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Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Sunday, Aug. 24

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Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings diaries give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

In lieu of daily check-ins, which have gone on hiatus, Welcomings diaries will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning) and then, if necessary due to a large number of comments, again on Wednesday or Thursday to close out the week. To find the diaries, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

…


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 147 Comments

147 comments

  4. anotherdemocrat

    102 for the next couple of days, then we might get rain

    Eating breakfast, watching Up. Kornacki had on 2 white guys — one of whom is with 3rd Way — to talk about the future of the Democratic party. I muted that segment.

    Quinoa is made, waiting for it to cool. Then, chop watermelon, the green melon & mango, juice, protein powder & vinaigrette and breakfast for next week is done. And I have beans & spinach & vegan queso again for lunch. Cheap & fast to make.

    Going to visit my friend this afternoon. And next Saturday, I have got to make myself actually take a nap instead of semi-dozing. I don’t get anything done, but I don’t get rested either.

  6. princesspat

    We’re celebrating Ava’s 7th birthday today with a family party….she planned the menu, I’m bringing flowers and dessert. It’s fun to see her so excited about being in 2nd grade and learning to read chapter books.

  7. JanF

    76 degrees in Madison on its way up to 90. A line of storms is moving through the upper Midwest and is expected to hit this afternoon. It will cool things down considerably.

    Today is Michael Brown’s funeral. The White House is sending three people, one of whom is the Deputy Director of White House Public Engagement Marlon Marshall, a St. Louis native who attended high school with Michael Brown’s mother.

    The family asked for a day of peace:

    “Tomorrow, all I want is peace while my son is being laid to rest,” said Michael Brown Sr., appearing at “Peace Fest 2014” in Forest Park here with the parents of other slain black teens and civil rights leaders. “Please, please take a day of silence so we can lay our son to rest. Please. That’s all I ask. And thank you.”

    I hope that his wishes are respected. There will be plenty of time for demonstrations.

    See all y’alls later.  

  8. DeniseVelez

    Trying to get my paperwork in order today for back to school tomorrow.

    Will also take time out to watch the funeral for Michael Brown – which is being live-streamed by many channels.

  10. Diana in NoVa

    with low humidity. It was the night from hell again–retired at 11 and lay awake until 3:30 a.m. Going to feel AWFUL all day. I think I’ve got a cold taking hold.

    Had so many pent-up errands and shopping to do this weekend that the only writing I was able to do was to answer e-mails. Oh, I did put up a little diary about the GOS meetup at Union Station but it soon sank out of sight.

    Have to get moving as I know my son will bring Mr. Baby very soon and I’m not dressed yet. It’s going to be a long day, hours without a break as Dearly Beloved will be working at the airport from 10 until 2. He’ll pick up Miss Pink Cheeks from her play date on his way home.

    Hope all in Moosylvania will have a good day! Wonder if Michael Brown’s funeral will be shown on TV? Might be able to watch a bit of it if so.

  11. anotherdemocrat

    Monday. Ugh. Getting to work was normal, but going home this evening….. I was reminded over the weekend how much louder this town is when 50,000 more people live here.

    Eating breakfast & drinking tea.

    Yesterday was the race in Dublin that I wanted to do. Disappointed in myself for not exercising at all this year, much less getting in shape for a tri. I tried to embed a pic of a Dublin sunrise from my twitter feed but got an error message.  

  12. Portlaw

    86.

    Saw a spectacular movie last night, Expedition to the End of the World. It was about a trip on a schooner to an area of northern Greenland that had just had a narrow ice free passage, blocked for thousands of years, open due to global warming. On the ship were artists and scientists doing what they do and the photography was stunning. Awe inspiring. Thrilling. The background music was Metallica and the Mozart Requiem. The latter was jarring since I had just heard the Requiem at the Mozart Festival on Friday so it bookended my weekend.

    Lots to do today including standing on line at the Post Office to mail a birthday present.

    Is it true that August is almost over? Happy Monday to all.

  13. bfitzinAR

    Didn’t see any news over the weekend and haven’t had a chance to check yet – my nerves are probably better for it.  1st day of classes and one class still short.  I hope to heaven we can pull in another 3 students today so it “makes”.  2 QC meetings tonight.  Hope we hung onto the 2 Rs needed to pass the early voting sites (2nd reading – 3rd is 9/2) – that’s the 1st mtg – the 2nd is Budget.  sigh.  Have the good day and week {{{HUGS}}} bf

  14. princesspat

    The girls are here today and tomorrow and we all seem to have the end of summer blahs….they are dozing in the study and I’m in serious need of another cup of coffee and to lazy to go get one!

