]

Good morning JOM!!!!!

(it's good to have father's day)

[Danube on iPad]

It is no longer possible to choose sides in this mess (if it ever was).

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/world/middleeast/iraq.html?&_r=0

[daddy]

... 39 editors have filed in to the 10 a.m. meeting in The Times’s third-floor conference room

39? Heck, When I go to Wiki's List of The New York Times employees I can only come up with 27 folks with the word "Editor" stuck to their title.

How can they dig up another 12 Editors for that rag, plus get 'em all in 1 room together?

39 Editors. Gee zus.

39 BTW is an odd number, a composite number, a deficient number, and an evil number.

It is the actual number of lashes given by the Sanhedrin to a person meted the punishment of 40 lashes.

39 is also the number of signers of the US Constitution, the age of every woman I know at JOM, and a Pier in San Francisco:)

And Jimmy Carter was president number 39:(

[Buckeye]

39 editors probably getting their marching orders on how to spin this week's Bozo screwups.

Or if we are lucking, collecting pink slips

[Buckeye]

Father's day has it's perks.

Mrs. Buckeye snagged a pecan pie made by an Ahia Amish baker lady. Only found in boutique type stores and $20, but they are as my best bud would say "pure tits"

Home made totally full on fat whipped cream going on top.

Liver probably already beyond redemption, so who cares.

[Buckeye]

lucking = lucky

but you already figured that out

[daddy]

Just think about this from my Times link:

There was praise for headlines that had contained the right words — both “Eric” and “Cantor,” in this case — to maximize online search results;

Editor 1: Okay, we need to do a story on this Internet thingy.

Editor 7: About what?

Editor 1: About this Eric Cantor defeat.

Editor 22: Yeah. Good idea. What should the headline say?

Editor 29: How about "Cantor loses."

Editor 36: I don't know, this is the digital market we're going for, not newspaper readers on paper, but like people who read our stories on like electronic stuff

Editor 16: Whew! That sounds difficult. Have we got an editor who like knows how to write stories for computers and stuff like that?

Editor 23: Yeah. Editor 17 knows an Editor who thinks he knows how to do it. And he thinks we ought to put in both Cantor's last name, and also his first name into the headline, so when people do a google search for Eric Cantor it'll come up saying Eric Cantor.

Editor: 5: Last name and first name? Is he serious?

Editor 17: Yep. He's serious.

Editor 11: Whoa!
Editor 15: Yowzer!
Editor 36: That's thinking out of the box!

Editor 38: Yeah. I think in this case, if the headline contained the right words, — both “Eric” and “Cantor,” it'd maximize online search results.

Editor 1: Let's hear some praise for that idea.

Editor 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 ,21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, . Clap, clap, clap.

Editor 1: Get our Public Editor, Margaret Sullivan in here. Number Editor, what number Editor is Margaret?

Editor 14: Number 39.

Editor 1: Number 39, I want a story out of you tomorrow saying this:

IT’S Wednesday morning and 39 editors have filed in to the 10 a.m. meeting in The Times’s third-floor conference room, some carrying laptops and smartphones, others with pens and notepads.

The meeting, which until recently concentrated on the printed newspaper, now emphasizes a different discussion: journalism on the digital platforms of The Times. There was praise for headlines that had contained the right words — both “Eric” and “Cantor,” in this case — to maximize online search results;

Can you do that for us Margaret?

Editor 39: I'm on it Number 1!

Editor 1: Atta' girl. Meeting adjourned.

[Cecil Turner]

The strategy was, in the long run, unworkable for the reasons Wretchard and McCarthy outline.

Ridiculous. Whether or not the country was ever going to be a fully functioning democracy is arguable, the ability of the US to impose a military solution is not. The only way we could lose was by quitting (and leaving), which is exactly what we did. An occupation force the size (or even half that) of the one we left in Korea for the better part of a century would've kept the country stable for as long as it took.

Now we have a choice between going back in, or accepting a chaotic failed state run by terrorists, with an involved neighbor soon to join the nuclear club. And the critical point is neither hard to pinpoint nor obscure:

"We're leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people," Obama told the troops in Fort Bragg, N.C. "We're building a new partnership between our nations."

McCain, speaking from the floor of the U.S. Senate, said Obama's decision on a full withdrawal -- with no residual force behind -- was timed to the start of the 2012 presidential election, and leaves Iraq vulnerable to terrorists and to anti-U.S. neighbors like Iran.

"I believe that history will judge this president's leadership with the scorn and disdain it deserves," McCain said.

Yep.

[Beasts of England]

Nicely done, daddy!

[narciso]

Well Filkins account is interesting, but incomplete, the Baath whose major coup in '67 finished off the disenfranchisement of the Shia, that the Golden Square movement had started in the 1930s. Saddam's rise was what forced him, and Jaafari into exile, the latter in London,

when they returned, in part because Chalabi had been able to do what Allawi's Accord intrigues, Pachachi's lobbying in the emirates, had been able to do, they were met
with car bombs and beheadings, from the ones
who rallied under Zarquawi's banner, that was true then, as it s now, this is the reality behind the fluff words that Obama
employs,

[Captain Hate]

It's rare when I agree with McCain but he is bang spot on. Too bad he wasn't consistently like that in 2008; it might not have mattered but that's something we'll never know for sure.

[Captain Hate]

Pinehurst is just slaying everybody right now; most boring Open in recent history.

