Althouse: Magnolia sunset.

March 19, 2012

Magnolia sunset.

43 comments:

edutcher said...: Oh, that's nice.

Looks like things are back to normal, blog-wise, too.

PS We're expecting 84 on Wednesday. Ann, you and Meade keep that good weather coming our way, thank you.; 3/19/12, 9:54 PM
Carnifex said...: It's almost too hot.(naaah)

Bristol Palin is calling for Obama to call her like he did Fluke, and apologize for the nasty things Bill Mahr said about her during to '08 campaign. I suggest she not hold her breath. That the president is a 2 faced liar is patently obvious to everyone but the O'bots.

And he's thinking about releasing from the Strategic Oil Supply. The strategy part comes in through his re-election chances...it's strategic to have lower gas prices to improve your chances of re-election. Especially, if your policies have been aimed at driving up the price of gas.

And Eric Holder wants to brainwash all you bitter clingers. I admit to being bitter, but I ain't no cross dressing MASH company clerk.

Snap poll...Who thinks high gas prices, high unemployment, and a high deficit is a winning strategy for the presidency? Garage? Leslyn? Americas Politico?

The TSA patted down a child in a wheelchair...just because you can't humiliate a handicapped child enough. Worst government agency ever with the worst president ever...coincidence? I think not.; 3/19/12, 10:23 PM
Mary Beth said...: What's up with all the news reports of people stealing Tide detergent? Is this some new thing or has reporting it just caught on with news sources?; 3/19/12, 10:33 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I saw Young Adult (2011).

I knew somebody just like her.. She brought up The Rules Girls at lunch one time and for a while we didn't stop talking about it.

She was very pretty, very smart but deeply insecure.

Even thought we never exchanged bodily fluids, (way out of my league) I have lots of fun memories of her.; 3/19/12, 10:37 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I saw Young Adult (2011).

We watched that last night.; 3/19/12, 10:54 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: The Rules Girls? Are those women who follow The Rules?; 3/19/12, 10:56 PM
edutcher said...: Carnifex said...

And he's thinking about releasing from the Strategic Oil Supply. The strategy part comes in through his re-election chances...it's strategic to have lower gas prices to improve your chances of re-election. Especially, if your policies have been aimed at driving up the price of gas.

From what I've seen this one doesn't play in Peoria. You haven't heard much about it since it was first broached (people like Ed Maakey are for it, but Maakey is far from the brightest bulb in Congress) and I'm betting that their internal polling doesn't look good.

He made a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve last year and for the same reason. Won't look cool trying it again

Also, it hands Romney an issue he seems happy to run with, not only on political and economic, but national security, grounds, also.

The TSA patted down a child in a wheelchair...just because you can't humiliate a handicapped child enough. Worst government agency ever with the worst president ever...coincidence? I think not.

Comes close, though. Big Sis & Co have to be scared purple the Moslem Brotherhood or the crazies in Iran, feeling the wind at their backs, might try something big inside this country, so they're flailing.

Considering some of the stuff they've pulled with old people, disabled vets, etc., this is small potatoes, but we're getting into Jimmy Carter territory now and everybody remembers Desert One and how that was the beginning of the realization on all sides that Bucketmouth's 15 minutes were up.; 3/19/12, 11:08 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The Rules Girls? Are those women who follow The Rules?

It was a popular book that came out in the 90's.; 3/19/12, 11:19 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: My friend (rules girl) went into rehab and when she came out she started going with a diffent crowd.; 3/19/12, 11:32 PM
KCFleming said...: Walker is on Fox right now.

Good speaker.; 3/20/12, 12:04 AM
KCFleming said...: He says big-government-unions as one word.

He says he's going to ask people to compare his policies to the effects seen in Illinois. They're doing great in Illinois, right.; 3/20/12, 12:10 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: With the RAW files, the things that you can do in Photoshop with the recorded information are quite amazing.

I have turned this photo over to our panel of experts and they are impressed with a few key features that make it stand out in their opinions.

I asked them if they thought it could be improved and they all said at once, "oh yes."

