Offsite Comments

Hahahaha. Great video.

The "apologizing" cat looks like our problem kitty "Merlin." (Daughter named him. I think the technical spelling is mrrrr-lin.) He showed up out at our farm one day, worm-ridden and so thin he was practically two-dimensional. We got him fixed up and fattened up, "hospitalized" during recovery at the office in town.

When we tried to take him back out to the farm, the first thing he did was leap out of my arms and attack our special Godsend little yellow fuzzy guy, Charlie. When I broke that up, Merlin ran in and peed on our bed! Charlie had never had a problem with any of our critters, and he was kind-of traumatized for a while. Subsequent efforts proved no better, and in a choice between Charlie and the newcomer, Charlie wins. Also, peed on our bed was a big strike against Merlin.

So, we kept him in town. But that doesn't really work. It limits our schedule, leaves cat hair around the place, and, then, today, he peed on a blanket on some cushions in the office (the main office room in the office building). Last straw, fellah.

In all these months, we couldn't figure out what to do with him. Everyone we know who'll take in cats is already "full up." I guess really, he's still semi-feral; see these "friendly" scars? There is a very successful "barn cat" placement program at the local shelter, which we've used before when we caught a more seriously semi-feral feline. So, Monday, it looks like we're going to have to give up Merlin. That's hard. Even a rascal gets under your skin and into your heart.

Anyone here want a kitty? Doesn't play well with others and while he does use a litter box, does not always. Free to good home. :(

If the n in my hash was only a k, but alas... so close...

It's a little thing, but can we get "Mie" repaired to "Mia," too? FTR

Have I mentioned how awful my wife is? She refuses to get up and prepare breakfast so it will be ready for me when I arise at 5:30am!

[Looks in refrigerator]

Wow! A whole bunch of ready-to-re-heat scrambled egg quesadillas! Have I mentioned how magnificent my wife is?

Nom nom nom

Pat Condell has a good video from a couple of weeks back on the end of Sweden. His latest takes on the cultural problems (spinelessness, basically) in Britain.

The Japan policy is interesting.

I've been thinking lately, when you see reference to "moderate Muslims," and other references, see what it looks like to substitute Nazi.

Niedermeyer's Dead Horse: "it' s really just a blank canvas upon which Vic can craft his early morning call to arms."

Appreciate that. Also, we don't all have to keep reloading the ONT.

However, you may not have posted some saccharine video (snrk), but it was a nice post. Read the Bush excerpt. The teatime tweet was great. Thanks^2.

Thanks for kicking off the morning, NDH!

Yeah, Vic, NDH is pretty good.

I keed, of course, about our post-Gabe morning hosts, and this post-election, post-DST period of adjustment.

Like serfs outside the dining room of royalty, we are grateful at whatever crumbs they deign to toss to us.

Morning, Carol. Morning, Vic. Hi, else.

The actual new policy seems to be that the morning thread will not be posted until Vic is done with news posting. Like so many things about this blog, it's not a bug. It's a commenter-insane-making feature.

Dogs

Eat dinner? It's my favorite thing.
Take a nap? It's my favorite thing.
Take a dump? It's my favorite thing.
Ride in the car? It's my favorite thing.

etc.

Highs in the upper sixties today. Seventies tomorrow. Freezing tomorrow night, then highs in the forties. Gonna try to soak up every bit of warmth I can these two days. Urf!

Dog poo is our leading topic? Hokay. Our dog seems to like to go off into the field far from the house to take a dump. Works for me. And the lawn.

ColdBeer1: what? I'm not obscure or oblique. That's Sven. I'm either wrong, or just stupid. As a rule.

Hi.

It takes some time to decipher mindful webworker's posts!

He makes not the obvious a consideration, lest you delve into the meat and find the creamy-center!

Posted by: mindful webworker - as if authorized at November 08, 2014 06:59 AM (36q6P)

^^^This Guy!^^^

Morning Thread starts here.

New policy

Morning, stale ONTers!

I was thinking there was a Batgirl series pilot, but a quick search found only an iMDB reference to an 8-minute short.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0179668/

Read this morning that Bongino had conceded, though. Too bad.

While I appreciate this fellow's intentions, good as they are, I have had some questions about this. And as I think of how to state my questions, I'm reminded of a joke I read (again) recently. (Don't think it was here…) I'll try to abbreviate the telling.

When a policeman's haircut was finished, the barber said, it's on the house, thank you for your service and all you do for us. Next morning, the barber arrived to find a box of doughnuts of appreciation.

Later, a firefighter got the same treatment, no charge, thank you for your service. Next morning, barber arrives to find a box of firehouse muffins left for him in appreciation.

A politician got his hair cut, and again the barber said, no charge, thank you for your service in governance. Next morning, the barber arrived to find a line of politicians expecting free haircuts.

http://instantrimshot.com/

The problems with charity range from developing dependency (giving a man a fish vs. teaching him to fish) down to outright fraud (street beggers who at the end of the day get in their chauffered limos and go to their luxury homes — a documented case in Chicago).

When we lived in the Big Potato, I used to always carry some dollars around to hand out to bums, as much in self-defense as any sense of charity. One Christmastime, I started handing out McDonald's gift certificates, and was surprised (a little) at the angry responses I would get from some "needy" people. Also, there was a woman who "worked" our neighborhood. Her act was to sound half-witted. In halting, dim-witted sounding speech, she'd tell a sob story about her poverty and needy children. I gave her a handout first time she approached me. I had to tell her outright the second time she accosted me, at a different location, that she wasn't keeping her stories straight.

I'm no saint, but I don't think I'm cruel or heartless. Near downtown, Milady and I saw a drunken bum passed out in the blazing summer sun one day, people stepping right over him. We managed to rouse him enough to get over into the shade before he fried and died. That was about all we could do for him, but we did.

Discerning the truly needy, and discouraging the fraudsters, is a great art, which good charities do with wisdom (and government cannot do at all, which is the downfall of all government welfare programs). Free and open hand-outs draw more than the needy, but also the outright greedy.

One reason to work through organized charities is to make sure your efforts and money are well-spent and don't encourage the wrong people and don't foster or encourage "skid row" areas. Certainly, there must be a better way to deal with this than jailing the Samaritan, but he needs to think, too, about why the law is there (I'm surmising, obviously). The individual handout is one thing, go ahead, don't try to judge (although as noted I ended up doing so sometimes in Bum City). But as an organized or repeated act, your good intentions may be creating fire-proof paving stones.

Well, that ran long. Hope it wasn't too muddy.

Um, hate to say it, but that pic of Reid & McConnell looks like one of those "separated at birth?" comparisons. Glad you labeled which was which!

@@

"Republicans had hoped that a loss, especially one as large as this, would chasten the president on the use of executive action and open him up to compromise."

Really? Which Republicans? Did someone miss the past six years?

Yes, this is the dangerous part, the next couple of months, and the next couple of years. The combined forces of Democrats and RINOs are still 'way too numerous, too powerful.

Yo Golden Vic: "What some people do is copy and paste the comment from the ONT to here is they want to comment on it."

Sure, but hardly the same as having all the news here where everyone can riff off them.

You should keep the new nic.