    I’m sure we’ll stir up some fun before the day is over, but a quiet morning is happening first.

  15. JanF

    It is 71 degrees in Madison right now with an expected high of 77 degrees. A line of thunderstorms is about an hour or two out and will usher in the cooler weather (it has been in the upper 80s, low 90s).

    I tried to find the Michael Brown funeral on my TV yesterday and could not. I did find that cable TV in the daytime is really awful. It is not surprising that many people in our country can no longer think.

    See all y’all later!

  16. DeniseVelez

    First day of school today for me. It will be a long day – two classes and meetings.

    Won’t be posting BKos here today. It’s simply condolences to the Brown family from Black Kos and the videos of Rev. Al Sharpton’s eulogy

    The Guardian seems to have been the only major media source live blogging

    http://www.theguardian.com/wor…

  17. Diana in NoVa

    Meteorologically speaking, yesterday was a perfect day here. Perfect. It did get a bit warm in the afternoon because we have the a.c. off until tomorrow, but Dearly turned on the ceiling fans (which I’m too short to reach), so it was OK. Mr. Baby and I danced to “Golden Oldies” on the music channel of the TV. He likes music and dancing.

    Apparently a large moose came into a building and stood blocking the doors to a company cafeteria for six hours! No one could go in. It just kept staring through the glass doors as if hoping someone would stagger out with lunch, but no one did. Finally he or she was removed, tranquilized, and taken to a more appropriate location. Didn’t catch where the Loose Moose did this. TV news gets by one so quickly.

    Forgot to mention I saw our very own JG in MD at the meetup on Sunday and she’s looking very well.

    We had the first runner beans from our garden last night, along with the last of the potatoes. Miss Pink Cheeks had a play date with some neighbors and the lady sent her home with a sack of pears. I’ll miss summer when it goes, although the thought of more rain and cool days quite cheers me up.

    Hope everyone in Moosylvania will have a good day! Portlaw, loved your description of the movie you saw! Sounds really good.

  18. Portlaw

    few hours.  Have to go back to the Post Office and stand in line to send off another package. Sigh.

    Was thinking of the  demonization of Michael Brown yesterday with a mixture of rage and sorrow.  I got on a very crowded bus. I was tired and certainly not in my first youth and am white. All seats taken, mainly by business types, and even standing room was rare, A young kid, black, wearing his pants in that style of down around his knees, listening to music on his head phones, got up and gave me his seat. I was so happy to sit down and told him so as I thanked him. He nodded and went back to his music. I was thinking of how nice a kid he was, how he must come from a very nice family who raised him well and wouldn’t they be pleased to know he was a credit, etc. And then I thought that walking down the street, maybe in the middle of the street, this kid could be shot for his skin color, his clothes and his music,. And yet here he was, by far, the nicest kindest (to me, a stranger) person on this crowded bus, a credit to his upbringing. It’s just a small thing, an anecdote, but it jolted me and  brought tears of rage, sorrow and understanding. And, yes, of course, even if he hadn’t given me his seat, he still should have been safe and secure to go about his daily rounds as all the other people on the bus who did not give me a seat were able to do without even thinking about it. I could go on and on but will stop. You all know the lethal nightmare that racism creates and feeds. As for the NY Times writing that Brown was no angel….ha, is anyone on that editorial board even close to being one???????  

  19. anotherdemocrat

    still gonna hit 100, but they hope it could rain later

    Slept in, now eating breakfast & watching the news. Either today or tomorrow, I’m going to see Guardians of the Galaxy. And I’l visit my friend in the hospital. And exercise. But mostly, I’m going to rest.

  20. bfitzinAR

    last night was better than expected – we did the 2nd reading for the early voting site ordinance and then, after giving the Rs a chance to quote a UW study stating early voting decreases voter turnout rather than increasing it, we adjourned the special QC.  The 3rd reading and actual vote will be next Tuesday – and if anybody here can find refuting studies I’d appreciate the help.  The only thing I’ve found in the brief moment I had to look was a International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) table showing the percentages are all over the place but the actual number of bodies voting has increased (fairly steadily for presidential elections, not as steadily but still increasing for congressional elections – higher turnout in presidential years, of course).