"Like what?" I asked. "Give me one good thing."

They thought and discussed, then one of them answered, "The light background is causing the distance between foreground and mid-ground to collapse almost to silhouette. We would use Photoshop to isolate green and lighten it very slightly to restore the distance very slightly, but that is all."

"Can this be done without the RAW file?"

"Yes, but not as well."

"Well do it then and let's see."

"No."; 3/20/12, 12:58 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: REPORT: Amid Travel Warnings, Obama Daughter Spring Breaks In Mexico...

Why would Obama send his daughter to a country the state department is advising Americans not to go?; 3/20/12, 2:12 AM
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intuitive character development system.; 3/20/12, 3:13 AM
edutcher said...: Lem said...

REPORT: Amid Travel Warnings, Obama Daughter Spring Breaks In Mexico...

Why would Obama send his daughter to a country the state department is advising Americans not to go?

Better yet, why send a 13 year old kid anywhere, especially out of the country, by herself?

Not counting the platoon of Secret Service guys, of course.; 3/20/12, 5:46 AM
Paco Wové said...: "Who thinks high gas prices, high unemployment, and a high deficit is a winning strategy for the presidency?"

I think the answer is: but Republicans are evil!; 3/20/12, 6:33 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: It was a popular book that came out in the 90's.

I remember that book.; 3/20/12, 6:54 AM
Carnifex said...: @ Mary Beth

I saw that too. I "heard" that it was being used for barter on the black market?! My first thought was that they're using it to make crystal meth.(you can make it out of hot dog water, and Tide apparently). Maybe the 99% is getting the message about cleaning up.

Is that hamster wearing a beret?

Wow! I think I knocked one out of the park! Not one snide comment from a leftist to my posting so far.

At Lem

Mexico is safe for Americans to travel in...especially if they go with 25 secret service agents. Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.

and Chip still writing so well, if a little cryptic, it makes me jealous, a little. MMM...Is that regional? For me to have the inner dialogue "jealous a little" as opposed to "a little jealous"? Needs a comma, I think, to actually make sense the way I say it(type it).(So did that phrase) I think I'm comma-tose intolerant, hater that I am.

Sunrise is the perfect way to end a date with the woman you love.(someone stop me, I'm getting maudlin){only you can stop you, dumb ass}(ohh...okay, I'm outta here)

Ciao people, I got thing to do, and person to see.(a slow day); 3/20/12, 6:58 AM
MadisonMan said...: I am very suspicious of the claim that you can make crystal meth out of hot dog water and Tide detergent.

I think Tide is swiped because it can easily be traded for something else. Everyone uses Tide (Well, we don't, but still...); 3/20/12, 8:32 AM
Robert Cook said...: "I am very suspicious of the claim that you can make crystal meth out of hot dog water and Tide detergent."

Sure you can. You just have to be in the right "head" first, which you achieve by smoking dried banana leaves.

(The youngsters won't get this.); 3/20/12, 8:59 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Who thinks high gas prices, high unemployment, and a high deficit is a winning strategy for the presidency?"

The public at large doesn't care a damn about the deficit...they care about high unemployment and high gas prices.

As long as the "job creators" insist on "creating" jobs overseas (or moving already created jobs there), high unemployment will persist. Unless the government starts passing legislation that, using a combo of carrot-and-stick polices, will encourage the that the jobs be returned to American shores.

High gas prices? They're here to stay, with only mild and transitory fluctuations downward to be hoped for. The era of cheap gas is over.; 3/20/12, 9:04 AM
Hagar said...: And on Friday night Krazy Kate Sebelius issued a mandate filling out the AHCA requiring that all college medical insurance plans miust include a provision for "free" sterilization surgery for women.

And it is not an attack on religion, because President Obama has said that it isn't.

The silence is deafening!; 3/20/12, 9:09 AM
edutcher said...: Robert Cook said...

Who thinks high gas prices, high unemployment, and a high deficit is a winning strategy for the presidency?

The public at large doesn't care a damn about the deficit

The presence of the Tea Party and the Republican majority in the House say otherwise.

