Althouse: In the Garden Café...

June 26, 2009

In the Garden Café...

... you can talk about whatever you want.

44 comments:

Beth said...: News today is that despite his public posturing against using taxpayer dollars to help his state, Gov. Bubbly in Love did not turn down taxpayer's help to finance his visits to his mistress.

I hope they nail him good for that, and Edwards, too, if he used campaign bucks for whassername. Vitter has never had to explain how he paid for very high-cost nookie at the same time he was campaigning, living on a lawmaker's salary, having a passle of kids and building a new McMansion.; 6/26/09, 12:00 PM
MadisonMan said...: EW has a list of the Top 100 songs. It amazes me that they did not include Saturday by Chicago, or Soak up the Sun by Sheryl Crowe. Those are the quitessentially or quinessential summer songs.

Link; 6/26/09, 12:00 PM
MadisonMan said...: Really, I can spell. That should be the quintessentially of quintessential summer songs.; 6/26/09, 12:02 PM
ricpic said...: Mound upon mound of marshmallow green --
Hummocks as much to be munched on as seen.; 6/26/09, 12:05 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Really, I can spell. That should be the quintessentially of quintessential summer songs.

Thanks for clearing that up because until your clarification I had no idea whatsover what you were saying.

When it comes to summer songs, I still think of the Cars, particularly the Heartbeat City album. That was the best summer for me, first steady girlfriend who really liked me, hanging out at the dunes and getting more nookie than I thought was humanely possible.

Good times, good times.; 6/26/09, 12:06 PM
MadisonMan said...: Yes, Magic in particular is a great summer song.; 6/26/09, 12:09 PM
traditionalguy said...: We need a moment of prayer for Mark Sanford who now faces life without either his strong wife or his sophisticated lover. His perfect life may be the third death in the Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett triad. All three were about 50 years old and Baby Boomers to the core.; 6/26/09, 12:20 PM
Beth said...: No wife, no lover, and in debt - people want their campaign donations back, now, and there are those pesky taxpayers to reimburse. Bummer for him.; 6/26/09, 12:24 PM
bearbee said...: Nice variety of shapes, shades, tones and textures.; 6/26/09, 12:27 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: News today is that despite his public posturing against using taxpayer dollars to help his state, Gov. Bubbly in Love did not turn down taxpayer's help to finance his visits to his mistress

Beth is this really news anymore? I don't mean Sanford but politicians in general? I mean you have Sanford, Spitzer, McGreevy, Larry Craig and on. Then throw in Dodd, Rangel whatshis name from LA who commandered a NG helicopter to rescue the wads of cash in his freezer. They're ALL corrupt either financially, sexually or both yet in few exceptions they seem to be impervious to being tossed out of office. So while it may be 'news' it really isn't.; 6/26/09, 12:33 PM
former law student said...: Is Meade going to lavish his landscaping skills on the professor's yard, and turn Althouse Acres into a showplace that people go out of their way to drive past?

Madman -- is there really a list, or do I have to go through each photo gallery, one by one?; 6/26/09, 12:35 PM
Beth said...: Hoosier, Ecclesiastes tells us that "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

So, nothing to discuss, then. Iranian protests? Been done. Celebrity deaths? People die every day.

Given that politicians are so corrupt, you'd think they'd stop running on the morality platforms. Perhaps voters ought to stop rewarding them for doing that.; 6/26/09, 12:38 PM
former law student said...: First, the canonical song of summer, as much as part of it as lying on a blanket on the sand, smelling the coppertone, and listening to a portable radio which sounds scratchy as you turn up the volume

Just fill your basket full of sandwiches and weenies
Then lock the house up, now youre set
And on the beach you'll see the girls in their bikinis
As cute as ever but they never get em wet

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Youll wish that summer could always be here

And for me, this is the other song of summer, reminding me of coming back in from the water, lying down, eyes half-closed, watching girls toss a frisbee while a light plane tows a banner up and down the shore.

We're so sorry Uncle Albert
But we haven't done a bloody thing all day
We're so sorry Uncle Albert
But the kettle's on the boil and we're so easily called away

Hand across the water (water)
Heads across the sky
Hand across the water (water)
Heads across the sky
Admiral Halsey notified me
He had to have a berth or he couldn't get to sea
I had another look and i had a cup of tea and butter pie
(the butter wouldn't melt so i put it in the pie)

...