    As to Budget Committee we mostly got the information of where our HR consultant gets his data (the Rs keep questioning his figures because they don’t give raises so they don’t believe anybody else in the area does either) so it wasn’t contentious.  Contentious we’ll get 9/30 when he gives his actual recommendations.  So.  That’s it until next Tuesday for QC but 1st week of classes is being even more hysterical than “usual” so I’d best get back there.  {{{HUGS}}} bf

  21. princesspat

    The grand girls will be here this afternoon so the ongoing monopoly game may finally be completed and put away. I’ve got my desk mess reduced to manageable stacks and one really full box of papers to sort and shred so I’ll work on that while they play.

    Ron may take them to a vineyard by Mt Baker to pick grapes for his fall wine. A friend grows the grapes, Ron makes the wine, and they share the result. It’s a lovely spot but I have a Dr.’s appointment so that’s where I’ll be.

  22. JanF

    It is 64 degrees here in Madison with an expected high of 77 degrees. It is raining right now.

    My news feed has settled down to the usual: Republicans of two minds over impeachment, Obamacare success stories, the Senate is lost maybe not lost for the Democrats, and — holy mackeral, it’s Wednesday!!! Three days left to August, have to get moving …

  23. Portlaw

    last week of summer. One of my projects was to clear my desk. That didn’t happen and the looming stacks of paper and folders are beginning to look like a model for a city in a dystopia.

    Hope it’s a good day for all. I will check in later to see how everyone is behaving.

  24. Diana in NoVa

    a possible thunderstorm–let it rain!

    Definitely getting a cold, so popping Alka-Seltzer Plus for Colds like mad. Leaving here in a few to go to son’s house to help get the children ready. Today will be our last visit to the Farmers’ Market at Frying Pan Farm, just down the road, because next week Miss Pink Cheeks will be in school.

    Got my Friday blog written last night, now just have to track down the pictures. Wish the Mac would let me copy and paste URLs but so far have not discovered how to do that. Portlaw, sympathize about the desk–I have a lot of tidying to do in my office too. Hope Jan catches up on her sleep!

    Gorgeous morning here but will have to wipe down the car windows. Hope everyone in Mooseville will have a good day!

  25. DeniseVelez

     Outage This Morning

    http://www.thewire.com/technol…

    not only my internet – but that knocked out my phone (via Vonage)

    thankfully have cell

    On top for that the brand new puter won’t reboot

    ARGH!

    At least I have the lappie.

    Headed in to the store as soon as they open then to school  

  26. bfitzinAR

    because of MWF and TTH class patterns we actually have 2 first day of schools but now that’s done.  The students should know where their classes are and we should have only minor interruptions from lost kids who somehow didn’t find their classes the first day.  I did ask the Judge’s assistant to send out that table on voting numbers since 1948 (national elections only).  What we really need data on, but early voting hasn’t been in place for long enough in a wide enough area, is how it impacts the precinct level.  That’s part of what this effort is going to be gathering data about – IF we get it passed.  Anyway, {{{HUGS}}} to everybody and I’ll check back when/if I can.

  27. anotherdemocrat

    3 kids did get struck by lightning up in the northern suburbs yesterday, the news says only 1 is still in the hospital

    Slept late again (tomorrow is going to hurt). I swear I’m leaving the house today. Bookstore & visiting M in the hospital. And I was supposed to walk yesterday, so that too.

  28. princesspat

    No grand kids today….the house seems so quiet. I’s a pool morning for me and then I have so many half finished and/or waiting to be done projects I don’t know where to begin.

    So I may just finish my book!

  29. JanF

    It is a beautiful pre-fall day: 57 degrees on its way up to a perfect 75 degrees. AND the windows are open and were open for sleeping last night.

    August 28th is also the final day of the Moral Week of Action, culminating on the day marked by 5 things: Emmett Till’s murder, Rosa Parks being inspired to protest in Montgomery AL (as mentioned by Rev. Barber), Martin Luther King leading the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Barack Hussein Obama accepting the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, and President Obama speaking last year at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC at the 50th anniversary of the March.  



