Althouse: At the Pink Petal Lounge...

September 12, 2009

At the Pink Petal Lounge...

... you can say all the things you want.

29 comments:

rcocean said...: Would Chip please stop slamming the door?

Its very annoying.; 9/12/09, 10:33 PM
Fred4Pres said...: I normally do not like that kind of flower, but it is strangely attractive right now. Like a one night stand.; 9/12/09, 10:39 PM
BJM said...: The image "popped" as it loaded...wow..psychedelic man.

@Fred...or closing time.; 9/12/09, 10:55 PM
former law student said...: Critters are eating my ripe tomatoes. Does Meade have any suggestions? I've already put cages around my tomato plants.; 9/12/09, 10:59 PM
chickelit said...: Critters are eating my ripe tomatoes.

Pick 'em quicker!; 9/12/09, 11:10 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Following the success of Prop 8, there's a new marriage proposal getting started in California.; 9/12/09, 11:27 PM
Synova said...: What I'd like to say is that I'm embarrassed and ashamed of our Nation's policy toward Honduras.

Hang in there, Honduras!

Hang in there.; 9/12/09, 11:34 PM
former law student said...: What I'd like to say is that I'm embarrassed and ashamed of our Nation's policy toward Honduras.

the Democrats prefer Presidents -- especially those in the Western Hemisphere -- be allowed to serve their full terms.

How have Hondurans suffered from US policy?; 9/12/09, 11:53 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: OK, Fine!

))) stomps foot (((

Sunset. Untouched photo taken from my balcony yesterday, 9/11/09

To answer FLS, it seems an earnest question. We've cut off all foreign aid to Honduras. But we should have a problem with a president who attempts to pervert their own constitution to achieve permanent office as Zelaya has attempted to do. Preference or not we shouldn't stand by idly while another South American democracy goes the down the tubes. Unless, of course, the likes of Chavez appeals to you. But this is an example of Obama's stated intention of not getting involved in the upheavals of other nations, as he made so perfectly clear with the case of Iran. Consistency? We don't think so.; 9/13/09, 12:01 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Dj'ya know what I'm thinking? You don't? OK, goes like this.

About those protests today. Seem like a pretty big deal. And I suppose there's more to come. You'd think with those ears of his he'd be a pretty good listener, but no, what does Obama do -- take note of the protests, acknowledge, and adjust accordingly? No. He persists plowing along repeating the same worn out message seeking to sap off some of the impact of that incredibly huge march. I'm trying to imagine another politician, any other politician, doing something similar, as if to say, "♪♩ I'm not lis-i-ning ♫♪." Not tone deafness, per se, but actual deafness.

OK, so there's that.

But then what does Fox network do? Do they stick with the action, or do they take their eye off the ball? Once again, just because the president provides the footage, they run it. There's something in their makeup that compels them to feed the narcissist. IMO, they'd serve their audience better to ignore the president once in a while. Or if they must cover him, do so, but without the footage. Unless their intent is to supersaturate to ensure one term. In that case, carry on.; 9/13/09, 12:20 AM
former law student said...: We've cut off all foreign aid to Honduras.

Seems uncalled-for. This doesnt hurt their government (unless it's a kleptocracy) but the Honduran people.

But we should have a problem with a president who attempts to pervert their own constitution to achieve permanent office as Zelaya has attempted to do.

I don't know what he tried to do. His term ends in January. If he attempted to stay on then we could support his overthrow. As it stands it looks fishy.; 9/13/09, 12:21 AM
Synova said...: FLS, have you paid any attention to Honduras?

Short story... The Honduran president Zelaya, rather than conform to constitutionally required term limits, set up a referendum in VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION of that country in order to overturn their law and make himself a president without limits. He was removed from power with the approval of even those in his own party. After he was removed in this "coup" the CERTIFIED RESULTS OF A REFERENDUM VOTE THAT HAD NOT YET OCCURRED were discovered in his presidential mansion.

Our president, naturally, sees nothing at all wrong with ignoring the constitution and laws so long as there will be a vote. Term limits? How old fashioned and irritating!

But *almost* worse are the excuses... it's not *our* idea. Not OBAMA's decision and responsibility, but merely we are going along with the consensus of the other countries in the organization of American states. (Chavez, etc.) Just going along with their decisions and hanging little Honduras, trying to protect the rule of law and her constitution, out to dry.

Obama doesn't even have the balls to just out and say that he PREFERS Zelaya and his pre-certified election results.; 9/13/09, 12:45 AM
former law student said...: All I know is that the Honduran usurper Micheletti, rather than conform to the constitutionally defined Presidential term, ousted the President six months before the end of his term.

I'm having a little problem dealing with the concept of a constitution that can't be amended, but I will pass over that.; 9/13/09, 12:54 AM
Synova said...: "I don't know what he tried to do. His term ends in January. If he attempted to stay on then we could support his overthrow. As it stands it looks fishy."

Zelaya, in violation of the constitution and law, organized a referendum vote to "stay on".

Only because he was removed were his plans stopped and the pre-certified, official vote counts showing that he overwhelmingly won a vote that had not yet even occurred were found.

Was the government of Honduras (who put someone from Zelaya's own party in place temporarily) supposed to just wait around so that he could stay in control through the process of demanding this vote and then showing that "the people" were united behind him?

And we're sanctioning the country and denying visas to Honduran officials and failing spectacularly in any measure of defending a small democracy and the rule of law.