Of course, Cook will deny it, as he stands in the middle of the river running from Khartoum to Alexandria.; 3/20/12, 9:11 AM
Robert Cook said...: "The presence of the Tea Party and the Republican majority in the House say otherwise."

The Tea Party is a minor cult group in American public life, and the Republican majority in the House hardly represents the interests or concerns of the American public at large. (Neither does the Democratic population in Congress, overall. They're all just a bunch of politicians whose true constitutency is Wall Street.)

And wasn't it that great Republican Dick Cheney, who, referring to another, greater Republican, said, "Reagan proved deficits don't matter."?

The public at large doesn't care about deficits; they care about high unemployment.; 3/20/12, 9:33 AM
KCFleming said...: "The public at large doesn't care a damn about the deficit"

But the deficit cares about them, creating high unemployment and high prices.

You seem to think deficits have no relationship with the economy.

History says quite otherwise, including recent history (see: Greece).; 3/20/12, 9:37 AM
Robert Cook said...: Pogo,

I'm not talking about what effects deficits arguably* may have on the economy, I'm talking about what the public is concerned with. The public cares about jobs...that's it. If they're working and making decent income, everything else is "the small stuff," as in "Don't sweat the small stuff." If they're not working, nothing else matters but that they don't have a job.

*(See Cheney, Dick: "Reagan proved deficits don't matter."); 3/20/12, 9:43 AM
edutcher said...: Robert Cook said...

The presence of the Tea Party and the Republican majority in the House say otherwise.

The Tea Party is a minor cult group in American public life, and the Republican majority in the House hardly represents the interests or concerns of the American public at large.

As noted, he stands in the middle of the river running from Khartoum to Alexandria.

Yes, the idea that the Tea Party is a major force in the country tends to indicate that the people have finally awakened.

Can't have that, can we?; 3/20/12, 9:43 AM
KCFleming said...: Dick Cheney was no economist.

Reagan showed that deficits don't matter politically, but they do matter economically.

In the long run thensult, deficits do matter politically, because they eventually wreck the economy (see: Greece, Spain, Ireland, etc.); 3/20/12, 9:44 AM
KCFleming said...: "I'm not talking about what effects deficits arguably* may have on the economy"

Arguably??

You're no economist, either.

Typical Soviet obfuscation. Whatever happened to them, anyway?; 3/20/12, 9:46 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Yes, the idea that the Tea Party is a major force in the country tends to indicate that the people have finally awakened."

And yet...it isn't a major force in the country.; 3/20/12, 9:54 AM
edutcher said...: Pogo said...

Reagan showed that deficits don't matter politically, but they do matter economically.

FDR showed that deficits don't count as much politically as long as everything else is looking up, but the size of the deficit - and the debt - is bigger than it has been before - the deficit is bigger than GDP - and people are taking notice.

Cook notwithstanding, we're looking at a new situation that finally has vindicated what the true Republicans have been warning about for 80 years. And, whether the Lefties like it or not (and they don't), it's no flash in the pan and it's broad based.

WV "morwins" What you get when the team's on steroids.; 3/20/12, 9:54 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Reagan showed that deficits don't matter politically...."

Yes, that's what we're talking about, what matters politically, as in: what do the people care about? They don't care about deficits, they care only about whether they're working or not.

You may care about deficits, and there may be small cohort of the public who does, but the America public at large does not.; 3/20/12, 9:57 AM
KCFleming said...: "They don't care about deficits, they care only about whether they're working or not.
"

Deficits DETERMINE the economy, and therefore jobs.

That eventuality has come to pass in the US, after ignoring it for years.; 3/20/12, 10:02 AM
edutcher said...: Robert Cook said...

Yes, the idea that the Tea Party is a major force in the country tends to indicate that the people have finally awakened.

And yet...it isn't a major force in the country.

Of course not. The Republicans have about a 65 seat majority in the House because Pelosi Galore thought being Speaker cut into her bridge games.