    Transcript

    That looks like a diary! 🙂

    See all y’all later; trying to catch up on the news. I think I see something stupid said about the president …

  30. DeniseVelez

    Spending the morning dragging out old computers that are stored in a closet – trying to find some files that don’t seem to be in my back-up system

    Sigh.  

    62 here in Saugerties – up to 77 later

    Now to look at the news – hope to find something good

  31. Diana in NoVa

    Woke up far too early, couldn’t get back to sleep, bummer. Think I’ll go make those Oatmeal-Applesauce Muffins I’ve been putting off making this age.

    Today is “Meet the Teacher” day for rising kindergarteners, so I won’t see Miss Pink Cheeks until nearly lunchtime. Will pick up Mr. Baby shortly after 8, though.

    Haven’t checked the news yet. Might pop back here later today to comment if time and Mr. Baby’s schedule allow.

    Later!

  32. Portlaw

    island. Am headed for an early acupuncture appointment but first the news. Hope it’s good. Will check in later to see how people are behaving.

  33. anotherdemocrat

    highs merely in the 90s, so at least it isn’t triple digits

    Back at work. At least there’s only 2 days, then a week off. I really need to line something up that will force me out of the house every day next week.

    Meanwhile, I’m eating breakfast & drinking tea. Earworm is Snow Patrol’s If There’s a Rocket Tie Me To It , which is weird because in the car I was listening to my race day mix, which is all U2.

  34. bfitzinAR

    Campus is starting to settle down.  Sort of.  The student part anyway.  Most of them are enrolled in their classes and know where those classes are meeting, so just driblets from them from now until priority registration for January Intersession and Spring 2015.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have a heck of a lot of stuff to do, it just means I won’t be interrupted as often by students.  ðŸ™‚

    Am sort of looking forward to the 3-day weekend.  Sort of because I need to have a talk with my lodger – she’s got stuff all over the place in my kitchen and seems to think that when I clear space it’s so she can put more stuff in it, she seems to have forgotten that her dog was supposed to be either in her room or outside (and I don’t want her dog in my bedroom any more than she wants my cats in hers but I want my cats to be able to get in), and while admittedly well within “normal” American usage she’s using 1.5x as much natural gas as I do and 3x as much water!.  I’m not really looking forward to that even though I hold all the high cards (it’s my house and I’m renting her the room with kitchen privileges for $100/month plus weekly vacuuming) I don’t like confrontations and she takes every comment regard herself or her dog as an insult.  Sigh. Oh well, no QC until next week and we don’t go into high gear (3 mtgs a week) on Budget until the week after.  Haz a gud wun {{{HUGZ}}}  

  35. princesspat

    RonK had another medical scare this week, but fortunately he’s fine and we have learned even more. He had a follow up appointment with the vascular surgeon re his carotid arteries and nothing has changed since the tests last winter. But the surgeon thought he might have an Aortic Aneurysim . The thought of that was very scary but fortunately yesterday’s test results showed he doesn’t.

    So I have a question re vascular scans. They are rarely ( in our experience) ordered unless a problem is suspected, yet knowing the health and condition of veins and arteries could prevent and/or enable treatment for serious medical conditions sooner.

    Had I known about the extent of the blood clot in my leg (in the summer of 2011) it could have been treated before it became life threatening, and I may have avoided the chronic swelling that is so hard to manage. A Doppler scan would have revealed the clot, but that wasn’t ordered and we didn’t know to ask. So my resolve is to be proactive re vascular scans. It’s better to know than to be surprised with a medical emergency.

  36. JanF

    What could be better? Well, the weather: 66 degrees here with an expected high of 86 … storms in the forecast. Apparently we just got the one perfect day. I did sleep with the windows open again and that was AWESOME.

    People were complaining about the president’s tan suit. Isn’t it okay to wear tan suits until Labor Day??? :::confused look:::

    They also complained about his plan to put something in place for immigration. Here is what he said:

    “Have no doubt. In the absence of congressional action I’m going to do what I can to make sure the system works better,”

    One-half of the Congress passed immigration reform and the other half is held enthrall to the xenophobic wing of the Republican Party that they nurtured and who make up their base. The president it getting a lot of “warnings” that he will be impeached if he executes his administrative prerogative to deal with the 11 million undocumented people in our country. I don’t think he cares. As Angry Mouse speculated in the warmup to the #TANSUITGHAZI news conference: “We have no idea what he’s going to say. Probably ‘Screw you guys, I’m out of here and hitting the links. Enjoy President Biden.'”.

    p.s. LMAO, BWD is using the tan suit image as her Twitter avatar.