Live a little be a gypsy, get around(get around)
Get your feet up off the ground
Live a little, get around
Live a little be a gypsy, get around(get around)
Get your feet up off the ground
Live a little, get around; 6/26/09, 12:43 PM
MadisonMan said...: If there is a list, I never found it. I went through the galleries.; 6/26/09, 12:45 PM
MadisonMan said...: Totally annoying, I know.; 6/26/09, 12:45 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: That is a lovely photograph of a truly lovely landscaped scene.

I think.

Unfortunately, I can no longer believe with 100% of trust what my brain informs me my eyes are seeing. And I cannot trust your brains either.

I do continue to trust my ears, though, so if you've got a sound recording, I'd be up for that.; 6/26/09, 12:46 PM
john said...: Top 25 summer songs - how they miss these:
Lovin’ Spoonful and Murmaids

Kinda old, I realize.; 6/26/09, 12:46 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Given that politicians are so corrupt, you'd think they'd stop running on the morality platforms

I agree. But its not just morality its everything. Like when Obama tells me I can't set my thermostat to 75 but he can set his high enough to grow orchids. Or how I need to drive an oversized cupholder with wheels while they have thier private jets and Suburbans to tote them around.; 6/26/09, 12:51 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Beth, for me its not so much a left right issue but the inherent hypocrisy of all politicians who never seem hold themselves to the same standards that they legislate to the rest of us.; 6/26/09, 12:55 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Can anybody understand the chorus for Green Day’s “Welcome to paradise”? w/o looking them up.

I cant make out what they are saying.; 6/26/09, 12:59 PM
Beth said...: We're in agreement there, Hoosier. On all counts, whether it's hookers or money or healthcare - they have very different standards for themselves.

By the way, whassiname (William Jefferson) with the money in the fridge, is on trial right now, in Virginia. Let's hope the prosecutor doesn't blow it.; 6/26/09, 12:59 PM
Beth said...: You have to buy the magazine to get the list.; 6/26/09, 1:00 PM
traditionalguy said...: Does it require a ratified Constitutional Amendment to make Obama King for life, or can a 5 to 4 SCOTUS decision just discover it there all along in the Supremacy clause or the Foreign Treaties are law clause? The fourth of July weekend is upon us and the Demonrats are voting Eternal Socialism upon us to save the earth from "dirty carbon dioxide" while everyone celebrates their (former) independence.The Trillions of dollars added to the cost of being alive and breathing is going to be spent, like Blago spent money, only for political power for The Kings Men.; 6/26/09, 1:04 PM
MadisonMan said...: William Jefferson ... is on trial right now, in Virginia. Let's hope the prosecutor doesn't blow it.

Amen. I assume that's why it took so long to bring him to trial -- the prosecution was dotting is and crossing ts.

We subscribe to EW, but I've not read it lately. Typically it disappears into the daughter's room. But I'll excavate it and look at the list.; 6/26/09, 1:04 PM
Beth said...: MadisonMan, the long time till trial may be due to good preparation, but it also involved lots of motions from the defense to delay the thing.

The weak point is that the government's chief witness, Lori Mody, is a bit unstable, in treatment for depression and such, so the defense will use that to attack her credibility. The prosecution did not put her on the stand, and only used tapes from her wired conversations with Jefferson. From what I've read, that can indicate they worry about her, OR that they're holding her as a rebuttal witness should Jefferson take the stand, as everyone assumes he will. Apparently, that might be a more cagey strategy - he'll have to worry about what she can attack in his testimony. Oh, it's all tangled.; 6/26/09, 1:14 PM
Beth said...: It just rained here, dropping the temperature from about 95 to 86. Rapture!

It hit 104 on Tuesday, and that's as high as ever recorded in New Orleans. It's been so miserable here. Our home AC is on 24/7 and barely dents the heat. I walk around campus under a parasol, and that helps some. My car's air conditioner is strong, so it's the best thing in my life right now, and I'm making lots of little carbon footprints all over the city, just taking my time getting to my destination.; 6/26/09, 1:18 PM
Sofa King said...: Where's the passenger manifest from the Air Force One buzzing of NYC?; 6/26/09, 1:28 PM
XWL said...: Happy Birthday, Colin Greenwood (of Radiohead).; 6/26/09, 1:30 PM
David said...: Man, what a fabulous garden.; 6/26/09, 1:49 PM
bearbee said...: Lush.; 6/26/09, 2:12 PM
Donna B. said...: That's what my backyard looks like when I'm in complete fantasy mode.