And it wouldn't even matter if the people really DID want to vote him presidente for life. Because the principle of majority rule MUST be tempered by a law that applies to everyone in order to protect the minority from the majority and that tradition of respect for the law is far far more important than any one man could ever be.

And if Obama doesn't understand THAT he is nothing but a dangerous child.; 9/13/09, 12:55 AM
Synova said...: The most important possible thing is that elected officials, presidents, step down from office peacefully and gracefully when their term is up.

But some people really seem to like their dictators, their leaders-for-life.

Funny though, FLS, we don't see this in free, democratic, nations. We just don't. Term limits might be different lengths, shorter or longer, but there are limits. We threw off kings or at the very least marginalized them into mascot form... and we elect people to serve, and then we elect someone else.

What free, prosperous, democratic nation does this not apply to? Name one.

"Elected" presidents who must maintain their power indefinitely become, even if they don't start out, oppressive. Chavez was "voted" in indefinitely, and since then he has closed down radio stations and those who speak against him. So did every single other "popular" leader who has been given the possibility of remaining in power in every single country where this has happened.; 9/13/09, 1:06 AM
Meade said...: @former law student: I suggest googling "Bird Control Netting." It will probably protect against critters other than birds.; 9/13/09, 9:16 AM
kentuckyliz said...: CBS Sunday Morning News profiled and interviewed the head of the SEIU union, who bragged about how they mobilized all their members for the election, on the ground, on the phone, they made 13 million phone calls, they have a great amount of access, it's the largest growing union so he's a powerful labor leader. Deploying all those people cost a lot of money--OMG he admitted they paid these astroturfers. Etc.

And he said they mobilized SEIU nurses to show up for Obama's rally yesterday in scrubs. ASTROTURF flag on the play.

It's just really amazing how they're getting these people to work against their own interests--they have better health insurance than most people and they have a lot to lose, including paying taxes on their premiums.

Then the SEIU leader said his daughter died of complications after spinal surgery, implying that it wouldn't have happened under Obamacare.

OMG! She HAD the surgery, it was paid for! He wasn't claiming she couldn't get a surgery she needed.

So why did she die of complications? Perhaps it was lack of attention by SEIU nurses who were reading their SEIU e-mails to get their marching orders and turning the nurse's station into a phone bank. Instead of doing their jobs, they were playing political lackey.

So the girl didn't get checked enough and she died.

It was just amazingly appalling how unselfconsciously this was presented on the news, even with a tinge of pride.

OMG!!! These people are so tone deaf.; 9/13/09, 9:52 AM
kentuckyliz said...: There was a bad tomato blight this year. Even tomatoes that didn't get eaten by critters could look totally yummy and you cut into it and it's black in parts on the inside.

Don't just bite into a tomato. Cut it up first so you can find and get rid of the icky bits. The other portion of the tomato is fine.; 9/13/09, 9:54 AM
former law student said...: Term limits might be different lengths, shorter or longer, but there are limits.

To my mind, the Republicans made a mistake by pushing the No Third Term amendment. Without it, a vigorous Ike wins a third term easily. Khrushchev dares not challenge him in Cuba, the way he does the inexperienced JFK. Ike limits US exposure in SE Asia to advisors and not troops, later pulling them out rather than get enmeshed in some other country's civil war. Without protecting their own skins as a motivation, campus radicals have nothing to protest. The next two decades prolong the conformity of the Fifties. Cars continue to sport tailfins well into the Seventies.; 9/13/09, 10:17 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: When the abortion doctor in Kansas was killed I read many young women on Twitter saying things like, "This is so horrible, I feel so sick right now!" and "I can't stop crying."

There was also, of course, tons of media coverage of that crime.

Now that an anti-abortion protester has been murdered simply for his anti-abortion protesting, I'm not seeing much of the same thing.

Mighty odd double standard there.; 9/13/09, 11:00 AM
former law student said...: Now that an anti-abortion protester has been murdered simply for his anti-abortion protesting

No. The anti-abortion protestor was killed for his bad taste in protest signs for his chosen audience of kids going to school. For all we know the killer himself opposed abortion.

The constituencies offended are advocates of free speech and those who believe nuts should not have guns.; 9/13/09, 11:16 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: FLS, so maybe the abortion doctor was just killed for his bad taste in choosing a profession?

I don't think so.; 9/13/09, 11:23 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: For all we know the killer himself opposed abortion.

Oh, please.; 9/13/09, 11:26 AM
former law student said...: Freeman, believe what you like. The abortion protestor was killed while he was carrying his offensive sign down at the high school. The abortion doctor was killed while he was at worship.; 9/13/09, 11:27 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: I've often heard people harp on the danger posed by anti-abortion zealots. Who knew that we were all facing similar danger from the zealots of good taste?; 9/13/09, 11:39 AM
former law student said...: Freeman -- the killer was unhinged, he had a list of people who he thought needed killing that day. The third guy left town before he could be killed.; 9/13/09, 12:00 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Aren't they all pretty unhinged? For some reason no one cares about the "he was unhinged" when it comes from the other side.; 9/13/09, 12:18 PM
rhhardin said...: No protestors today at chez rh.; 9/13/09, 2:12 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Freeman, just in case it's not clear, I was saddened by Jim Pouillon's murder.

I dipped into one left-wing blog today. I didn't have to go down very far to find this rebuke of the murder.; 9/13/09, 8:12 PM