    See all y’all later!!

    66 degrees here  

  37. JanF

    It sounds to me like there were 6 shots in rapid succession … then a pause … then 4 more shots. It will be interesting to hear the shooter’s explanation for that. The final 4 shots sound like “kill shots” to me.  

  38. Diana in NoVa

    going up to 82 F. We could turn off the a.c. today, really, but why bother–it’s going to get awful for the next few days. Still, I may take Mr. Baby out for an airing.

    Tan suit–truly, Obama Derangement Syndrome knows no bounds! I didn’t hear people bitching on Twitter when Dubya Boosh wore a moronic expression year-round. Just shows you–do not wear a tan suit while black.

    Have been rereading my journal entries from five years ago. Noted that when Miss Pink Cheeks was three months old, I wrote “she wants to be held 24/7 and we get nothing done,” but when she was four months old I wrote, “she has started taking naps in her crib so we can eat lunch and go to the bathroom!”

    Yesterday Mr. Baby slept for 25 minutes in his porta-crib. Got so excited I started peeling some of the apples we knocked down last week. Froze some for later use and used the rest in an apple-walnut cake I whipped up for last night’s dinner.

    Looks as if the volcano in Iceland is about to erupt. ISIL is more barbaric than Al Qaeda. Imagine wanting society to revert to the seventh century.

    Hope everyone will have a good Friday!

  39. Portlaw

    Friday of summer.  Hope it’s a good holiday weekend throughout Moosylvania.

    Am going to check the news. Syria and Ukraine. How does Obama juggle all of this?  One crisis after another and the Republicans refusing to do anything. And, then, of course there are the major problems here at home.

    Coffee time.

  40. anotherdemocrat

    Friday before a week off. I can handle 8 hours of noise & people & the guy in the next cubicle singing to himself. I brought my Walkman, so when that last thing starts, I can at least listen to something else. In between calls, anyway. Really have to line up something that will make me leave the house every day, or I won’t.

    And once again, what’s playing in my head is not one of the songs I listened to in the car. Weird.

    Anyway, happy Friday to all!

  41. DeniseVelez

    still trying to cope with having no main desktop puter.

    After conferring with my phone savvy students – I bought a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 yesterday.  It is large enough that I can see stuff on it.  Now I will spend 6 months figgering out how to use it. heh.

    I am going to get a “training session” after class.

    Off to school in a few – hope y’all have a nice, safe long weekend.

  42. bfitzinAR

    we’ve got a whole 50% chance of rain this afternoon.  Payday which is nice and tomorrow starts the 3-day weekend which may or may not be depending on how my lodger takes the talk we’re going to have tomorrow or Sunday. (I want some time for this, not just throwing issues at her head as she’s trying to get out the door as that never ends well.)  We shall see.  Will try to drop by later to see what’s going on in Moosylvania.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  {{{HUGS}}} bf

  43. princesspat

    The breeze from m window is cool this morning, the light is changing,and I can see fall arriving in my old maple trees.

    The grand kids will all be in school next week. Interesting how September always seems like the start of a new year for me.

  44. DeniseVelez

    which is my little hamlet in Saugerties NY.

    My computer saga continues (I’m still on laptop atm)

    Went in to Best Buy to pick up my “repaired” brand new puter yesterday evening.

    Insisted (much to the annoyance of the techie guy) that he plug it in, power it up and let me check to see if it was working properly, after he explained that they ran a series of tests on it …”tuned it up” and that it was “just fine”.

    I asked why a whole series of new icons were on my desktop…it seems that though they didn’t erase my data they had restored many of the factory widgets and programs.

    He was impatient, but I ignored him and asked what happened to my Firefox browser?

    He hooked me up to their server (slow as molasses) and I d-loaded FF (it took over 15 minutes).  

    Proceeded to open and close a few programs and the computer balked – on a reboot it came back up with a whole new screen dimensions – distorted.

    It then went into some weird repair mode.

    I flipped and demanded yet another new puter.

    Embarrassed, the Geek Guy said “sure…sure…”and scurried away to get me yet another brand new in the box puter.

    He then said …oh, by the way, you will have to pay for new one since the store exchange policy s only in effect for 15 days.