River, Egypt, you know the drill.; 3/20/12, 10:07 AM
Hagar said...: Deficits may not matter to people when the economy is on a binge and looks to be catching up and overcoming the shortfalls, but it is different when the world is sad and dreary and the deficits look likely to be just piling up higher and higher as far as the eye can see.

On a perhaps related note, James Taranto yesterday quoted from a Nation article jubilating about how wonderful contraception and abortion are, because they enable women to get jobs and grow the economy, etc. and so forth, rather than waste their time having children.
But - if they - or most of them - do not have children, pretty soon there won't be any economy, no?; 3/20/12, 10:20 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Deficits DETERMINE the economy, and therefore jobs.

"That eventuality has come to pass in the US, after ignoring it for years."

We don't have jobs in America because the "job creators" decided years ago to inflate their profit margins by transferring jobs overseas and eliminiating thousands of domestic jobs--even during periods of record profits.; 3/20/12, 10:30 AM
Christopher in MA said...: We don't have jobs in America because the "job creators" decided years ago to inflate their profit margins by transferring jobs overseas and eliminating thousands of domestic jobs - even during periods of record profits.

"Record profits," I suspect, are in the eye of the beholder. But what, other than promoting the idea of "good corporate citizenship," would you do to keep those "job creators" using American labor? A company's duty is to its shareholders, after all. I highly doubt you could craft a law that would solve that problem.; 3/20/12, 11:29 AM
Robert Cook said...: "'Record profits,' I suspect, are in the eye of the beholder."

No, I assume one can look at a company's history and track their profits and losses over time, and "record profits" can probably fairly easily be concretely determined.

"But what, other than promoting the idea of "good corporate citizenship," would you do to keep those 'job creators; using American labor? A company's duty is to its shareholders, after all. I highly doubt you could craft a law that would solve that problem."

That's the question, isn't it? The laws regarding corporate responsibilities to their sharesholders could be revised, I suppose, or there could be tax incentives--negative and positive--and/or tariffs that would make it more expensive to produce goods overseas to be imported for sale domestically, and so forth, that would make it attractive for companies to keep their jobs here at home rather than sending them overseas.

Or, we can acccept that the only way to have nearly full employment here at home is to let prevailing wages drop to levels that are competitive with those overseas. In other words, we can willingly work under onerous conditions for slave wages. When labor is cheaper here than in India or China or Singapore then the jobs may come back.

Is that what we want? What do you suggest to bring jobs back?; 3/20/12, 12:25 PM
Joe Schmoe said...: We don't have jobs in America because the "job creators" decided years ago to inflate their profit margins by transferring jobs overseas and eliminiating thousands of domestic jobs--even during periods of record profits.

Those that didn't went out of business. You can't run a business based on today's returns. You run it based on what you think tomorrow will bring.; 3/20/12, 1:25 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Those that didn't went out of business. You can't run a business based on today's returns. You run it based on what you think tomorrow will bring."

I say that's bullshit, but assuming it's true, do you have an answer, or do you suggest we must be willing to work under grueling conditions for slave wages in order to compete with job-seekers overseas who will otherwise get "our" jobs?; 3/20/12, 2:15 PM
Tarzan said...: Not to get off topic or anything, but am I the only one who hates, and I mean snarlingly, viscerally HATES those damn slippy-slidy shopping carts at IKEA?; 3/20/12, 2:55 PM
Joe Schmoe said...: Cook, you present your scenario like it's some unavoidable Hobson's choice. Either work for slave wages or lose your job.

Our economy doesn't work like that. Over the last century, we've transferred from an agrarian base to a manufacturing base to a service and technology base. If you work in a field where your job is going overseas, then you need to be proactive about finding another field. They're out there.; 3/20/12, 7:52 PM
Joe Schmoe said...: I don't know if you watch the market at all, but if you do, you have seen the phenomenon of a company announcing big profits one day after market close, and then their stock goes down the next day.

Why do you think that is? Because the investors care not one whit what you did today; they are only interested in what your prospects are for the next quarter. If you offer up a flat projection for the coming quarter or year, your stock will get hammered even if you have just posted 'record profits'.; 3/20/12, 8:04 PM