Lovely.; 6/26/09, 2:31 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Nice variety of shapes, shades, tones and textures.

Ditto. That photo would make a killer jigsaw puzzle.; 6/26/09, 2:58 PM
hdhouse said...: I for one want to hear what Dick Morris has to say about this on Faux Noise...it will be off topic as FN has zeroed in on Michael Jackson......

but ol' Dick...he has a lot of experience in all this...let's hear from Dick.; 6/26/09, 3:01 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I alway liked this summertime song.

By Mungo Jerry I get a big laugh at the way they look. I remember those sideburns!! OMG....LOL; 6/26/09, 3:05 PM
Shanna said...: It hit 104 on Tuesday, and that's as high as ever recorded in New Orleans.

Ever recorded, or ever recorded on this date? I just find that surprising, since it seems to hit 104 most summer's here in Arkansas and we're quite a bit north of you.

I was in NOLA a couple weeks ago! Had a great time having a beignet and wandering around.; 6/26/09, 3:06 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: It hit 104 on Tuesday, and that's as high as ever recorded in New Orleans.

Holy Cow, that must have been hell on wheels with the humidity!!

I feel for you. My father was born in NOLA and everytime I've been in the summer it was like a giant sweaty sauna. Awful!!

At least when it hits in the hundreds here the humidity is low enough that you can get buy very nicely and cheaply with just an evaporative cooler or 'swamp cooler' as everyone calls it here. No one has air conditioning.

Did they mention this song? Also one of my favorite summertime memories

What a day for a daydream?; 6/26/09, 3:16 PM
MadisonMan said...: Shanna, New Orleans' climate is modified by its close proximity to water. The all-time record high in Florida? 109. All-time record high in North Dakota? 121.

Today's record high in New Orleans? A cool 96. In Little Rock? 101. In Omaha? 105.

Here ends the meteorological lesson for the day.; 6/26/09, 3:19 PM
MadisonMan said...: When I lived in Slidell, the best part of summer was leaving an air-conditioned building and having my glasses fog up :); 6/26/09, 3:20 PM
Beth said...: 104 is the highest recorded here, ever, apparently. MadMan explains it well. I can remember being in central Kansas one summer and regularly seeing the bank's temperature display at 105-110, as I rode around on my bike in the near-zero humidity. It was blazing hot, but a different hot.

Beignets are good eatin', for sure. I'm glad you had a great time.

MadisonMan, did you find joy in Slidell?; 6/26/09, 3:35 PM
Shanna said...: MM, I kind of thought it might be related to the Ocean, but it sure seems to get hot in Biloxi, which is also close. But I don't live either of those places, so I don't pay any special attention.

I just know it's really hot this week here in Arkansas, but after we had non stop rain for 2 months, I'm rather enjoying it. I'll probably be sick of it by August. And when I get my AC bill next month.; 6/26/09, 3:38 PM
traditionalguy said...: Like Brer Rabbit you have to be born and raised in the briar patch of the South in July and August. I remember spending 3 months in the Pacific Northwest and driving home to Atlanta in August. When we got half-way from Dallas to Louisiana we hit a wall of humidity. It was like being home again. My cousin from Buffalo area came down to Atlanta for a July visit in normal 95f weather, and she wanted to go to the hospital. So I guess it all depends on what is familiar to us.; 6/26/09, 3:55 PM
Shanna said...: I don't really consider it hot in the summer until it hits at least 98 degrees.; 6/26/09, 4:02 PM
MadisonMan said...: Lucinda Williams didn't really hit the radio 'til after I escaped Slidell and moved back to more temperate climes. I don't know if I'd heard that song that mentions Slidell before.; 6/26/09, 4:11 PM
William said...: The Hollywood death triad is Carradine, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson. (Ed McMahon doesn't count. His was a slow, stately fade.) The lesson to be drawn from these deaths is that there is no lesson to be drawn from the lives of Hollywood celebrities.; 6/26/09, 5:23 PM