    I flipped…since I brought the computer back to them under that limit – it was only over 15 days due to how long they have had it.

    Demanded a manager.

    He backed off.

    Made the exchange.  

    I demanded that the new puter be opened up and checked before I lugged it home.  He assigned someone else to do it, very grudgingly. Another young Geek guy.

    When it was unpacked – I commented “this is not the same puter…it was same brand (HP) but a model that was on clearance.

    I went ballistic.

    I got yet another new – in the box – puter…it turned out that this Geek guy is someone who is aware of mouse problems with Windows 8.1 and we made a deal – I am to load my programs and games, make a list of “fixes” suggested by Geeks and Microsoft for this mouse issue (like this one)

    http://www.blurbusters.com/sys…

    and bring the computer back in for them to fix, since he assured me, much to the annoyance of the other geek – I was going to have problems.

    So – today I unbox the third new puter, load up my software, and next Thursday I’ll take it back in for “repair”

    I really want to whine and roll around on the floor having a tantrum.

    need coffee

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    okay – have coffee…very good read in WaPo this morning

    Ferguson isn’t about black rage against cops. It’s white rage against progress.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

    White rage recurs in American history. It exploded after the Civil War, erupted again to undermine the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision and took on its latest incarnation with Barack Obama’s ascent to the White House. For every action of African American advancement, there’s a reaction, a backlash.

  45. JanF

    I am not sure that is a good thing because I did not get done the things I wanted to get done this month, but time waits for no one, as they say … or sing?

    It is 70 muggy degrees here and the expected high is 75 but we will have storms most of the day so it will not be a pleasant 75. And I will be on the road because fall high school sporting events have started even though school does not start until next Tuesday. For the next 6 weeks, my life will be turned over to youth sports.

    See all y’alls later!

  46. Diana in NoVa

    days. Not sure of the exact temp. With the Mac, apparently I can either have “back” arrows and an address bar, which I’m used to, or I can have a visible “tray” at the bottom of the screen showing all my programs. Dashboard is a feature I like in this “tray,” as it contains a clock, the weather, and a calculator. At the moment, though, the “tray” isn’t visible.

    Denise, what a horrible tale of computer woes! Dear Goddess, I hope this latest machine is going to be all right.

    Jan, sounds as if you’re going to get very little sleep for the the next few Saturdays–hope you can make up for it on Sundays.

    All quiet here. I have vowed that for every hour of housework or garden work I am going to do one hour of writing. Right now I’m enjoying this leisurely, if gray, morning. Preparing to go downstairs for breakfast, then a fast trip to the hairdresser for a haircut. I devoutly hope to get some writing done on my various projects. In the evenings I’m too wiped out to do anything after dinner.

    A good weekend to all meese!

  47. anotherdemocrat

    Well, I massively overslept, must have turned off my alarm in my sleep, because I never heard it. Didn’t even open my eyes till 7:30. Gonna have to get in a workout later. But at least I don’t have to get all my food for next week lined up.

    Eating breakfast, watching Up. Still sleepy. I’m assuming it is hot outside, but I don’t know from personal experience.

  48. Portlaw

    driving, that Dee’s computer woes were over, that Diana was writing and that Texas was so cool that AD was wearing two sweaters.  But I could have said something else.

    Am enraged by McCain and Graham http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08…  This is part of their op ed . I am still furious   These guys are dangerous.


    If Mr. Obama provides a coherent strategy and determined leadership, he could win Congress’s support.

    Whether or not Mr. Obama listens to us, he should listen to leaders with a record of success in combating groups like ISIS, especially John R. Allen, Ryan C. Crocker, Jack Keane and David H. Petraeus, among others. He should consult with military and diplomatic experts like these, just as President George W. Bush did when rethinking the war in Iraq.

    One of the hardest things a president must do is change, and history’s judgment is often kind to those who summon the courage to do so. Jimmy Carter changed his policy on the Soviet Union after it invaded Afghanistan. Bill Clinton changed his policy in the Balkans and stopped ethnic cleansing. And George W. Bush changed course in Iraq and saved America from defeat.

    ISIS presents Mr. Obama with a similar challenge, and it has already forced him to begin changing course, albeit grudgingly. He should accept the necessity of further change and adopt a strategy to defeat this threat. If he does, he deserves bipartisan support. If he does not, ISIS will continue to grow into an even graver danger to our allies and to us.

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