[daddy]

I think we need to start a media tag/campaign saying something like

#97 percent of Computer Scientists say the Lois Lerner E-mails can be recovered. The Science is Settled.

[Jim Rhoads f/k/a vnjagvet]

Kaymer has a lot to do with that, CH. I am sure he would like to see it even more boring. It didn't hurt that he lapped the field over the first two days of the tournament.

[Threadkiller]

Daddy, how about:

#RecoverySummer

[Threadkiller]

Happy Father's Day!

[daddy]

And here I had hopes that Princess Kate was gonna' raise George proper:

[pagar]

Not to interrupt anyone's golf game but,

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/06/us-embassy-in-baghdad-to-begin-evacuation/

[daddy]

TK,

I want to kill their 97% Settled Science meme and shove it down their throats.

I want FOX news or whomever to ask Bill Gates and every other big name Internet Big Shot in America, including Clapper and Snowden, if the E-mails can be recovered or not, and why.

[Captain Hate]

I agree, Jim; Kaymer has been masterful and deserves all the praise. Not his fault everybody else couldn't keep up.

[Captain Hate]

The Hatettes have called, Mrs H made me a great Swiss steak dinner with strawberry/raspberry pie. All I need is the Spurs to win to make this a perfect Father's Day.

[Captain Hate]

Is 404 on the golf course? Or at a fundraiser? What else is there?

[daddy]

I see Casey Kasem has passed on.

This was my favorite bit of his ever, though Fry and Scout don't exactly share my opinion.

[Stephanie]

39 editors probably getting their marching orders on how to spin this week's Bozo screwups.

39 editors and Nixon Coming
We're probably on our own
This summer I hear them coming
Four dead in Behghazi

[Extraneus]

I agree with Cecil. The war was won, and the forces we had there, even if somewhat reduced, would have kept the place stable indefinitely. Considering the alternatives, a stable Iraq was pretty important, not to mention that the alternatives make the liberal claims that we wasted American lives there a fact. It didn't have to be, and wasn't until now.

In addition, it was a perfect place from which to exert American power if necessary, either in Iran, Syria or even Saudi Arabia.

Finally, I'm as happy as the next guy when Muslims kill each other, but there were people there who we were protecting. Where's Powell with the Pottery Barn schtick?

[Captain Hate]

Have any of you ever done radio before? That Casey Kasem clip reminds me of being at the Case Western station and seeing some otherwise mild mannered individuals just become psychotic raving lunatics in the studio when they're off mike between songs every time they do their show.

[Extraneus]

We should have Father's Day more often, I say.

[Extraneus]

I suggest the 3rd Sunday of every month.

[Jane]

most boring Open in recent history.

Except for Compton. It's worth watching just for that story.

404 is on Larry Ellison's private golf club.

I really don't know what these guys see in him.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Man, flight patterns must be off . . . assume due to the weather or somesuch.

Big FedEx plan just went overhead. Woke me up out on the deck.

#howrude
#itsfathersday
#idratherbenapping

Strange flight path.

BTW, if I haven't mentioned it here recently, I'm doing so now . . . as a Dad I couldn't wish for a better mother for my kids and kids for kids. They really are the bombdiggity.

I'll gladly accept any and all accolades as a dad only upon acknowledgement of that fact: I could be a baked potato and these kids would still be all that and a bag of chips.

Thank you mrs hit and run. Thank you to my dad and mrs hit and run's dad for doing so very many things right to get us here.

princess hit and run put this on the back of her homemade card she made for me...

#bestfatherintheworld

Hashtag and all. So don't try and argue with her . . . she has her father's stubbornness.

#gameoveriwon

[Jane]

Capn' I don't think I was ever psychotic on (or off) the radio. But that might be not for me to say.

BTW (as I told Daddy the other night) Dick offered me my own show, if I want it.

Pagar, I'm glad they are leaving, except for the reason.

[Threadkiller]

Pretty detailed report:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2658582/U-S-evacuates-personnel-Embassy-Baghdad-thousands-Islamic-fighters-bear-capital-city.html

Anybody know why an embassy would have 5000-6000 people on staff?

Is that a normal amount?

[Extraneus]

Do it, Jane! You're great at that. Perfect pitch.

[Threadkiller]

Also I noticed quite a few "children" wielding machine guns.

[daddy]

Jane,

If you do get back on the radio, I promise I won't send you an e-mail about a dead dog named Snuggles:)

[Jane]

My issue is the the small reach of the station (which is fairly cocky when you think about it.) I don't think phone interviews would be easy and I don't want to waste my Rolodex for that small of an audience.

OTOH I'm bored silly because I don't have much work.

OTOH I feel like I'm just a one sided bitch because I live eat and breathe politics

OTOH - and on and on and on.

[Buckeye]

TK

I wondered about that last week when I heard the 6000 number. Seems like an awful lot. What do they do?

[Jane]

Pagar,

We need Sandy Daze to fill us in on the embassy. He spent a lot of time in Iraq.

[Captain Hate]

Not you, Jane; you're on with a live mike at all times except for station breaks. I'm talking about when the mike is dead. I was pretty calm as were most people. It's the psychos that stand out.

[Extraneus]

Anybody know why an embassy would have 5000-6000 people on staff?

Quite a few CIA, I'd imagine.

[Captain Hate]

Jane you've got a great radio voice.

[Buckeye]

If you assume $100k per person, that is over half a billion a year. The intelligence they could gather might be valuable, but if you aren't willing to take action on the info, why bother?